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SYNOPSIS.
The New York police are mystified by a
series of murders and other crimes. The
principal clue to the criminal is the warn-
ing letter which is sent the victims, signed
with a “clutching hand.” The latest vic-
tim of the mysterious assassin is Taylor
Dodge, the Insurance president. His
daughter, Elaine, employs Craig Kennedy,
the famous scientific detective, to try to
unravel the mystery. What Kennedy ac-
complishes is told by his friend Jameson,
a newspaper man. Enraged at the deter-
mined effort which Elaine and Craig Ken-
nédy are making to put an end to his
crimes, the Clutching Hand, as this
strange criminal is known, resorts to all
sorts of the most diabolical schemes to
put them out of the way. Each chapter
of the story tells of a new plot against
their lives and of the way the great de-
tective uses all his skill to save this pret-
ty girl and himself from death.
THIRTEENTH EPISODE
THE DEVIL WORSHIPERS.
Flaine was seated in the drawing
room with Aunt Josephine one after-
noon, when her lawyer, Perry Ben-
nett, dropped in unexpectedly.
He had hardly greeted them when
the butler, Jennings, in his usual im-
passive manner announced that Aunt
Josephine was wanted on the tele-
phone. ¢
No sooner were Elaine and Bennett
alone than Elaine, turning to him, ex-
claimed:
“Last night I dreamed that father
came to me and told me that if I
would give up Kennedy and put my
trust in you, I would find the Clutch-
ing Hand. I don’t know what to think
of it.”
Bennett, who had been listening in-
tently, moved over nearer to Elaine
and bent over her.
“Elaine,” he said in a low tone, his
re.narkable eyes looking straight into
her own, “you must know that I love
you. Then give me the right to pro-
tect you. It was your father’s dearest
wish, I believe, that we should marry.
Let me share your dangers and I
swear that sooner or later there will
be an end to the Clutching Hand.
Give me your answer, Elaine,” he
urged, “and make me the happiest
man in all the world.”
Elaine listened, and not unsympa-
thetically, as Bennett continued to
plead for her answer.
“Wait a little while—until tomor-
row,” she replied finally.
“let it be as you wish, then,”
agreed Bennett quietly.
He took her hand and kissed it pas-
sionately. ie
An instant later Aunt Josephine re-
turned. Flaine, unstrung by what
had happened, excused herself and
went into the library.
Involuntarily, her mind traveled
back over the rapid succession of
events of the past few weeks and
the part that she had thought, at
least, Kennedy had come to play in
her life. .
Then she thought of their recent
misunderstanding. Might there not
be some simple explanation of it, aft.
er all, which she had missed? What
should she do?
She solved the problem by taking
up the telephone and asking for Ken-
nedy’s number.
*® *- 5 * * * *®
I was chatting with Craig in his
laboratory, and, at the same time,
was watching him in his experimental
work. Just as a call came on the tele-
phone, he was pouring some nitro-
hydrochloric acid into a test tube to
complete a reaction.
The telephone tinkled and he laid
down the bottle of acid on his desk,
while he moved a few steps to answer
the call.
Whoever the speaker was, Craig
seemed deeply interested, and, not
knowing who was talking on the wire,
I was eager to learn whether it was
anyone connected with the case of
. the Clutching Hand.
“Yes, this is Mr. Kennedy,” I heard
Craig say.
I moved over toward him and whis-
pered eagerly, “Is there anything
new?”
A little impatient at being interrupt
ed, Kennedy waved me off. It oc:
curred to me that he might need a
pad and pencil to make a note ,of
some information, and I reached over
the desk for them.
As I did so my arm inadvertently
struck the bottle of acid, knocking it
over on the top of the desk. Its con-
tents streamed out saturating the tele-
phone wires before I could prevent it.
In trying to right the bottle my hand
came in contact with the acid which
burned like liquid fire, and I cried out
in pain.
Craig hastily laid down the re-
ceiver, seized me and rushed me to
the back of the laboratory, where he
drenched my hand with a neutraliz
ing liquid.
He pound up the wounds caused by
the acid, which proved to be slight,
after all, and then returned to the tele
phone.
