The Quest of the Sacred Slipper

the safe won't remain here unopened much longer. They

oon made play in the dim avenue. From the old chapel hard by the sweet-toned bell proclaimed midnight. Our vigil was begun. In this room it was that Pro

My companion was seated where the detective, Marden, had sat, in a chair near t

m used as a study was on the ground floor, and had windows on the west and on the south. Those on the west (French windows) opened on a loggia; those on the south opened rig

yself I had experienced nothing like it since crossing with a caravan I had slept in the desert. Yet noisy, whirling London was within gunshot of u

us exposing ourselves, in order that we might trap th

, "it was someone who came

dows. West saw absolutely nothing. But if a

othing; but how else

; and I plunged again in

ws must unavoidably be snared. These had been placed in position with much secrecy after dusk, and the man on duty at

tered my mind that she might have learned of the plan to murder Deeping without directly being implicated. Now came yet another explanation. The publicity given to that sensational cas

ashishin, but I must assume that this hypothetical third party were well aware that they had Hassan, as well as the authorities, to c

here may be others, as well as Hassan of Aleppo,

st sense of the expression, they would be

for even now I was loath to betray the

the report of the man on duty at the gate. As his footsteps died away along the elm avenue, it came to me how, in the dark

odlustful devotees watch a shrine violated, burst upon my mind. I peopled the still blackness with lurking assassins, armed

re the safe stood, reliquary of a worthless

spered that they were not those of Bristol but of one wh

ood looking out across the loggia to the end of the avenue. The night was a bright one, and the room was flooded with a r

but my fears remained. Then the figure crossed th

Cavan

cowardice, but my heart wa

ristol, in a

at the gate, but Morris says he heard, or thought he heard

n the b

t he says there was n

med our

grows imminent, doesn't it seem to you f

ow otherwise are we likely to lear

dopt different m

edit ourselves with having kept the existence of the steel traps completely secret. They will assume (so I've reason

nce

its floor. Against the silvern light, Bristol appeared to me in black silhouette. The breeze, too, seemed now to blow from a slightly different

fully in upon Bristol's back. So we sa

it Morris's post every half-hour. Again I experienced the nervous dread

well,"

forgotten that it was at this hour Marde

were unwilling to break the silence, wherein, with a

gling for definition. There was something significant in the lunar lighting of the room. Why, I asked myself,

ed by the cold light. The wall behind me, and to my left, wa

oned, must be clearly visible. From the shrubbery on the south, through t

ribable, came to my ears fr

ered Bristol. "

! Wh

have been

asping his revolver as I well knew. I, too, had my revolver in my hand, and as I twisted i

f dismay, I stooped q

, so closely as almost to touch it-and str

l!" I w

, and fell loosely forward into the patch of moonlight

re, for it had become evident to me th

could turn in that direction, my attention was claimed elsewh

d in his hand. My fear was too great to admit of my accurately observing anything at that time,

this Eastern apparition was a creature of flesh and blood. With my nerves strung up to sna

ath fanne

red a stifled cry, looking upward ... and into a

ered by one of the windows overlookin

hing warm came flowing over my hand. But, knowing my foes to be of flesh and blood, feeling myself at handgrips now with a palpable enemy, I threw

a cloak. A moment I listened, tense, still; th

ously. Bending over my unfortunate companion and learning that, though unconscious, he lived, I learnt, too, how the Hashishin contrived to strike men insensible wi

cient Persian type. In place of stones, heavy lumps of clay were used, which operated much

trees, from many yards away, they had shot their singular missiles through the open windows at Bristol and myself. Bristol had succu

e design of the second slinger upon myself. The light of the lamp fell upon the face of the dead Hashishin. He lay forward upon

ut that mutilated face is often

ng and the panic which threatened me out of the darkness, I saw something

k lay deepest it paused, undefined; for I could give it no name of man

m outside. As my fingers closed upon the telephone, distant voices and the sound

tion, and a stray moonbeam pierced the darkness shrouding

Yet still I stood, frozen with uncanny fear, and watching-watching the spot to which that st