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SYNOPSIS.
On Windward Island Palldorl intrigues
Mrs. Golden into an appearance of evil
which causes Golden to capture and tor
ture the Italian by branding his face and
crushing his hand. Palidorl floods the Is
-I'ind 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
fight between Manley and one of Legar’s
henchmen, but is recovered by the Laugh
ing Mask. Margery rescues the Laughing
Mask from he police. He saves her from
Mauki’s poisoned arrows. Margery 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 police’s plan to take the Laugh
ing Mask prisoner and hastens to warn
him. Hp eludes capture; Margery’s father
tells her that the Mask has met death.
A mysterious woman frightens Legar's
henchman into a promise of confession to
clear the Laughing Mask. She meets Mar
gery and discloses herself to that young
lady as David Manley. Legar and his
gang get possession of some loot and es
cape, taking Margery with them. The
Laughing Mask adds to his mysterious
ness by once more saving lief 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 Legar’s
henchmen, one of whom loses ids life try
ing to escape. The police captain teaches
Margery the heliograph. In an effort to
save David she is almost trapped by Le
gar. The Laughing Mask comes to her
aid. The code saves them. David dis
covers a diagram which is the means of
averting the deaths of the Goldens and
their guests at a lawn banquet. Brackett’s
man reports that while searching for the
Laughing Mask, that individual tips him
to a robbery by Legar’s men; and they
are captured. Brackett lays a trap for
the Laughing Mask, but Legar catches
the captain and his party. They are
saved from destruction only by tlie work
of the Mask. The Mask asks Margery’s
further trust.
NINETEENTH EPISODE
The Cave of Despair.
Margery Golden tvns naturally of a
happy disposition. Yet as she sat in
tiie June fragrance of the color
splashed rose garden and let her
thoughts dwell on the recent, events
which had so rudely shattered her
many cherished Ideals, the pensive
eyed girl could not repress a long
drawn sigh which betrayed only too
clearly her distress of mind. From a
branch overhead a liquid-noted robin
poured his melody of spring and glad
ness into the unheeding ears of the
silent and preoccupied figure on the
rustic bench.
Suddenly the feathered songster
ceased his joyous carol as Margery
heard the sound of approaching steps
on the graveled walk. The newcomer
stood looking wistfully down at the
sweet-faced girl whose golden hair
glinted in the shaft of sunlight filter
ing through the soft spring foliage.
She met his look with one of sur
prised inquiry.
“I hardly expected to see you here,
Davy, after all that has happened,”
she said in tones of gentle reproof.
‘‘l had to come, Margery,” he an
swered quietly, “I couldn’t stay away
from you any longer. Won’t you be
lieve that I am truly sorry for what
I have done and try to forgive me?”
The silent robin, which had been
regarding this masculine intruder
into its peaceful domain with some
uncertainty, now took wing in a sud
den flutter of apprehension. For at
>' ' ' v ' *'
He Slowly Raised the Yellow Visor.
that moment a heavy-featured indi
vidual had crept up back of the tree
with an alarming stealthiness of
manner. Unconscious of the pres
ence of the hidden eavesdropper, the
sad-eyed girl, after a little hesitation,
answered the impassioned plea of Da
vid Manley.
“I do forgive you,” she said in a
voice tremulous with emotion, and
then, as she saw a hopeful light flash
into the eyes of her penitent com
panion. she added in a firmer tone,
“but you must not expect too much
of me at first Davy. You have hurt
me deeply and it is best that you
stay away until the wound is quite
healed.”
“That shall be as you say,” he re
plied tenderly, “for you have given
Author of
"THE OCCA
SIONAL OF
FENDER.'THE
WIRE TAP
PERS," “GUN
runners; etc. ’
Novelized from
THE PATHE
PHOTO PLAY
OF THE
SAME NAME
a» ATTKU* STWHCW
me hope that some day you will let
me come back to you.”
Then he slowly took from his pocket
a folded square of note paper.
