al man--and you are not fit to carry the name! I will
wager you, man, that your laughter is not backed by courage!"

I fell away from him. Had I stood within reach, I am sure he would have
struck me. Struck me! And I have been nearer to M. S. for the past ten
years than any man in London. And as I retreated from his temper, he
reached forward to seize my arm. I could not help but feel impressed at
his grim intentness.

"Look here, Dale," he said bitterly, "I will wager you a hundred pounds
that you will not spend the remainder of this night in the warehouse
above you! I will wager a hundred pounds against your own courage that
you will not back your laughter by going through what this fellow has
gone through. That you will not prowl through the corridors of this
great structure until you have found room 4167--_and remain in that room
until dawn_!"

* * * * *

There was no choice. I glanced at the dead man, at the face of fear and
the clutching, twisted hands, and a cold dread filled me. But to refuse
my friend's wager would have been to brand myself an empty coward. I had
mocked him. Now, whatever the cost, I must stand ready to pay for that
mockery.

"Room 4167?" I replied quietly, in a voice which I made every effort to
control, lest he should discover the tremor in it. "Very well, I will do
it!"

It was nearly midnight when I found myself alone, climbing a musty,
winding ramp between the first and second floors of the deserted
building. Not a sound, except the sharp intake of my breath and the
dismal creak of the wooden stairs, echoed through that tomb of death.
There was no light, not even the usual dim glow that is left to
illuminate an unused corridor. Moreover, I had brought no means of light
with me--nothing but a half empty box of safety matches which, by some
unholy premonition, I had forced myself to save for some future moment.
The stairs were black and difficult, and I mounted them slowly, groping
with both hands along the rough wall.

I had left M. S. some few moments before. In his usual decisive manner
he had helped me to climb the iron grating and lower myself to the
sealed alley-way on the farther side. Then, leaving him without a word,
for I was bitter against the triumphant tone of his parting words, I
proceeded into the darkness, fumbling forward until I had discovered the
open door in the lower part of the warehouse.

And then the ramp, winding crazily upwar