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GRADY COUNTY PliOGRKSS, CAIRO. GEORGIA.
Iv *.* this rut ho!o. Why can't Legar get
hEck hero where ho belongs ami do his
own Bllcltup work?”
"1 toll you the doc’s up to the Gol-
don house rankin' his haul when tho
coast's clour! And If j*m wako thut
king thero you’ll have to gut out tho
Yed-oye und keep busy chokin’ off Ills
holler! ”
AUTHOR OF “THE OCCASIONAL OFFENDER/*
n “THE WIRE .TAPPERS/’ “GUN RUNNERS/*,ETC.^
NOVELIZED FROM THE PATHS PHOTO PLAY OF THE SAME NAME
8YN0P8I8.
On Windward Island Palldorl intrlguo*
Mrs. Golden into an appearance of evil
which causes Golden to capture and tor
ture the Italian by branding his face und
crushing his hand. Palldorl opens tho
dyke gates anti iloods tho island and in
the general rush to escape the Hood kid
naps Golden’s six-year-old daughter Mar-
gory. Twelve year’s luter in Now York a
Masked One ending himself “tho Hammer
of God” rescues an elghteen-yenr-old girl
from the cadet Casavanti, to whom Jiiles
Legur 1ms delivered her, and takes her to
the home of Enoch Golden, millionaire.
Whence she Is recaptured by Legar. I-cgar
and Stein are discovered by Manley, Gol
den's secretary, setting fire to Golden b
buildings, but escape. Margory’s mother
fruitlessly implores Enoch Golden to
Und their daughter. Tho Masked One
uguin takes Margory away from Lo^ar.
.Legur loots the Third National blink
plans.
FIFTH EPISODE
TTHE INTERVENTION OF TITO
David Manley was not altogether
■proud of his day’s work. As he sat
tied and bound <m the rough brick
floor beneath tho Owl'* Nest that once
fllppant-mlndcd young man oven ac
knoWledged that things looked rather
bad for him. Ho had beeu made a
prisoner. The Iron claw of Legar had
reached suddenly out and closed about
film.
But David Manley did not altogether
give up. As he lay there, sore In body,
but even more battered In inlmJ.-he
still spasmodically’ struggled with tho
cords that hold him hand and foot.
• The solitude of, that unsavory don
,dld not add to his comfort. The mere
fact that Legar could seo lit to leave a
prisoner thus unguarded Impressed
dhe prisoner with tho fact that his ono-
<armed enemy was only too well as
sured of his power. And tho more
Manley thought of Legar and his moth-
iods thewiore that sinister figure seems
(to bewilder him. Ho knew that Legar
was the uhreW/tlng and eternal onemy
<ct Enoch Golden, Just as he had been
-the enemy of Golde^'/s daughter Mar
jory.
Th© /thought of!Margor-y greeted
'.Manley's back*. 1° the earHuF
•events of that strange daj,-He recalled
his ltfng talk with that qjriet-eyed girl
:in /the quiet-toned shadpws of the
■Golden llbrhry. It had bpen the first
(talk between them Into wl'!°h the psr-
*onal notoUiad enteredf">He had en-
,-Joyed that talk, for ho had felf'.as'U
yroaressed, that tho girl had.begun ..to
.realize Jbe was her friend, that he want
ed to be bar friend.
1 But the qulotnoss of the Golden
.borne had proved to be nothing more
•.than a lull which precedes the sud-
.den storm. For, ftv t e jntoutes after ho
had left the smiling g-ir).- (be Golden
butler, with torror to, hi? .eyes, had
«come running to him saying tlker# fv.aa
A stranger in the house, a stranger
■who had been seen lurking about the
balls and had promptly disappeared
At the .eight of one of the servants.
So Manley, forgetting everything else,
bad promptly Joined In the search for
(that mysterious intruder. And his first
-thought, after doing «j, had been for
Margory Golden.
Hurrying to the library to mskft sure
.of her safety, he had found Irejrfieetod
at her father’s desk; qulotif' talking
over the telephone. And there had
bees little In that scene not suggestive
of tranquillity. For blinking placidly
clown from Its perch beside her had
Stood Tito, JKargory Golden’s newly
acquired parrot, for which Manley him-
celf had small love, TMn feeling was
based, not so much oa the malevolent
.•air of wisdom surrounding that green
bodied filcher of human phrases, as on
the somewhat disturbing trick, taught
It by some earlier master, Of seeking
put gas. jets and turning them on the
ynoment It was freed from its chain,
t Yet as It had s'tood close beside the
girt so busily talking over the tele-
Schema It had seemed as compahlonably
Innocent as a canary. And it had
(turned to blinlc sagely at Manley as the
gtrL apparently unconscious of his
presence, had crossed to the mahogany-
faced vault set la .the library wall and
proceeded to open Its ponderous .door.
