The Romance of Elaine, Page 2

  CHAPTER II

  THE CRYPTIC RING

  Kennedy had been engaged for some time in the only work outside of theDodge case which he had consented to take for weeks.

  Our old friend, Dr. Leslie, the Coroner, had appealed to him to solve avery ticklish point in a Tong murder case which had set all Chinatownagog. It was, indeed, a very bewildering case. A Chinaman named LiChang, leader of the Chang Wah Tong, had been poisoned, but so far noone had been able to determine what poison it was or even to prove thatthere had been a poison, except for the fact that the man was dead, andKennedy had taken the thing up in a great measure because of the suddenturn in the Dodge case which had brought us into such close contactwith the Chinese.

  I had been watching Kennedy with interest, for the Tong wars alwaysmake picturesque newspaper stories, when a knock at the door announcedthe arrival of Dr. Leslie, anxious for some result.

  "Have you been able to find out anything yet?" he greeted Kennedyeagerly as Craig looked up from his microscope.

  Kennedy turned and nodded. "Your dead man was murdered by means ofaconite, of which, you know, the active principle is the deadlyalkaloid aconitine."

  Craig pulled down from the shelf above him one of his well-thumbedstandard works on toxicology. He turned the pages and read:

  "Pure aconite is probably the most actively poisonous substance withwhich we are acquainted. It does not produce any decidedlycharacteristic post-mortem appearances, and, in fact, there is noreliable chemical test to prove its presence. The chances of itsdetection in the body after death are very slight."

  Dr. Leslie looked up. "Then there is no test, none?" he asked.

  "There is one that is brand new," replied Kennedy slowly. "It is thenew starch-grain test just discovered by Professor Reichert, of theUniversity of Pennsylvania. The peculiarities of the starch grains ofvarious plants are quite as great as those of the blood crystals,which, you will recall, Walter, we used once.

  "The starch grains of the poison have remained in the wound. I haverecovered them from the dead man's blood and have studied themmicroscopically. They can be definitely recognized. This is plainly acase of aconite poisoning--probably suggested to the Oriental mind bythe poison arrows of the Ainus of Northern Japan."

  Dr. Leslie and I both looked through the microscope, comparing thestarch grains which Kennedy had discovered with those of scores ofmicro-photographs which lay scattered over the table.

  "There are several treatments for aconite poisoning," ruminatedKennedy. "I would say that one of the latest and best is digitalingiven hypodermically." He took down a bottle of digitalin from acabinet, adding, "only it was too late in this case."

  . . . . . . .

  Just what the relations were between Long Sin and the Chong Wah Tong Ihave never been able to determine exactly. But one thing was certain:Long Sin on his arrival in New York had offended the Tong and now thathis master, Wu Fang, was here the offence was even greater, for thecriminal society brooked no rival.

  In the dark recesses of a poorly furnished cellar, serving as the Tongheadquarters, the new leader and several of his most trusted followerswere now plotting revenge. Long Sin, they believed, was responsible forthe murder, and, with truly Oriental guile, they had obtained a holdover Wu Fang's secretary.

  Their plan decided on, the Chinamen left the headquarters and madetheir way separately up-town. They rejoined one another in the shelterof a rather poor house, before which was a board fence, in the vicinityof a fashionable apartment house. A moment's conference followed, andthen the secretary glided away.

  . . . . . . .

  Wu had taken another apartment up-town in one of the large apartmenthouses near a parkway; for he was far too subtle to operate from hisreal headquarters back of the squalid exterior of Chinatown.

  There Long Sin was now engaged in making all possible provisions forthe safety of his master. Any one who had been walking along theboulevard and had happened to glance up at the roof of the tallapartment building might have seen Long Sin's figure silhouettedagainst the sky on the top of the mansard roof near a flagpole.

  He had just finished fastening to the flagpole a stout rope whichstretched taut across an areaway some twenty or thirty feet wide to thenext building, where it was fastened to a chimney. Again and again hetested it, and finally with a nod of satisfaction descended from theroof and went to the apartment of Wu.

  There, alone, he paused for a few minutes to gaze in wonder at thecryptic ring which had been the net result so far of his efforts tofind the millions which Bennett, as the Clutching Hand, had hidden. Hewore it, strangely enough, over his index finger, and as he examined ithe shook his head in doubt.

