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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.)