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肩書を与える: 指名するs in the 黒人／ボイコット 調書をとる／予約する
Author: Robert E. Howard
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指名するs in the 黒人／ボイコット 調書をとる／予約する

by

Robert E. Howard

A STEVE HARRISON STORY

First published in 最高の-探偵，刑事 Stories, May 1934

最高の-探偵，刑事 Stories, May 1934

"THREE 未解決の 殺人s in a week are not so unusual—for River Street," grunted Steve Harrison, 転換ing his muscular 本体，大部分／ばら積みの restlessly in his 議長，司会を務める.

His companion lighted a cigarette and Harrison 観察するd that her わずかな／ほっそりした 手渡す was 非，不，無 too 安定した. She was exotically beautiful, a dark, supple 人物／姿／数字, with the rich colors of purple Eastern nights and crimson 夜明けs in her dusky hair and red lips. But in her dark 注目する，もくろむs Harrison glimpsed the 影をつくる／尾行する of 恐れる. Only once before had he seen 恐れる in those marvelous 注目する，もくろむs, and the memory made him ばく然と uneasy.

"It's your 商売／仕事 to solve 殺人s," she said.

"Give me a little time. You can't 急ぐ things, when you're 取引，協定ing with the people of the Oriental ４半期/4分の1."

"You have いっそう少なく time than you think," she answered cryptically. "If you do not listen to me, you'll never solve these 殺人，大当りs."

"I'm listening."

"But you won't believe. You'll say I'm hysterical—seeing ghosts and shying at 影をつくる／尾行するs."

"Look here, Joan," he exclaimed impatiently. "Come to the point. You called me to your apartment and I （機の）カム because you said you were in deadly danger. But now you're talking riddles about three men who were killed last week. 流出／こぼす it plain, won't you?"

"Do you remember Erlik 旅宿泊所?" she asked 突然の.

Involuntarily his 手渡す sought his 直面する, where a thin scar ran from 寺 to jaw-縁.

"I'm not likely to forget him," he said. "A Mongol who called himself Lord of the Dead. His idea was to 連合させる all the Oriental 犯罪の societies in America in one big organization, with himself at the 長，率いる. He might have done it, too, if his own men hadn't turned on him."

"Erlik 旅宿泊所 has returned," she said.

"What!" His 長，率いる jerked up and he glared at her incredulously. "What are you talking about? I saw him die, and so did you!"

"I saw his hood 落ちる apart as Ali ibn Suleyman struck with his keen-辛勝する／優位d scimitar," she answered. "I saw him roll to the 床に打ち倒す and 嘘（をつく） still. And then the house went up in 炎上s, and the roof fell in, and only charred bones were ever 設立する の中で the ashes. にもかかわらず, Erlik 旅宿泊所 has returned."

Harrison did not reply, but sat waiting for その上の 公表，暴露s, sure they would come in an indirect way. Joan La 小旅行する was half Oriental, and partook of many of the 特徴 of her subtle 肉親，親類.

"How did those three men die?" she asked, though he was aware that she knew 同様に as he.

"Li-chin, the Chinese merchant, fell from his own roof," he grunted. The people on the street heard him 叫び声をあげる and then saw him come hurtling 負かす／撃墜する. Might have been an 事故—but middle-老年の Chinese merchants don't go climbing around on roofs at midnight.

"Ibrahim ibn Achmet, the Syrian curio 売買業者, was bitten by a cobra. That might have been an 事故 too, only I know somebody dropped the snake on him through his skylight.

"Jacob Kossova, the Levantine 輸出業者, was 簡単に knifed in a 支援する alley. Dirty 職業s, all of them, and no 明らかな 動機 on the surface. But 動機s are hidden 深い, in River Street. When I find the 有罪の parties I'll 暴露する the 動機s."

"And these 殺人s 示唆する nothing to you?" exclaimed the girl, 緊張した with 抑えるd excitement. "You do not see the link that connects them? You do not しっかり掴む the point they all have in ありふれた? Listen—all these men were 以前は associated in one way or another with Erlik 旅宿泊所!"

"井戸／弁護士席?" he 需要・要求するd. "That doesn't mean that the 旅宿泊所's spook killed them! We 設立する plenty of bones in the ashes of the house, but there were members of his ギャング（団） in other parts of the city. His gigantic organization went to pieces, after his death, for 欠如（する） of a leader, but the 生存者s were never 暴露するd. Some of them might be 支払う／賃金ing off old grudges."

"Then why did they wait so long to strike? It's been a year since we saw Erlik 旅宿泊所 die. I tell you, the Lord of the Dead himself, alive or dead, has returned and is striking 負かす／撃墜する these men for one 推論する／理由 or another. Perhaps they 辞退する to do his bidding once more. Five were 示すd for death. Three have fallen."

"How do you know that?" said he.

"Look!" From beneath the cushions of the divan on which she sat she drew something, and rising, （機の）カム and bent beside him while she 広げるd it.

It was a square piece of parchment-like 実体, 黒人／ボイコット and glossy. On it were written five 指名するs, one below the other, in a bold flowing 手渡す—and in crimson, like 流出／こぼすd 血. Through the first three 指名するs a crimson 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 had been drawn. They were the 指名するs of Li-chin, Ibrahim ibn Achmet, and Jacob Kossova. Harrison grunted explosively. The last two 指名するs, as yet unmarred, were those of Joan La 小旅行する and Stephen Harrison.

"Where did you get this?" he 需要・要求するd.

"It was 押すd under my door last night, while I slept. If all the doors and windows had not been locked, the police would have 設立する it pinned to my 死体 this morning."

"But still I don't see what 関係—"

"It is a page from the 黒人／ボイコット 調書をとる／予約する of Erlik 旅宿泊所!" she cried. "The 調書をとる／予約する of the dead! I have seen it, when I was a 支配する of his in the old days. There he kept accounts of his enemies, alive and dead. I saw that 調書をとる／予約する, open, the very day of the night Ali ibn Suleyman killed him—a big 調書をとる／予約する with jade-hinged ebony covers and glossy 黒人／ボイコット parchment pages. Those 指名するs were not in it then; they have been written in since Erlik 旅宿泊所 died—and that is Erlik 旅宿泊所's handwriting!"

If Harrison was impressed he failed to show it.

"Does he keep his 調書をとる／予約するs in English?"

"No, in a Mongolian script. This is for our 利益. And I know we are hopelessly doomed. Erlik 旅宿泊所 never 警告するd his 犠牲者s unless he was sure of them."

"Might be a 偽造," grunted the 探偵，刑事.

"No! No man could imitate Erlik 旅宿泊所's 手渡す. He wrote those 指名するs himself. He has come 支援する from the dead! Hell could not 持つ／拘留する a devil as 黒人／ボイコット as he!" Joan was losing some of her 宙に浮く in her 恐れる and excitement. She ground out the half-消費するd cigarette and broke the cover of a fresh carton. She drew 前へ／外へ a わずかな／ほっそりした white cylinder and 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd the 一括 on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. Harrison took it up and absently 抽出するd one for himself.

"Our 指名するs are in the 黒人／ボイコット 調書をとる／予約する! It is a 宣告，判決 of death from which there is no 控訴，上告!" She struck a match and was 解除するing it, when Harrison struck the cigarette from her with a startled 誓い. She fell 支援する on the divan, bewildered at the 暴力／激しさ of his 活動／戦闘, and he caught up the 一括 and began gingerly to 除去する the contents.

"Where'd you get these things?"

"Why, 負かす／撃墜する at the corner 麻薬 蓄える／店, I guess," she stammered. "That's where I usually—"

"Not these you didn't," he grunted. "These fags have been 特に 扱う／治療するd. I don't know what it is, but I've seen one puff of the stuff knock a man 石／投石する dead. Some 肉親，親類d of a hellish Oriental 麻薬 mixed with the タバコ. You were out of your apartment while you were phoning me—"

"I was afraid my wire was tapped," she answered. "I went to a public booth 負かす／撃墜する the street."

"And it's my guess somebody entered your apartment while you were gone and switched cigarettes on you. I only got a faint whiff of the stuff when I started to put that fag in my mouth, but it's unmistakable. Smell it yourself. Don't be afraid. It's deadly only when 点火（する）d."

She obeyed, and turned pale.

"I told you! We were the direct 原因（となる） of Erlik 旅宿泊所's 倒す! If you hadn't smelt that 麻薬, we'd both be dead now, as he ーするつもりであるd!"

"井戸／弁護士席," he grunted, "it's a cinch somebody's after you, anyway. I still say it can't be Erlik 旅宿泊所, because nobody could live after the lick on the 長，率いる I saw Ali ibn Suleyman 手渡す him, and I don't believe in ghosts. But you've got to be 保護するd until I run 負かす／撃墜する whoever is 存在 so 解放する／自由な with his 毒（薬）d cigarettes."

"What about yourself? Your 指名する's in his 調書をとる／予約する, too."

"Never mind me," Harrison growled pugnaciously. "I reckon I can take care of myself." He looked 有能な enough, with his 冷淡な blue 注目する，もくろむs, and the muscles bulging in his coat. He had shoulders like a bull.

"This wing's 事実上 孤立するd from the 残り／休憩（する） of the building," he said, "and you've got the third 床に打ち倒す to yourself?"

"Not only the third 床に打ち倒す of the wing," she answered. "There's no one else on the third 床に打ち倒す anywhere in the building at 現在の."

"That makes it 罰金!" he exclaimed irritably. "Somebody could こそこそ動く in and 削減（する） your throat without 乱すing anyone. That's what they'll try, too, when they realize the cigarettes didn't finish you. You'd better move to a hotel."

"That wouldn't make any difference," she answered, trembling. Her 神経s 明白に were in a bad way. "Erlik 旅宿泊所 would find me, anywhere. In a hotel, with people coming and going all the time, and the rotten locks they have on the doors, with transoms and 解雇する／砲火／射撃 escapes and everything, it would just be that much easier for him."

"井戸／弁護士席, then, I'll 工場／植物 a bunch of 警官，（賞などを）獲得するs around here."

"That wouldn't do any good, either. Erlik 旅宿泊所 has killed again and again in spite of the police. They do not understand his ways."

"That's 権利," he muttered uncomfortably aware of a 有罪の判決 that to 召喚する men from （警察，軍隊などの）本部 would surely be 調印 those men's death 令状s, without 遂行するing anything else. It was absurd to suppose that the dead Mongol fiend was behind these murderous attacks, yet—Harrison's flesh はうd along his spine at the memory of things that had taken place in River Street—things he had never 報告（する）／憶測d, because he did not wish to be thought either a liar or a madman. The dead do not return—but what seems absurd on Thirty-ninth Boulevard takes on a different 面 の中で the haunted 迷宮／迷路s of the Oriental ４半期/4分の1.

