Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

‘ - V . (iUAI)Y rOUNTY PltOtatESS. r.,\/KO. h0p ° yo " ,m ^o* - 8tarul now why 1 you’re really the best frlomt t y ° U '™„ nover , «ot yo«r Laughing t!,o host f lend I C0U ld K” ‘ Mash! was tin, trate officer’,, n,v as .’ But friendship don’t you boo, Is y Mask!" was tin, Irato officer's cry us • uut mendsliln Han’t am, „ i lie swung the girl about so as to faco hardly enough ” P hn itnrinr°a B60 ’ «,* 8 nor equally .rate father. turned qu.etfyaway, * “ 8 8h ° AUTHOR OF “THE OCCASIONAL OFFENDER,” “THE WIRE TAPPERS," “GUN RUNNERS," ETC novelized from the pathe photo play.of the same name _torraicnT. 1013, »v A.IHU. .t.i™.. SYNOPSIS. M?s" nrlea'^r’. Island Pa »dorl Intrigues Wlifoh appearance of evil lure thn ti„n °°, tle , n t0 rapture and tor- .'.V," 0 Italian by branding bis face and land „V,?i 1.1, r*auuori noous Ibo Is- M racrv t, aold en's little daughter aSrVn!' years Inter In New York gai ami' ,,,?," 0 reeeues Margery from I.e- 5,1,r and takes her to her father’s home, er fruhiesSil? . re eaptured. Margery’smoth- dausht, - 3l rn. lmpl , ore8 Qo| den to (hid their take, Tlle laughing Mask a—- sen “ r w;y away from Logur. I., for n 1 Uoklen a warning and a den for n Vi,. 1,aeu a warn! ng and a demand island P °l ° f Windward churl I ¥‘"T,'ory meets her mother. The a “ one r? S 5 JS„ 1 1 s,lt ,between Manley covered 5 !. r f, Kar , s bqncbmen, but is re- fS r.lf 1 ‘ 10 Laughing Mask. Count lo un(rnn r T S 1 t? ul< ' s In a dubious attempt ■I “"' f 1 T-egur anil claims to have killed a n,a?k«d‘ l jS„ h0 V SB 19 dynamited during P.n!lr. i bnl, f Legar escapes but Da Espaics Is crushed in the ruins. NINTH EPISODE Arrows of Hate. Doctor Anstett stared down at the bundle of delicately carved arrows, they were as slender as u bistoury blado and scarcely longer than a darn ing needle. Then ho looked up at his visitor. ‘So you really object to telling me your name,” lie said ns ha carefully restored the fragile darts to their re ceptacle of capped bamboo. “Unless It’s essential, I’d prefer not to," was the stranger’s quiet-toned re ply "Then why did you bring these things to ine?” asked the doctor. Pocauso I understood you were the most eminent toxicologist in America. And I was anxious to know whether or not Llioso Innocent-looking arrows In your hand wore really poisoned." The doctor’s smile was a grim one. "Well, they were poisoned, all right! It Is difficult, of course, to say just what the nature of this venom is. Cut thnt doc3 not interest mo ns much as tho question of where you obtained possession of such remarkably deadly liftlft mlqallna " little missiles, Dor a moment or two tho stranger remained silent. “To be quite candid, doctor, these arrows wero stolen.” "Cut from whom?” “From the foreign valet of a man who has unmistakably proved aims;,If an enemy to society." “And is that why you have asked me to clean and neutralize them with such scientific exactitude?" “It is." "And now that tholr fnngs have been drawn, so to speak, what do you propose to do with them?” "Return them to their owner.” "To what end?” "To tho end that any nefarious plan which he may bo about to execute will not bring death where that criminal desires to bring it!” The abstracted-eyed doctor watched Ills visitor as the latter prepared to tahe his departure. Haa Doctor Anstett been loss Inter ested In remarkable poisons and moro Interested in remarkable persons, bo might liavo kept on the trail of this mysterious stranger, and, in doing so he might have discovered that llioso envenomed arrows of mystery wero the rightful property of onc| unright eous Maulti, the personal servant of thnt elusivo master criminal known as Jules Legar. Logar’s campaign to discredit tho Laughing Mask wa3 a characteris- a similar fate. The complex machin ery of the law was set In motion and far-roaching efforts were made for tho rounding up of this somewhat too au tocratic Laughing Mask. One of these efforts Included a visit on Enoch Golden by Lieutenant Klbby and three of his men from the detec tive bureau. Golden, the lieutenant pointed out, was in a position to help tho authorities .out of a predicament by telling all ho know about this same mysterious stranger. "But I don’t know any more about tilts Laughing Mask (ban you do!’ protested the old financier, "Surely you have at least some the ory as to the identity of the man.” “I thought I had, once or twice. And my daughter thought she had. But wo were oft the track, each time.” “One moment, please," cut in the lieutenant as ho suddenly rose to Ills feet and strode across the room. Me stepped out through the portierod doorway, stared down the hallway, and returned