To his evident annoyance, he dis-
covered that the acid had burned
through the wires and cut off all cons
nection.
* * * *® ® *® ®
At the other end of the line, Elaine
was listening impatiently for a re.
sponse to her first eager words of in-
quiry. She was astonished to find,
Bri ET AND CAST
ot : 4
4
3
The Exploits of Elaine |}
= 4
¢e Exploits of Elaine |3
$
A Detective Novel and a Motion Picture Drama |i $
$
%
. By ARTHUR B. REEVE 3
= e The Well-Known Novelist and the we &
Creator of the ““Craig Kennedy’ Stories 3
9
Presented in Collaboration With the Pathe Players and the Eclectic Film Company > 4
Copyright, 1914, by the Star Company All Foreign Rights Reserved é
LE ee ea a ee e00e00S
at last, that Kennedy had apparently
left the telephone without any expla-
nation or apology.
“Why—he rang oft,” she exclaimed
angrily to herself, as she hung up the
receiver and left the room.
* * * * #* * ®
In the center of a devious and wind-
ing way, quite unknown to all except
those who knew the innermost secrets
of the Chinese quarter, and even un-
known to the police, there was a dingy
tenement house, apparently inhabited
by hard-working Chinamen, but in re-
ality the headquarters of the notori-
ous devil worshipers, a sect of satan-
ists, banned even in the Celestial em-
pire.
The followers of the cult comprised
some of the most dangerous Chinese
criminals, thugs and assassins, be
sides a number of dangerous charac-
ters who belonged to various Chinese
secret societies. At the head of this
formidable organization was Long Sin,
the high priest of the devil god, and
Long Sin had, as we know, already
joined forces with the notorious
Clutching Hand.
The room in which the uncanny rites
of the devil worshipers were conduct-
ed was a large apartment decorated in
Chinese style, with highly colored por-
traits of some of the devil deities and |
costly silken hangings. Beside a large
dais depended a huge Chinese gong.
On the dais itself stood, or rather
sat, an ugly figure covered with some
sort of metallic plating. It almost
seemed to be the mummy of a China-
man covered with gold leaf.
Into this room came Long Sin at-
tired in an elaborate silken robe. He
advanced and kotowed before the
fais with its strange figure, and laid
down an offering before it.
This performance was witnessed by
twenty or thirty Chinamen who knelt
in the rear of the room.
At the same time an aged Chinaman
carrying a prayer wheel entered the
place and, after prostrating himself
devoutly, placed the machine on a
sort of low stool or tabourette and
began turning it slowly, muttering.
A few moments later Long Sin, who
had been bowing before the metallic
figure in deepest reverence, suddenly
sprang to his feet. His glazed eye and
excited manner indicated that he had
received a message from the lips of
the strange god.
The worshipers who had prostrated
themselves, in awe at the sight of their
high priest in the unholy frenzy, all
rose to their feet and crowded for-
ward.
Long Sin struck several blows on
the resounding gong and then raised
his voice in solemn tones.
“Ksing Chau, the Terrible, demands
a consort. She is to be foreign—fair
of face and with golden hair.”
*® * * * * * *
At the same time, in a room of the
adjoining house, the Clutching Hand
himself was busily engaged in mak-
ing the most elaborate preparations
for some nefarious scheme which his
fertile mind had evolved.
The room had been fitted up as a
medium’s seance parlor,
Two of the Clutching Hand's most
trusted confederates and a hard-faced
woman of middle age, dressed in plain
black, were putting the finishing
touches to this apartment, when their
chief entered.
Clutching Hand gazed about the
room, now and then giving an order
or two to make more effective the
setting for the purpose which he had
in mind.
Finally he nodded in approval and
stepped over to the fireplace where
logs were burning brightly in a grate.
Pressing a spring in the mantelpiece,
the master criminal effected an instant
transformation. The logs in the fire
place, still burning, disappeared imme-
diately through the bottom of the brick
tiling and a metal sheet covered them.
An aperture opened at the back, as if
by magic. /
Through this opening Clutching
Hand made his way quickly and dis-
appeared.
