ers to his servants.

For the time being the back of the cafe was deserted and unnoticed.
Campbell sprang to his feet, and with Ennis close behind him, darted
through the black curtains. They found themselves in a black corridor at
the end of which a red bulb burned dimly. They could still hear the
uproar.

Campbell's gun was in his hand, and the American's in his.

"We dare only stay here a few moments," the inspector cried. "Look in
those rooms along the corridor here."

Ennis frantically tore open a door and peered into a dark room smelling
of drugs. "Ruth!" he cried softly. "Ruth!"

_2. Death Trap_

There was no answer. The light in the corridor behind him suddenly went
out, plunging him into pitch-black darkness. He jumped back into the
dark corridor, and as he did so, heard a sudden scuffle further along
it.

"Campbell!" he exclaimed, lunging forward in the black passageway. There
was no answer.

He pitched forward through stygian obscurity, his hands searching ahead
of him for the inspector. In the dark something whipped smoothly around
his throat, tightened there like a slender, contracting tentacle.

Ennis tore frenziedly at the thing, which he felt to be a slender silken
cord, but he could not loosen it. It was choking him. He tried to cry
out again to Campbell, but his throat could not emit the sounds. He
thrashed, twisted helplessly, hearing a loud roaring in his ears,
consciousness receding. Then, dimly as though in a dream, Ennis was
aware of being lowered to the floor, of being half carried and half
dragged along. The constriction around his throat was gone and rapidly
his brain began to clear. He opened his eyes.

He found himself lying on the floor of a room illuminated by a great
hanging brass lamp of ornate design. The walls of the room were hung
with rich, grotesquely worked red silk Indian draperies. His hands and
feet were bound behind him, and beside him, tied in the same manner, lay
Inspector Campbell. Over them stood Chandra Dass and two of the Malay
servants. The faces of the servants were tigerish in their menace, but
Chandra Dass' face was one of dark, impassive scorn.

"So you misguided fools thought you could deceive me so easily as that?"
he said in a strong, vibrant voice. "Why, we knew hours ago that you,
Inspector Campbell, and you, Mr. Ennis, were coming here tonight. We let
you get this far only because it was evident that somehow you had
learned too much about u