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diff --git a/old/18613.txt b/old/18613.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 0458689..0000000 --- a/old/18613.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,9090 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Golden Scorpion, by Sax Rohmer - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - - - - -Title: The Golden Scorpion - - -Author: Sax Rohmer - - - -Release Date: June 17, 2006 [eBook #18613] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLDEN SCORPION*** - - -E-text prepared by Lisa Miller - - - -THE GOLDEN SCORPION - -by - -SAX ROHMER - -1920 - - - - - - - -Part I - -THE COWLED MAN - - I The Shadow of a Cowl - II The Pilbroch of the M'Gregors - III The Scorpion's Tail - IV Mademoiselle Dorian - V The Sealed Envelope - VI The Assistant Commissioner - VII Contents of the Sealed Envelope - VIII The Assistant Commissioner's Theory - IX The Chinese Coin - X "Close Your Shutters at Night" - XI The Blue Ray - - -Part II - -STATEMENT OF M. GASTON MAX - -I. THE DANCER OF MONTMARTRE - - I Zara el-Khala - II Concerning the Grand Duke - III A Strange Question - IV The Fight in the Cafe - -II. "LE BALAFRE" - - I I Become Charles Malet - II Baiting the Trap - III Disappearance of Charles Malet - IV I Meet an Old Acquaintance - V Conclusion of Statement - - -Part III - -AT THE HOUSE OF AH-FANG-FU - - I The Brain Thieves - II The Red Circle - III Miska's Story - IV Miska's Story (concluded) - V The Heart of Chunda Lal - VI The Man with the Scar - VII In the Opium Den - VIII The Green-Eyed Joss - - -Part IV - -THE LAIR OF THE SCORPION - - I The Sublime Order - II The Living Death - III The Fifth Secret of Rache Churan - IV The Guile of the East - V What Happened to Stuart - VI "Jey Bhowani!" - VII The Way of the Scorpion - - - - - -Part I - -THE COWLED MAN - - - -CHAPTER I - -THE SHADOW OF A COWL - - -Keppel Stuart, M.D., F. R. S., awoke with a start and discovered -himself to be bathed in cold perspiration. The moonlight shone in at -his window, but did not touch the bed, therefore his awakening could -not be due to this cause. He lay for some time listening for any -unfamiliar noise which might account for the sudden disturbance of -his usually sound slumbers. In the house below nothing stirred. His -windows were widely open and he could detect that vague drumming -which is characteristic of midnight London; sometimes, too, the -clashing of buffers upon some siding of the Brighton railway where -shunting was in progress and occasional siren notes from the Thames. -Otherwise--nothing. - -He glanced at the luminous disk of his watch. The hour was half-past -two. Dawn was not far off. The night seemed to have become almost -intolerably hot, and to this heat Stuart felt disposed to ascribe -both his awakening and also a feeling of uncomfortable tension of -which he now became aware. He continued to listen, and, listening -and hearing nothing, recognized with anger that he was frightened. -A sense of some presence oppressed him. Someone or something evil -was near him--perhaps in the room, veiled by the shadows. This -uncanny sensation grew more and more marked. - -Stuart sat up in bed, slowly and cautiously, looking all about him. -He remembered to have awakened once thus in India--and to have found -a great cobra coiled at his feet. His inspection revealed the -presence of nothing unfamiliar, and he stepped out on to the floor. - -A faint clicking sound reached his ears. He stood quite still. The -clicking was repeated. - -"There is someone downstairs in my study!" muttered Stuart. - -He became aware that the fear which held him was such that unless he -acted and acted swiftly he should become incapable of action, but he -remembered that whereas the moonlight poured into the bedroom, the -staircase would be in complete darkness. He walked barefooted across -to the dressing-table and took up an electric torch which lay there. -He had not used it for some time, and he pressed the button to learn -if the torch was charged. A beam of white light shone out across the -room, and at the same instant came another sound. - -If it came from below or above, from the adjoining room or from - -Outside in the road, Stuart knew not. But following hard upon the -mysterious disturbance which had aroused him it seemed to pour ice -into his veins, it added the complementary touch to his panic. For -it was a kind of low wail--a ghostly minor wail in falling -cadences--unlike any sound he had heard. It was so excessively -horrible that it produced a curious effect. - -Discovering from the dancing of the torch-ray that his hand was -trembling, Stuart concluded that he had awakened from a nightmare -and that this fiendish wailing was no more than an unusually delayed -aftermath of the imaginary horrors which had bathed him in cold -perspiration. - -He walked resolutely to the door, threw it open and cast the beam of -light on to the staircase. Softly he began to descend. Before the -study door he paused. There was no sound. He threw open the door, -directing the torch-ray into the room. - -Cutting a white lane through the blackness, it shone fully upon his -writing-table, which was a rather fine Jacobean piece having a sort -of quaint bureau superstructure containing cabinets and drawers. He -could detect nothing unusual in the appearance of the littered table. -A tobacco jar stood there, a pipe resting in the lid. Papers and -books were scattered untidily as he had left them, surrounding a tray -full of pipe and cigarette ash. Then, suddenly, he saw something else. - -One of the bureau drawers was half opened. - -Stuart stood quite still, staring at the table. There was no sound in -the room. He crossed slowly, moving the light from right to left. His -papers had been overhauled methodically. The drawers had been -replaced, but he felt assured that all had been examined. The light -switch was immediately beside the outer door, and Stuart walked -over to it and switched on both lamps. Turning, he surveyed the -brilliantly illuminated room. Save for himself, it was empty. He -looked out into the hallway again. There was no one there. No sound -broke the stillness. But that consciousness of some near presence -asserted itself persistently and uncannily. - -"My nerves are out of order!" he muttered. "No one has touched my -papers. I must have left the drawer open myself." - -He switched off the light and walked across to the door. He had -actually passed out intending to return to his room, when he became -aware of a slight draught. He stopped. - -Someone or something, evil and watchful, seemed to be very near again. -Stuart turned and found himself gazing fearfully in the direction of -the open study door. He became persuaded anew that someone was hiding -there, and snatching up an ash stick which lay upon a chair in the -hall he returned to the door. One step into the room he took and -paused--palsied with a sudden fear which exceeded anything he had -known. - -A white casement curtain was drawn across the French windows ... and -outlined upon this moon-bright screen he saw a tall figure. It was -that of a _cowled man_! - -Such an apparition would have been sufficiently alarming had the cowl -been that of a monk, but the outline of this phantom being suggested -that of one of the Misericordia brethren or the costume worn of old -by the familiars of the Inquisition! - -His heart leapt wildly, and seemed to grow still. He sought to cry out -in his terror, but only emitted a dry gasping sound. - -The psychology of panic is obscure and has been but imperfectly -explored. The presence of the terrible cowled figure afforded a -confirmation of Stuart's theory that he was the victim of a species -of waking nightmare. - -Even as he looked, the shadow of the cowled man moved--and was gone. - -Stuart ran across the room, jerked open the curtains and stared out -across the moon-bathed lawn, its prospect terminated by high privet -hedges. One of the French windows was wide open. There was no one on -the lawn; there was no sound. - -"Mrs. M'Gregor swears that I always forget to shut these windows at -night!" he muttered. - -He closed and bolted the window, stood for a moment looking out across -the empty lawn, then turned and went out of the room. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE PIBROCH OF THE M'GREGORS - - -Dr. Stuart awoke in the morning and tried to recall what had occurred -during the night. He consulted his watch and found the hour to be six -a. m. No one was stirring in the house, and he rose and put on a -bath robe. He felt perfectly well and could detect no symptoms of -nervous disorder. Bright sunlight was streaming into the room, and -he went out on to the landing, fastening the cord of his gown as he -descended the stairs. - -His study door was locked, with the key outside. He remembered having -locked it. Opening it, he entered and looked about him. He was -vaguely disappointed. Save for the untidy litter of papers upon the -table, the study was as he had left it on retiring. If he could -believe the evidence of his senses, nothing had been disturbed. - -Not content with a casual inspection, he particularly examined those -papers which, in his dream adventure, he had believed to have been -submitted to mysterious inspection. They showed no signs of having -been touched. The casement curtains were drawn across the recess -formed by the French windows, and sunlight streamed in where, -silhouetted against the pallid illumination of the moon, he had seen -the man in the cowl. Drawing back the curtains, he examined the window -fastenings. They were secure. If the window had really been open in -the night, he must have left it so himself. - -"Well," muttered Stuart--"of all the amazing nightmares!" - -He determined, immediately he had bathed and completed his toilet, to -write an account of the dream for the Psychical Research Society, in -whose work he was interested. Half an hour later, as the movements of -an awakened household began to proclaim themselves, he sat down at -his writing-table and commenced to write. - -Keppel Stuart was a dark, good-looking man of about thirty-two, an -easy-going bachelor who, whilst not over ambitious, was nevertheless -a brilliant physician. He had worked for the Liverpool School of -Tropical Medicine and had spent several years in India studying snake -poisons. His purchase of this humdrum suburban practice had been -dictated by a desire to make a home for a girl who at the eleventh -hour had declined to share it. Two years had elapsed since then, but -the shadow still lay upon Stuart's life, its influence being revealed -in a certain apathy, almost indifference, which characterised his -professional conduct. - -His account of the dream completed, he put the paper into a -pigeon-hole and forgot all about the matter. That day seemed to be -more than usually dull and the hours to drag wearily on. He was -conscious of a sort of suspense. He was waiting for something, or for -someone. He did not choose to analyse this mental condition. Had he -done so, the explanation was simple--and one that he dared not face. - -At about ten o'clock that night, having been called out to a case, he -returned to his house, walking straight into the study as was his -custom and casting a light Burberry with a soft hat upon the sofa -beside his stick and bag. The lamps were lighted, and the book-lined -room, indicative of a studious and not over-wealthy bachelor, looked -cheerful enough with the firelight dancing on the furniture. - -Mrs. M'Gregor, a grey-haired Scotch lady, attired with scrupulous -neatness, was tending the fire at the moment, and hearing Stuart come -in she turned and glanced at him. - -"A fire is rather superfluous to-night, Mrs. M'Gregor," he said. "I -found it unpleasantly warm walking." - -"May is a fearsome treacherous month, Mr. Keppel," replied the old -housekeeper, who from long association with the struggling -practitioner had come to regard him as a son. "An' a wheen o' dry -logs is worth a barrel o' pheesic. To which I would add that if ye're -hintin' it's time ye shed ye're woolsies for ye're summer wear, all I -have to reply is that I hope sincerely ye're patients are more -prudent than yoursel'." - -She placed his slippers in the fender and took up the hat, stick and -coat from the sofa. Stuart laughed. - -"Most of the neighbors exhibit their wisdom by refraining from -becoming patients of mine, Mrs. M'Gregor." - -"That's no weesdom; it's just preejudice." -"Prejudice!" cried Stuart, dropping down upon the sofa. - -"Aye," replied Mrs. M'Gregor firmly--"preejudice! They're no' that -daft but they're well aware o' who's the cleverest physeecian in the -deestrict, an' they come to nane other than Dr. Keppel Stuart when -they're sair sick and think they're dying; but ye'll never establish -the practice you desairve, Mr. Keppel--never--until--" - -"Until when, Mrs. M'Gregor?" - -"Until ye take heed of an auld wife's advice and find a new -housekeeper." - -"Mrs. M'Gregor!" exclaimed Stuart with concern. "You don't mean that -you want to desert me? After--let me see--how many years is it, -Mrs. M'Gregor?" - -"Thirty years come last Shrove Tuesday; I dandled ye on my knee, and -eh! but ye were bonny! God forbid, but I'd like to see ye thriving as -ye desairve, and that ye'll never do whilst ye're a bachelor." - -"Oh!" cried Stuart, laughing again--"oh, that's it, is it? So you -would like me to find some poor inoffensive girl to share my struggles?" - -Mrs. M'Gregor nodded wisely. "She'd have nane so many to share. I -know ye think I'm old-fashioned, Mr. Keppel and it may be I am; but -I do assure you I would be sair harassed, if stricken to my bed--which, -please God, I won't be--to receive the veesits of a pairsonable young -bachelor--" - -"Er--Mrs. M'Gregor!" interrupted Stuart, coughing in mock -rebuke--"quite so! I fancy we have discussed this point before, and -as you say your ideas are a wee bit, just a wee bit, behind the times. -On this particular point I mean. But I am very grateful to you, very -sincerely grateful, for your disinterested kindness; and if ever I -should follow your advice----" - -Mrs. M'Gregor interrupted him, pointing to his boots. "Ye're no' that -daft as to sit in wet boots?" - -"Really they are perfectly dry. Except for a light shower this -evening, there has been no rain for several days. However, I may as -well, since I shall not be going out again." - -He began to unlace his boots as Mrs. M'Gregor pulled the white -casement curtains across the windows and then prepared to retire. Her -hand upon the door knob, she turned again to Stuart. - -"The foreign lady called half an hour since, Mr. Keppel." - -Stuart desisted from unlacing his boots and looked up with lively -interest. "Mlle. Dorian! Did she leave any message?" - -"She obsairved that she might repeat her veesit later," replied -Mrs. M'Gregor, and, after a moment's hesitation; "she awaited ye're -return with exemplary patience." - -"Really, I am sorry I was detained," declared Stuart, replacing his -boot. "How long has she been gone, then?" - -"Just the now. No more than two or three minutes. I trust she is no -worse." - -"Worse!" - -"The lass seemed o'er anxious to see you." - -"Well, you know, Mrs. M'Gregor, she comes a considerable distance." - -"So I am given to understand, Mr. Keppel," replied the old lady; -"and in a grand luxurious car." - -Stuart assumed an expression of perplexity to hide his embarrassment. -"Mrs. M'Gregor," he said rather ruefully, "you watch over me as -tenderly as my own mother would have done. I have observed a certain -restraint in your manner whenever you have had occasion to refer to -Mlle. Dorian. In what way does she differ from my other lady -patients?" And even as he spoke the words he knew in his heart that -she differed from every other woman in the world. - -Mrs. M'Gregor sniffed. "Do your other lady patients wear furs that -your airnings for six months could never pay for, Mr. Keppel?" she -inquired. - -"No, unfortunately they pin their faith, for the most part, to gaily -coloured shawls. All the more reason why I should bless the accident -which led Mlle. Dorian to my door." - -Mrs. M'Gregor, betraying, in her interest, real suspicion, murmured -_sotto voce_: "Then she _is_ a patient?" - -"What's that?" asked Stuart, regarding her surprisedly. "A patient? -Certainly. She suffers from insomnia." - -"I'm no' surprised to hear it." - -"What do you mean, Mrs. M'Gregor?" - -"Now, Mr. Keppel, laddie, ye're angry with me, and like enough I am -a meddlesome auld woman. But I know what a man will do for shining -een and a winsome face--nane better to my sorrow--and twa times have -I heard the Warning." - -Stuart stood up in real perplexity. "Pardon my density, Mrs. -M'Gregor, but--er--the Warning? To what 'warning' do you refer?" - -Seating herself in the chair before the writing-table, Mrs. M'Gregor -shook her head pensively. "What would it be," she said softly, "but -the Pibroch o' the M'Gregors?" - -Stuart came across and leaned upon a corner of the table. "The -Pibroch of the M'Gregors?" he repeated. - -"Nane other. 'Tis said to be Rob Roy's ain piper that gives warning -when danger threatens ane o' the M'Gregors or any they love." - -Stuart restrained a smile, and, "A well-meaning but melancholy -retainer!" he commented. - -"As well as I hear you now, laddie, I heard the pibroch on the day a -certain woman first crossed my threshold, nigh thirty years ago, in -Inverary. And as plainly as I heard it wailing then, I heard it the -first evening that Miss Dorian came to this house!" - -Torn between good-humoured amusement and real interest, "If I remember -rightly," said Stuart, "Mlle. Dorian first called here just a week ago, -and immediately before I returned from an Infirmary case?" - -"Your memory is guid, Mr. Keppel." - -"And when, exactly, did you hear this Warning?" - -"Twa minutes before you entered the house; and I heard it again the -now." - -"What! you heard it to-night?" - -"I heard it again just the now and I lookit out the window." - -"Did you obtain a glimpse of Rob Roy's piper?" - -"Ye're laughing at an old wife, laddie. No, but I saw Miss Dorian away -in her car and twa minutes later I saw yourself coming round the -corner." - -"If she had only waited another two minutes," murmured Stuart. "No -matter; she may return. And are these the only occasions upon which -you have heard this mysterious sound, Mrs. M'Gregor?" - -"No, Master Keppel, they are not. I assure ye something threatens. It -wakened me up in the wee sma' hours last night--the piping--an' I lay -awake shaking for long eno'." - -"How extraordinary. Are you sure your imagination is not playing you -tricks?" - -"Ah, you're no' takin' me seriously, laddie." - -"Mrs. M'Gregor"--he leaned across the table and rested his hands upon -her shoulders--"you are a second mother to me, your care makes me feel -like a boy again; and in these grey days it's good to feel like a boy -again. You think I am laughing at you, but I'm not. The strange -tradition of your family is associated with a tragedy in your life; -therefore I respect it. But have no fear with regard to Mlle. Dorian. -In the first place she is a patient; in the second--I am merely a -penniless suburban practitioner. Good-night, Mrs. M'Gregor. Don't -think of waiting up. Tell Mary to show Mademoiselle in here directly -she arrives--that is if she really returns." - -Mrs. M'Gregor stood up and walked slowly to the door. "I'll show -Mademoiselle in mysel', Mr. Keppel," she said,--"and show her out." - -She closed the door very quietly. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -THE SCORPION'S TAIL - - -Seating himself at the writing-table, Stuart began mechanically to -arrange his papers. Then from the tobacco jar he loaded his pipe, -but his manner remained abstracted. Yet he was not thinking of the -phantom piper but of Mlle. Dorian. - -Until he had met this bewilderingly pretty woman he had thought that -his heart was for evermore proof against the glances of bright eyes. -Mademoiselle had disillusioned him. She was the most fragrantly lovely -creature he had ever met, and never for one waking moment since her -first visit, had he succeeded in driving her bewitching image from -his mind. He had tried to laugh at his own folly, then had grown angry -with himself, but finally had settled down to a dismayed acceptance -of a wild infatuation. - -He had no idea who Mlle. Dorian was; he did not even know her exact -nationality, but he strongly suspected there was a strain of Eastern -blood in her veins. Although she was quite young, apparently little -more than twenty years of age, she dressed like a woman of unlimited -means, and although all her visits had been at night he had had -glimpses of the big car which had aroused Mrs. M'Gregor's displeasure. - -Yes--so ran his musings, as, pipe in mouth, he rested his chin in his -hands and stared grimly into the fire--she had always come at night -and always alone. He had supposed her to be a Frenchwoman, but an -unmarried French girl of good family does not make late calls, even -upon a medical man, unattended. Had he perchance unwittingly made -himself a party to the escapade of some unruly member of a noble -family? From the first he had shrewdly suspected the ailments of Mlle. -Dorian to be imaginary--Mlle. Dorian? It was an odd name. - -"I shall be imagining she is a disguised princess if I wonder about -her any more!" he muttered angrily. - -Detecting himself in the act of heaving a weary sigh, he coughed in -self-reproval and reached into a pigeon-hole for the MS. of his -unfinished paper on "Snake Poisons and Their Antidotes." By chance he -pulled out the brief account, written the same morning, of his uncanny -experience during the night. He read it through reflectively. - -It was incomplete. A certain mental haziness which he had noted upon -awakening had in some way obscured the facts. His memory of the dream -had been imperfect. Even now, whilst recognizing that some feature of -the experience was missing from his written account, he could not -identify the omission. But one memory arose starkly before him--that -of the cowled man who had stood behind the curtains. It had power to -chill him yet. The old incredulity returned and methodically he -re-examined the contents of some of the table drawers. Ere long, -however, he desisted impatiently. - -"What the devil could a penniless doctor have hidden in his desk that -was worth stealing!" he said aloud. "I must avoid cold salmon and -cucumber in future." - -He tossed the statement aside and turned to his scientific paper. - -There came knock at the door. - -"Come in!" snapped Stuart irritably; but the next moment he had turned, -eager-eyed to the servant who had entered. - -"Inspector Dunbar has called, sir." - -"Oh, all right," said Stuart, repressing another sigh. "Show him in -here." - -There entered, shortly, a man of unusual height, a man gaunt and -square both of figure and of face. He wore his clothes and his hair -untidily. He was iron grey and a grim mouth was ill concealed by the -wiry moustache. The most notable features of a striking face were the -tawny leonine eyes, which could be fierce, which could be pensive and -which were often kindly. - -"Good evening, doctor," he said--and his voice was pleasant and -unexpectedly light in tome. "Hope I don't intrude." - -"Not at all, Inspector," Stuart assured him. - -"Make yourself comfortable in the armchair and fill your pipe." - -"Thanks," said Dunbar. "I will." He took out his pipe and reached out -a long arm for the tobacco jar. "I came to see if you could give me a -tip on a matter that has cropped up." - -"Something in my line?" asked Stuart, a keen professional look coming -momentarily into his eyes. - -"It's supposed to be a poison case, although I can't see it myself," -answered the detective--to whom Keppel Stuart's unusual knowledge of -poisons had been of service in the past; "but if what I suspect is -true, it's a very big case all the same." - -Laying down his pipe, which he had filled but not lighted, Inspector -Dunbar pulled out from the inside pocket of his tweed coat a bulging -note-book and extracted therefrom some small object wrapped up in -tissue paper. Unwrapping this object, he laid it upon the table. - -"Tell me what that is, doctor," he said, "and I shall be obliged." - -Stuart peered closely at that which lay before him. It was a piece of -curiously shaped gold, cunningly engraved in a most unusual way. -Rather less than an inch in length, it formed a crescent made up of -six oval segments joined one to another, the sixth terminating in a -curled point. The first and largest segment ended jaggedly where it -had evidently been snapped off from the rest of the ornament--if the -thing had formed part of an ornament. Stuart looked up, frowning in -a puzzled way. - -"It is a most curious fragment of jewellery--possibly of Indian -origin," he said. - -Inspector Dunbar lighted his pipe and tossed the match-end into the -fire. "But what does it represent?" he asked. - -"Oh, as to that--I said a _curious_ fragment advisedly, because I -cannot imagine any woman wearing such a beastly thing. It is the _tail -of a scorpion._" - -"Ah!" cried Dunbar, the tawny eyes glittering with excitement. "The -tail of a scorpion! I thought so! And Sowerby would have it that it -represented the stem of a Cactus or Prickly Pear!" - -"Not so bad a guess," replied Stuart. "There _are_ resemblances--not -in the originals but in such a miniature reproduction as this. He was -wrong, however. May I ask where you obtained the fragment?" - -"I'm here to tell you, doctor, for now that I know it's a scorpion's -tail I know that I'm out of my depth as well. You've travelled in -the East and lived in the East--two very different things. Now, while -you were out there, in India, China, Burma, and so on, did you ever -come across a religion or a cult that worshipped scorpions?" - -Stuart frowned thoughtfully, rubbing his chin with the mouthpiece of -his pipe. Dunbar watched him expectantly. - -"Help yourself to whiskey-and-soda, Inspector," said Stuart absently. -"You'll find everything on the side-table yonder. I'm thinking." - -Inspector Dunbar nodded, stood up and crossed the room, where he -busied himself with syphon and decanter. Presently he returned, -carrying two full glasses, one of which he set before Stuart. "What's -the answer, doctor?" he asked. - -"The answer is _no_. I am not acquainted with any sect of -scorpion-worshippers, Inspector. But I once met with a curious -experience at Su-Chow in China, which I have never been able to -explain, but which may interest you. It wanted but a few minutes to -sunset, and I was anxious to get back to my quarters before dusk fell. -Therefore I hurried up my boy, who was drawing the rickshaw, telling -him to cross the Canal by the Wu-men Bridge. He ran fleetly in that -direction, and we were actually come to the steep acclivity of the -bridge, when suddenly the boy dropped the shafts and fell down on his -knees, hiding his face in his hands. - -"'Shut your eyes tightly, master!' he whispered. 'The Scorpion is -coming!' - -"I stared down at him in amazement, as was natural, and not a little -angrily; for his sudden action had almost pitched me on my head. But -there he crouched, immovable, and staring up the slope I say that it -was entirely deserted except for one strange figure at that moment -crossing the crown of the bridge and approaching. It was the figure -of a tall and dignified Chinaman, or of one who wore the dress of a -Chinaman. For the extra-ordinary thing about the stranger's appearance -was this; he also wore a thick green veil!" - -"Covering his face?" - -"So as to cover his face completely. I was staring at him in wonder, -when the boy, seeming to divine the other's approach, whispered, -'Turn your head away! Turn your head away!" - -"He was referring to the man with the veil?" - -"Undoubtedly. Of course I did nothing of the kind, but it was -impossible to discern the stranger's features through the thick gauze, -although he passed quite close to me. He had not proceeded another -three paces, I should think, before my boy had snatched up the shafts -and darted across the bridge as though all hell were after him! Here's -the odd thing, though; I could never induce him to speak a word on the -subject afterwards! I bullied him and bribed him, but all to no -purpose. And although I must have asked more than a hundred Chinamen -in every station of society from mandarin to mendicant, 'Who or what -is _The Scorpion?