Emerging on the other side of the
peculiar fireplace, Clutching Hand
pushed aside a curtain which barred
the way and looked into the Chinese
temple, taking up a position behind
the metallic figure on the dais.
The Chinamen had by this time fin-
ished their devotions, if such they
might be called, and the last one was
leaving, while Long Sin stood alone
on the dais.
The noise of the departing satanists
Rad scarcely died away when Clutch:
ing Hand stepped out.
“Follow me,” he ordered hoarsely,
seizing Long Sin by the arm and lead-
ing him away.
They passed through the passage-
way of the fireplace and, having en-
tered the seance room, Clutching Hand
began briefly explaining the purpose
of the preparations that had been
made. Long Sin wagged his head in
voluble approval.
* * * * * * *
Elaine was standing in the library.
gazing sadly at Kennedy's portrait,
thinking over recent events and above
all the rebuff over the telephone which
she supposed she had received.
1
Jennings entered with a card on a |
salver. Elaine took it and saw with
surprise the name ot her caller:
MADAME SAVETSKY,
Medium.
Beneath the engraved name were
the words written in ink: “I have a
message from the spirit of your fa-
ther.”
“Yes, I will see her,” cried Elaine
eagerly, in response to the butler’s in-
quiry.
She followed Jennings into the ad-
joining room and there found herself
face to face with the hard-featured
woman who had only a few moments
before left the Clutching Hand.
Elaine looked rather than spoke he:
inquiry.
“Your father, my dear,” purred the
medium, with a great pretence of sup-!
pressed excitement, “appeared to me
the other night from the spirit world. |
I was in a trance and he asked me to
deliver a message to you.”
“What was the message?” asked
Blaine breathlessly, now aroused to
intense interest.
“I must go into a trance again to get
it,” replied the insinuating Savetsky,
“and if you like I can try it at once,
provided we can be left alone long
enough.”
Seated in her chair, the medium
muttered wildly for a few moments,
rolled her eyes and with some con-
vulsive movements pretended to go in-
to a trance. :
Suddenly the curtains were pulled
aside and Aunt Josephine and Ben-
nett, who had just come in, entered.
“I can do nothing here,” exclaimed
Savetsky, starting up and looking
about severely. “You must come to
my seance chamber where we shall
rot be interrupted.” ;
“1 will,” said Elaine, vexed at the
intrusion at that moment. “I must
have that message—I must.”
“What's all this, Elaine?” demanded
Aunt Josephine.
Hurriedly, Elaine poured forth to
her aunt and Bennett the story of the
medium’s visit and the promised mes-
sage from her father in the other
world.
Aunt Josephine, who was not one
easily to be imposed on, strongly ob-
jected to Elaine's proposal to accom-
pany Savetsky to the seance chamber,
but Elaine would not be denied.
“It might be safe for Elaine to go,”
Bennett finally suggested to Aunt Jo-
sephine, “if you and I accompanied
her.”
A few moments later, in the Dodge
car, Elaine, the medium and her two
escorts started for the Chinese quar-
ters.
* * * * * * *
At the house the medium opened the
door with her key and ushered in her
three visitors.
Entering the room, the medium at
once prepared for the seance by pull-
ing down the window shades.
Suddenly an indistinct face was seen
to be peering through the black cur- .
tains. A voice, deep, sepulchral, was
heard in slow and solemn tones.
«“] am Eeko—the spirit of Taylor
Dodge. I will give no message until
one named Josephine leaves the
room.”
No sooner had the words been ut-
tered than the medium came writhing
out of her trance.
“What happened?” she asked, look-
ing at Elaine.
Elaine reported the spirit’'s words.
“We can get nothing if your aunt
stays here,” Savetsky added, insisting
Elaine Is Hurried Through the Hid-
den Passage in the Fireplace.
that Aunt Josephine must go. “Your
father cannot speak while she is pres
ent.”
Aunt Josephine, annoyed by what
she had heard, indignantly refused to
go and was deaf to all Elaine’s plead-
ings.
“I think it will be all right,” finally
acquiesced Bennett, seeing L w bent
Elaine was on securing the message.
“T’ll stay and protect her.”
Aunt Josephine finally agreed. “Very
well, then,” she protested, marching
out of the room in a high state of
indignation.
