Hugh and Watkins unlashed two heavy from the cabin roof and thrust them outboard through oarlocks rivetted to the cockpit railing. Side by side, in , they pulled with a long, deliberate stroke, while Betty . It was no easy task to move that launch across the swift-flowing tide of the Bosphorus, and it seemed an endless time before the mass of the shoreline, becoming visible to our unaided sight, furnished an index to the progress we were making.  
"Nikka and I can relieve them," I offered as the rowers began to pant.
 
"You haven't done it before," answered Betty shortly. "You might splash."
 
Indeed, the oars made scarcely a as they were lifted, feathered and dipped, tedious as was the effort imposed both by their weight and the size of the launch.
 
"Much farther?" Hugh between teeth.
 
"The jetty is right ahead," Betty him. "You had better get forward, Dad, and be ready to off the rocks."
 
Vernon King climbed up on the cabin roof and crawled into the bow. Nikka and I strained our eyes endeavoring to identify the details of the shore. To the right, and already a little astern of us, was a huge round tower, one of the of the ancient walls. Other than this there was only a dim range of , the city walls, for the most part, crowned by houses. Not a light showed opposite to us.
 
Presently, letting our eyes drop lower, we immediately in front a low breakwater, a jagged pile of rocks that ran out from the shore in the form of a blunted hook. Betty, carefully, brought the Curlew inside the hook and bow-on to the shore, so that the launch was protected from the current that flowed through the Strait. King and made fast a line around one of the rocks, then felt his way back along the slippery footing of the breakwater and stepped into the cockpit. Hugh and Watkins unshipped the sweeps and laid them on the cabin roof.
 
All of us were staring at the blank darkness of the shoreline, tense and ; but my uncle's interest was still largely of an antiquarian nature.
 
"Do you appreciate how fortunate we are to have this ruined jetty to to?" he whispered excitedly. "No in the old days were ever able to these seaward walls because of the currents. Without protection, we, too, should be smashed to pieces if we tried to lie under them. But this place evidently was one of the walls of a harbor for the Imperial galleys. It was, of course, . This hook terminated in a strong tower. A second hook—"
 
"Daddy, Daddy," Betty, "you aren't lecturing to-night. We—we're reconnoitering the enemy's position."
 
Hugh had been studying the shore again through the night-glasses.
 
"Not a sign of life," he murmured. "Now, you chaps, show us the lay of the land."
 
Nikka and I, with the help of the glasses, plotted for the others the arrangement of Tokalji's establishment. There was the brick extension of the bachelors' quarters, crowning a part of the sea-wall. There was the gap between this structure and the House of the Married, which was shut in only by the crenellated height of the wall. And finally, there was the House of the Married, with the Garden of the within its heart, lifting its solid bulk above all adjoining buildings. There were no windows on the seaward face of Tokalji's house.
 
"The old wall between the two wings—between the bachelors' quarters and and the House of the Married—ought to be easy to climb," I concluded.
 
"The wall of the House of the Married is very irregular, too," added Betty. "We have passed it close in a number of times by daylight, and we all agreed an active man could climb it."
 
"That's a good idea," approved Nikka. "If you could enter by the House of the Married you could seize the valuable part of the position first. Sound military strategy."
 
"Yes," Hugh, "you could your position—how the old comes back, though!—and then occupy the rest of the place as convenient. By Jove, if you didn't want to occupy it, you could—"
 
"Oh, you'd have to occupy it," I interrupted. "I say, do you know that place looks ?"
 
"There's somebody there, never fear," rejoined Betty.
 
"According to Nikka's uncle, a good part of the were to-day," returned Hugh.
 
"There is no use hurrying," cautioned my uncle. "We shall have plenty of opportunities."
 
"There is good reason for striking when you are not expected," retorted Hugh.
 
Nobody answered him. We were all staring hungrily at the shadowy shape of the House of the Married, towering above the seawall. It hypnotized us. We were by the unfathomable mysteries it suggested, by the knowledge of the prize it contained.
 
"There's no time like the present," I said softly.
 
"Yes, they won't be looking for us so soon again," agreed Nikka. "They will be figuring that we had enough of a fright last night."
 
"Perhaps you are right," surrendered Vernon King. ", we are frequently told, is the favored bride of fortune. I must admit that this place exerts a which arouses in me certain instincts I had supposed were finally cured or buried.'
 
"You mean, Dad," said Betty, "that you feel like being foolish with the others."
 
"Oh, come, Bet," protested Hugh, "this is no time for squabbling. What could be more unexpected than a raid from us to-night? They probably think, as Nikka says, that we will go slow after last night, and they don't even know we are out here."
 
"I wouldn't be too sure of that," rejoined Betty.
 
"Besides," I said, "their force is so that we couldn't have a better opportunity."
 
"They may be reinforced."
 
"Nonsense," said Hugh. "Watty, bring out those tools. We shall want the rope for climbing and a couple of crowbars. If we need anything else we can send back for it."
 
Watkins, who had preserved a respectful silence throughout our debate, cleared his throat apologetically.
 
"I beg your ludship's pardon, but—but—you'll not be going into that of thieves at this hour of the night, sir?"
 
"Certainly, Watty. It will be easier 'at this hour of the night' than in broad daylight."
 
"But—but—your ludship! Mister Hugh, sir! It's flying in the face of , if I may say so—after what 'appened to Mister and Mister Nikka, sir—there's no knowing what those devils 'ave waitin' for you."
 
I am ashamed to say that we all as loudly as we dared at Watkins's fears.
 
"You can stay in the boat with Miss Betty, if you'd rather," said Hugh.
 
Without a word, Watkins dropped down the cabin hatchway.
 
"Why do you single me out to be left behind?" demanded Betty indignantly.
 
"Because, Betty, you can't climb that wall—and somebody has got to be ready to start the engine and get us away in a hurry."
 
"I suppose you're right," she sighed. "Well, don't blame me if anything goes wrong. Of all the hare-brained—"
 
"Rats!" I . "If they jump us, and there are too many of them, we'll retreat. But maybe we can clean up this job to-night for good and all. If we can, it's worth trying."
 
Watkins emerged from the cabin with the tools and the expression of a . Nikka insisted that he was the best climber in the party, and took charge of the rope. Hugh and I carried the crowbars, which we wrapped in sailcloth to prevent their clinking against the stones of the wall. Then we stepped on to the slimy rocks of the jetty, Nikka in the lead.
 
It was a climb to the shore, and we negotiated it slowly, one another and taking every precaution to avoid making any noise. At last we found ourselves in the of bowlders constituting the breakwater at the foot of the sea-wall, which reared its moss-grown battlements high overhead. We turned to the left here, and crawled over and through the rocks on the beach to a point under the overhanging wall of the House of the Married. From the beach it looked unclimbable, but Nikka, after surveying its mounting courses, shattered and riven by centuries of neglect, by earthquakes and the ceaseless of the waves, removed his shoes and started the , an end of the grapnel-rope looped around his waist.
 
We who watched him stood with knocking hearts for what seemed an . Spread-eagled against the wall, he appeared as infinitesimal as a fly in the darkness. At first we could see him when he slipped and caught himself or or clutched for handholds. But soon he became an indistinct on the masonry, and we held our breath, helpless now to aid him. Our first knowledge that he had succeeded came when he jerked up the grapnel lying ............