The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-10-15

shrieks, but with widely different
feelings. At one door of the torture
chamber had stood Katisha, the
odalisque, her every feature showing
malign satisfaction at the belief that
she need no longer fear beautiful
rival who also threatened to become
renegade. In a neighboring pas
sage lurked Hong Kong Harry. and
the mans writings betrayed the
mental torture he endured at hearing
the dying screams Of the woman he
loved
At last, apparently, he could endure
the strain no longer, but dashed
away like one possessed of devil
Running to a cupboard at the end
of the passage, he secured a pair Of
rubber gloves and strong wire
cutting implement left there by the
men who had connected the electric
supply with the dynamo. Then he
raced out to telegraph pole, not
that nearest to the house, but one
well hidden among trees.
Athlete that he was Hong Kong
Harry found no difficulty in climb
ing the pole. Active as monkey,
he was now swayed by the strongest
of all human emotions-and this de-.
generate possessed a heart, though
it was atrophied by years of de-
bauch and continued drug taking
the desire to save the life of the
woman he held dear! Climbing with
incredible swiftness, he cut wire.
thus bringing about total cessation
Of the electric current.
Sliding quickly to the ground, he
raced back to the house, replaced the
gloves and pipcers, and hurried off
to a room in which he knew there
was a secret telephone. Making sure
that he had not been followed. he
locked the door and searched hur-
riedly In the telephone book for q
number. Then he rang UP Enrol
Manning.
Now an extraordinary state of
affairs existed in Manning's house.
The young diplomat had persuaded
Bronson to go to bed. To all appear
ance nothing could be done that
night either to spread farther afield
the almost hopeless search for the
three girls or ascertain the full facts
as to the death of Mr.. Bronson SEN
ior, catastrophe so cruelty described
in the curt words of a cablegram
from London.
Manning himself was in an extraor-
dinarily nervous state. A wearied
body craved for rest, yet an excited
brain refused to give in, but contin-
ued its frantic efforts to solve the
dreadful problem presented by the
abduction of Margaret Bronson, of his
own sister and of the unhappy east
ern girl who had trusted to the pro-
lection of the government of the
United States.
The weather was fine and one of the
windows in the room was open at
both top and bottom. The house being
an old one was not fitted with cleo
tricity, but depended for its lighting
on incandescent gas. After time
all other lights We're extinguished
save the reading lamp on the table
By sheer force of will Manning
fixed his thoughts on the documents
before him and, in so doing, uncon-
sciously applied the best of soporifics
to his tired senses. Once or twice he
nodded in sort of coma, yet still
bent over the typed pages. At last
nature asserted itself and he slept.
He could not guess that a pair of
almond shaped eyes, cleaning from
swarthy features, had watched his
every movement from the cover OF a
clump of shrubs on the lawn. When
it was evident that the inmate OF
the room was asleep, q slight, active
form cvept closer to the window and
peered in. Then the lower sash was