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W—mnini nmnv NmNTV 1M00KK8S, CAIKo, wawm ,a. Author ef -The occa- SIONAL OF FENDER.’THE WIRE PERS," runners; Novelized from THE PAT HE PHOTO PLAY OF THE . SAME NAMEf On Windward Island Palldorl Intrigues -W tho fac0 of Ju,os Logar hlmBelf. Mrs. Golden Into nn appenranco of evil which causes, Golden to capture and tor ture .the Italian oy brundintf his fuce and crushing; hts lhand. Palldorl floods tho Is land and ktdpaps Golden’s little daughter Margery. Twelve years lator In New York a Masked One rescues Margery from Le- wlience she ‘ Is recaptured. Margery’s mother ’fruitlessly Implores Golden to llnd their daughter. Tho Laughing Mask again takes Margery away from Lcgar. She went on, from that moment, crowding every Inch of speed out of her car, oxultlng in tho fact of Its power, ignoring the shouts of onlook ers as she swept up through Coleman’s villago, took the turn in a smother of dust, nnd brought the steaming road- sior up Bharp against a cedar-hedgo crowning tho topmost ridge of tho river cliffs. She leapod bodily through the hedge and ran to tho outermost lip of the Pallsados. There, cupping her hands to her lips, sho called but a Dingle name again and again. _ _ From a crovlco in the broken rock- gar escapes; but Da .Esparcs Is crushed’ In loco below her a flguro wearing a yol- the ruins. Margery rescues tho l<uughing . .. , » , , .. , . . Mask from the police. Manley finds Mar- low ^ask looked cautiously out and gery not indifferent to hia love. He saves ; waved up to l*er with an equally cau- her from Mauki’s poisoned arrows. Man- mu« „ „u ley plans a mock funeral which falls to ™ oua Blgnul. The next moment flho men. but is recovered by tho Laughing Mask. Count Da Esparcs figures in a dubious attempt to entrap Lcgar and claims to have killed him. Golden’s house Is dynamited during a masked ball. Le- accomplish the desired purposo, the cap ture of. the Iron Claw and his gang. Mar- he Iron Claw by tho Laughing Mask. An attempt by the Iron Claw to blow up tho O’Mara Cottage Is frustrated In* the nick of time. .The Laughing Mask discloses his Identity to Margery. FOURTEENTH EPISODE The Unmasking. A strange mood of happlnoss, ns un reasoning as it was inexplicable, seemdd to hnvo taken possession of Margery Golden. A less timorous light shone from tho depths of her pool- brown eyes. At all times of the day, too, she could be heard singing about the house. This wayward blilhcncss ot spirit was something more than a puzzle to her heavy-browed father, who found little In tho situation immediately con fronting him to cause him any unduo lightness of heart. For that situation had unexpectedly taken on tlio form of a defeat. After all Jules Logar’s campaign for the possession of that pregnant scrap j flipped to tho back of the cave. When was clambering nimbly yet carefully down tho lodge of broken rock. A pair of stalwart young arms wero waiting to hold her up. But she quick ly broke away from their clasp. “Quick, they aro coming to capturo you!” “Who are?" “The police. They have found out you aro hiding hore. And Legar also 1ms found out!” Tho man in the mask darted back to a small table on which stood a shaded lamp. Ho bont quickly over and blow out tho llame. This left tho back of the cave In darkness. Then ho ran back to where the girl still waited. “Do you trust mo?” he asked. “1 tnrnt you in everything,” was her reply. "Then liBten! Tho water at tho foot of this cliff is deep. It is a drop of a hundred feot. But it may bo our only chance. Are you willing to tuke that ,16ap witli mo?” ”1 trust you—In everything,” she told him, as she drew herself up. He held her there for a moment, and then of, parchment .which carried the key to ’the Secret of the lost treasure of Windward island, tho long-fought-for document had suddenly disappeared from the Golden vault. And all evl- , denco pointed to' tho fact that it wa3 the Laughing Mask who had stolen the’ chart and cipher code from tho safe. 