The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

The Black Mena ARTHUR. gg ce - REEVE & Re _ -- suse ORAPTER XV, The False Clue, 1 cannot say that the experience Speed had had in his pursuit of the Black Menace had cooled his ardor in the least, although it did one thing. He was determined now that in any future attempt he would be sure to go-alone and thus save Clare the danger of any attack. Having seen that Clare was safe- ly returned to her apartment, where a new and trustworthy maid had been placed in charge, Speed lost no time in returning to me at the labor- | atory. Again he began recounting his ex- perience and his theories, and it was in the midst of it that Ravenal dropped in. | "My dear fellow," remonstrated | Ravenal as he heard the story, "don't | you see that what you are doing | is nothing short of foolhardy? What | is the use of retaining Kennedy, to| say nothing of myself, if you are | going to deliberately expose your-j self to danger, as well as Miss Clare-| mont?" 1 had had in mind the same cau-| tion to deliver, but was glad that i came from Ravenal, for I felt that] it came from him with much better grace than from myself. It had little effect on Speed, Bowever., [io peemed, if anything, more deter- | mined than ever. | "And another thing," Speed in- gisted, brushing aside every argu-| ment "I mean to get at the bot-| tom "of the connection Breshkaya | has with this affair." "That, too, is another matter on| which I wish to caution you," cut in Ravenal. 'I've been doing a little shadow job on that lady myself ever since she led us that chase up in the Highlands. As far as I can find out, | Breshkaya, since the death of Thorne, with whom she was really| in love, seems to be a changed per-| son, a very dangerous woman. And, besides, she is very bitter against both you and Miss Claremeont. | Watch out for her." I could see that the argument! had very little effect on Speed. When it came to matching wits he felt himself the equal of anyone. "I'm going to renew my acquaint- ance with her just the same, He | persisted. 'Some way, I'm going to | trap her into telling me something I'm convinced she knows more than | we imagine." ! As he spoke, I was really afraid | for Speed. Nor did Ravenal make | any concealment of his own concern. | *] guess I've watched Breshkaya as closely as you," retorted Speed | to Ravenal finally. "At least, I} think this time I shall be able to cope with her. I know her kind." | Ravenal shook his head. It was plain that he was loathe to allow | the ybung newspaper man to make | the attempt. And; as I thought of it, I myself could see no reason why Speed should be able to take care of himself any better than others who had been enmeshed by the siren. | Still, both Speed and Clare had | that unfortunate penchant of youth for rushing in where even Kennedy, with his experience, would fear to tread. I shrugged. If he would not listen to Ravenal, his own man he would scarcely listen to me. | Speed left us to report back to the Star, where his job was very elastic as fitted his character of a scion of wealth, for he was now givea much more latitude by his father, having once, at least proved his capacity for making good. Ravenal, too, de- parted, with much head-shaking, and finally, my work very nicely cleared up, I closed the laboratory and de- cided to return to our apartment, | where I knew that Kennedy was im- patiently fretting at his enforced rest. I found Craig still weak, though slowly improving. He moved rest- lessly in bed as I recounted the thrilling chase and peril of Clare, and Speed. Though he did not say! much, I could see that he was doing a great deal of anxious thinking, es-| pecially when I told him if the re-| solve from which none of us had' Leen able to move Speed. It was later that evening that I was sitting reading to Kennedy when the telephone rang. Before I could answer it Kennedy, who was | vous, reached over the "sf@a"of the hed and grasped the instrument from the table where "he kept it, "What- you- Miss Claremont?" heard him repeat, as his face trayed utter amazement, "You are at Breshkaya's? What in the world - what's that? -Jack is there? Yes- yes -1'l1 be right up, Get some one -a -policeman -anyone - don't stay alone, Yes - I'll be there -as soon as 1 can get there." He hung up the receiver, and in spite of his wounds and his weak- ness, leaped out of bed, But he stopped short as he started to walk and his face betrayed the pain he strove to conceal, Mentally he might be as alert as ever, But he was not physically himself, and I was more conggrned over him than over the wholé case, now. 