_' one and all looked stupid, blandly assuring me -that they did not know what I meant." - -"H'm!" said Dunbar, "it's a queer yarn, certainly. How long ago would -that be, doctor?" - -"Roughly--five years." - -"It sounds as though it might belong to the case. Some months back, -early in the winter, we received instructions at the Yard to look out -everywhere in the press, in buffets, theatres, but particularly in -criminal quarters, for any reference (of any kind whatever) to a -scorpion. I was so puzzled that I saw the Commissioner about it, -and he could tell me next to nothing. He said the word had come -through from Paris, but that Paris seemed to know no more about it -than we did. It was associated in some way with the sudden deaths of -several notable public men about that time; but as there was no -evidence of foul play in any of the cases, I couldn't see what it -meant at all. Then, six weeks ago, Sir Frank Narcombe, the surgeon, -fell dead in the foyer of a West-End theatre--you remember?" - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -MADEMOISELLE DORIAN - - -The telephone bell rang. - -Stuart reached across for the instrument and raised the receiver. -"Yes," he said--"Dr. Stuart speaking. Inspector Dunbar is here. Hold -on." - -He passed the instrument to Dunbar, who had stood up on hearing his -name mentioned. "Sergeant Sowerby at Scotland Yard wishes to speak -to you, Inspector." - -"Hullo," said Dunbar--"that you, Sowerby. Yes--but I arrived here -only a short time ago. What's that?--Max? Good God! what does it all -mean! Are you sure of the number--49685? Poor chap--he should have -worked with us instead of going off alone like that. But he was -always given to that sort of thing. Wait for me. I'll be with you in -a few minutes. I can get a taxi. And, Sowerby--listen! It's 'The -Scorpion' case right enough. That bit of gold found on the dead man -is not a cactus stem; it's a scorpion's tail!" - -He put down the telephone and turned to Stuart, who had been listening -to the words with growing concern. Dunbar struck his open palm down -on to the table with a violent gesture. - -"We have been asleep!" he exclaimed. "Gaston Max of the Paris Service -has been at work in London for a month, and we didn't know it!" - -"Gaston Max!" cried Start--"then it must be a big case indeed." - -As a student of criminology the name of the celebrated Frenchman was -familiar to him as that of the foremost criminal investigator in -Europe, and he found himself staring at the fragment of gold with a new -and keener interest. - -"Poor chap," continued Dunbar--"it was his last. The body brought in -from Hanover Hole has been identified as his." - -"What! it is the body of Gaston Max!" - -"Paris has just wired that Max's reports ceased over a week ago. He -was working on the case of Sir Frank Narcombe, it seems, and I never -knew! But I predicted a long time ago that Max would play the -lone-hand game once too often. They sent particulars. The -identification disk is his. Oh! there's no doubt about it, -unfortunately. The dead man's face is unrecognizable, but it's not -likely there are two disks of that sort bearing the initials G.M. and -the number 49685. I'm going along now. Should you care to come, -doctor?" - -"I am expecting a patient, Inspector," replied Stuart--"er--a special -case. But I hope you will keep me in touch with this affair?" - -"Well, I shouldn't have suggested your coming to the Yard if I hadn't -wanted to do that. As a matter of fact, this scorpion job seems to -resolve itself into a case of elaborate assassination by means of -some unknown poison; and although I should have come to see you in -any event, because you have helped me more than once, I came to-night -at the suggestion of the Commissioner. He instructed me to retain -your services if they were available." - -"I am honoured," replied Stuart. "But after all, Inspector, I am -merely an ordinary suburban practitioner. My reputation has yet to -be made. What's the matter with Halesowen of Upper Wimpole Street? -He's the big man." - -"And if Sir Frank Narcombe was really poisoned--as Paris seems to -think he was--he's also a big fool." retorted Dunbar bluntly. "He -agreed that death was due to heart trouble." - -"I know he did; unsuspected ulcerative endocarditis. Perhaps he was -right." - -"If he was right," said Dunbar, taking up the piece of gold from the -table, "what was Gaston Max doing with this thing in his possession?" - -"There may be no earthly connection between Max's inquiries and the -death of Sir Frank." - -"On the other hand--there may! Leaving Dr. Halesowen out of the -question, are you open to act as expert adviser in this case?" - -"Certainly; delighted." - -"Your fee is your own affair, doctor. I will communicate with you -later, if you wish, or call again in the morning." - -Dunbar wrapped up the scorpion's tail in the piece of tissue paper -and was about to replace it in his note-case. Then: - -"I'll leave this with you, doctor," he said. "I know it will be safe -enough, and you might like to examine it at greater leisure." - -"Very well," replied Stuart. "Some of the engraving is very minute. -I will have a look at it through a glass later." - -He took the fragment from Dunbar, who had again unwrapped it, and, -opening a drawer of the writing-table in which he kept his cheque-book -and some few other personal valuables, he placed the curious piece of -gold-work within and relocked the drawer. - -"I will walk as far as the cab-rank with you," he said, finding -himself to be possessed of a spirit of unrest. Whereupon the two went -out of the room, Stuart extinguishing the lamps as he came to the -door. - -They had not left the study for more than two minutes ere a car drew -up outside the house, and Mrs. M'Gregor ushered a lady into the room -but lately quitted by Stuart and Dunbar, turning up the lights as she -entered. - -"The doctor has gone out but just now, Miss Dorian," she said stiffly. -"I am sorry that ye are so unfortunate in your veesits. But I know -he'll be no more than a few minutes." - -The girl addressed was of a type fully to account for the misgivings -of the shrewd old Scotswoman. She had the slim beauty of the East -allied to the elegance of the West. Her features, whilst cast in a -charming European mould, at the same time suggested in some subtle -way the Oriental. She had the long, almond-shaped eyes of the Egyptian, -and her hair, which she wore unconventionally in a picturesque -fashion reminiscent of the _harem_, was inclined to be "fuzzy," but -gleamed with coppery tints where the light touched its waves. - -She wore a cloak of purple velvet having a hooded collar of white fox -fur; it fastened with golden cords. Beneath it was a white and gold -robe, cut with classic simplicity of line and confined at the waist -by an ornate Eastern girdle. White stockings and dull gold shoes -exhibited to advantage her charming little feet and slim ankles, and - she carried a handbag of Indian beadwork. Mlle. Dorian was a figure -calculated to fire the imagination of any man and to linger long and -sweetly in the memory. - -Mrs. M'Gregor, palpably ill at ease, conducted her to an armchair. - -"You are very good," said the visitor, speaking with a certain -hesitancy and with a slight accent most musical and fascinating. -"I wait a while if I may." - -"Dear, dear," muttered Mrs. M'Gregor, beginning to poke the fire, "he -has let the fire down, of course! Is it out? No ... I see a wee -sparkie!" - -She set the poker upright before the nearly extinguished fire and -turned triumphantly to Mlle. Dorian, who was watching her with a -slight smile. - -"That will be a comforting blaze in a few minutes, Miss Dorian," she -said, and went towards the door. - -"If you please," called the girl, detaining her--"do you permit me to -speak on the telephone a moment? As Dr. Stuart is not at home, I must -explain that I wait for him." - -"Certainly, Miss Dorian," replied Mrs. M'Gregor; "use the telephone -by all means. But I think the doctor will be back any moment now." - -"Thank you so much." - -Mrs. M'Gregor went out, not without a final backward glance at the -elegant figure in the armchair. Mlle. Dorian was seated, her chin -resting in her hand and her elbow upon the arm of the chair, gazing -into the smoke arising from the nearly extinguished ember of the fire. -The door closed, and Mrs. M'Gregor's footsteps could be heard receding -along the corridor. - -Mlle. Dorian sprang from the chair and took out of her handbag a -number of small keys attached to a ring. Furtively she crossed the -room, all the time listening intently, and cast her cloak over the -back of the chair which was placed before the writing-table. Her robe -of white and gold clung to her shapely figure as she bent over the -table and tried three of the keys in the lock of the drawer which -contained Stuart's cheque-book and in which he had recently placed -the mysterious gold ornament. The third key fitted the lock, and Mlle. -Dorian pulled open the drawer. She discovered first the cheque-book -and next a private account-book; then from under the latter she drew -out a foolscap envelope sealed with red wax and bearing, in Stuart's -handwriting, the address: - - Lost Property Office, - Metropolitan Police, - New Scotland Yard, S. W. I. - -She uttered a subdued exclamation; then, as a spark of light gleamed -within the open drawer, she gazed as if stupefied at the little -ornament which she had suddenly perceived lying near the cheque-book. -She picked it up and stared at it aghast. A moment she hesitated; -then, laying down the fragment of gold and also the long envelope upon -the table, she took up the telephone. Keeping her eyes fixed upon the -closed door of the study, she asked for the number East 89512, and -whilst she waited for the connection continued that nervous watching -and listening. Suddenly she began to speak, in a low voice. - -"Yes! ... Miska speaks. Listen! One of the new keys--it fits. I have -the envelope. But, also in the same drawer, I find a part of a broken -gold _'agrab_ (scorpion). Yes, it is broken. It must be they find it, -on him." Her manner grew more and more agitated. "Shall I bring it? -The envelope it is very large. I do not know if----" - -From somewhere outside the house came a low, wailing cry--a cry which -Stuart, if he had heard it, must have recognized to be identical with -that which he had heard in the night--but which he had forgotten to -record in his written account. - -"Ah!" whispered the girl--"there is the signal! It is the doctor who -returns." She listened eagerly, fearfully, to the voice which spoke -over the wires. "Yes--yes!" - -Always glancing toward the door, she put down the instrument, took -up the long envelope and paused for a moment, thinking that she had -heard the sound of approaching footsteps. She exhibited signs of -nervous indecision, tried to thrust the envelope into her little bag -and realized that even folded it would not fit so as to escape -observation. She ran across to the grate and dropped the envelope -upon the smouldering fire. As she did so, the nicely balanced poker -fell with a clatter upon the tiled hearth. - -She started wildly, ran back to the table, took up the broken ornament -and was about to thrust it into the open drawer, when the study door -was flung open and Stuart came in. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -THE SEALED ENVELOPE - - -"MADEMOISELLE DORIAN!" cried Stuart joyously, advancing with -outstretched hand. She leaned back against the table watching him--and -suddenly he perceived the open drawer. He stopped. His expression -changed to one of surprise and anger, and the girl's slim fingers -convulsively clutched the table edge as she confronted him. Her -exquisite colour fled and left her pallid, dark-eyed and dismayed. - -"So," he said bitterly--"I returned none too soon, Mlle.--_Dorian_" - -"Oh! she whispered, and shrank from him as he approached nearer. - -"Your object in selecting an obscure practitioner for your medical -adviser becomes painfully evident to me. Diagnosis of your case would -have been much more easy if I had associated your symptoms with the -presence in my table drawer of"--he hesitated--"of something which -you have taken out. Give me whatever you have stolen and compose -yourself to await the arrival of the police." - -He was cruel in his disillusionment. Here lay the explanation of his -romance; here was his disguised princess--a common thief! She stared -at him wildly. - -"I take nothing!" she cried. "Oh, let me go! Please, please let me go!" - -"Pleading is useless. What have you stolen?" - -"Nothing--see." She cast the little gold ornament on the table. "I -look at this, but I do not mean to steal it." - -She raised her beautiful eyes to his face again, and he found himself -wavering. That she had made his acquaintance in order to steal the -fragment of the golden scorpion was impossible, for he had not -possessed it at the time of her first visit. He was hopelessly -mystified and utterly miserable. - -"How did you open the drawer?" he asked sternly. - -She took up the bunch of keys which lay upon the table and naively -exhibited that which fitted the lock of the drawer. Her hands were -shaking. - -"Where did you obtain this key; and why?" - -She watched him intently, her lips trembling and her eyes wells of -sorrow into which he could not gaze unmoved. - -"If I tell you--will you let me go?" - -"I shall make no promises, for I can believe nothing that you may -tell me. You gained my confidence by a lie--and now, by another lie, -you seem to think that you can induce me to overlook a deliberate -attempt at burglary--common burglary." He clenched his hands. -"Heavens! I could never have believed it of you!" - -She flinched as though from a blow and regarded him pitifully as he -stood, head averted. - -"Oh, please listen to me," she whispered. "At first I tell you a lie, -yes." - -"And now?" - -"Now--I tell you the truth." - -"That you are a petty thief?" - -"Ah! you are cruel--you have no pity! You judge me as you judge--one -of your Englishwomen. Perhaps I cannot help what I do. In the East a -woman is a chattel and has no will of her own." - -"A chattel!" cried Stuart scornfully. "Your resemblance to the -'chattels' of the East is a remote one. There is Eastern blood in -your veins, no doubt, but you are educated, you are a linguist, you -know the world. Right and wrong are recognizable to the lowest savage." - -"And if they recognize, but are helpless?" - -Stuart made a gesture of impatience. - -"You are simply seeking to enlist my sympathy," he said bitterly. -"But you have said nothing which inclines me to listen to you any -longer. Apart from the shock of finding you to be--what you are, I -am utterly mystified as to your object. I am a poor man. The entire -contents of my house would fetch only a few hundred pounds if sold -to-morrow. Yet you risk your liberty to rifle my bureau. For the last -time--what have you taken from that drawer?" - -She leaned back against the table, toying with the broken piece of -gold and glancing down at it as she did so. Her long lashes cast -shadows below her eyes, and a hint of colour was returning to her -cheeks. Stuart studied her attentively--even delightedly, for all -her shortcomings, and knew in his heart that he could never give her -in charge of the police. More and more the wonder of it all grew upon -him, and now he suddenly found himself thinking of the unexplained -incident of the previous night. - -"You do not answer," he said. "I will ask you another question: have -you attempted to open that drawer prior to this evening?" - -Mlle. Dorian looked up rapidly, and her cheeks, which had been pale, -now flushed rosily. - -"I try twice before," she confessed, "and cannot open it." - -"Ah! And--has _someone else_ tried also?" - -Instantly her colour fled again, and she stared at him wide-eyed, -fearful. - -"Someone else?" she whispered. - -"Yes--someone else. A man ... wearing a sort of cowl----" - -"Oh?" she cried and threw out her hands in entreaty. "Do not ask me of -_him_! I dare not answer--I dare not!" - -"You have answered," said Stuart, in a voice unlike his own; for a -horrified amazement was creeping upon him and supplanting the -contemptuous anger which the discovery of this beautiful girl engaged -in pilfering his poor belongings had at first aroused. - -The mystery of her operations was explained--explained by a deeper -and a darker mystery. The horror of the night had been no dream but -an almost incredible reality. He now saw before him an agent of the -man in the cowl; he perceived that he was in some way entangled in an -affair vastly more complex and sinister than a case of petty larceny. - -"Has the golden scorpion anything to do with the matter?" he demanded -abruptly. - -And in the eyes of his beautiful captive he read the answer. She -flinched again as she had done when he had taunted her with being a -thief; but he pressed his advantage remorselessly. - -"So you were concerned in the death of Sir Frank Narcombe!" he said. - -"I was not!" she cried at him fiercely, and her widely opened eyes -were magnificent. "Sir Frank Narcombe is----" - -She faltered--and ceased speaking, biting her lip which had become -tremulous again. - -"Sir Frank Narcombe is?" prompted Stuart, feeling himself to stand -upon the brink of a revelation. - -"I know nothing of him--this Sir Frank Narcombe." - -Stuart laughed unmirthfully. - -"Am I, by any chance, in danger of sharing the fate of that -distinguished surgeon?" he asked. - -His question produced an unforeseen effect. Mlle. Dorian suddenly -rested her jewelled hands upon his shoulders, and he found himself -looking hungrily into those wonderful Eastern eyes. - -"If I swear that I speak the truth, will you believe me?" she -whispered, and her fingers closed convulsively upon his shoulders. - -He was shaken. Her near presence was intoxicating. "Perhaps," he said -unsteadily. - -"Listen, then. _Now_ you are in danger, yes. Before, you were not, but -now you must be very careful. Oh! indeed, indeed, I tell you true! I -tell you for your own sake. Do with me what you please. I do not care. -It does not matter. You ask me why I come here. I tell you that also. -I come for what is in the long envelope--look, I cannot hide it. It -is on the fire!" - -Stuart turned and glanced toward the grate. A faint wisp of brown -smoke was arising from a long white envelope which lay there. Had the -fire been actually burning, it must long ago have been destroyed. -More than ever mystified, for the significance of the envelope was -not evident to him, he ran to the grate and plucked the smouldering -paper from the embers. - -As he did so, the girl, with one quick glance in his direction, -snatched her cloak, keys and bag and ran from the room. Stuart heard -the door close, and racing back to the table he placed the slightly -charred envelope there beside the fragment of gold and leapt to the -door. - -"Damn!" he said. - -His escaped prisoner had turned the key on the outside. He was locked -in his own study! - -Momentarily nonplussed, he stood looking at the closed door. The sound -of a restarted motor from outside the house spurred him to action. He -switched off the lamps, crossed the darkened room and drew back the -curtain, throwing open the French windows. Brilliant moonlight bathed -the little lawn with its bordering of high privet hedges. Stuart ran -out as the sound of the receding car reached his ears. By the time -that he had reached the front of the house the street was vacant from -end to end. He walked up the steps to the front door, which he -unfastened with his latch-key. As he entered the hall, Mrs. M'Gregor -appeared from her room. - -"I did no' hear ye go out with Miss Dorian," she said. - -"That's quite possible, Mrs. M'Gregor, but she has gone, you see." - -"Now tell me, Mr. Keppel, did ye or did ye no' hear the wail o' the -pibroch the night? - -"No--I am afraid I cannot say that I did, Mrs. M'Gregor," replied -Stuart patiently. "I feel sure you must be very tired and you can -justifiably turn in now. I am expecting no other visitor. Good-night." - -Palpably dissatisfied and ill at ease, Mrs. M'Gregor turned away. - -"Good-night, Mr. Keppel," she said. - -Stuart, no longer able to control his impatience, hurried to the study -door, unlocked it and entered. Turning on the light, he crossed and -hastily drew the curtains over the window recess, but without -troubling to close the window which he had opened. Then he returned -to the writing-table and took up the sealed envelope whose presence -in his bureau was clearly responsible for the singular visitation of -the cowled man and for the coming of the lovely Mlle. Dorian. - -The "pibroch of the M'Gregors": He remembered something--something -which, unaccountably, he hitherto had failed to recall: that fearful -wailing in the night--which had heralded the coming of the cowled -man!--or had it been a _signal_ of some kind? - -He stared at the envelope blankly, then laid it down and stood looking -for some time at the golden scorpion's tail. Finally, his hands -resting upon the table, he found that almost unconsciously he had -been listening--listening to the dim night sounds of London and to -the vague stirrings within the house. - -"_Now_, you are in danger. Before, you were not...." - -Could he believe her? If in naught else, in this at least surely she -had been sincere? Stuart started--then laughed grimly. - -A clock on the mantel-piece had chimed the half-hour. - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER - - -Detective-Inspector Dunbar arrived at New Scotland Yard in a veritable -fever of excitement. Jumping out of the cab he ran into the building -and without troubling the man in charge of the lift went straight on -upstairs to his room. He found it to be in darkness and switched on -the green-shaded lamp which was suspended above the table. Its light -revealed a bare apartment having distempered walls severely decorated -by an etching of a former and unbeautiful Commissioner. The blinds -were drawn. A plain, heavy deal table (bearing a blotting-pad, a -pewter ink-pot, several pens and a telephone), together with three -uncomfortable chairs, alone broke the expanse of highly polished -floor. Dunbar glanced at the table and then stood undecided in the -middle of the bare room, tapping his small, widely separated teeth -with a pencil which he had absently drawn from his waistcoat pocket. -He rang the bell. - -A constable came in almost immediately and stood waiting just inside -the door. - -"When did Sergeant Sowerby leave?" asked Dunbar. - -"About three hours ago, sir." - -"What!" cried Dunbar. "Three hours ago! But I have been here myself -within that time--in the Commissioner's office." - -"Sergeant Sowerby left before then. I saw him go." - -"But, my good fellow, he has been back again. He spoke to me on the -telephone less than a quarter of an hour ago." - -"Not from here, sir." - -"But I say it _was_ from here!" shouted Dunbar fiercely; "and I told -him to wait for me." - -"Very good, sir. Shall I make inquiries?" - -"Yes. Wait a minute. Is the Commissioner here?" - -"Yes, sir, I believe so. At least I have not seen him go." - -"Find Sergeant Sowerby and tell him to wait here for me," snapped -Dunbar. - -He walked out into the bare corridor and along to the room of the -Assistant Commissioner. Knocking upon the door, he opened it -immediately, and entered an apartment which afforded a striking -contrast to his own. For whereas the room of Inspector Dunbar was -practically unfurnished, that of his superior was so filled with -tables, cupboards, desks, bureaux, files, telephones, bookshelves -and stacks of documents that one only discovered the Assistant -Commissioner sunk deep in a padded armchair and a cloud of tobacco -smoke by dint of close scrutiny. The Assistant Commissioner was small, -sallow and satanic. His black moustache was very black and his eyes -were of so dark a brown as to appear black also. When he smiled he -revealed a row of very large white teeth, and his smile was correctly -Mephistophelean. He smoked a hundred and twenty Egyptian cigarettes -per diem, and the first and second fingers of either hand were -coffee-coloured. - -"Good-evening, Inspector," he said courteously. "You come at an -opportune moment." He lighted a fresh cigarette. "I was detained here -unusually late to-night or this news would not have reached us till -the morning." He laid his finger upon a yellow form. "There is an -unpleasant development in 'The Scorpion' case." - -"So I gather, sir. That is what brought me back to the Yard." - -The Assistant Commissioner glanced up sharply. - -"What brought you back to the Yard?" he asked. - -"The news about Max." - -The assistant Commissioner leaned back in his chair. "Might I ask, -Inspector," he said, "what news you have learned and how you have -learned it?" - -Dunbar stared uncomprehendingly. - -"Sowerby 'phoned me about half an hour ago, sir. Did he do so without -your instructions?" - -"Most decidedly. What was his message?" - -"He told me," replied Dunbar, in ever-growing amazement, "that the -body brought in by the River Police last night had been identified -as that of Gaston Max." - -The Assistant Commissioner handed a pencilled slip to Dunbar. It read -as follows:-- - -"Gaston Max in London. Scorpion, Narcombe. No report since 30th ult. -Fear trouble. Identity-disk G. M. 49685." - -"But, sir," said Dunbar--"this is exactly what Sowerby told me!" - -"Quite so. That is the really extraordinary feature of the affair. -Because, you see, Inspector, I only finished decoding this message -at the very moment that you knocked at my door!" - -"But----" - -"There is no room for a 'but,' Inspector. This confidential message -from Paris reached me ten minutes ago. You know as well as I know that -there is no possibility of leakage. No one has entered my room in the -interval, yet you tell me that Sergeant Sowerby communicated this -information to you, by telephone, half an hour ago." - -Dunbar was tapping his teeth with the pencil. His amazement was too -great for words. - -"Had the message been a false one," continued the Commissioner, "the -matter would have been resolved into a meaningless hoax, but the -message having been what it was, we find ourselves face to face with -no ordinary problem. Remember, Inspector, that voices on the telephone -are deceptive. Sergeant Sowerby has marked vocal mannerisms----" - -"Which would be fairly easy to imitate? Yes, sir--that's so." - -"But it brings us no nearer to the real problems; viz., first, the -sender of the message; and, second, his purpose." - -There was a dull purring sound and the Assistant Commissioner raised -the telephone. - -"Yes. Who is it that wishes to speak to him? Dr. Keppel Stuart? -Connect with my office." - -He turned again to Dunbar. - -"Dr. Stuart has a matter of the utmost urgency to communicate, -Inspector. It was at the house of Dr. Stuart, I take it, that you -received the unexplained message?" - -"It was--yes." - -"Did you submit to Dr. Stuart the broken gold ornament?" - -"Yes. It's a scorpion's tail." - -"Ah!" The Assistant Commissioner smiled satanically and lighted a -fresh cigarette. "And is Dr. Stuart agreeable to placing his unusual -knowledge at our disposal for the purposes of this case?" - -"He is, sir." - -The purring sound was repeated. - -"You are through to Dr. Stuart," said the Assistant Commissioner. - -"Hullo" cried Dunbar, taking up the receiver--"is that Dr. Stuart? -Dunbar speaking." - -He stood silent for a while, listening to the voice over the wires. -Then: "You want me to come around now, doctor? Very well. I'll be -with you in less than half an hour." - -He put down the instrument. - -"Something extraordinary seems to have taken place at Dr. Stuart's -house a few minutes after I left, sir," he said. "I'm going back -there, now, for particulars. It sounds as though the 'phone message -might have been intended to get me away." He stared down at the -pencilled slip which the Assistant Commissioner had handed him, but -stared vacantly, and: "Do you mind if I call someone up, sir?" he -asked. "It should be done at once." - -"Call by all means, Inspector." - -Dunbar again took up the telephone. - -"Battersea 0996," he said, and stood waiting. Then: - -"Is that Battersea 0996?" he asked. "Is Dr. Stuart there? He is -speaking? Oh, this is Inspector Dunbar. You called me up here at the -Yard a few moments ago, did you not? Correct, doctor; that's all I -wanted to know. I am coming now." - -"Good," said the Assistant Commissioner, nodding his approval. "You -will have to check 'phone messages in that way until you have run your -mimic to earth, Inspector. I don't believe for a moment that it was -Sergeant Sowerby who rang you up at Dr. Stuart's." - -"Neither do I," said Dunbar grimly. "But I begin to have a glimmer of -a notion who it was. I'll be saying good-night, sir. Dr. Stuart seems -to have something very important to tell me." - -As a mere matter of form he waited for the report of the constable who -had gone in quest of Sowerby, but it merely confirmed the fact that -Sowerby had left Scotland Yard over three hours earlier. Dunbar -summoned a taxicab and proceeded to the house of Dr. Stuart. - - - -CHAPTER VII - -CONTENTS OF THE SEALED ENVELOPE - - -Stuart personally admitted Dunbar, and once more the Inspector found -himself in the armchair in the study. The fire was almost out and the -room seemed to be chilly. Stuart was labouring under the influence of -suppressed excitement and was pacing restlessly up and down the floor. - -"Inspector," he began, "I find it difficult to tell you the facts which -have recently come to my knowledge bearing upon this most mysterious -'Scorpion' case. I clearly perceive, now, that without being aware of -the fact I have nevertheless been concerned in the case for at least -a week." - -Dunbar stared surprisedly, but offered no comment. - -"A fortnight ago," Stuart continued, "I found myself in the -neighbourhood of the West India Docks. I had been spending the evening -with a very old friend, chief officer of a liner in dock. I had -intended to leave the ship at about ten o'clock and to walk to the -railway station, but, as it fell out, the party did not break up until -after midnight. Declining the offer of a berth on board, I came ashore -determined to make my way home by tram and afoot. I should probably -have done so and have been spared--much; but rain began to fall -suddenly and I found myself, foolishly unprovided with a top-coat, in -those grey East End streets without hope of getting a lift. - -"It was just as I was crossing Limehouse Causeway that I observed, to -my astonishment, the head-lamps of a cab or car shining out from a dark -and forbidding thoroughfare which led down to the river. The sight was -so utterly unexpected that I paused, looking through the rainy mist in -the direction of the stationary vehicle. I was still unable to make -out if it were a cab or a car, and accordingly I walked along to where -it stood and found that it was a taxicab and apparently for hire. - -"'Are you disengaged?' I said to the man. -"'Well, sir, I suppose I am,' was his curious reply. 