Hugh slipped the penciled translation in his pocket, swiftly rewrapped the Black Letter original and stowed it in the ebony chest, and refastened the iron box, which he returned to its former place on the mailed breast of his dead ancestor.  
"That's Watkins," he said. "Something has happened up above. Come on, you chaps."
 
In the doorway he paused by the body of Toutou's gangster.
 
"What about this?" he demanded. "I won't have him left in there—with those."
 
He gestured toward the silent forms that filled the sepulcher.
 
"No need to," returned Nikka curtly, emptying the lime-sack as he spoke. "Leave him here."
 
We trotted on, and when we passed the first turn in the passage, just beyond the wreck of the ancient door, we saw a light that bobbed up and down in the near distance.
 
"Your ludship!" wailed Watkins's voice through the booming echoes.
 
"Steady on, Watty," Hugh called back. "I'm here."
 
"Thank God! Oh, your ludship, I'm that—"
 
Watkins panted up to us quite out of breath. He carried a dwindling candle in one hand, and his usually tidy garments were coated with dust.
 
"Must—apologize—ludship—appearance—fell—stairs," he began.
 
"Easy, easy," said Hugh comfortingly, and fell to brushing him off. "If it's bad news, why, it's bad news, Watty. If it's good news, it can wait."
 
"It was a lady, your ludship!"
 
We all laughed.
 
"A lady!" repeated Hugh. "Bless my soul, Watty, are you gettin' dissolute in your old age?"
 
"She 'ad nothing to do with me, your ludship," remonstrated the valet indignantly. "Leastwise, I should say, she 'ad no more to do with me than make a mock of me and the pistol you gave me."
 
"How's that?"
 
"Took it away from me, she did, your ludship." Watkins's voice quivered with wrath. "And tripped me on me back. Yes, and laughed at me!"
 
"A lady, you said?" demanded Hugh incredulously.
 
Watkins nodded his head.
 
"And hextremely pretty, too, if I may say so, your ludship."
 
Hugh looked helplessly at Nikka and me.
 
"I say, this is a yarn!" he exclaimed. "Watty, for God's sake, get a grip on yourself. Begin at the beginning, and tell everything."
 
He grinned.
 
"Conceal nothin', you old reprobate, especially, if there were any amorous episodes with this lady."
 
"Your ludship! Mister Hugh, sir!" Watkins's expression was a study in injured innocence. "You will 'ave your bit of fun, I suppose. As for me, sir, if I was for making love to some female I'd take one that was not so free with her strength."
 
"Are you sure it was a woman?" interrupted Nikka.
 
"Judge for yourself, sir, Mister Nikka. After you gentlemen left me, I tidied up the room, and quite a time had passed, I should judge, when I heard a click, and one of the windows opened in the south oriel."
 
"That's the one Toutou and his man escaped through," I broke in. "They probably fixed the lock."
 
"Very likely, sir. I turned when I 'eard the click, and the lady stuck 'er leg over the sill."
 
"Stuck her—" Hugh gasped.
 
"Quite so, your ludship. She 'ad on riding-breeches. A very pretty lady she was, your ludship," added Watkins contemplatively.
 
"So you've said before," commented Hugh. "And what next?"
 
"I said: 'Who are you, ma'am?' And she laughed, and said: 'Oh, it's only me, Watkins.' And I said: 'Well, ma'am, I'm sure I don't know 'ow you come to 'ave my name, but I really can't permit you to come in 'ere. Please get down, and go around to the front door.'
 
"With that she 'opped over the window-sill, and stood there, looking about 'er. 'Come on, now, if you please, ma'am,' I said again. And I'm sure, your ludship, I was considerate of 'er all the way through."
 
"I'll bet a pony you were," said Hugh sympathetically.
 
"Yes, sir. Thank you, your ludship. She looked around, as I said, and she walked over to the fireplace as cool as a cucumber. 'I see they did find it, after all,' she says, and she stooped and peeked in at the 'ole where the stone 'ad dropped. At that I knew she could be no friend, so I poked the pistol at 'er, and said: 'I don't want to 'arm you, ma'am, but you'll 'ave to come outside with me.'
 
