The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1915-05-30

reaetes BENEFITS side just after he has
lost consciousness and supposes him oeao-
SEVENTEENTH EPISODE
THE WATCHING EYE
Not a clueshad been left by the kid
napers when they had SO mysterious
~ spirited Elaine away from the
apartment Of WI Fang She had dis
appeared as completely as il she had
vanished into thin air
Kennedy was~frant1c. WI and Long
Sin themselves seemed to have van
tshed, too. Where they held her, what
had happened to her. was sealed
book. And yet no move of ours was
made, no matter how secret. that 1t
did not seem to be known to them 1t,
was as though weird, uncanny eye
glared at us. watching everything.
Craig neglected no possibility in
his eager search. He even visited the.
little house in the country which
Elaine had given to Aunt Tabby, and
spent several hours examining the
collapsed subterranean chamber IN
the vain hope that it might yield a
clue. But it had not
UnescapabIy, he was forced to the
conclusion that not only Elaine's
amazing disappearance, but the tragic
succession Of events which had pre-
ceded 1t had been caused, in some
way, by the cu-iously engraved ring
which Aunt Josephine had taken from
her.
Craig had taken possession Of the
mystic ring himself. and now, forced
10 4 rS3
to him that If the ring we're SO valu-
able. other attempts would. without
doubt. be made to get possession of it
came into the laboratory, one aft
enoon. to find Kennedy surrounded
by jewelers. tools, hard at work max
ing an exact copy Of the ring.
: What do you think Of 1t, Walter"
he asked, holding up the replica
Perfect" replied. admir1ng!y-
What are you going to do with it2n
II cant say-yet, answered Ken
nedy. forlornly. but if I understand
these Chinese criminals at all. know
that the only way we can ever track
them is through some trick Perhaps
the replica viii suggest something to.
us later"
Lets see If Aunt Josephine has re-
ceived any word.'' he remarked abb
ruptly. putting on his hat and coat.
and noddins to me to follow
Kennedy and I were not the only
visitors to the subterranean chamber
where it had seemed that the clue
to the C1utching Hands millions
might be found.
It was as though that hidden, watch
ing eye followed US. The night after
our own unsuccessful search. WI
Fang, accompanied byLong Sin, made
his way into the cavern
wu examined the safe which had
been broken into,
Long Sin was now. going over the
walls Of the cavern minutely, his close
set, beady black eyes examining every.
square inch OF it.
a sudden low cultural exclamation
caused WI to turn to him quickly
Tong Sin had discovered. back Of the
debris. a long oblorg slot, cut into the
rock. Above it were some peculiar
marks.
WI hurried over to his henchman.
and together they tried to dectpher
what had been scratched on the rock
AS Long Sins slender and sinister
torefnger traced over the inscription
Wu suddenly caught him by the ell.
bow.
esThe ring. he cried. as at last he IN
terpreted the meaning of the cryptic
characters.
But what about the ring? For mo
ment Wa looked at the slot in deep
thought. Then he reached down and
Withdrew a ring from his own finger
and dropped it through the slot
They listened a moment They could
hear the ring tinkle as though it were
running down some sort Of trackhke
declivity inside the rock Then. faint
~. they could hear 1t drop. It had
falien into a little cup OF a compart
rent below at their feet
Nothing happened. WI recovered
his ring. But he had hit at last upon
the clutching Hands secret.
Bennett had devised ring lock
which would open the treasure vault!
No other ring except the one which
he had SO carefully hidden was OF the
size or weight that would move the
lever which would set the machinery.
working to open the treasure house.
Again WI tried another Of his own
rings. and a third time. Long SIN.
SEE He
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