The Exploits of Elaine
Page 13
CHAPTER XIII
THE DEVIL WORSHIPPERS
Elaine was seated in the drawing room with Aunt Josephine oneafternoon, when her lawyer, Perry Bennett, dropped in unexpectedly.
He had hardly greeted them when the butler, Jennings, in his usualimpassive manner announced that Aunt Josephine was wanted on thetelephone.
No sooner were Elaine and Bennett alone, than Elaine, turning to him,exclaimed impulsively, "I'm so glad you have come. I have been longingto see you and to tell you about a strange dream I have had."
"What was it?" he asked, with instant interest.
Leaning back in her chair and gazing before her tremulously, Elainecontinued, "Last night, I dreamed that father came to me and told methat if I would give up Kennedy and put my trust in you, I would findthe Clutching Hand. I don't know what to think of it."
Bennett, who had been listening intently, remained silent for a fewmoments. Then, putting down his tea cup, he moved over nearer to Elaineand bent over her.
"Elaine," he said in a low tone, his remarkable eyes looking straightinto her own, "you must know that I love you. Then give me the right toprotect you. It was your father's dearest wish, I believe, that weshould marry. Let me share your dangers and I swear that sooner orlater there will be an end to the Clutching Hand. Give me your answer,Elaine," he urged, "and make me the happiest man in all the world."
Elaine listened, and not unsympathetically, as Bennett continued toplead for her answer.
"Wait a little while--until to-morrow," she replied finally, as ifovercome by the recollections of her weird dream and the unexpectedsequel of his proposal.
"Let it be as you wish, then," agreed Bennett quietly.
He took her hand and kissed it passionately.
An instant later Aunt Josephine returned. Elaine, unstrung by what hadhappened, excused herself and went into the library.
She sank into one of the capacious arm chairs, and passing her handwearily over her throbbing forehead, closed her eyes in deep thought.Involuntarily, her mind travelled back over the rapid succession ofevents of the past few weeks and the part that she had thought, atleast, Kennedy had come to play in her life.
Then she thought of their recent misunderstanding. Might there not besome simple explanation of it, after all, which she had missed? Whatshould she do?
She solved the problem by taking up the telephone and asking forKennedy's number.
I was chatting with Craig in his laboratory, and, at the same time, waswatching him in his experimental work. Just as a call came on thetelephone, he was pouring some nitro-hydrochloric acid into a test tubeto complete a reaction.
The telephone tinkled and he laid down the bottle of acid on his desk,while he moved a few steps to answer the call.
Whoever the speaker was, Craig seemed deeply interested, and, notknowing who was talking on the wire, I was eager to learn whether itwas anyone connected with the case of the Clutching Hand.
"Yes, this is Mr. Kennedy," I heard Craig say.
I moved over toward him and whispered eagerly, "Is there anything new?"
A little impatient at being interrupted, Kennedy waved me off. Itoccurred to me that he might need a pad and pencil to make a note ofsome information and I reached over the desk for them.
As I did so my arm inadvertently struck the bottle of acid, knocking itover on the top of the desk. Its contents streamed out saturating thetelephone wires before I could prevent it. In trying to right thebottle my hand came in contact with the acid which burned like liquidfire, and I cried out in pain.
Craig hastily laid down the receiver, seized me and rushed me to theback of the laboratory where he drenched my hand with a neutralizingliquid.
He bound up the wounds caused by the acid, which proved to be slight,after all, and then returned to the telephone.
To his evident annoyance, he discovered that the acid had burnedthrough the wires and cut off all connection.
Though I did not know it, my hand was, in a sense at least, the hand offate.
At the other end of the line, Elaine was listening impatiently for aresponse to her first eager words of inquiry. She was astounded tofind, at last, that Kennedy had apparently left the telephone withoutany explanation or apology.
"Why--he rang off," she exclaimed angrily to herself, as she hung upthe receiver and left the room.
She rejoined her Aunt Josephine and Bennett who had been chattingtogether in the drawing room, still wondering at the queer rebuff shehad, seemingly, experienced.
Bennett rose to go, and, as he parted from Elaine, found an opportunityto whisper a few words reminding her of her promised reply on themorrow.
Piqued, at Kennedy, she flashed Bennett a meaning glance which gave himto understand that his suit was not hopeless.
In the center of a devious and winding way, quite unknown to all exceptthose who knew the innermost secrets of the Chinese quarter and evenunknown to the police, there was a dingy tenement house, apparentlyinhabited by hardworking Chinamen, but in reality the headquarters ofthe notorious devil worshippers, a sect of Satanists, banned even inthe Celestial Empire.
The followers of the cult comprised some of the most dangerous Chinesecriminals, thugs, and assassins, besides a number of dangerouscharacters who belonged to various Chinese secret societies. At thehead of this formidable organization was Long Sin, the high priest ofthe Devil God, and Long Sin had, as we knew, already joined forces withthe notorious Clutching Hand.
The room in which the uncanny rites of the devil worshippers wereconducted was a large apartment decorated in Chinese style, with highlycolored portraits of some of the devil deities and costly silkenhangings. Beside a large dais depended a huge Chinese gong.
On the dais itself stood, or rather sat, an ugly looking figure coveredwith some sort of metallic plating. It almost seemed to be the mummy ofa Chinaman covered with gold leaf. It was thin and shrunken, entirelynude.
Into this room came Long Sin attired in an elaborate silken robe. Headvanced and kowtowed before the dais with its strange figure, and laiddown an offering before it, consisting of punk sticks, little dishes ofChinese cakes, rice, a jar of oil, and some cooked chicken and pork.Then he bowed and kowtowed again.
This performance was witnessed by twenty or thirty Chinamen who kneltin the rear of the room. As Long Sin finished his devotions they filedpast the dais, bowing and scraping with every sign of abject reverenceboth for the devil deity and his high priest.
At the same time an aged Chinaman carrying a prayer wheel entered theplace and after prostrating himself devoutedly placed the machine on asort of low stool or tabourette and began turning it slowly, muttering.Each revolution of this curious wheel was supposed to offer a prayer tothe god of the netherworld.
A few moments later, Long Sin, who had been bowing before the metallicfigure in deepest reverence, suddenly sprang to his feet. His glazedeye and excited manner indicated that he had received a message fromthe lips of the strange idol.
The worshippers who had prostrated themselves in awe at the sight oftheir high priest in the unholy frenzy, all rose to their feet andcrowded forward. At the same time Long Sin advanced a step to meetthem, holding his arms outstretched as if to compel silence while hedelivered his message.
Long Sin struck several blows on the resounding gong and then raisedhis voice in solemn tones.
"Ksing Chau, the Terrible, demands a consort. She is to beforeign--fair of face and with golden hair."
Amazed at this unexpected message, the Chinamen prostrated themselvesagain and their unhallowed devotions terminated a few moments lateramid suppressed excitement as they filed out.
