THE LIBRARY OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA 
 
 AT CHAPEL HILL 
 
 WILSON ANNEX 
 
 Fran the collection 
 
 of 
 
 Alfred Garvin Engstrom 
 
 and 
 
 Mary Claire Randolph 
 
 Engstrom 
 
UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 
 
 00020135612 
 
 THE INSIDIOUS 
 DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
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 the last date stamped under "Date Due." If not on hold it 
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The Insidious 
 Dr. Fu-Manchu 
 
 Being a somewhat detailed account of the amazing adventures 
 of Nayland Smith in his trailing of the sinister Chinaman. 
 
 By SAX ROHMKR 
 Author of 
 
 "The Yellow Claw, ' ' ' 'The Return 
 of Dr, Fu-Manchu," Etc, 
 
 
 ' 
 
 A. L. BURT COMPANY 
 
 Publishers New York 
 
 Published by Arrangements with Robert M. McBride & Company 
 
 TH? I I8RARY 
 
 THE UNIVERSH" >RTH CAROLINA 
 
 AT CHAPSi. HILL 
 
Copyright, 1913, by 
 , F. Collier & Son, Inc 
 
 Copyright, 1913, by 
 McBride, Nast & Co. 
 
 Second Printing 
 September, 1913 
 
 Third Printing 
 October, 1913 
 
 Fourth Printing 
 September, ig*7 
 
 Fifth Printing 
 January, 1920 
 
 PRINTED IN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
 
 Published, September, 1913 
 
THE INSIDIOUS 
 DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 Chapter I 
 
 44 A GENTLEMAN to see you, Doctor." 
 
 /•^L From across the common a clock 
 sounded the half-hour. 
 
 " Ten-thirty ! " I said. " A late visitor. Show 
 him up, if you please." 
 
 I pushed my writing aside and tilted the lamp- 
 shade, as footsteps sounded on the landing. The 
 next moment I had jumped to my feet, for a tall, 
 lean man, with his square-cut, clean-shaven face 
 sun-baked to the hue of coffee, entered and ex- 
 tended both hands, with a cry: 
 
 "Good old Petrie! Didn't expect me, 111 
 swear ! " 
 
 It was Nayland Smith — whom I had thought 
 to be in Burma! 
 
 "Smith," I said, and gripped, his hands hard, 
 "this is a delightful surprise! Whatever— ■ 
 however — " 
 
 i 
 
2 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 " Excuse me, Petrie"! " he broke in. " Don't 
 put it down to the sun ! " And he put out the 
 lamp, plunging the room into darkness. 
 
 I was too surprised to speak. 
 
 " No doubt you will think me mad," he con- 
 tinued, and, dimly, I could see him at the window, 
 peering out into the road, " but before you are 
 many hours older you will know that I have good 
 reason to be cautious. Ah, nothing suspicious! 
 Perhaps I am first this time." And, stepping 
 back to the writing-table he relighted the lamp. 
 
 " Mysterious enough for you? " he laughed, and 
 glanced at my unfinished MS. "A story, eh? 
 From which I gather that the district is beastly 
 healthy — what, Petrie? Well, I can put some 
 material in your way that, if sheer uncanny mys- 
 tery is a marketable commodity, ought to make 
 you independent of influenza and broken legs 
 and shattered nerves and all the rest." 
 
 I surveyed him doubtfully, but there was noth- 
 ing in his appearance to justify me in supposing 
 him to suffer from delusions. His eyes were 
 too bright, certainly, and a hardness now had 
 crept over his face. I got out the whisky and 
 siphon, saying: 
 
 "You have taken your leave early?" 
 
 " I am not on leave," he replied, and slowly 
 filled his pipe. " I am on duty." 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 3 
 
 " On duty ! " I exclaimed. " What, are you 
 moved to London or something? " 
 
 " I have got a roving commission, Petrie, and 
 tt doesn't rest with me where I am to-day nor 
 where I shall be to-morrow." 
 
 There was something ominous in the words, 
 nnd, putting down my glass, its contents un- 
 jasted, I faced round and looked him squarely 
 In the eyes. 
 
 "Out with it!" I said. "What is it all 
 ubout? " 
 
 Smith suddenly stood up and stripped off his 
 roat, Rolling back his left shirt-sleeve he re- 
 vealed a wicked-looking wound in the fleshy 
 fart of the forearm. It was quite healed, but 
 curiously striated for an inch or so around. 
 
 " Ever seen one like it? " he asked. 
 
 " Not exactly," I confessed. " It appears to 
 Jvave been deeply cauterized." 
 
 " Right ! Very deeply ! " he rapped. " A barb 
 steeped in the venom of a hamadryad went in 
 there ! " 
 
 A shudder I could not repress ran coldly 
 through me at mention of that most deadly of 
 all the reptiles of the East. 
 
 " There's only one treatment," he continued, 
 rolling his sleeve down again, " and that's with 
 a sharp knife, a match, and a broken cartridge. 
 
1 THE INSIDIOUS DB. FU-MANCHU 
 
 I lay on my back, raving, for three days after- 
 wards, in a forest that stank with malaria, but I 
 should have been lying there now if I had hesi- 
 tated. Here's the point. It was not an acci- 
 r dent!" 
 
 " What do you mean? " 
 
 " I mean that it was a deliberate attempt on 
 my life, and I am hard upon the tracks of the 
 man who extracted that venom — patiently, drop 
 by drop — from the poison-glands of the snake, 
 who prepared that arrow, and who caused it to 
 be shot at me." 
 
 « What fiend is this?" 
 
 "A fiend who, unless my calculations are at 
 fault, is now in London, and who regularly wars 
 with pleasant weapons of that kind. Petrie, I 
 have traveled from Burma not in the interests 
 of the British Government merely, but in the 
 interests of the entire white race, and I honestly 
 believe — though I pray I may be wrong — that 
 its survival depends largely upon the success 
 of my mission." 
 
 To say that I was perplexed conveys no idea 
 of the mental chaos created by these extraor- 
 dinary statements, for into my humdrum sub- 
 urban life Nayland Smith had brought fantasy 
 of the wildest. I did not know what to think, 
 what to believe. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 5 
 
 u I am wasting precious time ! " he rapped de- 
 cisively, and, draining his glass, he stood up. " I 
 came straight to you, because you are the only 
 man I dare to trust. Except the big chief at 
 headquarters, you are the only person in Eng- 
 land, I hope, who knows that Nay land Smith has 
 quitted Burma. I must have someone with me, 
 Petrie, all the time — it's imperative ! Can you 
 put me up here, and spare a few days to the 
 strangest business, I promise you, that ever was 
 recorded in fact or fiction?" 
 
 I agreed readily enough, for, unfortunately, 
 my professional duties were not onerous. 
 
 " Good man ! " he cried, wringing my hand in 
 his impetuous way. " We start now." 
 
 "What, to-night?" 
 
 "To-night! I had thought of turning in, I 
 must admit. I have not dared to sleep for forty- 
 eight hours, except in fifteen-minute stretches. 
 But there is one move that must be made to-night 
 and immediately. I must warn Sir Crichton 
 Davey." 
 
 " Sir Crichton Davey — of the India—" 
 
 " Petrie, he is a doomed man ! Unless he fol- 
 lows my instructions without question, without 
 hesitation — before Heaven, nothing can save 
 him ! I do not know when the blow will fall, how; 
 it will fall, nor from whence, but I know that m^ 
 
6 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHTJ 
 
 first duty is to warn him. Let us walk down td 
 the corner of the common and get a taxi." 
 
 How strangely does the adventurous intrude 
 upon the humdrum ; for, when it intrudes at all f 
 more often than not its intrusion is sudden and 
 unlooked for. To-day, we may seek for romance 
 and fail to find it: unsought, it lies in wait for 
 us at most prosaic corners of life's highway. 
 
 The drive that night, though it divided the 
 drably commonplace from the wildly bizarre—' 
 though it was the bridge between the ordinary 
 and the outre — has left no impression upon my 
 mind. Into the heart of a weird mystery the 
 cab bore me; and in reviewing my memories of 
 those days I wonder that the busy thorough- 
 fares through which we passed did not display 
 before my eyes signs and portents — warnings* 
 
 It was not so. I recall nothing of the route 
 and little of import that passed between us (wa 
 both were strangely silent, I think) until we* 
 were come to our journey's end. Then: 
 
 " What's this?" muttered my friend hoarsely. 
 
 Constables were moving on a little crowd of 
 curious idlers who pressed about the steps of 
 Sir Crichton Davey's house and sought to peer in 
 at the open door. Without waiting for the cab 
 to draw up to the curb, Nayland Smith recklessly 
 leaped out and I followed close at his heels. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 7i 
 
 "What has happened?" he demanded breath- 
 lessly of a constable. 
 
 The latter glanced at him doubtfully, but 
 something in his voice and bearing commanded 
 respect. 
 
 " Sir Crichton Davey has been killed, sir." 
 
 Smith lurched back as though he had received 
 a physical blow, and clutched my shoulder 
 convulsively. Beneath the heavy tan his face had 
 blanched, and his eyes were set in a stare of hor- 
 ror. 
 
 " My God ! " he whispered. " I am too late ! "■ 
 
 With clenched fists he turned and, pressing 
 through the group of loungers, bounded up the 
 steps. In the hall a man who unmistakably was 
 a Scotland Yard official stood talking to a foot- 
 man. Other members of the household were mov- 
 ing about, more or less aimlessly, and the chilly 
 hand of King Fear had touched one and all, for, 
 as they came and went, they glanced ever over 
 their shoulders, as if each shadow cloaked a 
 menace, and listened, as it seemed, for some sound 
 w T hich they dreaded to hear. 
 
 Smith strode up to the detective and showed 
 him a card, upon glancing at which the Scotland 
 Yard man said something in a low voice, and, 
 nodding, touched his hat to Smith in a respect- 
 ful manner. 
 
8 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 4 
 
 A few brief questions and answers, and, in 
 gloomy silence, we followed the detective np the 
 heavily carpeted stair, along a corridor lined 
 with pictures and busts, and into a large library. 
 A group of people were in this room, and one, in 
 whom I recognized Chalmers Cleeve, of Harley 
 Street, was bending over a motionless form 
 stretched upon a couch. Another door communi- 
 cated with a small study, and through the opening 
 I could see a man on all fours examining the car- 
 pet. The uncomfortable sense of hush, the group 
 about the physician, the bizarre figure crawling, 
 beetle-like, across the inner room, and the grim 
 hub, around which all this ominous activity 
 turned, made up a scene that etched itself in- 
 delibly on my mind. 
 
 As we entered Dr. Cleeve straightened himself, 
 frowning thoughtfully. 
 
 " Frankly, I do not care to venture any opinion 
 at present regarding the immediate cause of 
 death," he said. " Sir Crichton was addicted to 
 cocaine, but there are indications which are not 
 in accordance with cocaine-poisoning. I fear 
 that only a post-mortem can establish the facts — 
 if," he added, " we ever arrive at them. A most 
 mysterious case ! " 
 
 Smith stepping forward and engaging the fa- 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 9 
 
 mous pathologist in conversation, I seized the op- 
 portunity to examine Sir Crichton's body. 
 
 The dead man was in evening dress, but wore 
 an old smoking-jacket. He had been of spare but 
 hardy build, with thin, aquiline features, which 
 now were oddly puffy, as were his clenched hands. 
 I pushed back his sleeve, and saw the marks of 
 the hypodermic syringe upon his left arm. 
 Quite mechanically I turned my attention to the 
 right arm. It was unscarred, but on the back of 
 the hand was a faint red mark, not unlike the im- 
 print of painted lips. I examined it closely, and 
 even tried to rub it off, but it evidently was 
 caused by some morbid process of local inflam- 
 mation, if it were not a birthmark. 
 
 Turning to a pale young man whom I had 
 understood to be Sir Crichton's private secretary, 
 I drew his attention to this mark, and inquired 
 if it were constitutional. 
 
 " It is not, sir," answered Dr. Cleeve, over- 
 hearing my question. " I have already made 
 that inquiry. Does it suggest anything to your 
 mind? I must confess that it affords me no 
 assistance." 
 
 " Nothing," I replied. " It is most curious." 
 
 " Excuse me, Mr. Burboyne," said Smith, now 
 turning to the secretary, "but Inspector Wey- 
 
10 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 mouth will tell you that I act with authority. I 
 understand that Sir Crichton was — seized with! 
 illness in his study? " 
 
 " Yes — at half-past ten. I was working here 
 in the library, and he inside, as was our custom." 
 
 " The communicating door was kept closed? " 
 
 " Yes, always. It was open for a minute or 
 less about ten-twenty-five, when a message came 
 for Sir Crichton. I took it in to him, and he 
 then seemed in his usual health." 
 
 "What was the message?" 
 
 " I could not say. It was brought by a dis- 
 trict messenger, and he placed it beside him on 
 the table. It is there now, no doubt." 
 
 "And at half -past ten?" 
 
 " Sir Crichton suddenly burst open the door 
 and threw himself, with a scream, into the 
 library. I ran to him but he waved me back. 
 His eyes were glaring horribly. I had just 
 reached his side when he fell, writhing, upon the 
 floor. He seemed past speech, but as I raised 
 him and laid him upon the couch, he gasped 
 something that sounded like ' The red hand ! ? 
 Before I could get to bell or telephone he 
 was dead ! " 
 
 Mr. Burboyne's voice shook as he spoke the 
 words, and Smith seemed to find this evidence 
 confusing. 
 
\ 
 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 11' 
 
 "You do not think he referred to the mark 
 on his own hand?" 
 
 " I think not. From the direction of his last 
 glance, I feel sure he referred to something in 
 the study." 
 
 "What did you do?" 
 
 " Having summoned the servants, I ran into 
 the study. But there was absolutely nothing un- 
 usual to be seen. The windows were closed and 
 fastened. He worked with closed windows in 
 the hottest weather. There is no other door, for 
 the study occupies the end of a narrow wing, so 
 that no one could possibly have gained access to 
 it, whilst I was in the library, unseen by me. 
 Had someone concealed himself in the study 
 earlier in the evening — and I am convinced that 
 it offers no hiding-place — he could only have 
 come out again by passing through here." 
 
 Nayland Smith tugged at the lobe of his left 
 ear, as was his habit when meditating. 
 
 " You had been at work here in this way for 
 some time? " 
 
 " Yes. Sir Crichton was preparing an im- 
 portant book." 
 
 " Had anything unusual occurred prior to this 
 evening? " 
 
 " Yes," said Mr. Burboyne, with evident per- 
 plexity ; " though I attached no importance to it 
 
12 THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 
 
 at the time. Three nights ago Sir Crichton came 
 out to me, and appeared very nervous; but at 
 times his nerves — you know? Well, on this oc- 
 casion he asked me to search the study. He had 
 an idea that something was concealed there/' 
 
 " Some thing or someone? V 
 
 " * Something ? was the word he used. I 
 searched, but fruitlessly, and he seemed quite sat- 
 isfied, and returned to his work." 
 
 " Thank you, Mr. Burboyne. My friend and 
 I would like a few minutes' private investigation 
 in the study." 
 
Chapter II 
 
 SIR CRICHTON DAVEY'S study was a 
 small one, and a glance sufficed to show 
 that, as the secretary had said, it offered 
 no hiding-place. It was heavily carpeted, and 
 over-full of Burmese and Chinese ornaments and 
 curios, and upon the mantelpiece stood several 
 framed photographs which showed this to be the 
 sanctum of a wealthy bachelor who was no 
 misogynist. A map of the Indian Empire oc- 
 cupied the larger part of one wall. The grate 
 was empty, for the weather was extremely warm, 
 and a green-shaded lamp on the littered writing- 
 table afforded the only light. The air was stale, 
 for both windows were closed and fastened.. 
 
 Smith immediately pounced upon a large, 
 square envelope that lay beside the blotting-pad. 
 Sir Crichton had not even troubled to open it, 
 but my friend did so. It contained a blank sheet 
 of paper! 
 
 " Smell ! " he directed, handing the letter to me. 
 
 I raised it to my nostrils. It was scented 
 with some pungent perfume. 
 
 13 
 
14 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 "What is it?" I asked. 
 
 " It is a rather rare essential oil," was the 
 reply, "which I have met with before, though 
 never in Europe. I begin to understand, 
 Petrie." 
 
 He tilted the lamp-shade and made a close ex- 
 amination of the scraps of paper, matches, and 
 other debris that lay in the grate and on the 
 hearth. I took up a copper vase from the mantel- 
 piece, and was examining it curiously, when he 
 turned, a strange expression upon his face. 
 
 " Put that back, old man," he said quietly. 
 
 Much surprised, I did as he directed. 
 
 " Don't touch anything in the room. It may 
 be dangerous." 
 
 Something in the tone of his voice chilled me, 
 and I hastily replaced the vase, and stood by the 
 door of the study, watching him search, method- 
 ically, every inch of the room — behind the books, 
 in all the ornaments, in table drawers, in cup- 
 boards, on shelves. 
 
 "That will do," he said at last. "There is 
 nothing here and I have no time to search 
 farther." 
 
 We returned to the library. 
 
 " Inspector Weymouth," said my friend, " I 
 have a particular reason for asking that Sir 
 Crichton's body be removed from this room at 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 15 
 
 once and the library locked. Let no one be ad- 
 mitted on any pretense whatever until you hear 
 from me." 
 
 It spoke volumes for the mysterious credentials 
 borne by my friend that the man from Scotland 
 Yard accepted his orders without demur, and, 
 after a brief chat with Mr. Burboyne, Smith 
 passed briskly downstairs. In the hall a man 
 who looked like a groom out of livery was wait- 
 ing. 
 
 "Are you Wills?" asked Smith. 
 
 "Yes, sir," 
 
 " It was you who heard a cry of some kind at 
 the rear of the house about the time of Sir 
 Crichton's death?" 
 
 " Yes, sir. I was locking the garage door, 
 and, happening to look up at the window of Sir 
 Crichton's study, I saw him jump out of his chair. 
 Where he used to sit at his writing, sir, you 
 could see his shadow on the blind. Next minute 
 I heard a call out in the lane." 
 
 "What kind of call?" 
 
 The man, whom the uncanny happening clearly 
 had frightened, seemed puzzled for a suitable 
 description. 
 
 " A sort of wail, sir," he said at last. " I 
 never heard anything like it before, and don't 
 want to again." 
 
16 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 "Like this?" inquired Smith, and he uttered 
 a low, wailing cry, impossible to describe. 
 
 Wills perceptibly shuddered; and, indeed, it 
 was an eerie sound. 
 
 " The same, sir, I think," he said, " but much 
 louder." 
 
 " That will do," said Smith, and I thought I 
 detected a note of triumph in his voice. " But 
 stay! Take us through to the back of the 
 house." 
 
 The man bowed and led the way, so that 
 shortly we found ourselves in a small, paved 
 courtyard. It was a perfect summer's night, 
 and the deep blue vault above was jeweled with 
 myriads of starry points. How impossible it 
 seemed to reconcile that vast, eternal calm with 
 the hideous passions and fiendish agencies which 
 that night had loosed a soul upon the infinite. 
 
 " Up yonder are the study windows, sir. 
 Over that wall on your left is the back lane 
 from which the cry came, and beyond is Kegent's 
 Park." 
 
 " Are the study windows visible from there? " 
 
 " Oh, yes, sir." 
 
 " Who occupies the adjoining house? " 
 
 " Major-General Piatt-Houston, sir ; but the 
 family is out of town." 
 
 " Those iron stairs are a means of communica- 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 17 
 
 tion "between the domestic offices and the serv- 
 ants' quarters, I take it? " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Then send someone to make my business 
 known to the Major-General's housekeeper; I 
 want to examine those stairs." 
 
 Singular though my friend's proceedings ap- 
 peared to me, I had ceased to wonder at any- 
 thing. Since Nayland Smith's arrival at my 
 rooms I seemed to have been moving through the 
 fitful phases of a nightmare. My friend's ac- 
 count of how he came by the wound in his arm ; 
 the scene on our arrival at the house of Sir Crich- 
 ton Davey; the secretary 9 s story of the dying 
 man's cry, " The red hand ! " ; the hidden perils 
 of the study ; the wail in the lane — all were fit- 
 ter incidents of delirium than of sane reality. 
 So, when a white-faced butler made us known 
 to a nervous old lady who proved to be the 
 housekeeper of the next-door residence, I was 
 not surprised at Smith's saying: 
 
 " Lounge up and down outside, Petrie. Ev- 
 eryone has cleared off now. It is getting late. 
 Keep your eyes open and be on your guard. I 
 thought I had the start, but he is here before me, 
 and, what is worse, he probably knows by now 
 that I am here, too." 
 
 With which he entered the house and left me 
 
18 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 out in the square, with leisure to think, to try; 
 to understand. 
 
 The crowd which usually haunts the scene of 
 a sensational crime had been cleared away, and 
 it had been circulated that Sir Crichton had; 
 died from natural causes. The intense heat hav-l 
 ing driven most of the residents out of town, 
 practically I had the square to myself, and I 
 gave myself up to a brief consideration of the 
 mystery in which I so suddenly had found my- 
 self involved. 
 
 By what agency had Sir Crichton met his 
 death? Did Nayland Smith know? I rather 
 suspected that he did. What was the hidden 
 significance of the perfumed envelope? Who 
 was that mysterious personage whom Smith so 
 evidently dreaded, who had attempted his life, 
 who, presumably, had murdered Sir Crichton? 
 Sir Crichton Davey, during the time that he had 
 held office in India, and during his long term of 
 service at home, had earned the good will of all, 
 British and native alike. Who was his secret 
 enemy? , 
 
 Something touched me lightly on the shoul- 
 der. 
 
 I turned, with my heart fluttering like a 
 child's. This night's work had imposed a severe 
 strain even upon my callous nerves. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 19 
 
 A girl wrapped in a hooded opera-cloak stood 
 at my elbow, and, as she glanced up at me, I 
 thought that I never had seen a face so seduc- 
 tively lovely nor of so unusual a type. With the 
 skin of a perfect blonde, she had eyes and lashes 
 as black as a Creole's, which, together with her 
 full red lips, told me that this beautiful 
 stranger, whose touch had so startled me, was 
 not a child of our northern shores. 
 
 " Forgive me," she said, speaking with an odd, 
 pretty accent, and laying a slim hand, with 
 jeweled fingers, confidingly upon my arm, "if I 
 startled you. But — is it true that Sir Crich- 
 ton Davey has been — murdered?" 
 
 I looked into her big, questioning eyes, a harsh 
 suspicion laboring in my mind, but could read 
 nothing in their mysterious depths — only I 
 wondered anew at my questioner's beauty. The 
 grotesque idea momentarily possessed me that, 
 were the bloom of her red lips due to art and 
 not to nature, their kiss would leave — though 
 not indelibly — just such a mark as I had seen 
 upon the dead man's hand. But I dismissed 
 the fantastic notion as bred of the night's hor- 
 rors, and worthy only of a mediseval legend. 
 No doubt she was some friend or acquaintance 
 of Sir Crichton who lived close by. 
 
 " I cannot say that he has been murdered," 
 
20 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 I replied, acting upon the latter supposition, and 
 seeking to tell her what she asked as gently as 
 possible. " But he is — " 
 
 "Dead?" 
 
 I nodded. 
 
 She closed her eyes and uttered a low, moan- 
 ing sound, swaying dizzily. Thinking she was 
 about to swoon, I threw my arm round her shoul- 
 der to support her, but she smiled sadly, and 
 pushed me gently away. 
 
 " I am quite well, thank you," she said. 
 
 " You are certain? Let me walk with you 
 until you feel quite sure of yourself." 
 
 She shook her head, flashed a rapid glance at 
 me with her beautiful eyes, and looked away in 
 a sort of sorrowful embarrassment, for which I 
 was entirely at a loss to account. Suddenly she 
 resumed : 
 
 " I cannot let my name be mentioned in this 
 dreadful matter, but — I think I have some in- 
 formation — for the police. Will you give this 
 to — whomever you think proper?" 
 
 She handed me a sealed envelope, again met 
 my eyes with one of her dazzling glances, and 
 hurried away. She had gone no more than ten 
 or twelve yards, and I still was standing be- 
 wildered, watching her graceful, retreating fig- 
 ure, when she turned abruptly and came back. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 21 
 
 [Without looking directly at me, but alternately 
 glancing towards a distant corner of the square 
 and towards the house of Major-General Platt- 
 Houston, she made the following extraordinary 
 request : 
 
 " If you would do me a very great service, 
 for which I always would be grateful," — she 
 glanced at me with passionate intentness — 
 " when you have given my message to the proper 
 person, leave him and do not go near him any 
 more to-night ! " 
 
 Before I could find words to reply she gath- 
 ered up her cloak and ran. Before I could de- 
 termine whether or not to follow her (for her 
 words had aroused anew all my worst suspicions) 
 she had disappeared! I heard the whir of a 
 restarted motor at no great distance, and, in 
 the instant that Nayland Smith came running 
 down the steps, I knew that I had nodded at my 
 post. 
 
 " Smith ! " I cried as he joined me, " tell me 
 what we must do ! " 
 
 And rapidly I acquainted him with the inci- 
 dent. 
 
 I My friend looked very grave; then a grim 
 smile crept round his lips. 
 
 " She was a big card to play," he said ; " but 
 lie did not know that I held one to beat it." 
 
22 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 " What ! You know this girl ! Who is she? " 
 
 " She is one of the finest weapons in the en- 
 emy's armory, Petrie. But a woman is a two- 
 edged sword, and treacherous. To our great 
 good fortune, she has formed a sudden predilec- 
 tion, characteristically Oriental, for yourself. 
 Oh, you may scoff, but it is evident. She was 
 employed to get this letter placed in my hands. 
 Give it to me." 
 
 I did so. 
 
 " She has succeeded. Smell." 
 
 He held the envelope under my nose, and, with 
 a sudden sense of nausea, I recognized the 
 strange perfume. 
 
 " You know what this presaged in Sir Crich* 
 Jon's case? Can you doubt any longer? She 
 did not want you to share my fate, Petrie." 
 
 " Smith," I said unsteadily, " I have followed 
 your lead blindly in this horrible business and 
 have not pressed for an explanation, but I must 
 insist before I go one step farther upon knowing 
 what it all means." 
 
 " Just a few steps farther," he rejoined ; " as 
 far as a cab. We are hardly safe here. Oh, 
 you need not fear shots or knives. The man 
 whose servants are watching us now scorns to 
 employ such clumsy, tell-tale weapons." 
 
 Only three cabs were on the rank, and, as we 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 23 
 
 entered the first, something hissed past my ear. 
 missed both Smith and me by a miracle, and, 
 passing over the roof of the taxi, presumably fell 
 in the enclosed garden occupying the center of 
 the square. 
 
 " What was that? * I cried. 
 
 " Get in — quickly ! " Smith rapped back. 
 " It was attempt number one ! More than that 
 I cannot say. Don't let the man hear. He has 
 noticed nothing. Pull up the window on your 
 side, Petrie, and look out behind. Good ! We've 
 started." 
 
 The cab moved off with a metallic jerk, and I 
 turned and looked back through the little win- 
 dow in the rear. 
 
 " Someone has got into another cab. It is fol- 
 lowing ours, I think." 
 
 Nayland Smith lay back and laughed un- 
 mirthfully. 
 
 " Petrie," he said, " if I escape alive from this 
 business I shall know that I bear a charmed 
 life." 
 
 I made no reply, as he pulled out the dilapi- 
 dated pouch and filled his pipe. 
 
 " You have asked me to explain matters," he 
 continued, " and I will do so to the best of my 
 ability. You no doubt wonder why a servant of 
 the British Government, lately stationed in 
 
24 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 Burma, suddenly appears in London, in the char- 
 acter of a detective. I am here, Petrie — and I 
 bear credentials from the very highest sources 
 — because, quite by accident, I came upon a 
 clew. Following it up, in the ordinary course of 
 routine, I obtained evidence of the existence and 
 malignant activity of a certain man. At the 
 present stage of the case I should not be justi- 
 fied in terming him the emissary of an Eastern 
 Power, but I may say that representations are 
 shortly to be made to that Power's ambassador 
 in London." 
 
 He paused and glanced back towards the pur- 
 suing cab. 
 
 " There is little to fear until we arrive home," 
 he said calmly. "Afterwards there is much. 
 To continue: This man, whether a fanatic or 
 a duly appointed agent, is, unquestionably, the 
 most malign and formidable personality exist- 
 ing in the known world to-day. He is a linguist 
 who speaks with almost equal facility in any of 
 the civilized languages, and in most of the bar- 
 baric. He is an adept in all the arts and sciences 
 which a great university could teach him. He 
 also is an adept in certain obscure arts and 
 sciences which no university of to-day can teach. 
 He has the brains of any three men of genius. 
 Petrie, he is a mental giant." 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 25 
 
 " You amaze me!" I said. 
 
 " As to his mission among men. Why did M. 
 Jules Furneaux fall dead in a Paris opera house? 
 Because of heart failure? No! Because his 
 last speech had shown that he held the key to 
 the secret of Tongking. What became of the 
 Grand Duke Stanislaus? Elopement? Sui- 
 cide? Nothing of the kind. He alone was fully 
 alive to Russia's growing peril. He alone knew 
 the truth about Mongolia. Why was Sir Crich- 
 ton Davey murdered? Because, had the work 
 he was engaged upon ever seen the light it would 
 have shown him to be the only living English- 
 man who understood the importance of the 
 Tibetan frontiers. I say to you solemnly, Petrie, 
 that these are but a few. Is there a man who 
 would arouse the West to a sense of the awaken- 
 ing of the East, who would teach the deaf to 
 hear, the blind to see, that the millions only 
 await their leader? He will die. And this is 
 only one phase of the devilish campaign. The 
 others I can merely surmise." 
 
 "But, Smith, this is almost incredible! 
 What perverted genius controls this awful secret 
 movement?'* 
 
 " Imagine a person, tall, lean and feline, high- 
 shouldered, with a brow like Shakespeare and a 
 face like Satan, a close-shaven skull, and long, 
 
26 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 magnetic eyes of the true cat-green. Invest him 
 with all the cruel cunning of an entire Eastern 
 race, accumulated in one giant intellect, with all 
 the resources of science past and present, with 
 all the resources, if you will, of a wealthy govern- 
 ment — which, however, already has denied all 
 knowledge of his existence. Imagine that awful 
 being, and you have a mental picture of Dr. Fu- 
 Manchu, the yellow peril incarnate in one man.' ? 
 
Chapter III 
 
 I SANK into an arm-chair in my rooms and 
 gulped down a strong peg of brandy. 
 " We have been followed here," I said. 
 "Why did you make no attempt to throw the 
 pursuers off the track, to have them inter- 
 cepted? " 
 
 Smith laughed. 
 
 " Useless, in the first place. Wherever we 
 went, he would find us. And of what use to ar- 
 rest his creatures? We could prove nothing 
 against them. Further, it is evident that an at- 
 tempt is to be made upon my life to-night — and 
 by the same means that proved so successful in 
 the case of poor Sir Crichton." 
 
 His square jaw grew truculently prominent, 
 and he leapt stormily to his feet, shaking his 
 clenched fists towards the window. 
 
 " The villain ! " he cried. " The fiendishly 
 clever villain! I suspected that Sir Crichton 
 was next, and I was right. But I came too late, 
 Petrie! That hits me hard, old man. To think 
 that I knew and yet failed to save him ! H 
 
 27 
 
28 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 He resumed his seat, smoking hard. 
 
 " Fu-Manchu has made the blunder common to 
 all men of unusual genius," he said. " He has 
 underrated his adversary. He has not given me 
 credit for perceiving the meaning of the scented 
 messages. He has thrown away one powerful 
 weapon — to get such a message into my hands 
 
 — and he thinks that once safe within doors, I 
 shall sleep, unsuspecting, and die as Sir Crich- 
 ton died. But without the indiscretion of your 
 charming friend, I should have known what to 
 expect when I received her ' information ' — 
 which, by the way, consists of a blank sheet of 
 paper." 
 
 "Smith," I broke in, "who is she?" 
 " She is either Fu-Manchu's daughter, his 
 wife, or his slave. I am inclined to believe the 
 last, for she has no will but his will, except" 
 
 — with a quizzical glance — "in a certain in- 
 stance." 
 
 " How can you jest with some awful thing 
 
 — Heaven knows what — hanging over your 
 head? What is the meaning of these perfumed 
 envelopes? How did Sir Crichton die? " 
 
 " He died of the Zayat Kiss. Ask me what 
 that is and I reply f I do not know/ The zayats 
 are the Burmese caravanserais, or rest-houses. 
 lAlong a certain route — upon which I set eyes, 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 29 
 
 for, the first and only time, upon Dr. Fu-Manchu 
 — travelers who use them sometimes die as Sir 
 Crichton died, with nothing to show the cause 
 of death but a little mark upon the neck, face, or 
 limb, which has earned, in those parts, the title 
 of the ' Zayat Kiss.' The rest-houses along that 
 route are shunned now. I have my theory and 
 I hope to prove it to-night, if I live. It will be 
 one more broken weapon in his fiendish armory, 
 and it is thus, and thus only, that I can hope to 
 crush him. This was my principal reason for 
 not enlightening Dr. Cleeve. Even walls have 
 ears where Fu-Manchu is concerned, so I feigned 
 ignorance of the meaning of the mark, knowing 
 that he would be almost certain to employ the 
 same methods upon some other victim. I wanted 
 an opportunity to study the Zayat Kiss in op- 
 eration, and I shall have one." 
 
 " But the scented envelopes? " 
 
 " In the swampy forests of the district I have 
 referred to a rare species of orchid, almost green, 
 and with a peculiar scent, is sometimes met 
 with. I recognized the heavy perfume at once. 
 I take it that the thing which kills the traveler 
 is attracted by this orchid. You will notice 
 that the perfume clings to whatever it touches. 
 I doubt if it can be washed off in the ordinary 
 way. After at least one unsuccessful attempt 
 
30 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 to kill Sir Crichton — you recall that lie thought 
 there was something concealed in his study on 
 a previous occasion? — Fu-Manchu hit upon the 
 perfumed envelopes. He may have a supply 
 of these green orchids in his possession — pos- 
 sibly to feed the creature." 
 
 " What creature? How could any kind of 
 creature have got into Sir Crichton's room to- 
 night?" 
 
 " You no doubt observed that I examined the 
 grate of the study. I found a fair quantity of 
 fallen soot. I at once assumed, since it ap- 
 peared to be the only means of entrance, that 
 something has been dropped down ; and I took it 
 for granted that the thing, whatever it was, 
 must still be concealed either in the study or 
 in the library. But when I had obtained the 
 evidence of the groom, Wills, I perceived that 
 the cry from the lane or from the park was a 
 signal. I noted that the movements of any- 
 one seated at the study table were visible, in 
 shadow, on the blind, and that the study occu- 
 pied the corner of a two-storied wing and, there- 
 fore, had a short chimney. What did the signal 
 mean? That Sir Crichton had leaped up from 
 his chair, and either had received the Zayat Kiss 
 or had seen the thing which someone on the 
 roof had lowered down the straight chimney. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 31 
 
 It was the signal to withdraw that deadly thing. 
 By means of the iron stairway at the rear of 
 Major-General Piatt-Houston's, I quite easily 
 gained access to the roof above Sir Crichton's 
 study — and I found this." 
 
 Out from his pocket Nayland Smith drew a 
 tangled piece of silk, mixed up with which were 
 a brass ring and a number of unusually large- 
 sized split-shot, nipped on in the manner usual 
 on a fishing-line. 
 
 ^ " My theory proven," he resumed. « Not an- 
 ticipating a search on the roof, they had been 
 careless. This was to weight the line and to 
 prevent the creature clinging to the walls of 
 the chimney. Directly it had dropped in the 
 grate, however, by means of this ring I assume 
 that the weighted line was withdrawn, and the 
 thing was only held by one slender thread, which 
 sufficed, though, to draw it back again when it 
 had done its work. It might have got tangled, 
 of course, but they reckoned on its making 
 straight up the carved leg of the writing-table 
 for the prepared envelope. From there to the 
 hand of Sir Crichton — which, from having 
 touched the envelope, would also be scented with 
 the perfume — was a certain move." 
 
 " My God ! How horrible ! " I exclaimed, and 
 glanced apprehensively into the dusky shadows 
 
32 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 of the room. " What is your theory respecting 
 this creature — what shape, what color — %V 
 
 " It is something that moves rapidly and si- 
 lently. I will venture no more at present, but 
 I think it works in the dark. The study was 
 dark, remember, save for the bright patch be* 
 neath the reading-lamp. I have observed that 
 the rear of this house is ivy-covered right up to 
 and above your bedroom. Let us make osten- 
 tatious preparations to retire, and I think we 
 may rely upon Fu-Manchu's servants to attempt 
 my removal, at any rate — if not yours." 
 
 " But, my dear fellow, it is a climb of thirty- 
 five feet at the very least." 
 
 " You remember the cry in the back lane? 
 It suggested something to me, and I tested my 
 idea — successfully. It was the cry of a da- 
 coit. Oh, dacoity, though quiescent, is by no 
 means extinct. Fu-Manchu has dacoits in his 
 train, and probably it is one who operates the 
 Zayat Kiss, since it was a dacoit who watched 
 the window of the study this evening. To such 
 a man an ivy-covered wall is a grand staircase." 
 
 The horrible events that followed are punctu- 
 ated, in my mind, by the striking of a distant 
 clock. It is singular how trivialities thus as- 
 sert themselves in moments of high tension. I 
 will proceed, then, by these punctuations, to the 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 33 
 
 coming of the horror that it was written we 
 should encounter. 
 
 The clock across the common struck two. 
 
 Having removed all traces of the scent of the 
 orchid from our hands with a solution of am- 
 monia, Smith and I had followed the programme 
 laid down. It was an easy matter to reach the 
 rear of the house, by simply climbing a fence, 
 and we did not doubt that, seeing the light go 
 out in the front, our unseen watcher would pro- 
 ceed to the back. 
 
 The room was a large one, and we had made 
 up my camp-bed at one end, stuffing odds and 
 ends under the clothes to lend the appearance of 
 a sleeper, which device we also had adopted in 
 the case of the larger bed. The perfumed en- 
 velope lay upon a little coffee table in the center 
 of the floor, and Smith, with an electric pocket 
 lamp, a revolver, and a brassey beside him, sat 
 on cushions in the shadow of the wardrobe. I 
 occupied a post between the windows. 
 
 No unusual sound, so far, had disturbed the 
 stillness of the night. Save for the muffled 
 throb of the rare all-night cars passing the front 
 of the house, our vigil had been a silent one. 
 The full moon had painted about the floor weird 
 shadows of the clustering ivy, spreading the de- 
 sign gradually from the door, across the room, 
 
34 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 past the little table where the envelope lay, and 
 finally to the foot of the bed. 
 
 The distant clock struck a quarter-past two. 
 
 A slight breeze stirred the ivy, and a new 
 shadow added itself to the extreme edge of the 
 moon's design. 
 
 Something rose, inch by inch, above the sill 
 of the westerly window. I could see only its 
 shadow, but a sharp, sibilant breath from Smith 
 told me that he, from his post, could see the 
 cause of the shadow. 
 
 Every nerve in my body seemed to be strung 
 tensely. I was icy cold, expectant, and pre- 
 pared for whatever horror was upon us. 
 
 The shadow became stationary. The dacoit 
 was studying the interior of the room. 
 
 Then it suddenly lengthened, and, craning my 
 head to the left, I saw a lithe, black-clad form, 
 surmounted by a yellow face, sketchy in the 
 moonlight, pressed against the window-panes! 
 
 One thin, brown hand appeared over the edge 
 of the lowered sash, which it grasped — and then 
 another. The man made absolutely no sound 
 whatever. The second hand disappeared — and 
 reappeared. It held a small, square box. 
 
 There was a very faint click. 
 
 The dacoit swung himself below the window 
 with the agility of an ape, as, with a dull, 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 35 
 
 muffled thud, something dropped upon the car- 
 pet! 
 
 " Stand still, for your life ! " came Smith's 
 voice, high-pitched. 
 
 A beam of white leaped out across the room 
 and played full upon the coffee-table in the 
 center. 
 
 Prepared as I was for something horrible, I 
 know that I paled at sight of the thing that 
 was running round the edge of the envelope. 
 
 It was an insect, full six inches long, and of 
 a vivid, venomous, red color! It had something 
 of the appearance of a great ant, with its long, 
 quivering antennae and its febrile, horrible vi- 
 tality ; but it was proportionately longer of body 
 and smaller of head, and had numberless rapidly 
 moving legs. In *hort, it was a giant centipede, 
 apparently of the scolopendra group, but of a 
 form quite new to me. 
 
 These things I realized in one breathless 
 instant ; in the next — Smith had dashed the 
 thing's poisonous life out with one straight, true 
 blow of the golf club ! 
 
 I leaped to the window and threw it widely 
 open, feeling a silk thread brush my hand as I 
 did so. A black shape was dropping, with in- 
 credible agility from branch to branch of the ivy, 
 and, without once offering a mark for a revolver- 
 
36 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 shot, it merged into the shadows beneath the 
 trees of the garden. 
 
 As I turned and switched on the light Nayland 
 Smith dropped limply into a chair, leaning his 
 head upon his hands. Even that grim courage 
 had been tried sorely. 
 
 " Never mind the dacoit, Petrie," he said. 
 " Nemesis will know where to find him. We 
 know now what causes the mark of the Zayat 
 Kiss. Therefore science is richer for our first 
 brush with the enemy, and the enemy is poorer — 
 unless he has any more unclassified centipedes. 
 I understand now something that has been puz- 
 zling me since I heard of it — Sir Crichton's 
 stifled cry. When we remember that he was al- 
 most past speech, it is reasonable to suppose that 
 his cry was not ' The red hand ! ' but ' The red 
 ant! ' Petrie, to think that I failed, by less than 
 an hour, to save him from such an end ! " 
 
Chapter IV 
 
 £ J^riHE body of a lascar, dressed in the man- 
 ner usual on the P. & O. boats, was re- 
 covered from the Thames off Tilbury 
 
 by the river police at six A. M. this morning. It is 
 
 supposed that the man met with an accident in 
 
 leaving his ship." 
 
 Nayland Smith passed me the evening paper 
 and pointed to the above paragraph. 
 
 " For ' lascar ? read * dacoit,' " he said. " Our 
 visitor, who came by way of the ivy, fortunately 
 for us, failed to follow his instructions. Also, 
 he lost the centipede and left a clew behind him. 
 Dr. Fu-Manchu does not overlook such lapses." 
 
 It was a sidelight upon the character of the 
 awful being with whom we had to deal. My 
 very soul recoiled from bare consideration of 
 the fate that would be ours if ever we fell into 
 his hands. 
 
 The telephone bell rang. I went out and 
 found that Inspector Weymouth of New Scotland 
 Yard had called us up. 
 
 37 
 
38 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 " Will Mr. Nayland Smith please come to tlie 
 Wapping River Police Station at once," was the 
 message. p 
 
 Peaceful interludes were few enough through- 
 out that wild pursuit. 
 
 " It is certainly something important/' said 
 my friend ; " and, if Fu-Manchu is at the bottom 
 of it — as we must presume him to be — probably 
 something ghastly." 
 
 A brief survey of the time-tables showed us 
 that there were no trains to serve our haste. 
 We accordingly chartered a cab and proceeded 
 east. 
 
 Smith, throughout the journey, talked enter- 
 tainingly about his work in Burma. Of intent, 
 I think, he avoided any reference to the circum- 
 stances which first had brought him in contact 
 with the sinister genius of the Yellow Movement. 
 His talk was rather of the sunshine of the East 
 than of its shadows. 
 
 But the drive concluded — and all too soon. 
 In a silence which neither of us seemed disposed 
 to break, we entered the police depot, and 
 followed an officer who received us, into the room 
 where Weymouth waited. 
 
 The inspector greeted us briefly, nodding 
 toward the table. 
 
 " Poor Oadby, the most promising lad at the 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 3D 
 
 Yard," he said; and his usually gruff voice had 
 softened strangely. 
 
 Smith struck his right fist into the palm of his 
 left hand and swore under his breath, striding 
 up and down the neat little room. No one spoke 
 for a moment, and in the silence I could hear the 
 whispering of the Thames outside — of the 
 Thames which had so many strange secrets to 
 tell, and now was burdened with another. 
 
 The body lay prone upon the deal table — this 
 latest of the river's dead — dressed in rough 
 sailor garb, and, to all outward seeming, a sea- 
 man of nondescript nationality — such as i# 
 no stranger in Wapping and Shadwell. Hi* 
 dark, curly hair clung clammily about the brown 
 forehead; his skin was stained, they told me. 
 He wore a gold ring in one ear, and three fingers 
 of the left hand were missing. 
 
 " It was almost the same with Mason." Tho 
 river police inspector was speaking. "A week, 
 ago, on a Wednesday, he went off in his own tim« 
 on some funny business down St. George's way 
 — and Thursday night the ten-o'clock boat got 
 the grapnel on him off Hanover Hole. His first 
 two fingers on the right hand were clean gone, 
 and his left hand was mutilated frightfully." 
 
 He paused and glanced at Smith. 
 
 "That lascar, too," he continued, "that you 
 
40 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 came down to see, sir; you remember his hands? " 
 
 Smith nodded. 
 
 " He was not a lascar," he said shortly. " He 
 was a dacoit." 
 
 Silence fell again. 
 
 I turned to the array of objects lying on thef 
 table — those which had been found in Cadby's 
 clothing. None of them were noteworthy, ex- 
 cept that which had been found thrust into the 
 loose neck of his shirt. This last it was which 
 had led the police to send for Nayland Smith, 
 for it constituted the first clew which had come 
 to light pointing to the authors of these mys- 
 terious tragedies. 
 
 It was a Chinese pigtail. That alone was 
 sufficiently remarkable; but it was rendered 
 more so by the fact that the plaited queue was a 
 false one, being attached to a most ingenious 
 bald wig. 
 
 " You're sure it wasn't part of a Chinese make- 
 up?" questioned Weymouth, his eye on the 
 strange relic. " Cadby was clever at disguise." 
 
 Smith snatched the wig from my hands with 
 a certain irritation, and tried to fit it on the dead 
 detective. 
 
 " Too small by inches ! " he jerked. " And 
 look how it's padded in the crown. This thing 
 was made for a most abnormal head." 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 41 
 
 He threw it down, and fell to pacing the room 
 again. 
 
 "Where did you find him — exactly?" he 
 asked. 
 
 " Limehouse Reach — under Commercial Dock 
 Pier — exactly an hour ago." 
 
 "And you last saw him at eight o'clock last 
 night?" — to Weymouth. 
 
 " Eight to a quarter past." 
 
 " You think he has been dead nearly twenty- 
 four hours, Petrie? " 
 
 " Roughly, twenty-four hours," I replied. 
 
 " Then, we know that he was on the track of 
 the Fu-Manchu group, that he followed up some 
 clew which led him to the neighborhood of old 
 Eatcliff Highway, and that he died the same 
 night. You are sure that is where he was 
 going? " 
 
 " Yes," said Weymouth. u He was jealous of 
 giving anything away, poor chap ; it meant a big 
 lift for him if he pulled the case off. But he 
 gave me to understand that he expected to spend 
 last night in that district. He left the Yard 
 about eight, as I've said, to go to his rooms, and 
 dress for the job." 
 
 " Did he keep any record of his cases? " 
 
 " Of course ! He was most particular. Cadby 
 was a man with ambitions, sir! You'll want to 
 
42 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 see his book. Wait while I get his address; it's 
 somewhere in Brixton." 
 
 He went to the telephone, and Inspector Ry- 
 man covered up the dead man's face. 
 
 Nayland Smith was palpably excited. 
 
 " He almost succeeded where we have failed, 
 iPetrie," he said. " There is no doubt in my 
 mind that he was hot on the track of Fu-Manchu ! 
 Poor Mason had probably blundered on the scent, 
 too, and he met with a similar fate. Without 
 other evidence, the fact that they both died in the 
 same way as the dacoit would be conclusive, for 
 we know that Fu-Manchu killed the dacoit ! " 
 
 " What is the meaning of the mutilated hands, 
 Smith?" 
 
 " God knows ! Cadby's death was from drown- 
 ing, you say? " 
 
 " There are no other marks of violence." 
 
 " But he was a very strong swimmer, Doctor," 
 interrupted Inspector Ryman. " Why, he pulled 
 off the quarter-mile championship at the Crystal 
 Palace last year! Cadby wasn't a man easy to 
 drown. And as for Mason, he was an R.N.R., 
 and like a fish in the water ! " 
 
 Smith shrugged his shoulders helplessly. 
 
 " Let us hope that one day we shall know how 
 they died," he said simply. 
 
 kWeymouth returned from the telephone. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 43 
 
 " The address is No. — Cold Harbor Lane/' he 
 reported. " I shall not be able to come along, 
 but you can't miss it; it's close by the Brixton 
 Police Station. There's no family, fortunately; 
 he was quite alone in the world. His case-book 
 isn't in the American desk, which you'll find in 
 Ms sitting-room; it's in the cupboard in the cor- 
 ner — top shelf. Here are his keys, all intact. 
 I think this is the cupboard key." 
 
 Smith nodded. 
 
 " Come on, Petrie," he said. " We haven't a 
 second to waste." 
 
 Our cab was waiting, and in a few seconds we 
 were speeding along Wapping High Street. We 
 had. gone no more than a few hundred yards, I 
 think, when Smith suddenly slapped his open 
 hand down on his knee. 
 
 " That pigtail ! " he cried. " I have left it be- 
 hind ! We must have it, Petrie ! Stop ! Stop I " 
 
 The cab was pulled up, and Smith alighted. 
 
 " Don't wait for me," he directed hurriedly. 
 " Here, take Weymouth's card. Remember 
 where he said the book was? It's all we want. 
 Come straight on to Scotland Yard and meet me 
 there." 
 
 "But, Smith," I protested, "a few minutes 
 can make no difference ! " 
 
 " Can't it ! " he snapped. " Do you suppose 
 
U THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 
 
 Fu-Manchu is going to leave evidence like that 
 lying about? It's a thousand to one he has it al- 
 ready, but there is just a bare chance." 
 
 It was a new aspect of the situation and one 
 that afforded no room for comment ; and so lost 
 in thought did I become that the cab was out- 
 side the house for which I was bound ere I real- 
 ized that we had quitted the purlieus of Wap- 
 ping. Yet I had had leisure to review the whole 
 troop of events which had crowded my life since 
 the return of Nayland Smith from Burma. 
 Mentally, I had looked again upon the dead Sir 
 Crichton Davey, and with Smith had waited in 
 the dark for the dreadful thing that had killed 
 him. Now, with those remorseless memories 
 jostling in my mind, I was entering the house of 
 Fu-Manchu's last victim, and the shadow of that 
 giant evil seemed to lie upon it like a palpable 
 cloud. 
 
 Cadby's old landlady greeted me with a queer 
 mixture of fear and embarrassment in her man- 
 ner. 
 
 " I am Dr. Petrie," I said, " and I regret that 
 I bring bad news respecting Mr. Cadby." 
 
 " Oh, sir ! " she cried. " Don't tell me that 
 anything has happened to him ! " And divin- 
 ing something of the mission on which I was 
 come, for such sad duty often falls to the lot of 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 45 
 
 the medical man : " Oh, the poor, brave lad ! " 
 Indeed, I respected the dead man's memory 
 more than ever from that hour, since the sorrow 
 of the worthy old soul was quite pathetic, and 
 spoke eloquently for the unhappy cause of it. 
 
 " There was a terrible wailing at the back of the 
 house last night, Doctor, and I heard it again 
 to-night, a second before you knocked. Poor 
 lad ! It was the same when his mother died." 
 
 At the moment I paid little attention to her 
 words, for such beliefs are common, unfortu- 
 nately ; but when she was sufficiently composed I 
 went on to explain what I thought necessary. 
 And now the old lady's embarrassment took pre- 
 cedence of her sorrow, and presently the truth 
 came out : 
 
 " There's a — young lady — in his rooms, sir." 
 I started. This might mean little or might 
 mean much. 
 
 " She came and waited for him last night, Doc- 
 tor — from ten until half-past — and this morn- 
 ing again. She came the third time about an 
 hour ago, and has been upstairs since." 
 " Do you know her, Mrs. Dolan? " 
 Mrs. Dolan grew embarrassed again. 
 " Well, Doctor," she said, wiping her eyes the 
 while, " I do. And God knows he was a good 
 lad, and I like a mother to him ; but she is not the 
 
46 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 girl I should have liked a son of mine to take up 
 with." 
 
 At any other time, this would have been 
 amusing; now, it might be serious. Mrs. Dolan's 
 account of the wailing became suddenly signifi- 
 cant, for perhaps it meant that one of Fu- 
 Manchu's dacoit followers was watching the 
 house, to give warning of any stranger's ap- 
 proach! Warning to whom? It was unlikely 
 that I should forget the dark eyes of another of 
 Fu-Manchu's servants. Was that lure of men 
 even now in the house, completing her evil work? 
 
 " I should never have allowed her in his 
 rooms — " began Mrs. Dolan again. Then there 
 was an interruption. 
 
 A soft rustling reached my ears — intimately 
 feminine. The girl was stealing down ! 
 
 I leaped out into the hall, and she turned and 
 fled blindly before me — back up the stairs! 
 Taking three steps at a time, I followed her, 
 bounded into the room above almost at her heels, 
 and stood with my back to the door. 
 
 She cowered against the desk by the window, 
 
 | a slim figure in a clinging silk gown, which alone 
 
 'explained Mrs. Dolan's distrust. The gaslight 
 
 was turned very low, and her hat shadowed her 
 
 face, but could not hide its startling beauty, 
 
 could not mar the brilliancy of the skin, nor dim 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 47 
 
 the wonderful eyes of this modern Delilah. For 
 it was she ! 
 
 " So I came in time," I said grimly, and turned 
 the key in the lock. 
 
 " Oh ! " she panted at that, and stood facing 
 me, leaning back with her jewel-laden hands 
 clutching the desk edge. 
 
 " Give me whatever you have removed from 
 here," I said sternly, "and then prepare to ac- 
 company me." 
 
 She took a step forward, her eyes wide with 
 fear, her lips parted. 
 
 " I have taken nothing," she said. Her breast 
 was heaving tumultuously. " Oh, let me go ! 
 Please, let me go ! " And impulsively she threw 
 herself forward, pressing clasped hands against 
 my shoulder and looking up into my face with 
 passionate, pleading eyes. 
 
 It is with some shame that I confess how her 
 charm enveloped me like a magic cloud. Unfa- 
 miliar with the complex Oriental temperament, 
 I had laughed at Nayland Smith when he had 
 spoken of this girl's infatuation. " Love in the 
 East," he had said, " is like the conjurer's mango- 
 jtree; it is born, grows and flowers at the touch of 
 a hand." Now, in those pleading eyes I read 
 confirmation of his words. Her clothes or her 
 hair exhaled a faint perfume. Like all Fu- 
 
48 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 Manchu's servants, she was perfectly chosen for 
 her peculiar duties. Her beauty was wholly in- 
 toxicating. 
 