'Remember,' 1 cautioned, "What the doctor said." 1 be- OSHAWA, ONTARIO, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1922 Clare was almost hysterical as she glanced from the man she loved |strength, about at the sybaric splendor of the apartment of a woman whom she hated, . "Il got her message, the vixen," she began, talking rapidly, and quite as much for the benefit of the negro maid as'for us, "Of course, I came up here right away. She was posi- tively imnsulting, Hven Jacek did not know me -what is it, Professor Kennedy? She said she thought he 'must be drunk. Is he?" A glance from Kennedy's practi- cal eye was sufficient to remove that possibility, even to give him a pret- ty good clue as to what drug Speed was under the influence of. "Tell him the next time he calls on a lady to remember he is a gen- tleman," the hussy sneered as she left me," recounted Clare, with blag- ing eyes. What did she mean? I can't imagine, It was then that TI called you." Kennedy bent over Speed and be: gan feeling his pulse, as he movad uneasily, as though trying to throw off the effects of the drug. Then he began searching through Speed's pockets, as if to determine whether he had heen robbed. He had not, of course. Breshkaya was far too clever for that. In faet I felt sure {of the { if she had | the last Clare saw of her. becoming decidedly ner- | him. that she was far too clever to have "Hang the doctor," he growled, | us there if there was a thing that but just a little weakly, as he sup-| might be likely to react on her- ported himself hy ome of the posts |self, bed. 'These people ure Ags Kennedy's hand reached into children - they need a guardian. |an inside pocket, he pulled from "What's the matter?" I asked, |Speed's coat a little bottle, He held hoping that in this way I might lead | it up, uncorked it and first smelled, up to some argument that would dis- | then tasted of the few drops ihat re- suade him. "mained in the vial, "Matter al "Chloral," he muttered, telephone from Breshkaya| By this time Speed was much re- herself that = evening. Breshkaya' covered. Under the soothing touch said that Speed was at her apart- and care of Kennedy he moved, his ment -with her -and drunk. She |gyes cleared a bit, and he began to was icily insulting, Clare said. You |jook dazedly about. know what a message like that "Wh -where am I?" he moaned ag (Clare . ' would mean Clare would go up|. i striving to recollect. there and see 'for herself if it was uy 4 ow the last thing she did. 1 asked her What happened -tell me?" Ken- nedy prompted, gone. She had - was telephoning from Breshkaya's. Slowly, as he came back to con- "And was Speed there?" I asked |"ciousness, Speed began to talk, *'I seeing how hopeless my attempt a: | Met her at the Crystal Palace. delay was, for Kennedy was strug- Jameson - Ravenal -they were right. She sald she had some papers some gling, as excitement hrought back : letters -here. 1 seemd to fall for it- some of his strength, to array him- 5 E y I had a plan - I came here -with self" in street clothes. her? "Yes -apparently under the influ- ence of some drug." Speed shifted his position, as his "Whew!" I whistled. "Well, you |mind grew clearer. "When she was remember what I told you he said. |Betting the papers, there were two "Where was Breshkaya?" glasses of wine poured for us on the table. Her back was turned. I dropped some of that stuff in her glass -I thought under a drug she might talk -at least I might search. Then she came back -handed me the papers. They were nothing. I soon saw that as I studied them. Then she proposed a toast. [I drank it. I waited for her to pass away- that's the last I remember." Kennedy was listening attenttve- ly. I saw that he was trying to re- construct the event. And as he did 80 a quiet smile played about his face. Speed was now able to wave a gesture or two as he talked. "Where were the drinks?" Craig. "On that table." "And the papers?" "Over in that cabinet." Kennedy looked about keenly. Then he stood over by the table, on which he placed" two 'glasses taken from another table. "Walter," he directed, "stand ov- er there. Face the cabinet." I did so. And as I did, I was surprised to see that in a mirror over the cabinet I could see the ta- ble beside which Kennedy was stand ing. As I watched, I saw his hand in the mirror, pouring something apparently, into the glass. I turn- ed enough. Clare had message "There when Clare arrived-alone. She taunted her then disappeared into the next room -and that was Evident- ly she put it over on Speed -and was satisfied just with stirring up trouble between him and Clare - a refinement of torture, I take it She left word with her colored maid that when Clara removed the in- truder she would return. The in- truder was Speed." Kennedy was evidently very much vexed at Speed for getting himself in such a predicament and well he might be, for it was a rather risque position, especially in the eyes of a high-spirited girl like Clare. "What happened?" 