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I
THE
PLOITS OF ELAINE
A MOTION PICTURE DETECTIVE DRAMA PRE
SENTED BY THE HEARST SUNDAY NEWSPAPERS
IN COLLABORATION WITH MISS PEARL WHITE
AND THE OTHER FAMOUS PATHE PLAYERS
Written by Arthur B. Reeve
Creator of the “CRAIG KENNEDY” Stories
in Collaboration with
CHARLES W. GODDARD
The Opium Smugglers.
11
ti
I
r 0 pyrlght, 1*15, bv the Star Company.
All Foreign Right* Reserved.
G EOROE. the Dodge chauffeur, had Just
returned to the garage In the rear of
the house with the car and was work
ing over It He was so Intent on locating a
strange noise tn the engine that he did not see
the serpentine eyes of Wu as he peered Into
Xhs garage through a small window,
Wu waa not alone. Ae always, he had been
able to secure an assistant In the devilish
scheme he had 1n mind, not a sinister, evil-
fared fellow, but a neat, quiet, apparently hon
est-looking young mechanician.
George waa bending closely over the engine
as he speeded It up to see what waa the cause
Of the rattle, when the door of the garage
opened quietly. On tiptoe Wu and the young
mechanician, a man named Johnson, slipped In,
Johnson carrying an automobile robe.
' The next moment the two had leaped upon
the defenseless George. Johnson threw the
robe over his head, while Wu wound him about
with a rope He was completely and Instantly
put out.
Just then, working as if by the clock, for
such was the precision of Wu's plans, a olosed
car, muffled down, slipped up to the garage
door. They hustled the unresisting OeorRe in
to the car. Johnson taking the plaoe at the
wheel and Wu sitting on guard In back with
George, bound and almost suffocated.
George was loyal. If anything. Threats and
bribes had no effect on him. even after he had
come too In Wu’s secret den.
"There Is paper, pen and Ink," threatened
Wu. “Write what I tell you.”
George remained motionless, detlant.
"You will not?” shrugged Wu, masking hla
Impatience behind an assumed nonchalance.
Slowly he picked up a murderous dirk, which
lay on the table before him, and felt the point
thoughtfully. A deep, guttural order hissed
from the Serpent’s Ups. Instantly two of the
servants seized George, while the third bent
his head back. As Wu raised the knife. It
was more than even tha Iron nerves of George
could stand.
He broke down.
"Take the pen," directed Wu, adding, as
George took it mechanically, "Write."
Both Elaine and Aunt Josephine were much
surprised at the non-appearance of George In
the morning.
It was explained, apparently, when Jennings,
the butler, ushered In the neat and quiet young
man who politely told a story of an accident
to his dear friend. George, as he handed a note
. to Elaine.
“I think you’ll do,” nodded Elaine. "Jen
nings, will you show Johnson how to get to the
garage?”
* For a long time Kennedy had been perfect-
* jng a miniature wireless telephone of his own
* invention, and the activities of Wu Fang now
caused him to hasten his work.
It was the next morning after the capture
~ of Long Sin that Craig got the Instrument
working to hts satisfaction. I was delighted.
■i lor I had been much Interested In following
, his work on It.
"You see, Walter,” Kennedy explained, set-
• ting a little black box on the laboratory table,
- 'I’ve got this thing down to an irreducible mln-
- Imum. It’s the most compact afTalr imagin
able. See. 1 open the face of the box. I lift
..up these miniature aerials of the Inverted L
type. Here Is the transmitting apparatus, there
the receiving, all tuned. 1 press this lever."
r, He paused. At the other end of the table
stood an exact duplicate of the first lnstru-
. eluent. ,
As he pressed the lever the buzzer In the
.nther telephone sounded.
*3’m going to ask you, Walter,” he went on
folding down the little aerials and shutting up
• the box,” “to take this other Instrument over
„ to Elaine.”
- He placed the wireless telephone In a bag
and a few minutes later I left the laboratory.
"Good morning. Mr. Jameson." Elaine greeted,
adding, as she'caught sight of the bag, “Not
- going to leave us. are you?”
"No.” I replied. "I’ve brought you a present
' from Craig—a wireless telephone. You see, he
„ sayR that 1? you will keep this with you where-
I* ever you go, you can always communicate with
■ him.’
L, "How interesting!” she exclaimed.
"Yes,” I agreed, relating the Joke which
L Craig had played on me as. briefly as 1 could, l
.[explained the working of the telephone to both
. Elaine and Aunt Josephine.