"Stay with me!" Joan's 注目する，もくろむs were dilated, and she caught Harrison's arm with 手渡すs that shook violently. "We can defend these rooms! While one sleeps the other can watch! Do not call the police; their 失敗s would doom us. You have worked in the ４半期/4分の1 for years, and are 価値（がある） more than the whole police 軍隊. The mysterious instincts that are a part of my Eastern 遺産 are 警報 to danger. I feel 危険，危なくする for us both, 近づく, creeping closer, gliding around us like serpents in the 不明瞭!"

"But I can't stay here," he scowled worriedly. "We can't バリケード ourselves and wait for them to 餓死する us out. I've got to 攻撃する，衝突する 支援する—find out who's behind all this. The best 弁護 is a good 罪／違反. But I can't leave you here unguarded, either. Damn!" He clenched his big 握りこぶしs and shook his 長，率いる like a baffled bull in his perplexity.

"There is one man in the city besides yourself I could 信用," she said suddenly. "One 価値（がある） more than all the police. With him guarding me I could sleep 安全に."

"Who is he?"

"Khoda 旅宿泊所."

"That fellow? Why, I thought he'd skipped months ago."

"No; he's been hiding in Levant Street."

"But he's a confounded 殺し屋 himself!"

"No, he isn't; not によれば his 基準s, which means as much to him as yours do to you. He's an Afghan who was raised in a code of 血-反目，不和 and vengeance. He's as honorable によれば his creed of life as you or I. And he's my friend. He'd die for me."

"I reckon that means you've been hiding him from the 法律," said Harrison with a searching ちらりと見ること which she did not 捜し出す to 避ける. He made no その上の comment. River Street is not South Park Avenue. Harrison's own methods were not always 正統派の, but they 一般に got results.

"Can you reach him?" he asked 突然の. She nodded.

"Alright. Call him and tell him to （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 it up here. Tell him he won't be （性的に）いたずらするd by the police, and after the brawl's over, he can go 支援する into hiding. But after that it's open season if I catch him. Use your phone. Wire may be tapped, but we'll have to take the chance. I'll go downstairs and use the booth in the office. Lock the door, and don't open it to anybody until I get 支援する."

When the bolts clicked behind him, Harrison turned 負かす／撃墜する the 回廊（地帯） toward the stairs. The apartment house 誇るd no elevator. He watched all 味方するs warily as he went. A peculiarity of architecture had, indeed, 事実上 孤立するd that wing. The 塀で囲む opposite Joan's doors was blank. The only way to reach the other 控訴s on that 床に打ち倒す was to descend the stair and 上がる another on the other 味方する of the building.

As he reached the stair he swore softly; his heel had crunched a small vial on the first step. With some vague 疑惑 of a 工場／植物d 毒（薬） 罠（にかける） he stooped and gingerly 調査／捜査するd the 後援d bits and the 流出／こぼすd contents. There was a small pool of colorless liquid which gave off a pungent, musky odor, but there seemed nothing lethal about it.

"Some damned Oriental perfume Joan dropped, I reckon," he decided. He descended the 新たな展開ing stair without その上の 延期する and was presently in the booth in the office which opened on the street; a sleepy clerk dozed behind the desk.

Harrison got the 長，指導者 of police on the wire and began 突然の.

"Say, Hoolihan, you remember that Afghan, Khoda 旅宿泊所, who knifed a Chinaman about three months ago? Yes, that's the one. 井戸／弁護士席, listen: I'm using him on a 職業 for a while, so tell your men to lay off, if they see him. Pass the word along pronto. Yes, I know it's very 不規律な; so's the 職業 I 持つ／拘留する 負かす／撃墜する. In this 事例／患者 it's the choice of using a 逃亡者／はかないもの from the 法律, or seeing a 法律-がまんするing 国民 殺人d. Never mind what it's all about. This is my 職業, and I've got to 扱う it my own way. All 権利; thanks."

He hung up the receiver, thought vigorously for a few minutes, and then dialed another number that was definitely not 関係のある to the police 駅／配置する. In place of the 長，指導者's にわか景気ing 発言する／表明する there sounded at the other end of the wire a squeaky whine でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れるd in the argot of the 暗黒街.

"Listen, Johnny," said Harrison with his customary abruptness, "you told me you thought you had a lead on the Kossova 殺人. What about it?"

"It wasn't no 嘘（をつく）, boss!" The 発言する／表明する at the other end trembled with excitement. "I got a tip, and it's big!—big! I can't 流出／こぼす it over the phone, and I don't dare 動かす out. But if you'll 会合，会う me at Shan Yang's hop 共同の, I'll give you the 麻薬. It'll knock you loose from your 支え（る）s, believe me it will!"

"I'll be there in an hour," 約束d the 探偵，刑事. He left the booth and ちらりと見ることd 簡潔に out into the street. It was a misty night, as so many River Street nights are. Traffic was only a 薄暗い echo from some distant, busier section. Drifting 霧 dimmed the street lamps, shrouding the forms of 時折の passers-by. The 行う／開催する／段階 was 始める，決める for 殺人; it only を待つd the 外見 of the actors in the dark 演劇.

Harrison 機動力のある the stairs again. They 負傷させる up out of the office and up into the third story wing without 開始 upon the second 床に打ち倒す at all. The architecture, like much of it in or 近づく the Oriental section, was rather unusual. People of the ４半期/4分の1 were 悪名高くも fond of privacy, and even apartment houses were built with this passion in mind. His feet made no sound on the thickly carpeted stairs, though a slight crunching at the 最高の，を越す step reminded him of the broken vial again momentarily. He had stepped on the 後援s.

He knocked at the locked door, answered Joan's 緊張した challenge and was 認める. He 設立する the girl more self-所有するd.

"I talked with Khoda 旅宿泊所. He's on his way here now. I 警告するd him that the wire might be tapped—that our enemies might know as soon as I called him, and try to stop him on his way here."

"Good," grunted the 探偵，刑事. "While I'm waiting for him I'll have a look at your 控訴."

There were four rooms, 製図／抽選 room in 前線, with a large bedroom behind it, and behind that two smaller rooms, the maid's bedroom and the bathroom. The maid was not there, because Joan had sent her away at the first intimation of danger 脅すing. The 回廊（地帯） ran 平行の with the 控訴, and the 製図／抽選 room, large bedroom and bathroom opened upon it. That made three doors to consider. The 製図／抽選 room had one big east window, overlooking the street, and one on the south. The big bedroom had one south window, and the maid's room one south and one west window. The bathroom had one window, a small one in the west 塀で囲む, overlooking a small 法廷，裁判所 bounded by a 絡まる of alleys and board-盗品故買者d backyards.

"Three outside doors and six windows to be watched, and this the 最高の，を越す story," muttered the 探偵，刑事. "I still think I せねばならない get some 警官，（賞などを）獲得するs here." But he spoke without 有罪の判決. He was 調査／捜査するing the bathroom when Joan called him 慎重に from the 製図／抽選 room, telling him that she thought she had heard a faint scratching outside the door. Gun in 手渡す he opened the bathroom door and peered out into the 回廊（地帯）. It was empty. No 形態／調整 of horror stood before the 製図／抽選 room door. He の近くにd the door, called reassuringly to the girl, and 完全にするd his 査察, grunting 是認. Joan La 小旅行する was a daughter of the Oriental ４半期/4分の1. Long ago she had 供給するd against secret enemies as far as special locks and bolts could 供給する. The windows were guarded with 激しい アイロンをかける-を締めるd shutters, and there was no trapdoor, dumb waiter nor skylight anywhere in the 控訴.

"Looks like you're ready for a 包囲," he commented.

"I am. I have canned goods laid away to last for weeks. With Khoda 旅宿泊所 I can 持つ／拘留する the fort 無期限に／不明確に. If things get too hot for you, you'd better come 支援する here yourself—if you can. It's safer than the police 駅／配置する—unless they 燃やす the house 負かす／撃墜する."

A soft 非難する on the door brought them both around.

"Who is it?" called Joan warily.

"I, Khoda 旅宿泊所, sahiba," （機の）カム the answer in a low-pitched, but strong and resonant 発言する／表明する. Joan sighed 深く，強烈に and 打ち明けるd the door. A tall 人物／姿／数字 屈服するd with a stately gesture and entered.

Khoda 旅宿泊所 was taller than Harrison, and though he 欠如（する）d something of the American's sheer 本体，大部分／ばら積みの, his shoulders were 平等に 幅の広い, and his 衣料品s could not 隠す the hard lines of his 四肢s, the tigerish suppleness of his 動議s. His garb was a curious combination of 衣装, which is ありふれた in River Street. He wore a turban which 井戸／弁護士席 始める，決める off his 強硬派 nose and 黒人／ボイコット 耐えるd, and a long silk coat hung nearly to his 膝s. His trousers were 従来の, but a silk sash girdled his lean waist, and his foot-gear was Turkish slippers.

In any 衣装 it would have been 平等に evident that there was something wild and untamable about the man. His 注目する，もくろむs 炎d as no civilized man's ever did, and his sinews were like coiled springs under his coat. Harrison felt much as he would have felt if a panther had padded into the room, for the moment placid but ready at an instant's notice to go 飛行機で行くing into 炎上ing-注目する，もくろむd, red-taloned 活動／戦闘.

"I thought you'd left the country," he said.

The Afghan smiled, a 微光 of white まっただ中に the dark 絡まる of his 耐えるd.

"Nay, sahib. That son of a dog I knifed did not die."

"You're lucky he didn't," commented Harrison. "If you kill him you'll hang, sure."

"Inshallah," agreed Khoda 旅宿泊所 cheerfully. "But it was a 事柄 of izzat—栄誉（を受ける）. The dog fed me swine's flesh. But no 事柄. The memsahib called me and I （機の）カム."

"Alright. As long as she needs your 保護 the police won't 逮捕（する） you. But when the 事柄's finished, things stand as they were. I'll give you time to hide again, if you wish, and then I'll try to catch you as I have in the past. Or if you want to 降伏する and stand 裁判，公判, I'll 約束 you as much leniency as possible."

"You speak 公正に／かなり," answered Khoda 旅宿泊所. "I will 保護する the memsahib, and when our enemies are dead, you and I will begin our 反目，不和 もう一度."

"Do you know anything about these 殺人s?"

"Nay, sahib. The memsahib called me, 説 Mongol dogs 脅すd her. I （機の）カム 速く, over the roofs, lest they 捜し出す to 待ち伏せ／迎撃する me. 非，不，無 （性的に）いたずらするd me. But here is something I 設立する outside the door."

