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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Romance of Elaine, by Arthur B. Reeve
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Romance of Elaine
+
+Author: Arthur B. Reeve
+
+Posting Date: September 15, 2012 [EBook #5094]
+Release Date: February, 2004
+First Posted: April 24, 2002
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROMANCE OF ELAINE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE CRAIG KENNEDY SERIES
+
+THE ROMANCE OF ELAINE
+
+A DETECTIVE NOVEL
+
+Sequel to the "Exploits"
+
+BY
+
+ARTHUR B. REEVE
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER
+
+   I   THE SERPENT SIGN
+
+  II   THE CRYPTIC RING
+
+ III   THE WATCHING EYE
+
+  IV   THE VENGEANCE OF WU FANG
+
+   V   THE SHADOWS OF WAR
+
+  VI   THE LOST TORPEDO
+
+ VII   THE GRAY FRIAR
+
+VIII   THE VANISHING MAN
+
+  IX   THE SUBMARINE HARBOR
+
+   X   THE CONSPIRATORS
+
+  XI   THE WIRELESS DETECTIVE
+
+ XII   THE DEATH CLOUD
+
+XIII   THE SEARCHLIGHT GUN
+
+ XIV   THE LIFE CHAIN
+
+  XV   THE FLASH
+
+ XVI   THE DISAPPEARING HELMETS
+
+XVII   THE TRIUMPH OF ELAINE
+
+
+
+
+THE ROMANCE OF ELAINE
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE SERPENT SIGN
+
+
+Rescued by Kennedy at last from the terrible incubus of Bennett's
+persecution in his double life of lawyer and master criminal, Elaine
+had, for the first time in many weeks, a feeling of security.
+
+Now that the strain was off, however, she felt that she needed rest and
+a chance to recover herself and it occurred to her that a few quiet
+days with "Aunt" Tabitha, who had been her nurse when she was a little
+girl, would do her a world of good.
+
+She sent for Aunt Tabby, yet the fascination of the experiences through
+which she had just gone still hung over her. She could not resist
+thinking and reading about them, as she sat, one morning, with the
+faithful Rusty in the conservatory of the Dodge house.
+
+I had told the story at length in the Star, and the heading over it
+caught her eye.
+
+It read:
+
+          THE CLUTCHING HAND DEAD
+
+                ------
+
+    Double Life Exposed by Craig Kennedy
+
+   Perry Bennett, the Famous Young Lawyer, Takes
+   Poison--Kennedy Now on Trail of Master Criminal's
+   Hidden Millions.
+
+                 ----
+
+As Elaine glanced down the column, Jennings announced that Aunt Tabby,
+as she loved to call her old friend, had arrived, and was now in the
+library with Aunt Josephine.
+
+With an exclamation of delight, Elaine dropped the paper and, followed
+by Rusty, almost ran into the library.
+
+Aunt Tabby was a stout, elderly, jolly-faced woman, precisely the sort
+whom Elaine needed to watch over her just now.
+
+"Oh, I'm so glad to see you," half laughed Elaine as she literally
+flung herself into her nurse's arms. "I feel so unstrung--and I thought
+that if I could just run off for a few days with you and Joshua in the
+country where no one would know, it might make me feel better. You have
+always been so good to me. Marie! Are my things packed? Very well.
+Then, get my wraps."
+
+Her maid left the room.
+
+"Bless your soul," mothered Aunt Tabby stroking her soft golden hair,
+"I'm always glad to have you in that fine house you bought me. And,
+faith, Miss Elaine, the house is a splendid place to rest in but I
+don't know what's the matter with it lately. Joshua says its haunts--"
+
+"Haunts?" repeated Elaine in amused surprise. "Why, what do you mean?"
+
+Marie entered with the wraps before Aunt Tabby could reply and Jennings
+followed with the baggage.
+
+"Nonsense," continued Elaine gaily, as she put on her coat, and turned
+to bid Aunt Josephine good-bye. "Good-bye, Tabitha," said her real
+aunt. "Keep good care of my little girl."
+
+"That I will," returned the nurse. "We don't have all these troubles
+out in the country that you city folks have."
+
+Elaine went out, followed by Rusty and Jennings with the luggage.
+
+"Now for a long ride in the good fresh air," sighed Elaine as she
+leaned back on the cushions of the Dodge limousine and patted Rusty,
+while the butler stowed away the bags.
+
+The air certainly did, if anything, heighten the beauty of Elaine and
+at last they arrived at Aunt Tabby's, tired and hungry.
+
+The car stopped and Elaine, Aunt Tabby and the dog got out. There,
+waiting for them, was "Uncle" Joshua, as Elaine playfully called him, a
+former gardener of the Dodges, now a plain, honest countryman on whom
+the city was fast encroaching, a jolly old fellow, unharmed by the
+world.
+
+Aunt Tabby's was an attractive small house, not many miles from New
+York, yet not in the general line of suburban travel.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Kennedy and I had decided to bring Bennett's papers and documents over
+to the laboratory to examine them. We were now engaged in going over
+the great mass of material which he had collected, in the hope of
+finding some clue to the stolen millions which he must have amassed as
+a result of his villainy. The table was stacked high.
+
+A knock at the door told us that the expressman had arrived and a
+moment later he entered, delivering a heavy box. Kennedy signed for it
+and started to unpack it.
+
+I was hard at work, when I came across a large manila envelope
+carefully sealed, on which were written the figures "$7,000,000." Too
+excited even to exclaim, I tore the envelope open and examined the
+contents.
+
+Inside was another envelope. I opened that. It contained merely a blank
+piece of paper!
+
+With characteristic skill at covering his tracks, Bennett had also
+covered his money. Puzzled, I turned the paper over and over, looking
+at it carefully. It was a large sheet of paper, but it showed nothing.
+
+"Huh!" I snorted to myself, "confound him."
+
+Yet I could not help smiling at my own folly, a minute later, in
+thinking that the Clutching Hand would leave any information in such an
+obvious place as an envelope. I threw the paper into a wire basket on
+the desk and went on sorting the other stuff.
+
+Kennedy had by this time finished unpacking the box, and was examining
+a bottle which he had taken from it.
+
+"Come here, Walter," he called at length. "Ever see anything like that?"
+
+"I can't say," I confessed, getting up to go to him. "What is it?"
+
+"Bring a piece of paper." he added.
+
+I went back to the desk where I had been working and looked about
+hastily. My eye fell on the blank sheet of paper which I had taken from
+Bennett's envelope, and I picked it up from the basket.
+
+"Here's one," I said, handing it to him. "What are you doing?"
+
+Kennedy did not answer directly, but began to treat the paper with the
+liquid from the bottle. Then he lighted a Bunsen burner and thrust the
+paper into the flame. The paper did not burn!
+
+"A new system of fire-proofing," laughed Craig, enjoying my
+astonishment.
+
+He continued to hold the paper in the flame. Still it did not burn.
+
+"See?" he went on, withdrawing it, and starting to explain the
+properties of the new fire-proofer.
+
+He had scarcely begun, when he stopped in surprise. He had happened to
+glance at the paper again, bent over to examine it more intently, and
+was now looking at it in surprise.
+
+I looked also. There, clearly discernible on the paper, was a small
+part of what looked like an architect's drawing of a fireplace.
+
+Craig looked up at me, nonplussed. "Where did you say you got that?" he
+asked.
+
+"It was a blank piece of paper among Bennett's effects," I returned, as
+mystified as he, pointing at the littered desk at which I had been
+working.
+
+Kennedy said nothing, but thrust the paper back again into the flame.
+Slowly, the heat of the burner seemed to bring out the complete drawing
+of the fireplace.
+
+We looked at it, even more mystified. "What is it, do you suppose?" I
+queried.
+
+"I think," he replied slowly, "that it was drawn with sympathetic ink.
+The heat of the burner brought it out into sight."
+
+What was it about?
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Elaine had gone to bed that night at Aunt Tabby's in the room which her
+old nurse had fixed up especially for her. It was a very attractive
+little room with dainty chintz curtains and covers and for the first
+time in many weeks Elaine slept soundly and fearlessly.
+
+Down-stairs, in the living-room, Rusty also was asleep, his nose
+between his paws.
+
+The living-room was in keeping with everything at Aunt Tabby's, plain,
+neat, homelike. On one side was a large fireplace that gave to it an
+air of quaint hospitality.
+
+Suddenly Rusty woke up, his ears pointed at this fireplace. He stood a
+moment, listening, then, with a bark of alarm he sped swiftly from the
+living-room, up the stairs at a bound, until he came to Elaine's room.
+
+Elaine felt his cold nose at her hand and stirred, then awoke.
+
+"What is it, Rusty?" she asked, mindful of the former days when Rusty
+gave warning of the Clutching Hand and his emissaries.
+
+Rusty wagged his tail. Something was wrong.
+
+Elaine followed him down to the living-room. She went over and lighted
+the electric lamp on the table, then turned to Rusty.
+
+"Well, Rusty?" she asked, almost as if he were human.
+
+She had no need to repeat the question. Rusty was looking straight at
+the fireplace.
+
+Elaine listened. Sure enough, she heard strange noises. Was that Aunt
+Tabby's "haunt"? Whatever it was, it sounded as if it came up from the
+very depths of the earth.
+
+She could not make out just what it sounded like. It might have been
+some one striking a piece of iron, a bolt, with a sledge.
+
+What was it?
+
+She continued to listen in wonder, then ran to Aunt Tabby's bedroom
+door, on the first floor, and knocked.
+
+Aunt Tabby woke up and shook Joshua.
+
+"Aunt Tabby! Aunt Tabby!" called Elaine.
+
+"Yes, my dear," answered the old nurse, now fully awake and
+straightening her nightcap. "Joshua!"
+
+Together the old couple came out into the living-room, still in their
+nightclothes, Joshua yawning sleepily still.
+
+"Listen!" whispered Elaine.
+
+There was the noise again. This time it was more as though some one
+were beating a rat-tat-tat with something on a rock. It was weird,
+uncanny, as all stood there, none knowing where the strange noises came
+from.
+
+"It's the haunts!" cried Aunt Tabby, trembling a bit. "For three nights
+now we've been hearing these noises."
+
+Around and around the room they walked, still trying to locate the
+strange sounds. Were they under the floor? It was impossible to say.
+They gave it up and stood there, looking blankly at each other. Was it
+the work of human or superhuman hands?
+
+Finally Joshua went to a table drawer and opened it. He took out a
+huge, murderous-looking revolver.
+
+"Here, Miss Elaine," he urged, pressing it on her, "take this--keep it
+near you!"
+
+The noises ceased at length, as strangely as they had begun.
+
+Half an hour later, they had all gone back to bed and were asleep. But
+Elaine's sleep now was fitful, a constant procession of faces flitted
+before her closed eyes.
+
+Suddenly, she woke with a start and stared into the semi-darkness. Was
+that face real, or a dream face? Was it the hideous helmeted face that
+had dragged her down into the sewer once? That man was dead. Who was
+this?
+
+She gazed at the bedroom window, holding the huge revolver tightly.
+There, vague in the night light, appeared a figure. Surely that was no
+dream face of the oxygen helmet. Besides, it was not the same helmet.
+
+She sat bolt upright and fired, pointblank, at the window, shivering
+the glass. A second later she had leaped from the bed, switched on the
+lights and was running to the sill.
+
+Down-stairs, Aunt Tabby and Uncle Joshua had heard the shot. Joshua was
+now wide awake. He seized his old shotgun and ran out into the
+livingroom. Followed by Aunt Tabby, he hurried to Elaine.
+
+"Wh-what was it?" he asked, puffing at the exertion of running
+up-stairs.
+
+"I saw--a face--at the window--with some kind of thing over it!" gasped
+Elaine. "It was like one I saw once before."
+
+Uncle Joshua did not wait to hear any more. With the gun pointed ahead
+of him, ready for instant action, he ran out of the room and into the
+garden, beneath Elaine's window.
+
+He looked about for signs of an intruder. There was not a sound. No one
+was about, here.
+
+"I don't see any one," he called up to Elaine and Aunt Tabby in the
+window.
+
+He happened to look down at the ground. Before him was a small box. He
+picked it up.
+
+"Here's something, though," he said.
+
+Joshua went back into the house.
+
+"What is it?" asked Elaine as he rejoined the women.
+
+She took the curious little box and unfastened the cover. As she opened
+it, she drew back. There in the box was a little ivory figure of a man,
+all hunched up and shrunken, a hideous figure. She recoiled from it--it
+reminded her too much of the Chinese devil-god she had seen,--and she
+dropped the box.
+
+For a moment all stood looking at it in horrified amazement.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+It was the afternoon following the day of our strange discovery of the
+fireplace done in sympathetic ink on the apparently blank sheet of
+paper in Bennett's effects, when the speaking-tube sounded and I
+answered it.
+
+"Why--it's Elaine," I exclaimed.
+
+Kennedy's face showed the keenest pleasure at the unexpected visit.
+"Tell her to come right up," he said quickly.
+
+I opened the door for her.
+
+"Why--Elaine--I'm awfully glad to see you," he greeted, "but I thought
+you were rusticating."
+
+"I was, but, Craig, it seems to me that wherever I go, something
+happens," she returned. "You know, Aunt Tabby said there were haunts. I
+thought it was an old woman's fear--but last night I heard the
+strangest noises out there, and I thought I saw a face at the window--a
+face in a helmet. And when Joshua went out, this is what he found on
+the ground under my window."
+
+She handed Kennedy a box, a peculiar affair which she touched gingerly
+and only with signs of the greatest aversion.
+
+Kennedy opened it. There, in the bottom of the box, was a little ivory
+devil-god. He looked at it curiously a moment.
+
+"Let me see," he ruminated, still regarding the sign. "The house you
+bought for Aunt Tabby, once belonged to Bennett, didn't it?"
+
+Elaine nodded her head. "Yes, but I don't see what that can have to do
+with it," she agreed, adding with a shudder, "Bennett is dead."
+
+Kennedy had taken a piece of paper from the desk where he had put it
+away carefully. "Have you ever seen anything that looks like this?" he
+asked, handing her the paper.
+
+Elaine looked at the plan carefully, as Kennedy and I scanned her face.
+She glanced up, her expression showing plainly the wonder she felt.
+
+"Why, yes," she answered. "That looks like Aunt Tabby's fireplace in
+the living-room."
+
+Kennedy said nothing for a moment. Then he seized his hat and coat.
+
+"If you don't mind," he said, "we'll go back there with you."
+
+"Mind?" she repeated. "Just what I had hoped you would do."
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Wu Fang, the Chinese master mind, had arrived in New York.
+
+Beside Wu, the inscrutable, Long Sin, astute though he was, was a mere
+pigmy--his slave, his advance agent, as it were, a tentacle sent out to
+discover the most promising outlet for the nefarious talents of his
+master.
+
+New York did not know of the arrival of Wu Fang, the mysterious--yet.
+But down in the secret recesses of Chinatown, in the ways that are
+devious and dark, the oriental crooks knew--and trembled.
+
+Thus it happened that Long Sin was not permitted to enjoy even the
+foretaste of Bennett's spoils which he had forced from him after his
+weird transformation into his real self, the Clutching Hand, when the
+Chinaman had given him the poisoned draught that had put him into his
+long sleep.
+
+He had obtained the paper showing where the treasure amassed by the
+Clutching Hand was hidden, but Wu Fang, his master, had come.
+
+Wu had immediately established himself in the most sumptuous of
+apartments, hidden behind the squalid exterior of the ordinary tenement
+building in Chinatown.
+
+The night following his arrival, Wu Fang was reclining on a divan, when
+his servant announced that Long Sin was at the door.
+
+As Long Sin entered, it was evident that, cunning and shrewd though he
+was himself, Wu was indeed his master. He approached in fear and awe,
+cringing low.
+
+"Have you brought the map with you?" asked Wu.
+
+Long Sin bowed low again, and drew from under his coat the paper which
+he had obtained from Bennett. For a moment the two, master and slave in
+guile, bent over, closely studying it.
+
+At one point in the map Long Sin's bony finger paused over a note which
+Bennett had made:
+
+BEWARE POISONED GAS UPON OPENING COMPARTMENT.
+
+"And you think you can trace it out?" asked Wu.
+
+"Without a doubt," bowed Long Sin.
+
+He went over to a bag near-by, which he had already sent up by another
+servant, and opened it. Inside was an oxygen helmet. He replaced it,
+after showing it to Wu.
+
+"With the aid of the science of the white devil, we shall overcome the
+science of the white devil," purred Long Sin subtly.
+
+Outside, Wu had already ordered a car to wait, and together the two
+drove off rapidly. Into the country, they sped, until at last they came
+to a lonely turn in a lonely road, somewhat removed from the section
+that was rapidly being built up as population reached out from the
+city, but on a single-tracked trolley line.
+
+Long Sin alighted and disappeared with a parting word of instruction
+from Wu who remained in the car. The Chinaman carried with him the
+heavy bag with the oxygen helmet.
+
+Along this interurban trolley the cars made only half-hourly trips at
+this time of night. Long Sin hurried down the road until he came to a
+trolley pole, then looked hastily at his watch. It was twenty minutes
+at least before the next car would pass.
+
+Quickly, almost monkey-like, he climbed up the pole, carrying with him
+the end of a wire which he had taken from the bag.
+
+Having thrown this over the feed wire, he slid quickly to the ground
+again. Then, carrying the other end of the wire in his rubber-gloved
+hands, he made his way through the underbrush, in and out, almost like
+the serpent he was, until he came to a passageway in the rough and
+uncleared hillside--a small opening formed by the rocks.
+
+It was dark inside, but he did not hesitate to enter, carrying the wire
+and the bag with him.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+It was nightfall before we arrived with Elaine at Aunt Tabby's. We
+entered the living-room and Elaine introduced us both to Aunt Tabby and
+her husband.
+
+It was difficult to tell whether Elaine's old nurse was more glad to
+see her than the faithful Rusty who almost overwhelmed her even after
+so short an absence.
+
+In the midst of the greetings, I took occasion to look over the
+living-room. It was a very cozy room, simply and tastefully furnished,
+and I fancied that I could see in the neatness of Aunt Tabby a touch of
+Elaine's hand, for she had furnished it for her faithful old friend.
+
+I followed Kennedy's eyes, and saw that he was looking at the
+fireplace. Sure enough, it was the same in design as the fireplace
+which the heat had so unexpectedly brought out in sympathetic ink on
+the blank sheet of paper.
+
+Kennedy lost no time in examining it, and we crowded around him as he
+went over it inch by inch, following the directions on the drawing.
+
+At one point in the drawing a peculiar protuberance was marked. Kennedy
+was evidently hunting for that. He found it at last and pressed the
+sort of lever in several ways. Nothing seemed to happen. But finally,
+almost by chance, he seemed to discover the secret.
+
+A small section at the side of the fireplace opened up, disclosing an
+iron ladder, leading down into one of those characteristic
+hiding-places in which the Clutching Hand used to delight.
+
+Kennedy looked at the mysterious opening some time, as if trying to
+fathom the mystery.
+
+"Let's go down and explore it," I suggested, taking a step toward the
+ladder.
+
+Kennedy reached out and pulled me back. Then without a word he pressed
+the little lever and the door closed.
+
+"I think we'd better wait a while, Walter," he decided. "I would rather
+hear Aunt Tabby's haunts myself."
+
+He carefully went over not only the rest of the house but the grounds
+about it, without discovering anything.
+
+Aunt Tabby, with true country hospitality, seemed unable to receive
+guests without feeding them, and, although we had had a big dinner at a
+famous road-house on the way out, still none of us could find it in our
+hearts to refuse her hospitality. Even that diversion, however, did not
+prevent us from talking of nothing else but the strange noises, and I
+think, as we waited, we all got into the frame of mind which would have
+manufactured them even if there had been none.
+
+We were sitting about the room when suddenly the most weird and uncanny
+rappings began. Rusty was on his feet in a moment, barking like mad. We
+looked from one to another.
+
+It was impossible to tell where the noises came from, or even to
+describe them. They were certainly not ghostly rappings. In fact, they
+sounded more like some twentieth century piece of machinery.
+
+We listened a moment, then Kennedy walked over to the fireplace. "You
+can explore it with me now, Walter," he said quietly, touching the
+lever and opening the panel which disclosed the ladder.
+
+He started down the ladder and I followed closely. Elaine was about to
+join us, when Kennedy paused on the topmost round and looked up at her.
+
+"No, no, young lady," he said with mock severity, "you have been
+through enough already--you stay where you are."
+
+Elaine argued and begged but Kennedy was obdurate. It was only when
+Aunt Tabby and Joshua added their entreaties that she consented
+reluctantly to remain.
+
+Together, Craig and I descended into the darkness about eight or ten
+feet. There we found a passageway, excavated through the earth and
+rock, along which we crept. It was crooked and uneven, and we stumbled,
+but kept going slowly ahead.
+
+Kennedy, who was a few feet in front of me, stopped suddenly and I
+almost fell over him.
+
+"What is it?" I whispered.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Long Sin had made his way from the opening of the cave to the point on
+the plan which was marked by a cross, and there he had set up his
+electric drill which was connected to the trolley wire. He was working
+furiously to take advantage of the fifteen minutes or so before the
+next car would pass.
+
+The tunnel had been widened out at this point into a small subterranean
+chamber. It was dug out of the earth and the roof was roughly propped
+up, most of the weight being borne by one main wooden prop which, in
+the dampness, had now become old and rotten.
+
+On one side it was evident that Long Sin had already been at work,
+digging and drilling through the earth and rock. He had gone so far now
+that he had disclosed what looked like the face of a small safe set
+directly into the rock.
+
+As he worked he would stop from time to time and consult the map. Then
+he would take up drilling again.
+
+He had now come to the point on which Bennett had written his warning.
+Quickly he opened the bag and took out the oxygen helmet, which he
+adjusted carefully over his head. Then he set to work with redoubled
+energy.
+
+It was that drill as well as his pounding on the rock which had so
+alarmed Elaine and Aunt Tabby the night before and which now had been
+the signal for Kennedy's excursion of discovery.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Our man, whoever he was, must have heard us approaching down the
+tunnel, for he paused in his work and the noise of the drill ceased.
+
+He looked about a moment, then went over to the prop and examined it,
+looking up at the roof of the chamber above him. Evidently he feared
+that it was not particularly strong.
+
+From our vantage point around the bend in the passageway we could see
+this strange and uncouth figure.
+
+"Who is it, do you think?" I whispered, crouching back against the wall
+for fear that he might look even around a corner or through the earth
+and discover us.
+
+As I spoke, my hand loosened a piece of rock that jutted out and before
+I knew it there was a crash.
+
+"Confound it, Walter," exclaimed Kennedy.
+
+Down the passageway the figure was now thoroughly on the alert, staring
+with his goggle-like eyes into the blackness in our direction. It was
+not the roof above him that was unsafe. He was watched, and he did not
+hesitate a minute to act.
+
+He seized the bag and picked his way quickly through the passage as if
+thoroughly familiar with every turn of the walls and roughness of the
+floor.
+
+We were discovered and if we were to accomplish anything, it was now or
+never.
+
+Kennedy dashed forward and I followed close after him.
+
+We were making much better time than our strange visitor and were
+gaining on him rapidly. Nearer and nearer we came to him, for, in spite
+of his familiarity with the cavern he was hampered by the outlandish
+head-gear that he wore.
+
+It was only another instant, when Kennedy would have laid his hands on
+him.
+
+Suddenly he half turned, raised his arm and dashed something to the
+earth much as a child explodes a toy torpedo. I fully expected that it
+was a bomb; but, as a moment later, I found that Kennedy and I were
+still unharmed, I knew that it must be some other product of this
+devilish genius.
+
+The thickest and most impenetrable smoke seemed to pervade the narrow
+cavern!
+
+"A Chinese smoke bomb!" sputtered and coughed Kennedy, as he retreated
+a minute, then with renewed vigor endeavored to penetrate the dense and
+opaque fumes.
+
+We managed to go ahead still, but the intruder had exploded one after
+another of his peculiar bombs, always keeping ahead of the smoke which
+he created, and we found that under its cover he had made good his
+escape, probably reaching the entrance of the cave in the underbrush.
+
+At the other end of the passageway, up in the living-room of the
+cottage, the draught had carried large quantities of the smoke. Elaine,
+Aunt Tabby and Joshua coughing and choking, saw it, and opened a
+window, which seemed to cause a current of air to sweep through the
+whole length of the passageway and helped to clear away the fumes
+rapidly.
+
+Long Sin, meanwhile, had started to work his way through the bushes to
+reach the waiting car, with Wu, then paused and listened. Hearing no
+sound, he replaced the helmet which he had taken off.
+
+Pursuit was now useless for us. With revolvers drawn, we crept back
+along the passageway until we came again to the chamber itself. There,
+on the floor, lay a bag of tools, opened, as though somebody had been
+working with them.
+
+"Caught red-handed!" exclaimed Kennedy with great satisfaction.
+
+He looked at the tools a minute and then at the electric drill, and
+finally an idea seemed to strike him. He took up the drill and advanced
+toward the safe. Then he turned on the current and applied the drill.
+
+The drill was of the very latest design and it went quickly through the
+steel. But beyond that there was another thin steel partition. This
+Kennedy tackled next.
+
+The drill went through and he withdrew it.
+
+Instantly the most penetrating and nauseous odor seemed to pervade
+everything.
+
+Kennedy cried out. But his warning was too late. We staggered back,
+overcome by the escaping gas and fell to the ground.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Long Sin, with his oxygen helmet on again, had returned to the
+passageway and was now stealthily creeping back.
+
+He came to the chamber and there discovered us lying on the ground,
+overcome. He bent down and, to his great satisfaction, saw that we were
+really unconscious.
+
+Quickly he moved over to the safe and pried open the last thin steel
+plate.
+
+Inside was a small box. He picked it up and tried to open it, but it
+was locked. There was no time to work over it here, and he took it
+under his arm and started to leave.
+
+He paused a moment to look at us, then took out a piece of paper and a
+pencil and on the paper wrote, "Thanks for your trouble." Beneath, it
+was signed by his special stamp--the serpent's head, mouth open and
+fangs showing.
+
+Long Sin looked at us a moment, then a subtle smile seemed to spread
+over his face. At last he had us in his power.
+
+He drew out a long, wicked-looking Chinese knife and stuck it through
+the note.
+
+Then he felt the edge of the knife. It was keen.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+In the sitting-room, Elaine, Aunt Tabby and Joshua had been listening
+intently at the fireplace but heard nothing.
+
+They were now getting decidedly worried. Finally, the fumes which we
+had released made their way to the room. They were considerably diluted
+by fresh air by that time, but, although they were nauseous, were not
+sufficient to overcome any one. Still, the smell was terrible.
+
+"I can't stand it any longer," cried Elaine. "I'm going down there to
+see what has become of them."
+
+Aunt Tabby and Joshua tried to stop her, but she broke away from them
+and went down the ladder. Rusty leaped down after her.
+
+Joshua tried to follow, but Aunt Tabby held him back. He would have
+gone, too, if she had not managed to strike the spring and shut the
+door, closing up the passageway.
+
+Joshua got angry then. "You are making a coward of me," he cried,
+beating on the panel with the butt of his gun and struggling to open it.
+
+He seemed unable to fathom the secret.
+
+Elaine was now making her way as rapidly as she could through the
+tunnel, with Rusty beside her.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+It was just as Long Sin had raised his knife that the sound of her
+footsteps alarmed him.
+
+He paused and leaped to his feet.
+
+There was no time for either to retreat. He started toward Elaine, and
+seized her roughly.
+
+Back and forth over the rocky floor they struggled. As they
+fought,--she with frantic strength, he craftily,--he backed her slowly
+up against the prop that upheld the roof.
+
+He raised his keen knife.
+
+She recoiled. The prop, none too strong, suddenly gave way under her
+weight.
+
+The whole roof of the chamber fell with a crash, earth and stone
+overwhelming Elaine and her assailant.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+By this time Joshua had left the house and had gone out into the garden
+to get something to pry open the fireplace door.
+
+Of a sudden, to his utter amazement, a few feet from him, it seemed as
+if the very earth sank in his garden, leaving a yawning chasm.
+
+He looked, unable to make it out.
+
+Before his very eyes a strange figure, the figure of Long Sin in his
+oxygen helmet, appeared, struggling up, as if by magic from the very
+earth, shaking the debris off himself, as a dog would shake off the
+water after a plunge in a pond.
+
+Long Sin was gone in a moment.
+
+Then again the earth began to move. A paw appeared, then a sharp black
+nose, and a moment later, Rusty, too, dug himself out.
+
+Joshua had run into the house to get a spade when Rusty, like a shot,
+bolted for the house, took the window at a leap and all covered with
+earth landed before Joshua and Aunt Tabby.
+
+"See!--he went down there--now he's here!" cried Aunt Tabby, pointing
+at the fireplace, then looking at the window.
+
+Rusty was running back and forth from Joshua to the window.
+
+"Follow him!" cried Aunt Tabby.
+
+Rusty led the way back again to the garden, to the cave-in.
+
+"Elaine!" gasped Aunt Tabby.
+
+By this time Joshua was digging furiously. Rusty, too, seemed to
+understand. He threw back the earth with his paws, helping with every
+ounce of strength in his little body.
+
+At last the spade turned up a bit of cloth.
+
+"Elaine!" Aunt Tabby cried out again.
+
+She was in a sort of little pocket, protected by the fortunate
+formation of the earth as it fell, yet almost suffocated, weak but
+conscious.
+
+Aunt Tabby rushed up as Joshua laid down the spade and lifted out
+Elaine.
+
+They were about to carry her into the house, when she cried weakly, but
+with all her remaining strength.
+
+"No--no--Dig! Craig--Walter!" she managed to gasp.
+
+Rusty, too, was still at it. Joshua fell to again. Man and dog worked
+with a will.
+
+"There they are!" cried Elaine, as all three pulled us out, unconscious
+but still alive.
+
+Though we did not know it, they carried us into the house, while Elaine
+and Aunt Tabby bustled about to get something to revive us.
+
+At last I opened my eyes and saw the motherly Aunt Tabby bending over
+me. Craig was already revived, weak but ready now to do anything Elaine
+ordered, as she held his hand and stroked his forehead softly.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Meanwhile Long Sin had made his way to the automobile where his master,
+Wu, waited impatiently.
+
+"Did you get it?" asked Wu eagerly.
+
+Long Sin showed him the box.
+
+"Hurry, master!" he cried breathlessly, leaping into the car and
+struggling to take off the helmet as they drove away. "They may be
+here--at any moment."
+
+The machine was off like a shot and even if we had been able to follow,
+we could not now have caught it.
+
+Back in Wu's sumptuous apartment, later, Wu and his slave, Long Sin,
+after their hurried ride, dismissed all the servants and placed the
+little box on the table. Wu rose and locked the door.
+
+Then, together, they took a sharp instrument and tried to pry off the
+lid of the box.
+
+The lid flew off. They gazed in eagerly.
+
+Inside was a smaller box, which Wu seized eagerly and opened.
+
+There, on the plush cushion lay merely a round knobbed ring!
+
+Was this the end of their great expectations? Were Bennett's millions
+merely mythical?
+
+The two stared at each other in chagrin.
+
+Wu was the first to speak.
+
+"Where there should have been seven million dollars," he muttered to
+himself, "why is there only a mystic ring?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE CRYPTIC RING
+
+
+Kennedy had been engaged for some time in the only work outside of the
+Dodge case which he had consented to take for weeks.
+
+Our old friend, Dr. Leslie, the Coroner, had appealed to him to solve a
+very ticklish point in a Tong murder case which had set all Chinatown
+agog. It was, indeed, a very bewildering case. A Chinaman named Li
+Chang, leader of the Chang Wah Tong, had been poisoned, but so far no
+one had been able to determine what poison it was or even to prove that
+there had been a poison, except for the fact that the man was dead, and
+Kennedy had taken the thing up in a great measure because of the sudden
+turn in the Dodge case which had brought us into such close contact
+with the Chinese.
+
+I had been watching Kennedy with interest, for the Tong wars always
+make picturesque newspaper stories, when a knock at the door announced
+the arrival of Dr. Leslie, anxious for some result.
+
+"Have you been able to find out anything yet?" he greeted Kennedy
+eagerly as Craig looked up from his microscope.
+
+Kennedy turned and nodded. "Your dead man was murdered by means of
+aconite, of which, you know, the active principle is the deadly
+alkaloid aconitine."
+
+Craig pulled down from the shelf above him one of his well-thumbed
+standard works on toxicology. He turned the pages and read:
+
+"Pure aconite is probably the most actively poisonous substance with
+which we are acquainted. It does not produce any decidedly
+characteristic post-mortem appearances, and, in fact, there is no
+reliable chemical test to prove its presence. The chances of its
+detection in the body after death are very slight."
+
+Dr. Leslie looked up. "Then there is no test, none?" he asked.
+
+"There is one that is brand new," replied Kennedy slowly. "It is the
+new starch-grain test just discovered by Professor Reichert, of the
+University of Pennsylvania. The peculiarities of the starch grains of
+various plants are quite as great as those of the blood crystals,
+which, you will recall, Walter, we used once.
+
+"The starch grains of the poison have remained in the wound. I have
+recovered them from the dead man's blood and have studied them
+microscopically. They can be definitely recognized. This is plainly a
+case of aconite poisoning--probably suggested to the Oriental mind by
+the poison arrows of the Ainus of Northern Japan."
+
+Dr. Leslie and I both looked through the microscope, comparing the
+starch grains which Kennedy had discovered with those of scores of
+micro-photographs which lay scattered over the table.
+
+"There are several treatments for aconite poisoning," ruminated
+Kennedy. "I would say that one of the latest and best is digitalin
+given hypodermically." He took down a bottle of digitalin from a
+cabinet, adding, "only it was too late in this case."
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Just what the relations were between Long Sin and the Chong Wah Tong I
+have never been able to determine exactly. But one thing was certain:
+Long Sin on his arrival in New York had offended the Tong and now that
+his master, Wu Fang, was here the offence was even greater, for the
+criminal society brooked no rival.
+
+In the dark recesses of a poorly furnished cellar, serving as the Tong
+headquarters, the new leader and several of his most trusted followers
+were now plotting revenge. Long Sin, they believed, was responsible for
+the murder, and, with truly Oriental guile, they had obtained a hold
+over Wu Fang's secretary.
+
+Their plan decided on, the Chinamen left the headquarters and made
+their way separately up-town. They rejoined one another in the shelter
+of a rather poor house, before which was a board fence, in the vicinity
+of a fashionable apartment house. A moment's conference followed, and
+then the secretary glided away.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Wu had taken another apartment up-town in one of the large apartment
+houses near a parkway; for he was far too subtle to operate from his
+real headquarters back of the squalid exterior of Chinatown.
+
+There Long Sin was now engaged in making all possible provisions for
+the safety of his master. Any one who had been walking along the
+boulevard and had happened to glance up at the roof of the tall
+apartment building might have seen Long Sin's figure silhouetted
+against the sky on the top of the mansard roof near a flagpole.
+
+He had just finished fastening to the flagpole a stout rope which
+stretched taut across an areaway some twenty or thirty feet wide to the
+next building, where it was fastened to a chimney. Again and again he
+tested it, and finally with a nod of satisfaction descended from the
+roof and went to the apartment of Wu.
+
+There, alone, he paused for a few minutes to gaze in wonder at the
+cryptic ring which had been the net result so far of his efforts to
+find the millions which Bennett, as the Clutching Hand, had hidden. He
+wore it, strangely enough, over his index finger, and as he examined it
+he shook his head in doubt.
+
+Neither he nor his master had yet been able to fathom the significance
+of the ring.
+
+Long Sin thought that he was unobserved. But outside, looking through
+the keyhole, was Wu's secretary, who had stolen in on the mission which
+had been set for him at the Tong headquarters.
+
+Long Sin went over to a desk and opened a secret box in which Wu had
+placed several packages of money with which to bribe those whom he
+wished to get into his power. It was Long Sin's mission to carry out
+this scheme, so he packed the money into a bag, drew his coat more
+closely about him and left the room.
+
+No sooner had he gone than the secretary hurried into the room, paused
+a moment to make sure that Long Sin was not coming back, then hurried
+over to a closet near-by.
+
+From a secret hiding-place he drew out a small bow and arrow. He sat
+down at a table and hastily wrote a few Chinese characters on a piece
+of paper, rolling up the note into a thin quill which he inserted into
+a prepared place in the arrow.
+
+Then he raised the window and deftly shot the arrow out.
+
+Down the street, back of the board fence, where the final conference
+has taken place, was a rather sleepy-looking Chinaman, taking an
+occasional puff at a cigarette doped with opium.
+
+He jumped to his feet suddenly. With a thud an arrow had buried itself
+quivering in the fence. Quickly he seized it, drew out the note and
+read it.
+
+In the Canton vernacular it read briefly: "He goes with much money."
+
+It was enough. Instantly the startling news overcame the effect of the
+dope, and the Chinaman shuffled off quickly to the Tong headquarters.
+
+They were waiting for him there, and he had scarcely delivered the
+message before their plans were made. One by one they left the
+headquarters, hiding in doorways, basements and areaways along the
+narrow street.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Long Sin was making his rounds, visiting all those whom the glitter of
+Wu's money could corrupt.
+
+Suddenly from the shadows of a narrow street, lined with the stores of
+petty Chinese merchants, half a dozen lithe and murderous figures
+leaped out behind Long Sin and seized him. He struggled, but they
+easily threw him down.
+
+Any one who has visited Chinatown knows that at every corner and bend
+of the crooked streets stands a policeman. It was scarcely a second
+before the noise of the scuffle was heard, but it was too late. The
+half dozen Tong men had seized the money which Long Sin carried and had
+deftly stripped him of everything else of value.
+
+The sound of the approaching policeman now alarmed them. Just as the
+new Tong leader had raised an axe to bring it down with crushing force
+on Long Sin's skull a shot rang out and the axe fell from the broken
+wrist of the Chinaman.
+
+In another moment the policeman had seized him. Then followed a sharp
+fight in which the Tong men's knowledge of jiu-jitsu stood them in good
+stead. The policeman was hurled aside, the Tong leader broke away, and
+one by one his followers disappeared through dark hallways and
+alleyways, leaving the policeman with only two prisoners and Long Sin
+lying on the sidewalk.
+
+But the ring and the money were gone.
+
+"Are you hurt much?" demanded the burly Irish officer, assisting Long
+Sin to his feet, none too gently.
+
+Long Sin was furious over the loss of the precious ring, yet he knew to
+involve himself in the white man's law would end only in disaster both
+for him and his master. He forced a painful smile, shook his head and
+managed to get away down the street muttering.
+
+He made his way up-town and back to the apartment of Wu, and there,
+pacing up and down in a fury, attended to his wounds.
+
+His forefinger, from which the ring had been so ruthlessly snatched,
+was a constant reminder to him of the loss. Any one who could have
+studied the vengefulness of his face would have seen that it boded ill
+for some one.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+It was the day after her return from Aunt Tabby's that Kennedy called
+again upon Elaine to find that she and Aunt Josephine were engaged in
+the pleasant pastime of arranging an entertainment.
+
+Jennings announced Craig and held back the portieres as he entered.
+
+"Oh, good!" cried Elaine as she saw him. "You are just in time. I was
+going to send you this, but I should much rather give it to you."
+
+She handed him a tastefully engraved sheet of paper which he read with
+interest:
+
+          Miss Elaine Dodge
+  requests the honor of your presence
+       at an Oriental Reception
+      on April 6th, at 8 o'clock.
+
+"Very interesting," exclaimed Craig enthusiastically. "I shall be
+delighted to come."
+
+He looked about a moment at the library which Elaine was already
+rearranging for the entertainment.
+
+"Then you must work," she cried gaily. "You are just in time to help me
+buy the decorations. No objections--come along."
+
+She took Kennedy's arm playfully.
+
+"But I have a very important investigation for the Coroner that I am--"
+
+"No excuses," she cried, laughingly, dragging him out.
+
+Among the many places which Elaine had down on her shopping list was a
+small Chinese curio shop on lower Fifth avenue.
+
+They entered and were greeted with a profound bow by the proprietor. He
+was the new Tong leader, and this up-town shop was his cover. In actual
+fact, he was what might have been called a Chinese fence for stolen
+goods.
+
+In their interest in the wealth of strange and curious ornaments
+displayed in the shop they did not notice that the Chinaman's wrist was
+bound tightly under his flowing sleeve.
+
+Elaine explained what it was she wanted, and with Kennedy's aid
+selected a number of Chinese hangings and decorations. They were about
+to leave the shop when Elaine's eye was attracted by a little show case
+in which were many quaint and valuable Chinese ornaments in gold and
+silver and covered ivory.
+
+"What an odd looking thing," she said, pointing out a knobbed ring which
+reposed on the black velvet of the case.
+
+"Quite odd," agreed Kennedy.
+
+The subtle Chinaman stood by the pile of hangings on the counter which
+Elaine had bought, overjoyed at such a large sale. Praising the ring to
+Elaine, he turned insinuatingly to Kennedy. There was nothing else for
+Craig to do--he bought the ring, and the Chinaman proved again his
+ability as a merchant.
+
+From the curio shop where Elaine had completed her purchases they drove
+to Kennedy's laboratory.
+
+I had been at work on a story for the Star when they entered.
+
+"You will be there, too, Mr. Jameson?" coaxed Elaine, as she told of
+their morning's work.
+
+I needed no urging.
+
+We were in the midst of planning the entertainment when a slight cough
+behind me made me start and turn quickly.
+
+There stood Long Sin, the astute Chinaman who had delivered the bomb to
+Kennedy and had betrayed Bennett. We had seen very little of him since
+then.
+
+Long Sin bowed low and shuffled over closer to Kennedy. I noticed that
+Elaine eyed Long Sin sharply. But as yet we had seen no reason to
+suspect him, so cleverly had he covered his tracks. Kennedy, having
+used him once to capture Bennett, was still not unwilling to use him in
+attempting to discover where Bennett's hidden millions lay.
+
+"I am in great trouble, Professor Kennedy," began Long Sin in a low
+tone. "You don't know the Chinese of the city, but if you did you would
+know what blackmailers there are among them. I have refused to pay
+blackmail to the Chong Wah Tong, and since then it has been trouble,
+trouble, trouble."
+
+Kennedy looked up quickly at the name Chong Wah Tong, thinking of the
+investigation which the Coroner had asked him to make into the murder.
+He and Long Sin moved a few steps away, discussing the affair.
+
+Elaine and I were still talking over the entertainment.
+
+She happened to place her hand on the desk near Long Sin. My back was
+toward him and I did not see him start suddenly and look at her hand.
+On it was the ring--the ring which, unknown to us, Long Sin had found
+in the passageway under Aunt Tabby's garden, of which he had been
+robbed, and which now, by a strange chance, had come into Elaine's
+possession.
+
+It was a peculiar situation for Long Sin, although as yet we did not
+know it. He could not lay claim to the mystic ring, for then Kennedy
+would make him prove his ownership, and the whole affair of which we
+still knew nothing would be exposed.
+
+He acted quickly. Long Sin decided to recover the ring by stealth.
+
+Elaine was still talking enthusiastically about her party, when Long
+Sin turned from Kennedy and moved toward us with a bow.
+
+"The lady speaks of an Oriental reception," he remarked. "Would she
+care to engage a magician?"
+
+Elaine turned to him surprised. "Do you mean that you are a magician?"
+she asked, puzzled.
+
+Long Sin smiled quietly. He reached over and took a small bottle from
+Kennedy's laboratory table. Holding it in his hand almost directly
+before us, he made a few sleight-of-hand passes, and, presto! the
+bottle had disappeared. A few more passes, and a test tube appeared in
+its place. Before we knew it he had caused the test tube to disappear
+and the bottle to reappear. We all applauded enthusiastically.
+
+"I don't think that is such a bad idea after all," nodded Kennedy to
+Elaine.
+
+"Perhaps not," she agreed, a little doubtfully. "I hadn't intended to
+have such a thing, but--why, of course, that would interest everybody."
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+It was the night of the reception. The Dodge library was transformed.
+The Oriental hangings which Elaine and Kennedy had purchased seemed to
+breathe mysticism. At the far end of the room a platform had been
+arranged to form a stage on which Long Sin was to perform his
+sleight-of-hand. The drawing-room also was decorated like the library.
+
+At the other end of the room Elaine and Aunt Josephine, in picturesque
+Oriental costume, were greeting the guests. Every one seemed to be
+delighted with the novelty of the affair.
+
+We came in just a bit ahead of Long Sin, and Elaine greeted us.
+
+Almost everybody had arrived when Elaine turned to the guests and
+introduced Long Sin with a little speech. Long Sin bowed and every one
+applauded. He made his way to the platform in the library and mounted
+it.
+
+I shall not attempt to describe the amazing series of tricks which he
+performed. His hands and fingers seemed to move like lightning. Among
+other things, I remember he took up a cover from a table near-by. He
+held it up before us. Instantly it seemed that a flock of pigeons flew
+out of it around the room. How he did it I don't know. They were real
+pigeons, however, and the trick brought down the house.
+
+Long Sin bowed.
+
+Another of his feats which I recall was nothing less than kindling a
+fire on a small bit of tin and, as the flames mounted, he deliberately
+stepped into them, apparently as unharmed as a salamander.
+
+So it went from one thing to another. The entertainment was brilliant
+in itself, but Long Sin seemed to put the finishing touch to it. In
+fact, I suppose that it was a couple of hours that he continued to
+amuse us.
+
+He had finished and every one crowded about him to congratulate him on
+his skill. His only answer, however, was his inscrutable smile.
+
+"This is wonderful, wonderful," I repeated as I happened to meet Elaine
+alone. We walked into the conservatory while the guests were crowding
+around Long Sin. She seated herself for the first time during the
+evening.
+
+"May I get you an ice?" I suggested.
+
+She thanked me, and I hurried off. As I passed through the drawing-room
+I did not notice that Long Sin had managed to escape further
+congratulations of the guests. Just then a waiter passed through with
+ices on a tray. I called to him and he stopped.
+
+A moment later Long Sin himself took an ice from the tray and retreated
+back of the portieres. No one was about, and he hastily drew a bottle
+from his pocket. On the bottle was a Chinese label. He palmed the
+bottle, and any one who had chanced to see him would have noticed that
+he passed it two or three times over the ice, then, lifting the
+portieres, entered the drawing-room again.
+
+He had made the circuit of the rooms in such a way as to bring himself
+out directly in my path. With a smile he stopped before me, rubbing
+both hands together.
+
+"It is for Miss Elaine?" he asked.
+
+I nodded.
+
+By this time several of the guests who were fascinated with Long Sin
+gathered about us. Long Sin fluttered open a Chinese fan which he had
+used in his tricks, passed it over my hand, and in some
+incomprehensible way I felt the plate with the ice literally disappear
+from my grasp. My face must have shown my surprise. A burst of laughter
+from the other guests greeted me. I looked at Long Sin, half angry, yet
+unable to say anything, for the joke was plainly on me. He smiled, made
+another pass with the fan, and instantly the plate with the ice was
+back in my hand.
+
+There was nothing for me but to take the joke in the spirit in which
+the other guests had taken it. I laughed with them and managed to get
+away.
+
+Meanwhile Kennedy had been moving from one to another of the guests
+seeking Elaine. He had already taken an ice from the waiter and was
+going in the direction of the conservatory. There he found her.
+
+"Won't you take this ice?" he asked, handing it to her.
+
+"It is very kind of you," she said, "but I have already sent Walter for
+one."
+
+Kennedy insisted and she took it.
+
+She had already started to eat it when I appeared in the doorway. I was
+rather vexed at Long Sin for having delayed me, and I mumbled something
+about it.
+
+Kennedy laughed, rather pleased at having beaten me.
+
+"Never mind, Walter," he said with a smile, "I'll take it. And er--I
+don't think that Elaine will object if you play the host for a little
+while with Aunt Josephine," he hinted.
+
+I saw that three was a crowd and I turned to retrace my steps to the
+drawing-room.
+
+Kennedy, however, was not alone. Back of the palms in the conservatory
+two beady black eyes were eagerly watching. Long Sin had noted every
+movement as his cleverly laid plan miscarried.
+
+Chatting with animation, Kennedy tasted the ice. He had taken only a
+couple of spoonfuls when a look of wonder and horror seemed to spread
+over his face.
+
+He rose quickly. A cold sweat seemed to break out all over him. His
+nerves almost refused to respond. His tongue seemed to be paralyzed and
+the muscles of his throat seemed to be like steel bands.
+
+He took only a few steps, began to stagger, and finally sank down on
+the floor.
+
+Elaine screamed.
+
+We rushed in from the library and drawing-room. There lay Kennedy on
+the floor, his face most terribly contorted. We gathered around him and
+he tried to raise himself and speak, but seemed unable to utter a sound.
+
+He had fallen near the fountain and one hand drooped over into the
+water. As he fell back he seemed to have only just enough strength to
+withdraw his hand from the fountain. On the stone coping, slowly and
+laboriously, he moved his finger.
+
+"What's the matter, old man?" I asked, bending over him.
+
+There was no answer, but he managed to turn his head, and I followed
+the direction of his eyes.
+
+With trembling finger he was tracing out, one by one, some letters. I
+looked and it flashed over me what he meant. He had written with the
+water:
+
+"Digitalin--lab--"
+
+I jumped up and almost without a word dashed out of the conservatory,
+down the hall and into the first car waiting outside.
+
+"To the laboratory," I directed, giving the driver the directions, "and
+drive like the deuce!"
+
+Fortunately there was no one to stop us, and I know we broke all the
+speed laws of New York. I dashed into the laboratory, almost broke open
+the cabinet, and seized the bottle of digitalin and a hypodermic
+syringe, then rushed madly out again and into the car.
+
+Meanwhile some of the guests had lifted up Kennedy, too excited to
+notice Long Sin in his hiding-place. They had laid Craig down on a
+couch and were endeavoring to revive him. Some one had already sent for
+a doctor, but the aconite was working quickly on its victim, and he was
+slowly stiffening out. Elaine was frantic.
+
+I scarcely waited for the car to stop in front of the house. I opened
+the door and rushed in.
+
+Without a word I thrust the antidote and the syringe into the hands of
+the doctor and he went to work immediately. We watched with anxiety.
+Finally Kennedy's eyes opened and gradually his breathing seemed to
+become more normal.
+
+The antidote had been given in time.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Kennedy was considerably broken up by the narrow escape which he had
+had, and, naturally, even the next morning, did not feel like himself.
+
+In the excitement of leaving Elaine's we had forgotten the bottle of
+digitalin. As for myself, I had been so overjoyed at seeing my old
+friend restored that I would have forgotten anything.
+
+Kennedy looked rather wan and peaked, but insisted on going to the
+laboratory as usual.
+
+"Do you remember what became of the bottle of digitalin?" he asked,
+fumbling in the closet.
+
+Mechanically I felt in my own pockets; it was not there. I shook my
+head.
+
+"I don't seem to remember what became of it--perhaps we left it there.
+In fact, we must have left it there."
+
+"I don't like to have such things lying around loose," remarked
+Kennedy, taking up his hat and coat with forced energy. "I think we had
+better get it."
+
+Elaine had spent rather a sleepless night after the attempt to poison
+her which had miscarried and resulted in poisoning Kennedy.
+
+To keep her mind off the thing, she had already started to take down
+the decorations. Jennings and Marie, as well as a couple of workmen,
+were restoring the library to its normal condition under the direction
+of Aunt Josephine.
+
+The telephone rang and Elaine answered it. Her face showed that
+something startling had happened.
+
+"It was Jameson," she cried, almost dropping the receiver, overcome.
+
+They all hurried to her. "He says that Mr. Kennedy and he were visiting
+that Chinaman this morning and Mr. Kennedy suffered a relapse--is dying
+there, in the Chinaman's apartment. He wants us to come quickly and
+bring that medicine that they used last night. He says it is on the
+tabaret in the library. Marie, will you look for it? And, Jennings, get
+the car right away."
+
+Jennings hurried from the room, and a moment later Marie had found the
+bottle behind some ornaments on the tabaret and came back with it.
+
+Scarcely knowing what to do, Elaine, followed by Aunt Josephine, had
+rushed from the house, hatless and coatless, just as the car swung
+around from the garage in the rear. Jennings went out with the wraps.
+They seized them and leaped into the car, which started off swiftly.
+
+It was only a matter of minutes when they pulled up before the
+apartment house where Wu had taken the suite from which Long Sin had
+telephoned the message in my name. Together Elaine and Aunt Josephine
+hurried in.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Kennedy went directly from the laboratory to the Dodge house.
+
+I don't think I ever saw such an expression of surprise on anybody's
+face as that on Jennings's when he opened the door and saw us. He was
+aghast. Back of him we could see Marie. She looked as if she had seen a
+ghost.
+
+"Is Miss Elaine in?" asked Kennedy.
+
+Jennings was even too dumfounded to speak.
+
+"Why, what's the matter?" demanded Kennedy.
+
+"Then--er--you are not ill again?" he managed to blurt out.
+
+"Ill again?" repeated Kennedy.
+
+"Why," explained Jennings, "didn't Mr. Jameson just now telephone that
+you had had a relapse in the apartment of that Chinaman, and for Miss
+Elaine to hurry over there right away with that bottle of medicine?"
+Kennedy waited to hear no more. Seizing me by the arm, he turned and
+dashed down the steps and back again into the taxicab in which we had
+come.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+In Wu's apartment Long Sin was giving his secretary and another
+Chinaman the most explicit instructions. As he finished each nodded and
+showed him a Chinese dirk concealed under his blouse.
+
+Just then a knock sounded at the door. The secretary opened it, and
+Aunt Josephine and Elaine almost ran in. Before they knew it, the
+secretary had locked the door.
+
+Long Sin rose and bowed with a smile.
+
+"Where is Mr. Kennedy?" demanded Elaine. Long Sin bowed again,
+spreading out his hands, palm outward.
+
+"Mr. Kennedy? He is not here."
+
+Then, straightening up, he faced the two women squarely.
+
+"You have a ring that means much to me," he said quickly. "The only way
+to get it from you was to bring you here."
+
+He was pointing now at the ring on Elaine's finger. She looked at it a
+moment in surprise, then at the menacing Chinaman, and turned quickly.
+She ran to the door. It was locked.
+
+Long Sin, motionless, smiled. "There is no way to get out," he murmured.
+
+Aunt Josephine was standing now with her back to the door leading into
+another room. She happened to look up and saw the secretary, who was
+near her and half turned away. From where she was standing she could
+see the murderous dirk up his sleeve.