 But I thrust her away. 
 
 " You have no claim to mercy," I said. " Do 
 not count upon any. What have you taken from 
 here?" 
 
 She grasped the lapels of my coat. 
 
 " I will tell you all I can — all I dare," she 
 panted eagerly, fearfully. " I should know how 
 to deal with your friend, but with you I am lost ! 
 If you could only understand you would not be 
 so cruel." Her slight accent added charm to the 
 musical voice. " I am not free, as your English 
 women are. What I do I must do, for it is the 
 will of my master, and I am only a slave. Ah, 
 you are not a man if you can give me to the po- 
 lice. You have no heart if you can forget that 
 I tried to save you once." 
 
 I had feared that plea, for, in her own Oriental 
 fashion, she certainly had tried to save me from 
 a deadly peril once — at the expense of my 
 friend. But I had feared the plea, for I did not 
 know how to meet it. How could I give her up, 
 perhaps to stand her trial for murder? And 
 now I fell silent, and she saw why I was silent. 
 
 " I may deserve no mercy ; I may be even as 
 bad as you think ; but what have you to do with 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 49 
 
 the police? It is not your work to hound a 
 woman to death. Could you ever look another 
 woman in the eyes — one that you loved, and 
 know that she trusted you — if you had done 
 such a thing? Ah, I have no friend in all the 
 w r orld, or I should not be here. Do not be my 
 enemy, my judge, and make me worse than I am ; 
 be my friend, and save me — from him" The 
 tremulous lips were close to mine, her breath 
 fanned my cheek. " Have mercy on me." 
 
 At that moment I honestly would have given 
 half of my worldly possessions to have been 
 spared the decision which I knew I must come to. 
 After all, what proof had I that she was a willing 
 accomplice of Dr. Fu-Manchu? Furthermore, 
 she was an Oriental, and her code must neces- 
 sarily be different from mine. Irreconcilable as 
 the thing may be with Western ideas, Nayland 
 Smith had really told me that he believed the 
 girl to be a slave. Then there remained that 
 other reason why I loathed the idea of becoming 
 her captor. It was almost tantamount to be- 
 trayal! Must I soil my hands with such work? 
 
 Thus — I suppose — her seductive beauty ar- 
 gued against my sense of right. The jeweled 
 fingers grasped my shoulders nervously, and her 
 slim body quivered against mine as she watched 
 me, with all her soul in her eyes, in an abandon- 
 
SO THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 ment of pleading despair. Then I remembered 
 the fate of the man in whose room we stood. 
 
 " You lured Cadby to his death," I said, and 
 shook her off. 
 
 " No, no ! " she cried wildly, clutching at me. 
 " No, I swear by the holy name I did not ! I did { 
 not! I watched him, spied upon him — yes! 
 But, listen: it was because he would not be 
 warned that he met his death. I could not save 
 him ! Ah, I am not so bad as that. I will tell 
 you. I have taken his notebook and torn out the 
 last pages and burnt them. Look! in the grate. 
 The book was too big to steal away. I came 
 twice and could not find it. There, will you let 
 me go? " 
 
 " If you will tell me where and how to seize 
 Dr. Fu-Manchu — yes." 
 
 Her hands dropped and she took a backward 
 step. A new terror was to be read in her face. 
 
 " I dare not! I dare not ! " 
 
 " Then you would — if you dared? " 
 
 She was watching me intently. 
 
 " Not if you would go to find him," she said. 
 
 And, with all that I thought her to be, the 
 stern servant of justice that I would have had 
 myself, I felt the hot blood leap to my cheek at 
 all which the words implied. She grasped my 
 arm. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 51 
 
 " Could you hide me from him if I came to you, 
 and told you all I know? " 
 
 "The authorities — " 
 
 " Ah ! " Her expression changed. " They can 
 put me on the rack if they choose, but never one 
 word would I speak — never one little word." 
 
 She threw up her head scornfully. Then the 
 proud glance softened again. 
 
 " But I will speak for you." 
 
 Closer she came, and closer, until she could 
 whisper in my ear. 
 
 " Hide me from your police, from Mm, from 
 everybody, and I will no longer be his slave." 
 
 My heart was beating with painful rapidity. 
 I had not counted on this warring with a woman ; 
 moreover, it was harder than I could have dreamt 
 of. For some time I had been aware that by the 
 charm of her personality and the art of her 
 pleading she had brought me down from my judg- 
 ment seat — had made it all but impossible for 
 me to give her up to justice. Now, I was dis- 
 armed — but in a quandary. What should I 
 do? What could I do? I turned away from her 
 and walked to the hearth, in which some paper 
 ash lay and yet emitted a faint smell. 
 
 Not more than ten seconds elapsed, I am con- 
 fident, from the time that I stepped across the 
 room until I glanced back. But she had gone ! 
 
52 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 As I leapt to the door the key turned gently 
 from the outside. * 
 
 "Ma 'alesh!" came her soft whisper; "but I 
 am afraid to trust you — yet. Be comforted, for 
 there is one near who would have killed you had 
 I wished it. Kemember, I will come to you when- 
 ever you will take me and hide me." 
 
 Light footsteps pattered down the stairs. I 
 heard a stifled cry from Mrs. Dolan as the mys- 
 terious visitor ran past her. The front door 
 opened and closed. 
 
Chapter V 
 
 4 6 ^T HEN-YAN'S is a dope-shop in one of 
 ^^ the burrows off the old Eatcliff 
 Highway," said Inspector Weymouth. 
 " ' Singapore Charlie's/ they call it. It's a center 
 for some of the Chinese societies, I believe, but 
 all sorts of opium-smokers use it. There have 
 never been any complaints that I know of. T 
 don't understand this." 
 
 We stood in his room at New Scotland Yard, 
 bending over a sheet of foolscap upon which were 
 arranged some burned fragments from poor 
 Cadby's grate, for so hurriedly had the girl done 
 her work that combustion had not been complete. 
 
 "What do we make of this?" said Smith. 
 uc . . . Hunchback . . . lascar went up . . . 
 unlike others . . . not return . . . till Shen- 
 Yan ' (there is no doubt about the name, I think) 
 1 turned me out . . . booming sound . . . lascar 
 in . . . mortuary I could ident . . . not for 
 days, or suspici . . . Tuesday night in a different 
 make . . . snatch . . . pigtail . . .' " 
 
 " The pigtail again ! " rapped Weymouth. 
 
 63 
 
54 THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 
 
 " She evidently burned the torn-out pages all 
 together," continued Smith. " They lay flat, 
 and this was in the middle. I see the hand of 
 retributive justice in that, Inspector. Now we 
 have a reference to a hunchback, and what fol- 
 lows amounts to this: A lascar (amongst 
 several other persons) went up somewhere-— 
 presumably upstairs — at Shen-Yan's, and did 
 not come down again. Cadby, who was there dis- 
 guised, noted a booming sound. Later, he identi- 
 fied the lascar in some mortuary. We have no 
 means of fixing the date of this visit to Shen- 
 Yan's, but I feel inclined to put down the ' lascar 9 
 as the dacoit who was murdered by Fu-Manchu ! 
 It is sheer supposition, however. But that Cadby 
 meant to pay another visit to the place in a dif- 
 ferent c make-up ' or disguise, is evident, and that 
 the Tuesday night proposed was last night is a 
 reasonable deduction. The reference to a pigtail 
 is principally interesting because of what was 
 found on Cadby's body." 
 
 Inspector Weymouth nodded affirmatively, and 
 Smith glanced at his watch. 
 
 i " Exactly ten -twenty-three," he said. " I will 
 trouble you, Inspector, for the freedom of your 
 fancy wardrobe. There is time to spend an hour 
 in the company of Shen-Yan's opium friends." 
 
 Weymouth raised his eyebrows. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 55' 
 
 "It might be risky. What about an official 
 visit?" 
 
 Nayland Smith laughed. 
 
 " Worse than useless ! By your own showing, 
 the place is open to inspection. No ; guile against 
 guile! We are dealing with a Chinaman, with 
 the incarnate essence of Eastern subtlety, with 
 the most stupendous genius that the modern 
 Orient has produced." 
 
 "I don't believe in disguises," said Wey- 
 mouth, with a certain truculence. " It's mostly 
 played out, that game, and generally leads to 
 failure. Still, if you're determined, sir, there's 
 an end of it. Foster will make your face up. 
 What disguise do you propose to adopt? " 
 
 "A sort of Dago seaman, I think; something 
 like poor Cadby. I can rely on my knowledge 
 of the brutes, if I am sure of my disguise." 
 
 " You are forgetting me, Smith," I said. 
 
 He turned to me quickly. 
 
 " Petrie," he replied, " it is my business, un- 
 fortunately, but it is no sort of hobby." 
 
 " You mean that you can no longer rely upon 
 me? " I said angrily. 
 
 Smith grasped my hand, and met my rather 
 frigid stare with a look of real concern on his 
 gaunt, bronzed face. 
 
 " My dear old chap," he answered, " that was 
 
56 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 really unkind. You know that I meant some* 
 thing totally different." 
 
 " It's all right, Smith," I said, immediately 
 ashamed of my choler, and wrung his hand 
 heartily. " I can pretend to smoke opium as 
 well as another. I shall be going, too, Inspec- 
 tor." 
 
 As a result of this little passage of words, 
 some twenty minutes later two dangerous-look- 
 ing seafaring ruffians entered a waiting cab, ac- 
 companied by Inspector Weymouth, and were 
 driven off into the wilderness of London's night. 
 In this theatrical business there was, to my mind, 
 something ridiculous — almost childish — and I 
 could have laughed heartily had it not been that 
 grim tragedy lurked so near to farce. 
 
 The mere recollection that somewhere at our 
 journey's end Fu-Manchu awaited us was suffix 
 cient to sober my reflections — Fu-Manchu, who, 
 with all the powers represented by Nayland 
 Smith pitted against him, pursued his dark 
 schemes triumphantly, and lurked in hiding with- 
 in this very area which was so sedulously pa- 
 trolled — Fu-Manchu, whom I had never seen, 
 but whose name stood for horrors indefinable! 
 [Perhaps I was destined to meet the terrible Chin- 
 ese doctor to-night. 
 
 I ceased to pursue a train of thought which 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 57 
 
 promised to lead to morbid depths, and directed 
 my attention to what Smith was saying. 
 
 "We will drop down from Wapping and re- 
 connoiter, as you say the place is close to the 
 riverside. Then you can put us ashore some- 
 where below. Ryman can keep the launch close 
 to the back of the premises, and your fellows 
 will be hanging about near the front, near enough 
 to hear the whistle." 
 
 "Yes," assented Weymouth; "I've arranged 
 for that. If you are suspected, you shall give the 
 alarm?" 
 
 "I don't know," said Smith thoughtfully. 
 " Even in that event I might wait awhile." 
 
 " Don't wait too long," advised the Inspector. 
 " We shouldn't be much wiser if your next ap- 
 pearance was on the end of a grapnel, somewhere 
 down Greenwich Reach, with half your fingers 
 missing." 
 
 The cab pulled up outside the river police de- 
 pot, and Smith and I entered without delay, 
 four shabby-looking fellows who had been seated 
 in the office springing up to salute the Inspector, 
 who followed us in. 
 
 "Guthrie and Lisle," he said briskly, "get 
 along and find a dark corner which commands 
 the door of Singapore Charlie's off the old High- 
 way. You look the dirtiest of the troupe, 
 
58 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 Guthrie ; you might drop asleep on the pavement, 
 and Lisle can argue with you about getting home. 
 Don't move till you hear the whistle inside or 
 have my orders, and note everybody that goes 
 in and comes out. You other two belong to this 
 division? " 
 
 The C.I.D. men having departed, the remain- 
 ing pair saluted again. 
 
 " Well, you're on special duty to-night. You've 
 been prompt, but don't stick your chests out so 
 much. Do you know of a back way to Shen- 
 Yan's? " 
 
 The men looked at one another, and both 
 shook their heads. 
 
 " There's an empty shop nearly opposite, sir," 
 replied one of them. " I know a broken window 
 at the back where we could climb in. Then we 
 could get through to the front and watch from 
 there." 
 
 " Good ! " cried the Inspector. " See you are 
 not spotted, though ; and if you hear the whistle, 
 don't mind doing a bit of damage, but be inside 
 Shen-Yan's like lightning. Otherwise, wait for 
 orders." 
 
 Inspector Ryman came in, glancing at the 
 clock. 
 
 " Launch is waiting," he said. 
 
 u Right," replied Smith thoughtfully. " I am 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 59 
 
 half afraid, though, that the recent alarms may 
 have scared our quarry — your man, Mason, and 
 then Cadby. Against which we have that, so 
 far as he is likely to know, there has been no 
 clew pointing to this opium den. Remember, he 
 thinks Cadby's notes are destroyed." 
 
 " The w T hole business is an utter mystery to 
 me," confessed Ryman. " I'm told that there's 
 some dangerous Chinese devil hiding somewhere 
 in London, and that you expect to find him at 
 Shen-Yan's. Supposing he uses that place, which 
 is possible, how do you know he's there to-night? " 
 
 " I don't," said Smith ; " but it is the first clew 
 we have had pointing to one of his haunts, and 
 time means precious lives where Dr. Fu-Manchu 
 is concerned." 
 
 " Who is he, sir, exactly, this Dr. Fu-Manchu? " 
 
 " I have only the vaguest idea, Inspector ; but 
 he is no ordinary criminal. He is the greatest 
 genius which the powers of evil have put on earth 
 for centuries. He has the backing of a political 
 group whose wealth is enormous, and his mission 
 in Europe is to pave the way! Do you follow 
 me? He is the advance-agent of a movement so 
 epoch-making that not one Britisher, and not one 
 American, in fifty thousand has ever dreamed of 
 it." 
 
 Ryman stared, but made no reply, and we went 
 
60 THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 
 
 out, passing down to the breakwater and board- 
 ing the waiting launch. With her crew of three, 
 the party numbered seven that swung out into 
 the Pool, and, clearing the pier, drew in again 
 and hugged the murky shore. 
 
 The night had been clear enough hitherto, but 
 now came scudding rainbanks to curtain the 
 crescent moon, and anon to unveil her again and 
 show the muddy swirls about us. The view was 
 not extensive from the launch. Sometimes a 
 deepening of the near shadows would tell of a 
 moored barge, or lights high above our heads 
 mark the deck of a large vessel. In the floods of 
 moonlight gaunt shapes towered above ; in the en- 
 suing darkness only the oily glitter of the tide 
 occupied the foreground of the night-piece. 
 
 The Surrey shore was a broken wall of black- 
 ness, patched with lights about which moved 
 hazy suggestions of human activity. The bank 
 we were following offered a prospect even more 
 gloomy — - a dense, dark mass, amid which, some- 
 times, mysterious half-tones told of a dock gate, 
 or sudden high lights leapt flaring to the eye. 
 
 Then, out of the mystery ahead, a green light 
 grew and crept down upon us. A giant shape 
 loomed up, and frowned crushingly upon the 
 little craft. A blaze of light, the jangle of a bell, 
 and it was past. We were dancing in the wash 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 61 
 
 of one of the Scotch steamers, and the murk had 
 fallen again. 
 
 Discords of remote activity rose above the more 
 intimate throbbing of our screw, and we seemed 
 a pigmy company floating past the workshops 
 of Brobdingnagian toilers. The chill of the 
 near water communicated itself to me, and I felt 
 the protection of my shabby garments inadequate 
 against it. 
 
 Far over on the Surrey shore a blue light — 
 vaporous, mysterious — flicked translucent 
 tongues against the night's curtain. It was a 
 weird, elusive flame, leaping, wavering, magically 
 changing from blue to a yellowed violet, rising, 
 falling. 
 
 " Only a gasworks," came Smith's voice, and I 
 knew that he, too, had been watching those el- 
 fin fires. " But it always reminds me of a Mexi- 
 can teocalli, and the altar of sacrifice." 
 
 The simile was apt, but gruesome. I thought 
 of Dr. Fu-Manchu and the severed fingers, and 
 could not repress a shudder. 
 
 " On your left, past the wooden pier ! Not 
 where the lamp is — beyond that; next to the 
 dark, square building — Shen-Yan's." 
 
 It was Inspector Ryman speaking. 
 
 " Drop us somewhere handy, then," replied 
 Smith, "and lie close in, with your ears wide 
 
62 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 open. We may have to run for it, so don't go 
 far away." 
 
 From the tone of his voice I knew that the 
 night mystery of the Thames had claimed at 
 least one other victim. 
 
 " Dead slow," came Ryman's order. " We'll 
 put in to the Stone Stairs." 
 
Chapter VI 
 
 A SEEMINGLY drunken voice was dron- 
 ing from a neighboring alleyway as 
 Smith lurched in hulking fashion to the. 
 door of a little shop above which, crudely 
 painted, were the words: 
 
 " SHEN-YAN, Barber." 
 
 I shuffled along behind him, and had time to 
 note the box of studs, German shaving tackle and 
 rolls of twist which lay untidily in the window 
 ere Smith kicked the door open, clattered down 
 three wooden steps, and pulled himself up with 
 a jerk, seizing my arm for support. 
 
 We stood in a bare and very dirty room, which 
 could only claim kinship with a civilized shaving- 
 saloon by virtue of the grimy towel thrown 
 across the back of the solitary chair. A Yid- 
 dish theatrical bill of some kind, illustrated, 
 adorned one of the walls, and another bill, in 
 what may have been Chinese, completed the dec- 
 orations. From behind a curtain heavily bro- 
 caded with filth a little Chinaman appeared, 
 dressed in a loose smock, black trousers and 
 
 63 
 
64 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 thick-soled slippers, and, advancing, shook his 
 head vigorously. 
 
 " No shavee — no shavee," he chattered, 
 simian fashion, squinting from one to the other 
 of us with his twinkling eyes. " Too late ! 
 Shuttee shop ! " 
 
 " Don't you come none of it wi' me ! " roared 
 Smith, in a voice of amazing gruffness, and shook 
 an artificially dirtied fist under the Chinaman's 
 nose. " Get inside and gimme an' my mate a 
 couple o' pipes. Smokee pipe, you yellow scum 
 — savvy? " 
 
 My friend bent forward and glared into the 
 other's eyes with a vindictiveness that amazed 
 me, unfamiliar as I was with this form of gentle 
 persuasion. 
 
 " Kop 'old o' that," he said, and thrust a coin 
 into the Chinaman's yellow paw. " Keep me 
 waitin' an' I'll pull the dam' shop down, Charlie. 
 You can lay to it." 
 
 " No hab got pipee — " began the other. 
 
 Smith raised his fist, and Yan capitulated. 
 
 " Allee lightee," he said. " Full up — no loom. 
 You come see." 
 
 He dived behind the dirty curtain, Smith and I 
 following, and ran up a dark stair. The next 
 moment I found myself in an atmosphere which 
 was literally poisonous. It was all but un- 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 65 
 
 breathable, being loaded with, opium fumes. 
 Never before had I experienced anything like it. 
 Every breath was an effort. A tin oil-lamp on 
 a box in the middle of the floor dimly illumi- 
 nated the horrible place, about the walls of which 
 ten or twelve bunks were ranged and all of them 
 occupied. Most of the occupants were lying mo- 
 tionless, but one or two were squatting in their 
 bunks noisily sucking at the little metal pipes. 
 These had not yet attained to the opium-smoker's 
 Nirvana. 
 
 " No loom — samee tella you," said Shen-Yan, 
 complacently testing Smith's shilling with his 
 yellow, decayed teeth. 
 
 Smith walked to a corner and dropped cross- 
 legged, on the floor, pulling me down with him. 
 
 " Two pipe quick," he said. " Plenty room. 
 Two piecee pipe — or plenty heap trouble." 
 
 A dreary voice from one of the bunks came : 
 
 " Give 'im a pipe, Charlie, curse yer ! an' stop 
 'is palaver." 
 
 Yan performed a curious little shrug, rather 
 of the back than of the shoulders, and shuffled 
 to the box which bore the smoky lamp. Holding 
 a needle in the flame, he dipped it, when red-hot, 
 into an old cocoa tin, and withdrew it with a 
 bead of opium adhering to the end. Slowly 
 roasting this over the lamp, he dropped it into 
 
66 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 the bowl of the metal pipe which he held ready, 
 where it burned with a spirituous blue flame. 
 
 " Pass it over," said Smith huskily, and rose 
 on his knees with the assumed eagerness of a 
 slave to the drug. 
 
 Yan handed him the pipe, which he promptly 
 put to his lips, and prepared another for me. 
 
 "Whatever you do, don't inhale any," came 
 Smith's whispered injunction. 
 
 It was with a sense of nausea greater even 
 than that occasioned by the disgusting atmos- 
 phere of the den that I took the pipe and pre- 
 tended to smoke. Taking my cue from my 
 friend, I allowed my head gradually to sink 
 lower and lower, until, within a few minutes, I 
 sprawled sideways on the floor, Smith lying close 
 beside me. 
 
 " The ship's sinkin'," droned a voice from one 
 of the bunks. " Look at the rats." 
 
 Yan had noiselessly withdrawn, and I ex- 
 perienced a curious sense of isolation from my fel- 
 lows — from the whole of the Western world. 
 My throat was parched with the fumes, my head 
 ached. The vicious atmosphere seemed contami- 
 nating. I was as one dropped — 
 
 B Somewhere East of Suez, where the best is like the worst, 
 And there ain't no Ten Commandments and a man can raise 
 a thirst. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 67 
 
 Smith began to whisper softly. 
 
 "We have carried it through successfully so 
 far," he said. " I don't know if you have ob- 
 served it, but there is a stair just behind you, 
 half concealed by a ragged curtain. We are 
 near that, and well in the dark. I have seen 
 nothing suspicious so far — or nothing much. 
 But if there was anything going forward it 
 would no doubt be delayed until we new arrivals 
 were well doped. S-sh! " 
 
 He pressed my arm to emphasize the warning. 
 Through my half-closed eyes I perceived a 
 shadowy form near the curtain to which he had 
 referred. I lay like a log, but my muscles were 
 tensed nervously. 
 
 The shadow materialized as the figure moved 
 forward into the room with a curiously lithe 
 movement. 
 
 The smoky lamp in the middle of the place af- 
 forded scant illumination, serving only to indi- 
 cate sprawling shapes — here an extended hand, 
 brown or yellow, there a sketchy, corpse-like face; 
 whilst from all about rose obscene sighings and 
 murmurings in far-away voices — an uncanny, 
 animal chorus. It was like a glimpse of the In- 
 ferno seen by some Chinese Dante. But so close 
 to us stood the newcomer that I was able to 
 make out a ghastly parchment face, with small, 
 
68 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHTJ 
 
 oblique eyes, and a misshapen head crowned with 
 a coiled pigtail, surmounting a slight, hunched 
 body. There was something unnatural, inhu- 
 man, about that masklike face, and something 
 repulsive in the bent shape and the long, yellow 
 hands clasped one upon the other. 
 
 Fu-Manchu, from Smith's account, in no way 
 resembled this crouching apparition with the 
 death's-head countenance and lithe movements; 
 but an instinct of some kind told me that 
 we were on the right scent — that this was 
 one of the doctor's servants. How I came to 
 that conclusion, I cannot explain ; but with no 
 doubt in my mind that this was a member of the 
 formidable murder group, I saw the yellow man 
 creep nearer, nearer, silently, bent and peering. 
 
 He was watching us. 
 
 Of another circumstance I became aware, and 
 a disquieting circumstance. There were fewer 
 murmurings and sighings from the surrounding 
 bunks. The presence of the crouching figure had 
 created a sudden semi-silence in the den, which 
 could only mean that some of the supposed 
 opium-smokers had merely feigned coma and the 
 approach of coma. 
 
 Nayland Smith lay like a dead man, and trust- 
 ing to the darkness, I, too, lay prone and still, 
 but watched the evil face bending lower and 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 
 
 69 
 
 lower, until it came within a few inches of my 
 own. I completely closed my eyes. 
 
 Delicate fingers touched my right eyelid. Di- 
 vining what was coming, I rolled my eyes up, 
 as the lid was adroitly lifted and lowered again. 
 The man moved away. 
 
 I had saved the situation ! And noting anew 
 the hush about me — a hush in which I fancied 
 many pairs of ears listened — I was glad. For 
 just a moment I realized fully how, with the 
 place watched back and front, we yet were cut 
 off, were in the hands of Far Easterns, to some 
 extent in the power of members of that most 
 inscrutably mysterious race, the Chinese. 
 
 "Good," whispered Smith at my side. "I 
 don't think I could have done it. He took 
 me on trust after that. My God ! what an awful 
 face. Petrie, it's the hunchback of Cadby's 
 notes. Ah, I thought so. Do you see that?" 
 
 I turned my eyes round as far as was possible. 
 A man had scrambled down from one of the 
 bunks and was following the bent figure across 
 the room. 
 
 They passed around us quietly, the little 
 yellow man leading, with his curious, lithe gait, 
 and the other, an impassive Chinaman, following. 
 The curtain was raised, and I heard footsteps 
 receding on the stairs. 
 
fTO THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 " Don't stir/' whispered Smith. 
 
 An intense excitement was clearly upon him, 
 and he communicated it to me. Who was the 
 occupant of the room above? 
 
 Footsteps on the stair, and the Chinaman re- 
 appeared, recrossed the floor, and went out. The 
 little, bent man went over to another bunk, this 
 time leading up the stair one who looked like a 
 lascar. 
 
 " Did you see his right hand? " whispered 
 Smith. "A dacoit! They come here to report 
 and to take orders. Petrie, Dr. Fu-Manchu is 
 up there." 
 
 "What shall we do? "—softly. 
 
 " Wait. Then we must try to rush the stairs. 
 It would be futile to bring in the police first. 
 He is sure to have some other exit. I will give 
 the word while the little yellow devil is down 
 here. You are nearer and will have to go first, 
 but if the hunchback follows, I can then deal 
 with him." 
 
 Our whispered colloquy was interrupted by the 
 return of the dacoit, who recrossed the room as 
 the Chinaman had done, and immediately took 
 his departure. A third man, whom Smith 
 identified as a Malay, ascended the mysterious 
 stairs, descended, and went out; and a fourth, 
 whose nationality it was impossible to determine, 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 71 
 
 followed. Then, as the softly moving usher 
 crossed to a bunk on the right of the outer 
 door — 
 
 " Up you go, Petrie," cried Smith, for further 
 delay was dangerous and further dissimulation 
 useless. 
 
 I leaped to my feet. Snatching my revolver 
 from the pocket of the rough jacket I wore, I 
 bounded to the stair and went blundering up in 
 complete darkness. A chorus of brutish cries 
 clamored from behind, with a muffled scream ris- 
 ing above them all. But Nayland Smith was 
 close behind as I raced along a covered gangway, 
 in a purer air, and at my heels when I crashed 
 open a door at the end and almost fell into the 
 room beyond. 
 
 What I saw were merely a dirty table, with 
 some odds and ends upon it of which I was too 
 excited to take note, an oil-lamp swung by a 
 brass chain above, and a man sitting behind the 
 table. But from the moment that my gaze rested 
 upon the one who sat ttiere, I think if the place 
 had been an Aladdin's palace I should have had 
 no eyes for any of its wonders. 
 
 He wore a plain yellow robe, of a hue almost 
 identical with that of his smooth, hairless coun- 
 tenance. His hands were large, long and bony, 
 and he held them knuckles upward, and rested, 
 
72 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 his pointed chin upon their thinness. He had 
 a great, high brow, crowned with sparse, neutral- 
 colored hair. 
 
 Of his face, as it looked out at me over the 
 dirty table, I despair of writing convincingly. 
 It was that of an archangel of evil, and it was 
 wholly dominated by the most uncanny eyes that 
 ever reflected a human soul, for they were nar- 
 row and long, very slightly oblique, and of a bril- 
 liant green. But their unique horror lay in a cer- 
 tain filminess (it made me think of the memhrana 
 nictitans in a bird) which, obscuring them as I 
 threw wide the door, seemed to lift as I actually 
 passed the threshold, revealing the eyes in all 
 their brilliant iridescence. 
 
 I know that I stopped dead, one foot within 
 the room, for the malignant force of the man 
 was something surpassing my experience. He 
 was surprised by this sudden intrusion — yes, 
 but no trace of fear showed upon that wonderful 
 face, only a sort of pitying contempt. And, as 
 I paused, he rose slowly to his feet, never re- 
 moving his gaze from mine. 
 
 u It's Fu-Manchu! " cried Smith over my 
 shoulder, in a voice that was almost a scream. 
 " It's Fu-Manchu! Cover him ! Shoot him dead 
 if— » 
 , The conclusion of that sentence I never heard. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 73 
 
 Dr. Fu-Manchu reached down beside the table, 
 and the floor slipped from under me. 
 
 One last glimpse I had of the fixed green eyes, 
 and with a scream I was unable to repress I 
 dropped, dropped, dropped, and plunged into icy 
 water, which closed over my head. 
 
 Vaguely I had seen a spurt of flame, had heard 
 another cry following my own, a booming sound 
 (the trap) , the flat note of a police whistle. But 
 when I rose to the surface impenetrable darkness 
 enveloped me; I was spitting filthy, oily liquid 
 from my mouth, and fighting down the black ter- 
 ror that had me by the throat — terror of the 
 darkness about me, of the unknown depths be- 
 neath me, of the pit into which I was cast amid 
 stifling stenches and the lapping of tidal water. 
 
 " Smith I" I cried. . . . "Help! Help!" 
 
 My voice seemed to beat back upon me, yet I 
 was about to cry out again, when, mustering all 
 my presence of mind and all my failing courage, 
 I recognized that I had better employment of 
 my energies, and began to swim straight ahead, 
 desperately determined to face all the horrors 
 of this place — to die hard if die I must. 
 
 A drop of liquid fire fell through the darkness 
 and hissed into the water beside me! 
 
 I felt that, despite my resolution, I was going 
 macL 
 
74 THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 
 
 Another fiery drop — and another! 
 
 I touched a rotting wooden post and slimy 
 timbers. I had reached one bound of my watery 
 prison. More fire fell from above, and the scream 
 of hysteria quivered, unuttered, in my throat. 
 
 Keeping myself afloat with increasing diffi- 
 culty in my heavy garments, I threw my head 
 back and raised my eyes. 
 
 No more drops fell, and no more drops would 
 fall ; but it was merely a question of time for the 
 floor to collapse. For it was beginning to emit 
 a dull, red glow. 
 
 The room above me was in flames ! 
 
 It was drops of burning oil from the lamp, find- 
 ing passage through the cracks in the crazy floor- 
 ing, which had fallen about me — for the death 
 trap had reclosed, I suppose, mechanically. 
 
 My saturated garments were dragging mel 
 down, and now I could hear the flames hungrily 
 eating into the ancient rottenness overhead. 
 Shortly that cauldron would be loosed upon my 
 head. The glow of the flames grew brighter 
 . . . and showed me the half-rotten piles uphold- 
 ing the building, showed me the tidal mark upon 
 the slime-coated walls — showed me that there 
 was no escape! 
 
 By some subterranean duct the foul place was 
 fed from the Thames. By that duct, with th£ 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 75 
 
 outgoing tide, my body would pass, in the wake 
 of Mason, Cadby, and many another victim ! 
 
 Rusty iron rungs were affixed to one of the walls 
 communicating with a trap — but the bottom 
 three were missing ! 
 
 Brighter and brighter grew the awesome light 
 
 — the light of what should be my funeral pyre — 
 reddening the oily water and adding a new dread 
 to the whispering, clammy horror of the pit. 
 But something it showed me ... a projecting 
 beam a few feet above the water . . . and di- 
 rectly below the iron ladder! 
 
 " Merciful Heaven ! " I breathed. " Have I the 
 strength ? " 
 
 A desire for laughter claimed me with sudden, 
 all but irresistible force. I knew what it por- 
 tended and fought it down — grimly, sternly. 
 
 My garments weighed upon me like a suit of 
 mail ; with my chest aching dully, my veins throb- 
 bing to bursting, I forced tired muscles to work, 
 and, every stroke an agony, approached the beam. 
 Nearer I swam . . . nearer. Its shadow fell 
 black upon the water, which now had all the 
 seeming of a pool of blood. Confused sounds 
 
 — a remote uproar — came to my ears. I was 
 nearly spent ... I was in the shadow of the 
 beam ! If I could throw up one arm . . . 
 
 A shrill scream sounded far above me ! 
 
,76 THE INSIDIOUS DR FU-MAN^HU 
 
 "Petrie! Petrie!" (That voice must be 
 Smith's ! ) " Don't touch the beam ! For God's 
 sake don't touch the beam! Keep afloat another 
 few seconds and I can get to you ! " / 
 
 Another few seconds! Was that possible? 
 
 I managed to turn, to raise my throbbing 
 head; and I saw the strangest sight which that 
 night yet had offered. 
 
 Nayland Smith stood upon the lowest iron 
 rung . . . supported by the hideous, crook- 
 backed Chinaman, who stood upon the rung 
 above ! 
 
 " I can't reach him ! " 
 
 It was as Smith hissed the words despairingly 
 that I looked up — and saw the Chinaman snatch 
 at his coiled pigtail and pull it off! With it 
 came the wig to which it was attached; and the 
 ghastly yellow mask, deprived of its fastenings, 
 fell from position! 
 
 " Here ! Here ! Be quick ! Oh ! be quick ! 
 You can lower this to him! Be quick! Be 
 quick ! " 
 
 A cloud of hair came falling about the slim 
 shoulders as the speaker bent to pass this strange 
 lifeline to Smith; and I think it was my wonder 
 at knowing her for the girl whom that day I had 
 surprised in Cadby's rooms which saved my life. 
 
 For I not only kept afloat, but kept my gaze 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 77 
 
 upturned to that beautiful, flushed face, and my 
 eyes fixed upon hers — which were wild with 
 fear . . . for me! 
 
 Smith, by some contortion, got the false queue 
 into my grasp, and I, with the strength of desper- 
 ation, by that means seized hold upon the lowest 
 rung. With my friend's arm round me I realized 
 that exhaustion was even nearer than I had sup- 
 posed. My last distinct memory is of the burst- 
 ing of the floor above and the big burning joist 
 hissing into the pool beneath us. Its fiery pas- 
 sage, striated with light, disclosed two sword 
 blades, riveted, edges up along the top of the 
 beam which I had striven to reach. 
 
 " The severed fingers — " I said; and swooned. 
 
 How Smith got me through the trap I do not 
 know — nor how we made our way through the 
 smoke and flames of the narrow passage it opened 
 upon. My next recollection is of sitting up, with 
 my friend's arm supporting me and Inspector 
 Ryman holding a glass to my lips. 
 
 A bright glare dazzled my eyes. A crowd 
 surged about us, and a clangor and shouting 
 drew momentarily nearer. 
 
 " It's the engines coming," explained Smith, 
 seeing my bewilderment. " Shen-Yan's is in 
 flames. It was your shot, as you fell through 
 the trap, broke the oil-lamp." 
 
78 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 " Is everybody out? " 
 
 " So far as we know." 
 
 "Fu-Manchu?" 
 
 Smith shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " No one has seen him. There was some door 
 i at the back — " 
 
 " Do you think he may — " 
 
 " No," he said tensely. " Not until I see him 
 lying dead before me shall I believe it." 
 
 Then memory resumed its sway. I struggled 
 to my feet. 
 
 "Smith, where is she?" I cried. "Where is 
 she?" 
 
 " I don't know," he answered. 
 
 " She's given us the slip, Doctor," said In- 
 spector Weymouth, as a fire-engine came swing- 
 ing round the corner of the narrow lane. " So 
 has Mr. Singapore Charlie — and, I'm afraid, 
 somebody else. We've got six or eight all-sorts, 
 some awake and some asleep, but I suppose we 
 shall have to let 'em go again. Mr. Smith tells 
 me that the girl was disguised as a Chinaman. 
 I expect that's why she managed to slip away." 
 
 I recalled how I had been dragged from the 
 pit by the false queue, how the strange discov- 
 ery which had brought death to poor Cadby had 
 brought life to me, and I seemed to remember, 
 too, that Smith had dropped it as he threw his 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 79 
 
 arm about me on the ladder. Her mask the 
 girl might have retained, but her wig, I felt cer- 
 tain, had been dropped into the water. 
 
 It was later that night, when the brigade still 
 were playing upon the blackened shell of what 
 had been Shen-Yan's opium-shop, and Smith and 
 I were speeding away in a cab from the scene 
 of God knows how many crimes, that I had an 
 idea. 
 
 " Smith," I said, " did you bring the pigtail 
 with you that was found on Cadby?" 
 
 " Yes. I had hoped to meet the owner." 
 
 "Have you got it now?" 
 
 " No. I met the owner." 
 
 I thrust my hands deep into the pockets of the 
 big pea-jacket lent to me by Inspector Ryman, 
 leaning back in my corner. 
 
 " We shall never really excel at this business," 
 continued Nayland Smith. "We are far too 
 sentimental. I knew what it meant to us, Petrie, 
 what it meant to the world, but I hadn't the 
 heart. I owed her your life — I had to square 
 the account." 
 
Chapter VII 
 
 NIGHT fell on Kedmoat. I glanced from 
 the window at the nocturne in silver and 
 green which lay beneath ine. To the west 
 of the shrubbery, with its broken canopy of elms 
 and beyond the copper beech which marked the 
 center of its mazes, a gap offered a glimpse of the 
 Waverney where it swept into a broad. Faint 
 bird-calls floated over the water. These, with 
 the whisper of leaves, alone claimed the ear. 
 
 Ideal rural peace, and the music of an Eng- 
 lish summer evening; but to my eyes, every 
 shadow holding fantastic terrors; to my ears, 
 every sound a signal of dread. For the deathful 
 hand of Fu-Manchu was stretched over Redmoat, 
 at any hour to loose strange, Oriental horrors 
 upon its inmates. 
 
 " Well," said Nayland Smith, joining me at the 
 window, " we had dared to hope him dead, but 
 we know now that he lives ! " 
 
 The Rev. J. D. Eltham coughed nervously, and 
 I turned, leaning my elbow upon the table, and 
 
 80 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 81 
 
 studied the play of expression upon the refined, 
 sensitive face of the clergyman. 
 
 " You think I acted rightly in sending for you, 
 Mr. Smith?" 
 
 Nayland Smith smoked furiously. 
 
 "Mr. Elthain," he replied, "you see in me a 
 man groping in the dark. I am to-day no nearer 
 to the conclusion of my mission than upon the 
 day when I left Mandalay. You offer me a clew ; 
 I am here. Your affair, I believe, stands thus: 
 A series of attempted burglaries, or something 
 of the kind, has alarmed your household. Yes- 
 terday, returning from London with your 
 daughter, you were both drugged in some way, 
 and, occupying a compartment to yourselves, you 
 both slept. Your daughter awoke, and saw some- 
 one else in the carriage — a yellow-faced man 
 who held a case of instruments in his hands." 
 
 "Yes; I was, of course, unable to enter into 
 particulars over the telephone. The man was 
 standing by one of the windows. Directly he 
 observed that my daughter was awake, he stepped 
 towards her." 
 
 " What did he do with the case in his hands? " 
 
 " She did not notice — or did not mention hav- 
 ing noticed. In fact, as was natural, she was so 
 frightened that she recalls nothing more, beyond 
 the fact that she strove to arouse me, without 
 
82 THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 
 
 succeeding, felt hands grasp her shoulders — and 
 swooned." 
 
 " But someone used the emergency cord, and 
 stopped the train." 
 
 " Greba has no recollection of having done 
 so." 
 
 " Hm ! Of course, no yellow-faced man was 
 on the train. When did you awake? " 
 
 " I w T as aroused by the guard, but only when 
 he had repeatedly shaken me." 
 
 " Upon reaching Great Yarmouth you imme- 
 diately called up Scotland Yard? You acted 
 very wisely, sir. How long were you in China? " 
 
 Mr. Eltham's start of surprise was almost 
 comical. 
 
 " It is perhaps not strange that you should be 
 aware of my residence in China, Mr. Smith," he 
 said ; " but my not having mentioned it may seem 
 so. The fact is " — his sensitive face flushed in 
 palpable embarrassment — " I left China under 
 what I may term an episcopal cloud. I have 
 lived in retirement ever since. Unwittingly — 
 I solemnly declare to you, Mr. Smith, unwit- 
 tingly — I stirred up certain deep-seated preju- 
 dices in my endeavors to do my duty — my duty. 
 I think you asked me how long I was in China? 
 I was there from 1896 until 1900 — four years." 
 
 " I recall the circumstances, Mr. Eltham," said: 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 83 
 
 Smith, with an odd note in his voice. " I have 
 been endeavoring to think where I had come 
 across the name, and a moment ago I remem- 
 bered. I am happy to have met you, sir." 
 
 The clergyman blushed again like a girl, and 
 slightly inclined his head, with its scanty fair 
 hair. 
 
 " Has Redmoat, as its name implies, a moat 
 tound it? I was unable to see in the dusk." 
 
 " It remains. Redmoat — a corruption of 
 Kound Moat — was formerly a priory, disestab- 
 lished by the eighth Henry in 1536." His pedan- 
 tic manner was quaint at times. " But the moat 
 is no longer flooded. In fact, we grow cabbages 
 m part of it. If you refer to the strategic 
 strength of the place " — he smiled, but his man- 
 ner was embarrassed again — " it is considerable. 
 I have barbed wire fencing, and — other arrange- 
 ments. You see, it is a lonelj spot," he added 
 apologetically. "And now, if you will excuse 
 me, we will resume these gruesome inquiries after 
 the more pleasant affairs of dinner." 
 
 He left us. 
 
 "Who is our host?" I asked, as the door 
 closed. 
 
 Smith smiled. 
 
 " You are wondering what caused the t episco- 
 pal cloud'?" he suggested. "Well, the deep- 
 
$4 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 seated prejudices which our reverend friend 
 stirred up culminated in the Boxer Kisings." 
 
 " Good heavens, Smith ! " I said ; for I could 
 not reconcile the diffident personality of the 
 clergyman with the memories which those words 
 awakened. 
 
 " He evidently should be on our danger list/' 
 my friend continued quickly ; " but he has so com- 
 pletely effaced himself of recent years that I 
 think it probable that someone else has only just 
 recalled his existence to mind. The Rev. J. D. 
 Eltham, my dear Petrie, though he may be a poor 
 hand at saving souls, at any rate, has saved a 
 score of Christian women from death — and 
 worse." 
 
 " J. D. Eltham — " I began. 
 
 " Is ' Parson Dan ' ! " rapped Smith, " the 
 i Fighting Missionary/ the man who with a gar- 
 rison of a dozen cripples and a German doctor 
 held the hospital at Nan-Yang against two hun- 
 dred Boxers. That's who the Rev. J. D. Eltham 
 is! But what is he up to, now, I have yet to 
 find out. He is keeping something back — 
 something which has made him an object of in- 
 terest to Young China ! " 
 
 During dinner the matters responsible for our 
 presence there did not hold priority in the con- 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 85 
 
 versation. In fact, this, for the most part, con- 
 sisted in light talk of books and theaters. 
 
 Greba Eltham, the clergyman's daughter, was 
 a charming young hostess, and she, with Vernon 
 Denby, Mr. Eltham's nephew, completed the 
 .party. No doubt the girPs presence, in part, at 
 /any rate, led us to refrain from the subject up- 
 permost in our minds. 
 
 These little pools of calm dotted along the tor- 
 rential course of the circumstances which were 
 bearing my friend and I onward to unknown 
 issues form pleasant, sunny spots in my dark 
 recollections. 
 
 So I shall always remember, with pleasure, 
 that dinner-party at Eedmoat, in the old-world 
 dining-room; it was so very peaceful, so almost 
 grotesquely calm. For I, within my very bones, 
 felt it to be the calm before the storm. 
 
 When, later, we men passed to the library, we 
 seemed to leave that atmosphere behind us. 
 
 " Eedmoat," said the Rev. J. D. Eltham, " has 
 latterly become the theater of strange doings." 
 
 He stood on the hearth-rug. A shaded lamp 
 upon the big table and candles in ancient sconces 
 upon the mantelpiece afforded dim illumination. 
 Mr. Eltham's nephew, Vernon Denby, lolled 
 smoking on the window-seat, and I sat near to 
 
S6 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 him. Nayland Smith paced restlessly up and 
 down the room. 
 
 " Some months ago, almost a year," continued 
 the clergyman, " a burglarious attempt was made 
 upon the house. There was an arrest, and the 
 man confessed that he had been tempted by my 
 collection." He waved his hand vaguely to- 
 wards the several cabinets about the shadowed 
 room. 
 
 " It was shortly afterwards that I allowed my 
 hobby for — playing at forts to run away with; 
 me." He smiled an apology. " I virtually 
 fortified Redmoat — against trespassers of any 
 kind, I mean. You have seen that the house 
 stands upon a kind of large mound. This is 
 artificial, being the buried ruins of a Roman out- 
 work ; a portion of the ancient castrum." Again 
 he waved indicatively, this time toward the 
 window. 
 
 " When it was a priory it was completely iso- 
 lated and defended by its environing moat. To- 
 day it is completely surrounded by barbed-wire 
 fencing. Below this fence, on the east, is a nar- 
 row stream, a tributary of the Waverney; on 
 the north and west, the high road, but nearly 
 twenty feet below, the banks being perpendicular. 
 On the south is the remaining part of the moat 
 ■ — now my kitchen garden ; but from there up to 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 87 
 
 the level of the house is nearly twenty feet 
 again, and the barbed wire must also be counted 
 with. 
 
 " The entrance, as you know, is by the way of 
 a kind of cutting. There is a gate at the foot 
 of the steps (they are some of the original steps 
 of the priory, Dr. Petrie), and another gate at 
 the head." 
 
 He paused, and smiled around upon us boy- 
 ishly. 
 
 " My secret defenses remain to be mentioned,'' 
 he resumed ; and, opening a cupboard, he pointed 
 to a row of batteries, with a number of electric 
 bells upon the wall behind. " The more vulner- 
 able spots are connected at night with these 
 bells," he said triumphantly. " Any attempt to 
 scale the barbed wire or to force either gate would 
 set two or more of these ringing. A stray cow 
 raised one false alarm," he added, " and a care- 
 less rook threw us into a perfect panic on an- 
 other occasion." 
 
 He was so boyish — so nervously brisk and 
 acutely sensitive — that it was difficult to see in 
 him the hero of the Nan- Yang hospital. I could 
 only suppose that he had treated the Boxers' 
 raid in the same spirit wherein he met would-be 
 trespassers within the precincts of Redmoat. It 
 had been an escapade, of which he was after- 
 
88 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 wards ashamed, as, faintly, he was ashamed of 
 his " fortifications." 
 
 " But," rapped Smith, " it was not the visit 
 of the burglar which prompted these elaborate 
 precautions." 
 
 Mr. Eltham coughed nervously. 
 
 " I am aware," he said, " that, having invoked 
 official aid, I must be perfectly frank with you, 
 Mr. Smith. It was the burglar who was re- 
 sponsible for my continuing the wire fence all 
 round the grounds, but the electrical contrivance 
 followed, later, as a result of several disturbed 
 nights. My servants grew uneasy about someone 
 who came, they said, after dusk. No one could 
 describe this nocturnal visitor, but certainly we 
 found traces. I must admit that. 
 
 " Then — I received what I may term a warn- 
 ing. My position is a peculiar one — a peculiar 
 one. My daughter, too, saw this prowling per- 
 son, over by the Roman castrum, and described 
 him as a yellow man. It was the incident in 
 the train, following closely upon this other, which 
 led me to speak to the police, little as I desired 
 to — er — court publicity." 
 
 Nayland Smith walked to a window, and 
 looked out across the sloping lawn to where the 
 shadows of the shrubbery lay. A dog was howl- 
 ing dismally somewhere. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 89 
 
 " Your defenses are not impregnable, after all, 
 then?" he jerked. "On our way up this even- 
 ing Mr. Denby was telling us about the death of 
 his collie a few nights ago." 
 
 The clergyman's face clouded. 
 
 " That, certainly, was alarming," he confessed. 
 " I had been in London for a few days, and dur- 
 ing my absence Vernon came down, bringing 
 the dog with him. On the night of his arrival 
 it ran, barking, into the shrubbery yonder, and 
 did not come out. He went to look for it with a 
 lantern, and found it lying among the bushes,, 
 quite dead. The poor creature had been dread- 
 fully beaten about the head." 
 
 " The gates were locked," Denby interrupted, 
 " and no one could have got out of the grounds 
 without a ladder and someone to assist him. 
 But there was so sign of a living thing about. 
 Edwards and I searched every corner." 
 
 " How long has that other dog taken to howl- 
 ing?" inquired Smith. 
 
 " Only since Rex's death," said Denby quickly. 
 
 " It is my mastiff," explained the clergyman, 
 "and he is confined in the yard. He is never 
 allowed on this side of the house." 
 
 Nayland Smith wandered aimlessly about the 
 library. 
 
 " I am sorry to have to press you, Mr. Eltham," 
 
90 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 he said, " but what was the nature of the warn- 
 ing to which you referred, and from whom did 
 it come? " 
 
 Mr. Eltham hesitated for a long time. 
 
 " I have been so unfortunate," he said at last, 
 "in my previous efforts, that I feel assured of 
 your hostile criticism when I tell you that I am 
 contemplating an immediate return to Ho-Nan ! V 
 
 Smith jumped round upon him as though 
 moved by a spring. 
 
 " Then you are going back to Nan -Yang? " he 
 cried. " Now I understand ! Why have you 
 not told me before? That is the key for which 
 I have vainly been seeking. Your troubles date 
 from the time of your decision to return?" 
 
 " Yes, I must admit it," confessed the clergy- 
 man diffidently. 
 
 " And your warning came from China? " 
 
 * It did." 
 
 " From a Chinaman? " 
 
 " From the Mandarin, Yen-Sun- Yat." 
 
 " Yen-Sun- Yat ! My good sir! He warned 
 you to abandon your visit? And you reject his 
 advice? Listen to me." Smith was intensely 
 excited now, his eyes bright, his lean figure curi- 
 ously strung up, alert. " The Mandarin Yen- 
 Sun- Yat is one of the seven ! " 
 
 " I do not follow you, Mr. Smith." 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 91 
 
 " No, sir. China to-day is not the China of 
 '98. It is a huge secret machine, and Ho-Nan 
 one of its most important wheels! But if, as 
 I understand, this official is a friend of yours, 
 believe me, he has saved your life! You would 
 I be a dead man now if it were not for your friend 
 in China! My dear sir, you must accept his 
 counsel." 
 
 Then, for the first time since I had made his 
 acquaintance, " Parson Dan " showed through 
 the surface of the Rev. J. D. Eltham. 
 
 " No, sir ! " replied the clergyman — and the 
 change in his voice was startling. " I am called 
 to Nan- Yang. Only One may deter my going." 
 
 The admixture of deep spiritual reverence with 
 intense truculence in his voice was dissimilar 
 from anything I ever had heard. 
 
 " Then only One can protect you," cried Smith, 
 " for, by Heaven, no man will be able to do so ! 
 Your presence in Ho-Nan can do no possible 
 good at present. It must do harm. Your ex- 
 perience in 1900 should be fresh in your memory." 
 
 " Hard words, Mr. Smith." 
 
 " The class of missionary work which you 
 favor, sir, is injurious to international peace. 
 At the present moment, Ho-Nan is a barrel of 
 gunpowder; you would be the lighted match. I 
 do not willingly stand between any man and 
 
92 THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 
 
 what he chooses to consider his duty, but I insist 
 that you abandon your visit to the interior of 
 China !" 
 
 " You insist, Mr. Smith? " 
 
 " As your guest, I regret the necessity for re- 
 minding you that I hold authority to enforce it." 
 
 Denby fidgeted uneasily. The tone of the con- 
 versation was growing harsh and the atmosphere 
 of the library portentous with brewing storms. 
 
 There was a short, silent interval. 
 
 " This is what I had feared and expected," said 
 the clergyman. " This was my reason for not 
 seeking official protection." 
 
 " The phantom Yellow Peril/' said Nayland 
 Smith, " to-day materializes under the very eyes 
 of the Western world." 
 
 " The < Yellow Peril ' ! " 
 
 " You scoff, sir, and so do others. We take 
 the proffered right hand of friendship nor inquire 
 if the hidden left holds a knife! The peace 
 of the world is at stake, Mr. Eltham. Un- 
 knowingly, you tamper with tremendous issues." 
 
 Mr. Eltham drew a deep breath, thrusting both 
 hands in his pockets. 
 
 " You are painfully f rank,T\Ir. Smith," he said ; 
 "but I like you for it. I will reconsider my 
 position and talk this matter over again with 
 you to-morrow." 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 93 
 
 Thus, then, the storm blew over. Yet I had 
 never experienced such an overwhelming sense 
 of imminent peril — of a sinister presence — as 
 oppressed me at that moment. The very at- 
 mosphere of Eedmoat was impregnated with 
 Eastern devilry ; it loaded the air like some evil 
 perfume. And then, through the silence, cut a 
 throbbing scream — the scream of a woman in 
 direst fear. 
 
 " My God, it's Greba! " whispered Mr. Elthanu 
 
Chapter VIII 
 
 IN what order we dashed down to the draw- 
 ing-room I cannot recall. But none was be* 
 fore me when I leaped over the threshold and 
 saw Miss Eltham prone by the French windows. 
 
 These were closed and bolted, and she lay with 
 hands outstretched in the alcove which they 
 formed. I bent over her. Nayland Smith was 
 at my elbow. 
 
 " Get my bag," I said. " She has swooned. It 
 is nothing serious." 
 
 Her father, pale and wide-eyed, hovered about 
 me, muttering incoherently; but I managed to 
 reassure him; and his gratitude when, I having 
 administered a simple restorative, the girl sighed 
 shudderingly and opened her eyes, was quite 
 pathetic. 
 
 I would permit no questioning at that time, 
 and on her father's arm she retired to her own 
 rooms. 
 
 It was some fifteen minutes later that her mes- 
 sage was brought to me. I followed the maid 
 to a quaint little octagonal apartment, and 
 
 94 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 95 
 
 Greba Eltham stood before me, the candlelight 
 caressing the soft curves of her face and gleam- 
 ing in the meshes of her rich brown hair. 
 
 When she had answered my first question she 
 hesitated in pretty confusion. 
 
 " We are anxious to know what alarmed you, 
 Miss Eltham." 
 
 She bit her lip and glanced with apprehen- 
 sion towards the window. 
 
 " I am almost afraid to tell father," she began 
 rapidly. " He will think me imaginative, but 
 you have been so kind. It was two green eyes! 
 Oh! Dr. Petrie, they looked up at me from the 
 steps leading to the lawn. And they shone like 
 the eyes of a cat." 
 
