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AUTHOR OF 'THE OCCASIONAL OFFENDER"
“THE WIRE TAPPERS," “GUN RUNNERS,” ETC.
NOVELIZED FROM THE PATHE PHOTO PLAY OF THE SAME NAME
L- COPYRIGHT. >v ARTHUR »I RINCI3.
SYNOPSIS.
On Windward Island Palidori intrigues
Mrs. Golden into an appearance of evil
winch causes Golden to capture and tor
ture the Italian by branding his face and
crushing his hand. Palidori floods the is
land and kidnaps Golden's little daughter
Margery. Twelve years later in New York
a Masked One rescues Margery from Le
gar and takes her to her father’s home.
Legar sends Golden a demand for the
chart. The coveted chart is lost in a
light between Manley and one of Legar’s
henchmen, but is recovered by the Laugh
ing Mask. Margerj' rescues the Laughing
Mask from the police. Manley finds Mar
gery not indifferent to his love. He saves
her from Mai Id’s poisoned arrows. Man
ley plans a mock funeral which fails to
accomplish the desired purpose, the cap
ture of the Iron Claw and his gang. Mar
gery Is saved from death at the hands of
the Iron Claw by the Laughing Mask. An
attempt by the Iron Claw to blow up the
O’Mara cottage is frustrated in the nick
of time. The Laughing Mask discloses
his Identity to Margery. Margery over
hears the poljce’a plan to take the Laugh
ing Mask prisoner and hastens to warn
him. They escape both the police and
the Iron Claw. Later the Laughing Mask
is almost taken while with Margery at
her home. He eludes capture; Margery's
father tells her that the Mask has met
death. A mysterious woman frightens
Legar’s henchman Into a promise of con
fession to clear the Laughing Mask. She
meets Margery and discloses herself to
that young lady as David Manley. Le
gar and his gang get possession of some
loot and escape, taking Margery with
them. The Laughing Mask adds to his
rnysteriousness by once more saving her
from death. Margery rescues the chart
of the Van Horn loot. The police attempt
to arrest David as the Laughing Mask.
The Mask appears on the scene. David
saves Margery and her friends from Le
gar’s henchmen, one of whom loses his
life trying to escape. The police captain
teaches Margery the heliograph. In an
effort to save David she is almost trapped
by Legar. The Laughing Mask comes to
her aid. The code saves them. David
discovers a diagram which is the means
of averting the deaths of the Goldens and
their guests at a lawn banquet.
EIGHTEENTH EPISODE
The Green-Eyed God
"I thought you had discarded that
theory, Captain Brackett,” Margery
Col den said in surprised tones. “I
know you discovered some strongly
-convincing evidence, but when, with
our own eyes, we saw both David
Manley and the Laughing Mask in the
same room at the same time, it stands
to reason they must be different per
sons.” Then she added softly to her
self, “And I am sorry it turned out
that way.”
Just then one of the captain’s men
entered the room with news of a star
tling character written large on his
face.
“Well, Jenkins, what is it?" tersely
demanded his superior, and then ns
the self-important sleuth glanced at
Margery, he added, “Miss Golden is in
on this as much as any of us."
“Well, you see it happened like
this,” he began in a meditative voice,
“I had been doin’ a four-hour stretch
down at the four corners. It was
the blackest kind of a night and there
wasn’t even a stray rabbit for com
pany. I hadn’t seen anything that
looked suspicious, so when Donovan
comes along to spell me off, I thought
I’d stop in a minute for a chat with
Parker, the head gardeper down at
Wilken’s place. I found the old man
and his son, .Toe, in the kitchen and
they gave me a little somethin’ to
take the dust out of my throat. We
was settin’ there quiet and peaceable,
when all of a sudden I seen old Par
ker starin’ at the open winder with
the eyes bulgin’ out of his head. I
took a squint myself and I'll be
blamed if that slippery customer with
the comic mask wasn’t lookin’ right
into my eyes.
