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- DirectorViggo LarsenStarsPaul OttoViggo Larsen
- DirectorCharles BrabinStarsMary FullerMarc McDermottCharles OgleThe forerunner of all serials, "What Happened to Mary" was a series of 12 monthly one-reel episodes, each a complete entity in itself, revolving its immediate dramatic and melodramatic problems within the framework of a single episode and designed more for story and suspense situations than action. Episode Titles (q.v.): #1: "The Escape from Bondage"; #2: "Alone in New York"; #3: "Mary in Stage Land"; #4: "The Affair at Raynor's"; #5: "A Letter to the Princess"; #6: "A Clue to Her Parentage"; #7: "False to Their Trust"; #8: "A Will and a Way"; #9: "A Way to the Underworld"; #10: "The High Tide of Misfortune"; #11: "A Race to New York"; #12: "Fortune Smiles."
- DirectorFrancis J. GrandonStarsKathlyn WilliamsCharles ClaryHorace B. CarpenterThe daughter of an adventurer in India is kidnapped by a native king, whom she is forced to marry. She has several adventures battling natives and wild animals.
- DirectorWalter EdwinStarsMary FullerBen F. WilsonRichard Tucker
- DirectorLouis FeuilladeStarsRené NavarreEdmund BreonGeorges MelchiorInspector Juve is tasked to investigate and capture an infamous criminal Fantomas.
- DirectorLouis J. GasnierDonald MacKenzieStarsPearl WhiteCrane WilburPaul PanzerPauline, a young maiden, must protect herself from the treacherous "guardian" of her inheritance, who repeatedly plots to murder her and take the money for himself.
- DirectorLouis J. GasnierGeorge B. SeitzLeopold WhartonStarsPearl WhiteArnold DalyCreighton HaleWith the help of a private detective, Elaine tries to catch the masked criminal mastermind The Clutching Hand, who has murdered her father.
- DirectorJ. Gunnis DavisJ.P. McGowanRobert G. VignolaStarsHelen HolmesHelen GibsonJ.P. McGowanHelen, informed of the danger which menaces an excursion train because another engine on the same track is running wild, mounts a motorcycle and speeds down the track to warn the passengers of their imminent peril.
- DirectorWalter EdwinStarsMary FullerYale BossCharles OgleEpisode 1: "The Perfect Truth" The day after Dolly Desmond had startled the community with the excellence of her graduation oration, Bobby North, a reporter on the local paper, suggested that it would be a good idea for her to write stories and things for his paper. Dolly was delighted with the idea, and started at once to put it into effect. She decided to write a story, which, although ostensibly fictional, should actually give a truthful picture of life about her as she saw it. After a week of hard work, which involved much burning of midnight oil and much weariness for the fair young authoress, the masterpiece was finished. The editor was delighted with it. It was published under the title, "The Perfect Truth: A Story of Real Life" and, at Dolly's request, the name of the author was omitted. On the afternoon of the publication of the story, the Ladies' Home Sewing Guild was engaged in its customary routine of languid needlework and somnolent gossip. One of the members began to read "The Perfect Truth," but stopped with a gasp of surprise, and called the attention of the other members to the article. In graphic, pitiless bits of description, the essential characteristics of each of the members of the Ladies' Guild were set forth so plainly, that there was no possibility of mistaking their several identities. Dolly had used the pen of a satirist with telling effect. The meeting of the Ladies' Guild ended in a furor of confusion. Mrs. Broome, the hostess of the afternoon, who had been particularly scored by the anonymous author, rushed to the newspaper office and demanded the name of her defamer. The editor refused to give her the desired information, but a note from Dolly on Bobby's desk made all things clear to Mrs. Broome. With the spreading of the news, the storm center shifted to Dolly's home. While indignant citizens waited on Mr. Desmond, and threatened to withdraw their accounts from his bank, the infuriated wives filled Mrs. Desmond's ears with their complaints. Dolly's father commanded her to stop the story and make a public apology, but Dolly, for the first time in her life, refused to comply with her parents' wishes. With the fifty dollars her story had brought in, she left for the city to earn her own living. We shall discover later what happened to her there. Episode 2: "The Ghost of Mother Eve" The first thing Dolly did after her arrival in New York was to try to find herself a job. The fifty dollars she had been paid for her story was practically all she had, and Dolly was wise enough to know that such an amount would not carry her very far in the city. At the very time that Dolly went to apply for a position on "The Comet," Mrs. Yorke, a wealthy society woman, was also on the list of applicants. But whereas Dolly merely wanted a position in order that she might feed and clothe herself, Mrs. Yorke desired a sinecure of a post wherein she might indulge her love for notoriety and scandal. As not infrequently happens, the rich and undeserving succeeded, while the poor and deserving failed. Dolly was politely turned away, while the paper agreed to publish a column from Mrs. Yorke's pen under the name of "Mother Eve." Mrs. Yorke noticed Dolly as she was leaving the newspaper office. Discovering the girl's literary ability, she invited her to lunch, and offered Dolly a position as her private secretary. Dolly, naturally enough, jumped at the offer, and entered upon her duties immediately. The main portion of her duties consisted in writing the "Mother Eve" column. Mrs. Yorke had not the remotest idea how to set about her self-appointed task. All she cared for was the money. For some days Dolly was moderately contented and happy. But one afternoon, while she was collecting news of an approaching ball in the showrooms of a fashionable modiste, she happened to encounter Mrs. Yorke. That estimable lady looked over and past and through Dolly, without the slightest trace of recognition in her face. When Dolly entered her room that evening to accomplish her nightly literary task, she fell, sprained her wrist, and promptly fainted. When Mrs. Yorke returned from a dance in the wee small hours of the next morning, she found a copy boy waiting patiently for the "Mother Eve" material. Dolly, roused from her swoon, was unable to work the typewriter on account of her wrist. So the copy boy wrote it to her dictation, while Mrs. Yorke stood by and fumed. After the boy bad left, Mrs. Yorke was highly unpleasant. Dolly, in a few crisp words, told her employer exactly what she thought of her, and informed her that hereafter she could write her own column. Then Dolly went away. Episode 3: "An Affair of Dress" It will he remembered that Dolly was engaged by Mrs. Yorke, a fashionable member of the smart set, to write a society column for the "Comet." Dolly furnished the brains and did the work. Mrs. Yorke received the money. After she had received a few unpleasant proofs of her employer's unreasonable selfishness, Dolly shook the dust of the Yorke mansion from her feet, and departed. In the course of her gathering of society notes, Dolly had met Minnie, a mannequin in a fashionable tailoring establishment. As luck would have it, there was a vacancy when Dolly arrived to ask Minnie about her work, and twenty-four hours after her quarrel with Mrs. Yorke, the girl was engaged at Browngrass' as a mannequin, with the princely salary of twenty-five dollars a week. Let it not be supposed that she was entirely infatuated with her position. She had come to the city to write, and write she would eventually. This was merely a makeshift, a temporary bar to keep the wolf from the door. There were other reasons too, why her situation did not satisfy her. The proprietor was kind, a little too kind, Dolly thought. One afternoon, he tried to kiss her, and she, quite naturally, slapped his face. In the midst of all her little difficulties, Dolly was not allowing herself to drift out of touch with the magazine and newspaper world. A poem sent by her to the "Jester," brought a gratifying return in the shape of a letter from the editor inquiring into her capabilities for a small editorial position. Later, the editor called, and since he was a nice sort of person, Dolly took dinner with him. In the excitement of the moment, she sailed off to the restaurant in the gown she was wearing. As it happened, the proprietor of Browngrass' came to the restaurant, saw the gown, called a policeman, and ordered him to arrest Dolly. Aid came from an unexpected quarter. Rockwell Crosby, editor of the "Comet," was sitting at the next table. He discovered that Dolly had written Mrs. Yorke's column, showed his card to the policeman, and ordered him to remove the angry proprietor. Dolly, he said, had no connection with Browngrass'. She was his star reporter. After the man had been removed and Dolly thanked Crosby for his kind lie, he told her it was the truth. She was engaged. Episode 4: "Putting One Over" When Miss Mindel, president of the Reform League, received a pathetic letter from certain tenants of the Union Realty Company, complaining of unsanitary living conditions and unjust rents, she wrote a sharp letter to the president of the Realty Company, threatening action in the courts unless improvements were made. James Boliver, the president, had put his company into its position of prominence, largely through his entirely unscrupulous method of dealing with any type of opposition to his plans. Briefly summing up the probable results of any action on the part of the Reform League, he decided that it must be prevented at any cost, so he decided to bribe Miss Mindel. Miss Mindel did not understand the carefully couched letter she received from Boliver, asking her to come and see him. She felt that she was getting into deep water, and decided to appeal to the newspapers, before taking any action. At the office of "The Comet," where she went first, Miss Mindel met Dolly Desmond, and with characteristic impulsiveness, told her the whole story. Dolly immediately hit on a plan, which she confided to Miss Mindel. That good lady, after some thought, consented to it. She was personally unknown to Boliver, and there seemed no reason why the plan should not succeed. In accordance with it, Dolly presented herself at the Union Realty Company's office as Miss Mindel. Mr. Boliver was very nice to her, indeed, and, finding her even more compliant than he had hoped, gave her a check for five thousand dollars, and allowed her to write him a receipt on the typewriter. Dolly made a carbon copy of the receipt, thanked Mr. Boliver, and turned to go. At the door she met Mr. Browngrass, her late employer, who happened to be one of the directors of the company. Since Browngrass recognized her immediately, there was nothing left for Dolly but flight via the fire escape. The enraged directors pursued her, but without result. She got her story in in time to go to press, and we leave Dolly glancing affectionately at the staring headlines of her "scoop." Episode 5: "The Chinese Fan" All newspaperdom was excited over the strange disappearance of Muriel Armstrong and each daily was doing its best to discover the missing heiress first, and thus secure for themselves one of the most sensational bits of news of the day, but no trace of her could be found, despite all efforts. The editor of the Comet ground his cigar and swore impotently and even Dolly, the star reporter, was at a loss for clues. Dolly was pondering over the matter on her way to her evening's assignment: the Chinese theater in Mott Street, where she was detailed to report the play. During the second act a little Chinese pin in the shape of a fan, which Dolly was wearing, unconscious of its significance to the Tongs, started a riot in the theater. As Dolly was escaping down the side street a huge hand protruded itself from a small door, pulled her inside, down a narrow corridor and thrust her into an ill-lighted den. How could she get out? She pounded on the door and called for assistance but all that greeted her was a chuckle and a slushing of soft footsteps down the corridor. She peered around in the gloom and suddenly a frightened bundle of humanity detached itself from the corner and a young girl fell at Dolly's feet, imploring assistance. Dolly raised her gently, looked into her face and discovered that she was Muriel Armstrong, the missing heiress. All fear of the Chinese vanished. Here was the scoop of the year. Fate helped her too, for the half-crazed opium fiend who was Muriel's guard, upset the lamp and set the place on fire. This enabled Dolly and her prize to escape and the next morning the heiress was turned over to her delighted parents. Episode 6: "On the Heights" Dolly's friend, Rockwell Crosby, editor of the "Comet." disagrees with the management and resigned. Dolly was disappointed at the news, but that was as nothing compared to her rage at the attitude of his successor, who was a self-confessed "hustler" and intended to make everybody on the paper "sit up and take notice." The first assignment he gave Dolly was to wander about the streets after dark until she found a story. Dolly was furious. She had made a distinct place for herself on the staff, and was accustomed to being treated with consideration. There was nothing to do but obey, so Dolly started out. To her amazement she ran across Ella Snyder, an old school friend, who was weeping bitterly. She had eloped with a young man named Oliver Allen. Oliver had brought her to a hotel, and had departed in search of a license. Having not come back for two hours Ella concluded that she had been deceived and decided to drown herself. Dolly took the girl home, told her not to be silly, and went to get Allen. She found him at the hotel bewildered at the disappearance of his bride-to-be. Dolly, convinced that his intentions were honorable, took him back with her. They found Ella had disappeared again. She left a note, saying she had resolved to die. In order to repay Dolly, Ella said she was going to jump from the highest building in town, so Dolly could make a scoop of the news. Dolly and Allen rushed to the Woolworth Building, and stopped Ella just in time. Then they repaired to the City Hall, where Ella and Allen were married. Dolly returned to the office and told the editor she had a story, but didn't intend to write it. He was wildly indignant at first, until she had calmly explained she knew perfectly what she was doing. Episode 7: "The End of the Umbrella" The Aqueduct Construction Company has been having a good deal of trouble with certain anarchistic elements, who, anxious to seize any cause of discontent to further the bloody revolution they hoped for, opposed the building of the great pipe which would carry fresh sparkling water to the crowded people of the great city. Finally, after the company had been worried half to death by anonymous threats, a tremendous explosion killed a couple of dozen workmen and completely wrecked the main section of the great work. Dolly Desmond, in the city office of the newspaper, heard of the catastrophe and begged the editor to allow her to investigate it. The editor, who had formed a high opinion of Dolly's character, readily consented, and Dolly set out for the scene of the disaster. As she wandered about the wrecked aqueduct, she came upon a curious umbrella handle in among several pieces of a shattered bomb. Dolly kept her find and said nothing about it to anybody. With some little difficulty, she succeeded in obtaining a position as cashier in the dining room of the little hotel near the works. She had the umbrella handle placed on a new umbrella, put it in the stand where she could keep her eye on it, and settled herself to watch. It wasn't as easy a matter to devote her entire attention to the stand as she had thought at first, for Grant, a young engineer at the works, fell madly in love with her. and insisted on talking to her at every opportunity. At last, when she was on the point of giving up in disgust, a shifty-eyed individual picked up the umbrella, started to go out with it, and then apparently remembering, looked at it, put it down and looked frightened. Dolly recognized him as "Nutty Jim," one of the lodgers in the hotel. That evening Dolly went up to his room to investigate. She had just unearthed several bombs when Nutty Jim entered and sprang at her. She fired at him, but missed. A bomb was knocked off the table and exploded. Nutty Jim was killed and Dolly severely injured. We leave her at the hospital with the anxious Grant at her side, delightedly reading her "scoop" in the Comet. Episode 8: "A Tight Squeeze" When the news came to the Comet office that Mr. Martinengro, the well-known Italian-American merchant and philanthropist, had been murdered, Dolly Desmond was very anxious to have the assignment. To her disgust, the managing editor gave the story to Hillary Graham, the young man Dolly had met in "Mother Eve's" house. Dolly, forced to be satisfied with a Salvation Army wedding. Hillary set off on his assignment in high spirits. He had not made much of a success of reporting yet, but he was confident that his work in this case would convince the Comet management that he was one man in a thousand. Arrived in a dingy little barroom near the scene of the crime, he announced his intention of apprehending the criminals to the interested bartender. As a result, a few minutes later, Hillary was knocked on the head and thrown into the cellar. Dolly, after finishing her report on the wedding, donned a Salvation Army uniform, and accompanied the band about town in search of more material. In the course of her wanderings, she entered the barroom, and saw a necktie on the floor which she had noticed that morning on Hillary. Creeping unobserved into the cellar, she discovered the unconscious Hillary lying on a pile of coal. As she stood in puzzled anxiety, wondering how she could possibly save the young