The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-09-03
(The Marvellous Story, Hitherto Unpublished
From Which the Pathe Photoplay of
the Same Name Was Made)

he stretched himself into a steady
racing gait that conveyed to his rider
the exhilaration of a bird on the
wing.
AS the mettlesome black horse
swung into the lake road he slowed
down to an easy canter, that gave
Margory a chance to drink in the
beauty of the scene nature had
painted with lavish hand. She be-
came so absorbed in the liquid-noted
duet of two mating song birds that
when Major suddenly pricked up his
ears and SHE'D to one side of the road
her equilibrium for the moment was
seriously threatened. AS she re-
gained her precarious balance and
quieted her high-strung mount Mar
CORY discovered the object of his
fright was a black, dust coated linn
CUISINE standing half concealed in
the thick shrubbery. A motionless
figure sat in the drivers seat, his
visored cap pulled low over his face.
She urged the skittish animal past
the troublesome black specter and
continued down the road, every sense
keenly on the alert for possible dan
ger. Presently her horse reared
again, and this time more violently,
as hawk-faced chauffeur wearing
greasy buster jumped up from the
grassy bank where he had been
smoking his pipe. Near this disrepu-
table figure stood an equally disrepu-
table-looking taxicab with yellow
trimmings. With light touch of her
whip, Margory swept past this leer-
ing harbinger of evil, whose lusterless
eyes reflected a too grossly familiar
admiration for the supple figure
astride the black horse.
A few hundred yards further on
Margory sharply refined in her mount
and sat, intently staring into clump
of alder bushes growing close to the
lake. In that clump of bushes she
saw the back of a thick-shouldered
man, who, by his impatient move
ments, appeared to be waiting for
some one. AS the puzzled girl
watched that vaguely familiar figure,
a startling development took place.
A second person, whose features were
concealed by a derisively smiling
mask of yellow fabric, stepped out
of the dense foliage and abruptly
confronted the waiting figure, whom
Margery now placed as one of Lee
CARS scoundrels, known as One-Lamp
Louie.
Apparently the newcomer was maxi
ing some urgent demand upon that
one-eyed miscreant, a demand which
he emphasized by sundry prods with
the muzzle of heavy -metaled
revolver. After casting a furtive
glance about him, the willy gangster
f, III
drew from his inner coat pocket a
sealed envelope, which his masked
opponent hastily seized and ripped
open.
Even as he rapidly scanned the
strip Of paper he found in that en-
velope, the silent girl on horseback
saw creeping through the bushes two
stealthy figures, which were stalking
the Laughing Mask like sinking
jungle cats hunting in pairs. She
now understood the reason for One
Lamp Louie's tame capitulation. The
reinforcement he had expected were
at hand. The startled girl strove to
cry out a warning to her masked
benefactor, but her tongue seemed to
cleave to the roof of her mouth.
The next moment those creeping
figures had avalanched themselves
upon him, knocking his weapon from
his hand and bearing him heavily to
the ground under their combined
weight.
Like a stag brought to bay by a
pack of snarling timber wolves he
hrao ire 1lc-sxr
ing for a fresh onslaught from his
enemies, who had now regained their
footing. At this moment One-Lamp
Louie. seeing his opportunity, leveled
the revolver and fired at close range.
That the varied career of the Laugh
ing Mask did not end then and there
was due solely to the fact that SIM
ultaneouly with the bark of the re-
volver he had leaped quickly to one
eide to avoid the desperate rush Of
tthe sswarthy- skinned italian. who
now flourished wicked-locking
knife.
But while that leap had been
quick enough to escape the lunging
knife blade, it had not been suff1-
GENTLY quick to entirely evade the
speeding bullet. A singing pain in
his left hand forced him to involun-
tarily relinquish his tenacious hold
on the crumpled bit of paper, for the
possession of which he had fought
tooth and nail. AS it f1uttered from
his nerveless fingers vagrant puff
of wind sent 1t kiting high above his
head, and then it idly drifted with
the air current in the direction Of the
highway.
The result of the sanguinary en-
counter had transpired SO rapidly
that the spellbound girl. sitting as
motionless as an equestrian statue,
had barely time to gather her scat
tered wits, when that disputed scrap
of parchment came gently floating
down the breeze.
1t was then she realized the time
had arrived to play her part In the
rapid drama. A dozen yards away
the elusive object Of contention set
tied In the dusty road. even as it's
covetous pursuers started scaling the
rail fence which impeded their fran
tic efforts.
Wheeling her tender mouthed horse
In his tracks, she struck him sharp