'Where do you -want to go?' - -"I gave him this address and he drove me home. On arriving, so -grateful did I feel that I took pity upon the man, for it had settled -down into a brute of a night, and asked him to come in and take a -glass of grog. He was only too glad to do so. He turned out to be -quite an intelligent sort of fellow, and we chatted together for ten -minutes or so. - -"I had forgotten all about him when, I believe on the following night, -he reappeared in the character of a patient. He had a badly damaged -skull, and I gathered that he had had an accident with his cab and had -been pitched out into the road. - -"When I had fixed him up, he asked me to do him a small favour. From -inside his tunic he pulled out a long stiff envelope, bearing no -address but the number 30 in big red letters. It was secured at both -ends with black wax bearing the imprint of a curious and complicated -seal. - -"'A gentleman left this behind in the cab today, sir,' said the -man--'perhaps the one who was with me when I had the spill, and I've -got no means of tracing him; but he may be able to trace _me_ if he -happened to notice my number, or he may advertise. It evidently -contains something valuable.' - -"'Then why not take it to Scotland Yard?' I asked. 'Isn't that the -proper course?' - -"'It is,' he admitted; 'but here's the point: if the owner reclaims it -from Scotland Yard he's less likely to dub up handsome than if he gets -it direct from me!' - -"I laughed at that, for the soundness of the argument was beyond -dispute. 'But what on earth do you want to leave it with _me_ for?' -I asked." - -"'Self-protection,' was the reply. 'They can't say I meant to pinch -it! Whereas, directly there's any inquiry I can come and collect it -and get the reward; and your word will back me up if any questions are -asked; that's if you don't mind, sir.' - -"I told him I didn't mind in the least, and accordingly I sealed the -envelope in a yet larger one which I addressed to the Lost Property -Office and put into a private drawer of my bureau. 'You will have no -objection,' I said, 'to this being posted if it isn't reclaimed within -a reasonable time?' - -"He said that would be all right and departed--since which moment I -have not set eyes upon him. I now come to the sequel, or what I have -just recognized to be the sequel." - -Stuart's agitation grew more marked and it was only by dint of a -palpable effort that he forced himself to resume. - -"On the evening of the following day a lady called professionally. -She was young, pretty, and dressed with extraordinary elegance. My -housekeeper admitted her, as I was out at the time but momentarily -expected. She awaited my return here, in this room. She came again -two days later. The name she gave was an odd one: Mademoiselle Dorian. -There is her card,"--Stuart opened a drawer and laid a visiting-card -before Dunbar--"no initials and no address. She travelled in a large -and handsome car. That is to say, according to my housekeeper's -account it is a large and handsome car. I personally, have had but an -imperfect glimpse of it. It does not await her in front of the house, -for some reason, but just around the corner in the side turning. -Beyond wondering why Mademoiselle Dorian had selected me as her -medical advisor I had detected nothing suspicious in her behaviour up -to the time of which I am about to speak. - -"Last night there was a singular development, and to-night matters -came to a head." - -Thereupon Stuart related as briefly as possible the mysterious episode -of the cowled man, and finally gave an account of the last visit of -Mlle. Dorian. Inspector Dunbar did not interrupt him, but listened -attentively to the singular story. - -"And there," concluded Stuart, "on the blotting-pad, lies the sealed -envelope!" - -Dunbar took it up eagerly. A small hole had been burned in one end of -the envelope and much of the surrounding paper was charred. The wax -with which Stuart had sealed it had lain uppermost, and although it -had been partly melted, the mark of his signet-ring was still -discernible upon it. Dunbar stood staring at it. - -"In the circumstances, Inspector, I think you would be justified in -opening both envelopes," said Stuart. - -"I am inclined to agree. But let me just be clear on one or two -points." He took out the bulging note-book and also a fountain-pen -with which he prepared to make entries. "About this cabman, now. You -didn't by any chance note the number of his cab?" - -"I did not." - -"What build of man was he?" - -"Over medium height and muscular. Somewhat inclined to flesh and past -his youth, but active all the same." - -"Dark or fair?" - -"Dark and streaked with grey. I noted this particularly in dressing -his skull. He wore his hair cropped close to the scalp. He had a short -beard and moustache and heavily marked eyebrows. He seemed to be very -short-sighted and kept his eyes so screwed up that it was impossible -to detect their colour, by night at any rate." - -"What sort of wound had he on his skull?" - -"A short ugly gash. He had caught his head on the footboard in falling. -I may add that on the occasion of his professional visit his breath -smelled strongly of spirits, and I rather suspected that his accident -might have been traceable to his condition." - -"But he wasn't actually drunk?" - -"By no means. He was perfectly sober, but he had recently been -drinking--possibly because his fall had shaken him, of course." - -"His hands?" - -"Small and very muscular. Quite steady. Also very dirty." - -"What part of the country should you say he hailed from?" - -"London. He had a marked cockney accent." - -"What make of cab was it?" - -"I couldn't say." - -"An old cab?" - -"Yes. The fittings were dilapidated, I remember, and the cab had a -very musty smell." - -"Ah," said Dunbar, making several notes. "And now--the lady: about -what would be her age?" - -"Difficult to say, Inspector. She had Eastern blood and may have been -much younger than she appeared to be. Judged from a European standpoint -and from her appearance and manner of dress, she might be about -twenty-three or twenty-four." - -"Complexion?" - -"Wonderful. Fresh as a flower." - -"Eyes?" - -"Dark. They looked black at night." - -"Hair?" - -"Brown and 'fuzzy' with copper tints." - -"Tall?" - -"No; slight but beautifully shaped." - -"Now--from her accent what should you judge her nationality to be?" - -Stuart paced up and down the room, his head lowered in reflection, -then: - -"She pronounced both English and French words with an intonation which -suggested familiarity with Arabic." - -"Arabic? That still leaves a fairly wide field." - -"It does, Inspector, but I had no means of learning more. She had -certainly lived for a long time somewhere in the Near East." - -"Her jewellery?" - -"Some of it was European and some of it Oriental, but not -characteristic of any particular country of the Orient." - -"Did she use perfume?" - -"Yes, but it was scarcely discernible. Jasmine--probably the Eastern -preparation." - -"Her ailment was imaginary?" - -"I fear so." - -"H'm--and now you say that Mrs. M'Gregor saw the car?" - -"Yes, but she has retired." - -"Her evidence will do to-morrow. We come to the man in the hood. Can -you give me any kind of a description of him?" - -"He appeared to be tall, but a shadow is deceptive, and his -extraordinary costume would produce that effect, too. I can tell you -absolutely nothing further about him. Remember, I thought I was -dreaming. I could not credit my senses." - -Inspector Dunbar glanced over the notes which he had made, then -returning the note-book and pen to his pocket, he took up the long -smoke-discoloured envelope and with a paper-knife which lay upon the -table slit one end open. Inserting two fingers, he drew out the second -envelope which the first enclosed. It was an ordinary commercial -envelope only notable by reason of the number, 30, appearing in large -red figures upon it and because it was sealed with black wax bearing -a weird-looking device: - -Stuart bent over him intently as he slit this envelope in turn. Again, -he inserted two fingers--and brought forth the sole contents... a -plain piece of cardboard, roughly rectangular and obviously cut in -haste from the lid of a common cardboard box! - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -THE ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER'S THEORY - - -On the following morning Inspector Dunbar, having questioned Mrs. -M'Gregor respecting the car in which Mlle. Dorian had visited the -house and having elicited no other evidence than that it was "a fine -luxurious concern," the Inspector and Dr. Stuart prepared to set out -upon gruesome business. Mrs. M'Gregor was very favourably impressed -with the Inspector. "A grand, pairsonable body," she confided to -Stuart. "He'd look bonny in the kilt." - -To an East-End mortuary the cab bore them, and they were led by a -constable in attendance to a stone-paved, ill-lighted apartment in -which a swathed form lay upon a long deal table. The spectacle -presented, when the covering was removed, was one to have shocked -less hardened nerves than those of Stuart and Dunbar; but the duties -of a police officer, like those of a medical man, not infrequently -necessitate such inspections. The two bent over the tragic flotsam of -the Thames unmoved and critical. - -"H'm," said Stuart--"he's about the build, certainly. Hair iron-grey -and close cropped and he seems to have worn a beard. Now, let us see." - -He bent, making a close inspection of the skull; then turned and -shook his head. - -"No, Inspector," he said definitely. "This is not the cabman. There is -no wound corresponding to the one which I dressed." - -"Right," answered Dunbar, covering up the ghastly face. "That's -settled." - -"You were wrong, Inspector. It was not Gaston Max who left the -envelope with me." - -"No," mused Dunbar, "so it seems." - -"Your theory that Max, jealously working alone, had left particulars -of his inquiries, and clues, in my hands, knowing that they would -reach Scotland Yard in the event of his death, surely collapsed when -the envelope proved to contain nothing but a bit of cardboard?" - -"Yes--I suppose it did. But it sounded so much like Max's round-about -methods. Anyway I wanted to make sure that the dead man from Hanover -Hole and your mysterious cabman were not one and the same." - -Stuart entertained a lively suspicion that Inspector Dunbar was keeping -something up his sleeve, but with this very proper reticence he had no -quarrel, and followed by the constable, who relocked the mortuary -behind them, they came out into the yard where the cab waited which -was to take them to Scotland Yard. Dunbar, standing with one foot upon -the step of the cab, turned to the constable. - -"Has anyone else viewed the body?" he asked. - -"No sir." - -"No one is to be allowed to do so--you understand?--_no one_, unless -he has written permission from the Commissioner." - -"Very good, sir." - -Half an hour later they arrived at New Scotland Yard and went up to -Dunbar's room. A thick-set, florid man of genial appearance, having a -dark moustache, a breezy manner and a head of hair resembling a very -hard-worked blacking-brush, awaited them. This was Detective-Sargeant -Sowerby with whom Stuart was already acquainted. - -"Good-morning, Sergeant Sowerby," he said. - -"Good-morning, sir. I hear that someone was pulling your leg last -night." - -"What do you mean exactly, Sowerby?" inquired Dunbar, fixing his -fierce eyes upon his subordinate. - -Sergeant Sowerby exhibited confusion. - -"I mean nothing offensive, Inspector. I was referring to the -joker who gave so good an imitation of my voice that even -_you_ were deceived." - -"Ah," replied Dunbar--"I see. Yes--he did it well. He spoke just like -you. I could hardly make out a word he said." - -With this Caledonian shaft and a side-glance at Stuart, Inspector -Dunbar sat down at the table. - -"Here's Dr. Stuart's description of the missing cabman," he continued, -taking out his note-book. "Dr. Stuart has viewed the body and it is -not the man. You had better take a proper copy of this." - -"Then the cabman wasn't Max?" cried Sowerby eagerly. "I thought not." - -"I believe you told me so before," said Dunbar sourly. "I also seem to -recall that you thought a scorpion's tail was a Prickly Pear. -However--here, on the page numbered twenty-six, is a description of -the woman known as Mlle. Dorian. It should be a fairly easy matter to -trace the car through the usual channels, and she ought to be easy to -find, too." - -He glanced at his watch. Stuart was standing by the lofty window -looking out across the Embankment. - -"Ten o'clock," said Dunbar. "The Commissioner will be expecting us." - -"I am ready," responded Stuart. - -Leaving Sergeant Sowerby seated at the table studying the note-book, -Stuart and Dunbar proceeded to the smoke-laden room of the Assistant -Commissioner. The great man, suavely satanic, greeted Stuart with -that polished courtesy for which he was notable. - -"You have been of inestimable assistance to us in the past, Dr. -Stuart," he said, "and I feel happy to know that we are to enjoy the -aid of your special knowledge in the present case. Will you smoke one -of my cigarettes? They are some which a friend is kind enough to -supply to me direct from Cairo, and are really quite good." - -"Thanks," replied Stuart. "May I ask in what direction my services -are likely to prove available?" - -The Commissioner lighted a fresh cigarette. Then from a heap of -correspondence he selected a long report typed upon blue foolscap. - -"I have here," he said, "confirmation of the telegraphic report -received last night. The name of M. Gaston Max will no doubt be -familiar to you?" - -Stuart nodded. - -"Well," continued the Commissioner, "it appears that he has been -engaged in England for the past month endeavouring to trace the -connection which he claims to exist between the sudden deaths of -various notable people, recently--a list is appended--and some person -or organisation represented by, or associated with, a scorpion. His -personal theory not being available--poor fellow, you have heard of -his tragic death--I have this morning consulted such particulars as -I could obtain respecting these cases. If they were really cases of -assassination, some obscure poison was the only mode of death that -could possibly have been employed. Do you follow me?" - -"Perfectly." - -"Now, the death of Gaston Max under circumstances not yet explained, -would seem to indicate that his theory was a sound one. In other -words, I am disposed to believe that he himself represents the most -recent outrage of what we will call 'The Scorpion.' Even at the time -that the body of the man found by the River Police had not been -identified, the presence upon his person of a fragment of gold -strongly resembling the tail of a scorpion prompted me to instruct -Inspector Dunbar to consult you. I had determined upon a certain -course. The identification of the dead man with Gaston Max merely -strengthens my determination and enhances the likelihood of my idea -being a sound one." - -He flicked the ash from his cigarette and resumed: - -"Without mentioning names, the experts consulted in the other cases -which--according to the late Gaston Max--were victims of 'The -Scorpion,' do not seem to have justified their titles. I am arranging -that you shall be present at the autopsy upon the body of Gaston Max. -And now, permit me to ask you a question: are you acquainted with any -poison which would produce the symptoms noted in the case of Sir Frank -Narcombe, for instance?" - -Stuart shook his head slowly. - -"All that I know of the case," he said, "is that he was taken suddenly -ill in the foyer of a West-End theatre, immediately removed to his -house in Half Moon Street, and died shortly afterward. Can you give me -copies of the specialists' reports and other particulars? I may then -be able to form an opinion." - -"I will get them for you," replied the Commissioner, the exact nature -of whose theory was by no means evident to Stuart. He opened a drawer. -"I have here," he continued, "the piece of cardboard and the envelope -left with you by the missing cab-man. Do you think there is any -possibility of invisible writing?" - -"None," said Stuart confidently. "I have tested in three or four -places as you will see by the spots, but my experiments will in no way -interfere with those which no doubt your own people will want to make. -I have also submitted both surfaces to a microscopic examination. I am -prepared to state definitely that there is no writing upon the -cardboard, and except for the number, 30, none upon the envelope." - -"It is only reasonable to suppose," continued the Commissioner, "that -the telephone message which led Inspector Dunbar to leave your house -last night was originated by that unseen intelligence against which we -find ourselves pitted. In the first place, no one in London, myself -and, presumably, 'The Scorpion' excepted, knew at that time that M. -Gaston Max was in England or that M. Gaston Max was dead. I say, -presumably 'The Scorpion' because it is fair to assume that the person -whom Max pursued was responsible for his death. - -"Of course"--the Commissioner reached for the box of cigarettes--"were -it not for the telephone message, we should be unjustified in assuming -that Mlle. Dorian and this"--he laid his finger upon the piece of -cardboard--"had any connection with the case of M. Max. But the -message was so obviously designed to facilitate the purloining of the -sealed envelope and so obviously emanated from one already aware of -the murder of M. Max, that the sender is identified at once with-- -'The Scorpion.'" - -The Assistant Commissioner complacently lighted a fresh cigarette. - -"Finally," he said, "the mode of death in the case of M. Max may not -have been the same as in the other cases. Therefore, Dr. Stuart"--he -paused impressively--"if you fail to detect anything suspicious at the -post mortem examination I propose to apply to the Home Secretary for -power to exhume the body of the late Sir Frank Narcombe!" - -Deep in reflection, Stuart walked alone along the Embankment. The full -facts contained in the report from Paris the Commissioner had not -divulged, but Stuart concluded that this sudden activity was directly -due, not to the death of M. Max, but to the fact that he (Max) had -left behind him some more or less tangible clue. Stuart fully -recognized that the Commissioner had accorded him an opportunity to -establish his reputation--or to wreck it. - -Yet, upon closer consideration, it became apparent that it was to -Fate and not to the Commissioner that he was indebted. Strictly -speaking, his association with the matter dated from the night of -his meeting with the mysterious cabman in West India Dock road. Or had -the curtain first been lifted upon this occult drama that evening, -five years ago, as the setting sun reddened the waters of the Imperial -Canal and a veiled figure passed him on the Wu-Men Bridge? - -"Shut your eyes tightly, master--the Scorpion is coming!" - -He seemed to hear the boy's words now, as he passed along the -Embankment; he seemed to see again the tall figure. And suddenly he -stopped, stood still and stared with unseeing eyes across the muddy -waters of the Thames. He was thinking of the cowled man who had stood -behind the curtains in his study--of that figure so wildly bizarre -that even now he could scarcely believe that he had ever actually seen -it. He walked on. - -Automatically his reflections led him to Mlle. Dorian, and he -remembered that even as he paced along there beside the river the -wonderful mechanism of New Scotland Yard was in motion, its many -tentacles seeking--seeking tirelessly--for the girl, whose dark eyes -haunted his sleeping and waking hours. _He_ was responsible, and if -she were arrested _he_ would be called upon to identify her. He -condemned himself bitterly. - -After all, what crime had she committed? She had tried to purloin a -letter--which did not belong to Stuart in the first place. And she had -failed. Now--the police were looking for her. His reflections took a -new form. - -What of Gaston Max, foremost criminologist in Europe, who now lay dead -and mutilated in an East-End mortuary? The telephone message which had -summoned Dunbar away had been too opportune to be regarded as a mere -coincidence. Mlle. Dorian was, therefore, an accomplice of a murderer. - -Stuart sighed. He would have given much--more than he was prepared to -admit to himself--to have known her to be guiltless. - -The identity of the missing cabman now engaged his mind. It was quite -possible, of course, that the man had actually found the envelope in -his cab a was in no other way concerned in the matter. But how had -Mlle. Dorian, or the person instructing her, traced the envelope to -his study? And why, if they could establish a claim to it, had they -preferred to attempt to steal it? Finally, why all this disturbance -about a blank piece of cardboard? - -A mental picture of the envelope arose before him, the number, 30, -written upon it and the two black seals securing the lapels. He paused -again in his walk. His reflections had led him to a second definite -point and he fumbled in his waistcoat pocket for a time, seeking a -certain brass coin about the size of a halfpenny, having a square hole -in the middle and peculiar characters engraved around the square, one -on each of the four sides. - -He failed to find the coin in his pocket, however, but he walked -briskly up a side street until he came to the entrance to a tube -station. Entering a public telephone call-box, he asked for the -number, City 400. Being put through and having deposited the necessary -fee in the box: - -"Is that the Commissioner's Office, New Scotland Yard?" he asked. -"Yes! My name is Dr. Keppel Stuart. If Inspector Dunbar is there, -would you kindly allow me to speak to him." - -There was a short interval, then: - -"Hullo!" came--"is that Dr. Stuart?" - -"Yes. That you, Inspector? I have just remembered something which I -should have observed in the first place if I had been really wide-awake. -The envelope--you know the one I mean?