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^.gnBiiWiiWji'M nr-ilt "i>|ii;iniaM
^ GRADY COUffnr.PltQQRKSS. MRO. UttUKlllA.
Author of
“THE OCCA-
SIONAL OF.
FENDER," THE
WIRE TAP
PERS," "GUN
ruNners;etc
Novelized from
THE PATHE
PHOTO PLAY
of the:
SAME NAME
8YNOP8I8.
On Windward Island Palldori Intrigues
Mrs. Golden Into an appearance of evil
which causes Golden to enpturo and tor
ture the Italian by branding his face and
crushing his hand. Palldori floodB the Is
land and kidnaps Golden's little daughter
Murgery. Twelve years later In New York
a Masked One rescues Margery from Lc-
«ar and takes her to her father's home,
whence sho Is recaptured. Margery’s
another fruitlessly Implore* Golden to (1ml
their daughter. The Laughing Mask
again takes Margery away from Logar.
Lojcar sends to Golden a warning and a
dornand for a portion of the chart of
Windward Island. Margery meets her
mothor. The chart Is loBt In a light be
tween Manley and one of Legnr's hench
men. but Is recovered by the Laughing
Mask. Count Da Espnrcs figures In a
dubious attempt to entrap Legar and
claims to have killed him. Golden's house
Is dynamited during a masked ball. Le
gar escapes but Da Espares is crushed In
the ruins. Margery rescues the Laughing
Mask from the police. Manley finds Mar
jory not Indifferent to his love. Ho savos
nor from Maukl's poisoned arrows. Man-
ley plans a mock funeral which falls to
accomplish the desired purpose, the cap
ture of the Iron Claw and his gang. The
laughing Mask again frustrates the Iron
Claw.
ELEVENTH EPISODE
The Saving of Dan O’Mara
Young Peggy O'Mnra was troubled
In mind. 81io had become suspicious
of her own father. On more than one
occasion of Into that debt-harried
toiler from tho Applowaithe works
had been visited by a stranger who im
pressed the sophisticated young Peggy
83 anything but attractive And nn
honost man, Peggy argued with her-
BEif finds no need for stealing up to
n. huuso at night and closeting himself
with Its owner behind tho locked door
of a cellar workroom. So the spindle-
legged daughter of Dan O’Marn, watch
1ng for her chance, decided to Investi
gate.
But the girl’s chances for lnvestl-
r-.'.lon wore limited, for Peggy was a
b ird-driven young housekeeper, with a
1 “Mrtden mother to look after as best
*■ i( could. Late one night, however,
i lieu Dan O'Mara had lod his myste-
t ova visitor Into his collar workroom
> ”t looked the door behind him, tho
■ - sipped off her brokan-tood shoes
! r.ola sllontly down to that under-
chamber of mystery.
•• ■a, with her oar to the keyhole,
t /oihsard enough to confirm her
-i. suspicions. Sho waited until
>■', erious visitor had stolen out
r, > ri o house with a parcel under
V" ! than once more made her
”1 to her father’s workroom.
- M’s lime, wa3 unlocked. So
-u! ! I'.iselnssly and crept over
' i-T O’Mttra eat staring at
r unseeing eyes.
■'isnrra you thinkin’ about?”
v asked a tremulous voice
o his shoulder,
wung about like a shot.
should I he thinkin’ about?”
•anded; ,
’re thinkin' about that man who
••’n here ten minutes ago,” was
. U s answer.
•nit man?” equivocated the cul-
hinatown Charlie.”
rd how’d you know he’s called
'-eretown Charlie?” demanded rebel-
.ojs-oyed Dan O'Mara.
i know more'n that,-pop,” said the
nf:l. with a gulp. “I know that city
• 'Vink's ropin’ you In for work I never
■ h.-uiTht you’d do!’’
"Work? What work?”
“There's a bunch of opium smug
glers got wise to the fact that the dyo
works Is brlngin’ in tons of that Rai
se* wood from China. And certain o'
ihesn blocks Is goin’ to come In hoi-
f i with secret marks, and you're
> to dig the opium out o’ thorn and
i ! - it here until that hop runner for
Chinatown Charlie comes and carries
t away In a laundry bag!”
-Vint your mother got to have med
icine?” demanded her father. “Ain’t
• behind In our rent? And ain't the
’•t.mpany docked me ten a month sinco
that one-armed man had me machine
work taken away from me?”
