CHAPTER III
THE WATCHING EYE
Not a clue was left by the kidnappers when they so mysteriouslyspirited Elaine away from the apartment of Wu Fang. She had disappearedas completely as if she had vanished into the thin air.
Kennedy was frantic. Wu and Long Sin themselves seemed to havevanished, too. Where they held her, what had happened to her was asealed book. And yet, no move of ours was made, no matter how secret,that it did not seem to be known to them. It was as though a weird,uncanny eye glared at us, watching everything.
Craig neglected no possibility in his eager search. He even visited thelittle house in the country which Elaine had given to Aunt Tabby, andspent several hours examining the collapsed subterranean chamber in thevain hope that it might yield a clue. But it had not.
It was half filled with debris from above, where the pillar had givenway that night when we had all so nearly lost our lives. Still, therewas enough room in what remained of the cavern so that we could moveabout.
Kennedy had even dug away some of the earth and rock, in the hope ofdiscovering some trace of the strange visitor whom we had surprised atwork. But here, also, he had found nothing.
It was maddening. What might at any moment be happening to Elaine--andhe powerless to help her?
Unescapably, he was forced to the conclusion that not only Elaine'samazing disappearance, but the tragic succession of events which hadpreceded it, had been caused, in some way, by the curiously engravedring which Aunt Josephine had taken from Elaine.
Craig had taken possession of the mystic ring himself, and now, forcedback on this sole clue, it had occurred to him that if the ring were sovaluable, other attempts would, without doubt, be made to getpossession of it.
I came into the laboratory, one afternoon, to find Kennedy surroundedby jeweler's tools, hard at work making an exact copy of the ring.
"What do you think of it, Walter?" he asked, holding up the replica.
"Perfect," I replied, admiringly. "What are you going to do with it?"
"I can't say--yet," answered Kennedy, forlornly, "but if I understandthese Chinese criminals at all, I know that the only way we can evertrack them is through some trick. Perhaps the replica will suggestsomething to us later."
He placed the copy in a velvet-lined box closely resembling that inwhich the real ring lay, and dropped both into his pocket.
"Let's see if Aunt Josephine has received any word," he remarkedabruptly, putting on his hat and coat, and nodding to me to follow.
Kennedy and I were not the only visitors to the subterranean chamberwhere it had seemed that the clue to the Clutching Hand's millionsmight be found.
It was as though that hidden, watching eye followed us. The night afterour own unsuccessful search, Wu Fang, accompanied by Long Sin, made hisway into the cavern.
As they flashed their electric bull's-eyes about the place, they couldsee readily that we had already been digging there.
Wu examined the safe which had been broken into, while Long Sinrepeated his experiences there.
"And you say there was nothing else in it?" demanded Wu.
"Nothing but the ring which they got from me," replied Long Sin,ruefully.
"Strange--very strange," ruminated Wu, still regarding the empty strongbox.
Long Sin was now going over the walls of the cavern minutely, hisclose-set, beady black eyes examining every square inch of it.
A sudden low guttural exclamation caused Wu to turn to him quickly.Long Sin had discovered, back of the debris, a small oblong slot, cutinto the rock. Above it were some peculiar marks.
Wu hurried over to his henchman, and together they tried to decipherwhat had been scratched on the rock.
As Long Sin's slender and sinister forefinger traced over theinscription, Wu suddenly caught him by the elbow.
"The ring!" he cried, as at last he interpreted the meaning of thecryptic characters.
But what about the ring? For a moment Wu looked at the slot in deepthought. Then he reached down and withdrew a ring from his own fingerand dropped it through the slot.
They listened a moment. They could hear the ring tinkle as though itwere running down some sort of track-like declivity inside the rock.Then, faintly, they could hear it drop. It had fallen into a little cupof a compartment below at their feet.
Nothing happened. Wu recovered his ring. But he had hit at last uponthe Clutching Hand's secret!
Bennett had devised a ring-lock which would open, the treasure vault.No other ring except the one which he had so carefully hidden was ofthe size or weight that would move the lever which would set themachinery working to open the treasure house.
Again Wu tried another of his own rings, and a third time Long Sindropped in a ring from his finger. Still there was no result.
"The ring which we lost is the key to the puzzle--the only key,"exclaimed Wu Fang finally. "We must recover it at all hazard."
