The False Faces
1
No man can
be justified in
surrendering
while life and
love endure.
2
The False Faces.
3
Midnight on the
Western front
with the armies of
Civilization
beating back the
wolf-hordes of a
blood-crazed King.
4
With the spot-lights
searching for the
living, while the
souls of the dead
rise among the star
shells toward the
shadowy sky
5
The British front line.
6
No Man's Land, where
the Legions of
Death march cease-
lessly to the drum-
fire of a million
guns.
7
Merciful prowlers
-- A patrol
in search of the
wounded.
8
"From the patrol,
eh? Blimme but
yer back in a
'urry."
9
"I am not one of
the patrol.
I've come from the
enemy trenches."
10
"The 'ell yer 'ave!
Deserter, eh?
You kamerad - wot?"
11
"I am no German -
I am an American
and I've important
information for your
commanding officer"
12
"Yer can drop yer
'ands - but don't
go forgettin' I'm
right 'ere be'ind yer."
13
"A prisoner, sir -
sez 'e's American
- come across the
open tonight with
important information."
14
"I should prefer
to give my name
privately."
15
"Your voice sounds
familiar."
16
"It should."
17
"My name is
Michael Lanyard."
18
"The Lone Wolf!"
19
"The last time I saw
you, you were a
notorious thief and I
was in the Secret
Service."
20
"You and I played
hide and seek
across half Europe."
21
"That was in the
days of Troyon's
and the 'pack', the
days of Popinot
and --"
22
"-- and Ekstrom,
the skunk!"
23
"Ekstrom is still
alive."
24
Exiled, I went
to Belgium and
there lived peace-
ably with my sister,
a widow striving
to support her child.
25
Then the WAR ....
.... and Ekstrom
leading a band
of blond beasts --
26
Ekstrom the Hun -
lower even than
the crooks and
assassins whom
he ruled in the
Parisian Underworld.
27
"'The Lone Wolf', eh?"
28
"Yes, Ekstrom, you
Prussian dog."
29
"When I stood over
her grave I dedicated
my life to the
extermination of
Ekstrom and all of
his breed."
30
"Under an assumed
name I joined the
German Secret Service
and learned that
Ekstrom was going
to America for the
Wilhelmstrasse."
31
"Your pardon, Major
-- I have been
thru hell tonight --
and I must go on
to America. Can
you help me?"
32
Defiantly plowing
the Hun infested
seas. The S.S.
Assyrian bound
for the U.S.A.
33
With the cowardly foe
lying in wait be-
neath the waves, and
a dozen secret
agents of that same
foe on her sailing
list.
34
Among the
passengers.
35
The Lone Wolf,
carrying passports
identifying him as
M. Duchemin
36
Cecilia Brooke,
traveling alone
and making no
acquaintances
37
Lieutenant Thackeray,
a wounded veteran
of the Great War.
38
Mr. Crane of the
United States
Secret Service
39
The leader of the
Hun spies, aboard
the Assyrian --
Ekstrom.
40
Knowing indisputably
that the Assyrian
also shelters an
English Secret Service
agent, carrying an
important document
to the American
Government.
41
"Watch from the
Crow's Nest.
When I give
the signal, call
the submarine
alarm, then --"
42
"Beware,
submarine to port!
All passengers on
deck!"
43
The happy discovery
that the submarine
warning was a
mistake -- a false
alarm.
44
"Pardon me,
Mademoiselle,
would you
kindly tell me
why you tried
my door tonight."
45
"My door
was neither locked
nor bolted on my
side and one can't
be too careful
in times like these."
46
"Someone entered
my room and tamp-
ered with my luggage,
escaping into your
room when disturbed
by our return."
47
"Yes, I have
missed a
jewel box."
48
"My jewels are
all here."
49
"Failing to find
what he sought,
the thief hoped
to implicate me."
50
"It appears we
have a common
enemy."
51
"Yes, though we met
but ten minutes
ago, we are now
allies in a common
cause."
52
The fourth night out,
with the clouds
veiling the stars.
53
The rather disquieting
realization that he
is interested in
her friends.
54
"He threw it
as you fell."
55
"Who is this man?"
56
"Lieut. Thackeray.
Please, oh, please,
tell me he is not
dead!"
57
"His heart beats
but I fear he's
badly injured
I'll get the ship's
surgeon"
58
"Please, no! Later,
if necessary, but
not now. Just
help me carry him
to his stateroom."
