ut the door was locked. Fearful lest the grating of the knob should
have roused some watcher, he ran down the steps and hurried into the
shadow of the banquet hall, where he stood close beside a pillar
until he satisfied himself of the objects in the court beyond. He
saw an edge of light along the crack of a closed door to the left on
the ground floor of the _selamlik_, and in the higher stories above
that a couple of windows showed a pale illumination. On the right,
in the harem, only one window betrayed a ray of light. Altogether
the old pile was as gloomy and gruesome as a tomb.

Billy stared across the court to where the columned vestibule,
uniting the two Ls, indicated the door. He had been told a watchman
slept there, but he could see nothing now but vague outlines of the
arches of the vestibule. To the left was the open passage left for
the entry of the automobile and horses, but this, too, was roofed so
that a black shadow lay over it. But for that watchman Billy would
have made his way to those doors to draw back the bars in readiness,
but fearful of raising an alarm, he judged it was better to leave
escape to chance and turn his attention to his entry.

He went back now for his ladder, and on the right side of the
banquet hall, up under the arched roof, he discovered the wooden
grating where Fritzi had described it. Against this wall he placed
his ladder and climbed to the top, from which he could reach up and
clasp the spindles of the grating above him.

He drew himself swiftly up to this, and the end of his pole was
dislodged by his departure and fell to the inlaid pavement with a
bang that seemed to him to carry to the farthest echoes of the
sounding court. Instantly there was an answering clatter of steps.

Like a monkey Billy clung to the grating, thrusting his toes
desperately into the first openings they could find, hanging on with
his hands for dear life, holding himself as close up in the darkness
as he could, and nearly twisting his neck off in the effort to watch
what was going on below him.

The steps sounded nearer and nearer, and a huge Nubian in baggy
bloomers and a short jacket was outlined in the court. His bare feet
were thrust into clattering English shoes. He peered about him for a
time, with one hand pointing the muzzle of a revolver. Billy caught
the unpleasant gleam of it; then the man stepped in underneath the
arches of the hall and made a slow way across it.

Directly in his pat