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No sooner were Elaine and Bennett alone, than Elaine, turning to him, exclaimed impulsively, "I'm so glad you have come. I have been longing to 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, Elaine continued, "Last night, I dreamed that father came to me and told me that if I would give up Kennedy and put my trust in you, I would find the Clutching Hand. I don't know what to think of it."
Bennett, who had been listening intently, remained silent for a few moments. Then, putting down his tea cup, he moved over nearer to Elaine and bent over her.
"Elaine," he said in a low tone, his remarkable eyes looking straight into her own, "you must know that I love you. Then give me the right to protect you. It was your father's dearest wish, I believe, that we should marry. Let me share your dangers and I swear that sooner or later 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 to plead for her answer.
"Wait a little while—until to-morrow," she replied finally, as if overcome by the recollections of her weird dream and the unexpected sequel 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 had happened, excused herself and went into the library.
She sank into one of the capacious arm chairs, and passing her hand wearily over her throbbing forehead, closed her eyes in deep thought. Involuntarily, her mind travelled back over the rapid succession of events of the past few weeks and the part that she had thought, at least, Kennedy had come to play in her life.
Then she thought of their recent misunderstanding. Might there not be some simple explanation of it, after all, which she had missed? What should she do?
She solved the problem by taking up the telephone and asking for Kennedy's number.
I was chatting with Craig in his laboratory, and, at the same time, was watching him in his experimental work. Just as a call came on the telephone, he was pouring some nitro-hydrochloric acid into a test tube to 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, not knowing who was talking on the wire, I was eager to learn whether it was 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. It occurred to me that he might need a pad and pencil to make a note of some information and I reached over the desk for them.
As I did so my arm inadvertently struck the bottle of acid, knocking it over on the top of the desk. Its contents streamed out saturating the telephone wires before I could prevent it. In trying to right the bottle my hand came in contact with the acid which burned like liquid fire, and I cried out in pain.
Craig hastily laid down the receiver, seized me and rushed me to the back of the laboratory where he drenched my hand with a neutralizing liquid.
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 burned through the wires and cut off all connection.
Though I did not know it, my hand was, in a sense at least, the hand of fate.
At the other end of the line, Elaine was listening impatiently for a response to her first eager words of inquiry. She was astounded to find, at last, that Kennedy had apparently left the telephone without any explanation or apology.
"Why—he rang off," she exclaimed angrily to herself, as she hung up the receiver and left the room.
She rejoined her Aunt Josephine and Bennett who had been chatting together in the drawing room, still wondering at the queer rebuff she had, seemingly, experienced.
Bennett rose to go, and, as he parted from Elaine, found an opportunity to whisper a few words reminding her of her promised reply on the morrow.
Piqued, at Kennedy, she flashed Bennett a meaning glance which gave him to understand that his suit was not hopeless.
In the center of a devious and winding way, quite unknown to all except those who knew the innermost secrets of the Chinese quarter and even unknown to the police, there was a dingy tenement house, apparently inhabited by hardworking Chinamen, but in reality the headquarters of the notorious devil worshippers, a sect of Satanists, banned even in the Celestial Empire.
The followers of the cult comprised some of the most dangerous Chinese criminals, thugs, and assassins, besides a number of dangerous characters who belonged to various Chinese secret societies. At the head of this formidable organization was Long Sin, the high priest of the Devil God, and Long Sin had, as we knew, already joined forces with the notorious Clutching Hand.
The room in which the uncanny rites of the devil worshippers were conducted was a large apartment decorated in Chinese style, with highly colored portraits of some of the devil deities and costly silken hangings. Beside a large dais depended a huge Chinese gong.
On the dais itself stood, or rather sat, an ugly looking figure covered with some sort of metallic plating. It almost seemed to be the mummy of a Chinaman covered with gold leaf. It was thin and shrunken, entirely nude.
Into this room came Long Sin attired in an elaborate silken robe. He advanced and kowtowed before the dais with its strange figure, and laid down an offering before it, consisting of punk sticks, little dishes of Chinese 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 knelt in the rear of the room. As Long Sin finished his devotions they filed past the dais, bowing and scraping with every sign of abject reverence both for the devil deity and his high priest.
At the same time an aged Chinaman carrying a prayer wheel entered the place and after prostrating himself devoutedly placed the machine on a sort of low stool or tabourette and began turning it slowly, muttering. Each revolution of this curious wheel was supposed to offer a prayer to the god of the netherworld.
A few moments later, Long Sin, who had been bowing before the metallic figure in deepest reverence, suddenly sprang to his feet. His glazed eye and excited manner indicated that he had received a message from the lips of the strange idol.
The worshippers who had prostrated themselves in awe at the sight of their high priest in the unholy frenzy, all rose to their feet and crowded forward. At the same time Long Sin advanced a step to meet them, holding his arms outstretched as if to compel silence while he delivered his message.
Long Sin struck several blows on the resounding gong and then raised his voice in solemn tones.
"Ksing Chau, the Terrible, demands a consort. She is to be foreign—fair of face and with golden hair."
Amazed at this unexpected message, the Chinamen prostrated themselves again and their unhallowed devotions terminated a few moments later amid suppressed excitement as they filed out.
