e of one Chandra Dass, a Hindoo, down by East
India Docks," said the detective officer. "I've been there in disguise
more than once, watching the place. This Chandra Dass I've found to be
immensely feared by everyone in the quarter, which strengthens my belief
that he's one of the high officers of the Brotherhood. He's too
exceptional a man to be really running such a place."

"Then if the Brotherhood took Ruth, she may be at that place now!" cried
the young American, electrified.

Campbell nodded his bald head. "She may very likely be. Tonight I'm
going there again in disguise, and have men ready to raid the place. If
Chandra Dass has your wife there, we'll get her before he can get her
away. Whatever way it turns out, we'll let you know at once."

"Like hell you will!" exploded the pale young Ennis. "Do you think I'm
going to twiddle my thumbs while you're down there? I'm going with you.
And if you refuse to let me, by heaven I'll go there myself!"

Inspector Pierce Campbell gave the haggard, fiercely determined face of
the young man a long look, and then his own colorless countenance seemed
to soften a little.

"All right," he said quietly. "I can disguise you so you'll not be
recognized. But you'll have to follow my orders exactly, or death will
result for both of us."

That strange, hooded dread flickered again in his eyes, as though he saw
through shrouding mists the outline of dim horror.

"It may be," he added slowly, "that something worse even than death
awaits those who try to oppose the Brotherhood of the Door--something
that would explain the unearthly, superhuman dread that enwraps the
secret mysteries of the order. We're taking more than our lives in our
hands, I think, in trying to unveil those mysteries, to regain your
wife. But we've got to act quickly, at all costs. We've got to find her
before the great gathering of the Brotherhood takes place, or we'll
never find her."

* * * * *

Two hours before midnight found Campbell and Ennis passing along a
cobble-paved waterfront street north of the great East India Docks. Big
warehouses towered black and silent in the darkness on one side, and on
the other were old, rotting docks beyond which Ennis glimpsed the black
water and gliding lights of the river.

As they straggled beneath the infrequent lights of the ill-lit street,
they were utterly changed in appearance. Inspector Campbell, dressed in
a shabby suit and ru