+
+She acted instantly. Without a word she summoned all her strength and
+struck him. The secretary stumbled.
+
+"Elaine," she cried, "look out! they have knives."
+
+Before Elaine knew it Aunt Josephine had taken her by the arm, had
+pulled her into the back room, and, although Long Sin and the others
+had rushed forward, managed to slam the door and lock it.
+
+The Chinamen set to work immediately to pry it open.
+
+While they were at work on the doer, which was already swaying, Aunt
+Josephine and Elaine were running about, trying to find an outlet from
+the room.
+
+There seemed to be no way out. Even the windows were locked.
+
+"I don't know why they want the ring," whispered Aunt Josephine, "but
+they won't get it. Give it to me, Elaine."
+
+She almost seized the ring, hiding it in her waist. As she did so the
+door burst open and Wu, Long Sin and the other Chinamen rushed in.
+
+A second later they seized Elaine and Aunt Josephine.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Kennedy and I dashed up before the apartment house in which we knew
+that Long Sin lived, leaped out of the car and hurried in.
+
+It was on the second floor, and we did not wait for the elevator but
+took the steps two at a time. Kennedy found the door locked. Instantly
+he whipped out his revolver and shot the lock in pieces. We threw
+ourselves against the door, the broken lock gave way and we rushed in
+through the front room.
+
+No one was there, but in a back room we could hear sounds. It was
+Elaine and Aunt Josephine struggling with the Chinamen. Long Sin and
+the others had seized Elaine and Aunt Josephine was trying to help her
+just as we rushed in. With a blow Kennedy knocked out the secretary,
+while I struggled with the other Chinamen who blocked the way.
+
+Then Kennedy went directly at Long Sin. They struggled furiously.
+
+Long Sin, with his wonderful knowledge of jiu-jitsu, might not have
+been a match for six other Chinamen, but he was for one white man. With
+a mighty effort he threw Kennedy, rushed for the door and, as he passed
+through the outside room, seized a Tong axe from the wall.
+
+Afraid of the wonderful jiu-jitsu, I had picked up the first thing
+handy, which was a tabaret. I literally broke it over the head of my
+Chinaman, then turned and dashed out after Long Sin just as Kennedy
+picked himself up and followed.
+
+I caught up with the Chinaman and we had a little struggle, but he
+managed to break away and raised his axe threateningly. A shout from
+Kennedy caused him to turn and run down the flight of stairs, Kennedy
+closely behind him.
+
+In the main hall of the apartment house were two elevator shafts facing
+the street entrance, some twenty-five or thirty feet away. Through the
+street door the janitor and two or three other men were running in.
+They had heard the noise of the fighting above.
+
+Escape to the street was cut off. We were behind him on the flight of
+stairs.
+
+Long Sin did not hesitate a moment. He ran to the elevator, the door of
+which was open, seized the elevator boy and sent him sprawling on the
+marble floor. Then he slammed the door and the elevator shot up.
+
+Kennedy was only a few feet behind, and he took in the situation at a
+glance. He leaped into the other elevator, and before the surprised boy
+could interfere shot it up only a few feet behind Long Sin.
+
+Up the two elevators rose, Kennedy firing as best he could at Long Sin,
+while the shots reverberated through the elevator shaft like cannon.
+
+It was a wild race to the roof. Long Sin had the start, and as the
+elevator reached the top floor he flung it open, dashed out and through
+a door up to the roof itself.
+
+A second later Kennedy's elevator stopped. Craig leaped out and fired
+his last shot at the legs of Long Sin as he disappeared at the top of
+the flight of stairs to the roof. He flung the revolver from him and
+followed.
+
+Without a moment's hesitation Kennedy threw himself at Long Sin. They
+struggled with each other. Finally Long Sin managed to wrench one arm
+lose and raise the Tong axe over Kennedy's head.
+
+Kennedy dodged back. As he did so he tripped on the very edge of the
+roof and went sliding down the slates of the mansard.
+
+Fortunately he was able to catch himself in the gutter.
+
+It was the opportunity that Long Sin wanted. He started across the
+rope, which he had stretched from this apartment house to the building
+across the court, with all the deftness of the most expert Chinese
+acrobat.
+
+By this time I had reached the roof, followed by the janitor and the
+elevator boys.
+
+Kennedy was now crawling up the mansard, helping himself as best he
+could by some of the ornamental ironwork. I hurried over with the
+janitor, and together we pulled him out of danger.
+
+Long Sin had reached the roof on the opposite side as we ran across in
+the direction of the taut rope.
+
+A moment later he returned and bowed at us mockingly, then disappeared
+behind a skylight.
+
+Kennedy did not stop an instant.
+
+"You fellows go down to the street and see if you can head him off that
+way," he cried. "Stay here, Walter."
+
+Before I knew it he had seized the rope and was going across to the
+other building, hand over hand. It was a perilous undertaking, but his
+blood was up.
+
+Kennedy had almost reached the other roof when suddenly from behind the
+skylight stepped Long Sin. With a wicked leer, he advanced to the edge
+of the roof, his axe upraised. I looked across the yawning chasm,
+horrified.
+
+Slowly Long Sin raised the axe above his head, gathering all the
+strength which he had, waiting for Kennedy to approach closer. Kennedy
+stopped. Swiftly the axe descended, slashing the rope at one blow.
+
+Like the weight of a pendulum Kennedy swung back against our own
+building, managing to keep his hold on the rope with superhuman
+strength.
+
+I bent far over the edge of the roof, fully expecting to see him dashed
+to pieces at the bottom of the court.
+
+There was a tremendous shattering of glass.
+
+The rope had been just long enough to make him strike a window and he
+had gone crashing through the glass three floors below.
+
+I dashed down the stairs and into the apartment. Kennedy was lying on
+the floor badly cut. I raised him up. He was dazed and considerably
+overcome; but as he staggered to his feet with my help I saw that no
+bones were broken.
+
+"Help me, quick, Walter," he urged, moving toward the elevators.
+
+Meanwhile Long Sin had quickly dived down into the next building. A few
+moments later he had come out on the ground floor at the rear.
+
+Gazing about to see whether he was followed, he disappeared.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Back in the apartment, Elaine and Aunt Josephine were just about to run
+out when the two Chinamen who had been knocked out recovered. One of
+them threw himself on Elaine. Aunt Josephine tried to ward him off, but
+the other one struck her and threw her down.
+
+Before she could recover they had seized Elaine.
+
+With a hasty guttural exclamation they picked her up and ran out.
+Instead of going down-stairs they crossed the hallway, slamming the
+door behind them.
+
+As Kennedy and I reached the ground floor we saw the janitor and one of
+the elevator boys on either side of Aunt Josephine.
+
+"Elaine! Elaine!" she cried.
+
+"What's the matter?" demanded Kennedy, leaning heavily on me.
+
+"They have kidnapped her," cried Aunt Josephine.
+
+Kennedy pulled himself together.
+
+"Tell me, quick--how did it happen?" he demanded of Aunt Josephine.
+
+"It was the ring," she cried, handing it to him.
+
+Kennedy took the ring and looked at it for a moment. Then he turned to
+us blankly.
+
+All the rooms were empty.
+
+Elaine had been spirited away.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE WATCHING EYE
+
+
+Not a clue was left by the kidnappers when they so mysteriously
+spirited Elaine away from the apartment of Wu Fang. She had disappeared
+as completely as if she had vanished into the thin air.
+
+Kennedy was frantic. Wu and Long Sin themselves seemed to have
+vanished, too. Where they held her, what had happened to her was a
+sealed book. And yet, no move of ours was made, no matter how secret,
+that it did not seem to be known to them. It was as though a weird,
+uncanny eye glared at us, watching everything.
+
+Craig neglected no possibility in his eager search. He even visited the
+little house in the country which Elaine had given to Aunt Tabby, and
+spent several hours examining the collapsed subterranean chamber in the
+vain hope that it might yield a clue. But it had not.
+
+It was half filled with debris from above, where the pillar had given
+way that night when we had all so nearly lost our lives. Still, there
+was enough room in what remained of the cavern so that we could move
+about.
+
+Kennedy had even dug away some of the earth and rock, in the hope of
+discovering some trace of the strange visitor whom we had surprised at
+work. But here, also, he had found nothing.
+
+It was maddening. What might at any moment be happening to Elaine--and
+he powerless to help her?
+
+Unescapably, he was forced to the conclusion that not only Elaine's
+amazing disappearance, but the tragic succession of events which had
+preceded it, had been caused, in some way, by the curiously engraved
+ring which Aunt Josephine had taken from Elaine.
+
+Craig had taken possession of the mystic ring himself, and now, forced
+back on this sole clue, it had occurred to him that if the ring were so
+valuable, other attempts would, without doubt, be made to get
+possession of it.
+
+I came into the laboratory, one afternoon, to find Kennedy surrounded
+by jeweler's tools, hard at work making an exact copy of the ring.
+
+"What do you think of it, Walter?" he asked, holding up the replica.
+
+"Perfect," I replied, admiringly. "What are you going to do with it?"
+
+"I can't say--yet," answered Kennedy, forlornly, "but if I understand
+these Chinese criminals at all, I know that the only way we can ever
+track them is through some trick. Perhaps the replica will suggest
+something to us later."
+
+He placed the copy in a velvet-lined box closely resembling that in
+which the real ring lay, and dropped both into his pocket.
+
+"Let's see if Aunt Josephine has received any word," he remarked
+abruptly, putting on his hat and coat, and nodding to me to follow.
+
+Kennedy and I were not the only visitors to the subterranean chamber
+where it had seemed that the clue to the Clutching Hand's millions
+might be found.
+
+It was as though that hidden, watching eye followed us. The night after
+our own unsuccessful search, Wu Fang, accompanied by Long Sin, made his
+way into the cavern.
+
+As they flashed their electric bull's-eyes about the place, they could
+see readily that we had already been digging there.
+
+Wu examined the safe which had been broken into, while Long Sin
+repeated his experiences there.
+
+"And you say there was nothing else in it?" demanded Wu.
+
+"Nothing but the ring which they got from me," replied Long Sin,
+ruefully.
+
+"Strange--very strange," ruminated Wu, still regarding the empty strong
+box.
+
+Long Sin was now going over the walls of the cavern minutely, his
+close-set, beady black eyes examining every square inch of it.
+
+A sudden low guttural exclamation caused Wu to turn to him quickly.
+Long Sin had discovered, back of the debris, a small oblong slot, cut
+into the rock. Above it were some peculiar marks.
+
+Wu hurried over to his henchman, and together they tried to decipher
+what had been scratched on the rock.
+
+As Long Sin's slender and sinister forefinger traced over the
+inscription, Wu suddenly caught him by the elbow.
+
+"The ring!" he cried, as at last he interpreted the meaning of the
+cryptic characters.
+
+But what about the ring? For a moment Wu looked at the slot in deep
+thought. Then he reached down and withdrew a ring from his own finger
+and dropped it through the slot.
+
+They listened a moment. They could hear the ring tinkle as though it
+were running down some sort of track-like declivity inside the rock.
+Then, faintly, they could hear it drop. It had fallen into a little cup
+of a compartment below at their feet.
+
+Nothing happened. Wu recovered his ring. But he had hit at last upon
+the Clutching Hand's secret!
+
+Bennett had devised a ring-lock which would open, the treasure vault.
+No other ring except the one which he had so carefully hidden was of
+the size or weight that would move the lever which would set the
+machinery working to open the treasure house.
+
+Again Wu tried another of his own rings, and a third time Long Sin
+dropped in a ring from his finger. Still there was no result.
+
+"The ring which we lost is the key to the puzzle--the only key,"
+exclaimed Wu Fang finally. "We must recover it at all hazard."
+
+To his subtle mind a plan of action seemed to unfold almost instantly.
+"There is no good remaining here," he added. "And we have gained
+nothing by the capture of the girl, unless we can use her to recover
+the ring."
+
+Long Sin followed his master with a sort of intuition. "If we have to
+steal it," he suggested deferentially, "it can be accomplished best by
+making use of Chong Wah Tong."
+
+The Tong was the criminal band which they had offended, which had in
+fact stolen the ring from Long Sin and sold it to Elaine. Yet in a game
+such as this enmity could not last when it was mutually
+disadvantageous. Wu took the suggestion. He decided instantly to make
+peace with his enemies--and use them.
+
+Later that night, in his car, Wu stopped near the little curio shop
+kept by the new Tong leader.
+
+Long Sin alighted and entered the shop, while the Tong man eyed him
+suspiciously.
+
+"My master has come to make peace," he began, saluting the Tong leader
+behind the counter.
+
+Nothing, in reality, could have pleased the Tong men more, for in their
+hearts they feared the master-like subtlety of Wu Fang. The conference
+was short and Long Sin with a bow left quickly to rejoin Wu, while the
+Tong leader disappeared into a back room of the shop where several of
+the inner circle sat.
+
+"All is well, master," reported Long Sin when he had made his way back
+to the car around the corner in which Wu was waiting.
+
+Wu smiled and a moment later followed by his slave in crime entered the
+curio shop and passed through with great dignity into the room in the
+rear.
+
+As the two entered, the Tong men bowed with great respect.
+
+"Let us be enemies no more," began Wu briefly. "Let us rather help each
+other as brothers."
+
+He extended his right hand, palm down, as he spoke. For a moment the
+Tong leader parleyed with the others, then stepped forward and laid his
+own hand, palm down, over that of Wu. One by one the others did the
+same, including Long Sin, the aggrieved.
+
+Peace was restored.
+
+Wu had risen to go, and the Tong men were bowing a respectful farewell.
+He turned and saw a large vase. For a moment he paused before it. It
+was an enormous affair and was apparently composed of a mosaic of rare
+Chinese enamels, cunningly put together by the deft and patient fingers
+of the oriental craftsmen. Extending from the widely curving bowl below
+was an extremely long, narrow, tapering neck.
+
+Wu looked at it intently; then an idea seemed to strike him. He called
+the Tong leader and the others about him.
+
+Quickly he outlined the details of a plan.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+"Have you received any word yet?" asked Aunt Josephine anxiously, when
+Jennings had ushered us into the Dodge library.
+
+Kennedy shook his head sadly. There was no need to repeat the question
+to Aunt Josephine. The tears in her eyes told only too plainly that she
+herself had heard nothing, either.
+
+Craig bent over and placed his hand on her shoulder. For the moment,
+none of us could control our emotions.
+
+A few minutes later, Jennings entered the room softly again. "The
+expressmen are outside, ma'am, with a large package," he said.
+
+"A package?" inquired Aunt Josephine, looking up, surprised. "For
+me--are you sure?"
+
+Jennings bowed and repeated his remark. Aunt Josephine followed him out
+into the hall.
+
+There, already, the delivery men had set down a huge oriental vase with
+a remarkably long and narrow neck. It was, as befitted such a really
+beautiful object of art, most carefully crated. But to Aunt Josephine
+it came as a complete surprise. "I can't imagine who could have sent
+it," she temporized. "Are you quite sure it is for me?"
+
+The expressman, with a book, looked up from the list of names down
+which he was running his finger. "This is Mrs. Dodge, isn't it?" he
+asked, pointing with his pencil to the entry with the address following
+it. There seemed to be no name of a shipper.
+
+"Yes," she replied dubiously, "but I don't understand it. Wait just a
+moment."
+
+She went to the library door. "Mr. Kennedy," she said, "may I trouble
+you and Mr. Jameson a moment?"
+
+We followed her into the hall and there stood gazing at the mysterious
+gift while she related its recent history.
+
+"Why not set it up in the library?" I suggested, seeing that the
+expressmen were getting restive at the delay. "If there is any mistake,
+they will send for it soon. No one ever gets anything for nothing."
+
+Aunt Josephine turned to the expressmen and nodded. With the aid of
+Jennings they carried the vase into the library and there it was
+uncrated, while Kennedy continued to question the man with the book,
+without eliciting any further information than that he thought it had
+been reconsigned from another express company. He knew nothing more
+than that it had been placed on his wagon, properly marked and prepaid.
+
+When Kennedy rejoined us, the vase had been completely uncrated, Aunt
+Josephine signed for it, and, grumbling a bit, the expressmen left.
+There we stood, nonplussed by the curious gift.
+
+Craig walked around the vase, looking at it critically. I had a feeling
+of being watched, one of those sensations which psychologists tell us
+are utterly baseless and unfounded. I was glad I had not said anything
+about it when he tapped the vase with his cane, then stuck it down the
+long narrow neck, working it around as well as he could. The neck was
+so long and narrow, however, that his stick could not fully explore the
+inside of the vase, but it seemed to me to be quite empty.
+
+"Well, there's nothing in it, anyhow," I ventured.
+
+I had spoken too soon. Kennedy withdrew his cane and on the ferrule,
+adhering as though by some sticky substance, was a note. Kennedy pulled
+it off and unfolded it, while we gathered about him.
+
+"Maybe it's from Elaine," cried Aunt Josephine, grasping at a straw.
+
+We read:
+
+DEAR AUNT JOSEPHINE,
+
+This is a token that I am unharmed. Have Mr. Kennedy give the ring to
+the man at the corner of Williams and Brownlee Avenues at midnight
+to-night, and they will surrender me to him.--ELAINE.
+
+P. S. Have him come alone or my life will be in danger.
+
+We looked at each other in amazement.
+
+"I thought something like this would happen," remarked Craig at length.
+
+"Oh," cried Aunt Josephine, "it's too good to be true."
+
+"We'll do it," exclaimed Kennedy quickly, "only this is the ring that
+we'll give them."
+
+He drew from his pocket the replica of the ring which he had made and
+showed it to Aunt Josephine. Then he drew from another pocket the real
+ring, replacing the replica.
+
+"Here's the real one," he said in a low tone. "Guard it as you would
+guard your life."
+
+She took the ring, almost fearfully. It seemed as if nothing but
+misfortune had followed it. Still, she realized that it was necessary
+that she should take care of it, if the plan was to work.
+
+"And, oh, Mr. Kennedy," she implored, as we rose to go, "please get
+back my little girl for me."
+
+Craig clasped her hand. "I'll try my best," he replied fervently,
+patting her shoulder to cheer her up, as she sank into a chair.
+
+Aunt Josephine was worn out with the sleepless nights of worry since
+Elaine's disappearance. After we had gone, she tried to eat dinner, but
+found that she had no appetite.
+
+All the evening she sat in the library, with a book at which she
+stared, though she scarcely read a page. However, as the hours
+lengthened, she found herself nodding through sheer exhaustion.
+
+It was getting late and her thoughts were still on Elaine, At the desk
+in the library, she was examining the curious ring, which she had taken
+from her jewel case, thinking of the terrible train of events that had
+followed it.
+
+Although she had intended to sit up until she received some word from
+Kennedy that night, the long strain had told on her and in spite of her
+worry about Elaine, she decided, at length, to retire. She replaced the
+ring in the case, locked the case, and turned out the lights.
+
+"Good night, Jennings," she said, as she passed the faithful old butler
+in the hall.
+
+"Good night, ma'am," he replied, pausing on his rounds to see that the
+doors and windows were locked.
+
+Aunt Josephine, clasping the jewel case tightly, mounted the stairs and
+entered her room. She locked the door carefully and put the jewelry
+case under her pillow. Then she switched off the light.
+
+The moment Jennings's footsteps ceased down-stairs in the library, a
+small piece of the vase seemed to break away from the rest of the
+mosaic, as though it were knocked out from the inside. Then a large
+piece fell out, and another.
+
+At last from the strange hiding-place a lithe figure, as shiny as
+though bathed in oil, naked except for a loin-cloth, seemed to squirm
+forth like a serpent. It was Wu Fang--the watchful eye which, literally
+as well as figuratively, had been leveled at us in one form or another
+ever since the kidnapping of Elaine.
+
+Silently he tiptoed to the doorway and listened. There was not a sound.
+Just as noiselessly then he went back to the library table and muffling
+the telephone bell, took down the receiver. He whispered a number,
+waited, then whispered some directions.
+
+A moment later he wormed his way out of the library and into the
+drawing-room. On he went cautiously, snake-like, up the stairs until he
+came to the door of Aunt Josephine's room.
+
+He bent down and listened. There was no sound except Aunt Josephine's
+breathing. Silently he drew from a fold in the loin-cloth a screwdriver
+and removed the screws from the hinges of the door. Quietly he pushed
+the bedroom door open, pivoting it on the lock, just far enough open so
+that he could slip through.
+
+Creeping along the floor, like a reptile whose sign he had assumed, he
+came nearer and nearer Aunt Josephine's bed. As he paused for a moment
+his quick eye seemed to catch sight of the bulging lump under her
+pillow. His long thin hand reached out for it.
+
+Aunt Josephine moved restlessly in her sleep. Instantly he seized a
+murderous-looking Chinese dirk fastened to his side and raised it above
+her head ready to strike on the slightest outcry. She moved slightly,
+and relapsed into sound sleep again.
+
+Holding the knife above her, Wu slowly and quietly removed the
+jewel-case from under her pillow.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+In a country road-house Long Sin was waiting patiently. The telephone
+rang and the proprietor answered. Long Sin was at his side almost
+before he could hand over the receiver. It was Long Sin's master, Wu.
+
+"Beware," came the whispered message over the wire. "Kennedy has made a
+false ring. I'll get the real one. By the great Devil of Gobi, you must
+cut him off."
+
+"It is done," returned Long Sin, hanging up the receiver in great
+excitement.
+
+He hurried out of the room and left the road-house. Down the road in an
+automobile, bound between two Chinamen, one at her head and the other
+at her feet, was Elaine, wrapped around in blankets, not even her face
+visible. The guards looked up startled as Long Sin streaked out of the
+shadow to the car.
+
+"Quick!" he ordered. "The master will get the ring himself. I will take
+care of Kennedy."
+
+An instant and they were gone, while Long Sin slunk back into the
+shadows from which he had come.
+
+Through the underbrush the wily Chinaman made his way to an old barn,
+which stood back some distance from the road, and entered the front
+door. There was another door in the rear, and one quite large window.
+
+In the dim light of a lantern hanging from a rafter could be seen
+several large barrels in a corner. Without a moment's hesitation, Long
+Sin seized a bucket and placed it under the spiggot of one of the
+barrels. The liquid poured forth into the bucket and he emptied the
+contents on the floor, filling the bucket again and again and swinging
+it right and left in every direction until the barrel had finally run
+dry.
+
+Then he moved over to the window, which he examined carefully.
+Satisfied with what he had done, he drew a slip of paper from his
+pocket and hastily wrote a note, resting the paper on an old box. When
+he had finished writing, he folded up the note and thrust it into a
+little hollow carved Chinese figure which he took also from his pocket.
+
+These were, apparently, his emergency preparations which he was ready
+to execute in case he received such a message from his master as he had
+actually received.
+
+With a final hasty glance about he extinguished the lantern, letting
+the moonlight stream fitfully through the single window. Then he left
+the barn, with both front and rear doors open.
+
+Taking advantage of every bit of shelter, he made his way across the
+field in the direction of the crossroads, finally dropping down behind
+a huge rock some yards from the finger post that pointed each way to
+Williams and Brownlee Avenues.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+ Late that night, Kennedy left his apartment prepared to follow
+the instructions in the note which had been so strangely delivered in
+the vase.
+
+As he climbed into a roadster, he tucked the robe most carefully into a
+corner under the leather seat.
+
+"For heaven's sake, Craig," I gasped from under the robe, "let me have
+a little air."
+
+I had taken my place under the robe before the car was driven up before
+the apartment, lest some emissary of Wu Fang might be watching to see
+that there was no such trick.
+
+"You'll get air enough when we get started, Walter," he laughed back
+under his breath, apparently addressing the engine.
+
+Kennedy was a hard driver when he wanted to be and enough was at stake
+to-night to make him drive hard. He whizzed along in the roadster, and
+I was indeed glad enough to huddle up under the robe.
+
+We had reached a point in the suburbs which was deserted and I did not
+recognize a thing when he pulled up by the side of the road with a
+jerk. I peered through a crease in the corner of the robe, and saw him
+slide out from under the wheel and stand by the side of the car,
+looking up and down. Ahead of us the road curved sharply and I had no
+idea what was there, though Kennedy seemed to know the place.
+
+A moment later he pulled the robe partly off me, and bent down as
+though examining the batteries on the side of the car.
+
+"Get out on the other side in the shadow of the car, Walter," he
+whispered hoarsely. "Go down the road a bit--only cut in and keep under
+cover. This is Williams Avenue. You'll see a big rock. Hide behind it.
+Ahead you'll see Brownlee Avenue. Be prepared for anything. I shall
+have to trust the rest to you. I don't know myself what's going to
+happen."
+
+I slid out and went along the edge of the road, as Craig had directed,
+and finally crouched behind a huge rock, feeling on as much tension as
+if I had been a boy playing at Wild West. Only this might at any moment
+develop into the reality of a Wild Far East.
+
+After a moment to give me a chance, Craig himself left the car pulled
+up close by the side of the road and went ahead on foot. At last he
+came to the cross-roads just around the bend, where in the moonlight he
+could read the sign: "Williams Avenue" and "Brownlee Avenue." He stood
+there a moment, then glanced at his watch which registered both hands
+approaching the hour of twelve. He gazed about at the deserted country.
+Had the appointment been a hoax, after all, a scheme to get him away
+from the city for some purpose?
+
+Suddenly, at his feet in the dust of the road something heavy seemed to
+drop. He looked about quickly. No one was in sight.
+
+He reached down and picked up a little Chinese figure. Tapping it with
+his knuckle, he examined it curiously. It was hollow.
+
+From the inside he drew out a piece of paper. He strained his eyes in
+the moonlight and managed to make out:
+
+The Serpent is all-wise, and his fang is fatal. You have signed the
+white girl's death warrant.
+
+Beneath this sinister warning was stamped the serpent sign of Wu Fang.
+
+It was not a hoax, and Kennedy stood there a moment gazing about in
+tense anxiety. Had that uncanny watching eye observed his every action?
+Was it staring at him now in the blackness?
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Meanwhile, I had made my way stealthily, peering into the bushes and
+careful not even to step on anything that would make a noise and was
+now, as I have said, crouched behind the big rock to which Craig had
+directed me. I heard him go along the road and looked about cautiously,
+but could hear and see nothing else.
+
+I had begun to wonder whether Kennedy might not have made a mistake
+when, suddenly, from behind the shadow of another rock, ahead of me,
+but toward Brownlee Avenue, I saw a tall, gaunt figure of a man rise in
+the moonlight, almost as if it had sprung from the very earth.
+
+My heart gave a leap, as he quickly raised his right arm and hurled
+something as far as he could in the direction that Kennedy had taken.
+If it had been a bomb, followed by an explosion, I would not have been
+surprised. But no sound followed as the figure dropped back as if it
+had been a wraith.
+
+I stole out from my own hiding-place in the shadow of my rock and
+darted quickly to the shelter of a bush, nearer the figure.
+
+The figure was no wraith. It turned to steal away. I remembered
+Kennedy's parting words. If the man ever gained the darkness of a clump
+of woods, just beyond us, he was as good as safe. This was the time to
+act.
+
+I leaped at him and we went down, rolling over and over in the
+underbrush and stubble. We fought fiercely, but I could not seem to get
+a glimpse of his face which was muffled.
+
+He was powerful and stronger than I and after a tough tussle he broke
+loose. But I had succeeded, nevertheless. I had delayed him just long
+enough. Kennedy heard the sound of the struggle and was now crashing
+through the hedge at the cross-roads in our direction.
+
+I managed to pick myself up, just as Kennedy reached my side and,
+together, we followed the retreating figure, as it made its way among
+the shadows. Across the open space before us we followed him and at
+last saw him dive into an old barn.
+
+A moment later we followed hot-foot into the barn. As we entered, we
+could hear a peculiar grating noise, as though a door was swung on its
+rusty hinges. The front door was open. Evidently the man had gone
+through and closed the back door.
+
+We threw ourselves against the back door. But it did not yield. There
+was no time to waste and we turned to rush out again by the way we had
+come, just as the front door was slammed shut.
+
+The man had trapped us. He had left both doors open, had run through,
+braced the back door, then had rushed around outside just in time to
+brace the front door also.
+
+We could hear his feet crunching the dry leaves and twigs as he went
+around the side of the barn again. Together we threw ourselves against
+the front door, but, although it yielded a little he had barred it so
+that it would resist our united strength for some time.
+
+Again and again we threw ourselves against it. It was horribly dark in
+there, except for an oblong spot where the moonlight streamed in
+through a window. Suddenly the pale silver of the moonlight on the
+floor reddened.
+
+The man had struck a match and thrown it into a mass of oil-soaked
+straw and gunpowder which protruded through one of the weather-beaten
+boards, near the floor.
+
+It was only a matter of a second or so now when the fire swept into the
+barn itself. There was no beating it out. Some one had literally soaked
+the straw and the floor with oil. It seemed as though the whole place
+burst into a sudden blaze of tinder. Outside, we could hear footsteps
+rapidly retreating toward the shelter of the clump of woods.
+
+For a second I looked dismayed at the rapidly-mounting flames.
+
+"A very pretty situation," I forced with a laugh. "But I hope he
+doesn't think we'll stay here and burn, with a perfectly good window in
+full view."
+
+I took a step toward the window, but before I could take another,
+Kennedy yanked me back.
+
+"Don't think for a moment that he overlooked that," he shouted.
+
+Craig looked around hastily. In a corner, just back of us was a long
+pole. He snatched it up and moved cautiously toward the window, keeping
+the pole as level as possible as he endeavored to get a leverage on the
+sash. The flames were mounting faster and higher, licking up everything.
+
+"Keep back, Walter," he muttered, "just as far as you can."
+
+He had scarcely raised the window a fraction of an inch when an old
+rusty, heavy anvil and a bent worn plowshare crashed down to the floor
+directly over the spot where I should have been if he had not dragged
+me away. I started back, aghast. Nothing had been overlooked to finish
+us off.
+
+"I think you may try it safely now, all right," smiled Kennedy coolly.
+
+We climbed out of the window, not an instant too soon from the raging
+inferno about us.
+
+Having gained the clump of woods, the gaunt figure had paused long
+enough to gloat over his clever scheme. Instead, he saw us making good
+our escape. With a gesture of intense fury he turned. There was nothing
+more for him to do but to zigzag his way to safety across country.
+
+The barn was now burning fiercely and it was almost as light as day
+about us. Kennedy paused only long enough to look down at the ground
+where the fire had been started.
+
+"See, Walter," he exclaimed pointing to a square indention in the soft
+soil. "No white man ever made a footprint like that."
+
+I bent over. The prints had the squareness of those paper-layered soles
+of a Chinaman.
+
+"Long Sin," came the name involuntarily to my lips, for I knew that Wu
+would delegate just such a job to his faithful slave.
+
+Kennedy did not pause an instant longer, but in the light of the
+burning barn, as best he could, started to follow the trail in a
+desperate endeavor either to overtake Long Sin, or at least to find the
+final direction in which he would go.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+At the entrance of the passageway which led to the little underground
+chamber in which we had sought the treasure hidden by the Clutching
+Hand, Wu Fang was seated on a rock waiting impatiently, though now and
+then indulging in a sinister smile at the subtle trick by which he had
+recovered the ring.
+
+The sound of approaching footsteps disturbed him. He was far too clever
+to leave anything to chance and, like a serpent, he wriggled behind
+another rock and waited. It was only a glance, however, that he needed
+to allay his suspicions. It was Long Sin, breathless.
+
+Wu stepped out beside him so quietly that even the acute Long Sin did
+not hear. "Well?" he said in a guttural tone.
+
+Long Sin drew back in fear. "I have failed, oh master," he replied in
+an imploring tone. "Even now they follow my tracks."
+
+It was bad enough to confess defeat without the fear of capture.
+
+Wu frowned. "We must work quickly, then," he muttered.
+
+He picked up a dark lantern near-by, indicating another to Long Sin.
+They entered the cave, flashing the lights ahead of them.
+
+"Be careful," ordered Wu, proceeding gingerly from one stepping-stone
+to another. "We shall be followed no further than this."
+
+He paused a moment and pointed his finger at the earth. Everywhere,
+except here and there where a stone projected, was a sticky, slimy
+substance. It was an old trick of primitive races.
+
+"Bird lime," hissed Wu, pointing at the viscid substance made of the
+juice of the holly bark, extracted by boiling, and mixed with a third
+part of nut oil and grease.
+
+They passed on from stone to stone until they came to the subterranean
+chamber itself. Without a moment's hesitation, Wu made his way toward
+the rock in which they had found the slot with its cryptic inscription.
+
+Long Sin watched his master in silent admiration as, at last, he drew
+forth the mystic ring for which they had dared all.
+
+Without a word, Wu dropped it in the slot. It tinkled down the runway,
+a protuberance hit a trigger and pushed it a hair's breadth.
+
+A noise behind them caused the two to turn startled. Even Wu had not
+expected it.
+
+On the other side of the chamber, a great rock in the ground slowly
+turned, as though on a pivot. They watched, fascinated. Even then Wu
+did not forget the precious ring, but as the rock turned, reached down
+quickly and recovered it from the cup at the floor.
+
+Inch by inch the pivoted rock moved on its axis. They flashed their
+lanterns full on it and, as it moved, they could see disclosed huge
+piles of gold and silver in coins and bars and ornaments, a chest
+literally filled with brilliants, set and unset, rubies, emeralds,
+precious stones of every conceivable variety, a cave that would have
+staggered even Aladdin--the rich reward of the countless marauding
+operations of Bennett's other personality.
+
+For a moment they could merely stand in avaricious exultation.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Painfully and slowly, we managed to trail Long Sin's footprints, until
+we came to a road where they were lost in the hard macadam. There was
+no time to stop. We must follow the road on the chance that he had
+taken it. But which way?
+
+Kennedy chose the most likely direction, for the trail had been at an
+angle to the road and Long Sin was not likely to double back. We had
+not gone many rods before Kennedy paused a minute and looked about in
+the moonlight.
+
+"It's right, Walter," he cried. "Do you recognize it?"
+
+I looked about. Then it flashed over me. This was the back road that
+led past the entrance to the treasure vault at Aunt Tabby's.
+
+We went on now more quickly, listening carefully to catch any sounds,
+but heard nothing. At last Kennedy stopped, then plunged among the
+rocks and bushes beside the road. We were at the cave.
+
+"You go in this way, Walter," he directed. "I'll go around and down
+where it caved in."
+
+I groped my way along through the darkness.
+
+I had gone only a yard or two, when it seemed as though something had
+grasped my foot.
+
+With a great wrench I managed to pull it loose. But the weight on my
+other foot had imbedded it deeper. I struggled to free this foot and
+got the other caught. My revolver, which I had drawn, was jarred from
+my hand and in the effort to recover it, I lost my balance. Unable to
+move a foot in time to catch myself, I fell forward. My hands were now
+covered by the slimy, sticky stuff, and the more I struggled, the worse
+I seemed to get entangled.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Wu and Long Sin paused only a minute in astonishment. Then they
+literally fell upon the wealth that lay before them, gloating over the
+gold, stuffing their hands into the jewels, lifting them up and letting
+the priceless gems run through their fingers.
+
+Suddenly they paused. There was the slight tinkle of a Chinese bell.
+
+Kennedy had reached Aunt Tabby's garden, outside the roof of the
+subterranean chamber where it had given way, had gone down carefully
+over the earth and rock, and in doing so had broken a string stretched
+across the passageway. The tinkle of a bell attached to it aroused his
+attention and he stopped short, a second, to look about. Wu Fang had
+arranged a primitive alarm.
+
+Quickly, Wu and Long Sin blew out their lanterns while Wu gave the rock
+a push. Slowly, as it had opened, it now closed and they stood there
+listening.
+
+I was still struggling in the bird lime, getting myself more and more
+covered with it, when the reverberation of revolver shots reached me.
+
+Wu and Long Sin had opened fire on Kennedy, and Kennedy was replying in
+kind. In the cavern it sounded like a veritable bombardment. As they
+retreated, they came nearer and nearer to me and I could see the
+revolvers spitting fire in the darkness. So intent were they on Kennedy
+that they forgot me.
+
+I watched them fearfully as they hopped deftly from one stone to
+another to avoid the lime--and were gone.
+
+"Craig! Craig!" I managed to cry feebly. "Be careful. Keep to the
+stones."
+
+He strained his eyes toward the ground in the darkness, at the sound of
+my voice. Then he struck a match and instantly took in the situation
+which, to me, under any other circumstances, would have been ludicrous.
+
+Stepping from stone to stone, he followed the retreating Chinamen. But
+they had already reached the mouth of the cave and were making their
+way rapidly down the road to a bend, in the opposite direction from
+which we had come. There, Wu's automobile was waiting. They leaped into
+it and the driver, without a word, shot the car off into the darkness
+of early dawn.
+
+A moment later, Kennedy appeared, but they had made their getaway.
+Baffled, he turned and retraced his steps to the cave.
+
+I don't think that I ever welcomed him more sincerely than I did as,
+finally, I crawled slowly out from the bird lime, exhausted by the
+effort that I had made to free myself from the sticky mess.
+
+"They got away, Walter," he said, lighting a lantern they had dropped.
+"By George," he added, I think a little vexed that I had not been able
+to stop them, "you are a sight!"
+
+He was about to laugh, when I fainted. I can remember nothing until I
+woke up over by the wall of the chamber where he dragged me.
+
+Kennedy had been working hard to revive me, and, as I opened my eyes,
+he straightened up. His eye suddenly caught something on the rock
+beside him. There was a little slot carved in it, and above the slot
+was a peculiar inscription.
+
+For several minutes, Kennedy puzzled over it, as Wu had done. Then he
+discovered the little cup near the ground.
+
+"The ring!" he suddenly cried out.
+
+I was too muddled to appreciate at once what he meant, but I saw him
+reach into his fob pocket and draw forth the replica of the trinket
+which had caused so much disaster, as if it had been cursed by the
+Clutching Hand himself. He dropped it into the slot.
+
+Struggling to my feet, I saw across from me the very rock itself
+moving. Was it an hallucination, born of my nervous condition?
+
+"Look, Craig!" I cried involuntarily, pointing.
+
+He turned. No, it was not a vision. It actually moved. Together we
+watched. Slowly the rock turned on a pivot. There were disclosed to our
+astonished eyes the hidden millions of the Clutching Hand.
+
+I looked from the gold and jewels to Kennedy, in speechless amazement.
+
+"We have beaten them, anyhow," I cried.
+
+Slowly Craig shook his head sadly.
+
+"Yes," he murmured, "we have found the Clutching Hand's millions, but
+we have lost Elaine."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE VENGEANCE OF WU FANG
+
+
+Elaine was still in the power of Wu Fang.
+
+Kennedy had thwarted the Chinese master criminal in his search for the
+millions amassed by the Clutching Hand. But any joy that we might have
+derived from this success was completely obscured by the fear that Wu
+might wreak some diabolical vengeance on Elaine.
+
+It was a ticklish situation. In fact, I doubt whether Craig would have
+discovered the treasure at all, if our pursuit of Wu and Long Sin the
+night before had not literally forced us into doing so.
+
+Nor were Kennedy's fears unfounded. Wu and Long Sin had scarcely
+reached the secret apartment back of the deceptive exterior of the
+Chinatown tenement, when the subtle Chinaman began to contemplate his
+revenge.
+
+Long Sin was smoking a Chinese pipe, resting after their hurried
+flight, while Wu, the tireless, was seated at a table at the other end
+of the room. At last Wu Fang took up a long Chinese dirk from the table
+before him, looked at it, turned it over, felt its edge. It was keen
+and the point was sharp. He rose and deliberately walked across to a
+door leading into a back room.
+
+On a couch lay Elaine and with her, as a guardian, was Weepy Mary whom
+the Clutching Hand had used to lure her to the church where the faked
+record of her father's marriage was supposed to be. Indeed, though Wu
+had lost the Clutching Hand's millions, he had seen his chance and had
+fallen heir to what was left of Bennett's criminal organization.
+
+As Wu, the Serpent, entered and advanced slowly towards Elaine, she
+crouched back from him in deadly fear. He stopped before her without a
+word and his menacing eye seemed to read her very thoughts.
+
+Slowly he drew from under his robe the Chinese dirk. He felt the edge
+of it again and gazed significantly at Elaine. She shrank back even
+further, as far as the divan would permit.
+
+It was a critical moment.
+
+Just then Long Sin entered. "One of the five millions waits outside,"
+he reported simply, with a bow.
+
+Wu understood. It had been a pleasant fiction of his that although he
+did not, of course, absolutely control such a stupendous organization
+he could, by his subtle power, force almost unlimited allegiance from
+the simple coolies in that district of China from which he came.
+
+Out in the front room, just a moment before, a knock at the door had
+disturbed Long Sin, and a Chinese servant had announced a visitor. Long
+Sin had waved to the servant to usher him in and a poorly clad coolie
+had entered.
+
+He bowed as Long Sin faced him. "Where is the master?" he had asked.
+
+Long Sin had not deigned to speak. With a mere wave of his hand, he
+indicated that he would be the bearer of the message, and had followed
+Wu through the door of the back room.
+
+So, almost by chance, Wu was interrupted in the brutal vengeance which
+had first come to his mind. He sheathed the knife and, still without a
+word, went back into the main room, giving a nod to Weepy Mary to guard
+Elaine closely.
+
+Wu eyed the coolie until the newcomer could almost feel the master's
+penetrating gaze, although his head was bowed in awe. Quickly the
+coolie thrust his hand under his blouse and drew forth a package. With
+another bow, he advanced.
+
+"For your enemies, oh master," he said, handing the package over to Wu.
+
+For the first time since the loss of the treasure, Wu Fang seemed to
+take an interest in something besides revenge. The coolie started to
+open the package, removed the paper wrapper, and then a silk wrapping
+inside. Finally he came to a box, from which he drew a leather pouch,
+each operation conducted with greater care as it became evident that
+the contents were especially precious in some way. Then he took from
+the pouch a small vial.
+
+"What is it?" demanded Wu Fang, as the coolie displayed it.
+
+The coolie drew forth now a magnifying glass and a glass slide. Opening
+the vial with great care he shook something out on the slide, then
+placed it under the lens.
+
+"Look!" he said simply.
+
+Wu bent over and looked. Under the lens what had formerly seemed to be
+merely a black speck of dirt became now one of the most weird and
+uncanny little creatures to be found in all the realm of nature. It
+seemed to be all legs and feelers moving at once. A normal person would
+have looked at the creature only with the greatest repugnance. Wu
+regarded it with a sort of unholy fascination.
+
+"And it is?" he queried.
+
+"What the white man calls the African tick which carries the recurrent
+fever," answered the coolie deferentially.
+
+A flash of intense exultation seemed to darken Wu Fang's sinister face.
+Several times he paced up and down the room, as he contemplated the
+sight which he had just seen. Then he came to a sudden determination.
+
+"Wait," he said to the coolie, as he moved slowly again into the back
+room.
+
+Long Sin had remained there. With Weepy Mary he was guarding Elaine
+when Wu Fang reentered. Elaine was thoroughly aroused by this time.
+Even the fact that Wu no longer held the murderous dirk did not serve
+to reassure her, for the look on his face was even more terrible than
+before.
+
+He smiled cunningly to himself.
+
+"Suffering is a state of mind," he said in a low tone, "and I have
+decided that it would be poor revenge for me to harm you. You are free."
+
+Nothing could have come as a greater surprise to Elaine. Even Long Sin
+had not expected any such speech as this. Elaine, however, was
+wonder-stricken.
+
+"Do you--do you really mean it?" she asked, scarcely able to believe
+what her ears heard.
+
+Wu merely nodded, and with a wave of his hand to Long Sin indicated
+that Elaine was to be released.
+
+Long Sin, the slave, did not stop to question his master, but merely
+moved over to a closet and took out the hat and wraps which Elaine had
+worn when she had been kidnapped in the up-town apartment. He handed
+them over to her and she put them on with trembling hands.
+
+No one stopped her and she nerved herself to take several steps toward
+the door. She had scarcely crossed half the room.
+
+"Wait!" ordered Wu sharply.
+
+Was he merely torturing her, as a cat might torture a mouse? She
+stopped obediently, afraid to look at him.
+
+"This will be the vengeance of Wu Fang," he went on impressively.
+"Slowly, one by one, your friends will weaken and die, then your
+family, until finally only you are left. Then will come your turn."
+
+He stopped again and raised his long lean forefinger. "Go," he hissed.
+"I wish you much joy."
+
+He turned to Long Sin and whispered a word to him. A moment later, Long
+Sin drew forth a large silken handkerchief and tied it tightly over
+Elaine's eyes. Then he took her hand and led her out. There was to be
+no chance by which she could lead a raiding party back to the den in
+which she had been held.
+
+I don't think that in all our friendship I have ever seen Kennedy so
+utterly depressed as he was when we returned after the discovery of the
+vast fortune which Bennett had cleverly secreted. I came upon him in
+the laboratory the next morning while he was trying to read. He had
+laid aside his scientific work, and now he had even laid aside his book.
+
+There seemed to be absolutely nothing to do until some new clue turned
+up. I placed my hand on his shoulder, but the words that would
+encourage him died on my lips. Several times I started to speak, but
+each time I checked myself. There did not seem to be anything that
+would be appropriate for such an occasion.
+
+A sharp ring at the telephone made both of us fairly jump, so nervous
+had we become. Kennedy reached over instantly for the instrument in the
+vague hope that at last there was some news.
+
+As I watched his face, it changed first from despair to wonder, and
+finally it seemed to light up with the most remarkable look of relief
+and happiness that one could imagine.
+
+"I shall be right over," he cried, jamming the receiver down on the
+hook, and in the same motion reaching for his hat and coat. "Walter,"
+he cried, "it is Elaine! They have let her go!"
+
+I seized my own hat and coat in time to follow him and we dashed out of
+the laboratory.
+
+The suspense under which Aunt Josephine had been living had told on
+her. Her niece, Elaine's cousin, Mary Brown, who lived at Rockledge,
+had come into the city to comfort Aunt Josephine and they had been
+sitting, that morning, in the library. Marie, the maid was busy about
+the room, while Aunt Josephine talked sadly over Elaine's strange
+disappearance. She was on the verge of tears.
+
+Suddenly a startled cry from Jennings out in the hall caused both
+ladies to jump to their feet. They could scarcely believe what they
+heard as the faithful old butler cried out the name.
+
+"Why--Miss Elaine!" he gasped.
+
+An instant later Elaine herself burst into the room and flung herself
+into Aunt Josephine's arms. All talking and half crying from joy at
+once, they crowded about her. Breathlessly she answered the questions
+that flew thick and fast.
+
+In the excitement Aunt Josephine had seized the telephone and called
+our number. She did not even wait to break the good news, but handed
+the telephone to Elaine herself.
+
+We left the laboratory on the run, too fast to notice that just around
+the building line at the corner stood a limousine with shades drawn.
+Even if we had paused to glance back, we could not have seen Wu Fang
+and Long Sin inside, gazing out through the corner of the curtains.
+They were in European dress now and had evidently come prepared for
+just what they knew was likely to happen.
+
+In all the strange series of events, I doubt whether we had ever made
+better time from the laboratory over to the Dodge house than we did
+now. We were admitted by the faithful Jennings and almost ran into the
+library.
+
+"Oh, Craig!" cried Elaine, as Kennedy, almost speechless, seized her by
+both hands.
+
+For a few seconds none of us could speak. Then followed a veritable
+flood of eager conversation.
+
+I watched Elaine carefully, in fact we all did, for she seemed, in
+spite of the excitement of her return, to be almost a complete nervous
+wreck from the terrible experiences she had undergone.
+
+"Won't you come and stay with me a few days up in the country, dear?"
+urged Mary at last.
+
+Elaine thought a moment, then turned to Aunt Josephine.
+
+"Yes," considered her aunt, "I think it would do you good."
+
+Still she hesitated; then shyly looked at Kennedy and laughed. "You,
+too, Craig, must be fagged out," she said frankly. "Come up there with
+us and take a rest."
+
+Kennedy smiled. "I shall be delighted," he accepted promptly.
+
+"You, too, Mr. Jameson," she added, turning to me.
+
+I hesitated a moment and Kennedy tried to catch my eye. I was just
+about to speak when he brought his heel down sharply on my toe. I
+looked at him again and caught just the trace of a nod of his head. I
+saw that I was de trop.
+
+"No, thank you," I replied. "I'm afraid I'd better not go. Really, I
+have too much work staring at me. I can't get away--but it's very kind
+of you to think of asking me."
+
+We chatted, then left a few moments later so that Kennedy could pack.
+
+Around the corner from the laboratory, as we dashed out, had been, as I
+have said, Wu Fang and Long Sin looking out from the limousine. No
+sooner had we disappeared across the campus than their driver started
+up the car and they sped around to our apartment.
+
+Cautiously they alighted and walked down the street. Then making sure
+they were not observed, they entered and mounted the stairs to our
+doorway. Long Sin was stationed down the hall on guard while Wu Fang
+drew from his pocket a blank key, a file and a candle. He lighted the
+candle and held the key in its flame until it was covered with soot.
+
+Then he inserted the key in the keyhole, turned it and took the key
+out. Working quickly now, he examined the key sharply. In the soot were
+slight scratches indicating where it struck and prevented the turning
+of the lock. He filed the key, trying it again and again. Finally he
+finished, and opened the door. Beckoning Long Sin, he entered our rooms.
+
+As they stood there, Wu Fang gazed about our living-room, keenly. He
+was evidently considering where to place something, for, one after
+another, he picked up several articles on the desk and examined them.
+Each time that he laid one down he shook his head.
+
+Finally his eye rested on the telephone. It seemed to suggest an idea
+to him and he crossed over to it. Carefully holding down the receiver
+on the hook, he unscrewed the case which holds the diaphragm, while
+with his clever fingers he held the rest of the instrument intact. Then
+he removed from his pocket the vial which the coolie had given him and
+placed its contents on the diaphragm itself. Quickly now he replaced
+the receiver, and, having finished their work, Long Sin and Wu Fang
+stealthily crept out.
+
+A second time, as we approached our apartment after the visit to
+Elaine, we were too excited to notice the limousine in which were Wu
+and Long Sin. But no sooner had we entered than Long Sin left the car
+with a final word of instruction from his master.
+
+Up-stairs, in the apartment, Kennedy began hurriedly to pack, and I
+helped him as well as I could. We were in the midst of it when the
+telephone rang and I answered it.
+
+"Hello!" I called.
+
+There was no response.
+
+"Hello, Hello!" I repeated, raising my voice.
+
+Still there was no answer. I worked the hook up and down but could get
+no reply. Finally, disgusted, I hung up.
+
+A moment later, I recall now, it seemed to me as though some one had
+stuck a pin into the lobe of my ear. Still, I thought nothing of it in
+the excitement of Kennedy's departure, and went to work again to help
+him pack.
+
+We had scarcely got back to work, when the telephone bell jangled
+again, and a second time I answered it.
+
+"Is Mr. Kennedy there?" came back a strange voice.
+
+I handed the instrument to Craig.
+
+"Hello," he called. "Who is this?"
+
+No response.
+
+"Hello, hello," he shouted, working the hook as I had done and, as in
+my case, there was still no answer.
+
+"Some crank," he exclaimed, jamming down the receiver in disgust and
+returning to his packing.
+
+Neither of us thought anything of it at the time, but now I recall that
+I did see Kennedy once or twice press the lobe of his ear as though
+something had hurt it.
+
+We did not know until later that in a pay station down the street our
+arch enemy, Long Sin, had been calling us up and then, with a wicked
+smile, refusing to speak to us.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+It was about a week later that I came home late one night from the
+Star, feeling pretty done up. Whatever it was, a violent fever seemed
+to have come on me suddenly. I thought nothing of it, at first, because
+I soon grew better. But while it lasted, I had the most intense
+shivering, excruciating pains in my limbs, and delirious headache. I
+recall, too, that I felt a peculiar soreness on the ear. It was all
+like nothing I had ever had before.
+
+Indeed the next morning when I woke up, I felt a lassitude that made it
+quite hard enough even to lounge about in my bath-robe. Finally,
+feeling no better, I decided to see a doctor. I put on my clothes with
+a decided effort and went out.
+
+The nearest doctor was about half a block away and we scarcely knew
+him, for neither Kennedy nor I were exactly sickly.
+
+"Well," asked the doctor, as he closed the door of his office and
+turned to me. "What seems to be the matter?"
+
+I tried to smile. "I feel as though I had been celebrating not wisely
+but too well," I replied, trying to cheer up, "but as a matter of fact
+I have been leading the simple life."
+
+He sounded me and pounded me, looked at my tongue and my eyes, listened
+to my heart and lungs, though I don't think he treated my symptoms very
+seriously. In fact, I might have known what he would do. He talked a
+little while on generalities, diet and exercise then walked over to a
+cabinet, and emptied out a few pills into a little paper box.
+
+"Take one every hour," he said, handing them to me, and carefully
+returning the bottle to the cabinet so that I could not see what was on
+the label. "Cut your cigarettes to three a day, and don't drink coffee.
+Four dollars, please."
+
+I suppose I ought to have been cured, and in fact I was cured--of going
+to that doctor. I paid him and went back to the apartment, my head soon
+in a whirl from a new onset of the fever.
+
+I managed to get back into my bath-robe, and threw myself down on the
+divan, propped up with pillows. I had taken the pills but they had no
+more effect than sugar of milk. By this time, I was much more delirious
+and was crying out.
+
+I saw faces about me, but I did not see the faces which were actually
+out by our hall door. Wu Fang and Long Sin had waited patiently for
+their revenge. Now that they thought sufficient time had elapsed, they
+had stolen stealthily to the apartment door. While Long Sin watched, Wu
+listened.
+
+"The white devil has it," whispered Wu Fang, as he rejoined his fellow
+conspirator.
+
+How long I should have remained in this state, and in fact how long I
+did remain, I don't know. Vaguely, I recall that our acquaintance,
+Johnson, who had the apartment across the hall, at last heard my cries
+and came out to his own door. He needed only a moment to listen at ours
+to know that something was wrong.
+
+"Why, what's the matter, Jameson?" he asked, poking his head in and
+looking anxiously at me.
+
+I could only rave some reply, and he tried his best to quiet me.
+"What's the matter, old man?" he repeated. "Tell me. Shall I send for a
+doctor?"
+
+Somehow or other I knew the state I was in. I knew it was Johnson, yet
+it all seemed unreal to me. With a great effort I gathered all my
+scattered wits and managed to shout out, "Telegraph Kennedy--Rockledge."
+
+By this time Johnson himself was thoroughly alarmed. He did not lose a
+second in dictating a telegram over the telephone.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+At about the same time, up at Rockledge, Kennedy and Elaine, with her
+cousin Mary Brown, were starting out for a horseback ride through the
+hills. They were chatting gaily, but Kennedy was forcing himself to do
+so.