--the one bearing the number, 30, -has been sealed with a Chinese coin, known as _cash_. I have just -recognized the fact and thought it wise to let you know at once." - -"Are you sure?" asked Dunbar. - -"Certain. If you care to call at my place later to-day I can show you -some _cash_. Bring the envelope with you and you will see that the -coins correspond to the impression in the wax. The inscriptions vary -in different provinces, but the form of all _cash_ is the same." - -"Very good. Thanks for letting me know at once. It seems to establish -a link with China, don't you think?" - -"It does, but it merely adds to the mystery." - -Coming out of the call-box, Stuart proceeded home, but made one or -two professional visits before he actually returned to the house. He -now remembered having left his particular _cash_ piece (which he -usually carried) in his dispensary, which satisfactorily accounted -for his failure to find the coin in his waistcoat pocket. He had -broken the cork of a flask, and in the absence of another of correct -size had manufactured a temporary stopper with a small cork to the top -of which he had fixed the Chinese coin with a drawing-pin. His purpose -served he had left the extemporised stopper lying somewhere in the -dispensary. - -Stuart's dispensary was merely a curtained recess at one end of the -waiting-room and shortly after entering the house he had occasion to -visit it. Lying upon a shelf among flasks and bottles was the Chinese -coin with the cork still attached. He took it up in order to study the -inscription. Then: - -"Have I cultivated somnambulism!" he muttered. - -Fragments of black sealing-wax adhered to the coin! - -Incredulous and half fearful he peered at it closely. He remembered -that the impression upon the wax sealing the mysterious envelope had -had a circular depression in the centre. It had been made by the head -of the drawing-pin! - -He found himself staring at the shelf immediately above that upon -which the coin had lain. A stick of black sealing-wax used for sealing -medicine was thrust in beside a bundle of long envelopes in which he -was accustomed to post his Infirmary reports! - -One hand raised to his head, Stuart stood endeavouring to marshal his -ideas into some sane order. Then, knowing what he should find, he -raised the green baize curtain hanging from the lower shelf, which -concealed a sort of cupboard containing miscellaneous stores and not -a little rubbish, including a number of empty cardboard boxes. - -A rectangular strip had been roughly cut from the lid of the topmost -box! - -The mysterious envelope and its contents, the wax and the seal--all -had come from his own dispensary! - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -THE CHINESE COIN - - -Deep in reflection, Stuart walked alone along the Embankment. The full -facts contained in the report form Paris the Commissioner had not -divulged, but Stuart concluded that this sudden activity was directly -due, not to the death of M. Max, but to the fact that he (Max) had -left behind him some more or less tangible clue. Stuart fully -recognized that the Commissioner had accorded him an opportunity to -establish his reputation--or to wreck it. - -Yet, upon closer consideration, it became apparent that it was to Fate -and not to the Commissioner that he was indebted. Strictly speaking, -his association with the matter dated from the night of his meeting -with the mysterious cabman in West India Dock Road. Or had the -curtain first been lifted upon this occult drama that evening, five -years ago, as the setting sun reddened the waters of the Imperial -Canal and a veiled figure passed him on the Wu-Men Bridge? - -"Shut your eyes tightly, master--the Scorpion is coming!" - -He seemed to hear the boy's words now, as he passed along the -Embankment; he seemed to see again the tall figure. And suddenly he -stopped, stood still and stared with unseeing eyes across the muddy -waters of the Thames. He was thinking of the cowled man who had stood -behind the curtains in his study--of that figure so wildly bizarre -that even now he could scarcely believe that he had ever actually seen -it. He walked on. - -Automatically his reflections led him to Mlle. Dorian, and he -remembered that even as he paced along there beside the river the -wonderful mechanism of New Scotland Yard was in motion, its many -tentacles seeking--seeking tirelessly--for the girl, whose dark eyes -haunted his sleeping and waking hours. _He_ was responsible, and if -she were arrested _he_ would be called upon to identify her. He -condemned himself bitterly. - -After all, what crime had she committed? She had tried to purloin a -letter--which did not belong to Stuart in the first place. And she had -failed. Now--the police were looking for her. His reflections took a -new form. - -What of Gaston Max, foremost criminologist in Europe, who now lay dead -and mutilated in an East-End mortuary? The telephone message which had -summoned Dunbar away had been too opportune to be regarded as a mere -coincidence. Mlle. Dorian was, therefore, an accomplice of a murderer. - -Stuart sighed. He would have given much--more than he was prepared to -admit to himself--to have known her to be guiltless. - -The identity of the missing cabman now engaged his mind. It was quite -possible, of course, that the man had actually found the envelope in -his cab and was in no other way concerned in the matter. But how had -Mlle. Dorian, or the person instructing her, traced the envelope to -his study? And why, if they could establish a claim to it, had they -preferred to attempt to steal it? Finally, why all this disturbance -about a blank pieced of cardboard? - -A mental picture of the envelope arose before him, the number, 30, -written upon it and the two black seals securing the lapels. He paused -again in his walk. His reflections had led him to a second definite -point and he fumbled in his waistcoat pocket for a time, seeking a -certain brass coin about the size of a halfpenny, having a square -hole in the middle and peculiar characters engraved around the -square, one on each of the four sides. - -He failed to find the coin in his pocket, however, but he walked -briskly up a side street until he came to the entrance to a tube -station. Entering a public telephone call-box, he asked for the -number, City 400. Being put through and having deposited the necessary -fee in the box: - -"Is that the Commissioner's Office, New Scotland Yard?" he asked. -"Yes! My name is Dr. Keppel Stuart. If Inspector Dunbar is there, -would you kindly allow me to speak to him." - -There was a short interval, then: - -"Hullo!" came--"is that Dr. Stuart?" - -"Yes. That you, Inspector? I have just remembered something which I -should have observed in the first place if I had been really wide-awake. -The envelope--you know the one I mean?--the one bearing the number, -30, has been sealed with a Chinese coin, known as _cash._ I have just -recognized the fact and thought it wise to let you know at once." - -"Are you sure?" asked Dunbar. - -"Certain. If you care to call at my place later to-day I can show you -some _cash._ Bring the envelope with you and you will see that the -coins correspond to the impression in the wax. The inscriptions vary -in different provinces, but the form of all _cash_ is the same." - -"Very good. Thanks for letting me know at once. It seems to establish -a link with China, don't you think?" - -"It does, but it merely adds to the mystery." - -Coming out of the call-box, Stuart proceeded home, but made one or two -professional visits before he actually returned to the house. He now -remembered having left this particular _cash_ piece (which he usually -carried) in his dispensary, which satisfactorily accounted fro his -failure to find the coin in his waistcoat pocket. He had broken the -cork of a flask, and in the absence of another of correct size had -manufactured a temporary stopper with a small cork to the top of which -he had fixed the Chinese coin with a drawing-pin. His purpose served -he had left the extemporized stopper somewhere in the dispensary. - -Stuart's dispensary was merely a curtained recess at one end of the -waiting-room and shortly after entering the house he had occasion to -visit it. Lying upon a shelf among flasks and bottles was the Chinese -coin with the cork still attached. He took it up in order to study -the inscription. Then: - -"Have I cultivated somnambulism!" he muttered. - -Fragments of black sealing-wax adhered to the coin! - -Incredulous and half fearful he peered at it closely. He remembered -that the impression upon the wax sealing the mysterious envelope had -had a circular depression in the centre. It had been made by the head -of the drawing-pin! - -He found himself at the shelf immediately above that upon which the -coin had lain. A stick of black sealing wax used for sealing medicine -was thrust in beside a bundle of long envelopes in which he was -accustomed to post his Infirmary reports! - -One hand raised to his head, Stuart stood endeavouring to marshal his -ideas into some sane order. Then, knowing what he should find, he -raised the green baize curtain hanging from the lower shelf, which -concealed a sort of cupboard containing miscellaneous stores and not -a little rubbish, including a number of empty cardboard boxes. - -A rectangular strip had been roughly cut from the lid of the topmost -box! - -The mysterious envelope and its contents, the wax and the seal--all -had come from his own dispensary! - - - - -CHAPTER X - -"CLOSE YOUR SHUTTERS AT NIGHT" - - -Inspector Dunbar stood in the little dispensary tapping his teeth with -the end of a fountain-pen. - -"The last time he visited you, doctor--the time when he gave you the -envelope--did the cabman wait here in the waiting-room?" - -"He did--yes. He came after my ordinary consulting hours and I was at -supper, I remember, as I am compelled to dine early." - -"He would be in here alone?" - -"Yes. No one else was in the room." - -"Would he have had time to find the box, cut out the piece of -cardboard from the lid, put it in the envelope and seal it?" - -"Ample time. But what could be his object? And why mark the envelope -30?" - -"It was in your consulting-room that he asked you to take charge of -the envelope?" - -"Yes." - -"Might I take a peep at the consulting room?" - -"Certainly, Inspector." - -From the waiting-room they went up a short flight of stairs into the -small apartment in which Stuart saw his patients. Dunbar looked slowly -about him, standing in the middle of the room, then crossed and stared -out of the window into the narrow lane below. - -"Where were you when he gave you the envelope?" he snapped suddenly. - -"At the table," replied Stuart with surprise. - -"Was the table-lamp alight?" - -"Yes. I always light it when seeing patients." - -"Did you take the letter into the study to seal it in the other -envelope?" - -"I did, and he came along and witnessed me do it." - -"Ah," said Dunbar, and scribbled busily in his note-book. "We are -badly tied at Scotland Yard, doctor, and this case looks like being -another for which somebody else will reap the credit. I am going to -make a request that will surprise you." - -He tore a leaf out of the book and folded it carefully. - -"I am going to ask you to seal up something and lock it away! But I -don't think you'll be troubled by cowled burglars or beautiful women -because of it. On this piece of paper I have written--_a"_--he ticked -off the points on his fingers: "what I believe to be the name of the -man who cut out the cardboard and sealed it in an envelope; _b_: the -name of the cabman; and, _c_: the name of the man who rang me up here -last night and gave me information which had only just reached the -Commissioner. I'll ask you to lock it away until it's wanted, doctor." - -"Certainly, if you wish it," replied Stuart. "Come into the study and -you shall see me do as you direct. I may add that the object to be -served is not apparent to me." - -Entering the study, he took an envelope, enclosed the piece of paper, -sealed the lapel and locked the envelope in the same drawer of the -bureau which once had contained that marked 30. - -"Mlle. Dorian has a duplicate key to this drawer." he said. "Are you -prepared to take the chance?" - -"Quite," replied Dunbar, smiling; "although my information is worth -more than that which she risked so much to steal." - -"It's most astounding. At every step the darkness increases. Why -should _anyone_ have asked me to lock up a blank piece of cardboard?" - -"Why, indeed," murmured Dunbar. "Well, I may as well get back. I am -expecting a report from Sowerby. Look after yourself, sir. I'm -inclined to think your pretty patient was talking square when she told -you there might be danger." - -Stuart met the glance of the tawny eyes. - -"What d'you mean, Inspector? Why should _I_ be in danger?" - -"Because," replied Inspector Dunbar, "if 'The Scorpion' is a poisoner, -as the chief seems to think, there's really only one man in England he -has to fear, and that man is Dr. Keppel Stuart." - -When the Inspector had taken his departure Stuart stood for a long -time staring out of the study window at the little lawn with its -bordering of high neatly-trimmed privet above which at intervals -arose the mop crowns of dwarf acacias. A spell of warm weather seemed -at last to have begun, and clouds of gnats floated over the grass, -their minute wings glittering in the sunshine. Despite the nearness of -teeming streets, this was a backwater of London's stream. - -He sighed and returned to some work which the visit of the Scotland -Yard man had interrupted. - -Later in the afternoon he had occasion to visit the institution to -which he had recently been appointed as medical officer, and in -contemplation of the squalor through which his steps led him he sought -forgetfulness of the Scorpion problem--and of the dark eyes of Mlle. -Dorian. He was not entirely successful, and returning by a different -route he lost himself in memories which were sweetly mournful. - -A taxicab passed him, moving slowly very close to the pavement. He -scarcely noted it until it had proceeded some distance ahead of him. -Then its slow progress so near to the pavement at last attracted his -attention, and he stared vacantly towards the closed vehicle. - -Mlle. Dorian was leaning out of the window and looking back at him! - -Stuart's heart leapt high. For an instant he paused, then began to -walk rapidly after the retreating vehicle. Perceiving that she had -attracted his attention, the girl extended a white-gloved hand from -the window and dropped a note upon the edge of the pavement. -Immediately she withdrew into the vehicle--which moved away at -accelerated speed, swung around the next corner and was gone. - -Stuart ran forward and picked up the note. Without pausing to read it, -he pressed on to the corner. The cab was already two hundred yards -away, and he recognized pursuit to be out of the question. The streets -were almost deserted at the moment, and no one apparently had -witnessed the episode. He unfolded the sheet of plain note-paper, -faintly perfumed with jasmine, and read the following, written in an -uneven feminine hand: - -"Close your shutters at night. Do not think too bad of me." - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -THE BLUE RAY - - -Dusk found Stuart in a singular frame of mind. He was torn between -duty--or what he conceived to be his duty--to the community, and ... -something else. A messenger from New Scotland Yard had brought him a -bundle of documents relating to the case of Sir Frank Narcombe, and -a smaller packet touching upon the sudden end of Henrik Ericksen, the -Norwegian electrician, and the equally unexpected death of the Grand -Duke Ivan. There were medical certificates, proceedings of coroners, -reports of detectives, evidence of specialists and statements of -friends, relatives and servants of the deceased. A proper examination -of all the documents represented many hours of close study. - -Stuart was flattered by the opinion held of his ability by the -Assistant Commissioner, but dubious of his chance of detecting any -flaw in the evidence which had escaped the scrutiny of so many highly -trained observers. - -He paced the study restlessly. Although more than six hours had -elapsed, he had not communicated to Scotland Yard the fact of his -having seen Mlle. Dorian that afternoon. A hundred times he had read -the message, although he knew it by heart, knew the form of every -letter, the odd crossing of the _t'_s and the splashy dotting of -the _i_'s. - -If only he could have taken counsel with someone--with someone not -bound to act upon such information--it would have relieved his mental -stress. His ideas were so chaotic that he felt himself to be incapable -of approaching the task presented by the pile of papers lying upon his -table. - -The night was pleasantly warm and the sky cloudless. Often enough he -found himself glancing toward the opened French windows, and once he -had peered closely across into the belt of shadow below the hedge, -thinking that he had detected something which moved there. Stepping -to the window, the slinking shape had emerged into the moonlight--and -had proclaimed itself to be that of a black cat! - -Yet he had been sorely tempted to act upon the advice so strangely -offered. He refrained from doing so, however, reflecting that to spend -his evenings with closed and barred shutters now that a spell of hot -weather seemed to be imminent would be insufferable. Up and down the -room he paced tirelessly, always confronted by the eternal problem. - -Forcing himself at last to begin work if only as a sedative, he filled -and lighted his pipe, turned off the centre lamp and lighted the -reading lamp upon his table. He sat down to consider the papers -bearing upon the death of Eriksen. For half an hour he read on -steadily and made a number of pencil notes. Then he desisted and sat -staring straight before him. - -What possible motive could there be in assassinating these people? The -case of the Grand Duke might be susceptible of explanation, but those -of Henrik Ericksen and Sir Frank Narcombe were not. Furthermore he -could perceive no links connecting the three, and no reason why they -should have engaged the attention of a common enemy. Such crimes would -seem to be purposeless. Assuming that "The Scorpion" was an individual, -that individual apparently was a dangerous homicidal maniac. - -But, throughout the documents, he could discover no clue pointing to -the existence of such an entity. "The Scorpion" might be an invention -of the fertile brain of M. Gaston Max; for it had become more and more -evident, as he had read, that the attempt to trace these deaths to an -identical source had originated at the Service de Surete, and it was -from Paris that the name "The Scorpion" had come. The fate of Max was -significant, of course. The chances of his death proving to have been -due to accident were almost negligible and the fact that a fragment of -a golden scorpion had actually been found upon his body was certainly -curious. - -"Close your shutters at night...." - -How the words haunted him and how hotly he despised himself for a -growing apprehension which refused to be ignored. It was more mental -than physical, this dread which grew with the approach of midnight, -and it resembled that which had robbed him of individuality and all -but stricken him inert when he had seen upon the moon-bright screen of -the curtains the shadow of a cowled man. - -Dark forces seemed to be stirring, and some unseen menace crept near -to him out of the darkness. - -The house was of early Victorian fashion and massive folding shutters -were provided to close the French windows. He never used them, as a -matter of fact, but now he tested the fastenings which kept them in -place against the inner wall and even moved them in order to learn if -they were still serviceable. - -Of all the mysteries which baffled him, that of the piece of -cardboard in the envelope sealed with a Chinese coin was the most -irritating. It seemed like the purposeless trick of a child, yet it -had led to the presence of the cowled man--and to the presence of -Mlle. Dorian. Why? - -He sat down at his table again. - -"Damn the whole business!" he said. "It is sending me crazy." - -Selecting from the heap of documents a large sheet of note-paper -bearing a blue diagram of a human bust, marked with figures and -marginal notes, he began to read the report to which it was -appended--that of Dr. Halesowen. It stated that the late Sir Frank -Narcombe had a "horizontal" heart, slightly misplaced and dilatated, -with other details which really threw no light whatever upon the -cause of his death. - -"_I_ have a horizontal heart," growled Stuart--"and considering my -consumption of tobacco it is certainly dilatated. But I don't expect -to drop dead in a theatre nevertheless." - -He read on, striving to escape from that shadowy apprehension, but as -he read he was listening to the night sounds of London, to the -whirring of distant motors, the whistling of engines upon the railway -and dim hooting of sirens from the Thames. A slight breeze had arisen -and it rustled in the feathery foliage of the acacias and made a -whispering sound as it stirred the leaves of the privet hedge. - -The drone of an approaching car reached his ears. Pencil in hand, he -sat listening. The sound grew louder, then ceased. Either the car -had passed or had stopped somewhere near the house. Came a rap on -the door. - -"Yes," called Stuart and stood up, conscious of excitement. - -Mrs. M'Gregor came in. - -"There is nothing further you'll be wanting to-night?" she asked. - -"No," said Stuart, strangely disappointed, but smiling at the old -lady cheerfully. "I shall turn in very shortly." - -"A keen east wind has arisen," she continued, severely eyeing the -opened windows, "and even for a medical man you are strangely -imprudent. Shall I shut the windows?" - -"No, don't trouble, Mrs. M'Gregor. The room gets very stuffy with -tobacco smoke, and really it is quite a warm night. I shall close -them before I retire, of course." - -"Ah well," sighed Mrs. M'Gregor, preparing to depart. "Good-night, -Mr. Keppel." - -"Good-night, Mrs. M'Gregor." - -She retired, and Stuart sat staring out into the darkness. He was -not prone to superstition, but it seemed like tempting providence to -remain there with the windows open any longer. Yet paradoxically, he -lacked the moral courage to close them--to admit to himself that he -was afraid! - -The telephone bell rang, and he started back in his chair as though -to avoid a blow. - -By doing so he avoided destruction. - -At the very instant that the bell rang out sharply in the silence--so -exact is the time-table of Kismet--a needle-like ray of blue light -shot across the lawn from beyond and above the hedge and--but for -that nervous start--must have struck fully upon the back of Stuart's -skull. Instead, it shone past his head, which it missed only by -inches, and he experienced a sensation as though some one had -buffeted him upon the cheek furiously. He pitched out of his chair -and on to the carpet. - -The first object which the ray touched was the telephone; and next, -beyond it, a medical dictionary; beyond that again, the grate, in -which a fire was laid. - -"My God!" groaned Stuart--"what is it!" - -An intense crackling sound deafened him, and the air of the room -seemed to have become hot as that of an oven. There came a series of -dull reports--an uncanny wailing ... and the needle-ray vanished. -A monstrous shadow, moon-cast, which had lain across the carpet of -the lawn--the shadow of a cowled man--vanished also. - -Clutching the side of his head, which throbbed and tingled as though -from the blow of an open hand, Stuart struggled to his feet. There -was smoke in the room, a smell of burning and of fusing metal. He -glared at the table madly. - -The mouthpiece of the telephone had vanished! - -"My God!" he groaned again, and clutched at the back of the chair. - -His dictionary was smouldering slowly. It had a neat round hole some -three inches in diameter, bored completely through, cover to cover! -The fire in the grate was flaring up the chimney! - -He heard the purr of a motor in the lane beside the house. The room -was laden with suffocating fumes. Stuart stood clutching the chair and -striving to retain composure--sanity. The car moved out of the lane. - -Someone was running towards the back gate of the house ... was -scrambling over the hedge ... was racing across the lawn! - -A man burst into the study. He was a man of somewhat heavy build, -clean-shaven and inclined to pallor. The hirsute blue tinge about his -lips and jaw lent added vigour to a flexible but masterful mouth. His -dark hair was tinged with grey, his dark eyes were brilliant with -excitement. He was very smartly dressed and wore light tan gloves. He -reeled suddenly, clutching at a chair for support. - -"Quick! quick!" he cried--"the telephone! ... Ah!" - -Just inside the window he stood, swaying and breathing rapidly, his -gaze upon the instrument. - -"_Mon Dieu!_" he cried--"what has happened, then!" - -Stuart stared at the new-comer dazedly. - -"Hell has been in my room!" he replied. "That's all!" - -"Ah!" said the stranger--"again he eludes me! The telephone was the -only chance. _Pas d'blaque!_ we are finished!" - -He dropped into a chair, removed his light grey hat and began to dry -his moist brow with a fine silk handkerchief. Stuart stared at him -like a man who is stupefied. The room was still laden with strange -fumes. - -"_Blimey!_" remarked the new-comer, and his Whitechapel was as perfect -as his Montmatre. He was looking at the decapitated telephone. "This -is a knock-out!" - -"Might I ask," said Stuart, endeavouring to collect his scattered -senses, "where you came from?" - -"From up a tree!" was the astonishing reply. "It was the only way -to get over!" - -"Up a tree!" - -"Exactly. Yes, I was foolish. I am too heavy. But what could I do! -We must begin all over again." - -Stuart began to doubt his sanity. This was no ordinary man. - -"Might I ask," he said, "who you are and what you are doing in my -house?" - -"Ah!" The stranger laughed merrily. "You wonder about me--I can see -it. Permit me to present myself--Gaston Max, at your service!" - -"Gaston Max!" Stuart glared at the speaker incredulously. "Gaston Max! -Why, I conduct a _post mortem_ examination upon Gaston Max tomorrow, -in order to learn if he was poisoned!" - -"Do not trouble, doctor. That poor fellow is not Gaston Max and he -was not poisoned. You may accept my word for it. I had the misfortune -to strangle him." - - - -PART II - -STATEMENT OF GASTON MAX - - - -I. THE DANCER OF MONTMARTRE - - -CHAPTER I - -ZARA EL-KHALA - - -The following statement which I, Gaston Max, am drawing up in -duplicate for the guidance of whoever may inherit the task of tracing -"The Scorpion"--a task which I have begun--will be lodged--one copy at -the Service de Surete in Paris, and the other copy with the -Commissioner of Police, New Scotland Yard. As I apprehend that I may be -assassinated at any time, I propose to put upon record all that I have -learned concerning the series of murders which I believe to be -traceable to a certain person. In the event of my death, my French -colleagues will open the sealed packet containing this statement and -the English Assistant Commissioner of the Special Branch responsible -for international affairs will receive instructions to open that which -I shall have lodged at Scotland Yard. - -This matter properly commenced, then, with the visit to Paris, -incognito, of the Grand Duke Ivan, that famous soldier of whom so much -was expected, and because I had made myself responsible for his safety -during the time that he remained in the French capital, I (also -incognito be it understood) struck up a friendship with one Casimir, -the Grand Duke's valet. Nothing is sacred to a valet, and from Casimir -I counted upon learning the real reason which had led this nobleman to -visit Paris at so troublous a time. Knowing the Grand Duke to be a man -of gallantry, I anticipated finding a woman in the case--and I was not -wrong. - -Yes, there was a woman, and _nom d'nom!_she was beautiful. -Now in Paris we have many beautiful women, and in times of -international strife it is true that we have had to shoot some of -them. For my own part I say with joy that I have never been -instrumental in bringing a woman to such an end. Perhaps I am -sentimental; it is a French weakness; but on those few occasions when -I have found a guilty woman in my power--and she has been pretty-- -_morbleu!