Silently he tiptoed to the doorway and listened.  There was not a sound.  Just as noiselessly then he went back to the library table and muffling the telephone bell, took down the receiver.  He whispered a number, waited, then whispered some directions.

A moment later he wormed his way out of the library and into the drawing-room.  On he went cautiously, snake-like, up the stairs until he came to the door of Aunt Josephine’s room.

He bent down and listened.  There was no sound except Aunt Josephine’s breathing.  Silently he drew from a fold in the loin-cloth a screwdriver and removed the screws from the hinges of the door.  Quietly he pushed the bedroom door open, pivoting it on the lock, just far enough open so that he could slip through.

Creeping along the floor, like a reptile whose sign he had assumed, he came nearer and nearer Aunt Josephine’s bed.  As he paused for a moment his quick eye seemed to catch sight of the bulging lump under her pillow.  His long thin hand reached out for it.

Aunt Josephine moved restlessly in her sleep.  Instantly he seized a murderous-looking Chinese dirk fastened to his side and raised it above her head ready to strike on the slightest outcry.  She moved slightly, and relapsed into sound sleep again.

Holding the knife above her, Wu slowly and quietly removed the jewel-case from under her pillow.

. . . . . . .

In a country road-house Long Sin was waiting patiently.  The telephone rang and the proprietor answered.  Long Sin was at his side almost before he could hand over the receiver.  It was Long Sin’s master, Wu.

“Beware,” came the whispered message over the wire.  “Kennedy has made a false ring.  I’ll get the real one.  By the great Devil of Gobi, you must cut him off.”

“It is done,” returned Long Sin, hanging up the receiver in great excitement.

He hurried out of the room and left the road-house.  Down the road in an automobile, bound between two Chinamen, one at her head and the other at her feet, was Elaine, wrapped around in blankets, not even her face visible.  The guards looked up startled as Long Sin streaked out of the shadow to the car.

“Quick!” he ordered.  “The master will get the ring himself.  I will take care of Kennedy.”

An instant and they were gone, while Long Sin slunk back into the shadows from which he had come.

Through the underbrush the wily Chinaman made his way to an old barn, which stood back some distance from the road, and entered the front door.  There was another door in the rear, and one quite large window.

In the dim light of a lantern hanging from a rafter could be seen several large barrels in a corner.  Without a moment’s hesitation, Long Sin seized a bucket and placed it under the spiggot of one of the barrels.  The liquid poured forth into the bucket and he emptied the contents on the floor, filling the bucket again and again and swinging it right and left in every direction until the barrel had finally run dry.