walking softly close to the side of the road,
and frequently pausing to listen. Advancing in this fashion, he found
himself standing ere long before an open gateway, and gazing along a
drive which presented a vista of utter blackness. A faint sound reached
his ear--the distant drone of a powerful engine. A big car was mounting
the slope from Lower Claybury Station.

CHAPTER XVIII. WHAT HAPPENED TO HARLEY--CONTINUED

Not until Harley came within sight of the house, a low, rambling
Jacobean building, did he attempt to take cover. He scrambled up a tree
and got astride of a wall. A swift survey by his electric torch of the
ground on the other side revealed a jungle of weeds in either direction.

He uttered an impatient exclamation. He calculated that the car was now
within a hundred yards of the end of the lane. Suddenly came an idea
that was born of emergency. Swarming up the tree to where its dense
foliage began, he perched upon a stout bough and waited.

Three minutes later came a blaze of light through the gathering
darkness, and the car which he had last seen at the Savoy was turned
into the drive, and presently glided smoothly past him below.

The interior lights were extinguished, so that he was unable to discern
the occupants. The house itself was also unilluminated. And when the
car pulled up before the porch, less than ten yards from his observation
post, he could not have recognized the persons who descended and entered
Hillside.

Indeed, only by the sound of the closing door did he know that they had
gone in. But two figures were easily discernible; and he judged them to
be those of Ormuz Khan and his secretary. He waited patiently, and ere
long the limousine was turned in the little courtyard before the porch
and driven out into the lane again. He did not fail to note that, the
lane regained, the chauffeur headed, not toward Lower Claybury, but away
from it.

He retained his position until the hum of the motor grew dim in the
distance, and was about to descend when he detected the sound of a
second approaching car! Acutely conscious of danger, he remained where
he was. Almost before the hum of the retiring limousine had become
inaudible, a second car entered the lane and turned into the drive of
Hillside.

Harley peered eagerly downward, half closing his eyes in order that he
might not be dazzled by the blaze of the headlight. This was another
limousine, its most notable characteristic being that