The Raymer enterprise., 1915-09-02
Seventeenth EPISODE
THE WATCHING EVE.

t0V0A
THE WATCHING EVE.
Not clue had been left by the kid.
napers when they had so mysterious.
ly spirited Elaine away from the
apartment Of WI Fang. She had dis.
appeared as completely as II she had
vanished into thin air.
Kennedy was frantic. WI and Long
Sin themselves seemed to have van.
hhed, too. Where they held her. what
had happened to her, was q sealed
book. And yet NO move Of ours was
made, no matter how secret, that 1t
did not seem to be known to them. It
vas a. 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 1t might yield q
clue. But 1t had not.
Unescapably, 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 curiously engraved ring
which Aunt Josephine had taken from
her.
Craig had taken possession of the
mystic ring himself. and now, forced
back on this sole clue, 1t had occurred
to him that II the ring were SO valu-
able, other attempts would, without
doubt, be made to get possession Of II.
] came into the laboratory, one aft
ernoon, 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, admiringly.
Whist are you going to do with it?"
Il can't say--yet," answered Ken.
nedy, forlornly. "but II l understand
these Chinese criminals at all, know
that the only way we can ever track
them Is through some trick. Perhaps
the replica will suggest something to
us later"
Lets see Il Aunt Josephine has re-
ceived any word" he remarked abb
ruptly, putting on his hat and coat.
and nodding to me to follow.
=
Kennedy and l were not the only
visitors to the subterranean chamber
where y had seemed that the clue
to the Clusching Hands millions
might bs fochd.
1t was 40 though that hidden, watch.
ing eye followed US. The night after
our own unsuccessful search, WI
Fang. accompanied by Long Sin, made
his way into the cavern.
WI 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 1t.
A sudden low cultural exclamation
caused. WI to turn to him quickly.
Long Sin had discovered, back of the
debris. q long oblong slot. cut into the
rock. Above 1t were some peculiar
marks.
WI hurried over to his henchman,
and together they tried to decipher
what had been scratched on the rock.
As Long Sins slender and sinister
fore6nger traced over the Inscription
WI suddenly caught him by the el-
bow.
"The ring!" he cried. as at last he In
terpreted the meaning Of the cryptic
characters. .~-r-r
But what about the ring? For mo-
ment WI looked at the slot in deep
thought. Then he reached down and
withdrew q ring from his own finger
and dropped 1t through the slot.
They listened a moment. They could
hear the ring tinkle as though 1t were
running down some sort of tracklike
declivity inside the rock. Then, faint
ly, they could hear 1t drop. 1t had
fallen into a little cup Of compart.
ment below at their feet.
Nothing happened. WI recovered
his ring. But he had hit at last upon
the Clutching Hands secret!
Bennett had devised q ring lock
which would open the treasure vault!
No other ring except the one which
he had 90 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 Va tried another Of his own
nass. ~ . tAird time: Long Sin