■M&IHB SIO,OOO FOR ONE HUNDRED WORDS. "The Million Dollar Mystery" story will r«n for twenty-two consecutive weeks ill this paper. By an arrangement with 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 ihe various moving picture theaters. For the solution of this mystery story SIO,OOO will be given by the Thanhouser Film corporation. CONDITIONS GOVERNING THE CONTEST. The prize of SIO,OOO will be won by the man, woman, or child who writes the most acceptable solution of the mystery, from uhicli the last tico reels of motion picture drama will be made and the I<M lf (too chapters of the story written by Harold MacOrath. Solutions may be sent to the Than houser Film corporation at 5 South TTo lash avenue, Chicago, 111., or Thanhouser Film corporation, 71 West Twenty-third street, New York City, N. Y., any time up to midnight, Jan. 11), 1916. This allows several weeks after the last ohapter has been published. A board of three /udges will determine irhich of the many solutions received is the trost acceptable. The judges are to bo Harold MaoGrath, Lloyd Lonergan. and Miss Mae Tinee. The judgment of this SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS. Stanley Buimre, millionaire, after a miraculous r>cap« front the <» «f tbe gang of brilliant thieve* known an the Black Hundred. Uvea the life of a re cluse for eighteen yearn. Hargreave ac cidentally meeta Bralne, leader of the Black Hundred. Knowing Bralne will try to get him, he escape* from his own home by a balloon. Before escaping he wrltea a letter to the girls' school where eighteen years before he mysteriously left on the doonstep his baby danshter, Florence Gray. That day Hargreave also draws $1,000,000 from the bank, but it Is reported that this dropped Into the •ea when the balloon he escaped In was punctured. Florence arrives from the ilrls' school. Countess Olga, Bralne's companion, vis- Its her and rlatw her as n relative. Two bogus detectives cnll, but their plot Is foiled by Norton, a newspaper man. After falilnK In their flrst attempt, the Black Hundred trap Florence. They ask her for money, but she escapes, again (oiling them. Norton nnd the countess call on Flor ence the next day, once more safe at home. The visitors hnvlng gone, Jones removes a section of flooring and from a cavity takes a box. Pursued by mem bers of the Black Hundred, he rushes to tbe water front and aucceeds in drop ping the box into the sea. (Copyright: 1914: by Harold Mac Grath.) CHAPTER XVI. TREACHERY IN TUB HOUSEHOLD. THE mairl stole into the house, wondering if she had been seen. She wanted to be loyal to this girl, but she was tired of the life; she wanted to be oer own mistress, and the small for tune offered her would put her on the way to realize her ambition. What had she not seen and been of life since she joined tbe great detective's force! Lady's maid, cook, ship stewardess, flash woman, actress, clerk, and a dozen other employments. Her pay, until she secured some fat reward, was but twelve hun dred the year; and here was five thousand in advance, with the promise of five thousand more the minute her work was done. And it was simple work, without any real harm to ward Florence as far as she was concerned. The whole thing rested upon one difficulty: would Jones permit the girls to leave the house? One day Florence found Susan sitting in a chair, her head In her hands. " Why, Busan, what'a the matter?" cried Florence. " I don't know what la the matter, dear, but I haven't felt well for two or three days. I'm *iz*y all the time. I can't read or sew or eat or sleep. "Why didn't yon tell me?" said Florence, reproachfully. She rang for the detective maid. ** Ella, I don't know anything about doctors hereabouta." " I know a good one, Miss Florence. Shall I send for him? " " Do ; Susan is ill." Jones was not prepared for treachery in his own household; so when he heard that a doctor had been called to attend Susan he was without the least suspicion that he had been betrayed. More than this, there had been no occasion to summon a doctor in the seven years Mr. Hargreave had lived here. So Jones went about his petty household affairs without more thought upon the matter. The maid had been recommended to him as one of the s'.ircwdest young women in the detective busi ness. The doctor arrived. He was a real doctor; no doubt of that. He investigated Susan's con dition —brought about by a subtle though not dangeroug poison—and instantly recommended the aeashore. Susan was not used to being confined to the house; she was essentially