'Golden was in the midst of his second' conference with tho russot- faced Captain Brackett of tho head quarters staff, when a telephone call came for that official. Tho talk over the wire was onesided. Then with great deliberation .the official hung up the receiver hud swung about to Enoch Golden. “Well, we’vo got your Laughing •Mask for you.” “You’ve got him?” repeated Golden. "Our man Walcott located him by of the fugitive and started in pursuit, slio crossed to tho doors on tho far oldo Thqy ran well, and they run deter-; ot the room and locked thorn, "that mlnedly. Lcgar, realizing tlmt they you or I will hnvo to steal like a thief were galntng on him, nnd further real- through this housol” lelng that he could not keep. up his The Laughing Mask, who was work- gait for long, veered suddenly towards Ing at tho vault door, looked up as she the Tlver, whero a road-builder's tool spoke, shed stood at tho extreme end of a “But It's not often thieves break into rock-cut along tho cliff-top. Through a safo to put things back,” he Baid as the doorway of this shod he darted, ho swung tho heavy steel door open, with his two purBUers. now Joined by Sho stood watching that open door a third officer, not a hundred yards he- us lie stopped Into the darkness of hind him. tho vault. Ho seemed to he having Ho had hoped, in diving into that trouble with tho lock of ono of tho In- ompty building, to throw his purauors nor drawers. off his track, if ouly for n few mo- Thon a tingle of alarm spread qulclt- mentB. But in this ho was disappoint- ly through her body, for tho call-boll of ed,' just as ho was disappointed in ffnil- the tulephono on tho rosowood desk lug that the shack he hud entered pbs- suddenly rang out through tho room, sessed no’sccond exit or entrance. And The shrill of that boll brought the as he stared quickly about ho realized Laughing Mask from tho depths ot tho that he had unwittingly entered a trap, vault. Running to the far end of the shack, "Don’t unswor It!” warned tho girl, ho sent his woodon arm crashing "But WilBon or ono of tho servants' through the window, leaped to tho sill, will suroly come," explained tho and stared out. Below him lay tho Luughlng Mask as ho movod towards Hudson. Crouching low, he looped tho door that still remained unlocked, from tho sill whoro ho stood, leaped "But tho chart—is it back?" out into space and thon dropped llko a "it Ib back whero it belongs,” was plummet to the river below. tho unswor. '•We’ve lost him!" guspod tho fore-, “Then I’ll shut tho vault door. And most of the pursuers, crossing to tho, the soonor wo get out to your cur tho shack and staring breathless through the shattered window sash. “He’s done for!” cried thp second man. "No guy can take that drop and —By God, we’ro wrong! He's up! He’s striking out for shore!" The oldest of the three suddenly ran back across tho shack floor. "Then get down by tho Coloman road, you men, and head that hell- diver off before ho’s half way across Jersey!” Tho End of tho Trail. Margery Golden crossed to the still open window and stared out. “You should not have come hero,” sho said without turning to tho man in the yellow mask who stood smiling so close behind her. ‘‘I had to come!” ho said in suddenly sobered tones. “Why?" asked the troubled girl. “Because 1 couldn't stay longer with out seeing you," was the other’s an swer. The girl at the window turned slow ly about and faced him. "But think of the risk! It's not half' an hour since I heard father tele phoning for that police captain. And bettor!" Ho stood watching hor as sho crossed to the heavy Bate door and swung It Bhut. Ho saw hor gloved hand go up to tho nickeled handlo, to throw on tho lock. Thon bIig did startling and unexpected thing. With nn oddly birdllko movement of the head sho stopped and stared intently at his figure, clearly outlined against tho dark folds of the portlore bohtnd him. Then, lnstcnd of locking tho vault door, sho took four quick stepB to the heavily carved tenkwood table on her right. From this sho caught up a Roman lamp of heavy bronze, hurling it with all hor‘force at tho swaying portiere behind lilul at the same mo ment that she uttered her sudden scream of warning. For from tho folds of that portiere sho had caught sight of an Iron claw at tlio end of a proternaturally long arm. And as this iron claw was lifted high in the air she caught tho glint ot a naked stool kntfo-bldde, pointed and slender, hold, in some inexplicable man ner, in tho clutch ot that circle of iron. "Legar," was all sho had time to cry out as tho bronze lump went swinging he reappeared lie carriod a rough pine table in his arms. This he placed on "end close to the entrance of the cave. Tho next moment a shadow dark ened tho mouth of the cave, Silhouet ted clear agaiust tho outor light they mould see the stooping figure ot