At the same time, in a room of the adjoining house, the Clutching Handhimself was busily engaged making the most elaborate preparations forsome nefarious scheme which his fertile mind had evolved.
The room had been fitted up as a medium's seance parlor, with blackhangings on the walls, while at one side there was a square cabinet ofblack cloth, with a guitar l
ying before it.
Two of the Clutching Hand's most trusted confederates and a hard-facedwoman of middle age, dressed in plain black, were putting the finishingtouches to this apartment, when their Chief entered.
Clutching Hand gazed about the room, now and then giving an order ortwo to make more effective the setting for the purpose which he had inmind.
Finally he nodded in approval and stepped over to the fire place wherelogs were burning brightly in a grate.
Pressing a spring in the mantelpiece, the master criminal effected aninstant transformation. The logs in the fireplace, still burning,disappeared immediately through the side of the brick tiling and ametal sheet covered them. An aperture opened at the back, as if bymagic.
Through this opening Clutching Hand made his way quickly anddisappeared.
Emerging on the other side of the peculiar fireplace, Clutching Handpushed aside a curtain which barred the way and looked into the Chinesetemple, taking up a position behind the metallic figure on the dais.
The Chinamen had by this time finished their devotions, if such theymight be called, and the last one was leaving, while Long Sin stoodalone on the dais.
The noise of the departing Satanists had scarcely died away whenClutching Hand stepped out.
"Follow me," he ordered hoarsely seizing Long Sin by the arm andleading him away.
They passed through the passageway of the fireplace and, having enteredthe seance room, Clutching Hand began briefly explaining the purpose ofthe preparations that had been made. Long Sin wagged his head involuble approval.
As Clutching Hand finished, the Chinaman turned to the hard-faced womanwho was to act the part of medium and added some directions to thoseClutching Hand had already given.
The medium nodded acquiescence, and a moment later, left the room tocarry out some ingenious plot framed by the master mind of the criminalworld.
. . . . . . . .
Elaine was standing in the library gazing sadly at Kennedy's portrait,thinking over recent events and above all the rebuff over the telephonewhich she supposed she had received.
It all seemed so unreal to her. Surely, she felt in her heart, shecould not have been so mistaken in the man. Yet the facts seemed tospeak for themselves.
In spite of it all, she was almost about to kiss the portrait whensomething seemed to stay her hands. Instead she laid the picture down,with a sigh.
A moment later, Jennings entered with a card on a salver. Elaine tookit and saw with surprise the name of her caller:
MADAME SAVETSKY, MEDIUM
Beneath the engraved name were the words written in ink, "I have amessage from the spirit of your father."
"Yes, I will see her," cried Elaine eagerly, in response to thebutler's inquiry.
She followed Jennings into the adjoining room and there found herselfface to face with the hard-featured woman who had only a few momentsbefore left the Clutching Hand.
Elaine looked rather than spoke her inquiry.
"Your father, my dear," purred the medium with a great pretence ofsuppressed excitement, "appeared to me, the other night, from thespirit world. I was in a trance and he asked me to deliver a message toyou."
"What was the message?" asked Elaine breathlessly, now aroused tointense interest.
"I must go into a trance again to get it," replied the insinuatingSavetsky, "and if you like I can try it at once, provided we can beleft alone long enough."
"Please--don't wait," urged Elaine, pulling the portieres of the doorscloser, as if that might insure privacy.
Seated in her chair, the medium muttered wildly for a few moments,rolled her eyes and with some convulsive movements pretended to go intoa trance.
Savetsky seemed about to speak and Elaine, in the highest state ofnervous tension, listened, trying to make something of the gibberishmutterings.
Suddenly the curtains were pushed aside and Aunt Josephine and Bennett,who had just come in, entered.
"I can do nothing here," exclaimed Savetsky, starting up and lookingabout severely. "You must come to my seance chamber where we shall notbe interrupted."
"I will," cried Elaine, vexed at the intrusion at that moment. "I musthave that message--I must."
"What's all this, Elaine?" demanded Aunt Josephine.
Hurriedly, Elaine poured forth to her aunt and Bennett the story of themedium's visit and the promised message from her father in the otherworld.
Aunt Josephine, who was not one easily to be imposed on, stronglyobjected to Elaine's proposal to accompany Savetsky to the seancechamber, but Elaine would not be denied. She pleaded with her aunt,urging that she be allowed to go.
"It might be safe for Elaine to go," Bennett finally suggested to AuntJosephine, "if you and I accompanied her."
All this time the medium was listening closely to the conversation.Elaine looked at her inquiringly. With a shrug, she indicated that shehad no objection to having Elaine escorted to the parlor by her friends.
At last Aunt Josephine, influenced by Elaine's pleadings and Bennett'ssuggestion, gave in and agreed to join in the visit.
A few moments later, in the Dodge car, Elaine, the medium, and her twoescorts started for the Chinese quarter.
. . . . . . . .
At the house, the medium opened the door with her key and ushered inher three visitors.
Long Sin who had been watching for their arrival from the window nowhastily withdrew from the seance room and disappeared behind the blackcurtains.
Entering the room the medium at once prepared for the seance by pullingdown the window shades. Then she seated herself in a chair beside thecabinet, and appeared to fall off slowly into a trance.
Her strange proceedings were watched with the greatest curiosity byElaine as well as Aunt Josephine and Bennett, who had taken seatsplaced at one side of the room.
The room itself was dimly lighted, and the curtains of the cabinetseemed, in the obscurity, to sway back and forth as if stirred by someghostly breeze.
All of them were now quite on edge with excitement.
Suddenly an indistinct face was seen to be peering through the blackcurtains, as it were.
The guitar, as if lifted by an invisible hand, left the cabinet,floated about close to the ceiling, and returned again. It was eerie.
At last a voice, deep, sepulchral, was heard in slow and solemn tones.
"I am Eeko--the spirit of Taylor Dodge. I will give no message untilone named Josephine leaves the room."
No sooner had the words been uttered than the medium came writhing outof her trance.
"What happened?" she asked, looking at Elaine.
Elaine reported the spirit's words.
"We can get nothing if your Aunt stays here," Savetsky added, insistingthat Aunt Josephine must go. "Your father cannot speak while she ispresent."
Aunt Josephine, annoyed by what she had heard, indignantly refused togo and was deaf to all Elaine's pleadings.
"I think it will be all right," finally acquiesced Bennett, seeing howbent Elaine was on securing the message. "I'll stay and protect her."
Aunt Josephine finally agreed. "Very well, then," she protested,marching out of the room in a high state of indignation.
She had scarcely left the house, however, when she began to suspectthat all was not as it ought to be. In fact, the idea had no sooneroccurred to her than she decided to call on Kennedy and she ordered thechauffeur to take her as quickly as possible to the laboratory.
. . . . . . . .