an out of doors little body. The seashore would bring her about In no time. The doctor sug gested Atlantic City because of its mildness throughout the year and ita nearness to Nevi York. " I'm afraid 6he'll have to £• alone," said Jones, gravely MILLION BDLLAP MYSTERY board trill be absolute and final. Nothing cf a literary nature will be considered in the decision, nor given any preference in the selection of the winner of the SIO,OOO prize. The last tico reels, which icill giro the most acceptable solution to the mys tery. will be presented in the theaters having this feature as soon as it is pos sible to proit'ee the same. The story corre sponding to these motion pictures icill ap pear in the newspapers coincident ally, or as soon after the appearance of the pic tures as practicable.' With the last two reels will be shown the pictures of the win ner, his or her home, and other interesting features. It is understood that the news papers, so far as practicable, in printing the last two chapters of the story by Har old MacGrath, will also show a picture of the 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 uith the mystery as an aid to a solution: Xo. I—What becomes of the millionairef No. 2 —TT/iat becomes of the 51,000,000f No. 3—lVhom does Florence marryT No.i —What becomes of the Russian countess T Nobody connected either directly or in directly ux'th " The Million Dollar Mys tery " will be considered as a contestant. Accomplices of Bralne kidnap Florence and hurry her off to sea. She leaps over board and Is plcke# np la a daaed con dition by fishermen. Bralne, disguised a* her father, takes her back to aea with him. Florence sets Ire to the boat aud la rescued hy a ship on which Norton has besn shanghaied. Concealed above the rendaavoua of the Black Hundred, a man learna of the re covery of the box from the aea by a sal'or nnd of Its subsequent aetnra to the bottom of the sea, and he qnlckly communicates the fact to Joaea. A dupli cate box la planted and later aecured by the band, but before Its contents are ex amined the box myateriously disappears, Finding himself checkmated at every tarn, Bralne endeavors to enmesh the Hargreave household In tbe law In or der to gain free access to the house. The timely discovery of the plot by Nor ton aeta the police at the heela of the pack and results In a raid on the gang's rendesvous, which, however, proves to be barren of results. Following n telephone message Jones received from a mysterious person whom he addressed as " sir," Florence Is agntn lured from her home nnd taken out to sea. Through Norton's daring and skill as an aviator she Is rescued and returns to her h"me in time to confront an agent of the Black Hundred. " I shan't stir! " declared Susan. " I shan't leave my girl even if I am sick." Susan caught Florence's hand and pressed it. " Would you like to go with her, Florence? " asked Jones, with a shy glance at the strange doctor. The sby glance was wasted. The doctor evinced no sign that it mattered one way or the other to him. "It is nothing very seriouß now," he vol unteered. " But it may turn out serious if it is not taken care of at once." " What is the trouble?" inquired Jones, who was growing fond of Susan. " Weak heart. Sunshine and good sea air will strengthen her up again. No, no! " as Jones drew forth his wallet. " I'll send in my bill the first of the month. Sunshine and sea air; that's all that's necessary. And now, good-day." All very businesslike; not the least cause in the world for any one to suspect that a new trap was being set by the snarers. The maid returned to the sewing room, while Fk>rence coddled her companion and made much of her. Jones was suspicious, but dig in his mi©d as he would he could find no earthly reason for this suspicion save that this attribute was now instinctive, that it was always near the top. If Susan was 111 she must be given good care ; there was no getting around this fact. Later, he telephoned several prominent physicians. The strange doctor was recom mended as a good ordinary practitioner and in good standing; and so Jones dismissed his sus picions as having no hook to hang them on. His hair would have tingled at the roots, however, hau he known that this same physi cian was one of the two who had signed the document which l.ad accredited Florence with insanity and had all but succeeded in making a supposition a fact Nor was Jones aware of the fact that the telephone wire had been tapped recently. So when he finally concluded to permit Florence to accompany