Show T asior A story of Ply mystery and advani adventure UV EMERSON HOUGH from the scenario hr T 44 CUNARD r IN r ay WIGHT ft novelized from l roro the motion lotion victuro drama of 0 the th saine bame name produced by the universal Unive rhal bilm allm I manufacturing company SYNOPSIS kitty cray newspaper woman finds in VL a vurla shop half it ft a broken von tile the mutilated inscription on which aroune 3 tr curiosity find and loada leads her at the order of lit her managing editor to so go to the principality ci of Gretz hofren t to 0 piece le ou out t the the atory suggested by the hie in s cr pip ace oil 8 aho h Is followed fullow eil and on arrival in Gretz hoffen lier adventures while chasing clias lne the lie secret of the lie broken coin begin nineteenth installment CHAPTER I 1 te count Sa chloa search your majesty ma lesty I 1 can call now assure you of our success count sachio of Gra hoffen spoke calmly on hin face was written full conviction of tho the truth ot of ills his words ile he stood once more with hla his monarch in the great hall ot of the palace ot of gra li hoffen offen whither lie ha had hastened nt a t once on oil his return from tho the rival riva I 1 capital why sachio Sa chlo demanded corth law what aliat reason now to believe our success nearer than it has been any time these months past your majesty asks proof look sachio held out in fit life his hand tile the two li halves alves or what purported to bo be the two halves of the broken coin of Crotz Gretz hoffen lie ho indeed supposed them to be both halves of that mysterious lays coin although in truth one was vaa only tile the counterfeit long since devised by count frederick Fieder lck to appease ills his own king that michael of gretz hoffen had missed ills his former possession that kitty gray still hold held ona halt of tile the actual coln coin neither nor lila his king now know knew doth both conspirators bent above tho the bits of metal and both smiled in exultation their arduous search pearch seemed now really to approach its end hy fly my faith sachio exclaimed Corti slaw it seems indeed we havo have but to run the trail hard bard and fast a trifle further fuith cr yes your majesty it reni recia alna his only tor for your servant your very faithful servant may I 1 say it to find tile the place ot of the scripts and treasures themselves that is a necessary detail said Corll Corti slaw with a cold grin 1 I have fed cd long enough on maps mapa and keys and scripts now I 1 would dip my hands in actual mintage of gold coins 1 I would see the light of real gems ishin hig and not this ignis batutis which wo vo nova have followed so long over tile tho morasses of doubt and uncertainty Suc success cesal success sachio in real colne colna in real gems in real treasures that success alone can mean an anything Y to you or mo me bo it so your majesty said arild with etli no abatement of his 1118 confidence 1 I take my chances I 1 stake ray my life on oil the hazard of full success it I 1 find not the hidden bidden treasures of Grotz Cretz hoffen then haug hang my head on our walls as a warning to all boasters go then said the king coldly you lave have found your way within their gates before do so again seek deeply under the wall of the torture chamber perhaps the coin says bays tho the drea treasures hiding place lies ilea deep under ilia walls but precisely where Is that always tho the idoga cautious mind carried him into the doubts and difficulties of any case it roust must lo be somewhere below and beyond tile the galleries which they flooded from tho the moats when they came near drowning all our troops replied 1 I know those gal as I 1 do my own bedchamber trust me to run out this puzzle to which wo we now have the key hero here in my hand when I 1 do I 1 shall dip roy my hands deep in actual mintage of gold coin you will do nothing of tho the kind hind sachio said bald ills his monarch you will reserve that first right tor for your king sachio flushed red lut but bowed conscious ot of the swift rivalry of pirates who parcel unholy gains true your majesty said he 1 I spoke but in metaphor the senior right in any such endeavor ns as this Is always of course that ot of tho the king the tha right and tile tho pleasure of tile the monarch who has led us to such success as this Is a thing paramount to alt all others hut but swift enough shall bo be iny course to your majesty once I 1 deave found the actual bidding place agreed said Corti slaw and turned to gnaw his beard in the impatience of 0 a nian long balked of oc his most intimate desire and sachio hastened be that said for hira ills swiftest car carried htiu him the devious way that lay between the two kingdoms and duly ho be arrived at the door ot of the palace ot of Gretz hoffen here his acquaintance with the place wid his ready reference ot all inquirers to the king himself 41 gained him easy access once more michael the weak still dwelt in the palace giving small care to the ruin and disorder which lay about him on all sides let others care for tile the government ern ment lot others othera make ma ke good the breut acs in tho the capitals capital a delouse defense let others reorganize the scattered forces of tile army himself he was content to continue life hla revelry in the palace with those