Kennedy had not been in the laboratory all the day, after my experiencewith the acid and I was impatiently awaiting his arrival. At last therecame a knock at the door and I opened it hurriedly. There was amessenger boy who handed me a note. I tore it open. It was from Kennedyand read, "I shall probably be away for two or three days. Call upElaine and tell her to beware of a certain Madame Savetsky."
I was still puzzling over the note and was
just about to call up Elainewhen the speaking tube was blown and to my surprise I found it was AuntJosephine who had called.
"Where is Mr. Kennedy?" she asked, greatly agitated.
"He has gone away for a few days," I replied blankly. "Is thereanything I can do?"
She was very excited and hastily related what had happened at theparlor of the medium.
"What was her name?" I asked anxiously.
"Madame Savetsky," she replied, to my surprise.
Astounded, I picked up Craig's note from the desk and handed it to herwithout a word. She read it with breathless eagerness.
"Come back there with me, please," she begged, almost frantic with fearnow. "Something terrible may have happened."
. . . . . . . .
Aunt Josephine had hardly left Savetsky when the trance was resumedand, in a few minutes, there came all sorts of supernaturalmanifestations. The table beside Elaine began to turn and articles onit dropped to the floor. Violent rappings followed in various parts ofthe room. Both Elaine and Bennett who sat together in silence were muchimpressed by the marvellous phenomena--not being able to see, in thedarkness, the concealed wires that made them possible.
Suddenly, from the mysterious shadows of the cabinet, there appearedthe spirit of Long Sin, whose death Elaine still believed she hadcaused when Adventuress Mary had lured her to the apartment.
Elaine was trembling with fear at the apparition.
As before, a strange voice sounded in the depths of the cabinet andagain a message was heard, in low, solemn tones.
"I am Keka, and I have with me Long Sin. His blood cries for vengeance."
Elaine was overcome with horror at the words.
From the cabinet ran a thick stream of red, like blood, from which sherecoiled, shuddering.
Then a dim, ghostly figure, apparently that of Long Sin, appeared. Theface was horribly distorted. It seemed to breathe the very odor of thegrave.
With arms outstretched, the figure glided from the cabinet andapproached Elaine. She shrank back further in fright, too horrifiedeven to scream.
At the same moment, the medium drew a vapor pistol from her dress, and,as the ghost of Long Sin leaped at Elaine, Savetsky darted forward andshot a stream of vapor full in Bennett's face.
Bennett dropped unconscious, the lights in the darkened room flashedup, and several of the men of the Clutching Hand rushed in.
Quickly the fireplace was turned on its cleverly constructed hinges,revealing the hidden passage.
Before any effective resistance could be made, Elaine and Bennett werehustled through the passage, securely bound, and placed on a divan in acurtained chamber back of the altar of the devil worshippers.
There they lay when Long Sin, now in his priestly robes, entered. Helooked at them a moment. Then he left the room with a sinister laugh.
. . . . . . . .
It was at that moment that I, little dreaming of what had been takingplace, arrived with Aunt Josephine at the house of the medium.
She answered my ring and admitted us. To our surprise, the seance roomwas empty.
"Where is the young lady who was here?" I asked.
"Miss Dodge and the gentleman just left a few minutes ago," the mediumexplained, as we looked about.
She seemed eager to satisfy us that Elaine was not there. Apparentlythere was no excuse for disputing her word, but, as we turned to leave,I happened to notice a torn handkerchief lying on the floor near thefireplace. It flashed over me that perhaps it might afford a clue.
As I passed it, I purposely dropped my soft hat over it and picked upthe hat, securing the handkerchief without attracting Savetsky'sattention.
Aunt Josephine was keen now for returning home to find out whetherElaine was there or not. No sooner had she entered the car and drivenoff, than I examined the handkerchief. It was torn, as if it had beencrushed in the hand during a struggle and wrenched away. I lookedcloser. In the corner was the initial, "E."
That was enough. Without losing another precious moment I hurriedaround to the nearest police station, where I happened to be known,having had several assignments for the Star in that part of the city,and gave an alarm.
The sergeant detailed several roundsmen, and a man in plainclothes, andtogether we returned to the house, laying a careful plan to surround itsecretly, while the plainclothesman and I obtained admittance.
. . . . . . . .
Meanwhile, the Chinese devil worshippers had again gathered in theircursed temple and Long Sin, in his priestly robe, appeared on the dais.
The worshippers kowtowed reverently to him, while at the back againstood the aged Chinaman patiently turning his prayer wheel.
Two braziers, or smoke pots, had been placed on the dais, one of whichLong Sin touched with a stick causing it to burst out into dense fumes.
Standing before them, he chanted in nasal tones, "The white consort ofthe great Ksing Chau has been found. It is his will that she now bemade his."
As he finished intoning the message, Long Sin signaled to two youngChinamen to go into the anteroom. A moment later they returned withElaine.
Frightened though she was, Elaine made no attempt to struggle, evenwhen they had cut her bonds. She was busily engaged in seeking somemethod of escape. Her eyes travelled ever the place quickly.Apparently, there was no means of exit that was not guarded. Long Sinsaw her look, and smiled quietly.
They had carried her up to the dais, and now Long Sin faced her andsternly ordered her to kowtow to the gruesome metallic figure.
She refused, but instantly the Chinamen seized her arm and twisted it,until they had compelled her to fall to her knees.
Having forced her to kowtow, Long Sin turned to the assembled devildancers.
"With magic and rare drugs," he chanted, "she shall be made to passbeyond and her body encased in precious gold shall be the consort ofKsing Chau--forever and ever."
He made another sign and several pots and braziers were brought out andplaced on the dais beside Elaine. She was, by this time, completelyovercome by the horror of the situation. There was apparently no escape.
With callous deviltry, the oriental satanists had made everyarrangement for embalming and preserving the body of Elaine. Potsfilled with sticky black material were slowly heated, amid weirdincantations, while other Chinamen laid out innumerable sheets of goldleaf.
At last all seemed to be in readiness to proceed.
"Hold her," ordered Long Sin in guttural Chinese to the two attendants,as he approached her.
Long Sin held in his hand a small, profusely decorated pot from whichsmoke was escaping. As he approached he passed this receptacle underher nose once, twice, three times.
Gradually Elaine fell into unconsciousness.
. . . . . . . .
While Elaine was facing death in the power of the devil worshippers, Ihad reached the house of Savetsky next door with the police, and theplace had been quietly surrounded.
With the plainclothesman, a daring and intelligent fellow, I went tothe door and rang the bell.
"What can I do for you?" asked the medium, admitting us.
"My friend, here," I parleyed, "is in great business trouble. Can yourcontrolling spirit give him advice?"
We had managed to gain the interior of the seance room, and I supposethere was nothing else for her to say, under the circumstances, but,"Why--yes,--if the conditions are good, the control can probably tellus just what he wants to know."
