'
The ?ploits of Elaine
A'DetfectiireNovel and amotion Picture Drama
Dy ARTHUR
-reseated h Coliaborstioa With tbe Path
.
Ooprrlg, 1?K ay the Star Company. All Forelga Rights bnnii
8YN0PSIS.
' The New Tork potto are mystified by a
serins of murder of promlaent men. The
ntaelpal elu to the murderer la the warn
ing letteY which la tmt the victims, aimed
with a "ehiUhing band." The latest Tic
Urn of the mysterious aaeaaain la Taylor
Dodge, the Insurance president His
daughter, Elaloe. employs Craig Kennedy,
tae Samoa scientific detective, to try to
unravel q mystery. What Kennedy eo
conplbrhes Is told by his friend, Jameson,
a aevrspaper man.
THIRDEPISODE
The Vanishing Jewels.
Hanging away at my typewriter the
next day. la Kennedy'- laboratory, t
was startled, by the sudden, insistent
riaging of the telephone near me.
"Hello," I answered, for Craig was
at work at lis table, trying still to ex
tract some clue from the slender evi
dence thus far elicited in the Dodge
mystery.
"Oh, Mr. Kennedy," I heard an ex
cited voice over the wire reply, "ray
friend, Susie Martin, Is here. Her fa
lser has just received a message from
that Clutching Hand and"
"Just a moment, Miss Dodge, ' 1 in
terrupted 'This is Mr. Jameson."
"Oh!" cams back the voice, breath
less and disappointed. "Let nie have
tx Kennedy quick."
I had already passed the telephone
te Craig and was watching him keen
ly as he listened over it.
Ha motioned to me for a pad and
sesefl that lay near me.
"Please read the letter again, slow
er. Miss Dodge," he asked, adding,
"there isn't time for me to see it
jgtst jt$. But I want It exactly. Ton
af
H fc mad up of separate words
and type tnt from newspapers
and
pasted on Bote papea?"
I hasded hftn paper and pencil.
"All tight, now. Miss Dodge, bo
ahead."
As ke wrote he indicated to ma by
his eyts that ke wanted ID to read.
IIMn:
Murtevaat Mania, Jeweler,
NO. Vt Fltta Avenue. Kcw York City.
Sf-Aa yea have failed te eVMver the
HMOs, I shall aeb your main diamond
pas at exactly tedy.
"Thank Toa, Kiss Dodge," continued
Kennedy Wing town tbe pencil.
"Yes, I "understand perfectly signed
by that same Cntchiag Hand. Let
me teer be astdcrea JpokiBg at his
wjjjrit. "A to ap kaJMast elevea.
Very well. I shaft in ft, yen and Miss
A Remarkable Scene Greeted Us.
Martin at Mr. Martin's store directly."
It lacked live minutes of noon when
Kennedy and I dashed up before Mar
tin's and dismissed our taxicab.
A remarkable scene greeted us a
we entered the famous jewelry shop.
Involuntarily 1 drew back. Squarely
in front of us a man had suddenly i
-raised a revolver and leveled it at us.
"Don't!" cried a familiar voice. t
"That to Mr ICennprlv'" ,
Just then, from a little knot of peo-
pie, Elaine Dodge sprang forward
with a cry and seized the gun.
Kennedy turned to her, apparently
not half so much concerned about the
automatic that yawned at him aa
about the anxiety of the pretty girl
whe had intervened. The too eager
plain-clothes man lowered tbe gun
sheepishly.
Sturtevant Martin was a typical so
ciety business man, quietly but richly
Pressed., v
In the excitement I glanced about
hurriedly.
Directly in front of me was a sign
; lacaea up .on a pinar, wmcn reaa;
"This store will be closed at noon to
day. Martin & Co."
All the customers were gone.
k 1 j
B. REEVE
Players and the Eclectic Fika Qoenseay
jmiMIMMMMMMtM
Martin himself was evidently Tery
nervous and very much alarmed. In
deed, no one could blame him for
that Merely to have been singled out
by this amazing master criminal was
enough to cause panic. Already he
had engaged detectives, prepared for
whatever might happen, and they had
advised him tq leave the diamonds in
the counter, clear the store and let
the crooks try anything, if they dared.
