PAGE SEVEN , CAPE MAT STAR AXD WAVE SATURDAY, APRIL 34, ISlt

|===================n ; b s The Exploits of Elaine c A Detective Novel and a Motion Picture Drama " . U By ARTHUR B. REEVE II r e I The Well-Known Noeelht en J the II *** . 1 I Creator of the "Craig Kennedy" Stories El II : " u . . j' Presented hi CoOabortiion With the Pstbe PUyere and the Edectk Fflm Coeipeay f OopyTiafct. IBM, bj the Siat Compeer All Tonic* Rights Uenewroi. ,

8YN0P8IS. Ths New York police ere mystified by e Series of murder* and other crime*. The principal clue to the criminal 1* the warnIns letter which I* sent the victims, signed with a "clutching hand." The latest victim of the mysterious assassin Is Taylor Dodge, the Insurance president. His daughter. Blaine, employs Craig Kennedy, the famous scientific detective, to try to unravel the mystery. What Kennedy accomplishes Is told by his friend Jameson, a newspaper man. Enraged at the deter, mined effort which Elaine and Craig Kennedy are making to put an end to his crimes, the Clutching Hand, as this strange criminal Is known, resorts to all sorts of the most diabolical schemes to put them out of the way. Each chapter Of -the story tells of a new plot against , their lives and of the way the great detective uses all his skill to save this pretV girl and himself from death. / THIRTEENTH EPISODE THE DEVIlTwORSHIPERSElaine was seated in the drawing room with Aunt Josephine one afternoon, when her lawyer, Perry Bennett, dropped in unexpectedly. He had hardly greeted them when the butler, Jennings, in his usual Impassive manner announced that Aunt Josephine was wanted on the telephone No sooner were Elaine and Bennett alone than Elaine, turning to him, exclaimed: "Last night I dreamed that father came to me and told me that if I would give up Kennedy and put my trust in you, I would find the Clutching Hand. I don't know what to think of ItBennett, who had been listening intently, moved over nearer to Elaine and bent over her. "Elaine," he said in a low tone, his remarkable eyes looking straight Into her own, "you must know that I love you. Then give me the right to protect you. It was your father's dearest wish, I believe, that we should marry. Let me share your dangers and 1 ■wear that sooner or later there will be an end to the Clutching Hand. Give me your answer, Elaine," he urged, "and make me the happiest man in all the worlij." Elaine listened, and not unsympa thetically, as Bennett continued to plead for her answer. "Wait a little while — until tomor row," she replied finally. "Let it be as you wish, then," agreed Bennett quietly. Re took her hand and kissed it pas glonately. An instant later Aunt Josephine re turned. Elaine, unstrung by what had happened, excused herself and what Into the library. Involuntarily, her mind traveled back over the rapid succession ol events of the past few weeks and the part that she had thought, al least, Kennedy had come to play In / her life. Then she thought of their recent j misunderstanding. Might there not be some simple explanation of it. aft ; er all, which she bad missed? Whal should she do? She solved the problem by taking I up the telephone and asking for Ken j nedy's number. I was chatting with Craig in his laboratory, and, at the same time, ' waa watching him in his experimental work. Just as a call came on the tele ' phone, he was pouring some nitro | hydrochloric acid into a test tube to [ complete a reaction. The telephone tinkled and he laid , down the bottle of acid on bis desk. i while he moved a few 6teps to answei { the call. Whoever the speaker was, Craig aeemed deeply interested, and. not j knowing who was talking on the wire. I 1 was eager to learn whether it was j anyone connected with the case ol : the Clutching Hand. "Yea. this is Mr. Kennedy," I heard Craig say. 1 moved over toward him and whispered eagerly. "Is there anything new?" A little impatient at being interrupt ,ed. Kennedy waved me off. It occurred to me that he might need a pad and pencil to make a note ol some Information, and 1 reached over the desk for them. As I did so my arm inadvertently struck the bottle of acid, knocking It over on the top of the desk. Its contents streamed out saturating the tele phone wires before I could prevent it In trying to right the bottle my hand came In contact with the acid which burned like liquid fire, and I cried out in pain. Craig hastily laid down the re celver, seized me and rushed me to the back of the laboratory, where he drenched my hand with a neutralizing liquid. He bound up the wounds caused by the acid, which proved to be alight, after all, and then returned to the telephone. To his evident annoyance, he dis | covered that the acid had burned through the wires and cut off all con- * nection. At the other end of the line, Elaine waa listening impatiently for a response to her first eager words of inquiry. She was astonished to Had, •