man and herself, she was startled by a sudden rush of coal into the cellar, through the coal hole from the street. Daddy, the copy boy on the Comet, happened to be on the street above, watching the coal men at their task. Hearing a muffled cry, he stopped the men. A moment later Dolly crawled through the hole. She and Daddy rushed for the police. After Hillary had been rescued, the police entered the saloon, and arrested its occupants. A lucky chance resulted in the discovery of the Martinengro murderers. While Dolly was writing her story in the police station, the grateful Hillary proposed. Dolly was non-committal. She was afraid she wasn't quite ready to give up her adventurous life even for so successful a reporter as he was. Episode 9: "A Terror of the Night" Mrs. Winslow, a young widow, owned a piece of property known as "Beach House," for which the Union Realty Company were the agents. The money for the rental of the property meant a good deal to Mrs. Winslow, and when her tenants began to grow few and far between, she naturally called on her agents to inquire into the causes. President Bolivar, of the Realty Company, gravely informed her that "Beach House" was haunted. To substantiate his remarks, he showed Mrs. Winslow some newspaper clippings about the reported ghost at the house. Many complaints had been received from tenants and the property was becoming more and more impossible to rent. In short, Mr. Bolivar advised Mrs. Winslow to accept the Realty Company's very generous offer of $10,000 for the property worth $50,000. Mrs. Winslow thought that her property was worth more and went to consult her friend, Dolly Desmond, the star reporter on "The Comet." Dolly, instantly excited at the prospect of investigating a haunted house, suggested that Mrs. Winslow leave the property to her for the space of a week. Mrs. Winslow made out the necessary papers and then went to Bolivar and told him what she had done. Bolivar, an old enemy of Dolly, immediately planned a trap for her. He arrived at Beach House a little while after Dolly had made herself at home in one of the gray dreary rooms. After his first expression of pretended surprise, he began to make love to her, but the derisiveness of her answer showed plainly that his original plan was useless. So he bowed and took his leave. Dolly slept that night on a sofa in the front hall in the midst of a number of garden implements which had been stowed there for safekeeping. In the middle of the night, she was awakened by a slight noise. Looking up, a terrible sight met her eyes. A shrouded figure, clad in garments of ghastly white, was coming down the stairs toward her. Instead of shrieking and fainting, Dolly turned the hose on the advancing figure. It halted, wavered, and then ran out of the house and into the arms of Malone, who had just arrived to investigate the anonymous letter. The ghost was, of course, Bolivar, who had chosen this means of attempting to get Mrs. Winslow's property at a low price. Episode 10: "Dolly Plays Detective" When Mrs. Cambridge invited Dolly Desmond, and Malone, the managing editor of the Comet, to a dinner party, Malone naturally offered to take Dolly around to the Cambridge's in his car. For in the short space of time in which he had held his new office on the Comet staff, Malone had grown very fond of the clever young girl. When, on their way to the party, Dolly waved her hand to her old friend the policeman on the beat, she noticed a quick frown of displeasure on Malone's face. To tease him, she started to flirt outrageously with all the men present as soon as she arrived at the dinner, among whom was one of society's newest lions, the Count de Rochepierre. In the midst of the dinner, it was suddenly discovered that one of the ladies' necklaces was missing. She had worn it about her neck when she sat down, and it seemed absolutely inconceivable that anybody should have been able to remove it in the brilliantly-lighted room. On the following afternoon, the count called on Dolly, and begged her to accept a beautiful ring as a slight token of his esteem. Dolly, who rather enjoyed leading the count on, told him she should be delighted to wear it. Shortly after he had apparently taken his leave, Mrs. Cambridge and several ladies came to call. At Dolly's suggestion, a game of auction bridge was commenced. As they sat about the table, precisely the same thing happened as on the preceding night. Two of the ladies' necklaces vanished. The fact that Dolly had been present at both occasions when the mysterious occurrence had taken place, seemed a little significant. The ladies left hurriedly, and somewhat coolly. Left alone, Dolly decided to go and see the Count. She was led to this decision by several suspicious little incidents she had observed. In the Count's quarters, she discovered not only the missing necklaces, but absolute proof of how he had perpetrated his astonishing crimes. But even cleverer than her discovery of his method, was the way in which she inveigled the Count into playing a game of '"Forfeits" at the Cambridge's, and at the crucial moment in the game, clapped a pair of handcuffs on him and turned him over to the police. Episode 11: "Dolly at the Helm" When the city editor of the Comet burst into the managing editor's office and told him that his child was desperately ill with diphtheria, Malone, the managing editor, naturally told him to take as much time off as he wanted. Malone himself was feeling very badly at the time, and his resolution to take charge personally of the city editor's department was never carried out. Shortly after the city editor had left, Malone fainted at his desk. Dolly Desmond, the Comet's star reporter, found him there when she came into the room. She revived Malone from his stupor and had him taken home. In nine cases out of ten, both Malone and the city editor might well have been absent without any particular disturbance in the ordinary routine of the office. It was four o'clock on an unusually dull summer afternoon. The likelihood of anything happening seemed extremely remote. However, scarcely had Malone been taken away when things started. A terrible excursion boat catastrophe was the first. Right on its heels came the news that a great hotel was burning. In the excited chaos into which the Comet office was plunged, Dolly showed the stuff of which she was made. Her small hand seized the deserted tiller and with the quick incisive decision which was her chief characteristic, she wearied the legs of messenger boys, and kept the telephone wires hot with the dispatching of her swift Napoleanic commands. When it was all over, and the day was won, Dolly received a letter from home telling her that her father's bank was on the verge of ruin, largely as a result of the hard feeling which had been stirred up by Dolly's story, "The Perfect Truth." Poor Dolly, at her wits' end, went to Malone for advice. She took the manuscript of "The Perfect Truth" with her. Malone' s illness was a blessing in disguise for it gave him a chance to read the story, the first installment of which had had such a disastrous effect. He was amazed by its brilliance of style and theme. In a gush of unwanted enthusiasm he told Dolly that he was willing to publish the story at his own expense as a speculation. So Dolly, with her hopes once again raised, went away with the dim belief growing in her that "The Perfect Truth" might not be so bad a thing for her father as it had at first seemed. Episode 12: "The Last Assignment" When Dolly Desmond left the home of her youth to embark on a journalistic career in the city, she left the town in a state of furor behind her. The story called "The Perfect Truth," the first installment of which Dolly published in the town newspaper, aroused so much resentment against Dolly that the townspeople revenged themselves by withdrawing their money from her father's bank. Two or three months after Dolly went away, the bank was in such straits that suspension of payment seemed only a matter of hours. Then "The Perfect Truth" in its complete form was published as a book. It met with an immediate and startling success. Dolly attained to fame and wealth almost overnight. The echo of her success reached her native town, and people began to sit up and take notice. It was one thing to feel themselves the butt of the joke of an immature schoolgirl, and quite another to know that they had been the material from which a famous authoress had drawn her inspiration. In the midst of the excitement, Bobby, at the newspaper office, suddenly received word that Dolly was coming to town. The news was not an unmixed pleasure for Bobby. He had an evil conscience. He had been madly in love with Dolly before she left town, and believed that she cared a good deal for him. After she left, he fell in love with another girl. However, Bobby's first duty in the matter was perfectly clear. So he wrote up a headline article for his paper announcing Dolly's arrival. The town went wild with excitement. Fame was about to fall upon it again for the first time since Hank Bowers had been lynched for horse stealing many years before. All hatred and jealousy was forgotten and Dolly was welcomed by a tremendous popular demonstration. The first thing she did was to set her father's bank on its feet again, partly with the help of the money she had made and partly by the use of her extremely persuasive tongue. In the midst of the excitement, a stranger arrived in town, James Malone, the enterprising business manager of Dolly's paper. Everybody wondered who he was, and Bobby was the first to find out. For when he went to Dolly's house, with hanging head, to explain how matters stood, she told him that she was going to marry Malone. And that is how we leave Dolly with one career behind her, and another and far finer one ahead.
- DirectorCharles BrabinStarsMarc McDermottBarry O'MooreMiriam NesbittEpisode 1: "The Black Mask" John Perriton was unmistakably a good fellow. He was never one to spoil a party with a long face and an absence of joviality, nor was he at all likely to break up any sort of festivity by leaving early. A few people shook their heads gravely, and said that he was hitting the pace entirely too hard and that he would certainly kill himself if he didn't cut down on his liquor, but most of the world accepted him cordially on his own estimation as a man's man. Perriton loved Mary Wales almost as much as he loved himself, which is to say that he was not ready to settle down yet for her sake. Mary's brother Nelson, was a weak, helpless individual who was always in hot water. On the night of the masked ball, he came to Perriton, and asked him for help in one or two matters. He needed money very badly. To make matters worse, he had forged his sister's name to a check. The long and the short of the whole business was that Nelson must have $75,000 by the next morning. Perriton wrote an order on his bankers for $50,000, the entire extent of his depleted fortune, and drove Nelson to the station. But Nelson was not satisfied. He had to have the other $25,000. So he slipped off the train, came home by a short cut, put on his dancing mask and attempted to take his sister's jewels from her safe. He was surprised by the butler, and in the desperation of fear, killed the man. Immediately afterwards, Perriton arrived. Nelson, almost frenzied, begged him to put on the mask, and to pretend to be the criminal. No one would know who he was, and he would see that he got safely away. Perriton assented. His identity was discovered by Mary who, agonized at her discovery of the apparent character of the man she loved, forbade him even to think of her again, and allowed him to escape. Despite everything, Perriton kept silent, and allowing the woman he loved to think him the meanest type of criminal, went off into the night. Episode 2: "The Hunted Animal" In the first story of the series, John Perriton assumed the blame of a murder to save the brother of the girl he loved. We left him crossing Long Island Sound in a boat. He had but little headway. The police were on his trail. Before reaching the middle of the Sound, a detective put out from the opposite shore to intercept him. Perriton bent all efforts to escape. The detective fired and broke the wooden oarlock. Perriton pretended to be hit, fell overboard and swam beneath the surface, but McWade, the detective, was after him like a flash, and soon had him handcuffed. When they landed, McWade forced Perriton to walk in front up a steep slope. Perriton purposely slipped, fell on the detective, and both rolled to the bottom. Perriton escaped into the woods. After hours of wandering, he came to a railroad track. As Perriton watched, a man emerged from the bushes across the track, looked cautiously about, stuck a white flag in the ground, and disappeared. Shortly afterward a train passed. A young girl on the rear platform threw a bundle into the bushes near the flag. With desperate agility, Perriton seized the bundle and fled. Opening it, he discovered a suit of clothes and a note, which said the clothes were intended for an escaped convict. Full directions for the man's further guidance were clearly written out. Since the handcuffs prevented Perriton from putting on the clothes, he resolved on a desperate expedient. Hearing the approach of a train he laid the chain on the track, averted his face and waited. The train roared by and the links were crushed. Perriton put on the clothes, and for lack of a better plan, followed out the directions of the note. A bribed farmer cut off the handcuffs and carried him in a trunk to a tenement house, where a Chinaman received him. And here we leave Perriton until the next story. Episode 3: "The Double Cross" It will be remembered that John Perriton, after taking the blame of a murder to save the brother of the girl he loved, escaped to Long Island, and after a series of exciting adventures managed to evade the relentless pursuit on the part of the detective. By cleverly assuming the identity of another man, he managed to utilize preparations which had been made for the other's escape. The Chinese opium joint to which Perriton was finally brought proved to have disadvantages in addition to its obvious advantage as a haven of refuge. Before he had been there a week, Perriton was forced to join a band of criminals to avoid instant betrayal to the police. A foxy-eyed little lawyer named Lipmann, and a burly "strong-arm" man named "Biceps" were the chief agents in the present scheme of Perriton's new associates. The scheme was gorgeously simple. An advertisement was inserted in the newspapers to the effect that an heiress desired to meet a wealthy young farmer with matrimonial inclinations. The wealthy young farmer had already been found. It remained to arrange the details of taking his money away from him. According to the plan, Perriton was to act as the girl's brother. It was arranged that a letter should be sent to the man, directing him to come to the supposed home of his intended bride with a certified check as a proof of his wealth. The plan worked out beautifully. The young man called at the beautiful apartment which the gang had arranged, and was agreeably surprised by the appearance of the girl. Curiously enough, two things happened for which the gang had made no provision. For one thing, the girl fell in love with the man she was supposed to cheat. For another, Perriton had firmly resolved from the beginning that he would in some way upset the scheme. Owing largely to his endeavors, the girl confessed her duplicity to the young man, and was forgiven by him. To escape from "Biceps," who was waiting outside the door, the pair left the room by the fire escape. When "Biceps" rushed in and started shooting at the escaping couple, Perriton crept up behind him and knocked him unconscious. Then Perriton escaped by way of the dumb waiter. When the astounded police broke in they found nothing but the body of the "Biceps." Episode 4: "The Light on the Wall" When "John Pottle," fugitive from justice, helped Jennie and Harry Horn to escape from the band of criminals which was planning to get Harry's money by using Jennie as a lure, he did so in the fond hope that he would be able to severe his connection with the aforesaid criminals for good. But fate ruled otherwise. Jennie, discovering that Biceps, one of the leading spirits of the hand, had tracked her husband and herself to their refuge, implored John for help. John, trusting that Biceps had not yet found out who had been responsible for the knock-down blow which resulted in the escape of the pair, went directly to Lipmann, the lawyer who was the brains of the criminal organization, and told him that the reason for his absence from the meetings of the gang was on account of being obliged to hide from the vigilant police. Somewhat to John's surprise, Lipmann accepted his flimsy excuses without question. He told John that the gang had decided that Jennie must be punished for her double-dealing, and directed him to be present at a meeting to be held that night aboard a barge in the river. John, hoping to be of some service to Jennie, attended the meeting. His hopes were not realized to any large extent. He discovered that Lipmann had not been fooled at all by his excuses, and escaped from the barge only by besting Biceps in a terrible fight. The next day John found a notice in the personal column of a newspaper, signed with his name, directing Jennie to call at a certain address. Realizing that the notice was a trap for the girl, John hastened to the address mentioned. He arrived too late to save Jennie, and was captured himself in an attempt to rescue her. The two were securely bound and placed in a room on the top floor of the house. Here, they were suavely informed by Lipmann that they would be thrown into the river shortly after dark. By almost superhuman exertions, John succeeded in getting Jennie's handbag in his bound hands, and flashing sunlight into the eyes of a tailor across the street by means of the