_--she has escaped! It may be that I have seen to it that she -was kept out of further mischief, but nevertheless she has never met a -firing-party because of me. Very well. - -From the good fellow Casimir I learned that a certain dancer appearing -at one of our Montmartre theatres had written to the Grand Duke craving -the honour of his autograph--and enclosing her photograph. - -Pf! it was enough. One week later the autograph arrived--attached to an -invitation to dine with the Grand Duke at his hotel in Paris. Yes--he -had come to Paris. I have said that he was susceptible and I have said -that she was beautiful. I address myself to men of the world, and I -shall not be in error if I assume that they will say, "A wealthy fool -and a designing woman. It is an old story." Let us see. - -The confidences of Casimir interested me in more ways than one. In the -first place I had particular reasons for suspecting anyone who sought -to obtain access to the Grand Duke. These were diplomatic. And in the -second place I had suspicions of Zara el-Khala. These were personal. - -Yes--so she called herself--Zara el-Khala, which in Arabic is -"Flower of the Desert." She professed to be an Egyptian, and certainly -she had the long, almond-shaped eyes of the East, but her white skin -betrayed her, and I knew that whilst she might possess Eastern blood, -she was more nearly allied to Europe than to Africa. It is my business -to note unusual matters, you understand, and I noticed that this -beautiful and accomplished woman of whom all Paris was beginning to -speak rapturously remained for many weeks at a small Montmartre -theatre. Her performance, which was unusually decorous for the type -of establishment at which she appeared, had not apparently led to an -engagement elsewhere. - -This aroused the suspicions to which I have referred. In the character -of a vaudeville agent I called at the Montmartre theatre and was -informed by the management that Zara-el-Khala received no visitors, -professional or otherwise. A small but expensive car awaited her at -the stage door. My suspicions increased. I went away, but returned on -the following night, otherwise attired, and from a hiding-place which -I had selected on the previous evening I watched the dancer depart. - -She came out so enveloped in furs and veils as to be unrecognizable, -and a Hindu wearing a chauffeur's uniform opened the door of the car -for her, and then, having arranged the rugs to her satisfaction, -mounted to the wheel and drove away. - -I traced the car. It had been hired for the purpose of taking Zara -el-Khala from her hotel--to the theatre and home nightly. I sent a -man to call upon her at the hotel--in order to obtain press material, -ostensibly. She declined to see him. I became really interested. I -sent her a choice bouquet, having the card of a nobleman attached to -it, together with a message of respectful admiration. It was returned. -I prevailed upon one of the most handsome and gallant cavalry officers -in Paris to endeavour to make her acquaintance. He was rebuffed. - -_Eh bien!_ I knew then that Mlle. Zara of the Desert was unusual. - -You will at once perceive that when I heard from the worthy Casimir -how this unapproachable lady had actually written to the Grand Duke -Ivan and had gone so far as to send him her photograph, I became -excited. It appeared to me that I found myself upon the brink of an -important discovery. I set six of my first-class men at work: three -being detailed to watch the hotel of the Grand Duke Ivan and three to -watch Zara el-Khala. Two more were employed in watching the Hindu -servant and one in watching my good friend Casimir. Thus, nine clever -men and myself were immediately engaged upon the case. - -Why do I speak of a "case" when thus far nothing of apparent -importance had occurred? I will explain. Although the Grand Duke -travelled incognito, his Government knew of the journey and wished to -learn with what object it had been undertaken. - -At the time that I made the acquaintance of Casimir the Grand Duke -had been in Paris for three days, and he was--according to my -informant--"like a raging lion." The charming dancer had vouchsafed -no reply to his invitation and he had met with the same reception, on -presenting himself in person, which had been accorded to myself and to -those others who had sought to obtain an interview with Zara el-Khala! - -My state of mystification grew more and more profound. I studied the -reports of my nine assistants. - -It appeared that the girl had been in Paris for a period of two months. -She occupied a suite of rooms in which all her meals were served. -Except the Hindu who drove the hired car, she had no servant. She -never appeared in the public part of the hotel unless veiled, and then -merely in order to pass out to the car or in from it on returning. She -drove out every day. She had been followed, of course, but her -proceedings were unexceptionable. Leaving the car at a point in the -Bois De Boulogne, she would take a short walk, if the day was fine -enough, never proceeding out of sight of the Hindu, who followed with -the automobile, and would then drive back to her hotel. She never -received visits and never met any one during these daily excursions. - -I turned to the report dealing with the Hindu. -He had hired a room high up under the roof of an apartment house where -foreign waiters and others had their abodes. He bought and cooked his -own food, which apparently consisted solely of rice, lentils and fruit. -He went every morning to the garage and attended to the car, called -for his mistress, and having returned remained until evening in his -own apartment. At night, after returning from the theatre, he -sometimes went out, and my agent had failed to keep track of him on -every occasion that he had attempted pursuit. I detached the man who -was watching Casimir and whose excellent reports revealed the fact -that Casimir was an honest fellow--as valets go--and instructed him -to assist in tracing the movements of the Hindu. - -Two nights later they tracked him to a riverside cafe kept by a -gigantic quadroon from Dominique and patronized by that type which -forms a link between the lowest commercial and the criminal classes: -itinerant vendors of Eastern rugs, street performers and Turkish -cigarette makers. - -At last I began to have hopes. The Grand Duke at this time was -speaking of leaving Paris, but as he had found temporary consolation -in the smiles of a lady engaged at the "Folies" I did not anticipate -that he would depart for several days at any rate. Also he was the -kind of man who is stimulated by obstacles. - -The Hindu remained for an hour in the cafe, smoking and drinking -some kind of syrup, and one of my fellows watched him. Presently the -proprietor called him into a little room behind the counter and closed -the door. The Hindu and the quadroon remained there for a few minutes, -then the Hindu came out and left the cafe, returning to his abode. -There was a telephone in this inner room, and my agent was of opinion -that the Indian had entered either to make or to receive a call. I -caused the line to be tapped. - -On the following night the Hindu came back to the cafe, followed by -one of my men. I posted myself at a selected point and listened for -any message that might pass over the line to or from the cafe. At -about the same hour as before--according to the report--someone called -up the establishment, asking for "Miguel." This was the quadroon, and -I heard his thick voice replying. The other voice--which had first -spoken--was curiously sibilant but very distinct. Yet it did not sound -like the voice of a Frenchman or of any European. This was the -conversation: - -"Miguel." - -"Miguel speaks." - -"_Scorpion._ A message for Chunda Lal." - -"Very good." - -Almost holding my breath, so intense was my excitement, I waited -whilst Miguel went to bring the Hindu. Suddenly a new voice -spoke--that of the Hindu. - -"Chunda Lal speaks," it said. - -I clenched by teeth; I knew that I must not miss a syllable. - -"Scorpion" replied ... in voluble _Hindustani_--a language of which I -know less than a dozen words! - - - - -CHAPTER II - -CONCERNING THE GRAND DUKE - - -Although I had met with an unforeseen check, I had nevertheless learned -three things. I had learned that Miguel the quadroon was possibly in -league with the Hindu; that the Hindu was called Chunda Lal; and that -Chunda Lal received messages, probably instructions, from a third -party who announced his presence by the word "_Scorpion_." - -One of my fellows, of course, had been in the cafe all the evening, -and from him I obtained confirmation of the fact that it had been the -Hindu who had been summoned to the telephone and whom I had heard -speaking. Instant upon the man at the cafe replacing the telephone -and disconnecting, I called up the exchange. They had been warned and -were in readiness. - -"From what subscriber did that call come?" I demanded. - -Alas! another check awaited me. It had originated in a public call -office, and "Scorpion" was untraceable by this means! - -Despair is not permitted by the traditions of the Service de Surete. -Therefore I returned to my flat and recorded the facts of the matter -thus far established. I perceived that I had to deal, not with a -designing woman, but with some shadowy being of whom she was an -instrument. The anomaly of her life was in a measure explained. She -sojourned in Paris for a purpose--a mysterious purpose which was -concerned (I could not doubt it) with the Grand Duke Ivan. This was -not an amorous but a political intrigue. - -I communicated, at a late hour, with the senior of the three men -watching the Grand Duke. The Grand Duke that evening had sent a -handsome piece of jewellery purchased in Rue de la Paix to the dancer. -It had been returned. - -In the morning I met with the good Casimir at his favorite cafe. He -had just discovered that Zara el-Khala drove daily to the Bois de -Boulogne, alone, and that afternoon the Grand Duke had determined to -accost her during her solitary walk. I prepared myself for this event. -Arrayed in a workman's blouse and having a modest luncheon and a small -bottle of wine in a basket, I concealed myself in that part of the -Bois which was the favourite recreation ground of the dancer, and -awaited her appearance. - -The Grand Duke appeared first upon the scene, accompanied by Casimir. -The latter pointed out to him a path through the trees along which -Zara el-Khala habitually strolled and showed him the point at which -she usually rejoined the Hindu who followed along the road with the -car. They retired. I seated myself beneath a tree from whence I could -watch the path and the road and began to partake of the repast which -I had brought with me. - -At about three o'clock the dancer's car appeared, and the girl, -veiled as usual, stepped out, and having exchanged a few words with -the Indian, began to walk slowly towards me, sometimes pausing to -watch a bird in the boughs above her and sometimes to examine some -wild plant growing beside the way. I ate cheese from the point of a -clasp-knife and drank wine out of the bottle. - -Suddenly she saw me. - -She had cast her veil aside in order to enjoy the cool and fragrant -air, and as she stopped and regarded me doubtfully where I sat, I saw -her beautiful face, undefiled, now, by make-up and unspoiled by the -presence of garish Eastern ornaments. _Nom d'un nom!_ but she was truly -a lovely woman! My heart went out in sympathy to the poor Grand Duke. -Had I received such a mark of favour from her as he had received, and -had I then been scorned as now she scorned him, I should have been -desperate indeed. - -Coming around a bend in the path, then, she stood only a few paces -away, looking at me. I touched the peak of my cap. - -"Good-day, mademoiselle," I said. "The weather is very beautiful." - -"Good-day," she replied. - -I continued to eat cheese, and reassured she walked on past me. Twenty -yards beyond, the Grand Duke was waiting. As I laid down my knife upon -the paper which had been wrapped around the bread and cheese, and -raised the bottle to my lips, the enamoured nobleman stepped out from -the trees and bowed low before Zara el-Khala. - -She started back from him--a movement of inimitable grace, like that -of a startled gazelle. And even before I had time to get upon my feet -she had raised a little silver whistle to her lips and blown a short -shrill note. - -The Grand Duke, endeavouring to seize her hand, was pouring out -voluble expressions of adoration in execrable French, and Zara -el-Khala was retreating step by step. She had quickly thrown the veil -about her again. I heard the pad of swiftly running feet. If I was to -intervene before the arrival of the Hindu, I must act rapidly. I raced -along the path and thrust myself between the Grand Duke and the girl. - -"Mademoiselle," I said, "is this gentleman annoying you?" - -"How dare you, low pig!" cried the Grand Duke, and with a sweep of his -powerful arm he hurled me aside. - -"Thank you," replied Zara el-Khala with great composure. "But my -servant is here." - -As I turned, Chunda Lal hurled himself upon the Grand Duke from behind. -I had never seen an expression in a man's eyes like that in the eyes -of the Hindu at this moment. They blazed like the eyes of a tiger, and -his teeth were bared in a savage grin which I cannot hope to describe. -His lean body seemed to shoot through the air, and he descended upon -his burly adversary as a jungle beast falls upon its prey. Those long -brown fingers clasping his neck, the Grand Duke fell forward upon his -face. - -"Chunda Lal!" said the dancer. - -Kneeling, his right knee thrust between the shoulder blades of the -prostrate man, the Hindu looked up--and I read murder in those glaring -eyes. That he was an accomplished wrestler--or perhaps a strangler--I -divined from the helplessness of the Grand Duke, who lay inert, robbed -of every power except that of his tongue. He was swearing savagely. - -"Chunda Lal!" said Zara el-Khala again. -The Hindu shifted his grip from the neck to the arms of the Grand -Duke. He pinioned him as is done in _jiu-jitsu_ and forced him to -stand upright. It was a curious spectacle--the impotency of this burly -nobleman in the hands of his slight adversary. As they swayed to their -feet, I thought I saw the glint of metal in the right hand of the -Indian, but I could not be sure, for my attention was diverted. At -this moment Casimir appeared upon the scene, looking very frightened. - -Suddenly releasing his hold altogether, the Hindu glaring into the -empurpled face of the Grand Duke, shot out one arm and pointed with a -quivering finger along the path. - -"Go!" he said. - -The Grand Duke clenched his fists, looked from face to face as if -calculating his chances, then shrugged his shoulders, very -deliberately wiped his neck and wrists, where the Indian had held him, -with a large silk handkerchief and threw the handkerchief on the -ground. I saw a speck of blood upon the silk. Without another glance -he walked away, Casimir following sheepishly. It is needless, perhaps, -to add that Casimir had not recognized me. - -I turned to the dancer, touching the peak of my cap. - -"Can I be of any assistance to mademoiselle?" I asked. - -"Thank you--no," she replied. - -She placed five francs in my hand and set off rapidly through the -trees in the direction of the road, her bloodthirsty but faithful -attendant at her heels! - -I stood scratching my head and looking after her. - -That afternoon I posted a man acquainted with Hindustani to tap any -message which might be sent to or from the cafe used by Chunda Lal. -I learned that the Grand Duke had taken a stage box at the Montmartre -theatre at which the dancer was appearing, and I decided that I would -be present also. - -A great surprise was in store for me. - -Zara el-Khala had at this time established a reputation which -extended beyond those circles from which the regular patrons of this -establishment were exclusively drawn and which had begun to penetrate -to all parts of Paris. You will remember that it was the extraordinary -circumstance of her remaining at this obscure place of entertainment -so long which had first interested me in the lady. I had learned that -she had rejected a number of professional offers, and, as I have -already stated, I had assured myself of this unusual attitude by -presenting the card of a well-known Paris agency--and being refused -admittance. - -Now, as I leaned upon the rail at the back of the auditorium and the -time for the dancer's appearance grew near, I could not fail to -observe that there was a sprinkling of evening-dress in the stalls -and that the two boxes already occupied boasted the presence of parties -of well-known men of fashion. Then the Grand Duke entered as a troupe -of acrobats finished their performance. Zara el-Khala was next upon -the programme. I glanced at the Grand Duke and thought that he looked -pale and unwell. - -The tableau curtain fell and the manager appeared behind the footlights. -He, also, seemed to be much perturbed. - -"Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "I greatly regret to announce that -Mlle. Zara el-Kahla is indisposed and unable to appear. We have -succeeded in obtaining the services----" - -Of whom he had succeeded in obtaining the services I never heard, for -the rougher section of the audience rose at him like a menacing wave! -They had come to see the Egyptian dancer and they would have their -money back! It was a swindle; they would smash the theatre! - -If one had doubted the great and growing popularity of Zara el-Kahla, -this demonstration must have proved convincing. Over the heads of the -excited audience, I saw the Grand Duke rise as if to retire. The other -box parties were also standing up and talking angrily. - -"Why was it not announced outside the theatre?" someone shouted. -"We did not know until twenty minutes ago!" cried the manager in -accents of despair. - -I hurried from the theatre and took a taxicab to the hotel of the -dancer. Running into the hall, I thrust a card in the hand of a -concierge who stood there. - -"Announce to Mlle. Zara el-Khala that I must see her at once," I said. - -The man smiled and returned the card to me. - -"Mlle. Zara el-Khala left Paris at seven o'clock, monsieur!" - -"What! I cried--left Paris!" - -"But certainly. Her baskets were taken to the Gare du Nord an hour -earlier by her servant and she went off by the seven-fifty rapid for -Calais. The theatre people were here asking for her an hour ago." - -I hurried to my office to obtain the latest reports of my men, I had -lost touch with them, you understand, during the latter part of the -afternoon and evening. I found there the utmost confusion. They had -been seeking me all over Paris to inform me that Zara el-Khala had -left. Two men had followed her and had telephoned from Calais for -instructions. She had crossed by the night mail for Dover. It was -already too late to instruct the English police. - -For a few hours I had relaxed my usual vigilance--and this was the -result. What could I do? Zara el-Khala had committed no crime, but -her sudden flight--for it looked like flight you will agree--was -highly suspicious. And as I sat there in my office filled with all -sorts of misgivings, in ran one of the men engaged in watching the -Grand Duke. - -The Grand Duke had been seized with illness as he left his box in the -Montmartre theatre and had died before his car could reach the hotel! - - - - -CHAPTER III - -A STRANGE QUESTION - - -A conviction burst upon my mind that a frightful crime had been -committed. By whom and for what purpose I knew not. I hastened to the -hotel of the Grand Duke. Tremendous excitement prevailed there, of -course. There is no more certain way for a great personage to court -publicity than to travel incognito. Everywhere that "M. de Stahler" -had appeared all Paris had cried, "There goes the Grand Duke Ivan!" -And now as I entered the hotel, press, police and public were -demanding: "Is it true that the Grand Duke is dead?" Just emerging -from the lift I saw Casimir. _In propria persona_--as M. Max--he -failed to recognize me. - -"My good man," I said--"are you a member of the suite of the late -Grand Duke?" - -"I am, or was, the valet of M. de Stahler, monsieur," he replied. - -I showed him my card. - -"To me 'M. de Stahler' is the Grand Duke Ivan. What other servants had -he with him?" I asked, although I knew very well. - -"None, monsieur." - -"Where and when was he taken ill?" - -"At the Theatre Coquerico. Montmartre, at about a quarter past ten -o'clock to-night." - -"Who was with him?" - -"No one, monsieur. His Highness was alone in a box. I had instructions -to call with the car at eleven o'clock." - -"Well?" - -"The theatre management telephoned at a quarter past ten to say that -His Highness had been taken ill and that a physician had been sent for. -I went in the car at once and found him lying in one of the -dressing-rooms to which he had been carried. A medical man was in -attendance. The Grand Duke was unconscious. We moved him to the car----" - -"_We?_" - -"The doctor, the theatre manager, and myself. The Grand Duke was then -alive, the physician declared, although he seemed to me to be already -dead. But just before we reached the hotel, the physician, who was -watching His Highness anxiously, cried, 'Ah,_mon Dieu!_ It is finished. -What a catastrophe!'" - -"He was dead?" - -"He was dead, monsieur." - -"Who has seen him?" - -"They have telephoned for half the doctors in Paris, monsieur, but it -is too late." - -He was affected, the good Casimir. Tears welled up in his eyes. I -mounted in the lift to the apartment in which the Grand Duke lay. -Three doctors were there, one of them being he of whom Casimir had -spoken. Consternation was written on every face. - -"It was his heart," I was assured by the doctor who had been summoned -to the theatre. "We shall find that he suffered from heart trouble." - -They were all agreed upon the point. - -"He must have sustained a great emotional shock," said another. - -"You are convinced that there was no foul play, gentlemen?" I asked. - -They were quite unanimous on the point. - -"Did the Grand Duke make any statement at the time of the seizure -which would confirm the theory of a heart attack?" - -No. He had fallen down unconscious outside the door of his box, and -from this unconsciousness he had never recovered. (Depositions of -witnesses, medical evidence and other documents are available for -the guidance of whoever may care to see them, but, as is well known, -the death of the Grand Duke was ascribed to natural causes and it -seemed as though my trouble would after all prove to be in vain.) -Let us see what happened. - -Leaving the hotel, on the night of the Grand Duke's death, I joined -the man who was watching the cafe telephone. - -There had been a message during the course of the evening, but it had -been for a Greek cigarette-maker and it referred to the theft of -several bales of Turkish tobacco--useful information, of minor kind, -but of little interest to me. I knew that it would be useless to -question the man Miguel, although I strongly suspected him of being -a member of "The Scorpion's" organization. Any patron of the -establishment enjoyed the privilege of receiving private telephone -calls at the cafe on payment of a small fee. - -A man of less experience in obscure criminology might now have assumed -that he had been misled by a series of striking coincidences. Remember, -there was not a shadow of doubt in the minds of the medical experts -that the Grand Duke had died from syncope. His own professional -advisor had sent written testimony to show that there was hereditary -heart trouble, although not of a character calculated to lead to a -fatal termination except under extraordinary circumstances. His own -Government, which had every reason to suspect that the Grand Duke's -assassination might be attempted, was satisfied. _Eh bien!_ I was not. - -I cross-examined the manager of the Theatre Coquerico. He admitted that -Mlle. Zara el-Khala had been a mystery throughout her engagement. -Neither he nor anyone else connected with the house had ever entered -her dressing-room or held any conversation with her, whatever, except -the stage-manager and the musical director. These had spoken to her -about her music and about lighting and other stage effects. She spoke -perfect French. - -Such a state of affairs was almost incredible, but was explained by -the fact that the dancer, at a most modest salary, had doubled the -takings of the theatre in a few days and had attracted capacity -business throughout the remainder of her engagement. She had written -from Marseilles, enclosing press notices and other usual matter and -had been booked direct for one week. She had remained for two months, -and might have remained for ever, the poor manager assured me, at five -times the salary! - -A curious fact now came to light. In all her photographs Zara -el-Khala appeared veiled, in the Eastern manner; that is to say, she -wore a white silk _yashmak_ which concealed all her face except her -magnificent eyes! On the stage the veil was discarded; in the -photographs it was always present. - -And the famous picture which she had sent to the Grand Duke? He had -destroyed it, in a fit of passion, on returning from the Bois de -Boulogne after his encounter with Chunda Lal! - -It is Fate after all--Kismet--and not the wit of man which leads to -the apprehension of really great criminals--a tireless Fate which -dogs their footsteps, a remorseless Fate from which they fly in vain. -Long after the funeral of the Grand Duke, and at a time when I had -almost forgotten Zara el-Khala, I found myself one evening at the -opera with a distinguished French scientist and he chanced to refer -to the premature death (which had occurred a few months earlier) of -Henrik Ericksen, the Norwegian. - -"A very great loss to the century, M. Max," he said. "Ericksen was as -eminent in electrical science as the Grand Duke Ivan was eminent in -the science of war. Both were stricken down in the prime of life--and -under almost identical circumstances." - -"That is true," I said thoughtfully. - -"It would almost seem," he continued, "as if Nature had determined to -foil any further attempts to rifle her secrets and Heaven to check -mankind in the making of future wars. Only three months after the -Grand Duke's death, the American admiral, Mackney, died at sea--you -will remember? Now, following Ericksen, Van Rembold, undoubtedly the -greatest mining engineer of the century and the only man who has -ever produced radium in workable quantities, is seized with illness -at a friend's house and expires even before medical aid can be -summoned." - -"It is very strange.' - -"It is uncanny." - -"Were you personally acquainted with the late Van Rembold?" I asked. - -"I knew him intimately--a man of unusual charm, M. Max; and I have -particular reason to remember his death, for I actually met him and -spoke to him less than an hour before he died. We only exchanged a -few words--we met on the street; but I shall never forget the subject -of our chat." - -"How is that?" I asked. - -"Well, I presume Van Rembold's question was prompted by his knowledge -of the fact that I had studied such subjects at one time; but he -asked me if I knew of any race or sect in Africa or Asia who -worshipped scorpions." - -"_Scorpions!_" I cried. "_Ah, mon Dieu!_ monsieur say it again-- -_scorpions?_" - -"But yes, certainly. Does it surprise you?" - -"Did it not surprise _you_?" - -"Undoubtedly. I could not imagine what had occurred to account for -his asking so strange a question. I replied that I knew of no such -sect, and Van Rembold immediately changed the subject, nor did he -revert to it. So that I never learned why he had made that singular -inquiry." - -You can imagine that this conversation afforded me much food for -reflection. Whilst I could think of no reason why anyone should plot -to assassinate Grand Dukes, admirals and mining engineers, the -circumstances of the several cases were undoubtedly similar in a -number of respects. But it was the remarkable question asked by Van -Rembold which particularly aroused my interest. - -Of course it might prove to be nothing more than a coincidence, but -when one comes to consider how rarely the word "scorpion" is used, -outside those in which these insects abound, it appears to be -something more. Van Rembold, then, had had some occasion to feel -curious about the scorpions; the name "Scorpion" was associated -with the Hindu follower of Zara el-Khala; and she was who had -brought the Grand Duke to Paris, where he had died. - -Oh! it was a very fragile thread, but by following such a thread as -this we are sometimes led to the heart of a labyrinth. - -Beyond wondering if some sinister chain bound together this series of -apparently natural deaths I might have made no move in the matter, but -something occurred which spurred me to action. Sir Frank Narcombe, the -great English surgeon, collapsed in the foyer of a London theatre and -died shortly afterwards. Here again I perceived a case of a notable -man succumbing unexpectedly in a public place--a case parallel to that -of the Grand Duke, of Ericksen, of Van Rembold! it seemed as though -some strange epidemic had attacked men of science--yes! they were all -men of science, even including the Grand Duke, who was said to be the -most scientific soldier in Europe, and the admiral, who had perfected -the science of submarine warfare. - -"The Scorpion!" ... that name haunted me persistently. So much so that -at last I determined to find out for myself if Sir Frank Narcombe had -ever spoken about a scorpion or if there was any evidence to show that -he had been interested in the subject. - -I could not fail to remember, too, that Zara el-Khala had last been -reported as crossing to England. