■AM
SIO,OOO FOR 100 WORDS.
"The Million Dollnr Mystery" story
will run for twenty-two consecutive weeks
in this paper. liy an arrangement toith
the Thanhouser Film company it has been
made possible not only to read the story
in this paper but also to see it each week
in the various moving picture theaters.
For the solution of this mystery story
SIO.OOO will be given by the Thanhouser
Film corporation.
CONDITIONS GOVERNING THE
i CONTEST.
' The prte* of SIO,OOO will be won by the
fban, woman, or child who writes the most
tcoeptable. solution of the mystery, from
ilfhich the last two reels of motion picture
drama will be made and the last two
Chapters of the story written by Harold
liaoGrath.
Solutions may be sent to the Than-
Jfousir Film corporation, either at Chicago
or Jleno York, any time up to midnight,
<Vi. 14. This allows several weeks after
the last chapter has been published.
A board of three judges will determine
~which of the many solutions received is the
\ acceptable. The judges are to be
[ Hvrold MacGrath, Lloyd Lonergan, and
Mist Man Tinee. The judgment of this
Hoard will be absolute and final. Nothifig
'of ffi Jitcrary nature will be considered in
nor given any preference in
! 'iJiip faction of the iriuner of the SIO,OOO
prize. The last two reels, which will give
the most acceptable solution to the mys
terj/, trill be presented in the theaters
r 'hal ing >this feature as soon as it is pos
sible to produce the same. The story eorre
nijloading to these motion pictures will ap-
PfHr.lj» the newspapers coincidentally, or
ai" : ition after the appearance of the pic
tures as practicable. With the last two
reels unll be shown the pictures of the win
ner, "his or her fcomev and other interesting
■features. It is understood that the news
•pwpcrs, so far as practicable, in printing
the last two chapters of the story by Har
old MacGrath, will also show a picture of
ihe successful contestant.
Solutions to the mystery must not be
more than 100 words long. Here are some
Questions to be kept in mind in connection
with the mystery as an aid to a solution:
. i No.l —What becomes of the millionairet
ft No. 2—What becomes of the $1,000,000t
'■ No.S—Whom docs Florence marry f
:} No. 4 —What becomes of the Russian
countesst
Nobody connected either dir&ctly or in
directly irith " The Million Dollar Mys
tery" will bo considered as a contestant.
SYNOPSIS OP PREVIOUS CHAPTERS.
Stanley llargrcuvc, millionaire, after a
miraculous em-ape from the den of the
lt»nit of brilliant thieves known ax the
Black Hundred, Uvea thai life of a re
cluse for eighteen years. llargreave ac
cidentally meets Braine. lender of the
Illaek Hundred. Knowing limine will
try to get him. he escapes from his own
home by a balloon. Before escaping he
writes a letter to the girls' school where
, eighteen yeara before he mysteriously
left on the doorstep hla baby daughter*
f Florence Rray. That day Hargrcave
nlso draws fI.tMHMMM) from the bank, but .*
y It la reported that this dropped Into'thn
■en when the balloon be escaped In waa V
t punctured.
Florence arrives from the girls' school.
J Countess Olga. Br nine's companion, vis
its her and claims to be a relative. Two
V bogus detectives call, but their plot la
foiled by Norton, n newspaper man.
» By bribing the captain of the Orient
(Norton lays a trap for Braine and hla
Ban*. Countess Oign nlso vlslta the Orl
* ent's captain, and she easily falls into
y the reporter's snare. The plan proven
abortive through Rraine'a good lnck and
only hireling* fall Into the hands of
)> the police.
After falling In their first attempt the
>■ Black Hundred trap Florence. They ask
her for money, but (lie escapes, again
• foiling them.
Norton and the rnnntesa call on Flor
ence the iieTt day, once more safe at
y home. The visitors having gone, Jones
remove* a acctlon of flooring and from
' ■ oavlty takes a bo*. Pursued by mem
hers of the Blnck Hundred, he rushes to
v I the water front and ancceeda In drop.
_ | ping the box Into the sen.