“I had almost forgotten to give this
to you,” he said, extending the paper
to the wondering girl. “I found it
fastened on the thorn bush near the
great bowlder on Seven Oaks hill. It
is addressed to you and I think it must
be from the Laughing Mask, for he
has been seen around there a number
of times.”
As Margery hastily glanced at the
penciled note she saw that Davy was
right in his conjecture, and he re
gained much that he had lost in her
affections as she realized what a
struggle It must have cost him to act
as message bearer for his masked
rival.
“I’ll trouble you to hand over that
letter, Miss Golden,” demanded Cap
tain Brackett in authoritative tones
as he stepped from his place of con
cealment. “I’ve had my doubts about
your wantin’ to hind that masked
criminal in the cell where he belongs
ever since you steered us wrong the
time he made his last getaway, an’
perhaps this little dockyment will help
throw some light on the subject.”
His beefy paw suddenly shot out
and firmly clutched her slender wrist.
But the resisting girl found a timely
ally in the person of David Manley,
who perceived that for reasons of her
own Margery did not wish to surren
der the note, and, with a quick move
ment snatched that object of conten
tion from her fingers and stuffed it in
his pocket.
The belligerent captain now ad
vanced threateningly upon the new
factor of tiiis unexpected resistance to
the majesty of the law.
“Come across with that paper, young
man,” he bellowed furiously, “or I’ll
show you what it means to interfere
with an officer performin’ his duty.”
Then as the calm-faced Davy ex
hibited no indications of complying
with this demand, the irate polieemqn
attempted to decide the issue by physi
cal force. Roughly throwing a pin
ioning arm about the defiant Manley,
he made a vigorous effort to extract
the much-coveted paper from his pris
oner’s pocket.
As the struggling figures thrashed
and tramped over the orderly flower
beds, Enoch Golden and two of Cap
tain Brackett’s men, who had heard
the sounds of the unequal combat,
came hurrying upon the scene. The
sigiit of these enemy re-enforce
ments acted upon the nearly ex
hausted Davy like a rowelled spur
upon the flanks of a jaded horse.
With a supreme effort, he wrenched
loose from the grasp of his heavy
handed captor and darted across the
stretch of velvet lawn toward the
spacious countryhouse, with the de
termined officers close at his heels.
Up the steps and through the open
door he scurried, and, gaining the
gunroom at the end of the hall,
slammed and bolted the heavy door
of that sanctuary in the very face of
his pursuers.
“Don't be foolish, Davy,” called out
Golden sharply, “you are making a
grave mistake in resisting the law and
you will have to suffer the consequen
ces unless you open this door imme
diately.”
As though in compliance with this
stern warning, the key grated in
the lock and the door swung slowly
inward. With a quick rush the be
sieging forces catapulted into the
gunroom, only to find it apparently
empty. Then, with a gasp of amazed
consternation they beheld a figure
which silently emerged from the
space between the swung-back door
and the wall. For that figure wore
an enshrouding mask of yellow
cambric and gripped in one hand
a heavy caliber revolver, which wa
vered in disconcerting fashion over
that startled group.
“I think Davy must be well beyond
recall by this time,” he said as he
slowly backed toward the door, “and
I will now leave you to your own de
vices.”
As he spoke the last word he
stepped into the hallway, and with
almost simultaneous movements
pulled the door shut after him and
locked it from the outside. Then
came a clamor of wrathful voices as
the caged detectives, smarting under
the indignities to which they had been
subjected, hurled themselves in un
availing fury against that sout ob
struction which barred their pursuit of
the boldly impudent masker.
But with the exception of a fair
haired girl waiting anxiously in the
rose garden there was no one in
sight about the well-kept grounds.
As in response to her eager inquiries,
her father told her of their humiliat
ing encounter with the masked inter
loper, who had miraculously taken the
place of the harried Manley, Mar
gery became conscious of the openly
suspicious gaze of the russet-faced po
lice captain.