“ ‘Jenkins,’ he says, quite ealmlike,
'you’re a good man in your way, so
I thought I’d tip you off that a couple
of the Iron Claw’s-second-story workers
are pullin’ off a job right in this house
while you’re guzzling your beer. If
you nab those, two porch-climbers,’ he
says, ’it ought to help thnt promotion
ye’re lookin’ for.’ ”
“Then he gives a little laugh an’
with that he was gone. I thought he
was kiddin’ me along and I was pretty
“Miss Wilkens Was Sleeping Like a
Baby.”
sore by that time. I makes a dive
through the winder with Joe dose
behind me, but that masked Jerry
had disappeared like he always does."
“We did the best we could, chief,
an’ you ought to know it ain't no
cinch to round up the Laughin’ Mask.
Well —as I was sayin’, he made a
clean getaway and me and Joe decid
ed to take a look through the house
to make sure he was only stringin’
us. We went up them front stairs
like a couple of gum-shoe artists an’
then we seen somethin’ was wrong.
The door of the room where Miss
Wilkens sleeps stood open a little way
| and I caught the glim of a flashlight
| near where she keeps her jewel case.
I shoved my hand just inside the door
and pushed the light button. .\ml
there we was face to face with a
I couple of the most surprised and
toughest lookin’ crooks that I ever
met up with. Miss Wilkens was lyin’
there in the bed steepin’ like a baby.”
’’Them two housebreakin’ agents of
Legar’s was as fuH of fight as a cou
ple of Kilkenny cats. They whipped
out their guns, and one of them fleshed
me in the shoulder, while the other
fetched .Toe a crack over the head
that put him to sleep for a minute. By
the time Miss Wilkens had got her
eyes open an’ let out a scared screech
they was through the winder and
climbin’ down the latticework.”
“Wait a minute, Jenkins,” Captain
Brackett interrupted. “Your story
may be very interesting, but what has
this part of it got to do with the
Laughing Mask?”
“I was just cornin’ to that,” his sub
ordinate replied in a somewhat ag
grieved tone. “We got out the front
door just as the thugs was makin’
tracks for a racin’ car they had hid
den off to one side of the road. Old
man Parker tried to stop ’em, but he
got a wallop on the jaw that knocked
him stiff. They jumps into the car
and sends her off with the self-starter.
We thought they was gone all right,
when that automobile stops up with a
jerk that pretty near put them motor
bandits over the glass front. We was
Johnny on the spot then, an’ we col
lared our men in a hurry. An’ say,
what do you think put the kibosh on
that joy ride getaway?”
“The tiling that brought them
crooks to a standstill was a rope as
thiclc as my arm, with one end tied
to the rear axle of the automobile
and the other end made to a big
tree. The wheels was buzzin’ round,
but they wasn’t gettin’ nowhere. An’
the man who rigged np the contrap
tion for stoppin’ those crooks must
have been that Laughin’ Mask ye’re
after. We found those jailbirds had
pretty bad records an’ the cotnmish
said I was likely to get some good
news in a couple of days. Perhaps
this feller with the mask ain’t as bad
as you think, chief.”
“Why doesn’t he come out into the
open, then, and explain these charges
staiKlin’ against him, instead of
sneakin’ around like a masked safe
blower?” he demanded with consid
erable heat.
“I didn’t know you wanted me to
begin backwards,” he said in ruffled
tones. “I’ve got somethin’ wortli
talkin’ about all right, if you’ll give
me a chance to tell it.”
“Please tell us everything that hap
pened, Jenkins,” Margery interposed
“Well, it certainly was some scrap,
Miss Golden,” answered the thief
catcher, addressing himself exclusive
ly to the diplomatic girl, “an’ the
strangest part of the whole thing hap
pened after I got the bracelets on
them crooks and left Joe to watch
them, while I went up to the house to
see if anything was missin’.”
“Just ns I reached the house,” he
quickly resumed, “the moon broke
through the clouds an’ I stood lookin’
into the garden, for I had a hunch
that one-armed desperado might be
hangin’ around to superintend that
Job his men tried to pull off. Then,
all at once, I seen Miss Wilkens,
dressed in a kind of lace wrapper,
standin’ like a ghost down at the fur
ther end of the garden. An’ she
wasn’t alone hy a long shot. Talkin’
to her, free and easy as if he’d known
her all his life, was that daredevil,
Laughin’ Mask. I felt sort of obliged
to him for tippin’ me off about Le
gar’s second-story workers, but I
knew you was anxious to have a little
talk with him, so I commences to
sneak up on them night prowlers like
an old Tom would go after a couple
of sparrows. I had covered about
half the distance when that masked
Borneo grabs Miss Wilkens in his
arms an’ commences to kiss her like a
happy bridegroom. An’ she keeps
coinin’ right back for more. I was
that surprised I must have let my
foot down heavy, for Ihey broke apart
and he goes through the hedge like a
shot. When I comes up on the run
there was only Miss Wilkens an’ when
I told her she was harborin’ a man
wanted by the law, she froze me up
with a haughty stare.