•» | Conntess Olga succeeds In breaking
•- the engagement existing between Flor
ence Ilargrenve and Norton.
I Accomplices cf limine succeed In kld
jr Inoplnc Florence while she is shopping
>- «nd hurry Tier ofT to sea. She leaps Into
the «en and la picked tip In a dazed eon.
y flitlon by II party of fishermen. The
Black Hundred locnte her, and Bralne,
f. dlspilscil as her father, succeeds In tak
ing; her back to se H with him. Florence
*» «ets Are to the boat and Is rescned by a
> iihlp on which Norton has been shang
haied.
"* ' Norton and Florence, safely ashore
„ and with no longer any mlsunderstand
between them, take the train for
home. The train la wrecked and waltlmc
f (members of the Black Hundred carry
- the Injured Florence to a deserted hut.
-Norton, who tries to rescue her. Is tied
to the railroad track*. Florence aavea
him and Anally Jones comes to the res
cue of both.
The Black Hundred recover the hnr
Jonea dropped In the ocenn. Br a clever
ruse Norton and Jones regain ft.
rCopyright! 1014: By HaroM MacGrath.]
CHAPTER XIII.
AN AGENT FBOlt BTTSBIA'.
THE Black Hundred, not as individuals
but as an organization, began to worry.
Powerful, and often reckless and dar
to look about for some basic cause for all these
failures against Hargreave's daughter and
Hargreave's ghost. They had tried to put the
Inquisitive reporter out of the way; they had
kid every trap they could tnink of to catch
the mysterious visitor at the Hargreave home;
they had thrown out a hundred lures to bring
Hargreave out of his liar, and failed* and
they ha<l lost a dozen valuable men and several
' dollars. This must end somewhere,
/and quickly,
••• 70 QO -IT 3 HIS cst^>.»Tl,M :~,
The one rny of hope for the conspirators lay
in the fact that Florence had never seen her
father and knew not in the least what he
looked like. They determined to try again in
this direction.
Hive it all up," said the countess to
Braine. " I tell you, whatever is back of all
this is stronger than we are. He knows the
organization, and for all we know he may be
a ghost."
I never go back," smiled Braine. " There's
something more than the million. Theresa the
Sport of the thing. We've been bested in a
dozen bouts, and nearly always by a fluke.
They have the breaks, as the.v say out at the
Polo grounds."'
" But the time and expense when we might
be getting results elsewhere! I tell you, Leo,
1 m afraid. Tt s like always hearing some one
behind you and never finding anybody when
you turn. I have told you my doubts.. I have
also asked you to trap that butler, but you've
always laughed."
" Ton are seeing ghosts. Olga. A new mm
from holy Russia," shrugging, " is coming to
night. Evidently the head over there thinks
our contributions of late have not been up ta
the mark, and they are going to stir us up. I
am willing to wager my soul, however, that
that box is simply a hoax to befuddle' us.
Either that or it holds the key. Rut the rest
of them insist that the box must be recovered.
V\ hen I leave this room tonight I am going
over to Riverdale and stalk all by myself.
I'm going to get a glimpse of that myterious
stranger. -.He carries a scar of mine some
where, for I hit him that night."
The door opened, and the executive chamber
became silent.
Count Paroff,' boomed the voice of Vroon.
" He will present his credentials."
This formality was executed as prescribed
by the rules ; and Count Paroff was given his
chair. He spoke for a while, rather pom
pously.
" The head organization is not satisfied with
itn offspring in this Hargreave affair," he said
in conclusion. " You are slow."
Then you have come with some suggestions
foT the betterment of our business?" asked
Braine ironically.
Sir, this is not the hour for flippancy,"
said the agent coldly.
Braine made a sign with his hand, a sign
not observed by every one. Instantly Paroff
bent lowly. He recognized that the speaker
was the actual, not the nominal, head of the
American branch.
" What are your suggestions?" inquired the
nominal head from his chair, anxious to avoid
a clash between the newcomer and the trucu
lent master of them all.