Savetsky set to work preparing the room for a seance. As she moved overto the window to pull down the shades, she must have caught sight ofone or two of the policemen who had incautiously exposed themselvesfrom the hiding places in which I had disposed them before we entered.At any rate, Savetsky did not lose a jot of her remarkable composure.
"I'm sorry," she remarked merely, "but I'm afraid my control is weakand cannot work today."
&nb
sp; She took a step toward the door, motioning us to leave. Neither of uspaid any attention to that hint, but remained seated as we had beenbefore.
"Go!" she exclaimed at length, for the first time showing a trace ofnervousness.
Evidently her suspicions had been fully confirmed by our actions. Wetried to argue with her to gain time. But it was of no use.
Almost before I knew what she was doing, she made a dash for somethingin the corner of the room. It was time for open action, and I seizedher quickly.
My detective was on his feet in an instant.
"I'll take care of her," he ground out, seizing her wrists in hisvice-like grasp. "You give the signal."
I rushed to the window, threw up the shade and opened the sash, wavingour preconcerted sign, turning again toward the room.
With a sudden accession of desperate strength, Savetsky broke away fromthe plainclothesman and again attempted to get at something concealedon the wall. I had turned just in time to fling myself between her andwhatever object she had in mind.
As the detective took her again and twisted her arm until she cried outin pain, I hastily investigated the wall. She had evidently beenattempting to press a button that rang a concealed bell.
What did it all mean?
. . . . . . . .
Elaine, now completely unconscious, was being held by the Chinamen,while her arm was smeared with sticky black material from the cauldronby Long Sin. As the high priest of Satan worked, the devil worshipperskowtowed obediently.
Suddenly the aged Chinaman with the prayer wheel stopped his incessant,impious turning, and rising, held up his hand as if to commandattention.
Amid a general exclamation of wonder, he walked to the dais and mountedit, turning and facing the worshippers.
"This is nonsense," he cried in a loud tone. "Why should our greatKsing Chau desire a white devil? I, a great grandfather, demand toknow."
The effect on the worshippers was electric. They paused in theirobeisance and stared at the speaker, then at their high priest.
Shaking with rage, Long Sin ordered the intruder off the dais. But theaged devotee refused to go.
"Throw him out," he ordered his attendants.
For answer, as the two young Chinamen approached, the old Chinamanthrew them down to the floor with a quick jiu-jitsu movement. Hisstrength seemed miraculous for so aged a man.
Furious now beyond expression, Long Sin stepped forward himself. Heseized the beard and queue of the intruder. To his utter amazement,they came off!
It was Kennedy!
With his automatic drawn, before the astounded devil dancers couldrecover themselves, Craig stood at bay.
Long Sin leaped behind the big gong. As the Chinamen rushed forward toseize him, Kennedy shot the leader of Long Sin's attendants and struckdown the other with a blow. The rush was checked for the moment. Butthe odds were fearful.
Kennedy seized Elaine's yielding body and, pushing back the curtains tothe anteroom, succeeded in gaining it, and locking the door into themain temple.
Bennett was still lying on the floor tightly bound. With a few deftcuts by a Chinese knife which he had picked up, Kennedy released him.
At the same time, Chinamen were trying to batter down the door,Kennedy's last bulwark. It was swaying under their repeated blows.
Kennedy rushed to the door and fired through it at random to check theattack for a few moments.
. . . . . . . .
While Kennedy was thus besieged by the devil worshippers in theanteroom, several policemen and detectives gathered in the seance roomwith us, next door, where Savetsky was held a defiant and mute prisoner.
I had discovered the bell, and, taking that as a guide, I started totrace the course of a wire which ran alongside the wall, feelingcertain that it would give me a clue to some adjoining room to whichElaine might possibly have been taken.
To the fireplace I traced the bell, and, in pulling on the wire, Iluckily pressed a secret spring. To my amazement, the whole fireplaceswung out of sight and disclosed a secret passageway.
I looked through it.
It was almost at that precise instant that the door of the anteroomburst open and the Chinamen swarmed in, urged on by the insaneexhortations of Long Sin.
To my utter amazement, I recognized Kennedy's voice.
In the first onslaught, Craig shot one Chinaman dead, then closed withthe others, slashing right and left with the Chinese knife he hadpicked up.
Bennett came to his aid, but was immediately overcome by two Chinamen,who evidently had been detailed for that purpose.
Meanwhile, Kennedy and the others were engaged in a terrible life anddeath struggle. They fought all over the room, dismantling it, and eventearing the hangings from the wall.
It was just as the Chinese was about to overpower him that I led thepolice and detectives through the passageway of the fireplace.
It was a glorious fight that followed. Long Sin and his Chinamen wereno match for the police and were soon completely routed, the policestriking furiously in all directions and clearing the room.
Instantly, Kennedy thought of the fair object of all this melee. Herushed to the divan on which he had placed Elaine.
She was slowly returning to consciousness.
As she opened her eyes, for an instant, she gazed at Craig, then atBennett. Still not comprehending just what had happened, she gave herhand to Bennett. Bennett lifted her to her feet and slowly assisted heras she tried to walk away.
Kennedy watched them, more stupefied than if he had been struck overthe head by Long Sin.
. . . . . . . .
Police and detectives were now taking the captured Chinamen away, asBennett, his arm about Elaine, led her gently out.
A young detective had slipped the bracelets over Long Sin's wrist, andI was standing beside him.
Kennedy, in a daze at the sight of Elaine and Bennett, passed us,scarcely noticing who we were.
As Craig collected his scattered forces, Long Sin motioned to him, asif he had a message to deliver.
Kennedy frowned suspiciously. He was about to turn away, when theChinaman began pleading earnestly for a chance to say a few words.
"Step aside for a moment, you fellows, won't you please," Craig asked."I will hear what you have to say, Long Sin."
Long Sin looked about craftily.
"What is it?" prompted Craig, seeing that at last they were all alone.
Long Sin again looked around.
"Swear that I will go free and not suffer," Long Sin whispered, "and Iwill betray the great Clutching Hand."
Kennedy studied the Chinaman keenly for a moment. Then, seeminglysatisfied with the scrutiny, he nodded slowly assent.
As Craig did so, I saw Long Sin lean over and whisper into Kennedy'sear.
Craig started back in horror and surprise.
CHAPTER XIV
THE RECKONING
Pacing up and down his den in the heart of Chinatown, Long Sin wasthinking over his bargain with Kennedy to betray the infamous ClutchingHand.
It was a small room in a small and unpretentious house, but itadequately expressed the character of the subtle Oriental. The den waslavishly furnished, while the guileful Long Sin himself wore a richlyfigured lounging gown of the finest and costliest silk, chosen for theexpress purpose of harmonizing with the luxurious Far Eastern hangingsand furniture so as to impress his followers and those whom he mightchoose as visitors.
At length he seated himself at a teakwood table, still deliberatingover the promise he had been forced to make to Kennedy. He sat for somemoments, deeply absorbed in thought.