1 asked, as Le finished dressing, with my aid, for I saw now that it was useless to try to hold him back. "That's what I don't know and I want to find out. Speed's uncon- scious apparently, and Clare is al- most frantic -between fear and doubt." - We hurried out and summongd a th from a nearby stand. "I tell you that woman's a devil," muttered Craig, as we bumped along through the still unfinished city. We arrived at the apartment fac- ing the park where we had waited 50 long the other day, only this time we did not pause, but entered and demanded to be taken to Bresh- kaya's. However, I could sce that, al though he was still shaky, Kennedy had not lost his natural sense of caution, and he entered and proceed- ed to the suite with every eare, as though we might be entering a trap. And indeed I did not blame him. As far as I knew, perhaps that was just what it was. We came at last to the door and pushed the buzzer. It was immedi- ately opened, and we could see down a wide hall that Clare was still there s we entered she almost ran to- ward us, her face flushed with ex- citement, appealing to Kennedy. Quickly she led him dowm the hall to a very luxurious living room. On a deep Oriental divan lay Speed, in 2 most uncomfortable position. His eyes were partly open, glassy, and he was breathing very rapidly, but it was evident that he knew only vaguely what was going om about asked Py "Still it does mot explain it," I suggested impressed. "Now, stand by the table, where (I am," Craig directed, as the eyes {of both Clare and Speed dilated. | "Near the glass." I did so and he handed me a letter from his pocket turning partly as he did so. "Read it," he ordered. I tried to do so. "Now let's have a drink." I looked down at the table. My glass had been moved and an empty one was in its place. Kennedy laughed. "Don't you see?" he eried in his old-time glee. "She saw Speed drug- ging her drink. She did not be- tray a thing to him -let .him think he was getting - away with it. In- stead, she coolly handed him some papers. While he wasn't looking she switched the glasses. That is all. Then she waited till the drug took effect on him. Finally she called Miss Claremont. You can be sure that she figured it all out. You have nothing on her. She has it on you -you tried to drug her first Jack. It was easy money for Bresh- ---- CHAPTER 16 The Raid Both the cleverness of Breshkaya and the boldness of the Black Menace determined Kennedy on sterner mea- sures, although he was careful to betray nothing as long as we might be overheard here. We made a hasty search of Bresh kaya's apartment, but as was to hav been expected, we discovered moth ing, for she was by far too clever to | leave the place with ms in it and leave anything that was of impor- tance. Speed was far enough recovered ! from his drugging by this time to be | taken home in a cab. Even yet Clare had not recovered from «the shock of finding her lover in another wom- fore had been a great However, it did not kee from working and I could growing restlessness that he was better. In fact, it was soon after] luncheon that he began to feel a final | return of his old strength and energy. | I knew restraint was useless, "Walter," he remarked after a long period of silence in which I saw that he was planning something, "there is no telling what these erim- inals may pull off next, And I'm al- ways in favor of getting the jump on the other fellow, They think I'm down and out, I'm just going to give them the surprise of their lives." He paused and 1 watched him anxiously, fearful that he was go- ing to overtax his strength again. But this time he seemed quite equal to the task. N "I'm going to make a final cleanup of that house of mystery out "there," he announced finally, "A regular maid?" 1 Inquired. "No--I don't know the author- ities out there' well enough for that, I don't want someone to tip the Black Menace off that I am coming, As it is, we can't be sure just how much influence that] Black Menace may have, through his wealthy vietims. I'm not even going to tell Speed and Clare un-| tii we are actually ready to] start." Quickly he thought out his plan| of campaign and, as he explained to me, I must admit that 1 was forced to confess that it was like- ly to prove a good one. At least it had the merit of a surprise at- tack; one that would take the place off guardi While IT made arrangements to | secure the