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Show I HP'S tfT. i fT T P 1 "35 C1a III THE HAND OF A THIEF. In which is introduced Earl Dexter, Dex-ter, American, who "only foes in on ti.e hlg gPiuos." The girl with the. vrclet eyes appcara ayani ;nd ia this third fd.ory of the adventurer attending tlio theft of Mohammed's slipper mystery and excitement are j more intense than ever. A lit tic niip of interested spectators ood nt the head of the square gla-Li 'so in tho renter of tho lofty apart- (int, io tlie I'rilish Antiquarian musr-urn noun a-: tho Fiurtuti room (by reason of io t'.-H't that a fine painting of Sir Rich-'1 Rich-'1 Burton tuce you in you enter). A 'w well dressed people looked on iMiri-us.Iy iMiri-us.Iy from tho lower end of tho c'i?c. t contained but one exhibit a dirty ml diJapida.tod niarkoob or blipper of lorotv-o leather that had onto been nvl. ' " Miir latest, acjnisit ion, gentlemen, ' ' ni'l Mr. Mntyn, tins r-umtor. "It. has ecu left Id the institution by the Into iVofessur T'erpn. lie describes it in document furnished by his solicitor one of (he clippers worn by the 1'rophet Mohammed. J, myself, cannot piiln plaro tho relic." ''Nor I," interrupt ed one of the -',i'oiip. ''It "is, not mentioned ly any '! the Arabian historians to my Knowledge Knowl-edge that is, if it eomes from Mecca, as I understand it doesV ' ' "I cannot positi vely nssert that U 'nines from Meeejt, Dr. Nicholson," Mo-I Mo-I Vii leplie 1. "The professor may have taken 1L from Al Mad inah perhaps from 11)0 mysterious Inner passage of the baldaquin where the treasures of the place bo. Hui, ran assure ynu that what Utile Ut-ile we do know of Us history is sui'llcient-ly sui'llcient-ly unsavor ." 1 fa neloii t hat the curn tor" a tired, nil -tureil voice fullered as he spoke; and' now, without a ppa mil re a son, lie moved ; a s'cp to the. right ami fc la need oddly ! along the room. I followed the direction i oi Ids glance and saw a tall man In eon- j entioual morning dross, irreproachable , in every detail, whose head was inst-antlv I I ent upon his catalogue. But before Ids eyes fell I knew from their long almond! shape, ns well as from the peculiar burnt pallor of his conn lenn nee, that they were1 undoubtedly those of an Oriental. "There have been mysterious outrages committed. T believe, upon many of those who have come In entitct with the slipper." slip-per." a;:kcd one of the savants. "K-.aetly, Professor Beeping was undoubtedly un-doubtedly among the victims. His in-fi in-fi ruct kuis w ere explicit that the reli; should he brought hero by a Moslem, hut tor a kmc: time we failed to discover any Moslem who would under-take the task ; ami, as you are aware, while the slipper remained at the professor's house attempts at-tempts were made to steal It." He ceased, uneasily, and glanced at the tall eastern fifpn-y. It had edned a little nearer: the head was still bowed and the fine yellow waxen fine era of t he hand from which he had removed his glove fumbled with the catalogue's leaves. Tt imiy well he that in those days T read menace in every eye, yet I felt assured that the yellow visitor was eavesdropping eavesdrop-ping --was malignantly a ttentivo to the conversation. 'the eurator spoke lower than ever now; no one beyond the circle could possibly hear 1 1 i in as he p roc e e 1 1 d : "We discovered an Alexandrian Creek who. for personal reasons, not tmrnn-neeted tmrnn-neeted with matrimony, has tinned Moslem. Mos-lem. He carried the slipper here, strongly strong-ly escorted, and place! it where you now ,eo it , No ol her hand has touched it." (The speaker's voice was raised ever so MichtlvO "You will note that there is a rail around tho ease, to prevent visitors from tonchinu' even the class." "Aha," said Tr. Nicholson quizzically. "And has t:uy thimr untoward happened to our r.'raeco-MosIem friend?" " Wrhans Inspector Bristol can tPll you." rep)hul the curator. The stinicht, military fitmre of the well-known Scotland Yard man was conspicuous con-spicuous Qinuiisst the group of distinguished distin-guished ui.d mostly round-shouldered t-ehobu-s. "corry. pentlemen," he said smt liner. hut Mr. Aceoulos has vanished from his 1ohn ceo shop in Soho. T am not apprehensive appre-hensive t h : t he has been kidnapped or anvlhinsr of thnt kind. I think rather 1lut t!ie date of his disappearance tallies with that on which lie cashed his check lor service rendered." "What precaut ions." some one asked. ! - T ' " I l S ,S " ) V s s $ - 1 - s s " ' ,x I I- if:JK - m ' : xCi i nP , A '"'''I'if'.Jjt f ; . J I'll sC- of anvor,e eekiny to possess the blood- f1 V E stained tiling except the mvsterlotis lead- lJ4 ll lit i 0I" of the hashishiu-Hassan of Aleppo ff;J t ll l j A a a creature of that awful, fanatic being W V I j 31 U TV-V4te' '.n I had written her down. I; I I j i V:-Vii ll t.Tf- Why, then, if the mysterious eastern il WW & vr..uil IW emplo-ed a luropean Klrl. should he not si1' ' 4 'Ifi'fli B'tf als0 employ an American man? It misht i y i Il k i ;?SJ " u1, bc that tlf I'ellc-, in entering the I 1'r A Yd F '"loors of the impregnable Antiquarian I V't W, v 1 l i "i i A M I-- li :S museum, had passed where the diabolical ! l !! 