e to the intent search of the
detective, and then----

Just as Gratz managed to insert his trembling fingers over the edge of
the pocket rim, a pair of tense, sinewy hands shot upward and with
incredible dexterity encircled the throat of the detective.

The surprise was complete.

The hands of the unfortunate man flew out wildly, grasping at nothing,
and the next instant closed upon the wrists of the Sepoy.

But the recoil was too late. The frightful grasp concentrated its deadly
pressure.

The livid face of the detective grew purple. His eyes seemed about to
bulge from their sockets. His grip relaxed from the wrists of his
antagonist, and then all vigor seemed to vanish from his body, and he
sank inertly to the floor.

As the malignant Sepoy bestowed the stiffening body upon the carpet, he
released his horrible clutch upon the detective's throat, and, despite
his manacles, began with desperate agility to search the silent man's
waistcoat pockets.

From one futile quest his implacable hands leaped to another, the length
of chain which held the two handcuffs together rattling an eerie
accompaniment to his eagerness.

At last he withdrew a tiny key.

Grasping the precious bit of steel in his right hand the Sepoy inserted
it in the latch-hole of the left manacle; a quick turn, and the steel
clasp relaxed its obnoxious embrace.

It was but the work of a second to repeat these operations on his right
arm, and the Sepoy was free.

"Ha!" The breath seemed to whistle from his lungs with one sharp,
exulting impulse.

He stretched his superb figure to its utmost, and with the smile of a
re-embodied Lucifer restored the sapphire to its case.

For a brief space he gazed upon the man extended upon the floor, and
then, urged by some devilish impulse, if one might judge from the
expression of his countenance, he knelt by the prostrate body and placed
his ear to the pulseless breast.

The next instant, stimulated, apparently, by some unexpected endorsement
of a vague possibility, he was upon his feet and had darted to a small
cabinet near-by.

His hasty foray among its drawers was rewarded with a small bottle, the
stopper of which he removed.

With a quick motion of the head to escape the full force of the pungent
odor of ammonia which issued, the Sepoy returned to the unfortunate
Gratz, and wetting the tip of his handkerchief with a few drops from the
vial, he passed it gently to and fro under the nostrils of the