gh to herself, "then it was he who did it!"

She spoke rapidly to Barbara.

"This man who tied you up... you didn't see him?"

Barbara shook her head.

"I could see nothing; I don't even know that it was a man. He
seized me so suddenly that in the dark I could distinguish
nothing... it might have been a woman... yourself, for instance,
for all I know!"

Nur-el-Din clasped her hands together.

"It was he, himself, then," she whispered, "I might have known.
Yet he has not got it here!"

Heavy footsteps resounded in the room above. Rass cried out
something swiftly to the dancer, thrust the pistol into her
hands, and dashed up the ladder. The next moment there was a loud
report followed by the thud of a heavy body falling. Somewhere in
the rooms above a woman screamed.

Nur-el-Din's hands flew to her face and the pistol crashed to the
ground. Two men appeared at the head of the cellar stairs. One
was Strangwise, in uniform, the other was Bellward.

"They're both here!" said Strangwise over his shoulder to
Bellward.

"Ah, thank God, you've come!" cried Barbara, running to the foot
of the ladder.

Strangwise brushed past her and caught Nur-el-Din by the arm.

"Run her upstairs," he said quickly to Bellward who had followed
behind him, "and lock her in her room. I've seen to the rest.
You, Miss Mackwayte," he added to Barbara, "you will come with
us!"

Barbara was staring in fascination at Bellward. She had never
believed that any disguise could be so baffling, so complete;
Major Okewood, she thought, looked like a different man.

But Bellward had grasped the dancer by the two arms and forced
her up the stairs in front of him. Nur-el-Din seemed too overcome
with terror to utter a sound.

"Oh, don't be so rough with her, Major Okewood!" entreated
Barbara, "you'll hurt her!"

She had her back turned to Strangwise so she missed the very
remarkable change that came over his features at her words.

"Okewood," he whispered but too low for the girl to distinguish
the words, "Okewood? I might have guessed! I might have guessed!"
Then he touched Barbara lightly on the shoulder.

"Come," he said, "we must be getting upstairs. We have much to
do!"

He gently impelled her towards the ladder up which Bellward and
Nur-el-Din had already disappeared. At the top, he took the lead
and conducted Barbara into the taproom. A single candle stood on
the table, throwing a wan light into the room. Rass lay on his
back in