Back Aa

Exploits Of Elaine

<h2 id="id01110" style="margin-top: 4em">CHAPTER VI</h2> <h5 id="id01111">THE VAMPIRE</h5> Kennedy went the next day to the Dodge house, and, as usual, Perry Bennett was there in the library with Elaine, still going over the Clutching Hand case, in their endeavor to track down the mysterious master criminal. Bennett seemed as deeply as ever in love with Elaine. Still, as Jennings admitted Craig, it was sufficiently evident by the manner in which Elaine left Bennett and ran to meet Craig that she had the highest regard for him. "I've brought you a little document that may interest you," remarked Kennedy, reaching into his pocket and pulling out an envelope. Elaine tore it open and looked at the paper within. "Oh, how thoughtful of you!" she exclaimed in surprise. It was a permit from the police made out in her name allowing her to carry a revolver. A moment later, Kennedy reached into his coat pocket and produced a little automatic which he handed to her. "Thank you," she cried eagerly. Elaine examined the gun with interest, then, raising it, pointed it playfully at Bennett. "Oh—no—no!" exclaimed Kennedy, taking her arm quickly, and gently deflecting the weapon away. "You mustn't think it is a toy. It explodes at a mere touch of the trigger—when that safety ratchet is turned." Bennett had realized the danger and had jumped back, almost mechanically. As he did so, he bumped into a suit of medieval armor standing by the wall, knocking it over with a resounding crash. "I beg pardon," he ejaculated, "I'm very sorry. That was very awkward of me." Jennings, who had been busy about the portieres at the doorway, started to pick up the fallen knight. Some of the pieces were broken, and the three gathered about as the butler tried to fit them together again as best he could. "Too bad, too bad," apologized Bennett profusely. "I really forgot how close I was to the thing." "Oh, never mind," returned Elaine, a little crestfallen, "It is smashed all right—but it was my fault. Jennings, send for someone to repair it." She turned to Kennedy. "But I do wish you would teach me how to use this thing," she added, touching the automatic gingerly. "Gladly," he returned. "Won't you join us, Mr. Bennett?" asked Elaine. "No," the young lawyer smiled, "I'm afraid I can't. You see, I had an engagement with another client and I'm already late." He took his hat and coat and, with a reluctant farewell, moved toward the hallway. A moment later Elaine and Craig followed, while Jennings finished restoring the armor as nearly as possible as it had been. . . . . . . . . It was late that night that a masked figure succeeded in raising itself to the narrow ornamental ledge under Elaine's bedroom window. Elaine was a light sleeper and, besides, Rusty, her faithful collie, now fully recovered from the poison, was in her room. Rusty growled and the sudden noise wakened her. Startled, Elaine instantly thought of the automatic. She reached under her pillow, keeping very quiet, and drew forth the gun that Craig had given her. Stealthily concealing her actions under the covers, she levelled the automatic at the figure silhouetted in her window and fired three times. The figure fell back. Down in the street, below, the assistant of the Clutching Hand who had waited while Taylor Dodge was electrocuted, was waiting now as his confederate, "Pitts Slim"—which indicated that he was both wiry in stature and libellous in delegating his nativity—made the attempt. As Slim came tumbling down, having fallen back from the window above, mortally wounded, the confederate lifted him up and carried him out of sight hurriedly. Elaine, by this time, had turned on the lights and had run to the window to look out. Rusty was barking loudly. In a side street, nearby, stood a waiting automobile, at the wheel of which sat another of the emissaries of the Clutching Hand. The driver looked up, startled, as he saw his fellow hurry around the corner carrying the wounded Pitts Slim. It was the work of just a moment to drop the wounded man, as comfortably as possible under the circumstances, in the rear seat, while his pals started the car off with a jerk in the hurry of escape. Jennings, having hastily slipped his trousers on over his pajamas came running down the hall, while Marie, frightened, came in the other direction. Aunt Josephine appeared a few seconds later, adding to the general excitement. "What's the matter?" she asked, anxiously. "A burglar, I think," exclaimed Elaine, still holding the gun in her hand. "Someone tried to get into my window." "My gracious," cried Aunt Josephine, in alarm, "where will this thing end?" Elaine was doing her best now to quiet the fears of her aunt and the rest of the household. "Well," she laughed, a little nervously, now that it was all over, "I want you all to go to bed and stop worrying about me. Don't you see, I'm perfectly able to take care of myself? Besides, there