  Neither he nor his master had yet been able to fathom the significanceof the ring.

  Long Sin thought that he was unobserved. But outside, looking throughthe keyhole, was Wu's secretary, who had stolen in on the mission whichhad been set for him at the Tong headquarters.

  Long Sin went over to a desk and opened a secret box in which Wu hadplaced several packages of money with which to bribe those whom hewished to get into his power. It was Long Sin's mission to carry outthis scheme, so he packed the money into a bag, drew his coat moreclosely about him and left the room.

  No sooner had he gone than the secretary hurried into the room, pauseda moment to make sure that Long Sin was not coming back, then hurriedover to a closet near-by.

  From a secret hiding-place he drew out a small bow and arrow. He satdown at a table and hastily wrote a few Chinese characters on a pieceof paper, rolling up the note into a thin quill which he inserted intoa prepared place in the arrow.

  Then he raised the window and deftly shot the arrow out.

  Down the street, back of the board fence, where the final conferencehas taken place, was a rather sleepy-looking Chinaman, taking anoccasional puff at a cigarette doped with opium.

  He jumped to his feet suddenly. With a thud an arrow had buried itselfquivering in the fence. Quickly he seized it, drew out the note andread it.

  In the Canton vernacular it read briefly: "He goes with much money."

  It was enough. Instantly the startling news overcame the effect of thedope, and the Chinaman shuffled off quickly to the Tong headquarters.

  They were waiting for him there, and he had scarcely delivered themessage before their plans were made. One by one they left theheadquarters, hiding in doorways, basements and areaways along thenarrow street.

  . . . . . . .

  Long Sin was making his rounds, visiting all those whom the glitter ofWu's money could corrupt.

  Suddenly from the shadows of a narrow street, lined with the stores ofpetty Chinese merchants, half a dozen lithe and murderous figuresleaped out behind Long Sin and seized him. He struggled, but theyeasily threw him down.

  Any one who has visited Chinatown knows that at every corner and bendof the crooked streets stands a policeman. It was scarcely a secondbefore the noise of the scuffle was heard, but it was too late. Thehalf dozen Tong men had seized the money which Long Sin carried and haddeftly stripped him of everything else of value.

  The sound of the approaching policeman now alarmed them. Just as thenew Tong leader had raised an axe to bring it down with crushing forceon Long Sin's skull a shot rang out and the axe fell from the brokenwrist of the Chinaman.

  In another moment the policeman had seized him. Then followed a sharpfight in which the Tong men's knowledge of jiu-jitsu stood them in goodstead. The policeman was hurled aside, the Tong leader broke away, andone by one his followers disappeared through dark hallways andalleyways, leaving the policeman with only two prisoners and Long Sinlying on the sidewalk.

  But the ring and the money were gone.

  "Are you hurt much?" demanded the burly Irish officer, assisting LongSin to his feet, none too gently.

  Long Sin was furious over the loss of the precious ring, yet
he knew toinvolve himself in the white man's law would end only in disaster bothfor him and his master. He forced a painful smile, shook his head andmanaged to get away down the street muttering.

  He made his way up-town and back to the apartment of Wu, and there,pacing up and down in a fury, attended to his wounds.

  His forefinger, from which the ring had been so ruthlessly snatched,was a constant reminder to him of the loss. Any one who could havestudied the vengefulness of his face would have seen that it boded illfor some one.

  . . . . . . .

  It was the day after her return from Aunt Tabby's that Kennedy calledagain upon Elaine to find that she and Aunt Josephine were engaged inthe pleasant pastime of arranging an entertainment.

  Jennings announced Craig and held back the portieres as he entered.

  "Oh, good!" cried Elaine as she saw him. "You are just in time. I wasgoing to send you this, but I should much rather give it to you."

  She handed him a tastefully engraved sheet of paper which he read withinterest:

  Miss Elaine Dodge requests the honor of your presence at an Oriental Reception on April 6th, at 8 o'clock.

  "Very interesting," exclaimed Craig enthusiastically. "I shall bedelighted to come."

  He looked about a moment at the library which Elaine was alreadyrearranging for the entertainment.

  "Then you must work," she cried gaily. "You are just in time to help mebuy the decorations. No objections--come along."