fast cars, three of| which he decided would be suffic-' lent, Craig over the telephone took care of the legal details of the raid, On his own evidence he was! able to make sure that he would have warrants out for 'John| Doe" and 'Jane Doe. As. he re- vealed to me that part of his plans I wondered whom he meant, | Was it the polished Monsieur Jacques and the sylph-like Madam | Rone? Or was it the Black Men- ace and Breshkaya---or some third! parties? Once having set the machinery! in motion, Kennedy was impatient to be off, for every moment now | meant that something might hap-| pen to anticipate us. Accordingly it was with great re-| lief that I saw that between us we had completed carefully and se- | cretly, all the initial preparations] for the raid on the Mystery Man-| sion. "There's no use, Craig served, 'unless we can pull thing off with a fair prospect success. Now if you will eall 1 Speed and Clare, and have them meet us in half an hour at Col- umbus Cirele, I think' we have done | all that can be done until we get | sut there. Only be careful to say nothing about what we are doing. | I've come to believe that this| Black Menace has his spies every- where." Haff an hour later we emerged from the subway at Columbus Cir-| cle, and there we found the three motor cars waiting for us, as I had arranged. A few moments later there arrived some private detect- ives from a downtown bureau, and by the next train came Speed and | Clare, highly excited by the eryp- tie invitation that I had given them over the telephone. Like a general disposing his forces Kennedy now outlined his | plan, which, briefly, was that we should leave immediately in the] three cars. Of one I was to take charge. Speed, now totally' re-| covered from his drugging and re- | conciled with Clare, was placed in | charge of another, and I was re-| lieved to see that he was less] headstrong and quite ready to take orders from Kennedy. Craig him- self took the third, and in each of | the three he placed four of the! private detectives from the bu- reau. "I think, Miss Claremont," he decided finally, "that you had bet-| ter come along with me in my car." Speed smiled rather sheepishly but did not raise any protest. Thus we set out and soon were over the bridge and out along the road which we had travelled so many times lately. It was only then that Kennedy revealed to the operatives where we were bound, so careful was he to guard the secret from a possibhke telephone warning. Outside the village of Heaton Hills we halted and there we sepa- rated, as part of the plan of at- his mind ell by his ob-| the | of | up | | LWAY TEM |an's apartment, in spite of the ready | explanation. As for Speed, he did 116th Ontério County Battalion dur- Clare and now again he had tried his own hand at the game, and éfich time 'he had treid his own hand at the game he had failed. Kennedy was pretty well done out when I managed to get him back at S03p tax on his'tack which Kenitedy had and seemed strategically correct, My worked | out for. us. "My fdea," he outlined, "is that we shall approach this house from three directions at once--from the| front road in each way, and from | a back road that passes some quar- ter of a mile behind You will each proceed to a bend in the road just out of sight of the place and | wait. The signal for us all to close in will be a daylight rocket which | "SAL users of Japans. party was delegated to approach The Only Way To Test Tea is to Taste it.---- A" Natural Leaf Green Tea is proving a revelation to those who have been Hao TRY IT--YOU WILL LIKE IT -_-s 1 will fire, since it will take me| from the road in front of the house a little longer to get into position on the back road. Then our par- ties can converge on the place at precisely the same moment and there will be no chance of escape in any direction." His plan was simple to understand in the easterly direction, | Nearing the front porch, but other, with Speed was to come at|stjll able to see about the side of the place from the west along the|ihe house, I saw that some distance same road. Thus there could be pack of it was an old barn. There no way of their getting off at either | could see that Kennedy paused of the two gates that opened from | just an instant to leave Clare in the grounds to the road, one used|ihe shelter of the barn, unwilling as an entrance and the other as an to have her in the actual fighting exit. From this side it seemed | which he thought would take place that the road would be effectively|when we all reached the house. guarded, There were several oars about For himself, Kennedy planned |the side of the house, showing that that he would take the back