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“sow, MR. UBIP. DO YOU smc ANYTIHNH--THE IMPRINT OF A SHADOWY HAND!"

0h

The Claw of tUnvisible Hand.

BY (‘AI‘TAIN HOWARD HULMES,
AI'TIIon mr “CAPTAIN ('HLDGRIP“ NOVELQ
“ HERCL'LES COLDHPUR,” " sL‘NsIIINE SAM,"

“ SOL SPHINX,” “ 1mm: DESI’ERADO,”
ETC, man, no.

 

CHAPTER I.
SUICIDE 0R MURDER?

Tm: hazy mom of an Indian Summer day was
lirpaking over New York.

The gun $90de to shine through a mist, and
in the air, justa little cris as it came up the
Bay, the early risers shud cred as the coolness
reached their skin.

A man just risen was putting the finishing
tenches to a very plain toilet when he was in»
terruptmi by a knock on his door and opening it
he stood face to face with a boy of thirteen, at
with a keen face and bright eyes.

“ Well. sir?" domamml the man, who was
shout thirty—five, with a smooth fnce and a pene-
trating Look.

t
.

1L.

 

  

‘33!

2

Gideon Grip, the ~Eleni"etShadOWer.     

 

 

“I guess you are wanted right away at the ed against the back of the chair in which the

house?”
“ At the house-"

“ At Dorsey Drake's. Miss Iris sent me and

1,

dead man sat.

’1 “ Stand oil? a little distance and look sideways

she looks as if something dreadful has hep-j
l

“ Didn’t she send a note?"

“ No, sir. She told me to go for you—she gave
me your address—and told me to tell you to lose
no time getting to the house.”

Gideon Grip locked sharply at the boy as if to
make sure that everything was right, and saying
that he would be along presently, returned to
his'toilet and saw the youngster slide out of the
room.

'Nearly every one knew Gideon Grip, yet to '

hundreds he was a mystery which had baffled
them on more than one occasion.

He was one of the younger detectives of the
city, had been “in the harness” nearl ten
years, yet those who employed him never earn-

ed anything about the secrets he carried in his ‘

m. 'He was a secret-keeper as well
rat-solver.

. When he had completed his toilet Gideon
Went down upon the street and started for the
house indicated.

Dorsey Drake was not totally unknown to
hi for on one occasion he had met him face to
“3' in his Own elegant residence, but now he
was to meet the man under exciting circum-
stances; but though at the threshold of one of
the reatest mysteries of his detective career,
the ecret Shadower did not dream of such a
ti) .

.iigieon rung the bell of the house and was ad-
mitted into a darkened hallway, but not too
dark tobide the figure of the young girl who
stood in his path.

“ You are punctual,” remarked this girl, in a
voice but little above a whisper. “I am very

ia'd tosee you. Something terrible happened

as}; night, and, as I am the first to know of it, I

sent for you, for you once told Inc—the time I
acxdentally discovered your calling—that on
w ld help me if ever I needed assistance. on

hayen’t forgotten, have you?”

“ Indeed I have not, but-”

‘l The blow fell last night and in you room is a
dead man.”

The fair white-faced speaker glanced toward
a closed door as she finished, and the ferret
thought she intended to turn away and lean
ever thing else to him. .

“ Hook here, Miss Iris,” be said, catching her
sleeve. “ Let us call things by theirri ht names

at'the start. Do you think it is a mu er?"

i‘ God knows, but that is for you to find' out.
Go and see for yourself. The door is unlocked

and ’I am nite sure no one has crossed the
threshold of that dread room since I left it.”
Then she was gone.

The detective advanced to the door which led
tq Dorsey Drake‘s large private room, which
was well stored with books and various things
of much value, and entering at once he found a
soft, dull light pervading the place.

Stepping within he stopped near a chair in
which a man’s form bent overs little table near
the middle of the room.

:A moment’s gaze and he knew that he was in

I tile presence of another mystery.

‘ 'He looked back,-but the door by which h had
entered the room was shut, as if the hand 0 Iris
had pulled it toafter him.

:That the bent form at the table was that of
Dorsey Drake the contour tol him.

‘The face was buried in t 8 arms that served
as a frame for it and the hair, streaked with
gray, helped to hide it fromhis prying eyes.

The Secret Shadower gazed at the figure for a
moment and then ventured to lift the head until
he could lookinto the face Which was drawn and-
white, like the face of the dead, and then he saw
that the eyes of 'cold gray were stareful and
lusterless.

' In another minute he had let the head drop
back upon the arm, but started as if asudden
scovery had been made.

.r " It was nothing; the muscles did not twitch,”
‘ said Gideon to himself. “This man is dead and

has been so for some time.”

He looked about the room and saw on the
table a Wine-glass and beyond it a curtain which
txtended across the apartment, and Which_ con-
cealed, as he had discovered on a former Visit, a
number of shelves containing the bottles and
fixtures of a chemist’s laboratory.

i He was takingasilent inventor of all that

was in sight when the door open and he saw
‘ the inquisitive face of Iris there.
“ You may come in," said the detective.
The handsome gin] stole forward and stood

she-tom him/looking for the moment at the

defis '
“ Tell me all you kgmw, Iris."
“ I will do that, f r you must know all I do,
hwhich is not very much. I don’t know when
death came to him, for, that he is dead. I saw the
moment I entered the room this morning.J But
‘before I proceed I want to show yon something
which may have escaped your eye for you can
(see it only in a certain light and from a certain
- position.’ i .-
' Iris went to Dorsey Drake and lifted his head.

She raised it until it was all revealed, and press- ‘ the more he" felt like sending for/xlris—he could

i ' i

. _ ' ,, iii ’- F,
as .3.» testis: which?“ i

at the face,” she commanded. “There, that is
about the spot. Now, Mr. Grip, do you see any
tlilng~the imprint of a shadowy hand?" the girl
demanded. ’

Gideon was scrutinizing the face with all in-
tent. Iris watched him as intently, for a few
moments.

“ I’ll tell you how I came to see the mark—the
hand,” she said. “ I lifted the head just as I did
awhile ago, and happened to step back to let
more light into the room when, all at once, the

g horrid thing stood out as plainly as the blood-

mark of Cain. Don‘t you see it now?”

Gideon shook his head.

“ What, has it vanished already?” cried the
girl, fixing the head in its forced position and
stepping to the shad0wer’s side. “It was 80
plain when I found him. It was there, all the
fingers, just as they were laid or pressed on the
face. Ithought it would be the first thing to
startle you: but, heavens! it is gone!”

Grip, who now stood at the young girl’s side,
was looking more at her than at the figure in the
chair.

“ Are you sure it was no illusion?” he asked.

“ It could not bea delusion. There it was, as
plain as the brand of Cain. It sent a shudder
through me the moment i beheld it. I thought
it would bea clew for you. But, it is gone,
though it is so flrmly impressed on my mind that
I can draw it from memory, and if ever I see it,
no matter where, I will surely recognize it, for

i the hand was a peculiar one."

his and the detective stepped back to the (lead,
and Gideon again looked closely at the pallid
M8 ‘

“They will try to maize it «at a case of sui-
cide,” added the girl, in a low voice. “ Let them
think what they please, but you must not go
upon that theory. You see the wine—glass there,
don’t you? The odor that still arises from it is
that of bitter almonds; but, he was always ex-
rerimenting. He was looking for an elixir of
ife. I will not keep anything back from you
now. He was always dabbling in strange drugs
and the old mysteries of the ancients. Look
here; but, you must have seen this before.”

Iris had stepped across the room and was hold-
ing aside the curtain which concealed the shelves
with the chemical appliances.

“ He never went to bed before midnight, and I
would be aslce when he retired, and sometimes
did not hear h m at all.”

“ How was it last night?"

“ It was the same. I sat up reading, and the
clock struck twelve before I made a note of
time. Then I heard that door open, and think-
ing that he was comin up, 1 put out my light
and sat still. But, the our was shut again, and
no one came up the stairs. I went to bed, how-
ever, thinking I had stayed up late enough, and
that he might discoyer me reading at that
hour.” '

“ You did not hear him after that hour?”

“Not a sound of him.”

Gideon Grip picked up the wine—glass and put
it to his face. ‘As his had said, be perceived
the odor of bitter almonds, and in the bottom of
the glass was a sediment just perceptible under
the strong light above the table.

“ Who wOuld do this, Irisl’l he asked.

“ I thought you would ask such equestion.
That is fer you to find out, Mr. Grip; that is
why I sent for you,” she smiled {net alittle. “ I
have alwa a said that all poop e have enemies.
I believe have them, but never mind that.
That this man must have had afoe, this mid-
night tragedy tells us plainly. I wanted you to
be first on the scene, and as you may not have
com leted your investigation, I am going to
leav you again.”

“ One moment, Iris,” said the ferret. “How
did you find the doors this morning?” '

“ All locked.”

“ And the windows of this room?”

“‘I found them as they are now, fastened from
the inside.” .

Gideon Grip" 88m swept the room again. He
saw Iris withdraw, and once more he was alone
with the dead man. ‘

“This is a dark night's work, and the imprint
of the hand on his face is not the least of the
mfistery,” he said to himself. '

e crossed the room to the window which
looked out 11 n the street, and at his face
close to the 9 ts of the inner bli s. The sun
had come up. and: was shining on the street
without. , , ‘

He let his eye wander screw the thorough:-
fare, and take in the row of houses on the at r
side. They were not all as fine as the one Dor-
sey Drake had inhabited. The one directl op-

ite was a two-story frame, painted ye low,

at without blinds.

As he lifted his ,eye to the upper windows of
this house, he naught sight of a face there—the
face of a Woman. and the eyes were voted on
the window where he stood! The detective for

 

awhile Watched the face, which seemed to have
all thetkeenness of a lynx’s.

. It did, not move, but remained fixed like the
. face ofa statue, and the more he looked at it

, q .

    

 

do ‘so by tapping a hell on the table—but re-

frained, for it might, after all, amount to noth-

ing. *
Gideon was turning away from the window

when the door opened for the second time, and -

he met the young ward of the dead man.

“Have you seen that inquisitive creature?”
exclaimed Iris, with a quick look at the window.
“ She has been sitting at that window for six
months watching us as if her life in some way
depended upon her vigilance."

“ Who is she?"

“ Heaven kn0ws: but I know she is always on
duty. Mr. Drake used to look across the way at
her, but never interfered with her work, and
now she is there, unsuspecting the crime that
was committed last night.”

Half an hour later the shadower went down
the broad steps of the mansion and turned his
eyes at the Window across the way.

He saw that the woman was a person past
thirty, with a keen eye and cold, hard lines of
feature.

W hen he reached the sidewalk he looked once‘

more at the win ow, but the woman had disap-
peared as if she ad finished her vigil.

Gideon smiled, but a mental note of this sin-
gular adventure was made. It might be a leader
to a further quest.

CHAPTER II.
THE WOMAN ACROSS THE STREET.

Gmaon GRIP knew that the house he had just
left would soon be filled by a startled and excited
crowd.

He roceeded to his little den on a quiet street
near roadway, and shut the door alter him.

When he had made a few notes which he
thou ht best to transfer to paper instead of tax-
ing in 5 memory with them, he went down to a
neighboring restaurant and took his coffee.

As yet he and Iris were the only possessors of
the secret of Dorsey Drake’s death, save, of
course, the owner of the hand whose mark the
girl declared she had seen on the dead face. He
had admonished her to keep that discovery to
herself, inasmuch as there were no traces of the
hand to be seen on the white skin of the deed,
and Iris had promised to obey him in every par-

ticular.

Gideon Gri knew but little of the life of Dor-
sey Drake. ndeed, few knew anythin of it, v
for he was man not accustomed to tel about

himself and hose who knew him best seemed in
fact to know the least of him.

The detective thought of many things over the
steak and coflee of the little restaurant.

He had a table in one corner, and could think

without being disturbed. When he had finished
his breakfast, he went back to his room and re-
sumed the thread of his speculations. ' -
' “Iris told me one thing that I must not for-
get. The dead man has had a visitor of whom
she has seen but little. He came at ni t and
went away before dawn. But we wasn t there
last night, so she says, for she always heard him
come and go."

In another moment footsteps came up the
stairs just outside the detective’s door and a
re sounded there.

{Edison crossed the room and opened the

r O
p0He started in spite of- himself. If he had tried to
keep cool, and he had a Wonderful control over

his nerVes, he would have failed for before him'

stood the woman he had liter seen at the
window across the street from Iris’s home.

She was dressed in black which fitted her
.well-shaped fl ore to a nicety, and for a moment
the ferret loo ed at her with an eye full of im-
pertinence.

“Come in,” he said at last, and when she had
entered be shut the door behind her. '

Gideon waved his visitor to a chair which she
accepted, all the time looking at him and on
the eve of speaking, though, as yet, she had not

. opened her mouth.

“ T whom tam I indebted for this mornin
visit ’ said the detective. .
“To Miriam Marx, the person who occupies
rooms across from Dorsey Drake’s residence. I
thought I might be in possession of inme
of impOrtance to you.” .
“ To me?” I - v
“To you, Mr. Grip. You ares detective and
I saw songthing last night which Ibelieve you
should kn .” i I
Then, she knew nut Dorse Drake was dead?
This woman who had pin watch-dog at the
window on the amt. do, of the street had
leen something! ’ she had come to im rt
it to him after having wstcbed the house 0 the
dead mm (m- at: months, as Iris had told him. ,
“ I am always ready to listen to anytbin that
helps me to unravel t e mysterious," he as .
‘ It is mysterious, then? It isa puzzle from
the start, is iii” smiled the woman. “ How did
on find him! I did not go over, but from the
neident of your coming out of the house at an
early hour and What I saw last ni ht, I know
that the blow fell, and that the po ice of New
York will have something to do again.”
Gideon Grip was eying the speaker as he.
seldom icoked at woman. \ ‘
“ What did you see last night?” he asked
bluntly. . ’ ~

 

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” It was eleven o’clock and I was at in

window,” she replied. “ Did the girl, Iris, tel
you that I have been at that window watching
them for the last six months?"

“ She could not help observing you.”

“He saw me, too. have seen him looking
across the street at me many a time. “'ell,
as I was saying, I was at the window when the
door was opened. It was eleven o‘clock and I
saw a man come out of that house. You may
know that the lamp is on my side of the street
and near the house I occupy. At night its light
falls upon the front of Dorsey Drake’s house and
[could see the man very plainly. He carried
a small valise in his left hand. It was but little
larger than a lady’s hand-bag, and from what I
could see of it, its color was yellowish. The man
stood on the step a moment and then walked off,
showing me his figure to advantage for almost
half a square.” "

“ What was he like?”

“ He was about your size, perhaps a little
slimmer than you in build, and had the carriage
of a gentleman. Though the night was not ve
cool, he wore a light drab overcoat and a so t
but such as is the style now. There was nothing
striking about him, nothing in his dress to dis-
tinguish hi.n from thousands of other men in
this city; but the fact that he came out of that
house at that hour is something.”

Gideon Grip thought so, t00. He had not
heard of this man before. Was he the visitor
whom Dorsey Drake sometimes entertained at
his home? . -

“ If you have watched that house for six
months, as you say you have, is that the first
time on ever saw that man come out?” he ask-
ed M riam Marx.

“ The first time,” was the reply which startled
him a little.

“ Did Dorsey Drake have no night callers?"

“ Not many, but he had one who came at long
intervals, but it was not that man.”

“ You are sure of this?” 0

“ I am. What are my eyes for?’

The black eyes of the woman were good for
somethingas the detective had thought before
that, and while she talked they seemed to spar-
kle. ’

“ I never saw that man come out of that house
tefore,” she went on with a positiveness that
carried conviction with it. “ I have been watch-
ing that house for along time—”

' “ It interested you, then?”

“ Yes, the house and its occupant did. What
did on find there this morning, Gideon Grip!”

‘9 found the man dead.”

“ How did the girl take it?"

There was in the tones of the woman an eager-
ness which could not escape the detective.

“She bore up well under the blow. Iris, de-
spite her sex, has nerves of steel.”

“She may need them before it is over,” ex-
claimed the woman across the street.

“ What do on mean!"

“Never in i. What Ere you a detective
for?" she laughed. “ Iris sent for you before
she sent for any one else!” \

it Yes.” '

“ “How considerate. Do you know anything
about the past life of the dead man 1"

“ N,pt much—not as much as you know, per-

“As I know? How absurd!” smiled the wo-
man across the street, withdrawing and measur-
ing with her eye the distance between her and
the door. ‘

“ A woman who has watched a house for six
months ought to know something about its iii-
mates.”

She felt the penetrating eye of the city ferret
zip? her, and saw that she could not escape its
00 .

“ He was a singular man. He dabbled in‘
chemicals: he had a room full of things which
the common world don’t know anything about.
He spent a good deal of time pla ing with mys~
Writ he was a learned man, if e did once fail
to Win a (game which he could have had by
throwing own a card which looked him 5 care-
ly in his face. his man went from whim to
whim; he knew a good deal about the mysteries
of solenCe, but, like many a tool before him, he
sought for the impossible.”

“ What was that?"

“The elixir of life. He had in his powsion
five books, which were written ear-ma years
ago, by a fool who hunted for 0 same secret
before him. It took him twenty rs to at
four of the books, but the fifth be his 3 ill
until six months ago. He thought the we:
sought for was concealed in that fth book. . It
was worth more than all the rest combined.
He would have'sweat blood for that last volume.
It 0053 him 3 eat amount of money, buthe
found it at 188%, tell you. He had them all,
perhaps up to the time of his death. Did you
ask Iris if she knew where he kept them!”

Gideon Grip‘s look told that he had not, for he
knew nothing of the existence of those five books
0: the dark and mysterious; but he would know
a once.

He law Miriam Marx lay one hand on the
door, and looking once more into her face, aiw

‘ ~ it suddenly grow darker than ever.

“I won’t say that we won't‘ come together

 

   

again,” she said, “ for it is more than likely that
we will see more than we want to of one an-
other before you are at the end of your trail.
Good-morning, Gideon Grip."

He would have detained her, but the door
shut suddenly in his face, and the next moment
he heard her feet on the stair—as she went down
to the street below.

The air she left behind seemed impregnated
with a new mystery connicted with the death of
the amateur chemist, and Iris Norman’s guarv
dian. He sprung to the window and saw her
for half a second on the pavement, then her
figure vanished, and she was lost in the crowd.

The sun rose higher and hi her, and the city
Was getting the first rumors 0 what was to be-
come one of the greatest mysteries of the day.
The police and the reporter had found their way
to Dorsey Drake’s house, and the doctor had
looked into the case as far as he could without
using the scalpel. That was expected to solve
the enigma of the man’s death, though the vial
with the strange odor was almost proof conclu-
sive that one of the deadliest poisons known to
man had terminated the life of the recluse.

It was verging onto night when the detective
found himself once more in the house of mys-

ter .

’the lights were turned low, lending an air of
intense in story to the place, and Iris came to-
ward the ettctive like a shadow creeping from
a tomb.

“They are goin to call it suicide, but you
must not forget t 0 mark of the fatal hund,”
said she, looking. up into his face while her voice
drop (1 to whispers.

“ hat do you know about the strange books
that cost him so much’l—the five volumes, Iris?"

“ Who told you about them?” she said, with a
start. "He showed them to me but once, and
that was yesterday. Come; I will show you
where they are."

She led the ferret into the room where he had
seen the dead man at the table. Raising her
hand, she touched a. certain spot on the wall and
a door, until then unseen, flew open.

“There they are. Look! He and I were the
cal custodians of thesecret of this door in the
wa l. Those books—”

Iris stopped and leaned toward the niche in the
wall. Her face was the hue of death.

“ Merciful heavens-l” she shrieked. “ The
fifth and last volume—the most important one
of all—is gone!”

CHAPTER III.
THE TRANSFORMATION.

THE Secret Shadower of Gotham found him—
self at Iris’s side staring at the niche which, as
he could see with half an eye, contained but four
books.

They were rough-lookinga tomes, bound in
moth-eaten sheep, and so d pidated as to fall
apart, it seemed, at the slightest touch.

“ The other one was here yesterda as late as
five in the afternoon,” said ris. “ 9 called me
into the room, being in a better mood than I had
seen him for weeks, and showed me the books,
saying that the last one, the one missing now,
had cost him many a sleepless night, but that it
had paid for itself. He said, too, that it held
the secret of human existence, that its contents
solved the mystery of life and death, and that,
with it in one’s 'on, there need be no death
in this house. ut it is gone, and the hand whose
mark I saw on his face carried it off.”

The detective’could not help looking at the
speaker who uttered these words with the air of
one who believed everyone.

“Do you say, Iris, that you shared with him
the secret of this hidden niche?" asked Gideon

Grip.

“ He told me that I was the only sharer of it.
You saw how I touched the button which opened
the secret book-shelf—”

~“ Did he teach you haw to find it?”

“ He did. He said that some time Imight
want to find this hole in the wall, and that he
would let me into the secret.”

As Iris spoke the detective reached outa hand
and took owe of the books.

“ Those ks are Greek to all but those who
possess the key that unicelts them,” said Iris.

Gideon opened the volume and smiled at the
straws characters in which it was written.

“ hat language is this?” he asked.

“He never told me. It doesn’t seem to be a
language at all, but acipher."

“it’ll of these books are written in the same,
then. i ‘

“ The fifth and last volume was in another
cipher.” ut in Iris. “ I have seen hlm‘bendlng
over it n ght after night and he used to to his
room ale and hollowed-eyed. The war of as.
gilphe "cg that book seemed to make him sweat

00d

 

“ Have an looked elsewhere for another hid-
den niohelz

“What is the use of domg 305 There isno
other. The: book which contained the formula
of the elixir of life has been stolen. The mur-
derer carried it ofi'.’ V
._ Iris touched the button and the door fiew‘baok
intgtits place, leaving no claw of its existence in
318 ' ‘ f , I ,  7

 

 

“ Have you seen the woman across the street
tic-day, Iris?

“ The window occupied so long is untenanted
now,” was the reply. “She watched till the
blow fell and then her work was done.”

“ Do you believe she was in the plot?”

“ What has become of hi-r it she was not?"
and Iris fell back and stared at the detective.

“ The marks of the hand have not reappeared
on the face, I presume?”

“ No, though I have watched for them with a
sleepless eye. You may think it all a delusion,
but I saw the finger marks on the face as if a
hand hau been held over his month while he was

dying.”

“ How came he to himself of the idea of
an elixir of life? hy did he want to live for-
ever?”

The tall figure of the beautiful girl straighten-
ed until it seemed to have gained an inch in
stature.

“ That was another secret of his—one he never
shared with me,” she replied.

“ If he had enemies—"

“ What was that?" suddenly whispered Iris,
lonking toward the room in which the body of
Dor‘ey Drake lay with everything darkened
around it. “ Have the doctors come back?”

“ Were they to come today i"

“ This evening,” she whispered, “ but the
couldnnot get into the house without my know -

e.

he young girl glided across the soft carpet
and opened the door without a sound. Gideon
Grip was at her heels and looked over her shoul-
der. ‘

The apartment beyond was the abode of
shadows and Iris, standing on the threshold,
looked forward with all eyes.

“Throw back the curtains—quick!” she cried j
and that instant the hand of the ferret carried -'
out her wish.

A flood of light streamed into the room re-
vealing the sheeted figure on the bed, and Iris
c0vered the distance that intervened between it
and herself with a single bound.

“ Some one was in here !” she exclaimed,
painting at ,some disarranged draper about the

y. “ See h0w this sheet was hast y dropped
and how it fell from some startled hand.” x

Gideon Grip looked and in his soul acknowl.
edged the truth of the girl’s discovery.

But what had become of the intruder? Iris
looked everywhere, her eyes taking in the whole
length and breadth of the apartment, but with-
out success. '

“ We heard no door shut,” she said. “ There
was no sound of a person’s vanishment. I heard
a sound while we were in the other room—"

“ What was it like, Iris?” -

“ It was a voice and it was in this room.”

Iris turned to the window and throw back
both curtains which not made the room almost
as light as day. Every nook of the handsome
chamber stood reVealed; every corner was
made light.

The defective looked at the young girl with a
puzzled expression on his face. '

Was the girl deceiving him, or had the tragic _
turn of events taken away her reason?

“ There are no secret stairways in this house,
Iris?” he asked.

She gave him a strange look in return and
then went to one of the walls and began to
sound it.

“ We on lit to be able to find it if oneis con-
nected wit this chamber,” she said at last.
“There can be nothing of the kind connected
with this room. But, as I live, I heard a
human voice in this chamber awhile ago.”

By and by the heavy curtains dropped back to
their places and Iris, taking a last survey of the
scene, withdrew with Gideon Grip.

When they pa back into the chamber
where the myster had had birth, he noticed
that she had. recovered her self-Jmssession and
touching him on the arm, she sat :

“ Don t tell on me, Gideon Grip. I may have
been mistaken after all. You know what I am

passing through, and, then, there may be a

greater ordeal in store for me."

He looked down into the face upturned to him
and said to himself:

“ Is this yonn 'creature deoeivin me! If she
is I will not let er baflle me, for am going to
the end of this dark crime. I am bound to get
at the bottom of this mystery of magic and

'mnrde

r.”

Iris found herself alone when she had dis~
missed the detective and gliding to a distant
part of the large house‘ unlocked a door and
after crossing the thmshold closed and locked
the portal behind her. -

She was in a room rather large with a high

u an American"

eeiiing, and, for a chamber
home, change] furnished.

Everything enoted Asiatic life. There were
tigerrngs on the floor, the head of a Bengal
:59!- looked down at her from a mantle carved

th the faces and grotesque figures of Indian
deities a the whole atmosphere of the place
was-oricn and sensuous.

. Iris paused for a little while in the middle of
this clnmher and her
as though she were proud of it. ~

“They would never look for me here.” rho;

     

~ca-t~k ~4— wwom .v-n.

.....~— ..

eyestockinthegarniture  I »

 

 

 

 

4.-

‘i-'

' «

 

Gideon Grip, the Secret Shadovirer.

 

said, bursting out into a laugh.

of New York. I have deceived him completely,
an i he ison looking for the trail of the mys-
terious. Gideon Grip is cool and level—headed;
he can follow a scent when one is found, and,
then, he has what I like—a heart that keeps its
0 w n secrets.”

Iris seated herself at a table in whose polished
surface of ebony was reflected her face, and
drew a piece of note-paper from asecret drawer.

“I wonder if they will come to-night?” she
said, aloud. “They said they would be here
when the end came and it is here. The woman
who watched at the window across the street
must have told them ere this,and they will come.”

She wrote a few moments, sealed the letter
with a waxen seal anzl hid it in her bosom.

The beads of the Indian gods seemed to ap-

roach her when she turned and gaz :d at them.

he dark faces inned with all the devilishness
of demons and Fr‘is returned the grin with a fear-
less laugh.

“ If he hunted for the elixir of life he never
found it,” she said. “He missed what I have
found, with but one-half the work. I have here
the wisdom of the secret-keepers of Benares—
I hold in my hand the charm that for years
bafled the priests of the Indian ods.”

Something glittered in her wh te palm, a tiny
vial which she clasped as Dorsey Drake would
:have clasped the long sought after elixir, and
rising she stood before a mirror which revealed
the whole of her faultless figure. .

What would Gideon Grip the Secret Shadower
have said if he could have looked into that
room at that moment? What would he have
- done if he could have seen Iris, after looking at
the vial for a moment with blazing e es, drink
ofl its almost colorless contents and t en, for a
moment, close her mouth and hold one of her
hands over it with all her strength.

The drau ht seemed to produce no effect at
first. but su denly the color came back to the
young irl’s cheeks and she seemed another per-
;son. or skin darkened. She leaned toward
{the mirror and watched the wonderful trans-
' formation until her flesh was the color of that
of the Purses woman, and her hair, suddenly
gisarrangod, fell in long strands almosttothe

oor.

“ It works like a charm!” she laughed to her-
self. “The sharp-Pelyed ferret would not re-
cognize me now. 0 mi ht look a year and
would not call me Iris. shall see what they
want with me. 1 shall go to them and do the
bidding of the Silent Circle.”

She gathered up her hair and gliding across
the room, touched a hidden button in the wall,
passed out through a secret door and vanished.

On a ems? table in a room through which she
passed she eft the letter with the waxen seal
and that was the last of her.

After awhile a maid—Zuleika by name, and
dark of face, but with cold, gray eyes of steel—
came in and 3 led the letter.

She icked t up and held it for a moment be-
tween erand the light. Then she melted the
wax and opened it, and with bated breath read
the contents while her bosom heaved and her
eyes seemed to flash.

Having read the letter, Zuleika rescaled it so
well that no one would have‘thou ht that it had
been tampered with. and slipping ate the street
dropped it into the first letter-box she found and
went back into the house.

But Iris was not there. The transformed
girl—the beautiful mystery of tho house of
crime—was no longer beneath the roof where so
much was dark.

CHAPTER IV.
MIRIAM usax roars noasss.

Ir Gideon Grip, the detective, could have
transported himself to a certain part of the
great city and unlocked the front door of a house
that did not look much unlike some of its
neighbors, he might have come face to face with
a person whose features were not altogether
strange to him.

He would have seen in a small room which
was garden from the intruder’s e s b heavy
curta , “ the Woman Across the ,” as he
had already come to know Miriam Marx.

She was quite alone and the hour was ver ng
onto alas the same night of lris’s eta ins
metamorphosis in the house of crime an
m stery.

iriam Marx did not look much unlike other
women of her years of which she might have
seen fort . She had a well-formed fi re which
indica wiriness and stren h an her skin
was dark, but not dark enoug to have entitled
her to the distinction of being called an Asiatic.

Miriam Marx reclined in a chair which was
filled by her figure, and her eye rested on a door
w ich seemed to open into the street when, in
fa t, it only led the way to an adjoinin room.

She played with a user-shaped brace et which
she be sl pped from r wrist—a bracelet whose
setting, or coronet, was the head of a serpent
with green eyes of turquoise.

“ It is time and yet he doesn’t come,” she said.
impatiently.

Was she waiting for the man of trails!

 

 

~ ~ ) J AM»: 43%.; women: u

“ That shrewd |
detective would not look for Asia in the heart ;

 

  
  

 are

No, she had no engagement with Gideon
Grip, the ferret, though she had told him on
parting that they were likely to meet again,
which was prophecy.

PreSently the door which she had watched so
long opened s10wly and a face appeared.

A smile of pleasure passed over the woman’s
face and she waited for the owner of the face to
come in.

The person who entered the room was a man
who glided rather than walked and his slipping
feet made no noise as he came on.

He was past fifty and his figure was lank and
willowy. He was not an American and though
one studied him for hours the puzzle of his
nativity would have been a puzzle still.

He wore on his head asingular cap which was
a mixture between a fez and a common rimless
head covering, and when he came toward
Miriam, who all the time watched him like a
hawk, he grinned but once and then for half a
second.

“ but do you know?” asked Miriam.

“ Not much,” was the reply.

“Then i can tell you something. I have left
my window.”

" For good i” ueried the man, whose voice was
harsh and draw iug.

“ What is there for me to do any more?” was
the reply. “Haven’t I watched the house‘for
six months with the care that a vulture watches
the dying man in the desert? I think I have
carried out my part of the prhgramme. 'You
don't want me to go back, do you?”

The snaky eyes in the head before her seemed
to glitter.

‘ You watched till he died?” said the man.

“That ended my vigil," said Miriam, laugh-

ng.
“ Yes. I kept a good lookout and saw all there
was to see from the outside.”

“ Well?”

“ I saw the man come out of the house after
the crime.”

“ How do you know after the crime?”

The speaker was leaning toward Miriam, his
eyes riveted upon her and is whole frame keyed
up to a dangerous tension.

“ Of course I wasn’t inside. I didn’t go over
and see what took place there. I only watched
the nest from across the street and I was to do
no more. ”

“You have done well child of the Silent Cir-
cle,” said the man. “ I will see that you are
rewarded.” ‘

“ W hat is to be done next?"

A long pause followed this query. Miriam
thought she saw a change come into the eyes of
the man and one of his bands was lifted until
it was fairly outstretched.

“ Beyond that door is more work for you,” he
replied. “ The work of the Silent Circle begins
where the Hand left off in the house of the
American nabob.”

Miriam made no reply.

“ You are to watch again,” was the countinu-
ence. “You are to go back to the trail where
you left it. You are not to sit at the window
day and night, but you are to cross the street
and enter the house.’

“ The house where the young girl is?”

Miriam seemed to shudder when she put the
question.

" Even there,” said the Unknown. “ You
must cross that threshold with your keen eyes
and still tongue.”

The woman in the chair must have wondered
what the man would have said if he could have
known that she had sought out the detective and
told him so much.

“ When shall I begin?” she went on.

“ Now. I know you have watched six months
at one! window, but on have no need of rest.
Watching is rest. Child of the Silent Circle, I
send you to the new work.”

Miriam Marx arose, and for a moment st’ood

t before the dark~faced personage.

' While I am doing this, you must be careful
that the Hand don‘t get the better of you,” she
said. “ Hava you thought that the death of the
man of two lives may set the trail-dogs of the
citx on the track of the slayer?”

contemptuous wave of the hand was the re-
ply she got.

‘ You must not underrate these detectives,"
pursued the woman. “ You must think of them
as you play Your hand. They are already on
the alert. They are lookin for the Hand and
the chances are that some 0 them will find it.”

“ Before we have layed our last card?" cried
the other. “Pshawi’ I know these bloodhounds
of America. I kn0w how they hunt and where
to look for their shadow.”

re was no reply.

“I leave the task of getti g into the house to
yourself,” be continued. “ ou must go thither;
yon must cross as soon as possible the threshold
which is so (kangaroos to you, and ides using
the eyes which you hare used so well you must

i

be ready to use our hands.”
d “ Not to kill said Miriam with another shud-
er.

“ By no means, but to take. The secrets of
that house must become knownto you. You
shall possess yourself, of them all. Go. find may

“.i‘

  
 

  

 

 

The man turned away, but the figure standing
ID the middle of the mom did not stir.

“ After this, what?” cried Miriam. “ I want
to know how long I am to play for you—how
long I am to he the spy of the Silent Circle.”

The gliding form stopped and turned upon her.
The eyes seemed to look her through, and the
finger, suddenly outstretched, pointed at one of
the bare white walls of the room and the lips
scarcely moving said:

“ Read your ans wer there, Child of the Circle!”

Miriam looked at the wall, and saw suddenly v
grow into life there letters that seemed traced in ‘
phosphorescent fire.

Her nerves Were all a-tingle as she leaned for-
ward with not a vestige of color on her face
and read:

“Once in the Silent Circle always there! The
foot that turns back becomes the foot of the dead!”

She glued, her lips ether while she read the
sentences and when she ad finished the last one,
she turned toward the man, but he was gone
and she was the sole occupant of the chamber.

“Merciful Godl that means that I am in the
meshes of the accurssd Circle for lifel” she ex.
claimed. “ I am in the toils of the secret league,
and what I have done already—my visit to the
detective—is enough to condemn me to death."

She said no more, but watched the letters fade
away on the wall and when the last had disap-
peared she turned toward the door and crept.

mm the room,

In the hall she stopped and cast a look at the
portal she had just shut.

“ I am to enter the house I have watched so
long," she said to herself. “ i am to become the
young girl’s companion—to lean over her when
she sleeps to see if she doosu’t betray the secret in
her dreams, to shad0w her all the time: in short,
to place my life in danger every hour of the
day and night, and why? That I may wrest
from the lips of a girl the darkest secret a heart
ever held and, in the end, to see her perish with-
out hope or friends.”

Fora moment Miriam seemed on the eve of
breaking the bonds that bound her to the dread
cabal, but something held her back and she
rushed out of the house into the ni ht.

She appeared to fear the very s adows of the
street, but after awhile she regained her com-

sure as if she had swallowed a draught that
Egd given her nerves of steel.

it would have been hard for one to have
thought that the Miriam of the street was the
Miriam who a few minutes ago was trembling
at the writing on the wall; but she was calm
now; she was ready for the task before her.

She went back to the room where she had
watched so long and so well.

When she found herself in the little chamber
she threw herself into the chair by the window
and looked across the street.

The light of the lamp beneath her fell upon the
brown stones of the Drake mansion, but the
shutters were drawn and the silence which she
knew was of death had settled over the crime
and its victim.

All at once Miriam drew back, but with her
eyes fixed upon the house. _

The front door had opened and in it stood a
person who caught t e full benefit of her
scrutiny.

“The same man!” she said sending out the
words from between lips which did not seem to
move at all.

There was no m staking him; she had Seen
him before, and h d told Gideon ,Grip how he
looked when he came down the stops the night
Dorsey Drake furnished New York With its
latest mystery.

Now, there he was again, the same man, but
this time the little valise was not in his hand.

Miriam, scarcely breathing, watched him
with all eyes. ~

She saw him pass down the street, and
patched him out of sight as she had done be-

are.
Suddenly an idea entered her hedd.
Why not follow him?
For the Child of the Silent Circle to think was

.to act, and springing to the bed, she caught up

her hat with that intention.

But at that moment she heard ll. MP 0' the
pavement below. , ’

The night was still, and the sound came up to
her throu h the open window.

Miriamfiooked out in time to soon figure enter
the very house where she . was. Though She
caught but a momentary shme of the figure.
it ‘Was enough to thrill every nerve-

At the same time she heard footste on the
stairs, and flip ng down her hat, s e extin-
guished the lig t, and stood breathless in the
middle of the room, with the mien of a cornered

tigrees.

The Man of the Valise was in the house! }

 

CHAPTER V.
DETECTIVE LUCK. I

To a part of this play tut shadower of Gotham ‘
was a witness

Gideon Grip, with the pertlnacity of a trail-
dog that lets nothing get away from him, we;
on guard when Miriam returned to the house at
whose window she had watched so long.*

 

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cause she did not think of looking for him on
the ground, but he was there with his keen eye,
and he had seen the man emerge from the house
of the dead, and had followed him with his eye
while he walked off.

But he did not see Miriam standing in the
middle of the floor, waiting with the air of a
cornered tigress for him, with Something along
her arm—something that would have glittcrcd
like polished steel, if there had been light
enough.

The Woman Across the Street waited some
time, but the door of her room did not open.

She even wanted the man to come in. There

was on her face an expression which boded him
no good, but he did not come, and by and by
.-he thought she heard footsteps going back dewn
{le8 stairs.
“ Wh didn’t he come in?” she asked herself.
“ Was gs afraid, or was it only a little spying
trip of is own? He thinks he will come again,
perhaps, seeing that I have been making this
house my home; but hb may find the nest
empty.”

She was at the windOW, standing there so as
to shield her body while she looked down into
the street.

Breathlessly she waited for the invader of the
house and at last he came out and moved off
again.

Once he glanced up, as if tonote whether or
not the window was occupied, but not seeing
Miriam be lowered his head again and movod on.

The man on watch all this time now took up
the trail.

Gideon Grip saw the person come out of
Mirriam’s house and in a moment he a as at his
heels, but with some y rds between them.

This was the man he wanted most to follow.
He had no doubt he was the Mun wiihthe Valise
whom Miriam saw come out of the mansion the
night of the crime, and eager to pick up the first
link in the chain of iiiystwry, the detective re-
solved to let nothing baflio him on the trail he
had struck.

For some time nothing occurred to break the
trail. The suspected person led Gideon a long
chase and at last turned intoa remarkably quiet
street for that hour and with a pass-key unlock-
eii a front door and vanished.

” Is that the nest of the nighthawk?’ the ferret
asked himself. “ is it possible that I have run
him down so soon? Hello!”

The door had opened again and quite a difl'er-
ent man came out.

Gideon looked at him a moment and was on
the eve of letting him niovei if unfollowed when
the sight of a gloved hand Wllli‘ll came into view
at the last minute, attracted him.

" In other fbathers, ha?” cried the detective.
“ You have simply played another card and
here we go once more.”

Dogged by the ferret who never let any one
escape him when once sighted, the man moved

' of! apparently unconsclou of the espionage. He

walked at a leisure ait an did not give the de-
tective much troube.

Half way across the cit he led Gideon Grip.

When he paused again ideon saw before him
aqueer-looking house with tightly-drawn shut-
ters and standing in an air of mystery.

It had for its nearest neighbor another odd
lookin building and the two houses were as
queer ookin as any in that quarter.

The detective had heard of them before. He
knew that they had many years before been
erected by an eccentricsindividu and that it
was said that strange rites had bee held in them.
Their builder and first owner had spent many
years of his life among the Hindoos and it was
rumored that be, though not of Indian birth,
had been a priest in the mystic tern les of the
Hindoos and that when he died the ouses had
fallen into the hands of the strange sectto which
he belonged.

The detective could not help kn0wing this
_ Some
uukn0wn band paid the taxes on the houses and
it was not known to whom they really belonged.
All was mystery about them, and what puzzled
the detectiVe was that he had tracked the Man
with the Valise to one of them.

The door seemed to open Without effort on the
part of the man he had dogged.

When he vanished inside, the ferret stopped
and gazed at the closed portal that shut out so
much that was dark and unexplainable. .

The nearest street-lamp threw but little of its
glare on the two dwellings. H8 0011“ lee that
the shutters were closer drawn. but 00$ unlike

_ those of a score of other houses in the vicinity,

and when he moved past them, but on the oppo-
site side of the street, he looked across. wonder-
ing what lay beyond the closed door.

By and by tho ferret of New York drew
nearer to the suspected house. He PM it
just like an ordinary estrian, but at the
same time he looked at t a number.

It was the first time he had been-near the old
house for years. He rememliered having passed
it once before, and to have seen over the door
the grinning head of on Indian god in ebony.

He wondered if it had been removed, but no,
it was there still, as though the house still re-
mained t‘lrighproperty of the mystic sect of the

nu. = ‘ .

 

 

.)r a

' GideOn Grip, the Secret Shadower.

“It may be the haunt of the stranglers,” said
Gideon to himself. “ 1 have seen a good deal of
strange death since I became man-hunter, and
years ago it was said that the dark hands of the
Thugs were at work in this city, but of late
years we have heard nothing of them. Iris still
maintains that she saw the print of a hand on
the dead man’s face, but the doctors have de-
clared that he took his own life with adeadly
poison which he discovered amon his drugs.”

What was beyond the door 0 that house at
that hour? What was the man he had tracked
doing there?

Gideon Grip was devising a plan by which he
Could break the spell that seemed to reign over
the spot, and let himself into the secret he had
trailed across the' metropolis, ' when a figure
brushed past him and ran up the steps of the
houseof mystery.

The detective looking at the flitting figure,
saw it vanish beyond the door, but he was
thrilled to his finger-ends. ‘

“That person had the very form of Iris,” he
said. “ She was enveloped in a shawl such as I
am sure I saw in the house of the nabob. But
what would the girl he doing here? What
would bring her to this place? This thing gets
deeper and darker.”

He had seen the person vanish in the house,
and was still staring at it, not very much like a
Iclool-headed detective, when a footst fell on

18 our.

A lone man was coming toward him, and Gid-
eon moved on once more.

“I say, stranger, if you aren’t in ahurry, I
would like to see you a moment." '

Gideon Grip stopped and waited for the
speaker to come up. In another moment they
steed face to face and near enough to the street~
lamp to enable rideon to look into the almost
parchment-like skin of the person who had ad-
dressed him.

He was a man of his own age, not very tall,
but remarkably wiry of figure, and with two
little eyes set for back in his head. '

“I don’t know just where I am,” said the
stranger, coming up and looking at the detec-
Eive, who was making a sWeeping study of his

ace.

“ You are in New York for one thing—"

“ In New York?” and the man passed his hand
before his face and seemed to recoil. “ In the
City of the Thugs?”

Gideon smiled. ‘ ‘

“ If you mean our own thugs who frequent
our docks and waylay men after dark you are
right. \Ve have them here.”

“In the name of all that’s good, how long
did the drug last?”

“ The drug, man?”

He threw his hand to his face and Gideon

thought he saw‘the eyes get a new light.

“Can we .talk elsewhere than on the street?”
he asked. “ Do you live on this street?" .

" 1 can find a secret spot it you wantto talk,”
was the/ reply, and Gideon led his strange ac-
quaintance to a little tap-room. the only one he
knew in the vicinity and in a moment they were
in a back room without fear of being dis.
turbed.

With the man fairly in the light, Gideon saw
that he was very dark of skin, but that he was
an Englishman. He was well dressed though
his clothes had seen much service and were
frayed at the ends.

He looked fortme time at the wine the de-
tective had ordered, as if half afraid to drink a
drop of it; but at last, seeing Gideon drink his,
be put the glass to his lips and desperately gulp-
ed it all down. v

“ As I live, I came here in a dream or under
a spell—I can’t tell which,” he went on, his
cheeks gettin new color under the influence of
the wine. “ have been walking in my sleep,
but all the time guided by a hand that seemed
to burn into my flesh and sear my bones. When
Isaw you awhile a 0 on the street the spell
seemed to vanish an my eyes were opened.
did not know the city—everything was stranize
to me and instead of the tem lea of India I saw
houses uite unlike those of snares.” ‘

The otham detective listened with an in-
credulous stare. Was the man mad, or wris it
some trick with the man he had tracked from
Dorsey Drake’s house at the bottom of it?

“You don’t believe me, I see?” the stranger
went on, looking at the bottle on the table and
seeming to re t that.“ was em ty, “ I sha‘n’t
ask you to. ~but: are you! What 'do you do
in this city? Do you know where everybody
lives? I would like to find—no, I can’t say that
it would be very good for monitor coming
hither against the oath I took, but ,still— My
Godl what was that? The atop of the velvet.
footed Thugs of the East!"

Th man had sprung up, almost overturning
his chair, and the detective saw horror depicted
on his face while his eyes seemed ready tofly
from his head.

“ Who are you anyhow?" asked the detective.

“ I am, or was—for the informal drug seems to ,
have made another man of me-to have given
me another soul—Captain Derrick or the Eu.
zlisb Army. Iwentdo India ears ago and
grew up under the curse of the _ lid.” ,

" Wingutcatr’ . ‘ '  ~~
/ - - I ~

   
      

 

 
 
 

5

The man came back to the table and putting
his (lurk—like skeleton, hands upon it leaned
over toward the detective.

“ I can’t tell you that. I will give nothing
away until I find a detective. You have them
here as we have in my native Country. I want
vengeance, but how is one to get it when he is
hemmed in by the Black Hands, hands that, for
some time after they have killed their victim,
leave theiraccursed mark on the body 1”

A thrill went through the man who listened.
He thought of the mark Iris professed to have
seen on the face of Dorsey Drake.

“ How long does that mark remain?” ,

“ What, have you seen it in this city?” asked
the Englishman.

“ it has been seen.”

“ Then, they are here—then, the Black Hands
are still near me and the drug under whose spell
I have lived for months has brought me again in
the shadow of death."

He stepped toward the door and was about to
open it when the detective rose and grasped his
arm.

“ You want a detective, do you?” he said. “ I
am one.”

“ You? “’ho are you?"

“ Gideon Grip.”

“ Then you are the man I want,” and he came
back and took a seat at the table.

CHAPTER VL
'riIE VICTIMS ,STORY.

“ DO you we ut more Wine?” asked Gideon,
seeing the man eying the bottle.

“ If you please.”

When the new bottle came and captain Derrick
had helped himself, which he did with the man-
ner of a man who was nearly dead of thirst, he
lay back in the chair a moment with closed
eyes.
“You won‘t believe my sto’y; I know you
won’t l” he said.

“ Go on and try me.”

“ I don’t intend to begin at the beginning of
my life for that would be going too far back and
the start of my existence has nothing to do with
the storv in hand. I became an officer i the
Queen’s Guards which went out shortly afte the
Sepoy Rebellion, but too late to see any service
therein. I had always had adesire tosee the
Indian temples and to meet the strange people
there, and that is what got me into the Guards,
for if the regiment had not been ordered to India
I would have kept out of it.

“ Garrison life was dull enough for years and
I was on the eve of resigning and returning home
when I fell in with the bane of my life. You
think, perhaps, that I came across one of those
rascally people who belon to the secret orders
of India, but such is not t ecase. I made the
acquaintance of an American, a young man of
my own age. He had come to India with a set
purpose—with the intention of theft. He had
heard somewhere of the strange books which
were said to have been hidden years and years
before by an old man who had discovered the
elixir of its and he wanted those books.”

“ Did they ever exist?” asked the detective.

“ I don’t know. I have always thought the
whole thing whs a hoax like other things said to
have existed in that land of mystery, and the
strangling cord: but anyhow this American in-
duced me to go in with him in the hunt for those
books. We haunted the old temples of India, we
hunted everywhere, tried to bribe the priests.
sought out every trail that promised to give us a
claw until one day in friend vanished. He lit-
erally disappeared ke smoke vanishes in the
sky—that is I saw him one moment and the next
he was gone. It was in an old temple which had
been a ruin for centuries. We had gone to it to
follow up a clew which he said he had obtained,
and were in one of the underground cells which
the priests had inhabited at one time, and I was
about to speak to him when I dismvered that I .
was the only tenant of the place. He was gone,
and from that day to this the mystery of his
vanishing is as dark as eVer.”

fDerrick paused and gulped down another glass
0 Wine.

“ Well, I went back wihout him, but from
that day I was watched. I can’t tell you of all
the times when I discovored that I was watched
by the shadows of the Indian priesthood. You
have heard a good deal of the Thugs, you have
heard how they strangle people with their cords;
but they did not attempt to strangle me. I con-
tinued to serve the queen, but life was no longer .
what it had been. I final] fell into the company »
of a native who profe to be m friend, but
be wove round me a coil from wh ch there was
no escape. became a member of the Mystic
Tie—I was taken into the first court, as they call
it, and found there other members of the regi- ,
merit. We were nndera spell which had been
thrown round as by the power of the men who
deal in the strange drugs and incantation of the
East. Once there always there. I lived from
the day I lost in companion a new life.
no lon?r Captn n Derrick, though I tried hard
to broa the spell of internal power.