  She took Kennedy's arm playfully.

  "But I have a very important investigation for the Coroner that I am--"

  "No excuses," she cried, laughingly, dragging him out.

  Among the many places which Elaine had down on her shopping list was asmall Chinese curio shop on lower Fifth avenue.

  They entered and were greeted with a profound bow by the proprietor. Hewas the new Tong leader, and this up-town shop was his cover. In actualfact, he was what might have been called a Chinese fence for stolengoods.

  In their interest in the wealth of strange and curious ornamentsdisplayed in the shop they did not notice that the Chinaman's wrist wasbound tightly under his flowing sleeve.

  Elaine explained what it was she wanted, and with Kennedy's aidselected a number of Chinese hangings and decorations. They were aboutto leave the shop when Elaine's eye was attracted by a little show casein which were many quaint and valuable Chinese ornaments in gold andsilver and covered ivory.

  "What an odd looking thing," she said, pointing out a knobbed ring whichreposed on the black velvet of the case.

  "Quite odd," agreed Kennedy.

  The subtle Chinaman stood by the pile of hangings on the counter whichElaine had bought, overjoyed at such a large sale. Praising the ring toElaine, he turned insinuatingly to Kennedy. There was nothing else forCraig to do--he bought the ring, and the Chinaman proved again hisability as a merchant.

  From the curio shop where Elaine had completed her purchases they droveto Kennedy's laboratory.

  I had been at work on a story for the Star when they entered.

  "You will be there, too, Mr. Jameson?" coaxed Elaine, as she told oftheir morning's work.

  I needed no urging.

  We were in the midst of planning the entertainment when a slight coughbehind me made me start and turn quickly.

  There stood Long Sin, the astute Chinaman who had delivered the bomb toKennedy and had betrayed Bennett. We had seen very little of him sincethen.

  Long Sin bowed low and shuffled over closer to Kennedy. I noticed thatElaine eyed Long Sin sharply. But as yet we had seen no reason tosuspect him, so cleverly had he covered his tracks. Kennedy, havingused him once to capture Bennett, was still not unwilling to use him inattempting to discover where Bennett's hidden millions lay.

  "I am in great trouble, Professor Kennedy," began Long Sin in a lowtone. "You don't know the Chinese of the city, but if you did you wouldknow what blackmailers there are among them. I have refused to payblackmail to the Chong Wah Tong, and since then it has been trouble,trouble, trouble."

  Kennedy looked up quickly at the name Chong Wah Tong, thinking of theinvestigation which the Coroner had asked him to make into the murder.He and Long Sin moved a few steps away, discussing the affair.

  Elaine and I were still talking over the entertainment.

  She happened to place her hand on the desk near Long Sin. My back wastoward him and I did not see him start suddenly and look at her hand.On it was the ring--the ring which, unknown to us, Long Sin had foundin the passageway under Aunt Tabby's garden, of which he had beenrobbed, and which now, by a strange chance, had come into Elaine'spossession.

  It was a peculiar situation for Long Sin, although as yet we did notknow it. He could not lay claim to the mystic ring, for then Kennedywould make him prove his ownership, and the whole affair of which westill knew nothing would be exposed.

  He acted quickly. Long Sin decided to recover the ring by stealth.

  Elaine was still talking enthusiastically about her party, when LongSin turned from Kennedy and moved toward us with a bow.

  "The lady speaks of an Oriental reception," he remarked. "Would shecare to engage a magician?"

  Elaine turned to him surprised. "Do you mean that you are a magician?"she asked, puzzled.

  Long Sin smiled quietly. He reached over and took a small bottle fromKennedy's laboratory table. Holding it in his hand almost directlybefore us, he made a few sleight-of-hand passes, and, presto! thebottle had disappeared. A few more passes, and a test tube appeared inits place. Before we knew it he had caused the test tube to disappearand the bottle to reappear. We all applauded enthusiastically.

  "I don't think that is such a bad idea after all," nodded Kennedy toElaine.

  "Perhaps not," she agreed, a little doubtfully. "I hadn't intended tohave such a thing, but--why, of course, that would interest everybody."

  . . . . . . .

  It was the night of the reception. The Dodge library was transformed.The Oriental hangings which Elaine and Kennedy had purchased seemed tobreathe mysticism. At the far end of the room a platform had beenarranged to form a stage on which Long Sin was to perform hissleight-of-hand. The drawing-room also was decorated like the library.