Just back of us, and around the cor
ner, as we came in, we had noticed a
limousine which had driven up. Three
faultlessly attired dandies had entered
a doorway down the street, as we
learned afterward, apparently going to
a fashionable tailor's which occupied
the second floor of the old-fashioned
building, the first floor having been
renovated and made ready for renting
Had we .been there a moment sooner
we might have seen, I suppose, that
one of them nodded to a taxicab driv
er, who was standing at a public hack
stand a few feet up the block. The
driver nodded unostentatiously back
at tbe man.
In spite of the excitement, Kennedy
quietly examined tbe showcase, which
was, indeed, a veritable treasure store
of brilliants.
Slowly the hands of the clock came
nearer together at noon.
We all gathered about the showcase,
with its glittering hoard of wealth,
forming a circle at a respectable dis
tance. In deep-lunged tones the clock
played the chords written, I believe,
by Handel. Then it began striking.
Nothing had happened.
We all breathed a sigh of relief.
Well, it is still there:" exclaimed
Martin, pointing at the showcase with
a forced laugh.
Suddenly came a rending and crash
ing sound. It seemed as ff the very
floor on which wt stood was giving
way.
The showcase, with all its priceless
contents, went smashing into the cel
lar below.
The flooring beneath the case had
been cut through!
All crowded forward, gazing at the
black, yawning cavern. .
Down below, three men, covered
with smocks and their faces hidden
by masks, had knocked the props
away from the ceiling of the cellar,
whieb tbey had sawed almost throagh
at their leisure, aad the howcase had
landed eight r sea feet below, skiv
ered iate a tnousaad bits.
A volley of shets whizzed past us.
and anetber. While one crook was
hastily stuffing the untold wealth of
jewels info a burlap bag the others
had drawn revolvers aad were firing
tip through the hole in the floer des
peratcly.
"Look out!" cried someone behind
us before we could recover from our
first surprise and return the fire.
One of the desperadoes had taken n
bomb from under his smock, lighted it
and thrown it up thnmirh tlie holp in
I lie floor.
It sailed up over our heads and land
ed near our little groupon the floor.
Iho fuse sputtering ominously.
I heard an exclamation of fear from
Elaine.
Kennedy had pushed his way past
us and picked up the deadly infernal
machine in his hare hands.
j I watched him, fascinated. As near
I io lio ftnrnil ho nnnrnnftioit tllo linlo in
the floor, still holding the thing off at
arm's length. Would he never throw
it?
He was coolly holding it, allowing
the fuse to burn down closer to the
explosion point.
It was now within less than an irich
of sure death.
Suddenly he raised it and hurled the
j deadly thing down through the hole.
We could hear the imprecations of
the crooks as it struck the cellar floor,
near them.
"Leave the store quick!" rang out
Kennedy's voice.
Down below the crooks were beat
ing a hasty retreat through secret
entrance which they had effected. -
"The bag! The bag!" we could
hear one of them bellow. -
"The bomb run!" cried another
voice gruffly.
The explosion that followed lifted
uS fairlv off our feet.
j As the smoke from the explosion
cleared away, Kennedy could b- seen,
tVi Vnf tn mn
the first to run forward.
Meanwhile Martin's detectives had
rushed down a flight of back stairs
that led into a coal cellar. With coal
shovels and bars, anything they could
lay hands on, they attacked the door
that opened forward from the coal cel
lar into the front basement where
the robbers had been. i
A moment Kennedy and Bennett
paused on the brink of the abyss
which the bomb bad made, waiting for
the smoke to decrease. Then they
began to climb down cautioucly over
the piled-up wreckage.
The explosion bad set the basement
afire, but tbe fire had not gained much
headway by the time they reached the
basement. . Quickly Kennedy ran to
tbe door into the coal cellar ; and
opened it.