Suddenly an idea seemed to strike him. Lifting a little hammer, hestruck a Chinese gong on the table at his side. At the same time, heleaned over and turned a knob at the side of a large roll-top desk.
A few seconds later a sort of hatchway, covered by a rug on the floor,in one corner of the room, was s
lowly lifted and Long Sin's secretary,a sallow, cadaverous Chinaman, appeared from below. He steppednoiselessly into the room and shuffled across to Long Sin.
Long Sin scowled, as though something had interfered with his ownplans, but tore open the envelope without a word, spreading out on hislap the sheet of paper it contained.
The letter bore a typewritten message, all in capitals, which read:
"BE AT HEADQUARTERS AT 12. DESTROY THIS IMMEDIATELY."
At the bottom of the note appeared the sinister signature of theClutching Hand.
As soon as he had finished reading the note, the Chinaman turned to hisobsequious secretary, who stood motionless, with folded arms and headmeekly bent.
"Very well," he said with an imperious wave of his hand. "You may go."
Bowing low again, the secretary shuffled across and down again throughthe hatchway, closing the door as he descended.
Long Sin read the note once more, while his inscrutable face assumed anexpression of malicious cunning. Then he glanced at his heavy goldwatch.
With an air of deliberation, he reached for a match and struck it. Hehad just placed the paper in the flame when suddenly he seemed tochange his mind. He hastily blew out the match which had destroyed onlya corner of the paper, then folded the note carefully and placed it inhis pocket.
A few moments later, with a malignant chuckle, Long Sin rose slowly andleft the room.
. . . . . . . .
Meanwhile, the master criminal was busily engaged in putting thefinishing touches to a final scheme of fiendish ingenuity for theabsolute destruction of Craig Kennedy.
He had been at work in a small room, fitted up as a sort of laboratory,in the mysterious house which now served as his headquarters.
On all sides were shelves filled with bottles of deadly liquids andscientific apparatus for crime. Jars of picric acid, nitric acid,carboys of other chemicals, packages labelled gunpowder, gun cotton andnitroglycerine, as well as carefully stoppered bottles of prussic acid,and the cyanides, arsenic and other poisons made the place bear thelook of a veritable devil's workshop.
Clutching Hand, at a bench in one corner, had just completed aninfernal machine of diabolical cunning, and was wrapping it carefullyin paper to make an innocent package.
He was interrupted by a knock at the door. Laying down the bomb he wentto answer the summons with a stealthy movement. There stood Long Sin,who had disguised himself as a Chinese laundryman.
"On time--good!" growled Clutching Hand surlily as he closed the doorwith equal care.
No time was wasted in useless formalities.
"This is a bomb," he went on, pointing to the package. "Carry itcarefully. On no account let it slip, or you are a dead man. It must bein Kennedy's laboratory before night. Understand? Can you arrange it?"
Long Sin looked the dangerous package over, then with an impassivelook, replied, "Have no fear. I can do it. It will be in the laboratorywithin an hour. Trust me."
Long Sin nodded sagely, while Clutching Hand growled his approval as heopened the door and let out the Chinaman. Long Sin departed asstealthily as he had come, the frightful engine of destruction huggedup carefully under his wide-sleeved coolie shirt.
For a moment Clutching Hand gave himself up to the exquisitecontemplation of what he had just done, then turned to clean up hisworkshop.
. . . . . . . .
In Kennedy's laboratory I was watching Craig make some experiments witha new X-ray apparatus which had just arrived, occasionally lookingthrough the fluoroscope when he was examining some unusuallyinteresting object.
We were oblivious to the passage of time, and only a call over ourspeaking tube diverted our attention.
I opened the door and a few seconds later Long Sin himself entered.
Kennedy looked up inquiringly as the Chinaman approached, holding out apackage which he carried.
"A bomb," he said, in the most matter of fact way. "I promised to haveit placed in your laboratory before night."
The placid air with which the grotesque looking Chinaman imparted thisastounding information was in itself preposterous. His actions andwords as he laid the package down gingerly on the laboratory tableindicated that he was telling the truth.
Kennedy and I stared at each other in blank amazement for a moment.Then the humor of the thing struck us both and we laughed outright.
Clutching Hand had told him to deliver it--and he had done so!
Hastily I filled a pail with water and brought it to Kennedy.
"If it is really a bomb," I remarked, "why not put the thing out ofcommission?"
"No, no, Walter," he cried quickly, shaking his head. "If it's achemical bomb, the water might be just the thing to make the chemicalsrun together and set it off. No, let us see what the new X-ray machinecan tell us, first."
He took the bomb and carefully placed it under the wonderful rays, thenwith the fluoroscope over his eyes studied the shadow cast by the rayson its sensitive screen. For several minutes he continued safelystudying it from every angle, until he thoroughly understood it.
"It's a bomb, sure enough," Craig exclaimed, looking up from it at lastto me. "It's timed by an ingenious and noiseless little piece ofclockwork, in there, too. And it's powerful enough to blow us all, thelaboratory included, to kingdom come."
As he spoke, and before I could remonstrate with him, he took theinfernal machine and placed it on a table where he set to work on themost delicate and dangerous piece of dissection of which I have everheard.
Carefully unwrapping the bomb and unscrewing one part while he heldanother firm, he finally took out of it a bottle of liquid and somepowder. Then he placed a few grains of the powder on a dish and droppedon it a drop or two of the liquid. There was a bright flash, as thepowder ignited instantly.
"Just what I expected," commented Kennedy with a nod, as he examinedthe clever workmanship of the bomb.
One thing that interested him was that part of the contents had beenwrapped in paper to keep them in place. This paper he was now carefullyexamining with a hand lens.
As nearly as I could make it out, the paper contained part of atypewritten chemical formula, which read:
TINCTURE OF IODINE
THREE PARTS OF---
He looked up from his study of the microscope to Long Sin.
"Tell me just how it happened that you got this bomb," he asked.
Without hesitation, the Chinaman recited the circumstances, beginningwith the note by which he had been summoned.
"A note?" repeated Kennedy, eagerly. "Was it typewritten?"
Long Sin reached into his pocket and produced the note itself, which hehad not burned.
As Craig studied the typewritten message from the Clutching Hand Icould see that he was growing more and more excited.
"At last he has given us something typewritten," he exclaimed. "To mostpeople, I suppose, it seems that typewriting is the best way to concealidentity. But there are a thousand and one ways of identifyingtypewriting. Clutching Hand knew that. That was why he was so carefulto order this note destroyed. As for the bomb, he figured that it woulddestroy itself."
He was placing one piece of typewriting after another under the lens,scrutinizing each letter closely.
"Look, Walter," he remarked at length, taking a fine tipped pencil andpointing at the distinguishing marks as he talked, "You will noticethat all the 'T's' in this note are battered and faint as well as justa trifle out of alignment. Now I will place the paper from the bombunder the lens and you will also see that the 'T's' in the scrap offormula have exactly the same appearance. That indicated, without thepossibility of a doubt, taken in connection with a score of otherpeculiarities in the letters which I could pick out that both werewritten on the same typewriter. I have selected the 'T' because it isthe most marked."