isn't a chance, now, of the burglar coming back. Why, I shot him." "Yes," put in Aunt Josephine, "but—" Elaine laughingly interrupted her and playfully made as though she were driving them out of her room, although they were all very much concerned over the affair. However, they went finally, and she locked the door. "Rusty!" she called, "Down there!" The intelligent collie seemed to understand. He lay down by the doorway, his nose close to the bottom of the door and his ears alert. Finally Elaine, too, retired again. . . . . . . . . Meanwhile the wounded man was being hurried to one of the hangouts of the mysterious Clutching Hand, an old-fashioned house in the Westchester suburbs. It was a carefully hidden place, back from the main road, surrounded by trees, with a driveway leading up to it. The car containing the wounded Pitts Slim drew up and the other two men leaped out of it. With a hurried glance about, they unlocked the front door with a pass-key and entered, carrying the man. Indoors was another emissary of the Clutching Hand, a rather studious looking chap. "Why, what's the matter?" he exclaimed, as the crooks entered his room, supporting their half-fainting, wounded pal. "Slim got a couple of pills," they panted, as they laid him on a couch. "How?" demanded the other. "Trying to get into the Dodge house. Elaine did it." Slim was, quite evidently, badly wounded and was bleeding profusely. A glance at him was enough for the studious-looking chap. He went to a secret panel and, pressing it down, took out what was apparently a house telephone. In another part of this mysterious house was the secret room of the Clutching Hand himself where he hid his identity from even his most trusted followers. It was a small room, lined with books on every conceivable branch of science that might aid him and containing innumerable little odds and ends of paraphernalia that might help in his nefarious criminal career. His telephone rang and he took down the receiver. "Pitts Slim's been wounded—badly—Chief," was all he waited to hear. With scarcely a word, he hung up the receiver, then opened a table drawer and took out his masking handkerchief. Next he went to a nearby bookcase, pressed another secret spring, and a panel opened. He passed through, the handkerchief adjusted. Across, in the larger, outside study, another panel opened and the Clutching Hand, all crouched up, transformed, appeared. Without a word he advanced to the couch on which the wounded crook lay and examined him. "How did it happen?" he asked at length. "Miss Dodge shot him," answered the others, "with an automatic." "That Craig Kennedy must have given it to her!" he exclaimed with suppressed fury. For a moment the Clutching Hand stopped to consider. Then he seized the regular telephone. "Dr. Morton?" he asked as he got the number he called. Late as it was the doctor, who was a well-known surgeon in that part of the country, answered, apparently from an extension of his telephone near his bed. The call was urgent and apparently from a family which he did not feel that he could neglect. "Yes, I'll be there—in a few moments," he yawned, hanging up the receiver and getting out of bed. Dr. Morton was a middle-aged man, one of those medical men in whose judgment one instinctively relies. From the brief description of the "hemorrhage" which the Clutching Hand had cleverly made over the wire, he knew that a life was at stake. Quickly he dressed and went out to his garage, back of the house to get his little runabout. It was only a matter of minutes before the doctor was speeding over the now deserted suburban roads, apparently on his errand of mercy. At the address that had been given him, he drew up to the side of the road, got out and ran up the steps to the door. A ring at the bell brought a sleepy man to the door, in his trousers and nightshirt. "How's the patient?" asked Dr. Morton, eagerly. "Patient?" repeated the man, rubbing his eyes. "There's no one sick here." "Then what did you telephone for?" asked the doctor peevishly, "Telephone? I didn't call up anyone, I was asleep." Slowly it dawned on the doctor that it was a false alarm and that he must be the victim of some practical joke. "Well, that's a great note," he growled, as the man shut the door. He descended the steps, muttering harsh language at some unknown trickster. As he climbed back into his machine and made ready to start, two men seemed to rise before him, as if from nowhere. As a matter of fact, they had been sent there by the Clutching Hand and were hiding in a nearby cellar way until their chance came. One man stood on the running board, on either side of him, and two guns yawned menacingly at him. "Drive ahead—that way!" muttered one man, seating himself in the runabout with his gun close to the doctor's ribs. The other kept his place on the running board, and on they drove in the direction of the mysterious, dark house. Half a mile, perhaps, down