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By FRANK LOVELL NELSON C
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Master Mind of Carlton Clarke in a Unique Criminal Solution
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ELEGRAM for you, Clarke,”
I said, as I took the mes
sage which the boy de
livered at the door of
our Oak street apart
ments one morning in
mid-summer. A shade of
anxiety passed over the
face of my house mate.
Strange, I thought, that
Carlton Clarke, the great
telepathic detective, should
be disturbed by so ordin
ary an event as the receipt of a tele
gram. Clarke look the yellow en
velope and held it thoughtfully in
his hand as a woman studies a tele
gram before summoning the courage
to open it.
“Do you remember Thaida?” he
asked suddenly, still holding the en
velope as I signed the messenger’s
book.
Did I remember Thaida? As if T
could forget that glorious vision of
young womanhood that had flashed
into our presence in the ghetto dis
trict of New York and whose psy
chometric mind had aided us in the
solution of the puzzling mystery of the
“Blue Bokhara.”
"I see you do,” continued Clarke.
“Well, my mind has been filled with
forebodings concerning her all morn
ing. I have no word from her for
several weeks. Something tells me
that this message concerns her and
that the news is not good. We will
see,” and he tore open the envelope
hnd read it hastily. A look of distress,
passing quickly to a black frown of
anger, overspread his face. Without
a word he passed the message to me.
I read:
"On board S. S. Magellan, off Pen
sacola, Kla., Marconi Station. The
wolf’s fangs—”
No signature. A cipher? None that
I was familiar with, yet it must have
a meaning and a deep and terrible
one, for as I looked at Clarke his eyes
blazed with anger and beneath it he
wore a look of the deepest concern.
"It is from her. The wolf! I must
save her, but how? Sexton, can 1
count on you?”
“You know that without asking,” I
replied; “but I haven’t the slightest
Idea what it all means."
“Of course not. Come into the li
brary and I will tell you while we
•plan some method of action, I do not
yet know what.
"I first met Thaida," continued
Clarke, when we were seated in the
library, “when I was an interne at
Bellevue. She was a student, delving
deeper than the mind of woman or
dinarily goes into subjects phil
osophical and psychological. She
was a true friend, a jovial com
panion, and these traits, allied with
the beauty of which you can testify,
had the effect of gathering about her
an ever enlarging court. But with an
admirable reserve she held them all
at length.
d alone came the nearest to hor-confl
-dence, and the life we lived was ideal,
both too busy for our chosen work to
mar it by thoughts of anything closer,
both protected, she by her womanly
reserve, I by my sincere respect for
her.
■“Then Compte Arniand de Loup
came into our lives. He was a young
French nobleman, very rich, living
where and how he pleased. We were
atlracted to him by his tore of the
•occult which he had studied in India,
in Tibet, wherever the minds of think
ers run in the direction of the unknow- i
able. He was suave, handsome and,
at first, charming in every way. It
was not long however until his ad
vances to Thaida became so pro
nounced as to cause her to fear him
and me to hate him with ali my heart.
When it became necessary for her
definitely to repel his offers he went j
out of our sphere as suddenly as he
had entered It. hut leaving behind him j
"his curses and his vows of the most i
terrible vengeance his fiery Gallic |
spirit could invent.
“Nine years have passed since then
and no blow has fallen, unless this is
it. After he left, translating his name
literally, we called him ‘the wolf.’
We often talked jokingly of the time
when the threatened fangs of the
wolf would close upon us. ‘The fangs
of the wolf.’ It must be Thaida.”
As Clarke was speaking the bell
rang again and a second messenger
arrived. Clarke feverishly tore open
the cover and reading it passed it to
me. It was:
“— have struck. Save me."
lake the first it was sent by Marconi
system from the steamship Magellan.
“Wait,” exclaimed Clarke. “We can
do nothing. There win be a third. She
is sending me word despite some ter
rible obstacle."