+
+In fact, they had scarcely gone half a mile when Kennedy, who was
+riding between the two and fighting off by sheer nerve the illness he
+felt, suddenly fell over in half a faint on the horse's neck. Elaine
+and Mary reined up their horses.
+
+"Why, Craig," cried Elaine, startled, "what's the matter?"
+
+The sound of her voice seemed to arouse him. He braced up. "Oh,
+nothing, I guess," he said with a forced smile. "I'm all right."
+
+It was no use, however. They had to cut short the ride, and Kennedy
+returned to the house, glad to drop down in an easy chair on the porch,
+while Elaine hovered about him solicitously. His head buzzed, his skin
+was hot and dry, his eyes had an unnatural look. Every now and then he
+would place his hand to his ear as though he felt some pain.
+
+They had already summoned the country doctor, but it took him some time
+to get out to the house. Suddenly a messenger boy rode up on his
+bicycle and mounted the porch steps. "Telegram for Mr. Kennedy," he
+announced, looking about and picking out Craig naturally as the person
+he wanted.
+
+Kennedy nodded and took the yellow envelope while Elaine signed for it.
+Listlessly he tore it open. It read:
+
+CRAIG KENNEDY,
+
+c/o Wellington Brown, Rockledge, N. J.
+
+Jameson very ill. Wants you. Better come.
+
+JOHNSON.
+
+The message seemed to rouse Kennedy in spite of his fever. His face
+showed keen alarm, which he endeavored to conceal from Elaine. But her
+quick eye had caught the look.
+
+"I must see Walter," he exclaimed, rising rather weakly and going into
+the house.
+
+How he ever did it is still, I think, a mystery to him, but he managed
+to pack up and, in spite of the alternating fever and chills, made the
+journey back to the city.
+
+When at last Craig arrived at our apartment, it must have seemed to him
+that he found me almost at death's door. I was terribly ill and weak by
+that time, but had refused to see the doctor again and Johnson had
+managed to get me into bed.
+
+Ill himself, Kennedy threw himself down for a moment exhausted. "When
+did this thing come on Walter?" he asked of Johnson.
+
+"Yesterday, I think, at least as nearly as I can find out," replied our
+friend.
+
+Craig was decidedly worried. "There's only one person in New York to
+call on," he murmured, pulling himself out of bed and getting into the
+living-room as best he could.
+
+"Is that you, Godowski?" he asked over the telephone. "Well, doctor,
+this is Kennedy. Come over to my apartment, quick. I've a case--two
+cases for you."
+
+Godowski was a world-famous scientist in his line and had specialized
+in bacteriology, mainly in tropical diseases.
+
+As Kennedy hung up the receiver, he made his way back again to the
+bedroom, scratching his ear. He noticed that I was doing the same in my
+delirium.
+
+"Has Walter been scratching his ear?" he asked of Johnson.
+
+Johnson nodded. "That's strange," considered Craig thoughtfully. "I've
+been doing the same."
+
+He turned back into the living-room and for a moment looked about.
+Finally his eye happened to fall on the telephone and an idea seemed to
+occur to him.
+
+He went over to the instrument and unscrewed the receiver. Carefully he
+looked inside. Then he looked closer. There was something peculiar
+about it and he picked up a blank sheet of white paper, dusting off the
+diaphragm on it. There, on the paper, were innumerable little black
+specks.
+
+Just then, outside, Dr. Godowski's car drew up and he jumped out,
+swinging his black bag. Not being acquainted with what we were going
+through, Godowski did not notice the almond-eyed Chinaman who was
+watching down the street.
+
+"How do you do, doctor," greeted Craig faintly, at the door.
+
+"What seems to be the difficulty?" inquired the doctor eagerly.
+
+"I don't know," returned Craig, "but I have my suspicions. I'm too ill
+to verify them myself. So I've called on you. Look at Jameson first,"
+he added.
+
+While Godowski was examining me, Craig managed to get out his
+microscope and was looking through it at the strange black specks on
+the paper. There, under the lens, he could see the most remarkable,
+almost microscopic creature, all legs and feelers, a most vicious
+object.
+
+Weak though he was, he could not help an exclamation of exultation at
+his discovery, just as Godowski had finished with me.
+
+"Look!" he cried, calling the doctor. "I know what the trouble is,
+Godowski."
+
+He had started to tell, but the excitement of the journey and the
+exertion were so great that he could hardly mumble.
+
+"Here--look--on this paper," he cried. "From the telephone--"
+
+He had risen and was handing the paper to the scientist when his
+weakness overcame him. He fell flat on his face on the floor and
+dropped the paper, spilling the contents.
+
+Godowski, now thoroughly alarmed, bent over Craig. But the delirium had
+overcome Kennedy, too.
+
+Unable to make any sense out of Craig's broken wanderings, Godowski
+lost no time in taking samples of our blood.
+
+Then he hurried away to his laboratory in his car. As he did so,
+however, Long Sin leaped into a taxicab which was waiting and followed.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+In Godowski's laboratory, where he was studying tropical diseases, the
+bacteriologist set to work at once to confirm his own growing
+suspicions.
+
+From a monkey which he had there for experimental purposes, he drew off
+some blood samples. Then, with the aid of his assistant, he took the
+blood samples he had obtained from us. The monkey's blood, under the
+microscope, seemed full of rather elongated wriggling germs of a
+peculiar species. In and out they made their way among the blood
+corpuscles each like a dart aimed at life itself.
+
+Then he took the samples of our blood. In them were the same
+germs--carried by that gruesome tick!
+
+"The spirillum!" he muttered. "They are infected with African recurrent
+fever. The only remedy is atoxyl, administered intravenously, after the
+manner of Professor Ehrlich's famous '606'."
+
+Godowski had rung the call box hastily for a messenger, when Long Sin,
+who had managed stealthily to creep up to the doctor's laboratory
+window, scowled, through at the action--then moved away.
+
+While his assistant gathered the apparatus, the doctor wrote:
+
+MISS ANNE SEPTIX, 301 W. --th St.
+
+Please go at once to the apartment of Craig Kennedy,--Claremont Ave.
+Surgical case.
+
+GODOWSKI, M. D.
+
+The boy arrived finally and the doctor gave him a generous tip to hurry
+with the note.
+
+He had not turned the corner, however, when Long Sin appeared. Subtly
+he played on the boy's cupidity to get him to deliver a note of his
+own, even offered to deliver the boy's note for him. The flash of a
+five dollar bill made the rest easy.
+
+As the boy disappeared on a fake errand, Long Sin, with the real note
+hurried down-town, smiling wickedly.
+
+"They have discovered the fever, Master," he reported in the den.
+
+Wu was beside himself with rage. Before he could speak, however, Long
+Sin spread out Godowski's message. "But I have this," he added.
+
+It took merely a glance to suggest to Wu a new plan of action. He rose
+and moved quickly into the back room. "Come," he ordered Weepy Mary.
+"You must dress up as a nurse--immediately."
+
+Quickly she donned one of the numerous disguises while Wu planned his
+campaign.
+
+"Here," he directed when she was ready, handing her a little vial. "You
+must infect every instrument the doctor uses on Kennedy and
+Jameson,--see?"
+
+She nodded and a moment later was on her way uptown.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Meanwhile Godowski himself had arrived at our apartment, much to the
+relief of our friend Johnson, and was unpacking his instruments.
+
+Quickly he improvised two operating tables, and placed one of us on
+each. Then, with his assistant, he put on his white robes, mask, gloves
+and other precautions for asepsis, setting out the apparatus for the
+intravenous administration of the drug that would kill the spirillum.
+Godowski was busy with the atoxyl, mixing it in a normal salt solution.
+He would drop in a few drops of an acid, then a few drops of an
+alkaline solution, so as to keep the mixture neutral. Finally, he
+poured the solution into a container, to the bottom of which was
+attached a long tube. This container he raised high over our heads,
+clamping the tube.
+
+Then he fastened a tiny needle to the end of the tube, so that it could
+be inserted in our arms, catching skillfully a vein--a very difficult
+piece of work in which he excelled. The liquid would then flow by the
+force of gravity from the container down through the tube, through the
+hollow needle and into the vein where it would act on the germs of the
+fever.
+
+They had finished their preparations and were waiting for Miss Septix.
+"She ought to be here, now," muttered Godowski impatiently, looking at
+his watch.
+
+Just then a cab drove up outside.
+
+"Perhaps that is she," he exclaimed. "It must be."
+
+A few moments later the door of the apartment opened. His face showed
+his disappointment. It was a stranger.
+
+"Miss Septix is ill," she introduced, "and sent me to take her place."
+
+The doctor looked about. "Very well, then," he said briskly, seeing his
+preparations. "Are you ready to go ahead?"
+
+She nodded and threw off her coat that covered her immaculate white
+uniform.
+
+The specialist plunged whole-heartedly into his work of saving us now.
+"Hand me that needle, please," he directed the false nurse.
+
+She moved over to the table near-by and took it up, pausing only long
+enough to dip it secretly into a vial she carried with her.
+
+"Please hurry," repeated the doctor.
+
+She turned from the table and handed it to him. He adjusted it and
+already held it poised for the thrust which was not to cure but to
+poison us further.
+
+"Weepy Mary!" cried a frightened voice at our door.
+
+Elaine had been deeply alarmed by the sudden illness of Kennedy and the
+message from Jameson. No sooner had Kennedy gone, than it flashed over
+her that Wu Fang had predicted something like this.
+
+"The threat!" she exclaimed, seeking her cousin. "Mary, I must go to
+the city--right away."
+
+On the next train, then, she had been speeding back to New York, and,
+arriving at the station, she realized that there was not a moment to
+lose. She called a cab, drove directly to our apartment, and hurried
+in, without even ringing the bell.
+
+One glance at the improvised hospital was enough to alarm her. But the
+sight that had transfixed her was of a woman whose face she remembered
+only too well, though Kennedy and I had never seen her.
+
+"Please, Miss," began Godowski's assistant, trying to quiet Elaine,
+while Godowski turned in vexation to his work.
+
+"No, no!" repeated Elaine. "This woman is no nurse. She is a criminal!"
+
+Godowski paused. It was true he did not know the woman. He gazed from
+Elaine to Weepy Mary in doubt.
+
+The game was up. Weepy Mary dropped a piece of gauze which she had
+soaked in the solution from the vial which Wu had given her and bolted
+for the door.
+
+So sudden was her flight that no one was quick enough to stop her. She
+managed to reach the hall and slam the door. Down she rushed to the
+street, Godowski's assistant after her.
+
+There, awaiting, was Long Sin's car. She leaped in and was off in a
+moment. The assistant had just time to dive at the running-board. But
+his grip was poor and Long Sin easily threw him off.
+
+"You--you fool!" he hissed at Mary, as soon as the danger of pursuit
+was over and the assistant had gone back into the apartment.
+
+"Oh, sir," she begged, "it was not my fault. Miss Dodge came
+in--unexpectedly--she recognized me. If I had not fled, they would have
+caught me--perhaps you, too."
+
+Long Sin was furious. He threatened her and she cowered back. However,
+there was nothing to be gained by that and he subsided and drove
+quickly down-town.
+
+The excitement more than ever alarmed Elaine now. "Tell me," she
+appealed to Dr. Godowski, "what is the matter?"
+
+"In some way," he replied quickly, "they have become infected by the
+bite of an African tick which carries spirillum fever."
+
+"She got away, in a cab," panted the assistant, returning.
+
+Godowski raised his hands in despair. "I was just about to start," he
+cried. "Everything is ready. I can't send for another nurse. Every
+minute counts."
+
+Elaine had thrown off her coat and hat. Her sleeves were up in a moment
+and before the doctor knew what she was about she was scrubbing her
+hands in the antiseptic wash.
+
+"Only--show me--what to do," she cried. "I will be the nurse!"
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Several days later, when we had recovered sufficiently from the
+diabolical attack that had been made upon us, Kennedy was again at work
+in the laboratory, while I was writing. We still felt rather weak, but
+Godowski's skill had pulled us out all right.
+
+Our speaking-tube sounded and I knew that it was Elaine and Aunt
+Josephine.
+
+"How do you feel?" inquired Elaine anxiously, as she almost ran across
+the laboratory to Craig.
+
+"Fine!" he exaggerated, brightly.
+
+"Really?" she repeated anxiously.
+
+"Look!" he said, turning to his microscope.
+
+He took some blood from a test tube in our electric incubator and
+placed a drop on a slide. It was some of the blood infected by the
+germs carried by the tick.
+
+"That is how our blood looked--before the new nurse arrived," he
+smiled, while Elaine looked at it in horror.
+
+Then he pricked his arm and let a drop smear on another slide.
+
+"Now look at that--perfectly normal," he added.
+
+"Oh--I'm so glad," she exclaimed radiantly.
+
+"Normal--thanks to you. You saved us. You were just in time," cried
+Craig taking both her hands in his.
+
+He was about to kiss her, when she broke away. "Craig," she whispered,
+blushing and looking hastily at us.
+
+Aunt Josephine and I could only smile at the disgusted glance Craig
+gave us, as he thrust his hands in his pockets and wished us a thousand
+miles away at that moment.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+SHADOWS OF WAR
+
+
+For a long time Kennedy had, I knew, been at work at odd moments in the
+laboratory secretly. What it was that he was working on, even I was
+unable to guess, so closely had he guarded his secret. But that it was
+something momentous, I was assured.
+
+Long Sin had already been arrested and it was a day or two after the
+escape of Wu himself who had come just in time to prevent the
+confession by one of his emissaries of the whereabouts of his secret
+den. Kennedy had Chase and another detective whom he frequently
+employed on routine matters at work over the clues developed by his use
+of the sphygmograph. Elaine, anxious for news, had dropped in on us at
+the laboratory just as Kennedy was hastily opening his mail.
+
+Craig came to a large letter with an official look, slit open the
+envelope, and unfolded the letter. "Hurrah!" he cried, jumping up and
+thrusting the letter before us. "Read that."
+
+Across the top of the paper were embossed in blue the formidable words:
+
+United States Navy Department, Washington, D. C.
+
+The letter was most interesting:
+
+PROFESSOR CRAIG KENNEDY, The University, New York City.
+
+DEAR SIR,
+
+Your telautomatic torpedo model was tested yesterday and I take great
+pleasure in stating that it was entirely successful. There is no doubt
+that the United States is safe from attack as long as we retain its
+secret.
+
+Very sincerely yours,
+
+DANIEL WATERS, Ass't Sec'y.
+
+"Oh, Craig," congratulated Elaine, as she handed back the note. "I'm so
+glad for your sake. How famous you will be!"
+
+"When are we going to see the wonderful invention, Craig?" I added as I
+grasped his hand and, in return, he almost broke the bones in mine
+wringing it.
+
+"As soon as you wish," he replied, moving over to the safe near-by and
+opening it. "Here's the only other model in existence besides the model
+I sent to Washington."
+
+He held up before us a cigar-shaped affair of steel, about eight inches
+long, with a tiny propeller and rudder of a size to correspond. Above
+was a series of wires, four or five inches in length, which, he
+explained, were the aerials by which the torpedo was controlled.
+
+"The principle of the thing," he went on proudly, "is that I use
+wireless waves to actuate relays on the torpedo. The power is in the
+torpedo; the relay releases it. That is, I send a child with a message;
+the grown man, through the relay, does the work. So, you see, I can sit
+miles away in safety and send my little David out anywhere to strike
+down a huge Goliath."
+
+It was not difficult to catch his enthusiasm over the marvellous
+invention, though we could not follow him through the mazes of
+explanation about radio-combinators, telecommutators and the rest of
+the technicalities. I may say, however, that on his radio-combinator he
+had a series of keys marked "Forward," "Back," "Start," "Stop," "Rudder
+Right," "Rudder Left," and so on.
+
+He had scarcely finished his brief description when there came a knock
+at the door. I answered it. It was Chase and his assistant, whom
+Kennedy had employed in the affair.
+
+"We've found the place on Pell Street that we think is Wu Fang's," they
+reported excitedly. "It's in number fourteen, as you thought. We've
+left an operative disguised as a blind beggar to watch the place."
+
+"Oh, good!" exclaimed Elaine, as Craig and I hurried out after Chase
+and his man with her. "May I go with you?"
+
+"Really, Elaine," objected Craig, "I don't think it's safe. There's no
+telling what may happen. In fact, I think Walter and I had better not
+be seen there even with Chase."
+
+She pouted and pleaded, but Craig was obdurate. Finally she consented
+to wait for us at home provided we brought her the news at the earliest
+moment and demonstrated the wonderful torpedo as well. Craig was only
+too glad to promise and we waved good-bye as her car whisked her off.
+
+Half an hour later we turned into Chinatown from the shadow of the
+elevated railroad on Chatham Square, doing our best to affect a Bowery
+slouch.
+
+We had not gone far before we came to the blind beggar. He was sitting
+by number fourteen with a sign on his breast, grinding industriously at
+a small barrel organ before him on which rested a tin cup.
+
+We passed him and Kennedy took out a coin from his pocket and dropped
+it into the cup. As he did so, he thrust his hand into the cup and
+quickly took out a piece of paper which he palmed.
+
+The blind beggar thanked and blessed us, and we dodged into a doorway
+where Kennedy opened the paper: "Wu Fang gone out."
+
+"What shall we do?" I asked.
+
+"Go in anyhow," decided Kennedy quickly.
+
+We left the shelter of the doorway and walked boldly up to the door.
+Deftly Kennedy forced it and we entered.
+
+We had scarcely mounted the stairs to the den of the Serpent, when a
+servant in a back room, hearing a noise, stuck his head in the door.
+Kennedy and I made a dash at him and quickly overpowered him, snapping
+the bracelets on his wrists.
+
+"Watch him, Walter," directed Craig as he made his way into the back
+room.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+In the devious plots and schemes of Wu Fang, his nefarious work had
+brought him into contact not only with criminals of the lowest order
+but with those high up in financial and diplomatic circles.
+
+Thus it happened that at such a crisis as Kennedy had brought about for
+him Wu had suddenly been called out of the city and had received an
+order from a group of powerful foreign agents known secretly as the
+Intelligence Office to meet an emissary at a certain rocky promontory
+on the Connecticut shore of Long Island Sound the very day after
+Kennedy's little affair with him in the laboratory and the day before
+the letter from Washington arrived.
+
+Though he was mortally afraid of Kennedy's pursuit, there was nothing
+to do but obey this imperative summons. Quietly he slipped out of town,
+the more readily when he realized that the summons would take him not
+far from the millionaire cottage colony where Elaine had her summer
+home, which, however, she had not yet opened.
+
+There, on the rocky shore, he sat gazing out at the waves, waiting,
+when suddenly, from around the promontory, came a boat rowed by two
+stalwart sailors. It carried as passengers two dark-complexioned,
+dark-haired men, foreigners evidently, though carefully dressed so as
+to conceal both their identity and nationality.
+
+As the boat came up to a strip of sandy beach among the rocks, the
+sailors held it while their two passengers jumped out. Then they rowed
+away as quickly as they had come.
+
+The two mysterious strangers saluted Wu.
+
+"We are under orders from the Intelligence Office," introduced one who
+seemed to be the leader, "to get this American, Kennedy."
+
+A subtle smile overspread Wu's face. He said nothing but this adventure
+promised to serve more than one end. "Information has just come to us,"
+the stranger went on, "that Kennedy has invented a new wireless
+automatic torpedo. Already a letter is on its way informing him that it
+has been accepted by the Navy."
+
+The other man who had been drawing a cigar-shaped outline on the wet
+sand looked up. "We must get those models," he put in, adding, "both of
+them--the one he has and that the government has. Can it be done?"
+
+"I can get them," answered Wu sinisterly.
+
+And so, while Kennedy was drawing together the net about Wu, that wily
+criminal had already planned an attack on him in an unexpected quarter.
+
+Down in Washington the very morning that our pursuit of Wu came to a
+head, the officials of the navy department, both naval and civil, were
+having the final conference at which they were to accept officially
+Kennedy's marvellous invention which, it was confidently believed,
+would ultimately make war impossible.
+
+Seated about a long table in one of the board rooms were not only the
+officers but the officials of the department whose sanction was
+necessary for the final step. By a window sat a stenographer who was
+transcribing, as they were taken, the notes of the momentous meeting.
+
+They had just completed the examination of the torpedo and laid it on
+the end of the table scarcely an arm's length from the stenographer. As
+he finished a page of notes he glanced quickly at his watch. It was
+exactly three o'clock.
+
+Hastily he reached over for the torpedo and with one swift, silent
+movement tossed it out of the window.
+
+Down below, in a clump of rhododendrons, for several moments had been
+crouching one of the men who had borne the orders to Wu Fang at the
+strange meeting on the promontory.
+
+His eyes seemed riveted at the window above him. Suddenly the supreme
+moment for which this dastardly plot had been timed came. As the
+torpedo model dropped from the window, he darted forward, caught it,
+turned, and in an instant he was gone.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Wu Fang himself had returned after setting in motion the forces which
+he found necessary to call to aid the foreign agents in their plots
+against Kennedy's torpedo.
+
+As Wu approached the door of his den and was about to enter, his eye
+fell on our outpost, the blind beggar. Instantly his suspicions were
+aroused. He looked the beggar over with a frown, thought a moment, then
+turned and instead of entering went up the street.
+
+He made the circuit of the block and now came to an alley on the next
+street that led back of the building in which he had his den. Still
+frowning, he gazed about, saw that he was not followed, and entered a
+doorway.
+
+Up the stairs he made his way until he came to an empty loft. Quickly
+he went over to the blank wall and began feeling cautiously about as if
+for a secret spring hidden in the plaster.
+
+"No one in the back room," said Kennedy rejoining me in the den itself
+with the prisoner. "He's out, all right."
+
+Before Craig was a mirror. As he looked into it, at an angle, he could
+see a part of the decorations of the wall behind him actually open out.
+For an instant the evil face of Wu Fang appeared.
+
+Without a word, Craig walked into the back room. As he did so, Wu Fang,
+knife in hand, stealthily opened the sliding panel its full length and
+noiselessly entered the room behind me. With knife upraised for instant
+action he moved closer and closer to me. He had almost reached me and
+paused to gloat as he poised the knife ready to strike, when I heard a
+shout from Kennedy, and a scuffle.
+
+Craig had leaped out from behind a screen near the doorway to the back
+room where he had hidden to lure Wu on. With a powerful grasp, he
+twisted the knife from Wu's hand and it fell with a clatter on the
+floor. I was at Wu myself an instant later. He was a powerful fighter,
+but we managed to snap the handcuffs on him finally, also.
+
+"Walter," panted Kennedy straightening himself out after the fracas,
+"I'll stay here with the prisoners. Go get the police."
+
+I hurried out and rushed down the street seeking an officer.
+
+Up in the den, Wu Fang, silent, stood with his back to the wall,
+scowling sullenly. Close beside him hung a sort of bell-cord, just out
+of reach. Kennedy, revolver in hand, was examining the writing-table to
+discover whatever evidence he could. Slowly, imperceptibly, inch by
+inch, Wu moved toward the bell-cord. He was reaching out with his
+manacled hands to seize it when Kennedy, alert, turned, saw him, and
+instantly shot. Wu literally crumpled up and dropped to the floor as
+Craig bounded over to him.
+
+By this time I had found a policeman and he had summoned the wagon from
+the Elizabeth Street station, a few blocks away. As we drove up before
+the den, I leaped out and the police followed.
+
+Imagine my surprise at seeing Wu stretched on the floor. Kennedy had
+tried to staunch the flow of blood from a wound on Wu's shoulder with a
+handkerchief and now was making a temporary bandage which he bound on
+him.
+
+"How are you, sergeant?" nodded Kennedy. "Well, I guess you'll admit I
+made good this time."
+
+The sergeant smiled, recalling a previous occasion when the slippery Wu
+had squirmed through our fingers.
+
+Kennedy's restless eye fell on the bell-rope which had caused the
+trouble. Somehow, he seemed to have an irresistible desire to pull that
+rope. He gazed about the room.
+
+"Walter, you and the sergeant take the prisoners into the next room,"
+he said. "I want to see what this thing really is."
+
+We moved Wu and his servant and stood in the doorway. Craig gave the
+rope a yank.
+
+Instantly there was an explosion. A concealed shotgun in the wall
+fired, scattering shot all over the front of Wu's table, just where we
+had been standing, knocking over and breaking vases, scattering papers
+and in general wrecking everything before it.
+
+"So, that's it," whistled Craig. "You fellows can come back now. Two of
+you men I'm going to leave here to watch the place and make other
+arrests if you can. Come on."
+
+With Kennedy I left the tenement while the sergeant marched the
+prisoners out, and we drove off with them. Quite a crowd had collected
+outside by the time we came out. Among them, naturally, were many
+Chinamen, and we could not see two of them hiding behind the rest on
+the outskirts, jabbering in low tones together and making hasty plans.
+As we clanged away down the street they followed more slowly on foot.
+
+Common humanity dictated that we take Wu first of all to a hospital and
+get him fixed up and to a hospital we went. Kennedy and I entered with
+our prisoners, closely guarded by the police.
+
+Craig handed Wu over to two young doctors and a nurse. By this time Wu
+was very weak from loss of blood. Still he had his iron nerve and that
+was carrying him through. The two young doctors and the nurse had
+scarcely begun to take off Craig's rude bandage to replace it properly,
+when a noise outside told us that a weeping and gesticulating
+delegation of Chinese had arrived.
+
+"Keep 'em back," called one of the doctors to an attendant. The
+attendant tried to drive them away, but nothing could force them back
+more than an inch or two as, in broken English, they sought to find out
+how Wu was. Their importunity proved too much for only one attendant.
+Still gibbering and gesticulating, the crowd brushed past him as if he
+had been a mere reed. The attendant raged about until he lost his head.
+But it was no use. There was nothing for him to do but to follow them
+in.
+
+Kennedy by this time had finished talking to the doctors and handing Wu
+over to them. They had taken him into a room in the dispensary. Just
+then the chattering crowd pushed in, some asking questions, others
+bewailing the fate of the great Wu Fang. They were so insistent that at
+last one of the doctors was forced to demand that the police drive them
+out. They started to push them back.
+
+In the melee, one of their number managed to get away from the rest and
+reach the doorway to the emergency room. He was, as we found out later,
+dressed almost precisely like Wu, although he had on a somewhat
+different cap. In build and size as well as features he was a veritable
+Dromio.
+
+The other Chinaman drew back behind the screen which hid the doorway to
+the emergency room and concealed himself.
+
+Meanwhile, Kennedy and I were laughing at the truly ludicrous antics of
+the astounded Celestials, thunderstruck at the capture of the peerless
+leader, while the police forced them back.
+
+"Well, good-bye," nodded Craig to the first doctor and nurse who had
+attended Wu Fang outside.
+
+"Good-bye. We'll fix him up and take good care that he doesn't cheat
+the law," they said, with a nod to the sergeant.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+In the emergency room, Wu was placed on an operating table and there
+was bound up properly, though he was terribly weak now.
+
+Back of the screen, however, the other Chinaman was hiding, able to get
+an occasional glance at what was going on. There happened to be a table
+near him on which were gauze, cotton and other things. He reached over
+and took the gauze and quickly made it into a bandage, keeping one eye
+on the bandaging of Wu. Then he placed the bandage over his own
+shoulder and arm in the same way that he saw the doctors doing with Wu.
+
+They had finished with Wu and one of the doctors moved over to the
+doorway to call the sergeant. For the moment the rest had left Wu
+alone, his eyes apparently half closed through weakness. Each was busy
+about his own especial task.
+
+From behind the screen which was only a few feet from the operating
+table, the secreted Chinaman stepped out. Quickly he placed his own hat
+on Wu and took Wu's, then took Wu's place on the table while Wu slipped
+behind the screen.
+
+The doctor turned to the supposed Wu. "Come now," he ordered, handing
+him over to the police. "Here he is at last."
+
+The sergeant started to lead the prisoner out. As he did so, he looked
+sharply at him. He could scarcely believe his eyes. There was something
+wrong. All Chinaman might look alike to some people but not to him.
+
+"That's not Wu Fang!" he exclaimed.
+
+Instantly there was the greatest excitement. The doctors were astounded
+as all rushed into the emergency room again. One of them looked behind
+the screen. There was an open window.
+
+"That's how he got away," he cried.
+
+Meanwhile, several blocks from the hospital, Wu, still weak but more
+than ever nerved up, came out of his place of concealment, gazed up and
+down the street, and, seeing no one following, hurried away from the
+hospital as fast as his shaky legs would bear him.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Confident that at last our arch enemy was safely landed in the hands of
+the police, Kennedy and I had left the hospital and were hastening to
+Elaine with the news. We stopped at the laboratory only long enough to
+get the torpedo from the safe and at a toy store where Craig bought a
+fine little clockwork battleship.
+
+We found Elaine and Aunt Josephine in the conservatory and quickly
+Kennedy related how we had captured Wu.
+
+But, like all inventors, his pet was the torpedo and soon we were
+absorbed in his description of it. As he unwrapped it, Elaine drew
+back, timidly, from the fearful engine of destruction.
+
+Kennedy smiled. "No, it isn't dangerous," he said reassuringly. "I've
+removed its charge and put in a percussion cap. Let me show you, on a
+small scale, how it works," he added, winding up the battleship and
+placing it in the fountain.
+
+Next he placed the torpedo in the water at the other end of the tank.
+"Come over here," he said, indicating to us to follow him into the
+palms.
+
+There he had placed the strange wireless apparatus which controlled the
+torpedo. He pressed a lever. We peered out through the fronds of the
+palms. That uncanny little cigar-shaped thing actually started to move
+over the surface of the water.
+
+"Of course I could make it dive," explained Craig, "but I want you to
+see it work."
+
+Around the tank it went, turned, cut a figure eight, as Kennedy
+manipulated the levers. Then it headed straight toward the battleship.
+It struck. There was a loud report, a spurt of water. One of the
+skeleton masts fell over. The battleship heeled over, and slowly sank,
+bow first.
+
+"Wonderful!" exclaimed Elaine. "That was very realistic."
+
+We brushed our way out through the thick palms, congratulating Kennedy
+on the perfect success of his demonstration.
+
+So astonished were we that we did not hear the doorbell ring. Jennings
+answered it and admitted two men.
+
+"Is Professor Kennedy here?" asked one. "We have been to his apartment
+and to the laboratory."
+
+"I'll see," said Jennings discretely, taking the card of one of them
+and leaving them in the drawing-room.
+
+"Two gentlemen to see you, Mr. Kennedy," Jennings interrupted our
+congratulations, handing Craig a card. "Shall I tell them you are here,
+sir?"
+
+Craig glanced at the card. "I wonder what that can be?" he said,
+turning the card toward us.
+
+It was engraved:
+
+W. R. Barnes     U. S. Secret Service.
+
+"Yes, I'll see them," he said, then to us, "Please excuse me?"
+
+Elaine, Aunt Josephine and I strolled off in the palms toward the Fifth
+Avenue side, while Jennings went out toward the back of the house.
+
+"Well, gentlemen," greeted Kennedy as he met the two detectives, "what
+can I do for you?"
+
+The leader looked about, then leaned over and whispered, "We've just
+had word, Professor, that your model of the torpedo has been stolen
+from the Navy Department in Washington."
+
+"Stolen?" repeated Kennedy, staring aghast.
+
+"Yes. We fear that an agent of a foreign government has found a traitor
+in the department."
+
+Rapidly Kennedy's mind pictured what might be done with the deadly
+weapon in the hands of an enemy.
+
+"And," added the Secret Service man, "we have reason to believe that
+this foreign agent is using a Chinaman, Wu Fang."
+
+"But Wu has been arrested," replied Craig. "I arrested him myself. The
+police have him now."
+
+"Then you don't know of his escape?"
+
+Kennedy could only stare as they told the story.
+
+Suddenly, down the hall, came cries of, "Help! Help!"
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+While Craig was showing us the torpedo, the criminal machinery which Wu
+had set in motion at orders from the foreign agents was working rapidly.
+
+Outside the Dodge house, a man had shadowed us. He waited until we went
+in, then slunk in himself by the back way and climbed through an open
+window into the cellar.
+
+Quietly he made his way up through the cellar until finally he reached
+the library. Listening carefully he could hear us talking in the
+conservatory. Stealthily he moved out of the library.
+
+We had left the conservatory when he entered, peering through the
+palms. On he stole till he came to the fountain. He looked about.
+There, bobbing up and down, was the model of the torpedo for which he
+had dared so much. He picked it up and looked at it, gloating.
+
+The crook was about to move back toward the library, hugging the
+precious model close to himself when he heard Jennings coming. He
+started back to the conservatory. Jennings entered just in time to
+catch a fleeting glimpse of some one. His suspicions were roused and he
+followed.
+
+The crook reached the conservatory and opened a glass window leading
+out into the little garden beside the house. He was about to step out
+when the sound of voices in the garden arrested him. Elaine, Aunt
+Josephine and I had gone out and Elaine was showing me a new rose which
+had just been sent her.
+
+The crook fell back and dropped down behind the palms. Jennings looked
+about, but saw no one and stood there puzzled. Then the crook, fearing
+that he might be captured at any moment, looked about to see where he
+might hide the torpedo. There did not seem to be any place. Quickly he
+began to dig out the earth in one of the palm pots. He dropped the
+torpedo, wrapped still in the handkerchief, into the hole and covered
+it up.
+
+Jennings was clearly puzzled. He had seen some one rush in, but the
+conservatory was apparently empty. He had just turned to go out when he
+saw a palm move. There was a face! He made a dive for it and in a
+moment both he and the crook were rolling over and over.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Kennedy and the Secret Service men were talking earnestly when they
+heard the cry for help and the scuffle. They rushed out and into the
+conservatory in time to see the crook, who had broken away, knock out
+Jennings. He sprang to his feet and darted away.
+
+Kennedy's mind was working rapidly. Had the man been after the other
+model? The detectives went after him. But Craig went for the torpedo.
+As he looked in the tank, it was gone! He turned and followed the crook.
+
+I was still in the garden with Elaine and Aunt Josephine when I heard
+sounds of a struggle and a moment later a man emerged through the
+window of the conservatory followed by two other men. I went for him,
+but he managed to elude me and dashed for the wall in the back of the
+garden. The Secret Service men fired at him but he kept on. A moment
+later Craig came through the window.
+
+"Did any of you take the torpedo?" he asked.
+
+"No," replied Elaine, "we left it just as you had it."
+
+Kennedy seemed wild with anxiety. "Then both models have been stolen!"
+he cried, dashing after the Secret Service men with me close behind.
+
+The crook by this time had reached the top of the wall. Just as he was
+about to let himself down safely on the other side, a shot struck him.
+He pitched over and we ran forward.
+
+But he had just enough of a start. In spite of the shock and the wound
+he managed to pick himself up and with the help of a confederate
+hobbled into a waiting car, which sped away just as we came over the
+wall.
+
+We dropped to the ground just as another car approached. Craig
+commandeered it from its astonished driver, the Secret Service men and
+I piled in and we were off in a few seconds in hot pursuit.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Down at the terminal where trains came in from Washington, Wu, much
+better now, was waiting.
+
+He had pulled a long coat over his Chinese clothes and wore a slouch
+hat. As he looked at the incoming passengers he spied the man he was
+waiting for, the young crook who had been waiting in the shrubbery
+outside the Navy Building when the torpedo model was thrown out.
+
+The man had the model carefully wrapped up, under his arm. As his eye
+travelled over the crowd he recognized Wu but did not betray it. He
+walked by and, as he passed, hastily handed Wu the package containing
+the model. Wu slipped it under his coat. Then each went his way, in
+opposite directions.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+It was a close race between the car bearing the two crooks and that
+which Kennedy had impressed into service, but we kept on up through the
+city and out across the country, into Connecticut.
+
+Time and again they almost got away until it became a question of
+following tire tracks. Once we came to a cross-road and Kennedy stopped
+and leaped out. Deeply planted in the mud, he could see the tracks of
+the car ahead leading out by the left road. Close beside the tire
+tracks were the footprints of two men going up the right hand road
+toward the Sound.
+
+"You follow the car and the driver," decided Craig, hastily indicating
+the road by which it had gone. "I'll follow the footprints."
+
+The Secret Service men jumped back into the car and Kennedy and I went
+along the shore road following the two crooks.
+
+Already the wounded crook, supported by his pal, had made his way down
+to the water and had come to a long wharf. There, near the land-end,
+they had a secret hiding-place into which they went. The other crook
+drew forth a smoke signal and began to prepare it.
+
+Kennedy and I were able, now, to move faster than they. As we came in
+sight of the wharf, Kennedy paused.
+
+"There they are, two of them," he indicated.
+
+I could just make them out in their hiding-place. The fellow who had
+stolen the torpedo was by this time so weak from loss of blood that he
+could hardly hold his head up, while the other hurried to fix-the smoke
+signal. He happened to glance up, and saw us.
+
+"Come, Red, brace up," he muttered. "They're on our trail."
+
+The wounded man was almost too weak to answer. "I--I can't," he gasped
+weakly, "You--go." Then, with a great effort, remembering the mission
+on which he had been sent, he whispered hoarsely, "I hid the second
+torpedo model in the Dodge house in the bottom of--" He tried hard to
+finish, but he was too weak. He fell back, dead.
+
+His pal had waited as long as he dared to learn the secret. He jumped
+up and ran out just as we burst into the hiding-place.
+
+Kennedy dropped down by the dead man and searched him, while I dashed
+after the other fellow. But I was not so well acquainted with the lay
+of the land as he and, before I knew it, he had darted into another of
+his numerous hiding-places. I hunted about, but I had lost the track.
+
+When I returned, I found Kennedy writing a hasty note.
+
+"I couldn't follow him, Craig," I confessed.
+
+"Too bad," frowned Craig evidently greatly worried by what had
+happened, as he folded the note. "Walter," he added seriously, "I want
+you to go find the fellow." He handed me the note. "And if anything
+separates us to-day--give this note to Elaine."
+
+I did not pay much attention to the tone he assumed, but often
+afterward I pondered over it and the serious and troubled look on his
+face. I was too chagrined at losing my man to think much of it then. I
+took the note and hurried out again after him.
+
+Meanwhile, as nearly as I can now make out, Kennedy searched the dead
+man again. There was certainly no clue to his identity on him, nor had
+he the torpedo model. Craig looked about. Suddenly, he fell flat on his
+stomach.
+
+There was Wu Fang himself, coming to the wharf, carrying the model of
+the torpedo which had been stolen in Washington and brought up to him
+by his emissary.
+
+Kennedy, crouching down and taking advantage of every object that
+sheltered him, crawled cautiously into an angle. Unsuspecting, Wu came
+to the land-end of the wharf.
+
+There he saw his lieutenant, dead--and the smoke signal still beside
+him, unlighted. He bent over in amazement and examined the man.
+
+From his hiding-place Kennedy crept stealthily. He had scarcely got
+within reach of Wu when the alert Chinaman seemed to sense his
+presence. He rose quickly and swung around.
+
+The two arch enemies gazed at each other a moment silently. Each knew
+it was the final, fatal encounter.
+
+Slowly Wu drew a long knife and leaped at Kennedy who grappled with
+him. They struggled mercilessly.
+
+In the struggle, Craig managed to tear the torpedo out of Wu's hands,
+just as they rolled over. It fell on a rock. Instantly an explosion
+tore a hole in the sand, scattering the gravel all about.
+
+Relentlessly the combat raged. Out on the wharf itself they went, right
+up to the edge.
+
+Then both went over into the water, locked in each other's vice-like
+grip.
+
+Even in the water, they struggled, frantically.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+My search for the escaped crook was unsuccessful.
+
+Somehow, however, it led me across country to a road. As I approached,
+I heard a car and looked up. There were the Secret Service men. I
+called them and stepped out of the bushes. They stopped and jumped out
+of the car and I ran to them.
+
+"Come back with me," I urged. "We found two of them. One is dead. Craig
+sent me to trace the other. I've lost the trail. Perhaps you can find
+it for me."
+
+We crashed through the brush quickly. Suddenly I heard something that
+caused me to start. It sounded like an explosion.
+
+"There's the place--over there," I pointed, pausing and indicating the
+direction of the wharf whence had come the explosion.
+
+What was it? We did not stop a moment, but hurried in that direction.
+
+We reached the shore where we saw marks of the explosion and of a
+fight. Out on the pier I ran breathlessly. I rushed to the very edge
+and gazed over, then climbed down the slippery piling and peered into
+the black water beneath.
+
+A few bubbles seemed to ooze up from below. Was that all?
+
+No, as I gazed down I saw that some dark object was there. Slowly Wu
+Fang's body floated to the surface and lay there, rocked by the waves.
+Deep in his breast stuck his own knife with its handle of the Sign of
+the Serpent!
+
+I reached down and seized him, as I peered about for Kennedy.
+
+There was nothing more there.
+
+"Craig!" I called desperately, "Craig!"
+
+There was no answer. The silence, the echo of the lapping water under
+the wharf was appalling, mocking.
+
+I managed to call the Secret Service men and they got Wu Fang's body up
+on the wharf.
+
+But I could not leave the spot.
+
+Where was Craig? There was not a sign of him. I could not realize it,
+even when the men brought grappling irons and began to search the black
+water.
+
+It was all a hideous dream. I saw and heard, in a daze.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+It was not until late that night that I returned to the Dodge house.
+
+I had delayed my return as long as I could, but I knew that I must see
+Elaine some time.
+
+As I entered even Jennings must have seen that something was wrong.
+Elaine, who was sitting in the library with Aunt Josephine, rose as she
+saw me.
+
+"Did you get them?" she asked eagerly.
+
+I could not speak. She seemed to read the tragic look on my haggard
+face and stopped.
+
+"Why," she gasped, clutching at the desk, "what is the matter?"
+
+As gently as I could, I told her of the chase, of leaving Craig, of the
+explosion, of the marks of the struggle and of the finding of Wu Fang.
+
+As I finished, I thought she would faint.
+
+"And you--you went over everything about the wharf?"
+
+"Everything. The men even dragged for the--"
+
+I checked myself over the fateful word.
+
+Elaine looked at me wildly. I thought that she would lose her reason.
+She did not cry. The shock was too great for that.
+
+Suddenly I remembered the note. "Before I left him--the last time," I
+blurted out, "he wrote a note--to you."
+
+I pulled the crumpled paper from my pocket and Elaine almost tore it
+from me--the last word from him--and read:
+
+DEAREST:
+
+I may not return until the case is settled and I have found the stolen
+torpedo. Matters involving millions of lives and billions of dollars
+hang on the plot back of it. No matter what happens, have no fear.
+Trust me.
+
+Lovingly, CRAIG.
+
+She finished reading the note and slowly laid it down. Then she picked
+it up and read it again. Slowly she turned to me.
+
+I think I have never seen so sublime a look of faith on any one's face
+before. If I had not seen and heard what I had, it might have shaken my
+own convictions.
+
+"He told me to trust him and to have no fear," she said simply,
+gripping herself mentally and physically by main force, then with an
+air of defiance she looked at me. "I do not believe that he is dead!"
+
+I tried to comfort her. I wanted to do so. But I could do nothing but
+shake my head sadly. My own heart was full to overflowing. An intimacy
+such as had been ours could not be broken except with a shock that tore
+my soul. I knew that the poor girl had not seen what I had seen. Yet I
+could not find it in my heart to contradict her.
+
+She saw my look, read my mind.
+
+"No," she cried, still defiant, "no--a thousand times, no! I tell
+you--he is not dead!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE LOST TORPEDO
+
+
+From the rocks of a promontory that jutted out not far from the wharf
+where Wu Fang's body was found and Kennedy had disappeared, opened up a
+beautiful panorama of a bay on one side and the Sound on the other.
+
+It was a deserted bit of coast. But any one who had been standing near
+the promontory the next day might have seen a thin line as if the
+water, sparkling in the sunlight, had been cut by a huge knife.
+Gradually a thin steel rod seemed to rise from the water itself, still
+moving ahead, though slowly now as it pushed its way above the surface.
+After it came a round cylinder of steel, studded with bolts. It was the
+hatch of a submarine and the rod was the periscope.
+
+As the submarine lay there at rest, the waves almost breaking over it,
+the hatch slowly opened and a hand appeared groping for a hold. Then
+appeared a face with a tangle of curly black hair and keen forceful
+eyes. After it the body of a man rose out of the hatch, a tall,
+slender, striking person. He reached down into the hold of the boat and
+drew forth a life preserver.
+
+"All right," he called down in an accent slightly foreign, as he
+buckled on the belt. "I shall communicate with you as soon as I have
+something to report."
+
+Then he deliberately plunged overboard and struck out for the shore.
+Hand over hand, he churned his way through the water toward the beach
+until at last his feet touched bottom and he waded out, shaking the
+water from himself like a huge animal.
+
+The coming of the stranger had not been entirely unheralded. Along the
+shore road by which Kennedy and I had followed the crooks whom we
+thought had the torpedo, on that last chase, was waiting now a powerful
+limousine with its motor purring. A chauffeur was sitting at the wheel
+and inside, at the door, sat a man peering out along the road to the
+beach. Suddenly the man in the machine signalled to the driver.
+
+"He comes," he cried eagerly. "Drive down the road, closer, and meet
+him."
+
+The chauffeur shot his car ahead. As the swimmer strode shivering up
+the roadway, the car approached him. The assistant swung open the door
+and ran forward with a thick, warm coat and hat.
+
+Neither the master nor the servant spoke as they met, but the man
+wrapped the coat about him, hurried into the car, the driver turned and
+quickly they sped toward the city.
+
+Secret though the entrance of the stranger had been planned, however,
+it was not unobserved.
+
+Along the beach, on a boulder, gazing thoughtfully out to sea and
+smoking an old briar pipe sat a bent fisherman clad in an oilskin coat
+and hat and heavy, ungainly boots. About his neck was a long woolen
+muffler which concealed the lower part of his face quite as effectually
+as his scraggly, grizzled whiskers.
+
+Suddenly, he seemed to discover something that interested him, slowly
+rose, then turned and almost ran up the shore. Quickly he dropped
+behind a large rock and waited, peering out.
+
+As the limousine bearing the stranger, on whom the fisherman had kept
+his eyes riveted, turned and drove away, the old salt rose from behind
+his rock, gazed after the car as if to fix every line of it in his
+memory and then he, too, quickly disappeared up the road.
+
+The stranger's car had scarcely disappeared when the fisherman turned
+from the shore road into a clump of stunted trees and made his way to a
+hut. Not far away stood a small, unpretentious closed car, also with a
+driver.
+
+"I shall be ready in a minute," the fisherman nodded almost running
+into the hut, as the driver moved his car up closer to the door.
+
+The larger motor had disappeared far down the bend of the road when the
+fisherman reappeared. In an almost incredible time he had changed his
+oilskins and muffler for a dark coat and silk hat. He was no longer a
+fisherman, but a rather fussy-looking old gentleman, bewhiskered still,
+with eyes looking out keenly from a pair of gold-rimmed glasses.
+
+"Follow that car--at any cost," he ordered simply as he let himself
+into the little motor, and the driver shot ahead down a bit of side
+road and out into the main shore road again, urging the car forward to
+overtake the one ahead.
+
+Such was the entrance of the stranger--Marcius Del Mar--into America.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+How I managed to pass the time during the first days after the strange
+disappearance of Kennedy, I don't know. It was all like a dream--the
+apartment empty, the laboratory empty, my own work on the Star
+uninteresting, Elaine broken-hearted, life itself a burden.
+
+Hoping against hope the next day I decided to drop around at the Dodge
+house. As I entered the library unannounced, I saw that Elaine, with a
+faith for which I envied her, was sitting at a table, her back toward
+the door. She was gazing sadly at a photograph. Though I could not see
+it, I needed not to be told whose it was.
+
+She did not hear me come in, so engrossed was she in her thoughts. Nor
+did she notice me at first as I stood just behind her. Finally I put my
+hand on her shoulder as if I had been an elder brother.
+
+She looked up into my face. "Have you heard from him yet?" she asked
+anxiously.
+
+I could only shake my head sadly. She sighed. Involuntarily she rose
+and together we moved toward the garden, the last place we had seen him
+about the house.
+
+We had been pacing up and down the garden talking earnestly only a
+short time when a man made his way in from the Fifth Avenue gate.
+
+"Is this Miss Dodge?" he asked.
+
+"Yes," she replied eagerly.
+
+Neither Elaine nor I knew him at the time, though I think she thought
+he might be the bearer of some message from Craig. As a matter of fact
+he was the emissary to whom the stenographer had thrown the torpedo
+model from the Navy Building in Washington.
+
+His visit was only a part of a deep-laid scheme. Only a few minutes
+before, three crooks--among them our visitor--had stopped just below
+the house on a side street. To him the others had given final
+instructions and a note, and he had gone on, leaving the two standing
+there.
+
+"I have a note for you," he said, bowing and handing an envelope to
+Elaine, which she tore open and read.
+
+WASHINGTON, D. C.
+
+MISS ELAINE DODGE, Fifth Avenue, New York.
+
+MY DEAR MISS DODGE,
+
+The bearer, Mr. Bailey, of the Secret Service, would like to question
+you regarding the disappearance of Mr. Kennedy and the model of his
+torpedo.
+
+MORGAN BERTRAND, U. S. Secret Service.
+
+Even as we were talking the other two crooks had already moved up and
+had made their way around back of the stone wall that cut off the Dodge
+garden back of the house. There they stood, whispering eagerly and
+gazing furtively over the wall as their man talked to Elaine.
+
+After a moment I stepped aside, while Elaine read the note, and as he
+asked her a few questions, I could not help feeling that the affair had
+a very suspicious look. The more I thought of it, the less I liked it.
+Finally I could stand it no longer.
+
+"I beg your pardon," I excused myself to the alleged Mr. Bailey, "but
+may I speak to Miss Dodge alone just a minute?"
+
+He bowed, rather ungraciously I thought, and Elaine followed me aside
+while I told her my fears.
+
+"I don't like the looks of it myself," she agreed. "Yes, I'll be very
+careful what I say."
+
+While we were talking I could see out of the corner of my eye that the
+fellow was looking at us askance and frowning. But if I had had an
+X-ray eye, I might have seen his two companions on the other side of
+the wall, peering over as they had been before and showing every
+evidence of annoyance at my interference.
+
+The man resumed his questioning of Elaine regarding the torpedo and she
+replied guardedly, as in fact she could not do otherwise.
+
+Suddenly we heard shouts on the other side of the wall, as though some
+one were attacking some one else.
+
+There seemed to be several of them, for a man quickly flung himself
+over the wall and ran to us.
+
+"They're after us," he shouted to Bailey.
+
+Instantly our visitor drew a gun and followed the newcomer as he ran to
+get out of the garden in the opposite direction.
+
+Just then a tall, well-dressed, striking man came over the wall,
+accompanied by another dressed as a policeman, and rushed toward us.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+The car bearing the mysterious stranger, Del Mar, kept on until it
+reached New York, then made its way through the city until it came to
+the Hotel La Coste.
+
+Del Mar jumped out of the car, his wet clothes covered completely by
+the long coat. He registered and rode up in the elevator to rooms which
+had already been engaged for him. In his suite a valet was already
+unpacking some trunks and laying out clothes when Del Mar and his
+assistant entered.
+
+With an exclamation of satisfaction at his unostentatious entry into
+the city, Del Mar threw off his heavy coat. The valet hastened to
+assist him in removing the clothes still wet and wrinkled from his
+plunge into the sea.
+
+Scarcely had Del Mar changed his clothes than he received two visitors.
+Strangely enough they were men dressed in the uniform of policemen.
+
+"First of all we must convince them of our honesty," he said looking
+fixedly at the two men. "Orders have been given to the men employed by
+Wu Fang to be about in half an hour. We must pretend to arrest them on
+sight. You understand?"
+
+"Yes, sir," they nodded.
+
+"Very well, come on," Del Mar ordered taking up his hat and preceding
+them from the room.
+
+Outside the La Coste, Del Mar and his two policemen entered the car
+which had driven Del Mar from the sea coast and were quickly whisked
+away, up-town, until they came near the Dodge house.
+
+Del Mar leaped from the car followed by his two policemen. "There they
+are, already," he whispered, pointing up the avenue.
+
+All three hastened up the avenue now where, beside a wall, they could
+see two men looking through intently as though very angry at something
+going on inside.
+
+"Arrest them!" shouted Del Mar as his own men ran forward.
+
+The fight was short and sharp, with every evidence of being genuine.
+One of the men managed to break away and jump the garden wall, with Del
+Mar and one of the policemen after him, while the other only reached
+the wall to be dragged down by the other policeman.
+
+Elaine and I had been, as I have said, talking with the man named
+Bailey who posed as a Secret Service man, when the rumpus began. As the
+man came over the fence, warning Bailey, it was evident that neither of
+them had time to escape. With his club the policeman struck the
+newcomer of the two flat while the tall, athletic gentleman leaped upon
+Bailey and before we knew it had him disarmed. In a most clean-cut and
+professional way he snapped the bracelets on the man.
+
+Elaine was astounded at the kaleidoscopic turn of affairs, too
+astounded even to make an outcry. As for me, it was all so sudden that
+I had no chance to take part in it. Besides I should not have known
+quite on which side to fight. So I did nothing.
+
+But as it was over so quickly, I took a step forward to our latest
+arrival.
+
+"Beg pardon, old man," I began, "but don't you think this is just a
+little raw? What's it all about?"
+
+The newest comer eyed me for a moment, then with quiet dignity drew
+from his pocket and handed me his card which read simply:
+
+M. Del Mar, Private Investigator.
+
+As I looked up, I saw Del Mar's other policeman bringing in another
+manacled man.
+
+"These are crooks--foreign agents," replied Del Mar pointing to the
+prisoners. "The government has employed me to run them down."
+
+"What of this?" asked Elaine holding up the note from Bertrand.
+
+"A fake, a forgery," reiterated Del Mar, looking at it a moment
+critically. Then to the men uniformed as police he ordered, "You can
+take them to jail. They're the fellows, all right."
+
+As the prisoners were led off, Del Mar turned to Elaine. "Would you
+mind answering a few questions about these men?"
+
+"Why--no," she hesitated. "But I think we'd better go into the house,
+after such a thing as this. It makes me feel nervous."
+
+With Del Mar I followed Elaine in through the conservatory.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Del Mar had scarcely registered at the La Coste when the smaller car
+which had been waiting at the fisherman's hut drew up before the hotel
+entrance. From it alighted the fussy old gentleman who bore such a
+remarkable resemblance to the fisherman, hastily paid his driver and
+entered the hotel.
