Protea II

Summary

A cadaverous banker’s last will flings Lady Mabel into a labyrinth of phosphorescent greed: one month before the iron safe may yawn open, its secret—the precise latitude of a gold seam—has already been siphoned by ultraviolet light onto the retinas of Protea, the Parisian sleuth whose gender is a riddle even to the camera. The missing coordinates, flayed from Fred Sharp’s shoulder like an unlucky ace, become a migratory map: first a tattoo, then a scar, finally a photographic negative tucked inside a bathing-suit portrait. Count Skettitch—part arachnid, part stock-exchange—slithers through keyholes, drugging air itself with narcotic billiard balls, spiriting documents while leaving calling cards as perfumed insult. Houses pivot, staircases swivel into oubliettes, Redwood Manor detonates in a chrysanthemum of dynamite, yet the film keeps wriggling: Protea, disguised as Electra the danseuse, high-kicks through the Count’s bacchanal, her veils dropping like subpoenas until handcuffs click shut on the wrist that once held both mine and maiden.

Synopsis

At the death of the old banker, Curtis, his entire estate, including a gold mine, is willed to his niece, Lady Mabel. Count Skettitch, who has cleverly schemed for the hand of Mabel, arranges to have his spy employed by her as a butler. Under the terms of the will, the safe is not to be opened until a month has passed. Mabel, desiring to know its contents, calls on the great detective, Protea, who by the aid of the ultraviolet rays is able to read the document describing the location of the gold mine, but finds it incomplete with a note stating that the missing words will be found tattooed on the shoulder of Fred Sharp, the dead banker's valet. That evening Skettitch, by the aid of his spy, enters the house and blows the safe. Being in possession of the same knowledge as Protea, at once starts to seek Sharp. She, however, is of the same mind and has already started on her journey. Finding Sharp bathing, falls into the river. Sharp at once goes to the rescue, bringing Protea safely to shore. By this means she has an opportunity to view Sharp's shoulder only to find the tattoo marks have been removed. Skettitch arrives shortly after to find the same conditions. Protea then makes a search of Sharp's room, only finding a photo of him in his bathing suit. In her rage, throws it to the ground, breaking the frame, which reveals the marking on his shoulder. Skettitch hears this news through his spy and by the aid of narcotic balls, which he injects into Protea's room with a putty blower, succeeds in putting her in a deep sleep. Entering, he gets the information he seeks and politely leaves his card. Protea awakens and finding her document gone, lures Skettitch to her home at Redwood by a decoy letter. Once into the house, the staircase turns, throwing him in a walled chamber. Protea appears in a niche and demands the document. While surrendering it, Skettitch takes her ring. The walls close in on him until he finds it necessary to use dynamite, which blows up the house. His spy, Haligan, takes the ring to Mabel with the news that Protea has met with an accident. Mabel, going to her aid, is kidnapped, and taken to Skettitch's house and imprisoned. Protea, with her right hand man, Tommy, having escaped injury, traps Haligan and inject a deadly fluid into his arm. the antidote to which Protea alone knows. She promises to give this dose to him if he will show her the hiding place of Skettitch. She is led to his camp, where suddenly she is lassoed, bound and taken to an abyss and suspended from a tree, which is set on fire. Faithful Tommy, seeing this, stretches a fish net under, her and succeeds in saving her life. Skettitch now in possession of the mine, and as he thinks Protea dead and Mabel a prisoner, turns his attention to the entertainment of courtesans and sycophants. Wanting a sensational spectacle, Tommy responds to the advertisement. He arranges to have Protea appear as Electra, a dancing girl. Skettitch at once falls in love with her and forces his attentions and pleads to meet her at her home. To this she agrees providing he bring Mabel with him. Once in her house with his prisoner. Protea unmasks, has him handcuffed and restores the old banker's property to the rightful owner.