She had scarcely left the house,
however, when she began to suspect
that all was not as it ought to be. In
fact, the idea had no sooner occurred
to her than she decided to call on
Kennedy and she ordered the chauf-
feur to take her as quickly as possible
to the laboratory.
* * * * * * J
Kennedy had not been in the labo-
ratory all the day after my experi
ence with the acid, and I was impa-
there came a knock at the door and T
cpened it hurriedly. There was a mes-
senger boy whc handed me a note. I
tore it open. It was from Kennedy
and read: “I shall probably be away
for two or three days. Call up Elaine
and tell her to beware of a certain
Madame Savetsky.”
I was still puzzling over the note
and was just about to call up Elaine
when the speaking tube was blown
and to my surprise I found that it was
Aunt Josephine who had called.
“Where is Mr. Kennedy?” she asked,
greatly agitated.
“Iie has gone away for a few days,”
I replied blankly, “Is there anything
I can do?”
She was very excited and hastily re-
lated what had happened at the parlor
of the medium. !
“What was her name?” I cried anx-
iously.
“Madame Savetsky,” she replied, to
my surprise.
Astounded, I picked up Craig’s note |
from the desk and handed it to her
without a word. She read it with ;
breathless«eagerness.
“Come back there with: me, please,”
she begged, almost frantic with fear '
now. “Something terrible may have
happened.”
* =
» - * #® *
Aunt Josephine had hardly left Sa-
vetsky when the trance was resumed.
Suddenly, from the mysterious shad- '
ows of the cabinet, there appeared the
spirit of Long Sin, whose death
Elaine still believed she had caused
when Adventuress Mary had lured her
to the apartment.
Elaine was trembling with fear at
the apparition.
As before, a strange voice sounded
in the depths of the cabinet and again
a message was heard, in low, solemn
tones:
“I am Keka, and I have with me
Long Sin. His blood cries for ven-
geance.”
Elaine was overcome with horror at
the words.
Then a dim, ghostly figure, appar-
ently that of Long Sin, appeared.
With arms outstretched, the figure
glided from the cabinet and approached
Elaine. She shrank back farther
in fright, too horrified even to scream.
At the same moment, the medium
drew a vapor pistol from her dress,
-~d, as the ghost of Long Sin leaped
~t Flaine, Savetsky darted forward
and shot a stream of vapor full in
“ennett’s face.
Tennett dropped unconscious, the
lichts in the darkened room flash-d
=p, and several of the men of the
“lutching Hand rushed in.
Quickly the fireplace was turned on
its cleverly constructed. hinges, re-
vealing the hidden passage.
Before any effective resistance could
he made, Elaine and Bennett were
hustled through the passage, securely
bound, and placed on a divan in a
~urtained chamber back of the altar
olde devil worshipers.
he x »* * * ® * *®
It was at that moment that I, little
dreaming of what had been taking
~lage, arrived with Aunt Josephine at
the house of the medium.
She answered my ring and admitted
us. To our surprise, the seance room
was empty.
“Where is the young lady who was
here?’ I asked.
“Miss Dodge and the gentleman just
left a few minutes ago,” the medium
explained, a8 we looked abou.
I happened to notice a torn handker-
chief lying on thé floor. It flashed
over me that perhaps it might afford
a clue.
As I passed it, I purposely dropped
my soft hat over it and picked up the
hat, securing the handkerchief with-
out attracting Savetsky’s attention.
Aunt Josephine was keen now for
returning home to find out whether
Flaine was there or not. No sooner
had she entered the car and driven off,
van I examinéd the handkerchief. It
was torn, as if it had been crushed in
the hand during a struggle and
wrenched away. I looked closer. In
the corner was the initial “BE.”
That was enough. Without losing
nother precious moment I hurried
around to the nearest police station,
The sergeant detailed several
roundsmen and a man in, plain clothes,
and together we returned to the house,
laying a careful plan to surround it
secretly, while the plainclothes man
and I obtained admittance.
* - * ® * " *
Meanwhile, the Chinese devil wor-
shipers had again gathered in their
cursed temple and Long Sin, in his
priestly robe, appeared on the dais.
