- Episode 1: "The Mystic Message of the Spotted Collar" Zudora, 18, has a guardian, Hassam Ali, a disciple of Hindu mysticism. Hassam Ali was a fakir with a small caravan circus. Zudora's mother was his sister and the rope walker. Zudora's father remained in a small mining town where he prospected for gold. As the story opens Zudora, her mother and Hassam Ali, her uncle, are visiting the town of Zudora's birth and where Zudora's father is still prospecting. Zudora's father finds that the Zudora mine yields a wonderful run of gold. He becomes over-zealous and is killed in an explosion. He wills the entire mine, which is valued at $20,000,000, to Zudora, when she reaches her eighteenth birthday, and in the event of Zudora's death, going to the nearest heir-at-law. Zudora's mother receives information of her husband's death when she is about to ascend the rope and give her performance. She falls to the ground, and with a dying gasp turns over to Hassam Ali the guardianship of Zudora. Zudora reaches her eighteenth year. Hassam Ali has set himself up as a mystic, but his one purpose in life is to rid himself of Zudora, so that the mine will be his. He is also anxious to rid himself of John Storm, Zudora's sweetheart. He has kept from Zudora the information about her inheritance. He at last arrives at one plan that seems safe. Zudora has evidenced quite wonderful powers of deduction. He tells her that since she has always been so anxious to incorporate herself in his work, he will give her the next twenty cases he is called upon to solve. He says: "If you win, you may marry John Storm. If you lose on any one of them, you renounce him forever." Zudora's sweetheart is involved in a great case for the city. Opposed to him is one Bienreith, a prominent lawyer. The case is going well for John Storm. Hassam Ali decides that after eighteen years of waiting it is time to use heroic measures. He denounces Storm in front of Zudora, and then tells her about the twenty cases. The very first thing in the courtroom, Storm slaps the face of Bienreith, after a particularly insulting speech, and is invited to a duel that night. An hour later the newspapers are full of her sweetheart's trouble. Zudora rushes to his side and finds him practicing with a revolver. She plans to keep him from meeting Bienreith. She purchases a drug, and drops it in a glass of drinking water. Next morning the papers tell of Storm's disappearance. The great mystery of it is that Bienreith has been found dead in his room and the blame placed upon John Storm. Storm is arrested. Zudora rushes to her uncle and begs that this be her first case. When she goes to Bienreith's home that morning she finds the collar that he had worn when killed. It has queer markings on it. She studies the lines carefully, but can make no headway. Storm is formally charged with the murder. She reaches the courtroom just in time to say, "Stop, he is not guilty...," and falls into a faint. Hassam Ali and Burns, a confederate, watch as the girl recovers and explains that she has solved the mystery. Burns is placing a revolver, equipped with a silencer against her neck, when she turns suddenly and takes a pencil from his pocket to prove her contention to the court. She realizes, in looking at the mark, that there is a similarity between the markings of Burns' pencil and the markings on the collar. Court is adjourned. Zudora induces Burns to accompany her home. Under hypnosis he confesses to killing Bienreith. Zudora had placed two lawyers behind the curtains and they hear the confession. Zudora has solved her first case and Hassam Ali congratulates her. In the courtroom Zudora clasps Storm in her arms as the judge proclaims him free.—Moving Picture World synopsis
- Episode 2: "The Mystery of the Sleeping House" A Princess of India is kidnapped and brought a captive to America. In the new-found home the Prince, captor of the fair girl, establishes himself in regal splendor and pomp. A throne room of gigantic size is built; the famed rugs, vases and ornaments of his court are set in place. The native minions guard their master, the Prince, and his captive, the Princess. He, with the eye of one who has triumphed and is now reaping reward of victory; she, as though all hope had fled and her young life shattered. All is gay save the troubled look on the fair face of the Princess. Somewhere there is another Prince, who is planning to free her from her captor. It is this Prince she loves. The tribe turns in adoration of their Prince; one of the leaders sways, then falls heavily to the floor. Then a dancer succumbs and