at last, that Kennedy had apparently ^ left the telephone without any explanation or apology. n "Why — he rang off," she exclaimed angrily to herself, as she hong up the £ receiver and left the room. j In the center of a devious and wind- d ing way, quite unknown to all except £ those who knew the innermost secrets g of the Chinese quarter, and even un- | known to the police, there was a dingy tenement house, apparently Inhabited .. by hard-working Chinamen, but in re- j ality the headquarters of the notori- 1 ous devil worshipers, a sect of satan- e lsts, banned even in the Celestial emss ; The followers of the cult comprised some of the most dangerous Chinese j criminals, thugs and assassins, besides a number of dangerous charac- j ters who belonged to various Chinese j * secret societies. At the head of this j formidable organization was Long Sin. ' c the high priest of the devil god. and I "" Long Sin had, hs we know, already j joined forces with the notorious E Clutching Hand. The room in which the uncanny rites j of the devil worshipers were conduct- 1 ' ed was a large, apartment decorated in I Chinese style, with highly colored por- j traits of some of the devil deities and ; costly silken hangings. Beside a large I dais depended a huge Chinese gong, j On the dais itself stood, or rather j " sat. an ugly figure covered with some j s sort of metallic plating. It almost w seemed to be the mummy of a China- j man covered with gold leaf. j e Into this room came Long Sin at- 1 J' , tired in an elaborate silken robe. He j P i advanced and kotowed before the ^ , dala with its strange figure, and laid ; down an offering before it. This performance was witnessed by 8 twenty or thirty Chinamen who knelt h j in the rear of the room. I At the same time an aged Chinaman j c carrying a prayer wheel entered the e , place and, after prostrating himself 1 '' devoutly, placed the machine on a sort of low stool or tabourette and j began turning it slowly, muttering, j d t A few moments later Long Sin, who t! had been bowing before the metallic | figure in deepest reverence, suddenly i o sprang to his feet. His glazed eye and , li excited manner Indicated that he had ; received a message from the lips of I ti the strange god. L The worshipers who had prostrated , b themselves, in awe at the sight of theli . high priest in the unholy frenzy, all • t j rose to their feet and crowded for ' 0 ward. r Long Sin struck several blowa on the resounding gong and then raised p bis voice in solemn tones. | 0 "Kslng Chau, the Terrible, demands a consort. 8he is to be foreign— fail p 1 ' of face and with golden hair." ' ] At the same time, in a room of the B j adjoining house, the Clutching Hand himself was busily engaged in mak | ing the most elaborate preparations for some nefarious scheme which his ' fertile mind had evolved. | The room had been fitted up as a i medium's seance parlor, i Two of the Clutching Hand's most i trusted confederates and a hard-faced | ; woman of middle age, dressed Id plain j black, were putting the finishing touches to this apartment, when theii | chief entered. Clutching Hand gazed about the I I room, now and then giving an ordei | or two to make more effective the 1 setting for the purpose which he had | in mind. 1 Finally he nodded in approval and J stepped over to the fireplace where r j logs were burning brightly in a grate . j Pressing a spring in the mantelpiece j I j the master criminal effected an instant , ! transformation. The logs in the fire 1 I place, still burning, disappeared irame diately through the bottom of the brick tiling and a metal sheet covered them. An aperture opened at the back, as li by magic. Through this opening Clutching Hand made his way quickly and dis , appeared. I Emerging on the other side of the E r peculiar fireplace. Clutching Hand pushed aside a curtain which barred , the way and looked into the Chinese f( I temple, taking up a position behind e the metallic figure on the dais, j. The Chinamen had by this time fin lshed their devotions, if such they j might be called, and the last one was . j leaving, while Long Sin stood alone I on the dais. The noise of the departing satanists £ . had scarcely died away when Clutch- j .. 5 ing Hand stepped out. a "Follow me," he ordered hoarsely, 1 seizing Long Sin by the arm and lead- 1 ing him away. r They passed through the passage- j 1 way of the fireplace and. having en- , I tered the seance room. Clutching Hand ' began briefly explaining the purpose of the preparations that had been ' j i made. Long Sin wagged his bead in ' [. voluble approval. f Elaine was standing in the library (l b gazing sadly at Kennedy's portrait, , thinking over recent events and above r all the rebuff over the telephone which i, ! she supposed she had received. ®

