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Show kih A Great Mystic Story by Harold McGrath Copyright '914. by Harold McGrath ,,, ..,-,-X....-;-i-. ."' " - ---'- ............-.....-...-l---n-n--i-n-n.i-i.n.i-ri.-in.-.-i. --. W SYNOPSIS. Zudora la left an orphun at an early age. Her father Is Killed In a Bold mine. Zudora and the fortune from the mine, which grows to be worth JM.00O.0OU. are Jeft In the guardianship of Frank Kcene. Zudora's mother' brother. Zudora. glv-Ing glv-Ing promise of sreiil beauty, reaches the age of olgh-.n&i. The uncio. who tins iel hlmstir up an a Hindu ,mstlc and i known as llnxsam All, decides that Zudora Zu-dora must dlo before she cun hnvc chance to come Into possession of her money, in thut It may lie left to him. the next nf kin. Hassani All sees an obstacle to his scheme In the person of John. 8torm, a young lawyer, for whom Zudora Zu-dora has taken a fancy, and he commands com-mands the girl to put the man out of hci rolnd. Zudora Insists that If she cannot marry Storm sho will marry no one. "Well, well," says Hassam All, "If you take such a stand I'll compromise. Solve I my next twenty cases and you can marry him; fall In a single case and you must renounce him." Zudora, using the knowledgo gained from years of association with her uncle, unravels a balding mystery and wins her first case-a case In which John Storm Is caved from being convicted of a murder Instigated by Hassam All himself. Zudora and Hassam All visit Nabok Shan's house, where sleep overcomes every ev-ery one whenever Nabok nttempts to marry mar-ry a princess. Storm, seeking Zudora, Is made a prisoner. Zudora foils Nabok Shan, restores the princess to her original lover and saves Hlorm from death. A maker of diamonds tells Hassam All his secret. Storm informs Zudora that his llfo Is belnif attempted frequently Storm suspects ilaseatn All. Storm Is arrested for stealing tho diamond maker's terns, but Zudora discovers tho real thieves a pair of mice. The negro help .employed on Storm's father's farm are fleeing because a great skeleton hand appears at night upon a hill near by. Btorm Is tallied In his Investigation, In-vestigation, but Zudora learns that her uncle has employed Jimmy Uolton, a half wilted man, thus to annoy Storm's parents. par-ents. Zudora finds Uolton operating a big mngic lantern and Is attacked by Bolton. Storm oppoitunely appears and saves her from Uolton. Hassam All asks Zudora to find a gem lost by two mysterious old men. Zudora seta a photograph of the gem and It burns In her-hand. An old house la mined by Hassam All and the old men. Btorm and Zudora are lured there and narrowly escape es-cape destruction when the house blows up. John McWlnter, endeavoring to trap and kill Ueorge Smith, Is killed himself, and Smith Is charged with murder. Hassam All conspires to have John Storm meet the Bumu fate us McWlnter, und he and Storm are overcome by powerful fumes. c Zudora saves them, proves Aliat McWIn- ter's own dog trapped and killed him and saves Smith from a band of lynchers. A CHAPTER VII. Tho Phantom of the Future. A GREAT crowd wax assembled befuru I lie "bulletin boards In j Times square. It was u re- murknbly serious looking crowd too. There wert) much dubious slinking ut bonds uud shrugging uf shoulders. It wits not u bnsebull crowd, not uu ug- grcgutlou uf .sports uwultliiy tliu ro- nulLs nt the fnrofr nice tracks. "What do you know about thut?" "Give me n bout that floats on top ot tbu water!" "Tnko It from me, Bomo one got fresh With tho torpedo tube. .We're not at war with any. one." "But wliut'a this ray business 7 I never heard of anything Ilka that before." be-fore." Sandwiched In between n bulletin announcing m Uerinan check In Poland and another telling of the French being be-ing repulsed at Dlxmude were a few line which stirred nil America for a fortnight. The news was three days old, because the government had uot seen fit to disclose tho catastrophe to the public until It bad located the cause. A submarine had been blown up In the bay. There bad been no elgn of either mine or torpedo, as one of the surviving officers took oath. They bad been skimming along with only half speed when suddeuly one of tho engineers complained ot. suffocation, suffoca-tion, complained that bo bad