“Indeed!” he said incredulously. “I have dynamited the entrance,” said Talham in his thorough way. “That ends the business of the Emperor’s tomb, and----” Then it was that he saw the bottle. The room was in half darkness as he had entered; only one faint light showed, and this was beside the place where Soo had sat. The reflection of the light upon the polished face of the glass prevented him from seeing its interior. He took a step forward. “My God!” he said. “Yvonne!” He turned and pointed the revolver at the other’s head. His face was white and drawn. “Damn you!” he said. “She is not dead--she is alive,” said Soo quickly. “Alive!” Talham dropped his revolver. “For the moment, yes,” said Soo, and clasped his hands. Talham heard the shriek of the girl, saw the wild agony in her face, and realised that this was a signal for some act of treachery. But it was Tillizinni who saw the dangling rope, and heard the rustle of a heavy body moving on the floor above. It was Tillizinni who saw the wedge-shaped head with the cruel, cold eyes peep down through the hole and stretch out its sinuous body towards the rope. He knew instantly the significance of that dangling cord. “Quick!” he cried, and threw the whole of his weight against the bottle. It slid over the polished floor a dozen paces. “Stop him!” said Tillizinni. Soo was making for the door. He turned when the revolvers were levelled, and lifted his hands. “There will be no trouble,” he said. Even in that moment of his deadly peril he did not lose his nerve. He seemed to take a delight in recalling the suavities of his Western veneer. “I am quite prepared to stand my trial before the Imperial Court for anything I have done,” he said. “In the meantime, will you allow me to summon my men to assist your friend from her distressing position?” “We will do without the servants,” said Tillizinni. “Get some of those cushions, quick!” They laid three thicknesses of down cushions before the bottle, the way it would fall. Then Tillizinni deftly wedged the front and the two men threw their weight on it. It fell over unbroken, and the girl dragged her way out. “Take her outside,” said Tillizinni, and Talham lifted the half-fainting figure and bore her from the room along the deserted corridors to the little courtyard behind, where his men were waiting. The Yamen was wrapped in slumber; Soo had given orders that he was not to be disturbed that night, and beyond a watchman who had been at the gate, but who was now no longer in a position to hinder the party, there was none to say them nay. Tillizinni confronted Soo T’si, and if ever there were two men in the world competent to deal with one another in that extreme crisis, they were those two, who now stood face to face.