At the same time, in a room of the adjoining house, the Clutching Hand himself was busily engaged making the most elaborate preparations for some nefarious scheme which his fertile mind had evolved.
The room had been fitted up as a medium's seance parlor, with black hangings on the walls, while at one side there was a square cabinet of black cloth, with a guitar lying before it.
Two of the Clutching Hand's most trusted confederates and a hard- faced woman of middle age, dressed in plain black, were putting the finishing touches to this apartment, when their Chief entered.
Clutching Hand gazed about the room, now and then giving an order or two to make more effective the setting for the purpose which he had in mind.
Finally he nodded in approval and stepped over to the fire place where logs were burning brightly in a grate.
Pressing a spring in the mantelpiece, the master criminal effected an instant transformation. The logs in the fireplace, still burning, disappeared immediately through the side of the brick tiling and a metal sheet covered them. An aperture opened at the back, as if by magic.
Through this opening Clutching Hand made his way quickly and disappeared.
Emerging on the other side of the peculiar fireplace, Clutching Hand pushed aside a curtain which barred the way and looked into the Chinese temple, taking up a position behind the metallic figure on the dais.
The Chinamen had by this time finished their devotions, if such they might be called, and the last one was leaving, while Long Sin stood alone on the dais.
The noise of the departing Satanists had scarcely died away when Clutching Hand stepped out.
"Follow me," he ordered hoarsely seizing Long Sin by the arm and leading him away.
They passed through the passageway of the fireplace and, having entered the seance room, Clutching Hand began briefly explaining the purpose of the preparations that had been made. Long Sin wagged his head in voluble approval.
As Clutching Hand finished, the Chinaman turned to the hard-faced woman who was to act the part of medium and added some directions to those Clutching Hand had already given.
The medium nodded acquiescence, and a moment later, left the room to carry out some ingenious plot framed by the master mind of the criminal world.
. . . . . . . .
Elaine was standing in the library gazing sadly at Kennedy's portrait, thinking over recent events and above all the rebuff over the telephone which she supposed she had received.
It all seemed so unreal to her. Surely, she felt in her heart, she could not have been so mistaken in the man. Yet the facts seemed to speak for themselves.
In spite of it all, she was almost about to kiss the portrait when something 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 took it and saw with surprise the name of her caller:
MADAME SAVETSKY, MEDIUM
Beneath the engraved name were the words written in ink, "I have a message from the spirit of your father."
"Yes, I will see her," cried Elaine eagerly, in response to the butler's inquiry.
She followed Jennings into the adjoining room and there found herself face to face with the hard-featured woman who had only a few moments before left the Clutching Hand.
Elaine looked rather than spoke her inquiry.
"Your father, my dear," purred the medium with a great pretence of suppressed excitement, "appeared to me, the other night, from the spirit world. I was in a trance and he asked me to deliver a message to you."
"What was the message?" asked Elaine breathlessly, now aroused to intense interest.
"I must go into a trance again to get it," replied the insinuating Savetsky, "and if you like I can try it at once, provided we can be left alone long enough."
"Please—don't wait," urged Elaine, pulling the portieres of the doors closer, 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 into a trance.
Savetsky seemed about to speak and Elaine, in the highest state of nervous tension, listened, trying to make something of the gibberish mutterings.
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 looking about severely. "You must come to my seance chamber where we shall not be interrupted."
"I will," cried Elaine, vexed at the intrusion at that moment. "I must have that message—I must."
"What's all this, Elaine?" demanded Aunt Josephine.
Hurriedly, Elaine poured forth to her aunt and Bennett the story of the medium's visit and the promised message from her father in the other world.
Aunt Josephine, who was not one easily to be imposed on, strongly objected to Elaine's proposal to accompany Savetsky to the seance chamber, 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 Aunt Josephine, "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 she had no objection to having Elaine escorted to the parlor by her friends.
At last Aunt Josephine, influenced by Elaine's pleadings and Bennett's suggestion, gave in and agreed to join in the visit.
A few moments later, in the Dodge car, Elaine, the medium, and her two escorts started for the Chinese quarter.
. . . . . . . .
At the house, the medium opened the door with her key and ushered in her three visitors.
Long Sin who had been watching for their arrival from the window now hastily withdrew from the seance room and disappeared behind the black curtains.
Entering the room the medium at once prepared for the seance by pulling down the window shades. Then she seated herself in a chair beside the cabinet, and appeared to fall off slowly into a trance.
Her strange proceedings were watched with the greatest curiosity by Elaine as well as Aunt Josephine and Bennett, who had taken seats placed at one side of the room.
The room itself was dimly lighted, and the curtains of the cabinet seemed, in the obscurity, to sway back and forth as if stirred by some ghostly breeze.
All of them were now quite on edge with excitement.
Suddenly an indistinct face was seen to be peering through the black curtains, 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 until one named Josephine leaves the room."
No sooner had the words been uttered than the medium came writhing out of 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, insisting that Aunt Josephine must go. "Your father cannot speak while she is present."
Aunt Josephine, annoyed by what she had heard, indignantly refused to go and was deaf to all Elaine's pleadings.
