The Romance of Elaine

  Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.

  THE CRAIG KENNEDY SERIES

  THE ROMANCE OF ELAINE

  A DETECTIVE NOVEL

  Sequel to the "Exploits"

  BY

  ARTHUR B. REEVE

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER

  I THE SERPENT SIGN

  II THE CRYPTIC RING

  III THE WATCHING EYE

  IV THE VENGEANCE OF WU FANG

  V THE SHADOWS OF WAR

  VI THE LOST TORPEDO

  VII THE GRAY FRIAR

  VIII THE VANISHING MAN

  IX THE SUBMARINE HARBOR

  X THE CONSPIRATORS

  XI THE WIRELESS DETECTIVE

  XII THE DEATH CLOUD

  XIII THE SEARCHLIGHT GUN

  XIV THE LIFE CHAIN

  XV THE FLASH

  XVI THE DISAPPEARING HELMETS

  XVII THE TRIUMPH OF ELAINE

  THE ROMANCE OF ELAINE

  CHAPTER I

  THE SERPENT SIGN

  Rescued by Kennedy at last from the terrible incubus of Bennett'spersecution in his double life of lawyer and master criminal, Elainehad, for the first time in many weeks, a feeling of security.

  Now that the strain was off, however, she felt that she needed rest anda chance to recover herself and it occurred to her that a few quietdays with "Aunt" Tabitha, who had been her nurse when she was a littlegirl, would do her a world of good.

  She sent for Aunt Tabby, yet the fascination of the experiences throughwhich she had just gone still hung over her. She could not resistthinking and reading about them, as she sat, one morning, with thefaithful Rusty in the conservatory of the Dodge house.

  I had told the story at length in the Star, and the heading over itcaught her eye.

  It read:

  THE CLUTCHING HAND DEAD

  ------

  Double Life Exposed by Craig Kennedy

  Perry Bennett, the Famous Young Lawyer, Takes Poison--Kennedy Now on Trail of Master Criminal's Hidden Millions.

  ----

  As Elaine glanced down the column, Jennings announced that Aunt Tabby,as she loved to call her old friend, had arrived, and was now in thelibrary with Aunt Josephine.

  With an exclamation of delight, Elaine dropped the paper and, followedby Rusty, almost ran into the library.

  Aunt Tabby was a stout, elderly, jolly-faced woman, precisely the sortwhom Elaine needed to watch over her just now.

  "Oh, I'm so glad to see you," half laughed Elaine as she literallyflung herself into her nurse's arms. "I feel so unstrung--and I thoughtthat if I could just run off for a few days with you and Joshua in thecountry where no one would know, it might make me feel better. You havealways been so good to me. Marie! Are my things packed? Very well.Then, get my wraps."

  Her maid left the room.

  "Bless your soul," mothered Aunt Tabby stroking her soft golden hair,"I'm always glad to have you in that fine house you bought me. And,faith, Miss Elaine, the house is a splendid place to rest in but Idon't know what's the matter with it lately. Joshua says its haunts--"

  "Haunts?" repeated Elaine in amused surprise. "Why, what do you mean?"

  Marie entered with the wraps before Aunt Tabby could reply and Jenningsfollowed with the baggage.

  "Nonsense," continued Elaine gaily, as she put on her coat, and turnedto bid Aunt Josephine good-bye. "Good-bye, Tabitha," said her realaunt. "Keep good care of my little girl."

  "That I will," returned the nurse. "We don't have all these troublesout in the country that you city folks have."

  Elaine went out, followed by Rusty and Jennings with the luggage.

  "Now for a long ride in the good fresh air," sighed Elaine as sheleaned back on the cushions of the Dodge limousine and patted Rusty,while the butler stowed away the bags.

  The air certainly did, if anything, heighten the beauty of Elaine andat last they arrived at Aunt Tabby's, tired and hungry.

  The car stopped and Elaine, Aunt Tabby and the dog got out. There,waiting for them, was "Uncle" Joshua, as Elaine playfully called him, aformer gardener of the Dodges, now a plain, honest countryman on whomthe city was fast encroaching, a jolly old fellow, unharmed by theworld.

  Aunt Tabby's was an attractive small house, not many miles from NewYork, yet not in the general line of suburban travel.

  . . . . . . .