 The words thrilled me strangely. 
 
 " Are you sure it was not a cat, Miss Eltham? " 
 
 " The eyes were too large, Dr. Petrie. There 
 was something dreadful, most dreadful, in their 
 appearance. I feel foolish and silly for having 
 fainted, twice in two days! But the suspense 
 is telling upon me, I suppose. Father thinks " 
 — she was becoming charmingly confidential, as 
 a woman often will with a tactful physician — 
 " that shut up here we are safe from — whatever 
 threatens us." I noted, with concern, a repeti- 
 tion of the nervous shudder. " But since our 
 return someone else has been in Redmoat ! " 
 
96 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 "Whatever do you mean, Miss Elthani?" 
 
 " Oh ! I don't quite know what I do mean, 
 Dr. Petrie. What does it all mean? Vernon 
 has been explaining to me that some awful 
 Chinaman is seeking the life of Mr. Nayland 
 Smith. But if the same man wants to kill my 
 father, why has he not done so? " 
 
 " I am afraid you puzzle me." 
 
 " Of course, I must do so. But — the man in 
 the train. He could have killed us both quite 
 easily ! And — last night someone was in 
 father's room." 
 
 " In his room ! " 
 
 " I could not sleep, and I heard something 
 moving. My room is the next one. I knocked 
 on the wall and woke father. There was noth- 
 ing ; so I said it was the howling of the dog that 
 had frightened me." 
 
 " How could anyone get into his room?" 
 
 " I cannot imagine. But I am not sure it was 
 a man." 
 
 " Miss Eltham, you alarm me. What do you 
 suspect? " 
 
 " You must think me hysterical and silly, but 
 whilst father and I have been away from Ked- 
 moat perhaps the usual precautions have been 
 neglected. Is there any creature, any large 
 creature, which could climb up the wall to the 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 97 
 
 window? Do you know of anything with a long, 
 thin body? " 
 
 For a moment I offered no reply, studying 
 the girl's pretty face, her eager, blue-gray eyes 
 widely opened and fixed upon mine. She was 
 not of the neurotic type, with her clear complex- 
 ion and sun-kissed neck; her arms, healthily 
 toned by exposure to the country airs, were 
 rounded and firm, and she had the agile shape 
 of a young Diana with none of the anaemic 
 languor which breeds morbid dreams. She was 
 frightened ; yes, who would not have been ? But 
 the mere idea of this thing which she believed to 
 be in Redmoat, without the apparition of the 
 green eyes, must have prostrated a victim of 
 " nerves." 
 
 " Have you seen such a creature, Miss Elt- 
 ham?" 
 
 She hesitated again, glancing down and press- 
 ing her finger-tips together. 
 
 " As father awoke and called out to know why 
 I knocked, I glanced from my window. The 
 moonlight threw half the lawn into shadow, and 
 just disappearing in this shadow was something 
 — something of a brown color, marked with 
 sections ! " 
 
 " What size and shape? " 
 
 " It moved so quickly I could form no idea of 
 
08 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 its shape; but I saw quite six feet of it flash 
 across the grass ! " 
 
 " Did you hear anything? " 
 
 "A swishing sound in the shrubbery, then 
 nothing more." 
 
 She met my eyes expectantly. Her confidence 
 in my powers of understanding and sympathy 
 was gratifying, though I knew that I but oc- 
 cupied the position of a father-confessor. 
 
 " Have you any idea," I said, " how it came 
 about that you awoke in the train yesterday 
 whilst your father did not? " 
 
 " We had coffee at a refreshment-room ; it 
 must have been drugged in some way. I scarcely 
 tasted mine, the flavor was so awful ; but father 
 is an old traveler and drank the whole of his 
 cupful ! " 
 
 Mr. Eltham's voice called from below. 
 
 " Dr. Petrie," said the girl quickly, " what do 
 you think they want to do to him?" 
 
 " Ah ! " I replied, " I wish I knew that." 
 
 " Will you think over what I have told you? 
 For I do assure you there is something here in 
 Eedmoat — something that comes and goes in 
 spite of father's ' fortifications ? ! Caesar knows* 
 there is. Listen to him. He drags at his chain 
 so that I wonder he does not break it." 
 
 As we passed downstairs the howling of the 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 99 
 
 mastiff sounded eerily through the house, as did 
 the clank-clank of the tightening chain as he 
 threw the weight of his big body upon it. 
 
 I sat in Smith's room that night for some time, 
 he pacing the floor smoking and talking. 
 
 " Eltham has influential Chinese friends," he 
 said ; " but they dare not have him in Nan- Yang 
 at present. He knows the country as he knows 
 Norfolk; he would see things! 
 
 " His precautions here have baffled the enemy, 
 I think. The attempt in the train points to an 
 anxiety to waste no opportunity. But whilst 
 Eltham was absent (he was getting his outfit in 
 London, by the way) they have been fixing some 
 second string to their fiddle here. In case no 
 opportunity offered before he returned, they pro- 
 vided for getting at him here ! " 
 
 "But how, Smith?" 
 
 " That's the mystery. But the dead dog in 
 the shrubbery is significant." 
 
 " Do you think some emissary of Fu-Manchu 
 is actually inside the moat? " 
 
 " It's impossible, Petrie. You are thinking of 
 secret passages, and so forth. There are none. 
 Eltham has measured up every foot of the place. 
 There isn't a rathole left unaccounted for; and 
 as for a tunnel under the moat, the house stands 
 on a solid mass of Roman masonry, a former 
 
100 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 camp of Hadrian's time. I have seen a very old 
 plan of the Round Moat Priory as it was called. 
 There is no entrance and no exit save by the 
 steps. So how was the dog killed? " 
 
 I knocked out my pipe on a bar of the grate. 
 
 " We are in the thick of it here," I said. 
 
 "We are always in the thick of it," replied 
 Smith. " Our danger is no greater in Norfolk 
 than in London. But what do they want to do? 
 That man in the train with the case of instru- 
 ments — wliat instruments ? Then the appari- 
 tion of the green eyes to-night. Can they have 
 been the eyes of Fu-Manchu? Is some peculiarly 
 unique outrage contemplated — something call- 
 ing for the presence of the master? " 
 
 " He may have to prevent Eltham's leaving 
 England without killing him." 
 
 " Quite so. He probably has instructions to 
 be merciful. But God help the victim of Chinese 
 mercy ! " 
 
 I went to my own room then. But I did not 
 even undress, refilling my pipe and seating my- 
 self at the open window. Having looked upon 
 the awful Chinese doctor, the memory of his face, 
 with its filmed green eyes, could never leave me. 
 The idea that he might be near at that moment 
 was a poor narcotic. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 101 
 
 The howling and baying of the mastiff was al- 
 most continuous. 
 
 When all else in Redmoat was still the dog's 
 mournful note yet rose on the night with some- 
 thing menacing in it. I sat looking out across 
 the sloping turf to where the shrubbery showed 
 as a black island in a green sea. The moon 
 swam in a cloudless sky, and the air was warm 
 and fragrant with country scents. 
 
 It was in the shrubbery that Denby's collie 
 had met his mysterious death — that the thing 
 seen by Miss Eltham had disappeared. What 
 uncanny secret did it hold? 
 
 Caesar became silent. 
 
 As the stopping of a clock will sometimes 
 awaken a sleeper, the abrupt cessation of that 
 distant howling, to which I had grown accus- 
 tomed, now recalled me from a world of gloomy 
 imaginings. 
 
 I glanced at my watch in the moonlight. It 
 was twelve minutes past midnight. 
 
 As I replaced it the dog suddenly burst out 
 afresh, but now in a tone of sheer anger. He 
 was alternately howling and snarling in a way 
 that sounded new to me. The crashes, as he 
 leapt to the end of his chain, shook the building 
 in which he was confined. It was as I stood up 
 
102 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 to lean from the window and commanded a view 
 of the corner of the house that he broke loose. 
 
 With a hoarse bay he took that decisive leap, 
 and I heard his heavy body fall against the 
 wooden wall. There followed a strange, gut- 
 tural cry . . . and the growling of the dog died 
 away at the rear of the house. He was out! 
 But that guttural note had not come from the 
 throat of a dog. Of what was he in pursuit? 
 
 At which point his mysterious quarry entered, 
 the shrubbery I do not know. I only know that 
 I saw absolutely nothing, until Caesar's lithe 
 shape was streaked across the lawn, and the great 
 creature went crashing into the undergrowth. 
 
 Then a faint sound above and to my right told 
 me that I was not the only spectator of the scene. 
 I leaned farther from the window. 
 
 " Is that you, Miss Eltham? " I asked. 
 
 " Oh, Dr. Petrie ! " she said. " I am so glad 
 you are awake. Can we do nothing to help? 
 Csesar will be killed." 
 
 " Did you see what he went after? " 
 
 " No," she called back, and drew her breath! 
 sharply. 
 
 For a strange figure went racing across the 
 grass. It was that of a man in a blue dressing* 
 gown, who held a lantern high before him, and a 
 revolver in his right hand. Coincident with my 
 
^HE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 103 
 
 recognition of Mr. Eltham lie leaped, plunging 
 into the shrubbery in the wake of the dog. 
 
 But the night held yet another surprise; for 
 Nayland Smith's voice came: 
 
 " Come back ! Come back, Eltham ! V 
 
 I ran out into the passage and downstairs. 
 The front door was open. A terrible conflict 
 waged in the shrubbery, between the mastiff and 
 something else. Passing round to the lawn, I 
 met Smith fully dressed. He just had dropped 
 from a first-floor window. 
 
 " The man is mad ! " he snapped. " Heaven 
 knows what lurks there! He should not have 
 gone alone ! " 
 
 Together we ran towards the dancing light of 
 Eltham's lantern. The sounds of conflict ceased 
 suddenly. Stumbling over stumps and lashed 
 by low-sweeping branches, we struggled forward 
 to where the clergyman knelt amongst the bushes. 
 He glanced up with tears in his eyes, as was re- 
 vealed by the dim light. 
 
 " Look ! " he cried. 
 
 The body of the dog lay at his feet. 
 
 It was pitiable to think that the fearless brute 
 should have met his death in such a fashion, 
 and when I bent and examined him I was glad 
 to find traces of life. 
 
 " Drag him out. He is not dead/' I said. 
 
104 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 "And hurry," rapped Smith, peering about 
 him right and left. 
 
 Se we three hurried from that haunted place, 
 dragging the dog with us. We were not mo- 
 lested. No sound disturbed the now perfect 
 stillness. 
 
 By the lawn edge we came upon Denby, half 
 dressed; and almost immediately Edwards the 
 gardener also appeared. The white faces of the 
 house servants showed at one window, and Miss 
 Eltham called to me from her room: 
 
 " Is he dead? " 
 
 " No," I replied ; " only stunned." 
 
 We carried the dog round to the yard, and I 
 examined his head. It had been struck by some 
 heavy blunt instrument, but the skull was not 
 broken. It is hard to kill a mastiff. 
 
 " Will you attend to him, Doctor? " asked 
 Eltham. "We must see that the villain does 
 not escape." 
 
 His face was grim and set. This was a dif- 
 ferent man from the diffident clergyman we 
 knew : this was " Parson Dan " again. 
 
 I accepted the care of the canine patient, and 
 Eltham with the others went off for more lights 
 to search the shrubbery. As I was washing a 
 bad wound between the mastiff's ears, Miss Elt- 
 ham joined me. It was the sound of her voice, 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 105 
 
 I think, rather than my more scientific ministra- 
 tion, which recalled Csesar to life. For, as she 
 entered, his tail wagged feebly, and a moment 
 later he struggled to his feet — one of which was 
 injured. 
 
 Having provided for his immediate needs, I 
 left him in charge of his young mistress and 
 joined the search party. They had entered the 
 shrubbery from four points and drawn blank. 
 
 " There is absolutely nothing there, and no 
 one can possibly have left the grounds," said 
 Eltham amazedly. 
 
 We stood on the lawn looking at one another, 
 Nayland Smith, angry but thoughtful, tugging 
 at the lobe of his left ear, as was his habit in 
 moments of perplexity. 
 
Chapter IX 
 
 WITH the first coming of light, Eltham, 
 Smith and I tested the electrical con- 
 trivances from every point. They 
 were in perfect order. It became more and more 
 incomprehensible how anyone could have entered 
 and quitted Kedmoat during the night. The 
 barbed- wire fencing was intact, and bore no signs 
 of having been tampered with. 
 
 Smith and I undertook an exhaustive examina- 
 tion of the shrubbery. 
 
 At the spot where we had found the dog, some 
 five paces to the west of the copper beech, the 
 grass and weeds were trampled and the surround- 
 ing laurels and rhododendrons bore evidence of 
 a struggle, but mo human footprint could be 
 found. 
 
 " The ground is dry," said Smith. " We can- 
 not expect much." 
 
 " In my opinion," I said, " someone tried to 
 get at Caesar; his presence is dangerous. And 
 in his rage he broke loose." 
 
 " I think so, too," agreed Smith. " But why 
 
 106 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 107 
 
 did this person make for here? And how, hav- 
 ing mastered the dog, get out of Redmoat? I 
 am open to admit the possibility of someone's 
 getting in during the day whilst the gates are 
 open, and hiding until dusk. But how in the 
 name of all that's wonderful does he get out? 
 He must possess the attributes of a bird." 
 
 I thought of Greba Eltham's statements, re- 
 minding my friend of her description of the thing 
 which she had seen passing into this strangely 
 haunted shrubbery. 
 
 " That line of speculation soon takes us out 
 of our depth, Petrie," he said. " Let us stick 
 to what we can understand, and that may help 
 us to a clearer idea of what, at present, is in- 
 comprehensible. My view of the case to date 
 stands thus: 
 
 " ( 1 ) Eltham, having rashly decided to return 
 to the interior of China, is warned by an official 
 whose friendship he has won in some way to 
 stay in England. 
 
 " (2) I know this official for one of the Yellow 
 group represented in England by Dr. Fu- 
 Manchu. 
 
 " (3) Several attempts, of which we know but 
 little, to get at Eltham are frustrated, presum- 
 ably by his curious < defenses.' An attempt in 
 a train fails owing to Miss Eltham's distaste 
 
108 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 for refreshment-room coffee. An attempt here 
 fails owing to her insomnia. 
 
 " (4) During Eltham's absence from Redmoat 
 certain preparations are made for his return. 
 These lead to: 
 
 ". (a) The death of Denby's collie ; 
 
 " (b) The things heard and seen by Miss Elt- 
 ham; 
 
 " (c) The things heard and seen by us all last 
 night. 
 
 " So that the clearing up of my fourth point 
 — id est, the discovery of the nature of these 
 preparations — becomes our immediate concern. 
 The prime object of these preparations, Petrie, 
 was to enable someone to gain access to Eltham's 
 room. The other events are incidental. The 
 dogs had to be got rid of, for instance ; and there 
 is no doubt that Miss Eltham's wakefulness 
 saved her father a second time." 
 
 " But from what? For Heaven's sake, from 
 what?" 
 
 Smith glanced about into the light-patched 
 shadows. 
 
 " From a visit by someone — perhaps by Fu- 
 Manchu himself," he said in a hushed voice. 
 " The object of that visit I hope we may never 
 learn; for that would mean that it had been 
 achieved." 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 109 
 
 " Smith," I said, u I do not altogether under- 
 stand you; but do you think he has some in- 
 credible creature hidden here somewhere? It 
 would be like him." 
 
 " I begin to suspect the most formidable crea- 1 
 ture in the known world to be hidden here. I 
 believe Fu-Manchu is somewhere inside Red- 
 moat ! " 
 
 Our conversation was interrupted at this point 
 by Denby, who came to report that he had ex- 
 amined the moat, the roadside, and the bank of 
 the stream, but found no footprints or clew of 
 any kind. 
 
 " No one left the grounds of Redmoat last 
 night, I think," he said. And his voice had awe 
 in it. 
 
 That day dragged slowly on. A party of us 
 scoured the neighborhood for traces of strangers, 
 examining every foot of the Roman ruin hard 
 by ; but vainly. 
 
 " May not your presence here induce Fu-Man- 
 chu to abandon his plans?" I asked Smith. 
 
 " I think not," he replied. " You see, unless 
 we can prevail upon him, Eltham sails in a fort- 
 night. So the Doctor has no time to waste. 
 Furthermore, I have an idea that his arrange- 
 ments are of such a character that they must go 
 forward. He might turn aside, of course, to as- 
 
110 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 sassinate me, if opportunity arose! But we 
 know, from experience, that he permits nothing 
 to interfere with his schemes." 
 
 There are few states, I suppose, which exact 
 so severe a toll from one's nervous system as 
 the anticipation of calamity. 
 
 All anticipation is keener, be it of joy or pain, 
 than the reality whereof it is a mental forecast; 
 but that inactive waiting at Redmoat, for the 
 blow which we knew full well to be pending, 
 exceeded, in its nerve taxation, anything I hith- 
 erto had experienced. 
 
 I felt as one bound upon an Aztec altar, with 
 the priest's obsidian knife raised above my breast ! 
 
 Secret and malign forces throbbed about us; 
 forces against which we had no armor. Dread- 
 ful as it was, I count it a mercy that the climax 
 was reached so quickly. And it came suddenly 
 enough ; for there in that quiet Norfolk home we 
 found ourselves at hand grips with one of the 
 mysterious horrors which characterized the oper- 
 ations of Dr. Fu-Manchu. It was upon us be- 
 fore we realized it. There is no incidental music 
 to the dramas of real life. 
 
 As we sat on the little terrace in the creeping 
 twilight, I remember thinking how the peace of 
 the scene gave the lie to my fears that we bordered 
 upon tragic things. Then Csesar, who had bf en 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 111 
 
 a docile patient all day, began howling again; 
 and I saw Greba Eltham shudder. 
 
 I caught Smith's eye, and was about to pro- 
 pose our retirement indoors, when the party was 
 broken up in more turbulent fashion. I suppose 
 it was the presence of the girl which prompted 
 Denby to the rash act, a desire personally to dis- 
 tinguish himself. But, as I recalled afterwards, 
 his gaze had rarely left the shrubbery since dusk, 
 save to seek her face, and now he leaped wildly to 
 his feet, overturning his chair, and dashed across 
 the grass to the trees. 
 
 "Did you see it?" he yelled. "Did you see 
 
 it?" 
 
 He evidently carried a revolver. For from the 
 edge of the shrubbery a shot sounded, and in the 
 flash we saw Denby with the weapon raised. 
 
 " Greba, go in and fasten the windows," cried 
 Eltham. " Mr. Smith, will you enter the bushes 
 from the west. Dr. Petrie, east. Edwards, 
 Edwards — " And he was off across the lawn 
 with the nervous activity of a cat. 
 
 As I made off in an opposite direction I heard 
 the gardener's voice from the lower gate, and 
 I saw Eltham's plan. It was to surround the 
 shrubbery. 
 
 Two more shots and two flashes from the 
 dense heart of greenwood. Then a loud cry — I 
 
112 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 thought, from Denby — and a second, muffled 
 one. 
 
 Following — silence, only broken by the howl- 
 ing of the mastiff. 
 
 I sprinted through the rose garden, leaped 
 heedlessly over a bed of geranium and heliotrope, ' 
 and plunged in among the bushes and under the 
 elms. Away on the left I heard Edwards shout- 
 ing, and Eltham's answering voice. 
 
 " Denby ! " I cried, and yet louder : " Den- 
 by!" 
 
 But the silence fell again. 
 
 Dusk was upon Redmoat now, but from sitting 
 in the twilight my eyes had grown accustomed 
 to gloom, and I could see fairly well what lay 
 before me. Not daring to think what might lurk 
 above, below, around me, I pressed on into the 
 midst of the thicket. 
 
 " Vernon ! " came Eltham's voice from one 
 side. 
 
 " Bear more to the right, Edwards," I heard 
 Nayland Smith cry directly ahead of me. 
 
 With an eerie and indescribable sensation of 
 impending disaster upon me, I thrust my way 
 through to a gray patch which marked a break 
 in the elmen roof. At the foot of the copper 
 beech I almost fell over Eltham. Then Smith 
 plunged into view. Lastly, Edwards the gar- 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 118 
 
 dener rounded a big rhododendron and com- 
 pleted the party. 
 
 We stood quite still for a moment. 
 
 A faint breeze whispered through the beech 
 leaves. 
 
 "Where is he?" 
 
 I cannot remember who put it into words; I 
 was too dazed with amazement to notice. Then 
 Eltham began shouting: 
 
 " Vernon ! Vernon ! Vernon! " 
 
 His voice pitched higher upon each repetition. 
 There was something horrible about that vain 
 calling, under the whispering beech, with shrubs 
 banked about us cloaking God alone could know 
 what. 
 
 From the back of the house came Csesar's faint 
 reply. 
 
 " Quick ! Lights ! " rapped Smith. " Every 
 lamp you have ! n 
 
 Off we went, dodging laurels and privets, and 
 poured out on to the lawn, a disordered com- 
 pany. Elthanrs face was deathly pale, and his 
 jaw set hard. He met my eye. 
 
 " God forgive me ! " he said. " I could do 
 murder to-night ! " 
 
 He was a man composed of strange perplex- 
 ities. 
 
 It seemed an age before the lights were found. 
 
114 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 But at last we returned to the bushes, really after 
 a very brief delay; and ten minutes sufficed us 
 to explore the entire shrubbery, for it was not 
 extensive. We found his revolver, but there 
 was no one there — nothing. 
 
 When we all stood again on the lawn, I thought 
 that I had never seen Smith so haggard. 
 
 " What in Heaven's name can we do? " he mut- 
 tered. " What does it mean? " 
 
 He expected no answer; for there was none to 
 offer one. 
 
 " Search ! Everywhere," said Eltham hoarsely. 
 
 He ran off into the rose garden, and began 
 beating about among the flowers like a madman, 
 muttering : " Vernon ! Vernon ! " 
 
 For close upon an hour we all searched. We 
 searched every square yard, I think, within the 
 wire fencing, and found no trace. Miss Eltham 
 slipped out in the confusion, and joined with the 
 rest of us in that frantic hunt. Some of the 
 servants assisted too. 
 
 It was a group terrified and awestricken which 
 came together again on the terrace. One and 
 then another would give up, until only Eltham 
 and Smith were missing. Then they came back 
 together from examining the steps to the lower 
 gate. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 115 
 
 Eltham dropped on to a rustic seat, and sank 
 liis head in his hands. 
 
 Nayland Smith paced up and down like a 
 newly caged animal, snapping his teeth together 
 and tugging at his ear. 
 
 Possessed by some sudden idea, or pressed to 
 action by his tumultuous thoughts, he snatched 
 up a lantern and strode silently off across the 
 grass and to the shrubbery once more. I 
 followed him. I think his idea was that he 
 might surprise anyone who lurked there. He 
 surprised himself, and all of us. 
 
 For right at the margin he tripped and fell 
 flat. I ran to him. 
 
 He had fallen over the body of Denby, which' 
 lay there! 
 
 Denby had not been there a few moments be- 
 fore, and how he came to be there now we dared 
 not conjecture. Mr. Eltham joined us, uttered 
 one short, dry sob, and dropped upon his knees. 
 Then we were carrying Denby back to the house, 
 with the mastiff howling a marche funebre. 
 
 We laid him on the grass where it sloped down 
 from the terrace. Nayland Smith's haggard 
 face was terrible. But the stark horror of the 
 thing inspired him to that, which conceived 
 earlier, had saved Denby. Twisting suddenly 
 
116 THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 
 
 to Eltham, lie roared in a voice audible beyond 
 the river: 
 
 "Heavens! we are fools! Loose the dog!" 
 
 " But the dog — " I began. 
 
 Smith clapped his hand over my mouth. 
 
 " I know he's crippled/' he whispered. " But; 
 if anything human lurks there, the dog will lead 
 us to it. If a man is there, he will fly! Why 
 did we not think of it before. Fools, fools ! " 
 He raised his voice again. " Keep him on leash, 
 Edwards. He will lead us." 
 
 The scheme succeeded. 
 
 Edwards barely had started on his errand 
 when bells began ringing inside the house. 
 
 " Wait ! " snapped Eltham, and rushed in- 
 doors. 
 
 A moment later he was out again, his eyes 
 gleaming madly. 
 
 " Above the moat," he panted. And we were 
 off en masse round the edge of the trees. 
 
 It was dark above the moat; but not so dark 
 as to prevent our seeing a narrow ladder of thin 
 bamboo joints and silken cord hanging by two 
 hooks from the top of the twelve-foot wire fence. 
 There was no sound. 
 
 " He's out ! " screamed Eltham. " Down the 
 steps ! " 
 
 We all ran our best and swiftest. But Elt- 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 11T 
 
 ham outran us. Like a fury he tore at bolts and 
 bars, and like a fury sprang out into the road. 
 Straight and white it showed to the acclivity by 
 the Roman ruin. But no living thing moved 
 upon it. The distant baying of the dog was 
 borne to our ears. 
 
 " Curse it ! he's crippled," hissed Smith. 
 " Without him, as well pursue a shadow ! " 
 
 A few hours later the shrubbery yielded up 
 its secret, a simple one enough: A big cask 
 sunk in a pit, with a laurel shrub cunningly 
 affixed to its movable lid, which was further dis- 
 guised with tufts of grass. A slender bamboo- 
 jointed rod lay near the fence. It had a hook 
 on the top, and was evidently used for attaching 
 the ladder. 
 
 "It was the end of this ladder which Miss 
 Eltham saw," said Smith, " as he trailed it be- 
 hind him into the shrubbery when she inter- 
 rupted him in her father's room. He and whom- 
 ever he had with him doubtless slipped in during 
 the daytime — whilst Eltham was absent in 
 London — bringing the prepared cask and all 
 necessary implements with them. They con- 
 cealed themselves somewhere — probably in the 
 shrubbery — and during the night made the 
 cache. The excavated earth would be disposed 
 
118 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 of on the flower-beds; the dummy bush they 
 probably had ready. You see, the problem of 
 getting in was never a big one. But owing to 
 the l defenses' it was impossible (whilst Eltham 
 was in residence at any rate) to get out after 
 dark. For Fu-Manchu's purposes, then, a work- 
 ing-base inside Redmoat was essential. His 
 servant — for he needed assistance — must have 
 been in hiding somewhere outside ; Heaven knows 
 where! During the day they could come or go 
 by the gates, as we have already noted." 
 
 " You think it was the Doctor himself? " 
 
 " It seems possible. Whom else has eyes like 
 the eyes Miss Eltham saw from the window last 
 night? " 
 
 Then remains to tell the nature of the out- 
 rage whereby Fu-Manchu had planned to pre- 
 vent Eltham's leaving England for China. This 
 we learned from Denby. For Denby was not 
 dead. 
 
 It was easy to divine that he had stumbled 
 upon the fiendish visitor at the very entrance 
 to his burrow; had been stunned (judging from 
 the evidence, with a sand-bag) , and dragged down 
 into the cache — to which he must have lain in 
 such dangerous proximity as to render detection 
 of the dummy bush possible in removing him/ 
 The quickest expedient, then, had been to draw; 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 119 
 
 him beneath. When the search of the shrubbery 
 was concluded, his body had been borne to the 
 edge of the bushes and laid where we found it. 
 
 Why his life had been spared, I cannot con- 
 jecture, but provision had been made against his 
 recovering consciousness and revealing the se- 
 cret of the shrubbery. The ruse of releasing the 
 mastiff alone had terminated the visit of the un- 
 bidden guest within Eedmoat. 
 
 Denby made a very slow recovery; and, even 
 when convalescent, consciously added not one 
 fact to those we already had collated ; his memory 
 had completely deserted him ! 
 
 This, in my opinion, as in those of the several 
 specialists consulted, was due, not to the blow on 
 the head, but to the presence, slightly below and 
 to the right of the first cervical curve of the 
 spine, of a minute puncture — undoubtedly 
 caused by a hypodermic syringe. Then, uncon- 
 sciously, poor Denby furnished the last link in 
 the chain; for undoubtedly, by means of this 
 operation, Fu-Manchu had designed to efface 
 from Eltham's mind his plans of return to Ho- 
 Nan. 
 
 The nature of the fluid which could produce 
 such mental symptoms was a mystery — a mys- 
 tery which defied Western science: one of the 
 many strange secrets of Dr. Fu-Manchu. 
 
Chapter X 
 
 SINCE Nayland Smith's return from Burma 
 I had rarely taken up a paper without com- 
 ing upon evidences of that seething which 
 had cast up Dr. Fu-Manchu. Whether, hither- 
 to, such items had escaped my attention or had 
 seemed to demand no particular notice, or 
 whether they now became increasingly numer- 
 ous, I was unable to determine. 
 
 One evening, some little time after our so- 
 journ in Norfolk, in glancing through a number 
 of papers which I had brought in with me, 1 
 chanced upon no fewer than four items of news 
 bearing more or less directly upon the grim busi- 
 ness which engaged my friend and I. 
 
 No white man, I honestly believe, appreciates 
 the unemotional cruelty of the Chinese. 
 Throughout the time that Dr. Fu-Manchu re- 
 mained in England, the press preserved a uni- 
 form silence upon the subject of his existencec 
 This was due to Nayland Smith. But, as a re- 
 sult, I feel assured that my account of the China- 
 
 120 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 121 
 
 man's deeds will, in many quarters, meet with 
 an incredulous reception. 
 
 I had been at work, earlier in the evening, 
 upon the opening chapters of this chronicle, and 
 I had realized how difficult it would be for my 
 reader, amid secure and cozy surroundings, to 
 credit any human being with a callous villainy 
 great enough to conceive and to put into execu- 
 tion such a death pest as that directed against 
 Sir Crichton Davey. 
 
 One would expect God's worst man to shrink 
 from employing — against however vile an 
 enemy — such an instrument as the Zayat Kiss. 
 So thinking, my eye was caught by the follow- 
 ing:— 
 
 EXPRESS COREESPONDENT 
 
 New York. 
 
 " Secret service men of the United States Gov- 
 ernment are searching the South Sea Islands for 
 a certain Hawaiian from the island of Maui, 
 who, it is believed, has been selling poisonous 
 scorpions to Chinese in Honolulu anxious to get 
 rid of their children. 
 
 " Infanticide, by scorpion and otherwise, among 
 the Chinese, has increased so terribly that the 
 authorities have started a searching inquiry, 
 
222 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 which has led to the hunt for the scorpion dealer 
 of Maui. 
 
 " Practically all the babies that die myste- 
 riously are unwanted girls, and in nearly every 
 case the parents promptly ascribe the death to 
 the bite of a scorpion, and are ready to produce 
 some more or less poisonous insect in support of 
 the statement. 
 
 " The authorities have no doubt that infanti- 
 cide by scorpion bite is a growing practice, and 
 orders have been given to hunt down the scorpion 
 dealer at any cost." 
 
 Is it any matter for wonder that such a people 
 had produced a Fu-Manchu? I pasted the cut- 
 ting into a scrap-book, determined that, if I 
 lived to publish my account of those days, I 
 would quote it therein as casting a sidelight up- 
 on Chinese character. 
 
 A Keuter message to The Globe and a para- 
 graph in The Star also furnished work for my 
 scissors. Here were evidences of the deep- 
 seated unrest, the secret turmoil, which mani- 
 fested itself so far from its center as peaceful 
 England in the person of the sinister Doctor. 
 
 "Hong Kong, Friday. 
 " Li Hon Hung, the Chinaman who fired at tho 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 123 
 
 t 
 
 Governor yesterday, was charged before the 
 magistrate with shooting at him with intent to 
 kill, which is equivalent to attempted murder. 
 The prisoner, who was not defended, pleaded 
 guilty. The Assistant Crown Solicitor, who 
 prosecuted, asked for a remand until Monday, 
 which was granted. 
 
 " Snapshots taken by the spectators of the out- 
 rage yesterday disclosed the presence of an ac- 
 complice, also armed with a revolver. It is re- 
 ported that this man, who was arrested last 
 night, was in possession of incriminating docu- 
 mentary evidence." 
 
 Later. 
 
 " Examination of the documents found on Li 
 Hon Hung's accomplice has disclosed the fact 
 that both men were well financed by the Canton 
 Triad Society, the directors of which had en- 
 joined the assassination of Sir F. M. or Mr. C. S., 
 the Colonial Secretary. In a report prepared by 
 the accomplice for dispatch to Canton, also found 
 on his person, he expressed regret that the at- 
 tempt had failed." — Renter. 
 
 " It is officially reported in St. Petersburg that 
 a force of Chinese soldiers and villagers sur- 
 rounded the house of a Russia i subject named 
 
124 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 Said Effendi, near Khotan, in Chinese Tur- 
 kestan. 
 
 " They fired at the house and set it in flames. 
 There were in the house about 100 Kussians, 
 many of whom were killed. 
 
 " The Kussian Government has instructed its 
 Minister at Peking to make the most vigorous 
 representations on the subject.'' — Renter. 
 
 Finally, in a Personal Column, I found the 
 following : — 
 
 " Ho-Nan. Have abandoned visit. — Elt- 
 ham." 
 
 I had just pasted it into my book when Nay- 
 land Smith came in and threw himself into an 
 arm-chair, facing me across the table. I showed 
 him the cutting. 
 
 " I am glad, for Eltham's sake — and for the 
 girl's," was his comment. " But it marks an- 
 other victory for Fu-Manchu! Just Heaven X 
 why is retribution delayed ! " 
 
 Smith's darkly tanned face had grown leaner 
 than ever since he had begun his fight with the 
 most uncanny opponent, I suppose, against whom 
 a man ever had pitted himself. He stood up and 
 began restlessly to pace the room, furiously stuf- 
 fing tobacco into his briar. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 125 
 
 " I have seen Sir Lionel Barton," he said ab- 
 ruptly ; " and, to put the whole thing in a nut- 
 shell, he has laughed at me ! During the months 
 that I have been wondering where he had gone 
 to he has been somewhere in Egypt. He cer- 
 tainly bears a charmed life, for on the evidence 
 of his letter to The Times he has seen things in 
 Tibet which Fu-Manchu would have the West 
 blind to; in fact, I think he has found a new 
 keyhole to the gate of the Indian Empire ! " 
 
 Long ago we had placed the name of Sir Lionel 
 Barton upon the list of those whose lives stood 
 between Fu-Manchu and the attainment of his 
 end. Orientalist and explorer, the fearless 
 traveler who first had penetrated to Lhassa, who 
 thrice, as a pilgrim, had entered forbidden Mec- 
 ca, he now had turned his attention again to 
 Tibet — thereby signing his own death-warrant. 
 
 " That he has reached England alive is a hope- 
 ful sign?" I suggested. 
 
 Smith shook his head, and lighted the black- 
 ened briar. 
 
 " England at present is the web," he replied. 
 " The spider will be waiting. Petrie, I some- 
 times despair. Sir Lionel is an impossible man 
 to shepherd. You ought to see his house at 
 Finchley. A low, squat place completely 
 hemmed in by trees. Damp as a swamp ; smells 
 
126 THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 
 
 like a jungle. Everything topsy-turvy. He only 
 arrived to-day, and he is working and eating 
 (and sleeping, I expect), in a study that looks 
 like an earthquake at Sotheby's auction-rooms. 
 The rest of the house is half a menagerie and 
 half a circus. He has a Bedouin groom, a 
 Chinese body-servant, and Heaven only knows 
 what other strange people ! " 
 
 "Chinese!" 
 
 " Yes, I saw him ; a squinting Cantonese he 
 calls Kwee. I don't like him. Also, there is 
 a secretary known as Strozza, who has an un- 
 pleasant face. He is a fine linguist, I under- 
 stand, and is engaged upon the Spanish notes 
 for Barton's forthcoming book on the Mayapan 
 temples. By the way, all Sir Lionel's baggage 
 disappeared from the landing-stage — including 
 his Tibetan notes." 
 
 "Significant!" 
 
 " Of course. But he argues that he has 
 crossed Tibet from the Kuen-Lun to the Hima- 
 layas without being assassinated, and therefore 
 that it is unlikely he will meet with that fate in 
 London. I left him dictating the book from 
 memory, at the rate of about two hundred words 
 a minute." 
 
 " He is wasting no time." 
 
 " Wasting time ! In addition to the Yucatan 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 127 
 
 book and the work on Tibet, be bas to read a 
 paper at tbe Institute next week about some 
 tomb be bas uneartbed in Egypt. As I came 
 away, a van drove up from tbe docks and a 
 couple of fellows delivered a sarcophagus as big 
 as a boat. It is unique, according to Sir Lionel, 
 and will go to tbe British Museum after be bas 
 examined it. The man crams six months' work 
 into six weeks; then be is off again." 
 
 " What do you propose to do ? " 
 
 "What can I do? I know that Fu-Mancbu 
 will make an attempt upon him. I cannot doubt 
 it. Ugh ! that house gave me the shudders. No 
 sunlight, I'll swear, Petrie, can ever penetrate 
 to the rooms, and when I arrived this afternoon 
 clouds of gnats floated like motes wherever a 
 stray beam filtered through the trees of the 
 avenue. There's a steamy smell about the place 
 that is almost malarious, and the whole of the 
 west front is covered with a sort of monkey- 
 creeper, which he has imported at some time or 
 other. It bas a close, exotic perfume that is 
 quite in the picture. I tell you, the place was 
 made for murder." 
 
 "Have you taken any precautions?" 
 
 " I called at Scotland Yard and sent a man 
 down to watch the house, but — " 
 
 He shrugged his shoulders helplessly. 
 
 -*• 
 
128 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 " What is Sir Lionel like? " 
 
 "A madman, Petrie. A tall, massive man, 
 wearing a dirty dressing-gown of neutral color; 
 a man with untidy gray hair and a bristling 
 mustache, keen blue eyes, and a brown skin; 
 who wears a short beard or rarely shaves — I 
 don't know which. I left him striding about 
 among the thousand and one curiosities of that 
 incredible room, picking his way through his 
 antique furniture, works of reference, manu- 
 scripts, mummies, spears, pottery and what not 
 — sometimes kicking a book from his course, or 
 stumbling over a stuffed crocodile or a Mexican 
 mask — alternately dictating and conversing. 
 Phew!" 
 
 For some time we were silent. 
 
 " Smith," I said, u we are making no headway 
 in this business. With all the forces arrayed 
 against him, Fu-Manchu still eludes us, still 
 pursues his devilish, inscrutable way." 
 
 Nayland Smith nodded. 
 
 "And we don't know all," he said. "We 
 mark such and such a man as one alive to the 
 Yellow Peril, and we warn him — if we have 
 time. Perhaps he escapes; perhaps he does not. 
 But what do we know, Petrie, of those others 
 who may die every week by his murderous 
 agency? We cannot know everyone who has 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 129 
 
 read the riddle of China. I never see a report 
 of someone found drowned, of an apparent sui- 
 cide, of a sudden, though seemingly natural 
 death, without wondering. I tell you, Fu-Man- 
 chu is omnipresent; his tentacles embrace every- 
 thing. I said that Sir Lionel must bear a 
 charmed life. The fact that we are alive is a 
 miracle." 
 
 He glanced at his watch'. 
 
 " Nearly eleven," he said. " But sleep seems 
 a waste of time — apart from its dangers." 
 
 We heard a bell ring. A few moments later 
 followed a knock at the room door. 
 
 " Come in ! " I cried. 
 
 A girl entered with a telegram addressed to 
 Smith. His jaw looked very square in the lamp- 
 light, and his eyes shone like steel as he took it 
 from her and opened the envelope. He glanced 
 at the form, stood up and passed it to me, reach- 
 ing for his hat, which lay upon my writing-table. 
 
 " God help us, Petrie ! " he said. 
 
 This was the message: 
 
 " Sir Lionel Barton murdered. Meet me at 
 his house at once. — Weymouth, Inspector." 
 
Chapter XI 
 
 LTHOUGH we avoided all unnecessary 
 delay, it was close upon midnight when 
 our cab swung round into a darkly 
 shadowed avenue, at the farther end of which, 
 as seen through a tunnel, the moonlight glittered 
 upon the windows of Kowan House, Sir Lionel 
 Barton's home. 
 
 Stepping out before the porch of the long, 
 squat building, I saw that it was banked in, as 
 Smith had said, by trees and shrubs. The facade 
 showed mantled in the strange exotic creeper 
 which he had mentioned, and the air was pun- 
 gent with an odor of decaying vegetation, with 
 which mingled the heavy perfume of the little 
 nocturnal red flowers which bloomed luxuriantly 
 upon the creeper. 
 
 The place looked a veritable wilderness, and 
 when we were admitted to the hall by Inspector 
 Weymouth I saw that the interior was in keep- 
 ing with the exterior, for the hall was constructed 
 from the model of some apartment in an 
 Assyrian temple, and the squat columns, the 
 
 130 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 131 
 
 low seats, the hangings, all were eloquent of 
 neglect, being thickly dust-coated. The musty 
 smell, too, was almost as pronounced here as out- 
 side, beneath the trees. 
 
 To a library, whose contents overflowed in 
 many literary torrents upon the floor, the de- 
 tective conducted us. 
 
 "Good heavens!" I cried, "what's that?" 
 
 Something leaped from the top of the bookcase, 
 ambled silently across the littered carpet, and 
 passed from the library like a golden streak. I 
 stood looking after it with startled eyes. Inspec- 
 tor Weymouth laughed dryly. 
 
 " It's a young puma, or a civet-cat, or some- 
 thing, Doctor," he said. " This house is full of 
 surprises — and mysteries." 
 
 His voice was not quite steady, I thought, and 
 he carefully closed the door ere proceeding 
 further. 
 
 " Where is he? " asked Nay land Smith harshly. 
 " How was it done? " 
 
 Weymouth sat down and lighted a cigar which 
 I offered him. 
 
 " I thought you would like to hear what led 
 up to it — so far as we know — before seeing 
 him?" 
 
 Smith nodded. 
 
 " Well," continued the Inspector, " the man 
 
132 THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 
 
 you arranged to send down from the Yard got 
 here all right and took up a post in the road 
 outside, where he could command a good view 
 of the gates. He saw and heard nothing, until 
 going on for half-past ten, when a young lady 
 turned up and went in." 
 "A young lady? " 
 
 "Miss Edmonds, Sir Lionel's shorthand typ- 
 ist. She had found, after getting home, that 
 her bag, with her purse in, was missing, and she 
 came back to see if she had left it here. She 
 gave the alarm. My man heard the row from 
 the road and came in. Then he ran out and 
 rang us up. I immediately wired for you." 
 " He heard the row, you say. "What row? " 
 " Miss Edmonds went into violent hysterics ! " 
 Smith was pacing the room now in tense ex- 
 citement. 
 
 " Describe what he saw when he came in." 
 " He saw a negro footman — there isn't an 
 Englishman in the house — trying to pacify the 
 girl out in the hall yonder, and a Malay and an- 
 other colored man beating their foreheads and 
 howling. There was no sense to be got out of 
 any of them, so he started to investigate for him- 
 self. He had taken the bearings of the place 
 earlier in the evening, and from the light in a 
 window on the ground floor had located the 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 133 
 
 study; so he set out to look for the door. When 
 he found it, it was locked from the inside." 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 " He went out and round to the window. 
 There's no blind, and from the shrubbery you can 
 see into the lumber-room known as the study. 
 He looked in, as apparently Miss Edmonds had 
 done before him. What he saw accounted for 
 her hysterics." 
 
 Both Smith and I were hanging upon his 
 words. 
 
 "All amongst the rubbish on the floor a big 
 Egyptian mummy case was lying on its side, and 
 face downwards, with his arms thrown across it, 
 lay Sir Lionel Barton." 
 
 "My God! Yes. Goon." 
 
 " There was only a shaded reading-lamp 
 alight, and it stood on a chair, shining right 
 down on him; it made a patch of light on the 
 floor, you understand." The Inspector indicated 
 its extent with his hands. " Well, as the man 
 smashed the glass and got the window open, and 
 was just climbing in, he saw something else, so 
 he says." 
 
 He paused. 
 
 " What did he see? " demanded Smith shortly. 
 
 " A sort of green mist, sir. He says it seemed 
 to be alive. It moved over the floor, about a 
 
134 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 foot from the ground, going away from him and 
 towards a curtain at the other end of the 
 study." 
 
 Nayland Smith fixed his eyes upon the speaker. 
 
 "Where did he first see this green mist? " 
 
 " He says, Mr. Smith, that he thinks it came 
 from the mummy case." 
 
 " Yes ; go on." 
 
 " It is to his credit that he climbed into the 
 room after seeing a thing like that. He did. 
 He turned the body over, and Sir Lionel looked 
 horrible. He was quite dead. Then Croxted 
 — that's the man's name — went over to this 
 curtain. There was a glass door — shut. He 
 opened it, and it gave on a conservatory — a 
 place stacked from the tiled floor to the glass 
 roof with more rubbish. It was dark inside, but 
 enough light came from the study — it's really a 
 drawing-room, by the way — as he'd turned all 
 the lamps on, to give him another glimpse of 
 this green, crawling mist. There are three steps 
 to go down. On the steps lay^ a dead China- 
 man." 
 
 " A dead Chinaman ! " 
 
 "A dead Chinaman." 
 
 " Doctor seen them? " rapped Smith. 
 
 " Yes ; a local man. He was out of his depth, 
 I could see. Contradicted himself three times. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 135 
 
 But there's no need for another opinion — until 
 we get the coroner's." 
 
 "And Croxted?" 
 
 " Croxted was taken ill, Mr. Smith, and had 
 to be sent home in a cab." 
 
 "What ails him?" 
 
 Detective-Inspector Weymouth raised his eye- 
 brows and carefully; knocked the ash from his 
 cigar. 
 
 " He held out until I came, gave me the story, 
 and then fainted right away. He said that 
 something in the conservatory seemed to get 
 him by the throat." 
 
 "Did he mean that literally?" 
 
 "I couldn't say. We had to send the girl 
 home, too, of course." 
 
 Nayland Smith was pulling thoughtfully at 
 the lobe of his left ear. 
 
 "Got any theory?" he jerked. 
 
 Weymouth shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 "Not one that includes the green mist," he 
 said. " Shall we go in now? " 
 
 We crossed the Assyrian hall, where the mem- 
 bers of that strange household were gathered in 
 a panic-stricken group. They numbered four. 
 Two of them were negroes, and two Easterns of 
 some kind. I missed the Chinaman, Kwee, of 
 whom Smith had spoken, and the Italian sec- 
 
136 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 retary; and from the way in which my friend 
 peered about the shadows of the hall I divined 
 that he, too, wondered at their absence. We 
 entered Sir Lionel's study — an apartment 
 which I despair of describing. 
 
 Nayland Smith's words, "an earthquake at 
 Sotheby's auction-rooms," leaped to my mind at 
 once; for the place was simply stacked with 
 curious litter — loot of Africa, Mexico and Per- 
 sia. In a clearing by the hearth a gas stove 
 stood upon a packing-case, and about it lay a 
 number of utensils for camp cookery. The odor 
 of rotting vegetation, mingled with the insistent 
 perfume of the strange night-blooming flowers, 
 was borne in through the open window. 
 
 In the center of the floor, beside an overturned 
 sarcophagus, lay a figure in a neutral-colored 
 dressing-gown, face downwards, and arms thrust 
 forward and over the side of the ancient Egyp- 
 tian mummy case. 
 
 My friend advanced and knelt beside the dead 
 man. 
 
 "Good God!" 
 
 Smith sprang upright and turned with an 
 (extraordinary expression to Inspector Wey- 
 mouth. 
 
 "You do not know Sir Lionel Barton by 
 sight? " he rapped. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 137 
 
 "No," began Weymouth, "but — " 
 
 " This is not Sir Lionel. This is Strozza, the 
 secretary." 
 
 " What J " shouted Weymouth. 
 
 "Where is the other — the Chinaman — 
 quick ! " cried Smith. 
 
 " I have had him left where he was found — 
 on the conservatory steps," said the Inspector. 
 
 Smith ran across the room to where, beyond 
 the open door, a glimpse might be obtained of 
 stacked-up curiosities. Holding back the cur- 
 tain to allow more light to penetrate, he bent 
 forward over a crumpled-up figure which lay up- 
 on the steps below. 
 
 " It is ! » he cried aloud. " It is Sir Lionel's 
 servant, Kwee." 
 
 Weymouth and I looked at one another across 
 the body of the Italian; then our eyes turned 
 together to where my friend, grim-faced, stood 
 over the dead Chinaman. A breeze whispered 
 through the leaves; a great wave of exotic per- 
 fume swept from the open window towards the 
 curtained doorway. 
 
 It was a breath of the East — that stretched 
 out a yellow hand to the West. It was symbolic 
 of the subtle, intangible power manifested in 
 Dr. Fu-Manchu, as Nayland Smith — lean, agile, 
 bronzed with the suns of Burma, was symbolic 
 
138 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 of the clean British efficiency which songht to 
 combat the insidious enemy. 
 
 " One thing is evident/' said Smith : " no one 
 in the house, Strozza excepted, knew that Sir 
 Lionel was absent." 
 
 " How do you arrive at that? " asked Wey- 
 mouth. 
 
 " The servants, in the hall, are bewailing him 
 as dead. If they had seen him go out they would 
 know that it must be someone else who lies here." 
 
 " What about the Chinaman ? " 
 
 " Since there is no other means of entrance to 
 the conservatory save through the study, Kwee 
 must have hidden himself there at some time 
 when his master was absent from the room." 
 
 " Croxted found the communicating door 
 closed. What killed the Chinaman?" 
 
 " Both Miss Edmonds and Croxted found the 
 study door locked from the inside. What killed 
 Strozza? " retorted Smith. 
 
 " You will have noted," continued the In- 
 spector, "that the secretary is wearing Sir 
 Lionel's dressing-gown. It was seeing him in 
 that, as she looked in at the window, which led 
 Miss Edmonds to mistake him for her employer 
 — and consequently to put us on the wrong 
 scent." 
 
 " He wore it in order that anybody looking in 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 139 
 
 at the window would be sure to make that mis- 
 take/' rapped Smith. 
 
 "Why?" I asked. 
 
 " Because he came here for a felonious purpose. 
 See." Smith stooped and took up several tools 
 from the litter on the floor. " There lies the 
 lid. He came to open the sarcophagus. It con- 
 tained the mummy of some notable person who 
 flourished under Meneptah II; and Sir Lionel 
 told me that a number of valuable ornaments and 
 jewels probably were secreted amongst the wrap- 
 pings. He proposed to open the thing and to 
 submit the entire contents to examination to- 
 night. He evidently changed his mind — fortu- 
 nately for himself." 
 
 I ran my fingers through my hair in perplexity. 
 
 "Then what has become of the mummy?" 
 
 Nayland Smith laughed dryly. 
 
 " It has vanished in the form of a green vapor 
 apparently," he said. " Look at Strozza's face." 
 
 He turned the body over, and, used as I was to 
 such spectacles, the contorted features of the 
 Italian filled me with horror, so suggestive were 
 they of a death more than ordinarily violent. I 
 pulled aside the dressing-gown and searched the 
 body for marks, but failed to find any. Nayland 
 Smith crossed the room, and, assisted by the de-, 
 tective, carried Kwee, the Chinaman, into the 
 
140 THE INSIDIOUS DB. FU-MANCHU 
 
 study and laid him fully in the light. His puck- 
 ered yellow face presented a sight even more 
 awful than the other, and his blue lips were 
 drawn back, exposing both upper and lower 
 teeth. There were no marks of violence, but his 
 limbs, like Strozza's, had been tortured during 
 his mortal struggles into unnatural postures. 
 
 The breeze was growing higher, and pungent 
 odor-waves from the damp shrubbery, bearing, 
 too, the oppressive sweetness of the creeping 
 plant, swept constantly through the open win- 
 dow. Inspector Weymouth carefully relighted 
 his cigar. 
 
 " I'm with you this far, Mr. Smith," he said. 
 16 Strozza, knowing Sir Lionel to be absent, locked 
 himself in here to rifle the mummy case, for Crox- 
 ted, entering by way of the window, found the 
 key on the inside. Strozza didn't know that the 
 Chinaman was hidden in the conservatory — w 
 
 " And Kwee did not dare to show himself, be- 
 cause he too was there for some mysterious rea- 
 son of his own," interrupted Smith. 
 
 " Having got the lid off, something — some- 
 body — " 
 
 " Suppose we say the mummy? " 
 
 Weymouth laughed uneasily. 
 
 "Well, sir, something that vanished from a 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 141 
 
 locked room without opening the door or the 
 window killed Strozza." 
 
 " And something which, having killed Strozza, 
 next killed the Chinaman, apparently without 
 troubling to open the door behind which he lay 
 concealed/ 7 Smith continued. " For once in a 
 way, Inspector, Dr. Fu-Manchu has employed an 
 ally which even his giant will was incapable en- 
 tirely to subjugate. What blind force — what 
 terrific agent of death — had he confined in that 
 sarcophagus ! " 
 
 " You think this is the work of Fu-Manchu? " 
 I said. " If you are correct, his power indeed 
 is more than human." 
 
 Something in my voice, I suppose, brought 
 Smith right about. He surveyed me curiously. 
 
 " Can you doubt it? The presence of a con- 
 cealed Chinaman surely is sufficient. Kwee, I 
 feel assured, was one of the murder group, though 
 probably he had only recently entered that mys- 
 terious service. He is unarmed, or I should feel 
 disposed to think that his part was to assassinate 
 Sir Lionel whilst, unsuspecting the presence of 
 a hidden enemy, he was at work here. Strozza's 
 opening the sarcophagus clearly spoiled the 
 scheme." 
 
 " And led to the death — " 
 
142 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 " Of a servant of Fu-Manchu. Yes. I am at 
 a loss to account for that." 
 
 "Do you think that the sarcophagus entered 
 into the scheme, Smith? " 
 
 My friend looked at me in evident perplexity. 
 
 " You mean that its arrival at the time when 
 a creature of the Doctor — Kwee — was con- 
 cealed here, may have been a coincidence?" 
 
 I nodded; and Smith bent over the sarcopha- 
 gus, curiously examining the garish paintings 
 with which it was decorated inside and out. It 
 lay sideways upon the floor, and seizing it by 
 its edge, he turned it over. 
 
 " Heavy," he muttered ; " but Strozza must- 
 have capsized it as he fell. He would not have 
 laid it on its side to remove the lid. Hallo ! " 
 
 He bent farther forward, catching at a piece 
 of twine, and out of the mummy case pulled a 
 rubber stopper or u cork." 
 
 " This was stuck in a hole level with the floor 
 of the thing," he said. " Ugh ! it has a disgusting 
 smell." 
 
 I took it from his hands, and was about to 
 examine it, when a loud voice sounded outside 
 in the hall. The door was thrown open, and a 
 big man, who, despite the warmth of the weather, 
 wore a fur-lined overcoat, rushed impetuously 
 into the room. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 143 
 
 " Sir Lionel ! " cried Smith eagerly. " I 
 warned you! And see, you have had a very 
 narrow escape." 
 