To his subtle mind a plan of action seemed to unfold almost instantly."There is no good remaining here," he added. "And we have gainednothing by the capture of the girl, unless we can use her to recoverthe ring."
Long Sin followed his master with a sort of intuition. "If we have tosteal it," he suggested deferentially, "it can be accomplished best bymaking use of Chong Wah Tong."
The Tong was the criminal band which they had offended, which had infact stolen the ring from Long Sin and sold it to Elaine. Yet in a gamesuch as this enmity could not last when it was mutuallydisadvantageous. Wu took the suggestion. He decided instantly to makepeace with his enemies--and use them.
Later that night, in his car, Wu stopped near the little curio shopkept by the new Tong leader.
Long Sin alighted and entered the shop, while the Tong man eyed himsuspiciously.
"My master has come to make peace," he began, saluting the Tong leaderbehind the counter.
Nothing, in reality, could have pleased the Tong men more, for in theirhearts they feared the master-like subtlety of Wu Fang. The conferencewas short and Long Sin with a bow left quickly to rejoin Wu, while theTong leader disappeared into a back room of the shop where several ofthe inner circle sat.
"All is well, master," reported Long Sin when he had made his way backto the car around the corner in which Wu was waiting.
Wu smiled and a moment later followed by his slave in crime entered thecurio shop and passed through with great dignity into the room in therear.
As the two entered, the Tong men bowed with great respect.
"Let us be enemies no more," began Wu briefly. "Let us rather help eachother as brothers."
He extended his right hand, palm down, as he spoke. For a moment theTong leader parleyed with the others, then stepped forward and laid hisown hand, palm down, over that of Wu. One by one the others did thesame, including Long Sin, the aggrieved.
Peace was restored.
Wu had risen to go, and the Tong men were bowing a respectful farewell.He turned and saw a large vase. For a moment he paused before it. Itwas an enormous affair and was apparently composed of a mosaic of rareChinese enamels, cunningly put together by the deft and patient fingersof the oriental craftsmen. Extending from the widely curving bowl belowwas an extremely long, narrow, tapering neck.
Wu looked at it intently; then an idea seemed to strike him. He calledthe Tong leader and the others about him.
Quickly he outlined the details of a plan.
. . . . . . .
"Have you received any word yet?" asked Aunt Josephine anxiously, whenJennings had ushered us into the Dodge library.
Kennedy shook his head sadly. There was no need to repeat the questionto Aunt Josephine. The tears in her eyes told only too plainly that sheherself had heard nothing, either.
Craig bent over and placed his hand on her shoulder. For the moment,none of us could control our emotions.
A few minutes later, Jennings entered the room softly again. "Theexpressmen are outside, ma'am, with a large package," h
e said.
"A package?" inquired Aunt Josephine, looking up, surprised. "Forme--are you sure?"
Jennings bowed and repeated his remark. Aunt Josephine followed him outinto the hall.
There, already, the delivery men had set down a huge oriental vase witha remarkably long and narrow neck. It was, as befitted such a reallybeautiful object of art, most carefully crated. But to Aunt Josephineit came as a complete surprise. "I can't imagine who could have sentit," she temporized. "Are you quite sure it is for me?"
The expressman, with a book, looked up from the list of names downwhich he was running his finger. "This is Mrs. Dodge, isn't it?" heasked, pointing with his pencil to the entry with the address followingit. There seemed to be no name of a shipper.
"Yes," she replied dubiously, "but I don't understand it. Wait just amoment."
She went to the library door. "Mr. Kennedy," she said, "may I troubleyou and Mr. Jameson a moment?"
We followed her into the hall and there stood gazing at the mysteriousgift while she related its recent history.
"Why not set it up in the library?" I suggested, seeing that theexpressmen were getting restive at the delay. "If there is any mistake,they will send for it soon. No one ever gets anything for nothing."
Aunt Josephine turned to the expressmen and nodded. With the aid ofJennings they carried the vase into the library and there it wasuncrated, while Kennedy continued to question the man with the book,without eliciting any further information than that he thought it hadbeen reconsigned from another express company. He knew nothing morethan that it had been placed on his wagon, properly marked and prepaid.
When Kennedy rejoined us, the vase had been completely uncrated, AuntJosephine signed for it, and, grumbling a bit, the expressmen left.There we stood, nonplussed by the curious gift.
