- Episode 1: "The Violet Diamond" Pearl Standish, bored with society and longing for excitement, is held up by a masked man who demands the violet diamond of The Daroon. He tells her that her father bought the diamond from a villainous priest in Arabia who stole it from its rightful owner. The masked man, Nicholas Knox, has been given three days to recover the diamond or die at the hands of the Secret Order at the head of which is a priestess who stops at nothing to gain her end. The only man that might know something about this diamond is Richard Carslake, her father's former secretary. In spite of the knowledge that her father and he had a disagreement, she requests him to give her what information he has concerning the violet diamond. Just then Knox enters, Pearl points to him and says, "There is the man who has the gold setting in which the stone belongs." Immediately Carslake moves toward the door. Locking it and drawing his revolver, he demands the setting for the diamond. Searching Knox he finds the setting and is about to escape when through the window comes the priestess, accompanied by two of her spies, who sneak behind Carslake and knock the revolver from his hand. In the struggle which follows, Knox recovers the setting. After a struggle Carslake escapes and Pearl finds herself alone with Knox. Wishing to know the identity of the mysterious woman who helped him, Pearl asks Knox. "I can tell you nothing," is his reply. "Well then if you can tell me nothing, I want you to hand over that apparently much-valued setting for the violet diamond," Pearl assures, covering him. Assisted by her butler, Pearl secures this setting, but the spies come to Knox's assistance again and Pearl is attacked by an Arab. In a struggle with him on the stairs, she is hurled over the rail but catches on to the chandelier and falls to the floor. Knox is finally overpowered by the butler. Standing by a window, Pearl discovers a knife stuck in the wall. Pearl pulls this knife from the wall and discovers a note on it. "Fifteen days are allotted to you to return the violet diamond or die," it reads. "What is this mysterious diamond, the possession of which means such dangers?" is the question which will bring audiences back for the next chapter.—Moving Picture World synopsis
- Episode 2: "The Crushing Walls" Pearl received the warning sent by the Secret Order of the Violet God. Fifteen days were allotted her to return the diamond. She is deep in thought when Knox is announced. He informs her he has but five days left and now that she has the setting they must work together. Feeling confident Carslake has the diamond, Pearl and Knox visit his home. They see a queer little man entering. Stealing in they conceal themselves behind the curtain. The man tells Carslake he wants the diamond or he will tell what he knows about it. Pretending he is going to give it to him, Carslake opens his safe, turns around, fires and kills him. Knox rushes in and demands the diamond. Carslake presses a button, the safe doors close and he disappears. Pearl discovers a steel shutter has been slammed down on the window. Carslake sets fire to the house. Tom Carlton is sent to report the fire. Carslake sees the Priestess and two Arabs enter the house. He hears Carslake tell one of his men after this fire he will be rid of all followers. The Priestess enters a room. Carslake locks the doors and pulls a lever; the walls begin to close in. Accidentally Knox touches a small protuberance in the molding, the floor beneath gives away and Pearl and Knox fall into the room of the closing walls. Carslake throws himself upon Tom and knocks him unconscious. The walls have closed so they are crushing their occupants.—Moving Picture World synopsis
- Episode 3: "Borrowed Identity" Suddenly Tom regained his senses, and staggering towards the lever, drew it back. The walls receded and all were saved. Knox, eager to escape, grasped Pearl and pulled her back, but Tom knocks him to the floor and carries Pearl out. Knox advises Pearl not to have anything to do with him. as he is after the diamond. Pearl warns Knox he has but three days left, while she has thirteen. The next evening, Knox calls Pearl's attention to a girl who seems to be in distress. Pearl learns her brother has to have $5,000 by that night or otherwise he will do away with himself. Pearl consents to lend the girl the money, but to save his life they must leave at once, as he is on his employer's yacht. Accompanied by Knox, Pearl boards the yacht. She discovers the brother is Carslake. Securing the setting from Knox, he has him locked up while the girl locks Pearl in her room. Carslake and the girl take a motorboat to shore. Speeding along, Carslake is astonished in see Pearl pointing a revolver at him. She secures the setting and the diamond. Bending to tie her shoe-string, Carslake plunges into the water. Tom Carlton hears a shot, jumps into a launch and goes in search. Pearl, accompanied by the police, arrive at the yacht and find Knox in a struggle. Pearl is about to be cast into the water when Tom saves her. Pearl gave the diamond to Knox. "Now that everything is cleared, I want to know why our lives were to be forfeit."