“ More thin once we tried to break awayfrom
the hands of our enslave". We could plan and
see how. toga: away, but we were deep in the
[poll and escape was impossible. I was initiated

 

Iwas,fl

 

x _. how an ex-captai

 
 

  
 

] r ‘\ ., . -, i .,
l ‘ ‘ , ’l i .

Gideon Grip, the Secretishadower. ' I .

 

  

were sedulously kept from me. Years passed—
they did not seem years though I now know they
were—and I was living a life which was adouble
one. I threw up my commission at last and
haunted the old temples of Benaros. I am aware
that I was an object of pity by my former friends
—that I was pointed out to tourists as the slave
of the Thugs; butl could not break the spoil.
The fate of my friend haunted me. If we had
not looked for those mystic books which, after all
may have no existence in fact, all might have

. been well; but we went too far and fell under
the ban of the Black Hands.

“ There came a time when the spell seemed to
lift and set me free. I went to England. but I
was followed. The same footstep which I have
heard all through those years of mystery and
torture followed me and [heard it at my door
at night and when I looked 10! there was nothing
outside. I drifted back to India for I had heard
while there that the person in the power of
the Black Hands has but one way of escape.
If he invades the inner temple of the goddess
Vishkar and all alone plucks from her bosom a
strange stone that glitters there, the spell is
withdrawn and he is free. But the danger that
besets the fool who attempts this robbery are
enough to keep him back: still, Iresolved to
tempt them all. ‘

“I Seemed a free man, with all my senses to
Jan and execute while on my way back. to India.

landed at Benares one summer day and thought
myself unseen. I knew where the temple was.
having passed its threshold many times and
went thither at once, sworn to accomplish my
resolution. None of my old companions seemed
to know me. I was not the man who had sailed
away hoping to escape the follovving feet of the
Bworn spies of the East; I was Captain Charles

errick once nhre, with nothing between him
and future happiness but a stone in the bosom of
a pulseless idol. I found my way to the temple
of the forbidden goddess. [knew the interior
of the place for I had been there before, though
in a half dream state. I crossed the sacred
threshold and was in the presence of Vishkar.

“All around me was the dead silence which
makes the temples of the East so dreaded to
Europeans. II board the beatin of my heart,
but stilled it. The idol was be ore me and in
the dim light that prevailed I crept toward the
altar, seeing nothing but the stone which had
lured me from England. I stopped at the foot
of the idol which stands on a raised dais guard-
ed by a dozen grotesquely carved figures and
collected all my courage. The chamber seemed
uninhabited at that hour. I went on. I crept
upon the platform and caught sight of the rize
almost within my reach. What would I ave

iven at that hour if I had never ventured back?

hat would I have bestowed upon the hand that
could have seized me and held me back from

' that accursed mission? But it was too late. I
sprung at the breast of the fatal goddess of the
Hindoos; I gripped the stone and tried to tear it
out, but instead I was held fast as if an

‘ electric power had been thrown into the infernal
em and I was a prisoner in we temple of

ishkar. .

" How long I hung there I cannot say. I know

‘ that the room
seemed a em 0 blazing fire which was eatin
up my d, yet the chamber was not light
by the learn of the gem. The stone in the breast
of Vish or was asimmovable as the Sphinx. I
lost all power of locomotion. I felt myself hang-
ing limpid from the stone which had drawn me
across the sea and waited for the next scene.
It came when I was about to perish. The tem is
seemed suddenly lighted up with strange re
and I heard noises which seemed to emanate

, from the dark regions of the damned. I was sur-

 , rounded by the priests ofrthe temple. I was pull-

ed from the stone which had caught me like the
jaws of a steel-trap and hurried from the cham-
ber. From that day my life was changed. I
, cannot trace it from that point until I found my-
self back in England am in the lodgingsI had
left to steal the g m from the Idol’s boso'n.
That it, was not a ream, though it was wild
enough to be such, my scarred hand told,me.
That I had crossed the sea and attemptedthe
foolish theft, a newspaper told me, for it told
of the ‘EnglishArmy had
shkar of her mystic gem. I
Though I was back in Eng-
i‘ had, I still heard the Velvet trend of the sleep-
~ ‘ less spy. I hardly knew what sort of life I
,1 led. knew that I was a marked man and
' all because I tried with an American to steal
‘ .the strange books which told how life may be
prolonged in the East. , '
T, “ One morning, driven by a fate which I had
not been able to master, I went back to India
for the third time. This time I was not on er
torch Vishkar, but I wanted to‘ see who ol-
, lowed me. Returning to my old room in
~ ‘Bsnarel I one morning took a drink which the
I warrant brought me and unconsciousness came.
’ When. I came out from under the power of
, the spell I was ln_a strange place and wondered
x where I could be. It was not England, nor

tried to deprive
was that man.

.1 newsman on

 

: .,. m.{" . jig}
'wmwls’iafibliitihé ‘-

rew dark and that the stone;

.‘ “Indiny the buildings were utrsn and‘whon
V shear, and and

 

 

   

  

into some of the dark rites of the brotherhood, questioned him, he told me I had crossed the
but there were a thousand-aud-one secrets which 4 sea again and was in New York. Still, I could !

not believe and did not until I met you awhile
ago and had the story confirmed."

The (lotective’s companion took another drink
and looked toward the door.

“If we stay here long enough the footstep
will come to that portal,” he said with a smile
for a moment lighting up his sallow face.
“They have kept after me for years andI am
as much under the spell of that accursed es-
pionage n0w as when I was under the suns of
the East. You are a detective. I don’t know
you, but I have trusted you with a narrative
 you may believe or reject just as you
1 e. .

“ What about the Black Hands?" asked Gideon
Grip. “ Did you ever see the mark they leave
on their Victims?”

“I have seen it more than once. You may
look at the dead face an hour and not see it,
but all at once it appears and only when you
stand in a certain light.”

“ “that causes the mark to vanish and reap-

or?

“That is one of the secrets of the order. The
person who interferes with the order will feel,
sooner or later, the hand of its strange death.
In London one morning I was called to look
at the face of a man found dead in the gutter.
I saw the mark there. though no one else did.
That man, as l afterward discovered, had been
in India and the Black Hands had followed him.
Let me tell you—no, let me show you the photo-
graph of the friend [lost in the dark cells of the
old temple. He gavo it to me the day before we
set out on the fatal trip and I have kept it
through all my adventures.”

Derrick unbuttoned his coat and ran his hand
far beneath it. Presently he pulled out a picture
which he handed acress the table. The detec-
tive took it and leaned toward the light.

What made him start? Why did the picture
though but glanced at nearly fall from his
hand?

Captain Derrick looking at Gideon Grip saw
his sudden start, and their eyes met when the
city shadow looked up.

“This man was killed the other night,” said
the ferret. ‘-

“Killed the other night? He died years ago
in India!”

“ You don’t know that he did. You only say
that he vanished in the underground corridors
of the ruined temple. I say he died here the
other night. His ward saw on his face after he
was dead the mark of the fatal fingers.”

The look of Derrick was 0. stars.

“ My God! it can’t be; but why not?” he stood
erect and was glaring at the ferret. “This life
of mine has been a reCord of the strange and
mysterious. You are a detective. Show me
where this man died and tell me who he was.
If what you say is true—if the mark was seen
on his face—then the Black Hand is at work in
this city. We will form a cabal against the
Brotherhood of the Hand; We will fight the or-
derinthat has enslaved meL—fight it and die, ha!
ha v

Derrick sprung screws the room as he finished,
and, halting‘ at t door, pointed toward th
outer room and g nned. .

“ The velvet trend was there again i” he cried.
“ I heard the feet of the tracker —”

Gideon Grip sprung past hiu‘and opened the

door. .
Nothing confronted him—nothing but the face
of Dorsey Drake in his hand.

 

CHAPTER VII.
STILL 0N run; TRAIL.

Fons. days passed.  -

Not for a single hour had the sleepless detec-
tive been idle.

Gideon Grip had procured a quiet place for
Captain Derrick, the tracked victim of the Black
Hands, and had flattered himself that he had
hidden the Englishman securely.

If the footstep had not been baffled, it had
been turned aside for the time. for Derrick had
told him that he had not heard it Since taking
the new quarters.

It seemed to the detective that a batter color
had come to the man’s face, that his eye, for the
first time in years, had gotten a hopeful light,
and he said himself that he was almost sure
of cheating the secret orde/r out of another vic-

m.

During the interval Gideon Grip had drawn
from Derrick more of his story.

He told him more and more about the stran-

lers of India, and he was surer than before that

y Drake had not taken his own life.

Gideon had been to the nabob’s on several 0c.
06810“, and talked With Iris, but the girl had
heard no moregtrange sounds, and had nothirg;
new to impart, only that she had a new mai ,
and when she appeared to GideOn Grip he saw
that she was a commonpisce lookin woman,
and dldmot dream that the was r y Miriam
in a new ire

Yeshthe .o dn Acmss theStreethado ‘ ed
the chiqf’of thh ' . Circle. was an irate men b Iris.” , _, ~

No?"

 

l The girl did not recognize in her the woman

she had seen on watch at the window on the
other side of the street, and Miriam was all the
time on the alert for news.

Gideon Grip watched the two houses to which
he had tracked the Man with the Valise, but
had not seen him since.

He was quite sure he had not seen him for the
last time, and Captain Derrick had told him
that the Black Hands were supposed to have
agents throughout the civilized world, so power-
ful was the Order of the Brotherhood.

During these days the detective made another
and very interesting disaovery.

Iris had a lover a oung man not at that
time in the city, and Zn eika, her first maid, had
told him enough to let him knew thatlatters
passed between them nearly every week.

He went down to Captain Derrick’s room one-
niglht, and opened the door without knocking.

e found the victim of the Black Hands not
alone, but in company of a man who looked
curiously at him as he crossed the threshold.

“ You are just in time to meet my friend,
Paradox,” smiled the Englishman. “ This is
Mr. Paradox, whom I once met in Benares.
though I had almost forgotten him.”

The man who bowed to the ferret was tall and
good looking, with a full, black beard, inclined
to curl.

“ Heaven knows how he found me out,” cpn-
tinned Derrick, “ but he says he discovered me
by accident and we have been recalling old
times here.”

Paradox had akeen eye and pleasant voice
and the stories he told of India confirmed his as-
sertion that he knew a good deal of the land oi:
in story.

e did utit remain very long after the detec-
tive’s arrival and the moment he had quitted
the room Derrick sprung to Gideon Grip’s side
and clutched his arm.

“For God’s sake, follmv that maul" he cried.
in a hoarse whisper. “ Den’t let him elude you,
but track him down.”

“ I thoaght he was an old acquaintance.”

“I seemed to remember having met him in
India when he had talked awhile, but you know
I was under a spell half the time there. Somehow
or other, I felt strangely all the time I was with
him to-night and you must find out where he is
putting up.”

Derrick’s eyes had an unnatural light and he-
almost pushed Gideon Grip out of the room.

A minute later the ferret stood on the , dpave~
ment below looking after the man who he just,
all ped downstairs.

othing was to be seen of Paradox.

Deeming it not wise to return to Derrick very
soon with an adverse report, he went away.

'Two hours later he came back and found the
door locked.

“ I have been found,” said Derrick, looking at
him With a blanched facs. “ The footstep came
back awhile ago and I heard it at the door.”

“ Strange that it should so soon follow Para—
dox’s visit.”

There was no answer. Derrick stood at the
table with his hands clinched and the nails sunk
into the rigid palms.

“ Did you track him down?"

“ I did not see him after he quittpd this house.‘

He must have taken a passing-car)

“The first failure,” and Derrick shut his lips
hard. “ Look here don’t you know that this
man is an impdstorfi‘

“ How an impostor’i”

“ I never knew him in the East. I have rack-
ed my brain trying to recall him, but Ican’t do
it. It is impossible. I never knew Paul Pum-
dox in India, though he mentioned some things
which I remembered very well. He belongs to
the Black Hands!” .

The last words were spoken in a lowered tone
and With the intonation of despair.

Derrick sunk into a chair and buried his face
in the arms hethrew before him on the table.

The ligbtof the lamp fell upon him and reveal-
ed the trembling figure which the detective gaz—
ed at without a word. '

“ Mark me, there is no escape!” he cried, and-
denly looking up and encountering the ferret’s
eye. “It will be there in the course of time,”
and he touched his cheek with his bronzed finger.

“ Four days ago you thought you were safe
here.” said Gideon. ., ‘

“ So I did. It was the first gleam of sunshine
my heart felt for in! these many days. I
thought I was safe. I cannot tell you how over-

oyed I was.- I seemed in the reVenth heaven.
319! Wth a word it was. Safe, after having
been tracked all over the globe, after having

heard behind you the footfall of the human tiger

which spared no one. But now discovered.”
He stobd up and stretched out his hands

“There are other hiding-places,” said rile de-
tective; “This is not the only one in all this
cit .” \

Senior looked incredulous.

“ If Paradox belongs to the’Black Hands and
was their spy and not our friend, we will heme
him,” he went on.

7 of the avenue; I am go ng to find the hand
3 leftits mark

   
  

   
 

    

“ am tting at this'myo- 
on, Douay Drake’a,fans',’,u ‘

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“ No. She says she saw it, standing in a cer-
tuin light, and though I stood in the same place,
I could not see the fatal mark.”

“ That is the way with it," smiled the hunted
man. “You may look at the victim’s face ten
thousand times and see nothing; then you may
come again and look and 10! it will be there.”

" What causes it?”

“ I have told you that I don’t know. The
Mark of the Black Hand is dreaded in India as
nothing else is. It is feared more than the
cobra and pestilence."

Yet that night Derrick changed his quarters.

7 He was taken to another part of the city where
the detective flattered blmSclf he could not be
ferreted out and then left him, to go back to the
trail, he said.

Gideon Grip went back to his own little room,
but did not remain there long.

He had seen nothing of Miriam Marx since
she had given him a clew to_the man she had
seen come out of Dorsey Drake’s house the night

i of the murder.

-- The murder!

It would have been a strange term to have
used in the presence of the police. They had
taken the report of the doctors for the truth,
and the newspapers had ceased to speCulate why
a man like Dorsey Drake should have taken his
own life. _

.- The presence of the wine glass on the table,

. the odor which arose from it, the fact that the

man had made a study of chemistry and knew

', what was deadly and what was harmless~all

‘ these things went toward forming the verdict

which-the city had accop‘ted, but which the de-
tective and one or two others had thrown aside.

Gideon Grip had put this and that together
and reached certain conclusions; he no longer
doubted the existence of the Black Hands. Not
because he had heard Derrick’s story, but he
believed that Iris had not been deluded, but had
seen on the face of her guardian the mark of the
Brotherhood.

Still there was one thing which was to the
ferret a mystery as great almost as the blow
which had stilled the nabob’s life.

Of course he would like to have found the
trail of the missing book of secrets, but behe-
lieved it would come to li ht at the end of the
game; but he could not orget the female figure
which he had seen glide up the steps of the old
house, believed to have been the roperty of the
HilLlOO brotherhood in New York.

The shawl which covered the form had a look
which startled him. He always went to Iris's
home with his eyes open, and he almoat believed
,  that it was impossible for him to be mistaken.

- Had Iris gone to that house? Was it her fig-

“ are that he saw ascend the steps and vanish be

yond the door, and if so, why had she gone
phithert

Iris had given him the entree to her home at
all hours. To do this she had furnished him with
two pass-keys, one to the froiit and the other to
the rear door, and on several occasions the de-
tective had availed himself of the privilege.

When he had seen Derrick hidden in the new
quarters, he went back to his own room, and
thence to Iris’s house.

Slipping to the rear of the large house, from
the interior of which came just the faintest
gleam of li ht, he opened the door with the
pass-key an glided lllSlde.

Gideon Grip had the nature of a leopard
coiiipled with the Courage of a lion. ‘

. e had come to that house as he hal come to

i it before. The sounds which Iris averred she

3 ~ had heard within its walls puzzled him; and he

could account for them in no other way than
that the house had secret doors and stairways.

In the house the detective found himself amid

i... .4 “an...” .. M... ..

, .... r us»

 

 

,a‘wns‘réL—r

'  silence and among shadows.

..  , Everybody seemed asleep, and he stood for a
*1: mement at the head of the stairs leading up from

i l x the dead man’s laboratory.

_ All at once a door below seemed to open with

i i slight home.

, ‘ " Iris?" said the detectlve, leaning over the

.3 Z ' balnstrade. .

‘ He looked down and saw there a figure, which

stopped for a second at the foot of the flight, and

then a face was upturned to him.

The light which always burned in the hall be-
10w fell upon the face while it screened him.

“That is the new maid,” said Gideon Grip to
himself. -

The next moment she came up, and he shrunk
into the nearest corner and hugged the wall.

He counted the tootsie on the stai _and
when _he saw thoface with 11 three feet of h m. a
new light seemed to burst upon him.

“ Great God!” he mentally exclaimed. “ That
is Miriam Marx. What is she doing in this
bolus,” h i stun had

1: anot er a tthofi ureofthes
vauidied. z W

 

     
  
  
 

 

c...

CHAPTER VIII.
m sues sun's mu.
Tan vanishing of the Woman Across the

solid as elsewhere.

Gideon crept to the spot and examined it in
the light that dimly pervaded the upper corri-
dor.

Miriam was beyond that wall, but what was
she doing?

Suddenly he heard some one else on the stairs,
and falling back to the convenient corner once
more he waited for its maker to appear.

Presently there appeared at the top of the flight
the head of a woman and then the slight, grace-
ful body came into view.

It was lris’s figure, but not the girl’s face.

She did not see the detective, but glided off,
vanishing toward the girl’s room and leaving in
her wake another trail of mystery.

“ That was Iris, yet it was not Iris,” said Gid-
eon to himself, as greatly nonplused as he had
ever been. “ She has the yOung girl’s walk, but
the face was almost as dark as an Indian’s.”

He hardly knew what to do under the strange
circumstances, but after awhile he crept down

and etc pod at lris’s door.

A wi d curiosity took possession of the detec-
tive’s mind. He was Quite sure the girl had en-
tered the boudoir, there seemed no other place
for her, yet he did not want to suspect such a.
fair young creature, and especially since she had
been so open with him, telling him all she knew
about the mystery and so on.

But the strange person must be beyond Iris’s
door. Who was she?

Gideon Grip would have carried his curiosity

where he had seen Miriam disappear.

He was near the balustrada when he saw a
door in the wall open and Miriam come out.

There was a loam in the Woman’s eyes which
the uncertain l ght could not keep from him.

She had done something to excite her blood,
but what? Would it do for him toproclaim him-
self, to let her know that he knew that she was
playing spy in the home of Iris? He hardly

new. ,

Once more Miriam passed him and went to-
ward Irls’s room.

' Watching her like a hawk, the detective saw
her stop at the door and apply one ear to the
ke hole.

Iiriam was an eavesdropper.

There was something in the sight of that we-
man listening at the chamber of the young girl
that stirred Gideon’s blood.

He u ould have gone toward her and made his
presence known if at that moment she had not
straightened and turned toward him. '

Escape was now almost impossible.

Miriam seemed to see the figure standing
among the shadows and Gideon thou ht he
caught the look she gave him when he eaned
forward and spoke her name.

ing a nick swaep toward her bosom, but the
foll0w ng moment they stood face to face,
Miriam showing by her look how startled she
was. i

“You are not watching at the window any
more," said the detective. “On the contrary,
you have transferred your scene of operations to
the house itself.”

She said nothing for a moment, but smiled.

“ Why didn't you follow her, Miriam!” and
he looked toward Iris’s chamber.

“ That as not my intention," was the reply.

“ You m u not you orders."

She looked at h m in a curious manner and
then drew him nearer the tap of the stairs.

“I don’t think it necessary to try to hide any-
thing from a man like you. I am tired of the
slavery that manacles me. I want to escape.
but how? Come with me. I want to show you
something." ,

She led him to the wall where he had seen her
disappear and touching a button which he would
never haw- found, they ssed into a narrow

tor dimensions. .

“You know this house pretty well, Miriam,”
said the detectivo.

“ A spy has to know everything,” was the an-

swer. , ‘

She advanced to the nearest wall and opened
a door which act disclosed a flight of steps
almost too narrow to let a single person up and
down. a

“ I haven’t been in_ this house for nothing,”

. said Miriam, looking into the far-rat‘s face.

“ I don’t doabt that, Miriam.”

They went ‘down the stairs tosOther, the
woman in the advance. and a door opening be-
low landed them in a room which the detective
recognized at once. , ,

They were in the chamber where Dorsey
Drake had been found dead, and the door by
Which they had entered swan: back. leaving no
claw toits wherabonts.

“ I wanted to show youthiu, that is all,” said
Miriam. “You‘ve a detective and can draw

your ownroonclusiona’t _ x . '

She  the   more

        

 

“‘Streetwasahourcaoflurpriuhotnokmyed
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the hall which the last person had traversed,

She started toward him With her hand eXecut- ’

Gideon Grip, the Secret Shadower.

door, but Miriam had disappeared all the same, Gideon Grip when they were in the upper room
and the wall vihere she had vanished seemed as ‘, again.

|

i
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2 watch the young mistress whom you tracked to -

 

to the point of looking over the transom if he 3
had not turned back and sprung toward the spot I she had.” .

- of the whole puzzle."

 

room which sceii'iod to lie I ‘ tween others of bet- ‘

V Indian’s, and while it did not resemble the one

 

    
 
   
 
    
   
  
  
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
   
  
  
   
  
    
  
  
   
   
   
  
   
    
      
   
   
   
  
   
   
  
  
   
   
  
  
  
    
    
   
   
  
  
   
   
  
   
  
  
   
  
 
   
  
  
    
 
   
  
 
     
    
   
 
  
 
 
  
 
 
 
  

7

Miriam fell back with a slight cry anda white
face.
“ I dare not tell you,” she said at last.

“ You are a paid spy.”

“ Not a paid one. Don’t say that. As I live,
I am not to receive a dollar for this work.”

“ But you were sent hither?”

it Yes."

“ By whom, Miriam?”

Once more she pushed bin. back, looking into
his eyes with a shudder.

“ What is your mission to this house? — to

her door to-niglit?”

“ I have a double mission in this house of
secrets. I am to watch Iris and the other one.”

“ The other one, Miria m?"

“The double life, I mean.”

The look of the detective almost became a
stare. He recalled the person he had seen on the‘
stairs, the one with Iris sfigure, but not her taco.

“ You did not see Iris come up-stairs, did you,
Miriam?”

“I did not; but I heard her.”

“ The girl seemed to make no noise at all.”

“This room is the secret-finder of this homo.
One hears everything here. While you could
not be heard beyond these walls, eve sound
reaches you here. Listen; there goes a 001'!”

The detective distinctly heard a door open ..
and shut and turned again to Miriam.

“ Miriam,” he said, “ the person who went to-
ward Iris’s room did not have her face. She,
had her figure, but not her features. They were
as dark as an Asiatic’s; but it, was the girl’s step

He thought be detected a smile at the come
of Miriam Marx’s mouth, but it vanished while
he looked.

“ Was that person Iris?”

“How should I know? I did not see her, you
knew.”

“ Who all inhabit this house?"

“ There are Iris, Zuleika and myself.”

“ Has the Man with the Valise been back since
the night you saw him come down the steps
with the bundle in his hand?”

“ You haven’t forgotten him, I see,” she ex-
claimed. Thut man is the mystery of the
game. Gideon Grip. he is the dangerous feature

“ Then you believe that he knows how Dorsey
Drake died?"

“ Don’t forget to ask him when you meet.”

“Now come back with me to Iris,” said the de— i
tective. “ Her face was as dark almost as an

 

I have been accustomed to, it was Iris’s, all but
that. What is this mystery. Miriam?” '

She was looking at him with no a parent
intention of answering him and he clutc ed bar
arm.

“ You must not forget that you came to mo
and told me about the Man with the Valise,”
he said. “ You must not go back on your first
zeal. You know more than you want to tell to-
night. You have ferreted out some of the
secrets of this house. Miriam, did you ever
gear of, Captain Derrick, late of the English,

rmy ‘

She actually staggered from him and threw
her hands to her own mouth as if to keep back a
cry of surprise.

: ' You have heard of 'him, which tells me that
you know a good deal about what happened
acres the water in the land of the E 11600:.

n say we can’t be heard in this room. '

iriam, you must tell me why you came hither i
—-I care not whom you betra . I am after the
hand that left its mark on t e faceof Dorsey
Drake. Are on under the Black Hand?"

She seem to quiver in his grip like one
sugdenly smitten by a‘ chill and her face grew
w its. '

“ I am sworn,” she cried. "You don’t want
to break the most terrible of oaths, do your“

“ I want the truth in the interest of justice.

“ When I tell all I knovV, I am in the shadow
of death.” '

“ You need not keep in the way of those whom
you have betrayed. You can hide in this city
or go beyond it. i '

“ You don’t know the Silent Circle.”

She seemed to regret having spoken than
words, but they were beyond recall and tho
looked speechless into his face.

“Come back tomorrow night,” she said.
“ I want so late a discovery.”

“ Will on be re, Miriam!"

“I wil ”

“ And on will tell me nil!” .

“As I vs I will give you a claw.”
Gideon Grl slipped the house ofm
tefleaandf tthe cool wind of nighton

cheeks.
“ I will hunt

 

   
 

   
 

 

 

' -"-~l-  lam ' , .. m ..  u "

Gideon Grip, the Secret Shadower.

 

 

 

 

There was something startling even in this,
something suspicious.

' Gideon Grip slid into the room. and the next
moment stumbled against something on the
floor.

in another instant he had strm'k a light, and
the moment the match flashed up he was horri—
lied to see the figure of Captain Derrick, face
up, on the carpet.

The Secret Shadower saw something else
which startled him more than the staring,
deuthful eyes of the, hunted man.

It was the print of a human hand on the
ghastly face, and crying; I

“ The Black Fingers have found him i“ he
sprung up, dropping his match on the bosom of
the dead.

For the first time in his life he saw the mark
of the Black Hand, as Iris had seen it before
him.

The detective did not remain long in the dark.
but relighted his matches, and held a bunch
closc to the face on , the floor. ’

“It is gone!” he said aloud.
n0wl”

Sure enough the mark of the Black Hand had
disappeared, and it mattered not how he held the
light, he could not see it at all.

. After awhile he turned on the gas, and viewed
the body from every COIlCPlVHble position, but
always with the same unsatisfying results.

The mark of death was not to be seen any
more.

Gideon Grip bent over the body and felt the
pulse, but it was still. The heart had ceased to
heat, and the same look of death which he had
seen in Dorsey Drake‘s face, was present in Der-
rick’s. '

'“ The poor wretch was right—he was followed
to his doom by the tiger tread of the spy of the
Black Hands. He was an actor in the game I
am ferreting out, though he came into it a little
late. The Black Hand Cflnli.‘ while I was away.
I wonder if he saw it before the blow fell? Ha,
what is that? The mark again!”

The detective was looking down into the face
of the dead man. for the hand had come back,
and he now saw it on the white face, over fin-
ger revealed to tho wiry tips; but that umb
u as but/half a thumb!

“ That ought to be a clew i” cried he, and then
looking again he saw no signs of the hand.

it had vanished as before, and he stood erect,
With the little gas-jet showing him the end of

“I can’t see it

, me man hunted down without mercy.

‘ .————.
‘ CHAPTER IX.
ma MARK 0N mm WALL

GIBEON GRIP had but one clear to the identity
,of the man who had taken the life of Derrick the
Englishman. and that was the mutilated thumb
as shown in the mark of the deadly hand.

But be had seen it but once, and though be
viewed the face from half a dozen standpoints it
was not to be seen again, and he was forced to
give it up. ‘

The ferret wondered if the footsteps which had
followed the doomed man so persistently for
years would come back to seei his work was
well done. _

As he stood in the presence of the dead, he
waited for the stealthy tread to creep up the
steps outside, but it did not come, and he turned
to other matters.

‘ Slipping the bolt of the door into its place, he
began to 00k over the pfl’ects left by the dead

m.

' man.

They were not many, for Captain Derrick had
very little propert , nothing but a valise, an old
lesthern one, whic was locked and thrown into
one corner of the apartment.

It yielded to the detective’s knife and a few

pers fell out, but they were cuttings from

nglish journals which referred to him when he
was a favorite of the Guards, and had no assas-
in on his track.

Gideon Grip looked everywhere, and spent
some time 'over the Valise.

When he concluded his search he turned to the
dead man and for the second time caught sight
of the mark of the deadly hand.

“ It is there again!” he cried but the moment
he sprung forward it vanish , leaving him to

smile and to stare at the cold white face.

Half an hour later the Ferret of Gotham came
down the stairs and passed out into the night.

No one followed him. ‘

The dead man was the soleoccupant of the lit-
‘lle hiding-place which had turned out to be his

last, and no one was the wiser for the silence

, C that filled the room.

The detective turned up in another part of
the city and found himself once more in the. vi-
ciuit of the two houiws said to be occupied by
the isciples of India’s gods, but all was still and
he saw nothin that rendered him suspicious.

Did the trsl of the Black Hand lead tothat

I, ' place?

The house to which he had tracked the Man

. ' [with the Valise was the is or of the two, and

e watched it more particu arly.

. The nnin deity Over the deer seemed to
mock h m. a he looked at it with eyes that al-
most flashed.

Gideon Grip wanted to get on theinsidc of
thatniysterions house. and the longer he looked

- l

, - v I 7 » .
., t funk“. ., ',.‘ *2? ’f'" " -

 

at it the more he wanted to pass its forbidden
threshold.

All at once there appeared at one of the upper
windows a light which attracted the ferret.

He stood like a statue in the shadow of the
tree by which he had halted and watched.

Presently he caught sight of a figure as it
flitted past the window, then it came back as be-
fore and he saw that it was a woman.

After awhile he saw it again and then, creep-
ing nearer still, he looked with greater scrutiny
and noticed that she had stopped, as if arrang-
ing her toilet by a mirror.

There was something familiar in the figure
which he could not get out of his head.

He saw the shapely shoulders and the long,
flowing hair which a pair of white hands bound
up in the light.

All at once the man on guard saw the light
vanish and the house was dark again.

“ Will she come out?” he asked himself.
“ Will she emerge from that house and give me
a chance to see who inhabits it?”

He did not have to wait ion , for the front
door opened and a female trippe out.

Gideon Grip eyed the person like a hawk and
when she moved away he was at her heels.

There was something almost cat‘like in the
movements of the woman as she glided off down
the street with the man of shadows in her wake.

“ Heavens!” she suddenly cried. “ She has been
stopped by some one.”

lt was true; the woman had been stopped by
a man and the moment Gideon caught sight of
him he knew that again he had seen the Man
with the Valise.

They went off together, but separated some
squares from where they had met and the detec-
tive kept on after the woman.

He tracked her half-way across the city.

He dogged her steps in light and shadow and
to his astonishment the trail ended at the door of
Iris’s home!

The rson so well tracked by the ferret took
a pass- ey from her pocket, opened the door and
vanished.

Was it Iris?

Had he followed her from the house of setrets
back to her own home, and what did she know
fibegt the Black Hand more than she had told

m

The mystery deepened.

“ Not to-night,” said Gideon, drawing back
from the mansion. “ I won’t name the thresh—
old, but will leave the girl to her dreams for l cer-
tain] tracked her from the House of the Grin-
ing (111d. To—morrow night I am to meet Miriam
there and she may have news of to-night’s work
for me.”

Once more he turned away and sought the
Boom where he had left the dead man on the

cor.»

Gideon Grip climbed the stairs with misgivings
and wondering if anything had taken place
since his departure and opened the door which
he had left unlocked.

Thr room was as still as death, and dark.

He struck a light and held it ovar his head as
he looked downward at the carpet.

Ca tain Derrick, the victim of the Black
Hun 8, had not been disturbed, but the valise
which he had searched had not fared so well.

A glance at it told the ferret that the room
had been visited since his departure, for it was
not lying where he had left it and its contents
which he had replaced had been inspected and
some abstracted.

“ If I had watched I might have seen the mur-
derer,” he thought. “I should have remained
on guard and I would have caught the hand of
death and destiny. But some other time,” and
he draw back, leaving the dead man to his re-

on the floor.

He wondered who occupied the rest of ,the
house. When he engaged the rooin for Derrick
he remembered having seen a pale-faced woman
and a little boy with curly hair who seemed to
be her son.

Were they still, in the house and had they
heard the step of the slayer?

At the foot of the stair he halted and then
turned to a door on his left.

The detectivc knocked and waited.

In a little while he received a response. and
the following moment the door was Opened and
he stood face to race with the woman he had
seen before.

She fell back at sight of the shadow and look-
ing down, he saw the boy clinging to her skirts.

“ Marlame,have you heard anyt iug to-nighti”
he asked.

Sho glanced furtively at the boy and shook
her head. '

“ Nothing," she said.

“ Bat, mamma. you know I heard something
when I win: a wake and you said—”

“ Hush, Bel). You were dreaming and not
awake at all.”

” But my eyes were wide open and I saw-J

‘f You saw nothing. child, and must not talk.
This gentleman wants to see me, so [to back to
bed and go to sleep again."

The boy with an imploring look at the detec.
tive moved away, and Gideon Grip followed him
with annetyand eagerness. '

. . vii *

i r n

.cnrtain to give me more

 

   
 

slept,” he went on.
stairs.” -

The woman shut her lips hard to keep from
alarming the boy and gave Gideon a sharp, in-
quisitive stare.

“ A dead man? The one you hired the room
for?”

it Yes.”

“ Was he troubled with any disease likely to
take him off that way ?’"

“ No. Will you go up?”

The Woman shrunk back and lookedfright—
enei . r
“ He might be‘iip there if I went,” she gasped.
“The rson your son heard?”

“ No, don’t know what 1 am saying.”

“ But your boy says he heard and saw some-
thing to-night. What was it, madame?”

There was no answer.

“Come, this is important.
what Ben heard.”

“ Are—you—-—a—detcctivel”

“This is no time for such questions.
anxious to know what the boy heard.”

“He heard some one come in.”

“ When?”

“I can’t tell you just how long ago.”

“Then, it was not a dream, as you told him?
You heard the some noise?”

“ I heard it for I was awakeat the time, though
I did not think Ben was.”

” Well?”

“ Whoever came in went tip-stairs.
everg step.”

“ ut your child says he saw something as

“ There is a dead man up-

I want to know

Iam

I heard

well.”

“So he did for I saw it myself.”

“ \Vhat was it?”

“ A man on the steps.”

“Then you ot u and looked?”

“ I did. 1 s ip from bed and held my door
open just a mite and Ben’s keen'eyes were look-
ing, too. “'e saw midway up the steps a man
who stood in the dim light which we keep burn-
ing in the hall all night. He was alone and stood
like a statue for some timeso that we had agood
look at him. He did not seem to see me though
he glanced at the door with the keenest eyes I
ever saw in a human head; then he came down
and )assed out." '

“ hat was he like?” .

“ He was rather tall and had a coat on which
was buttoned to his chin. The face was clean
and dark like that of the East Indians we saw at
the show this summer. I never saw an American
with a face like his. Ben crept back to bed when
he went away and trembled all the rest of the
night. He stood yonder and one of his hands
restteg on the wall. I can show you the very
S .

mShow me, madame.”

The woman crept up the steps and watched by
the ferret placed her finger in a certain place. ‘

“ Heavens! he lefta mark! Look here,” rung
out her voice, and the detectivewas at her side
in a moment.

“Don’t you see the print of his hand on the
wall? Here it is. every finger there, not one miss-
ing. Lookl did you ever see anything like it?”

Gideon Grip looked with all eyes and, saw on
the white wall the plain outlines of a human
hand and everything was perfect but thp thumb.

“ That accursed hand leaves its mark wherever
it falls,” he said, and the woman stared at him
for an explanation which she did not get.

CHAPTER X.
THE DECOYED TRAIL-ROUND.

BRIGHT and early the next day the same boy
who had summoned him by a note from Iris to
the mystery of Dorsey Drake’s death brought

him another summons tothe same house and ‘

Gideon Grip wondering what it meant, was soon
at the door of the house an the avenue.

He was ushered into the rlor and in a little
while Iris came in, her iquid eyes excited,
though she was t iugto keep them in abeyance,
and stood before im.

She closed the door with care and then
advanced until she reached an arm-chair into
which she sunk. -

“I have sent for you for I know of no other
friend to whom I can go when I am in trouble,”
she» said.

“What has happened now!”

Iris seemed to lose color as she looked into the
face‘ before her and in a strange voice she re-
pnm :

“There is more mystery and lam in it. It
is the stran st thing in the world. Isaw the
hand again ast night or rather this morning.”

“ But not on the same We where you saw it
before? That is out of sight and—” '
“No,it was not on the face of th dead."
interru ted the girl. “If you will 9 with
me I w 11 shew you Where I saw it.” i

She led him from the room arid into the
library and laboratory where she stopped and
drew aside the curtain of the window with her
white hand.

“I came down stairs early this morning—it
was barely light—in search of somethin which
I thought was here, and pulling as do the

‘ light, I saw on you
wall near the end of the bookcase Watt)!
the same hand how on his face. It , thy“.

s I ’ 1 . It, (I w“ .11 "1‘ a)

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jiist as plain as it was when I saw it first and
the moment my gaze fell upon itI uttereda
cry I could not keep back and almost last my
senSes. You cannot believe how I started at
the apparition for it Went through me like a knife.
it was as real as though tin hand itself and not
its shadow was there and I :ilinOst sunk to the
floor.

“ Did you rouse the house?"

“ Fortunately no,” said Iris with a sigh.
“Neither of my women know anything of the
occurrence and I sent the boy to you for I can
trust him in everything.”

For a moment the detective sat silent looking
into the beautiful face before him and wonder-
ingif he had tracked it the preceding night
from the House of the Grinning God to the
dwelling to which he had summoned him.

“The owner of that hand came back last
night," she went on when she had rec0vered her
breath. “ He was with us in this house. He left
his mark on the wall as he left it on the face of
Dorsey Drake.”

The ferret turned to the wall, but saw nothing
i to mar its whiteness, then he raised the curtain
that hid the shelves of chemicals and appliances
of science over which the dead man had spent
so many hours.

i “ Do you miss anything from these shelves?”
; he asked.
i
I

 
 

i
i
i
i
l
‘i

Iris shook her head.
“ Nothing is gone so far as I know—nothing
but the book which we missed when I took you
i go th’e secret place where he used to keep the
ve.
' “ Were you home, do you think, when the
i band came last night?”
i “ We must have been asleep—all of us.”
' There was no tremor in Iris’s voice now.
, ’ “ Mis~~ Iris, do you ever go out at night?”
a  “ NOS Uitt‘ll.” ,

5 Son sin-med to avoid his gaze for the first time,

i and he thought be detected her voice shake.

g f “Di i you eVer hear Dorsey Drake any any-
thing about a residence in India?"

“ He never saw the land of the. Hindoos.”

“Are you sure of this, Mlss Iris?"

“I am sure of nothing, but he never talked
about that country, though he said much Con—
cerning other lands which he visited years ago.”

The detective looked perplexed, and the next
, moment was smiling at the young girl.

“Some people have secrets which they keep
from those nearest to them," he said. “ He may
have been to India, but nevar told you.”

“ It seems impossible.”

Iris seemed willing to let the subject drop
there. and Gideon Grip was not inclined to be too

 ' eag‘eyir to pick up another link in the dark chain.
1' . hile he was quitting the house, he looked up
the broad stairs and caught aglimpse of Miriam
Marx's face hanging over the balustrade with one
' i of her fingers at her lips.

'1 i ’ The glances they exchanged were not seen by
Iris, and the detective waited at the first corner
for some one whom he was almost sure would

2,, 4.5..

come. V
Presently there came flitting down the street

fibehflgnreof Miriam, and they met in the sun-
5 t.

“I could not wait,” said the woman in whis-
pers. “ The man came back last night.”

“ The man i”

“ The person I saw come down the front steps
the night he was killed. Lcould not have been
mistaken, for I, went to that house with my eyes
open, and I saw him in the hall last nighr, and
could have touched him.” ~

“ What did he do?”

“ I crept down the secret stair and saw him in
the laboratory. He was all alone, and seemed
as familiar with it as the master was. His back
. was turned tovvard me, and I watched him
i i nearly an hour.”

i ‘ “Then he was in no hurry? What did he do?”
“He Opened a door in the wall and took Out
several oldish looking books which he looked
0 through now and then tearing out a leaf and
hiding it awa in his pocket. I saw his face
when he turn to go and knew him for the Man
With the Valise.”

“ He took nothing but the leaves, eh. Miriam?”
“lam coming to the stran est part of the
adventure now. continued Mi m Marx. “ I-Ie
slipped out of the room and I ran back up the
secret stairs. In the ball abova I stopped and
saw him come up. He seemed to lide over the
carpet for he made no _noise at l. or I would
' have heard him. He slipped to 1118’s room and
leaned against the door for some time. All at
once he took something from his bosom and

, . . tossed it over the transom.”
1 r - “Are you sure he did this? You don’t want

to compromise Iris, Miriam?”

“ I don’t, heaven knows that,” and the
speaker‘s eyes seemed to get a strange light. “ 1
distinctly sawithe movement of his (trains the
object was thrown over the transom and it must
have fallen into her chamber. When he had
done this he came back, creepin down the stairs
: with the same pantherish treat and passed out
f " of the house by the rear exit."

- The detective had not let one word of Miriam’s
sin ular narrativo escape him. no him drank

 

 

 

 

 

all n with bated breath and was thirsting for
more.

 

 

“ Was that all you saw?"

“ All?” and she fell back looking at him with
astonishment depicted on her face.
more do you want?"

“ You saw him go
the house?"

“ I did. I didn’t want to see him any more.
When he was gone I slipped to Iris’s door and
listened. The room, nearly ark before, was
now well lighted and I heard ris moving about.

back and lost him outside

I could not see what was going on in there, but I

I knew that she was up.”

“ Was she out of the house last night?” queried
the ferret.

“ She was.”

“ And she came in alone?”

“ Yes.”

“ How long was she gone and between what
hours, Miriam?”

“ She must have been out more than an hour
and betueen ten and twelve.”

A look of Confirmation for a moment gleamed
in the detective’s eye.

Telling Miriam that he would hear the prom-
ised story that might in one of the. secret rooms
of the house, he dismissed her and went away.

The man of mystery had been to Dorsey
Drake’s house; he had spent more than an hour
in the laboratory and had stolen Certain pages
from the secret books which had cost the dead
man so much. Not only this, but he had thrown
something over the transom of Iris’s door. It
could not be that such a sharp creature as
Miriam had been deceived.

That day yet the detective knew that the body
of Captain Derrick had been found by the police,
but as nothing-was said about the mark of the
hand, he felt that it had been seen by none.

The woman and her son said nothing about
the Iniil'k on lbt' wall along the stair, and that
secret, in i, was safe.

It was a day oi" watchfulness to the man of
shadows.

\thn the shades of night came he. turned

down the light in his little room, and with thee

ejaculation, “Now for Miriam,” went toward
the door.

His hand was reaching for the latch when the
portal opened, and he'was confronted by the
boy who was the young girl’s messenger.

“What, another note from your iiiistressi”
said Gideon Grip, taking from the outstretched
hand a hit of paper. I '

The boy vanished, and leaning toward the
ligot. he read:

“GIDEON Gains—Come to me at once to No. 113
St. L——- street, without delay. I am no longer at
the old home. but here, and 1 want you. 1318."

The detective looked up, with astonishment
on every lineament.

He could hardly believe the sentences he had
read. Iris writing to him from 113 St. L—
street!

He knew where it was, for had he not watched
the place with the keen eyes of the ferret?

It was the House of the Grinning Godl

Hiding the brief and startling niissive in his

ket, the Secret Shadower turned down his
ight and went out.

The shadows of another night had fallen over
the city, and the lamps were throwing their
light in every direction.

instinctively he looked back, as if he expected
to hear bebiiid him the stealthy footsteps of the
tracker of the Black Hands. ’

He could hna ine himself among the temples
of India, with t e sworn spy of the mystic sect
at his heels, for bad he not followed poor Der.
rick all over the world, to close in on him at
last. and finish him in the last hiding-place of
the hunted man!

But Gideon Grip was not to be turned back by
such thoughts.

Iris had sent for him from the House of the
Grinning God. Something had happened there,
and she might be in peril.

l-Ie flitted down street after street, and found
the vicinity of the twin houses as still as the
grave.

Reaching the steps of the right number,
?ideon Grip took hold of the knob and turned

t. '

At the same time he icoked up at the head
ab0ve the door. It seemed to grin with more
than its usual devilishness, as if he had been
hired to his doom.

But the ferret of Gotham pushed inside, and
the next moment stood in a dimly-lighted hall,
at the énd of Which appeared aflgure, which
on me forward as he gazed,

“You have come. She awaits yon.” said a
voice, and Gideon was led into a darkened
room. \

CHAP rER XI.
mama AND zmnu.

Murmur.- Miriam Marx, the Woman Across
the Street was waiting for the man to whom she
had promised to tell a startling tale. '

, She was alone in asmall room of Iris‘s home
and wondered why the 6 two did not come. .'

The clock ticked away t e moments. but he
came not though she looked at the door which
she expected tones open and admit him.

The mystery of the something which she had

0 ‘ '

i ii,

“ What ,

aw. ” ‘

 

i

9.

seen the Man with the Valise throw over the
transom of Iris’s chamber was as deep as ever
and Miriam wondered if it would ever be

‘ cleared up.

 

She had not forgotten how to use her eyes,'for
she had been sent to the house for that very
purpOSe, mm. as the Child of the Silent Circle,

‘shc had carried out the orders of her strange

chief.

Miriam went down the secret stairway :.nd
slipped into the room where Iris had discovein
her guardian dead in his chair.

The place “as dark, but here and there Fay
the semblance of a. ray of light which tried to
struggle through the clased blinds from me
street.

With chi-like tread the woman glided across
the room and >iu0tl where she had seen the
stranger Hie night before.

She lifted the dark curtain that hid the
shelves and ran her hand among the bottles and
boxes there.

What was Miriam looking for?

She was (ll'illg this when she heard :1 st p,
and turning without betraying her pi‘P~eiice
she thought she made out a figure that slipped
across the. chamber.

Presently she knew she was not the sole occu-
pant of the room.

Almost touching her stood a female form and
the sharp eyes of Miriam Marx made out the
familiar outlines of Zuleika, the maid.

The young girl— she was tall as well as
young—had advanced to the curtain and a mo-
ment later she lifted it and was heard to breathe
hard.

“It must be here for I saw him place it on the
shelf the night he went out of the uorld,” she
was heard to say, confl‘ient that she was the
only person in the room. “ It is hard to till the
god from the bad on these shelves, but boil. are
here in profusion.”

As the maid turned to strike a light Miriam
Slippi'd behind the curtain which hung across
one corner of the romn and held her breath.

She had not ncglected Zulcika since count-g to
that house of mystery. '

She had iintiCed the girl, as if she were north
watching; she had discovered that she had n keen
eye and n soft trend, that she knew how it slip
from room to room apparently seeing non ing,
yet taking in everything in it.

The light i'eil mainly upon the shelves aiu; she
saw Zuleika luOk orer them with the gi-.;.test
Care.

There has an eager even tigerish glare i: the

eyes of the dark-faced, willowy girl, and M iiani v

grew afraid of her as she watched.

“ This is it—it Can’t be anything else,” suudeu-
ly cried Zuleika, her hand diving among the
vials in a certain corner and dragging to light a
greenish bottle which was tightly corked.

She held it between her and the li ht, and
Miriam saw how its contents danced ike the
eyes of a bowling dei'vish.

“ In God’s name, what has the girl found?”
asked the “011180 on the watch. “ She was
hunting for something and she has been new ard-
ed. What is in that vial?”

Zuleika sat dovi n in the chair used b Dorsey
Drake and continued to glare at the li e bottle.

She shook it in the light. and seemed to take
pleasure in seeing its liquid dance before her

9 es.
)“ The creature is mad,” cried Miriam.

“:I would like to see some one also try it fiist,"
said Zuleika, aloud. “ It is the right drug I
am sure of that, for I saw him hold it up in the
light and talk to it that night. This was the
hamle, ior it was green and stoppered just like
t is. i

The next moment Zuleika was on her feet and
her eves were wandering round the room.

“He used to keep a cage of rabbits in this
room for his experiments.” she went on. “ Where
are they! I don’t remember having Seen them
taken away since his death." .

“ My God, is she going to search the room for
the rabbits?” almost gasped iriam.

,. pe seimed one of the impossibilities for
Zuleika was coming toward her corner and
was cowering in it like a rabbit in the corner of

the cage where it has been thrown to the ser- .
nt. '
peThe hand of the maid was outstretchedand 

was almost at the curtain.

In another moment she would be in her grip.

“ Why not take an advantage of this mad girl?”
thought Miriam.

In another instant she had dashed the curtain
aside and stood before the startled maid.

Zule1ka fell back, but not with fear. In a
moment she was herself and Miriam instead of
frightening her from the room, found herself in
her grasp.

“ So yen are here, are you i” said Zuleika, look-
ing into the white face of the woman on
watch. “I thought I would find the rabbit,

but you will aer'vemmy purpose quite as well.” , 

“ ouru

rp09e .
“ Why got?” and Miriam was drafged deems .

her strength which seemed to have

toward the table, and before she could resist lilo V
had been forced into the chair and was looking ,

up into the blazing eyes of Irish maid.
“What do you want?” stammored Miriam.

  

    

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“ What don’t I want?” was the reply in laugh-
ing tones. “ Look here, my spy. Do you see
this?" and the vial was held before Miriam and
she saw the dancing bubbles on the surface of
the unkn0wn liquid.

“I want to know if this is the elixir he sought.
I want to kn0w if I hold in my hand the secret
of the old books.” ’

“ Why not test it?”