“I don’t know what your motive
is, Miss Golden,” he said resentfully,
“but for some reason you have tried
all along to discredit my theory
THE DOUGLAS ENTERPRISE, DOUGLAS, GEORGIA
about Manley and the Laughing
Mask being the sume person. What
has just happened proves I am
right, for no two people could have
changed places between the time we
chased Manley into the gunroom and
that masked criminal opened the
door. No one came out of that win
dow and you know it as well as I
do.”
For a moment the puzzled girl took
rapid counsel with herself.
“I am afraid I shall have to dis
credit your theory again. Captain
Brackett,” she said in unequivocat
ing tones, “for David Manley did come
through that window and I saw him
with my own eyes.”
For a moment the heavy-featured
police officer stared at her in appar
ent disbelief, but Margery felt she
had twisted the truth in a good cause,
and presently he turned from her
clear, level gaze with the attitude of
a man who has completely lost his
bearings.
After lunch she slipped away from
the group sitting on the broad veranda,
discussing ways and means for the im
mediate capture of the Laughing
Mask, and taking a shortcut across the
fields, soon came in sight of the old
gray farmhouse.
Off to one side of the weather
beaten dwelling she saw Davy com
fortably sprawled in a fringed ham
mock slung between two gnarled apple
trees. Suddenly he sprang out of
the hammock and, after an irresolute
glance toward the house, set off at an
easy pace down the road in the direc
tion of Seven Oaks hill. Under the
deserted hammock Margery saw ,n
folded square of paper, which she con
cluded was the note Davy had so nar
rowly saved from the ruthless clutches
of Captain Brackett earlier in the day.
But instead of the penciled lines of
the Laughing Mask she saw a rough
diagram of a great bowlder with a
star bisecting its base-line. Under this
star were the words: ‘Tress at this
point until opening appears.” The
significance of the puzzling sketch
suddenly flashed into the mind of the
quick-witted girl. She knew that at
one time extensive coal mining opera
tions had been carried on at Seven
Oaks hill.
In these forgotten catacombs, an
entrance had apparently been effected
by the construction of a secret door
at the foot of the lone bowlder on
the hilltop. This would account for
the sudden disappearance of David
The Capture of Legar.
Manley behind that solitary rock on
a previous occasion, and the equally
sudden emergence of the Laughing
Mask a moment later. With a feel
ing that at last she had stumbled
upon a tangible clue, Margery sped
rapidly across the meadows in the
hope of reaching the undermined hill
before Davy should arrive by the
more circuitous route of the highway.
To her relief, the coast was still
clear when she reached her destina
tion, but when she had toiled half
way up the steep slope the unsuspect
ing object of her espionage came saun
tering leisurely along the shaded road.
Margery darted into a near-by laurel
thicket and from this opportune covert
kept an intent watch on the move
ments of the young man, who was now
picking his way along the crest of
the ridge. As he neared the isolated
bowlder he stopped, and then, appar
ently satisfied he was free from ob
servation, disappeared behind that
great sphere of stone. A moment
later, as the breathlessly waiting girl
half expected, there issued from be
hind that rocky screen a figure clad
in the familiar habiliments of the
Laughing Mask.
But at that instant another person
emerged from behind the bowlder and
descended the hillside within a few
yards of the thicket wh'ere the wide
eyed girl crouched in utter bewilder
ment. For the newcomer was none
other than David Manley himself and
the solution of that baffling mystery
seemed further off than ever.
At Bay.
The sadly perplexed girl stepped out
from her place of concealment and
stood watching the fast disappearing
figure of David Manley. To her fur
ther amazement, he seemed to be
headed directly for the Wllkens’ es
tate. What did it all mean? Deeply
occupied with these distressing
thoughts, Margery was oblivious to the
stealthy approach of four sinister fig
tires worming their way down the
slope toward her.
She would have been taken entirely
off her guard had not the heavy-foot
ed gangster known as Dutch Frank
clumsily loosed a heavy stone, which
went bounding and crashing down the
steep incline past the startled girl.
“Spread out, and he quick about it!”
Legar commanded sharply. “Tony, cut
her off from the house; stay where
you are, Dutch, in case she doubles
back; Mack, you watch the road; I’ll
get the girl myself.”