 Sir Lionel Barton glanced at what lay upon 
 the floor, then from Smith to myself, and from 
 me to Inspector Weymouth. He dropped into 
 one of the few chairs unstacked with books. 
 
 " Mr. Smith," he said, with emotion, " what 
 does this mean? Tell me — quickly." 
 
 In brief terms Smith detailed the happenings 
 of the night — or so much as he knew of them. 
 Sir Lionel Barton listened, sitting quite still the 
 while — an unusual repose in a man of such evi- 
 dently tremendous nervous activity. 
 
 " He came for the jewels," he said slowly, when 
 Smith was finished; and his eyes turned to the 
 body of the dead Italian. " I was wrong to sub- 
 mit him to the temptation. God knows what 
 Kwee was doing in hiding. Perhaps he had 
 come to murder me, as you surmise, Mr. Smith, 
 though I find it hard to believe. But — I don't 
 think this is the handiwork of your Chinese doc- 
 tor." He fixed his gaze upon the sarcophagus. 
 
 Smith stared at him in surprise. "What do 
 you mean, Sir Lionel?" 
 
 The famous traveler continued to look towards 
 the sarcophagus with something in his blue eyes 
 that might have been dread. 
 
144 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 " I received a wire from Professor Rembold 
 to-night," lie continued. " You were correct in 
 supposing that no one but Strozza knew of my 
 absence. I dressed hurriedly and met the pro- 
 fessor at the Traveler's. He knew that I was 
 to read a paper next week upon" — again he 
 looked toward the mummy case — " the tomb of 
 Mekara; and he knew that the sarcophagus had 
 been brought, untouched, to England. He 
 begged me not to open it." 
 
 Nayland Smith was studying the speaker's 
 face. 
 
 " What reason did he give for so extraordinary 
 a request?" he asked. 
 
 Sir Lionel Barton hesitated. 
 
 " One," he replied at last, " which amused me 
 
 — at the time. I must inform you that Mekara 
 
 — whose tomb my agent had discovered during 
 my absence in Tibet, and to enter which I broke 
 my return journey to Alexandria — was a high 
 priest and first prophet of Amen — under the 
 Pharaoh of the Exodus; in short, one of the 
 magicians who contested in magic arts with 
 Moses. I thought the discovery unique, until 
 Professor Rembold furnished me with some curi- 
 ous particulars respecting the death of M. Page 
 le Roi, the French Egyptologist — particulars 
 new to me." 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 145 
 
 We listened in growing surprise, scarcely 
 knowing to what this tended. 
 
 " M. le Roi," continued Barton, u discovered, 
 but kept secret, the tomb of Amenti — another 
 of this particular brotherhood. It appears that 
 he opened the mummy case on the spot — these 
 priests were of royal line, and are buried in the 
 valley of Biban-le-Moluk. His Fellah and Arab 
 servants deserted him for some reason — on see- 
 ing the mummy case — and he was found dead, 
 apparently strangled, beside it. The matter was 
 hushed up by the Egyptian Government. Rem- 
 bold could not explain why. But he begged of 
 me not to open the sarcophagus of Mekara." 
 
 A silence fell. 
 
 The strange facts regarding the sudden death 
 of Page le Roi, which I now heard for the first 
 time, had impressed me unpleasantly, coming 
 from a man of Sir Lionel Barton's experience 
 and reputation. 
 
 " How long had it lain in the docks? " jerked 
 Smith. 
 
 " For two days, I believe. I am not a super- 
 stitious man, Mr. Smith, but neither is Professor 
 Rembold, and now that I know the facts re- 
 specting Page le Roi, I can find it in my heart to 
 thank God that I did not see . . . whatever came 
 out of that sarcophagus." 
 
146 THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 
 
 Nayland Smith stared Mm hard in the face. 
 
 " I am glad you did not, Sir Lionel/' he said ; 
 " for whatever the priest Mekara has to do with 
 the matter, by means of his sarcophagus, Dr. Fu- 
 Manchu has made his first attempt upon your 
 life. He has failed, but I hope you will accom- 
 pany me from here to a hotel. He will not fail 
 twice." 
 
Chapter XII 
 
 IT was the night following that of the double 
 tragedy at Kowan House. Nayland Smith, 
 with Inspector Weymouth, was engaged in 
 some mysterious inquiry at the docks, and I had 
 remained at home to resume my strange chronicle. 
 And — why should I not confess it? — my mem- 
 ories had frightened me. 
 
 I was arranging my notes respecting the case 
 of Sir Lionel Barton. They were hopelessly in- 
 complete. For instance, I had jotted down the 
 following queries: — (1) Did any true parallel 
 exist between the death of M. Page le Roi and the 
 death of Kwee, the Chinaman, and of Strozza? 
 
 (2) What had become of the mummy of Mekara? 
 
 (3) How had the murderer escaped from a locked 
 room? (4) What was the purpose of the rub- 
 ber stopper? (5) Why was Kwee hiding in the 
 conservatory? (6) Was the green mist a mere 
 subjective hallucination — a figment of Croxted's 
 imagination — or had he actually seen it? 
 
 Until these questions were satisfactorily an- 
 swered, further progress was impossible. Nay;- 
 
 147 
 
148 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 land Smith frankly admitted that he was out 
 of his depth. " It looks, on the face of it, more 
 like a case for the Psychical Research people 
 than for a plain Civil Servant, lately of Manda- 
 lay," he had said only that morning. i 
 
 " Sir Lionel Barton really believes that super- 
 natural agencies were brought into operation by 
 the opening of the high priest's coffin. For my 
 part, even if I believed the same, I should still 
 maintain that Dr. Fu-Manchu controlled those 
 manifestations. But reason it out for yourself 
 and see if we arrive at any common center. Don'ti 
 work so much upon the datum of the green mist, 
 but keep to the facts which are established." 
 
 I commenced to knock out my pipe in the ash- 
 tray ; then paused, pipe in hand. The house was 
 quite still, for my landlady and all the small 
 household were out. 
 
 Above the noise of the passing tramcar I 
 thought I had heard the hall door open. In the 
 ensuing silence I sat and listened. 
 
 Not a sound. Stay ! I slipped my hand into 
 the table drawer, took out my revolver, and stood 
 up. 
 
 There was a sound. Someone or something 
 was creeping upstairs in the dark! 
 
 Familiar with the ghastly media employed by 
 the Chinaman, I was seized with an impulse to 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 149 
 
 leap to the door, shut and lock it. But the 
 rustling sound proceeded, now, from immediately 
 outside my partially opened door. I had not the 
 time to close it; knowing somewhat of the hor- 
 rors at the command of Fu-Manchu, I had not 
 the courage to open it. My heart leaping wildly, 
 and my eyes upon that bar of darkness with its 
 gruesome potentialities, I waited — waited for 
 whatever was to come. Perhaps twelve seconds 
 passed in silence. 
 
 "Who's there?" I cried. "Answer, or I 
 fire!" 
 
 " Ah ! no," came a soft voice, thrillingly musi- 
 cal. " Put it down — that pistol. Quick ! I 
 must speak to you." 
 
 The door was pushed open, and there entered 
 a slim figure wrapped in a hooded cloak. My 
 hand fell, and I stood, stricken to silence, look- 
 ing into the beautiful dark eyes of Dr. Fu-Man- 
 chu's messenger — if her own statement could be 
 credited, slave. On two occasions this girl, 
 whose association with the Doctor was one of 
 the most profound mysteries of the case, had 
 risked — I cannot say what ; unnameable pun- 
 ishment, perhaps — to save me from death; in 
 both cases from a terrible death. For what was 
 she come now? 
 
 Her lips slightly parted, she stood, holding 
 
150 THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 
 
 her cloak about her, and watching me with greafi 
 passionate eyes. 
 
 " How — " I began. 
 
 But she shook her head impatiently. 
 
 "He has a duplicate key of the house door," 
 was her amazing statement. " I have never be* 
 trayed a secret of my master before, but you musl; 
 arrange to replace the lock." 
 
 She came forward and rested her slim hands*, 
 confidingly upon my shoulders. " I have come 
 again to ask you to take me away from him,' 5 
 she said simply. 
 
 And she lifted her face to me. 
 
 Her words struck a chord in my heart whicln 
 sang with strange music, with music so barbaric 
 that, frankly, I blushed to find it harmony 
 Have I said that she was beautiful? It can con 
 vey no faint conception of her. With her pure., 
 fair skin, eyes like the velvet darkness of the 
 East, and red lips so tremulously near to mine,, 
 she was the most seductively lovely creature 1 
 ever had looked upon. In that electric moment; 
 my heart went out in sympathy to every man 
 who had bartered honor, country, all for a 
 woman's kiss. 
 
 " I will see that you are placed under proper 
 protection," I said firmly, but my voice was nofc 
 quite my own. "It is quite absurd to talk off 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 151 
 
 slavery here in England. You are a free agent, 
 or you could not be here now. Dr. Fu-Manchu 
 cannot control your actions." 
 
 a Ah ! " she cried, casting back her head scorn- 
 fully, and releasing a cloud of hair, through] 
 whose softness gleamed a jeweled head-dress^ 
 * No? He cannot? Do you know what it means 
 to have been a slave? Here, in your free Eng- 
 land, do you know what it means — the razzia, 
 the desert journey, the whips of the drivers, the 
 house of the dealer, the shame. Bah ! w 
 
 How beautiful she was in her indignation! 
 
 " Slavery is put down, you imagine, perhaps? 
 You do not believe that to-day — to-day — > 
 twenty-five English sovereigns will buy a Galla 
 girl, who is brown, and " — whisper — " two hun- 
 dred and fifty a Circassian, who is white. No, 
 there is no slavery! So! Then what am I?" 
 
 She threw open her cloak, and it is a literal 
 fact that I rubbed my eyes, half believing that 
 I dreamed. For beneath, she was arrayed in 
 gossamer silk which more than indicated the 
 perfect lines of her slim shape; wore a jeweled 
 girdle and barbaric ornaments; was a figure fit 
 for the walled gardens of Stamboul — a figure 
 amazing, incomprehensible, in the prosaic setting 
 of my rooms. 
 
 " To-night I had no time to make myself an 
 
152 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU i 
 
 English miss," she said, wrapping her cloak 
 quickly about her. " You see me as I am." 
 
 Her garments exhaled a faint perfume, and it 
 reminded me of another meeting I had had with 
 her. I looked into the challenging eyes. 
 
 " Your request is but a pretense," I said. 
 " Why do you keep the secrets of that man, when 
 they mean death to so many? " 
 
 " Death ! I have seen my own sister die of 
 fever in the desert — seen her thrown like carrion 
 into a hole in the sand. I have seen men flogged 
 until they prayed for death as a boon. I have 
 known the lash myself. Death! What does it 
 matter? " 
 
 She shocked me inexpressibly. Enveloped in 
 her cloak again, and with only her slight accent 
 to betray her, it was dreadful to hear such words 
 from a girl who, save for her singular type of 
 beauty, might have been a cultured European. 
 
 "Prove, then, that you really wish to leave 
 this man's service. Tell me what killed Strozza 
 and the Chinaman," I said. 
 
 She shrugged her shoulders. 
 
 " I do not know that. But if you will carry 
 me off " — she clutched me nervously — " so that 
 I am helpless, lock me up so that I cannot escape, 
 beat me, if you like, I will tell you all I do know. 
 While he is my master I will never betray him. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 153 
 
 Tear me from him — by force, do you under- 
 stand, o\j force, and my lips will be sealed no 
 longer. Ah! but you do not understand, with 
 your ? proper authorities' — your police. Po- 
 lice! Ah, I have said enough." 
 
 A clock across the common began to strike. 
 The girl started and laid her hands upon my 
 shoulders again. There were tears glittering 
 among the curved black lashes. 
 
 "You do not understand," she whispered. 
 " Oh, will you never understand and release me 
 from him ! I must go. Already I have remained 
 too long. Listen. Go out without delay. Ke- 
 main out — at a hotel, where you will, but do 
 not stay here." 
 
 "And Nayland Smith?" 
 
 " What is he to me, this Nayland Smith? Ah, 
 why will you not unseal my lips? You are in 
 danger — you hear me, in danger! Go away 
 from here to-night." 
 
 She dropped her hands and ran from the room. 
 In the open doorway she turned, stamping her 
 foot passionately. 
 
 " You have hands and arms," she cried, " and 
 yet you let me go. Be warned, then; fly from 
 here—" She broke off with something that 
 sounded like a sob. 
 
 I made no move to stay her — this beautiful 
 
154= THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 accomplice of the arch-murderer, Fu-Manchu. I 
 heard her light footsteps pattering down the 
 stairs, I heard her open and close the door — 
 the door of which Dr. Fu-Manchu held the key. 
 Still I stood where she had parted from me, 
 and was so standing when a key grated in the 
 lock and Nayland Smith came running up. 
 
 " Did you see her? " I began. 
 
 But his face showed that he had not done so, 
 and rapidly I told him of my strange visitor, of 
 her words, of her warning. 
 
 " How can she have passed through London 
 in that costume?" I cried in bewilderment. 
 " Where can she have come from? " 
 
 Smith shrugged his shoulders and began to 
 stuff broad-cut mixture into the familiar cracked 
 briar. 
 
 " She might have traveled in a car or in a 
 cab," he said ; " and undoubtedly she came direct 
 from the house of Dr. Fu-Manchu. You should 
 have detained her, Petrie. It is the third time 
 we have had that woman in our power, the third 
 time we have let her go free." 
 
 " Smith," I replied, " I couldn't. She came of 
 her own free will to give me a warning. She 
 disarms me." 
 
 " Because you can see she is in love with 
 you?" he suggested, and burst into one of his 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 155 
 
 rare laughs when the angry flush rose to my 
 cheek. " She is, Petrie — why pretend to be 
 blind to it? You don't know the Oriental mind 
 as I do; but I quite understand the girl's posi- 
 tion. She fears the English authorities, but 
 would submit to capture by you! If you would 
 only seize her by the hair, drag her to some cel- 
 lar, hurl her down and stand over her with a 
 whip, she would tell you everything she knows, 
 and salve her strange Eastern conscience with 
 the reflection that speech was forced from her. 
 I am not joking; it is so, I assure you. And she 
 would adore you for your savagery, deeming you 
 forceful and strong ! " 
 
 " Smith," I said, " be serious. You know 
 what her warning meant before." 
 
 " I can guess what it means now," he rapped. 
 " Hallo ! " 
 
 Someone was furiously ringing the bell. 
 
 " No one at home ? " said my friend. " I will 
 go. I think I know what it is." 
 
 A few minutes later he returned, carrying a 
 large square package. 
 
 " From Weymouth," he explained, " by district 
 messenger. I left him behind at the docks, and 
 he arranged to forward any evidence which sub- 
 sequently he found. This will be fragments of 
 the mummy." 
 
156 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 "What! You think the mummy was ab- 
 stracted? " 
 
 "Yes, at the docks. I am sure of it; and 
 somebody else was in the sarcophagus when it 
 reached Eowan House. A sarcophagus, I find, 
 is practically airtight, so that the use of the rub- 
 ber stopper becomes evident — ventilation. 
 How this person killed Strozza I have yet to 
 learn." 
 
 "Also, how he escaped from a locked room. 
 And what about the green mist? " 
 
 Nayland Smith spread his hands in a charac- 
 teristic gesture. 
 
 " The green mist, Petrie, can be explained in 
 several ways. Remember, we have only one 
 man's word that it existed. It is at best a 
 confusing datum, to which we must not attach 
 a fictitious importance." 
 
 He threw the wrappings on the floor and 
 tugged at a twine loop in the lid of the square 
 box, which now stood upon the table. Suddenly 
 the lid came away, bringing with it a lead lin- 
 ing, such as is usual in tea-chests. This lining 
 was partially attached to one side of the box, 
 bo that the action of removing the lid at once 
 raised and tilted it. 
 
 Then happened a singular thing. 
 
 Out over the table billowed a sort of yellowish- 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 157 
 
 green cloud — an oily vapor — and an inspira- 
 tion, it was nothing less, born of a memory and 
 of some words of my beautiful visitor, came to 
 me. 
 
 "Run, Smith!" I screamed. "The door! the 
 door, for your life ! Fu-Manchu sent that box ! " 
 
 I threw my arms round him. As he bent for- 
 ward the moving vapor rose almost to his nostrils. 
 I dragged him back and all but pitched him out 
 on to the landing. We entered my bedroom, and 
 there, as I turned on the light, I saw that Smith's 
 tanned face was unusually drawn, and touched 
 with pallor. 
 
 " It is a poisonous gas ! " I said hoarsely ; " in 
 many respects identical with chlorine, but hav- 
 ing unique properties which prove it to be some- 
 thing else — God and Fu-Manchu, alone know 
 what! It is the fumes of chlorine that kill the 
 men in the bleaching powder works. We have 
 been blind — I particularly. Don't you see? 
 There was no one in the sarcophagus, Smith, but 
 there was enough of that fearful stuff to have 
 suffocated a regiment ! " 
 
 Smith clenched his fists convulsively. 
 
 " My God ! " he said, " how can I hope to deal 
 with the author of such a scheme? I see the 
 whole plan. He did not reckon on the mummy 
 case being overturned, and Kwee's part was to 
 
158 THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 
 
 remove the plug with the aid of the string — 
 after Sir Lionel had been suffocated. The gas, 
 I take it, is heavier than air." 
 
 " Chlorine gas has a specific gravity of 2.470," 
 I said ; " two and a half times heavier than air. 
 You can pour it from jar to jar like a liquid — 
 if you are wearing a chemist's mask. In these 
 respects this stuff appears to be similar; the 
 points of difference would not interest you. 
 The sarcophagus would have emptied through the 
 vent, and the gas have dispersed, with no clew 
 remaining — except the smell." 
 
 " I did smell it, Petrie, on the stopper, but, 
 of course, was unfamiliar with it. You may re- 
 member that you were prevented from doing so 
 by the arrival of Sir Lionel? The scent of those 
 infernal flowers must partially have drowned it, 
 too. Poor, misguided Strozza inhaled the stuff, 
 capsized the case in his fall, and all the gas — " 
 
 " Went pouring under the conservatory door, 
 and down the steps, where Kwee was crouching. 
 Croxted's breaking the window created sufficient 
 draught to disperse what little remained. It 
 will have settled on the floor now. I will go 
 and open both windows." 
 
 Nayland raised his haggard face. 
 
 " He evidently made more than was necessary 
 to dispatch Sir Lionel Barton," he said ; " and 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 159 
 
 contemptuously — you note the attitude, Petrie? 
 — contemptuously devoted the surplus to me. 
 His contempt is justified. I am a child striving 
 to cope with a mental giant. It is by no wit of 
 mine that Dr. Fu-Manchu scores a double 
 failure." 
 
Chapter XIII 
 
 I WILL tell you, now of a strange dream which 
 I dreamed, and of the stranger things to 
 which I awakened. Since, out of a blank 
 — a void — this vision burst in upon my mind, 
 I cannot do better than relate it, without pre- 
 amble. It was thus : 
 
 I dreamed that I lay writhing on the floor in 
 agony indescribable. My veins were filled with 
 liquid fire, and but that stygian darkness was 
 about me, I told myself that I must have seen 
 the smoke arising from my burning body. 
 
 This, I thought, was death. 
 
 Then, a cooling shower descended upon me, 
 soaked through skin and tissue to the tortured 
 arteries and quenched the fire within. Panting, 
 but free from pain, I lay — exhausted. 
 
 Strength gradually returning to me, I tried to 
 rise; but the carpet felt so singularly soft that 
 it offered me no foothold. I waded and plunged 
 like a swimmer treading water; and all about 
 me rose impenetrable walls of darkness, dark- 
 ness all but palpable. I wondered why I could 
 
 160 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 161 
 
 not see the windows. The horrible idea flashed 
 to my mind that I was become blind ! 
 
 Somehow I got upon my feet, and stood sway- 
 ing dizzily. I became aware of a heavy perfume, 
 and knew it for some kind of incense. 
 
 Then — a dim light was born, at an immeas- 
 urable distance away. It grew steadily in bril- 
 liance. It spread like a bluish-red stain — like 
 a liquid. It lapped up the darkness and spread 
 throughout the room. 
 
 But this was not my room! Nor was it any 
 room known to me. 
 
 It was an apartment of such size that its di- 
 mensions filled me with a kind of awe such as I 
 never had known: the awe of walled vastness. 
 Its immense extent produced a sensation of 
 sound. Its hugeness had a distinct note. 
 
 Tapestries covered the four walls. There was 
 no door visible. These tapestries were magnifi- 
 cently figured with golden dragons; and as the 
 serpentine bodies gleamed and shimmered in the 
 increasing radiance, each dragon, I thought, in- 
 tertwined its glittering coils more closely with 
 those of another. The carpet was of such rich- 
 ness that I stood knee-deep in its pile. And this, 
 too, was fashioned all over with golden dragons ; 
 and they seemed to glide about amid the shadows 
 of the design — stealthily. 
 
162 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 At the farther end of the hall — for hall it 
 was — a huge table with dragons' legs stood 
 solitary amid the luxuriance of the carpet. It 
 bore scintillating globes, and tubes that held 
 living organisms, and books of a size and in such 
 bindings as I never had imagined, with instru- 
 ments of a type unknown to Western science 
 - — a heterogeneous litter quite indescribable, 
 which overflowed on to the floor, forming an 
 amazing oasis in a dragon-haunted desert of car- 
 pet. A lamp hung above this table, suspended 
 by golden chains from the ceiling — which was 
 so lofty that, following the chains upward, my 
 gaze lost itself in the purple shadows above. 
 
 In a chair piled high with dragon-covered 
 cushions a man sat behind this table. The light 
 from the swinging lamp fell fully upon one side 
 of his face, as he leaned forward amid the jumble 
 of weird objects, and left the other side in 
 purplish shadow. From a plain brass bowl upon 
 the corner of the huge table smoke writhed aloft 
 and at times partially obscured that dreadful 
 face. 
 
 From the instant that my eyes were drawn to 
 the table and to the man who sat there, neither 
 the incredible extent of the room, nor the night- 
 mare fashion of its mural decorations, could re- 
 claim my attention. I had eyes only for hiia. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 163 
 
 For it was Dr. Fu-Manchu ! 
 
 Something of the delirium which had seemed 
 to fill my veins with fire, to people the walls 
 with dragons, and to plunge me knee-deep in the 
 carpet, left me. Those dreadful, filmed green 
 eyes acted somewhat like a cold douche. I knew, 
 without removing my gaze from the still face, 
 that the walls no longer lived, but were merely 
 draped in exquisite Chinese dragon tapestry. 
 The rich carpet beneath my feet ceased to be as 
 a jungle and became a normal carpet — extraor- 
 dinarily rich, but merely a carpet. But the 
 sense of vastness nevertheless remained, with the 
 uncomfortable knowledge that the things upon 
 the table and overflowing about it were all, or 
 nearly all, of a fashion strange to me. 
 
 Then, and almost instantaneously, the compar- 
 ative sanity which I had temporarily experienced 
 began to slip from me again ; for the smoke faintly 
 penciled through the air — from the burning per- 
 fume on the table — grew in volume, thickened, 
 and wafted towards me in a cloud of gray horror. 
 It enveloped me, clammily. Dimly, through its 
 oily wreaths, I saw the immobile yellow face 
 of Fu-Manchu. And my stupefied brain ac- 
 claimed him a sorcerer, against whom unwit- 
 tingly we had pitted our poor human wits. The 
 green eyes showed filmy through the fog. An 
 
CL64 THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 
 
 intense pain shot through my lower limbs, and, 
 catching my breath, I looked down. As I did 
 so, the points of the red slippers which I dreamed 
 that I wore increased in length, curled sinuously 
 upward, twined about my throat and choked the 
 breath from my body! 
 
 Came an interval, and then a dawning like 
 consciousness; but it was a false consciousness, 
 since it brought with it the idea that my head 
 lay softly pillowed and that a woman's hand 
 caressed my throbbing forehead. Confusedly, as 
 though in the remote past, I recalled a kiss — 
 and the recollection thrilled me strangely. 
 Dreamily content I lay, and a voice stole to my 
 ears: 
 
 " They are killing him ! they are killing him ! 
 !Oh! do you not understand? " 
 
 In my dazed condition, I thought that it was 
 I who had died, and that this musical girl-voice 
 was communicating to me the fact of my own 
 dissolution. 
 
 But I was conscious of no interest in the 
 matter. 
 
 For hours and hours, I thought, that soothing 
 hand caressed me. I never once raised my heavy 
 lids, until there came a resounding crash that 
 seemed to set my very bones vibrating — a me- 
 tallic, jangling crash, as the fall of heavy chains. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 165 
 
 t thought that, then, I half opened my eyes, and 
 that in the dimness I had a fleeting glimpse of 
 a figure clad in gossamer silk, with arms covered 
 with barbaric bangles and slim ankles sur- 
 rounded by gold bands. The girl was gone, even 
 as I told myself that she was an houri, and that 
 I, though a Christian, had been consigned by some 
 error to the paradise of Mohammed. 
 Then — a complete blank. 
 
 My head throbbed madly; my brain seemed 
 to be clogged — inert ; and though my first, feeble 
 movement was followed by the rattle of a chain, 
 some moments more elapsed ere I realized that 
 the chain was fastened to a steel collar — that 
 the steel collar was clasped about my neck. 
 
 I moaned weakly. 
 
 "Smith!" I muttered, "Where are you? 
 Smith ! " 
 
 On to my knees I struggled, and the pain on 
 the top of my skull grew all but insupportable. 
 It was coming back to me now; how Nay land 
 Smith and I had started for the hotel to warn 
 Graham Guthrie ; how, as we passed up the steps 
 from the Embankment and into Essex Street, 
 we saw the big motor standing before the door 
 
166 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 of one of the offices. I could recall coming up 
 level with the car — a modern limousine; but 
 my mind retained no impression of our having 
 passed it — only a vague memory of a rush of 
 footsteps — a blow. Then, my vision of the hall 
 of dragons, and now this real awakening to a 
 worse reality. 
 
 Groping in the darkness, my hands touched a 
 body that lay close beside me. My fingers sought 
 and found the throat, sought and found the steel 
 collar about it. 
 
 " Smith," I groaned ; and I shook the still 
 form. " Smith, old man — speak to me ! 
 Smith!" 
 
 Could he be dead? Was this the end of his gal- 
 lant fight with Dr. Fu-Manchu and the murder 
 group? If so, what did the future hold for me 
 ? — what had I to face? 
 
 He stirred beneath my trembling hands. 
 
 " Thank God ! " I muttered, and I cannot deny 
 that my joy was tainted with selfishness. For, 
 waking in that impenetrable darkness, and yet 
 obsessed with the dream I had dreamed, I had 
 known what fear meant, at the realization that 
 alone, chained, I must face the dreadful Chinese 
 doctor in the flesh. 
 
 Smith began incoherent mutterings. 
 
 " Sand-bagged ! . . . Look put, Petrie ! . . . 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 167 
 
 He has us at last ! . . . Oh, Heavens ! " . . . He 
 struggled on to his knees, clutching at my hand. 
 
 " All right, old man/' I said. " We are both 
 alive! So let's be thankful." 
 
 A moment's silence, a groan, then: 
 
 " Petrie, I have dragged you into this. God 
 forgive me — " 
 
 " Dry up, Smith," I said slowly. " I'm not a 
 child. There is no question of being dragged 
 into the matter. I'm here ; and if I can be of any 
 use, Fm glad I am here ! " 
 
 He grasped my hand. 
 
 " There were two Chinese, in European 
 clothes — lord, how my head throbs ! — in that, 
 office door. They sand-bagged us, Petrie — 
 think of it ! — in broad daylight, within hail of 
 the Strand ! We were rushed into the car — and 
 it was all over, before — " His voice grew faint. 
 " God ! they gave me an awful knock ! " 
 
 " Why have we been spared, Smith? Do you 
 think he is saving us for — " 
 
 " Don't, Petrie ! If you had been in China, 
 if you had seen what I have seen — " 
 
 Footsteps sounded on the flagged passage. A 
 blade of light crept across the floor towards us. 
 My brain was growing clearer. The place had 
 a damp, earthen smell. It was slimy — some 
 noisome cellar. A door was thrown open and 
 
168 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 a man entered, carrying a lantern. Its light 
 showed my surmise to be accurate, showed the 
 slime-coated walls of a dungeon some fifteen feet 
 square — shone upon the long yellow robe of the 
 man who stood watching us, upon the malignant, 
 intellectual countenance. 
 
 It was Dr. Fu-Manchu. 
 
 At last they were face to face — the head of 
 the great Yellow Movement, and the man who 
 fought on behalf of the entire white race. How 
 can I paint the individual who now stood before 
 us — perhaps the greatest genius of modern 
 times? 
 
 Of him it had been fitly said that he had a 
 brow like Shakespeare and a face like Satan. 
 Something serpentine, hypnotic, was in his very 
 presence. Smith drew one sharp breath, and 
 was silent. Together, chained to the wall, two 
 mediaeval captives, living mockeries of our 
 boasted modern security, we crouched before Dr. 
 Fu-Manchu. 
 
 He came forward with an indescribable gait, 
 cat-like yet awkward, carrying his high shoulders 
 almost hunched. He placed the lantern in a 
 niche in the wall, never turning away the rep- 
 tilian gaze of those eyes which must haunt my 
 dreams forever. They possessed a viridescence 
 
• THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 169 
 
 which hitherto I had supposed possible only in 
 the eye of the cat — and the film intermittently 
 clouded their brightness — but I can speak of 
 them no more. 
 
 I had never supposed, prior to meeting Dr. 
 Fu-Manchu, that so intense a force of malignancy 
 could radiate — from any human being. He 
 spoke. His English was perfect, though at times 
 his words were oddly chosen; his delivery alter- 
 nately was guttural and sibilant. 
 
 " Mr. Smith and Dr. Petrie, your interference 
 with my plans has gone too far. I have seri- 
 ously turned my attention to you." 
 
 He displayed his teeth, small and evenly sep- 
 arated, but discolored in a way that was familiar 
 to me. I studied his eyes with a new professional 
 interest, which even the extremity of our danger 
 could not wholly banish. Their greenness 
 seemed to be of the iris; the pupil was oddly 
 contracted — a pin-point. 
 
 Smith leaned his back against the wall with 
 assumed indifference. 
 
 " You have presumed," continued Fu-Manchu, 
 " io meddle with a world-change. Poor spiders 
 — caught in the wheels of the inevitable ! You 
 have linked my name with the futility of the 
 Young China Movement — the name of Fu-Man- 
 
170 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 chu! Mr. Smith, you are an incompetent med- 
 dler — I despise you ! Dr. Petrie, you are a fool 
 — I am sorry for you ! " 
 
 He rested one bony hand on his hip, narrow- 
 ing the long eyes as he looked down on us. The 
 purposeful cruelty of the man was inherent; it 
 was entirely untheatrical. Still Smith remained 
 silent. 
 
 " So I am determined to remove you from the 
 scene of your blunders ! " added Fu-Manchu. 
 
 " Opium will very shortly do the same for 
 you ! " I rapped at him savagely. 
 
 Without emotion he turned the narrowed eyes 
 upon me. 
 
 " That is a matter of opinion, Doctor/' he said. 
 " You may have lacked the opportunities which 
 have been mine for studying that subject — and 
 in any event I shall not be privileged to enjoy 
 your advice in the future." 
 
 " You will not long outlive me," I replied. 
 "And our deaths will not profit you, inciden- 
 tally ; because — " Smith's foot touched mine. 
 
 "Because?" inquired Fu-Manchu softly. 
 " Ah ! Mr. Smith is so prudent ! He is thinking 
 that I have files!" He pronounced the word in 
 a way that made me shudder. " Mr. Smith has 
 seen a wire jacket! Have you ever seen a wire 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 171' 
 
 jacket? As a surgeon its functions would in- 
 terest you ! " 
 
 I stifled a cry that rose to my lips; for, with 
 a shrill whistling sound, a small shape came 
 bounding into the dimly lit vault, then shot up- 
 ward. A marmoset landed on the shoulder of 
 Dr. Fu-Manchu and peered grotesquely into the 
 dreadful yellow face. The Doctor raised his 
 bony hand and fondled the little creature, croon- 
 ing to it. 
 
 " One of my pets, Mr. Smith/' he said, sud-» 
 denly opening his eyes fully so that they blazed 
 like green lamps. " I have others, equally use- 
 ful. My scorpions — have you met my scor- 
 pions? No? My pythons and hamadryads? 
 Then there are my fungi and my tiny allies, the 
 bacilli. I have a collection in my laboratory 
 quite unique. Have you ever visited Molokai, 
 the leper island, Doctor? No? But Mr. Nay- 
 land Smith will be familiar with the asylum at 
 Rangoon! And we must not forget my black 
 spiders, with their diamond eyes — my spiders, 
 that sit in the dark and watch — then leap ! " 
 
 He raised his lean hands, so that the sleeve of 
 the robe fell back to the elbow, and the ape 
 dropped, chattering, to the floor and ran from the 
 cellar. 
 
172 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MAITCHU 
 
 "O God of Cathay!" he cried, "by what 
 death shall these die — these miserable ones who 
 would bind thine Empire, which is boundless ! " 
 
 Like some priest of Tezcat he stood, his eyes 
 I upraised to the roof, his lean body quivering — 
 J a sight to shock the most unimpressionable mind. 
 
 " He is mad ! " I whispered to Smith. " God 
 help us, the man is a dangerous homicidal 
 maniac ! " 
 
 Nayland Smith's tanned face was very drawn, 
 but he shook his head grimly. 
 
 " Dangerous, yes, I agree," he muttered ; " his 
 existence is a danger to the entire white race 
 which, now, we are powerless to avert." 
 
 Dr. Fu-Manchu recovered himself, took up the 
 lantern and, turning abruptly, walked to the 
 door, with his awkward, yet feline gait. At 
 the threshold he looked back. 
 
 "You would have warned Mr. Graham 
 Guthrie?" he said, in a soft voice. "To-night, 
 at half-past twelve, Mr. Graham Guthrie dies ! " 
 
 Smith sat silent and motionless, his eyes fixed 
 upon the speaker. 
 
 "You were in Rangoon in 1908?" continued 
 Dr. Fu-Manchu — "you remember the Call?" 
 
 From somewhere above us — I could not de- 
 termine the exact direction — came a low, wail- 
 ing cry, an uncanny thing of falling cadences, 
 
THE INSIDIOUS BR. FU-MANCHU 173 
 
 which, in that dismal vault, with the sinister 
 yellow-robed figure at the door, seemed to pour 
 ice into my veins. Its effect upon Smith was 
 truly extraordinary. His face showed grayly 
 in the faint light, and I heard him draw a hiss- 
 ing breath through clenched teeth. 
 
 " It calls for you ! " said Fu-Manchu. " At 
 half-past twelve it calls for Graham Guthrie ! " 
 
 The door closed and darkness mantled us 
 again. 
 
 "Smith," I said, "what was that?" The 
 horrors about us were playing havoc with my 
 nerves. 
 
 "It was the Call of Siva!" replied Smith 
 hoarsely. 
 
 "What is it? Who uttered it? What does 
 it mean ? " 
 
 " I don't know what it is, Petrie, nor who 
 utters it. But it means death ! " 
 
Chapter XIV 
 
 iHEKE may be some who could have lain, 
 chained to that noisome cell, and felt no 
 fear — no dread of what the blackness 
 might hold. I confess that I am not one of 
 these. I knew that Nayland Smith and I stood 
 in the path of the most stupendous genius who 
 in the world's history had devoted his intellect 
 to crime. I knew that the enormous wealth of 
 the political group backing Dr. Fu-Manchu 
 rendered him a menace to Europe and to Amer- 
 ica greater than that of the plague. He was a 
 scientist trained at a great university — an ex- 
 plorer of nature's secrets, who had gone farther 
 into the unknown, I suppose, than any living 
 man. His mission was to remove all obstacles 
 — human obstacles — from the path of that 
 secret movement which was progressing in the 
 Far East. Smith and I were two such obstacles ; 
 and of all the horrible devices at his command, 
 I wondered, and my tortured brain refused to 
 leave the subject, by which of them were we 
 doomed to be dispatched? 
 
 174 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 175 
 
 Even at that very moment some venomous cen- 
 tipede might be wriggling towards me over the 
 slime of the stones, some poisonous spider be 
 preparing to drop from the roof! Fu-Manchu 
 might have released a serpent in the cellar, or 
 the air be alive with microbes of a loathsome 
 disease ! 
 
 " Smith/* I said, scarcely recognizing my own 
 voice, " I can't bear this suspense. He intends 
 to kill us, that is certain, but — " 
 
 " Don't worry," came the reply ; " he intends 
 to learn our plans first." 
 
 " You mean — ? v 
 
 " You heard him speak of his files and of his 
 wire jacket? " 
 
 " Oh, my God ! " I groaned ; " can this be 
 England?" 
 
 Smith laughed dryly, and I heard him fum- 
 bling with the steel collar about his neck. 
 
 " I have one great hope," he said, " since you 
 share my captivity, but we must neglect no 
 minor chance. Try with your pocket-knife if 
 you can force the lock. I am trying to break 
 this one." 
 
 Truth to tell, the idea had not entered my 
 half-dazed mind, but I immediately acted upon 
 my friend's suggestion, setting to work with the 
 small blade of my knife. I was so engaged, 
 
176 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 and, having snapped one blade, was about £6 
 open another, when a sound arrested me. It 
 came from beneath my feet. 
 
 " Smith," I whispered, " listen ! " 
 
 The scraping and clicking which told of 
 Smith's efforts ceased. Motionless, we sat in 
 that humid darkness and listened. 
 
 Something was moving beneath the stones of 
 the cellar. I held my breath; every nerve in 
 my body was strung up. 
 
 A line of light showed a few feet from where 
 we lay. It widened — became an oblong. A 
 trap was lifted, and within a yard of me, there 
 rose a dimly seen head. Horror I had expected 
 — and death, or worse. Instead, I saw a lovely 
 face, crowned with a disordered mass of curling 
 hair; I saw a white arm upholding the stone 
 slab, a shapely arm clasped about the elbow by 
 a broad gold bangle. 
 
 The girl climbed into the cellar and placed 
 the lantern on the stone floor. In the dim light 
 she was unreal — a figure from an opium vision, 
 with her clinging silk draperies and garish 
 jewelry, with her feet encased in little red 
 slippers. In short, this was the houri of my 
 vision, materialized. It was difficult to believe 
 that we were in modern, up-to-date England; 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 177 
 
 easy to dream that we were the captives of a 
 caliph, in a dungeon in old Bagdad. 
 
 "My prayers are answered/ 7 said Smith' 
 softly. " She has come to save you." 
 
 " S-sh ! " warned the girl, and her wonderful 
 eyes opened widely, fearfully. "A sound and 
 he will kill us all." 
 
 She bent over me; a key jarred in the lock 
 which had broken my penknife — and the collar 
 was off. As I rose to my feet the girl turned 
 and released Smith. She raised the lantern 
 above the trap, and signed to us to descend the 
 wooden steps which its light revealed. 
 
 " Your knife," she whispered to me. " Leave 
 it on the floor. He will think you forced the 
 locks. Down ! Quickly ! " 
 
 Nayland Smith, stepping gingerly, disap- 
 peared into the darkness. I rapidly followed. 
 Last of all came our mysterious friend, a gold 
 band about one of her ankles gleaming in the 
 rays of the lantern which she carried. We 
 stood in a low-arched passage. 
 
 " Tie your handkerchiefs over your eyes and 
 do exactly as I tell you," she ordered. 
 
 Neither of us hesitated to obey her. Blind- 
 folded, I allowed her to lead me, and Smith rested 
 his hand upon my shoulder. In that order we 
 
178 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 proceeded, and came to stone steps, which we 
 ascended. 
 
 "Keep to the wall on the left," came a whis- 
 per. " There is danger on the right." 
 
 With my free hand I felt for and found the 
 wall, and we pressed forward. The atmosphere 
 of the place through which we were passing was 
 steamy, and loaded with an odor like that of 
 exotic plant life. But a faint animal scent 
 crept to my nostrils, too, and there was a sub 
 dued stir about me, infinitely suggestive — mys 
 terious. 
 
 Now my feet sank in a soft carpet, and a cur 
 tain brushed my shoulder. A gong sounded 
 We stopped. 
 
 The din of distant drumming came to my ears 
 
 "Where in Heaven's name are we?" hissed 
 Smith in my ear ; " that is a tom-tom ! " 
 
 " S-sh ! S-sh ! " 
 
 The little hand grasping mine quivered nerv- 
 ously. We were near a door or a window, for 
 a breath of perfume was wafted through the air; 
 and it reminded me of my other meetings with 
 the beautiful woman who was now leading us 
 from the house of Fu-Manchu; who, with her 
 own lips, had told me that she w T as his slave. 
 Through the horrible phantasmagoria she flitted 
 — a seductive vision, her piquant loveliness 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 179 
 
 standing out richly in its black setting of mur- 
 der and devilry. Not once, but a thousand 
 times, I had tried to reason out the nature of 
 the tie which bound her to the sinister Doctor. 
 
 Silence fell. 
 
 "Quick! This way!" 
 
 Down a thickly carpeted stair we went. Our 
 guide opened a door, and led us along a passage. 
 Another door was opened; and we were in the 
 open air. But the girl never tarried, pulling me 
 along a graveled path, with a fresh breeze blow- 
 ing in my face, and along until, unmistakably, 
 I stood upon the river bank. Now, planking 
 creaked to our tread; and looking downward be- 
 neath the handkerchief, I saw the gleam of 
 water beneath my feet. 
 
 " Be careful ! " I was warned, and found my- 
 self stepping into a narrow boat — a punt. 
 
 Nayland Smith followed, and the girl pushed 
 the punt off and poled out into the stream. 
 
 " Don't speak ! " she directed. 
 
 My brain was fevered; I scarce knew if I 
 dreamed and was waking, or if the reality ended 
 with my imprisonment in the clammy cellar 
 and this silent escape, blindfolded, upon the 
 river with a girl for our guide who might have 
 stepped out of the pages of "The Arabian 
 Nights " were fantasy — the mockery of sleep. 
 
180 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 Indeed, I began seriously to doubt if this 
 stream whereon we floated, whose waters plashed 
 and tinkled about us, were the Thames, the 
 Tigris, or the Styx. 
 
 The punt touched a bank. 
 
 " You will hear a clock strike in a few min- 
 utes," said the girl, with her soft, charming ac- 
 cent, " but I rely upon your honor not to remove 
 the handkerchiefs until then. You owe me this." 
 
 " We do ! " said Smith fervently. 
 
 I heard him scrambling to the bank, and a mo- 
 ment later a soft hand was placed in mine, and 
 I, too, was guided on to terra firma. Arrived on 
 the bank, I still held the girPs hand, drawing 
 her towards me. 
 
 " You must not go back," I whispered. " We 
 will take care of you. You must not return to 
 that place." 
 
 " Let me go ! " she said. " When, once, I 
 asked you to take me from him, you spoke of 
 police protection; that was your answer, police 
 protection! You would let them lock me up — 
 imprison me — and make me betray him! For 
 what? For what?" She wrenched herself 
 free. " How little you understand me. Never 
 mind. Perhaps one day you will know! Until 
 the clock strikes ! " 
 
 She was gone. I heard the creak of the punt, 
 
 V 7 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 181 
 
 the drip of the water from the pole. Fainter it 
 grew, and fainter. 
 
 "What is her secret?" muttered Smith, be- 
 side me. " Why does she cling to that 
 monster?" 
 
 The distant sound died away entirely. A 
 clock began to strike; it struck the half-hour. 
 In an instant my handkerchief was off, and so 
 Was Smith's. We stood upon a towing-path. 
 Away to the left the moon shone upon the towers 
 and battlements of an ancient fortress. 
 
 It was Windsor Castle. 
 
 " Half-past ten," cried Smith. " Two hours 
 to save Graham Guthrie ! " 
 
 We had exactly fourteen minutes in which to 
 catch the last train to Waterloo ; and we caught 
 it. But I sank into a corner of the compart- 
 ment in a state bordering upon collapse. Neither 
 of us, I think, could have managed another 
 twenty yards. With a lesser stake than a hu- 
 man life at issue, I doubt if we should have at- 
 tempted that dash to Windsor station. 
 
 " Due at Waterloo at eleven-fifty-one," panted 
 Smith. " That gives us thirty-nine minutes to 
 get to the other side of the river and reach his 
 hotel." 
 
 " Where in Heaven's name is that house situ- 
 ated? Did we come up or down stream? " 
 
182 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 " I couldn't determine. But at any rate, it 
 stands close to the riverside. It should be 
 merely a question of time to identify it. I shall 
 set Scotland Yard to work immediately; but I 
 am hoping for nothing. Our escape will warn 
 him." 
 
 I said no more for a time, sitting wiping the 
 perspiration from my forehead and watching 
 my friend load his cracked briar with the broad- 
 cut Latakia mixture. 
 
 " Smith/' I said at last, " what was that hor- 
 rible wailing we heard, and what did Fu-Manchu 
 mean when he referred to Rangoon? I noticed 
 how it affected you." 
 
 My friend nodded and lighted his pipe. 
 
 " There was a ghastly business there in 1908 
 or early in 1909," he replied : " an utterly mys- 
 terious epidemic. And this beastly wailing was 
 associated with it." 
 
 "In what way? And what do you mean by 
 an epidemic? " 
 
 " It began, I believe, at the Palace Mansions 
 Hotel, in the cantonments. A young American, i 
 whose name I cannot recall, was staying there on 
 business connected with some new iron buildings. 
 One night he went to his room, locked the door, 
 and jumped out of the window into the court- 
 yard. Broke his neck, of course." 
 
- THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 183 
 
 "Suicide?" 
 
 "Apparently. But there were singular fea- 
 tures in the case. For instance, his revolver 
 lay beside him, fully loaded ! " 
 
 "In the courtyard?" 
 
 " In the courtyard ! " 
 
 " Was it murder by any chance? " 
 
 Smith shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " His door was found locked from the inside ; 
 had to be broken in." 
 
 "But the wailing business?" 
 
 " That began later, or was only noticed later. 
 A French doctor, named Lafitte, died in exactly 
 the same way." 
 
 " At the same place? " 
 
 "At the same hotel; but he occupied a dif- 
 ferent room. Here is the extraordinary part 
 of the affair : a friend shared the room with him, 
 and actually saw him go ! " 
 
 "Saw him leap from the window?" 
 
 "Yes. The friend — an Englishman — was 
 aroused by the uncanny wailing. I was in 
 Bangoon at the time, so that I know more of 
 the case of Lafitte than of that of the Ameri- 
 can. I spoke to the man about it personally. 
 He was an electrical engineer, Edward Martin, 
 and he told me that the cry seemed to come from 
 above him. i ' , 
 
184 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 " It seemed to come from above when we heard 
 it at Fu-Manchu's house." 
 
 " Martin sat up in bed, it was a clear moon- 
 light night — the sort of moonlight you get in 
 Burma. Lafitte, for some reason, had just gone 
 to the window. His friend saw him look out. 
 The next moment with a dreadful scream, he 
 threw himself forward — and crashed down into 
 the courtyard ! " 
 
 "What then?" 
 
 " Martin ran to the window and looked down. 
 Lafitte's scream had aroused the place, of course. 
 But there was absolutely nothing to account for 
 the occurrence. There was no balcony, no 
 ledge, by means of which anyone could reach 
 the window.'' 
 
 " But how did you come to recognize the cry? " 
 
 " I stopped at the Palace Mansions for some 
 time; and one night this uncanny howling 
 aroused me. I heard it quite distinctly, and am 
 never likely to forget it. It was followed by a 
 hoarse yell. The man in the next room, an or- 
 chid hunter, had gone the same way as the 
 others ! " 
 
 " Did you change your quarters? " 
 
 "No. Fortunately for the reputation of the 
 hotel — a first-class establishment — several 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 185 
 
 similar cases occurred elsewhere, both in Ran- 
 goon, in Prome and in Moulmein. A story got 
 about the native quarter, and was fostered by 
 some mad fakir, that the god Siva was reborn 
 and that the cry was his call for victims; a 
 ghastly story, which led to an outbreak of da- 
 coity and gave the District Superintendent no 
 end of trouble." 
 
 " Was there anything unusual about the 
 bodies?" 
 
 " They all developed marks after death, as 
 though they had been strangled! The marks 
 were said all to possess a peculiar form, though 
 it was not appreciable to my eye ; and this, again, 
 was declared to be the five heads of Siva." 
 
 "Were the deaths confined to Europeans?" 
 
 " Oh, no. Several Burmans and others died 
 in the same way. At first there was a theory 
 that the victims had contracted leprosy and com- 
 mitted suicide as a result; 'but the medical evi- 
 dence disproved that. The Call of Siva became 
 a perfect nightmare throughout Burma." 
 
 " Did you ever hear it again, before this even- 
 ing? " 
 
 " Yes. I heard it on the Upper Irrawaddy one 
 clear, moonlight night, and a Colassie — a deck- 
 hand — leaped from the top deck of the steamer 
 
186 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 aboard which I was traveling! My God! to 
 think that the fiend Fu-Manchu has brought 
 that to England ! " 
 
 "But brought what, Smith?" I cried, in per- 
 plexity. "What has he brought? An evil 
 spirit? A mental disease? What is it? What 
 can it be?" 
 
 "A new agent of death, Petrie! Something 
 born in a plague-spot of Burma — the home of 
 much that is unclean and much that is inexpli- 
 cable. Heaven grant that we be in time, and are 
 able to save Guthrie." 
 
Chapter XT 
 
 THE train was late, and as our cab turned 
 out of Waterloo Station and began to as- 
 cend to the bridge, from a hundred 
 steeples rang out the gongs of midnight, the bell 
 of St. Paul's raised above them all to vie with the 
 deep voice of Big Ben. 
 
 I looked out from the cab window across the 
 river to where, towering above the Embankment, 
 that place of a thousand tragedies, the light of 
 some of London's greatest caravanserais formed a 
 sort of minor constellation. From the subdued 
 blaze that showed the public supper-rooms I 
 looked up to the hundreds of starry points mark- 
 ing the private apartments of those giant inns. 
 
 I thought how each twinkling window denoted 
 the presence of some bird of passage, some wan- 
 derer temporarily abiding in our midst. There, 
 floor piled upon floor above the chattering 
 throngs, were these less gregarious units, each 
 something of a mystery to his fellow-guests, each 
 m his separate cell; and each as remote from 
 
 187 
 
188 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 real human companionship as if that cell were 
 fashioned, not in the bricks of London, but in 
 the rocks of Hindustan ! 
 
 In one of those rooms Graham Guthrie might 
 at that moment be sleeping, all unaware that he 
 would awake to the Call of Siva, to the summons 
 of death. As we neared the Strand, Smith 
 stopped the cab, discharging the man outside 
 Sotheby's auction-rooms. 
 
 " One of the doctor's watch-dogs may be in 
 the foyer," he said thoughtfully, " and it might 
 spoil everything if we were seen to go to Guthrie's 
 rooms. There must be a back entrance to the 
 kitchens, and so on? " 
 
 " There is," I replied quickly. " I have seen 
 the vans delivering there. But have we time?" 
 
 " Yes. Lead on." 
 
 We walked up the Strand and hurried west- 
 ward. Into that narrow court, with its iron 
 posts and descending steps, upon which opens a 
 well-known wine-cellar, we turned. Then, going 
 parallel with the Strand, but on the Embank- 
 ment level, we ran round the back of the great 
 hotel, and came to double doors which were open. 
 An arc lamp illuminated the interior and a num- 
 ber of men were at work among the casks, crates 
 and packages stacked about the place. We 
 entered. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU: 189 
 
 " Hallo ! " cried a man in a white overall, 
 " where d'you think you're going? " 
 
 Smith grasped him by the arm. 
 
 " I want to get to the public part of the hotel 
 without being seen from the entrance hall/' he 
 said. "Will you please lead the way?" 
 
 " Here — " began the other, staring. 
 
 " Don't waste time ! " snapped my friend, in 
 that tone of authority which he knew so well 
 how to assume. u It's a matter of life and death. 
 Lead the way, I say ! " 
 
 "Police, sir?" asked the man civilly. 
 
 " Yes," said Smith; " hurry ! " 
 
 Off went our guide without further demur. 
 Skirting sculleries, kitchens, laundries and en- 
 gine-rooms, he led us through those mysterious 
 labyrinths which have no existence for the guest 
 above, but which contain the machinery that 
 renders these modern khans the Aladdin's palaces 
 they are. On a second-floor landing we met a 
 man in a tweed suit, to whom our cicerone pre- 
 sented us. 
 
 " Glad I met you, sir. Two gentlemen from 
 the police." 
 
 The man regarded us haughtily with a sus- 
 picious smile. 
 
 "Who are you?" he asked. "You're not 
 from Scotland Yard, at any rate ! " 
 
190 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 Smith pulled out a card and thrust it into the 
 speaker's hand. 
 
 " If you are the hotel detective," he said, 
 "take us without delay to Mr. Graham Guth- 
 rie." 
 
 A marked change took place in the other's de- 
 meanor on glancing at the card in his hand. 
 
 " Excuse me, sir," he said deferentially, " but, 
 of course, I didn't know who I was speaking to. 
 We all have instructions to give you every as- 
 sistance." 
 
 " Is Mr. Guthrie in his room?" 
 
 "He's been in his room for some time, sir. 
 You will want to get there without being seen? 
 This way. We can join the lift on the third 
 floor." 
 
 Off we went again, with our new guide. In 
 the lift: 
 
 " Have you noticed anything suspicious about 
 the place to-night?" asked Smith. 
 
 " I have ! " was the startling reply. " That 
 accounts for your finding me where you did. 
 My usual post is in the lobby. But about eleven 
 o'clock, when the theater people began to come 
 in, I had a hazy sort of impression that some- 
 one or something slipped past in the crowd — 
 something that had no business in the hotel." 
 
 We got out of the lift. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 191 ! 
 
 *' I don't quite follow you," said Smith. " If 
 you thought you saw something entering, you 
 must have formed a more or less definite impres- 
 sion regarding it." 
 
 . "That's the funny part of the business," 
 answered the man doggedly. "I didn't! But 
 as I stood at the top of the stairs I could have 
 sworn that there was something crawling up be- 
 hind a party — two ladies and two gentlemen." 
 
 " A dog, for instance? " 
 
 " It didn't strike me as being a dog, sir. Any- 
 way, when the party passed me, there was noth- 
 ing there. Mind you, whatever it was, it hadn't 
 come in by the front. I have made inquiries 
 everywhere, but without result." He stopped 
 abruptly. "No. 189 — Mr. Guthrie's door, 
 sir." 
 