“ That is ju~t what I am going to do. You are
on the iight trail. I intend to test the drug now
and upon you.”

No wonder Miriam shrunk into the depths of
the chair and gazed in speechless helplessness at
the mad girl. i

“ Vhy don’t you fliid the rabbits and try it
upon them?”

“ When I have you with me? No, no! Come,
we will try it now. I wou’ttake much of it.
drop may be enough. Think of it. You may
have the elixir of endless life in your veins by

' taking but a drop of this fluid.”

Zuleika drew toward her on the table a wine—
glass and began to open the vial.

Her face had changed color and was now
flushed with excitement.

Her hands were‘stead y as if they were under
full control and poor Miriam, for the present
unnerved and powerless, could only gaze at what
she believed was a draught of death.

“ For God’s sake, think of what you are do-
ing,” she appealed at last when she found her
tongue.

“I am thinking. I want the elixir I saw him
make after the formula in the old book. I am
doing what he would have done if he had lived.
Are you ready?”

The ver desperatiod of the moment seemed
to send a ash of fire through Miriam’s veins.

She exerted all her strength and s rung up,
but the hand of Zuleika seized her an she went
back into the chair.

“Down! You shall test the drug for me.
Think of it; you may be the first to receive the
new discoVery, or you may drop dead the mo-

. ment the drug touches your tongue.”

I her situation loosened her tongue.
'up shrieking and ran toward the Secret button-

“ It will be death.”

“ You don’t know. There is a risk, to be sure,
but you ought to be willing to take it.”

Powerless again, Miriam could only gaze into
the face above her; she saw the vial trembling
over the rim of the glass and the colorless fluid
was running to the mouth of the vial.

Her life trembled in the balances of the near
future.

“ They will find me dead here and you will be
«reused of doing the deed,” she said.

“ Will i? W'hat if lam not here when they
find you? Didn’t they say that Dorsey Drake
took his own life and who knows better? What
has the ferret found out?”

Zuleiim was heartless and Miriam saw in the
gleaming eyes nothing but death and terror.

" All at once the hand of the maid swooped
down upon Miriam’s shoulder and she was held
in the gri of a vise.

“ It wil be over in a moment,” said Zulcika.

Miriam made one more effort. The horror of
She sprung

which had let her into the chamber.

Zuleika, tiger-like, was at her heels.

Miriam threw up'her hand and tried to find
the button but fate seemed against her; she

amisst it.

“There’s no door there i” cried the girl at her

; back. “ You can’t rush through a solid wall.

Ha. ha! I have you at last.”

The woman Across the Street turned with
the fury of a cornered lioness.

She saw nothing but death in the greenish
bottl‘eclutched by the girl; she saw the fiery eyes
that blazed in her face and went at them.

The next moment she aud'Zuleika were strugo
gling for the mastery over the carpet.

They writhed back and forth like Amazons in

' deadly conflict, now Miriam had the ad vantage
V and now Zuleika had snatched it from her.

.1 fects of the new elixir.
‘ If it don't kill you, I will drink it all.”

 

“ You shall taste it! You shall try the ef-

There is no help for it.

“ Will you?”
“ By the gods, I will. I want to feel in my

= blood the fluid of eternal life.”

i

» \VHN

-“ Hand me the bottle.”
Zuleika drew back with a laugh and said,

0- .
H I ’wiu force it to your lips. I will make you
drink flrstgbut the vial aha’n’t leave my hand.”
Miriam was forced‘against the wall; She felt
the hand of the mad girl at her throat.
It was all over; the deadly vial was nearly at

:~ her lips.

Nearer and nearer it came, borne forward by

the hand of Zuleika.

, “Onedrop. only one; I heard him say it
would be enough, but whether to preserve or to

f. -_klll I know not."

'Mniam closed her lips, glued them together

‘ with the two-fold energy of despair.

 1 ‘Why didn’t the detective come! He knew the

 

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aren’t you going to know wh‘atisin
edZuleika. "Come. If you on’t

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- a. . l l force it through your lips and ive
 79"911'9‘ it" ,  ' I 1  ‘ ' I

There was a sound on the right.

“ Look yonder!” said Miriam.

Zuleikii turded her head and then the Woman
Across the Street went forward. It was the
last attempt to save her life. She seized the
maid with the grip of a demoness; she jerked
from her hands the inial bottle, and though
spilling half of its contents on the floor, she
forced it between Zuleika’s lips. .

A wild cry pealcd from the hapless creature’s
throat.

 

CHAPTER XII.
rm: nousa or MAGIC.

LET us go back to the detective.

We left Gideon Grip in the House of the
Grinning God, and in a room which was dark
and still.

“ Where is she?” he asked himself when the
person who had conducted him to the spot had
Withdrawn.

As there was no sound at all and he had not
heard his conductor quit the room, he spoke
aloud the question he had asked himself.

Silence as before.

The next moment he went forward in the
gloom and tried to find the door by which he
had entered the room.

At the same time he drew a revolver for lie
was now fearful that he had been decoyed to a
trap of some kind and he intended toresist the
machinations of the Unknown.

It did not take him long to find the door, but
it would not open.

Gideon Grip took a match from his pocket
and was about to strike it on the wall when he
heard a noise.

it was the closing of a door somewhere and he
stopped and listened.

Still the silence that surrounded him was not
invaded.

“ This is a trap sure enough and I am a fool,”
he thought. “ have been decoyed by the
Black Hands and—”

The door Opened, but he saw no one. Falling
back from the ortal with the cocked six-shooter
in his grip, he ooked and wondered what would
follow the opening of the door.

“ Who is there?” he asked.

In f‘eply a greenish lightseemed to creep along
the floor like a fler snake.

It blazed, but id not burn the carpet; it
leaped to his feet, yet did not have any heat.

“ The devil is in this,” cried the detective,
watching the spirals of emerald flame as they
danced about his feet, leaping almost to his
knees, yet not even singeing his clothes.

There was no answer.

All at once the ferret sprung across the line of
light and turned to where he thought the unseen
person stood.

“ l have you cm'ered with my revolver, and
there will he a dead body where you stand i' I
am not told why I have been decoyed here,” ..
said sternly.

“ Look to the wall over your right shoulder.”

Gideon Grip instinctively turned in the direc-
tion indicated by the voice, and the wall seemed
crossed and recrossed with fiery serpents that
twisted in and out of each other as a den of
snakes would.

But he saw more than this. He saw, after a
second look, that the twistings were words, that
letters were bein formed by the darting flames.

“ Read your com in the fire of fate!” said
the same voice. . -

Gideon Grip was already doing this.

He was reading on the wall, sentences which
were terrible enough to make the coolest shud-
der, but he had shut his teethth and Was not
flinching from the ordeal.

“ The ferret is in the trap of the Black Hand!" he

read. “ H" Will soon be ashes. and scattered to the
winds of the river." .

“ Ho, that is my doom, is it?” cried the detec-

tive, drawing back and tumi g once more to the

left, where he knew the speaker, still unseen,
must stand.

“Tth is the fate of the tracker who seeks to
baffle the sons of Vishkar.” Y

He thought of poor Derrick’s story; he re.-
culled how the Englishman had ventured back
to India to steal from the idol’s bosom the green
stone of fate.
. He fell back, crossing the room, all.‘the time
looking for the person who had addressed him,
but he could seeno one.

“ Whereis Iris?" he asked,

“Fool, there is no such person i” was the ne-

ply. .
“You have her in your accurscd till); you
have in your tells the young girl W cm you
robbed of a guardian.”
“ There is no Iris. She has become the priest-
ess of Vishkar.” .
“Iris Norman?"
" Iris Norman!” .
Giseon Grlpr felt a chill run through all his
bl()( .
’ “We will show' you,” continued the voice.
“ You shall see the young vir u of the mighty

   

It was adorned with the thousaan and one
strange things to be seen only in the mystic tem-
ples of the East. He saw the grotesque heads of
idols, the hideous crocodilian monsters which are
worshiped in the land of the Hindoo, and over
all hung a pal] of mystic smoke which, while it
seemed dense, was easily penetrated.

Suddenly out of all of this ruse a figure which
seemed to come up through the floor.

The breathless ferret leaned forward in his
eagerness and stared at the apparition.

“ Iris!” fell from his lips.

Yes, the beautiful object upon which he gazed
looked like the young girl.

He saw her face in the light that surrounded
it, but it was dark and terribly strange, though
beautiful.

She stood in the glare of the mysticlight which
fell upon the appointments of the stage-like
place, and while the detective looked she seemed
to approach him.

“ Great heavens, it is not Iris!” he cried.
“ She has the girl’s beauty, but I see now that it
is another.”

A laugh sounded on his ears and he looked

bac .

“ She will tell you that she is the priestess of
Vishkar,” was the sentence he heard.

The hand of the irl was outstretched, and he
saw upon the bare wrist the bracelet which he
had seen on Iris’a a score of times.

“ I am in the service of the goddess of life and
time,” said the lips he was watching. “ I am no
longer Iris of the house of darkness and death.
We kill those who cross our paths, and the man
before me is doomed to have his ashes scattered
to the winds of the riverl”

The voice was the very voice of Iris Norman.
and as it ceased th whole scene vanished, and
Gideon Grip found imself standing once more
in gloom.

The flery serpents no longer played about his
feet and all was still.

“ What do you think now?”

. " That I stand in a house of infernal magic,”
was the prompt response. “ I have been insnar-
ed by the same hand that took Dorsey Drake’s
life, and the one I have sworn to ferret out.”

“ If there are trails beyond the river, you can
hunt there,” was the reply.

“I will track the murderer down this side of
the grave.”

He started toward the door, but something
clutched him and he was hurled back.

The hand he had felt came for a moment in
contact with his neck-skin, and he had been
thrilled.

He had felt every finger of that hand: they
had been pressed into his flesh as it were; but
he felt but half a thumb! .

The detective recalled the mark of the Black
lland as he had seen it in several places. He
knew that he had felt on his own person the
mark of the same hand which had taken the
life of Dorsey Drake, the nabob and Iris’s
l;,:!~.rdian. There could he no mistake about
this, and when he was thrust back by that hand
he felt his blood leap hot through his Veins.

“You will track us down, will you?” cried a
voice. “We will see that the fool dies as his
ancestors have (lied before him.”

Gideon Grip almost fell a ainst the wall, but
recovering the moment the and left his throat,
he sprung forward again and reached the door.

This time he was not thrown back as before.

He was in the ball which he had entered a
few minutes previously in search of Iris, but
now he saw not the figure which had conducted
him to the dark room.

" Man, you have no more chance of getting
back to the street than you have of flying.”

“ It is false!” .

The entrapped ferret glared at the door like a
tiger glares at the bars that shut him of! from
his native jungle.

“ Why don’t you try 1” mockingly said the
same voice. i

The detective
knob.

He twisted it madly, at the same time jerking
back, but the door was as immovable as somuch
iron. , .

With a curse he turned back and looked up
the stairs that confronted him. ‘

Tobe shut up in such a house of magic was
too much for the cool-headed ferret.

He was, not to be hoflled in that way' the
Black Bandung not to obtain over him a b ood-
less victory, and that by having decoyed him by
a false appeal for help.

went forward and seizad the

At that moment something came down the

steps. ‘
It seemed to fall down the flight, but“; did

not take the detective long to see that 1|; w” ,

endowed with life and that it was a livingssr-

nt. , I
peThe greenish es emitted sparks of fire: the
tongue, darting D and out, told of aim-caching
doom and the detective falling bac from the
slimy a rltion With his teeth shut hard, eyed
the repti e as it came down the a ht. ,
At last it tumbled upon the floor and began
m'ci-awl taward him. ‘ \

He fell back to themeareat corner and raised

  

 

 

Vishkar. , Look straight abea .l‘
Hedidsotnd ' that thew wall had
. 1’ ‘ t '1‘.  h,

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The serpent with the scaly skin was creeping
nearer and nearer. He covered it and fired.

The report of the weapon seemed to sound
a~=trangely in that old house.

The lifting smoke showed him the writhing
snake on the floor, for the ball had cut in twain
its deadly folds.

He watched its contortions with secret satis-
faction, saw the two parts twist and writhe and
at last lie still.

“ That is the beginning of the end, fool of
America!” said the voice he had heard. “ You
have killed the sacred guardian of the Black
Hand and now your hour has come.”

Helooked down the corridor and saw a door
open in his face. .

He saw at the same time the figure that stood
,in the doorway and stretched out a hand dark
enough to have been that of a Hindoo.

The following moment the floor seemed to
tremble under his feet, then a sound that seemed
like the parting of boards grated on his ear. and
he was going d0wn, down whilea pair of eyes
glittered over the yawning pit. .

“ It is the hand of Vishkar 1” was the last thing
he heard.

“It is the devil’s magic!” he responded in his
heart and then all grew dark and he seemed to
pass into the very darkness of death.

If Gide-On Grip could have looked into the cor-
ridor when the yawning pit closed he would have
seen a man come forth and grin from ear to ear.

And if he had looked closer still he might have
seenthat one of the yellowish hands had a muti-
lated thumb.

 

CHAPTER XIII.
BREAKING Tn: SPELL.

THE despairing cry of Zuleika, the maid,
thrilled Miriam Marx.

She saw her fall back from her hand and with
eyes that seemed ready to start from her head,
she glared at the vial - which had touched her
ii is.

‘In another moment the limp figure of Zuleika
lay on the floor, the face as white as death.

Had the contents of the bottle done their work,
and fwgs it the.agent of death and not the elixir
of i e

Miriam stood for a moment over the body of
the dark-faced girl and looked down upon her.

She was alone with the poor creature and
knew also that Iris was not in the house, for she
had seen her slip out and vanish among the lights
and shadows of the city.

“ I dare not stay here after this,” said the
Woman Across the Street. “ I mustfiv, go back
from the shadows that envelop me. They must
not find me in this house with Zuleika dead be-
fore me.”

She touched the button in the wall and crept
from the chamber.

“ They may think that she took her own life
for the deadl bottle lies beside her,” continued
Miriam. “ hey said Dorsey Drake died by his
own hand and they may think the same of that
mad girl.” -

She left the room, going back to the chamber
she had occupied since coming into the house and
tarried there for a moment.

Gideon Grip had not come and Miriam could
not account for his absence. 4

Ho had promised her to come as early as
possible and she could not think what detained
him.

Ah, if she had known the truth, if she mold
have looked beyond the walls ofthe House of
the Grinning God she would have quickened her
s ps and put manya long s uare between her
and the shadow of he dread lack Hand.

Half an hour after her strange adventure in
Iris‘s house Miriam ascended a flight of steps and
entered a little room on the second floor.

it was the quarters she had taken after aban-
doning the ones she had kept so long as the
woman at the window, and there she thought
she might be safe.

Perhaps the chief of the Silent Circle would
not find her there and she would not hays to an-
gwer for her stewardshi in Iris’s home.

But the woman was d ppointed.

She had barely recovored from her struggle
with Zuleika when the sound of footsteps came
up the stairs and she sprung to the door with
blanched face.

“ He sha’n’t come in!” she cried, haltin at the
door which she eyed with the energy of. 83min
, There was a moment’s silehce outside and t on
a knocking startled her. _

Miriam stood still as if undecided what to do.

Presently'there came another knocking and v

then a voice was heard.

“ You are there, woman.
UPON?” ‘ '

“ Heavens, ’tis he!" gasped Mirianh and the
next moment she put out her hand and opened
the door.

The person who slipped into the room was the
same one who had confronted her when she was
ordered to enter Iris Norman’s home and Play
'spgfor the Silent Circle.
w

Why don’t you

’3 shut the door behind him and came for:
a .I '
All the time his eyes seemed tolookMiriam
through and she stood watching him from the
.middleoftheroom. ‘   

 

  

 

I Gideon Grip, the Secret Shadower.

 

“Well, is your work done already?” be asked. I
l the Silent Circle.

“ I am not there as you see l” was the reply.

“ You left there awhile ago?”

H Yes.”

“You kept your eyes open all the time?”

“ I did.”

Miriam was replying to him in an altered ,
voice and he might have seen that she was not I
herself. !

“Come, woman; 1 want the whole report of I
your stay in the nabob’s house.
cover what takes the mistress out at night and .
where she goes i”

“ You forget that that was not my mission.
I was to watch her in the house, not dog her on
the street.”

“ Youdon’t exceed your orders, I see. Well,
what did you discover?” ‘

“ I found out that the accursed house is
haunted.”

“ HOW haunted?”

“1 mean that there are secret doors and hid-
den stairways.”

"You found them, did you?”

“ Who uses them?”

“In the first place, there is Zuleika, the maid.”

“The tall girl with the dark face and hand-
some eyes? Zuleika, they call her, do they?"

Miriam nodded.

“ I discovered that Iris has a hidden chamber
which is fitted up with all the gorgeousness of an
Eastern room. it has tiger-skins on the floor
and the grinning gods of India are everywhere.”

“ ere you in that room ?”

“ i entered it at the risk of my life.”

“ When Iris was out of the house of course?”

“ Yes. I was not foolish enough to enter it
when she was there.”

For a moment the man who had questioned
Miriam so eagerly was silent and then he crossed
the room and seemed to reflect.

“ You should have searched this tiger-rugged
room,” he said, looking across the chamber at
her. “ If Iris is living like an Indian princess,
you should have found it out."

Miriam smiled.

“ Perhaps I did find out,” she said.

“ Tell me, then. Tell me what you discovered
in that secret chamber. Spy of the Silent Circle,
tell me all.”

He came back to her, his. eyes on fire and
reading, as it seemed, her inmost thoughts.

“ I found on the dresser a little box which had
a key in it,” he went on. “At firstI was afraid
to touch it, at at last I opened it with the key
and looked inside.”

“ Well?”

“At first I saw nothing, but presently I dis-
covered a small flat vial which lay amen green
silk and it was filled with a singular ooking
fluid which did not havo much color. The night
biforg I had watched Iris and witnessed a strange

ay. ,

p “ What was it i”

“ She went to‘her room and there stood before
the mirror. I s w her take from a box on the
dresser a vial which she opened and put to her
lips. She seemed to drink of the contents of the
bottle and in a few moments a terrible change
took place. She grew dark, her skin changed
color and she was to all appearancos an Asiatic.
You would have taken her for an East Indian
princess, but I knew that she was Iris all the
same.” .

“ Woman, why didn’t you steal that vial?”
asked the man who had watche: Miriam like a
hawk. “ Why didn’t your slee hand put it in
yOur bosom and carry it to me?"

“That would have rendered Iris snapicious,
and I would have had her to face.”

The dark man laughed.

“ There is no other drug like that this side of
the temples of the Land of Mystery. Iris pos-
sesses the only supply of it in this countr , and
the theft of it Would hays broken the spe ’

“ What spell?” queried Miriam.

“The s ll of the mystic Black Hand. With
that vial end her reach, she could not trans-
form herse f into an Indian, and the Hand
would have been rendered powerless.” .

Miriam said nothin .

“ We want that via .”

“ You know where it is.” was the reply.
is on her dresser in the little box.”

:21Yrou must goback and get it.”

H 

“ You, Miriam. You know the house and how
to get to the secret chamber. Go back and get
the vial and the box.”

She fell back-from before the searching e
of the speaker, and her look was a mute appeal
for mercy.

“ What, V have you forgotten year oath i" he
cried. clutching her wrist,

“ Don’t you . know that you are still in- the
power of‘the Silent Circle? Woman, there is no
release for you till the spell is broken and we let

you 0.”
MgianliI Marx fairly glared at the man” who
gr er. ,
t, hack to where she had left Zuleika
a: W ti“°°i°‘hi’:z“"°ih ~ am e
e r. ares s . bug or t a
lm . no hands of

    

    

Did you dis- ' had their birth in India, but had transferred

   

 

ded " n V l
sit; “‘9 WSW

~ I

The time had come for her deliverance from

She had fallen into its net almost uncon-
sciously, and when she was ambitious. She had
been drawn into the toils and sudden] found
herself oath-bound and the slavo of a rother-
hood of which she knew but little. but that little
enough to make her blood run cold.
She knew that the Silent Circle was operatin

against the Black Hand, that both orders h

...- .-.«- m“.

their work to the shores of America; that the
Circle was as anxious to break the power of the _
Black Hand as was Gideon Grip, but from an- 3
other motive.

Miriam was tired of serving this accursed
brotherhood. She wanted to get out of it:
clutches. but how was she to get beyond its
hand unless she broke the web herself?

“ You must go—back to lris’s house for the
tvial and the box," continued the man before

er.

Miriam looked, but did not reply.

“Return now. Go back and bring me the
elixir that changes the girl’s complexion. I want
it.

The woman stood like a statue before him,
and then suddenly threw up one hand.

“I can’t go back there,” she said. “You
don’t know what I left behind.”

“Pishl You shall go.”

Once more his hand seemed to sink to the
bone, and be dragged her t0ward the door.

Miriam all at Once jerked herself loose from.
him and reeled away.

“Woman, on are still ours. Don’t forget
for a second t t you are still in the grip of the
Circle."

“I am yours no longer!” cried Miriam. “ I
will no longer serve the accursed order, that
forces me to add theft to its other crimes. ”

“ What will you do?” he laughed.

Miriam was near the door which opened into
an adjoining room, and when he started toward
her she drew from beneath the folds of her
gown the same knife with which she had waited
for the Man with the Valise in the room oppo—
site the nabob’s mansion, and faced her perseo
cutor.

“ As I live, I will kill you if you advance an-
other step!” she exclaimed. “I am going to
break the. ll you have thrown round me if I
have to do it with the dagger.”

The man stopped and looked at her. He could
hardly believe that this was the Miriam they
had enslaved. ‘

“ You seal your own doom. You devour
yourself,” was all he said, and to her astonish-
ment Miriam saw him turn and leave the room.

She ran tothe other door and heard him go
down the stair, and then caught a glimpse of
his figure on the street below. ' ~

Punting like a chased doe, she leaned against
the window and watched him until he was out
of sight, then, going back to the middle of the
{1003), she dropped into a chair and breathed

ar .

“It must be flight and hiding now,” she said.
“ I am the outlaw of the Silent Circle, and 'I
must not let it find me with its secret agent of
doom.” ‘

She did not let many minutes pass over her
head in that chamber.

She descended to the street and made her
way across the city to Gideon Grip’s ofice- The
ferret was the first person she thought of in
connection with safety.

But the door was barred to her, and she was
forced toturn’back. :

“There must be a hiding-place somewhere,"

'she cried.

“ Who are after you?”
The voice made the woman turn, and in the
light of the lamp near by she saw a man whose

.face sent a thrill through every nerve.

“Merciful heavons, you?” cried Miriam, and
then she bounded awnylike a deer. ‘
She had come face to face with the Man with

the Valise, the Mystery of the night of then» 

bob’s murder.

CHAPTER XIV. -\

m man. or ran: UNKNOWN. ‘7

Tan man looked at Miriam as if puzzled by.
her/flight, but suddenly the truth seemed to ,
flash upon him and he hastened in 'the direction
taken by the girh

There was a strange look in his
seemed eager to overtake her.

, “Thatiwas the girl who cameto the house
the other day,” he said in audible tones. “ She

eyes and

is on the street and her flight from me tells me . ‘
that she has seen me in the house. I must not ', P

lose sight of her. She belongs to us.”

But Miriam seemed to have given him the slip, ’ l " w

for though he followed her some distance, be “
lost her completely and was forced to stopand ‘. "
turn-hack * ‘

'He went back over the ground he had travers-
ed after Miriam and at last entered a house the
door of which he looked behind him. . ~ ;

'In'asmallnngiperroom of thehuildiugheli‘ ‘

, took some cigars from the 3
m ‘ Mf- ‘ ' ~ '
git wan odd meeting,” he nth.
‘ l* s, «x. _,.

, 1’1 .v

 

r

     

  

1,...» .. v.4-“— -..
- , ,t . .,

i

 

 

 

 

12

Gideon Grip, the Secret" Shadower.

 

 

 

not expect to see the girl on the street at this

“ Come, tell me all, but not here. We will go

hour. I wonder if she suspects anything? Is she ! back to the library.”

sOme one‘s spy 9”

He threw the cigar into the empty fireplace
and not up.

“ I’ll go and see,” he continued and the next
moment he was tearing dewn the steps to the
street.

Hailing a cab, this man whose face was dark
and whose hands were incased in gloves, got out
near Iris’s home and walked the remainder of
the distance.

Ghost—like he crept to the door and admitted
himself. shutting the portal after him.

Once more he was in the house of death and
mystery.

For a little while he stood in the dimly light-
ed hall and then glided up-stairs.

“ Everything is quiet here,” he said. “ I don’t
hear any one, and one would think, but for the
furniture, that the old house was uninhabited.
They are here, hOWever.”

He stood near Iris’s door and applied his ear to
the keyhole.

A smile passed over his face.

“ Sleeping like a babe,” he said, drawing back
and creeping down the corridor. “ The girl
with twu ‘iives is Iris once more. What a
strange existence is hers. Now she is Iris of the
mansion and the next hour she enacts a totally
different role.”

He stopped alongside a wall where no door

‘ was visible, lifted his hand to a certain spot and

vanished.

If any one had followed him he would have
seen him creep down a narrow stairway in the
dark and at last emerge into Dorsey Drake’s

_ room.

If Zuleika had remained where she had fallen
from the hands of Miriam he Would haVe found

' her there, but the dark-faced girl was gone.

The Unknown looked over the room, and then
advanced to the table at which the nabob had
been found dead in his chair.

In another moment he had turned on the gas

; not very bright, but enough for his purposes.

He sat down and began to examine the things
on the table.

Casting his eyes to the floor, he suddenly dis-
covered something that surprised him.

It lay near one of the legs of the table, and in
a momenthe had it in his hand -—a slender green-
ish bottle which was empty. . '

“ What was in this?” he cried, holding it up to

> the light and smiling as he eyed it.

He carried the vial to his nostrils and drew
back from the odor that escaped.

The next moment he sprung to the shelves and
threw back the curtain that id them.

His searching eye ran along them all.

“This bottle was missing when we looked for
it before," he said. “ I looked Over the shelvos,
but it was not here, and now I hold it in my
hand!”

Looking at the vial again he went back to the
table and turned the tiny glass upside down.

A single drop of liquid remained at the bottom
of the vial, and he watched it as it crept to the

mouth.
, By—and-by it fell upon a bit of glass which he

 

 

had placed for its reception, and he leaned over

, it and studied it for some time.

“ Some one has taken the rest of this,” he said
between his teeth. “Some person discovered
the dru and stole it—all but this one drop.
Was it t 9 work of the girl I met on the street?
Did she steal the poison, and who sent herto
this house for that purpose? The detectivoi"

He filled the chair until he had wa bed the
drop glistening on the glass nearly t ree min-
11

When he stood erect again he took in the room
gith his sweeping glance and fell back to the

cor.

Pausing there he looked toward the table, and
with some muttered words passed out.

Two minutes later he paused at the head of
the stairs in the hall above the laboratory and
looked tenard Iris’s room. ‘

“ Maybe it was her 'work,” he said. “ Did Iris
steal the ison and rob the Vial of its contents?
I would 1 ke to know.”

At that moment he heard a quick stop behind
him, and turning he beheld a woman’s figure in
the shadows near by.

“Stand where on are,” he said, starting for-
ward. “ On per i of your life, don’t quit that
corner.”

He reached the woman in the semi‘darkness,
and throwing out one hand grasped her
and drew her toward him.

“ Who are you? Speak.”

He was looking down intd a face almost as
dark as an Indian’s, and into eyes that seemed
to have the frozen glitter of ice.

i’Merc l Iain Zuleika.”

.‘,‘ You uleika'! Nonsense!”

The woman drew back and shivered.

“ Before God, I am I ris’s maid,” she went on.
‘f I am Zuleika. I have been beyond the grave,
and all because she forced the accuracd poison
between my lips.

n “ghe poison! Who forced it between your

2% Miriam.” .
The Unknown laughed.

I

i r

l
l

 

 

. “ Of all places on earth, not there 1” cried
Zuleika. “ It was there I met her, and there we
ought each other like tigresseS.”

He did not seem to hear her, but dragged her
on until they had reached the library door,
when he 0 ned it and showed her the scene of
her strugg e with Miriam.

Zuleika crossed the threshold with a cry, and
stood shivering in the middle of tie room.

“ We are safe here,” he went on. “ You must
tell me all about it. I want to knoiv.”

“ You ought to know everything.”

“ Never mind that. How did it happen? You
so she made you drink the poison?”

ideika, recovering somewhat, told the story
of her struggle with Miriam in the chamber,
and was listened to with breathless interest.

“ But you came here on hunt of something?”
accused the Unknown.

There was no answer.

“ How did you know where to put your hand
upon the vial l”

“ I—I saw him hide it.”

“ When?”

" The night he died.”

She was looking at him now, and saw in his
.eyes a glitter which was not there a moment be-
fore.

“You saw him hide the vial,did you? And
you thought you would see what it contained?"

Zulieka nodded.

“ Girl, I want the book.”

She recoiled with a start.

“I want the fifth book of the mystic set.
You kn0w where it is.”

Zulieka sent a swift glance toward the secret
niche in the wall, from which the last book of
the series had mysteriously disappeared, and did
not look at him again.

“You carried (if.that volume. You have
been looking for the elixir that madea fool of
him. Come, where is the book?”

Zuleika pleaded for mercy, feeny denying
that she knew anything of the book, but her
manner gave the lie to her words. '

The look of the Unknown grew sterner than
ever.

“You can’t baffle us,” he said. “What, a
girl like you come between us and our victory?
Pish! Zuleika, I want the book!”

fl She led him to her little room on the other
cor.

Stooping over the bed, she ran her hand
beneath the covering and drew forth the volume
whose companions stood on the hidden shelf in
the library.

“You will always be as dark as you are,”
he said to her. “ That is the action of the
poison!“

She glanced t0ward a mirror and for an in-
stant caught sight of her changed face. She
was not the Zuleika of other days. The li uid
which Miriam had forced between her lips ad
gone its work and she was as tawny asan In-

inn.

“ They wouldn’t know on at the old place”
he went on, seeing her g are. “They won
never suspect that you were, Zuleika. '

“I know that, but I am never going back to
give them a chance to guess the riddle. Iam
goin away—out of this accui-sed house.”

“ hey will hunt you down. Aren’t you
afraid of that?”

“ Why should they hunt me downl”

He laughed again.

“Don’t you know that they are after the
hand that is said to have killed Dorsey Drake in
this house?”

“ But they said it was suicide.”

“The doctors did, but what do the ferrets
think i”

The words seemed to stagger Zuleika.

“ But it wasn’t my work,” she said at last.

“Prove it', They will go back and look up

our histo . They will discover that you have

ad a des re to live always, that you haVe
frequented the house of learned men, chemists,
who know a great deal about the secret agents
of life and death. This isn’t the only house of
the kind you have inhabited, girl.”

“ Who are you?”

Zuleika’s look was a hard stars and the eyes
into which she gazed seemed to burn above
her with more mystery than ever.

“Never mind who I am. The world isn’t
big enon h to hide you from the ferrets," he
said, “ ~hey will fall upon our track the mo-
ment you pass the doors of t is mansion. You
will be hunted down and the mad girl who took
anoath years ago that she would live forever
will suddenly‘fln herself in the grip of the Vises
of the law.” '

“ Merciful heavens!” cried Zuleika. “ I there
no escape for me?”

one,” was the heartless answer. “You
are in the meshes of suspicion and you cannot
escape.”

She looked acmss the room and then back into
his face.

“ Look here, irl; there may be a way out of
the trafiz,” be In denly continued.

Zule a seemed to start with sudden joy.

“ A way_out of the trap! Don’t torture incl”

“ You will botany this henna”: .

 

“ But my skin? Look h0w it has changed. I
am not the same creature I was when I came
here. What will Iris :ay when she sees me?”

That was something, and that moment it
thrilled the shivering girl. ‘

“Iris will look and say nothing. My word
for it, she won’t bother you about your new
color. You must remain in this house, for to
quit it now is to imperil your life.”

“ Look among the bottles on the shelves be-
low. You have been in that room. You know
what is there and what is not.”

“ How do you know that, girl?”

“I have seen you there.”

“ When did you see me in that room?”

Zuleika did not avoid his gaze, but looked him
fairl in the face as she spoke again.

“ 'ou were there the night of the 10th!” she
said. .

He did not start or lose color, but it seemed
to Zuleika that his eye grew deadlier and his
lips shut hard.

“ Beware, girl! That was a fatal night.”

“ I know it, but I saw you that night.”

“ Where?”

“ You came out of the library alone and—"

“ There! The breathing of that secret de~
stroys you.”

_-_

CHAPTER XV.
ran MAIMED THUMB AGAIN.

/

ZULEIKA could hardly realize that the Uri-
known was gone.

He. had vanished with the last words on his
lips, and she was alone in that house of secrets.

More than this she had one of her own and
had been told to keep it on peril of her life.

For some time she StOOd where he had left her
trviiig to recover her composure but this was
difficult.

W ho was that man?

To her he was as impenetrable a mystery as
be had always been and she could not help re-
calling the time she saw him come out of that
dread room with the secret of the dead locked in
his bosom.

Miriam Marx had seen him come out of the
house, but she had seen him emerge from the
laboratory, and knew that when lris Went to
her guardian she found him dead and cold in his
chair.

And he had told her that the moment she
breathed the secret she held she destroyed her-
self

I

She looked toward Iris’s door and Wondered
if she knew of the presence in the house of the
Unknou n.

The door was closed to her and she could not
see beyond the threshold. _ .

Then she bethought herself of the hidden
room whither Iris went at certain hours and
crept t0ward it. .

She had not lived in the house for nothing.
Her eyes had been on the alert and she has dis-
covered how to enter that mysterious chamber
and find the strange ap intments which breath~
ed of India and its dar secrets. . .

Looking once more at her reflection in the
glass and noting the work of the drug she crept
dewn-stairs and tried to hear the footsteps of
the Unknovvn, but they were gone and her ears
were not acute enough to hear them on the

streets. I

“ He said they would track me the moment I
left the house ” she said to herself. “ Vi hy
should the ? ho is the detective who came
hither at ris’s bidding and where does be live?
I might go to him, but that would be breaking
my word with the Unknown. It seems to me
that I premised to keep the secret—that I swore
not to tell anv one that he came out of the room
that night. Dare 1 betray him? Heavens, noi”

Zuleika went back to her own chamber, but
did not go to bed.

The events of the night were enough to keep
her awake. i

The struggle with Miriam for the poison still
rattled her nerves and she could not help looking
at her changed face in the mirror.

At the same time she felt in her veins the poi-
son of the East.

She no longer was the same creature in any
measure. ‘

Her blood and nature seemed chanlzf‘d- _

As for the man who had met Zuleika in the
house of the nabob he passed out of sight and
untracked—for who was to track him now that
thp jaws of the tray;l had closed on the .Secret
Shadoweri—found is way across the City and
am up the steps of the House of the Grinning

od

What would Gideon Grip have thought if he

had been free to track this strange man to that
lace? ' '

p The Unknown passed upstairs and opened a

door where none was viable, then walked intoa

room which was nearly dark.

The place was nearly bare of furniture, but
his feet made no noise as be advanced, and
when he had reached a certain spot on the car-
. , he touched a button, and the room was in a

laze of light.

“Here you are,” said the Unknown, looking
at the only occupant of the chamber besides

 

himself.

       
 

i l

t
Ana-u- .x. a.‘

i. was-..» -gt ..-

 

. .. .-a~—- “an; Mmaov--. .

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As»-...._........~..., :..,_ I 3,

 

 

 

‘ w

Gideon Grip, the Secret Shadower.

13

 

 

“ I am always here.”

The person who answered him seemed an hun-
dred years old, but the eyes gleamed with the
light of a basilisk’s, and the long, skinny hands
looked dangerous.

The Unknown took a chair, and for a few mo-
ments looked at the old man, Who reclined on a
sofa which stood against one of the walls.

“ Well, I have been in the house again,” said
the Unknown. “ I have met a secretkeeper,
but 1 think I silenced her.”

“ A woman, eh?”

“ Yes—Zuleiku.”

The old man, whose skin was dark, almost
black, though his long hair, almost snow-white,
told that he was not negro. passed his hands
over his face and smiled.

“ These women don’t keep secrets very well,"
he said. “ They ought to be silenced, every one
of them. What did you doto her?"

“ I left her in possession of the field, but she
won’t bother us.’

“You , left her therefdid you?" and the body
of the old man see ed to lengthen like a ser«
pent. “ You did notTeave her alive, did youi”,

“ I did, but she is silenced—”

“ Then you stole her tongue.”

“ Neither did D do that, but I tell you she
won’t betray us.” '

The gleaming eyes on the sofa looked more
like a snake’s than before.

“I don’t trust them—I never did,” he said.
“I wouldn't trust the creature woman for the
world. ‘ So they call this new secret-keeper
Zuleikad"

l5 Yes.”

“ Is she Irii’s maid?”

" She i8."

“ Young?”

“ Young and a handsome girl, but not as fine-
looking as she was twenty- four hours ago."

“Ha, you did something to her after all! i
understand you n0w. You robbed her of her
beauty.”

“ She partially did that herself."
it How," ‘

The handsome face of the Unknown came
nearer the old man, and he seemed to laugh.

“ Her curiosity got the better of her and she
tasted something which she found in the library
and laboratory.”

“ Something he discovered, eh?"

u Yet"

“Do you think he really deciphered the last
book which is missing?"

“ I don't know; but the book isn’t miing any
longer.”

The occupant of the sofa sprang up with
the agility of a cat and seized the arm of the
Unknown.

“ Where is it!” he cried.

In response to his words the Unknown drew
from beneath his coat the book which aneika
had given up and held it up in the light.

A valid cry of delight burst from the old man's

throa

He tore the old volumsfrom the hands that
held it and pressed it to his bosom. v,

“ This is the secret book of the East l” he cried.
" This is the book which we have tracked all
over the world. It is the one they stole that day
in India, but now it is ours once more.”

“ Ours to burn.”

The serpent eyes of the old man wandered to
the fire burning in the grate and he seemed to
draw back with the b00k clutched in his hands.

“ You are right.” he said, looking at the
Unknown. “It must be burned for the world
is full of thieves and the sacred book is safe no-
where but in the flames.”

_ He moved across the room with the volume
clutched in his hands, but the cold gray eyes of
the Unknown followed him.

“ VVil he burn it?" he muttered. " Does he in-
tend to my the very thing which has kept
life in his bod for years and years? By heaven,
I believe he 099!”

All at once the old Indian—he had the air of a
mystic—leaned toward the blazo in the grate
and the book was thrust forward.

“ Heavens. do youintend todestroy the book?"
cried the Unknown.

“In the blaze the secrets it holds are safe.
There may arise another life-hunter like the
American; he may find the bookand decipher
its mysteries."

“ Burn it, then."

These words seemed to give their speaker joy.
The Unknown watched the old man with eyes
that never left him fora moment and he saw
him cast the book into the fire where it seemed
to shrivel like a dead hand.

The old man’s eyes ot a new and devilish
“gm 5! tvile flames licked up the book and when
it had vanished altogether, he turned to the Us-
known with a countenance which would have
done credit to a triumphant fienu’s.

" It is safe now," be grinned, “ When they
look for the sacred book of life it will be beyond
their reach.”

“ But what if he deciphered its secret?” ‘

“He hadn’t the key, ’ w“ the quick retort.
“He was a man of learning, but he never dis-
covered the secret of the book.”

It seem that the burning of the old volume
had taken in its destroyer the very essence of

 

life, for he tottered back to the sofa and fell
there with his eyes closed and like one dead.

The Unknown watched him a few momenis
and seemed to smile.

“If you kn0w what I know you would be at
my throat with those tiger-claw fingers of yours,”
he said to himself. “ If you knew that you miss-
ed destroyiug the most valuable portion of the
old book—that I carry next my heart the leaves
that bear the formula of life—the one Dorsey
Drake sought, you wouldn’t lie there with your
eyes closed like a mummy. No, old Sakkar, you
would be for burying your talons in my throat.
I guess the game is fast becoming mine. 1 hold
all the cards noW. I am master of the situation.”

Suddenly the Unknown rose and slipped from
the room. He entered a small adjoining apart-
ment and took from his pocket some parchment-
like pages which he proceeded to secrete in a
niche in the wall, brought to light by the pressure
of a button. ‘

“It is safe there and when I want it I will
know where to find the secret worth playing for.
I wonder how the ferret fares? And what is Iris
dreaming about at this hour?”

He turned toward the door and was in the act
of quitting the room when he was startled by a
footstep and the following moment it receded
from the threshold.

“Are they shadowing me in this house?” he
cried. “ Woe to the hand that seeks to despoil
me at this stage of the game.”

He was sure that he had heard feet leave his
door, and he glided to the portal and opened it
noiselessly.

The corridor without was nearly dark, but his
sharp eyes saw ,u crouching figure among the
shadows there.

It was squatted like a toad in one corner.

Smiling to himself, the Unknown turned back
and shut the d0or.

“ Those eyes ma have seen me hide the
pages.” he said. “ he may have watched me
to this room. If they ave, and have seen me
secrete the pages, the secret is not safe. " I

When he looked again, the figure was gone,
and when he went back to where he had left the
old man, the little dried-up figure still occupied
the sofa. and it were hard to tell if it had moved
a mite since he left.

Ten minutes later the Unknown was out of the
house. and then the man on the sofa was en-
dowed with sudden life.

He sprung up like a tiger suddenly roused and
went to the door which the Unknown had lock-
ed behind him.

He opened it with a straligelooking key which
he took from his pocket, and went straight to the
niche in the wall. Here, for a moment only, he
was puzzled, and when he found the secret
button and saw the niche open before him, he
grinned like a hyenl.

In another instant he had thrust his dark
hand into the opening, and clutched something
which he drew forth.

His eyes glittered like sparks of flam‘e. His
hands had ceased to tremble and were steady.

Back to the room he had left be here the find,
and bent over it in the light of the fire in the

grate.

All of a sudden a shadow fell on the wall be-
hind him.

The old man heard it not.

The next moment a hand which was gloved
was thrust down over his shoulder and clutched
the Jan r be was reading.

V it the bowl of a bafiled demon the old man
sprung up and glared at the person whose hand
was at his throat.

“You would rob me. would on!” cried the
new-comer. “ I thought you had tracked me to
my room. don’t care what you are-I don’t
care if you have tracked the enemies of your
accursed deity across the seas — you sha’n’t
des il me.”

be old Indian seemed to wither in the grip
of the man who had him by the throat.

Bo uttered no cry: he only looked out of a

"pair of .demou eyes and ‘glared (t the papers

which had been matched from his hands.

When the new-comer crept from the place, a
h‘liman body lay in the light of the fire, and if
Iris or the detective had seen it, they Would have
seen more than a dead face on the hearth.

On the face of old Sakkar was the imprint of
a human hand, but the thumb was but half a
thumb. __

CHAPTER XVI.
'rns HAN BEYOND ran WALL.

GIDEON GRIP came out of the dark swoon,
into which he had been thrown by the pain of
his fall throuKh the tra in the
Grinning God. and stood caning against a stone
wall wondering Where he was, as he tried to to.
call the last adventures through Which he had

passed.

The gloom that pervaded the place prevented
him from seeing how large it was, and he had
to use his fig ers as eyes.

This he d to the best advantage he could,
and came to the conclusion that he was in a
iubtsrrauean place, but how deep he did not

now.

His esca from death seemed miraculous.

It wasd cult to tell how long he had been

l,

 

ouse of the ..

 

there for time was an unknown quantity to him,
and he could not consult his watch.

The place was as still as a tomb, and he listen-
ed a long time, hoping to bear some sound by
which he could locate himself, but this was not
for him to do.

The walls of the underground prison were al-
most smooth, but he made out here and there
certain marks which seemed inscriptions, as if
some unfortunate had been there before him.

He tried to read these sentences with his
fingers, but he gained nothing by his attempts
more than passing an hour or so in doubtful
pleasure.

There was no way out of the web of the In-
dian spider. ‘

In his dilemma he thought of Miriam, and
wondered if she would grow tired of waiting for
him and seek him at his den.

Perhapsshe would not look for him at all.
and it was possible that she had left the house of
mystery to prevent keeping her appointment
with him.

With thoughts of this nature to keep him

company, the buried ferret passed the long
hours which he cursed.
, Who was overhead? What had become of
the Owner of the maimed thumb which had
touched him in the dark, and where was his,
whom he had seen in the mystic light of the
Black Band?

All at once the detective heard a noise which
startled him.

He heard it again, and observed that it
seemed to come through one of the walls by
which he was surrounded.

Was there another dungeon beyond the one be
occupied, and did it contain a captive like his
own?

He leaned against the cold wall and drank in
every inflection of the sound.

It was like a man listenin to the gnawing of
a rat which he believes will ring him liberty if
he t up. '

or some time he listened, and made out that
the sound came from some place beyond the
wall and toward the house w ich adjoined the
do elling of the Grinning God.

It was not so much the gnawing of a rat as it
was the s neaking of a file.

He feltflike striking on the wall and asking
who was on the other side, but he refrained.

All at once the noise stopped as suddenly as
he had heard it.

The silence that followed was startling.

Gideon Grip fell back and held his breath. “'

“ Has the workman stopped and in the name
of heaven is there another fly in the web?” he
ejaculated. .

Presently tick, tick went the same noise and
then it dropped into the old monotonous scrap-
mg.

“That isahuman rat.” said the detective.
“ I am going to bail him.”

The next moment be tapped on the wall, can
at first, but a little bolder as he waited asecon .

The scraping sto pod.

“ He heard me, he said, under his breath.
“ He is waiting for me to go on again.”

He resumed his tap ing and all at once it was
answered from the ot er side of the wall.

“ Who are you?’

Gideon has placed his lips close to the wall
and spoken above a whisper.

“ it you wait a moment I think I will tell you
to our satisfaction.”

he detective felt his heart beat as never
before.

The work of the person beyond the wall went
on and Gideon waited with eager interest.

Minutes seemed hours to him and seconds
even doubled themselves in the darkness.

At last it seemed to the ferret that the end
was near for the unseen stopped and tapped on
the wall. -

“ What is it?” asked Gideon.

“ In a minute.”

Presently the wall seemed to part in the
smallest particular and the next moment some-
thing sharp struck his hand.

The implement wielded by the unseen was
through!

Gideon Grip felt like utteringacry of joy,
but restrained himself and fell back, holding his
breath.

“ Help us!” said a voice. .

The detectivs went to work and with the help
of the man on the other side made the hole
large enough to admit the passage of a human

bod .

“l am coming through nOW.” was the next
he heard from the unseen and then he was con.
scious of hearing some one crawl into his
mi" “in 1” l kedl

‘ o are on be eager y as .

“ What, hazen’t you a match?”

Gideon was forced to admit that he was with-

out so much as the stub of a lucifer, whereupon ~

the stranger sighed and then lau bed.

“ Well, it's all one. I’m not so evilish pretty,”
he said. “I guess you won’t lone anything by
not getting a peep at me just now.”

u
“ I should say so. and you—” ,
“ I am Gideon Grip.”

“ lint you are somebody who has been cooped.’

  

 

 

 

  

d The name seemed to startle the man in the
ark.
“ Not Gideon Grip, the detective?" he cried.

“Yes, do you know me?”

“ Certainly. And you fell into the web of the
Indian spider? You took the bait that lured
-, r you into the meshes? Well, it beats me, and I’m
L not the gigantic fool I thought I was.”

7 “ But you haven’t told me anything about
yourself. Why would you be the Black Hand’s
victim?”
“That’s what you want to know, eh?”
“Yes.”
1.. “ It’s a short story, but an exciting one. My
gr; name is Hark Hudson. I was born in India
 » thirty-three years ago. I wanted to know every-
1"; thing about the doings of the sedret sects of that
 accursed country; but there is a good deal I

"v‘,’ , never found out, and the speaker laughed.

', “When I suddenly discovered on the street

«3, one day a man whom I thought Ihnd seen in
India—an old ribst who used to mystify me in

Benares—I fol owed him like a dog, and tracked
him to the old house sornewhere above us. Not
satisfied with that, I must enter the place and
poke my head into danger.”

“ Like myself,” said Gideon Grip.

“ Of course. Well, I came across the old man
Bonner than I wanted to form his acquaintance,
and ina moment I was surrounded by all the
magic of the East. There were serpents that
ran over the floor with fire darting from them,

et they did not burn anything. managed to
and my way to a corridor where I caught up a
stick and threatened to brain the man who had
{chewed me. Gods, I see him yet—a tall hand-
some fellow who looked only about half lndian.
He wore gloves that shone in the dark, and
wherever he placed his hand I could see a mark
of fire which was the exact imprint of fingers
and thumb.”

“ Was it a whole thumb?” asked the breathless
Gideon, who had not missed one word of this
strange narrative.

" It looked very short, I recall that now; but
never mind that-it is immaterial.”

-' The Gotham detective did not think so, but he

' did not interrupt Hark Hudson.

“1 went at him with the stick, but before I
could each him out went his hand, and down I
went 1 he a stone.” ‘

“ Inge? the place from which you have just es-

ped

" N9. I did not fall very far, but in a moment
n the ground opened beneath me, and I took an-

' other tumble or rather a‘ slide. Then I landed
* v 'where I was when you heard me digging with a

piece of steel for life and liberty.”

“It was hard work Hudson, eh?”

“It was deeper to, but I would have worked
my hands off to he wrists to pick my way out
of that place'of gloom. When get out of their
clutches—l mean when I break through the web

I, of the Indian spider-J think I’ll emigrate, for
this won’t be a healthy climate for me.’

“ We must get out.”

“Yes; but you havon’t told me your story,

‘. Gideon Grip.”
» V ,The detective proceeded and narrated all he

 "_ thought it was right the man should hear and
. at the end of the story he felt a hand at his
wrist.