  Kennedy and I had decided to bring Bennett's papers and documents overto the laboratory to examine them. We were now engaged in going overthe great mass of material which he had collected, in the hope offinding some clue to the stolen millions which he must have amassed asa result of his villainy. The table was stacked high.

  A knock at the door told us that the expressman had arrived and amoment later he entered, delivering a heavy box. Kennedy signed for itand started to unpack it.

  I was hard at work, when I came across a large manila envelopecarefully sealed, on which were written the figures "$7,000,000." Tooexcited even to exclaim, I tore the envelope open and examined thecontents.

  Inside was another envelope. I opened that. It contained merely a blankpiece of paper!

  With characteristic skill at covering his tracks, Bennett had alsocovered his money. Puzzled, I turned the paper over and over, lookingat it carefully. It was a large sheet of paper, but it showed nothing.

  "Huh!" I snorted to myself, "confound him."

  Yet I could not help smiling at my own folly, a minute later, inthinking that the Clutching Hand would leave any information in such anobvious place as an envelope. I threw the paper into a wire basket onthe desk and went on sorting the other stuff.

  Kennedy had by this time finished unpacking the box, and was examininga bottle which he had taken from it.

  "Come here, Walter," he called at length. "Ever see anything like that?"

  "I can't say," I confessed, getting up to go to him. "What is it?"

  "Bring a piece of paper." he added.

  I went back to the desk where I had been working and looked abouthastily. My eye fell on the blank sheet of paper which I had taken fromBennett's envelope, and I picked it up from the basket.

  "Here's one," I said, handing it to him. "What are you doing?"

  Kennedy did not answer directly, but began to treat the paper with theliquid from the bottle. Then he lighted a Bunsen burner and thrust thepaper into the flame. The paper did not burn!

  "A new system of fire-proofing," laughed Craig, enjoying myastonishment.

  He continued to hold the paper in the flame. Still it did not burn.

  "See?" he went on, withdrawing it, and starting to explain theproperties of the new fire-proofer.

  He had scarcely begun, when he stopped in surprise. He had happened toglance at the paper again, bent over to examine it more intently, andwas now looking at it in surprise.

  I looked also. There, clearly discernible on the paper, was a smallpart of what looked like an architect's drawing of a fireplace.

  Craig looked up at me, nonplussed. "Where did you say you got that?" heasked.

  "It was a blank piece of paper among Bennett's effects," I returned, asmystified as he, pointing at the littered desk at which I had beenworking.

  Kennedy said nothing, but thrust the paper back again into the flame.Slowly, the heat of the burner seemed to bring out the complete drawingof the fireplace.

  We looked at it, even more mystified. "What is it, do you suppose?" Iqueried.

  "I think," he replied slowly, "that it was drawn with sympathetic ink.The heat of the burner brought it out into sight."

  What was it about?<
br />
  . . . . . . .

  Elaine had gone to bed that night at Aunt Tabby's in the room which herold nurse had fixed up especially for her. It was a very attractivelittle room with dainty chintz curtains and covers and for the firsttime in many weeks Elaine slept soundly and fearlessly.

  Down-stairs, in the living-room, Rusty also was asleep, his nosebetween his paws.

  The living-room was in keeping with everything at Aunt Tabby's, plain,neat, homelike. On one side was a large fireplace that gave to it anair of quaint hospitality.

  Suddenly Rusty woke up, his ears pointed at this fireplace. He stood amoment, listening, then, with a bark of alarm he sped swiftly from theliving-room, up the stairs at a bound, until he came to Elaine's room.

  Elaine felt his cold nose at her hand and stirred, then awoke.

  "What is it, Rusty?" she asked, mindful of the former days when Rustygave warning of the Clutching Hand and his emissaries.

  Rusty wagged his tail. Something was wrong.

  Elaine followed him down to the living-room. She went over and lightedthe electric lamp on the table, then turned to Rusty.

  "Well, Rusty?" she asked, almost as if he were human.

  She had no need to repeat the question. Rusty was looking straight atthe fireplace.

  Elaine listened. Sure enough, she heard strange noises. Was that AuntTabby's "haunt"? Whatever it was, it sounded as if it came up from thevery depths of the earth.

  She could not make out just what it sounded like. It might have beensome one striking a piece of iron, a bolt, with a sledge.

  What was it?

