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Show ftii- TREASURE v rrentano's inc ' ARTHUR. D. 1 eorYS SMIT.I1 IlilmT? Tonl "lake my word for TT. you chaps, but thru man was Youssouf Mahkouf Pasha, who is popularlv known in this part of the world as-'The as-'The Grand Vizier's Jackal.' You probably prob-ably do not see why yon should be interested in him and his presence here today. The fact is, however, that his visit to this house was timed so that you should have an opportunity to see him. We particularly desired you to see him, knowing that you ah " he smiled agreeably "might be inclined to doubt the veracity of whatever what-ever we said to you. j "To cut a long story short, Mahkouf Mah-kouf Pasha is n particular pal of our fellow club-member, Ililmi. I don't mind Jettin' you in on it that they've been in several deals together. Now. we owe you a bit on account. Last night, for instance. But I gather that you yourselves aren't able to ride clear on the strength of it." rie paused, and LTugb caught him np. "You have no right to suppose that," Hugh retorted sharply. "We aren't talking terms. You are." "I notice you aren't refusing to discuss dis-cuss terms." said Uilyor with a glint v i CHAPTER XI Continued. m : -tidFs'refired, grunfbTing. - ,.If vou'H permit me," I said uneas-! uneas-! ' "I'm Inclined to think you are1 I y;(1 -ersonally, 1 don't hanker for 11 j loVou' attentions. We may lose this V ' l,,We n-n't lose this opportunity,' A I -nered Ui.gh, "and I hope we won't 3 I ; Nellie more valuable opportunity I m Yi 1 looki'ig for in the future. Help me ff h2km-a the door." : iren 1 appreciated the plan. We ; it() the crowbar under the sill and ! pWC"n the jamb and the lintel, and ! ljtj, very little dilliculty forced the . I (loor from its hinges. As it came free, 1 w causlit it. nntl let it down gently : cn the door. 1 crept out into the cor-ri(ior cor-ri(ior and around a turn where a I flht of stairs began. To the left of the stairs a passage trended at right : angles, with a slight upward grade, ana j' followed It until I came to a is- jjjmsy door of planks. I listened at .v. Its crack, but heard nothing, so 1 ap-piled ap-piled my crowbar and forced the rick- i '"'. ! "'-Til M 7Jr ?y Tng mad a" TTiigb ToipI7i landerlng and at Uetty for picking such nn occasion for tears. rut my rage was not proof against the bubbling joy with which 1 bey greeted me as they hopped aboard. "Meet the new Lpdy Cbesby," whispered whis-pered iTngli. "Did you ever hear of such a thing?" said Petty. "Why, I had no more idea when I climbed cu1 on those rocks " "No, I suppose not," I .leered. "Well, children, let me tel' you you chose a poor time for this. If you want my congratulations you must help us to make a quick getaway." "He's light," agreed Letty, tearing herself loose from H igh's arm. "We are crazy. Jack, you loose, the bow line. Watkins, are the sweeps ready? Prepare to cast off astern, Hugh." LTugh and I were recouped with brandy and ,'ater and sandwiches, and fifteen minutes later, with the current to help us, we had worked out into the Marmora, i am bound to say Betty's Bet-ty's first thovght thcr was of Nikka. She put Watkins at the wheel, with orders to stand west at low speed, and ducked into the cabin with us. "How is he?" she asked. "He has not recovered consciousness yet," answered her father. "To tell the truth, I haven't tried hard to bring him around. I fear his shoulder is dislocated." dis-located." Betty stooped over Nikka, and felt gingerly of arm and shoulder. "Yes," she said, "it's dislocated. I have seen dislocations pulled out in the hospitals during the war. I think I can get his shoulder back if some of you will hold him clown. It is bound to hurt him cruelly for the moment." She stationed us, Hugh bearing down on his well shoulder, Vernon King and 1 grasping each a leg. She took a deep breath, caught arm and shoulder in her strong young fingers, tugged, twisted with a wrench and there was an audible snap. Betty stepped back, flushed and trembling. "There," she said, "it's in place, but I wouldn't do it again tonight for any-tiling." any-tiling." "Good girl," 1 said. Nikka opened his eyes and sat up In the bunk, bumpi ..g his head. "Ouchl" he yelled. "Where am I? What" "The Fact Is You Are Stumped Just as Much as We Are." ; r-v f I in his eye. The fact is, you are stumped just aa much as we are. We are plugging around the course, and neither one of us can jockey a horse cleai of the field. It's d n nonsense. Gets nobody aLywhere. Sensible thing to do is to lay cards on the table, and make a deal." (To Be Continued) rescue that night, and I made him and Watkins come back to the Curlew with me. We couldn't think of anything to do for you, short of going In ourselves and setting you free. We didn't know how to get in touch with Nikka's uncle and Ills gypsy friends. Manifestly, we didn't want to tell the police or the British authorities although we would have done that had we been unable to get to you tonight. Oh, Hugh, If there hadn't been that opening from your dungeon !" The tears came into her eyes. 