"I think it will be all right," finally acquiesced Bennett, seeing how bent 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 suspect that all was not as it ought to be. In fact, the idea had no sooner occurred to her than she decided to call on Kennedy and she ordered the chauffeur to take her as quickly as possible to the laboratory.
. . . . . . . .
Kennedy had not been in the laboratory all the day, after my experience with the acid and I was impatiently awaiting his arrival. At last there came a knock at the door and I opened it hurriedly. There was a messenger boy who handed me a note. I tore it open. It was from Kennedy and read, "I shall probably be away for two or three days. Call up Elaine and tell her to beware of a certain Madame Savetsky."
I was still puzzling over the note and was just about to call up Elaine when the speaking tube was blown and to my surprise I found it was Aunt Josephine who had called.
"Where is Mr. Kennedy?" she asked, greatly agitated.
"He has gone away for a few days," I replied blankly. "Is there anything I can do?"
She was very excited and hastily related what had happened at the parlor 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 her without a word. She read it with breathless eagerness.
"Come back there with me, please," she begged, almost frantic with fear now. "Something terrible may have happened."
. . . . . . . .
Aunt Josephine had hardly left Savetsky when the trance was resumed and, in a few minutes, there came all sorts of supernatural manifestations. The table beside Elaine began to turn and articles on it dropped to the floor. Violent rappings followed in various parts of the room. Both Elaine and Bennett who sat together in silence were much impressed by the marvellous phenomena—not being able to see, in the darkness, the concealed wires that made them possible.
Suddenly, from the mysterious shadows of the cabinet, there appeared the spirit of Long Sin, whose death Elaine still believed she had caused 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 and again 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 she recoiled, shuddering.
Then a dim, ghostly figure, apparently that of Long Sin, appeared. The face was horribly distorted. It seemed to breathe the very odor of the grave.
With arms outstretched, the figure glided from the cabinet and approached Elaine. She shrank back further in fright, too horrified even 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 and shot a stream of vapor full in Bennett's face.
Bennett dropped unconscious, the lights in the darkened room flashed up, 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 were hustled through the passage, securely bound, and placed on a divan in a curtained chamber back of the altar of the devil worshippers.
There they lay when Long Sin, now in his priestly robes, entered. He looked 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 taking place, arrived with Aunt Josephine at the house of the medium.
She answered my ring and admitted us. To our surprise, the seance room was empty.
"Where is the young lady who was here?" I asked.
"Miss Dodge and the gentleman just left a few minutes ago," the medium explained, as we looked about.
She seemed eager to satisfy us that Elaine was not there. Apparently there 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 the fireplace. 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 up the hat, securing the handkerchief without attracting Savetsky's attention.
Aunt Josephine was keen now for returning home to find out whether Elaine was there or not. No sooner had she entered the car and driven off, than I examined the handkerchief. It was torn, as if it had been crushed in the hand during a struggle and wrenched away. I looked closer. In the corner was the initial, "E."
That was enough. Without losing another precious moment I hurried around 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, and together we returned to the house, laying a careful plan to surround it secretly, while the plainclothesman and I obtained admittance.
. . . . . . . .
Meanwhile, the Chinese devil worshippers had again gathered in their cursed temple and Long Sin, in his priestly robe, appeared on the dais.
The worshippers kowtowed reverently to him, while at the back again stood the aged Chinaman patiently turning his prayer wheel.
Two braziers, or smoke pots, had been placed on the dais, one of which Long Sin touched with a stick causing it to burst out into dense fumes.
Standing before them, he chanted in nasal tones, "The white consort of the great Ksing Chau has been found. It is his will that she now be made his."
As he finished intoning the message, Long Sin signaled to two young Chinamen to go into the anteroom. A moment later they returned with Elaine.
Frightened though she was, Elaine made no attempt to struggle, even when they had cut her bonds. She was busily engaged in seeking some method of escape. Her eyes travelled ever the place quickly. Apparently, there was no means of exit that was not guarded. Long Sin saw her look, and smiled quietly.
They had carried her up to the dais, and now Long Sin faced her and sternly 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 devil dancers.
"With magic and rare drugs," he chanted, "she shall be made to pass beyond and her body encased in precious gold shall be the consort of Ksing Chau—forever and ever."
He made another sign and several pots and braziers were brought out and placed on the dais beside Elaine. She was, by this time, completely overcome by the horror of the situation. There was apparently no escape.
With callous deviltry, the oriental satanists had made every arrangement for embalming and preserving the body of Elaine. Pots filled with sticky black material were slowly heated, amid weird incantations, while other Chinamen laid out innumerable sheets of gold leaf.
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 which smoke was escaping. As he approached he passed this receptacle under her nose once, twice, three times.
Gradually Elaine fell into unconsciousness.
. . . . . . . .
While Elaine was facing death in the power of the devil worshippers, I had reached the house of Savetsky next door with the police, and the place had been quietly surrounded.
With the plainclothesman, a daring and intelligent fellow, I went to the 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 your controlling spirit give him advice?"
We had managed to gain the interior of the seance room, and I suppose there was nothing else for her to say, under the circumstances, but, "Why—yes,—if the conditions are good, the control can probably tell us just what he wants to know."
