Part 33 (1/2)

”Stable the horses in here!” said the Ger water out of a rain-pool and filling a stone trough that had once done duty as receptacle for gifts for a long- forgotten God Then they pushed the carriage under a tangle of hanging branches

”Look about you!” advised the German, as he emptied food for the horses on the temple floor; and babu Sita Ras, while Ranjoor Singh and the German blocked the old doorhatever they could find to keep night-prowlers outside and the horses in

Then the Ger a lantern that he had unearthed fro audibly and shuddering at every shadow Last carim, silent And the rain beat down on all three of them until they were drenched and numb, and their feet squelched in h on track, into which the wheels of a native cart had sunk deep times without number Only native ox-carts leave a track like that

It ns of nearly co of trees into a clearing They stood at the edge of the clearing in a shadow for about ten ns of life

”It is now,” he said, tapping Ranjoor Singh's chest, ”that you begin to be at my mercy I assure you that the least disobedience on your part will rowled Ranjoor Singh

”Do you recognize the place?”

Ranjoor Singh peered through the rain in every direction At each corner of the clearing, north, south, east and west, he could dimly see some sort of ruined arch, and there was another ruin in the center

”No,” he said

”This is the oldest temple ruin anywhere near Delhi On some inscriptions it is called 'Temple of the Four Winds,' but the old Hindu who lived in it before we bribed hio away called it the 'Winds of the World' It is known as 'Winds of the World' on the books of the Gerin myself, but I am not an Orientalist, and the text-books all say that I ah; and the Ger not at all afraid of being seen now

”We have taken steps quite often to make the people hereabouts believe this teht as if the devil lived here If any of the till they reach the sea!”

They came to a ruin that was such an utter ruin that it looked as if an earthquake rated by the weather; but Ranjoor Singh noticed that the cart-tracks wound around the side of it, and when they cae teak trap-door, half hidden by creepers, he was not entlee for many million cobras! If I must die, I will prefer to perish in rain, where wife and fao in there!”

But the Gerh took the unhappy babu by the scruff of his fat neck

”In with you!” he ordered

And, chattering as if his teeth were castanets, the babu trod gingerly down damp stone steps whose center had been worn into ruts by countless feet The German came last, and let the trap slao! I a the way toward a teak door set in a stone wall

They were in an ancient temple vault that seemed to have miraculously escaped from the destruction that had overwhelmed the whole upper part Not a stone of it was out of place It ind and water-tight, and the vaulted roof, that above was nothing better than a mound of debris, from below looked nearly as perfect as when the stones had first been fitted into place

The Ger key, opened the teak door, and stood aside to let theh pushed hih; the German followed, and the door slammed shut as the trap had done

”And now,the lantern high ”What are those?”

The light froed in neat straight lines, until away in the distance it suggested endless other shadowy bales, whose outlines could be little e that Ranjoor Singh made no attempt to esti close to soht above it ”In the office in Delhi that the police have just sealed up there is a wireless apparatus very much like this This, that you see here, is a detonator This is fulminate of mercury This is dynamite With a touch of a certain key in Delhi we could have blown up this vault at any ht it necessary to hide our tracks A shot from this pistol would have much the same effect,” he added darkly