,. “ You would better abandon the trail,” said
‘5 V the voice in the dark.

“ Why abandon it?”

“Because there is too much infernal magic
connected with the houses up there. You can’t
ht a man like the one I saw in the corridor.
on can’t make headway against the Black
" Hand. Itis bound towin,~_and from what I know
or it ismerciless.”

. .‘ “ 9 will see about that when we are once
; . more above grcu nd,” said Gideon Grip.

‘Q'I‘hat means thatlyou are going to fight it.
‘ It means more than that for you.”

“ There was no answer. .

For some ’time the two men thus strange]
"met stood in‘ the dark, speaking not, but eac
- one busy with his thoughts and when Gideon
‘ spoke again his voice had a strange sound.

5‘ “How long were you in the old house?” he

asked.

' “Probably half an hour.” —

, “’“Dld you see no one but the man with the

magic hand?”

(, “Thus was all but I heard the voice of a

.,-'woman and would have discovered her if I had

" not met with the ill-fated adventure that con-
ed me to this place.” ‘ ,.

 

 
 
  
  
 
   
 
 
 
  
  
 
  
 
  
 
   
 
 
  
  
 
   
  
 
 
  
    
 
  
  
  
  
  
 
  
  
 
  
  
 
  
  
 
 
  
 
  
 
  
  
  
  
 
   
 
 
  
 
  
  
  
  
  

\

 
 
 

‘ The voice of a woman?” ’

“ A young girl’s, rather. I heard it distinctly
and was listening with all ears, trying to make
out from whence it came, when I got into
trouble. It seemed to me that somebody was
going through with something like an incanta-

  

  

or the glrl was talking like one talks in a dream
age! I could make out here and there a word.
' all me, Iris,’ said the voice of a man, ‘tell me
what you see now. Tell me if the detectlvs is on
also trail and what he looks like.’ "
,-“ Did you hear such words?” cried Gideon
\ .heard them plainly and the girl-—”
:“What did she sags“ *

Bark flu could reply the root of

   

     

  
     

' the dungeon seemed to open and the two men

, that some one was under a weird influence, .

 

  

looking up, saw above them in a blnze of mystic
light the grinning face of a man.

“ Gods! that is the man whose hand makes
a mark wherever it falls!" cried Hudson falling
back with a blanched face and chattering teeth.

 

CHAPTER XVII.
SOMEWHAT STARTLING.

THE two prisoners of the dungeon gazed at
the apparition overhead, and wondered amid
profound silence what it meant.

Hark Hudson had declared it to be the face of
the man wnose touch was fatal, and the detec-
tive recognized it as the face of Paradox, the
man he had caught with Captain Derrick the
night the hunted man lost his life in the new
hiding-place.

Was Paradox the Man with the Maime’l
Thumb?

For a few seconds the eyes looked down upon
the two men, and the strange light revealed the
whole face, then it was withdrawn, and dark-
ness once more settled down upon them.

“ We shall hear from them now,” said the
ferret’s fellow—captive. “ We shall feel the hand
of the infamous Order, and it looks as though
we are destinued to perish like rats in a trap.”

It looked so to the Secret Shadower, but he
did not give away his fears, and the man who
stood near him in the gloom was silent.

“Let us go back into my nest and see what
we can do there,” suddenly exclaimed Hudson.

They crept through the opening in the wall,
and’ the detectiVe’s companion guided him to a
certain spot, and told him that beyond the wall
at that point seemed to lie another cellar like
the one in which they were.

“ Why not try here, then?” said Gideon Grip.

“ Sound the wall.”

The ferret did so, but drew no comfort from
the investigation.

“ This must not stop us,” he said. “ We must
get out of this trap, or perish miserably where
we are.”

Five minutes later they were at work, trying
to dig under the wall that rose before them.
They had nothing but the sharp bit of steel
which Hudson had discovsred in the dark, and
their own hands.

What would they find beyond the wall when
they got there? Would an avenue of escape be
opened up to them, or would they but find them-
seIVes as deep as ever in the web of the mystic
spider?

Every now and they the detective or Hudson
wohld go back to the other" dungeon, and watch
for the opening of the trap-door in the ceiling. «

They seemed to dread the eye they had seen
above them in the singular glare, but as it re-
mained aloof they took courage and worked on.

Fortune for once seemed to favor both the
detective and the young adventurer.

They got beneath the wall; they wriggled
their bodies through the tunnel they made,
and came up in another room as dark as the
one they had left.

“ This is another part of the trap,” said Hud-
son, disconsolately. " We have only reached
for our pains another room of the dungeon of
doom, and , rats we are until the cat comes and
catches us.”

Gideon Grip, feeling the walls of the new dun-
geo , made no reply. He was making a circuit
of she place in the dark, feeling ovary inch of
the walls with eyes in his fingers, as it were, and
ever sense an the alert.

A1 at once he stopped and turned to where he
thought Hudson stood.

, What had he discovaredl

"‘Come here, Hudson.” ,

In an instant the adventurer was at his side.

“ Here is a door.” '

“ N01 Not a door in this wall?”

“ Feel here. Let me have your hand.”

“Heavens. you are right! There is a door
here but it is as solid as a rock.”

“ it has beef walledyp, that is all,” answered
the detectiv . ‘

1

' it seems to have served its pur-
pose and Wes closed years ago perhaps.”

“ We can’t force it.”

Hudson was losing hope,

“We must force itl Beyond this door is lib«
arty. Once beyoxid it and we will be out of the
trap of the Black Hands."

“ Do you think so?"

“ It must be so. There are but two houses in-
habited by the enemy, and the room beyOnd this
door must be out of the pale.” V

They attacked this new barrier and worked
an hour without makiu an im ression.

Hudson fell back an cursed) aloud the fate
which had thrown him into the accursed trap-

“ This is what a fellow gets for poking his
nose into business that doesn’t concern him.”

“ But it concerns me,” said the detective.

" Ohiyoa; you went out in order to solve a
mystery which you have had in hand. You
want to know who killed Dorsey Drake.”

“ I Will know!" ‘ I

“Then, you must force that door yonder.”

“I know that,” '

 

   

_. “Not only that, but you must further
‘. than that: you must get out f 1; under-
V2031me meet th your hand

mad. he".

i
I
x

which can only clutch, not kill, the hand whose
mark is death.”

“ You are right, Hudson,” was the answer.
“ I promise you that I Will meet that hand and
heat it at its OWu game.”

“ But it is not alone. It has help, help as-
deadly as it is itself, You don’t know what is
behind that latal touch.”

“I will find out.”

“ Why was Drake, the nabob, killed, if killed
he really was?"

“ He was after the secrets of the five old books:
written in ome ancient cipher of the far
East.”

“ For no other reason?
Gideon Grip.”

“Dorsey Drake was killed for another ren»
son and, once out of this trap, I will show the
World why.”

“ But you won’t tell me?" laughed Hudson.

There was no reply for a moment and the
ferret looked toward the man whom he could.
not see for the darkness that filled the old cham--
ber.

“ You Won’t tell me,” repeated the man near

You are a detective

1m.

“ I will tell you but not here,” said Gideon.
“ You don’t seem to acknowledge my title to my"
own secrets.”

There was a quick turn on Hudson’s part and
the next moment the Secret Shadower felt a
hand at his wrist.

“‘ I do, but you don’t trust me—that is it.”

“ I don’t know you, Hudson. I only know
what you have told me about your life. You
have been a secret-hunter by your Own confes-
siOn; you tried to get at the secrets of the Black
Hands and that is why you fell into the trap
that caught us both.” |

“ We’ll drop this for the present and go back
to work.” .

Gideon Grip was willing and they return to
their attack on the walled-up door.

After awhile they seemed to make headway
and when they paused again they believed that
they would soon be beyond the portal.

In this they were not mistaken, and at last;
they dragged their bodies into another chamber
as dark as the first.

Half an hour later two men crept from the
mouth of a cellar and drew their soil-stained
forms up into the glare of a lamp.

Out at lasti

Gideon and his companion looked at one tip--
other and felt their blood leap through their
Veins.

Out of the House of the Grinning God and
once more under the lamps ol Gotham!

They did not remain long on the spot of their
exit, but hastened away and parted in the
shadows, HudSon to return to the little house he
had left for the almost fatal adventure and
Gideon Grip to slip back to his little den.

The detective felt like a new man'.

He ran up the steps and opened the door.

The room was dark and he struck a light.

“ They have been here!” he exclaimed, taking
in the room in a sweeping glance. “ They have
been looking for the links I have picked up,” and
he fell to work investigating the doings of the
hands that had been to the'room during his.
absence. .,

The detective was thus engaged when he was
startled by a footstep beyond the door and cross—
ing the room with a determined look he opened
it and leaned toward the figure on the thres~
hold.

“You, Miriam?” he cried. “Come in,” and
in another second the Woman Across the Street
was in his den.

Miriam still showed the effects of her last
adventure when she fled from the face of the
Man with the Valise, and for a moment she
stood and trembled in the detective’s presence.

“ I have been here before, but you were not-
here.” she said. ' I

" No,” smiled Gideon “I was detained else-
where on important business.”

The Woman sat down and for a moment look-l
ed without speaking into the man’s face.

“ I have left the house.” she said.

“ What has, happened?”

The recollection of the last scenes there sent a:
shudder ovar her frame. _ ,

“ I wouldn’t go back for the world. The
house is more than haunted. I am in hiding
now—hiding from a crime and the hand of a
man.”

“ From a crime? Haw?” , ‘

Miriam told everything mid the detective
listened without interruptin her:

“ Do you think the draug t killed Zuleikaf”
he asked at the end 9! MN “0'7.

“ I am sure it did.”

' “ And you are sure that the man you en.
countered onthe “I'th W89 the Man with the'
Valisel” .

“ 1 could not how been mistaken. He came
upon me when I walnflymg from the ache}- scene
and I fled tram bim- ‘

“ Are you "ad! to tell me your etc now i”
asked'Gideo . “ You recollect that was to.
meet you at ris’s house and you were to tell me-
ever thins!” , ‘

u made that promise I know—” ’
idiot you wish to break itl”

. n A. 3, ‘.

  

 

 

 

     
        
       
 
 
     
    
    
 
  
         
       
      
 
      
   
    

   

 

    

   

 

e dean Gimp ’ 

a A -..<

' .« ,
‘ .V, r .., .l.
. , .

 

The woman was silent.

‘ “ Miriam, does the telling of your story reveal
the true reasons for your long vigils at the
window opposite Dorsey Drake’s house?”

She looked at him with a sudden start.

“ Who told you ?" she cried.

"You do not answer and I have a right to my
opinion.” .

“ My God, must 1 tell you that well-kept
secret?” and .she clasped her hands and grew

ale.
“I won’t press you, Miriam, hut, usI live,
evéry secret connected \\ ith this mystery is to be
made clear, no matter what stands in my way i”

Miriam Marx seei J6(l to turn away and threw
a glance toward the door.

n another moment she was upon her feet, her
tail figure erect and a pair of burning eyes
fastened on the cool detective who was letting
her have her way.

“ You Will find it out, anyhow, so why should
I keep it back?” she suddenly cried. “ There is
no keeping anythingr from a man like you, Gid-
eon Grip. You have no mercy; you are as mer-
ciless as the Silent Circle and the Black Hands.
I watched at that window for six long months.
I seldom left my post, but kept it through thick
and thin.”

“ Watching Dorsey Drake, the hunted victim
of the Hand?"

“ Yes, but be was more than that. Ah, I see
there is one secret with which you are not yet
familiar, but you are Very near it now.”

She took a nervous turn across the room,
, watched like a lynx by the Secret Shadower,
 and when she 'came back to him her face was
' ‘ tenser drawn, as if by a spasm of pain, and he

 

 

 saw that her hands were buried in her bloodless
I Z; palms.
g; “ I was the spy of the Silent Circle, which is

the toe of the Black Hands,” she said, bending
over him with her blazing eyes. “I have been
in its grip for years, but that is not all. I was

laying spy at that window on my own account.
I) was trying to shield that man from the doom
that impended,”
j ; ~ G“Tryiug to shield him? ,You?” cried Gideon
; n . x

i r "‘pYes. I was watching the enemy as well as
playing a hand for the Silent Circle.”

“ Then, you must have thought something of
Dorsey Drake.”

She seemed to smile. Drawing back a pace,
she looked at the detective and studied his as-
tonishment for a second.

“ Did you ever hear that Dorsey Drake was
’ married?” she asked at last. '

“ I know that.”
" Ha, you found that out, did you?” she ex~
‘ ‘ claimed.
l “ Yes.”
l “Do you know what became of ii; wife?” '
. “ There is in the library a record'of her death.
I found it among his private papers.”
“ He married after he came back from India.”
' . “ The date of the marriage tells that.” -'
i “ He married because he thought he had found
‘ a woman who could help him nd the elixir of
3 life." \ ‘
l “ Well?”
i ' Miriam laid her hand on the detective’s arm,
l
l
l

 

and her face came closer than ever.

“You have never been sharp enough to dis-
cover this wife l" she said.

There was no answer.
r 3 “ Let me SolVe this little mystery now, Gideon
‘ i Grip. I am that woman !”
l ‘ The detective started, and looking up into the

" face above bun, saw that it was cool and colle

ed.

~ “ Before God’, the Avenger, I am Dorsey
l i; ) Drake’s widow!

“ And the mother of Iris?” .

u Yes.”

 

V CHAPTER XVIII.
’ f. ran saanow's BOLD PLAY.
‘ Ir Gideon Grip had suspected this, which he

f ‘ ' woman’s face all’the same. ,
“ You know now why I watched at the win-
dOW.” said Miriam. “I am not old, but old
enough to be the mother of that girl, who is in
the ils of the Black Hands. lavas very young
who I became the wife of Done Drake, but
our happiness did notlastlong.‘ , t was rudely
broken 3 ortly after Iris’a birth, and we drifted
apart, I leaving bin: t_he_chlld_, and he going
back to the bane of his life, his foolish search
for the elixir which, instead of keeping” me in
his body, let out the soul that dark 11 ht. Iris
dreams not of my relation to her.’ benever
was told who hcr’mother was, and Dorsey Drake
died without revenlin the secret in any Wily.”
“How could you ve under the same mo:
with your child withom betraying yourself?"
‘~ ’, " I made steel of my nerves ” was the answer.
‘91 looked at her with eye. ot er than those of
a mother‘s. I never told her by word or deed
that she might be near the woman who brought
her, into-the world. It cost me many 613808.
but I‘ carried it out.) I was not the mother
there. I was simply Miriam the spy of the
Silent Circle. When I new 7‘ Man with tho
,Valisceomc out of thehouoa " might, I’could

ya.

 

  

   

       

   had not, he would have fallen back from the i

 

have sworn that a dead man was behind him,
and I saw the boy Iris sent for you. You have
seen Something of woman’s work in your time.
You don’t know how I longed to enter that
house and, folding my child to my heart, tell
her all, and then stand in the presence of the
dead.”

Gideon {hip waiti -‘ “or the woman to proceed.

“.'.ilOllgii of this! l'he story of what I know
may come later on.
Silent Circle."

“ And hunted by the Black Hand, too?”

H Yes.”

“ Do vou think the Hands know that you are
Dorsey Drake’s wife?”

“‘i'hcrois no tol"ng what they don't know.

 

I am still in the grip of the '

The man whose hand leaves a mark is cunning ,

and deadly. HO be? for n comrade in this game
of mystery and death ti: {li‘ad of the old band
which lost the book of >1 ni-‘C‘ years ago in India.
L'bey Cull him Sukkar.”

“ Who told you this, Miriam?”

6‘ The head of the Silent Circle—the sworn
enemy of the Black Hands.”

“ And you want to get beyond its reach?”

“ i do. I have hid from the face of Paradox,
that’s what they call him.”

“ The Man with the Valise?”

“Yes. 1 say I have been hiding ever since I
saw him on the street. He has the step of the
panther and the hand of death. You did not
see it on my husband’s face, but Iris did.”

“ I saw it on Derrick’s skin and on the wall
alongside the stairs leading to his room.”

“ It leaves a mark wherever it falls—that is
the dread virtue it contains. The man who
owns that hand is at once the fiend of more than
one crime.” ‘

“If: he an East Indian, Miriam?”

“ How should I know? I have never been
near him; that is, I have never been let into the
secrets of his life. I know from what our chief
says that he is at the real head of the Black
Hands." ’

“But the stealthy footstep that follows the ‘

marked victims of the Brotherhood ?”

“That is not his. You forget old Sakkar."

“ The person who admitted me to the House
of the Grinning God was an old man.”

“ Wiry and thin, but lOuking strong for all
that?”

‘5 Yes."

“That was Sakkar, the priest of Vishknr—
that was the man who promised to follow Drake
and Derrick until they were'dead—slaiu under
the eye of the Brotherhood.”

“But when does the Man with the Deadly
Hand come into the game?"

Miriam clutched the detective’s arm.

“ I will tell you. That man has another nio-
tiVe.  is playing a two-handed game. He
has the power to iizesmerizeand charm. You
know him the serpent charms the bird that ap-
proaches it? That is the way Paradox works.”

“' He has found his bird, then i” ,

“ Heavens, yes! on say on saw at the
House of the Grinning God t e figure of Iris
in a mystic light?” 4

“ I'did.”

“ It was Iris. It was my child, deep in the
toils ot' the Black Hands. What will the out—
come be if the Hand is permitted to go on? Iris
will become the wife of Paradox.”

“But she has a lover.”

“ What of that? He knows nothing o'f what
has occurred be and the mention of Dorsey
Drake’s death. ‘ e willnot be back for a meat
and Paradox is playing his game. He belongs
to the Hand for a purpose. He has been to
India. He met there the old man called Sak-
kar. He drew himself into his confidence,
Heaven knows how for when Sakkar went that
far he broke one of, his oaths. Well, Paradox,
the Man with the Valise, is gaining a foothold
on Iris's heart.”

“ But Man??? the girl go to the House of the

Grinning _

“ The spell, the spell of that accursed power!”

cried, Miriam. ‘ You cannot estimate its
ri .’ ' , '
g “D It must be terrible.” . '

“ It is‘more than terrible. You have never
seen'the'inside of the secret room which Iris
has fitted up in Indian style in her own home.-
You he meant seen her swalloiv the mysterious
drug which changes skin and nature and drives
her to the nest of Sakkar and there make! her,
for the time, a priestess of Vishkar."

“ Woman, this sounds like a dream,” said

-

the ferret. “Over in India, where all is mysti- .

clam, it would not appear so startlingmut here in’
America-4n the heart of New Yer —”

“ Here it looks impossible, does it?” broke in
the woman. “,‘I lfnow it does, but it is true.
You should see Inn in her double life. When
'she is herself she wants on to hunt down the
hand that took the life ogtho man she called her

, ian, for knows not the true relation-
ship that exists between them: but there are
timcl in her life when she in another 
when she is. to all intent! oudpurpocec slave
of the goddess Violator.” ‘ v i ,
i wonthp lopked  land was
n acoquttlng so irw A,
with awn: cry, hounded acro- the and
I Iliad .hor’hMOn‘flie 1a   _ ,

     
    
 

 

 

of twoti ‘ hunti each other lathe

    
    
  
   
  
   
  
  
  
  
   
   
   
  
   
   
    
   
  
   
   
   
 
  
  
   
   
    
  
    
  
  
   
  
   
   
  
 
 
   
  
  
   
  
   
    
   
 
  
       
  
   
    
      
  
   
   
    
   
    
  
    
  
   
  
   
    
 
    

“ Did you hear it, too?” she cried. “Did you
hear the {cotstep of the old panther “it'd the
tawny skin€~the stealthy trend of Sakkai‘, the
huntei? I did.“

The detective was at her side and he opened
the door.

.{0 one was there.

“He cemes and goes like a shadow,” she
laughed. “That is a secret which he guards
with consummate skill. It will depart from
him only when he dies, if he ever succumbs to
death.”

Miriam and the ferret stood together looking
down the steps that led to the street below, see-
in;; nothing but here and there passing felt on
the sidewalk.

" Don’t you think Iris should be aroused?" he

ke .

“What, told that she is in the grip of a power
from which ere long there will be no escape?”

“ Yes." "

“ I dare not tell her,” and Miriam shrunk back
from the man of trails. “ I dare not enter that
house again. You know under what circum-
stances I fled from it? You know that 1 left
Zuleika on the floor with her wild death—stricken
eyes glaring at me—dead, in part, by herown
hand, I know, but I see her all the time. No—
me, I dare not tell heri

“ But the hand might close for the last time
On Iris. The man with the fatal touch might
make her his wife.”

There was no answer. The face of the watch-
ful Woman grew whiter than ever, and the de-
tective waited for her to recover.

" Iris should be warned, but would she be—
lieve? She swallows the strange drug and be-
ciimes the priestess of Vishkar, and when its ef-
fects puss oil? she is Iris once more—the giil who
wants you to hunt down the Black Hand.”

“I shall go straight to the mark now,” said
Gideon Grip.

“ I need not warn you."

“ No, Miriam. you need not. I have been in
the clutches of the Black Hand. I have seen
the fiery sirpents of magic in the Hon of the
Grinning God. I have felt on my ti: out the
same band which I believe was the last one that
ever touched Dorsey Drake-the hand with the i
maimed thumb.” ‘

“ It has a maimed thumb,” said Miriam.

“I have picked up, link alter link, of the
chain of guilt. I have never had a case like
this one."

“ No man-hunter ever had.” i .t

“ I realize that it is a dangerous one, that I I 1
am now under the ban, that I will be hunted by l
the owner of the hand that leaves a mark
u hereVer it falls, especially on the human skin.
TLis man is now known to me as Paradox, and
a paradox he is—a paradox of mystery and
crime.” ‘-

“ Yes,” smiled Miriam Marx, “and until
your hand has him fairly in its grip I will not
be safe.” 

“ You must hide.”

“ Derrick bid from him. You found Captain,
Derrick a place which you thought secure, yet
the Hand found the poor wretch, and on his
face you saw the mark that startled Iris. Gid-
eon Grip, there is nothing in this game for you ', '
—no reward to be expected, Iris is really poor;
The money which Dorsey Drake won he spent .
in his foolish experiments. They called him ‘
rich, but he was not. The Black 'Hand cares
not for riches, for Paradox has access to the .
riches of the East, for is he not hand in love ‘
with Sakkar, who has but to ask to have p need
in bill’s lap the Wealth of the Brotherhood of Vish-

ar ,v :-

..“ I ask no reward more than the pleasure to 
boderived from the knewledge of standing vioo ' , , 1
toriouc at the end of this famous m story, and 
Iaving Iris from the grip of the Blue Hands.” ‘

“ The trail lies before ou,’_’ said Miriam. “ If
you fail I swear to take t up.” .

“ You, Miriam?” -

“I swear it! I can find this man-I can for- t
rot out the secret disguises he assumes and can
discover him at work.” 1 .

“grim Hand might touch you,” smiled the do:
tact ve. ' - , '_ 

“ True.” and the woman shuddered in spin of “
herself. “ I have counted everything. 
what it can do for I have seen its wmk. They
live together in the House of the Grinning ,
Old Sakkar, as tawny as a black lion. hastbo
co of one and the wisdom of o serpent.
Paradox knew: all about the mysteries ethic.-
dark arts; he had woven the coils about Iris, and. ,'
the girl is completely in his power. The drug I
w she swallows changes her into an‘ In;
d1.“ 1! v,

“ Where does she obtain it!" “ f

“Ask the two men who inhabit the house of
St. L—— street; ask old Sekkar and hisimp!"

' “ But there must be an end to this mtgl'y.” ~

“The chief of the Silent Circle says ‘ t Iris 

in her little box all there is of the 
in this coun ~

I?

“ Do you lifeline that, Miriam?)  v. V
“I don‘t know but wh 'notf 80 V I
think that the Silent CircIe is as «tuning and-
powerful as the Black- Hand. They remind me»

I

s

   
   
   
    
      
  

 

 

Fowmzrm~mn nun—n .-- mu: Wun— -..w---«<-w-

 

 

 

 

16

Gideon Grip, the Secret Shadower.

 

 

session of tho box and the vial; he wanted me
to steal it.”

“ Well?"

“ I could not go back to that house with the
memory of Zuleika lying dead on the floor."

“ Where is the box?”

“ it stands on the oriental dresser in the secret
room."

“ Give me the secret of getting to that cham-
ber."

Miriam looked at the detective as if she could
not credit the evidence of her ears.

“ Are you going to rob Iris?” she asked.

“ Isn’t it the only way to break the spell, if she
has all of the mystic drug?”

“ But the risk—the risk to Iris?"

“ We must take risks, Miriam. We must play
as hold a hand as is being played by the in-
famous Brotherhood of Vishkar. Will you‘
or will you not, tell me how to find that room?’

Miriam drew toward her a bit of paper, and
began to draw thereon a diagram of the whole
interior of the house on the avenue.

Gideon Grip looked on silent until she had

finished.
“I think I can find it," he said. "Now,
woman, go back to your covert. Keep out of

the way of that hand.”

“ And you.” she said, touching him, “ on do
the same. For if you fail us the game lost,
and the death-toucher will complete his work i”

 

CHAPTER XIX.
ran BREAKING on THE srnLL.

Gmszon GRIP how did something never done
before in his detective career.

He had listened to the feet of Miriam as they
went down the stair and out into the night.

He knew that the hunted creature had gone
back to her hiding-Mac‘s, and that she dreaded
the power of the ilack Hand, which seemed to
have overshadowed her life like a tree of death.

He locked his door after Miriam, and took
writing materials from a drawer in the table.

He put down the whole story of his hunt up to
the present hour. He began at the beginning,
the death of Dorsey Drake, and followed himSolf
step by step through the hunt for the mysterious
murderer. He told a good deal about the dead
man’s past; he brought in the discovery and
death of Derrick, narrated his own adventures
in the: House of the Grinning God, and said
something about Miriam and Iris.

lndeei, there was little to be guessed at at the
end of the narrative spun in his den by the
bloodhound of New York, and more than two
hours passed over his head are he rose and
called his work finished. '

“ If I don’t come out of this hunt alive—if the
Hand gets the better of me, and I feel its touch
to my own destruction—some one else can take
up the trail where I leave off, and follow it to
the end,” he said. “ I have here detailed ovary-
thing a detective should know. I don’t think I
have skipped one important detail. All, all is
here. and I know that the man to whom I shall
lea've this is capable of avenging me if any one
is.

He sealed all this and placed it in an en-
velope which he in turn made fast. then ad-
dressed it to another detectiva, and with it in
his bosom, tprned down the light and went out.

Half an hour later a man, sleeping in a small
room much like the den the detective occupied,
was awakened by a rap, and getting up, he
found ’at his door the face of Gideon Grip.

"Here, take this, and kee it sealed for at
least a week. If at the on you don’t hear
from me, open it and set.”

M But—J!

“ No uestions, Captain ‘ Cerberus ’ ” said
Gideon, rawin back. “ I am 03. Pleasant
dreams,” and saving the ferret to stare at
what he held in his hand, he went down the
steps and once more was on the trail of the
Black Hand.

With agile tread Gideon Grip turned his face
toward Iris’s home.

He had memorized the diagram which Mir.
iam had drawn for him, and with the full in-
tention of finding the hidden apartment, he on-
tered the house on the avenue, wondering whom
he would meet there, if any one.

The dim light burning at all times in the
house reeted him as he climbed the stair, and
when e found himself in the upper hail he
ate pod and listened.

he location of Iris’s chamber was knewn to
am: but he had another mission than listening
ere. '

This time there was no Miriam to come up the
steps and surprise him by touching a secret but-
tou in the we l;and as he thought of the struggle
in the laboratory, he wondered what had become
of the body of Zuleika the maid.

v By and by the keen eye or the detective, guided
by the di ram, found the hidden button and a
I door slew y opened and helooked intoa room
the presence of which he would not have sus-

r pected had it not been for the Woman Across
the Street.

He entered without hesitation and closed the
softly folding portal after him.

. A very dim light burning near the wall die
I closed enough of the chamber to tell him that he

 

 
  

was in the hidden one, for tiger-skins covered
the floor and the grining visages of strange be-
ings in ebony surrounded him on every side.

Gideon Grip stood for a little while amid
these surroundings and then moved toward the
rich oriental dresser whose outlines he could
make out by the light.

He had come to rob Iris of the mysterious drug
which changed her nature for a time and which
she swallowed whenever she desired to enter the
House of the Grinning God.

He knew the danger connected with the step
he had taken, that he crossed the threshold of a
room never before profaned by the foot of man;
but the game was worth the candle.

The silence of the tomb seemed to pervade the
whole house.

A less courageous man than Gideon Grip
would have heard his own heart heat, but he
had steeled it anew and was ready for the des-
perate and the dark.

He stood at the dresser with his eyes fastened
on a tiny black box which stood there between
two strange things that looked like skulls cut
in black ivory.

It was not much longer than his hand and
about fiVe inches high.

Was it true that ris kept in such an ex
place the drug to which she came on certain oc-
casions?

Any thief could carry it ofi’, could even hide
it In his pocket; but perha sshe relied on the
secrecy connected with the idden chamber.

After eying the box for awhile the ferret
reached out his hand and touched it.

At the same moment he received a shock like
that from an electric battery and he fell back
with a start. '

“ What infernal magic is in this room?” be ex-
claimed. “ But pshawi I am here to save Iris
and a shock sha’n’t keep me from my work.”

Again he laid his hand on the box and took it
up.

It was not heavy and when he carried it near-
er the light he saw that it had in the lid asetting
of oriental ems.

Gideon rip opened the black box and saw
lying on a tpillow of emerald alittle bottle which
his eager ngers rasped.

“ Miriam was right. It is here, sure enoug ,”
he said.

In another moment he had the bottle out of
the box and was holding it up before the tiny
blue of‘ gas. ,

It seemed to be nearly full of a colorless liquid
which appeared thick and lazy in flow and he
looked at it for some time.

“ What can’t those mystics do in India?” he
remarked. “There is no telling what is in this
bottle, but we know enough to know that it con-
tains the work of a human devil.”

All at once he heard a sound that made him
turn instantly and with the vial in his hand he
draw back and looked across the room at the
person who had come in.

There in the light stood a figure which at-
tracted the detective from the very first.

It was Iris!

The tall form of the handsome girl was visible
in the li ht that prevailed and the ferret saw
how wh t6 she was.

A man in the secret room!

Who had found the hidden button and pro-
{gned the precincts of the tiger-rugged cham-

l i

For some time neither Iris nor the detective
stirred.

Suddenly the figure of the young girl came
forward and her hand went out toward the vial.

“ Give me what you hold in your hand i” she
cried, “You must not rob me.

The detective smiled. She had not recognized

im.

“ what do you want of iti” he asked and
then with a cry she fell back her beautiful
eyes seeming to fly from her head and her
form in a tremble. _

“Is it you? Are you the invader of this

room?”

She stood like a statue near the door and
Gideon Grip advancing, answered:

“I come to save you, Iris. I am here in the
interest of justice and vengeance.”

She did not seem to comprehend, for her face
twitched and her hand was bleeding.

“You must go! Justice and vengeance are
not in this room,” she cried. “The trail you
seek is not here. Go! I am mistress here and
under this roof, if nowhere else, I will be
obeved.” I

H" quivering finger pointed toward the door
and the detective looking at her, saw how ex—
cited she was.

“Iris, you don’t know the web into which
they have dragged you. You are in the toils and
this accursed room—” '

“Silence! I am mistress here."

“ But you sent for me the morning of the
eleventh; you said to me: 'Dorgey Drake has
been murdered. Hunt down the hand that
touched him.’ You saw on his face the mark
of the hand of murder; you persisted in this de-
claration and I wasinclined to call it adelusion
but since I have seen the mark an self. aud .i
have been in the toils of the Black and.”

, “You have?" ,. ,, I a ‘,

   
 
 
 
 

  

 

“Yes. I know something about the motive
that led to Dorsey Drake’s death—I know that
you have been drawn into the coils of the ser-
pent which came from the land of the cobra and
the home of the Thugs. I have picked up, link
by link, the chain of guilt; I have discovered
that the hand which touched Dorsey Drake is
enmeshing you—”

“ I am not in the game at all. I am but
Iris, the child of unknown parents, for he would
never reveal my parentage. I have set on on
the trail of crime. I have told you that want
the murderer of my guardian brought to light.
You once told me that whenever I was in trou-
ble I should come to you.”

“ But you are in danger now.”

“ In danger? I?”

“ You! In my hand I hold the cause of much
of it. I have taken from you box the vial of sin
and mystery.”

‘3 Who gave you the secret key to this room i”

There was no reply. The fair girl was fast
becoming bolder, as if she realized the despera-
tion of the battle she was fighting with her
own ferret and she came t0ward the detective.

“ You have tracked me!” she cried.

“I have not, but I have seen. I have never
dogged your footsteps from this house, but I
have picked up the trail nevertheless. You
must not blame me for doing that, irl.”

Once more her eyes fell to the via and became
fixed there.

“ Do you want this, Iris?" asked the ferret.

She held out her hand.

“ Is this all there is of this drug?”

“ It is all. There is not adrop in this country
outside of that bottle.”

“ If you lose it the spell is broken, eh?”

“ The spell? What sgzlli”

Iris passed her hand fore her eyes likea per-
son in a trance.

She seemed to reel.

“ For God's sake, don’t rob me!” she wailed.
“ Will you take from me all that is life in
this World? Will you, you, Gideon Grip,
sworn to avenge my wrongs, snatch from me
the elixir that makes me forget the touch of the
Black Hand-—”

“ But which makes of you a prieste of
Vishkar’i” he broke in. “I will do even that,
Iris."

The next moment something flew from the
detective’s hand. It spun across the room and
struck the wall with the sharp sblVer of shattered

lass.
g It was the bottle, and the spot it left on the
wall was dark a moment and then faded out.

Iris uttered a wild cry and staggered toward
the place where the bottle had broken. Her
limbs seemed' to lose their power there and
with a determined efi’ort she 'lued her lips to the
spot and tried to drink in t e fumes that rose
from the liquid.

Gideon Grip looked at her a moment and then
turned toward the light.

At that moment he heard a noise which took
him to the concealed door; he reached up and
touched the button, for he would leave the girl
to herself now that he had rescued her from the
power of the strange drug.

A minute later he was on the stair and half-
way dowu he stopped and looked over the bal-
ustrade.

In the light below stood Zuleika, the maid.

“ I wish you could see this, Miriam,” said the
ferret to himself. “ I wish you could see your
victim alive.”

All at once a man up red at aneika‘s side,
and the detective drawmg back eyed him with
the scrutiny of a tiger.

“ ’Tis he!” he cried. “ It is the owner of the
maimed thumb. It is Paradox!”

He saw the tall and handsome man‘bend over
Zuleika and clutch her wris

" Are you sure there is no an in the house?”
he heard. “ Do on know the detective? Have
you never seen deon Grip, the ferret Iris put
on the trail?”

What Zuleika said he did not bear, but he
saw Paradox send a lightning look up the stairs.

 

I

CHAPTER XX. i
MIRIAM'S MIDNIGHT vrsrron.

GIDEON GRIP fell back to the wall.

He did not want to encounter that man in
that house. _

He glided to the hidden button which 0111:.
former visit he had seen Miriam press and in a
moment he had vanished.

What Paradox did in the house he knew notb

He left it by the Secret stairs and inashort
time was out on the streets of Gotham.

He had been successful. He. had broken the
bottle which held ‘ the powerful agent of the
Black Hand and Ins was out or the 9, ii.

At least he fondly believed, solem y thought

so.

Meantime Miriam Marx, clinging to the
shadows of street and alley, had gone home.

She had buried herself from the Black Hand
in a house hard for the shrewdest detectxva to
find, and there she hoped that the eye of the
.p%would not find her out. ~-

hen she reached the house she locked the

  
  

 

 
 
  
 
  

' will sit up till morning for: there is no telling

l

‘

 
 

Gideon Grip, the Secret” Shadower.

1'7

 

door and sat down. The room was cheerless,
but what of that? It was home and a hiding- 4
Hear. " ‘
1 She thought over what she had told the de- i
tective and wondered if he would be successful

in his attempt to rob Iris. i

Iris was her child. The secret was out at last
—-torn from her by necessity, and she had not
omitted any thing in her past life. i

Would she ever get to fold Iris to her heart— l
t’) tell her all about her mother’s life?

She did not know. She almost feared not.

The night wore and Miriam, chilled though I
she knew it not, for her thoughts chased from
her all feeling of cold, sat in the same chair.

At last she started up.

“ It must be ‘midnig t and I haven‘t felt the
flight of time,” she exclaimed. “I wonder if
the detective has returned. If it weren’t for
showing myself on the street, I would go back
to his den. I want to know if he went to Iris’s
heuse—if he found the secret room and robbed
her of the drug."

She went to the window and looked down into
the alley where but little light lay.

It was full of shadows and Miriam standing
there did not see the one which was not
thrown by anything inanimate.

Crouched in one corner of a niche of the un-
even alley was a man whose eye had not left
the window of the hunted woman for some time. j

His eyes were bright and gleaming and he?
had seen every shadow on Miriaiii's panes.

Miriam Marx looked down into the alley for
some time, her thoughts as buy as her eyes.

Presently her eyes became busier than ever.

What a place that all \y would be for any one
to watch t e window from!

The idea came to her like a flash of light and
remained with her.

She could not get rid of it.

By and by she went to her door and made
sure it- was bolted.

Then she turned down the light. turned it so
low that the whole room was a dense shadow
and took the chair.

“ I won’t go to bed to-night,” she said. “ I

 

who might come."

Miriam had a dread of the Black Hand. She
feared that, having told her story to the detec-
tive, she might have had another listener, and 3
that if she closed her eyes, the fatal fingers ‘
would come and terminate her existence.

In a short time she heard the striking of a l
:l ck and counted twelve strokes.

“I thought so. I have sat up a long time and
can hold out till morning,” she said, with a faint
smile, and her thoughts went back to the detec-
tive.

Another haur passed, and she varied the vigil
by goingto the Window and looking down into
the alley. It was dark now and all was shadow
of the densest sort.

Poor Miriarnl With her secret in the keeping
of another. she was not safe.

At last there came to her ears 9. sound which
made her start. It was not at the door, but
near the window.

She listened and looked, but the outlines of
the window as it was to be seen between her and
the stars was all that met her gaze.

Five minutes later she knew that some one
was on the narrow ledge of roof beneath the sill
and that that something was not a cat.

Miriam gradually grew composed. The very
desperation of the situation seemed to give her
nerve.

She stood erect with something in her hand—-
something she had not been without for years;
adagger whose point was like the point of a
needle.

She took a step inward the window and waited
there. The noise was still heard.

In a little while she advanced another step and
sto ped again. '

he could novv see that the sash had been
raised and felt on her face the cool morning air.

Presently there appeared at the window the
outlines of a head which she knew was that of
it man. '

Miriam leaned toward it and made sure that
it was about to be thrust into the house, then
with the agility of a cat, she sprung forward
and clutched at the apparition.

There was a sharp cry by the man thus at-
tacked and instead of fallin from his perch he
lurched forward and, to t e. woman’s horror
landed in the room.

All this was the work of a Second and when
Miriam fell back and stared at her visitor she
felt evsry dr0p of blood in her veins congeal.

The man she had met on the street was before
her! She faced the dark-faced owner of the
maimed thumb!

He bent toward her looking into her face as it
was revealed in the spark that burned near the
wall and Miriam returned the look.

“ oman. don‘t you know better than to re
sist s?” be asked.

There was no answer. -

“ You are not safe anywhere. You are in
the coils of the Hand and yet you fight as with
all our might.”

hen the woman found her tongue.

“ Why shouldn’t I fight you?” she said. “ Tell

 

 

me who has a better right to fight the Black
Hand.”

She glanced at his hands and saw that they
were gloved, that they were slender, almost
like her own, but not a vestige of them was to
be seen.

“You will tell me what I want to know.
You will speak when I ask you a question.”

“ What is it?”

“ You Were to see the detective. What has
he found out?”

The face of Miriam Marx lighted up witha
defiant smile.

“ I don‘t betray him i“ she said.

“ Ha. you don’t? You prefer to feel the
touch which you know is fatal?”

He put out his hand as he spoke and Miriam
saw that it was the one with the maimed thumb,
for that member was short, as if it had lost a
joint.

“The time has passed for me to fear your
hand,” she went on. “An hour ago I would
have sat here and let you touch me as I believe
you have touched others. But now I am ready
to fight to the end, for you have roused the
tiger in me—”

“ Ha, on have tiger blood in your agile body,
Miriam Iarx? You had the virtue of patience
for months when you sat at the window and
watched the house on the avenue."

“ But the blood was there. You havcn’t for-
gotten the night you entered that house?”

He did not speak.

“I was at home, and if you had opened the
dloor’you would havebeen daggered on the thresh-
o d

“ You were waiting for me. then?”

“Yes, I was ready. I would have asked no
questions, but I would have finished you on
sight."

“ Then, it was lucky that I changed my mind.
But, let us come back to the detective. You
told him something to-night. You set him on
the new trail; you made a robber of him.”

“ Did he find it 3’” cried Miriam starting to-
wai'ldr’him in her eagerness. “ Did he break the
3P6

It seemed to her that the face before her grew
darker than ever, that the eyes snapped, and the
gloved hand moved nearer like a serpent creep-
ing upon its victim.

“Curse you, Miriam Marx, you robbed us by
your tongue!” he exclaimed.

“ And by my hand as welll” she cried, ex-
ultantly. “ I drew for him the trail to the
secret room.”

“ You showed him where the hidden button
was?"

“ Yes, yes.”

“ Your triumph shall he short-lived. You a
now in the shadow of the death others have felt
—you are at the edge of the river that flows
w thout a sound.”

She threw a nick look around the room.

“ But, after a 1, your work was not very suc-
cessful. While the ferret carried out your doc
signs, he fell in with the Black Band.”

A strange cry broke over Miriam’s lips.

Was it true that the detective had failed to
escape from the house after breaking the spell
that held Iris in its power? Had he fallen by
the fatal hand, and was the same hand to ex-
tinguish her life like the snufiing of a candle?

“ no did a part of his work well, but the es-
cape fuiled,” said the Maimed Thumb.

" Then you found him?”

“ Ha, what aguesser you are, Miriam Marx i”

She said no more. The old fear of the Band
was coming back and she shuddered, wondering
if he noticed it. K

Again he came forward. The step he took
carried her back almost to the wall.

She could go no further and knew it.

“ Woman, you are about to die. You shall
lie in theli ht hgainst yon wall with the mark
of the Blue Hand on our face. You shall fee]
for the first and last time in your life the touch
of the fingers that kill.”

Miriam,straightened and looked into the face
which was very near just then.

“ Can I?” passed tlirou h her mind. “ Has
any one ever baffled this nfamous hand! If I
stand here and look at him a moment longer I
shall sink at his feet half dead with fear. I
must fight him ('1' die b ' the touch that killed
my husband, Derrick an Gideon Grip.” _

She threw into the s ring that carried her
forward the last efforts 0 a desperate venture.

Miriam Marx, more than half tigress, went at
the man, fell upon him like that striped monster
and, taking him by surprise, bore him half-we
across the room and had him on the window-si 1
before he could get second breath.

Not a word fell from her lips. She was biting
them through in her rage, and the next moment
she had seen the body of the midnight visitor
fall downward to the bed of the alley.

Then she fell back herself and with a cry that
seemed to tear every overstrung nerve she sunk
to the floor in a swoon.

Just then the clock struck one.

CHAPTER XXI.
A FATAL BLUNDER. ,
Warm Miriam Marx name who! the swoon
she looked about her and by degrees mine to

 

 

the conclusion that she was still in the little
room where she had encountered the Man of the
Maimed Thumb, and, best of all, she was out of
the death grip.

She remembered having thrown him from
the window, and, crossing the chilly apartment,
she looked down into the alley, but saw nothing
of her visitor.

“ The fall did not kill him, for such rascals
have as many lives as a cat,” said Miriam to
herself. “I am not safe here now that he has
found me. I must hide again—I mustkbecome a
fugitive from the shadow of that hand; but
whither shall I fly this time?”

She did not know.

She believed that the man had dogged her
footsteps from Gideon Grip’s den, and if that
was true, would he not turn on the detective as
well and finish him?

The thought was quite enough to freeze the
blood of the half-dead creature, and she waited
long and almost breathlesst for day.

It came on leaden wings, but came at last.
and Miriam, creeping to the wind0w again,
stood there awhile, her white face glued to the
pane, while she saw the light brightening the
sky above the city.

She did not venture dawn for a long time.
At last. fearing to remain there another mo.
merit, lest the same dark hand would come to
the door, she disguised herself as well as she
could with the poor materials at her command
and slipped out.

Miriam argued that the Maimed Thumb
would not be on the watch during the day, and,
with this hope in her heart, she glided off, tak-
in care to avoid as many people as she could.

She hardly knew where to go.

Indeed, she had no particular hiding-place
picked out, for she knew but little of the city.
She dared not go back to the vicinity of the
detective’s den. for the Man with the Maimed
Thumb had told her that Gideon Grip had fallen
into the power of the Brother hood, yet she could
hardly believe that.

She knew that he had gone to rescue Iris from
the spell of the strange drug, that he had made
his way to the nabob’s house on information
which she had given him, but the Unknown had
told her that he had fallen into the hands of the
enemy.

If that was true—if he had not deliberately
lied to her—the game was ended so far as the
ferret was concerned, and she—Miriam—was
practically h lpless as against the Black Hand.

In course 0 time Miriam reached the vicinity
of the river.

In the cold light of day it ran black and sug-
gestive to her frightened heart.

She drew near, looking at it as the chilly wa-
ters swished against the soddened piers, and all
the time found herself being drawn closer by a
hand which she could not resist.

Nothing but the thought of Iris, her child,
still in the grip of the monster, held her back.-

She stood on the very Edge of the wharf and
looked dewn at the inviting river.

It had drowned more than one grief, why not
hers! It had carried seaward on its merciless
bosom more than one secret, and had been a pans
gen for a thousand human ills, why not for

era?

She drew back with a shudder.

“ No, I won’t let the accursed water temptme
too far,” she said. “I have something to live
for. Iris is still in the coils of the serpent, and
the detective may be alive.”

She retreated, for to have remained there a
minute longer would have meant self—destruc-
tion, and the thought of Iris and Gideon Grip
took her away.

Once more she sought out a new hiding-place.

She was hurrying down anarrow street when
she was touched on the arm, and taming with a
quick start, she beheld face to face with herself
a woman of her own age.

There was a wild, blood-shot eye which told of
a night of carousel, but the hand on her sleeve
did not loosen its grip, and Miriam looked at the
wretched creature with an eye of pity. 3‘

“You must be running from the cops,” said

the woman. " You appear to be fearful of be-
ing ulled in, ha. ha, ha!”
' iriam, beating down her first impulses, told
the woman that she was not fleeing from the
police, and then found herself invited to accom-
pan the woman home. .

“ don’t live in a lace. but it’s home all the
same,” she said. “ am just around the corner,
and there‘s room for two or up.”

“Why not?” thought Miriam. “ This may be
a God-send. They would never look for me in
this part of the city, and would not expect to
find me demiciled with this creature.”

She signified her willingness to go with the
woman, and three minutes later she found her-
self in a small room which, while indicating
poverty, was neat and clean.

“ I’ve been there myself " said her benefactor,
looking down into Miriam s face. “ I’m not an
angel, and it's been a long time since I was, but
never mind that. I haven home here, and they
know that Ma‘g Mellicent is better than she
looks, they do.

By degrees Miriam’s heart warmed to the

woman, and it was not long before they hadex- i . “

  

 

 

 

 
 

iguana  
“"_ ‘ r .q .

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mm”. wry: m... -~=.,...m-
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' Gideon Grip, the Secret Shadower.  '

 

 

changed stories, Miriam telling her new-found
friend all she thought she ought to know.

“ You can have a home here, hill 1 don’t think
they will ever find you in this house,” said Mag.
“ I’ve been living here these ten years, and no
one has ever had curiosity enough to look be-
yond my threshold.”

A hiding- place at last! Mirinni’s fears fled,
and the longer she remained in the house near
the river, the easier she felt as regards the
shadow of the dark hand. _

At lust she asked Mag if she would go and
look for Gideon Grip, telling her to climb up the
stairway leading to the detective‘s den and if
she found him in to tell him that she (Miriam)
was safe and where she was.

Mag agreed and armed with a note which
Miriam hastily scrawled set out on her mlSsion.

“ She’s a queer one,” said the woman to her-
self when she found a. square between her and
Miriam. “ I pick her up on the street and take
her home and she tells me a strange story about
being hunted by a terrible‘enemy. It may be,
for she had a frightened face when I found her
and the color hasn't come back yet.”

Mag Mellicent went to the stairway where she
expected to find the Secret Shadower, but the
moment she entered the hallleadiug to it she
fell back, fora man was coming down.

“Melibe it’s him—.the man I want to see,”
said Mag. “l’ve nech seen him and if I find
him here, so much the better.”

She stood aside and waited for the man to
come down.

“ Are you Gideon Grip’i" said Mag, taking
from her bosom at the same time, the otter she
had brought froni Miriam.

The man stopped and transfixed her with his
cold gray eyes.

“Iam Gideon Grip,” he said. “What is it,
woman?”

“ I come from Miriam and she sent you this,”
and M handed him the letter which he took
with an signed glee.

“ She’s with you, eh? Well, that’s good.”

’ " Yes, sir, I picked her up on the street this
morning when she was flying from a foe and
took her home where she’s safe from the hunter.
I like Miriam already and she can have a home
with me as long as she cares to stay.”

“ Where are you i”

Mag ave her number while the gloved bands
which s, e watched o .ned Miriam’s note and
the eyes wandered to t eagerly.

“ I sha’n’t forget it,” he said.