L Out In the Atlantic, tossing over the choppy
, seas, a dingy old schooner was tacking her way
toward New Y’ork harbor The captain. Jake
Gregor, was a disreputable looking man, as
were both his craft and Ills crew of mixed
whites and Chinese.
feg. Gregor had come out on deck and stood there
gazing off at where the land ought to be He
had just finished scrawling a note on a piece
of paper resting on the after cabin roof when
% one of the men reached down and from a small
wooden cage took a struggling white carrier
They fastened the note, rolled up In a
sort of quill, to the bird’s leg and let the bird
loose. It circled up, then, straight as an arrow,
darted off landward.
i . “They’ll be glad to know we’re safe and so
- near,” nodded Gregor. "And confound any
revenue men that stand between us!”
Author of "The Perils of Pauline."
Everything you read here to-day you can see In
fascinating Pathe Motion Pictures this week.
arranged so that It fell almost at a touch,
working a little signal flag on the hack of the
box toward the room In which the Chinamen
were seated. Now and then, as they talked,
they would glance at this box.
Suddenly there was a flutter of wings out
side. A pure white pigeon seemed to glide Into
the box and. as the homing bird did so, the
door automatically shut. It was a cage such as
Is used for carrier pigeons. The little flag in
the room moved, and the Chinamen crowded
about the box as Wu opened it, reached In
and caught the bird. Carefully he took the
message from the bird’s foot. As one of them
placed the bird In another box and reset the
trap, Wu unrolled the paper and read:
10 A. M.
Twenty-six miles southeast of Sandy
Hook. Will drop anchor off Staten Island
to-night.
“You will let me know tf any later message
comes,” directed Wu to one of his men as, a
moment later, the Chinese master criminal left
the tenement.
Cautiously lie made hts way to the secret
entrance to his own apartment. He had scarce
ly entered when a Chinaman who had evidently
been waiting for him rose and bowed. It was
Ilop Ling, the proprietor of the opium den.
"is there any news jet, master?” he asked.
"Yes, Gregor Is landing your opium to-night
I’ll have a girl for him to take back to Shanghai
with him, where she can be sold."
The opium dealer bowed.
"Be ready at dark to-night,” added Wu as
the man left.
*
Kennedy had begun to get closer on the trail
of Wu and, having dispatched me to Elaine
with the wireless telephone. It occurred to him
that ho might spend a few hours profitably
sleuthing about Chinatown searching for clues
to the Serpent
He donned the roughest of his old suits and
turned hts coat collar up, while an old slouch
lint was pulled over his eyes. But It was not
so far over as to dim his sight.
Ho paused once by an electric light pole to
watch a gangster saunter past. Twice the fel
low had walked up and down the street, and
Kennedy, after eyeing him narrowly, had fan
cied that there was something familiar about
him. though he could hot place him.
As the gangster slouched by, he lurched
over to the electric light pole, and Kennedy
felt his hand touched by that of the gangster.
He was more than surprised to feel something
like a piece of cardboard surreptitiously
shoved Into his hand, and he clutched It. The
gangster passed, and. as lie did so, Kennedy
looked after him, then bent over and read:
Captain John Bralnard,
U. S. Secret Service.
Written .unusiueath the engraved name was
"Follow.” »
For a moment Craly hesitated, the* he re
membered. Bralnard’s disguise had been good,
but neither had been able to completely hide
their Identity, for they had worked once shoul
der to shoulder on a big counterfeiting case.
Slowly Craig followed. Bralnard entered a
saloon by a side door and seated himself in a
back room. A moment later Kennedy slouched
in and sat down at the same table. Brainard
nodded and Craig extended hlB hand quietly.
He looked about. They were alone.
"What brings you down here?” asked Ken
nedy In a low tone.
"A big shipment of opium Is going to be
landed to-night and I’m trying to locate the
Chinese gang back of It. Think you can help
me?”
"Anything to do with that hop Joint up the
street?”
Bralnard nodded. Would It prove a clue pos
sibly to Wu Fang?
“I’ll help you,” agreed Kennedy.
For several minutes they talked, laying out
a plan. Finally they paid the check and rose
to go out. As they reached the side door a
Chinaman passed. Kennedy drew Bralnard
back
“What’s the matter?” whlsperedf the Secret
Service man.
"Did you see that Chinaman?” returned Ken
nedy. “That’s Hop Ling. He runs the opium
Joint. I think he is worth shadowing.”
