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m 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.)