" But what news have you for her?” asked
maig. " “ She wants to know how you got along
an —

“ She does, eh? That’s natural. Tell her
that I got along first-rate, that everything is
moving smoothly and, above all things, keep
her with you if you can.”

"I’ll do that, sir, for I want her to escape
from the enemy and will do all in my power to
shield her.” ‘ ~

Miriam’s friend turned back and the man in
glovesaccompanied her to the door.

“ You’re going back to Miriam now, are
you i” he asked.

“1 am. She will want to know how I got
along and is anxious to hear from you.”

A smile appeared at the lips of the man and
in another moment Mag was going back.

She was in no haste to st back to the wo-
man she had left in her little house, and in-
stead of mbving along in that direction she
, took another and turned up after awhile in a

distant part of the city where she proceeded
‘to drink some wine in a stall all to herself.

Two hours had assoi when she ran up the
steps to the room here she had left Miriam.

Opening the door she went in and stopped in
the middle of the floor with a strange cry.

Miriam was there, but did not appear to no-
tice her.

She lay back in the only rocker in the room

 j with her hands clinched and her eyes fixed on
, the door with the stars of a maniac.

“In God’s name, what docs this mean?”
cried Mag, springing forward and clutchin
Miriani's shoulder. .‘ Who’s been here while
was away?”

There was no reply and the stars of the
woman in the chair seemed to grow more in-

use.

“ What! you’re not dead, are you, Miriam?
You look like a dead person yet on breathe,
which is proof that'you’re still on t is side of the
grave and—"

Mag fell back look into the white face of

' the woman she had le talone, and at last went

A

: \l

 

I in, ain't dead she’s shamming and—4’ r
. and felt her

,  'ivac which did not seem to have the

ow... .
Not far from where she lived was a doctor
whom she found in his office and with him at her
‘ heels she returned to the room.
“ That’s her—that’s Miriam Marx,” she cried,
pointing at Miriam still in the chair. “If she

a}: the doctor bent over Miriam
u so. '
, doctor?"

She stopped
“ What is

j ‘ "I The man of medicine shook his head. "
.I r “ It’s

something uncommon,” he said at last.

nd then he began to ply Miriam with restora-

l .

I

A low 4,, I _ ;  
i._«_vj__lv._ ..; v. ~_U... fi’w.
wit-«(:7 a» imzcglidndfisi‘tW‘

 
 

 

desired“:

“ This woman must go to the hospital.”

“ I know that, and if she has no more she will

“ I’ll keep her where she is,” interposed Mag. | pas< beyond the spell unless—3’

“ I found her on the street and she shall be my
charge—”

“But she can’t stay here. It is one of the
strangest Cases I ever met with and—”

“ What is it—a faint?”

" It’s more than that.
god.”

“ Miriam drugged?" cricd Mag. “ It‘s impos-
sible. She was here alone and Wide awake when
I left. I told her to keep the door locked and
she had seen enough within the last twenty-four
hours to obey. I don’t think she’s been drugged,
and, then—”

“ Madame, this is no place for this woman.
She must go to the hospital.”

Finding that she could not have her way in

She has been drug-

the matter, Mag Mellicent gave in and in a '

little while Miriam, still in the strange state,
was carried down stairs and put into a wagon.

“ I won’t gl‘t to report her to-duy,” said Mug,
watching the vehicle . as it niOVeil oi‘l'. “ I
won’t get to tell her that I deiivered li+r note
to the detective; but I can tell him what hap-
pened to her. I wonder if I would find him in
the den no“ ?"

Once m’re Mag hastened back Over the streets
she had lately traversed and ran up the stairs
lending to Gideon Grip’s office.

She opened the door at once when a “ Come
in” answered her rap, but started back from the
man into whose face she looked.

It was not the same one she had met on the
stairs.

“Inwant to see Gideon Grip, but you are
not—

“ I am Gideon Grip,” was the interruption.

“I was here awhile a oand ave a man on
the stairsa note from iriam Iarx. He said
he was Gideon Grip.”

“ He did, eh? And you gave him a note in-
tended for me, did you!”

The truth seemed to flash through the woman’s
mind and the following moment she had drop-
ped, white-faced into a chair.

“ I see what I (linll I delivered it to the
wrong man and he must have beaten me home.”

Then she‘ told the detective everything and
Gideon with a. smile said:

_ “ It’s very plain. You gave the note to Para-
dox—the Man with tho Valise.”

“God help me!” cried Mag. “Ihave been
the death of Miriam Marx, the woman I would
have saved l”

 

CHAPTER XXII.
THE HAND OF' PARADOX.

THE House of the Grinning God stood dark
and silent.

Nothing from the outside told that it was in-
habited, but beyond the closed blinds, within
the walls of mystery, there was a light and a
human figure.

The form of Sakkar, the 1d man, filled achair
atasmall bench over whi h were scattered a
numkber of objects which told that he was at
WOT I '

A light from overhead fell upon him and re-
vealed him besides throwing a half shadow on‘
the nearest wall. -

The old man was along and his dark skin
shone in the light. ’

His hands were busy and moved from side to
side as he wrapped about a curious looking dag—
ger a dark thread which now and then glistened
as if it had a silver strand in its woof.

All at once he turned round and looked to-
ward the door which had swung open on its
oiled hinges. . *

Seeing the person who had come in, old Sak-,

kar looked at him with a strange halt smile at
his darkish lips an] watched him as he came
forward and stood side him.

The figure of the new-comer stood above the

- old man and a pair or shining eyes looked down

upon him.
' Paradox had come. i ' ,

The handsome man in gloves watched Sakkar
for some time without moving and the old Hin-
doo’s hands went back to his work.

“When you are through I want to talk to
you,” said Paradox.

in another moment the old man had laid
aside the dagger and was at the strange man’s
service.

“ Well, we have lost our priestess,” said
Paradox.

The eyes into Which he was looking  to
lose their brillant twinkle. _

“ Lost Iris the Child of Vishkarr’ha cried.
“ Impousibiel She is in the coils so long in; she
has sci-op of the drug. and she has enough to
last her a lifetime.” ,

“ If she isn’t robbed.” . .

Old‘Sskkar started and, almost fell from his

sent.
“If she isn’t robbed?” he sped. “Do on
mean total] me that-” 8“ y
“ Iris has been robbed.”
It seemed as". lthe irit fled from the soul
of the old wreteh no his ads shook. ‘
_, “ Thai-sis hi .—1_ a it in this country and
Obit,” I)!“ ‘ l

    

- said, at last.

more than you will tell.

 
   
 

 

l‘ZUnlms we can weave another around her,
e I? ’

“ That is it."

Sakkar the tawny villain shook his head.

“You mean that you can weave no other net
about the girl?” said Paradox.

“ I am powerless. I (lid not make the drug;
it came from the secret W( rk-shops of the
Indian wise men—those who w rote the bonkswo
lost years ago at the hands of the American who
has felt the hand of Vishknr,” and he glanced
a'tithe gloved hands that hung at his visitor’s
Sn 9. '

“That is all very nice,” snid Paradox, “ but
you are not a child in mystery. Ycu were
educated among the secret-makers cf the East—
you know how they kill and drew people into
the toils.”

“ You are up in mystery, too,” cried Silkkfll"
with a grin. " You can throw people. into a
trance that imitates death and While they are
there make them discover hidden secrets for you
~to track people all over a great city. And
yet you come to me for help!”

“ But I hold nothing in my hand like the
drm: which transformed lri's into the priestess
of Vishkar and kept her in our power,” was the
re IV.

R Who robbed her?” asked the old man.
“Who but the infernal detective!”

“ Why don’t you despoil him?”

“ I can’t. He destroyed the drug.”

“ How?”

“He threw the bottle against the wall of Iris‘s
chamber and it was broken.”

Old Sakkar seemed to take a long breath.

“ Did on see him do it?”

” No, )ut I saw the stain on the wall, and Iris
told me enough to let me know what had been
done.” .

“ This man is dangerous. He. got out of
your ,trup, and since then I haven't slept very
well.’

“ Do you fear him, you who know how to

, kill and not touch a man?”

“It is not the fear of the detective, for we
are taught to fear no living creature,” was the
reply. “ It is not that, i say. But, you see we
don’t like to have shadowan our track. And
this man who robbed Iris is still at large?”

“Yes, curse him,” grated the Man with the
Valise. 
b 0309 more old Sakkar glanced at the speaker’s

an .

“You want me to touchhim, don’t you?”
grinned Paradox. “I intend to do that, but,
first, I want Iris back in the pewer of the
Hand—I want something that will act like the
drug she has lost, and bring her to this house,
and "back to her role as the priestess of ‘Vish-
kar. ‘-

The head of Sakkar moved slewly, all the
while watched by the man at his side.

“ Is it impossible, with all your learning?” he
asked.

“She had all there existed of the drug in
America.”

“You gave it to me for her. Didn’t you
save none of it, not one drop.for an emer-
gency?” , ,

“ Not one drop.” .

Paradox drew back and eyed old Sakkar with
the eyes of a lynx.

The hands at
eager to go ’to Work, and the one with the
maimed thumb was sevoral times lifted as if
about to dart, serpent-like, at the old man at
the bench. ~ ‘

“ Then, I will have to do what I can,” he
“ The goddess has lost a priest-
ess, and we may fail all because the ferreh
broke the vial and spilled the drug."

There was no answer! ' -

“You rascally old devil. I believe you know
V You have lied before
and why Won’t you lie again?
from a race oi'deceivers, and you stand read
to do the bidding of the dark circle to whic
you belong.”

Paradox was looking at Sakkar with the blob .

ing eye (if .a fiend, and when he reached the
door he raised his hand and dice]: it at the
‘man at the work-bench. ,

The moment the door citsed on him Sakkar
looked round, and seeing that his visitor was
gone, slipped fmmthe stool and crossed the
room. .

His wrinkled fingers touched a button in the
wall, and thrusting his hand into the niche thus
brought to light, he drew forth something
wrapped in dark silk. /

This oh i; he swiftly hid in his bosomydud’
than unmet to the work-bench.  ,. ‘

Manama Paradox bad climbed tlicstdr, and
from the maps was watchin Sakku'. '

Handgun the visit tot e belch; the wall,
“.1 who the old ladies returned to the bench
be “pinned sutures went on 'up the flight.

,In a room e vs he stopped
dnwer of a small stand.
8115p
whic
drawer and went out.

  

You sprung,

and opened the '

ing from it halts dozen masks, ono‘of ‘
be selected, lier the rest to .

his side opened and shut as if I

 

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But he did not go back down the same steps.
An hour passed and then old Sakkar, havin
finished wrapping the dagger with the dar
thread, arose and crept from the work-shop.

His eyes had a strange gleam, and it was evi-
dent that he intended to quit the house.

He no longer seemed old, for his limbs were
agile, and his eye filled with fire.

He went out with a shadow at his heels, and
the man who dogged his footsteps kept him in
sight every minute.

“ He lied to me," said Paradox. “ The old ibx
is trying to cut loose from me, and ever since he
tried to steal the pages I cut out of the old book of
He is going t0ward iris’s house, and he
carries something in his bosom. I can see by the
way he places his hand there every now and then
that he is taking something precious to the girl.
What is itl—more of the drug? The truth isn’t
in old Sakkar, and the time is near at band when
I will cut loose from him and finish the game to
suit myself.”

Paradox shadowed Sakkar to the vicinity of
Iris Norman’s home where the old Indian became
as cautious as a fox, and when the shadow saw
him glide round to the side entrance, he stood
aloof, knowing that he (Paradox) could enter the
house without the old man’s knowledge.

Sakkar vanished, and the next moment Para-
dox did the same.

“ When you beat me you beat a fox,” said the
Man with the Valise. “ I haven’t been under
your instruction all this time for nothing, and I
knew how to play a hand as shrewd as any you
hold.”

Paradox stood inside the house seeing here and
there a ray of light, but nothing of the man he
had tracked to the place.

He entered the lab iratory and stood among its
shadows for some time, waiting for develop-
ments.

All at once he heard a footstep that came down
the same stair which he had used in getting into
the chamber. .

In another moment Paradox had ensconced
himself behind a curtain, and was ready to
see find hear - anything that should present
 o ' '

The door opened, and he saw a figure glide in-
to the place.

“ It is the maid—Zuleika, the holder of the se-
cret,” said be, seeing the person who had come
in. “ If she were out of the way there would be
one stumbling—block less. Trust a woman with
a secret and see it revealed just when silence is
most needed!”

Zuleika advanced to Dorsey Drake’s table and
turned on the gas a ove it.

“ I wonder what effect this will have on me?”
she was heard to Bay. “It was by an accident
that I discovered it in the hall. It must have
been dro d by Iris for it is the same sort of
bottle I’Ve seen her have in the secret room of
the tiger rugs and twin which she has drank to
turn the color of an Asiatic and then glide from
the house to the place on St. L —-— street.”

Zuleika as she spoke took from her bosom a
small bottle which she held up in the light and
gazed at some time without speaking further.

The eyes of the man behind the curtain snapped
like diamonds.

“In heaven’s name, where did that girl get
the drug?” he exclaimed. “ It is the same as
that which used to transform Iris into the
priestess of Vishkar, but the ferret broke the
other vial on the wall."

Zuleika heard nothing and saw nothing but
the vial clutched in her hands.

“ Why not try it?” she murmured. “ I don’t
know exactly how much she took, but the effect
was magical—I know that."

She opened the vial and moved it toward her

. ii 5.
pParadox glided from his covert and slipped

across the soft carpet. With one hand put for-
ward he approached Zuleika, his, eyes. seeing
nothing but the bottle near her lips.

All at once the girl threw back her head and
glued the vital to her mouth.

“ Here, I want thatl" cried Paradox.

Zuleika started back with a sudden cry.

At the same time his hand closed on her wrist
and held her as in a grip of, iron.

The next moment the bottle ailing from the
unmmstened lips of the high ned creature,
struck the table whose top was marble and to
the man’s horror broke and stained-the white-
ness of the slab! ’

“Do an know what you’ve done?” he cried,
his hon linking to the very bones of the girl’s

arm. “You have robbed Iris of her lifoogiving

drug. Where did you find it!”
1 i“; u the hall near her door,” stammered Zu.
e a. v

“ When?"

“ Not ten minutes ago. Iris must have dropped
it there and I thought I would—”

8‘ The devil {on did!” broke in the Man with
the Maimed T umb. “ Your devilish curios“:
has denied your (1003. You are going to do
here, Zuleika.

' She uttered a shriek that no; through the
whole house. At the some time she jerked back,
overturned the table which crushed to the floor.
and breakingbis hold on her, sprung euro. tho
momandmgono.  ‘ ‘fl-

.i »

wt 9"

,him the benefit of what

 

Paradox stood in the chamber alone, biting
his lips through and cursing his fatal luck.
He had lost again!

 

CHAPTER XXIIl.
GIDEON Gair‘s TRAP.

GIDEON GRIP, the man of many trails, pitied
the anguish of the woman who believed that one
act of hers had wrecked the life of Miriam
Marx.

When she became calm he saw her quit his
den and vanish.

“Miriam was visited b the old enemy—by
the Man with the Maimed ‘hnmb,” said the fer-
ret to himself when he was alone in the little
room. “ When she recovers from the effects of
that visit she will be able to give me a clew,”
and he went to the hospital ‘to which the unfor-
tunate mother of Iris had been conveyed.

But she was as far from telling anything as
ever, and when he looked down into the white
face that burrowed in the pillow he turned away
and was met by one of the surgeons in charge.

“ There is no hope for her unless the hand that
threw her into this state comes to bring her out
of it,” he said to Gideon.

“ What is it?"

“Tho working of some drug,” was the reply.
“ Ir. baffles our skill completely.”

Once more the detective looked at the patient
and grated his teeth.

He went hack—back to the trail with new res-
olution tugging at his heart.

“I shall now run down without mercy this
Man with the Maimed Thumb,” he said.

He knew the task that confronted him and did
not underrate it.

Having broken the bottle from which Iris
had drawn the double existence which she had
been living, he saw that the girl was still in
the grip of the Black Hand, though not so much
so as she had been, for it' it was true that he
had destroyed all of the drug, she could not be
thrown buck’iuto the second state and be again
the priestess of Vishkar and the victim of the
wiles of the old man who inhabited the House of
the Grinning God.

But at the same time there was on his trail a
man who had sworn to baflie him at every
point.

Paradox, fresh from his failure to snatch
from Zuleika the vial which he believed con-
tained some of the same powerful drug which
she had been using, stood on the street with
eagerness heating his blood.

He had seen old Sakkar come from the girl’s
home, creeping away in the shadows and re-
turning to the House of the Grinnin God and
had watched him to the Very steps 0 the mys-
terious abode.

“In that old wretch lies all that is cunning
and deadly,” said Paradox. “When I united
my fortunes with his it was agreed that I should
have my way in everythin , and I “as to give
could do, and he
was to let me have the benefit of his knowledge
of the dark and mysterious. It was a compact,
but he has lied to me—he has said that the vial
which Iris has been guarding and the one broken
by Gideon Grip, contained all there was of the
drug in America, yet he enters her house with
more, and, like a fool, loses it for Zuleika to

nd and break with my hand on her arm.
'lhere may be more of it yet. I can’t believe
the old Shiner at all. He lies like his tribe. “I
am going to know the truth now; I intend to
force from him the whole truth without equivo-
cation or—”

The sentence was not finished for Paradox
clinched his hands'end moved away.

If he had looked back he would have seen that
a man was watching him from the corners of a
pair of keen eyes.

Already the man of trails was on his track
and Gideon Grip, the prince of ferrets, was
watching him with the on erness of a leopard.

Paradox walked on unti he reached the front
door of a little house which he opene withom
ti); ceremony of a knock and, disappeared in-
s e. ' .

It was one of his numerous retreats and there
he was not known as Paradox, but by another
name which gave the inmates of the little house
no clew to his true nature.

He shut the door of a chamber behind him and
took a chair. . '

Keogh: on the gloves which be nearly always
wore, e fighted a cigar and then rung a bell.

In a moment the’head of a woman appeared
at the door and seeing him in the room she came
forward and stood near the table.

Paradox looked at her a moment and then
signed her to be seated.

“ You told me the other day that you didn’t
believe in mesmerism, I believe!" he said, look-
ing at her with his gray eyes, . r

“I really don’t remember what~ I: did tell
7 ” said the wen-an, wmwbfionfused,

“ t'me lee What you do eve in," and
Paradox leaned forward, at the some time mak-
in a page before her taco with the fatal hand. ‘
hi I! ahwsgcvmis ttfii: wionégn’in the cflhair who:

a preyan gr!) search end-rt
Man with the unlined  wa‘r‘da
for a moment eyeliner ‘ ' ' ’

i

  

 

“ With me all victims are the same. though
some are better trackers than others,” he re~
marked, at the same time touching slightly the
left hand of the woman.

“ What do you see, Nora l?" he asked.

The breast heaved and the head seemed to
turn away as it trying to break the spell of the
mesmerist.

“ Look and tell me what you see,” continued
Paradox. “ What has become. of the man with
the soft step and the dark eye?”

“ I see him,” said the woman, her lips barely
parting to let out the words. “ I see him, now
that you have told me to look.”

“ Ha, I thought you would see him bv and
by,” smiled Paradox. “ What is he doing!”

“ He is bending over a cot in a hospital
ward.”

“ Who is on that cot? Look sharp, Nora.”

“ A woman is there. I Can see her now. She
looks almost like one dead.”

“ Isn’t she dead? Make sure of what you see.”

“ No! she is not dead. She treathes and the
doctors shake their heads when they talk about
her to the man who looks on.”

“ Do they tell him that she will die?”

“They say that they never saw a case like
hers—that she is under the influence of some
powerful drug which. baflies them and that she
will never again be her old self.”

“ Then. they don’t tell him that she will die?”

“ I don’t hear them say that.”

“ Where is the man no“ i”

“ He is out on tl‘e street.”

“ Follow him. I won’t let them track you.
and you are safe while I am about.”

The mesmerist's victim drew a long breath of
relief and went on:

“ l have followed him to a room near the

river. I see him there with the woman who was
to see him some time ago. I can’t hear what
they say.”

S

Watch till he comes out of the house.”

“ He is out now."

“ Once more on the street?”

I‘ Yes.”

“ Don’t lose him.”

Paradox waited a minute before he spoke-1
again.

“I have found him again,” said the lipsof the
woman in his power.

“ What is he doing now i"

“ He is alone in achamber that looks like a
woman’s room. It isn’t the room where he met:
the woman who called herself Mag.”

“ Descri be the place.” ,

“The room is small and has a window that
looks down into an alley. It is almost bare of
furniture, and he has pulled up to the table the
only chair in the place." '

“ And is writing there?” _

6t 1768.”

“ Go and look over his shoulder. Tell me what
he is writing, Nora.”

“ He is writing something that puzzles me—her
is putting down some strange characters, and I
see now a bit of dark parchment like paper at
his side.
other paper, as if he were trying to decipher the
scrawl on the yellowish paper.” '

The face of Paradox was now tensely drawn...

_He had ltst color, but his eyes had an un-
natural flash. and he was watching the woman
in his pow-Hr as if he would. like to have touched
fiend unresisting as she was, with the deadly

an .

“ Is be working yet?” he asked, at last.

“Yes. He is working at the puzzle, as
before.” ‘

Paradox- rose and took the woman by the
hand. Leading her from the room, he came
lbagk in a moment alone and extinguished the
ig t.

“ What will she believe when she comes out
of the spell?” he said, with a smile.

The next moment he glided from the room, I ‘

crept down the stairs with the noiseless tread of
a anther, and went out into the night.

wenty minutes later. crouching in the same
alley by which Miriam Marx’s visitor had come
to her watching with sleepless eyes for the

dreaded hunter on her track, he looked up and I ‘ ”

saw a light in the mine little room.
' Making his way to the sleplng roof with the

nimbleness of a cat, he crept along it until he 
reached the sill where he clung and managed to . '

look into the room. ,

He saw seated at the table, and using the one‘ 
chair of the place, a man of the sort described ,

by Nora, his victim.
“ Here yet—the very

never missed him, but kept him in sight among

the shadows, and I am taco to face with the ‘

cool ferret—the man who is the sworn enemy of
the Hand.” .

If Gideon Grip had looked toward the window:  '

atthat moment, be m ht have seen the face
grinning there with al ,
handsome flend’s, but as he kept to his work, he
saw nothing. ’

       

ore bock’over the roof and vanished.
, o

nowghded to the front door ofthe house." 3'
nd, and found it unlocked, like the doors of thou-st,

He looks at it and then goes to the ,

man I want!” hesaid.  i
“ The girl did not track him‘for nothing. , She _, V,

a

Paul Paradox drew back from the window,

indict-apartmeut-houseootagwcltzs,  l

the demonism of a,  ’

  

 

.‘A-__;., .s.\_.H...l. .._._..,..._.....-,

Mn... .. _... .....,.......s .

a Gideon Grip, the

- “I v..- .y...‘ __.....-..

Secret Shadowé‘r’y 

 

 

The Man with the Maimed Thumb had come
to that door for mischief.

Slipping into the room he looked up the stairs
and saw no one to block his way.

Now he drew from an inner pocket a little
porcelain box long and flat, with the head of a
grinning serpent for its lid.

Touching a spring he opened the box and
, sprinkled over his glova a whitish powder,
r which vanished as it touched the kid, as snow
vanishes in the sun.

Having done this, be replaced the box and
crept up the steps.

In the corridor above the man found himself
among some shadows, through which he could
barely make out a door which seemed to lead
him to the room whose light he had seen from
the alle .

He atfvanced toward it and listened there.

A light burned in the room beyond. He in-
vestigated and discovered that the door was not
locked, and that the slightest push would open
it.

He waited there a few moments, and then
opened the portal.

Of eourSe the man he had seen writing at the
table was still at work.

What was his astonishment, when, looking
into the room, he discovered the room to be un-
tenantedl -

The sight sent a thrill over his frame.

Gone?

The detective upon whom he had crept like
the fox out of his wa i

It seemed incredib e.

The Man with the Maimed Thumb looked
awhile, with his teeth in his lip.

“ Curse him, he went out by the window," he
said seeing that the sash was up. “ He heard
me espite my cleverness, and is out of my way.
He went so hurriedly as to forget his work. I
will see what he was at.”

He entered the room and advanced toward
the table.

The parchment-like paper, which Nora had
described, lay on the table and under the light,
and he was about to pick it up when something
clicked on his ear.

“ A trap’s a trap, no matter who sets it!” said
a stern voice, and he found himself looking into
the muzzle ot a revolver held by the steady
hand of Gideon Grip.

Paradox, flushed to crimson by the sudden-
ness of the attack, recoiled and looked at his
enemy.

His hands fell back from the paper, and he
glared at the cool man of trails, whose pistol
covered his head with the certainty of doom.

“One step—one movement—and I will end
your life where on are,” came over the revolver.

‘ I don’t know ut that I should do it anyhow.
You are Paradox, the Man with the Maimed
Thumb; you are the co-plotter of the old devil
of the House of the Grinning God.”

“ By Jovel” laughed Paradox, “that’s com-
plimentaryl”

 

CHAPTER XXIV.
HUNTED AND HUNTER.
.Foa the first time in their lives the two men
stood face to face.

Nothing separated them, not even the table at
which the detective had studied the puzzle of the
leaves from the old book.

Paradox stood erect with his cool eye riveted
, upon the man who had promised Iris that he

would hunt down the hand which had left its
mark on the face of Dorsey Drake.

He looked arms the space that separated them
and into the eyes of Gideon Grip, the man of
trails.

They had met at last!

" Sit down i” said the detective.

The tall figure of the handsome man in gloves
did not stir.

“ Sit down! I will stand," continued Gideon,
and the revolver seemed to creep lower and was
as firme gripped as ever.

Paradox moved to the chair and took it; at
the same time sending toward the man who faced
him a look which would have killed if it had been
.a bullet.

In the chair, he laid one of the loved hands
on the table, but not the one with t e mutilated
thumb and said by his glare:

“ I am ready for you; go on.”

Gideon Grip took one ste forward and kept
the revolver in front of the see above the table.

, “ I have at last found you, Paul Paradox,
tracker of women and slayer of men," he said.

“Just as you like; you see I am at your
more ," was then‘eply.

“ ou have been trucked step by step for days.
I have devoted all my time to you. I felt in the
dark the hand you are hiding there.”

There was no reply.

“ Don’t you reco lect how you touched my
throat the night I fell into old Sakkar’s trap!"

i‘I recall nothing,” sullenly said the man in
the chair.

Gideon Grip saw how cool was the lion he had

ped. ,

l-Pe knew that he was face to face with the
coolest of his kind, that the handsome face of
Paradox was sphinx-like, and his cleverness with-

out a parallel.

  

 

“ You killed Dorsey Drake."

“ Fool! that man died by his own hand; the
doctors said so.”

“ You came out of the house at eleven that
night.”

“ Who saw me?”

“Miriam Marx.”

“ Will she say so now?”

These words were spoken with a grin of tri-
umph.

“Answer me,” continued Paradox. “If she
will tell you so to-night you might have a case
against me.”

Gideon Grip saw what he was driving at. He
knew that Miriam Marx could not tell anything,
that she lay at the. hospital under the influence
of a drug that baffled the doctors, and that the
chances were that a, rational word would never
again pass her lips.

" Miriam Mnrx saw you emerge from that
house. Not only that, but your secret belongs to
another woman.”

Paradox started.

Had this cool detective seen Zuleika, and had
the irl told him what she knew?

“ hy didn’t I finish her when I had the
chance?" he said under his breath.

Then he looked at the ferret and laughed.

“ You have looked nowhere else but up and
down the trails I have made,” he said. “ You
are one of these bloodhouuds with a single idea.
I suppose I could not convince on that I am not
the person who helped Dorsey rake across the
river. -

“ I have picked up link after link of the chain,”
was the reply.

“ You havs, eh? You are Very clever, but you
may have forged a chain of falsehoods.”

“ I have discovered your connection with the
Black Band. I know thata hand was seen on
the face of Drake, seen by Iris; that it reappear-
ed on the skin of Captain Derrick, the man who
heard at his heels at all hours the steps of the
tracker. I saw it there myself when he lay dead
in his last retreat. You also left the print of
your hand on the wall along the stairway lead—
ing to Derrick’s den. That hand was al“ ays
without the thumb. It was the right hand."

At that moment the right hand of Paradox
came into view, and the detective transferred
his gaze to it.

“ Do you think so?” queried the handsome
mystery. “ Are you sure you saw the riot of
my right hand where you say it was to seen?
Let us see.”

He tugged at the glove for a moment and then
threw it upon the table. ‘

At the same time he held up the hand thus ex-
posed and despite his coolness, a cry almost fell
from the ferret’s lips.

The thumb was there; not the slightest part
of it was missing!

Gideon Grip looked not at the man who eon-
lfronted him, but at the hand held up in the
i ht.

t seemed to give the lie to all his work; it
seemed to clear the man he had tracked so long
and with such pertinacity.

Paradox continued to exhibit the hand, hold-
ing it fairly in the light and looking over it at
the man who was nonplused as never before.

“ Are you sure you saw the print of this hand
on the face 0f the dead and on the wall? Are
you sure you felt it yourself in what you call
the House of the Grinning God? Beware, Gideon
Gripl A man may be too sure and be Meived.”

There was no reply and resting the suspected
hand on the table, Paradox continued to eye the
man who had caught him in a trap.

At last he pushed back the chair and made a
motion which the detectiVe uickly caught.

“ Not yeti" said Gideon rip.

“ What else do you want to say?”

“ I am not through with you yet.”

“ Oho, go on, then.”

“ You have a connection with the old Indian
who inhabits the house on St. L—— street. Do
you deny that?”

" Can you prove that as well as you can the
accusation that I carry a maimed hand?” grin-
ned Paradox.

“ I have tracked you to the old house.”

“ Does that make Sakkar’s com anion? Don’t
you know that even in this city, merican as it
is, there are people who worsh p the gods of the

East Indies?’
Gideon Gri knew that.
“ Because may have crossed the threshold of

the old Indiau’s house, must I become his tool?”

“You have been to India.”

Paradox smiled.

“ Who told you this? Who told you that I
have seen the temples and snake—charmers of the
Easti”

“ Never mind. You have seen them. all the
same. and your name is written in a book which
you know is in the keeping of the girl who still
inhabits the house on the avenue.” .

“ In the hands of Iris, do you mean?” cried the
man in gloves. ' “ You don’t connect that fair
creature with the trail you have been following
according to your story i"

“ Why not? When she has been in the
clutches of the terrible drug which changes not
only the has of the skin but the very nature of
its victims, why shouldn’t I compact her with

‘

’ 1.. ’ ti,

 

 

this mystery, which to-day baffles the doctors of
Gotham?” '

“ You may go too far with this.”

Gideon Grip looked, but said nothing.

" You hear me,” cried Paradox, stretching
forth his hand and covering the man of trails.
“ You may go too far, I say. If your are so
very eager to solve the mystery of the death of
Dorsey Drake, nabob and beggar, why don’t
you confine your hunt to the house under whose
roof he died?”

There was in the eyes of the speaker a gleam
which the ferret could not understand.

The next moment Paradox had risen despite
the gripped revolver and with the coolness of a
desperado who has counted everything was put-
ting on his glove.

“The next time be sure you have the right
man,” he was saying, glancing up at Gideon
Grip. “ Don’t see a maimed thumb where
there is none, and don’t track any longer a man
who can thr0w across your path a horror from
which even you, cool as you are, would recoil
with a cry.”

He fell back from the table as if nothing was
in the hand of the detective. He sent a last
look across the room and into Gideon’s face,
seeing there wonderment at the coolness he was
displaying.

“ You are not going to stop here, I presume,”
he went on.

“ This is not the and of the trail and I never
stop this side of that.”

“ By Jovel I admire your cleverness in
that. It t ikes perseverance to make a good
getegtive, but sometimes the best of you blun-

er.

“ There will be no blunder in the end.”

“ I hope not. I wouldn’t have you lose a
chance to rise in the estimation of the Inspector
——not for the world, Gideon Gri . But you
may look in the wron direction or the hand
that helped ,. Dorsey rake out of the world,
admitting, contrary to the doctors’ report, that
he was murdered. It is a long lane that turns
not to the man who erseveres. I Wish you
success; I do, indeed. on are cool and cunning,
but by Jove! you don’t want to track the wrong
man.”

All the time he was speaking he was slipping
inch by inch, and iniperCt-ptibly over the floor,
and belore Gideon knew it, his hand was at the
door and it was open. '

“ I bid you good-night,” he said. “ What,
you don’t want to detain me, do you ?”

Gideon had taken a step toward him and was
about to throw up the revolver when the hand
of Paradox shot out and covrred him.

“ All jokes aside, man, you don’t want to track
me,” he said. “I have submitted to this inter-
view, not because on had the advantage in the
start, but from a esire to tell you that you may
be looking up the wrong clew.”

“ The wrong claw?” echoed Gideon Grip, a
smile wreathing his face.

” You heard me. Why don’t you go back
and begin over? Don’t you know that when
some men of your sort get started wrong they
always stay wrong?”

There was no answer.

“ You must know, too, as well as I do, that
you have no proof against me—that you would

9 laughed at in cohrt, that the very hand you
have suspicioned shown there would toss your
accusation to the winds and s rand you on the
shores of defeat.”

The door opened and the figure of the man he
had tracked so long crossed the threshold and
vanished.

In an instant the detective sprung to the door
and threw it open.

taHe leaned over the step and looked down the
s irs.

At the fOot of the flight stood the man who
had escaped from his trap, and he saw a air of
trium hant eyes regarding him while he ookerl,

“ hon you get Miriam Marx to tell her story
you will do justice a favor,” came up the ste .
“ I think we understand one another now. f I
am hunted any longer I will show you atrick
you have never dreamed of, and if on keep on
the trail you Will wreck the life and blight the
fortunes of the lovely being whose ferret you
are by oath. Good-by, Gideon Grip!”

 

CHAPTER XXV.
run HIDDEN DETECTIVE.

FOR some moments after Paradox’s departure.
Gideon Grip stood in the middle of the mo
and seemed in a dee studY- °

He realized that t 0 cool head had beaten him
and that he had let slip through his fingers the
very man for whom be ad set a trap. Not only
this, but he had looked at the hand he believed
to be maimed. and had seen that the thumb was
all there.

What was the mystery about that hand?

Ten minutes passed before the ferret of the
city recovered from the interview, and even
than he left the room in a half-dazed condition.

Miriam was at the hospital and could tell him
nothing, or, at least, he had left her in that way,
and there seemed nothing 00.110 but to go back
to the old trail, or give it up

The latter resort was not to be thought of, for

   

 

 


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um... ... .l. ..

 

' hands turning the leaves of the book she had

".4

Gideo

. \l’

in

‘ Grip, the Secret Shadower.

21

 

 

he had promised Iris to discover the hand whose
mark she had seen on the dead face of Dorsey
Drake, and he would not stop short of that con-
summation.

He wondered how the beautiful girl had fared
sinc~ the loss of the drug which he had snatched
from her.

He was tempted to go back to the house on the
avenue and see for himself. Besides, he wanted
an interview with Iris, and he was desirous of
watching aneika under the roof that sheltered
her.

An hour after the scene in Miriam’s old hid-
ing place the detectiVe stood in Iris’s house and
no one seemed to be the wiser for his coming.

Thanks to the opportunities afforded by the
girl, he was enabled to enter the place unseen, and
now he stood in the laboratory, and was looking
through it in hopes of finding something which
hitherto had escaped his vigilant eyes.

How often had he gone to that house onlyto
see the mystery grow deeper and deeper, until
now he was as far from the solution of it as ever.

To him the home. of the girl, Iris, was as mys-
terious as the House of the Grinning God, though
it was not the abode of a man like Sakkar, nor
the hiding-place of a person of Paradox’s sort.

Whatdid Paradox mean when he said that if
the ferret stuck to the trail, he would doom Iris
to a terrible fate? What was concealed in those
words?

Did he mean that the Black Hand would turn
against her, and make its dreaded mark on her
fair skiiii—that it would finish her career as it
had the careers of others?

For some time the figure of the detective
m0ved about in the room to which he had crept
unobserved, and when he heard a door open and
saw a form glide in, he drew back into the shel-
tering sliadoiv of a curtain and waited.

This time the intruder was Iris herself—Iris,
the beautiful victim of the dark plot.

From his place of concealment the ferret
watched the young girl, and saw her slip to the
place where the sacred books were hidden and
touch the button which opened the little door in
the wall.

He leaned forward in his eagerness and saw
every movement.

Presently Iris turned to the table and took
her guardian's chair. '

He saw how pale she was, and noticed that her
lips were welded as if with determination, and
while he eyed her, her hand was pressed to her
forehead and she sighed.

“ It has been coming back to me by degrees,”
said Iris aloud. “ I see the events of that night
as though they were more than a dream. Ever
since the vial was taken from me by the detec-
tive, I have been liVing another life. There
seems new blood in my veins, but oh, the torture
1 endurei I see everything now as it happened
that ni ht. In God 3 name, why did I cometo
him an demand to know the truth which I half
guessed? What accursed hand led me to this
room, where he was trying to discover the
Elixir-rot life, but instead found the poison of

eath '

She stopped and leaned dyer the table, her

taken from the niche in the wall, and her eyes
seeming to start from her head.

“ Why hunt for the secret here? He never
found it, though he was learned in strange char-
acters, while I know nothing about them. But
I came here and surprised him. I remember it
nll now. The drug clouded my brain and made
me forget. Was that its mission? Did he give
it to me for that purpose?”

She rose and carried the book back to the hole
in the Wall.

“I wonder if there is another drug here as
potent as the one Gideon Grip took from me,"
she went on. “ I would find it and take all, that
I might forget again.”

The hidden detective saw her hunt among
the shelves of bottles for something which her
eager hands could not find.

He watched her evory movemen expecting
her to suddenly discover something; which, in
hopes of its being the object she sought, she
might put to her lips before he could prevent and
drop dead in his presence.

“ I can't find it. . They must have told the
truth when they said I carried all of it in the
little box. How foolish [was to keep it on my
dresser, but who thought the detective would
ever discover the- way to the chamber?” Who
told him? Zuleika?"

Iris turned toward the door as if she would
find Zuleika, the maid, and extort a confession
from her, but all at once she came back as if she
would search the room once more before quitting

t.

“ He was sitting yonder—in his chair and
his back was turnedto me when I came in,”
she went on, looking at the empty chair at the
table. “ He did not hear me and my voice told
him where I was. I see him now as he looked
when he discovered that I had entered the room
disturbing him, and when he sprung up and seized.
my arm, telling me that I had no right to in-
vade this room without permission his eyes
seemed to burn and his Whole frame 3 00k.”

Iris was silent for a mement and again pass
ed her hand over her forehead. -,

 

 

“ Why recall that horrid night?" she cried.
“Why tell these walls what they already
know?”

She began to walk the room like a caged
tigress, her beauty of the strangest kind the
detective had ever seen and her hands tightly
clinched. '

“ Did I really do it? Was the dagger Icar-
ried to this room—God ab0ve only knows why
—was that to be stained with the blood of the
man who took me from obscurity, perhaps
disgrace. and gave me a home, but not his
name? I remember how he forced me across
the carpet and how his hand seemed to burn
its way to my bones. It all comes back since
I was robbed of the drug which he gave me.
I recall the whole scene. I told him that the
time had come for him to tell me who I was,
but he laughed and called me a fool for want-
ing to know. I reached the door, but there I
stopped. He would have forced me from this
room and I felt my blood heat in my veins.

“Then all became dark or semed to. I.

drew from my bosom the dagger; I held it
over his head, but he
wouldn’t stab any one. I demanded to know
the circumstances of my birth; I threat-
ened him with the point of the blade at his
heart. I told
ancestry or have his life.
next! Did the blade fall? Did I drive to his
heart the needle point of the green-hilted
dagger? My hand was not wound about the
turquoise hilt for nothing. I entered this room
with a secret before me, am] the sight of him
suddenly maddened me. I saw nothing but his
fame, so full of resolution; I knew nothing but
the madness that tugged at my heart. My God!
the da ger must have fallen. I know that it
did falE I saw him fall back, staggering to
his chair, and I, with sudden horror in my soul,
fled from the room and hid in self in the Asiatic
chamber. I awoke there the next morning. I
sent for the detective; but then I “as in the
grip of the drug he tOok from me. He came,
and I told him about the mark of the hand on
Whose

W hat happened

Dorsey Drake’s face. I saw it there.
hand was it? Surely not mine.”

Iris ceased, and stood for a niomuet glaring at
the table, and the chair beside it.

“ Why not tell him all when he comes?" she
went on. “ Why not let this man of trails have
the true CleW to the death of Dorsey Drake?
He has been following a false scent long enough.
There is nothing in the future for me. Geoffrey
knows nothing of all this. My letters have told
him of the death of Dorsey Drake; he knows
that I am alone in the hOuse, and the time for
his return is near at hand. Why not tell the
detective all, and face the world as a murder-
essl I am free at last from the power of the
strange dru which Paul Paradox threw into
my path. here is in all America not another
drop of it. Gideon Grip broke the 3 II; but I
am under a worse one. 1 am in t e grip of
the hand of guilt. Merciful God, pity me!

Iris turned and rushed from the room. She
was gone in a moment, and before the ferret
could rush from his place of concealment and
detain her.

What he had heard and seen horrified him. It
seemed a terrible dream, a hideous nightmare
and now he seemed to understand the Maim
Thumb’s last words.

“ lf you keep on the trail you will doom the
loveliest of bein s to aterrible fate!”

Would he not Was it his duty now to go
On and show Iris up as the murderess of Dor-
sey Drake? Could he proceed, with that fair
girl in the toils, and e in possession of her
dread secret?

He stood in the room like a person in a trance
of horror.

“ My God, is all this true?” he asked himself.
“ Can she be the criminal? If she really saw a
hand on the dead face, whose was it? If she
killed Dorsey Drake, there must have been a
witness. This room has secret doors and hid-
den stairways leadm to it. Who was in the
house that night? here was the Black Hand
then?” i

Gideon Grip went t0ward the door by Which
Iris had fled {rain the chamber, but stopped with
his hand on the knob.

Should he’follow the wretched creature to her
room, and confront her with the terrible con-
fession he had Overheard?

Perhaps the dagger with the turquoise hilt
was concealed in the house—perhaps in her
boudoir. _

It would be a Witness against her.

He stood undecided at the door and felt the
momehts slip awai-

He could have guessed where Iris was, yet he
did not quit the room.

All at once he became aware that he was not
the only person in the darkened chamber.

Some one else had entered, and turning his
head h caught sight of a figure standing near
the l e ves. ,

Had Iris come back?

While the defective looked at the intruder,
who did not seem to see him, he stood, like a
status by the door, but with his hand no lenger
on the knob. . a

“ I wonder What the sauna. if amuingr' did

   

laughed saying that I 4

him that I would know my 

  

l a voice which he recogniZed. “ I wonder if she
l discovered what she was looking for—a drug like
E the one she has lately If st?"

: The speaker was Zuleika. .
! Gideon Grip recognized the tall form of the
1 handsome maid, the holder of Paradox’s secret,
I find the next moment he had advanced upon
i er.

l Her back was turned to him and she was
. looking with her keen eyes along the shelves as
I if in search of something.

| “ Zuleikn?”

l The girl turned with a slight cry and seeing
l him, fell back onlyto be caught by his hand and
I held as in the grip of a steel vise.

l Gideon Grip did not relinquish his hold on the.
! wrist he had captured, but led the girl to the

i table and was in the act of turning on the light.

I when she cried:

i u ‘l

I Don ti I know who you ire. I can see you
i well enough. 1n the name of heaven, .what do
3 you want?”

, “I want the truth,” said Gideon. “I want
; one of the secrets you carry in your heart.”

“ How do you know I carry any?”

“ Never mind that, girl. You carry them and I
know it. You know who entered this room the
1 night of the 10th. You knew because you are
of the kind who know everything that passes
‘ under the roof that shelters them. Who came
1 to this chamber that night?” "

He saw Zuleika weld her lips as if in fierce
‘ resolution and her eyes looked away for a mo-
ment.

“Girl, you sha’n’t quit this room with that
secret still yours alone,”sternly continued the
man of many trails. “ You know who was here
that night. You must tell me I”

' “ Or what?”

“ ()r quit this house in the grip of justice l"

Zuleika took a long breath.

:‘ Pid you See Iris enter this room that night?”

‘ did.
“ Any one else?"
“ God help me, I saw a man come out.”

 

CHAPTER XXVI.
ran GLITTER or—wna'r?
_ ZULEIKA was looking into the eyes of the de-
tective While she talked and her words as they
‘ were spoken bore-the impress of truth.
i “You saw a man come out of this room, did
we?” ' r

’7

“ But on did not see him enter?”

“ I di not.” /

“ What time of night was it, aneika?”

“ Shortly after he had left this room the clock
struck eleven.”

“ You were on the watch, were you?"

A sligh flush over-spread the tall girl’s face.

“ Not exactly on the watch, but I had seen
Iris quit her room, something unusual with
hernat that hour, and I wanted to see what was
n .

“ How long did she remain in this room?”

“ Not over ten minutes.”

“ Did you hear anything while she was here!"
There was no answer.

“ You did more than watch Iris that night,
girl,” said Gideon. “ You listened, as well.

“ Why should I try to deceive a man like you!
You know, anyhow. ‘

“ Go on. You listened at the door yonder, or
you were on the secret stairs—"

“ I was outside where I could hear somethin
of what passed between Iris and her guardian.

“ Was it a quarrel?”

“ It was something like it. He wanted Iris to
quit the room and she begged for a secret which
he POMEG.” ,

‘ ’here were you when Iris came out!"

“ Up in the hall among the shadows. She

seed me as she went to her room and could

aw touched me. with ease.”

“ Was she excited?"

“ She was as white as a shroud.” ,

“ What was in her hand?”

“ I could not see, though it seemed.to clutch
something which was hidden by the folds of her
dress.”

The detective was silent for a moment.

‘ “Did Iris remain in her room till morning!”
he asked.

“ I think she did.” ~

“ Then, she knew nothing of the visit to
Dorsey Drake of the man you saw come out of
this roomi”

I ‘,‘,I think not. He left the house immediate-

y.“ B the front door?”

or es.”

“ Who was that man, Zuleikai”

The girl fell back the full length of the de-
tecigive’s arm and her face lost every vestige of
co r.

There was the dread of something in her
eyes. A tremor went over her frame, her
hands shook and she glanced imploringl toward
the curtained shelves on the other 31 e of the
room.

“ Ydu know who came out of this room after

Iris left it,” said the ferret, coolly. “ Thatistho k: ‘,
You fear  ‘-

secret you don’t want to surrender.
the man who mane out.”

 

‘3);

sea

    
 

\

\ ’1' ‘0'

or.

 

Gideon 

ip, the Secret Shadfow‘err.‘

 

h...-

 

There was no reply.

Once more the glance of the terrified girl
Wondered toward the vials on the dead man’s
shelves and she shudderod again.

“ Let me go. I am feeling faint. There seems
to be a horrible odor in this room and I—I—"

“ I perceive nothing,” broke in the detective.
“ Zuleiku, you must tell what you know to me

, and perhaps to the courts.”
‘ “ No, no!”

She tried to break from him, but the hand of
Gideon Grip held her fast and she stood at last
in his presence with her lips welded and her eyes
In“ of defiance.

“ You will not tell me?”

“ I dare not. You know not the penalty they
visit upon the secret-breaker.”

“ They, girl?”

P‘ What was I saying? What did I say then?
My God, I am going mad. I can’t tell you who
that man‘ was.”

“ But you saw him emerge from this chamber
.after Iris came out?” .

it Yes.”

“You saw him button his coat to the chin
and walk from the house?”

“ Who told you he did that?” cried Zuleika.

, “ Don’t you know that there were eyes across
 , the way? Did you never see the woman who
',- watch at the opposite wind0w?”
 , “ I h vs seen her a thousand times.”

“Don’t you think she would be on the alert
such a night as that?”

j “ It would suit her to be there, I should think.
1, Then, why don’t you go to her for what you
7;, want?”

, fl, The detective smiled.

1'. I ' “ Because you are going to tell me, Zuleika,”
+5",  was the reply.

, There was no reply to these words, and the
4; hand of the detective seemed to relax its grip.
f‘You shall sleep on this, girl,” he said, his

voice losing some of its sternness. “ I won’t press

this question to-night. Go.”

y, , The suddenness of her release startled Zuleika,
‘ ’ g ' and for a moment she could not believe that she

' v ~ was free.

 

;_‘ Gideon Grip fell back, looking at her and
‘41”, v noting haw eagerly she turned to the door.

I 13:“) “You are free, I say, free to go your way;
 but the secret you carry may not be one very

lon .’
V Zguleika made no reply, but hurried from the
in room, and the door shut noiselessly upon her
‘3.  flying figure.
2 “The solution of the myster is in the keepin
of that creature,” said the erret to hinisel ,
alone once more in the shadows of that fatal
. , room. “ She knows who came out of this cham-
A. ‘ her that terrible night; not only this, but she
‘ knows whose hand dealt the death-blow.”
He quitted the house by the door in the rear,
p: -' 1 but in a moment he was looking at it from the
front.
In a little while a door opened, and a female
figure, well muffled, slipped out.
The eyes of the man-ferret got an eager gleam.
“So soon? I thought you would come out,
but not quite so swiftly,’ he muttered, at once
throwing himself upon the trail of the person
who hurried off, taking the middle of the side-
walk and flitting past all whom she met.
, Gideon Grip kept at her heels, but with a
A 1' v respectful distance between them, and at last
I“ «tracked his quarry down by seeing her enter
 ' a house which ha an unpretentious, non-sue.
‘ plcious look.
“ Who is in there, Z-ileika?” he asked him-
sedf, when he saw the hall-door close on the tall
‘ 2/ figure of Iris’s maid. “ Who is there that you
' must seek this house so soon after our inter-
view? Is there no way of seeing what takes
5'. v . place beyond that door!”
, , There seemed no way, for the door was look-
ed when he slipped up and tried'it, and the
house was one without a back bui ding with a

‘1 ‘ , slopin roof, and the keen detective was bafiled
, for at east once in his life.
. ‘ ' He fell to watching the dwelling, and at last
-»  ‘ saw'a light in one of the upper windows.