This, had (startled M,anley pot ft little,
for the combination of that vault was
a secret Jealously guarded by Golden,
a' secret unknown to Manley himself.
It was not until she stood with ..the
massive door swung open that Mopley
bad confronted her. But she showed
mo embarrassment at his sudden Inter
ruption.
“My father has just phoned from
Philadelphia,” she explained. “There
are certain papers he must have for
his conference with the Regent Trust
company tomorrow.*’
“But when did you find out how to
open that door?" had been Mauley’s
Inquiry.
“Two minutes ago, over the tele
phone,” had been the- girl’s reply.
“Then the sooner-that door is shut
and locked again the better,” he had
warned her.
“Why?" she had asked, for the first
time conscious of bis excitement-
"Because there’s an unknown man
biding somewhere in this house, and
heaven only knows what he’8 -after,
In times like theaof”
Even as he had spoken Manley had
detected an unnatural fullnesrf' about,
.the portiere-drajplife the side door to
the library. And on the polished par
quet floor Rt the bottom of that portiere
the toe of a man’s shoo had beto).
plainly visible. Yet Golden’B secre
tary had waited until tho girl had
closed and lucked the vault door. Then
ho bad leaped for the figure behind
tho drapery. w
But that intruder behind the drapery
hed apparently uot been altogether
unconscious of the danger confronting
him. He had at the earn© moment
side-stepped nimbly through the quick
ly opened door, throwing an approach
ing and suddonly hysterical housemaid
aside qb he had swept past hey. The
redoubtable Wilson, who had also’ at
tempted to block his exit, had even
more promptly gono down, knocked
fiat by onq fierce blow. It had bpen
then, and then only, thut Manley dis
covered tho idontlty of tho Intruder.
He had caught eight of the scarred
fuce, which even an ample board failed
to' screen. He had seen tho right
arm of wood whfch onded in its sin
ister iron hook, and all doubt as to his
enemy hnd vanished.
But this discovery had in no way
interfered with Manley's pursuit of
that audacious Intruder.
U hnd not been a pretty fight, that
iluuidjto-haad contest between the siim-
,bodied yquth and tlto ecar-fpcart ex
ploiter of .evil, but it had been fj. des
perate Ofie. As Mauley, pressing stub
bornly on,, had struggled to close in
pn hiB opponent, Legar had discreetly
god nimbly backed away until he
fqpjVd IhP rfqftble house door Itself
burring Jjj# fortbor retreat. There
upon too toed pwwptty ffteffprsd the
Plata-glass backing the lyoo pffjf jyprjf
on tha binges, and bad actually swung
one of these doors open before Manley
could gather tolmsoif together und
spring bodily on his escaping enemy,
They had gone down the broad steps
together, lockod arm In arm, fighting
und clawing as ferociously as midnight
cats 1n a tenement court. And Man-
ley, with one hand on Legar's leathery
throat, would surely have won, had
not a closed car glided up to the curl)
along which they were writhing and
panting and rolling. From that car a
ypWop.-ffifipd Italian known as Scoop
had^takou a wmpl Slid active part In
the anceun,tar. IfP M withheld
finalities, imjveyef, Mjjjjflp, yvff.8
wvmm, Then,- w$i 'u': tatickly
i*aw» iifl had bl»eWi»cfaa'tiiift
youth Into, utter fndiffgrgiipp ns tp
Legar and mysteriously waiting llsip'ip
sine and all the rest of the world,
Before Manley’s senses had come
back to him he and the green-feath
ered parrot had been tossed bodily
Into the closed car, and, threo minutes
before the arrival of the pollco for
whom the white-faced girl In the
library had so frantically telephoned,
fhftt mysterious limousine hnd speeded
off. &te..£]}|» night, carrying not only
Legar wit tfa0 ypnlh who had been so
presumptions' as to fffmpf l‘i Inter
fere with Legar’s exploit#,
But Manley did not altogether give
up. His heart still had the resilience
of youth. He still believed In hie
star.
