"the body of a lascar, dressed in the manner usual on the p. & o. boats, was recovered 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.
"will mr. nayland smith please come to the wapping river police station at once," was the message.
peaceful interludes were few enough throughout 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 entertainingly about his work in burma. of intent, i think, he avoided any reference to the circumstances 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 cadby, the most promising lad at the 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 seaman of nondescript nationality—such as is no stranger in wapping and shadwell. his 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." the river police inspector was speaking. "a week ago, on a wednesday, he went off in his own time 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 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 the table—those which had been found in cadby's clothing. none of them were noteworthy, except 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 mysterious 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."
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 ratcliff highway, and that he died the same night. you are sure that is where he was going?"
"yes," said weymouth; "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 see his book. wait while i get his address; it's somewhere in brixton."
he went to the telephone, and inspector ryman covered up the dead man's face.
nayland smith was palpably excited.
"he almost succeeded where we have failed, petrie," 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 drowning, 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.
weymouth returned from the telephone.
"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 his sitting-room; it's in the cupboard in the corner—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 behind! we must have it, petrie! stop! stop!"
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 fu-manchu is going to leave evidence like that lying about? it's a thousand to one he has it already, 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 outside the house for which i was bound ere i realized that we had quitted the purlieus of wapping. 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 be upon it like a palpable cloud.
cadby's old landlady greeted me with a queer mixture of fear and embarrassment in her manner.
"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 divining something of the mission on which i was come, for such sad duty often falls to the lot of 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, unfortunately; but when she was sufficiently composed i went on to explain what i thought necessary. and now the old lady's embarrassment took precedence 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, doctor—from ten until half-past—and this morning 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 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 significant, for perhaps it meant that one of fu-manchu's dacoit followers was watching the house, to give warning of any stranger's approach! 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 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 accompany 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. unfamiliar 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-tree; 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-manchu's servants, she was perfectly chosen for her peculiar duties. her beauty was wholly intoxicating.
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 police. 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 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 world, 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 necessarily 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 betrayal! must i soil my hands with such work?
thus—i suppose—her seductive beauty argued 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 abandonment 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.
"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 him, 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 judgment seat—had made it all but impossible for me to give her up to justice. now, i was disarmed—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 confident, from the time that i stepped across the room until i glanced back. but she had gone!
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. remember, i will come to you whenever you will take me and hide me."
light footsteps pattered down the stairs. i heard a stifled cry from mrs. dolan as the mysterious visitor ran past her. the front door opened and closed.