  At the other end of the room Elaine and Aunt Josephine, in picturesqueOriental costume, were greeting the guests. Every one seemed to bedelighted with the novelty of the affair.

  We came in just a bit ahead of Long Sin, and Elaine greeted us.

  Almost everybody had arrived when Elaine turned to the guests andintroduced Long Sin with a little speech. Long Sin bowed and every oneapplauded. He made his way to the platform in the library and mountedit.

  I shall not attempt to describe the amazing series of tricks which heperformed. His hands and fingers seemed to move like lightning. Amongother things, I remember he took up a cover from a table near-by. Heheld it up before us. Instantly it seemed that a flock of pigeons flewout of it around the room. How he did it I don't know. They were realpigeons, however, and the trick brought down the house.

  Long Sin bowed.

  Another of his feats which I recall was nothing less than kindling afire on a small bit of tin and, as the flames mounted, he deliberatelystepped into them, apparently as unharmed as a salamander.

  So it went from one thing to another. The entertainment was brilliantin itself, but Long Sin seemed to put the finishing touch to it. Infact, I suppose that it was a couple of hours that he continued toamuse us.

  He had finished and every one crowded about him to congratulate him onhis skill. His only answer, however, was his inscrutable smile.

  "This is wonderful, wonderful," I repeated as I happened to meet Elainealone. We walked into the conservatory while the guests were crowdingaround Long Sin. She seated herself for the first time during theevening.

  "May I get you an ice?" I suggested.

  She thanked me, and I hurried off.
As I passed through the drawing-roomI did not notice that Long Sin had managed to escape furthercongratulations of the guests. Just then a waiter passed through withices on a tray. I called to him and he stopped.

  A moment later Long Sin himself took an ice from the tray and retreatedback of the portieres. No one was about, and he hastily drew a bottlefrom his pocket. On the bottle was a Chinese label. He palmed thebottle, and any one who had chanced to see him would have noticed thathe passed it two or three times over the ice, then, lifting theportieres, entered the drawing-room again.

  He had made the circuit of the rooms in such a way as to bring himselfout directly in my path. With a smile he stopped before me, rubbingboth hands together.

  "It is for Miss Elaine?" he asked.

  I nodded.

  By this time several of the guests who were fascinated with Long Singathered about us. Long Sin fluttered open a Chinese fan which he hadused in his tricks, passed it over my hand, and in someincomprehensible way I felt the plate with the ice literally disappearfrom my grasp. My face must have shown my surprise. A burst of laughterfrom the other guests greeted me. I looked at Long Sin, half angry, yetunable to say anything, for the joke was plainly on me. He smiled, madeanother pass with the fan, and instantly the plate with the ice wasback in my hand.

  There was nothing for me but to take the joke in the spirit in whichthe other guests had taken it. I laughed with them and managed to getaway.

  Meanwhile Kennedy had been moving from one to another of the guestsseeking Elaine. He had already taken an ice from the waiter and wasgoing in the direction of the conservatory. There he found her.

  "Won't you take this ice?" he asked, handing it to her.

  "It is very kind of you," she said, "but I have already sent Walter forone."

  Kennedy insisted and she took it.

  She had already started to eat it when I appeared in the doorway. I wasrather vexed at Long Sin for having delayed me, and I mumbled somethingabout it.

  Kennedy laughed, rather pleased at having beaten me.

  "Never mind, Walter," he said with a smile, "I'll take it. And er--Idon't think that Elaine will object if you play the host for a littlewhile with Aunt Josephine," he hinted.

  I saw that three was a crowd and I turned to retrace my steps to thedrawing-room.

  Kennedy, however, was not alone. Back of the palms in the conservatorytwo beady black eyes were eagerly watching. Long Sin had noted everymovement as his cleverly laid plan miscarried.

  Chatting with animation, Kennedy tasted the ice. He had taken only acouple of spoonfuls when a look of wonder and horror seemed to spreadover his face.

  He rose quickly. A cold sweat seemed to break out all over him. Hisnerves almost refused to respond. His tongue seemed to be paralyzed andthe muscles of his throat seemed to be like steel bands.