This was all he saw through theblinds and

for some minutes, completely baflied as far as

. looking into the house was concerned, he drew
. of! and fell to eying it with the patience of a

lynx. .
‘u ~ An hour passed and then the tall figure of
.aneika came out to lide back with her cloak
drawn closely about or persoii and‘ her feet as
swift as the gazelle’s.
“ Cool—headed enough now,” muttered Gideon.
.. “This girl is cunnin enough to baffle a level-
’ , headed man of trai s, and if I don’t take care
 , she will give me a good deal of trouble.”
1 i , He did not watch Zuleika far, but far enough
5", x "to see that she was going home, and, then he re-
‘ turned to the house from which she emerged.
_, 'v Sudwg he came face to face with a man
 who p . him like a shadow and the next mo-
3» , " ment he was looking at the figure revealed by
g “the light of the street lamp.
'. There was something about the form that
,, looked familiar and he turned and followed.
t. y: “ He came out of that house. That is the per-
‘ rson Zuleika visited awhile ago.”
. v The chase was quite a long one, but the ferret
* with his eager tread and cunning eye kept the

l .

  

» -r. i. . i.
“ ~ /    ' .dnU'
.24 iiifiifir‘s  g

 

 

quarry in sight and saw it lose itself beyond the
portal of the House of the Grinning God.

Gideon Grip smiled to himself at this strange
ending to the trail to which Zuleika had led him,
stopped and looked curiously at the house.

He had been across its threshold, but, while
anxious to track his prey into the dreaded place,
he was not going to risk his head among the

ricks of old Sakkar and his companion.

Above the door grinned the carved head of
the little deity and the exterior of the old house
was of itself dire enough to keep any one with-
out a great deal of courage from venturing
across the threshold.

Gideon Grip looked on some time, waiting for
some one to come out.

He was hoping that the man whom he had
tracked to the house would emerge and give him
another trail, but the moments slipped away
and the place remained as dark and mysterious
as ever.

The clocks in the near vicinity of the House
of the Grinning God struck eleven and Gideon,
the detective, was about to give up the chase
for the night when the door opened without
warning.

Secure in the shadow that sheltered him, he
stood and waited for developments.

Out of the house slipped a figure that looked
all around before it moved off, and when it did
So it had the detective in pursuit.

“That is the old wretch—that is Sakkar, the
Hindoo,” he said. “I will see what takes him
into the streets at this hour.”

Despite the many years he carried, Sakkar
was nimble-footed and sly.

He was clad in a loose-fitting suit of clothes,
half~0riental, and Gideon Grip smiled while he
follOWed him, for the garments rendered it im-
possible for him to lose his prey.

Old Sakkar led the cunning ferret a goodly
chase across the district that lay before them,
and at last reached the river, where his gait
slackened. .

Gideon saw the old fellow approach the pier
with one hand concealed in the folds of his gar.
ment. '

The quick eyes of the Hindoo took in every-
thing about him. He saw the shadows that lay
thick on the wharves, and n0w and then caught
si ht of the sleepy guardians of the city.

5I-Iis lithe, pantherish figure crept toward the
water’s edge. He seemed to creep among the
shadows, and for a moment was lost to si ht.

When Gideon Grip saw him again 9 was
bending over the very edge of the pier, his body
in the shadows, and all at once his hand went
up, and the detective saw something glitter for
a second as it was thrown into the river.

The next moment the figure of old Sakkar
had turned and was creeping back with eyes
that gleamed like the eyes of a Thug.

He passed the ferret like a shad0w, and Gid-
eon, running to the spot where Sakkar had
stood, looked out upon the river and saw—notho
ing

_.-—-

CHAPTER XXVII.
0L1) SAKKAR’S sacan'r.

GIDEON GRIP, standing on the pier with the
dark waves of the river dashing at his feet,
seemed to be for the moment at the end of his
trail.

Water hides a good many things, and that
which old Sakkar had thrown to the tide had
been swallowed up as though it were a stone.

Not a trace of it had been left behind to give
the keen-witted ferret a clew to it.

When Gideon turned back it was to find him-
self alone on the wharf with the old Hindoo out
of sight, and nothing to reward his gaze.

With a last look at the river, he went back
and up the street down which a few moments
before he had dogged the steps of the old serpent

of the East.
Unrloubtedl old Sakkar had gone back to the
House of the rinning God to report to the man

he had tracked to the place, and Gideon, with
these thoughts to keep him company, went back
himself.

“As sly as a fox and twice as crafty l” he
muttered. “ I will have to play a new band if I
want to trap you, Sakkar. he secret of this
night is locked in your bosom, and ou are not
the rson to give it up. I track Zuleika to
the case of the Grinning God, but she has gone
home, and you, old Sakkar, by this time are
nearly back to the den.”

It was true; the old Hindoo was nearly home.

When he entered the house he sto ped in the
dimly-Ii hted hallway and incline his head
toward t e nearest wall.

How his eyes glistenedl How they danced in
their sockets as if he had out-tricked some one as
indeed he bid, for bad he not baffled the keeneat
of the thousand and one ferrets of Gotham?

By and by old Sakkar crept up—stairs and
,opened a door. Gliding into a small room which
’was poorly lighted. he walked to a settee whereon
be cast himse f with a laugh.

“ They won't find it, that’s certain. I threw
it into the river and it went down like a stone.”

“ Are you sure of that!” ,

Sakkar turned and looked at the speaker who
ad I  ‘Itand - file 

    

 

looking at him from a pair of eager, all-seeing

6 es.
y“ You threw it into the river, did you? Are
you sure you were not watched ?”

“ Who would watch mei”

“ You seem to forget cVerything important at
times.”

There was no an3wer for a moment.

“ Do you mean the man who tracks people?
Do you refer to the rat who was in our trap?”

“ Of course I do. 1 mean the man who is
known as Gideon Grip, the man who is the sworn
champion of the girl’s rights—he for whom she
sent the morning after Dorsey Drake died.”

“ Well, he won’t get to hunt old Sakkar any
longer.”

The other one, who was our old acquaintance,
Paradox, seemed to lean toward the settee and
transfix its occupant with his eyes.

“ Are you going away i”

“ Why not? Isn’t the book-stealer dead? Isn’t
the man who was his friend in the Land of the
Hindoo dead also?" .

“ Both are dead; I admit that.”

“Then, why should Sakkar remain longer in
this land?"

“ You are going away?”

The black eyes in the old man’s head glittered
like a snake’s.

“ I am going back.”

There was no reply, only the body of Paradox
straightened until it had been drawn erect and
his hand, not gloved now, shut half madly.

The searching orbs of Sakknr saw this move-
ment. He saw, too, that the man near the wall
was watching him like a hawk.

“ You are going to leave me to face this man-
hunter alone?" said Paradox in a half whisper.

“ The blade is in the river.”

“ What if it is?” -

F‘ It will never reward the eyes of the Ameri-
can bloodhound.”

“ That’s all very well.
cunning.”

“ The doctors said he died by his own hand—
that he took some of the deadly drugs he found
out in the secrecy of his house. They agreed on
this point.”

“ And they said, too, that Derrick, the English
captain, died of heart failure in his den.”

“ You are right; they said this.”

“ But there is the detective!”

Old Sakkar broke into a derisive laugh.

“ What is one man i" he cried, looking at the
hand that hung along Paradox’s side. “ What
is one man, I say, to you!”

“ A good deal, perhaps.”

“ Are you afraid to meet him alone?”

“I fear no man!”

“I thought so,” said the old Hindoo. “You
are soon to become the husband of the beautiful
priestess of Vishkar; you will soon be the happi-
est man in America.”

“ But you refuse to stay to the end of the
game. ecause you have recovered the lost
book of secrets, and helped out of the world the
men who robbed ypu, you are going back to In- .
dia, leaving me to fight the last of the battle
alone.”

“ Can’t you fight it and win?”

Paradox turned his eyes from Sakkar a mo-

ment.
“ don’t know but I am better off without
you,” he said at last. “I am quite capable of
taking care of this detective. I know how to
catch foxes, but that is not it.”

He came toward Sakkar, his feet making no
noise on the carpet, and when he stopped he
00uld have touched the old Indian.

f‘ If you go you must give me the secret,” he

said.

Old Sakkar recoiled.

“ The secretll’ he cried. '

“ Yes. You understand me.
cret—the one of life and death.”

The answer was a look, nothing more. r

“ Look here,” continued Paradox. “ You
know how to make the drug which the ferret took
from Iris—you kn0w its secret, yet you have told
me that she had all there wasof it in this coun-
try.

Color seemed to fl from Sakkar’s face. ‘

“This is not chil ’s play between us; we are
men ’ .

“ You ma think I kn0w, hut—”

“ There! on’t gofane your reli ion with a
lie,” broke in the an with the Va ’“ You
took to the house another vial of the same drug"
you dro ped it in the corridor and Zuleika foun
it. out scared it out of her grasp, and it was

oat. ‘

Sakkar looked amazed, but guilt was depicted
on his face.

" Your silence is confession,” Paradox went
on. “ You shall not 0 back to India with that
secret buried in your reast. I need it. '1 want
it, and I won’t be put ofl.”

He drew nearer to the old man.
seemed to touch. v

AtJength the hand of Sakkar was stretched
forth, and Paradox saw the strange riiigs that
encircled the fingers. v '

“ Come, don’t put me off. I want the secret.
“ What will you do with it?” ~
“I will use it for my own benefit.” v

So much for your

I want the so

Their eyes

  

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“Perhaps.”

“ She is yours now; you have charmed her like
the serpent of India charms the bird.”

“Never mind that. Give me the secret and
you can’t quit this country too quick for me.”

Sakkar seemed to be fighting a mentel battle.
He eyed Paradox and once turned his head
away.

They were the only occupants of the room.
The door by which they had entered the place
was closed, and the dim light that preVuiled
showed the queer furniture in a ghostly man-

ner.

Slowly old Sakkar rose and stood for a mo-
:ment in the middle of the apartment.

“Are you willing to give up the secret? You
have more of the drug. You have had a supply
all the time.”

He crossed the room with Paradox at his

' heels and left the chamber.

He led the Man with the Valise to the little
work-shop he sometimes occupied and seated
himself at the bench.

Paradox bent over him and watched him with
eyes that never left him for a second.

Saying nothing, old Sakkar reached up and
touched a spring above the bench.

The eager eyes of Paradox saw several green-
ish bottles in a niche and they lent a new light
to his eyes. .

“I thought you had a supply of it,” he said,
looking down at his com nion. “What is in
the large vial on the right ”

‘The one great secret of the Black Hand-—
the one no man knows but those who are its

iests.”

” It is death, isn’t it?”

“ It is more than death,” said Sakkar. “ Its
contents are described in no book, not even on
the pages you stole from tbe volume you brought
from Zuleika.”

Paradox hit his lips, but said nothing.

“ It won’t be long ” he thought. “ I will
soon be rid of this 01 rascal and will put up
with his insults until he is out of the way.”

“ Take the vials; they belong to you,”con-
tinned Sakkar.

“ All of them?"

“ Why not? You want a secret: it is there.
If I go ack to the shrines of Vishkar, what do
.1 WWW)! the drug?"

Paradox leaned over the bench. He was
eager to clutch the strange drug which had
given lris Norman a second existence stranger
than her natural one. Hp saw nothing but the
vials on the little shelf. Ah, if he had but
watched the old Hindoo at that moment!

He touched the first bottle: his fingers were
closing on the green vial when the head of a
snake darted at his hand from the ceiling of the
niche and he felt it touch his skin.

“ Villain, wretcb, hell-hound!” shrieked Para-
dox, as he staggered back. “ Has it come to
this, that you kill the man to whom you owe the
finding of the lost books?”

The grinning face of Sakkar was all he saw.

The serpent clinging to. his hand writhed
and twisted and it seemed to im that he felt
in his blood the deadly poison o the cobra.

Withall the strength he could summon to his
aid be seized the slimy coils of the snake and
pulled it from his hand.

He flung it into the hideous face of old Sakkar
which had become magnified into one vast grin-
ning visage that seemed‘to fill half the room,
then, with all his strength going out, he fell face
foremost on the floor, chrsing, with what he
thought was his last breath, the man who had

. wrought his ruin.

For a little while the old Hindoo looked dowu
at the man on the carpet.

Slowly he left his seat hnd bent over Paradox.
He turned him OVer and smiled. The face of
the Man with the Valise was nearly black.

From the folds of his garment Sakkar drew
a little box and over the wounded hand sprin~
kled a grayish powder, then, with a last look
which meant farewell, he glided from the room
and was gone;

It was the last of the old priest of the goddess
Vishkar. His footsteps died awa in the dis-
tance, and when Paradox came k to life
and opened his eyes, something seemed to tell
him that he was the sole tenant of the House of
the Grinning God. '

CHAPTER. XXV III.
ran TRACK or a saarm.
“ SAXKAR can go now 1”
Thus spoke the man who crept from the House
of the Grinning God, shortly after the events we

 

- have just witnessed.

..\

._ ment it; was ours ully

There was nothin to indicate that the speaker
was old Sakkar, t cunning priest of the
heathen goddess—nothing but his dark skin and

' sunken eyes. .

He looked no longer old.

There was about him the elasticity of WOW.
and in his step the springiness of the gazelle‘s.

He dodged into the shadows that awaited him
and slipped away.

He carried nothing so far as human eye could

see.
If he had a his~ men an in of mo-
p° Kidder. m 3

For some squares he slipped along keeping
in the shadows, though, when it was necessary,
he did not shun the light, and when he reached
a certain street he dodged into an alley and then
disappeared beyond a gate.

Nearly all this time a man was following 01d
Sakkar.

A man who had been watching the House of

he Grinning God ever since the old man’s re-
turn fi'oin the rive , was at his heels, and when
he vanished beyond the gate in the alley, this
person drew near and listened.

“If I lose him now the secret may be lost,”
said this tracker who was Gideon Grip, the
ferret. “If I let this old fox get away u0w
he will never adorn my trap.”

He was right. Sakkar had turned his face
Indiaward.

The cobra was going across the sea to live
again amon his native jungles.

After aw ile Gideon Grip, resolved not to let
this man escape him come what might, continued
to watch the gate a few minutes when he opened
it himself.

He crossed alittle back-yard and reached a
house which rose tall and dark above him.

He listened against the wall of the basement,
but heard nothing. If Sakkar was in the house,
he made no noise and needed no light, which
went to show that he knew exactly where to go.

At last Gideon, seeing a door in the basement
ajar, went down and pushed it open.

He found himself in a room which be measured
with his hands and then discovered a stairway.

Had the noiseless feet of Sakkar ascended this
flight of steps?

Gideon Grip well realized the danger he was
in in tracking this dangerous d'sciple of Vish-
kar; he had already seen somet ing of his in-
fernal magic and had even felt his deadly hand:
but the life, the happiness of Iris was at stake,
and he had sworn to let nothing turn him from
the trail.

He opened the stair door and went up.

Suddenly he stopped and drew his shoes off.

At the head of the flight he cameto a bait
and listened. He could make out the outlines
of a corridor to his left; but it soon lost it-
self in the darkness.

Still he had seen nothing of Sakkar.

Going down the corridor, he reached another
flight of steps up which he went and found a
door.

Perhaps he was on the wron trail. He
could not tell 'whnt had become 0 the old man,
but lhe was following what might be the right
trac :.

All at once the detective stood still, and
against the wall of the last corridor he had
reached.

He had heard a footstep silken in its nature,
but just the kind old Sakkar would make, and
holding his, breath in the demi-gloom with his
hand on thebutt of his revolver, he waited for
the next move.

‘Something was coming down the corridor,
but whether man or beast Gideon did not know.

Nearer and nearer came the Unknown.

Suddenly he became conscious that he was
seen, that a pair of eyes almost within reach
of his arms were watching him and that he
had been discovered by the very man he had
tracked. ‘

If the rson ahead was not Sakkar, then it
mustbe atan. ‘ .

Several moments passed and then the ferret
saw the figure move.

It came toward him, but turned suddenly
and backed off. l l

“ You sha’n’t escape me that way!" exclaimed
Gideon, sprin ing forward. “ Iam here to close
this hunt an you are Sakkar, the very man I
want.”

The person he followed halted as suddenly as
he had fallen back. '

In another instant the detective came up and
threw out his hand. ‘

It closed one human arm and he drew its
owner toward him.

Not a word had been breathed aloud by either

on.

When Gideon found the man a prisoner in
his grip he hurried him toward the gas jet
that burned blue at the end of the corridor to
see whom he had caught. ~

His heart was beating fast and when he looked
into the, face of his prize, a cry burst from his
throat. -

That person Sakkari Impossiblel

the old Hindoo’s, a face'so unlike the Indian’s
that he was prompted to release hisman and
apolo ize; but something, the glitterof the deep-
sea eyes, continued hisgrip.

“This must be the old demonlfim after.”
thought Gideon. “This is Bursar. no matter
. how he looks. I will hold him and see.”

Then he, said to his prisoner:

is game almost as cunning as the one you p].
in the House of the GrippingGod." '
. listener showed a row of yellow teeth,
but said nothing. ]
“ You are Sakkar.”

   

 

,and nothing was

Still there. was no   .
“ We'll: go rbsc, flake-.-

  
      
 

He was gazing into a face much younger than ‘

“mg; l . .
‘ “ ouold serpentof the East, you lie when

“ You lead me a pretty chasez'you are playigg,
y

 

for you. You were going to give me the final
slip. “Vere you going back to lndia?"

The look that rewarded the ferret was one of
mystery and the eye from which it came a deep,
dark puzzle.

Gideon’s prisoner made no resistance and was
taken down the corridor and thence to the base-
ment.

The silence that reigned throughout the house
told the detective that it was uninhabited and
he 8'10!) became convinced of this fact.

In the basement he stopped and struck a light.

The man he had captured looked toward a.
chair and Gideon told him to be seated.

In the chair be folded his long dark hands and
smiled.

“ It is Sakkar,” said the ferret to himself. “ I
am in doubt no longer. I have overhauled the
runaway.”

Fora moment the old man sat still without
moving a muscle, when all at once he sprung up
and bolted for the door. If the detective had
not been on the watch he would have escaped,
but catching him suddenly midway between
him and the door, he gripped him tightly and
held him fast.

“ You were going back to India, Sakkar?”

Sakkar? Who calls me Sakkarl”

The voice was not that of the old Indian’s, but
the eyes were his.

“Onn one condition will I let you have your
way.

If Gideon expected to see the man start at
this he was deceived.

“ Where will I find the hand that killed Dor-
sey Drake?”

“ Why ask me?” .

“ Come, you are Sakkar, the head of the whole
plot, though Paradox is an apt pu i]. What
did you throw to the waves to-night ’

The man in, the ferret’s grip seemed prepared
for anything.

“You threw something into the rivar? Was
it ’9; vial of the deadly drugs you are master

f

“ You followed me, then i”

The admission was out at last; the man was
Sakkarl

“ I followed you,” said the detective. “ I was
at your heels, and if I had been a' little nearer
that something would not have left your hand.”

“You have tracked me a long time. You
got out of the trap.”

“ I did. I was in your trap long enough,
and you should not blame me for escaping,
Sakkar.”

“ I don’t. We should have killed you in the
house, and not dropped you into the Cellar.”

“ Thanks for your failure to do that,” smiled

Gideon. “But, let us come back to the river
and what you threw into it. What was it,
Sakkar?” ‘

The cold nature of the old Hindoo seemed to

unbend.

“If I tell you, will I be set at liberty?” he
“Regen-ham.”

“ That is not promise enough.
back to the land of my people.”

‘f After doing all the harm you can in this?”

‘ I have done nothing only carry out the
oath of the Brotherhood.

.I‘ ghe glack Hand l”

‘ es.

“ You murdered I”

In an instant the hand of Snkkar was stretch- -
ed out, and he looked at it a moment before he
spoke again.

“ That hand has killed no one in Am ica.”

“Then, it was not yours that left i mark
on the faces of Drake and Derrick f”

“ It was not mine.” '

“But you hatched the plot: you laid the
train and another touched it off.”

No answer. The eyes of Sakkar were look- ‘
lag f;iown the hall as if watching something on

e oor.

“ Sakkar, you can brash from the heart of a
young girl all suspicions of guilt. You know
who killed Dorsey Drake.”

“Ask the girl. ’

In an instant the scene he had witnessed in
the laboratory with Iris before him rushed
over the detective’s‘mind, and his grip tightened
on the H indoo's arm. ‘ ‘

£0 you charge Iris with the murder?” be
c .

“ She went to him for a secret and he would
not 've it up.”

“ ow do you know that?”

“ The eyes of Sakkar are far seeing; his ears
can hear when there are walls of stone around

I want to go

you accuse Iris of killing Dorsey Drake!” said
Gideon. ’ .

“ She carried a daggerto the room. It has a -
needle’s point and would bring forth no blood,
though it would kill all the same. took it'
from beneath her pillow in the Indian room and
carried it with her when she.went in search of V
the secret.” . .

The detective looked at the speaker and felt
that his blood was getting hot in his veins.

" It its a plat to condemn the girl,”
“ You in "in iii—may have hatchet” a

«(Immoral-N . . . .

A

 

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24

Gideon  I the secret Shadower.

 

with the greater one. Iris guilty of murder? Old
wretch, you lie!”

The muscles of the face before him did not ‘ Dorsey

move.

“The truth, or by heavens, I’ll throw you 1 ends of his fingers.

from you window i” cried Gideon.
Old Sakkar’s face was asimmobile as ever as
he answered:

“ She took the turquoise dagger to the room. _

The girl was under the spell and when she went l

back he was ds ad.”
The ferret of Gotham almost dropped the man
he held.

 

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE DARKER M YSTERY.

THERE was nothing in the face of the old Hin-
doo to indicate that he was not dealing squarely
with the truth.

Gideon Grip looked at him and saw nothing
but fairness in his eyes.

If Iris was not guilty, why would he seek to
fasten upon her the crime of the night of the
fatal 10th?

“I want no lies; I will have none,” said the
New York ferret, sternly. “If the girl is in-
nocent we will bring the truth to light and woe
to the man who tries to cheat justice by fasten-
ing this crime upon the guiltless.”

“ Why would I seek to do that?” asked Sak-
kar.

Gideon Grip looked away for a moment and
then back into the face before him.

“You are tracking me?” Sakkar said.

“I don’t deny that; you are a person who
should be tracked.”

“You say you saw me cast something to the
river.” '

“ I did. What was it you threw away!”

There was no reply; the eyes of the Hindoo
seemed to snap.

“ Was it an instrument of death, Sakkari”

“ Do you think it was?”

The hand of the detective tightened about the
old man’s arm.

“ If you gaveto the water the secret of guilt,
whv flee the country?”
“ My Work, is done.

people.”

“ Leaving us in the dark as to the guilt of the
girl you accuse? Come, Sakkar, this won’t pay
you in the long run. You are not going out
of the city."

“ Back home, then,” grinned the old man.

But Gideon Grip was not inclined to take his

risoner back to the House of the Grinnin
od. He did not want to cross its threshol
even though he knew the old man of magic was

in hiéivpower.

“ e will go elsewhere,” he said.

“ To prison?”

“ No, not to prison if you open your mouth and
tell me the truth.”

“ Why not let me talk here?"

Yes, wh not!

Old Sak ar fell back as the ferret loosened his
grip a’nd the next moment was standing against

he wall with folded arms, a statue cut in dark
bronze.

Now he looked once more like Sakkar the
Hindoo. Now he showed his little eyes and en-
abled the detective to say to himself that he was
coming back to his true character. -

“Is he going to tell me the truth?” thou ht
Gideon. ‘ Can I trust this Indian panther? e_
is a man of magic and death ; he knows who killed
Dorsey Drake. Will he fasten the crime on Iris
when he talks again?”

The light burning against the wall in the base-
ment room here of nearly everythin in the shape
of furniture, revealed the old ndian while
Gideon Grip watched him like a cat.

“ Well, you see I am ready to listen to you,”
he said at ength. “ I will hear you now.”

For a moment Sakkar looked into the ferret’s
eyes and then was seen to draw in a long
breath.

“I am Sakkar the last priest of the Black
Hand. I am called the Long Handed in my
native country. I came to this couutr in
search of the lost books of the temple. hey
were stolen years ago by an American who has
been lost to us for a long time. We were sworn
to recover those books, and when we left India
on our mission it was decreed that those who
came back without the books should be put to
death at the altars of Vishkar. There were ten
of us and I am the last. The nine went back
empty-handed: they lost the trail of the Ameri-
can; they looked for him wherever Americans
were to be found, but the failed.”

“You did not fail, I kkari” said Gideon

rip.

“I found him l” the little eyes glittered as
the old man sppke. “ I found him—I, the last
of the ten. are in New York I found the
trail of the ravisher of the sacred temple. I

Iam going back to my

discovered the man who had stolen the books

with the secret of life and death. ,I never, slept
till I had found him.”

“ You are a good tracker, Sakkar.”

“ I hunted him all over the‘city. I never gave
up: that is why I discovered him. He was
working at the elixir when he died—when the
girl stole into the room that night.”

 

 

The Hindoo was back to the same terrible ac-

cusation. He had again accused Iris of killing
Drake.
Gideon Grip felt his blood tingle in the very
He glared at the old man
and tried to fathom his soul through his lustrous
e es.
y“ What about the Man with the Maimed
Thumb?” asked Gideon.

Old Sakkar started. '

“ That man is not a member of the Order of
Vishkar—he could not be for there is blood in
his veins which is not the holy blood of the Hin-
doo. He is a mixed cur—a man who is playing
a game of his own.”

“ But your roof sheltered him; your hand
protected Paradox."

“That is true. He tracked some for me. He
wanted to take a hand in the game for me, but I
saw through his designs. He was born in India,
that man was; he came into the world in the
shadow of the temple of Vishkar and we in-
structed him in some of the strange secrets of
our religion; but he is not one of 119.”

“ He belongs to the Black Hand, though?”

“His hand leaves a mark wherever itfalls
like no other hand in the world. He kills when
he touches. Paradox is a death-wind.”

“ Where is he now?”

Perhaps old Sakkar thought of the man he
had left on the floor of his little work-shop in
the House of the Grinning God, with the serpent
poison in his blood.

“ I left him at the house,” he said.

“ But you did not tell him that you were go-
ing back to India?”

“ I did not have to tell him my secrets.”

Gideon Grip saw the foot of the old Hindoo
glide along the floor, and before he. could antici-
pate his intention, he was pounced upon with
the agility of a tiger and borne back against the
dull wall under the light.

“ I don’t want your blood, man-hunter,” said
the lips of Sakkar at his face. “I am going
back to the temples of the Hindoos, and you
shall not detain me. I have told you what I
know—what he told me when he came from the
house of the man who robbed the temples. The
girl went to the room where Dorsey Drake, the
American, looked for the elixir of life—went
there with a dagger in her hand and when she
went back to her room there was a dead man
behind her.”

“ But on that face was the print of a hand—a
hand without one thumb.” .

“ Who said so?"

“ Iris saw the mark.”

“ Did she tell you so, American?”

“ She told me; and afterward, on the face of
Ca tain Derrick, I saw the mark myself.”

ld Sakkar said nothing for amoment, but
Gideon saw that the grip of his dark hand did
not relax.

“You are a hunter of men and secrets. Be-
warel This trail may end in darkness for you.”

“ I accept the risks,” was the reply.

Sakkar drew the detective down the wall
until they were at the door opening into the
back-ya

“ n’t follow Sakkar!” he said. “Let him
go back unmolested. Don’t try to stand be-
tween him and the holy shrines of India.”

There was no reply, thou hthe look Gideon
gave the speaker told that if 6 released him he
would in all probability have a hunter on his
track up to the moment of his quitting our
shores.

Suddenly the hands of Sakkarseemed to sink
into the detective’ixthroat.

_ He had the strength of a lion, and Gideon,
forced against the hard wall, looked into the
face that grew devilish and darker all the time.
He could not break the hold of those terrible
bands. and though he tried to wrench himself
loose from them, he was disappointed, and at
last felt his limbs giving wa beneath him and
all was night, perhaps 8 nig t of oblivion.

He did not see the lit e figure of old Sakkar
go back along the wall; he did not see it creep
up the stairs and vanish where he had looked
for him some time before.

He lay on the floor near the wall, his hands
clinched and his face the color of the face of a
man well choked. '

The detective’s return to consciousness was
slow and perplexing. 1

When he opened his eyes he saw the same lit-
tle jet blackening the wall above him, and there
were the same shadows on the floor.

He staggered to his feet with a dull feeling in
his head, and looked about the room.

Sakkar was gone! v
d After awhile Gideon got up and went to the

cor.

He must have remained a long time in the
swoon, for the first flushes of another day were
bri htening the tall spires of the city.

e crept out upon the street and walked
away.

No use to look for the old Hindoo in that
building, for was be npton his way to India?

An hour later Gideon reentered his own little
mom and sat down.

Iris guilty! This was the thought that was
uppermost in his mind and the longer be har-
bored it, the firmer hold it seemed to get.

 

 

He was still alone when he heard a footstep
come up the stairs and stop at his door.

He wondered who was seeking him, and with
his eyes riveted on the portal, he waited for it
to open.

In another moment there stood before him a
woman whose faca was vailed.

As she crossed the room her hand went up and
she removed the vail, revealing the features of
Miriam.

The detective almost left his seat with a start.

" They let me out awhile ago,” said Miriam
looking white and ghastly into the ferret’s face.
“ I came out of the moon much to the astonish-
ment of the doctors, and the first place I sought-
was your den. I was here awhile ago, but you
were not in.”

Miriam took a chair, and laid one of her hands
on the edge of the table.

“He found me—the same rnan who came to
the other room that night with the gloved hand
which has no thumb.”

“ But that hand has a thumb, Miriam,” said
gidcon, recalling his own interview with Para-

ox.

Miriam’s look became a stare.

“There are not two of them, certainly,” she
said, half doubtingly. “It can’t be that he has
a double. I knew Paradox hasa maimed thumb.
for I have seen it; but you say that he has not,”

There was no answer for a moment when Mir-
iam went on.

“ He found me in the last retreat. I sent Mug
to you and she did not come back.”

“ She unwittingly betrayed you to the Man
with the Valise. She found him on my stair-
way. and he personated me. It was a piece of
Coolm-ss, just like him, and he played it well. He
beat Mag back home and found you alone.”

Miriam thought a moment.

“ When I felt the hand which he flung at me
when I was in his power, I knew it was the same
that left its mark on the faces of the dead men.
I could not feel the print of a whole thumb, but
the impression of a mutilated one was there.”

“ He sh0wed me his hand and the thumb was
a whole one.”

Miriam shook her head.

“ The mystery is as deep as ever,” she said, in
tones scarcely above a whisper.

Gideon Grip leaned forward and fixed his eyes
upon her.

“ Miriam, do you know that they accuse Iris?”
he said.

She did not spring up with a cry as be ex-
pected, but fell back and stared hlankly at him.

“ They accuse her of what?” she asked.

Haw strangely cool she was! how her eyes
watched him and how her nerves were kept at
her command.

“ They accuse her of using the turquoise dag—
ger that night—of taking the life of Dorsey
Drake.”

“ My Godl the life of her—”

Miriam did not complete the sentence, but
bent toward the detective and touched him with
her white finger.

“ Do you say that?” she asked. “ They know
they lie, yet, there is no telling what she would
do under the spell and guided by the hand of
the charmer. Gideon Grip, now you must bring
the dark to light. Now you have something to
fight for—the innocence of m child l”

And Miriam Marx rose an stood before the
detectiva, a statue of animated marble.

CHAPTER XXX.
ran ruaouorss DAGGER.

IT was some time ere Miriam Marx passed
down the detective’s stairs and out into the city
once more.

“I won’t go back to' Mag’s,” she said. “ He
might find me there again and the next time:I
might not get off so easily.”

Gideon Grip saw her go away with the promise
that she would let him know her whereabouts
when she found another hiding-place and with
this, he was ready to 0 back to the mystery.

“I mnstsee Iris. he girl must know what
has goon said, but not, perhaps, what I have
seen.

Half an hour after these last events the ferret
of New York found himself back in the house
of secrets and waiting in the parlor for its
beautiful inmate.

Presently Iris came down dressed in black
with somethin white in her hand.

“He is comm home,” she said, glancing at
the letter which s 0 had just read. “ 1 did not
write asking that he return, but he will be here
to-night.”

Gideon knew she meant the young man to
whom she had plighted her troth before the ex-
citing drama 0 her life opened, and before he
could speak, she continued:

“ It may seem strange to you, Gideon Grip
that I hear you no ill-will for depriving me of
the bottle which you broke on the wall. At the
time I could almost have daggered you, but now
—now I thank you. I have changed the cham-
her ,where we met last. Will you come and

i”

The detective followed Iris u stairs and she
opened the door of what had
Indian Room.

11 called the

 

 

 

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‘ he came," she went on, smiling.

Gideon Grip, the Secret Shadower.

I «

 

 

But it was such no longer. The Tiger rugs
had vanished and the deities in ebony were gone.

Iris smiled as the detective took it all in.

“ The rugs are stored away for the fur-buyer
and the gods have been given to the fire.”

She stood before him pale, but singularly
beautiful.

“ I would not want Geoffrey to see them when
“I had them
destroyed and now I am free from the drug.”

“Then you know, Iris, that you have been in
bondage?”

“I know. I know that I have done strange
:‘d‘ts under the influence of the drug which you
destroyed. I have lived two lives, at least it
‘Li'enled so to me. Is it not so?”

“ It is true. You have been both Iris Norman
and a priestess of Vishkar.” ,

“ Then it was not all a hideous dream,” cried
the girl. “ Then it was not a terrible delusion,
a clot on the brain. Gideon Grip, you must
stand between me and the rope.”

She was near him now and one of her hands
was gripping his arm; he felt the pressure of
every finger.

“ The rope, girl.a What do you mean?”

“I found something this morning which I
thought was out of the way forever. I ran
across it while touring out of this room the signs
of my enslavement.”

Iris went to her dresser and unlocked the
drawer.

The next moment she turned to Gideon with
something in her hand.

“ I found this," she said, exhibiting a dagger,
the handle of which was turquoise. “ I discov-
cred it accidentally, but in a place where some
hand must have put it on purpose. Lonk! see
the dark stain which runs half-way up the
blade. It looks like blood. And the handle!
see how it fits my hand!” ‘

She wrapped her slender white fingers about
the hilt and looked up into Gideon’s face. .

He felt a chill of horror sweep over his
frame.

“ Where did you find it, Iris?"

“ Where no one but myself could have placed
it," was the reply. “ I had made in this room a
secret hiding-place, the {situation of which was
a secret all my own. It was there I found this
dagger with the dark stain just as you see it

o‘v.”

She shuddered when she looked at the blade,
and then at the man looking at her.

“ Iris, were you with him that night?” slowly
.Skvd Gideon.

She did not speak. It seemed to him that her
figure increased in stature, and that her eyes
got new light. .

“I was with him,” she ansWered, without a
quiver. “ I was with him quite late that fatal
ni ht.”

5 You had a mission to the laboratory, Iris?”

“I had." I

“Did it fail?”

She recoiled a step, and with her hand wound
about the turquoise hilt, looked at him like a
person in a dream. \

“ You say you went to him, that you had a
mission. Did it fail?”

“ He would not tell me,” she cried, in a
strange voice. “I begged him to give me the
secret for which I have longed, but he would
not.”

“Did you take that dagger to the labora-
tory?" _

A wild cry rung from Iris’s throat, and she
fell from him almost to the opposite side of the
chamber. ‘ ‘

“In God's name what are you trying to do?”
‘she exclaimed. “Do you think—”

She came toward him again, her lips firmly
pressed together, and her face the color of,
snow.

“ Iris, you have just begged me to save you
from the rope ” said the detective. coolly.

“ Did I? ell, it was because I found this
dag er in the hidden niche in the wall."

as that iii Did the finding of the tar-
quoise dagger draw from her the frantic ap-
peal which had startled the level-headed fer-
ret? .

For some time Iris stood before Gideon with-
out speaking.

"You are not going to save me! You in-
tend to turn me over to the law T’ she suddenly

said.

“On the proof of that dagger, Iris?"

Slhe looked at it, and then flung is on the
tab 9. I r

“ It accuses me and breathes of the crime of
the accursed 10:!) 1” she said. “ Look, don’t yon
nee it has an e e of green. that looks at me .1]
the time? h did I go to him that night!
Why couldn’t wait, as he told me to! He
said the secret would be told some dadv, but
my blend was hot, and his coolness ma dened
m9."

“ Don’t go too far, Iris. I am your friend.”

“You my friend?——you area detective, whose
duty is is to bring the gdiltfl‘to Justice, and see
them rIsh on the gibbet. hat 9 w ch
never fore lay in the niche in the w I, I found
there this very day.”

“ Yet you any that the secret of the niche was
known to you alone?”

i

 

  

She looked toward the place she had men-  tracked to the deSerted house where he had lost

tioned, and the ferret watched her closely.
“When you left Dorsey Drake that night, 3
what was his condition?” he asked? :
“He was standing in the room, still denying i
my etition.”
“ ban you did not strike him .2”

him, he was mistaken.

Sakkar, while anxious to get back to the land
of temples and cohras, seemed held back by a.
hand whose power he could not control.

Instead of going to the House of the Grin-
ning God to look after Paradox whom he left

She turned to him with the quickness of a cat. 4 there in a Swoon, brought about by the sting

” I—I don’t kn0w,” she said. “ I don’t know

what I did.

of the serpent which guarded the vials, be

My blood was hot, but the next I crept down the streets of New York with the

morningI stole to the room, and saw on his ‘ stealth that always characterized his move-
face, as I have told you, the mark of the Black 1 ments.
I

Hand.”

“ You are still sure of that?”

“I am. It was there.
room, but found him dead when I went back.

till the eVents of that night seem adream to
me. I sometimes think that I may have used
the dagger in my rage, but the doctors found no
wound on his person.”

Gideon instinctively glanced at the blade
lying on the tablc. He noticed how slender
and needle~p0iuted it was.

“ You think it would leave hardly any mark
-—I see that by your eyes”—cried Iris, snatching
up the dagger and holding it before him. “ I
never saw one like it.” ,

“ How long has it been in the house?"

“I don’t know. He broughtso many things
to this country from around the world, that this
may have been one of them. I remember seeing
several daggrrs in his collection.”

“ Then, you don‘t think you took a dagger
with you to the room that night?”

Again the start and sudden cry.

“ I don’t know, but this dag er is new to my
eyes, and to think that I shou (1 find it in the
hidden niche in the wall!”

Gideon Grip picked up the blade and handled
it in the warm sunlight that streamed into the
chamber by the broad window. He looked at
the turquoise hilt, almost transparent, saw in it
the silken veins of its darker parts, and then ex-
amined the blade.

Iris, coming nearer, with her lips welded in
sus use, looked on. ,

‘ Why, the hilt moves!” she suddenly cried
as the hand of the detective twisted the green
handle of the dagger.

Gideon Grip kept on twisting the hilt and at
last it was in his hand.

f “ It is hollow l” he said, looking up into Iris’s
ace.

The next moment he had taken from the hol-
low something rolled up like a bit of parchment.

Iris’s look was now a stare.

Leaning toward the light, Gideon opened the
little roll and saw traced on the paper a lot of
strange characters which looked like those in the
stolen books of Vishkar.

“Can you read it?” cried the breathless girl.
“ What says the oracle of the daggér?"

Gideon smiled. ._ -

“ It is all Greek to me, but I know a man who
Is an adept in Indian lore—”

“ Find him i" Iris suddenly clutched the detec-
tive’s arm. “ Go to him at once. The dagger.
may tell its secrets.”

At that moment a noise fell upon the ferret’s
ear; he sprung up and crossing the room, open-
ed a door.

He u as just in time to see a figure vanish some
distance away.

“ A spy in the house, eh i" he exclaimed, for he
baddrecognizmi the tall figure of Zuleika the
men .

t When he had looked a moment he went back
0 ms. , ‘

Iris did not question him about what he had
seen or heard, but with her eyes fastened ‘on the
writing taken from the hilt of the dagger, she
stood near the table, waiting for him to 0 OD.

“ Hold! this is not Hindooi" suddenIy cried
the Secret ShadOWer. “I begin see through
the writing which is but a scrawl calculated to
deceive. It looks like the waiting of a person in
the hands of a mesmerist. I have seen some—
thing of this sort and I think I can decipher it.”

He went to the window and Iris watched him
from where she stood. ..

Anew light seemed to have dawned on the
mystery of the dagger.

Gideon Grip looked at the old paper in his
hand and then glanCPd at Iris. ,

“ Iris, is your friend a. mesmeristi” he asked.

“ My friendf” she cried.

" The man who sometimes comes to this house
-the handsome person known in this drama of
crime and mystery as Paradox.” ,

The beautiful girl pressed her hand wxldly to
her temples.

“He can do anything,” she said. “Hecan
send one into a Iound sleep. He used to visit

In ardiau.”
XE; gave you the secret drug which I de-
stro ed, did he not?”
:: 9 did. But you don’t accuse him—’f
I accuse no one as yet, but the writingin
my hand is another link in the chain ofsom
body’s guilt.” '

nun—o fl

‘ CHAPTER XXXI.
. A DANGEROUS com-master.

IF Gideon Grip wacofthe belief Miro had
“commute! they!!! fiindoqwhamhohad

 

 

“ I could have killed the ferret, but I did not
want to,”he said under his breath. “If he

I left him alive in the I can save the girl let him, but I will be far off
i and they can’t drag me before their courts.
The thieves of the sacred books are (lead, and

the man whose hand leaves a mark wherever it
falls will not harm any one for a time.”

Sakkar turned up in a distant part of the
city, and when daylight came, crept up a nar-
row stairs and Concealed himself on the second
floor of an unpretentious-looking houSe.

He had no one at his heels now; he was safe,
for the time at least, and' drawing his long
body into a knot, he threw it upon a cot and fell
asleep.

As for the man he had left in the House of
the Grinning God, he came out of the swoon,
and stood erect looking at one of his hands
while his teeth were buried in his lip.

Paradox suddenly broke into a laugh.

“ Why did the old wretch let me live?
That is what puzzles me,” he said. " I felt the
poison of that internal serpent in my blood,

at it is not there now, and nothing could have
counteracted the virus but the antidote which
old Sakkar owned. Has be gone back to In-

25~

din? Is he on the water now, making a trail / ‘
a

which no detective can follow? And in left!
I am here to fight the battle out. Well, I know
magic enough to compete with the cunning of
the best of them. I hold some of secrets of the

sect of Visbkar, and with my own cunning,.I~

guess I can outwit you, Gideon Grip.”

liaradox went to the window and looked
on

Another day had come.

Giancing at his hand where he saw two small
punctures still a little red, he smiled again and
turned back.

“ I wonder if the vials are there yet?” he said
going to the cork-bench and scanning the wall
ab0ve it. “I can’t see the button he touched,
but it must be somewhere. I would like to find the
bottles, though he may have carried them off
with him. I wonder if he did?"

A short time afterward he was out on the
street with his face so changed for the time
that an eye as sharp as Gideon Grip’s would
gave looked the second time before recognizing

im.

He seemed lost all that day, but when the shad-
0ws of another ni ht came he slipped across
the carpet in one o the darkened halls in Iris
Norman’s house and came face to face with
Zuleika.

The tall figure of the handsome maid fell back
at sight of him,~\ but in another moment she was
at his side.

“ You must not come here an more,” said
Zuleika, burying her hand in Lia vo.

“ Why not, girl?"

“ It isn’t safe.”

“ Why isn’t it safe?”

Zuleika had drawn him into her own room
and her face was pallid.

This was the girl who carried a secret in her'

ml
him that she had seen him‘como out of the labor-
atorv the night of the 10th.

“ The man of clews is still on the trail,”
continued Zuleika, “and Iris has changed her
chamber.”

“ The Asiatic room?”

“ Yes: she has taken up the tiger rugs and has
burnt the gods.”

The handsome face of the dangerous Apollo

wore a smile.

“ Did the gods protest, Zuleikai” he asked.

“ Of course not. With her own hands she
gave them to the fire and then destroyed nearly
all traces of orientalism in that room.”

' “ What does she mean!”

“She means to wipe out every vestigefof her 

enslavement.”

h_Paraidox looked astonished into the eyes.» before j"
im. 
“What do you kn0w about thatr’he asked.

“ You are talkin riddles to me.”

The hand of Zn eika touched his arm.

“ The time has come for me todeclare myself,”
she said. “ I have been burning these many
days. You can never win this 0.”

ith a sudden start he looked at her.

“ What game?” he cried.

“ I need not tell you for you know,” she went
on. .“ You can never win it, I say. for In it
coming back. He will be in the city tonight!”

“ Geofl’rey Graeme!” '

The name came unconsciously, from hk

ton ue.

itabout.‘ Those men will I;

mnbfllt
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.,,~

This was the same anoika who‘told-

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For a moment Paradox said nothing: his
hands opened and shut and he seemed to reflect.
“ You intend to betray me?” he said at last.

“Not for the world wonli I do that, not for
the world, Isayl” was the quick answer. “ I
knmv I hold a Certain secret, but I Would not
betra you. On the other hand, I would saw."

“ on, girl? Do 1 look like a man in a trap?”

“ You are in danger, nevertheless.”

“ Jllsl’. because you saw me come out of a cer-
tain room on a Certain night?”

“ Isn’t that enough?”

“In your mind, perha s, but that would hang
no one,” he laughed, “ want to know how you
would save me, Zuleika.”

The tall girl took a long breath.

‘ “ You can't win this game because he is com-
ing back and because the hand of that man,
Gideon Grip, is closing in.”

“Clusing in on whom?"

“ On the guilty.”

“ You don’t believe anything of the kind,
woman. I can see by your face that you don’t.”

“ B’ut you must hear me. VVaitl the door is
a ar.’

She shut the portal and came back to him.

“Paul Paradox, I lova you!”

The hard face of the Man with the Valise
seemed to open with asmile.

“ You must hear me through. This is the
secret I have been guarding so long—this is the
canker that has nearly gnawed out my heart. I
love you: I gave you my very sou long ago
and it was poison for me to follow you through
the mines of your game, to see on getting deep
and ties r into the mazes of gmlt, all to win the
hand DIP: woman who loves you not.”

Paradox ,was' listening to all this with his eyes
fixed on thé fair Speaker and his face a study.

“ I have already done you more than one
favor," continued Zuleika, her hands shut hard
while she talked.

9‘ You have, girl? What have you done?”

“ I have broken the trail.”

, “How broken it?” i

He put this question in the voice of one who
doubted. ‘

She'seemed to recoil from answering it.

“ Never mind; I have broken the trail, or in
other words, I have thrown the detective upon
another scent."

“ You have set him after another quarry,'you
mean?” -

“ Yes, yes.”

“You are very kind, Zuleika, but you were
not told to do this. I am able to light my own
way clear of this persistent man who thinks he
has nearly all the links of the chain. I did not
expect you to take up my case.”

,, “ But' I saw you in the shadow. I love you,

’ r Paul Paradox!)

‘ ing at his sleeve again.

¥r:room.

‘ness of one who sees a s

A bitter laugh struggled to the man’s lips.

“ No one told you to do that, either,” he said.

A horrid whiteness ashened Zuleika’s face.

“ Does one have to get permission to love?” she
cried, blood mounting suddenly to her temples.

"‘In the name of heaven, what sort of man are
you?” ,

There was silence on Paradox’s lips.
“ You must not tell me that I have not given
up my heart and its happiness for nothing 1” she

. ' continued.

.“150 one told you to make this confession,

iri.
xZuleika recalled from him with the sudden.
nt in her path.

“ If you don’t hear me will turn on on.”
"She regretted the words the moment t ey had

' . left her tongue.

“I did not mean that,” she exclaimed clutch-
“ I love you, Paul. If

' I am repulsed I will be in the shadow as deep as

 ‘ of the secrets that ol

 the deepest."

“ How in the shadow i— on?”

“In you room sleeps t e woman who is the
prize of the game which you, as old Sakkar’s
companion, have played, partly to secure some

wretch new, and partly

V to feather your nest.”

 Whispered.

. ': “How could I do the latter! You know,
 Zole’i’ka, that Dorsey Drake was really a bag—

. gar.
. ‘ “. They said so in secret—I know that. It has
' come out since his death that he was not the

nabob the city thought him. but it was false.
He was rich when death came.”
“Prove it."

'  V Zulcika looked at Paradox a moment and then
imoved across the room and out into the hall.

He
in on

sited for her return, and when she came
ptm and motioned him forward, he left

1 the chamber and joined her.

Paradox followed the tall form of Zuleika
down a flight of steps between two walls, and
saw her open the door of a dark room.

" One of the man secrets of this house ” she
“ I thin I have found them a i.”

In another moment she had struck a light,
and was holding it before her. ’
V Paradox new a chest and an iron safe in the
These were the cal things that met his
 when hé saw Zu eika kneel before the
tter, he leaned fbrWardland looked With all

“ Tm
‘”

    

 

did not come here often, but often enough to ex-
cite my suspicions." ‘

“ You followed him, did you?”

It took all the strength Zuleika had to throw
back the iron door of the safe, and then holding
her light near it, she smiled at the man at her
elbow.

“ There must be more than one hundred
thousand dollars here,” she said. “ Iris knows
nothing of this treasure-house. It belongs

to us.”
“ To us?" he cried. ’
“ It is ours! It belongs to its dismverers and

the lips of the dead can never tell the story of its
appropriation. Paul Paradox, I can bring you
a dowry such as the creature lip-stairs never
dreamed of.”

