"You shall have one month to consider, and then you shall be brought here secretly again," said Queen Beelzebub authoritatively, "but you will be wise if you join us. We wish you to do so because you have brains, and we want brains. Our society will rule the world if we get clever men to join, as the training of our members in sobriety, chastity, self-control, and secrecy is that of the so-called saints."
"I see," said Dan cheerfully, "the Lord's Prayer said backward, so to speak, your Majesty. Well, the whole business is clever, and extremely well managed as I can see. I shall take my month's respite, and then----"
"And then if you say 'Yes,' you will have all that the world can give you; if you say 'No,' prepare for death." A murmur, vague and indistinct, went round the dark room. "Prepare for death."
"And if I speak to the police in the meantime?" asked Dan yawning. "You have been warned that if you do, death will follow immediately," declared Queen Beelzebub, "no human law can protect you from us. Enough has been said, and you have thirty days to decide what to do." As she spoke, the red light vanished as abruptly as it had come. Dan could only hear the steady breathing of many people in the gloom, and wondered how many members of this devilish society were present. At that moment, and while the thought was yet in his mind, he felt that a pastil was being held under his nose. The drowsy scent stole into his brain, although he tried to avert his head, and almost immediately he became again unconscious. Again he fell into gulfs of gloom, and remembered nothing. When he recovered his senses, he was seated in a four wheeler, driving in an unknown direction, and he was alone. His head ached, but he struck a match and looked at his watch. It was eleven o'clock. "Where did you find me?" he asked the cabman, putting his head out of the window, and noticing that he was in a well-lighted street. "A friend of yours brought you to my cab," said the man, "saying you was drunk--dead drunk. He gave me your address, and I'm taking you home."
"Clever," said Dan to himself, accepting the explanation without comment.
CHAPTER XIII
[A BOLD DETERMINATION]
Dan went to bed with an aching head, doubtless induced by the power of the drug which had been used to stupefy him. The Sumatra perfume was evidently both powerful and useful, as it was used by the Society of Flies not only as a means of recognition in the form of a harmless scent, but as a soporific to bring about insensibility. Probably many a person had been rendered unconscious by the drowsy smoke, and taken to the headquarters of the infernal association, there to become members. But where the headquarters were to be found, Dan had not the slightest notion. And, as his head pained him greatly, he decided to wait until the next morning before thinking out the matter. Off and on he managed to sleep a trifle, but it was not until the small hours that true slumber came to him. It was nine o'clock when he woke, and then he found his head clear, and the pain absent. Only an evil taste remained in his mouth, and after a cold bath he felt more himself, although a touch of languor remained to recall to his recollection what he had been through. After breakfast he lighted a pipe, and began to think over late events as carefully as was necessary. On alighting at his own door he had paid the driver of the four-wheeled cab, and had asked questions, which the man was willing enough to answer. Halliday hoped by learning where the cabman had picked him up, to discover at least the neighborhood wherein the headquarters were situated. It was difficult to think that an unconscious person, as he had been, could have been taken any great distance along streets, or roads, or lanes, without attention being attracted. But the cabman explained that the friend who had placed his fare in the four-wheeler, had removed him from a taxi, which the friend declared had broken down. "And he wanted to get you home, you being drunk," explained the driver, "so he shoved you into my trap, and I drove off, having the address I was to take you to, leaving your friend to look after the broken-down taxi, along with the chauffer." From this explanation it was apparent that on being removed from the dark room Dan had been transported for some distance, long or short, in the taxi. He did not believe that the same had broken down, but that his friend--probably Marcus Penn--had hailed the first cab he saw, and on pretence of an accident had got rid of him in this clever way. It was West Kensington where this exchange had taken place, according to the cabman's story, but since he had been driven an indefinite distance by Penn in the taxi, the headquarters might be in Hampstead, or Blackheath, or Ilford, or, indeed, anywhere round about London, if not in the heart of the metropolis itself. All bearings were lost by the clever way in which the return had been carried out. And now Halliday scarcely knew what to do, or how to act. He did not dare to tell the police, as the first sign of activity on the part of the authorities would mean his own death in some