the road, they halted and left the car beside the walk. Dr. Morton was too surprised to marvel at anything now and he realized that he was in the power of two desperate men. Quickly, they blindfolded him. It seemed an interminable walk, as they led him about to confuse him, but at last he could feel that they had taken him into a house and along passageways, which they were making unnecessarily long in order to destroy all recollection that they could. Finally he knew that he was in a room in which others were present. He suppressed a shudder at the low, menacing voices. A moment later he felt them remove the bandage from his eyes, and, blinking at the light, he could see a hard-faced fellow, pale and weak, on a blood-stained couch. Over him bent a masked man and another man stood nearby, endeavoring by improvised bandages to stop the flow of blood. "What can you do for this fellow?" asked the masked man. Dr. Morton, seeing nothing else to do, for he was more than outnumbered now, bent down and examined him. As he rose, he said, "He will be dead from loss of blood by morning, no matter if he is properly bandaged." "Is there nothing that can save him?" whispered the Clutching Hand hoarsely. "Blood transfusion might save him," replied the Doctor. "But so much blood would be needed that whoever gives it would be liable to die himself." Clutching Hand stood silent a moment, thinking, as he gazed at the man who had been one of his chief reliances. Then, with a menacing gesture, he spoke in a low, bitter tone. <h5 id="id01199">"SHE WHO SHOT HIM SHALL SUPPLY THE BLOOD."</h5> . . . . . . . . A few quick directions followed to his subordinates, and as he made ready to go, he muttered, "Keep the doctor here. Don't let him stir from the room." Then, with the man who had aided him in the murder of Taylor Dodge, he sallied out into the blackness that precedes dawn. It was just before early daybreak when the Clutching Hand and his confederate reached the Dodge House in the city and came up to the back door, over the fences. As they stood there, the Clutching Hand produced a master key and started to open the door. But before he did so, he took out his watch. "Let me see," he ruminated. "Twenty minutes past four. At exactly half past, I want you to do as I told you—see?" The other crook nodded. "You may go," ordered the Clutching Hand. As the crook slunk away, Clutching Hand stealthily let himself into the house. Noiselessly he prowled through the halls until he came to Elaine's doorway. He gave a hasty look up and down the hall. There was no sound. Quickly he took a syringe from his pocket and bent down by the door. Inserting the end under it, he squirted some liquid through which vaporized rapidly in a wide, fine stream of spray. Before he could give an alarm, Rusty was overcome by the noxious fumes, rolled over on his back and lay still. Outside, the other crook was waiting, looking at his watch. As the hand slowly turned the half hour, he snapped the watch shut. With a quick glance up and down the deserted street, he deftly started up the rain pipe that passed near Elaine's window. This time there was no faithful Rusty to give warning and the second intruder, after a glance at Elaine, still sleeping, went quickly to the door, dragged the insensible dog out of the way, turned the key and admitted the Clutching Hand. As he did so he closed the door. Evidently the fumes had not reached Elaine, or if they had, the inrush of fresh air revived her, for she waked and quickly reached for the gun. In an instant the other crook had leaped at her. Holding his hand over her mouth to prevent her screaming he snatched the revolver away before she could fire it. In the meantime the Clutching Hand had taken out some chloroform and, rolling a towel in the form of a cone, placed it over her face. She struggled, gasping and gagging, but the struggles grew weaker and weaker and finally ceased altogether. When Elaine was completely under the influence of the drug, they lifted her out of bed, the chloroform cone still over her face, and quietly carried her to the door which they opened stealthily. Downstairs they carried her until they came to the library with its new safe and there they placed her on a couch. . . . . . . . . At an early hour an express wagon stopped before the Dodge house and Jennings, half dressed, answered the bell. "We've come for that broken suit of armor to be repaired," said a workman. Jennings let the men in. The armor was still on the stand and the repairers took armor, stand, and all, laying it on the couch where they wrapped it in the covers they had brought for the purpose. They lifted it up and started to carry it out. "Be careful," cautioned the thrifty Jennings. Rusty, now recovered, was barking and sniffing at the armor. "Kick the mutt off," growled one man. The other did so and Rusty snarled and snapped at him. Jennings took him by the collar and held him as