 Smith knocked. 
 
 " Hallo ! " came a muffled voice ; " what do you 
 want? " 
 
 "Open the door! Don't delay; it is impor* 
 tank" 
 
 He turned to the hotel detective. 
 
 "Stay right there where you can watch the 
 stairs and the lift," he instructed; "and note 
 everyone and everything that passes this door 
 But whatever you see or hear, do nothing with- 
 out my orders." 
 
192 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 The man moved off, and the door was opened. 
 Smith whispered in my ear: 
 
 " Some creature of Dr. Fu-Manchu is in the 
 hotel!" 
 
 Mr. Graham Guthrie, British resident in 
 North Bhutan, was a big, thick-set man — gray- 
 haired and florid, with widely opened eyes of the 
 true fighting blue, a bristling mustache and 
 prominent shaggy brows. Nayland Smith in- 
 troduced himself tersely, proffering his card and 
 an open letter. 
 
 " Those are my credentials, Mr. Guthrie," he 
 said ; " so no doubt you will realize that the busi- 
 ness which brings me and my friend, Dr. Petrie, 
 here at such an hour is of the first importance." 
 
 He switched off the light. 
 
 " There is no time for ceremony," he explained. 
 " It is now twenty-five minutes past twelve. At 
 half-past an attempt will be made upon your 
 life!" 
 
 " Mr. Smith," said the other, who, arrayed in 
 his pajamas, was seated on the edge of the bed, 
 "you alarm me very greatly. I may mention 
 that I was advised of your presence in England 
 this morning." 
 
 "Do you know anything respecting the per- 
 son called Fu-Manchu — Dr. Fu-Manchu?" 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHO 193' 
 
 " Only what I was told to-day — that he is 
 the agent of an advanced political group." 
 
 " It is opposed to his interests that you should 
 return to Bhutan. A more gullible agent would 
 be preferable. Therefore, unless you implicitly 
 obey my instructions, you will never leave Eng- 
 land!" 
 
 Graham Guthrie breathed quickly. I was 
 growing more used to the gloom, and I could 
 dimly discern him, his face turned towards Nay- 
 land Smith, whilst with his hand he clutched the 
 bed-rail. Such a visit as ours, I think, must 
 have shaken the nerve of any man. 
 
 " But, Mr. Smith," he said, " surely I am safe 
 enough here ! The place is full of American visi- 
 tors at present, and I have had to be content 
 with a room right at the top; so that the only 
 danger I apprehend is that of fire." 
 
 " There is another danger," replied Smith. 
 " The fact that you are at the top of the build- 
 ing enhances that danger. Do you recall any- 
 thing of the mysterious epidemic which broke 
 out in Rangoon in 1908 — the deaths due to the 
 Call of Siva?" 
 
 " I read of it in the Indian papers," said 
 Guthrie uneasily. "Suicides, were they not?" 
 
 " No ! " snapped Smith. " Murders ! " 
 
Mi THE INSIDIOUS DB. FU-MANCHU 
 
 There was a brief silence. 
 
 " From what I recall of the cases," said Guth- 
 rie, "that seems impossible. In several instan- 
 ces the victims threw themselves from the 
 windows of locked rooms — and the windows 
 were quite inaccessible." 
 
 " Exactly," replied Smith ; and in the dim 
 light his revolver gleamed dully, as he placed it 
 on the small table beside the bed. " Except that 
 your door is unlocked, the conditions to-night 
 are identical. Silence, please, I hear a clock 
 striking." 
 
 It was Big Ben. It struck the half-hour, 
 leaving the stillness complete. In that room, 
 high above the activity which yet prevailed be- 
 low, high above the supping crowds in the hotel, 
 high above the starving crowds on the Embank- 
 ment, a curious chill of isolation swept about 
 me. Again I realized how, in the very heart of 
 the great metropolis, a man may be as far from 
 aid as in the heart of a desert. I was glad that 
 I was not alone in that room — marked with the 
 death-mark of Fu-Manchu; and I am certain 
 that Graham Guthrie welcomed his unexpected 
 company. 
 
 I may have mentioned the fact before, but on 
 this occasion it became so peculiarly evident to 
 me that I am constrained to record it here — I 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 193 
 
 refer to the sense of impending danger which 
 Invariably preceded a visit from Fu-Manchu. 
 (Even had I not known that an attempt was to 
 V)e made that night, I should have realized it, as, 
 strung to high tension, I waited in the dark- 
 less. Some invisible herald went ahead of the 
 dreadful Chinaman, proclaiming his coming to 
 every nerve in one's body. It was like a breath 
 i)f astral incense, announcing the presence of the 
 priests of death. 
 
 A wail, low but singularly penetrating, falling 
 n minor cadences to a new silence, came from 
 tomewhere close at hand. 
 
 " My God ! " hissed Guthrie, " what was that? " 
 
 "The Call of Siva," whispered Smith. 
 ,; Don't stir, for your life!" 
 
 Guthrie was breathing hard. 
 
 I knew that we were three; that the hotel de- 
 fective was within hail; that there was a tele- 
 phone in the room; that the traffic of the Em- 
 bankment moved almost beneath us ; but I knew, 
 and am not ashamed to confess, that King Fear 
 lad icy fingers about my heart. It was awful 
 -»-that tense waiting — for — what? / 
 
 Three taps sounded very distinctly upon the 
 window. 
 
 Graham Guthrie started so as to shake the 
 bed. 
 
196 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 " It's supernatural ! " he muttered — all Jhat 
 "was Celtic in his blood recoilirg from the omen. 
 " Nothing human can reach that window !?.?. 
 
 " S-sh ! " from Smith. " Don't stir." 
 
 The tapping was repeated. 
 
 Smith softly crossed the room. My heart was 
 beating painfully. He threw open the window. 
 Further inaction was impossible. I joined him ; 
 and we looked out into the empty air. 
 
 " Don't come too near, Petrie ! " he warned 
 over his shoulder. 
 
 One on either side of the open window, we 
 stood and looked down at the moving Embank- 
 ment lights, at the glitter of the Thames, at the 
 silhouetted buildings on the farther bank, with 
 the Shot Tower starting above them all. 
 
 Three taps sounded on the panes above us. 
 
 In all my dealings with Dr. Fu-Manchu I had 
 had to face nothing so uncanny as this. What 
 Burmese ghoul had he loosed? Was it outside, 
 in the air? Was it actually in the room? 
 
 " Don't let me go, Petrie ! " whispered Smith 
 suddenly. " Get a tight hold on me!" 
 
 That was the last straw; for I thought that 
 some dreadful fascination was impelling my 
 friend to hurl himself out! Wildly I threw my 
 arms about him, and Guthrie leaped forward to 
 help. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 197 
 
 Smith leaned from the window and looked up. 
 
 One choking cry he gave — smothered, inar- 
 ticulate — and I found him slipping from my 
 grip — being drawn out of the window — 
 drawn to his death! 
 
 " Hold him, Guthrie ! " I gasped hoarsely. 
 " My God, he's going ! Hold him ! " 
 
 My friend writhed in our grasp, and I saw 
 him stretch his arm upward. The crack of his 
 revolver came, and he collapsed on to the floor, 
 carrying me with him. 
 
 But as I fell I heard a scream above. 
 Smith's revolver went hurtling through the air, 
 and, hard upon it, went a black shape — flashing 
 past the open window into the gulf of the night. 
 
 " The light ! The light ! " I cried. 
 
 Guthrie ran and turned on the light. Nay- 
 land Smith, his eyes starting from his head, his 
 face swollen, lay plucking at a silken cord which 
 showed tight about his throat. 
 
 " It was a Thug! " screamed Guthrie. " Get 
 the rope off ! He's choking ! " 
 
 My hands a-twitch, I seized the strangling- 
 cord. 
 
 "A knife! Quick!" I cried. "I have lost 
 mine ! " 
 
 Guthrie ran to the dressing-tabl^ and passed 
 me an open penknife. I somehow forced thei 
 
198 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 blade between the rope and Smith's swollen 
 neck, and severed the deadly silken thing. 
 
 Smith made a choking noise, and fell back, 
 swooning in my arms. 
 
 • ••««.. 
 
 When, later, we stood looking down upon the 
 mutilated thing which had been brought in from 
 where it fell, Smith showed me a mark on the 
 brow — close beside the wound where his bullet 
 had entered. 
 
 " The mark of Kali," he said. " The man was 
 a phansigar — a religious strangler. Since 
 Fu-Manchu has dacoits in his service I might 
 have expected that he would have Thugs. A 
 group of these fiends would seem to have fled 
 into Burma; so that the mysterious epidemic in 
 Rangoon was really an outbreak of thuggee — 
 on slightly improved lines! I had suspected 
 something of the kind but, naturally, I had not 
 looked for Thugs near Rangoon. My unex- 
 pected resistance led the strangler to bungle the 
 rope. You have seen how it was fastened about 
 my throat? That was unscientific. The true 
 method, as practiced by the group operating in 
 Burma, was to throw the line about the victim's 
 neck and jerk him from the window. A man 
 leaning from an open window is very nicely 
 poised: it requires only a slight jerk to pitch 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 199 
 
 him forward. No loop was used, but a running 
 line, which, as the victim fell, remained in the 
 hand of the murderer. No clew ! Therefore we 
 see at once what commended the system to Fu- 
 Manchu." 
 
 Graham Guthrie, very pale, stood looking down 
 at the dead strangler. 
 
 " I owe you my life, Mr. Smith," he said. " II 
 you had come five minutes later — " 
 
 He grasped Smith's hand. 
 
 " You see," Guthrie continued, " no one 
 thought of looking for a Thug in Burma! And 
 no one thought of the roof! These fellows are 
 as active as monkeys, and where an ordinary 
 man would infallibly break his neck, they are 
 entirely at home. I might have chosen my room 
 especially for the business ! " 
 
 " He slipped in late this evening," said Smith. 
 " The hotel detective saw him, but 'these stran- 
 gles are as elusive as shadows, otherwise, de- 
 spite their having changed the scene of their 
 operations, not one could have survived." 
 
 " Didn't you mention a case of this kind on 
 the Irrawaddy?" I asked. 
 
 " Yes," was the reply ; " and I know of what] 
 you are thinking. The steamers of the Irra- 
 waddy flotilla have a corrugated-iron roof over 
 the top deck. The Thug must have been lying 
 
200 THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 
 
 up there as the Colassie passed on the deck be- 
 low. 7 ' 
 
 " But, Smith, what is the motive of the Call? " 
 I continued. 
 
 " Partly religious," he explained, " and partly 
 to wake the victims ! You are perhaps going to 
 ask me how Dr. Fu-Manchu has obtained power 
 over such people as phansigarsf I can only re* 
 ply that Dr. Fu-Manchu has secret knowledge 
 of which, so far, we know absolutely nothing; 
 but, despite all, at last I begin to score." 
 
 "You do," I agreed; "but your victory took 
 you near to death." 
 
 " I owe my life to you, Petrie," he said. 
 " Once to your strength of arm, and once to — " 
 
 " Don't speak of her, Smith," I interrupted. 
 "Dr. Fu-Manchu may have discovered the part 
 she played! In which event — " 
 
 "Godhelnher!" 
 
Chapter XVI 
 
 UPON the following day we were afoot 
 again, and shortly at handgrips with the 
 enemy. In retrospect, that restless time 
 offers a chaotic prospect, with no peaceful spot 
 amid its turmoils. 
 
 All that was reposeful in nature seemed to 
 have become an irony and a mockery to us — 
 w T ho knew how an evil demigod had his sacri- 
 ficial altars amid our sweetest groves. This idea 
 ruled strongly in my mind upon that soft au- 
 tumnal day. 
 
 " The net is closing in," said Nayland Smith. 
 
 " Let us hope upon a big catch," I replied, with 
 a laugh. 
 
 Beyond where the Thames tided slumberously 
 seaward showed the roofs of Royal Windsor, the 
 castle towers showing through the autumn haze. 
 The peace of beautiful Thames-side was about 
 us. 
 
 This was one of the few tangible clews upon 
 
 which thus far w T e had chanced; but at last it 
 
 seemed indeed that we were narrowing the re- 
 
 201 
 
202 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 sources of that enemy of the white race who waS 
 writing his name over England in characters of 
 blood. To capture Dr. Fu-Manchu we did not 
 hope; but at least there was every promise of 
 destroying one of the enemy's strongholds. 
 
 We had circled upon the map a tract of coun- 
 try cut by the Thames, with Windsor for its 
 center. Within that circle was the house from 
 which miraculously we had escaped — a house 
 used by the most highly organized group in the 
 history of criminology. So much we knew. 
 Even if we found the house, and this was likely 
 enough, to find it vacated by Fu-Manchu and his 
 mysterious servants we were prepared. But it 
 would be a base destroyed. 
 
 We were working upon a methodical plan, and 
 although our cooperators were invisible, these 
 numbered no fewer than twelve — all of them 
 experienced men. Thus far we had drawn 
 blank, but the place for which Smith and I were 
 making now came clearly into view : an old man- 
 sion situated in extensive walled grounds. 
 Leaving the river behind us, we turned sharply 
 to the right along a lane flanked by a high wall. 
 On an open patch of ground, as we passed, I 
 noted a gypsy caravan. An old woman was 
 seated on the steps, her wrinkled face bent, her 
 chin resting in the palm of her hand. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 203 
 
 I scarcely glanced at her, but pressed on, nor 
 did I notice that my friend no longer was beside 
 me. I was all anxiety to come to some point 
 from whence I might obtain a view of the house ; 
 all anxiety to know if this was the abode of our 
 mysterious enemy — the place where he worked 
 amid his weird company, where he bred his 
 deadly scorpions and his bacilli, reared his 
 poisonous fungi, from whence he dispatched 
 his murder ministers. Above all, perhaps, I 
 wondered if this would prove to be the hiding- 
 place of the beautiful slave girl who was such a 
 potent factor in the Doctor's plans, but a two- 
 edged sword which yet we hoped to turn upon 
 Fu-Manchu. Even in the hands of a master, a 
 woman's beauty is a dangerous weapon. 
 
 A cry rang out behind me. I turned quickly. 
 And a singular sight met my gaze. 
 
 Nayland Smith was engaged in a furious 
 struggle with the old gypsy woman! His long 
 arms clasped about her, he was roughly dragging 
 her out into the roadway, she fighting like a wild 
 thing — silently, fiercely. 
 
 Smith often surprised me, but at that sight, 
 frankly, I thought that he was become bereft of 
 reason. I ran back; and I had almost reached 
 the scene of this incredible contest, and Smith 
 now was evidently hard put to it to hold his own 
 
204 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 when a man, swarthy, with big rings in his ears, 
 leaped from the caravan. 
 
 One quick glance he threw in our direction, and 
 made off towards the river. 
 
 Smith twisted round upon me, never releasing 
 his hold of the woman. 
 
 " After him, Petrie ! " he cried. " After him. 
 Don't let him escape. It's a dacoit ! " 
 
 My brain in a confused whirl; my mind yet 
 disposed to a belief that my friend had lost his 
 senses, the word " dacoit " was sufficient. 
 
 I started down the road after the fleetly run- 
 ning man. Never once did he glance behind 
 him, so that he evidently had occasion to fear 
 pursuit. The dusty road rang beneath my fly- 
 ing footsteps. That sense of fantasy, which 
 claimed me often enough in those days of our 
 struggle with the titantic genius whose victory 
 meant the victory of the yellow races over the 
 white, now had me fast in its grip again. I was 
 an actor in one of those dream-scenes of the 
 grim Fu-Manchu drama. 
 
 Out over the grass and down to the river's 
 brink ran the gypsy who was no gypsy, but one 
 of that far more sinister brotherhood, the da- 
 coits. I was close upon his heels. But I was 
 not prepared for him to leap in among the 
 rushes at the margin of the stream; and seeing 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 205 
 
 him do this I pulled up quickly. Straight into 
 the water he plunged; and I saw that he held 
 some object in his hand. He waded out; he 
 dived; and as I gained the bank and looked to 
 right and left he had vanished completely. Only 
 ever-widening rings showed where he had been. 
 
 I had him. 
 
 For directly he rose to the surface he would be 
 visible from either bank, and with the police 
 whistle which I carried I could, if necessary, 
 summon one of the men in hiding across the 
 stream. I waited. A wild-fowl floated serenely 
 past, untroubled by this strange invasion of his 
 precincts. A full minute I waited. From the 
 lane behind me came Smith's voice : 
 
 " Don't let him escape, Petrie ! " 
 
 Never lifting my eyes from the water, I waved 
 my hand reassuringly. But still the dacoit did 
 not rise. I searched the surface in all direc- 
 tions as far as my eyes could reach ; but no swim- 
 mer showed above it. Then it was that I con- 
 cluded he had dived too deeply, become entan- 
 gled in the weeds and was drowned. With a 
 final glance to right and left and some feeling 
 of awe at this sudden tragedy — this grim 
 going out of a life at glorious noonday — I 
 turned away. Smith had the woman securely; 
 but I had not taken five steps towards him when 
 
206 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 a faint splash behind warned me. Instinctively 
 I ducked. From whence that saving instinct 
 arose I cannot surmise, but to it I owed my life. 
 For as I rapidly lowered my head, something 
 hummed past me, something that flew out over 
 the grass bank, and fell with a jangle upon the 
 dusty roadside. A knife ! 
 
 I turned and bounded back to the river's 
 brink. I heard a faint cry behind me, which 
 could only have come from the gypsy woman. 
 Nothing disturbed the calm surface of the water. 
 The reach was lonely of rowers. Out by the 
 farther bank a girl was poling a punt along, and 
 her white-clad figure was the only living thing 
 that moved upon the river within the range of 
 the most expert knife-thrower. 
 
 To say that I was nonplused is to say less 
 than the truth; I was amazed. That it was the 
 dacoit who had shown me this murderous at- 
 tention I could not doubt. But where in 
 Heaven's name was he? He could not humanly 
 have remained below water for so long; yet he 
 certainly was not above, was not upon the sur- 
 face, concealed amongst the reeds, nor hidden 
 upon the bank. 
 
 There, in the bright sunshine, a consciousness 
 of the eerie possessed me. It was with an un- 
 comfortable feeling that my phantom foe might 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 207 
 
 be aiming a second knife at my back that I 
 turned away and hastened towards Smith. My 
 fearful expectations were not realized, and I 
 picked up the little weapon which had so nar- 
 rowly missed me, and with it in my hand rejoined 
 my friend. 
 
 He was standing with one arm closely clasped 
 about the apparently exhausted woman, and her 
 dark eyes were fixed upon him with an ex- 
 traordinary expression. 
 
 " What does it mean, Smith? " I began. 
 
 But he interrupted me. 
 
 " Where is the dacoit? " he demanded rapidly. 
 
 " Since he seemingly possesses the attributes 
 of a fish," I replied, " I cannot pretend to say." 
 
 The gypsy woman lifted her eyes to mine and 
 laughed. Her laughter was musical, not that of 
 such an old hag as Smith held captive; it was 
 familiar, too. 
 
 I started and looked closely into the wizened 
 face. 
 
 " He's tricked you," said Smith, an angry note 
 in his voice. "What is that you have in your 
 lhand?" 
 
 I showed him the knife, and told him how it 
 had come into my possession. 
 
 " I know," he rapped. " I saw it. He was in 
 the water not three yards from where you stood. 
 
208 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 You must have seen him. Was there nothing 
 visible?" 
 
 " Nothing." 
 
 The woman laughed again, and again I won- 
 dered. 
 
 "A wild-fowl," I added; "nothing else." 
 
 " A wild-fowl," snapped Smith. " If you will 
 consult your recollections of the habits of wild- 
 fowl you will see that this particular specimen 
 was a vara avis. It's an old trick, Petrie, but 
 a good one, for it is used in decoying. A dacoit's 
 head was concealed in that wild-fowl ! It's use- 
 less. He has certainly made good his escape by 
 now." 
 
 " Smith," I said, somewhat crestfallen, " why 
 are you detaining this gyspy woman? " 
 
 " Gypsy woman ! " he laughed, hugging her 
 tightly as she made an impatient movement. 
 " Use your eyes, old man." 
 
 He jerked the frowsy wig from her head, and 
 beneath was a cloud of disordered hair that shim- 
 mered in the sunlight. 
 
 " A wet sponge will do the rest," he said. 
 
 Into my eyes, widely opened in wonder, looked 
 the dark eyes of the captive; and beneath the 
 disguise I picked out the charming features of 
 the slave girl. There were tears on the whitened 
 lashes, and she was submissive now. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 209 
 
 " This time," said my friend hardly, " we have 
 fairly captured her — and we will hold her." 
 
 From somewhere up-stream came a faint call. 
 
 "The dacoit!" 
 
 Nayland Smith's lean body straightened; he 
 stood alert, strung up. 
 
 Another call answered, and a third responded. 
 Then followed the flatly shrill note of a police 
 whistle, and I noted a column of black vapor 
 rising beyond the wall, mounting straight to 
 heaven as the smoke of a welcome offering. 
 
 The surrounded mansion was in flames ! 
 
 " Curse it ! " rapped Smith. " So this time we 
 were right. But, of course, he has had ample 
 opportunity to remove his effects. I knew that. 
 The man's daring is incredible. He has given 
 himself till the very last moment — and we 
 blundered upon two of the outposts." 
 
 " I lost one." 
 
 " No matter. We have the other. I expect no 
 further arrests, and the house will have been so 
 well fired by the Doctor's servants that nothing 
 can save it. I fear its ashes will afford us no 
 clew, Petrie; but we have secured a lever which 
 should serve to disturb Fu-Manchu's world." 
 
 He glanced at the queer figure which hung 
 submissively in his arms. She looked up 
 proudly. 
 
210 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 " You need not hold me so tight," she said, in 
 her soft voice. " I will come with you." 
 
 That I moved amid singular happenings, you, 
 who have borne with me thus far, have learned, 
 and that I witnessed many curious scenes ; but of 
 the many such scenes in that race-drama wherein 
 Nayland Smith and Dr. Fu-Manchu played the 
 leading parts, I remember none more bizarre than 
 the one at my rooms that afternoon. 
 
 Without delay, and without taking the Scot- 
 land Yard men into our confidence, we had hur- 
 ried our prisoner back to London, for my friend's 
 authority was supreme. A strange trio we were, 
 and one which excited no little comment ; but the 
 journey came to an end at last. Now we were 
 in my unpretentious sitting-room — the room 
 wherein Smith first had unfolded to me the story 
 of Dr. Fu-Manchu and of the great secret society 
 which sought to upset the balance of the world 
 — to place Europe and America beneath the 
 scepter of Cathay. 
 
 I sat with my elbows upon the writing-table, 
 my chin in my hands; Smith restlessly paced the 
 floor, relighting his blackened briar a dozen times 
 in as many minutes. In the big arm-chair the 
 pseudogypsy was curled up. A brief toilet had 
 converted the wizened old woman's face into that 
 of a fascinatingly pretty girl. Wildly pictur- 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 211 
 
 esque she looked in her ragged Romany garb. 
 She held a cigarette in her fingers and watched 
 us through lowered lashes. 
 
 Seemingly, with true Oriental fatalism, she 
 was quite reconciled to her fate, and ever and 
 anon she would bestow upon me a glance from 
 her beautiful eyes which few men, I say with 
 confidence, could have sustained unmoved. 
 Though I could not be blind to the emotions of 
 that passionate Eastern soul, yet I strove not to 
 think of them. Accomplice of an arch-murderer 
 she might be; but she was dangerously lovely. 
 
 " That man who was with you," said Smith, 
 suddenly turning upon her, " was in Burma up 
 till quite recently. He murdered a fisherman 
 thirty miles above Prome only a month before I 
 left. The D.S.P. had placed a thousand rupees 
 on his head. Am I right? " 
 
 The girl shrugged her shoulders. 
 
 " Suppose — What then? " she asked. 
 
 " Suppose I handed you over to the police? " 
 suggested Smith. But he spoke without convic- 
 tion, for in the recent past we both had owed our 
 lives to this girl. 
 
 " As you please," she replied. " The police 
 Would learn nothing." 
 
 "You do not belong to the Far East," my 
 friend said abruptly. " You may have Eastern 
 
212 THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 
 
 blood in your veins, but you are no kin of Fu- 
 Manchu." 
 
 " That is true," she admitted, and knocked 
 the ash from her cigarette. 
 
 " Will you tell me where to find Fu-Manchu? " 
 
 She shrugged her shoulders again, glancing 
 eloquently in my direction. 
 
 Smith walked to the door. 
 
 " I must make out my report, Petrie," he said. 
 " Look after the prisoner." 
 
 And as the door closed softly behind him I 
 knew what was expected of me; but, honestly, 
 I shirked my responsibility. What attitude 
 should I adopt? How should I go about my deli- 
 cate task ? In a quandary, I stood watching the 
 girl whom singular circumstances saw captive 
 in my rooms. 
 
 " You do not think we would harm you? " I 
 began awkwardly. " No harm shall come to you. 
 Why will you not trust us ? " 
 
 She raised her brilliant eyes. 
 
 " Of what avail has your protection been to 
 some of those others/' she said; "those others 
 whom he has sought for? " 
 
 Alas ! it had been of none, and I knew it well. 
 I thought I grasped the drift of her words. 
 
 " You mean that if you speak, Fu-Manchu will 
 find a way of killing you?" 
 
TkE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 213 
 
 " Of killing me! " she flashed scornfully. " Do 
 I seem one to fear for myself? " 
 
 "Then what do you fear? " I asked, in sur- 
 prise. 
 
 She looked at me oddly. 
 
 " When I was seized and sold for a slave/' she 
 answered slowly, " my sister was taken, too, and 
 my brother — a child." She spoke the word 
 with a tender intonation, and her slight accent 
 rendered it the more soft. " My sister died in 
 the desert. My brother lived. Better, far bet- 
 ter, that he had died, too." 
 
 Her words impressed me intensely. 
 
 "Of what are you speaking?" I questioned. 
 " You speak of slave-raids, of the desert. Where 
 did these things take place? Of what country 
 are you? " 
 
 "Does it matter?" she questioned in turn. 
 " Of what country am I? A slave has no coun- 
 try, no name." 
 
 " No name ! " I cried. 
 
 "You may call me Karamaneh," she said. 
 " As Karamaneh I was sold to Dr. Fu-Manchu, 
 and my brother also he purchased. We were 
 cheap at the price he paid." She laughed 
 shortly, wildly. 
 
 " But he has spent a lot of money to educate 
 me- My brother is all that is left to me in the 
 
214 THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 
 
 world, to love, and he is in the power of Dr. Fu- 
 Manchu. You understand? It is upon him the 
 blow will fall. You ask me to fight against Fu- 
 Manchu. You talk of protection. Did your pro- 
 tection save Sir Crichton Davey?" 
 
 I shook my head sadly. 
 
 "You understand now why I cannot disobey 
 my master's orders — why, if I would, I dare not 
 betray him." 
 
 I walked to the window and looked out. How 
 could I answer her arguments? What could 1 
 say? I heard the rustle of her ragged skirts, 
 and she who called herself Karamaneh stood be- 
 side me. She laid her hand upon my arm. 
 
 " Let me go," she pleaded. " He will kill him I 
 He will kill him ! " 
 
 Her voice shook with emotion. 
 
 " He cannot revenge himself upon your 
 brother when you are in no way to blame," I said 
 angrily. " We arrested you ; you are not here 
 of your own free will." 
 
 She drew her breath sharply, clutching at my 
 arm, and in her eyes I could read that she was 
 forcing her mind to some arduous decision. 
 
 " Listen." She was speaking rapidly, nerv- 
 ously. "If I help you to take Dr. Fu-Manchu 
 — tell you where he is to be found alone — will 
 you promise me, solemnly promise me, that you 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 215 
 
 will immediately go to the place where I shall 
 guide you and release my brother ; that you will 
 let us both go free? " 
 
 "I will/' I said, without hesitation. "You 
 may rest assured of it." 
 
 " But there is a condition," she added. 
 
 "What is it?" 
 
 " When I have told you where to capture him 
 you must release me." 
 
 I hesitated. Smith often had accused me of 
 Weakness where this girl was concerned. What 
 now was my plain duty? That she would utterly 
 decline to speak under any circumstances unless 
 it suited her to do so I felt assured. If she 
 spoke the truth, in her proposed bargain there 
 was no personal element; her conduct I now 
 viewed in a new light. Humanity, I thought, 
 dictated that I accept her proposal ; policy also. 
 
 " I agree," I said, and looked into her eyes, 
 which were aflame now with emotion, an excite- 
 ment perhaps of anticipation, perhaps of fear. 
 
 She laid her hands upon my shoulders. 
 
 " You will be careful? " she said pleadingly. 
 
 " For your sake," I replied, " I shall." 
 
 "Not for my sake." 
 
 "Then for your brother's." 
 
 " No." Her voice had sunk to a whisper. 
 tt For your own." 
 
Chapter XVII 
 
 A COOL breeze met us, blowing from the 
 lower reaches of the Thames. Far behind 
 us twinkled the dim lights of Low's Cot- 
 tages, the last regular habitations abutting upon 
 the marshes. Between us and the cottages 
 stretched half-a-mile of lush land through which 
 at this season there were, however, numerous 
 dry paths. Before us the flats again, a dull, 
 monotonous expanse beneath the moon, with the 
 promise of the cool breeze that the river flowed 
 round the bend ahead. It was very quiet. Only 
 the sound of our footsteps, as Nayland Smith 
 and I tramped steadily towards our goal, broke 
 the stillness of that lonely place. 
 
 Not once but many times, within the last 
 twenty minutes, I had thought that we were ill- 
 advised to adventure alone upon the capture of 
 the formidable Chinese doctor; but we were fol- 
 lowing out our compact with Karamaneh; and 
 one of her stipulations had been that the police 
 must not be acquainted with her share in the 
 matter. 
 
 A light came into view far ahead of us. 
 
 " That's the light, Petrie," said Smith. " If 
 
 216 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 217 
 
 we keep that straight before us, according to our 
 information we shall strike the hulk." 
 
 I grasped the revolver in my pocket, and the 
 presence of the little weapon was curiously re- 
 assuring. I have endeavored, perhaps in ex- 
 tenuation of my own fears, to explain how about 
 Dr. Fu-Manchu there rested an atmosphere of 
 horror, peculiar, unique. He was not as other 
 men. The dread that he inspired in all with 
 whom he came in contact, the terrors which he 
 controlled and hurled at whomsoever cumbered 
 his path, rendered him an object supremely 
 sinister. I despair of conveying to those who 
 may read this account any but the coldest con- 
 ception of the man's evil power. 
 
 Smith stopped suddenly and grasped my arm. 
 We stood listening. 
 
 "What?" I asked. 
 
 " You heard nothing? " 
 
 I shook my head. 
 
 Smith was peering back over the marshes in 
 his oddly alert way. He turned to me, and his 
 tanned face wore a peculiar expression. 
 
 "You don't think it's a trap?" he jerked. 
 " We are trusting her blindly." 
 
 Strange it may seem, but something within 
 me rose in arms against the innuendo. 
 
 " I don't," I said shortly. 
 
218 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 He nodded. We pressed on. 
 
 Ten minutes' steady tramping brought us 
 within sight of the Thames. Smith and I both 
 had noticed how Fu-Manchu's activities centered 
 always about the London river. Undoubtedly it 
 was his highway, his line of communication, 
 along which he moved his mysterious forces. 
 The opium den off Shadwell Highway, the man- 
 sion upstream, at that hour a smoldering shell; 
 now the hulk lying off the marshes. Always he 
 made his headquarters upon the river. It was 
 significant; and even if to-night's expedition 
 should fail, this was a clew for our future 
 guidance. 
 
 "Bear to the right," directed Smith. "We 
 must reconnoiter before making our attack." 
 
 We took a path that led directly to the river 
 bank. Before us lay the gray expanse of water, 
 and out upon it moved the busy shipping of the 
 great mercantile city. But this life of the river 
 seemed widely removed from us. The lonely 
 spot where we stood had no kinship with human 
 activity. Its dreariness illuminated by the bril- 
 I liant moon, it looked indeed a fit setting for an 
 act in such a drama as that wherein we played 
 our parts. When I had lain in the East End 
 opium den, when upon such another night as 
 this I had looked out upon a peaceful Norfolk 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 219 
 
 countryside, the same knowledge of aloofness, of 
 utter detachment from the world of living men, 
 had come to me. 
 
 Silently Smith stared out at the distant mov- 
 ing lights. 
 
 " Karamaneh merely means a slave," he said 
 irrelevantly. 
 
 I made no comment. 
 
 " There's the hulk," he added. 
 
 The bank upon which we stood dipped in mud 
 slopes to the level of the running tide. Seaward 
 it rose higher, and by a narrow inlet — for we 
 perceived that we were upon a kind of promon- 
 tory — a rough pier showed. Beneath it was a 
 shadowy shape in the patch of gloom which the 
 moon threw far out upon the softly eddying 
 water. Only one dim light was visible amid 
 this darkness. 
 
 " That will be the cabin," said Smith. 
 
 Acting upon our prearranged plan, we turned 
 and walked up on to the staging above the hulk. 
 A wooden ladder led out and down to the deck 
 below, and was loosely lashed to a ring on the 
 pier. With every motion of the tidal waters the 
 ladder rose and fell, its rings creaking harshly; 
 against the crazy railing. 
 
 " How are we going to get down without being 
 detected?" whispered Smith. 
 
220 THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 
 
 " We've got to risk it," I said grimly. , 
 
 Without further words my friend climbed 
 around on to the ladder and commenced to de- 
 scend. I waited until his head disappeared be- 
 low the level, and, clumsily enough, prepared 
 to follow him. 
 
 The hulk at that moment giving an unusually 
 heavy heave, I stumbled, and for one breathless 
 moment looked down upon the glittering surface 
 streaking the darkness beneath me. My foot had 
 slipped, and but that I had a firm grip upon 
 the top rung, that instant, most probably, had 
 marked the end of my share in the fight with 
 Fu-Manchu. As it was I had a narrow escape. 
 I felt something slip from my hip pocket, but the 
 weird creaking of the ladder, the groans of the 
 laboring hulk, and the lapping of the waves 
 about the staging drowned the sound of the 
 splash as my revolver dropped into the river. 
 
 Rather, white-faced, I think, I joined Smith on 
 the deck. He had witnessed my accident, but — 
 
 " We must risk it," he whispered in my ear. 
 " We dare not turn back now." 
 
 He plunged into the semi-darkness, making 
 for the cabin, I perforce following. 
 
 At the bottom of the ladder we came fully 
 into the light streaming out from the singular 
 apartments at the entrance to which we found 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 221 
 
 ourselves. It was fitted up as a laboratory. A 
 glimpse I had of shelves loaded with jars aud 
 bottles, of a table strewn with scientific para- 
 phernalia, with retorts, with tubes of extraor- 
 dinary shapes, holding living organisms, and 
 with instruments — some of them of a form un- 
 known to my experience. I saw too that books, 
 papers and rolls of parchment littered the bare 
 wooden floor. Then Smith's voice rose above the 
 confused sounds about me, incisive, command- 
 ing: 
 
 " I have you covered, Dr. Fu-Manchu ! " 
 
 For Fu-Manchu sat at the table. 
 
 The picture that he presented at that moment 
 is one which persistently clings in my memory. 
 In his long, yellow robe, his masklike, intellec- 
 tual face bent forward amongst the riot of singu- 
 lar objects upon the table, his great, high brow 
 gleaming in the light of the shaded lamp above 
 him, and with the abnormal eyes, filmed and 
 green, raised to us, he seemed a figure from the 
 realms of delirium. 
 
 But, most amazing circumstance of all, he and 
 his surroundings tallied, almost identically, with 
 the dream-picture which had come to me as I 
 lay chained in the cell! 
 
 Some of the large jars about the place held 
 anatomy specimens. A faint smell of opium 
 
222 THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 
 
 hung in the air, and playing with the tassel of 
 one of the cushions upon which, as upon a divan, 
 Fu-Manchu was seated, leaped and chattered a 
 little marmoset. 
 
 That was an electric moment. I was pre 
 pared for anything — for anything except fo?~ 
 what really happened. 
 
 The doctor's wonderful, evil face betrayed no 
 hint of emotion. The lids flickered over the 
 filmed eyes, and their greenness grew momen- 
 tarily brighter, and filmed over again. 
 
 " Put up your hands ! " rapped Smith, " and 
 attempt no tricks." His voice quivered with ex- 
 citement. " The game's up, Fu-Manchu. Find 
 something to tie him up with, Petrie." 
 
 I moved forward to Smith's side, and was 
 about to pass him in the narrow doorway. The 
 hulk moved beneath our feet like a living thing 
 — groaning, creaking — and the water lapped 
 about the rotten woodwork with a sound in- 
 finitely dreary. 
 
 " Put up your hands ! ?? ordered Smith impera- 
 tively. 
 
 Fu-Manchu slowly raised his hands, and a 
 smile dawned upon the impassive features — a 
 smile that had no mirth in it, only menace, re- 
 vealing as it did his even, discolored teeth, but 
 leaving the filmed eyes inanimate, dull, inhuman. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 223 
 
 He spoke softly, sibilantly. 
 
 " I would advise Dr. Petrie to glance behind 
 him before he moves." 
 
 Smith's keen gray eyes never for a moment 
 quitted the speaker. The gleaming barrel moved 
 not a hair's-breadth. But I glanced quickly over 
 my shoulder — and stifled a cry of pure horror. 
 
 A wicked, pock-marked face, with wolfish 
 fangs bared, and jaundiced eyes squinting 
 obliquely into mine, was within two inches of 
 me. A lean, brown hand and arm, the great 
 thews standing up like cords, held a crescent- 
 shaped knife a fraction of an inch above my 
 jugular vein. A slight movement must have 
 dispatched me; a sweep of the fearful weapon, 
 I doubt not, would have severed my head from 
 my body. 
 
 " Smith ! " I whispered hoarsely, " don't look 
 around. For God's sake keep him covered. But 
 a dacoit has his knife at my throat ! " 
 
 Then, for the first time, Smith's hand trembled. 
 But his glance never wavered from the malignant, 
 emotionless countenance of Dr. Fu-Manchu. He 
 clenched his teeth hard, so that the muscles stood 
 out prominently upon his jaw. 
 
 I suppose that silence which followed my aw- 
 ful discovery prevailed but a few seconds. To 
 me those seconds were each a lingering death. 
 
224: ,THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 There, below, in that groaning hulk, I knew more 
 of icy terror than any of our meetings with the 
 murder-group had brought to me before; and 
 through my brain throbbed a thought: the girl 
 had betrayed us! 
 
 " You supposed that I was alone? " suggested 
 Fu-Manchu. " So I was." 
 
 Yet no trace of fear had broken through the 
 impassive yellow mask when we had entered. 
 
 " But my faithful servant followed you," he 
 added. " I thank him. The honors, Mr. Smith, 
 are mine, I think? " 
 
 Smith made no reply. I divined that he was 
 thinking furiously. Fu-Manchu moved his 
 hand to caress the marmoset, which had leaped 
 playfully upon his shoulder, and crouched there 
 gibing at us in a whistling voice. 
 
 " Don't stir ! " said Smith savagely. " I warn 
 you ! " 
 
 Fu-Manchu kept his hand raised. 
 
 " May I ask you how you discovered my re- 
 treat? " he asked. 
 
 " This hulk has been watched since dawn," 
 lied Smith brazenly. 
 
 " So? " The Doctor's filmed eyes cleared for 
 a moment. " And to-day you compelled me to 
 burn a house, and you have captured one of my 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 225 
 
 people, too. I congratulate you. She would noli 
 betray me though lashed with scorpions." 
 
 The great gleaming knife was so near to my 
 neck that a sheet of notepaper could scarcely 
 have been slipped between blade and vein, I 
 think; but my heart throbbed even more wildly 
 when I heard those words. 
 
 " An impasse/' said Fu-Manchu. " I have a 
 proposal to make. I assume that you would not 
 accept my word for anything? " 
 
 " I would not," replied Smith promptly. 
 
 a Therefore," pursued the Chinaman, and the 
 occasional guttural alone marred his perfect 
 English, " I must accept yours. Of your re- 
 sources outside this cabin I know nothing. You, 
 I take it, know as little of mine. My Burmese 
 friend and Doctor Petrie will lead the way, then ; 
 you and I will follow. We will strike out across 
 the marsh for, say, three hundred yards. You 
 will then place your pistol on the ground, 
 pledging me your word to leave it there. I shall 
 further require your assurance that you will 
 make no attempt upon me until I have retraced 
 my steps. I and my good servant will with- 
 draw, leaving you, at the expiration of the 
 specified period, to act as you see fit. Is it 
 agreed?" 
 
226 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 Smith hesitated. Then : 
 
 " The dacoit must leave his knife also," he 
 stipulated. 
 
 Fu-Manchu smiled his evil smile again. 
 
 "Agreed. Shall I lead the way?" 
 
 " No ! " rapped Smith. " Petrie and the da- 
 coit first; then you; I last." 
 
 A guttural word of command from Fu-Man- 
 chu, and we left the cabin, with its evil odors, 
 its mortuary specimens, and its strange instru- 
 ments, and in the order arranged mounted to 
 the deck. 
 
 " It will be awkward on the ladder," said Fu- 
 Manchu. " Dr. Petrie, I will accept your word 
 to adhere to the terms." 
 
 " I promise," I said, the words almost choking 
 me. 
 
 We mounted the rising and dipping ladder, 
 all reached the pier, and strode out across the 
 flats, the Chinaman always under close cover of 
 Smith's revolver. Round about our feet, now 
 leaping ahead, now gamboling back, came and 
 went the marmoset. The dacoit, dressed solely 
 in a dark loin-cloth, walked beside me, carrying 
 his huge knife, and sometimes glancing at me 
 with his blood-lustful eyes. Never before, I 
 venture to say, had an autumn moon lighted such 
 a scene in that place. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 227 
 
 " Here we part," said Fu-Manchu, and spoke 
 another word to his follower. 
 
 The man threw his knife upon the ground. 
 
 " Search him, Petrie," directed Smith. " He 
 may have a second concealed." 
 
 The Doctor consented ; and I passed my hands 
 over the man's scanty garments. 
 
 " Now search Fu-Manchu." 
 
 This also I did. And never have I experienced 
 a similar sense of revulsion from any human 
 being. I shuddered, as though I had touched a 
 venomous reptile. 
 
 Smith drew down his revolver. 
 
 " I curse myself for an honorable fool," he 
 said. " No one could dispute my right to shoot 
 you dead where you stand." 
 
 Knowing him as I did, I could tell from the 
 suppressed passion in Smith's voice that only 
 by his unhesitating acceptance of my friend's 
 word, and implicit faith in his keeping it, had 
 Dr. Fu-Manchu escaped just retribution at that 
 moment. Fiend though he was, I admired his 
 courage ; for all this he, too, must have known. 
 
 The Doctor turned, and with the dacoit walked 
 back. Nayland Smith's next move filled me with 
 surprise. For just as, silently, I was thanking 
 God for my escape, my friend began shedding 
 his coat, collar and waistcoat. 
 
228 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 " Pocket your valuables, and do the same/' he 
 muttered hoarsely. " We have a poor chance, 
 but we are both fairly fit. To-night, Petrie, we 
 literally have to run for our lives." 
 
 We live in a peaceful age, wherein it falls to 
 the lot of few men to owe their survival to their 
 fleetness of foot. At Smith's words I realized 
 in a flash that such was to be our fate to-night. 
 
 I have said that the hulk lay off a sort of prom- 
 ontory. East and west, then, we had nothing 
 to hope for. To the south was Fu-Manchu ; and 
 even as, stripped of our heavier garments, we 
 started to run northward, the weird signal of a 
 dacoit rose on the night and was answered — 
 was answered again. 
 
 " Three, at least," hissed Smith ; " three armed 
 dacoits. Hopeless." 
 
 " Take the revolver," I cried. " Smith, it's — " 
 
 " No," he rapped, through clenched teeth. " A 
 servant of the Crown in the East makes his 
 motto : i Keep your word, though it break your 
 neck ! ' I don't think we need fear it being used 
 against us. Fu-Manchu avoids noisy methods/' 
 
 So back we ran, over the course by which, 
 earlier, we had come. It was, roughly, a mile to 
 the first building — a deserted cottage — and an- 
 other quarter of a mile to any that was occupied. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 222 
 
 Our chance of meeting a living soul, other than 
 Fu-Manchu's dacoits, was practically nil. 
 
 At first we ran easily, for it was the second 
 half-mile that would decide our fate. The pro- 
 fessional murderers who pursued us ran like 
 panthers, I knew ; and I dare not allow my mind 
 to dwell upon those yellow figures with the 
 curved, gleaming knives. For a long time 
 neither of us looked back. 
 
 On we ran, and on — silently, doggedly. 
 
 Then a hissing breath from Smith warned me 
 what to expect. 
 
 Should I, too, look back? Yes. It was im- 
 possible to resist the horrid fascination. 
 
 I threw a quick glance over my shoulder. 
 
 And never while I live shall I forget what I 
 saw. Two of the pursuing dacoits had outdis- 
 tanced their fellow (or fellows), and were actu- 
 ally within three hundred yards of us. 
 
 More like dreadful animals they looked than 
 human beings, running bent forward, with their 
 faces curiously uptilted. The brilliant moon- 
 light gleamed upon bared teeth, as I could see, 
 even at that distance, even in that quick, agonized 
 glance, and it gleamed upon the crescent-shaped 
 knives. 
 
 " As hard as you can go now," panted Smith. 
 
'230 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 "We must make an attempt to break into the 
 empty cottage. Only chance." 
 
 I had never in my younger days been a notable 
 runner; for Smith I cannot speak. But I am 
 confident that the next half-mile was done in 
 time that would not have disgraced a crack man. 
 Not once again did either of us look back. Yard 
 upon yard we raced forward together. My heart 
 seemed to be bursting. My leg muscles throbbed 
 with pain. At last, with the empty cottage in 
 sight, it came to that pass with me when another 
 three yards looks as unattainable as three miles. 
 Once I stumbled. 
 
 " My God ! " came from Smith weakly. 
 
 But I recovered myself. Bare feet pattered 
 close upon our heels, and panting breaths told 
 how even Fu-Manchu's bloodhounds were hard 
 put to it by the killing pace we had made. 
 
 " Smith," I whispered, " look in front. Some- 
 one ! " 
 
 As through a red mist I had seen a dark shape 
 detach itself from the shadows of the cottage, 
 and merge into them again. It could only be 
 another dacoit; but Smith, not heeding, or not 
 hearing, my faintly whispered words, crashed 
 open the gate and hurled himself blindly at the 
 door. 
 
 It burst open before him with a resounding 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 231 
 
 boom, and lie pitched forward into the interior 
 darkness. Flat upon the floor he lay, for as, 
 with a last effort, I gained the threshold and 
 dragged myself within, I almost fell over his 
 recumbent body. 
 
 Madly I snatched at the door. His foot held 
 it open. I kicked the foot away, and banged 
 the door to. As I turned, the leading dacoit, his 
 eyes starting from their sockets, his face the 
 face of a demon, leaped wildly through the gate- 
 way. 
 
 That Smith had burst the latch I felt assured, 
 but by some divine accident my weak hands 
 found the bolt. With the last ounce of strength 
 spared to me I thrust it home in the rusty 
 socket — as a full six inches of shining steel 
 split the middle panel and protruded above my 
 head. 
 
 I dropped, sprawling, beside my friend. 
 
 A terrific blow shattered every pane of glass 
 in the solitary window, and one of the grinning 
 animal faces looked in. 
 
 " Sorry, old man," whispered Smith, and his 
 I voice was barely audible. Weakly he grasped 
 my hand. " My fault. I shouldn't have let you 
 come." ' 
 
 From the corner of the room where the black 
 shadows lay flicked a long tongue of flame v 
 
232 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 Muffled, staccato, came the report. And the yel- 
 low face at the window was blotted out. 
 
 One wild cry, ending in a rattling gasp, told 
 of a dacoit gone to his account. 
 
 A gray figure glided past me and was sil- 
 houetted against the broken window. 
 
 Again the pistol sent its message into the night, 
 and again came the reply to tell how well and 
 truly that message had been delivered. 
 
 In the stillness, intense by sharp contrast, the 
 sound of bare soles pattering upon the path 
 outside stole to me. Two runners, I thought 
 there were, so that four dacoits must have been 
 upon our trail. The room was full of pungent 
 smoke. I staggered to my feet as the gray figure 
 with the revolver turned towards me. Some- 
 thing familiar there was in that long, gray 
 garment, and now I perceived why I had thought 
 so. 
 
 It was my gray rain-coat. 
 
 " Karamaneh," I whispered. 
 
 And Smith, with difficulty, supporting himself 
 upright, and holding fast to the ledge beside the 
 door, muttered something hoarsely, which 
 sounded like " God bless her ! " 
 
 The girl, trembling now, placed her hands upon 
 my shoulders with that quaint, pathetic gesture 
 peculiarly her own. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 233 
 
 " I followed you," she said. " Did you not 
 know I should follow you? But I had to hide 
 because of another who was following also. I 
 had but just reached this place when I saw you 
 running towards me." 
 
 She broke off and turned to Smith. 
 
 "This is your pistol/' she said naively. "I 
 found it in your bag. Will you please take 
 it!" 
 
 He took it without a word. Perhaps he could 
 not trust himself to speak. 
 
 " Now go. Hurry ! " she said. " You are not 
 safe yet." 
 
 "But you?" I asked. 
 
 " You have failed," she replied. " I must go 
 back to him. There is no other way." 
 
 Strangely sick at heart for a man who has just 
 had a miraculous escape from death, I opened 
 the door. Coatless, disheveled figures, my friend 
 and I stepped out into the moonlight. 
 
 Hideous under the pale rays lay the two dead 
 men, their glazed eyes upcast to the peace of the 
 blue heavens. Karamaneh had shot to kill, for 
 both had bullets in their brains. If God ever 
 planned a more complex nature than hers — a 
 nature more tumultuous with conflicting pas- 
 sions, I cannot conceive of it. Yet her beauty 
 was of the sweetest; and in some respects she had 
 
234 THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 
 
 the heart of a child — this girl who could shoot 
 so straight. 
 
 "We must send the police to-night," said 
 Smith. " Or the papers — " 
 
 " Hurry/' came the girl's voice commandingly 
 from the darkness of the cottage. 
 
 It was a singular situation. My very soul re- 
 belled against it. But what could we do? 
 
 " Tell us where we can communicate," began 
 Smith. 
 
 " Hurry. I shall be suspected. Do you want 
 him to kill me ! " 
 
 We moved away. All was very still now, and 
 the lights glimmered faintly ahead. Not a wisp 
 of cloud brushed the moon's disk. 
 
 " Good-night, Karamaneh," I whispered softly. 
 
Chapter XVIII 
 
 TO pursue further the adventure on the 
 marshes would be a task at once useless 
 and thankless. In its actual and in its 
 dramatic significance it concluded with our 
 parting from Karamaneh. And in that parting 
 I learned what Shakespeare meant by " Sweet 
 Sorrow." 
 
 There was a world, I learned, upon the confines 
 of which I stood, a world whose very existence 
 hitherto had been unsuspected. Not the least of 
 the mysteries which peeped from the darkness 
 was the mystery of the heart of Karamaneh. I 
 sought to forget her. I sought to remember her. 
 Indeed, in the latter task I found one more con- 
 genial, yet, in the direction and extent of the 
 ideas which it engendered, one that led me to 
 a precipice. 
 
 East and West may not intermingle. As a 
 student of world-policies, as a physician, I ad- 
 mitted, could not deny, that truth. Again, if 
 Karamaneh were to be credited, she had come to 
 Fu-Manchu a slave; had fallen into the hands 
 
 235 
 
236 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 of the raiders; had crossed the desert with the 
 slave-drivers; had known the house of the slave- 
 dealer. Could it be? With the fading of the 
 crescent of Islam I had thought such things to 
 have passed. 
 
 But if it were so? 
 
 At the mere thought of a girl so deliciously 
 beautiful in the brutal power of slavers, I found 
 myself grinding my teeth — closing my eyes in 
 a futile attempt to blot out the pictures called 
 up. 
 
 Then, at such times, I would find myself dis- 
 crediting her story. Again, I would find myself 
 wondering, vaguely, why such problems persist- 
 ently haunted my mind. But, always, my heart 
 had an answer. And I was a medical man, who 
 sought to build up a family practice ! — who, in 
 short, a very little time ago, had thought him- 
 self past the hot follies of youth and entered 
 upon that staid phase of life wherein the daily 
 problems of the medical profession hold absolute 
 sway and such seductive follies as dark eyes and 
 red lips find no place — are excluded ! 
 
 But it is foreign from the purpose of this plain 
 record to enlist sympathy for the recorder. The 
 topic upon which, here, I have ventured to touch 
 was one fascinating enough to me ; I cannot hope 
 that it holds equal charm for any other. Let 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 237 
 
 us return to that which it is my duty to narrate 
 and let us forget my brief digression. 
 
 It is a fact, singular, but true, that few 
 Londoners know London. Under the guidance 
 of my friend, Nayland Smith, I had learned, since 
 his return from Burma, how there are haunts 
 in the very heart of the metropolis whose ex- 
 istence is unsuspected by all but the few ; places 
 unknown even to the ubiquitous copy-hunting 
 pressman. 
 
 Into a quiet thoroughfare not two minutes' 
 walk from the pulsing life of Leicester Square, 
 Smith led the way. Before a door sandwiched in 
 between two dingy shop-fronts he paused and 
 turned to me. 
 
 " Whatever you see or hear," he cautioned, 
 " express no surprise." 
 
 A cab had dropped us at the corner. We both 
 wore dark suits and fez caps with black silk 
 tassels. My complexion had been artificially re- 
 duced to a shade resembling the deep tan of my 
 friend's. He rang the bell beside the door. 
 
 Almost immediately it was opened by a negro 
 woman — gross, hideously ugly. 
 
 Smith uttered something in voluble Arabic. 
 As a linguist his attainments were a constant 
 source of surprise. The jargons of the East, Far 
 and Near, he spoke as his mother tongue. The 
 
238 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 woman immediately displayed the utmost ser- 
 vility, ushering us into an ill-lighted passage, 
 with every evidence of profound respect. Fol- 
 lowing this passage, and passing an inner door, 
 from beyond whence proceeded bursts of discor- 
 dant music, we entered a little room bare of furni- 
 ture, with coarse matting for mural decorations, 
 and a patternless red carpet on the floor. In a 
 niche burned a common metal lamp. 
 
 The negress left us, and close upon her depar- 
 ture entered a very aged man with a long 
 patriarchal beard, who greeted my friend with 
 dignified courtesy. Following a brief conversa- 
 tion, the aged Arab — for such he appeared to 
 be — drew aside a strip of matting, revealing a 
 dark recess. Placing his finger upon his lips, 
 he silently invited us to enter. 
 