He opened his 手渡す and 展示（する）d a bit of silk, evidently torn from his sash. On it lay a 鎮圧するd 反対する that Harrison did not 認める. But Joan recoiled with a low cry.

"God! A 黒人／ボイコット scorpion of Assam!"

"Aye—whose sting is death. I saw it running up and 負かす／撃墜する before the door, 捜し出すing 入り口. Another man might have stepped upon it without seeing it, but I was on my guard, for I smelled the Flower of Death as I （機の）カム up the stairs. I saw the thing at the door and 鎮圧するd it before it could sting me."

"What do you mean by the Flower of Death?" 需要・要求するd Harrison.

"It grows in the ジャングルs where these vermin がまんする. Its scent attracts them as ワイン draws a drunkard. A 追跡する of the juice had somehow been laid to this door. Had the door been opened before I slew it, it would have darted in and struck whoever happened to be in its way."

Harrison swore under his breath, remembering the faint scratching noise Joan had heard outside the door.

"I get it now! They put a 瓶／封じ込める of that juice on the stairs where it was sure to be stepped on. I did step on it, and broke it, and got the liquid on my shoe. Then I 跡をつけるd 負かす／撃墜する the stairs, leaving the scent wherever I stepped. （機の）カム 支援する upstairs, stepped in the stuff again and 跡をつけるd it on through the door. Then somebody downstairs turned that scorpion loose—the devil! That means they've been in this house since I was downstairs!—may be hiding somewhere here now! But somebody had to come into the office to put the scorpion on the 追跡する—I'll ask the clerk—"

"He sleeps like the dead," said Khoda 旅宿泊所. "He did not waken when I entered and 機動力のある the stairs. What 事柄s if the house is 十分な of Mongols? These doors are strong, and I am 警報!" From beneath his coat he drew the terrible Khyber knife—a yard long, with an 辛勝する／優位 like a かみそり. "I have 殺害された men with this," he 発表するd, grinning like a bearded mountain devil. "Pathans, Indians, a ロシアの or so. These Mongols are dogs on whom the good steel will be shamed."

"井戸／弁護士席," grunted Harrison. "I've got an 任命 that's 延滞の now. I feel queer walking out and leaving you two to fight these devils alone. But there'll be no safety for us until I've 粉砕するd this ギャング（団） at its root, and that's what I'm out to do."

"They'll kill you as you leave the building," said Joan with 有罪の判決.

"井戸／弁護士席, I've got to 危険 it. If you're attacked call the police anyway, and call me, at Shan Yang's 共同の. I'll come 支援する here some time before 夜明け. But I'm hoping the tip I 推定する／予想する to get will enable me to 攻撃する，衝突する straight at whoever's after us."

He went 負かす／撃墜する the hallway with an eerie feeling of 存在 watched and scanned the stairs as if he 推定する／予想するd to see it 群れているing with 黒人／ボイコット scorpions, and he shied wide of the broken glass on the step. He had an uncomfortable sensation of 義務 ignored, in spite of himself, though he knew that his two companions did not want the police, and that in 取引，協定ing with the East it is better to 注意する the advice of the East.

The clerk still sagged behind his desk. Harrison shook him without avail. The man was not asleep; he was drugged. But his heartbeat was 正規の／正選手, and the 探偵，刑事 believed he was in no danger. Anyway, Harrison had no more time to waste. If he kept Johnny Kleck waiting too long, the fellow might become panicky and bolt, to hide in some ネズミ-run for weeks.

He went into the street, where the lamps gleamed luridly through the drifting river もや, half 推定する／予想するing a knife to be thrown at him, or to find a cobra coiled on the seat of his automobile. But he 設立する nothing his 疑惑 心配するd, even though he 解除するd the hood and the rumble-seat to see if a 爆弾 had been 工場／植物d. 満足させるing himself at last, he climbed in and the girl watching him through the slits of a third-story shutter sighed relievedly to see him roar away unmolested.

Khoda 旅宿泊所 had gone through the rooms, giving 是認 in his 耐えるd of the locks, and having 消滅させるd the lights in the other 議会s he returned to the 製図／抽選 room, where he turned out all lights there except one small desk lamp. It shed a pool of light in the 中心 of the room, leaving the 残り／休憩（する） in shadowy vagueness.

"不明瞭 baffles rogues 同様に as honest men," he said sagely, "and I see like a cat in the dark."

He sat cross-legged 近づく the door that let into the bedroom, which he left partly open. He 合併するd with the 影をつくる／尾行するs so that all of him Joan could make out with any distinctness was his turban and the 微光 of his 注目する，もくろむs as he turned his 長，率いる.

"We will remain in this room, sahiba," he said. "Having failed with 毒（薬） and reptile, it is 確かな that men will next be sent. 嘘（をつく） 負かす／撃墜する on that divan and sleep, if you can. I will keep watch."

Joan obeyed, but she did not sleep. Her 神経s seemed to thrum with tautness. The silence of the house 抑圧するd her, and the few noises of the street made her start.

Khoda 旅宿泊所 sat motionless as a statue, imbued with the savage patience and immobility of the hills that bred him. Grown to manhood on the raw 野蛮な 辛勝する／優位 of the world, where 生き残り depended on personal ability, his senses were whetted keener than is possible for civilized men. Even Harrison's trained faculties were blunt in comparison. Khoda 旅宿泊所 could still smell the faint aroma of the Flower of Death, mingled with the acrid odor of the 鎮圧するd scorpion. He heard and identified every sound in or outside the house—knew which were natural, and which were not.

He heard the sounds on the roof long before his 警告 hiss brought Joan upright on the divan. The Afghan's 注目する，もくろむs glowed like phosphorus in the 影をつくる／尾行するs and his teeth 微光d dimly in a savage grin. Joan looked at him inquiringly. Her civilized ears heard nothing. But he heard and with his ears followed the sounds 正確に and 位置を示すd the place where they 停止（させる）d. Joan heard something then, a faint scratching somewhere in the building, but she did not identify it—as Khoda 旅宿泊所 did—as the 軍隊ing of the shutters on the bathroom window.

With a quick 安心させるing gesture to her, Khoda 旅宿泊所 rose and melted like a slinking ヒョウ into the 不明瞭 of the bedroom. She took up a blunt-nosed (a)自動的な／(n)自動拳銃, with no 広大な／多数の／重要な 有罪の判決 of 依存 upon it, and groped on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する for a 瓶／封じ込める of ワイン, feeling an 激しい need of 興奮剤s. She was shaking in every 四肢 and 冷淡な sweat was 集会 on her flesh. She remembered the cigarettes, but the 無傷の 調印（する） on the 瓶／封じ込める 安心させるd her. Even the wisest have their thoughtless moments. It was not until she had begun to drink that the peculiar flavor made her realize that the man who had 転換d the cigarettes might just as easily have taken a 瓶／封じ込める of ワイン and left another in its place, a facsimile that 含むd an 無傷の 調印（する）. She fell 支援する on the divan, gagging.

Khoda 旅宿泊所 wasted no time, because he heard other sounds, out in the hall. His ears told him, as he crouched by the bathroom door, that the shutters had been 軍隊d—done almost in silence, a 職業 that a white man would have made sound like an 爆発 in an アイロンをかける foundry—and now the window was 存在 jimmied. Then he heard something stealthy and bulky 減少（する） into the room. Then it was that he threw open the door and 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d in like a 台風, his long knife held low.

Enough light filtered into the room from outside to limn a powerful, crouching 人物／姿／数字, with 薄暗い snarling yellow features. The 侵入者 yelped explosively, started a 動議—and then the long Khyber knife, driven by an arm 神経d to the fury of the Himalayas, ripped him open from groin to breastbone.

Khoda 旅宿泊所 did not pause. He knew there was only one man in the room, but through the open window he saw a 厚い rope dangling from above. He sprang 今後, しっかり掴むd it with both 手渡すs and heaved backward like a bull. The men on the roof 持つ／拘留するing it 解放（する）d it to keep from 存在 jerked headlong over the 辛勝する／優位, and he 宙返り／暴落するd backward, sprawling over the 死体, the loose rope in his 手渡すs. He yelped exultantly, then sprang up and glided to the door that opened into the 回廊（地帯）. Unless they had another rope, which was ありそうもない, the men on the roof were 一時的に out of the fight.

He flung open the door and ducked 深く，強烈に. A hatchet 削減（する） a 広大な／多数の／重要な 半導体素子 out the jamb, and he stabbed 上向き once, then sprang over a writhing 団体／死体 into the 回廊（地帯）, jerking a big ピストル from its hidden scabbard.

The 有望な light of the 回廊（地帯） did not blind him. He saw a second hatchet-man crouching by the bedroom door, and a man in the silk 式服s of a 蜜柑 working at the lock of the 製図／抽選 room door. He was between them and the stairs. As they wheeled toward him he 発射 the hatchet-man in the belly. An (a)自動的な／(n)自動拳銃 spat in the 手渡す of the 蜜柑, and Khoda 旅宿泊所 felt the 勝利，勝つd of the 弾丸. The next instant his own gun roared again and the Manchu staggered, the ピストル 飛行機で行くing from a 手渡す that was suddenly a dripping red 低俗雑誌. Then he whipped a long knife from his 式服s with his left 手渡す and （機の）カム along the 回廊（地帯） like a ハリケーン, his 注目する，もくろむs glaring and his silk 衣料品s whipping about him.

Khoda 旅宿泊所 発射 him through the 長，率いる and the 蜜柑 fell so 近づく his feet that the long knife stuck into the 床に打ち倒す and quivered a 事柄 of インチs from the Afghan's slipper.

But Khoda 旅宿泊所 paused only long enough to pass his knife through the hatchet-man he had 発射 in the belly—for his fighting 倫理学 were those of the savage Hills—and then he turned and ran 支援する into the bathroom. He 解雇する／砲火／射撃d a 発射 through the window, though the men on the roof were making その上の demonstration, and then ran through the bedroom, snapping on lights as he went.

"I have 殺害された the dogs, sahiba!" he exclaimed. "By Allah, they have tasted lead and steel! Others are on the roof but they are helpless for the moment. But men will come to 調査／捜査する the 発射s, that 存在 the custom of the sahibs, so it is expedient that we decide on our その上の 活動／戦闘s, and the proper lies to tell—Allah!"

Joan La 小旅行する stood bolt upright, clutching the 支援する of the divan. Her 直面する was the color of marble, and the 表現 was rigid too, like a mask of horror carved in 石／投石する. Her dilated 注目する，もくろむs 炎d like weird 黒人／ボイコット 解雇する／砲火／射撃.

