The Ordway new era., 1917-09-14

hssr1 Or dcn't yoa believe what rnk
telling your
before her face. In the palm sne saw
the hllt Of knife whose long. shining
blade was half.hidden In the cum.
.If you want q taste Of thnt-!" :,
She found her voice and cried out.
BIaspheming, the fellow bent over anu
picked her bodily out OF the chair.
His strength was extraordinary. Sne
was helpless In his arms.
Parr had Just recovered the braceiet
from n waiter when he heard Patrias
cry in the lobby.
He dashed through the doors. to find
the place empty Of all but four or n'e
liveried men.
"where's the lady who was waiting
for me?" he demanded Of the nearest
man.
Gone of with her manager" the
other grinned ''They had some sort
of row and he picked her up and
You foolr Parr cried. THAT lady
has no manager! She is Miss Chan
ning-Patria Channing!
"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, ana
he's hard man"
But Parr was already running down
The corridor. It 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 1t in
frenzy, trying door after door. One
yielded. disclosing long and tunnel
like passage between two buildings. At
venture he ran down this. Coming
out at the far end. he saw the base
meat door to dilapidated Forty-first
street residence closing, and threw his
weight against 1t. with the added mo-
mentum of short run. full-tilt.
Entering basement. hall. he saw be-
fore him 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 sound of heavy pounding. He
took the stairs to the third story three
at n stride.
The sound Of hammering came from
behind closed door at the back of
the hallway. But that door was not
locked; Parr thrust 1t open and dis
lot ri ~ ,,ta NJ
over an old trunk against one wall Of
what was evidently used as store
room for discarded articles of furni-
ture and the like. OF Patria there was
never a sign. But the drunkard SEEM
ed possessed with the notion that she
had hidden in that trunk. which he was
insanely endeavorlng to break open.
In one bound Parr was at grips with
the man. who turned just in time to es-
cape being taken at n 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 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 knife which, Parr
saw for the first time, lay on the floor
close by some rolled-up rugs.
In n 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
live thing across the floor, unrolling
as 1t came. From it Patria emerged,
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 dis
carded mnrionette, cleanly knocked
out.
AssAssINs.
Dawn, formless sheen of gray,
trembled in the skies when Captain
Parr sought his bed.
He spent hours after leaving Patria
Mt her hotel In the care of Mrs. Adair
(whose agitation seemed natural
enough). in cross-e1amining the chauf-
feur of the kidnaper's car, and with
plain-clothes men searching cheap
Forty-seventh street hotel for two
guests who were not there.
The sum Of his Investigations was as