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diff --git a/17959-0.txt b/17959-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c0b5ca3 --- /dev/null +++ b/17959-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8442 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 17959 *** +\ + + + +THE HAND OF FU-MANCHU + +Being a New Phase in the Activities of Fu-Manchu, the Devil Doctor + +by + +SAX ROHMER + + + + + + + +THE HAND OF FU MANCHU + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE TRAVELER FROM TIBET + + +"Who's there?" I called sharply. + +I turned and looked across the room. The window had been widely opened +when I entered, and a faint fog haze hung in the apartment, seeming to +veil the light of the shaded lamp. I watched the closed door intently, +expecting every moment to see the knob turn. But nothing happened. + +"Who's there?" I cried again, and, crossing the room, I threw open the +door. + +The long corridor without, lighted only by one inhospitable lamp at a +remote end, showed choked and yellowed with this same fog so +characteristic of London in November. But nothing moved to right nor +left of me. The New Louvre Hotel was in some respects yet incomplete, +and the long passage in which I stood, despite its marble facings, had +no air of comfort or good cheer; palatial it was, but inhospitable. + +I returned to the room, reclosing the door behind me, then for some +five minutes or more I stood listening for a repetition of that +mysterious sound, as of something that both dragged and tapped, which +already had arrested my attention. My vigilance went unrewarded. I +had closed the window to exclude the yellow mist, but subconsciously I +was aware of its encircling presence, walling me in, and now I found +myself in such a silence as I had known in deserts but could scarce +have deemed possible in fog-bound London, in the heart of the world's +metropolis, with the traffic of the Strand below me upon one side and +the restless life of the river upon the other. + +It was easy to conclude that I had been mistaken, that my nervous +system was somewhat overwrought as a result of my hurried return from +Cairo--from Cairo where I had left behind me many a fondly cherished +hope. I addressed myself again to the task of unpacking my +steamer-trunk and was so engaged when again a sound in the corridor +outside brought me upright with a jerk. + +A quick footstep approached the door, and there came a muffled rapping +upon the panel. + +This time I asked no question, but leapt across the room and threw the +door open. Nayland Smith stood before me, muffled up in a heavy +traveling coat, and with his hat pulled down over his brows. + +"At last!" I cried, as my friend stepped in and quickly reclosed the +door. + +Smith threw his hat upon the settee, stripped off the great-coat, and +pulling out his pipe began to load it in feverish haste. + +"Well," I said, standing amid the litter cast out from the trunk, and +watching him eagerly, "what's afoot?" + +Nayland Smith lighted his pipe, carelessly dropping the match-end upon +the floor at his feet. + +"God knows what _is_ afoot this time, Petrie!" he replied. "You and I +have lived no commonplace lives; Dr. Fu-Manchu has seen to that; but +if I am to believe what the Chief has told me to-day, even stranger +things are ahead of us!" + +I stared at him wonder-stricken. + +"That is almost incredible," I said; "terror can have no darker +meaning than that which Dr. Fu-Manchu gave to it. Fu-Manchu is dead, +so what have we to fear?" + +"We have to fear," replied Smith, throwing himself into a corner of +the settee, "the Si-Fan!" + +I continued to stare, uncomprehendingly. + +"The Si-Fan----" + +"I always knew and you always knew," interrupted Smith in his short, +decisive manner, "that Fu-Manchu, genius that he was, remained +nevertheless the servant of another or others. He was not the head of +that organization which dealt in wholesale murder, which aimed at +upsetting the balance of the world. I even knew the name of one, a +certain mandarin, and member of the Sublime Order of the White Peacock, +who was his immediate superior. I had never dared to guess at the +identity of what I may term the Head Center." + +He ceased speaking, and sat gripping his pipe grimly between his teeth, +whilst I stood staring at him almost fatuously. Then-- + +"Evidently you have much to tell me," I said, with forced calm. + +I drew up a chair beside the settee and was about to sit down. + +"Suppose you bolt the door," jerked my friend. + +I nodded, entirely comprehending, crossed the room and shot the little +nickel bolt into its socket. + +"Now," said Smith as I took my seat, "the story is a fragmentary one +in which there are many gaps. Let us see what we know. It seems that +the despatch which led to my sudden recall (and incidentally yours) +from Egypt to London and which only reached me as I was on the point +of embarking at Suez for Rangoon, was prompted by the arrival here of +Sir Gregory Hale, whilom attaché at the British Embassy, Peking. So +much, you will remember, was conveyed in my instructions." + +"Quite so." + +"Furthermore, I was instructed, you'll remember, to put up at the New +Louvre Hotel; therefore you came here and engaged this suite whilst I +reported to the chief. A stranger business is before us, Petrie, I +verily believe, than any we have known hitherto. In the first place, +Sir Gregory Hale is here----" + +"Here?" + +"In the New Louvre Hotel. I ascertained on the way up, but not by +direct inquiry, that he occupies a suite similar to this, and +incidentally on the same floor." + +"His report to the India Office, whatever its nature, must have been +a sensational one." + +"He has made no report to the India Office." + +"What! made no report?" + +"He has not entered any office whatever, nor will he receive any +representative. He's been playing at Robinson Crusoe in a private +suite here for close upon a fortnight--_id est_ since the time of his +arrival in London!" + +I suppose my growing perplexity was plainly visible, for Smith +suddenly burst out with his short, boyish laugh. + +"Oh! I told you it was a strange business," he cried. + +"Is he mad?" + +Nayland Smith's gaiety left him; he became suddenly stern and grim. + +"Either mad, Petrie, stark raving mad, or the savior of the Indian +Empire--perhaps of all Western civilization. Listen. Sir Gregory Hale, +whom I know slightly and who honors me, apparently, with a belief that +I am the only man in Europe worthy of his confidence, resigned his +appointment at Peking some time ago, and set out upon a private +expedition to the Mongolian frontier with the avowed intention of +visiting some place in the Gobi Desert. From the time that he actually +crossed the frontier he disappeared for nearly six months, to reappear +again suddenly and dramatically in London. He buried himself in this +hotel, refusing all visitors and only advising the authorities of his +return by telephone. He demanded that _I_ should be sent to see him; +and--despite his eccentric methods--so great is the Chief's faith in +Sir Gregory's knowledge of matters Far Eastern, that behold, here I am." + +He broke off abruptly and sat in an attitude of tense listening. Then-- + +"Do you hear anything, Petrie?" he rapped. + +"A sort of tapping?" I inquired, listening intently myself the while. + +Smith nodded his head rapidly. + +We both listened for some time, Smith with his head bent slightly +forward and his pipe held in his hands; I with my gaze upon the bolted +door. A faint mist still hung in the room, and once I thought I +detected a slight sound from the bedroom beyond, which was in darkness. +Smith noted me turn my head, and for a moment the pair of us stared +into the gap of the doorway. But the silence was complete. + +"You have told me neither much nor little, Smith," I said, resuming +for some reason, in a hushed voice. "Who or what is this Si-Fan at +whose existence you hint?" + +Nayland Smith smiled grimly. + +"Possibly the real and hitherto unsolved riddle of Tibet, Petrie," he +replied--"a mystery concealed from the world behind the veil of +Lamaism." He stood up abruptly, glancing at a scrap of paper which he +took from his pocket--"Suite Number 14a," he said. "Come along! We have +not a moment to waste. Let us make our presence known to Sir Gregory-- +the man who has dared to raise that veil." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE MAN WITH THE LIMP + + +"Lock the door!" said Smith significantly, as we stepped into the +corridor. + +I did so and had turned to join my friend when, to the accompaniment +of a sort of hysterical muttering, a door further along, and on the +opposite side of the corridor, was suddenly thrown open, and a man +whose face showed ghastly white in the light of the solitary lamp +beyond, literally hurled himself out. He perceived Smith and myself +immediately. Throwing one glance back over his shoulder he came +tottering forward to meet us. + +"My God! I can't stand it any longer!" he babbled, and threw himself +upon Smith, who was foremost, clutching pitifully at him for support. +"Come and see him, sir--for Heaven's sake come in! I think he's dying; +and he's going mad. I never disobeyed an order in my life before, but +I can't help myself--I can't help myself!" + +"Brace up!" I cried, seizing him by the shoulders as, still clutching +at Nayland Smith, he turned his ghastly face to me. "Who are you, and +what's your trouble?" + +"I'm Beeton, Sir Gregory Hale's man." + +Smith started visibly, and his gaunt, tanned face seemed to me to have +grown perceptively paler. + +"Come on, Petrie!" he snapped. "There's some devilry here." + +Thrusting Beeton aside he rushed in at the open door--upon which, as I +followed him, I had time to note the number, 14a. It communicated with +a suite of rooms almost identical with our own. The sitting-room was +empty and in the utmost disorder, but from the direction of the +principal bedroom came a most horrible mumbling and gurgling sound--a +sound utterly indescribable. For one instant we hesitated at the +threshold--hesitated to face the horror beyond; then almost side by +side we came into the bedroom.... + +Only one of the two lamps was alight--that above the bed; and on the +bed a man lay writhing. He was incredibly gaunt, so that the suit of +tropical twill which he wore hung upon him in folds, showing if such +evidence were necessary, how terribly he was fallen away from his +constitutional habit. He wore a beard of at least ten days' growth, +which served to accentuate the cavitous hollowness of his face. His +eyes seemed starting from their sockets as he lay upon his back +uttering inarticulate sounds and plucking with skinny fingers at his +lips. + +Smith bent forward peering into the wasted face; and then started back +with a suppressed cry. + +"Merciful God! can it be Hale?" he muttered. "What does it mean? what +does it mean?" + +I ran to the opposite side of the bed, and placing my arms under the +writhing man, raised him and propped a pillow at his back. He +continued to babble, rolling his eyes from side to side hideously; +then by degrees they seemed to become less glazed, and a light of +returning sanity entered them. They became fixed; and they were fixed +upon Nayland Smith, who bending over the bed, was watching Sir Gregory +(for Sir Gregory I concluded this pitiable wreck to be) with an +expression upon his face compound of many emotions. + +"A glass of water," I said, catching the glance of the man Beeton, +who stood trembling at the open doorway. + +Spilling a liberal quantity upon the carpet, Beeton ultimately +succeeded in conveying the glass to me. Hale, never taking his gaze +from Smith, gulped a little of the water and then thrust my hand away. +As I turned to place the tumbler upon a small table the resumed the +wordless babbling, and now, with his index finger, pointed to his +mouth. + +"He has lost the power of speech!" whispered Smith. + +"He was stricken dumb, gentlemen, ten minutes ago," said Beeton in a +trembling voice. "He dropped off to sleep out there on the floor, and +I brought him in here and laid him on the bed. When he woke up he was +like that!" + +The man on the bed ceased his inchoate babbling and now, gulping +noisily, began to make quick nervous movements with his hands. + +"He wants to write something," said Smith in a low voice. "Quick! hold +him up!" He thrust his notebook, open at a blank page, before the man +whose movement were numbered, and placed a pencil in the shaking +right hand. + +Faintly and unevenly Sir Gregory commenced to write--whilst I +supported him. Across the bent shoulders Smith silently questioned me, +and my reply was a negative shake of the head. + +The lamp above the bed was swaying as if in a heavy draught; I +remembered that it had been swaying as we entered. There was no fog in +the room, but already from the bleak corridor outside it was entering; +murky, yellow clouds steaming in at the open door. Save for the gulping +of the dying man, and the sobbing breaths of Beeton, there was no +sound. Six irregular lines Sir Gregory Hale scrawled upon the page; +then suddenly his body became a dead weight in my arms. Gently I laid +him back upon the pillows, gently his finger from the notebook, and, +my head almost touching Smith's as we both craned forward over the +page, read, with great difficulty, the following:-- + + "Guard my diary.... Tibetan frontier ... Key of India. Beware man ... + with the limp. Yellow ... rising. Watch Tibet ... the _Si-Fan_...." + +From somewhere outside the room, whether above or below I could not be +sure, came a faint, dragging sound, accompanied by a _tap--tap--tap_.... + + + +CHAPTER III + +"SAKYA MUNI" + + +The faint disturbance faded into silence again. Across the dead man's +body I met Smith's gaze. Faint wreaths of fog floated in from the +outer room. Beeton clutched the foot of the bed, and the structure +shook in sympathy with his wild trembling. That was the only sound +now; there was absolutely nothing physical so far as my memory serves +to signalize the coming of the brown man. + +Yet, stealthy as his approach had been, something must have warned us. +For suddenly, with one accord, we three turned upon the bed, and +stared out into the room from which the fog wreaths floated in. + +Beeton stood nearest to the door, but, although he turned, he did not +go out, but with a smothered cry crouched back against the bed. Smith +it was who moved first, then I followed, and close upon his heels +burst into the disordered sitting-room. The outer door had been closed +but not bolted, and what with the tinted light, diffused through the +silken Japanese shade, and the presence of fog in the room, I was +almost tempted to believe myself the victim of a delusion. What I saw +or thought I saw was this:-- + +A tall screen stood immediately inside the door, and around its end, +like some materialization of the choking mist, glided a lithe, yellow +figure, a slim, crouching figure, wearing a sort of loose robe. An +impression I had of jet-black hair, protruding from beneath a little +cap, of finely chiseled features and great, luminous eyes, then, with +no sound to tell of a door opened or shut, the apparition was gone. + +"You saw him, Petrie!--you saw him!" cried Smith. + +In three bounds he was across the room, had tossed the screen aside +and thrown open the door. Out he sprang into the yellow haze of the +corridor, tripped, and, uttering a cry of pain, fell sprawling upon +the marble floor. Hot with apprehension I joined him, but he looked +up with a wry smile and began furiously rubbing his left shin. + +"A queer trick, Petrie," he said, rising to his feet; "but +nevertheless effective." + +He pointed to the object which had occasioned his fall. It was a small +metal chest, evidently of very considerable weight, and it stood +immediately outside the door of Number 14a. + +"That was what he came for, sir! That was what he came for! You were +too quick for him!" + +Beeton stood behind us, his horror-bright eyes fixed upon the box. + +"Eh?" rapped Smith, turning upon him. + +"That's what Sir Gregory brought to England," the man ran on almost +hysterically; "that's what he's been guarding this past two weeks, +night and day, crouching over it with a loaded pistol. That's what +cost him his life, sir. He's had no peace, day or night, since he +got it...." + +We were inside the room again now, Smith bearing the coffer in his +arms, and still the man ran on: + +"He's never slept for more than an hour at a time, that I know of, for +weeks past. Since the day we came here he hasn't spoken to another +living soul, and he's lain there on the floor at night with his head +on that brass box, and sat watching over it all day." + +"'Beeton!' he'd cry out, perhaps in the middle of the night--'Beeton-- +do you hear that damned woman!' But although I'd begun to think I +could hear something, I believe it was the constant strain working on +my nerves and nothing else at all. + +"Then he was always listening out for some one he called 'the man with +the limp.' Five and six times a night he'd have me up to listen with +him. 'There he goes, Beeton!' he'd whisper, crouching with his ear +pressed flat to the door. 'Do you hear him dragging himself along?' + +"God knows how I've stood it as I have; for I've known no peace since +we left China. Once we got here I thought it would be better, but it's +been worse. + +"Gentlemen have come (from the India Office, I believe), but he would +not see them. Said he would see no one but Mr. Nayland Smith. He had +never lain in his bed until to-night, but what with taking no proper +food nor sleep, and some secret trouble that was killing him by inches, +he collapsed altogether a while ago, and I carried him in and laid him +on the bed as I told you. Now he's dead--now he's dead." + +Beeton leant up against the mantelpiece and buried his face in his +hands, whilst his shoulders shook convulsively. He had evidently been +greatly attached to his master, and I found something very pathetic in +this breakdown of a physically strong man. Smith laid his hands upon +his shoulders. + +"You have passed through a very trying ordeal," he said, "and no man +could have done his duty better; but forces beyond your control have +proved too strong for you. I am Nayland Smith." + +The man spun around with a surprising expression of relief upon his +pale face. + +"So that whatever can be done," continued my friend, "to carry out +your master's wishes, will be done now. Rely upon it. Go into your +room and lie down until we call you." + +"Thank you, sir, and thank God you are here," said Beeton dazedly, and +with one hand raised to his head he went, obediently, to the smaller +bedroom and disappeared within. + +"Now, Petrie," rapped Smith, glancing around the littered floor, +"since I am empowered to deal with this matter as I see fit, and since +you are a medical man, we can devote the next half-hour, at any rate, +to a strictly confidential inquiry into this most perplexing case. I +propose that you examine the body for any evidences that may assist +you determining the cause of death, whilst I make a few inquiries here." + +I nodded, without speaking, and went into the bedroom. It contained not +one solitary item of the dead man's belongings, and in every way bore +out Beeton's statement that Sir Gregory had never inhabited it. I bent +over Hale, as he lay fully dressed upon the bed. + +Saving the singularity of the symptom which had immediately preceded +death--viz., the paralysis of the muscles of articulation--I should +have felt disposed to ascribe his end to sheer inanition; and a +cursory examination brought to light nothing contradictory to that +view. Not being prepared to proceed further in the matter at the moment +I was about to rejoin Smith, whom I could hear rummaging about amongst +the litter of the outer room, when I made a curious discovery. + +Lying in a fold of the disordered bed linen were a few petals of some +kind of blossom, three of them still attached to a fragment of slender +stalk. + +I collected the tiny petals, mechanically, and held them in the palm +of my hand studying them for some moments before the mystery of their +presence there became fully appreciable to me. Then I began to wonder. +The petals (which I was disposed to class as belonging to some species +of _Curcas_ or Physic Nut), though bruised, were fresh, and therefore +could not have been in the room for many hours. How had they been +introduced, and by whom? Above all, what could their presence there +at that time portend? + +"Smith," I called, and walked towards the door carrying the mysterious +fragments in my palm. "Look what I have found upon the bed." + +Nayland Smith, who was bending over an open despatch case which he had +placed upon a chair, turned--and his glance fell upon the petals and +tiny piece of stem. + +I think I have never seen so sudden a change of expression take place +in the face of any man. Even in that imperfect light I saw him blanch. +I saw a hard glitter come into his eyes. He spoke, evenly, but hoarsely: + +"Put those things down----there, on the table; anywhere." + +I obeyed him without demur; for something in his manner had chilled me +with foreboding. + +"You did not break that stalk?" + +"No. I found it as you see it." + +"Have you smelled the petals?" + +I shook my head. Thereupon, having his eyes fixed upon me with the +strangest expression in their gray depths, Nayland Smith said a +singular thing. + +"Pronounce, slowly, the words _Sâkya Mûni,_'" he directed. + +I stared at him, scarce crediting my senses; but---- + +"I mean it!" he rapped. "Do as I tell you." + +"Sâkya Mûni," I said, in ever increasing wonder. + +Smith laughed unmirthfully. + +"Go into the bathroom and thoroughly wash your hands," was his next +order. "Renew the water at least three times." As I turned to fulfill +his instructions, for I doubted no longer his deadly earnestness: +"Beeton!" he called. + +Beeton, very white-faced and shaky, came out from the bedroom as I +entered the bathroom, and whist I proceeded carefully to cleanse my +hands I heard Smith interrogating him. + +"Have any flowers been brought into the room today, Beeton?" + +"Flowers, sir? Certainly not. Nothing has ever been brought in here +but what I have brought myself." + +"You are certain of that?" + +"Positive." + +"Who brought up the meals, then?" + +"If you'll look into my room here, sir, you'll see that I have enough +tinned and bottled stuff to last us for weeks. Sir Gregory sent me out +to buy it on the day we arrived. No one else had left or entered these +rooms until you came to-night." + +I returned to find Nayland Smith standing tugging at the lobe of his +left ear in evident perplexity. He turned to me. + +"I find my hands over full," he said. "Will you oblige me by +telephoning for Inspector Weymouth? Also, I should be glad if you +would ask M. Samarkan, the manager, to see me here immediately." + +As I was about to quit the room-- + +"Not a word of our suspicions to M. Samarkan," he added; "not a word +about the brass box." + +I was far along the corridor ere I remembered that which, remembered +earlier, had saved me the journey. There was a telephone in every suite. +However, I was not indisposed to avail myself of an opportunity for a +few moments' undisturbed reflection, and, avoiding the lift, I +descended by the broad, marble staircase. + +To what strange adventure were we committed? What did the brass coffer +contain which Sir Gregory had guarded night and day? Something +associated in some way with Tibet, something which he believed to be +"the key of India" and which had brought in its train, presumably, +the sinister "man with a limp." + +Who was the "man with the limp"? What was the Si-Fan? Lastly, by what +conceivable means could the flower, which my friend evidently regarded +with extreme horror, have been introduced into Hale's room, and why +had I been required to pronounce the words "Sâkya Mûni"? + +So ran my reflections--at random and to no clear end; and, as is often +the case in such circumstances, my steps bore them company; so that +all at once I became aware that instead of having gained the lobby of +the hotel, I had taken some wrong turning and was in a part of the +building entirely unfamiliar to me. + +A long corridor of the inevitable white marble extended far behind me. +I had evidently traversed it. Before me was a heavily curtained archway. +Irritably, I pulled the curtain aside, learnt that it masked a +glass-paneled door, opened this door--and found myself in a small +court, dimly lighted and redolent of some pungent, incense-like perfume. + +One step forward I took, then pulled up abruptly. A sound had come to +my ears. From a second curtained doorway, close to my right hand, it +came--a sound of muffled _tapping_, together with that of something +which dragged upon the floor. + +Within my brain the words seemed audibly to form: "The man with +the limp!" + +I sprang to the door; I had my hand upon the drapery ... when a woman +stepped out, barring the way! + +No impression, not even a vague one, did I form of her costume, save +that she wore a green silk shawl, embroidered with raised white +figures of birds, thrown over her head and shoulders and draped in +such fashion that part of her face was concealed. I was transfixed +by the vindictive glare of her eyes, of her huge dark eyes. + +They were ablaze with anger--but it was not this expression within +them which struck me so forcibly as the fact that they were in some +way familiar. + +Motionless, we faced one another. Then-- + +"You go away," said the woman--at the same time extending her arms +across the doorway as barriers to my progress. + +Her voice had a husky intonation; her hands and arms, which were bare +and of old ivory hue, were laden with barbaric jewelry, much of it +tawdry silverware of the bazaars. Clearly she was a half-caste of some +kind, probably a Eurasian. + +I hesitated. The sounds of dragging and tapping had ceased. But the +presence of this grotesque Oriental figure only increased my anxiety +to pass the doorway. I looked steadily into the black eyes; they looked +into mine unflinchingly. + +"You go away, please," repeated the woman, raising her right hand and +pointing to the door whereby I had entered. "These private rooms. What +you doing here?" + +Her words, despite her broken English, served to recall to me the fact +that I was, beyond doubt, a trespasser! By what right did I presume to +force my way into other people's apartments? + +"There is some one in there whom I must see," I said, realizing, +however, that my chance of doing so was poor. + +"You see nobody," she snapped back uncompromisingly. "You go away!" + +She took a step towards me, continuing to point to the door. Where had +I previously encountered the glance of those splendid, savage eyes? + +So engaged was I with this taunting, partial memory, and so sure, if +the woman would but uncover her face, of instantly recognizing her, +that still I hesitated. Whereupon, glancing rapidly over her shoulder +into whatever place lay beyond the curtained doorway, she suddenly +stepped back and vanished, drawing the curtains to with an angry jerk. + +I heard her retiring footsteps; then came a loud bang. If her object +in intercepting me had been to cover the slow retreat of some one she +had succeeded. + +Recognizing that I had cut a truly sorry figure in the encounter, I +retraced my steps. + +By what route I ultimately regained the main staircase I have no idea; +for my mind was busy with that taunting memory of the two dark eyes +looking out from the folds of the green embroidered shawl. Where, and +when, had I met their glance before? + +To that problem I sought an answer in vain. + +The message despatched to New Scotland Yard, I found M. Samarkan, long +famous as a _mâitre d' hôtel_ in Cairo, and now host of London's +newest and most palatial _khan_. Portly, and wearing a gray imperial, +M. Samarkan had the manners of a courtier, and the smile of a true Greek. + +I told him what was necessary, and no more, desiring him to go to +suite 14a without delay and also without arousing unnecessary +attention. I dropped no hint of foul play, but M. Samarkan expressed +profound (and professional) regret that so distinguished, though +unprofitable, a patron should have selected the New Louvre, thus +early in its history, as the terminus of his career. + +"By the way," I said, "have you Oriental guests with you, at the moment?" + +"No, monsieur," he assured me. + +"Not a certain Oriental lady?" I persisted. + +M. Samarkan slowly shook his head. + +"Possibly monsieur has seen one of the _ayahs?_ There are several +Anglo-Indian families resident in the New Louvre at present." + +An _ayah?_ It was just possible, of course. Yet ... + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE FLOWER OF SILENCE + + +"We are dealing now," said Nayland Smith, pacing restlessly up and +down our sitting-room, "not, as of old, with Dr. Fu-Manchu, but with +an entirely unknown quantity--the Si-Fan." + +"For Heaven's sake!" I cried, "what is the Si-Fan?" + +"The greatest mystery of the mysterious East, Petrie. Think. You know, +as I know, that a malignant being, Dr. Fu-Manchu, was for some time +in England, engaged in 'paving the way' (I believe those words were +my own) for nothing less than a giant Yellow Empire. That dream is +what millions of Europeans and Americans term 'the Yellow Peril! Very +good. Such an empire needs must have----" + +"An emperor!" + +Nayland Smith stopped his restless pacing immediately in front of me. + +"Why not an _empress_, Petrie!" he rapped. + +His words were something of a verbal thunderbolt; I found myself at +loss for any suitable reply. + +"You will perhaps remind me," he continued rapidly, "of the lowly place +held by women in the East. I can cite notable exceptions, ancient and +modern. In fact, a moment's consideration by a hypothetical body of +Eastern dynast-makers not of an emperor but of an empress. Finally, +there is a persistent tradition throughout the Far East that such a +woman will one day rule over the known peoples. I was assured some +years ago, by a very learned pundit, that a princess of incalculably +ancient lineage, residing in some secret monastery in Tartary or Tibet, +was to be the future empress of the world. I believe this tradition, +or the extensive group who seek to keep it alive and potent, to be +what is called the Si-Fan!" + +I was past greater amazement; but-- + +"This lady can be no longer young, then?" I asked. + +"On the contrary, Petrie, she remains always young and beautiful by +means of a continuous series of reincarnations; also she thus +conserves the collated wisdom of many ages. In short, she is the +archetype of Lamaism. The real secret of Lama celibacy is the existence +of this immaculate ruler, of whom the Grand Lama is merely a high +priest. She has, as attendants, maidens of good family, selected for +their personal charms, and rendered dumb in order that they may never +report what they see and hear." + +"Smith!" I cried, "this is utterly incredible!" + +"Her body slaves are not only mute, but blind; for it is death to look +upon her beauty unveiled." + +I stood up impatiently. + +"You are amusing yourself," I said. + +Nayland Smith clapped his hands upon my shoulders, in his own +impulsive fashion, and looked earnestly into my eyes. + +"Forgive me, old man," he said, "if I have related all these fantastic +particulars as though I gave them credence. Much of this is legendary, +I know, some of it mere superstition, but--I am serious now, Petrie-- +_part of it is true_." + +I stared at the square-cut, sun-tanned face; and no trace of a smile +lurked about that grim mouth. "Such a woman may actually exist, Petrie, +only in legend; but, nevertheless, she forms the head center of that +giant conspiracy in which the activities of Dr. Fu-Manchu were merely +a part. Hale blundered on to this stupendous business; and from what I +have gathered from Beeton and what I have seen for myself, it is +evident that in yonder coffer"--he pointed to the brass chest standing +hard by--"Hale got hold of something indispensable to the success of +this vast Yellow conspiracy. That he was followed here, to the very +hotel, by agents of this mystic Unknown is evident. But," he added +grimly, "they have failed in their object!" + +A thousand outrageous possibilities fought for precedence in my mind. + +"Smith!" I cried, "the half-caste woman whom I saw in the hotel ..." + +Nayland Smith shrugged his shoulders. + +"Probably, as M. Samarkan suggests, an _ayah!_" he said; but there was +an odd note in his voice and an odd look in his eyes. + +"Then again, I am almost certain that Hale's warning concerning 'the +man with the limp' was no empty one. Shall you open the brass chest?" + +"At present, decidedly _no_. Hale's fate renders his warning one that +I dare not neglect. For I was with him when he died; and they cannot +know how much _I_ know. How did he die? How did he die? How was the +Flower of Silence introduced into his closely guarded room?" + +"The Flower of Silence?" + +Smith laughed shortly and unmirthfully. + +"I was once sent for," he said, "during the time that I was stationed +in Upper Burma, to see a stranger--a sort of itinerant Buddhist priest, +so I understood, who had desired to communicate some message to me +personally. He was dying--in a dirty hut on the outskirts of Manipur, +up in the hills. When I arrived I say at a glance that the man was a +Tibetan monk. He must have crossed the river and come down through +Assam; but the nature of his message I never knew. He had lost the +power of speech! He was gurgling, inarticulate, just like poor Hale. +A few moments after my arrival he breathed his last. The fellow who +had guided me to the place bent over him--I shall always remember the +scene--then fell back as though he had stepped upon an adder. + +"'He holds the Flower Silence in his hand!' he cried--'the Si-Fan! the +Si-Fan!'--and bolted from the hut." + +"When I went to examine the dead man, sure enough he held in one hand +a little crumpled spray of flowers. I did not touch it with my fingers +naturally, but I managed to loop a piece of twine around the stem, +and by that means I gingerly removed the flowers and carried them to +an orchid-hunter of my acquaintance who chanced to be visiting Manipur. + +"Grahame--that was my orchid man's name--pronounced the specimen to be +an unclassified species of _jatropha;_ belonging to the _Curcas_ +family. He discovered a sort of hollow thorn, almost like a fang, +amongst the blooms, but was unable to surmise the nature of its +functions. He extracted enough of a certain fixed oil from the flowers, +however, to have poisoned the pair of us!" + +"Probably the breaking of a bloom ..." + +"Ejects some of this acrid oil through the thorn? Practically the +uncanny thing stings when it is hurt? That is my own idea, Petrie. And +I can understand how these Eastern fanatics accept their sentence-- +silence and death--when they have deserved it, at the hands of their +mysterious organization, and commit this novel form of _hara-kiri_. +But I shall not sleep soundly with that brass coffer in my possession +until I know by what means Sir Gregory was induced to touch a Flower +of Silence, and by what means it was placed in his room!" + +"But, Smith, why did you direct me to-night to repeat the words, +'Sâkya Mûni'?" + +Smith smiled in a very grim fashion. + +"It was after the episode I have just related that I made the +acquaintance of that pundit, some of whose statements I have already +quoted for your enlightenment. He admitted that the Flower of Silence +was an instrument frequently employed by a certain group, adding that, +according to some authorities, one who had touched the flower might +escape death by immediately pronouncing the sacred name of Buddha. He +was no fanatic himself, however, and, marking my incredulity, he +explained that the truth was this;-- + +"No one whose powers of speech were imperfect could possibly pronounce +correctly the words 'Sâkya Mûni.' Therefore, since the first +effects of this damnable thing is instantly to tie the tongue, the +uttering of the sacred name of Buddha becomes practically a test +whereby the victim my learn whether the venom has entered his system +or not!" + +I repressed a shudder. An atmosphere of horror seemed to be enveloping +us, foglike. + +"Smith," I said slowly, "we must be on our guard," for at last I had +run to earth that elusive memory. "Unless I am strangely mistaken, +the 'man' who so mysteriously entered Hale's room and the supposed +_ayah_ whom I met downstairs are one and the same. Two, at least, of +the Yellow group are actually here in the New Louvre!" + +The light of the shaded lamp shone down upon the brass coffer on the +table beside me. The fog seemed to have cleared from the room somewhat, +but since in the midnight stillness I could detect the muffled sounds +of sirens from the river and the reports of fog signals from the +railways, I concluded that the night was not yet wholly clear of the +choking mist. In accordance with a pre-arranged scheme we had decided +to guard "the key of India" (whatever it might be) turn and turn about +through the night. In a word--we feared to sleep unguarded. Now my +watch informed me that four o'clock approached, at which hour I was +to arouse Smith and retire to sleep to my own bedroom. + +Nothing had disturbed my vigil--that is, nothing definite. True once, +about half an hour earlier, I had thought I heard the dragging and +tapping sound from somewhere up above me; but since the corridor +overhead was unfinished and none of the rooms opening upon it yet +habitable, I concluded that I had been mistaken. The stairway at the +end of our corridor, which communicated with that above, was still +blocked with bags of cement and slabs of marble, in fact. + +Faintly to my ears came the booming of London's clocks, beating out +the hour of four. But still I sat beside the mysterious coffer, +indisposed to awaken my friend any sooner than was necessary, +particularly since I felt in no way sleepy myself. + +I was to learn a lesson that night: the lesson of strict adherence to +a compact. I had arranged to awaken Nayland Smith at four; and because +I dallied, determined to finish my pipe ere entering his bedroom, +almost it happened that Fate placed it beyond my power ever to awaken +him again. + +At ten minutes past four, amid a stillness so intense that the +creaking of my slippers seemed a loud disturbance, I crossed the room +and pushed open the door of Smith's bedroom. It was in darkness, but +as I entered I depressed the switch immediately inside the door, +lighting the lamp which swung form the center of the ceiling. + +Glancing towards the bed, I immediately perceived that there was +something different in its aspect, but at first I found this +difference difficult to define. I stood for a moment in doubt. Then +I realized the nature of the change which had taken place. + +A lamp hung above the bed, attached to a movable fitting, which +enabled it to be raised or lowered at the pleasure of the occupant. +When Smith had retired he was in no reading mood, and he had not even +lighted the reading-lamp, but had left it pushed high up against the +ceiling. + +It was the position of this lamp which had changed. For now it swung +so low over the pillow that the silken fringe of the shade almost +touched my friend's face as he lay soundly asleep with one +lean brown hand outstretched upon the coverlet. + +I stood in the doorway staring, mystified, at this phenomenon; I might +have stood there without intervening, until intervention had been too +late, were it not that, glancing upward toward the wooden block from +which ordinarily the pendant hung, I perceived that no block was +visible, but only a round, black cavity from which the white flex +supporting the lamp swung out. + +Then, uttering a horse cry which rose unbidden to my lips, I sprang +wildly across the room ... for now I had seen something else! + +Attached to one of the four silken tassels which ornamented the +lamp-shade, so as almost to rest upon the cheek of the sleeping man, +was a little corymb of bloom ... the _Flower of Silence!_ + +Grasping the shade with my left hand I seized the flex with my right, +and as Smith sprang upright in bed, eyes wildly glaring, I wrenched +with all my might. Upward my gaze was set; and I glimpsed a yellow +hand, with long, pointed finger nails. There came a loud resounding +snap; an electric spark spat venomously from the circular opening +above the bed; and, with the cord and lamp still fast in my grip, I +went rolling across the carpet--as the other lamp became instantly +extinguished. + +Dimly I perceived Smith, arrayed in pyjamas, jumping out upon the +opposite side of the bed. + +"Petrie, Petrie!" he cried, "where are you? what has happened?" + +A laugh, little short of hysterical, escaped me. I gathered myself up +and made for the lighted sitting-room. + +"Quick, Smith!" I said--but I did not recognize my own voice. "Quick-- +come out of that room." + +I crossed to the settee, and shaking in every limb, sank down upon it. +Nayland Smith, still wild-eyed, and his face a mask of bewilderment, +came out of the bedroom and stood watching me. + +"For God's sake what has happened, Petrie?" he demanded, and began +clutching at the lobe of his left ear and looking all about the room +dazedly. + +"The Flower of Silence!" I said; "some one has been at work in the top +corridor.... Heaven knows when, for since we engaged these rooms we +have not been much away from them ... the same device as in the case +of poor Hale.... You would have tried to brush the thing away ..." + +A light of understanding began to dawn in my friend's eyes. He drew +himself stiffly upright, and in a loud, harsh voice uttered the words: +"Sâkya Mûni"--and again: "Sâkya Mûni." + +"Thank God!" I said shakily. "I was not too late." + +Nayland Smith, with much rattling of glass, poured out two stiff pegs +from the decanter. Then-- + +"_Ssh!