"Allah 保護物，者 us against Shaitan the Damned!" ejaculated Khoda 旅宿泊所, making a 調印する with his fingers that antedated Islam by some thousands of years. "What has happened to you, sahiba?"

He moved toward her, to be met by a 叫び声をあげる that sent him cowering 支援する, 冷淡な sweat starting out on his flesh.

"Keep 支援する!" she cried in a 発言する／表明する he did not 認める. "You are a demon! You are all demons! I see you! I hear your cloven feet padding in the night! I see your 注目する，もくろむs 炎ing from the 影をつくる／尾行するs! Keep your taloned 手渡すs from me! Aie!" 泡，激怒すること flecked her lips as she 叫び声をあげるd blasphemies in English and Arabic that made Khoda 旅宿泊所's hair stand stiffly on end.

"Sahiba!" he begged, trembling like a leaf. "I am no demon! I am Khoda 旅宿泊所! I—" His outstretched 手渡す touched her, and with an awful shriek she turned and darted for the door, 涙／ほころびing at the bolts. He sprang to stop her, but in her frenzy she was even quicker than he. She whipped the door open, eluded his しっかり掴むing 手渡す and flew 負かす／撃墜する the 回廊（地帯）, deaf to his anguished yells.

* * *

When Harrison left Joan's house, he drove straight to Shan Yang's dive, which, in the heart of River Street, masqueraded as a low-grade drinking 共同の. It was late. Only a few derelicts 密談する／（身体を）寄せ集めるd about the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業, and he noticed that the barman was a Chinaman that he had never seen before. He 星／主役にするd impassively at Harrison, but jerked a thumb toward the 支援する door, masked by dingy curtains, when the 探偵，刑事 asked 突然の: "Johnny Kleck here?"

Harrison passed through the door, 横断するd a short dimly-lighted hallway and rapped authoritatively on the door at the other end. In the silence he heard ネズミs scampering. A steel disk in the 中心 of the door 転換d and a slanted 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむ glittered in the 開始.

"Open the door, Shan Yang," ordered Harrison impatiently, and the 注目する，もくろむ was 孤立した, …を伴ってd by the 動揺させるing of bolts and chains.

He 押し進めるd open the door and entered the room whose 照明 was scarcely better than that of the 回廊（地帯）. It was a large, dingy, 淡褐色 事件／事情／状勢, lined with bunks. 解雇する／砲火／射撃s sputtered in braziers, and Shan Yang was making his way to his accustomed seat behind a low 反対する 近づく the 塀で囲む. Harrison spent but a 選び出す／独身 casual ちらりと見ること on the familiar 人物／姿／数字, the 井戸／弁護士席-known dingy silk jacket worked in gilt dragons. Then he strode across the room to a door in the 塀で囲む opposite the 反対する to which Shan Yang was making his way. This was an あへん 共同の and Harrison knew it—knew those 人物／姿／数字s in the bunks were Chinamen sleeping the sleep of the smoke. Why he had not （警察の）手入れ，急襲d it, as he had （警察の）手入れ，急襲d and destroyed other あへん-dens, only Harrison could have said. But 法律-施行 on River Street is not the 正統派の 決まりきった仕事 it is on Baskerville Avenue, for instance. Harrison's 推論する／理由s were those of expediency and necessity. いつかs 確かな 条約s have to be sacrificed for the sake of more important 伸び（る）s—特に when the 法律-施行 of a whole 地区 (and in the Oriental ４半期/4分の1) 残り／休憩（する）s on one's shoulders.

A characteristic smell pervaded the dense atmosphere, in spite of the reek of 麻薬 and unwashed 団体／死体s—the dank odor of the river, which hangs over the River Street dives or 井戸／弁護士席s up from their 床に打ち倒すs like the 黒人／ボイコット intangible spirit of the ４半期/4分の1 itself. Shan Yang's dive, like many others, was built on the very bank of the river. The 支援する room 事業／計画（する）d out over the water on rotting piles, at which the 黒人／ボイコット river lapped hungrily.

Harrison opened the door, entered and 押し進めるd it to behind him, his lips でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れるing a 迎える／歓迎するing that was never uttered. He stood dumbly, glaring.

He was in a small dingy room, 明らかにする except for a 天然のまま （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and some 議長，司会を務めるs. An oil lamp on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する cast a smoky light. And in that light he saw Johnny Kleck. The man stood bolt upright against the far 塀で囲む, his 武器 spread like a crucifix, rigid, his 注目する，もくろむs glassy and 星／主役にするing, his mean, ratty features 新たな展開d in a frozen grin. He did not speak, and Harrison's gaze, traveling 負かす／撃墜する him, 停止（させる）d with a shock. Johnny's feet did not touch the 床に打ち倒す by several インチs—

Harrison's big blue ピストル jumped into his 手渡す. Johnny Kleck was dead, that grin was a contortion of horror and agony. He was crucified to the 塀で囲む by skewer-like dagger blades through his wrists and ankles, his ears spiked to the 塀で囲む to keep his 長，率いる upright. But that was not what had killed him. The bosom of Johnny's shirt was charred, and there was a 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, blackened 穴を開ける.

Feeling suddenly sick the 探偵，刑事 wheeled, opened the door and stepped 支援する into the larger room. The light seemed dimmer, the smoke 厚い than ever. No mumblings （機の）カム from the bunks; the 解雇する／砲火／射撃s in the braziers 燃やすd blue, with weird sputterings. Shan Yang crouched behind the 反対する. His shoulders moved as if he were 一致するing beads on an abacus.

"Shan Yang!" the 探偵，刑事's 発言する／表明する grated 厳しく in the murky silence. "Who's been in that room tonight besides Johnny Kleck?"

The man behind the 反対する straightened and looked 十分な at him, and Harrison felt his 肌 はう. Above the gilt-worked jacket an unfamiliar 直面する returned his gaze. That was no Shan Yang; it was a man he had never seen—it was a Mongol. He started and 星／主役にするd about him as the men in the bunks rose with supple 緩和する. They were not Chinese; they were Mongols to a man, and their slanted 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむs were not clouded by 麻薬s.

With a 悪口を言う／悪態 Harrison sprang toward the outer door and with a 急ぐ they were on him. His gun 衝突，墜落d and a man staggered in 中央の-stride. Then the lights went out, the braziers were overturned, and in the stygian blackness hard 団体／死体s caromed against the 探偵，刑事. Long-nailed fingers clawed at his throat, 厚い 武器 locked about his waist and 脚s. Somewhere a sibilant 発言する／表明する was hissing orders.

Harrison's mauling left worked like a piston, 鎮圧するing flesh and bone; his 権利 （権力などを）行使するd the gun バーレル／樽 like a club. He (1)偽造する／(2)徐々に進むd toward the unseen door blindly, dragging his 加害者s by sheer strength. He seemed to be wading through a solid 集まり, as if the 不明瞭 had turned to bone and muscle about him. A knife licked through his coat, stinging his 肌, and then he gasped as a silk cord 宙返り飛行d about his neck, shutting off his 勝利，勝つd, 沈むing deeper and deeper into the 緊張するing flesh. Blindly he jammed the muzzle against the nearest 団体／死体 and pulled the 誘発する／引き起こす. At the muffled concussion something fell away from him and the strangling agony 少なくなるd. Gasping for breath he groped and tore the cord away—then he was borne 負かす／撃墜する under a 急ぐ of 激しい 団体／死体s and something 粉砕するd savagely against his 長，率いる. The 不明瞭 爆発するd in a にわか雨 of 誘発するs that were 即時に quenched in stygian blackness.

* * *

The smell of the river was in Steve Harrison's nostrils as he 回復するd his addled senses, river-scent mingled with the odor of stale 血. The 血, he realized, when he had enough sense to realize anything, was clotted on his own scalp. His 長，率いる swam and he tried to raise a 手渡す to it, その為に discovering that he was bound 手渡す and foot with cords that 削減（する） into the flesh. A candle was dazzling his 注目する，もくろむs, and for awhile he could see nothing else. Then things began to assume their proper 割合s, and 反対するs grew out of nothing and became identifiable.

He was lying on a 明らかにする 床に打ち倒す of new, unpainted 支持を得ようと努めるd, in a large square 議会, the 塀で囲むs of which were of 石／投石する, without paint or plaster. The 天井 was likewise of 石／投石する, with 激しい, 明らかにする beams, and there was an open 罠（にかける） door almost 直接／まっすぐに above him, through which, in spite of the candle, he got a glimpse of 星／主役にするs. Fresh 空気／公表する flowed through that 罠（にかける）, 耐えるing with it the river-smell stronger than ever. The 議会 was 明らかにする of furniture, the candle stuck in a niche in the 塀で囲む. Harrison swore, wondering if he was delirious. This was like an experience in a dream, with everything unreal and distorted.

He tried to struggle to a sitting position, but that made his 長，率いる swim, so that he lay 支援する and swore fervently. He yelled wrathfully, and a 直面する peered 負かす／撃墜する at him through the 罠（にかける）—a square, yellow 直面する with beady slanted 注目する，もくろむs. He 悪口を言う／悪態d the 直面する and it mocked him and was 孤立した. The noise of the door softly 開始 checked Harrison's profanity and he wriggled around to glare at the 侵入者.

And he glared in silence, feeling an icy prickling up and 負かす／撃墜する his spine. Once before he had lain bound and helpless, 星／主役にするing up at a tall 黒人／ボイコット-式服d 人物／姿／数字 whose yellow 注目する，もくろむs 微光d from the 影をつくる／尾行する of a dusky hood. But that man was dead; Harrison had seen him 削減（する） 負かす／撃墜する by the scimitar of a maddened Druse.

"Erlik 旅宿泊所!" The words were 軍隊d out of him. He licked lips suddenly 乾燥した，日照りの.

"Aie!" It was the same ghostly, hollow 発言する／表明する that had 冷気／寒がらせるd him in the old days. "Erlik 旅宿泊所, the Lord of the Dead."

"Are you a man or a ghost?" 需要・要求するd Harrison.

"I live."

"But I saw Ali ibn Suleyman kill you!" exclaimed the 探偵，刑事. "He 削除するd you across the 長，率いる with a 激しい sword that was sharp as a かみそり. He was a stronger man than I am. He struck with the 十分な 力／強力にする of his arm. Your hood fell in two pieces—"

"And I fell like a dead man in my own 血," finished Erlik 旅宿泊所. "But the steel cap I wore—as I wear now—under my hood, saved my life as it has more than once. The terrible 一打／打撃 割れ目d it across the 最高の，を越す and 削減（する） my scalp, fracturing my skull and 原因（となる）ing concussion of the brain. But I lived, and some of my faithful 信奉者s, who escaped the sword of the Druse, carried me 負かす／撃墜する through the subterranean tunnels which led from my house, and so I escaped the 燃やすing building. But I lay like a dead man for weeks, and it was not until a very wise man was brought from Mongolia that I 回復するd my senses, and sanity.

