The object of this was to keep open the possibility of our travelling with the Afion party for part of the way. We hoped that by the time they were ready to start, Kiazim would have been persuaded by us that the treasure could best be found by sending us to the Mediterranean coast. From Yozgad to Angora was 120 miles, and transport was scarce. So we intended to avail ourselves of the government carts provided for the Afion party if Kiazim agreed to move us.
The Turks were now like children in the Hampton Court maze when a fog has come down. They were properly lost in our labyrinth, and appealed to the Spook to tell them what was happening. That capable and inventive gentleman rose to the occasion, and gave them a resumé of the position. The best chance of finding the treasure quickly, the Spook said, had been when OOO had offered to point it out if we could prove our friendship to him. The Pimple had spoiled that chance by his ignorance of Armenian. Indeed, he had done worse than spoil it—he had thrown OOO into active opposition, and though OOO himself was not much to be feared, being a comparatively young and inexperienced spirit, a company had now been formed to help him, which contained some of the best known organizers in the spirit-world. (Amongst them was Napoleon Buonaparte.)
There remained, the Spook continued, three other plans for finding the treasure. Of these the first was to find out everything from Yozgad through the holders of the three clues—KKK, YYY and AAA. This again the Pimple had nearly—though not quite—spoiled by inadvertently strengthening the opposition. Fortunately KKK and YYY were dead, and as they were keenly interested in helping to tear aside the partition between this world and the next, our Spook had been able to persuade them to assist in the search, and they were prepared, as scientific investigators, to try and show themselves and make themselves heard to the mediums. Success with them would depend on whether or not the starvation diet had rendered the mediums sufficiently clairvoyant and clairaudient. There remained the holder of the third clue—AAA. AAA being still alive—we learned that he was a business man in Constantinople, whose work frequently took him to Adalia, Tarsus, Alexandretta, and Damascus—was likely to be our chief difficulty, because his mind must be read by telepathy and he was so far away that his thought-waves would be weak, so the opposition might succeed in blocking them. Still, we would try, and must hope for success.
But, the Spook warned us, the trance-talk had pointed to the fact that this plan would not succeed in its entirety, and that the treasure would be found by one of two other plans which were being held in reserve. Both these plans involved moving the mediums nearer to AAA—nearer, that is to say, to Constantinople, Adalia, Tarsus, Alexandretta or Damascus, according as AAA might be in one or the other.
“The details of these two plans,” said the Spook, “I do not want to tell at present, because OOO has now got control over a medium in Yozgad[[36]]; and as you humans cannot control your thoughts it is unwise to tell you, lest that medium and OOO succeed in reading the plan that is in your minds. They could then interfere with it.”
To our delight, the Turks took the news that we might have to leave Yozgad with the utmost nonchalance. They realized that the Spook was doing his utmost to find the treasure without moving us, and in their hearts they were pretty confident he would succeed. Therefore they regarded the move as unlikely—and forgot all about it for the time being, by reason of the other things we provided to occupy their attention. For, having mentioned the move, we at once turned their attention away from it by bringing forward KKK.
KKK proved to be a most friendly spirit. Speaking through our own Spook he offered to conduct us next day to the spot where his clue was buried. But he laid down certain conditions:
| Conditions laid down by KKK. | Secret object of the conditions. |
| 1. Only those who are present at the digging up of the clue will be allowed to share in the treasure. Note.—The Commandant kicked very hard against this condition, because he was afraid of being seen in the company of the mediums, but KKK was adamant and Kiazim finally gave way. | 1. To get Kiazim out and enable us to photograph him. |
| 2. The mediums are to be prepared to carry out the treasure-test of the Head-hunting Waas. If that fails, Jones is authorized to try the secret Blood-test of the Red Karens. | 2. To enable me to pose the Turks for Hill to photograph them. If the first pose was unsuccessful, the Red Karens’ test gave the opportunity for a second pose. |
| 3. The Turks must not speak a single word unless spoken to by the mediums. | 3. To prevent the Turks from drawing each other’s attention to any suspicious incident. |
| 4. Mediums are to wear black. | 4. We had black water-proof capes. Hill found the folds useful for concealing the camera. |
| 5. Mediums are not to be touched at any time after KKK has appeared. | 5. To ensure that Hill should not be interfered with when using the camera. |
| 6. Mediums must hold hands when following KKK. | 6. To enable us to signal to one another without the Turks seeing it. |
| 7. One, or both, of the mediums may collapse under the strain. If they do, leave them quite alone. Do not touch them, or speak to them, or even think of them without orders. Leave them alone and they will recover. | 7. To enable Hill to get away from the rest of us for the half-dozen paces at which he was prepared to take the photograph, and to keep the attention of the Turks off Hill. |
| 8. All to carry sticks and waterbottles. Cook to carry a pick and spade under his coat. Moïse to carry the following articles carefully hidden about his person: scissors, knife, adze, waterbottle, matches, fire-wood, rags soaked in kerosine, bread, and a clean white handkerchief. | 8. The articles were mostly camouflage, but some (the bread and water in particular), were intended to form a precedent for the time when the Spook would arrange our final escape. |
| 9. “Obedience! Obedience! Obedience!” | 9. A general precaution. |
“The clue,” the Spook warned us, “was very clever. The casual person on opening it would think he had found nothing and throw it down where he found it. If the finder happened to look further, he would find something to cause him surprise and a puzzle to make him talk. When 000 buried the treasure he hoped if this happened the talk would reach the ears of his heir. Therefore, do not be disappointed when at first you find nothing but an emblem of death. Go on looking carefully. The clue itself will puzzle you, but what one man can invent another man can understand.”
That night Hill gave me a final exhibition of his extraordinary palming, and I went to bed with renewed confidence in his skill. Tomorrow would settle our hash one way or another—we would get that photograph or be found out and take the consequences, whatever they might be.