From the other side Martin, fol
lowed by the police and tbe detec
tives, burst in. . . '
"Fire!" cried one of tbe policemen,
leaping back to turn in an alarm from
the special apparatus upstairs. '
; All except Martin began beating oat
the flames, using - such weapons aa
they already , held In their, bands to
batter down tbe door.
To Martin there was one thing para
mountthe jewels.
In the midst of the confusion, Elaine,
closely followed by her friend, Susie,
made her way fearlessly into the stifle
of smoke down the stair.
."There are your Jewels, Mr. Martin,"
Cried Kennedy, kicking the precious
burlap bag with his foot aa If it had
been so much ordinary merchandise,
and turning toward what was In his
mind the most important thing at
stake the direction taken by the
agents of the Clutching Hand.
"Thank heaven!" ejaculated Martin,
fairly pouncing on the bag and tearing
it open. "They didn't get away with
them after all!" he exclaimed, exam
ining the contents with satisfaction.
Events were moving rapidly.
The limousine bad been standing in
nocently enough at the curb near the
corner, with the taxicab close be
hind it
Less than ten minutes after they
had entered, three well-dressed men
came out of the vacant shop,, appar
ently from the tailor's above, and
climbed leisurely into their car.
As the last one entered, he half
turned to the taxicab driver, hiding
from passers-by the sign of the Clutch
ing Hand, which the taxicab driver re
turned in the same manner. Then the
big car whirled up the avenue.
All this we learned later from a
street sweeper who was at work near
by.
,
Down below, while the police and
detectives were putting out the fire,
Kennedy was examining the wall of
the cellar, looking for the spot where
the crooks had escaped.
"A secret door!" he exclaimed, as
he paused after tapping along the wall
to determine its character. "You can
see how the force of the explosion has
loosened it."
Sure enough, when he pointed it out
to us, it was plainly visible. One of
the detectives picked up a crowbar and
others, still with the hastily selected
Implements they had seized to fight
the fire, started in to pry it open.
As it yielded Kennedy rushed his
way through: Elaine, always utterly
fearless, followed. Then the rest of
us went through.
There seemed to. be nothing, how
ever, that would help us In the cellar
next door, and Kennedy mounted the
steps of a stairway in the rear.
The stairway led to a sortjof store
room, full of barrels and boxes, but
otherwise characterless. When I ar
rived Kennedys was gingerly holding
up the smoeks which the crooks had
worn.
"We're oa the right tral," eottaieat
d Elaisc as be showed them te her,
"but where do you nrapose the ewa
ers are?"
Craig shrugged his shoulders and
gave a quick look about. "Evidently
they came in from and went away by
the street." he observed, hurryimg to
the door, followed ky Elaine.
On the sidewalk he gazed . up the
avenue, then- catching sight of the
street cleaner, called to him.
"Yes, sor," replied the man. stolidly,
looking up from his work. "I see three
gintlemen come out and get into an
astomcbile."
"Which way did they go?" asked
Kennedy.
For answer the man jerked his
thumb over his shoulder in the general
direction uptown.
With keen glance, Kennedy strained
his eyes. Far up the avenue he could
descry the car threading Its way in
and ou: among the others, just about
disappearing.
A moment later Craig caught sight
of the vacant taxicab and ,'ooked his
finger at the driver, who answered
promptly by cranking his engine.
"You saw that limousine standing
here?" asked Craig.
"Yes," nodded the chauffeur, with a
show of alertness.
"Well, follow it," ordered Kennedy,
jumping into the cab.
"Yes. sir."
Craig was just about to close the
door when a slight figure flashed past
us and a dainty foot was placed on the
step.
"Please. Mr. Kennedy," pleaded
Elaine, "let me go. They may lead to
my father's slayer."
She said it so earnestly that Craig
could scarcely have resisted if he, had
wanted to do so.
Just as Elaine and Kennedy were
moving off I came out of the vacant
store, with Bennett and the detectives.
"Craig!" I cried. "Where are you
going?"
Kennedy stuck his head out of the
window, and I am quite sure that he
was not altogether displeased that I
was not with him.
"Chasing that limousine," he shout
ed back. "Follow us in another car."
A moment later he and Elaine were
gone.