+
+He went directly to the desk and with well-manicured finger, scarcely
+reminiscent of a fisherman, began tracing the names down the list until
+he stopped before one which read:
+
+Marcius Del Mar and valet. Washington, D. C. Room 520.
+
+With a quick glance about, he made a note of it, and turned away,
+leaving the La Coste to take up quarters of his own in the Prince Henry
+down the street.
+
+Not until Del Mar had left with his two policemen did the fussy old
+gentleman reappear in the La Coste. Then he rode up to Del Mar's room
+and rapped at the door.
+
+"Is Mr. Del Mar in?" he inquired of the valet.
+
+"No, sir," replied that functionary.
+
+The little old man appeared to consider, standing a moment dandling his
+silk hat. Absent-mindedly he dropped it. As the valet stooped to pick
+it up, the old gentleman exhibited an agility and strength scarcely to
+be expected of his years. He seized the valet, while with one foot he
+kicked the door shut.
+
+Before the surprised servant knew what was going on, his assailant had
+whipped from his pocket a handkerchief in which was concealed a thin
+tube of anesthetic. Then leaving the valet prone in a corner with the
+handkerchief over his face, he proceeded to make a systematic search of
+the rooms, opening all drawers, trunks and bags.
+
+He turned pretty nearly everything upside down, then started on the
+desk. Suddenly he paused. There was a paper. He read it, then with an
+air of extreme elation shoved it into his pocket.
+
+As he was going out he stopped beside the valet, removed the
+handkerchief from his face and bound him with a cord from the
+portieres. Then, still immaculate in spite of his encounter, he
+descended in the elevator, reentered a waiting car and drove off.
+
+Quite evidently, however, he wanted to cover his tracks for he had not
+gone a half dozen blocks before he stopped, paid and tipped the driver
+generously, and disappeared into the theatre crowd.
+
+Back again in the Prince Henry, whither the fussy little old man made
+his way as quickly as he could through a side street, he went quietly
+up to his room.
+
+His door was now locked. He did not have to deny himself to visitors,
+for he had none. Still, his room was cluttered by a vast amount of
+paraphernalia and he was seated before a table deep in work.
+
+First of all he tied a handkerchief over his nose and mouth. Then he
+took up a cartridge from the table and carefully extracted the bullet.
+Into the space occupied by the bullet he poured a white powder and
+added a wad of paper, like a blank cartridge, placing the cartridge in
+the chamber of a revolver and repeating the operation until he had it
+fully loaded. It was his own invention of an asphyxiating bullet.
+
+Perhaps half an hour later, the old gentleman, his room cleaned up and
+his immaculate appearance restored, sauntered forth from the hotel down
+the street like a veritable Turveydrop, to show himself.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Elaine seemed quite impressed with our new friend, Del Mar, as we made
+our way to the library, though I am not sure but that it was a pose on
+her part. At any rate he seemed quite eager to help us.
+
+"What do you suppose has become of Mr. Kennedy?" asked Elaine.
+
+Del Mar looked at her earnestly. "I should be glad to search for him,"
+he returned quickly. "He was the greatest man in our profession. But
+first I must execute the commission of the Secret Service. We must find
+his torpedo model before it falls into foreign hands."
+
+We talked for a few moments, then Del Mar with a glance at his watch
+excused himself. We accompanied him to the door, for he was indeed a
+charming man. I felt that, if in fact he were assigned to the case, I
+ought to know him better.
+
+"If you're going down-town," I ventured, "I might accompany you part of
+the way."
+
+"Delighted," agreed Del Mar.
+
+Elaine gave him her hand and he took it in such a deferential way that
+one could not help liking him. Elaine was much impressed.
+
+As Del Mar and I walked down the avenue, he kept up a running fire of
+conversation until at last we came near the La Coste.
+
+"Charmed to have met you, Mr. Jameson," he said, pausing. "We shall see
+a great deal of each other I hope."
+
+I had not yet had time to say good-bye myself when a slight exclamation
+at my side startled me. Turning suddenly, I saw a very brisk, fussy old
+gentleman who had evidently been hurrying through the crowd. He had
+slipped on something on the sidewalk and lost his balance, falling near
+us.
+
+We bent over and assisted him to his feet. As I took hold of his hand,
+I felt a peculiar pressure from him. He had placed something in my
+hand. My mind worked quickly. I checked my first impulse to speak and,
+more from curiosity than anything else, kept the thing he had passed to
+me surreptitiously.
+
+"Thank you, gentlemen," he puffed, straightening himself out. "One of
+the infirmities of age. Thank you, thank you."
+
+In a moment he had bustled off quite comically.
+
+Again Del Mar said good-bye and I did not urge him to stay. He had
+scarcely gone when I looked at the thing the old man had placed in my
+hand. It was a little folded piece of paper. I opened it slowly. Inside
+was printed in pencil, disguised:
+
+"BE CAREFUL. WATCH HIM."
+
+I read it in amazement. What did it mean?
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+At the La Coste, Del Mar was met by two of his men in the lobby and
+they rode up to his room.
+
+Imagine their surprise when they opened the door and found the valet
+lying bound on the floor.
+
+"Who the deuce did this?" demanded Del Mar as they loosened him.
+
+The valet rose weakly to his feet. "A little old man with gray
+whiskers," he managed to gasp.
+
+Del Mar looked at him in surprise. Instantly his active mind recalled
+the little old man who had fallen before us on the street.
+
+Who--what was he?
+
+"Come," he said quickly, beckoning his two companions who had come in
+with him.
+
+Some time later, Del Mar's car stopped just below the Dodge house.
+
+"You men go around back of the house and watch," ordered Del Mar.
+
+As they disappeared he turned and went up the Dodge steps.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+I walked back after my strange experience with the fussy little old
+gentleman, feeling more than ever, now that Craig was gone, that both
+Elaine and Aunt Josephine needed me.
+
+As we sat talking in the library, Rusty, released from the chain on
+which Jennings kept him, bounded with a rush into the library.
+
+"Good old fellow," encouraged Elaine, patting him.
+
+Just then Jennings entered and a moment later was followed by Del Mar,
+who bowed as we welcomed him.
+
+"Do you know," he began, "I believe that the lost torpedo model is
+somewhere in this house and I have reason to anticipate another attempt
+of foreign agents to find it. If you'll pardon me, I've taken the
+liberty of surrounding the place with some men we can trust."
+
+While Del Mar was speaking, Elaine picked up a ribbon from the table
+and started to tie it about Rusty's neck. As Del Mar proceeded she
+paused, still holding the ribbon. Rusty, who hated ribbons, saw his
+chance and quietly sidled out, seeking refuge in the conservatory.
+
+Alone in the conservatory, Rusty quickly forgot about the ribbon and
+began nosing about the palms. At last he came to the pot in which the
+torpedo model had been buried in the soft earth by the thief the night
+it had been stolen from the fountain.
+
+Quickly Elaine recalled herself and, seeing the ribbon in her hand and
+Rusty gone, called him. There was no answer, and she excused herself,
+for it was against the rules for Rusty to wander about.
+
+In his haste the thief had left just a corner of the handkerchief
+sticking out of the dirt. What none of us had noticed, Rusty's keen
+eyes and nose discovered and his instinct told him to dig for it. In a
+moment he uncovered the torpedo and handkerchief and sniffed.
+
+Just then he heard his mistress calling him. Rusty had been whipped for
+digging in the conservatory and now, with his tail between his legs, he
+seized the torpedo in his mouth and bolted for the door of the
+drawing-room, for he had heard voices in the library. As he did so he
+dropped the handkerchief and the little propeller, loosened by his
+teeth, fell off.
+
+Elaine entered the conservatory, still calling. Rusty was not there. He
+had reached the stairs, scurrying up to the attic, still holding the
+torpedo model in his mouth. He pushed open the attic door and ran in.
+Rusty's last refuge in time of trouble was back of a number of trunks,
+among which were two of almost the same size and appearance. Behind one
+of them, he had hidden a miscellaneous collection of bones, pieces of
+biscuit and things dear to his heart. He dropped the torpedo among
+these treasures.
+
+Del Mar, meanwhile, had followed Elaine through the hall and into the
+conservatory. As he entered he could see her stooping down to look
+through the palms for Rusty. She straightened up and went on out.
+
+Del Mar followed. Beside the palm pot where Rusty had found the
+torpedo, he happened to see the old handkerchief soiled with dirt.
+Near-by lay the little propeller. He picked them up.
+
+"She has found it!" he exclaimed in wonder, following Elaine.
+
+By this time Rusty had responded to Elaine's calls and came tearing
+down-stairs again.
+
+"Naughty Rusty," chided Elaine, tying the ribbon on him.
+
+"So--you have found him at last?" remarked Del Mar looking quickly at
+Elaine to see if she would get a double meaning.
+
+"Yes. He's had a fine time running away," she replied.
+
+Del Mar was scarcely able to conceal his suspicion of her. Was she a
+clever actress, hiding her discovery, he wondered?
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Outside, on the lawn, Del Mar's men had been looking about, but had
+discovered nothing. They paused a moment to speak.
+
+"Look out!" whispered one of them. "There's some one coming."
+
+They dropped down in the shadow. There in the light of the street lamps
+was the fussy old gentleman coming across the lawn. He stole up to the
+door of the conservatory and looked through. Del Mar's men crawled a
+few feet closer. The little old man entered the conservatory and looked
+about again stealthily. The two men followed him in noiselessly and
+watched as he bent over the palm pot from which the dog had dug up the
+torpedo. He looked at the hole curiously. Just then he heard sounds
+behind him and sprang to his feet.
+
+"Hands up!" ordered one of the men covering him with a gun.
+
+The little old man threw up his hands, raising his cane still in his
+right hand. The man with the gun took a step closer. As he did so, the
+little old man brought down his cane with a quick blow and knocked the
+gun out of his hand. The second man seized the cane. The old man jerked
+the cane back and was standing there with a thin tough steel rapier. It
+was a sword-cane. Del Mar's man held the sheath.
+
+As the man attacked with the sheath, the little old man parried, sent
+it flying from his grasp, and wounded him. The wounded man sank down,
+while the little old man ran off through the palms, followed by the
+other of Del Mar's men.
+
+Around the hall, he ran, and back into the conservatory where he picked
+up a heavy chair and threw it through the glass, dropping himself
+behind a convenient hiding-place near-by. Del Mar's man, close after
+him, mistaking the crash of glass for the escape of the man he was
+pursuing, went on through the broken exit. Then the little old man
+doubled on his tracks and made for the front of the house.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+With Aunt Josephine I had remained in the library.
+
+"What's that?" I exclaimed at the first sounds. "A fight?"
+
+Together we rushed for the conservatory.
+
+The fight followed so quickly by the crash of glass also alarmed Elaine
+and Del Mar in the hallway and they hurried toward the library, which
+we had just left, by another door.
+
+As they entered, they saw a little old gentleman rushing in from the
+conservatory and locking the door behind him. He whirled about, and he
+and Del Mar recognized each other at once. They drew guns together, but
+the little old man fired first.
+
+His bullet struck the wall back of Del Mar and a cloud of vapor was
+instantly formed, enveloping Del Mar and even Elaine. Del Mar fell,
+overcome, while Elaine sank more slowly. The little old man ran forward.
+
+In the conservatory, Aunt Josephine and I heard the shooting, just as
+one of Del Mar's men ran in again. With him we ran back toward the
+library.
+
+By this time the whole house was aroused. Jennings and Marie were
+hurrying down-stairs, crying for help and making their way to the
+library also.
+
+In the library, the little old man bent over Del Mar and Elaine. But it
+was only a moment later that he heard the whole house aroused. Quickly
+he shut and locked the folding-doors to the drawing-room, as, with Del
+Mar's man, I was beating at the rear library door.
+
+"I'll go around," I suggested, hurrying off, while Del Mar's man tried
+to beat in the door.
+
+Inside the little old man who had been listening saw that there was no
+means of escape. He pulled off his coat and vest and turned them inside
+out. On the inside he had prepared an exact copy of Jennings' livery.
+
+It was only a matter of seconds before he had completed his change. For
+a moment he paused and looked at the two prostrate figures before him.
+Then he took a rose from a vase on the table and placed it in Elaine's
+hand.
+
+Finally, with his whiskers and wig off he moved to the rear door where
+Del Mar's man was beating and opened it.
+
+"Look," he cried pointing in an agitated way at Del Mar and Elaine.
+"What shall we do?"
+
+Del Mar's man, who had never seen Jennings, ran to his master and the
+little old man, in his new disguise, slipped quietly into the hall and
+out the front door, where he had a taxicab waiting for him, down the
+street.
+
+A moment later I burst open the other library door and Aunt Josephine
+followed me in, just as Jennings himself and Marie entered from the
+drawing-room.
+
+It was only a moment before we had Del Mar, who was most in need of
+care, on the sofa and Elaine, already regaining consciousness, lay back
+in a deep easy chair.
+
+As Del Mar moved, I turned again to Elaine who was now nearly recovered.
+
+"How do you feel?" I asked anxiously.
+
+Her throat was parched by the asphyxiating fumes, but she smiled
+brightly, though weakly.
+
+"Wh-where did I get that?" she managed to gasp finally, catching sight
+of the rose in her hand. "Did you put it there?"
+
+I shook my head and she gazed at the rose, wondering.
+
+Whoever the little man was, he was gone.
+
+I longed for Craig.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE GRAY FRIAR
+
+
+So confident was Elaine that Kennedy was still alive that she would not
+admit to herself what to the rest of us seemed obvious.
+
+She even refused to accept Aunt Josephine's hints and decided to give a
+masquerade ball which she had planned as the last event of the season
+before she closed the Dodge town house and opened her country house on
+the shore of Connecticut.
+
+It was shortly after the strange appearance of the fussy old gentleman
+that I dropped in one afternoon to find Elaine addressing invitations,
+while Aunt Josephine helped her. As we chatted, I picked up one from
+the pile and mechanically contemplated the address:
+
+"M. Del Mar, Hotel La Coste, New York City."
+
+"I don't like that fellow," I remarked, shaking my head dubiously.
+
+"Oh, you're--jealous, Walter," laughed Elaine, taking the envelope away
+from me and piling it again with the others.
+
+Thus it was that in the morning's mail, Del Mar, along with the rest of
+us, received a neatly engraved little invitation:
+
+Miss Elaine Dodge requests the pleasure of your presence at the
+masquerade ball to be given at her residence on Friday evening June 1st.
+
+"Good!" he exclaimed, reaching for the telephone, "I'll go."
+
+In a restaurant in the white light district two of those who had been
+engaged in the preliminary plot to steal Kennedy's wireless torpedo
+model, the young woman stenographer who had betrayed her trust and the
+man to whom she had passed the model out of the window in Washington,
+were seated at a table.
+
+So secret had been the relations of all those in the plot that one
+group did not know the other and the strangest methods of communication
+had been adopted.
+
+The man removed a cover from a dish. Underneath, perhaps without even
+the waiter's knowledge, was a note.
+
+"Here are the orders at last," he whispered to the girl, unfolding and
+reading the note. "Look. The model of the torpedo is somewhere in her
+house. Go to-night to the ball as a masquerader and search for it."
+
+"Oh, splendid!" exclaimed the girl. "I'm crazy for a little society
+after this grind. Pay the check and let's get out and choose our
+costumes."
+
+The man paid the check and they left hurriedly. Half an hour later they
+were at a costumer's shop choosing their disguises, both careful to get
+the fullest masks that would not excite suspicion.
+
+It was the night of the masquerade.
+
+During the afternoon Elaine had been thinking more than ever of
+Kennedy. It all seemed unreal to her. More than once she stopped to
+look at his photograph. Several times she checked herself on the point
+of tears.
+
+"No," she said to herself with a sort of grim determination. "No--he IS
+alive. He will come back to me--he WILL."
+
+And yet she had a feeling of terrific loneliness which even her most
+powerful efforts could not throw off. She was determined to go through
+with the ball, now that she had started it, but she was really glad
+when it came time to dress, for even that took her mind from her
+brooding.
+
+As Marie finished helping her put on a very effective and conspicuous
+costume, Aunt Josephine entered her dressing-room.
+
+"Are you ready, my dear?" she asked, adjusting the mask which she
+carried so that no one would recognize her as Martha Washington.
+
+"In just a minute, Auntie," answered Elaine, trying hard to put out of
+her mind how Craig would have liked her dress.
+
+Somewhat earlier, in my own apartment, I had been arraying myself as
+Boum-Boum and modestly admiring the imitation I made of a circus clown
+as I did a couple of comedy steps before the mirror.
+
+But I was not really so light-hearted. I could not help thinking of
+what this night might have been if Kennedy had been alive. Indeed, I
+was glad to take up my white mask, throw a long coat over my outlandish
+costume and hurry off in my waiting car in order to forget everything
+that reminded me of him in the apartment.
+
+Already a continuous stream of guests was trickling in through the
+canopy from the curb to the Dodge door, carriages and automobiles
+arriving and leaving amid great gaping from the crowd on the sidewalk.
+
+As I entered the ballroom it was really a brilliant and picturesque
+assemblage. Of course I recognized Elaine in spite of her mask, almost
+immediately.
+
+Characteristically, she was talking to the one most striking figure on
+the floor, a tall man in red--a veritable Mephistopheles. As the music
+started, Elaine and his Satanic Majesty laughingly fox-trotted off but
+were not lost to me in the throng.
+
+I soon found myself talking to a young lady in a spotted domino. She
+seemed to have a peculiar fascination for me, yet she did not
+monopolize all my attention. As we trotted past the door, I could see
+down the hall. Jennings was still admitting late arrivals, and I caught
+a glimpse of one costumed as a gray friar, his cowl over his head and
+his eyes masked.
+
+Chatting, we had circled about to the conservatory. A number of couples
+were there and, through the palms, I saw Elaine and Mephisto laughingly
+make their way.
+
+As my spotted domino partner and I swung around again, I happened to
+catch another glimpse of the gray friar. He was not dancing, but
+walking, or rather stalking, about the edge of the room, gazing about
+as if searching for some one.
+
+In the conservatory, Elaine and Mephisto had seated themselves in the
+breeze of an open window, somewhat in the shadow.
+
+"You are Miss Dodge," he said earnestly.
+
+"You knew me?" she laughed. "And you?"
+
+He raised his mask, disclosing the handsome face and fascinating eyes
+of Del Mar.
+
+"I hope you don't think I'm here in character," he laughed easily, as
+she started a bit.
+
+"I--I--well, I didn't think it was you," she blurted out.
+
+"Ah--then there is some one else you care more to dance with?"
+
+"No--no one--no."
+
+"I may hope, then?"
+
+He had moved closer and almost touched her hand. The pointed hood of
+the gray friar in the palms showed that at last he saw what he sought.
+
+"No--no. Please--excuse me," she murmured rising and hurrying back to
+the ballroom.
+
+A subtle smile spread over the gray friar's masked face.
+
+Of course I had known Elaine. Whether she knew me at once I don't know
+or whether it was an accident, but she approached me as I paused in the
+dance a moment with my domino girl.
+
+"From the--sublime--to the ridiculous," she cried excitedly.
+
+My partner gave her a sharp glance. "You will excuse me?" she said,
+and, as I bowed, almost ran off to the conservatory, leaving Elaine to
+dance off with me.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Del Mar, quite surprised at the sudden flight of Elaine from his side,
+followed more slowly through the palms.
+
+As he did so he passed a Mexican attired in brilliant native costume.
+At a sign from Del Mar he paused and received a small package which Del
+Mar slipped to him, then passed on as though nothing had happened. The
+keen eyes of the gray friar, however, had caught the little action and
+he quietly slipped out after the Mexican bolero.
+
+Just then the domino girl hurried into the conservatory. "What's
+doing?" she asked eagerly.
+
+"Keep close to me," whispered Del Mar, as she nodded and they left the
+conservatory, not apparently together.
+
+Up-stairs, away from the gayety of the ballroom, the bolero made his
+way until he came to Elaine's room, dimly lighted. With a quick glance
+about, he entered cautiously, closed the door, and approached a closet
+which he opened. There was a safe built into the wall.
+
+As he stooped over, the man unwrapped the package Del Mar had handed
+him and took out a curious little instrument. Inside was a dry battery
+and a most peculiar instrument, something like a little flat telephone
+transmitter, yet attached by wires to ear-pieces that fitted over the
+head after the manner of those of a wireless detector.
+
+He adjusted the head-piece and held the flat instrument against the
+safe, close to the combination which he began to turn slowly. It was a
+burglar's microphone, used for picking combination locks. As the
+combination turned, a slight sound was made when the proper number came
+opposite the working point. Imperceptible ordinarily to even the most
+sensitive ear, to an ear trained it was comparatively easy to recognize
+the fall of the tumblers over this microphone.
+
+As he worked, the door behind him opened softly and the gray friar
+entered, closing it and moving noiselessly over back of the shelter of
+a big mahogany high-boy, around which he could watch.
+
+At last the safe was opened. Rapidly the man went through its contents.
+"Confound it!" he muttered. "She didn't put it here--anyhow."
+
+The bolero started to close the safe when he heard a noise in the room
+and looked cautiously back of him. Del Mar himself, followed by the
+domino girl, entered.
+
+"I've opened it," whispered the emissary stepping out of the closet and
+meeting them, "but I can't find the--"
+
+"Hands up--all of you!"
+
+They turned in time to see the gray friar's gun yawning at them. Most
+politely he lined them up. Still holding his gun ready, he lifted up
+the mask of the domino girl.
+
+"So--it's you," he grunted.
+
+He was about to lift the mask of the Mexican, when the bolero leaped at
+him. Del Mar piled in. But sounds down-stairs alarmed them and the
+emissary, released, fled quickly with the girl. The gray friar,
+however, kept his hold on Mephistopheles, as if he had been wrestling
+with a veritable devil.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Down in the hall, I had again met my domino girl, a few minutes after I
+had resigned Elaine to another of her numerous admirers.
+
+"I thought you deserted me," I said, somewhat piqued.
+
+"You deserted me," she parried, nervously. "However, I'll forgive you
+if you'll get me an ice."
+
+I hastened to do so. But no sooner had I gone than Del Mar stalked
+through the hall and went up-stairs. My domino girl was watching for
+him, and followed.
+
+When I returned with the ice, I looked about, but she was gone. It was
+scarcely a moment later, however, that I saw her hurry down-stairs,
+accompanied by the Mexican bolero. I stepped forward to speak to her,
+but she almost ran past me without a word.
+
+"A nut," I remarked under my breath, pushing back my mask.
+
+I started to eat the ice myself, when, a moment later, Elaine passed
+through the hall with a Spanish cavalier.
+
+"Oh, Walter, here you are," she laughed. "I've been looking all over
+for you. Thank you very much, sire," she bowed with mock civility to
+the cavalier. "It was only one dance, you know. Please let me talk to
+Boum-Boum."
+
+The cavalier bowed reluctantly and left us.
+
+"What are you doing here alone?" she asked, taking off her own mask.
+"How warm it is."
+
+Before I could reply, I heard some one coming down-stairs back of me,
+but not in time to turn.
+
+"Elaine's dressing-table," a voice whispered in my ear.
+
+I turned suddenly. It was the gray friar. Before I could even reach out
+to grasp his robe, he was gone.
+
+"Another nut!" I exclaimed involuntarily.
+
+"Why, what did he say?" asked Elaine.
+
+"Something about your dressing-table."
+
+"My dressing-table?" she repeated.
+
+We ran quickly up the steps. Elaine's room showed every evidence of
+having been the scene of a struggle, as she went over to the table.
+There she picked up a rose and under it a piece of paper on which were
+some words printed with pencil roughly.
+
+"Look," she cried, as I read with her:
+
+   Do honest assistants search safes?
+    Let no one see this but Jameson.
+
+"What does it mean?" I asked.
+
+"My safe!" she cried moving to a closet. As she opened the door,
+imagine our surprise at seeing Del Mar lying on the floor, bound and
+gagged before the open safe. "Get my scissors on the dresser," cried
+Elaine.
+
+I did so, hastily cutting the cords that bound Del Mar.
+
+"What does it all mean?" asked Elaine as he rose and stretched himself.
+
+Still clutching his throat, as if it hurt, Del Mar choked, "I found a
+man, a foreign agent, searching the safe. But he overcame me and
+escaped."
+
+"Oh--then that is what the--"
+
+Elaine checked herself. She had been about to hand the note to Del Mar
+when an idea seemed to come to her. Instead, she crumpled it up and
+thrust it into her bosom.
+
+On the street the bolero and the domino girl were hurrying away as fast
+as they could.
+
+Meanwhile, the gray friar had overcome Del Mar, had bound and gagged
+him, and trust him into the closet. Then he wrote the note and laid it,
+with a rose from a vase, on Elaine's dressing-table before he, too,
+followed.
+
+More than ever I was at a loss to make it out.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+It was the day after the masquerade ball that a taxicab drove up to the
+Dodge house and a very trim but not over-dressed young lady was
+announced as "Miss Bertholdi."
+
+"Miss Dodge?" she inquired as Jennings held open the portieres and she
+entered the library where Elaine and Aunt Josephine were.
+
+If Elaine had only known, it was the domino girl of the night before
+who handed her a note and sat down, looking about so demurely, while
+Elaine read:
+
+MY DEAR MISS DODGE,
+
+The bearer, Miss Bertholdi, is an operative of mine. I would appreciate
+it if you would employ her in some capacity in your house, as I have
+reason to believe that certain foreign agents will soon make another
+attempt to find Kennedy's lost torpedo model.
+
+Sincerely, M. DEL MAR.
+
+Elaine looked up from reading the note. Miss Bertholdi was good to look
+at, and Elaine liked pretty girls about her.
+
+"Jennings," she ordered, "call Marie."
+
+To the butler and her maid, Elaine gave the most careful instructions
+regarding Miss Bertholdi. "She can help you finish the packing, first,"
+she concluded.
+
+The girl thanked her and went out with Jennings and Marie, asking
+Jennings to pay her taxicab driver with money she gave him, which he
+did, bringing her grip into the house.
+
+Later in the day, Elaine had both Marie and Bertholdi carrying armsful
+of her dresses from the closets in her room up to the attic where the
+last of her trunks were being packed. On one of the many trips,
+Bertholdi came alone into the attic, her arms full as usual. Before her
+were two trunks, very much alike, open and nearly packed. She laid her
+armful of clothes on a chair near-by and pulled one of the trunks
+forward. On the floor lay the trays of both trunks already packed.
+Bertholdi began packing her burden in one trunk which was marked in big
+white letters, "E. Dodge."
+
+Down in Elaine's room at the time Jennings entered. "The expressman for
+the trunks is here, Miss Elaine," he announced.
+
+"Is he? I wonder whether they are all ready," Elaine replied hurrying
+out of the room. "Tell him to wait."
+
+In the attic, Bertholdi was still at work, keeping her eyes open to
+execute the mission on which Del Mar had sent her.
+
+Rusty, forgotten in the excitement by Jennings, had roamed at will
+through the house and seemed quite interested. For this was the trunk
+behind which he had his cache of treasures.
+
+As Bertholdi started to move behind the trunk, Rusty could stand it no
+longer. He darted ahead of her into his hiding-place. Among the dog
+biscuit and bones was the torpedo model which he had dug up from the
+palm pot in the conservatory. He seized it in his mouth and turned to
+carry it off.
+
+There, in his path, was his enemy, the new girl. Quick as a flash, she
+saw what it was Rusty had, and grabbed at it.
+
+"Get out!" she ordered, looking at her prize in triumph and turning it
+over and over in her hands.
+
+At that moment she heard Elaine on the stairs. What should she do? She
+must hide it. She looked about. There was the tray, packed and lying on
+the floor near the trunk marked, "E. Dodge." She thrust it hastily into
+the tray pulling a garment over it.
+
+"Nearly through?" panted Elaine.
+
+"Yes, Miss Dodge."
+
+"Then please tell the expressman to come up."
+
+Bertholdi hesitated, chagrined. Yet there was nothing to do but obey.
+She looked at the trunk by the tray to fix it in her mind, then went
+down-stairs.
+
+As she left the room, Elaine lifted the tray into the trunk and tried
+to close the lid. But the tray was too high. She looked puzzled. On the
+floor was another tray almost identical.
+
+"The wrong trunk," she smiled to herself, lifting the tray out and
+putting the other one in, while she placed the first tray with the
+torpedo concealed in the other, unmarked, trunk where it belonged. Then
+she closed the first trunk.
+
+A moment later the expressman entered, with Bertholdi.
+
+"You may take that one," indicated Elaine.
+
+"Miss Dodge, here's something else to go in," said Bertholdi in
+desperation, picking up a dress.
+
+"Never mind. Put it in the other trunk."
+
+Bertholdi was baffled, but she managed to control herself. She must get
+word to Del Mar about that trunk marked "E. Dodge."
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Late that afternoon, before a cheap restaurant might have been seen our
+old friend who had posed as Bailey and as the Mexican. He entered the
+restaurant and made his way to the first of a row of booths on one side.
+
+"Hello," he nodded to a girl in the booth.
+
+Bertholdi nodded back and he took his seat. She had begged an hour or
+two off on some pretext.
+
+Outside the restaurant, a heavily-bearded man had been standing looking
+intently at nothing in particular when Bertholdi entered. As Bailey
+came along, he followed and took the next booth, his hat pulled over
+his eyes. In a moment he was listening, his ear close up to the
+partition.
+
+"Well, what luck?" asked Bailey. "Did you get a clue?"
+
+"I had the torpedo model in my hands," she replied, excitedly telling
+the story. "It is in a trunk marked 'E. Dodge.'"
+
+All this and more the bearded stranger drank in eagerly.
+
+A moment later Bailey and Bertholdi left the booth and went out of the
+restaurant followed cautiously by the stranger. On the street the two
+emissaries of Del Mar stopped a moment to talk.
+
+"All right, I'll telephone him," she said as they parted in opposite
+directions.
+
+The stranger took an instant to make up his mind, then followed the
+girl. She continued down the street until she came to a store with
+telephone booths. The bearded stranger followed still, into the next
+booth but did not call a number. He had his ear to the wall.
+
+He could hear her call Del Mar, and although he could not hear Del
+Mar's answers, she repeated enough for him to catch the drift. Finally,
+she came out, and the stranger, instead of following her further, took
+the other direction hurriedly.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Del Mar himself received the news with keen excitement. Quickly he gave
+instructions and prepared to leave his rooms.
+
+A short time later his car pulled up before the La Coste and, in a long
+duster and cap, Del Mar jumped in, and was off.
+
+Scarcely had his car swung up the avenue when, from an alleyway down
+the street from the hotel, the chug-chug of a motor-cycle sounded. A
+bearded man, his face further hidden by a pair of goggles, ran out with
+his machine, climbed on and followed.
+
+On out into the country Del Mar's car sped. At every turn the
+motor-cycle dropped back a bit, observed the turn, then crept up and
+took it, too. So they went for some time.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+On the level of the Grand Central where the trains left for the
+Connecticut shore where Elaine's summer home was located, Bailey was
+now edging his way through the late crowd down the platform. He paused
+before the baggage-car just as one of the baggage motor trucks rolled
+up loaded high with trunks and bags. He stepped back as the men loaded
+the luggage on the car, watching carefully.
+
+As they tossed on one trunk marked "E. Dodge," he turned with a subtle
+look and walked away. Finally he squirmed around to the other platform.
+No one was looking and he mounted the rear of the baggage-car and
+opened the door. There was the baggageman sitting by the side door, his
+back to Bailey. Bailey closed the door softly and squeezed behind a
+pile of trunks and bags.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Finally Del Mar reached a spot on the railroad where there were both a
+curve and a grade ahead. He stopped his car and got out.
+
+Down the road the bearded and goggled motorcyclist stopped just in time
+to avoid observation. To make sure, he drew a pocket field-glass and
+leveled it ahead.
+
+"Wait here," ordered Del Mar. "I'll call when I want you."
+
+Back on the road the bearded cyclist could see Del Mar move down the
+track though he could not hear the directions. It was not necessary,
+however. He dragged his machine into the bushes, hid it, and hurried
+down the road on foot.
+
+Del Mar's chauffeur was waiting idly at the wheel when suddenly the
+cold nose of a revolver was stuck under his chin.
+
+"Not a word--and hands up--or I'll let the moonlight through you,"
+growled out a harsh voice.
+
+Nevertheless, the chauffeur managed to lurch out of the car and the
+bearded stranger, whose revolver it was, found that he would have to
+shoot. Del Mar was not far enough away to risk it.
+
+The chauffeur flung himself on him and they struggled fiercely, rolling
+over and over in the dust of the road.
+
+But the bearded stranger had a grip of steel and managed to get his
+fingers about the chauffeur's throat as an added insurance against a
+cry for help.
+
+He choked him literally into insensibility. Then, with a strength that
+he did not seem to possess, he picked up the limp, blue-faced body and
+carried it off the road and around the car.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+In the baggage-car, the baggageman was smoking a surreptitious pipe of
+powerful tobacco between stations and contemplating the scenery
+thoughtfully through the open door.
+
+As the engine slowed up to take a curve and a grade, Bailey who had now
+and then taken a peep out of a little grated window above him, crept
+out from his hiding-place. Already he had slipped a dark silk mask over
+his face.
+
+As he made his way among the trunks and boxes, the train lurched and
+the baggageman who had his back to Bailey heard him catch himself. He
+turned and leaped to his feet. Bailey closed with him instantly.
+
+Over and over they rolled. Bailey had already drawn his revolver before
+he left his hiding-place. A shot, however, would have been fatal to his
+part in the plans and was only a last resort for it would have brought
+the trainmen.
+
+Finally Bailey rolled his man over and getting his right arm free,
+dealt the baggageman a fierce blow with the butt of the gun.
+
+The train was now pulling slowly up the grade. More time had been spent
+in overcoming the baggageman than he expected and Bailey had to work
+quickly. He dragged the trunk marked "E. Dodge" from the pile to the
+door and glanced out.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Just around the curve in the railroad, Del Mar was waiting, straining
+his eyes down the track.
+
+There was the train, puffing up the grade. As it approached he rose and
+waved his arms. It was the signal and he waited anxiously. Had his
+plans been carried out?
+
+The train passed. From the baggage-car came a trunk catapulted out by a
+strong arm. It hurtled through the air and landed with its own and the
+train's momentum.
+
+Over it rolled in the bushes, then stopped--unbroken, for Elaine had
+had it designed to resist even the most violent baggage-smasher.
+
+Del Mar ran to it. As the tail light of the train disappeared he turned
+around in the direction from which he had come, placed his two hands to
+his mouth and shouted.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+From the side of the road by Del Mar's car the bearded motor-cyclist
+had just emerged, buttoning the chauffeur's clothes and adjusting his
+goggles to his own face.
+
+As he approached the car, he heard a shout. Quickly he tore off the
+black beard which had been his disguise and tossed it into the grass.
+Then he drew the coat high up about his neck.
+
+"All right!" he shouted back, starting along the road.
+
+Together he and Del Mar managed to scramble up the embankment to the
+road and, one at each handle of the trunk, they carried it back to the
+car, piling it in the back.
+
+The improvised chauffeur started to take his place at the wheel and Del
+Mar had his foot on the running-board to get beside him, when the now
+unbearded stranger suddenly swung about and struck Del Mar full in the
+face. It sent him reeling back into the dust.
+
+The engine of the car had been running and before Del Mar could recover
+consciousness, the stranger had shot the car ahead, leaving Del Mar
+prone in the roadway.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+The train, with Bailey on it, had not gained much speed, yet it was a
+perilous undertaking to leap. Still, it was more so now to remain. The
+baggageman stirred. It was now a case of murder or a getaway.
+
+Bailey jumped.
+
+Scratched and bruised and shaken, he scrambled to his feet in the
+briars along the track. He staggered up to the road, pulled himself
+together, then hurried back as fast as his barked shins would let him.
+
+He came to the spot which he recognized as that where he had thrown off
+the trunk. He saw the trampled and broken bushes and made for the road.
+
+He had not gone far when he saw, far down, Del Mar suddenly attacked
+and thrown down, apparently by his own chauffeur. Bailey ran forward,
+but it was too late. The car was gone.
+
+As he came up to Del Mar lying outstretched in the road, Del Mar was
+just recovering consciousness.
+
+"What was the matter?" he asked. "Was he a traitor?"
+
+He caught sight of the real chauffeur on the ground, stripped.
+
+Del Mar was furious. "No," he swore, "it was that confounded gray friar
+again, I think. And he has the trunk, too!"
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Speeding up the road the former masquerader and motor-cyclist stopped
+at last.
+
+Eagerly he leaped out of Del Mar's car and dragged the trunk over the
+side regardless of the enamel.
+
+It was the work of only a moment for him to break the lock with a
+pocket jimmy.
+
+One after another he pulled out and shook the clothes until frocks and
+gowns and lingerie lay strewn all about.
+
+But there was not a thing in the trunk that even remotely resembled the
+torpedo model.
+
+The stranger scowled.
+
+Where was it?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE VANISHING MAN
+
+
+Del Mar had evidently, by this time, come to the conclusion that Elaine
+was the storm centre of the peculiar train of events that followed the
+disappearance of Kennedy and his wireless torpedo.
+
+At any rate, as soon as he learned that Elaine was going to her country
+home for the summer, he took a bungalow some distance from Dodge Hall.
+In fact, it was more than a bungalow, for it was a pretentious place
+surrounded by a wide lawn and beautiful shade trees.
+
+There, on the day that Elaine decided to motor in from the city, Del
+Mar arrived with his valet.
+
+Evidently he lost no time in getting to work on his own affairs,
+whatever they might be. Inside his study, which was the largest room in
+the house, a combination of both library and laboratory, he gave an
+order or two to his valet, then immediately sat down to his new desk.
+He opened a drawer and took out a long hollow cylinder, closed at each
+end by air-tight caps, on one of which was a hook.
+
+Quickly he wrote a note and read it over: "Install submarine bell in
+place of these clumsy tubes. Am having harbor and bridges mined as per
+instructions from Government. D."
+
+He unscrewed the cap at one end of the tube, inserted the note and
+closed it. Then he pushed a button on his desk. A panel in the wall
+opened and one of the men who had played policeman once for him stepped
+out and saluted.
+
+"Here's a message to send below," said Del Mar briefly.
+
+The man bowed and went back through the panel, closing it.
+
+Del Mar cleaned up his desk and then went out to look his new quarters
+over, to see whether everything had been prepared according to his
+instructions.
+
+From the concealed entrance to a cave on a hillside, Del Mar's man who
+had gone through the panel in the bungalow appeared a few minutes later
+and hurried down to the shore. It was a rocky coast with stretches of
+cliffs and now and then a ravine and bit of sandy beach. Gingerly he
+climbed down the rocks to the water.
+
+He took from his pocket the metal tube which Del Mar had given him and
+to the hook on one end attached a weight of lead. A moment he looked
+about cautiously. Then he threw the tube into the water and it sank
+quickly. He did not wait, but hurried back into the cave entrance.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Elaine, Aunt Josephine and I motored down to Dodge Hall from the city.
+Elaine's country house was on a fine estate near the Long Island Sound
+and after the long run we were glad to pull up before the big house and
+get out of the car. As we approached the door, I happened to look down
+the road.
+
+"Well, that's the country, all right," I exclaimed, pointing down the
+road. "Look."
+
+Lumbering along was a huge heavy hay rack on top of which perched a
+farmer chewing a straw. Following along after him was a dog of a
+peculiar shepherd breed which I did not recognize. Atop of the hay the
+old fellow had piled a trunk and a basket.
+
+To our surprise the hay rack stopped before the house. "Miss Dodge?"
+drawled the farmer nasally.
+
+"Why, what do you suppose he can want?" asked Elaine moving out toward
+the wagon while we followed. "Yes?"
+
+"Here's a trunk, Miss Dodge, with your name on it," he went on dragging
+it down. "I found it down by the railroad track."
+
+It was the trunk marked "E. Dodge" which had been thrown off the train,
+taken by Del Mar and rifled by the motor-cyclist.
+
+"How do you suppose it ever got here?" cried Elaine in wonder.
+
+"Must have fallen off the train," I suggested. "You might have
+collected the insurance under this new baggage law!"
+
+"Jennings," called Elaine. "Get Patrick and carry the trunk in."
+
+Together the butler and the gardener dragged it off.
+
+"Thank you," said Elaine, endeavoring to pay the farmer.
+
+"No, no, Miss," he demurred as he clucked to his horses.
+
+We waved to the old fellow. As he started to drive away, he reached
+down into the basket and drew out some yellow harvest apples. One at a
+time he tossed them to us as he lumbered off.
+
+"Truly rural," remarked a voice behind us.
+
+It was Del Mar, all togged up and carrying a magazine in his hand.
+
+We chatted a moment, then Elaine started to go into the house with Aunt
+Josephine. With Del Mar I followed.
+
+As she went Elaine took a bite of the apple. To her surprise it
+separated neatly into two hollow halves. She looked inside. There was a
+note. Carefully she unfolded it and read. Like the others, it was not
+written but printed in pencil:
+
+Be careful to unpack all your trunks yourself. Destroy this note.--A
+FRIEND.
+
+What did these mysterious warnings mean, she asked herself in
+amazement. Somehow so far they had worked out all right. She tore up
+the note and threw the pieces away.
+
+Del Mar and I stopped for a moment to talk. I did not notice that he
+was not listening to me, but was surreptitiously watching Elaine.
+
+Elaine went into the house and we followed. Del Mar, however, dropped
+just a bit behind and, as he came to the place where Elaine had thrown
+the pieces of paper, dropped his magazine. He stooped to pick it up and
+gathered the pieces, then rejoined us.
+
+"I hope you'll excuse me," said Elaine brightly. "We've just arrived
+and I haven't a thing unpacked."
+
+Del Mar bowed and Elaine left us. Aunt Josephine followed shortly. Del
+Mar and I sat down at a table. As he talked he placed the magazine in
+his lap beneath the table, on his knees. I could not see, but he was in
+reality secretly putting together the torn note which the farmer had
+thrown to Elaine.
+
+Finally he managed to fit all the pieces. A glance down was enough. But
+his face betrayed nothing. Still under the table, he swept the pieces
+into his pocket and rose.
+
+"I'll drop in when you are more settled," he excused himself, strolling
+leisurely out again.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Up in the bedroom Elaine's maid, Marie, had been unpacking.
+
+"Well, what do you know about that?" she exclaimed as Jennings and
+Patrick came dragging in the banged-up trunk.
+
+"Very queer," remarked Jennings, detailing the little he had seen,
+while Patrick left.
+
+The entrance of Elaine put an end to the interesting gossip and Marie
+started to open the trunk.
+
+"No, Marie," said Elaine. "I'll unpack them my self. You can put the
+things away later. You and Jennings may go."
+
+Quickly she took the things out of the battered trunk. Then she started
+on the other trunk which was like it but not marked. She threw out a
+couple of garments, then paused, startled.
+
+There was the lost torpedo--where Bertholdi had stuck it in her haste!
+Elaine picked it up and looked at it in wonder as it recalled all those
+last days before Kennedy was lost. For the moment she did not know
+quite what to make of it. What should she do?
+
+Finally she decided to lock it up in the bureau drawer and tell me. Not
+only did she lock the drawer but, as she left her room, she took the
+key of the door from the lock inside and locked it outside.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Del Mar did not go far from the house, however. He scarcely reached the
+edge of the grounds where he was sure he was not observed when he
+placed his fingers to his lips and whistled. An instant later two of
+his men appeared from behind a hedge.
+
+"You must get into her room," he ordered. "That torpedo is in her
+luggage somewhere, after all."
+
+They bowed and disappeared again into the shrubbery while Del Mar
+turned and retraced his steps to the house.
+
+In the rear of the house the two emissaries of Del Mar stole out of the
+shelter of some bushes and stood for a moment looking. Elaine's windows
+were high above them, too high to reach. There seemed to be no way to
+get to them and there was no ladder in sight.
+
+"We'll have to use the Dutch house-man's method," decided one.
+
+Together they went around the house toward the laundry. It was only a
+few minutes later that they returned. No one was about. Quickly one of
+them took off his coat. Around his waist he had wound a coil of rope.
+Deftly he began to climb a tree whose upper branches fell over the
+roof. Cat-like he made his way out along a branch and managed to reach
+the roof. He made his way along the ridge pole to a chimney which was
+directly back of and in line with Elaine's windows. Then he uncoiled
+the rope and made one end fast to the chimney. Letting the other end
+fall free down the roof, he carefully lowered himself over the edge.
+Thus it was not difficult to get into Elaine's room by stepping on the
+window-sill and going through the open window.
+
+The man began a rapid search of the room, turning up and pawing
+everything that Elaine had unpacked. Then he began on the little
+writing-desk, the dresser and the bureau drawers. A subtle smile
+flashed over his face as he came to one drawer that was locked. He
+pulled a sectional jimmy from his coat and forced it open.
+
+There lay the precious torpedo.
+
+The man clutched at it with a look of exultation. Without another
+glance at the room he rushed to the window, seized the rope and pulled
+himself to the roof, going as he had come.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+It did not take me long to unpack the few things I had brought and I
+was soon back again in the living-room, where Aunt Josephine joined me
+in a few minutes.
+
+Just as Elaine came hurriedly down the stairway and started toward me,
+Del Mar entered from the porch. She stopped. Del Mar watched her
+closely. Had she found anything? He was sure of it.
+
+Her hesitation was only for a moment, however. "Walter," she said, "may
+I speak to you a moment? Excuse us, please?"
+
+Aunt Josephine went out toward the back of the house to see how the
+servants were getting on, while I followed Elaine up-stairs. Del Mar
+with a bow seated himself and opened his magazine. No sooner had we
+gone, however, than he laid it down and cautiously followed us.
+
+Elaine was evidently very much excited as she entered her dainty little
+room and closed the door. "Walter," she cried, "I've found the torpedo!"
+
+We looked about at the general disorder. "Why," she exclaimed
+nervously, "some one has been here--and I locked the door, too."
+
+She almost ran over to her bureau drawer. It had been jimmied open in
+the few minutes while she was down-stairs. The torpedo was gone. We
+looked at each other, aghast.
+
+Behind us, however, we did not see the keen and watchful eyes of Del
+Mar, opening the door and peering in. As he saw us, he closed the door
+softly, went down-stairs and out of the house.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Perhaps half a mile down the road, the farmer abandoned his hay rack
+and now, followed by his peculiar dog, walked back. He stopped at a
+point in the road where he could see the Dodge house in the distance,
+sat on the rail fence and lighted a blackened corn-cob pipe.
+
+There he sat for some time apparently engrossed in his own thoughts
+about the weather, the dog lying at his feet. Now and then he looked
+fixedly toward Dodge Hall.
+
+Suddenly his vagrant attention seemed to be riveted on the house. He
+drew a field-glass from his pocket and levelled it. Sure enough, there
+was a man coming out of a window, pulling himself up to the roof by a
+rope and going across the roof tree. He lowered the glasses quickly and
+climbed off the fence with a hitherto unwonted energy.
+
+"Come, Searchlight," he called to the dog, as together they moved off
+quickly in the direction he had been looking. Del Mar's men were coming
+through the hedge that surrounded the Dodge estate just as the farmer
+and his dog stepped out in front of them from behind a thicket.
+
+"Just a minute," he called. "I want to speak to you."
+
+He enforced his words with a vicious looking gun. It was two to one and
+they closed with him. Before he could shoot, they had knocked the gun
+out of his hand. Then they tried to break away and run.
+
+But the farmer seized one of them and held him. Meanwhile the dog
+developed traits all his own. He ran in and out between the legs of the
+other man until he threw him. There he stood, over him. The man
+attempted to rise. Again the dog threw him and kept him down. He was a
+trained Belgian sheep hound, a splendid police dog.
+
+"Confound the brute," growled the man, reaching for his gun.
+
+As he drew it, the dog seized his wrist and with a cry the man dropped
+the gun. That, too, was part of the dog's training.
+
+While the farmer and the other man struggled on the ground, the torpedo
+worked its way half from the man's pocket. The farmer seized it. The
+man fell back, limp, and the farmer, with the torpedo in one hand,
+grasped at the gun on the ground and straightened up.
+
+He had no sooner risen than the man was at him again. His
+unconsciousness had been merely feigned. The struggle was renewed.
+
+At that point, the hedge down the road parted and Del Mar stepped out.
+A glance was enough to tell him what was going on. He drew his gun and
+ran swiftly toward the combatants.
+
+As Del Mar approached, his man succeeded in knocking the torpedo from
+the farmer's hand. There it lay, several feet away. There seemed to be
+no chance for either man to get it.
+
+Quickly the farmer bent his wrist, aiming the gun deliberately at the
+precious torpedo. As fast as he could he pulled the trigger. Five of
+the six shots penetrated the little model.
+
+So surprised was his antagonist that the farmer was able to knock him
+out with the butt of his gun. He broke away and fled, whistling on a
+police whistle for the dog just as Del Mar ran up. A couple of shots
+from Del Mar flew wild as the farmer and his dog disappeared.
+
+Del Mar stopped and picked up the model. It had been shot into an
+unrecognizable mass of scrap. In a fury, Del Mar dashed it on the
+ground, cursing his men as he did so. The strange disappearance of the
+torpedo model from Elaine's room worried both of us. Doubtless if
+Kennedy had been there he would have known just what to do. But we
+could not decide.
+
+"Really," considered Elaine, "I think we had better take Mr. Del Mar
+into our confidence."
+
+"Still, we've had a great many warnings," I objected.
+
+"I know that," she persisted, "but they have all come from very
+unreliable sources."
+
+"Very well," I agreed finally, "then let's drive over to his bungalow."
+
+Elaine ordered her little runabout and a few moments later we climbed
+into it and Elaine shot the car away.
+
+As we rode along, the country seemed so quiet that no one would ever
+have suspected that foreign agents lurked all about. But it was just
+under such a cover that the nefarious bridge and harbor-mining work
+ordered by Del Mar's superiors was going ahead quietly.
+
+As our car climbed a hill on the other side of which, in the valley,
+was a bridge, we could not see one of Del Mar's men in hiding at the
+top. He saw us, however, and immediately wigwagged with his
+handkerchief to several others down at the bridge where they were
+attaching a pair of wires to the planking.
+
+"Some one coming," muttered one who was evidently a lookout.
+
+The men stopped work immediately and hid in the brush. Our car passed
+over the bridge and we saw nothing wrong. But no sooner had we gone
+than the men crept out and resumed work which had progressed to the
+point where they were ready to carry the wires of an electric
+connection through the grass, concealing them as they went.
+
+In the study of his bungalow, all this time, Del Mar was striding
+angrily up and down, while his men waited in silence.
+
+Finally he paused and turned to one of them. "See that the coast is
+clear and kept clear," he ordered. "I want to go down."
+
+The man saluted and went out through the panel. A moment later Del Mar
+gave some orders to the other man who also saluted and left the house
+by the front door, just as our car pulled up.
+
+Del Mar, the moment the man was gone, put on his hat and moved toward
+the panel in the wall. He was about to enter when he heard some one
+coming down the hall to the study and stepped back, closing the panel.
+It was the butler announcing us.
+
+We had entered Del Mar's bungalow and now were conducted to his
+library. There Elaine told him the whole story, much to his apparent
+surprise, for Del Mar was a wonderful actor.
+
+"You see," he said as she finished telling of the finding and the
+losing of the torpedo, "just what I had feared would happen has
+happened. Doubtless the foreign agents have the deadly weapon, now.
+However, I'll not quit. Perhaps we may run them down yet."
+
+He reassured us and we thanked him as we said good-bye. Outside, Elaine
+and I got into the car again and a moment later spun off, making a
+little detour first through the country before hitting the shore road
+back again to Dodge Hall.
+
+On the rocky shore of the promontory, several men were engaged in
+sinking a peculiar heavy disk which they submerged about ten or twelve
+feet. It seemed to be held by a cable and to it wires were attached,
+apparently so that when a key was pressed a circuit was closed.
+
+It was an "oscillator", a new system for the employment of sound for
+submarine signalling, using water instead of air as a medium to
+transmit sound waves. It was composed of a ring magnet, a copper tube
+lying in an air-gap in a magnetic field and a stationary central
+armature. The tube was attached to a steel diaphragm. Really it was a
+submarine bell which could be used for telegraphing or telephoning both
+ways through water.
+
+The men finished executing the directions of Del Mar and left,
+carefully concealing the land connections and key of the bell, while we
+were still at Del Mar's.
+
+We had no sooner left, however, than one of the men who had been
+engaged in installing the submarine bell entered the library.
+
+"Well?" demanded Del Mar.
+
+"The bell is installed, sir," he said. "It will be working soon."
+
+"Good," nodded Del Mar.
+
+He went to a drawer and from it took a peculiar looking helmet to which
+was attached a sort of harness fitting over the shoulders and carrying
+a tank of oxygen. The head-piece was a most weird contrivance, with
+what looked like a huge glass eye in front. It was in reality a
+submarine life-saving apparatus.
+
+Del Mar put it on, all except the helmet which he carried with him, and
+then, with his assistant, went out through the panel in the wall.
+Through the underground passage the two groped their way, lighted by an
+electric torch, until at last they came to the entrance hidden in the
+underbrush, near the shore.
+
+Del Mar went over to the concealed station from which the submarine
+bell was sounded and pressed the key as a signal. Then he adjusted the
+submarine helmet to his head and deliberately waded out into the water,
+further and further, up to his head, then deeper still.
+
+As he disappeared into the water, his emissary turned and went back
+toward the shore road.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+The ride around through the country and back to the shore, road from
+Del Mar's was pleasant. In fact it was always pleasant to be with
+Elaine, especially in a car.
+
+We were spinning along at a fast clip when we came to a rocky part of
+the coast. As we made a turn a sharp breeze took off my hat and whirled
+it far off the road and among the rocks of the shore. Elaine shut down
+the engine, with a laugh at me, and we left the car by the road while
+we climbed down the rocks after the hat.
+
+It had been carried into the water, close to shore and, still laughing,
+we clambered over the rocks. Elaine insisted on getting it herself and
+in fact did get it. She was just about to hand it to me, when something
+bobbed up in the water just in front of us. She reached for it and
+fished it out. It was a cylinder with air-tight caps on both ends, in
+one of which was a hook.
+
+"What do you suppose it is?" she asked, looking it over as we made our
+way up the rocks again to the car. "Where did it come from?"
+
+We did not see a man standing by our car, but he saw us. It was Del
+Mar's man who had paused on his way to watch us. As we approached he
+hid on the other side of the road.