the- ilrou Claw. , As he stood there, peering cautious ly about the ledge of the rockshelf, lie was stealthily joined by his fol lowers. “They’ro coming,’’ the Laughing Mask whispered to Margery Goldeh, as he drew her closer in beside the rocky wall of the tunnel. Then, using the up-ended table as a screen, he advanced with her towards the cave- , mouth, slowly, Silent, foot by foot. They wero within six feot of the opening when Legar turned about to trailing his chauffeur. And before . givQ a wor( j 0I . tW o of command to his nightfall we epu have him rounded up." “Where was he found?” "Just whero you’d least expect a man of that character to ho found. He’s hiding, in a cave in the Hudson Palisades, not ton miles from where we’re sitting at'the moment, just ubovo Coleman’s village. And tho fact he’s ducked to a Mallna like that hears followers. Two flgures, those of a masked than holding a slender girl lirmly by the hand, came running out of the cave. So suddenly did they come that they scattered Legar’s men as they ad vanced. And before thoso astounded inen could recover either their foot ing or their wltB, the man in the mask, ' holding tho girl close to his side, had out what we’ve always claimed, that j, crossed to the cliff-edge and had taken he’s as big a crook as this Iron Claw j. a ilying leap out lnt0 apace . hlmonlf lirmoat mon (Inn t.'CrRWl : . himself. For honest men don't crawl into river caves! • f tron-burst from that startled group of Golden was about to reply in the at- . - ne3lera as thoy atood watC hing the i jjAn involuntary gasp of consterna- '(■■tion-1 Amative to this self-obvious statement j , c|aspo(1 flgurea hurtle thr0UEh the when he was Interrupted by the en- air, strike the surface of the water trance of his daughter. : clean, and go down into its blue "But supposing our fugitive, said ! |<loptujj- Thon> a£ter what B(jeme(1 an interminable wait, a second shout, down on the somewhat startled police captain, “had enemies who seemed at the moment stronger than he was and at the same time found himself in pos- nepsipijjat. something which it was es sential that he should guard? Wouldn’t it seem natural for him to go whero fie’d be least likely to he found?” The russet-faccd . captain blinked stolidly up at her. "When an honest man has some thing it seems dangerous to hold, he goes to the police for protection. When a crook has pade a haul, and is shaky about, losing his swag, he beats it to his Malina, to his fence, the same as your friend "the Laughing Mask has done!. And the; sooner we get tho wheels moving and root that masked ground-hog out of his dugout the bet ter!" . .“I’m ready,’.' announced Enoch Gol den. With a gasp of sudden-resolution Margery rang the hell, called for her roadster, and struggled into her hat arid coat, as she ran down the sand stone steps to the street. She sped off through the city at a rate that was an open and obvious - violation of all the speed laws. She laughed rebelliously as. once freo of the congested ferry traffic, she swung lightly past the'car in which she be held her own astounded father decor ously seated, giving him her dust hs she mounted to the crest ot the Jersey bills and struck the road leading north ward along the wide-bosomed river. Then as she swung past still an other hurrying car the smile Budden- And, of Course, It Ended in a Wedding. as. involuntary, apparently, as the first, burst from the watchers as they be held the two flgures reappear, swim ming-strongly side by side along the undulating surface of the water. But that shout was not a prolonged one. It merged suddenly into calls and cries of a Bomowhat different character, for with that repeated shout Legar and his men had betrayed their position to a russet-faced police captain and six .stalwart men at his heels. The next moment there was a charge In force down the broken face of the cliff. And as the minions of the law descended on the cave-mouth the evil-eyed group gathered there orupted into sudden life. There was a wild scramble up the rock-ledges, quick encounters and combats, blows and counter-blows, the impact of ash night-sticks on resounding skulls, the capitulating cry of haft-stunned cap tives. But Lcgar fought, backed close agaiust the rock, with the ferocity of a wildcat, holding off every attack and with his flailing Iron claw sweeping hack every assailant. Then, swing ing about, he leaped up the