"'Oh,' she says, 'you wouldn't 'urt me, Watkins. You're a nice, kind, old valet, aren't you?'"
 
Watkins's voice throbbed with renewed indignation, and we all three, the gravity of the situation forgotten, collapsed on the dusty floor.
 
"Go on, go on," gasped Hugh.
 
"'Ow can I, your ludship, if you're laughing all the time?" protested Watkins. "Oh, well, you will 'ave your fun!"
 
"So did she," I chuckled.
 
"She did, sir," agreed Watkins with feeling. "She came right up against the pistol, and put out 'er 'and and patted my cheek like, and the first thing I knew, gentlemen, she 'ad tripped me and grabbed the pistol from my 'and, and there was I, lying on the floor, and she with 'er legs straddled over me, pointing the pistol at me, and laughing like sin.
 
"'Get up,' she says. And she went and sat sidewise on the table, with the pistol resting on 'er knee.'
 
"What was she like, Watty?"
 
"She 'ad black hair, sir, and was dark in the face. She wasn't big, but she was—well, shapely, you might say. And she 'ad a way of laughing with 'er eyes. She asked me where you were, and what you had found, and I stood in front of her, and just kept my mouth shut. 'I might shoot you if you won't talk,' she says. 'And if you do, there'll be those that will hear it, and you'll be seen before you get away,' I told 'er. 'True,' says she, 'and I couldn't bring myself to do it, anyway. You're too sweet. You can tell your master, though, that we're not sorry he's found what he was looking for. If we couldn't find it, the next best thing was for him to find it. Whatever he does, he will play into our hands.'
 
"Then she walked over to the window, and dropped the pistol on a chair. "'Ere,' she says. 'You might 'ave me taken up for breaking and entering if I went off with this.' And she 'opped over the sill on to the lawn. When I got there she was in 'er saddle and riding away. I tried to telephone to the Lodge to 'ave 'er stopped, but the wires were cut. They must 'ave done it in the night, your ludship. 'Awkins was unable to get through to any of the village tradespeople this morning.'
 
"Was that all?" asked Hugh.
 
"Yes, your ludship. I called 'Awkins, and told 'im to stand in the front door, and send away anybody who came. Then I climbed down into the 'ole, thinking you would wish to know what 'ad 'appened immediately, your ludship."
 
"You did quite right, Watty. I don't blame you for what happened. The lady must have been a Tartar."
 
Hugh turned to us.
 
"It seems to me the lesson for us in this last experience is that we have got to move rapidly if we are going to shake off Teuton's gang," he said. "They are fully as formidable as Nikka warned us they would be. We ought to start for Constantinople this afternoon."
 
"There's no question of that," assented Nikka. "But what are you going to do with the key to the treasure? You have it in your pocket now, but it is a long journey to Constantinople. Suppose they steal it en route? They may have plenty of opportunities, you know. Personally, I am not sanguine of shaking them off. Then, too, you must remember that Constantinople is the human sink of Europe, Asia and Africa, more so to-day even than before the War. It swarms with adventurers and dangerous characters. The refuse of half-a-dozen disbanded armies make their headquarters there. It will be a simple matter for a gang like Toutou's to waylay you or search your baggage."
 
Hugh flushed.
 
"I had thought of that," he said. "Er—the fact is—Jack has a cousin—a girl we both know—"
 
"You mean you do," I interrupted sarcastically. "I'm only her cousin. Have you heard from Betty?"
 
"Yes, damn you! She and her father are at the Pera Palace—he's an archæologist-bibliophile Johnny, Nikka, and an awfully good sort."
 
"And the girl?" inquired Nikka, with his quiet grin.
 
"Oh, you'll meet her, too. She's very different from what you'd expect in a cousin of Jack. Anyhow, she knows about this treasure busines............