Jennings entered with a card cm a salver. Elaine took it and saw with surprise the name ol her caller: MADAME 8AVET8KY, Medium. Beneath the engraved name were the words written in ink: "I have a from the spirit of your father." "Yes, I will see her," cried Elaine eagerly, in response to the butler's inquiry. She followed Jennings into the adroom and there found herself to face with the hard-featured woman who had only a few moments before left the Clutching Hand. Elaine looked rather than spoke her "Your father, my dear." purred the medium, with a great pretence of suppressed excitement, "appeared to me the other night from the spirit world, i I was in a trance and he asked me to I a message to you." a "What was the message?" asked breathlessly, now aroused to I interest. ^ , "I must go Into iftrance again to get j it." replied the insinuating Savetaky. j "and if you like I can try it at once, j provided we can be left alone long I enough." Seated in her chair, the medium { muttered wildly for a few moments, rolled her eyes and with some convulsive movements pretended to go In- j to a trance. Suddenly the curtains were pulled aside and Aunt Josephine and Bennett, who had just come In, entered. "I can do nothing here." exclaimed starting up and looking about severely. "You must come to seance chamber where we shall not be interrupted." "I will," said Elaine, vexed at the j Intrusion at that moment. "I must have that message — I must." "What's all this, Elaine?" demanded Aunt Josephine. Hurriedly, Elaine poured forth to her aunt and Bennett the story of the medium's visit and the promised mesfrom her father in the other world. Aunt Josephine, who was not one easily to be imposed on, strongly objected to Elaine's proposal to accomSavetsky to the seance chamber, Elaine would not be denied. "It might be safe for Elaine to go," Bennett finally suggested to Aunt Josephine, "if you and 1 accompanied i her." A few moments later, in the Dodge Elaine, the medium and her two escorts started for the ChineBe quarAt the house the medium opened the door with her key and ushered in her visitors. Entering the room, the medium at prepared for the seance by pull- ! ing down the window shades. Suddenly an indistinct face was seen I be peering through the black cur I tains. A voice, deep, sepulchral, was | in slow and solemn tones. j "1 am Eeko— the spirit of Taylor ! I will give no message until ; one named Josephine leaves the No sooner had the words been uttered than the medium came writhing ; out of her trance. "What happened?" 6he asked, look Ing at Elaine. Elaine reported the spirit's words. ^J'We can get nothing if your aunt j RtflVR herp-" Snvptfikv rHHpH fncierlne '

Is Hurried Through the Hid- ; den Passage in the Fireplace.