Savetsky set to work preparing the room for a seance. As she moved over to the window to pull down the shades, she must have caught sight of one or two of the policemen who had incautiously exposed themselves from 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 weak and cannot work today."
She took a step toward the door, motioning us to leave. Neither of us paid any attention to that hint, but remained seated as we had been before.
"Go!" she exclaimed at length, for the first time showing a trace of nervousness.
Evidently her suspicions had been fully confirmed by our actions. We tried 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 something in the corner of the room. It was time for open action, and I seized her quickly.
My detective was on his feet in an instant.
"I'll take care of her," he ground out, seizing her wrists in his vice-like grasp. "You give the signal."
I rushed to the window, threw up the shade and opened the sash, waving our preconcerted sign, turning again toward the room.
With a sudden accession of desperate strength, Savetsky broke away from the plainclothesman and again attempted to get at something concealed on the wall. I had turned just in time to fling myself between her and whatever object she had in mind.
As the detective took her again and twisted her arm until she cried out in pain, I hastily investigated the wall. She had evidently been attempting 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 cauldron by Long Sin. As the high priest of Satan worked, the devil worshippers kowtowed obediently.
Suddenly the aged Chinaman with the prayer wheel stopped his incessant, impious turning, and rising, held up his hand as if to command attention.
Amid a general exclamation of wonder, he walked to the dais and mounted it, turning and facing the worshippers.
"This is nonsense," he cried in a loud tone. "Why should our great Ksing Chau desire a white devil? I, a great grandfather, demand to know."
The effect on the worshippers was electric. They paused in their obeisance and stared at the speaker, then at their high priest.
Shaking with rage, Long Sin ordered the intruder off the dais. But the aged devotee refused to go.
"Throw him out," he ordered his attendants.
For answer, as the two young Chinamen approached, the old Chinaman threw them down to the floor with a quick jiu-jitsu movement. His strength seemed miraculous for so aged a man.
Furious now beyond expression, Long Sin stepped forward himself. He seized 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 could recover themselves, Craig stood at bay.
Long Sin leaped behind the big gong. As the Chinamen rushed forward to seize him, Kennedy shot the leader of Long Sin's attendants and struck down the other with a blow. The rush was checked for the moment. But the odds were fearful.
Kennedy seized Elaine's yielding body and, pushing back the curtains to the anteroom, succeeded in gaining it, and locking the door into the main temple.
Bennett was still lying on the floor tightly bound. With a few deft cuts 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 the attack for a few moments.
. . . . . . . .
While Kennedy was thus besieged by the devil worshippers in the anteroom, several policemen and detectives gathered in the seance room with 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 to trace the course of a wire which ran alongside the wall, feeling certain that it would give me a clue to some adjoining room to which Elaine might possibly have been taken.
To the fireplace I traced the bell, and, in pulling on the wire, I luckily pressed a secret spring. To my amazement, the whole fireplace swung out of sight and disclosed a secret passageway.
I looked through it.
It was almost at that precise instant that the door of the anteroom burst open and the Chinamen swarmed in, urged on by the insane exhortations of Long Sin.
To my utter amazement, I recognized Kennedy's voice.
In the first onslaught, Craig shot one Chinaman dead, then closed with the others, slashing right and left with the Chinese knife he had picked 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 and death struggle. They fought all over the room, dismantling it, and even tearing the hangings from the wall.
It was just as the Chinese was about to overpower him that I led the police and detectives through the passageway of the fireplace.
It was a glorious fight that followed. Long Sin and his Chinamen were no match for the police and were soon completely routed, the police striking furiously in all directions and clearing the room.
Instantly, Kennedy thought of the fair object of all this melee. He rushed 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 at Bennett. Still not comprehending just what had happened, she gave her hand to Bennett. Bennett lifted her to her feet and slowly assisted her as she tried to walk away.
Kennedy watched them, more stupefied than if he had been struck over the head by Long Sin.
. . . . . . . .
Police and detectives were now taking the captured Chinamen away, as Bennett, his arm about Elaine, led her gently out.
A young detective had slipped the bracelets over Long Sin's wrist, and I 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, as if he had a message to deliver.
Kennedy frowned suspiciously. He was about to turn away, when the Chinaman 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 I will betray the great Clutching Hand."
Kennedy studied the Chinaman keenly for a moment. Then, seemingly satisfied with the scrutiny, he nodded slowly assent.
As Craig did so, I saw Long Sin lean over and whisper into Kennedy's ear.
Craig started back in horror and surprise.
CHAPTER XIV
THE RECKONING
Pacing up and down his den in the heart of Chinatown, Long Sin was thinking over his bargain with Kennedy to betray the infamous Clutching Hand.
It was a small room in a small and unpretentious house, but it adequately expressed the character of the subtle Oriental. The den was lavishly furnished, while the guileful Long Sin himself wore a richly figured lounging gown of the finest and costliest silk, chosen for the express purpose of harmonizing with the luxurious Far Eastern hangings and furniture so as to impress his followers and those whom he might choose as visitors.
At length he seated himself at a teakwood table, still deliberating over the promise he had been forced to make to Kennedy. He sat for some moments, deeply absorbed in thought.