who cared to join him male or female creatures dissolute as himself who had clung to him fatuous ly y in hope of possible reward at some later time before this ruler count sachio of granoien Gra Grall hoIen offen pre presently Bently bowed humbly professing his friendship giving no token of ills his treacherous errand what again friend sachio of ura ora hoffen liol TenT jested michael when lie ho saw him you have become one of our most faithful subjects Is it not so go I 1 still miss count frederick who has left many duties unperformed amed I 1 still ralsa the young american who should bo be hero here to lighten the cares of the heavy hours yet you como come lato late our enemy now our friend what can call vi we 0 do for you sachio to show our agrati tudo tor for your faithfulness nothing your our majesty save eave to al low me division of a flask now and then with the greatest monarch of the ho modern days nothing save to al low me to join your majesty tor for a lighter moment betimes after the du ties of the day are arc done meantime since I 1 would not weary your majesty I 1 pray no more than safekeeping within your our maje walls as I 1 wander hero and there the art treas ures urea of this palace surpass any with which I 1 am acquainted As a youth I 1 tried to paint and I 1 still love the work of those who have dono done as masters what my student hand could never do may I 1 look at tho the pictures in tho the galleries gall erles the statues stat tifis your majesty with aalthe heart in tile the world my doar dear Sach to lol exclaimed michael ichael At your discerning judg judgment mant Is valued most moat highly mako make tree free with what you like and como come to us when you please this carta cart blanche was all that sachio could ask ile ho accepted it literally what lie ho purposed actually was to make free with anything he saw and lie ho did indeed intend to return to king michael ichael bl when he ha pleased thus set tree free to wander as ho he liked in the palace of Gretz hoffen lie ho made no doubt whatever of his own quick arrival nt at tho the hidden door of the lost treasure of Gretz hotten hoffen As he bowed himself out ho he scarce could conceal the satisfaction on his bis face was an alert and active soul ills his was no na haphazard intellect apt to accept the dictum of a mind less exact than ills his own ile he was a soldier first and next a diplomat but all tile the time a model secret agent a typical spy and detective lie he now set about the bustness business in hand deliberately with precision methodically so that he need not do any task a second time ile ho himself had bad sketched a rough map of 0 tho the lower galleries RR as he fancied thorn them to lie ile ho calculated now that with tho the aid of this chart and his bla own earlier acquaintance with these subterranean chambers it would bo be easy to find the tha last door that lay between him and the burled buried treasure ot of Gretz hoffen what scenes of horror these places raafat havo have held did not pause to ask aak That souls had passed out there through those these cold walls of stone that human flesh had quivered here in tor ment abild human voices broken in their anguish meant naught to him A king had seen tit fit to surround its ills treasures troas urea with such terrors in order to fence away all intruders ile ho had burled buried these treasures under the very floor of ills his torture chan chamber itier so that all might fear faar to intrude there hero in their search some might bo be deterred by such fears but not sachio of grahor tell fen ile ha walked on an calmly unmoved suro sura that his own persistence his own cunning ll had 11 defeated tho the purpose of the dead king whose methods so long had belled the evarice and greed of these two kingdoms sachio lost little time in the earlier portions of the subterranean galleries and satisfied himself only that lie ho was aa not being pursued soon lo he 10 l o arrived upon tho the lower levels where lie ho did not expect to meet disturbance now camo came tho the crux of hla his search ile ho mode made hla his way slowly along the darkened channels carved at some un knoon day clay from the granite rock on which wed tho the Gretz hoffen castle tried door after door and entered chamber after chamber slowly me th with no enthusiasm but only the air of a man mail covering all pos sible mis chances in his search earch lie ho looked most carefully in that portion of the he t vaults where he had found the halt of ane torn parchment but got no further trace of the miss ing portion this gave him a certain pause for ho he had figured that mat the broken coin and the broken parchment would correlate would focus some where nearly at the bame point but the stained and mildewed mil dewed walls still BUU damp from their recent gave aavo him but cold encouragement whichever chover way he turned any pout poul but his bis would haye have felt the chill of such environment so bo bald he to himself standing a Z I 1 sr r Ye resolute solute at last and linding himself liim unable to decide what noh to do my map has tho the misfortune fortuno ot of having been made from tho the imagination and not from facts in hand but now see co hero tho the way forks before him now lay a series 0 of galleries still damp from