The worshipers kotowed rever-
ently to him, while at the back again
stood the aged Chinaman patiently
turning his prayer wheel.
Two braziers, or smoke pots, had
been placed on the dais, one of which
Long Sin touched with a stick, caus-
ing it to burst out into dense fumes.
Standing before them, he chanted
in nasal tones: “The white consort of
the great Ksing Chau has been found.
It is his will that she now be made
his.”
As he finished intoning the message,
Long Sin signaled to two young China-
1en to go into the anteroom.. A mo-
ment later they returned with Elaine.
Frightened though she was, Elaine
when they had cut her bonds.
They carried her up to the dais, and
now Long Sin faced her and sternly
ordered her to kotow to the grue-
some metallic figure.
She refused, but instantly the China-
men seized her arm and twisted it,
until they had compelled her to fall
to her knees.
Having forced her to kotow, Lang
Sin turned to the assembled devil
dancers.
“With magic and rare drugs,” he,
tiently awaiting his arrival. At last
chanted, “she shall be made to pass
Ee
made no attempt to struggle, even
beyond and her body encased in pre-
cious gold shall be the consort of Ksing
Chau—forever and ever”
With callous deviltry, th. oriental
satanists made every arrangement for
embalming and preserving the body
of Elaine.
At last all seemed to be in readiness
to proceed.
“Hold her,” ordered Long Sin in gut-
tural Chinese, to the two attendants,
as he approached her.
Long Sin held in his hand a small,
profusely decorated pot from which
smoke was escaping. As he ap-
proached he passed this receptacle un-
der her nose once, twice, three times.
Gradually Elaine fell into uncon-
sciousness.
* * * * * * *
While Elaine was facing death in
the power of the devil worshipers, I
had reached the house of Savetsky
next door with the police, and the
place had been quietly surrounded.
With the plainclothes man, a daring
and intelligent fellow, I went to the
door and rang the bell.
“What can I do for you?’ asked the
medium, admitting us.
“My friend here,” I parleyed, “is in
i great business trouble. Can your con-
. trolling spirit give him advice?”
Savetsky set to work preparing the
room for a seance. As she moved over
to the window to pull down the shades
lzader of I.-n- Sin’s attendants and
struck down the other with a blow.
Kennedy seized Elaine's yielding
body, and, pushing back the curtain to
the anteroom, succeeded in gaining it
and locking the door into the main
tempie.
Bennett was still lying on the floor
tightly bound. With a few deft cuts
with a Chinese knife which he had
picked up, Kennedy released him.
At the same time Chinamen were
trying to batter down the door, Ken-
nedy’s last bulwark. It was swaying
under their repeated blows.
%* * * * * * *
While Kennedy was thus besieged
by the devil worshipers in the ante-
room, several policemen and detectives
gathered in the seance room with us,
next door, where Savetsky was held a
defiant and mute prisoner.
I had discovered the bell and, taking
that as a guide, I started to trace the
course of a wire which ran alongside
the wall.
To the fireplace I traced the bell
and, in pulling on the wire, I luckily
pressed a secret spring. Fo my amaze
ment the whole fireplace swung out
of sight and disclosed a secret pas-
sageway.
I looked through it.
It was almost at that precise instant
that the door of the anteroom burst
open and the Chinamen swarmed in,
Elaine Is Forced to Kotow to the Gruesome Metallic Figure.
‘she must have caught sight of one or
two of the policemen who had incau-
tiously exposed themselves from the
hiding place in which I had disposed
them before we entered. At any rate,
Savetsky did not lose a jot of her re-
markable composure.
“I'm sorry,” she remarked merely,
“put I'm afraid my, control is weak
and cannot work today.”
She took a step toward the door,
motioning us to leave. Neither of us
paid any attention to the hint, but re-
mained seated as we had been be
fore.
Almost before I knew what she was
doing, she made a dash for something
in the corner of the room. It was
time for open action, and I seized her
quickly.
My detective was on his feet in an
instant.
“I'll take care of her,” he ground
out, seized her wrists in his viselike
grasp. “You give the signal.”