+
+By this time we had reached the car and opened the cylinder. Inside was
+a note which read:
+
+     "Chief arrived safely. Keep watch."
+
+"What does it mean?" repeated Elaine, mystified.
+
+Neither of us could guess and I doubt whether we would have understood
+any better if we had seen a sinister face peering at us from behind a
+rock near-by, although doubtless the man knew what was in the tube and
+what it meant.
+
+We climbed into the car and started again. As we disappeared, the man
+came from behind the rocks and ran quickly up to the top of the hill.
+There, from the bushes, he pulled out a peculiar instrument composed of
+a strange series of lenses and mirrors set up on a tripod.
+
+Eagerly he placed the tripod, adjusting the lenses and mirrors in the
+sunlight. Then he began working them, and it was apparent that he was
+flashing light beams, using a Morse code. It was a heliograph.
+
+Down the shore on the top of the next hill sat the man who had already
+given the signal with the handkerchief to those in the valley who were
+working on the mining of the bridge. As he sat there, his eye caught
+the flash of the heliograph signal. He sprang up and watched intently.
+Rapidly he jotted down the message that was being flashed in the
+sunlight:
+
+      Dodge girl has message from below.
+      Coming in car. Blow first bridge she
+      crosses.
+
+Down the valley the lookout made his way as fast as he could. As he
+approached the two men who had been mining the bridge, he whistled
+sharply. They answered and hurried to meet him.
+
+"Just got a heliograph," he panted. "The Dodge girl must have picked up
+one of the messages that came from below. She's coming over the hill
+now in a car. We've got to blow up the bridge as she crosses."
+
+The men were hurrying now toward the bridge which they had mined. Not a
+moment was to be lost, for already they could see us coming over the
+crest of the hill.
+
+In a few seconds they reached the hidden plunger firing-box which had
+been arranged to explode the charge under the bridge. There they
+crouched in the brush ready to press the plunger the moment our car
+touched the planking.
+
+One of the men crept out a little nearer the road. "They're coming!" he
+called back, dropping down again. "Get ready!"
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Del Mar's emissaries had not reckoned, however, that any one else might
+be about to whom the heliograph was an open book.
+
+But, further over on the hill, hiding among the trees, the old farmer
+and his dog were sitting quietly. The old man was sweeping the Sound
+with his glasses, as if he expected to see something any moment.
+
+To his surprise, however, he caught a flash of the heliograph from the
+land. Quickly he turned and jotted down the signals. As he did so, he
+seemed greatly excited, for the message read:
+
+       Dodge girl has message from below.
+       Coming in car. Blow first bridge she
+       crosses.
+
+Quickly he turned his glasses down the road. There he could see our car
+rapidly approaching. He put up his glasses and hurried down the hill
+toward the bridge. Then he broke into a run, the dog scouting ahead.
+
+We were going along the road nicely now, coasting down the hill. As we
+approached the bridge, Elaine slowed up a bit, to cross, for the
+planking was loose.
+
+Just then the farmer who had been running down the hill saw us.
+
+"Stop!" he shouted.
+
+But we did not hear. He ran after us, but such a chase was hopeless. He
+stopped, in despair.
+
+With a gesture of vexation he took a step or two mechanically off the
+road.
+
+Elaine and I were coming fast to the bridge now.
+
+In their hiding-place, Del Mar's men were watching breathlessly. The
+leader was just about to press the plunger when all of a sudden a
+branch in the thicket beside him crackled. There stood the farmer and
+his dog!
+
+Instantly the farmer seemed to take in the situation. With a cry he
+threw himself at the man who had the plunger. Another man leaped at the
+farmer. The dog settled him. The others piled in and a terrific
+struggle followed. It was all so rapid that, to all, seconds seemed
+like hours.
+
+We were just starting to cross the bridge.
+
+One of the men broke away and crawled toward the plunger box. Our car
+was now in the middle of the bridge.
+
+Over and over rolled the men, the dog doing his best to help his
+master. The man who had broken away reached toward the plunger.
+
+With a shout he pushed it down.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Our car had just cleared the bridge when we were startled by a terrific
+roar behind us. It was as though a thousand tires had blown out at
+once. Elaine shut off the engine automatically and we looked back.
+
+The whole bridge had been blown up. A second before we had been in the
+middle of it.
+
+As the explosion came, the men who had been struggling in the thicket,
+paused, startled, and stared out. At that instant the old farmer saw
+his chance. It was all over and he bolted, calling the dog.
+
+Along the road to the bridge he ran, two of the men after him.
+
+"Come back," growled the leader. "Let him go. Do you want us all to get
+caught?"
+
+As the farmer ran up to the bridge, he saw it in ruins. But down the
+road he could see Elaine and myself, sitting in the car, staring back
+at the peril which we had so narrowly escaped. His face lighted up in
+as great joy as a few moments before it had showed despair.
+
+"What can that have been?" asked Elaine, starting to get out of the
+car. "What caused it?"
+
+"I don't know," I returned, taking her arm firmly. "But enough has
+happened to-day. If it was intended for us, we'd better not stop. Some
+one might take a shot at us. Come. We have the car. We can get out
+before any one does anything more. Let's do it. Things are going on
+about us of which we know nothing. The safest thing is to get away."
+
+Elaine looked at the bridge in ruins and shuddered. It was the closest
+we could have been to death and have escaped. Then she turned to the
+wheel quickly and the little car fairly jumped ahead.
+
+"Oh, if Craig were only here," she murmured. "He would know what to do."
+
+As we disappeared over the crest of the next hill, safe, the old farmer
+and his dog looked hard at us.
+
+The silence after the explosion was ominous.
+
+He glanced about. No one was pursuing him. That seemed ominous, too.
+But if they did pursue he was prepared to elude them. They must never
+recognize the old farmer.
+
+As he turned, he deliberately pulled off his beard, then plunged again
+into the woods and was lost.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE SUBMARINE HARBOR
+
+
+It was not long after the almost miraculous escape of Elaine and myself
+from the blowing up of the bridge on the shore road that Del Mar
+returned from his mysterious mission which had, apparently, taken him
+actually down to the bottom of the sea.
+
+The panel in the wall of his library opened and in the still dripping
+submarine suit, holding under his arm the weird helmet, Del Mar
+entered. No sooner had he begun to remove his wet diving-suit than the
+man who had signalled with the heliograph that we had found Del Mar's
+message from "below," whatever that might mean, entered the house and
+was announced by the valet.
+
+"Let him come in immediately," ordered Del Mar, placing his suit in a
+closet. Then to the man, as he entered, he said, "Well, what's new?"
+
+"Quite a bit," returned the man, frowning still over Elaine's
+accidental discovery of the under-water communication. "The Dodge girl
+happened to pick up one of the tubes with a message just after you went
+down. I tried to get her by blowing up the bridge, but it didn't work,
+somehow."
+
+"We'll have to silence her," remarked Del Mar angrily with a sinister
+frown. "You stay here and wait for orders."
+
+A moment later he made his way down to a private dock on his grounds
+and jumped aboard a trim little speed boat moored there. He started the
+motor and off the boat feathered in a cloud of spray.
+
+It was only a moment by water before he reached the Dodge dock. There
+he tied his boat and hurried up the dock.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Elaine and I arrived home without any further experiences after our
+hairbreadth escape from the explosion at the bridge.
+
+We were in doubt at first, however, just what to do about the
+mysterious message which we had picked up in the harbor.
+
+"Really, Walter," remarked Elaine, after we had considered the matter
+for some time, "I think we ought to send that message to the government
+at Washington."
+
+Already she had seated herself at her desk and began to write, while I
+examined the metal tube and the note again.
+
+"There," she said at length, handing me the note she had written. "How
+does that sound?"
+
+I read it while she addressed the envelope. "Very good," I replied,
+handing it back.
+
+She folded it and shoved it into the envelope on which she had written:
+
+  Chief,
+     Secret Service,
+        Washington, D. C.
+
+I was studying the address, wondering whether this was just the thing
+to do, when Elaine decided the matter by energetically ringing the bell
+for Jennings.
+
+"Post that, Jennings, please," she directed.
+
+The butler bowed just as the door-bell rang. He turned to go.
+
+"Just a minute," I interrupted. "I think perhaps I'd better mail it
+myself, after all."
+
+He handed me the letter and went out.
+
+"Yes, Walter," agreed Elaine, "that would be better. Register it, too."
+
+"How do you do?" greeted a suave voice.
+
+It was Del Mar. As he passed me to speak to Elaine, apparently by
+accident, he knocked the letter from my hand.
+
+"I beg your pardon," he apologized, quickly stooping and picking it up.
+
+Though he managed to read the address, he maintained his composure and
+handed the letter back to me. I started to go out, when Elaine called
+to me.
+
+"Excuse me just a moment, Mr. Del Mar?" she queried, accompanying me
+out on the porch.
+
+Already a saddle horse had been brought around for me.
+
+"Perhaps you'd better put a special delivery stamp on it, too, Walter,"
+she added, walking along with me. "And be very careful."
+
+"I will," I promised, as I rode off.
+
+Del Mar, alone, seized the opportunity to go over quietly to the
+telephone. It was the work of only a moment to call up his bungalow
+where the emissary who had placed the submarine bell was waiting for
+orders. Quickly Del Mar whispered his instructions which the man took,
+and hung up the receiver.
+
+"I hope you'll pardon me," said Elaine, entering just as Del Mar left
+the telephone. "Mr. Jameson was going into town and I had a number of
+little things I wanted him to do. Won't you sit down?"
+
+They chatted for a few moments, but Del Mar did not stay very long. He
+excused himself shortly and Elaine bade him good-bye at the door as he
+walked off, apparently, down the road I had taken.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Del Mar's emissary hurried from the bungalow and almost ran down the
+road until he came to a spot where two men were hiding.
+
+"Jameson is coming with a letter which the Dodge girl has written to
+the Secret Service," he cried pointing excitedly up the road. "You've
+got to get it, see?"
+
+I was cantering along nicely down the road by the shore, when suddenly,
+from behind some rocks and bushes, three men leaped out at me. One of
+them seized the horse's bridle, while the other two quickly dragged me
+out of the saddle.
+
+It was very unexpected, but I had time enough to draw my gun and fire
+once. I hit one of the men, too, in the arm, and he staggered back, the
+blood spurting all over the road.
+
+But before I could fire at the others, they knocked the gun from my
+hand. Frightened, the horse turned and bolted, riderless.
+
+Together, they dragged me off the road and into the thicket where I was
+tied and gagged and laid on the ground while one of them bound up the
+wounded arm of the man I had hit. It was not long before one of them
+began searching me.
+
+"Aha!" he growled, pulling the letter from my pocket and looking at it
+with satisfaction. "Here it is."
+
+He tore the letter open, throwing the envelope on the ground, and read
+it.
+
+"There, confound you," he muttered. "The government 'll never get that.
+Come on, men. Bring him this way."
+
+He shoved the letter into his pocket and led the way through the
+underbrush, while the others half-dragged, half-pushed me along. We had
+not gone very far before one of the three men, who appeared to be the
+leader, paused.
+
+"Take him to the hang-out," he ordered gruffly. "I'll have to report to
+the Chief."
+
+He disappeared down toward the shore of the harbor while the others
+prodded me along.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Down near the Dodge dock, along the shore, walked a man wearing a
+broad-brimmed hat and a plain suit of duck. His prim collar and tie
+comported well with his smoked glasses. Instinctively one would have
+called him "Professor", though whether naturalist, geologist, or plain
+"bugologist", one would have had difficulty in determining.
+
+He seemed, as a matter-of-fact, to be a naturalist, for he was
+engrossed in picking up specimens. But he was not so much engrossed as
+to fail to hear the approach of footsteps down the gravel walk from
+Dodge Hall to the dock. He looked up in time to see Del Mar coming, and
+quietly slipped into the shrubbery up on the shore.
+
+On the dock, Del Mar stood for some minutes, waiting. Finally, along
+the shore came another figure. It was the emissary to whom Del Mar had
+telephoned and who had searched me. The naturalist drew back into his
+hiding-place, peering out keenly.
+
+"Well?" demanded Del Mar. "What luck?"
+
+"We've got him," returned the man with brief satisfaction. "Here's the
+letter she was sending to the Secret Service."
+
+Del Mar seized the note which the man handed to him and read it
+eagerly. "Good," he exclaimed. "That would have put an end to the whole
+operations about here. Come on. Get into the boat."
+
+For some reason best known to himself, the naturalist seemed to have
+lost all interest in his specimens and to have a sudden curiosity about
+Del Mar's affairs. As the motor-boat sped off, he came slowly and
+cautiously out of his hiding-place and gazed fixedly at Del Mar.
+
+No sooner had Del Mar's boat got a little distance out into the harbor
+than the naturalist hurried down the Dodge dock. There was tied
+Elaine's own fast little runabout. He jumped into it and started the
+engine, following quickly in Del Mar's wake.
+
+"Look," called the emissary to Del Mar, spying the Dodge boat with the
+naturalist in it, skimming rapidly after them.
+
+Del Mar strained his eyes back through his glass at the pursuing boat.
+But the naturalist, in spite of his smoked glasses, seemed not to have
+impaired his eyesight by his studies. He caught the glint of the sun on
+the lens at Del Mar's eye and dropped down into the bottom of his own
+boat where he was at least safe from scrutiny, if his boat were not.
+
+Del Mar lowered his glass. "That's the Dodge boat," he said
+thoughtfully. "I don't like the looks of that fellow. Give her more
+speed."
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Del Mar had not been gone long before Elaine decided to take a ride
+herself. She ordered her horse around from the stables while she donned
+her neat little riding-habit. A few minutes later, as the groom held
+the horse, she mounted and rode away, choosing the road by which I had
+gone, expecting to meet me on the return from town.
+
+She was galloping along at a good clip when suddenly her horse shied at
+something.
+
+"Whoa, Buster," pacified Elaine.
+
+But it was of no use. Buster still reared up.
+
+"Why, what is the matter?" she asked. "What do you see?"
+
+She looked down at the ground. There was a spot of blood in the dust.
+Buster was one of those horses to whom the sight of blood is terrifying.
+
+Elaine pulled up beside the road. There was a revolver lying in the
+grass. She dismounted and picked it up. No sooner had she looked at it
+than she discovered the initials "W. J." carved on the butt.
+
+"Walter Jameson!" she exclaimed, realizing suddenly that it was mine.
+"It's been fired, too!"
+
+Her eye fell again on the blood spots. "Blood and--footprints--into the
+brush!" she gasped in horror, following the trail. "What could have
+happened to Walter?"
+
+With the revolver, Elaine followed where the bushes were trampled down
+until she came to the place where I had been bound. There she spied
+some pieces of paper lying on the ground and picked them up.
+
+She put them together. They were pieces of the envelope of the letter
+which we had decided to send to Washington.
+
+"Which way did they take him?" she asked, looking all about but
+discovering no trail.
+
+She was plainly at a loss what course to pursue.
+
+"What would Craig do?" she asked herself.
+
+Finding no answer, she stood thinking a moment, slowly tearing the
+envelope to pieces. If she were to do anything at all, it must be done
+quickly. Suddenly an idea seemed to occur to her. She threw the pieces
+of paper into the air and let them blow away. It was unscientific
+detection, perhaps, but the wind actually took them and carried them in
+the direction in which the men had forced me to walk.
+
+"That's it!" cried Elaine to herself. "I'll follow that direction."
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Meanwhile, the men had hurried me off along a trail that led to the
+foot of a cliff. Then the trail wound up the cliff. We climbed it until
+we reached the top.
+
+There in the rock was a rude stairway. I drew back. But one man drew a
+gun and the other preceded me down. Along the steep stone steps cut out
+in the face of the rock, they forced me.
+
+Below, in a rift in the very wall of the cliff, was a cave in which
+already were two more of Del Mar's men, talking in low tones, in the
+dim light.
+
+As we made our way down the breakneck stairway, the foremost of my
+captors stepped on a large flat rock. As he did so, it gave way
+slightly under his foot.
+
+A light in the cave flashed up. Under the rock was a secret electric
+connection which operated a lamp.
+
+"Some one coming," muttered the two men, on guard instantly.
+
+It was a somewhat precarious footing as we descended and for the moment
+I was more concerned for my safety from a fall than anything else. Once
+my foot did slip and a shower of pebbles and small pieces of rock
+started down the face of the cliff.
+
+As we passed down, the man behind me, still keeping me covered, raised
+the flat stone on the top step. Carefully, he reset the connection of
+the alarm rock, a series of metal points that bent under the weight of
+a person and made a contact which signalled down in the cavern the
+approach of any one who did not know the secret.
+
+As he did so, the light in the cavern went out. "It's all right," said
+one of the men down there, with a look of relief.
+
+We now went down the perilous stairway until we came to the cave.
+
+"I've got a prisoner--orders of the Chief," growled one of my captors,
+thrusting me in roughly.
+
+They forced me into a corner where they tied me again, hand and foot.
+Then they began debating in low, sinister tones, what was to be done
+with me next. Once in a while I could catch a word. Fear made my senses
+hypersensitive.
+
+They were arguing whether they should make away with me now or later!
+
+Finally the leader rose. "It's three to one," I heard him mutter. "He
+dies now."
+
+He turned and took a menacing step toward me.
+
+"Hands up!"
+
+It was a shrill, firm voice that rang out at the mouth of the cave as a
+figure cut off what little light there was.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Elaine passed along, hunting for the trail. Suddenly a shower of
+pebbles came falling down from a cliff above her. Some of them hit her
+and she looked up quickly.
+
+There she could see me being led along by my captors. She hid in the
+brush and watched. During all the operations of the descent of the rock
+stairway and the resetting of the alarm, she continued to watch,
+straining her eyes to see what they were doing.
+
+As we entered the cave, she stepped out from her concealment and looked
+sharply up at us, as we disappeared. Then she climbed the path up the
+cliff until she came to the flight of stone steps leading downward
+again.
+
+Already she had seen the man behind me doing something with the stone
+that formed the top step. She stooped down and examined the stone.
+Carefully she raised it and looked underneath before stepping on it.
+There she could see the electric connection. She set the stone aside
+and looked again down the dangerous stairway.
+
+It made her shudder. "I must get him," she murmured to herself. "Yes, I
+must. Even now it may be too late."
+
+With a supreme effort of determination she got herself together, drew
+my gun which she had picked up, and started down the cliff, stepping
+noiselessly.
+
+At last Elaine came to the cave. She stood just aside from the door,
+gun in hand, and listened, aghast.
+
+Inside she could hear voices of four men, and they were arguing whether
+they should kill me or not. It was four against one woman, but she did
+not falter.
+
+They had just decided to make away with me immediately and the leader
+had turned toward me with the threat still on his lips. It was now or
+never. Resolutely she took a step forward and into the cave.
+
+"Hands up!" she demanded, firmly.
+
+The thing was so unexpected in the security of their secret
+hiding-place protected by the rock alarm that, before they knew it,
+Elaine had them all lined up against the wall.
+
+Keeping them carefully covered, she moved over toward me. She picked up
+a knife that lay near-by and started to cut the ropes which held me.
+
+As she did so, one of the men, with an oath, leaped forward to rush
+her. But Elaine was not to be caught off her guard. Instantly she
+fired. The man staggered back, and fell.
+
+That cooled the ardor of the other three considerably, especially now
+as I was free, too. While she held them up still, with their hands in
+the air, I went through their pockets, taking out their weapons.
+
+Then, still keeping them covered, we backed out of the cave. Backward
+we made our way up the dangerous flight of steps again with guns
+levelled at the cave entrance, Elaine going up first.
+
+Once a head stuck itself out of the cave entrance. I fired instantly
+and it jerked itself back in again just in time. That was the only
+trouble we had, apparently.
+
+Cautiously and slowly we made our way toward the top of the cliff.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+One look backward from his motor-boat was enough for Del Mar. He must
+evade that inquisitive naturalist. He turned to his man.
+
+"Get out that apparatus," he ordered.
+
+The man opened a locker and brought out the curious submarine rescue
+helmet and suit. Del Mar took them up and began to put the suit on,
+stooping down in the shelter of the boat so that his actions could not
+be seen by the naturalist in the pursuing boat.
+
+The naturalist was all this time peering ahead keenly at Del Mar's
+boat, trying to make it out. He bent over and adjusted the engine to
+get up more speed and the boat shot ahead faster.
+
+By this time, Del Mar had put on the submarine apparatus, all except
+the helmet, and was crouching low in the boat. Hastily, he rolled a
+piece of canvas into the semblance of a body, put his coat and hat on
+it and set it on the seat which he had occupied before.
+
+Just then Del Mar's boat ran around the promontory where Wu Fang had
+met the submarine that had brought Del Mar into the country and landed
+him so strangely.
+
+The boat slowed down under shelter of the rocks and Del Mar added a
+pair of heavy lead-soled shoes to his outfit in order to weight himself
+down. Finally he put on the helmet, let himself over the side of the
+boat, and disappeared into the water.
+
+His aide started the motor and the boat shot ahead again, with the
+dummy still occupying Del Mar's seat. As the boat swung out and made a
+wide sweeping curve away from the point at which Del Mar had gone
+overboard, the naturalist in the Dodge boat came around the promontory
+and saw it, changing his course accordingly, and gaining somewhat.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Del Mar sank, upright and rapidly, down in the shallow water to the
+bottom. Once having his feet on something approaching firm ground, he
+gazed about through the window-like eye of the helmet until he got his
+bearings. Then he began to walk heavily along the bottom of the harbor,
+over sand and rocks.
+
+It was a strange walk that he took, half stumbling, slowly and
+cumbersomely groping his way like a queer under-water animal.
+
+If any one could have seen him, he would have noted that Del Mar was
+going toward the base of a huge rocky cliff that jutted far out into
+the harbor, where the water was deep, a dangerous point, avoided by
+craft of all kinds. Far over his head the waves beat on the rocks
+angrily. But down there, concealed beneath the surface of the harbor,
+was a sort of huge arch of stone, through which a comparatively rapid
+current ran as the tide ebbed and flowed.
+
+Del Mar let himself be carried along with the current which was now
+running in and thus with comparative ease made his way, still groping,
+through the arch. Once under it and a few feet beyond, he deliberately
+kicked off the leaden-soled shoes and, thus lightened, rose rapidly to
+the surface of the water.
+
+As he bobbed up, a strange sight met his eyes--not strange however, to
+Del Mar. Above, the rocks formed a huge dome over the water which the
+tides forced in and out through the secret entrance through which he
+came. No other entrance, apparently, except that from the waters of the
+harbor led to this peculiar den.
+
+Lying quietly moored to the rocky piers lay three submarine boats.
+Further back, on a ledge of rocks, blasted out, stood a little
+building, a sort of office or headquarters. Near-by was a shed where
+were kept gas and oil, supplies and ammunition, in fact everything that
+a submarine might need.
+
+This was the reason for Del Mar's presence in the neighborhood. It was
+the secret submarine harbor of the foreign agents who were operating in
+America!
+
+Already a sentry, pacing up and down, had seen the bubbles in the water
+that indicated that some one had come through the archway and was down
+"below," as Del Mar and his men called it.
+
+Gazing down the sentry saw the queer helmeted figure float up from the
+bottom of the pool. He reached out and helped the figure clamber up out
+of the water to the ledge on which he stood. Del Mar saluted, and the
+sentry returned the secret salute, helping him remove the dripping
+helmet and suit.
+
+A moment later, in the queer little submarine office, Del Mar had
+evidently planned to take up the nefarious secret work on which he was
+engaged. Several men of a naval and military bearing were seated about
+a table, already, studying maps and plans and documents of all
+descriptions. They did not seem to belong to any nation in particular.
+In fact their uniforms, if such they might be called, were of a
+character to disguise their nationality. But that they were hostile to
+the country under which they literally had their hidden retreat, of
+that there could be no doubt.
+
+How high Del Mar stood in their counsels could have been seen at a
+glance from the instant deference exhibited at the mere mention of his
+name by the sentry who entered with the submarine suit while Del Mar
+got himself together after his remarkable trip.
+
+The men at the council table rose and saluted as Del Mar himself
+entered. He returned the salute and quietly made his way to the head of
+the table where he took a seat, naturally.
+
+"This is the area in which we must work first of all," he began,
+drawing toward him a book and opening it. "And we must strike quickly,
+for if they heed the advice in this book, it may be too late for us to
+take advantage of their foolish unpreparedness."
+
+It was a book entitled "Defenseless America", written by a great
+American inventor, Hudson Maxim.
+
+Del Mar turned the pages until he came to and pointed out a map. The
+others gathered about him, leaning forward eagerly as he talked to
+them. There, on the map, with a radius of some one hundred and seventy
+miles, was drawn a big segment of a circle, with Peekskill, New York,
+as a centre.
+
+"That is the heart of America," said Del Mar, earnestly. "It embraces
+New York, Boston, Philadelphia. But that is not the point. Here are the
+great majority of the gun and armor factories, the powder and cartridge
+works, together with the principal coal fields of Pennsylvania."
+
+He brought his fist down decisively on the table. "If we hold this
+section," he declared, "we practically hold America!"
+
+Eagerly the other emissaries listened as Del Mar laid before them the
+detailed facts which he was collecting, the greater mission than the
+mere capture of Kennedy's wireless torpedo which had brought him into
+the country. Detail after detail of their plans they discussed as they
+worked out the gigantic scheme.
+
+It was a war council of a secret advance guard of the enemies of
+America!
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Meanwhile, Del Mar's man in his boat, cutting a wide circle and
+avoiding the Dodge boat carrying the naturalist, made his way across
+the harbor until he came to the shore.
+
+There he landed and proceeded up the beach to the foot of a rocky
+cliff, where he turned and followed a trail up it to the top. It was
+the same path already travelled by my captors with me and later
+followed by Elaine.
+
+As he came stealthily out from under cover, Del Mar's man gazed down
+the stairway. He drew back at what he saw. Slowly he pulled a gun from
+his pocket, watching down the steps with tense interest. There he could
+see Elaine and myself wearily climbing toward the top, our backs toward
+him, as we covered the men in the cave.
+
+So surprised was he at what he saw that he forgot that his boat below
+had been followed by the mysterious naturalist, who, the moment Del
+Mar's man had landed, put on the last burst of speed and ran the Dodge
+boat close to the spot where the aide had left Del Mar's.
+
+A glance into the boat sufficed to tell the naturalist that the figure
+in it was only a dummy. He did not pause, but followed the trail up the
+hill, until he was close after the emissary ahead, going more slowly.
+
+Only a few feet further along the cliff, the naturalist paused, too,
+keeping well under cover, for the man was now just ahead of him. He
+looked fixedly at him and saw him gaze down the cliff. Then he saw him
+slowly draw a gun.
+
+Who could be below? Quickly the naturalist's mind seemed to work. He
+crouched down, as if ready to spring.
+
+The emissary slowly raised his revolver and took careful aim at the
+backs of Elaine and myself, as we came up the steps.
+
+But before he could pull the trigger, the naturalist, more like one of
+the wild animals which he studied than like a human being, sprang from
+his concealment in the bushes and pounced on the man from behind,
+seizing him firmly.
+
+Over and over they rolled, struggling almost to the brink of the
+precipice.
+
+Elaine and I had got almost to the top of the flight of steps, when
+suddenly we heard a shout above us and sounds of a terrific struggle.
+We turned, to see two men, neither of whom we knew, fighting. One
+seemed to be a professor of natural history from his dress and general
+appearance. The other had a sinister nondescript look.
+
+Nearer and nearer the edge of the cliff they rolled. We crouched closer
+to the rocky wall, gazing up at the death grapple of the two. Who they
+were we did not know but that one was fighting for and the other
+against us we could readily see.
+
+The more vicious of the two seemed to be forcing the naturalist slowly
+back, when, with a superhuman effort, the naturalist braced himself.
+His foot was actually on a small ledge of rock directly at the edge of
+the cliff.
+
+He swung around quickly and struck the other man. The vicious looking
+man pitched headlong over the cliff.
+
+We shrank back closer to the rock as the man hurtled through the air
+only a few feet from us. Down below, we could hear him land with a
+sickening thud.
+
+Far over the edge Elaine leaned in a sort of fascination at the awful
+sight. For a moment, I thought the very imp of the perverse had got
+possession of her and that she herself would fall over. She brushed her
+hand unsteadily over her eyes and staggered. I caught her just in time.
+
+It was only an instant before the brave girl recovered control of
+herself. Then, together, we started again to climb up.
+
+As we did so the naturalist looked down and caught sight of us
+approaching. Hastily he hid in the bushes. We reached the top of the
+stairway and gazed about for the victor in the contest. To our surprise
+he was gone.
+
+"Come," I urged. "We had better get away, quickly."
+
+As Elaine and I disappeared, the naturalist slowly emerged again from
+the bushes and looked after us. Then he gave a hasty glance over the
+edge of the cliff at the man, twisted and motionless, far below.
+
+If we had looked back we might have seen the naturalist shake his head
+in a manner strangely reminiscent as he turned and gazed again after us.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE CONSPIRATORS
+
+
+"You remember Lieutenant Woodward, the inventor of trodite?" I asked
+Elaine one day after I had been out for a ride through the country.
+
+"Very well indeed," she nodded with a look of wistfulness as the
+mention of his name recalled Kennedy. "Why?"
+
+"He's stationed at Fort Dale, not very far from here, at the entrance
+of the Sound," I answered.
+
+"Then let's have him over at my garden party to-night," she exclaimed,
+sitting down and writing.
+
+DEAR LIEUTENANT,
+
+I have just learned that you are stationed at Fort Dale and would like
+to have you meet some of my friends at a little garden party I am
+holding to-night.
+
+Sincerely, ELAINE DODGE.
+
+Thus it was that a few hours afterward, in the officers' quarters at
+the Fort, an orderly entered with the mail and handed a letter to
+Lieutenant Woodward. He opened it and read the invitation with
+pleasure. He had scarcely finished reading and was hastening to write a
+reply when the orderly entered again and saluted.
+
+"A Professor Arnold to see you, Lieutenant," he announced.
+
+"Professor Arnold?" repeated Woodward. "I don't know any Professor
+Arnold. Well, show him in, anyhow."
+
+The orderly ushered in a well-dressed man with a dark, heavy beard and
+large horn spectacles. Woodward eyed him curiously and a bit
+suspiciously, as the stranger seated himself and made a few remarks.
+
+The moment the orderly left the room, however, the professor lowered
+his voice to a whisper. Woodward listened in amazement, looked at him
+more closely, then laughed and shook hands cordially.
+
+The professor leaned over again. Whatever it was that he said, it made
+a great impression on the Lieutenant.
+
+"You know this fellow Del Mar?" asked Professor Arnold finally.
+
+"No," replied Woodward.
+
+"Well, he's hanging around Miss Dodge all the time," went on Arnold.
+"There's something queer about his presence here at this time."
+
+"I've an invitation to a garden party at her house to-night," remarked
+Woodward.
+
+"Accept," urged the professor, "and tell her you are bringing a friend."
+
+Woodward resumed writing and when he had finished handed the note to
+the stranger, who read:
+
+DEAR MISS DODGE,
+
+I shall be charmed to be with you to-night and with your permission
+will bring my friend, Professor Arnold.
+
+Truly yours, EDWARD WOODWARD.
+
+"Good," nodded the professor, handing the note back.
+
+Woodward summoned an orderly. "See that that is delivered at Dodge Hall
+to Miss Dodge herself as soon as possible," he directed, as the orderly
+took the note and saluted.
+
+Elaine, Aunt Josephine and I were in the garden when Lieut. Woodward's
+orderly rode up and delivered the letter.
+
+Elaine opened it and read. "That's all right," she thanked the orderly.
+"Oh, Walter, he's coming to the garden party, and is going to bring a
+friend of his, a Professor Arnold."
+
+We chatted a few moments about the party.
+
+"Oh," exclaimed Elaine suddenly, "I have an idea."
+
+"What is it?" we asked, smiling at her enthusiasm.
+
+"We'll have a fortune teller," she cried. "Aunt Josephine, you shall
+play the part."
+
+"All right, if you really want me," consented Aunt Josephine smiling
+indulgently as we urged her.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Down in the submarine harbor that afternoon, Del Mar and his men were
+seated about the conference table.
+
+"I've traced out the course and the landing points of the great
+Atlantic cable," he said. "We must cut it."
+
+Del Mar turned to one of the men. "Take these plans to the captain of
+the steamer and tell him to get ready," he went on. "Find out and send
+me word when the cutting can be done best."
+
+The man saluted and went out.
+
+Leaving the submarine harbor in the usual manner, he made his way to a
+dock on the shore around the promontory and near the village. Tied to
+it was a small tramp steamer. The man walked down the dock and climbed
+aboard the boat. There several rough looking sailors were lolling and
+standing about. The emissary selected the captain, a more than
+ordinarily tough looking individual.
+
+"Mr. Del Mar sends you the location of the Atlantic cable and the place
+where he thinks it best to pick it up and cut it," he said.
+
+The captain nodded. "I understand," he replied. "I'll send him word
+later when it can be done best."
+
+A few minutes after dispatching his messenger, Del Mar left the
+submarine harbor himself and entered his bungalow by way of the secret
+entrance. There he went immediately to his desk and picked up the mail
+that had accumulated in his absence. One letter he read:
+
+DEAR MR. DEL MAR,
+
+We shall be pleased to see you at a little garden party we are holding
+to-night.
+
+Sincerely,
+
+ELAINE DODGE.
+
+As he finished reading, he pushed the letter carelessly aside as though
+he had no time for such frivolity. Then an idea seemed to occur to him.
+He picked it up again and read it over.
+
+"I'll go," he said to himself, simply.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+That night Dodge Hall was a blaze of lights and life, overflowing to
+the wide verandas and the garden. Guests in evening clothes were
+arriving from all parts of the summer colony and were being received by
+Elaine. Already some of them were dancing on the veranda.
+
+Among the late arrivals were Woodward and his friend, Professor Arnold.
+
+"I'm so glad to know that you are stationed at Fort Dale," greeted
+Elaine. "I hope it will be for all summer."
+
+"I can't say how long it will be, but I shall make every effort to make
+it all summer," he replied gallantly. "Let me present my friend,
+Professor Arnold."
+
+The professor bowed low and unprofessionally over Elaine's hand and a
+moment later followed Woodward out into the next room as the other
+guests arrived to be greeted by Elaine. For a moment, however, she
+looked after him curiously. Once she started to follow as though to
+speak to him. Just then, however, Del Mar entered.
+
+"Good evening," he interrupted, suavely.
+
+He stood for a moment with Elaine and talked.
+
+One doorway in the house was draped and a tent had been erected in the
+room. Over the door was a sign which read: "The past and the future are
+an open book to Ancient Anna." There Aunt Josephine held forth in a
+most effective disguise as a fortune teller.
+
+Aunt Josephine had always had a curious desire to play the old hag in
+amateur dramatics and now she had gratified her desire to the utmost.
+Probably none of the guests knew that Ancient Anna was in reality
+Elaine's guardian.
+
+Elaine being otherwise occupied, I had selected one of the prettiest of
+the girls and we were strolling through the house, seeking a quiet spot
+for a chat.
+
+"Why don't you have your fortune told by Ancient Anna?" laughed my
+companion as we approached the tent.
+
+"Do you tell a good fortune reasonably?" I joked, entering.
+
+"Only the true fortunes, young man," returned Ancient Anna severely,
+starting in to read my palm. "You are very much in love," she went on,
+"but the lady is not in this tent."
+
+Very much embarrassed, I pulled my hand away.
+
+"How shocking!" mocked my companion, making believe to be very much
+annoyed. "I don't think I'll have my fortune told," she decided as we
+left the room.
+
+We sauntered along to the veranda where another friend claimed my
+companion for a dance which she had promised. As I strolled on alone,
+Del Mar and Elaine were already finishing a dance. He left her a moment
+later and I hurried over, glad of the opportunity to see her at last.
+
+Del Mar made his way alone among the guests and passed Aunt Josephine
+disguised as the old hag seated before her tent. Just then a waiter
+came through with a tray of ices. As he passed, Del Mar stopped him,
+reached out and took an ice.
+
+Under the ice, as he had known, was a note. He took the note
+surreptitiously, turned and presented the ice to Ancient Anna with a
+bow.
+
+"Thank you, kind sir," she curtsied, taking it.
+
+Del Mar stepped aside and glanced at the little slip of paper. Then he
+crumpled it up and threw it aside, walking away.
+
+No sooner had he gone than Aunt Josephine reached out and picked up the
+paper. She straightened it and looked at it. There was nothing on the
+paper but a crude drawing of a sunrise on the ocean.
+
+"What's that?" asked Aunt Josephine, in surprise.
+
+Just then Elaine and Lieutenant Woodward came in and stopped before the
+tent. Aunt Josephine motioned to Elaine to come in and Elaine followed.
+Lieutenant Woodward started after her.
+
+"No, no, young man," laughed Ancient Anna, shaking her forefinger at
+him, "I don't want you. It's the pretty young lady I want."
+
+Woodward stood outside, though he did not know quite what it was all
+about. While he was standing there, Professor Arnold came up. He had
+not exactly made a hit with the guests. At least, he seemed to make
+little effort to do so. He and Woodward walked away, talking earnestly.
+
+In the tent Aunt Josephine handed Elaine the piece of paper she had
+picked up.
+
+"What does it mean?" asked Elaine, studying the curious drawing in
+surprise.
+
+"I'm sure I don't know," confessed Aunt Josephine.
+
+"Nor I."
+
+Meanwhile Lieutenant Woodward and his friend had moved to a corner of
+the veranda and stood looking intently into the moonlight. There was
+Del Mar deep in conversation with a man who had slipped out, at a quiet
+signal, from his hiding-place in the shrubbery.
+
+"That fellow is up to something, mark my words," muttered Arnold under
+his breath. "I'd like to make an arrest, but I've got to have some
+proof."
+
+They continued watching Del Mar but, so far at least, he did nothing
+that would have furnished them any evidence of anything.
+
+So the party went on, most merrily until, long after the guests had
+left, Elaine sat in her dressing-gown up in her room, about to retire.
+
+Her maid had left her and she picked up the slip of paper from her
+dresser, looking at it thoughtfully.
+
+"What can a crude drawing of a sunrise on the sea mean?" she asked
+herself.
+
+For a long time she studied the paper, thinking it over. At last an
+idea came to her.
+
+"I'll bet I have it," she exclaimed to herself. "Something is going to
+happen on the water at sunrise."
+
+She took a pretty little alarm clock from the table, set it, and placed
+it near her bed.
+
+Returning from the party to his library, Del Mar entered. Except for
+the moonlight streaming in through the windows the room was dark. He
+turned on the lights and crossed to the panel in the wall. As he
+touched a button the panel opened. Del Mar switched off the lights and
+went through the panel, closing it.
+
+Outside, at the other end of the passageway, was one of his men,
+waiting in the shadows as Del Mar came up. For a moment they talked.
+"I'll be there, at sunrise," agreed Del Mar, as the man left and he
+reentered the secret passage.
+
+While he was conferring, at the library window appeared a face. It was
+Professor Arnold's. Cautiously he opened the window and listened. Then
+he entered.
+
+First he went over to the door and set a chair under the knob. Next he
+drew an electric pocket bull's-eye and flashed it about the room. He
+glanced about and finally went over to Del Mar's desk where he examined
+a batch of letters, his back to the secret panel.
+
+Arnold was running rapidly through the papers on the desk, as he
+flashed his electric bull's-eye on them, when the panel in the wall
+opened slowly and Del Mar stepped into the room noiselessly. To his
+surprise he saw a round spot of light from an electric flashlight
+focussed on his desk. Some one was there! He drew a gun.
+
+Arnold started suddenly. He heard the cocking of a revolver. But he did
+not look around. He merely thought an instant, quicker than lightning,
+then pulled out a spool of black thread with one hand, while with the
+other he switched off the light, and dived down on his stomach on the
+floor in the shadow.
+
+"Who's that?" demanded Del Mar. "Confound it! I should have fired at
+sight."
+
+The room was so dark now that it was impossible to see Arnold. Del Mar
+gazed intently. Suddenly Arnold's electric torch glowed forth in a spot
+across the room.
+
+Del Mar blazed at it, firing every chamber of his revolver, then
+switched on the lights.
+
+No one was in the room. But the door was open. Del Mar gazed about,
+vexed, then ran to the open door.
+
+For a second or two he peered out in rage, finally turning back into
+the empty room. On the mantlepiece lay the torch of the intruder. It
+was one in which the connection is made by a ring falling on a piece of
+metal. The ring had been left up by Arnold. Connection had been made as
+he was leaving the room by pulling the thread which he had fastened to
+the ring. Del Mar followed the thread as it led around the room to the
+doorway.
+
+"Curse him!" swore Del Mar, smashing down the innocent torch on the
+floor in fury, as he rushed to the desk and saw his papers all
+disturbed.
+
+Outside, Arnold had made good his escape. He paused in the moonlight
+and listened. No one was pursuing. He drew out two or three of the
+letters which he had taken from Del Mar's desk, and hastily ran through
+them.
+
+"Not a thing in them," he exclaimed, tearing them up in disgust and
+hurrying away.
+
+At the first break of dawn the little alarm dock awakened Elaine. She
+started up and rubbed her eyes at the suddenness of the awakening, then
+quickly reached out and stopped the bell so that it would not disturb
+others in the house. She jumped out of bed hurriedly and dressed.
+
+Armed with a spy glass, Elaine let herself out of the house quietly.
+Directly to the shore she went, walking along the beach. Suddenly she
+paused. There were three men. Before she could level her glass at them,
+however, they disappeared.
+
+"That's strange," she said to herself, looking through the glass.
+"There's a steamer at the dock that seems to be getting ready for
+something. I wonder what it can be doing so early."
+
+She moved along in the direction of the dock. At the dock the
+disreputable steamer to which Del Mar had dispatched his emissary was
+still tied, the sailors now working under the gruff orders of the rough
+captain. About a capstan were wound the turns of a long wire rope at
+the end of which was a three-pronged drag-hook.
+
+"You see," the captain was explaining, "we'll lower this hook and drag
+it along the bottom. When it catches anything we'll just pull it up. I
+have the location of the cable. It ought to be easy to grapple."
+
+Already, on the shore, at an old deserted shack of a fisherman, two of
+Del Mar's men had been waiting since before sun-up, having come in a
+dirty, dingy fishing smack anchored offshore.
+
+"Is everything ready?" asked Del Mar, coming up.
+
+"Everything, sir," returned the two, following him along the shore.
+
+"Who's that?" cautioned one of the men, looking ahead.
+
+They hid hastily, for there was Elaine. She had seen the three and was
+about to level her glass in their direction as they hid. Finally she
+turned and discovered the steamer. As she moved toward it, Del Mar and
+the others came out from behind a rock and stole after her.
+
+Elaine wandered on until she came to the dock. No one paid any
+attention to her, apparently, and she made her way along the dock and
+even aboard the boat without being observed.
+
+No sooner had she got on the boat, however, than Del Mar and his men
+appeared on the dock and also boarded the steamer.
+
+The captain was still explaining to the men just how the drag-hook
+worked when Elaine came up quietly on the deck. She stood spellbound as
+she heard him outline the details of the plot. Scarcely knowing what
+she did, she crouched back of a deckhouse and listened.
+
+Behind her, Del Mar and his men came along, cat-like. A glance was
+sufficient to tell them that she had overheard what the captain was
+saying.
+
+"Confound that girl!" ground out Del Mar. "Will she always cross my
+path? We'll get her this time!"
+
+The men scattered as he directed them. Sneaking up quietly, they made a
+sudden rush and seized her. As she struggled and screamed, they dragged
+her off, thrusting her into the captain's cabin and locking the door.
+
+"Cast off!" ordered Del Mar.
+
+A few moments later, out in the harbor, Del Mar was busy directing the
+dragging for the Atlantic cable at a spot where it was known to run.
+They let the drag-hook down over the side and pulled it along slowly on
+the bottom.
+
+In the cabin, Elaine beat on the door and shouted in vain for help.
+
+I had decided to do some early morning fishing the day after the party,
+and knowing that Elaine and the others were usually late risers, I said
+nothing about it, determined to try my luck alone.
+
+So it happened that only a few minutes after Elaine let herself out
+quietly, I did the same, carrying my fishing-tackle. I made my way
+toward the shore, undecided whether to fish from a dock or boat.
+Finally I determined to do some casting from the shore.
+
+I had cast once or twice before I was aware that I was not alone in the
+immediate neighborhood. Some distance away I saw a little steamer at a
+wharf. A couple of men ran along the deck, apparently cautioning the
+captain against something.
+
+Then I saw them run to one side and drag out a girl, screaming and
+struggling as they hurried her below. I could scarcely believe my eyes.
+It was Elaine!
+
+Only a second I looked. They were certainly too many for me. I dropped
+my rod and line and ran toward the dock, however. As I came down it, I
+saw that I was too late. The little steamer had cast off and was now
+some distance from the dock. I looked about for a motor-boat in
+desperation--anything to follow them in. But there was nothing,
+absolutely nothing, not even a rowboat.
+
+I ran back along the dock as I had come and struck out down the shore.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Out at the parade grounds at Fort Dale, in spite of the early hour,
+there was some activity, for the army is composed of early risers.
+
+Lieutenant Woodward and Professor Arnold left the house in which the
+Lieutenant was quartered, where he had invited Arnold to spend the
+night. Already an orderly had brought around two horses. They mounted
+for an early morning ride through the country.
+
+Off they clattered, naturally bending their course toward the shore.
+They came soon to a point in the road where it emerged from the hills
+and gave them a panoramic view of the harbor and sound.
+
+"Wait a minute," called the professor.
+
+Woodward reined up and they gazed off over the water.
+
+"What's that--an oyster boat?" asked Woodward, looking in the direction
+Arnold indicated.
+
+"I don't think so, so early," replied Arnold, pulling out his pocket
+glass and looking carefully.
+
+Through it he could see that something like a hook was being cast over
+the steamer's side and drawn back again.
+
+"They're dragging for something," he remarked as they brought up an
+object dark and covered with seagrowth, then threw it overboard as
+though it was not what they wanted. "By George--the Atlantic cable
+lands here--they're going to cut it!"
+
+Woodward took the glasses himself and looked in in surprise. "That's
+right," he cried, his surprise changed to alarm in an instant. "Here,
+take the glass again and watch. I must get back to the Fort."
+
+He swung his horse about and galloped off, leaving Arnold sitting in
+the saddle gazing at the strange boat through his glass.
+
+By the time Woodward reached the parade ground again, a field-gun and
+its company were at drill. He dashed furiously across the field.
+
+"What's the trouble?" demanded the officer in charge of the gun.
+
+Woodward blurted out what he had just seen. "We must stop it--at any
+cost," he added, breathlessly.
+
+The officer turned to the company. A moment later the order to follow
+Woodward rang out, the horses were wheeled about, and off the party
+galloped. On they went, along the road which Woodward and Arnold had
+already traversed.
+
+Arnold was still gazing, impatiently now, through the glass. He could
+see the fore-deck of the ship where Del Mar, muffled up, and his men
+had succeeded in dragging the cable to the proper position on the deck.
+They laid it down and Del Mar was directing the preparations for
+cutting it. Arnold lowered his glass and looked about helplessly.
+
+Just then Lieutenant Woodward dashed up with the officer and company
+and the field-gun. They wheeled it about and began pointing it and
+finding the range.
+
+Would they never get it? Arnold was almost beside himself. One of Del
+Mar's men seized an axe and was about to deliver the fatal blow. He
+swung it and for a moment held it poised over his head.
+
+Suddenly a low, deep rumble of a reverberation echoed and reechoed from
+the hills over the water. The field-gun had bellowed defiance.
+
+A solid shot crashed through the cabin, smashing the door. Astounded,
+the men jumped back. As they did so, in their fear, the cable,
+released, slipped back over the rail in a great splash of safety into
+the water and sank.
+
+"The deuce take you--you fools," swore Del Mar, springing forward in
+rage, and looking furiously toward the shore.
+
+Two of the men had been hit by splinters. It was impossible to drag
+again. Besides, again the gun crew loaded and fired.
+
+The first shot had dismantled the doorway of the cabin. Elaine crouched
+fearfully in the furthest corner, not knowing what to expect next.
+Suddenly another shot tore through just beside the door, smashing the
+woodwork terrifically. She shrank back further, in fright.
+
+Anything was better than this hidden terror. Nerved up, she ran through
+the broken door.
+
+Arnold was gazing through his glass at the effect of the shots. He
+could now see Del Mar and the others leaping into a swift little
+motor-boat alongside the steamer which they had been using to help them
+in dragging for the cable.
+
+Just then he saw Elaine run, screaming, out from the cabin and leap
+overboard.
+
+"Stop!" shouted Arnold in a fever of excitement, lowering his glass.
+"There's a girl--by Jove--it's Miss Dodge!"
+
+"Impossible!" exclaimed Woodward.
+
+"I tell you, it is," reiterated Arnold, thrusting the glass into the
+Lieutenant's hand.
+
+The motor-boat had started when Del Mar saw Elaine in the water.
+"Look," he growled, pointing, "There's the Dodge girl."
+
+Elaine was swimming frantically away from the boat. "Get her," he
+ordered, shielding his face so that she could not see it.
+
+They turned the boat and headed toward her. She struck out harder than
+ever for the shore. On came the motor-boat.
+
+Arnold and Woodward looked at each other in despair. What could they do?
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Somehow, by a sort of instinct, I suppose, I made my way as quickly as
+I could along the shore toward Fort Dale, thinking perhaps of
+Lieutenant Woodward.
+
+As I came upon the part of the grounds of the Fort that sloped down to
+the beach, I saw a group of young officers standing about a peculiar
+affair on the shore in the shallow water--half bird, half boat.
+
+As I came closer, I recognized it as a Thomas hydroaeroplane.
+
+It suggested an idea and I hurried, shouting.
+
+One of the men, seated in it, was evidently explaining its working to
+the others.
+
+"Wait," he said, as he saw me running down the shore, waving and
+shouting at them. "Let's see what this fellow wants."
+
+It was, as I soon learned, the famous Captain Burnside, of the United
+States Aerial Corps. Breathless, I told him what I had seen and that we
+were all friends of Woodward's.
+
+Burnside thought a moment, and quickly made up his mind.
+
+"Come--quick--jump up here with me," he called. Then to the other men,
+"I'll be back soon. Wait here. Let her go!"
+
+I had jumped up and they spun the propeller. The hydroaeroplane
+feathered along the water, throwing a cloud of white spray, then slowly
+rose in the air.
+
+The sensation of flying was delightful, as the fresh morning wind cut
+our faces. We seemed to be hardly moving. It was the earth or rather
+the water that rushed past under us. But I forgot all about my
+sensations in my anxiety for Elaine.
+
+As we rose we could see over the curve in the shore.
+
+"Look!" I exclaimed, straining my eyes. "She's overboard. There's a
+motor-boat after her. Faster--over that way!"
+
+"Yes, yes," shouted Burnside above the roar of the engine which almost
+made conversation impossible.
+
+He shifted the planes a bit and crowded on more speed.
+
+The men in the boat saw us. One figure, tall, muffled, had a familiar
+look, but I could not place it and in the excitement of the chase had
+no chance to try. But I could see that he saw us and was angry.
+Apparently the man gave orders to turn, for the boat swung around just
+as we swooped down and ran along the water.
+
+Elaine was exhausted. Would we be in time?
+
+We planed along the water, while the motor-boat sped off with its
+baffled passengers. Finally we stopped, in a cloud of spray.
+
+Together, Burnside and I reached down and caught Elaine, not a moment
+too soon, dragging her into the boat of the hydroaeroplane.
+
+If we had not had all we could do, we might have heard a shout of
+encouragement and relief from the hill where Woodward and Arnold and
+the rest were watching anxiously.
+
+I threw my coat about her, as the brave girl heroically clung to us,
+half conscious.
+
+"Oh--Walter," she murmured, "you were just in time."
+
+"I wish I could have been sooner," I apologized.
+
+"They--they didn't cut the cable--did they?" she asked, as we rose from
+the water again, bearing her now to safety. "I did my best."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE WIRELESS DETECTIVE
+
+
+Del Mar made his way cautiously along the bank of a little river at the
+mouth of which he left the boat after escaping from the little steamer.
+
+Quite evidently he was worried by the failure to cut the great Atlantic
+cable and he was eager to see whether any leak had occurred in the
+organization which, as secret foreign agent, he had so carefully built
+up in America.
+
+As he skirted the shore of the river, he came to a falls. Here he moved
+even more cautiously than before, looking about to make certain that no
+one had followed him.
+
+It was a beautiful sheet of water that tumbled with a roar over the
+ledge of rock, then raced away swiftly to the sea in a cloud of spray.
+
+Assured that he was alone, he approached a crevice in the rocks, near
+the falls. With another hasty look about, he reached in and pulled a
+lever.
+
+Instantly a most marvellous change took place, incredible almost beyond
+belief. The volume of water that came over the falls actually and
+rapidly decreased until it almost stopped, dripping slowly in a thin
+veil. There was the entrance of a cave--literally hidden behind the
+falls!
+
+Del Mar walked in. Inside was the entrance to another, inner cave,
+higher up in the sheer stone of the wall that the waters had eroded.
+From the floor to this entrance led a ladder. Del Mar climbed it, then
+stopped just inside the entrance to the inner cave. For a moment he
+paused. Then he pressed another lever. Almost immediately the thin
+trickle of water grew until at last the roaring falls completely
+covered the cave entrance. It was a clever concealment, contrived by
+damming the river above and arranging a new outlet controlled by
+flood-gates.
+
+There Del Mar stood, in the inner cave. A man sat at a table, a curious
+gear fastened over his head and covering his ears. Before him was a
+huge apparatus from which flared a big bluish-green spark, snapping and
+crackling above the thunder of the waves. From the apparatus ran wires
+apparently up through cables that penetrated the rocky roof of the
+cavern and the river above.
+
+It was Del Mar's secret wireless station, close to the hidden submarine
+harbor which had been established beneath the innocent rocks of the
+promontory up the coast. Far overhead, on the cliff over the falls,
+were the antennae of the wireless.
+
+"How is she working?" asked Del Mar.
+
+"Pretty well," answered the man.
+
+"No interference?" queried Del Mar, adjusting the apparatus.
+
+The man shook his head in the negative.
+
+"We must get a quenched spark apparatus," went on Del Mar, pleased that
+nothing was wrong here. "This rotary gap affair is out of date. By the
+way, I want you to be ready to send a message, to be relayed across to
+our people. I've got to consult the board below in the harbor, first,
+however. I'll send a messenger to you."
+
+"Very well, sir," returned the man, saluting as Del Mar went out.