I strained my eyes to look. Sure enough, Kennedy was right. There wasthat unmistakable identity between the T's in the formula and the no
te.
Kennedy had been gazing at the floor, his face puckered in thought as Ilooked. Suddenly he slapped his hands together, as if he had made agreat discovery.
"I've struck it!" he exclaimed, jumping up. "I was wondering where Ihad seen typewriting that reminds me of this. Walter, get on your coatand hat. We are on the right trail at last."
With Long Sin we hurried out of the laboratory, leaving him at thenearest taxicab stand, where we jumped into a waiting car.
"It is the clue of the battered 'T's,'" Craig muttered.
. . . . . . . .
Aunt Josephine was in the library knitting when the butler, Jennings,announced us. We were admitted at once, for Aunt Josephine had neverquite understood what was the trouble between Elaine and Craig, and hada high regard for him.
"Where is--Miss Dodge?" inquired Kennedy, with suppressed excitement aswe entered.
"I think she's out shopping and I don't know just when she will beback," answered Aunt Josephine, with some surprise. "Why? Is itanything important--any news?"
"Very important," returned Kennedy excitedly. "I think I have the bestclue yet. Only--it will be necessary to look through some of thehousehold correspondence immediately to see whether there are certainletters. I wouldn't be surprised if she had some--perhaps not verypersonal--but I MUST see them."
Aunt Josephine seemed nonplussed at first. I thought she was going torefuse to allow Craig to proceed. But finally she assented.
Kennedy lost no time. He went to a desk where Elaine generally sat, andquickly took out several typewritten letters. He examined them closely,rejecting one after another, until finally he came to one that seemedto interest him.
He separated it from the rest and fell to studying it, comparing itwith the paper from the bomb and the note which Long Sin had receivedfrom the Clutching Hand. Then he folded the letter so that both thesignature and the address could not be read by us.
A portion of the letter, I recall, read something like this:
"This is his contention: whereas TRUTH is the only goal and MATTER isnon-existent--
"Look at this, Walter," remarked Craig, with difficulty restraininghimself, "What do you make of it?"
A glance at the typewriting was sufficient to show me that Kennedy hadindeed made an important discovery. The writing of the letter which hehad just found in Elaine's desk corresponded in every respect with thatin the Clutching Hand note and that on the bomb formula. In eachinstance there were the same faintness, the same crooked alignment, thesame battered appearance of all the letter T's.
We stared at each other almost too dazed to speak.
. . . . . . . .
At that moment we were startled by the sudden appearance of Elaineherself, who had come in unexpectedly from her shopping expedition.
She entered the room carrying in her arms a huge bunch of roses whichshe had evidently just received. Her face was half buried in thefragrant blossoms, but was fairer than even they in their selectedelegance.
The moment she saw Craig, however, she stopped short with a look ofgreat surprise. Kennedy, on his part, who was seated at the desk stilltracing out the similarities of the letters, stood up, half hesitatingwhat to say. He bowed and she returned his salutation with a very coolnod.
Her keen eye had not missed the fact that several of her letters layscattered over the top of the desk.
"What are you doing with my letters, Mr. Kennedy?" she asked, in anastonished tone, evidently resenting the unceremoniousness with whichhe had apparently been overhauling her correspondence.
As guardedly as possible, Kennedy met her inquiry, which I could notmyself blame her for making.
"I beg pardon, Miss Dodge," he said, "but a matter has just come upwhich necessitated merely a cursory examination of some purely formalletters which might have an important bearing on the discovery of theClutching Hand. Your Aunt had no idea where you were, nor of when youmight return, and the absolute necessity for haste in such an importantmatter is my only excuse for examining a few minor letters withoutfirst obtaining your permission."
She said nothing. At another time, such an explanation would have beeninstantly accepted. Now, however, it was different.
Kennedy read the look on her face, and an instant later turned to AuntJosephine and myself.
"I would very much appreciate a chance to say a few words to Miss Dodgealone," he intimated. "I have had no such opportunity for some time. Ifyou would be so kind as to leave us in the library--for a few minutes--"
He did not finish the sentence. Aunt Josephine had already begun towithdraw and I followed.
. . . . . . . .
For a moment or two, Craig and Elaine looked at each other, neithersaying a word, each wondering just what was in the other's mind.Kennedy was wondering if there was any X-ray that might read a woman'sheart, as he was accustomed to read others of nature's secrets.
He cleared his throat, the obvious manner of covering up his emotion.
"Elaine," he said at length, dropping the recent return to "MissDodge," for the moment, "Elaine, is there any truth in this morning'snewspaper report of--of you?"
She had dropped her eyes. But he persisted, taking a newspaper clippingfrom his pocket and handing it to her.
Her hand trembled as she glanced over the item:
SOCIETY NOTES
Dame Rumor is connecting the name of Miss Elaine Dodge, the heiress,with that of Perry Bennett, the famous young lawyer. The announcementof an engagement between them at any time would not surprise--
Elaine read no further. She handed back the clipping to Kennedy. As hereyes met his, she noticed his expression of deep concern, and hesitatedwith the reply she had evidently been just about to make.
Still, as she lowered her head, it seemed to give silent confirmationto the truth of the newspaper report.
Kennedy said nothing. But his eyes continued to study her face, evenwhen it was averted.
He suppressed his feelings with a great effort, then, without a word,bowed and left the room.
"Walter," he exclaimed as he rejoined us in the drawing room, where Iwas chatting with Aunt Josephine, "we must be off again. The trailfollows still further."
I rose and much to the increased mystification of Aunt Josephine, leftthe house.
An hour or so later, Elaine, whose mind was now in a whirl fromwhat had happened, decided to call on Perry Bennett.
Two or three clerks were in the outer office when she arrived, but theoffice boy, laying down a dime novel, rose to meet her and informed herthat Mr. Bennett was alone.
As Elaine entered his private office, Bennett rose to greet hereffusively and they exchanged a few words.
"I mustn't forget to thank you for those lovely roses you sent me," sheexclaimed at length. "They were beautiful and I appreciated them everso much."
Bennett acknowledged her thanks with a smile, she sat down familiarlyon his desk, and they plunged into a vein of social gossip.
A moment later, Bennett led the conversation around until he found anopportunity to make a tactful allusion to the report of theirengagement in the morning papers.
He had leaned over and now attempted to take her hand. She withdrew it,however. There was something about his touch which, try as she might,she could not like. Was it mere prejudice, or was it her keen woman'sintuition?
Bennett looked at her a moment, suppressing a momentary flash of angerthat had reddened his face, and controlled himself as if by asuperhuman effort.