the repairers went out, loaded the armor on the wagon, and drove off. Scarcely had they gone, while Jennings straightened out the disarranged library, when Rusty began jumping about, barking furiously. Jennings looked at him in amazement, as the dog ran to the window and leaped out. He had no time to look after the dog, though, for at that very instant he heard a voice calling, "Jennings! Jennings!" It was Marie, almost speechless. He followed her as she led the way to Miss Elaine's room. There Marie pointed mutely at the bed. Elaine was not there. There, too, were her clothes, neatly folded, as Marie had hung them for her. "Something must have happened to her!" wailed Marie. Jennings was now thoroughly alarmed. Meanwhile the express wagon outside was driving off, with Rusty tearing after it. "What's the matter?" cried Aunt Josephine coming in where the footman and the maid were arguing what was to be done. She gave one look at the bed, the clothes, and the servants. "Call Mr. Kennedy!" she cried in alarm. . . . . . . . . "Elaine is gone—no one knows how or where," announced Craig as he leaped out of bed that morning to answer the furious ringing of our telephone bell. It was very early, but Craig dressed hurriedly and I followed as best I could, for he had the start of me, tieless and collarless. When we arrived at the Dodge house, Aunt Josephine and Marie were fully dressed. Jennings let us in. "What has happened?" demanded Kennedy breathlessly. While Aunt Josephine tried to tell him, Craig was busy examining the room. "Let us see the library," he said at length. Accordingly down to the library we went. Kennedy looked about. He seemed to miss something. "Where is the armor?" he demanded. "Why, the men came for it and took it away to repair," answered Jennings. Kennedy's brow clouded in deep thought. Outside we had left our taxi, waiting. The door was open and a new footman, James, was sweeping the rug, when past him flashed a dishevelled hairy streak. We were all standing there still as Craig questioned Jennings about the armor. With a yelp Rusty tore frantically into the room. A moment he stopped and barked. We all looked at him in surprise. Then, as no one moved, he seemed to single out Kennedy. He seized Craig's coat in his teeth and tried to drag him out. "Here, Rusty—down, sir, down!" called Jennings. "No, Jennings, no," interposed Craig. "What's the matter, old fellow?" Craig patted Rusty whose big brown eyes seemed mutely appealing. Out of the doorway he went, barking still. Craig and I followed while the rest stood in the vestibule. Rusty was trying to lead Kennedy down the street! "Wait here," called Kennedy to Aunt Josephine, as he stepped with me on the running board of the cab. "Go on, Rusty, good dog!" Rusty needed no urging. With an eager yelp he started off, still barking, ahead of us, our car following. On we went, much to the astonishment of those who were on the street at such an early hour. It seemed miles that we went, but at last we came to a peculiarly deserted looking house. Here Rusty turned in and began scratching at the door. We jumped off the cab and followed. The door was locked when we tried and from inside we could get no answer. We put our shoulders to it and burst it in. Rusty gave a leap forward with a joyous bark. We followed, more cautiously. There were pieces of armor strewn all over the floor. Rusty sniffed at them and looked about, disappointed, then howled. I looked from the armor to Kennedy, in blank amazement. "Elaine was kidnapped—in the armor," he cried. . . . . . . . . He was right. Meanwhile, the armor repairers had stopped at last at this apparently deserted house, a strange sort of repair shop. Still keeping it wrapped in blankets, they had taken the armor out of the wagon and now laid it down on an old broken bed. Then they had unwrapped it and taken off the helmet. There was Elaine! She had been stupefied, bound and gagged. Piece after piece of the armor they removed, finding her still only half conscious. "Sh! What's that?" cautioned one of the men. They paused and listened. Sure enough, there was a sound outside. They opened the window cautiously. A dog was scratching on the door, endeavoring to get in. It was Rusty. "I think it's her dog," said the man, turning. "We'd better let him in. Someone might see him." The other nodded and a moment later the door opened and in ran Rusty. Straight to Elaine he went, starting to lick her hand. "Right—her dog," exclaimed the other man, drawing a gun and hastily levelling it at Rusty. "Don't!" cautioned the first. "It would make too much noise. You'd better choke him!" The fellow grabbed for Rusty. Rusty was too quick. He jumped. Around the room they ran. Rusty saw the wide open window—and his chance. Out he went and disappeared, leaving the man cussing at him. A moment's argument followed, then they wrapped Elaine in the blankets alone, still bound and gagged, and carried her