' But you’ll have more’n your ma
chine taken away from you, pop.
Yin’ll be queered with tho company,
for tamperin’ with stock, and then the
hulls 'll get wise and send you up the
river tor smugglin'!”
'■I’ve thought that out, me gerll. I’ve
no love for goln’ against the law, at
mo time o' life, hut I guess we’ve got
to take chances. We’ve got to, or go
under for good and all! For I'm think
in’ yout poor mother was right when
sho said there, was no crime so black
os the crime o' bein’ poor!”
“But they’d promised to raise your
pay, over to the dye works!” she re
minded him.
“Instead o' which they took off me
machine and gave it to that one-armed
snitch who claimed I’d been workin’
against the company by tryin’ to In
vent a chemical color that’d soon be
Bondin’ their old logwood plant t' the
scrap heap!”
1 Silent as Peggy O'Mara remained
on tho subject of her discovery, she
brooded long and darkly on this heav
ier cloud that hung over her home and
her father’s good name. It haunted
her thoughts as shp worked. It filled
her blind young heart with a spirit of
revolt It converted her into a di
minutive yet lowering-browed Ishmael-
Ho. Sho hated the owner of the works,
sho told herself as she carried her fa
ther's dinner pall to the factory the
noxt day, and she hated the hard
voiced foroman of the shaft room. She
turned to stare belligerently towards
Anson Applewalthe, the Immaculate
son of tho factory owner himself, as
hu ushered Into tho room of whirring
slinfts and flying belts a small group
of visitors.
Yet tho Ishmael-llke young face soft
ened a little as she looked at one mem
ber of that approaching group. For
ono fair-haired girl of about twonty,
dressed in black, whom young Apple-
walthc piloted about amid the roaring
and .clattering machinery and repeat
odiy addressed as “Miss Golden,’’ was
beautiful enough to bring a wayward
pang of envy to tho breast of Peggy
O’Mara. As she watched her eyes sud
denly widened in alarm. For Margery
Golden, In staring about the room, had
unconsciously moved closer to ono of
tho ponderous' machines. There the
loose end of her motor-cape was
snapped at by a spinning cog wheel, as
a hound snaps at a bone. The next
moment the whirling teeth had fas
tened themselves In the fabric of the
garment edge, carrying It back be-
twcon tho Jaws of tho twin cogs that
quickly closed on tho cloth and
soomed to reach out for more.
At tho same moment that Margery
Golden turned about to determine the
meaning of this sudden tug at her
clothing, the alert-eyed Peggy O’Mara
made an apparently maniacal spring
for that astounded young woman's
throat.
With a quick Jerk of her thin young
fingers Peggy toro the capo free where
It was already straining against the
white column of its wearer’s throat.
It was not until Margery Golden
saw the Iron teeth of the cog wheels
swallowing up the last of her vanish
ing capo that any Inkling of her dan
ger came home to her.
Margery Golden Btepp&d back and
leaned against a guard rail. Then, aft
er looking studiously at the slattern
and slightly abashed figure of her de
liverer, she opened her pocketbook
and from It took out two or three neat
ly folded bank notes. These she held
smilingly out to the girl with the
broken-toed shoes.
But a quick flash spread over the
usually colorless cheeks of Miss Peggy
O’Mara as she backed deterihlnedly
away from the bills.
“Don't you care to take them? 1
asked the somewhat astonished young
woman In black.
“No ma’am!” was tho girl’s almost
sullen retort. "I ain’t earned ’em!”
“But I rather think you have,” per
sisted the other, still smiling.
“You see, you saved my life. And
surely you won’t embarrass me by
arguing that It’s not worth that
much!”
“I don’t want your money,” an.
nounced the sullen-eyed girl, putting
her hands behind . her. But already
young Applewalthe was discreetly do
ing his best to pilot his visitors away
from the Beene.'
Peggy O'Mara stared after the de
parting group. So Intently did she
stare after them that she was oblivi
ous of the movements of the one-armed
man who had been stooping low over
his machine. In a pretense of filling Its
oil cups. He crept out to whero a
small gold locket had dropped from
Margery Golden's neck during the en
counter. He caught It up from the oil-
stained floor, looked at It for one gfiort
moment, and then slipped It triumph-
antly into his pocket. After that he
stood behind his machine, well out of
sight, watching the falr-balred girl In
black as she stepped out through the
factory door. His eyes, as he watched
her, were both calculating and sinis
ter. But the pallid-faced girl standing
so close beside him had no moans of
knowing that this preoccupied and
stoop-shouldered workman who had
lost his right hand was Jules Legar,
long known to his enemies as the
Iron Claw.
