n. His object was to
get into the house unnoticed, and to awake Hartley without betraying
himself to the servants.

Hartley's bungalow was closed for the night, and the _Durwan_ slept
rolled in a blanket in a corner of the veranda. Coryndon held his
sobbing breath and crept along the shadows, watching the man closely
until the danger zone was passed, and then he ran on around the sharp
angle of the house and dived into Hartley's room. In the centre stood
the bed, draped in the ghostly outlines of white mosquito-curtains, and
Coryndon walked lightly over the matted floor and shook the bed gently.
Hartley stirred but did not wake, and Coryndon called his name and
continued to call it in a low whisper. The Head of the Police stirred
again and then sat up suddenly and answered Coryndon in the same low
undertone.

"Get into your clothes quickly, while I tell you what has happened,"
said Coryndon, sitting low in the shadow of the bed, and while Hartley
dressed he told him the details shortly and clearly.

The bungalow was still in darkness, and, with a candle in his hand to
light him, Hartley went into his office and rang up the Paradise Street
Police Station. When he came back Coryndon was standing looking through
a corner of a raised chick.

"The _Durwan_ is awake," he said, without turning his head. "Call him
round to the front, otherwise he may see me."

"Come on, come on, man," said Hartley impatiently, "there is no time to
lose."

Coryndon turned and smiled at him.

"This is where I go out of the case," he said. "I shall be back in time
for breakfast to-morrow," and without waiting to argue the point he
dived out into the waning darkness of the night, leaving Hartley looking
helplessly after him.

XXIV

IN WHICH A WOODEN IMAGE POINTS FOR THE LAST TIME

Before the Burman left Leh Shin in charge of Absalom, he had pinned the
Chinaman by the arms and spoken to him in strange, strong words that
scorched clear across the chaos in his mind and made him understand a
hidden thing. The fact that this man was not a mad convict, but a member
of the great secret society who tracked the guilty, almost stunned the
Chinaman, who knew and understood the immense power of secret societies.

Mhtoon Pah might be driving wildly along a road leading out of
Mangadone, and though one old Chinaman and a mad Burman could not stop
him, the long arm of police law would grab and capture his gross body.
Leh Shin sat quite stil