"It's not hollow, you said?" spoke up King.
"No."
"That would indicate a task of some difficulty in prying loose the covering of the treasure chamber," he remarked. "We have—or rather, I should say, Betty has—taken precautions to install on board the Curlew an equipment of crowbars, pick-axes, shovels, chisels and other tools—"
"—and a knotted rope with a grapnel on the end to help in going up the sea-wall," reminded Betty.
"True, my dear. Your forethought has been admirable. What I was about to say, however, was that a certain amount of time—I fear, perhaps, an inordinate amount of time—will be required to pry loose the covering of the vault. How are we to secure ourselves such an opportunity?"
"By choosing a time when the occupants of the house are off-watch and their numbers diminished," declared Hugh.
"True," agreed Nikka, "yet I confess I don't see how—"
And to make a long story short we hashed it over all afternoon until tea-time, without arriving at any clearer view of the outlook before us. By that time we were sick of the discussion, and voted to suspend. Vernon King and Betty went to a reception at the British High Commissioner's, and the rest of us planned to take a walk on the chance of running into Wasso Mikali, who had promised to come over to Pera in the afternoon if his spies picked up any additional information.
The first person we saw in the hotel lobby was Montey Hilyer. He hailed us in front of the booking-office.
"I say, Chesby," he drawled in tones that reached all the bystanders, "I don't know what sort of a lark you fellows were up to last night, but really, you know, you can't take liberties with natives in the East—and especially, with their women. Really, old chap, you ought to be careful. In your place, I think I'd clear out of Constantinople. No knowing what kind of trouble you may get into."