The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-08-06
(The Maruelous Story, Hitherto Unpublished From Which the Pathe Photoplay of
 the Same Name Was Made)

As they did so they realized that a third person had entered the room And a second glance showed them that 1t was the Laughing Mask him. self.
 He stood for a moment or two, staring face upward on the floor Then he stared at the shattered win dow. The next moment he was push ing Peggy and Dan O'Mara bodily back from that square of light.
 But what's the meanin' of all this, anyway" demanded the astonished householder.
 Tt means that bullet came through that window" the Laugh ing Mask explained And I know that bullet was intended for your daughter here"
 daughter?" persisted Dan O'Mara
 "The man whose plans she double crossed at the dye works, the Iron Claw. himself, or somebody posted about her by the Iron Claw!"
 Now, want that sniper to think he's done his work I don't want him to break from cover until your friends have surrounded that house. So take your daughter and carry her out, just as though she were a dead girl"
 Dan O'Mara, doing as he was di- rected, stepped from the doorway with his own white-faced daughter hanging limp in his arms. He acted his part with a sincerity that was not without conviction. For, two minutes after he had staggered into the open with that apparently sad burden, the sniper from the shuttered house was detected slipping out of a cellar window and Scurrying along a broken fence.
 That escape. however, came before Dan O'Maras friends could com pletely take up their position about the suspected. house. But one of those friends caught sight of the fugitive in the strange looking cape, the alarm was given. and the pursuit began.
 It was not a long chase, but it was stern one. Determined as those in- dignant factory toilers were to run down the mysterious gunman so wantonly threatening their homes the fleeing Mauki proved himself startlingly fleet of foot. He gained sufficiently on his pursuers to round a corner, dodge into an empty coal shed, and emerge a moment later as a stopped old woman in amber-col- ored spectacles and a rusty gray wig appeared. Being obviously hard of hearing, this same old woman could not give much information to the group of excited men suddenly ac- costing her as she hobbled across the street.
 Five minutes later a swarthy- skinned man with wiry black hair was hurrying across country to one of the we'll l-concealed dens of Jules Legar, where he duly reported to the Iron Claw the news of his enemy's ruse and his own narrow escape.
 Before the second day had passed Legar had evolved yet another plan for the subjugation of his enemies. This took the form of a decoy mes sage delivered to the unsuspecting Peggy O'Mara, purporting to be a nasty request from Frank Aimick to come to his studio at o'clock that night, to the end that he might hurry to completion one of his unfinished canvases for which the girl was act ing as costume model. Legar and two of his followers, in the meantime, entered A1mfck's studio on the pre- tense of being a fire marshal's in- spector, caught the artist off his guard. and carried him, bound and gagged and helpless, to one of the small back rooms of the studio build ing.
 Peggy herself. before starting out in answer to that summons, was still somewhat uneasy in mind over re- cent events. So she left word with her father to call for her not later than Il o'clock.
 But more than Dan O'Mara called for his daughter that night, for ten minutes after her departure from the cottage Margory Golden's limou- sine drew up at the door. Margory's eyes widened when O'Mara explained the reason of his daughters absence from home.
 But an artist like Frank Aimick would never be able to work at night" she argued, with growing alarm. "He must have daylight for working in color"
 Dan O'Mara turned to the table at his side.
 Here's his message, plain as day. written in his own handwritin'," was the puzzled workman's only explana- tion.
 Margory took the message in her hand and studied it. Then her color faded little.
 That Is not Frank Aimick's writ ing!" she suddenly announced.
 O'Mara stared at her. M
 Then whose is it?" he demanded.
 That's more than I can say. But I feel sure 1t means some danger to Peggy!"
 But what can we do?"
 We can get to that studio as fast as my car can carry us. And we must pick up what help we can on the way!"
 Peggy O'Mara, in the meantime, was being confronted by more than one surprise. The first came with her arrival at the Aimick studio, when the stranger who opened the door in response to her knock informed her C4@.>.