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Show l i-- " "it; OR A I In the Twenty Million Dollar Mystery p(' By HAROLD MACGRATH igPi.. Copyright. 1914 and 1019, by Harold MacGrath j,. SYNOPSIS. Jm Zudora t left en orphan at an early t, J age. Her father la killed In a sold mine. Zudora and the fortune from tha mine, which grow to bo worth $20,000,000, are left In the guardianship of Frank Keene, Zudora'a mother's brother, who has set himself up as a Hindu mystic and Is known as Hasaam All. Ho decides that Zudora must die before- she can have a chance to come Into possession of her money, so that It may bo left to htm, the next of kin. Hassam All sees on obstacle lo his scheme In tho person of John Btorm, a young lawyer, for whom Zudora Zu-dora has taken a fancy, and ho commands com-mands tho Rlrl to put the man out of her mind. Zudora Insists that If she cannot marry Storm she will marry no ono. "Well, well," says Hassam All, "solve my next twenty cases and you can marry him: fall In a slngto case and you must rcnounco him." Zudora unravels a mystery and wins her Jrst case a case In which John Storm Is laved from being convicted of a murder Instigated by Hassam All himself. Zudora and Hassam All visit Nabok Bhan'a house, where sleep overcomes every ev-ery ono whenever Nabok attempts to marry mar-ry a princess. Storm, seeking Zudora, Is made a prisoner. Zudora tolls Nabok Shan, restores the princess to her original lover and saves Storm from death. A maker of diamonds tells Hsssam All his secret. Storm Informs Zudora that his life Is bolng attempted frequently. Storm suspects Hassam AIL Storm Is arrested for stealing the diamond maker's gems, but Zudora discovers the real thieves a pair of mice. Tho negro help employed on Storm's father's farm are fleeing because a great skeleton hand appears at night upon a hill near by. Storm Is baffled In his Investigation, In-vestigation, but Zudora loarns that her undo has employed Jimmy Dolton, a half wltted man, thus to annoy Storm's parents. par-ents. Zudora finds Ilolton operating a big magla lantern and Is attacked by him. Storm-appears and saves her. Hassam All asks Zudora to find a gem lost by two mysterious old men. Zudora gets a photograph of tho gem and It burns In her hand. An old house Is mined by Hassam All and tho old men. Storm and Zudora aro lured thero and narrowly escape es-cape destruction when the house blows up. John MoWlnter, endeavoring to trap and kill George Smith, 1 killed himself, and Smith Is charged with murder. Hassam AH conspires to have John Storm meet the same fate as MoWlnter, and he and Storm aro overcome by powerful fumes. Zudora saves them, proves that Mu Winter's Win-ter's own dog trapped and killed him and saves Smith from a bsnd of lynchers. An Inventor blows up a submarine with a powerful beat ray which ho send through water. Hassam All sends Zudora to a photographer directly beneath the Inventor's In-ventor's laboratory and order the Inventor In-ventor to kill her. Zudora gets a warning, and her life Is saved. The heat ray machine ma-chine Is destroyed, and the photographer, . after a quarrel with Hassam AIL Is found Jjk dead In the river. Wu Chang prevent Zudora' elopement 1 J with John Storm by hypnotizing her, and he and Hassam All attempt to smuggle her out of tho country. This plot Is frustrated frus-trated by Storm. Balrd, Hassam All's double, falls In love with Zudora. Balrd and lime. Du Val kidnap Zudora and tho Van Wick child. Btorm rescues them, and Hassam All dies. With Hassam All dead Zudora Is released releas-ed of her pledge to solve twenty cases. Bhe confronts, however, tho greatest mystery mys-tery of all, which Is tho mystery of her own llfo, and tho ambition to securo the vast fortune of 120,000,000 left to her. This great photo serial Is being shown In tho leading moving picture theaters by the Thanhouser Film