'To think what Nikka had to stand? And you others would have had it, too." "If there hadn't been that there would have been something else," Hugh reassured her. "And now we have a secret way to follow direct into To-kalji's To-kalji's lair." ''But nfler you get In you will have a pitched batte before you can control the place," Nikka pointed out. "I don't see that yon are likely to profit very much by it unless you are willing to put the issue to the proof by cold steel." There was no gainsaying this argument, argu-ment, and none of us was inclined to advjoate wholesale slaughter, not even Nikka, with his aching shoulder and memory of Teuton'" brutality. We had hashed over the subject pretty thoroughly thor-oughly by the time the Curlew was docked, without discovering a solution of our pioblom, and from sheer weakness weak-ness abandoned the discussion by mutual mu-tual consent. In the hotel lobby we said good night it vsas really good morning and went to bed ',. sleep the clock around. Twenty-four hours rest made us fit. Nikka's arm and shoulder were still lame, but he had Watkins rub him with liriment that suppled the strained muscles, and declared that he was as game for a fight as any of us, and at breakfast we were able to muster a degree of optimism, despite the difficulties dif-ficulties 1 the situation. "It boils down to this," said Hugh, 'we know that the Instructions are correct cor-rect and that we have a desperate crew of criminals to reckon with. Our job is to "trick Tokulji's crowd." "You can't trick them," snapped Nikka. Nik-ka. "They are as clever as we." "Then what can you do?" demanded Betty. "Exterminate them. We are fighting savages. I don't want to risk any of our lives, treasure or no treasure, beyond be-yond what Is essential to our safety. But the fact remains there is but one kind of treatment those people will understand. They are clever, remorseless, remorse-less, merciless. You can " There was a knock on the door. Watkins Wat-kins answered it. His back stiffened as he peered through the crack. "A moment, if you please, sir," he said coldly, refastened the door and turned to us. ''Mr. 'Uyer would like a word with your ludship." Hugh rose, his jaw set. "I'll talk to him outside," he said. The aoor closed behind him, and we lookeu at each other, startled, uneasy. Nobody said anything. We were all thinking of the conversation going on in the corridor. The tense sience lasted for perhaps five minutes. Then the door was reopened, re-opened, and Hugh entered. "Hilyer wants to talk terms," he announced. "In th' circumstances, I didn't d that we could' afford to overlook over-look any chance, and I have arranged that four of us will meet four of his crowd at Uilmi's h.ouse at three this afternoon "I don't trust the dog," I said immediately. im-mediately. "Why go U Hllmi's house? Why couldn't he talk here?" "He said the only way he could prove that he has l certain trick up his sleeve would be for us to go there. He iso pointed out that we need have no fear of treachery, as we only needed need-ed t ' leave word behind us where we were going. Hilyer seemed In a reasonable rea-sonable frame of mind. He said his cro-vd are sick of the whole business, that they as well as we are wasting time, and that we might as well compromise. com-promise. What I am after Is to feel out the enemy's position." None of us could think np a valid reason for obje-ting to Hugh's strategy, strate-gy, so it was agreed that Le, Vernon King, Nikka and- myself should keep the appointment at Ililmi's house, Betty Bet-ty said she would take Watkins and go for a sail in the Curlew, and we all approved of her plan because we considered con-sidered her safest on the water. After luncheon we escorted Betty and Watkins to the Man-o'-war dock, saw them off and then walked through I'era to nilmi's house in the Rue Mid-hat Mid-hat Bash. As we approached it from the corner, a big automobile halted in front of the entrance, and Uilml, himself, appeared in the doorway, ushering out a stout personage, whose frock coat, fez and predatory visage proclaimed the Turkish official. The man scarcely glanced at us, merely climbed into his machine and drove away. We passed through a square hall Into In-to a salon which was a bizarre combination combi-nation of rickety French period furniture furni-ture and priceless, solid oriental stuff. Hilyer, Ilelene and Serge Vassilievich were iouuging on a conch, smelling cigarettes and talking in low tones. The men rose as we came in, Hilyer with a swa:.'ncr, the Russian with a frown that pr.'srntt.v Licussed on my face it scored he had never f.u-g-q-ton or fnr.!vrii the ber.'ip.g 1 gave hi:-.i in the guaro '"tj at Ckc.-hy. lie-:, -tie lay tri'-U against a pile i cushions. lanc-i'TC-sly at ease, b.