- Episode 4: "The Warning on the Ring" One day before the date set for his death should the Violet Diamond not be returned, Nicholas Knox, accompanied by Pearl Standish, visits the temple. Knox gives the Priestess the Diamond and she immediately has it examined. They discover that it is nothing but a mere piece of glass and that Carslake had tricked Pearl. By the laws of the order, Knox is to be punished. Tied to a pillar he receives fifteen lashes across his back. After recovering a slight bit, Pearl and Knox leave the temple. Thinking that perhaps the queer inscription on the ring might have some power to stop the sentence of death, Pearl and Knox decide to visit a Chinese dealer to have it translated. Reading the inscription, the dealer becomes alarmed, casts the ring away and flees. Pearl, turning around, spies Carslake talking to the frightened man. Pondering a moment, she calls her dog and, attaching the ring to his collar, sends him home. Disappointed at not being able to secure the setting, Carslake commands Pearl to go for it, and if she fails to return in an hour, Knox will never leave the room alive. Leaving, Pearl accidentally meets the Priestess and relates the incident. The Priestess enters the shop and at the sight of her all the employers fall to their knees and bow their heads. She orders Carslake to be seized and searched. Breaking away, Carslake grabs Pearl and uses her as a shield. Holding her by the arms, he backs into a trap door and pulls her with him. Tom Carlton, who had saved Pearl's life before, calls to see her. Learning that she went to a Chinese shop and fearing for her, he leaves for the shop. By a clever trick he gains admittance into the back of the shop. Finally he discovers himself in a secret passage, and looking ahead, he sees Pearl and Carslake. Carslake is demanding a written order from Pearl, when suddenly Tom jumps upon him and knocks his revolver from his hand. A fight ensues. On the ground they fight to gain possession of the revolver, while Pearl rushes off for help. Running, Pearl falls into a deep cavern-like hole filled with water.
- Episode 5: "Danger Underground" [synopsis not published]
Episode 6: "Rays of Death" After helping Nicholas Knox recover the violet diamond, Pearl Standish, in a fit of anger at being unable to learn what it means, hurled it from a window in the temple of the Sacred Order of the Violet God and it was picked up by Richard Carslake. In the temple Pearl is slowly being lowered over a cauldron of boiling metal. Knox pleads for Pearl's life, but the Priestess informs him that he has but one day more, and if he fails he will receive the same penalty for treachery to the Sacred Order of the Violet God. Fastening the rope to the floor with a hammer and a clamp, the Priestess orders that some ferrets be placed in a box so that by degrees they will gnaw the rope and when their work is completed Pearl will fall into the blazing cauldron. Climbing up the wall Tom Carlton finally manages to reach the window. The rats have gnawed the rope, and it is three-quarters parted. Breaking the window open, Tom gains admittance. He grabs hold of the rope and by deft manipulation he struggles toward her, still keeping the end of the rope in his hands and catching her around the waist swings her outside the cauldron and lowers her to the floor. He starts to unbind her, but is attacked by one of the Priestess' followers. Pearl pushes the man backwards into the cauldron. Pearl and Tom escape. Seated at a restaurant table, Carslake, fugitive from justice, sees Detective Hana. Carslake jumps up and makes a hurried escape. Hana follows him. Carslake conceals himself underneath an embankment, where he hides the diamond. Thinking the way clear, Carslake leaves. Just then Hana discovers him, and after a struggle Carslake is finally overpowered and is made a prisoner. Pearl receives a note from Knox, telling her that she has saved him before and now that his time is up he must die tonight. Escape is impossible and he pleads with her to save him and, as a reward he will tell her the secret of the violet diamond. Pearl 'phones Tom and asks him to meet her. He consents. Pearl and Tom arrive at Knox's house. Looking through the keyhole Pearl sees the Priestess. Knox is pleading with her to spare his life, but she will not listen to him, stating that he had sufficient time to recover the diamond and now that the time is up he must die. She recalls to him that her father discovered an invention that would make the Secret Order of the Violet Diamond kings of this earth. Taking a crucible he poured some powder from it into a large metal retort. Sealing the retort he held it out and counted a certain number of seconds. Placing a slave a few feet away from him he pointed the retort at him and in an instant the slave's body dissolved into nothingness. Pearl and Tom are still looking through the keyhole when suddenly four of the Priestess' band grasp them from behind. They are dragged into the den. Knox had met his fate by being strangled and now Pearl and Tom are before the Priestess. The Priestess gazes at Knox, and turning to Pearl tells her that it is her turn to pay the penalty.