  She continued to listen in wonder, then ran to Aunt Tabby's bedroomdoor, on the first floor, and knocked.

  Aunt Tabby woke up and shook Joshua.

  "Aunt Tabby! Aunt Tabby!" called Elaine.

  "Yes, my dear," answered the old nurse, now fully awake andstraightening her nightcap. "Joshua!"

  Together the old couple came out into the living-room, still in theirnightclothes, Joshua yawning sleepily still.

  "Listen!" whispered Elaine.

  There was the noise again. This time it was more as though some onewere beating a rat-tat-tat with something on a rock. It was weird,uncanny, as all stood there, none knowing where the strange noises camefrom.

  "It's the haunts!" cried Aunt Tabby, trembling a bit. "For three nightsnow we've been hearing these noises."

  Around and around the room they walked, still trying to locate thestrange sounds. Were they under the floor? It was impossible to say.They gave it up and stood there, looking blankly at each other. Was itthe work of human or superhuman hands?

  Finally Joshua went to a table drawer and opened it. He took out ahuge, murderous-looking revolver.

  "Here, Miss Elaine," he urged, pressing it on her, "take this--keep itnear you!"

  The noises ceased at length, as strangely as they had begun.

  Half an hour later, they had all gone back to bed and were asleep. ButElaine's sleep now was fitful, a constant procession of faces flittedbefore her closed eyes.

  Suddenly, she woke with a start and stared into the semi-darkness. Wasthat face real, or a dream face? Was it the hideous helmeted face thathad dragged her down into the sewer once? That man was dead. Who wasthis?

  She gazed at the bedroom window, holding the huge revolver tightly.There, vague in the night light, appeared a figure. Surely that was nodream face of the oxygen helmet. Besides, it was not the same helmet.

  She sat bolt upright and fired, pointblank, at the window, shiveringthe glass. A second later she had leaped from the bed, switched on thelights and was running to the sill.

  Down-stairs, Aunt Tabby and Uncle Joshua had heard the shot. Joshua wasnow wide awake. He seized his old shotgun and ran out into thelivingroom. Followed by Aunt Tabby, he hurried to Elaine.

  "Wh-what was it?" he asked, puffing at the exertion of runningup-stairs.

  "I saw--a face--at the window--with some kind of thing over it!" gaspedElaine. "It was like one I saw once before."

  Uncle Joshua did not wait to hear any more. With the gun pointed aheadof him, ready for instant action, he ran out of the room and into thegarden, beneath Elaine's window.

  He looked about for signs of an intruder. There was not a sound. No onewas about, here.

  "I don't see any one," he called up to Elaine and Aunt Tabby in thewindow.

  He happened to look down at the ground. Before him was a small box. Hepicked it up.

  "Here's something, though," he said.

  Joshua went back into the house.

  "What is it?" asked Elaine as he rejoined the women.

  She took the curious little box and unfastened the cover. As she openedit, she drew back. There in the box was a little ivory figure of a man,all hunched up and shrunken, a hideous figure. She recoiled from it--itreminded her too much of the Chinese devil-god she had seen,--and shedropped the box.

  For a moment all stood looking at it in horrified amazement.

  . . . . . . .

  It was the afternoon following the day of our strange discovery of thefireplace done in sympathetic ink on the apparently blank sheet ofpaper in Bennett's effects, when the speaking-tube sounded and Ianswered it.

  "Why--it's Elaine," I exclaimed.

  Kennedy's face showed the keenest pleasure at the unexpected visit."Tell her to come right up," he said quickly.

  I opened the door for her.

  "Why--Elaine--I'm awfully glad to see you," he greeted, "but I thoughtyou were rusticating."

  "I was, but, Craig, it seems to me that wherever I go, somethinghappens," she returned. "You know, Aunt Tabby said there were haunts. Ithought it was an old woman's fear--but last night I heard thestrangest noises out there, and I thought I saw a face at the window--aface in a helmet. And when Joshua went out, this is what he found onthe ground under my window."

  She handed Kennedy a box, a peculiar affair which she touched gingerlyand only with signs of the greatest aversion.

  Kennedy opened it. There, in the bottom of the box, was a little ivorydevil-god. He looked at it curiously a moment.

  "Let me see," he ruminated, still regarding the sign. "The house youbought for Aunt Tabby, once belonged to Bennett, didn't it?"