that Aunt Josephine must go. "Your 1 cannot speak while she is pres - ent." Aunt Josephine, annoyed by what 1 she had heard, indignantly refused to go and was deaf to all Elaine's plead- ; tags. "I think it will be all right," finally j acquiesced Bennett, seeing how bent j was on securing the message. | "I'll stay and protect her." Aunt Josephine finally agreed. "Very well, then," she protested, marching out of the room in a high state of indignation. She had scarcely left the house, however, when she began to suspect that all was not as it ought to be. In fact, the idea had no Booner occurred to her than she decided to call on Kennedy and_ she ordered the chauf-. to take h'er as quickly as possible the laboratory. '••»•••• Kennedy had not been in the labo ratory all the day after my experiwith the acid, and I waa Impatiently awaiting his arrival AX last

there came a knock at the door and 1 opened it hurriedly. There was a messenger boy who handed me a note. I tore it open. It was from Kennedy and read: "1 shall probably be away for two or three days. Call up Elaine and tell her to beware of a certain Madame Savetsky." I waa atlll puzzling over the note 1 and was Just about to call up Elaine when, the speaking tube waa blown and to my surprise I found that it waa ; Aunt Josephine who had called. "Where la Mr. Kennedy?" she asked, greatly agitated. "He has gone away for a few days," I replied blankly, 'la there anything I can do?" She was very excited and hastily reI lated what had happened at the parlor of the medium. I I "What waa her name?" I cried anxlously. 1 1 "Madame 8avetsky," she replied, to my surprise, j Astounded, I picked up Craig's note ' from the desk and handed it to her ! without a word. She read it with I breathless eagerness. - j "Come back there with me, please," she begged, almost frantic with fear : : now. "Something terrible may have happened." ■» | Aunt Josephine had hardly left Savetsky when the trance was resumed, j Suddenly, from the mysterious shadows of the cabinet, there appeared the spirit of Long Sin. whose death Elaine still believed she had caused when Adventuress Mary had lured her to the aphrtment Elaine was trembling with fear at 1 the apparition. As before, a strange voice sounded in the depths of the cabinet and again 1 1 a message was beard, in low. solemn tones: "I am Keka, and I have with me Long Sin. His blood cries for ven- | geanee." ' Elaine was overcome with horror at the words. Then a dim. ghostly figure, apparently that of Long Sin. appeared. With arms outstretched, the figure glided from the cabinet and approached Elaine. She shrank back farther in fright, too horrified even to scream. At the same moment, the medium , I drew a vapor pistol from her dress, and. as the ghost of Long Sin leaped ' j at Elaine. Savetsky darted forward 1 , and shot a stream of vapor full in ' Bennett's face. 1 Bennett dropped unconscious, the 1 j lights in the darkened room flashed up. and several of the men of the j Clutching Hand rushed in. Quickly the fireplace was turned on I its cleverly constructed hinges, revealing the hidden passage. Before any effective resistance conld ■ : be made, Elaine and Bennett were 1 hustled through the passage, securely | bound, and placed on a divan In a I I curtained chamber back of the altar j of the devil worshipers. | It was at that moment that I. little i dreaming of what had been taking 1 I place, arrived with Aunt Josephine at i j the house of the medium. ! She answered my ring and admitted us. To our surprise, the seance room 1 was empty. | "Where is the young lady who was | here?" I asked. | "Miss Dodge and the gentleman just ; left a few minutes ago." the medium I explained, as we looked about. 1 ' I happened to notice a torn handker- : chief lying on the floor. It flashed ^ over me that perhaps it might afford | As I passed it, 1 purposely dropped my soft hat over It and picked up the j hat. securing the handkerchief wlth- ! out attracting Savetsky's attention, j Annt Josephine was keen now for returning home to find out whether i Elaine was there or not. No sooner j had she entered the car and driven off, than I examined the handkerchief. It J j waa torn, as if itTlad been crushed in the hand during a struggle and j wrenched away 1 looked closer. In I the corner was the Initial "E." That was enough Without losing another precious moment I hurried around to the nearest police station. The sergeant detailed several roundsmen and a man in plain clothes, and together we returned to the house. I laving a careful plan to surround it j secretly, while the plainclothes man and I obtained admittance. ! Meanwhile, the Chinese devil wor- \ »hlpers had again gathered in their i : cursed temple and Long Sin, in his j priestly robe, appeared on the dala. j The worshipers kotowed rever- I ; ently to him. while at the back again I ! stood the aged Chinaman patiently turning his prayer wheel. , i Two braziers, or smoke pots, had [ been placed on the dais, one of which i I ong Sin touched with a stick, causI I ing it to burst out into dense fumes. | Standing before them, he chanted In nasal tones: "The white consort of j the great Ksing Chau has been found. , It is his will that she now be made . i his." ' j As he finished intoning the message. Long Sin signaled to two young Chinamen to go into the anteroom. A mo- ' ment later they returned with Elaine. | Frightened though she was. Elaine made no attempt to struggle, even when they had cut her bonds. They carried her up to the dais, and ' now Long Sin faced her and sternly 1 ordered her to kotow to the grue- ' some metallic figure. 1 She refused, but instantly the China- '• men seized her arm and twisted it. 1 until they had compelled her to fall to her knees. Having forced her to kotow. Long Sin turned to the assembled devil ' dancers. "With magic and rare druga," be - chanted, "she shall be made to paas