"I believe you really love that man Kennedy," he exclaimed, in a tonethat was almost a hiss. "But I tell you, Elaine, he is all bluff. Why,he has been after that Clutching Hand now for three months--and whathas he accomplished? Nothing!"
He paused. Through Elaine's mind there flashed the contrast withKennedy's even temper and deferential manner. In spite of their quarreland the coolness, she found herself resenting the remark. Still shesaid nothing, tho
ugh her expressive face showed much.
Bennett, by another effort, seemed to grip his temper again. He pacedup and down the room. Then he changed the subject abruptly, and theconversation was resumed with some constraint.
. . . . . . . .
While Elaine and Bennett were talking, Kennedy and I had entered theoffice.
Craig stopped the boy who was about to announce us and asked forBennett's secretary instead, much to my astonishment.
The boy merely indicated the door of one of the other private offices,and we entered.
We found the secretary, hard at work at the typewriter, copying a legaldocument. Without a word, Kennedy at once locked the door.
The secretary rose in surprise, but Craig paid no attention to him.Instead he calmly walked over to the machine and began to examine it.
"Might I ask--" began the secretary.
"You keep quiet," ordered Kennedy, with a nod to me to watch thefellow. "You are under arrest--and the less you say, the better foryou."
I shall never forget the look that crossed the secretary's face. Was itthe surprise of an innocent man?
Taking the man's place at the machine, Kennedy removed the legal paperthat was in it and put in a new sheet. Then he tapped out, as wewatched:
BE AT HEADQUARTERS AT 12. DESTROY THIS IMMEDIATELY
TINCTURE OF IODINE
THREE PARTS OF----
This is his contention:--whereas TRUTH is the only goal and MATTER isnon-existent--
T T T T
"Look, Walter," he exclaimed as he drew out the paper from the machine.
I bent over and together we compared the T's with those in theClutching Hand letter, the paper from the bomb and the letter whichCraig had taken from Elaine's desk.
As Craig pointed out the resemblances with a pencil, my amazementgradually changed into comprehension and comprehension into conviction.The meaning of it all began to dawn on me.
The writing was identical. There were no differences!
. . . . . . . .
While we were locked in the secretary's office, Bennett and Elaine werecontinuing their chat on various social topics. Suddenly, however, witha glance at the clock, Bennett told Elaine that he had an importantletter to dictate, and that it must go off at once.
She said that she would excuse him a few minutes and he pressed abutton to call his secretary.
Of course the secretary did not appear. Bennett left his office, withsome annoyance, and went into the adjoining room the door to whichKennedy had not locked.
He hesitated a moment, then opened the door quietly. To hisastonishment, he saw Kennedy, the secretary, and myself apparentlymaking a close examination of the typewriter.
Gliding rather than walking back into his own office, he closed thedoor and locked it. Almost instantly, fear and fury at the presence ofhis hated rival, Kennedy, turned Bennett, as it were, from the Jekyllof a polished lawyer and lover of Elaine into an insanely jealous andrevengeful Mr. Hyde. The strain was more than his warped mind couldbear.
With a look of intense horror and loathing, Elaine watched him slowlychange from the composed, calm, intellectual Bennett she knew andrespected into a repulsive, mad figure of a man.
His stature even seemed to be altered. He seemed to shrivel up andbecome deformed. His face was terribly distorted.
And his long, sinewy hand slowly twisted and bent until he became thepersonal embodiment of the Clutching Hand.
As Elaine, transfixed with terror, watched Bennett's astoundingmetamorphosis, he ran to the door leading to the outer office andhastily locked that, also.
Then, with his eyes gleaming with rage and his hands working inmurderous frenzy, he crouched, nearer and nearer, towards Elaine.
She shrank back, screaming again and again in terror.
He WAS the Clutching Hand!
. . . . . . . .
In spite of closed doors, we could now plainly hear Elaine's shrieks.Craig, the secretary and myself made a rush for the door to Bennett'sprivate office. Finding it locked, we began to batter it.
By this time, however, Bennett had hurled himself upon Elaine and wasslowly choking her.
Kennedy quickly found that it was impossible to batter down the door intime by any ordinary means. Quickly he seized the typewriter and hurledit through the panels. Then he thrust his hand through the opening andturned the catch.
As we flung ourselves into the room, Bennett rushed into a closet in acorner, slamming the door behind him. It was composed of sheet iron andeffectually prevented anyone from breaking through. Kennedy and I triedvainly, however, to pry it open.
While we were thus endeavoring to force an entrance, Bennett, in a sortof closet, had put on the coat, hat and mask which he invariably worein the character of the Clutching Hand. Then he cautiously opened asecret door in the back of the closet and slowly made an exit.
. . . . . . . .
Meanwhile, the secretary had been doing his best to revive Elaine, whowas lying in a chair, hysterical and half unconscious from the terribleshock she had experienced.
Intent on discovering Bennett's whereabouts, Kennedy and I examined thewall of the office, thinking there might possibly be some button orsecret spring which would open the closet door.
While we were doing so, the door of a large safe in the secretary'soffice gradually opened and the Clutching Hand emerged from it,stepping carefully towards the door leading to the outer office, intenton escaping in that direction.
At that moment, I caught sight of him, and leaping into the secretary'soffice, I drew my revolver and ordered him to throw up his hands. Heobeyed. Holding up both hands, he slowly drew near the door to hisprivate office.
Suddenly he dropped one hand and pressed a hidden spring in the wall.
Instantly a heavy iron door shot out and closed over the wooden door.Entrance to the private office was absolutely cut off.
With an angry snarl, the Clutching Hand leaped at me.
As he did so, I fired twice.
He staggered back.
. . . . . . . .
The shots were heard by Kennedy and Elaine, as well as the secretary,and at the same instant they discovered the iron door which barred theentrance to the secretary's office.
Rushing into the outer office, they found the clerks excitedlyattempting to open the door of the secretary's office which was locked.Kennedy drew a revolver and shot through the lock, bursting open thedoor.
They rushed into the room.
Clutching Hand was apparently seated in a chair at a desk, his faceburied in his arms, while I was apparently disappearing through thedoor.
Kennedy and the clerks pounced upon the figure in the chair and toreoff his mask. To their astonishment, they discovered that it was myself!
My shots had missed and Clutching Hand had leaped on me with maddenedfury.
Dressed in my coat and hat, which he had deftly removed afteroverpowering me and substituting his own clothes, Clutching Hand had bythis time climbed through the window of the outer office and was makinghis way down the fire escape to the street. He reached the foot of theiron steps leaped off and ran quickly away.
Shouting a few directions to the secretary, the clerks and Elaine,Kennedy climbed through the window and darted down the fire escape inswift pursuit.
The Clutching Hand, however, managed to elude capture again. Turningthe street corner he leaped into a taxi which happened to be standingthere, and, hastily giving the driver directions, was driven rapidlyaway. By the time Kennedy reached the street Clutching Hand haddisappeared.
. . . . . . . .