Episode 7: "The Signal Lantern" [synopsis not published]
Episode 8: "The Switch in the Safe" [synopsis not published]
Episode 9: "The Dice of Death" Unaware of danger and ignorant of the fact that the Violet Diamond is not within the safe, Pearl Standish endeavors to open it. The result is an explosion which wrecks the room and hurls Carslake and Pearl to the floor. Tom and Spider learn Pearl's whereabouts. Dopey Ed, Carslake's henchman, regains his senses and shakes Carslake. His first thought is the ring and he eagerly searches the pockets of Carslake. Regaining consciousness, Pearl sees Ed. She throws herself upon him. Pearl opens his hand and the diamond falls to the floor. Picking the diamond up, Pearl rushes to the other room, only to be encountered by Ed again, and is knocked to the floor. Tom and the Spider arrive. Dopey Ed sees them and eludes them by jumping through the window. As they pass Carslake, he appears to be unconscious. Going to Pearl, they revive her. Carslake rises and, seeing the diamond on the floor, picks it up and escapes. The next afternoon, Carslake, unaware of Dopey Ed's attempt to double cross him, plots with him to regain the setting for the diamond. He sends his men to Pearl's home and by a trick they draw Pearl out into the garage. Binding her hand and foot, they bring her to Carslake's den. Tom, worried, returns to the Standish home in an attempt to persuade Aunt Ella to prohibit Pearl's further quest for the ring. The phone rings and Tom answers it. Carslake is speaking. "The setting for the diamond is in the top drawer of her dresser. Bring it to the Grand Central at three o'clock." Tom consents. Tom is at the station at the appointed time and, placing the setting in the ring, passes it into Carslake's pocket. Wiggsey Benson, a successful pickpocket and one-time confederate of Carslake, sees the incident between Carslake and Tom. Walking up to Carslake, he shakes him by the hand and at the same time fetches the envelope from his pocket. Realizing his loss, Carslake immediately follows Benson, and is in turn followed by Tom. Tracking him to an apartment, Carslake enters, while Tom remains outside. Pearl finds herself locked alone and, in looking for a means of escape, she accidentally touches a wainscoting. Its secret compartment opens and to her surprise she finds the Violet Diamond. Overjoyed, she attempts to escape, but as she is about to go down the stairs she trips and falls to the bottom. Carslake's men bring her back, and wrapping her in a quilt, they place her on the sofa. She appears to be unconscious. Carslake left instructions that if he did not return by three o'clock, Pearl should be killed, and the hour was not very far off. Carslake had followed Benson into the apartment. Closing the door behind him, he is astounded to see the Priestess and her adherents. Carslake tries to struggle with the Arabs, but is finally subdued. Death staring him in the face, Carslake promises to get the diamond for the Priestess. Looking at his watch he sees it is near three, so he warns the Priestess to hurry. Grabbing a taxi they leave. Tom follows them. Nearing his den, Carslake sees Tom's taxi behind him. Sending one of the Arabs off the machine, Carslake has him fire and puncture the tires of Tom's machine. Arriving at his den, Carslake jumps off the machine and rushes in. Throwing the door back, he sees his man plunging the dagger in the wrapped-up form on the sofa.
