"This man who tied you up... you didn't see him?"
Barbara shook her head.
"I could see nothing; I don't even know that it was a man. He
seized me so suddenly that in the dark I could distinguish
nothing... it might have been a woman... yourself, for instance,
for all I know!"
Nur-el-Din clasped her hands together.
"It was he, himself, then," she whispered, I might have known.
Yet he has not got it here!"
Heavy footsteps resounded in the room above. Rass cried out
something swiftly to the dancer, thrust the pistol into her
hands, and dashed up the ladder. The next moment there was a loud
report followed by the thud of a heavy body falling. Somewhere in
the rooms above a woman screamed.
Nur-el-Din's hands flew to her face and the pistol crashed to the
ground. Two men appeared at the head of the cellar stairs. One
was Strangwise, in uniform, the other was Bellward.
"They're both here!" said Strangwise over his shoulder to
Bellward.
"Ah, thank God, you've come!" cried Barbara, running to the foot
of the ladder.
Strangwise brushed past her and caught Nur-el-Din by the arm.
"Run her upstairs," he said quickly to Bellward who had followed
behind him, " and lock her in her room. I've seen to the rest.
You, Miss Mackwayte," he added to Barbara, "you will come with
us!"
Barbara was staring in fascination at Bellward.
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