_what's that?" he whispered. + +He stood, tense, listening, his head cast slightly to one side. + +A very faint sound of shuffling and tapping was perceptible, coming, +as I thought, from the incomplete stairway communicating with the upper +corridor. + +"The man with the limp!" whispered Smith. + +He bounded to the door and actually had one hand upon the bolt, when +he turned, and fixed his gaze upon the brass box. + +"No!" he snapped; "there are occasions when prudence should rule. +Neither of us must leave these rooms to-night!" + + + +CHAPTER V + +JOHN KI'S + + +"What is the meaning of Si-Fan?" asked Detective-sergeant Fletcher. + +He stood looking from the window at the prospect below; at the trees +bordering the winding embankment; at the ancient monolith which for +unnumbered ages had looked across desert sands to the Nile, and now +looked down upon another river of many mysteries. The view seemed to +absorb his attention. He spoke without turning his head. + +Nayland Smith laughed shortly. + +"The Si-Fan are the natives of Eastern Tibet," he replied. + +"But the term has some other significance, sir?" said the detective; +his words were more of an assertion than a query. + +"It has," replied my friend grimly. "I believe it to be the name, or +perhaps the sigil, of an extensive secret society with branches +stretching out into every corner of the Orient." + +We were silent for awhile. Inspector Weymouth, who sat in a chair near +the window, glanced appreciatively at the back of his subordinate, who +still stood looking out. Detective-sergeant Fletcher was one of +Scotland Yard's coming men. He had information of the first importance +to communicate, and Nayland Smith had delayed his departure upon an +urgent errand in order to meet him. + +"Your case to date, Mr. Smith," continued Fletcher, remaining with +hands locked behind him, staring from the window, "reads something like +this, I believe: A brass box, locked, contents unknown, has come into +your possession. It stands now upon the table there. It was brought +from Tibet by a man who evidently thought that it had something to +do with the Si-Fan. He is dead, possibly by the agency of members of +this group. No arrests have been made. You know that there are people +here in London who are anxious to regain the box. You have theories +respecting the identity of some of them, but there are practically no +facts." + +Nayland Smith nodded his head. + +"Exactly!" he snapped. + +"Inspector Weymouth, here," continued Fletcher, "has put me in +possession of such facts as are known to him, and I believe that I +have had the good fortune to chance upon a valuable one." + +"You interest me, Sergeant Fletcher," said Smith. "What is the nature +of this clue?" + +"I will tell you," replied the other, and turned briskly upon his heel +to face us. + +He had a dark, clean-shaven face, rather sallow complexion, and +deep-set, searching eyes. There was decision in the square, cleft chin +and strong character in the cleanly chiseled features. His manner was +alert. + +"I have specialized in Chinese crime," he said; "much of my time is +spent amongst our Asiatic visitors. I am fairly familiar with the +Easterns who use the port of London, and I have a number of useful +acquaintances among them." + +Nayland Smith nodded. Beyond doubt Detective-sergeant Fletcher knew +his business. + +"To my lasting regret," Fletcher continued, "I never met the late Dr. +Fu-Manchu. I understand, sir, that you believe him to have been a high +official of this dangerous society? However, I think we may get in +touch with some other notabilities; for instance, I'm told that one +of the people you're looking for has been described as 'the man with +the limp'?" + +Smith, who had been about to relight his pipe, dropped the match on +the carpet and set his foot upon it. His eyes shone like steel. + +"'The man with the limp,'" he said, and slowly rose to his feet--"what +do you know of the man with the limp?" + +Fletcher's face flushed slightly; his words had proved more dramatic +than he had anticipated. + +"There's a place down Shadwell way," he replied, "of which, no doubt, +you will have heard; it has no official title, but it is known to +habitués as the Joy-Shop...." + +Inspector Weymouth stood up, his burly figure towering over that of +his slighter confrère. + +"I don't think you know John Ki's, Mr. Smith," he said. "We keep all +those places pretty well patrolled, and until this present business +cropped up, John's establishment had never given us any trouble." + +"What is this Joy-Shop?" I asked. + +"A resort of shady characters, mostly Asiatics," replied Weymouth. +"It's a gambling-house, an unlicensed drinking-shop, and even worse-- +but it's more use to us open than it would be shut." + +"It is one of my regular jobs to keep an eye on the visitors to the +Joy-Shop," continued Fletcher. "I have many acquaintances who use the +place. Needless to add, they don't know my real business! Well, +lately several of them have asked me if I know who the man is that +hobbles about the place with two sticks. Everybody seems to have +heard him, but no one has seen him." + +Nayland Smith began to pace the floor restlessly. + +"I have heard him myself," added Fletcher, "but never managed to get +so much as a glimpse of him. When I learnt about this Si-Fan mystery, +I realized that he might very possibly be the man for whom you're +looking--and a golden opportunity has cropped up for you to visit the +Joy-Shop, and, if our luck remains in, to get a peep behind the scenes." + +"I am all attention," snapped Smith. + +"A woman called Zarmi has recently put in an appearance at the +Joy-Shop. Roughly speaking, she turned up at about the same time as +the unseen man with the limp...." + +Nayland Smith's eyes were blazing with suppressed excitement; he was +pacing quickly up and down the floor, tugging at the lobe of his left +ear. + +"She is--different in some way from any other woman I have ever seen +in the place. She's a Eurasian and good-looking, after a tigerish +fashion. I have done my best"--he smiled slightly--"to get in her good +books, and up to a point I've succeeded. I was there last night, and +Zarmi asked me if I knew what she called a 'strong feller.' + +"'These,' she informed me, contemptuously referring to the rest of the +company, 'are poor weak Johnnies!' + +"I had nothing definite in view at the time, for I had not then heard +about your return to London, but I thought it might lead to something +anyway, so I promised to bring a friend along to-night. I don't know +what we're wanted to do, but ..." + +"Count on me!" snapped Smith. "I will leave all details to you and to +Weymouth, and I will be at New Scotland Yard this evening in time to +adopt a suitable disguise. Petrie"--he turned impetuously to me--"I +fear I shall have to go without you; but I shall be in safe company, +as you see, and doubtless Weymouth can find you a part in his portion +of the evening's program." + +He glanced at his watch. + +"Ah! I must be off. If you will oblige me, Petrie, by putting the +brass box into my smaller portmanteau, whilst I slip my coat on, +perhaps Weymouth, on his way out, will be good enough to order a taxi. +I shall venture to breathe again once our unpleasant charge is safely +deposited in the bank vaults!" + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE SI-FAN MOVE + + +A slight drizzling rain was falling as Smith entered the cab which +the hall-porter had summoned. The brown bag in his hand contained the +brass box which actually was responsible for our presence in London. +The last glimpse I had of him through the glass of the closed window +showed him striking a match to light his pipe--which he rarely allowed +to grow cool. + +Oppressed with an unaccountable weariness of spirit, I stood within +the lobby looking out upon the grayness of London in November. A +slight mental effort was sufficient to blot out that drab prospect and +to conjure up before my mind's eye a balcony overlooking the Nile--a +glimpse of dusty palms, a white wall overgrown with purple blossoms, +and above all the dazzling vault of Egypt. Upon the balcony my +imagination painted a figure, limning it with loving details, the +figure of Kâramaneh; and I thought that her glorious eyes would be +sorrowful and her lips perhaps a little tremulous, as, her arms resting +upon the rail of the balcony, she looked out across the smiling river +to the domes and minarets of Cairo--and beyond, into the hazy distance; +seeing me in dreary, rain-swept London, as I saw her, at Gezîra +beneath the cloudless sky of Egypt. + +From these tender but mournful reflections I aroused myself, almost +angrily, and set off through the muddy streets towards Charing Cross; +for I was availing myself of the opportunity to call upon Dr. Murray, +who had purchased my small suburban practice when (finally, as I +thought at the time) I had left London. + +This matter occupied me for the greater part of the afternoon, and I +returned to the New Louvre Hotel shortly after five, and seeing no one +in the lobby whom I knew, proceeded immediately to our apartment. +Nayland Smith was not there, and having made some changes in my attire +I descended again and inquired if he had left any message for me. + +The booking-clerk informed me that Smith had not returned; therefore I +resigned myself to wait. I purchased an evening paper and settled down +in the lounge where I had an uninterrupted view of the entrance doors. +The dinner hour approached, but still my friend failed to put in an +appearance. Becoming impatient, I entered a call-box and rang up +Inspector Weymouth. + +Smith had not been to Scotland Yard, nor had they received any message +from him. Perhaps it would appear that there was little cause for alarm +in this, but I, familiar with my friend's punctual and exact habits, +became strangely uneasy. I did not wish to make myself ridiculous, +but growing restlessness impelled me to institute inquiries regarding +the cabman who had driven my friend. The result of these was to +increase rather than to allay my fears. + +The man was a stranger to the hall-porter, and he was not one of the +taximen who habitually stood upon the neighboring rank; no one seemed +to have noticed the number of the cab. + +And now my mind began to play with strange doubts and fears. The driver, +I recollected, had been a small, dark man, possessing remarkably +well-cut olive-hued features. Had he not worn spectacles he would +indeed have been handsome, in an effeminate fashion. + +I was almost certain, by this time, that he had not been an Englishman; +I was almost certain that some catastrophe had befallen Smith. Our +ceaseless vigilance had been momentarily relaxed--and this was the +result! + +At some large bank branches there is a resident messenger. Even +granting that such was the case in the present instance, I doubted if +the man could help me, unless, as was possible, he chanced to be +familiar with my friend's appearance, and had actually seen him there +that day. I determined, at any rate, to make the attempt; reentering +the call-box, I asked for the bank's number. + +There proved to be a resident messenger, who, after a time, replied to +my call. He knew Nayland Smith very well by sight, and as he had been +on duty in the public office of the bank at the time that Smith should +have arrived, he assured me that my friend had not been there that day! + +"Besides, sir," he said, "you say he came to deposit valuables of some +kind here?" + +"Yes, yes!" I cried eagerly. + +"I take all such things down on the lift to the vaults at night, sir, +under the supervision of the assistant manager--and I can assure you +that nothing of the kind has been left with us to-day." + +I stepped out of the call-box unsteadily. Indeed, I clutched at the +door for support. + +"What is the meaning of Si-Fan?" Detective-sergeant Fletcher had asked +that morning. None of us could answer him; none of us knew. With a +haze seeming to dance between my eyes and the active life in the lobby +before me, I realized that the Si-Fan--that unseen, sinister power-- +had reached out and plucked my friend from the very midst of this +noisy life about me, into its own mysterious, deathly silence. + + + +CHAPTER VII + +CHINATOWN + + +"It's no easy matter," said Inspector Weymouth, "to patrol the vicinity +of John Ki's Joy-Shop without their getting wind of it. The entrance, +as you'll see, is a long, narrow rat-hole of a street running at right +angles to the Thames. There's no point, so far as I know, from which +the yard can be overlooked; and the back is on a narrow cutting +belonging to a disused mill." + +I paid little attention to his words. Disguised beyond all chance of +recognition even by one intimate with my appearance, I was all +impatience to set out. I had taken Smith's place in the night's +program; for, every possible source of information having been tapped +in vain, I now hoped against hope that some clue to the fate of my poor +friend might be obtained at the Chinese den which he had designed to +visit with Fletcher. + +The latter, who presented a strange picture in his make-up as a sort +of half-caste sailor, stared doubtfully at the Inspector; then-- + +"The River Police cutter," he said, "can drop down on the tide and lie +off under the Surrey bank. There's a vacant wharf facing the end of +the street and we can slip through and show a light there, to let you +know we've arrived. You reply in the same way. If there's any +trouble, I shall blaze away with this"--he showed the butt of a +Service revolver protruding from his hip pocket--"and you can be +ashore in no time." + +The plan had one thing to commend it, viz., that no one could devise +another. Therefore it was adopted, and five minutes later a taxi-cab +swung out of the Yard containing Inspector Weymouth and two ruffianly +looking companions--myself and Fletcher. + +Any zest with which, at another time, I might have entered upon such +an expedition, was absent now. I bore with me a gnawing anxiety and +sorrow that precluded all conversation on my part, save monosyllabic +replies, to questions that I comprehended but vaguely. + +At the River Police Depot we found Inspector Ryman, an old acquaintance, +awaiting us. Weymouth had telephoned from Scotland Yard. + +"I've got a motor-boat at the breakwater," said Ryman, nodding to +Fletcher, and staring hard at me. + +Weymouth laughed shortly. + +"Evidently you don't recognize Dr. Petrie!" he said. + +"Eh!" cried Ryman--"Dr. Petrie! why, good heavens, Doctor, I should +never have known you in a month of Bank holidays! What's afoot, +then?"--and he turned to Weymouth, eyebrows raised interrogatively. + +"It's the Fu-Manchu business again, Ryman." + +"Fu-Manchu! But I thought the Fu-Manchu case was off the books long +ago? It was always a mystery to me; never a word in the papers; and +we as much in the dark as everybody else--but didn't I hear that the +Chinaman, Fu-Manchu, was dead?" + +Weymouth nodded. + +"Some of his friends seem to be very much alive, though" he said. +"It appears that Fu-Manchu, for all his genius--and there's no denying +he was a genius, Ryman--was only the agent of somebody altogether +bigger." + +Ryman whistled softly. + +"Has the real head of affairs arrived, then?" + +"We find we are up against what is known as the Si-Fan." + +At that it came to the inevitable, unanswerable question. + +"What is the Si-Fan?" + +I laughed, but my laughter was not mirthful. Inspector Weymouth shook +his head. + +"Perhaps Mr. Nayland Smith could tell you that," he replied; "for the +Si-Fan got him to-day!" + +"Got him!" cried Ryman. + +"Absolutely! He's vanished! And Fletcher here has found out that John +Ki's place is in some way connected with this business." + +I interrupted--impatiently, I fear. + +"Then let us set out, Inspector," I said, "for it seems to me that we +are wasting precious time--and you know what that may mean." I turned +to Fletcher. "Where is this place situated, exactly? How do we proceed?" + +"The cab can take us part of the way," he replied, "and we shall have +to walk the rest. Patrons of John's don't turn up in taxis, as a rule!" + +"Then let us be off," I said, and made for the door. + +"Don't forget the signal!" Weymouth cried after me, "and don't venture +into the place until you've received our reply...." + +But I was already outside, Fletcher following; and a moment later we +were both in the cab and off into a maze of tortuous streets toward +John Ki's Joy-Shop. + +With the coming of nightfall the rain had ceased, but the sky remained +heavily overcast and the air was filled with clammy mist. It was a +night to arouse longings for Southern skies; and when, discharging +the cabman, we set out afoot along a muddy and ill-lighted +thoroughfare bordered on either side by high brick walls, their +monotony occasionally broken by gateways, I felt that the load of +depression which had settled upon my shoulders must ere long bear me +down. + +Sounds of shunting upon some railway siding came to my ears; train +whistles and fog signals hooted and boomed. River sounds there were, +too, for we were close beside the Thames, that gray old stream which +has borne upon its bier many a poor victim of underground London. The +sky glowed sullenly red above. + +"There's the Joy-Shop, along on the left," said Fletcher, breaking in +upon my reflections. "You'll notice a faint light; it's shining out +through the open door. Then, here is the wharf." + +He began fumbling with the fastenings of a dilapidated gateway beside +which we were standing; and a moment later-- + +"All right--slip through," he said. + +I followed him through the narrow gap which the ruinous state of the +gates had enabled him to force, and found myself looking under a low +arch, with the Thames beyond, and a few hazy lights coming and going +on the opposite bank. + +"Go steady!" warned Fletcher. "It's only a few paces to the edge of +the wharf." + +I heard him taking a box of matches from his pocket. + +"Here is my electric lamp," I said. "It will serve the purpose better." + +"Good," muttered my companion. "Show a light down here, so that we +can find our way." + +With the aid of the lamp we found our way out on to the rotting +timbers of the crazy structure. The mist hung denser over the river, +but through it, as through a dirty gauze curtain, it was possible +to discern some of the greater lights on the opposite shore. These, +without exception, however, showed high up upon the fog curtain; +along the water level lay a belt of darkness. + +"Let me give them the signal," said Fletcher, shivering slightly and +taking the lamp from my hand. + +He flashed the light two or three times. Then we both stood watching +the belt of darkness that followed the Surrey shore. The tide lapped +upon the timbers supporting the wharf and little whispers and gurgling +sounds stole up from beneath our feet. Once there was a faint splash +from somewhere below and behind us. + +"There goes a rat," said Fletcher vaguely, and without taking his gaze +from the darkness under the distant shore. "It's gone into the cutting +at the back of John Ki's." + +He ceased speaking and flashed the lamp again several times. Then, all +at once out of the murky darkness into which we were peering, looked +a little eye of light--once, twice, thrice it winked at us from low +down upon the oily water; then was gone. + +"It's Weymouth with the cutter," said Fletcher; "they are ready ... +now for Jon Ki's." + +We stumbled back up the slight acclivity beneath the archway to the +street, leaving the ruinous gates as we had found them. Into the +uninviting little alley immediately opposite we plunged, and where +the faint yellow luminance showed upon the muddy path before us, +Fletcher paused a moment, whispering to me warningly. + +"Don't speak if you can help it," he said; "if you do, mumble any old +jargon in any language you like, and throw in plenty of cursing!" + +He grasped me by the arm, and I found myself crossing the threshold of +the Joy-Shop--I found myself in a meanly furnished room no more than +twelve feet square and very low ceiled, smelling strongly of paraffin +oil. The few items of furniture which it contained were but dimly +discernible in the light of a common tin lamp which stood upon a +packing-case at the head of what looked like cellar steps. + +Abruptly, I pulled up; for this stuffy little den did not correspond +with pre-conceived ideas of the place for which we were bound. I was +about to speak when Fletcher nipped my arm--and out from the shadows +behind the packing-case a little bent figure arose! + +I started violently, for I had had no idea that another was in the +room. The apparition proved to be a Chinaman, and judging from what I +could see of him, a very old Chinaman, his bent figure attired in a +blue smock. His eyes were almost invisible amidst an intricate map of +wrinkles which covered his yellow face. + +"Evening, John," said Fletcher--and, pulling me with him, he made for +the head of the steps. + +As I came abreast of the packing-case, the Chinaman lifted the lamp +and directed its light fully upon my face. + +Great as was the faith which I reposed in my make-up, a doubt and a +tremor disturbed me now, as I found myself thus scrutinized by those +cunning old eyes looking out from the mask-like, apish face. For the +first time the Chinaman spoke. + +"You blinger fliend, Charlie?" he squeaked in a thin, piping voice. + +"Him play piecee card," replied Fletcher briefly. "Good fellow, plenty +much money." + +He descended the steps, still holding my arm, and I perforce followed +him. Apparently John's scrutiny and Fletcher's explanation respecting +me, together had proved satisfactory; for the lamp was replaced upon +the lid of the packing-case, and the little bent figure dropped down +again into the shadows from which it had emerged. + +"Allee lightee," I heard faintly as I stumbled downward in the wake +of Fletcher. + +I had expected to find myself in a cellar, but instead discovered that +we were in a small square court with the mist of the night about us +again. On a doorstep facing us stood a duplicate of the lamp upon the +box upstairs. Evidently this was designed to indicate the portals of +the Joy-Shop, for Fletcher pushed open the door, whose threshold +accommodated the lamp, and the light of the place beyond shone out +into our faces. We entered and my companion closed the door behind us. + +Before me I perceived a long low room lighted by flaming gas-burners, +the jets hissing and spluttering in the draught from the door, for +they were entirely innocent of shades or mantles. Wooden tables, +their surfaces stained with the marks of countless wet glasses, were +ranged about the place, café fashion; and many of these tables +accommodated groups, of nondescript nationality for the most part. +One or two there were in a distant corner who were unmistakably +Chinamen; but my slight acquaintance with the races of the East did +not enable me to classify the greater number of those whom I now saw +about me. There were several unattractive-looking women present. + +Fletcher walked up the center of the place, exchanging nods of +recognition with two hang-dog poker-players, and I was pleased to note +that our advent had apparently failed to attract the slightest +attention. Through an opening on the right-hand side of the room, near +the top, I looked into a smaller apartment, occupied exclusively by +Chinese. They were playing some kind of roulette and another game +which seemed wholly to absorb their interest. I ventured no more than +a glance, then passed on with my companion. + +"_Fan-tan!_" he whispered in my ear. + +Other forms of gambling were in progress at some of the tables; and +now Fletcher silently drew my attention to yet a third dimly lighted +apartment--this opening out from the left-hand corner of the +principal room. The atmosphere of the latter was sufficiently +abominable; indeed, the stench was appalling; but a wave of choking +vapor met me as I paused for a moment at the threshold of this inner +sanctuary. I formed but the vaguest impression of its interior; the +smell was sufficient. This annex was evidently reserved for +opium-smokers. + +Fletcher sat down at a small table near by, and I took a common wooden +chair which he thrust forward with his foot. I was looking around at +the sordid scene, filled with a bitter sense of my own impotency to +aid my missing friend, when that occurred which set my heart beating +wildly at once with hope and excitement. Fletcher must have seen +something of this in my attitude, for-- + +"Don't forget what I told you," he whispered. "Be cautious!--be very +cautious!..." + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +ZARMI OF THE JOY-SHOP + + +Down the center of the room came a girl carrying the only ornamental +object which thus far I had seen in the Joy-Shop; a large Oriental +brass tray. She was a figure which must have formed a center of +interest in any place, trebly so, then, in such a place as this. Her +costume consisted in a series of incongruities, whilst the entire +effect was barbaric and by no means unpicturesque. She wore high-heeled +red slippers, and, as her short gauzy skirt rendered amply evident, +black silk stockings. A brilliantly colored Oriental scarf was wound +around her waist and knotted in front, its tasseled ends swinging +girdle fashion. A sort of chemise--like the _'anteree_ of Egyptian +women--completed her costume, if I except a number of barbaric +ornaments, some of them of silver, with which her hands and arms +were bedecked. + +But strange as was the girl's attire, it was to her face that my gaze +was drawn irresistibly. Evidently, like most of those around us, she +was some kind of half-caste; but, unlike them, she was wickedly +handsome. I use the adverb _wickedly_ with deliberation; for the +pallidly dusky, oval face, with the full red lips, between which rested +a large yellow cigarette, and the half-closed almond-shaped eyes, +possessed a beauty which might have appealed to an artist of one of +the modern perverted schools, but which filled me less with admiration +than horror. For I _knew_ her--I recognized her, from a past, brief +meeting; I knew her, beyond all possibility of doubt, to be one of +the Si-Fan group! + +This strange creature, tossing back her jet-black, frizzy hair, which +was entirely innocent of any binding or ornament, advanced along the +room towards us, making unhesitatingly for our table, and carrying her +lithe body with the grace of a _Gházeeyeh_. + +I glanced at Fletcher across the table. + +"Zarmi!" he whispered. + +Again I raised my eyes to the face which now was close to mine, and +became aware that I was trembling with excitement.... + +Heavens! why did enlightenment come too late! Either I was the victim +of an odd delusion, or Zarmi had been the driver of the cab in which +Nayland Smith had left the New Louvre Hotel! + +Zarmi place the brass tray upon the table and bent down, resting her +elbows upon it, her hands upturned and her chin nestling in her palms. +The smoke from the cigarette, now held in her fingers, mingled with +her disheveled hair. She looked fully into my face, a long, searching +look; then her lips parted in the slow, voluptuous smile of the +Orient. Without moving her head she turned the wonderful eyes (rendered +doubly luminous by the _kohl_ with which her lashes and lids were +darkened) upon Fletcher. + +"What you and your strong friend drinking?" she said softly. + +Her voice possessed a faint husky note which betrayed her Eastern +parentage, yet it had in it the siren lure which is the ancient +heritage of the Eastern woman--a heritage more ancient than the tribe +of the _Ghâzeeyeh_, to one of whom I had mentally likened Zarmi. + +"Same thing," replied Fletcher promptly; and raising his hand, he +idly toyed with a huge gold ear-ring which she wore. + +Still resting her elbows upon the table and bending down between us, +Zarmi turned her slumbering, half-closed black eyes again upon me, +then slowly, languishingly, upon Fletcher. She replaced the yellow +cigarette between her lips. He continued to toy with the ear-ring. + +Suddenly the girl sprang upright, and from its hiding-place within +the silken scarf, plucked out a Malay _krîs_ with a richly jeweled +hilt. Her eyes now widely opened and blazing, she struck at my +companion! + +I half rose from my chair, stifling a cry of horror; but Fletcher, +regarding her fixedly, never moved ... and Zarmi stayed her hand just +as the point of the dagger had reached his throat! + +"You see," she whispered softly but intensely, "how soon I can kill +you." + +Ere I had overcome the amazement and horror with which her action +had filled me, she had suddenly clutched me by the shoulder, and, +turning from Fletcher, had the point of the _krîs_ at _my_ throat! + +"You, too!" she whispered, "you too!" + +Lower and lower she bent, the needle point of the weapon pricking my +skin, until her beautiful, evil face almost touched mine. Then, +miraculously, the fire died out of her eyes; they half closed again +and became languishing, luresome _Ghâzeeyeh_ eyes. She laughed softly, +wickedly, and puffed cigarette smoke into my face. + +Thrusting her dagger into her waist-belt, and snatching up the brass +tray, she swayed down the room, chanting some barbaric song in her +husky Eastern voice. + +I inhaled deeply and glanced across at my companion. Beneath the +make-up with which I had stained my skin, I knew that I had grown +more than a little pale. + +"Fletcher!" I whispered, "we are on the eve of a great discovery--that +girl ..." + +I broke off, and clutching the table with both hands, sat listening +intently. From the room behind me, the opium-room, whose entrance was +less than two paces from where we sat, came a sound of dragging and +tapping! Slowly, cautiously, I began to turn my head; when a sudden +outburst of simian chattering from the _fan-tan_ players drowned that +other sinister sound. + +"You heard it, Doctor!" hissed Fletcher. + +"The man with the limp!" I said hoarsely; "he is in there! Fletcher! +I am utterly confused. I believe this place to hold the key to the +whole mystery, I believe ..." + +Fletcher gave me a warning glance--and, turning anew, I saw Zarmi +approaching with her sinuous gait, carrying two glasses and jug upon +the ornate tray. These she set down upon the table; then stood +spinning the salver cleverly upon the point of her index finger and +watching us through half-closed eyes. + +My companion took out some loose coins, but the girl thrust the +proffered payment aside with her disengaged hand, the salver still +whirling upon the upraised finger of the other. + +"Presently you pay for drink," she said. "You do something for me--eh?" + +"Yep," replied Fletcher nonchalantly, watering the rum in the +tumblers. "What time?" + +"Presently I tell you. You stay here. This one a strong feller?"-- +indicating myself. + +"Sure," drawled Fletcher; "strong as a mule he is." + +"All right. I give him one little kiss if he good boy!" + +Tossing the tray in the air she caught it, rested its edge upon her +hip, turned, and walked away down the room, puffing her cigarette. + +"Listen," I said, bending across the table, "it was Zarmi who drove +the cab that came for Nayland Smith to-day!" + +"My God!" whispered Fletcher, "then it was nothing less than the hand +of Providence that brought us here to-night. Yes! I know how you feel, +Doctor!--but we must play our cards as they're dealt to us. We must +wait--wait." + +Out from the den of the opium-smokers came Zarmi, one hand resting +upon her hip and the other uplifted, a smoldering yellow cigarette +held between the first and second fingers. With a movement of her +eyes she summoned us to join her, then turned and disappeared again +through the low doorway. + +The time for action was arrived--we were to see behind the scenes of +the Joy-Shop! Our chance to revenge poor Smith even if we could not +save him. I became conscious of an inward and suppressed excitement; +surreptitiously I felt the hilt of the Browning pistol in my pocket. +The shadow of the dead Fu-Manchu seemed to be upon me. God! how I +loathed and feared that memory! + +"We can make no plans," I whispered to Fletcher, as together we rose +from the table; "we must be guided by circumstance." + +In order to enter the little room laden with those sickly opium fumes +we had to lower our heads. Two steps led down into the place, which +was so dark that I hesitated, momentarily, peering about me. + +Apparently some four of five persons squatted and lay in the darkness +about me. Some were couched upon rough wooden shelves ranged around +the walls, others sprawled upon the floor, in the center whereof, upon +a small tea-chest, stood a smoky brass lamp. The room and its +occupants alike were indeterminate, sketchy; its deadly atmosphere +seemed to be suffocating me. A sort of choking sound came from one of +the bunks; a vague, obscene murmuring filled the whole place +revoltingly. + +Zarmi stood at the further end, her lithe figure silhouetted against +the vague light coming through an open doorway. I saw her raise her +hand, beckoning to us. + +Circling around the chest supporting the lamp we crossed the foul +den and found ourselves in a narrow, dim passage-way, but in cleaner +air. + +"Come," said Zarmi, extending her long, slim hand to me. + +I took it, solely for guidance in the gloom, and she immediately drew +my arm about her waist, leant back against my shoulder and, raising +her pouted red lips, blew a cloud of tobacco smoke fully into my eyes! + +Momentarily blinded, I drew back with a muttered exclamation. +Suspecting what I did of this tigerish half-caste, I could almost have +found it in my heart to return her savage pleasantries with interest. + +As I raised my hands to my burning eyes, Fletcher uttered a sharp cry +of pain. I turned in time to see the girl touch him lightly on the +neck with the burning tip of her cigarette. + +"You jealous, eh, Charlie?" she said. "But I love you, too--see! Come +along, you strong fellers...." + +And away she went along the passage, swaying her hips lithely and +glancing back over her shoulders in smiling coquetry. + +Tears were still streaming from my eyes when I found myself standing +in a sort of rough shed, stone-paved, and containing a variety of +nondescript rubbish. A lantern stood upon the floor; and beside it ... + +The place seemed to be swimming around me, the stone floor to be +heaving beneath my feet.... + +Beside the lantern stood a wooden chest, some six feet long, and +having strong rope handles at either end. Evidently the chest had but +recently been nailed up. As Zarmi touched it lightly with the pointed +toe of her little red slipper I clutched at Fletcher for support. + +Fletcher grasped my arm in a vice-like grip. To him, too, had come +the ghastly conviction--the gruesome thought that neither of us dared +to name. + +It was Nayland Smith's coffin that we were to carry! + +"Through here," came dimly to my ears, "and then I tell you what to +do...." + +Coolness returned to me, suddenly, unaccountably. I doubted not for an +instant that the best friend I had in the world lay dead there at the +feet of the hellish girl who called herself Zarmi, and I knew since it +was she, disguised, who had driven him to his doom, that she must have +been actively concerned in his murder. + +But, I argued, although the damp night air was pouring in through the +door which Zarmi now held open, although sound of Thames-side activity +came stealing to my ears, we were yet within the walls of the Joy-Shop, +with a score or more Asiatic ruffians at the woman's beck and call.... + +With perfect truth I can state that I retain not even a shadowy +recollection of aiding Fletcher to move the chest out on to the brink +of the cutting--for it was upon this that the door directly opened. +The mist had grown denser, and except a glimpse of slowly moving water +beneath me, I could discern little of our surrounding. + +So much I saw by the light of a lantern which stood in the stern of a +boat. In the bows of this boat I was vaguely aware of the presence of +a crouched figure enveloped in rugs--vaguely aware that two filmy +eyes regarded me out of the darkness. A man who looked like a lascar +stood upright in the stern. + +I must have been acting like a man in a stupor; for I was aroused to +the realities by the contact of a burning cigarette with the lobe of +my right ear! + +"Hurry, quick, strong feller!" said Zarmi softly. + +At that it seemed as though some fine nerve of my brain, already +strained to utmost tension, snapped. I turned, with a wild, +inarticulate cry, my fists raised frenziedly above my head. + +"You fiend!" I shrieked at the mocking Eurasian, "you yellow fiend of +hell!" + +I was beside myself, insane. Zarmi fell back a step, flashing a glance +from my own contorted face to that, now pale even beneath its artificial +tan, of Fletcher. + +I snatched the pistol from my pocket, and for one fateful moment the +lust of slaying claimed my mind.... Then I turned towards the river, +and, raising the Browning, fired shot after shot in the air. + +"Weymouth!" I cried. "Weymouth!" + +A sharp hissing sound came from behind me; a short, muffled cry ... +and something descended, crushing, upon my skull. Like a wild cat +Zarmi hurled herself past me and leapt into the boat. One glimpse I +had of her pallidly dusky face, of her blazing black eyes, and the +boat was thrust off into the waterway ... was swallowed up in the mist. + +I turned, dizzily, to see Fletcher sinking to his knees, one hand +clutching his breast. + +"She got me ... with the knife," he whispered. "But ... don't worry ... +look to yourself, and ..._him_...." + +He pointed, weakly--then collapsed at my feet. I threw myself upon +the wooden chest with a fierce, sobbing cry. + +"Smith, Smith!" I babbled, and knew myself no better, in my sorrow, +than an hysterical woman. "Smith, dear old man! speak to me! speak +to me!..." + +Outraged emotion overcame me utterly, and with my arms thrown across +the box, I slipped into unconsciousness. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +FU-MANCHU + + +Many poignant recollections are mine, more of them bitter than sweet; +but no one of them all can compare with the memory of that moment of +my awakening. + +Weymouth was supporting me, and my throat still tingled from the +effects of the brandy which he had forced between my teeth from his +flask. My heart was beating irregularly; my mind yet partly inert. +With something compound of horror and hope I lay staring at one who +was anxiously bending over the Inspector's shoulder, watching me. + +_It was Nayland Smith._ + +A whole hour of silence seemed to pass, ere speech became possible; +then-- + +"Smith!" I whispered, "are you ..." + +Smith grasped my outstretched, questing hand, grasped it firmly, +warmly; and I saw his gray eyes to be dim in the light of the several +lanterns around us. + +"Am I alive?" he said. "Dear old Petrie! Thanks to you, I am not only +alive, but free!" + +My head was buzzing like a hive of bees, but I managed, aided by +Weymouth, to struggle to my feet. Muffled sounds of shouting and +scuffling reached me. Two men in the uniform of the Thames Police were +carrying a limp body in at the low doorway communicating with the +infernal Joy-Shop. + +"It's Fletcher," said Weymouth, noting the anxiety expressed in my +face. "His missing lady friend has given him a nasty wound, but he'll +pull round all right." + +"Thank God for that," I replied, clutched my aching head. "I don't +know what weapon she employed in my case, but it narrowly missed +achieving her purpose." + +My eyes, throughout, were turned upon Smith, for his presence there, +still seemed to me miraculous. + +"Smith," I said, "for Heaven's sake enlighten me! I never doubted +that you were ..." + +"In the wooden chest!" concluded Smith grimly, "Look!" + +He pointed to something that lay behind me. I turned, and saw the box +which had occasioned me such anguish. The top had been wrenched off +and the contents exposed to view. It was filled with a variety of gold +ornaments, cups, vases, silks, and barbaric brocaded raiment; it might +well have contained the loot of a cathedral. Inspector Weymouth +laughed gruffly at my surprise. + +"What is it?" I asked, in a voice of amazement. + +"It's the treasure of the Si-Fan, I presume," rapped Smith. "Where it +has come from and where it was going to, it must be my immediate +business to ascertain." + +"Then you ..." + +"I was lying, bound and gagged, upon one of the upper shelves in the +opium-den! I heard you and Fletcher arrive. I saw you pass through +later with that she-devil who drove the cab to-day ..." + +"Then the cab ..." + +"The windows were fastened, unopenable, and some anaesthetic was +injected into the interior through a tube--that speaking-tube. I know +nothing further, except that our plans must have leaked out in some +mysterious fashion. Petrie, my suspicions point to high quarters. The +Si-Fan score thus far, for unless the search now in progress brings +it to light, we must conclude that they have the brass coffer." + +He was interrupted by a sudden loud crying of his name. + +"Mr. Nayland Smith!" came from somewhere within the Joy-Shop. "This +way, sir!" + +Off he went, in his quick, impetuous manner, whilst I stood there, +none too steadily, wondering what discovery this outcry portended. +I had not long to wait. Out by the low doorway come Smith, a grimly +triumphant smile upon his face, carrying the missing brass coffer! + +He set it down upon the planking before me. + +"John Ki," he said, "who was also on the missing list, had dragged +the thing out of the cellar where it was hidden, and in another minute +must have slipped away with it. Detective Deacon saw the light shining +through a crack in the floor. I shall never forget the look John gave +us when we came upon him, as, lamp in hand, he bent over the precious +chest." + +"Shall you open it now?" + +"No." He glanced at me oddly. "I shall have it valued in the morning +by Messrs. Meyerstein." + +He was keeping something back; I was sure of it. + +"Smith," I said suddenly, "the man with the limp! I heard him in the +place where you were confined! Did you ..." + +Nayland Smith clicked his teeth together sharply, looking straightly +and grimly into my eyes. + +"I _saw_ him!" he replied slowly; "and unless the effects of the +anaesthetic had not wholly worn off ..." + +"Well!" I cried. + +"The man with the limp is _Dr. Fu-Manchu!_" + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE TÛLUN-NÛR CHEST + + +"This box," said Mr. Meyerstein, bending attentively over the carven +brass coffer upon the table, "is certainly of considerable value, and +possibly almost unique." + +Nayland Smith glanced across at me with a slight smile. Mr. Meyerstein +ran one fat finger tenderly across the heavily embossed figures, which, +like barnacles, encrusted the sides and lid of the weird curio which +we had summoned him to appraise. + +"What do you think, Lewison?" he added, glancing over his shoulder at +the clerk who accompanied him. + +Lewison, whose flaxen hair and light blue eyes almost served to mask +his Semitic origin, shrugged his shoulders in a fashion incongruous +in one of his complexion, though characteristic in one of his name. + +"It is as you say, Mr. Meyerstein, an example of early Tûlun-Nûr +work," he said. "It may be sixteenth century or even earlier. The +Kûren treasure-chest in the Hague Collection has points of +similarity, but the workmanship of this specimen is infinitely finer." + +"In a word, gentlemen," snapped Nayland Smith, rising from the +arm-chair in which he had been sitting, and beginning restlessly to +pace the room, "in a word, you would be prepared to make me a +substantial offer for this box?" + +Mr. Meyerstein, his shrewd eyes twinkling behind the pebbles of his +pince-nez, straightened himself slowly, turned in the ponderous manner +of a fat man, and readjusted the pince-nez upon his nose. He cleared +his throat. + +"I have not yet seen the interior of the box, Mr. Smith," he said. + +Smith paused in his perambulation of the carpet and stared hard at +the celebrated art dealer. + +"Unfortunately," he replied, "the key is missing." + +"Ah!" cried the assistant, Lewison, excitedly, "you are mistaken, sir! +Coffers of this description and workmanship are nearly always +complicated conjuring tricks; they rarely open by any such rational +means as lock and key. For instance, the Kûren treasure-chest to +which I referred, opens by an intricate process involving the pressing +of certain knobs in the design, and the turning of others." + +"It was ultimately opened," said Mr. Meyerstein, with a faint note of +professional envy in his voice, "by one of Christie's experts." + +"Does my memory mislead me," I interrupted, "or was it not regarding +the possession of the chest to which you refer, that the celebrated +case of 'Hague versus Jacobs' arose?" + +"You are quite right, Dr. Petrie," said Meyerstein, turning to me. +"The original owner, a member of the Younghusband Expedition, had been +unable to open the chest. When opened at Christie's it proved to +contain jewels and other valuables. It was a curious case, wasn't it, +Lewison?" turning to his clerk. + +"Very," agreed the other absently; then--"Have you endeavored to open +this box, Mr. Smith?" + +Nayland Smith shook his head grimly. + +"From its weight," said Meyerstein, "I am inclined to think that the +contents might prove of interest. With your permission I will +endeavor to open it." + +Nayland Smith, tugging reflectively at the lobe of his left ear, stood +looking at the expert. Then-- + +"I do not care to attempt it at present," he said. + +Meyerstein and his clerk stared at the speaker in surprise. + +"But you would be mad," cried the former, "if you accepted an offer for +the box, whilst ignorant of the nature of its contents." + +"But I have invited no offer," said Smith. "I do not propose to sell." + +Meyerstein adjusted his pince-nez again. + +"I am a business man," he said, "and I will make a business proposal: +A hundred guineas for the box, cash down, and our commission to be ten +per cent on the proceeds of the contents. You must remember," raising +a fat forefinger to check Smith, who was about to interrupt him, "that +it may be necessary to force the box in order to open it, thereby +decreasing its market value and making it a bad bargain at a hundred +guineas." + +Nayland Smith met my gaze across the room; again a slight smile +crossed the lean, tanned face. + +"I can only reply, Mr. Meyerstein," he said, "in this way: if I desire +to place the box on the market, you shall have first refusal, and the +same applies to the contents, if any. For the moment if you will send +me a note of your fee, I shall be obliged." He raised his hand with a +conclusive gesture. "I am not prepared to discuss the question of sale +any further at present, Mr. Meyerstein." + +At that the dealer bowed, took up his hat from the table, and prepared +to depart. Lewison opened the door and stood aside. + +"Good morning, gentlemen," said Meyerstein. + +As Lewison was about to follow him-- + +"Since you do not intend to open the box," he said, turning, his hand +upon the door knob, "have you any idea of its contents?" + +"None," replied Smith; "but with my present inadequate knowledge of +its history, I do not care to open it." + +Lewison smiled skeptically. + +"Probably you know best," he said, bowed to us both, and retired. + +When the door was closed-- + +"You see, Petrie," said Smith, beginning to stuff tobacco into his +briar, "if we are ever short of funds, here's something"--pointing to +the Tûlun-Nûr box upon the table--"which would retrieve our fallen +fortunes." + +He uttered one of his rare, boyish laughs, and began to pace the +carpet again, his gaze always set upon our strange treasure. What did +it contain? + +The manner in which it had come into our possession suggested that it +might contain something of the utmost value to the Yellow group. For +we knew the house of John Ki to be, if not the head-quarters, certainly +a meeting-place of the mysterious organization the Si-Fan; we knew +that Dr. Fu-Manchu used the place--Dr. Fu-Manchu, the uncanny being +whose existence seemingly proved him immune from natural laws, a +deathless incarnation of evil. + +My gaze set upon the box, I wondered anew what strange, dark secrets +it held; I wondered how many murders and crimes greater than murder +blackened its history. + +"Smith," I said suddenly, "now that the mystery of the absence of a +key-hole is explained, I am sorely tempted to essay the task of +opening the coffer. I think it might help us to a solution of the +whole mystery." + +"And I think otherwise!" interrupted my friend grimly. "In a word, +Petrie, I look upon this box as a sort of hostage by means of which-- +who knows--we might one day buy our lives from the enemy. +I have a sort of fancy, call it superstition if you will, that +nothing--not even our miraculous good luck--could save us if once +we ravished its secret." + +I stared at him amazedly; this was a new phase in his character. + +"I am conscious of something almost like a spiritual unrest," he +continued. "Formerly you were endowed with a capacity for divining +the presence of Fu-Manchu or his agents. Some such second-sight would +appear to have visited me now, and it directs me forcibly to avoid +opening the box." + +His steps as he paced the floor grew more and more rapid. He +relighted his pipe, which had gone out as usual, and tossed the +match-end into the hearth. + +"To-morrow," he said, "I shall lodge the coffer in a place of greater +security. Come along, Petrie, Weymouth is expecting us at Scotland Yard." + + + +CHAPTER XI + +IN THE FOG + + +"But, Smith," I began, as my friend hurried me along the corridor, "you +are not going to leave the box unguarded?" + +Nayland Smith tugged at my arm, and, glancing at him, I saw him +frowningly shake his head. Utterly mystified, I nevertheless +understood that for some reason he desired me to preserve silence for +the present. Accordingly I said no more until the lift brought us down +into the lobby and we had passed out from the New Louvre Hotel, +crossed the busy thoroughfare and entered the buffet of an +establishment not far distant. My friend having ordered cocktails-- + +"And now perhaps you will explain to me the reason for your mysterious +behavior?" said I. + +Smith, placing my glass before me, glanced about him to right and left, +and having satisfied himself that his words could not be overheard-- + +"Petrie," he whispered, "I believe we are spied upon at the New Louvre." + +"What!" + +"There are spies of the Si-Fan--of Fu-Manchu--amongst the hotel +servants! We have good reason to believe that Dr. Fu-Manchu at one +time was actually in the building, and we have been compelled to draw +attention to the state of the electric fitting in our apartments, which +enables any one in the corridor above to spy upon us." + +"Then why do you stay?" + +"For a very good reason, Petrie, and the same that prompts me to +retain the Tûlun-Nûr box in my own possession rather than to deposit +it in the strong-room of my bank." + +"I begin to understand." + +"I trust you do, Petrie; it is fairly obvious. Probably the plan is a +perilous one, but I hope, by laying myself open to attack, to +apprehend the enemy--perhaps to make an important capture." + +Setting down my glass, I stared in silence at Smith. + +"I will anticipate your remark," he said, smiling dryly. "I am aware +that I am not entitled to expose _you_ to these dangers. It is _my_ +duty and I must perform it as best I can; you, as a volunteer, are +perfectly entitled to withdraw." + +As I continued silently to stare at him, his expression changed; the +gray eyes grew less steely, and presently, clapping his hand upon my +shoulder in his impulsive way-- + +"Petrie!" he cried, "you know I had no intention of hurting your +feelings, but in the circumstances it was impossible for me to say less." + +"You have said enough, Smith," I replied shortly. "I beg of you to say +no more." + +He gripped my shoulder hard, then plunged his hand into his pocket and +pulled out the blackened pipe. + +"We see it through together, then, though God knows whither it will +lead us." + +"In the first place," I interrupted, "since you have left the chest +unguarded----" + +"I locked the door." + +"What is a mere lock where Fu-Manchu is concerned?" + +Nayland Smith laughed almost gaily. + +"Really, Petrie," he cried, "sometimes I cannot believe that you mean +me to take you seriously. Inspector Weymouth has engaged the room +immediately facing our door, and no one can enter or leave the suite +unseen by him." + +"Inspector Weymouth?" + +"Oh! for once he has stooped to a disguise: spectacles, and a muffler +which covers his face right up to the tip of his nose. Add to this a +prodigious overcoat and an asthmatic cough, and you have a picture of +Mr. Jonathan Martin, the occupant of room No. 239." + +I could not repress a smile upon hearing this description. + +"No. 239," continued Smith, "contains two beds, and Mr. Martin's +friend will be joining him there this evening." + +Meeting my friend's questioning glance, I nodded comprehendingly. + +"Then what part do _I_ play?" + +"Ostensibly we both leave town this evening," he explained; "but I +have a scheme whereby you will be enabled to remain behind. We shall +thus have one watcher inside and two out." + +"It seems almost absurd," I said incredulously, "to expect any member +of the Yellow group to attempt anything in a huge hotel like the New +Louvre, here in the heart of London!" + +Nayland Smith, having lighted his pipe, stretched his arms and stared +me straight in the face. + +"Has Fu-Manchu never attempted outrage, murder, in the heart of London +before?" he snapped. + +The words were sufficient. Remembering black episodes of the past (one +at least of them had occurred not a thousand yards from the very spot +upon which we now stood), I knew that I had spoken folly. + +Certain arrangements were made then, including a visit to Scotland +Yard; and a plan--though it sounds anomalous--at once elaborate and +simple, was put into execution in the dusk of the evening. + +London remained in the grip of fog, and when we passed along the +corridor communicating with our apartments, faint streaks of yellow +vapor showed in the light of the lamp suspended at the further end. +I knew that Nayland Smith suspected the presence of some spying +contrivance in our rooms, although I was unable to conjecture how this +could have been managed without the connivance of the management. In +pursuance of his idea, however, he extinguished the lights a moment +before we actually quitted the suite. Just within the door he helped +me to remove the somewhat conspicuous check traveling-coat which I +wore. With this upon his arm he opened the door and stepped out into +the corridor. + +As the door slammed upon his exit, I heard him cry: "Come along, +Petrie! we have barely five minutes to catch our train." + +Detective Carter of New Scotland Yard had joined him at the threshold, +and muffled up in the gray traveling-coat was now hurrying with Smith +along the corridor and out of the hotel. Carter, in build and features, +was not unlike me, and I did not doubt that any one who might be +spying upon our movements would be deceived by this device. + +In the darkness of the apartment I stood listening to the retreating +footsteps in the corridor. A sense of loneliness and danger assailed +me. I knew that Inspector Weymouth was watching and listening from the +room immediately opposite; that he held Smith's key; that I could +summon him to my assistance, if necessary, in a matter of seconds. + +Yet, contemplating the vigil that lay before me in silence and +darkness, I cannot pretend that my frame of mind was buoyant. I could +not smoke; I must make no sound. + +As pre-arranged, I cautiously removed my boots, and as cautiously +tiptoed across the carpet and seated myself in an arm-chair. I +determined there to await the arrival of Mr. Jonathan Martin's friend, +which I knew could not now be long delayed. + +The clocks were striking eleven when he arrived, and in the perfect +stillness of that upper corridor. I heard the bustle which heralded +his approach, heard the rap upon the door opposite, followed by a +muffled "Come in" from Weymouth. Then, as the door was opened, I heard +the sound of a wheezy cough. + +A strange cracked voice (which, nevertheless, I recognized for Smith's) +cried, "Hullo, Martin!