mirror on the bag. Rescued by the tailor, John and the girl hastened away to find some haven where they would be safe from their powerful enemies. Episode 5: "With His Hands" Through the help of Jennie, the girl he had saved from the hands of the gangsters, John Perriton was enabled to get a position as a riveter's helper in the construction company in which Jennie herself was employed. So Perriton, still under his alias of "John Pottle" entered upon new duties, which were as strenuous as they were unfamiliar. Shortly after Perriton's arrival at the works, a good deal of trouble was caused by the unwarrantable discharge of several of the employees. Recognizing John's intellectual superiority, the men chose him as a spokesman to express their grievances to their employers. Carter, the head of the works, was a hard unjust man with no regard whatever for the rights of the men working under him. When John courteously told him of the men's grievances, he cursed him roundly, and ordered him back to work. Realizing the power a man of John's type would gain among the men, Carter called a private detective, named Brownson, and ordered him to discover some pretext on which John might be discharged. He dared not discharge the man without any reason, because he knew that it would take very little in the existing state of discontent to precipitate a general strike. Brownson's scheme to ruin John Pottle was very simple. He took a piece of dynamite and put it in John's lunch basket. Then he complained to the police inspector that he suspected John of a plot to blow up part of the works. But Jennie, owing to her position in the company's office, had learned of the plot and managed to extract the stick of dynamite from the lunch basket. When John was seized and searched, no incriminating evidence of any sort was found upon him. Jennie told him of the plot, and John set out post-haste to interview Brownson. He found him on the top girder of the great building the company was constructing. Brownson attacked him with a hammer, and a fierce hand-to-hand conflict followed. Brownson was the stronger man, and gradually forced John over the edge. At last John lost his last finger-hold and fell. Brownson lost his balance and fell after him. Luckily enough, John was saved from Brownson' s fate by striking another girder. After he had been taken to the hospital, Jennie sent for Mary Wales, the girl for whose sake John had given up everything in life. But when Mary came to the hospital and saw Jennie bending tenderly above John, she did not understand, and went away without a word. Episode 6: "The Gap" While Perriton, alias "John Pottle'' was recovering from the injuries he had received in his life and death struggle with Brownson, the detective, Earle, the superintendent of the construction company, called to inquire after his injuries. While talking to Jennie, the girl Perriton had saved from the gang of criminals, Earle admitted that he could stand Carter, the president of the company, no longer. He went on to tell her that if he could find a partner with money, he would undertake the important contract on the Warrington Courthouse, himself. After Earle had left, Jennie discussed the situation with Henry Horn, her husband, and Perriton. Horn decided that he would be willing to advance the money for the courthouse proposition, so Jennie started out for the offices of the construction company to find Earle. In the company offices, she learned that President Carter had discharged Earle that morning. From a letter on Carter's desk, she gained absolute proof that the construction company was planning to get the courthouse contract by bribery. Incidentally, she learned that Earle was leaving for the west on the 12:45 train. After a rather unpleasant encounter with Carter, Jennie hurried back to Perriton and her husband. They decided that their only course was to stop Earle. Stopping Earle seemed, on the face of it, an utter impossibility, since they could not possibly reach the station by 12:45. But John Perriton was nothing, if not resourceful. He realized that the train would have to go over a near-by draw-bridge. If the draw-bridge were open, the train would, of course, be held up. So jumping into a taxicab, they rushed off to the drawbridge. It was closed. The train was almost due. The drawbridge tender suavely informed Perriton that the bridge could on no account be opened unless a boat wished to pass through. With his heart in his mouth, Perriton rushed to a tug which was moored close by, and offered the captain twenty-five dollars to take him to the other side of the bridge. The captain naturally thought John was crazy, but accepted his offer just the same. Putting out into the stream, he whistled for the crew. The bridge slowly opened, and the 12:45 train which had just reached it, was stopped. Jennie found Earle and explained everything to him. Then the four partners hurried back to the city to begin their battle with Carter. Episode 7: "Face to Face" In the weeks following Perriton's dashing and successful attempt to stop Earle's train, the four partners, Perriton, Jenny, Henry Horn and Earle, despite the determined opposition of President Carter, managed to land the court house contract which meant so much to them. A newspaper paragraph, seen by chance, changed their comfortable feeling of assurance to vivid alarm. The paragraph was to the effect that, owing to the determined efforts of President Carter, a bill was on the verge of passing the legislature, restricting all state contracts to residents of the state. Since none of the four was a resident of the state in which the court house was to be built, the bill. If passed, would be certain to ruin them. Knowing Carter's methods, Perriton decided that the best means of blocking the passage of the bill was to bring forward proof that Carter had been guilty of bribery. In order to keep a close watch over their enemy, an office was hired in the building next to the construction company, with windows directly opposite those of Carter's office. By means of a high-powered telescope, the partners obtained ample optical proof that Carter had bought the services of several members of the legislature. They discovered also that an actual transfer of money was to take place that very night in Carter's country house. Unknown to Perriton, Carter had a hold over Mary Wales, the girl Perriton loved. A document forged by Nelson, her scapegrace of a brother, had fallen into Carter's possession. Fearing to take the money to the corrupt legislators himself, he decided to use the girl and her brother as cats paws. So, using the forged mortgage as an incentive, he directed Mary and her brother to take the money and deliver it to the proper parties at his country house. So it happened that when Perriton burst into the house ahead of Earle and the detectives, he was confronted face to face by the girl for whose sake he had given up position and reputation. There was no time for love. Turning, he slammed the door in the faces of his friends, and then lowered Mary to the ground through the window. He had the proofs of bribery, and it was absolutely impossible that the detectives should find Mary in any such situation. Episode 8: "A Matter of Minutes" It will be remembered that Nelson Wales had put his sister into considerable danger and difficulty on account of the fact that the amiable young man had forged her name to a mortgage. John Perriton, the man who disappeared for Mary's sake, saved her from an unpleasant situation. The next day he came to the Wales' house to call Nelson to account. Confronted by his sister and the angry Perriton, Nelson, at first, attempted to bluster his way out of the situation. When that failed to produce the desired impression, he locked Perriton and Mary into a room, and telephoned to the police that he had captured John Perriton, the murderer. While they were locked in the room, John told Mary the truth about the murder, that Nelson had killed the butler, and that he, Perriton, had shouldered the responsibility for her sake. Mary, filled with horror, nonetheless believed Perriton's story. The police arrived at the front door, and John escaped through the window, directing Mary to meet him at a certain station on the railway line. John climbed to the roof by means of a rain spout, and after a desperate race with the detectives, succeeded in completely eluding them. At Nelson's suggestion, the detectives, foiled in their pursuit of Perriton, turned their attention to his sister. They followed her aboard the express train which she took to keep her appointment with Perriton. Mary, discovering that she was followed, sent a telegram to the train she knew Perriton had taken, telling him that she would elude the detectives, and would meet him at Vernontown, a junction point, where they could catch a north-bound express. Mary succeeded in eluding the detectives, by the clever ruse of leaving the train, and quickly slipping back aboard just as it was starting. Meanwhile Perriton's train had broken down. Realizing that everything depended on making the connection Mary had planned, he was at his wits' end. The accident to the train would certainly make him miss the connection. An aeroplane meet in the vicinity of the accident solved the difficulty. Perriton hired an aeroplane just as the express came into sight. Mounting into the air, the great birdlike machine raced for miles against the speeding train, and reached Vernontown in time. Episode 9: "The Living Dead" When John Perriton and Mary Wales fled to Albany to escape her brother, Nelson, and the detective, that amiable young man had set on their track, their first plan was to take the express for Montreal. The fact that Mary recognized her brother and the detective on the train made them realize the futility of attempting to escape across the border. After some thought, they decided that their wisest plan was to return to New York. Accordingly they took one of the steamboats running down the Hudson. Nelson Wales and the detective, after going through Albany with a fine-tooth comb, decided that there was no use in looking further. Accordingly, they came aboard the same boat Mary and John had taken. That night at dinner. Nelson looked across the tables, and saw Perriton and Mary. Filled with triumph, he ordered the detective to arrest the supposed murderer. Perriton, realizing the uselessness of resistance, quietly submitted to being locked up in his stateroom. Mary, whose stateroom was next, racked her brains to think of a way to rescue him. The detective, eager to make assurance doubly sure, stationed himself at John's door, and the situation seemed hopeless. At last, she examined the wall of the stateroom and discovering that the panels were fastened in place with screws. Inspired by a gleam of hope, she unscrewed one of the panels. John crawled through the gap. Affairs were improved, but still almost hopeless. But Mary's quick brain met the difficulty. Under her directions, John waited until she had left the stateroom, and then cautiously followed. Just as she came opposite to the detective and her brother, Mary pretended to faint. They naturally rushed to her assistance, and in the moment they did so, John shot past them, and rushing to the stern of the boat, jumped overboard. After a long, hard swim, he reached shore in an exhausted condition. Mary, on the boat, had been unable to see whether or not he reached the bank. She feared the worst, however, and her joy may be imagined, when John Perriton, safe and sound, came to her in New York. Episode 10: "By the Aid of a Film" John Perriton gave up his place in society and disappeared for the sake of Mary Wales. Her brother, Nelson, had been surprised by the butler in an attempt to steal Mary's jewels. In the fight which ensued, Nelson killed the butler. Perriton happened to enter at this moment, and with the chivalrous motive of saving the name of the girl he loved from disgrace, assumed the responsibility for Nelson's deed, and fled. After a series of thrilling adventures, Perriton was at last arrested as a result of the malevolence of Nelson Wales, the man he saved. Mary, now firmly convinced of her lover's innocence, and her brother's guilt, added her brains to Perriton's in the attempt to find some way of proving his innocence. The attempt seemed hopeless. Nelson was the only witness. Perriton had just as strong a motive for stealing the jewels, and Perriton was the one who had fled from justice. Perriton decided to steal a page from "Hamlet" and see if the play might not be the thing to catch the guilty conscience of Nelson Wales. Under his direction, Mary hired a motion picture company and took it to the Wales' estate. Here she caused three of the actors to make up exactly like the principals of the tragedy, and had the entire scene acted in accordance with Perriton's directions. When the film was completed, Nelson was put in a darkened room, and the picture was flashed on the screen before him. The exact reproduction of his crime was too much for his weakened nerves. Mad with fear, he attacked the phantom figures with a chair, and was promptly arrested by the concealed police. He made a full confession of his crime, and died of heart failure. John Perriton's vagabond life was finally at an end. He was enabled to take again the position he had forfeited. Three months after Nelson's death he married Mary. END
- DirectorOscar EagleLawrence B. McGillJohn W. NobleStarsNorma PhillipsMayme KelsoJessie Lewis'Our Mutual Girl' was unique. Not quite a serial, not quite a newsreel, and not strictly an advertisement, it combined elements of all three. In 52 weekly one-reel episodes, running from January 19, 1914 to January 11, 1915, the Mutual Girl outwitted villains, saw the sights of New York, met with theatrical and political celebrities (who frequently helped her out of trouble), and tried on fashionable outfits in chic stores. The fashions were an early example of product placement--although, apparently, not paid placement.
- DirectorHowell HanselStarsFlorence La BadieMarguerite SnowJames CruzeThis twenty-three episode serial told the story of a secret society called The Black Hundred and its attempts to gain control of a lost million dollars.
- DirectorHowell HanselFrederick SullivanStarsMarguerite SnowJames CruzeHarry BenhamEpisode 1: "The Mystic Message of the Spotted Collar" Zudora, 18, has a guardian, Hassam Ali, a disciple of Hindu mysticism. Hassam Ali was a fakir with a small caravan circus. Zudora's mother was his sister and the rope walker. Zudora's father remained in a small mining town where he prospected for gold. As the story opens Zudora, her mother and Hassam Ali, her uncle, are visiting the town of Zudora's birth and where Zudora's father is still prospecting. Zudora's father finds that the Zudora mine yields a wonderful run of gold. He becomes over-zealous and is killed in an explosion. He wills the entire mine, which is valued at $20,000,000, to Zudora, when she reaches her eighteenth birthday, and in the event of Zudora's death, going to the nearest heir-at-law. Zudora's mother receives information of her husband's death when she is about to ascend the rope and give her performance. She falls to the ground, and with a dying gasp turns over to Hassam Ali the guardianship of Zudora. Zudora reaches her eighteenth year. Hassam Ali has set himself up as a mystic, but his one purpose in life is to rid himself of Zudora, so that the mine will be his. He is also anxious to rid himself of John Storm, Zudora's sweetheart. He has kept from Zudora the information about her inheritance. He at last arrives at one plan that seems safe. Zudora has evidenced quite wonderful powers of deduction. He tells her that since she has always been so anxious to incorporate herself in his work, he will give her the next twenty cases he is called upon to solve. He says: "If you win, you may marry John Storm. If you lose on any one of them, you renounce him forever." Zudora's sweetheart is involved in a great case for the city. Opposed to him is one Bienreith, a prominent lawyer. The case is going well for John Storm. Hassam Ali decides that after eighteen years of waiting it is time to use heroic measures. He denounces Storm in front of Zudora, and then tells her about the twenty cases. The very first thing in the courtroom, Storm slaps the face of Bienreith, after a particularly insulting speech, and is invited to a duel that night. An hour later the newspapers are full of her sweetheart's trouble. Zudora rushes to his side and finds him practicing with a revolver. She plans to keep him from meeting Bienreith. She purchases a drug, and drops it in a glass of drinking water. Next morning the papers tell of Storm's disappearance. The great mystery of it is that Bienreith has been found dead in his room and the blame placed upon John Storm. Storm is arrested. Zudora rushes to her uncle and begs that this be her first case. When she goes to Bienreith's home that morning she finds the collar that he had worn when killed. It has queer markings on it. She studies the lines carefully, but can make no headway. Storm is formally charged with the murder. She reaches the courtroom just in time to say, "Stop, he is not guilty...," and falls into a faint. Hassam Ali and Burns, a confederate, watch as the girl recovers and explains that she has solved the mystery. Burns is placing a revolver, equipped with a silencer against her neck, when she turns suddenly and takes a pencil from his pocket to prove her contention to the court. She realizes, in looking at the mark, that there is a similarity between the markings of Burns' pencil and the markings on the collar. Court is adjourned. Zudora induces Burns to accompany her home. Under hypnosis he confesses to killing Bienreith. Zudora had placed two lawyers behind the curtains and they hear the confession. Zudora has solved her first case and Hassam Ali congratulates her. In the courtroom Zudora clasps Storm in her arms as the judge proclaims him free.