out. . . . . . . . . In the secret den, the Clutching Hand was waiting, gazing now and then at his watch, and then at the wounded man before him. In a chair his first assistant sat, watching Dr. Morton. A knock at the door caused them to turn their heads. The crook opened it and in walked the other crooks who had carried off Elaine in the suit of armor. Elaine was now almost conscious, as they sat her down in a chair and partly loosed her bonds and the gag. She gazed about, frightened. "Oh—help! help!" she screamed as she caught sight of the now familiar mask of the Clutching Hand. "Call all you want—here, young lady," he laughed unnaturally. "No one can hear. These walls are soundproof!" Elaine shrank back. "Now, doc.," he added harshly to Dr. Morton. "It was she who shot him. Her blood must save him." Dr. Morton recoiled at the thought of torturing the beautiful young girl before him. "Are—you willing—to have your blood transfused?" he parleyed. "No—no—no!" she cried in horror, Dr. Morton turned to the desperate criminal. "I cannot do it." "The deuce you can't!" A cold steel revolver pressed down on Dr. Morton's stomach. In the other hand the master crook held his watch. "You have just one minute to make up your mind." Dr. Morton shrank back. The revolver followed. The pressure of a fly's foot meant eternity for him. "I—I'll try!" The other crooks next carried Elaine, struggling, and threw her down beside the wounded man. Together they arranged another couch beside him. Dr. Morton, still covered by the gun, bent over the two, the hardened criminal and the delicate, beautiful girl. Clutching Hand glared fiendishly, insanely. From his bag he took a little piece of something that shone like silver. It was in the form of a minute, hollow cylinder, with two grooves on it, a cylinder so tiny that it would scarcely have slipped over the point of a pencil. "A cannulla," he explained, as he prepared to make an incision in Elaine's arm and in the arm of the wounded rogue. He cuffed it over the severed end of the artery, so cleverly that the inner linings of the vein and artery, the endothelium as it is called, were in complete contact with each other. Clutching Hand watched eagerly, as though he had found some new, scientific engine of death in the little hollow cylinder. A moment and the blood that was, perhaps, to save the life of the wounded felon was coursing into his veins from Elaine. A moment later, Dr. Morton looked up at the Clutching Hand and nodded, "Well, it's working!" At Elaine's head, Clutching Hand himself was administering just enough ether to keep her under and prevent a struggle that would wreck all. The wounded man had not been anesthetized and seemed feebly conscious of what was being done to save him. All were now bending over the two. Dr. Morton bent closest over Elaine. He looked at her anxiously, felt her pulse, watched her breathing, then pursed up his lips. "This is—dangerous," he ventured, gazing askance at the grim Clutching Hand. "Can't help it," came back laconically and relentlessly. The doctor shuddered. The man was a veritable vampire! . . . . . . . . Outside the deserted house, Kennedy and I were looking helplessly about. Suddenly Kennedy dashed back and reappeared a minute later with a couple of pieces of armor. He held them down to Rusty and the dog sniffed at them. But Rusty stood still. Kennedy pointed to the ground. Nothing doing. In leading us where he had been before, Rusty had reached the end of his canine ability. Everything we could do to make Rusty understand that we wanted him to follow a trail was unavailing. He simply could not do it. Kennedy coaxed and scolded. Rusty merely sat up on his hind legs and begged with those irresistible brown eyes. "You can't make a bloodhound out of a collie," despaired Craig, looking about again helplessly. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a police whistle. He blew three sharp blasts. Would it bring help? . . . . . . . . While we were thus despairing, the continued absence of Dr. Morton from home had alarmed his family and had set in motion another train of events. When he did not return, and could not be located at the place to which he was supposed to have gone, several policemen had been summoned to his house, and they had come, finally, with real bloodhounds from a suburban station. There were the tracks of his car. That the police themselves could follow, while two men came along holding in leash the pack, leaders of which were "Searchlight" and "Bob." It had not been long before the party came across the deserted runabout beside the road. There they had stopped, for a moment. It was just then that they heard Kennedy's call, and one of them had been detailed to answer it. "Well, what do YOU want?" asked the officer, eyeing Kennedy suspiciously as he stood there with the armor. "What's them pieces of tin—hey?" Kennedy quickly flashed his own special badge. "I want to trail