touched tho port sldo with bis hand and burned It badly. Tho commanding officer signaled sig-naled to tho englno room to ntop. Tho' order bad hardly reached tho englno room when the explosion occurred. All but live of tbo crew wcro killed. It wns it mighty serious business to tho United States government. It might have been purely nrcldcntnl; It might hare been done with sinister purpose. Tho navy department was. In tho par. lance of tho day, up In tho nlr. Subsequent investigation showed that thd port side, near tbo torpedo tube unfortunately loaded for target practice prac-tice had been melted, absolutely melt-ted, melt-ted, after tb manner of melted metal exposed to some terrific heat And all this with ths plates protected by the .water an ngency thnt had been ca-pablo ca-pablo of sending a beat ray through water! This news not only aroused Xjtk tbo Dnlted Btntes, but set warring Eu. VJ rope by the ears. Secret agents from Germany and Ilussla camo to New York, with millions to their credit, Rut neither they nor tho homo secrel servlco could tlnd out anything. You cannot track tho going or coming ol tlio wind. You cannot follow an oceat ripple. In an Interview tho secretary of wai declared that tho government had no been nppronchvd by any Inventor of i heat ray. All U could do was t wait and seo If the maglilau hai struck accidentally mid experimental!; or with deadly Intent For threo days the newspapers rai il scare heads, but nothing further developed. de-veloped. The foreign agents wasted their gold nud the home agents their time. Then came the blowing up nf one of the .1. It. Starr colliers or. rntlier. the sinking. The plates showed the same terrible agency which hud destroyed the submarine. Hut this time there seemed to be n slight clew. Thu Starr BBBBBSHBB Bru:iNM.' l MAZasTl j!rifW4fl bbbbbbebbbV' JRv SjBbv vessv mS "Gentlemen, there Is a madman some-whers some-whers In New York city." people were on strike, nud It was de dueed that some personal enemy had destroyed the collier. A collier had been anchored In the vicinity of the submarine, uud It seemed quite possl blc that the Inventor had thrown his ray toward the collier uud the submit rlno had had the misfortune to pus In between. Immediately the government an uounced that It bad received n communication com-munication from the Inventor stating that he deplored the fatal accident to the submarine. It was postmarked Jersey City. Tho secret agents went over thut city us wltn a line comb. Nothing was found. The leaders ot the Starr strike were persistently -shadowed, lint nothing rnme of this endeavor. It wax even ascertained that the strikers were ns deeply mystified mys-tified ns any one. John Storm was the attorney for the Starr company. On the day after tho sinking of the colllei lie received a note, typewritten and postmarked Boston, Bos-ton, that the collier had been sunk accidentally. ac-cidentally. Immediately he went down to tho Starr olllces mid laid tbo note before the directors. "Gentlemen, there Is a madman some-whero some-whero In New York city. This postmark post-mark merely proves to mo that tho man went to Boston for the express purpose of sending the note from there 1 honestly believe that It has nothing to do with the strike." "I -wish tho Lord we knew, Storm," aid tbo vice president. "If this man can burn steel under water ho has In bis bands the terrible power of being able to demolish the wholo city If the whim strikes blm. They tell mo that Washington has gone crazy over the affair. It would glvo a million for the secret. If only to tnko It out of the bands of an Irresponsible person." "Shall I send this noto to tho secret service people to compnro It with the other?" nsked Storm. "Not a bad Idea." Twenty-four hours later Storm received re-ceived n call from tho secret servlco people. Tho two notes bad been written writ-ten upon the same machine. It was a cul-de-sac. Every ouo seemed to blun dcr Into n blind alley. Several times Storm thought of Zudora, but ho resisted re-sisted the Impulse, IIo did not caro to havo her tangled up In an affair like, this. Ah, If sho would but tnko bis advice mnrry him openly nud defy that sly devil who called himself her undo! Four different times tho man bad tried to kill blm, but tho basic cause for this dcslro of his death was the most puzzling mystery of all. Why should Hassam All wish bis death so earnestly ns to risk his own security In the effort to accomplish bis ends? So far It had never occurred to Storm that nnssam All might bo wishing tho death of Zudorn also. Storm and Zudora wcro having tea at tho Cla'rldgo ono afternoon, and 1 when they wero through sho suggested that they tako n look nt tho bulletin ' board. Every ouo was war news mad. "Look!" she cried. "Thoy havo ' caught tho Emden nt Inst nnd destroy- ' edher." 