Quickly I was drawn to one side and through a narrow aperture just as a door upon the opposite side of the chamber was flung open, revealing the forms of half a dozen warriors silhouetted against the light from the room behind them. Then the door closed directly in front of my face and I was again in utter darkness, but Phao's fingers still grasped my hand. "Silence!" a soft voice whispered. From beyond the panels I heard angry and excited voices. Above the others one voice rose in tones of authority. "What is wrong here?" There were muttered exclamations and curses as men bumped against pieces of furniture and ran into one another. "Give us a light," cried a voice, and a moment later, "That is better." "Where is Yo Seno? Oh, there you are, you fat rascal. What is amiss?" "By Issus! he is gone." The voice was that of Yo Seno. "Who is gone?" demanded the other voice. "Why did you summon us?" "I was attacked by a warrior," explained Yo Seno, "who came demanding the key to the apartment where Haj Osis keeps the daughter of--." I could not hear the rest of the sentence. "Well, where is the man?" demanded the other. "He is gone--and the key, too. The key is gone," Yo Seno's voice rose almost to a wail. "Quick, then, to the apartment where the girl is kept," cried the first speaker, doubtless the officer of the guard, and almost at once I heard them hasten from the apartment. The girl at my side moved a little and I heard a low laugh. "They will not find the key," she said. "Why?" I asked. "Because I have it," she replied. "Little good it will do us," I said ruefully. "They will keep the door well guarded now and we cannot use the key." Phao laughed again. "We do not need the key," she said. "I took it to throw them off the track. They will watch the door while we enter elsewhere." "I do not understand," I said. "This corridor leads between the partitions to the room where the prisoner is kept. I know that because, when I was a prisoner in that room, Yo Seno came thus to visit me. He is a beast. I hope he has not visited this girl--I hope it for your sake, if you love her." "I do not love her," I said. "She is only a friend." But I scarcely knew what I was saying, the words seemed to come mechanically for I was in the grip of such an emotion as I never before had experienced or endured. It had seized me the instant that Phao had suggested that Yo Seno might have visited Tavia through this secret corridor. I experienced a sensation that was almost akin to a convulsion--a sensation that left me a changed man. Before, I could have killed Yo Seno with my sword and been glad; now I wanted to tear him to pieces; I wanted to mutilate him and make him suffer. Never before in my life had I experienced such a bestial desire. It was hideous, and yet I gloated in its possession. "What is the matter?" exclaimed Phao. "I thought I felt you tremble then." "I trembled," I said. "For what?" she asked.