Craig walked around the vase, looking at it critically. I had a feelingof being watched, one of those sensations which psychologists tell usare utterly baseless and unfounded. I was glad I had not said anythingabout it when he tapped the vase with his cane, then stuck it down thelong narrow neck, working it around as well as he could. The neck wasso long and narrow, however, that his stick could not fully explore theinside of the vase, but it seemed to me to be quite empty.
"Well, there's nothing in it, anyhow," I ventured.
I had spoken too soon. Kennedy withdrew his cane and on the ferrule,adhering as though by some sticky substance, was a note. Kennedy pulledit off and unfolded it, while we gathered about him.
"Maybe it's from Elaine," cried Aunt Josephine, grasping at a straw.
We read:
DEAR AUNT JOSEPHINE,
This is a token that I am unharmed. Have Mr. Kennedy give the ring tothe man at the corner of Williams and Brownlee Avenues at midnightto-night, and they will surrender me to him.--ELAINE.
P. S. Have him come alone or my life will be in danger.
We looked at each other in amazement.
"I thought something like this would happen," remarked Craig at length.
"Oh," cried Aunt Josephine, "it's too good to be true."
"We'll do it," exclaimed Kennedy quickly, "only this is the ring thatwe'll give them."
He drew from his pocket the replica of the ring which he had made andshowed it to Aunt Josephine. Then he drew from another pocket the realring, replacing the replica.
"Here's the real one," he said in a low tone. "Guard it as you wouldguard your life."
She took the ring, almost fearfully. It seemed as if nothing butmisfortune had followed it. Still, she realized that it was necessarythat she should take care of it, if the plan was to work.
"And, oh, Mr. Kennedy," she implored, as we rose to go, "please getback my little girl for me."
Craig clasped her hand. "I'll try my best," he replied fervently,patting her shoulder to cheer her up, as she sank into a chair.
Aunt Josephine was worn out with the sleepless nights of worry sinceElaine's disappearance. After we had gone, she tried to eat dinner, butfound that she had no appetite.
All the evening she sat in the library, with a book at which shestared, though she scarcely read a page. However, as the hourslengthened, she found herself nodding through sheer exhaustion.
It was getting late and her thoughts were still on Elaine, At the deskin the library, she was examining the curious ring, which she had takenfrom her jewel case, thinking of the terrible train of events that hadfollowed it.
Although she had intended to sit up until she received some word fromKennedy that night, the long strain had told on her and in spite of herworry about Elaine, she decided, at length, to retire. She replaced thering in the case, locked the case, and turned out the lights.
"Good night, Jennings," she said, as she passed the faithful old butlerin the hall.
"Good night, ma'am," he replied, pausing on his rounds to see that thedoors and windows were locked.
Aunt Josephine, clasping the jewel case tightly, mounted the stairs andentered her room. She locked the door carefully and put the jewelrycase under her pillow. Then she switched off the light.
The moment Jennings's footsteps ceased down-stairs in the library, asmall piece of the vase seemed to break away from the rest of themosaic, as though it were knocked out from the inside. Then a largepiece fell out, and another.
At last from the strange hiding-place a lithe figure, as shiny asthough bathed in oil, naked except for a loin-cloth, seemed to squirmforth like a serpent. It was Wu Fang--the watchful eye which, literallyas well as figuratively, had been leveled at us in one form or anotherever since the kidnapping of Elaine.
Silently he tiptoed to the doorway and listened. There was not a sound.Just as noiselessly then he went back to the library table and mufflingthe telephone bell, took down the receiver. He whispered a number,waited, then whispered some directions.
A moment later he wormed his way out of the library and into thedrawing-room. On he went cautiously, snake-like, up the stairs until hecame to the door of Aunt Josephine's room.
He bent down and listened. There was no sound except Aunt Josephine'sbreathing. Silently he drew from a fold in the loin-cloth a screwdriverand removed the screws from the hinges of the door. Quietly he pushedthe bedroom door open, pivoting it on the lock, just far enough open sothat he could slip through.
Creeping along the floor, like a reptile whose sign he had assumed, hecame nearer and nearer Aunt Josephine's bed. As he paused for a momenthis quick eye seemed to catch sight of the bulging lump under herpillow. His long thin hand reached out for it.