road, |there were the usual afternoon vis- easy, The silence was omigous, We dashed from room to room. Everything had heen wrecked or removed, evidently in the greatest haste, Had someone tipped them off, after all? Where were Mme, Rope and the sauve Jacques? (To be continued) south and come up from |j t back | t choge | side much shorter, and I started ahout before road to his posMion, nearest the village. Waiting For The We arrived soon at the road just hefore Mystery House, watched for out on which shooting was || | ¢ Signal, the turn passed and while Kennedy's signal, in the we I opened out on the side porch, while per-|hefore our blows and we found our- selves that || sides, of the house without passing it, was | Several off | which might ito make it, leaving Speed to drive |eriminating nature the | tral nedy, ed to the tors. But we did not stop, the rear, cross-country, cutting off the retreat which the other 'two attacking parties would invite, Above all, Craig cautioned us to] exercise care, as wk waited, not! only to convey any alarm to cars|} that might he passing at the time, | We separated and drove through | the town as though we were fect strangers to each other. Our first lookout was to allow Kennedy |) to get a start in the detour was necessary to reach the road. My detour, which 1 to come around on the other On my hrough end 1 managed to French window break a that When We Test Eyes IT IS DONE PROPERLY } JURY & LOVELL, Ltd. Phone 28 Phone 1101 } could hear Speed battering at he front door, already barred to iim. In the rear Kqnnedy was at- acking a stout back door, The' French windows bulged in in the room wheel had expected where the rou- been in operation. an immediate at- Intsead there did not seem a soul in 'the house. Be- the roulette wheel was gone, other articles of furniture have proved of an in- were smashed. was all merely a they must have seen us ette had ack. 0 he knew that jt lind; that 'oming. Speed dashed in through the cen- hall at the moment that Ken- coming from the rear, join- us, Somehow it all seemed too had the driver of the car lift the hood and pretend an elaborate tinkering with the motor to cover | our stop by the road side. Nothing | passed as we waited except a de- | livery wagon, and as that did not| turn into the house, I felt reassur- ed that we were so far unobserved. | "There's the rocket," one of the operators, | Through an opening in the trees we could see Kennedy's signal. From our point of vantage it was | only a matter of minutes for us to | reach the house. We drove for- | ward, turned in at the exit from | the grounds and left the car square | ly across the gateway so as to bar-| ricade it. exclaimed The Ouly Hotel of its Kind in Canada Centrally situated, close to shops and theatres, Fireproof. Home comfort and hotel conven- ience. Finest euisine. Cosy tea room S]en till midnight. ¢ Single room, with bath, $2.50 ; double room, with bath, $4.00. Breakfast, B0c. to 75¢. Luncheon, 86¢c. Dinner, $1.00. Free taxi service from trains and boats. Take o Black snd White Taxis only. Write for booklet 240 JARVIS STREET TORONTO, ONT. on! shouted to the | as we leaped out | revolvers and proceed- | up the cinder drive | other direction along | the road I could see Speed already | turning in. He noted how I had] left my car, backed his own across | the entrance in the same way and | with his four men, began running up the driveway. As I ran I could see thdt Ken- nedy must have got somewhat of al start of us, for already his party | was visible, emerging from a clump | of woods in the rear. Thus we converged on the house, | almost without warfing, and I am convinced that it was only the sud-| denness of the onslaught that | ed us from a rapid of from those in the "Come four operatives, with drawn ed on a run From the sav- | fire bullets | house. ICan Save You 36% Days a Year i You know from laborious experience that you spend at least an average of one hour a day?in pumping water for use about your farm. Stop losing this valuable time. Save your strength. Instal a Toronto Windmill and see how quickly it will pay for itself. Toronto Windmills are quiet, efficient workers. Cost nothing to run. Require practically no atten- tion outside an occasional oiling. And when linked up with a Toronto and give you a city water service right on your farm. Toronto Water System, a Toronto Win H. J. OGDEN--Oshawa, Ont. a For use in washing machines shave or slice @ portion of the ** SURPRISE * bar direct to the machine At Will do fine work" our apartment and was glad enough to retire. The next day, much as he hated it, Craig was forced to remain wery quiet, for the effort of the night be-