Bennett and I looked about.
: "There are a couple of cabs down
there." I pointed out at the other end
of the block. "I'll take one, you take
the ether." . ..
Who, besides Bennett, went in the
other car I don't know, but It made no
difference, for we soon lost them. Our
driver, however, was a really clever
fellow. Far ahead now we could see
the limousine drive around a corner,
making a dangerous swerve, Ken
nedy's cab followed, skidding danger
ously near a pole. . , j
put the taxicab was no 'match for
the powerful limousine. On uptown
they went, the only thing preventing
the limousine from escaping being the
fear of pursuit by traffic police If the
driver let out speed. They were eon
tent to manage to keep Just far enough
ahead to be put of danger of having
Kennedy overhaul them. As for us,
we followed aa beat we could, on up
town, oast the city Una, and oat into
the country. ' '
; There Kennedy lost sight alto
gether of the car he was trailing.
Worse .than tha, we lost sight of
Kennedy. Still We kept eo blindly,
trusting to luck and common snse In
picking the road.
I was peering ahead over the
driver's shoulder, the window down,
trying to direct him, when we ap
proached a tork in the road. Here
was a dilemma which must be decided
at once, rightly or wrongly.
As we neared the crossroad I gave
an involuntary exclamation. Beside
tbe road, almost on It, lay the figure
of a man. Onr driver pulled np with a
jerk and I was ont of the car In an instant.
There lay Kennedy! Someone had
blackjacked him. lie waa groaning
and just beginning to show signs of
consciousness as I bent' over.
"What's the matter, old man?" I
asked, helping him to his feet.
He looked about dazed a moment,
then seeing me and comprehending, he
pointed excitedly, but vaguely.
"Elaine!" he cried. "They've kid
naped Elaine!"
What had really happened, as we
learned later from Elaiue and others,
was that when the crossroads was
reached the three crooks in the limou
sine had stopped long enough to speak
to an accomplice stationed there, ac
cording to their plan for a getaway.
He was a tough-looking individual who
might have been hoboing it to tbe city.
When, a, few minutes later, Ken
nedy and Elaine had approached the
fork, their driver had slowed up, as if
, y 1
i
KMW-- . .. ..MtfSlH WWW . , j
j (. . hw
Kennedy Quietly Examined the Showcase.
; in doubt nhich way to go. Craig had
j stuck his head out of the window, as
j I had done, and, seeing the crossroads,
I had told the chauffeur to stop. There
! stood the hobo.
i "Did a car pass here, just now a
big car?" called Craig.
The man put his hand to bis ear, as
if only half comprehending.
"Which way did the big car go?" re
peated Kennedy. '
The hobo approached the taxicab
sullenly, as if he bad a grudge against
cars in general. ,
i One question after another elicited
little that could be construed as intel
ligence. If Craig had only been able
to see, he would have found out that,
with his back toward the taxicab
driver, the hobo held one hand behind
him and made the sign of the Clutch
ing Hand, glancing surreptitiously at
the driver to catch the answering sign,
while Craig gazed earnestly up the
two roads.
! At last Craig gave him up as hope
j less. " "Well go ahead that way," be
indicated, picking the most likely road.
As the chauffeur was about to start
he stalled his engine.
"Hurry!" urged Craig, exasperated
at the delays.
The driver got out and tried to crank
the engine. Again and again he turned
it over, but somehow it refused to
start. Then be lifted the hood and be
gau to tinker.'
"What's the matter?" asked Craig,
impatiently jumping out' and bending
over the engine, too.
The driver shrugged his shoulders.
"Must be something wrong with tbe
ignition, -I guess," he replied.
Kennedy looked the car over hastily.
"I can't see anything wrong," he
frowned. ; -
"Well, there Is," growled the driver.
Precious , minutes were speeding
away as they argued. Finally with, his
characteristic energy, Kennedy pot the
taxicab driver aside. y,
J "Let me try it," he said. "Miss
Dodge, will yon arrange that park
and throttle?"