to the room again. “Are you aware of tho fact that a young woman has been standing there listening to every word wo said?” Tho deep-lined faco of the aged finan cier showed no perceptible change. “My daughter, undoubtedly," retort ed Golden. “For the girl’s about aB Interested in this case, you see, as wo are ourselves!” Margery's Interest fn the mysterious case of the Laughing Mask, indeod, would have been brought promptly home to that somewhat puzzled police lieutenant had he been ablo to give loss attention to Enoch Golden and more to the puzzled-eyed girl who had stood momentarily arrested at the en trance to her father’s library. For ns she moved on down the shadowy hallway she found horsolf confronted by that interruptlve tut all too fa miliar figure of tho Laughing Mask himself. He made a gesture for si lence as she started back In alarm. Then he nodded his dominoed head in the direction of the library door. “Now, perhaps, you will understand why it has not been easy for mo to' explain just who I am!” "But you must explain," gasped the bewildered girl. “They are saying terrible things about you, things which I know to be untrue.” “Do you trust me?" “I want to,” was the whispered an swer. "Then will you continue to trust me?” asked tho man in tho mask. “I don’t think I can," was the girl's hesitating answer, “until you can trust mo!" “You mean that I must unmask?” But Margery Golden’s reply to that question was nover uttered. For as slie was about to speak, lior volatile maid, Celostine, stepped^lnto tho hall behind her, beheld the mysteriously masked figure, and promptly filled the house with a ringing Gallic scream. “Mon Dieu, it Is tho Laughing Mask!" she shrilled as she ran down the hall, giving tho alarm. And her alarm, unreasoning as It seemed, was fully shared by the Laughing Mask himself. He swung about, darted through a doorway, and Well, well get hint," thundorod I tno glint-willed old millionaire, "or i ho ll never walk out of this houso , alive !'• Even ns ho spoke tho renewed sound of shouts come to thpra from above. R was Wilson tho butlor who called to Golden and tho group at Ills hools t he went floundering up tho stairs. Ho’r gone Into Munley's room, sir!” cried that vastly disturbed old sorv- ont "And he locked the door as ho went!” ‘Well, Manley himselfs In there,' "Then some day, perhaps, It may even be something ntoro,” she called soltly back to him before slipping out through the open door. The Deadly Decoy. If David Manloy was blindly and un reasonably happy, all that day and tho next, ho succeeded In keeping his hap piness to himself. It was not a propitious time, he know, for the air- ot emotions so essentially per sonal. There was still a shadow over the house of Goldon, a shadow which panted the owner of tho house as ho gave Zln^ZTeot ™g away !*"« « 10 hl * SBcretary's door, until fate or accident ended the activ Ho a typing my International direc- lt ,es of one Jules Legar There was, tor’s reports " Diit Mm ,, , „ * no - a shadow In Manloy’B heart, a 1 10 aoun ‘> 3 lllat came from shadow of doubt "Thpv’rn „ . J them. So ns ho talked with her the Wilson with bis 1 P ‘ °f? d , out following day ho was conscious of a to tha docr panel V ," eU ° co,lstralllt which reminded him thov’ro at It ’ot an 1 Vnvv""' 8 '' bUt 111010 ' vero Btl11 reservations to bp re- tney re at , ot and envy!" | 8pect(Hl and confldoncea t0 ba y , th . D> tho time one of Klbby’s dotcc* hold, lives had caught up a chair nnrl hnf. ! m.’i tored In thnt door dll sounds ofcom- 1 Mat ev'as” w!T Tl! 7 , home , t0 hat had ceased. And tho astonished I, I, W ,,son cnrrlod In to the group, crowding Into the dismantled 1 ,1oto which Mio ‘“a h,m rt B 8e . a ‘t d chamber, saw only an open window,I ! and read ln an overturned table and a room emntv ‘ " n ,‘ . r , hat thls ,lot0 brought a of all life P y I oomowhat disturbing message to her Jirassi?SKs r,=iH~ jswb Sts was! 1 ~ «• «► certain betraying tremors and agita tions. „ Leveled Straight at the Heart of the Detectlvo. tile delusion that those warnings were aiisfsss U.nl.-I asa,n - —roll ot some avenue of. Hum bo«ll, through Vho ‘.