" I have been informed that Hargreave's
daughter has never seen her father, not even
a photograph of him," said Paroff, more amia
bly.
" We are absolutely certain that this is t'ne
case," said the nominal head, who was known
a? the president. " Rut we tried one play in
that direction, and it failed miserably."
" I have the story," replied Paroff. "It
was clumsily done. The ruse was an old one."
Braine was frank enough to admit the truth
of this statement, however much he dislikcl
the admission. He nodded.
" I lmve authority to take a hand in thus af
fair. We cannot waste all summer. Those
government plans of the fortifications of the
Panama are waiting. There's your millions.
But the fact remains that it is the law of the
Black Hundred never to step down till abso
lutely defeated. The hidden million is but
*HE TELEGRAPH, HARRISBURG, PA.. SEPTEMBER 1914.
■ HAROLD MAC GRATH-
half; we must find and break this renegade
Hargreave."
" If lie lives," said Braine.
' Who can say one way or the other?"
brusquely asked Paroff. " The fact that all
your plans and schemes have come to naught
should prove to you that you are not fighting a
ghost..- There is but one way to bring out the
truth."
" And that is to make a captive of his daugh
ter,'.' supplemented Braine. " And we have
worked toward that end ceaselessly. We are
quite ready to listen to your suggestions,
count."
" And so am I," thought the man with his
ear to the little hole in the ceiling above.
" And some day, my energetic friend, I'm going
tn pay you back for that bullet." .
Count Paroff cleared his voice and laid his
plans before his audience.
"To act frankly and in the open, to go
boldly to the Hargreave home and proclaim
myself Hargreave. I can disguise mytelf in a
manner that will at least temporarily fool the
butler."
" Who has been with his master for fourteen
years, knows every move, habit, gesture, inflec
tion," interposed Braine. " But proceed, count,
proceed. You will remember the old adage:
too many cooks." .
" Ah," flashed back the count, " but a new
cook ?"
Olga touched Braine's crm warningly.
"\ou mean, then, that there has been talk
in St. Petersburg of disposing of some one?"
" A good deal of talk, sir," haughtily, for
getting that he haj bent humbly enough but a
few moments gone.
" Very well; go on."
Thought the man at the peephole above:
"There's another adage. When thieves fall
art, then honest men get their dues. Yes,
yes; proceed, proceed!"
Paroff went on. " I shall, then, go frankly
to the Hargreave house and claim my own.
Meantime I leave to you the business of luring
the butler away. Half an hour is all I need to
bring that child here, to break the wall that
stands between us and what we seek."
"Is that so?" murmured Braine. "Olga, I
want you to play a trick on this handsome
delegate at large. I'm not very enthusiastic
over his talk. I want him humiliated. AH
you have to do, he says, is to walk into the
Hargreave house and. walk out again. Well,
let's you and I see that he does that and noth
ing else. I'll have no one middling with my
own game."
Some one sneezed, and everybody looked at
his neighbor. The sneeze was repeated, but
muffled, as if some one was desperately anx
ious to avoid sneezing.
"It came from above!" whispered Olga.
" Don't look up !"
Braine WBB cool. He walked idly across tl 0
room to where Vroon sat. " Very well, Paroff;
we give you free rein." To Vroon he said:
" Some one is watching from the room
overhead; I thought that room belonged to us."
"It does," said Vroon stolidly.
" Then how Is it that some one is watching
from up there? No excitement. I'm going to
bid every one good-night, then I'm going to
investigate. When I leave you will quietly
Rend men to all the exits to the building. I
want the man who sneezed, and I want him
badly."
Olga departed with Braine, only she imme
diately sought the taxi that brought her and
was driven home. It was always understood
that when any serious exploit was under way
hereabouts she was to make her departure at
once.
Vroon stationed his men at the several exit*
and Braine went upstairs. The man who had
sneezed, however, had vanished as completely
as if he had worn that invisible cloak one
reads about in the I'ersian tales. As a matter
of fact, after the second sneeze he had gone up
to the roof, got out by the trap, and jumped—
rather risky business, too —to the next roof
and had clambered down the fire escape of the
second building. lie was swearing inaudibly.