What fretted Manley most, however,
was his lack of freedom. Rolling a
little over on his side, he studied min-
irtS.ty the rough brick floor on which
•he'toy. After this Inspection he
wormed bis way ppretyfiy fypqj sj.rje fa
side, lying face down arid trying ris-fifi
row of exposed bricks with liis shoe
toe, in the hope of finding one of them
loose.
He had elaborately tested elevon
rows before ho found any reason for
hope In this direction. A chill of ex
citement ran through his tired body,
In fact, oa j}s discovered one brick
which seemed less Begurply embedded
in cement than were its fplipwij. jfa
worked at it patiently, laboriously,
kicking away.small particles of plas
ter, thumping It with his boot heal,
prying at it with his sole until It
rocked free In Its row. Tbon come
tho even storner task of shifting it
from its'place. This he did by turning
about and- lying close to it, on his side,
so that the -fingers of his tightly Im
prisoned hand might come In contact
with its edges. Time after time it fell
back, but In the end he triumphed.
Xot It was not this unearthed brick
-which interested him. His attention
was .directed' towardB thb rough-edged
parallelogram where that brick had
originally rested, for th<? corners of
this opening, ho soon realised, pro
vided him with n Baw edge which in
time might serve to abrade and cut
through the stoutest of cotton rope.
But the consolation of thiB hope did
not stay with him long. For even as
he started to work, his movements
were interrupted by the sound of a
key fn the heavy iron lock bn the door
that ehtot him in. Ho rolled over
quickly, twlfiflfik about so that his ap
parently Inert toddy covered both tho
loosened brick arid spot from
which it had beer, taken, ffn con
tinued to lie there as though In a sleep
of exhaustion, for his veiled eyes had
already caught sight of the two heavy-
featured ruffians advancing into the
ropfl).’
the poor boob sleep,” warned
the larger man. in a husky whisper.
“He’s goln’ to cash IS before mornin’!”
sick o’ markin' time down
Manley ■ could bear their shuffling
feet as they recrossod the rough floor-
ing and then tho sorape and rasp of
tho rusty lock as they ouco moro
turned the key In the door. But the
moment they wore gone ho was onco
moro busy with the cotton rope about
his wrists, for what ho had overheard
increased his pasBlon for liberty.
When a man, howevor, la still youth
fully blind onough to believe In his
start, to nurso tho delusion that some
special gcnluB has singled him out and
watches over him, lie |g pot easily dis
couraged. Yot discouragement came,
and came In a form most unexpected,
even before Manley’s hands woro free,
It came, in fact, In tho form of a
groon-bodiod parrot creeping stealthily
through tho rusty croBB-bars grilling
the transom above the locked door.
Ho watched tho bird slip Into the
roopj, Climb alopg the rusty Iron gas
Jet, deliberately (gyp ft (Jib
Manley know wlipt this pisent, and
It spurred him to even ritore, frautlo
offorts to saw through the cords, still
holding him a prisoner, for already
tho fumes- of the oapuplng gas were
reaching Ills nostrils,
When one strand of it hnd parted,
and hn had uncoiled the rost of It from
at this door when ’a”heard ft voice,
and at first ho thought it waB a human
volco, crying shrilly through the
gloom.
“Let mo out!”.; was the.-frantic cry
close abovo him. "Let me-out’!’’ Grop
ing and pawing along the wall,- his
hand came In contact with the rung
of a narrow, iron ladder. Ho caught at
this ladder.and drew hlmBolf up, for
he now stood shoulder high In th’d
ever-mounting flood. On the topmost
rung, as he mounted, he found a shak
ing and feathered body clinging stub
bornly to the rusting Iron, beating
with its beak on the hollow sounding
boards above his head.
In a flash Manley himself wps shoul
dering up against these boards.
There was the sound .of a rending
staple, and in another moment he was
swarming up’’ through the ruptured
trap door, catching at the parrot as he
went.
s ♦ * ' 1
The Figures pf Fate.
Margory Golden, alone. tp her fa
ther’s library stared apprehensively
about that massively,' furnished room
ob though dreading that, some new
terror might leap out at bfif from Its
shadowy corners. She was unnerved
Itot 9R*y by the disquieting disappear-
H.iwa'nf David Manley but also by the
thought that she was still so surround
ed by the tides of ovil.