Keeping discreetly In the roar of the China
man, Kennedy and Bralnard followed until
Hop paused before a ramshackle tenement. No
sooner had he disappeared Inside than Craig
and Bralnard ndvanned, careful that they In
turn were not followed.
They entered and went upstairs At last
they came to a door outside which they paused
to listen. At least two, perhaps more, China
men were talking inside.
"Can you make out what they are saying?"
asked Bralnard
"Something about birds,” returned Craig.
"We’ve got them. There are only two. Let’s
rush the door.”
Together they catapulted themselves at the
door and It flew open. Instantly, before the
Chinamen could recover from their surprise at
the sudden attack. Craig and Bralnard were
on them. One rushed for a window, smashing
It with a chair and trying to get out. Craig
seized him and helped eorner the other, who
turned out to be Hop Ling. It was the work
P.
In a room in a tenement Wu Fang and sev
eral Chinamen were seated talking and smok
ing It was not Wu’a headquarters, but a
t poorly furnished place.
^Outside a nearby window was a large box
ch had a small sliding door on the outside,
You Can See “Elaine”
in fascinating motion pictures at
leading theatres everywhere. If
“The Exploits of Elaine” is not
shown regularly in your neigh
borhood, send the name and ad
dress of the theatre you attend
to this newspaper.
of only a moment to snap tne bracelets on the
two and cover them with a gun.
"What’s that?” demanded Bralnard, looking
at the box in the window, as Kennedy moved
over toward It.
"A pigeon trap, I suspect,” Craig replied.
“Let’s wait."
They sat there for several minutes. Evident
ly the Chinese had been waiting for something.
Craig felt that waiting might pay.
At last he was rewarded by the sound of a
flutter outside. A click followed as the little
door shut, trapping the pigeon. The signal
flag In the room moved.
Kennedy looked at It a moment, then care
fully opened the door In the back of the trap
and seized the bird. From the quill on Its leg
he took a tightly rolled note and read:
5 P. M.
Will be off Van Dort Jetty In two houre.
GREGOR.
What did It mean? Threats, Imprecations,
nothing could extract a word from the two Im
passive prisoners.
"Come,” ordered Kennedy sharply of Hop
Ling, not for a moment letting hls vexation
show In hls face. “Walk ahead of me.”
Two of the gang had been captured, hut Wu
seemed as far away as ever. He marched Hop
along sullenly, while Bralnard kicked the other
Chinaman to hls feet and followed.
They did not have far to go. Scarcely a
block away stood a policeman, and Craig waved
to him.
Quickly Craig produced cards of identifica
tion and they left their handcuffed prisoners
with the understanding that they were to be
held until full charges could be made against
them.
At the first telephone pay station Craig
turned in and called up the laboratory to which
I had returned.
"I think I’ve got the best clue yet, Walter,”
he called. "You remember Bralnard? Well,
I want you to meet me at the Battery, where
a revenue cutter will be waiting. Bring along
that wireless telephone, too. Don’t forget.”
I hung up the receiver excitedly and tucked
the little black box under my arm as I hurried
out.
Elaine had decided to motor down to the
country home of one of her friends who lived
on the shore of New Jersey, and accordingly,
late in the afternoon, called the garage and
ordered Johnson to have the car ready.
As Elaine was whirled downtown and over
the ferry from New York she was deeply en
grossed In her own thoughts.
How far they had gone she did not pay much
attention, but she knew the roads well. They
had come to a fork, and Johnson veered off to
the left. Instinctively Elaine knew that the
right-hand road was the more direct, and she
touched a little signal that summoned the
driver.
"You’re taking the wrong road,” she called.
“Go to the right”
"I think you’ll find the roads better this way,
Miss Dodge,” persisted Johnson.
It was, however, merely a ruse on hls part
to gain time and give some of Wu’s men an
opportunity. For, as the car approached the
fork, two roughnecks, hidden behind a rock In
the shrubbery, had been straining their eyes
down the road and at the approach of the car
had drawn back closer under cover.
Johnson stopped some hundred feet or so
down the wrong road past the rock In answer
to Elaine’s signal. It was the chance the
roughnecks wanted. They leaped out from their
shelter. Not another car or vehicle was in
sight. Quickly they slunk down the road.
As Elaine was becoming vexed at Johnson’s
first show of stubbornness, she suddenly felt
strong arms circling her, while a huge, very
dirty hand pressed with Irresistible force over
her mouth. She struggled, but it was of no
use.
