They had carried her up to the dais, and now Long Sin faced her and sternly ordered her to kowtow to the gruesome metallic figure.

She refused, but instantly the Chinamen seized her arm and twisted it, until they had compelled her to fall to her knees.

Having forced her to kowtow, Long Sin turned to the assembled devil dancers.

“With magic and rare drugs,” he chanted, “she shall be made to pass beyond and her body encased in precious gold shall be the consort of Ksing Chau—­forever and ever.”

He made another sign and several pots and braziers were brought out and placed on the dais beside Elaine.  She was, by this time, completely overcome by the horror of the situation.  There was apparently no escape.

With callous deviltry, the oriental satanists had made every arrangement for embalming and preserving the body of Elaine.  Pots filled with sticky black material were slowly heated, amid weird incantations, while other Chinamen laid out innumerable sheets of gold leaf.

At last all seemed to be in readiness to proceed.

“Hold her,” ordered Long Sin in guttural Chinese to the two attendants, as he approached her.

Long Sin held in his hand a small, profusely decorated pot from which smoke was escaping.  As he approached he passed this receptacle under her nose once, twice, three times.

Gradually Elaine fell into unconsciousness.

. . . . . . . .

While Elaine was facing death in the power of the devil worshippers, I had reached the house of Savetsky next door with the police, and the place had been quietly surrounded.

With the plainclothesman, a daring and intelligent fellow, I went to the door and rang the bell.

“What can I do for you?” asked the medium, admitting us.

“My friend, here,” I parleyed, “is in great business trouble.  Can your controlling spirit give him advice?”

We had managed to gain the interior of the seance room, and I suppose there was nothing else for her to say, under the circumstances, but, “Why—­yes,—­if the conditions are good, the control can probably tell us just what he wants to know.”

Savetsky set to work preparing the room for a seance.  As she moved over to the window to pull down the shades, she must have caught sight of one or two of the policemen who had incautiously exposed themselves from the hiding places in which I had disposed them before we entered.  At any rate, Savetsky did not lose a jot of her remarkable composure.

“I’m sorry,” she remarked merely, “but I’m afraid my control is weak and cannot work today.”

She took a step toward the door, motioning us to leave.  Neither of us paid any attention to that hint, but remained seated as we had been before.

“Go!” she exclaimed at length, for the first time showing a trace of nervousness.

Evidently her suspicions had been fully confirmed by our actions.  We tried to argue with her to gain time.  But it was of no use.