Aunt Josephine moved restlessly in her sleep. Instantly he seized amurderous-looking Chinese dirk fastened to his side and raised it aboveher head ready to strike on the slightest outcry. She moved slightly,and relapsed into sound sleep again.
Holding the knife above her, Wu slowly and quietly removed thejewel-case from under her pillow.
. . . . . . .
In a country road-house Long Sin was waiting patiently. The telephonerang and the proprietor answered. Long Sin was at his side almostbefore he could hand over the receiver. It was Long Sin's master, Wu.
"Beware," came the whispered message over the wire. "Kennedy has made afalse ring. I'll get the real one. By the great Devil of Gobi, you mustcut him off."
"It is done," returned Long Sin, hanging up the receiver in greatexcitement.
He hurried out of the room and left the road-house. Down the road in anautomobile, bound between two Chinamen, one at her head and the otherat her feet, was Elaine, wrapped around in blankets, not even her facevisible. The guards looked up startled as Long Sin streaked out of theshadow to the car.
"Quick!" he ordered. "The master will get the ring himself. I will takecare of Kennedy."
An instant and they were gone, while Long Sin slunk back into theshadows from which he had come.
Through the underbrush the wily Chinaman made his way to an old barn,which stood back some distance from the road, and entered the fro
ntdoor. There was another door in the rear, and one quite large window.
In the dim light of a lantern hanging from a rafter could be seenseveral large barrels in a corner. Without a moment's hesitation, LongSin seized a bucket and placed it under the spiggot of one of thebarrels. The liquid poured forth into the bucket and he emptied thecontents on the floor, filling the bucket again and again and swingingit right and left in every direction until the barrel had finally rundry.
Then he moved over to the window, which he examined carefully.Satisfied with what he had done, he drew a slip of paper from hispocket and hastily wrote a note, resting the paper on an old box. Whenhe had finished writing, he folded up the note and thrust it into alittle hollow carved Chinese figure which he took also from his pocket.
These were, apparently, his emergency preparations which he was readyto execute in case he received such a message from his master as he hadactually received.
With a final hasty glance about he extinguished the lantern, lettingthe moonlight stream fitfully through the single window. Then he leftthe barn, with both front and rear doors open.
Taking advantage of every bit of shelter, he made his way across thefield in the direction of the crossroads, finally dropping down behinda huge rock some yards from the finger post that pointed each way toWilliams and Brownlee Avenues.
. . . . . . .
Late that night, Kennedy left his apartment prepared to followthe instructions in the note which had been so strangely delivered inthe vase.
As he climbed into a roadster, he tucked the robe most carefully into acorner under the leather seat.
"For heaven's sake, Craig," I gasped from under the robe, "let me havea little air."
I had taken my place under the robe before the car was driven up beforethe apartment, lest some emissary of Wu Fang might be watching to seethat there was no such trick.
"You'll get air enough when we get started, Walter," he laughed backunder his breath, apparently addressing the engine.
Kennedy was a hard driver when he wanted to be and enough was at staketo-night to make him drive hard. He whizzed along in the roadster, andI was indeed glad enough to huddle up under the robe.
We had reached a point in the suburbs which was deserted and I did notrecognize a thing when he pulled up by the side of the road with ajerk. I peered through a crease in the corner of the robe, and saw himslide out from under the wheel and stand by the side of the car,looking up and down. Ahead of us the road curved sharply and I had noidea what was there, though Kennedy seemed to know the place.
A moment later he pulled the robe partly off me, and bent down asthough examining the batteries on the side of the car.
"Get out on the other side in the shadow of the car, Walter," hewhispered hoarsely. "Go down the road a bit--only cut in and keep undercover. This is Williams Avenue. You'll see a big rock. Hide behind it.Ahead you'll see Brownlee Avenue. Be prepared for anything. I shallhave to trust the rest to you. I don't know myself what's going tohappen."
I slid out and went along the edge of the road, as Craig had directed,and finally crouched behind a huge rock, feeling on as much tension asif I had been a boy playing at Wild West. Only this might at any momentdevelop into the reality of a Wild Far East.
After a moment to give me a chance, Craig himself left the car pulledup close by the side of the road and went ahead on foot. At last hecame to the cross-roads just around the bend, where in the moonlight hecould read the sign: "Williams Avenue" and "Brownlee Avenue." He stoodthere a moment, then glanced at his watch which registered both handsapproaching the hour of twelve. He gazed about at the deserted country.Had the appointment been a hoax, after all, a scheme to get him awayfrom the city for some purpose?