They pinned her down to the floor of the
car. Johnson drew the curtains and leaped
Into his seat, from which he had descended,
leaving the engine running.
"To the Van Dort Jetty,” growled one rough
neck. ’’They'll be there soon.”
Quickly Johnson shot the car along to the
lower bay side of the Island, instead of the
New Jersey ferry.
It was very late In the afternoon. I did my
best to get down to the Battery with the wire
less telephone to meet Kennedy and Bralnard,
but it was dark before i got there.
As I hurried down to the dock, I saw that
they had already boarded the revenue cutter
and were waiting impatiently. It was a fairly
sizable craft.
They hauled me aboard and we cast off. The
wind blew In keenly from the bay and we spun
down the harbor, keeping a sharp lookout for
any suspicious craft.
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Already Wu Fang and a couple of his lieu
tenants had gone down to the Van Dort jetty.
No message had been received from Gregor,
but they felt sure that he would be there with
the schooner.
Finally Wu directed one of hls men to set off
a signal, a flashlight on the end of the Jetty,
while he strained hls eyes through the dark
ness for some answering signal.
He hail not reckoned wrong. Far out over
the water came an answering signal from the
schooner.
"Good!” exclaimed Wu with satisfaction, as
he turned and picked hls way back up the dock.
On he went alone until he came to one of the
deserted mansions of a generation or two ago
which lined the shore at that point. There, in
a yard beside it, stood Elaine’s car
“Where Is the white girl?” asked Wu, calling
Johnson.
"In the house, master,” replied the me-
chanican subservently.
"Wait for me here, then,” nodded Wu.
Down in a musty room in the basement of
the deserted house was Elaine. She was neither
bound nor gagged. In fact, there was no neces
sity for It. No one could hear her cries, nor
could she escape, for the two roughnecks who
had seized her were guarding her, besides a
couple of Chinamen.
Wu Fang came in silently and moved over
close to her. He said not a word, but an evil
smile spread over hls sinister face as she
shrank from him.
Meanwhile a yawl had put out from the
schooner loaded with cans of the precious con
traband drug, and had pulled up at the old
stone Jetty and dock. Chinamen hastily un
loaded It and started up to the house laden
with the heavy Jins.
As Wu stood before Elaine, the Chinamen
carrying the dope tins entered and began piling
them up in an old closet in the room. At last
they finished putting it aw&y.
This Is from the Moving
"All Is done, master," bowed one who seemed
to be leader.
Wu nodded, then turned to Elaine. “Go!”
he hissed, raising his finger and pointing to the
door.
Trembling, she obeyed, and Wu Fang and the
two toughs followed, one of the Chinamen pick
ing up her suitcase. Across the. almost un
travelled road they forced her and down on the
stone dock, every footstep dogged by Wu and
his emissaries.
“Get into the boat," Wu ordered.
She climbed down into the dirty yawl, and
the Chinamen tossed her suitcase after her.
"If you see that for any reason she is about
to escape," added Wu savagely, “do away with
her.”
He finished with a threatening gesture as
tho Chinamen followed Elaine into the boat.
1 hen bp turned on hls heel and walked rapidly
back to the deserted house.- There he climbed
into the automobile with the two toughs and all
were rapidly driven away by the faithless
mechanician.
The yawl tossed up and down on the rough
swells that came in from the ocean, as the
powerful arms of the sailors pulled her out
tn rough the blackness to the schooner
There Elaine was lifted over the rail and
forced across the deck down into the murky,
ill-smelling hold. It made no difference to
Gregor whether he carried a cargo of eontra-
band or a white slave, m hls gruff voice he
orders getting under way, while
the Chinaman half led, half pushed Elaine into
a cramped room amidships.
He set down the suitcase and, with a grunt
and a scowl left, locking the door and shuffling
along the passageway t6 a steep flight of steps
to the deck.
Elaine paced up and down her narrow prison
distracted.
Suddenly she paused a moment as her eye
fell on the suitcase. There flashed through her
mind the message I had given her from
Kennedy.
She seized the suitcase and tore It open with
nervous fingers.
“Oh, will it W'ork—will It work?” she
breathed in prayer to herself as she lifted out
tenderly the little wireless telephone.
She opened it, pulled up the little aerials,
and pressed the lever.
“ H ello—hello—Craig—hello! ”
It was her last chance. Would It work?
By this time we had come In the revenue
cutter to the old dock that was known as the
Van Dort jetty.