--cough no better?" + +Upon that the door was closed again, and as the retreating footsteps +of the servant died away, complete silence--that peculiar silence +which comes with fog--descended once more upon the upper part of the +New Louvre Hotel. + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE VISITANT + + +That first hour of watching, waiting, and listening in the lonely +quietude passed drearily; and with the passage of every quarter-- +signalized by London's muffled clocks--my mood became increasingly +morbid. I peopled the silent rooms opening out of that wherein I sat, +with stealthy, murderous figures; my imagination painted hideous +yellow faces upon the draperies, twitching yellow hands protruding +from this crevice and that. A score of times I started nervously, +thinking I heard the pad of bare feet upon the floor behind me, the +suppressed breathing of some deathly approach. + +Since nothing occurred to justify these tremors, this apprehensive +mood passed; I realized that I was growing cramped and stiff, that +unconsciously I had been sitting with my muscles nervously tensed. +The window was open a foot or so at the top and the blind was drawn; +but so accustomed were my eyes now to peering through the darkness, +that I could plainly discern the yellow oblong of the window, and +though very vaguely, some of the appointments of the room--the +Chesterfield against one wall, the lamp-shade above my head, the +table with the Tûlun-Nûr box upon it. + +There was fog in the room, and it was growing damply chill, for we +had extinguished the electric heater some hours before. Very few +sounds penetrated from outside. Twice or perhaps thrice people passed +along the corridor, going to their rooms; but, as I knew, the greater +number of the rooms along that corridor were unoccupied. + +From the Embankment far below me, and from the river, faint noises +came at long intervals it is true; the muffled hooting of motors, and +yet fainter ringing of bells. Fog signals boomed distantly, and train +whistles shrieked, remote and unreal. I determined to enter my bedroom, +and, risking any sound which I might make, to lie down upon the bed. + +I rose carefully and carried this plan into execution. I would have +given much for a smoke, although my throat was parched; and almost any +drink would have been nectar. But although my hopes (or my fears) of +an intruder had left me, I determined to stick to the rules of the +game as laid down. Therefore I neither smoked nor drank, but carefully +extended my weary limbs upon the coverlet, and telling myself that I +could guard our strange treasure as well from there as from elsewhere +... slipped off into a profound sleep. + +Nothing approaching in acute and sustained horror to the moment when +next I opened my eyes exists in all my memories of those days. + +In the first place I was aroused by the shaking of the bed. It was +quivering beneath me as though an earthquake disturbed the very +foundations of the building. I sprang upright and into full +consciousness of my lapse.... My hands clutching the coverlet on +either side of me, I sat staring, staring, staring ... at _that_ which +peered at me over the foot of the bed. + +I knew that I had slept at my post; I was convinced that I was now +widely awake; yet I _dared_ not admit to myself that what I saw was +other than a product of my imagination. I dared not admit the physical +quivering of the bed, for I could not, with sanity, believe its cause +to be anything human. But what I saw, yet could not credit seeing, +was this: + +A ghostly white face, which seemed to glisten in some faint reflected +light from the sitting-room beyond, peered over the bedrail; gibbered +at me demoniacally. With quivering hands this night-mare horror, which +had intruded where I believed human intrusion to be all but impossible, +clutched the bed-posts so that the frame of the structure shook and +faintly rattled.... + +My heart leapt wildly in my breast, then seemed to suspend its +pulsations and to grow icily cold. My whole body became chilled +horrifically. My scalp tingled: I felt that I must either cry out or +become stark, raving mad! + +For this clammily white face, those staring eyes, that wordless +gibbering, and the shaking, shaking, shaking of the bed in the clutch +of the nameless visitant--prevailed, refused to disperse like the evil +dream I had hoped it all to be; manifested itself, indubitably, as +something tangible--objective.... + +Outraged reason deprived me of coherent speech. Past the clammy white +face I could see the sitting-room illuminated by a faint light; I +could even see the Tûlun-Nûr box upon the table immediately opposite +the door. + +The thing which shook the bed was actual, existent--to be counted with! + +Further and further I drew myself away from it, until I crouched close +up against the head of the bed. Then, as the thing reeled aside, and-- +merciful Heaven!--made as if to come around and approach me yet closer, +I uttered a hoarse cry and hurled myself out upon the floor and on the +side remote from that pallid horror which I thought was pursuing me. + +I heard a dull thud ... and the thing disappeared from my view, yet-- +and remembering the supreme terror of that visitation I am not ashamed +to confess it--I dared not move from the spot upon which I stood, I +dared not make to pass that which lay between me and the door. + +"Smith!" I cried, but my voice was little more than a hoarse whisper-- +"Smith! Weymouth!" + +The words became clearer and louder as I proceeded, so that the last-- +"Weymouth!"--was uttered in a sort of falsetto scream. + +A door burst open upon the other side of the corridor. A key was +inserted in the lock of the door. Into the dimly lighted arch which +divided the bed-room from the sitting-room, sprang the figure of +Nayland Smith! + +"Petrie! Petrie!" he called--and I saw him standing there looking from +left to right. + +Then, ere I could reply, he turned, and his gaze fell upon whatever +lay upon the floor at the foot of the bed. + +"My God!" he whispered--and sprang into the room. + +"Smith! Smith!" I cried, "what is it? what is it?" + +He turned in a flash, as Weymouth entered at his heels, saw me, and +fell back a step; then looked again down at the floor. + +"God's mercy!" he whispered, "I thought it was you--I thought it was +you!" + +Trembling violently, my mind a feverish chaos, I moved to the foot of +the bed and looked down at what lay there. + +"Turn up the light!" snapped Smith. + +Weymouth reached for the switch, and the room became illuminated +suddenly. + +Prone upon the carpet, hands outstretched and nails dug deeply into +the pile of the fabric, lay a dark-haired man having his head twisted +sideways so that the face showed a ghastly pallid profile against the +rich colorings upon which it rested. He wore no coat, but a sort of +dark gray shirt and black trousers. To add to the incongruity of his +attire, his feet were clad in drab-colored shoes, rubber-soled. + +I stood, one hand raised to my head, looking down upon him, and +gradually regaining control of myself. Weymouth, perceiving something +of my condition, silently passed his flask to me; and I gladly availed +myself of this. + +"How in Heaven's name did he get in?" I whispered. + +"How, indeed!" said Weymouth, staring about him with wondering eyes. + +Both he and Smith had discarded their disguises; and, a bewildered +trio, we stood looking down upon the man at our feet. Suddenly Smith +dropped to his knees and turned him flat upon his back. Composure was +nearly restored to me, and I knelt upon the other side of the +white-faced creature whose presence there seemed so utterly outside +the realm of possibility, and examined him with a consuming and fearful +interest; for it was palpable that, if not already dead, he was dying +rapidly. + +He was a slightly built man, and the first discovery that I made was +a curious one. What I had mistaken for dark hair was a wig! The short +black mustache which he wore was also factitious. + +"Look at this!" I cried. + +"I am looking," snapped Smith. + +He suddenly stood up, and entering the room beyond, turned on the +light there. I saw him staring at the Tûlun-Nûr box, and I knew what +had been in his mind. But the box, undisturbed, stood upon the table +as we had left it. I saw Smith tugging irritably at the lobe of his +ear, and staring from the box towards the man beside whom I knelt. + +"For God's sake, what does it man?" said Inspector Weymouth in a voice +hushed with wonder. "How did he get in? What did he come for?--and +what has happened to him?" + +"As to what has happened to him," I replied, "unfortunately I cannot +tell you. I only know that unless something can be done his end is not +far off." + +"Shall we lay him on the bed?" + +I nodded, and together we raised the slight figure and placed it upon +the bed where so recently I had lain. + +As we did so, the man suddenly opened his eyes, which were glazed with +delirium. He tore himself from our grip, sat bolt upright, and +holding his hands, fingers outstretched, before his face, stared at +them frenziedly. + +"The golden pomegranates!" he shrieked, and a slight froth appeared on +his blanched lips. "The golden pomegranates!" + +He laughed madly, and fell back inert. + +"He's dead!" whispered Weymouth; "he's dead!" + +Hard upon his words came a cry from Smith: + +"Quick! Petrie!--Weymouth!" + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE ROOM BELOW + + +I ran into the sitting-room, to discover Nayland Smith craning out of +the now widely opened window. The blind had been drawn up, I did not +know by whom; and, leaning out beside my friend, I was in time to +perceive some bright object moving down the gray stone wall. Almost +instantly it disappeared from sight in the yellow banks below. + +Smith leapt around in a whirl of excitement. + +"Come in, Petrie!" he cried, seizing my arm. "You remain here, +Weymouth; don't leave these rooms whatever happens!" + +We ran out into the corridor. For my own part I had not the vaguest +idea what we were about. My mind was not yet fully recovered from the +frightful shock which it had sustained; and the strange words of the +dying man--"the golden pomegranates"--had increased my mental +confusion. Smith apparently had not heard them, for he remained grimly +silent, as side by side we raced down the marble stairs to the +corridor immediately below our own. + +Although, amid the hideous turmoil to which I had awakened, I had +noted nothing of the hour, evidently the night was far advanced. Not a +soul was to be seen from end to end of the vast corridor in which we +stood ... until on the right-hand side and about half-way along, a +door opened and a woman came out hurriedly, carrying a small hand-bag. + +She wore a veil, so that her features were but vaguely distinguished, +but her every movement was agitated; and this agitation perceptibly +increased when, turning, she perceived the two of us bearing down +upon her. + +Nayland Smith, who had been audibly counting the doors along the +corridor as we passed them, seized the woman's arm without ceremony, +and pulled her into the apartment she had been on the point of +quitting, closing the door behind us as we entered. + +"Smith!" I began, "for Heaven's sake what are you about?" + +"You shall see, Petrie!" he snapped. + +He released the woman's arm, and pointing to an arm-chair near by-- + +"Be seated," he said sternly. + +Speechless with amazement, I stood, with my back to the door, watching +this singular scene. Our captive, who wore a smart walking costume and +whose appearance was indicative of elegance and culture, so far had +uttered no word of protest, no cry. + +Now, whilst Smith stood rigidly pointing to the chair, she seated +herself with something very like composure and placed the leather bag +upon the floor beside her. The room in which I found myself was one of +a suite almost identical with our own, but from what I had gathered in +a hasty glance around, it bore no signs of recent tenancy. The window +was widely opened, and upon the floor lay a strange-looking contrivance +apparently made of aluminum. A large grip, open, stood beside it, and +from this some portions of a black coat and other garments protruded. + +"Now, madame," said Nayland Smith, "will you be good enough to raise +your veil?" + +Silently, unprotestingly, the woman obeyed him, raising her gloved +hands and lifting the veil from her face. + +The features revealed were handsome in a hard fashion, but heavily +made-up. Our captive was younger than I had hitherto supposed; a +blonde; her hair artificially reduced to the so-called Titian tint. +But, despite her youth, her eyes, with the blackened lashes, were full +of a world weariness. Now she smiled cynically. + +"Are you satisfied," she said, speaking unemotionally, "or," holding +up her wrists, "would you like to handcuff me?" + +Nayland Smith, glancing from the open grip and the appliance beside it +to the face of the speaker, began clicking his teeth together, whereby +I knew him to be perplexed. Then he stared across at me. + +"You appear bemused, Petrie," he said, with a certain irritation. "Is +this what mystifies you?" + +Stooping, he picked up the metal contrivance, and almost savagely +jerked open the top section. It was a telescopic ladder, and more +ingeniously designed than anything of the kind I had seen before. +There was a sort of clamp attached to the base, and two sharply pointed +hooks at the top. + +"For reaching windows on an upper floor," snapped my friend, dropping +the thing with a clatter upon the carpet. "An American device which +forms part of the equipment of the modern hotel thief!" + +He seemed to be disappointed--fiercely disappointed; and I found his +attitude inexplicable. He turned to the woman--who sat regarding him +with that fixed cynical smile. + +"Who are you?" he demanded; "and what business have you with the Si-Fan?" + +The woman's eyes opened more widely, and the smile disappeared from +her face. + +"The Si-Fan!" she repeated slowly. "I don't know what you mean, +Inspector." + +"I am not an Inspector," snapped Smith, "and you know it well enough. +You have one chance--your last. To whom were you to deliver the box? +when and where?" + +But the blue eyes remained upraised to the grim tanned face with a +look of wonder in them, which, if assumed, marked the woman a +consummate actress. + +"Who are you?" she asked in a low voice, "and what are you talking +about?" + +Inactive, I stood by the door watching my friend, and his face was a +fruitful study in perplexity. He seemed upon the point of an angry +outburst, then, staring intently into the questioning eyes upraised +to his, he checked the words he would have uttered and began to click +his teeth together again. + +"You are some servant of Dr. Fu-Manchu!" he said. + +The girl frowned with a bewilderment which I could have sworn was not +assumed. Then-- + +"You said I had one chance a moment ago," she replied. "But if you +referred to my answering any of your questions, it is no chance at +all. We have gone under, and I know it. I am not complaining; it's +all in the game. There's a clear enough case against us, and I am +sorry"--suddenly, unexpectedly, her eyes became filled with tears, +which coursed down her cheeks, leaving little wakes of blackness from +the make-up upon her lashes. Her lips trembled, and her voice shook. +"I am sorry I let him do it. He'd never done anything--not anything +big like this--before, and he never would have done if he had not +met me...." + +The look of perplexity upon Smith's face was increasing with every +word that the girl uttered. + +"You don't seem to know me," she continued, her emotion growing +momentarily greater, "and I don't know you; but they will know me at +Bow Street. I urged him to do it, when he told me about the box to-day +at lunch. He said that if it contained half as much as the Kûren +treasure-chest, we could sail for America and be on the straight all +the rest of our lives...." + +And now something which had hitherto been puzzling me became suddenly +evident. I had not removed the wig worn by the dead man, but I knew +that he had fair hair, and when in his last moments he had opened his +eyes, there had been in the contorted face something faintly familiar. + +"Smith!" I cried excitedly, "it is Lewison, Meyerstein's clerk! Don't +you understand? don't you understand?" + +Smith brought his teeth together with a snap and stared me hard in +the face. + +"I do, Petrie. I have been following a false scent. I do!" + +The girl in the chair was now sobbing convulsively. + +"He was tempted by the possibility of the box containing treasure," I +ran on, "and his acquaintance with this--lady--who is evidently no +stranger to felonious operations, led him to make the attempt with her +assistance. But"--I found myself confronted by a new problem--"what +caused his death?" + +"His ... _death_!" + +As a wild, hysterical shriek the words smote upon my ears. I turned, +to see the girl rise, tottering, from her seat. She began groping in +front of her, blindly, as though a darkness had descended. + +"You did not say he was dead?" she whispered, "not dead!--not ..." + +The words were lost in a wild peal of laughter. Clutching at her +throat she swayed and would have fallen had I not caught her in my +arms. As I laid her insensible upon the settee I met Smith's glance. + +"I think I know that, too, Petrie," he said gravely. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE GOLDEN POMEGRANATES + + +"What was it that he cried out?" demanded Nayland Smith abruptly. "I +was in the sitting-room and it sounded to me like 'pomegranates'!" + +We were bending over Lewison; for now, the wig removed, Lewison it +proved unmistakably to be, despite the puffy and pallid face. + +"He said 'the golden pomegranates,'" I replied, and laughed harshly. +"They were words of delirium and cannot possibly have any bearing +upon the manner of his death." + +"I disagree." + +He strode out into the sitting-room. + +Weymouth was below, supervising the removal of the unhappy prisoner, +and together Smith and I stood looking down at the brass box. Suddenly-- + +"I propose to attempt to open it," said my friend. + +His words came as a complete surprise. + +"For what reason?--and why have you so suddenly changed your mind?" + +"For a reason which I hope will presently become evident," he said; +"and as to my change of mind, unless I am greatly mistaken, the wily +old Chinaman from whom I wrested this treasure was infinitely more +clever than I gave him credit for being!" + +Through the open window came faintly to my ears the chiming of Big Ben. +The hour was a quarter to two. London's pulse was dimmed now, and +around about us that great city slept as soundly as it ever sleeps. +Other sounds came vaguely through the fog, and beside Nayland Smith +I sat and watched him at work upon the Tûlun-Nûr box. + +Every knob of the intricate design he pushed, pulled and twisted; but +without result. The night wore on, and just before three o'clock +Inspector Weymouth knocked upon the door. I admitted him, and side by +side the two of us stood watching Smith patiently pursuing his task. + +All conversation had ceased, when, just as the muted booming of +London's clocks reached my ears again and Weymouth pulled out his +watch, there came a faint click ... and I saw that Smith had raised +the lid of the coffer! + +Weymouth and I sprang forward with one accord, and over Smith's +shoulders peered into the interior. There was a second lid of some +dull, black wood, apparently of great age, and fastened to it so as +to form knobs or handles was an exquisitely carved pair of _golden +pomegranates!_ + +"They are to raise the wooden lid, Mr. Smith!" cried Weymouth eagerly. + +"Look! there is a hollow in each to accommodate the fingers!" + +"Aren't you going to open it?" I demanded excitedly--"aren't you going +to open it?" + +"Might I invite you to accompany me into the bedroom yonder for a +moment?" he replied in a tome of studied reserve. "You also, Weymouth?" + +Smith leading, we entered the room where the dead man lay stretched +upon the bed. + +"Note the appearance of his fingers," directed Nayland Smith. + +I examined the peculiarity to which Smith had drawn my attention. The +dead man's fingers were swollen extraordinarily, the index finger of +either hand especially being oddly discolored, as though bruised from +the nail upward. I looked again at the ghastly face, then, repressing +a shudder, for the sight was one not good to look upon, I turned to +Smith, who was watching me expectantly with his keen, steely eyes. + +From his pocket the took out a knife containing a number of implements, +amongst them a hook-like contrivance. + +"Have you a button-hook, Petrie," he asked, "or anything of that nature?" + +"How will this do?" said the Inspector, and he produced a pair of +handcuffs. "They were not wanted," he added significantly. + +"Better still," declared Smith. + +Reclosing his knife, he took the handcuffs from Weymouth, and, +returning to the sitting-room, opened them widely and inserted two +steel points in the hollows of the golden pomegranates. He pulled. +There was a faint sound of moving mechanism and the wooden lid lifted, +revealing the interior of the coffer. It contained three long bars of +lead--and nothing else! + +Supporting the lid with the handcuffs-- + +"Just pull the light over here, Petrie," said Smith. + +I did as he directed. + +"Look into these two cavities where one is expected to thrust one's +fingers!" + +Weymouth and I craned forward so that our heads came into contact. + +"My God!" whispered the Inspector, "we know now what killed him!" + +Visible, in either little cavity against the edge of the steel +handcuff, was the point of a needle, which evidently worked in an +exquisitely made socket through which the action of raising the lid +caused it to protrude. Underneath the lid, midway between the two +pomegranates, as I saw by slowly moving the lamp, was a little +receptacle of metal communicating with the base of the hollow needles. + +The action of lifting the lid not only protruded the points but also +operated the hypodermic syringe! + +"Note," snapped Smith--but his voice was slightly hoarse. + +He removed the points of the bracelets. The box immediately reclosed +with no other sound than a faint click. + +"God forgive him," said Smith, glancing toward the other room, "for +he died in my stead!--and Dr. Fu-Manchu scores an undeserved failure!" + + + +CHAPTER XV + +ZARMI REAPPEARS + + +"Come in!" I cried. + +The door opened and a page-boy entered. + +"A cable for Dr. Petrie." + +I started up from my chair. A thousand possibilities--some of a sort +to bring dread to my heart--instantly occurred to me. I tore open the +envelope and, as one does, glanced first at the name of the sender. + +It was signed "Kâramaneh!" + +"Smith!" I said hoarsely, glancing over the massage, "Kâramaneh is on +her way to England. She arrives by the _Nicobar_ to-morrow!" + +"Eh?" cried Nayland Smith, in turn leaping to his feet. "She had no +right to come alone, unless----" + +The boy, open-mouthed, was listening to our conversation, and I +hastily thrust a coin into his hand and dismissed him. As the door +closed-- + +"Unless what, Smith?" I said, looking my friend squarely in the eyes. + +"Unless she has learnt something, or--is flying away from some one!" + +My mind set in a whirl of hopes and fears, longings and dreads. + +"What do you mean, Smith?" I asked. "This is the place of danger, as +we know to our cost; she was safe in Egypt." + +Nayland Smith commenced one of his restless perambulations, glancing +at me from time to time and frequently tugging at the lobe of his ear. + +"_Was_ she safe in Egypt?" he rapped. "We are dealing, remember, with +the Si-Fan, which, if I am not mistaken, is a sort of Eleusinian +Mystery holding some kind of dominion over the eastern mind, and +boasting initiates throughout the Orient. It is almost certain that +there is an Egyptian branch, or group--call it what you will--of the +damnable organization." + +"But Dr. Fu-Manchu----" + +"Dr. Fu-Manchu--for he lives, Petrie! my own eyes bear witness to the +fact--Dr. Fu-Manchu is a sort of delegate from the headquarters. His +prodigious genius will readily enable him to keep in touch with every +branch of the movement, East and West." + +He paused to knock out his pipe into an ashtray and to watch me for +some moments in silence. + +"He may have instructed his Cairo agents," he added significantly. + +"God grant she get to England in safety," I whispered. "Smith! can we +make no move to round up the devils who defy us, here in the very +heart of civilized England? Listen. You will not have forgotten the +wild-cat Eurasian Zarmi?" + +Smith nodded. "I recall the lady perfectly!" he snapped. + +"Unless my imagination has been playing me tricks, I have seen her +twice within the last few days--once in the neighborhood of this hotel +and once in a cab in Piccadilly." + +"You mentioned the matter at the time," said Smith shortly; "but +although I made inquiries, as you remember, nothing came of them." + +"Nevertheless, I don't think I was mistaken. I feel in my very bones +that the Yellow hand of Fu-Manchu is about to stretch out again. If +only we could apprehend Zarmi." + +Nayland Smith lighted his pipe with care. + +"If only we could, Petrie!" he said; "but, damn it!"--he dashed his +left fist into the palm of his right hand--"we are doomed to remain +inactive. We can only await the arrival of Kâramaneh and see if she +has anything to tell us. I must admit that there are certain theories +of my own which I haven't yet had an opportunity of testing. Perhaps +in the near future such an opportunity may arise." + +How soon that opportunity was to arise neither of us suspected then; +but Fate is a merry trickster, and even as we spoke of these matters +events were brewing which were to lead us along strange paths. + +With such glad anticipations as my pen cannot describe, their gladness +not unmixed with fear, I retired to rest that night, scarcely +expecting to sleep, so eager was I for the morrow. The musical voice +of Kâramaneh seemed to ring in my ears; I seemed to feel the touch +of her soft hands and to detect, as I drifted into the borderland +betwixt reality and slumber, that faint, exquisite perfume which from +the first moment of my meeting with the beautiful Eastern girl, had +become to me inseparable from her personality. + +It seemed that sleep had but just claimed me when I was awakened by +some one roughly shaking my shoulder. I sprang upright, my mind alert +to sudden danger. The room looked yellow and dismal, illuminated as it +was by a cold light of dawn which crept through the window and with +which competed the luminance of the electric lamps. + +Nayland Smith stood at my bedside, partially dressed! + +"Wake up, Petrie!" he cried; "your instincts serve you better than my +reasoning. Hell's afoot, old man! Even as you predicted it, perhaps in +that same hour, the yellow fiends were at work!" + +"What, Smith, what!" I said, leaping out of bed; "you don't mean----" + +"Not that, old man," he replied, clapping his hand upon my shoulder; +"there is no further news of _her_, but Weymouth is waiting outside. +Sir Baldwin Frazer has disappeared!" + +I rubbed my eyes hard and sought to clear my mind of the vapors of +sleep. + +"Sir Baldwin Frazer!" I said, "of Half-Moon Street? But what----" + +"God knows _what_," snapped Smith; "but our old friend Zarmi, or so it +would appear, bore him off last night, and he has completely vanished, +leaving practically no trace behind." + +Only a few sleeping servants were about as we descended the marble +stairs to the lobby of the hotel where Weymouth was awaiting us. + +"I have a cab outside from the Yard," he said. "I came straight here +to fetch you before going on to Half-Moon Street." + +"Quite right!" snapped Smith; "but you are sure the cab is from the +Yard? I have had painful experience of strange cabs recently!" + +"You can trust this one," said Weymouth, smiling slightly. "It has +carried me to the scene of many a crime." + +"Hem!" said Smith--"a dubious recommendation." + +We entered the waiting vehicle and soon were passing through the +nearly deserted streets of London. Only those workers whose toils +began with the dawn were afoot at that early hour, and in the misty +gray light the streets had an unfamiliar look and wore an aspect of +sadness in ill accord with the sentiments which now were stirring +within me. For whatever might be the fate of the famous mental +specialist, whatever the mystery before us--even though Dr. Fu-Manchu +himself, malignantly active, threatened our safety--Kâramaneh would +be with me again that day--Kâramaneh, my beautiful wife to be! + +So selfishly occupied was I with these reflections that I paid little +heed to the words of Weymouth, who was acquainting Nayland Smith with +the facts bearing upon the mysterious disappearance of Sir Baldwin +Frazer. Indeed, I was almost entirely ignorant upon the subject when +the cab pulled up before the surgeon's house in Half-Moon Street. + +Here, where all else spoke of a city yet sleeping or but newly +awakened, was wild unrest and excitement. Several servants were +hovering about the hall eager to glean any scrap of information that +might be obtainable; wide-eyed and curious, if not a little fearful. +In the somber dining-room with its heavy oak furniture and gleaming +silver, Sir Baldwin's secretary awaited us. He was a young man, +fair-haired, clean-shaven and alert; but a real and ever-present +anxiety could be read in his eyes. + +"I am sorry," he began, "to have been the cause of disturbing you at +so early an hour, particularly since this mysterious affair may prove +to have no connection with the matters which I understand are at +present engaging your attention." + +Nayland Smith raised his hand deprecatingly. + +"We are prepared, Mr. Logan," he replied, "to travel to the uttermost +ends of the earth at all times, if by doing so we can obtain even a +meager clue to the enigma which baffles us." + +"I should not have disturbed Mr. Smith," said Weymouth, "if I had not +been pretty sure that there was Chinese devilry at work here: nor +should I have told you as much as I have, Mr. Logan," he added, a +humorous twinkle creeping into his blue eyes, "if I had thought you +could not be of use to us in unraveling our case!" + +"I quite understand that," said Logan, "and now, since you have voted +for the story first and refreshments afterward, let me tell you what +little I know of the matter." + +"Be as brief as you can," snapped Nayland Smith, starting up from the +chair in which he had been seated and beginning restlessly to pace +the floor before the open fireplace--"as brief as is consistent with +clarity. We have learnt in the past that an hour or less sometimes +means the difference between----" + +He paused, glancing at Sir Baldwin's secretary. + +"Between life and death," he added. + +Mr. Logan started perceptibly. + +"You alarm me, Mr. Smith," he declared; "for I can conceive of no +earthly manner in which this mysterious Eastern organization of which +Inspector Weymouth speaks, could profit by the death of Sir Baldwin." + +Nayland Smith suddenly turned and stared grimly at the speaker. + +"I call it death," he said harshly, "to be carried off to the interior +of China, to be made a mere slave, having no will but the great and +evil man who already--already, mark you!--has actually accomplished +such things." + +"But Sir Baldwin----" + +"Sir Baldwin Frazer," snapped Smith, "is the undisputed head of his +particular branch of surgery. Dr. Fu-Manchu may have what he deems +useful employment for such skill as his. But," glancing at the clock, +"we are wasting time. Your story, Mr. Logan." + +"It was about half-past twelve last night," began the secretary, +closing his eyes as if he were concentrating his mind upon certain +past events, "when a woman came here and inquired for Sir Baldwin. +The butler informed her that Sir Baldwin was entertaining friends and +that he could receive no professional visitors until the morning. +She was so insistent, however, absolutely declining to go away, that +I was sent for--I have rooms in the house--and I came down to interview +her in the library." + +"Be very accurate, Mr. Logan," interrupted Smith, "in your description +of this visitor." + +"I shall do my best," pursued Logan, closing his eyes again in +concentrated thought. "She wore evening dress, of a fantastic kind, +markedly Oriental in character, and had large gold rings in her ears. +A green embroidered shawl, with raised figures of white birds as a +design, took the place of a cloak. It was certainly of Eastern +workmanship, possibly Arab; and she wore it about her shoulders with +one corner thrown over her head--again, something like a _burnous_. She +was extremely dark, had jet-black, frizzy hair and very remarkable +eyes, the finest of their type I have ever seen. She possessed beauty +of a sort, of course, but without being exactly vulgar, it was what I +may term _ostentatious;_ and as I entered the library I found myself +at a loss to define her exact place in society--you understand what +I mean?" + +We all nodded comprehendingly and awaited with intense interest the +resumption of the story. Mr. Logan had vividly described the Eurasian +Zarmi, the creature of Dr. Fu-Manchu. + +"When the woman addressed me," he continued, "my surmise that she was +some kind of half-caste, probably a Eurasian, was confirmed by her +broken English. I shall not be misunderstood"--a slight embarrassment +became perceptible in his manner--"if I say that the visitor quite +openly tried to bewitch me; and since we are all human, you will +perhaps condone my conduct when I add that she succeeded, in a measure, +inasmuch as I consented to speak to Sir Baldwin, although he was +actually playing bridge at the time. + +"Either my eloquence, or, to put it bluntly, the extraordinary fee +which the woman offered, resulted in Sir Baldwin's agreeing to abandon +his friends and accompany the visitor in a cab which was waiting to +see the patient." + +"And who was the patient?" rapped Smith. + +"According to the woman's account, the patient was her mother, who +had met with a street accident a week before. She gave the name of +the consultant who had been called in, and who, she stated, had +advised the opinion of Sir Baldwin. She represented that the matter +was urgent, and that it might be necessary to perform an operation +immediately in order to save the patient's life." + +"But surely," I interrupted, in surprise, "Sir Baldwin did not take +his instruments?" + +"He took his case with him--yes," replied Logan; "for he in turn +yielded to the appeals of the visitor. The very last words that I +heard him speak as he left the house were to assure her that no such +operation could be undertaken at such short notice in that way." + +Logan paused, looking around at us a little wearily. + +"And what aroused your suspicions?" said Smith. + +"My suspicions were aroused at the very moment of Sir Baldwin's +departure, for as I came out onto the steps with him I noticed a +singular thing." + +"And that was?" snapped Smith. + +"Directly Sir Baldwin had entered the cab the woman got out," replied +Logan with some excitement in his manner, "and reclosing the door +took her seat beside the driver of the vehicle--which immediately +moved off." + +Nayland Smith glanced significantly at me. + +"The cab trick again, Petrie!" he said; "scarcely a doubt of it." Then, +to Logan: "Anything else?" + +"This," replied the secretary: "I thought, although I could not be +sure, that the face of Sir Baldwin peered out of the window for a +moment as the cab moved away from the house, and that there was +strange expression upon it, almost a look of horror. But of course as +there was no light in the cab and the only illumination was that from +the open door, I could not be sure." + +"And now tell Mr. Smith," said Weymouth, "how you got confirmation of +your fears." + +"I felt very uneasy in my mind," continued Logan, "for the whole +thing was so irregular, and I could not rid my memory of the idea of +Sir Baldwin's face looking out from the cab window. Therefore I rang +up the consultant whose name our visitor had mentioned." + +"Yes?" cried Smith eagerly. + +"He knew nothing whatever of the matter," said Logan, "and had no such +case upon his books! That of course put me in a dreadful state of mind, +but I was naturally anxious to avoid making a fool of myself and +therefore I waited for some hours before mentioning my suspicions to +any one. But when the morning came and no message was received I +determined to communicate with Scotland Yard. The rest of the mystery +it is for you, gentlemen, to unravel." + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +I TRACK ZARMI + + +"What does it mean?" said Nayland Smith wearily, looking at me through +the haze of tobacco smoke which lay between us. "A well-known man like +Sir Baldwin Frazer is decoyed away--undoubtedly by the woman Zarmi; +and up to the present moment not so much as a trace of him can be +found. It is mortifying to think that with all the facilities of New +Scotland Yard at our disposal we cannot trace that damnable cab! We +cannot find the headquarters of the group--we cannot _move!_ To sit +here inactive whilst Sir Baldwin Frazer--God knows for what purpose!-- +is perhaps being smuggled out of the country, is maddening--maddening!" +Then, glancing quickly across to me: "To think ..." + +I rose from my chair, head averted. A tragedy had befallen me which +completely overshadowed all other affairs, great and small. Indeed, +its poignancy was not yet come to its most acute stage; the news was +too recent for that. It had numbed my mind; dulled the pulsing life +within me. + +The s.s._Nicobar_, of the Oriental Navigation Line, had arrived at +Tilbury at the scheduled time. My heart leaping joyously in my bosom, +I had hurried on board to meet Kâramaneh.... + +I have sustained some cruel blows in my life; but I can state with +candor that this which now befell me was by far the greatest and the +most crushing I had ever been called upon to bear; a calamity dwarfing +all others which I could imagine. + +She had left the ship at Southampton--and had vanished completely. + +"Poor old Petrie," said Smith, and clapped his hands upon my shoulders +in his impulsive sympathetic way. "Don't give up hope! We are not +going to be beaten!" + +"Smith," I interrupted bitterly, "what chance have we? what chance +have we? We know no more than a child unborn where these people have +their hiding-place, and we haven't a shadow of a clue to guide us to it." + +His hands resting upon my shoulders and his gray eyes looking +straightly into mine. + +"I can only repeat, old man," said my friend, "don't abandon hope. I +must leave you for an hour or so, and, when I return, possibly I may +have some news." + +For long enough after Smith's departure I sat there, companioned only +by wretched reflections; then, further inaction seemed impossible; to +move, to be up and doing, to be seeking, questing, became an +imperative necessity. Muffled in a heavy traveling coat I went out +into the wet and dismal night, having no other plan in mind than that +of walking on through the rain-swept streets, on and always on, in an +attempt, vain enough, to escape from the deadly thoughts that pursued +me. + +Without having the slightest idea that I had done so, I must have +walked along the Strand, crossed Trafalgar Square, proceeded up the +Haymarket to Piccadilly Circus, and commenced to trudge along at the +Oriental rugs displayed in Messrs. Liberty's window, when an incident +aroused me from the apathy of sorrow in which I was sunken. + +"Tell the cab feller to drive to the north side of Wandsworth Common," +said a woman's voice--a voice speaking in broken English, a voice +which electrified me, had me alert and watchful in a moment. + +I turned, as the speaker, entering a taxi-cab that was drawn up by the +pavement, gave these directions to the door-porter, who with open +umbrella was in attendance. Just one glimpse I had of her as she +stepped into the cab, but it was sufficient. Indeed, the voice had +been sufficient; but that sinuous shape and that lithe swaying movement +of the hips removed all doubt. + +It was Zarmi! + +As the cab moved off I ran out into the middle of the road, where +there was a rank, and sprang into the first taxi waiting there. + +"Follow the cab ahead!" I cried to the man, my voice quivering with +excitement. "Look! you can see the number! There can be no mistake. But +don't lose it for your life! It's worth a sovereign to you!" + +The man, warming to my mood, cranked his engine rapidly and sprang to +the wheel. I was wild with excitement now, and fearful lest the cab +ahead should have disappeared; but fortune seemingly was with me for +once, and I was not twenty yards behind when Zarmi's cab turned the +first corner ahead. Through the gloomy street, which appeared to be +populated solely by streaming umbrellas, we went. I could scarcely +keep my seat; every nerve in my body seemed to be dancing--twitching. +Eternally I was peering ahead; and when, leaving the well-lighted West +End thoroughfares, we came to the comparatively gloomy streets of the +suburbs, a hundred times I thought we had lost the track. But always +in the pool of light cast by some friendly lamp, I would see the +quarry again speeding on before us. + +At a lonely spot bordering the common the vehicle which contained +Zarmi stopped. I snatched up the speaking-tube. + +"Drive on," I cried, "and pull up somewhere beyond! Not too far!" + +The man obeyed, and presently I found myself standing in what was now +become a steady downpour, looking back at the headlights of the other +cab. I gave the driver his promised reward. + +"Wait for ten minutes," I directed; "then if I have not returned, you +need wait no longer." + +I strode along the muddy, unpaved path, to the spot where the cab, now +discharged, was being slowly backed away into the road. The figure of +Zarmi, unmistakable by reason of the lithe carriage, was crossing in +the direction of a path which seemingly led across the common. I +followed at a discreet distance. Realizing the tremendous potentialities +of this rencontre I seemed to rise to the occasion; my brain became +alert and clear; every faculty was at its brightest. And I felt +serenely confident of my ability to make the most of the situation. + +Zarmi went on and on along the lonely path. Not another pedestrian was +in sight, and the rain walled in the pair of us. Where comfort-loving +humanity sought shelter from the inclement weather, we two moved out +there in the storm, linked by a common enmity. + +I have said that my every faculty was keen, and have spoken of my +confidence in my own alertness. My condition, as a matter of fact, +must have been otherwise, and this belief in my powers merely +symptomatic of the fever which consumed me; for, as I was to learn, +I had failed to take the first elementary precaution necessary in +such case. I, who tracked another, had not counted upon being tracked +myself! ... + +A bag or sack, reeking of some sickly perfume, was dropped silently, +accurately, over my head from behind; it was drawn closely about my +throat. One muffled shriek, strangely compound of fear and execration, +I uttered. I was stifling, choking ... I staggered--and fell.... + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +I MEET DR. FU-MANCHU + + +My next impression was of a splitting headache, which, as memory +remounted its throne, brought up a train of recollections. I found +myself to be seated upon a heavy wooden bench set flat against a wall, +which was covered with a kind of straw matting. My hands were firmly +tied behind me. In the first agony of that reawakening I became aware +of two things. + +I was in an operating-room, for the most conspicuous item of its +furniture was an operating-table! Shaded lamps were suspended above +it; and instruments, antiseptics, dressings, etc., were arranged upon +a glass-topped table beside it. Secondly, I had a companion. + +Seated upon a similar bench on the other side of the room, was a +heavily built man, his dark hair splashed with gray, as were his +short, neatly trimmed beard and mustache. He, too, was pinioned; and +he stared across the table with a glare in which a sort of stupefied +wonderment predominated, but which was not free from terror. + +It was Sir Baldwin Frazer! + +"Sir Baldwin!" I muttered, moistening my parched lips with my tongue-- +"Sir Baldwin!