  Elaine nodded her head. "Yes, but I don't see what that can have to dowith it," she agreed, adding with a shudder, "Bennett is dead."

  Kennedy had taken a piece of paper from the desk where he had put itaway carefully. "Have you ever seen anything that looks like this?" heasked, handing her the paper.

  Elaine looked at the plan carefully, as Kennedy and I scanned her face.She glanced up, her expression showing plainly the wonder she felt.

  "Why, yes," she answered. "That looks like Aunt Tabby's fireplace inthe living-room."

  Kennedy said nothing for a moment. Then he seized his hat and coat.

  "If you don't mind," he said, "we'll go back there with you."

  "Mind?" she repeated. "Just what I had hoped you would do."

  . . . . . . .

  Wu Fang, the Chinese master mind, had arrived in New York.

  Beside Wu, the inscrutable, Long Sin, astute though he was, was a merepigmy--his slave, his advance agent, as it were, a tentacle sent out todiscover the most promising outlet for the nefarious talents of hismaster.

  New York did not know of the arrival of Wu Fang, the mysterious--yet.But down in the secret recesses of Chinatown, in the ways that aredevious and dark, the oriental crooks knew--and trembled.

  Thus it happened that Long Sin was not permitted to enjoy even theforetaste of Bennett's spoils which he had forced from him after hisweird transformation into his real self, the Clutching Hand, when theChinaman had given him the poisoned draught that had put him into hislong sleep.

  He had obtained the paper showing where the treasure amassed by theClutching Hand was hidden, but Wu Fang, his master, had come.
<
br />   Wu had immediately established himself in the most sumptuous ofapartments, hidden behind the squalid exterior of the ordinary tenementbuilding in Chinatown.

  The night following his arrival, Wu Fang was reclining on a divan, whenhis servant announced that Long Sin was at the door.

  As Long Sin entered, it was evident that, cunning and shrewd though hewas himself, Wu was indeed his master. He approached in fear and awe,cringing low.

  "Have you brought the map with you?" asked Wu.

  Long Sin bowed low again, and drew from under his coat the paper whichhe had obtained from Bennett. For a moment the two, master and slave inguile, bent over, closely studying it.

  At one point in the map Long Sin's bony finger paused over a note whichBennett had made:

  BEWARE POISONED GAS UPON OPENING COMPARTMENT.

  "And you think you can trace it out?" asked Wu.

  "Without a doubt," bowed Long Sin.

  He went over to a bag near-by, which he had already sent up by anotherservant, and opened it. Inside was an oxygen helmet. He replaced it,after showing it to Wu.

  "With the aid of the science of the white devil, we shall overcome thescience of the white devil," purred Long Sin subtly.

  Outside, Wu had already ordered a car to wait, and together the twodrove off rapidly. Into the country, they sped, until at last they cameto a lonely turn in a lonely road, somewhat removed from the sectionthat was rapidly being built up as population reached out from thecity, but on a single-tracked trolley line.

  Long Sin alighted and disappeared with a parting word of instructionfrom Wu who remained in the car. The Chinaman carried with him theheavy bag with the oxygen helmet.

  Along this interurban trolley the cars made only half-hourly trips atthis time of night. Long Sin hurried down the road until he came to atrolley pole, then looked hastily at his watch. It was twenty minutesat least before the next car would pass.

  Quickly, almost monkey-like, he climbed up the pole, carrying with himthe end of a wire which he had taken from the bag.

  Having thrown this over the feed wire, he slid quickly to the groundagain. Then, carrying the other end of the wire in his rubber-glovedhands, he made his way through the underbrush, in and out, almost likethe serpent he was, until he came to a passageway in the rough anduncleared hillside--a small opening formed by the rocks.

  It was dark inside, but he did not hesitate to enter, carrying the wireand the bag with him.

  . . . . . . .

  It was nightfall before we arrived with Elaine at Aunt Tabby's. Weentered the living-room and Elaine introduced us both to Aunt Tabby andher husband.

  It was difficult to tell whether Elaine's old nurse was more glad tosee her than the faithful Rusty who almost overwhelmed her even afterso short an absence.

  In the midst of the greetings, I took occasion to look over theliving-room. It was a very cozy room, simply and tastefully furnished,and I fancied that I could see in the neatness of Aunt Tabby a touch ofElaine's hand, for she had furnished it for her faithful old friend.