59
"Will you stand
guard while I
get some bandages
from my room?"
60
"This is no slight
blow, Mademoiselle,
and, if I may, I
would advise call-
ing the surgeon
immediately."
61
"No! -- if you
please, a moment
-- I must have
time to think!"
62
"Will you keep this
for me, Monsieur, until
I ask for it again?"
63
"I warn you, it will
be searched for and
may cost you your
life."
64
"What is life? A
prelude -- perhaps
an overture - to death."
65
"I'll turn out the
lights so you may
leave unseen."
66
A false summons
to the upper deck.
67
"Tell the surgeon I
will come at once."
68
The hidden menace
of the sea.
69
"Be quiet, Herr
Lone Wolf, and
hold up your
hands."
70
"Tell us without
delay where we
shall find the
cylinder."
71
"You lie! Search
him, Karl!"
72
The Lone Wolf's
passports.
73
"You have two
minutes to tell
us where to find
that cylinder!"
74
"You have just
forty seconds
more to live,
unless you speak."
75
Resolving to get all
the reward for the
cylinder himself.
76
The signal to the
submarine.
77
"What have
we here?"
78
"From the
Assyrian."
79
"We can't bother
with him. There is
a Yankee destroyer
approaching us.
We must submerge."
80
"Wait! On the
Emperor's service --"
81
"Imperial
Secret Service,
Wilhelmstrasse
-- Number 27"
82
"Take him below.
He may be tell-
ing the truth,
if not -- !!"
83
Off the New
England coast.
84
"Dr. Paul Rodiek,
Wilhelmstrasse No. 27."
Still the "guest" of
the Submarine.
85
"Awake, eh? Thought
you were going to
sleep forever. We
are just going into
our base."
86
"Heligoland?"
87
"No, it's a little
nook on the south
shore of Martha's
Vineyard, safely
hidden from the
pig-head Yankees."
88
"Water? Hell! You
may have champagne
if you like -- we
have been cele-
brating the sinking
of the Assyrian."
89
"Why was I not
informed he
had awakened?"
90
"The beastly Captain
is drunk -- the fool."
91
"Who are you?
What is your
name?"
92
"I am Doctor Paul
Rodiek. Personal
Intelligence Bureau
-- confidential
agent."
93
"I must know more.
What identifications
have you?"
94
"My papers are at
the bottom of the sea.
I set off that signal
flare on the Assyrian
at the risk of my
life. That is my
identification."
95
"I have wirelessed
the Wilhelmstrasse.
Either you are
all right or you
will never live
to tell of it."
96
"I beg to report
that we are about
to drop anchor, sir."
97
"He hates me even
as I hate him --
because I am a Pruss-
ian and he a dog
of a Bavarian."
98
"Sorry, I cannot
permit you to go
ashore, Doctor;
but you have the
liberty of the boat."
99
Five thousand dollars
in American currency.
100
"Here's to our Com-
mander -- may he
drink himself to
death, so we can
have a new one --
prosit!"
101
"It's not only drink-
ing -- he's mad
-- sees faces --
dead faces with
eyes eaten out and
seaweed in their hair."
102
"It was he who sank
the Lusitania.
His own hand fired
that torpedo."
103
At an isolated
shack on shore.
104
The awful
hallucinations of
a consciousness
steeped in innocent
blood.
105
"But he has insulted
me for the last
time -- I --"
106
"So - you verdammtes
Prussian schwein --
I find you thus!"
107
"Get ashore and
report yourself
under arrest for
fraternizing with - !"
108
"I've done it
at last!"
109
"He's dead -----
My only hope is to
hide the body. You
will help me?"
110
"I'll send the watch
ashore; then we
can drop the body
overboard."
111
"It's all right. We
are rid of the dam-
ned watch for half
an hour at least."
112
"Plenty of time for
one drink, and God
knows I need it."
113
The toll of brandy
-- an overtaxed
heart suddenly
paralyzed into
eternal stillness
114
The dying gurgle
of a slimy
serpent of the
deep.
115
Two hundred
miles away.
116
The Knickerbocker
Hotel in New York.
117
"M. Duchemin, to
whom you entrusted
the cylinder, was
surely drowned. Go
to headquarters and
report it as lost."
118
The Lone Wolf's
abode on Riverside
Drive.
119
Ekstrom's lair
at another hotel.
120
"Hotel Knickerbocker,
please."
121
The
British Secret
Service Headquarters
in New York.
