esperate emergency.
Once again, now, he produced the electric torch, and lighted it as he
extinguished the lamp on the table.

Forthwith, Garson went to the door into the hall, opened it, and,
leaving it ajar, made his way in silence to the outer doorway.
Presently, the doors there were freed of their bolts under his skilled
fingers, and one of them swung wide. He had put out the torch now, lest
its gleam might catch the gaze of some casual passer-by. So nicely had
the affair been timed that hardly was the door open before the three
men slipped in, and stood mute and motionless in the hall, while Garson
refastened the doors. Then, a pencil of light traced the length of the
hallway and Garson walked quickly back to the library. Behind him with
steps as noiseless as his own came the three men to whom he had just
given the message.

When all were gathered in the library, Garson shut the hall door,
touched the button in the wall beside it, and the chandelier threw its
radiant light on the group.

Griggs was in evening clothes, seeming a very elegant young gentleman
indeed, but his two companions were of grosser type, as far as
appearances went: one, Dacey, thin and wiry, with a ferret face; the
other, Chicago Red, a brawny ruffian, whose stolid features nevertheless
exhibited something of half-sullen good nature.

"Everything all right so far," Garson said rapidly. He turned to Griggs
and pointed toward the heavy hangings that shrouded the octagonal
window. "Are those the things we want?" he demanded.

"Yes," was the answer of English Eddie.

"Well, then, we've got to get busy," Garson went on. His alert,
strong face was set in lines of eagerness that had in it something of
fierceness now.

But, before he could add a direction, he was halted by a soft buzzing
from the telephone, which, though bell-less, still gave this faint
warning of a call. For an instant, he hesitated while the others
regarded him doubtfully. The situation offered perplexities. To give no
attention to the summons might be perilous, and failure to respond might
provoke investigation in some urgent matter; to answer it might easily
provide a larger danger.

"We've got to take a chance." Garson spoke his decision curtly. He went
to the desk and put the receiver to his ear.

There came again the faint tapping of some one at the other end of the
line, signaling a message in the Morse code. An expression of blank
amazement, which grew in a flash t