«id“,!5 » «W » » « mS. It took him but a moment to push the "high boy" to one side. Then, flinging open the door, ho had tho satisfaction of beholding the recum bent figure of David Manloy, bound and gagged on tho closet floor. Helping hands soon released tho un happy prisoner. “I tried to stop him,” he said, a lit tle thickly. “And this Is what I got for It!” But Lieutenant Klbby was no longer Interested In Manley. "Two of you men go out through this window.” ho commanded, “and round up that man before ho gets Margery Golden smiled a little as sho folded up the note. She was still smiling ns sho tore the paper In two, again and still again. One small piece of that paper fluttered from her fingers and fell half way between her and tho still frowning young secretary. He stared down at It captiously, almost sullenly. Then his eyes slowly widened, for clearly Inscribed on that scrap or paper ho saw one-half ot the sign of tho Laughing Mask. She then walked slowly across to tho open lire and tossed Into it tho note which sho had already torn into fragments. Manley stood watching her as sho ordered Train and tho limousine and ova 1.. TS S3 JStEE s ”3 “ STMS ■ | wary. He knew it, even boforo ho caught sight of Legar htmsolf and Margery Golden shrinking close to the wull at his side. It was on Legar that he fixed his eye as lie whipped out his firearm and steadied himself with one hand against tho broken wull. Legar saw that revolver leveled at his body. He saw the look on Man ley's colorless face. He knew what was coming. He did not stop to argue; ho did not even turn to lleo. But ns ho stood there, with his deep-sot eyes r.xed on Manley’s faco, his long light arm that terminated ln it3 claw of iron shot out and caught at the arm of tho girl still crouching so closo to tho wall be side him. But oven quicker wa3 Man- loy’s discovery of Logar’s intentions to swing the body of the girl about long-haired artist hard at work on a, canvas. That artist, after speechlessly con templating the deluge, ran shouting to tho hallway, where he was Joined by his model and by fellow artists from neighboring studios. When they found their Investiga tions barred by a locked door, they broke It ln. While they were sniffing suspiciously about the outer room, however, their efforts to reach tho source of that deluge were being an ticipated by a more stealthy figure, which, clambering monkeyllke up the narrow iron fire escape, climbed still higher to tho small window and promptly broke It In. Manloy, rousing himself at tho sharp sound of tho breaking glass, turned about to behold the face of a narrow-eyed and dark-skinned stranger In front of ' “■—. In the square of light about him. Even shield ami it , , u , Luima " aa 110 “tared up at this exotio faco . ’,„ A ™ M , lluy : ' vll . il0 1,10 Path with its uncanny fringe of Jet black He Knew Even Before She Spoke That It Was Margery Golden, disappeared from sight as Golden and j sway! The rest of you people get a then called for her hat and coat He his retainers and his official visitors cordon round this block before It’s too nad much to say but for once he saw came flocking out to tho scene of late!" I that silence was’golden that disturbance. | They were off again like a pack of Two minutes later Margery Golden, j beagles striking a new scent, leaving hearing a shout from Klbby’s men \ the dilapidated and somewhat discou- abovo stairs, followed that officer to solate Manley to his own thoughts and The Huge Slatternly Figure Hurled It self Upon Him. tically audacious one. It even em braced a number of artfully forged let ters, duly signed by the Laughing tho scene of the sudden tumult. There, i to her alarm, sho saw three men strug gling with a figure which sho prompt ly recognized as the Laughing M£sk himself. j “We’ve got him!” gasped one of his ; captors as Lieutenant Klbby confront ed him. I “What’ll we do with him?” asked his other captor. “First thing, tear that fool mask off!” commanded the lieutenant. But that command was not carried into execution. For Margery Golden, catching sight of tho Laughing Mask’s fallen revolver, ran to where it lay and took possession ot It. The next moment it was leveled straight at tho heart of the detective whose hand had been lifted to the yellow domino cov ering his prisoner’s face. “Stop!" commanded tho girl. "Put down that gun, you!" prompt ly commanded Klbby, purple with In dignation. "Not until your men release that prisoner,” yzas her deliberate response. "Yes, you, both of you," she continued, menacing the officers of tho law with the revolver. “Stand back from him! Still further back! Now you,” she added, turning to tho Laughing Mask, “walk out through that door! Go out, and go at onoe!” So Intently did she watch that dts- devlces. As he sat there, feeling about The moment he was alone, however, To quickly crossed to tho fireplace, dropped down on Ills hands and knees, end there peered closely at the charred remnants of the note which his bruised body with a gently inter- had been tossed on tho coals rogativo finger Margery Golden Three or four of the fragments he stepped timidly ln through his still even rescued with the help of a brass op ?" „?