Suddenly, at his feet in the dust of the road something heavy seemed todrop. He looked about quickly. No one was in sight.
He reached down and picked up a little Chinese figure. Tapping it withhis knuckle, he examined it curiously. It was hollow.
From the inside he drew out a piece of paper. He strained his eyes inthe moonlight and managed to make out:
The Serpent is all-wise, and his fang is fatal. You have signed thewhite girl's death warrant.
Beneath this sinister warning was stamped the serpent sign of Wu Fang.
It was not a hoax, and Kennedy stood there a moment gazing about intense anxiety. Had that uncanny watching eye observed his every action?Was it staring at him now in the blackness?
. . . . . . .
Meanwhile, I had made my way stealthily, peering into the bushes andcareful not even to step on anything that would make a noise and wasnow, as I have said, crouched behind the big rock to which Craig haddirected me. I heard him go along the road and looked about cautiously,but could hear and see nothing else.
I had begun to wonder whether Kennedy might not have made a mistakewhen, suddenly, from behind the shadow of another rock, ahead of me,but toward Brownlee Avenue, I saw a tall, gaunt figure of a man rise inthe moonlight, almost as if it had sprung from the very earth.
My heart gave a leap, as he quickly raised his right arm and hurledsomething as far as he could in the direction that Kennedy had taken.If it had been a bomb, followed by an explosion, I would not have beensurprised. But no sound followed as the figure dropped back as if ithad been a wraith.
I stole out from my own hiding-place in the shadow of my rock anddarted quickly to the shelter of a bush, nearer the figure.
The figure was no wraith. It turned to steal away. I rememberedKennedy's parting words. If the man ever gained the darkness of a clumpof woods, just beyond us, he was as good as safe. This was the time toact.
I leaped at him and we went down, rolling over and over in theunderbrush and stubble. We fought fiercely, but I could not seem to geta glimpse of his face which was muffled.
He was powerful and stronger than I and after a tough tussle he brokeloose. But I had succeeded, nevertheless. I had delayed him just longenough. Kennedy heard the sound of the struggle and was now crashingthrough the hedge at the cross-roads in our direction.
I managed to pick myself up, just as Kennedy reached my side and,together, we followed the retreating figure, as it made its way amongthe shadows. Across the open space before us we followed him and atlast saw him dive into an old barn.
A moment later we followed hot-foot into the barn. As we entered, wecould hear a peculiar grating noise, as though a door was swung on itsrusty hinges. The front door was open. Evidently the man had gonethrough and closed the back door.
We threw ourselves against the back door. But it did not yield. Therewas no time to waste and we turned to rush out again by the way we hadcome, just as the front door was slammed shut.
The man had trapped us. He had left both doors open, had run through,braced the back door, then had rushed around outside just in time tobrace the front door also.
We could hear his feet crunching the dry leaves and twigs as he wentaround the side of the barn again. Together we threw ourselves againstthe front door, but, although it yielded a little he had barred it sothat it would resist our united strength for some time.
Again and again we threw ourselves against it. It was horribly dark inthere, except for an oblong spot where the moonlight streamed inthrough a window. Suddenly the pale silver of the moonlight on thefloor reddened.
The man had struck a match and thrown it into a mass of oil-soakedstraw and gunpowder which protruded through one of the weather-beatenboards, near the floor.
It was only a matter of a second or so now when the fire swept into thebarn itself. There was no beating it out. Some one had literally soakedthe straw and the floor with oil. It seemed as though the whole placeburst into a sudden blaze of tinder. Outside, we could hear footstepsrapidly retreating toward the shelter of the clump of woods.
For a second I looked dismayed at the rapidly-mounting flames.
"A very pretty situation," I forced with a
laugh. "But I hope hedoesn't think we'll stay here and burn, with a perfectly good window infull view."
I took a step toward the window, but before I could take another,Kennedy yanked me back.
"Don't think for a moment that he overlooked that," he shouted.
Craig looked around hastily. In a corner, just back of us was a longpole. He snatched it up and moved cautiously toward the window, keepingthe pole as level as possible as he endeavored to get a leverage on thesash. The flames were mounting faster and higher, licking up everything.
"Keep back, Walter," he muttered, "just as far as you can."