“ ‘You must have been drinkin’, of
ficer,’ she says. ‘I just came out for a
minute to calm my nerves after all
that excitement an' the only person
I've seen Is an extremely rude police
man.’
“I don’t believe a word of the last
part of your story,” Margery cried in
a voice perilously close to tears. “I
don’t believe the Laughing Mask was
promenading about that garden with
a strange young woman at midnight.”
“We’ll settle that when the time
comes,” said the police captain, “hut
right now young Manley is the one
that needs watehin’. I thought may
be you'd feel like takin’ me down
where he’s stayin’ In your car.”
THE DOUGLAS ENTEKPKISE, DOUGLAS, GEUKUIA, NOV. 4 I»M>.
Anxious to do anything which might
tend to clear up the harassing doubts j
preying upon her mind, Margery wil- 1
lingly acquiesced in this plan. A iit- j
tie later the speedy, gray roadster
containing the determined police cap
tain and the troubled-faced girl-drew
up just around the bend of the road
beyond the Kicks homestead, where
David Manley had taken up his abode
since his abrupt departure from the ;
manor house of iiis former employer, i
Suddenly Margery felt her heart j
quicken as she saw a familiar figure,
with dejectedly drooping shoulders,
cutting across the fields in the diree- 1
tion of Seven Oaks Hill. The keen
eyed officer caught sight of his quarry
at almost the same moment.
“There’s our man now,” he said
quickly, “and it's up to us to keep
him in sight every minute.”
Stealthily the slender girl and the |
burly captain, slipping from cover to
cover, shadowed the abstracted Man
ley, who was apparently too occupied
with his thoughts to be at all on his'
guard. He finallv reached the sum
mit of the hill and made straight for
the lone bowlder, where on a previous
occasion the Laughing Mask hud mys
teriously eluded the hotly pursuing
police captain. His trailers dodged
into a neur-by thicket and breathless
ly waited the outcome of this strange
procedure.
Nor had they long to wait. A few
tense moments elapsed after David
Manley disappeared from view behind
the bowlder and then another figure
emerged from in back of that stone
concealment. The features of the new
comer were shrouded by a yellow and
grotesquely laughing mask.
Through that opening the two shad
owers of the Laughing Mask saw him
advancing toward a rose-mantled sum
merhouse at the end of a shaded
walk. They saw a graceful girl, her
flowerlike face aglow with eager ex
pectation, suddenly emerge from the
summerhouse and run to meet him
with outstretched arms. Then as the
two figures met for a moment in a
close embrace a sharp cry of pent-up
anguish burst from the white lips of
Margery Golden.
As that soul-racked cry reached his
ears, the perfidious masker broke from
“They Were as Full of Fight as a Couple of Kilkenny Cats.”
the embrace of his companion and
stood gazing in startled surprise in
the direction from which it came. At
that moment a thick-set figure came
catapulting through the hedge and
bore down upon the Laughing Mask
like a humun cannon ball. The exas
perated police captain, realizing he
could no longef hope to take his ene
my by surprise, had staked everything
on this sudden rush. But the nimble
footed fugitive was off like a sprinter
trying to beat a record, and by the
time he reached the road he had
gained a wide leap over his lumbering
pursuer, who shortly gave up the
chase and slowly retraced his steps,
blowing like a winded truck horse.
“This is the second time you’ve har
bored that criminal,” he barked at the
proudly erect young woman who stood
facing Margery Golden, “an’ as an of
ficer of the law I give you warning
it will be worse for you if you don't
tell us where he keeps himself under
cover.”