1 "It's n pity." said Storm. "Thnt com-tnnmler com-tnnmler wns n bravo snllor. Well, ho'll r haro n niche In history all his own. 1 By George!" he exclaimed suddenly. "What Is It ?'" 3 "Another Starr collier ronu down! 1 Girl, can you get bnck homo alone? 1 f must go down, to tbo Starr ofllco nt once. This Is no nccident," 9 1 .Hut there was no cvldenco thlstlnv of any mysterious heat ray. An Infernal Infer-nal machlno bad been hidden In the' engine room. In tho starboard bunkers, nnd had blown n great holo through tho plates. It was quite evident that tho strikers had taken advantage of the confusion. After this nothing more was lien nl of the heat ray. And h and by the public forgot, ns It ulwu docs, and turned once more to the ever Increasing wur bulletins. "Uncle, w lint do you think of l lilr-new lilr-new ray talk'" asked .udoni one even lug. after rending some editorial cum liient iin)ii the half forgotten subject which had not, however, been forgot ten In the leiist by her. "Could there bo such ii thing'" "My dear child, In these days nothliic Is Impossible. They tly In the nlr: tbe. swim under water; they speak from ship to ship without any visible menus A ray to ienetrate steel under water Is net only possible, but probable. I'l wager that a hundred men iicio) th. world arc trying to iicciimpllsh this,' "And evidently one mail has iiccoin pIMied It." "Evidently." ngrccd llnssani All, "Hut why should he b.ou up ships in our own harbor) Wh, should lie dem death without Just cause?" "All, these men or tt nescience: What Is the dentil of a mini or two compared to the nclileveineut'; I dare say thn this man could not resist the luipmsi to try his luferuiil niy upon the living All scientists are egotists. Why don'i you dig Into It? There's liiteruatloiia fame for liny one who solves this." "What! Pit my forces against the whole of the sectet service?" "Yes, but you have faculties that not every biimiin being has. And then you've something that uot even I have.' "And what Is that?" "Luck." "Then you think I am lucky Instead of skillful?" "Both, my child. In an extraordinary degree. No one knows that better t tin n 1," With a smile which she did not see nor would have understood If she hud Ilussam All roso. Ills lingers were Itching to fondle his gold. Zudora remained In the mystic room und reread a letter she hud received from Storm that day. The poor bo.i had lost Ills only photograph of hei I nnd desired n new ono. Well. he should have It and Just as soon its' she could have It taken. She sat down be foru tho crystal globe. So her illicit thought she wns not only skillful, bill lucky? Wiih he regretting Ills bargain? She stared Into the globe, nnd pres ently a strange fantasy appeared In lie clear depths. Sho saw herself stand Ing upon the crest of a hill. In sllhou etto against tho setting sun, garbed In flowing white. Presently she wns Join ed by nnother Zudorn. dressed In black Then the two shapes camo slowly down tho bill In separate paths, nnd nt the end of each path stood a somber tins-snm tins-snm All. The white Zudora, when nh reached Hassam All, threw her armi around his nck and kissed him. The black Zudora repelled tbo seer, her face expressing doubt and suspicion. Ths forms faded and disappeared. Zudora Zu-dora rose, troubled In mind. She doubted doubt-ed bsr uncle. Tbero was no use In l SBr.WSBBKsi 7-,J-. AlijLsWliffl vffr5 ' MHH bV-' frS BBBBBBBBBBBBBB bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbs I 1 &s . BflBBBBBBBBBBBBSBBBf jJMkBjBflBMB bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb IbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbI BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBraBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBV Presently ths