  I followed Kennedy's eyes, and saw that he was looking at thefireplace. Sure enough, it was the same in design as the fireplacewhich the heat had so unexpectedly brought out in sympathetic ink onthe blank sheet of paper.

  Kennedy lost no time in examining it, and we crowded around him as hewent over it inch by inch, following the directions on the drawing.

  At one point in the drawing a peculiar protuberance was marked. Kennedywas evidently hunting for that. He found it at last and pressed thesort of lever in several ways. Nothing seemed to happen. But finally,almost by chance, he seemed to discover the secret.

  A small section at the side of the fireplace opened up, disclosing aniron ladder, leading down into one of those characteristichiding-places in which the Clutching Hand used to delight.

  Kennedy looked at the mysterious opening some time, as if trying tofathom the mystery.

  "Let's go down and explore it," I suggested, taking a step toward theladder.

  Kennedy reached out and pulled me back. Then without a word he pressedthe little lever and the door closed.

  "I think we'd better wait a while, Walter," he decided. "I would ratherhear Aunt Tabby's haunts myself."

  He carefully went over not only the rest of the house but the groundsabout it, without discovering anything.

  Aunt Tabby, with true country hospitality, seemed unable to receiveguests without feeding them, and, although we had had a big dinner at afamous road-house on the way out, still none of us could find it in ourhearts to refuse her hospitality. Even that diversion, however, did notprevent us from talking of nothing else but the strange noises, and Ithink, as we waited, we all got into the frame of mind which would havemanufactured them even if there had been none.

  We were sitting about the room when suddenly the most weird and uncannyrappings began. Rusty was on his feet in a moment, barking like mad. Welooked from one to another.

  It was impossible to tell where the noises came from, or even todescribe them. They were certainly not ghostly rappings. In fact, theysounded more like some twentieth century piece of machinery.

  We listened a moment, then Kennedy walked over to the fireplace. "Youcan explore it with me now, Walter," he said quietly, touching thelever and opening the panel which disclosed the ladder.

  He started down the ladder and I followed closely. Elaine was about tojoin us, when Kennedy paused on the topmost round and looked up at her.

  "No, no, young lady," he said with mock severity, "you have beenthrough enough already--you stay where you are."

  Elaine argued and begged but Kennedy was obdurate. It was only whenAunt Tabby and Joshua added their entreaties that she consentedreluctantly to remain.

  Together, Craig and I descended into the darkness about eight or tenfeet. There we found a passageway, excavated through the earth androck, along which we crept. It was crooked and uneven, and we stumbled,but kept going slowly ahead.

  Kennedy, who was a few feet in front of me, stopped suddenly and Ialmost fell over him.

  "What is it?" I whispered.

  . . . . . . .

  Long Sin had made his way from the opening of the cave to the point onthe plan which was marked by a cross, and there he had set up hiselectric drill which was connected to the trolley wire. He was workingfuriously to take advantage of the fifteen minutes or so before thenext car would pass.

  The tunnel had been widened out at this point into a small subterraneanchamber. It was dug out of the earth and the roof was roughly proppedup, most of the weight being borne by one main wooden prop which, inthe dampness, had now become old and rotten.

  On one side it was evident that Long Sin had already been at work,digging and drilling through the earth and rock. He had gone so far nowthat he had disclosed what looked like the face of a small safe setdirectly into the rock.

  As he worked he would stop from time to time and consult the map. Thenhe would take up drilling again.

  He had now come to the point on which Bennett had written his warning.Quickly he opened the bag and took out the oxygen helmet, which headjusted carefully over his head. Then he set to work with redoubledenergy.

  It was that drill as well as his pounding on the rock which had soalarmed Elaine and Aunt Tabby the night before and which now had beenthe signal for Kennedy's excursion of discovery.

  . . . . . . .

  Our man, whoever he was, must have heard us approaching down thetunnel, for he paused in his work and the noise of the drill ceased.

  He looked about a moment, then went over to the prop and examined it,looking up at the roof of the chamber above him. Evidently he fearedthat it was not particularly strong.

  From our vantage point around the bend in the passageway we could seethis strange and uncouth figure.

  "Who is it, do you think?" I whispered, crouching back against the wallfor f
ear that he might look even around a corner or through the earthand discover us.