“I shall tell you nothing,” answered
the openly defiant girl, “your bully
ing threats do not frighten me in the
least, and I shall see that your in
suiting conduct is reported to the
proper authorities.^
With this parting shot the unruf
fled girl deliberately turned her back
on the raging police captain and, with
quiet dignity, made her way toward
the white-pillared mansion. Nothing
remained for that utterly routed arm
of the law but to withdraw from the
field of this disastrous verbal battle
with the best grace lie could muster,
but already, in his somewhat limited
range of mental activity, he had de
vised a new scheme for trapping- the
elusive masquerader, whose immedi
ate capture he was more grimly de
termined upon than ever.
To his surprise Margery Golden
promptly and steadfastly rebelled at
the part which he had chosen for her
to play in the consummation of this
scheme, which savored to a certain
degree of unscrupulous trickery. It
was only by fanning the smoldering
jealousy of the sorely tried girl that
he was at last able to wring from her
a reluctant consent to do his bidding.
“The chances are he won’t leave
that good-lookin’ doll for a minute,
even though he thinks you are in ter
rible canger,” had been his argument,
which finally carried the day. Fear
ing that his hesitating confederate
might exercise her woman’s preroga
tive of suddenly changing her mind,
the wily strategist immediately put
the first part of his plan into execu
tion. He went to the small mahogany
writing desk standing in one corner
of the gunroom and busied himself
in clumsily guiding the pen held in
his thick fingers over a half-sheet of
notepaper.
“This ought to do the trick if any
thing will,” he complacently an
nounced, swinging about in his chair
after a few moments of laborious ef
fort, “now let’s get this tiling straight.
I’ve signed Legar’s name to this here
billydoo, and it’s just about the way
he’d have written it himself. It's ad
dressed to Dutch Prank in New York,
and it says Legar lias rigged up a
plant to decoy you down to Wharton’s
Quarry at four o’clock this after
noon. an’ he wants a couple of his
strong-arm men sent right out to help
puli off tlie abductin’ job, and carry
you back to the city. Now we’ll take
this fake message out to that big rock
where we’ve seen the Laughing Mask
hangin’ aroun’ an’ drop it in plain
sight, kind of careless like, as though
it had slipped out of Legar’s pocket.
Then if our man comes along an’ he
ain’t too much taken up with his new
lady friend, lie’s pretty likely to swal
low this bait, hook an’ sinker, an’ if
he goes down to Wharton's quarry at
four o’clock this afternoon to give you
a hand like he used to do lie’s goln’
to get the biggest surprise party of
his life.”
When the stocky captain of police
having “planted” his forged decoy in
a conspicuous spot near the lone
bowlder, returned to the waiting
girl in the low-slung car, his face
was unmistakably stamped with self
satisfaction.
* * * * * •
The jubilant police officer might
have lost some of his confidence in
the success of his plan had he known
that from behind a sheltering thicket
two pairs of evil eyes had watched
his every movement from the time
the gray car had stopped by the road
side. Now that the coast was clear
there emerged from that thicket a
man with a wolfish, scar-marked face,
who stood waiting while his blond
lieutenant retrieved the white slip of
paper intended to entrap the Laugh
ing Mask. But scarcely had these
i repellent lawbreakers left their cover
: when the thicket was again occupied
I by a stealthily moving figure.
| The newcomer, straining to over
hear the conversation between Jules
Legnr and Dutch Frank, wore that
familiar and derisive mask of yellow.
“It’s a trap to get our masked
friend down to Wharton’s quarry,
where the bunch is waiting to gather
j him in,” said Legar.
"I haven’t got any love for that med
j dling masker, but this is too good a
I chance to miss. I’ve got some heav
| ier scores than his to settle, and right
now is the time to do it.”
With a cold chill of apprehension
the Laughing Mask remembered he
had no method of reaching the dis
j taut quarry except by foot, and long
before he Could hope to reach his
i destination Legar would have had
| ample time to carry out his fiendish
; purpose. But anything was better
! than this maddening inaction, and
although realizing the futility of his
! course he raced frantically along the
! road through the dust clouds raised
! by the black automobile, fast disap
■ pearing in the distance.