  He took only a few steps, began to stagger, and finally sank down onthe floor.

  Elaine screamed.

  We rushed in from the library and drawing-room. There lay Kennedy onthe floor, his face most terribly contorted. We gathered around him andhe tried to raise himself and speak, but seemed unable to utter a sound.

  He had fallen near the fountain and one hand drooped over into thewater. As he fell back he seemed to have only just enough strength towithdraw his hand from the fountain. On the stone coping, slowly andlaboriously, he moved his finger.

  "What's the matter, old man?" I asked, bending over him.

  There was no answer, but he managed to turn his head, and I followedthe direction of his eyes.

  With trembling finger he was tracing out, one by one, some letters. Ilooked and it flashed over me what he meant. He had written with thewater:

  "Digitalin--lab--"

  I jumped up and almost without a word dashed out of the conservatory,down the hall and into the first car waiting outside.

  "To the laboratory," I directed, giving the driver the directions, "anddrive like the deuce!"

  Fortunately there was no one to stop us, and I know we broke all thespeed laws of New York. I dashed into the laboratory, almost broke openthe cabinet, and seized the bottle of digitalin and a hypodermicsyringe, then rushed madly out again and into the car.

  Meanwhile some of the guests had lifted up Kennedy, too excited tonotice Long Sin in his hiding-place. They had laid Craig down on acouch and were endeavoring to revive him. Some one had already sent fora doctor, but the aconite was working quickly on its victim, and he wasslowly stiffening out. Elaine was frantic.

  I scarcely waited for the car to stop in front of the house. I openedthe door and rushed in.

  Without a word I thrust the antidote and the syringe into the hands ofthe doctor and he went to work immediately. We watched with anxiety.Finally Kennedy's eyes opened and gradually his breathing seemed tobecome more normal.

  The antidote had been given in time.

  . . . . . . .

  Kennedy was considerably broken up by the narrow escape which he hadhad, and, naturally, even the next morning, did not feel like himself.

  In the excitement of leaving Elaine's we had forgotten the bottle ofdigitalin. As for myself, I had been so overjoyed at seeing my oldfriend restored that I would have forgotten anything.

  Kennedy looked rather wan and peaked, but insisted on going to thelaboratory as usual.

  "Do you remember what became of the bottle of digitalin?" he asked,fumbling in the closet.

  Mechanically I felt in my own pockets; it was not there. I shook myhead.

  "I don't seem to remember what became of it--perhaps we left it there.In fact, we must have left it there."

  "I don't like to have such things lying around loose," remarkedKennedy, taking up his hat and coat with forced energy. "I think we hadbetter get it."

  Elaine had spent rather a sleepless night after the attempt to poisonher which had miscarried and resulted in poisoning Kennedy.

  To keep her mind off the thing, she had already started to take downthe decorations. Jennings and Marie, as well as a couple of workmen,were restoring the library to its normal condition under the directionof Aunt Josephine.

  The telephone rang and Elaine answered it. Her face showed thatsomething startling had happened.

  "It was Jameson," she cried, almost dropping the receiver, overcome.

  They all hurried to her. "He says that Mr. Kennedy and he were visitingthat Chinaman this morning and Mr. Kennedy suffered a relapse--is dyingthere, in the Chinaman's apartment. He wants us to come quickly andbring that medicine that they used last night. He says it is on thetabaret in the library. Marie, will you look for it? And, Jennings, getthe car right away."

  Jennings hurried from the room, and a moment later Marie had found thebottle behind some ornaments on the tabaret and came back with it.

  Scarcely knowing what to do, Elaine, followed by Aunt Josephine, hadrushed from the house, hatless and coatless, just as the car swungaround from the garage in the rear. Jennings went out with the wraps.They seized them and leaped into the car, which started off swiftly.

  It was only a matter of minutes when they pulled up before theapartment house where Wu had taken the suite from which Long Sin hadtelephoned the message in my name. Together Elaine and Aunt Josephinehurried in.

  . . . . . . .

  Kennedy went directly from the laboratory to the Dodge house.

  I don't think I ever saw such an expression of surprise on anybody'sface as that on Jennings's when he opened the door and saw us. He wasaghast. Back of him we could see Marie. She looked as if she had seen aghost.

  "Is Miss Elaine in?" asked Kennedy.