As she sat there, deep In thought,
she was depressed by tbe sudden sus
picion that some ono of tho many
servants in that house was a traitor
to hiB master. . Yet as she checked
Ills ankles, his head was swimming | them over, one by qne, she found noth-
and bis legs were unable to support | lng on which to ground this ghostly
him. So ho crossod the room on his
hands and knooa, caught at the rusty
gas pipo for support and painfully
drow himself upright. His trembling
hand wont out, found, the gas jot, and
tvirnod It off. And tho next moment
he fell face down on the jough floor,
find Iffy tiiepo iff ft Bfifi* danfi'ef weak-
ness. ' ,
-How long ho lay there ho could not
tell. But he was aroused by the sound
of thick voices from the odtor cham
ber, punctuated by the Bhrlll crlos of
an angry and scolding woman. Ho
pulled himself together and possscssed
himself of the brick bat, aB a weapon.
Up nltfifh mw'y hwathltiK. as
too dopr was flung oppq; ~$q quick,
however, wqs the entrance gf the first
intruder that Manlpy could npf lift his
miasfle before the (tnrkn'ess had swal
lowed UP that Shifting' Shadow- But
standing in the lighted doorway was a
second man, Branched lew and leaning
forward with blinking eyee, a bluo-bar-
reied navy revolver In his hand- Man-
ley, eying that evil face as a sharp
suspicion. She remembered that she
had once been suspicious even or Man-
ley himself, of' this serious-minded
friend who hid his true feelings,
hind a mask of light-hegpled irrslev-
ancios. Anti thw-e were, things In
which she herself had not been alto
gether candid with him. There was,
for Instance, the matter of Tito, t^,e,
Amazon parrot. She had, not confldV 1
to Manley tjhe fact that ifi that bii
stumbled aoroos In a fancier’s, shop,
she had found an old friend^ a ftjiend.
dating back to her uphappy days i;
the Owl’s Nest;. And 'she 'sighed' ilogi
as she gathered qp tj$‘ ^ $
rosewood desk ijjflrif VKMft w> vault
t0 v’WPh Wd fprge'tteu to restore
thenj, ■
“Tweuty-pne,. thirty, ferty-tm six
ty,’' she repeated, recalling her fath
er's instructions over the \vlre.. "For
ward and back end forward and hack
again, for'H’a a four movement dial,
whatover that may mean!”
The vault door opened, obedient to
the combination, and seeking out the
Bhootor oyes his target, let.fly with hie Inner compartment marked "J” she
6at ‘fist) ifnfl feuqd !p the Owl's Neat.
poised brick, and let fly with all hie
Legar and His Confederates.
ten years through that sand, looking goring into the maw of the open vairtt
for'his precious treasure! - , -
Now It's and with a throaty and beastltke cry
my chance, and 1 want that paper, of triumph swung the great steel door-
And unless you want your secretary shut, oven as the partly-dreBBod Wit-
to come home a rather unpleasant sou ran gaping in through tho library
thing to look at, you ro going to have door. Yet Legal- took time to throw
that map to my hunds in half an hour, haok tho tumbler lever and spin tha
So tollmo qulck, what your answer la, dial before turning to confront that
Io I got It. | wide-eyed servant. Then, hearing
For one moment the giri aot silent, other approaching strips, he dovi
breathing quick through parted lips
‘Yes, i’ll bring It.” she at last said
over the wire. Then she sat motion-
loss, with her hands gripping tho desk
edge for several minutes. When s.ho
moved It was with the quickmya of a
sudden and clear-out decision.
"Give me police hcMUlquarters," she
called out as abe caught up the re
ceiver. The next mlnuto she was ex
plaining to, the desk official at Centex-
streot the news of Legar's, latest
threat and the need of fere stalling i,tj.
Then, after another to.fervaj; pf 'studi
ous thought, Bhe pressed, tp the vault
•tod, hefisini a hurried search far the
doetunant which Legar had doscrioed
as belag stored away thero.
She found it at last. In a package of
faded deeds and papers to do with
Windward island, and while one
glance at it persuaded her that it wa9
todcod a chart of the Island, tho fact
that It represented only one-half <$
this Island tended to convince hcj. that
Legar had spoken the truth.
But she had no timq '<e deliberate
over that discovery, tor her next
move, she felt' should be to call tho
through tho second door, scurried like
a poltoO. hound through shadowy
room?* slipped eel-like through a
quickly opened window and escaped
to tho street.
servants and warn them against any
midnight intrusions.
force. -
The stooping man went down like a
clouted rabbit, without a sound, put
even as he fell the first intruder, at
the far end of the room, struck a
match. And at that second figure
Manley let drive with the only missile
The heavy glass lamp, !wl fl d true,
sent man and match against the case
side in a shower of oil and broken
glass, But Manley did not wait to wit
ness the result of that second assault.
