A little group of men came into the moonlight, up the stone steps from the passage that extended beneath the old stone ruin. Harry Vincent and Major Weston were in advance, their arms raised.
Frenchy followed, threatening with his automatic. Chefano and Jupe, released from their dungeon, were at the rear.
Chefano took the lead after they had reached the ground. Following a curt command from Frenchy the prisoners walked after Chefano. His path led back toward the lane, but he turned left at the end of the building and stopped at a pair of stone steps that descended beneath the old tower to light a lantern.
The prisoners were taken into a low-ceilinged room that seemed dull and tomblike in the gloom. A doorway showed at the farther corner. It had steps that evidently went up into the stone tower.
In the center of the room was a low, flat table. Chains rested on one end; at the other edge was a long roller of wood that was set in two upright posts. At each end, by a post, was a four-armed winch; these winches were crudely fashioned of wooden spokes. There were chains attached to the roller and chains at the lower end of the table.
"Place them on the table," ordered Chefano.
"Lie down on the table," commanded Frenchy.
Both Harry and the major hesitated.
"Lie down," commanded Frenchy again. "Call Jupe, Chefano. He can take care of them."
Avoiding this threat of the ape-man, the prisoners obeyed. The table was barely wide enough for both of them. At Chefano's directions they placed their feet at the lower end, with their heads a few feet below the roller.
Chefano leered as he fastened their ankles to the bottom of the table and attached the chains of the roller to their wrists. Their arms were extended above them; they were stretched between the ends of the table.
"What's this idea?" questioned Frenchy.
"A rack," said Chefano, hanging the light from the ceiling. "The table was here when I came. So I constructed the posts and the roller. It's exactly like the racks they used in Italy years ago to make prisoners talk. When the roller is tightened, the chains stretch the body between. When the body begins to stretch, the tongue begins to wag.
"I had it ready in case we might need information from some one, but there was no occasion to use it. It was planned for one, but I altered it because of the width of the table."
* * *
Frenchy grinned in admiration.
"You turn the winches, eh?" he asked.
"Yes," replied Chefano. "There is a ratchet on each one. The wheel will not go back. One man can operate both by going from one to the other."
"But we don't need to find out anything from these men, Chefano. I was with them. I know their story."
"It will be good amusement for Jupe," said the heartless Chefano. "I don't want him around when our next visitor arrives. He might excite suspicion. I don't contemplate trouble with the last man. I have the credentials."
"This one is Major Weston," said Frenchy, indicating the Englishman as one would point out an article of furniture.
"Weston!" exclaimed Chefano. "I thought he was the man we buried alive!"
"That was young Duncan. He and this other fellow — whose name is Vincent — met Weston last Tuesday night and warned him. Duncan was hot for excitement, and came up here alone. That was why he made so much trouble. He was prepared for you and Jupe — but not for me.
"I stayed around the town a bit last week. I had a hunch that something might be wrong. I saw Weston in the village. Plainly, he was an Englishman. I followed him to the cottage where he was staying with Vincent. I listened in, and learned part of their game. So I showed up yesterday and let them think I was Garrison Cooper."
"You've been with them since last night!"
"Of course. They had radio communication with New York, or some place, getting instructions from some fellow they call The Shadow. I put the wireless out of commission this afternoon just to be safe."
The words revealed the truth to Harry Vincent. Frenchy had broken the aerial when he went out on the porch; he had tampered with the set when he had been sent into the house for pliers!
"They're working alone now," concluded Frenchy. "So it's up to you. But I'd advise you to let Jupe strangle them and finish the job right now."
"He will strangle them before it's over," announced Chefano as he rolled his lips. "As soon as they commence to shout he'll leave the winches and choke them. We'll let him use the rack for a while. It will amuse him."
He made signs to the ape-man. Jupe had evidently been instructed previously in the use of the rack. The inhuman creature snarled to show that it understood its work.
"Come on," said Chefano. "The Russian may be here. Leave the light so Jupe can see what he is doing."
"One of us had better come back every now and then to see that everything is all right."
"Yes; we'll do that. But don't worry about Jupe. Come along."
The ape-faced creature walked about the table after the two men had gone. It thrust its ugly face above the eyes of the chained men and snarled. It laid its claws upon Vincent's throat, and for a moment he thought the end was near. But the creature evidently remembered its instructions, for it went to the end of the table and clutched one of the winches.
Click! The winch turned a notch. Jupe moved to the other side of the table. There was a click from the second winch.
The ape-man repeated the operations. Harry Vincent could feel the tightening of his arms.
"What about it?" he asked grimly, turning his head toward the Englishman. "Shall we shout and let the beast choke us?"
"Carry on a bit," replied the major.
* * *
The ape-faced man moved slowly from one side of the table to the other, pausing in between to stare over the end of the rack and view the faces of his victims. The roller had pulled the chains taut now; the next turn of the winch brought a groan of agony from Harry. The Englishman caught his breath as the winch on his side was turned.
"I'm going to shout," groaned Harry, "while I have strength."
He saw the hideous face of the ape-man grinning down upon him. He opened his mouth for the cry that would bring death. Strangulation would be pleasant as a relief from this torture.
But before Harry could shout, he saw the monster raise its head and snarl. It was looking at something at the foot of the rack. It seemed about to spring over the bodies of the prisoners.
There, at the foot of the table, stood a black-robed figure that completed the sinister aspect of this torture chamber. It was like some dark phantom of the past, a veritable inquisitor of the Middle Ages. Its face was hidden by its robes, but through the black coverings one could feel the piercing dagger of two eyes — eyes that burned.
The ape-man did not leap upon the table. Instead he ran around to the side, snarling as he approached the opposite end. Then, from the black-robed form came a hissing whistle — the signal which the monster had been taught to obey. Jupe stopped and crouched beside the table.
"It's Chefano," gasped Harry. "Chefano, come to see us suffer."
"Stay there, Jupe," came the order.
The black-robed figure moved to the top of the table; it leaned over the faces of the stretched men, and its huge shadow seemed to bury them in blackness. Harry felt those eyes upon him. It spoke again — but no longer in Chefano's voice. Its words were uttered in a strange, sibilant whisper that Vincent recognized from the past.
"Attack Chefano and Frenchy," said the deliberate voice. "You will find weapons beside the stone steps. The two men are within the meeting room. I shall handle the monster."
The winches were released. With amazing quickness the mysterious figure in black released the prisoners. Jupe began to snarl. The hissing whistle silenced him. But as the men on the table raised themselves to a sitting position, the monster sensed that it had been deceived. With a hideous cry of rage, it sprang toward the cloaked being.
Harry saw the tall form merge into the shadows at the end of the room. The ape-man missed his goal.
"Hurry!" came the commanding whisper. "Go!"
Jupe's sharp eyes detected the figure in the gloom. The ape-man, his arms extended wide, approached the shadowy form, to drive it toward the corner. Harry and the major were on the floor, hurrying toward the door as fast as their limbs would respond.
Glancing over his shoulder, Harry saw the black-robed shape elude the ape-man's grasp. With amazing speed it gained the stairway in the corner of the room; it vanished upward in the darkness, with the snarling monster in pursuit.
Down from the stairs, through the low-ceilinged room, echoed a hollow, mocking laugh.
It was a sinister laugh — a laugh more terrifying than the torture of the rack!