Then out of her desperation was
born a plan, uncertain and hazard
ous in its nature, but worth attempt
ing as a last resort. Gathering all
her strength for a Anal effort, she
headed directly for the lone bowlder
Standing on the rldge-top some
twenty yards above her. She cov
ered the intervening distance with a
frenzied burst of speed and threw
herself, panting convulsively, at the
base of the massive rock.
Then her bruised fingers came in
contact with a slight projection, on
which she saw painted the faint out
line of a red star, She instantly
pressed with all her strength against
this projection and, with a sharp click
of releasing holts, a slab of wood so
closely resembling the rock as to defy
detection suddenly dropped in its
grooved guides, leaving a narrow aper
ture in the face of the bowlder.
Even as Legar, his cruel face
aflame with evil passion, rushed upon
the defenseless girl, she slipped
through the strange opening, and
as she stumbled onto a rude wooden
platform some ingenious mechanism
sent the heavy panel shooting into
place behind her.
Beneath the platform on which she
was standing the gloom was broken by
flickering tallow dips fixed against
the wall, and Margery saw, as she ex
pected, the labyrinthian galleries of
the long-deserted coal mine. Then as
she discovered a ladder which led
down into the wavering shadows the
heavy barrier suddenly dropped and
silhouetted against the outer light
she saw the leering face of Legar.
As he came twisting through the
narrow passage the harried girl
sprang for the ladder and groping her
way downward found herself in a
sloping tunnel from which opened a
series of exhausted coal pockets.
Margery could now hear rough
voices and the shuffling of feet on the
platform above her head. After a
moment’s hesitation she darted into
one of the shadowy chambers, hoping
to find some place of concealment in
its dark recesses. But she was sud
denly threatened by new and unex
pected dangers, for in the center of
that vaultlike room her hurrying
feet suddenly slipped from under her,
and with a startled outcry she
plunged through a hidden trapdoor,
which sprang back into place when
relieved of her weight.
When the badly shaken girl sat up
on the uneven stone flooring where
she had landed with considerable
force, she realized she had fallen into
another of those spectrally lighted
chambers on a lower level of the
abandoned mine. But there was this
difference —the murky cave in which
she now found herself had no outlet.
Against one side of. that tomblike
chamber the miners had left an as
cending series of rocky ledges upon
which they must have stood to reach
the higher coal deposits, but this
rough stairway offered no hope of
escape to the apprehensive girl.
Then, with a faint flash of light,
the trapdoor swung open, and she
heard a startled oath, followed by
the thud of a heavy body as it struck
the rocky flooring. A long silence
followed and the alarmed girl real
ized that her unseen enemy must be
lying unconscious where he had
fallen.
She did not know that the sudden
and mysterious disappearance of
Black Tony had proved too much for
even the iron nerve of those crime
hardened gunmen.
“Tony must have fallen down an
old shaft, but that’s no reason for
your throwing a fit," Legar said in a
voice that was a trifle unsteady,
“maybe the girl’s down there, too.
Get one of those lights off the wall
and we’ll take a look at that rnan
-1 rap.”
Spurred on by a curse frohi his
grim-faced leader, the heavy-set
gangster called Mack advanced
slowly and with some trepidation to
ward a tallow dip sputtering in a
bracket fixed against the inky black
wall. As he fumbled at that bracket
with thick and clumsy fingers, a
fearful and gruesome tirf&g hap
pened. Suspended high over his head
and concealed with the wall bracket
by a slender wire, invisible in the
seraidarkness, was a massive iron
crowbar, its beveled edge sharpened
to a razorlike fineness. The coarse
fingers brushing against an ingenious
trigger had instantly released that
deadly weapon hanging in midair.
It dropped straight down like a plum
met and catching the unsuspecting
gunman squarely on the head, split
his skull like an eggshell.