+
+Out at Fort Dale, Lieutenant Woodward was still entertaining his new
+friend, Professor Arnold, and had introduced him to Colonel Swift, the
+commanding officer at the Fort.
+
+They were discussing the strange events of the early morning, when an
+orderly entered, saluted Colonel Swift and handed him a telegram. The
+Colonel tore it open and read it, his face growing grave. Then he
+handed it to Woodward, who read:
+
+WASHINGTON, D. C.
+
+Radio station using illegal wave length in your vicinity. Investigate
+and report.
+
+BRANDON,
+
+Radio Bureau.
+
+Professor Arnold shook his head slowly, as he handed the telegram back.
+"There's a wireless apparatus of my own on my yacht," he remarked
+slowly. "I have an instrument there which I think can help you greatly.
+Let's see what we can do."
+
+"All right," nodded Colonel Swift to Woodward. "Try."
+
+The two went out and a few minutes later, on the shore, jumped into
+Arnold's fast little motor-boat and sped out across the water until
+they swung around alongside the trim yacht which Arnold was using.
+
+It was a compact and comfortable little craft with lines that indicated
+both gracefulness and speed. On one of the masts, as they approached,
+Woodward noticed the wireless aerial. They climbed up the ladder over
+the side and made their way directly to the wireless room, where Arnold
+sat down and at once began to adjust the apparatus.
+
+Woodward seemed keenly interested in inspecting the plant which was of
+a curious type and not exactly like any that he had seen before.
+
+"Wireless apparatus," explained Arnold, still at work, "as you know, is
+divided into three parts, the source of power, the making and sending
+of wireless waves, including the key, spark, condenser and tuning coil,
+and the receiving apparatus--head telephones, antennae, ground and
+detector. This is a very compact system with facilities for a quick
+change from one wave length to another. It has a spark gap, quenched
+type, break system relay--operator can hear any interference while
+transmitting--transformation by a single throw of a six-point switch
+which tunes the oscillating and open circuits to resonance."
+
+Woodward watched him keenly, following his explanation carefully, as
+Arnold concluded.
+
+"You might call it a radio detective," he added.
+
+Even the startling experience of the morning when she was carried off
+and finally jumped from the little tramp steamer that had attempted to
+cut the cable did not dampen Elaine's ardor. She missed the guiding
+hand of Kennedy, yet felt impelled to follow up and investigate the
+strange things that had been happening in the neighborhood of her
+summer home since his disappearance.
+
+I succeeded in getting her safely home after Burnside and I rescued her
+in the hydroaeroplane, but no sooner had she changed her clothes for
+dry ones than she disappeared herself. At least I could not find her,
+though, later, I found that she had stolen away to town and there had
+purchased a complete outfit of men's clothes from a second hand dealer.
+
+Cautiously, with the large bundle under her arm, she returned to Dodge
+Hall and almost sneaked into her own home and up-stairs to her room.
+She locked the door and hastily unwrapped the bundle taking out a
+tattered suit and the other things, holding them up and laughing
+gleefully as she took off her own pretty clothes and donned these
+hideous garments.
+
+Quickly she completed her change of costume and outward character. As
+she surveyed herself in the dainty mirror of her dressing-table she
+laughed again at the incongruity of her pretty boudoir and the rough
+men's clothes she was wearing. Deftly she arranged her hair so that her
+hat would cover it. She picked a black mustache from the table and
+stuck it on her soft upper lip. It tickled and she made a wry face over
+it. Then she hunted up a cigarette from the bundle which she had
+brought in, lighted it and stuck it in the corner of her mouth, letting
+it droop jauntily. It made her cough tremendously and she threw it away.
+
+Finally she went to the door and down-stairs. No one was about. She
+opened the door and gazed around. All was quiet. It was a new role for
+her, but, with a bold front, she went out and passed down to the gate
+of the grounds, pulling her hat down over her eyes and assuming a tough
+swagger.
+
+Only a few minutes before, down in the submarine harbor, the officers
+of the board of foreign agents had been grouped about Del Mar, who had
+entered and taken his place at their head, very angry over the failure
+to cut the cable. As they concluded their hasty conference, he wrote a
+message on a slip of paper.
+
+"Take this to our wireless station," he ordered, handing it to one of
+the men.
+
+The man took it, rose, and went to a wardrobe from which he extracted
+one of the submarine suits. With the message in his hand, he went out
+of the room, buckling on the suit.
+
+A few minutes later the messenger in the submarine suit bobbed up out
+of the water, near the promontory, and climbed slowly over the rocks
+toward a crevice, where he began to take off the diving outfit.
+
+Having finished, he hid the suit among the rocks and then went along to
+the little river, carefully skirting its banks into the ravine in which
+were the falls and the wireless cave.
+
+In her disguise, Elaine had made her way by a sort of instinct along
+the shore to the rocky promontory where we had discovered the message
+in the tin tube in the water.
+
+Something, she knew not what, was going on about there, and she
+reasoned that it was not all over yet. She was right. As she looked
+about keenly she did see something, and she hid among the rocks. It was
+a man, all dripping, in an outlandish helmet and suit.
+
+She saw him slink into a crevice and take off the suit, then, as he
+moved toward the river ravine, she stole up after him.
+
+Suddenly she stopped stark still, surprised, and stared.
+
+The man had actually gone up to the very waterfall. He had pressed what
+looked like a lever and the water over the falls seemed to stop. Then
+he walked directly through into a cave.
+
+In the greatest wonder, Elaine crept along toward the falls. Inside the
+cave Del Mar's emissary started to climb a ladder to an inner cave. As
+he reached the top, he glanced out and saw Elaine by the entrance. With
+an oath he jumped into the inner entrance. His hand reached eagerly for
+a lever in the rocks and as he found and held it, he peered out
+carefully.
+
+Elaine cautiously came from behind a rock where she had hidden herself
+and seeing no one apparently watching, now, advanced until she stood
+directly under the trickle of water which had once been the falls. She
+gazed into the cave, curiously uncertain whether she dared to go in
+alone or not.
+
+The emissary jerked fiercely at the lever as he saw Elaine.
+
+Above the falls a dam had been built and by a system of levers the
+gates could be operated so that the water could be thrown over the
+falls or diverted away, at will. As the man pressed the lever, the
+flood gates worked quickly.
+
+Elaine stood gazing eagerly into the blackness of the cave. Just then a
+great volume of water from above crashed down on her, with almost
+crushing weight.
+
+How she lived through it she never knew. But, fortunately, she had not
+gone quite far enough to get the full force of the water. Still, the
+terrific flood easily overcame her.
+
+She was swept, screaming, down the stream.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Rather alarmed at the strange disappearance of Elaine after I brought
+her home, I had started out along the road to the shore to look for
+her, thinking that she might perhaps have returned there.
+
+As I walked along a young tough--at least at the time I thought it was
+a young tough, so good was the disguise she had assumed and so well did
+she carry it off--slouched past me.
+
+What such a character could be doing in the neighborhood I could not
+see. But he was so noticeably tough that I turned and looked. He kept
+his eyes averted as if afraid of being recognized.
+
+"Great Caesar," I muttered to myself, "that's a roughneck. This place
+is sure getting to be a hang-out for gunmen."
+
+I shrugged my shoulders and continued my walk. It was no business of
+mine. Finding no trace of Elaine, I returned to the house. Aunt
+Josephine was in the library, alone.
+
+"Where's Elaine?" I asked anxiously.
+
+"I don't know," she replied. "I don't think she's at home."
+
+"Well, I can't find her anywhere," I frowned wandering out at a loss
+what to do, and thrusting my hands deep in my pockets as an aid to
+thought.
+
+Somehow, I felt, I didn't seem to get on well as a detective without
+Kennedy. Yet, so far, a kind providence seemed to have watched over us.
+Was it because we were children--or--I rejected that alternative.
+
+Walking along leisurely I made my way down to the shore. At a bridge
+that crossed a rather turbulent stream as it tumbled its way toward the
+sea, I paused and looked at the water reflectively.
+
+Suddenly my vagrant interest was aroused. Up the stream I saw some one
+struggling in the water and shouting for help as the current carried
+her along, screaming.
+
+It was Elaine. The hat and mustache of her disguise were gone and her
+beautiful Titian hair was spread out on the water as it carried her now
+this way, now that, while she struck out with all her strength to keep
+afloat. I did not stop to think how or why she was there. I swung over
+the bridge rail, stripping off my coat, ready to dive. On she came with
+the swift current to the bridge. As she approached I dived. It was not
+a minute too soon. In her struggles she had become thoroughly
+exhausted. She was a good swimmer but the fight with nature was unequal.
+
+I reached her in a second or so and took her hand. Half pulling, half
+shoving her, I struck out for the shore. We managed to make it together
+where the current was not quite so strong and climbed safely up a rock.
+
+Elaine sank down, choking and gasping, not unconscious but pretty much
+all in and exhausted. I looked at her in amazement. She was the tough
+character I had just seen.
+
+"Why, where in the world did you get those togs?" I queried.
+
+"Never mind my clothes, Walter," she gasped. "Take me home for some dry
+ones. I have a clue."
+
+She rose, determined to shake off the effects of her recent plunge and
+went toward the house. As I helped her she related breathlessly what
+she has just seen.
+
+Meanwhile, back of that wall of water, the wireless operator in the
+cave was sending the messages which Del Mar's emissary dictated to him,
+one after another.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+With the high resistance receiving apparatus over his head, Arnold was
+listening to the wireless signals that came over his "radio detective"
+on the yacht, moving the slider back and forth on a sort of tuning
+coil, as he listened. Woodward stood close beside him.
+
+"As you know," Arnold remarked, "by the use of an aerial, messages may
+be easily received from any number of stations. Laws, rules, and
+regulations may be adopted by the government to shut out interlopers
+and to plug busybody ears, but the greater part of whatever is
+transmitted by the Hertzian waves can be snatched down by this wireless
+detective of mine. Here I can sit in my wireless room with this
+ear-phone clamped over my head drinking in news, plucking the secrets
+of others from the sky--in other words, this is eavesdropping by a
+wireless wire-tapper."
+
+"Are you getting anything now?" asked Woodward.
+
+Arnold nodded, as he seized a pencil and started to write. The
+lieutenant bent forward in tense interest. Finally Arnold read what he
+had written and with a peculiar, quiet smile handed it over. Woodward
+read. It was a senseless jumble of dots and dashes of the Morse code
+but, although he was familiar with the code, he could make nothing out
+of it.
+
+"It's the Morse code all right," he said, handing it back with a
+puzzled look, "but it doesn't make any sense."
+
+Arnold smiled again, took the paper, and without a word wrote on it
+some more. Then he handed it back to Woodward. "An old trick," he said.
+"Reverse the dots and dashes and see what you get."
+
+Woodward looked at it, as Arnold had reversed it and his face lighted
+up.
+
+"Harbor successfully mined," he quoted in surprise.
+
+"I'll show you another thing about this radio detective of mine," went
+on Arnold energetically. "It's not only a wave length measurer, but by
+a process of my own I can determine approximately the distance between
+the sending and the receiving points of a message."
+
+He attached another, smaller machine to the wireless detector. In the
+face was a moving finger which swung over a dial marked off in miles
+from one upward. As Arnold adjusted the new detector, the hand began to
+move slowly. Woodward looked eagerly. It did not move far, but came to
+rest above the figure "2."
+
+"Not so very far away, you see, Lieutenant," remarked Arnold, pointing
+at the dial face.
+
+He seized his glass and hurried to the deck, levelling it at the shore,
+leaning far over the rail in his eagerness. As he swept the shore, he
+stopped suddenly. There was a house-roof among the trees with a
+wireless aerial fastened to the chimney, but not quite concealed by the
+dense foliage.
+
+"Look," he cried to Woodward, with an exclamation of satisfaction,
+handing over the glass.
+
+Woodward looked. "A secret wireless station, all right," he agreed,
+lowering the glass after a long look.
+
+"We'd better get over there right away," planned Arnold, leading the
+way to the ladder over the side of the yacht and calling to the sailor
+who had managed the little motor-boat to follow him.
+
+Quickly they skimmed across to the shore. "I think we'd better send to
+the Fort for some men," considered Arnold as they landed. "We may need
+reinforcements before we get through."
+
+Woodward nodded and Arnold hastily wrote a note on a rather large scrap
+of paper which he happened to have in his pocket.
+
+"Take this to Colonel Swift at Fort Dale," he directed the sailor. "And
+hurry!"
+
+The sailor loped off, half on a run, as Arnold and Woodward left down
+the shore, proceeding carefully.
+
+At top speed, Arnold's sailor made his way to Fort Dale and was
+directed by the sentry to Colonel Swift who was standing before the
+headquarters with several officers.
+
+"A message from Lieutenant Woodward and Professor Arnold," he
+announced, approaching the commanding officer and handing him the note.
+Colonel Swift tore it open and read:
+
+Have located radio aerial in the woods along shore. Please send squad
+of men with bearer.--ARNOLD.
+
+"You just left them?" queried the Colonel.
+
+"Yes sir," replied the sailor. "We came ashore in his boat. I don't
+know exactly where they went but I know the direction and we can catch
+up with them easily if we hurry, sir."
+
+The colonel handed the note quickly to a cavalry officer beside him who
+read it, saluted at the orders that followed, turned and strode off,
+hastily stuffing the paper in his belt, as the sailor went, too.
+
+Meanwhile, Del Mar's valet was leaving the bungalow and walking down
+the road on an errand for his master. Up the road he heard the clatter
+of hoofs. He stepped back off the road and from his covert he could see
+a squad of cavalry headed by the captain and a sailor cantering past.
+
+The captain turned in the saddle to speak to the sailor, who rode like
+a horse marine, and as he did so, the turning of his body loosened a
+paper which he had stuffed quickly into his belt. It fell to the
+ground. In their hurry the troop, close behind, rode over it. But it
+did not escape the quick eye of Del Mar's valet.
+
+They had scarcely disappeared around a bend in the road when he stepped
+out and pounced on the paper, reading it eagerly. Every line of his
+face showed fear as he turned and ran back to the bungalow.
+
+"See what I found," he cried breathlessly bursting in on Del Mar who
+was seated at his desk, having returned from the harbor.
+
+Del Mar read it with a scowl of fury. Then he seized his hat, and a
+short hunter's axe, and disappeared through the panel into the
+subterranean passage which took him by the shortest cut through the
+very hill to the shore.
+
+Slowly Arnold and Woodward made their way along the shore, carefully
+searching for the spot where they had seen the house with the aerial.
+At last they came to a place where they could see the deserted house,
+far up on the side of a ravine above a river and a waterfalls. They
+dived into the thick underbrush for cover and went up the hill.
+
+Some distance off from the house, they parted the bushes and gazed off
+across an open space at the ramshackle building. As they looked they
+could see a man hurry across from the opposite direction and into the
+house.
+
+"As I live, I think that's Del Mar," muttered Arnold.
+
+Woodward nodded, doubtfully, though.
+
+In the house, Del Mar hurried to a wall where he found and pressed a
+concealed spring. A small cabinet in the plaster opened and he took out
+a little telephone which he rang and through which he spoke hastily.
+"Pull in the wires," he shouted. "We're discovered, I think."
+
+Down in the wireless station in the cave, the operator at his
+instrument heard the signal of the telephone and quickly answered it.
+"All right, sir," he returned with a look of great excitement and
+anxiety. "Cut the wires and I'll pull them in."
+
+Putting back the telephone, Del Mar ran to the window and looked out
+between the broken slats of the closed blinds. "Confound them!" he
+muttered angrily.
+
+He could see Arnold and Woodward cautiously approaching. A moment later
+he stepped back and pulled a silk mask over his upper face, leaving
+only his eyes visible. Then he seized his hunter's axe and dashed up
+the stairs. Through the scuttle of the roof he came, making his way
+over to the chimney to which the wireless antennae were fastened.
+
+Hastily he cut the wires which ran through the roof from the aerial. As
+he did so he saw them disappear through the roof. Below, in the cave,
+down in the ravine back of the falls, the operator was hastily hauling
+in the wire Del Mar had cut.
+
+Viciously next, Del Mar fell upon the wooden aerial itself, chopping it
+right and left with powerful blows. He broke it off and threw it over
+the roof.
+
+Below, Arnold and Woodward, taking advantage of every tree and shrub
+for concealment, had almost reached the house when the broken aerial
+fell with a bang almost on them. In surprise they dropped back of a
+tree and looked up. But from their position they could see nothing.
+Together they drew their guns and advanced more cautiously at the house.
+
+Del Mar made his way back quickly over the roof, back through the
+scuttle and down the stairs again. Should he go out? He looked out of
+the window. Then he went to the door. An instant he paused thinking and
+listening, his axe raised, ready for a blow.
+
+Arnold and Woodward, by this time, had reached the door which swung
+open on its rusty hinges. Woodward was about to go in when he felt a
+hand on his arm.
+
+"Wait," cautioned Arnold. He took off his hat and jammed it on the end
+of a stick. Slowly he shoved the door open, then thrust the hat and
+stick just a fraction of a foot forward.
+
+Del Mar, waiting, alert, saw the door open and a hat. He struck at it
+hard with the axe and merely the hat and stick fell to the floor.
+
+"Now, come on," shouted Arnold to Woodward.
+
+In the other hand, Del Mar held a chair. As Woodward dashed in with
+Arnold beside him, Del Mar shied the chair at their feet. Woodward fell
+over it in a heap and as he did so the delay was all that Del Mar had
+hoped to gain. Without a second's hesitation he dived through an open
+window, just as Arnold ran forward, avoiding Woodward and the chair. It
+was spectacular, but it worked. Arnold fired, but even that was not
+quick enough. He turned and with Woodward who had picked himself up in
+spite of his barked shins and they ran back through the door by which
+they had entered.
+
+Recovering himself, Del Mar dashed for the woods just as Arnold and
+Woodward ran around the side of the house, still blazing away after
+him, as they followed, rapidly gaining.
+
+Elaine changed her clothes quickly. Meanwhile she had ordered horses
+for both of us and a groom brought them around from the stables. It
+took me only a short time to jump into some dry things and I waited
+impatiently.
+
+She was ready very soon, however, and we mounted and cantered off,
+again in the direction of the shore where she had seen the remarkable
+waterfall, of which she had told me.
+
+We had not gone far when we heard sounds, as if an army were bearing
+down on us. "What's that?" I asked.
+
+Elaine turned and looked. It was a squad of cavalry.
+
+"Why, it's Lieutenant Woodward's friend, Captain Price," she exclaimed,
+waving to the captain at the head of the squad.
+
+A moment later Captain Price pulled up and bowed. Quickly we told him
+of what Elaine had just discovered.
+
+"That's strange," he said. "This man--" indicating the sailor--"has
+just told me that Lieutenant Woodward and Professor Arnold are
+investigating a wireless outfit over near there. Perhaps there's some
+connection."
+
+"May we join you?" she asked.
+
+"By all means," he returned. "I was about to suggest it myself."
+
+We fell in behind with the rest and were off again.
+
+Under the direction of the sailor we came at last to the ravine where
+we looked about searchingly for some trace of Arnold and Woodward.
+
+"What's that noise?" exclaimed one of the cavalrymen.
+
+We could hear shots, above us.
+
+"They may need us," cried Elaine, impatiently.
+
+It was impossible to ride up the sheer height above.
+
+"Dismount," ordered Captain Price.
+
+His men jumped down and we followed him. Elaine struggled up, now
+helped by me, now helping me.
+
+Further down the hill from the deserted house which we could see above
+us at the top was an underground passage which had been built to divert
+part of the water above the falls for power. Through it the water
+surged and over this boiling stream ran a board walk, the length of the
+tunnel.
+
+Into this tunnel we could see that a masked man had made his way. As he
+did so, he turned for just a moment and fired a volley of shots.
+
+Elaine screamed. There were Arnold and Woodward, his targets, coming on
+boldly, as yet unhit. They rushed in after him, in spite of his running
+fire, returning his shots and darting toward the tunnel entrance
+through which he still blazed back at them.
+
+From our end of the ravine, we could see precisely what was going on.
+"Come--the other end of the tunnel," shouted Price, who had evidently
+been over the ground and knew it.
+
+We made our way quickly to it and it seemed as if we had our man
+trapped, like a rat in a hole.
+
+In the tunnel the man was firing back at his pursuers as he ran along
+the board walk for our end. He looked up just in time as he approached
+us. There he could see Price and his cavalry waiting, cutting off
+retreat. We were too many for him. He turned and took a step back.
+There were Arnold and Woodward with levelled guns peering in as though
+they could not see very clearly. In a moment their eyes would become
+accustomed as his to the darkness. What should he do? There was not a
+second to waste. He looked down at the planks beneath him and the black
+water slipping past on its way to the power station. It was a desperate
+chance. But it was all that was left. He dropped down and let himself
+without even a splash into the water.
+
+Arnold and Woodward took a step into the darkness, scarcely knowing
+what to expect, their eyes a bit better accustomed to the dusk. But if
+they had been there an hour, in all probability they could not have
+seen what was at their very feet.
+
+Del Mar had sunk and was swimming under water in the swift black
+current sweeping under them. As they entered, he passed out, nerved up
+to desperation.
+
+Down the stream, just before it took its final plunge to the power
+wheel, Del Mar managed by a superhuman effort to reach out and grasp a
+wooden support of the flooring again and pull himself out of the
+stream. Smiling grimly to himself, he hurried up the bank.
+
+"Some one's coming," whispered Price. "Get ready."
+
+We levelled our guns. I was about to fire.
+
+"Look out! Don't shoot!" warned a voice sharply. It was Elaine. Her
+keen eyes and quick perception had recognized Arnold, leading Woodward.
+We lowered our guns.
+
+"Did you see a man, masked, come out here?" cried Woodward.
+
+"No--he must have gone your way," we called.
+
+"No, he couldn't."
+
+Arnold was eagerly questioning the captain as Elaine and I approached.
+"Dropped into the water--risked almost certain death," he muttered,
+half turning and seeing us.
+
+"I want to congratulate you on your nerve for going in there," began
+Elaine, advancing toward the professor.
+
+Apparently he neither heard nor saw us, for he turned as soon as he had
+finished with Price and went into the cave as though he were too busy
+to pay any attention to anything else.
+
+Elaine looked up at me, in blank astonishment.
+
+"What an impolite man," she murmured, gazing at the figure all stooped
+over as it disappeared in the darkness of the tunnel.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE DEATH CLOUD
+
+
+Off a lonely wharf in a deserted part of the coast some miles from the
+promontory which afforded Del Mar his secret submarine harbor, a ship
+was riding at anchor.
+
+On the wharf a group of men, husky lascars, were straining their eyes
+at the mysterious craft.
+
+"Here she comes," muttered one of the men, "at last."
+
+From the ship a large yawl had put out. As she approached the wharf it
+could be seen that she was loaded to the gunwales with cases and boxes.
+She drew up close to the wharf and the men fell to unloading her,
+lifting up the boxes as though they were weighted with feathers instead
+of metal and explosives.
+
+Down the shore, at the same time, behind a huge rock, crouched a rough
+looking tramp. His interest in the yawl and its cargo was even keener
+than that of the lascars.
+
+"Supplies," he muttered, moving back cautiously and up the bluff. "I
+wonder where they are taking them?"
+
+Marcus Del Mar had chosen an old and ruined hotel not far from the
+shore as his storehouse and arsenal. Already he was there, pacing up
+and down the rotted veranda which shook under his weight.
+
+"Come, hurry up," he called impatiently as the first of the men
+carrying a huge box on his back made his appearance up the hill.
+
+One after another they trooped in and Del Mar led them to the hotel,
+unlocking the door.
+
+Inside, the old hostelry was quite as ramshackle as outside. What had
+once been the dining-room now held nothing but a long, rickety table
+and several chairs.
+
+"Put them there," ordered Del Mar, directing the disposal of the cases.
+"Then you can begin work. I shall be back soon."
+
+He went out and as he did so, two men seized guns from a corner near-by
+and followed him. On the veranda he paused and turned to the men.
+
+"If any one approaches the house--any one, you understand--make him a
+prisoner and send for me," he ordered. "If he resists, shoot."
+
+"Yes, sir," they replied, moving over and stationing themselves one at
+each angle of the narrow paths that ran before the old house.
+
+Del Mar turned and plunged deliberately into the bushes, as if for a
+cross country walk, unobserved.
+
+Meanwhile, by another path up the bluff, the tramp had made his way
+parallel to the line taken by the men. He paused at the top of the
+bluff where some bushes overhung and parted them.
+
+"Their headquarters," he remarked to himself, under his breath.
+
+ Elaine, Aunt Josephine and I were on the lawn that forenoon when
+a groom in resplendent livery came up to us.
+
+"Miss Elaine Dodge?" he bowed.
+
+Elaine took the note he offered and he departed with another bow.
+
+"Oh, isn't that delightful," she cried with pleasure, handing the note
+to me.
+
+I read it: "The Wilkeshire Country Club will be honored if Miss Dodge
+and her friends will join the paper chase this afternoon. L.H. Brown,
+Secretary."
+
+"I suppose a preparation for the fox or drag hunting season?" I queried.
+
+"Yes," she replied. "Will you go?"
+
+"I don't ride very well," I answered, "but I'll go."
+
+"Oh, and here's Mr. Del Mar," she added, turning. "You'll join us at
+the Wilkeshire hunt in a paper chase this afternoon, surely, Mr. Del
+Mar?"
+
+"Charmed, I'm sure," he agreed gracefully.
+
+For several minutes we chatted, planning, then he withdrew. "I shall
+meet you on the way to the Club," he promised.
+
+It was not long before Elaine was ready, and from the stable a groom
+led three of the best trained cross-country horses in the neighborhood,
+for old Taylor Dodge, Elaine's father, had been passionately fond of
+hunting, as had been both Elaine and Aunt Josephine.
+
+We met on the porch and a few minutes later mounted and cantered away.
+On the road Del Mar joined us and we galloped along to the Hunt Club,
+careful, however, to save the horses as much as possible for the dash
+over the fields.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+For some time the uncouth tramp continued gazing fixedly out of the
+bushes at the deserted hotel.
+
+Suddenly, he heard a noise and dropped flat on the ground, looking
+keenly about. Through the trees he could see one of Del Mar's men
+stationed on sentry duty. He was leaning against a tree, on the alert.
+
+The tramp rose cautiously and moved off in another direction to that in
+which he had been making his way, endeavoring to flank the sentry.
+Further along, however, another of Del Mar's men was standing in the
+same attentive manner near a path that led from the woods.
+
+As the tramp approached, the sentry heard a crackle of the brush and
+stepped forward. Before the tramp knew it, he was covered by a rifle
+from the sentry in an unexpected quarter.
+
+Any one but the sentry, with half an eye, might have seen that the fear
+he showed was cleverly feigned. He threw his hands above his head even
+before he was ordered and in general was the most tractable captive
+imaginable. The sentry blew a whistle, whereat the other sentry ran in.
+
+"What shall we do with him," asked the captor.
+
+"Master's orders to take any one to the rendezvous," responded the
+other firmly, "and lock him up."
+
+Together they forced the tramp to march double quick toward the old
+hotel. One sentry dropped back at the door and the other drove the
+tramp before him into the hotel, avoiding the big room on the side
+where the men were at work and forcing him up-stairs to the attic which
+had once been the servant's quarters.
+
+There was no window in the room and it was empty. The only light came
+in through a skylight in the roof.
+
+The sentry thrust the tramp into this room and tried a door leading to
+the next room. It was locked. At the point of his gun the sentry
+frisked the tramp for weapons, but found none. As he did so the tramp
+trembled mightily. But no sooner had the sentry gone than the tramp
+smiled quietly to himself. He tried both doors. They were locked. Then
+he looked at the skylight and meditated.
+
+Down below, although he did not know it, in the bare dining-room which
+had been arranged into a sort of chemical laboratory, Del Mar's men
+were engaged in manufacturing gas bombs much like those used in the war
+in Europe. Before them was a formidable array of bottles and retorts.
+The containers for the bombs were large and very brittle globes of hard
+rubber. As the men made the gas and forced it under tremendous pressure
+into tubes, they protected themselves by wearing goggles for the eyes
+and large masks of cloth and saturated cotton over their mouths and
+noses.
+
+Satisfied with the safety of his captive, the sentry made his way
+down-stairs and out again to report to Del Mar.
+
+At the bungalow, Del Mar's valet was setting the library in order when
+he heard a signal in the secret passage. He pressed the button on the
+desk and opened the panel. From it the sentry entered.
+
+"Where is Mr. Del Mar?" he asked hurriedly, looking around. "We've been
+followed to the headquarters by a tramp whom I've captured, and I don't
+know what to do with him."
+
+"He is not here," answered the valet. "He has gone to the Country Club."
+
+"Confound it," returned the sentry, vexed at the enforced waste of
+time. "Do you think you can reach him?"
+
+"If I hurry, I may," nodded the valet.
+
+"Then do so," directed the sentry.
+
+He moved back into the panel and disappeared while the valet closed it.
+A moment later he, too, picked up his hat and hurried out.
+
+At the Wilkeshire Club a large number of hunters had arrived for the
+imitation meet. Elaine, Aunt Josephine, Del Mar and myself rode up and
+were greeted by them as the Master of Fox Hounds assembled us. Off a
+bit, a splendid pack of hounds was held by the huntsman while they
+debated whether to hold a paper chase or to try a drag hunt.
+
+"You start your cross-country riding early," commented Del Mar.
+
+"Yes," answered Elaine. "You see we can hardly wait until autumn and
+the weather is so fine and cool, we feel that we ought to get into trim
+during the summer. So we have paper chases and drag hunts as soon as we
+can, mainly to please the younger set."
+
+The chase was just about to start, when the valet came up. Del Mar
+caught his eye and excused himself to us. What he said, we could not
+hear, but Del Mar frowned, nodded and dismissed him.
+
+Just then the horn sounded and we went off, dashing across the road
+into a field in full chase after the hounds, taking the fences and
+settling down to a good half hour's run over the most beautiful country
+I have ever seen.
+
+The hounds had struck the trail, which of course, as was finally
+decided, was nothing but that laid by an anise-seed bag dragged over
+the ground. It was none the less, in fact perhaps more interesting for
+that.
+
+The huntsman winded his horn and mirthful shouts of "Gone away!"
+sounded in imitation of a real hunt. The blast of the horn once heard
+is never forgotten, thrilling the blood and urging one on.
+
+The M. F. H. seemed to be everywhere at once, restraining those who
+were too eager and saving the hounds often from being ridden down by
+those new to the hunt who pressed them.
+
+Elaine was one of the foremost. Her hunter was one carefully trained,
+and she knew all the tricks of the game.
+
+Somehow, I got separated, at first, from the rest and followed, until
+finally I caught up, and then kept behind one of the best riders.
+
+Del Mar also got separated, but, as I afterward learned, by intention,
+for he deliberately rode out of the course at the first opportunity he
+had and let Elaine and the rest of us pass without seeing him.
+
+Elaine's blood was up, but somehow, in spite of herself, she went
+astray, for the hounds had distanced the fleetest riders and she, in an
+attempt at a short cut over the country which she thought she knew so
+well, went a mile or so out of the way.
+
+She pulled up in a ravine and looked about. Intently she listened.
+There was no sign of the hunt. She was hot and tired and thirsty and,
+at a loss just to join the field again, she took this chance to
+dismount and drink from a clear stream fed by mountain springs.
+
+As she did so, floating over the peaceful woodland air came the faint
+strains of the huntsman's horn, far, far off. She looked about,
+straining her eyes and ears to catch the direction of sound. Just then
+her horse caught the winding of the horn. His ears went erect and
+without waiting he instantly galloped off, leaving her. Elaine called
+and ran after him, but it was too late. She stopped and looked
+dejectedly as he disappeared. Then she made her way up the side of the
+ravine, slowly.
+
+On she climbed until, to her surprise, she came to the ruins of an old
+hotel. She remembered, as a child, when it had been famous as a health
+resort, but it was all changed now--a wreck. She looked at it a moment,
+then, as she had nothing better to do, approached it.
+
+She advanced toward a window of the dining-room and looked in.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Del Mar waited only until the last straggler had passed. Then he dashed
+off as fast as his horse would carry him straight toward the deserted
+hotel which served him as headquarters for the supplies he was
+accumulating. As he rode up, one of his sentries appeared, as if from
+nowhere, and, seeing who it was, saluted.
+
+"Here, take care of this horse," ordered Del Mar, dismounting and
+turning the animal over to the man, who led him to the rear of the
+building as Del Mar entered the front door, after giving a secret
+signal.
+
+There were his men in goggles and masks at the work, which his knock
+had interrupted.
+
+"Give me a mask before I enter the room," he ordered of the man who had
+answered his signal.
+
+The man handed the mask and goggles to him, as well as a coat, which he
+put on quickly. Then he entered the room and looked at the rapid
+progress of the work.
+
+"Where's the prisoner?" asked Del Mar a moment later, satisfied at the
+progress of his men.
+
+"In the attic room," one of his lieutenants indicated.
+
+"I'd like to take a look at him," added Del Mar, just about to turn and
+leave the room.
+
+As he did so, he happened to glance at one of the windows. There,
+peering through the broken shutters, was a face--a girl's face--Elaine!
+
+"Just what I wanted guarded against," he cried angrily, pointing at the
+window. "Now--get her!"
+
+The men had sprung up at his alarm. They could all see her and with one
+accord dashed for the door. Elaine sprang back and they ran as they saw
+that she was warned. In genuine fear now she too ran from the window.
+But it was too late.
+
+For just then the sentry who had taken Del Mar's horse came from behind
+the building cutting off her retreat. He seized her just as the other
+men ran out. Elaine stared. She could make nothing of them. Even Del
+Mar, in his goggles and breathing mask was unrecognizable.
+
+"Take her inside," he ordered disguising his voice. Then to the sentry
+he added, "Get on guard again and don't let any one through."
+
+Elaine was hustled into the big deserted hallway of the hotel, just as
+the tramp had been.
+
+"You may go back to work," Del Mar signed to the other men, who went
+on, leaving one short but athletic looking fellow with Del Mar and
+Elaine.
+
+"Lock her up, Shorty," ordered Del Mar, "and bring the other prisoner
+to me down here."
+
+None too gently the man forced Elaine up-stairs ahead of him.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+In the attic, the tramp, pacing up and down, heard footsteps approach
+on the stairs and enter the next room.
+
+Quickly he ran to the doorway and peered through the keyhole. There he
+could see Elaine and the small man enter. He locked the door to the
+hall, then quickly took a step toward the door into the tramp's room.
+
+There was just time enough for the tramp to see his approach. He ran
+swiftly and softly over to the further corner and dropped down as if
+sound asleep. The key turned in the lock and the small man entered,
+careful to lock the door to Elaine's room. He moved over to where the
+tramp was feigning sleep.
+
+"Get up," he growled, kicking him.
+
+The tramp sat up, yawning and rubbing his eyes. "Come now, be
+reasonable," demanded the man. "Follow me."
+
+He started toward the door into the hall. He never reached it. Scarcely
+was his hand on the knob when the tramp seized him and dragged him to
+the floor. One hand on the man's throat and his knees on his chest, the
+tramp tore off the breathing mask and goggles. Already he had the man
+trussed up and gagged.
+
+Quickly the tramp undressed the man and left him in his underclothes,
+still struggling to get loose, as he took Shorty's clothes, including
+the strange head-gear, and unlocked the door into the next room with
+the key he also took from him.
+
+Elaine was pacing anxiously up and down the little room into which she
+had been thrown, greatly frightened.
+
+Suddenly the door through which her captor had left opened hurriedly
+again. A most disreputable looking tramp entered and locked the door
+again. Elaine started back in fear.
+
+He motioned to her to be quiet. "You'll never get out alive," he
+whispered, speaking rapidly and thickly, as though to disguise his
+voice. "Here--take these clothes. Do just as I say. Put them on. Put on
+the mask and goggles. Cover up your hair. It is your only chance."
+
+He laid the clothes down and went out into the hallway. Outside he
+listened carefully at the head of the stairs and looked about expecting
+momentarily to be discovered.
+
+Elaine understood only that suddenly a friend in need had appeared. She
+changed her clothes quickly, finding fortunately that they fitted her
+pretty well. By pulling the hat over her hair and the goggles over her
+eyes and tying on the breathing mask, she made a very presentable man.
+
+Cautiously she pushed open the door into the hallway. There was the
+tramp. "What shall I do?" she asked.
+
+"Don't talk," he whispered close to her ear. "Go out--and if you meet
+any one, just salute and walk past."
+
+"Yes--yes, I understand," she nodded back, "and--thank you."
+
+He gave her no time to say more, even if it had been safe, but turned
+and locked the door of her room.
+
+Trying to keep the old stairway from creaking and betraying her, she
+went down. She managed to reach the lower hallway without seeing
+anybody or being discovered. Quietly she went to the door and out. She
+had not gone far when she met an armed man, the sentry, who had been
+concealed in the shrubbery.
+
+"Who goes there?" he challenged.
+
+Elaine did not betray herself by speaking, but merely saluted and
+passed on as fast as she could without exciting further suspicion.
+Nonplused, the man turned and watched her curiously as she moved away
+down the path.
+
+"Where's HE going?" the sentry muttered, still staring.
+
+Elaine in her eagerness was not looking as carefully where she was
+going as she was thinking about getting away in safety. Suddenly an
+overhanging branch of a tree caught her hat and before she knew it
+pulled it off her head. There was no concealing her golden hair now.
+
+"Stop!" shouted the sentry.
+
+Elaine did not pause, but dived into the bushes on the side of the
+path, just as the man fired and ran forward, still shouting for her to
+halt. She ran as fast as she could, pulling off the goggles and mask
+and looking back now and then in terror at her pursuer who was rapidly
+gaining on her.
+
+Before she could catch herself she missed her footing and slipped over
+the edge of a gorge. Down she went, with a rush. It was unfortunate,
+dangerous, but, after all, it was the only thing that saved her, at
+least for the time. Half falling, half sliding, scratching herself and
+tearing her clothes, she descended.
+
+The sentry checked himself just in time at the top of the gorge and
+leaned as far over the edge as he dared. He raised his gun again and
+fired. But Elaine's course was so hidden by the trees and so zigzag
+that he missed again. A moment he hesitated, then started and climbed
+down after her as fast as he could.
+
+At the bottom of the hill she picked herself up and dashed again into
+the woods, the sentry still after her and gaining again.
+
+At the same time, we who were still in the chase had circled about the
+country until we were very near where we started. Following the dogs
+over a rail fence, I drew up suddenly, hearing a scream.
+
+There was Elaine, on foot, running as if her life depended on it. I
+needed no second glance. Behind her was a man with a rifle, almost
+overtaking her.
+
+As luck would have it, the momentum of my horse carried me right at
+them. Careful to avoid Elaine, I rode square at the man, striking at
+him viciously with my riding crop before he knew what had struck him.
+
+The fellow dropped, stunned. I leaped from my horse and ran to her,
+just as the rest of the hunt came up.
+
+Eagerly questioning us, they gathered about.
+
+Having waited until he was sure that Elaine had got away safely, the
+old tramp slowly and carefully followed down the stairs of the ruined
+hotel.
+
+As he went down, he heard a shot from the woods. Could it be one of the
+sentries? He looked about keenly, hesitating just what to do.
+
+In an instant, down below, he heard the scurry of footsteps from the
+improvised laboratory and shouts. He turned and stealthily ran
+up-stairs, just as the door opened.
+
+The tramp had not been the only one who had been alarmed by the shot of
+the sentry.
+
+Del Mar was talking again to the men when it rang out. "What's that?"
+he exclaimed. "Another intruder?"
+
+The men stared at him blankly, while Del Mar dashed for the door,
+followed by them all. In the hall he issued his orders quickly.
+
+"Here, you fellows," he called dividing the men, "get outside and see
+what is doing. You other men follow me. I want you to see if
+everything's all right up above."
+
+Meanwhile the tramp had gained the upper hallway and dashed past the
+room which he occupied. Outside, in the hall, Del Mar and his men
+rushed up to the door of the room in which Elaine had been thrown. It
+was locked and they broke in. She was gone!
+
+On into the next room they dashed, bearing down this door also. There
+was Shorty, trussed up in his underclothes. They hastened to release
+him.
+
+"Where are they--where's the tramp?" demanded Del Mar angrily.
+
+"I think I heard some one on the roof," replied Shorty weakly. He was
+right. The tramp had managed to get through a scuttle on the roof. Then
+he climbed down to the edge and began to let himself hand over hand
+down the lightning rod.
+
+Reaching the ground safely, he scurried about to the back of the
+building. There, tied, was the horse which Del Mar had ridden to the
+hunt. He untied it, mounted and dashed off down the path through the
+woods, taking the shortest cut in the direction of Fort Dale.
+
+Dusty and flecked with foam, the tramp and his mount, a strange
+combination, were instantly challenged by the sentry at the Fort.
+
+"I must see Lieutenant Woodward immediately," urged the tramp.
+
+A heated argument followed until finally a corporal of the guards was
+called and led off the tramp toward the headquarters.
+
+It was only a few minutes before Woodward was convinced of the identity
+of the tramp with his friend, Professor Arnold. At the head of a squad
+of cavalry, Woodward and the tramp dashed off.
+
+Already on the qui vive, Elaine heard the sound of hoof-beats long
+before the rest of us crowded around her. For the moment we all stood
+ready to repel an attack from any quarter.
+
+But it was not meant for us. It was Woodward at the head of a score or
+so of cavalrymen. With him rode a tramp on a horse which was strangely
+familiar to me.
+
+"Oh," cried Elaine, "there's the man who saved me!"
+
+As they passed, the tramp paused a moment and looked at us sharply.
+Although he carefully avoided Elaine's eyes, I fancied that only when
+he saw that she was safe was he satisfied to gallop off and rejoin the
+cavalry.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Around the old hotel, in every direction, Del Mar's men were searching
+for the tramp and Elaine, while in the hotel another search was in
+progress.
+
+"Have you discovered anything?" asked Del Mar, entering.
+
+"No, sir," they reported.
+
+"Confound it!" swore Del Mar, going up-stairs again.
+
+Here also were men searching. "Find anything?" he asked briefly.
+
+"No luck," returned one.
+
+Del Mar went on up to the top floor and out through the open scuttle to
+the roof. "That's how he got away, all right," he muttered to himself,
+then looking up he exclaimed under his breath, as his eye caught
+something far off, "The deuce--what's that?"
+
+Leaning down to the scuttle, he called, "Jenkins--my
+field-glasses--quick!"
+
+One of his men handed them to him and he adjusted them, gazing off
+intently. There he could see what looked like a squad of cavalry
+galloping along headed by an officer and a rough looking individual.
+
+"Come--we must get ready for an attack!" he shouted diving down the
+scuttle again.
+
+In the laboratory dining-room, his men, recalled, hastily took his
+orders. Each of them seized one of the huge black rubber newly
+completed gas bombs and ran out, making for a grove near-by.
+
+Quickly as Del Mar had acted, it was not done so fast but that the
+troop of cavalry as they pulled up on the top of a hill and followed
+the directing finger of the tramp could see men running to the cover of
+the grove.
+
+"Forward!" shouted Woodward.
+
+As if all were one machine, the men and horses shot ahead, until they
+came to the grove about the old hotel. There they dismounted and spread
+out in a semi-circular order, advancing on the grove. As they did so,
+shots rang out from behind the trees. Del Mar's men, from the shelter
+were firing at them. But it seemed hopeless for the fugitives.
+
+"Ready!" ordered Del Mar as the cavalrymen advanced, relentless.
+
+Each of his men picked up one of the big black gas bombs and held it
+high up over his head.
+
+"Come on!" urged Woodward.
+
+His men broke into a charge on the grove.
+
+"Throw them!" ordered Del Mar.
+
+As far as he could hurl it, each of the men sent one of the black
+globes hurtling through the air. They fell almost simultaneously, a
+long line of them, each breaking into a thousand bits. Instantly dense,
+greenish-yellow fumes seemed to pour forth, enveloping everything. The
+wind which Del Mar had carefully noted when he chose the position in
+the grove, was blowing from his men toward the only position from which
+an attack could be made successfully.
+
+Against Woodward's men as they charged, it seemed as if a tremendous,
+slow-moving wall of vapor were advancing from the trees. It was only a
+moment before it completely wrapped them in its stifling, choking,
+suffocating embrace. Some fell, overcome. Others tried to run,
+clutching frantically at their throats and rubbing their eyes.
+
+"Get back--quick--till it rolls over," choked Woodward.
+
+Those who were able to do so, picked up their stupefied comrades and
+retreated, as best they could, stumbling blindly back from the fearful
+death cloud of chlorine.
+
+Meantime, under cover of this weird defence, Del Mar and his men, their
+own faces covered and unrecognizable in their breathing masks and
+goggles, dashed to one side, with a shout and disappeared walking and
+running behind and even through the safety of their impregnable gas
+barrier.
+
+More slowly we of the hunt had followed Woodward's cavalry until, some
+distance off, we stood, witnessing and wondering at the attack. To our
+utter amazement we saw them carrying off their wounded and stupefied
+men. We hurried forward and gathered about, offering whatever
+assistance we could to resuscitate them.
+
+As Elaine and I helped, we saw the unkempt figure of the tramp borne in
+and laid down. He was not completely overcome, having had presence of
+mind to tie a handkerchief over his nose and mouth.
+
+Elaine hurried toward him with an exclamation of sympathy. Just
+recovering full consciousness, he heard her.
+
+With the greatest difficulty, he seemed to summon some reserve force
+not yet used. He struggled to his feet and staggered off, as though he
+would escape us.
+
+"What a strange old codger," mused Elaine, looking from me at the
+retreating figure. "He saved my life--yet he won't even let me thank
+him--or help him!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE SEARCHLIGHT GUN
+
+
+"I don't understand it," remarked Elaine one day as, with Aunt
+Josephine and myself, she was discussing the strange events that had
+occurred since the disappearance of Kennedy, "but, somehow, it is as if
+a strange Providence seems to be watching over us."
+
+"Nor do I," I agreed. "It does seem that, although we do not see it, a
+mysterious power for good is about us. It's uncanny."
+
+"A package for you, Miss Dodge," announced Marie, coming in with a
+small parcel which had been delivered by a messenger who did not wait
+for an answer.
+
+Elaine took it, looked at it, turned it over, and then looked at the
+written address again.
+
+"It's not the handwriting of any one which I recognize," she mused.
+"Now, I suppose I ought to be suspicious of it Yet, I'm going to open
+it."
+
+She did so. Inside, the paper wrapping covered a pasteboard box. She
+opened that. There lay a revolver, which she picked up and turned over.
+It was a curious looking weapon.
+
+"I never knew so much about firearms as I have learned in the past few
+weeks," remarked Elaine. "But what do you suppose this is--and who sent
+it to me--and why?"
+
+She held the gun up. From the barrel stuck out a little rolled-up piece
+of paper. "See," she cried, reading and handing the paper to me, "there
+it is again--that mysterious power."
+
+Aunt Josephine and I read the note:
+
+DEAR MISS DODGE:
+
+This weapon shoots exactly into the center of the light disc. Keep it
+by you.--A FRIEND.
+
+"Let me see it," I asked, taking the gun. Sure enough, along the barrel
+was a peculiar tube. "A searchlight gun," I exclaimed, puzzled, though
+still my suspicions were not entirely at rest. "Suppose it's sighted
+wrong," I could not help considering. "It might be a plant to save some
+one from being shot."
+
+"That's easily settled," returned Elaine. "Let's try it."
+
+"Oh, mercy no,--not here," remonstrated Aunt Josephine.
+
+"Why not--down cellar?" persisted Elaine. "It can't hurt anything
+there."
+
+"I think it would be a good plan," I agreed, "just to make sure that it
+is all right."
+
+Accordingly we three went down cellar. There, Elaine found the light
+switch and turned it. Eagerly I hunted about for a mark. There, in some
+rubbish that had not yet been carted away, was a small china plate. I
+set it up on a small shelf across the room and took the gun. But Elaine
+playfully wrenched it from my hand.
+
+"No," she insisted, "it was sent to me. Let me try it first."
+
+Reluctantly I consented.
+
+"Switch off the light, Walter, please," she directed, standing a few
+paces from the plate.
+
+I did so. In the darkness Elaine pointed the gun and pulled a little
+ratchet. Instantly a spot of light showed on the wall. She moved the
+revolver and the spot of light moved with it. As it rested on a little
+decorative figure in the center of the plate, she pulled the trigger.
+The gun exploded with a report, deafening, in the confined cellar.
+
+I switched on the light and we ran forward. There was the
+plate--smashed into a hundred bits. The bullet had struck exactly in
+the centre of the little bull's-eye of light.
+
+"Splendid," cried Elaine enthusiastically, as we looked at each other
+in surprise.
+
+Though none of us guessed it, half an hour before, in the seclusion of
+his yacht, Woodward's friend, Professor Arnold, had been standing with
+the long barrelled gun in his hand, adjusting the tube which ran
+beneath the barrel.
+
+In one hand he held the gun; in the other was a piece of paper. As he
+brought the paper before the muzzle and pressed a ratchet by gripping
+the revolver handle, a distinct light appeared on the paper, thrown out
+from the tube under the barrel.
+
+Having adjusted the tube and sighted it, Arnold wrote a hasty note on
+another piece of paper and inserted it into the barrel of the gun, with
+the end sticking out just a bit. Then he wrapped the whole thing up in
+a box, rang a bell, and handed the package to a servant with explicit
+instructions as to its delivery to the right person and only to that
+person.
+
+Down in the submarine harbor, Del Mar was in conference with his board
+of strategy and advice, laying the plan for the attack on America.
+
+"Ever since we have been at work," he remarked, "Elaine Dodge has been
+busy hindering and frustrating us. That girl must go!"
+
+Before him, on the table, he placed a square package. "It must stop,"
+he added ominously, tapping the package.
+
+"But how?" asked one of the men. "We've done our best."
+
+"This is a bomb," replied Del Mar, continuing to tap the package. "When
+our man--let me see, X had better do it,--arrives, have him look in the
+secret cavern by the landing-place. There I will leave it. I want him
+to put it in her house to-night."
+
+He handed the bomb to one of his men who took it gingerly. Then with a
+few more words of admonition, he took up his diving helmet and left the
+headquarters, followed by the man.
+
+Several minutes later, Del Mar, alone, emerged from the water just
+outside the submarine harbor and took off his helmet.
+
+He made his way over the rocks, carrying the bomb, until he came to a
+little fissure in the rocks, like a cavern. There he hid the bomb
+carefully. Still carrying the helmet, he hurried along until he came to
+the cave entrance that led to the secret passage to the panel in his
+bungalow library. Up through the secret passage he went, reaching the
+panel and opening it by a spring.
+
+In the library Del Mar changed his wet clothes and hid them, then set
+to work on an accumulation of papers on his desk.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+That afternoon, Elaine decided to go for a little ride through the
+country in her runabout.
+
+As she started to leave her room, dressed for the trip, it was as
+though a premonition of danger came to her. She paused, then turned
+back and took from the drawer the searchlight gun which had been sent
+to her. She slipped it into the pocket of her skirt and went out.
+
+Off she drove at a fast clip, thoroughly enjoying the ride until, near
+a bend in the road, as it swept down toward the shore, she stopped and
+got out, attracted by some wild flowers. They grew in such profusion
+that it seemed no time before she had a bunch of them. On she wandered,
+down to the rocks, watching the restless waters of the Sound. Finally
+she found herself walking alone along the shore, one arm full of
+flowers, while with her free hand she amused herself by skimming flat
+stones over the water.
+
+As she turned to pick up one, her eye caught something in the rocks and
+she stared at it. There in a crevice, as though it had been hidden, was
+a strange square package. She reached down and picked it up. What could
+it be?
+
+While she was examining it, back of her, another of those strange
+be-helmeted figures came up out of the water. It watched her for an
+instant, then sank back into the water again.
+
+Elaine, holding the package in her hand, walked up the shore, oblivious
+to the strange eye that had been fixed on her.
+
+"I must show this to Lieutenant Woodward," she said to herself.
+
+In the car she placed the package, then jumped in herself carefully and
+started off.
+
+A moment after she had gone, the diver reappeared, looking about
+cautiously. This time the coast was clear and he came all the way out,
+taking off his helmet and placed it in the secret hiding-place which
+Del Mar and his men used. Then, with another glance, now of anger, in
+the direction of Elaine, he hurried up the shore.
+
+Meanwhile, as fast as her light runabout would carry her, Elaine
+whizzed over to Fort Dale.
+
+As she entered the grounds, the sentry saluted her, though that part of
+the formalities of admission was purely perfunctory, for every one at
+the Fort knew her now.
+
+"Is Lieutenant Woodward in?" she inquired.
+
+"Yes ma'am," returned the sentry. "I will send for him."
+
+A corporal appeared and took a message for her to Woodward. It was only
+a few minutes before Lieutenant Woodward himself appeared.
+
+"What is the trouble, Miss Dodge?" he asked solicitously, noting the
+look on her face.
+
+"I don't know what it is," she replied dubiously. "I've found something
+among the rocks. Perhaps it is a bomb."
+
+Woodward looked at the package, studying it. "Professor Arnold is
+investigating this affair for us," he remarked. "Perhaps you'd better
+take the package to him on his yacht. I'm sorry I can't go with you,
+but just now I'm on duty."
+
+"That's a good idea," she agreed. "Only I'm sorry you can't go along
+with me."
+
+She started up the car and drove off as Woodward turned back to the
+Fort with a lingering look.
+
+Del Mar was hard at work in the library when, suddenly, he heard a
+sound at the panel. He reached over and pressed a button on his desk,
+and the panel opened. Through it came the diver still wearing his
+dripping suit and carrying the weird helmet under his arm.
+
+"That Dodge girl has crossed us again!" he exclaimed excitedly.
+
+"How?" demanded Del Mar, with an oath.
+
+"I saw her on the rocks just now. She happened to stumble on the bomb
+which you left there to be placed."
+
+"And then?" demanded Del Mar.
+
+"She took it with her in her car."
+
+"The deuce!" ejaculated the foreign agent, furiously. "You must get the
+men out and hunt the country thoroughly. She must not escape now at any
+cost."
+
+The diving man dove back into the panel to escape Del Mar's wrath,
+while Del Mar hurried out, leaving his valet in the library.
+
+Quickly, Del Mar made his way to a secret hiding-place in the hills
+back of the bay. There he found his picked band of men armed with
+rifles.
+
+As briefly as he could he told them of what had happened. "We must get
+her this time--dead or alive," he ordered. "Now scatter about the
+country. Keep in touch with each other and when you find her, close in
+on her at any cost."