While these exciting events were occurring in Bennett's office somequeer doings were in progress in the heart of Chinatown.
Deep underground, in one of the catacombs known only to the innermostmembers of the Chinese secret societies,
was Long Sin's servant, TongWah, popularly known as "the hider," engaged in some mysterious work.
A sinister-looking Chinaman, dressed in coolie costume, he was standingat a table in a dim and musty, high-ceilinged chamber, faced with stoneand brick. Before him were several odd shaped Chinese vials, and fromthese he was carefully measuring certain proportions, as if concoctingsome powerful potion.
He stepped back and looked around suspiciously as he suddenly heardfootsteps above. The next moment Long Sin, who had entered through atrap door, climbed down a long ladder and walked into the room.
Approaching Tong Wah, he asked: "When will the death-drink be ready?"
"It is now prepared," was the reply.
Long Sin took the bowl in which the liquor had been mixed, and, havingexamined it, he gave a nod and a grunt of satisfaction. Then he mountedthe ladder again and disappeared.
As soon as he had gone Tong Wah, picking up several of the vials, wentout through an iron door at the end of the room.
A few minutes later the Clutching Hand drove up to Long Sin's house inthe taxicab and, after paying the chauffeur, went to the door andknocked sharply.
In response to his knocking Long Sin appeared on the threshold andmotioned to Bennett to come in, evidently astonished to see him.
As he entered, Bennett made a secret sign and said: "I am the ClutchingHand. Kennedy is close on my trail, and I have come to be hidden."
In a tone which betrayed alarm and fear the Chinaman intimated that hehad no place in which Bennett could be concealed with any degree ofsafety.
For a moment Bennett glared savagely at Long Sin.
"I possess hidden plunder worth seven million dollars," he pleadedquickly, "and if by your aid I can make a getaway, a seventh is yours."
The Chinaman's cupidity was clearly excited by Bennett's offer, whilethe bare mention of the amount at stake was sufficient to overcome allhis scruples.
After exchanging a few words he finally agreed to all the ClutchingHand said. Opening a trap door in the floor of the room in which theywere standing, he led Bennett down a step-ladder into the subterraneanchamber in which Tong Wah had so recently been preparing his mysteriouspotion. As Bennett sank into a chair and passed his hands over his browin utter weariness, Long Sin poured into a cup some of the liquor ofdeath which Tong Wah had mixed. He handed it to Bennett, who drank iteagerly.
"How do you propose to help me to escape?" asked Bennett huskily.
Without a word Long Sin went to the wall, and, grasping one of thestones, pressed it back, opening a large receptacle, in which therewere two glass coffins apparently containing two dead Chinamen. Pullingout the coffins, he pushed them before Bennett, who rose to his feetand gazed upon them with wonder.
Long Sin broke the silence: "These men," he said, "are not dead; butthey have been in this condition for many months. It is what is calledin your language suspended animation."
"Is that what you intend to do with me?" asked Bennett, shrinking backin terror.
The Chinaman nodded in affirmation as he pushed back the coffins.
Overcome by the horror of the idea Bennett, with a groan, sank backinto the chair, shaking his head as if to indicate that the plan wasfar too terrible to carry out.
With a sinister smile and a shrug of his shoulders Long Sin pointed tothe cup from which Bennett had drunk.
"But, dear master," he remarked suavely, "you have already drunk a fulldose of the potion which causes insensibility, and it is overcomingyou. Even now," he added, "you are too weak to rise."
Bennett made frantic efforts to move from his seat, but the potion wasalready taking effect, and through sheer weakness he found he wasunable to get on his feet in spite of all his struggles.
With a malicious chuckle Long Sin moved closer to his victim and spokeagain.
"Divulge where your seven million dollars are hidden," he suggestedcraftily, "and I will give you an antidote."
By this time Bennett, who was becoming more rigid each moment, wasunable to speak, but by a movement of his head and an expression in hiseyes he indicated that he was ready to agree to the Chinaman's proposal.
"Where have you hidden the seven million dollars?" repeated Long Sin.
Slowly, and after a desperate struggle, Bennett managed to raise onehand and pointed to his breast pocket. The Chinaman instantly thrust inhis hand and drew out a map.
For some moments Long Sin examined the map intently, and, with a grinof satisfaction, he placed it in his own pocket. Then he mixed what hedeclared was a sure antidote, and, pouring some of the liquor into acup, he held it to Bennett's lips.
As Bennett opened his mouth to drink it, Long Sin with a laugh slowlypulled the cup away and poured its contents on the floor.
Bennett's body had now become still more rigid. Every sign ofintelligence had left his face, and although his eyes did not close, ablank stare came over his countenance, indicating plainly that the drughad destroyed all consciousness.
. . . . . . . .
By this time, I was slowly recovering my senses in the secretary'soffice, where Bennett had left me in the disguise of the ClutchingHand. Elaine, the secretary, and the clerks were gathered round me,doing all they could to revive me.
Meanwhile, Kennedy had enlisted the aid of two detectives and wasscouring the city for a trace of Bennett or the taxicab in which he hadfled.
Somehow, Kennedy suspected, instinctively, that Long Sin might give aclue to Bennett's whereabouts, and a few moments later, we were all onour way in a car to Long Sin's house.
Though we did not know it, Long Sin, at the moment when Kennedy knockedat his door, was feeling in his inside pocket to see that the map hehad taken from Bennett was perfectly safe. Finding that he had it, hesmiled with his peculiar oriental guile. Then he opened the door, andstood for a moment, silent.
"Where is Bennett?" demanded Kennedy.
Long Sin eyed us all, then with a placid smile, said, "Follow me. Iwill show you."
He opened a trap door, and we climbed down after Craig, entering asubterranean chamber, led by Long Sin.
There was Bennett seated rigidly in the chair beside the table fromwhich the vials and cups, about which we then knew nothing, had beenremoved.
"How did it happen?" asked Kennedy.
"He came here," replied Long Sin, with a wave of his hand, "and beforeI could stop him he did away with himself."
In dumb show, the Chinaman indicated that Bennett had taken poison.
"Well, we've got him," mused Kennedy, shaking his head sadly, adding,after a pause, "but he is dead."
Elaine, who had followed us down, covered her eyes with her hands, andwas sobbing convulsively. I thought she would faint, but Kennedy ledher gently away into an upper room.
As he placed her in an easy chair, he bent over her, soothingly.
"Did you--did you--really--love him?" he asked in a low tone, noddingin the direction from which he had led her.
Still shuddering, and with an eager look at Kennedy, Elaine shook herbeautiful head.
Then, slowly rising to her feet, she looked at Craig appealingly. For amoment he looked down into her two great lakes of eyes.
"Forgive me," murmured Elaine, holding out her hand. Then she added ina voice tense with emotion, "Thank you for saving me."
Kennedy took her hand. For a moment he held it. Then he drew hertowards him, unresisting.
THE END