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -THE FIGHT IN THE CAFE - - -New Scotland Yard had been advised that any reference to a scorpion, -in whatever form it occurred, should be noted and followed up, but -nothing had resulted and as a matter of fact I was not surprised in -the least. All that I had learned--and this was little enough--I had -learned more or less by accident. But I came to the conclusion that a -visit to London might be advisable. - -I had caused a watch to be kept upon the man Miguel, whose -establishment seemed to be a recognized resort of shady characters. -I had no absolute proof, remember, that he knew anything of the -private affairs of the Hindu, and no further reference to a scorpion -had been made by anyone using the cafe telephone. Nevertheless I -determined to give him a courtesy call before leaving for London ... - and to this determination I cannot doubt that once again I was led -by providence. - -Attired in a manner calculated to enable me to pass unnoticed among -the patrons of the establishment, I entered the place and ordered -cognac. Miguel having placed it before me, I lighted a cigarette and -surveyed my surroundings. - -Eight or nine men were in the cafe, and two women. Four of the men -were playing cards at a corner table, and the others were distributed -about the place, drinking and smoking. The women, who were flashily -dressed but who belonged to that order of society which breeds the -Apache, were deep in conversation with a handsome Algerian. I -recognized only one face in the cafe--that of a dangerous character, -Jean Sach, who had narrowly escaped the electric chair in the United -States and who was well known to the Bureau. He was smiling at one of -the two women--the woman to whom the Algerian seemed to be more -particularly addressing himself. - -Another there was in the cafe who interested me as a student of -physiognomy--a dark, bearded man, one of the card-players. His face -was disfigured by a purple scar extending from his brow to the left -corner of his mouth, which it had drawn up into a permanent snarl, -so that he resembled an enraged and dangerous wild animal. Mentally -I classified this person as "Le Balafre." - -I had just made up my mind to depart when the man Sach arose, crossed -the cafe and seated himself insolently between the Algerian and the -woman to whom the latter was talking. Turning his back upon the brown -man, he addressed some remark to the woman, at the same time leering -in her face. - -Women of this class are difficult, you understand? Sach received from -the lady a violent blow upon the face which rolled him on the floor! -As he fell, the Algerian sprang up and drew a knife. Sach rolled away - from him and also reached for the knife which he carried in a -hip-pocket. - -Before he could draw it, Miguel, the quadroon proprietor, threw -himself upon him and tried to pitch him into the street. But Sach, -although a small man, was both agile and ferocious. He twisted out of -the grasp of the huge quadroon and turned, raising the knife. As he -did so, the Algerian deftly kicked it from his grasp and left Sach to -face Miguel unarmed. Screaming with rage, he sprang at Miguel's throat, -and the tow fell writhing upon the floor. - -There could only be one end to such a struggle, of course, as the -Algerian recognized by replacing his knife in his pocket and resuming -his seat. Miguel obtained a firm hold upon Sacah and raised him bodily -above his head, as one has seen a professional weight-lifter raise a -heavy dumb-bell. Thus he carried him, kicking and foaming at the mouth -with passion, to the open door. From the step he threw him into the -middle of the street. - -At this moment I observed something glittering upon the floor close to -the chair occupied by the Algerian. Standing up--for I had determined -to depart--I crossed in that direction, stooped and picked up this -object which glittered. As my fingers touched it, so did my heart give -a great leap. - -The object was a _golden scorpion!_ - -Forgetful of my dangerous surroundings I stood looking at the golden -ornament in my hand ... when suddenly and violently it was snatched -from me! The Algerian, his brown face convulsed with rage, -confronted me. - -"Where did you find that charm?" he cried. "It belongs to me." - -"Very well," I replied--"you have it." - -He glared at me with a ferocity which the incident scarcely seemed to -merit and exchanged a significant glance with someone who had -approached and who now stood behind me. Turning, I met a second black -gaze--that of the quadroon who having restored order had returned from -the cafe door and now stood regarding me. "Did you find it on the -floor?" asked Miguel suspiciously. - -"I did." - -He turned to the Algerian. - -"It fell when you kicked the knife from the hand of that pig," he -said. "You should be more careful." - -Again they exchanged significant glances, but the Algerian resumed -his seat and Miguel went behind the counter. I left the cafe -conscious of the fact that black looks pursued me. - -The night was very dark, and as I came out on to the pavement someone -touched me on the arm. I turned in a flash. - -"Walk on, friend," said the voice of Jean Sach. "What was it that you -picked up from the floor?" - -"A golden scorpion," I answered quickly. - -"Ah!" he whispered--"I thought so! It is enough. They shall pay for -what they have done to me--those two. Hurry, friend, as I do." - -Before I could say another word or strive to detain him, he turned -and ran off along a narrow courtway which at this point branched from -the street. - -I stood for a moment, nonplussed, staring after him. By good fortune -I had learned more in ten minutes than by the exercise of all my -ingenuity and the resources of the Service I could have learned in -ten months! _Par al barbe du prophete_ the Kismet which dogs the -footsteps of malefactors assisted me! - -Recollecting the advice of Jean Sach, I set off at a brisk pace along -the street, which was dark and deserted and which passed through a -district marked red on the Paris crimes-map. Arriving at the corner, -above which projected a lamp, I paused and glanced back into the -darkness. I could see no one, but I thought I could detect the sound -of stealthy footsteps following me. - -The suspicion was enough. I quickened my pace, anxious to reach the -crowded boulevard upon which this second street opened. I reached it -unmolested, but intending to throw any pursuer off the track, I dodged -and doubled repeatedly on the way to my flat and arrived there about -midnight, convinced that I had eluded pursuit--if indeed I had been -pursued. - -All my arrangements were made for leaving Paris, and now I telephoned -to the assistant on duty in my office, instructing him to take certain -steps in regard to the proprietor of the cafe and the Algerian and to -find the hiding-place of the man Jean-Sach. I counted it more than -ever important that I should go to London at once. - -In this belief I was confirmed at the very moment that I boarded the -Channel steamer at Boulogne: for as I stepped upon the deck I found -myself face to face with a man who was leaning upon the rail and -apparently watching the passengers coming on board. He was a man of -heavy build, dark and bearded, and his face was strangely familiar. - -Turning, as I lighted a cigarette, I glanced back at him in order to -obtain a view of his profile. I knew him instantly--for now the scar -was visible. It was "Le Balafre" who had been playing cards in -Miguel's cafe on the previous night! - -I have sometimes been criticised, especially by my English confreres, -for my faith in disguise. I have been told that no disguise is -impenetrable to the trained eye. I reply that there are many disguises -but few trained eyes! To my faith in disguise I owed the knowledge -that a golden scorpion was the token of some sort of gang, society, or -criminal group, and to this same faith which an English inspector of -police once assured me to be a misplaced one I owed, on boarding the -steamer, my escape from detection by this big bearded fellow who was -possibly looking out for me! - -Yet, I began to wonder if after all I had escaped the shadowy pursuer -whose presence I had suspected in the dark street outside the cafe or -if he had tracked me and learned my real identity. In any event, the -roles were about to be reversed! "Le Balafre" at Folkestone took a seat -in a third-class carriage of the London train. I took one in the next -compartment. - -Arrived at Charing Cross, he stood for a time in the booking-hall, -glanced at his watch, and then took up the handbag which he carried -and walked out into the station yard. I walked out also. - -"Le Balafre" accosted a cabman; and as he did so I passed close -behind him and overheard a part of the conversation. - -"... Bow Road Station East! It's too far. What?" - -I glanced back. The bearded man was holding up a note--a pound note -apparently. I saw the cabman nod. Without an instant's delay I rushed -up to another cabman who had just discharged a passenger. - -"To Bow Road Station East!" I said to the man. "Double fare if you -are quick!" - -It would be a close race. But I counted on the aid of that Fate which -dogs the steps of wrong-doers! My cab was off first and the driver had -every reason for hurrying. From the moment that we turned out into the -Strand until we arrived at our destination I saw no more of -"Le Balafre." My extensive baggage I must hope to recover later. - -At Bow Road Station I discovered a telephone box in a dark corner -which commanded a view of the street. I entered this box and waited. -It was important that I should remain invisible. Unless my bearded -friend had been unusually fortunate he could not well have arrived -before me. - -As it chanced I had nearly six minutes to wait. Then, not ten yards -away, I saw "Le Balafre" arrive and dismiss the cabman outside the -station. - -There was nothing furtive in his manner; he was evidently satisfied -that no one pursued him; and he stood in the station entrance almost -outside my box and lighted a cigar! - -Placing his bag upon the floor, he lingered, looking to left and right, -when suddenly a big closed car painted dull yellow drew up beside the -pavement. It was driven by a brown-faced chauffeur whose nationality -I found difficulty in placing, for he wore large goggles. But before -I could determine upon my plan of action, "Le Balafre" crossed the -pavement and entered the car--and the car glided smoothly away, going -East. A passing lorry obstructed my view and I even failed to obtain -a glimpse of the number on the plate. - -But I had seen something which had repaid me for my trouble. As the -man of the scar had walked up to the car, had exhibited to the -brown-skinned chauffeur some object which he held in the palm of his -hand ... an object which glittered like gold! - - - -II. "LE BALAFRE" - - -CHAPTER I - -I BECOME CHARLES MALET - - -Behold me established in rooms in Battersea and living retired during -the day while I permitted my beard to grow. I had recognized that my -mystery of "The Scorpion" was the biggest case which had ever engaged -the attention of the Service de Surete, and I was prepared, if -necessary, to devote my whole time for twelve months to its solution. -I had placed myself in touch with Paris, and had had certain papers -and licenses forwarded to me. A daily bulletin reached me, and one of -these bulletins was sensational. - -The body of Jean Sach had been recovered from the Seine. The man had -been stabbed to the heart. Surveillance of Miguel and his associates -continued unceasingly, but I had directed that no raids or arrests -were to be made without direct orders from me. - -I was now possessed of a French motor license and also that of a Paris -taxi-driver, together with all the other documents necessary to -establish the identity of one Charles Malet. Everything was in order. -I presented myself--now handsomely bearded--at New Scotland Yard and -applied for a license. The "knowledge of London" and other tests I -passed successfully and emerged a fully-fledged cabman! - -Already I had opened negotiations for the purchase of a dilapidated -but seviceable cab which belonged to a small proprietor who had -obtained a car of more up-to-date pattern to replace this obsolete -one. I completed these negotiations by paying down a certain sum and -arranged to garage my cab in the disused stable of a house near my -rooms in Battersea. - -Thus I now found myself in a position to appear anywhere at any time -without exciting suspicion, enabled swiftly to proceed from point to -point and to pursue anyone either walking or driving whom it might -please me to pursue. It was a _modus operandi_ which had served me well -in Paris and which had led to one of my biggest successes (the capture -of the French desperado known as "Mr. Q.") in New York. - -I had obtained, _via_ Paris, particulars of the recent death of Sir -Frank Narcombe, and the circumstances attendant upon his end were so -similar to those which had characterized the fate of the Grand Duke, -of Van Rembold and the others, that I could not for a moment believe -them to be due to mere coincidence. Acting upon my advice Paris -advised Scotland Yard to press for a _post mortem_ examination of the -body, but the influence of Sir Frank's family was exercised to prevent -this being carried out--and exercised successfully. - -Meanwhile, I hovered around the houses, flats, clubs and offices of -everyone who had been associated with the late surgeon, noting to what -addresses they directed me to drive and who lived at those address. In -this way I obtained evidence sufficient to secure three judicial -separations, but not a single clue leading to "The Scorpion"! No -matter. - -At every available opportunity I haunted the East-End streets, hoping -for a glimpse of the big car and the brown-skinned chauffeur or of my -scarred man from Paris. I frequented all sorts of public bars and -eating-houses used by foreign and Asiatics. By day and by night I -roamed about the dismal thoroughfares of that depressing district, -usually with my flag down to imply that I was engaged. - -Such diligence never goes long unrewarded. One evening, having -discharged a passenger, a mercantile officer, at the East India Docks, -as I was drifting, watchfully, back through Limehouse, I saw a large -car pull up just ahead of me in the dark. A man got out and the car -was driven off. - -Two courses presented themselves. I was not sure that this was the -car for which I sought, but it strangely resembled it. Should I follow -the car or the man? A rapid decision was called for. I followed the man. - -That I had not been mistaken in the identity of the car shortly -appeared. The man took out a cigar and standing on the corner opposite -the Town Hall, lighted it. I was close to him at the time, and by the -light of the match, which he sheltered with his hands, I saw the -scarred and bearded face! _Triomphe!_ it was he! - -Having lighted his cigar, he crossed the road and entered the saloon -of a neighbourhood public-house. Locking my cab I, also, entered that -saloon. I ordered a glass of bitter beer and glanced around at the -object of my interest. He had obtained a glass of brandy and was -contorting his hideous face as he sipped the beverage. I laughed. - -"Have they tried to poison you, mister!" I said. - -"Ah,_pardieu!_ poison--yes!" he replied. - -"You want to have it out of a bottle," I continued confidentially-- -"Martell's Three Stars." - -He stared at me uncomprehendingly. - -"I don't know," he said haltingly. "I have very little English." - -"Oh, that's it!" I cried, speaking French with a barbarous accent. -"You only speak French?" - -"Yes, yes," he replied eagerly. "It is so difficult to make oneself -understood. This spirit is not cognac, it is some kind of petrol!" - -Finishing my bitter, I ordered two glasses of good brandy and placed -one before "Le Balafre." - -"Try that," I said, continuing to speak in French, "You will find it -is better." - -He sipped from his glass and agreed that I was right. We chatted -together for ten minutes and had another drink, after which my -dangerous-looking acquaintance wished me good-night and went out. The -car had come from the West, and I strongly suspected that my man either -lived in the neighbourhood or had come there to keep an appointment. -Leaving my cab outside the public-house, I followed him on foot, down -Three Colt Street to Ropemaker Street, where he turned into a narrow -alley leading to the riverside. It was straight and deserted, and I -dared not follow further until he had reached the corner. I heard his -footsteps pass right to the end. Then the sound died away. I ran to -the corner. The back of a wharf building--a high blank wall--faced a -row of ramshackle tenements, some of them built of wood; but not a -soul was in sight. - -I reluctantly returned to the spot at which I had left the cab--and -found a constable there who wanted to know what I meant by leaving a -vehicle in the street unattended. I managed to enlist his sympathy by -telling him that I had been in pursuit of a "fare" who had swindled me -with a bad half-crown. The ruse succeeded. - -"Which street did he go down, mate?" asked the constable. - -I described the street and described the scarred man. The constable -shook his head. - -"Sounds like one o' them foreign sailormen," he said. "But I don't -know what he can have gone down there for. It's nearly all Chinese, -that part." - -His words came as a revelation; they changed the whole complexion of -the case. It dawned upon me even as he spoke the word "Chinese" that -the golden scorpion which I had seen in the Paris cafe was of Chinese -workmanship! I started my engine and drove slowly to that street in -which I had lost the track of "Le Balafre." I turned the cab so that -I should be ready to drive off at a moment's notice, and sat there -wondering what my next move should be. How long I had been there I -cannot say, when suddenly it began to rain in torrents. - -What I might have done or what I had hoped to do is of no importance; -for as I sat there staring out at the dismal rain-swept street, a man -came along, saw the head-lamps of the cab and stopped, peering in my -direction. Evidently perceiving that I drove a cab and not a private -car, he came towards me. - -"Are you disengaged?" he asked. - -Whether it was that I sympathized with him--he had no topcoat or -umbrella--or whether I was guided by Fate I know not, but as he spoke -I determined to give up my dreary vigil for that night. _Pardieu!_ but -certainly it was Fate again! - -"Well, I suppose I am, sir," I said, and asked him where he wanted -to go. - -He gave an address not five hundred yards from my own rooms! I thought -this so curious that I hesitated no longer. - -"Jump in," I said; and still seeking in my mind for a link between the -scorpion case and China, I drove off, and in less than half an hour, -for the streets were nearly empty, arrived at my destination. - -The passenger, whose name was Dr. Keppel Stuart, very kindly suggested -a glass of hot grog, and I did not refuse his proferred hospitality. -When I came out of his house again, the rain had almost ceased, and -just as I stooped to crank the car I thought I saw a shadowy figure -moving near the end of a lane which led to the tradesmen's entrance of -Dr. Stuart's house. A sudden suspicion laid hold upon me--a horrible -doubt. - -Having driven some twenty yards along the road, I leaned from my seat -and looked back. A big man wearing a black waterproof overall was -standing looking after me! - -Remembering how cleverly I had been trailed from Miguel's cafe to my -flat, in Paris (for I no longer doubted that someone had followed me -on that occasion), I now perceived that I might again be the object of -the same expert's attention. Stopping my engine half-way along the -next road, I jumped out and ran back, hiding in the bushes which grew -beside the gate of a large empty house. I had only a few seconds to -wait. - -A big closed car, running almost silently, passed before me ... and -"Le Balafre" was leaning out of the window! - -At last I saw my chance of finding the headquarters of "The Scorpion." -Alas! The man of the scar was as swift to recognize that possibility -as I. A moment after he had passed my stationary cab, and found it to -be deserted, his big car was off like the wind, and even before I -could step out from the bushes the roar of the powerful engine was -growing dim in the distance! - -I was detected. I had to deal with dangerously clever people. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -BAITING THE TRAP - - -The following morning I spent at home, in my modest rooms, reviewing -my position and endeavouring to adjust my plans in accordance with the -latest development. "The Scorpion" had scored a point. What had aroused -the suspicions "Le Balafre," I knew not; but I was inclined to think -that he had been looking from some window or peep-hole in the narrow -street with the wooden houses when I had, injudiciously, followed him -there. - -On the other hand, the leakage might be in Paris--or in my -correspondence system. The man of the scar might have been looking for -me as I was looking for him. That he was looking for someone on the -cross-channel boat I had not doubted. - -He was aware, then that Charles Malet, cabman, was watching him. But -was he aware that Charles Malet was Gaston Max? And did he know where -I lived? Also--did he perchance think that my meeting with Dr. Stuart -in Limehouse had been prearranged? Clearly he had seen Dr. Stuart -enter my cab, for he had pursued us to Battersea. - -This course of reflection presently led me to a plan. It was a -dangerous plan, but I doubted if I should ever find myself in greater -danger than I was already. _Nom d'un nom!_ I had not forgotten the -poor Jean Sach! - -That night, well knowing that I carried my life in my hands, I drove -again to Limehouse Town Hall, and again leaving my cab outside went -into the bar where I had preciously me "Le Balafre." If I had doubted -that my movements were watched I must now have had such doubts -dispelled; for two minutes later the man with the scar came in and -greeted me affably! - -I had learned something else. He did not know that I had recognized -him as the person who had tracked me to Dr. Stuart's house! - -He invited me to drink with him, and I did so. As we raised our -glasses I made a move. Looking all about me suspiciously: - -"Am I right in supposing that you have business in this part of -London?" I asked. - -"Yes," he replied "My affairs bring me here sometimes." - -"You are well acquainted with the neighbourhood?" - -"Fairly well. But actually of course I am a stranger to London." - -I tapped him confidentially upon the breast. - -"Take my advice, as a friend," I said, "and visit these parts as -rarely as possible." - -"Why do you say that?" - -"It is dangerous. From the friendly manner in which you entered into -conversation with me, I perceived that you were of a genial and -unsuspicious nature. Very well. I warn you. Last night I was followed -from a certain street not far from here to the house of a medical man -who is a specialist in certain kinds of criminology, you understand." - -He stared at me very hard, his teeth bared by that fearful snarl. "You -are a strange cabman." - -"Perhaps I am. No matter. Take my advice. I have things written -here"--I tapped the breast of my tunic--"which will astonish all the -world shortly. I tell you, my friend, my fortune is made." - -I finished my drink and ordered another for myself and one for my -acquaintance. He was watching me doubtfully. Taking up my replenished -glass, I emptied it at a draught and ordered a third. I leaned over -towards the scarred man, resting my hand heavily upon his shoulder. - -"Five thousand pounds," I whispered thickly, "has been offered for the -information which I have here in my pocket. It is not yet complete, -you understand, and because they may murder me before I obtain the -rest of the facts, do you know what I am going to do with this?" - -Again I tapped my tunic pocket. "Le Balafre" frowned perplexedly. - -"I don't even know what you are talking about, my friend," he replied. - -"_I_ know what I am talking about," I assured him, speaking more and -more huskily. "Listen, then: I am going to take all my notes to my -friend, the doctor, and leave them with him, sealed--sealed, you -follow me? If I do not come back for them, In a week, shall we say?--he -sends them to the police. _I_ do not profit, you think? No._morbleu!_ -but there are some who hang!" - -Emptying my third glass, I ordered a fourth and one for my companion. -He checked me. - -"No more for me, thank you," he said. "I have--business to attend to. -I will wish you good-night." - -"Good-night!" I cried boisterously--"good-night, friend! take heed of -my good advice!" - -As he went out, the barman brought me my fourth glass of cognac, staring -at me doubtfully. Our conversation had been conducted in French, but -the tone of my voice had attracted attention. - -"Had about enough, ain't you, mate?" he said. "Your ugly pal jibbed!" - -"Quite enough!" I replied, in English now of course. "But I've had a -stroke of luck to-night and I feel happy. Have one with me. This is a -final." - -On going out into the street I looked cautiously about me, for I did -not expect to reach the house of Dr. Stuart unmolested. I credited -"Le Balafre" with sufficient acumen to distrust the genuineness of -my intoxication, even if he was unaware of my real identity. I never -make the mistake of underestimating an opponent's wit, and whilst -acting on the assumption that the scarred man knew me to be forcing -his hand, I recognized that whether he believed me to be drunk or -sober, Gaston Mas or another, his line of conduct must be the same. -He must take it for granted that I actually designed to lodge my notes -with Dr. Stuart and endeavour to prevent me doing so. - -I could detect no evidence of surveillance whatever and cranking the -engine I mounted and drove off. More than once, as I passed along -Commercial Road, I stopped and looked back. But so far as I could -make out no one was following me. The greater part of my route lay -along populous thoroughfares, and of this I was not sorry; but I did -not relish the prospect of Thames Street, along which presently my -course led me. - -Leaving the city behind me, I turned into that thoroughfare, which at -night is almost quite deserted, and there I pulled up. _Pardieu!_ I -was disappointed! It seemed as though my scheme had miscarried. It -could not understand why I had been permitted to go unmolested, and I -intended to walk back to the corner for a final survey before -continuing my journey. This survey was never made. - -As I stopped the cab and prepared to descend, a faint--a very faint-- -sound almost in my ear, set me keenly on the alert. Just in the nick -of time I ducked ... as the blade of a long knife flashed past my -head, ripping its way through my cloth cap! - -Yes! That movement had saved my life, for otherwise the knife must -have entered my shoulder--and pierced to my heart! - -Someone was hidden in the cab! - -He had quietly opened one of the front windows and had awaited a -suitable opportunity to stab me. Now, recognizing failure, he leapt -out on the near side as I lurched and stumbled from my seat, and ran -off like the wind. I never so much as glimpsed him. - -"_Mon Dieu!