the stake!--enabled the commissioners
to recover from his chamber a quantity of church ornaments. For these
facts I am indebted to the author of the work on haunted manors.

"Our inquiry at this point touches upon things sinister and
incomprehensible. In a word, although the passage and a part of the
underground room are of unknown antiquity, it appears certain that
they were improved and enlarged by one of the abbots of Monkswell--at
a date much later than Brother Anselm's abbotship--and the place was
converted to a secret chapel----"

"A _secret_ chapel!" said Dr. Hamilton.

"Exactly. This was at a time in English history when the horrible
cult of Asmodeus spread from the Rhine monasteries and gained
proselytes in many religious houses of England. In this secret chapel,
wretched Churchmen, seduced to the abominable views of the abbot,
celebrated the Black Mass!"

"My God!" I whispered--"small wonder that the place is reputed to be
haunted!"

"Small wonder," cried Nayland Smith, with all his old nervous vigor,
"that Dr. Fu-Manchu selected it as an ideal retreat in times of danger!"

"What! the chapel?" roared Sir Lionel.

"Beyond doubt! Well knowing the penalty of discovery, those old
devil-worshipers had chosen a temple from which they could escape in
an emergency. There is a short stair from the chamber into the cave
which, as you may know, exists in the cliff adjoining Monkswell."

Smith's eyes were blazing now, and he was on his feet, pacing the
floor, an odd figure, with his bandaged skull and inadequate garments,
biting on the already extinguished cigar as though it had been a pipe.

"Returning to our rooms, Petrie," he went on rapidly, "who should I run
into but Summers! You remember Summers, the Suez Canal pilot whom you
met at Ismailia two years ago? He brought the yacht through the Canal,
from Suez, on which I suspect Ki-Ming came to England. She is a big
boat--used to be on the Port Said and Jaffa route before a wealthy
Chinaman acquired her--through an Egyptian agent--for his personal use.

"All the crews, Summers told me, were Asiatics, and little groups of
natives lined the Canal and performed obeisances as the vessel passed.
Undoubtedly they had that woman on board, Petrie, the Lady of the
Si-Fan, who escaped, together with Fu-Manchu, when we raided the
meeting in London! Like a fool I came racing back here without
advising you; and, all alone, my mind occupied with the tremendous
import of