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established in France during the war. If you
will honour me with your presence at Cray's Folly to-morrow, gentlemen,
you will not lack congenial company, I can assure you."
    He raised his heavy eyebrows, looking interrogatively from Harley to
myself.
    "For my own part," said my friend, slowly, "I shall be delighted. What
do you say, Knox?"
    "I also."
    "But," continued Harley, "your presence here today, Colonel Menendez,
suggests to my mind that England has not proved so safe a haven as you
had anticipated?"
    Colonel Menendez crossed the room and stood once more before the
Burmese cabinet, one hand resting upon his hip; a massive yet graceful
figure.
    "Mr. Harley," he replied, "four days ago my butler, who is a Spaniard,
brought me—" He pointed to the bat wing lying upon the blotting pad.
"He had found it pinned to an oaken panel of the main entrance door."
    "Was it prior to this discovery, or after it," asked Harley, "that you
detected the presence of someone lurking in the neighbourhood of the
house?"
    "Before it."
    "And the burglarious entrance?"
    "That took place rather less than a month ago. On the eve of the full
moon."
    Paul Harley stood up and relighted his pipe.
    "There are quite a number of other details, Colonel," he said, "which I
shall require you to place in my possession. Since I have determined to
visit Cray's Folly, these can wait until my arrival. I particularly
refer to a remark concerning a neighbour of yours in Surrey."
    Colonel Menendez nodded, twirling his cigarette between his long,
yellow fingers.
    "It is a delicate matter, gentlemen," he confessed.
    "I must take time to consider how I shall place it before you. But I
may count upon your arrival tomorrow?"
    "Certainly. I am looking forward to the visit with keen interest."
    "It is important," declared our visitor; "for on Wednesday is the full
moon, and the full moon is in some way associated with the sacrificial
rites of Voodoo."

Chapter III - The Vampire Bat
*
    An hour had elapsed since the departure of our visitor, and Paul Harley
and I sat in the cosy, book-lined study discussing the strange story
which had been related to us. Harley, who had a friend attached to the
Spanish Embassy, had succeeded in getting in touch with him at his
chambers, and had obtained some few particulars of interest concerning
Colonel Don Juan Sarmiento Menendez, for such were the full names and
titles of our late caller.
    He was apparently the last representative of a once great Spanish
family, established for many generations in Cuba. His wealth was
incalculable, although the value of his numerous estates had
depreciated in recent years. His family had produced many men of subtle
intellect and powerful administrative qualities; but allied to this
they had all possessed traits of cruelty and debauchery which at one
time had made the name of Menendez a by-word in the West Indies. That
there were many people in that part of the world who would gladly have
assassinated the Colonel, Paul Harley's informant did not deny. But
although this information somewhat enlarged our knowledge of my
friend's newest client, it threw no fresh light upon that side of his
story which related to Voodoo and the extraordinary bat wing episodes.
    "Of course," said Harley, after a long silence, "there is one
possibility of which we must not lose sight."
    "What possibility is that?" I asked.
    "That Menendez may be mad. Remorse for crimes of cruelty committed in
his youth, and beyond doubt he has been guilty of many, may have led to
a sort of obsession. I have known such cases."
    "That was my first impression," I confessed, "but it faded somewhat as
the Colonel's story proceeded. I don't think any such explanation would
cover the facts."
    "Neither do I," agreed my friend; "but it is distinctly possible that
such an obsession exists, and that someone is deliberately playing upon
it for his own ends."
    "You mean that someone who knows of these episodes in the earlier life
of Menendez is employing