The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1915-03-19
EIGHTH EPISODE
The Hidden Voice.

Jameson, wake up!"
The strain of the Dodge case was
beginning to tell ON me, for it was
keeping us at work at all kinds Of
hours to circumvent the Clutching
Hand, by far the cleverest criminal
with whom Kennedy had ever had
anything to do.
leaped out of bed, still in my pa
jamas, and stood for moment staring
about. Then l ran into the living
room. l looked about, rubbing my
eyes, startled. No one was there.
"Hey-Jameson-wake up!"
It was spooky.
"Where-the deuce-are your" de-
manded.
Suddenly 1 heard the voice again
no doubt about it, either
Here l am--over on the couch!"
i scratched my head, puzzled. There
was certainly no one on that couch.
A laugh greeted me. Plainly, though,
1t came from the couch. l went over
to it and, ridiculous as it seemed, be-
gan to throw aside the pillows.
There lay nothing but little OBJ
long oaken box, perhaps eight or ten
inches square at the ends. In the face
were two peculiar square holes, and
from the top projected black disk,
about the size of a watch, fastened on
a swinging metal arm. In the face Of
the disk we're several perforated holes,
picked up the strange looking
thing in wonder, and from that magic
oak box actually came a burst of
laughter.
Come over to the laboratory, right
away" pealed forth a merry voice.
1--WE something to show you
WELL" / gasped, what do you
know about that"
Very early that morning Craig had
got up, leaving me snoring Cases
never wearied him. He thriYed on ex
citement.
He had gone over to the laboratory
and set to work in a corner over an
other of those peculiar boxes, exactly
like that which he had already left in
our rooms.
Half an hour afterward I walked
into the laboratory, feeling a little
sheepish over the practical joke, but
none the less curious to find out al
about It.
What is it," I asked, indicating the
apparatus.
"a vocaphone," he replied, still
laughing, the loud speaking telephone
the little box that hears and talks
It talks right out in meeting
too-no transmitter to hold tt
the mouth, no receiver to hold t.
the ear. You see, this trans
mitter is SO sensitive that 1t picks u
even whisper, and the receiver i
placed back of those two megaphone
like pyramids"
He was standing at table, careful
" packing up one of the vocaphone
and a lot of wire.
81 believe the Clutching Hand ha
been shadowing the Dodge house. h
continued thoughtfully. AS long a
we watch the place, too, he will d
nothing. But if We should seem, OF
tentatiously, not to be watching, PEI
haps he may try something, and W
may be able to get clue to his ideI
tity over this vocaphone Seer
nodded. We've got to run hill
down somehow" | agreed.
YES" he said, taking his coat an
hat. II am going to connect up on
of these things in Miss Dodge's libr'
ry and arrange with the telephon
company for clear wire so that "
can listen In here, where that fello'
will never suspect
At about the same time that Graf
and sailed forth on this new mi
zion, Elaine was arranging some foN
ers on a stand near the corner of tn
Dodge library where the secret pam
was in which her father had hide
the papers for the possession of whic
the Clutching Hand had murdere
him.
She had moved away from the tabl
but. as she did so, her dress caugl
in something in the woodwork. ST
tried to loosen it and in SO doir
touched the little metallic spring {
which her dress had caught.
Instantly, to her utter surprise, u
panel moved. 1t slid open, disclosir
strong box
Elaine took It, amused, looked at
a moment, then carried it to a tab
and opened II.
Inside were some papers, sealed
an envelope and marked "Limpy Re
correspondence"
~They must be the Clutching Han
papers!" she exclaimed to hersel
hesitating moment. in dcrht what
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