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ever way we go, it seems to me, we may be taken from the rear."

"I know; we must chance it. We can't separate, because we've only got one torch. We'll try the branch that goes straight on, but be ready to turn round at a moment's notice."

This passage, after a short distance, seemed to terminate in a blank wall. But there was a crack in the wall and Gordon, bending down, saw through the crack the billiard-room as they had left it a quarter of an hour ago, the balls still in position, the door still shut behind which Carmichael and Marryatt were on guard.

"Switch the light higher up," he whispered.

Surely Reeves' torch was giving more light than usual? It seemed to have suddenly doubled its brightness. And then, just as he realized that another torch had been turned on from behind them, a strange voice came out of the darkness:

"Now then, you there, I've got you covered. You this side, drop that torch. . . . That's right: now, you in front, put that revolver down. . . . Now turn and go back the way you came."

It was humiliating, but there was nothing to be done. They had been taken in the rear by somebody coming up the other arm of the passage; they could see nothing of him, looking straight into the light of his torch. He stood at the junction of the two branches to let them pass, still invisible: as they went back on their tracks, Gordon had a wild idea of doubling into the priests' room, but