"But now I am ready to （問題を）取り上げる my work where I left off, though I must 再構築する much. Many of my former 信奉者s had forgotten my 当局. Some 要求するd to be taught もう一度 who was master."

"And you've been teaching them," grunted Harrison, 回復するing his pugnacious composure.

"True. Some examples had to be made. One man fell from a roof, a snake bit another, yet another ran into knives in a dark alley. Then there was another 事柄. Joan La 小旅行する betrayed me in the old days. She knows too many secrets. She had to die. So that she might taste agony in 予期, I sent her a page from my 調書をとる／予約する of the dead."

"Your devils killed Kleck," （刑事）被告 Harrison.

"Of course. All wires 主要な from the girl's apartment house are tapped. I myself heard your conversation with Kleck. That is why you were not attacked when you left the building. I saw that you were playing into my 手渡すs. I sent my men to take 所有／入手 of Shan Yang's dive. He had no more use for his jacket, presently, so one donned it to deceive you. Kleck had somehow learned of my return; these stool pigeons are clever. But he had time to 悔いる. A man dies hard with a white-hot point of アイロンをかける bored through his breast."

Harrison said nothing and presently the Mongol continued.

"I wrote your 指名する in my 調書をとる／予約する because I 認めるd you as my most dangerous 対抗者. It was because of you that Ali ibn Suleyman turned against me.

"I am 再構築するing my empire again, but more solidly. First I shall 強固にする／合併する／制圧する River Street, and create a political machine to 支配する the city. The men in office now do not 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う my 存在. If all were to die, it would not be hard to find others to fill their places—men who are not indifferent to the clink of gold."

"You're mad," growled Harrison. "支配（する）／統制する a whole city 政府 from a dive in River Street?"

"It has been done," answered the Mongol tranquilly. "I will strike like a cobra from the dark. Only the men who obey my スパイ／執行官 will live. He will be a white man, a figurehead whom men will think the real 力／強力にする, while I remain unseen. You might have been he, if you had a little more 知能."

He took a bulky 反対する from under his arm, a 厚い 調書をとる／予約する with glossy 黒人／ボイコット covers—ebony with green jade hinges. He riffled the night-hued pages and Harrison saw they were covered with crimson characters.

"My 調書をとる／予約する of the dead," said Erlik 旅宿泊所. "Many 指名するs have been crossed out. Many more have been 追加するd since I 回復するd my sanity. Some of them would 利益／興味 you; they 含む 指名するs of the 市長, the 長，指導者 of police, 地区 弁護士／代理人／検事, a number of aldermen."

"That lick must have addled your brains 永久的に," snarled Harrison. "Do you think you can 代用品，人 a whole city 政府 and get away with it?"

"I can and will. These men will die in さまざまな ways, and men of my own choice will 後継する them in office. Within a year I will 持つ／拘留する this city in the palm of my 手渡す, and there will be 非，不，無 to 干渉する with me."

Lying 星／主役にするing up at the bizarre 人物／姿／数字, whose features were, as always, 影をつくる／尾行するd beyond 承認 by the hood, Harrison's flesh はうd with the 有罪の判決 that the Mongol was indeed mad. His crimson dreams, always 恐ろしい, were too grotesque and incredible for the 見通しs of a wholly sane man. Yet he was dangerous as a maddened cobra. His monstrous 陰謀（を企てる） must 最終的に fail, yet he held the lives of many men in his 手渡す. And Harrison, on whom the city relied for 保護 from whatever menace the Oriental ４半期/4分の1 might spawn, lay bound and helpless before him. The 探偵，刑事 悪口を言う／悪態d in fury.

"Always the man of 暴力／激しさ," mocked Erlik 旅宿泊所, with the suggestion of 軽蔑（する） in his 発言する／表明する. "Barbarian! Who lays his 信用 in guns and blades, who would check the stride of 皇室の 力／強力にする with blows of the naked 握りこぶしs! Brainless arm striking blind blows! 井戸／弁護士席, you have struck your last. Smell the river damp that creeps in through the 天井? Soon it shall enfold you utterly and your dreams and aspirations will be one with the もや of the river."

"Where are we?" 需要・要求するd Harrison.

"On an island below the city, where the 沼s begin. Once there were 倉庫／問屋s here, and a factory, but they were abandoned as the city grew in the other direction, and have been 崩壊するing into 廃虚 for twenty years. I 購入（する）d the entire island through one of my スパイ／執行官s, and am 再構築するing to 控訴 my own 目的s an old 石／投石する mansion which stood here before the factory was built. 非，不，無 notices, because my own henchmen are the workmen, and no one ever comes to this marshy island. The house is invisible from the river, hidden as it is の中で the 絡まる of old rotting 倉庫／問屋s. You （機の）カム here in a motorboat which was 錨，総合司会者d beneath the rotting wharves behind Shan Yang's dive. Another boat will presently fetch my men who were sent to 配置する／処分する／したい気持ちにさせる of Joan La 小旅行する."

"They may not find that so 平易な," commented the 探偵，刑事.

"Never 恐れる. I know she 召喚するd that hairy wolf, Khoda 旅宿泊所, to her 援助（する）, and it's true that my men failed to 殺す him before he reached her. But I suppose it was a 誤った sense of 信用 in the Afghan that 原因（となる）d you to make your 任命 with Kleck. I rather 推定する／予想するd you to remain with the foolish girl and try to 保護する her in your way."

Somewhere below them a gong sounded. Erlik 旅宿泊所 did not start, but there was a surprise in the 解除する of his 長，率いる. He の近くにd the 黒人／ボイコット 調書をとる／予約する.

"I have wasted enough time on you," he said. "Once before I bade you 別れの（言葉，会） in one of my dungeons. Then the fanaticism of a crazy Druse saved you. This time there will be no upset of my 計画（する）s. The only men in this house are Mongols, who know no 法律 but my will. I go, but you will not be lonely. Soon one will come to you."

And with a low, 冷気／寒がらせるing laugh the phantom-like 人物／姿／数字 moved through the door and disappeared. Outside a lock clicked, and then there was stillness.

The silence was broken suddenly by a muffled 叫び声をあげる. It （機の）カム from somewhere below and was repeated half a dozen times. Harrison shuddered. No one who has ever visited an insane 亡命 could fail to 認める that sound. It was the shrieking of a mad woman. After these cries the silence seemed even more stifling and 脅迫的な.

Harrison swore to 静かな his feelings, and again the velvet-capped 長，率いる of the Mongol leered 負かす／撃墜する at him through the 罠（にかける）.

"Grin, you yellow-bellied ape!" roared Harrison, tugging at his cords until the veins stood out on his 寺s. "If I could break these damned ropes I'd knock that grin around where your pigtail せねばならない be, you—" He went into minute 詳細（に述べる）s of the Mongol's 家系, dwelling at length on the more scandalous 段階s of it, and in the 中央 of his noisy tirade he saw the leer change suddenly to a startled snarl. The 長，率いる 消えるd from the 罠（にかける） and there （機の）カム a sound like the blow of a butcher's cleaver.

Then another 直面する was poked into the 罠（にかける）—a wild, bearded 直面する, with 炎ing, bloodshot 注目する，もくろむs, and surmounted by a disheveled turban.

"Sahib!" hissed the apparition.

"Khoda 旅宿泊所!" ejaculated the 探偵，刑事, galvanized. "What the devil are you doing here?"

"Softly!" muttered the Afghan. "Let not the accursed ones hear!"

He 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd the loose end of a rope ladder 負かす／撃墜する through the 罠（にかける） and （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する in a 急ぐ, his 明らかにする feet making no sound as he 攻撃する，衝突する the 床に打ち倒す. He held his long knife in his teeth, and 血 dripped from the point.

Squatting beside the 探偵，刑事 he 削減（する） him 解放する／自由な with 無謀な 削除するs that 脅すd to slice flesh 同様に as hemp. The Afghan was quivering with half-controlled passion. His teeth gleamed like a wolf's fangs まっただ中に the 絡まる of his 耐えるd.

Harrison sat up, chafing his swollen wrists.

"Where's Joan? Quick, man, where is she?"

"Here! In this accursed den!"

"But—"

"That was she 叫び声をあげるing a few minutes ago," broke in the Afghan, and Harrison's flesh はうd with a vague monstrous premonition.

"But that was a mad woman!" he almost whispered.

"The sahiba is mad," said Khoda 旅宿泊所 somberly. "Hearken, sahib, and then 裁判官 if the fault is altogether 地雷.

"After you left, the accursed ones let 負かす／撃墜する a man from the roof on a rope. Him I knifed, and I slew three more who sought to 軍隊 the doors. But when I returned to the sahiba, she knew me not. She fled from me into the street, and other devils must have been lurking nearby, because as she ran shrieking along the sidewalk, a big automobile ぼんやり現れるd out of the 霧 and a Mongol stretched 前へ／外へ an arm and dragged her into the car, from under my very fingers. I saw his accursed yellow 直面する by the light of a street lamp.

"Knowing she were better dead by a 弾丸 than in their 手渡すs, I emptied my ピストル after the car, but it fled like Shaitan the Damned from the 直面する of Allah, and if I 攻撃する，衝突する anyone in it, I know not. Then as I rent my 衣料品s and 悪口を言う／悪態d the day of my birth—for I could not 追求する it on foot—Allah willed that another automobile should appear. It was driven by a young man in evening 着せる／賦与するs, returning from a revel, no 疑問, and 存在 悪口を言う／悪態d with curiosity he slowed 負かす／撃墜する 近づく the 抑制（する） to 観察する my grief.

"So, 賞賛するing Allah, I sprang in beside him and placing my knife point against his ribs bade him go with 速度(を上げる） and he obeyed in 広大な／多数の／重要な 恐れる. The car of the damned ones was out of sight, but presently I glimpsed it again, and exhorted the 青年 to greater 速度(を上げる）, so the machine seemed to 飛行機で行く like the steed of the Prophet. So, presently I saw the car 停止（させる） at the river bank. I made the 青年 停止（させる） likewise, and he sprang out and fled in the other direction in terror.

"I ran through the 不明瞭, hot for the 血 of the accursed ones, but before I could reach the bank I saw four Mongols leave the car, carrying the memsahib who was bound and gagged, and they entered a motorboat and 長，率いるd out into the river toward an island which lay on the breast of the water like a dark cloud.