I rushed to the window, threw up
the shade and opened the sash, wav-
ing our preconcerted sign and turned
again toward the room. ,
With a sudden accession of desper-
ate strength, Savetsky broke away
from the plainclothes man and again
attempted to get at something con-
cealed on the wall.
in time to fling myself between her
and whatever object she had in mind.
As the detective took her again and
twisted her arm until she cried out
in pain, I hastily investigated the wall.
She had evidently been attempting to |
press a button that rang a concealed
bell.
What did it mean?
* * * *® *® * *
Elaine, now completely unconscious,
was being held by the Chinamen,
while her arm was smeared with
sticky, black material from the caul-
dron of Long Sin.
Suddenly the aged Chinaman with
the prayer wheel stopped his inces-
sant, impious turning, and, rising, held
up his hand as if to command atten-
tion.
«This is nonsense,” he cried in a
loud voice. “Why should our great
Ksing Chou desire a white devil? 1, a
great-grandfather, demand to know.”
Shaking with rage, Long Sin or-
dered the intruder off the dais. But
the aged devotee refused to go.
“Throw him out,” he ordered his at-
tendants.
For answer, as the two young
Chinamen approached, the old China-
man threw them down to the
floor with a quick iiu-jitsu movement.
Furious now beyond expression,
i Long Sin stepped forward. He seized
{ the beard and queue of the intruder.
| To his utter amazement they came
+ off!
i It was Kennedy.
With his automatic drawn, before
! the astonished devil dancers could
| recover themselves, Craig stood at
: bay.
i Long Sin leaped behind the big
gong. As the Chinaman rushed for
ward to seize him. Kennedy shot the
I had turned just |
urged on by the insane exhortations of
Long Sin.
To my utter amazement, I recog-
nized Kennedy's voice.
In the first onslaught Craig shot one
Chinaman dead, then closed with the
others, slashing right and left with the
Chinese knife he had picked up.
Bennett came to his aid, but was
immediately overcome by two China~
men, who evidently had been detailed
for that purpose.
Meanwhile Kennedy and the others
were engaged in a terrible life and
death struggle.
Finally, Long Sin, seizing a large
wall-hanging, leaped upon Kennedy
from the back and threw it over his
head, almost suffocating him.
It was just as the Chinese was about
to overpower him that I led the po-
lice and detectives through the pas-
sageway of the firerlace. .
It was a glorious fight that followed.
But Long Sin and his Chinamen were
no match for the police and were soon
completely routed, the police striking
furiously in all directions and clearing
the room. >
Instantly Kennedy thought of the
fair object of all this melee. He
rushed to the divan on which he had
placed Elaine.
As she opened her eyes for an in-
stant she gazed at Craig, then at Ben-
nett. Still not comprehending just
what had happened, she gave her hand
to Bennett. Bennett lifted her to he®
feet and slowly assisted her as she
tried to walk away.
Kennedy watched them, more stupe-
fied than if he had been struck over
the head by Long Sin.
* * * ® * * *
Police and detectives were now tak
ing the captured Chinamen away, as
Bennett, his arm about Elaine, led hes
gently out.
A young detective had slipped the
bracelets over Long Sin’s wrist, and ¥
was standing beside him.
Kennedy, in a daze at the sight of
Elaine and Bennett, passed us, scarce
ly noting who we were.
As Craig collected his scattered
forces Long Sin motioned to him, aB
if he had a message to deliver.
Kennedy frowned suspiciously. He
was about to turn away when the Chi
naman began pleading earnestly for a
chance to say a few words.
“Step aside for a moment, you fel
lows, ‘won’t you, please?” he asked. “I
will hear what you have to say, Long
Sin.”
Long Sin looked about craftily.
“What is it?” prompted Craig, see
ing that at last they were all alone.
Long Sin again looked around.
“Swear that I will go free and not
suffer,” he whispered, “and I will b&
tray the great Clutching Hand.”
Kennedy studied the Chinaman
keenly for a moment. Then, seeming.
ly satisfied with the scrutiny, he nod
ded slowly assent.
As Craig did so, I saw Long Sin lean
over and whisper into Kennedy’s offi
Craig started back in horror and six
prise.
(TO BE COMTINTED.D
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