_" I muttered, raising my hand to my head, from which blood -was trickling down my face, "the plan succeeds!" - -I bound a handkerchief as tightly as possible around the wound in my -scalp and put my cap on to keep the bandage in place. The wound was -only a superficial one, and except for the bleeding I suffered no -inconvenience from it. But I had now a legitimate reason for visiting -Dr. Stuart, and as I drove on towards Battersea I was modifying my -original plan in accordance with the unforeseen conditions. - -It was long past Dr. Stuart's hours of consultation when I arrived at -his house, and the servant showed me into a waiting-room, informing me -that the doctor would join me in a few minutes. Directly she had gone -out I took from the pocket of my tunic the sealed envelope which I had -intended to lodge with the doctor. Pah! it was stained with blood -which had trickled down from the wound in my scalp! - -Actually, you will say, there was no reason why I should place a -letter in the hand of Dr. Stuart; my purpose would equally well be -served by _pretending_ that I had done so. Ah, but I knew that I had -to deal with clever people--with artists in crime--and it behooved me -to be an artist also. I had good reason to know that their system of -espionage was efficient; and the slipshod way is ever the wrong way. - -The unpleasantly sticky letter I returned to my pocket, looking around -me for some means of making up any kind of packet which could do duty -as a substitute. Beyond a certain draped over a recess at one end of -the waiting-room I saw a row of boxes, a box of lint and other medical -paraphernalia. It was the doctor's dispensary. Perhaps I might find -there an envelope. - -I crossed the room and looked. Immediately around the corner, on a -level with my eyes, was a packet of foolscap envelopes and a stick of - black sealing-wax! _Bien!_ all that I now required was a stout sheet -of paper to enclose in one of those envelopes. But not a scrap of -paper could I find, except the blood-stained letter in my pocket-- -towards which I had formed a strong antipathy. I had not even a -newspaper in my possession. I thought of folding three or four -envelopes, but there were only six in all, and the absence of so -many might be noted. - -Drawing aside a baize curtain which hung from the bottom shelf, I -discovered a number of old card-board boxes. It was sufficient. With -a pair of surgical scissors I cut a piece from the lid of one and -thrust it into an envelope, gumming down the lapel. At a little gas -jet intended for the purpose I closed both ends with wax and-- -singular coincidence!--finding a Chinese coin fastened to a cork -lying on the shelf, my sense of humour prompted me to use it as a -seal! Finally, to add to the verisimilitude of the affair I borrowed -a pen which rested in a bottle of red ink and wrote upon the -envelope the number: 30, that day being the thirtieth day of the -month. - -It was well that the artist within me had dictated this careful -elaboration, as became evident a few minutes later when the doctor -appeared at the head of a short flight of stairs and requested me to -step up to his consulting-room. It was a small room, so that the -window, over which a linen blind was drawn, occupied nearly the whole -of one wall. As Dr. Stuart, having examined the cut on my scalp, -descended to the dispensary for lint, the habits of a lifetime asserted -themselves. - -I quickly switched off the light and peeped out of the window around -the edge of the blind, which I drew slightly aside. In the shadow of -the wall upon the opposite side of the narrow lane a man was standing! -I turned on the light again. The watcher should not be disappointed! - -My skull being dressed, I broached the subject of the letter, which I -said I had found in my cab after the accident which had caused the -injury. - -"Someone left this behind to-day, sir," I said; "perhaps the gentleman -who was with me when I had the accident; and I've got no means of -tracing him. He may be able to trace _me_, though, or he may advertise. -It evidently contains something valuable. I wonder if you would do me -a small favour? Would you mind taking charge of it for a week or so, -until it is claimed?" - -He asked me why I did not take it to Scotland Yard. - -"Because," said I, "if the owner claims it from Scotland Yard he is -less likely to be generous than if he gets it direct from me!" - -"But what is the point," asked Dr. Stuart, "in leaving it here?" - -I explained that if _I_ kept the letter I might be suspected of an -intention of stealing it, whereas directly there was any inquiry, he -could certify that I had left it in his charge. He seemed to be -satisfied and asked me to come into his study for a moment. The man -in the lane was probably satisfied, too. I had stood three paces from -the table-lamp all the time, waving the letter about as I talked, and -casting a bold shadow on the linen blind! - -The first thing that struck me as I entered the doctor's study was -that the French windows, which opened on a sheltered lawn, were open. -I acted accordingly. - -"You see," said Dr. Stuart, "I am enclosing your letter in this big -envelope which I am sealing." - -"Yes, sir," I replied, standing at some distance from him, so that he -had to speak loudly. "And would you mind addressing it to the Lost -Property Office." - -"Not at all," said he, and did as I suggested. "If not reclaimed -within a reasonable time, it will be sent to Scotland Yard." - -I edged nearer to the open window. - -"If it is not reclaimed," I said loudly, "it goes to Scotland Yard--yes." - -"Meanwhile," concluded the doctor, "I am locking it in this private -drawer in my bureau." - -"It is locked in your bureau. Very good." - - - - -CHAPTER III - -DISAPPEARANCE OF CHARLES MALET - - -Knowing, and I knew it well, that people of "The Scorpion" were -watching, I do not pretend that I felt at my ease as I drove around to -the empty house in which I garaged my cab. My inquiry had entered upon -another stage, and Charles Malet was about to disappear from the case. -I was well aware that if he failed in his vigilance for a single moment -he might well disappear from the world! - -The path which led to the stables was overgrown with weeds and flanked -by ragged bushes; weeds and grass sprouted between the stones paving -the little yard, also, although they were withered to a great extent -by the petrol recently spilled there. Having run the cab into the yard, -I alighted and looked around the deserted grounds, mysterious in the -moonlight. Company would have been welcome, but excepting a constable -who had stopped and chatted with me on one or two evenings I always -had the stables to myself at night. - -I determined to run the cab into the stable and lock it up without -delay, for it was palpably dangerous in the circumstances to remain -longer than necessary in that lonely spot. Hurriedly I began to put -out the lamps. I unlocked the stable doors and stood looking all about -me again. I was dreading the ordeal of driving the cab those last ten -yards into the garage, for whilst I had my back to the wilderness of -bushes it would be an easy matter for anyone in hiding there to come -up behind me. - -Nevertheless, it had to be done. Seating myself at the wheel I drove -into the narrow building, stopped the engine and peered cautiously -around toward the bright square formed by the open doors. Nothing was -to be seen. No shadow moved. - -A magazine pistol held in my hand, I crept, step by step, along the -wall until I stood just within the opening. There I stopped. - -I could hear a sound of quick breathing! There was someone waiting -outside! - -Dropping quietly down upon the pavement, I slowly protruded my head -around the angle of the brick wall at a point not four inches above -the ground. I knew that whoever waited would have his eyes fixed upon -the doorway at the level of a man's head. - -Close to the wall, a pistol in his left hand and an upraised -stand-bag in his right, stood "Le Balafre!" His eyes gleamed savagely -in the light of the moon and his teeth were bared in that fearful -animal snarl. But he had not seen me. - -Inch by inch I thrust my pistol forward, the barrel raised sharply. I -could not be sure of my aim, of course, nor had I time to judge it -carefully. - -I fired. - -The bullet was meant for his right wrist, but it struck him in the -fleshy part of his arm. Uttering a ferocious cry he leapt back, -dropped his pistol--and perceiving me as I sprang to my feet, lashed -at my head with the sand-bag. I raised my left arm to guard my skull -and sustained the full force of the blow upon it. - -I staggered back against the wall, and my own pistol was knocked from -my grasp. My left arm was temporarily useless and the man of the scar -was deprived of the use of his right. _Pardieu!_ I had the better -chance! - -He hurled himself upon me. - -Instantly he recovered the advantage, for he grasped me by the throat -with his left hand--and, _nom d'un nom!_ what a grip he had! Flat -against the wall he held me, and began, his teeth bared in that -fearful grin, to crush the life from me. - -To such an attack there was only one counter. I kicked him savagely-- -and that death-grip relaxed. I writhed, twisted--and was free! As I -regained my freedom I struck up at him, and by great good fortune -caught him upon the point of the jaw. He staggered. I struck him over -the heart, and he fell I pounced upon him, exulting, for he had sought -my life and I knew no pity. - -Yet I had not thought so strong a man would choke so easily, and for -some moments I stood looking down at him, believing that he sought to -trick me. But it was not so. His affair was finished. - -I listened. The situation in which I found myself was full of -difficulty. An owl screeched somewhere in the trees, but nothing else -stirred. The sound of the shot had not attracted attention, apparently. -I stooped and examined the garments of the man who lay at my feet. - -He carried a travel coupon to Paris bearing that day's date, together -with some other papers, but, although I searched all his pockets, I -could find nothing of real interest, until in an inside pocket of his -coat I felt some hard, irregularly shaped object. I withdrew it, and -in the moonlight it lay glittering in my palm ... a _golden scorpion!_ - -It had apparently been broken in the struggle. The tail was missing, -nor could I find it: but I must confess that I did not prolong the -search. - -Some chance effect produced by the shadow of the moonlight, and the -presence of that recently purchased ticket, gave me the idea upon -which without delay I proceeded to act. Satisfying myself that there -was no mark upon any of his garments by which the man could be -identified, I unlocked from my wrist an identification disk which I -habitually wore there, and locked it upon the wrist of the man with -the scar! - -Clearly, I argued, he had been detailed to dispatch me and then to -leave at once for France. I would make it appear that he had succeeded. - -Behold me, ten minutes later, driving slowly along a part of the -Thames Embankment which I chanced to remember, a gruesome passenger -riding behind me in the cab. I was reflecting as I kept a sharp look-out -for a spot which I had noted one day during my travels, how easily one -could commit murder in London, when a constable ran out and -intercepted me! - -_Mon Deiu!_ how my heart leapt! - -"I'll trouble you for your name and number, my lad," he said. - -"What for?" I asked, and remembering a rare fragment of idiom: "What's -up with you?" I added. - -"Your lamp's out!" he cried, "that's what's up with me!" - -"Oh," said I, climbing from my seat--"very well. I'm sorry. I didn't -know. But here is my license." - -I handed him the little booklet and began to light my lamps, cursing -myself for a dreadful artist because I had forgotten to do so. - -"All right," he replied, and handed it back to me. "But how the devil -you've managed to get _all_ your lamps out, I can't imagine!" - -"This is my first job since dusk," I explained hurrying around to the -tail-light. "And _he_ don't say much!" remarked the constable. - -I replaced my matches in my pocket and returned to the front of the -cab, making a gesture as of one raising a glass to his lips and -jerking my thumb across my shoulder in the direction of my unseen fare. - -"Oh, that's it!" said the constable, and moved off. - -Never in my whole career have I been so glad to see the back of any -man! - -I drove on slowly. The point for which I was making was only some -three hundred yards further along, but I had noted that the constable -had walked off in the opposite direction. Therefore, arriving at my -destination--a vacant wharf open to the road--I pulled up and listened. - -Only the wash of the tide upon the piles of the wharf was audible, for -the night was now far advanced. - -I opened the door of the cab and dragged out "Le Balafre." Right and -left I peered, truly like a stage villain, and then hauled my -unpleasant burden along the irregularly paved path and on to the -little wharf. Out in mid-stream a Thames Police patrol was passing, -and I stood for a moment until the creak of the oars grew dim. - -Then: there was a dull splash far below ... and silence again. - -Gaston Max had been consigned to a watery grave! - -Returning again to the garage, I wondered very much who he had been, -this one, "Le Balafre." Could it be that he was "The Scorpion"? I -could not tell, but I had hopes very shortly of finding out. I had -settled up my affairs with my landlady and had removed from my -apartments all papers and other effects. In the garage I had placed -a good suit of clothes and other necessities, and by telephone I had -secured a room at a West-End hotel. - -The cab returned to the stable, I locked the door, and by the light -of one of the lamps, shaved off my beard and moustache. My uniform -and cap I hung up on the hook where I usually left them after working -hours, and changed into the suit which I had placed there in readiness. -I next destroyed all evidences of identity and left the place in a -neat condition. I extinguished the lamp, went out and locked the door -behind me, and carrying a travelling-grip and a cane I set off for my -new hotel. - -Charles Malet had disappeared! - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -I MEET AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE - - -On the corner opposite Dr. Stuart's establishment stood a house which -was "to be let or sold." From the estate-agent whose name appeared -upon the notice-board I obtained the keys--and had a duplicate made of -that which opened the front door. It was a simple matter, and the -locksmith returned both keys to me within an hour. I informed the -agent that the house would not suit me. - -Nevertheless, having bolted the door, in order that prospective -purchasers might not surprise me, I "camped out" in an upper room all -day, watching from behind the screen of trees all who came to the house -of Dr. Stuart. Dusk found me still at my post, armed with a pair of -good binoculars. Every patient who presented himself I scrutinized -carefully, and finding as the darkness grew that it became increasingly -difficult to discern the features of visitors, I descended to the front -garden and resumed my watch from the lower branches of a tree which -stood some twenty feet from the roadway. - -At selected intervals I crept from my post and surveyed the lane upon -which the window of the consulting-room opened and also the path -leading to the tradesmen's entrance, from which one might look across -the lawn and in at the open study windows. It was during one of these -tours of inspection and whilst I was actually peering through a gap in -the hedge, that I heard the telephone bell. Dr. Stuart was in the -study and I heard him speaking. - -I gathered that his services were required immediately at some -institution in the neighbourhood. I saw him take his hat, stick and -bag from the sofa and go out of the room. Then I returned to the front -garden of my vacant house. - -No one appeared for some time. A policeman walked slowly up the road, -and flashed his lantern in at the gate of the house I had commandeered. -His footsteps died away. Then, faintly, I heard the hum of a powerful -motor. I held my breath. The approaching car turned into the road at -a point above me to the right, came nearer ... and stopped before Dr. -Stuart's door. - -I focussed my binoculars upon the chauffeur. - -It was the brown-skinned man! _Nom d'un nom!_ a _woman_ was descending -form the car. She was enveloped in furs and I could not see her face. -She walked up the steps to the door and was admitted. - -The chauffeur backed the car into the lane beside the house. - -My heart beating rapidly with excitement, I crept out by the further -gate of the drive, crossed the road at a point fifty yards above the -house and walking very quietly came back to the tradesmen's entrance. -Into its enveloping darkness I glided and on until I could peep across -the lawn. - -The elegant visitor, as I hoped, had been shown, not into the ordinary -waiting-room but into the doctor's study. She was seated with her back -to the window, talking to a grey-haired old lady--probably the -doctor's housekeeper. Impatiently I waited for this old lady to depart, -and the moment that she did so, the visitor stood up, turned and ... -it was _Zara el-Khala!_ - -It was only with difficulty that I restrained the cry of triumph which -arose to my lips. On the instant that the study door closed, Zara -el-Khala began to try a number of keys which she took from her handbag -upon the various drawers of the bureau! - -"So!" I said--"they are uncertain of the drawer!" - -Suddenly she desisted, looking nervously at the open windows; then, -crossing the room, she drew the curtains. I crept out into the road -again and by the same roundabout route came back to the empty house. -Feeling my way in the darkness of the shrubbery, I found the motor -bicycle which I had hidden there and I wheeled it down to the further -gate of the drive and waited. - -I could see the doctor's door, and I saw him returning along the road. -As he appeared, from somewhere---I could not determine from where--came -a strange and uncanny wailing sound, a sound that chilled me like an -evil omen. - -Even as it died away, and before Dr. Stuart had reached his door I -knew what it portended--that horrible wail. Some one hidden I knew not -where, had warned Zara el-Khala that the doctor returned! But stay! -Perhaps that some one was the dark-skinned chauffeur! - -How I congratulated myself upon the precautions which I had taken to -escape observation. Evidently the watcher had placed himself somewhere -where he could command a view of the front door and the road. - -Five minutes later the girl came out, the old housekeeper accompanying -her to the door, the car emerged from the lane, Zara el-Khala -entered it and was driven away. I could see no one seated beside the -chauffeur. I started my "Indian" and leapt in pursuit. - -As I had anticipated, the route was Eastward, and I found myself -traversing familiar ground. From the south-west to the east of London -whirled the big car of mystery--and I was ever close behind it. -Sometimes, in the crowded streets, I lost sight of my quarry for a -time, but always I caught up again, and at last I found myself whirling -along Commercial Road and not fifty yards behind the car. - -Just by the canal bridge a drunken sailor lurched out in front of my -wheel, and only by twisting perilously right into a turning called, I -believe, Salmon Lane, did I avoid running him down. - -_Sacre nom!_ how I cursed him! The lane was too narrow for me to turn -and I was compelled to dismount and to wheel my "Indian" back to the -highroad. The yellow car had vanished, of course, but I took it for -granted that it had followed the main road. At a dangerous speed, -pursued by execrations from the sailor and all his friends, I set off -east once more turning to the right down West India Dock Road. - -Arriving at the dock, and seeing nothing ahead of me but desolation -and ships' masts, I knew that that inebriated pig had spoiled -everything! I could have sat down upon the dirty pavement and wept, -so mortified was I! For if Zara el-Khala had secured the envelope I -had missed my only chance. - -However, _pardieu!_ I have said that despair is not permitted by the -Bureau. I rode home to my hotel, deep in reflection. Whether the girl -had the envelope or not, at least she had escaped detection by the -doctor; therefore if she had failed she would try again. I could sleep -in peace until the morrow. - -Of the following day, which I spent as I had spent the preceding one, -I have nothing to record. At about the same time in the evening the -yellow car again rolled into view, and on this occasion I devoted all -my attention to the dark-skinned chauffeur, upon whom I directed my -glasses. - -As the girl alighted and spoke to him for a moment, he raised the -goggles which habitually he wore and I saw his face. A theory which I -had formed on the previous night proved correct. The chauffeur was the -Hindu, Chunda Lal! As Zara el-Khala walked up the steps he backed -the car into the narrow lane and I watched him constantly. Yet, watch -as closely as I might, I could not see where he concealed himself in -order to command a view of the road. - -On this occasion, as I know, Dr. Stuart was at home. Nevertheless, the -girl stayed for close upon half an hour, and I began to wonder if some -new move had been planned. Suddenly the door opened and she came out. - -I crept through the bushes to my bicycle and wheeled it on to the -drive. I saw the car start; but Madame Fortune being in playful mood, -my own engine refused to start at all, and when ten minutes later I -at last aroused a spark of life in the torpid machine I knew that -pursuit would be futile. - -Since this record is intended for the guidance of those who take up -the quest of "The Scorpion" either in co-operation with myself or, -in the event of my failure, alone, it would be profitless for me to -record my disasters. Very well, I had one success. One night I pursued -the yellow car from Dr. Stuart's house to the end of Limehouse -Causeway without once losing sight of it. - -A string of lorries form the docks, drawn by a traction engine, checked -me at the corner for a time, although the yellow car passed. But I -raced furiously on and by great good luck overtook it near the Dock -Station. From thence onward pursuing a strangely tortuous route, I -kept it in sight to Canning Town, when it turned into a public garage. -I followed--to purchase petrol. - -Chunda Lal was talking to the man in charge; he had not yet left his -seat. But the car was empty! - -At first I was stupid with astonishment. _Par la barbe du prophete!_ I -was astounded. Then I saw that I had really made a great discovery. -The street into which I had injudiciously followed "Le Balafre" lay -between Limehouse Causeway and Ropemaker Street, and it was at no great -distance from this point that I had lost sight of the yellow car. In -that street, which according to my friend the policeman was "nearly -all Chinese," Zara el-Khala had descended; in that street was "The -Scorpion's" lair! - - - - -CHAPTER V - -CONCLUSION OF STATEMENT - - -I come now to the conclusion of this statement and to the strange -occurrence which led to my proclaiming myself. The fear of imminent -assassination which first had prompted me to record what I knew of -"The Scorpion" had left me since I had ceased to be Charles Malet. And -that the disappearance of "Le Balafre" had been accepted by his -unknown chief as evidence of his success in removing _me_, I did not -doubt. Therefore I breathed more freely ... and more freely still when -my body was recovered! - -Yes, my body was recovered from Hanover Hole; I read of it--a very -short paragraph, but it is the short paragraphs that matter--in my -morning paper. I knew then that I should very shortly be dead indeed-- -officially dead. I had counted on this happening before, you -understand, for I more than ever suspected that "The Scorpion" knew me -to be in England and I feared that he would "lie low" as the English -say. However, since a fortunate thing happens better late than never, -I say in this paragraph two things: (1) that the enemy would cease to -count upon Gaston Max; (2) that the Scotland Yard Commissioner would -be authorised to open Part First of this Statement which had been -lodged at his office two days after I landed in England--the portion -dealing with my inquiries in Paris and with my tracking of "Le -Balafre" to Bow Road Station and observing that he showed a golden -scorpion to the chauffeur of the yellow car. - -This would happen because Paris would wire that the identification -disk found on the dead man was that of Gaston Max. Why would Paris do -so? Because my reports had been discounted since I had ceased to be -Charles Malet and Paris would be seeking evidence of my whereabouts. -My reports had discontinued because I had learned that I had to do -with a criminal organization of whose ramifications I knew nothing. -Therefore I took no more chances. I died. - -I return to the night when Inspector Dunbar, the grim Dunbar of -Scotland Yard, came to Dr. Stuart's house. His appearance there -puzzled me. I could not fail to recognize him, for as dusk had fully -come I had descended from my top window and was posted among the -bushes of the empty house from whence I commanded a perfect view of -the doctor's door. The night was unusually chilly--there had been some -rain--and when I crept around to the lane bordering the lawn, hoping -to see or hear something of what was taking place in the study, I -found that the windows were closed and the blinds drawn. - -Luck seemed to have turned against me; for that night, at dusk, when I -had gone to a local garage where I kept my motor bicycle, I had -discovered the back tire to be perfectly flat and had been forced to -contain my soul in patience whilst the man repaired a serious puncture. -The result was of course that for more than half an hour I had not had -Dr. Stuart's house under observation. And a hundred and one things -can happen in half an hour. - -Had Dr. Stuart sent for the Inspector? If so, I feared that the -envelope was missing, or at any rate that he had detected Zara -el-Khala in the act of stealing it and had determined to place the -matter in the hands of the police. It was a maddening reflection. -Again--I shrewdly suspected that I was not the only watcher of Dr. -Stuart's house. The frequency with which the big yellow car drew up -at the door a few moments after the doctor had gone out could not be -due to accident. Yet I had been unable to detect the presence of this -other watcher, nor had I any idea of the spot where the car remained -hidden--if my theory was a correct one. Nevertheless I did not expect -to see it come along whilst the Inspector remained at the house-- -always supposing that Zara el-Khala had not yet succeeded. I -wheeled out the "Indian" and rode to a certain tobacconist's shop at -which I had sometimes purchased cigarettes. - -He had a telephone in a room at the rear which customers were allowed -to use on payment of a fee, and a public call-box would not serve my -purpose, since the operator usually announces to a subscriber the fact -that a call emanated from such an office. The shop was closed, but I -rang the bell at the side door and obtained permission to use the -telephone upon pleading urgency. I had assiduously cultivated a natural -gift for mimicry, having found it of inestimable service in the -practice of my profession. It served me now. I had worked in the past -with Inspector Dunbar and his subordinate Sergeant Sowerby, and I -determined to trust to my memory of the latter's mode of speech. - -I rang up Dr. Stuart and asked for the Inspector, saying Sergeant -Sowerby spoke from Scotland Yard. "Hullo!" he cried, "is that you, -Sowerby?" - -"Yes," I replied in Sowerby's voice. "I thought I should find you -there. About the body of Max.." - -"Eh!" said Dunbar--"what's that? Max?" - -I knew immediately that Paris had not yet wired, therefore I told him -that Paris _had_ done so, and that the disk numbered 49685 was that of -Gaston Max. He was inexpressibly shocked, deploring the rashness of -Max in working alone. - -"Come to Scotland Yard," I said, anxious to get him away from the house. - -He said he would be with me in a few minutes, and I was racking my -brains for some means of learning what business had taken him to Dr. -Stuart when he gave me the desired information spontaneously. - -"Sowerby, listen," said he: "It's 'The Scorpion' case right enough! -That bit of gold found on the dead man is not a cactus stem; it's a -scorpion's tail!" - -So! they had found what I had failed to find! It must have been -attached, I concluded, to some inner part of "Le Balafre's" clothing. -There had been no mention of Zara el-Khala; therefore, as I rode -back to my post I permitted myself to assume that she would come -again, since presumably she had thus far failed. I was right. - -_Morbleu!