: beyond and her body encased in pre . clous gold shall be the consort of Kslng Chau — forever and ever." ' With callous deviltry, the oriental satanists made every arrangement for embalming and preserving the body of Elaine. At last all seemed to be in readiness • U>. proceed. "Hold her," ordered Long Sin in guttural Chinese, to the two attendants, | as be approached her. Long SId held in bis hand a small, profusely decorated pot from which smoke waa escaping. As he ap- , p reached he passed this receptacle under her nose once, twice, three times. Gradually Elaine fell Into unconsciousness. • *•••*• While Elaine waa facing death in the power of the devil worshipers, I had reached the house of Savetaky next door with the police, and the ' place had been quietly surrounded. With the plainclothes man, a daring J and intelligent fellow, XI went to the door and rang the bell. ' "What can I do for you?" asked the , medium, admitting na. "My friend here," I parleyed, "is In great business trouble. Can your con1 trolling spirit give him advice?" Savetsky set to work preparing the room for a seance. As she moved over to the window to pull down the shades

' she must have caught sight of one or two of the policemen who had lncau- . tiously exposed themselves from the hiding place in which I had disposed them before we entered. At any rate, , Savetsky did not lose a Jot of her re , markable composure. "I'm sorry." she remarked merely, "but I'm afraid my control is weak I and cannot work today." | She took a step toward the door. | motioning us to leave. Neither of us . j paid any attention to the hint, but re ' malned seated as we had been be- . fore. | Almost before I knew what she was doing, she made a dash for something in the corner of the room. It waa I time tor open action, and I seized her I quickly. My detective was on his feet in an I Instant. , "I'll take care of her." he ground out. seized her wrists in his viselike grasp. "You give the signal." I rushed to the window, threw up . the shade and opened the sash, wav- . Ing our preconcerted sign and turned again toward the room. [ With a sudden accession of desper- , ' ate strength. Savetsky broke away I from the plainclothes man and again , attempted to get at something concealed on the wall. I had turned just , in time to fling myself between her [ and wnatever object 6be bad in mind. As the detective took her again and j twisted her arm until she cried out in pain. I hastily investigated the wall. She had evidently been attempting to press a button that rang a concealed [ bell. What did it mean? Elaine, now completely unconscious, ■ | was being held by the Chinamen, i while her arm waa smeared with I sticky, black material from the caul- . dron of Long Sin. i Suddenly the aged Chinaman with > ' the prayer wheel stopped his incessant, impious turning, and. rising, held | up his hand as if to command atteni tion. "This Is nonsense," he cried in a loud voice. "Why should our great I Ksing Chou desire a white devil? I, a ■ great-grandfather, demand to know." . , Shaking with rage. Long Sin ori dered the intruder off the dais. But the aged devotee refused to go. "Throw him out." he ordered hia attendants. For answer, as the two young Chinamen approached, the old Chinai man threw them down to the floor with a quick jiu-jitsu movement. Furious now beyond expression. Long Sin stepped forward. He seized the beard and queue of the intruder. To his utter amazement they came off! It waa Kennedy. With hia automatic drawn, before the astonished devil dancers could recover themselves, Craig atood at : bay. Long Sin leaped behind the big gong. As the Chinaman rushed forward to seize him, Kennedy shot the