122
Basil Blensop,
secretary to the
head of the British
secret service and
the tool of Ekstrom.
123
"Very sorry, Mr. Ember,
but the earliest
you can see Colonel
Stanistreet is
tomorrow morning
at nine o'clock."
124
"Don't mind using
the side entrance
do you? It's a
much shorter way out."
125
The realization
that some one
is impersonating
him.
126
The combination
of the safe.
127
"Don't forget the
Colonel will be
expecting you at
twelve o'clock
tonight."
128
"Twenty dollars if
you don't lose
sight of that taxi."
129
The
New York
Headquarters
of the
Wilhelmstrasse
130
The council room
of the Hun agents
131
"That paper went
to the bottom with
the Lone Wolf."
132
"Then we may yet
secure it - for the
Lone Wolf is still
alive."
133
"If that is true,
I will move heaven
and earth to regain
that cylinder."
134
Colonel Stanistreet,
head of the British
Secret Service in
America.
135
"Yes, the Lone Wolf
has returned to
America. He will
be here at twelve
with an important
message for you."
136
Successfully eluding
the night watchman,
the Lone Wolf
again reaches his
hiding place.
137
"You are correct.
I traveled as
M. Duchemin.
Here are my
passports."
138
"I risked my life to
save this cylinder,
and I demand ten
thousand dollars
as a just reward."
139
"I dare say the
German agents in
this country would
consider it very
cheap at double
the price."
140
"Examine it yourself,
and see that the seal
is not broken and
that the Coat of Arms
is correct. One
can safely trust an
Englishman's honor."
141
"Tell the watchman
to keep an extra
eye open tonight. I
don't trust this self-
styled Lone Wolf."
142
The ghostlike voice
of Temptation,
still linking him
to his past.
143
"The Lone Wolf!
Good God! Will
you never die?"
144
"Not by your
hands, Ekstrom."
145
The Lone Wolf's
hotel.
146
"At my hotel I
received a message
stating that I might
see Mr. Anthony
Ember here."
147
"Wyas'm, he said if
you all come to
have you wait in
his apartment - that
it was very impo'tant."
148
In the Lone Wolf's
apartment.
149
"-- and they
took her away."
150
The inquisition at
the Wilhelmstrasse.
151
"Little will the Lone
Wolf dream that
it was Ekstrom who
stole his prize."
152
"Don't mind me --
look to that brute!"
153
"Even the Lone
Wolf is not
afraid of an
unarmed man."
154
"Keep that! We
may have to shoot
our way out."
155
"In heaven's name,
Monsieur, what
are you doing?"
156
"Making up my
understudy for a
dangerous role. Stand
by the door. I'll
join you."
157
A raid by the U.S.
Secret Service.
158
"I'll have to hand
it to you for corr-
aling them. Now
it will be an easy
job for us."
159
"You will find
a taxi outside."
160
"And now, Monsieur,
may I ask you for
the cylinder?"
161
"Unfortunately,
Mademoiselle,
I must ask you
to wait."
162
"When the Assyrian
was torpedoed, the
man you just saw
killed stole it and
threw me overboard."
163
"My suspicions lead
me to Stanistreet's
office. If you will
give me time I'll
recover it."
164
"We cannot be
annoyed now. We
are making photo-
graphs of finger
prints. Miss Brooke
will have to wait."
165
"Miss Brooke has
access to this
office at any time.
Show her in."
166
"Is it not true that
yesterday a man
sold you a cylinder
which was later stolen?"
167
"That man was killed
in a raid this mor-
ning and your money
recovered."
168
"But the cylinder --
it was in the safe."
169
"That's simple
when you have
the combination."
170
"Nine, twenty-seven,
eighteen, thirty-six."
171
"A hard pencil,
unlike a fountain
pen, leaves an
impression on
the second sheet.
For instance --"
172
"That pen, M. Blensop."
173
The realization
of a love that
can never be.
174
"Monsieur was not
going away without
allowing me to
thank him?"
175
"Surely you will
see my brother,
Lieutenant Thackeray,
before you go."
176
"Your brother?"
177
"Yes. Thackeray is
his nom de service."
178
"I knew all the time
that you were the
Lone Wolf --"
179
"But I'm proud of you,
not for what you
were -- but for
what you are."
180
"So Lieutenant
Thackeray is
your brother."
181
"Now that I think
of it, you do look
a little like your
brother."
THE
END
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