 We did so, and the mat was dropped behind us. 
 The sounds of crude music were now much 
 plainer, and as Smith slipped a little shutter 
 aside I gave a start of surprise. 
 
 Beyond lay a fairly large apartment, having 
 divans or low seats around three of its walls. 
 These divans were occupied by a motley company 
 of Turks, Egyptians, Greeks, and others; and I 
 noted two Chinese. Most of them smoked 
 cigarettes, and some were drinking. A girl was 
 performing a sinuous dance upon the square. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 239 
 
 carpet occupying the center of the floor, accom- 
 panied by a young negro woman upon a guitar 
 and by several members of the assembly who 
 clapped their hands to the music or hummed a 
 low, monotonous melody. 
 
 Shortly after our entrance into the passage 
 the dance terminated, and the dancer fled through 
 a curtained door at the farther end of the room. 
 A buzz of conversation arose. 
 
 " It is a sort of combined Welcaleh and place 
 of entertainment for a certain class of Oriental 
 residents in, or visiting, London," Smith whis- 
 pered. " The old gentleman who has just left 
 us is the proprietor or host. I have been here 
 before on several occasions, but have always 
 drawn blank." 
 
 He was peering out eagerly into the strange 
 clubroom. 
 
 " Whom do you expect to find here? " I asked. 
 
 " It is a recognized meeting-place," said Smith 
 in my ear. " It is almost a certainty that some 
 of the Fu-Manchu group use it at times." 
 
 Curiously I surveyed all these faces which 
 were visible from the spy-hole. My eyes rested 
 particularly upon the two Chinamen. 
 
 " Do you recognize anyone? " I whispered. 
 
 " S-sh ! " 
 
 Smith was craning his neck so as to command 
 
240 THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 
 
 a sight of the doorway. He obstructed my view? 
 and only by his tense attitude and some subtle 
 wave of excitement which he communicated to 
 me did I know that a new arrival was entering. 
 
 The hum of conversation died away, and in 
 the ensuing silence I heard the rustle of draper- 
 ies. The newcomer was a woman, then. Fear- 
 ful of making any noise I yet managed to get my 
 eyes to the level of the shutter. 
 
 A TVJman in an elegant, flame-colored opera 
 cloak was crossing the floor and coming in the 
 direction of the spot where we were concealed. 
 She wore a soft silk scarf about her head, a fold 
 partly draped across her face. A momentary 
 view I had of her — and wildly incongruous she 
 looked in that place — and she had disappeared 
 from sight, having approached someone invisible 
 who sat upon the divan immediately beneath our 
 point of vantage. 
 
 From the way in which the company gazed 
 towards her, I divined that she was no habitue 
 of the place, but that her presence there was as 
 greatly surprising to those in the room as it was 
 to me. 
 
 Whom could she be, this elegant lady who 
 visited such a haunt — who, it would seem, was 
 so anxious to disguise her identity, but who was 
 dressed for a society function rather than for a 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 241 
 
 midnight expedition of so unusual a character? 
 
 I began a whispered question, but Smith 
 tugged at my arm to silence me. His excite- 
 ment was intense. Had his keener powers en- 
 abled him to recognize the unknown? 
 
 A faint but most peculiar perfume stole to my 
 nostrils, a perfume which seemed to contain the 
 very soul of Eastern mystery. Only one woman 
 known to me used that perfume — Karamaneh. 
 
 Then it was she! 
 
 At last my friend's vigilance had been re- 
 warded. Eagerly I bent forward. Smith liter- 
 ally quivered in anticipation of a discovery. 
 
 Again the strange perfume was wafted to our 
 hiding-place; and, glancing neither to right nor 
 left, I saw Karamaneh — for that it was she I no 
 longer doubted — recross the room and disap- 
 pear. 
 
 " The man she spoke to," hissed Smith. " We 
 must see him ! We must have him ! " 
 
 He pulled the mat aside and stepped out into 
 the anteroom. It was empty. Down the pas- 
 sage he led, and we were almost come to the 
 door of the big room when it was thrown open 
 and a man came rapidly out, opened the street 
 door before Smith could reach him, and was 
 gone, slamming it fast. 
 
 I can swear that we were not four seconds be- 
 
242 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 hind Mm, but when we gained the street it was 
 empty. Our quarry had disappeared as if by 
 magic. A big car was just turning the corner 
 towards Leicester Square. 
 
 " That is the girl," rapped Smith ; " but where 
 in Heaven's name is the man to whom she 
 brought the message? I would give a hundred 
 pounds to know what business is afoot. To 
 think that we have had such an opportunity and 
 have thrown it away ! " 
 
 Angry and nonplused he stood at the corner, 
 looking in the direction of the crowded thor- 
 oughfare into which the car had been driven, tug- 
 ging at the lobe of his ear, as was his habit in 
 such moments of perplexity, and sharply click- 
 ing his teeth together. I, too, was very thought- 
 ful. Clews were few enough in those days of our 
 war with that giant antagonist. The mere 
 thought that our trifling error of judgment to- 
 night in tarrying a moment too long might mean 
 the victory of Fu-Manchu, might mean the turn- 
 ing of the balance which a wise providence had 
 adjusted between the white and yellow races, 
 was appalling. 
 
 To Smith and me, who knew something of the 
 secret influences at work to overthrow the Indian 
 Empire, to place, it might be, the whole of 
 Europe and America beneath an Eastern rule, 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 243 
 
 it seemed that a great yellow hand was stretched 
 out over London. Doctor Fu-Manchu was a 
 menace to the civilized world. Yet his very ex- 
 istence remained unsuspected by the millions 
 whose fate he sought to command. 
 
 " Into what dark scheme have we had a 
 glimpse?" said Smith. "What State secret is 
 to be filched? What faithful servant of the 
 British Raj to be spirited away? Upon whom 
 now has Fu-Manchu set his death seal?" 
 
 " Karamaneh on this occasion may not have 
 been acting as an emissary of the Doctor's." 
 
 " I feel assured that she was, Petrie. Of the 
 many whom this yellow cloud may at any mo- 
 ment envelop, to which one did her message re- 
 fer? The man's instructions were urgent. 
 Witness his hasty departure. Curse it ! " He 
 dashed his right clenched fist into the palm of his 
 left hand. " I never had a glimpse of his face, 
 first to last. To think of the hours I have spent 
 in that place, in anticipation of just such a 
 meeting — only to bungle the opportunity when 
 it arose ! " 
 
 Scarce heeding what course we followed, we 
 had come now to Piccadilly Circus, and had 
 walked out into the heart of the night's traffic. I 
 just dragged Smith aside in time to save him 
 from the off-front wheel of a big Mercedes. Then 
 
2M THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 the traffic was blocked, and we found ourselves 
 dangerously penned in amidst the press of 
 vehicles. 
 
 Somehow we extricated ourselves, jeered at by 
 taxi-drivers, who naturally took us for two 
 simple Oriental visitors, and just before that im- 
 passable barrier the arm of a London policeman 
 was lowered and the stream moved on, a 
 faint breath of perfume became perceptible to 
 me. 
 
 The cabs and cars about us were actually be- 
 ginning to move again, and there was nothing for 
 it but a hasty retreat to the curb. I could not 
 pause to glance behind, but instinctively I knew 
 that someone — someone who used that rare, 
 fragrant essence — was leaning from the win- 
 dow of the car. 
 
 a Andaman — second! " floated a soft whisper. 
 
 We gained the pavement as the pent-up traffic 
 roared upon its way. 
 
 Smith had not noticed the perfume worn by 
 the unseen occupant of the car, had not detected 
 the whispered words. But I had no reason to 
 doubt my senses, and I knew beyond question 
 that Fu-Manchu's lovely slave, Karamaneh, had 
 been within a yard of us, had recognized us, 
 and had uttered those words for our guidance. 
 
 On regaining my rooms, we devoted a whole 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 245 
 
 w 
 
 hour to considering what " Andaman — second 
 could possibly mean. 
 
 " Hang it all ! " cried Smith, " it might mean 
 anything — the result of a race, for instance." 
 
 He burst into one of his rare laughs, and be- 
 gan to stuff broadcut mixture into his briar. I 
 could see that he had no intention of turning in. 
 
 " I can think of no one — no one of note — 
 in London at present upon whom it is likely that 
 Fu-Manchu would make an attempt," he said, 
 " except ourselves." 
 
 We began methodically to go through the long 
 list of names which we had compiled and to re- 
 view our elaborate notes. When, at last, I 
 turned in, the night had given place to a new 
 day. But sleep evaded me, and "Andaman — 
 second " danced like a mocking phantom through 
 my brain. 
 
 Then I heard the telephone bell. I heard 
 Smith speaking. 
 
 A minute afterwards he was in my room, his 
 face very grim. 
 
 " I knew as well as if I'd seen it with my own 
 eyes that some black business was afoot last 
 night," he said. " And it was. Within pistol- 
 shot of us! Someone has got at Frank Norris 
 West. Inspector Weymouth has just been on 
 the 'phone." 
 
246 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 " Norris West ! " I cried, " the American avia- 
 tor — and inventor — " 
 
 " Of the West aero-torpedo — yes. He's been 
 offering it to the English War Office, and they 
 have delayed too long." 
 
 I got out of bed. 
 
 " What do you mean ? " 
 
 " I mean that the potentialities have attracted 
 the attention of Dr. Fu-Manchu ! " 
 
 Those words operated electrically. I do not 
 know how long I was in dressing, how long a 
 time elapsed ere the cab for which Smith had 
 'phoned arrived, how many precious minutes 
 were lost upon the journey; but, in a nervous 
 whirl, these things slipped into the past, like the 
 telegraph poles seen from the window of an ex- 
 press, and, still in that tense state, we came 
 upon the scene of this newest outrage. 
 
 Mr. Norris West, whose lean, stoic face had lat- 
 terly figured so often in the daily press, lay upon 
 the floor in the little entrance hall of his cham- 
 bers, flat upon his back, with the telephone re- 
 ceiver in his hand. 
 
 The outer door had been forced by the police. 
 They had had to remove a piece of the paneling 
 to get at the bolt. A medical man was leaning 
 over the recumbent figure in the striped pajama 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 247 
 
 suit, and Detective-Inspector Weymouth' stood 
 watching him as Smith and I entered. 
 
 " He has been heavily drugged/' said the Doc- 
 tor, sniffing at West's lips, "but I cannot say 
 what drug has been used. It isn't chloroform or 
 anything of that nature. He can safely be left 
 to sleep it off, I think." 
 
 I agreed, after a brief examination. 
 , "It's most extraordinary," said Weymouth. 
 " He rang up the Yard about an hour ago and 
 said his chambers had been invaded by China- 
 men. Then the man at the 'phone plainly heard 
 him fall. When we got here his front door was 
 bolted, as you've seen, and the windows are three 
 floors up. Nothing is disturbed." 
 
 " The plans of the aero-torpedo? " rapped 
 Smith. 
 
 " I take it they are in the safe in his bedroom," 
 replied the detective, "and that is locked all 
 right. I think he must have taken an overdose 
 of something and had illusions. But in case 
 there was anything in what he mumbled (you 
 could hardly understand him) I thought it as 
 well to send for you." 
 
 " Quite right," said Smith rapidly. His eyes 
 shone like steel. "Lay him on the bed, In- 
 spector." 
 
248 THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 
 
 It was done, and my friend walked into the 
 bedroom. 
 
 Save that the bed was disordered, showing 
 that West had been sleeping in it, there were no 
 evidences of the extraordinary invasion mem 
 tioned by the drugged man. It was a small 
 room — the chambers were of that kind which 
 are let furnished — and very neat. A safe with 
 a combination lock stood in a corner. The win- 
 dow was open about a foot at the top. 
 
 Smith tried the safe and found it fast. He 
 stood for a moment clicking his teeth together, 
 by which I knew him to be perplexed. He 
 walked over to the window and threw it up. We 
 both looked out. 
 
 " You see," came Weymouth's voice, " it is 
 altogether too far from the court below for our 
 cunning Chinese friends to have fixed a ladder 
 with one of their bamboo rod arrangements. 
 And, even if they could get up there, it's too far 
 down from the roof — two more stories — for 
 them to have fixed it from there." 
 
 Smith nodded thoughtfully, at the same time 
 trying the strength of an iron bar which ran 
 from side to side of the window-sill. Suddenly 
 he stooped, with a sharp exclamation. Bending 
 over his shoulder I saw what it was that had at- 
 tracted his attention. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 249 
 
 Clearly imprinted upon the dust-coated gray 
 stone of the sill was a confused series of marks 
 — tracks — call them what you will. 
 
 Smith straightened himself and turned a 
 wondering look upon me. 
 
 "What is it, Petrie?" he said amazedly. 
 " Some kind of bird has been here, and recently." 
 
 Inspector Weymouth in turn examined the 
 marks. 
 
 " I never saw bird tracks like these, Mr. 
 Smith," he muttered. 
 
 Smith was tugging at the lobe of his ear. 
 
 " No," he returned reflectively ; " come to 
 think of it, neither did I." 
 
 He twisted around, looking at the man on the 
 bed. 
 
 " Do you think it was all an illusion? " asked 
 the detective. 
 
 " What about those marks on the window- 
 sill?" jerked Smith. 
 
 He began restlessly pacing about the room, 
 sometimes stopping before the locked safe and 
 frequently glancing at Norris West. 
 
 Suddenly he walked out and briefly examined 
 the other apartments, only to return again to 
 the bedroom. 
 
 " Petrie," he said, " we are losing valuable 
 time. West must be aroused." 
 
250 THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 
 
 Inspector Weymouth stared. 
 
 Smith turned to me impatiently. The doctor 
 summoned by the police had gone. " Is there 
 no means of arousing him, Petrie? " he said. 
 
 " Doubtless/' I replied, " he could be revived 
 if one but knew what drug he had taken." 
 
 My friend began his restless pacing again, and 
 suddenly pounced upon a little phial of tabloids 
 which had been hidden behind some books on a 
 shelf near the bed. He uttered a triumphant 
 exclamation. 
 
 " See what we have here, Petrie ! " he directed, 
 handing the phial to me. " It bears no label." 
 
 I crushed one of the tabloids in my palm and 
 applied my tongue to the powder. 
 
 " Some preparation of chloral hydrate," I pro- 
 nounced. 
 
 "A sleeping draught?" suggested Smith 
 eagerly. 
 
 "We might try," I said, and scribbled a for- 
 mula upon a leaf of my notebook. I asked Wey- 
 mouth to send the man who accompanied him 
 to call up the nearest chemist and procure the 
 antidote. 
 
 During the man's absence Smith stood contem- 
 plating the unconscious inventor, a peculiar ex- 
 pression upon his bronzed face. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 251 
 
 " Andaman — second/' he muttered. " Shall 
 we find the key to the riddle here, I wonder? " 
 
 Inspector Weymouth, who had concluded, I 
 think, that the mysterious telephone call was 
 due to mental aberration on the part of Norris 
 West, was gnawing at his mustache impatiently 
 when his assistant returned. I administered the 
 powerful restorative, and although, as later 
 transpired, chloral was not responsible for West's 
 condition, the antidote operated successfully. 
 
 Norris West struggled into a sitting position, 
 and looked about him with haggard eyes. 
 
 " The Chinamen ! The Chinamen ! " he mut- 
 tered. 
 
 He sprang to his feet, glaring wildly at Smith 
 and me, reeled, and almost fell. 
 
 " It is all right," I said, supporting him. 
 " I'm a doctor. You have been unwell." 
 
 "Have the police come?" he burst out. 
 " The safe — try the safe ! " 
 
 " It's all right," said Inspector Weymouth. 
 " The safe is locked — unless someone else knows 
 the combination, there's nothing to worry 
 about." 
 
 " No one else knows it," said West, and 
 staggered unsteadily to the safe. Clearly his 
 mind was in a dazed condition, but, setting his 
 
252 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 jaw with a curious expression of grim determi- 
 nation, he collected his thoughts and opened the 
 safe. 
 
 He bent down, looking in. 
 
 In some way the knowledge came to me that 
 the curtain was about to rise on a new and sur- 
 prising act in the Fu-Manchu drama. 
 
 " God ! " he whispered — we could scarcely 
 hear him — " the plans are gone ! " 
 
Chapter XIX 
 
 I HAVE never seen a man quite so surprised 
 as Inspector Weymouth. 
 
 " This is absolutely incredible ! " he said. 
 " There's only one door to your chambers. We 
 found it bolted from the inside.'' 
 
 " Yes," groaned West, pressing his hand to 
 his forehead. " I bolted it myself at eleven 
 o'clock, when I came in." 
 
 " No human being could climb up or down to 
 your windows. The plans of the aero-torpedo 
 were inside a safe." 
 
 " I put them there myself," said West, " on 
 returning from the War Office, and I had occa- 
 sion to consult them after I had come in and 
 bolted the door. I returned them to the safe 
 and locked it. That it was still locked you saw 
 for yourselves, and no one else in the world 
 knows the combination." 
 
 " But the plans have gone," said Weymouth. 
 "It's magic! How was it done? What 
 happened last night, sir? What did you mean 
 when you rang us up?" 
 
 Smith during this colloquy was pacing rapidly 
 
 253 
 
254 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 up and down the room. He turned abruptly to 
 the aviator. 
 
 " Every fact you can remember, Mr. West, 
 please," he said tersely; " and be as brief as you 
 possibly can." , 
 
 " I came in, as I said," explained West, 
 " about eleven o'clock, and, having made some 
 notes relating to an interview arranged for this 
 morning, I locked the plans in the safe and 
 turned in." 
 
 " There was no one hidden anywhere in your 
 chambers?" snapped Smith. 
 
 u There was not," replied West. " I looked. 
 I invariably do. Almost immediately, I went 
 to sleep." 
 
 " How many chloral tabloids did you take? " 
 I interrupted. 
 
 Norris West turned to me with a slow smile. 
 
 " You're cute, Doctor," he said. " I took two. 
 It's a bad habit, but I can't sleep without. They 
 are specially made up for me by a firm in Phila- 
 delphia. 
 
 " How long sleep lasted, when it became filled 
 with uncanny dreams, and when those dreams 
 merged into reality, I do not know — shall 
 never know, I suppose. But out of the dream- 
 less void a face came to me — closer — closer — 
 and peered into mine. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 255 
 
 " I was in that curious condition wherein one 
 knows that one is dreaming and seeks to awaken 
 ■ — to escape. But a nightmare-like oppression 
 held me. So I must lie and gaze into the seared 
 yellow face that hung over me, for it would drop 
 so close that I could trace the cicatrized scar 
 running from the left ear to the corner of the 
 mouth, and drawing up the lip like the lip of a 
 snarling cur. I could look into the malignant, 
 jaundiced eyes; I could hear the dim whispering 
 of the distorted mouth — whispering that seemed 
 to counsel something — something evil. That 
 whispering intimacy was indescribably repul- 
 sive. Then the wicked yellow face would be 
 withdrawn, and would recede until it became 
 as a pin's head in the darkness far above me — 
 almost like a glutinous, liquid thing. 
 
 " Somehow I got upon my feet, or dreamed I 
 did — God knows where dreaming ended and 
 reality began. Gentlemen, maybe you'll con- 
 clude I went mad last night, but as I stood hold- 
 ing on to the bedrail I heard the blood throbbing 
 through my arteries with a noise like a screw- 
 propeller. I started laughing. The laughter 
 issued from my lips with a shrill whistling sound 
 that pierced me with physical pain and seemed 
 to wake the echoes of the whole block. I thought 
 myself I was going mad, and I tried to command 
 
256 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 my will — to break the power of the chloral — 
 for I concluded that I had accidentally taken an 
 overdose. 
 
 u Then the walls of my bedroom started to re- 
 cede, till at last I stood holding on to a bed 
 which had shrunk to the size of a doll's cot, in 
 the middle of a room like Trafalgar Square! 
 That window yonder was such a long way off I 
 could scarcely see it, but I could just detect a 
 Chinaman — the owner of the evil yellow face 
 — creeping through it. He was followed by an- 
 other, who was enormously tall — so tall that, 
 as they came towards me (and it seemed to take 
 them something like half-an-hour to cross this 
 incredible apartment in my dream), the second 
 Chinaman seemed to tower over me like a cy- 
 press-tree. 
 
 " I looked up to his face — his wicked, hair- 
 less face. Mr. Smith, whatever age I live to, 
 I'll never forget that face I saw last night — or 
 did I see it? God knows! The pointed chin, 
 the great dome of a forehead, and the eyes — 
 heavens above, the huge green eyes ! " 
 
 He shook like a sick man, and I glanced at 
 Smith significantly. Inspector Weymouth was 
 stroking his mustache, and his mingled expres- 
 sion of incredulity and curiosity was singular to 
 behold. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 257 
 
 " The pumping of my blood," continued West, 
 " seemed to be bursting my body ; the room kept 
 expanding and contracting. One time the ceil- 
 ing would be pressing down on my head, and the 
 Chinamen — sometimes I thought there were two 
 of them, sometimes twenty — became dwarfs; 
 the next instant it shot up like the roof of a 
 cathedral. 
 
 " ' Can I be awake/ I whispered, ' or am I 
 dreaming? ' 
 
 " My whisper went sweeping in windy echoes 
 about the walls, and was lost in the shadowy 
 distances up under the invisible roof. 
 
 " i You are dreaming — yes.' It was the 
 Chinaman with the green eyes who was address- 
 ing me, and the words that he uttered appeared 
 to occupy an immeasurable time in the utterance. 
 4 But at will I can render the subjective objec- 
 tive.' I don't think I can have dreamed those 
 singular words, gentlemen. 
 
 " And then he fixed the green eyes upon me — 
 the blazing green eyes. I made no attempt to 
 move. They seemed to be draining me of some- 
 thing vital — bleeding me of every drop of men- 
 tal power. The whole nightmare room grew 
 green, and I felt that I was being absorbed into 
 its greenness. 
 
 " I can see what you think. And even in my;, 
 
258 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 delirium — if it was delirium — I thought the 
 same. Now comes the climax of my experience 
 — my vision — I don't know what to call it. 
 I saw some words issuing from my own mouth ! " 
 
 Inspector Weymouth coughed discreetly. 
 Smith whisked round upon him. 
 
 " This will be outside your experience, Inspec- 
 tor, I know,/' he said, " but Mr. Norris West's 
 statement does not surprise me in the least. I 
 know to what the experience was due." 
 
 Weymouth stared incredulously, but a dawn- 
 ing perception of the truth was come to me, too. 
 
 " How I saw a sound I just won't attempt to 
 explain; I simply tell you I saw it. Some- 
 how I knew I had betrayed myself — given some- 
 thing away." 
 
 " You gave away the secret of the lock combi- 
 nation ! " rapped Smith. 
 
 u gk t » grunted Weymouth. 
 
 But West went on hoarsely: 
 
 "Just before the blank came a name flashed 
 before my eyes. It was * Bayard Taylor.' " 
 
 At that I interrupted West. 
 
 " I understand ! " I cried. " I understand ! 
 Another name has just occurred to me, Mr. West 
 i — that of the Frenchman, Moreau." 
 
 " You have solved the mystery," said Smith. 
 *' It was natural Mr. West should have thought 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 259 
 
 of the American traveler, Bayard Taylor, 
 though. Moreau's book is purely scientific. He 
 has probably never read it." 
 
 " I fought with the stupor that was over- 
 coming me/' continued West, " striving to asso- 
 ciate that vaguely familiar name with the fan- 
 tastic things through which I moved. It seemed 
 to me that the room was empty again. I made 
 for the hall, for the telephone. I could scarcely 
 drag my feet along. It seemed to take me half- 
 an-hour to get there. I remember calling up 
 Scotland Yard, and I remember no more." 
 
 There was a short, tense interval. 
 
 In some respects I was nonplused; but, 
 frankly, I think Inspector Weymouth considered 
 West insane. Smith, his hands locked behind 
 his back, stared out of the window. 
 
 "Andaman — second" he said suddenly. 
 "Weymouth, when is the first train to Til- 
 bury?" 
 
 " Five twenty-two from Fenchurch Street," 
 replied the Scotland Yard man promptly. 
 
 " Too late ! " rapped my friend. " Jump in 
 a taxi and pick up two good men to leave for 
 China at once! Then go and charter a special 
 to Tilbury to leave in twenty-five minutes. 
 Order another cab to wait outside for me." 
 
 Weymouth was palpably amazed, but Smith's 
 
260 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 tone was imperative. The Inspector departed 
 hastily. 
 
 I stared at Smith, not comprehending what 
 prompted this singular course. 
 
 " Now that you can think clearly, Mr. West," 
 he said, " of what does your experience remind 
 you? The errors of perception regarding time; 
 the idea of seeing a sound; the illusion that the 
 room alternately increased and diminished in 
 size; your fit of laughter, and the recollection of 
 the name Bayard Taylor. Since evidently you 
 are familiar with that author's work — ' The 
 Land of the Saracen/ is it not? — these symp- 
 toms of the attack should be familiar, I think." 
 
 Norris West pressed his hands to his evidently 
 aching head. 
 
 " Bayard Taylor's book," he said dully. " Yes ! 
 ... I know of what my brain sought to remind 
 me — Taylor's account of his experience under 
 hashish. Mr. Smith, someone doped me with 
 hashish ! " 
 
 Smith nodded grimly. 
 
 " Cannabis indica" I said — " Indian hemp. 
 That is what you were drugged with. I have no 
 doubt that now you experience a feeling of nau- 
 sea and intense thirst, with aching in the muscles, 
 particularly the deltoid. I think you must have 
 taken at least fifteen grains." 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 261 
 
 Smith stopped his perambulations immediately 
 in front of West, looking into his dulled eyes. 
 
 " Someone visited your chambers last night," 
 he said slowly, " and for your chloral tabloids 
 substituted some containing hashish, or perhaps 
 not pure hashish. Fu-Manchu is a profound 
 chemist." 
 
 Norris West started. 
 
 " Someone substituted — " he began. 
 
 " Exactly," said Smith, looking at him keenly ; 
 " someone who was here yesterday. Have you 
 any idea whom it could have been? " 
 
 West hesitated. " I had a visitor in the 
 afternoon," he said, seemingly speaking the 
 words unwillingly, " but — * 
 
 "A lady?" jerked Smith. "I suggest that it 
 was a lady." 
 
 West nodded. 
 
 " You're quite right," he admitted. " I don't 
 know how you arrived at the conclusion, but a 
 lady whose acquaintance I made recently — a 
 foreign lady." 
 
 " Karamaneh ! " snapped Smith. 
 
 " I don't know what you mean in the least, 
 but she came here — knowing this to be my 
 present address — to ask me to protect her from 
 a mysterious man who had followed her right 
 from Charing Cross. She said he was down ill 
 
262 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 the lobby, and naturally, I asked her to wait 
 here whilst I went and sent him about his busi- 
 ness." 
 
 He laughed shortly. 
 
 " I am over-old," he said, " to be guyed by a 
 woman. You spoke just now of someone called 
 Fu-Manchu. Is that the crook I'm indebted to 
 for the loss of my plans? I've had attempts 
 made by agents of two European governments, 
 but a Chinaman is a novelty." 
 
 " This Chinaman," Smith assured him, " is the 
 greatest novelty of his age. You recognize your 
 symptoms now from Bayard Taylor's account?" 
 
 " Mr. West's statement," I said, " ran closely 
 parallel with portions of Moreau's book on 
 * Hashish Hallucinations.' Only Fu-Manchu, I 
 think, would have thought of employing Indian 
 hemp. I doubt, though, if it was pure Cannabis 
 indica. At any rate, it acted as an opiate — " 
 
 "And drugged Mr. West," interrupted Smith, 
 "sufficiently to enable Fu-Manchu to enter un- 
 observed." 
 
 " Whilst it produced symptoms which" rendered 
 him an easy subject for the Doctor's influence. 
 It is difficult in this case to separate hallucina- 
 tion from reality, but I think, Mr. West, that 
 Fu-Manchu must have exercised an hypnotic in- 
 fluence upon your drugged brain. We have evi 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 263 
 
 dence that he dragged from you the secret of the 
 combination." 
 
 " God knows we have ! " said West. " But 
 who is this Fu-Manchu, and how — how in the 
 name of wonder did he get into my chambers? " 
 
 Smith pulled out his watch. " That," he 
 said rapidly, " I cannot delay to explain if I'm 
 to intercept the man who has the plans. Come 
 along, Petrie; we must be at Tilbury within the 
 hour. There is just a bare chance." 
 
Chapter XX 
 
 IT was with my mind in a condition of unique 
 perplexity that I hurried with Nayland 
 Smith into the cab which waited and 
 dashed off through the streets in which the busy 
 life of London just stirred into being. I sup- 
 pose I need not say that I could penetrate no 
 farther into this, Fu-Manchu's latest plot, than 
 the drugging of Norris West with hashish? Of 
 his having been so drugged with Indian hemp 
 — that is, converted temporarily into a maniac — 
 would have been evident to any medical man who 
 had heard his statement and noted the distress- 
 ing after-effects which conclusively pointed to 
 Indian hemp poisoning. Knowing something of 
 the Chinese doctor's powers, I could understand 
 that he might have extracted from West the se- 
 cret of the combination by sheer force of will 
 whilst the American was under the influence of 
 the drug. But I could not understand how Fu- 
 Manchu had gained access to locked chambers on 
 the third story of a building. 
 
 "Smith," I said, "those bird tracks on the 
 
 264 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 265 
 
 window-sill — they furnish the key to a mys- 
 tery which is puzzling me." 
 
 " They do," said Smith, glancing impatiently 
 at his watch. " Consult your memories of Dr. 
 Fu-Manchu's habits — especially your memories 
 of his pets." 
 
 I reviewed in my mind the creatures grue- 
 some and terrible which surrounded the China- 
 man — the scorpions, the bacteria, the noxious 
 things which were the weapons wherewith he 
 visited death upon whomsoever opposed the es- 
 tablishment of a potential Yellow Empire. But 
 no one of them could account for the imprints 
 upon the dust of West's window-sill. 
 
 " You puzzle me, Smith," I confessed. " There 
 is much in this extraordinary case that puzzles 
 me. I can think of nothing to account for the 
 marks." 
 
 "Have you thought of Fu-Manchu's marmo- 
 set?" asked Smith. 
 
 "The monkey!" I cried. 
 
 "They were the footprints of a small ape," 
 my friend continued. " For a moment I was de- 
 ceived as you were, and believed them to be the 
 tracks of a large bird ; but I have seen the foot- 
 prints of apes before now, and a marmoset, 
 though an American variety, I believe, is not un- 
 like some of the apes of Burma." 
 
266 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 " I am still in the dark," I said. 
 
 "It is pure hypothesis," continued Smith, 
 "but here is the theory — in lieu of a better 
 one it covers the facts. The marmoset — and it 
 is contrary from the character of Pu-Manchu to 
 keep any creature for mere amusement — is 
 trained to perform certain duties. 
 
 " You observed the waterspout running up be- 
 side the window; you observed the iron bar in- 
 tended to prevent a window-cleaner from falling 
 out? For an ape the climb from the court be- 
 low to the sill above was a simple one. He 
 carried a cord, probably attached to his body. 
 He climbed on to the sill, over the bar, and 
 climbed down again. By means of this cord a 
 rope was pulled up over the bar, by means of the 
 rope one of those ladders of silk and bamboo. 
 One of the Doctor's servants ascended — prob- 
 ably to ascertain if the hashish had acted suc- 
 cessfully. That was the yellow dream-face 
 which West saw bending over him. Then 
 followed the Doctor, and to his giant will the 
 drugged brain of West was a pliant instrument 
 which he bent to his own ends. The court would 
 be deserted at that hour of the night, and, in 
 any event, directly after the ascent the ladder 
 probably was pulled up, only to be lowered again 
 when West had revealed the secret of his own 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 26T 
 
 safe and Fu-Manchu had secured the plans. 
 The reclosing of the safe and the removing of 
 the hashish tabloids, leaving no clew beyond the 
 delirious ravings of a drug slave — for so any- 
 one unacquainted with the East must have con- 
 strued West's story — is particularly character- 
 istic. His own tabloids were returned, of 
 course. The sparing of his life alone is a re- 
 finement of art which points to a past master." 
 
 " Karamaneh was the decoy again?" I said 
 shortly. 
 
 " Certainly. Hers was the task to ascertain 
 West's habits and to substitute the tabloids. 
 She it was who waited in the luxurious car — 
 infinitely less likely to attract attention at that 
 hour in that place than a modest taxi — and 
 received the stolen plans. She did her work 
 well. 
 
 " Poor Karamaneh ; she had no alternative ! 
 I said I would have given a hundred pounds for 
 a sight of the messenger's face — the man to 
 whom she handed them. I would give a thou- 
 sand now ! " 
 
 " Andaman — second" I said. " What did 
 she mean? " 
 
 "Then it has not dawned upon you?" cried 
 Smith excitedly, as the cab turned into the sta- 
 tion. " The Andaman, of the Oriental Naviga- 
 
268 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 tion Company's line, leaves Tilbury with the 
 next tide for China ports. Our man is a second- 
 class passenger. I am wiring to delay her de- 
 parture, and the special should get us to the 
 docks inside of forty minutes." 
 
 Very vividly I can reconstruct in my mind 
 that dash to the docks through the early au- 
 tumn morning. My friend being invested with 
 extraordinary powers from the highest author- 
 ities, by Inspector Weymouth's instructions the 
 line had been cleared all the way. 
 
 Something of the tremendous importance of 
 Nayland Smith's mission came home to me as 
 we hurried on to the platform, escorted by the 
 station-master, and the five of us — for Wey- 
 mouth had two other C.I.D. men with him — - 
 took our seats in the special. 
 
 Off we went on top speed, roaring through" 
 stations, where a glimpse might be had of 
 wondering officials upon the platforms, for a 
 special train was a novelty on the line. All 
 ordinary traffic arrangements were held up until 
 we had passed through, and we reached Til- 
 bury in time which I doubt not constituted a 
 record. 
 
 There at the docks was the great liner, de- 
 layed in her passage to the Far East by the will 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 269 
 
 of my royally empowered companion. It was 
 novel, and infinitely exciting. 
 
 " Mr. Commissioner Nay land Smith? " said 
 the captain interrogatively, when we were shown 
 into his room, and looked from one to another 
 and back to the telegraph form which he held in 
 his hand. 
 
 " The same, Captain/' said my friend briskly. 
 " I shall not detain you a moment. I am in- 
 structing the authorities at all ports east of 
 Suez to apprehend one of your second-class 
 passengers, should he leave the ship. He is in 
 possession of plans which practically belong to 
 the British Government? " 
 
 "Why not arrest him now?" asked the sea- 
 man bluntly. 
 
 " Because I don't know him. All second-class 
 passengers' baggage will be searched as they 
 land. I am hoping something from that, if all 
 else fails. But I want you privately to instruct 
 your stewards to watch any passenger of Orien- 
 tal nationality, and to cooperate with the two 
 Scotland Yard men who are joining you for the 
 voyage. I look to you to recover these plans, 
 Captain." 
 
 " I will do my best," the captain assured him. 
 
 Then, from amid the heterogeneous group on 
 the dockside, we were watching the liner de- 
 
270 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 part, and Nayland Smith's expression was a 
 very singular one. Inspector Weymouth stood 
 with us, a badly puzzled man. Then occurred 
 the extraordinary incident which to this day re- 
 mains inexplicable, for, clearly heard by all 
 three of us, a guttural voice said : 
 
 "Another victory for China, Mr. Nayland 
 Smith!" 
 
 I turned as though I had been stung. Smith 
 turned also. My eyes passed from face to face of 
 the group about us. None was familiar. No 
 one apparently had moved away. 
 
 But the voice was the voice of Doctor Fu- 
 Manchu. 
 
 As I write of it, now, I can appreciate the 
 difference between that happening, as it ap- 
 pealed to us, and as it must appeal to you who 
 merely read of it. It is beyond my powers to 
 convey the sense of the uncanny which the epi- 
 sode created. Yet, even as I think of it, I feel 
 again, though in lesser degree, the chill which 
 seemed to creep through my veins that day. 
 
 From my brief history of the wonderful and 
 evil man who once walked, by the way unsus- 
 pected, in the midst of the people of England — 
 near whom you, personally, may at some time 
 unwittingly have been — I am aware that much 
 must be omitted. I have no space for lengthy 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 271 
 
 examinations of the many points but ill illumi- 
 nated with which it is dotted. This incident at 
 the docks is but one such point. 
 
 Another is the singular vision which appeared 
 to me whilst I lay in the cellar of the house near 
 Windsor. It has since struck me that it 
 possessed peculiarities akin to those of a hashish 
 hallucination. Can it be that we were drugged 
 on that occasion with Indian hemp? Can- 
 nabis indica is a treacherous narcotic, as every 
 medical man knows full well; but Fu-Manchu's 
 knowledge of the drug was far in advance of 
 our slow science. West's experience proved so 
 much. 
 
 I may have neglected opportunities — later, 
 you shall judge if I did so — opportunities to 
 glean for the West some of the strange knowl- 
 edge of the secret East. Perhaps, at a fu- 
 ture time, I may rectify my errors. Perhaps 
 that wisdom — the wisdom stored up by Fu- 
 Manchu — is lost forever. There is, however, 
 at least a bare possibility of its survival, in 
 part; and I do not wholly despair of one day 
 publishing a scientific sequel to this record of 
 our dealings with the Chinese doctor. 
 
Chapter XXI 
 
 TIME wore on and seemingly brought us no 
 nearer, or very little nearer, to our goal. 
 So carefully had my friend Nayland 
 Smith excluded the matter from the press that, 
 whilst public interest was much engaged with 
 some of the events in the skein of mystery which 
 he had come from Burma to unravel, outside the 
 Secret Service and the special department of 
 Scotland Yard few people recognized that the 
 several murders, robberies and disappearances 
 formed each a link in a chain; fewer still were 
 aware that a baneful presence was in our midst, 
 that a past master of the evil arts lay concealed 
 somewhere in the metropolis; searched for by 
 the keenest wits which the authorities could di- 
 rect to the task, but eluding all — triumphant, 
 contemptuous. 
 
 One link in that chain Smith himself for long 
 failed to recognize. Yet it was a big and im- 
 portant link. 
 
 " Petrie," he said to me one morning, " listen 
 to this: 
 
 272 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 273 
 
 " '. . . In sight of Shanghai — a clear, dark 
 night. On board the deck of a junk passing close 
 to seaward of the Andaman a blue flare started 
 up. A minute later there was a cry of " Man 
 overboard ! " 
 
 " ' Mr. Lewin, the chief officer, who was in 
 charge, stopped the engines. A boat was put 
 out. But no one was recovered. There are 
 sharks in these waters. A fairly heavy sea was 
 running. 
 
 " ' Inquiry showed the missing man to be a 
 James Edwards, second class, booked to Shang- 
 hai. I think the name was assumed. The man 
 was some sort of Oriental, and we had had him 
 under close observation. . . .' " 
 
 " That's the end of their report," exclaimed 
 Smith. 
 
 He referred to the two C.I.D. men who had 
 joined the Andaman at the moment of her de- 
 parture from Tilbury. 
 
 He carefully lighted his pipe. 
 
 "Is it a victory for China, Petrie?" he said 
 softly. 
 
 " Until the great war reveals her secret re- 
 sources — and I pray that the day be not in my 
 time — we shall never know," I replied. 
 
 Smith began striding up and down the room. 
 
274 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 " Whose name," he jerked abruptly, " stands 
 now at the head of our danger list? " 
 
 He referred to a list which we had compiled 
 of the notable men intervening between the evil 
 genius who secretly had invaded London and 
 the triumph of his cause — the triumph of the 
 yellow races. 
 
 I glanced at our notes. 
 
 " Lord Southery," I replied. 
 
 Smith tossed the morning paper across to me. 
 
 " Look," he said shortly. " He's dead." 
 
 I read the account of the peer's death, and 
 glanced at the long obituary notice ; but no more 
 than glanced at it. He had but recently re- 
 turned from the East, and now, after a short 
 illness, had died from some affection of the 
 heart. There had been no intimation that his 
 illness was of a serious nature, and even Smith, 
 who watched over his flock — the flock threat- 
 ened by the wolf, Fu-Manchu — with jealous 
 zeal, had not suspected that the end was so near. 
 
 " Do you think he died a natural death, 
 Smith?" I asked. 
 
 My friend reached across the table and rested 
 the tip of a long finger upon one of the sub-head- 
 ings to the account: 
 
 ?f Sir Frank Narcombe Summoned Too Late.* 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 275 
 
 " You see," said Smith, " Southery died during 
 the night, but Sir Frank Narcombe, arriving 
 a few minutes later, unhesitatingly pronounced 
 death to be due to syncope, and seems to have 
 noticed nothing suspicious." 
 
 I looked at him thoughtfully. 
 
 " Sir Frank is a great physician," I said 
 slowly ; " but we must remember he would be 
 looking for nothing suspicious." 
 
 " We must remember," rapped Smith, " that, 
 if Dr. Fu-Manchu is responsible for Southery's 
 death, except to the eye of an expert there would 
 be nothing suspicious to see. Fu-Manchu leaves 
 no clews." 
 
 "Are you going around?" I asked. 
 
 Smith shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " I think not," he replied. " Either a greater 
 One than Fu-Manchu has taken Lord Southery, 
 or the yellow doctor has done his work so well 
 that no trace remains of his presence in the 
 matter." 
 
 Leaving his breakfast untasted, he wandered 
 aimlessly about the room, littering the hearth 
 with matches as he constantly relighted his pipe^ 
 which went out every few minutes. 
 
 " It's no good, Petrie," he burst out suddenly ; 
 " it cannot be a coincidence. We must go around 
 and see him." 
 
276 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 An hour later we stood in the silent room, with 
 its drawn blinds and its deathful atmosphere, 
 looking down at the pale, intellectual face of 
 Henry Stradwick, Lord Southery, the greatest 
 engineer of his day. The mind that lay behind 
 that splendid brow had planned the construc- 
 tion of the railway for which Russia had paid 
 so great a price, had conceived the scheme for 
 the canal which, in the near future, was to bring 
 two great continents, a full week's journey nearer 
 one to the other. But now it would plan no 
 more. 
 
 " He had latterly developed symptoms of 
 angina pectoris" explained the family physician ; 
 "but I had not anticipated a fatal termination 
 so soon. I was called about two o'clock this 
 morning, and found Lord Southery in a danger- 
 ously exhausted condition. I did all that was 
 possible, and Sir Frank Narcombe was sent for. 
 But shortly before his arrival the patient ex- 
 pired." 
 
 " I understand, Doctor, that you had been 
 treating Lord Southery for angina pectoris?" 
 I said. 
 
 " Yes," was the reply, " for some months." 
 
 " You regard the circumstances of his end as 
 entirely consistent with a death from that 
 cause? " 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 277 
 
 " Certainly. Do you observe anything un- 
 usual yourself? Sir Frank Narcombe quite 
 agrees with. me. There is surely no room for 
 doubt? " 
 
 " No," said Smith, tugging reflectively at the 
 lobe of his left ear. " We do not question the 
 accuracy of your diagnosis in any way, sir." 
 
 The physician seemed puzzled. 
 
 " But am I not right in supposing that you 
 are connected with the police?" asked the 
 physician. 
 
 " Neither Dr. Petrie nor myself are in any way 
 connected with the police," answered Smith. 
 " But, nevertheless, I look to you to regard our 
 recent questions as confidential." 
 
 As we were leaving the house, hushed awe- 
 somely in deference to the unseen visitor who 
 had touched Lord Southery with gray, cold 
 fingers, Smith paused, detaining a black-coated 
 man who passed us on the stairs. 
 
 "You were Lord Southery's valet?" 
 
 The man bowed. 
 
 " Were you in the room at the moment of his 
 fatal seizure? " 
 
 " I was, sir." 
 
 " Did you see or hear anything unusual — any- 
 thing unaccountable? " 
 
 " Nothing, sir." 
 
278 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 " No strange sounds outside the house, for 
 instance? " 
 
 The man shook his head, and Smith, taking 
 my arm, passed out into the street. 
 
 " Perhaps this business is making me im? 
 aginative," he said ; " but there seems to be some- 
 thing tainting the air in yonder — something 
 peculiar to houses whose doors bear the invisible 
 death-mark of Fu-Manchu." 
 
 " You are right, Smith ! " I cried. " I hesi- 
 tated to mention the matter, but I, too, have de^ 
 veloped some other sense which warns me of the 
 Doctor's presence. Although there is not a 
 scrap of confirmatory evidence, I am as sure that 
 he has brought about Lord Southery's death as 
 if I had seen him strike the blow." 
 
 It was in that torturing frame of mind — • 
 chained, helpless, in our ignorance, or by reason 
 of the Chinaman's supernormal genius — that 
 we lived throughout the ensuing days. My 
 friend began to look like a man consumed by a 
 burning fever. Yet, we could not act. 
 
 In the growing dark of an evening shortly fol- 
 lowing I stood idly turning over some of the 
 works exposed for sale outside a second-hand 
 bookseller's in New Oxford Street. One dealing 
 with the secret societies of China struck me as 
 being likely to prove instructive, and I was about 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 279 
 
 to call the shopman when I was startled to feel 
 a hand clutch my arm. 
 
 I turned around rapidly — and was looking 
 into the darkly beautiful eyes of Karamaneh! 
 She — whom I had seen in so many guises — 
 was dressed in a perfectly fitting walking habit, 
 and had much of her wonderful hair concealed 
 beneath a fashionable hat. 
 
 She glanced about her apprehensively. 
 
 " Quick ! Come round the corner. I must 
 speak to you/' she said, her musical voice thril- 
 ling with excitement. 
 
 I never was quite master of myself in her 
 presence. He must have been a man of ice who 
 could have been, I think, for her beauty had all 
 the bouquet of rarity ; she was a mystery — and 
 mystery adds charm to a woman. Probably she 
 should have been under arrest, but I know I 
 would have risked much to save her from it. 
 
 As we turned into a quiet thoroughfare she 
 stopped and said: 
 
 " I am in distress. You have often asked me 
 to enable you to capture Dr. Fu-Manchu. I am 
 prepared to do so." 
 
 I could scarcely believe that I heard aright. 
 
 " Your brother — " I began. 
 
 She seized my arm entreatingly, looking into 
 my eyes. 
 
280 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 " You are a doctor," she said. " I want you 
 to come and see him now." 
 
 " What ! Is he in London? " 
 
 " He is at the house of Dr. Fu-Manchu." 
 
 "And you would have me — " 
 
 "Accompany me there, yes." 
 
 Nayland Smith, I doubted not, would have 
 counseled me against trusting my life in the 
 hands of this girl with the pleading eyes. Yet 
 I did so, and with little hesitation; shortly we 
 were traveling eastward in a closed cab. Kara* 
 maneh was very silent, but always when I turned 
 to her I found her big eyes fixed upon me with 
 an expression in which there was pleading, in 
 which there was sorrow, in which there was 
 something else — something indefinable, yet 
 strangely disturbing. The cabman she had di- 
 rected to drive to the lower end of the Com- 
 mercial Road, the neighborhood of the new docks, 
 and the scene of one of our early adventures 
 with Dr. Fu-Manchu. The mantle of dusk had 
 closed about the squalid activity of the East End 
 streets as we neared our destination. Aliens of 
 every shade of color were about us now, emerging 
 from burrow-like alleys into the glare of the 
 lamps upon the main road. In the short space 
 of the drive we had passed from the bright world 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 281 
 
 of the West into the dubious underworld of the 
 East. 
 
 I do not know that Karamaneh moved ; but in 
 sympathy, as we neared the abode of the sinister 
 Chinaman, she crept nearer to me, and when the 
 cab was discharged, and together we walked 
 down a narrow turning leading riverward, she 
 clung to me fearfully, hesitated, and even seemed 
 upon the point of turning back. But, overcom- 
 ing her fear or repugnance, she led on, through 
 a maze of alleyways and courts, wherein I hope- 
 lessly lost my bearings, so that it came home to 
 me how wholly I was in the hands of this girl 
 whose history was so full of shadows, whose real 
 character was so inscrutable, whose beauty, 
 whose charm truly might mask the cunning of 
 a serpent. 
 
 I spoke to her. 
 
 " S-sh! " She laid her hand upon my arm, 
 enjoining me to silence. 
 
 The high, drab brick wall of what looked like 
 some part of a dock building loomed above us 
 in the darkness, and the indescribable stenches 
 of the lower Thames were borne to my nostrils 
 through a gloomy, tunnel-like opening, beyond 
 which whispered the river. The muffled clangor 
 of waterside activity was about us. I heard a 
 
282 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 key grate in a lock, and Karamaneh drew me 
 into the shadow of an open door, entered, and 
 closed it behind her. 
 
 For the first time I perceived, in contrast to the 
 odors of the court without, the fragrance of the 
 peculiar perfume which now I had come to as- 
 sociate with her. Absolute darkness was about 
 us, and by this perfume alone I knew that she 
 was near to me, until her hand touched mine, 
 and I was led along an uncarpeted passage and 
 up an uncarpeted stair. A second door was um 
 locked, and I found myself in an exquisitely fur- 
 nished room, illuminated by the soft light of a 
 shaded lamp which stood upon a low, inlaid 
 table amidst a perfect ocean of silken cushions, 
 etrewn upon a Persian carpet, whose yellow rich- 
 ness was lost in the shadows beyond the circle 
 of light. 
 
 Karamaneh raised a curtain draped before a 
 doorway, and stood listening intently for a 
 moment. 
 
 The silence was unbroken. 
 
 Then something stirred amid the wilderness 
 of cushions, and two tiny bright eyes looked up 
 at me. Peering closely, I succeeded in distin- 
 guishing, crouched in that soft luxuriance, a lit- 
 tle ape. It was Dr. Fu-Manchu's marmoset. 
 
 " This way," whispered Karamaneh. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 283 
 
 Never, I thought, was a staid medical man 
 committed to a more unwise enterprise, but so 
 far I had gone, and no consideration of prudence 
 could now be of avail. 
 
 The corridor beyond w T as thickly carpeted. 
 Following the direction of a faint light which 
 gleamed ahead, it proved to extend as a balcony 
 across one end of a spacious apartment. To- 
 gether we stood high up there in the shadows, 
 and looked down upon such a scene as I never 
 could have imagined to exist within many a mile 
 of that district. 
 
 The place below was even more richly ap- 
 pointed than the room into which first we had 
 come. Here, as there, piles of cushions formed 
 splashes of gaudy color about the floor. Three 
 lamps hung by chains from the ceiling, their 
 light softened by rich silk shades. One wall was 
 almost entirely occupied by glass cases contain- 
 ing chemical apparatus, tubes, retorts and other 
 less orthodox indications of Dr. Fu-Manchu's pur- 
 suits, whilst close against another lay the most 
 extraordinary object of a sufficiently extraordi- 
 nary room — a low couch, upon which was ex- 
 tended the motionless form of a boy. In the 
 light of a lamp which hung directly above him, 
 his olive face showed an almost startling re- 
 semblance to that of Karamaneh — save that the 
 
284 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 girl's coloring was more delicate. He had black, 
 curly hair, which stood out prominently against 
 the white covering upon which he lay, his hands 
 crossed upon his breast. 
 
 Transfixed with astonishment, I stood looking 
 down upon him. The wonders of the " Arabian 
 Mghts " were wonders no longer, for here, in 
 East-End London, was a true magician's palace, 
 lacking not its beautiful slave, lacking not its 
 enchanted prince! 
 
 " It is Aziz, my brother," said Karamaneh. 
 
 We passed down a stairway on to the floor 
 of the apartment. Karamaneh knelt and bent 
 over the boy, stroking his hair and whispering 
 to him lovingly. I, too, bent over him; and I 
 shall never forget the anxiety in the girl's eyes 
 as she watched me eagerly whilst I made a brief 
 examination. 
 
 Brief, indeed, for even ere I had touched him 
 I knew that the comely shell held no spark of 
 life. But Karamaneh fondled the cold hands, 
 and spoke softly in that Arabic tongue which 
 long before I had divined must be her native 
 language. 
 
 Then, as I remained silent, she turned and 
 looked at me, read the truth in my eyes, and 
 rose from her knees, stood rigidly upright, 
 and clutched me tremblingly. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 285 
 
 " He is not dead — he is not dead ! " she whis- 
 pered, and shook me as a child might, seeking 
 to arouse me to a proper understanding. " Oh, 
 tell me he is not — " 
 
 " I cannot/' I replied gently, " for indeed he 
 is." 
 
 " No ! " she said, wild-eyed, and raising her 
 hands to her face as though half distraught. 
 " You do not understand — yet you are a doc- 
 tor. You do not understand — " 
 
 She stopped, moaning to herself and looking 
 from the handsome face of the boy to me. It 
 was pitiful; it was uncanny. But sorrow for 
 the girl predominated in my mind. 
 
 Then from somewhere I heard a sound which 
 I had heard before in houses occupied by Dr. 
 Fu-Manchu — that of a muffled gong. 
 
 " Quick ! " Karamaneh had me by the arm. 
 " Up ! He has returned ! " 
 
 She fled up the stairs to the balcony, I close 
 at her heels. The shadows veiled us, the thick 
 carpet deadened the sound of our tread, or cer- 
 tainly w T e must have been detected by the man 
 who entered the room we had just quitted. 
 
 It was Dr. Fu-Manchu! 
 
 Yellow-robed, immobile, the inhuman green 
 eyes glittering catlike even, it seemed, before the 
 light struck them, he threaded his way through 
 
286 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 the archipelago of cushions and bent over the 
 couch of Aziz. 
 
 Karamaneh dragged me down on to my knees. 
 
 " Watch ! " she whispered. " Watch ! " 
 
 Dr. Fu-Manchu felt for the pulse of the boy 
 whom a moment since I had pronounced dead, 
 and, stepping to the tall glass case, took out a 
 long-necked flask of chased gold, and from it, 
 into a graduated glass, he poured some drops of 
 an amber liquid wholly unfamiliar to me. I 
 watched him with all my eyes, and noted how 
 high the liquid rose in the measure. He charged 
 a needle-syringe, and, bending again over Aziz, 
 made an injection. 
 
 Then all the wonders I had heard of this man 
 became possible, and with an awe which any 
 other physician who had examined Aziz must 
 have felt, I admitted him a miracle-worker. 
 For as I watched, all but breathless, the dead 
 came to life! The glow of health crept upon 
 the olive cheek — the boy moved — he raised his 
 hands above his head — he sat up, supported by 
 the Chinese doctor! 
 
 Fu-Manchu touched some hidden bell. A hide- 
 ous yellow man with a scarred face entered, 
 carrying a tray upon which were a bowl contain- 
 ing some steaming fluid, apparently soup, what 
 looked like oaten cakes, and a flask of red wine* 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 28T 
 
 As the boy, exhibiting no more unusual symp- 
 toms than if he had just awakened from a normal 
 sleep, commenced his repast, Karamaneh drew 
 me gently along the passage into the room which 
 we had first entered. My heart leaped wildly as 
 the marmoset bounded past us to drop hand 
 over hand to the lower apartment in search of 
 its master. 
 