Corporation. Among those participating are Marguerite Snow, Mary Elizabeth Forbes, James Cruze, In the new role of reporter-hero, Sidney iUracey and Frank Farrtngton. On looking through her uncle' papers Zudora finds that her father left ber an Interest In a diamond mine, and Btorm and Ilalrd both lend assistance In trying to regain for her possession of this estate es-tate which Is being appropriated by rogues under the leadership of Mmo. Du Val. Thoy plan to frighten Zudora so that she will run away. Falling, they kidnap Zudora and Howard, the mine superintendent, and put them In a private Insane asylum. Howard dies, but Zudora, Zu-dora, nearly famished, Is rescued by Storm and his friends. Detective Hunt and Halrd find the Zudora gold mine. . Mrs. Copcland's jewels aro stolen, but I recovered through tho cleverness of Hum S and Ilalrd. Thoy Investigate the mys- I tcrlcs of Mmo. Du Vol's house. A map I of n mlno Is stolon from Zudora, who later I Is kidnaped and held prisoner. Storm I rescues her, but tho thieves escape with 8 the diamonds. Tho diamond smugglers I attempt to burn Iialrd allvo. i CHAPTER XX. TT took two weeks for Balrd's burns I I to Iienl. And Hunt Eat down, ns I J It were, nud patiently wnlted for i his friend's recovery. Ho could f linvo gono fonvnrd nlonc, but Ilalrd ', liad stuck to lilm so loyally and devot. i cdly Unit lie hadn't thu heart to dlsnp- V. point htm. f. "I want to bo In at tUo death, Hunt." U "All rljflit, my boy. It may bo n bit I risky walling, but I'm going to tnko I tlio chance." V "It's mighty good of you. Can wo bring tlio count of murder against them In regard to tlio superintendent's I death?" ! "That's n hard nut to crack," nu- iwercd Hunt. "All 1 can seo clearly id to Jug tlicm on tlio grounds of smugglingthat smug-glingthat Is, If I don't llnd something . fcv uore vital In that desk of Mine. Dn L l Vnl' Slllcu vo"'vo been laid up I've ft found nn odd bit of news." "What's that?" "This man IladclllTo know Zudora's father." "No I" "Suro thing. How well nnd under what conditions 1 wasn't able to learn. VHIIers' extra documents brought this lilt to light. Mine. Du Val, llruco nnd Itntfclllfo nvo crooks of n high order, or-der, but I confess Hint thero aro somo confoundedly big holes In my net. I'm worried to death for fear they'll slip through. If I can get 'mi on tho grounds of grand larceny and fraud err.-. - - x I f nnd perjury, why, 1 enn send them up for n comfortablo number of years." "Well, let's pray for that much. It seems to mo that Hassam All's Hindu servant did not sell everything; they had something to start with nnd only wanted to fortify themselves. Well, here's hoping I'm up nnd out by the end of tho week. It's going to bo a grand smashup for somebody." Three days nftcr Halrd was freed of lite bandages Storm paid n visit to Zu- jw Vtf$'v w .kwMwMwMMwMu mtWMWLX my'i5 lm l I"MV irv. 'fij-m lK-ia!' Ir .I'losi wmwmwmwm Wftl 4 'in l flK'll 1 ;v:& a mwMwMwMwkmUuWru ' 'l J! wv wkwMJMjm - r h, jmmwmwmm$4 t m Y MWMmWMmWMmWMmW 1 .X " ?& I mwmwmwmwmwmwmmw V-5 ttr& kkmmmmmmmmm i - vr Oi mmWMWMWMWMWMWMm J fr ? , "That you will marry mo Inside of three months?' dorn. Sbe was sitting In the window seat thrumming n guitar. Ho tossed tho box of flowers Into her lap. Slio opened it with delight. "Aro you still of the same mind?" bo asked. "Sanio mind for what?" sho countered, counter-ed, knowing full well to what be referred. re-ferred. "That you will marry mo Inside of threo mouths?" "I never break my word, John. Tor-haps Tor-haps If I hadn't been so stubborn nud foolish nnd had married you at tho start nil these dreadful things might never havo happened to inc." "Well, you're nt the end of n long lane. Hunt telephoned today that ho ' J" tt '. TlV . tjjtt '.Jfc SSSt . 