Crackling of Electricity Was Heard. denying tho fact. Sho doubted and feared him. Sho bad given, her word, and her very loyalty to that word scaled her lips. Sho must go on until tho end. Twenty exploits, nnd her life in her hnnd each time! So bo It And sho sensed that John had his suspicions suspi-cions also. Indeed, ho had onco been outspoken enough. Sho left tho mystic room and passed on Into tho living room, whero ITas-snm ITas-snm All, having satisfied the craving to piny with Ills gold, sat smoking bis plpo nnd dreaming. She did not dls turb him for n lime. Tho remarkable control this man had over his features was one of his great est as jets. Ills expression at this mo ment wns of ntnolutc contentment, and yet In his mind's eye he saw the mine, this girl's father struggling for breath nnd life. He saw the will which made her. one of the greatest heiresses In America. He saw bis own sinister ends accomplished. And nil the while Zndorn believed that some hnppy recollections hnd served to give that face Its benign nppenrancc. "Uncle!" ne lowered hit pipe as If he hnd not been conscious of her presence. "What Is It?" "Po you know of any unusual phn togrnpher? I mean a genius of hl kind, something out of the wny." "nnm! Let mo see. There ucd tf he a rhnp In Third street who hnd some new tricks. 1 believe that thest were too expensive for the gctiorn public. Beside, he wns one of lni cranks who slave for an Idea and tt whom money I nothing. I've got th( name somewhere. When I eonie ncros. It I'll let you know." He guve the mime to her the uet morutiig nnd Immediately left tin hoiise. Me had mi Idea. He was nl ways haUug Ideas. About half aftei U he nri'hed downtown, slopped be fort n building, went Into the corrldni nnd Mennli's.'. the wall directory. lit fom.d l-'til (ireen. the eccentile pho logrnpher, on the twelfth lloor. lit wns nbout to seek the elevator when nnother mime caught his attention. "He!" he murmured "And I had forgotten nil nbout the mnn! Well, tin' "Beholdl" ha said enthusiastically. world moves fast. I believe I can make something out of tills little Journey." Jour-ney." He did not stop at the photographer's. photograph-er's. He went on up to the next Moor mid kuockts! ut a certain door. A tail, gaunt Individual opened the door. "IlMHSMIII All!" "I, my friend. And so I Uud you nt last!" "You have been looking for me?" distressed. "And not alone, my friend" "Hush: Not so loud! In God's name, uot so loud!" "So we haven't given up that great Idea, eh? tt W four years since 1 saw you liist. AnJ you've got It!" "Yes. yes! I've got It! I luivo done what no other man In tho world has done. A revolution In tho world ol science!'" proudly, forgetting his recent terror nt the sight of this man, Hassam Has-sam All. "To me falls the honor ot bringing a world peacul Tbero will b no more wur nfter this.' "But tbo colliers uud tho submarine, my friend, especially tbo submarine?" suaveiy. Tho Inventor suddenly bid his face In his hands. "God knows It was accidental I 1 meant no harm, only 1 bad to test It; I hnd to!" "A marvelous Invention!" mused Hnasnm All, glancing around the room and notlug tho array of retorts, the queer generating machine, the glass side and top to the room. "We shall become rich.' "We?" "Even so, my friend. Itlch beyond all dreams-tbnt Is, if you obey my will." "Ah, I know you, llnssnm All! It Is soino devil's work you want mo to do." "DovII'h or lingers work, you will do It or pay the penalty tho law requires for the killing of twenty odd men In mere caprice. Tnko your choice." The voice wns not sunvo now, but cold nud deadly. "What Is It you wish mo to do?" Hassam All whispered his directions. "Death?" said the Inventor, horrified "Death. What Is ouo more?" "But thnt wns experiment; this Is murder." "What you have done Is to Inw one and thu samo thing Oh, I have you. my filcud; I have you. You will do my will nud In n very short time too." "I will do It under compulsion! Upon your head be the result." "This laboratory Is directly above Green?" "Yes." "We will cut n small hole through the celling," suggested Hnssnm All "Quite unnecessary. I enn adjust this ray to any distance up to Ave miles. I enn pass It through wood and Iron and burn what I wish on the oth er side. It Is all a matter of mathe mattes. I