° r ‘ . , „ ' fl re shovel. Ho turned them about Dont get up, she said quietly as delicately and studied them patiently, she crossed to Ills side. But before On one he deciphered tho words “you she could speak again the two detec- will come.” On another ho managed lives came clambering and puffing in to make out “am ill.” The only re- tnrough the open window. Their mis- mainlng portion of uncurled carbon on slon It was plain to see, had been a which lie could discover any trace of fruitless one. I writing liad lost its center. But on \ ou can be thanked for this,” cried what remained of It he could read the heavier of the two men. “You, i “g$ Wash! re ” c la ,'"' " C3 Washington Squire!” he an- when they re tryin to do tholr duty, .announced. And fivo minutes later “And you'ro goin’ to pay for goltln’ found him seated ln a taxicab, free with fire arms, young woman or - He had just crossed Fourteenth 111 oat my hat! avowed his equally Bt ,. e et, sweeping south, when he caught indignant companion. ! sight of the Golden limousine, empty EUt » a Manley suddenly with the exception of Train at the staunched that flow of accusatory doc- wheel, sweeping northwest. Mask and left In surroundings which appearing figure that tho movements caused both perplexity and alarm to 0 j tj )e adroit and much-exporlenced the city police. Lieutenant Klbby. sidling stealthily ; One note, found beside the body of along tho wall beside her, entirely es- a murdered misor, briefly explained ca ped her attention. When he leaped that crime by the declaration that the f 0 r Margery Golden’s tense figure, he dead man had always robbed the poor made sure of his distance and sure of jnnd so earned the end which overtook htg mark in doing ao. He promptly :nim—even though this Included the and none too gently wrested the re- | carrying away of a not Inconsiderable volver from her grasp, at the samo I portion ot his worldly wealth. A gam- moment that Enoch Golden himself [blor and a government Inspector met came panting through the open door, lamatlon. “You get out of here,” commanded that Irate and somewhat dilapidated youth, “and get out quick!" “What: have you got to do with that girl?” demanded the heavier of tho threatened officers. “I’ve got a lot to do with that girl— as I’ll show you If you don't get where you belong Inside of threo seconds!” "Aw, leave the gink to his ravin’s!” said the shorter man, wearily, as the two left the room. “I guess I was wrong there, when I started to crow about having so much to do with -you and your affairs,” Man- ley said as he looked a little wistfully Into her Blightly smiling face. “Why do you say you were wrong?” she asked. "Because every time I do try to holp you out I only seem to make a mess of things, ’ was hiB disconsolate an swer. "Ycu’ve succeeded In proving that was still clear, leveled Ills gun and nred. Thero was a shout, half of horror and half of rage, as Legar went down in a heap, his wooden arm-end thump ing ou tho rough flooring like a mul lot as he fell. And at tho samo mo ment that the brawny-armed amazon boldly struck Manley’s right arm up towards tho ceiling, that startled band of Legar's followers united In a rush for tho assailant of their leader and chief. In tho first two mlnut°s of that al together hopeless struggle Manloy lmd lost both his gun and his coat- In the next minute ho had lost Ills breath. In tho next his liberty itself was gone, Cor those worthies lost no time In tying and trussing him up as neatly as a French chef trusses a capon. As he was rudely backed away to where Margery Golden, equally cordod and tied, already stood, ho fionrd one of the men behind him speak. "Did ho croak tho chief?" "Naw, lie’s still breathin’!” “Then we gotta get him outa here. . . . Pip, you call a taxi. \Yo gottn get him back to Ills own ’Mallna’, or thcro’ll bo hell to pay!" How nbout this gun boob and tho rib?" “Gag ’em and throw ,'cm into that bathroom there! And If youse turn on the gas by accident, I guess It’s go in’ to Bave us all a lot o’ trouble!" The Creeping Message. David Manloy, for all tlio predica ment confronting him, tried to school himself to calmness. Closo beside him, bound and gagged like himself, ho could feel the inert body of Margery Golden. But what most disturbed him was the gas Jet that stood out from the green-papored wall high above his head. That had been the finishing toUch at the hands of Ills enemies. Ho looked carefully about tho room, point by point. It was nothing but a commonplace bathroom, with a door uncanny fringe of Jet black hair ho saw the unknown Intruder draw a alendor tube from under hla coat. To this tube the stranger fitted a small arrow scarcely longer than a darning needle. Then, placing the tube to his mouth, ho