The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1916-05-07

eftdtHfcSSty up tffo SANDY Slope. Sf1e
could see this man. even as he held
her from falling. stop to level his
gun at the fleeing figure of 'Legar.
She could see him shoot again, and
still again, at the same moment that
Train and the plunging automobile
came throbbing and painting up to
the scene. the electric lamps throw
Ing out their wavering, long columns
of white light as they came. Then
the stranger, arrested by certain
gasping and gurgling sounds from
the throat of the half-garroted girl
in his arms, stopped down and tore
the constructing veil away from the
slender, white column of her neck.
And Margory. opening her eyes. saw
that it was the Laughing Mask bend
ing above Der.
1T waS-Iegar." she gasped as
Train, followed by her father, came
painting up to where they stood.
And there he goes now!" cried the
Laughing Mask, pointing down the
long lane Of light columning out from
the cars lamps. Across that narrow
river of light they could catch a
glimpse of tall figure skulking Off
into the darkness.
elbow that man with your car
the Laughing Mask suddenly cried out
to the chauffeur.
mo car could travel through coun-
try like that" protested Train.
Then keep your lights on the main
road to the west here, SO as to pick
him up il he tried to break through
on that side. III swing around by the
a = -
east!"
And the next moment the man in
the yellow mask had disappeared In
the darkness. Golden and his daugh-
ter stood staring after him.
Two minutes later the blackness
that had swallowed him up was
stabbed by a series OF fame flashes,
followed by the repeated bark of a
revolver. From the gloom still nearer
the shadowy piles of the Westingham
foundry came an answering series of
shots.
That means he's making for the
foundry. sir!' cried the excited Train
as he swung his car about.
Then. for Gods sake, get US there,
as quick as you can." commanded
Enoch Golden as the car lurched and
pulsed and crawled on between the
broken shrubbery. In perilous search
for some open pathway.
But both Legar and his pursuer
were by this time well beyond their
line of vision. That desperate-minded
master criminal, in fact, realizing
that his enemy was pressing close at
his heels. mounted q Stag pile, dropped
fiat and emptied his revolver into the
darkness, where the Laughing Mask
should have been.
But the wary pursuer. dropping low
beside an empty pitch barrel. held his
fire and waited. The moment he
heard the crisp sound of footsteps
along the Stag slope he once more
took up the pursuit.
That pursuit led through a narrow
lane between great piles OF structural
iron. 1t led through an abandoned
boiler-room, then on through dimly
lighted and low-roofed structure Of
pulleys and lathes, and from there to
the brighter lighted and higher rooted
metal-room Of the foundry itself.
There. beside glowing furnaces, half
naked men toiled over incandescent
annealing boxes and cauldrons of mol
ten metal. There gigantic track
cranes swung bowls Of liquid IRE from
crucibles to mold beds.
And there the harried Legar, be-
wildered by the sudden bright light,
ran like pelted hound down the
sandy paths between forge and coke
oven and cauldron crane. There, SEQ
ing his way blocked by q group Of
round-eyed Lithuanians. he swung.
catlike, up into the iron network Of
the cable bridges, with his pursuer
still close at his heels. And there.
midway across that smoke-stained
roof. that echoed with the tumult Of
thunderous hammers and directly
over q king cauldron Of molten steel.
the two men came together.
There Legar, with his metal claw
hooked securely into the iron network
above his head. swung about and
faced his enemy. And there on that
grimy bridge. high above tho equally
grimy workmen who left their FORCES
and lathes and caldrons to witness
the struggle. the two enemies who
had so long and bitterly opposed each
other found themselves face TO face
for their final struggle.
-s Yet the man Ia tho yellow mask
u l.