- DirectorFrancis FordStarsGrace CunardFrancis FordHarry SchummEpisode 1: Hugo Loubeque and Sumpter Love are cadets at West Point. Both love the same woman. Loubeque is expelled from the institution for theft from his fellow cadets. The principal witness against him is Cadet Love, who, as a result of Loubeque's downfall, wins the woman for the hand of whom both were rivals. Loubeque sets apart his life to avenge himself upon Love. He carefully educates himself to the end of making his revenge more certain and dire. Knowing that Love will someday become an officer in the army, he lays his plans in that direction. He becomes an international spy, a broker in national secrets. He works upon the plan that no country is greater than its smallest secret. After a lapse of many years Love is a general in the U.S. Army, stationed in Manila. He has an only daughter, Lucille, who is engaged to marry Lieutenant Gibson. The butler in the Love household is a cracksman in the employ of Loubeque. After watching the movements of Love for years, Loubeque decides that the time for action has arrived. General Love receives from Washington a set of documents of the utmost diplomatic importance and the contents of which must he kept in the strictest secrecy. As his aide. Lieutenant Gibson locks them in the safe, at the instigation of Loubeque, the butler steals the papers. The honor of General Love is threatened and he informs Gibson to consider himself under arrest until the papers are returned. Lucille takes up a telephone receiver that morning to find that the wires are crossed. She overhears a conversation between Loubeque and his accomplice in which the spy admits that the documents are in his possession, and that he intends leaving Manila on the steamship Empress at once. Lucille decides on the spot that she will regain possession of the documents if she has to follow Loubeque to the ends of the earth. She at once realizes that her only chance of reaching the Empress before it puts well to sea is through the aid of the government aviator, Gibson's rival for her hand. The aviator lends his assistance. She springs into the hydroplane and in a moment later is skipping over the waters in the wake of the Empress. Little does Hugo Loubeque dream that his Nemesis is above his head and ready to land by his side as he contemplates that the last great stroke in his plan of revenge is nearing completion. Episode 2: The second story of this series opens when Lucille deserts the hydroplane in the open ocean and makes a sensational landing upon the steamship. Then, for the first time, Loubeque becomes aware that his program of revenge is being interfered with. The moment he sees the girl he is struck by her resemblance to his first love, who in reality was Lucille's mother. Loubeque 's first move aboard the ship is to have sent out an unsigned wireless message to the effect that General Love and not his aide, proved a traitor by selling the diplomatic secrets. After this message is sent out, and to prevent further communications with the ship, Loubeque disarranges the wireless apparatus. In doing so he causes an explosion in which he is injured. Lucille realizes that her opportunity has arrived, and she volunteers to nurse him. Her services are accepted. She is soon on friendly terms with the international spy, but seek as she will the hiding place of the documents remains a mystery. Fortune, however, favors her. A fierce fire breaks out in the hold of the ship. Lucille is with Loubeque in his stateroom when the impending disaster is announced. With the first shock of the news the spy's first thought is of the valuable documents and his startled glance toward a desk reveals to Lucille the hiding place of the stolen papers. Loubeque leaves the room for an instant, and the next instant Lucille finds the papers and thrusts them in her bosom. The fire in the hold is now burning fiercely, and all hope for the ship is lost. The lifeboats are lowered and the rule of "women first" is adhered to. Realizing that he must desert the ship at once the spy rushes to his cabin only to find the papers gone. He then realizes that his late nurse is no other than Lucille Love, daughter of his deadliest enemy. He rushes to the ship's rail just in time to see the boat in which Lucille is seated, lowered into the angry sea. "Well played. Miss Love," he cries, "but I'm afraid you will have to return the papers." No sooner does Lucille's boat touch the water than it is capsized and all the women occupants are left to the mercy of the waves. The burning ship listing almost to the water's edge, the ocean spotted with the dying and the dead, Lucille grasps a floating timber and clings to it until she loses consciousness. When she regains her senses she finds herself upon a long stretch of beach; a castaway upon one of the South Sea islands. Episode 3: At the opening of the third chapter, Lucille Love is discovered more dead than alive on the beach of the South Sea island where she had been cast by the storm which had wrecked the small boat in which she escaped from the burning liner "Empress." As she regained consciousness she makes sure that she has the papers which she had taken from Loubeque, the return of which will save her father and sweetheart from disgrace. She has them in the bosom of her dress. As she looks about she sees a band of savages and tries to escape. They overtake her and make her captive. The savages, however, seem to consider her a sacred being, and the chief takes her to his hut, where his little daughter is sick, and asks Lucille to cure her. Lucille sets to work and nurses the chief's daughter. She quiets her and makes her comfortable. The chief then assigns a house to her and in the sign language tells her that she will be perfectly safe there. In this hut Lucille for the first time learns the secret of Loubeque's life through reading his diary and seeing the picture of her own mother. When the crisis of the illness of the chief's little daughter is past, and she recovers, the chief is extravagant in his praise, and gives her a sacred amulet, or charm, in the shape of a white elephant. By virtue of his sacred object all the natives become Lucille's slaves. The chief hangs the charm about Lucille's neck, and as a token of service she has rendered she is permitted to ride the holy elephant as a mark of the royal favor, and all the natives bow before her. But Loubeque has escaped the fury of the waves, too, and has been cast up on the same island which is now Lucille's refuge. Loubeque sees the honor which is being conferred upon the girl who has the secret dispatches which she took from the desk in his cabin, and he is filled with hate and determination to get them back. There comes upon the scene at this moment a native of an anarchistic turn of mind, who hates anything which has to do with the white woman. Loubeque sees him and by virtue of their common cause they join forces. Loubeque, however, chokes the savage nearly to death to show him who is master. Together they plot to make away with Lucille. Soon an opportunity offers. Lucille is restless and as she is regarded as a sacred person and can go anywhere without harm, she wanders on the sand dunes. The native, Loubeque's new slave, surprises her and starts to strangle her. In a moment it would have all been over had not the sacred amulet, which the chief had hung about her neck, escaped from her dress and attracted the attention of the savage. The talisman works. He desists and bows three times before her. She is saved. But Loubeque will not be defeated so easily. He plots to drive Lucille out of her hut so that he can search it for the dispatches, and for that purpose he and the native catch snakes and put them through the grass walls of Lucille's hut. Lucille, at course, is terrified and runs out into the night. Loubeque searches the hut, but cannot find the papers and goes away more angry and determined than ever. The girl fears to stay there and resolves to escape through the jungle. She goes to the chief's hut, but decides not to waken him and slips away into the doubly dark shadows of the jungle. But nothing can escape the crafty eye of the spy. He has followed every movement of the girl, who does not even suspect that her enemy is on the island. Loubeque is not the only enemy that Lucille has to contend with. The jungle is full of wild beasts, and she has not gone far before she encounters a ferocious lion. Lucille is horrified and tries desperately to escape. Episode 4: As the fourth installment opens the lion is trying to break down the door of the desperate girl's shelter, and is only foiled by a spear in Lucille's terrified hands. But Loubeque is not so easy to turn from his purpose of recovering the papers, which mean the accomplishment of his revenge and the disgrace of General Love. Be instructs his native slave to collect dry grass and teaches him how to weave a rope. This he stretches from his own hut to Lucille's and ignites the end in his hut. In a short time the fire eats its way to the hut where the daughter of his enemy is asleep. To make assurance doubly sure, Loubeque's native summons the tribe to which he belongs, and which is hostile to that by which Lucille was captured, to assist him. Lucille, scarcely awakened from her sleep, is driven from the hut by the fire and almost runs into the arms of Loubeque. He struggles with her and attempts to seize the papers. But Lucille's savages are at hand and attack the spy before he can recover the papers. The natives, however, are very superstitious and deathly afraid of the "imprisoned fire" in Loubeque's automatic revolver. One shot is enough. The tribe falls down before him in fear and subjection. In the meantime Lucille has made good her escape and has entered the chief's hut. But while the natives are afraid of the white man, they are not afraid of the savages which support him, and a terrible battle ensues between the rival tribes. In order to stop the carnage, Lucille resolves to take advantage of the superstitions of the natives and dresses herself all in white, improvising her garments from sacks and white cloths. Climbing on the great white elephant she goes among the warriors and the fighting ceases like magic. All bow down to the sacred objects, the color white, the sacred elephant and the sacred healing woman. But Loubeque is not discouraged and at this juncture there comes to his assistance an ally in the person of a woman from the tribe to which his slave belongs. After discussing ways and means, Loubeque decides to try a clever bit of deception on Lucille. He sends the woman to the chief, in whose house Lucille is carefully guarded, with instructions to tell the chief that she is from a neighboring tribe which is friendly. She is to say her master lies ill and at the point of death, and that she has heard of the wonderful white healing woman who cured the chief's daughter, and had been sent to get her to heal her master. The ruse succeeds, both the chief and Lucille herself are completely taken in and Lucille starts immediately on horseback with the false guide. In the meantime her companion, under Loubeque's direction, has dug a pitfall and cleverly covered it with brush. When Lucille's horse comes cantering down the trail bearing his rider on her errand of mercy both crash into the pit, in one of the most sensational pictures thus far shown in the series. The horse is killed instantly and Lucille lies like one dead. The two slaves of Loubeque climb down into the pit, and the woman takes the papers from the bodice of Lucille's dress. She returns them in triumph to her new master, who decides that while he lacks the sacred amulet which is still around Lucille's neck, his present mission is but half accomplished. Episode 5: As Lucille Love recovers consciousness in the pit which has been dug by the natives, sees her dead horse beside her and realizes that the papers have been stolen from her, the desperation of her condition is pitiable. She crawls out of the pit only to see a pair of hungry lions in her path. To escape them she climbs up a tree and to her amazement finds a vine ladder on which she escapes into the forest. Loubeque is anxious to secure the amulet which makes Lucille a sacred person in the eyes of the natives, and he orders his native to follow her. In their search they are seen by the lions and in fear of them Loubeque builds a fire all around him through which the lions do not dare to penetrate. The smoke of this fire attracts Lucille and she steals up as near to the camping place of Loubeque as possible. Something in the manner of the native rouses a suspicion in Loubeque's mind that the savage is not loyal, but on second thought he dismisses the doubt and goes to sleep. But his doubt of the savage is well founded, and his master is no sooner asleep than he takes the papers from his master's shirt and runs away into the forest. Lucille, however, from her vantage point has seen the pilfering of the papers and follows the man. The lions prove the nemesis of the native and he perishes in their clutches. In order to search the body, Lucille goes to the camp and secures a firebrand from the fire which Loubeque, now awake and aware of his loss, has also deserted. Lucille scares off the lions and secures the precious papers from the mangled native's breech clout. She is overjoyed and makes the best time she can toward the sea-coast. Loubeque at last finds the native's body and searching it in vain, decides that the further attempt to find Lucille are in vain, as she had probably met the same fate as the thief. Lucille in her flight to the coast sees a fluted pillar sticking out of the ground in an unusual manner, and as she is examining it, the earth about her gives way and she is precipitated into the midst of a sunken city, inhabited by a race of men similar to the monkeys but with many features which closely ally them to the human race. Possibly they are a race of missing links. At first they are afraid of Lucille as she is of them. But the encouragement of numbers in on their side and they pursue her to the rude throne of their still ruder king. His primate majesty's method of subduing his subjects is to throw necklaces of diamonds to them, and while they are occupied with collecting them he carries off the prize himself. Lucille sees that she is no safer with the king than with any of the rest of his race and in a super-human burst of strength she frees herself from him and escapes. The unwonted activity of the racing and chasing about displaces certain rocks which hold back gasses. These gasses collecting quickly explode and the side of the mountain is blown out. Once more our heroine is at liberty and she searches all along the riverbank until she comes upon a native dugout, in which she floats down the little river to the seacoast. She finally sees a little brig standing off shore and attracts the attention of the boatswain of the ship's gig. He rescues her and takes her on board the boat. And Lucille passes one comfortable night since she does not realize that the spy, Loubeque, is on board the same boat, having been rescued the preceding day. Episode 6: Hugo Loubeque, an international spy, has stolen certain valuable documents of state from General Sumpter Love; the stolen papers to be used in ruining the General. To save her father's honor from tarnish, Lucille Love, the General's daughter, undertakes to regain possession of the documents single-handed. After a series of thrilling chases over land and sea, and after she has regained the papers, Lucille is picked up from one of the South Sea islands by a sailing vessel. Little does she realize, however, that the vessel is owned by her enemy, Hugo Loubeque, and that he is aboard the same boat. As soon as Loubeque discovers that Lucille is aboard the boat with the coveted documents, he disguises as a Chinese mandarin to further his plans in regaining the papers. Meanwhile Lucille is impressed by two members of the crew. The first is the captain, who is not long in showing her that he has evil designs upon her. The second is the first mate, a gruff old tar, with whom she makes friends. One night the captain attacks Lucille, and she is only saved from his brutality by the timely interference of Loubeque. The girl recognizes the spy despite his disguise, and puts herself on guard against him. Knowing that the papers must be valuable, the captain steals them from Lucille's cabin. Again the captain attacks her. This time the girl draws a revolver, forces the captain to the deck and shows him up to the crew as a coward. By this time there is a general feeling of unrest among the members of the crew. The time comes, however, when the sailors divide and carry on an armed mutiny. A few cast their lot with Lucille and the rest side with the captain. A fierce battle between contending forces is then waged upon the deck of the ship. At a critical moment when Lucille and her followers seem to be doomed, Loubeque comes unexpectedly to the girl's aid and for an instant the danger is past. But only for an instant because in the thick of the fray a battleship is sighted. Realizing that the boat is carrying contraband arms to China and that capture will mean imprisonment, those of the crew who were Lucille's friends turn against her and join the captain. Again in command, the captain has Loubeque thrown overboard and for Lucille he has even a worse fate planned. She is placed in a rowboat with a jug of water and cast adrift upon the South Seas. When she has drifted some distance from the ship, she rescues Loubeque from the water. In the small boat there is but sufficient water to last a few days. Loubeque, however, shows the greatest consideration for the helpless girl and when the chill of night comes on he covers