"You think--" Vont was breathing heavily. The words suddenly failed him, his fingers seemed to grip the air. David had a momentary shock of terror. Then, before he could stop him, the old man was down upon his knees, holding him by the legs, his upraised face horrible with a new storm of passion. "David, you'll not back out! You'll not break that oath you swore when I lent you the money--all my savings! And it might have gone wrong, you know. It might have beggared me. But I risked it for this! You don't know what I've been through. I tell you there isn't a night, from darkness till nigh the dawn, I haven't toiled with these hands, toiled while the sweat's run off my forehead and my breath's gone from me. And I've done it! I've made all ready for you--and to-night--it's to-night, boy! If you go back on me, David, as sure as that Book's the truth, you shall know what it is to feel like a murderer, for I'll sit and face you, and I'll die! I mean it. As God hears me at this moment, I mean it. If you falter to-night, you shall find me dead to-morrow, and if it blackens my lips, I'll die cursing you as well as him--you for your softness because they've flattered you round, him because he still lives, with the wrong he did me unpunished." David dragged him up by sheer force and pushed him back into his chair. "What is it you want me to do?" he asked in despair. "You can't refuse me," Vont went on, his voice strong enough now. "Watch me and listen," he added, leaning forward. "There's my hand on the Book. Here's my right hand to Heaven, and I swear by the living God that if you fail me, you shall find me to-morrow, sitting dead. That's what your broken oath will do." "Oh, I hear," David answered drearily. "I'll keep my word. Come, what is it?" Vont rose deliberately to his feet. All trace of passion seemed to have disappeared. He took an electric torch from his pocket and led the way to the door. "Just follow me," he whispered. They made their way down the little tiled path to the bottom of the garden. In the right-hand corner was what seemed to be the top of a well. "You remember that, perhaps?" David nodded. "I know," he said. "I used to play down there once." Vont rolled the top away, and, stooping down, flashed the light. There were stone steps leading to a small opening, and at the bottom the mouth of what seemed to be a tunnel. David started. "It's one of the secret passages to Mandeleys!" he exclaimed.