 " You see," said Karamaneh, her voice quiver- 
 ing, " he is not dead ! But without Fu-Manchu 
 he is dead to me. How can I leave him when 
 he holds the life of Aziz in his hand? " 
 
 " You must get me that flask, or some of its 
 contents," I directed. " But tell me, how does 
 he produce the appearance of death? " 
 
 " I cannot tell you," she replied. " I do not 
 know. It is something in the wine. In another 
 hour Aziz will be again as you saw him. But 
 see." And, opening a little ebony box, she 
 produced a phial half filled with the amber 
 liquid. 
 
 " Good ! " I said, and slipped it into my pocket. 
 " When will be the best time to seize Fu-Manchu 
 and to restore your brother? " 
 
 " I will let you know," she whispered, and, 
 opening the door, pushed me hurriedly from the 
 room. " He is going away to-night to the north ; 
 but you must not come to-night. Quick! 
 
288 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 Quick ! Along the passage. He may call me a| 
 any moment." 
 
 So, with the phial in my pocket containing a, 
 potent preparation unknown to Western science, 
 and with a last long look into the eyes of Kara* 
 maneh, I passed out into the narrow alley, out 
 from the fragrant perfumes of that mystery 
 house into the place of Thames-side stenches. 
 
w 
 
 Chapter XXII 
 
 46^L^K T^ must arrange for the house to be 
 raided without delay/ ' said Smith. 
 " This time we are sure of our 
 ally—" 
 
 " But we must keep our promise to her," I 
 interrupted. 
 
 " You can look after that, Petrie," my friend 
 said. " I will devote the whole of my attention 
 to Dr. Fu-Manchu ! " he added grimly. 
 
 Up and down the room he paced, gripping the 
 blackened briar between his teeth, so that the 
 muscles stood out squarely upon his lean jaws. 
 The bronze which spoke of the Burmese sun en- 
 hanced the brightness of his gray eyes. 
 
 "What have I all along maintained?" he 
 jerked, looking back at me across his shoulder 
 — " that, although Karamaneh was one of the 
 strongest weapons in the Doctor's armory, she 
 was one which some day would be turned against 
 him. That day has dawned." 
 
 "We must await word from her." 
 
 " Quite so." 
 
 289 
 
290 THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 
 
 He knocked out his pipe on the grate. Then : 
 
 " Have you any idea of the nature of the fluid 
 in the phial ? " 
 
 " Not the slightest. And I have none to spare 
 for analytical purposes." 
 
 Nayland Smith began stuffing mixture into the 
 hot pipe-bowl, and dropping an almost equal 
 quantity on the floor. 
 
 " I cannot rest, Petrie," he said. " I am 
 itching to get to work. Yet, a false move, 
 and — " 
 
 He lighted his pipe, and stood staring from 
 the window. 
 
 " I shall, of course, take a needle-syringe with 
 me," I explained. 
 
 Smith made no reply. 
 
 " If I but knew the composition of the drug 
 which produced the semblance of death," I con- 
 tinued, " my fame would long survive my ashes." 
 
 My friend did not turn. But: 
 
 " She said it was something he put in the 
 wine?" he jerked. 
 
 " In the wine, yes." 
 
 Silence fell. My thoughts reverted to Kara- 
 maneh, whom Dr. Fu-Manchu held in bonds 
 stronger than any slave-chains. For, with Aziz, 
 her brother, suspended between life and death, 
 what could she do save obey the mandates of the 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 291 
 
 cunning Chinaman? What perverted genius 
 was his! If that treasury of obscure wisdom 
 which he, perhaps alone of living men, had rifled, 
 could but be thrown open to the sick and suffer- 
 ing, the name of Dr. Fu-Manchu would rank with 
 the golden ones in the history of healing. 
 
 Nayland Smith suddenly turned, and the ex- 
 pression upon his face amazed me. 
 
 " Look up the next train to L ! " he rapped. 
 
 "To L ? What—?" 
 
 " There's the Bradshaw. We haven't a minute 
 to waste." 
 
 In his voice was the imperative note I knew 
 so well; in his eyes was the light which told of 
 an urgent need for action — a portentous truth 
 suddenly grasped. 
 
 " One in half-an-hour — the last." 
 
 "We must catch it." 
 
 No further word of explanation he vouchsafed, 
 but darted off to dress; for he had spent the 
 afternoon pacing the room in his dressing-gown 
 and smoking without intermission. 
 
 Out and to the corner we hurried, and leaped 
 into the first taxi upon the rank. Smith en- 
 joined the man to hasten, and we were off — all 
 in that whirl of feverish activity which char- 
 acterized my friend's movements in times of im- 
 portant action. 
 
292 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 He sat glancing impatiently from the window 
 and twitching at the lobe of his ear. 
 
 " I know you will forgive me, old man," he 
 said, "but there is a little problem which I am 
 trying to work out in my mind. Did you bring 
 the things I mentioned? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 Conversation lapsed, until, just as the cab 
 turned into the station, Smith said: 
 
 " Should you consider Lord Southery to have 
 been the first constructive engineer of his time, 
 Petrie?" 
 
 " Undoubtedly," I replied. 
 
 " Greater than Von Homber, of Berlin? " 
 
 " Possibly not. But Von Homber has been 
 dead for three years." 
 
 " Three years, is it? " 
 
 " Roughly." 
 
 "Ah!" 
 
 We reached the station in time to secure a 
 non-corridor compartment to ourselves, and to 
 allow Smith leisure carefully to inspect the oc- 
 cupants of all the others, from the engine to the 
 guard's van. He was muffled up to the eyes, and 
 he warned me to keep out of sight in the corner 
 of the compartment. In fact, his behavior had 
 me bursting with curiosity. The train having 
 started : 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 293 
 
 "Don't imagine, Petrie," said Smith, "that 
 I am trying to lead you blindfolded in order 
 later to dazzle you with my perspicacity. I am 
 simply afraid that this may be a wild-goose 
 chase. The idea upon which I am acting does 
 not seem to have struck you. I wish it had. 
 The fact would argue in favor of its being sound." 
 
 " At present I am hopelessly mystified." 
 
 "Well, then, I will not bias you towards my 
 view. But just study the situation, and see if 
 you can arrive at the reason for this sudden jour- 
 ney. I shall be distinctly encouraged if you suc- 
 ceed." 
 
 But I did not succeed, and since Smith ob- 
 viously was unwilling to enlighten me, I pressed 
 him no more. The train stopped at Rugby, 
 where he was engaged with the stationmaster in 
 making some mysterious arrangements. At 
 
 L , however, their object became plain, for a 
 
 high-power car was awaiting us, and into this we 
 hurried and ere the greater number of passen- 
 gers had reached the platform were being driven 
 off at headlong speed along the moon-bathed 
 roads. 
 
 Twenty minutes' rapid traveling, and a white 
 mansion leaped into the line of sight, standing 
 out vividly against its woody backing. 
 
 "Stradwick Hall," said Smith. "The home 
 
294 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 of Lord Southery. We are first — but Dr. Fu- 
 Manchu was on the train." 
 
 Then the truth dawned upon the gloom of my; 
 perplexity* 
 
Chapter XXIII 
 
 4 4"\Z^^-^ extraordinary proposal fills me 
 j( with horror, Mr. Smith ! " 
 
 The sleek little man in the dress 
 suit, who looked like a head waiter (but was 
 the trusted legal adviser of the house of 
 Southery) puffed at his cigar indignantly. Nay- 
 land Smith, whose restless pacing had led him 
 to the far end of the library, turned, a remote 
 but virile figure, and looked back to where I stood 
 by the open hearth with the solicitor. 
 
 " I am in your hands, Mr. Henderson/' he 
 said, and advanced upon the latter, his gray 
 eyes ablaze. " Save for the heir, who is abroad 
 on foreign service, you say there is no kin of 
 Lord Southery to consider. The word rests with 
 you. If I am wrong, and you agree to my pro- 
 posal, there is none whose susceptibilities will 
 suffer — " 
 
 " My own, sir ! " 
 
 " If I am right, and you prevent me from 
 acting, you become a murderer, Mr. Henderson." 
 
 295 
 
296 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 The lawyer started, staring nervously up at 
 Smith, who now towered over him menacingly. 
 
 " Lord Southery was a lonely man," continued 
 my friend. " If I could have placed my proposi- 
 tion before one of his blood, I do not doubt what 
 my answer had been. Why do you hesitate? 
 Why do you experience this feeling of horror? " 
 
 Mr. Henderson stared down into the fire. His 
 constitutionally ruddy face was pale. 
 
 " It is entirely irregular, Mr. Smith. We 
 have not the necessary powers — " 
 
 Smith snapped his teeth together impatiently, 
 snatching his watch from his pocket and glancing 
 at it. 
 
 " I am vested with the necessary powers. I 
 will give you a written order, sir." 
 
 " The proceeding savors of paganism. Such 
 a course might be admissible in China, in 
 Burma — " 
 
 "Do you weigh a life against such quibbles? 
 Do you suppose that, granting my irresponsibil- 
 ity, Dr. Petrie would countenance such a thing 
 if he doubted the necessity?" 
 
 Mr. Henderson looked at me with pathetic 
 hesitance. 
 
 " There are guests in the house — mourners 
 who attended the ceremony to-day. They — " 
 
 " Will never know, if we are in error," inter' 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 297 
 
 rupted Smith. "Good God! why do you de- 
 lay? » 
 
 "You wish it to be kept secret?" 
 
 "You and I, Mr. Henderson, and Dr. Petrie 
 
 will go now. We require no other witnesses. 
 
 We are answerable only to our consciences." 
 The lawyer passed his hand across his damp 
 
 brow. 
 
 " I have never in my life been called upon to 
 come to so momentous a decision in so short a 
 time," he confessed. 
 
 But, aided by Smith's indomitable will, he 
 made his decision. As its result, we three, look- 
 ing and feeling like conspirators, hurried across 
 the park beneath a moon whose placidity was a 
 rebuke to the turbulent passions which reared 
 their strangle-growth in the garden of England. 
 Not a breath of wind stirred amid the leaves. 
 The calm of perfect night soothed everything to 
 slumber. Yet, if Smith were right (and I did 
 not doubt him), the green eyes of Dr. Fu-Man- 
 chu had looked upon the scene; and I found 
 myself marveling that its beauty had not wilted 
 up. Even now the dread Chinaman must be near 
 to us. 
 
 As Mr. Henderson unlocked the ancient iron 
 gates he turned to Nayland Smith. His face 
 twitched oddlv. 
 
298 THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 
 
 " Witness that I do this unwillingly/' he said 
 — " most unwillingly." 
 
 " Mine be the responsibility," was the reply. 
 
 Smith's voice quivered, responsive to the nerv- 
 ous vitality pent up within that lean frame. He 
 stood motionless, listening — and I knew for 
 whom he listened. He peered about him to 
 right and left — and I knew whom he expected 
 but dreaded to see. 
 
 Above us now the trees looked down with a 
 solemnity different from the aspect of the 
 monarchs of the park, and the nearer we came to 
 our journey's end the more somber and lowering 
 bent the verdant arch — or so it seemed. 
 
 By that path, patched now with pools of moon- 
 light, Lord Southery had passed upon his bier, 
 with the sun to light his going; by that path 
 several generations of Stradwicks had gone to 
 their last resting-place. 
 
 To the doors of the vault the moon rays found 
 free access. No branch, no leaf, intervened. Mr. 
 Henderson's face looked ghastly. The keys 
 which he carried rattled in his hand. 
 
 " Light the lantern," he said unsteadily. 
 
 Nayland Smith, who again had been peering 
 suspiciously about into the shadows, struck a 
 match and lighted the lantern which he carried. 
 He turned to the solicitor. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 299 
 
 " Be calm, Mr. Henderson,' 5 he said sternly. 
 " It is your plain duty to your client." 
 
 " God be my witness that I doubt it," replied 
 Henderson, and opened the door. 
 
 We descended the steps. The air beneath was 
 damp and chill. It touched us as with clammy 
 fingers; and the sensation was not wholly 
 physical. 
 
 Before the narrow mansion which now sufficed 
 Lord Southery, the great engineer whom kings 
 had honored, Henderson reeled and clutched at 
 me for support. Smith and I had looked to him 
 for no aid in our uncanny task, and rightly. 
 
 With averted eyes he stood over by the steps 
 of the tomb, whilst my friend and myself set to 
 work. In the pursuit of my profession I had 
 undertaken labors as unpleasant, but never amid 
 an environment such as this. It seemed that gen- 
 erations of Stradwicks listened to each turn of 
 every screw. 
 
 At last it was done, and the pallid face of 
 Lord Southery questioned the intruding light. 
 Nayland Smith's hand was as steady as a rigid 
 bar when he raised the lantern. Later, I knew, 
 there would be a sudden releasing of the tension 
 of will — a reaction physical and mental — but 
 not until his work was finished. 
 
 That my own hand was steady I ascribed to one 
 
300 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 thing solely — professional zeal. For, under 
 conditions which, in the event of failure and ex- 
 posure, must have led to an unpleasant inquiry 
 by the British Medical Association, I was about 
 to attempt an experiment never before essayed 
 by a physician of the white races. 
 
 Though I failed, though I succeeded, that it 
 ever came before the B.M.A., or any other council, 
 was improbable; in the former event, all but 
 impossible. But the knowledge that I was about 
 to practice charlatanry, or what any one of my 
 fellow-practitioners must have designated as 
 such, was with me. Yet so profound had my be- 
 lief become in the extraordinary being whose 
 existence was a danger to the world that I reveled 
 in my immunity from official censure. I was 
 glad that it had fallen to my lot to take at least 
 one step — though blindly — into the future of 
 medical science. 
 
 So far as my skill bore me, Lord Southery was 
 dead. Unhesitatingly, I would have given a 
 death certificate, save for two considerations. 
 The first, although his latest scheme ran contrary 
 from the interests of Dr. Fu-Manchu, his genius, 
 diverted into other channels, would serve the 
 yellow group better than his death. The sec- 
 ond, I had seen the boy Aziz raised from a state 
 as like death as this. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 301 
 
 From the phial of amber-hued liquid which 
 I had with me, I charged the needle syringe. J 
 made the injection, and waited. 
 
 " If he is really dead ! " whispered Smith. " It 
 seems incredible that he can have survived for 
 three days without food. Yet I have known a 
 fakir to go for a week." 
 
 Mr. Henderson groaned. 
 
 Watch in hand, I stood observing the gray 
 face. 
 
 A second passed; another; a third. In the 
 fourth the miracle began. Over the seemingly 
 cold clay crept the hue of pulsing life. It came 
 in waves — in waves which corresponded with 
 the throbbing of the awakened heart; which 
 swept fuller and stronger ; which filled and quick- 
 ened the chilled body. 
 
 As we rapidly freed the living man from the 
 trappings of the dead one, Southery, uttering a 
 stifled scream, sat up, looked about him with 
 half-glazed eyes, and fell back. 
 
 " My God ! " cried Smith. 
 
 " It is all right," I said, and had time to note 
 how my voice had assumed a professional tone. 
 " A little brandy from my flask is all that is nec- 
 essary now." 
 
 " You have two patients, Doctor," rapped my 
 friend. 
 
302 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 Mr. Henderson had fallen in a swoon to the 
 floor of the vault. 
 
 " Quiet," whispered Smith ; " he is here." 
 
 He extinguished the light. 
 
 I supported Lord Southery. " What has hap- 
 pened? " he kept moaning. " Where am I? Oh, 
 God! what has happened?" 
 
 I strove to reassure him in a whisper, and 
 placed my traveling coat about him. The door 
 at the top of the mausoleum steps we had re- 
 closed but not relocked. Now, as I upheld the 
 man whom literally we had rescued from the 
 grave, I heard the door reopen. To aid Hender- 
 son I could make no move. Smith was breathing 
 hard beside me. I dared not think what was 
 about to happen, nor what its effects might be 
 upon Lord Southery in his exhausted condition. 
 
 Through the Memphian dark of the tomb cut a 
 spear of light, touching the last stone of the 
 stairway. 
 
 A guttural voice spoke some words rapidly, 
 and I knew that Dr. Fu-Manchu stood at the 
 head of the stairs. Although I could not see 
 my friend, I became aware that Nayland Smith 
 had his revolver in his hand, and I reached into 
 my pocket for mine. 
 
 At last the cunning Chinaman was about to 
 fall into a trap. It would require all his genius, 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 303 
 
 I thought, to save him to-night. Unless his sus- 
 picions were aroused by the unlocked door, his 
 capture was imminent. 
 
 Someone was descending the steps. 
 
 In my right hand I held my revolver, and with' 
 my left arm about Lord Southery, I waited 
 through ten such seconds of suspense as I have 
 rarely known. 
 
 The spear of light plunged into the well of 
 darkness again. 
 
 Lord Southery, Smith and myself were hidden 
 by the angle of the wall; but full upon the 
 purplish face of Mr. Henderson the beam shone. 
 In some way it penetrated to the murk in his 
 mind; and he awakened from his swoon with a 
 hoarse cry, struggled to his feet, and stood look- 
 ing up the stair in a sort of frozen horror. 
 
 Smith was past him at a bound. Something 
 flashed towards him as the light was extin- 
 guished. I saw him duck, and heard the knife 
 ring upon the floor. 
 
 I managed to move sufficiently to see at the 
 top, as I fired up the stairs, the yellow face of 
 Dr. Fu-Manchu, to see the gleaming, chatoyant 
 eyes, greenly terrible, as they sought to pierce 
 the gloom. A flying figure was racing up, three 
 steps at a time (that of a brown man scantily 
 clad). He stumbled and fell, by which I knew 
 
304 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 that he was hit ; but went on again, Smith hard 
 on his heels. 
 
 " Mr. Henderson I " I cried, " relight the 
 lantern and take charge of Lord Southery. Here 
 is my flask on the floor. I rely upon you." 
 
 Smith's revolver spoke again as I went bounds 
 ing up the stair. Black against the square of 
 moonlight I saw him stagger, I saw him fall. As 
 he fell, for the third time, I heard the crack of 
 his revolver. 
 
 Instantly I was at his side. Somewhere along 
 the black aisle beneath the trees receding foot- 
 steps pattered. 
 
 " Are you hurt, Smith? " I cried anxiously. 
 
 He got upon his feet. 
 
 " He has a dacoit with him," he replied, and 
 showed me the long curved knife which he held in 
 his hand, a full inch of the blade bloodstained. 
 " A near thing for me, Petrie." 
 
 I heard the whir of a restarted motor. 
 
 " We have lost him," said Smith. 
 
 " But we have saved Lord Southery," I said. 
 " Fu-Manchu will credit us with a skill as great 
 as his own." 
 
 " We must get to the car," Smith muttered, 
 " and try to overtake them. Ugh ! my left arm is 
 useless." 
 
 " It would be mere waste of time to attempt 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 305 
 
 Ttio overtake them," I argued, " for we have no 
 idea in which direction they will proceed." 
 
 " I have a very good idea," snapped Smith; 
 " Stradwick Hall is less than ten miles from the 
 coast. There is only one practicable means of 
 conveying an unconscious man secretly from here 
 to London." 
 
 " You think he meant to take him from here 
 to London?" 
 
 " Prior to shipping him to China ; I think so. 
 His clearing-house is probably on the Thames." 
 
 "A boat?" 
 
 "A yacht, presumably, is lying off the coast 
 in readiness. Fu-Manchu may even have de- 
 signed to ship him direct to China." 
 
 Lord Southery, a bizarre figure, my traveling 
 coat wrapped about him, and supported by his 
 solicitor, who was almost as pale as himself, 
 emerged from the vault into the moonlight. 
 
 " This is a triumph for you, Smith," I said. 
 
 The throb of Fu-Manchu's car died into faint- 
 ness and was lost in the night's silence. 
 
 " Only half a triumph," he replied. " But we 
 still have another chance — the raid on his house. 
 When will the word come from Karamaneh?" 
 
 Southery spoke in a weak voice. 
 
 " Gentlemen," he said, " it seems I am raised 
 from the dead." 
 
306 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 It was the weirdest moment of the night 
 wherein we heard that newly buried man speak 
 from the mold of his tomb. 
 
 " Yes," replied Smith slowly, " and spared 
 from the fate of Heaven alone knows how many 
 men of genius. The yellow society lacks a 
 Southery, but that Dr. Fu-Manchu was in Ger- 
 many three years ago I have reason to believe; 
 so that, even without visiting the grave of your 
 great Teutonic rival, who suddenly died at about 
 that time, I venture to predict that they have a 
 Von Homber. And the futurist group in China 
 knows how to make men work ! " 
 
Chapter XXIV 
 
 FROM the rescue of Lord Southery my story 
 bears me mercilessly on to other things. 
 I may not tarry, as more leisurely penmen, 
 to round my incidents; they were not of my 
 choosing. I may not pause to make you better 
 acquainted with the figure of my drama; its 
 scheme is none of mine. Often enough, in those 
 days, I found a fitness in the lines of Omar : 
 
 We are no other than a moving show 
 
 Of Magic Shadow-shapes that come and go 
 
 Round with the Sun-illumined Lantern held 
 In Midnight by the Master of the Show. 
 
 But " the Master of the Show," in this case, 
 was Dr. Fu-Manchu! 
 
 I have been asked many times since the days 
 with which these records deal: Who was Dr. 
 Fu-Manchu? Let me confess here that my final 
 answer must be postponed. I can only indicate, 
 at this place, the trend of my reasoning, and 
 leave my reader to form whatever conclusion he 
 pleases. 
 
 307 
 
308 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 What group can we isolate and label as re- 
 sponsible for the overthrow of the Manchus? 
 The casual student of modern Chinese history 
 will reply: "Young China." This is unsatis- 
 factory. What do we mean by Young China? 
 In my own hearing Fu-Manchu had disclaimed, 
 with scorn, association with the whole of that 
 movement; and assuming that the name were 
 not an assumed one, he clearly can have been no 
 anti-Manchu, no Republican. 
 
 The Chinese Republican is of the mandarin 
 class, but of a new generation which veneers its 
 Confucianism with Western polish. These 
 youthful and unbalanced reformers, in conjunc- 
 tion with older but no less ill-balanced provincial 
 politicians, may be said to represent Young 
 China. Amid such turmoils as this we invari- 
 ably look for, and invariably find, a Third Party. 
 In my opinion, Dr. Fu-Manchu was one of the 
 leaders of such a party. 
 
 Another question often put to me was : Where 
 did the Doctor hide during the time that he pur- 
 sued his operations in London? This is more 
 susceptible of explanation. For a time Nayland 
 Smith supposed, as I did myself, that the opium 
 den adjacent to the old Ratcliff Highway was the 
 Chinaman's base of operations ; later we came to 
 believe that the mansion near Windsor was his 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 309 
 
 hiding-place, and later still, the hulk lying off 
 the downstream flats. But I think I can state 
 with confidence that the spot which he had 
 chosen for his home was neither of these, but 
 the East End riverside building which I was the 
 first to enter. Of this I am all but sure ; for the 
 reason that it not only was the home of Fu- 
 Manchu, of Karamaneh, and of her brother, Aziz, 
 but the home of something else — of something 
 which I shall speak of later. 
 
 The dreadful tragedy (or series of tragedies) 
 which attended the raid upon the place will al- 
 ways mark in my memory the supreme horror 
 of a horrible case. Let me endeavor to explain 
 what occurred. 
 
 By the aid of Karamaneh, you have seen how 
 we had located the whilom warehouse, which, 
 from the exterior, was so drab and dreary, but 
 which within was a place of wondrous luxury. 
 At the moment selected by our beautiful accom- 
 plice, Inspector Weymouth and a body of detect- 
 ives entirely surrounded it ; a river police launch 
 lay off the wharf which opened from it on the 
 river-side; and this upon a singularly black 
 night, than which a better could not have been 
 chosen. 
 
 "You will fulfill your promise to me?" said 
 Karamaneh, and looked up into my face. 
 
310 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCKS 
 
 She was enveloped in a big, loose cloak, aixtl 
 from the shadow of the hood her wonderful eyes 
 gleamed out like stars. 
 
 "What do you wish us to do?" asked Nay- 
 land Smith. 
 
 " You — and Dr. Petrie," she replied swiftly, 
 " must enter first, and bring out Aziz. Until he 
 is safe — until he is out of that place — you are 
 to make no attempt upon — " 
 
 "Upon Dr. Fu-Manchu?" interrupted Wey- 
 mouth; for Karamaneh hesitated to pronounce 
 the dreaded name, as she always did. " But how 
 can we be sure that there is no trap laid for 
 us?" 
 
 The Scotland Yard man did not entirely share 
 my confidence in the integrity of this Eastern 
 girl whom he knew to have been a creature of 
 the Chinaman's. 
 
 " Aziz lies in the private room," she explained 
 eagerly, her old accent more noticeable than 
 usual. " There is only one of the Burmese men 
 in the house, and he — he dare not enter with- 
 out orders ! " 
 
 "But Fu-Manchu?" 
 
 " We have nothing to fear from him. He will 
 be your prisoner within ten minutes from now! 
 I have no time for words — you must believe ! " 
 She stamped her foot impatiently. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 311 
 
 "And the dacoit?" snapped Smith. 
 
 " He also." 
 
 " I think perhaps I'd better come in, too," said 
 -Weymouth slowly. 
 
 Karamaneh shrugged her shoulders with quick 
 impatience, and unlocked the door in the higli 
 brick wall which divided the gloomy, evil-smell- 
 ing court from the luxurious apartments of Dr. 
 Fu-Manchu. 
 
 " Make no noise/' she warned. And Smith 
 and myself followed her along the uncarpeted 
 passage beyond. 
 
 Inspector Weymouth, with a final word of in- 
 struction to his second in command, brought up 
 the rear. The door was reclosed; a few paces 
 farther on a second was unlocked. Passing 
 through a small room, unfurnished, a farther 
 passage led us to a balcony. The transition was 
 startling. 
 
 Darkness was about us now, and silence: a 
 perfumed, slumberous darkness — a silence full 
 of mystery. For, beyond the walls of the apart- 
 ment whereon we looked down waged the un- 
 ceasing battle of sounds that is the hymn of the 
 great industrial river. About the scented con- 
 fines which bounded us now floated the smoke- 
 laden vapors of the Lower Thames. 
 
 From the metallic but infinitely human 
 
312 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 clangor of dock-side life, from the unpleasant 
 but homely odors which prevail where ships 
 swallow in and belch out the concrete evidences 
 of commercial prosperity, we had come into this 
 incensed stillness, where one shaded lamp painted 
 dim enlargements of its Chinese silk upon the 
 nearer walls, and left the greater part of the 
 room the darker for its contrast. 
 
 Nothing of the Thames-side activity — of the 
 riveting and scraping — the bumping of bales 
 
 — the bawling of orders — the hiss of steam — 
 penetrated to this perfumed place. In the pool 
 of tinted light lay the deathlike figure of a dark- 
 haired boy, Karamaneh's muffled form bending 
 over him. 
 
 " At last I stand in the house of Dr. Fu-Man- 
 chu ! " whispered Smith. 
 
 Despite the girl's assurance, we knew that 
 proximity to the sinister Chinaman must be 
 fraught with danger. We stood, not in the 
 lion's den, but in the serpent's lair. 
 
 From the time when Nayland Smith had come 
 from Burma in pursuit of this advance-guard 
 of a cogent Yellow Peril, the face of Dr. Fu- 
 Manchu rarely had been absent from my dreams 
 day or night. The millions might sleep in peace 
 
 — the millions in whose cause we labored ! — but 
 we who knew the reality of the danger knew; 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 313 
 
 that a veritable octopus had fastened upon Eng- 
 land — a yellow octopus whose head was that of 
 Dr. Fu-Manchu, whose tentacles were dacoity, 
 thuggee, modes of death, secret and swift, which 
 in the darkness plucked men from life and left 
 no clew behind. 
 
 a Karamaneh ! " I called softly. 
 
 The muffled form beneath the lamp turned so 
 that the soft light fell upon the lovely face of the 
 slave girl. She who had been a pliant instru- 
 ment in the hands of Fu-Manchu now was to be 
 the means whereby society should be rid of him. 
 
 She raised her finger warningly ; then beckoned 
 me to approach. 
 
 My feet sinking in the rich pile of the carpet, 
 I came through the gloom of the great apart- 
 ment in to the patch of light, and, Karamaneh 
 beside me, stood looking down upon the boy. It 
 was Aziz, her brother; dead so far as Western 
 lore had power to judge, but kept alive in that 
 deathlike trance by the uncanny power of the 
 Chinese doctor. 
 
 " Be quick," she said ; " be quick ! Awaken 
 him ! I am afraid." 
 
 From the case which I carried I took out a 
 needle-syringe and a phial containing a small 
 quantity of amber-hued liquid. It was a drug 
 not to be found in the British Pharmacopoeia. 
 
314 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 Of its constitution I knew nothing. Although 
 I had had the phial in my possession for some 
 days I had not dared to devote any of its pre- 
 cious contents to analytical purposes. The am- 
 ber drops spelled life for the boy Aziz, spelled 
 success for the mission of Nayland Smith, spelled 
 ruin for the fiendish Chinaman. 
 
 I raised the white coverlet. The boy, fully 
 dressed, lay with his arms crossed upon his 
 breast. I discerned the mark of previous in- 
 jections as, charging the syringe from the phial, 
 I made what I hoped would be the last of such 
 experiments upon him. I would have given half 
 of my small worldly possessions to have known 
 the real nature of the drug which was now cours- 
 ing through the veins of Aziz — which was tint- 
 ing the grayed face with the olive tone of life; 
 which, so far as my medical training bore me, 
 was restoring the dead to life. 
 
 But such was not the purpose of my visit. I 
 was come to remove from the house of Dr. Fu- 
 Manchu the living chain which bound Karamaneh 
 to him. The boy alive and free, the Doctor's 
 hold upon the slave girl would be broken. 
 
 My lovely companion, her hands convulsively 
 clasped, knelt and devoured with her eyes the 
 face of the boy who was passing through the 
 most amazing physiological change in the his- 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 31S 
 
 tory of therapeutics. The peculiar perfume 
 which she wore — which seemed to be a part of 
 her — which always I associated with her — was 
 faintly perceptible. Karamaneh was breathing 
 rapidly. 
 
 " You have nothing to fear," I whispered ; 
 " see, he is reviving. In a few moments all will 
 be well with him." 
 
 The hanging lamp with its garishly colored 
 shade swung gently above us, wafted, it seemed, 
 by some draught which passed through the apart- 
 ment. The boy's heavy lids began to quiver, and 
 Karamaneh nervously clutched my arm, and 
 held me so whilst we watched for the long-lashed 
 eyes to open. The stillness of the place was 
 positively unnatural; it seemed inconceivable 
 that all about us was the discordant activity of 
 the commercial East End. Indeed, this eerie 
 silence was becoming oppressive; it began posi- 
 tively to appall me. 
 
 Inspector Weymouth's wondering face peeped 
 over my shoulder. 
 
 "Where is Dr. Fu-Manchu?" I whispered, as 
 Nayland Smith in turn appeared beside me. " I 
 cannot understand the silence of the house — " 
 
 " Look about," replied Karamaneh, never tak- 
 ing her eyes from the face of Aziz. 
 
 I peered around the shadowy walls. Tall 
 
316 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 glass cases there were, shelves and niches : where 
 once, from the gallery above, I had seen the 
 tubes and retorts, the jars of unfamiliar organ- 
 isms, the books of unfamiliar lore, the impedi- 
 menta of the occult student and man of science 
 — the visible evidences of Fu-Manchu's presence. 
 Shelves — cases — niches — were bare. Of the 
 complicated appliances unknown to civilized 
 laboratories, wherewith he pursued his strange 
 experiments, of the tubes wherein he isolated 
 the bacilli of unclassified diseases, of the yellow- 
 bound volumes for a glimpse at which (had they 
 known of their contents) the great men of Har- 
 ley Street would have given a fortune — no 
 trace remained. The silken cushions; the in- 
 laid tables; all were gone. 
 
 The room was stripped, dismantled. Had 
 Fu-Manchu fled? The silence assumed a new 
 significance. His dacoits and kindred ministers 
 of death all must have fled, too. 
 
 " You have let him escape us ! " I said rapidly. 
 " You promised to aid us to capture him — to 
 send us a message — and you have delayed 
 until—" 
 
 " No," she said ; " no ! " and clutched at my 
 arm again, "Oh! is he not reviving slowly? 
 Are you sure you have made no mistake? " 
 
 Her thoughts were all for the boy; and her 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 31T 
 
 solicitude touched me. I again examined Aziz, 
 the most remarkable patient of my busy profes- 
 sional career. 
 
 As I counted the strengthening pulse, he 
 opened his dark eyes — which were so like the 
 eyes of Karamaneh — and, with the girl's eager 
 arms tightly about him, sat up, looking wonder- 
 ingly around. 
 
 Karamaneh pressed her cheek to his, whis- 
 pering loving words in that softly spoken Arabic 
 which had first betrayed her nationality to Nay- 
 land Smith. I handed her my flask, which I 
 had filled with wine. 
 
 " My promise is fulfilled ! " I said. " You are 
 free! Now for Fu-Manchu! But first let us 
 admit the police to this house ; there is something 
 uncanny in its stillness." 
 
 " No," she replied. " First let my brother be 
 taken out and placed in safety. Will you carry 
 him?" 
 
 She raised her face to that of Inspector Wey- 
 mouth, upon which was written awe and wonder. 
 
 The burly detective lifted the boy as tenderly 
 as a woman, passed through the shadows to the 
 stairway, ascended, and was swallowed up in 
 the gloom. Nayland Smith's eyes gleamed fever- 
 ishly. He turned to Karamaneh. 
 
 "You are not playing with us?" he said 
 
318 THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 
 
 harshly. "We have done our part; it remains 
 for you to do yours." 
 
 "Do not speak so loudly," the girl begged. 
 " He is near us — and, oh, God, I fear him so ! " 
 
 "Where is he?" persisted my friend. 
 
 Karamaneh's eyes were glassy with fear now, 
 
 " You must not touch him until the police are 
 here," she said — but from the direction of her 
 quick, agitated glances I knew that, her brother 
 safe now, she feared for me, and for me alone. 
 Those glances sent my blood dancing; for Kara- 
 maneh was an Eastern jewel which any man of 
 flesh and blood must have coveted had he known 
 it to lie within his reach. Her eyes were twin 
 lakes of mystery which, more than once, I had 
 known the desire to explore. 
 
 " Look — beyond that curtain " — her voice 
 was barely audible — "but do not enter. Even 
 as he is, I fear him." 
 
 Her voice, her palpable agitation, prepared 
 us for something extraordinary. Tragedy and 
 Fu-Manchu were never far apart. Though we 
 were two, and help was so near, we were in the 
 abode of the most cunning murderer who ever 
 came out of the East. 
 
 It was with strangely mingled emotions that 
 I crossed the thick carpet, Nayland Smith be- 
 side me, and drew aside the draperies conceal- 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 319 
 
 ing a door, to which Karamaneh had pointed. 
 Then, upon looking into the dim place beyond, 
 all else save what it held was forgotten. 
 
 We looked upon a small, square room, the walls 
 draped with fantastic Chinese tapestry, the 
 floor strewn with cushions; and reclining in a 
 corner, where the faint, blue light from a lamp, 
 placed upon a low table, painted grotesque 
 shadows about the cavernous face — was Dr. 
 Fu-Manchu ! 
 
 At sight of him my heart leaped — and seemed 
 to suspend its functions, so intense was the hor- 
 ror which this man's presence inspired in me. 
 My hand clutching the curtain, I stood watching 
 him. The lids veiled the malignant green eyes, 
 but the thin lips seemed to smile. Then Smith 
 silently pointed to the hand which held a little 
 pipe. A sickly perfume assailed my nostrils, 
 and the explanation of the hushed silence, and 
 the ease with which we had thus far executed 
 our plan, came to me. The cunning mind was 
 torpid — lost in a brutish world of dreams. 
 
 Fu-Manchu was in an opium sleep ! 
 
 The dim light traced out a network of tiny 
 lines, which covered the yellow face from the 
 pointed chin to the top of the great domed brow, 
 and formed deep shadow pools in the hollows be- 
 neath his eyes. At last we had triumphed. 
 
320 THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 
 
 I could not determine the depth of his obscene 
 trance; and mastering some of my repugnance, 
 and forgetful of Karamaneh's warning, I was 
 about to step forward into the room, loaded with 
 its nauseating opium fumes, when a soft breath 
 fanned my cheek. 
 
 " Do not go in ! " came Karamaneh's warning 
 voice — hushed — trembling. 
 
 Her little hand grasped my arm. She drew 
 Smith and myself back from the door. 
 
 " There is danger there ! " she whispered. 
 " Do not enter that room ! The police must 
 reach him in some way — and drag him out ! 
 Do not enter that room ! " 
 
 The girl's voice quivered hysterically ; her eyes 
 blazed into savage flame. The fierce resentment 
 born of dreadful wrongs was consuming her now ; 
 but fear of Fu-Manchu held her yet. Inspector 
 Weymouth came down the stairs and joined 
 us. 
 
 " I have sent the boy to Eyman's room at the 
 station," he said. " The divisional surgeon will 
 look after him until you arrive, Dr. Petrie. All 
 is ready now. The launch is just off the wharf 
 and every side of the place under observation. 
 "Where's our man? " 
 
 He drew a pair of handcuffs from his pocket 
 and raised his eyebrows interrogatively. The 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 321 
 
 absence of sound — of any demonstration from 
 the uncanny Chinaman whom he was there to 
 arrest — puzzled him. 
 
 Nayland Smith jerked his thumb toward the 
 curtain. 
 
 At that, and before we could utter a word, 
 Weymouth stepped to the draped door. He was 
 a man who drove straight at his goal and saved 
 reflections for subsequent leisure. I think, 
 moreover, that the atmosphere of the place 
 (stripped as it was it retained its heavy, volup- 
 tuous perfume) had begun to get a hold upon 
 him. He was anxious to shake it off; to be up 
 and doing. 
 
 He pulled the curtain aside and stepped into 
 the room. Smith and I perforce followed him. 
 Just within the door the three of us stood look- 
 ing across at the limp thing which had spread 
 terror throughout the Eastern and Western 
 world. Helpless as Fu-Manchu was, he inspired 
 terror now, though the giant intellect was inert 
 — stupefied. 
 
 In the dimly lit apartment we had quitted I 
 heard Karamaneh utter a stifled scream. But 
 it came too late. 
 
 As though cast up by a volcano, the silken 
 cushions, the inlaid table with its blue-shaded 
 Umo, the garish walls, the sprawling figure with 
 
322 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 the ghastly light playing upon its features — • 
 quivered, and shot upward! 
 
 So it seemed to me; though, in the ensuing 
 instant I remembered, too late, a previous ex- 
 perience of the floors of Fu-Manchu's private 
 apartments; I knew what had indeed befallen 
 us. A trap had been released beneath our feet. 
 
 I recall falling — but have no recollection of 
 the end of my fall — of the shock marking the 
 drop. I only remember fighting for my life 
 against a stifling something which had me by the 
 throat. I knew that I was being suffocated, but 
 my hands met only the deathly emptiness. 
 
 Into a poisonous well of darkness I sank. I 
 could not cry out. I was helpless. Of the fate 
 of my companions I knew nothing — could sur- 
 mise nothing. 
 
 Then ... all consciousness ended. 
 
Chapter XXV 
 
 I WAS being carried along a dimly lighted, 
 tunnel-like place, slung, sackwise, across the 
 shoulder of a Burman. He was not a big 
 man, but he supported my considerable weight 
 with apparent ease. A deadly nausea held me, 
 but the rough handling had served to restore me 
 to consciousness. My hands and feet were 
 closely lashed. I hung limply as a wet towel: 
 I felt that this spark of tortured life which had 
 flickered up in me must ere long finally become 
 extinguished. 
 
 A fancy possessed me, in these the first mo- 
 ments of my restoration to the world of realities, 
 that I had been smuggled into China; and as I 
 swung head downward I told myself that the 
 huge, puffy things which strewed the path were 
 a species of giant toadstool, unfamiliar to me 
 and possibly peculiar to whatever district of 
 China I now was in. 
 
 The air was hot, steamy, and loaded with a 
 smell as of rotting vegetation. I wondered why 
 my bearer so scrupulously avoided touching any 
 
 323 
 
324 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 of the unwholesome-looking growths in passing- 
 through what seemed a succession of cellars, but 
 steered a tortuous course among the bloated, un- 
 natural shapes, lifting his bare brown feet with 
 a catlike delicacy. 
 
 He passed under a low arch, dropped me 
 roughly to the ground and ran back. Half 
 stunned, I lay watching the agile brown body 
 melt into the distances of the cellars. Their 
 walls and roof seemed to emit a faint, phos- 
 phorescent light. 
 
 " Petrie ! n came a weak voice from somewhere 
 ahead. . . . " Is that you, Petrie?" 
 
 It was Nayland Smith! 
 
 "Smith!" I said, and strove to sit up. But 
 the intense nausea overcame me, so that I all 
 but swooned. 
 
 I heard his voice again, but could attach no 
 meaning to the words which he uttered. A sound 
 of terrific blows reached my ears, too. 
 
 The Burman reappeared, bending under the 
 heavy load which he bore. For, as he picked his 
 way through the bloated things which grew upon 
 the floors of the cellars, I realized that he was 
 carrying the inert body of Inspector Weymouth. 
 And I found time to compare the strength of the 
 little brown man with that of a Nile beetle, which 
 can raise many times its own weight. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 325 
 
 Then, behind him, appeared a second figure, 
 which immediately claimed the whole of my er- 
 rant attention. 
 
 " Fu-Manchu ! " hissed my friend, from the 
 darkness which concealed him. 
 
 It was indeed none other than Fu-Manchu — 
 the Fu-Manchu whom we had thought to be 
 helpless. The deeps of the Chinaman's cunning 
 — the fine quality of his courage, were forced 
 upon me as amazing facts. 
 
 He had assumed the appearance of a drugged 
 opium-smoker so well as to dupe me — a medical 
 man ; so well as to dupe Karamaneh — whose 
 experience of the noxious habit probably was 
 greater than my own. And, with the gallows 
 dangling before him, he had waited — played the 
 part of a lure — whilst a body of police actually 
 surrounded the place! 
 
 I have since thought that the room probably 
 was one which he actually used for opium de- 
 bauches, and the device of the trap was intended 
 to protect him during the comatose period. 
 
 Now, holding a lantern above his head, the 
 deviser of the trap whereinto we, mouselike, had 
 blindly entered, came through the cellars, fol- 
 lowing the brown man who carried Weymouth. 
 The faint rays of the lantern (it apparently con- 
 tained a candle) revealed a veritable forest of 
 
326 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 the gigantic fungi — poisonously colored — hide« 
 ously swollen — climbing from the floor up the 
 slimy walls — clinging like horrid parasites to 
 such part of the arched roof as was visible to me. 
 
 Fu-Manchu picked his way through the fungi 
 ranks as daintily as though the distorted, tumid 
 things had been viper-headed. 
 
 The resounding blows which I had noted be- 
 fore, and which had never ceased, culminated in 
 a splintering crash. Dr. Fu-Manchu and his 
 servant, who carried the apparently insensible 
 detective, passed in under the arch, Fu-Manchu 
 glancing back once along the passages. The 
 lantern he extinguished, or concealed; and 
 whilst I waited, my mind dully surveying mem- 
 ories of all the threats which this uncanny being 
 had uttered, a distant clamor came to my ears. 
 
 Then, abruptly, it ceased. Dr. Fu-Manchu 
 had closed a heavy door; and to my surprise I 
 perceived that the greater part of it was of glass. 
 The will-o'-the-wisp glow which played around 
 the fungi rendered the vista of the cellars faintly 
 luminous, and visible to me from where I lay. 
 Fu-Manchu spoke softly. His voice, its guttural 
 I note alternating with a sibilance on certain 
 words, betrayed no traces of agitation. The 
 man's unbroken calm had in it something in- 
 human. For he had just perpetrated an act of 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 327 
 
 daring unparalleled in my experience, and, in the 
 clamor now shut out by the glass door I tardily 
 recognized the entrance of the police into some 
 barricaded part of the house — the coming of 
 those who would save us — who would hold the 
 Chinese doctor for the hangman! 
 
 " I have decided/' he said deliberately, " that 
 you are more worthy of my attention than I had 
 formerly supposed. A man who can solve the 
 secret of the Golden Elixir " ( I had not solved it ; 
 I had merely stolen some) " should be a valuable 
 acquisition to my Council. The extent of the 
 plans of Mr. Commissioner IN ay land Smith and 
 of the English Scotland Yard it is incumbent 
 upon me to learn. Therefore, gentlemen, you 
 live — for the present ! " 
 
 " And you'll swing," came Weymouth's hoarse 
 voice, "in the near future! You and all your 
 yellow gang ! " 
 
 " I trust not," was the placid reply. " Most 
 of my people are safe: some are shipped as las- 
 cars upon the liners; others have departed by 
 different means. Ah ! " 
 
 That last word was the only one indicative of 
 excitement which had yet escaped him. A disk 
 of light danced among the brilliant poison hues 
 of the passages — but no sound reached us ; by 
 which I knew that the glass door must fit almost 
 
328 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 hermetically. It was much cooler here than in 
 the place through which we had passed, and the 
 nausea began to leave me, my brain to grow more 
 clear. Had I known what was to follow I should 
 have cursed the lucidity of mind which now came 
 to me ; I should have prayed for oblivion — to 
 be spared the sight of that which ensued. 
 
 " It's Logan ! " cried Inspector Weymouth ; 
 and I could tell that he was struggling to free 
 himself of his bonds. From his voice it was evi- 
 dent that he, too, was recovering from the effects 
 of the narcotic which had been administered to 
 us all. 
 
 " Logan ! " he cried. " Logan ! This way — 
 help!" 
 
 But the cry beat back upon us in that enclosed 
 space and seemed to carry no farther than the 
 invisible walls of our prison. 
 
 " The door fits well," came Fu-Manchu's mock- 
 ing voice. " It is fortunate for us all that it is 
 so. This is my observation window, Dr. Petrie, 
 and you are about to enjoy an unique opportunity 
 of studying fungology. I have already drawn 
 your attention to the anaesthetic properties of 
 the lycoperdon, or common puff-ball. You may 
 have recognized the fumes? The chamber into 
 which you rashly precipitated yourselves was 
 charged with them. By a process of my own I 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHTJ 329 
 
 have greatly enhanced the value of the puff-ball 
 in this respect. Your friend, Mr. Weymouth, 
 proved the most obstinate subject; but he suc- 
 cumbed in fifteen seconds." 
 
 "Logan! Help! Help! This way, man ! " 
 
 Something very like fear sounded in Wey- 
 mouth's voice now. Indeed, the situation was 
 so uncanny that it almost seemed unreal. A 
 group of men had entered the farthermost cel- 
 lars, led by one who bore an electric pocket-lamp. 
 The hard, white ray danced from bloated gray 
 fungi to others of nightmare shape, of dazzling, 
 venomous brilliance. The mocking, lecture-room 
 voice continued: 
 
 "Note the snowy growth upon the roof, Doc- 
 tor. Do not be deceived by its size. It is a 
 giant variety of my own culture and is of the 
 order empusa. You, in England, are familiar 
 with the death of the common house-fly — which 
 is found attached to the window-pane by a coat- 
 ing of white mold. I have developed the spores 
 of this mold and have produced a giant species. 
 Observe the interesting effect of the strong light 
 upon my orange and blue amanita fungus ! " 
 
 Hard beside me I heard Nayland Smith groan, 
 Weymouth had become suddenly silent. For my 
 own part, I could have shrieked in pure horror. 
 For I knew what toas coming. I realized in one 
 
330 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 agonized instant the significance of the dim lan- 
 tern, of the careful progress through the subter- 
 ranean fungi grove, of the care with which Fu- 
 Manchu and his servant had avoided touching 
 any of the growths. I knew, now, that Dr. Fu- 
 Manchu was the greatest fungologist the world 
 had ever known; was a poisoner to whom the 
 Borgias were as children — and I knew that the 
 detectives blindly were walking into a valley of 
 death. 
 
 Then it began — the unnatural scene — the 
 saturnalia of murder. 
 
 Like so many bombs the brilliantly colored 
 caps of the huge toadstool-like things alluded to 
 by the Chinaman exploded, as the white ray 
 sought them out in the darkness which alone 
 preserved their existence. A brownish cloud — 
 I could not determine whether liquid or powdery 
 — arose in the cellar. 
 
 I tried to close my eyes — or to turn them 
 away from the reeling forms of the men who 
 were trapped in that poison-hole. It was useless : 
 I must look. 
 
 The bearer of the lamp had dropped it, but 
 the dim, eerily illuminated gloom endured scarce 
 a second. A bright light sprang up — doubtless 
 at the touch of the fiendish being who now re- 
 sumed speech: 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 331 
 
 " Observe the symptoms of delirium, Doctor ! » 
 
 ^ Out there, beyond the glass door, the unhappy 
 victims were laughing — tearing their garments 
 from their bodies — leaping — waving their arms 
 — were become maniacs! 
 
 " We will now release the ripe spores of giant 
 empusa," continued the wicked voice. " The air 
 of the second cellar being super-charged with 
 oxygen, they immediately germinate. Ah! it is 
 a triumph! That process is the scientific tri- 
 umph of my life ! " 
 
 Like powdered snow the white spores fell from 
 the roof, frosting the writhing shapes of the al- 
 ready poisoned men. Before my horrified gaze, 
 the fungus grew; it spread from the head to the 
 feet of those it touched ; it enveloped them as in 
 glittering shrouds. . . . 
 
 "They die like flies!" screamed Fu-Manchu, 
 with a sudden febrile excitement; and I felt as- 
 sured of something I had long suspected: that 
 that magnificent, perverted brain was the brain 
 of a homicidal maniac — though Smith would 
 never accept the theory. 
 
 "It is my fly-trap!" shrieked the Chinaman. 
 " And I am the god of destruction ! " 
 
Chapter XXVI 
 
 THE clammy touch of the mist revived me. 
 The culmination of the scene in the poison 
 cellars, together with the effects of the 
 fumes which I had inhaled again, had deprived 
 me of consciousness. Now I knew that I was 
 afloat on the river. I still was bound: further- 
 more, a cloth was wrapped tightly about my 
 mouth, and I was secured to a ring in the deck. 
 
 By moving my aching head to the left I could 
 look down into the oily water; by moving it to 
 the right I could catch a glimpse of the em- 
 purpled face of Inspector Weymouth, who, 
 similarly bound and gagged, lay beside me, but 
 only of the feet and legs of Nayland Smith. For 
 I could not turn my head sufficiently far to see 
 more. 
 
 We were aboard an electric launch. I heard 
 the hated guttural voice of Fu-Manchu, subdued 
 now to its habitual calm, and my heart leaped to 
 hear the voice that answered him. It was that 
 of Karamaneh. His triumph was complete. 
 
 332 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 333 
 
 Clearly his plans for departure were complete; 
 his slaughter of the police in the underground 
 passages had been a final reckless demonstration 
 of which the Chinaman's subtle cunning would 
 have been incapable had he not known his escape 
 from the country to be assured. 
 
 What fate was in store for us? How would 
 he avenge himself upon the girl who had be- 
 trayed him to his enemies? What portion 
 awaited those enemies? He seemed to have 
 formed tbe singular determination to smuggle me 
 into China — but what did he purpose in the 
 case of W T eymouth ? and in the case of Nayland 
 Smith? 
 
 All but silently we were feeling our way 
 through the mist. Astern died the clangor of 
 dock and wharf into a remote discord. Ahead 
 hung the foggy curtain veiling the traffic of the 
 great waterway ; but through it broke the calling 
 of sirens, the tinkling of bells. 
 
 The gentle movement of the screw ceased alto- 
 gether. The launch lay heaving slightly upon 
 the swells. 
 
 A distant throbbing grew louder — and some- 
 thing advanced upon us through the haze. 
 
 A bell rang and muffled by the fog a voice 
 proclaimed itself — a voice which I knew. I felt 
 Weymouth writhing impotently beside me ; heard 
 
334 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 him mumbling incoherently ; and I knew that he, 
 too, had recognized the voice. 
 
 It was that of Inspector Ryman of the river 
 police ; and their launch was within biscuit-throw 
 of that upon which we lay! 
 
 "'Hoy! 'Hoy!" 
 
 I trembled. A feverish excitement claimed 
 me. They were hailing us. We carried no 
 lights; but now — and ignoring the pain which 
 shot from my spine to my skull I craned my neck 
 to the left — the port light of the police launch 
 glowed angrily through the mist. 
 
 I was unable to utter any save mumbling 
 sounds, and my companions were equally help- 
 less. It was a desperate position. Had the po- 
 lice seen us or had they hailed at random? 
 
 The light drew nearer. 
 
 " Launch, 'hoy ! " 
 
 They had seen us ! Fu-Manchu's guttural voice 
 spoke shortly — and our screw began to revolve 
 again; we leaped ahead into the bank of dark- 
 ness. Faint grew the light of the police launch 
 — and was gone. But I heard Ryman's voice 
 shouting. 
 
 u Full speed ! " came faintly through the dark- 
 ness. " Port ! Port ! " 
 
 Then the murk closed down, and with our 
 friends far astern of us we were racing deeper 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 335 
 
 into the fog banks — speeding seaward; though 
 of this I was unable to judge at the time. 
 
 On we raced, and on, sweeping over growing 
 swells. Once, a black, towering shape dropped 
 down upon us. Far above, lights blazed, bells 
 rang, vague cries pierced the fog. The launch 
 pitched and rolled perilously, but weathered the 
 wash of the liner which so nearly had concluded 
 this episode. It was such a journey as I had 
 taken once before, early in our pursuit of the 
 genius of the Yellow Peril; but this was in- 
 finitely more terrible; for now we were utterly 
 in Fu-Manchu's power. 
 
 A voice mumbled in my ear. I turned my 
 bound-up face; and Inspector Weymouth raised 
 his hands in the dimness and partly slipped the 
 bandage from his mouth. 
 
 " I've been working at the cords since we left 
 those filthy cellars," he whispered. " My wrists 
 are all cut, but when I've got out a knife and 
 freed my ankles — " 
 
 Smith had kicked him with his bound feet. 
 The detective slipped the bandage back to posi- 
 tion and placed his hands behind him again. 
 Dr. Fu-Manchu, wearing a heavy overcoat but 
 no hat, came aft. He was dragging Karamaneh 
 by the wrists. He seated himself on the cushions 
 near to us, pulling the girl down beside him. 
 