her with his own coat. They are alone, adrift upon the South Seas and neither has the documents, the quest of which has caused them to face so many dangers. Episode 7: After numerous stirring adventures by land and sea in her effort to regain the papers which will save her father from dishonor, Lucille Love and Hugo Loubeque, her father's enemy, find themselves adrift in an open boat off the coast of China. The papers, possession of which both are fighting for, are now in the hands of Captain Wetheral of the ship from which Lucille and Loubeque were cast adrift. The enmity between Lucille and the spy dies down when they find themselves in the same boat at the mercy of the waves and winds. They are a man and a woman fighting against death. When Lucille awakens from her first sleep of trouble and exhaustion, she learns from Loubeque that the water barrel has sprung a leak and is empty. In the days that follow Loubeque proves to be a man, indeed. As a result of thirst and exposure Lucille becomes delirious, and it is only by use of main strength that Loubeque keeps her in the boat. After many days, however, the outcasts land on the coast of China. Lucille is ill and the spy turns her over to an old Chinese woman. Howbeit, as soon as one danger is averted another springs up. The Chinese woman no sooner sees the costly necklace which Lucille wears than she decides to steal it. Lucille learns of the plot, and when the thieving woman and a confederate come to rob her she is prepared. In self-protection she shoots the Chinese woman and uses the confederate to cover her retreat. In the meantime Hugo Loubeque has gathered a force of men and attacked Captain Wetheral's ship, which rides in the harbor. Loubeque takes the precious documents from the captain and has him thrown into prison. Loubeque then opens negotiations with a Chinese merchant, which results in his signing an agreement to smuggle ammunition to the port. Lucille learns from the imprisoned sea captain that Loubeque has again come into the possession of the papers. The captain, however, had retained Loubeque' s diary, and this he gives to the girl. While shadowing Louheque Lucille learns of his intended smuggling operations, and when the occasion offers she steals Loubeque's signed contract with the Chinese merchant, with the intention of using it as a lever to force the stolen documents from him. The girl, however, is now in a new predicament. Loubeque has regained possession of his ship and intends sailing immediately for the United States, where the papers will be used to dishonor her father. She hides on the wharf and watches Loubeque board the ship. It will sail within a few minutes, and whatever she does must be done quickly. Episode 8: No sooner than Lucille hides herself among the boxes on the wharf than she hears Loubeque's voice. An officer of the Chinese police is questioning him concerning the whereabouts of Lucille. Her overt act in protecting her life against a Chinese woman has been construed as murder, and she is confronted by this new danger. Even while Loubeque is talking with the policeman, he looks around the corner of the boxes and sees Lucille. He is impressed by her forlorn situation, and out of sheer pity for her he throws the policeman off the trail. Loubeque then goes aboard the ship, and it sets sail, not, however, before Lucille has stolen into the hold and found a hiding place. Again Loubeque is touched by pity for the girl, and he sends a sailor into the hold that he may discover Lucille, and that she may not want for the necessities of existence. The girl is discovered and taken before the captain. The good old mariner takes on an air of mock seriousness, and ordains that the punishment shall consist in serving as his cabin boy during the voyage. The documents of which Lucille is in search are again in the possession of Loubeque. One day, while he is in his stateroom, he catches sight of Lucille spying on him through a porthole. Surmising her purpose. Loubeque takes the documents from his pocket, places them in a scarf and hides the scarf under a cushion. The face of Lucille disappears from the porthole. The man now removes the genuine documents from the scarf and places a package of blank papers in their place. As a result, when Lucille steals in to his stateroom, she falls into Loubeque's trap. She steals the blank papers, and when she discovers Loubeque's trick, her anger is only equaled by her chagrin. But two can play at the same game. The girl holds the papers signed by Loubeque, which mark him as a smuggler of contraband arms into China. The international spy discovers the girl in his stateroom. He proposes to her that she give him the papers in exchange for the documents which will save her father's honor. She agrees and each hands the other a package of blank papers. It is still a neck to neck race of wits and cunning until Loubeque makes veiled threats as to what will transpire when the ship arrives at San Francisco. Lucille appeals to the captain for aid and describes her adventures to him. The captain calls Loubeque for an explanation of his conduct, and Loubeque tells the captain that she is insane. Her strange story partly corroborates this, and the captain is not decided in the mater when the boat arrives at San Francisco. Despite the captain's precautions, Loubeque's agents press around Lucille at the gangplank and abduct her. She is whisked away in a taxicab in a city where she has no friends. Episode 9: After Lucille is abducted from the ocean liner on its arrival at San Francisco, she is hurried to Hugo Loubeque's house by his accomplice. Although Loubeque treats his pretty captive kindly, she is never left unguarded. Again the extreme prowess of Loubeque is impressed upon the unfortunate girl. His house even, has been specially constructed to trap his victims and deceive the police. Ordinary-appearing staircases sink into secret chambers at his wish. The side walls of rooms contract as it were with dungeons of the inquisition, and even the floors of rooms move upward and downward, from story to story. Never had a successful outcome of her mission looked more hopeless. While Lucille is held incommunicado, Captain Clarkson, of the liner, and her friend, is not idle. He locates the house where the girl is held prisoner, and has it surrounded by detectives. In the meantime Loubeque becomes a victim of his own cleverness. He stumbles into a pitfall of his own making. One of the moving floors comes down upon him by accident and crushes him into unconsciousness. Before he has regained his senses Lucille is in his pocket, and is again in possession of the papers. Fearing the consequences of her act she hides the papers in the baseboard of a wall. When Loubeque awakens he misses the documents, and, although the girl denies all knowledge of them, he knows that only she would take them. His plans are interrupted, however, by the arrival of Captain Clarkson and the police. Loubeque allows them to search every nook and corner of the house. The house was built for just such an emergency, and they do not find Lucille, although they are sure she is there. Shortly afterward Lucille communicates with the detectives. The officers of the law fight their way into the house, and a terrific battle with Loubeque's henchmen follows. Collapsible rooms close in and crush the fighters. Traps open and receive the unwary, and the floors of rooms move from one story to another. In the midst of the fight a rope is dropped to Lucille, and she escapes to the roof. Loubeque is hot on her trail, however. He disables or slays her rescuers, and the fight continues at a dizzy height over housetops. Lucille at last sees an opening. She climbs down a fire-escape and Loubeque does not follow. He has a better plan. Lucille finds her way into an office building and rejoices at her freedom. She starts downstairs and meets Loubeque coming up. "You are too much trouble here," comments Loubeque, "I will take you to my ranch in Mexico." The words daze Lucille. Her tongue cleaves to the roof of her mouth. Her usual poise and self-possession flee. Ordinarily, she would have sought safety in flight. Now she seems to sense the futility of such a move. Crestfallen and supine, she follows the man of iron will down the stairs and into the street. Episode 10: When Lucille again finds herself in the hands of Hugo Loubeque all the spirit of fight is temporarily taken out of her. She is overpowered and crushed down by her utter helplessness in the hands of the unscrupulous spy. Consequently, she allows herself to be led to another of Loubeque's strongholds. To make easy his plans for removing the girl to his Mexican estate, Loubeque orders her drugged. Realizing the uselessness of combating him, Lucille agrees to drink a potion of drugged wine, providing that a lady attends her during the trip to Mexico. Loubeque agrees to this, and she swallows a powerful sleeping potion. Thompson, Loubeque's right-hand man, knows that Lucille has the costly ruby necklace she found in the sunken city, and as soon as the drug takes effect he plans to take the jewels from her. He attacks her, however, before the drug has completely done its work. She struggles with the thief and is rescued from the situation by Loubeque. Lucille is now overcome by a deep, unnatural sleep. Friends are at hand, but they come too late, as Lucille cannot combine with them against the spy. Detectives again locate Loubeque. A battle ensues, and the detectives are again defeated by the cunning spy, who prepares for every emergency. When Lucille awakens from the effect of the drugs she finds herself on Loubeque's estate in Mexico. She has the liberty of a large hacienda, but is forbidden to go outside of its walls. Indeed, she cannot go outside, as every avenue of escape is guarded by armed men. Considering that Lucille is now safely out of his way. Hugo Loubeque returns to San Francisco to search his house for the fateful papers which Lucille hid there. Howbeit, coincidence and chance play a part in the affairs of men which the most sagacious cannot foretell. After Loubeque's departure a Mexican bandit ventures into the hacienda in a spirit of mischief, and thus Lucille finds a friend in her dire need. Thompson again plans to steal the ruby necklace from Lucille, and to forward his design he saws the iron bars of Lucille's window with the purpose of entering her room that night and stealing the jewel. His trivial act becomes a means of succor to Lucille. When Thompson enters her room and attacks her that night, the bandit is called to the scene by her cries. He shoots Thompson, and with his help Lucille escapes from her prison house and from the hacienda. Even while she is escaping a new element of mystery enters into the story. The guards stand upon the hacienda walls firing at Lucille and her escort, when a veiled woman arrives and directs operations against the fugitives. When they have arrived almost at a point of safety. Lucille's good friend, the bandit, is shot and the girl rides forth alone into a foreign country embroiled in civil wars. Episode 11: When Lucille escapes from Hugo Loubeque's Mexican ranch, where she was held prisoner, she falls into a veritable hotbed of revolutionary activity. While hiding from a troop of rebel soldiers she overhears a number of Mexicans plotting against an American ranchman. Out of sympathy for her countrymen she hurries to them and tells them of the danger which threatens. Instantly the cowboys fly to arms and meet the advancing soldiers. In the height of a fierce battle, with shrapnel and bombs bursting about her. Lucille is grabbed from her horse by a Mexican and carried away from the scene of battle to a strange hacienda, which is used as a base of operations by the Mexican troops in the vicinity. An instant after Lucille is locked in a prison room she looks out of the window and sees an automobile approaching. In that automobile is Hugo Loubeque, and with a sinking heart she realizes that it was through his activity that she is again in his power. In a spirit of hopeless desperation which lends her the strength of a man. the girl wields a heavy bottle in the air and strikes her Mexican guard senseless. In order to perfect her plan of escape, which she so suddenly conceived, she dresses herself in the Mexican clothes. Before she can leave the room, however, a second soldier enters and it is not until she disables him that she makes her escape from the house. Once outside she jumps into Loubeque's automobile and dashes away. In the meantime the Mexican position has been attacked by Federals. With soldiers moving in two directions during the progress of battle, Lucille glides the machine toward the American border. She is hotly pursued by a detachment of cavalry, but she outdistances the horsemen and arrives at the American military headquarters in safety. The officers listen to her story and aid her with money and clothes. Now that she has thrown off Loubeque's power Lucille's first thought is of the papers which she hid in the spy's San Francisco home, and she sets out to get possession of them. While en route to San Francisco by train she is recognized by Thompson, one of Loubeque's principal confederates. Thompson telegraphs Loubeque of the girl's movements, and is instructed by Loubeque to allow Lucille to enter his home without interference, but that when she is once inside to hold her prisoner. Little suspecting that the spy knows of her movements. Lucille disguises herself and enters Loubeque's house to get the papers. She finds the papers, but a moment before she leaves, the room in which she is in hiding sinks to the cellar, and she finds herself trapped and Hugo Loubeque awaiting her with a sinister smile. Episode 12: True it is that Lucille has regained possession of the priceless documents, still she is in a more dangerous position than ever before. She again finds herself Hugo Loubeque's prisoner in his San Francisco residence. Her position is especially dangerous because Loubeque is now thoroughly tired of the extreme bother she has caused him. She realizes that he is now in deadly earnest, and when he demands the return of the papers she promptly hands them to him in fright and misgiving. A fortunate incident to divert Loubeque's anger occurs when Thompson, the crook-butler, enters. Lucille accuses him of stealing her jewels, and to prove her assertions she takes the "stolen" jewels from his pocket. Loubeque's pent-up anger and impatience then breaks in all its fury on the butler. The spy knocks the man down and strangles him almost into insensibility. While Lucille is waiting for her fate to be decided she glances listlessly out of the barred window. Outside of the house she sees Lieutenant Gibson, the man she loves, and who is in the same predicament with her father in that both will be dishonored unless the documents are recovered from Loubeque before he finds an opportunity to use them. Lieutenant Gibson has tracked Lucille to this house. However, Loubeque sees Gibson almost as quick as does Lucille, and he at once begins giving orders to his men that they may forestall an attack. However, Lieutenant Gibson is just as quick in action as Loubeque, and before the spy can get his forces together Gibson's men attack the house, batter down the front door and begin fighting in the corridors and upon the stairways. Loubeque realizes that his force is outnumbered and commands all to escape through the underground tunnel. Lucille is carried into the tunnel, but in covering the retreat of his men Loubeque hesitates a moment too long and Gibson dashes in and holds him up at the point of a revolver. Loubeque holds up his hands and backs against the door. Gibson looks around and gives an order, and as he does so the door against which Loubeque leans quickly pivots and the spy disappears. Loubeque joins his men in the tunnel. They escape with Lucille to an automobile. The girl soon realizes that she is being taken back to Loubeque's estate in Mexico. Once arrived at the hacienda. Thompson, the butler, begins to smart under the ill-treatment given him by Loubeque. The butler rebels against the spy and takes Loubeque's chauffeur into his confidence, and between them they plan to liberate Lucille and escape themselves. They communicate their plans to Lucille and all three decide that that night at the third hoot of the owl, they will escape in Loubeque's automobile. Loubeque becomes suspicious of the conspirators, and when he can learn nothing by other means, he plays possum. He pretends that he is asleep, and watches the three people out of the corner of his eye. Already the owl-hoot signal has been twice given, and Lucille is ready to escape, when Loubeque jumps to his feet and grapples with the astonished butler. While they are fighting the spy drops the documents. Lucille picks them up. She herself gives the third signal, jumps over the balustrade, climbs into the automobile and speeds away with the chauffeur. After overpowering Thompson, Loubeque dashes to the front of the house just in time to see Lucille being whisked away in his machine. He calls his men together. They mount their horses and give chase. Episode 13: Taking advantage of Loubeque's quarrel with Thompson, his butler, Lucille picks up the priceless documents from the floor, where they fell during the scuffle. She runs out of the hacienda, jumps into Loubeque's machine with the chauffeur, who has decided to aid her, and begins a wild dash toward the American frontier. Loubeque takes after her in another machine, and a spectacular and thrilling chase begins. The country is rough and the roads are rough and in bad shape. Loubeque can better stand the rough handling than the girl, and as a consequence he gains on her rapidly. Knowing what his fate will be