cliff-face, springing from rock to rock with the agility of a mountain goat. ' At the top of the cliff, when Enoch Golden himself, Bide by side with the police captain, attempted to bar that flight, the fugitive bowled over those two rotund flgures and bolted north ward along the topmost ridge of the cliff, heading for the timber not more than a hundred yards away. that captain has said over and over again that he will never rest until he’s effected your capturo. And we both know that Legar is still at large.” “I am willing to take chances now that I’d never have taken before. For I know that you love me now, and I'm never happy when I'm away from you!" “But wo can’t be together, in this house-j-even if it is my home. It will always be a house of danger." “Then why should either of us stay' in this house?” he demanded. “Why can’t we slip away from these walls ot intrlguo and go whero wo can find our own happiness?” Margery Golden shook her head slowly from sido to side. “We would only be going with a cloifd over us. And with that cloud there could never be happiness.” "Then our first duty is to get rid of the cloud. It’s true I took this chart from your father's vault, but you know as well as I do I took it only to pro vent Its theft by Legar. And if that is tho blot that stands between us we can wipe out that, blot by restoring tho chart to whore it belongs.” Ho stooped and turned her face to the light., “And if that is douo, will you promise to come with me?” "Dearest," sho murmured as she olosed her eyes to his caress, "your against that upraised tentaclo of wood and iron. But tho warning was suf ficient. Tho Laughing Mask, leaping to one side, escaped before the knife could he recovered. Then he ran towards the girl in the contor of tjie room, standing between her and the door, as though to shield hor body with his own, for by this time Legar was in tho room itself. And as he advanced on them ho tossed the knife away and drew a revolver from his pocket. lJut the man in the mask, moving even moro quickly than his enemy, swung tho girl about and half carried and half dragged her back to the vault, whero with ono tug of his freo hand ho sprung tho heavy steel door half open. Legar fired/ as he did so, but Ao shot ricocheted harmlessly against the safe-front of japanned steel. “Father keeps a navy revolver in the coin drawer of the vault hero,” called out the girl as the man in tho mask pushed her deeper into tho shad ow of tho protecting door. » At tho same momont that tho Laugh ing Mask swung about and tugged open tho coin drawer, Wilson and a round-eyed footman, having heard the sound of the shot, came running to the library door. But before that door people shall bo my people and your could be opened, Legar, realizing that way my own. And I will go wherever his time was short, had taken matters you ask me to go!”. ( in his own hand. Charging bodily it was ten minutes lator that tho two j against the half-closed vault door, ho of them, hand in hand, stolo quiotly | Bwung it shut before the meaning of down through the shadowy house to , his maneuver could he understood, the library. The girl was heavily Then lie threw on the lock, spun the veiled and dressed for tho street. And with hor she carried a handbag into which she had fevorishly thrown what °y died from herface. Tor" she YeTt I two ofthe "’ things sho most needed for the flight, •sure that one of the faces la that car I ^1^^ IndSuies to which they ‘' ThU 18 the la8t t ‘ Be -” 8h6 8aii 60 lndlgnltios to which they had been subjected, had caught sight 1 dial, and wheeled about to cover tho two. white-faced and gaplng-mouthed servants with his revolver. "Stir one foot, either ot you, and it’ll he your last move on this earth!” he cried as he edged guardedly towards the door, still covering them as ho wont. Ho would have reached tho door and passed out through It without In terruption, lint! not tho entrance door of tho house been thrown open and the riotsa of ninny (not sounded through tho wide hallway. And tho noxt mo ment tho ludlguunt voice ot Enoch Gol den could he hoard calling for his vanished servants. Logar, with a movement of his weapon,, motioned Wilson anil the Bhuldng-iuieod footman out through tho door. Thon. Blaring frantically about the room, ho ran to a Poruglan panel sercon ot faded tapestry and crouched behind It, with his revolver still In his hand. Tho noxt momont tho room wns tilled with