He had scarcely raised the window a fraction of an inch when an oldrusty, heavy anvil and a bent worn plowshare crashed down to the floordirectly over the spot where I should have been if he had not draggedme away. I started back, aghast. Nothing had been overlooked to finishus off.
"I think you may try it safely now, all right," smiled Kennedy coolly.
We climbed out of the window, not an instant too soon from the raginginferno about us.
Having gained the clump of woods, the gaunt figure had paused longenough to gloat over his clever scheme. Instead, he saw us making goodour escape. With a gesture of intense fury he turned. There was nothingmore for him to do but to zigzag his way to safety across country.
The barn was now burning fiercely and it was almost as light as dayabout us. Kennedy paused only long enough to look down at the groundwhere the fire had been started.
"See, Walter," he exclaimed pointing to a square indention in the softsoil. "No white man ever made a footprint like that."
I bent over. The prints had the squareness of those paper-layered solesof a Chinaman.
"Long Sin," came the name involuntarily to my lips, for I knew that Wuwould delegate just such a job to his faithful slave.
Kennedy did not pause an instant longer, but in the light of theburning barn, as best he could, started to follow the trail in adesperate endeavor either to overtake Long Sin, or at least to find thefinal direction in which he would go.
. . . . . . .
At the entrance of the passageway which led to the little undergroundchamber in which we had sought the treasure hidden by the ClutchingHand, Wu Fang was seated on a rock waiting impatiently, though now andthen indulging in a sinister smile at the subtle trick by which he hadrecovered the ring.
The sound of approaching footsteps disturbed him. He was far too cleverto leave anything to chance and, like a serpent, he wriggled behindanother rock and waited. It was only a glance, however, that he neededto allay his suspicions. It was Long Sin, breathless.
Wu stepped out beside him so quietly that even the acute Long Sin didnot hear. "Well?" he said in a guttural tone.
Long Sin drew back in fear. "I have failed, oh master," he replied inan imploring tone. "Even now they follow my tracks."
It was bad enough to confess defeat without the fear of capture.
Wu frowned. "We must work quickly, then," he muttered.
He picked up a dark lantern near-by, indicating another to Long Sin.They entered the cave, flashing the lights ahead of them.
"Be careful," ordered Wu, proceeding gingerly from one stepping-stoneto another. "We shall be followed no further than this."
He paused a moment and pointed his finger at the earth. Everywhere,except here and there where a stone projected, was a sticky, slimysubstance. It was an old trick of primitive races.
"Bird lime," hissed Wu, pointing at the viscid substance made of thejuice of the holly bark, extracted by boiling, and mixed with a thirdpart of nut oil and grease.
They passed on from stone to stone until they came to the subterraneanchamber itself. Without a moment's hesitation, Wu made his way towardthe rock in which they had found the slot with its cryptic inscription.
Long Sin watched his master in silent admiration as, at last, he drewforth the mystic ring for which they had dared all.
Without a word, Wu dropped it in the slot. It tinkled down the runway,a protuberance hit a trigger and pushed it a hair's breadth.
A noise behind them caused the two to turn startled. Even Wu had notexpected it.
On the other side of the chamber, a great rock in the ground slowlyturned, as though on a pivot. They watched, fascinated. Even then Wudid not forget the precious ring, but as the rock turned, reached downquickly and recovered it from the cup at the floor.
Inch by inch the pivoted rock moved on its axis. They flashed theirlanterns full on it and, as it moved, they could see disclosed hugepiles of gold and silver in coins and bars and ornaments, a chestliterally filled with brilliants, set and unset, rubies, emeralds,precious stones of every conceivable variety, a cave that would havestaggered even Aladdin--the rich reward of the countless maraudingoperations of Bennett's other personality.
For a moment they could merely stand in avaricious exultation.
. . . . . . .
Painfully and slowly, we managed to trail Long Sin's footprints, untilwe came to a road where they were lost in the hard macadam. There wasno time to stop. We must follow the road on the chance that he hadtaken it. But which way?
Kennedy chose the most likely direction, for the trail had been at anangle to the road and Long Sin was not likely to double back. We hadnot gone many rods before Kennedy paused a minute and looked about inthe moonlight.
"It's right, Walter," he cried. "Do you recognize it?"
I looked about. Then it flashed over me. This was the back road thatled past the entrance to the treasure vault at Aunt Tabby's.