'AS M Jill .Ifl.0,.1!. to Pale, wild-eyed, he made his way into the ghaM.ly precincts of the museum. "are beni ta-ken to sjuard tho slipper?" "Well," Mostyn answered, "though we have only the bare word of tho late Professor Pro-fessor feoplne; that the slipper whs actually ac-tually worn by Mohammed, it has certainly cer-tainly an enormous value according to Moslem ideas. There can be no doubt that a croup of fanatics known as ha-shihin ha-shihin are in Loudon eng-aged in an extraordinary ex-traordinary endeavor to recover it." Mostyn s voice sank to an impressive whisper. My gaze sought again the tall eastern visitor and was held fascinated by the baffled straining in those velvet eyes. Rut the lids were lowered as 1 looked, and the effect was that of a fire suddenly extinguished. - I determined to draw Bristol's attention to the man. "Accordingly," Most yn continued, "we have placed it In this room, from which I fancy it would puzzle the most accomplished accom-plished thief to remove it." The party, myself included, stared about the place, as he went on to explain. "We havfe four large windows here, as you see; the ' Hurt on room occupies the end of a wing; there is only one door: it communicates with the next room, which in turn opens info the main building build-ing by another door on the lauding. V.'e are on the first floor; these two east windows win-dows afford a view of the lawn before the main entrance, these two west ones face Orpington square: all are heavily-barred heavily-barred as you see. During the day there Is a man always on duty In these two rooms. At night that communicating door is locked. Short of erecting a ladder in full view either of the square or of Great Orchard street, filing through four iron bai-s and breaking the window and the ease, I fail to see how anybody can get at the slipper here." "So I venture to predict," finished the celebrated orientalist, "that the slipper of the prophet will rest here undisturbed." undis-turbed." He linked his arm into that of a broth er scholar and the little group straggled away, Mostyn accompanying them to th3 main entrance. "The. real danger begins." I suggested to Inspector Bristol, "when the general public is admitted after today, is it not?" "Yes. Ail today's people are especially invited, or are usimc special invitation cards," he replied. "The people -who receive re-ceive them often give their tickets away to those who will be likely really to appreciate ap-preciate the opportunity." I looked around for the ta'l oriental, fie seemed to have vanished, and for some reason 1 hesitated to speak of him to Bristol, for my gaze fell upon an excessively ex-cessively thin, keen-faced man, whose curiously wide-open eyes met mine smilingly; smil-ingly; whose gray suit bespoke the U. S. .A.: whose fr.lt hat. was unmistakably of Boston. At -the height, of the season such visitors a re not rare, but t his one had an odd personality and moreover his keen gaze was raking the place from ceiling to floor. To the best of my recollection T had never set eyes upon the man prior to that moment and since he was so palpably an American I had no reason for assuming him to be associated with the hashishln. But I remembered indeed I could never forget how. in the recent past, T had met with an apparent associate of the Moslems Mos-lems as evidently Kuropean sis this curiously curi-ously alert visitor was American. I I was upon the eve of the death of Professor LVeping that she had first intruded in-truded her fascinating personality into my Uimded affairs. Patently, she had then been seeking the holy slipper and by craft had endeavored to bend me to her will. Then I encountered her again, meeting the glance of her unforgetful v'olet eyes outside a Strand hotel. The encounter had presaced a further attempt upon the slipper. Certainly she acted on behalf of fomeone interested in it and since neither Bristol nor I could conceive of anyone seeking to possess the