a clatter of hurrying feet and n babel ot voIcob. Wilson, almost Inarticulate with excitement, attempt ed for tlio third tlmo to oxplaln tho situation to Enoch Golden and tho of ficials from tho control office who fol lowed at hlB heols. "My daughter, you Bny, shut up In that vault!" “Yos, Blr, Bhut up with tho man In tho yellow mask!" Golden wob breathing hard as he stooped ovor tho lock-dial and worked with shaking Ungers on tho combina tion. I "Stand ready, Captain Brackett, for you know what', thlB Laughing Mask is!” tho old capitalist warned the of ficer beside him. Thon Golden, throwing hack tho look-bars, swung open tho vault door. But Instead of encountering a criminal with a drawn gun, thoy found only a somewhat droopfng-Bhouldorcd young man, in a yellow mask, supporting the body of a half-fainting girl. “Get some wator, somebody, quick!” said the preoccupied young man in the mnBk, as he stepped slowly and some what shakily out to the light. But no one moved to oboy that command. "So we’ve got you at last!" It waB Enoch Golden who Bpoko, confronting the abstracted youth tn tho mask as the latter lifted awuy the girl's veil and starod half-smlllngiy down into her white face at tho same time that sho slowly oponod her eyes. Then he lookod up at tho girl's father. "Yes, you’ve got me at last,” he quietly announced. “Thon we’ll juBt boo who it is wo’vo got!" declared the russet-faced officer as ho stoppod closer to the youth in the yellow domino. With a quick move ment of his hand he Jerked the mask frorii its wearer’s face. Golden was not tho only person in that circle who stood for a silent mo mont or two staring at tho face so sud denly disclosed to them. "My God,” gasped tho old million aire, dropping weakly into a' chair, “it’s David Manley! It’s—It’s our own Davy!" "Well, whoover he Is,'and whatever he is, we’ve got him!" triumphantly announced the russet-faced captain. And the watching circle could see tho glint of the handcuffs which ho so promptly and so pregnantly produced. "Yes, you’ve got mo,” acquiesced their prisoner. "But there is ono per son, remember, that you hnvo still failed to get. And when you get him, gentlemen, I'm afraid thore’s a chance of your losing mo!" “What d’ you mean by that?” de manded Golden. '"And what d’ you mean by breaking Into my vault and carrying off my papers?” "The only thing I intended to carry off, sir, was your daughter. And all your papers you’ll find quite Intact In your vault. If I. hid ono of thorn, as I hid my own identity, it was enly to protect you and your house from the Iron Claw!” "That sounds well,” sneered tho rus- net-faced captain. "But I want, to soo that chart with my own eyos.” "Then supposing you look In the safe for It," suggested Manley. There was a general movement to wards the vault door. But at the same moment there was a more abrupt movement from another part of the room. For Lcgar, realizing that the' ' eyes of his enemies ■ wero directed towards another quarter, Btole from his hiding place and ran, crouching low, along tho library wall towards tho door. Ho had almost reached that door when Margory Golden, glancing up, caught sight of the sinister apd all too familiar figure. "The Iron Claw!” she cried, in a voice with alarm, as Legar dove through the heavy portlores, swung out into tho wldo hallway. He darted through a second room, sprang through still another door, and found himsolf in tho conservatory. He sprang through the glass wall as un hesitatingly as a circus-rider springs through his paper-hoop, carrying lead ed panes and tho tendrils of climbing vines with him as ho wont. Ho was on his foot again, evon be fore his pursuers had awakened to the fact that he had brokon from the house. And before they came tum bling out of the house-door the.fugi tive had ducked under a hedge, vault ed a wall, and roundod tho street cor ner. Ho was a desperate man now, ready to face a desperate chance. And that chanco presented itself to him as a trolley car came to a stop at the avenuo corner ahead of him, and a conductor, leaping from its plat form, crossed to a signet box at tho roadside. Tho conductor had not yet returned to his car when Lcgar sprang -to tho steps of tho front platform, and swung aboard. When the motorman standing there turned to expostulate at this over- preclpitato invasion he found a re volver thrust against his ribs and an iron claw attempting to drag him away from