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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.) ■