.-eader or Long Sin s attendants and struck down the other with a blow. Kennedy seized Elaine's yielding body, and, pushing back the curtain to ■ the anteroom, succeeded in gaining it and locking the door into the main temple. Bennett was atlll lying on the floor tightly bound. With a few deft cnta with a Chinese knife which he had picked np, Kennedy released him. At the, same time Chinamen were trying to batter down the door, Kennedy's last bulwark. It waa swaying . under their repeated Mows. While Kennedy waa thus besieged by the devil worshipers la the anteroom, several policemen and detectives gathered in the seance room with ua, next door, where Savetaky was held a defiant and mute prisoner. I had discovered the bell and. taking i that aa a 'guide, I started to trace the course of a wire w hich ran alongside : the wall. To the fireplace I traced the bell and, in pulling on the wire, I luckily i pressed a secret spring. To my amazement the whole fireplace swung out i of sight and disclosed a secret passageway. I looked through it. i It was almost at that precise Instant - that the door of the anteroom burst i open and the Chlnemen swarmed in.

Elaine Is Forced to Kotow to the Gruesome Metallic Figure. - urged on by the insane exhortations ot

Long 81n. I To my utter amazement, I recogI nlzed Kennedy's voice. In the first onslaught Craig shot one Chinaman dead, then closed with the others, slashing right and left with the , Chii^se knife he had picked np. t Bennett came to hia* aid, but waa immediately overcome by two Chinamen, who evidently had been detailed i for that purpose. Meanwhile Kennedy and the others . were engaged in a terrible life and death struggle, j Finally. Long Sin. seizing a large 5 wall-banging, leaped upon Kennedy I from the back and threw it over his r head, almost suffocating him. It was just as the Chinese waa about i to overpower him that I led the police and detectives through the paaI sageway of the fireplace. 3 It was a glorious fight that followed. But Long Sin and his Chinamen were ) no match for the police and were soon completely routed, the pclice striking I furiously in all directions and clearing the room. i. Instantly Kennedy thought of the j fair object of all this melee. He j rushed to the divan on which he had placed Elaine, t As she opened her eyes for an inr I stant she gazed at CraN;, then at Benu j nett. Still not comprehending Just j j what bad happened, she gave her band t j to Bennett. Bennett lifted her to her j feet and slowly assisted her as she j I tried to walk away. 1 | Kennedy wat< hrd them, more stupe- ' fled than if he bad been struck over i the head by Long Sin. I Police and detectives were now tak- '' ' ing the captured Chinamen awqv. as '* ' Bennett, bis arm about Elaine, lec hei : gently out. A young detective had slipped the bracelets over Long Sin's wrist, and I was etanding beside him. |* ; Kennedy, in a daze at the sight ot ' Elaine and Bennett, passed us, scarcer ly noting who we were. 1 As Craig collected his scattered * forces Long Sin motioned to him. as 1 if he had a message to deliver. , Kennedy frowned suspiciously. He was about to turn away when the Chi- ' naman began pleading earnestly for s chance to say a few words. "Step aside for a moment, you fel- ' ' lows, won't you, please?" he asked. "1 I will hear what you have to say, Long ' j Sin." " 1 Long Sin looked about craftily. 5 "What is it?" prompted Craig, see- - ing that at last they were all alone. ' Long Sin again looked around. ' "Swear that I will go free and not suffer." he whispered, "and I will be- ' tray the great Clutching Hand." Kennedy studied the Chinaman keenly for a moment Then, seeming5 ly satisfied with the scrutiny, be nod- ' ded slowly assent ' As Craig did so, I saw Long Sin lean over and whisper Into Kennedy's ear. I Craig started back in horror and ear prise. ! tTO BE CONTJNUEXX)