After all these days of cure and planning,
after all his cleverness in Ideating the ren
dezvous of the Black Hundred, and now to lose
his advantage because of an uncontrollable
sneeze! lie would never dare go back, and
just wheu he was beginning to pick up fine bit*
of information! So Florence Hargreave was
gcing to have a new father in a day or so?
There were some clever rogues among this
band of theirs; but their cleverness was well
offset by an equal number of fools.
Yes, there were some clever rogues, and to
prove this assertion Braine secured a taxicab
and drove furiously away, his destination tho
home of his ancient enemy. He dropped the
cab a block or two away nnd presently stowed
himself away in the summer house at the left
of the lawn. It would Lave been a capital
idea —that is, if the other man had not thought
of nnd anticipated this very thing. So he used
a public pay station telephone; and Braine
waited in vain, waited till the lights in the
Hargreave house went out one by one and it
became wrapped in darkness within and
moonshine without.
Braine was a philosopher. He returned to
his waiting taxicab, drove home, paid the bill,
smiling grimly, and went to bed. Tt was going
to be a wonderful game of blind man's buff,
and it was going to be sport to watch this fool
Pnroff blunder into a pit.
The next afternoon Florence and Norton sat
in the summer house talking of the future.
Lovers are prone to talk of that. As i£ any
thing else in the world ever equals the present!
The.v talked of nice little apartments and vaca
tions in the summer and how much they would
save out of his salary, and a thousand and one
other things which would not interest you at
all if I recounted them in detail. But they
did love each other, and (hey were going to be
married ; you may be certain of that. They
did not care a snap of the finger what Jones
thought. They were going to be married, and
that was all there was to it. Of course. Flor
ence couldn't touch a penny of her father's
money. If he. Norton, couldn't take care of
her without help, why,, he wouldn't be worth
the powder to blow him up with.
" But, my dear, you must be very careful,"
hv said. " Jones and I will always be about
somewhere. If they really get hold o"f you
once. God alone knows what will.happen. It
is not you, It is your poor father they want to
bring out into the open. If they knew where
he was they would not bother you in the least."
" Have I really a father? , Sometimes I
doubt. Why couldn't he steal into the house
and see me, just once?"
" Perhaps he dares not. This house is al
ways watched, night and day, though you'll
look in vain to discover any one. Your father
knows best what he is doing, my dear girl.
You see, I met him years ago in China: and
when he started out to do a certain thing he
generally did it. He never botched any of his
plans. So we all must wait. Only I'm going
to marry you all the same, whether he likes it
or not. The rogues will try to impose upon
you again; but do not pay any attention to
notes or personals in the papers. You've been
through enough. And it was a lucky thing
that I was on that freighter that picked you
up at sea. I shall always wonder how that
yacht took fire."
" So shall I," replied Florence, her brows
drawing together in puzzlement. " Sometimes
I think I must have done it. You know, peo
ple out of their heads do strange things. I
seem to see myself as in a dream. And this
man Braine is a scoundrel!"
" Yes; and more than that, he is the dear
friend of the countess. But understand, you
must never let her dream,or suspect that you
know. By lulling her into overconfidence some
day she will naturally grow careless, and then
wt'll have them all. I think I understand
what your father's idea is: not to have them
arrested for blackmail, but practically to ex
terminate them, put them in prison for such
terms of years that they'll die there. When
you see a snake, a poisonous one, don't let it
get away. Kill it. Well, I must be off to
work."
" And you be careful, too. You are in more
danger than I am."
" But I'm a man and can dodge quick," hi
laughed," picking up hi* hat
" What a horrid thing money Is! If I hadn't
any money, nobody would bother me."
" I wonld," he smiled. He wanted to kiss
her, but the eternal Jones might be watching
from the windows: and so he patted her hand
instead and walked down the graveled path to
the street. -
It was difficult work for Florence to play at
friendship. She was like her father; she diJ
not bestow it on every one. She had given her
friendship to the Russian, the first real big
friendship in her life, and she had been roughly
disillusioned. But if the countess could act,
so could she ; and of the two her acting was
the most consummate, the could smile and
laugh and jest, all the while her heart was
burning with wrath.