bloodstained blood-stained tiling except the mysterious leader lead-er of the hash is hi u Hassan of Aleppo as a creature of that awful, fanatic being I had written her down. Why, then, if the mysterious eastern employed a Kuropean girl, should he not also employ an American man? It might well be that the relic, in entering the doors of the impregnable Antiquarian museum, had passed where the diabolical arts of the hashish in had no power to reach it where the beauty of western wo man a nd th e o ra ft of eas tern man were equallv useless weapons. Perhaps Hassan's campaign was entering upon a new phase. Once, 1 had seen the venerable Hassan of Aleppo a stately, gentle old man; but I knew that the velvet eyes could blaze into a passionate fury that seemed to scorch whom it fell upon; I knew- that the saintly I lassam was Sheik of the Hashishin. And familiarity with that dreadful ors:a nization had by no means bred contempt. 1 was the holder of the key. and my fear of the fanatics grew. You, who have not read poor Deeplng's Assyrian Mythology, cannot picture a creature with a huge. distorted head and a tinv. dwarfed body a thing inhuman, inhu-man, yet human a. man stunted and malformed mal-formed by the cruel arts of brother men a tiling obnoxious to life, with but one passion to kill. Yon cannot conceive of 1 he years of agony spent by that creature crea-ture strapped to a wooden frame in order or-der to prevent his growth! You cannot conceive of his fierce hatred of all hu-manltv. hu-manltv. inflamed to madness by the eastern east-ern drusr. hashish, and directed against the enemies -of Islam the holder of the slipper by the wonderful power of Hassan Has-san of Aleppo. But I had not only read of such beings. I had encountered one! And lie was but one of the manv Instruments Instru-ments of the hashishin. Perhaos the girl with the violet eyes was another. Do you wonder that 1 feared? Do vou wonder that 1 hoped (T confess it), hoped that the slipper might be recovered, without further bloodshed? I stepped over to the door, where a constable stood on duty. "You observed a tail eastern gentleman gentle-man in 'the room a while ago, officer?" "J did, sir." "How long has he been gone?" The man started and began to peer about anxiously. "That's a funny thing, sir." he said. "I was keeolnar mv eyes specially upon him. I noticed him hoverint? around while Mr. Mostyn was speaking; but although T could have sworn he hadn't passed out. he's gone." "You didn't notice his departure. then ?' "I'm sorry to say I didn't, sir." Bristol, at the far end of the room, was signal In sr to me. I walked back and joined him. "Come over here." he said In a low voice, "and pretend to examine these things." He slanced significantly to his left. Following the slanco. my eyes fell upon the lenn American: he wa?' peering into the receptacle which held the holy slipper. slip-per. "Pid vou notice that man I glanced at?" "Yes." "Well, that's Earl Dexter, the first crook in America! Rsh! Onlv goes in on very big things. We had word at the I Yard when he landed: but we can't touch him we can only keep our eyes on him-He him-He travels openly and In his own name: always dresses the same and has -just sriveu me "Oood dav!' They call him "the Sombrero Man. We heard this morning tha t he had booked two first-class sailings sail-ings on the Oceanic, leaving for New York three weeks hence. Now, Mr. Cavanagh, what is his game?" "It has occurred to me before Bristol," T replied, "and you may remember that I mentioned the idea to vou, that there mieht be a third party interested in the slipper. Why shouldn't Earl Dexter be that third party?" f "Because he isn't a fool!" rapped Bristol, Bris-tol, shortly. "Karl Dexter isn't a man to sat ther up trouble for himself. More likely if his visit has anything to do with the slipper h's retained hy Hassan and Company. Museum-brea klnsr may be a bit nut of the line of hashishin!" This latter smrsestinn dovetailed with my own ideas, and. oddly enough, there was something positively wholesome in the notion of the straightforward crookedness crook-edness of a mere swell cracksman. Then happened a s insular thing, and one that effort tiallv concluded our whispered whis-pered colloquy. From the top end of the room, beyond the rase containing the slipper, one of the yellow blinds came down with a run. Bristol turned in a flash. Tt was not n remarkable accident, and might portend no more than' a loose cord, but when, havi mr walked rapidly im the room, we srood before the lowered hlind. it appeared that this was no accident at all. Some foer feet from the bottom of the blind (or five feet from the floor) a piece of linen a foot square had been neatly slashed out. Bristol stared at trm in perplexity. "Who on earth did it." he muttered, "and what the blazes for?" "The American centlem.