the recent flooding from tho moat it was theory based upon ho he knew not what that tile tho treasure chamber must llo lie somewhere under tho the moat that the hood flood gates must have been devised for some purpose of protecting it ile ho acted upon that theory now and with no in better guide than the greater dampness ot of tile rock floors which ho he followed he bo wander 1 a I kibur libur after hour at length ho he paused puzzled dum dumfound dumfounded founded oil lie ile had taken a wrong turn arn somewhere in this labyrinth of underground channels lie he had not even found tho the water gates which had flooded these levels so recently ile he had found no now recesses in the rocky walls walla ile he bad found nothing which in the least compared itself with the map lie ho now held in ili his handl the cold sweat broke out upon his forehead oven even in those these icy depths my god I 1 said sachio bacelo of granof ten ach to himself 1 I have failed yes had failed ile ho knew what that meant death was to bo be ills hla portion tor for ills ilia failure would it come in one swift stroke at the hand of his bis monarch moved by the frenzy of his disappointment or would it come in tho the slow torture of deliberate revenge wrought on him for that failure allure in tho the flen fiendish dish ingenuity of tho the icy fey soul of Corti slaw 1 I have tailed failed said sachio to himself and through my own faulta I 1 had success in my grasp and threw it away that girl could have told mo me everything and I 1 sent her away beyond all reach out of our country coun tryl it look a baill exclaimed count frederick with her gone vo ree have no hope remaining wo nei noice or shall find it ourselves she along alone now could savo save my life sho she whom I 1 mistreated and she aho whom I 1 sent away and count frederick lie ho went on still musing to himself lie ile w was my enemy and Is today but something tells we me that lie ho also has the clue it if lie ho were here I 1 could wheedle or threaten him perhaps lie Is with her who knows and ana I 1 haya havo sent her away did over ever a man mail gain aught by bullying a woman fair speech with them or tho the bowstring those aro are the only ways I 1 am sentenced doomed deemed and by my own fault discouraged baw baba 4 perhaps after all affected by the glood f bw ho he turned back at last somewhere near him lie ho know somewhere perhaps not a biscuit toss away measured by distance in tho the open air lay a dark cloistered space the chamber ber of tortures grim erlin in tta its secrets its ita floor door perhaps piled with broken bones its walls perhaps hung full ot of the old machinery for parting loan flesh and soul in lingering agony was it indeed true that the lost souls in that hidden chamber had wiped out tho the trace ot of it and loft the surface of all jhc thc o walls alike cont sachio could feet feel the needles and pincers of hot steel tearing at his own soul gonel gone said ho he to himself gone and I 1 who sent her away CHAPTER tho the sacred fire no intimation could come to anyone antono in the two rival kingdoms as to tho whereabouts of those two personage most importance in tho the swift drama of thoss those dara days kitty and conni e fredwick bad and lott no trace paused passed val all hope or the s solution atlon ct at tha brildle of the missing coin it if either cither ut of these two kingdoms should march against the other it its armies should lay level with tile tho earth the battlements and towers of its enemy why that would but bury the deeper the secret which alono alone animated either in the quest of conquest As for any against glahot fen fell however what could michael the weak have done now with his man his ablest general his best man of affairs gone lie ho hesitated as to means of the offensive just as his chief rival pondered the results possible even of a successful offensive meantime the truth remained that the key to nil all this coll coil was absent n nor r was she apt to return kitty gray certainly must cherish a keen memory OA of injuries she had known on these shores tile the armies of america might come back the ships of america might anchor in these ports their guns might exact apology or tribute but kitty gray cray herself would not return that was sure therefore affairs halted the battle was arrested as though the sun had halted midway of the heavens in a modern ajalon yet not so far away as actual distance Is measured the two principals of this play stilt still lived kitty and count frederick were separated from the rival kingdoms by not so many leagues of the sea bea yet they knew not where they were more than did any of these others the sea which stretched between the two lands was narrow enough in fact yet potentially it lay immeasurably wide As to the secrets of the rival kingdoms which they had left behind neither of these two burh concerned himself there were other things which concerned each vastly more when count frederick hastened away from the bide aide of the sacrificial fire alro in the search of the woman who had come so near being its victim he was overlooked at tho the moment alike by the natives who had accompanied him thither and by the inhabitants of the village which they had surprised these were rival factions or rival tribes upon |