He had hardly finished when the
third message arrived. Sent from the
same station, it read:
“— come to —”
Would there be a fourth that would
urfve us the final clue? All the day we
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waited with all the patience we could
summon, but it came not. Clarke
spent the time poring over the time
tables of the North and South lines. At
last he gave up and throwing ne time
tables from him he exclaimed: “Some
thing has happened. She cannot fin
ish. But there is another means if
only she will try it.”
Then he lay back in his chair and
closed his eyes. For more than an
hour he did not stir. I began to think
he slept. Then he jumped up so sud
denly that he startled me.
“Quick! I have it. We are going.
Pack. Don't forget the arms and
plenty of ammunition, and put in those
four automatics we go* the other day.
There may be hot work before we ever
see Chicago again. Let's see, the
train leaves in an hour and a quarter.”
“But where we are going?" I asked,
involuntarily.
“New Orleans,” he shouted as he
dashed into his room to throw his
clothes out to me to pack.
We reached New Orleans at dusk and
took a cab from the railway station.
As we drove away looking out of the
cab window I saw a swarthy, roughly
dressed man enter another cab which
immediately followed us. I thought
nothing of the incident at the time
except to wonder how such a looking
individual happened to be riding in
cabs.
And then the full import of Clarke's
devilish cunning, his mastery of the
minds of men by the use of forces
which bordered on the supernatural,
dawned upon me. Here was the pilot
which would guide us to the lair of
the wolf and to Thaida, the spy turned
to account against his own employer.
The path lay by water, this evidently
Clarke had discovered.
“Yes, it was absurdly simple,” re
marked Clarke, quietly, divining as he
so often seemed to do my train of
thought.
“As soon as I found we were watched
I knew I had the master key to the
situation. It was easy to turn from
the shadowed to the shadow. I slipped
out of the hotel through the kitchens,
prepared the way for you, and while
our pilot here was watching the front
entrance of the hotel I was within a
step of him and watching him. You
know my method and it was not long
before I had him in my power and
knew all that he knows. It is not
much except that de Loup has some
sort of rendezvous on an obscure is
land about 30 miles up the coast from
the delta. It is called the lie des
Serpents and we are going to find out
what goes on there. God send we do
not get there too late!” Clarke’s eyes
took a faraway look and I knew he
was thinking of Thaida.
“Before midnight we make eet,"
said Bloc, who was steering by the
compass. Silently we drew on the
larder for a repast consisting of what
ever we could find that needed no
cooking. Then despite the tossing of
our craft I succeeded in making a pot
of steaming hot coffee. We were too
near the unknown to be in the mood
for conversation.
adoih o ciock mioc, wno was peer
ing into the darkness ahead, whis
pered, "A la droit. L’ile des Serpents.”
I looked and rising out of the dark
ness was a black mass against the
softer shades of the shore line.
With directions given in whispers
we made fast to the landing.
“You will stay here with the
launch,” whispered Clarke to Bloc,
"and have it ready to get away at
once in case we need it.”
We stepped lightly out on the land
ing and found ourselves facing a door
of iron in the otherwise blank wall;
a heavy door incrusted with knobs and
beset with strange heraldic devices in
bas relief. These latter drew Clarke’s
attention and he studied them earnest
ly in the dim light. Then turning to
me with a smile of triumph he whis
pered: “Ah, I thought so. 1 have the
master key. Come, we will go in.”
No sound broke the stillness. There
was nothing to denote that a human
habitation of any sort lay beyond the
blank wall.
Clarke lifted a heavy knocker in
the center of the door and began a
tattoo of alternating long and short
ra]ts. These were answered from
within and my companion in his turn
answered these signals.
“What is your age?” challenged a
deep voice.
I was thunderstruck at Clarke’s an
swer in an even, fearless tone.
“Five years,” he said.
“Whence do you comer’ again in
quired the voice.
“From the eternal flame,” answered
my companion.
“Whither do you go?" rang out the
question.
“To the flame eternal,” was the re
ply.
“Whom do you bring?”
