while the Arab remained in the canoe, his
single eye peering into the darkness. This time Billy had provided
three stout, but narrow, ladders, constructed of two poles nailed
together with occasional cross pieces that gave narrow room for a
foot. He set one of these in place against the wall now, grounding
its ends deep in the soft earth, so that it would remain in
readiness for any sudden descent. Then from the top of the wall they
reconnoitered the scene before them.

It was very dark. The garden was full of blotting shadows, and the
long wing of the harem lay almost in darkness, with only a faint
beam from two adjacent windows to reveal a sign of life. Those
windows were on the third story, next the angle made by the union of
the banquet hall and the harem, and Billy's heart quickened as he
recognized the location of the rose room.

"That's it--that's her room," he whispered excitedly to Falconer.

Falconer stared and nodded. "I wish that beastly hall wasn't in the
way ahead of us. I'd like to see what lights are in the windows in
that court beyond."

"We might both go and take a look," said Billy doubtfully, "but I
guess you had better make, straight for your roofs. It wouldn't do
to have us both nabbed. Do you hear anything?"

They listened, crouching flat upon the wall, straining their eyes
toward the palace. There was a high wind blowing and above them the
leaves of the palm trees were slapping against each other, and below
the shrubs and flowers were stirring restlessly. But the noise of
the wind, they felt, was helpful to cover the sounds of their
approach.

"Why can't I make my way around on top of this wall and climb on the
roofs from the start?" Falconer questioned, and Billy answered, "I
asked her that. She said it couldn't be done. You'd have to climb
through some unsafe rubbish. The best way is down and up again in
that angle that she showed me. Shall we start?"

The same impulse made both men examine their revolvers, then drop
them in readiness into their right-hand coat pockets. They moved
along the top of the wall till they reached the angle with the wall
on their right, and then they lowered the same knotted rope which
Billy had used the night before, but now another rope added to it
made it into a rope ladder. Suspending that over the top of the wall
by iron hooks, they slipped down it, each with a pole ladder in his
arms, and with another hook of iron they drove the ends down into
the ear