Suddenly an idea seemed to strike him. Lifting a little hammer, he struck a Chinese gong on the table at his side. At the same time, he leaned 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 slowly lifted and Long Sin's secretary, a sallow, cadaverous Chinaman, appeared from below. He stepped noiselessly into the room and shuffled across to Long Sin.
Long Sin scowled, as though something had interfered with his own plans, but tore open the envelope without a word, spreading out on his lap 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 the Clutching Hand.
As soon as he had finished reading the note, the Chinaman turned to his obsequious secretary, who stood motionless, with folded arms and head meekly 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 through the hatchway, closing the door as he descended.
Long Sin read the note once more, while his inscrutable face assumed an expression of malicious cunning. Then he glanced at his heavy gold watch.
With an air of deliberation, he reached for a match and struck it. He had just placed the paper in the flame when suddenly he seemed to change his mind. He hastily blew out the match which had destroyed only a corner of the paper, then folded the note carefully and placed it in his pocket.
A few moments later, with a malignant chuckle, Long Sin rose slowly and left the room.
. . . . . . . .
Meanwhile, the master criminal was busily engaged in putting the finishing touches to a final scheme of fiendish ingenuity for the absolute 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 and scientific apparatus for crime. Jars of picric acid, nitric acid, carboys of other chemicals, packages labelled gunpowder, gun cotton and nitroglycerine, as well as carefully stoppered bottles of prussic acid, and the cyanides, arsenic and other poisons made the place bear the look of a veritable devil's workshop.
Clutching Hand, at a bench in one corner, had just completed an infernal machine of diabolical cunning, and was wrapping it carefully in paper to make an innocent package.
He was interrupted by a knock at the door. Laying down the bomb he went to 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 door with equal care.
No time was wasted in useless formalities.
"This is a bomb," he went on, pointing to the package. "Carry it carefully. On no account let it slip, or you are a dead man. It must be in Kennedy's laboratory before night. Understand? Can you arrange it?"
Long Sin looked the dangerous package over, then with an impassive look, replied, "Have no fear. I can do it. It will be in the laboratory within an hour. Trust me."
Long Sin nodded sagely, while Clutching Hand growled his approval as he opened the door and let out the Chinaman. Long Sin departed as stealthily as he had come, the frightful engine of destruction hugged up carefully under his wide-sleeved coolie shirt.
For a moment Clutching Hand gave himself up to the exquisite contemplation of what he had just done, then turned to clean up his workshop.
. . . . . . . .
In Kennedy's laboratory I was watching Craig make some experiments with a new X-ray apparatus which had just arrived, occasionally looking through the fluoroscope when he was examining some unusually interesting object.
We were oblivious to the passage of time, and only a call over our speaking 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 a package which he carried.
"A bomb," he said, in the most matter of fact way. "I promised to have it placed in your laboratory before night."
The placid air with which the grotesque looking Chinaman imparted this astounding information was in itself preposterous. His actions and words as he laid the package down gingerly on the laboratory table indicated 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 of commission?"
"No, no, Walter," he cried quickly, shaking his head. "If it's a chemical bomb, the water might be just the thing to make the chemicals run together and set it off. No, let us see what the new X-ray machine can tell us, first."
He took the bomb and carefully placed it under the wonderful rays, then with the fluoroscope over his eyes studied the shadow cast by the rays on its sensitive screen. For several minutes he continued safely studying it from every angle, until he thoroughly understood it.
"It's a bomb, sure enough," Craig exclaimed, looking up from it at last to me. "It's timed by an ingenious and noiseless little piece of clockwork, in there, too. And it's powerful enough to blow us all, the laboratory included, to kingdom come."
As he spoke, and before I could remonstrate with him, he took the infernal machine and placed it on a table where he set to work on the most delicate and dangerous piece of dissection of which I have ever heard.
Carefully unwrapping the bomb and unscrewing one part while he held another firm, he finally took out of it a bottle of liquid and some powder. Then he placed a few grains of the powder on a dish and dropped on it a drop or two of the liquid. There was a bright flash, as the powder ignited instantly.
"Just what I expected," commented Kennedy with a nod, as he examined the clever workmanship of the bomb.
One thing that interested him was that part of the contents had been wrapped in paper to keep them in place. This paper he was now carefully examining with a hand lens.
As nearly as I could make it out, the paper contained part of a typewritten 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, beginning with 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 he had not burned.
As Craig studied the typewritten message from the Clutching Hand I could see that he was growing more and more excited.
"At last he has given us something typewritten," he exclaimed. "To most people, I suppose, it seems that typewriting is the best way to conceal identity. But there are a thousand and one ways of identifying typewriting. Clutching Hand knew that. That was why he was so careful to order this note destroyed. As for the bomb, he figured that it would destroy 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 and pointing at the distinguishing marks as he talked, "You will notice that all the 'T's' in this note are battered and faint as well as just a trifle out of alignment. Now I will place the paper from the bomb under the lens and you will also see that the 'T's' in the scrap of formula have exactly the same appearance. That indicated, without the possibility of a doubt, taken in connection with a score of other peculiarities in the letters which I could pick out that both were written on the same typewriter. I have selected the 'T' because it is the most marked."