He leaped for the door, caught up the
blue-barreled revolver from the hand
of tho stunned man cn the threshold,
and drove for the heavier door at the
end of the outer chamber. ■
But this door he found to be locked.
He was on the point of starting back
In search of a timber hoavyenough to
batter down that barrier when all
restored the papers to their place.
Her hand v^as still on the open vault
door when the shrill call of the tele
phone bell sounded through the quiet
room.
She crossed fq the desk; and fpolj, up
the receive^ '
"Bo you know who is speaking?”
demanded a voice which sent a thrill
of apprehension through her forward-
stsoping body. And the question was
repeated as she sat silent, staring be
fore her.
"Yes," she finally answered, trying
to steady hor voice, “It's Legar.” *
Tho wire brought his. answering
laugh close into her ear.
“You know the voice, I see. And I
think you know tho man. So listen to
what I have to say. I’ve got your
friend Manley, and he’ll stay where
of sound that fairly drove the breath ; hta Turued out of here with abou
® S. St r ft i halt of ** - MS
the vaulted end of the side ehrifflher
had sunk into tho litter of rubblBh
beside the powder cases, had burst In
to flames and had crept closer, about
those wooden cases until the licking
tongues of heat had reached the explo
sive.
Yet oven as Manley stood there,
fighting for breath, a second surprise
both confronted and engulfed him.
Following close on that telltale roar
of sound came an even more bewilder
ing rush of water; tearing through tho
'low-reefed collar like a • thousand
hounds let loose. Anfi ho kfitoW then
that the explosion bad breKriri dowu
the walls between him and the East
river at high tide.
He leaped In tho direction of the
door, In tho hope of getting It closed.
He was still struggling frantically
to a crisp, you’ll fi 0 what I tell you
to do. po you understand? I’ll scar
him worse than I was scarred, if you
try any tricks with me to this!"
“In—In what?" demanded the white
faced girl.
“In exactly one-half hour I want you
to walk past the Soldlere’ monument
and hand me a paper. That paper is
somewhere In your : father’s vault. It
is one half of a code list and chart,
on a square-of yellow manilla. Do you
understand?”
“But how am I tp know this paper?”
asked the terrified'girl, fencing for
time,
"IPS a chart, a map, one half of the
map of Windward Island. For old
Golden wasn’t such a fool as fie
seemed”—and again the venomous
laugh sounded low over the wire. “If
your father had get hold of my half of
that map a littlo earlier in the game
be wouldn’t bare needed to dig for
She crossed to the rosewood desk- tip,
carry out this plan, and, her-finger
was even eroded to press the bolt
"button;- when a sudden soft movo-
W't ftt shoulder oaused her to
swing sharply about, '
• Oonfceating her,, with a slightly tri
umphant aralhj 'on his deep-scarred
faee, Stood Kegar himself.
"I am Intruding, I know,” hn began
in his suavely acidulated tones, “tout
there was a possibility,, you, see, of
your friends .ip uniform interruption
our meeting beside the Stokftors' mon
ument!”
T h a 8(b!Y% tngeea. as she edged
Wfhjf atom? the desk, closed determin
edly on the scrap of manilla paper
»UH held .in her hand. Tho vault door,
she saw. was also still open. But that
was not the thought troubling her.
The vague fear at the back of hex
mind waB whether or not sho w»a too
late to save Dave Man,lqy from tho
danger threatening fcta. And sho
edged still farther away.
Her mUYament was arrested by tho
Ttftging Of the telephone boll close be
side her.
“Answer that phone!” he suddonly
commanded.
...The next moment a great load
seemed to lift suddenly from her
heart, and a renewed wave of audacity
swept through her body, for the voice
that spoke to her over .the wire was.
the triumphant voice of Manley hlrn,-
self. -Manley declaring that’he. was,
free and that he would; hurry hack aa
fast as Wheels, wild carry him.
"Who spoke then?” cried Logar. his
face clouded by a move which appar
ently was an unoxpooted one from hla
standpoint. But the wine of hope now
singing through tho girl’s veins made
her more crafty, more ready to face
Legar with his own weapons. Instead
of answering him her hand movod out
to the bell button, for with the ring
ing of that bell, she felt, would surely
come help. And once the slip of ma
nilla was back to tho vault, and tho
door locked, she now had little to fear
from Legar. So whon she fell baek.
as ho sprang forward to strike her
hand from the bell, she saw that her
retreat lay to the direction of the
vault doqr,
Hor pursuer, however, was In no
mood for equivocation. He seemed
suddenly to. foresee hor intention. For
without warning he leaped towards
her, aB an animal leaps for its prey
And with cne sweop of his maimed
arm tho Iron hook at Its end was
snared deep In the folds of her cloth
ing.
