Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1916-06-03
CONTINUED from previous issue.)

He ignored that flank attack, how
ever, for the Iron Claw suddenly found
himself confronted by a figure OF more
Importance than either the spindle
legged girl or painted gunman.
Out from behind that tattered can
vas had emerged a man wearing q
yellow mask. tossing to one side a
slender blowpipe as he came. Before
he could regain his feet after that hur-
ried leap from the mantel shelf. Legar
himself had dropped the fire tongs and
whipped a revolver from his pocket
This he leveled directly at the body
OF the Laughing Mask. But before
he could pull the trigger, Peggy's
tabouret struck against his out
stretched arm, knocking the weapon
up in the air.
By this time the Laughing Mask
was up on his feet, and face to face
with his enemy. Before the revolver
could again be brought into play the
two had clenched. Then the Iron Claw
went down before a clean-cut blow
from his opponent. He recovered him.
self sufficiently, however, to roll to
where his fallen revolver lay. But
before he could level that firearm at
his adversary the Laughing Mask, re-
Numbering that even the officers OF
the law were no longer his friends,
dived out through the small door at
the rear of the studio and disappeared
from sight, for already the sound of
O'Mara and his rescuing party could
be heard as they swarmed up the
stairs.
The Iron Claw himself heard those
sounds. drew himself together, and
stared helplessly about the disman.
tied studio. Then the instinct of self.
preservation reasserted itself He ran
to the back of the room, dived into a
kitchenette, found a small door in its
wall, swung it open, discovered a
dumb-waiter shaft in front of him, and
escaped to the street.
The Corridors of Dread.
Margery Golden, as she sat in the
taxicab which carried her homeward
was comforted by the thought that she
had at least saved the life of factory
girl to whom she stood indebted for
her own escape from death. The
further thought that she had sent Dan
O'Mara and his exhausted daughter
safely home in her own luxurious
limousine even reconciled her to the
somewhat stuffy -aired public convey
ance in which she found herself. She
blinked meditatively out at the back
of the heavy faced driver so sullenly
and yet so adroitly plotting her
through the tangle of traffic. Then the
abstraction suddenly went from her
eyes and the listlessness from her
pose. For, from the back window OF
the red-wheeled taXicab Immediately
in front of her she caught sight of a
peering face. And it took no second
glance to tell her that it was the
deep-seared face of the Iron Claw him
self.
The next moment Margery was
shouting to her sullen-faced driver
Follow that red-wheeled taxi she
told him, pointing down the side
street. Keep within sight of it, what.
ever happens!"
Soon they had left the city we'll be
hind them and were in that twilight
zone which is neither quite rural nor
quite urban. But Margery, the mo-
ment she saw the red-wheeled taxicab
come to q stop, commanded her driver
to draw in under the shadow of a
dense row of catalpa trees. There,
from the running board of her car,
she beheld Lcgar step out on the road,
pay his chauffeur, and stand looking
after the departing taxicab until it dis
appeared from sight. Then he turned
about, pushed his way in through a
tangle of shrubbery, and left the lone
ly roadside as empty as a desert tr2il.
Then the resolute browed young wo-
man turned to her chauffeur
I'm going to follow that man. If
fail to return here inside of ten min.
utes, want you to get any help you
can, and come after me"
Margery stole along the shadowy
roadside to the spot where she had
seen Legar creep in through the
bushes. She followed as best she
could. found herself face to face with
a tunnel-opening that showed itself
dimly in the moonlight, and after
moments hesitation stopped low and
crept into this tunnel, feeling her way
cautiously along the smooth brickwork
of its walls. She came to a turn, but
tressed with heavier masonry, and
padded along this wall until her CROP
ing fingers came in contact with
light switch. This, after a moments
thought, she turned on. The next mo-
ment number of bulbs along the cor
ridor roof above her lowered into
light
Staring ahead OF her, she saw that
the corridor ended in nothing but
blank wall But as she stared intently
at the wall she detected in one side of
it a partially concealed electric but
ton. She moved toward this cautious
ly, for she had learned of old to be
wary Of approach to any OF Legar's
Businesses. Then, as she advanced,
she came to sudden stop. For she
saw on the fiagstone upon which she
was about to step a small cross. There
was also a minute crevice, unnotice-
able in its companions, about this
quadrangle so suspiciously marked by
its cross. So she stepped carefully
over the sugnected area crept forward