nse came to his knocking, and he so greatly
ventured as to push the door fully open.

The cave of the golden dragon was empty. Half frightfully, Soames
glanced about the singular apartment, in amid the mountainous cushions
of the leewans, behind the pedestal of the dragon; to the right and to
the left of the doorway wherein he stood.

There was no one there; but the door on the right--the door inlaid with
ebony and green stone, which he had never yet seen open was open now,
widely opened. He glided across the floor, his wet boots creaking
unmusically, and peeped through. He saw a matting-lined corridor
identical with that known as Block A. The door of one apartment, that on
the extreme left, was opened. Sickly fumes were wafted out to him, and
these mingled with the incense-like odor which characterized the temple
of the dragon.

A moment he stood so, then started back, appalled.

An outcry--the outcry of a woman, of a woman whose very soul is
assailed--split the stillness. Not from the passageway before him, but
from somewhere behind him--from the direction of Block A--it came.

"For God's sake--oh! for God's sake, have mercy! Let me go!... let me
go!" Higher, shriller, more fearful and urgent, grew the voice--"LET ME
GO!"...

Soames' knees began to tremble beneath him; he clutched at the black
wall for support; then turned, and with unsteady footsteps crossed to
the door communicating with the corridor which contained his room.
It had a lever handle of the Continental pattern, and, trembling with
apprehension that it might prove to be locked, Soames pressed down this
handle.

The door opened...

"Hina, effendi!--hina!"

The voice sounded like that of Said....

"Oh! God in Heaven help me!... Help!--help!"...

"Imsik!"...

Footsteps were pattering upon the stone stairs; someone was descending
from the warehouse! The frenzied shrieks of the woman continued. Soames
broke into a cold perspiration; his heart, which had leaped wildly,
seemed now to have changed to a cold stone in his breast. Just at the
entrance to the corridor he stood, frozen with horror at those cries.

"Ikfil el-bab!" came now, in the voice of Ho-Pin,--and nearer.

"Let me go!... only let me go, and I will never breathe a word. ... Ah!
Ah! Oh! God of mercy! not the needle again! You are killing me!... not
the needle!"...

Soames staggered on to his own room and literally fell within--as across
the cave of the golden dragon, behind him