As we swung around to it, with Kennedy
and Brainard I leaped out. We gazed about,
hunting for signs of the opium smugglers. All
was as still as a grave, except for the ominous
lapping of the waves.
I happened to look down at the ground.
There In the light of a lantern I saw one of
those square-toed footprints which we had come
to know' so well—the print of a Chinese shoe.
The footprints led up from the dock to an
old, deserted, dilapidated house. We paused a
moment before It. Just then a door opened
and a Chinaman appeared.
With a cry he darted back, but we were at
him. There were others inside, too, but they
were easily overpowered.
Prodding the reticent Celestials, we retraced
our steps to the jetty, Brainard’s men carrying
the opium. At the dock we loaded our prison
ers and the contraband on the cutter.
It was plain that although we had captured
the dope, the ship which had brought it had
escaped, and, worst of all, Wu had again
slipped through our fingers.
Brainard gave the order and we left the
wharf. As we stood gazing from the captured
opium to the prisoners, Brainard was visibly
elated. “Shake,” he said laconically to Craig.
Whether It was that he was disappointed at
the failure to land Wu or whether he merely
had a premonition that all was not well, some
how Kennedy did not share the elation. He
extended his hand mechanically.
Just then a buzz as if a bell had rung
startled us. It was so unexpected that I ex
claimed, although the next minute I realized
that it was from the wireless telephone which
Craig had asked me to bring from the
laboratory.
Kennedy seized the box, opened it hastily
and clapped the little receiver to his ear.
“Hello—hello—yes, this is Craig. Where are
you—what?”
Of course we could hear only one side of the
conversation, but from the look of intense
horror that passed over Kennedy’s face I
knew that something terrible must have hap
pened to Elaine.
“Leave Me!” Elaine Pleaded.
Picture Film of "The Exploits of Elaine” by the
But at Craig’s next words I myself gasped.
“If you can get a light,” he almost shouted,
“thrust It out of the porthole to guide us. But
we’ll find you any way. Keep up your nerve.”
We crowded about him.
“Brainard—a pair of glasses—quick,” he
cried, dashing to the how of the cutter, “and
full speed down the bay.”
Briefly, as he swept the horizon ahead, he re
peated the tale of Elaine's kiSnapping.
We strained our eyes.
“That’s it—Bralnard—more speed!” cried
Craig at last.
Far off, almost out on the ocean, we could
see a tiny twinkle of light slowly waving back
and forth.
In her prison Elaine had talked to Craig,
afraid to raise her voice too high.
As she heard Kennedy’s Instructions, she re
placed the receiver and rose quickly to her
feet from beside the suitcase. She looked about.
There was a dingy oil lamp suspended from a
beam of the deck above.
She seized It and ran to the porthole. Back
and forth she waved It as far as her arms
would permit-
As the schooner now slipped along, Gregor,
who had left the man at the wheel, was gazing
off, not particularly happy at the prospect of
not touching a port for a long time again. Sud
denly he became aware of a peculiar, though
slight, gleam on the water. He leaned over the
rail further. Below and a bit forward of him
he could catch a glimpse of a light moving
along the side of the boat.
“Confound that wench!” he muttered in a
sudden fury, turning and seizing up a boathook
lying on deck.
Raising it, he leaned far over the rail. Then
he brought the boathook down suddenly on the
lamp, smashing it into a thousand hits as they
hissed into the water.
Elaine drew back in horror. In her hand
was merely the handle of the lamp. It seemed
as if her last hope had been blasted.
“Cap’n—look over the stern—to port!” cried
one of the men on watch.
He pointed, and Gregor raised hls glass as
the rest, including the Chinaman to whom Wu
had entrusted Elaine, crowded about.
There was a searchlight sweeping the water,
as if a fast boat were hunting for something
and were rapidly overhauling them.
“It’s a revenue cutter,” growled Gregor, low
ering his glass after a quick scrutiny of the
mysteriou • craft. “Crowd on more sail—start
the auxiliary motor."
He volleyed forth hls orders hoarsely. In
stantly the deck was In an uproar. For the
moment, in their anxiety to escape, they
seemed to have forgotten Elaine—all except
the Chinaman who had been set to guard her.
Silently he drew from his blouse a knife and
slipped down the companionway.
Elaine, her ears now sharpened by fear at
the mysterious smashing of the light, had
heard the commotion on deck She seized a
chair and propped it against the door.
She had acted not a minute too soon. Down
the passageway, already, she could hear some
one creeping stealthily. It was the Chinaman
with his murderous knife. She heard him pause
at the door as he looked again at hls knife.