mysterious way. He also would be found with an artificial fly near the wound and the odor of the Sumatra scent on his clothes. As Dan did not wish to die, he therefore hesitated to make any statement to Inspector Tenson of Hampstead, who was so anxious to learn the secret and gain the reward. In fact, he hoped that the man would not come to his rooms--he had been there several times in quest of information--lest he should smell the Sumatra scent. Dan found that he had brought the perfume away on his clothes when he examined them, which was scarcely to be wondered at considering how powerfully the dark room had reeked of the odor. Certainly Tenson did not know the scent so well as Halliday did, although he had experienced a whiff of it when examining the body of Sir Charles Moon. But he might have forgotten the smell. While Dan turned over his clothes--the blue serge suit he had worn on the previous night--he found a piece of paper in one of the trousers pockets, which contained a message typewritten in crimson ink. It was set forth in the third person, by no less an individual than Queen Beelzebub herself, and ran as follows--
"QUEEN BEELZEBUB warns Daniel Halliday that not only his own life depends upon his secrecy but the life of Lillian Moon also. Should he apply to the authorities, or in any way recount his adventures, the girl he loves will be put out of the way, and afterwards Daniel Halliday will be dealt with. At the end of thirty days Queen Beelzebub expects to receive homage from her new subject, who will receive notice of time and place fixed for the ceremony. Remember!"
"Quite a Charles-the-First ring about that last word," thought Dan, frowning at the threatening message; "the scoundrels: they have tied my hands with a vengeance. What the deuce am I to do?" It was useless for him to ask himself this question as the only answer could be, "Nothing!" If he moved in any way likely to harm the society he ran the chance of sacrificing, not only himself, but Lillian. It was bad enough that he should be done to death; but he might have risked that so as to break up the organization; but it was impossible to place the girl he loved in so dangerous a position. Queen Beelzebub knew what she was about when she used the phrase. And Halliday was well aware that the Society had a long arm, and that nothing could protect Lillian from these moles who were working in darkness--clever, deadly, and unscrupulous. For the next two days the young man went about in a dream, or rather in a nightmare. He did not dare to see Lillian, or to write to Lillian, lest the members of the Society should believe he was betraying them. They appeared to have spies everywhere, and there was no move on the chessboard which he could make which might not be detected. Yet he could not wait passively for the rest of the thirty days, since he had no idea of joining the band and had only asked for a respite so as to think out some means of escape. More than ever he longed for the return of Laurance. He could trust him, and a consultation between the two might evolve some scheme by which to baffle the subjects of the accursed woman who called herself Queen Beelzebub. Dan wondered if she was Mrs. Jarsell, but the evidence of the perfume seemed too slight a link to join her with this deadly organization. Of course there was Marcus Penn who was a member and knew everything; but he would not speak, since he ran also a risk of death should he betray too much. Still, Dan, being in the same boat and under the same ban, fancied that the secretary might be frank, as his confidence could not be abused. Now, if he could get Penn to state positively that Mrs. Jarsell was Queen Beelzebub, he might have something tangible upon which to work. But, taking into consideration the Egyptian mask, and the alteration of the voice by means of the artificial mouthpiece, Dan believed that she wished to keep her identity secret; always presuming that Queen Beelzebub was the "she" in question. On this assumption Halliday concluded that Penn would not speak out, and bothered himself for hours as to whether it would be worth while to ask the secretary questions. While still in this undecided frame of mind he received a morning visit from Laurance, who turned up unexpectedly. Freddy, in pursuit of his business, played puss-in-the-corner all over the world, coming and going from London in the most unexpected manner. He reminded Dan of this when the young man jumped up with an exclamation at his sudden entrance. "You might have known that I would turn up, anyhow," he said, sitting down, and accepting an offer to have breakfast. "I never know where I shall be on any given date, and you must be always prepared for the unexpected so far as I am concerned. I heard you were looking for me, when I returned last night from Vienna, so I came along to feed with you." Halliday ordered his man to bring in a clean cup, and poured out coffee, after which he heaped Freddy's plate with bacon and kidneys. "There you are, old fellow, eat away and get yourself ready for a long talk. I have heaps to tell you likely to be interesting."