nindo u miscalculation or the submarine would never have been touched." "Show me how tho Infernal thing works. I don't menn the chemical analysis of tt. I mean Just the simple mechanism." The Inventor, true to his class an'i kind. Instantly forgot his personal dim ger. His whole soul wns bent upon one service to Immunity-n world with nut war. And ho was posltlvn that In-alono In-alono possessed tho thlrn; that would mako war so horrible, bo atirjltiljntjn . thnt humanity would no longer dnri-to dnri-to mako wnr. Presently the crackling of electricity Wiis henrd. and th strange odor whlrh nlways follow tho path of lightning tilled the room Knr out In the bay wns u eiles n empty barges lielng returned from thi deep sea dump. The Inventor tu tits' his rny upon t lint, after carefully men tiring the distance, something after tin manner of a civil engineer. There n n remarkable range tinder on the to nf the machine, but this the Inveutoi used only when objects were below the horizon The two men watched the rear barge Presently It listed; then It began to sng. and n cloud of smohu burst from the hntches. "Good heavens!" grasped Hassan All. "Did you strike thnt barge under water?" "Oh, no. 1 nm powerless against wood until r water, but nil metals nre like so much paper." "What lire you going to do with It?" Hassam All was dazed by the colossal power of the iiiuehlne. "When the time conies I am goltn: to present It to the United States gov eminent." "Man, tbeie are millions and millions lu 111" "1 am a patriot." said tho Inventor simply. It wns nbout this time that Zudora linked at the photographer's studio on the lloor below. At tho-sound uf thu Interior bell the photographer came out of his dnrk room. To Zudora ho did not look like any photographer she bad ever seen. Ills big head wns cov erod with a shock of rusty colored linlr; he needed u shave; tils necktie was awry; Ills coat wns speckled with to bacco ash, and chemical stnlus Invited attention But Ills forehead was all right and hN eyes kindly. If keen. "Ah. yoiTnre Miss Zudora. Your uu ele telephoned to me that you would be here. I don't take the average run of photographs." Ills voice wns en ergot lc. There was u 'teutonic but toll, for all that his name was Green. But Zudora did not notice this nt the time. "You see." he went on, "I'm something some-thing of nn Inventor. One of these dnys I'm going to revolutionize photography. pho-tography. Now. If you'll Just sit down for a moment until 1 llnlsli the plate I'm working on I'll be at your service" He returned to the dark room. But ho did not bother with any plates. In stead, he placed his car ugaliist a tele phone-like object mid listened. Has sani All was not alone, evidently, in the secret of the inan lu the room above. A scowl crossed the face of Green, mid he muttered uu outh lu German. When he came back to Zu dora he was smiling. "Now, then, you wuut full length or hend?" "Just the bead, I want something unusual " "You've come to the right man then." He took a piece of wood from his flat desk. The wood was highly polish cd. I'rom a shelf be took down u beaker mid poured some of the liquid iiniii the piece of wood. Then be took somo liquid from nnother bottle nnd spread It over the wood nt almost the same time holding the square lu from of ZiiiIui'ii'm face. Next he threw on some dark liquid. "Behold!" be said enthusiastically. "Why," she cried, astounded, "I nev cr snw anything like that!" "Few have." he declared. "Now come tomorrow ut II and I'll have six for you on wood, steel, copper. Iron cloth und celluloid. When. I cun make this cheap I'll put the awragu caineni Into the dust bin I" And Zudora bellered htm. Meantime the secret servlco was burrowing nnd finding nothing. The Starr company was still nt loggerbend with Its men. and Storm was striving with might nnd main to adjust tho differences. dif-ferences. Two more colliers bad gone to the bottom mysteriously. Tho day thnt Zudora en mo for her photograph wns to be a red letter day among her experiences. Hnssnm All had preceded her, and whllo sho wus conferring with the photographer he was working to gain his ends. Thnt the Inventor should bo made tbo scape goat wus nothing to htm, Ho snw nothing but untold millions In tbo near distance. But unfortunately for