That mysterious one-armed man,
however, was destined to become fet
ter acquainted with Peggy O’Mara
than she Imagined. For that night,
whan the uneaBy-mlnded girl knew her
father to bo once more shut up In his
collar workroom, she was further
disturbed by the sound of stealthy
steps across the bare wooden floor of
her home. She tiptoed out through
the door, crossed to the cellar steps,
and crept silently down Into the dark
ness.
There, vaguely outlined against the
door cracks In tho wall shielding her
father, she could make out a stealthily
Inquisitive figure. And she.knew that
flguro could mean no good to the house
of O'Mara.
She crept as silently up the broken
steps again, went to her father's time
worn tool chest and from it took out a
somewhat rusty but ominous-looking
revolver.
The thin-armod girl with the thick-
bodied revolver then crept back to
wards the cellar. She hadreachedthe
top of the stairs when she saw a dark
flguro slowly emerge from the gloom.
Then a gasp of surprise broke-from
her lips, for sho saw It was the ono-
. ofituifJ worltuiii-i iron I ho Abplowat;!. "It’s up to you to make her, And
1 factory. Anil (lie noxt moment she rc- tho host way to get her out bore Is to
insmbered that this was the dime man persuade her to fill a baskot of food
who had tried to rob her father of his and wine nnd bring it hack with her
work. And sho no longer hoBllntod. In her own car. She knows you belong
"Get out o’ this house!” nho com- to tho factory settlement hero, and
rnandod. “And got out quick, or I’ll sho won’t lie suspicious. You do your
put a hole Clean through you!” work right, und you’ll liavo her here
For a moment Legar stared round- ; tomorrow night.”
eyed at tho apparition confronting ! Tho youthful eyes which life had al-
him. | ready left hard studied the sinister
“Now, my girl, I moan no harm for 1 figure In tho moonlight. •
you here,” ho tried to argue, as he felt ! ‘‘And whon I get her out to that
for the door behind him. j slulceroom, what’ro you goln’ to do
“You mean harm for mo father—
and that’s enough for mo! Get out o’
here, and go while tho goln’s good!"
with her?’
The one-armed mnn laughed quietly.
"That’s something strictly betweon
"Listen to me,” persisted Logar as her and me," was Ills cnlmly onuncl
ho backed through tho door, “you’re nted reply as ho stepped slowly back
doing your father more harm, at this and disappeared through tho Blirub-
very ^ moment, than I could over do bory hosldo the O’Mara cottage.
" j Tho girl stood staring after him
"111 take me chanco on that,” was 1 without moving. So Intently did Bhe
*»• rnfnrf ., . ... ...
her retort.
"But you’ro losing your chance
you’re—’’
Legar did not'complete that sen
tence. Instoad, ho lenped suddenly to
wards tho girl with tho firearm, for
ho had notlcod hor dress sleeve catch
In tho screen-door hook. Tills had re
sulted In the momentary deflection of
that over-menacing revolver barrel,
and Legnr’s long fingers had enesra-
passed that weapon before Bhe could
level It again. With a quick turn or
two he had twisted It out of her hand.
Then ho caught hor by the shoulder
and swung her fiercely about.
“Now, my girl, I’m going to tell you
a thing or two,” said tho man with the
revolver, stooping closer to her In tho
moonlight. “You think I’m an enemy
of your father’s. But you’ro wrong.
look after Hint vanishing figure that
sho did not observe n second flguro.
oven more mysterious- than tho first
ns It slipped out of tho shadows and
stepped quietly up hosldo her.
Sho turned with n start nnd stared
up at the stranger confronting her.
And it did not add to her ponce of
mind to discover Hint this stranger
wore a mnsk over his face.
“What d’ you want hero?” was hor
brusquo demand.
“I’m looking for a young girl who
happens to bo in trouble," was the
quietly spoken reply.
“Then I guess you'll have to keep
on travelin’," announced Peggy ns she
swung up tho broken steps with as
sumed nonchalance, Btrodo In through
tho door, and shut it after lier. Sho
stood lliero for several mlnutoB beforo
All I am Is a treasury agent. And I’ve venturing to move. Then sho silently
been wondering if you know how many reopened the door and stared out, to
years it means for a mnn who gets mako suro that, her visitor had taken
caught in a twenty thousand-dollar his departure. Instead of catching
dope-smuggling coup?” sight of tho masked flguro, however,
Legar turned nnd nodded pregnantly she was a littlo startled to see tho
toward the cellar whore he knew one-armed man push his way
O'Mnra to be.
