The Quest of the Sacred Slipper

t for us," said Bri

ake you further back than the Brixton Gara

of the locality. Less than five miles from St. Paul's are spots whereto, with the persistence of Dama

-clothes man, who saluted

r Deeping

ple gesture, convey

" I cried in

ced at

I have ever had anything

hom I had been speaking less than an hour ago, should now be no more; that some

nue. It was very dark where the moon failed to penetrate. The house, low and rambling, came into view, its fa

of shrubbery. It intruded, raggedly, upon the weed-g

dy. A man, evidently Deeping's servant, was sitting in a chair by t

s locked in, gentlemen! He was locke

?" said Bristol.

I returned, the police were knocki

im, enterin

red table. At first glance it looked as though some wild

se?" asked Bristol sharpl

ust as we found it wh

you force

It was evident the poor gentleman's nerve had broken down, sir. He said he was locked in

ort of

g crawlin

ol tu

nside of the door," he said.

s,

here the brass knob o

e lo

s,

e table, a spectacle so ghastly tha

hispered Bristol. "He

incredibly horrible. How had Deeping met his death? The wind

he murderer, of cou

isn't a spot in the room where a man could hide! An

suddenly. "The Professor

n trying to prise open that bo

e floor near the murdered man. It was a kind of small packing case

l. Lester, the Professor's man, who

ier, sir, just b

expect

't thi

x fully into the light. It was some three feet l

emarked Bristol, "that the m

y of th

ds here, it would appear that the assa

upted, "that there was no living t

ed at one another

prehensible

mentioned by the Professor, Mr.

" there, behind the volume, lay an envelope, containing a key, and a short letter. Not caring to approach more closely to the t

by ordinary means! I s

knelt on the floor. Mysteriously,

e garden," volunteered Le

es

an ra

istol. "Possibly the letter may

" I replied. "Yo

tepped up to the table, and by the

r Cava

of the inexplicable outrages which marked my homeward journey, and if this l

irly easy of explanation, but its significance is singular. It is said to be one of the devices whereby the Hash

nt that this sect still flourishes in Assyria, under the rule of a certain Hassan of Aleppo, the Sheikh-al-jebal, or supreme lord of the Hashishin. My care

y supremely rash act I have incurred his vengeance, for Hassan of Aleppo is the self-appointed guardia

precautions have enabled me to retain the relic, but you have seen what f

ed the slipper in my safe and to you entrust the key. I append particulars of the lock combination; but I warn

med to be assassinated, it may aid you; if not in avenging me, in saving others from my fate. I fear I shall never

D DEE

incredible!" I

turning to Lester, who had reentered carrying a heavy

e blows echoed and rang with a sort of sac

d! loo

the trembli

uare, and had clearly defied poor Deeping's efforts to open