That swiftly moving conveyance
i bearing Legar and his vicious follow-
I er turned off into a seldom used wood
I road and shortly afterward came to a
! stop a little way back of the steep
j walled granite quarry. As Legar
peered over the edge of the perpen
dicular cliff, from which great blocks
of stone had been sheared away by
powerful explosives, an evil smile of
triumph distorted his scar-furrowed
i face. For just beneath him were the
figures of the portly police captain and
two of his men crouching behind a
ponderous upright slab of granite.
Standing a little apart from the others
was the sober-faced daughter of his
long-hated enemy.
He saw the authoritative officer mo
tion the dejected girl Into the hiding
place, and as with apparent reluct
ance she obeyed this mute signal the
iron-clawed spy drew back from the
cliff-edge and rejoined his companion,
who was waiting by the automobile.
“They're down there, all right,”
Legar savagely exulted, in response
to the questioning look of Dutch
Frank, “and when we blow ont the
side of that cliff they are going to
get crushed like rats in a trap.”
“Then we can croak that hunch
whenever you’re ready, gov’nor,” an
swered the blond gunman, with the
red lust of murder In his eyes. “I had
Descended With Terrific Impact on the Watchman’s Skull.
a look aroun’, an’ the switch explod
in’ the big blast is in that shanty just
up the way. I seen it when I took a
peek in the winder. That dago watch
man is sittin’ right over it, but I’ve
got somethin’ here that ought to put
him to sleep for a while.”
He produced from one of his pock
ets a heavy blackjack, and this ef
fective method of disposing of the
quarry guard meeting with Legar’s
approval, the two conspirators moved
in the direction of the nearby shanty.
But even at that moment fate or
dained the happening of a certain in
cident Which tended to give Legar’s
proposed victims, crouching at the
foot of that great wall of granite, a
barely possible chance for their lives.
And in that unexpected incident the
Laughing Mask took the leading part.
As, completely exhausted from his
first hurst of speed*, he stumbled fal
teringl.v along the dust-choking road
toward Wharton’s quarry, he had al
most relinquished hope of being in
time to warn the imperiled girl, whose !
self-appointed protector he had been, j
**•**•*!
Then Laughing Mask in his despair
heard the hoarse and repented cough- ;
ing of an automobile horn as the ini- ,
patient driver of a car rapidly ap
proaching from behind signaled for'
a clear road. But instead of heed- j
ing those raucous notes of warning
tlie Laughing Mask swung about and.
planting himself in the middle of the
highway, resolutely faced the oncom
ing automobile. With a sudden grind
ing of brakes the surprised and
highly incensed driver of that car
brought it to a jarring stop within
a few scant feet of the determined
figure disputing its passage. As the
man at the steering wheel caught
sight of the yellow mask covering the
face of that figure he quickly fished
under the seat and produced n heavy
wrench.
“You can’t pull this hold-up stuff
on me and get away with it,” he
growled angrily.
“I’m not holding you up,” came the
quick answer, “but I’ve got to get to
the stone quarry down the road and
get there in a hurry. It’s a matter of
life and death!”
“L- don’t fall for that bunk,” the
driver retorted sharply; “get there
if you want to, but not in this car.”
The Laughing Mask realized every
second was precious and that the
other obstinately believed him a high
way robber.
“Perhaps this will help persunde
you to change your mind.” he cried
as he drew a black automatic and
sprang upon the running board of the
automobile. Thrusting the muzzle of
the revolver against the startled man,
he rapped out in tones that precluded
further argument, “Now drive like the
devil for Wharton’s quarry or I’ll emp
ty this gun into you!”
There was no disputing that insist
ently prodding revolver, and the car
shot forward as the overawed driver
realized the desperate man In the
mask meant business. It would be
but a matter of a few moments be
fore that speeding, swaying car cov
ered the remaining distance, but even
In that brief lapse of time Jules Legar
might succeed in carrying out his ter
rible plan of revenue, For at that
instant the scarred outlaw knocked
sharply on the sagging door of the
watchman’s shanty with his.lron hook, |
while Dutch Frank slipped out of
sight behind one side of the roughly
boarded structure. There came the
sound of shuffling feet and then the
Italian pushed open the door and
stood interrogatively blinking at his
sinister caller.
“I'm on my way back to town,”
Legar said in a smooth voice, “and
somehow I got switched eff the main
road. I thought maybe you could set
me straight."