a girl," he exclaimed hurriedly. "Can I find a bloodhound about here?" "A hound? Why, we have a pack—over there." "Bring them—quick!" ordered Craig. The policeman, who was an intelligent fellow, saw at once that, as Kennedy said, the two trails probably crossed. He shouted and in a few seconds the others, with the pack, came. A brief parley resulted in our joining forces. Kennedy held the armor down to the dogs. "Searchlight" gave a low whine, then, followed by "Bob" and the others, was off, all with noses close to the ground. We followed. The armor was, after all, the missing link. Through woods and fields the dogs led us. Would we be in time to rescue Elaine? . . . . . . . . In the mysterious haunt of the Clutching Hand, all were still standing around Elaine and the wounded Pitts Slim. Just then a cry from one of the group startled the rest. One of them, less hardened than the Clutching Hand, had turned away from the sight, had gone to the window, and had been attracted by something outside. "Look!" he cried. From the absolute stillness of death, there was now wild excitement among the crooks. "Police! Police!" they shouted to each other as they fled by a doorway to a secret passage. Clutching Hand turned to his first assistant. "You—go—too," he ordered. . . . . . . . . The dogs had led us to a strange looking house, and were now baying and leaping up against the door. We did not stop to knock, but began to break through, for inside we could hear faintly sounds of excitement and cries of "Police—police!" The door yielded and we rushed into a long hallway. Up the passage we went until we came to another door. An instant and we were all against it. It was stout, but it shook before us. The panels began to yield. . . . . . . . . On the other side of that door from us, the master crook stood for a moment. Dr. Morton hesitated, not knowing quite what to do. Just then the wounded Pitts Slim lifted his hand feebly. He seemed vaguely to understand that the game was up. He touched the Clutching Hand. "You did your best, Chief," he murmured thickly. "Beat it, if you can. I'm a goner, anyway." Clutching Hand hesitated by the wounded crook. This was the loyalty of gangland, worthy a better cause. He could not bring himself to desert his pal. He was undecided, still. But there was the door, bulging, and a panel bursting. He moved over to a panel in the wall and pushed a spring. It slid open and he stepped through. Then it closed—not a second too soon. Back in his private room, he quickly stepped to a curtained iron door. Pushing back the curtains, he went through it and disappeared, the curtains falling back. At the end of the passageway, he stopped, in a sort of grotto or cave. As he came out, he looked back. All was still. No one was about. He was safe here, at least! Off came the mask and he turned down the road a few rods distant beyond some bushes, as little concerned about the wild happenings as any other passer-by might have been. . . . . . . . . At the very moment when we burst in, Dr. Morton, seeing his chance, stopped the blood transfusion, working frantically to stop the flow of blood. Kennedy sprang to Elaine's side, horrified by the blood that had spattered over everything. With a mighty effort he checked a blow that he had aimed at Dr. Morton, as it flashed over him that the surgeon, now free again, was doing his best to save the terribly imperilled life of Elaine. Just then the police burst through the secret panel and rushed on, leaving us alone, with the unconscious, scarcely breathing Elaine. From the sounds we could tell that they had come to the private room of the Clutching Hand. It was empty and they were non-plussed. "Not a window!" called one. "What are those curtains?" They pulled them back, disclosing an iron door. They tried it but it was bolted on the other side. Blows had no effect. They had to give it up for the instant. A policeman now stood beside Elaine and the wounded burglar who was muttering deliriously to himself. He was pretty far gone, as the policeman knelt down and tried to get a statement out of him. "Who was that man who left you—last—the Clutching Hand?" Not a word came from the crook. The policeman repeated his question. With his last strength, he looked disdainfully at the officer's pad and pencil. "The gangster never squeals," he snarled, as he fell back. Dr. Morton had paid no attention whatever to him, but was working desperately now over Elaine, trying to bring her back to life. "Is she—going to—die?" gasped Craig, frantically. Every eye was riveted on Dr. Morton. "She is all right," he muttered. "But the man is going to die." At the sound of Craig's voice Elaine had feebly opened her eyes. "Thank heaven," breathed Craig, with a sigh of relief, as his hand gently stroked Elaine's unnaturally cold forehead. <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

1 of 2

2 of 2

Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.