-au;:-I fnl as a t:;;''c-s. a p!oaant s:ri!e curv-j curv-j Ing her fau!:!e's 1'ps. other than the smile, she taaile r.o move to greet us. "Sit. clown, won't you?'' said IL'.yer. automatically taking charge. "Glad yen came. Pid they see your friend. : Hugh and I, Between Us,' Eased Him ! Gently Through the Hole, i Ue rubbed ms suouiuer reminiscent- iy. "I'm sore all over, but I have a feeling feel-ing it hurt worse a little while ago. How did I get here? And Hugh and Jack?" So we recounted to him the full story of rescue, which, in turn, necessitated neces-sitated chronicling our adventures of the past twenty-four hours for Betty and her father. "1 imagined, of course, that a mishap mis-hap such as you describe had befallen you," remarked King when we had finished. "When Nikka shouted his warning, Watkins and I held a hasty conference od the roof and decided that your adjuration must have had sufficient urgency behind It to warrant our obedience, however reluctant we might be to abandon you. Upon Watkins' Wat-kins' Insistence, 1 preceded him down the rope. Prior to his own descent, he loosened the grapnel, with an eye to the possibility of twitching it down, so that when he wn? some eight or ten feet from the ground the rope came free above, and he was precipitated into nn opening in the rocks which we had not hitherto perceived. "I may say that we later determined In the daylight that It was practically Invisible from the adjacent waters, and the hasty investigation I was able to make on my own behalf leads me to the provisional conclusion that we have stumbled upon a genuine nrcheologlcal find." "Yes, yes, daddy," Interrupted Betty, Bet-ty, "but you'd better let me carry on. You see, boys, I heard Watkins squawk when he fell. The only reason Tou-tou Tou-tou and his friends didn't hear him was that they were so busy with you. I left the boat and scrambled over the rocks nearly scared dad to death. He thought I was an enemy. Watkins had disappeared into this opening. lie thought he was In n cave, and I made dad get in after him and look around with a flashlight. So long ns the rope and grapnel had come down, there was no way for Teuton's gang to trace us, and I was wondering whether we couldn't make use of a hiding-place almost al-most in the enemy's camp." "I say, that was clever of you 1" said Hugh admiringly. We all chuckled, but Betty thanked him with a smile. "Oh, I was a little heroine," she continued. con-tinued. "No movie heroine conl.l have surpassed me. Pad took a look', and announced that It was one of (he old sowers, and seemed to run inland beneath be-neath Tokulji's house, fie wanted to follow it all the way in. but I decided there would be no opportunity for a cty lock. Reyond this door stretched a vast cellar which underlay the cellar of tbP House of the Married, ji I united only t- make sure that it wis unoccupied, and then returned to the dungeon. Hugh had pushed the i stone grating hito position on the edge I ff tho opening, leaving a space bare-t bare-t 'J iilo enough for us to slip through. I ; "e '''"i'l-ied down, and found we could ! ert the necessary strength, with the ! ;i "dp of tho crow bar, to pry the grat- ! " " Into its bed. j : We crept awa after Nikka and Wat-: Wat-: ms, feeling light-hearted for the first I ; "ue in twenty-four hours. We splasheu " ffutcr over our ankles. Big rats , 'entiled around us. But we were at i "ty, and we licked our puffy litjs ith our swollen tongues at the ' bought I Jf "e dlsniny that our enemies would Toel when thc re-entered the dun-! dun-! Seon. Nild;n fainted at, we reached the mouth 0 the drain, which was fortu- "'"e tor him, as it saved him the n'ony of the slippery climb over the i", 8 of u'e bench and the ruined W r to the Curlew. As we approached, two figures Jumped from the deck, and the slights' slight-s' of them ran towards us. lluglil" came the whispered call, nre you there? Are you safe? " "re yon carrying, Jack? Is it-" 1 wine first, lluU,ing Kikta,s fcet ,W , "nd wtt'ns. supporting his the r Wcre ,ndIstInguisliable in on, n I' U slruck me mlul,.V Immor-that Immor-that Betty's first anxiety should '"wmiously revealed. tlotKi" W" rlgllt'" 1 answered cau-,,,. cau-,,,. kn's hurt, though. Keep l"-. you idiot." t!aiu-llan'0od '" s,le said Ineonsequen-comm' Ineonsequen-comm' ? , 1 down pn t"e rocks and c ' 10 iced to cry softly. cur," eP'ntol In a sentimental linve0' Wat,5"" he growled, "you'll ..y n,,,,11'o by yourself." torc-Mv f.10'1, your I'l'Iship," mut-" mut-" utl.ms. haokUltv'lli,;a's b0(1y sn"' nna looke1 Hilled i 9 r'odding deter- n .n ' 8 mdlln ns to lead ne to cast T' Z V nt lhe "Sinless bulk of ';!lJi S house. Ml;'-, , Cn? 1,01,1 a,,0llt d'lrle up, for 1 f di'iim' ,!VO"1 louufi'i-' llK'ki'v V Mm 00 t1le r0CU"S' r,l,t w'lh 'hiIn" King ''CiK'hl?'" "' 1111,1 hunt,- ini 1 We Kot lllt0 to t!11" ,e tin-v "hln. Leaving King turned 'to Pt,nf Wm' wtkln- and 1 - - -d ekpltI was fight- |