his schemes bo hud reckoned without Pol Green's photography. nnssam All, despite the Inventor's protests, hnd cut nn aperture through tho floor, so that ho could seo what was going on lu the room below. At a favorable moment he thrust a revolver re-volver toward the Invent! r. "Now!" he whNpered. "It Is murder!" "Now or 1 will shoot!" Hnssnm All hud taken the precaution to disguise himself. Tho elevator boy would never nev-er swenr thut hucIi nnd such n mnn bod naked directions, nud tbo Inw would never bo nblo to tlnd such n man. "Hurry!" Just before this, however, Zudora, being alone for n moment, thought she would try oil experiment herself. She picked up one of the beakers to learn If the sensitizing liquid contained ether, when the bottle slipped from hrr' hnnd and crashed to the door. Almost Instantly In-stantly she saw a strange face form upon the liquid She looked up quirk ly. In time to see two heads suddenly withdraw uud heard a rattle of wood ns tho aperture's covering fell Into plnic. What could Hint menu? She stepped bnck to the wull. She wnltee" brciitli lessly, hut nothing happened Her first thought was that some one wus try Inn to steal the photographers secret, nnd she been me determined to fiustrate this base plan When Ilussam All looked again In order to direct thu lay or thu luventot Zudora wus gone! Sho bud, evidently seen something. Ho felt nn urgent Beet of gottlng uwnjr, aj opce. Hassam All Had Cut an Apertun H Through tho Floor. H Oddl.t chough, she passed him in tin upper hull as he was making lor tin elevator. So Intent wus slit imii tiei own tpiest that she gave the nan but J a passing glance. Inventors nre careless generally lu all things save thut upon which thelt thoughts lire set. It never occurred to J the Inventor of the destructive ray to lock the door nfter the Might uf the man who professed to bo his friend but who lu reality was the worst eu H etny ho hnd. So Zudora hnd no dill) J culty In entering the room. Sho 'did bc J ns noiselessly us n cat. Wbnt she saw confused her nt first There were the noble bny uud thcHhlp going down to the sen. But what slg- ullled nil these retorts, wires, keys mid H squares or hind; rubber? No man with all these strange things nbout blm H would contemplate thu nibbing of nn H other ma n'.s secret. She heard the man H mutter u few words. Her heart miss- H ed a beat! Quietly us she bad enter- H ed she stole forth. What should she H do? How should she net In fucu of H this tremendous discovery? She must H see Storm uud nsk Ids advice. H Tho Inventive photographer hnd not H been inactive nil this time, lie sensed H danger when he saw that Weird pho- H tograph on the lloor. He determined his H actions nt once. If he could uot have H tho secret of that magical ray for thu H fatherland no ono should hr.ve It. H Storm wns greatly excited when Zu- H dora disclosed her discoveries. Togcth- H er they went to tho local secret service H They found the oor Inventor, who B In his soul wanted only the welfare H of humanity. They found blm a bro- H ken recti. Some one bad destroyed the H very heart of the machine It had taken SBBBBsiPEPaEflBBBBBBBBWsZr J BBBBsl KBbBBw Cvft sSBBBBBBBBBBBBlLI BBBBBBS tPBBBBpBMPF? ;., y SrBSBBBBBBBnBBBBBBBBBBBBBH BBBBBsl fifflpMf y JTOroTHBBBBBBBsH BBBBBsl iy09hi?'Jx&! 'BBF!9ELBk BBBBBBBBBBBS BBBBBsl 8hs 8aw a 8trange Face Form Upon H ths Liquid. H two fortunes nnd twenty yeara of la- fl bor to conceive. They could do whut M they wished with him. M That night, unknown tu Zudora, M Hassam All had a visitor, n visitor M who wus cold und murderous lu bis M H "You have dcsMlcd mo of my la- M "Indeed?" said Hnssnm All. M "You huvo robbed tho fatherland of H un Invention thut would luivu made us M tbo greatest power lu the world!" M "And perhaps that Is thu very rca- H son why I despoiled you," said Hub- H sain All coldly, "You come to me mid M threnten when by lifting u hand I H could send you to prison for so many M years that It would bo tho sum ot your M "1 know thnt But this I nay to you: M Some day you'll slip, mid then beware H "Ahmed," culled Hassam All, "show this gentleman to the door!" H And Fa I Green, so called, passed H forth Into tho night. A week later bU H body wus found In tbo East river. 11 By whoso bund? H LTO UK CONTINUED. bbbbb! |