Episode 10: "The Perilous Plunge" [synopsis not published]
Episode 11: "The Short Circuit" The house caves in, Pearl extricates herself and the body of the Spider from the smoking debris. She tries to rouse him, but he is all in. Half dragging the Spider, Pearl finally manages to escape without being injured. The Spider recovers, Pearl starts back into the flames, half-stifled by the smoke. Looking around, she sees Tom's watch and chain. Meanwhile, Tom, a prisoner of the Order of the Violet God, saves the priestess' life when she is bitten by a spider, and she grants him any favor in her power. Tom requests that Pearl be told of his whereabouts. The Priestess consents. In the city Carslake gloats over his possession of the Violet Diamond, but is interrupted by the arrival of the telephone man, who wishes to fix the wires. The 'phone rings and the man tells Carslake the call is for him. Unsuspecting, he drops the Diamond on the table. Picking up the 'phone, he receives a shock and endeavors to drop it. but is unable to do so. The man takes the diamond and escapes. The housekeeper cuts the wires and saves Carslake. Searching the man's coat, which he left behind, Carslake finds this note: "Sapper, Get the diamond. Bring it to me at Pearl Standish's lodge in the Adirondacks." Carslake leaves immediately. Gravina, one of the priestess' spies, starts on his mission to Pearl, units Carslake; informs him where he is going and learns of the diamond. He advises he will send Pearl on the trail, but she need never reach Tom. Sapper gives the Spider the diamond. He unwraps it and gives it to Pearl. Pearl learns of Tom's whereabouts and starts off. Galloping along, Pearl sees Carslake and his henchman rushing towards her. She is about to pass a low hanging branch. Reaching up, she grabs hold of it, letting her horse run from beneath her. Carslake catches her and demands the diamond. She hands it to him. Worried over Tom, Pearl gains the assistance of some constabulary officers. At sundown Tom is to die, according to the decree of the Secret Order. The Priestess takes the scimitar and is ordered to carry out the death sentence. She looks at it in horror and starts towards Tom. Raising the knife, she is about to strike as the film fades out; the cavalry gallops towards the den. Pearl fires and hits the Priestess in the hand. She drops the knife and flees. Pearl rushes to Tom and unbinds him. "Now that I have you, I simply must get the diamond," says Pearl. Carslake and his adherent catch a train as Pearl comes galloping towards the station. Seeing that she has missed the train, Pearl jumps into a machine and passes the train. She jumps out and on to the railing of the bridge. As the train is passing beneath, she drops on to the train and goes into the coach where Carslake is. Pearl speaks to the astounded Carslake, "The Diamond, please." Carslake smiles as his adherent comes behind Pearl and holds a stiletto at her ribs as the film fades.
Episode 12: "A Desperate Chance" Pearl attempts to force the Violet Diamond from Carslake. Carslake's adherent attacks Pearl, and allows his master to escape from the car in which Pearl had cornered him. The master villain leaves over the roofs of the train and is pursued by Pearl. She overtakes him, and after a desperate fight on the car roof, she is overcome and thrown to the ground from the fast-moving train. She falls helpless across the tracks. Carslake gloats in triumph as the train on which he is riding takes the siding to allow the express the right of way. Tom, following after Pearl in an automobile, sees her danger, but is unable to flag the fast-approaching train. In a race with death, he manages to throw the switch so that the express is shot on another track, and Pearl is saved. Tom takes her to her home in the city, and later one of the Spider's men learns that Carslake is hiding in the home of a friend of his. Pearl, accompanied by the Spider, Tom and detectives, invades the house. After a terrific fight, Carslake reaches the roof of the house through a trapdoor. Pearl comes out on the roof after him just as Carslake has knocked out Tom, who preceded her. She sees Carslake run to the edge of the roof and start over to the next building on a narrow iron girder. Pearl pursues him, and Carslake turns at bay, when she is halfway across the iron girder. Deciding that this is a good chance to get rid of her, Carslake seizes her and is about to throw her to the earth several stories beneath, when the episode ends.
Episode 13: "A Dash of Arabia" [synopsis not published]
Episode 14: "The Painted Safe" Tom Carlton and the Spider rescue Pearl from her dangerous situation on the paddle-wheel of the ferryboat. They jeopardize themselves in the engine room of the ferryboat. Pearl pluckily continues the chase of Carslake, the villain, in the police boat which speeded to her rescue. Pearl, Tom and the Spider, with the police, overtake the outgoing tramp steamer and the Captain, to save himself, attempts to capture Carslake. The wily villain outwits him and dives overboard. They find no trace of him in the water, for he has safely concealed himself under the police boat. Reaching shore Carslake manages to get dry clothes and then takes the Violet Diamond to a notorious fence, who puts it in his vault for safekeeping. Pearl gets on the trail of Carslake, and with the Spider, traces him to the fence and resolves to get the diamond. She and the Spider in the dead of night break into the pawnshop where the diamond has been put for safekeeping and manage to break into the vault. They recover the Violet Diamond, but as they are escaping "policemen" capture them. One of the "finest" is Carslake, who in mock politeness, raises his hat, smiles at Pearl and says, "I am afraid, Miss Standish, I will have to trouble you for the Violet Diamond."
