remains. I have
no positive evidence, but I would wager all I possess that there is a
stair in the thickness of the wall, and hidden doors in the paneling
of the three apartments. The Yellow group has somehow obtained
possession of a plan of the historic secret passages and chambers of
Graywater Park. Homopoulo is the spy in the household; and Sir Lionel,
with his man Kennedy, was removed directly the invitation to us had
been posted. The group will know by now that we have escaped them, but
Karamaneh ..."

"Smith!" I groaned, "Smith! What can we do? What has befallen her? ..."

"This way!" he snapped. "We are not beaten yet!"

"We must arouse the servants!"

"Why? It would be sheer waste of priceless time. There are only three
men who actually sleep in the house (excepting Homopoulo) and these
are in the northwest wing. No, Petrie; we must rely upon ourselves."

He was racing recklessly along the tortuous corridors and up the oddly
placed stairways of that old-world building. My anguish had reinforced
the atropine which I had employed as an antidote to the opiate in the
wine, and now my blood, that had coursed sluggishly, leapt through my
veins like fire and I burned with a passionate anger.

Into a large and untidy bedroom we burst. Books and papers littered
about the floor; curios, ranging from mummied cats and ibises to
Turkish yataghans and Zulu assegais, surrounded the place in riotous
disorder. Beyond doubt this was the apartment of Sir Lionel Barton.
A lamp burned upon a table near to the disordered bed, and a
discolored Greek statuette of Orpheus lay overturned on the carpet
close beside it.

"Homopoulo was on the point of leaving this room at the moment that I
peered in at the window," said Smith, breathing heavily. "From here
there is another entrance to the secret passages. Have your pistol
ready."

He stepped across the disordered room to a little alcove near the foot
of the bed, directing the ray of the pocket-lamp upon the small,
square paneling.

"Ah!" he cried, a note of triumph in his voice--"he has left the door
ajar! A visit of inspection was not anticipated to-night, Petrie!
Thank God for an Indian liver and a suspicious mind."

He disappeared into a yawning cavity which now I perceived to exist in
the wall. I hurried after him, and found myself upon roughly fashioned
stone steps in a very low and narrow descending passage. Over his
shoulder--

"Note the direction," said Smith breathl