Then the lock turned. The door creaked. But
she had propped the chair well, and It held.
Just then she heard a loud report outside,
and an instant later another. Then followed
the crash of something heavy on the deck
above accompanied by a volley of vile oaths
and quick footsteps, as Gregor gave hasty or
ders to his crew.
The Chinaman at the dhor redoubled his ef
forts. He seized a Are axe hanging nearby and
attacked the door with that, hacking furiously.
One after another, the table, a chest, every
thing movable, Elaine piled up against the
door as it splintered. But it was of no use.
She moved over fearfully as far away as she
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could to the porthole and looked at the black
water, as she leaned far out, then up at the
deck only a few feet above her.
The door crashed In.
With frantic strength bom of fear the herolo
girl wriggled out of the porthole, as the
schooner heeled over and managed just to
catch the scuppers of the deck. Fear lent her
strength. She succeeded In pulling herself up
to the rail and then over on the deck Just as
the piled-up furniture tumbled over after the
door gave way.
The Chinaman, Infuriated, caught Just a
glimpse of her through the porthole, turned
and rushed for the stairway.
In the commotion Elaine had actually come
over the rati unobserved. But she knew that
she could not be that way long. There was
Just a chance that a white man might heed her
appeal. Forbidding though he was even In the
moonlight, Elaine started toward Gregor.
Just then the maddened face of the China
man appeared at the hatch. A moment later
his lithe body wormed Itself out on deck. As
he came nearer, Elaine retreated further
toward Gregor.
“Oh, sir,” she pleaded, “save me! I have
done nothing!”
Gregor, one eye on the approaching revenue
cutter, the other on hls ship and crew, had not
seen her till then.
“Get out of the way,” he growled roughly,
pushing her aside. “Save yourself.”
The Chinaman came a step nearer, knife up
raised. She fled along the deck. There In the
shrouds was a ladder. In desperation she
seized a rung, swung herself around, and
Btarted up.
Her relentless pursuer followed, hand oyer
hand, clenching the knife in his teeth. In her
terror she tore off a piece of spar that had
been loosened by a shot from the cutter and
threw It full In hls face.
Still, on he came. She drew herself up.
There was no escape. A moment she trembled
aloft.
Then, from a crosstree, she Jumped, diving
far out into the water. The Chinaman followed.
Hand over hand he churned the waves after
her.
We were now nearing a low, rakish craft.
Though we signalled it, they paid no- attention.
Instead, we could hear the chug-chug of an
auxiliary gas engine.
Brainard sent a shot across the schooner’s
bow. Still she did not stop. Instead, the top
sails broke out in spite of the gale and she
headed away faster.
Another shot flashed out from our gun. This
time a spar was carried away, as the search
light playing on the schoner clearly showed.
We were rapidly gaining now.
“Brainard—stop firing—for heaven's sake,”
shouted Craig from the how. “Look!”
We followed his finger as he peered forward
tensely.
There in the rigging, hanging perilously, was
Elaine. She was clinging there holding a
Chinaman at hay.
Suddenly we saw her draw herself up and
deliberately dive into the water. The China
man dived also. Hand over hand he went
after her. We watched, speechless.
Kennedy turned and seized the rapid fire
gun, whirling it around and aiming carefully.
The Chinaman was a powerful swimmer and
was rapidly gaining on Elaine. We could even
see the gleam of the knife In the searchlight.
Carefully Craig sighted the gun. The mis
take of a hair’s breadth meant life or death.
He fired.
Not a minute too soon the shot rlcochetted
over the waves. The Chinaman’s arms went
up In mute surrender. His head sank helow
the surface of the water.
Instantly, Craig and I were leaning far over
the side of the cutter as, with power off, she
slipped along, close to that figure swimming li»
the cold, black water. Neither of us paid any
attention to Gregor’s frantic signals of surren
der as Bralnard covered the schooner.
As we passed, Craig reached over and caught
Elaine, lifting her bodily Into our boat.
“Oh, Craig!’’ she gasped, as Kennedy, wrap
ped his great coat about her.
“Brainard—some hot drinks—quick,” he
ordered as he carried her, half fainting, to ti-e
cabin.
“Thank heaven for the wireless telephom
he muttered as he worked frantically to hrlltg
her around. ^
“No—it was the Inventor—that did It,” stte
murmured, looking up at him, safe. !
(Continued Next Sunday.)