"You’ve nothin’ on me father!" pro
tested the now tgrrlfled girl.
"Nothing beyond tho fact, of course,
that he's carrying Katsow wood away
from the Applewalthe factory. And
why he’s doing that you know as well
as I do!”
A sob suddenly shook tho meager
body of the white-faced girl.
"For Gawd's sake, mister, gather me
In If you want to! Take me, but don’t
send me father up! He’s a good man
at heart, and wouldn’t so much as
harm a fly.! You can kill me If you
want to, but don’t bo hard on mo fa
ther!”
Logar stood thoughtfully regarding
her.
“I don’t want to kill you, my girl. I
want to help you. And If you’re willing
to take a turn at helping me, In a
. ... I in
through tho hushes and once more
creep to the door where sho Btood.
"What did that man want?” quick
ly demanded tho newcomer.
“I didn’t wait to ask him,” was the
girl’s retort.
“No, I guess this Isn't a time for
waiting,” ruminnted the other aloud.
"And for that reason we’ll have to
speed up that hargaiu of ours, and put
the thing through tonight!”
“Tonight?” echoed tho girl in a whis
per of alarm.
“Do you want to save your father?"
“I'll bring ’er,” she announced with
grim determination. “I’ll bring hey,
oven thougli I have to throw a string
o' fits to start her on tho way!”
The Drums of Death.
It was not until Margery Golden
was seated in the suede-upholstered
lnndaulet that she found timo to ques-
With a Bed-Ridden Mother to Look After.
mother is?" asked Margery, gathering ■ "' Io "’I" avowed the Laughing
up her skirts ns she glanced into the .j Musk, with decision. "He’ll lmvo
dingy stororoom feebly lighted liy its j "lore than help before tills night is
" ' over, and a hatter job and a clear con-
i.'-.Toro another ono comes!
first whero you loft this
brought out from tho city?"
o the door o’ tho sluicoroom
fence
Hut. te
girl yt
“Ins:
there.”
"Good God!” gasped the man In tho
mask. Then ho caught tho spindle-
logged Peppy O’Marn by tho hand and
started for tho shadowy pile of tho fac
tory on tho run. "QuickI” lie said a3
ho ran, “show mo tho door!”
Tho, half-breathless girl pointed It
one dingy electric bulb.
“I’ll bo back In a minute, ma’am, ’ the.
girl replied, only too glad of any rea
sonabio excuse for disappearing.
Margery, In tho meantime, peered
doubtfully about tho somber building
in which slio found liorself eo unex
pectedly a visitor. Along ono side or
the room in which she stood she could
mako out dark masses of dyo wood
piled as high as her head. Hosldo this
sho saw, in tho uncertain light, an
open pit filled with water. Into one, , Bin jjuinieu u
sido of this pit ran a cbmont-wallod out to him. Hut as no ran up to it ho
sluiceway, stained almost lilac!;, with i found it locked. ’ Ho stooped and fran-
a Watergate sot in tho upper part ot ; ileally caught up a piece of timber al-
its channel. Tho opening in tho far : most as long nnd heavy as his own
side of tho pit, which was guarded by ’ body. Peggy O’Mara, Beclng that its
a heavy iron grill as big as a park ! weight seemed more than ho could
gate, led into a high-walled cavern manage, promptly ran to his assist-
across which stretched a number of i unco.
huge steel drums. Set in these drums j -Now, como together,” lie said "for
were rows of knife-edged cleavers. I we’vo got to knock that door in’”
The polished surfaces of these great Twice, three times, they charged the
blades of steel shone ominously in the : floor before it gave way, Hut tho mo-
Margery was still staring at the | ‘^^dtrEh’lS'o,^^
great drums bristling with cleavers : As ho (lia J ho caug f lt s i ght P of tUo
when with a suddenuoss that start led <- n ,„„ . , ,
her the electric lights were thrown on If the bS-encd rnAw*i“ A '
across tho roof of tho chamber. She I (ho figure of' tl^oman flung headlong
wheeled about quickly to uiscovei the t into tho open sluice,way .ho leaped with
cause for this. As she did so, nil invol- : a s ; lol;t towards tho one-armed man
st n andfng a besMe a the door! with his fin- Smed mnn°v-ith I'lightn^'bl'^ 1 ° n °'
fidently purred. For tho gir! drew ! , , ,
i ho Laugmng Mask wheeled half
way about, staggered a stop or two,
nr..! then fell forward on his face.