Susan to Atlantic City he telephoned to the detective agency to send up a trosty man, who wag shadowed from the moment he entered the Hargreave home till he started for the railway station. He became lost in the shuffle and was not heard from till weeks later, in Ha vana. The Black Hundred found a good profit in the shanghai ing business. Susan began to pick up, as they say, the day after the arrival at Atlantic City, due, doubtless, to the cessation of the poison she had been takjuc unawares. The two young women began to enjoy life for the first,time since they bad left Miss Farlow's. They were up with the sun every day and went to bed tired but happy. No on? bothered them. If some stray reporter encountered their signa tures on the hotel register, he saw nothing to excite his reportorial senses. All this, of ■ (J3y HAROLD MAC GRATH* course, was due to Norton's policy of keeping the afTalr out of the papers. Following Jones' orders, they made friends with no one. Those about the hotel—especial ly the young men—when they made any ad vances were politely snubbed. Every nlgl.t Florence would write to her good butler to report what had taken place during the day, and he was left to judge for himself if there was anything to arouse tils suspicions. He, of course, believed the two were covertly guarded by the detective he bad sent after them. When Bralne called upon Olga he found Lis doctor there. " Well, what's the news? " he asked. " I had better run down and Inquire how ' EXCU4 the young lady is progressing," said the doctor, who was really a first rate surgeon and who had performed a number of skilled operations upon various members of the Black Hundred anent their encounters with the police. " I've got Miss Florence where you want her. It's up to you now." " She ought to be separated from her com panion. We have left them alone for a whole week, so Jones will not worry particularly. A mighty curious thing has turned up. Be fore Hargreave's disappearance not a dozen persons could recollect what Jones looked like. He was rarely ever in sight. What do you suppose that signifies?" " Don't ask me," shrugged the man of medi cine. " I shouldn't worry over Jones." " But we can't stir the old fool. We can't get ljim out of that house. I've tried to get that maid to j*it a little something in his coffee, but she stands off at that. She says that she did as she agreed in regard to Flor ence, but her agreement ended there. We have given the jade five thousand already and sl.e is clamoring for the balance." "Have you threatened her?" asked Olga. Braine smiled a little. "My dear woman, It is fifty-fifty. While I have a hold on her, It is not quite so good as she has on me. We are not dealing with an ordinary servant we could threaten and scare. No, indeed; a shrewd little won}pn who desperately wanted money. And <fce will be paid ; no getting out of it. She will not move another step, one way or the other, after she receives the bal ance. nargreave will have a pretty steep bill to pay when the time comes." " She has no idea where the million is ? " " If she Lad, she's quite capable of lugging it off all by herself,'' said Braine. « The doctor laughed. " Olga," went on Braine, " you must look at it as I do: that it is still in the middle of the game, and we have neither lost nor won." " llow do you know that Ilargreave may not have at his beck and call an organization quite as capable if not as large as ours?" ■uggested the physician. " That is not possible," Braine declared without hesitation. "Well, it begins to look that way to me. We've never made a move yet that hasn't been blocked." " Pure luck each time, I tell you ; the devil's own luck always at the critical moment, when everything seems to be in our hands. Now, we want Florence, and we've tried a hundred ways to accomplish this fact and failed. The question is, how to get her away from her companion? " " Simple enough," said the doctor com placently. V " Out with it, if you hive an idea/ The doctor leaned forward and whispered a few words. " Well, I'm hanged! " Braine laughed and slapped the doctor on the shoulder. " Tha simplest thing in the world. Mnd be in it. I always said that you had gray matter if you cared to exert yourself." " Thanks," replied the doctor dryly. " I'll drop down there tomorrow, if you wy so, ostensibly to see the other patient. It will make a deuce of a disturbance." " Not if you scare the hotel people." " That is what I propose to do. They will not want such a thing known. It would scare every one away for the rest of the season. But of course this depends upon whether they j- ——==W^ === V • X %' " • 4 V I ■' ' I ' ' 4 V FLORENCE FALLS INTO A BED OF OKKSAMD are honest or in the hotel business to make money." Again limine laughed. " Bring her back to New York alone, .