-in has just cone out, sh" rtid the sergeant at the door. T nodded rrrlmlv and raced down the stens. Aeross the h:'l in front of me I saw Karl pextr-r pussinj out of the museum. mu-seum. I felinwo 1 him throutrh into Kinirsway and I'.im-e to Fleet street. He sauntered easilv a'onn. a nonchalant gray figure. I had beuu to think that he ""as bound for his hotel and that I was wastlnr mv time when he turned sharply into nuiet Salisburv square; it was almost de-sertrd. de-sertrd. Mv heart leaned into my mouth with a presentiment of whar was eominc as I ?aw an elecart and beautifully dressed woman saun'ering alone in front of us on the far Side. Was it that T detected somoibine fa -miliar in Iu-T carriage in the puUe of her head something that reminded ire of former for-mer unfiTu'eta hie eno u: iters, em ounters which, without exception, had presavd attempts upon the slipper of ths Prophet'.' Or was it that I re-ohectcd how PeMcr hd 1m ked two assaues for America V I ran not say ; but 1 felt my heart leap ; I knew beyond any possibility of doubt that his ir.t etms: in Salisbury square mark-Hi the opening of a new chapter in thp history of the slipper. f e ter shrpp.l his a rm within that of the etvl in front ot" him and paced slowly j forward in earnest conversation. I sur- j pose n:y action was very amateurish and a piece of very poor detective work; for resard'ess of discovery I crossed the road and passed close by the pair. I am certain that Oexter was speaking as I came up, but well out of earshot his voice w.us suddenly arrested. His companion com-panion turned and looked at me. 1 wrs prepared for it, yet was thrilled electrk-al'lv bv the flashing glance of the violet eyes for it was she the beautiful I harbinger of calamities! j I knew myself helpless, and bending my head with a curious embarrasssment, 1 : passed on hurriedly. I had work to do in plenty, but T could not apply mv mind to it ; and now, a l-though l-though the obvious and sensible tiling to do w'as to go about my business. I wandered wan-dered on aimlessly, my brain employed with a hundred idle conjectures. There was something magnetic about the accursed ac-cursed slipper, for, without knowing by what route I had arrived there. I found mvself in Great Orchard street an,d close under the wails of the British Antiquarian Antiquari-an Museum. Then I was effectually aroused from my reverie. Two men. both tall, stood in the shadow of a doorway on the opposite side of. the street, staring intently up at the Museum j windows. No one else whs In Orchard ! street that odd little backwater at the time, and thev stood gazine upward intently in-tently and gave me not even a passing glance. , . Rut I lnew one for the oriental visitor vis-itor of the morning, and. despite broad noonday and the hum of busy London about me. mv blood seemed to turn to water. J stood rooted to the spot, held there bv a most surprising horror. For the grav-bearded figure of the other watcher was one I could never forget. for-get. It was Hassan of Aleppo! If he saw me., if either,of them saw m I cannot sav. What I should have done, what I might have done, it is useless use-less to speak of here for did nothing. Inert, thrilled bv the presence of that eene, dreadful being, I watched them leave the shadow of the doorway and pace slowly on with their dignified eastern east-ern gait. That night the deviltry began. Mi. Mostvn found himself wholly unable to sleep. Manv relics have curious histories, and the experienced archaeologist becomes be-comes callous to that uncanniness which seems to attach to some gruesome curios. But the slipper of the prophet was different. dif-ferent. No mere ghostly menace threatened threat-ened lis holders; an avenging scimitar followed those who came in contact with it; gruesome tragedies, mutilations, murders, mur-ders, had marked its progress throughout-. The night was still as still as a Don-don Don-don night tan be; for there is always a vague - murmuring in the metropolis as though the sleeping city breathed gently and sometimes stirred in Its sleep. Then, distinct and amid these usual nocturnal noises, rose another, unaccountable unac-countable sound; a muffled crash followed by a musical tinkling. Mostyn sorang up in bed. drew on a dressing gown and took from the small safe at his -bed-head the museum Keys