We went on now more quickly, listening carefully to catch any sounds,but heard nothing. At last Kennedy stopped, then plunged among therocks and bushes beside the road. We were at the cave.
"You go in this way, Walter," he directed. "I'll go around and downwhere it caved in."
I groped my way along through the darkness.
I had gone only a yard or two, when it seemed as though something hadgrasped my foot.
With a great wrench I managed to pull it loose. But the weight on myother foot had imbedded it deeper. I struggled to free this foot andgot the other caught. My revolver, which I had drawn, was jarred frommy hand and in the effort to recover it, I lost my balance. Unable tomove a foot in time to catch myself, I fell forward. My hands were nowcovered by the slimy, sticky stuff, and the more I struggled, the worseI seemed to get entangled.
. . . . . . .
Wu and Long Sin paused only a minute in astonishment. Then theyliterally fell upon the wealth that lay before them, gloating over thegold, stuffing their hands into the jewels, lifting them up and lettingthe priceless gems run through their fingers.
Suddenly they paused. There was the slight tinkle of a Chinese bell.
Kennedy had reached Aunt Tabby's garden, outside the roof of thesubterranean chamber where it had given way, had gone down carefullyover the earth and rock, and in doing so had broken a string stretchedacross the passageway. The tinkle of a bell attached to it aroused hisattention and he stopped short, a second, to look about. Wu Fang hadarranged a primitive alarm.
Quickly, Wu and Long Sin blew out their lanterns while Wu gave the rocka push. Slowly, as it had opened, it now closed and they stood therelistening.
I was still struggling in the bird lime, getting myself more and morecovered with it, when the reverberation of revolver shots reached me.
Wu and Long Sin had opened fire on Kennedy, and Kennedy was replying inkind. In the cavern it sounded like a veritable bombardment. As theyretreated, they came nearer and nearer to me and I could see therevolvers spitting fire in the darkness. So intent were they on Kennedythat they forgot me.
I watched them fearfully as they hopped deftly from one stone toanother to avoid the lime--and were gone.
"Craig! Craig!" I managed to cry feebly. "Be careful. Keep to thestones."
He strained his eyes toward the ground in the d
arkness, at the sound ofmy voice. Then he struck a match and instantly took in the situationwhich, to me, under any other circumstances, would have been ludicrous.
Stepping from stone to stone, he followed the retreating Chinamen. Butthey had already reached the mouth of the cave and were making theirway rapidly down the road to a bend, in the opposite direction fromwhich we had come. There, Wu's automobile was waiting. They leaped intoit and the driver, without a word, shot the car off into the darknessof early dawn.
A moment later, Kennedy appeared, but they had made their getaway.Baffled, he turned and retraced his steps to the cave.
I don't think that I ever welcomed him more sincerely than I did as,finally, I crawled slowly out from the bird lime, exhausted by theeffort that I had made to free myself from the sticky mess.
"They got away, Walter," he said, lighting a lantern they had dropped."By George," he added, I think a little vexed that I had not been ableto stop them, "you are a sight!"
He was about to laugh, when I fainted. I can remember nothing until Iwoke up over by the wall of the chamber where he dragged me.
Kennedy had been working hard to revive me, and, as I opened my eyes,he straightened up. His eye suddenly caught something on the rockbeside him. There was a little slot carved in it, and above the slotwas a peculiar inscription.
For several minutes, Kennedy puzzled over it, as Wu had done. Then hediscovered the little cup near the ground.
"The ring!" he suddenly cried out.
I was too muddled to appreciate at once what he meant, but I saw himreach into his fob pocket and draw forth the replica of the trinketwhich had caused so much disaster, as if it had been cursed by theClutching Hand himself. He dropped it into the slot.
Struggling to my feet, I saw across from me the very rock itselfmoving. Was it an hallucination, born of my nervous condition?
"Look, Craig!" I cried involuntarily, pointing.
He turned. No, it was not a vision. It actually moved. Together wewatched. Slowly the rock turned on a pivot. There were disclosed to ourastonished eyes the hidden millions of the Clutching Hand.
I looked from the gold and jewels to Kennedy, in speechless amazement.
"We have beaten them, anyhow," I cried.
Slowly Craig shook his head sadly.
"Yes," he murmured, "we have found the Clutching Hand's millions, butwe have lost Elaine."