-Esculapius, and a fht check is yours. Nothing could be simpler than an idea like this. It's a fact; no roan can think of everything, and you've just proved it to me. I've tried to do a general's work without aids. Olga, does any one watch me come and go any more?" " No; I've watched a dozen nigl.ts. The man has gone. Either he found out what he wanted or he gave up the job. To my mind he found out what he wanted." "And what's that?" " Heaven knows! " discouragedly. " Come, doctor, suppose you and I go down to Daly's for a little turn at billiards? " " Nothing would suit me better." " All aboard, then ! Good-night, Olga. Keep your Lair on; I mean your own hair. We're going to win out, don't you worry. In «J1 games the minute you begin to doubt you begin to lose." That same night Norton sat at his desk, in his shirt sleeves, pounding away at his type- writer. From time to time lie paused and teetered his chair and scowled over his pipe at the starlit night outside. Bang! would go his chair again, aof) clickit.v-click would sing the keys of the machine. The story he was writing was In the ordinary routine; the ar rival of a gTeat ocean liner with some political notables who were not adverse to denouncing the present administration. You will have noticed, no doubt, that some disgruntled Qpli tician is always denouncing the present ad ministration, it matters not if it be Repub lican or Democratic. 'When you arc out of a good job you are alawys prone to denounce. The yarn bored Norton because his thoughts were miles southward. He completed the story, yanked out the final sheet, called for a copy boy, rose and saun tered over to the managing editor's door, be fore which he paused indecisively. The " old man " had been after him lately regarding the Hargreave story, and he doubted if his er rand would prove successful. However, he boldly opened the door and walked In. " Humph ! ' said the " old man," twisting his cigar into the corner of his mouth. " Got that story?" Norton sat down. " Y*s, but I have not got it fo» print yet. Mr. Blair, when you gave me the Hargreare Job you gave me carte blanche." " I did." grimly. " But, on the other hand, I did not give you ten years to clear it up in." " Have I ever (alien down on a good story T" Quietly. " M\ cnn't remember," grudgingly. " Well, if you'll have patience I'll not fall down on this one. It's the greatest criminal story I ever handled, but it's so big that it's going to take time." " Gimme «n outline." " I have promised not to," with a primness equal to the "old man's." "If a line of this story trickles out it will mean that every other paper will be moving around, and in the end will discover enough to spoil my end of it. I'll tell yeu this much: The most colossal band of thieves this country ever saw is at one end of the stick. And when I say that counterfeiting and politics and millions aw all involved, you'll understand how big it is. This gang has city protection. We are run- ning them all into a corner; but we want that corner so deep that none of them can wriggla out of it. " Uhm. Go op." " I want two months more." The " old man " beat a tattoo with his fat pencil. " Sixty days, then. And if the yarn isn't on my desk at midnight, you " " riunt for another job. All right. I came in to ask for three days' leave." " You're your own boss, Jim, for sixty days more. Whadda y' mean counterfeiting? " Those new tens and twenties. If I stum ble on that right, why, I can turn it over without conflicting with the other story." " Well, go to it." " I'm turning in my regular wo£, day in and day out, and while doing it I've gon<» through more hairbreadth escapes than you ever heard of. They have been after me. I've dodged falling safes; I've been shanghaied, poisoned ; but I haven't said a word." "Good Lord! Do you mean all that?" " Every word, sir." "IH make it ninety days, Jim; and if this otory comes in I'll see that you get a corking bonW J " T'm not looking for bonuses. I'm prood of my work. To get this story is all I want That'll be enough. Thanks for the extension in time. Good-night." So Florence received a long night letter in the morning. And the doctor arrived at about the sam* time. And called promptly upon his patient. " Fine " he said. " The sea air was Just