another, until finally all, even the Princess, fall victim and lie helpless as in a trance. Then from the base of the massive statue of Ganesha the comely face of the real lover of the Princess stands suddenly out from the sweeping clouds of smoke. When the tribe recovers from the strange sleep, the crestfallen captor of the Princess summons Hassam Ali to investigate and try to determine who was responsible for the sudden visitation of sleep. Zudora, niece of Hassam Ali, comes into the case. They visit the headquarters of the tribe and again the tribe falls into a helpless sleep. Meantime Storm searches for Zudora, compelling Hassam Ali's servant to guide him to the home of the tribe. He enters as the tribe is recovering from the second attack of sleep. An accusing finger is pointed at him which sends him to a dungeon with closing walls. Zudora finds a lotus leaf and puzzled at its presence examines the idol Ganesh and hears voices below. Descending into the cellar she comes upon a dozen natives of a different tribe than those above. Zudora tells her mission and how she desires to aid the young Princess and again foil the hypocritical mystic uncle. The leader tells her he is the real lover of the Princess and that he had devised a solution of lotus leaves, and this was the secret of the sleeping house. Again a furnace beneath the god Ganesha is fed and the fumes are sent out through the nostrils of the idol; once more the tribe falls into a curious sleep. Zudora leads the friends of the Princess up above and they drag forth the Princess. The Princess is restored to the arms of her lover. Then Zudora hears the voice of John Storm crying in distress. She finds the chamber in which Storm is imprisoned. The walls closing slowly to Storm's death are halted. Zudora drags forth her sweetheart. The Princess is reunited to her real lover and Zudora again proves her skill at foiling her uncle.—Moving Picture World synopsis
- Episode 3: "The Mystery of the Dutch Cheese Maker" An old inventor who has discovered the secret of diamond manufacture and a maker of Dutch cheese live in the same building. To this cheese maker and life is not at all serious. Not so the inventor of diamonds; this man has lived his life striving to gain something that would rival nature's own, and he has succeeded. The cheese maker is a friend of John Storm's. The diamond inventor is an acquaintance of Hassam Ali. One day the merchant sends for Storm to come over and draw up a will. As Storm finishes his task, the cheese maker offers him some freshly-made cheese. As he passes out the door, he almost brushes against Hassam Ali. Then to Hassam Ali comes the diamond inventor with the news his stock of diamonds has been robbed. The mystic detective is eager to learn the inventor's secret. He is shown the diamond making process. Later the inventor and Hassam Ali meet Storm, the latter again carrying a parcel of cheese, which accidentally is dropped and picked up by Hassam Ali. The mystic detective examines the cheese; it was radiant with diamonds. Here, then, is another chance to get rid of John Storm and make it a little easier to finally possess the $20,000,000 Zudora mine. Storm enters the cheese maker's shop. Another cheese is wrapped up and handed to Storm, with a jest by the merchant, when the door is suddenly thrown open and in rushes a squad of policemen. The diamond inventor is with them and he points an accusing finger at Storm. The diamond-filled cheese Storm had dropped is brought forth. The policemen arrest Storm and take the merchant to the station also. Storm pleads his innocence and absolute honesty throughout. The sergeant of police orders him held for further examination. Once more Storm, the sweetheart of Zudora, is in the toils and with definite evidence against him. Hassam Ali believes he has finally accomplished Storm's undoing. But he reckons without his skillful niece. Zudora has begun her investigation. She is examining his rooms when the aged inventor turns on her and makes a violent attack. Zudora defends herself until the entrance of Hassam Ali stays further hostilities. Zudora finds quickly that the thieves who took the inventor's diamonds were uncommon practitioners in the underworld. The chests were emptied of their precious stock. As Zudora is surveying the inventor's rooms she hears a queer noise inside the chest. Cautiously she opens the door and there is the thief. Zudora closes the door quickly. She runs out into the other rooms and summons Hassam Ali. Sneaking around, stopping at the faintest noise, is a mouse. This mouse had played in the great cheese vats and then down into the diamond inventor's chest and come away with the diamonds on their noses. Zudora hurries to the police station, where her sweetheart is released and one more victory over her uncle is chalked up to Zudora's credit.—Moving Picture World synopsis