+
+The men saluted and left in various directions to scour the country.
+Del Mar himself picked up a rifle and followed shortly, passing down a
+secret trail to the road where he had a car with a chauffeur waiting.
+Still carrying the rifle, he climbed in and the man shot the car along
+down the road.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+On the top of a hill one of the men was posted as a sort of lookout.
+Gazing over the country carefully, his eye was finally arrested by
+something at which he stared eagerly. Far away, on the road, he could
+see a car in which was a girl, alone. Waving in the breeze was a red
+feather in her hat. He looked more sharply. It was Elaine Dodge.
+
+The man turned and waved a signal with a handkerchief to another man
+far off. Down the valley another of Del Mar's men was waiting and
+watching. As soon as he saw the signal, he waved back and ran along the
+road.
+
+As Del Mar whizzed along, he could see one of his men approaching over
+the road, waving to him. "Stop!" he ordered his driver.
+
+The man hurried forward. "I've got the signal," he panted. "They have
+seen her car over the hill."
+
+"Good," exclaimed Del Mar, pulling a black silk mask over his eyes.
+"Now, get off quickly. We've got to catch her."
+
+They sped away again in a cloud of dust.
+
+But even while Del Mar was speeding toward her, another of his men had
+discovered her presence, so vigilant were they.
+
+He had been keeping a sharp watch on the road, when he was suddenly all
+attention. He saw a car, through the foliage. Quickly, his rifle went
+to his shoulder. Through the sight he could just cover Elaine's head,
+for her hat, with a bright red feather in it, showed plainly just over
+the bushes.
+
+He aimed carefully and fired.
+
+I had been out for a tramp over the hills with no destination in
+particular. As I swung along the road, I heard the throbbing of a car
+coming up the hill, the cut-out open. I turned, for cars make walking
+on country roads somewhat hazardous nowadays.
+
+As I did so, some one in the car waved to me. I looked again. It was
+Elaine.
+
+"Where are you going?" she called.
+
+"Where are YOU going?" I returned, laughing.
+
+"I've just had a very queer experience--found something down on the
+rocks," she replied seriously, pointing to the square package on the
+floor of the car. "I took it to Lieutenant Woodward and he advised me
+to take it to Professor Arnold on his yacht. I think it is a bomb. I
+wish you'd go with me."
+
+Before I could answer, up the hill a rifle shot cracked. There was a
+whirr in the air and a bullet sang past us, cutting the red feather off
+Elaine's hat.
+
+"Duck!" I cried, jumping into the car, "And drive like the dickens!"
+
+She turned and we fairly ricocheted down that road back again.
+
+Behind us, a man, a stranger whom we did not pause to observe, rushed
+from the bushes and fired after us again.
+
+Suddenly another rifle shot cracked. It was from another car that had
+stealthily sneaked up on us--coming fast, recklessly.
+
+"There's her car," pointed one of the occupants to a man who was masked
+in black.
+
+"Yes," he nodded. "Give her a little more gas!"'
+
+"Crouch down," I muttered, "as low as you can."
+
+We did so, racing for life, the more powerful motor behind us
+overhauling us every instant.
+
+We were coming to a very narrow part of the road where it turned, on
+one side a sheer hill, on the other a stream several feet down.
+
+If we had an accident, I thought, it might be ticklish for us,
+supposing the square package really to be a bomb. What if it should go
+off? The idea suggested another, instantly. The car behind was only a
+few feet off.
+
+As we reached the narrow road by the stream, I rose up. As far as I
+could, back of me, I hurled the infernal machine. It fell. We received
+a shower of dirt and small stones, but the cover of the car protected
+us. Where the bomb landed, however, it cut a deep hole in the roadway.
+
+On came Del Mar's car, the driver frantically tugging at the emergency
+brake. But it was of no use. There was not room to turn aside. The car
+crashed into the hole, like a gigantic plow.
+
+It took one header over the side of the road and down several feet into
+the stream, just as the masked man and the driver jumped far ahead into
+the water.
+
+Safe now in our car which was slackening its terrific speed, I looked
+back. "They've been thrown!" I cried. "We're all right."
+
+On the edge of the water, just covered by some wreckage, the chauffeur
+lay motionless. The masked man crawled from under the wreckage and
+looked at him a moment.
+
+"Dead!" he exclaimed, still mechanically gripping a rifle in his hand.
+
+Angrily he raised it at us and fired.
+
+A moment later, some other men gathered from all directions about him,
+each armed.
+
+"Don't mind the wreck," he cried, exasperated. "Fire!"
+
+A volley was delivered at us. But the distance was now apparently too
+great.
+
+We were just congratulating ourselves on our escape, when a stray shot
+whizzed past, striking a piece directly out of the head of the
+steering-post, almost under Elaine's hands.
+
+Naturally she lost control, though fortunately we were not going so
+fast now. Crazily, our car swerved from side to side of the road, as
+she vainly tried to control both its speed and direction. On the very
+edge of the ditch, however, it stopped.
+
+We looked back. There we could see a group of men who seemed to spring
+out of the woods, as if from nowhere, at the sound of the shots. A
+shout went up at the sight of the bullet taking effect, and they ran
+forward at us.
+
+One of their number, I could see, masked, who had been in the wrecked
+car, stumbled forward weakly, until finally he sank down.
+
+A couple of the others ran to him. "Go on," he must have urged
+vehemently. "One of you is enough to stay with me. I'm going back to
+the submarine harbor. The rest--go on--report to me there."
+
+As the rest ran toward us, there was nothing for us to do but to
+abandon the car ourselves and run for it. We left the road and struck
+into the trackless woods, followed closely now by two of the men who
+had outdistanced the rest. Through the woods we fled, taking advantage
+of such shelter as we could find.
+
+"Look, here's a cave," cried Elaine, as we plunged, exhausted and about
+ready to drop, down into a ravine.
+
+We hurried in and the bushes swung over the cave entrance. Inside we
+stopped short and gazed about. It was dark and gloomy. We looked back.
+There was no hope there. They had been overtaking us. On down a
+passageway, we went.
+
+The two men who were pursuing us plunged down the ravine also. As
+ill-luck would have it, they saw the cave entrance and dashed in, then
+halted. Crouching in the shadow we could see their figures silhouetted
+in the dim light of the entrance of the cavern. One stopped at the
+entrance while the other advanced. He was a big fellow and powerfully
+built and the other fellow was equally burly. I made up my mind to
+fight to the last though I knew it was hopeless. It was dark. I could
+not even see the man advancing now.
+
+Quickly Elaine reached into her pocket and drew out something.
+
+"Here, Walter, take this," she cried. I seized the object. It was the
+searchlight gun.
+
+Hastily I aimed it, the spot of light glowing brightly. Indeed, I doubt
+whether I could have shot very accurately otherwise. As the man
+approached cautiously down the passageway the bright disc of light
+danced about until finally it fell full on his breast. I fired. The man
+fell forward instantly.
+
+Again I fired, this time at the man in the cave entrance. He jumped
+back, dropping his gun which exploded harmlessly. His hand was wounded.
+Quickly he drew back and disappeared among the trees.
+
+We waited in tense silence, and then cautiously looked out of the mouth
+of the cave. No one seemed to be about.
+
+"Come--let's make a dash for it," urged Elaine.
+
+We ran out and hurried on down the ravine, apparently not followed.
+
+Back among the trees, however, the man had picked up a rifle which he
+had hidden. While he was binding up his hand with a handkerchief, he
+saw us. Painfully he tried to aim his gun. But it was too heavy for his
+weakened arm and the pain was too great. He had to lower it. With a
+muttered imprecation, he followed us at a distance.
+
+Evidently, to us, we had eluded the pursuers, for no one seemed now to
+be following, at least as far as we could determine. We kept on,
+however, until we came to the water's edge. There, down the bay, we
+could see Professor Arnold's yacht.
+
+"Let us see Professor Arnold, anyhow," said Elaine, leading the way
+along the shore.
+
+We came at last, without being molested, to a little dock. A sailor was
+standing beside it and moored to it was a swift motor-boat. Out at
+anchor was the yacht.
+
+"You are Professor Arnold's man?" asked Elaine.
+
+"Yes'm," he replied, remembering her.
+
+"Is the Professor out on his boat?" we asked.
+
+He nodded. "Did you want to see him?"
+
+"Very much," answered Elaine.
+
+"I'll take you out," he offered.
+
+We jumped into the motor-boat, he started the engine and we planed out
+over the water.
+
+Though we did not see him, the man whom I had wounded was still
+watching us from the shore, noting every move. He had followed us at a
+distance across the woods and fields and down along the shore to the
+dock, had seen us talking to Arnold's man, and get into the boat.
+
+From the shore he continued to watch us skim across the bay and pull up
+alongside the yacht. As we climbed the ladder, he turned and hurried
+back the way he had come.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Elaine and I climbed aboard the yacht where we could see the Professor
+sitting in a wicker deck chair.
+
+"Why, how do you do?" he welcomed us, adjusting his glasses so that his
+eyes seemed, if anything, more opaque than before.
+
+I could not help thinking that, although he was glad to see us, there
+was a certain air of restraint about him.
+
+Quickly Elaine related the story of finding the bomb in the rocks and
+the peculiar events and our escape which followed. Once, at the mention
+of the searchlight gun, Professor Arnold raised his hand and coughed
+back of it. I felt sure that it was to hide an involuntary expression
+of satisfaction and that it must be he who had sent the gun to Elaine.
+
+He was listening attentively to her, while I stood by the rail, now and
+then looking out over the water. Far away I noted something moving over
+the surface, like a rod, followed by a thin wake of foam.
+
+"Look!" I exclaimed, "What's that?"
+
+Elaine turned to me, as Arnold seized his glasses.
+
+"Why, it seems to be moving directly at us," exclaimed Elaine.
+
+"By George, it's the periscope of a submarine," cried Arnold a moment
+later, lowering his glasses.
+
+He did not hesitate an instant.
+
+"Get the yacht under way," he ordered the captain, who immediately
+shouted his orders to the rest.
+
+Quickly the engine started and we plowed ahead, that ominous looking
+periscope following.
+
+In the submarine harbor to which he had been taken, Del Mar found that
+he had been pretty badly shaken up by the accident to his car. His
+clothes were torn and his face and body scratched. No bones were
+broken, however, though the shock had been great. Several of his men
+were endeavoring to fix him up in the little submarine office, but he
+was angry, very angry.
+
+At such a juncture, a man in a dripping diving-suit entered and pulled
+off his helmet, after what had evidently been a hasty trip from the
+land through the entrance and up again into the harbor. As he
+approached, Del Mar saw that the man's hand was bound up.
+
+"What's the matter?" demanded Del Mar. "How did you get that?"
+
+"That fellow Jameson and the girl did it," he replied, telling what had
+happened in the cave. "Some one must have given them one of those new
+searchlight guns."
+
+Del Mar, already ugly, was beside himself with rage now.
+
+"Where are they?" he asked.
+
+"I saw them go out to the yacht of that Professor Arnold."
+
+"He's the fellow that gave her the gun," almost hissed Del Mar. "On the
+yacht, are they?"
+
+An evil smile seemed to spread over his face. "Then we'll get them all,
+this time. Man the submarine--the Z99."
+
+All left the office on the run, hurrying around the ledge and down into
+the open hatch of the submarine. Del Mar came along a moment later,
+giving orders sharply and quickly.
+
+The hatch was closed and the vessel sealed. On all sides were
+electrical devices and machines to operate the craft and the
+torpedoes--an intricate system of things which it seemed as if no human
+mind could possibly understand.
+
+Del Mar threw on a switch. The submarine hummed and trembled. Slowly
+she sank in the harbor until she was at the level of the underwater
+entrance through the rocks. Carefully she was guided out through this
+entrance into the waters of the larger, real harbor.
+
+Del Mar took his place at the periscope, the eye of the submarine.
+Anxiously he turned it about and bent over the image which it projected.
+
+"There it is," he muttered, picking out Arnold's yacht and changing the
+course of the submarine so that it was headed directly at it, the
+planes turned so that they kept the boat just under the surface with
+only the periscope showing above.
+
+Forward, about the torpedo discharge tubes men were busy, testing the
+doors, and getting ready the big automobile torpedoes.
+
+"They must have seen us," muttered Del Mar. "They've started the yacht.
+But we can beat them, easily. Are you ready?"
+
+"Yes," called back the men forward, pushing a torpedo into the
+lock-like compartment from which it was launched.
+
+"Let it go, then," bellowed Del Mar.
+
+The torpedo shot out into the water, travelling under her own power,
+straight at the yacht.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Elaine and I looked back. The periscope was much nearer than before.
+"Can we outdistance the submarine?" I asked of Arnold.
+
+Arnold shook his head, his face grave. On came the thin line of foam.
+"I'm afraid we'll have to leave the yacht," he said warningly. "My
+little motor-boat is much faster."
+
+Arnold shouted his orders as he led us down the ladder to the
+motor-boat into which we jumped, followed by as many of the crew as
+could get in, while the others leaped into the water from the rail of
+the yacht and struck out for the shore which was not very distant.
+
+"What's that?" cried Elaine, horrified, pointing back.
+
+The water seemed to be all churned up. A long cigar-shaped affair was
+slipping along near enough to the surface so that we could just make it
+out--murderous, deadly, aimed right at the heart of the yacht.
+
+"A torpedo!" exclaimed Arnold. "Cast off!"
+
+We moved off from the yacht as swiftly as the speedy little open
+motor-boat would carry us, not a minute too soon.
+
+The torpedo struck the yacht almost exactly amidships. A huge column of
+water spurted up into the air as though a gigantic whale were blowing
+off. The yacht itself seemed lifted from the water and literally broken
+in half like a brittle rod of glass and dropped back into the water.
+
+Below in the submarine, Del Mar was still at the periscope directing
+things.
+
+"A hit!" he cried exultingly. "We got the whole bunch this time!"
+
+He turned to the men to congratulate them, a smile on his evil face.
+But as he looked again, he caught sight of our little motor-boat
+skimming safely away on the other side of the wreck.
+
+"The deuce!" he muttered. "Try another. Here's the direction."
+
+Furiously he swore as the men guided the submarine and loaded another
+torpedo into a tube. As the tube came into position, they let the
+torpedo go. An instant later it was hissing its way at us.
+
+"See, there's another!" I cried, catching sight of it.
+
+All looked. Sure enough, through the water could be seen another of
+those murderous messengers dashing at us.
+
+Arnold ran forward and seized the wheel himself, swinging the boat
+around hard to starboard and the land. We turned just in time. The
+torpedo, brainless but deadly, dashed past us harmlessly.
+
+As fast as we could now we made for the shore. No one could catch us
+with such a start, not even the swiftest torpedo. We had been rescued
+by Arnold's quick wit from a most desperate situation.
+
+Somewhere below the water, I could imagine a man consumed with fury
+over our escape, as the periscope disappeared and the submarine made
+off.
+
+We were safe. But, looking out over the water, we could not help
+shuddering at the perils beneath its apparently peaceful surface.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE LIFE CHAIN
+
+
+Early one morning, a very handsome woman of the adventuress type
+arrived with several trunks at the big summer hotel, just outside the
+town, the St. Germain.
+
+Among the many fashionable people at the watering-place, however, she
+attracted no great attention and in the forenoon she quietly went out
+in her motor for a ride.
+
+It was Madame Larenz, one of Del Mar's secret agents who, up to this
+time, had been engaged in spying on wealthy and impressionable American
+manufacturers.
+
+Her airing brought her, finally, to the bungalow of Del Mar and there
+she was admitted in a manner that showed that Del Mar trusted her
+highly.
+
+"Now," he instructed, after a few minutes chat, "I want you to get
+acquainted with Miss Dodge. You know how to interest her. She's quite
+human. Pretty gowns appeal to her. Get her to the St. Germain. Then
+I'll tell you what to do."
+
+A few minutes later the woman left in her car, so rapidly driven that
+no one would recognize her.
+
+It was early in the afternoon that Aunt Josephine was sitting on the
+veranda, when an automobile drove up and a very stylishly gowned and
+bonnetted woman stepped out.
+
+"Good afternoon," she greeted Aunt Josephine ingratiatingly as she
+approached the house. "I am Madame Larenz of New York and Paris.
+Perhaps you have heard of my shops on Fifth Avenue and the Rue de la
+Paix."
+
+Aunt Josephine had heard the name, though she did not know that this
+woman had assumed it without being in any way connected with the places
+she mentioned.
+
+"I'm establishing a new sort of summer service at the better resorts,"
+the woman explained. "You see, my people find it annoying to go into
+the city for gowns. So I am bringing the latest Paris models out to
+them. Is Miss Dodge at home?"
+
+"I think she is playing tennis," returned Aunt Josephine.
+
+"Oh, yes, I see her, thank you," the woman murmured, moving toward the
+tennis court, back of the house.
+
+Elaine and I had agreed to play a couple of games and were tossing
+rackets for position.
+
+"Very well," laughed Elaine, as she won the toss, "take the other
+court."
+
+It was a cool day and I felt in good spirits. Just to see whether I
+could do it still, I jumped over the net.
+
+Our game had scarcely started when we were interrupted by the approach
+of a stunning looking woman.
+
+"Miss Dodge?" she greeted. "Will you excuse me a moment?"
+
+Elaine paused in serving the ball and the woman handed her a card from
+her delicate gold mesh bag. It read simply:
+
+Mme. Larenz Paris Gowns
+
+Elaine looked at the card a moment while the woman repeated what she
+had already told Aunt Josephine.
+
+"You have them here, then?" queried Elaine, interested.
+
+"Yes, I have some very exclusive models which I am showing at my suite
+in the St. Germain."
+
+"Oh, how lovely," exclaimed Elaine. "I must see them."
+
+They talked a few minutes, while I waited patiently for Elaine to start
+the game again. That game, however, was destined never to be finished.
+More weighty matters were under discussion.
+
+I wondered what they were talking about and, suppressing a yawn, I
+walked toward them. As I approached, I heard scattered remarks about
+styles and dress fabrics.
+
+Elaine had completely forgotten tennis and me. She took a couple of
+steps away from the court with the woman, as I came up.
+
+"Aren't you going to play?" I asked.
+
+"I know you'll excuse me, Walter," smiled Elaine. "My frocks are all so
+frightfully out of date. And here's a chance to get new ones, very
+reasonably, too."
+
+They walked off and I could not help scowling at the visitor. On toward
+the house Elaine and Madame Larenz proceeded and around it to the front
+porch where Aunt Josephine was standing.
+
+"Just think, Auntie," cried Elaine, "real Paris gowns down here without
+the trouble of going to the city--and cheaply, too."
+
+Aunt Josephine was only mildly interested, but that did not seem to
+worry Madame Larenz.
+
+"I shall be glad to see you at three, Miss Dodge," she said as she got
+into her car again and drove off.
+
+By that time, I had caught up with Elaine again. "Just one game," I
+urged.
+
+"Please excuse me,--this time, Walter," she pleaded, laughing. "You
+don't know how sadly I'm in need of new frocks."
+
+It was no use of further urging her. Tennis was out of her mind for
+good that day. Accordingly, I mounted to my room and there quickly
+donned my riding clothes.
+
+When I came down, I found Aunt Josephine still on the veranda. In
+addition to my horse which I had telephoned for, Elaine's little
+runabout had been driven to the door. While I was talking to Aunt
+Josephine, Elaine came down-stairs and walked over to the car.
+
+"May I go with you?" I pleaded.
+
+"No, Walter," she replied laughing merrily. "You can't go. I want to
+try them on."
+
+Properly squelched, I retreated. Elaine drove away and a moment later,
+I mounted and cantered off leisurely.
+
+Near Del Mar's bungalow might have been seen again the mysterious
+naturalist, walking along the road with a butterfly net in his hand and
+what appeared to be a leather specimen case, perhaps six inches long,
+under his other arm.
+
+As Madame Larenz whizzed past in her car, he looked up keenly in spite
+of his seeming near-sightedness and huge smoked glasses. He watched her
+closely, noting the number of the car, then turned and followed it.
+
+Madame Larenz drew up, a second time, before Del Mar's. As she got out
+and entered, the naturalist, having quickened his pace, came up and
+watched her go in. Then, after taking in the situation for a moment, he
+made his way around the side of the bungalow.
+
+"Is Mr. Del Mar at home?" inquired Madame Larenz, as the valet ushered
+her into the library.
+
+"No ma'am," he returned. "Mr. Del Mar is out. But he left word that if
+you came before he got back, you were to leave word."
+
+The woman sat down at the desk and wrote hastily. When she had finished
+the short note, she read it over and folded it up.
+
+"Tell Mr. Del Mar I've left a note here on his desk," she said to the
+valet.
+
+A moment later she left the library, followed by the valet, who
+accompanied her to her car and assisted her in.
+
+"The hotel," she directed to her driver, as he started off, while the
+valet returned to the bungalow.
+
+Outside, the naturalist had come through the shrubbery and had been
+looking in at the library window, watching every move of Madame Larenz
+as she wrote. As she went out, he paused just a second to look about.
+Then he drew a long knife from his pocket, forced the window catch, and
+quickly climbed into the room.
+
+Directly to the desk he went and hurriedly ran over the papers on it.
+There was the note. He picked it up and read it eagerly.
+
+"My apartment--St. Germain--3 P. M.
+
+"LARENZ."
+
+For a moment he seemed to consider what to do. Then he replaced the
+note. Suddenly he heard the sound of footsteps. It was the valet
+returning. Quickly the naturalist ran to the window and jumped out.
+
+A moment later, the valet entered the library again. "That's strange,"
+he exclaimed under his breath, "I don't recall opening that window over
+there to-day."
+
+He looked puzzled. But as no one was about, he went over and shut it.
+
+Some distance down the road, the naturalist quietly emerged in safety
+from the bushes. With scarcely a moment's hesitation, his mind
+thoroughly made up to his course, he hurried along the road.
+
+Meanwhile, at the St. Germain, Madame Larenz entered and passed through
+the rotunda of the hotel, followed by many admiring glances of the men.
+
+Up in her room stood several large trunks, open. From them had been
+taken a number of gowns which were scattered about or hung up for
+exhibition.
+
+As she entered, quickly she selected one of the trunks whose contents
+were more smart than the rest and laid the gowns out most fetchingly
+about the room.
+
+In the office of the hotel a few moments later, the naturalist entered.
+He looked around curiously, then went to the desk and glanced over the
+register. At the name "Mme Larenz, Paris, Room 22," he paused.
+
+For some seconds he stood thinking. Then he deliberately walked over to
+a leather chair and took a prominent seat near-by in the lobby. He had
+discarded his net, but still had the case which now he had shoved into
+his pocket. From a table, he picked up a newspaper.
+
+It was not long before Del Mar pulled up before the hotel and entered
+in his usual swagger manner. He had returned to the bungalow, read the
+note and hurried over to the St. Germain.
+
+He crossed the lobby, back to the office. As he did so, the naturalist
+had his face hidden deeply in the open newspaper. But no sooner had Del
+Mar passed than the newspaper fell unappreciated and he gazed after
+him, as he left the lobby by the back way.
+
+It was only a few minutes after she had completed arranging her small
+stock so that it looked quite impressive, that Madame Larenz heard a
+knock at the door and recognized Del Mar's secret code. She opened the
+door and he strode in.
+
+"I got your note," he said briefly, coming directly to business and
+telling her just what he wanted done. "Let me see," he concluded,
+glancing at his watch. "It is after three now. She ought to be here any
+minute."
+
+Outside, Elaine drove up to the rather garish entrance of the St.
+Germain and one of the boys in uniform ran forward to open the door and
+take charge of the car. She, too, crossed the lobby without seeing the
+old naturalist, though nothing escaped him.
+
+As she passed, he started to rise and cross toward her, then appeared
+to change his mind.
+
+Elaine went on out through the back of the lobby, directed by a boy,
+and mounted a flight of stairs, in preference to taking the lift to the
+second, or sort of mezzanine floor. Down along the corridor she went,
+hunting for number twenty-two. At last she found it at the end, and
+knocked.
+
+Del Mar and Madame Larenz were still talking in low tones when they
+heard a light tap on the door.
+
+"There she is, now," whispered Larenz.
+
+"All right. Let her in," answered Del Mar, leaping quietly to a closet.
+"I'll hide here until I get the signal. Do just as I told you."
+
+Outside, at the same time, according to his carefully concocted plans,
+Del Mar's car had driven up and stopped close to the side of the hotel,
+which was on a slight hill that brought the street level here not so
+far below the second story windows. Three of his most trusted men were
+in the car.
+
+Madame Larenz opened the door. "Oh, I'm so glad you came," she rattled
+on to Elaine. "You see, I've got to get started. Not a customer yet.
+But if you'll only take a few gowns, other people will come to me. I'll
+let you have them cheaply, too. Just look at this one."
+
+She held up one filmy, creamy creation that looked like a delicate
+flower.
+
+"I'd like to try it on," cried Elaine, fingering it rapturously.
+
+"By all means," agreed Madame. "We are alone. Do so."
+
+With deft fingers, Larenz helped her take off her own very pretty
+dress. As Elaine slipped the soft gown over her head, with her head and
+arms engaged in its multitudinous folds, Madame Larenz, a powerful
+woman, seized her. Elaine was effectually gagged and bound in the gown
+itself.
+
+Instantly, Del Mar flung himself from the closet, disguising his voice.
+Together, they wrapped the dress about Elaine even more tightly to
+prevent her screaming.
+
+Madame 'Larenz seized a blanket and threw that over Elaine's head,
+also, while Del Mar ran to the window. There were his men in the car,
+waiting below.
+
+"Are you ready?" he called softly to them.
+
+They looked about carefully. There was no one on that side of the hotel
+just at the moment.
+
+"Ready," responded one. "Quick!"
+
+Together, Del Mar and Madame Larenz passed Elaine, ineffectually
+struggling, out of the window. The men seized her and placed her in the
+bottom of the car, which was covered. Then they shot away, taking a
+back road up the hill.
+
+Hurriedly the naturalist went through the lobby in the direction Elaine
+had gone, and a moment later reached the corridor above.
+
+Down it, he could hear some one coming out of room twenty-two. He slid
+into an angle and hid.
+
+It was Del Mar and the woman he had seen at the bungalow. They passed
+by without discovering him, nor could he make out anything that they
+said. What mischief was afoot? Where was Elaine?
+
+He ran to the door and tried it. It was locked. Quickly, he took from
+his pocket a skeleton key and unlocked it. There was Elaine's hat and
+dress lying in a heap on the bed. But she was not there. He was now
+thoroughly alarmed.
+
+She could not have passed him in the hall. Therefore she must have gone
+or been taken out through the window. That would never have been
+voluntary, especially leaving her things there.
+
+The window was still open. He ran to it. One glance out was enough. He
+leaped to the ground. Sure enough, there were automobile tracks in the
+dust.
+
+"Del Mar's car," he muttered to himself, studying them.
+
+He fairly ran around the side of the hotel. There he came suddenly upon
+Elaine's car standing alone, and recognized it.
+
+There was no time for delay. He jumped into it, and let the swift
+little racer out as he turned and gathered momentum to shoot up the
+hill on high speed.
+
+Meanwhile, I had been jogging along through the country, lonely and
+disconsolate. I don't know how it happened, but I suppose it was by
+some subconscious desire. At any rate I found myself at the road that
+came out across one leading to the St. Germain and it occurred to me
+that Elaine might by this time have purchased enough frocks to clothe
+her for a year. At any rate I quickened my pace in the hope of seeing
+her.
+
+Suddenly, my horse shied and a familiar little car flashed past me. But
+the driver was not familiar. It was Elaine's roadster. In it was a
+stranger--a man who looked like a "bugologist," as nearly as I can
+describe him. Was he running off with her car while she was waiting
+inside the hotel?
+
+I galloped after him.
+
+Del Mar's automobile, with Elaine bound and gagged in it, drove rapidly
+by back and unfrequented ways into the country until at last it pulled
+up before an empty two-story house in a sort of grove of trees.
+
+The men leaped out, lifted Elaine, and carried her bodily into the
+house, taking her up-stairs and into an upper room. She had fainted
+when they laid her down and loosened the dress from about her face so
+that she could breathe. There they left her, on the floor, her hands
+and feet bound, and went out.
+
+How long she lay there, she never knew, but at last the air revived her
+and she regained consciousness and sat up. Her muscles were sore and
+her head ached. But she set her teeth and began struggling with the
+cords that bound her, managing at last to pull the dress over herself
+at least.
+
+In Elaine's car, the naturalist drove slowly at times, following the
+tracks of the automobile ahead. At last, however, he came to a place
+where he saw that the tracks went up a lonely side road. To approach in
+a car was to warn whoever was there. He ran the cat up alongside the
+road in the bushes and jumped out leaving it and following the tracks
+up the side roadway.
+
+As he approached a single deserted house, he left even the narrow road
+altogether and plunged into the woods, careful to proceed noiselessly.
+Through the bushes, near the house, he peered. There he could see one
+of Del Mar's men in the doorway, apparently talking to others behind
+him.
+
+Stealthily the naturalist crept around, still hiding, until he was
+closer to the house on the other side. At last he worked his way around
+to the rear door. He tried it. It was bolted and even the skeleton key
+was unavailing to slide the bolt. Seconds were precious.
+
+Quickly, he went to the corner of the house. There was a water-leader.
+He began to climb it, risking its precarious support.
+
+On the roof at last, the naturalist crawled along, looking for some way
+of getting into the house. But he could not seem to find any.
+Carefully, he crawled to the edge of the roof and looked over. Below,
+he could hear sounds, but could make nothing of them.
+
+From his pocket, he took the leather case and opened it. There was a
+peculiar arrangement, like some of the collapsible arms on which
+telephone instruments are often fastened to a desk or wall, capable of
+being collapsed into small space or of being extended for some
+distance. On the thing was arranged a system of mirrors, which the
+naturalist adjusted.
+
+It was a pocket periscope.
+
+He thrust the thing over the edge of the roof and down, and looked
+through it. Below, he could see into the room from which came the
+peculiar sounds.
+
+He looked anxiously. There he could see Elaine endeavoring still to
+loosen the cords and unable to do so. Only for a moment he looked. Then
+he folded up the pocket periscope into the case and shoved it back into
+his pocket. Quickly he crossed the roof again, and slid back down the
+rain-pipe.
+
+At the door stood three of Del Mar's men waiting for Del Mar who had
+told them he would follow immediately.
+
+The naturalist had by this time reached the ground and was going along
+carefully back of the house. He drew his revolver and, pointing it
+down, fired. Then he dodged back of an extension and disappeared for
+the moment.
+
+Instantly, the three men sprang up and ran toward the spot where it
+seemed the shot had been fired. There was no one about the side of the
+house. But the wind had carried the smoke into some bushes beside the
+grove and they crashed into the bushes, beating about.
+
+At the same time, the naturalist, having first waited until he saw
+which way the men were going, dashed about the house in the opposite
+direction. Then he slipped, unopposed and unobserved, in through the
+open front door, up the stairs and along to the room into which he had
+just been looking. He unlocked the door, and entered. Elaine was still
+struggling with the cords when she caught sight of the stranger.
+
+"Not a word," he cautioned under his breath.
+
+She was indeed too frightened to cry out. Quickly, he loosened her,
+still holding his finger to his lips to enjoin silence.
+
+"Follow me," he whispered.
+
+She obeyed mechanically, and they went out into the hall. On
+down-stairs went the naturalist, Elaine still keeping close after him.
+
+He looked out through the front door, then drew back. Quickly he went
+through the lower hall until he came to the back door in the kitchen,
+Elaine following. He unbolted the door and opened it.
+
+"Run," he said, simply, pointing out of the door. "They're coming back
+the other way. I'll hold them."
+
+She needed no further urging, but darted from the house as he closed
+the door after her.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+It was just at this point that Del Mar came riding along the main road
+on horseback. He pulled up suddenly as he saw a car run in alongside
+the road.
+
+"That's Elaine's runabout," he muttered, as he dismounted and tied his
+horse. "How came it here?"
+
+He approached the car, much worried by its unaccountable presence there
+instead of before the St. Germain. Then he drew his gun and hurried up
+the side road.
+
+He heard a shot and quickened his pace. In the woods unexpectedly he
+came upon his three men still beating about, searching with drawn
+revolvers for the person who had fired the shot.
+
+"Well?" he demanded sharply, "what's all this?"
+
+"Some one fired a shot," they explained, somewhat crestfallen.
+
+"It was a trick, you fools," he answered testily. "Get back to your
+prisoner."
+
+Without a word they turned and hurried toward the house, Del Mar
+following. "You two go in," he ordered the foremost. "I'll go around
+the house with Patrick."
+
+As Del Mar and the other man ran around the corner, they could just
+catch a fleeting glimpse on some one disappearing among the trees.
+
+It was Elaine.
+
+The man hurried forward, blazing away with his gun.
+
+Running, breathless, Elaine heard the shot behind her which Del Mar's
+man had fired in his eagerness. The bullet struck a tree near her with
+a "ping!" She glanced back and saw the man. But she did not stop.
+Instead, she redoubled her efforts, running zigzag in among the trees
+where they were thickest.
+
+Del Mar, a little bit behind his man where she could not recognize him,
+urged the man on, following carefully.
+
+On fled Elaine, her heart beating fast. Suddenly she stopped and almost
+cried out in vexation. A stream blocked her retreat, a stream, swift
+and deep.
+
+She looked back, terrified. Her pursuers were coming ahead fast now in
+her direction. Wildly she gazed around. There was a canoe on the bank.
+In an instant she jumped in, untied it, and seized the paddle. Off she
+went, striking for the opposite shore. But the current was racing
+swiftly, and she was already tired and exhausted. She could scarcely
+make any headway at all in the fierce eddies. But at least, she thought
+hurriedly, she was getting further and further away from them
+down-stream.
+
+Up above, Del Mar and his man came to the edge of the water. There they
+stood for a moment looking down.
+
+"There she is," pointed the man.
+
+Del Mar raised his revolver and fired.
+
+Suddenly a bullet struck Elaine's paddle and broke it. Clutching the
+useless splintered shaft, she was now at the mercy of the current,
+swept along like a piece of driftwood.
+
+She looked about frantically. What was that roaring noise?
+
+It was the waterfalls ahead!
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+In the meantime, Del Mar's other two men had entered the house and had
+run up-stairs, knowing well his wrath if anything had happened. As they
+did so, the naturalist poked his head cautiously out of the kitchen
+where he had been hiding, and saw them. Then he followed noiselessly,
+his revolver ready.
+
+Headlong they ran into the room where they had left Elaine. She was
+gone!
+
+Before they could turn, the naturalist locked the door, turned and took
+the steps down, two at a time.
+
+Then he ran out of the front door and into the woods at an angle to the
+direction taken by Elaine, turning and going down hill, where a rapid,
+swollen stream curved about through a gorge. As he reached the stream,
+he heard a shot above, and a scream.
+
+He looked up. There was Elaine, swept down toward him. Below he knew
+the stream tumbled over a tall cataract into the gorge below.
+
+What could he do?
+
+A sudden crackling of the twigs caused him to turn and catch sight of
+me, just coming up.
+
+For, as best I could on horseback, I had followed Elaine's car until at
+last I saw that it had been abandoned. Thoroughly alarmed, I rode on,
+past a deserted house until suddenly I heard a shot and a scream. It
+seemed to come from below me and I leaped off my horse, making for it
+as fast as I could, racing toward a stream whose roar I could hear.
+
+There on the bank I came upon a queer old codger, looking about wildly.
+Was he the automobile thief? I ran forward, ready to seize him. But as
+I did so, he whirled about and with a strength remarkable in one so old
+seized my own wrist before I could get his.
+
+"Look!" he cried simply, pointing up the stream.
+
+I did. A girl in a canoe was coming down toward the falls, screaming,
+her paddle broken and useless. My heart leaped into my mouth. It was
+Elaine!
+
+"Come," he panted eagerly to me. "I can save her. You must do just as I
+say."
+
+He pointed to an overhanging rock near-by and we ran to it.
+
+By this time Elaine was almost upon us, each second getting nearer the
+veritable maelstrom above the falls.
+
+From the rock overhung also a tree at the very edge of the water.
+
+There was nothing to do but obey him. Above, though we did not see
+them, Del Mar and his man were gloating over the result of their work.
+But they were gloating too soon. We came to the rock and the tree.
+
+"Here," cried the new-found friend, "I'll get hold of the tree and then
+hold you."
+
+Instantly he threw himself on his stomach, hooking his leg about the
+tree trunk. I crawled out over the ledge of slippery rock to the very
+edge and looked over. It was the only chance.
+
+The old naturalist seized my legs in his hands. I slid down the rock,
+letting myself go.
+
+Literally, his presence of mind had invented what was really a life
+chain, a human rope.
+
+On came the canoe, Elaine in it as white as death, crying out and
+trying to stop or guide it as, nearer and nearer through the
+smooth-worn walls of the chasm, it whirled to the falls.
+
+With a grip of steel, the naturalist held to the tree which swayed and
+bent, while also he held me, as if in a vise, head down.
+
+On came Elaine--directly at us.
+
+She stood up and balanced herself, a dangerous feat in a canoe at any
+time, but doubly so in those dark, swirling, treacherous waters.
+
+"Steady!" I encouraged. "Grab my arms!"
+
+As the canoe reached us, she gave a little jump and seized my forearms.
+Her hands slipped, but I grasped her own arms, and we held each other.
+
+The momentum of her body was great. For an instant I thought we were
+all going over. But the naturalist held his grip and slowly began to
+pull himself and us up the slippery rock.
+
+A second later the canoe crashed over the falls in a cloud of spray and
+pounding water.
+
+As we reached the bank above the rock, I almost lifted Elaine and set
+her down, trembling and gasping for breath. Before either of us knew it
+the queer old fellow had plunged into the bushes and was gone without
+another word.
+
+"Walter," she cried, "call him back, I must tell him how much I owe
+him--my life!"
+
+But he had disappeared, absolutely. We shouted after him. It was of no
+use.
+
+"Well, what do you think of that?" cried Elaine. "He saved my
+life--then didn't wait even to be thanked."
+
+Who was he?
+
+We looked at each other a moment. But neither of us spoke what was in
+our hearts.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE FLASH
+
+
+Alone in the doorway before his rude shack on the shore of the
+promontory sat an old fisherman, gazing out fixedly at the harbor as
+though deeply concerned over the weather, which, as usual, was
+unseasonable.
+
+Suddenly he started and would have disappeared into his hut but for the
+fact that, although he could not himself be seen, he had already seen
+the intruder.
+
+It was a trooper from Fort Dale. He galloped up and, as though obeying
+to the letter his instructions, deliberately dropped an envelope at the
+feet of the fisherman. Then, without a word, he galloped away again.
+
+The fisherman picked up the envelope and opened it quickly. Inside was
+a photograph and a note. He read:
+
+   FORT DALE
+   PROFESSOR ARNOLD,
+
+   J. Smith, clerk in the War Department, has disappeared.
+   We are not sure, but fear that he has a copy
+   of the new Sandy Hook Defense Plans. It is believed
+   he is headed your way. He walks with a slight limp.
+   Look out for him.
+
+   LIEUTENANT WOODWARD.
+
+For a long time the fisherman appeared to study the face on the
+photograph until he had it indelibly implanted in his memory, as if by
+some system such as that of the immortal Bertillon and his clever
+"portrait parle," or spoken picture, for scientific identification and
+apprehension. It was not a pleasant face and there were features that
+were not easily forgotten.
+
+Finally he turned and entered his hut. Hastily he took off his stained
+reefer. From a wooden chest he drew another outfit of clothes. The
+transformation was complete. When he issued forth from his hut again,
+it was no longer the aged disciple of Izaac Walton. He was now a trim
+chauffeur, bearded and goggled.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+In the library of his bungalow, Del Mar was pacing up and down, now and
+then scowling to himself, as though there flashed over his mind stray
+recollections of how some of his most cherished plans were miscarrying.
+
+Still, on the whole, he had nothing to complain of. For, a moment later
+the valet entered with a telegram for which he had evidently been
+waiting. Del Mar seized it eagerly and tore open the yellow envelope.
+On the blank was printed in the usual way the following non-committal
+message:
+
+        WASHINGTON, D. C.,
+                 August 12, 1915.
+
+MR. DEL MAR,
+
+What you request is coming. Answer to sign of the ring.--SMITH.
+
+"Good," muttered Del Mar as he finished reading. "Strange, what a
+little gold will do--when you know how to dispose of it."
+
+He smiled cynically to himself at the sentiment.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+At the little railroad station, they were quite proud of the fact that
+at least two of the four hacks had been replaced already by taxicabs.
+
+It was, then, with some surprise and not a little open jealousy that
+they saw a new taxicab drive up and take its stand by the platform.
+
+If the chauffeur, transformed from the lonely fisherman, had expected a
+cordial reception, he might better have stayed before his hut, for the
+glances the other drivers gave him were as black and lowering as the
+clouds he had been looking at.
+
+The new chauffeur got off his seat. Instead of trying to brazen it out,
+he walked over to the others who were standing in a group waiting for
+the approaching train whose whistle had already sounded.
+
+"I'm not going to locate here permanently," he said, pulling out a roll
+of bills as he spoke. "Leave any fare I claim to me," he added, passing
+a bill of a good denomination to each of the four jehus.
+
+They looked at him curiously. But what business of theirs was it? The
+money felt good.
+
+"All right, bo," they agreed.
+
+Thundering down the platform came the afternoon train, a great event in
+the town life.
+
+As the baggage was being tossed off, the passengers alighted and the
+five hackmen swarmed at them.
+
+"Keb, sir, kerridge. Taxi, lady!"
+
+From the Pullman alighted a widow, in deep mourning. As she got off and
+moved down the platform, it was apparent that she walked with a
+pronounced limp.
+
+At the end of the platform, the chauffeurs were still calling, while
+the newcomer looked over the crowd hastily. Suddenly he caught sight of
+the face of the widow. He stepped forward, as she approached. The
+others held back as they had agreed and paid no attention. It was like
+forcing a card.
+
+He held the door open and she entered the cab, unsuspecting. "Mr. Del
+Mar's," she directed, simply.
+
+As the new taxicab driver cranked his engine and climbed into the seat,
+he was careful to let no action of his, however small, betray the
+intense satisfaction he felt at the working of his scheme.
+
+He pulled away from the station. On through the pretty country roads
+the chauffeur drove the heavily veiled widow until at last they came to
+Del Mar's bungalow.
+
+At the gate he stopped and ran around to open the door to assist his
+fare to alight.
+
+"Wait for me," she said, without paying him yet. "I shall not be long
+and I want to be driven back to the station to catch the four
+twenty-nine to New York."
+
+As she limped up the gravel walk, he watched her closely. She went to
+the door and rang the bell, and the valet admitted her.
+
+Del Mar was still sitting, thinking, in the library.
+
+"Mr. Del Mar?" she inquired.
+
+The voice was not exactly soft, and Del Mar eyed her suspiciously. Was
+this the person he expected, or a "plant?"
+
+"Yes," he answered, guardedly, "I am Mr. Del Mar. And you?"
+
+The widow, too, evidently wished to make no mistake. As she spoke, she
+raised her hand. By that simple action she displayed a curious and
+conspicuous seal ring on her finger. It was the sign of the ring for
+which Del Mar had been waiting.
+
+He extended his own left hand. On the ring finger was another ring, but
+not similar. As he did so, the widow took the ring from her own finger
+and placed it on the little finger of Del Mar.
+
+"Good!" he exclaimed.
+
+Every action of the sign of the ring had been carried out.
+
+The woman raised her thick veil, disclosing the face of--a man!
+
+It was the same face, also, that had appeared in the photograph sent to
+the old fisherman by Woodward.
+
+Awkwardly, the man searched in the front of his shirtwaist and drew
+forth a paper which Del Mar almost seized in his eagerness. It was a
+pen and ink copy of a Government map, showing a huge spit of sand in
+the sea before a harbor, Sandy Hook and New York. On it were indicated
+all the defenses, the positions of guns, everything.
+
+Together, Del Mar and Smith bent over it, while the renegade clerk
+explained each mark on the traitorous map. They were too occupied to
+see a face flattened against the pane of a window near-by.
+
+The chauffeur had no intention of remaining inactive outside while he
+knew that something that interested him was transpiring inside. He had
+crept up by the side of the house to the window. But he could see
+little and hear nothing.
+
+A moment he strained every sense. It was no use. He must devise some
+other way. How could he get into that room? Slowly he returned to his
+car, thinking it over. There he stood for a moment revolving in his
+mind what to do. He looked up the road. An idea came to him. There he
+saw a little runabout approaching rapidly.
+
+Quickly he went around to the front of his car and lifted up the hood.
+Then he bent over and pretended to be tinkering with his engine.
+
+As the car was about to pass he deliberately stepped back, apparently
+not seeing the runabout, and was struck and knocked down.
+
+The runabout stopped, the emergency brakes biting hard.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Elaine had asked me to go shopping in the village with her that
+afternoon. While I waited for her in her little car, she came down at
+last, carrying a little handbag. We drove off a moment later.
+
+It was a delightful ride, not too warm, but sunny. Without realizing
+it, we found ourselves on the road that led past Del Mar's.
+
+As we approached, I saw that there was a taxicab standing in front of
+the gate. The hood was lifted and the driver was apparently tinkering
+with his engine.
+
+"Let's not stop," said Elaine, who had by this time a peculiar aversion
+to the man.
+
+As we passed the driver, apparently not seeing us, stepped out and,
+before we could turn out, we had knocked him down. We stopped and ran
+back.
+
+There he lay on the road, seemingly unconscious. We lifted him up and I
+looked toward Del Mar's house.
+
+"Help!" I shouted at the top of my voice.
+
+The valet came to the door.
+
+Hearing me, the valet ran out down the walk. "All right," he cried.
+"I'll be there in a minute."
+
+With his help I picked up the taxicab chauffeur and we carried him into
+the house.
+
+Del Mar was talking with a person who looked like a widow, when they
+heard our approach up the walk carrying the injured man.
+
+So engrossed had they been in discerning what the stolen document
+contained that, as we finally entered, the widow had only time to drop
+her veil and conceal her identity as the renegade Smith. Del Mar still
+held the plan in his hand.
+
+The valet and I entered with Elaine and we placed the chauffeur on a
+couch near Del Mar's desk. I remember that there was this strange woman
+all in black, heavily veiled, in the room at the time.
+
+"I think we ought to telephone for a doctor," said Elaine placing her
+hand-bag on the desk and excitedly telling Del Mar how we had
+accidentally knocked the man down.
+
+"Call up my doctor, Henry," said Del Mar, hastily thrusting the plan
+into a book lying on the desk.
+
+We gathered about the man, trying to revive him.
+
+"Have you a little stimulant?" I asked, turning from him.
+
+Del Mar moved toward a cellarette built into the wall. We were all
+watching him, our backs to the chauffeur, when suddenly he must have
+regained consciousness very much. Like a flash his hand shot out. He
+seized the plan from between the leaves of the book. He had not time to
+get away with it himself. Perhaps he might be searched. He opened
+Elaine's bag, and thrust it in.
+
+The valet by this time had finished telephoning and spoke to Del Mar.
+
+"The doctor will be here shortly, Miss Dodge," said Del Mar. "You need
+not wait, if you don't care to. I'll take care of him."
+
+"Oh, thank you--ever so much," she murmured. "Of course it wasn't our
+fault, but I feel sorry for the poor fellow. Tell the doctor to send me
+the bill."
+
+She and Del Mar shook hands. I thought he held her hand perhaps a
+little longer and a little tighter than usual. At any rate Elaine
+seemed to think so.
+
+"Why, what a curious ring, Mr. Del Mar," she said, finally releasing
+her own hand from his grasp.
+
+Then she looked quickly at the woman, half joking, as if the ring had
+something to do with the strange woman. She looked back at the ring.
+Del Mar smiled, shook his head and laughed easily.
+
+Then Elaine picked up her bag and we went out. A moment later we
+climbed back into the car and were off again.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Having left us at the door, Del Mar hurried back to the library. He
+went straight to the desk and picked up the book, eager now to make
+sure of the safety of the plan.
+
+It was gone!
+
+"Did you, Smith--" he began hastily, then checked himself, knowing that
+the clerk had not taken the plan.
+
+Del Mar walked over to the couch and stood a moment looking at the
+chauffeur. "I wonder who he is," he said to himself. "I don't recall
+ever seeing him at the station or in the village."
+
+He leaned over closer. "The deuce!" he exclaimed, "that's a fake beard
+the fellow has on."
+
+Del Mar made a lunge for it. As he did so, the chauffeur leaped to his
+feet and drew a gun. "Hands up!" he shouted. "And the first man that
+moves is a dead one!"
+
+Before the secret agent knew it, both he and Smith were covered. The
+chauffeur took a step toward Smith and unceremoniously jerked off the
+widow's weeds, as well as the wig.
+
+At that very moment one of Del Mar's men came up to the secret panel
+that opened from the underground passageway into his library. He was
+about to open it when he heard a sound on the other side that startled
+him. He listened a moment, then slid it just a short distance and
+looked in.
+
+There he saw a chauffeur holding up Del Mar and Smith. Having pulled
+the disguise from Smith, he went next around Del Mar and took his gun
+from his pocket, then passed his hands over the folds of Smith's dress,
+but found no weapon. He stepped back away from them.
+
+At that point the man quietly slid the panel all the way open and
+silently stepped into the room, behind the chauffeur. Cautiously he
+began sneaking up on him.
+
+As he did so, Del Mar and Smith watched, fascinated. Somehow their
+faces must have betrayed that something was wrong. For, as the newcomer
+leaped at him, the chauffeur turned suddenly and fired. The shot
+wounded the man.
+
+It was a signal for a free-for-all fight. Del Mar and Smith leaped at
+the intruder. Over and over they rolled, breaking furniture,
+overturning and smashing bric-a-brac.
+
+Del Mar's revolver was knocked out of the chauffeur's hand. With a blow
+of a chair, the chauffeur laid out Smith, entangled in his unfamiliar
+garments, shook himself loose from the two others, and made a rush at
+the door.
+
+Del Mar paused only long enough to pick up the revolver from the floor.
+Instantly he fired at the retreating form. But the chauffeur had passed
+out and banged shut the door. Down the walk he sped and out to the
+gate, into his car, the engine of which he had left running.
+
+Hard after him came Del Mar and the rest, joined now by Henry, the
+valet. One shot was left in the chauffeur's revolver and he blazed away
+as he leaped into the car.
+
+"He's got me," groaned Smith as he stumbled and fell forward.
+
+On kept Del Mar and the others. They caught up with the car just as it
+was starting. But the chauffeur knocked the gun from Del Mar's hand
+before he could get a good aim and fire, at the same time bowling over
+the man who had come through the panel.
+
+Off the car went, now rapidly gaining speed. Del Mar had just time to
+swing on the rear of it.
+
+Around the rapidly-driven car, he climbed, hanging on for dear life,
+over the mud-guard and toward the running-board. On sped the car,
+swaying crazily back and forth, Del Mar crouched on the running-board
+and working his way slowly and perilously to the front seat.
+
+The chauffeur felt the weight of some one on that side. Just as he
+turned to see what it was, Del Mar leaped at him. Still holding the
+wheel, the chauffeur fought him off with his free hand, Del Mar holding
+on to some spare tires with one hand, also. Handicapped by having the
+steering-wheel to manage, nevertheless the chauffeur seemed quite well
+able to give a good account of himself.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Somehow, Elaine and I must have been hoodooed that day.
+
+We had not been gone five minutes from Del Mar's after the accident to
+the chauffeur, when we heard a mysterious knock in the engine.
+
+"More engine trouble," I sighed. "Pull up along the road and I'll see
+if I can fix it."
+
+We stopped and both got out. There was no fake about this trouble or
+about the dirt and grease I acquired on my hands and face, tinkering
+with that motor. For, regardless of my immaculate flannels, I had to
+set to work. A huge spot of grease spattered on me. Elaine laughed
+outright.
+
+"Here, let me powder your nose, Walter," she cried undismayed at our
+trouble, gayly opening her bag. "Well--of all things--what's this, and
+where did it come from?"
+
+I turned from the engine and looked. She was holding some kind of plan
+or document in her hand. In blank surprise she examined it. It looked
+like a fort or a series of forts. But I was sure at a glance that it
+was not Fort Dale.
+
+"What do you think it is, Walter?" she asked, handing it to me.
+
+I took it and examined it carefully. Incredible as it seemed, I figured
+out quickly that it must be nothing short of a plan of the new defenses
+at Sandy Hook.
+
+"I don't know what it all means," I said. "But I do know that we won't
+get any dinner till I get this engine running again."
+
+I fell to work again, eager to get away with our dangerous prize,
+Elaine now and then advising me. Finally I turned the engine over. For
+a wonder it ran smoothly. "Well, that's all right, at last," I sighed,
+wiping the grease off my hands on a piece of waste.
+
+"What's the matter now?" exclaimed Elaine, turning quickly and looking
+up the road along which we had just come.
+
+There, lurching along at full speed was a car. Two men were actually
+fighting on the front of it regardless of speed and safety. As it
+neared us, I saw it was the taxicab that had been standing before Del
+Mar's. I looked closer at it. To my utter amazement, who should be
+driving it but the very chauffeur whom we had left at Del Mar's only a
+few minutes before, apparently unconscious. He could not have been hurt
+very badly, for he was not only able to drive but was fighting off a
+man clinging on the running-board.
+
+On rushed the car, directly at us. Just as it passed us, the chauffeur
+seemed to summon all his strength. He struck a powerful blow at the
+man, recoiled and straightened out his car just in time. The man fell,
+literally at our feet.
+
+It was Del Mar himself!
+
+On sped the taxicab. Bruised though he must have been by the fall, Del
+Mar nevertheless raised himself by the elbow and fired every chamber of
+his revolver as fast as he could pump the bullets.
+
+I must say that I admired the man's pluck. Elaine and I hurried over to
+him. I still had in my hand the queer paper which she had found so
+strangely in her hand-bag.
+
+"Why, what's all this about?" I asked eagerly.
+
+Before I could raise him up, Del Mar had regained his feet.
+
+"Just a plain crook, who attacked me," he muttered, brushing off his
+clothes to cover up the quick recognition of what it was that I was
+holding in my hand, for he had seen the plan immediately.
+
+"Can't we drive you back?" asked Elaine, quite forgetting our fears of
+Del Mar in the ugly predicament in which he just had been. "We've had
+trouble but I guess we can get you back."
+
+"Thank you," he said, forcing a smile. "I think anything would be an
+improvement on my ride here and I'm sure you can do more than you
+claim."