and a loaded revolver. A somewhat disheveled dis-heveled figure, pale and wild-eyed, he made his "way through the private door and into the ghostly precincts of the Assyrian As-syrian gallery. Along its ghostly aisles he passed, and before the door which gave admittance to the Burton room paused, fumbling a moment for the key. Inside the room something was moving. One side of the room lay in blackest darkness: through the furthermost window win-dow of the other a faint yellow lamina lami-na nee ( the moonlight through the blind) spread upon the polished parquet flooring. floor-ing. But that which held the curator spellbound was a lani of cold light which poured its effulgence fully upon the case containing the prophet's slipper! Where the other exhibits lay either . in utter darkness or semi-darkness this one it seemed was supernaturally picked out by this lunar searchlight! ft. was ghostly unnerving, but the first dread of It passed, Mostyn recalled how during the day a hole Inexplicably had been cut in that blind ; he recalled that it had not been mended, hut that the damaged blind had merely been rolled up again. And as a dawning perception of the truth came to him. as falteringly he ad-I ad-I vanced a step toward the mystic beam, he saw that one side of the case had beer j shattered he saw the broken glass upon 1 the floor, and in the dense shadow be- hind and iinder the beam of light, vague- I 1v lis caw 1 lull Amanf Tt moved it seemed to live! Tt move away from the case and In the dlrectior of tho eastern windows! "My God!" whispered Mostyn; "It's the prophet's slipper!" And wildly, blindly, he fired down the room. Later he knew that he had firec in panic: for nothing human was or coulc be in the place; yet his shot was noi without effect, in the, instant of its nasi: something struck sharply against tin dimly-seen blind of one of the east windows; win-dows; he heard the crash of broken glass He leaned to the switch and flooded the room with light. A fear of what it mierhi hold possessed him and he turned instantly. in-stantly. Hard by the fragments of broken gins; upon the floor and midway between th case and the first easterl - window lai the shpper. A bell pmbablv had arousee the attention of a. policeman. Komeont was clamoring upon the door of the museum, mu-seum, too. Mostvn raced forward anr raised the blind that toward which th( slipper had seemed to move. The lower pane of the window was smashed. Blood was trickling down npor the floor from tho jagged edges of th glass. "Hullo, there! Open the door! Oper the door!" Bells were going all over the place now; sounds of running footsteps came from below; but Mostyn stood staring ai the broken window and at the solid iror bars which protected It without, whici were intact, substantial which . shower I him that nothing human could " possiblj j ha ve entered. That was the story as T heard it halt an hour later. For Inspector Bristol, apprised of the happening, was promptl on Hie scene, and knowing how keen war I my interest in the matter, he rang me ur I lm media tely. 1 arrived soon after Bristol Bris-tol a nd found a perplexed group surrounding sur-rounding the uncanny shnner of the prophet. proph-et. No one had dared to touch it: the dread vengeance of Hassan of Aleppc would visit any unbeliever who ventured to lay hand upon the holy, bloody tiling Well we knew it. and. as though it had been a venomous scorpion, we. a company com-pany of np-to-date. prosaic men of af- j fairs. stood around that dilapidated , markoob, and kept a respectful distance. j Mostyn. an odd figure in pajamas anc I dressing gown, turned his pale, inteld- gent face to me as I entered. j "It will have to be put back secretly," he said. His voice was very unsteady. Brlsto nodded grim 17 and glanced at the twe constables, who, with a plain clothes mar unknown to me, made up that midnight company. 'I'll do it, sir," said one of the constables con-stables suddenly. "One moment." Mostyn raised his hand. "Do you understand fully," the curatoi continued, "the risk you run?" "I think so. sir." answered the con- stable, "but I'm prepared to chance it." j "The ' hands." resumed Mostyn slowly "of those, who hitherto have ventured tc touch it have been " he hesitated "cut off." "All riht, sir."' slid the man with a sort of studied truculence. "I'll taka mj chance," I tried to stop him; Mostyn. too. stepped 'forward, and Bristol swore frankly. But : it was of no avail. 1 . s c t ( chill seemed tn claim ir-. 