The story
“The seventh case which Zudora was called upon to solve proved to be the most difficult problem of all that she had yet encountered, and it was also destined to have an important influence on her future. A mysterious personage, one James Baird, makes his appearance, but just who he is and whence he has come are not revealed. That his identity causes John Storm some anxiety, however, is evident. As to Hassam Ali, he remains the same mystical, sphinx-like figure, which he has been from the beginning.
“It happens that the J.B. Starr Company, a great shipping concern, whose vessels ply in all parts of the world, keep losing ships without apparent reason, when no rough weather or collisions have been reported. They gain an apparent clue to these strange disappearances, when a series of mysterious explosions occur on some of their ships lying at their docks. Obviously it is the work of some enemy, and after placing the case in the hands of a detective agency, who gain little information for them, the head of the company appeals to Hassam Ali. The mystic, in accordance with his agreement turns the case over to his ward, Zudora.
“Just at this time John Storm, her sweetheart, has asked her for her photograph, and she has promised to have one taken. Not realizing the full designs of her uncle, Zudora asks him where she may have her likeness taken, and he directs her to a certain photographer, one Fal Green, above whose studio there lives an inventor-confederate of the mystic. Hassam plans there to gain the ends for which he had been striving.
“Zudora goes to the photographer’s, and while she is there her uncle calls on the inventor and to his surprise learns from him that he has discovered a wonderful, but terribly destructive power in a certain ray of light, which he is able to throw for immense distances, or which, by a clock mechanism, he can release at a given time. From him Hassam also learns that the ships were destroyed merely as a means of proving the power of his discovery. By a liberal use of money the mystic persuades the inventor to agree to follow his instructions. Then the two men, through an opening in the floor, watch Zudora pose for her photograph in the studio below. Later Hassam plans to make use of his friend’s mysterious invention to destroy his niece.
“Meanwhile Zudora has learned many things from Fal Green, the photographer. He is aware of the remarkable invention of Hassam’s ally, although he does not know of the evil uses to which it has been put, and he tells Zudora about it. Also he tells her of an invention of his own, a certain chemical mixture, which he has discovered, which records and develops a picture instantaneously. Aided by John Storm, Zudora concludes that there is some connection between the lost ships and the inventor above the photographer’s studio, but she keeps her own counsel, awaiting developments.
“When she returns to the studio for her finished pictures, her uncle follows her again, determined to wreak his will. While the photographer is absent for a moment, she examines a bottle of the curious mixture he had told her about, and by accident drops it, shattering it to pieces. As she stoops to clean up the mess, she is astounded to see the pictured face of her uncle appear on the floor, and looking upward sees him hurriedly withdrawing his face from the aperture in the ceiling. Certain that all is not right she hastens from the studio and informs Storm of her strange experience, while Fal Green goes to accuse the inventor of spying on him. Storm returns with her after notifying a detective agency to send two operatives to the photographer’s studio. Arrived there they force their way into the inventor’s rooms, when suddenly there is an explosion and the house is in flames.
“And then a strange thing happens. In the general stampede for safety Storm and the others in the house reach the street unharmed, while Zudora, alone, is trapped in the doomed building. Storm seems dazed by the danger to his sweetheart and wrings his hands helplessly. Then out of the crowd dashes a solitary figure. It is James Baird. He fights his way through the flame and smoke of the burning house to Zudora’s side and carries her safely to the street. He puts her down tenderly and when, a moment later, she recovers her senses and turns to thank him, he is gone.”
Summary from Reel Life · 26 December 1914