But the supernatural horrors of
those subterranean vaults were still
to be exhausted. For a moment
Dutch Frank, the blond gangster,
stared in white-faced consternation
at that ghastly figure stretched be
fore him. Then, with a sudden bleat
of terror, he turned from the ap
palling sight and fled blindly along the
dusky tunnel toward the ladder lead
ing to the upper world. Iu his mad
rush to escape from those ill-omened
vaults of death he blundered heavily
against an old and decaying mine
prop.
The age-rotted timber crumbled like
paper under the forceful blow from
the shoulder of the racing blond giant,
and with the suddenness of a cloud
burst, a great section of deep-fissured
rock, which roofed the tunnel, fell
with a sullen roar onto the struggling
gangster crushing out his life and
blocking ap the passage. As the mut
tering echoes aroused by that land
slide slowly subsided, Legar realized
that the hand of death had robbed him
of the last of his evil followers, and
his savage courage entirely forsook
him. Obsessed with a mad desire to
escape from the encompassing shad
ows, he frantically tore at the rocks
which now checked his egress.
It was with new misgivings that
the girl crouching in the stygian gloom
of the walled-in crypt on the lower
level of the abandoned mine, heard the
muffled roar accompanying the cas
cade of rocks into the tunnel. Her
enemy lying under the trap-door where
he had fallen now gave unmistakable
signs of returning consciousness.
But these appalling conjectures were
suddenly banished by u danger which
threatened dire and immediate results.
Her enemy lying under the trapdoor
where he had fallen now gave unmis
takable signs of returning conscious
ness.
Presently he would commence to ex
plore his surroundings, and the girl,
separated by only a few feet of en
shrouding darkness from the merci
less criminal, felt her blood turn cold
at the thought of those groping fin
gers which would eventually find her.
But as she waited, scarcely daring to
breathe for fear of betraying her pres
ence, she heard a low exclamation of
satisfaction come from the Italian gun
man, and even while she wondered
what it could mean, a small shaft of
light suddenly pierced the ebony black
ness.
That exclamation from her enemy
meant he had found his pocket flash
light unbroken, and now a little circle
of light traveled over the jutting walls,
slowly approaching the spot where
Margery Golden crouched, waiting her
inevitable discovery with all the cour
age she could muster. Nearer, and yet
nearer, came that betraying beam of
light. Suddenly it rested full on the
white face of the girl, while from the
lips of Black Tony came a startled oath
of wonder.
Then the light was quickly extin
guished, and Margery heard the soft
pad of stealthily approaching foot
falls. Into her distraught mind came
the memory of those shelflike ridges
she had seen at the farther end of
the chamber, and, feeling her way
along the damp wall, she stole rapidly
toward them. Even as she stumbled
against the lowest of those stone pro
jections, she heard the sudden spring
of the gangster, followed by his cry of
baffled fury as he clawed at the empty
air where he had last seen her.
Then came a little click to her ears,
and again that circle of light com
menced its exploration. It suddenly
glared into her eyes, and the shadowy
form behind it came rapidly under the
ledge.
With drawn breath and tumultuous
ly beating heart, she waited, waited
until she saw the bullet-shaped head
of the gangster just beneath her. Then
with a mighty effort she lifted a
heavy lump of coal, and with all her
strength sent It crashing onto the lmir
matted skull of the Italian.
She now had nothing but her bare
hands with which to repel that gang
ster, more dangerous and vicious than
a mad dog. As she lay flat on the nar
row ledge momentarily expecting a
fresh onslaught, she knew there was
but one possible chance for her salva
tion. Jf her masked protector should
by any chance return to this under
ground labyrinth, which he had appar
ently utilized as a terribly guarded
hiding place, she might yet escape that
knife blade.
But the chance was even more re
mote than the despairing girl could
realize, for at that moment, while she
was intently listening for the soft step
of Black Tony, the Laughing Mask was
seated in a fragrant garden talking in
an earnest manner to the pretty Dor
othy Wllkens, close beside him. Then
ns he impulsively leaned over and
kissed her they heard the rapidly ap
proaching sounds of a hard-driven
motor.
Then that car, in which were seated
Captain Brackett and two of his de
tectives, came into view and. with the
whine of hastily applied brakes.
stopped a short Itstance down the road.