I strained my eyes to look. Sure enough, Kennedy was right. There was that unmistakable identity between the T's in the formula and the note.
Kennedy had been gazing at the floor, his face puckered in thought as I looked. Suddenly he slapped his hands together, as if he had made a great discovery.
"I've struck it!" he exclaimed, jumping up. "I was wondering where I had seen typewriting that reminds me of this. Walter, get on your coat and hat. We are on the right trail at last."
With Long Sin we hurried out of the laboratory, leaving him at the nearest 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 never quite understood what was the trouble between Elaine and Craig, and had a high regard for him.
"Where is—Miss Dodge?" inquired Kennedy, with suppressed excitement as we entered.
"I think she's out shopping and I don't know just when she will be back," answered Aunt Josephine, with some surprise. "Why? Is it anything important—any news?"
"Very important," returned Kennedy excitedly. "I think I have the best clue yet. Only—it will be necessary to look through some of the household correspondence immediately to see whether there are certain letters. I wouldn't be surprised if she had some—perhaps not very personal—but I MUST see them."
Aunt Josephine seemed nonplussed at first. I thought she was going to refuse to allow Craig to proceed. But finally she assented.
Kennedy lost no time. He went to a desk where Elaine generally sat, and quickly took out several typewritten letters. He examined them closely, rejecting one after another, until finally he came to one that seemed to interest him.
He separated it from the rest and fell to studying it, comparing it with the paper from the bomb and the note which Long Sin had received from the Clutching Hand. Then he folded the letter so that both the signature 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 is non-existent—
"Look at this, Walter," remarked Craig, with difficulty restraining himself, "What do you make of it?"
A glance at the typewriting was sufficient to show me that Kennedy had indeed made an important discovery. The writing of the letter which he had just found in Elaine's desk corresponded in every respect with that in the Clutching Hand note and that on the bomb formula. In each instance there were the same faintness, the same crooked alignment, the same 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 Elaine herself, who had come in unexpectedly from her shopping expedition.
She entered the room carrying in her arms a huge bunch of roses which she had evidently just received. Her face was half buried in the fragrant blossoms, but was fairer than even they in their selected elegance.
The moment she saw Craig, however, she stopped short with a look of great surprise. Kennedy, on his part, who was seated at the desk still tracing out the similarities of the letters, stood up, half hesitating what to say. He bowed and she returned his salutation with a very cool nod.
Her keen eye had not missed the fact that several of her letters lay scattered over the top of the desk.
"What are you doing with my letters, Mr. Kennedy?" she asked, in an astonished tone, evidently resenting the unceremoniousness with which he had apparently been overhauling her correspondence.
As guardedly as possible, Kennedy met her inquiry, which I could not myself blame her for making.
"I beg pardon, Miss Dodge," he said, "but a matter has just come up which necessitated merely a cursory examination of some purely formal letters which might have an important bearing on the discovery of the Clutching Hand. Your Aunt had no idea where you were, nor of when you might return, and the absolute necessity for haste in such an important matter is my only excuse for examining a few minor letters without first obtaining your permission."
She said nothing. At another time, such an explanation would have been instantly accepted. Now, however, it was different.
Kennedy read the look on her face, and an instant later turned to Aunt Josephine and myself.
"I would very much appreciate a chance to say a few words to Miss Dodge alone," he intimated. "I have had no such opportunity for some time. If you 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 to withdraw and I followed.
. . . . . . . .
For a moment or two, Craig and Elaine looked at each other, neither saying 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's heart, 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 "Miss Dodge," for the moment, "Elaine, is there any truth in this morning's newspaper report of—of you?"
She had dropped her eyes. But he persisted, taking a newspaper clipping from 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 announcement of an engagement between them at any time would not surprise—
Elaine read no further. She handed back the clipping to Kennedy. As her eyes met his, she noticed his expression of deep concern, and hesitated with the reply she had evidently been just about to make.
Still, as she lowered her head, it seemed to give silent confirmation to the truth of the newspaper report.
Kennedy said nothing. But his eyes continued to study her face, even when 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 I was chatting with Aunt Josephine, "we must be off again. The trail follows still further."
I rose and much to the increased mystification of Aunt Josephine, left the house.
An hour or so later, Elaine, whose mind was now in a whirl from what had happened, decided to call on Perry Bennett.
Two or three clerks were in the outer office when she arrived, but the office boy, laying down a dime novel, rose to meet her and informed her that Mr. Bennett was alone.
As Elaine entered his private office, Bennett rose to greet her effusively and they exchanged a few words.
"I mustn't forget to thank you for those lovely roses you sent me," she exclaimed at length. "They were beautiful and I appreciated them ever so much."
Bennett acknowledged her thanks with a smile, she sat down familiarly on his desk, and they plunged into a vein of social gossip.
A moment later, Bennett led the conversation around until he found an opportunity to make a tactful allusion to the report of their engagement 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's intuition?
Bennett looked at her a moment, suppressing a momentary flash of anger that had reddened his face, and controlled himself as if by a superhuman effort.
"I believe you really love that man Kennedy," he exclaimed, in a tone that 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 what has he accomplished? Nothing!"