Elaine, equal to anything, did so, and
Craig bent down and cranked the en
gine. . It started on the first spin,
"See;" he exclaimed. "There wasn't
anything, after all."
" He took a step toward the taxicab. '
"Mr. Kennedy look out!" cried
Elaine.' . ,
Craig turned. But it was toe late.
The rough-looking fellow lad'-awak-ened
to life. Suddenly he stepped np
behind Kennedy with a blackjack. As
tbe heavy weight descended : Craig
Crumpled up on tbe ground uncon
scious. ' i. .v ""
With a scream, Elaine turned and
started to run. But the chauffeur
aeised her arm. " " " " '
"Bay, bo," he asked et the rough fel
low,! "what does Clutching Hand want
with her? Quickl There's another
oab likely to be along In a moment
with that fellow Jameson In it" '
The rough fellow, with an oath,
aeised her and dragged her into the
taxicab. "Go ahead!" he growled, in
dicating the road.
' And away they, sped, leaving Ken
nedy unconscious, on the side of the
road, where we found him.
e e
"What are we to do?" I asked help
lessly of Kennedy, when we had at
last got him on bis feet
His head still ringing from the force
of the blow of the blackjack, Craig
stooped down, then knelt in the dust
of the road, then ran ahead a bit,
wh re it was somewhat muddy.
"Which way -which way?" he mut
tered to himself.
I thought perhaps the blow bud af
fected him and leaned over to see
what he was doing. Instead, be was
studying the marks made 'by the tire
of the Clutching Hand cab.
More slowly now and carefully, we
proceeded, for a mistake meant losing
the trail of Elaine.
We came to another crossroads and
the driver glanced at Craig. "Stop!"
he ordered.
In another instant he was down in
the dirt, examining the road for marks.
"That way!" he indicated, leaping
back to the running board.
We piled back into the car and pro
ceeded under Kennedy's direction, as
fast as he would permit. So it con
tinued, perhaps for a couple of hours.
At last Kennedy stopped the cab
and slowly directed the driver to veer
into an open space that looked partic
ularly lonesome. Near It stood a one
story brick factory building, closed,
but not abandoned.
As I looked about at the unattrac
tive scene, Kennedy already was down
on bis knees in the dirt again, study
ing the tire tracks. They were all
confused, showing that the taxicab
we were following had evidently
backed in and turned several times
before going on.
"Crossed by another set of tire
tracks!" he exclaimed excitedly,
studying closer. "That must have
been the limousine, waiting."
Laboriously he was following the
course of the cars in the open space,
when one word escaped him, "Foot
prints!" He was up and off in a moment, be
fore -we could .Imagine what he was
after. We had got out of the cab,
and f folio wed him as, down to the
very shore of a sort of cove or bay,
he went. There lay a rusty, discard
ed boiler on the. beach, half sub
merged Ja the rising tide. At this
tank the - footprints seemed te go
right down the sand and into the
waves, which were slowly obliterating
them. Kennedy gazed out as if to
make out a possible boat on the hori
zon where the cove widened out,
"Look!" I cried. ;
Further down the shore, a few feet,
1 had discovered the same prints, go
ing in the opposite direction, back to
ward the place from which he had
just ceme. I started to follow them
but soon found myself alone, , Ken
nedy had paused beside the eld boiler
-V "What is it?" I asked, retracing oiy
steps. " '
He didf not answer, but1 seemed to b"
listening. We listened also. There
certainly waa a most peculiar noise
inside that tank.
Was it a muffled scream1?
Kennedy reached down and picked
ap a" rock, bttttes the tank with a re
sounding- blow. -Aa the) eche died
down, he listened again.' '' -
Tea, there waa a souaA acream,
perhAp--woman's yoIm, tafnVlRt
unmistakable. -
looked at his lace inejaMgly.
Without a word I read ta It O con
flrmaOon of the thought that bad
Hashed into my talnd.-
, Elaine Dodge waa inside!
