The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1917-03-31


before her face. u the palm she saw
the hilt of a knife whose long, shining
blade was %half-hidden in the cuff.
IF you want a taste of that-i'
She found her voice and cried out.
T'aspheming, the. fellow bent over and
locked her bodily out of the chair.
His strength was extraordinary. She
was helpless in his 1"ms.
Parr had just recovered the bracelet
from a waiter when he heard Patria's
Cry in the lobby.
He dashed through the doors, to find
the place empty of all but four or five
liveried men.
"Where's the lady who was waiting
for me?" he demanded of the nearest
man.
"Gone off with her manager" the
other grinned. "They had some sort
of a row and he picked her up and"
"You fool" Parr cried. "That lady
has no manager! She is Miss Chan
~ning-Patria Claiming"
"G'arn!" was the reply. "She's
Elaine, the dancer, and the mans
Jules Edouard, her manager. You bet
ter keep out of this, she's his girl, and
he's a hard man"
But Parr was already running down
the corridor. 1t led him out upon an
empty roof beneath the stairs.
The faintest echo of a call for help
drew him to the head of the fire-escape.
How he got down that fire-escape, he
never knew. When he reached the bot
tom, it was to find the paved court
destitute of any trace of the kidnaper
and his prey. He dashed round it in
frenzy, trying door after door. One
yielded, disclosing a long and tunnel
like passage between two buildings. AT
a venture he ran down this. Coming
out at the far end, he saw the base
ment door to a dilapidated Forty-first
street residence closing, and threw bis
weight against it, with the added mo-
mentum of a short run, full-tilt.~
Entering a basement hall, he saw be-
fore him a flight of stairs leading to
the first floor. At the top of these he
paused to listen. From some indeter-
inmate point in the upper stories he
heard a sound of heavy pounding. He
took the stairs to the third story three
at a stride.
The sound of hammering came from
behind a closed door at the back of
the hallway. But that door was not
locked; Parr thrust it open and dis
covered Patria's prosecutor standing
over an old trunk against one wall of
what was evidently used as a store
room for discarded articles of furni-
ture and the like. OF Patria there was
a sign. But the drunkard SEEM
ed possessed with the notion that she
had hidden in that trunk, which he was
insanely en~deavoring to break open.
In one bound Parr was at grips with
the man, who turned just in time to es-
cape being taken at a disadvantage.
A struggle ensued that demanded
every ounce of PARIS strength and de-
termination, every atom of his wit
and will. The fellow fought with the
power and fury of a demented thing,
and presently contrived to trip Parr
backwards across the trunk. The cap
tain was up again almost as quickly
as he had been thrown-but only to
see his man throwing himself across
the room toward a knife which, Parr
saw for the first time, lay on the floor
close by some rolled-up rugs.
In a trice Parr was upon his back,
and the contest was renewed.
At the moment of final extremity,
when the captain was on the point of
giving up and trying to find something
wherewith to defend himself before it
was too late, one of the rugs became
amazingly animate. 1t rolled like
a live thing across the floor, unrolling
as it came. From it Patria emerged,
a creature Of cat-like grace and quick
ness. Her hand closed upon the knife
in the nick of time.
The man leaped to his feet as Parr
released him. But now the disadvan-
tage was his. Parr closed in, raining
blows upon him. He sought vainly to
guard against them until one caught
the point of his jaw, his head jerked
sharply back, and he fell like q dis
carded m%arionette, Clearly knocked
out.
ASSASSINS.
Dawn, a formless sheen of gray,
trembled in the skies when Captain
Parr sought his bed.
He spent hours after leaving Patria
at her hotel in the care of Mrs. Adair
(whose agitation seemed natural
%enough), in cross-examining the chauf-
feur of the kidnaper's car, and with
plain-clothes. men searching a cheap
Forty-seventh street hotel for two
guests who were not there.
The sum of his investigations was as
follows: On the words of half a dozen
creditable witnesses the woman who
danced nightly under the name of
"Mademoiselle Elaine" was strikingly
like Miss fatria Claiming. The wom-
m had a dancing partner known as
"Monsieur Edouard." The two resided
at the same theatrical hotel. Recent