He paused. Through Elaine's mind there flashed the contrast with Kennedy's even temper and deferential manner. In spite of their quarrel and the coolness, she found herself resenting the remark. Still she said nothing, though her expressive face showed much.
Bennett, by another effort, seemed to grip his temper again. He paced up and down the room. Then he changed the subject abruptly, and the conversation was resumed with some constraint.
. . . . . . . .
While Elaine and Bennett were talking, Kennedy and I had entered the office.
Craig stopped the boy who was about to announce us and asked for Bennett'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 legal document. 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 the fellow. "You are under arrest—and the less you say, the better for you."
I shall never forget the look that crossed the secretary's face. Was it the surprise of an innocent man?
Taking the man's place at the machine, Kennedy removed the legal paper that was in it and put in a new sheet. Then he tapped out, as we watched:
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 is non-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 the Clutching Hand letter, the paper from the bomb and the letter which Craig had taken from Elaine's desk.
As Craig pointed out the resemblances with a pencil, my amazement gradually 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 were continuing their chat on various social topics. Suddenly, however, with a glance at the clock, Bennett told Elaine that he had an important letter to dictate, and that it must go off at once.
She said that she would excuse him a few minutes and he pressed a button to call his secretary.
Of course the secretary did not appear. Bennett left his office, with some annoyance, and went into the adjoining room the door to which Kennedy had not locked.
He hesitated a moment, then opened the door quietly. To his astonishment, he saw Kennedy, the secretary, and myself apparently making a close examination of the typewriter.
Gliding rather than walking back into his own office, he closed the door and locked it. Almost instantly, fear and fury at the presence of his hated rival, Kennedy, turned Bennett, as it were, from the Jekyll of a polished lawyer and lover of Elaine into an insanely jealous and revengeful Mr. Hyde. The strain was more than his warped mind could bear.
With a look of intense horror and loathing, Elaine watched him slowly change from the composed, calm, intellectual Bennett she knew and respected into a repulsive, mad figure of a man.
His stature even seemed to be altered. He seemed to shrivel up and become deformed. His face was terribly distorted.
And his long, sinewy hand slowly twisted and bent until he became the personal embodiment of the Clutching Hand.
As Elaine, transfixed with terror, watched Bennett's astounding metamorphosis, he ran to the door leading to the outer office and hastily locked that, also.
Then, with his eyes gleaming with rage and his hands working in murderous 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's private office. Finding it locked, we began to batter it.
By this time, however, Bennett had hurled himself upon Elaine and was slowly choking her.
Kennedy quickly found that it was impossible to batter down the door in time by any ordinary means. Quickly he seized the typewriter and hurled it through the panels. Then he thrust his hand through the opening and turned the catch.
As we flung ourselves into the room, Bennett rushed into a closet in a corner, slamming the door behind him. It was composed of sheet iron and effectually prevented anyone from breaking through. Kennedy and I tried vainly, however, to pry it open.
While we were thus endeavoring to force an entrance, Bennett, in a sort of closet, had put on the coat, hat and mask which he invariably wore in the character of the Clutching Hand. Then he cautiously opened a secret door in the back of the closet and slowly made an exit.
. . . . . . . .
Meanwhile, the secretary had been doing his best to revive Elaine, who was lying in a chair, hysterical and half unconscious from the terrible shock she had experienced.
Intent on discovering Bennett's whereabouts, Kennedy and I examined the wall of the office, thinking there might possibly be some button or secret spring which would open the closet door.
While we were doing so, the door of a large safe in the secretary's office gradually opened and the Clutching Hand emerged from it, stepping carefully towards the door leading to the outer office, intent on escaping in that direction.
At that moment, I caught sight of him, and leaping into the secretary's office, I drew my revolver and ordered him to throw up his hands. He obeyed. Holding up both hands, he slowly drew near the door to his private 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 the entrance to the secretary's office.
Rushing into the outer office, they found the clerks excitedly attempting to open the door of the secretary's office which was locked. Kennedy drew a revolver and shot through the lock, bursting open the door.
They rushed into the room.
Clutching Hand was apparently seated in a chair at a desk, his face buried in his arms, while I was apparently disappearing through the door.
Kennedy and the clerks pounced upon the figure in the chair and tore off his mask. To their astonishment, they discovered that it was myself!
My shots had missed and Clutching Hand had leaped on me with maddened fury.
Dressed in my coat and hat, which he had deftly removed after overpowering me and substituting his own clothes, Clutching Hand had by this time climbed through the window of the outer office and was making his way down the fire escape to the street. He reached the foot of the iron 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 in swift pursuit.
The Clutching Hand, however, managed to elude capture again. Turning the street corner he leaped into a taxi which happened to be standing there, and, hastily giving the driver directions, was driven rapidly away. By the time Kennedy reached the street Clutching Hand had disappeared.
. . . . . . . .
While these exciting events were occurring in Bennett's office some queer doings were in progress in the heart of Chinatown.
Deep underground, in one of the catacombs known only to the innermost members of the Chinese secret societies, was Long Sin's servant, Tong Wah, popularly known as "the hider," engaged in some mysterious work.