336 THE INSIDIOUS DB. FU-MANCHU 
 
 Now, I could see her face — and the expression 
 in her beautiful eyes made me writhe. 
 
 Fu-Manchu was watching us, his discolored 
 teeth faintly visible in the dim light, to which 
 my eyes were becoming accustomed. 
 
 " Dr. Petrie," he said, " you shall be my hon- 
 ored guest at my home in China. You shall 
 assist me to revolutionize chemistry. Mr. Smith, 
 I fear you know more of my plans than I had 
 deemed it possible for you to have learned, and 
 I am anxious to know if you have a confidant. 
 Where your memory fails you, and my files and 
 wire jackets prove ineffectual, Inspector Wey- 
 mouth's recollections may prove more accurate." 
 
 He turned to the cowering girl — who shrank 
 away from him in pitiful, abject terror. 
 
 " In my hands, Doctor," he continued, " I hold 
 a needle charged with a rare culture. It is the 
 link between the bacilli and the fungi. You have 
 seemed to display an undue interest in the peach 
 and pearl which render my Karamaneh so de- 
 lightful, in the supple grace of her movements 
 and the sparkle of her eyes. You can never de- 
 vote your whole mind to those studies which I 
 have planned for you whilst such distractions 
 exist. A touch of this keen point, and the laugh- 
 ing Karamaneh becomes the shrieking hag — the 
 maniacal, mowing — " 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 337 
 
 Then, with an ox-like rush, Weymouth was 
 upon him! 
 
 Karamaneh, wrought upon past endurance, 
 with a sobbing cry, sank to the deck — and lay 
 still. I managed to writhe into a half-sitting 
 posture, and Smith rolled aside as the detective 
 and the Chinaman crashed down together. 
 
 Weymouth had one big hand at the Doctor's 
 yellow throat ; with his left he grasped the China- 
 man's right. It held the needle. 
 
 Now, I could look along the length of the little 
 craft, and, so far as it was possible to make out 
 in the fog, only one other was aboard — the 
 half-clad brown man who navigated her — and 
 who had carried us through the cellars. The 
 murk had grown denser and now shut us in like 
 a box. The throb of the motor — the hissing 
 breath of the two who fought — with so much 
 at issue — these sounds and the wash of the 
 water alone broke the eerie stillness. 
 
 By slow degrees, and with a reptilian agility 
 horrible to watch, Fu-Manchu was neutralizing 
 the advantage gained by Weymouth. His claw- 
 ish fingers were fast in the big man's throat; 
 the right hand with its deadly needle was forcing 
 down the left of his opponent. He had been 
 underneath, but now he was gaining the upper 
 place. His powers of physical endurance must 
 
338 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 have been truly marvelous. His breath was 
 whistling through his nostrils significantly, but 
 Weymouth was palpably tiring. 
 
 The latter suddenly changed his tactics. By a 
 supreme effort, to which he was spurred, I think, 
 by the growing proximity of the needle, he raised 
 Fu-Manchu — by the throat and arm — and 
 pitched him sideways. 
 
 The Chinaman's grip did not relax, and the 
 two wrestlers dropped, a writhing mass, upon 
 the port cushions. The launch heeled over, and 
 my cry of horror was crushed back into my throat 
 by the bandage. For, as Fu-Manchu sought to 
 extricate himself, he overbalanced — fell back 
 — and, bearing Weymouth with him — slid into 
 the river! 
 
 The mist swallowed them up. 
 
 There are moments of which no man can recall 
 his mental impressions, moments so acutely hor- 
 rible that, mercifully, our memory retains noth- 
 ing of the emotions they occasioned. This was 
 one of them. A chaos ruled in my mind. I had 
 a vague belief that the Burman, forward, glanced 
 back. Then the course of the launch was 
 changed. 
 
 How long intervened between the tragic end 
 o£ that Gargantuan struggle and the time when 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 339 
 
 a black wall leaped suddenly up before us I can- 
 not pretend to state. 
 
 With a sickening jerk we ran aground. A loud 
 explosion ensued, and I clearly remember seeing 
 the brown man leap out into the fog — which 
 was the last I saw of him. 
 
 Water began to wash aboard. 
 
 Fully alive to our imminent peril, I fought with 
 the cords that bound me ; but I lacked poor Wey- 
 mouth's strength of wrist, and I began to accept 
 as a horrible and imminent possibility, a death 
 from drowning, within six feet of the bank. 
 
 Beside me, Nayland Smith was straining and 
 twisting. I think his object was to touch Kara- 
 maneh, in the hope of arousing her. Where he 
 failed in his project, the inflowing water suc- 
 ceeded. A silent prayer of thankfulness came 
 from my very soul when I saw her stir — when 
 I saw her raise her hands to her head — and 
 saw the big, horror-bright eyes gleam through 
 the mist veil. 
 
Chapter XXVII 
 
 WE quitted the wrecked launch but a few 
 seconds before her stern settled down 
 into the river. Where the mud-bank 
 upon which we found ourselves was situated we 
 had no idea. But at least it was terra firma — 
 and we were free from Dr. Fu-Manchu. 
 
 Smith stood looking out towards the river. 
 
 " My God ! " he groaned. " My God ! " 
 
 He was thinking, as I was, of Weymouth. 
 
 And when, an hour later, the police boat lo- 
 cated us (on the mud-flats below Greenwich) 1 
 and we heard that the toll of the poison cellars 
 was eight men, we also heard news of our brave 
 companion. 
 
 " Back there in the fog, sir," reported In- 
 spector Ryman, who was in charge, and his voice 
 was under poor command, " there was an un- 
 canny howling, and peals of laughter that I'm 
 going to dream about for weeks — " 
 
 Karamaneh, who nestled beside me like a 
 frightened child, shivered; and I knew that the 
 needle had done its work, despite Weymouth's 
 giant strength. 
 
 340 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 341 
 
 Smith swallowed noisily. 
 
 " Pray God the river has that yellow Satan," 
 he said. " I would sacrifice a year of my life to 
 see his rat's body on the end of a grappling- 
 iron ! " 
 
 We were a sad party that steamed through 
 the fog homeward that night. It seemed almost 
 like deserting a staunch comrade to leave the 
 S p t — so nearly as we could locate it — where 
 Weymouth had put up that last gallant fight. 
 Our helplessness was pathetic, and although, had 
 the night been clear as crystal, I doubt if we 
 could have acted otherwise, it came to me that 
 this stinking murk was a new enemy which drove 
 us back in coward retreat. 
 
 But so many were the calls upon our activity, 
 and so numerous the stimulants to our initiative 
 in those times, that soon we had matter to relieve 
 our minds from this stress of sorrow. 
 
 There was Karamaneh to be considered — 
 Karamaneh and her brother. A brief counsel 
 was held, whereat it was decided that for the 
 present they should be lodged at a hotel. 
 
 " I shall arrange," Smith whispered to me, for 
 the girl was watching us, "to have the place 
 patrolled night and day." 
 "You cannot suppose — " 
 " Petrie ! I cannot and dare not suppose Fu- 
 
342 THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 
 
 Manchu dead until with my own eyes I have 
 seen him so ! " 
 
 Accordingly we conveyed the beautiful Ori- 
 ental girl and her brother away from that lux- 
 urious abode in its sordid setting. I will not 
 dwell upon the final scene in the poison cellars 
 lest I be accused of accumulating horror for hor- 
 ror's sake. Members of the fire brigade, helmed 
 against contagion, brought out the bodies of the 
 victims wrapped in their living shrouds. . . . 
 
 From Karamaneh we learned much of Fu-Man- 
 chu, little of herself. 
 
 "What am I? Does my poor history matter 
 — to anyone?" was her answer to questions 
 respecting herself. 
 
 And she would droop her lashes over her dark 
 eyes. 
 
 The dacoits whom the Chinaman had brought 
 to England originally numbered seven, we 
 learned. As you, having followed me thus far, 
 will be aware, we had thinned the ranks of the 
 Burmans. Probably only one now remained in 
 England. They had lived in a camp in the 
 grounds of the house near Windsor (which, as 
 we had learned at the time of its destruction, 
 the Doctor had bought outright). The Thames 
 had been his highway. 
 
 Other members of the group had occupied 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 343 
 
 quarters in various parts of the East End, where 
 sailormen of all nationalities congregate. Shen- 
 Yan-s had been the East End headquarters. He 
 had employed the hulk from the time of his ar- 
 rival, as a laboratory for a certain class of ex- 
 periments undesirable in proximity to a place of 
 residence. 
 
 Nayland Smith asked the girl on one occasion 
 if the Chinaman had had a private sea-going 
 vessel, and she replied in the affirmative. She 
 had never been on board, however, had never 
 even set eyes upon it, and could give us no in- 
 formation respecting its character. It had 
 sailed for China. 
 
 " You are sure," asked Smith keenly, " that it 
 has actually left? " 
 
 " I understood so, and that we were to follow 
 by another route." 
 
 " It would have been difficult for Fu-Manchu 
 to travel by a passenger boat? " 
 
 " I cannot say what were his plans." 
 
 In a state of singular uncertainty, then, readily 
 to be understood, we passed the days following 
 the tragedy which had deprived us of our fel- 
 low-worker. 
 
 Vividly I recall the scene at poor Weymouth's 
 home, on the day that we visited it. I then made 
 the acquaintance of the Inspector's brother. 
 
344 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 Nayland Smith gave him a detailed account of 
 the last scene. 
 
 " Out there in the mist/' he concluded 
 wearily, " it all seemed very unreal." 
 
 " I wish to God it had been ! " 
 
 " Amen to that, Mr. Weymouth. But your 
 brother made a gallant finish. If ridding the 
 world of Fu-Manchu were the only good deed to 
 his credit, his life had been well spent." 
 
 James Weymouth smoked awhile in thought- 
 ful silence. Though but four and a half miles 
 S.S.E. of St. Paul's the quaint little cottage, 
 with its rustic garden, shadowed by the tall trees 
 which had so lined the village street before motor 
 'buses were, was a spot as peaceful and secluded 
 as any in broad England. But another shadow 
 lay upon it to-day — chilling, fearful. An in- 
 carnate evil had come out of the dim East and 
 in its dying malevolence had touched this home. 
 
 " There are two things I don't understand 
 about it, sir," continued Weymouth. "What 
 was the meaning of the horrible laughter which 
 the river police heard in the fog? And where 
 are the bodies? " 
 
 Karamaneh, seated beside me, shuddered at the 
 words. Smith, whose restless spirit granted him 
 little repose, paused in his aimless wanderings 
 about the room and looked at her. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 345 
 
 In these latter days of his Augean labors to 
 purge England of the unclean thing which had 
 fastened upon her, my friend was more lean and 
 nervous-looking than I had ever known him. His 
 long residence in Burma had rendered him spare 
 and had burned his naturally dark skin to a cop- 
 pery hue; but now his gray eyes had grown fev- 
 erishly bright and his face so lean as at times to 
 appear positively emaciated. But I knew that 
 he was as fit as ever. 
 
 " This lady may be able to answer your first 
 question/' he said. " She and her brother were 
 for some time in the household of Dr. Fu-Man- 
 chu. In fact, Mr. Weymouth, Karamaneh, as her 
 name implies, was a slave." 
 
 Weymouth glanced at the beautiful, troubled 
 face with scarcely veiled distrust. 
 
 " You don't look as though you had come from 
 China, miss," he said, with a sort of unwilling 
 admiration. 
 
 " I do not come from China," replied Kara- 
 maneh. " My father was a pure Bedawee. But 
 my history does not matter." (At times there 
 was something imperious in her manner ; and to 
 this her musical accent added force.) "When 
 your brave brother, Inspector Weymouth, and 
 Dr. Fu-Manchu, were swallowed up by the river, 
 Fu-Manchu held a poisoned needle in his band. 
 
346 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 The laughter meant that the needle had done its 
 work. Your brother had become mad ! " 
 
 Weymouth turned aside to hide his emotion. 
 
 " What was on the needle? " he asked huskily. 
 
 " It was something which he prepared from 
 the venom of a kind of swamp adder," she an- 
 swered. " It produces madness, but not always 
 death." 
 
 " He would have had a poor chance," said 
 Smith, " even had he been in complete possession 
 of his senses. At the time of the encounter we 
 must have been some considerable distance from 
 shore, and the fog was impenetrable." 
 
 " But how do you account for the fact that 
 neither of the bodies have been recovered? " 
 
 " Ryman of the river police tells me that per- 
 sons lost at that point are not always recovered 
 ' — or not until a considerable time later." 
 
 There was a faint sound from the room above. 
 The news of that tragic happening out in the 
 mist upon the Thames had prostrated poor Mrs. 
 Weymouth. 
 
 " She hasn't been told half the truth," said her 
 brother-in-law. " She doesn't know about — the 
 poisoned needle. What kind of fiend was this 
 Dr. Fu-Manchu?" He burst out into a sudden 
 blaze of furious resentment. " John never told 
 me much, and you have let mighty little leak 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 347 
 
 into the papers. What was he? Who was he? " 
 
 Half he addressed the words to Smith, half to 
 Karamaneh. 
 
 " Dr. Fu-Manchu," replied the former, " was 
 the ultimate expression of Chinese cunning; a 
 phenomenon such as occurs but once in many 
 generations. He was a superman of incredible 
 genius, who, had he willed, could have revolu- 
 tionized science. There is a superstition in 
 some parts of China according to which, under 
 certain peculiar conditions (one of which is 
 proximity to a deserted burial-ground) an evil 
 spirit of incredible age may enter into the body 
 of a new-born infant. All my efforts thus far 
 have not availed me to trace the genealogy of 
 the man called Dr. Fu-Manchu. Even Kara- 
 maneh cannot help me in this. But I have some- 
 times thought that he was a member of a certain 
 very old Kiangsu family — and that the peculiar 
 conditions I have mentioned prevailed at his 
 birth ! " 
 
 Smith, observing our looks of amazement, 
 laughed shortly, and quite mirthlessly. 
 
 " Poor old Weymouth ! " he jerked. " I sup- 
 pose my labors are finished; but I am far from 
 triumphant. Is there any improvement in Mrs. 
 Weymouth's condition? " 
 
 " Very little," was the reply ; * she has lain in 
 
348 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 a semi-conscious state since the news came. No 
 one had any idea she would take it so. At one 
 time we were afraid her brain was going. She 
 seemed to have delusions." 
 
 Smith spun round upon Weymouth. 
 
 li Of what nature? " he asked rapidly. 
 
 The other pulled nervously at his mustache. 
 
 " My wife has been staying with her," he ex- 
 plained, " since — it happened ; and for the last 
 three nights poor John's widow has cried out 
 at the same time — half-past two — that some- 
 one was knocking on the door." 
 
 "What door?" 
 
 " That door yonder — the street door." 
 
 All our eyes turned in the direction indicated. 
 
 " John often came home at half-past two from 
 the Yard," continued Weymouth ; " so we natu- 
 rally thought poor Mary was wandering in her 
 mind. But last night — and it's not to be won- 
 dered at — my wife couldn't sleep, and she was 
 wide awake at half -past two." 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 Nayland Smith was standing before him, alert, 
 bright-eyed. 
 
 " She heard it, too ! " 
 
 The sun was streaming into the cozy little sit- 
 ting-room; but I will confess that Weymouth's 
 words chilled me uncannily. Karamaneh laid 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 349 
 
 her hand upon mine, in a quaint, childish fashion 
 peculiarly her own. Her hand was cold, but its 
 touch thrilled me. For Karamaneh was not a 
 w Jiild, but a rarely beautiful girl — a pearl of 
 Jhe East such as many a monarch has fought for. 
 
 " What then? " asked Smith. 
 
 " She was afraid to move — afraid to look 
 from the window ! " 
 
 My friend turned and stared hard at me. 
 
 "A subjective hallucination, Petrie?" 
 
 " In all probability," I replied. " You should 
 arrange that your wife be relieved in her trying 
 duties, Mr. Weymouth. Tt is too great a strain 
 for an inexperienced nurse." 
 
Chapter XXVIII 
 
 OF all that we had hoped for in our pursuit 
 of Fu-Manchu how little had we accom- 
 plished. Excepting Karaman&h and her 
 brother (who were victims and not creatures of 
 the Chinese doctor's) not one of the formidable 
 group had fallen alive into our hands. Dread- 
 ful crimes had marked Fu-Manchu's passage 
 through the land. Not one-half of the truth (and 
 nothing of the later developments) had been made 
 public. Nayland Smith's authority was suffi- 
 cient to control the press. 
 
 In the absence of such a veto a veritable panic 
 must have seized upon the entire country; for a 
 monster — a thing more than humanly evil — 
 existed in our midst. 
 
 Always Fu-Manchu's secret activities had 
 centered about the great waterway. There was 
 much of poetic justice in his end ; for the Thames 
 had claimed him, who so long had used the stream 
 as a highway for the passage to and fro for his 
 secret forces. Gone now were the yellow men 
 who had been the instruments of his evil will; 
 
 350 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANQHU 351 
 
 gone was the giant intellect which had con- 
 trolled the complex murder machine. Kara- 
 maneh, whose beauty he had used as a lure, at 
 last was free, and no more with her smile would 
 tempt men to death — that her brother might 
 live. 
 
 Many there are, I doubt not, who will regard 
 the Eastern girl with horror. I ask their for- 
 giveness in that I regarded her quite differently. 
 No man having seen her could have condemned 
 her unheard. Many, having looked into her 
 lovely eyes, had they found there what I found, 
 must have forgiven her almost any crime. 
 
 That she valued human life but little was no 
 matter for wonder. Her nationality — her his- 
 tory — furnished adequate excuse for an attitude 
 not condonable in a European equally cultured. 
 
 But indeed let me confess that hers was a 
 nature incomprehensible to me in some respects. 
 The soul of Karamaneh was a closed book to my 
 short-sighted Western eyes. But the body of 
 Karamaneh was exquisite; her beauty of a kind 
 that was a key to the most extravagant rhapsodies 
 of Eastern poets. Her eyes held a challenge 
 wholly Oriental in its appeal; her lips, even in 
 repose, were a taunt. And, herein, East is West 
 and West is East. 
 
 Finally, despite her lurid history, despite the 
 
352 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 scornful self-possession of which I knew her 
 capable, she was an unprotected girl — in years, 
 I believe, a mere child — whom Fate had cast 
 in my way. At her request, we had booked 
 passages for her brother and herself to Egypt. 
 The boat sailed in three days. But Karameneh's 
 beautiful eyes were sad; often I detected tears 
 on the black lashes. Shall I endeavor to describe 
 my own tumultuous, conflicting emotions? It 
 would be useless, since I know it to be impossi- 
 ble. For in those dark eyes burned a fire I 
 might not see; those silken lashes veiled a mes- 
 sage I dared not read. 
 
 Nayland Smith was not blind to the facts of 
 the complicated situation. I can truthfully as- 
 sert that he was the only man of my acquaintance 
 who, having come in contact with Karamaneh, 
 had kept his head. 
 
 We endeavored to divert her mind from the 
 recent tragedies by a round of amusements, 
 though with poor Weymouth's body still at the 
 mercy of unknown waters Smith and I made 
 but a poor show of gayety; and I took a gloomy 
 pride in the admiration which our lovely com- 
 panion everywhere excited. I learned, in those 
 days, how rare a thing in nature is a really 
 beautiful woman. 
 
 One afternoon we found ourselves at an ex- 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 353 
 
 hibition of water colors in Bond Street. Kara- 
 maneh was intensely interested in the subjects 
 of the drawings — which were entirely Egyptian. 
 As usual, she furnished matter for comment 
 amongst the other visitors, as did the boy, Aziz, 
 her brother, anew upon the world from his living 
 grave in the house of Dr. Fu-Manchu. 
 
 Suddenly Aziz clutched at his sister's arm, 
 whispering rapidly in Arabic. I saw her peach- 
 like color fade; saw her become pale and wild- 
 eyed — the haunted Karamaneh of the old days. 
 She turned to me. 
 
 " Dr. Petrie — he says that Fu-Manchu is 
 here ! " 
 
 "Where?" 
 
 Nayland Smith rapped out the question vio- 
 lently, turning in a flash from the picture which 
 he was examining. 
 
 " In this room ! " she whispered glancing fur- 
 tively, aff rightedly about her. " Something tells 
 Aziz when he is near — and I, too, feel strangely 
 afraid. Oh, can it be that he is not dead ! " 
 
 She held my arm tightly. Her brother was 
 searching the room with big, velvet black eyes. 
 I studied the faces of the several visitors; and 
 Smith was staring about him with the old alert 
 look, and tugging nervously at the lobe of his ear. 
 The name of the giant foe of the white race in- 
 
354 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 stantaneously had strung him up to a pitch of 
 supreme intensity. 
 
 Our united scrutinies discovered no figure 
 which could have been that of the Chinese doctor. 
 Who could mistake that long, gaunt shape, with 
 the high, mummy-like shoulders, and the inde- 
 scribable gait, which I can only liken to that 
 of an awkward cat? 
 
 Then, over the heads of a group of people who 
 stood by the doorway, I saw Smith peering at 
 someone — at someone who passed across the 
 outer room. Stepping aside, I, too, obtained a 
 glimpse of this person. 
 
 As I saw him, he was a tall, old man, wearing 
 a black Inverness coat and a rather shabby silk 
 hat. He had long white hair and a patriarchal 
 beard, wore smoked glasses and walked slowly, 
 leaning upon a stick. 
 
 Smith's gaunt face paled. With a rapid glance 
 at Karamaneh, he made off across the room. 
 
 Could it be Dr. Fu-Manchu? 
 
 Many days had passed since, already half- 
 choked by Inspector Weymouth's iron grip, Fu- 
 Manchu, before our own eyes, had been swal- 
 lowed up by the Thames. Even now men were 
 seeking his body, and that of his last victim. 
 Nor had we left any stone unturned. Acting 
 upon information furnished by Karamandh, the 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 355 
 
 police had searched every known haunt of the 
 murder group. But everything pointed to 
 the fact that the group was disbanded and dis- 
 persed; that the lord of strange deaths who had 
 ruled it was no more. 
 
 Yet Smith was not satisfied. Neither, let me 
 confess, was I. Every port was watched; and 
 in suspected districts a kind of house-to-house 
 patrol had been instituted. Unknown to the 
 great public, in those days a secret war waged 
 — a war in which all the available forces of the 
 authorities took the field against one man ! But 
 that one man was the evil of the East incarnate. 
 
 When we rejoined him, Nayland Smith was 
 talking to the commissionaire at the door. He 
 turned to me. 
 
 " That is Professor Jenner Monde," he said. 
 " The sergeant, here, knows him well." 
 
 The name of the celebrated Orientalist of 
 course was familiar to me, although I had never 
 before set eyes upon him. 
 
 " The Professor was out East the last time I 
 was there, sir," stated the commissionaire. " I 
 often used to see him. But he's an eccentric old 
 gentleman. Seems to live in a world of his own. 
 He's recently back from China, I think." 
 
 Nayland Smith stood clicking his teeth to- 
 gether in irritable hesitation. I heard Kara- 
 
356 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 maneh sigh, and, looking at her, I saw that her 
 cheeks were regaining their natural color. 
 
 She smiled in pathetic apology. 
 
 " If he was here he is gone," she said. " I am 
 not afraid now." 
 
 Smith thanked the commissionaire for his in- 
 formation and we quitted the gallery. 
 
 " Professor Jenner Monde," muttered my 
 friend, " has lived so long in China as almost to 
 be a Chinaman. I have never met him — never 
 seen him, before; but I wonder — " 
 
 "You wonder what, Smith?" 
 
 " I wonder if he could possibly be an ally of 
 the Doctor's ! " 
 
 I stared at him in amazement. 
 
 " If we are to attach any importance to the 
 incident at all," I said, " we must remember that 
 the boy's impression — and Karamaneh's — was 
 that Fu-Manchu was present in person." 
 
 " I do attach importance to the incident, 
 Petrie; they are naturally sensitive to such im- 
 pressions. But I doubt if even the abnormal or- 
 ganization of Aziz could distinguish between the 
 hidden presence of a creature of the Doctor's 
 and that of the Doctor himself. I shall make 
 a point of calling upon Professor Jenner 
 Monde." 
 
 But Fate had ordained that much should hap- 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 357 
 
 pen ere Smith, made his proposed call upon the 
 Professor. 
 
 Karamaneh and her brother safely lodged in 
 their hotel (which was watched night and day 
 by four men under Smith's orders), we returned 
 to my quiet suburban rooms. 
 
 " First," said Smith, " let us see what we can 
 find out respecting Professor Monde." 
 
 He went to the telephone and called up New 
 Scotland Yard. There followed some little de- 
 lay before the requisite information was ob- 
 tained. Finally, however, we learned that the 
 Professor was something of a recluse, having few 
 acquaintances, and fewer friends. 
 
 He lived alone in chambers in New Inn Court, 
 Carey Street. A charwoman did such cleaning 
 as was considered necessary by the Professor, 
 who employed no regular domestic. When he 
 was in London he might be seen fairly frequently 
 at the British Museum, where his shabby figure 
 was familiar to the officials. When he was not 
 in London — that is, during the greater part 
 of each year — no one knew where he went. He 
 never left any address to which letters might be 
 forwarded. 
 
 "How long has he been in London now?" 
 asked Smith. 
 
 So far as could be ascertained from New Inn 
 
358 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 Court (replied Scotland Yard) roughly a week. 
 
 My friend left the telephone and began rest* 
 lessly to pace the room. The charred briar was 
 produced and stuffed with that broad cut Latakia 
 mixture of which Nayland Smith consumed close 
 upon a pound a week. He was one of those un- 
 tidy smokers who leave tangled tufts hanging 
 from the pipe-bowl and when they light up strew 
 the floor with smoldering fragments. 
 
 A ringing came, and shortly afterwards a girl 
 entered. 
 
 " Mr. James Weymouth to see you, sir/' 
 
 " Hullo ! " rapped Smith. " What's this? " 
 
 Weymouth entered, big and florid, and in some 
 respects singularly like his brother, in others as 
 singularly unlike. Now, in his black suit, he was 
 a somber figure; and in the blue eyes I read a 
 fear suppressed. 
 
 " Mr. Smith," he began, " there's something 
 uncanny going on at Maple Cottage." 
 
 Smith wheeled the big arm-chair forward. 
 
 " Sit down, Mr. Weymouth," he said. " I am 
 not entirely surprised. But you have my atten- 
 tion. What has occurred?" 
 
 Weymouth took a cigarette from the box which. 
 I proffered and poured out a peg of whisky. His 
 hand was not quite steady. 
 
 " That knocking," he explained. " It came 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 359 
 
 again the night after you were there, and Mrs. 
 Weymouth — my wife, I mean — felt that she 
 couldn't spend another night there, alone — " 
 
 " Did she look out of the window? " I asked. 
 
 " No, Doctor ; she was afraid. But I spent 
 last night downstairs in the sitting-room — and 
 / looked out!" 
 
 He took a gulp from his glass. Nayland 
 Smith, seated on the edge of the table, his ex- 
 tinguished pipe in his hand, was watching him 
 keenly. 
 
 " I'll admit I didn't look out at once," Wey- 
 mouth resumed. " There was something so un- 
 canny, gentlemen, in that knocking — knocking 
 — in the dead of the night. I thought " — his 
 voice shook — " of poor Jack, lying somewhere 
 amongst the slime of the river — and, oh, my 
 God! it came to me that it was Jack who was 
 knocking — and I dare not think what he — 
 what it — would look like ! " 
 
 He leaned forward, his chin in his hand. For 
 a few moments we were all silent. 
 
 " I know I funked," he continued huskily. 
 " But when the wife came to the head of the 
 stairs and whispered to me: ' There it is again. 
 What in heaven's name can it be ' — I started to 
 unbolt the door. The knocking had stopped. 
 Everything was very still. I heard Mary — his 
 
360 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 widow — sobbing, upstairs ; that was all. I 
 opened the door, a little bit at a time." 
 
 Pausing again, he cleared his throat, and went 
 on: 
 
 " It was a bright night, and there was no one 
 there — not a soul. But somewhere down the 
 lane, as I looked out into the porch, I heard most 
 awful groans! They got fainter and fainter. 
 Then — I could have sworn I heard someone 
 laughing! My nerves cracked up at that; and I 
 shut the door again." 
 
 The narration of his weird experience revived 
 something of the natural fear which it had oc- 
 casioned. He raised his glass, with unsteady 
 hand, and drained it. 
 
 Smith struck a match and relighted his pipe. 
 He began to pace the room again. His eyes 
 were literally on fire. 
 
 " Would it be possible to get Mrs. Weymouth 
 out of the house before to-night? Remove her 
 to your place, for instance?" he asked abruptly. 
 
 Weymouth looked up in surprise. 
 
 " She seems to be in a very low state," he re- 
 plied. He glanced at me. " Perhaps Dr. Petrie 
 would give us an opinion?" 
 
 " I will come and see her," I said. " But what 
 is your idea, Smith?" 
 
 * I want to hear that knocking ! " he rapped. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 361 
 
 " But in what I may see fit to do I must not be 
 handicapped by the presence of a sick woman." 
 
 " Her condition at any rate will admit of our 
 administering an opiate," I suggested. " That 
 would meet the situation? " 
 
 " Good ! " cried Smith. He was intensely ex- 
 cited now. " I rely upon you to arrange some- 
 thing, Petrie. Mr. Weymouth " — he turned to 
 our visitor — " I shall be with you this evening 
 not later than twelve o'clock." 
 
 Weymouth appeared to be greatly relieved. I 
 asked him to wait whilst I prepared a draught 
 for the patient. When he was gone : 
 
 "What do you think this knocking means, 
 Smith?" I asked. 
 
 He tapped out his pipe on the side of the grate 
 and began with nervous energy to refill it again 
 from the dilapidated pouch. 
 
 " I dare not tell you what I hope, Petrie," he 
 replied — "nor what I fear." 
 
Chapter XXIX 
 
 I 
 
 k USK was falling when we made our way 
 in the direction of Maple Cottage. Nay- 
 land Smith appeared to be keenly inter- 
 ested in the character of the district. A high 
 and ancient wall bordered the road along which 
 we walked for a considerable distance. Later 
 it gave place to a rickety fence. 
 
 My friend peered through a gap in the latter. 
 
 " There is quite an extensive estate here," he 
 said, " not yet cut up by the builder. It is well 
 wooded on one side, and there appears to be a 
 pool lower down." 
 
 The road was a quiet one, and we plainly heard 
 the tread — quite unmistakable — of an ape 
 proaching policeman. Smith continued to peer 
 through the hole in the fence, until the officer 
 drew up level with us. Then : 
 
 " Does this piece of ground extend down to the 
 village, constable?" he inquired. 
 
 Quite willing for a chat, the man stopped, and 
 stood with his thumbs thrust in his belt. 
 
 " Yes, sir. They tell me three new roads will 
 
 362 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 368 
 
 be made through it between here and the hill." 
 
 " It must be a happy hunting ground for 
 tramps?" 
 
 " I've seen some suspicious-looking coves 
 about at times. But after dusk an army might 
 be inside there and nobody would ever be the 
 wiser." 
 
 " Burglaries frequent in the houses backing on 
 to it?" 
 
 " Oh, no. A favorite game in these parts is 
 snatching loaves and bottles of milk from the 
 doors, first thing, as they're delivered. There's 
 been an extra lot of it lately. My mate who re- 
 lieves me has got special instructions to keep his 
 eye open in the mornings ! " The man grinned. 
 " It wouldn't be a very big case even if he caught 
 anybody ! " 
 
 " No," said Smith absently ; " perhaps not. 
 Your business must be a dry one this warm 
 weather. Good-night." 
 
 " Good-night, sir," replied the constable, richer 
 by half-a-crown — "and thank you." 
 
 Smith stared after him for a moment, tugging 
 reflectively at the lobe of his ear. 
 
 " I don't know that it wouldn't be a big case, 
 after all," he murmured. " Come on, Petrie.* 
 
 Not another word did he speak, until we »tood 
 at the gate of Mapie Cottage, There a plain- 
 
364 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCH^ 
 
 / 
 clothes man was standing, evidently awaiting 
 
 Smith. He touched his hat. / 
 
 " Have you found a suitable hiding-p/ace? " 
 asked my companion rapidly. / 
 
 " Yes, sir," was the reply. " Kent — riy mate 
 — is there now. You'll notice that he /can't be 
 seen from here." 
 
 " No," agreed Smith, peering all aibout him. 
 "He can't. Where is he?" 
 
 " Behind the broken wall," explained the man, 
 pointing. " Through that ivy there's a clear 
 view of the cottage door." 
 
 " Good. Keep your eyes open. If a messen- 
 ger comes for me, he is to be intercepted, you 
 understand. No one must be allowed to disturb 
 us. You will recognize the messenger. He will 
 be one of your fellows. Should he come — hoot 
 three times, as much like an owl as you can." 
 
 We walked up to the porch of the cottage. 
 In response to Smith's ringing came James Wey- 
 mouth, who seemed greatly relieved by our ar- 
 rival. 
 
 " First," said my friend briskly, " you had 
 better run up and see the patient." 
 
 Accordingly, I followed Weymouth upstairs 
 and was admitted by his wife to a neat little bed- 
 room where the grief-stricken woman lay, a 
 wanly pathetic sight. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 365 
 
 "Did you administer the draught, as di- 
 rected? " I asked. 
 
 Mrs. James Weymouth nodded. She was a 
 kindly looking woman, with the same dread 
 haunting her hazel eyes as that which lurked in 
 her husband's blue ones. 
 
 The patient was sleeping soundly. Some 
 whispered instructions I gave to the faithful 
 nurse and descended to the sitting-room. It was 
 a warm night, and Weymouth sat by the open 
 window, smoking. The dim light from the lamp 
 on the table lent him an almost startling like- 
 ness to his brother ; and for a moment I stood at 
 the foot of the stairs scarce able to trust my 
 reason. Then he turned his face fully towards 
 me, and the illusion was lost. 
 
 " Do you think she is likely to wake, Doctor? " 
 he asked. 
 
 " I think not," I replied. 
 
 Nayland Smith stood upon the rug before the 
 hearth, swinging from one foot to the other, in 
 his nervously restless way. The room was foggy 
 with the fumes of tobacco, for he, too, was smok- 
 ing. 
 
 At intervals of some five to ten minutes* 
 his blackened briar (which I never knew him to 
 clean or scrape) would go out. I think Smith 
 used more matches than any other smoker I have 
 
366 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 ever met, and he invariably carried three boxes 
 in various pockets of his garments. 
 
 The tobacco habit is infectious, and, seating 
 myself in an arm-chair, I lighted a cigarette. 
 For this dreary vigil I had come prepared- with 
 a bunch of rough notes, a writing-block, and a 
 fountain pen. I settled down to work upon my 
 record of the Fu-Manchu case. 
 
 Silence fell upon Maple Cottage. Save for 
 the shuddering sigh which whispered through 
 the over-hanging cedars and Smith's eternal 
 match-striking, nothing was there to disturb me 
 in my task. Yet I could make little progress. 
 Between my mind and the chapter upon which 
 I was at work a certain sentence persistently 
 intruded itself. It was as though an unseen 
 hand held the written page closely before my 
 eyes. This was the sentence: 
 
 " Imagine a person, tall, lean, and feline, high- 
 shouldered, with a brow like Shakespeare and a 
 face like Satan, a close-shaven skull, and long, 
 magnetic eyes of the true cat-green: invest him 
 with all the cruel cunning of an entire Eastern 
 race, accumulated in one giant intellect . . ." 
 
 Dr. Fu-Manchu! Fu-Mancfiu as Smith had 
 described him to me on that night which now 
 seemed so remotely distant — the night upon 
 which I had learned of the existence of the 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 367 
 
 wonderful and evil being born of that secret 
 quickening which, stirred in the womb of the yel- 
 low races. 
 
 As Smith, for the ninth or tenth time, knocked 
 out his pipe on a bar of the grate, the cuckoo 
 clock in the kitchen proclaimed the hour. 
 
 " Two," said James Weymouth. 
 
 I abandoned my task, replacing notes and 
 writing-block in the bag that I had with me. 
 Weymouth adjusted the lamp which had begun 
 to smoke. 
 
 I tiptoed to the stairs and, stepping softly, 
 ascended to the sick room. All was quiet, and 
 Mrs. Weymouth whispered to me that the patient 
 still slept soundly. I returned to find Nayland 
 Smith pacing about the room in that state of sup- 
 pressed excitement habitual with him in the ap- 
 proach of any crisis. At a quarter past two the 
 breeze dropped entirely, and such a stillness 
 reigned all about us as I could not have supposed 
 possible so near to the ever-throbbing heart of 
 the great metropolis. Plainly I could hear Wey- 
 mouth's heavy breathing. He sat at the win- 
 dow and looked out into the black shadows under 
 the cedars. Smith ceased his pacing and stood 
 again on the rug very still. He was listening! 
 I doubt not we were all listening. 
 
 Some faint sound broke the impressive still- 
 
£68 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 jiess, coming from the direction of the village 
 street. It was a vague, indefinite disturbance, 
 brief, and upon it ensued a silence more marked 
 than ever. Some minutes before, Smith had ex- 
 tinguished the lamp. In the darkness I heard 
 his teeth snap sharply together. 
 
 The call of an owl sounded very clearly three 
 times. 
 
 I knew that to mean that a messenger had 
 come; but from whence or bearing what tidings 
 I knew not. My friend's plans were incompre- 
 hensible to me, nor had I pressed him for any ex- 
 planation of their nature, knowing him to be in 
 that high-strung and somewhat irritable mood 
 which claimed him at times of uncertainty — 
 when he doubted the wisdom of his actions, the 
 accuracy of his surmises. He gave no sign. 
 
 Very faintly I heard a clock strike the half- 
 hour. A soft breeze stole again through the 
 branches above. The wind I thought must be 
 in a new quarter since I had not heard the clock 
 before. In so lonely a spot it was difficult to 
 believe that the bell was that of St. Paul's. Yet 
 such was the fact. 
 
 And hard upon the ringing followed another 
 sound — a sound we all had expected, had waited 
 for; but at whose coming no one of us, I think, 
 retained complete mastery of himself. 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 369 
 
 Breaking up the silence in a manner that set 
 my heart wildly leaping it came — an imperative 
 knocking on the door ! 
 
 " My God ! " groaned Weymouth — but he did 
 not move from his position at the window. 
 
 " Stand by, Petrie ! " said Smith. 
 
 He strode to the door — and threw it widely 
 open. 
 
 I know I was very pale. I think I cried out 
 as I fell back — retreated with clenched hands 
 from before that which stood on the threshold. 
 
 It was a wild, unkempt figure, with straggling 
 beard, hideously staring eyes. With its hands 
 it clutched at its hair — at its chin; plucked at 
 its mouth. No moonlight touched the features 
 of this unearthly visitant, but scanty as was the 
 illumination we could see the gleaming teeth — 
 and the wildly glaring eyes. 
 
 It began to laugh — peal after peal — hideous 
 and shrill. 
 
 Nothing so terrifying had ever smote upon my 
 ears. I was palsied by the horror of the sound. 
 
 Then Nayland Smith pressed the button of an 
 electric torch which he carried. He directed 
 the disk of white light fully upon the face in the 
 doorway. 
 
 " Oh, God ! " cried Weymouth. " It's John ! " 
 — and again and again : " Oh, God ! Oh, God ! £ 
 
370 THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 
 
 Perhaps for the first time in my life I really 
 believed (nay, I could not doubt) that a thing of 
 another world stood before me. I am ashamed 
 to confess the extent of the horror that came 
 upon me. James Weymouth raised his hands, 
 as if to thrust away from him that awful thing 
 in the door. He was babbling — prayers, I 
 think, but wholly incoherent. 
 
 "Hold him, Petrie!" 
 
 Smith's voice was low. (When we were past 
 thought or intelligent action, he, dominant and 
 cool, with that forced calm for which, a crisis 
 over, he always paid so dearly, was thinking of 
 the woman who slept above.) 
 
 He leaped forward; and in the instant that he 
 grappled with the one who had knocked I knew 
 the visitant for a man of flesh and blood — a 
 man who shrieked and fought like a savage ani- 
 mal, foamed at the mouth and gnashed his teeth" 
 in horrid frenzy ; knew him for a madman — 
 knew him for the victim of Fu-Manchu — not 
 dead, but living — for Inspector Weymouth — a 
 maniac ! 
 
 In a flash I realized all this and sprang to 
 Smith's assistance. There was a sound of racing 
 footsteps and the men who had been watching 
 outside came running into the porch. A third 
 was with them; and the fiye of us (for Wey< 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 371 
 
 mouth's brother had not yet grasped the fact 
 that a man and not a spirit shrieked and howled 
 in our midst) clung to the infuriated madman 5 
 yet barely held our own with him. 
 
 " The syringe, Petrie ! " gasped Smith, 
 " Quick ! You must manage to make an injec- 
 tion!" 
 
 I extricated myself and raced into the cottage 
 for my bag. A hypodermic syringe ready 
 charged I had brought with me at Smith's re- 
 quest. Even in that thrilling moment I could 
 find time to admire the wonderful foresight of 
 my friend, who had divined what would befall 
 — isolated the strange, pitiful truth from the 
 chaotic circumstances which saw us at Maple 
 Cottage that night. 
 
 Let me not enlarge upon the end of the awful 
 struggle. At one time I despaired (we all de- 
 spaired) of quieting the poor, demented creature. 
 But at last it was done; and the gaunt, blood- 
 stained savage whoaa we had know£ as Detect- 
 ive-Inspector Weymouth lay passive upon the 
 couch in his own sitting-room. A great wonder 
 possessed my mind for the genius of the uncanny 
 being who with the scratch of a needle had made 
 a brave and kindly man into this unclean, bru- 
 tish thing. 
 
 Nayland Smith, gaunt and wild-eyed, and 
 
372 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 trembling yet with his tremendous exertions^ 
 turned to the man whom I knew to be the mes- 
 senger from Scotland Yard. 
 
 "Well?" he rapped. 
 
 " He is arrested, sir/' the detective reported. 
 " They have kept him at his chambers as you 
 ordered." 
 
 "Has she slept through it?" said Smith to 
 me. (I had just returned from a visit to the 
 room above.) I nodded. 
 
 " Is he safe for an hour or two? " — indicating 
 the figure on the couch. 
 
 " For eight or ten," I replied grimly. 
 
 "Come, then. Our night's labors are not 
 nearly complete.'* 
 
Chapter XXX 
 
 LATER was forthcoming evidence to show 
 that poor Weymouth had lived a wild life, 
 in hiding among the thick bushes of the 
 tract of land which lay between the village and 
 the suburb on the neighboring hill. Literally, 
 he had returned to primitive savagery and some 
 of his food had been that of the lower animals, 
 though he had not scrupled to steal, as we learned 
 when his lair was discovered. 
 
 He had hidden himself cunningly; but wit- 
 nesses appeared who had seen him, in the dusk, 
 and fled from him. They never learned that the 
 object of their fear was Inspector John Wey- 
 mouth. How, having escaped death in the 
 Thames, he had crossed London unobserved, we 
 never knew; but his trick of knocking upon his 
 own door at half-past two each morning (a sort 
 of dawning of sanity mysteriously linked with 
 old custom) will be a familiar class of symptom 
 to all students of alienation. 
 
 I revert to the night when Smith solved tha 
 mystery of the knocking. 
 
 373 
 
374 THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 
 
 In a car which he had in waiting at the end of 
 the village we sped through the deserted streets 
 to New Inn Court. I, who had followed Nay- 
 land Smith through the failures and successes 
 of his mission, knew that to-night he had sur- 
 passed himself; had justified the confidence 
 placed in him by the highest authorities. 
 
 We were admitted to an untidy room — that 
 of a student, a traveler and a crank — by a plain- 
 clothes officer. Amid picturesque and disordered 
 fragments of a hundred ages, in a great carven 
 chair placed before a towering statue of the 
 Buddha, sat a hand-cuffed man. His white hair 
 and beard were patriarchal; his pose had great 
 dignity. But his expression was entirely masked 
 by the smoked glasses which he wore. 
 
 Two other detectives were guarding the 
 prisoner. 
 
 " We arrested Professor 3enner Monde as he 
 came in, sir," reported the man who had opened 
 the door. " He has made no statement. I hope 
 there isn't a mistake." 
 
 " I hope not," rapped Smith. 
 
 He strode across the room. He was consumed 
 by a fever of excitement. Almost savagely, he 
 tore away the beard, tore off the snowy wig — 
 dashed the smoked glasses upon the floor. 
 
 A great, high brow was revealed, and green, 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 375 
 
 malignant eyes, which fixed themselves upon him 
 with an expression I never can forget. 
 
 It was Dr. Fu-Manchu! 
 
 One intense moment of silence ensued — of 
 silence which seemed to throb. Then : 
 
 " What have you done with Professor Monde? " 
 demanded Smith. 
 
 Dr. Fu-Manchu showed his even, yellow teeth 
 in the singularly evil smile which I knew so well. 
 A manacled prisoner he sat as unruffled as a 
 judge upon the bench. In truth and in justice I 
 am compelled to say that Fu-Manchu was abso 
 lutely fearless. 
 
 " He has been detained in China," he replied, 
 in smooth, sibilant tones — " by affairs of great 
 urgency. His well-known personality and un- 
 gregarious habits have served me well, here ! " 
 
 Smith, I could see, was undetermined how to 
 act; he stood tugging at his ear and glancing 
 from the impassive Chinaman to the wondering 
 detectives. 
 
 " What are we to do, sir? " one of them asked. 
 
 " Leave Dr. Petrie and myself alone with the 
 prisoner, until I call you." 
 
 The three withdrew. I divined now what was 
 coming. 
 
 " Can you restore Weymouth's sanity? " 
 rapped Smith abruptly. " I cannot save you 
 
376 THE INSIDIOUS DB. FU-MANCHU 
 
 from the hangman, nor " — his fists clenched 
 convulsively — " would I if I could ; but — " 
 
 Fu-Manchu fixed his brilliant eyes upon him. 
 
 " Say no more, Mr. Smith," he interrupted ; 
 " you misunderstand me. I do not quarrel with 
 that, but what I have done from conviction and 
 what I have done of necessity are separated — - 
 are seas apart. The brave Inspector Weymouth 
 I wounded with a poisoned needle, in self-defense ; 
 but I regret his condition as greatly as you do. 
 I respect such a man. There is an antidote t<v 
 the poison of the needle." 
 
 " Name it," said Smith. 
 
 Fu-Manchu smiled again. 
 
 " Useless," he replied. " I alone can prepare 
 it. My secrets shall die with me. I will make 
 a sane man of Inspector Weymouth, but no one 
 else shall be in the house but he and I." 
 
 " It will be surrounded by police," interrupted 
 Smith grimly. 
 
 "As you please," said Fu-Manchu. "Make 
 your arrangements. In that ebony case upon 
 the table are the instruments for the cure. Ar- 
 range for me to visit him where and when you 
 will — " 
 
 " I distrust you utterly. It is some trick," 
 jerked Smith. 
 
 Dr. Fu-Manchu rose slowly and drew himself 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 377 
 
 up to his great height. His manacled hands 
 could not rob him of the uncanny dignity which 
 was his. He raised them above his head with a 
 tragic gesture and fixed his piercing gaze upon 
 Nayland Smith. 
 
 " The God of Cathay hear me," he said, with a 
 deep, guttural note in his voice — " I swear — " 
 
 The most awful visitor who ever threatened 
 the peace of England, the end of the visit of 
 Fu-Manchu was characteristic — terrible — in- 
 explicable. 
 
 Strange to relate, I did not doubt that this 
 weird being had conceived some kind of adnrira* 
 tion or respect for the man to whom he had 
 wrought so terrible an injury. He was capable 
 of such sentiments, for he entertained some sim- 
 ilar one in regard to myself. 
 
 A cottage farther down the village street than 
 Weymouth's was vacant, and in the early dawn 
 of that morning became the scene of outre hap- 
 penings. Poor Weymouth, still in a comatose 
 condition, we removed there (Smith having se- 
 cured the key from the astonished agent). I 
 suppose so strange a specialist never visited a 
 patient before — certainly not under such con- 
 ditions. 
 
 For into the cottage, which had been entirely 
 
378 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 surrounded by a ring of police, Dr. Fu-Manchu 
 was admitted from the closed car in which, his 
 work of healing complete, he was to be borne to 
 prison — to death! 
 
 Law and justice were suspended by my royally 
 empowered friend that the enemy of the white 
 race might heal one of those who had hunted him 
 down ! 
 
 No curious audience was present, for sunrise 
 was not yet come; no concourse of excited stu- 
 dents followed the hand of the Master ; but with- 
 in that surrounded cottage was performed one 
 of those miracles of science which in other cir- 
 cumstances had made the fame of Dr. Fu-Man- 
 chu to live forever. 
 
 Inspector Weymouth, dazed, disheveled, 
 clutching his head as a man who has passed 
 through the Valley of the Shadow — but sane — 
 sane ! — walked out into the porch ! 
 
 He looked towards us — his eyes wild, but not 
 with the fearsome wildness of insanity. 
 
 " Mr. Smith ! " he cried — and staggered down 
 the path — " Dr. Petrie ! What — " 
 
 There came a deafening explosion. From 
 every visible window of the deserted cottage 
 Hames burst forth ! 
 
 a Quick! " Smith's voice rose almost to a 
 scream — " into the house ! " 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DE. FU-MANCHU 379 
 
 He raced up the path, past Inspector Wey- 
 mouth, who stood swaying there like a drunken 
 man. I was close upon his heels. Behind me 
 came the police. 
 
 The door was impassable! Already, it vom- 
 ited a deathly heat, borne upon stifling fumes 
 like those of the mouth of the Pit. We burst a 
 window. The room within was a furnace! 
 
 " My God ! " cried someone. " This is super- 
 natural ! " 
 
 " Listen ! " cried another. " Listen ! " 
 
 The crowd which a fire can conjure up at any] 
 hour of day or night, out of the void of nowhere, 
 was gathering already. But upon all descended 
 a pall of silence. 
 
 From the heat of the holocaust a voice pro- 
 claimed itself — a voice raised, not in anguish 
 but in triumph! It chanted barbarically — and 
 was still. 
 
 The abnormal flames rose higher — leaping 
 forth from every window. 
 
 " The alarm ! " said Smith hoarsely. " Call 
 up the brigade ! " 
 
 • •••••• 
 
 I come to the close of my chronicle, and feel 
 that I betray a trust — the trust of my reader. 
 For having limned in the colors at my command 
 the fiendish Chinese doctor, I am unable to con- 
 
380 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 elude my task as I should desire, unable, with 
 any consciousness of finality, to write Finis to 
 the end of my narrative. 
 
 It seems to me sometimes that my pen is but 
 temporarily idle — that I have but dealt with a 
 single phase of a movement having a hundred 
 phases. One sequel I hope for, and against all 
 the promptings of logic and Western bias. If 
 my hope shall be realized I cannot, at this time, 
 pretend to state. 
 
 The future, ? mid its many secrets, holds this 
 precious one from me. 
 
 I ask you then, to absolve me from the charge 
 of ill completing my work ; for any curiosity with 
 which this narrative may leave the reader 
 burdened is shared by the writer. 
 
 With intent, I have rushed you from the cham- 
 bers of Professor Jenner Monde to that closing 
 episode at the deserted cottage; I have made the 
 pace hot in order to* impart to these last 
 pages of my account something of the breath- 
 less scurry which characterized those happen- 
 ings. 
 
 My canvas may seem sketchy : it is my impres- 
 sion of the reality. No hard details remain in 
 my mind of the dealings of that night. Fu- 
 Manchu arrested — Fu-Manchu, manacled, en- 
 tering the cottage on his mission of healing; 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DK. FU-MANCHU 381 
 
 Weymouth, miraculously rendered sane, coming 
 forth ; the place in flames. 
 
 And then? 
 
 To a shell the cottage burned, with an in- 
 credible rapidity which pointed to some hidden 
 agency; to a shell about ashes which held no 
 trace of human bones! 
 
 It has been asked of me: Was there no pos- 
 sibility of Fu-Manchu's having eluded us in the 
 ensuing confusion? Was there no loophole of 
 escape? 
 
 I reply, that so far as I was able to judge, a 
 rat could scarce have quitted the building unde- 
 tected. Yet that Fu-Manchu had, in some in- 
 comprehensible manner and by some mysterious 
 agency, produced those abnormal flames, I cannot 
 doubt. Did he voluntarily ignite his own fu- 
 neral pyre? 
 
 As I write, there lies before me a soiled and 
 creased sheet of vellum. It bears some lines 
 traced in a cramped, peculiar, and all but il- 
 legible hand. This fragment was found by In- 
 spector Weymouth (to this day a man mentally 
 sound) in a pocket of his ragged garments. 
 
 When it was written I leave you to judge. 
 How it came to be where Weymouth found it 
 calls for no explanation: 
 
382 THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 
 
 " To Mr. Commissioner Nayland Smith and 
 Dr. Petrie — 
 
 " Greeting ! I am recalled home by One who 
 may not be denied. In much that I came to do I 
 have failed. Much that I have done I would 
 undo; some little I have undone. Out of fire I 
 came — the smoldering fire of a thing one day 
 to be a consuming flame; in fire I go. Seek not 
 my ashes. I am the lord of the fires ! Farewell. 
 
 " Fu-Manchu." 
 
 Who has been with me in my several meetings 
 with the man who penned that message I leave 
 to adjudge if it be the letter of a madman bent 
 upon self-destruction by strange means, or the 
 gibe of a preternaturally clever scientist and the 
 most elusive being ever born of the land of mys- 
 tery — China. 
 
 For the present, I can aid you no more in the 
 forming of your verdict. A day may come — 
 though I pray it do not — when 1 shall be able to 
 throw new light upon much that is dark in this 
 matter. That day, so far as I can judge, could 
 only dawn in the event of the Chinaman's sur- 
 vival; therefore I pray that the veil be never 
 lifted. 
 
 But, as I have said, there is another sequel to 
 this story which I can contemplate with a dif- 
 
THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU-MANCHU 383 
 
 ferent countenance. How, then, shall I con- 
 clude this very unsatisfactory account? 
 
 Shall I tell you, finally, of my parting with 
 lovely, dark-eyed Karamaneh, on board the liner 
 which was to bear her to Egypt? 
 
 No, let me, instead, conclude with the words 
 of Nayland Smith: 
 
 u l sail for Burma in a fortnight, Petrie. I 
 have leave to break my journey at the Ditch* 
 How would a run up the Nile fit your programme? 
 Bit early for the season, but you might find some/ 
 thing to amuse you ! n 
 
 The End 
 
The greatest pleasure in life is 
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 own the books of great novelists 
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 C Of all the amusements which can possibly 
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 Edition). 
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 Edition). 
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NIVERSITY Of N C AT CHAPEL HILL 
 
 iiniiiiiiil 
 
 #00820 1356 12*