The Washington times., 1911-10-30
CHAPTER XVI.
"The Man From Vienna"

Wv door of the hut. My hand
was in my coat pocket,
whittier I had unobtrusively shifted
my revolver
also took care that Rescio should be
slightly in advance of Billy and myself.
glanced furtively backward over the
dimlit field and though every inequality
of ground or shadow of rock seemed
to be crouching foe, / could descry
no motion or actual semblance of life.
There was seconds pause. Then
Rescio advanced a step and raped a
door. He followed the signal by putting
key in the lock and pushing open the
narrow portal.
He stood courteously aside for me to
enter. The aperture gaped blankly. The
place looked deserted.
Yet l had peculiar feeling, as II un-
seen people were all around me.
could almost detect soft breathing, as
A trap If ever / saw one. Yet what
had l to fear? What could 1 go to
meet that would be harder to face than
sorrow tS ay an6 behPna ms OF
Not knowing. not caring, what lay
ahead, shook off Billy Greggs re-
strainine hand and walked boldly for
ward into the inner darkness.
In a normal man 1t would have been
brilliant act of courage. In me, at
that moment, 1t was no more brave
tnan Is SUICIDE.
Rescio followed Billy coming last Of
all. The visconte closed the door be-
hind us; and as 1t clicked shut the
whole place leaped into brilliant light.
While my eyes were still dazzled by
the glare I heard Rescio .murmur:
Another idea of Sebaste's excellency!
The opening of the door switches off the
electric lights. the closing of 1t turns
them on. The hut Is hermetically sealed
and shuts In every ray
By this time m" vision cleared and
looked before me. The hut's flooring
sloped abruptly downward from the
which ended In a roomy cellar.
About Naples are many such huge dis
used wlne-vats, eXcavated in the days
OF the Caesars. The Brotherhood had
these although the vat occupied con-
siderablly larger space than did the
little building above it.
The The brightly lighted cellar contained
perhaps twenty people, mostly men.
Some were In evening dress; others
like Billy and myself, wore street attire
They had not the least appearance of
SOnsPrators. tSn Pa ra put Were grouped ABOUT
puhing at cigarettes or glancing over
newspapers. The personnel of the place
seemed at first glance no different from
thas II hotel lounging-room.
There were no melodramatic persons
with sable cloaks and tragically folded
arms: no scowling stage villains or
4ger,eyed p thea theatrical adventuresses
tremely conventional.
Had I been in my former romance
seeking mood must have been bitterly
disappointed. For there were no pass
words, no soft-whisrered warnings:
none of the stage appurtenances !nci-
dent to nocturnal suhterranean tryst
Later. reflected, Why should there be
any di1Isrent atmosphere. to the meet
money-getters: They saw no deep or
terrible underlying motive in their call
ing. Their only need for secrecy was in
order to avert an exposure which might
ing. If death were an impostor's, a
traitors doom, 1t was because such per-
sons put in jeopardy the Orders means
If the New York Stock Exchange may
publicly and shamele@1'y below forth
prices which spell poverty to widows
and orphans. why should these well-fed
Neapolitans have looked ashamed as
they. faced one another in open conv en-
tion?
Needless to say these prosy, philo-
sophfcal thoughts did not present them
selves consecutively and logically to me
at the moment. Yet I had time to ad-
easy manners Of the scoundreis.
AS We stepped forward to the edge Of
the incline and into the full glare OF the
lights the members glanced up at us.
Catching sight of the SCARLET scarab in
liy tie, they broke into a little scatter
ing murn:ur of interest.
pass,a As ! descended de zen the slope; between
Gregg, every man on the floor bowed
tremendously to me. Every woman
codrtesied as though to royalty.
"Feller citizens!' mumbled Billy, III
dire confusion. this is too mu.h honor!
l."
Shut upv whispered.
Il thought. first off, they was doin'
the dip for me-" he growled, arologetic-
Stick close to me-" warned him.
At last I was face to face with the
situation, and my, fighting blood rose to
even If my life were the stake. And I
would make 1t waiting game as long
as i could
We were still descending the incline.
and / became aware of one man who
stood staring open-mouthed at me. Then
l remembered how, two weeks before
! had unthinkingly. forbidden Sebaste to
ton with the Brotherhood. Small Won
role!
Count sebaste, with all the graceful
ped forward to greet me. Turning he
formally presented the company, one by
one, and j somehow managed to get
through the ceremony with moderate
credit.
Ferata, of course, I already knew, and
Amos Todd. In Signora Delgado l rec
ognized the fiorid woman in the red au-
tomobile who had bowed so reverentialIy
to me on the afternoon of my famous
drive along the Chiaja. The rest were
strangers.
For the moment it was hard to realize
that 1 was not merely a guest of honor
at some innocuous social function 1t
all clashed so sharply with my precon-
ceived ideas? 1t seemed to render so