Episode 15: "The Dagger Duel" Tom Carleton rescues Pearl, who is lying unconscious in a motorcar as it hangs over a cliff just before a boulder dislodged by Carslake and his henchmen crashes into the car. Tom revives Pearl and tries to make her promise to give up her search for the Violet Diamond. He proposes to her, and while she accepts, she will not give up the search and persuades him to postpone the marriage until after they recover the Violet Diamond. To announce their engagement, a masquerade ball is given, and Carslake manages to be present. Cicely Lloyd, a friend of Carslake's also attends the ball. She is jealous of him, and by chance wears a Juliet costume the same as Pearl's Carslake, dressed as a Chinese mandarin, receives a note from Pearl's maid, telling him that the setting of the Violet Diamond is on the hilt of a scimitar in the armory room. The High Priestess and her followers of the sacred order of the Violet God attend the masquerade ball, trailing Carslake, who they know has the Violet Diamond, and is seeking to recover the setting from Pearl. They follow him into the room in which the setting is hidden. Carslkae secures the setting and is attacked by the Priestess and her followers. Pearl hears the fracas, and calls to Tom, who dressed as Romeo, has been making love to her from beneath the balcony. After a fight, Carslake breaks away with his adherents. As they look back at the house, they see the figure of Pearl rushing out of the side entrance. Carslake's adherents shoot, and the figure falls. The High Priestess investigating, turns the face of the figure to the light, and it proves to be that of Cicely. As Carslake with the setting is about to pay the adherents who helped him, Pearl holds them up at the point of her gun and demands the setting. The High Priestess takes from Cicely's body the Violet Diamond which Carslake had given her earlier. Pearl reaches out her hand for the setting from Carslake. Instead of handing it to her, he grabs her gun. As he does so, his adherents jump forward to seize Pearl.
Episode 16: "The Double Disguise" The preceding episode left Pearl in the hands of Carslake and his men. After a fight, Pearl again secures the upper hand and is about to obtain the setting from Carslake when one of the gang, jumping from a high wall on her back, overcomes her. Carslake and his followers bind and gag her and, covering their trail as well as possible, carry her to the edge of her estate and throw her into a dangerous quicksand. Tom, who has recovered from the blow which knocked him insensible in the fight in the armory room, rushes out seeking Pearl. He is followed by the guests at the masquerade ball given by Pearl to announce her engagement to him. He locates Pearl when all but her hands have been drawn down into the quicksand. Hanging head downward from the branch of a tree which extends over the quicksand, Tom manages to grab Pearl's hands and moves her partway out from the quicksand. With the aid of the guests he rescues her and they all return to the house. Cicely Lloyd, Carslake's friend, who has been taken for Pearl and wounded by one of Carslake's henchmen, recovers and demands the Violet Diamond from Pearl, Tom and the Spider, the latter having arrived to help Pearl. At a conference, which is overheard by Cicely, through the aid of Pearl's maid, who is in Carslake's employ, Tom, Pearl and the Spider plan to recover the Violet Diamond from the Priestess of the Order of the Violet God, who took it from Cicely. Cicely escapes from Pearl's house and meets Carslake at his underworld hiding place. Carslake is furious when she tells him she lost the Violet Diamond but makes plans of his own when she reveals what she overheard. Pearl, carrying out her plan, manages to overpower the Priestess and secures the diamond. Impersonating the Priestess she leads the followers of the Violet God to Carslake's underworld hiding place to recover the setting. Carslake has disguised himself as one of the followers of the Violet God, and separating Pearl from the others, among whom are Tom and the Spider, also disguised, he demands the Violet Diamond. Pearl manages to break away from Carslake and hides herself on a pile which is being driven into the earth by a pile-driver. Tom and the Spider follow after Pearl and Carslake just as Carslake discovers Pearl's hiding place and starts the pile-driver down on her head.