  As I spoke, my hand loosened a piece of rock that jutted out and beforeI knew it there was a crash.

  "Confound it, Walter," exclaimed Kennedy.

  Down the passageway the figure was now thoroughly on the alert, staringwith his goggle-like eyes into the blackness in our direction. It wasnot the roof above him that was unsafe. He was watched, and he did nothesitate a minute to act.

  He seized the bag and picked his way quickly through the passage as ifthoroughly familiar with every turn of the walls and roughness of thefloor.

  We were discovered and if we were to accomplish anything, it was now ornever.

  Kennedy dashed forward and I followed close after him.

  We were making much better time than our strange visitor and weregaining on him rapidly. Nearer and nearer we came to him, for, in spiteof his familiarity with the cavern he was hampered by the outlandishhead-gear that he wore.

  It was only another instant, when Kennedy would have laid his hands onhim.

  Suddenly he half turned, raised his arm and dashed something to theearth much as a child explodes a toy torpedo. I fully expected that itwas a bomb; but, as a moment later, I found that Kennedy and I werestill unharmed, I knew that it must be some other product of thisdevilish genius.

  The thickest and most impenetrable smoke seemed to pervade the narrowcavern!

  "A Chinese smoke bomb!" sputtered and coughed Kennedy, as he retreateda minute, then with renewed vigor endeavored to penetrate the dense andopaque fumes.

  We managed to go ahead still, but the intruder had exploded one afteranother of his peculiar bombs, always keeping ahead of the smoke whichhe created, and we found that under its cover he had made good hisescape, probably reaching the entrance of the cave in the underbrush.

  At the other end of the passageway, up in the living-room of thecottage, the draught had carried large quantities of the smoke. Elaine,Aunt Tabby and Joshua coughing and choking, saw it, and opened awindow, which seemed to cause a current of air to sweep through thewhole length of the passageway and helped to clear away the fumesrapidly.

  Long Sin, meanwhile, had started to work his way through the bushes toreach the waiting car, with Wu, then paused and listened. Hearing nosound, he replaced the helmet which he had taken off.

  Pursuit was now useless for us. With revolvers drawn, we crept backalong the passageway until we came again to the chamber itself. There,on the floor, lay a bag of tools, opened, as though somebody had beenworking with them.

  "Caught red-handed!" exclaimed Kennedy with great satisfaction.

  He looked at the tools a minute and then at the electric drill, andfinally an idea seemed to strike him. He took up the drill and advancedtoward the safe. Then he turned on the current and applied the drill.

  The drill was of the very latest design and it went quickly through thesteel. But beyond that there was another thin steel partition. ThisKennedy tackled next.

  The drill went through and he withdrew it.

  Instantly the most penetrating and nauseous odor seemed to pervadeeverything.

  Kennedy cried out. But his warning was too late. We staggered back,overcome by the escaping gas and fell to the ground.

  . . . . . . .

  Long Sin, with his oxygen helmet on again, had returned to thepassageway and was now stealthily creeping back.

  He came to the chamber and there discovered us lying on the ground,overcome. He bent down and, to his great satisfaction, saw that we werereally unconscious.

  Quickly he moved over to the safe and pried open the last thin steelplate.

  Inside was a small box. He picked it up and tried to open it, but itwas locked. There was no time to work over it here, and he took itunder his arm and started to leave.

  He paused a moment to look at us, then took out a piece of paper and apencil and on the paper wrote, "Thanks for your trouble." Beneath, itwas signed by his special stamp--the serpent's head, mouth open andfangs showing.

  Long Sin looked at us a moment, then a subtle smile seemed to spreadover his face. At last he had us in his power.

  He drew out a long, wicked-looking Chinese knife and stuck it throughthe note.

  Then he felt the edge of the knife. It was keen.

  . . . . . . .

  In the sitting-room, Elaine, Aunt Tabby and Joshua had been listeningintently at the fireplace but heard nothing.

  They were now getting decidedly worried. Finally, the fumes which wehad released made their way to the room. They were considerably dilutedby fresh air by that time, but, although they were nauseous, were notsufficient to overcome any one. Still, the smell was terrible.

  "I can't stand it any longer," cried Elaine. "I'm going down there tosee what has become of them."

  Aunt Tabby and Joshua tried to stop her, but she broke away from themand went down the ladder. Rusty leaped down after her.