The wide-eyed Peggy O’Mara, fol-
slowly away while he ns slowly fol
lowed after her, step by stop. Then
with a movement that was feline in it.-,
quickness, ho flung out an arm and ■ -- --=?■» -> »-*-
seized her. Then ho turned hor dollb J0 ' vns at 1113 Imels, saw both that fall
move or two, I believe I could still
make this thing come out all right."
“You’ll let me father off?” she de
manded.
“Yes."
“Then tell me what I’m to do."
“You remember that young lady at
the works this morning, who nearly
got drawn Into the machinery?"
“The skirt with the starry eyes?
Sure!”
“Well, I want to meet that young
lady, In secret.”
“And where do I come In?"
"I want you to go to her houso and
ask her to come to the slulceroom of
tho factory tomorrow night."
The Girl Seemed Honest.
tion tho expediency of her midnight
mission. Yet ns she looked at the un-
happy’nnd hollow-eyed girl at her side
she felt sure that hor journey, odd as
it had at, first seemed to hor, could not
bo altogether a mistake. The girl was
honest, of that there could be no ques
tion, for she had Journeyed many long
miles to restore a trivial bit of jewelry
to its owner. Slip had also refused to
accept money. She had even seemed
unwilling, after Margery had packed a
large motor hamper with Jelly and
milk and potted meats, to liavo that
luxurious young lady venture so far
a-ficld at such an hour of the night.
But Margery felt that it was a case
. vumuuo.. uibut. t luul who a case
’I ean see that millionaire dame ; whero the loss of timo might possibly
losln’ her beauty sleep to boat It out mean tho loss of a life, and slip .was
to a dye dump like thlst" j glad, as they went humming opt past
"Then it’s up to you to take her the thinning lights ojt tho city’s re-
there," was Legar’s retort. motest suburbs, that sho had not hesl-
"But I ain’t no miracle worker!”. ; tated to do what she could to repay
Legar drew back. her debt to tho daughter of Dan
“Then our bargain Is to fall O'Mara.
through?" ho demanded, with a head
movement towards the cellar door.
“But how’m I goln’ to make her
come?" Inquired the distressed girl.
Legar drew out tho gold locket which
he had picked up from tho factory
floor.
“This dropped from her throat when
you tore her cape free this morning
Take that to hor. Tell hor you’d found
it after she left. She’ll feel sorry for
you. In fact, you’ve got to make her
feel sorry for you. You’d better try a
faint, when you’re talking to her, and
tell her you haven’t eaten for a couple
of days. She'll try to give you money.
But you must tell her that your moth
or Is worse off than you are."
“But.s’posln’ she won't swallow that
gpb stuff?’’
"Why aro we stopping at the Apple-
walthe works?” she asked as the car
drew up beside tho millghted roadside.
"Because mo mother’s here for tho
night," explained the wistful-eyed girl
as sho clambered down from tho car,
grateful for tho gloom that already
surrounded hor. "You see, ma’am, they
put us out o’ the houso tills mornin’l
So pop got the watchman here to let
me mother sleep in one o’ the base
ment rooms.”
“Will your father be here?” Inquired
tho somewhat bowilderod young wom
an at her heels.
"I can get ’im, ma’am,” explalnod
the girl as sho put down the hamper,
“If you’ll just Etep In through that
door."
“But who'll take me to where your
eratoly about until she faced the black-
walled sluiceway. But the gill shrank
back. —
'Don’t be afraid,of it, my'dear,” ho
mocked as he led her forcibly, stop by
stop, to the lip of tho channel through
which tho mill water was. curling and
eddying. “In fact. I want you to look
at it closely and understand it fully.
It’s wonderful, wonderful for manv
reasons. At the end of this sluico, you
see, Is a log mangle. I have scon those
knives shred a six-inch timber In less
than a minute’s timo.”