A sinister-looking Chinaman, dressed in coolie costume, he was standing at a table in a dim and musty, high-ceilinged chamber, faced with stone and brick. Before him were several odd shaped Chinese vials, and from these he was carefully measuring certain proportions, as if concocting some powerful potion.
He stepped back and looked around suspiciously as he suddenly heard footsteps above. The next moment Long Sin, who had entered through a trap 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, having examined it, he gave a nod and a grunt of satisfaction. Then he mounted the ladder again and disappeared.
As soon as he had gone Tong Wah, picking up several of the vials, went out through an iron door at the end of the room.
A few minutes later the Clutching Hand drove up to Long Sin's house in the taxicab and, after paying the chauffeur, went to the door and knocked sharply.
In response to his knocking Long Sin appeared on the threshold and motioned to Bennett to come in, evidently astonished to see him.
As he entered, Bennett made a secret sign and said: "I am the Clutching Hand. 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 he had no place in which Bennett could be concealed with any degree of safety.
For a moment Bennett glared savagely at Long Sin.
"I possess hidden plunder worth seven million dollars," he pleaded quickly, "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, while the bare mention of the amount at stake was sufficient to overcome all his scruples.
After exchanging a few words he finally agreed to all the Clutching Hand said. Opening a trap door in the floor of the room in which they were standing, he led Bennett down a step-ladder into the subterranean chamber in which Tong Wah had so recently been preparing his mysterious potion. As Bennett sank into a chair and passed his hands over his brow in utter weariness, Long Sin poured into a cup some of the liquor of death which Tong Wah had mixed. He handed it to Bennett, who drank it eagerly.
"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 the stones, pressed it back, opening a large receptacle, in which there were two glass coffins apparently containing two dead Chinamen. Pulling out the coffins, he pushed them before Bennett, who rose to his feet and gazed upon them with wonder.
Long Sin broke the silence: "These men," he said, "are not dead; but they have been in this condition for many months. It is what is called in your language suspended animation."
"Is that what you intend to do with me?" asked Bennett, shrinking back in terror.
The Chinaman nodded in affirmation as he pushed back the coffins.
Overcome by the horror of the idea Bennett, with a groan, sank back into the chair, shaking his head as if to indicate that the plan was far too terrible to carry out.
With a sinister smile and a shrug of his shoulders Long Sin pointed to the cup from which Bennett had drunk.
"But, dear master," he remarked suavely, "you have already drunk a full dose of the potion which causes insensibility, and it is overcoming you. Even now," he added, "you are too weak to rise."
Bennett made frantic efforts to move from his seat, but the potion was already taking effect, and through sheer weakness he found he was unable to get on his feet in spite of all his struggles.
With a malicious chuckle Long Sin moved closer to his victim and spoke again.
"Divulge where your seven million dollars are hidden," he suggested craftily, "and I will give you an antidote."
By this time Bennett, who was becoming more rigid each moment, was unable to speak, but by a movement of his head and an expression in his eyes 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 one hand and pointed to his breast pocket. The Chinaman instantly thrust in his hand and drew out a map.
For some moments Long Sin examined the map intently, and, with a grin of satisfaction, he placed it in his own pocket. Then he mixed what he declared was a sure antidote, and, pouring some of the liquor into a cup, he held it to Bennett's lips.
As Bennett opened his mouth to drink it, Long Sin with a laugh slowly pulled the cup away and poured its contents on the floor.
Bennett's body had now become still more rigid. Every sign of intelligence had left his face, and although his eyes did not close, a blank stare came over his countenance, indicating plainly that the drug had destroyed all consciousness.
. . . . . . . .
By this time, I was slowly recovering my senses in the secretary's office, where Bennett had left me in the disguise of the Clutching Hand. 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 was scouring the city for a trace of Bennett or the taxicab in which he had fled.
Somehow, Kennedy suspected, instinctively, that Long Sin might give a clue to Bennett's whereabouts, and a few moments later, we were all on our way in a car to Long Sin's house.
Though we did not know it, Long Sin, at the moment when Kennedy knocked at his door, was feeling in his inside pocket to see that the map he had taken from Bennett was perfectly safe. Finding that he had it, he smiled with his peculiar oriental guile. Then he opened the door, and stood for a moment, silent.
"Where is Bennett?" demanded Kennedy.
Long Sin eyed us all, then with a placid smile, said, "Follow me. I will show you."
He opened a trap door, and we climbed down after Craig, entering a subterranean chamber, led by Long Sin.
There was Bennett seated rigidly in the chair beside the table from which the vials and cups, about which we then knew nothing, had been removed.
"How did it happen?" asked Kennedy.
"He came here," replied Long Sin, with a wave of his hand, "and before I 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, and was sobbing convulsively. I thought she would faint, but Kennedy led her 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, nodding in the direction from which he had led her.
Still shuddering, and with an eager look at Kennedy, Elaine shook her beautiful head.
Then, slowly rising to her feet, she looked at Craig appealingly. For a moment he looked down into her two great lakes of eyes.
"Forgive me," murmured Elaine, holding out her hand. Then she added in a voice tense with emotion, "Thank you for saving me."
Kennedy took her hand. For a moment he held it. Then he drew her towards him, unresisting.
THE END |
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