As the obliging and unsuspecting
foreigner advanced a few steps be
yond the shelter of his doorway in
order to point out the proper direc
tion inch by inch there crept up be
hind him a savage-faced gangster,
holding poised and ready to strike a
murderous-looking blackjack. Sudden
ly that bludgeon descended with ter
rific impact on the watchman’s skull,
sending him heavily to the ground,
where he lay inert and motionless.
As Dutch Frank stood with a cruel i
smile surveying the result of his!
handiwork Legar stepped over the;
still form as indifferently as though
it hail been a fallen tree-trunk.' Then,
as he was about to enter the shanty,
he paused for a moment on the thresh
old and flung a quick look over his
shoulder. What he saw brought a
snarling execration to his lips, for
i tearing down the precipitous Hill
| side toward the quarry caine an auto
! mobile driven at a death-courting pace.
I On the running-board of that madly
i lurching car precariously clung a man
wearing a yellow mask. As in a
swirling cloud of dust the car struck
the foot of the hill that masked fig
ure leaped wide to the side of the
road and, miraculously retaining his
footing, dashed into the qi’t. r.v, shewt
ing frantic warnings as h „■ came.
Then it was that Legar realized his
prey would escape hire unless he aci
ed without the loss of i second. He
swung about and darted through the
door of the shanty toward the pump
like electrical contrivance from widen
creeping wire tendrils extended to the
mined cliff. But before his lean
fingers could jam down the handle
and make the connection which would
produce the jumping blue spark of
deadly power Margery Golden and
the astounded detectives hud leaped
from their place of concealment and
hastily advanced to meet the masked
fugitive for whom they had been
lying In wait.
“Legar!” he panted brokenly.
“Legar is here —he’s firing a blast—
half the cliff will fall—hurry—hurry—
In God’s name —hurry !”
His words and manner carried In
stant and fearsome conviction, and
that startled group about him, madly
plunging for safety, barely reached
the highway when a deafening, rever
berating roar split the air and rocked
I the very ground under their feet.
For a moment the little group stood
in spellbound silence, gripped by the
suddenness of that mighty convul
i sion, and shaken by their own nerfr
approach to death. Then as the fine,
dust clouds accompanying the chaotic
upheaval gradually settled it came t*
the scattered sense of the ungrati-fnl
police captain that the much-wanted
Laughing Mask was standing close be
! side him. With a quick movement he
I clutched the wrist of that elusive fngL
five in his strong stubby fingers.
“I’ve got you this time,” he yelled
out in triumphant tones.
But instead of replying to this
somewhat premature statement the
masked prisoner made a quick nnd
dexterous tripping movement with his
1 foot, at the same time giving his
red-faced captor a violent shove that
sent him ludicrously sprawling on hi*
back. Then he darted into the quarry,
threading his way amid the great piles
of rock, with the police captain, who
bad now recovered his equilibrium,
and the two detectives in full cry at
his heels.
»****«•
Margery Golden breathlessly await
! ed the outcome of that chase, for she
i realized that if this man. who had
I just saved her from a terrible death,
was captured she would he respon
sible in large measure. The running
figures were lost to sight, hut pres
ently the Laughing Mask broke from
the cover of n groat rectangular rock
and. dashing past her to the opposite
side of the road, threw himself face
downward among the sheltering
bushes. The next moment his pursuer*
emerged from behind the rock anil
came pounding toward Margery
Golden.
“AVhich way dbl he go?” the gasp
ing police officer demanded of 'the girl
who held the fate of the Laughing
Mask in her hands. After an almost
imperceptible hesitation, she pointed
silently toward the bend of the road.
ITnrdly had the detectives, trailing
this fake scent at top speed, disap
peared around the turn than there
slipped out of the bashes a masked
figure bearing evident traces of ex
haustion. .Slowly he approached tin*
girl, into whose eyes crept a look of
stern reproach. Taking her band he
raised it tenderly to his lips.
“Won’t you try to believe in me
Just n little while longer?” he asked
a low, pleading tone.
Then without waiting for her an
swer he relinquished that soft, whtta
hand and ran up the road in Die op
posite direction from that tnken by
his pursuers.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)