"I cast up and 負かす／撃墜する on the shore like a madman, and was about to leap in and swim, though the distance was 広大な／多数の／重要な, when I （機の）カム upon a boat chained to a pile, but one driven by oars. I gave 賞賛する to Allah and 削減（する） the chain with my knife—see the nick in the 辛勝する／優位?—and 列／漕ぐ／騒動d after the accursed ones with 広大な／多数の／重要な 速度(を上げる）.

"They were far ahead of me, but Allah willed it that their engine should sputter and 中止する when they had almost reached the island. So I took heart, 審理，公聴会 them 悪口を言う／悪態ing in their heathen tongue, and hoped to draw と一緒に and 殺す them all before they were aware of me. They saw me not in the 不明瞭, nor heard my oars because of their own noises, but before I could reach them the accursed engine began again. So they reached a wharf on the marshy shore ahead of me, but they ぐずぐず残るd to make the boat 急速な／放蕩な, so I was not too far behind them as they bore the memsahib through the 影をつくる／尾行するs of the 崩壊するing shacks which stood all about.

"Then I was hot to 追いつく and 殺す them, but before I could come up with them they had reached the door of a 広大な／多数の／重要な 石／投石する house—this one, sahib—始める，決める in a 絡まる of rotting buildings. A steel 盗品故買者 surrounded it, with かみそり-辛勝する／優位d spearheads 始める，決める along the 最高の，を越す but by Allah, that could not 妨げる a lifter of the Khyber! I went over it without so much as 涙／ほころびing my 衣料品s. Inside was a second 塀で囲む of 石／投石する, but it stood in 廃虚s.

"I crouched in the 影をつくる／尾行するs 近づく the house and saw that the windows were ひどく 閉めだした and the doors strong. Moreover, the lower part of the house is 十分な of 武装した men. So I climbed a corner of the 塀で囲む, and it was not 平易な, but presently I reached the roof which at that part is flat, with a parapet. I 推定する／予想するd a 選挙立会人, and so there was, but he was too busy taunting his 捕虜 to see or hear me until my knife sent him to Hell. Here is his dagger; he bore no gun."

Harrison mechanically took the wicked, lean-bladed poniard.

"But what 原因（となる）d Joan to go mad?"

"Sahib, there was a broken ワイン 瓶／封じ込める on the 床に打ち倒す, and a goblet. I had no time to 調査／捜査する it, but I know that ワイン must have been 毒（薬）d with the juice of the fruit called the 黒人／ボイコット pomegranate. She can not have drunk much, or she would have died frothing and champing like a mad dog. But only a little will 略奪する one of sanity. It grows in the ジャングルs of Indo-中国, and white men say it is a 嘘（をつく）. But it is no 嘘（をつく）; thrice I have seen men die after having drunk its juice, and more than once I have seen men, and women too, turn mad because of it. I have traveled in that hellish country where it grows."

"God!" Harrison's 創立／基礎s were shaken by nausea. Then his big 手渡すs clenched into chunks of アイロンをかける and baleful 解雇する／砲火／射撃 微光d in his savage blue 注目する，もくろむs. The 証拠不十分 of horror and revulsion was followed by 冷淡な fury dangerous as the 血-hunger of a 木材／素質 wolf.

"She may be already dead," he muttered thickly. "But dead or alive we'll send Erlik 旅宿泊所 to Hell. Try that door."

It was of 激しい teak, を締めるd with bronze ひもで縛るs.

"It is locked," muttered the Afghan. "We will burst it."

He was about to 開始する，打ち上げる his shoulder against it when he stopped short, the long Khyber knife jumping into his 握りこぶし like a beam of light.

"Someone approaches!" he whispered, and a second later Harrison's more civilized—and therefore duller—ears caught a cat-like tread.

即時に he 行為／法令／行動するd. He 押すd the Afghan behind the door and sat 負かす／撃墜する quickly in the 中心 of the room, wrapped a piece of rope about his ankles and then lay 十分な length, his 武器 behind and under him. He was lying on the other pieces of 厳しいd cord, 隠すing them, and to the casual ちらりと見ること he 似ているd a man lying bound 手渡す and foot. The Afghan understood and grinned hugely.

Harrison worked with the celerity of trained mind and muscles that 除去するs fumbling 延期する and bungling. He 遂行するd his 目的 in a 事柄 of seconds and without undue noise. A 重要な grated in the lock as he settled himself, and then the door swung open. A 巨大（な） Mongol stood limned in the 開始. His 長，率いる was shaven, his square features passionless as the 直面する of a 巡査 idol. In one 手渡す he carried a curiously 形態／調整d ebony 封鎖する, in the other a mace such as was borne by the horsemen of Ghengis 旅宿泊所—a straight-hafted アイロンをかける bludgeon with a 一連の会議、交渉／完成する 長，率いる covered with steel points, and a knob on the other end to keep the 手渡す from slipping.

He did not see Khoda 旅宿泊所 because when he threw 支援する the door, the Afghan was hidden behind it. Khoda 旅宿泊所 did not を刺す him as he entered because the Afghan could not see into the outer 回廊（地帯）, and had no way of knowing how many men were に引き続いて the first. But the Mongol was alone, and he did not bother to shut the door. He went straight to the man lying on the 床に打ち倒す, scowling わずかに to see the rope ladder hanging 負かす／撃墜する through the 罠（にかける）, as if it was not usual to leave it that way, but he did not show any 疑惑 or call to the man on the roof.

He did not 診察する Harrison's cords. The 探偵，刑事 現在のd the 外見 the Mongol had 推定する／予想するd, and this fact blunted his faculties as anything taken for 認めるd is likely to do. As he bent 負かす／撃墜する, over his shoulder Harrison saw Khoda 旅宿泊所 glide from behind the door as silently as a panther.

Leaning his mace against his 脚, spiked 長，率いる on the 床に打ち倒す, the Mongol しっかり掴むd Harrison's shirt bosom with one 手渡す, 解除するd his 長，率いる and shoulders （疑いを）晴らす of the 床に打ち倒す, while he 押すd the 封鎖する under his 長，率いる. Like twin striking snakes the 探偵，刑事's 手渡すs whipped from behind him and locked on the Mongol's bull throat.

There was no cry; 即時に the Mongol's slant 注目する，もくろむs distended and his lips parted in a grin of 絞殺. With a terrific heave he 後部d upright, dragging Harrison with him, but not breaking his 持つ／拘留する, and the 負わせる of the big American pulled them both 負かす／撃墜する again. Both yellow 手渡すs tore frantically at Harrison's アイロンをかける wrists; then the 巨大（な） 強化するd convulsively and 簡潔な／要約する agony reddened his 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむs. Khoda 旅宿泊所 had driven his knife between the Mongol's shoulders so that the point 削減（する） through the silk over the man's breastbone.

Harrison caught up the mace, grunting with savage satisfaction. It was a 武器 more ふさわしい to his temperament than the dagger Khoda 旅宿泊所 had given him. No need to ask its use; if he had been bound and alone when the executioner entered, his brains would now have been clotting its spiked ball and the hollowed ebon 封鎖する which so nicely 融通するd a human 長，率いる. Erlik 旅宿泊所's 死刑執行s 変化させるd along the whole gamut from the exquisitely subtle to the crudely bestial.

"The door's open," said Harrison. "Let's go!"

There were no 重要なs on the 団体／死体. Harrison 疑問d if the 重要な in the door would fit any other in the building, but he locked the door and pocketed the 重要な, hoping that would 妨げる the 団体／死体 from 存在 soon discovered.

They 現れるd into a 薄暗い-lit 回廊（地帯） which 現在のd the same unfinished 外見 as the room they had just left. At the other end stairs 負傷させる 負かす／撃墜する into shadowy gloom, and they descended warily, Harrison feeling along the 塀で囲む to guide his steps. Khoda 旅宿泊所 seemed to see like a cat in the dark; he went 負かす／撃墜する silently and surely. But it was Harrison who discovered the door. His 手渡す, moving along the convex surface, felt the smooth 石／投石する give way to 支持を得ようと努めるd—a short 狭くする パネル盤, through which a man could just squeeze. When the 塀で囲む was covered with tapestry—as he knew it would be when Erlik 旅宿泊所 完全にするd his house—it would be 十分に hidden for a secret 入り口.

Khoda 旅宿泊所, behind him, was growing impatient at the 延期する, when somewhere below them both heard a noise 同時に. It might have been a man 上がるing the winding stairs and it might not, but Harrison 行為／法令／行動するd instinctively. He 押し進めるd and the door opened inward on noiseless oiled springs. A groping foot discovered 狭くする steps inside. With a whispered word to the Afghan he stepped through and Khoda 旅宿泊所 followed. He pulled the door shut again and they stood in total blackness with a curving 塀で囲む on either 手渡す. Harrison struck a match and a 狭くする stairs was 明らかにする／漏らすd, winding 負かす／撃墜する.

"This place must be built like a 城," Harrison muttered, wondering at the thickness of the 塀で囲むs. The match went out and they groped 負かす／撃墜する in 不明瞭 too 厚い for even the Afghan to pierce. And suddenly both 停止（させる）d in their 跡をつけるs. Harrison 概算の that they had reached the level of the second 床に打ち倒す, and through the inner 塀で囲む （機の）カム the mutter of 発言する／表明するs. Harrison groped for another door, or a peep-穴を開ける for 秘かに調査するing, but he 設立する nothing of the sort. But 緊張するing his ear の近くに to the 石／投石する, he began to understand what was 存在 said beyond the 塀で囲む, and a long-drawn hiss between clenched teeth told him that Khoda 旅宿泊所 likewise understood.

The first 発言する／表明する was Erlik 旅宿泊所's; there was no mistaking that hollow reverberance. It was answered by a piteous, incoherent whimpering that brought sweat suddenly out on Harrison's flesh.

"No," the Mongol was 説. "I have come 支援する, not from Hell as your barbarian superstitions 示唆する, but from a 避難 unknown to your stupid police. I was saved from death by the steel cap I always wear beneath my coif. You are at a loss as to how you got here?"

"I don't understand!" It was the 発言する／表明する of Joan La 小旅行する, half-hysterical, but undeniably sane. "I remember 開始 a 瓶／封じ込める of ワイン, and as soon as I drank I knew it was drugged. Then everything faded out—I don't remember anything except 広大な／多数の／重要な 黒人／ボイコット 塀で囲むs, and awful 形態／調整s skulking in the 不明瞭. I ran through gigantic shadowy halls for a thousand years—"

"They were hallucinations of madness, of the juice of the 黒人／ボイコット pomegranate," answered Erlik 旅宿泊所. Khoda 旅宿泊所 was muttering blasphemously in his 耐えるd until Harrison admonished him to silence with a 猛烈な／残忍な dig of his 肘. "If you had drunk more you would have died like a rabid dog. As it was, you went insane. But I knew the antidote—所有するd the 麻薬 that 回復するd your sanity."