3 ilBsS8HliS i 4 m Bslrd Notifying Hunt That the Villa I Empty. and Balrd wero now ready for tho warpath. war-path. And what do you suppose Hunt told mo?" "What?" "That this man Captain Itadcllffe, Mine. Du Vnl's admirer, once know your father." "Imposslblo!" "It's n fact, And this may In tho end explnJn nwny many confusing things. Now glvo mo that kiss I'ro been waiting for ever slnco I ranio Into tho room." Sho How Into his arms, very grateful to havo n pair so strong to shield her. As sho drew back from trim tho llttlo locket containing her father's nnd mother's pictures caught on a button. 9h gave an exclamation of dismay and tried to catch tho broken chain, but tho was too lato to prevent tho locket from falling to tho floor. "It's broken!" sbe cried. "Oh, that's bad luck!" "Nonsense," bo replied. "A Jeweler will bo abto to patch It up without any troublo whatever." "Bad luck!" sho reiterated. "It was my mascot, and now tho charm U broken." "Put on your things, nnd wo'll go right down to tho Jowoler's nnd pro-vent pro-vent the hoodoo from getting tn any ictlvo work." Storm laughed. Ho had very few superstitions. Half an hour later they were at the Jeweler's. "Oh. yes; that can bo fixed easily enough," he declared. "The pictures will havo to be taken out,,, though, whllo the locket Is being repaired." Ho picked up a smnll tool and pried, the photographs from the cases and handed them to Zudora. Idly she turned them over. "Why. what's this?" she cried. Indl-rating Indl-rating n slip of paper which adhered to tho back of her mother's picture. Sho spread It out on the case nud read aloud, "Your father's will has been left In charge of our trusted friend, Captain Hndcllffe." "Good Lord!" exclaimed Storm. "Girl, there's the key to tho whole business; tnko my word for It. 1 pro-poso pro-poso you run down to Hunt's olllca nt once. He'll v. nut this." Meantime Hunt had u visitor. It was Marcus Vllllers of Montana, In chargo of tho Zudora gold mines. He was Informing tho detective that ho had concluded to follow his document lu enso they needed his testimony, when Storm nud .udora burst Into tho olllco with their astonishing news. "I knew It!" said Hunt Jubilantly. "They seemed too confounded nssurcd to suit mo. And this llttlo scrap of pn-per pn-per will solve tho ilddle. Ilalrd U out at tho villa, ready to send word to me tbo moment those people leave the villa empty. And, by George, thero goes the phono nowl" Ho took down tho receiver. "That you, Balrd? 1'lno! They'vo left tho villa? I'll bo thero Insldo of ten minutes. And you heard tho directions? Ah, tho diamond cutter's! cut-ter's! Great work, boyt I'll ninko you ... tfZ-T'i 7Skt ilMP wi &QMV firFjBRtm tM 'lBTM A4VF4n WT l9B rfr!iB' "I wCI "Gonel" my partner for this!" Hunt turned eagerly to his visitors. "I'm off. 1 can't let this chauco Blip by. You pco-plo pco-plo sit quiet until you hear from me. I'vo a hunch that wo'ro going to do somo roundup work this afternoon. Storm, you keep Zudora under your eyo up to midnight. You never can tell. Tho rats may turn and blto when they learn that the gamo Is up. Promise?" "I promise," laughed Storm. Hunt found Balrd hiding lu tho pergola. per-gola. "Everything nil right?" "Yes. But you'll havo to hurry. No knowing when they'll return. I Judge they took somo diamonds to tho lapidary's. lapi-dary's. Looks as If they smcllcd n rat nnd were cleaning up. That window up thero Is open. Como nlong nnd I'll glvo you a boost. I'll stand under to glvo you warning lu enso they return before you completo the Job." Hunt began tho ascent Immediately. Tho window was unlocked. Gently the detective raised It nud slid Into tho room. Ho wasted no tlmu there, but mndo directly for tho stairs, alert nnd watchful. The servants wero still In tho villa, nnd lie was not desirous of running afoul of them. He icached tho stairs safely and went down as soundlessly us n cat. lie paused abruptly ab-ruptly nt thu llrst landing. Some one wns lu tho (ireclnn salon. It was the