1 very soul when I taw Uiu eonstabk ! By SAX ROHMER. j I (Copyright, IMt by the MiVlurc New ; aper Syndicate. ) sioop, unconcernedly ; ick up the slipper ami replace it in the bn'kcn ca.e. "All ou want is a new pane of glass, sir." lie sa-.d, "and the thing's done." Oonstaole Hunes has no further place in these records. He was picked up outside the sc-ron he use on the fol-lowinsr fol-lowinsr evening with his riyht liand severe. sev-ere. 1 just ahove ike wrist. The day that followed was one of the hottest which we experienced during ihe heal wave. It w;-s a day crowded with harpenings. The Burton room was closed to the public, whilst a gluiier v orked upon the tnoken east window and a new. j blind was fitted to the west. Behind the j workman, guarded by a watchful commis-1 commis-1 si-'iiaire, yawned the shattered case con-I con-I tabling the slipper. At about 11 o'clock, as 1 hurried along the Strand. T almost collided with the girl of the violet eyes! she turned aiul ran hke the wind down Arundel street, whilst I stood at the corner staring after her in blank amazement, as did other pa ssers-bv; for a man cannot with dignity dig-nity race headlong after a pretty woman down a public, thoroughfare! 1 "It's the most horrible and confusing case," Bristol said to me when I joined him at the miisoum, "that the Yard has ever had to handle. It bristles with outrages out-rages and murders. God knows where it will all end. I've had London scoured for a clew to the whereabouts of Hassan Has-san and Cornpanv, and drawn absoluie-lv absoluie-lv blank! Thou there's Fail Dexter. 'Where does he come In? For once in a wav he's living in hiding. 1 can't tind his"headquarters. I've been thinking "j He drew me aside into the small gallery gal-lery which runs parallel witii the Assyrian 1 00 m. "Dexter has booked two passages in the Oceanic. Who is his companion?" I wondered, 1 hail wondered more than once, if his eoirmanion were my beautiful beauti-ful violet-e.ved acquaintance. A scruple perhaps an absurd scruple hitherto had kept me silent respecting her. but now 1 determined to take Bristol fully into my confidence. A conviction was growing; grow-ing; upon me that she and Marl Dexter together represented that third party whose existence we had long suspected. Whether thev operated separately or on behalf of the Moslems (of which arrangement arrange-ment I could not conceive) remained to be seen. I was about to voice my doubts and suspicious when Bristol went on hurriedly: hur-riedly: , "I have thoroughly examined the Burton Bur-ton room, and. considering that the windows win-dows are thirty feet from the ground. t,hat there is no sign of a ladder having stood upon the 'lawn, and that the Iron bars are quite intact, it doesn't look hu-rnanlv hu-rnanlv possible for anyone to have been In the room last night prior to Mostyn's arrival !" "One of the dwarfs " "Not even one of the dwarfs," said Bristol, "could have passed between those Iron bars!" "But there was blood on the windows! "I know t.hre was, and human blood. It's been examined!" He stared at me fixedly. The thing was unspeakably uncanny. "Tonight," he went on, "T am remaining remain-ing in here" nodding toward the Assyrian As-syrian room "and I have so arranged it that no mortal being can possibly know I am here. Mostyn is staying and you may stav, too, if you care to. Owing to Professor Deeplng's will, you are badly involved in the beastly business and I have no doubt you are keen to see it through." , "I am," T admitted, "and the end I look for and hope for is the recovery ot the slipper bv its murderous owners!' t "I am with you," said Bristol. L s just a point of honor; but I should be glad to make them a present of it. " e re ostentatiously placing a constable on duty in the hallway tonight largely as a blind. It will appear that we're taking no other additional precautions." T half anticipated, though I cannot imagine im-agine why. that Karl Dexter would put in an appearance during the day. lie did not do so. however, for Bristol had put a constable on the door who was well acquainted with the appearance ot the Sombrero Man. The inspector, in the course of his Investigations, had come upon what might have been a clew, but what was at best a confusing one. Close bv the wall of the curator's house and lving on the gravel path he had found a part of a gold cuff link. It was of American Ameri-can manufacture. Upon such siender evidence we couia not justlv assume that it pointed to the presence of Dexter on the night or the attempted robbery, but it served to com- rlicate a matter alreadv sufficiently involved. in-volved. In pursuance of Bristol's plan. I con- -.T.i led