--how----" + +"It is Dr. Petrie, is it not?" he said, his voice husky with emotion. +"Dr. Petrie!--my dear sir, in mercy tell me--what does this mean? I +have been kidnaped--drugged; made the victim of an inconceivable +outrage at the very door of my own house...." + +I stood up unsteadily. + +"Sir Baldwin," I interrupted, "you ask me what it means. It means that +we are in the hands of Dr. Fu-Manchu!" + +Sir Baldwin stared at me wildly; his face was white and drawn with +anxiety. + +"Dr. Fu-Manchu!" he said; "but my dear sir, this name conveys nothing +to me--nothing!" His manner momentarily was growing more distrait. +"Since my captivity began I have been given the use of a singular +suite of rooms in this place, and received, I must confess, every +possible attention. I have been waited upon by the she-devil who +lured me here, but not one word other than a species of coarse +badinage has she spoken to me. At times I have been tempted to +believe that the fate which frequently befalls the specialist had +befallen me? You understand?" + +"I quite understand," I replied dully. "There have been times in the +past when I, too, have doubted my sanity in my dealings with the group +who now hold us in their power." + +"But," reiterated the other, his voice rising higher and higher, +"what does it mean, my dear sir? It is incredible--fantastic! Even +now I find it difficult to disabuse my mind of that old, haunting +idea." + +"Disabuse it at once, Sir Baldwin," I said bitterly. "The facts are +as you see them; the explanation, at any rate in your own case, is +quite beyond me. I was tracked ..." + +"Hush! some one is coming!" + +We both turned and stared at an opening before which hung a sort of +gaudily embroidered mat, as the sound of dragging footsteps, +accompanied by a heavy tapping, announced the approach of _some one_. + +The mat was pulled aside by Zarmi. She turned her head, flashing +around the apartment a glance of her black eyes, then held the +drapery aside to admit the entrance of another.... + +Supporting himself by the aid of two heavy walking sticks and +painfully dragging his gaunt frame along, _Dr. Fu-Manchu entered!_ + +I think I have never experienced in my life a sensation identical to +that which now possessed me. Although Nayland Smith had declared that +Fu-Manchu was alive, yet I would have sworn upon oath before any +jury summonable that he was dead; for with my own eyes I had seen +the bullet enter his skull. Now, whilst I crouched against the +matting-covered wall, teeth tightly clenched and my very hair +quivering upon my scalp, he dragged himself laboriously across the +room, the sticks going _tap--tap--tap_ upon the floor, and the tall +body, enveloped in a yellow robe, bent grotesquely, gruesomely, with +every effort which he made. He wore a surgical bandage about his +skull and its presence seemed to accentuate the height of the great +domelike brow, to throw into more evil prominence the wonderful, +Satanic countenance of the man. His filmed eyes turning to right and +left, he dragged himself to a wooden chair that stood beside the +operating-table and sank down upon it, breathing sibilantly, +exhaustedly. + +Zarmi dropped the curtain and stood before it. She had discarded the +dripping overall which she had been wearing when I had followed her +across the common, and now stood before me with her black, frizzy +hair unconfined and her beautiful, wicked face uplifted in a sort of +cynical triumph. The big gold rings in her ears glittered strangely +in the light of the electric lamps. She wore a garment which looked +like a silken shawl wrapped about her in a wildly picturesque +fashion, and, her hands upon her hips, leant back against the curtain +glancing defiantly from Sir Baldwin to myself. + +Those moments of silence which followed the entrance of the Chinese +Doctor live in my memory and must live there for ever. Only the +labored breathing of Fu-Manchu disturbed the stillness of the place. +Not a sound penetrated to the room, no one uttered a word; then-- + +"Sir Baldwin Frazer." began Fu-Manchu in that indescribable voice, +alternating between the sibilant and the guttural, "you were promised +a certain fee for your services by my servant who summoned you. It +shall be paid and the gift of my personal gratitude be added to it." + +He turned himself with difficulty to address Sir Baldwin; and it +became apparent to me that he was almost completely paralyzed down +one side of his body. Some little use he could make of his hand and +arm, for he still clutched the heavy carven stick, but the right side +of his face was completely immobile; and rarely had I seen anything +more ghastly than the effect produced upon that wonderful, Satanic +countenance. The mouth, from the center of the thin lips, opened only +to the left, as he spoke; in a word, seen in profile from where I sat, +or rather crouched, it was the face of a dead man. + +Sir Baldwin Frazer uttered no word, but, crouching upon the bench +even as I crouched, stared--horror written upon every lineament--at +Dr. Fu-Manchu. The latter continued:-- + +"Your experience, Sir Baldwin, will enable you readily to diagnose my +symptoms. Owing to the passage of a bullet along a portion of the +third left frontal into the postero-parietal convolution--upon which, +from its lodgment in the skull, it continues to press--hemiplegia of +the right side has supervened. Aphasia is present also...." + +The effort of speech was ghastly. Beads of perspiration dewed +Fu-Manchu's brow, and I marveled at the iron will of the man, whereby +alone he forced his half-numbed brain to perform its function. He +seemed to select his words elaborately and by this monstrous effort +of will to compel his partially paralyzed tongue to utter them. Some +of the syllables were slurred; but nevertheless distinguishable. It +was a demonstration of sheer _Force_ unlike any I had witnessed, and +it impressed me unforgettably. + +"The removal of this injurious particle," he continued, "would be an +operation which I myself could undertake to perform successfully upon +another. It is a matter of some delicacy as you, Sir Baldwin, and"-- +slowly, horribly, turning the half-dead and half-living head towards +me--"you, Dr. Petrie, will appreciate. In the event of clumsy surgery, +death may supervene; failing this, permanent hemiplegia--or"--the +film lifted from the green eyes, and for a moment they flickered with +transient horror--"idiocy! Any one of three of my pupils whom I might +name could perform this operation with ease, but their services are +not available. Only one English surgeon occurred to me in this +connection, and you, Sir Baldwin"--again he slowly turned his head-- +"were he. Dr. Petrie will act as anaesthetist, and, your duties +completed, you shall return to your home richer by the amount +stipulated. I have suitably prepared myself for the operation, and I +can assure you of the soundness of my heart. I may advise you, Dr. +Petrie"--again turning to me--"that my constitution is inured to the +use of opium. You will make due allowance for this. Mr. Li-King-Su, +a graduate of Canton, will act as dresser." + +He turned laboriously to Zarmi. She clapped her hands and held the +curtain aside. A perfectly immobile Chinaman, whose age I was unable +to guess, and who wore a white overall, entered, bowed composedly to +Frazer and myself and began in a matter-of-fact way to prepare the +dressings. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +QUEEN OF HEARTS + + +"Sir Baldwin Frazer," said Fu-Manchu, interrupting a wild outburst +from the former, "your refusal is dictated by insufficient knowledge +of your surroundings. You find yourself in a place strange to you, a +place to which no clue can lead your friends; in the absolute power +of a man--myself--who knows no law other than his own and that of +those associated with him. Virtually, Sir Baldwin, you stand in +China; and in China we know how to _exact_ obedience. You will not +refuse, for Dr. Petrie will tell you something of my _wire-jackets_ +and my _files_...." + +I saw Sir Baldwin Frazer blanch. He could not know what I knew of the +significance of those words--"my wire-jackets, my files"--but perhaps +something of my own horror communicated itself to him. + +"You will not _refuse_" continued Fu-Manchu softly; "my only fear for +you is that the operation my prove unsuccessful! In that event not +even my own great clemency could save you, for by virtue of your +failure I should be powerless to intervene." He paused for some +moments, staring directly at the surgeon. "There are those within +sound of my voice," he added sibilantly, "who would flay you alive in +the lamentable event of your failure, who would cast your flayed +body"--he paused, waving one quivering fist above his head, "to the +rats--to the rats!" + +Sir Baldwin's forehead was bathed in perspiration now. It was an +incredible and a gruesome situation, a nightmare become reality. But, +whatever my own case, I could see that Sir Baldwin Frazer was +convinced, I could see that his consent would no longer be withheld. + +"You, my dear friend," said Fu-Manchu, turning to me and resuming his +studied and painful composure of manner, "will also consent...." + +Within my heart of hearts I could not doubt him; I knew that my +courage was not of a quality high enough to sustain the frightful +ordeals summoned up before my imagination by those words--"my files, +my wire-jackets!" + +"In the event, however, of any little obstinancy," he added, +"another will plead with you." + +A chill like that of death descended upon me--as, for the second +time, Zarmi clapped her hands, pulled the curtain aside ... and +Kâramaneh was thrust into the room! + + * * * * * * * + +There comes a blank in my recollections. Long after Kâramaneh had +been plucked out again by the two muscular brown hands which clutched +her shoulders from the darkness beyond the doorway, I seemed to see +her standing there, in her close-fitting traveling dress. Her hair +was unbound, disheveled, her lovely face pale to the lips--and her +eyes, her glorious, terror-bright eyes, looked fully into mine.... + +Not a word did she utter, and I was stricken dumb as one who has +plucked the Flower of Silence. Only those wondrous eyes seemed to +look into my soul, searing, consuming me. + +Fu-Manchu had been speaking for some time ere my brain began again +to record his words. + +"----and this magnanimity," came dully to my ears, "extends to you, +Dr. Petrie, because of my esteem. I have little cause to love +Kâramaneh"--his voice quivered furiously--"but she can yet be of +use to me, and I would not harm a hair of her beautiful head--except +in the event of your obstinacy. Shall we then determine your +immediate future upon the turn of a card, as the gamester within me, +within every one of my race, suggests? + +"Yes, yes!" came hoarsely. + +I fought mentally to restore myself to a full knowledge of what was +happening, and I realized that the last words had come from the lips +of Sir Baldwin Frazer. + +"Dr. Petrie," Frazer said, still in the same hoarse and unnatural +voice, "what else can we do? At least take the chance of recovering +your freedom, for how otherwise can you hope to serve--your friend...." + +"God knows!" I said dully; "do as you wish"--and cared not to what I +had agreed. + +Plunging his hand beneath his white overall, the Chinaman who had been +referred to as Li-King-Su calmly produced a pack of cards, +unemotionally shuffled them and extended the pack to me. + +I shook my head grimly, for my hands were tied. Picking up a lancet +from the table, the Chinaman cut the cords which bound me, and again +extended the pack. I took a card and laid it on my knee without even +glancing at it. Fu-Manchu, with his left hand, in turn selected a +card, looked at it and then turned its face towards me. + +"It would seem, Dr. Petrie," he said calmly, "that you are fated to +remain here as my guest. You will have the felicity of residing +beneath the same roof with Kâramaneh." + +The card was the Knave of Diamonds. + +Conscious of a sudden excitement, I snatched up the card from my +knee. It was the Queen of Hearts! For a moment I tasted exultation, +then I tossed it upon the floor. I was not fool enough to suppose +that the Chinese Doctor would pay his debt of honor and release me. + +"Your star above mine," said Fu-Manchu, his calm unruffled. "I place +myself in your hands, Sir Baldwin." + +Assisted by his unemotional compatriot, Fu-Manchu discarded the +yellow robe, revealing himself in a white singlet in all his gaunt +ugliness, and extended his frame upon the operating-table. + +Li-King-Su ignited the large lamp over the head of the table, and +from his case took out a trephine. + + * * * * * * * + +"Other points for your guidance from my own considerable store of +experience"--Fu-Manchu was speaking--"are written out clearly in the +notebook which lies upon the table...." + +His voice, now, was toneless, emotionless, as though his part in the +critical operation about to be performed were that of a spectator. No +trace of nervousness, of fear, could I discern; his pulse was +practically normal. + +How I shuddered as I touched his yellow skin! how my very soul rose +up in revolt! ... + + * * * * * * * + +"There is the bullet!--quick! ... Steady, Petrie!" + +Sir Baldwin Frazer, keen, cool, deft, was metamorphosed, was the +enthusiastic, brilliant surgeon whom I knew and revered, and another +than the nerveless captive who, but a few minutes ago, had stared, +panic-stricken, at Dr. Fu-Manchu. + +Although I had met him once or twice professionally, I had never +hitherto seen him operate; and his method was little short of +miraculous. It was stimulating, inspiring. With unerring touch he +whittled madness, death, from the very throne of reason, of life. + +Now was the crucial moment of his task ... and, with its coming, every +light in the room suddenly failed--went out! + +"My God!" whispered Frazer, in the darkness, "quick! quick! lights! +a match!--a candle!--something, anything!" + +There came a faint click, and a beam of white light was directed, +steadily, upon the patient's skull. Li-King-Su--unmoved--held an +electric torch in his hand! + +Frazer and I set to work, in a fierce battle to fend off Death, who +already outstretched his pinions over the insensible man--to fend off +Death from the arch-murderer, the enemy of the white races, who lay +there at our mercy! ... + + * * * * * * * + +"It seems you want a pick-me-up!" said Zarmi. Sir Baldwin Frazer +collapsed into the cane arm-chair. Only a matting curtain separated us +from the room wherein he had successfully performed perhaps the most +wonderful operation of his career. + +"I could not have lasted out another thirty seconds, Petrie!" he +whispered. "The events which led up to it had exhausted my nerves and +I had no reserve to call upon. If that last ..." + +He broke off, the sentence uncompleted, and eagerly seized the tumbler +containing brandy and soda, which the beautiful, wicked-eyed Eurasian +passed to him. She turned, and prepared a drink for me, with the +insolent _insouciance_ which had never deserted her. + +I emptied the tumbler at a draught. + +Even as I set the glass down I realized, too late, that it was the +first drink I had ever permitted to pass my lips within an abode of +Dr. Fu-Manchu.... + +I started to my feet. + +"Frazer!" I muttered--"we've been drugged! we ..." + +"You sit down," came Zarmi's husky voice, and I felt her hands upon +my breast, pushing me back into my seat. "You very tired ... you go +to sleep...." + + * * * * * * * + +"Petrie! Dr. Petrie!" + +The words broke in through the curtain of unconsciousness. I strove +to arouse myself. I felt cold and wet. I opened my eyes--and the world +seemed to be swimming dizzily about me. Then a hand grasped my arm, +roughly. + +"Brace up! Brace up, Petrie--and thank God you are alive! ..." + +I was sitting beside Sir Baldwin Frazer on a wooden bench, under a +leafless tree, from the ghostly limbs whereof rain trickled down upon +me! In the gray light, which, I thought, must be the light of dawn, +I discerned other trees about us and an open expanse, tree-dotted, +stretching into the misty grayness. + +"Where are we?" I muttered--"where ..." + +"Unless I am greatly mistaken," replied my bedraggled companion, "and +I don't think I am, for I attended a consultation in this neighborhood +less than a week ago, we somewhere on the west side of Wandsworth +Common!" + +He ceased speaking; then uttered a suppressed cry. There came a +jangling of coins, and dimly I saw him to be staring at a canvas bag +of money which he held. + +"Merciful heavens!" he said, "am I mad--or did I _really_ perform that +operation? And can this be my fee? ..." + +I laughed loudly, wildly, plunging my wet, cold hands into the pockets +of my rain-soaked overcoat. In one of them, my fingers came in contact +with a piece of cardboard. It had an unfamiliar feel, and I pulled it +out, peering at it in the dim light. + +"Well, I'm damned!" muttered Frazer--"then I'm not mad, after all!" + +It was the Queen of Hearts! + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +"ZAGAZIG" + + +Fully two weeks elapsed ere Nayland Smith's arduous labors at last met +with a slight reward. For a moment, the curtain of mystery surrounding +the Si-Fan was lifted, and we had a glimpse of that organization's +elaborate mechanism. I cannot better commence my relation of the +episodes associated with the Zagazig's cryptogram than from the moment +when I found myself bending over a prostrate form extended upon the +table in the Inspector's room at the River Police Depôt. It was that +of a man who looked like a Lascar, who wore an ill-fitting slop-shop +suit of blue, soaked and stained and clinging hideously to his body. +His dank black hair was streaked upon his low brow; and his face, +although it was notable for a sort of evil leer, had assumed in death +another and more dreadful expression. + +Asphyxiation had accounted for his end beyond doubt, but there were +marks about his throat of clutching fingers, his tongue protruded, +and the look in the dead eyes was appalling. + +"He was amongst the piles upholding the old wharf at the back of the +Joy-Shop?" said Smith tersely, turning to the police officer in charge. + +"Exactly" was the reply. "The in-coming tide had jammed him right up +under a cross-beam." + +"What time was that?' + +"Well, at high tide last night. Hewson, returning with the ten o'clock +boat, noticed the moonlight glittering upon the knife." + +The knife to which the Inspector referred possessed a long curved +blade of a kind with which I had become terribly familiar in the past. +The dead man still clutched the hilt of the weapon in his right hand, +and it now lay with the blade resting crosswise upon his breast. I +stared in a fascinated way at this mysterious and tragic flotsam of +old Thames. + +Glancing up, I found Nayland Smith's gray eyes watching me. + +"You see the mark, Petrie?" he snapped. + +I nodded. The dead man upon the table was a Burmese dacoit! + +"What do you make of it?" I said slowly. + +"At the moment," replied Smith, "I scarcely know what to make of it. +You are agreed with the divisional surgeon that the man--unquestionably +a dacoit--died, not from drowning, but from strangulation. From +evidence we have heard, it would appear that the encounter which +resulted in the body being hurled in the river, actually took place +upon the wharf-end beneath which he was found. And we know that a place +formerly used by the Si-Fan group--in other words, by Dr. Fu-Manchu-- +adjoins the wharf. I am tempted to believe that this"--he nodded +towards the ghastly and sinister object upon the table--"was a servant +of the Chinese Doctor. In other words, we see before us one whom +Fu-Manchu has rebuked for some shortcoming." + +I shuddered coldly. Familiar as I should have been with the methods of +the dread Chinaman, with his callous disregard of human suffering, of +human life, of human law, I could not reconcile my ideas--the ideas +of a modern, ordinary middle-class practitioner--with these Far Eastern +devilries which were taking place in London. + +Even now I sometimes found myself doubting the reality of the whole +thing; found myself reviewing the history of the Eastern doctor and +of the horrible group of murderers surrounding him, with an incredulity +almost unbelievable in one who had been actually in contact not only +with the servants of the Chinaman, but with the sinister Fu-Manchu +himself. Then, to restore me to grips with reality, would come the +thought of Kâramaneh, of the beautiful girl whose love had brought +me seemingly endless sorrow and whose love for me had brought her once +again into the power of that mysterious, implacable being. + +This thought was enough. With its coming, fantasy vanished; and I knew +that the dead dacoit, his great curved knife yet clutched in his hand, +the Yellow menace hanging over London, over England, over the +civilized world, the absence, the heart-breaking absence, of +Kâramaneh--all were real, all were true, all were part of my life. + +Nayland Smith was standing staring vaguely before him and tugging at +the lobe of his left ear. + +"Come along!" he snapped suddenly. "We have no more to learn here: +the clue to the mystery must be sought elsewhere." + +There was that in his manner whereby I knew that his thoughts were far +away, as we filed out from the River Police Depôt to the cab which +awaited us. Pulling from his overcoat pocket a copy of a daily paper-- + +"Have you seen this, Weymouth?" he demanded. + +With a long, nervous index finger he indicated a paragraph on the front +page which appeared under the heading of "Personal." Weymouth bent +frowningly over the paper, holding it close to his eyes, for this was +a gloomy morning and the light in the cab was poor. + +"Such things don't enter into my sphere, Mr. Smith," he replied, "but +no doubt the proper department at the Yard have seen it." + +"I _know_ they have seen it!" snapped Smith; "but they have also been +unable to read it!" + +Weymouth looked up in surprise. + +"Indeed," he said. "You are interested in this, then?" + +"Very! Have you any suggestion to offer respecting it?" + +Moving from my seat I, also, bent over the paper and read, in growing +astonishment, the following:-- + +ZAGAZIG-Z,-a-g-a;-z:-_I_-g,a,-a,ag-_a_,z;- + I;-g:z-a-g-A-z;i-:g;-Z,,-a;-gg-_-z-i;- + G;-z-,a-g-:a-Z__I_;-g:-z-a-g;-a-:Z-,i-g: + z,a-g,-a:z,i-g. + +"This is utterly incomprehensible! It can be nothing but some foolish +practical joke! It consists merely of the word 'Zagazig' repeated six +or seven times--which can have no possible significance!" + +"Can't it!" snapped Smith. + +"Well," I said, "what has Zagazig to do with Fu-Manchu, or to do with +us?" + +"Zagazig, my dear Petrie, is a very unsavory Arab town in Lower Egypt, +as you know!" + +He returned the paper to the pocket of his over-coat, and, noting my +bewildered glance, burst into one of his sudden laughs. + +"You think I am talking nonsense," he said; "but, as a matter of fact, +that message in the paper has been puzzling me since it appeared-- +yesterday morning--and at last I think I see the light." + +He pulled out his pipe and began rapidly to load it. + +"I have been growing careless of late, Petrie," he continued; and no +hint of merriment remained in his voice. His gaunt face was drawn +grimly, and his eyes glittered like steel. "In future I must avoid +going out alone at night as much as possible." + +Inspector Weymouth was staring at Smith in a puzzled way; and certainly +I was every whit as mystified as he. + +"I am disposed to believe," said my friend, in his rapid, incisive way, +"that the dacoit met his end at the hands of a tall man, possibly dark +and almost certainly clean-shaven. If this missing personage wears, on +chilly nights, a long tweed traveling coat and affects soft gray hats +of the Stetson pattern, I shall not be surprised." + +Weymouth stared at me in frank bewilderment. + +"By the way, Inspector," added Smith, a sudden gleam of inspiration +entering his keen eyes--"did I not see that the s.s._Andaman_ arrived +recently?" + +"The Oriental Navigation Company's boat?" inquired Weymouth in a +hopeless tone. "Yes. She docked yesterday evening." + +"If Jack Forsyth is still chief officer, I shall look him up," +declared Smith. "You recall his brother, Petrie?" + +"Naturally; since he was done to death in my presence," I replied; +for the words awoke memories of one of Dr. Fu-Manchu's most ghastly +crimes, always associated in my mind with the cry of a night-hawk. + +"The divine afflatus should never be neglected," announced Nayland +Smith didactically, "wild though its promptings may seem." + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE NOTE ON THE DOOR + + +I saw little of Nayland Smith for the remainder of that day. +Presumably he was following those "promptings" to which he had +referred, though I was unable to conjecture whither they were leading +him. Then, towards dusk he arrived in a perfect whirl, figuratively +sweeping me off my feet. + +"Get your coat on, Petrie!" he cried; "you forget that we have a most +urgent appointment!" + +Beyond doubt I had forgotten that we had any appointment whatever that +evening, and some surprise must have shown upon my face, for-- + +"Really you are becoming very forgetful!" my friend continued. "You +know we can no longer trust the 'phone. I have to leave certain +instructions for Weymouth at the rendezvous!" + +There was a hidden significance in his manner, and, my memory harking +back to an adventure which we had shared in the past, I suddenly +glimpsed the depths of my own stupidity. + +He suspected the presence of an eavesdropper! Yes! incredible though +it might appear, we were spied upon in the New Louvre; agents of the +Si-Fan, of Dr. Fu-Manchu, were actually within the walls of the great +hotel! + +We hurried out into the corridor, and descended by the lift to the +lobby. M. Samarkan, long famous as _mâitre d'hôtel_ of one of Cairo's +fashionable _khans_, and now principal of the New Louvre, greeted us +with true Greek courtesy. He trusted that we should be present at +some charitable function or other to be held at the hotel on the +following evening. + +"If possible, M. Samarkan--if possible," said Smith. "We have many +demands upon our time." Then, abruptly, to me: "Come, Petrie, we will +walk as far as Charing Cross and take a cab from the rank there." + +"The hall-porter can call you a cab," said M. Samarkan, solicitous for +the comfort of his guests. + +"Thanks," snapped Smith; "we prefer to walk a little way." + +Passing along the Strand, he took my arm, and speaking close to my ear-- + +"That place is alive with spies, Petrie," he said; "or if there are +only a few of them they are remarkably efficient!" + +Not another word could I get from him, although I was eager enough to +talk; since one dearer to me than all else in the world was in the +hands of the damnable organization we knew as the Si-Fan; until, +arrived at Charing Cross, he walked out to the cab rank, and-- + +"Jump in!" he snapped. + +He opened the door of the first cab on the rank. + +"Drive to J---- Street, Kennington," he directed the man. + +In something of a mental stupor I entered and found myself seated +beside Smith. The cab made off towards Trafalgar Square, then swung +around into Whitehall. + +"Look behind!" cried Smith, intense excitement expressed in his voice-- +"look behind!" + +I turned and peered through the little square window. + +The cab which had stood second upon the rank was closely following us! + +"We are tracked!" snapped my companion. "If further evidence were +necessary of the fact that our every movement is watched, here it is!" + +I turned to him, momentarily at a loss for words; then-- + +"Was this the object of our journey?" I said. "Your reference to a +'rendezvous' was presumably addressed to a hypothetical spy? + +"Partly," he replied. "I have a plan, as you will see in a moment." + +I looked again from the window in the rear of the cab. We were now +passing between the House of Lords and the back of Westminster Abbey ... +and fifty yards behind us the pursuing cab was crossing from +Whitehall! A great excitement grew up within me, and a great curiosity +respecting the identity of our pursuer. + +"What is the place for which we are bound, Smith?" I said rapidly. + +"It is a house which I chanced to notice a few days ago, and I marked +it as useful for such a purpose as our present one. You will see what +I mean when we arrive." + +On we went, following the course of the river, then turned over +Vauxhall Bridge and on down Vauxhall Bridge Road into a very dreary +neighborhood where gasometers formed the notable feature of the +landscape. + +"That's the Oval just beyond," said Smith suddenly, "and--here we are." + +In a narrow _cul de sac_ which apparently communicated with the +boundary of the famous cricket ground, the cabman pulled up. Smith +jumped out and paid the fare. + +"Pull back to that court with the iron posts," he directed the man, +"and wait there for me." Then: "Come on, Petrie!" he snapped. + +Side by side we entered the wooden gate of a small detached house, or +more properly cottage, and passed up the tiled path towards a sort of +side entrance which apparently gave access to the tiny garden. At this +moment I became aware of two things; the first, that the house was an +empty one, and the second, that some one--some one who had quitted the +second cab (which I had heard pull up at no great distance behind us) +was approaching stealthily along the dark and uninviting street, +walking upon the opposite pavement and taking advantage of the shadow +of a high wooden fence which skirted it for some distance. + +Smith pushed the gate open, and I found myself in a narrow passageway +in almost complete darkness. But my friend walked confidently forward, +turned the angle of the building and entered the miniature wilderness +which once had been a garden. + +"In here, Petrie!" he whispered. + +He seized me by the arm, pushed open a door and thrust me forward down +two stone steps into absolute darkness. + +"Walk straight ahead!" he directed, still in the same intense whisper, +"and you will find a locked door having a broken panel. Watch through +the opening for any one who may enter the room beyond, but see that +your presence is not detected. Whatever I say or do, don't stir until +I actually rejoin you." + +He stepped back across the floor and was gone. One glimpse I had of +him, silhouetted against the faint light of the open door, then the +door was gently closed, and I was left alone in the empty house. + +Smith's methods frequently surprised me, but always in the past I had +found that they were dictated by sound reasons. I had no doubt that an +emergency unknown to me dictated his present course, but it was with +my mind in a wildly confused condition, that I groped for and found +the door with the broken panel and that I stood there in the complete +darkness of the deserted house listening. + +I can well appreciate how the blind develop an unusually keen sense of +hearing; for there, in the blackness, which (at first) was entirely +unrelieved by any speck of light, I became aware of the fact, by dint +of tense listening, that Smith was retiring by means of some gateway +at the upper end of the little garden, and I became aware of the fact +that a lane or court, with which this gateway communicated, gave +access to the main road. + +Faintly, I heard our discharged cab backing out from the _cul de sac_; +then, from some nearer place, came Smith's voice speaking loudly. + +"Come along, Petrie!" he cried; "there is no occasion for us to wait. +Weymouth will see the note pinned on the door." + +I started--and was about to stumble back across the room, when, as my +mind began to work more clearly, I realized that the words had been +spoken as a ruse--a favorite device of Nayland Smith's. + +Rigidly I stood there, and continued to listen. + +"All right, cabman!" came more distantly now; "back to the New Louvre-- +jump in, Petrie!" + +The cab went rattling away ... as a faint light became perceptible in +the room beyond the broken panel. + +Hitherto I had been able to detect the presence of this panel only by +my sense of touch and by means of a faint draught which blew through +it; now it suddenly became clearly perceptible. I found myself looking +into what was evidently the principal room of the house--a dreary +apartment with tatters of paper hanging from the walls and litter of +all sorts lying about upon the floor and in the rusty fireplace. + +Some one had partly raised the front window and opened the shutters. +A patch of moonlight shone down upon the floor immediately below my +hiding-place and furthermore enabled me vaguely to discern the disorder +of the room. + +A bulky figure showed silhouetted against the dirty panes. It was that +of a man who, leaning upon the window sill, was peering intently in. +Silently he had approached, and silently had raised the sash and +opened the shutters. + +For thirty seconds or more he stood so, moving his head from right to +left ... and I watched him through the broken panel, almost holding my +breath with suspense. Then, fully raising the window, the man stepped +into the room, and, first reclosing the shutters, suddenly flashed the +light of an electric lamp all about the place. I was enabled to +discern him more clearly, this mysterious spy who had tracked us from +the moment that we had left the hotel. + +He was a man of portly build wearing a heavy fur-lined overcoat and +having a soft felt hat, the brim turned down so as to shade the upper +part of his face. Moreover, he wore his fur collar turned up, which +served further to disguise him, since it concealed the greater part +of his chin. But the eyes which now were searching every corner of +the room, the alert, dark eyes, were strangely familiar. The black +mustache, the clear-cut, aquiline nose, confirmed the impression. + +Our follower was M. Samarkan, manager of the New Louvre. + +I suppressed a gasp of astonishment. Small wonder that our plans had +leaked out. This was a momentous discovery indeed. + +And as I watched the portly Greek who was not only one of the most +celebrated _mâitres d'hôtel_ in Europe, but also a creature of Dr. +Fu-Manchu, he cast the light of his electric lamp upon a note attached +by means of a drawing-pin to the inside of the room door. I +immediately divined that my friend must have pinned the note in its +place earlier in the day; even at that distance I recognized Smith's +neat, illegible writing. + +Samarkan quickly scanned the message scribbled upon the white page; +then, exhibiting an agility uncommon in a man of his bulk, he threw +open the shutters again, having first replaced his lamp in his pocket, +climbed out into the little front garden, reclosed the window, and +disappeared! + +A moment I stood, lost to my surroundings, plunged in a sea of +wonderment concerning the damnable organization which, its tentacles +extending I knew not whither, since new and unexpected limbs were ever +coming to light, sought no less a goal than Yellow dominion of the +world! I reflected how one man--Nayland Smith--alone stood between +this powerful group and the realization of their project ... when I +was aroused by a hand grasping my arm in the darkness! + +I uttered a short cry, of which I was instantly ashamed, for Nayland +Smith's voice came:-- + +"I startled you, eh, Petrie?" + +"Smith," I said, "how long have you been standing there?" + +"I only returned in time to see our Fenimore Cooper friend retreating +through the window," he replied; "but no doubt you had a good look at +him?" + +"I had!" I answered eagerly. "It was Samarkan!" + +"I thought so! I have suspected as much for a long time." + +"Was this the object of our visit here?" + +"It was one of the objects," admitted Nayland Smith evasively. + +From some place not far distant came the sound of a restarted engine. + +"The other," he added, "was this: to enable M. Samarkan to read the +note which I had pinned upon the door!" + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE SECOND MESSAGE + + +"Here you are, Petrie," said Nayland Smith--and he tossed across the +table the folded copy of a morning paper. "This may assist you in your +study of the first Zagazig message." + +I set down my cup and turned my attention to the "Personal" column on +the front page of the journal. A paragraph appeared therein conceived +as follows:-- + +ZAGAZIG-_Z_-a-g-_a_;-z:-I:-_g_;z-a,g;- + A-,_z_;_i_:_G_,-z:_a_;_g_-A,z-_i_;-gz + _A_;_g_aZ-_i_;_g_-:a z i g + +I stared across at my friend in extreme bewilderment. + +"But, Smith!" I cried, "these messages are utterly meaningless!" + +"Not at all," he rapped back. "Scotland Yard thought they were +meaningless at first, and I must admit that they suggested nothing to +me for a long time; but the dead dacoit was the clue to the first, +Petrie, and the note pinned upon the door of the house near the Oval +is the clue to the second." + +Stupidly I continued to stare at him until he broke into a grim smile. + +"Surely you understand?" he said. "You remember where the dead Burman +was found?" + +"Perfectly." + +"You know the street along which, ordinarily, one would approach the +wharf?" + +"Three Colt Street?" + +"Three Colt Street, exactly. Well, on the night that the Burman met +his end I had an appointment in Three Colt Street with Weymouth. The +appointment was made by 'phone, from the New Louvre! My cab broke down +and I never arrived. I discovered later that Weymouth had received a +telegram purporting to come from me, putting off the engagement." + +"I am aware of all this!" + +Nayland Smith burst into a loud laugh. + +"But _still_ you are fogged!" he cried. "Then I'm hanged if I'll pilot +you any farther! You have all the facts before you. There lies the +first Zagazig message; here is the second; and you know the context of +the note pinned upon the door? It read, if you remember, 'Remove +patrol from Joy-Shop neighborhood. Have a theory. Wish to visit place +alone on Monday night after one o'clock.'" + + +"Smith," I said dully, "I have a heavy stake upon this murderous game." + +His manner changed instantly; the tanned face grew grim and hard, but +the steely eyes softened strangely. He bent over me, clapping his hands +upon my shoulders. + +"I know it, old man," he replied; "and because it may serve to keep +your mind busy during hours when otherwise it would be engaged with +profitless sorrows, I invite you to puzzle out this business for +yourself. You have nothing else to do until late to-night, and you can +work undisturbed, here, at any rate!" + +His words referred to the fact that, without surrendering our suite at +the New Louvre Hotel, we had gone upon a visit, of indefinite duration, +to a mythical friend; and now were quartered in furnished chambers +adjoining Fleet Street. + +We had remained at the New Louvre long enough to secure confirmation +of our belief that a creature of Fu-Manchu spied upon us there; and +now we only awaited the termination of the night's affair to take +such steps as Smith might consider politic in regard to the sardonic +Greek who presided over London's newest and most palatial hotel. + +Smith setting out for New Scotland Yard in order to make certain final +arrangements in connection with the business of the night, I began +closely to study the mysterious Zagazig messages, determined not to be +beaten, and remembering the words of Edgar Allan Poe--the strange +genius to whom we are indebted for the first workable system of +deciphering cryptograms: "It may well be doubted whether human +ingenuity can construct an enigma of the kind which human ingenuity +may not, by proper application, resolve." + +The first conclusion to which I was borne was this: that the letters +comprising the word "Zagazig" were designed merely to confuse the +reader, and might be neglected; since, occurring as they did in regular +sequence, they could possess no significance. I became quite excited +upon making the discovery that the _punctuation marks_ varied in +almost every case! + +I immediately assumed that these constituted the cipher; and, seeking +for my key-letter, _e_ (that which most frequently occurs in the +English language), I found the sign of a full-stop to appear more +frequently than any other in the first message, namely ten times, +although it only occurred thrice in the second. Nevertheless, I was +hopeful ... until I discovered that in two cases it appeared three +times _in succession!_ + +There is no word in English, nor, so far as I am aware, in any language, +where this occurs, either in regard to _e_ or any other letter! + + +That unfortunate discovery seemed so wholly to destroy the very theory +upon which I relied, that I almost abandoned my investigation there +and then. Indeed, I doubt if I ever should have proceeded were it not +that by a piece of pure guesswork I blundered on to a clue. + +I observed that certain letters, at irregularly occurring intervals, +were set in capital, and I divided up the message into corresponding +sections, in the hope that th capitals might indicate the +commencements of words. This accomplished, I set out upon a series +of guesses, basing these upon Smith's assurance that the death of the +dacoit afforded a clue to the first message and the note which he +(Smith) had pinned upon the door a clue to the second. + +Such being my system--if I can honor my random attempts with the +title--I take little credit to myself for the fortunate result. In +short, I determined (although _e_ twice occurred where _r_ should have +been!) that the first message from the thirteenth letter, onwards to +the twenty-seventh (_id est:_ _I;_g:-zagAz;i-;_g_;_-Z_,-a;-_g_azi;-) +read:-- + +_"Three Colt Street."