Episode 17: "The Death Weight" Pearl Standish escapes the death Carslake would inflict on her by means of a pile- driver. Carslake overcomes Tom Carlton, and rushes away. With two policemen. Pearl follows Carslake into a building and outdistancing her aides she follows on his trail into an adjoining building. Tom mounts to the roof of the building, and instructs the policemen to jump to the fire-escape of the next building, telling them that he will go to the ground and will ascend the stairs and between them they will capture Carslake. Carslake reaches the eighth floor of the building when he hears Tom rushing up the stairway. He turns and in an encounter with Pearl, overcomes her and throws her helpless and unconscious with her head and shoulders over the freight elevator shaft. Carslake rushes upstairs, and outwitting the two policemen, jumps into the freight elevator and starts it downward Tom reaches the eighth floor just in time to drag Pearl from under the descending elevator. Carslake escapes. Back in his apartment, he reads that john Blake, a partner of Samuel Standish, Pearl's father, is dead, and that his daughter, Bessie, is Blake' sole heir. That night Pearl also learns of John Blake's death, and close on the heel of the announcement comes Bessie Blake with a letter from the lawyer of the estate asking Pearl to take care of her while she is in New York on her way to Boston from Chicago. Pearl makes her at home and as the girl seems somewhat nervous about the Violet Diamond, Pearl gives it to Tom Carlton to keep for her until the morning. Chloroform has been substituted for perfume in the atomizer in Pearl's room, and she is overcome by the fumes. When she wakes she finds Bessie Blake near the safe in the drawing room, which has been opened, and Bessie tells her that she has been walking in her sleep. Pearl tells Bessie that she gave the Violet Diamond to Tom Carlton for safekeeping. When Tom is on him way to Pearl next morning, pickpockets attempt to secure the diamond, but he overcomes them. That night Pearl takes her guest slumming and they visit the Chinese theater. Carslake's henchmen manage to empty the gasoline tank on Pearl's care, and when the party leaves the theater the car is stalled in a narrow dark street and Carslake and his men surround Tom and Pearl. Pearl is surprised to find herself and Tom covered by a big revolver in Bessie Blake's hand as they are about to outwit Carslake and his men.
Episode 18: "The Subterfuge" Pearl's amazement at the action of Bessie Blake in demanding the Violet Diamond gives way to anger and quick determination, and, seizing the gun from Bessie's hand, she throws her to one side and regains the street. After trying in vain to escape Carslake she is forced to take refuge in a Chinese curio shop. Realizing she is about to be captured, Pearl drops the Violet Diamond in an uncorked bottle of perfume. By this time the police arrive and try to capture Carslake, but he evades them. The owner of the shop insists that Pearl be arrested, and the policeman takes her into custody. Tom also has been arrested, and when they are released on bail next morning they ask "The Spider" to aid them in securing the bottle of perfume in which Pearl placed the Violet Diamond. The perfume is traced from the Chinese shop to Van Rosen's department store, but the bottle was bought to fill mail orders, and they cannot obtain the names of the purchasers. Carslake sends one of his men to trace the perfume. He learns that someone else is tracing them. Pearl impersonates a cash girl at the store and secures duplicates of the mail order shipments for the morning from the shipping clerk, and Tom copies the names of those customers who secured the perfume. Pearl returns the duplicates of the shipping orders to the shipping clerk, and Carslake's henchmen takes them from him. Carslake crosses Pearl's trail on the search for the perfume. At the Richardson estate, where one of the bottles has been delivered, Carslake and his men bind and gag the night watchman. Carslake impersonates this man, and when Pearl, Tom and the Spider drive up to the estate he pretends to be asleep. Tom is left as a lookout while Pearl enters the French windows. Pearl and the Spider secure the perfume bottle, and Pearl breaks it on the sidewalk. While the Spider and Pearl are searching among the broken fragments o£ glass for the Violet Diamond, Carslake and his men cover them with their guns. When Carslake does not find the diamond in the broken bottle he orders one of his men to hold Pearl, Tom and the Spider prisoners, while he and the others visit the purchaser of the last bottle. Pearl manages to overcome the guards, and with Tom and the Spider starts after Carslake. Pearl comes upon Carslake demanding the perfume from the girl who purchased it. She sees him empty the bottles and find the Violet Diamond. As he picks it up and looks at it Pearl covers him with a gun and demands the diamond. Carslake laughs at her as one of his henchmen steps from behind portieres near Pearl and makes her a prisoner.