in v elf that evening just be lore. the closing of the museum doors, in locess behind a heavv piece of Babylon- san scu:piui'e. 1-histol was similarly concealed con-cealed m another part of the room ami Mostvn ..oined us later. All tho blinds being low ered, the As-pvnaii As-pvnaii room was a place of gloom, yellowed yel-lowed on i be vcsiern side by The moonlight moon-light through the blind. The door communicating com-municating with the Burton room was ciosM but not fastened. This was not my first night vigil since I had become in a sense the custodian of the relic, but it 'was quite the most dreary. Amid the tomb-like objects about us we seemed two puny mortals toying with stupendous thinss. We could not smoke and must conerse only in whis-r.ers. whis-r.ers. an 1 so the night wore on until T bee an to think that our watch would be dully uneventful. Then from somewhere somewhere outside out-side the building we all three had heard a soft whisile. A moment of tense listening lis-tening followed. "If onlv we could have had the- place surrounded," whispered Bristol "but it was imjossible, of course." A faint era ling noise echoed through the lofrv Burton room. Bristol slipped past me in the semi -gloom and gently opened the comnuinicatmu door a few inches. Tip-toe. T joined him. and craning across his shoulder saw a M range and wonderful thing. The newly-glazed east window again was shattered with a boomlnc- crash ! The yellow bll nd was thrust aside. A long something reached out toward the broken case. There was a lumblinK sound. Paralv.ed with the wonder of It for the window, remember, was thirty feet from the ground 1 stood frozen to my post. Not so Bristol. As the weird tentsoiS (or more exactly it reminded me of a g igantic t rah's claw) touched the cast', the inspector leaped forward. A white, beam from bis electric torch cut through to the broken cabinet. The thinr was withdrawnand with U went the slipper of the prophet. "Raise the blinds." cried Bristol. "Mr. Cavanagh! Mr. Mostyn! Wo must not let them give us the slip!" 1 got up the blind of the nearest window win-dow as Bristol raised the other. Not a living thing was in sight from either. Ideas of the supernatural came to us all, I know; when, with a scuffling sound not unlike that of a rat tn a celling, something moved a.bov e us! "Damn my thick head !" reared Bristol Bris-tol furiously. "He's on the roof! It's flat as a floor and there's enough Ivy alongside, along-side, the water spout on your house, adjoining, ad-joining, Mr. Mostyn. to afford foothold to an invading arm)!" He plunrrcd off toward the. open door, and I beard him racing down the Assyrian Assy-rian room. "He had a short rope ladder fixed from the gutter!" he cried back at . us. "Graham! "Gra-ham! Graham!" (the constable on duty in the hall.) "Get the front door open! Get ' his voice died away as he leaped down tho stairs. From the direction of Orpington square came a horrid, choking scream. Tt rose hideously: it fell, rose again and died. The thief escaped. We saw the traces upon the Ivy where he had hastened down. Bristol ascended by the same route and found where tho ladder hooks had twice been a tt ached to the gutter-way. gutter-way. Constable Graham, who was first actually to leave the hulldlng, declared that he heard the whirr of a restarted motor lower down Great Orchard street . Bristol's theory, later to be dreadfullv subFtantialed. was that the thief had broken the glass and reached into tho rase with an arrangement similar to that employed for pruning trees, havinc a clutch at the end, worked with a cord. "Hassan ha.s been too clever for us!" said the- inspector. "But what in God's name did that awful screaming mean?" T had a theory, but I did not advance it then. It was not until nearly dawn that my theory and Bristol's regarding the clutch arrangement both were conHrmed. For, eloso under the railings which abut on Orpington square, we found in a pool of blood Just such an instrument as Bristol . had described. And still clutching- it was a pallid ami ghastly shrunken hand that had been severed above the wrist! "Merciful God!" whispered the inspector, in-spector, "look at the opal ring on the finger! Look at the bandage, where he cut himself on the broken window glass tha.t first night, when Mr. Mostyn disturbed dis-turbed Mm. It wasn't the hashishin who stole the thing. . It's Earl Dextcr's - hand!" No one spoke for a moment. Then: j "Which of them has " began Mostyn huskily. "The slipper of the prophet?" interrupted inter-rupted Bristol. "I wonder If we shall I ever know." |