_ + +Endeavoring, now, to eliminate the _e_ where _r_ should appear, I made +another discovery. The presence of a letter in _italics_ altered the +value of the sign which followed it! + +From that point onward the task became child's-play, and I should +merely render this account tedious if I entered into further details. +Both messages commenced with the name "Smith" as I early perceived, +and half an hour of close study gave me the complete sentences, thus:-- + +1. _Smith passing Three Colt Street twelve-thirty Wednesday._ + +2. _Smith going Joy-Shop after one Monday._ + +The word "Zagazig" was completed, always, and did not necessarily +terminate with the last letter occurring in the cryptographic message. +A subsequent inspection of this curious code has enabled Nayland +Smith, by a process of simple deduction, to compile the entire alphabet +employed by Dr. Fu-Manchu's agent, Samarkan, in communicating with his +awful superior. With a little patience, any one of my readers my achieve +the same result (and I should be pleased to hear from those who succeed!). + +This, then was the outcome of my labors; and although it enlightened me +to some extent, I realized that I still had much to learn. + +The dacoit, apparently, had met his death at the very hour when Nayland +Smith should have been passing along Three Colt Street--a thoroughfare +with an unsavory reputation. Who had killed him? + +To-night, Samarkan advised the Chinese doctor, Smith would again be in +the same dangerous neighborhood. A strange thrill of excitement swept +through me. I glanced at my watch. Yes! It was time for me to repair, +secretly, to my post. For I, too, had business on the borders of +Chinatown to-night. + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE SECRET OF THE WHARF + + +I sat in the evil-smelling little room with its low, blackened ceiling, +and strove to avoid making the slightest noise; but the crazy boards +creaked beneath me with every movement. The moon hung low in an almost +cloudless sky; for, following the spell of damp and foggy weather, a +fall in temperature had taken place, and there was a frosty snap in +the air to-night. + +Through the open window the moonlight poured in and spilled its pure +luminance upon the filthy floor; but I kept religiously within the +shadows, so posted, however, that I could command an uninterrupted +view of the street from the point where it crossed the creek to that +where it terminated at the gates of the deserted wharf. + +Above and below me the crazy building formerly known as the Joy-Shop +and once the nightly resort of the Asiatic riff-raff from the docks-- +was silent, save for the squealing and scuffling of the rats. The +melancholy lapping of the water frequently reached my ears, and a more +or less continuous din from the wharves and workshops upon the further +bank of the Thames; but in the narrow, dingy streets immediately +surrounding the house, quietude reigned and no solitary footstep +disturbed it. + +Once, looking down in the direction of the bridge, I gave a great +start, for a black patch of shadow moved swiftly across the path and +merged into the other shadows bordering a high wall. My heart leapt +momentarily, then, in another instant, the explanation of the mystery +became apparent--in the presence of a gaunt and prowling cat. Bestowing +a suspicious glance upward in my direction, the animal slunk away toward +the path bordering the cutting. + +By a devious route amid ghostly gasometers I had crept to my post in +the early dusk, before the moon was risen, and already I was heartily +weary of my passive part in the affair of the night. I had never before +appreciated the multitudinous sounds, all of them weird and many of +them horrible, which are within the compass of those great black rats +who find their way to England with cargoes from Russia and elsewhere. +From the rafters above my head, from the wall recesses about me, from +the floor beneath my feet, proceeded a continuous and nerve-shattering +concert, an unholy symphony which seemingly accompanied the eternal +dance of the rats. + +Sometimes a faint splash from below would tell of one of the revelers +taking the water, but save for the more distant throbbing of riverside +industry, and rarer note of shipping, the mad discords of this rat +saturnalia alone claimed the ear. + +The hour was nigh now, when matters should begin to develop. I +followed the chimes from the clock of some church nearby--I have never +learnt its name; and was conscious of a thrill of excitement when +they warned me that the hour was actually arrived.... + +A strange figure appeared noiselessly, from I knew not where, and +stood fully within view upon the bridge crossing the cutting, peering +to right and left, in an attitude of listening. It was the figure of +a bedraggled old woman, gray-haired, and carrying a large bundle tied +up in what appeared to be a red shawl. Of her face I could see little, +since it was shaded by the brim of her black bonnet, but she rested +her bundle upon the low wall of the bridge, and to my intense +surprise, sat down upon it! + +She evidently intended to remain there. + +I drew back further into the darkness; for the presence of this +singular old woman at such a place, and at that hour, could not well +be accidental. I was convinced that the first actor in the drama had +already taken the stage. Whether I was mistaken or not must shortly +appear. + +Crisp footsteps sounded upon the roadway; distantly, and from my +left. Nearer they approached and nearer. I saw the old woman, in the +shadow of the wall, glance once rapidly in the direction of the +approaching pedestrian. For some occult reason, the chorus of the +rats was stilled. Only that firm and regular tread broke the intimate +silence of the dreary spot. + +Now the pedestrian came within my range of sight. It was Nayland Smith! + +He wore a long tweed overcoat with which I was familiar, and a soft +felt hat, the brim pulled down all around in a fashion characteristic +of him, and probably acquired during the years spent beneath the +merciless sun of Burma. He carried a heavy walking-cane which I knew +to be a formidable weapon that he could wield to good effect. But, +despite the stillness about me, a stillness which had reigned +uninterruptedly (save for the _danse macabre_ of the rats) since the +coming of dusk, some voice within, ignoring these physical evidences +of solitude, spoke urgently of lurking assassins; of murderous +Easterns armed with those curved knives which sometimes flashed +before my eyes in dreams; of a deathly menace which hid in the +shadows about me, in the many shadows cloaking the holes and corners +of the ramshackle building, draping arches, crannies and portals to +which the moonlight could not penetrate. + +He was abreast of the Joy-Shop now, and in sight of the ominous old +witch huddled upon the bridge. He pulled up suddenly and stood +looking at her. Coincident with his doing so, she began to moan and +sway her body to right and left as if in pain; then-- + +"Kind gentleman," she whined in a sing-song voice, "thank God you came +this way to help a poor old woman." + +"What is the matter?" said Smith tersely, approaching her. + +I clenched my fists. I could have cried out; I was indeed hard put to +it to refrain from crying out--from warning him. But his injunctions +had been explicit, and I restrained myself by a great effort, +preserving silence and crouching there at the window, but with every +muscle tensed and a desire for action strong upon me. + +"I tripped up on a rough stone, sir," whined the old creature, "and +here I've been sitting waiting for a policeman or someone to help me, +for more than an hour, I have." + +Smith stood looking down at her, his arms behind him, and in one +gloved hand swinging the cane. + +"Where do you live, then?" he asked. + +"Not a hundred steps from here, kind gentleman," she replied in the +monotonous voice; "but I can't move my left foot. It's only just +through the gates yonder." + +"What!" snapped Smith, "on the wharf?" + +"They let me have a room in the old building until it's let," she +explained. "Be helping a poor old woman, and God bless you." + +"Come along, then!" + +Stooping, Smith placed his arm around her shoulders, and assisted her +to her feet. She groaned as if in great pain, but gripped her red +bundle, and leaning heavily upon the supporting arm, hobbled off +across the bridge in the direction of the wharf gates at the end of +the lane. + +Now at last a little action became possible, and having seen my friend +push open one of the gates and assist the old woman to enter, I crept +rapidly across the crazy floor, found the doorway, and, with little +noise, for I wore rubber-soled shoes, stole down the stairs into what +had formerly been the reception-room of the Joy-Shop, the malodorous +sanctum of the old Chinaman, John Ki. + +Utter darkness prevailed there, but momentarily flicking the light of +a pocket-lamp upon the floor before me, I discovered the further steps +that were to be negotiated, and descended into the square yard which +gave access to the path skirting the creek. + +The moonlight drew a sharp line of shadow along the wall of the house +above me, but the yard itself was a well of darkness. I stumbled under +the rotting brick archway, and stepped gingerly upon the muddy path +that I must follow. One hand pressed to the damp wall, I worked my way +cautiously along, for a false step had precipitated me into the foul +water of the creek. In this fashion and still enveloped by dense +shadows, I reached the angle of the building. Then--at risk of being +perceived, for the wharf and the river both were bathed in moonlight-- +I peered along to the left.... + +Out onto the paved pathway communicating with the wharf came Smith, +shepherding his tottering charge. I was too far away to hear any +conversation that might take place between the two, but, unless Smith +gave the pre-arranged signal, I must approach no closer. Thus, as one +sees a drama upon the screen, I saw what now occurred--occurred with +dramatic, lightning swiftness. + +Releasing Smith's arm, the old woman suddenly stepped back ... at the +instant that another figure, a repellent figure which approached, +stooping, apish, with a sort of loping gait, crossed from some spot +invisible to me, and sprang like a wild animal upon Smith's back! + +It was a Chinaman, wearing a short loose garment of the smock pattern, +and having his head bare, so that I could see his pigtail coiled upon +his yellow crown. That he carried a cord, I perceived in the instant +of his spring, and that he had whipped it about Smith's throat with +unerring dexterity was evidenced by the one, short, strangled cry that +came from my friend's lips. + +Then Smith was down, prone upon the crazy planking, with the ape-like +figure of the Chinaman perched between his shoulders--bending forward-- +the wicked yellow fingers at work, tightening--tightening--tightening +the strangling-cord! + +Uttering a loud cry of horror, I went racing along the gangway which +projected actually over the moving Thames waters, and gained the wharf. +But, swift as I had been, another had been swifter! + +A tall figure (despite the brilliant moon, I doubted the evidence of +my sight), wearing a tweed overcoat and a soft felt hat with the brim +turned down, sprang up, from nowhere as it seemed, swooped upon the +horrible figure squatting, simianesque, between Smith's shoulder-blades, +and grasped him by the neck. + +I pulled up shortly, one foot set upon the wharf. The new-comer was +the double of Nayland Smith! + +Seemingly exerting no effort whatever, he lifted the strangler in that +remorseless grasp, so that the Chinaman's hands, after one quick +convulsive upward movement, hung limply beside him like the paws of a +rat in the grip of a terrier. + +"You damned murderous swine!" I heard in a repressed, savage undertone. +"The knife failed, so now the cord has an innings! Go after your pal!" + +Releasing one hand from the neck of the limp figure, the speaker +grasped the Chinaman by his loose, smock-like garment, swung him back, +once--a mighty swing--and hurled him far out into the river as one +might hurl a sack of rubbish! + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +ARREST OF SAMARKAN + + +"As the high gods willed it," explained Nayland Smith, tenderly +massaging his throat, "Mr. Forsyth, having just left the docks, +chanced to pass along Three Colt Street on Wednesday night at exactly +the hour that _I_ was expected! The resemblance between us is rather +marked and the coincidence of dress completed the illusion. That +devilish Eurasian woman, Zarmi, who has escaped us again--of course +you recognized her?--made a very natural mistake. Mr. Forsyth, however, +made no mistake!" + +I glanced at the chief officer of the _Andaman_, who sat in an armchair +in our new chambers, contentedly smoking a black cheroot. + +"Heaven has blessed me with a pair of useful hands!" said the seaman, +grimly, extending his horny palms. "I've an old score against those +yellow swine; poor George and I were twins." + +He referred to his brother who had been foully done to death by one of +the creatures of Dr. Fu-Manchu. + +"It beats me how Mr. Smith got on the track!" he added. + +"Pure inspiration!" murmured Nayland Smith, glancing aside from the +siphon wherewith he now was busy. "The divine afflatus--and the same +whereby Petrie solved the Zagazig cryptogram!" + +"But," concluded Forsyth, "I am indebted to you for an opportunity of +meeting the Chinese strangler, and sending him to join the Burmese +knife expert!" + +Such, then, were the episodes that led to the arrest of M. Samarkan, +and my duty as narrator of these strange matters now bears me on to +the morning when Nayland Smith was hastily summoned to the prison into +which the villainous Greek had been cast. + +We were shown immediately into the Governor's room and were invited by +that much disturbed official to be seated. The news which he had to +impart was sufficiently startling. + +Samarkan was dead. + +"I have Warder Morrison's statement here," said Colonel Warrington, +"if you will be good enough to read it----" + +Nayland Smith rose abruptly, and began to pace up and down the little +office. Through the open window I had a glimpse of a stooping figure +in convict garb, engaged in liming the flower-beds of the prison +Governor's garden. + +"I should like to see this Warder Morrison personally," snapped my +friend. + +"Very good," replied the Governor, pressing a bell-push placed close +beside his table. + +A man entered, to stand rigidly at attention just within the doorway. + +"Send Morrison here," ordered Colonel Warrington. + +The man saluted and withdrew. As the door was reclosed, the Colonel +sat drumming his fingers upon the table, Nayland Smith walked +restlessly about tugging at the lobe of his ear, and I absently +watched the convict gardener pursuing his toils. Shortly, sounded a +rap at the door, and-- + +"Come in," cried Colonel Warrington. + +A man wearing warder's uniform appeared, saluted the Governor, and +stood glancing uneasily from the Colonel to Smith. The latter had +now ceased his perambulations, and, one elbow resting upon the +mantelpiece, was staring at Morrison--his penetrating gray eyes as +hard as steel. Colonel Warrington twisted his chair around, fixing +his monocle more closely in its place. He had the wiry white mustache +and fiery red face of the old-style Anglo-Indian officer. + +"Morrison," he said, "Mr. Commissioner Nayland Smith has some +questions to put to you." + +The man's uneasiness palpably was growing by leaps and bounds. He was +a tall and intelligent-looking fellow of military build, though spare +for his height and of an unhealthy complexion. His eyes were curiously +dull, and their pupils interested me, professionally, from the very +moment of his entrance. + +"You were in charge of the prisoner Samarkan?" began Smith harshly. + +"Yes, sir," Morrison replied. + +"Were you the first to learn of his death?" + +"I was, sir. I looked through the grille in the door and saw him lying +on the floor of the cell." + +"What time was it?" + +"Half-past four A.M." + +"What did you do?" + +"I went into the cell and then sent for the head warder." + +"You realized at once that Samarkan was dead?" + +"At once, yes." + +"Were you surprised?" + +Nayland Smith subtly changed the tone of his voice in asking the last +question, and it was evident that the veiled significance of the words +was not lost upon Morrison. + +"Well, sir," he began, and cleared his throat nervously. + +"Yes, or no!" snapped Smith. + +Morrison still hesitated, and I saw his underlip twitch. Nayland Smith, +taking two long strides, stood immediately in front of him, glaring +grimly into his face. + +"This is your chance," he said emphatically; "I shall not give you +another. You had met Samarkan before?" + +Morrison hung his head for a moment, clenching and unclenching his +fists; then he looked up swiftly, and the light of a new resolution +was in his eyes. + +"I'll take the chance, sir," he said, speaking with some emotion, "and +I hope, sir"--turning momentarily to Colonel Warrington--"that you'll +be as lenient as you can; for I didn't know there was any harm in what +I did." + +"Don't expect any leniency from me!" cried the Colonel. "If there has +been a breach of discipline there will be punishment, rely upon it!" + +"I admit the breach of discipline," pursued the man doggedly; "but I +want to say, here and now, that I've no more idea than anybody else +how the----" + +Smith snapped his fingers irritably. + +"The facts--the facts!" he demanded. "What you _don't_ know cannot +help us!" + +"Well, sir," said Morrison, clearing his throat again, "when the +prisoner, Samarkan, was admitted, and I put him safely into his cell, +he told me that he suffered from heart trouble, that he'd had an +attack when he was arrested and that he thought he was threatened +with another, which might kill him----" + +"One moment," interrupted Smith, "is this confirmed by the police +officer who made the arrest?" + +"It is, sir," replied Colonel Warrington, swinging his chair around +and consulting some papers upon his table. "The prisoner was overcome +by faintness when the officer showed him the warrant and asked to be +given some cognac from the decanter which stood in his room. This was +administered, and he then entered the cab which the officer had +waiting. He was taken to Bow Street, remanded, and brought here in +accordance with some one's instructions." + +"_My instructions_" said Smith. "Go on, Morrison." + +"He told me," continued Morrison more steadily, "that he suffered from +something that sounded to me like apoplexy." + +"Catalepsy!" I suggested, for I was beginning to see light. + +"That's it, sir! He said he was afraid of being buried alive! He asked +me, as a favor, if he should die in prison to go to a friend of his +and get a syringe with which to inject some stuff that would do away +with all chance of his coming to life again after burial." + +"You had no right to talk to the prisoner!" roared Colonel Warrington. + +"I know that, sir, but you'll admit that the circumstances were peculiar. +Anyway, he died in the night, sure enough, and from heart failure, +according to the doctor. I managed to get a couple of hours leave in +the evening, and I went and fetched the syringe and a little tube of +yellow stuff." + +"Do you understand, Petrie?" cried Nayland Smith, his eyes blazing +with excitement. "Do you understand?" + +"Perfectly." + +"It's more than I do, sir," continued Morrison, "but as I was +explaining, I brought the little syringe back with me and I filled it +from the tube. The body was lying in the mortuary, which you've seen, +and the door not being locked, it was easy for me to slip in there for +a moment. I didn't fancy the job, but it was soon done. I threw the +syringe and the tube over the wall into the lane outside, as I'd been +told to do. + +"What part of the wall?" asked Smith. + +"Behind the mortuary." + +"That's where they were waiting!" I cried excitedly. "The building +used as a mortuary is quite isolated, and it would not be a difficult +matter for some one hiding in the lane outside to throw one of those +ladders of silk and bamboo across the top of the wall." + +"But, my good sir," interrupted the Governor irascibly, "whilst I +admit the possibility to which you allude, I do not admit that a dead +man, and a heavy one at that, can be carried up a ladder of silk and +bamboo! Yet, on the evidence of my own eyes, the body of the prisoner, +Samarkan, was removed from the mortuary last night!" + +Smith signaled to me to pursue the subject no further; and indeed I +realized that it would have been no easy matter to render the amazing +truth evident to a man of the Colonel's type of mind. But to me the +facts of the case were now clear enough. + +That Fu-Manchu possessed a preparation for producing artificial +catalepsy, of a sort indistinguishable from death, I was well aware. +A dose of this unknown drug had doubtless been contained in the cognac +(if, indeed, the decanter had held cognac) that the prisoner had drunk +at the time of his arrest. The "yellow stuff" spoken of by Morrison I +recognized as the antidote (another secret of the brilliant Chinese +doctor), a portion of which I had once, some years before, actually +had in my possession. The "dead man" had not been carried up the +ladder; he had climbed up! + +"Now, Morrison," snapped Nayland Smith, "you have acted wisely thus +far. Make a clean breast of it. How much were you paid for the job?" + +"Twenty pounds, sir" answered the man promptly, "and I'd have done it +for less, because I could see no harm in it, the prisoner being dead, +and this his last request." + +"And who paid you?" + +Now we were come to the nub of the matter, as the change in the man's +face revealed. He hesitated momentarily, and Colonel Warrington +brought his fist down on the table with a bang. Morrison made a sort +of gesture of resignation at that, and-- + +"When I was in the Army, sir, stationed at Cairo," he said slowly, "I +regret to confess that I formed a drug habit." + +"Opium?" snapped Smith. + +"No, sir, hashish." + +"Good God! Go on." + +"There's a place in Soho, just off Frith Street, where hashish is +supplied, and I go there sometimes. Mr. Samarkan used to come, and +bring people with him--from the New Louvre Hotel, I believe. That's +where I met him." + +"The exact address?" demanded Smith. + +"Café de l'Egypte. But the hashish is only sold upstairs, and no one +is allowed up that isn't known personally to Ismail." + +"Who is this Ismail?" + +"The proprietor of the café. He's a Greek Jew of Salonica. An old +woman used to attend to the customers upstairs, but during the last +few months a young one has sometimes taken her place." + +"What is she like?" I asked eagerly. + +"She has very fine eyes, and that's about all I can tell you, sir, +because she wears a yashmak. Last night there were two women there, +both veiled, though." + +"Two women!" + +Hope and fear entered my heart. That Kâramaneh was again in the +power of the Chinese Doctor I knew to my sorrow. Could it be that +the Café de l'Egypte was the place of her captivity? + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +CAFÉ DE L'EGYPTE + + +I could see that Nayland Smith counted the escape of the prisoner but +a trivial matter by comparison with the discovery to which it had led +us. That the Soho café should prove to be, if not the headquarters at +least a regular resort of Dr. Fu-Manchu, was not too much to hope. The +usefulness of such a haunt was evident enough, since it might +conveniently be employed as a place of rendezvous for Orientals--and +furthermore enable the cunning Chinaman to establish relations with +persons likely to prove of service to him. + +Formerly, he had used an East End opium den for this purpose, and, +later, the resort known as the Joy-Shop. Soho, hitherto, had remained +outside the radius of his activity, but that he should have embraced +it at last was not surprising; for Soho is the Montmartre of London +and a land of many secrets. + +"Why," demanded Nayland Smith, "have I never been told of the existence +of this place?" + +"That's simple enough," answered Inspector Weymouth. "Although we knew +of this Café de l'Egypte, we have never had the slightest trouble +there. It's a Bohemian resort, where members of the French Colony, +some of the Chelsea art people, professional models, and others of +that sort, foregather at night. I've been there myself as a matter of +fact, and I've seen people well known in the artistic world come in. +It has much the same clientele as, say, the Café Royal, with a rather +heavier sprinkling of Hindu students, Japanese, and so forth. It's +celebrated for Turkish coffee." + +"What do you know of this Ismail?" + +"Nothing much. He's a Levantine Jew." + +"And something more!" added Smith, surveying himself in the mirror, +and turning to nod his satisfaction to the well-known perruquier whose +services are sometimes requisitioned by the police authorities. + +We were ready for our visit to the Café de l'Egypte, and Smith having +deemed it inadvisable that we should appear there openly, we had been +transformed, under the adroit manipulation of Foster, into a pair of +Futurists oddly unlike our actual selves. No wigs, no false mustaches +had been employed; a change of costume and a few deft touches of some +water-color paint had rendered us unrecognizable by our most intimate +friends. + +It was all very fantastic, very reminiscent of Christmas charades, but +the farce had a grim, murderous undercurrent; the life of one dearer +to me than life itself hung upon our success; the swamping of the White +world by Yellow hordes might well be the price of our failure. + +Weymouth left us at the corner of Frith Street. This was no more than +a reconnaissance, but-- + +"I shall be within hail if I'm wanted," said the burly detective; and +although we stood not in Chinatown but in the heart of Bohemian London, +with popular restaurants about us, I was glad to know that we had so +stanch an ally in reserve. + +The shadow of the great Chinaman was upon me. That strange, +subconscious voice, with which I had become familiar in the past, +awoke within me to-night. Not by logic, but by prescience, I knew that +the Yellow doctor was near. + +Two minutes walk brought us to the door of the café. The upper half +was of glass, neatly curtained, as were the windows on either side of +it; and above the establishment appeared the words: "Café de l'Egypte." +Between the second and third word was inserted a gilded device +representing the crescent of Islâm. + +We entered. On our right was a room furnished with marble-topped +tables, cane-seated chairs and plush-covered lounges set against the +walls. The air was heavy with tobacco smoke; evidently the café was +full, although the night was young. + +Smith immediately made for the upper end of the room. It was not large, +and at first glance I thought that there was no vacant place. Presently, +however, I espied two unoccupied chairs; and these we took, finding +ourselves facing a pale, bespectacled young man, with long, fair hair +and faded eyes, whose companion, a bold brunette, was smoking one of +the largest cigarettes I had ever seen, in a gold and amber cigar-holder. + +A very commonplace Swiss waiter took our orders for coffee, and we +began discreetly to survey our surroundings. The only touch of Oriental +color thus far perceptible in the café de l'Egypte was provided by a +red-capped Egyptian behind a narrow counter, who presided over the +coffee pots. The patrons of the establishment were in every way typical +of Soho, and in the bulk differed not at all from those of the better +known café restaurants. + +There were several Easterns present; but Smith, having given each of +them a searching glance, turned to me with a slight shrug of +disappointment. Coffee being placed before us, we sat sipping the thick, +sugary beverage, smoking cigarettes and vainly seeking for some clue +to guide us to the inner sanctuary consecrated to hashish. It was +maddening to think that Kâramaneh might be somewhere concealed in +the building, whilst I sat there, inert amongst this gathering whose +conversation was of abnormalities in art, music, and literature. + +Then, suddenly, the pale young man seated opposite paid his bill, and +with a word of farewell to his companion, went out of the café. He +did not make his exit by the door through which we entered, but passed +up the crowded room to the counter whereat the Egyptian presided. From +some place hidden in the rear, emerged a black-haired, swarthy man, +with whom the other exchanged a few words. The pale young artist raised +his wide-brimmed hat, and was gone--through a curtained doorway on the +left of the counter. + +As he opened it, I had a glimpse of a narrow court beyond; then the +door was closed again ... and I found myself thinking of the peculiar +eyes of the departed visitor. Even through the thick pebbles of his +spectacles, although for some reason I had thought little of the +matter at the time, his oddly contracted pupils were noticeable. As +the girl, in turn, rose and left the café--but by the ordinary +door--I turned to Smith. + +"That man ..." I began, and paused. + +Smith was watching covertly, a Hindu seated at a neighboring table, +who was about to settle his bill. Standing up, the Hindu made for the +coffee counter, the swarthy man appeared out of the background--and +the Asiatic visitor went out by the door opening into the court. + +One quick glance Smith gave me, and raised his hand for the waiter. +A few minutes later we were out in the street again. + +"We must find our way to that court!" snapped my friend. "Let us try +back, I noted a sort of alley-way which we passed just before reaching +the café." + +"You think the hashish den is in some adjoining building?" + +"I don't know where it is, Petrie, but I know the way to it!" + +Into a narrow, gloomy court we plunged, hemmed in by high walls, and +followed it for ten yards or more. An even narrower and less inviting +turning revealed itself on the left. We pursued our way, and presently +found ourselves at the back of the Café de l'Egypte. + +"There's the door," I said. + +It opened into a tiny cul de sac, flanked by dilapidated hoardings, +and no other door of any kind was visible in the vicinity. Nayland +Smith stood tugging at the lobe of his ear almost savagely. + +"Where the devil do they go?" he whispered. + +Even as he spoke the words, came a gleam of light through the upper +curtained part of the door, and I distinctly saw the figure of a man +in silhouette. + +"Stand back!" snapped Smith. + +We crouched back against the dirty wall of the court, and watched a +strange thing happen. The back door of the Café de l'Egypte opened +outward, simultaneously a door, hitherto invisible, set at right +angles in the hoarding adjoining, opened _inward!_ + +A man emerged from the café and entered the secret doorway. As he did +so, the café door swung back ... and closed the door in the hoarding! + +"Very good!" muttered Nayland Smith. "Our friend Ismail, behind the +counter, moves some lever which causes the opening of one door +automatically to open the other. Failing his kindly offices, the second +exit from the Café de l'Egypte is innocent enough. Now--what is the +next move?" + +"I have an idea, Smith!" I cried. "According to Morrison, the place in +which the hashish may be obtained has no windows but is lighted from +above. No doubt it was built for a studio and has a glass roof. +Therefore----" + +"Come along!" snapped Smith, grasping my arm; "you have solved the +difficulty, Petrie." + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE HOUSE OF HASHISH + + +Along the leads from Frith Street we worked our perilous way. From the +top landing of a French restaurant we had gained access, by means of +a trap, to the roof of the building. Now, the busy streets of Soho were +below me, and I clung dizzily to telephone standards and smoke stacks, +rarely venturing to glance downward upon the cosmopolitan throng, +surging, dwarfish, in the lighted depths. + +Sometimes the bulky figure of Inspector Weymouth would loom up +grotesquely against the star-sprinkled blue, as he paused to take +breath; the next moment Nayland Smith would be leading the way again, +and I would find myself contemplating some sheer well of blackness, +with nausea threatening me because it had to be negotiated. + +None of these gaps were more than a long stride from side to side; but +the sense of depth conveyed in the muffled voices and dimmed footsteps +from the pavements far below was almost overpowering. Indeed, I am +convinced that for my part I should never have essayed that nightmare +journey were it not that the musical voice of Kâramaneh seemed to be +calling to me, her little white hands to be seeking mine, blindly, in +the darkness. + +That we were close to a haunt of the dreadful Chinamen I was +persuaded; therefore my hatred and my love cooperated to lend me a +coolness and address which otherwise I must have lacked. + +"Hullo!" cried Smith, who was leading--"what now?" + +We had crept along the crown of a sloping roof and were confronted by +the blank wall of a building which rose a story higher than that +adjoining it. It was crowned by an iron railing, showing blackly +against the sky. I paused, breathing heavily, and seated astride that +dizzy perch. Weymouth was immediately behind me, and-- + +"It's the Café de l'Egypte, Mr. Smith!" he said, "If you'll look up, +you'll see the reflection of the lights shining through the glass roof." + +Vaguely I discerned Nayland Smith rising to his feet. + +"Be careful!" I said. "For God's sake don't slip!" + +"Take my hand," he snapped energetically. + +I stretched forward and grasped his hand. As I did so, he slid down +the slope on the right, away from the street, and hung perilously for +a moment over the very cul de sac upon which the secret door opened. + +"Good!" he muttered "There is, as I had hoped, a window lighting the +top of the staircase. Ssh!--ssh!" + +His grip upon my hand tightened; and there aloft, above the teemful +streets of Soho, I sat listening ... whilst very faint and muffled +footsteps sounded upon an uncarpeted stair, a door banged, and all +was silent again, save for the ceaseless turmoil far below. + +"Sit tight, and catch!" rapped Smith. + +Into my extended hands he swung his boots, fastened together by the +laces! Then, ere I could frame any protest, he disengaged his hand +from mine, and pressing his body close against the angle of the +building, worked his way around to the staircase window, which was +invisible from where I crouched. + +"Heavens!" muttered Weymouth, close to my ear, "I can never travel +that road!" + +"Nor I!" was my scarcely audible answer. + +In a anguish of fearful anticipation I listened for the cry and the +dull thud which should proclaim the fate of my intrepid friend; but +no such sounds came to me. Some thirty seconds passed in this fashion, +when a subdued call from above caused me to start and look aloft. + +Nayland Smith was peering down from the railing on the roof. + +"Mind your head!" he warned--and over the rail swung the end of a +light wooden ladder, lowering it until it rested upon the crest +astride of which I sat. + +"Up you come!--then Weymouth!" + +Whilst Smith held the top firmly, I climbed up rung by rung, not +daring to think of what lay below. + +My relief when at last I grasped the railing, climbed over, and found +myself upon a wooden platform, was truly inexpressible. + +"Come on, Weymouth!" rapped Nayland Smith. "This ladder has to be +lowered back down the trap before another visitor arrives!" + +Taking short, staccato breaths at every step, Inspector Weymouth +ascended, ungainly, that frail and moving stair. Arrived beside me, +he wiped the perspiration from his face and forehead. + +"I wouldn't do it again for a hundred pounds!" he said hoarsely. + +"You don't have to!" snapped Smith. + +Back he hauled the ladder, shouldered it, and stepping to a square +opening in one corner of the rickety platform, lowered it cautiously +down. + +"Have you a knife with a corkscrew in it?" he demanded. + +Weymouth had one, which he produced. Nayland Smith screwed it into +the weather-worn frame, and by that means reclosed the trapdoor +softly, then-- + +"Look," he said, "there is the house of hashish!" + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +"THE DEMON'S SELF" + + +Through the glass panes of the skylight I looked down upon a scene so +bizarre that my actual environment became blotted out, and I was +mentally translated to Cairo--to that quarter of Cairo immediately +surrounding the famous Square of the Fountain--to those indescribable +streets, wherefrom arises the perfume of deathless evil, wherein, to +the wailing, luresome music of the reed pipe, painted dancing-girls +sway in the wild abandon of dances that were ancient when Thebes was +the City of a Hundred Gates; I seemed to stand again in el Wasr. + +The room below was rectangular, and around three of the walls were +divans strewn with garish cushions, whilst highly colored Eastern rugs +were spread about the floor. Four lamps swung on chains, two from +either of the beams which traversed the apartment. They were fine +examples of native perforated brasswork. + +Upon the divans some eight or nine men were seated, fully half of whom +were Orientals or half-castes. Before each stood a little inlaid table +bearing a brass tray; and upon the trays were various boxes, some +apparently containing sweetmeats, other cigarettes. One or two of the +visitors smoked curious, long-stemmed pipes and sipped coffee. + +Even as I leaned from the platform, surveying that incredible scene +(incredible in a street of Soho), another devotee of hashish entered-- +a tall, distinguished-looking man, wearing a light coat over his +evening dress. + +"Gad!" whispered Smith, beside me--"Sir Byngham Pyne of the India +Office! You see, Petrie! You see! This place is a lure. My God! ..." + +He broke off, as I clutched wildly at his arm. + +The last arrival having taken his seat in a corner of the divan, two +heavy curtains draped before an opening at one end of the room parted, +and a girl came out, carrying a tray such as already reposed before +each of the other men in the room. + +She wore a dress of dark lilac-colored gauze, banded about with gold +tissue and embroidered with gold thread and pearls; and around her +shoulders floated, so ethereally that she seemed to move in a violet +cloud; a scarf of Delhi muslin. A white yashmak trimmed with gold +tissue concealed the lower part of her face. + +My heart throbbed wildly; I seemed to be choking. By the wonderful +hair alone I must have known her, by the great, brilliant eyes, by +the shape of those slim white ankles, by every movement of that +exquisite form. It was Kâramaneh! + +I sprang madly back from the rail ... and Smith had my arm in an iron +grip. + +"Where are you going?" he snapped. + +"Where am I going?" I cried. "Do you think--" + +"What do you propose to do?" he interrupted harshly. "Do you know so +little of the resources of Dr. Fu-Manchu that you would throw yourself +blindly into that den? Damn it all, man! I know what you suffer!--but +wait--wait. We must not act rashly; our plans must be well considered." + +He drew me back to my former post and clapped his hand on my shoulder +sympathetically. Clutching the rail like a man frenzied, as indeed I +was, I looked down into that infamous den again, striving hard for +composure. + +Kâramaneh listlessly placed the tray upon the little table before Sir +Byngham Pyne and withdrew without vouchsafing him a single glance in +acknowledgment of his unconcealed admiration. + +A moment later, above the dim clamor of London far below, there crept +to my ears a sound which completed the magical quality of the scene, +rendering that sky platform on a roof of Soho a magical carpet bearing +me to the golden Orient. This sound was the wailing of a reed pipe. + +"The company is complete," murmured Smith. "I had expected this." + +Again the curtains parted, and a _ghazeeyeh_ glided out into the room. +She wore a white dress, clinging closely to her figure from shoulders +to hips, where it was clasped by an ornate girdle, and a skirt of +sky-blue gauze which clothed her as Io was clothed of old. Her arms +were covered with gold bangles, and gold bands were clasped about her +ankles. Her jet-black, frizzy hair was unconfined and without +ornament, and she wore a sort of highly colored scarf so arranged that +it effectually concealed the greater part of her face, but served to +accentuated the brightness of the great flashing eyes. She had +unmistakable beauty of a sort, but how different from the sweet +witchery of Kâramaneh! + +With a bold, swinging grace she walked down the center of the room, +swaying her arms from side to side and snapping her fingers. + +"Zarmi!" exclaimed Smith. + +But his exclamation was unnecessary, for already I had recognized the +evil Eurasian who was so efficient a servant of the Chinese doctor. + +The wailing of the pipes continued, and now faintly I could detect the +throbbing of a _darabûkeh._ This was el Wasr indeed. The dance +commenced, its every phase followed eagerly by the motley clientele +of the hashish house. Zarmi danced with an insolent nonchalance that +nevertheless displayed her barbaric beauty to greatest advantage. She +was lithe as a serpent, graceful as a young panther, another Lamia +come to damn the souls of men with those arts denounced in a long dead +age by Apolonius of Tyana. + + "She seemed, at once, some penanced lady elf, + Some demon's mistress, or the demon's self...." + +Entranced against my will, I watched the Eurasian until, the barbaric +dance completed, she ran from the room, and the curtains concealed her +from view. How my mind was torn between hope and fear that I should +see Kâramaneh again! How I longed for one more glimpse of her, yet +loathed the thought of her presence in that infamous house. + +She was a captive; of that there could be no doubt, a captive in the +hands of the giant criminal whose wiles were endless, whose resources +were boundless, whose intense cunning had enabled him, for years, to +weave his nefarious plots in the very heart of civilization, and +remain immune. Suddenly-- + +"That woman is a sorceress!" muttered Nayland Smith. "There is about +her something serpentine, at once repelling and fascinating. It would +be of interest, Petrie, to learn what State secrets have been filched +from the brains of habitues of this den, and interesting to know from +what unsuspected spy-hole Fu-Manchu views his nightly catch. If ..." + +His voice died away, in a most curious fashion. I have since thought +that here was a case of true telepathy. For, as Smith spoke of +Fu-Manchu's spy-hole, the idea leapt instantly to my mind that _this_ +was it--this strange platform upon which we stood! + +I drew back from the rail, turned, stared at Smith. I read in his +face that our suspicions were identical. Then-- + +"Look! Look!" whispered Weymouth. + +He was gazing at the trapdoor--which was slowly rising; inch by inch ... +inch by inch ... Fascinatedly, raptly, we all gazed. A head appeared +in the opening--and some vague, reflected light revealed two long, +narrow, slightly oblique eyes watching us. They were brilliantly green. + +"By God!" came in a mighty roar from Weymouth. "It's Dr. Fu-Manchu!" + +As one man we leapt for the trap. It dropped, with a resounding bang-- +and I distinctly heard a bolt shot home. + +A gutteral voice--the unmistakable, unforgettable voice of Fu-Manchu-- +sounded dimly from below. I turned and sprang back to the rail of the +platform, peering down into the hashish house. The occupants of the +divans were making for the curtained doorway. Some, who seemed to be +in a state of stupor, were being assisted by the others and by the +man, Ismail, who had now appeared upon the scene. + +Of Kâramaneh, Zarmi, or Fu-Manchu there was no sign. + +Suddenly, the lights were extinguished. + +"This is maddening!" cried Nayland Smith--"maddening! No doubt they +have some other exit, some hiding-place--and they are slipping through +our hands!" + +Inspector Weymouth blew a shrill blast upon his whistle, and Smith, +running to the rail of the platform, began to shatter the panes of the +skylight with his foot. + +"That's hopeless, sir!" cried Weymouth. "You'd be torn to pieces on +the jagged glass." + +Smith desisted, with a savage exclamation, and stood beating his right +fist into the palm of his left hand, and glaring madly at the Scotland +Yard man. + +"I know I'm to blame," admitted Weymouth; "but the words were out +before I knew I'd spoken. Ah!"--as an answering whistle came from +somewhere in the street below. "But will they ever find us?" + +He blew again shrilly. Several whistles replied ... and a wisp of smoke +floated up from the shattered pane of the skylight. + +"I can smell _petrol_!" muttered Weymouth. + +An ever-increasing roar, not unlike that of an approaching storm at +sea, came from the streets beneath. Whistles skirled, remotely and +intimately, and sometimes one voice, sometimes another, would detach +itself from this stormy background with weird effect. Somewhere deep +in the bowels of the hashish house there went on ceaselessly a +splintering and crashing as though a determined assault were being +made upon a door. A light shone up through the skylight. + +Back once more to the rail I sprang, looked down into the room below-- +and saw a sight never to be forgotten. + +Passing from divan to curtained door, from piles of cushions to +stacked-up tables, and bearing a flaming torch hastily improvised out +of a roll of newspaper, was Dr. Fu-Manchu. Everything inflammable in +the place had been soaked with petrol, and, his gaunt, yellow face +lighted by the evergrowing conflagration, so that truly it seemed not +the face of a man, but that of a demon of the hells, the Chinese +doctor ignited point after point.... + +"Smith!" I screamed, "we are trapped! that fiend means to burn us alive!" + +"And the place will flare like matchwood! It's touch and go this time, +Petrie! To drop to the sloping roof underneath would mean almost +certain death on the pavement...." + +I dragged my pistol from my pocket and began wildly to fire shot after +shot into the holocaust below. But the awful Chinaman had escaped-- +probably by some secret exit reserved for his own use; for certainly +he must have known that escape into the court was now cut off. + +Flames were beginning to hiss through the skylight. A tremendous +crackling and crashing told of the glass destroyed. Smoke spurted up +through the cracks of the boarding upon which we stood--and a great +shout came from the crowd in the streets.... + +In the distance--a long, long way off, it seemed--was born a new note +in the stormy human symphony. It grew in volume, it seemed to be +sweeping down upon us--nearer--nearer--nearer. Now it was in the +streets immediately adjoining the Café de l'Egypte ... and now, +blessed sound! it culminated in a mighty surging cheer. + +"The fire-engines," said Weymouth coolly--and raised himself on to the +lower rail, for the platform was growing uncomfortably hot. + +Tongues of fire licked out, venomously, from beneath my feet. I leapt +for the railing in turn, and sat astride it ... as one end of the +flooring burst into flame. + +The heat from the blazing room above which we hung suspended was now +all but insupportable, and the fumes threatened to stifle us. My head +seemed to be bursting; my throat and lungs were consumed by internal +fires. + +"Merciful heavens!" whispered Smith. "Will they reach us in time?" + +"Not if they don't get here within the next thirty seconds!" answered +Weymouth grimly--and changed his position, in order to avoid a tongue +of flame that hungrily sought to reach him. + +Nayland Smith turned and looked me squarely in the eyes. Words +trembled on his tongue; but those words were never spoken ... for a +brass helmet appeared suddenly out of the smoke banks, followed almost +immediately by a second.... + +"Quick, sir! this way! Jump! I'll catch you!" + +Exactly what followed I never knew; but there was a mighty burst of +cheering, a sense of tension released, and it became a task less +agonizing to breathe. + +Feeling very dazed, I found myself in the heart of a huge, excited +crowd, with Weymouth beside me, and Nayland Smith holding my arm. +Vaguely, I heard;-- + +"They have the man Ismail, but ..." + +A hollow crash drowned the end of the sentence. A shower of sparks +shot up into the night's darkness high above our heads. + +"That's the platform gone!" + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +ROOM WITH THE GOLDEN DOOR + + +One night early in the following week I sat at work upon my notes +dealing with our almost miraculous escape from the blazing hashish +house when the clock of St. Paul's began to strike midnight. + +I paused in my work, leaning back wearily and wondering what detained +Nayland Smith so late. Some friends from Burma had carried him off to +a theater, and in their good company I had thought him safe enough; +yet, with the omnipresent menace of Fu-Manchu hanging over our heads, +always I doubted, always I feared, if my friend should chance to be +delayed abroad at night. + +What a world of unreality was mine, in those days! Jostling, as I did, +commonplace folk in commonplace surroundings, I yet knew myself removed +from them, knew myself all but alone in my knowledge of the great and +evil man, whose presence in England had diverted my life into these +strange channels. + +But, despite of all my knowledge, and despite the infinitely greater +knowledge and wider experience of Nayland Smith, what did I know, what +did he know, of the strange organization called the Si-Fan, and of its +most formidable member, Dr. Fu-Manchu? + +Where did the dreadful Chinaman hide, with his murderers, his poisons, +and his nameless death agents? What roof in broad England sheltered +Kâramaneh, the companion of my dreams, the desire of every waking hour? + +I uttered a sigh of despair, when, to my unbounded astonishment, there +came a loud rap upon the window pane! + +Leaping up, I crossed to the window, threw it widely open and leant out, +looking down into the court below. It was deserted. In no other window +visible to me was any light to be seen, and no living thing moved in +the shadows beneath. The clamor of Fleet Street's diminishing traffic +came dimly to my ears; the last stroke from St. Paul's quivered through +the night. + +What was the meaning of the sound which had disturbed me? Surely I +could not have imagined it? Yet, right, left, above and below, from the +cloisteresque shadows on the east of the court to the blank wall of the +building on the west, no living thing stirred. + +Quietly, I reclosed the window, and stood by it for a moment listening. +Nothing occurred, and I returned to the writing-table, puzzled but in +no sense alarmed. I resumed the seemingly interminable record of the +Si-Fan mysteries, and I had just taken up my pen, when ... two loud +raps sounded upon the pane behind me. + +In a trice I was at the window, had thrown it open, and was craning +out. Practical joking was not characteristic of Nayland Smith, and I +knew of none other likely to take such a liberty. As before, the court +below proved to be empty.... + +Some one was softly rapping at the door of the chambers! + +I turned swiftly from the open window; and now, came _fear_. +Momentarily, the icy finger of panic touched me, for I thought myself +invested upon all sides. Who could this late caller be, this midnight +visitor who rapped, ghostly, in preference to ringing the bell? + +From the table drawer I took out a Browning pistol, slipped it into my +pocket and crossed to the narrow hallway. It was in darkness, but I +depressed the switch, lighting the lamp. Toward the closed door I looked +--as the soft rapping was repeated. + +I advanced; then hesitated, and, strung up to a keen pitch of fearful +anticipation, stood there in doubt. The silence remained unbroken for +the space, perhaps of half a minute. Then again came the ghostly rapping. + +"Who's there?" I cried loudly. + +Nothing stirred outside the door, and still I hesitated. To some who +read, my hesitancy may brand me childishly timid; but I, who had met +many of the dreadful creatures of Dr. Fu-Manchu, had good reason to +fear whomsoever or whatsoever rapped at midnight upon my door. Was I +likely to forget the great half-human ape, with the strength of four +lusty men, which once he had loosed upon us?