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Page 73
The trees met overhead, but no rustle disturbed their leaves and of
animal life no indication showed itself. There was no moon.
A full appreciation of my mad folly came to me, and with it a sense
of heavy depression. This stillness that ruled all about the house
which sheltered the awful Sheikh of the Assassins was ominous, I
thought. In short, my nerves were playing me tricks.
"We have little to fear," said my companion, speaking in a hushed
and quivering voice. "The whole of the party left England some
days ago."
"Are you sure?"
"Certain! We learned that before Earl made his attempt. Hassan
remains, for some reason; Hassan and one other--the one who drives
the car."
"But the slipper?"
"If Hassan remains, so does the slipper!" From the knapsack, which,
as you will have divined, did not contain a camera, she took out an
electric pocket lamp, and directed its beam upon the hedge above us.
"There is a gap somewhere here!" she said. "See if you can find it.
I dare not show the light too long."
Darkness followed. I clambered up the bank and sought for the
opening of which Carneta had spoken.
"The light here a moment," I whispered. "I think I have it!"
Out shone the white beam, and momentarily fell upon a black hole in
the thickset hedge. The light disappeared, and as I extended my
hand to Carneta she grasped it and climbed up beside me.
"Put on your rubber shoes," she directed. "Leave the others here."
There in the darkness I did as she directed, for I was provided with
a pair of tennis shoes. Carneta already was suitably shod.
"I will go first," I said. "What is the ground like beyond?"
"Just unkempt bushes and weeds."
Upon hands and knees I crawled through, saw dimly that there was a
short descent, corresponding with the ascent from the lane, and
turned, whispering to my fellow conspirator to follow.
The grounds proved even more extensive than I had anticipated. We
pressed on, dodging low-sweeping branches and keeping our arms up to
guard our faces from outshoots of thorn bushes. Our progress
necessarily was slow, but even so quite a long time seemed to have
elapsed ere we came in sight of the house.
This was my first expedition of the kind; and now that my goal was
actually in sight I became conscious of a sort of exultation hard
to describe. My companion, on the contrary, seemed to have become
icily cool. When next she spoke, her voice had a businesslike ring,
which revealed the fact that she was no amateur at this class o
work.
"Wait here," she directed. "I am going to pass all around the
house, and I will rejoin you."
I could see her but dimly, and she moved off as silent as an Indian
deer-stalker, leaving me alone there crouching at the extreme edge
of the thicket. I looked out over a small wilderness of unkempt
flower-beds; so much it was just possible to perceive. The plants
in many instances had spread on to the pathways and contested
survival with the flourishing weeds. All was wild--deserted--eerie.
A sense of dampness assailed me, and I raised my eyes to the
low-lying building wherein no light showed, no sign of life was
evident. The nearer wing presented a verandah apparently overgrown
by some climbing plant, the nature of which it was impossible to
determine in the darkness.
The zest for the nocturnal operation which temporarily had thrilled
me succumbed now to loneliness. With keen anxiety I awaited the
return of my more experienced accomplice. The situation was
grotesque, utterly bizarre; but even my sense of humour could not
save me from the growing dread which this seemingly deserted place
poured into my heart.
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