if the spy overtakes him, Lucille's chauffeur loses his head while driving the machine over a dugway. The sight which Loubeque then witnesses freezes his blood and causes him to cover his eyes that he may see no more. Lucille's automobile swerves, hesitates and then dashes from the dugway and topples from the edge of the cliff into the terrible abyss. When she regains consciousness she finds herself in bed, with Loubeque caring for her and administering to her injuries. The papers are gone, and she is set back to the point where she started. The futility of fighting the purposes of such a man as Loubeque, with all his physical power, determination and keen sense of intrigue, dawns upon the girl and leaves her without an ounce of fighting energy. Unasked, she agrees to give up the fight which has already cost her so much and return to San Francisco. In her heart she has begun to admire Hugo Loubeque, his steadfastness to a purpose which could actuate only a man of intense character and brilliant imagination. Although he dare not admit it to himself, Loubeque has a feeling for Lucille which is far greater than a passing admiration for her determination, bravery and energy in fighting apparently insurmountable obstacles. However, Loubeque has never lost sight of his objective point, viz, the ruination of Sumpter Love, the man who stole his sweetheart and wrecked his life. Thus when he arrives in San Francisco with Lucille he at once begins negotiations with a Lieutenant Hadley to turn over the papers to the Department of State and thus dishonor Lucille's father. He makes an appointment to meet Hadley at a café, and there deliver the papers to him. Lucille learns of his plans and accompanies him to the café. Knowing that the spy will not talk business in her presence, Lucille feigns illness and is excused. She hires one of the cabaret dancers to allow her to use her clothes and dance in her place. Lucille dances in the café, and now and then, when she edges near Loubeque, she overhears portions of his conversation. Then a most unexpected thing happens. Lieutenant Gibson, Lucille's sweetheart, happens into the café. He cannot believe his eyes when he sees Lucille, the only daughter of General Sumpter Love, as a cabaret dancer. Lucille also sees Gibson and runs to him with the light of recognition and love in her eyes. But Gibson pushes her from him in disgust. He can have nothing to do with a cabaret dancer. She pleads with him, but he will not listen to an explanation and rushes from the café. Episode 14: After her humiliation in the eyes of the man she loves, and after failing to secure the information she sought to secure by eavesdropping on Loubeque in the café, Lucille returns to her hotel crestfallen and without hope. However, good fortune comes from an unexpected source, and by a strange stroke of circumstances Hugo Loubeque is again outwitted in an attempt to deliver the documents to Lieutenant Hadley. By previous arrangement, Hadley was to communicate with Loubeque by carrier pigeon and arrange for a definite meeting place. As Lucille sat at breakfast before an open window the pigeon, bound for Loubeque's room, was attracted into Lucille's window by the crumbs upon the table. She took up the bird and began fondling it, when she discovered Hadley's note, and then wrote another, a misleading missive, and substituted it for the original. The pigeon then was liberated and flew to Loubeque's room with the counterfeit message. In the meantime, Thompson, the crook-butler, steals into Loubeque's room in an attempt to avenge himself upon the international spy. While Thompson is still hiding in his room, Lucille enters with the intention of drawing Loubeque out and making him speak. She is unsuccessful, however, and leaves, but not before she realizes that something is wrong. Loubeque has heard someone behind his curtain, and then begins to steal forward toward the spy. Lucille is watching from the fire escape. She watches Loubeque wait for an opportune moment, and then swing around on the butler and disarm him before he can put his murderous plan into execution. Loubeque then telephones the police that there is a thief in his room. Loubeque hesitates in having Thompson arrested, however, when the butler tells him that he will tell the police all. Thompson awaits his chance, and attempts to kill Loubeque, who is too quick for him, and shoots him. He drags Thompson's body out of his room and into Lucille's room. In the meantime the girl has entered Loubeque's room and begins searching for his papers. The police enter and arrest her as a thief. Despite her objections she is taken to the police station. While this is happening, however, Loubeque discovers that Lucille has been arrested in error. Then he does a strange thing. As long as she is in jail she cannot interfere with his plans. It would have been the most natural thing in the world for him to have left her there. Instead of doing this, he at once communicated with the police and instructed them to release Lucille, as she was not the thief, and was arrested in error. Lucille is set free. She is coming to understand Loubeque less every day. She realizes, and had had demonstration of his iron will. She had done everything in her power to defeat him, and even to attempt to kill him, and then he is instrumental in having her released from prison. He is an enigma, a paradox. Episode 15: Hugo Loubeque, the international spy, falls into the trap which heretofore he had used to defeat those who opposed him. Plan as a man will, unforeseen coincidences arise which confound reason and place the work of a lifetime at naught. It happened thus with Loubeque. When Lucille learned that Loubeque was to meet Lieutenant Hadley at his (Loubeque's) home, she at once hastened to the rendezvous herself. As she was the first to arrive, she took a look through the house of so many terrors. When she beheld a picture of Loubeque upon the wall, the thought of all his crimes and the bitter hatred of her father overwhelmed her, and she raised her revolver and fired into the face of the picture. Even before the echo of the report had died away an amazing thing happened. She saw the floor of a bedroom slowly sink out of sight. Had she not known what had already transpired in that house, she would have been, indeed, confounded. Lucille removed the picture from the wall, and behind it found a switchboard. It was from this board that Loubeque controlled all the traps, staircases and sliding ways and floors of the house. Forthwith she tested every switch. One caused a staircase to disappear, while another caused a desk to sink into the floor. No sooner than she had mastered the system of switches than Lieutenant Hadley arrived. In an instant she laid her plan of action. She informed Hadley that Loubeque was not there, but that he would leave on the Golden State Limited that night. Hadley was satisfied and left. A few moments later Loubeque arrived to keep his appointment with Hadley. Instead of Hadley he found Lucille. As Loubeque leaned against the desk Lucille pressed the proper button and Loubeque fell through the floor with the heavy desk upon him. While he was still in a stunned condition, Lucille crept into the cellar and removed the documents from his inside pocket. An instant later Loubeque recovered and ran after the girl, but he was just one minute too late. She ran to the mouth of the secret tunnel, and just before Loubeque grasped her in his arms she closed down and locked the iron gate. This was her moment at last. She could laugh and jibe the spy, and he was helpless to harm her. But time had not ceased to be precious. Lucille rushed to the railroad station and caught the outgoing train. Loubeque also arrived, but he was too late. Lucille was gone forever with the papers. Returning to his home, Loubeque told Gibson that Lucille was on her way to Washington with the documents, but Gibson thought the spy was lying to him. Each took a sword, and they decided to settle the argument with blood. In the midst of a terrible duel, however, the house was surrounded by detectives, and Loubeque saw that he must escape while there was yet time. In the instant before the detectives rushed in, Loubeque took a package from his pocket containing Lucille's costly necklace and banded it to Gibson, with instructions to take it to the Secretary of War. A moment later Loubeque disappeared and the floors of the house tumbled into the cellar, trapping those who had come to arrest a spy. Lucille delivered the documents to the Secretary of War at Washington, and thus saved the name of her father and of her sweetheart, Lieutenant Gibson. Gibson arrived while Lucille was yet with the Secretary. He fell at Lucille's feet and begged her forgiveness for misjudging her, and she was only too willing to re-establish him again in her heart. That night Loubeque wrote in his diary: "My debt of hate toward Sumpter Love is canceled, for no hate can outlive love in the man who has known Lucille." Loubeque loved Lucille. END
- DirectorRobert Z. LeonardStarsRobert Z. LeonardElla HallHarry CarterEpisode 1: "Gold Madness" Two mining prospectors. James Gallon and his partner, Wilkerson, in a temporary camp, have been searching for gold. Gallon has made a lucky strike and has tried to conceal the fact from Wilkerson, who already suspects his partner is not giving him a square deal. The partners are sitting around the campfire one evening when suddenly Wilkerson becomes thirsty. After taking innumerable drinks of water, he falls asleep. Gallon walks off some distance from the sleeper and starts drawing the plans of his great find, but every now and again he furtively turns his eyes in the direction of Wilkerson, fearing he may awaken and discover his secret. Wilkerson awakens, observes Gallon and wonders what he is doing. Quietly he crawls on his hands and knees until he can peer over Gallon's shoulder; and in his eagerness to see he accidentally touches him. Gallon discovers Wilkerson is looking at him, and starts running away, with Wilkerson in pursuit. Gallon grabs his gun, turns and fires at Wilkerson. A terrific fight follows. Gallon leaves Wilkerson apparently dead. Gallon, after hours of wandering, reaches the small mining town of Jacito. A stranger takes him to the sheriff's office. Gallon tells the sheriff he and his partner were attacked by outlaws and his partner was killed. The sheriff, accompanied by his deputy and Gallon, goes toward the saloon and calls for volunteers. A crowd soon collects. Out of the saloon comes a half drunken boy, who cries, "I'm game," jumps on a horse, and the posse are off. As they gallop up the hill, the drunken boy is thrown to the ground when his horse stumbles. The others ride on. The boy lies dazed. His horse gets upon its feet and whinnies. "Who's coming?" mutters the boy. Through the brush he distinguishes a faint form; it is a man. Could this be one of the outlaws? He wonders. He pulls his revolver. "I'm Wilkerson." replies the voice. Wilkerson confides his story to the boy and asks his help. The boy consents and the two go slowly on. At the camp, the sheriff and deputy find no one. The sheriff returns and orders Gallon's arrest. The boys bind him. Evening comes on the posse camp, leaving Gallon tied by the fire. A cowboy is left on watch. In time the watcher falls asleep. Gallon manages to sever his bonds by holding his hands over the fire. He manages to get to a horse and escape. The posse pursue him. Gallon has reached the thick brush, and when he knows he is safe he lies down and takes out the plans he had drawn, also a picture of a twelve-year-old girl, his only daughter, Ruth, and with that picture clasped tightly to his heart he falls asleep, muttering, "I'll save 'The Master Key' for Ruth." Fearing to return to the scene of his supposed crime, Gallon leaves San Francisco by ship for his home. Visions of Wilkerson appear before him. His conscience is troubled. Shortly after boarding the ship, he finds an old sea chest, which he opens. He takes out a curious Japanese idol. In the head of this he hides the plan to his mine. The captain of the vessel is a brute. Once out to sea a mutiny ensues, during which the ship catches fire. Shortly after it sinks, Gallon is washed ashore. Realizing he has nothing to indicate the location of the disaster, he engraves the approximate longitude and latitude where the ship went down on the key to the chest, known afterward as "The Master Key." Later, he is rescued and returns home, where he meets his daughter, Ruth. Five years ensue. Gallon returns to the mines, which he begins developing. He keeps a diary, and in this writes a notation to the effect that he has been seeking for the secret of his lost plans. About this time Gallon writes to a New York stock broker, named Gates, asking him for advice relative to floating "The Master Key" mines. On the day Gates receives Gallon's letter, John Dore, a young mining engineer, calls upon the former and is engaged as consulting and construction engineer for Gallon. He goes West to take up his work. Here he meets Gallon's daughter. Gallon takes his diary from his safe and writes: "This day has been a repetition of all those gone before for the past five years. I am still seeking for the secret of my lost plans. I had not yet discovered" Episode 2: "A Ship Wreck and Wrecked Hopes" Many a man writes down on paper the things he cannot articulate. James Gallon, dreaming of two women, taciturn and silent as he was, wrote down the thoughts which he could not express in speech. His diary, well thumbed, held the history of many a lonely night, but of all these nights there was one that stood out in his mind. It was the darkness enclosing a woman on a bed. He still heard her whispered cry, "You speak of God, Tom, but I have no religion but motherhood." Before his closed eyes came the vision of a lamp lit, then almost an apparition, the face of his daughter. One life had fled, possibly appalled by the horrors of a world that reeks not of our poor humanity. Yet there was in the dead woman's arms a child grotesquely asleep, as if unawakened mother had known. "Ruth," he cried. There was no answer from in the darkness, but thus he had christened his only child. And Gallon knew he was getting old. The problem before him was no longer dim and vague, as it had been in the days of his prime, but absolutely distinct and clear. What was to become of Ruth when he died. He sternly put out of his mind the thought of his former partner, the man, was he dead? If he had not died that night in the gulch, if he were still alive, knowing the secret of "The Master Key," who could save Ruth from his vengeance? Then there rose before Gallon's mind the straight, strong, almost austere figure of his mining engineer, John Dore. Youthful, of course, but he had proved himself wholly competent in almost every task that had been given him. And as though Fate desired to give further proof of Dore's manliness, she arranges for him, shortly after this, a fearful undertaking. Ruth, while exploring the tunnels, is thrown into an ore car by a terrific explosion. This explosion sends the car on its downward flight out through the tunnel and over the trestle. She is in danger of tragic death if the car goes over the dump at the end. Dore, superintending the operations of a traveling bucket, sees her predicament. He orders the bucket swung loose by its cable and, hanging down by his legs, he swings over the girl and pulls her up to him, the car rushing on and smashing over the ore dump. But what of Gallon? Those whom we most want to forget reappear at strange times. James Gallon saw the ghost of the partner he had murdered on the crest of the hill above the mine they had discovered years ago together. Yes, Wilkerson, the partner, was alive. He had continually searched for Gallon. In some vague way Gallon had realized this, and his fears had been summarized by the words written down in the diary: "Wilkerson still alive by night. When will he come into the day? He shall never have the key that will unlock the secret to my little girl's happiness. I will trust John Dore." But it was no apparition that Gallon had seen, first on the crest of the hill and men at the window; it was really Wilkerson who, after one satisfied glance, rode swiftly away toward Valle Vista. It was midnight when he rapped at the door of the railroad station and called the sleepy agent waiting for the express. This is the telegram he sent: "Valle Vista, Cal. Jean Darnell, Astor House, New York City, N.Y: Have found Gallon at last. Address Master Key Mine to-morrow. Wilkerson." Who was Jean Darnell? Well, she had a mission of vengeance, too. Incidentally, she welcomed money. Wilkerson had to have it if he ever expected to possess her. When Ruth came to make her fight, with the help of her sweetheart, John Dore, she had two crafty persons to deal with. Episode 3: "The Ghost Appears" Hounded by Wilkerson, Gallon is made to realize that his former partner is a real being and not an apparition. It is this knowledge which breaks the spirit of Gallon and prepares him for death. Wilkerson compels Gallon to employ him as superintendent of the mine. It is the last straw; Gallon sinks fast, and as his life is about to flicker out, his daughter, John Dore and the old cook are gathered in the death-room. Supported in Ruth's arms, Gallon writes his last will. It reads: "I leave all my property to my daughter Ruth, to come into her full possession on her eighteenth birthday. I direct her never to let go of 'The Master Key,' which will make my little girl happy. I direct that my daughter keep Harry Wilkerson as superintendent until she is eighteen. I appoint as executor or this, my last will and testament, John Dore." When Gallon dies Dore finds in the desk