'And just as I grasped the fact that help for poor Barton-- if he had not passed beyond its reach--had arrived, I heard a second sound... Said's signal!
'Appreciating his state of anxiety--I had been missing for hours--I circled round the camp and joined him. He had heard the decent of the plane, of course, but he was even more urgently concerned about a party of three men and a woman, the men bearing heavy burdens, who at that very moment, I gathered, were setting out on camels for Kurna!
'I weighed the chances--and the stakes. I came to a speedy decision. Leaving Said on duty, I set out for a point on the Kurna road --where Fletcher was posted....
'Needless to add, I failed to overtake Fah Lo Suee. Fletcher had noted the mysterious caravan, but naturally had not challenged it. I returned, and made my return known to Said.... '
'You alarmed the whole camp!' I broke in. 'We had learned to recognise that false dog's howling! '
'Quite!' Nayland Smith smiled his rare, revealing smile. 'But Said informed me that Rima Barton, who had been here, in Luxor, was back in camp with Ali Mahmoud and that you three fellows were with Forester in the big hut....
'Dead beat though I was, another job remained: to enable you to find Barton! I sent Said out scouting. The last thing I desired was to make a dramatic entrance that night. Said presently returned to report that you, Weymouth, and Greville had gone to the excavation with Ali Mahmoud.
'I ordered Said to creep down Lafleur's Shaft and watch....
'He was back in less that seven minutes by my watch! He had met a woman coming out! He thought that she had not seen him. She had gone towards the Valley....
'My fatigue forgotten, I set out racing along the top of the wadi-- '
'Rima saw you!' I interrupted.
'Very likely. I observed that the door of the hut was open....
'A wild-goose chase! Madame had vanished! With characteristic cool courage she must have returned to find out what had become of her missing servant.
'When the news reached me that Barton lived, I was worse than dog-tired; I was exhausted. And that night I shared a humble shakedown with Said.'
5
'I dislike dividing our forces at this stage of the campaign,' said Nayland Smith, 'but there's nothing else for it. I had intended to send a message down, Petrie, if you hadn't anticipated me. As a matter of fact'--he glanced at the table--'I was writing it when the manager rang me up. I can play my lone hand no longer.
'Fletcher must stay on guard. We can't leave Sir Lionel unprotected. Rima, of course, must remain also. Indeed it would be useless to ask her to do otherwise. And I want you, Greville, to act as guide. It's a pretty desperate expedition. But there's a chance we may be able to strike quickly and strangle this dreadful business at the hour of its birth. '
'Just a moment. Sir Denis,' Weymouth interrupted. 'Where do I come in?'
Smith turned to him, and: 'Glad to have you with me,' he replied, 'although your actual duty doesn't call for it. '
'Thanks,' said Weymouth dryly.
Smith met Dr. Petrie's fixed stare.
'Your leave starts next Thursday,' he said. 'And I can imagine how Karamaneh is looking forward to seeing London again....'
There was a short silence, then: 'Is that all you have to say?' asked the doctor.
Nayland Smith grasped his shoulders impulsively.
'We stuck together pretty closely in the old days,' he said. 'But, now, I daren't ask you-- '
'You don't have to!' Petrie declared truculently. 'I'm coming! '
'But where are we for?' I asked.
'For the house at present occupied by Fah Lo Suee. '
'What!' Petrie exclaimed. 'Then where is this house? '
'Near the Oasis of Kharga--which accounts for Weymouth's inability to trace it! '
'But Kharga's surely a hundred and fifty miles! '
'There's a sort of railway,' I said, 'and a train about twice a year, from somewhere down Farshut way. '
'Not our route,' snapped Nayland Smith. 'We're going from Esna. '
'But that's just a caravan road--and a bad one too. The chief and I went once--he had an idea of working on the Temple of Hibis there--and I'm not likely to forget it! Sir Lionel loves camels--and so we went on camels. It took us three days to get to Kharga and three days to get back! '
'What I wanted to know! We're going by car. '
'Gad! There are some nasty bits! '
'There may be. But if Fah Lo Suee can do it, we can do it! The only car I could beg, borrow, or steal was a hard-bitten Buick about six years old. But I've got it parked in a quiet spot. I completed arrangements this morning. You might glance over this map.'
From the table drawer he produced a large-scale map, when:
'What on earth are we going for?' Weymouth demanded. 'We're going to spy! To-night, I have reason to believe, the powers of hell will be assembled in el- Kharga.'
6
I went along to the room occupied by the chief, quietly opened the door, and looked in. He lay as I had last seen him, haggard, and pale under his tan. But his expression remained untroubled, and his strong, bronzed hands, crossed, rested quietly on the sheet.
Rima was sitting by the open window, reading. She looked up as I entered, shook her head and smiled rather sadly.
I went across to her.
'No change, dear? '
'Not the slightest. But you look excited, Shan. What is it? Something that extraordi- nary man Nayland Smith has told you? '
'Yes, darling. He has discovered what we wanted to know. We start in an hour.'
Rima grasped my arm. Her eyes opened widely and her expression grew troubled; then:
'Do you mean--her?'
I nodded.
'Where she is? '
'Yes. '
'Oh, that woman terrifies me!.... I hate the thought of your going.'
I put my arm around her shoulders.
'You have none of your old doubts, darling, have you?' I asked.
She shook her head, then nestled against me.
'But I'm afraid of her,' she explained --'desperately afraid of her. She is evil-- utterly evil. Where is this place? '
'In the Oasis of Kharga. '
'What! But that's miles and miles away in the desert! However are you going to get there?'
I briefly explained Nayland Smith's plan; and when Rima understood that he as well as Weymouth and Petrie were coming with the party, she seemed to grow easier in mind. Nevertheless, I could see that she was very troubled. And I have often wondered since if some moment of prevision came to her--if she foresaw, dimly, that a dreadful danger lay awaiting me in the Oasis ofKharga....
'To-night... the powers of hell will be assembled...'
Nayland Smith's strange words recurred to me.
A sound of footsteps on the gravel in the garden below brought my mind sharply to present dangers. I crossed to the balcony and looked down. One glance was sufficient to reassure me. Of course, I might have known! Fletcher, pipe in mouth, was slowly pacing up and down-- a sure guard, if ever a man had one.
'He stays there all the time. until the windows are closed,' Rima explained. 'Then he comes up and remains in the corridor.'