his controlling-lever. Being Cel- tto, and a man of spirit, he naturally resented such coercion. Disregarding tlio flrenrm, ho snatched tho control ler handle of brass from its standard and knpeked asido his assailant’s' loft hand at tho snmo moment 11101 ho 9truek at tho one-armocl stranger's hntiess head. But tho ono-nrmod -'stranger, fight ing with a ferocity that knew no bounds, clnwod anil struck and kicked tho wlcldor of tho controller handlo , from tho car platform, snatching his improvised weapon from hia Jlngora u« ho foil. - The noxt momont, realizing that a band of Bhoutlng pursuors had already dobouchod into tho avenuo behind him, tho captor of tho car slammod and locked shut tho platform doors, throw on tho powor, and wont enrooning off up tho ompty stroot. Tho fUgltivo lookod back for a mo mont, only to illscovor that tho polico captain at tlio head of ills band of pur- suors had already commandeered, a passing, automobile and piled his men into it. So Lcgar, turning back to ills .siS "Yes, You've Got Him," Acquiesced , tho Prisoner, controller, throw on the .last, bolt of power and sent his car bbuhding along tlio rails as that car had never before, bounded. As it caroonod, northward, block by, block, a high-power motor car crow’dod with armod men drew slowly down on it. The trolley oar thundered on, with its wheel-flanges screaming against the switch curve as It swung down the approach to Viaduct bridge. It pounded on as the protesting trucks, smiting malletlike on .their overtaxed metal guides, refusod to. conform to so flimsy a guardian. It pounded across the footpath ot tho high-arched bridge, and leaped llko a hunter through tho wrought-tron guard rails along tho bridge aide, catapulted out into space, and turned ono complete' somersault as It fell Into the valley below. -Tliero it crashed hoad-down on a macadam road as hard as stoho, crushing un der Its weight of splintering wood and twisted stoel the body of the one- armed man who had ventured to tam per with a power which ho had boon unnblo to control. It was an hour later that tho still shaken yet impersonal-vlsaged Wilson U3hored Into tho presence of David Manley and Enoch Golden and his daughter Margery, a! certain russet- faced police captain. That official, as ho seated himself before tho rosewood desk and took a number of papers from his pockets, looked about with a smilo "that was neither altogether apologetic nor altogether triumphant. "Well, we’ve rounded up tho last man of that Iron Claw baud,’’ he an nounced, with a passing touch of ani mosity in his eyes as ho looked about at young Mnnloy. “And Le'gar?” asked tho anxious- oyed girl on the othor side of the desk “Legar, young lady, was stone before wo could get him out from un- dor tliat smashed trolley. But we found enough data on his body to gather In every crook that hung out In Owl’s Nost, bosldos Rod Egan's turned state’s ovldenco/ and, I might add, convinced us that this young man who was fool enough to parndo around in a yollow mask wasn’t as closely con nected with that series of crimes ns wo onco supposed. And I call this day’s work, sir, to round-up that tho police may well bo proud of! "But tho most remarkable haul ot all, I think,' Is this portion of a map and code chart which wo found sowed up In' Legar’s clothing. Now. can you explain to mo the precise moaning of tlieso hieroglyphics, and tho reason why Legar should have boon so anxious to obtain possession ot what I take to bo the othor half Of this chart?" Golden gazed down at tho scrap of, time-worn papor as it lay on tho pol ished rosowood desk, tho scrap of p por about whlph scorned to have r volvod so many of his sorrows, si much of his life. Then ho dropped I back Into Ills chair, with a sigh, anil, looked wistfully up at the fair-haired girl who had crossed to his side. "That’s Bomothing, I’m qfraid we’lli havo to go Into at some future date," announced the grim-jawed old milHon-i airo, with a twitch of tho mouth that; most unmistakably broadened into a smilo/ “But why not now?" inquired officer, puzzled by the older man’ altogether undignified grimace. "Well, to tell tho truth, capi wo’vo got to talk ovor the ments for a wedding to which two young folks here seem to ridiculous Importance! And - till: of mine’s got to find out' what ki flowers she’s going to carry, or whole solar system’s going to si ntrm rlrrllt IIGW ” and stop right now.’ THE END. tipi