--had I not cause to +remember his Burmese dacoits and Chinese stranglers? + +No, I had just cause for dread, as I fully recognized when, snatching +the pistol from my pocket, I strode forward, flung wide the door, and +stood peering out into the black gulf of the stairhead. + +Nothing, no one, appeared! + +Conscious of a longing to cry out--if only that the sound of my own +voice might reassure me--I stood listening. The silence was complete. + +"Who's there?" I cried again, and loudly enough to arrest the attention +of the occupant of the chambers opposite if he chanced to be at home. + +None replied; and finding this phantom silence more nerve-racking than +any clamor, I stepped outside the door--and my heart gave a great leap, +then seemed to remain inert, in my breast.... + +Right and left of me, upon either side of the doorway, stood a dim +figure: I had walked deliberately into a trap! + +The shock of the discovery paralyzed my mind for one instant. In the +next, and with the sinister pair closing swiftly upon me, I stepped +back--I stepped into the arms of some third assailant, who must have +entered the chambers by way of the open window and silently crept up +behind me! + +So much I realized, and no more. A bag, reeking of some hashish-like +perfume, was clapped over my head and pressed firmly against mouth +and nostrils. I felt myself to be stifling--dying--and dropping into +a bottomless pit. + +When I opened my eyes I failed for some time to realize that I was +conscious in the true sense of the word, that I was really awake. + +I sat upon a bench covered with a red carpet, in a fair-sized room, +very simply furnished, in the Chinese manner, but having a two-leaved, +gilded door, which was shut. At the further end of this apartment was +a dais some three feet high, also carpeted with red, and upon it was +placed a very large cushion covered with a tiger skin. + +Seated cross-legged upon the cushion was a Chinaman of most majestic +appearance. His countenance was truly noble and gracious and he was +dressed in a yellow robe lined with marten-fur. His hair, which was +thickly splashed with gray, was confined upon the top of his head by +three golden combs, and a large diamond was suspended from his left +ear. A pearl-embroidered black cap, surmounted by the red coral ball +denoting the mandarin's rank, lay upon a second smaller cushion +beside him. + +Leaning back against the wall, I stared at his personage with a +dreadful fixity, for I counted him the figment of a disarranged mind. +But palpably he remained before me, fanning himself complacently, and +watching me with every mark of kindly interest. Evidently perceiving +that I was fully alive to my surroundings, the Chinaman addressed a +remark to me in a tongue quite unfamiliar. + +I shook my head dazedly. + +"Ah," he commented in French, "you do not speak my language." + +"I do not," I answered, also in French, "but since it seems we have +one common tongue, what is the meaning of the outrage to which I have +been subjected, and who are you?" + +As I spoke the words I rose to my feet, but was immediately attacked +by vertigo, which compelled me to resume my seat upon the bench. + +"Compose yourself," said the Chinaman, taking a pinch of snuff from a +silver vase which stood convenient to his hand. "I have been compelled +to adopt certain measures in order to bring about this interview. In +China, such measures are not unusual, but I recognize that they are +out of accordance with your English ideas." + +"Emphatically they are!" I replied. + +The placid manner of this singularly imposing old man rendered proper +resentment difficult. A sense of futility, and of unreality, claimed +me; I felt that this was a dream-world, governed by dream-laws. + +"You have good reason," he continued, calmly raising the pinch of +snuff to his nostrils, "good reason to distrust all that is Chinese. +Therefore, when I despatched my servants to your abode (knowing you +to be alone) I instructed them to observe every law of courtesy, +compatible with the Sure Invitation. Hence, I pray you, absolve me, +for I intended no offense." + +Words failed me altogether; wonder succeeded wonder! What was coming? +What did it all mean? + +"I have selected you, rather than Mr. Commissioner Nayland Smith," +continued the mandarin, "as the recipient of those secrets which I am +about to impart, for the reason that your friend might possibly be +acquainted with my appearance. I will confess there was a time when I +must have regarded you with animosity, as one who sought the +destruction of the most ancient and potent organization in the world-- +the Si-Fan." + +As he uttered the words he raised his right hand and touched his +forehead, his mouth, and finally his breast--a gesture reminiscent of +that employed by Moslems. + +"But my first task is to assure you," he resumed, "that the activities +of that Order are in no way inimical to yourself, your country or your +King. The extensive ramifications of the Order have recently been +employed by a certain Dr. Fu-Manchu for his own ends, and, since he +was (I admit it) a high official, a schism has been created in our +ranks. Exactly a month ago, sentence of death was passed upon him by +the Sublime Prince, and since I myself must return immediately to China, +I look to Mr. Nayland Smith to carry out that sentence." + +I said nothing; I remained bereft of the power of speech. + +"The Si-Fan," he added, repeating the gesture with his hand, "disown +Dr. Fu-Manchu and his servants; do with them what you will. In this +envelope"--he held up a sealed package--"is information which should +prove helpful to Mr. Smith. I have now a request to make. You were +conveyed here in the garments which your wore at the time that my +servants called upon you." (I was hatless and wore red leathern +slippers.) "An overcoat and a hat can doubtless be found to suit you, +temporarily, and my request is that you close your eyes until +permission is given to open them." + +Is there any one of my readers in doubt respecting my reception of +this proposal? Remember my situation, remember the bizarre happening +that had led up to it; remember, too, ere judging me, that whilst I +could not doubt the unseen presence of Chinamen unnumbered surrounding +that strange apartment with the golden door, I had not the remotest +clue to guide me in determining where it was situated. Since the +duration of my unconsciousness was immeasurable, the place in which I +found myself might have been anywhere, within say, thirty miles of +Fleet Street! + +"I agree," I said. + +The mandarin bowed composedly. + +"Kindly close your eyes, Dr. Petrie," he requested, "and fear nothing. +No danger threatens you." + +I obeyed. Instantly sounded the note of a gong, and I became aware +that the golden door was open. A soft voice, evidently that of a +cultured Chinaman, spoke quite close to my ear-- + +"Keep your eyes tightly closed, please, and I will help you on with +this coat. The envelope you will find in the pocket and here is a +tweed cap. Now take my hand." + +Wearing the borrowed garments, I was led from the room, along a +passage, down a flight of thickly carpeted stairs, and so out of the +house into the street. Faint evidences of remote traffic reached my +ears as I was assisted into a car and placed in a cushioned corner. +The car moved off, proceeded for some distance; then-- + +"Allow me to help you to descend," said the soft voice. "You may open +your eyes in thirty seconds." + +I was assisted from the step on to the pavement--and I heard the car +being driven back. Having slowly counted thirty I opened my eyes, and +looked about me. This, and not the fevered moment when first I had +looked upon the room with the golden door, seemed to be my true +awakening, for about me was comprehensible world, the homely streets +of London, with deserted Portland Place stretching away on the one +hand and a glimpse of midnight Regent Street obtainable on the other! +The clock of the neighboring church struck one. + +My mind yet dull with wonder of it all, I walked on to Oxford Circus +and there obtained a taxicab, in which I drove to Fleet Street. +Discharging the man, I passed quickly under the time worn archway +into the court and approached our stair. Indeed, I was about to ascend +when some one came racing down and almost knocked me over. + +"Petrie! Petrie! Thank God you're safe!" + +It was Nayland Smith, his eyes blazing with excitement, as I could +see by the dim light of the lamp near the archway, and his hands, as +he clapped them upon my shoulders, quivering tensely. + +"Petrie!" he ran on impulsively, and speaking with extraordinary +rapidly, "I was detained by a most ingenious trick and arrived only +five minutes ago, to find you missing, the window wide open, and signs +of hooks, evidently to support a rope ladder, having been attached +to the ledge." + +"But where were you going?" + +"Weymouth has just rung up. We have indisputable proof that the +mandarin Ki-Ming, whom I had believed to be dead, and whom I know for +a high official of the Si-Fan, is actually in London! It's neck or +nothing this time, Petrie! I'm going straight to Portland Place!" + +"To the Chinese Legation?" + +"Exactly!" + +"Perhaps I can save you a journey," I said slowly. "I have just come +from there!" + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE MANDARIN KI-MING + + +Nayland Smith strode up and down the little sitting-room, tugging +almost savagely at the lobe of his left ear. To-night his increasing +grayness was very perceptible, and with his feverishly bright eyes +staring straightly before him, he looked haggard and ill, despite the +deceptive tan of his skin. + +"Petrie," he began in his abrupt fashion, "I am losing confidence in +myself." + +"Why?" I asked in surprise. + +"I hardly know; but for some occult reason I feel afraid." + +"Afraid?" + +"Exactly; afraid. There is some deep mystery here that I cannot fathom. +In the first place, if they had really meant you to remain ignorant of +the place at which the episodes described by you occurred, they would +scarcely have dropped you at the end of Portland Place." + +"You mean ...?" + +"I mean that I don't believe you were taken to the Chinese Legation at +all. Undoubtedly you saw the mandarin Ki-Ming; I recognize him from +your description." + +"You have met him, then?" + +"No; but I know those who have. He is undoubtedly a very dangerous man, +and it is just possible----" + +He hesitated, glancing at me strangely. + +"It is just possible," he continued musingly, "that his presence +marks the beginning of the end. Fu-Manchu's health may be permanently +impaired, and Ki-Ming may have superceded him." + +"But, if what you suspect, Smith, be only partly true, with what +object was I seized and carried to that singular interview? What was +the meaning of the whole solemn farce?" + +"Its meaning remains to be discovered," he answered; "but that the +mandarin is amicably disposed I refuse to believe. You may dismiss the +idea. In dealing with Ki-Ming we are to all intents and purposes +dealing with Fu-Manchu. To me, this man's presence means one thing: we +are about to be subjected to attempts along slightly different lines." + +I was completely puzzled by Smith's tone. + +"You evidently know more of this man, Ki-Ming, than you have yet +explained to me," I said. + +Nayland Smith pulled out the blackened briar and began rapidly to +load it. + +"He is a graduate," he replied, "of the Lama College, or monastery, of +Rache-Churân. + +"This does not enlighten me." + +Having got his pipe going well-- + +"What do you know of animal magnetism?" snapped Smith. + +The question seemed so wildly irrelevant that I stared at him in +silence for some moments. Then-- + +"Certain powers sometimes grouped under that head are recognized in +every hospital to-day," I answered shortly. + +"Quite so. And the monastery of Rache-Churân is entirely devoted to +the study of the subject." + +"Do you mean that that gentle old man----" + +"Petrie, a certain M. Sokoloff, a Russian gentleman whose acquaintance +I made in Mandalay, related to me an episode that took place at the +house of the mandarin Ki-Ming in Canton. It actually occurrd in the +presence of M. Sokoloff, and therefore is worthy of your close attention. + +"He had had certain transactions with Ki-Ming, and at their conclusion +received an invitation to dine with the mandarin. The entertainment +took place in a sort of loggia or open pavilion, immediately in front +of which was an ornamental lake, with numerous waterlilies growing +upon its surface. One of the servants, I think his name was Li, +dropped a silver bowl containing orange-flower water for pouring upon +the hands, and some of the contents lightly sprinkled M. Sokoloff's +garments. + +"Ki-Ming spoke no word of rebuke, Petrie; he merely _looked_ at Li, +with those deceptive, gazelle-like eyes. Li, according to my +acquaintance account, began to make palpable and increasingly anxious +attempts to look anywhere rather than into the mild eyes of his +implacable master. M. Sokoloff, who, up to that moment, had +entertained similar views to your own respecting his host, regarded +this unmoving stare of Ki-Ming's as a sort of kindly, because silent, +reprimand. The behavior of the unhappy Li very speedily served to +disabuse his mind of that delusion. + +"Petrie--the man grew livid, his whole body began to twitch and shake +as though an ague had attacked him; and his eyes protruded hideously +from their sockets! M. Sokoloff assured me that he _felt_ himself +turning pale--when Ki-Ming, very slowly, raised his right hand and +pointed to the pond. + +"Li began to pant as though engaged in a life and death struggle with +a physically superior antagonist. He clutched at the posts of the +loggia with frenzied hands and a bloody froth came to his lips. He +began to move backward, step by step, step by step, all the time +striving, with might and main, to _prevent_ himself from doing so! +His eyes were set rigidly upon Ki-Ming, like the eyes of a rabbit +fascinated by a python. Ki-Ming continued to point. + +"Right to the brink of the lake the man retreated, and there, for one +dreadful moment, he paused and uttered a sort of groaning sob. Then, +clenching his fists frenziedly, he stepped back into the water and +immediately sank among the lilies. Ki-Ming continued to gaze fixedly-- +at the spot where bubbles were rising; and presently up came the livid +face of the drowning man, still having those glazed eyes turned, +immovably, upon the mandarin. For nearly five seconds that hideous, +distorted face gazed from amid the mass of blooms, then it sank +again ... and rose no more." + +"What!" I cried, "do you mean to tell me----" + +"Ki-Ming struck a gong. Another servant appeared with a fresh bowl of +water; and the mandarin calmly resumed his dinner!" + +I drew a deep breath and raised my hand to my head. + +"It is almost unbelievable," I said. "But what completely passes my +comprehension is his allowing me to depart unscathed, having once held +me in his power. Why the long harangue and the pose of friendship? + +"That point is not so difficult." + +"What!" + +"That does not surprise me in the least. You may recollect that Dr. +Fu-Manchu entertains for you an undoubted affection, distinctly Chinese +in its character, but nevertheless an affection! There is no intention +of assassinating _you_, Petrie; _I_ am the selected victim." + +I started up. + +"Smith! what do you mean? What danger, other than that which has +threatened us for over two years, threatens us to-night?" + +"Now you come to the point which _does_ puzzle me. I believe I stated +awhile ago that I was afraid. You have placed your finger upon the +cause of my fear. _What_ threatens us to-night?" + +He spoke the words in such a fashion that they seemed physically to +chill me. The shadows of the room grew menacing; the very silence +became horrible. I longed with a terrible longing for company, for the +strength that is in numbers; I would have had the place full to +overflowing--for it seemed that we two, condemned by the mysterious +organization called the Si-Fan, were at that moment surrounded by the +entire arsenal of horrors at the command of Dr. Fu-Manchu. I broke +that morbid silence. My voice had assumed an unnatural tone. + +"Why do you dread this man, Ki-Ming, so much?" + +"Because he must be aware that I know he is in London." + +"Well?" + +"Dr. Fu-Manchu has no official status. Long ago, his Legation denied +all knowledge of his existence. But the mandarin Ki-Ming is known to +every diplomat in Europe, Asia and America almost. Only _I_, and now +yourself, know that he is a high official of the Si-Fan; Ki-Ming is +aware that I know. Why, therefore, does he risk his neck in London?" + +"He relies upon his national cunning." + +"Petrie, he is aware that I hold evidence to hang him, either here or +in China! He relies upon one thing; upon striking first and striking +surely. Why is he so confident? I do not know. Therefore I am afraid." + +Again a cold shudder ran icily through me. A piece of coal dropped +lower into the dying fire--and my heart leapt wildly. Then, in a flash, +I remembered something. + +"Smith!" I cried, "the letter! We have not looked at the letter." + +Nayland Smith laid his pipe upon the mantelpiece and smiled grimly. +From his pocket he took out square piece of paper, and thrust it close +under my eyes. + +"I remembered it as I passed your borrowed garment--which bear no +maker's name--on my way to the bedroom for matches," he said. + +The paper was covered with Chinese characters! + +"What does it mean?" I demanded breathlessly. + +Smith uttered a short, mirthless laugh. + +"It states that an attempt of a particularly dangerous nature is to be +made upon my life to-night, and it recommends me to guard the door, +and advises that you watch the window overlooking the court, and keep +your pistol ready for instant employment." He stared at me oddly. "How +should you act in the circumstances, Petrie?" + +"I should strongly distrust such advice. Yet--what else can we _do?_" + +"There are several alternatives, but I prefer to follow the advice of +Ki-Ming." + +The clock of St. Paul's chimed the half-hour: half-past two. + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +LAMA SORCERY + + +From my post in the chair by the window I could see two sides of the +court below; that immediately opposite, with the entrance to some +chambers situated there, and that on the right, with the cloisteresque +arches beyond which lay a maze of old-world passages and stairs +whereby one who knew the tortuous navigation might come ultimately +to the Embankment. + +It was this side of the court which lay in deepest shadow. By altering +my position quite slightly I could command a view of the arched +entrance on the left with its pale lamp in an iron bracket above, and +of the high blank wall whose otherwise unbroken expanse it interrupted. +All was very still; only on occasions the passing of a vehicle along +Fleet Street would break the silence. + +The nature of the danger that threatened I was wholly unable to +surmise. Since, my pistol on the table beside me, I sat on guard at +the window, and Smith, also armed, watched the outer door, it was not +apparent by what agency the shadowy enemy could hope to come at us. + +Something strange I had detected in Nayland Smith's manner, however, +which had induced me to believe that he suspected, if he did not know, +what form of menace hung over us in the darkness. One thing in +particular was puzzling me extremely: if Smith doubted the good faith +of the sender of the message, why had he acted upon it? + +Thus my mind worked--in endless and profitless cycles--whilst my eyes +were ever searching the shadows below me. + +And, as I watched, wondering vaguely why Smith at his post was so +silent, presently I became aware of the presence of a slim figure +over by the arches on the right. This discovery did not come suddenly, +nor did it surprise me; I merely observed without being conscious of +any great interest in the matter, that some one was standing in the +court below, looking up at me where I sat. + +I cannot hope to explain my state of mind at that moment, to render +understandable by contrast with the cold fear which had visited me so +recently, the utter apathy of my mental attitude. To this day I cannot +recapture the mood--and for a very good reason, though one that was +not apparent to me at the time. + +It was the Eurasian girl Zarmi, who was standing there, looking up at +the window! Silently I watched her. Why was I silent?--why did I not +warn Smith of the presence of one of Dr. Fu-Manchu's servants? I +cannot explain, although later, the strangeness of my behavior may +become in some measure understandable. + +Zarmi raised her hand, beckoning to me, then stepped back, revealing +the presence of a companion, hitherto masked by the dense shadows that +lay under the arches. This second watcher moved slowly forward, and I +perceived him to be none other than the mandarin Ki-Ming. + +This I noted with interest, but with a sort of _impersonal_ interest, +as I might have watched the entrance of a character upon the stage of +a theater. Despite the feeble light, I could see his benign +countenance very clearly; but, far from being excited, a dreamy +contentment possessed me; I actually found myself hoping that Smith +would not intrude upon my reverie! + +What a fascinating pageant it had been--the Fu-Manchu drama--from the +moment that I had first set eyes upon the Yellow doctor. Again I seemed +to be enacting my part in that scene, two years ago and more, when I +had burst into the bare room above Shen-Yan's opium den and had stood +face to face with Dr. Fu-Manchu. He wore a plain yellow robe, its hue +almost identical with that of his gaunt, hairless face; his elbows +rested upon the dirty table and his pointed chin upon his long, +bony hands. + +Into those uncanny eyes I stared, those eyes, long, narrow, and +slightly oblique, their brilliant, catlike greenness sometimes horribly +filmed, like the eyes of some grotesque bird.... + +Thus it began; and from this point I was carried on, step by step +through every episode, great and small. It was such a retrospect as +passes through the mind of one drowning. + +With a vividness that was terrible yet exquisite, I saw Kâramaneh, my +lost love; I saw her first wrapped in a hooded opera-cloak, with her +flower-like face and glorious dark eyes raised to me; I saw her in the +gauzy Eastern raiment of a slave-girl, and I saw her in the dress of +a gipsy. + +Through moments sweet and bitter I lived again, through hours of +suspense and days of ceaseless watching; through the long months of +that first summer when my unhappy love came to me, and on, on, +interminably on. For years I lived again beneath that ghastly Yellow +cloud. I searched throughout the land of Egypt for Kâramaneh and knew +once more the sorrow of losing her. Time ceased to exist for me. + +Then, at the end of these strenuous years, I came at last to my +meeting with Ki-Ming in the room with the golden door. At this point +my visionary adventures took a new turn. I sat again upon the +red-covered couch and listened, half stupefied, to the placid speech +of the mandarin. Again I came under the spell of his singular +personality, and again, closing my eyes, I consented to be led from +the room. + +But, having crossed the threshold, a sudden awful doubt passed through +my mind, arrow-like. The hand that held my arm was bony and clawish; +I could detect the presence of incredibly long finger nails--nails +long as those of some buried vampire of the black ages! + +Choking down a cry of horror, I opened my eyes--heedless of the +promise given but a few moments earlier--and looked into the face of +my guide. + +It was Dr. Fu-Manchu!... + +Never, dreaming or waking, have I known a sensation identical with +that which now clutched my heart; I thought that it must be death. +For ages, untold ages--aeons longer than the world has known--I looked +into that still, awful face, into those unnatural green eyes. I jerked +my hand free from the Chinaman's clutch and sprang back. + +As I did so, I became miraculously translated from the threshold of +the room with the golden door to our chambers in the court adjoining +Fleet Street; I came into full possession of my faculties (or believed +so at the time); I realized that I had nodded at my post, that I had +dreamed a strange dream ... but I realized something else. A ghoulish +presence was in the room. + +Snatching up my pistol from the table I turned. Like some evil jinn of +Arabian lore, Dr. Fu-Manchu, surrounded by a slight mist, stood +looking at me! + +Instantly I raised the pistol, leveled it steadily at the high, +dome-like brow--and fired! There could be no possibility of missing at +such short range, no possibility whatever ... and in the very instant +of pulling the trigger the mist cleared, the lineaments of Dr. +Fu-Manchu melted magically. This was not the Chinese doctor who stood +before me, at whose skull I still was pointing the deadly little +weapon, into whose brain I had fired the bullet; _it was Nayland +Smith!_ + +Ki-Ming, by means of the unholy arts of the Lamas of Rache-Churân, +had caused my to murder my best friend! + +"Smith!" I whispered huskily--"God forgive me, what have I done? What +have I done?" + +I stepped forward to support him ere he fell; but utter oblivion +closed down upon me, and I knew no more. + + * * * * * * * + +"He will do quite well now." said a voice that seemed to come from a +vast distance. "The effects of the drug will have entirely worn off +when he wakes, except that there may be nausea, and possibly muscular +pain for a time." + +I opened my eyes; they were throbbing agonizingly. I lay in bed, and +beside me stood Murdoch McCabe, the famous toxicological expert from +Charing Cross Hospital--and Nayland Smith! + +"Ah, that's better!" cried McCabe cheerily. "Here--drink this." + +I drank from the glass which he raised to my lips. I was too weak for +speech, too weak for wonder. Nayland Smith, his face gray and drawn in +the cold light of early morning, watched me anxiously. McCabe in a +matter of fact way that acted upon me like a welcome tonic, put several +purely medical questions, which at first by dint of a great effort, +but, with ever-increasing ease, I answered. + +"Yes," he said musingly at last. "Of course it is all but impossible +to speak with certainty, but I am disposed to think that you have been +drugged with some preparation of hashish. The most likely is that +known in Eastern countries as _maagûn_ or _barsh_, composed of equal +parts of _cannabis indica_ and opium, with hellebore and two other +constituents, which vary according to the purpose which the _maagûn_ +is intended to serve. This renders the subject particularly open to +subjective hallucination, and a pliable instrument in the hands of a +hypnotic operator, for instance." + +"You see, old man?" cried Smith eagerly. "You see?" + +But I shook my head weakly. + +"I shot you," I said. "It is impossible that I could have missed." + +"Mr. Smith has placed me in possession of the facts," interrupted +McCabe, "and I can outline with reasonable certainty what took place. +Of course, it's all very amazing, utterly fantastic in fact, but I +have met with almost parallel cases in Egypt, in India, and elsewhere +in the East: never in London, I'll confess. You see, Dr. Petrie, you +were taken into the presence of a very accomplished hypnotist, having +been previously prepared by a stiff administration of _maagûn_. +You are doubtless familiar with the remarkable experiments in +psycho-therapeutics conducted at the Salpêtrier in Paris, and you +will readily understand me when I say that, prior to your recovering +consciousness in the presence of the mandarin Ki-Ming, you had +received your hypnotic instructions. + +"These were to be put into execution either at a certain time (duly +impressed upon your drugged mind) or at a given signal...." + +"It was a signal," snapped Smith. "Ki-Ming stood in the court below +and looked up at the window," I objected. + +"In that event," snapped Smith, "he would have spoken softly, through +the letter-box of the door!" + +"You immediately resumed your interrupted trance," continued McCabe, +"and by hypnotic suggestion impressed upon you earlier in the evening, +you were ingeniously led up to a point at which, under what delusion +I know not, you fired at Mr. Smith. I had the privilege of studying an +almost parallel case in Simla, where an officer was fatally stabbed by +his _khitmatgar_ (a most faithful servant) acting under the hypnotic +prompting of a certain _fakîr_ whom the officer had been unwise +enough to chastise. The _fakîr_ paid for the crime with his life, I +may add. The _khitmatgar_ shot him, ten minutes later." + +"I had no chance at Ki-Ming," snapped Smith. "He vanished like a +shadow. But has has played his big card and lost! Henceforth he is a +hunted man; and he knows it! Oh!" he cried, seeing me watching him in +bewilderment, "I suspected some Lama trickery, old man, and I stuck +closely to the arrangements proposed by the mandarin, but kept you +under careful observation!" + +"But, Smith--I shot you! It was impossible to miss!" + +"I agree. But do you recall the _report?_" + +"The report? I was too dazed, too horrified, by the discovery of what +I had done...." + +"There was no report, Petrie. I am not entirely a stranger to +Indo-Chinese jugglery, and you had a very strange look in your eyes. +Therefore I took the precaution of unloading your Browning!" + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +MEDUSA + + +Legal business, connected with the estate of a distant relative, +deceased, necessitated my sudden departure from London, within +twenty-four hours of the events just narrated; and at a time when +London was for me the center of the universe. The business being +terminated--and in a manner financially satisfactory to myself--I +discovered that with luck I could just catch the fast train back. +Amid a perfect whirl of hotel porters and taxi-drivers worthy of +Nayland Smith I departed for the station ... to arrive at the +entrance to the platform at the exact moment that the guard raised +his green flag! + +"Too late, sir! Stand back, if you please!" + +The ticket-collector at the barrier thrust out his arm to stay me. The +London express was moving from the platform. But my determination to +travel by that train and by no other over-rode all obstacles; If I +missed it, I should be forced to wait until the following morning. + +I leapt past the barrier, completely taking the man by surprise, and +went racing up the platform. Many arms were outstretched to detain me, +and the gray-bearded guard stood fully in my path; but I dodged them +all, collided with and upset a gigantic negro who wore a chauffeur's +uniform--and found myself level with a first-class compartment; the +window was open. + +Amid a chorus of excited voices, I tossed my bag in at the window, +leapt upon the footboard and turned the handle. Although the entrance +to the tunnel was perilously near now, I managed to wrench the door +open and to swing myself into the carriage. Then, by means of the +strap, I reclosed the door in the nick of time, and sank, panting, +upon the seat. I had a vague impression that the black chauffeur, +having recovered himself, had raced after me to the uttermost point +of the platform, but, my end achieved, I was callously indifferent to +the outrageous means thereto which I seen fit to employ. The express +dashed into the tunnel. I uttered a great sigh of relief. + +With Kâramaneh in the hands of the Si-Fan, this journey to the north +had indeed been undertaken with the utmost reluctance. Nayland Smith +had written to me once during my brief absence, and his letter had +inspired a yet keener desire to be back and at grips with the Yellow +group; for he had hinted broadly that a tangible clue to the +whereabouts of the Si-Fan head-quarters had at last been secured. + +Now I learnt that I had a traveling companion--a woman. She was seated +in the further, opposite corner, wore a long, loose motor-coat, which +could not altogether conceal the fine lines of her lithe figure, and a +thick veil hid her face. A motive for the excited behavior of the +negro chauffeur suggested itself to my mind; a label; "Engaged," was +pasted to the window! + +I glanced across the compartment. Through the closely woven veil the +woman was watching me. An apology clearly was called for. + +"Madame," I said, "I hope you will forgive this unfortunate intrusion; +but it was vitally important that I should not miss the London train." + +She bowed, very slightly, very coldly--and turned her head aside. + +The rebuff was as unmistakable as my offense was irremediable. Nor did +I feel justified in resenting it. Therefore, endeavoring to dismiss +the matter from my mind, I placed my bag upon the rack, and unfolding +the newspaper with which I was provided, tried to interest myself in +the doings of the world at large. + +My attempt proved not altogether successful; strive how I would, my +thoughts persistently reverted to the Si-Fan, the evil, secret society +who held in their power one dearer to me than all the rest of the +world; to Dr. Fu-Manchu, the genius who darkly controlled my destiny; +and to Nayland Smith, the barrier between the White races and the +devouring tide of the Yellow. + +Sighing again, involuntarily, I glanced up ... to meet the gaze of a +pair of wonderful eyes. + +Never, in my experience, had I seen their like. The dark eyes of +Kâramaneh were wonderful and beautiful, the eyes of Dr. Fu-Manchu +sinister and wholly unforgettable; but the eyes of this woman were +incredible. Their glance was all but insupportable; the were the eyes +of a Medusa! + +Since I had met; in the not distant past, the soft gaze of Ki-Ming, +the mandarin whose phenomenal hypnotic powers rendered him capable of +transcending the achievements of the celebrated Cagliostro, I knew +much of the power of the human eye. But these were unlike any human +eyes I had ever known. + +Long, almond-shaped, bordered by heavy jet-black lashes, arched over +by finely penciled brows, their strange brilliancy, as of a fire +within, was utterly uncanny. They were the eyes of some beautiful +wild creature rather than those of a woman. + +Their possessor had now thrown back her motor-veil, revealing a face +Orientally dark and perfectly oval, with a clustering mass of dull +gold hair, small, aquiline nose and full, red lips. Her weird eyes met +mine for an instant, and then the long lashes drooped quickly, as she +leant back against the cushions, with a graceful languor suggestive of +the East rather than of the West. + +Her long coat had fallen partly open, and I saw, with surprise, that +it was lined with leopard-skin. One hand was ungloved, and lay on the +arm-rest--a slim hand of the hue of old ivory, with a strange, ancient +ring upon the index finger. + +This woman obviously was not a European, and I experienced great +difficulty in determining with what Asiatic nation she could claim +kinship. In point of fact I had never seen another who remotely +resembled her; she was a fit employer for the gigantic negro with whom +I had collided on the platform. + +I tried to laugh at myself, staring from the window at the moon-bathed +landscape; but the strange personality of my solitary companion would +not be denied, and I looked quickly in her direction--in time to +detect her glancing away; in time to experience the uncanny +fascination of her gaze. + +The long slim hand attracted my attention again, the green stone in the +ring affording a startling contrast against the dull cream of the skin. + +Whether the woman's personality, or a vague perfume of which I became +aware, were responsible, I found myself thinking of a flower-bedecked +shrine, wherefrom arose the smoke of incense to some pagan god. + +In vain I told myself that my frame of mind was contemptible, that I +should be ashamed of such weakness. Station after station was left +behind, as the express sped through moonlit England towards the smoky +metropolis. Assured that I was being furtively watched, I became more +and more uneasy. + +It was with a distinct sense of effort that I withheld my gaze, +forcing myself to look out of the window. When, having reasoned +against the mad ideas that sought to obsess me, I glanced again across +the compartment, I perceived, with inexpressible relief, that my +companion had lowered her veil. + +She kept it lowered throughout the remainder of the journey; yet +during the hour that ensued I continued to experience sensations of +which I have never since been able to think without a thrill of fear. +It seemed that I had thrust myself, not into a commonplace railway +compartment, but into a Cumaean cavern. + +If only I could have addressed this utterly mysterious stranger, have +uttered some word of commonplace, I felt that the spell might have +been broken. But, for some occult reason, in no way associated with +my first rebuff, I found myself tongue-tied; I sustained, for an hour +(the longest I had ever known), a silent watch and ward over my reason; +I seemed to be repelling, fighting against, some subtle power that +sought to flood my brain, swamp my individuality, and enslave me to +another's will. + +In what degree this was actual, and in what due to a mind overwrought +from endless conflict with the Yellow group, I know not to this day, +but you who read these records of our giant struggle with Fu-Manchu +and his satellites shall presently judge for yourselves. + +When, at last, the brakes were applied, and the pillars and platforms +of the great terminus glided into view, how welcome was the smoky +glare, how welcome the muffled roar of busy London! + +A huge negro--the double of the man I had overthrown--opened the door +of the compartment, bestowing upon me a glance in which enmity and +amazement were oddly blended, and the woman, drawing the cloak about +her graceful figure, stood up composedly. + +She reached for a small leather case on the rack, and her loose sleeve +fell back, to reveal a bare arm--soft, perfectly molded, of the even +hue of old ivory. Just below the elbow a strange-looking snake bangle +clasped the warm-flesh; the eyes; dull green, seemed to hold a +slumbering fire--a spark--a spark of living light. + +Then--she was gone! + +"Thank Heaven!" I muttered, and felt like another Dante emerging from +the Hades. + +As I passed out of the station, I had a fleeting glimpse of a gray +figure stepping into a big car, driven by a black chauffeur. + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +THE MARMOSET + + +Half-past twelve was striking as I came out of the terminus, buttoning +up my overcoat, and pulling my soft hat firmly down upon my head, +started to walk to Hyde Park Corner. + +I had declined the services of the several taxi-drivers who had +accosted me and had determined to walk a part of the distance homeward, +in order to check the fever of excitement which consumed me. + +Already I was ashamed of the strange fears which had been mine during +the journey, but I wanted to reflect, to conquer my mood, and the +midnight solitude of the land of Squares which lay between me and Hyde +Park appealed quite irresistibly. + +There is a distinct pleasure to be derived from a solitary walk through +London, in the small hours of an April morning, provided one is so +situated as to be capable of enjoying it. To appreciate the solitude +and mystery of the sleeping city, a certain sense of prosperity--a +knowledge that one is immune from the necessity of being abroad at +that hour--is requisite. The tramp, the night policeman and the +coffee-stall keeper know more of London by night than most people--but +of the romance of the dark hours they know little. Romance succumbs +before necessity. + +I had good reason to be keenly alive to the aroma of mystery which +pervades the most commonplace thoroughfare after the hum of the +traffic has subsided--when the rare pedestrian and the rarer cab alone +traverse the deserted highway. With more intimate cares seeking to +claim my mind, it was good to tramp along the echoing, empty streets +and to indulge in imaginative speculation regarding the strange +things that night must shroud in every big city. I have known the +solitude of deserts, but the solitude of London is equally fascinating. + +He whose business or pleasure had led him to traverse the route which +was mine on this memorable night must have observed how each of the +squares composing that residential chain which links the outer with +the inner Society has a popular and an exclusive side. The angle used +by vehicular traffic in crossing the square from corner to corner +invariably is rich in a crop of black board bearing house-agent's +announcements. + +In the shadow of such a board I paused, taking out my case an +leisurely selecting a cigar. So many of the houses in the southwest +angle were unoccupied, that I found myself taking quite an interest +in one a little way ahead; from the hall door and from the long +conservatory over the porch light streamed out. + +Excepting these illuminations, there was no light elsewhere in the +square to show which houses were inhabited and which vacant. I might +have stood in a street of Pompeii or Thebes--a street of the dead past. +I permitted my imagination to dwell upon this idea as I fumbled for +matches and gazed about me. I wondered if a day would come when some +savant of a future land, in a future age, should stand where I stood +and endeavor to reconstruct, from the crumbling ruins, this typical +London square. A slight breeze set the hatchet-board creaking above +my head, as I held my gloved hands about the pine-vesta. + +At that moment some one or something whistled close beside me! + +I turned, in a flash, dropping the match upon the pavement. There was +no lamp near the spot whereat I stood, and the gateway and porch of +the deserted residence seemed to be empty. I stood there peering in +the direction from which the mysterious whistle had come. + +The drone of a taxicab, approaching from the north, increased in +volume, as the vehicle came spinning around the angle of the square, +passed me, and went droning on its way. I watched it swing around +the distant corner ... and, in the new stillness, the whistle was +repeated! + +This time the sound chilled me. The whistle was pitched in a curious, +inhuman key, and it possessed a mocking note that was strangely uncanny. + +Listening intently and peering towards the porch of the empty house, +I struck a second match, pushed the iron gate open and made for the +steps, sheltering the feeble flame with upraised hand. As I did so, +the whistle was again repeated, but from some spot further away, to +the left of the porch, and from low down upon the ground. + +Just as I glimpsed something moving under the lee of the porch, +the match was blown out, for I was hampered by the handbag which I +carried. Thus reminded of its presence, however, I recollected that +my pocket-lamp was in it. Quickly opening the bag, I took out the +lamp, and, passing around the corner of the steps, directed a ray of +light into the narrow passage which communicated with the rear of +the building. + +Half-way along the passage, looking back at me over its shoulder, and +whistling angrily, was a little marmoset! + +I pulled up as sharply as though the point of a sword had been held at +my throat. One marmoset is sufficiently like another to deceive the +ordinary observer, but unless I was permitting a not unnatural +prejudice to influence my opinion, this particular specimen was the +pet of Dr. Fu-Manchu! + +Excitement, not untinged with fear, began to grow up within me. Hyde +Park was no far cry, this was near to the heart of social London; yet, +somewhere close at hand, it might be, watching me as I stood--lurked, +perhaps, the great and evil being who dreamed of overthrowing the +entire white race! + +With a grotesque grimace and a final, chattering whistle, the little +creature leapt away out of the beam of light cast by my lamp. Its +sudden disappearance brought me to my senses and reminded me of my +plain duty. I set off along the passage briskly, arrived at a small, +square yard ... and was just in time to see the ape leap into a +well-like opening before a basement window. I stepped to the brink, +directing the light down into the well. + +I saw a collection of rotten leaves, waste paper, and miscellaneous +rubbish--but the marmoset was not visible. Then I perceived that +practically all the glass in the window had been broken. A sound of +shrill chattering reached me from the blackness of the underground +apartment. + +Again I hesitated. What did the darkness mask? + +The note of a distant motor-horn rose clearly above the vague throbbing +which is the only silence known to the town-dweller. + +Gripping the unlighted cigar between my teeth, I placed my bag upon +the ground and dropped into the well before the broken window. To raise +the sash was a simple matter, and, having accomplished it, I inspected +the room within. + +The light showed a large kitchen, with torn wall-paper and decorator's +litter strewn about the floor, a whitewash pail in one corner, and +nothing else. + +I climbed in, and, taking from my pocket the Browning pistol without +which I had never traveled since the return of the dreadful Chinaman +to England, I crossed to the door, which was ajar, and looked out into +the passage beyond. + +Stifling an exclamation, I fell back a step. Two gleaming eyes stared +straightly into mine! + +The next moment I had forced a laugh to my lips ... as the marmoset +turned and went gamboling up the stairs. The house was profoundly +silent. I crossed the passage and followed the creature, which now was +proceeding, I thought, with more of a set purpose. + +Out into a spacious and deserted hallway it led me, where my cautious +footsteps echoed eerily, and ghostly faces seemed to peer down upon me +from the galleries above. I should have liked to have unbarred the +street door, in order