"A hitherto deluded soul who would
gain admission among us and thus
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m
Horror of a Night
and the Intercep*
tion of a Wireless
Message Go to
Make Up the Puz
zling Features of
a Strange Case
Which Confronts
Chicago Reporter
and His Friend, the
Detective.
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learn the true story of the fall of the
great Baal-Zeboub.”
And then It dawned upon me that
no matter with what diabolical fra
ternity we were dealing Clarke, with
his wonderful knowledge of the vaga
ries that have possessed the human
mind since the dawn of the ages, had
its ritual at his tongue’s end.
“Butr you waste our time, which is
precious. If the examination is satis
factory lead us to the Vice Regent of
Lucifer and if he so desire he may
question us further,” commanded
Clarke in a tone of authority.
" ’Tis well. To the Temple of Ba
homet,” answered the sentry.
He turned and motioned us to fol
low. We entered and heard the door
close behind us with a click leaving
us in utter, absolute darkness.
And then, seeming to come from the
roof over our heads, spoke a voice so
terrible in Its menace, so steely, cruel
in its tones that I felt my knees be
gin to batter against each other.
“Let them that would look upon the
face of the Vice-Regent of the Evil
One enter through the eternal flame,”
it said. "If they come on the business
of the great Lucifer they pass un
scathed. Otherwise they wither up
and die.”
Our guide had disappeared as if
by magic. Motioning me to follow,
Clarke pressed forward. We neared
the flame and still there came no heat, j
Then Clarke stepped into it and was J
lost to sight while I stood alone in
that awful corridor. Summoning all
my courage I too stepped into the
flame. Beyond a tingling of the
nerves and a stinging of the skin I
felt no sensation.
I found myself with Clarke in an im
mense hall, the counterpart in devil
ish decoration of the passageway we
had left. The walls, roof and floor
were Of stone and the whole scene
was so broken with recesses, grottoes
and innumerable stone images of Sa
tanic beings that it was difficult to
judge its size. Behind us the flame
alternately flashed and flickered. If
there was another entrance it was so
cunningly concealed as to escape our
notice. Befere us was a massive al
tar, apparently hewn in the solid rock,
though upon closer examination I
found it, as well as all of the interior
decoration, to be of moulded con
crete.
We were alone. At least we saw no
forms but those of the devils and imps
that, as in the corridor, flashed their
many colored eyes upon us from all
sides.
Suddenly the stillness was broken
by a voice from somewhere in the
deep recesses of the cavern, a voice
steely and cruel in its icy suavity.
I looked. Yes. Thaida was there.
She seemed even more beautiful
than in the brief period when I had
before seen her. Her robes clung to
the graceful outlines of her willowy j
form. Her black hair was coiled tight
ly into a crown about her beautifully j
shaped head and in its tresses one red
rose, matching perfectly the coral of
her lips, was the only bit of color.
Proudly she walked, and Hypatia be- i
fore the monks of Cecil was not love
lier nor more disdainful of her execu-1
tioners.
She took her place calmly before the 1
center cf the semicircle. The count
approached her and taking her hand
touched it to his lips with a tri- i
umphant smile. She offered no show j
of resistance. Had she steeled herself
to submit meekly to whatever be in
store for her? Then ensued some
ritualistic gibberish of which 1 could
not catch the import, during which
each member of the semicircle seized
what looked to be a chalice from the
altar and beat upon it with a short
stick.
“O, Lucifer, Star of the Morning,
answer thou unto the conjuration of
the Four and say if it is thy will that
this maiden become a faithful Pal
Iadist in thy service.” This the count
intoned in a solemn voice.
Front somewhere in the roof came
the answer m hollow reverberating
tones:
“It is my will.”
“Then come, thou art mine,” said ;
the count as with outstretched arms
he advanced toward Thaida. She |
stood disdainfully erect »s iie neared 1
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her and I trembled to see such loveli
ness profaned by his unholy touch.
His arms were just about to fold her
In their embrace when my straining
eyes saw a livid green flash strike
from the whiteness of her throat. Full
upon the forehead of the count it
hurtled. I saw him throw out his
arms wildly as if trying to fight it off.
