The Romance of Elaine | Page 7

now useless for us. With revolvers drawn, we crept back
along the passageway until we came again to the chamber itself. There,
on the floor, lay a bag of tools, opened, as though somebody had been
working with them.
"Caught red-handed!" exclaimed Kennedy with great satisfaction.
He looked at the tools a minute and then at the electric drill, and finally
an idea seemed to strike him. He took up the drill and advanced toward
the safe. Then he turned on the current and applied the drill.
The drill was of the very latest design and it went quickly through the
steel. But beyond that there was another thin steel partition. This
Kennedy tackled next.
The drill went through and he withdrew it.
Instantly the most penetrating and nauseous odor seemed to pervade
everything.
Kennedy cried out. But his warning was too late. We staggered back,
overcome by the escaping gas and fell to the ground.
. . . . . . .
Long Sin, with his oxygen helmet on again, had returned to the
passageway and was now stealthily creeping back.
He came to the chamber and there discovered us lying on the ground,
overcome. He bent down and, to his great satisfaction, saw that we
were really unconscious.
Quickly he moved over to the safe and pried open the last thin steel
plate.

Inside was a small box. He picked it up and tried to open it, but it was
locked. There was no time to work over it here, and he took it under his
arm and started to leave.
He paused a moment to look at us, then took out a piece of paper and a
pencil and on the paper wrote, "Thanks for your trouble." Beneath, it
was signed by his special stamp--the serpent's head, mouth open and
fangs showing.
Long Sin looked at us a moment, then a subtle smile seemed to spread
over his face. At last he had us in his power.
He drew out a long, wicked-looking Chinese knife and stuck it through
the note.
Then he felt the edge of the knife. It was keen.
. . . . . . .
In the sitting-room, Elaine, Aunt Tabby and Joshua had been listening
intently at the fireplace but heard nothing.
They were now getting decidedly worried. Finally, the fumes which we
had released made their way to the room. They were considerably
diluted by fresh air by that time, but, although they were nauseous,
were not sufficient to overcome any one. Still, the smell was terrible.
"I can't stand it any longer," cried Elaine. "I'm going down there to see
what has become of them."
Aunt Tabby and Joshua tried to stop her, but she broke away from them
and went down the ladder. Rusty leaped down after her.
Joshua tried to follow, but Aunt Tabby held him back. He would have
gone, too, if she had not managed to strike the spring and shut the door,
closing up the passageway.
Joshua got angry then. "You are making a coward of me," he cried,
beating on the panel with the butt of his gun and struggling to open it.

He seemed unable to fathom the secret.
Elaine was now making her way as rapidly as she could through the
tunnel, with Rusty beside her.
. . . . . . .
It was just as Long Sin had raised his knife that the sound of her
footsteps alarmed him.
He paused and leaped to his feet.
There was no time for either to retreat. He started toward Elaine, and
seized her roughly.
Back and forth over the rocky floor they struggled. As they fought,--she
with frantic strength, he craftily,--he backed her slowly up against the
prop that upheld the roof.
He raised his keen knife.
She recoiled. The prop, none too strong, suddenly gave way under her
weight.
The whole roof of the chamber fell with a crash, earth and stone
overwhelming Elaine and her assailant.
. . . . . . .
By this time Joshua had left the house and had gone out into the garden
to get something to pry open the fireplace door.
Of a sudden, to his utter amazement, a few feet from him, it seemed as
if the very earth sank in his garden, leaving a yawning chasm.
He looked, unable to make it out.
Before his very eyes a strange figure, the figure of Long Sin in his
oxygen helmet, appeared, struggling up, as if by magic from the very

earth, shaking the debris off himself, as a dog would shake off the
water after a plunge in a pond.
Long Sin was gone in a moment.
Then again the earth began to move. A paw appeared, then a sharp
black nose, and a moment later,