  Joshua tried to follow, but Aunt Tabby held him back. He would havegone, too, if she had not managed to strike the spring and shut thedoor, closing up the passageway.

  Joshua got angry then. "You are making a coward of me," he cried,beating on the panel with the butt of his gun and struggling to open it.

  He seemed unable to fathom the secret.

  Elaine was now making her way as rapidly as she could through thetunnel, with Rusty beside her.

  . . . . . . .

  It was just as Long Sin had raised his knife that the sound of herfootsteps alarmed him.

  He paused and leaped to his feet.

  There was no time for either to retreat. He started toward Elaine, andseized her roughly.

  Back and forth over the rocky floor they struggled. As theyfought,--she with frantic strength, he craftily,--he backed her slowlyup against the prop that upheld the roof.

  He raised his keen knife.

  She recoiled. The prop, none too strong, suddenly gave way under herweight.

  The whole roof of the chamber fell with a crash, earth and stoneoverwhelming Elaine and her assailant.

  . . . . . . .

  By this time Joshua had left the house and had gone out into the gardento get something to pry open the fireplace door.

  Of a sudden, to his utter amazement, a few feet from him, it seemed asif the very earth sank in his garden, leaving a yawning chasm.

  He looked, unable to make it out.

  Before his very eyes a strange figure, the figure of Long Sin in hisoxygen helmet, appeared, struggling up, as if by magic from the veryearth, shaking the debris off himself, as a dog would shake off thewater after a plunge in a pond.

  Long Sin was gone in a moment.

  Then again the earth began to move. A paw appeared, then a sharp blacknose, and a moment later, Rusty, too, dug himself out.

  Joshua had run into the house to get a spade when Rusty, like a shot,bolted for the house, took the window at a leap and all covered withearth landed before Joshua and Aunt Tabby.

  "See!--he went down there--now he's here!" cried Aunt Tabby, pointingat the fireplace, then looking at the window.

  Rusty was running back and forth from Joshua to the window.

  "Follow him!" cried Aunt Tabby.

  Rusty led the way back again to the garden, to the cave-in.

  "Elaine!" gasped Aunt Tabby.

  By this time Joshua was digging furiously. Rusty, too, seemed tounderstand. He threw back the earth with his paws, helping with everyounce of strength in his little body.

  At last the spade turned up a bit of cloth.

  "Elaine!" Aunt Tabby cried out again.

  She was in a sort of little pocket, protected by the fortunateformation of the earth as it fell, yet almost suffocated, weak butconscious.

  Aunt Tabby rushed up as Joshua laid down the spade and lifted outElaine.

  They were about to c
arry her into the house, when she cried weakly, butwith all her remaining strength.

  "No--no--Dig! Craig--Walter!" she managed to gasp.

  Rusty, too, was still at it. Joshua fell to again. Man and dog workedwith a will.

  "There they are!" cried Elaine, as all three pulled us out, unconsciousbut still alive.

  Though we did not know it, they carried us into the house, while Elaineand Aunt Tabby bustled about to get something to revive us.

  At last I opened my eyes and saw the motherly Aunt Tabby bending overme. Craig was already revived, weak but ready now to do anything Elaineordered, as she held his hand and stroked his forehead softly.

  . . . . . . .

  Meanwhile Long Sin had made his way to the automobile where his master,Wu, waited impatiently.

  "Did you get it?" asked Wu eagerly.

  Long Sin showed him the box.

  "Hurry, master!" he cried breathlessly, leaping into the car andstruggling to take off the helmet as they drove away. "They may behere--at any moment."

  The machine was off like a shot and even if we had been able to follow,we could not now have caught it.

  Back in Wu's sumptuous apartment, later, Wu and his slave, Long Sin,after their hurried ride, dismissed all the servants and placed thelittle box on the table. Wu rose and locked the door.

  Then, together, they took a sharp instrument and tried to pry off thelid of the box.

  The lid flew off. They gazed in eagerly.

  Inside was a smaller box, which Wu seized eagerly and opened.

  There, on the plush cushion lay merely a round knobbed ring!

  Was this the end of their great expectations? Were Bennett's millionsmerely mythical?

  The two stared at each other in chagrin.

  Wu was the first to speak.

  "Where there should have been seven million dollars," he muttered tohimself, "why is there only a mystic ring?"