The Washington times., 1911-08-06
CHAPTER XIII.
The Empty Storehouse.

y THREW myself upon the bed, but it
was impossible to sleep. At o'clock
Gwynne put his hand upon my
shoulder 1 was up in an instant.
'There'n be a moon about three or
little after" he whispered. I'VE must
be ready to take advantage Of ii"
/ pulled aside the sheepskin curtain
and looked up at the stars. There was
faint mist that partly screened thelll:
'Darned folly l 81 muttered' -" nat
Get right out there in the colo ana
rig up the airship."
I could hardly believe him.
why not wait until after the Il, Eng lg,
Hsnmen have gomez" ventured. Wen
be sure to rouse somebody, get arrested,
and held on suspicion. We are certain
TO make better time if we hold over for
daylight and go off respectfully.
Gwynne grInted.
Hustle into your clothes.
But l was prone to argue. -.,--
absurd NVadt and go off deCently;
rig up the fiier somewhere down the
valley. If we undertake to get the yaks
out at this hour, there's sure to be
But 1 don't intend to disturb the cat
tie at all" champ,
I've thought it all out. There's no
way we can leave here minus gulde
without exciting suspicion. We shall
need all the time we can get; > Somethims 3Ied
fuh before the others. VIII you get d
move on?'
The will" was strongly emphasized,
and saw it would be useless TO argue
We dressed quietly and quickly, and
then moved noiSelesslY down the great
corridor of the central building. no
one was astir. Not sound TO Startle
or alarm us. We reach ed the outer por-
tai, passed it, and slipped quickly down
by the manis wall. Here, in the SEMI
darkness, these wild he ads of man and
beast glared down upon US.
We had brought the horn-lanterns
from the room we occupied, and they
just shed enough light upon the dis
torted faces, the mon;strous bloody
paintings, to make them appear even
more gruesome than they did by the
light of day.
Our rough baggage had been carefully
slowed in an clubhouse, just under the
lower wall. 1t was massive stone
structure and was really part or the
main building which seemed to ramble
on indefinitely, though there was appar.
emily no interior passage or means OF
communication. Gwynne had peeh given
the KEY to this room, the lama telling
him there would be no extra 'charGe LOT
its use.
All tine paraphernalia for the airship,
as well as the heavier luggage, had oeen
placed there. We only carried to our
sleeping apartment such things as we
required for immediate and personal
use The cattle yards were yet farther
down, and all was still in mat dlrectloi..
Gwynne paused at the door. Lifting
his lantern, he seemed to be looking IN
tently at something he saw there. he
was slightly in advance, and observed
a look of horror upon his taCe as ne
drew back from the portal. Our feet
were heavily swathed in sheepskin, ana
l ran toward him without fear OF noise.
shrank back in CONSERVATION at the
sight that met my eyes.
hand II,
while he held up the light with the
other.
was it?'' he muttered.
l denied having seen it before.
Its a bad sign. We must get away
as soon as possible"
The horror that confronted US was
Upon the door of the clubhouse was
painted the nude figure of man, save
for the head and feet, which were real
and dripping with blood. At least, such
was the appearance. The head was un-
doubtedly real, with the eyes and NOUN
wide open; it is possible that the blood
was paint 1t was most gruesome
sight and as we stood there the long
hair waved gently in the breeze and the
eyes reflected the light Of the lantern as
if alive.
/ asked Gwynne what it meant.
Simply to warn us off, he answered.
II don't know whether it's to prevent
our reaching Tad-sa-fuh, or because they
imagine we've got lot or treasure mere
which the holy brothers require. Whlch-
ever ii is, we must make our escape as
quickly as possible or well be trapped ,
Somebody must have been murdered
in the last day or two l replied, mold
ing my lantern close to the head or the
Nonsense! 1t may be as old as a
mummy" Gwynne said: nothing de
Gays in this atmosphere. Like as not,
it's an old joke, and may nave reaped
harvest for the priest
Gwynne took out his key and began
fumbling at the lock. But 1t didn I
seem to work. He looked at it with
@Rii right when I locked it last.
Locked it myself" he said.
1t was huge iron AFFAIR that might
have been made in the Middle Ages.
Gwynne examined the chambers for
dirt blew them out, and polished them
with his handkerchief. Still it didn't
WORK.
probably: but where to get it?'
Here, can't we get some or TINS put
ter out of the lantern?" l was shak."
mine gently TO ascertain the condltiGn tI,n
of its contents. Butter is not only the
great food staple, but the illuminant OF
the Tibetans. The horn was about hal1
full. 4. 49,. >,
Gwvnne replied, also shaking his own.
We've got to do something, and pref
tv quick" l was beginning TO feel a
little apprehensive.
Gwvnne said we must be careful, add
ing something about the danger of being
left in the dark in case we couldn
put the thing together again. But we
tried II.
blew out the light, picked up the
wick. and sloshed II about over the key
This time it went in and turned without
a sound. The instant the door swung
upon its hinges a draft blew out
Gwynne's lantern and left US in the
dark.
We both muttered something like pro-
family, and began fumbling for matches
at the same instant.
But the draft was still blowing strong
through the open doorwaN, and blew
Gwynne stepped inside and succeeded in
coaxing the butter into a flame. We
looked around. The place was empty.
CHAPTER XIV.
Roedler's Machine.
~ rE stood facing each other IN