The Springdale news., 1915-03-19

The, Tn alarm, Where will this thing end?"
 Well" Elaine laughed, little nerv- ously, now that 1t was all over. T want you all to go to bed and stop worrying about me. Don't you see m perfectly able to take care of my self? Besides, there isn't a chance now Of the burglar coming back. Why. I shot him.
 Yes, put in Aunt Josephine, but
 Elaine laughingly interrupted her and playfully made as though she were driving them out of her room.
 sRusty,' she called Down, there."
 The intelligent collie seemed to un- derstand. He lay down by the door way, his nose close to the bottom of the door, and his ears alert
 Finally Elaine, too, retired again.
 Meanwhile the wounded man was being hurried to one of the hangouts of the mysterious Clutching Hand
 The car containing the wounded Pitts Slim drew up, and the other two men leaped out of it. With a hur- ried glance about they unlocked the front door with pass key and en- tered. carrying the man
 Indoors was another emissary of tho Clutching Hand, a rather studious- looking chap.
 Why. what's the natter" he ex- a1 inn q hn l,s supporting their half-fainting, wounded pal
 Slim got a couple of pills" they panted as they laid him on a couch.
 How" demanded the other
 Trying to get into the Dodge house Elaine did it
 Slim was, quite evidently, badly wounded and was bleeding profusely 4 glance at him was enough for the studious.looking chap. He went 10 a secret panel and, pressing 1t down. took out what was apparently a secret house telephone.
 In another part of this mysterious house was the secret room of the Clutching Hand himself where he hid his identity from even his most trust ed followers
 His telephone rang and he took down the receiver
 Pitts Sims been wounded. badly, chief" was all he waited to hear
 With scarcely word he hung up the receiver, then opened a table drawer and took out a full face mask Next he went to nearby bookcase pressed another secret spring and a panel opened He passed through. the mask adjusted
 Across, ill the larger outside study another panel opened, and the Clutch ing Hand, all crouched up, trans formed, appeared. Without word he advanced to the couch on which the wounded crook lay, and examined him.
 How did it happen?" he asked at length.
 Miss Dodge shot him answered the others, with an automatic"
 That Craig Kennedy must have given 1t to her. he exclaimed with suppressed fury
 For a moment the Clutching Hand stopped to consider. Then he seized the regular telephone
 Doctor Martin ?' he asked, as he got the number he called.
 Late as it was. the doctor who was a well known surgeon in that part or the country, answered from an ex- tension of his telephone near his bed
 The call was urgent, and apparently from a family which he did not feel that he could neglect
 Doctor Martin was a middle-aged man, one of those medical men on whose judgment one instinctively re- lies.
 It was only a matter of minutes be- fore the doctor was speeding over the now deserted suburban roads, appar- ently on an errand of mercy.
 At the address that had been given him he drew up to the side of the road. got out and ran up the steps to the door. A ring at the bell brought a sleepy man to the door, in  his trousers and nightshirt.
 Flows the patient?' asked Doctor Martin, eagerly.
 Patient" repeated the man, rub bing his eyes There's no one sick here.
 Slowly it dawned on the doctor that it was a false alarm and that he must be the victim of some practical joke
 Well, that's great note, ne growled, as the man shut the door.
 He descended the steps, muttering harsh language at some unknown trickster As he climbed back into his machine and made ready to start two men seemed to rise before him as if from nowhere.
 As a matter of fact they had been sent there by the Clutching Hand, and were hiding in a nearby cellarway un- til their chance came.
 One man stood on the running board. on either side of him, and two guns yawned menacingly at him.
 Drive ahead that way,' muttered
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