nd I have Stolen one of the holy slippers of the Prophet!

He, with some of his servants, has followed me from Mecca to
England. My precautions have enabled me to retain the relic, but
you have seen what fate befell all those others who even touched
the receptacle containing it.

If I fall a victim to the Hashishin, I am uncertain how you, as my
confidant, will fare. Therefore I have locked the slipper in my
safe and to you entrust the key. I append particulars of the lock
combination; but I warn you--do not open the safe. If their
wrath be visited upon you, your possession of the key may prove a
safeguard.

Take the copy of "Assyrian Mythology." You will find in it all
that I learned respecting the Hashishin. If I am doomed to be
assassinated, it may aid you; if not in avenging me, in saving
others from my fate. I fear I shall never see you again. A
cloud of horror settles upon me like a pall. Do not touch the
slipper, nor the case containing it.

EDWARD DEEPING.

"It is almost incredible!" I said hoarsely.

Bristol returned the letter to me without a word, and turning to
Lester, who had reentered carrying a heavy pick-axe, he attacked
the oblong box with savage energy.

Through the house of death the sound of the blows echoed and rang
with a sort of sacrilegious mockery. The box fell to pieces.

"My God! look, sir!"

Lester was the trembling speaker.

The box, I have said, was but three feet long by one foot square,
and had clearly defied poor Deeping's efforts to open it. But a
crescent-shaped knife, wet with blood, lay within!

CHAPTER V

THE OCCUPANT OF THE BOX

Dimly to my ears came the ceaseless murmur of London. The night now
was far advanced, and not a sound disturbed the silence of the court
below my windows.

Professor Deeping's "Assyrian Mythology" lay open before me, beside
it my notebook. A coal dropped from the fire, and I half started up
out of my chair. My nerves were all awry, and I had more than my
horrible memories of the murdered man to thank for it. Let me
explain what I mean.

When, after assisting, or endeavouring to assist, Bristol at his
elaborate inquiries, I had at last returned to my chambers, I had
become the victim of a singular delusion--though one common enough
in the case of persons whose nerves are overwrought. I had thought
myself followed.

During the latter part of my journey I found myse