the thing. A doctor always likes to find his advice turning out well." He glanced quizzically at Florence, who was the picture of glowing health. Suddenly h« frowned anxiously. "You need not look at me," she laughed. " I never felt better in all my life." "Are you quite sure?" he asked gravely. "Why, what in the world do you mean?" He did not speak, but stepped forward and took her by the wrist, holding his watch in his other hand. He shook his head. He looked very solemn, indeed. "What is it?" demanded Susan, with grow ing terror. " Go to your own room Immediately and re main there for the present," he ordered. " 1 must see Miss Hargreave alone.' ' He opened the door and Susan passed out bewilderedly. He returned to Florence, whfv was even more bewildered than Ufcr companion. The doctor began to n her questions; how she slept, if she was thirsty, felt pains in her back. She answered all these questions vague ly. Not the slightest suspicion entered her head that she was being hoodwinked. Why should she entertain any suspicion? This doctor, who seemed kindly and benevolent, who had prescribed for Susan and benefited her, why should she doubt him?" "In heaven's name, tell me what is the matter? " she pleaded. " Stay here for a little while and I'll be back. Under no circumstances leave your ro'om till I return." He paced out into the hall, to meet the frantic Susan. "We must see the manager at once," he replied to her queries. " And we must be extremely quiet about it. There must be no excitement. You had better go to your room. You must not go into Miss HargreaVe's. Tell me, where Lave you been? Have you been trying to do any charitable work among the poorer clasps?" " Only once," admitted Susan, now on the verge of tears. " Only once is sufficient. Come; we'll go and see the manager together." They arrived at the desk, and the manager was summoned. " I take it," began the doctor lowly, " that a contagious disease, if it became known among your guests, would create a good deal of disturbance? " " Disturbance! Good heavens, man, it would ruin my business for the whole sea son 1 " exclaimed the astounded manager. " I am sorry, but this young lady's com panion has been stricken with smallpox " The manager fell back against his desk, his jaw fallen. Susan turned as white as the marble top. " The only way to avoid trouble is to have her conveyed immediately to some place where she can be treated properly. Not a word to any one now ; absolute secrecy or a panic." The manager was glad enough to agree. " She is not dangerous at present, but it la only a matter of a few hours when the disease will become virulent. If you will place a porter before Miss Hargreave's door till v. make arrangements to take her away, that will simplify matters." Smallpox! Susan wandered aimlessly about, half out of her mind with terror. There was no help against such a dread dis ease. Her Florence, her pretty rosy cheeked Florence, disfigured for life . . .! "Miss Susan, where is Florence?" Susan stopped abruptly and looked into the friendly eyes of Noiton. "O, Mr. Norton!" sh.- gasped. "What's the trouble?" Instantly alert. " Florence has the gmailpt r! " "Impossible! Come with me." But the porter, having had the strictest orders from the manager, refused to let them Into Florence's room. " Never mind, Susan. Come along." Out of earshot of the porter he said: "My room Is directly ahove Florence's. We'll see what csn be done. 'Biis (.mells of The Black Hun dred a mile off. Smallpox! Only yesterday she wrote me that she never felt better. Have you wired Jones?" " I never thought to! " " Then I shall. Our old friends are at work again." " But it's the same doctor who sent m# down here." Norton fiowned. What followed all appeared In the> re porter's story, as written three months later, lie and Susan went up to bis room, raised the flooring, cut through the ceiling, and with ths fire escape rope dropped below. One glance at Florence's tear-stained face was enough for him. Norton's subsequent battle with the doctor and his accomplices made very Inter esting rending. Their escape from the hotel, their flight, their encounter with one of the gang in the road, and Florence's blunder into the bed of quicksand, gave a succession of thrills to the readers of the Blade. And all this while the million accumulated dust, layer by layer. Perhaps an occasional hai-dy roach scrambled over the packets, n# doubt attracted by the peculiar odor of th* ink. £TO BE CONTINUED.}
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