a sealed envelope, addressed to him, which reads: "To be opened on Ruth's eighteenth birthday, sooner if her welfare is threatened." It is hard for Dore and Ruth to appreciate all that has and is happening; much of it is a mystery to them. Vaguely they realize that Gallon had a dread of Wilkerson, that he had evidently wronged him, and that Wilkerson, in his turn, has a mission of vengeance. At the "Master Key" mine matters come to a critical point when Wilkerson, now in full charge, posts a notice to the effect that "After this day all wages in this mine will be reduced 25 per cent." The man is after money, as much of it as he can get. He also sees that Dore is a stumbling block to his schemes. Of an afternoon Dore interferes when Wilkerson knocks a miner down. It is the excuse for Wilkerson firing him as the mine engineer. Following this move, the miners decide to strike. Wilkerson's domineering manner has earned the dislike of every one of them. There is a fight in the office between Wilkerson and an old miner. The former draws a gun, and is only prevented from shooting the miner by the timely appearance of Dore. But the incident is sufficient excuse for the rough miners to seek Wilkerson's life. They secure a rope and prepare to lynch him. Because of Ruth, because he cannot see murder done even in the heat of passion, Dore goes to the defense of the cornered rat. Standing on a box, he tells the miners in a few brief words the exact situation so far as he is concerned, begs them not to risk Ruth's property. For a time the men listen, and then they seem to get out of hand. Ruth climbs onto the box beside her sweetheart and joins her own appeal with his. And this proves successful, so far as the life of Wilkerson is concerned. But the strike; it must be ended. Wilkerson realized this if he hoped to continue the mine operations and secure money, his life would be threatened at any moment so long as the strike lasted. It is a bitter draught to swallow, but Wilkerson announces to the men that the former scale of wages will be again put in force, and that John Dore will be appointed superintendent of the mine. He is ready to bide his time for revenge. Episode 4: "Over the Divide" With his miners still hostile, Wilkerson realizes that he must get Dore out of the way, if only temporarily. Inasmuch as Dore has saved Wilkerson's life, thus preventing him from openly assaulting him, the scheming executor of Ruth Gallon's will plans to induce Dore to go to San Francisco. Accordingly he alters the books of "The Master Key" mine to make it appear that unless more capital is secured at once the mine will go into bankruptcy. Wilkerson suggests that Dore leave at once, but Ruth's protector scents another conspiracy, and arranges that Ruth, instead of himself, shall make the trip to secure more capital. Wilkerson, who plans to oust both Ruth, the rightful heir to "The Master Key" mine, and Dore, accepts Dore's counter proposition with bad grace. Making the most of the opportunity to rid himself of one of the obstacles to the success of his schemes, however, Wilkerson consents to Ruth's visiting San Francisco in Dore's place. Upon Ruth's departure Wilkerson wires Mrs. Darnell, an old flame, to introduce Ruth to a 'Frisco confidence man, Charles Drake, as the Mr. Everett with whom she is to make arrangements for securing further capital for the financing of the mine. Drake is instructed to gain control of the deeds which Ruth takes to San Francisco with her. Ruth, all unsuspecting of the net into which she is being drawn, is introduced to Drake, and entrusts him with the sending of a telegram to Dore, telling the young mine superintendent of her safe arrival in San Francisco. Drake sends the telegram after making himself acquainted with its contents. Dore, back at his mine, receives Ruth's telegram at the same time he is handed another puzzling wire from the real Mr. Everett, which reads: "Miss Gallon has not arrived; what is the trouble?" Upon comparing Ruth's telegram, which assures him that she has "met Mr. Everett at depot," Dore instantly realizes that something is amiss, and decides to leave for San Francisco at once to straighten out the matter. Hearing of Dore's plan to leave, Wilkerson resolves to prevent his departure at all costs. For several hours he considers several plans, and finally decides upon one which he hopes will rid him for all time of the young mining engineer. During the night he withdraws a pin from the brake on the rear wheel of the motor truck which Dore will use next day in making the journey from the mine to the railroad station. A half hour before Dore leaves Wilkerson rides ahead and fires the bridge at the foot of a steep decline down which Dore's truck must come. The bridge is hidden by a bend in the road, and the driver of Dore's truck fails to see the steadily mounting flames until he is halfway down the side of the steep hill. He at once applies the brakes to the truck, but the pin which Wilkerson has removed prevents the brakes from working, and the car soon attains a terrific momentum. Bounding from side to side of the narrow mountain roadway, the driver of the machine has great difficulty from preventing the truck from leaping the trail. Realizing that death awaits him when the truck strikes the blazing timbers of the bridge, the driver jumps for his life into a ditch alongside the road. Dore, anticipating the driver's desertion, springs to the steering wheel of the truck just in time to prevent it from overturning. He applies the brakes frantically in an attempt to control the runaway car, but with no success. With the flames of the bridge already beating in his face, Dore jumps at the last moment from the car, rolls down the hillside, and hangs unconscious over the edge of the canyon, into which the massive motor truck plunges through the rotten timbers of the blazing plank bridge. The heat from the burning structure and the crackling of flames in nearby bushes and mountain grass brings Dore to semi-consciousness and a realization of his danger. Painfully crawling away from the canyon's edge to a bare rock where the flames cannot reach him, he again falls unconscious from his injuries. Wilkerson, meanwhile, has reached the station, and catches the local for San Francisco, believing that Dore has plunged into the depth of the canyon. Episode 5: "The Lost Vein" At the conclusion of the fourth episode Dore barely saved himself from plunging through a blazing bridge into the depths of the canyon. The introduction of the fifth episode of the serial shows Tom Kane cook of "The Master Key" mine, coming to the rescue of Dore as he lies half-conscious on the brink of the precipice. Wilkerson, who set fire to the bridge, meanwhile, is on his way toward San Francisco. En route he sends a telegram to Drake and the latter meets him at the station. Mrs. Darnell, Drake and Ruth are registered at the Manx Hotel, the adventuress and confidence man passing off the pretty young woman as their daughter. Upon arriving at the hotel Drake, Wilkerson and Mrs. Darnell discuss their plan to secure control of "The Master Key" mine. Ruth, secreted in her room, overhears the conversation and learns for the first time that she has been trapped by her dead father's enemies. In order to prevent the conspirators from securing the deeds to "The Master Key" mine, Ruth locks them in a dresser drawer and puts the key in her grip. The conspirators enter Ruth's room soon afterward and, realizing that she has been listening, seize her. In the struggle Ruth faints and the conspirators decide to get her out of the hotel at once. They 'phone for a taxi, bundle Ruth up and rush her downstairs through the lobby of the hotel to the taxi only stopping long enough to pay their bill. The hotel clerk and house detective think the hurried departure strange, and try to stop Drake and Mrs. Darnell. Failing in this they give chase in another taxicab. The pursuit brings them to Chinatown, where they arrive in time to see Wilkerson force Ruth into an opium den owned by Sing Wah, a former opium smuggler. Dore meanwhile arrives in San Francisco, and goes to the Manx Hotel. The only suite vacant is that just given up by the conspirators. Dore unpacks his personal effects in the room from which Ruth has just been hurried away. One of the dresser drawers is locked and Dore sends for a key. The drawer is opened and, to his surprise, the young mining engineer finds deeds to "The Master Key" mine within. Episode 6: "Wilkerson Strikes" Dore learns from the hotel authorities of the mysterious disappearance of Mrs. Darnell and her companions. Aided by the hotel detective they find the taxi driver who drove the party and direct him to take them to the place where he drove the others. An immediate search of Chinatown is begun. By accident Dore sees Drake enter a Chinese shop. Meanwhile, Mrs. Darnell and Wilkerson have discovered that the deeds to the mine are not in Ruth's grip, as they supposed. Believing that Ruth has them they send Drake to win her confidence and thus secure them. When he enters the shop Dore, the detective and the taxi driver follow. They see him disappear through a panel door and hurry out for police assistance. In the interim, Sing Wah, the Chinese, has decided to hold Ruth for his own purpose. When Drake comes for her, he escapes from the cylindrical trap room and takes her down to the bay, with the intention of carrying her to a safe hiding place. Dore and the detective with police assistance return quickly, and a general raid on the opium den is made. Drake evades the police. He does not meet Dore but escapes and returns to the lodging house, where he reports his failure to secure the papers. Dore and the detective are trapped in the cylindrical room by a Chinese woman who had previously guarded Ruth. Dore is slightly injured, and in the excitement of the moment the woman pulls a trap and drops the mining engineer and the detective into the water underneath the den. They swim to a rowboat and thus pass through the underground canal into the bay. They come upon Sing Wah with Ruth and an exciting chase follows, ending with the rescue of Ruth. Episode 7: "The Battle in the Dark" Dore secures a room for Ruth in the same hotel where he is stopping in San Francisco and borrows some clothing for her, pending a trip to the shopping district. In order to take her mind off her experience, Dore takes Ruth on a trip to Cliff House. The trip and accompanying dinner take the greater part of the evening and upon her return Ruth goes down the hall into her room. Dore is inserting the key into the lock of his room down the hall when he hears Ruth scream. Running into her room he sees a figure crawling out on the fire escape. In their absence Wilkerson, by bribes and threats of exposure, has engaged Sam Pell, an ex-second story man and hotel worker, to make a further attempt to recover the deeds of "The Master Key" mine. Pell, by following Dore and Ruth, has learned their room number. He had about completed his night's work when Ruth and Dore returned and interrupted him. Dore fiercely pursued the second-story worker across the roof of the hotel, cornering him behind the great chimneys. Ruth, following closely after, witnesses the struggle between the two men. Pell has about overcome Dore when another figure crawls up the fire escape. It is Tom Kane, who has returned to San Francisco to report to Dore the distress among the miners of "The Master Key" workings. Tom immediately turns the tide of battle by drawing a gun on Pell. The slippery second-story man, however, eludes both Dore and Kane. Just as he reaches the edge of the roof, Dore again catches him and throws him so heavily that the criminal falls over the roof to the street below and is killed. Unnoticed by Dore, Kane or Ruth, Pell had skillfully thrown the deeds down the inner "well" of the hotel. Upon the arrival of hotel employees and the police, Pell's body is searched but no trace of the deeds is obtained. The police recognize Pell as an old criminal, and Dore's story is accepted without question. After a short investigation the police permit Dore and Ruth to leave. Kane assures Ruth that things are "going along fine" at the mine but secretly admits to Dore that the men are out of work and that there is extreme suffering among them. Wilkerson's man, Tubbs, has discharged Kane and taken things at the mine into his own hands. Dore at once realizes that something must be done to prevent Wilkerson from ruining the property through his hirelings. Episode 8: "The Struggle on the Roof" As a matter of form, John Dore is arrested for the death of Pell. Everett goes with him to arrange for his release on bail. Ruth is left in the care of Tom Kane. Kane tells her that the miners are out of work and threatened with starvation. Ruth listens sympathetically as Kane tells her how he opened the cook house to the wives of the miners and supplied them with food. She is pleased to learn that when the engineer interfered he was only saved from being mobbed by Kane, although Kane could not stop the miners from running the engineer out of camp. These events, Kane explains, made him resolve to go to John and Ruth to obtain their assistance in raising funds to help the starving people. Wilkerson and Mrs. Darnell learn of the death of Pell and decide to forge a note, supposedly from Dore, asking Ruth to visit him at the jail. Drake, disguised as a chauffeur, takes the note and after getting Ruth in the cab is to take her to a deserted part of town, where Wilkerson will meet him and thus secure the deeds. Ruth shows the note to Kane. The old miner is suspicious and when she leaves he accompanies her. When the cab stops, Wilkerson appears and threatens Ruth, but Kane defeats their purpose and has Drake arrested for attempted abduction. Wilkerson escapes. In the meantime, an ashman cleaning in the alley at the rear of the hotel, finds the deeds and takes them home. He advertises his find, and Wilkerson, seeing the "ad," compels the maid to disguise and go for the papers. The ashman is suspicious at first, but after she offers him a sum of money, he forgets his scruples and delivers them to her. Dore is released on bail and coming to the hotel finds Ruth has gone. The clerk informs him of her departure and shows Dore the note she had received. He is immediately suspicious. While he is deciding on a plan of action, Ruth and Kane come in and tell of their experiences. Everett is nearby reading the papers, when he suddenly shows them the ashman's advertisement. All go to the address mentioned in the advertisement, but find that Wilkerson's emissary has forestalled them. Ruth breaks down and the doctor advises them to take her to the southern part of the state for a change of climate. Wilkerson, Mrs. Darnell and the maid have all disguised themselves and secured tickets to Los Angeles via boat. They get aboard safely and find that Dore. Ruth and their party are on the same boat. Ruth's party, however, do not recognize Wilkerson and Mrs. Darnell on account of their disguises. Episode 9: "Arrested for Murder" John Dore, Tom Kane and Ruth Gallon arrives in Los Angeles from San Francisco and go to the Beverly Hills Hotel for a few days' rest. Harry Wilkerson and Mrs. Darnell also arrive in the city and discover that the deeds to the Master Key Mine, which they secured from the ashman in San Francisco, are worthless to them because no conveyance of the property has been made out. Wilkerson forgets this and they then take steps to seize the mine. Wilkerson wires Drake in San Francisco to go to Silent Valley and represent him there until further notice. He also sends word to the engineer at the mine that Dore is no longer in the company's employ and to recognize the authority of Drake until he can reach the property. At the Beverley Hills Hotel, Ruth meets a young Englishman, heir to a title, who is somewhat of a fortune seeker. He is a new type to her and his breeding and sartorial good taste makes an impression on the young girl. She is not infatuated although John Dore is led to believe that she is, and as a consequence a slight coldness arises between them which neither can explain to the other. Everett follows them from San Francisco to continue his work of raising money to develop the mine, but shows them that he can do nothing unless they secure the deeds of ownership. They, therefore, begin tracking Wilkerson and Mrs. Darnell. With a few hundred dollars, which Everett has loaned Dore, the latter repays his debt to Tom Kane and sends him to Silent Valley to care for the starving miners. Kane finds the mine in the possession of Drake. Kane wires Dore, who leaves at once for Los Angeles with Ruth, arriving at the mine the next day. An open war follows, Wilkerson hurrying to the scene of action on hearing from Drake that trouble is brewing. Without any trouble Dore drives off the intruders and prepares for further attacks. Wilkerson returns with a band of Mexicans from the southern part of the state and opens on Dore and his followers. Many miners and Mexicans are killed in the battle which rages all over the property. Ruth has a narrow escape but is again saved by Dore. In a hand-to-hand fight Wilkerson is thrown from a high trestle down the side of an ore dump. Dore fears that he has killed Wilkerson but in the gathering darkness cannot make sure. Episode 10: "The Fight for the Mine" At the end of Episode Nine of this serial it will be remembered that John Dore throws Wilkerson from a high trestle to the foot of an ore dump near the mine. Wilkerson, although fearfully bruised, revives and drags himself to a spot where he is found by his Mexican hirelings. The Governor of the State, upon the request of the local sheriff, sends a troop of state cavalry to quell the disturbance at