  Jennings was even too dumfounded to speak.

  "Why, what's the matter?" demanded Kennedy.

  "Then--er--you are not ill again?" he managed to blurt out.

  "Ill again?" repeated Kennedy.

  "Why," explained Jennings, "didn't Mr. Jameson just now telephone thatyou had had a relapse in the apa
rtment of that Chinaman, and for MissElaine to hurry over there right away with that bottle of medicine?"Kennedy waited to hear no more. Seizing me by the arm, he turned anddashed down the steps and back again into the taxicab in which we hadcome.

  . . . . . . .

  In Wu's apartment Long Sin was giving his secretary and anotherChinaman the most explicit instructions. As he finished each nodded andshowed him a Chinese dirk concealed under his blouse.

  Just then a knock sounded at the door. The secretary opened it, andAunt Josephine and Elaine almost ran in. Before they knew it, thesecretary had locked the door.

  Long Sin rose and bowed with a smile.

  "Where is Mr. Kennedy?" demanded Elaine. Long Sin bowed again,spreading out his hands, palm outward.

  "Mr. Kennedy? He is not here."

  Then, straightening up, he faced the two women squarely.

  "You have a ring that means much to me," he said quickly. "The only wayto get it from you was to bring you here."

  He was pointing now at the ring on Elaine's finger. She looked at it amoment in surprise, then at the menacing Chinaman, and turned quickly.She ran to the door. It was locked.

  Long Sin, motionless, smiled. "There is no way to get out," he murmured.

  Aunt Josephine was standing now with her back to the door leading intoanother room. She happened to look up and saw the secretary, who wasnear her and half turned away. From where she was standing she couldsee the murderous dirk up his sleeve.

  She acted instantly. Without a word she summoned all her strength andstruck him. The secretary stumbled.

  "Elaine," she cried, "look out! they have knives."

  Before Elaine knew it Aunt Josephine had taken her by the arm, hadpulled her into the back room, and, although Long Sin and the othershad rushed forward, managed to slam the door and lock it.

  The Chinamen set to work immediately to pry it open.

  While they were at work on the doer, which was already swaying, AuntJosephine and Elaine were running about, trying to find an outlet fromthe room.

  There seemed to be no way out. Even the windows were locked.

  "I don't know why they want the ring," whispered Aunt Josephine, "butthey won't get it. Give it to me, Elaine."

  She almost seized the ring, hiding it in her waist. As she did so thedoor burst open and Wu, Long Sin and the other Chinamen rushed in.

  A second later they seized Elaine and Aunt Josephine.

  . . . . . . .

  Kennedy and I dashed up before the apartment house in which we knewthat Long Sin lived, leaped out of the car and hurried in.

  It was on the second floor, and we did not wait for the elevator buttook the steps two at a time. Kennedy found the door locked. Instantlyhe whipped out his revolver and shot the lock in pieces. We threwourselves against the door, the broken lock gave way and we rushed inthrough the front room.

  No one was there, but in a back room we could hear sounds. It wasElaine and Aunt Josephine struggling with the Chinamen. Long Sin andthe others had seized Elaine and Aunt Josephine was trying to help herjust as we rushed in. With a blow Kennedy knocked out the secretary,while I struggled with the other Chinamen who blocked the way.

  Then Kennedy went directly at Long Sin. They struggled furiously.

  Long Sin, with his wonderful knowledge of jiu-jitsu, might not havebeen a match for six other Chinamen, but he was for one white man. Witha mighty effort he threw Kennedy, rushed for the door and, as he passedthrough the outside room, seized a Tong axe from the wall.

  Afraid of the wonderful jiu-jitsu, I had picked up the first thinghandy, which was a tabaret. I literally broke it over the head of myChinaman, then turned and dashed out after Long Sin just as Kennedypicked himself up and followed.

  I caught up with the Chinaman and we had a little struggle, but hemanaged to break away and raised his axe threateningly. A shout fromKennedy caused him to turn and run down the flight of stairs, Kennedyclosely behind him.

  In the main hall of the apartment house were two elevator shafts facingthe street entrance, some twenty-five or thirty feet away. Through thestreet door the janitor and two or three other men were running in.They had heard the noise of the fighting above.

  Escape to the street was cut off. We were behind him on the flight ofstairs.