First had come the limousine, with
Its three bandits, te the spot fixed on
as a rendetvoqa. Later had come the
taxicab. As it hove into sight, the
three well-dressed crooks had drawn
revolvers, thinking perhaps the plan
for getting rid of Kennedy might pos
sibly have miscarried. But the taxi-
cab driver and the rough-faced fellow
had reassured them with the sign of
the Clutching Hand, and the revolvers
were lowered. -
As they parleyed hastily, the
roughneck and the fake chauffeur
lifted Elaine out of tbe taxi. She was
bound and gagged.
"Well, now we've got her, what shall
we do with her?" asked one.
"It's got to be quick. There's an
other cab," put in the driver.
"The deuce with that"
"The deuce with nothing," he re
turned. "That- fellow Kennedy's a
clever one. He may come to. If he
does, he won't miss us. Quick, now!"
"See," cried the third. "See that old
boiler down there at the edge of the
water? Why not put her in there?
No one'll ever think to look in such
a place."
With a hasty expression of approval,
the roughneck picked Elaine up bodily.
still struggling vainly, and together
1 they carried her, bound and gagged,
to the tank. The opening, which was
j toward the water, was small, but tbey
i managed, roughly, to thrust her in.
I A moment later and they had rolled
up a huge bowlder against tbe small
entrance, bracing it so that It would
be impossible for her to get out from
the inside. Then they drove off hast
ily. Frantically Elaine managed to
loosen the gag. She screamed. Her
voice seemed to be bound around by
the iron walls as she was herself. She
shuddered. The water was risings
had reached her chest, and was still
rising, slowly, inexorably.
What was that? Silence? Or was
someone outside?
! Coollv. In snite of the emergency.
Kennedy took in the perilous situa
tion. The lower end of the boiler, which
was 'on a slant on the rapidly shelving
beach, was now completely under wa
ter and impossible to get at Besides,
the opening was small, too small.
Kennedy gazed about frantically
aad his eye caught the sign on the
factory:
OXVAri:TVT.WNE Vr,I.BIK CO.
f ,
"Come, Walter," he cried, running
up the shore. '
A mouv-nt later, breathless, we
reached the doorway. It was, ef
course, locked. Kennedy Whipped out
his revolver and several well-directed
shots through the keyhole smashed
the lock. We put our shoulders to It
and swung the door open, entering
the factory.
Beside a work bench stood two long
j cylinders, studded with bolts.
I "That's what I'm looking for," ex
: claimed Craig. "Here, Walter, take
! T11 Inba tha rtthar anil t'h
tubes and"
We ran, for there was no time to
lose. As nearly as I could estimate it
the water mist now be slowly closing
over Elaine.
"What is it?" I asked, as he joined
up the tubes from the tanks to the
peculiar hooklike apparatus he car
ried. "An oxyacetylene blowpipe," he mut
tered back feverishly. "Used for weld
ing and cutting, too," he added.
With a light he touched the nozzle,
Instantly a hissing, blinding flame
needle made the steel under it lncan
descent. The terrific heat from one
nozzle made the steel glow. The
stream of oxygen from the second
completely consumed the hot metal.
Kennedy was actually cutting out a
huge hole in the still exposed surface
of the tank all around, except for a
few inches, to prevent the heavy
piece from falling Inward.
As Kennedy carefully bent outvard
the section of the tank which he had
cut, he quickly reached down and
lifted Elaine, unconscious, out of the
water.
Gently he laid her on the sand. It
was the work of only a inoraent to cut
the cords that bound her hands.
There she lay, pale and still. Was
she dead?
Kennedy worked frantically to re
vive her. -
At last, slowly, the color seemed to
return to her pale Hps. Her eyelids
fluttered. Then her great, deep eyes
opened. ,-. :
. As she looked np and caught sight
of Craig bending anxlonsly over her,
she seemed to comprehend. For a mo-,,
ment both were silent. Then Elaine
reached up and took his hand. y '
"Craig," she whispered, "you
you've saved my life!" V : 11 '
Her tone was eloquent ' -
"Elaln V he whispered, still gating ,
down "fnto her wonderful eyes, "the, '
Clutciilug Hand shall vpay for this! It..
Is a fight to b finish between us!"
(TO BE CONTINUED.! , . ,