spite of his disarray.

"That Noureddin Ali is a devil! Together we would look for the
Tomb of the Kings. Together we would smuggle out the manuscripts
--translate them together--publish the result together. He lent
me money. He promised to bring explosives. Oh, he was full of
enthusiasm! It was not until last night, when I had broken that
last obstruction down and discovered nothing but this coffin,
that I learned his real plan. The devil intended all along to
fill this tomb with high explosive and to destroy the mosque above,
with everybody in it! Curse him!"

"Never mind cursing him," said Grim, "tell us the story."

"He sent oranges here, all marked with the labels of a Zionist
colony. When I told him that the explosive would arrive too
late, he said I should use it to smash these walls and find
another tomb. He himself disappeared, and when I questioned
his men they told me the explosive would be brought in hidden
under fruit in baskets. I waited then in the hope of killing
him myself--"

"Hah-hah!" laughed Grim.

"That is true! But they bound me, and later on bound the woman,
and laid us here to be blown up together with the mosque."

Grim turned to Goodenough, who had been listening.

"Do I win the bet, sir?"

"Ten piastoes!" said Goodenough. "Yes. Narayan Singh says
Noureddin Ali was gone by the time they reached the wall."

"Sure, or he'd have brought Noureddin Ali. I've been thinking,
sir. We've one chance left to bag that buzzard. Will you give
me carte blanche?"

"Yes. Go ahead."

Grim crossed the place to the corner where old alligator-eyes
stood herded with the other prisoners.

"Are you guilty?" he demanded.

"No. Guilty of nothing. I came out of curiosity to see what was
happening here."

"Thought so. Can you hold your tongue? Then go! Get out
of here!"

Alligator-eyes didn't wait for a second urging, nor stay to
question his good luck, but went off in a shambling hurry.

"You are mad!" exclaimed Scharnhoff. "That man is the next-worst!"

"Grim, are you sure that's wise?" asked Goodenough.

"We can get him any time we want him, sir," Grim answered. "He
lacks Noureddin Ali's gift of slipperiness."

He turned to Narayan Singh.

"Follow that man, but don't let him know he's followed. He'll
show you where Noureddin Ali is. Get him this time!"

"Dead or alive, sahib?"

"Either."

Chapter Twenty

"All men are equal in the dark."

The first