to have opened a safe line of retreat in the +event of its being required, but the marmoset suddenly sprang up the +main stairway at a great speed, and went racing around the gallery +overhead toward the front of the house. + +Determined, if possible, to keep the creature in view, I started in +pursuit. Up the uncarpeted stairs I went, and, from the rail of the +landing, looked down into the blackness of the hallway apprehensively. +Nothing stirred below. The marmoset had disappeared between the +half-opened leaves of a large folding door. Casting the beam of light +ahead of me I followed. I found myself in a long, lofty apartment, +evidently a drawing-room. + +Of the quarry I could detect no sign; but the only other door of the +room was closed; therefore, since the creature had entered, it must, +I argued, undoubtedly be concealed somewhere in the apartment. +Flashing the light about to right and left, I presently perceived that +a conservatory (no doubt facing on the square) ran parallel with one +side of the room. French windows gave access to either end of it; and +it was through one of these, which was slightly open, that the +questioning ray had intruded. + +I stepped into the conservatory. Linen blinds covered the windows, but +a faint light from outside found access to the bare, tiled apartment. +Ten paces on my right, from an aperture once closed by a square wooden +panel that now lay upon the floor, the marmoset was grimacing at me. + +Realizing that the ray of my lamp must be visible through the blinds +from outside, I extinguished it ... and, a moving silhouette against a +faintly luminous square, I could clearly distinguish the marmoset +watching me. + +There was a light in the room beyond! + +The marmoset disappeared--and I became aware of a faint, incense-like +perfume. Where had I met with it before? Nothing disturbed the silence +of the empty house wherein I stood; yet I hesitated for several seconds +to pursue the chase further. The realization came to me that the hole +in the wall communicated with the conservatory of the corner house in +the square, the house with the lighted windows. + +Determined to see the thing through, I discarded my overcoat--and +crawled through the gap. The smell of burning perfume became almost +overpowering, as I stood upright, to find myself almost touching +curtains of some semi-transparent golden fabric draped in the door +between the conservatory and the drawing-room. + +Cautiously, inch by inch, I approached my eyes to the slight gap in +the draperies, as, from somewhere in the house below, sounded the +clangor of a brazen gong. Seven times its ominous note boomed out. I +shrank back into my sanctuary; the incense seemed to be stifling me. + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +SHRINE OF SEVEN LAMPS + + +Never can I forget that nightmare apartment, that efreet's hall. It +was identical in shape with the room of the adjoining house through +which I had come, but its walls were draped in somber black and a +dead black carpet covered the entire floor. A golden curtain--similar +to that which concealed me--broke the somber expanse of the end wall +to my right, and the door directly opposite my hiding-place was closed. + +Across the gold curtain, wrought in glittering black, were seven +characters, apparently Chinese; before it, supported upon seven ebony +pedestals, burned seven golden lamps; whilst, dotted about the black +carpet, were seven gold-lacquered stools, each having a black cushion +set before it. There was no sign of the marmoset; the incredible room +of black and gold was quite empty, with a sort of stark emptiness that +seemed to oppress my soul. + +Close upon the booming of the gong followed a sound of many footsteps +and a buzz of subdued conversation. Keeping well back in the welcome +shadow I watched, with bated breath, the opening of the door +immediately opposite. + +The outer sides of its leaves proved to be of gold, and one glimpse of +the room beyond awoke a latent memory and gave it positive form. I had +been in this house before; it was in that room with the golden door +that I had had my memorable interview with the mandarin Ki-Ming! My +excitement grew more and more intense. + +Singly, and in small groups, a number of Orientals came in. All wore +European, or semi-European garments, but I was enabled to identify two +for Chinamen, two for Hindus and three for Burmans. Other Asiatics +there were, also, whose exact place among the Eastern races I could +not determine; there was at least one Egyptian and there were several +Eurasians; no women were present. + +Standing grouped just within the open door, the gathering of Orientals +kept up a ceaseless buzz of subdued conversation; then, abruptly, +stark silence fell, and through a lane of bowed heads, Ki-Ming, the +famous Chinese diplomat, entered, smiling blandly, and took his seat +upon one of the seven golden stools. He wore the picturesque yellow +robe, trimmed with marten fur, which I had seen once before, and he +placed his pearl-encircled cap, surmounted by the coral ball denoting +his rank, upon the black cushion beside him. + +Almost immediately afterward entered a second and even more striking +figure. It was that of a Lama monk! He was received with the same +marks of deference which had been accorded the mandarin; and he +seated himself upon another of the golden stools. + +Silence, a moment of hushed expectancy, and ... yellow-robed, immobile, +his wonderful, evil face emaciated by illness, but his long, magnetic +eyes blazing greenly, as though not a soul but an elemental spirit +dwelt within that gaunt, high-shouldered body, Dr. Fu-Manchu entered, +slowly, leaning upon a heavy stick! + +The realities seemed to be slipping from me; I could not believe that +I looked upon a material world. This had been a night of wonders, +having no place in the life of a sane, modern man, but belonging to +the days of the jinn and the Arabian necromancers. + +Fu-Manchu was greeted by a universal raising of hands, but in complete +silence. He also wore a cap surmounted by a coral ball, and this he +placed upon one of the black cushions set before a golden stool. Then, +resting heavily upon his stick, he began to speak--in French! + +As on listens to a dream-voice, I listened to that, alternately +gutteral and sibilant, of the terrible Chinese doctor. He was +defending himself! With what he was charged by his sinister brethren +I knew not nor could I gather from his words, but that he was +rendering account of his stewardship became unmistakable. Scarce +crediting my senses, I heard him unfold to his listeners details of +crimes successfully perpetrated, and with the results of some of these +I was but too familiar; other there were in the ghastly catalogue +which had been accomplished secretly. Then my blood froze with horror. +My own name was mentioned--and that of Nayland Smith! We two stood in +the way of the coming of one whom he called the Lady of the Si-Fan, +in the way of Asiatic supremacy. + +A fantastic legend once mentioned to me by Smith, of some woman +cherished in a secret fastness of Hindustan who was destined one day +to rule the world, now appeared, to my benumbed senses, to be the +unquestioned creed of the murderous, cosmopolitan group known as the +Si-Fan! At every mention of her name all heads were bowed in reverence. + +Dr. Fu-Manchu spoke without the slightest trace of excitement; he +assured his auditors of his fidelity to their cause and proposed to +prove to them that he enjoyed the complete confidence of the Lady of +the Si-Fan. + +And with every moment that passed the giant intellect of the speaker +became more and more apparent. Years ago Nayland Smith had asssured me +that Dr. Fu-Manchu was a linguist who spoke with almost equal facility +in any of th civilized languages and in most of the barbaric; now the +truth of this was demonstrated. For, following some passage which +might be susceptible of misconstruction, Fu-Manchu would turn slightly, +and elucidate his remarks, addressing a Chinaman in Chinese, a Hindu +in Hindustanee, or an Egyptian in Arabic. + +His auditors were swayed by the magnetic personality of the speaker, +as reeds by a breeze; and now I became aware of a curious +circumstance. Either because they and I viewed the character of this +great and evil man from a widely dissimilar aspect, or because, my +presence being unknown to him, I remained outside the radius of his +power, it seemed to me that these members of the evidently vast +organization known as the Si-Fan were dupes, to a man, of the Chinese +orator! It seemed to me that he used them as an instrument, playing +upon their obvious fanaticism, string by string, as a player upon an +Eastern harp, and all the time weaving harmonies to suit some giant, +incredible scheme of his own--a scheme over and beyond any of which +they had dreamed, in the fruition whereof they had no part--of the +true nature and composition of which they had no comprehension. + +"Not since the day of the first Yuan Emperor," said Fu-Manchu +sibilantly, "has Our Lady of the Si-Fan--to look upon upon whom, +unveiled, is death--crossed the sacred borders. To-day I am a man +supremely happy and honored above my deserts. You shall all partake +with me of that happiness, that honor...." + +Again the gong sounded seven times, and a sort of magnetic thrill +seemed to pass throughout the room. There followed a faint, musical +sound, like the tinkle of a silver bell. + +All heads were lowered, but all eyes upturned to the golden curtain. +Literally holding my breath, in those moments of intense expectancy, +I watched the draperies parted from the center and pulled aside by +unseen agency. + +A black covered dais was revealed, bearing an ebony chair. And seated +in the chair, enveloped from head to feet in a shimmering white veil, +was a woman. A sound like a great sigh arose from the gathering. The +woman rose slowly to her feet, and raised her arms, which were +exquisitely formed, and of the uniform hue of old ivory, so that the +veil fell back to her shoulders, revealing the green snake bangle +which she wore. She extended her long, slim hands as if in benediction; +the silver bell sounded ... and the curtain dropped again, entirely +obscuring the dais! + +Frankly, I thought myself mad; for this "lady of the Si-Fan" was none +other than my mysterious traveling companion! This was some solemn farce +with which Fu-Manchu sought to impress his fanatical dupes. And he had +succeeded; they were inspired, their eyes blazed. Here were men capable +of any crime in the name of the Si-Fan! + +Every face within my ken I had studied individually, and now slowly +and cautiously I changed my position, so that a group of three members +standing immediately to the right of the door came into view. One of +them--a tall, spare, and closely bearded man whom I took for some kind +of Hindu--had removed his gaze from the dais and was glancing +furtively all about him. Once he looked in my direction, and my heart +leapt high, then seemed to stop its pulsing. + +An overpowering consciousness of my danger came to me; a dim +envisioning of what appalling fate would be mine in the event of +discovery. As those piercing eyes were turned away again, I drew back, +step my step. + +Dropping upon my knees, I began to feel for the gap in the +conservatory wall. The desire to depart from the house of the Si-Fan +was become urgent. Once safely away, I could take the necessary steps +to ensure the apprehension of the entire group. What a triumph would +be mine! + +I found the opening without much difficulty and crept through into the +empty house. The vague light which penetrated the linen blinds served +to show me the length of the empty, tiled apartment. I had actually +reached the French window giving access to the drawing-room, when--the +skirl of a police whistle split the stillness ... and the sound came +from the house which I had just quitted! + +To write that I was amazed were to achieve the banal. Rigid with +wonderment I stood, and clutched at the open window. So I was standing, +a man of stone, when the voice, the high-pitched, imperious, +unmistakable voice of _Nayland Smith,_ followed sharply upon the skirl +of the whistle:-- + +"Watch those French windows, Weymouth! I can hold the door!" + +Like a lightning flash it came to me that the tall Hindu had been none +other than Smith disguised. From the square outside came a sudden +turmoil, a sound of racing feet, of smashing glass, of doors burst +forcibly open. Palpably, the place was surrounded; this was an +organized raid. + +Irresolute, I stood there in the semi-gloom--inactive from amaze of it +all--whilst sounds of a tremendous struggle proceeded from the square +gap in the partition. + +"Lights!" rose a cry, in Smith's voice again--"they have cut the +wires!" + +At that I came to my senses. Plunging my hand into my pocket, I +snatched out the electric lamp ... and stepped back quickly into the +utter gloom of the room behind me. + +Some one was crawling through the aperture into the conservatory! + +As I watched I saw him, in the dim light, stoop to replace the movable +panel. Then, tapping upon the tiled floor as he walked, the fugitive +approached me. He was but three paces from the French window when I +pressed the button of my lamp and directed its ray fully upon his face. + +"Hands up!" I said breathlessly. "I have you covered, Dr. Fu-Manchu!" + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +AN ANTI-CLIMAX + + +One hour later I stood in the entrance hall of our chambers in the +court adjoining Fleet Street. Some one who had come racing up the +stairs, now had inserted a key in the lock. Open swung the door--and +Nayland Smith entered, in a perfect whirl of excitement. + +"Petrie! Petrie!" he cried, and seized both my hands--"you have missed +a night of nights! Man alive! we have the whole gang--the great Ki-Ming +included!" His eyes were blazing. "Weymouth has made no fewer than +twenty-five arrests, some of the prisoners being well-known Orientals. +It will be the devil's own work to keep it all quiet, but Scotland +Yard has already advised the Press." + +"Congratulations, old man," I said, and looked him squarely in the eyes. + +Something there must have been in my glance at variance with the +spoken words. His expression changed; he grasped my shoulder. + +"_She_ was not there," he said, "but please God, we'll find her now. +It's only a question of time." + +But, even as he spoke, the old, haunted look was creeping back into the +lean face. He gave me a rapid glance; then:-- + +"I might as well make a clean breast of it," he rapped. "Fu-Manchu +escaped! Furthermore, when we got lights, the woman had vanished, too." + +"The woman!" + +"There was a woman at this strange gathering, Petrie. Heaven only +knows who she really is. According to Fu-Manchu she is that woman of +mystery concerning whose existence strange stories are current in the +East; the future Empress of a universal empire! But of course I +decline to accept the story, Petrie! if ever the Yellow races overran +Europe, I am in no doubt respecting the identity of the person who +would ascend the throne of the world!" + +"Nor I, Smith!" I cried excitedly. "Good God! he holds them all in the +palm of his hand! He has welded together the fanatics of every creed +of the East into a giant weapon for his personal use! Small wonder +that he is so formidable. But, Smith--_who_ is that woman?" + +"Petrie!" he said slowly, and I knew that I had betrayed my secret, +"Petrie--where did you learn all this?" + +I returned his steady gaze. + +"I was present at the meeting of the Si-Fan," I replied steadily. + +"What? What? _You_ were present?" + +"I was present! Listen, and I will explain." + +Standing there in the hallway I related, as briefly as possible, the +astounding events of the night. As I told of the woman in the train-- + +"That confirms my impression that Fu-Manchu was imposing upon the +others!" he snapped. "I cannot conceive of a woman recluse from some +Lamaserie, surrounded by silent attendants and trained for her exalted +destiny in the way that the legendary veiled woman of Tibet is said to +be trained, traveling alone in an English railway carriage! Did you +observe, Petrie, if her eyes were _oblique_ at all?" + +"They did not strike me as being oblique. Why do you ask?" + +"Because I strongly suspect that we have to do with none other than +Fu-Manchu's daughter! But go on." + +"By heavens, Smith! You may be right! I had no idea that a Chinese +woman could possess such features." + +"She may not have a Chinese mother; furthermore, there are pretty women +in China as well as in other countries; also, there are hair dyes and +cosmetics. But for Heaven's sake go on!" + +I continued my all but incredible narrative; came to the point where I +discovered the straying marmoset and entered the empty house, without +provoking any comment from my listener. He stared at me with something +very like surprised admiration when I related how I had become an +unseen spectator of that singular meeting. + +"And I though I had achieved the triumph of my life in gaining +admission and smuggling Weymouth and Carter into the roof, armed with +hooks and rope-ladders!" he murmured. + +Now I came to the moment when, having withdrawn into the empty house, +I had heard the police whistle and had heard Smith's voice; I came to +the moment when I had found myself face to face with Dr. Fu-Manchu. + +Nayland Smith's eyes were on fire now; he literally quivered with +excitement, when-- + +"_Ssh!_ what's that?" he whispered, and grasped my arm. "I heard +something move in the sitting-room, Petrie!" + +"It was a coal dropping from the grate, perhaps," I said--and rapidly +continued my story, telling how, with my pistol to his head, I had +forced the Chinese doctor to descend into the hallway of the empty +house. + +"Yes, yes," snapped Smith. "For God's sake go on, man! What have you +done with him? Where is he?" + +I clearly detected a movement myself immediately behind the half-open +door of the sitting-room. Smith started and stared intently across my +shoulder at the doorway; then his gaze shifted and became fixed upon +my face. + +"He bought his life from me, Smith." + +Never can I forget the change that came over my friend's tanned +features at those words; never can I forget the pang that I suffered +to see it. The fire died out of his eyes and he seemed to grow old and +weary in a moment. None too steadily I went on:-- + +"He offered a price that I could not resist, Smith. Try to forgive me, +if you can. I know that I have done a dastardly thing, but--perhaps a +day may come in your own life when you will understand. He descended +with me to a cellar under the empty house, in which some one was +locked. Had I arrested Fu-Manchu this poor captive must have died there +of starvation; for no one would ever have suspected that the place had +an occupant...." + +The door of the sitting-room was thrown open, and, wearing my +great-coat over the bizarre costume in which I had found her, with her +bare ankles and little red slippers peeping grotesquely from below, +and her wonderful cloud of hair rippling over the turned-up collar, +Kâramaneh came out! + +Her great dark eyes were raised to Nayland Smith's with such an appeal +in them--an appeal for _me_--that emotion took me by the throat and +had me speechless. I could not look at either of them; I turned aside +and stared into the lighted sitting-room. + +How long I stood so God knows, and I never shall; but suddenly I found +my hand seized in a vice-like grip, I looked around ... and Smith, +holding my fingers fast in that iron grasp, had his left arm about +Kâramaneh's shoulders, and his gray eyes were strangely soft, whilst +hers were hidden behind her upraised hands. + +"Good old Petrie!" said Smith hoarsely. "Wake up, man; we have to get +her to a hotel before they all close, remember. _I_ understand, old +man. That day came in my life long years ago!" + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +GRAYWATER PARK + + +"This is a singular situation in which we find ourselves," I said, +"and one that I'm bound to admit I don't appreciate." + +Nayland Smith stretched his long legs, and lay back in his chair. + +"The sudden illness of Sir Lionel is certainly very disturbing," he +replied, "and had there been any possibility of returning to London +to-night, I should certainly have availed myself of it, Petrie. I +share your misgivings. We are intruders at a time like this." + +He stared at me keenly, blowing a wreath of smoke from his lips, and +then directing his attention to the cone of ash which crowned his +cigar. I glanced, and not for the first time, toward the quaint old +doorway which gave access to a certain corridor. Then-- + +"Apart from the feeling that we intrude," I continued slowly, "there +is a certain sense of unrest." + +"Yes," snapped Smith, sitting suddenly upright--"yes! You experience +this? Good! You are happily sensitive to this type of impression, +Petrie, and therefore quite as useful to me as a cat is useful to a +physical investigator." + +He laughed in his quick, breezy fashion. + +"You will appreciate my meaning," he added; "therefore I offer no +excuse for the analogy. Of course, the circumstances, as we know them, +may be responsible for this consciousness of unrest. We are neither of +us likely to forget the attempt upon the life of Sir Lionel Barton two +years ago or more. Our attitude toward sudden illness is scarcely that +of impartial observers." + +"I suppose not," I admitted, glancing yet again at the still vacant +doorway by the foot of the stairs, which now the twilight was draping +in mysterious shadows. + +Indeed, our position was a curious one. A welcome invitation from our +old friend, Sir Lionel Barton, the world-famous explorer, had come at +a time when a spell of repose, a glimpse of sea and awakening +countryside, and a breath of fair, untainted air were very desirable. +The position of Kâramaneh, who accompanied us, was sufficiently +unconventional already, but the presence of Mrs. Oram, the dignified +housekeeper, had rendered possible her visit to this bachelor +establishment. In fact it was largely in the interests of the girl's +health that we had accepted. + +On our arrival at Graywater Park we had learnt that our host had been +stricken down an hour earlier by sudden illness. The exact nature of +his seizure I had thus far been unable to learn; but a local doctor, +who had left the Park barely ten minutes before our advent, had +strictly forbidden visitors to the sick-room. Sir Lionel's man, +Kennedy, who had served him in many strange spots in the world, was +in attendance. + +So much we had gathered from Homopoulo, the Greek butler (Sir Lionel's +household had ever been eccentric). Furthermore, we learned that there +was no London train that night and no accommodation in the neighboring +village. + +"Sir Lionel urgently requests you to remain," the butler had assured +us, in his flawless, monotonous English. "He trusts that you will not +be dull, and hopes to be able to see you to-morrow and to make plans +for your entertainment." + +A ghostly, gray shape glided across the darkened hall--and was gone. I +started involuntarily. Then remote, fearsome, came muted howling to +echo through the ancient apartments of Graywater Park. Nayland Smith +laughed. + +"That was the civet cat, Petrie!" he said. "I was startled, for a +moment, until the lamentations of the leopard family reminded me of +the fact that Sir Lionel had transferred his menagerie to Graywater!" + +Truly, this was a singular household. In turn, Graywater Park had been +a fortress, a monastery, and a manor-house. Now, in the extensive +crypt below the former chapel, in an atmosphere artificially raised +to a suitably stuffy temperature, were housed the strange pets brought +by our eccentric host from distant lands. In one cage was an African +lioness, a beautiful and powerful beast, docile as a cat. Housed +under other arches were two surly hyenas, goats from the White Nile, +and an antelope of Kordofan. In a stable opening upon the garden were +a pair of beautiful desert gazelles, and near to them, two cranes and +a marabout. The leopards, whose howling now disturbed the night, were +in a large, cell-like cage immediately below the spot where of old the +chapel alter had stood. + +And here were we an odd party in odd environment. I sought to make out +the time by my watch, but the growing dusk rendered it impossible. +Then, unheralded by any sound, Kâramaneh entered by the door which +during the past twenty minutes had been the focus of my gaze. The +gathering darkness precluded the possibility of my observing with +certainty, but I think a soft blush stole to her cheeks as those +glorious dark eyes rested upon me. + +The beauty of Kâramaneh was not of the type which is enhanced by +artificial lighting; it was the beauty of the palm and the pomegranate +blossom, the beauty which flowers beneath merciless suns, which expands, +like the lotus, under the skies of the East. But there, in the dusk, +as she came towards me, she looked exquisitely lovely, and graceful +with the grace of the desert gazelles which I had seen earlier in the +evening. I cannot describe her dress; I only know that she seemed very +wonderful--so wonderful that a pang; almost of terror, smote my heart, +because such sweetness should belong to _me_. + +And then, from the shadows masking the other side of the old hall, +emerged the black figure of Homopoulo, and our odd trio obediently +paced into the somber dining-room. + +A large lamp burned in the center of the table; a shaded candle was +placed before each diner; and the subdued light made play upon the +snowy napery and fine old silver without dispersing the gloom about +us. Indeed, if anything, it seemed to render it more remarkable, and +the table became a lighted oasis in the desert of the huge apartment. +One could barely discern the suits of armor and trophies which +ornamented the paneled walls; and I never failed to start nervously +when the butler appeared, somber and silent, at my elbow. + +Sir Lionel Barton's _penchant_ for strange visitors, of which we had +had experience in the past, was exemplified in the person of Homopoulo. +I gathered that the butler (who, I must admit, seemed thoroughly to +comprehend his duties) had entered the service of Sir Lionel during +the time that the latter was pursuing his celebrated excavations upon +the traditional site of the Daedalian Labyrinth in Crete. It was +during this expedition that the death of a distant relative had made +him master of Graywater Park; and the event seemingly had inspired the +eccentric baronet to engage a suitable factotum. + +His usual retinue of Malay footmen, Hindu grooms and Chinese cooks, +was missing apparently, and the rest of the household, including the +charming old housekeeper, had been at the Park for periods varying +from five to five-and-twenty years. I must admit that I welcomed the +fact; my tastes are essentially insular. + +But the untimely illness of our host had cast a shadow upon the party. +I found myself speaking in a church-whisper, whilst Kâramaneh was +quite silent. That curious dinner party in the shadow desert of the +huge apartment frequently recurs in my memories of those days because +of the uncanny happening which terminated it. + +Nayland Smith, who palpably had been as ill at ease as myself, and who +had not escaped the contagious habit of speaking in a hushed whisper, +suddenly began, in a loud and cheery manner, to tell us something of +the history of Graywater Park, which in his methodical way he had +looked up. It was a desperate revolt, on the part of his strenuous +spirit, against the phantom of gloom which threatened to obsess us all. + +Parts of the house, it appeared, were of very great age, although +successive owners had added portions. There were fascinating +traditions connected with the place; secret rooms walled up since the +Middle Ages, a private stair whose entrance, though undiscoverable, +was said to be somewhere in the orchard to the west of the ancient +chapel. It had been built by an ancestor of Sir Lionel who had +flourished in the reign of the eighth Henry. At this point in his +reminiscences (Smith had an astonishing memory where recondite facts +were concerned) there came an interruption. + +The smooth voice of the butler almost made me leap from my chair, as +he spoke out of the shadows immediately behind me. + +"The '45 port, sir," he said--and proceeded to place a crusted bottle +upon the table. "Sir Lionel desires me to say that he is with you in +spirit and that he proposes the health of Dr. Petrie and his fiancée', +whom he hopes to have the pleasure of meeting in the morning." + +Truly it was a singular situation, and I am unlikely ever to forget +the scene as the three of us solemnly rose to our feet and drank our +host's toast, thus proposed by proxy, under the eye of Homopoulo, who +stood a shadowy figure in the background. + +The ceremony solemnly performed and the gloomy butler having departed +with a suitable message to Sir Lionel-- + +"I was about to tell you," resumed Nayland Smith, with a gaiety +palpably forced, "of the traditional ghost of Graywater Park. He is a +black clad priest, said to be the Spanish chaplain of the owner of the +Park in the early days of the Reformation. Owing to some little +misunderstanding with His Majesty's commissioners, this unfortunate +churchman met with an untimely death, and his shade is said to haunt +the secret room--the site of which is unknown--and to clamor upon the +door, and upon the walls of the private stair." + +I thought the subject rather ill chosen, but recognized that my friend +was talking more or less at random and in desperation; indeed, failing +his reminiscences of Graywater Park, I think the demon of silence must +have conquered us completely. + +"Presumably," I said, unconsciously speaking as though I feared the +sound of my own voice, "this Spanish priest was confined at some time +in the famous hidden chamber?" + +"He was supposed to know the secret of a hoard of church property, and +tradition has it, that he was put to the question in some gloomy +dungeon ..." + +He ceased abruptly; in fact the effect was that which must have +resulted had the speaker been suddenly stricken down. But the deadly +silence which ensued was instantly interrupted. My heart seemed to +be clutched as though by fingers of ice; a stark and supernatural +horror held me riveted in my chair. + +For as though Nayland Smith's words had been heard by the ghostly +inhabitant of Graywater Park, as though the tortured priest sought +once more release from his age-long sufferings--there came echoing, +hollowly and remotely, as if from a subterranean cavern, the sound +of _knocking_. + +From whence it actually proceeded I was wholly unable to determine. +At one time it seemed to surround us, as though not one but a hundred +prisoners were beating upon the paneled walls of the huge, ancient +apartment. + +Faintly, so faintly, that I could not be sure if I heard aright, +there came, too, a stifled cry. Louder grew the the frantic beating +and louder ... then it ceased abruptly. + +"Merciful God!" I whispered--"what was it? What was it?" + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +THE EAST TOWER + + +With a cigarette between my lips I sat at the open window, looking +out upon the skeleton trees of the orchard; for the buds of early +spring were only just beginning to proclaim themselves. + +The idea of sleep was far from my mind. The attractive modern +furniture of the room could not deprive the paneled walls of the musty +antiquity which was their birthright. This solitary window deeply set +and overlooking the orchard upon which the secret stair was said to +open, struck a note of more remote antiquity, casting back beyond the +carousing days of the Stuart monarchs to the troublous time of the +Middle Ages. + +An air of ghostly evil had seemed to arise like a miasma within the +house from the moment that we had been disturbed by the unaccountable +rapping. It was at a late hour that we had separated, and none of us, +I think, welcomed the breaking up of our little party. Mrs. Oram, the +housekeeper, had been closely questioned by Smith--for Homopoulo, as a +new-comer, could not be expected to know anything of the history of +Graywater Park. The old lady admitted the existence of the tradition +which Nayland Smith had in some way unearthed, but assured us that +never, in her time, had the uneasy spirit declared himself. She was +ignorant (or, like the excellent retainer that she was, professed to +be ignorant) of the location of the historic chamber and staircase. + + +As for Homopoulo, hitherto so irreproachably imperturbable, I had +rarely seen a man in such a state of passive panic. His dark face was +blanched to the hue of dirty parchment and his forehead dewed with +cold perspiration. I mentally predicted an early resignation in the +household of Sir Lionel Barton. Homopoulo might be an excellent butler, +but his superstitious Greek nature was clearly incapable of sustaining +existence beneath the same roof with a family ghost, hoary though the +specter's antiquity might be. + +Where the skeleton shadows of the fruit trees lay beneath me on the +fresh green turf my fancy persistently fashioned a black-clad figure +flitting from tree to tree. Sleep indeed was impossible. Once I +thought I detected the howling of the distant leopards. + +Somewhere on the floor above me, Nayland Smith, I knew, at that moment +would be restlessly pacing his room, the exact situation of which I +could not identify, because of the quaint, rambling passages whereby +one approached it. It was in regard to Kâramaneh, however, that my +misgivings were the keenest. Already her position had been strange +enough, in those unfamiliar surroundings, but what tremors must have +been hers now in the still watches of the night, following the ghostly +manifestations which had so dramatically interrupted Nayland Smith's +story, I dared not imagine. She had been allotted an apartment +somewhere upon the ground floor, and Mrs. Oram, whose motherly +interest in the girl had touched me deeply, had gone with her to her +room, where no doubt her presence had done much to restore the girl's +courage. + +Graywater Park stood upon a well-wooded slope, and, to the southwest, +starting above the trees almost like a giant Spanish priest, showed a +solitary tower. With a vague and indefinite interest I watched it. It +was Monkswell, an uninhabited place belonging to Sir Lionel's estate +and dating, in part, to the days of King John. Flicking the ash from +my cigarette, I studied the ancient tower wondering idly what deeds +had had their setting within its shadows, since the Angevin monarch, +in whose reign it saw the light, had signed the Magna Charta. + +This was a perfect night, and very still. Nothing stirred, within or +without Greywater Park. Yet I was conscious of a definite disquietude +which I could only suppose to be ascribable to the weird events of +the evening, but which seemed rather to increase than to diminish. + +I tossed the end of my cigarette out into the darkness, determined to +turn in, although I had never felt more wide awake in my life. One +parting glance I cast into the skeleton orchard and was on the point +of standing up, when--although no breezed stirred--a shower of ivy +leaves rained down upon my head! + +Brushing them away irritably, I looked up--and a second shower dropped +fully upon my face and filled my eyes with dust. I drew back, checking +an exclamation. What with the depth of the embrasure, due to the great +thickness of the wall, and the leafy tangle above the window, I could +see for no great distance up the face of the building; but a faint +sound of rustling and stumbling which proceeded from somewhere above +me proclaimed that some one, or something, was climbing either up or +down the wall of the corner tower in which I was housed! + +Partially removing the dust from my smarting eyes, I returned to the +embrasure, and stepping from the chair on to the deep ledge, I grasped +the corner of the quaint, diamond-paned window, which I had opened to +its fullest extent, and craned forth. + +Now I could see the ivy-grown battlements surmounting the tower (the +east wing, in which my room was situated, was the oldest part of +Graywater Park). Sharply outlined against the cloudless sky they +showed ... and the black silhouette of a man's head and shoulders +leant over directly above me! + +I drew back sharply. The climber, I thought, had not seen me, although +he was evidently peering down at my window. What did it mean? + +As I crouched in the embrasure, a sudden giddiness assailed me, which +at first I ascribed to a sympathetic nervous action due to having seen +the man poised there at that dizzy height. But it increased, I swayed +forward, and clutched at the wall to save myself. A deadly nausea +overcame me ... and a deadly doubt leapt to my mind. + +In the past, Sir Lionel Barton had had spies in his household; what +if the dark-faced Greek, Homopoulo, were another of these? I thought +of the '45 port, of the ghostly rapping; and I thought of the man who +crouched upon the roof of the tower above my open window. + +My symptoms now were unmistakable; my head throbbed and my vision grew +imperfect; there had to be an opiate in the wine! + +I almost fell back into the room. Supporting myself by means of the +chair, the chest of drawers, and finally, the bed-rail, I got to my +grip, and with weakening fingers, extracted the little medicine-chest +which was invariably my traveling companion. + + * * * * * * + +Grimly pitting my will against the drug, but still trembling weakly +from the result of the treatment, internal and subcutaneous, which I +had adopted, I staggered to the door out into the corridor and up the +narrow, winding stairs to Smith's room. I carried an electric +pocket-lamp, and by its light I found my way to the triangular, +paneled landing. + +I tried the handle. As I had expected, the door was locked. I beat +upon it with my fist. + +"Smith!" I cried--"Smith!" + +There was no reply. + +Again I clamored; awaking ancient echoes within the rooms and all +about me. But nothing moved and no answering voice rewarded my efforts; +the other rooms were seemingly unoccupied, and Smith--was drugged! + +My senses in disorder, and a mist dancing before my eyes, I went +stumbling down into the lower corridor. At the door of my own room I +paused; a new fact had suddenly been revealed to me, a fact which the +mazy windings of the corridors had hitherto led me to overlook. Smith's +room was also in the east tower, and must be directly above mine! + +"My God!" I whispered, thinking of the climber--"he has been murdered!" + +I staggered into my room and clutched at the bed-rail to support +myself, for my legs threatened to collapse beneath me. How should I +act? That we were victims of a cunning plot, that the deathful Si-Fan +had at last wreaked its vengeance upon Nayland Smith I could not doubt. + +My brain reeled, and a weakness, mental and physical, threatened to +conquer me completely. Indeed, I think I must have succumbed, sapped +as my strength had been by the drug administered to me, if the sound +of a creaking stair had not arrested my attention and by the menace +which it conveyed afforded a new stimulus. + +Some one was creeping down from the landing above--coming to my room! +The creatures of the Yellow doctor, having despatched Nayland Smith, +were approaching stealthily, stair by stair, to deal with _me!_ + +From my grip I took out the Browning pistol. The Chinese doctor's +servants should have a warm reception. I burned to avenge my friend, +who I was persuaded, lay murdered in the room above. I partially +closed the door and took up a post immediately behind it. Nearer came +the stealthy footsteps--nearer.... Now the one who approached had +turned the angle of the passage.... + +Within sight of my door he seemed to stop; a shaft of white light +crept through the opening, across the floor and on to the wall beyond. +A moment it remained so--then was gone. The room became plunged in +darkness. + +Gripping the Browning with nervous fingers I waited, listening +intently; but the silence remained unbroken. My gaze set upon the spot +where the head of this midnight visitant might be expected to appear, +I almost held my breath during the ensuing moments of frightful +suspense. + +The door was opening; slowly--slowly--by almost imperceptible degrees. +I held the pistol pointed rigidly before me and my gaze remained fixed +intently on the dimly seen opening. I suppose I acted as ninety-nine +men out of a hundred would have done in like case. Nothing appeared. + +Then a voice--a voice that seemed to come from somewhere under the +floor snapped:-- + +"Good God! it's Petrie!" + +I dropped my gaze instantly ... and there, looking up at me from the +floor at my feet, I vaguely discerned the outline of a human head! + +"Smith!" I whispered. + +Nayland Smith--for indeed it was none other--stood up and entered the +room. + +"Thank God you are safe, old man," he said. "But in waiting for one +who is stealthily entering a room, don't, as you love me, take it for +granted that he will enter _upright_. I could have shot you from the +floor with ease! But, mercifully, even in the darkness, I recognized +your Arab slippers!" + +"Smith," I said, my heart beating wildly, "I thought you were drugged-- +murdered. The port contained an opiate." + +"I guessed as much!" snapped Smith. "But despite the excellent tuition +of Dr. Fu-Manchu, I am still childishly trustful; and the fact that I +did not partake of the crusted '45 was not due to any suspicions which +I entertained at that time." + +"But, Smith, I saw you drink some port." + +"I regret to contradict you, Petrie, but you must be aware that the +state of my liver--due to a long residence in Burma--does not permit +me to indulge in the luxury of port. My share of the '45 now reposes +amid the moss in the tulip-bowl, which you may remember decorated the +dining table! Not desiring to appear churlish, by means of a simple +feat of legerdemain I drank your health and future happiness in claret! + +"For God's sake what is going on, Smith? Some one climbed from your +window." + +"I climbed from my window!" + +"What!" I said dazedly--"it was you! But what does it all mean? +Kâramaneh----" + +"It is for her I fear, Petrie, now. We have not a moment to waste!" + +He made for the door. + +"Sir Lionel must be warned at all cost!" I cried. + +"Impossible!" snapped Smith. + +"What do you mean?" + +"Sir Lionel has disappeared!" + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +THE DUNGEON + + +We were out in the corridor now, Smith showing the way with the light +of his electric pocket-lamp. My mind was clear enough, but I felt as +weak as a child. + +"You look positively ghastly, old man," rapped Smith, "which is no +matter for wonder. I have yet to learn how it happened that you are +not lying insensible, or dead, as a result of the drugged wine. When +I heard some one moving in your room, it never occurred to me that it +was _you_." + +"Smith," I said--"the house seems as still as death." + +"You, Kâramaneh, and myself are the only occupants of the east wing. +Homopoulo saw to that." + +"Then he----" + +"He is a member of the Si-Fan, a creature of Dr. Fu-Manchu--yes, +beyond all doubt! Sir Lionel is unfortunate--as ever--in his choice +of servants. I blame my own stupidity entirely, Petrie; and I pray +that my enlightenment has not come too late." + +"What does it all mean?--what have you learnt?" + +"Mind these three steps," warned Smith, glancing back. "I found my +mind persistently dwelling upon the matter of that weird rapping, +Petrie, and I recollected the situation of Sir Lionel's room, on the +southeast front. A brief inspection revealed the fact that, by means +of a kindly branch of ivy, I could reach the roof of the east tower +from my window." + +"Well?" + +"One may walk from there along the roof of the southeast front, and +by lying face downwards at the point where it projects above the main +entrance look into Sir Lionel's room!" + +"I saw you go!" + +"I feared that some one was watching me, but that it was you I had +never supposed. Neither Barton nor his man are in that room, Petrie! +They have been spirited away! This is Kâramaneh's door." + +He grasped me by the arm, at the same time directing the light upon a +closed door before which we stood. I raised my fist and beat upon the +panels; then, every muscle tensed and my heart throbbing wildly, I +listened for the girl's voice. + +Not a sound broke that deathly stillness except the beating of my own +heart, which, I thought, must surely be audible to my companion. +Frantically I hurled myself against the stubborn oak, but Smith thrust +me back. + +"Useless, Petrie!" he said--"useless. This room is in the base of the +east tower, yours is above it and mine at the top. The corridors +approaching the three floors deceive one, but the fact remains. I have +no positive evidence, but I would wager all I possess that there is a +stair in the thickness of the wall, and hidden doors in the paneling +of the three apartments. The Yellow group has somehow obtained +possession of a plan of the historic secret passages and chambers of +Graywater Park. Homopoulo is the spy in the household; and Sir Lionel, +with his man Kennedy, was removed directly the invitation to us had +been posted. The group will know by now that we have escaped them, but +Kâramaneh ..." + +"Smith!" I groaned, "Smith! What can we do? What has befallen her? ..." + +"This way!" he snapped. "We are not beaten yet!" + +"We must arouse the servants!" + +"Why? It would be sheer waste of priceless time. There are only three +men who actually sleep in the house (excepting Homopoulo) and these +are in the northwest wing. No, Petrie; we must rely upon ourselves." + +He was racing recklessly along the tortuous corridors and up the oddly +placed stairways of that old-world building. My anguish had reinforced +the atropine which I had employed as an antidote to the opiate in the +wine, and now my blood, that had coursed sluggishly, leapt through my +veins like fire and I burned with a passionate anger. + +Into a large and untidy bedroom we burst. Books and papers littered +about the floor; curios, ranging from mummied cats and ibises to +Turkish yataghans and Zulu assegais, surrounded the place in riotous +disorder. Beyond doubt this was the apartment of Sir Lionel Barton. +A lamp burned upon a table near to the disordered bed, and a +discolored Greek statuette of Orpheus lay overturned on the carpet +close beside it. + +"Homopoulo was on the point of leaving this room at the moment that I +peered in at the window," said Smith, breathing heavily. "From here +there is another entrance to the secret passages. Have your pistol +ready." + +He stepped across the disordered room to a little alcove near the foot +of the bed, directing the ray of the pocket-lamp upon the small, +square paneling. + +"Ah!" he cried, a note of triumph in his voice--"he has left the door +ajar! A visit of inspection was not anticipated to-night, Petrie! +Thank God for an Indian liver and a suspicious mind." + +He disappeared into a yawning cavity which now I perceived to exist in +the wall. I hurried after him, and found myself upon roughly fashioned +stone steps in a very low and narrow descending passage. Over his +shoulder-- + +"Note the direction," said Smith breathlessly. "We shall presently +find ourselves at the base of the east tower." + +Down we went and down, the ray of the electric lamp always showing +more steps ahead, until at last these terminated in a level, arched +passage, curving sharply to the right. Two paces more brought us to a +doorway, less, than four feet high, approached by two wide steps. A +blackened door, having a most cumbersome and complicated lock, showed +in the recess. + +Nayland Smith bent and examined the mechanism intently. + +"Freshly oiled!" he commented. "You know into whose room it opens?" + +Well enough I knew, and, detecting that faint, haunting perfume which +spoke of the dainty personality of Kâramaneh, my anger blazed up +anew. Came a faint sound of metal grating upon metal, and Smith pulled +open the door, which turned outward upon the steps, and bent further +forward, sweeping the ray of light about the room beyond. + +"Empty, of course!" he muttered. "Now for the base of these damned +nocturnal operations." + +He descended the steps and began to flash the light all about the +arched passageway wherein we stood. + +"The present dining-room of Graywater Park lies almost due south of +this spot," he mused. "Suppose we try back." + +We retraced our steps to the foot of the stair. In the wall on their +left was an opening, low down against the floor and little more than +three feet high; it reminded me of some of the entrances to those +seemingly interminable passages whereby one approaches the sepulchral +chambers of the Egyptian Pyramids. + +"Now for it!" snapped Smith. "Follow me closely." + +Down he dropped, and, having the lamp thrust out before him, began to +crawl into the tunnel. As his heels disappeared, and only a faint light +outlined the opening, I dropped upon all fours in turn, and began +laboriously to drag myself along behind him. The atmosphere was damp, +chilly, and evil-smelling; therefore, at the end of some ten or twelve +yards of this serpentine crawling, when I saw Smith, ahead of me, to +be standing erect, I uttered a stifled exclamation of relief. The +thought of Kâramaneh having been dragged through this noisome hole +was one I dared not dwell upon. + +A long, narrow passage now opened up, its end invisible from where we +stood. Smith hurried forward. For the first thirty of forty paces the +roof was formed of massive stone slabs; then its character changed; +the passage became lower, and one was compelled frequently to lower the +head in order to avoid the oaken beams which crossed it. + +"We are passing under the dining-room," said Smith. "It was from here +the sound of beating first came!" + +"What do you mean?" + +"I have built up a theory, which remains to be proved, Petrie. In my +opinion a captive of the Yellow group escaped to-night and sought to +summon assistance, but was discovered and overpowered." + +"Sir Lionel?" + +"Sir Lionel, or Kennedy--yes, I believe so." + +Enlightenment came to me, and I understood the pitiable condition into +which the Greek butler had been thrown by the phenomenon of the +ghostly knocking. But Smith hurried on, and suddenly I saw that the +passage had entered upon a sharp declivity; and now both roof and +walls were composed of crumbling brickwork. Smith pulled up, and thrust +back a hand to detain me. + +"_Ssh!