“Give me that map!” he said, in H
voice husky with blind and unreason
ing rage.
Margory Golden, however, had no
intention of giving him the map In
Question. She fought against him.
With all the strength at her command
knowing that any moment now would"
bring the' needed help.
But Legar, with hta hand on her
throat, hurled her hack against the
heavy vault door, shook her as a ter
rier shakes a rat, snatched tho yellow
abesOrem her fingers, flung her stag-
Tliere he ran for a dark-bodied car
standing to the deep tree Bhadows,
and with, a gasp of relief flung himself,
to.to tho cushioned seat.
As ho did so a masked figure slttto®
crouched close back In the hooded,
gloom of that seat suddenly throat out;
a hand and garroted the starttod Le-"
gar against the leather upholstery, oni
which ho began to writhe like a cater
pillar on a cabinet pin. But with am
equally deft second, movement the>
man in tho yellow mask snatched tees
oblong manilla paper from hid oppo
nent’s hand,
“This," blandly announced tee m»r»
of mystery ub hiB garroting Angela se-
laxed and ho stopped dov/n to. tea rune
ulng board, "is one of the rare: mo-
monts when I have the pleasure -ofi
trumping your ace!"
And tho all b.ut apoplectic Legar lay
hack gasping for breath as that stroll-
CUr dropped, lightly from tho speeding;
car and vanished shadowlike into, tee
night.
At tho homo of Enoch Golden, la tee
meantime, the terrified Wilson had re
gained both his feet, his presence oi*
mind and a presentable portion of his
dignity. His frautlo shouts for help
had brought the rest.of the servants
flocking to. tho library, and his equally
frantic efforts to describe what ha-i
taken place did not add to the peuaft,
of that lltle group from below ^rfl-
“I tell you, Tibblns, Miss Miwgopy’a,
locked in that vault, and te's BOi
one in the 'ouso as knows to open.
Cries of horror burst from, that sud--
denly arrested circle.,
“Someone .telephone for the polkm'**
cried the second
, ,, man, as W.ilsoa
shouldered out through the Sw
w■. noupi
swarming aud gesticulating a Wit the.
vault door. "Yes, the police?;*
He hnd tho instrument tail's; shak
ing hand whon tho dewt 'opened and!
David Manley stepped quickly to, with
lito, tho green-bodied parrot* on hia
arm.
"Wha.t> wrong here?" was the new
comer's sharp demand.
“It’s Miss Margery* sir,” began tho
quavcring-vciced butler.
“Well, what about Miss. Margory?”
She 9 locked, in that vault, sir, and
"" tUo ’ ouso Kfiows the combi
nation!
"Good God!” erted Manley, sudden
ly transfixed. Then he ran to tho
vault door, flinging tho others aside.
Flinging off his coat, ho bent over'
the dial. The silent group circled!
about him. And still ho worked*,
worked with every uervo on edge,
every sense alert, for time, he knew,’
was precious. i
“I said silence there!” he-, called!
out sharply, for his whole mind wa»
directed to the faint click of metal;
against metal in front ef him. But
louder than before the green-bodied
Dird on Its broken porch repeated Its;
cry. ,
Twenty-one — thirty—forty-two—
sixty!” was the Bhrlll and monotonous
cry of tho parrot, with ono eye cocked
celllngward.
Manley suddonly wheeled about.
11 hat to God’s name does that r-
rot mean? . . . Walt! ... It to .'
it must bri”—But instead of fiutahli
that declaration he repeated thej
bird's cry. ‘Twenty-one, thirty, forty-
two, sixty.”' |
In the next breath he was facing tha
vault doer, with his trembling fingersi
turning and spinning the glimmering;
Then, without breathing, and with
colorless face, his hand grasped tha
tumbler lever. And not one of that
group moved as he put on that lever
tho pressure that would tell the t&e.
it was Celestlno the parlor maid
who indorsed her Latin .temporament
by falling back in a dead faint as tho
metal door swung open. But no one,
at that moment was thinking of Celes-
tine.
It s all right,” Manley called from
the darkness of the Inner vault, "She’s
allvo—she’ll be around- In a minute-
only somebody get some water!"
* (To Bo Continued.)