sent the Blender dart whistling down through tho air, where It fixed itself In the wooden flooring not threo inches from Margery Gold en’s head. Instinctively, as Manley witnessed that incomprehensible , attack, as he vaguely awoke to the meaning of the strange performance, he crawled to the girl’s side. There ho tried to shield her helpless body with his own. But after that he remembered Ilttlo. He awakened later to the sound of a woman’s soft sobB close beside his aching head. And he knew, oven be fore sho spoke, that it was Margery Goldon. "It’s no use, doctor," she was for lornly crying out to the figure nearer the foot of the bed. ”1 saw that man, and I know It was Maukl. And as soon as I saw him I knew Legar had sent him, had sent bfm with the same poisoned arrows thnt onco killed an Informer ln the Owl’s Nest!” "But this man Isn't dead,” protest ed the doctor. “No, but ho wilt"die.” "Now, young lady, this won’t do. yon know,” the man of medicine tried to reassure tho quietly weeping girl. "And if you leave me with him for a few minutes I’ll make another exam ination. And then we’ll know the worst!” “I’d rather stay with him—to the last,” said the white-faced girl. “But if you’ll come back, ln ten min utes!" quietly announced the man who was not used to having his sugges tions crossed. And he held the door for the unhappy girl as she passed un steadily out. Manley, the next minute, lifted hit head from the pillow, “Say, doctor, what's this about me dying?” he demanded. “That all depends on one point,' This disturbing discovery, once ho had reached tho square, -took him up the stone steps of a ruinous mansion long given over to artists' studios and workshops of a moaner order. He had climbed throe flights of stairs, and climbed them with all tho stealthiness of a flat looter, when he came to a door which hel!l out more promise than the others. For behind this door ho could distinctly hoar the sound of voices. As he squatted down and peered through the keyhole ho heard a girl’s muffied scream followed by a throaty laugh of triumph. And the moment he heard that laugh he knew It to be Legar’s. Yet at the samo moment he made a second and even moro diverting d!s- ( covery. This was that a ponderous and brawny-armed woman, advancing with elephantine lurches along the half-lighted hallway, was shouting out thrill calls of warning as sho came. Manley for ono brief s-'ccnd nursed on ono aide and a small window high was the doctor’s reply as he gtngerli up in the wall on the opposite sido. took up one of the slender arrows, no He found nothlngjn that methodic longer than a darning needle. “And Inventory of his surroundings, to re- the point Is whether or not we can vlve the slowly dying embers of hope, find an antidote for the poison that Ho could neither move nor call out. was smeared on those outlandish blow- But there was still a w-y of sending gun darts. But the next point Is, how a message out to the world. do you feel?" He worked and floundered about un-! ' ”1 might feel worse!" til ho was in a sitting position. Then 1 The man of medicine looked pus- he worked his way closer to tho sled. enamel bathtub, leaning, panting and! “Well, that seems to be the strange helpless over its edge, for a moment part of this case. The infection must or two, as a drunken man leans over a bo a very insidious ono. Even the cell cot. Then enorgy again revived - wounds themselves show no signs of In him. He slowly a:id painfully edged toxicatlon. So you wait hero a min- further and further over Into the bath-; ut> until I get my Instrument bag!” tub, like a cut worm rounding a leaf | When that somewhat bewildered edge, until with bis forehead he was i man of medicine returned with his bag able to push and bunt tho loose drain ! he found David Manley sitting up In plug into its socket. Then, once more j bed, poring frowningly 'over a sheet withdrawing from the bathtub, he dl- of paper which ho held ln his hand, rected his attention to the neaver of "Who threw this note on my bed?” the two taps that stood at its head. Ho had tho use of neither hand nor foot, to turn that tap- Biit by the pressure of his own skull against the tarnished brass tap handle he was finally able to throw tho faucet open Then he sank wearily back to the floor, for his head was swimming diz zily and bands of stool seemed con stricting his chest. demanded his patient, with a vigor that was unlooked for in the dying. It was the doctor’s turn to frown as he took- the sheet of paper from the other’s hand. "I drew tho fangs from Maukl's blow gun,” read the message there In scribed, "his arrows held no poison, and you aro safe. . . . The Laugh ing Mask." J (TO BE CONTINUED.)