"Why?" the girl whimpered bewilderedly.

"Because I did not wish you to die like a candle blown out in the dark, my beautiful white orchid. I wish you to be fully sane so as to taste to the last dregs the shame and agony of death, subtle and 長引かせるd. For the exquisite, an exquisite death. For the coarse-繊維d, the death of an ox, such as I have 法令d for your friend Harrison."

"That will be more easily 法令d than 遂行する／発効させるd," she retorted with a flash of spirit.

"It is already 遂行するd," the Mongol 主張するd imperturbably. "The executioner has gone to him, and by this time Mr. Harrison's 長，率いる 似ているs a 鎮圧するd egg."

"Oh, God!" At the sick grief and 苦痛 in that moan Harrison winced and fought a frantic 願望（する） to shout out 否定 and 安心.

Then she remembered something else to 拷問 her.

"Khoda 旅宿泊所! What have you done with Khoda 旅宿泊所?"

The Afghan's fingers clamped like アイロンをかける on Harrison's arm at the sound of his 指名する.

"When my men brought you away they did not take time to を取り引きする him," replied the Mongol. "They had not 推定する／予想するd to take you alive, and when 運命／宿命 cast you into their 手渡すs, they （機の）カム away in haste. He 事柄s little. True, he killed four of my best men, but that was 単に the 行為 of a wolf. He has no mentality. He and the 探偵，刑事 are much alike—mere 集まりs of brawn, brainless, helpless against intellect like 地雷. Presently I shall …に出席する to him. His 死体 shall be thrown on a dung-heap with a dead pig."

"Allah!" Harrison felt Khoda 旅宿泊所 trembling with fury. "Liar! I will 料金d his yellow guts to the ネズミs!"

Only Harrison's 支配する on his arm kept the maddened Moslem from attacking the 石／投石する 塀で囲む in an 成果／努力 to burst through to his enemy. The 探偵，刑事 was running his を引き渡す the surface, 捜し出すing a door, but only blank 石／投石する rewarded him. Erlik 旅宿泊所 had not had time to 供給する his unfinished house with as many secrets as his ネズミ-runs usually 所有するd.

They heard the Mongol clap his 手渡すs authoritatively, and they sensed the 入り口 of men into the room. Staccato 命令（する）s followed in Mongolian, there was a sharp cry of 苦痛 or 恐れる, and then silence followed the soft の近くにing of a door. Though they could not see, both men knew instinctively that the 議会 on the other 味方する of the 塀で囲む was empty. Harrison almost strangled with a panic of helpless 激怒（する）. He was penned in these infernal 塀で囲むs and Joan La 小旅行する was 存在 borne away to some abominable doom.

"Wallah!" the Afghan was raving. "They have taken her away to 殺す her! Her life and our izzat is at 火刑／賭ける! By the Prophet's 耐えるd and my feet! I will 燃やす this accursed house! I will slake the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 with Mongol 血! In Allah's 指名する, sahib, let us do something!"

"Come on!" snarled Harrison. "There must be another door somewhere!"

Recklessly they 急落（する），激減（する）d 負かす／撃墜する the winding stair, and about the time they had reached the first 床に打ち倒す level, Harrison's groping 手渡す felt a door. Even as he 設立する the catch, it moved under his fingers. Their noise must have been heard through the 塀で囲む, for the パネル盤 opened, and a shaven 長，率いる was poked in, でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れるd in the square of light. The Mongol blinked in the 不明瞭, and Harrison brought the mace 負かす／撃墜する on his 長，率いる, experiencing a vengeful satisfaction as he felt the skull give way beneath the アイロンをかける spikes. The man fell 直面する 負かす／撃墜する in the 狭くする 開始 and Harrison sprang over his 団体／死体 into the outer room before he took time to learn if there were others. But the 議会 was untenanted. It was thickly carpeted, the 塀で囲むs hung with 黒人／ボイコット velvet tapestries. The doors were of bronze-bound teak, with gilt-worked arches. Khoda 旅宿泊所 現在のd an incongruous contrast, 明らかにする-footed, with draggled turban and red-smeared knife.

But Harrison did not pause to philosophize. Ignorant as he was of the house, one way was as good as another. He chose a door at 無作為の and flung it open, 明らかにする／漏らすing a wide 回廊（地帯） carpeted and tapestried like the 議会. At the other end, through wide satin curtains that hung from roof to 床に打ち倒す, a とじ込み／提出する of men was just disappearing—tall, 黒人／ボイコット-silk 覆う？ Mongols, 長，率いるs bent somberly, like a train of dusky ghosts. They did not look 支援する.

"Follow them!" snapped Harrison. "They must be 長，率いるd for the 死刑執行—"

Khoda 旅宿泊所 was already 広範囲にわたる 負かす／撃墜する the 回廊（地帯） like a vengeful whirlwind. The 厚い carpet deadened their footfalls, so even Harrison's big shoes made no noise. There was a 際立った feeling of unreality, running silently 負かす／撃墜する that fantastic hall—it was like a dream in which natural 法律s are 一時停止するd. Even in that moment Harrison had time to 反映する that this whole night had been like a nightmare, possible only in the Oriental ４半期/4分の1, its 暴力／激しさ and 流血／虐殺 like an evil dream. Erlik 旅宿泊所 had loosed the 軍隊s of 大混乱 and insanity; 殺人 had gone mad, and its frenzy was imparted to all 活動／戦闘s and men caught in its maelstrom.

Khoda 旅宿泊所 would have burst headlong through the curtains—he was already 製図／抽選 breath for a yell, and 解除するing his knife—if Harrison had not 掴むd him. The Afghan's sinews were like cords under the 探偵，刑事's 手渡すs, and Harrison 疑問d his own ability to 抑制する him 強制的に, but a 痕跡 of sanity remained to the hillman.

押し進めるing him 支援する, Harrison gazed between the curtains. There was a 広大な／多数の／重要な 二塁打-弁d door there, but it was partly open, and he looked into the room beyond. Khoda 旅宿泊所's 耐えるd was jammed hard against his neck as the Afghan glared over his shoulder.

It was a large 議会, hung like the others with 黒人／ボイコット velvet on which golden dragons writhed. There were 厚い rugs, and lanterns hanging from the ivory-inlaid 天井 cast a red glow that made for illusion. 黒人／ボイコット-式服d men 範囲d along the 塀で囲む might have been 影をつくる／尾行するs but for their glittering 注目する，もくろむs.

On a 王位-like 議長，司会を務める of ebony sat a grim 人物／姿／数字, motionless as an image except when its loose 式服s stirred in the faintly moving 空気／公表する. Harrison felt the short hairs prickle at the 支援する of his neck, just as a dog's hackles rise at the sight of an enemy. Khoda 旅宿泊所 muttered some incoherent blasphemy.

The Mongol's 王位 was 始める，決める against a 味方する 塀で囲む. No one stood 近づく him as he sat in 独房監禁 magnificence, like an idol brooding on human doom. In the 中心 of the room stood what looked uncomfortably like a sacrificial altar—a curiously carved 封鎖する of 石／投石する that might have come out of the heart of the Gobi. On that 石／投石する lay Joan La 小旅行する, white as a marble statue, her 武器 outstretched like a crucifix, her 手渡すs and feet 延長するing over the 辛勝する／優位s of the 封鎖する. Her dilated 注目する，もくろむs 星／主役にするd 上向き as one lost to hope, aware of doom and eager only for death to put an end to agony. The physical 拷問 had not yet begun, but a gaunt half-naked brute squatted on his haunches at the end of the altar, heating the point of a bronze 棒 in a dish 十分な of glowing coals.

"Damn!" It was half 悪口を言う／悪態, half sob of fury bursting from Harrison's lips. Then he was 投げつけるd aside and Khoda 旅宿泊所 burst into the room like a 飛行機で行くing dervish, bristling 耐えるd, 炎ing 注目する，もくろむs, knife and all. Erlik 旅宿泊所 （機の）カム 築く with a startled guttural as the Afghan （機の）カム 涙／ほころびing 負かす／撃墜する the room like a headlong ハリケーン of 破壊. The torturer sprang up just in time to 会合，会う the yard-long knife 攻撃するing 負かす／撃墜する, and it 分裂（する） his skull 負かす／撃墜する through the teeth.

"Aie!" It was a howl from a 得点する／非難する／２０ of Mongol throats.

"Allaho akabar!" yelled Khoda 旅宿泊所, whirling the red knife about his 長，率いる. He threw himself on the altar, 削除するing at Joan's 社債s with a frenzy that 脅すd to dismember the girl.

Then from all 味方するs the 黒人／ボイコット-式服d 人物／姿／数字s 群れているd in, not noticing in their 混乱 that the Afghan had been followed by another grim 人物／姿／数字 who （機の）カム with いっそう少なく abandon but with equal ferocity.

They were aware of Harrison only when he dealt a prodigious sweep of his mace, 権利 and left, bowling men over like ten-pins, and reached the altar through the gap made in the bewildered throng. Khoda 旅宿泊所 had 解放する／自由なd the girl and he wheeled, spitting like a cat, his 明らかにするd teeth gleaming and each hair of his 耐えるd stiffly on end.

"Allah!" he yelled—spat in the 直面するs of the oncoming Mongols—crouched as if to spring into the 中央 of them—then whirled and 急ぐd headlong at the ebony 王位.

The 速度(を上げる） and unexpectedness of the move were 素晴らしい. With a choked cry Erlik 旅宿泊所 解雇する／砲火／射撃d and 行方不明になるd at point-blank 範囲—and then the breath burst from Khoda 旅宿泊所 in an ear-splitting yell as his knife 急落（する），激減（する）d into the Mongol's breast and the point sprang a 手渡す's breadth out of his 黒人／ボイコット-覆う？ 支援する.

The impetus of his 急ぐ unchecked, Khoda 旅宿泊所 hurtled into the 落ちるing 人物／姿／数字, 衝突，墜落ing it 支援する の上に the ebony 王位 which 後援d under the 衝撃 of the two 激しい 団体／死体s. Bounding up, wrenching his dripping knife 解放する／自由な, Khoda 旅宿泊所 whirled it high and howled like a wolf.

"Ya Allah! Wearer of steel caps! Carry the taste of my knife in your guts to Hell with you!"