At sight of these implacable enemies
the Laughing Mask, with a word of as
surance to his companion, slipped Qui
etly through the hedge and ran light
ly toward the highway, down which
the detectives were already coming.
But the meaning of this surprising
maneuver was apparent in another mo
ment, for mingled with the startled
shouts of the officers came the rapid
explosions from a motorcycle, which
now darted away with its masked rider
bending low over the handle bars.
With a quick crash of gears the au
tomobile startl'd in hot pursuit.
When the Laughing Mask had estab
lished a fairly wide margin of safety
he slowed down and, leaping from the
saddle, ran with quick strides over
Even as the Knife Was Raised to
Strike, the Miracle Happened.
the fields toward Seven Oaks hill,
looming across the valley. A few mo
ments later thi* stalwart police cap
tain and his two men came pounding
over the same course, but at a some
what slower and heavier gait.
Far down in those buried chambers
under the hill, for which those striving
figures were headed, a wolfish-faced
man desperately clawed at the pile of
rock and debris choking the tunnel.
Suddenly with an eellike movement
he wriggled through the narrow pas
sage he had effected, and staggered
like a drunken man toward the ladder,
his scar-ravaged face livid with dread
apprehension.
He made his way through the open
ing anil stood confusedly blinking In
the bright flood of sunlight. The next
moment a running figure bore down
upon the outlaw from the other side
of the rock. There was a sfldilen im
pact of colliding bodies and Jules Le
gar and the Laughing Mask stood in
dazed uncertainty, staring into each
other’s eyes.
By warily evading the menace of
that terrible claw of iron, the masked
mystery, with a sudden trick of Jap
anese origin, sent his heavier oppo
nent toppling over backward. Then,
before Legar could regain his balance,
the Laughing Mask slipped through
that still open passage into the bowl
der, the panel closing sharply as he
stepped on tlie platform. The next in
stant Legar found himself face to face
with Cqjitain Brackett anil the two de
tectives, who had been hot on the trail
of the Laughing Mask.
Before Legar could draw his gun
those three heavy und resolute officers
avalanched themselves upon him, bury
ing him under their combined weight
ns he crashed to the ground.
To Margery Golden, still lying on
that narrow rocky ledge, expecting
every moment an attack from out of
the dark, the passing time had seemed
like a fearful eternity. She had heard
Black Tony creeping about below her
in an apparently futile search for his
flashlight.
Then came a low cry of triumph and
a thin streak of light wavered upon
her. She saw the sinister, leering face
of the swarthy Italian as he came
steadily nearer. She shrank back
against the rough wall as a long, ta
pering knife, clutched in sinewy fin
gers, came reaching toward her. It
seemed certain that nothing short of
a miracle could save her. But even
as the knife was raised to strike, the
miracle happened.
Tlie apparently solid wall behind her
suddenly gave way and Margery felt
herself quickly pulled through an open
ing by strong, tender arms. She wa?
vagjieiy conscious of being borne up a
ladder and presently a gentle breeze
fanned her cheek. When the fresh air
had revived her and she became ac
customed to daylight she saw the
Laughing Mask bending over her.
“I had a feeling up to the very last
that you. would save me,” she mur
mured gratefully.
“It was lucky I knew about the old
ventilating shaft connecting all the
gulleries in the mine,” he modestly re
plied; “it will be quit*; safe for you to
go home now, for I happen to know
that Legar himself is captured and his
men have all met the final punishment
they so richly deserved.”
But Margery fixed a pleading look
upon her masked savior.
“Can’t you see how I am tortured by
this terrible uncertainty,” she said in
supplicating tones, “if you really love
me, you will tell me who you are.”
For a moment the Laughing Mask
hesitated, then he slowly raised tho
yellow visor which so long had pre
served the secret of his identity.
Transfixed with wonder, Margery
stood gazing upon the face of her
companion. A little cry broke from
her lips, a cry that might have signi
fied either joy or sorrow.
(TO BE CONCLUDED.)