brazier seemed to have a tang of new-shed blood. Cries broke from the
hearers--cries of anger and lust and terror. I heard a woman sob, and
Peter, who is as tough as any mortal, took tight hold of my arm.

I now realized that these Companions of the Rosy Hours were the only
thing in the world to fear. Rasta and Stumm seemed feeble simpletons
by contrast. The window I had been looking out of was changed to a
prison wall--I could see the mortar between the massive blocks. In a
second these devils would be smelling out their enemies like some foul
witch-doctors. I felt the burning eyes of their leader looking for me
in the gloom. Peter was praying audibly beside me, and I could have
choked him. His infernal chatter would reveal us, for it seemed to me
that there was no one in the place except us and the magic-workers.

Then suddenly the spell was broken. The door was flung open and a
great gust of icy wind swirled through the hall, driving clouds of
ashes from the braziers. I heard loud voices without, and a hubbub
began inside. For a moment it was quite dark, and then someone lit one
of the flare lamps by the stage. It revealed nothing but the common
squalor of a low saloon--white faces, sleepy eyes, and frowsy heads.
The drop-piece was there in all its tawdriness.

The Companions of the Rosy Hours had gone. But at the door stood men
in uniform, I heard a German a long way off murmur, 'Enver's
bodyguards,' and I heard him distinctly; for, though I could not see
clearly, my hearing was desperately acute. That is often the way when
you suddenly come out of a swoon.

The place emptied like magic. Turk and German tumbled over each other,
while Kuprasso wailed and wept. No one seemed to stop them, and then I
saw the reason. Those Guards had come for us. This must be Stumm at
last. The authorities had tracked us down, and it was all up with
Peter and me.

A sudden revulsion leaves a man with a low vitality. I didn't seem to
care greatly. We were done, and there was an end of it. It was
Kismet, the act of God, and there was nothing for it but to submit. I
hadn't a flicker of a thought of escape or resistance. The game was
utterly and absolutely over.

A man who seemed to be a sergeant pointed to us and said something to
Kuprasso, who nodded. We got heavily to our feet and stumbled towards
them. With one on each side of us we crossed the yard, walked through
the dark passage and the empty shop,