He turned and stared down at the
white-faced girl, drinking to the full
the dizzy wine of her terror, wringing
a voluptuous delight out of her word
less gape of horror. Then the look on
his face suddenly altered, and ho
wheeled about, still clutching tho gir!
close to his side. He stood staring at
and Hie fact that the Iron Claw had al-'
ready leaped towards the control
hoard of tho water mangle. Peggy
.'.'creamed aloud, shrilly and belligerent
ly, as sho J raped for the man already
before tho control board. She caught
at him, clawing at his upraised arm,
fought him with every jot of her thin-
blooded girlish body.
Hut she was no match for that de
termined and malignant opponent. The
most she could do was to distract and
harry him for a precious moment or
two. Then, realizing she was a factor
to ho eliminated without scruple, he
caught her bodily tip from tho floor,
raised her above Ills head, and with a
sickening tiiud, sent her body against
tho solid masonry of the factory wall.
Sho lay there stunned, without mov
ing, moaning brokenly with pain, as
I.cgar darted back to the control lever
uiuae io ins siuc. vie stoou staring at uucu u> me control lever
the door which he had locked but a ot lho mangle drums and shifted that
1 1 .1 1.1. . _ .... IpViM* In flin nr,n t 1. _ .* ,1 . ...
minute beforo. And his faco sudden
ly hardened as he saw the heavy iron
latch of that door movo.
Margery, following his glance, also
watched that door. And when sir
hoard the thump of a heavy timber o>
its panels a new hope sped throngl
her. That hope equipped hor with
fresh strength. It prompted her t<
struggle against the Iron Claw with
the utmost power of hgr desperate
young body. But her enemy, for all
her efforts, was too much for her. Foot
by foot he forced her back towards
the opon sluiceway. Then, with a mut
tered gasp of finality and a sudden up
ward heave of his shoulders, ho flung
the girl headlong into the water.
As* ho did so tho door hurst open.
For the heavy-hearted Peggy O’Mara,
after slipping guiltily away from tlio
sluioeroom where she had left lier
quite unsuspecting victim, awakened
for the first tipie to tho full enormity
Q? !iP!’ offense. As she stood there in
the darkness, staring back at tho dark
lever to tho spot marked “start.” The
n ;:t moment ho had thrown over the
switch of tho sluicegate control.
Jio ventured ono triumphant glance
m tho direction of tho whirring
mangle knives and the slowly ascend
ing gate. Then, with a grimace of sat
isfaction, he loaped over tho inert
body of tho Laughing Mask, ran to tho
door, and disappeared in the darkness.
Had that flight been lees hurried
Legar might liavo observed that the
eyes of tho Laughing Mask were open,
and tho inert body, weak as it was
from the loss of blood from a flesh
wound in the hip, was already pain
fully gathering itself together for some
predetermined movement. That move
ment, wavering and unsteady as it
was, tool; the crawling man directly to
tho control board of the water mangle.
There, by a supreme effort, ho raised
himself to his foot, groped about with
•an unsteady hand, and swung back
the lever. '
Tho next moment the roar of the
oumuiB uuuiv. ui mo aaric uxunieni
mass of tlio faotory walls, the aches of. Wchincry slopped, tho threshing
remorse lay heavy on her young heart, j Itriives stood poised. But it had beon
Sho was standing thore, with tears j onl Y In the nick of time. For Mar-
of helplessness In her oyes, when a Bory Golden, who had clung to the
flguro Stepped up to her. Sho would : s| ulcegate until Its withdrawing bars
have fled, incontinently, at tho ap- hnd compelled her to relax he. last
preach of. that Intruder. But the i desperate clutch on its bars and drop
stranger held her with a gently rc- back into tho black tid- carrying lier
straining hand. And as she peered up closor and closer to those flailing
at his face she saw that it was tlio of death, now caught and clung
man in the laughing mask. j to a graphite-covered driving chain lit-
“The righting of wrongs is a part of 1,0 more Hiaii a yard from the fore-
my business in life. Can I help you?” j - nos t Jianglo drum which towered
The girl hesitated. abovo her like an open <aw. And as
“Yes,” she finally confessed, with a ■ Eho clung-there, a renewing wave of
burst of tears. And through her sobs j h °l 10 swept through her body, for from
she brokenly recounted as much ns ! t,le sluiceway wall above her sho could
she dared of that night's proceedings, i hear a reassuring if somewhat un-
But she continued to weep. | steady voice calling down to her. And
“And me father’ll be goln’ to the ; that voice, sho knew, was tlio voice
pen for what I’m tollin' you;" she o£ Ul ° Laughing Mask!
walled out In her misery. CTO BE CONTINUED.) ■