He looked from the treasure into her face.
The eyes Were burning like coals of fire, and he
no longer doubted the passion of the tall maid.

 

CHAPTER XXXII.
ZULEIKA TURNS TRACKER.

“ IRIS is the beggar, I the heiress!"

These words fell hot from Zulcika’s tongue and
rising she gazed at the Man with the Valise and
waited breathlessly for his reply.

“We have no right to rob Iris,” he said at
last. “ This belongs to her.”

“ You repulse me, then?”

“ I have not said so; but this treasure is not
ours.” '

, Zuleika drew off and then sprung to the door
of the safe which she shut before she spoke
again.

“So be it!” she said. “Come, we will go
back.” '

There was something in her tones that almost
startled him.

Paul Paradox placed himself between the girl
'and the door in the wall.

“ What are you going to do?" he said.

“ What ought I to do? You have tortured me
as woman has never been tortured. You have
repulsed the only woman in this house who loves
you and I am done for.”

He seemed to smile.

“ I never thought of this. I never for a mo-
ment thought that I was creating such a. passion
in your bosom.”

‘ Iam a woman,” said Zuleika between clinch-
ed teeth. “ Don’t transform me into a tigress,
Paul I’nrndox.”

Ila would have smiled again but for the eyes.
that ware regardi him.

“ Come, I am gom back. We will leave this
wealth which, 1 say, a yours for the asking.”

He made no reply, but followed her up the
secret stairs and they soon stood in the chamber
overhead. - '

" Do you want to See how she has blotted
from her heart every memory of you ?” suddenly
cried Zuleika.

“ What can you sh0w me, irl?”

- She went tOWard the In ian room and he
followed. Touching the concealed spring that
operated the door, she ushered him into the once
handsome chamber and turned to him with a
sinister smile.

“ You see she isn’t Hindoo any lon .r. She
has lost the drug and is beyond the Spe I. When
she comes here now it is as Iris, the ward of the
dead, and she no longer stands before the mir-
ror and sees her skin turn tawny and her eyes
get a strange light, such as made her the child
of the heathen goddess.”

Paradox listened, but said nothing.

“This is the chamber fitted up at your sug-
gestion,” Zuleika went on. “ You brought the
rugs to her and old Sakkar furnished the ebony.
gods. You kept her. under the spell until the
hand of the ferret broke the vial on you wall.
The stain of its lost power is there yet.

Zuleika pointed‘ a certain spot on the wall
where Paradox could see a stain, undoubtedly
that of the accursed liquid.

“ I saw you the night you came to this house
and threw over Irls’s transom something that

littered. It was a new deity from the handsof

akkar the god-maker. How do I know it?
The next morning there was a new god on the
dresser which Iris broke up on account of its
beleful memories. You see, what the inning of
the spell has done? This youn girl is out of its
power, but she is in the grip 0 another woe just
as dreadful.” ‘

“ What is thatl”

“ Why ask me?" cried aneika. “ Don’t I
kn0w what I am about?. You have laughed at
my love, still trustin to pin through the game
an are at. You s all fai i band comes

tween you and the prize. Iris s in the dark—
est shadow that ever enveloped a girl like her.
Why, her champion suspects her.” ,

“ Gideon Gri i” ‘ ‘

“ Gideon Gr p." ,
The a king of the fbrret’s name seemed to
give Zu ika great deli ht. '

“ She is deeper in shadow of death than
ever was a gir of heryaera Thecoil is tighten-
ing about her nd there can be no escape:

“No escape rottwhstl”.

leaned... , on! b H

 

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“ You touch Iris at the peril of your life!"

“ D01? When did I threaten lie'? Did I in»
timnte that l intended to do her bodily injury :"

“ You must not touch her, I say.”

Zuleika struightened in an instant and threw
out one hand.

“ As if you could stop me!” she cried. “ I
know what Sort of mark your hand leaves on
the human flesh; I have seen its print Where you
left it more than once. You talk to me about
withholding my hand from any one. Paradox,
even though you have learned (loath at old Sak-
kar’s school, you must not think that I, woman
though I am, hold you in fear. I came to this
house with my eyes open and they have not
closed in all of the. time of my stay here. You
must not think that because on know the secret
ways of the Black Hand, trvnible when you
come near me. I have confessed that I loved
x-ou, Now, Paul Paradox, receive the hate of
Zuleika Dare!”

NeVer before had the tall maid looked so rav—
ishingly beautiful. Hers was a beauty which
Iris did not possess, but it was the beauty which
nature gives to the soft sleek coat of the tiger.
Such beauty is dangerous

The hand of the maid fell upon his wrist and
close-d there.

“ No more!" she said, leading him away.
“ The outside of this house is the place for you."

The Man with the Valisc bung back, gazing
into the face that confroan him and wonder-
ing what would take place there when he went
away.

“You don’t drive me out,” he said.
here until I go of my own accord.”

“Stay then,” cried aneika, suddenly drop-
ping his hand. “ Stay till you rot here or fall
into the iron grip of the avenger of justice.”

He saw her spring across the room and her
hand was on the door.

“ Touch Iris, girl, if you dare !”

She laughed at him; she showed her teeth
again, opened the portal and was gone.

For a moment he heard her feet beyond the
door and then the sound died away.

“ The devil is in that creature,” he suddenly
laughed. “ If she had stayed another moment
I would have had her in my p0wer. But wait!
I will lay the trump the next time I run across
her. I) will show her that she can’t baffle me
after the game I have played.”

Paradox turned away and looked toward the
bondoir of the cause of the deepdark plot of the
Black Hand.

He seemed on the point of creeping to the
door, but all at once turned in the opposite di-
rection and vanished.

He stood in the laboratory alone.

The room was nearly dark, but" he could see
the bottles on the shelves, and the furniture

hich remained was the same as when Dorsey

rake’s life Went out.

A singular look came into hisieyes as he step-
ped to the table and took up the wine-glass
which Iris had replaced after the inquest. ‘

Lifting it to his lips, he seemed to find there
the subtle odor which had brought about the
verdict of suicide for he smiled and suddenly re
placed the glass.
fE‘They had this glass, and it told a lie,” he
sai . ‘

“1am

his hand in quest of fomething which it did not
find. for he turned away and left the room.
The Man with the Valise passed out of the

house, but looked back when he struck the side— '

walk.

\ W as he thinking of Zuleika? '

Nearly an hour later he was to be soon glaring
at tine little door of the House of the Grinning

“I wouldn’t find the old wretch there if I
wentin," he said under his breath. “He is on
his way back to India, and may the seas devour
him ere he is half-way acrossl"

Paradox went back with a farewell glance at
the house and though he saw many a shadow,
he did not see the one creeping after him.

It was not the shadow of the man of clews;
not the nimble shadow of Gideon Grip, though
at that very hour the detective was at work, but
it was the shadow of the woman he had scorned.

Zuleika had followed from the house on the
avenue the man she had worshiped.

She kept after him a long distance; she dogged
his steps, never for. a moment losing sight of
him, but now and then clinching her hands and
seeming to ion h at her efforts at tracking, but
she followed h in just the same.

After awhile she became aware that she was
tracked herself.

Zuleika in looking back with innate fear saw
near her, with eyes that seemed to have lately
discovered her, a person of her own sex.

Tracked by a womani .

Had Patadox a guardian angel who was hov-

2.3m. fell back and glided into a doorway.

A rting lookafwr Paradox told her that he
was able to be in sight for some time. \. r

“I want to know who is tracking me.” he
said to herself. "If I an: tohavea pom” on
I want to be armed. That w

 

In another momebt he was among the shelves, '

ering on his trail, ready to save him from harm! , l

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Nearer and nearer came the patter of feet
along that almost deserted street.

Zuleika held her breath as she leaned toward
the open way and waited like a leopardess in
ambush.

"1 lost her somewhere in this neighborhood,”
suddenly said a voice, and a shadow fell into the
hallway, showing Zuleika, at the same time, the
figure of the one who threw it. “She must
have been the maid. Icouldn‘t have been mis-
taken, for Ihave seen her before, aud— Heu-
vens! I must not lose her now.”

Zuleika could hardly keep back a cry of
alarm.

She knew the woman almost within reach of
her hand.

It was Miriam, Miriam Marx.

All this while Paradox was escaping and
Zuleika who wanted to follow him to his des-
tination was raging with disappointment.

Miriam turned to the house so quickly that
Zuleika, leanining nearly half-way out of the
shadows of the hall, could not draw back in
time to escape discovery.

The Woman Across the Street uttered a cry.

As her figure went across the pavement the
agile body of the tall maid sprung upon her.

There was no one in sight,

“ I have found you, have I?” gasped Miriam.

“Yes, to your sorrow!” hissed Zuleika, force-
ing herinto the dark place.

‘ I want to see you. Zuleikn, you know—”

“ Not now nor here!” broke in the tigress in
petticoats. “I have other work on hand and
you msyihave interfered too much now,”

“ You have conic from the home of my—”

“ Never mind where I came from. Stay
where you are!” 4

Miriam was flung against the wall with a
strength she never thought the tall maid pos-
sessed and the next moment Zuleika was run-
ning down the street in hopes of overtaking the
man she had shadowed.

.But precious moinents had been lost. Paradox
had vanished and the baflled woman, grinding
her nails ‘into her palms, went back over the
broken trail, having lost the Black Hand, per-
haps forever.

CHAPTER XXXIII.
'rnii: cans arm’s snoanr.

PARADOX did not seem to know that he had a
tracker on his trail for he did not look back in
search of one. .'

He vanished so suddenly that Zuleika was
nonplused and When she discovered that he was
gone she turned back still anathematizing the
woman who had been the cause of her discom-
flture.

At one time? she felt like going back to the
hallway and finishing Miriam.

“ If she tracks me again she will wish she had
never seen the light of day i" said the tall maid
harshly. “I won’t be tracked by her, and‘I
know enough to defend myself.”

.Zuleika went back to the house on the avenue.

She glared tigérishly at the door lesdin to
Iris’s room and at the same time clinched finer
hands as' if she Would like to have them at the
white throat beyond.

But Iris was not in the boudoir as Zuleika
suddenly discovered, for she caught sounds of
voices in the parlor and the next moment she
was listenin at the door. ’

“ He is t ere,” she said to herself. “He is
ahead of time and they are together once more.
Now Paradox will have another man to fight
and Iris will tell him everythin .”

If she could have looked ing) that room she
would have seen a young man alone with the
beautiful victim of the Black Hand’s plot.

The lover had come back to the city, and from
what Zuleika heard, Iris was narrating the
story of her life during the past few weeks.

At the same time in the laboratory moved
another man who had the face and figure of the
Secret Shadower.

Gideon Grip had accompanied young Graeme
to the house, and while he was listening to lris’s
story, he (Gideon) was looking over the same
ground he had hunted ascore of times.

He. had left the house with the writing found
in the hilt of the turquoise dag er in his pos-
session, and his declarntlon that t was another
link in the chain of somebody’s guilt, had not
been explained to Iris. ‘

By and by a knock sounded on the'dooro‘ the
laboratory and the detective opened it. t .

Geoflrey’Gi-aeme came in. '

“ I adhere to my first expressed belief,” said

the young man, with earnestness. “ Iris is in-

nocent.”
A smile came to the lips of the ferret. '
“ You don't answer me," cried the lover.
“ You look, even smile, but as nothing.”
“I need not answer you {mt shall let the
future show the proof of guilt."
“ My God, you don’t believe that Iris used the
that nighti" . , ,
bone he expo t: tax: room with its She no;
.Vel t s e 80. bongh e seems
have been under tbs spell of the Indian an
. rug

  

“That ,
1 near intended to take the “life”

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Permian-nag  “

 

“She wanted his secret, though," put in the
cool detective.

“ She admits that; she says she begged him to
tell her who she was, that she even held the
dagger over her head: but it is no proof that
that blade had a turquoise handle, and she says
she never‘saw such a dagger in this house before
she discovered it in the hidden niche.”

“ The niche, whose secret no one knew but her-
self!”

The detectivc’s answer seemed a blow fairly
in the face, and Geoffrey Graeme recoiled.

“I see. You are gomg to enmesh me if you
can,” he said. “ You are continually putting
the darkest hand forward. Do you believe -can
you for a moment think Iris guilty of this mur-
der?”

The countenance of the cool—headed ferret did
not change.

“We don’t know some things. till we have
been brought face to face with them,” he re-
piied. “ We must keep to this trail and if it
brings Iris out guilty, why—”

“But it can’t do that,” broke in the lover.
“It shall not bring her out with the blood of
Dorsey Drake on her hands.”

Listening to this duel of words and crouched
in the darkness that prevailed between two
walls, was Zuleikn, her eyes blazing in her head
and her breath going in short gasps of excite-
ment.

She had slipped down one of the secret stair-
ways of the house and was taking in every
word that came to her ears from the laboratory.

“ The detective, with all his shrewdness, can’t
get her out of the net—that is very plain to
me," she said to herself. “ She is in the meshes,
and there she will perish like a fly in the Web of
the merciless spider.”

She stayed where she was until sounds told
her that the two men were quitting the cham-
ber, and then she slipped back up the dark steps
and sought her own room.

Gideon Grip left the house alone.

He left oung Graeme with the woman he
loved, and e and Iris could talk over the dark
state of affairs, for, look at it as he would, the
young man was forced to admit that the dagger
was the darkest thing against Iris.

The ferret went hack to the little den he occu-
pied, and he had hardly taken the chair at the
table, where he thought out some of the puzzles
of his detective career, when he was startled by
a hurried step at the door. A

Miriam came in, her eyes seoming to start
from her head, and her body in a tremor.

" Zuleika has turned tigress this time,” said
Miriam, leaning over the table and looking
down into the detective’s face. “ I have felt at
my throat the hands of the tall, dark-faced
woman who is Iris’s maid.”

“ Not on the street, Miriam?”

" On the street!” and Miriam proceeded to tell
the story of her desperate encounter with Zu-
leika in the open hallwa .

“That women must watched,” continued
Miriam. “ She was tracking some one, or seem-
ed to be from what she hissed in my ears ere she
threw me against the wall."

“Tracking some one?” echood Gideon Gri .
“ Thereare but two persons whom she would
likely to track—old Sakkar and Paradox. That
she was not looking after the old Hindoo, I am
pretty certain.”

" It must have been Paradox, then.”

When Miriam had quieted down, she took a
seat at the table and watched the detective take
from a drawer, which he unlocked, the turo
quoise dagger which he had brought from the
house on the avenue. ‘

“ Heavens, what is that!” cried the woman.

“Probably the dagger that finished Dorsey
Drake.” ~

Miriam shuddered.

“ Youi have found it; your cunnin brought
it to light. Did you unearth it in the ousel

“ Iris found it.”

“ Iris! Where was it!"

“In her Oriental chamber—in a niche in the
well. the secret of which she avers no one knew
but herself.”

Miriam Marx fell back still glaring at the
dagger which'lay on the table.

ii at once she pounced upon it and snatched
it up. '
“This shall never be used as proof against
my child! This shall never stare her in the face
land make the world believe that she took the

ife of—

She did not complete her sentence for Gideon

'Grip, sprniging up. seized the dagger and to

it from her msddened hand. ~
“You have, not seen all.” said he, k ing
his accustmnsd coolness. “ You know not log
of the per which we found in the hilt of the
tu uonss blade.” '
H be W‘s?”
Gidka from an inner pOcket the sc‘rawl
"blob he spres m and saw Miriam
lean forward to read it if 000 v
' “w... that concealed in the hilt d the

  

 

 

“It startled her. She declared that she did
not kn0w that the dagger’s hilt was movable.”

“ What do you think!"

The eyes of the woman encountered the gaze
of the city ferret.

“Iris wrote what is here,” he said.

“ What! wrote the Words you have before you
if Words they are?” exclaimed Miriam. ‘ Why,
she says she never saw the dagger though it
was found in the secret niche in the wall of her
mom. We must lielieve her, Gideon Grip; you
must not go upon the assumption that the finding
of that dagger in that niche condemns her.”

“ I do not, Miriam. On the other hand, I
think it is a bit of proof in her favor.”

“ A bit of proof for Iris?”

it Yea.”

“In the first place, the girl has been under the
strangest spell ever known. Not only was she
under the influence of a drug, the secret of
which was known to no one in this country but
old Sakkar, the last priest of Vishkar, but. she
was also in the grip of the mesmerist, Paradox."

“The man I saw come out of the house of
death the night of the 10th?”

“ The same man.”

“ Go on.” —

“ While. under the spell of mesmerism Iris
wrote what we read on this paper. It looks like
a scrawl, but when you come to compare her
hand writing with the letters before us you find
that both are strangely alike.”

“ “'hat is on that paper? What is the proof
that Iris wrote it?”

“It is a confession of murder.”

Miriam recoiled, and her hand fell from the
table while a cry issued from her throat.

“ You are determined to condemn her, Gideon
Gri ."

“ Wait,” coolly said the man who watched
her closely. " I don’t intend to condemn any
one who may be innocent. This writing is a
confession of murder. It was written by the
hand of Iris; it is Signed by her, though the
name is not the one we are accustomed to use
when speaking of her. You have told me that
Iris is your ,child. You did not thisten her
Iris, did you?”

A sudden psllor overspread Miriam" face.

“ We did not.” ‘

“ You called her—” I

“ Bertah. On her arm appears the same
name, and it has puzzled her a thousand times.”

“ Here is the name affixed to this paper. The

writer confesses to having killed Dorsey Drake.

and with this very dagger.”

“ Merciful heavens, Iris is doomed l”

“ No,” said Gideon. “ She is saved. The real
author of this document overstepped caution
and safety.” I

‘g‘Then you know who placed the dagger
where it was found i”

There was no reply, but the ferret’s look
told Miriam much.

.—-—.—

CHAPTER XXXIV.
a FATAL sacanr.

IF Zuleika had kept Paradox in sight, and.
clung to the trail he made the night she was in-
terrupted by Miriam Marx, she would have
made a startling discovery.

The Man with the Valise dodged into an alley
where he was soon lost sight of, but in a moment
he turned up in the cramped court of a stran e-
llgoking house, the door of which he struck w th

8

T e portal was opened by ‘a man whose eyes

looked Paradox over from head to foot and '

finally admitted him.

loved knuckles. 

/
Passing through a dark hall with the usher ‘at i ~- *

his elbow, the man of tricks was admitted to a
room where he found lying on a cot, which was

little better than a mass of ragsra man whose'

dark skin and sharp features caused him to re-
semble old Sakkar.

“ I am here at last,” said Paradox, seeing how . '
“ You remem- ;
her I promised I would not come back until I . '

the man started at sight of him.

actually needed your assistance.”
A slight nod told that he had been heard.

-“ That time has come,” continued the Man -

with the Valiant. "‘Are you ready to help me?"

A long skinny band was put out from beneath '

the scanty. covering, and the eyes before him

seemed to shrink back into the head on the dirty . ‘

illow.

men.
" He has gone back.”

“ What, Luck to India?” '

“ Back to the temples and the snakes.”

“ Are you sure he has gone?”

“ There is no doubt of it.” w

“ When did the vessel sail?"

“ No vessel bullett port since I

the old rascal, but he is

some, and ere this has ood as on the sea.” .

“ Did he leave any of is secrets with your. 

“Not ons”said Parado \
‘Fsskkarlsasharpooe; emust havequ

 

“Where is your companion?” asked the emf »

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U I am."

“Then Sakkar was at liberty to go back.”

“ Look here; I am in this room for the last
time; you ought to know why I am here.”

There was no answer.

“ I believe I am the only person who knows
that you are one of the enemies of the Black
Hand. I have known it all along, but have kept
the secret from Sakkar. You are of the Silent

‘ Circle, the order which opposed the Black Hand
in India and Which sent you out to prevent
Sakkar from carrying out his oath. You are

a the head of the Silent Circle and you know as

‘ much black art as the priests of Vishkar.”

“ You think so, but you might overratc my

, knowledge,” grinned the man on the cot.

“ “ There were times when I could have thrown

" you into the meshes 01" Sakkar’s Web,” continued

s. Paradox. “Isaw you more than once in the

g.) house on the avenue: I knew what you Were

' ‘ after—not the life of Dorsey Drake nor the books

5 of the old temple, but on wanted to prevent

 , the work of the Black and from being com-

”)? » plated.”

 , “Well, we have failed."

1’ Paradox smiled and for a moment looked away

‘ ‘ tobwhere smoke was rising from a brazier on the
ta 1

8.

“ Yes, Dorsey Drake is dead.”

“ So is the British‘ captain who was‘with him
in the land of the cobra."

“ Both are dead; the robbers of the temples
paid dearly for their search for the books of
secrets.”

“ They felt on their persons the mark of the

 

3w.

: 5‘4
: 
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. s,

“.3 "g deadly hand.”

 There was no reply for a moment and Para-
i, dox moved his right hand out of sight.

 “ What do you want? We might as well come

to business.”
“ I want the mate of the green—hilted dagger.”
The old Indian showed his yellow teeth in a
sudden smile.

 

3 ' “ You are too late,” he said.
; ‘ “Too late? Impossible!”
: , “It has passed beyond my hands.”

“ The turquoise dagger?” cried the Man with
the Valise. “ It cannot be!” .

" But I swear by the sacredness ofmy reli ion.
It is beyond my hand. I had it once, but 1 ave
‘it no longfi”

“ Into 089 power did it fall?”

t’ The lips in front of Paradox seemed to unite

with resolution.

“Yon refuse to tell me?” he cried, bending
over the cot and fixing his baleful eyes upon the
man thereon.

 . “I am oath~bound.”
“But you must tell me! By heavens, you
. shall not keep me from that which might save a
young girl from the gallon."

“ Have you turned rescuer?” asked the man on
the bed, drawin back and looking at Paradox
with eyes spar ling with derision. “I didn’t
know the ti er ever showed mercy.”

I Paradox id not relish this sally, but he kept

' his cool temper.

‘ . “ I want to know into whose hands that do -
gar gassed,” he said. “It killed Dorsey Brake. ’
. “ ut the hand of the hunter was seen on his
, ' skin. iris, as they call her, saw it there after
«the murder.”
1 ‘ “ So she says, but that matters not now.”
‘ “Don’t you believe that the hand which left
its marks behind took the man’s life?"
' “I ku0w it didn’t. But I want to know the
secret of the loss of the dagger.”
“There were two of them you savl”
. “ Yes, the other was in orsey Drake’s cabi-
, net. It is there yet.” 1'
i. - “ You are sure of this?”
 “I have seen it‘there within the last few
hours. I saw it there time and again while he
lived, for I was a frequent visitor to him, in
’ the Very room where be searched for the elixir
of life.” ‘
“ We knew that all along. You went to him.
not in your true guise, for if he had known that
i .. on were Slk knr’s companion and fellow-
unter, you would not have been admitted to
the house; but you went there under other
feathers. You don’t think that we knew noth-
ing of what you‘did, eh?"
7. ‘ I don’t care what you think,” was the quick
_“ res onse. “ I am here, with the life of a young
gir trembling in the balances of fate.”
“Was Derrick killed by the same hand that

took the life of Dorsey Drake?” .

“ No, he was not.”

'~‘ Old Bakkar did not kill either, for it was
, . against his religion to shed blood with his own

hands.”

é‘Paradox looked across the room again. He

w nothing of the man who had admitted him
to the place.

The next moment be bent over the occupant
_, gf‘ tan cot, and suddenly darted at him like a
., w .

There was no cry, no movement be d the
, sudden drawing up of the shrivelod y, for
,v,  , the hands of Paradox were at the brown throat,

 r and his eyes were looking murder. '
“Who took the dagger from you!” he cried
- ,‘hoamly. “i want to know thl and' wil
.  know itorflyou will pass to your fat on wi hoot
.mnouy. ‘ '

 

 

‘1

/

        
   

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The eyes beneath him seemed to start from
their owner‘s head, and the grip of Paradox

tightened.
“ Will you tell me?” he went on. “ Will you
He

give up the secret? I must know."

There was no answer that pleased him.
held the throat fast, and glared tigerishly at the
face before him.

He seemed to be pressing the old man into the
ilepths of the cot, and the cords were ready to
snap with their weight.

Paradox saw that he was dealing,r with a stub-
born piece of humanity, for the countenance
gave him no hope, and he wondered if the old
wretch would not be dead in a few seconds.

“ You need not sulfer for the breaking of your
word with the person to whom you gave the
dagger,” he went on. “I will keep the secret,
but will saw Iris.”

As there was no reply he drew back and look-
ed at his victim.

“ God! he is dead i” cried Paradox. “ I have
finished the career of the Chief of the Silent
Circle —— the order that opposed the Black
Hand.”

He stood erect and looked down upon the man
on the couch.

At last he ventured to turn on the light a lit-
tle more and take another look.

Death had set its seal on the face beneath
him.

The old wretcb was beyond the betrayal of
any one, and Paradox saw that he had helped
him out of the world before his time.

“ It can’t be recalled now,” said he. “ He
could have saved his own life if he had betrayed
the slayer. But he would not and met his fate,
perhaps not undeserved.”

He turned away after lowering the light and
slipped from the room. He passed from the
house without being seen and once more found
himself on the streets of Gotham.

A dark secret Was behind him. He knew
what lay still and ghastly on the pallet in the
little chamber, but this did not quicken his
Steps,

Paradox was not gone an hour when the
man who had admitted him to the house stole
back into the room and looked at the occupant of
the couch.

“ Gone, has he?” he said, moving forward and
bending over the old man.

Of course there was no reply.

The next instant his eyes were starting from

. his head. He fell back, turned on the light till

it showed every nook and cranny of the room
and then stood in the middle of the floor like a
person mad with fright.

“He left his mark, that man did l” he cried.
“ There is the print of a demon hand on the old
man’s face. I see it plainly. He came here to
kill and accomplished his purpose.”

He moved a little closer by degrees and saw
again the dark imprint on the face of the dead.
It was darker than the face itself which no
death could whiten.

“ There are five marks, but one is short.
There was no thumb to his hand l” he said,
looking siill. “ Who was be? And what did he
want here?" .

The question was not answered and the
frightened man ran out of the house and slip-
ped down the alley as if the hand with the
maimed thumb were reaching for his Own short
stretch of threat.

As for Paradox, he went back to the room he
had left last.

He shut the door and locked it.

“ The detective will win the most terrible vic-
tory of his life,” he muttered. “ Gideon Grip is
on the evo of a horrible discovery. A thousand
curses on the head of the old wretch who valued
a secret more than his life i”

And Paradox, drawing the dark glove he
were, held up in the light of his jet a hand which
owned but the stump of a thumb.

CHAPTER XXXV.
BROUGHT 'ro BAY.
‘ Gmnos Gair had gone to a trail which a few
da 3 previous he had not thought of.
he disCover of the turquoise dagger in the
secret niche in fish room seemed to have fur-
nished a new clew which did not take him back
to the trail of the Man with the Vallise.

Miriam could not understand Why or how
Iris should write out the confession of murder
and hide it in the dagger and then say that she
had not placed it in the hole in the wall. Equally
dark to her was the detective's story that be ex-
pected to prove the girl innocent despite the
award insurmountable evidence of the bloody

fl 9.

Gideon stood one night—it was the one after
his last interview with Miriam on the street—
with his eyes fastened on the house on the
avenue. I

The? surroundings of Iris’s home were quiet

and no one came or went.

Like a statue the ferret of Gotham watched
the place and knew that the hours were posing
and that it was nearly twelve.

- At last the front deor of the mansion opened
and a female figure slipped down the steps.

Still the detective did not stir but watched

  

the woman glide ofl,‘,her

facowolloonoaalodby

 

the folds of a shawl and her figure dressed in
close—fitting black.

The detective tracked this person down the
street and saw her run up the steps of a house
he had not shadowed for some time—the House
of the Grinning God.

The deity in black grinned over the door as
if unaware of its master’s flight and showed
its teeth in the light of the nearest lamp.

“Then the door had closed on the person thus
tracked, the man of clews drew nearer and this
time he. entered after his prey.

He seemed afraid of traps and pitfalls no
longer.

In the house he found himself alone. No
noises told him of the presence of another, yet
he knew that he was not the sole inmate of
the old place.

Gideon crept up the steps down which on a
former occasion a writhin serpent had come
with open mouth and dea ly {hugs and stood
at last among the shadows of the corridor
overhead.

Presently a light attracted the detective and
he went toward it.

A door was between him and the room from
whence the light came and it might be locked.

“"ho was beyond that portnl'i—the person he
had tracked to the house from Iris Norman’s
home?

Gideon Grip waited some time for the per-
son in the room to come out, but as there were
no signs of his being accommodated, he laid his
hand on the knob.

As he feared, the door was locked on the iii-
side.

The detective turned back and waited once
more in the shadows. ‘

Not for a moment did he take his eyes from
that door.

Beyond it seemed to lie the solution of the
mystery he had tracked so long. .

At length he heard a noise which delighted
hi

to. V
A key had turned in the lock, and he saw in

the light revealed by the opening of the door,

the tall figure of a woman. .
in another moment she stood in full view.
Zuleika the maid was almost within reach of

the ferret’s hand!

She did not see him; her eyes seemed to burn
with unnatural light, and were riveted on the
end of the corridor.

But was this Zuleika?

Gideon Grip doubted it while he gazed at the
creature, for her face seemed to have aged
greatly within the last few hours, and instead of
the freshness of youth she had the wrinkles of
advancing years.

It was as if the maid had throwu off her old
identity and taken on another.

He continued to watch her with all eyes, and
saw her come down the corridor, her step almost
stealthy and her hands clinched.

He shrunk into the wall, as it were, intending
to let her pass and follow, but. all at once shei
saw him and stopped.

The searching eyes of aneika could not be
cheated, and in a moment Gideon knew that he
was no longer hidden from her.

The girl stood and gazed at him, first with a
mad at re and then with a smile at the corners
of her finely chiseled lips.

It was a smile in which defiance and derision
were mingled.

“ Zuleika, I want you,” said the ferret break.
ing the silence.

“ You want me?” she echoed.
Gideon Grip?” ,

“ Shall we go down to the lower floor? You
know the chambers of this old trap."

“ We will go back to the room have just left
if that will suit you.”

How cool she was! How steady was her
voice, without a tremor, and her eye an orb of
tranquillity.

“ Back to the room, then,” said the detective.

Zuleika turned and led the way back, watch-
ing at the door for him, and when he was across
the threshold, shutting it behind him.

She turned on the light. letting it into every
place in the chamber, and then looked at him.

“ Will you sit down, Gideon?” she asked.

But the ferret shook his head, and remained
standing. ' .

“ If on will not sit, I Will,” and Zuleika
droppe¢ into a chair and looked up at him once
more with the old smile'i

'“ What do you want to knowi- You have
tracked me hither.”

“I have. Zulrika. It seems to me that you
are the person who should be tracked just now.”

There was no answer, but her look meant some-
thing. ,

“Girl, you have been pla 'mg a deep, dark
hand,”ihe went on a moment ater.

“ Too deep for you, Gideon?” ,

u Allniogt.” 1

The g r smi ed.

" You are a charmer—I don’tmean acharmer
of men alone, but a fascinator of your own sex.”

Zuleika started. .

“ You have been at the altar of memorial).
Your eyes are not deep for nothing; you know
how to look a person in the face, and woo them
to the singular sleep of the spellbound.”

“ For what,

  

 

 

 

'J'Wp-“

 

Qty 4“». w... .

 

     

 

 

‘6: ,. I , , ,___.....

 

 

 

 

   

.1). >  . .  ~ 4 ,-, ..

‘(.

Gideon Grip, the Secret Shadower.

29*

 

 

“ Don’t be too sure of what you say. I may
’ 7’
not be the terrible person on picture me.

“ You have learned of o d Sakkar. You have
visited the House of the Grinning God, not to see
the man for whom you have adevouring passion,
but to hold converse with the old priest of Vish-
kar, who even n0w is on his way to India.”

“ Are you sure he is, Gideon Grip? Have you
tracked Sakkar of the Black Hand to the ves-
sell” ,

“ No, but I know that he is on his way back
to the land of snakes and heathen temples. And
you have been his scholar. You have obtained
some of his secrets.”

“ Do you think so?”

“He discovered that you, though a woman,

sessed the subtle p0wers of the mesmerist.
goo: have tried your hand on a young girl who
this night stands in the shadow of death.”

It seemed to Gideon Grip that the lips of
Zuleika curled proudly.

“ You have had Iris under the spell of our
powers,” he went on. “ I broke the spell o the
drug, but yours was almost as potent. How did
you discover that the word “ Bertah ” was
tattooed on Iris’s arm?”

“ Do you know it is there?”

The tall girl had turned duestioner, but the
ferret soon put an end to the nquisition.

“ You layed a bold hand when you discover.
ed this. on then went to work; you enmeshed
Iris in a web of death which 3 almost im-
possible to break. You had the dagger—”

He stopped, thinking that Zuleika was about
to quit the chair, but though she started, she
did not rise.

“You went a step too far. You threw Iris

-under the spell of your peculiar powers and

dictated to her the words which you hid in the
hilt of the turquoise blade.”

“ You are ver plain,” said Zuleika.

“ You did al this. and more ” continued
Gideon, scarcely noticing the nterruption.
‘fYou carried the blade to the secret niche
which your prying e es had discovered and
placed it there to be ound by the unfortunate
girl and make her her own executioner.

Zuleika left her chair and her figure towered
before the cool detective.

“ Don’t ou know that you have no proof of
all this?” s e asked. “ It is simply a desperate
cast of the dice, the last throw you have at your
command, GideOn Grip.”

“ I shall prove something before I am
through,” he answered. “ Do you imagine that
Iris in making her confession would not use
pa r of her own?”

he eyes of Zuleika became fixed.

She saw the hand of the detective dive be-
neath his coat, and the next moment a piece of
pa r fell on the table before her.

he followed the fall of the paper and watch-
ed it for a moment.

“ That is a hit of your private stationery from
your boudoir,” he said.

“ Thief l robber l” hissed the white lips of the
tall maid. ‘

“ And here is the confessihn found in the hilt
of the dagger. Don‘t you see that the pieces of
paper are the same! Iris never had such in her
possession. Do you think she would go to your
rocm for paper on which to trace her own
guilt?"

There was no reply. Zuleika stood before
him, her eyes watching him like a cornered
:ioriiise watches the cat, and her hands shut

a a

The maid seemed at the end of her tether.

“ You have played this game nearly out,” she
said, at last. “ on have picked u link by
link the chain of somebod ’s guilt. ou try to
fasten upon me the mu er of Dorsey Drake.
What do you say to the hand Iris saw on his

‘ face after he was dead! Was that my handi”

a

“It was not. It came to the face after the
killing—after you had glided from the room
with blood on your soul, and the dagger in your

grasp;
“ hy should I kill Dorsey Drake?”

The detective seemed to lean toward Zuleika.
Their eyes met. and be lowered his voice.

“Do you want me to bmthe the secret you
have kept so well!” he said. “Why should you
kill him, is it? Woman. in the heatof your love
for a villain, you thought that if the oung girl
for whose hand and supposed wea th he was
playing, while aesisting old Sakkar, was out of
the way, you would possess him. You dared not
kill Iris, but your plot went 00W than that.
You stole to Dorsey Drake' room that night.
You came u u him, perhaPS. after he had had

the scene wi h Iris. You killed him with cool*

deliberation, and the mesmerizing and the “con.
lesion” was but one of the coils you wove
about her."

Gideon Grip looked away fora moment, and
when he turned to Zuleika, wondering What she

- would say to his last socusatian, he found her at

. my soul.”

a stand on the other side of the room. '

“What a merciless unraveler of secrets 1011
are” shesaid. “You will call this your moat
brilliant case, Isuppooo. Give.me a chance to
 evm" o

" To get evon, Zuleika?”

“ Let me hunt down the man for whom I lost

 

There was bitterness in every word. She had
been driven to the wall.

“ Let me find him, will you?” she went on.
“GiVe me one night’s time. Like the paroled

risoner I will come back to you, Gideon Grip.
i) will return and feel your grip which lets noth-
ing guilty escape.”

He aw how earnest she was.

“That would not be unraveling the mystery
of the Black Hand,” he said.

“ Why wouldn’t it? Don’t you know that he
is somewhere in this city—that Paradox will es-
cape you unless you let me find him?"

“ I will risk that.”

Zuleika seemed to see that she was beaten.

“ I will take you back to Iris,” he said.
“Back to Iris first. She must hear from your
lips the true story of the death of her father.”

A cry broke from Zuleika’s throat.

“ Her father?” she cried. “ Heavens! I have
suspected that a thousand times since.”

“ And did you know that the woman who
watched from across the street, the ceaseless
locker-on, the creature who saw Paradox come
out of the house that night. was Iris’s mother?”

There was no cry now. Zuleika’s lips met and
she only stared.

“You won’t let me out to hunt him down—to
blot out forever the mark of the Black Hand?”
she suddenly cried.

“ I can’t, girl.”

“Then, we will go down,” she said, but the
moment she stepped forward smiling at him as
before, the detactive saw in the depths of her
eyes a light never seen there before.

 

CHAPTERXXXVI.
our or run: nazs.

A HAN was slipping through a clump of shad-
ows, with another on his track.

Not far oi! rolled the river and the waves
dashing a ainst the pier, sung the direful dirge
of the nig tly suicides.

. With the tread of cats both men neared the
river, and the foremost one stopped at the edge
of the wharf. but in the shadows that prevailed
there, and looked back.

Suddenly his hand was lifted, and he threw
something from him.

Having done this he turned and went back.

“ You old rascal, you haven’t gone back to
India any more than i have,” grated his watcher,
drawing back among the shadows. “ I am
going to make the last attem t to wrest from
you the secret you carry not t e one about the
drug, but the other one. You have given Zuleika
some of your powers. You have schooled her
in the black arts, and she has used them against
the innocent.”

Back over the streets of Gotham slipped the
old man. Back tothe scene of so man adven-
tures in our drama of mystery, the ones of
the Grinning God.

\ Sakkar, who had stolen from his hiding-place,
was going back to the house for the last time.

And close at his heels was Paradox, the plot-

wr.

Old S kkar reached the house and entered;
the serpgnt behind him did the same.

Five minutes later the figure of Sakkar ap-
peared on one of the flight: of stairs and stooped
half-way down.

“ Why don’t on come on?" said a voice from
below and the o d Hindoo, looking down, saw the
figure at the foot of the steps. ,

Paradox—Paradox with the gleamin e e of a
devil, Paradox, the man who had he] im to
recover the lost book of life.

For a moment Sakkar seemed to look into
the upturned face of his late companion and then
he went down.

He med to laugh out of his little eyes and
when he stood almost within reach of Para-
dox’s arms, he draw back and inclined his head
forWard.

H b
the he]

Old Sakkar reached the bottom of the steps
and threw out his dark band. .

“ I know your grip,” he said. “ I know that
your hand has the power of leaving a mark on
the skin wherever t touches—that you have a
thumb which now and then is a full member,
thanks to the arts. but nearly all the time it is
but half a thumb.” .

“ You have discovered that, have you?"

“I have discovered that.”

It seemed to Sakkar that the man below was
about to spring up the steps and seize him, for
he drew back asain. but only for a moment.

The next moment his body went flying through
s cc and he allghted squarely on ,Paradox’s
Igulders.

The attack bore the wellvplanted watcher to-
ward the wall and Sakkar managed to keep
from his throat the dreaded fingers of the “Man
with the Mhimed Thumb.

I “Yoh must see what is in the upper room,”
said the old Indian. ..

“ What is there?”

“A dead person.”

f‘ Nonsense!” cried Paradox. “ It is but a
trick of ours to break my grip.” .

“ By e heart of,Vishkai-. it is not!” was the
 = P, 4. 

i

don’t you come on!” said the man in

   
 
   

   

 

“ “'e will go up and look.”

Strunger the two men fell apart and went up
the steps together.

Sakkar opened atloor and turned to Paradox.

“ Where is the dead person?”

“In yonder."

Paradox leaned forward, for the light in the
room was not of the best, and to him there was
nothing in there but the shadows of the queer-
lookiiig furniture.

The f0110wing moment the figure of Paradox

fell headlong into the room and the door shut. \

“ The old villain i” cried the Man with the
Maimed Thumb, turning to the portal with a
curse.

He seized the knob and wrenched it madly,
but the door did not open.

Then he drew back and took a hasty survey of
the lace.

“ eavens, it is here, sure enoughl” he cried,
falling back from an object he had not seen un—
til then.

Near one of the walls lay something strangely

human in outline. a
1_ He neared it and then fell back with a start—
mg g

asp.

“The tall maid—the tigress of Iris’s house!”
he exclaimed, for in the dim light lay the .body
of Zuleika.

The girl was dead, dead in the House of the
Grinning God, the fittest place for her to die in..

 

Gideon Grip was looking into the pale face of
Miriam whostood before him, and she was listen-
ing to t e story that fell from his lips. ,

‘ An you left her alone in that housel” asked
Miriam.

“ Yes, she pleaded so hard. I gave her two
hours. She promised at last to find Paradox for
me.”
“ Zuleika will betray you,” was the reply.
“ You won’t find her there when you go has .

The detective looked at his watch.

“ Her time is up. Will you go with met" 3

“ No, I go to Iris.”

They parted on the sidewalk below the detec—
tive’s den, and he watched the figure of Miriam
vanish in the shadows of street and buildin .

“ She'believes me nOW,” he said, with the 00k
of one who has won a hard-fought game. “ She
knows that despite the evidence of the turquoise
d ger Iris is innocent. She knews that Zuleika
kil ed her husband, but not that Paradox was a
witnem to the murder, and afterward, to shield.
the maid, touched the dead man’s face with that,
hand which leaves a mark.”

A few minutes later Gideon Grip stood beneath. L
the roof of the House of the Grinning God.

It was for the last time. _

Had Zuleika kept her promise to him? Had
she gone out and found Paradox?

He went upstairs and stopped at a door.

“ She promised to meet me in here,” he said
pushing it open.

One look seemed enough.

Gideon Gri discovered on the floor where it
had startled aradox, the body of the tall maid.

“ I thought you would come i" said a voice be--
hind him.

That instant the ferret turned and faced the

speaker.

The Man with the Valise sprung out of the
shadows. '

The agile detective'did not shun the encounter,
but want toward it. ,

Paradox found himself gripped as neverbe-
fore and forced back over the form of the tall
maid. He felt at his threat the handset the
sleeplem ferret, the man who had tracked him
through light and shadow, fearle- nowof the
hand that killed.

In the soft lamplight of the last November“
day, with her graceful ii rs revealed and with
Miriam looking proudly nto her lustrous eyes,
stood Iris.

Out of the trap! free from the hideous spell
of the Black Band at lastl

The past, or much of it. seemed a dream to,
the fair young girl and she looked toward
Miriam and murmuring, “ Mother,” stole talker
side and encircled her with her arms.

The next moment the door opened and Gideon
Gri came into the room.

T a women looked at him and smiled.

“The kin of secret—solvers!” said Miriam,
“ the manw 0 at no time gave up the hunt.
What is’ the la Gideon Grifii”

“An old man as been ki ed in crossinga

meet down-town and the tem le of Vishkar ' 

has lost its Sakksr forever. hen, Parad
after explaining how he played his gamers .
after showing me with the coolness of a hug

how he deceived me the night he showed me a A.

whole thumb, has cheated the law by taking his-
own life, so that we are the onlg Evin actors of
the dark drama flayed by the l k Hand.”

It was true. e

of Dorsey Drake's eath was a mystery no

lon er, and, with Iris. or “ Bertah." on than I
of ing Geoffrey Graeme’s bride, Gideon. _ ‘

Gri could go to another trail, but not to one as

ex ting or bristling with mystery and peril as

the one from which he had just stepped. ' .
m IND.

me was out, the mystery  ‘

.ytu‘

 

h” mg?

C

' .219 The $00

 

 

 

   

192 The Lightning Sport - or. The Bad Man at Slaugh-
ter Bar. By W. R. Eyster.

193 The Man in Red; or, The Ghost of the Old Guard.
By Ca t. F. Whittaker.

194 Don ombrei-o, the California Road Gent; or,
TWhfle Three Men of Mount Tabor. By Capt. Mark

ton.

195 The Lone Star Gambler; or. The Maid of the
Magi: as By Buckskin Sam.

196 La rmoset the Detective Queen; or, The Lost
Heir of More . By Albert-W. Aiken.

197 Revolver Rob. the Red-Handed; or, The Belle of
Nugget Camp. By Jos. E. Badger, Jr.

198 The Skeleton Schooni-r' or. The Skimmer of the
Sea. By Col. Prentiss fiigraham.

199 Diamond Dick, the Dandy from Denver. By
Buckskin Sam.

200 The Rifle Rangers; or. Adventures in Southern
Mexico. By Capt. Mayne Reid.

201 The Pirate of the Pincers; or. Joaquin’s Death
Hunt. By Joseph E. Badger. Jr.

202 Cactus Jack. the Giant Guide; or, The Masked
Robbers of Black Bend. By Capt. Mark Wilton.

208 The Double Detective: or, The Midnight Mys-

By Albert W. Aiken.

oot Wallace. the Kin oi' the Lariat; or,

Wolf the Waco. By uckskin Sam.

“365 The Gambler Pirate; or, Bessie, the Lady of the
Lagoon. y Col. Prentiss Ingruham.

$6 One Eye, 6 Cannonepr; or. Marshal Ney’s Last
 BE Ca t. Fred. Whittaker.

107 01 ard ear ; or, Whirlwind and His Milk‘
White Mare. B Philip S. Warne.

2% The White Chie . By Capt. Mayne Reid.

209 Buck Farley. the Bonanza 'Prince; or; The R0.
mance of Death Gulch. By Edward Willett.

210 Buccaneer Bess. the Lioness of the Sea; or, The
Red Sea Trail. By 001. P. Ingraham.

£11 Colonel Plunger: or, The Unknown Sport. By
Capt. Frederick Whittaker. .

812 The Brazos Tigem' or, The Minute-Men of
Fort Belknap. By Buckskin Sam.

218 The War Trail; or, The Hunt of the Wild Hors'o
$1: Capt. Mayne Reid.

3314 6 Two Cool Sports; or, Gertie of the Gulch.
By Wm. B. Eyster.

.215 Parson Jim King of the Cowboys; or, The

. Gentle Shegherd’s Big “Clean-Out.” By Capt.

Frederick hittakei'. ‘

116 The Corsair Planter; or, Driven to Doom. By
001. Prentiss Ingraham. .

817 The Ser ent of El Paco; or Frontier Frank, the
Scout 0 the Rio Grande. B Buckskin Sam.

218 The Wild Huntress; or, The Sig Squatter's Ven-
ireanoe. By Capt. Mayne Reid.

ion Brothers; or. Mad Tom’s Mission.
% Capta n Mark Wilton.

220 . e Specter Yacht; or, A Brother’s Crime. By

Col. P. lngrnham. '

I I I 221 Desperate Duke. the Guadaloupe “ Galoot." By

Buckskin Sam.
222 Bill, the Buzzard; or. Red Jacket's Double
Crime. By Edward Willett.
.223 Canyon Dave. the Man of the Mountain' or,
, $3130th of Silver Spur. By Captain Mark
n.

i 224 Black Beard, the Buccaneer; or, The Curse of

the Coast. By Col. P in raham.
225 Rocky Mountain Al' r ugget Nell, the Wall?
of the Range. By Buckskin Sam.

 226Th M

A  Orson On, to

I ‘ 285 Red Lightning, the Man 0


B

; 213‘!

 

e ad Hussars; or. The 0’s and the Mac’s.
By Capt. F. Whittaker.

is?! Buckshot Ben. the Man-Hunter of Idaho' or,

ahfimCactus Creek Tragedy. By Capt. ‘ark

n. , .

228 The Maroon. By Capt. Mayne Reid.

229 Captain Cutsleeve; or, Touch-Me-Not, the Little

g ort. By Win. REyster.

880 e Fly‘ Dutchman of 1880; or, Who was
Vanderdec en. 'By Capt. Whittaker. .

231 The Kid Glove Miner; or. The Magic Doctor oi.’

- Golden Gulch. B Col. P. lngrahain.

an of iron; or, The River Mys-.

' tery. Bly lsaac Hawks.

238 The 01 Boy of Tombstone; or. Wagering a
Life on a Card. By J. E. Badger. Jr. .

234 The Hunters’ Feast- By C t. Mayne Reid.

.’ Times in Golden Gulch. By Colonel Prentiss
Ingraham. . .

.336 Champion Sam; or, The Monarchs of the Show.

' By 00 . T. H. Monstery.

287 Long-Haired Max: or The Black League of the
Coast. By Capt. H. Wilton. '

.288 Hank Hound the Cmscant City Detective; or,

‘ ‘ The Owls of ew Orleans. By A. P. Morris.

239 The Terrible Trio; or, The Angel of the Army.
‘By Buckskin Sam.

.810 A Cool Head; or, Orson Oxx in Peril. By lsuc

Hawks. ,
241 S ittlro Saul. King of the Bustiers: or. neon
' ie’s Grand “Round-Up." By Josep E.

. ' Badger, Jr. '
* 842 The Fog Devil' or. The Skipper of theiFlash.

Ca t. Fred. Whittaker.
rim Sharp; or, The Soldier’s Sweetheart.

. Bu 0 Bill.
244 eroiless Mart the Man-Tligger of Missouri; or,
, The Wall of t 0 Flood. y “Buckskin Sam.’
, Maj. Sam 8. Hall.
845 Barranca Bill. the Revolver Champion; or, The
.t ‘. Witchwo‘fnghe Weeping Willows. By Captain
:1. .
een Helen, the Amazon 01' the Overland; or,
e Ggiouls of the Gold Mines. By Col. fientiss
sin.
'orike; or The Secret of the Everglade.

