Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1916-04-17
FOURTH EPISODE
THE NAME AND THE GAME


pleased with his mornings work. De
feated for the time being, in enc quar-
ter, Ire promptly swung about and
struck at another.
lis attack, in this instance, was di-
rectod at nothing less than Enoch
Coldcn's own home There, effecting
en- entrance through q neglected coal
chute before even the servants We're
astir, he had cropt stealthily upward
until he found refuge in trunk room.
Through the door crack Of this trunk
room, however he soon had the dubi-
Gus pleasure Of beholding figure quite
as stealthy as his own, a figure that
wore q laughing mask and made its
way cautiously downward to the door
Of Enoch Golden's study. On that door
The masked figure. before vanishing
as quietly as it had first appeared,
pinned an oblong paper. Stealing up
to it, Legar read.
Enoeh Golden: You have proved
disappointment to me. Despite my
warnings. you still Cypress the poor
and abuse your power. Your daugh-
ter has been saved from the clutches
Of Lenar, and at the proper time win
be produced. But shat time win not
come until you have changed your
ways Of life. So while stiIi you have
the chance, do some good deedl
THE LAUGHING MASK.
Legar. having thCughtfully pcrused
this strange warning, promptly added
q postscript:
AS a slight sign Of my disapproval,
am appropriatiug your fifty Thousand
dollars from the vaults OF the Third
National bank, fer which j now take
occasion to thank you
Ten minutes later Legar had made
his escape from the house and was
speeding southwark in his car. to con-
fer with his own men as to the ap-
preaching assault on GolGen's wealth
IN the Third National vaults.
The Laughing Mask himself, in the
meantime, was busy with his own en-
terprlse. lie nad rescued MaTgOry
Golden from Legar, 1t was true, but
her conveyance to Il place OF safety
in open daylight. was d much more
difficult problem in his extremity
accordingly, he had to resort to those
expedients nearest at hand.
This led him down a secluded by
way, where the powder shack of a con-
struction company still stood half way
up q wooden hillside. At the end OF
a tunnel piercing this hillside was a
timbered chamber for high explosives.
Euo od ~ Sc ,-.s g v,-fth Sec double Iooly
the Laughing Mask seemed an expert
in the manipulation of such obstacles.
since five minutes work with his
skeleton keys threw open that we'll.
hidden room. Once there, he even ven.
tured to explore his surroundings and
taken their case certain small cylin.
ders incased in grease.stained paper.
He did not explain to the already over.
puzzled girl however that these
grease stains were made by a sub
stance known as nitroglycerin, ncr
did he explain to her, at the end OF
his quiet yet hurried labors, that the
loCped line hanging at the tunnel
mouth was in any way connected with
the illuminate caps which he had
placed SO pregnantly close to his bur
led mine. But it was well, he remem-
hered, to be prepared for such men
as Legar and his followers.
Now" said the masked figure, turn
ing to the girl, = want you to stay
here until l get back"
Waiting for her deliverer's return,
however, proved neither a pleasant
nor a tranQuiIizing pastime. The girl
became restless. Then she became
worried. Then she even ventured to
creep out along the rough-shored pas
sageway, to where the tunnel opened
on shelf of rock and gravel half way
up the hillside. Screened as it was
with shrubbery she could see little Of
the valley before her. The only point
of life that met her gaze was a black
touring car crawling along the valley
road. When that car turned off the
road and twisted and rocked in be-
tween the bushes below her she
thought, at first, that 1t was her un-
known guardian returning to her. But
when she saw FIVE men cautiously
emerge from that half-hidden car and
creep still closer through the under
brush, she felt sure that they were
not approaching as friends. For a mo-
nent her heart leaped up into her
mouth. Then she breathed again, for
she saw that they were not approach
ing her hiding place. but apparently
seeking one CT their own. And as they
fOregathered Behind a scream Of ecr,,l
oak not more than thirty feet below
her she knew both by their guarded
tones and their general conspiratorial
aspect that they stood intent on their
own ends, quite oblivious of her and
her hiding place
Her face. paled, however, as she
heard the clearer and more authorita-
tive tones of one of those speakers.
For that voice. she knew, belonged to
Isegar. and only to Legar.
(To Be ContiGued.)