One day, a week or so after her meeting
with Norton in the summer house, Olga ar
rived, beautifully gowned, handsome as ever.
There was not the least touch of the adven
turess in her makeup. Florence had just re
ceived some mail, and she had dropped the let
ters on the library table to greet the countess.
She had opened them, but had not yet looked
at their contents.
They were chatting pleasantly about in
consequent things, when the maid came in and
asked Florence to come to Miss Susan's room
for a moment. Florence excused herself,
wondering what Susan could want. She for
got the mail.
As soon as she was gone the countess, cer
tain that Jones was not lurking about, picked
up the letters and calmly examined their con
tents; and among them she found this re
markable document: " Dear daughter I have
nerer seen : I must turn the treasure over
to you. Meet me at Bin the summer house.
Tell no one as my life is in danger. Your
loving father."
The countess could have laughed aloud. She
saw this man Paroff's hand; and r nere was
the chance to befool and humiliate him and
send him off packing to his cold and mis
erable country. She had made up once as
Florence, and she could easily do so again
The only thing that troubled her was the
fact that she did not know whether Florence
had read the letter or not. Thus, she
dare destroy it. She first thought of WW?'
ing the clock : then she concluded to drop' the
letter exactly where she had found it and
trust to luck. ,
When Florence returned she explained that
her absence had been due to dome trifliny
honsehold affair.
Said the Russian: "I come primarily to
ask yon to tea tomorrow, where they dance.
If you like, you may ask Mr. Norton to go
along. I begin to observe that you two are
rather fond of one another."
"O. Mr. Norton is just a valuable friend."
returned Florence with a smile that quite
deceived the other woman. " I shall lie glnd
to go to the tea. But I shall not promise
to dance."
" Not with Mr. Norton ? " archly.
"Reporters never dance themselves; they
make others dance instead."
"I shall have to tell that." declared the
countess; and she laughed quite honestly.
"Then I have said something witty?"
" Indeed you have; and it is not only witty
■but truthful. I'm afraid you're deeper that
the rest of us have any idea of."
" Perhaps I am," thought Florence; "at
least, deeper than you believe."
When the countess fluttered down to liei
limoueine—Florence hated the sight of it—
and drove away Florence remembered hei
letters. And when she came to the one pur
porting to Be from her father, she read it
carefully, bent her head in thought, and final
ly destroyed the missive, absolutely confident
that it was only'a trap, and not very well
conceived at that Norton had given her
plenty of reasons for believing all such let
ters to be forgariefl. Her father, if he really
wished to see her, would enter the house; he
would not -write. Ah, when would she see
that father of hers, so mysterious, always
hovering near, always unseen?
It must have been an amnsin* adventure
for the countess. To ateal Into the summer
house and, wait there, not knowing if Flo
rence had ad-vised Jones or the reporter 1 f
caught, »he had her excuses. Paroff. the
confident however, appeared shortly after.
"My child!" whispered the man.
And Olga stifled a laugh; but to him It
sounded like a sob.
"I am worn out," he said. " I am tired
of-the game of hide and seek."
" Yon will not have to play the came long."
thought Olga.
" The money ia hidden In my office down
town. And we must go there at once. When
we return we will pack up and leave »r
Europe. I've longed to see you so!"
"You poor fool! And they sent jrou t»
supersede Leo!" she mused.
She played out the (arc* to the very end.
She permitted herself to be pinioned and
jogged; and for irhat unnecessary roughness
she suffered at the hands of Paroff he wquld
presently pay. He took her straight to the
executive chamber of the Black Hundred and
pushed her into the room, exclaiming tri
umphantly:
" Her* is Hargreave's daughter! "
"Indeed!" said Olga, throwing back her
veil and standing revealed in her mask.
"Olga!" cried Bralne, laughing.
And that was the inglorious end of ih«
secret agent from Russia.
fro BE ooirrmom]