- Episode 4: "The Secret of the Haunted Hills" Storm's parents live in a village surrounded by hills. On those hills and in the homes of the people, the wraith of a monstrous, fleshless hand has recently appeared without explanation. The people are wild with fright, and Storm receives an urgent letter to come. He rushes home to his parents, the maid servant and a half-witted boy, whom by mistake, he once had shot through the hand during his boyhood. Zudora comes to see his parents and is welcomed a future daughter-in-law. As they are all rejoicing, suddenly on the wall the specter hand appears. Storm's father rushes for his shotgun, and fires at the hand. The lead hurtles through the wall and strikes the serving maid in the arm. Suspecting that her uncle, Hassam Ali, is at the bottom of all this, Zudora and John Storm hasten back to town. Zudora sees her uncle and is met with a baffling denial. Then Storm comes and after a heated exchange of words Hassan Ali tries to shoot the young lawyer. Hassam Ali is gradually overcome, only to be rescued by Zudora just as Storm is about to be stabbed in the back by the mystic's Hindu servant. Storm comforts the townspeople by saying that the clever Zudora will solve the mystery. Zudora and Storm decide that the source of the mysterious apparition is in one of the farm's outbuildings. Zudora runs to this place and is caught in the garret by the idiot boy, and a rope wound round her neck. Then John Storm is seen walking in the direction Zudora has taken. He has decided that he went off on a false scent. Storm rushes up the stairs of the outbuilding and grapples with the idiot boy, subdues him and rushes to Zudora. Swiftly he unties the ropes. They climb to an upper room and discover the stereopticon machine which has thrown an X-Ray photograph of the skeleton hand.—Moving Picture World synopsis
- Episode 5: "The Case of the Perpetual Glare" In a secret room, Hassam Ali sits before the crystal ball. His Hindu servant ushers in two old men. They hold an earnest conversation with Hassam Ali, and presently Zudora is summoned. "We are hunting a stone of matchless brilliancy," he says to her, "Some new Koh-I-Nor that will concentrate light and throw it in whatever direction we wish. We have seen this phenomenon, and are anxious to find the source." Zudora, unaware that this is another attempt of her uncle's to trick her, readily consents to attempt the search. All she thinks of is that he has promised his consent to her marriage with John Storm if she solves twenty cases, and she has already solved four. She sets out happily, and going to the cabin of the aged twins, she talks with them. They tell her that this jewel has the strength and potency of an eternal fire. As she walks away, the card she holds in her hand catches fire. Soon a magazine she is carrying also bursts into flames. Everywhere she goes, fire seems to follow her. She runs wildly across a nearby field where John Storm is waiting. A farmer, driving a load of hay, offers them a lift. They are seated on the comfortable hay when it catches fire, and they leap from the wagon for their lives. The picture changes, and the two old men are alternately rubbing their hands together gleefully or staring through a telescope. Soon Hassam Ali joins them. He too, seems delighted by what he sees, and together the three go back to the cabin. There Storm comes with Zudora. They are attacked, and while being securely tied, Hassam Ali departs without being seen. When the twins come to him to be paid, Hassam Ali suddenly makes known to them his schemes for doing away with Storm and Zudora. They refuse to aid in this attempt; their machine is not to be turned into a weapon for murder. In a rage, Hassam Ali collects a gang of ruffians, and with them succeeds in planting dynamite in the hill where the twins have their cabin. He touches a match to the fuse. Meanwhile John Storm has struggled free of the ropes that bind him and loosed Zudora. She hastens away, but fearing some catastrophe, hurries back and sees her lover smashing that strange machine which has produced the mysterious glare. She seizes Storm and hurries down the hill again. They reach safety just as the dynamite flings the hill high in the air.—Moving Picture World synopsis
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