There was a long hissing intake of breath as the Mongols 星／主役にするd wide-注目する，もくろむd at the 黒人／ボイコット-式服d, red-smeared 人物／姿／数字 crumpled grotesquely の中で the 廃虚s of the broken 王位; and in the instant that they stood like frozen men, Harrison caught up Joan and ran for the nearest door, bellowing: "Khoda 旅宿泊所! This way! Quick!"

With a howl and a whickering of blades the Mongols were at his heels. 恐れる of steel in his 支援する winged Harrison's big feet, and Khoda 旅宿泊所 ran slantingly across the room to 会合，会う him at the door.

"Haste, sahib! 負かす／撃墜する the 回廊（地帯）! I will cover you 退却／保養地!"

"No! Take Joan and run!" Harrison literally threw her into the Afghan's 武器 and wheeled 支援する in the doorway, 解除するing the mace. He was as berserk in his own way as was Khoda 旅宿泊所, frantic with the madness that いつかs 奮起させるd men in the 中央 of 戦闘.

The Mongols （機の）カム on as if they, too, were 血-mad. They jammed the door with square snarling 直面するs and squat silk-覆う？ 団体／死体s before he could 激突する it shut. Knives licked at him, and gripping the mace with both 手渡すs he （権力などを）行使するd it like a flail, working awful havoc の中で the 形態／調整s that strove in the doorway, wedged by the 圧力 from behind. The lights, the 上昇傾向d snarling 直面するs that 解散させるd in crimson 廃虚 beneath his flailing, all swam in a red もや. He was not aware of his individual 身元. He was only a man with a club, 輸送（する）d 支援する fifty thousand years, a hairy-breasted, red-注目する，もくろむd 原始の, wholly 所有するd in the crimson instinct for 虐殺（する）.

He felt like howling his incoherent exultation with each swing of his bludgeon that 鎮圧するd skulls and spattered 血 into his 直面する. He did not feel the knives that 設立する him, hardly realizing it when the men 直面するing him gave 支援する, daunted at the havoc he was wreaking. He did not の近くに the door then; it was 封鎖するd and choked by a 恐ろしい 集まり of 鎮圧するd and red-dripping flesh.

He 設立する himself running 負かす／撃墜する the 回廊（地帯）, his breath coming in 広大な／多数の／重要な gulping gasps, に引き続いて some 薄暗い instinct of 保護 or 現実化 of 義務 that made itself heard まっただ中に the red dizzy 勧める to 支配する his 敵s and strike, strike, strike, until he was himself （海，煙などが）飲み込むd in the crimson waves of death. In such moments the passion to die—die fighting—is almost equal to the will to live.

In a daze, staggering, bumping into 塀で囲むs and caroming off them, he reached the その上の end of the 回廊（地帯） where Khoda 旅宿泊所 was struggling with a lock. Joan was standing now, though she reeled on her feet, and seemed on the point of 崩壊（する）. The 暴徒 was coming 負かす／撃墜する the long 回廊（地帯） 十分な cry behind them. Drunkenly Harrison thrust Khoda 旅宿泊所 aside and whirling the 血-fouled mace around his 長，率いる, struck a stupendous blow that 粉々にするd the lock, burst the bolts out of their sockets and 洞穴d in the 激しい パネル盤s as if they had been cardboard. The next instant they were through and Khoda 旅宿泊所 slammed the 廃虚s of the door which sagged on its hinges, but somehow held together. There were 激しい metal brackets on each jamb, and Khoda 旅宿泊所 設立する and dropped an アイロンをかける 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 in place just as the 暴徒 殺到するd against it.

Through the 粉々にするd パネル盤s they howled and thrust their knives, but Harrison knew until they hewed away enough 支持を得ようと努めるd to enable them to reach in and dislodge it, the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 across the door would 持つ／拘留する the 後援d 障壁 in place. 回復するing some of his wits, and feeling rather sick, he herded his companions ahead of him with desperate haste. He noticed, 簡潔に, that he was stabbed in the calf, thigh, arm and shoulder. 血 soaked his 略章d shirt and ran 負かす／撃墜する his 四肢s in streams. The Mongols were 切り開く／タクシー／不正アクセスing at the door, snarling like jackals over carrion.

The apertures were 広げるing, and through them he saw other Mongols running 負かす／撃墜する the 回廊（地帯） with ライフル銃／探して盗むs; just as he wondered why they did not shoot through the door, then saw the 推論する／理由. They were in a 議会 which had been 変えるd into a magazine. Cartridge 事例／患者s were piled high along the 塀で囲む, and there was at least one box of dynamite. But he looked in vain for ライフル銃／探して盗むs or ピストルs. Evidently they were 蓄える／店d in another part of the building.

Khoda 旅宿泊所 was jerking bolts on an opposite door, but he paused to glare about and yelping "Allah!" he pounced on an open 事例／患者, snatched something out—wheeled, yelled a 悪口を言う／悪態 and threw 支援する his arm, but Harrison grabbed his wrist.

"Don't throw that, you idiot! You'll blow us all to Hell! They're afraid to shoot into this room, but they'll have that door 負かす／撃墜する in a second or so, and finish us with their knives. Help Joan!"

It was a 手渡す 手りゅう弾 Khoda 旅宿泊所 had 設立する—the only one in an さもなければ empty 事例／患者, as a ちらりと見ること 保証するd Harrison. The 探偵，刑事 threw the door open, slammed it shut behind them as they 急落（する），激減（する）d out into the starlight, Joan reeling, half carried by the Afghan. They seemed to have 現れるd at the 支援する of the house. They ran across an open space, 追跡（する）d creatures looking for a 避難. There was a 崩壊するing 石／投石する 塀で囲む, about breast-high to a man, and they ran through a wide gap in it, only to 停止（させる）, a groan bursting from Harrison's lips. Thirty steps behind the 廃虚d 塀で囲む rose the steel 盗品故買者 of which Khoda 旅宿泊所 had spoken, a 障壁 ten feet high, topped with keen points. The door 衝突，墜落d open behind them and a gun spat venomously. They were in a 罠（にかける）. If they tried to climb the 盗品故買者 the Mongols had but to 選ぶ them off like monkeys 発射 off a ladder.

"負かす／撃墜する behind the 塀で囲む!" snarled Harrison, 軍隊ing Joan behind an uncrumbled section of the 石／投石する 障壁. "We'll make 'em 支払う／賃金 for it, before they take us!"

The door was （人が）群がるd with snarling 直面するs, now leering in 勝利. There were ライフル銃／探して盗むs in the 手渡すs of a dozen. They knew their 犠牲者s had no 小火器, and could not escape, and they themselves could use ライフル銃／探して盗むs without 恐れる. 弾丸s began to splatter on the 石／投石する, then with a long-drawn yell Khoda 旅宿泊所 bounded to the 最高の，を越す of the 塀で囲む, ripping out the pin of the 手渡す 手りゅう弾 with his teeth.

"La illaha illulah; Muhammad rassoul ullah!" he yelled, and 投げつけるd the 爆弾—not at the group which howled and ducked, but over their 長，率いるs, into the magazine!

The next instant a rending 衝突，墜落 tore the guts out of the night and a blinding 炎 of 解雇する／砲火／射撃 ripped the 不明瞭 apart. In that glare Harrison had a glimpse of Khoda 旅宿泊所, etched against the 炎上, hurtling backward, 武器 out-thrown—then there was utter blackness in which roared the 雷鳴 of the 落ちる of the house of Erlik 旅宿泊所 as the 粉々にするd 塀で囲むs buckled, the beams 後援d, the roof fell in and story after story （機の）カム 衝突，墜落ing 負かす／撃墜する on the crumpled 創立／基礎s.

How long Harrison lay like dead he never knew, blinded, deafened and 麻ひさせるd; covered by 落ちるing 破片. His first 現実化 was that there was something soft under him, something that writhed and whimpered. He had a vague feeling he ought not to 傷つける this soft something, so he began to 押す the broken 石／投石するs and 迫撃砲 off him. His arm seemed dead, but 結局 he excavated himself and staggered up, looking like a scarecrow in his rags. He groped の中で the がれき, しっかり掴むd the girl and pulled her up.

"Joan!" His own 発言する／表明する seemed to come to him from a 広大な／多数の／重要な distance; he had to shout to make her hear him. Their eardrums had been almost 分裂（する） by the concussion.

"Are you 傷つける?" He ran his one good を引き渡す her to make sure.

"I don't think so," she 滞るd dazedly. "What—what happened?"

"Khoda 旅宿泊所's 爆弾 爆発するd the dynamite. The house fell in on the Mongols. We were 避難所d by that 塀で囲む; that's all that saved us."

The 塀で囲む was a 粉々にするd heap of broken 石／投石する, half covered by がれき—a waste of 粉々にするd masonry with broken beams thrust up through the litter, and shards of 塀で囲むs reeling drunkenly. Harrison fingered his broken arm and tried to think, his 長，率いる swimming.

"Where is Khoda 旅宿泊所?" cried Joan, seeming finally to shake off her daze.

"I'll look for him." Harrison dreaded what he 推定する／予想するd to find. "He was blown off the 塀で囲む like a straw in a 勝利，勝つd."

つまずくing over broken 石／投石するs and bits of 木材／素質, he 設立する the Afghan 密談する／（身体を）寄せ集めるd grotesquely against the steel 盗品故買者. His fumbling fingers told him of broken bones—but the man was still breathing. Joan （機の）カム つまずくing toward him, to 落ちる beside Khoda 旅宿泊所 and ぱたぱたする her quick fingers over him, sobbing hysterically.

"He's not like civilized man!" she exclaimed, 涙／ほころびs running 負かす／撃墜する her stained, scratched 直面する. "Afghans are harder than cats to kill. If we could get him 医療の attention he'll live. Listen!" She caught Harrison's arm with galvanized fingers; but he had heard it too—the sputter of a モーター that was probably a police 開始する，打ち上げる, coming to 調査／捜査する the 爆発.

Joan was 涙／ほころびing her scanty 衣料品s to pieces to 信頼できる the 血 that seeped from the Afghan's 負傷させるs, when miraculously Khoda 旅宿泊所's 低俗雑誌d lips moved. Harrison, bending の近くに, caught fragments of words: "The 悪口を言う／悪態 of Allah—Chinese dog—swine's flesh—my izzat."

"You needn't worry about your izzat," grunted Harrison, ちらりと見ることing at the 廃虚s which hid the mangled 人物／姿／数字s that had been Mongolian テロリストs. "After this night's work you'll not go to 刑務所，拘置所—not for all the Chinamen in River Street."

THE END

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