butler. Ho was clearing tho llttlo tn-blo tn-blo of glnsses. When ho had them all on tho tray ho stalked out of tho room. "Mnjbo tomorrow he will not hold his head so high," mused Hunt, continuing con-tinuing his way down. Ho tiptoed Into tho salon. Tho llrst object of his attentions wns tho gem vault. He succeeded In open lug tho panel In tho column, but tho vault was seemingly Impregnable. He desisted nud gave his nttcutlon to the table. lie cast nsldo tho cover and books nnd hither nud thither bo ran his nimble. Angers, hunting for tho secret combination. Ho wns about to giro up In despair when the top of tho table slowly turned. "Ah, my friends, I believe I'vo got you nil in tho hollow of my hands this trip. My, what it Hlnclc of papers! They'll mnko Interesting reading, I'll wnger." Ho went over them rnpldly nnd Anally Anal-ly caino uon n document rather yellow with age. Ho opened It- Ho bad all 1 lio could do to repress n shout of trl-nmph. trl-nmph. It was the will so long sought Zudora had wou her Oght, Ho moved the cover back Into plnce, but In his hurry did not replace tho things ho had taken off It, n mlstnko that may havo cost him n good deal In tho end. Somo victories aro only half victories, and fato was going to bring this homo to him. lie tiptoed Into tho ball, Dew up tho stairs, sped through Mme. Du Val's J 'i!. "My dear woman, you'll never be able to lose me." boudoir and went out of tho window Just as Ilalrd sounded the alarm. 'Thoy are coming back! That's madnmo's limousine down tho road. Hustle! What luck?" "Got eerj thing!" "Then let's duck while tho ducking's good," suggested Balrd. They began dodging among tho trees lu hopes that tho occupants of tbo llmousluo would not see them. But lu this they falle(L ltadclllTe leaned out of tho llmousluo window. "Huntl" ho whispered; "Hunt und that man Balrdl What tho devil have they been up to?" ' "We can soon And out," said Mme. I Du Vol uneasily. "They can't havo got Into tho houso with tbo servants on tho watch." "You never can tell about this man nunt," replied Itadcllffo grimly. "Hero wo aro. Cornel Hurry!" They got out of tho car and ran up tho steps. Upon entering they both Intuitively went Into tbo salon. Bad cllffo flrst went to tho gem vault But nothing thero had been touched. Then madame opened tho top of tho table. "Gonol" "What's gono?" demanded Ilndcllffc. "Everything!" sho cried passionately. passionate-ly. "They have cleaned out tho drawer completely. IlndclllTe, wo nro lostl" Ho rang violently for tho servants. But they sworo earnestly that they knew absolutely nothing. And ns these servants wero crooks of a minor order Itndclllfo was forced to bellcvo them. But ho gavo them n berating over their carelessness, a berating not to bo for- "Well," said BndclllTe, striving to cnlm madame, who had inexplicably burst into tears, "we've got u tidy sum salted away. I'vo warned you n hundred hun-dred times, but you would play tho gamo to a llnlsli. But I don't understand under-stand your tenrs. You knew tho risks wo wero taking. And now flight! Thank tho Lord, tho yacht's In commission! com-mission! That'll tako U3 anywhero wo enro to go." Suddenly tho womnn rosu to her feet and dashed tho tears from her eyes. "Itadcllffe, If I weep It Is with tears of rage. That llttlo chit, to beat us when wo hnd everything. I nm going to finish up this nffalr my wny." "And what's that?" "I will glvo n reception tomorrow night." "You nro mad! A reception! They'll hold that In tho Tombs!" "Listen to me. They'll como out of curiosity, nnd whllo they nro dancing At 6 o'clock the Old Lapidary Was Arretted. Ar-retted. or waiting for the arrival of tho pollco we'll slip into tho tunnel nud make our fitiU'Auy ntn'ir )h't very noses. I Insist In-sist upon it. I know Thoy will think they nro playing with us, while on the contrary It Ii wo who will play with them." "I'm against It