Episode 19: "The Cryptic Maze" Pearl gets an opportunity to attack Carslake and his henchman. The woman, from whom Carslake has obtained the Violet Diamond, sees her husband knocked out by Carslake after Pearl has thrown the portieres around both of them. As Pearl is escaping she is overpowered by Carslake's henchman. Tom and the Spider on the roof, see Carslake and his lieutenant make their escape and attack them. Tom battling with the lieutenant, throws him off the roof to the earth. Carslake evades the Spider and escapes. Pearl, who has recovered consciousness, reaches the roof in time to see the fight, but is too weak to participate in it. Carslake reaches the ground and with the man left on guard enters a taxicab and starts for one of his hiding places. He tells his men he has the diamond, but when he produces it from his pocket it turns out to be the glass head of a hat pin. Pearl tells Tom and the Spider she has the diamond and shows it to them. She wonders in turn what became of the head of her hat pin, not knowing Carslake had picked it up thinking it to be the diamond. The Spider goes to Carslake's quarters disguised as an old woman and at the point of a revolver obtains the setting for the Violet Diamond. As the Spider leaves with the setting, the High Priestess and her followers enter and demand both the Violet Diamond and the setting from Carslake. He tells them that Pearl Standish has the Violet Diamond and that the Spider has just obtained the setting from him. They decide to do away with Carslake and turn on the gas after having knocked him unconscious. The Spider goes to his underground den, a mystic crystal maze, and sends a boy for Pearl and Tom. In the meantime Carslake has been rescued by the mistress of the boarding house and has been ordered to leave the house. The Priestess and her adherents go to Pearl's home and have overcome the servants as well as Tom and Pearl, when the boy from the Spider arrives. They force the boy to tell them of the crystal maze and they start for the Spider's den, after securing the Violet Diamond from Pearl. Pearl and Tom manage to untie their bonds, and led by the boy go to the Spider's den. Carslake also makes his way there, and as he has a plan of the mystic maze he follows it to the Spider's den. Pearl and Tom reach the den by a more direct route, and Pearl tells the Spider that the High Priestess has the Violet Diamond. The Priestess and her followers, as well as Carslake, reach the den and in a three-cornered fight secure the setting from the Spider. With the setting and the Violet Diamond in her possession, the Priestess orders her followers to start with her for Arabia. She leaves one of her men on guard at the entrance to the crystal maze, and this follower sees Tom, Pearl and the Spider coming out. He raises his revolver and covers Pearl as the episode ends.
Episode 20: "The End of the Trail" Pearl, Tom and the Spider overcome the Arab left on guard at the exit of the Crystal Maze. They learn that the High Priestess is starting for Arabia with the Violet Diamonl and the setting. They are unable to reach the steamship on which the Arab sails, and make the trip across the ocean in Pearl's yacht. Carslake, however, gets aboard the steamer with the Arabs. He is disguised so that they do not recognize him. He secures both the setting and the Violet Diamond from the Priestess, managing to throw the blame for the theft on one of the stewards, whom he kills. After a chase across the desert with Carslake in the lead, followed in turn by the High Priestess and by Tom, Pearl and the Spider, Carslake reaches the Temple of the Violet God, places the diamond in the eye of the idol, and reads on the wall the words : "For that chemical power which is potent to reduce to nothing anything it touches, twist the forefinger of our Sacred Idol's right hand." He does so and secures the small retort in which is contained the substance discovered by the High Priest of the Sacred Order of the Violet God. As he secures the retort, the High Priestess enters the temple. Taking the stopper from the mouth of the retort, Carslake turns the rays that come from it on the High Priestess and she dissolves into nothing, and he replaces the stopper. He is attacked by Tom and Pearl before he has time to take out the stopper and turn the deadly rays on them. Pearl secures the retort and threatens Carslake with it. As he is about to attack her, she pulls the stopper from the mouth of it and he is dissolved by the rays, nothing remaining of his body. Aghast, Pearl drops the retort into a well in the temple. Tom goes to the Violet God and takes the ring and the diamond from its eye. He gives them to Pearl and they are planning their wedding and honeymoon as the last scene of this serial dissolves out.
END.
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