Rut there it clung, a writhing, glisten
ing streak of green.
The count tottered. His face and
hands began to turn to the sickly
shade of tarnished brass. With a
great cry he reeled headlong.
Leaping over the prostrate form
Thaida flew like a deer. I heard the
bar of Clarke's prison house fall. Then ,
the door of mine swung open. In the
twinkling of an eye we were behind
those little steel cages, Thaida be
tween us. At that instant the lights
went out and we were in stygian
darkness.
At the end of the hall we heard the
hurrying of many feet and the moans
of men in terror of an awful death. Al
most mechanically we drew our
weapons and began to empty four
automatics into the blackness ahead.
1 do not know whether or not any of
our shots took effect. 1 heard no
cries. When we stopped to reload and
the reverberations of the fusilade had
died away in the recesses of the roof
all was still.
“To the boat,” whispered Clarke.
We picked up the now fainting
Thaida, dashed through the aura of
flame and down the corridor, now in
utter darkness. The door barred for ,
a moment our progress, but Clat ke's
fingers soon found the bolt and we
were safe.
"It was by ruse,” said Thaida. "I
had no thought of de Loup and had
long since hoped that he had passed
out of our lives, when I was summoned
by a false letter on board the Magel
lan in New York harbor. Once there
I was seized and locked in a cabin.
“We were sitting in the ladies'
cabin. I wjas watching the waves
dashing over her bows. De Loup sat
watching me. Writing materials were
on the desk at my elbow, but I dared
not even look at them for fear of
arousing his suspicions. Then sudden
ly I looked Up. He was dozing. I
snatched a pen and wrote your ad
dress and three wrords of the message.
Then be roused and I had only time
to snatch the paper and conceal it in
my dress before his sharp eyes were
again upon me. I would send it any
way. 1 knew your intuitive wit would
make something of it. I intrusted it
to the stewardess. Fortunately they
had loft me my money. 1 told her it
was a cypher and she swore to give it
to the wireless operator in his little
rookery on the upper deck. That was
in the morning. In the afternoon I
again had a chance to write a few
words when I was again stopped by
de Loup's eye. I again went to my
cabin and calling the stewardess sent
it to the same address. I had one
more chance to write. Hut when it
came to telling you where to find me I
suddenly remembered that I did not
know. I sent the dispatch anyway. 1
had no more chance to write. I be
lieve that de Loup already suspected.
I now think he knew it all the time
and was anxious that I lure you on,
for that same day he told me that our
destination was near New Orleans. I
still hoped for a chance to get you
TK'd. but all the time I telepathed
i those two words to you with all the
intensity of my being.”
Woman like she had omitted that
part w'e were most anxious to hear,
the cause of the death of the wolf.
"O, yes.” she continued. “But the
blow that struck him I had reserved
for myself when all else had failed.
We were on the launch going up the
narrow harbor of the island. I was
alone on the after deck watching the
snakes that coiled and twisted in the
branches that almost swept the sides
of the boat. They had no horror for
me. for as you know, I have a strange
power over all animal life. Suddenly
a peculiar little green snake fell from
a tree limb onto the deck almost at
my feet. From its triangular head 1
knew it to be deadly poisonous. Here
was my weapon. I snatched it up and
concealed it in my dress. I might be
able to turn it upon the count. If not
1 should force it to bite myself. Wh-m
1 dressed for the ceremony I placed it
at my throat. I was about to reach
| for it when it struck.”
“And the sheet of flame and the
lights?" I interposed, unable longer
to restrain my curiosity on these
points.
“Oh. that's all simple enough." an
swered Clarke. "Mere buffoonery, t
saw' through it at the time. The count,
was no mean electrician. He had his
own plant. As for the sheet of flame,
have you never seen a high frequency
current pass between two poles? 1
million volts of violet rays from such
an apparatus hav& been sent throngs
i the human body with no effect but a
| slight tingling and the visible stream
i of fire.”
(Copyright. 1909. by W. G. Chapman.
(Copyright in Great Britain.)