 “B Cat.FredWhittak
smith p

er.
ntans Nat: the Lion of Last Chance Camp.
By Edward Willett.
249 E o hsnt'i‘oni. of Dur 0; or. Your Gold Dust
-- . or out-Life. B Jos. . Bad or. Jr.
:30 The Rough Ride ; or, Sharp ye, the Seminole
Scourge. By Buckskin 8am.
r Dick vs. iron I ; or, Every Man Has

. y P. arno.
: W The Wall Street Blood; or. Tick, Tick, the Tele-
By Albert W. Aiken. , ‘
son of the Nihil-

. . e okWh ttaker.

= _ the Patrol’ot the Mountain. By
‘ ~ Newton M. Curtis. .
3255 The Pirate Priest; or. TbePianter Gambler's
.r) f Daughter. By Col. P. Ingraham. ,

Chance; or. Flush ‘

 

 
 

256 Double Dan. the Bastard; or, The Pirates of the
Pecos. y Buckskin Sam.

257 Death‘Trap Diggings; or, A Hard Man from
’Way Back. By Joseph E. Badger, Jr.

258 Bullet Head, the Colorado Bravo; or, The Pris-
ie‘ilifirs of the Death Vault. By Captain Mark

ton.

259 Cutlass and Cross; or, The Ghouls of the Sea.
By Colonel Prentiss lngraham.

260 The Masked Mystery; or, The Black Crescent.

By A. P. Morris.

261 Back Sam, the Prairie Thunderbolt; or, The
Bandit-Hunters. By Col. Jo Yards.

262 Fighting Tom. the Terror of the Toughs. By
Col. Thomas Hoyer Monstery. ‘

263 Iron-Armed Abe, the Hunchback Destr‘rgyer: or.
The Black Riders’ Terror. Capt. Mark ii on.

264 The Crooked Three' or. The Black Hearts of
the Guadalu e. By uckskin Sam.

265 Old Double—Sword; or. Pilots and Pirates. By
Captain Frederick Whittaker.

266 Leopard Luke, the King of Horse-Thieves; or.
The Swamp Squatter’s Doom. By Capt. Mark

i ton.

267 The White Squaw. By Ca . Mayne Reid.

268 Ma ic Mike, the Man of riils; or. Bad Ben’s
Bat Brigade. By William R. Eyster.

269 The Bayou Bravo; 0:. The Terrible Trail. By

the Free Rover; or,

Buckskin Sam
The Pirate’s
Daughter. By Ned Buntline.

270 Andros,

271 Stoneflst, of Big Nugget Bend; or, Old Ket-
chuin‘s Tug of War. B Capt. Mark Wilton.

272 Seth Slocum, Railroad _urveyor' or, The Secret
0 Sitting Bull. Bi; Ca t. Fred. Whittaker.

273 ll’ untain Mose. t e orge Outlaw; or, Light
Horso Leon’s Five Fights for Life. By Buck-
skin Sam. 4

274 Flush Fred. the Mississi pi Sport; or, Tough
Times in Tennessee. By ward Willett.

275 The Smuggler Cutter; or, The Cavern in the
Cliff. By J. D. Conroy. _

276 Texas Chick, the Southwest Detective; or,
Tiger Lily, The Vulture Queen. By Captain
Mark Wilton.

277 The Sauc Jane, Privateer: or. The Hunting of
Old Irons des. By Capt. Fred Whittaker.

278 Hercules Golds iur. the Man of the Velvet Hand:
or, The Poker een’s Drop Game. By Captain
Howard Holmes. '

279 The Gold Dragon; or. The California Blood-
hound. By William H. Manning.

280 Black-Hess Ben; or. Tiger Dick's Lone Hand.
B Philips. Warne.

281 T e Sea Owl; or, The Lady Captain of the Gulf.
By Colonel Prentiss In raham. ‘

282 The Merciless Maraur ers; or, Chaparral Carl‘s
Revenge. By Buckskin Sam.

283 Sleek Sam. t ie Devil of the Mines' or, The Sons
of the Fieryrgross. By J on. E. Badger. Jr.

284 The Three gates; or, Old Ironsides‘ Revenge.
B Capt. Fred. Whittaker.

285 Lghtning Bolt, the Can on Terror; or. The
Mountain Cat's Grudge. y Capt. Mark Wilton.

286 Pistol Johnny; or, One Man in a Thousand. By
Joseph E. Badger, Jr. '

287 Dan y Dave. and His Horse, White Stocking;
or. Ducats or Death. By Buckskin Sam.

2% Electro Pete, the Man of Fire; or, The Wharf
Rats of Locust Point. B A. P. Morris. .

289 Flush Fred’s Full Han : or, Life and Strife in
Louisiana. By Edward Willett.

290 The Lost, Corvette; or Blakeley’s Last Cruise.
By Capt. Fred. Whitta or.

291 Horseshoe Hank, the Man of Big Luck; or, The
Gold B 'ck of Idaho. By Capt. Mark Wilton.

292 Make orner the Boss Ronstabout; or, The
Fresh-Water Sharks of the Overflow. By J. E.
Badger, Jr. V

293 Stampede Steve; or, The Doom of the Double
Face. By Buckskin Sam.

294 Broadcloth Burt the Denver Dandy-r or, The
Thirty Pards of eadwood. B Capt. H. Holmes.

295 Old rose-Eye. the Maverim-Hunter; or, The
Night Rider of Satanta County. By Capt. F.
Whittaker.

296 Duncan. the Sea-Diver; or, The Coast Vultures.

‘ By George'St. George. .

207 Colorado Rube, the Strong Arm of Hotspur
City- or, The Giant Brothers of Buzzard Roost.
By illiam H. Manning.

298 Log r Lem; or, Life and Peril in the Pine
Woods. B Edward Willett.

299 Three of a ind. Tigsr Dick, Tron Despard, and

the Sportive Sport. By P. S. Warne.

300 ASport in S ctacles; or. The Bad Time at
Bunco. B illiam R. Efls‘ter. '

801 Bowider ill; or, The n from Tans. By
Buckskin Sam.

30% Faro Sun], the Han
Grip of Steel. By Josey E. Badger. Jr.

303 Top-Notch Tom, the Cowboy Oudaw; or 'Ilo

anstown Election. B Ca t. Whittaker.

304 exas Jack. the Prairie tt or' or, The Queen
of the Wild Riders. Bv Buffalo 13m.

305 Silver-Plated Sol the Montana Rovea‘or, Giant
golds Fight with Himself. By ‘ pt. Mark

ton. .

306 The Roughs of Richmond' or The Mystery of
the Golden Bee e. By A. P: Morris.

807 The Phantom rate; or, The Water Wolves of
the Bahamas. y Col. P. In in. .

ace Hemlock Hank. Ton h and 0' or, The
Shadow of Mount Kat adiri. By . Willett.

809 Raybold, the Battling Bangor; 01'. Old Rocky‘s
To h Camapaign. By Buckskin Sam.

310 The arsh oi.’ Satanstown; or, The e of
the Cattle-Lifters. By Capt. Fred. Wh tta er.

811 Heavy Hand the Relentless- or, The Marked
Men of Paradise Gulch. apt. M. Wilton.

312 Kinktoot l. the Mann n Scourge; or, Wlpv
int: out the ore. ‘ By Morris Redwmgi

318 Mai-it Magic Detective. By A. P. Mon-is.
314 Lafitte; or. he Pirate of the Gulf. By Prof. J.

H. ingnliam. ‘ > .
815 Flush Fred’s Double' or. The Squqtten League
0: 81:. By Edward Willett. «

816 Lafittw Lieutenant; or. Theodore. the Child of
the Sea. By Prof. J. H. Ingraham. -

3'17 Frank htfoot. the Miller Detective. By J. E.
Badger, ,r. ‘ v ‘

meoHerculos; or, The

318 The Indian Buccaneer. or.  Rovers on Blue .

     
   
 
  

 

Waters. By 001. Prentiss ngraham. ' 

V 882 The Bonanza

 

819 fWlildBBlill'l, the Whirlwind oi? the West. By Buf-
a o i .

320 The Genteel Spotter; or, the Night Hawks of
New York. By A. W. Aiken.

321 California Claude, the Lone Bandit. By Captain
Howard Holmes.

322 The Crimson Coyotes; or, Nita, the Nemesis.
fiy Buckskin Sam.

323 otspur Hugh; or, The Banded Brothers of the
Giant‘s Arm. By Captain Mark Wilton.

324 Old Forked Lightning. the Solitary; or, Every
inch 8. Man. By Jos. E. Badger Jr.

325 The Gentleman Pirate; or, The Hermit of Casoo

Bay. B 001. P. Ingraham.
y By Captain F.

326 The Whizest Man in the Mines.
Whittaker.

327 Terrapin Dick, the Wild Woods Detective; or,
Trailing a Traitor. By Edward Willett.

323 Kin Kent; or, The Bandits of the Bason. By
Bu skin Sam.

329 The League of Three' or. Buflalo Bill’s Pledge.
By Col. Prentiss Ingra am.

330 fiop Colt, The Quaker City Detective. By Chas.

r

,3 ms.
331 Chispa Charley, the Gold Nug et S rt; or, The
Rocky Mountain Masks. B f E. Bridger, r.
832 Spring-Heel Jack; or The asked Mystery of
the Tower. By Col. Monstery.
333 Derringer Deck, the Man with the Drop. By
Wm. B. Eyster.
884 The Cipher Detective; or, Mark Magic on a New
Trail. By A. P. Morris.
335 Flash Dan. the N abob- or, The Blades of Bowie
Bar. By Ca tain H. Holmes.
336 The Mario hip; or, The Freebooters of Sandy
Hook. By Col. P. lngraham.
337 Old Gabe, the Mountain Tramp; or. The Tragedy
of the Deserted Camp. By Ed. Willett.
838 Jack Sand, the Boss of the Town: or. The Fool
of Fiddler’s Folly. B Philip S. Warne.
839 Spread Eagle, Snm,t e Hercules Hide-Hunter.
léy Joseph E. Bad or, Jr.
340 ool Conrad, the nkota Detective; or, From
Lair to Lair. By Captain H. Holmes
841 The Sea Desperado. By Colonel P. Infigraham.
342 liliingo Bill, the Mustang Monarch. y Buck-
s n ‘ain. ‘
343 The Head Hunter; or, Mark Magic in the Mines.
By A. 1’. Morris.
344 Double Shot Dave of the Left Hand; or, A Cold
Wave at Black Dam. By Wm. R. Eyster.
845 Masked Mark, the Mounted Detective. By Jos.
E. Badger, Jr.
846 Ocean Guerriilas' or, The Planter Midshipman.
By Col. Prentiss I’ngraham.
347 Denver Duke the Man With Sand; or. Centi.
(1'0 Sam‘s Lone Hand. By Captain Howard
0 mes.
348 Dan Dillon, Kinfikoi' Crosscut; or, A Woman’s
Wild Work. By .ward Willett.
849 Lion-Hearted Dick, the Gentleman Road-Agent.
By Albert W. Aiken.
850 g sghblg‘alcon, the Society Detective. By Weldon
. o .
851 Nor’west Nick. the Border Detective; or, Dan
Brown’s Fight for Life. By Jos. E. Badger. Jr.
852 The Desperate Dozen; or. The Fair Fiend of the
C(eur d’Alene. By Capt. Howard Holmes.

353 Barb Brennan, the Train Wrecker; or, The King.

of Straight Flusn. By John Cuthbert.

854 Red Richard; or. The Brand of the Crimson
Cross. By Albert Vi . Aiken.

355 The Mad Athlete; or, The Worst Pill in the Box.
By Jos. E. Badger. Jr.

356 i‘hree Handsome Spgrts; or, The Double Com-
bination. By Wm. .Eyster.

357 Jack Siinons, Detective; or, The Wolves of
Washin ton. B A. P. Morris.

353 The Prince of an Out; or, The Beautiful Na-
va o‘s Mission. By Buckskin Sam.

359 Ye low Jack. the. Mestizo: or, Tiger Dick to the
Rescue. By Philip S. Warne. ’ '

360 Jumping Jerry. the Gamecock from Sundown;
or, A Crow Full of Sand. By J. -E. Bad er, Jr.

361 Tombstone Dick. the Train Pilot; or, he Trai-
tor's Trail. By Ned Buntline. .

362 Bufialo Bill‘s Grip; or, Oath-Bound to Custer.
By 001. Prentiss lngraham.

863 Crowningshield. the Detective; or, Pltiless as
' Death. By Albert W. Aiken. ‘

364 The Sea Fugitive; or. The Queen of the Coast.
13 Col. Prentiss Ingraham. ‘

365 can Kennard, the Shasta ShadOW' or, The
Branded Face. By Capt. Howard Holmes.

866 The Telegraph Detective; or, The Dynamite
League. By George Hen Morse. ~

867 A Royal Flush; or, Dan rown's Big Game of
Freeze-Out. By Jos. E. Badger, Jr.

868 The Can on King; or, A Price on His Head. By
Edward iilett. ‘

369 The Coast Corsair: or. Modes Madge, the Sims
.oi.‘ the Sea. By Col. Prentiss ngraham.

370 The Dusky Detective; or, Pursued to the End.
By A. W. Aiken. .

371 Gold Buttons; or, The UpRango Pards. By
Buckskin Sam. - .

372 Captain Crisp, the Man with a Record. By

Jos. . ger, r,
373 The Sailor of Fortune; or. he Buccaneers or

Baruwt Bay. By 001. Pren Intraham.

874 Major lister. the Sport or Two Cities' Or. The

Broadws 8 user in the Black Hills. hy Capt.
Howard 0 mos. '

875 Royal George, the Three in One; or. The Cold

Deck on Blazers. By Wm. B. E star.

876 The Black Beards; or. The Big Horse on the
Rio Grande. By Albert W. Aiken. _

877 Afloat and Ashore; or. The Corsair Compirator.
By Col. Prentiss In sham. ' ‘

878 John Armstrong. echanic; or. From the Bottom
to the Top of the Ladder. By Capt. F. Whittaker.

879 Bowling Jonathan; or, The Terror from Head-
waters. J as. E. r. Jr.

$0 The Golden Serpent; or, Tiger Dick’s Pledge.

B P. 8. ans. r
881 The Gypsy Gentleman; or. Nick Fox.thoDemon
Detective. B Albert W. Aiken. i . '
Band; 01‘. Dread Don. of the Cool
(flhn- By Ca t. Howard Holmes.
883 Silver Sam, ho Detective; or The Bustiers of
utSteACity. .By Major Daniel Boone Dumont.

384.] ijun Dick.‘ Detective' or. Tracked from tho
riot-kiss to New York. I By Albert W. Aiken.

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385 Wild Dick Turpin, the Lion of Leadville; or,
The Lone Hand. By Wm. H. Manning.

386 Hawk Heron, the Falcon Detective' or. The
Gotham Flats Mystery. By Jackson nox. (Old
Hawk.) .

387 Dark Durg, the Ishmael of the Hills; or, The
Gold Phantom. By Jos. E. Badger. Jr.

338 The Giant Buccaneer; or, The Wrecker Witch
of Death Island. By Colonel P. Ingrahaln.

".89 Colonel Doubleedge, the Cattle, Baron’s Pard'

or. The Marshal of Sandstone. By Major Daniel
Boone Dumont. U. S. A.

390 The Giant Cupid' or. Cibuta John‘s Great
Jubilee. By J. c. Cowdrick.

391 Kate Scott the Deco Detective; or, Joe Phe-
nix‘s Still Hunt. By . W. Aiken.

392 The Lost Bonanza: or, The Boot of Silent
Hound. By Captain Howard Holmes.

393 The?Convict Captain; or. The Battles of the
Buccaneers. By Coiowl Prentiss lngraham.

394 White Beaver. the Exile of the Platte' or, a
Wmnged Man's Red Trail. By Bunnie Bill.

395 Deadly Aim. the Duke of Derringers; or. a Fight
for Five Millions. By Joe. E. Badger. Jr.

996 The Piper Detective; or, The Gilt Edge Gang.
By Wm. B. Eyster. '

397 The Wizard Brothers; or, White Beaver’sRed
Trail. By Buffalo Bill.

398 Sleepless Eye. the Pacific Detective; or, Run-
ning Down a Double. By Geo. C. Jenks.

399 The New Monte Cristo; or, The Wandering Jew
of the Sea. By Colonel Prentiss Ingraham.

400 Captain Coldgrip, the S rt Detective; or, The
New York Spotter in lorado. By Captain
Howard Holmes.

401 The OneiArm Pard: or Red Retribution in Bor-
derland. By Bufralo Bin.

402 Snapshot Sam. the Pistol Sharp; or, The Racket
at Angels’ Flat. By Wm. R. Eyster.

403 The Nameless Sport; or, The Kilkenny Cats of
Way Up. By Joe. E. Badger, Jr.

404 Silver Rifl‘le Sid; or. A Daisy Blufl. By Philip S.
Warne. ’

405 Old Bald . the Brigadier of Buck Basin; or,

Hunted own by a Woman. By William H.
Manning. . .

406 Old Po Hicks, Showman; or, Lion Charley's
Luck. y Capt. F. Whittaker.

40? Captain Coldgrifis Nerve' or, Injun Nick on
Deck. By Capt. owand olmes.

4m Doc Gri the S rtin Detective' or. theVen-
detta of Death. IBoy Algert W. Aiken.

409 Rob Roy Ranch' or, The Imps ot the Pan Han-
dle. By Joseph E. Badger, Jr.

, 410 Sarah Brown. Detective; or, The Mystery of the

Pavilion. By K. F. Hill

411 The White Crook: or Old Hark's Fortress.
Major Daniel Bodne Dumont. By

412 Larry Locke, the Mall of Iron; or, A Fight for
Fortune. By Capt. Fred. Whittaker.

413 Captain Coldgrip in New York; or, The Dragon

guc. By Capt. H. Holmes.

414 Red Renard, the lndian Detective; or. The Gold
Buzzards of Colorado. By Buil’alo Bill.

415 Hot Heart. the Detective S ' or The Red

, Jaguar’s'MissionJ By Wm. Hxfiianning‘.

416 Monte Jim. the Black Sheep of Bismarck. By

Joe. E Badger, Jr.

417 Tucson Tom, the Bowie Brave; or. the Fire
Trailers. By George St. George.

418 Slbyl, theSea Siren: or, The Fugitive Privateer.
By Col. P‘. Ingraham.

419 The Bat of the Battery; or, Joe. Phcnix, King
of Detectives. By Albert W. Aiken.

420 The Old River Sport; or, A Man of Honor.
Maj. Daniel Boone Dumont.

421 Father Ferre the ’FriscoShadow; or,The Queen
of Bowie Note . By Captain Howard Holmes.

422 Blue Grass Burt, the Gold Star Detective' or
ToDug Bound, to Vengeance Sworn. By J. C
Cowd ck. '

423 The Lone Band or The Recrea
River. By Albert W’. Aiken, ate at the Red

424 Hawk Heron's De ut : or, N ' .
Jackson Knox. (OidIHa'zka Fey 8 mp By

4% The Sea Sword; or. The Ocean Rivals. By 001.
P. Ingra m.

496 The Ghost Detective: or, The S of the Seer t
Service. By Joseph E. Badger. {iii °

By

9
a

427 The Rivals of. Montana Mills; or. Redgrave, the‘
Re By ng.

negade. Win. H. Manni
498 ah: l1:;lying Glim; or, The Island Lure. By Leon
. 9

499mm T or Tom at Red Be d-
and aYa Wide. Bywnumrh'gheAi-l. W00!

490 The Fatal Frigate: canal. in Love and War.

By Colonel Prentim Ingmham‘
$1 California Kit, the Alwa s on m . ,
Mountain Rivals. By Philip B. mug. or, [he

'32 The Giant Hirseman; or Tracking
Cmss'Gang. By George C. Jenks. the Red

M814 hin Leo; orS read 19 Sam’s
434 P33. Bey Joseph gerfi. may
Lucifer Lyn the Wonder Detective- or A 000
435 giantsAmong'Hct Heads. By Capt. 'H. 301nm}
c ns-Armed uccaneer; or. The Havenleas
Cruiser. By Cohgrentiss Ingraham. .

~436 Kentuc Jean t 1
kg” . he Sport From Yel ow Pin

By J. C.
'97 Dee Duke. the Silent - h Man of

Tprives. By Wm. 1!. Wing? T e
488‘0klahoma Nick' or not, '

,Party. By Joseph E.’ Bud wmfirJf‘m ' SW
439 Salamander Sam; 0 The Swan Island Rene-

gades. By Major DT‘B. without. 9

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440 The High Horse of the Pacific. By Albert W. I 494
Aiken. I

441 The California Sharp; or. The Trail of the Gold-
en Grandee. By Capt. Howard Holmes.

442 Wild West Walt the Mountain Veteran; or, The
Gumnakers of World's End. By W. H. Manning.

443 A Cool Hand: or. Pist‘ol Johnny’s Picnic at Top
Notch. By Josrph E. Badger. Jr.

44-1 The Magic Detective; or, The Hidden Hand. By
Jackson Knox.

445 Journeyman John. the Champion; or. The Win-
ning Hand. By Capt. Fred. Whittaker.

446 Ocean Ogre. the Outcast Corsair; or. The Good
Ship of Ill-Omen. By Col. P. Ingraham.

447 Volcano. the ’Frisco Spy; or. The Secret of the
Secret Seven. By Capt. Howard Holmes.

448 Hark Kenton. the Traitor; or, The Hunted Life.
By Major D. Burr.

449 Bluff Burke, King of the Rockies: or. The Black
Stake Rivals. By Wm. H. Manning.

450 The Rustler DetectiVe; or, The Bounding Buck
from Buffalo Wallow. By J. E. Badger, r.

451 Gripiock, the Rocket Detective; or, The Han-
I

shaw Mystery. By Jackson Knox.

452 Rainbow Bob. the Tulip from Texas; or. The
Spot Saint’s Mission. By J. C. Cowdrick.

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500Tlle True Heart Pards; or.

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453 Captain Coldgrip‘s Long Trail' or. The Rivals of :

Silver Deck. By Capt. Howard Holmes.

454 The N" ht Raider: or, The Mysterious Marauder.
By Malfbr D. B. Dumont. ‘

455 Yank Yellowbird, the Tall Hustler of the Hills;
or, The Conspirators of Medicine Springs. By
Wm. H. Manning. ‘

456 The Demon Steer; or, The Outlaws on the Abi-
lene Cattle Trail. By Leon Lewis.

457 The Sea Insurgent: or, The Conspirator‘s Son.
By Col. Prentiss Ingraham.

458 Dutch Dan the Pilgrim from S itzenbe ;
The Rocky Racket at Rough Robi’n. By Sgoseph
E. Badger, Jr. ‘

459 Major Sunshine. the Man of Three Lives: or. The

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The Detective‘s Spy; or, The Invisible Rook.

By Jackson Knox.

Rattls-pate Rob; or, The Roundhead‘s Reprisal.

By Jos. E. Badger. Jr.

496 Richard Rcdfire. the Two Worlds Detective;
or. To the Bitter End. By Capt. II. Holmes.

497 The Fresh in Texas; or, The Escobedo Millions.

By A. W. Aiken.

Central Pacific Paul. The Mail-Train Spy:.or,

Yank Yellowbird’s Iron Trail. By W. H. Manning.

499 Twilight Ci‘al'lie. the Road Sport; or, Sulphur
Sam‘s Double. By J. C. Cowdi'ick.

The Gentleman

495

498

Vagabond. By Dr. N. Dunbar.

501 Springsteel Steve. the Retired Detective; or,
The Relentless Shadower. By Jackson Knox.

502 Bareback Buck, the Centaur of the Plains; or.
The Trail of Six. By P. S. Warne.

503 The Dude from Denver; or, The Game at Ground
Hog By Wm. R. Eyster.

504 Solemn Saul the Sad Man from San Saba; or.
The Big Shell-Out. By Jos. E. Badger. Jr.

505 Phil Fox. the Genteel Spotter or the Private
Secretary ’8 Oath. By Captain H. Holmes.

506 Uncle Honest. the Peacemaker of Hornet's
Nest; or. Yank Yellowbird versus the Leather
Jackets. By Wm. H. Manning.

507 The Drummer Detective; or. The Dead Straight
Trail. By Geo. C. Jenks.

508 Topnotch Tim. the Mad Parson: or. The Bad
Men of the Basin. By Major D. B. Dumont.

509 Old Falcon. the Thunderbolt Detective, or. The
Fateful Legacy. By Jackson Knox.

510 El Moro. the Corsair Commodore: or. The Lion
of the Lagoon. By Col. P. Ingraham.

511 Paint Pete. the Praire Patrol: or, The Rival

Rancheros. By Major S. 3. Ha .

or,  512 Ca tain Velvet's Big Stake; or, The Gold Goths

of o Man‘s Ground. BY Capt. H. Holmes.

513 Texas Tartar, the Man with Nine Lives: or
Yank Yellowbird's Best Yank. By W.H.Ma

Waiting Waits at Git Thar. By Wm. R. Eyster. ‘ 514 Gabe Gunn' the Grizzly from Ginseng: or,

460 Captain Coidgl'ip. the City Detective: or, The
Coolest Woman in New York. ’
Holmes.

461 The Fresh on the Rio Grande: or, The Red Riders
of Rayon. By Albert W. Aiken.

462 The Circus Detective;

. Role. Bvaackson Knox.

463 Gold Gauntlet the Gulch Gladiator; or. Yank
Yellowbird‘s Hot Campaign. By Wm. H. Man-
mug.

464 S'andfvcrnw, the Man of Grit- or. The River
Spa ‘3 Revenge. By Major D. B. Dumont.

465 The Actor Detective. By Albert W. Aiken.

466 Old Rough and Read
Not for Life but for

onor. By J. E. Bad

eal. By JacksOn Knox.

468 Coldgriq‘in Deadwood; or. The Great Detective’s
Double rail. By Captain H. Holmes.

469 The Lieutenant Detegtaive; or, The Fugitive Sail- -

or. By Col. P.'Ingra m.

470 The Duke of Dakota; or, Yank Yello’wblrd‘s
Fiery Gantlet. By W Manning.

471 The Heart of Oak Detectivc- or Zigzag’s Full
Hand. By E. A. St. Mox. ’ ’

472 six-Foot Si; or. The Man to “ Tie To." By P. s.
Warns.

473 Gilbert of Gotham. the Steel Arm Detective: or.
Fighting the Powers of Air. By J. C. Cowdrick.

474 Dadd Dead-Eye. the Despot of Dew~Dro ' or.
The gamsel from Deseret. By Jos. E. Bgdger.

475 Chin Chin. the Chinese Detectivc' or, The Dark
Work oi the Black Hand. By A. w. Aiken.

476 Bob Brent. Buccaneer; or, The Red Sea-Raider.
By Col. P. Ingraham.

477 Dead-Arm Brandt; or, The Long Vengeance. ;

By Jackson Knox.

478 Pinnacle Pete: or. The Fool Fro ' Ba It.
By W. R. Eyrter. m way 0

479 Gladiator Gabe, the Samson Sassa k; 0 ,
Yank Yellowbird's Castle Cngade. Bgan. H.
Manning. '

490 Hawks ar, the Man with a Secret' or, New
York lck’s Spirit Trail. By Capt. H. Holmes.

481 The Silent Detectives' or Th Bogu No new.
By Leon Lewis. ’ ’ e b p

482 OceanTramps' or.TbeDes radoesof theDe .
By Col. r. Ingr'ahiun. 9" e"

493 Flush Fred. the River
Stakes. By Ed. Wiliett.

484 Cs tain R . the Red Ra some!" or Nick

die’s WW!“ inheritancg. By L’eon bowls

485 Ro'wlock. the Hfil‘bOI' Detective: or The Terrible
Twins. By Jackson Knox.

488 Kansas Kitten. the Northwest Detective, or,
Yank Yellowbird s Search-Brigade. By Wm. H.
Manning“ . ‘

4m Sunshine Sam Chi of the old Block; or The
Siionirmnoitiie Si ent Six. By Capt. H3 H0 mes.

488 The Thoroughbred S rt; or, The Big Bracer’s
Bequest. By 08. E. r. Jr.

489 The Pirate Hunter or. The Ocean Rivals. B
Col. r. lngmham. " . ’

Sharp; or, Hearts for

490 The Dana Hand in Tana: or. The Red-GI
Raiders of the Rio Grande. ’By A. w. Aikentwed

491 Zl a and Cutt, the Invincible Detecti -
A v 3 ans Set of Scoundrels. ‘ By E. A. 

a Border Bullet. the Prairie Sharpshooter' or.
Y nk Yellorid‘ Black 81119001 . .
Rimming. ' . my B’ m

mThosoouu or the -or.Thc ammo.
clam. 3100!. P.  _‘

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or. Grlplock in a New . 517 nutran Bill’s First Trail;
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Solemn Saul’s Seraph. By J 0s E. Badger, Jr.

By CBPt- Howard , 515 Short Stop Ma e the Diamond Field Detective;
i

or. Old Ealcon s'Master Game. By J. Knox.
516 Chatard, the Dead-Shot Duelist; or, The Fate-
ful Heritage. By Col. P. Ingrahaln.
or. Will Cody, the
Pony Express Rider. By Ned Buntline.

518 Royal Richard the Thoroughbred: or, Long
Pete Jenkins‘s Convoy. By John W. Osbon.

519 Old Riddles. the Rocky Ranger; or. Ehe Reser- -'

vation Castaways. By J. C. Cowdric .

The Lone Hand on the Caddo; or, The Bad
Man of the Big Bayou. By A. W. Aiken.
Yellowbird’s Great Diskivery. By W. H. Manning.

Sweep. By P. S.

.the SaeéofSundogepr: 1521 Paradise Sam. the Ncr‘west Pilot: or. Yank 1
o - ,

467 ggnwaring the salamander; 01' v The Dewctives’ 3 5B? The Champion Three; or. Six-Foot Si‘s'Clean ' I
Warne.

593 Reynard of Red Jack; or, The Lost Detective. 7 '

By Captain H. Holmes.

521 The Sea Chaser; or, The Pirate Noble. By Col.
P. Ingraham.

5% Fresh Frank, the Derringer Daisy; or, Million
on the Turn. By Wm. B. Eystr r.

5% Death Grip the Tenderfoot Detective" or, A
Still Hunt for Old Secrecy. By Geo. C. Jenks.

527 Dandy Andy. the Diamond Detective; or, The ' .

Twins of Tiptop. By Jos. E. Badger, Jr.
598 Huckleberry, the Foot-Hills Detective; or, The
Rival Ranchmen. By Lieut. A. K. Sims.
589 The Fresh in New York; or, The Vendetta 0!
.Hate. By A. W. Aiken. .

530 The Savages of the Sea; or. The Avenging ,

Cruiser. By Col. P. Ingraham.

531 Saddle-Chic! Kit. the Pra‘rie Centaur; or, The ‘ 1

Border Blacksmith's Terrible Temptation. By
Wm. H. Manning. «

532 Javert, the Independent Detective; or. Captain ’

Cinnabar in New York. By Capt. H. Holmes.

533 Oregon. the Sport with a Scar: or. The Best -‘ 

Man of Brace Box. By Wm. B. Eyster.

554 Greenmountain Joe; or, The Counterfeiter‘l
Cave. By Marmaduke ,Dey.

535 Daudv Dutch. the Decorator from Dead-Lift; or, ‘ .

Saul Sunday's Search for Glory. By J. E. Badger.

530 Old Falcon's Foe; or, The Matchless Detectiva'l"

Swell Job. By Jackson‘Kncx.

587 Blake. the Mountain Lion ;‘ or, The Fresh Against
the Field. By Albert W. Aiken.

538 Rube Rocket. the Tent Detective; or,  a
e . -

Treacherous Two. By Geo. C. J nks

540 The Fleet Scourge; or The Sea Wing of Salon.
By Col. Prentiss Ingra am. .

541 Ma or Magnet. the Man of Nerve' or
a-liluoks of Animus. By Joseph iii Bad _

542 The Ocean Drift; or, The Fight tor'Two Livei.’

B A. F. Holt.

548 o te Detective; or. Major Million’n
Joust wi theWitch. ByCapt. Howard Holmes.

544 The Back to Back Paras; or. The Right Man In
the Wrong Place. By Philip 8. Warne.

545 Hustler Hari- . the Cowbo S rt; or, Daring
Dan‘Shark's y w

547 The Buried Detective: 3:2. Saul Sunday’s at:

Sensations. By'Jos. E.
548 Falconbridge. the hinx Detective;
Siren of the Baleful o. By Jackson In

599 Belshaziar Brick. the Built! of Blue Blhner or'
our Horse Frank‘s Frolic atBad Luck has:

get. Jr.

BmeREyW.

539 Old Doubledark, the Wily Detectivc' or, The 
visible Poe's Mascuerade. By Wm. .Manning. -

The Muck-
ger. Jr. '

or. The.
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neral Delivery. By W. G. 
546 The Doomed Whaler: or. The Life Wreck. ’
Col. Prentiss Ingraham. 8'

 

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599 The Dead Shot Nine: 0

   

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Published Every Wednesday. Each Issue Complete and Sold at the Umform Price of Ten Cents. No Double Numbers.

 

 

 

550 Silk Hand. the Mohave Ferret: or. The Marked
Man of Arizona. By Capt. Howard Holmes.

551 Garry Kean the Man with Backbone; or. The
Gladiators of Jack’s Delight. By w. H Manning.

552 Prince Primrose, the Flovrer of the Flock; or.
The Grand Camp at Paradise Gulch. By Lieut.
A. K. Sims.

553 Monte, the Mutineer: or. The Branded Brig.
By Col. P. Ingraham.

551 Mad Shar .the Rustler; or. The Drummer De-
tective‘s R g Lay-out. By Geo. C Jenks.

555 Gri -Sack Sid. the Samgle Sport; or, the Rivals
of ock-about Range. yJoseph E. Badger, Jr.

556 Fresh. the Sport-Chevalier; or. A Big Racket at
Slide Out. By A. W Aiken.

557 The Mountain Graybeards: or. Old Riddle‘s
Greatest Riddle. By J C. Cowdrick.

558 Hurrah Harry.the Hi h Horse from Halcyon; or,
High Old Times at ard Pan. By W. R. Evster.

559 Danton. the Shadow Sharp ' or. The Queen of the
Hidden Hands. By Capt. oward Holmes.

560 The Man from Mexico; or, The Idol of Last
Chance. By Col. P. Ingraham.

561 The Thug King; or. The Falcon Detective's In
visible Foe. By Jackson Knox.

562 Lone Hand. the Shadow; or. The Master of the
Triangle Ranch. By Albert W. Aiken.

563 Wyomin Zeke, the HotsRur of Honeysuckle;
or, Old umility‘s Hard oad to Travel. By
Wm. H. Manning.

564 The Grip-Sack Sharp; or, The Seraphs of Sodom.
By Jos. E. Badger. r.

565 Prince Paul. the Postman Detective; or. Crush-
ing a Serpent’s Head. By J. C. Cowdrick.

566 The Dsuntless Detective; or, The Daughter
Avenger. By Tom W. King.

567 Captain Midnight. the Man of Craft; or, The
Road~Knight's lot. By P. S. Warns.

568 The Dude Detective' or Phelin McGallagin‘s
Hard Luck Hustle. By Wm. R. Eyster.

569 Captain Cobra. the Hooded M stery; or The
Quickened Dead. By Captain oward Ho mes.

570 The Actress Detective; or, The Invisible Hand.
By Albert W. Aiken.

571 Old Dismal. the Range Detective: or. The Hid-
den Cabin of Wind Canyon. By Wm. G. Patten.

572 Jaunty Joe.the Jockey Detective. By G. C. Jenks.

578 The Witch of Shasta; or, The Man of Cheek.
Ry Major Daniel Boone Dumont.

574 Old Falcon‘s Double. By Jackson Knox.

575 Steady Hand the Napoleon of Detectives.
By William H Manning.

M6 Silver-Tongued Bid or. The Gri Sack Sharp‘s

- Clean Sweep. By. oseph E. ger. Jr.

577 Tom of California; or, the Actress Detective‘s
Shadow Act. By Albert W. Aiken.

578 Seven Shot Steve, the Sport with a Smile. By
William R. Eyster.

579 Old Cormorant, the Bowery Shadow. By Capt.
Howard Holmes.

580 Shadowing a Shadow; or. The Pacific Slope
Detective’s Triple Trail. By J. C. Cowdrick.

581 The Outlawed Skipper; or. The Gantlet Runner.
By Col. P. Ingraham.

5&2 J oram. the Detective Expert. By Jackson Knox.

583 Captain Adair; the Cattle King; or, A Red
Ransom. By P. S. Warne.

584 Fire Feather, the Buccaneer King. By Nod
Bu ine.

585 Dari Dixons Double; or. The Deadlock of Danger
Divide. By Wm. H. Manning.

566' The Silver Sha Detective“ or. The Big Rustic
at XL Ranch. y Albert w. Aiken.

587 Conrad, the Sailor Stay; or. The True Hearts of
'76. By Col. Prentiss ngraham. ‘ ‘

588 Sandy Sands. the Sharp fro Snap City' or
Hoist by His Own Petand. By?oseph s. Badger:

589 Prince Hal. the Battling Detectiv ;or, Pat Lyon.
the Master Locksmith By Gag Morris.

590 Gentle Jack, the High Roller f Humbug: or.
The Dark Deal at Doubledeck. By W. R. Eyster.

591 Duke Daniels. the Societ Detective or, Caging
the Uncanny Birds. By .C. Cowd ck.

59! Captain Sid. the Shasta Ferret' or, the Rivals of
Sunset. By Gap in Howard olmes.

566 The Sea. Rebel; or. The Red Rovers of the Revo-
lution. By Col. Prentiss Ingraham.

594 Fire Face. the Silver King‘s Foe - or, The Mys-
terious Highwayman. By Albert W. Aiken.

595 Weiiborn, the Upper-Crust Detective; or, Play-
ing for the Challoner Millions. By Jackson Knox

' 596 Rustler Rube. the Round-Up Detective. - By

William H. Manning.

59? Big Band , the Brigadier of Brimstone Butte.
w J osep E. Badger, Jr.

596 The Dominie Detective; or. The Deedham Sen-

sation. By J. C. Cowdrick.
r M Pards of the Plains.
'By Hon. Wm. F. Cody. (' alo Bill).
600 The Silver Ship; or, The Sea Scouts of ‘76. By
. Prentiss Ingraham.
(m Joe Phenix’s Shadow; or. The Great Detoctive's
Mysterious Monitor. By Alboi‘t w. Aiken.

602 Captain Nameless.the Mountain M‘stela; or. The
Blue Coats of the Big Horn. By in. .Patton.

608 Desert Alf. the Man With the' Con or; or. The
 Pilgrimage of Gentle Js . By Wm.
. ys r. I .

 

604 The Detective in Rags; or, The Grim Shadowm‘.
By Dr. Noel Dunbar.

605 The Shadow Silver Ship; or. The Red Rebel of
the Revolution. By Col. Prentiss lngrahum.

606 The Dro ) Detective; or. The Dreallltilorpe Sen-
sation. y Jacksnll Knox.

607 Old Benzine. the “Hard Case ” Detective; or.
Joe BOWers‘ Racket at Bicaree City. By Albert
W. Aiken.

608 Silent Sam. the Shadow SphinX' or, Following
the Invisible Trail. By Capt. H. Holmes.

609 The Texas Tramp; or. Solid Saul. the Yankee
Hercules. By Capt. F. Whittaker.

610 The Red Flag Rover; or. White. Wings of the
Waves. By Col. Prentiss Ingraham.

611 Alkali Abe, the Game Chicken fr lm Texas; or.
The Smash-Up in “No-World Kingdom.” By
Wln. H. Mannlng.

612 Sheriff Stiilwood. the Regulator of Raspberry;
or, The “Suspects” from Frisco. By J. C.
Cowdrick.

613 Keen Bill , the Sport; or. The Circus at White
Gopher. y Albert W. Aiken.

614 The Showman Detective; or. The Mad Magician.
By Capt. F. Whittaker. ‘

615 The Three Buccaneers; or. The Ocean Outlaw’s
Nemesis. By Colonel Prentiss Ingraham.

616 Magnus, the Weird Detective. By Jackson Knox.

617 The Grip-Sack Sharp’s Even-up: or. The Boss
Racket at Solid City. By Joseph E. Badger.

618 Kansas Karl. the DetecliVe Kirég; or. The Sphinx
of Leadviiie. By Lieut. A. K. ims.

619 Kit Bandy & Co.. the Border Detectives. or, The

ig Wipe Out at Hermit Dome. By Oil Coomes.

6‘!) Joe Phenix’s Silent Six; or The Great Detec-
tive’s Shadow Guard. By Albert W. Aiken.

621 The Red Privateer; or. The Midshipman Rover.
By Ned Buntline. ,

622 The All Around Sports; or, The Keepers of the
Seals. By Wm. R. Eyster.

623 Dangerous Dave. the Never-Beaten Detective;
or, A Fight with Foes from the Grave. By Wm.
H. Manning.

624 The Submarine Detectives; or,The Water Ghouls.
By Leon Lewis.

625 Red Wings; or. The Gold Seekers of the Bahamas.
By Colonel Prentiss Ingraham.

6% Duca's Dion. the Nabob Sport Detective; or.
The aled Secret of the Copper Coffin. By
J. C. wdrics.

627 Mossback Mose, the Mountaineer or, The Bald
Hornet of the Ozark Hills. By Joseph E.
Badger, Jr.

628 Joe Phenix’s Combine: or, The Dandy Conspira-
tor. By Albert W. Aiken.

629 Daredeath Dick, King of the Cowboys; or. In
the Wild West with Buffalo Bill. By Leon Lewis.

630 The Sea Thief; or. The Vaiied Voyager‘s Mys-
terious Mission. By Col. Prentiss lngraham.

631 Colonel Cool. the Santa Fe She ; or The Lucky
Pards of Goodenough. By Will am . Patten.

632 Joe Phenix’s Master Search; or, The Casket of
ill Omen. By Albert W. Aiken.

638 The Sea Spy; or, Mortimer Monk. the Hunch-
back Millionaire. By Ned Buntline.

634 Old Handcart's Big Dump; or. The Rakestraw
Ructionist. By Wi iiam R. Eyster.

635 The Fix-Buccaneer: or, The Stigma of Sin. By
Col. Prentiss Ingrabam.

6w Dandy Dariin . DetectiVe: or. The Boomer of
Big Buflalo. y Jos. E. Badger. Jr.

687 Joe Phenix in Crazy Camp° or, The Great De-
tective's Long Chase. By Al rt W. Aiken.

688 Murdock. the Dread Detective- or Northiand
Nick‘s Guardianship. By Wm. ll. Manning.

689 The Gold King; or, Montebello, the Magnificent.
By Buffalo Bi

640 The ’Rover’s Retribution; or. The Evil Spirit of
the Deep. By Col. Prentiss Ingraham.

641 Aztec Jack, the Desert Nomad; or, The Vulture’s
Swoop. By Wm. G. Patten.

642 Red Pard and Yellow; or. The Nabob‘s of Centi-
pede. By Captain Howard Holmes. . ~

648 Castlemaine. the Silent Sifter: or, The Great
Emotivo’s Wonderful Revelation. By Jackson

ox.

644 Buffalo Bill's Bonanza' or, The Kni hts of the
Silver Circle. . By 0.0]. Prentiss Iugr m.

645 Gopher Gabe, the Unseen Detective; or. The
Uncanny Ranch. By Joseph E. Badger. Jr.

646 Dark John,‘ the Grim Guard' or,‘Hailstorm‘s
North Plain s Braves. By William H. Manning.

647 The Flesh of Frisco at Santa Fe; or, The
Stranger Sharp. By Albert W. Aiken.

648 ld Glove Gid. the Man of Grlt' or, Desperate

’s Desperate Scheme. By m. G. Patten.

649 Buck 'l‘a lor, the Saddle King; or. The Lasso
Ran ers’fileage. A Romance of Buffalo Bill's
Chie‘l of Cow ys. By Col. Prentiss Ingraham.

650 Lucky Lester’s Lone Hand or Uncle Bed Rock‘s
Queer Game at Ginger Flat. By Wm. B. Eystcr.

651 Silvertip Steve. the Sk Scraper from Siskiyou.
By Joseph E. Badger, r.

659 Jackson Blake. the Bouncer Detective ByA.
W. Aiken.

658 The Lasso Kin ’3 League. A companion Story
to “ Buck Tay or. the Saddle King." By Colonel
Prentiss Ingraham.

654 801 S hinx the Ferret Detective: or, The Seven
Secre . By Capt. Howard Holmes.

, .

 

I
P 655 Strawberry Sam, the Man with the Birthmark;

or, The War Clan of Lucifer Annex. By William
H. Manning.

656 Old Plug Ugl . the Rough and Read : or. The
Last Stroke 0 the Land Sharks. By illiam G
Patten,

657 Long Tom, the Privateer. By Ned Bontline.

658 The Cowboy Clan; or. The Tigress of Texas. By
Col. Prentiss Illgrallam.

659 Gilt-Edge Johnny; or, Roldan and His Rovers.
By Wm. R. Eyster.

660 The Fresh in Montana; or, Jackson Blake's mm
Hand at Hardtack. By Albert W. Aiken.

661 The Get-There. Shar ; or, Grip-sack Sid at Rocky
Comfort. By Jos. . Badger. Jr.

662 The Jew Detective; or, The Beautiful Convict.
By Col. Prentiss Ingraham.

663 ghe Giant Sport; or, Sold to Satan. By Wm. G.

atten.

664 Monk Morel. the Man-Hunter or, The Trail of
the Bandit Nabob. By Capt. Howard Holmes.

665 The Frisco Detective; or. The Golden Gate Find.
By Albert W. Aiken.

666 Old Adamant. the Man of Rock; or. The Hum-
mer from Hummingbird. By Lieut. A. K. Sims.

667 Buffalo Bill‘s Swoop; or. The King of the Mines.
By Col. Prentiss Ingrsham.

66‘ Solemn Saul’s Luck Streak; or. The Boomer
from Blissful Buttes. By Jos. E. Badger. Jr.

669 Old True Blue. the Trust : or. The Marauder of
the Mimbres. By Wm. . Patten.

670 The Lightwei ht Detective; or. 01d Blazes. the
Sovereign of t e Rocks. By Albert W. Aiken.

671 Jason Clew, the Silk-Handed Ferret. By Capt.
Howard Holmes.

672 The Red Rapier; or. The Sea Rover's Bride. By
Col. Prentiss Ingraham.

678 Stuttering Sam. the Whitest Sport of Santa Fe;
or. How the Hummer from Hummingbird
Feathered His Nest. By Lieut. A. K. Sims.

674 Uncle Sun Up. the Born Detective; or. Boodle
vs. Bracelets. By Albert W. Aiken.

675 Steel Surry, the Sport from Sunrise; or, The
Blind Deal at Break-Neck. By Jos. E. Badger, Jr.

676 Hurricane Hal, the Cowboy Hotsggr; or. Old
True Blue’s Pilgrimage in Satan‘s ction. By
Wm. G. Patten.

677 Mr. Jackson. the Gent from Jaybird: or. The
Mystery of the Lower Drift. By William R.
Eyster.

678 The Dude Desperatlo' or. The Baleful Beauty of
Brimstone Bar. By Captain Howard Holmes

679 Revello. the Pirate Cruiser; or, The Rival Rovers.
By Col. Prentiss Ingraham.

680 XX, the Fatal Ciew; or. Detective Burr's Mas-
ter Case. By Harold Payne.

681 Joe Phenix’s Specials: or. The Actress Detec—
tive’s Double Victory. By Albert W. Aiken. ‘

682 Buffalo Bill’s Secret Service Trail; or, The
Mysterious Foe. By Maj. Dangerfield Burr.

683 Bob Breeze, the Rounder Detective; or The
Eruption at Eureka. By Jos. E. Badger, Jr

684 Velvet Van, the Mystery-Shadowy; or The Man
in the Satin Mask. By Captain Howard Holmes.

685 The Red-skin Sea Rover; or. The Destroyer
Destroyed. By Col. Prentiss Ingraham.

686 The On-the-Wing Detectives; or. Bolly Blair’s
Grand Exposition. By Leon Lewis.

687 Double Cinch Dan. the Sport With a Charm; or,
The Saints of'Sunrlse. y Wm. R. Eyster.

688 The River Bustiers; or. The Detective from Way
Back. By Lieut. A. K. Sims. \

689 The Sparkier Sha ' or. The Spotter Sport’s
Unknown Foe. By m. G. Patten.

690 The Matchless Detective; or, Thad. Burr's
Marvelous Case, By HaroldtPayne.

691 Buffal Bill's Blind Traii- or. Mustang Madge,
the Daughter of the Re’giment. By Col. .
Lngraham.

692 Dead-Shot Paul. the Deep-Range Explorer" or.
The Mountaintsw's Vendetta. By Wm} H.
Manning. ’ '

698 Kent Kasson. the Preacher S rt; or. The Don
ble Deal at Denver. By Jos. . Badger, Jr.

694 Gideon Grip, the Secret Shadower; or. The Clew
ot the Invisible Hand. By Captain Howard
Holmes. ‘ I

695 Sin er Sam, the Pilgrim Detective: or, Behind
Magked Batteries. By Lieut. A. K. Sims.

696 D ubie-Voice Dan. the Go-ibAlone Detective
or? The Mystery of the Missing Heir. By Vi m?
G. Patten.

Bill’s Buckskin Brotherhood' or. Open-
“? Flasks Lost Trail. «By Col. Prentiss 1mgr-sham.
y March 2.

A new tutu wary Wedrmdav-

Beadle“ Dime Library is for sale by an
Newsdeaiers, ten cents per copy, or sent by man on
receipt of twelve cents each.

BEADLE AND ADAMS. Publisher;

fl WillislnStrest..Nisork.

  

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