  Long Sin did not hesitate a moment. He ran to the elevator, the door ofwhich was open, seized the elevator boy and sent him sprawling on themarble floor. Then he slammed the door and the elevator shot up.

  Kennedy was only a few feet behind, and he took in the situation at aglance. He leaped into the other elevator, and before the surprised boycould interfere shot it up only a few feet behind Long Sin.

  Up the two elevators rose, Kennedy firing as best he could at Long Sin,while the shots reverberated through the elevator shaft like cannon.

  It was a wild race to the roof. Long Sin had the start, and as theelevator reached the top floor he flung it open, dashed out and througha door up to the roof itself.

  A second later Kennedy's elevator stopped. Craig leaped out and firedhis last shot at the legs of Long Sin as he disappeared at the top ofthe flight of stairs to the roof. He flung the revolver from him andfollowed.

  Without a moment's hesitation Kennedy threw himself at Long Sin. Theystruggled with each other. Finally Long Sin managed to wrench one armlose and raise the Tong axe over Kennedy's head.

  Kennedy dodged back. As he did so he tripped on the very edge of theroof and went sliding down the slates of the mansard.

  Fortunately he was able to catch himself in the gutter.

  It was the opportunity that Long Sin wanted. He started across therope, which he had stretched from this apartment house to the buildingacross the court, with all the deftness of the most expert Chineseacrobat.

  By this time I had reached the roof, followed by the janitor and theelevator boys.

  Kennedy was now crawling up the mansard, helping himself as best hecould by some of the ornamental ironwork. I hurried over with thejanitor, and together we pulled him out of danger.

  Long Sin had reached the roof on the opposite side as we ran across inthe direction of the taut rope.

  A moment later he returned and bowed at us mockingly, then disappearedbehind a skylight.

  Kennedy did not stop an instant.

  "You fellows go down to the street and see if you can head him off thatway," he cried. "Stay here, Walter."

  Before I knew it he had seized the rope and was going across to theother building, hand over hand. It was a perilous undertaking, but hisblood was up.

  Kennedy had almost reached the other roof when suddenly from behind theskylight stepped Long Sin. With a wicked leer, he advanced to the edgeof the roof, his axe upraised. I looked across the yawning chasm,horrified.

  Slowly Long Sin raised the axe above his head, gathering all thestrength which he had, waiting for Kennedy to approach closer. Kennedystopped. Swiftly the axe descended, slashing the rope at one blow.

  Like the weight of a pendulum Kennedy swung back against our ownbuilding, managing to keep his hold on the rope with superhumanstrength.

  I bent far over the edge of the roof, fully expecting to see him dashedto pieces at the bottom of the court.

  There was a tremendous shattering of glass.

  The rope had been just long enough to make him strike a window and hehad gone crashing through the glass three floors below.

  I dashed down the stairs and into the apartment. Kennedy was lying onthe floor badly cut. I raised him up. He was dazed and considerablyovercome; but as he staggered to his feet with my help I saw that nobones were broken.

  "Help me, quick, Walter," he urged, moving toward the elevators.

  Meanwhile Long Sin had quickly dived down into the next building. A fewmoments later he had come out on the ground floor at the rear.

  Gazing about to see whether he was followed, he disappeared.

  .
. . . . . .

  Back in the apartment, Elaine and Aunt Josephine were just about to runout when the two Chinamen who had been knocked out recovered. One ofthem threw himself on Elaine. Aunt Josephine tried to ward him off, butthe other one struck her and threw her down.

  Before she could recover they had seized Elaine.

  With a hasty guttural exclamation they picked her up and ran out.Instead of going down-stairs they crossed the hallway, slamming thedoor behind them.

  As Kennedy and I reached the ground floor we saw the janitor and one ofthe elevator boys on either side of Aunt Josephine.

  "Elaine! Elaine!" she cried.

  "What's the matter?" demanded Kennedy, leaning heavily on me.

  "They have kidnapped her," cried Aunt Josephine.

  Kennedy pulled himself together.

  "Tell me, quick--how did it happen?" he demanded of Aunt Josephine.

  "It was the ring," she cried, handing it to him.

  Kennedy took the ring and looked at it for a moment. Then he turned tous blankly.

  All the rooms were empty.

  Elaine had been spirited away.