the mine. The captain of the company sends for the two leaders and demands an explanation. Both claim ownership of the mine, Dore on behalf of Ruth and Wilkerson for himself. The officer places the camp under martial law and gives the opposing leaders the liberty of the village. Dore accuses Wilkerson of abduction and forgery, but the captain and the sheriff are officially powerless to make an arrest. Dore thereupon sends Tom Kane to the nearest county seat to swear out a warrant for Wilkerson's arrest. Dore lives meanwhile at his own house and Ruth in her old home where she is chaperoned by one of the miner's wives. Wilkerson bunks in one of the miner's cabins. Dore thinks the situation is serious enough to warrant his opening a letter left in his care by Tom Gallon which was to be opened on Ruth's eighteenth birthday or prior to that date should her welfare be threatened. Dore opens the letter which reads as follows: "Silent Valley, Cal., June 20, 1914. Little Girl, read carefully what I now write. On this depends your future welfare. The Master Key mine discovered by me five years ago contains a mother lode of inestimable worth. The exact location of the lode is written on a slip of paper which I placed in the head of an Indian idol, hidden in an old sea chest which sank on the ship on which I was wrecked. On the Master Key, the key to that chest which you wear on your neck, is carved the latitude and longitude where the vessel went down. Find that slip of paper and wealth is yours. Your devoted daddy, JOHN GALLON." In opening the letter with a paper knife, Dore accidentally cuts the letter into two parts. He pieces it together in reading it but in putting the letter into his pocket a part containing the last paragraph drops on the floor. One of Wilkerson's henchmen, who has been instructed to shadow Dore, sees this through the window and when Dore goes out, enters the house and picks up the paper. The Mexican hurries with this part of the letter to Wilkerson and the latter, who always realized that the mine was not located correctly, is elated at the discovery. His next move is to get the key from Ruth. Dore starts to read the letter to Ruth and discovers that half of it is gone. Although he makes a careful search he fails to find it. Dore tells Ruth what the letter contained and copies from the key she wears the numerals so crudely carved by her father five years before and which always have been a puzzle to her. That night the "greaser" steals the key from Ruth's neck and takes it to Wilkerson. Wilkerson leaves camp at once but is pursued to the mine entrance and its caverns by Dore's men. Eluding his pursuers he escapes through the caverns of the mine through a secret opening at the back of the cliff. With a rope he drops over the ledge and lowers himself downward. The soldiers seize the rope and are about to haul Wilkerson up when he drops, lands unscathed in a bush and hurries away. Jumping a freight, he lands in San Diego, secures the services of a diver, wires Mrs. Darnell to join him and then sets out for the sunken ship. Dore, meanwhile, leaves for San Pedro with Ruth, leaving word for Kane to remain in charge of affairs at the mine. At the port of Los Angeles, Dore secures a boat and diver with a hoisting apparatus. Dore and Wilkerson approach the latitude and longitude indicated on "The Master Key" at about the same time. Wilkerson's diver is already down on the sea bottom when Dore's diver puts on his harness and sinks into the waves. Wilkerson's party attempts to prevent the diver from going to work, but Dore and his men hold them back with their rifles and revolvers. Wilkerson's diver finds the chest and it is hauled upward just as Dore's diver crawls along the sea bottom toward him. Episode 11: "The Secret of the Chest" It will be remembered that Wilkerson and Dore are both striving to recover the secret to the rich lode of ore in the mine, which secret is contained in a sea-chest, which Wilkerson has recovered from the depths of the Pacific Ocean. Wilkerson's ship continues toward land, and he at once forces the chest open and makes a search for the paper, from which he hopes to learn the secret of "The Master Key"' mine. He fails to find any such slip, but does find the Indian idol, which he casts aside with the other contents as being worthless. Meantime, Dore's boat, which has been pursuing Wilkerson's vessel, reaches shore. Mrs. Darnell upbraids Wilkerson for his seeming stupidity, and another quarrel between them ensues. Members of the crew examine the seemingly worthless contents of the chest, and one of the sailors appropriates the idol among other articles, with a view to selling them in port. Upon arriving in San Diego, Mrs. Darnell goes to a hotel, while Wilkerson remains to pay off the captain and crew. Dore's boat puts into dock, and with the captain and Ruth, he hastens to find Wilkerson and the mysterious idol. In the interim, the sailor, with his idol, goes ashore and seeks out a pawnshop where he may sell his treasures. On the arrival of Dore and Ruth at Wilkerson's boat another altercation ensues between the two enemies, the respective sea captains interfering. Wilkerson gives Dore the laugh, but the latter at once realizes that Harry Wilkerson has not found the papers. Wilkerson goes into town to cash a check with which to pay off the captain. Dore thereupon questions the latter regarding the idol and is referred to members of the crew. He learns that one of the sailors had taken some of the articles in the chest, and search is at once continued. Wilkerson returns to the ship with the cash, and from the captain learns of Dore's inquiry. Thus Wilkerson realizes that he has missed the clue to his search. He goes ashore to shadow Dore. A Hindu peddler visits the pawnshop to sell his wares, consisting of a few Oriental rugs. In the shop he sees the idol, recognizes it and hastens to his squalid quarters, where he holds it close to him in a pathetic manner. As he gazes at the little image it seems to dissolve from view, and a series of pictures of the past appears. The Hindu sees himself as a watcher in a temple. A sailor enters the sacred confines and watches him roam about. He sees him standing before a sacred shrine. The Hindu turns from the visitor and takes up his religious duties where he had left off when he first saw the visitor. Later he notices that the sailor is gone, and, on walking to the shrine, in the performance of a sacred rite, he finds that one of the idols is gone. He immediately commences a search for it and, recalling the incident of the sailor, he runs forth and gives an alarm. He is severely censured by the high priest and is sent forth to find the idol. He visits the wharves and when boarding one of the ships he peers through a porthole and in a cabin sees the sailor gloating over the idol. He moves nearer and the sailor, seeing him, thrusts the idol into his chest and closes the lid. Other sailors come along the dock and question the Hindu. The first sailor comes from his cabin and joins the party. Realizing that the Hindu is searching for the idol, the sailor tells his comrades to throw him overboard. The Hindu is thereupon seized and thrown into the water. He swims ashore and, on being unable to board the ship again, is forced to watch her as she sails away. He returns to the temple and is told that he is banished until he returns with the sacred image. He returns to the wharves and boards another vessel. The Hindu's vision then closes and Ruth and Dore are seen to enter the pawnshop with Wilkerson following close behind, although they are unaware of it. Ruth and Dore question the shopkeeper closely, but the latter evades their queries. Episode 12: "The Quest for the Idol" It will be remembered that in the eleventh episode of "The Master Key" that a Hindu peddler, visiting a pawnshop to sell his wares, consisting of a few Oriental rugs, sees the idol, recognizes it as one which was stolen from him in India years before, and immediately purchases it. The idol has a long history, of which Dore and Ruth know nothing. Upon tracing it to the pawnshop, however, they learn that the Hindu has forestalled them, and that the idol is gone. Wilkerson, also searching for the valuable little idol, which he has permitted to slip through his fingers, trails Ruth and Dore. The pawnbroker tells Ruth and Dore of the strange Hindu to whom he sold it. Dore decides that the oriental is likely to return to India with it, and through the captain of the steamer he traces the Hindu to a ship bound for the Orient. Everett again assists them with money for the voyage. Sir Donald Faversham, learning that Ruth is in Los Angeles, calls on her to renew their friendship, and, learning that they are going to the Orient, he offers his services, he having been previously stationed in India as a British officer. In passing through the streets Ruth's sympathy is aroused in the interest of a poor beggar who is being tormented by the natives, and she goes to his rescue. Later this native proves his gratitude to her. A former servant of Sir Donald is engaged to assist them, and in the guise of natives they visit the temple, after having found where the sacred image has been hidden. In attempting to steal it Dore is captured. Sir Donald returns to Ruth with the news. She begs him to assist Dore to escape, and the Englishman offers to do so on condition that Ruth will promise to marry him if he succeeds. Torn between conflicting emotions, Ruth forces herself to accept the proposition. Sir Donald thereupon secures the services of other former troopers, and with his old servant he rescues Dore after a desperate struggle, in which Hindus and soldiers take part. Episode 13: "A Queer Alliance" Episode Thirteen opens with the same balcony scene which closed Episode Twelve. Ruth and Sir Donald are seen together. Sir Donald makes it plain that he feels much satisfaction at having rescued Dore and forces things to a point where Ruth must live up to her promise to marry him. Dore sees the exchange of glances between Sir Donald and Ruth and is much perplexed. Meanwhile there is much confusion in the temple. The high priest, angered at the desecration of the Temple by Sir Donald's Hindus, calls for vengeance. They start out to make a tour of the European hotels in their efforts to find Dore and Sir Donald. Ruth is bathing Dora's wound and Sir Donald is outside smoking when the Hindus come up the street. Wilkerson and Drake see the mob approaching the square yelling excitedly. The native police are quite unable to quiet the mob. Sir Donald is warned by a Hindu servant of his danger. He goes into the room where Ruth is attending to Dore and seizes her by the wrist. Ruth breaks from him and flees with Dore, who straps on his revolver. The mob arrives as they descend and bombards the hotel with stones. The porter of the hotel, fearing the vengeance of the high priests, opens the gates and permits the mob to enter. Meanwhile Dore, Ruth and Sir Donald, guided by a servant, dart into a side passage, which leads into a walled court. Ruth recognizes among the crowd of beggars in the courtyard the one she befriended some time previously. While the mob is besieging the front gates the beggar tells Ruth to get into a basket nearby. The beggar then closes the lid and opens a door leading down into a cellar. Dore and Sir Donald follow into the cellar and the beggar closes the door upon them. The mob then surges into the court. The beggar leads them into a blind passage. Meanwhile he hurries Ruth, Dore and Sir Donald into vegetable carts and covers them with rugs. Other beggars then run off with the two-wheeled carts through another passage just as the mob, seeing that they have been tricked, runs back into the court. The mob searches the cellar thoroughly but fails to find the Europeans. Ruth, Dore and Sir Donald are meanwhile wheeled off in safety while the police scatter the mob. His vengeance frustrated, the high priest decides to send the idol to a distant temple for safe keeping. The idol is wrapped up and the high priest with his acolytes engage eight donkeys and start inland with the precious idol. Ruth, Dore and Sir Donald are well taken care of by the beggars meanwhile. Through the English papers Wilkerson, Mrs. Darnell and Drake learn of the riot among the natives in Calcutta and of the attempted stealing of an idol. Drake suggests bribing their guide to find out where the idol is being taken by the priests of the temple. The scheme works and the bribed guide returns with the information regarding the destination of the priests and the idol. Wilkerson follows the high priests, with the Hindu for a guide, and engages a number of English sailors and roustabouts to waylay the party and to secure the idol. They surround the camp of the priests. The sailors and roughs kill all the priests in a hand to band fight. When they have finished Wilkerson and Drake search the mule packs. The idol is soon found. When the eye of the idol is removed the plan of "The Master Key" mine is seen to be within. Wilkerson withdraws and examines them carefully. He then secretes the plans in his bosom. The last scene of the episode shows Ruth snuggled closely against Dore waiting for the dawn to come. Ruth is uneasy, although she does not know why, and seems to sense that something has gone wrong. Episode 14: "The God Takes All" After spending the night in the camp of the beggars, Ruth, Dore and Sir Donald are given a hearty breakfast. Wilkerson has, meanwhile, decided to keep the idol and he and Drake, with their men, continue on their way back to the city. In the hills they become lost and take refuge in a deserted hut. The lone priest, who escaped from Wilkerson and his men, come upon a band of wandering hillmen and relate to them the story of the stealing of the idol and the murder of his comrades. The hillmen start out to avenge the deed. Dore places Ruth in the care of the American Consul, where Sir Donald also remains, while he goes into the hills to endeavor to find the elusive idol. Aided by his faithful Indian friends, he arrives in the hills where he is seen by the aroused Hindus. They pursue him to the deserted hut, where he comes unexpectedly upon Wilkerson. It is a case of race against race, and thus the two enemies are forced to bury the hatchet for the time being and fight side by side to save their lives. The hillmen are driven off, and Dore returns to the hut with Wilkerson and Drake. Ruth has been entertained at the consulate during Dore's absence, a small reception and dance being given. She meets a young American naval officer who later proves a connecting human link in her life of many experiences. After the guests have departed and she goes to the balcony overlooking the market square below her, she has a vision of Dore in trouble and her woman's intuition tells her he needs help, and at once. Episode 15: "Fate Unlocks the Doors" Ruth, feeling more forcibly the danger that John Dore is in, hastens into the house to prepare to go with him. She is met by the Consul's wife, who tries to persuade her to do nothing so rash, but neither her words nor those of the consul are of any avail. While he is dressing to go out with her, the girl slips from the house and makes her way to the walled court where her beggar friends spends his nights. She arouses him and with his guidance hurries to the waterfront in hopes of finding the young naval officer she met at the dance. The hillmen have, meantime, renewed their attack upon Wilkerson and Dore, and the former, realizing that he will lose his life unless he can escape from the hut, leaves Dore bound to the chair to which he has tied him shortly after their return to the hut. Dore's remaining followers are set upon by Wilkerson's ruffians, the Hindu servant alone getting away. Ruth arouses the naval officer who comes to her aid with a squad of his marines. The British frontier troops have also been aroused by the continued firing and hasten to quell the disturbance. The Hindu servant meets Ruth and the officer on the road and guides them to the cabin, which has been set on fire by the hillmen. Wilkerson and Drake make a getaway and Dore is rescued by Ruth and her new friends. On their return to the city Dore learns that Wilkerson, Mrs. Darnell and Drake have sailed for America, carrying with them the secret to the mine. He cables Tom Kane at Silent Valley to arrest them on their arrival. This is done, and when Dore, Ruth and Sir Donald get back a consultation is held. It is decided not to prosecute Wilkerson and his allies in return for their giving up the plan to the mine. Wilkerson complies, but substitutes a false set of drawings. Dore, with Everett back of him, continues operations. Wilkerson proceeds to seek for the hidden gold at the spot near the original diggings. In a premature explosion he is killed. Dore finds on his body the real plans. Drake and Mrs. Darnell are apprehended for their part in this trickery. Sir Donald releases Ruth from her promise to marry him, and the story closes with a happy meeting between John and Ruth. END
- DirectorWilfred LucasHenry MacRaeStarsCleo MadisonGeorge LarkinEdward SlomanA crippled old man and his daughter plot to kill a young man they mistakenly believe was responsible for the man's injury. Matters get complicated when his other daughter, who is a twin, falls in love with the intended victim.
- DirectorArthur V. JohnsonStarsArthur V. JohnsonLottie BriscoeFlorence HackettIn Chapter 8, "A Partner To Providence", His lordship rides a train that is mistakenly rerouted into a headlong collision into another engine, with the well-worn Lubin train crash footage ensuing. He's pulled out of the wreck and recuperates with a rural family. He recuperates enough to win a fight with a crook at the end.