_" he hissed, and grasped my arm. + +Silent, intently still, we stood and listened. The sound of a guttural +voice was clearly distinguishable from somewhere close at hand! + +Smith extinguished the lamp. A faint luminance proclaimed itself +directly ahead. Still grasping my arm, Smith began slowly to advance +toward the light. One--two--three--four--five paces we crept onward ... +and I found myself looking through an archway into a medieval +torture-chamber! + +Only a part of the place was visible to me, but its character was +unmistakable. Leg-irons, boots and thumb-screws hung in racks upon +the fungi-covered wall. A massive, iron-studded door was open at the +further end of the chamber, and on the threshold stood Homopoulo, +holding a lantern in his hand. + +Even as I saw him, he stepped through, followed by on of those short, +thick-set Burmans of whom Dr. Fu-Manchu had a number among his +entourage; they were members of the villainous robber bands notorious +in India as the dacoits. Over one broad shoulder, slung sackwise, the +dacoit carried a girl clad in scanty white drapery.... + +Madness seized me, the madness of sorrow and impotent wrath. For, with +Kâramaneh being borne off before my eyes, I dared not fire at her +abductors lest I should strike _her_! + +Nayland Smith uttered a loud cry, and together we hurled ourselves +into the chamber. Heedless of what, of whom, else it might shelter, +we sprang for the group in the distant doorway. A memory is mine of +the dark, white face of Homopoulo, peering, wild-eyed, over the +lantern, of the slim, white-clad form of the lovely captive seeming to +fade into the obscurity of the passage beyond. + +Then, with bleeding knuckles, with wild imprecations bubbling from my +lips, I was battering upon the mighty door--which had been slammed in +my face at the very instant that I had gained it. + +"Brace up, man!--Brace up!" cried Smith, and in his strenuous, grimly +purposeful fashion, he shouldered me away from the door. "A battering +ram could not force that timber; we must seek another way!" + +I staggered, weakly, back into the room. Hand raised to my head, I +looked about me. A lantern stood in a niche in one wall, weirdly +illuminating that place of ghastly memories; there were braziers, +branding-irons, with other instruments dear to the Black Ages, about +me--and gagged, chained side by side against the opposite wall, lay +Sir Lionel Barton and another man unknown to me! + +Already Nayland Smith was bending over the intrepid explorer, whose +fierce blue eyes glared out from the sun-tanned face madly, whose +gray hair and mustache literally bristled with rage long repressed. +I choked down the emotions that boiled and seethed within me, and +sought to release the second captive, a stockily-built, clean-shaven +man. First I removed the length of toweling which was tied firmly +over his mouth; and-- + +"Thank you, sir," he said composedly. "The keys of these irons are on +the ledge there beside the lantern. I broke the first ring I was +chained to, but the Yellow devils overhauled me, all manacled as I +was, half-way along the passage before I could attract your attention, +and fixed me up to another and stronger ring!" + +Ere he had finished speaking, the keys were in my hands, and I had +unlocked the gyves from both the captives. Sir Lionel Barton, his gag +removed, unloosed a torrent of pent-up wrath. + +"The hell-fiends drugged me!" he shouted. "That black villain Homopoulo +doctored my tea! I woke in this damnable cell, the secret of which has +been lost for generations!" He turned blazing blue eyes upon Kennedy. +"How did _you_ come to be trapped?" he demanded unreasonably. "I +credited you with a modicum of brains!" + +"Homopoulo came running from your room, sir, and told me you were +taken suddenly ill and that a doctor must be summoned without delay." + +"Well, well, you fool!" + +"Dr. Hamilton was away, sir." + +"A false call beyond doubt!" snapped Smith. + +"Therefore I went for the new doctor, Dr. Magnus, in the village. He +came at once and I showed him up to your room. He sent Mrs. Oram out, +leaving only Homopoulo and myself there, except yourself." + +"Well?" + +"Sandbagged!" explained the man nonchalantly. "Dr. Magnus, who is some +kind of dago, is evidently one of the gang." + +"Sir Lionel!" cried Smith--"where does the passage lead to beyond +that doorway? + +"God knows!" was the answer, which dashed my last hope to the ground. +"I have no more idea than yourself. Perhaps ..." + +He ceased speaking. A sound had interrupted him, which, in those grim +surroundings, lighted by the solitary lantern, translated my thoughts +magically to Ancient Rome, to the Rome of Tigellinus, to the dungeons +of Nero's Circus. Echoing eerily along the secret passages it came-- +the roaring and snarling of the lioness and the leopards. + +Nayland Smith clapped his hand to his brow and stared at me almost +frenziedly, then-- + +"God guard her!" he whispered. "Either their plans, wherever they got +them, are inaccurate, or in their panic they have mistaken the way." ... +Wild cries now were mingling with the snarling of the beasts.... +"They have blundered into the old crypt!" + +How we got out of the secret labyrinth of Graywater Park into the +grounds and around the angle of the west wing to the ivy-grown, +pointed door, where once the chapel had been, I do not know. Light +seemed to spring up about me, and half-clad servants to appear out of +the void. Temporarily I was insane. + +Sir Lionel Barton was behaving like a madman too, and like a madman he +tore at the ancient bolts and precipitated himself into the stone-paved +cloister barred with the moon-cast shadows of the Norman pillars. From +behind the iron bars of the home of the leopards came now a fearsome +growling and scuffling. + +Smith held the light with a steady hand, whilst Kennedy forced the +heavy bolts of the crypt door. + +In leapt the fearless baronet among his savage pets, and in the ray +of light from the electric lamp I saw that which turned my sick with +horror. Prone beside a yawning gap in the floor lay Homopoulo, his +throat torn indescribably and his white shirt-front smothered in +blood. A black leopard, having its fore-paws upon the dead man's +breast, turned blazing eyes upon us; a second crouched beside him. + +Heaped up in a corner of the place, amongst the straw and litter of +the lair, lay the Burmese dacoit, his sinewy fingers embedded in the +throat of the third and largest leopard--which was dead--whilst the +creature's gleaming fangs were buried in the tattered flesh of the +man's shoulder. + +Upon the straw beside the two, her slim, bare arms outstretched and +her head pillowed upon them, so that her rippling hair completely +concealed her face, lay Kâramaneh.... + +In a trice Barton leapt upon the great beast standing over Homopoulo, +had him by the back of the neck and held him in his powerful hands +whining with fear and helpless as a rat in the grip of a terrier. The +second leopard fled into the inner lair. + +So much I visualized in a flash; then all faded, and I knelt alone +beside her whose life was my life, in a world grown suddenly empty +and still. + +Through long hours of agony I lived, hours contained within the span +of seconds, the beloved head resting against my shoulder, whilst I +searched for signs of life and dreaded to find ghastly wounds.... At +first I could not credit the miracle; I could not receive the wondrous +truth. + +Kâramaneh was quite uninjured and deep in drugged slumber! + +"The leopards thought her dead," whispered Smith brokenly, "and never +touched her!" + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +THREE NIGHTS LATER + + +"Listen!" cried Sir Lionel Barton. + +He stood upon the black rug before the massive, carven mantelpiece, a +huge man in an appropriately huge setting. + +I checked the words on my lips, and listened intently. Within +Graywater Park all was still, for the hour was late. Outside, the +rain was descending in a deluge, its continuous roar drowning any +other sound that might have been discernible. Then, above it, I +detected a noise that at first I found difficult to define. + +"The howling of the leopards!" I suggested. + +Sir Lionel shook his tawny head with impatience. Then, the sound +growing louder, suddenly I knew it for what it was. + +"Some one shouting!" I exclaimed--"some one who rides a galloping +horse!" + +"Coming here!" added Sir Lionel. "Hark! he is at the door!" + +A bell rang furiously, again and again sending its brazen clangor +echoing through the great apartments and passages of Graywater. + +"There goes Kennedy." + +Above the sibilant roaring of the rain I could hear some one releasing +heavy bolts and bars. The servants had long since retired, as also had +Kâramaneh; but Sir Lionel's man remained wakeful and alert. + +Sir Lionel made for the door, and I, standing up, was about to follow +him, when Kennedy appeared, in his wake a bedraggled groom, hatless, +and pale to the lips. His frightened eyes looked from face to face. + +"Dr. Petrie?" he gasped interrogatively. + +"Yes!" I said, a sudden dread assailing me. "What is it?" + +"Gad! it's Hamilton's man!" cried Barton. + +"Mr. Nayland Smith, sir," continued the groom brokenly--and all my +fears were realized. "He's been attacked, sir, on the road from the +station, and Dr. Hamilton, to whose house he was carried----" + +"Kennedy!" shouted Sir Lionel, "get the Rolls-Royce out! Put your +horse up here, my man, and come with us!" + +He turned abruptly ... as the groom, grasping at the wall, fell +heavily to the floor. + +"Good God!" I cried--"What's the matter with him?" + +I bent over the prostrate man, making a rapid examination. + +"His head! A nasty blow. Give me a hand, Sir Lionel; we must get him +on to a couch." + +The unconscious man was laid upon a Chesterfield, and, ably assisted +by the explorer, who was used to coping with such hurts as this, I +attended to him as best I could. One of the men-servants had been +aroused, and, just as he appeared in the doorway, I had the +satisfaction of seeing Dr. Hamilton's groom open his eyes, and look +about him, dazedly. + +"Quick," I said. "Tell me--what hurt you?" + +The man raised his hand to his head and groaned feebly. + +"Something came _whizzing_, sir," he answered. "There was no report, +and I saw nothing. I don't know what it can have been----" + +"Where did this attack take place?" + +"Between here and the village, sir; just by the coppice at the +cross-roads on top of Raddon Hill." + +"You had better remain here for the present," I said, and gave a few +words of instruction to the man whom we had aroused. + +"This way," cried Barton, who had rushed out of the room, his huge +frame reappearing in the door-way; "the car is ready." + +My mind filled with dreadful apprehensions, I passed out on to the +carriage sweep. Sir Lionel was already at the wheel. + +"Jump in, Kennedy," he said, when I had taken a seat beside him; and +the man sprang into the car. + +Away we shot, up the narrow lane, lurched hard on the bend--and were +off at ever growing speed toward the hills, where a long climb +awaited the car. + +The head-light picked out the straight road before us, and Barton +increased the pace, regardless of regulations, until the growing slope +made itself felt and the speed grew gradually less; above the +throbbing of the motor, I could hear, now, the rain in the +overhanging trees. + +I peered through the darkness, up the road, wondering if we were near +to the spot where the mysterious attack had been made upon Dr. +Hamilton's groom. I decided that we were just passing the place, and +to confirm my opinion, at that moment Sir Lionel swung the car around +suddenly, and plunged headlong into the black mouth of a narrow lane. + +Hitherto, the roads had been fair, but now the jolting and swaying +became very pronounced. + +"Beastly road!" shouted Barton--"and stiff gradient!" + +I nodded. + +That part of the way which was visible in front had the appearance of +a muddy cataract, through which we must force a path. + +Then, as abruptly as it had commenced, the rain ceased; and at almost +the same moment came an angry cry from behind. + +The canvas hood made it impossible to see clearly in the car, but, +turning quickly, I perceived Kennedy, with his cap off, rubbing his +close-cropped skull. He was cursing volubly. + +"What is it, Kennedy? + +"Somebody sniping!" cried the man. "Lucky for me I had my cap on!" + +"Eh, sniping?" said Barton, glancing over his shoulder. "What d'you +mean? A stone, was it?" + +"No, sir," answered Kennedy. "I don't know what it was--but it wasn't +a stone." + +"Hurt much?" I asked. + +"No, sir! nothing at all." But there was a note of fear in the man's +voice--fear of the unknown. + +Something struck the hood with a dull drum-like thud. + +"There's another, sir!" cried Kennedy. "There's some one following us!" + +"Can you see any one?" came the reply. "I thought I saw something +then, about twenty yards behind. It's so dark." + +"Try a shot!" I said, passing my Browning to Kennedy. + +The next moment, the crack of the little weapon sounded sharply, and I +thought I detected a vague, answering cry. + +"See anything?" came from Barton. + +Neither Kennedy nor I made reply; for we were both looking back down +the hill. Momentarily, the moon had peeped from the cloud-banks, and +where, three hundreds yards behind, the bordering trees were few, a +patch of dim light spread across the muddy road--and melted away as a +new blackness gathered. + +But, in the brief space, three figures had shown, only for an instant-- +but long enough for us both to see that they were those of three gaunt +men, seemingly clad in scanty garments. What weapons they employed I +could not conjecture; but we were pursued by three of Dr. Fu-Manchu's +dacoits! + +Barton growled something savagely, and ran the car to the left of the +road, as the gates of Dr. Hamilton's house came in sight. + +A servant was there, ready to throw them open; and Sir Lionel swung +around on to the drive, and drove ahead, up the elm avenue to where the +light streamed through the open door on to the wet gravel. The house +was a blaze of lights, every window visible being illuminated; and Mrs. +Hamilton stood in the porch to greet us. + +"Doctor Petrie?" she asked, nervously, as we descended. + +"I am he," I said. "How is Mr. Smith?" + +"Still insensible," was the reply. + +Passing a knot of servants who stood at the foot of the stairs like a +little flock of frightened sheep--we made our way into the room where +my poor friend lay. + +Dr. Hamilton, a gray-haired man of military bearing, greeted Sir +Lionel, and the latter made me known to my fellow practitioner, who +grasped my hand, and then went straight to the bedside, tilting the +lampshade to throw the light directly upon the patient. + +Nayland Smith lay with his arms outside the coverlet and his fists +tightly clenched. His thin, tanned face wore a grayish hue, and a +white bandage was about his head. He breathed stentoriously. + +"We can only wait," said Dr. Hamilton, "and trust that there will be +no complications." + +I clenched my fists involuntarily, but, speaking no word, turned and +passed from the room. + +Downstairs in Dr. Hamilton's study was the man who had found Nayland +Smith. + +"We don't know when it was done, sir," he said, answering my first +question. "Staples and me stumbled on him in the dusk, just by the big +beech--a good quarter-mile from the village. I don't know how long +he'd laid there, but it must have been for some time, as the last +rain arrived an hour earlier. No, sir, he hadn't been robbed; his +money and watch were on him but his pocketbook lay open beside him;-- +though, funny as it seems, there were three five-pound notes in it!" + +"Do you understand, Petrie?" cried Sir Lionel. "Smith evidently +obtained a copy of the old plan of the secret passages of Graywater +and Monkswell, sooner than he expected, and determined to return +to-night. They left him for dead, having robbed him of the plans!" + +"But the attack on Dr. Hamilton's man?" + +"Fu-Manchu clearly tried to prevent communication with us to-night! He +is playing for time. Depend on it, Petrie, the hour of his departure +draws near and he is afraid of being trapped at the last moment." + +He began taking huge strides up and down the room, forcibly reminding +me of a caged lion. + +"To think," I said bitterly, "that all our efforts have failed to +discover the secret----" + +"The secret of my own property!" roared Barton--"and one known to +that damned, cunning Chinese devil!" + +"And in all probability now known also to Smith----" + +"And he cannot speak! ..." + +"_Who_ cannot speak?" demanded a hoarse voice. + +I turned in a flash, unable to credit my senses--and there, holding +weakly to the doorpost, stood Nayland Smith! + +"Smith!" I cried reproachfully--"you should not have left your room!" + +He sank into an arm-chair, assisted by Dr. Hamilton. + +"My skull is fortunately thick!" he replied, a ghostly smile playing +around the corners of his mouth--"and it was a physical impossibility +for me to remain inert considering that Dr. Fu-Manchu proposes to +leave England to-night!" + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +THE MONK'S PLAN + + +"My inquiries in the Manuscript Room of the British Museum," said +Nayland Smith, his voice momentarily growing stronger and some of the +old fire creeping back into his eyes, "have proved entirely successful." + +Sir Lionel Barton, Dr. Hamilton, and myself hung upon every word; and +often I fond myself glancing at the old-fashioned clock on the +doctor's mantel-piece. + +"We had very definite proof," continued Smith, "of the fact that +Fu-Manchu and company were conversant with that elaborate system of +secret rooms and passages which forms a veritable labyrinth, in, about, +and beneath Graywater Park. Some of the passages we explored. That +Sir Lionel should be ignorant of the system was not strange, +considering that he had but recently inherited the property, and that +the former owner, his kinsman, regarded the secret as lost. A +starting-point was discovered, however, in the old work on haunted +manors unearthed in the library, as you remember. There was a +reference, in the chapter dealing with Graywater, so a certain monkish +manuscript said to repose in the national collection and to contain a +plan of these passages and stairways. + +"The Keeper of the Manuscripts at the Museum very courteously assisted +me in my inquiries, and the ancient parchment was placed in my hands. +Sure enough, it contained a carefully executed drawing of the hidden +ways of Graywater, the work of a monk in the distant days when +Graywater was a priory. This monk, I may add--a certain Brother Anselm-- +afterwards became Abbot of Graywater." + +"Very interesting!" cried sir Lionel loudly; "very interesting indeed." + +"I copied the plan," resumed Smith, "with elaborate care. That labor, +unfortunately, was wasted, in part, at least. Then, in order to +confirm my suspicions on the point, I endeavored to ascertain if the +monk's MS. had been asked for at the Museum recently. The Keeper of +the Manuscripts could not recall that any student had handled the work, +prior to my own visit, during the past ten years. + +"This was disappointing, and I was tempted to conclude that Fu-Manchu +had blundered on to the secret in some other way, when the Assistant +Keeper of Manuscripts put in an appearance. From him I obtained +confirmation of my theory. Three months ago a Greek gentleman--possibly, +Sir Lionel, your late butler, Homopoulo--obtained permission to consult +the MS., claiming to be engaged upon a paper for some review or another. + +"At any rate, the fact was sufficient. Quite evidently, a servant of +Fu-Manchu had obtained a copy of the plan--and this within a day or +so of the death of Mr. Brangholme Burton--whose heir, Sir Lionel, you +were! I became daily impressed anew with the omniscience, the +incredible genius, of Dr. Fu-Manchu. + +"The scheme which we know of to compass the death, or captivity, of +our three selves and Kâramaneh was put into operation, and failed. +But, with its failure, the utility of the secret chambers was by no +means terminated. The local legend, according to which a passage +exists, linking Graywater and Monkswell, is confirmed by the monk's +plan." + +"What?" cried Sir Lionel, springing to his feet--"a passage between +the Park and the old tower! My dear sir, it's impossible! Such a +passage would have to pass under the River Starn! It's only a narrow +stream, I know, but----" + +"It _does_, or _did_, pass under the River Starn!" said Nayland Smith +coolly. "That it is still practicable I do not assert; what interests +me is the spot at which it terminates." + +He plunged his hand into the pocket of the light overcoat which he +wore over the borrowed suit of pyjamas in which the kindly Dr. Hamilton +had clothed him. He was seeking his pipe! + +"Have a cigar, Smith!" cried Sir Lionel, proffering his case--"if you +_must_ smoke; although I think our medical friends frowning!" + +Nayland Smith took a cigar, bit off the end, and lighted up. He began +to surround himself with odorous clouds, to his evident satisfaction. + +"To resume," he said; "the Spanish priest who was persecuted at +Graywater in early Reformation days and whose tortured spirit is said +to haunt the Park, held the secret of this passage, and of the +subterranean chamber in Monkswell, to which it led. His confession-- +which resulted in his death at the stake!--enabled the commissioners +to recover from his chamber a quantity of church ornaments. For these +facts I am indebted to the author of the work on haunted manors. + +"Our inquiry at this point touches upon things sinister and +incomprehensible. In a word, although the passage and a part of the +underground room are of unknown antiquity, it appears certain that +they were improved and enlarged by one of the abbots of Monkswell--at +a date much later than Brother Anselm's abbotship--and the place was +converted to a secret chapel----" + +"A _secret_ chapel!" said Dr. Hamilton. + +"Exactly. This was at a time in English history when the horrible +cult of Asmodeus spread from the Rhine monasteries and gained +proselytes in many religious houses of England. In this secret chapel, +wretched Churchmen, seduced to the abominable views of the abbot, +celebrated the Black Mass!" + +"My God!" I whispered--"small wonder that the place is reputed to be +haunted!" + +"Small wonder," cried Nayland Smith, with all his old nervous vigor, +"that Dr. Fu-Manchu selected it as an ideal retreat in times of danger!" + +"What! the chapel?" roared Sir Lionel. + +"Beyond doubt! Well knowing the penalty of discovery, those old +devil-worshipers had chosen a temple from which they could escape in +an emergency. There is a short stair from the chamber into the cave +which, as you may know, exists in the cliff adjoining Monkswell." + +Smith's eyes were blazing now, and he was on his feet, pacing the +floor, an odd figure, with his bandaged skull and inadequate garments, +biting on the already extinguished cigar as though it had been a pipe. + +"Returning to our rooms, Petrie," he went on rapidly, "who should I run +into but Summers! You remember Summers, the Suez Canal pilot whom you +met at Ismailia two years ago? He brought the yacht through the Canal, +from Suez, on which I suspect Ki-Ming came to England. She is a big +boat--used to be on the Port Said and Jaffa route before a wealthy +Chinaman acquired her--through an Egyptian agent--for his personal use. + +"All the crews, Summers told me, were Asiatics, and little groups of +natives lined the Canal and performed obeisances as the vessel passed. +Undoubtedly they had that woman on board, Petrie, the Lady of the +Si-Fan, who escaped, together with Fu-Manchu, when we raided the +meeting in London! Like a fool I came racing back here without +advising you; and, all alone, my mind occupied with the tremendous +import of these discoveries, started, long after dusk, to walk to +Graywater Park." + +He shrugged his shoulders whimsically, and raised one hand to his +bandaged head. + +"Fu-Manchu employs weapons both of the future and of the past," he +said. "My movements had been watched, of course; I was mad. Some one, +probably a dacoit, laid me low with a ball of clay propelled form a +sling of the Ancient Persian pattern! I actually saw him ... then saw, +and knew, no more! + +"Smith!" I cried--whilst Sir Lionel Barton and Dr. Hamilton stared at +one another, dumbfounded--"you think _he_ is on the point of flying +from England----" + +"The Chinese yacht, _Chanak-Kampo,_ is lying two miles off the coast +and in the sight of the tower of Monkswell!" + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +THE SHADOW ARMY + + +The scene of our return to Graywater Park is destined to live in my +memory for ever. The storm, of which the violet rainfall had been a +prelude, gathered blackly over the hills. Ebon clouds lowered upon us +as we came racing to the gates. Then the big car was spinning around +the carriage sweep, amid a deathly stillness of Nature indescribably +gloomy and ominous. I have said, a stillness of nature; but, as +Kennedy leapt out and ran up the steps to the door, from the distant +cages wherein Sir Lionel kept his collection of rare beasts proceeded +the angry howling of the leopards and such a wild succession of roars +from the African lioness that I stared at our eccentric host +questioningly. + +"It's the gathering storm," he explained. "These creatures are +peculiarly susceptible to atmospheric disturbances." + +Now the door was thrown open, and, standing in the lighted hall, +a picture fair to look upon in her dainty kimono and little red, +high-heeled slippers, stood Kâramaneh! + +I was beside her in a moment; for the lovely face was pale and there +was a wildness in her eyes which alarmed me. + +"_He_ is somewhere near!" she whispered, clinging to me. "Some great +danger threatens. Where have you been?--what has happened?" + +"Smith was attacked on his way back from London," I replied. "But, as +you see, he is quite recovered. We are in no danger; and I insist that +you go back to bed. We shall tell you all about it in the morning." + +Rebellion blazed up in her wonderful eyes instantly--and as quickly +was gone, leaving them exquisitely bright. Two tears, like twin pearls, +hung upon the curved black lashes. It made my blood course faster to +watch this lovely Eastern girl conquering the barbaric impulses that +sometimes flamed up within, her, because _I_ willed it; indeed this was +a miracle that I never tired of witnessing. + +Mrs. Oram, the white-haired housekeeper, placed her arm in motherly +fashion about the girl's slim waist. + +"She wants to stay in my room until the trouble is all over," she said +in her refined, sweet voice. + +"You are very good, Mrs. Oram," I replied. "Take care of her." + +One long, reassuring glance I gave Kâramaneh, then turned and +followed Smith and Sir Lionel up the winding oak stair. Kennedy came +close behind me, carrying one of the acetylene head-lamps of the car. +And-- + +"Just listen to the lioness, sir!" he whispered. "It's not the +gathering storm that's making her so restless. Jungle beasts grow +quiet, as a rule, when there's thunder about." + +The snarling of the great creature was plainly audible, distant though +we were from her cage. + +"Through your room, Barton!" snapped Nayland Smith, when we gained the +top corridor. + +He was his old, masterful self once more, and his voice was vibrant +with that suppressed excitement which I knew well. Into the disorderly +sleeping apartment of the baronet we hurried, and Smith made for the +recess near the bed which concealed a door in the paneling. + +"Cautiously here!" cried Smith. "Follow immediately behind me, Kennedy, +and throw the beam ahead. Hold the lamp well to the left." + +In we filed, into that ancient passage which had figured in many a +black deed but had never served the ends of a more evil plotter than +the awful Chinaman who so recently had rediscovered it. + +Down we marched, and down, but not to the base of the tower, as I had +anticipated. At a point which I judged to be about level with the +first floor of the house, Smith--who had been audibly counting the +steps--paused, and began to examine the seemingly unbroken masonry +of the wall. + +"We have to remember," he muttered, "that this passage may be blocked +up or otherwise impassable, and that Fu-Manchu may know of another +entrance. Furthermore, since the plan is lost, I have to rely upon +my memory for the exact position of the door." + +He was feeling about in the crevices between the stone blocks of which +the wall was constructed. + +"Twenty-one steps," he muttered; "I feel certain." + +Suddenly it seemed that his quest had proved successful. + +"Ah!" he cried--"the ring!" + +I saw that he had drawn out a large iron ring from some crevice in +which it had been concealed. + +"Stand back, Kennedy!" he warned. + +Kennedy moved on to a lower step--as Smith, bringing all his weight +to bear upon the ring, turned the huge stone slab upon its hidden +pivot, so that it fell back upon the stair with a reverberating boom. + +We all pressed forward to peer into the black cavity. Kennedy moving +the light, a square well was revealed, not more than three feet across. +Foot-holes were cut at intervals down the further side. + +"H'm!" said Smith--"I was hardly prepared for this. The method of +descent that occurs to me is to lean back against one side and trust +one's weight entirely to the foot-holes on the other. A shaft appeared +in the plan, I remember, but I had formed no theory respecting the +means provided for descending it. Tilt the lamp forward, Kennedy. +Good! I can see the floor of the passage below; only about fifteen +feet or so down." + +He stretched his foot across, placed it in the niche and began to +descend. + +"Kennedy next!" came his muffled voice, "with the lamp. Its light will +enable you others to see the way." + +Down went Kennedy without hesitation, the lamp swung from his right +arm. + +"I will bring up the rear," said Sir Lionel Barton. + +Whereupon I descended. I had climbed down about half-way when, from +below, came a loud cry, a sound of scuffling, and a savage exclamation +from Smith. Then---- + +"We're right, Petrie! This passage was recently used by Fu-Manchu!" + +I gained the bottom of the well, and found myself standing in the +entrance to an arched passage. Kennedy was directing the light of the +lamp down upon the floor. + +"You see, the door was guarded" said Nayland Smith. + +"What!" + +"Puff adder!" he snapped, and indicated a small snake whose head was +crushed beneath his heel. + +Sir Lionel now joined us; and, a silent quartette, we stood staring +from the dead reptile into the damp and evil-smelling tunnel. A +distant muttering and rumbling rolled, echoing awesomely along it. + +"For Heaven's sake what was that, sir?" whispered Kennedy. + +"It was the thunder," answered Nayland Smith. "The storm is breaking +over the hills. Steady with the lamp, my man." + +We had proceeded for some three hundred yards, and, according to my +calculation, were clear of the orchard of Graywater Park and close to +the fringe of trees beyond; I was taking note of the curious old +brickwork of the passage, when-- + +"Look out, sir!" cried Kennedy--and the light began dancing madly. +"Just under your feet! Now it's up the wall!--mind your hand, Dr. +Petrie!" + +The lamp was turned, and, since it shone fully into my face, +temporarily blinded me. + +"On the roof over your head, Barton!"--this from Nayland Smith. "What +can we kill it with?" + +Now my sight was restored to me, and looking back along the passage, +I saw, clinging to an irregularity in the moldy wall, the most +gigantic scorpion I had ever set eyes upon! It was fully as large as +my open hand. + +Kennedy and Nayland Smith were stealthily retracing their steps, the +former keeping the light directed upon the hideous insect, which now +began running about with that horrible, febrile activity characteristic +of the species. Suddenly came a sharp, staccato report.... Sir Lionel +had scored a hit with his Browning pistol. + +In waves of sound, the report went booming along the passage. The lamp, +as I have said, was turned in order to shine back upon us, rendering +the tunnel ahead a mere black mouth--a veritable inferno, held by +inhuman guards. Into that black cavern I stared, gloomily fascinated +by the onward rolling sound storm; into that blackness I looked ... +to feel my scalp tingle horrifically, to know the crowning horror of +the horrible journey. + +The blackness was spangled with watching, diamond eyes!--with tiny +insect eyes that moved; upon the floor, upon the walls, upon the +ceiling! A choking cry rose to my lips. + +"Smith! Barton! for God's sake, look! The place is _alive_ with +scorpions!" + +Around we all came, panic plucking at our hearts, around swept the +beam of the big lamp; and there, retreating before the light, went a +veritable army of venomous creatures! I counted no fewer than three of +the giant red centipedes whose poisonous touch, called "the zayat kiss," +is certain death; several species of scorpion were represented; and +some kind of bloated, unwieldy spider, so gross of body that its short, +hairy legs could scarce support it, crawled, hideous, almost at my feet. + +What other monstrosities of the insect kingdom were included in that +obscene host I know not; my skin tingled from head to feet; I +experienced a sensation as if a million venomous things already clung +to me--unclean things bred in the malarial jungles of Burma, in the +corpse-tainted mud of China's rivers, in the fever spots of that +darkest East from which Fu-Manchu recruited his shadow army. + +I was perilously near to losing my nerve when the crisp, incisive +tones of Nayland Smith's voice came to stimulate me like a cold douche. + +"This wanton sacrifice of horrors speaks eloquently of a forlorn hope! +Sweep the walls with light, Kennedy; all those filthy things are +nocturnal and they will retreat before us as we advance." + +His words proved true. Occasioning a sort of _rustling_ sound--a faint +sibilance indescribably loathsome--the creatures gray and black and +red darted off along the passage. One by one, as we proceeded, they +crept into holes and crevices of the ancient walls, sometimes singly, +sometimes in pairs--the pairs locked together in deadly embrace. + +"They cannot live long in this cold atmosphere," cried Smith. "Many of + them will kill one another--and we can safely leave the rest to the +British climate. But see that none of them drops upon you in passing." + +Thus we pursued our nightmare march, on through that valley of horror. +Colder grew the atmosphere and colder. Again the thunder boomed out +above us, seeming to shake the roof of the tunnel fiercely, as with +Titan hands. A sound of falling water, audible for some time, now +grew so loud that conversation became difficult. All the insects had +disappeared. + +"We are approaching the River Starn!" roared Sir Lionel. "Note the dip +of the passage and the wet walls!" + +"Note the type of brickwork!" shouted Smith. + +Largely as a sedative to the feverish excitement which consumed me, I +forced myself to study the construction of the tunnel; and I became +aware of an astonishing circumstance. Partly the walls were natural, +a narrow cavern traversing the bed of rock which upcropped on this +portion of the estate, but partly, if my scanty knowledge of +archaeology did not betray me, they were _Phoenician!_ + +"This stretch of passage," came another roar from Sir Lionel, "dates +back to Roman days or even earlier! By God! It's almost incredible!" + +And now Smith and Kennedy, who lid, were up to their knees in a +running tide. An icy shower-bath drenched us from above; ahead was a +solid wall of falling water. Again, and louder, nearer, boomed and +rattled the thunder; its mighty voice was almost lost in the roar of +that subterranean cataract. Nayland Smith, using his hands as a +megaphone, cried;-- + +"Failing the evidence that others have passed this way, I should not +dare to risk it! But the river is less than forty feet wide at the +point below Monkswell; a dozen paces should see us through the worst!" + +I attempted no reply. I will frankly admit that the prospect appalled +me. But, bracing himself up as one does preparatory to a high dive, +Smith, nodding to Kennedy to proceed, plunged into the cataract ahead.... + + + +CHAPTER XL + +THE BLACK CHAPEL + + +Of how we achieved that twelve or fifteen yards below the rocky bed of +the stream the Powers that lent us strength and fortitude alone hold +record. Gasping for breath, drenched, almost reconciled to the end +which I thought was come--I found myself standing at the foot of a +steep flight of stairs roughly hewn in the living rock. + +Beside me, the extinguished lamp still grasped in his hand, leant +Kennedy, panting wildly and clutching at the uneven wall. Sir Lionel +Barton had sunk exhausted upon the bottom step, and Nayland Smith was +standing near him, looking up the stairs. From an arched doorway at +their head light streamed forth! + +Immediately behind me, in the dark place where the waters roared, +opened a fissure in the rock, and into it poured the miniature +cataract; I understood now the phenomenon of minor whirlpools for +which the little river above was famous. Such were my impressions of +that brief breathing-space; then-- + +"Have your pistols ready!" cried Smith. "Leave the lamp, Kennedy. It +can serve us no further." + +Mustering all the reserve that remained to us, we went, pell-mell, a +wild, bedraggled company, up that ancient stair and poured into the +room above.... + +One glance showed us that this was indeed the chapel of Asmodeus, the +shrine of Satan where the Black Mass had been sung in the Middle Ages. +The stone altar remained, together with certain Latin inscriptions cut +in the wall. Fu-Manchu's last home in England had been within a temple +of his only Master. + +Save for nondescript litter, evidencing a hasty departure of the +occupants, and a ship's lantern burning upon the altar, the chapel was +unfurnished. Nothing menaced us, but the thunder hollowly crashed far +above. To cover his retreat, Fu-Manchu had relied upon the noxious +host in the passage and upon the wall of water. Silent, motionless, we +four stood looking down at that which lay upon the floor of the unholy +place. + +In a pool of blood was stretched the Eurasian girl, Zarmi. Her +picturesque finery was reft into tatters and her bare throat and arms +were covered with weals and bruises occasioned by ruthless, clutching +fingers. Of her face, which had been notable for a sort of devilish +beauty, I cannot write; it was the awful face of one who had did from +strangulation. + +Beside her, with a Malay _krîs_ in his heart--a little, jeweled weapon +that I had often seen in Zarmi's hand--sprawled the obese Greek, +Samarkan, a member of the Si-Fan group and sometime manager of a great +London hotel! + +It was ghastly, it was infinitely horrible, that tragedy of which the +story can never be known, never be written; that fiendish fight to the +death in the black chapel of Asmodeus. + +"We are too late!" said Nayland Smith. "The stair behind the altar!" + +He snatched up the lantern. Directly behind the stone altar was a +narrow, pointed doorway. From the depths with which it communicated +proceeded vague, awesome sounds, as of waves breaking in some vast +cavern.... + +We were more than half-way down the stair when, above the muffled +roaring of the thunder, I distinctly heard the voice of _Dr. Fu-Manchu!_ + +"My God!" shouted Smith, "perhaps they are trapped! The cave is only +navigable at low tide and in calm weather!" + +We literally fell down the remaining steps ... and were almost +precipitated into the water! + +The light of the lantern showed a lofty cavern tapering away to a +point at its remote end, pear-fashion. The throbbing of an engine +and churning of a screw became audible. There was a faint smell of +petrol. + +"Shoot! shoot!"--the frenzied voice was that of Sir Lionel--"Look! +they can just get through! ..." + +_Crack! Crack! Crack!_ + +Nayland Smith's Browning spat death across the cave. Then followed the +report of Barton's pistol; then those of mine and Kennedy's. + +A small motor-boat was creeping cautiously out under a low, natural +archway which evidently gave access to the sea! Since the tide was +incoming, a few minutes more of delay had rendered the passage of the +cavern impossible.... + +The boat disappeared. + +"We are not beaten!" snapped Nayland Smith. "The _Chanak-Kampo_ will +be seized in the Channel!" + + * * * * * * * + +"There were formerly steps, in the side of the well from which this +place takes its name," declared Nayland Smith dully. "This was the +means of access to the secret chapel employed by the devil-worshipers." + +"The top of the well (alleged to be the deepest in England)," said +Sir Lionel, "is among a tangle of weeds close by the ruined tower." + +Smith, ascending three stone steps, swung the lantern out over the +yawning pit below; then he stared long and fixedly upwards. + +Both thunder and rain had ceased; but even in those gloomy depths we +could hear the coming of the tempest which followed upon that +memorable storm. + +"The steps are here," reported Smith; "but without the aid of a rope +from above, I doubt if they are climbable." + +"It's that or the way we came, sir!" said Kennedy. "I was five years +at sea in wind-jammers. Let me swarm up and go for a rope to the Park." + +"Can you do it?" demanded Smith. "Come and look!" + +Kennedy craned from the opening, staring upward and downward; then-- + +"I can do it, sir," he said quietly. + +Removing his boots and socks, he swung himself out from the opening +into the well and was gone. + + * * * * * * * + +The story of Fu-Manchu, and of the organization called the Si-Fan which +he employed as a means to further his own vast projects, is almost told. + +Kennedy accomplished the perilous climb to the lip of the well, and +sped barefooted to Graywater Park for ropes. By means of these we all +escaped from the strange chapel of the devil-worshipers. Of how we +arranged for the removal of the bodies which lay in the place I need +not write. My record advances twenty-four hours. + +The great storm which burst over England in the never-to-be-forgotten +spring when Fu-Manchu fled our shores has become historical. There +were no fewer than twenty shipwrecks during the day and night that it +raged. + +Imprisoned by the elements in Graywater Park, we listened to the wind +howling with the voice of a million demons around the ancient manor, +to the creatures of Sir Lionel's collection swelling the unholy +discord. Then came the news that there was a big steamer on the Pinion +Rocks--that the lifeboat could not reach her. + +As though it were but yesterday I can see us, Sir Lionel Barton, +Nayland Smith and I, hurrying down into the little cove which +sheltered the fishing-village; fighting our way against the power of +the tempest.... + +Thrice we saw the rockets split the inky curtain of the storm; thrice +saw the gallant lifeboat crew essay to put their frail craft out to +sea ... thrice the mighty rollers hurled them contemptuously back.... + +Dawn--a gray, eerie dawn--was creeping ghostly over the iron-bound +shore, when the fragments of wreckage began to drift in. Such are the +currents upon those coasts that bodies are rarely recovered from +wrecks on the cruel Pinion Rocks. + +In the dim light I bent over a battered and torn mass of timber--that +once had been the bow of a boat; and in letters of black and gold I +read: "S. Y. _Chanak-Kampo."_ + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 17959 *** |