the corpse by flashlight.

But the dazzling flare which had disclosed the features of the dead man
to the insensible lens of the camera had disclosed them also to Theodore
Racksole. The dead man was Reginald Dimmock!

Stung into action by this discovery, Racksole tried to find the exit
from his place of concealment. He felt sure that there existed some way
out into the State bathroom, but he sought for it fruitlessly, groping
with both hands and feet. Then he decided that he must ascend the
rope-ladder, make haste for the first-floor corridor, and intercept
Rocco when he left the State apartments. It was a painful and difficult
business to ascend that thin and yielding ladder in such a confined
space, but Racksole was managing it very nicely, and had nearly reached
the top, when, by some untoward freak of chance, the ladder broke above
his weight, and he slipped ignominiously down to the bottom of the
wooden tube. Smothering an excusable curse, Racksole crouched, baffled.
Then he saw that the force of his fall had somehow opened a trap-door
at his feet. He squeezed through, pushed open another tiny door, and
in another second stood in the State bathroom. He was dishevelled,
perspiring, rather bewildered; but he was there. In the next second he
had resumed absolute command of all his faculties.

Strange to say, he had moved so quietly that Rocco had apparently not
heard him. He stepped noiselessly to the door between the bathroom and
the bedroom, and stood there in silence. Rocco had switched on again the
lights over the washstand and was busy with his utensils.

Racksole deliberately coughed.

Chapter Fourteen ROCCO ANSWERS SOME QUESTIONS

ROCCO turned round with the swiftness of a startled tiger, and gave
Theodore Racksole one long piercing glance.

'D--n!' said Rocco, with as pure an Anglo-Saxon accent and intonation as
Racksole himself could have accomplished.

The most extraordinary thing about the situation was that at this
juncture Theodore Racksole did not know what to say. He was so
dumbfounded by the affair, and especially by Rocco's absolute and
sublime calm, that both speech and thought failed him.

'I give in,' said Rocco. 'From the moment you entered this cursed hotel
I was afraid of you. I told Jules I was afraid of you. I knew there
would be trouble with a man of your kidney, and I was right; confound
it! I tell you I give in. I know when I'm beaten. I've got no revolver
and no weapons of