Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1916-05-30

she turned with start ana stared
up at the stranger confronting her.
And it did not add to her peace of
mind to discover that this stranger
wore a mask over his face.
What d you want here?" was her
brusque demand.
I'm looking for a young girl who
happens to be in trouble" was the
quietly spoken reply.
Then / guess you'll have to keep
on travelin'." announced Peggy as she
swung up the broken steps with as
sumed nonchalance, strobe in through
the door, and shut it after her. She
stood there for several minutes before
venturing to move. Then she silently
reopened the door and stared out, to
make sure that her visitor had taken
his departure. Instead of catching
sight of the masked figure, however.
she was a little startled to see the
one-armed man push his way in
through the bushes and once more
creep to the door where she stood.
What did that man want?" quick
ly demanded the newcomer
Il didn't wait to ask him." was the
girls retort
mo, / guess this isn't a time for
waiting" ruminated the other aloud.
And for that reason Wen have to
speed up that bargain of ours, and put
the thing through tonight"
Tonight" echoed the girl in a whis-
per of alarm.
do you want to save your father"
I'll bring err she announced with
grim determination I'll bring her.
even though have to throw a string
o. fits to start her on the way!"
The Drums of Death.
II was not until Margery Golden
was seated in the suede-upholstered
landaulet that she found time to ques-
ton the expediency of her midnight
mission. Yet as she looked at the I'M
happy and hollow-eyed girl at her side
she felt sure that her journey, odd as
ii had at first seemed to her, could not
be altogether a mistake. The girl was
honest of that there could be no ques-
ton, for she had journeyed many long
miles to restore trivial bit of jewelry
to its owner. She had also refused to
accept money. She had even seemed
unwilling, after Margery had packed a
large motor hamper with jelly and
milk and potted meats, to have that
luxurious young lady venture so far
a-feld at such an hour of the night.
But Margery felt that it was a case
where the loss of time might possibly
mean the loss of life, and she was
glad, as they went humming out past
the thinning lights of the city's re-
hottest suburbs, that she had not hest
tated to do what she could to repay
her debt to the daughter of Dan
O'Mara.
Why are we stopping at the Apple
waithe works?" she asked as the car
drew up beside the unlighted roadside.
Because me mothers here for the
night" explained the wistful-eyed girl
as she clambered down from the car.
grateful for the gloom that already
surrounded her. You see, ma'am. they
put us out o. the house this mornin'i
So pop got the Waterman here to let
me mother sleep in one o. the base
ment rooms"
'Will your father be here?" inquired
the somewhat bewildered young wom-
an at her heels.
Il can get i'm, ma'am," explained
the girl as she put down the hamper,
"if you'll just step in through that
door
But who'll take NE to where your
mother is?" asked Margery, gathering
up her skirts as she glanced into the
dingy storeroom feebly lighted by its
one dingy electric bulb.
I'll be back in minute, ma'am, the
girl replied. only too glad of any rea-
sonable excuse for disappearing
Margery, in the meantime, peered
doubtfully about the somber building
in which she found herself so unex-
pectedly a visitor. Along one side of
the room in which she stood she could
make out dark masses of dye wood
piled as high as her head. Beside this
she saw, in the uncertain light, an
open pit filled with water Into one
side of this pit ran a cementwalled
sluiceway, stained almost black, with
a watergate set in the upper part of
its channel. The opening in the far
side Of the pit, which was guarded by
a heavy iron grill as big as a park
gate, led into a high-walled cavern
across which stretched a number of
huge steel drums. Set in these drums
were rows of knife-edged cleavers.
The polished surfaces of these great
blades of steel shone ominously in the
half-light.
Margery was still staring at the
great drums bristling with cleavers
when with a suddenness that startled
her the electric lights were thrown on
across the roof of the chamber. She
wheeled about quickly to discover the
cause for this. AS she did so, an invol-
untary gasp escaped from her lips For
standing beside the door. with his fin
ger still on the switch, the Iron Claw
himself confronted her.
why are you afraid of me?' he con-
fidently purred. For the girl drew
slowly away while he as slowly fol-
lowed after her, step by step. Then,
with a movement that was feline in its
Quickness, he flung out an arm and
seized her. Then he turned her DELHI
erately about until she faced the black
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