but I can seo that your mind Is mado up. Don't 'turn to ma with reproaches If tbo gamo blows up tbo other way. What's tho use of playing game when we're up against a proposition like this?" "It Is my Willi" "All right I'll wlro tho wirrden nt Sing Sing to order n feather bed for me, Bellcvo me, If wo don't hike tonight to-night wo s tin n't llnd the opportunity tcraorrow night." "If yon wish to run nway do so at once," sf replied coldly, "My dear woman, you'll never be ablo to loso me. Lot's say nothing moro about it" At 0 o'clock tbo old lapidary was arrested ar-rested ns tho flrst move In tho game. A small fortuno of uncut diamonds was taken In nt tbo sntno ttmo. In the futuro diamond smugglers would hnvo to look elsewhere. Hunt Informed Storm nnd Zudora what ho had succeeded tn doing nnd sVI7u'Li UH:.V -rrl 1 4jlkfl BKVjNvV1 HI sBf'-Hki I aK K IBBBfaiMiiMMbirk'1 The Escsp. declared that on the morrow ho would arrest Cnptnln Ilndcllffc, Bruce, Mme. Du Val and their confederates. But tmnglno Zudora's nmnzctucnt the next morning when sho received it po-llto po-llto InvitnJfeu from Mmo. Du Vnl to nttend mBuko dance! And when Storm ttTO$ioucd that ho had nlso received re-ceived ono they concluded to notify Hunt. Ho went up In tho nlr for u few minutes. "What shall wo do?" asked Zudora. "Walt a minute," said Hunt; then ho spoke. "Go. They nro contemplating to set n trap for you, nnd we'll get wHH HBF n sfli H ' PwiiyiV 1 fit I The Garage Had Been Boarded Up. them red handed on that count. I'll havo tho place surrounded by tho po llco. They'vo got none, and I'm curious curi-ous to seo how far II will stretch Tell Storm to arm himself. Balrd nud I will bo within calling distance. With tho pollco nt hand I don't think there'll bo any great risk, (live 'em rope: they'll hang themselves." Hunt hung up tho telephone. "A Anal adventure!" cried Zudora. "If It was any ono but Hunt I'd bow off, but tho old boy knows what Iio'h doing." It wns rather n remarkable gathering which appeared nt Mine. Du Vnl's valedictory dance. Half of thorn knew that something serious was afoot, aud tho other half felt that something was ,,. ir.viv h In tbo-air, but could not4cil-wbnt I 'H Hunt's fault Iny in his ovcrconfldence, i H and In his ovcrconfldenco bo forgot all I j H about tho underground pnssago until' 1 1 his quarries wero suddenly found miss- ', .H lng. Ho was furious. They had play- 'j 'M cd with lilm lu a manner bo hnd been j far from oxpcctlng. Ho bad a sensa- j JM Uon not unllko that of a nonsmokcr j H having tobacco smoke puffed In his M face. IIo called to Balrd. n M "They'vo gono Into tbo underground ijj M passage. Wo haro ono cbanco In a j H hundred tn blocking them at tbo old M garage. Look nllvot" i' M Tho two ran excitedly from tho , M houso. i U They found tbo garago boarded up. I M Thoy began battering at a window and I succeedcl in breaking tho barricado l!fl Just as tho fugitives left tho gnrago at j M tlio other end. Thoy Jumped into tho ,' j empty van awaiting them Just as Balrd ' M and Hunt crawled Into tho garage. : They saw by tho open trap that tho ! j blrtls had tlown. Out of tho window ' again they went, in time to seo tho - van lumbering off. . r "They're in that!" yelled Hunt In a , H strangled tone. Never lu all Ids career t 'iad ho been cjti Ito so brazenly mndo a ; H fool of. . But tho van gained speed nnd rap- K H Idly drew nwny from tlio pursuers. 'i H Hunt had saved Zudora's millions for ! her, but lie had lost forever his trio of , H precious crooks. Ho received this In- jfl formation threo weeks later. Mmo. ! .-sH Du Vnl's yncht had run afoul a float- M lng mlno lu tho nngllsh channel, nnd M everybody on bonnl had gono down. . U Storm nnd Zudora wero married In M tho Du Val villa, which really had H been purchased by money belonging to M her father's estate. Thus ended tbo M trials of Zudora. " M TIIK END. M |