+
+He climbed up and sat on the floor of the roadster, his feet outside,
+and we drove off. At last we pulled up at Dodge Hall again.
+
+"Won't you come in?" asked Elaine as we got out.
+
+"Thank you, I believe I will for a few minutes," consented Del Mar,
+concealing his real eagerness to follow me. "I'm all shaken up."
+
+As we entered the living-room, I was thinking about the map. I opened a
+table drawer, hastily took the plan from my pocket and locked it in the
+drawer. Elaine, meanwhile, was standing with Del Mar who was talking,
+but in reality watching me closely.
+
+A smile of satisfaction seemed to flit over his face as he saw what I
+had done and now knew where the paper was.
+
+I turned to him. "How are you now?" I asked.
+
+"Oh, I'm much better--all right," he answered. Then he looked at his
+watch. "I've a very important appointment. If you'll excuse me, I'll
+walk over to my place. Thank you again, Miss Dodge, ever so kindly."
+
+He bowed low and was gone.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Down the road past where we had turned, before a pretty little shingle
+house, the taxicab chauffeur stopped. One of the bullets had taken
+effect on him and his shoulder was bleeding. But the worst, as he
+seemed to think it, was that another shot had given him a flat tire.
+
+He jumped out and looked up the road whence he had come. No one was
+following. Still, he was worried. He went around to look at the tire.
+But he was too weak now from loss of blood. It had been nerve and
+reserve force that had carried him through. Now that the strain was
+off, he felt the reaction to the full.
+
+Just then the doctor and his driver, whom the valet had already
+summoned to Del Mar's, came speeding down the road. The doctor saw the
+chauffeur fall in a half faint, stopped his car and ran to him. The
+chauffeur had kept up as long as he could. He had now sunk down beside
+his machine in the road.
+
+A moment later they picked him up and carried him into the house. There
+was no acting about his hurts now. In the house they laid the man down
+on a couch and the doctor made a hasty examination.
+
+"How is he?" asked one of the kind Samaritans.
+
+"The wound is not dangerous," replied the physician, "but he's lost a
+lot of blood. He cannot be moved for some time yet."
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+We talked about nothing else at Dodge Hall after dressing for dinner
+but the strange events over at Del Mar's and what had followed. The
+more I thought about it, the more it seemed to me that we would never
+be left over night in peaceful possession of the plan which both Elaine
+and I decided ought on the following day to be sent to Washington.
+
+Accordingly I cudgelled my brain for some method of protecting both
+ourselves and it. The only thing I could think of was a scheme once
+adopted by Kennedy in another case. How I longed for him. But I had to
+do my best alone.
+
+I had a small quick shutter camera that had belonged to Craig and just
+as we were about to retire, I brought it into the living-room with a
+package I had had sent up from the village.
+
+"What are you going to do?" asked Elaine curiously.
+
+I assumed an air of mystery but did not say, for I was not sure but
+that even now some one was eavesdropping. It was not late, but the
+country air made us all sleepy and Aunt Josephine, looking at the
+clock, soon announced that she was going to retire.
+
+She had no sooner said good-night than Elaine began again to question
+me. But I had determined not to tell her what I was doing, for if my
+imitation of Kennedy failed, I knew that she would laugh at me.
+
+"Oh, very well," she said finally in pique, "then, if you're going to
+be so secret about it, you can sit up alone--there!"
+
+She flounced off to bed. Sure as I could be at last that I was alone, I
+opened the package. There were the tools that I had ordered, a coil of
+wire and some dry cells. Then I went to the table, unlocked the drawer
+and put the plan in my pocket. I had determined that whether the idea
+worked or not, no one was to get the plan except by overcoming me.
+
+Although I was no expert at wiring, I started to make the connections
+under the table with the drawer, not a very difficult thing to do as
+long as it was to be only temporary and for the night. From the table I
+ran the wires along the edge of the carpet until I came to the
+book-case. There, masked by the books, I placed the little quick
+shutter camera, and at a distance also concealed the flash-light pan.
+
+Next I aimed the camera carefully and focussed it on a point above the
+drawer on the writing-table where any one would be likely to stand if
+he attempted to open it. Then I connected the shutter of the camera and
+a little spark coil in the flash-pan with the wires, using an apparatus
+to work the shutter such as I recalled having seen Craig use. Finally I
+covered the sparking device with the flash-light powder, gave a last
+look about and snapped off the light.
+
+Up in my bedroom, I must say I felt like "some" detective and I could
+not help slapping myself on the chest for the ingenuity with which I
+had duplicated Craig.
+
+Then I lay down on the bed with my clothes on and picked up a book,
+determined to keep awake to see if anything happened. It was a good
+book, but I was tired and in spite of myself I nodded over it, and then
+dropped it.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+In his bungalow, now that Smith had gone back again to New York and
+Washington, Del Mar was preparing to keep the important engagement he
+had told us about, another of his nefarious nocturnal expeditions.
+
+He drew a cap on his head, well over his ears and forehead. His eyes
+and face he concealed as well as he could with a mask to be put on
+later. To his equipment he added a gun. Then with a hasty word or two
+to his valet, he went out.
+
+By back ways so that even in the glare of automobile headlights he
+would not be recognized, he made his way to Dodge Hall. As he saw the
+house looming up in the moonlight he put on his mask and approached
+cautiously. Gaining the house, he opened a window, noiselessly turning
+the catch as deftly as a house-breaker, and climbed into the
+living-room.
+
+A moment he looked around, then tiptoed over to the table. He looked at
+it to be sure that it was the right one and the right drawer. Then he
+bent down to force the drawer open.
+
+"Pouf!" a blinding flash came and a little metallic click of the
+shutter, followed by a cloud of smoke.
+
+As quick as it happened, there went through Del Mar's head, the
+explanation. It was a concealed camera. He sprang back, clapping his
+hands over his face. Out of range for a moment, he stood gazing about
+the room, trying to locate the thing.
+
+Suddenly he heard footsteps. He dived through the window that he had
+opened, just as some one ran in and switched on the lights.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Half asleep, I heard a muffled explosion, as if of a flash-light. I
+started up and listened. Surely some one was moving about down-stairs.
+I pulled my gun from my pocket and ran out of the room. Down the steps
+I flung myself, two at a time.
+
+In the living-room, I switched on the lights in time to see some one
+disappear through an open window. I ran to the window and looked out.
+There was a man, half doubled up, running around the side of the house
+and into a clump of bushes, then apparently lost. I shot out of the
+window and called.
+
+My only answer was an imprecation and return volley that shattered the
+glass above my head. I ducked hastily and fell flat on the floor, for
+in the light streaming out, I must have been a good mark.
+
+I was not the only one who heard the noise. The shots quickly awakened
+Elaine and she leaped out of bed and put on her kimono. Then she
+lighted the lights and ran down-stairs.
+
+The intruder had disappeared by this time and I had got up and was
+peering out of the window as she came breathlessly into the living-room.
+
+"What's the matter, Walter?" she asked.
+
+"Some one broke into the house after those plans," I replied. "He
+escaped, but I got his picture, I think, by this device of Kennedy's.
+Let's go into a dark room and develop it."
+
+There was no use trying to follow the man further. To Elaine's inquiry
+of what I meant, I replied by merely going over to the spot where I had
+hidden the camera and disconnecting it.
+
+We went up-stairs where I had rigged up an impromptu dark room for my
+amateur photographic work some days before. Elaine watched me closely.
+At last I found that I had developed something. As I drew the film
+through the hypo tray and picked it up, I held it to the red light.
+
+Elaine leaned over and looked at the film with me. There was a picture
+of a masked man, his cap down, in a startled attitude, his hands
+clapped to his face, completely hiding what the mask and cap did not
+hide.
+
+"Well, I'll be blowed!" I cried in chagrin at the outcome of what I
+thought had been my cleverest coup.
+
+A little exclamation of astonishment escaped Elaine. I turned to her.
+"What is it?" I asked.
+
+"The ring!" she cried.
+
+I looked again more closely. On the little finger of the left hand was
+a peculiar ring. Once seen, I think it was not readily forgotten. "The
+ring!" she repeated excitedly. "Don't you remember--that ring? I saw it
+on Mr. Del Mar's hand--at his house--this afternoon!"
+
+I could only stare.
+
+At last we had a real clue!
+
+In his bungalow, Del Mar at that moment threw down his hat and tore off
+his mask furiously.
+
+What had he done?
+
+For a long time he sat there, his chin on his hand, gazing fixedly
+before him, planning to protect himself and revenge.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE DISAPPEARING HELMETS
+
+
+It was early the following morning that, very excited, Elaine and I
+showed Aunt Josephine the photograph which we had snapped and developed
+by using Kennedy's trick method.
+
+"But who is it?" asked Aunt Josephine examining the print carefully and
+seeing nothing but a face masked and with a pair of hands before it, a
+seal ring on the little finger of one hand.
+
+"Oh, I forgot that you hadn't seen the ring before," explained Elaine.
+"Why, we knew him at once, in spite of everything, by that seal
+ring--Mr. Del Mar!"
+
+"Mr. Del Mar?" repeated Aunt Josephine, looking from one to the other
+of us, incredulous.
+
+"I saw the ring at his own bungalow and on his own finger," reiterated
+Elaine positively.
+
+"But what are you going to do, now?" asked Aunt Josephine.
+
+"Have him arrested, of course," Elaine replied.
+
+Still talking over the strange experience of the night before, we went
+out on the veranda.
+
+"Well, of all the nerve!" exclaimed Elaine, catching sight of a man
+coming up the gravel walk. "If that isn't Henry, Mr. Del Mar's valet!"
+
+The valet advanced as though nothing had happened and, indeed, I
+suppose that as far as he knew nothing had happened or was known to us.
+He bowed and handed Elaine a note which she tore open quickly and read.
+
+"Would you go?" she asked, handing the note over to me.
+
+It read:
+
+DEAR MISS DODGE,
+
+If you and Mr. Jameson will call on me to-day, I will have something of
+interest to tell you concerning my investigations in the case of the
+disappearance of Craig Kennedy.
+
+Sincerely,
+
+M. DEL MAR.
+
+"Yes," I asserted, "I would go."
+
+"Tell Mr. Del Mar we shall see him as soon as possible," nodded Elaine
+to the valet who bowed and left quickly.
+
+"What is it?" inquired Aunt Josephine, rejoining us.
+
+"A note from Mr. Del Mar," replied Elaine showing it to her.
+
+"Well," queried Aunt Josephine, "what are you going to do?"
+
+"We're going, of course," cried Elaine.
+
+"You're not," blurted out Aunt Josephine. "Why, just think. He's sure
+to do something."
+
+But Elaine and I had made up our minds.
+
+"I know it," I interjected. "He's sure to try something that will show
+his hand--and then I've got him."
+
+Perhaps I threw out my chest a little more than was necessary, but then
+I figured that Elaine with her usual intuition had for once agreed with
+me and that it must be all right. I drew my gun and twirled the
+cylinder about as I spoke. Indeed I felt, since the success of the
+snapshot episode, that I was a match for several Del Mar's.
+
+"Yes, Walter is right," agreed Elaine.
+
+Aunt Josephine continued to shake her head sagely in protest. But
+Elaine waved all her protestations aside and ran into the house to get
+ready for the visit.
+
+Half an hour later, two saddle horses were brought around to the front
+of Dodge Hall and Elaine and I sallied forth.
+
+Aunt Josephine was still protesting against our going to Del Mar's, but
+we had made up our minds to carry the thing through. "You know," she
+insisted, "that Mr. Kennedy is not around to protect you two children.
+Something will surely happen to you if you don't keep out of this
+affair."
+
+"Oh, Auntie," laughed Elaine, a bit nervously, however, "don't be a
+kill-joy. Suppose Craig isn't about? Who's going to do this, if Walter
+and I don't?"
+
+In spite of all, we mounted and rode away.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Del Mar, still continuing his nefarious work of mining American harbors
+and bridges, had arrived at a scheme as soon as he returned from the
+attempt to get back from us the Sandy Hook plans. Smith, who had stolen
+the plans from the War Department, was still at the bungalow.
+
+Early in the morning, Del Mar had seated himself at his desk and wrote
+a letter.
+
+"Here, Henry," he directed his valet, "take this to Miss Dodge."
+
+As the valet went out, he wrote another note. "Read that," he said,
+handing it over to Smith. "It's a message I want you to take to
+headquarters right away."
+
+It was worded cryptically:
+
+A. A. L.     N. Y.
+ Closely watched. Must act soon or all will be discovered.--M.
+
+Smith read the note, nodded, and put it into his pocket, as he started
+to the door.
+
+"No, no," shouted Del Mar, calling him back. "This thing means that
+you'll have to be careful in your getaway. You'd better go out through
+my secret passage," he added, pointing to the panel in the library wall.
+
+He pressed the button on the desk and Smith left through the hidden
+passage. Down it he groped and at the other end emerged. Seeing no one
+around, he made his way to the road. There seemed to be no one who
+looked at all suspicious on the road, either, and Smith congratulated
+himself on his easy escape.
+
+On a bridge over a creek, however, as Smith approached, was one
+inoffensive-looking person who might have been a minister or a
+professor. He was leaning on the rail in deep thought, gazing at the
+creek that ran beneath him, and now and then flashing a sharp glance
+about.
+
+Suddenly he saw something approaching. Instantly he dodged to the
+farther end of the bridge and took refuge behind a tree. Smith walked
+on over the bridge, oblivious to the fact that he was watched. No
+sooner had he disappeared than the inquisitive stranger emerged again
+from behind the tree.
+
+It was the mysterious Professor Arnold who many times had shown a
+peculiar interest in the welfare of Elaine and myself.
+
+Evidently he had recognized Del Mar's messenger, for after watching him
+a moment he turned and followed.
+
+At the railroad station, just before the train for New York pulled in,
+the waiting crowd was increased by one stranger. Smith had come in and
+taken his place unostentatiously among them.
+
+But if he thought he was to be lost in the little crowd, he was much
+mistaken. Arnold had followed, but not so quickly that he had not had
+time to pick up the two policemen that the town boasted, both of whom
+were down at the station at the time.
+
+"There he is," indicated Arnold, "the fellow with the slight limp.
+Bring him to my room in the St. Germain Hotel."
+
+"All right, sir," replied the officers, edging their way to the
+platform as Arnold retreated back of the station and disappeared up the
+street.
+
+Just then the train pulled into the station and the passengers crowded
+forward to mount the steps. Smith was just about to push his way on
+with them, when the officers elbowed through the crowd.
+
+"You're wanted," hissed one of them, seizing his shoulder.
+
+But Smith, in spite of his deformity, was not one to submit to arrest
+without a struggle. He fought them off and broke away, running toward
+the baggage-room.
+
+As he rushed in, they followed. One of them was gaining on him and took
+a flying football tackle. The other almost fell over the twisted mass
+of arms and legs. The struggle now was short and sharp and ended in the
+officers slipping the bracelets over the wrists of Smith. While the
+passengers and bystanders crowded about to watch the excitement, they
+led him off quickly.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+In his rooms at the St. Germain, cluttered with test tubes and other
+paraphernalia which indicated his scientific tendencies, Professor
+Arnold entered and threw off his hat, lighting a cigarette and waiting
+impatiently.
+
+He had not as long to wait as he had expected. A knock sounded at the
+door and he opened it. There was Smith handcuffed and forced in by the
+two policemen.
+
+"Good work," commended Arnold, at once setting to work to search the
+prisoner who fumed but could not resist.
+
+"What have we here?" drawled Arnold in mock courtesy and surprise as he
+found and drew forth from Smith's pocket a bundle of papers, which he
+hastily ran through.
+
+"Ah!" he muttered, coming to Del Mar's note, which he opened and read.
+"What's this? 'A. A. L. N. Y. Closely watched. Must act soon or all
+will be discovered. M.' Now, what's all that?"
+
+Arnold pondered the text deeply. "You may take him away, now," he
+concluded, glancing up from the note to the officers. "Thank you."
+
+"All right, sir," they returned, prodding Smith along out.
+
+Still studying the note, Arnold sat down at the desk. Thoughtfully he
+picked up a pencil. Under the letters A. A. L. he slowly wrote
+"Anti-American League" and under the initial M the name, "Martin."
+
+"Now is the time, if ever, to use that new telaphotograph instrument
+which I have installed for the War Department in Washington and carry
+around with me," he said to himself, rising and going to a closet.
+
+He took out a large instrument composed of innumerable coils and a
+queer battery of selenium cells. It was the receiver of the new
+instrument by which a photograph could be sent over a telegraph wire.
+
+Down-stairs, in the telegraph room of the hotel, Arnold secured the
+services of one of the operators. Evidently by the way they obeyed him
+they had received orders from the company regarding him, and knew him
+well there.
+
+"I wish you'd send this message right away to Washington," he said,
+handing in a blank he had already written.
+
+The clerk checked it over:
+
+  U. S. WAR DEPARTMENT,    Washington, D. C.
+
+   Wire me immediately photograph and personal history
+   of Martin arrested two years ago as head of Anti-American League.--ARNOLD.
+
+As the message was ticked off, Arnold attached his receiving
+telaphotograph instrument to another wire.
+
+It was a matter scarcely of seconds before a message was flashed back
+to Arnold from Washington:
+
+   Martin escaped from Fort Leavenworth six months
+   ago. Thought to be in Europe. Photograph follows.
+
+                 EDWARDS.
+
+"Very well," nodded Arnold with satisfaction. "I think I know what is
+going on here now. Let us wait for the photograph."
+
+He went over to the new selenium telaphotograph and began adjusting it.
+
+Far away, in Washington, in a room in the War Department where Arnold
+had already installed his system for the secret government service, a
+clerk was also working over the sending part of the apparatus.
+
+No sooner had the clerk finished his preparations and placed a
+photograph in the transmitter than the buzzing of the receiver which
+Arnold had installed announced to him that the marvellous transmission
+of a picture over a wire, one of the very newest triumphs of science,
+was in progress. In the little telegraph office of the St. Germain, the
+clerks and operators crowded about Arnold, watching breathlessly.
+
+"By Jove, it works!" cried one, no longer sceptical.
+
+Slowly a print was being evolved before their eyes as if by a spirit
+hand. Arnold watched the synchronizer apparatus carefully as, point
+after point, the picture developed. He bent over closely, his attention
+devoted to every part of the complicated apparatus.
+
+At last the transmission of the photograph was completed and the
+machine came to rest. Arnold almost tore the print from the receiver
+and held it up to examine it.
+
+A smile of intense satisfaction crossed his face.
+
+"At last!" he muttered.
+
+There was a photograph of the man who had been identified with the arch
+conspirators of two years before, Martin. Only, now he had changed his
+name and appeared in a new role.
+
+It was Marcus Del Mar!
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Already, in the library of his bungalow, Del Mar had summoned one of
+his trusted men and was talking to him, when Henry, the valet,
+reentered after his trip to see us.
+
+"They're coming as soon as they can," he reported.
+
+Del Mar smiled a cynical smile. "Good," he exclaimed triumphantly,
+then, looking about at the electric fixtures, added to the man, "Let us
+see where to install the thing."
+
+He walked over to the door and put his hand on the knob, then pointed
+back at the fixtures.
+
+"That's the idea," he cried. "You can run the line from the brackets to
+this door-knob and the mat. How's that?"
+
+"Very clever," flattered the man, putting on a heavy pair of rubber
+gloves.
+
+Taking a pair of pliers and other tools from a closet in the library,
+he began removing the electric fixture from the wall. As Del Mar
+directed, the man ran a wire from the fixture along the moulding, and
+down the side of a door, where he made a connection.
+
+In the meantime Del Mar brought out a wire mat and laid it in front of
+the door where any one who entered or left would be sure to step on it.
+The various connections made, the man placed a switch in the
+concealment of a heavily-curtained window and replaced everything as he
+found it.
+
+Thus it was that Elaine and I came at last to Del Mar's bungalow, I
+must admit, with some misgivings. But I had gone too far to draw back
+now and Elaine was more eager even than I was. We dismounted, tethered
+our horses and went toward the house, where I rang the bell.
+
+Preparations for our reception had just been completed and Del Mar was
+issuing his final instructions to his man, when the valet, Henry, ran
+in hastily.
+
+"They're here, sir, now," he announced excitedly.
+
+"All right, I'm ready," nodded Del Mar, turning to his man again and
+indicating a place back of the folds of the heavy curtains by the
+window. "You get back there by that switch. Don't move--don't even
+breathe. Now, Henry, let them in."
+
+As his valet withdrew Del Mar gazed about his library to make sure that
+everything was all right. Just then the valet reappeared and ushered us
+in.
+
+"Good morning," greeted Del Mar pleasantly. "I see that you got my note
+and I'm glad you were so prompt. Won't you be seated?"
+
+Both Elaine and I were endeavoring to appear at ease. But there was a
+decided tension in the atmosphere. We sat down, however. Del Mar did
+not seem to notice anything wrong.
+
+"I've something at last to report to you about Kennedy," he said a
+moment later, clearing his throat.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Aunt Josephine turned from us as Elaine and I rode off on our horses
+from Dodge Hall considerably worried.
+
+Then an idea seemed to occur to her and she walked determinedly into
+the house.
+
+"Jennings," she called to the butler, "have the limousine brought
+around from the garage immediately."
+
+"Yes, ma'am," acquiesced the faithful Jennings, hurrying out.
+
+It was only a few minutes later that the car pulled around before the
+door. Aunt Josephine bustled out and entered.
+
+"Fort Dale," she directed the driver, greatly agitated. "Ask for
+Lieutenant Woodward."
+
+Out at Fort Dale, Woodward was much astonished when an orderly
+announced that Aunt Josephine was waiting in her car to see him on very
+urgent business. He ordered that she be admitted at once.
+
+"I hope there's nothing wrong?" he inquired anxiously, as he noted the
+excitement and the worried look on her face.
+
+"I--I'm afraid there may be," she replied, sitting down and explaining
+what Elaine and I had just done.
+
+The Lieutenant listened gravely.
+
+"And," she concluded, "they wouldn't listen to me, Lieutenant. Can't
+you follow them and keep them out of trouble?"
+
+Woodward who had been listening to her attentively jumped up as she
+concluded. "Yes," he cried sympathetically, "I can. I'll go myself with
+some of the men from the post. If they get into any scrape, I'll rescue
+them."
+
+Almost before she could thank him, Woodward had hurried from his
+office, followed by her. On the parade grounds were some men. Quickly
+he issued his orders and a number of them sprang up as he detailed them
+off for the duty. It was only a moment before they returned, armed. An
+instant later three large touring cars from the Fort swept up before
+the office of Woodward. Into them the armed men piled.
+
+"Hurry--to the Del Mar bungalow," ordered the Lieutenant, jumping up
+with the driver of the first car. "We must see that nothing happens to
+Miss Dodge and Mr. Jameson."
+
+They shot away in a cloud of dust, followed hard by the other two cars,
+dashing at a breakneck speed over the good roads.
+
+In the narrow, wooded roadway near Del Mar's, Woodward halted his car
+and the soldiers all jumped out and gathered about him as hastily he
+issued his directions.
+
+"Surround the house, first," he ordered. "Then arrest any one who goes
+in or out."
+
+They scattered, forming a wide circle. As soon as word was passed that
+the circle was completed, they advanced cautiously at a signal from
+Woodward, taking advantage of every concealment.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Around in the kitchen back of Del Mar's, Henry, the valet, had retired
+to visit one of the maids. He was about to leave when he happened to
+look out of the window.
+
+"What's that?" he muttered to himself.
+
+He stepped back and peered cautiously through the window again. There
+he could see a soldier, moving stealthily behind a bush.
+
+He drew back further and thought a minute. He must not alarm us.
+
+Then he wrote a few words on a piece of paper and tore it so that he
+could hold it in his palm. Next he hurried from the kitchen and entered
+the study.
+
+Del Mar had scarcely begun to outline to us a long and circumstantial
+pseudo-investigation into what he was pleased to hint had been the
+death of Kennedy, when we were interrupted again by the entrance of his
+valet.
+
+"Excuse me, sir," apologized Henry, as Del Mar frowned, then noted that
+something was wrong.
+
+As the valet said the words, he managed surreptitiously to hand to Del
+Mar the paper which he had written, now folded up into a very small
+space.
+
+I had turned from Del Mar when the valet entered, apparently to speak
+to Elaine, but in reality to throw them off their guard.
+
+Under that cover I was able to watch the precious pair from the tail of
+my eye, I saw Del Mar nod to the valet as though he understood that
+some warning was about to be conveyed. Although nothing was said, Del
+Mar was indicating by dumb show orders of some kind. I had no idea what
+it was all about but I stood ready to whip out my gun on the slightest
+suspicious move from either.
+
+"I hope you'll pardon me, Miss Dodge," Del Mar deprecated, as the valet
+retreated toward the door to the kitchen and pantry. "But, you see, I
+have to be housekeeper here, too, it seems."
+
+Actually, though he was talking to us, it was in a way that enabled him
+by palming something in his hand, I fancied, to look at it. It was,
+though I did not know it, the hastily scrawled warning of the valet.
+
+It must have been hard to read, for I managed by a quick shift at last
+to catch just a fleeting glimpse that it was a piece of paper he held
+in his hand. What was it, I asked myself, that he should be so secret
+about it? Clearly, I reasoned, it must be something that was of
+interest to Elaine and myself. If I must act ever, I concluded, now was
+the time to do so.
+
+Suddenly I reached out and snatched the note from his hand. But before
+I could read it Del Mar had sprung to his feet.
+
+At the same instant a man leaped out from behind the curtains.
+
+But I was on my guard. Already I had drawn my revolver and had them all
+covered before they could make another move.
+
+"Back into that corner--by the window--all of you," I ordered, thinking
+thus to get them together, more easily covered. Then, handing the note,
+with my other hand, to Elaine, I said to her, "See what it says--quick."
+
+Eagerly she took it and read aloud, "House surrounded by soldiers."
+
+"Woodward," I cried.
+
+Still keeping them covered, I smiled quietly to myself and took one
+step after another slowly to the door. Elaine followed.
+
+I reached the door and I remember that I had to step on a metal mat to
+do so. I put my hand behind me and grasped the knob about to open the
+door.
+
+As I did so, the man who had jumped from behind the curtain suddenly
+threw down his upraised hands. Before I could fire, instantaneously in
+fact, I felt a thrill as though a million needles had been thrust into
+all parts of my body at once paralyzing every muscle and nerve. The gun
+fell from my nerveless hand, clattering to the floor.
+
+The man had thrown an electric switch which had completed a circuit
+from the metal mat to the door-knob through my body and then to the
+light and power current of high power. There I was, held a prisoner, by
+the electric current!
+
+At the same instant, also, Del Mar with an oath leaped forward and
+seized Elaine by the arms. I struggled with the door-knob but I could
+no more let go than I could move my feet off that mat. It was torture.
+
+"Henry!" called Del Mar to the valet.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Open the cabinet. Give me the helmets and the suits."
+
+The valet did so, bringing out a number of queer looking head-pieces
+with a single weird eye of glass in the front, as well as rubber suits
+of an outlandish design. While he was doing so, Del Mar stuffed a
+handkerchief into Elaine's mouth to keep her quiet.
+
+By this time, Del Mar, as well as the man from behind the curtains and
+the valet were provided with suits, and one at a time holding Elaine,
+the others put them on.
+
+Del Mar moved toward Elaine, holding an extra helmet. He strapped it on
+her, then started to force her into a suit.
+
+I struggled still, but in vain, to free myself from the door-knob and
+mat. It was more than I could stand, and I sank down, half conscious.
+
+I revived only long enough to see that Del Mar had forced one of the
+suits on Elaine finally. Then he pressed a button hidden on the side of
+his desk and a secret panel in the wall opened. Picking up Elaine he
+and the others hurried through into what looked like a dark passage and
+the panel closed.
+
+They were gone. I put forth all my remaining strength in one last
+desperate struggle. Somehow, I managed to kick the wire mat from under
+my feet, breaking the contact.
+
+I staggered toward the panel, but fell to the floor, unconscious.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Outside, the iron ring, as Woodward had planned it, of soldiers were
+looking about, alert for any noise or movement. Suddenly, two of them
+who had been watching the grounds attentively signalled to each other
+that they saw something.
+
+From the shrubbery emerged a most curious and uncouth figure, all in
+rags, with long, unkempt hair and beard, sallow complexion, and
+carrying a long staff. It might have been a tramp or a hermit, perhaps,
+who was making his way toward the house.
+
+The two soldiers stole up noiselessly, close to him. Almost before he
+knew it, the hermit felt himself seized from behind by four powerful
+arms. Escape was impossible.
+
+"Let me go," he pleaded. "Can't you see I'm harming no one?"
+
+But the captors were obdurate. "Tell it to the Lieutenant," they
+rejoined grimly forcing him to go before them by twisting his arms,
+"Our orders were to seize any one entering or leaving."
+
+Protests were in vain. The hermit was forced to go before Lieutenant
+Woodward who was just in the rear directing the advance.
+
+"Well," demanded Woodward, "what's your business?"
+
+For an instant the hermit stood mute. What should he do? He has reason
+to know that the situation must be urgent.
+
+Slowly he raised his beard so that Woodward could see not only that it
+was false but what his features looked like.
+
+"Arnold!" gasped Woodward, startled. "What brings you here? Elaine and
+Jameson are in the house. We have it surrounded."
+
+Half an hour before, in the St. Germain, Arnold had no sooner received
+the telaphotograph than he hurried up to his room. From a closet he had
+produced another of his numerous disguises and quickly put it on. With
+scant white locks falling over his shoulders and long scraggly beard,
+he had made himself into a veritable wild man. Then he had put on the
+finishing touches and had made his way toward Del Mar's.
+
+A look of intense anxiety now flashed over Arnold's face as he heard
+Woodward's words.
+
+"But," he cried, "there is an underground passage from the house to the
+shore."
+
+"The deuce!" muttered Woodward, more alarmed now than ever. "Come,
+men,--to the house," he shouted out his orders as they passed them
+around the line. "Arnold, lead the way!"
+
+Together the soldier and the strange figure rushed to the front door of
+the bungalow. All was still inside. Heavy as it was, they broke it down
+and burst in.
+
+"Walter, there's Walter!" cried Woodward as he saw me lying on the
+floor of the study when they ran in.
+
+They hurried to me and as quickly as they could started to bring me
+around.
+
+"Where's Elaine?" asked the strange figure of the hermit.
+
+Weakly, I was able only to point to the panel. But it was enough. The
+soldiers understood. They dashed for it, looking for a button or an
+opening. Finding neither, they started to bang on it and batter it in
+with the butts of their guns.
+
+It was only seconds before it was splintered to kindling. There was the
+passage. Instantly, Woodward, the hermit, and the rest plunged into it
+utterly regardless of danger. On through the tunnel they went until at
+last they came, unmolested, to the end. There they paused to look about.
+
+The hermit pointed to the ground. Clearly there were footprints,
+leading to the shore. They followed them on down to the beach.
+
+"Look!" pointed the hermit.
+
+Off in the water they could now see the most curious sights. Four
+strangely helmeted creatures were wading out, each like a huge
+octopus-head, without tentacles.
+
+Only a few seconds before, Del Mar and his companions, carrying Elaine
+had emerged from the secret entrance of the tunnel and had dashed for
+the shore of the promontory.
+
+Stopping only an instant to consider what was to be done, Del Mar had
+seen some one else emerge from the tunnel.
+
+"Come--we must get down there quickly," he shouted, hurriedly issuing
+orders, as all three, carrying Elaine, waded out into the water.
+
+At sight of the strange figures the soldiers raised their guns and a
+volley of shot rang out.
+
+"Stop!" shouted the hermit, his hair streaming wildly as he ran before
+the guns and threw up as many as he could grasp with his outstretched
+arms. "Do you want to kill her?"
+
+"Her?" repeated Woodward.
+
+All stood there, wonderingly, gazing at the queer creatures.
+
+What did it mean?
+
+Slowly, they disappeared--literally under the water.
+
+They were gone--with Elaine!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE TRIUMPH OF ELAINE
+
+
+Half carrying, half forcing Elaine down into the water, Del Mar and his
+two men, all four of the party clad in the outlandish submarine suits,
+bore the poor girl literally along the bottom of the bay until they
+reached a point which they knew to be directly under the entrance to
+the secret submarine harbor.
+
+Del Mar's mind was working feverishly. Though he now had in his power
+the girl he both loved and also feared as the stumbling-block in the
+execution of his nefarious plans against America, he realized that in
+getting her he had been forced to betray the precious secret of the
+harbor itself.
+
+At the point where he knew that the harbor was above him, hidden safely
+beneath the promontory, he took from under his arm a float which he
+released. Upward it shot through the water.
+
+Above, in the harbor, a number of his men were either on guard or
+lounging about.
+
+"A signal from the chief," cried a sentry, pointing to the float as it
+bobbed up.
+
+"Kick off the lead shoes," signalled Del Mar to the others, under the
+water.
+
+They did so and rose slowly to the surface, carrying Elaine up with
+them. The men at the surface were waiting for them and helped to pull
+Del Mar and his companions out of the water.
+
+"Come into the office, right away," beckoned Del Mar anxiously,
+removing his helmet and leading the way.
+
+In the office, the others removed their helmets, while Del Mar took the
+head-gear off Elaine. She stared about her bewildered.
+
+"Where am I?" she demanded.
+
+"A woman!" exclaimed the men in the harbor in surprise.
+
+"Never mind where you are," growled Del Mar, plainly worried. Then to
+the men, he added, "We can't stay any longer. The harbor is discovered.
+Get ready to leave immediately."
+
+Murmurs of anger and anxiety rose from the men as Del Mar related
+briefly between orders what had just happened.
+
+Immediately there was a general scramble to make ready for the escape.
+
+In the corner of the office, Elaine, again in her skirt and shirtwaist
+which the diving-suit had protected, sat open-eyed watching the
+preparations of the men for the hasty departure. Some had been detailed
+to get the rifles which they handed around to those as yet unarmed. Del
+Mar took one as well as a cartridge belt.
+
+"Guard her," he shouted to one man indicating Elaine, "and if she gets
+away this time, I'll shoot you."
+
+Then he led the others down the ledge until he came to a submarine
+boat. The rest followed, still making preparations for a hasty flight.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Woodward along with Professor Arnold, in his disguise as a hermit,
+stood for a moment surrounded by the soldiers, after the disappearance
+of Elaine and Del Mar in the water.
+
+"I see it all, now," cried the hermit, "the submarine, the strange
+disappearances, the messages in the water. They have a secret harbor
+under those cliffs, with an entrance beneath the water line."
+
+Hastily he wrote a note on a piece of paper.
+
+"Send one of your men to my headquarters with that," he said, handing
+it to Woodward to read:
+
+RODGERS,--Send new submarine telescope by bearer. You will find it in
+case No. 17, closet No. 3.--ARNOLD.
+
+"Right away," nodded Woodward, comprehending and calling a soldier whom
+he dispatched immediately with hurried instructions. The soldier
+saluted and left almost on a run.
+
+Then Woodward turned and with Arnold lead the men up the shore, still
+conferring on the best means of attacking the harbor.
+
+On a wharf along the shore Woodward, Arnold and the soldiers gathered,
+waiting for the telescope. Already Woodward had had a fast launch
+brought up, ready for use.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+When Woodward, Arnold and the attacking party had discovered me
+unconscious in Del Mar's study, there had been no time to wait for me
+to regain full consciousness. They had placed me on a couch and run
+into the secret passageway after Elaine.
+
+Now, however, I slowly regained my senses and, looking about, vaguely
+began to realize what had happened.
+
+My first impulse was to search the study, looking in all the closets
+and table drawers. In a corner was a large chest, I opened it. Inside
+were several of the queer helmets and suits which I had seen Del Mar
+use and one of which he had placed on Elaine.
+
+For some moments I examined them curiously, wondering what their use
+could be. Somehow it seemed to me, if Del Mar had used them in the
+escape, we should need them in the pursuit.
+
+Then my eye fell on the broken panel. I entered it and groped
+cautiously down the passageway. At the end I gazed about, trying to
+discover which way they had all gone.
+
+At last, down on the shore, before a wharf I could see Woodward, the
+strange old hermit and the rest.
+
+I ran toward them, calling.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+By this time the soldier who had been sent for the submarine telescope
+arrived at last, with the telescope in sections in several long cases.
+
+"Good!" exclaimed the old hermit, almost seizing the package which the
+soldier handed him.
+
+He unwrapped it and joined the various sections together. It was, as I
+have said, a submarine telescope, but after a design entirely new,
+differing from the ordinary submarine telescope. It had an arm bent at
+right angles, with prismatic mirrors so that it was not only possible
+to see the bottom of the sea but by an adjustment also to see at right
+angles, or, as it were, around a corner.
+
+It was while he was joining this contrivance together that I came up
+from the end of the secret passage down to the wharf.
+
+"Why, here's Jameson," greeted Woodward. "I'm glad you're so much
+better."
+
+"Where's Elaine?" I interrupted breathlessly.
+
+They began to tell me.
+
+"Aren't you going to follow?" I cried.
+
+"Follow? How can we follow?"
+
+Excitedly I told of my discovery of the helmets.
+
+"Just the thing!" exclaimed the hermit. "Send some one back to get
+them."
+
+Woodward quickly detached several soldiers to go with me and I hurried
+back to the bungalow, while others carried the submarine telescope to
+the boat.
+
+It was only a few minutes later that in Del Mar's own car, I drove up
+to the wharf again and we unloaded the curious submarine helmets and
+suits.
+
+Quickly Woodward posted several of his men to act as sentries on the
+beach, then with the rest we climbed into the launch and slipped off
+down the shore.
+
+The launch which Woodward had commandeered moved along in the general
+direction which they had seen Del Mar and his men take with Elaine.
+With the telescope over the side, we cruised about slowly in a circle,
+Arnold gazing through the eyepiece. All of us were by this time in the
+diving-suits which I had brought from Del Mar's, except that we had not
+yet strapped on the helmets.
+
+Suddenly Arnold raised his hand and signalled to stop the launch.
+
+"Look!" he cried, indicating the eyepiece of the submarine telescope
+which he had let down over the side.
+
+Woodward gazed into the eyepiece and then I did, also. There we could
+see the side of a submerged submarine a short distance away, through
+the cave-like entrance of what appeared to be a great under-water
+harbor.
+
+"What shall we do?" queried Woodward.
+
+"Attack it now before they are prepared," replied the hermit
+decisively. "Put on the helmets."
+
+All of us except those who were running the launch buckled on the
+head-pieces, wrapping our guns in waterproof covers which we had found
+with the suits.
+
+As soon as we had finished, one after another, we let ourselves over
+the side of the boat and sank to the bottom.
+
+On the bottom we gathered and slowly, in the heavy unaccustomed helmets
+and cumbersome suits, we made our way in a body through the entrance of
+the harbor.
+
+Upward through the archway we went, clinging to rocks, anything, but
+always upward.
+
+As we emerged a shot rang out. One of our men threw up his arms and
+fell back into the water.
+
+On we pressed.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Elaine sat in a corner of the office, mute, while the man who was
+guarding her, heavily armed, paced up and down.
+
+Suddenly an overwhelming desire came over her to attempt an escape. But
+no sooner had she made a motion as though to run through the door than
+the man seized her and drove her back to her corner.
+
+"Take your positions here," ordered Del Mar to several of the men. "If
+you see anybody come up through the water, these hand grenades ought to
+settle them."
+
+Along the ledge the men were stationed each with a pile of the grenades
+before him.
+
+"See!" cried one of them from the ledge as he caught sight of one of
+our helmets appearing.
+
+The others crouched and stared. Del Mar himself hurried forward and
+gazed in the direction the man indicated. There they could see
+Woodward, Arnold and the rest of us just beginning to climb up out of
+the water.
+
+Del Mar aimed and fired. One of the men had thrown up his arms with a
+cry and fallen back into the water.
+
+Invaders seemed to swarm up now in every direction from the water.
+
+On the semi-circular ledge about one side of the harbor, Del Mar's men
+were now ranged in close order near a submarine, whose hatch was open
+to receive them, ready to repel the attack and if necessary retreat
+into the under-sea boat.
+
+They fired sharply at the figures that rose from the water. Many of the
+men fell back, hit, but, in turn, a large number managed to gain a
+foothold on the ledge.
+
+Led by Woodward and Arnold, they formed quickly and stripped off the
+waterproof coverings of their weapons, returning the fire sharply.
+Things were more equal now. Several of Del Mar's men had fallen. The
+smoke of battle filled the narrow harbor.
+
+In the office Elaine listened keenly to the shots. What did it all
+mean? Clearly it could be nothing less than assistance coming.
+
+The man on guard heard also and his uncontrollable curiosity took him
+to the door. As he gazed out Elaine saw her chance. She made a rush at
+him and seized him, wresting the rifle from his hands before he knew
+it. She sprang back just as he drew his revolver and fired at her. The
+shot just narrowly missed her, but she did not lose her presence of
+mind. She fired the rifle in turn and the man fell.
+
+A little shudder ran over her. She had killed a man! But the firing
+outside grew fiercer. She had no time to think. She stepped over the
+body, her face averted, and ran out. There she could see Del Mar and
+his men. Many of them by this time had been killed or wounded.
+
+"We can't beat them; they are too many for us," muttered Del Mar.
+"We'll have to get away if we can. Into the submarine!" he ordered.
+
+Hastily they began to pile into the open hatch.
+
+Just as Del Mar started to follow them, he caught sight of Elaine
+running out of the office. Almost in one leap he was at her side.
+Before she could raise her rifle and fire he had seized it. She
+managed, however, to push him off and get away from him.
+
+She looked about for some weapon. There on the ledge lay one of the
+hand grenades. She picked it up and hurled it at him, but he dodged and
+it missed him. On it flew, landing close to the submarine. As it
+exploded, another of Del Mar's men toppled over into the water.
+
+Between volleys, Woodward, Arnold and the rest pulled off their helmets.
+
+"Elaine!" cried Arnold, catching sight of her in the hands of Del Mar.
+
+Quickly, at the head of such men as he could muster, the hermit led a
+charge.
+
+In the submarine the last man was waiting for Del Mar. As the hermit
+ran forward with several soldiers between Del Mar and the submarine, it
+was evident that Del Mar would be cut off.
+
+The man at the hatch climbed down into the boat. It was useless to
+wait. He banged shut and clamped the hatch. Slowly the submarine began
+to sink.
+
+Del Mar by this time had overcome Elaine and started to run toward the
+submarine with her. But then he stopped short.
+
+There was a queer figure of a hermit leading some soldiers. He was cut
+off.
+
+"Back into the office!" he growled, dragging Elaine.
+
+He banged shut the door just as the hermit and the soldiers made a rush
+at him. On the door they battered. But it was in vain. The door was
+locked.
+
+In the office Del Mar hastily went to a corner, after barring the door,
+and lifted a trap-door in the floor, known only to himself.
+
+Elaine did not move or make any attempt to escape, for Del Mar in
+addition to having a vicious looking automatic in his hand kept a
+watchful eye on her.
+
+Outside the office, the soldiers, led by the hermit and Woodward
+continued to batter at the door.
+
+"Now--go down that stairway--ahead of me," ordered Del Mar.
+
+Elaine obeyed tensely, and he followed into his emergency exit, closing
+the trap.
+
+"Beat harder, men," urged the hermit, as the soldiers battered at the
+door.
+
+They redoubled their efforts and the door bent and swayed.
+
+At last it fell in under the sheer weight of the blows.
+
+"By George--he's gone--with Elaine," cried the hermit, looking at the
+empty office.
+
+Feverishly they hunted about for a means of escape but could find none.
+
+"Pound the floor and walls with the butts of your guns," ordered
+Arnold. "There must be some place that is hollow."
+
+They did so, going over all inch by inch.
+
+Meanwhile, through the passage, along a rocky stairway, Del Mar
+continued to drive Elaine before him, up and ever up to the level of
+the land.
+
+At last Elaine, followed by Del Mar, emerged from the rocky passage in
+a cleft in the cliffs, far above the promontory.
+
+"Go on!" he ordered, forcing her to go ahead of him.
+
+They came finally to a small hut on a cliff overlooking the real harbor.
+
+"Enter!" demanded Del Mar.
+
+Still meekly, she obeyed.
+
+Del Mar seized her and before she knew it had her bound and gagged.
+
+Down in the little office our men continued to search for the secret
+exit.
+
+"Here's a place that gives an echo," shouted one of them.
+
+As he found the secret trap and threw it open, the hermit stripped off
+the cumbersome diving-suit and jumped in, followed by Woodward, myself
+and the soldiers.
+
+Upward we climbed until at last we came to the opening. There we paused
+and looked about. Where was Del Mar? Where was Elaine? We could see no
+trace of them.
+
+Finally, however, Arnold discovered the trail in the grass and we
+followed him, slowly picking up the tracks.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Knowing that the submarine would cruise about and wait for him, Del Mar
+decided to leave Elaine in the hut while he went out and searched for a
+boat in which to look for the submarine.
+
+Coming out of the hut, he gazed about and moved off cautiously.
+Stealthily he went down to the shore and there looked up and down
+intently.
+
+A short distance away from him was a pier in the process of
+construction. Men were unloading spiles from a cable car that ran out
+on the pier on a little construction railway, as well as other material
+with which to fill in the pier. At the end of the dock lay a
+power-boat, moored, evidently belonging to some one interested in the
+work on the pier.
+
+The workmen had just finished unloading a car full and were climbing
+back on the empty car, which looked as if it had once been a trolley.
+As Del Mar looked over the scene of activity, he caught sight of the
+powerboat.
+
+"Just what I want," he muttered to himself. "I must get Elaine. I can
+get away in that."
+
+The workmen signalled to the engineer above and the car ran up the
+wharf and up an incline at the shore-end.
+
+The moment the car disappeared, Del Mar hurried away in the direction
+he had come.
+
+At the top of the grade, he noticed, was a donkey engine which operated
+the cable that drew the car up from the dock, and at the top of the
+incline was a huge pile of material.
+
+The car had been drawn up to the top of the grade by this time. There
+the engineer who operated the engine stopped it.
+
+Just then the whistle blew for the noon hour. The men quit work and
+went to get their dinner pails, while the engineer started to draw the
+fire. Beside the engine, he began to chop some wood, while the car was
+held at the top of the grade by the cable.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+In our pursuit we came at last in sight of a lonely hut. Evidently that
+must be a rendezvous of Del Mar. But was he there? Was Elaine there? We
+must see first.
+
+While we were looking about and debating what was the best thing to do,
+who should appear hurrying up the hill but Del Mar himself, going
+toward the hut.
+
+As we caught sight of him, Arnold sprang forward. Woodward and I,
+followed by the soldiers also jumped out.
+
+Del Mar turned and ran down the hill again with us after him, in full
+cry.
+
+While we had been waiting, some of the soldiers had deployed down the
+hill and now, hearing our shouts, turned, and came up again.
+
+Beside his engine, we could see an engineer chopping wood. He paused
+now in his chopping and was gazing out over the bay. Suddenly he had
+seen something out in the water that had attracted his attention and
+was staring at it. There it moved, nothing less than a half-submerged
+submarine.
+
+As the engineer gazed off at it, Del Mar came up, unseen, behind him
+and stood there, also watching the submarine, fascinated.
+
+Just then behind him Del Mar heard us pursuing. He looked about as we
+ran toward him and saw that we had formed a wide circle, with the men
+down the hill, that almost completely surrounded him. There was no
+chance for escape. It was hopeless.
+
+But it was not Del Mar's nature to give up. He gave one last glance
+about. There was the trolley car that had been converted into a cable
+way. It offered just one chance in a thousand. Suddenly his face
+assumed an air of desperate determination.
+
+He sprang toward the engineer and grappled with him, seeking to wrest
+the axe from his hand. Every second counted. Our circle was now
+narrowing down and closing in on him.
+
+Del Mar managed to knock out the engineer, taken by surprise, just as
+our men fired a volley. In the struggle, Del Mar was unharmed. Instead
+he just managed to get the axe.
+
+An instant later a leap landed him on the cable car. With a blow of the
+axe he cut the cable. The car began to move slowly down the hill on the
+grade.
+
+Some of the men were down below in its path. But the onrushing cable
+car was too much for them. They could only leap aside to save
+themselves.
+
+On down the incline, gathering momentum every second, the car dashed,
+Del Mar swaying crazily but keeping his footing. We followed as fast as
+we could, but it was useless.
+
+Out on the wharf it sped at a terrific pace. At the end it literally
+catapulted itself into the water, crashing from the end of the pier. As
+it did so, Del Mar gave a flying leap out into the harbor, struck the
+water with a clean dive and disappeared.
+
+On down the hill we hurried. There in the water was Del Mar swimming
+rapidly. Almost before we knew it, we saw him raise his hand and
+signal, shouting.
+
+There only a few yards away was the periscope of a submarine. As we
+watched, we could see that it had seen him, had turned in his
+direction. Would they get him?
+
+We watched, fascinated. Some of our men fired, as accurately as they
+could at a figure bobbing so uncertainly on the water.
+
+Meanwhile the submarine approached closer and rose a bit so that the
+hatchway cleared the waves. It opened. One of the foreign agents
+assisted Del Mar in.
+
+He had escaped at last!
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+It was most heart-breaking to have had Del Mar so nearly in our grasp
+and then to have lost him. We looked from one to another, in despair.
+
+Only Arnold, in his disguise as a hermit, seemed undiscouraged.
+Suddenly he turned to Woodward.
+
+"What time is it?" he asked eagerly.
+
+"A little past noon."
+
+"The Kennedy wireless torpedo!" he exclaimed. "It arrived to-day.
+Burnside is trying it out."
+
+Suddenly there flashed over me the recollection of the marvellous
+invention that Kennedy had made for the Government just before his
+disappearance, as well as the memory of the experience I had had once
+with the intrepid Burnside.
+
+Woodward's face showed a ray of interest and hope in the overwhelming
+gloom that had settled on us all.
+
+"You and Jameson go to Fort Dale, quick," directed Arnold eagerly. "I'm
+not fit. Get Burnside. Have him bring the torpedo in the air-boat."
+
+We needed no further urging. It was a slender chance. But I reflected
+that the submarine could not run through the bay totally submerged. It
+must have its periscope in view. We hurried away, leaving Arnold, who
+slowly mounted the hill again.
+
+How we did it, I don't know, but we managed to get to the Fort in
+record time. There near the aeroplane hangar, sure enough, was Burnside
+with some other men adjusting the first real wireless Kennedy torpedo,
+the last word in scientific warfare, making an aerial torpedo-boat.
+
+We ran up to the hangar calling to Burnside excitedly. It was only a
+moment later, that he began to issue orders in his sharp staccato. His
+men swarmed forward and took the torpedo from the spot where they had
+been examining it, adjusting it now beneath the hydroaeroplane.
+
+"Jameson, you come with me," he asked. "You went before."
+
+We rose quickly from the surface and planed along out over the harbor.
+Far off we could see the ripple from the periscope of the submarine
+that was bearing Del Mar away. Would Kennedy's invention for which Del
+Mar had dared so much in the first place prove his final undoing? We
+sped ahead.
+
+Down below in the submersible Del Mar was giving hasty orders to his
+men, to dip down as soon as all the shipping and the sand bars were
+cleared.
+
+I strained my eyes through the glasses reporting feverishly to Burnside
+what I saw so that he could steer his course.
+
+"There it is," I urged. "Keep on--just to the left."
+
+"I see it," returned Burnside a moment later catching with his naked
+eye the thin line of foam on the water left by the periscope. "Would
+you mind getting that torpedo ready?" he continued. "I'll tell you just
+what to do. They'll try to duck as soon as they see us, but it won't be
+any use. They can't get totally submerged fast enough."
+
+Following Burnside's directions I adjusted the firing apparatus of the
+torpedo.
+
+"Let it go!" shouted Burnside.
+
+I did so, as he volplaned down almost to the water. The torpedo fell,
+sank, bobbed up, then ran along just tinder the surface. Already I was
+somewhat familiar with the wireless device that controlled it, so that
+while Burnside steadied the aircraft I could direct it, as he coached
+me.
+
+The submarine saw it coming now. But it was too late. It could not
+turn; it could not submerge in time.
+
+A terrific explosion followed as the torpedo came in contact with the
+boat, throwing a column of water high in the air. A yawning hole was
+blown in the very side of the submarine. One could see the water rush
+in.
+
+Inside, Del Mar and his men were now panic-stricken. Some of them
+desperately tried to plug the hole. But it was hopeless. Others fell,
+fainting, from the poisonous gases that were developed.
+
+Of them all, Del Mar's was the only cool head.
+
+He realized that all was over. There was nothing left to do but what
+other submarine heroes had done in better causes. He seized a piece of
+paper and hastily wrote:
+
+   Tell my emperor I failed only because
+    Craig Kennedy was against me.--DEL MAR.
+
+He had barely time to place the message in a metal float near-by. Down
+the submarine, now full of water, sank.
+
+With his last strength he flung the message clear of the wreckage as it
+settled on the mud on the bottom of the bay.
+
+Burnside and I could but stare in grim satisfaction at the end of the
+enemy of ourselves and our country.
+
+       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
+
+Up the hillside plodded Professor Arnold still in his wild disguise as
+the hermit. Now and then he turned and cast an anxious glance out over
+the bay at the fast disappearing periscope of the submarine.
+
+Once he paused. That was when he saw the hydroaeroplane with Burnside
+and myself carrying the wireless torpedo.
+
+Again he paused as he plodded up, this time with a gasp, of extreme
+satisfaction. He has seen the water-spout and heard the explosion that
+marked the debacle of Del Mar.
+
+The torpedo had worked. The most dangerous foreign agent of the
+coalition of America's enemies was dead, and his secrets had gone with
+him to the bottom of the sea. Perhaps no one would ever know what the
+nation had been spared.
+
+He did not pause long, now. More eagerly he plodded up the hill, until
+he came to the hut.
+
+He pushed open the door. There lay Elaine, still bound. Quickly he cut
+the cords and tore the gag from her mouth.
+
+As he did so, his own beard fell off. He was no longer the hermit. Nor
+was he what I myself had thought him, Arnold.
+
+"Craig!" cried Elaine in eager surprise.
+
+Kennedy said not a word as he grasped her two hands.
+
+"And you were always around us, protecting Walter and me," she half
+laughed, half cried hysterically. "I knew it--I knew it!"
+
+Kennedy said nothing. His heart was too happy.
+
+"Yes," he said simply, as he gazed deeply into her great eyes, "my work
+on the case is done."
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Romance of Elaine, by Arthur B. Reeve
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