_ quick as I was the car was there before me! But I had not -overlooked this possibility and I had dismounted at a good distance -from the house and had left the "Indian" in someone's front garden. -As I had turned out of the main road I had seen Dr. Stuart and -Inspector Dunbar approaching a rank upon which two or three cabs -usually stood. - -I watched _la Bell_ Zara enter the house, a beautiful woman most -elegantly attired, and then, even before Chunda Lal had backed the -car into the lane I was off ... to the spot at which I had abandoned -my motor bicycle. In little more than half an hour I had traversed -London, and was standing in the shadow of that high, blank wall to -which I have referred as facing a row of wooden houses in a certain -street adjoining Limehouse Causeway. - -You perceive my plan? I was practically sure of the street; all I had -to learn was which house sheltered "The Scorpion"! - -I had already suspected that this night was to be for me an unlucky -night. _Nom d'un p'tit bon-homme!_ it was so. Until an hour before dawn -I crouched under that wall and saw no living thing except a very old -Chinaman who came out of one of the houses and walked slowly away. -The other houses appeared to be empty. No vehicle of any kind passed -that way all night. - -Turning over in my mind the details of this most perplexing case, it -became evident to me that the advantages of working alone were now -outweighed by the disadvantages. The affair had reached a stage at -which ordinary police methods should be put into operation. I had -collected some of the threads; the next thing was for Scotland Yard -to weave these together whilst I sought for more. - -I determined to remain dead. It would afford me greater freedom of -action. The disappearance of "Le Balafre" which must by this time have -been noted by his associates, might possibly lead to a suspicion that the -dead man was _not_ Gaston Max; but providing no member of "The Scorpion" -group obtained access to the body I failed to see how this suspicion -could be confirmed. I reviewed my position. - -The sealed letter had achieved its purpose in part. Although I had -failed to locate the house from which these people operated, I could draw -a circle on the map within which I knew it to be; and I had learned that -Zara el-Khala and the Hindu were in London. What it all meant--to what -end "The Scorpion" was working I did not know. But having learned so -much, be sure I did not despair of learning more. - -It was now imperative that I should find out exactly what had occurred -at Dr. Stuart's house. Accordingly I determined to call upon the -Inspector at Scotland Yard. I presented myself towards evening of the -day following my vigil in Limehouse, sending up the card of a Bureau -confrere, for I did not intend to let it be generally known that I was -alive. - -Presently I was shown up to that bare and shining room which I -remembered having visited in the past. I stood just within the doorway, -smiling. Inspector Dunbar rose, as the constable went out, and stood -looking across at me. - -I had counted on striking him dumb with astonishment. He was Scottishly -unmoved. - -"Well," he said, coming forward with outstretched hand, "I'm glad to -see you. I knew you would have come to us sooner or later!" - -I felt that my eyes sparkled. There was no resentment within my heart. -I rejoiced. - -"Look," he continued, taking a slip of paper from his note-book. "This -is a copy of a note I left with Dr. Stuart some time ago. Read it." - -I did so, and this is what I read: - -"_A:_ the name of the man who cut out the lid of the cardboard box and -sealed it in the envelope--Gaston Max! - -"_B:_ the name of the missing cabman--Gaston Max! - -"_C:_ the name of the man who rang me up at Dr. Stuart's and told me -that Gaston Max was dead--Gaston Max!" - -I returned the slip to Inspector Dunbar. I bowed. - -"It is a pleasure and a privilege to work with you, Inspector," I -said .... - -This statement is nearly concluded. The whole of the evening I spent -in the room of the Assistant Commissioner discussing the matters -herein set forth and comparing notes with Inspector Dunbar. One -important thing I learned: that I had abandoned my nightly watches -too early. For one morning just before dawn someone who was _not_ -Zara had paid a visit to the house of Dr. Stuart! I determined to -call upon the doctor. - -As it chanced I was delayed and did not actually arrive until so late -an hour that I had almost decided not to present myself ... when a big -yellow car flashed past the taxicab in which I was driving! - -_Nom d'un nom!_ I could not mistake it! This was within a few hundred -yards of the house of Dr. Stuart, you understand, and I instantly -dismissed my cabman and proceeded to advance cautiously on foot. I -could no longer hear the engine of the car which had passed ahead of -me, but then I knew that it could run almost noiselessly. As I crept -along in that friendly shadow cast by a high hedge which had served -me so well before, I saw the yellow car. It was standing on the -opposite side of the road. I reached the tradesman's entrance. - -From my left, in the direction of the back lawn of the house, came a -sudden singular crackling noise and I discerned a flash of blue flame -resembling faint "summer lightning." A series of muffled explosions -followed ... and in the darkness I tripped over something which lay -along the ground at my feet--a length of cable it seemed to be. - -Stumbling, I uttered a slight exclamation ... and instantly received -a blow on the head that knocked me flat upon the ground! Everything -was swimming around me, but I realized that someone--Chunda Lal -probably--had been hiding in the very passage which I had entered! -I heard again that uncanny wailing, close beside me. - -Vaguely I discerned an incredible figure--like that of a tall cowled -monk, towering over me. I struggled to retain consciousness--there was -a rush of feet ... the throb of a motor. It stimulated me--that sound! -I must get to the telephone and cause the yellow car to be intercepted. - -I staggered to my feet and groped my way along the hedge to where I -had observed a tree by means of which one might climb over. I was -dizzy as a drunken man; but I half climbed and half fell on to the -lawn. The windows were open. I rushed into the study of Dr. Stuart. - -Pah! it was full of fumes. I looked around me. _Mon Dieu!_ I staggered. -For I knew that in this fume-laden room a thing more horrible and more -strange than any within my experience had taken place that night. - - - -Part III - - - -AT THE HOUSE OF AH-FANG-FU - - -CHAPTER I - -THE BRAIN-THIEVES - - -The Assistant Commissioner lighted a cigarette. "It would appear, -then," he said, "that whilst some minor difficulties have been smoothed -away, we remain face to face with the major problem: who is -'The Scorpion' and to what end are his activities directed?" - -Gaston Max shrugged his shoulders and smiled at Dr. Stuart. - -"Let us see," he suggested, "what we really know about this 'Scorpion'. -Let us make a brief survey of our position in the matter. Let us take -first what we have learned of him--if it is a 'him' with whom we have -to deal--from the strange experiences of Dr. Stuart. Without attaching -too much importance to that episode five years ago on the Wu-Men -Bridge; perhaps he is not. We will talk about this one again presently. - -"We come to the arrival on the scene of Zara el-Khala, also called -Mlle. Dorian. She comes because of what _I_ have told to the scarred -man from Paris, she comes to obtain that dangerous information which -is to be sent to Scotland Yard, she comes, in a word, from 'The -Scorpion.' We have two links binding the poor one 'Le Balafre' to -'The Scorpion': (1) his intimacy with Miguel and those others with -whom 'Scorpion' communicated by telephone; (2) his possession of the -golden ornament which lies there upon the table and which I took -from his pocket. What can we gather from the statement made to Dr. -Stuart by Mlle. Dorian? Let us study this point for a moment. - -"In the first place we can only accept her words with a certain -skepticism. Her story may be nothing but a fabrication. However, it is -interesting because she claims to be the unwilling servant of a -dreaded master. She lays stress upon the fact that she is an Oriental -and does not enjoy the same freedom as a European woman. This is -possible, up to a point. On the other hand she seems to enjoy not -only freedom but every luxury. Therefore it may equally well be a lie. -Some slight colour is lent to her story by the extraordinary mode of -life which she followed in Paris. In the midst of Bohemianism she -remained secluded as an odalisque in some harem garden of Stambul, -whether by her own will or by will of another we do not know. One -little point her existence seems to strengthen: that we are dealing -with Easterns; for Zara el-Khala is partly of Eastern blood and her -follower Chunda Lal is a Hindu. _Eh bien._ - -"Consider the cowled man whose shadow Dr. Stuart has seen on two -occasions: once behind the curtain of his window and once cast by the -moonlight across the lawn of his house. The man himself he has never -seen. Now this hooded man cannot have been 'Le Balafre', for -'Le Balafre' was already dead at the time of his first appearance. -He may be 'The Scorpion'!" - -Max paused impressively, looking around at those in the Commissioner's -room. - -"For a moment I return to the man of the Wu Men Bridge. The man of -the Wu-Men Bridge was veiled and this one is hooded! The man of the -Wu-Men Bridge was known as 'The Scorpion,' and this one also is -associated with a scorpion. We will return yet again to this point -in a moment. - -"Is there something else which we may learn from the experiences of -Dr. Stuart? Yes! We learn that 'The Scorpion' suddenly decides that -Dr. Stuart is dangerous, either because of his special knowledge -(which would be interesting) or because the 'Scorpion' believes that -he has become acquainted with the contents of the sealed envelope-- -which is not so interesting although equally dangerous for Dr. Stuart. -'The Scorpion' acts. He pays a second visit, again accompanied by -Chunda Lal, who seems to be a kind of watch-dog who not only guards -the person of Zara el-Kahla but who also howls when danger threatens -the cowled man! - -"And what is the weapon which the cowled man (who may be 'The -Scorpion') uses to remove Dr. Stuart? It is a frightful weapon, my -friends; it is a novel and deadly weapon. It is a weapon of which -science knows nothing--a blue ray of the colour produced by a Mercury -Vapour Lamp, according to Dr. Stuart who has seen it, and producing -an odour like that of a blast furnace according to myself, who smelled -it! Or this odour might have been caused by the fusing of the telephone; -for the blue ray destroys such fragile things as telephones as easily -as it destroys wood and paper! There is even a large round hole burned -through the clay at the back of the study grate and through the brick -wall behind it! Very well. 'The Scorpion' is a scientist and he is also -the greatest menace to the world which the world has ever been called -upon to deal with. You agree with me?" - -Inspector Dunbar heaved a great sigh, Stuart silently accepted a -cigarette from the Assistant Commissioner's box and the Assistant -Commissioner spoke, slowly. - -"I entirely agree with you, M. Max. Respecting this ray, as well as -some one or two other _minutiae_, I have made a short note which we -will discuss when you have completed your admirably lucid survey of -the case." - -"These are the things, then, which we learn from the terrible -experiences of Dr. Stuart. Placing these experiences side by side with -my own in Paris and in London--which we have already discussed in -detail--we find that we have to deal with an organisation--the object -of which is unknown--comprising among its members both Europeans -('Le Balafre' was a Frenchman, I believe), cross-breeds such as Miguel -and Zara el-Khala" (Stuart winced), "one Algerian and a Hindu. It is -then an organisation having ramifications throughout Europe, the East -and, _mon Dieu!_ where not? To continue. This little image"--he took -up from the Commissioner's table the golden scorpion, and the broken -fragment of tail--"is now definitely recognized by Dr. Stuart--who is -familiar with the work of Oriental goldsmiths--to be of _Chinese_ -craftsmanship!" - -"It may possibly be Tibetan," interrupted Stuart; "but it comes to the -same thing." - -"Very well," continued Max. "It is Chinese. We hope, very shortly, to -identify a house situated somewhere within this red ink circle"--he -placed his finger on a map of London which lay open on the table--"and -which I know to be used as a meeting-place by members of this -mysterious group. That circle, my friends, surrounds what is now known -as 'Chinatown'! For the third time I return to the man of the Wu-Men -Bridge; for the man of the Wu-Men Bridge was, apparently, a -_Chinaman!_ Do I make myself clear?" - -"Remarkably so," declared the Assistant Commissioner, taking a fresh -cigarette. "Pray continue, M. Max." - -"I will do so. One of my most important investigations, in which I had -the honour and the pleasure to be associated with Inspector Dunbar, led -to the discovery of a dangerous group controlled by a certain -'Mr. King'----" - -"Ah!" cried Dunbar, his tawny eyes sparkling with excitement, "I was -waiting for that!" - -"I knew you would be waiting for it, Inspector. Your powers of -deductive reasoning more and more are earning my respect. You recall -that singular case? The elaborate network extending from London to -Buenos Ayres, from Peking to Petrograd? Ah! a wonderful system. It was -an opium syndicate, you understand,"--turning again to the Assistant -Commissioner. - -"I recall the case," replied the Commissioner, "although I did not -hold my present appointment at the time. I believe there were -unsatisfactory features?" - -"There were," agreed Max. "We never solved the mystery of the identity -of 'Mr. King,' and although we succeeded in destroying the enterprise -I have since thought that we acted with undue precipitation." - -"Yes," said Dunbar rapidly; "but there was that poor girl to be -rescued, you will remember? We couldn't waste time." - -"I agree entirely, Inspector. Our hands were forced. Yet, I repeat, I -have since thought that we acted with undue precipitation. I will tell -you why. Do you recall the loss--not explained to this day--of the -plans of the Haley torpedo?" - -"Perfectly," replied the Commissioner; and Dunbar also nodded -affirmatively. - -"Very well. A similar national loss was sustained about the same time -by my own Government. I am not at liberty to divulge its exact nature, -as in the latter case the loss never became known to the public. But -the only member of the French Chamber who had seen this document to -which I refer was a certain 'M. Blank,' shall we say? I believe also -that I am correct in stating that the late Sir Brian Malpas was a -member of the British Cabinet at the time that the Haley plans were -lost?" - -"That is correct," said the Assistant Commissioner, "but surely the -honour of the late Sir Brian was above suspicion?" - -"Quite," agreed Max; "so also was that of 'M. Blank.' But my point is -this: Both 'M. Blank' and the late Sir Brian were clients of the -opium syndicate!" - -Dunbar nodded again eagerly. - -"Hard work I had to hush it up," he said. "It would have finished his -political career." - -The Assistant Commissioner looked politely puzzled. - -"It was generally supposed that Sir Brian Malpas was addicted to -drugs," he remarked; "and I am not surprised to learn that he -patronised this syndicate to which you refer. But----" he paused, -smiling satanically. "Ah!" he added--"I see! I see!" - -"You perceive the drift of my argument?" cried Max. "You grasp what I -mean when I say that we were too hasty? This syndicate existed for a -more terrible purpose than the promulgating of a Chinese vice; it had -in its clutches men entrusted with national secrets, men of genius but -slaves of a horrible drug. Under the influence of that drug, my -friends, how many of those secrets may they not have divulged?" - -His words were received in hushed silence. - -"What became of those stolen plans?" he continued, speaking now in a -very low voice. "In the stress of recent years has the Haley torpedo -made its appearance so that we might learn to which Government the -plans had been taken? No! the same mystery surrounds the fate of the -information filched from the drugged brain of 'M. Blank.' In a word"-- -he raised a finger dramatically--"someone is hoarding up those -instruments of destruction! Who is it that collects such things and -for what purpose does he collect them?" - -Following another tense moment of silence: - -"Let us have your own theory, M. Max," said the Assistant Commissioner. - -Gaston Max shrugged his shoulders. - -"It is not worthy of the name of a theory," he replied, "the surmise -which I have made. But recently I found myself considering the fact -that 'The Scorpion' might just conceivably be a Chinaman. Now, 'Mr. -King,' we believe was a Chinaman, and 'Mr. King,' as I am now -convinced, operated not for a personal but for a deeper, political -purpose. He stole the brains of genius and _accumulated_ that genius. -Is it not possible that these contrary operations may be part of a -common plan?" - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE RED CIRCLE - - -"You are not by any chance," suggested Stuart, smiling slightly, -"hinting at that defunct bogey, the 'Yellow Peril'?" - -"Ah!" cried Max, "but certainly I am not! Do not misunderstand me. -This group with which we are dealing is shown to be not of a national -but of an international character. The same applied to the organisation -of 'Mr. King.' But a Chinaman directed the one, and I begin to suspect -that a Chinaman directs the other. No, I speak of no ridiculous -'Yellow Peril,' my friends. John Chinaman, as I have known him, is the -whitest man breathing; but can you not imagine"--he dropped his voice -again in that impressive way which was yet so truly Gallic--"can you -not imagine a kind of Oriental society which like a great, a -formidable serpent, lies hidden somewhere below that deceptive jungle -of the East? These are troubled times. It is a wise state to-day that -knows its own leaders. Can you not imagine a dreadful sudden menace, -not of men and guns but of _brains_ and _capital_?" - -"You mean," said Dunbar slowly, "that 'The Scorpion' may be getting -people out of the way who might interfere with this rising or invasion -or whatever it is?" - -"Just as 'Mr. King' accumulated material for it," interjected the -Assistant Commissioner. "It is a bold conception, M. Max, and it -raises the case out of the ordinary category and invests it with -enormous international importance." - -All were silent for a time, Stuart, Dunbar and the Commissioner -watching the famous Frenchman as he sat there, arrayed in the latest -fashion of Saville Row, yet Gallic to his finger-tips and in every -gesture. It was almost impossible at times to credit the fact that a -Parisian was speaking, for the English of Gaston Max was flawless -except that he spoke with a faint American accent. Then, suddenly, a -gesture, an expletive, would betray the Frenchman. - -But such betrayals never escaped him when, in one of his inimitable -disguises, he penetrated to the purlieu of Whitechapel, to the dens of -Limehouse. Then he was the perfect Hooligan, as, mingling with the -dangerous thieves of Paris, he was the perfect Apache. It was an -innate gift of mimicry which had made him the greatest investigator -of his day. He could have studied Chinese social life for six months -and thereupon have become a mandarin whom his own servants would never -have suspected to be a "foreign barbarian." It was pure genius, as -opposed to the brilliant efficiency of Dunbar. - -But in the heart of the latter, as he studied Gaston Max and realized -the gulf that separated them, there was nothing but generous -admiration of a master; yet Dunbar was no novice, for by a process of -fine deductive reasoning he had come to the conclusion, as has -appeared, that Gaston Max had been masquerading as a cabman and that -the sealed letter left with Dr. Stuart had been left as a lure. By one -of those tricks of fate which sometimes perfect the plans of men but -more often destroy them, the body of "Le Balafre" had been so -disfigured during the time that it had been buffeted about in the -Thames that it was utterly unrecognizable and indescribable. But even -the disk had not deceived Dunbar. He had seen in it another ruse of -his brilliant confrere, and his orders to the keeper of the mortuary -to admit no one without a written permit had been dictated by the -conviction that Max wished the body to be mistaken for his own. In -Inspector Dunbar, Gaston Max immediately had recognized an able -colleague as Mrs. M'Gregor had recognized "a grand figure of a man." - -The Assistant Commissioner broke the silence. - -"There have been other cases," he said reflectively, "now that one -considers the matter, which seemed to point to the existence of such -a group or society as you indicate, M. Max, notably one with which, -if I remember rightly, Inspector"--turning his dark eyes towards -Dunbar--"Inspector Weymouth, late of this Branch, was associated?" - -"Quite right, sir. It was his big case, and it got him a fine billet -as Superintendent in Cairo if you remember?" - -"Yes," mused the Assistant Commissioner--"he transferred to Egypt--a -very good appointment, as you say. That, again, was before my term of -office, but there were a number of very ghastly crimes connected with -the case and it was more or less definitely established, I believe, -that some extensive secret society did actually exist throughout the - East, governed, I fancy, by a Chinaman." - -"And from China," added Dunbar. - -"Yes, yes, from China as you say, Inspector." He turned to Gaston Max. -"Can it really be, M. Max, that we have to deal with an upcrop of some -deeply-seated evil which resides in the Far East? Are all these cases, -not the work of individual criminal but manifestations of a more -sinister, a darker force?" - -Gaston Max met his glance and Max's mouth grew very grim. - -"I honestly believe so." he answered. "I have believed it for nearly -two years--ever since the Grand Duke died. And now, you said, I -remember, that you had made a note the nature of which you would -communicate." - -"Yes," replied the Assistant Commissioner--"a small point, but one -which may be worthy of attention. This ray, Dr. Stuart, which played -such havoc in your study--do you know of anything approaching to it in -more recent scientific devices?" - -"Well," said Stuart, "it my be no more than a development of one of -several systems, notably of that of the late Henrik Ericksen upon -which he was at work at the time of his death." - -"Exactly." The Assistant Commissioner smiled in his most -Mephistophelean manner. "Of the late Henrik Ericksen, as you say." - -He said no more for a moment and sat smoking and looking from face to -face. Then: - -"That is the subject of my note, gentlemen," he added. "The other -_minutiae_ are of no immediate importance." - -"_Non d'un p'tit bonhomme!_" whispered Gaston Max. "I see! You think -that Ericksen had completed his experiments before he died, but that -he never lived to give them to the world?" - -The Assistant Commissioner waved one hand in the air so that he -discoloration of the first and second fingers was very noticeable. - -"It is for you to ascertain these points, M. Max," he said--"I only -suggest. But I begin to share your belief that a series of daring and -unusual assassinations has been taking place under the eyes of the -police authorities of Europe. It can only be poison--an unknown poison, -perhaps. We shall be empowered to exhume the body of the late Sir -Frank Narcombe in a few days' time, I hope. His case puzzles me -hopelessly. What obstacle did a surgeon offer to this hypothetical -Eastern movement? On the other hand, what can have been filched from -him before his death? The death of an inventor, a statesman, a soldier, -can be variously explained by your 'Yellow' hypothesis, M. Max, but -what of the death of a surgeon?" - -Gaston Max shrugged, and his mobile mouth softened in a quaint smile. - -"We have learned a little," he said, "and guessed a lot. Let us hope -to guess more--and learn everything!" - -"May I suggest," added Dunbar, "that we hear Sowerby's report, sir?" - -"Certainly," agreed the Assistant Commissioner--"call Sergeant -Sowerby." - -A moment later Sergeant Sowerby entered, his face very red and his -hair bristling more persistently than usual. - -"Anything to report, Sowerby?" asked Dunbar. - -"Yes, Inspector," replied Sowerby, in his Police Court manner;--he -faced the Assistant Commissioner, "with your permission, sir." - -He took out a note-book which appeared to be the twin of Dunbar's and -consulted it, assuming an expression of profound reflection. - -"In the first place, sir," he began, never raising his eyes from the -page, "I have traced the cab sold on the hire-purchase system to a -certain Charles _Mallett..._" - -"Ha, ha!" laughed Max breezily--"he calls me a hammer! It is not -Mallett, Sergeant Sowerby--you have got too many _l's_ in that name; -it is Malet and is called like one from the Malay States!" - -"Oh," commented Sowerby, glancing up--"indeed. Very good, sir. The -owner claims the balance of purchase money!" - -Every one laughed at that, even the satanic Assistant Commissioner. - -"Pay your debts, M. Max," he said. "You will bring the Service de -Surete into bad repute! Carry on, Sergeant." - -"This cab," continued Sowerby, when Dunbar interrupted him. - -"Cut out the part about the cab, Sowerby," he said. "We've found that -out from M. Max. Have you anything to report about the yellow car?" - -"Yes," replied Sowerby, unperturbed, and turning over to the next -page. "It was hired form Messrs. Wickers' garage, at Canning Town, by -the week. The lady who hired it was a Miss Dorian, a French lady. She -gave no reference, except that of the Savoy Hotel, where she was -stopping. She paid a big deposit and had her own chauffeur, a colored -man of some kind. - -"Is it still in use by her?" snapped Dunbar eagerly. - -"No, Inspector. She claimed her deposit this morning and said she was -leaving London." - -"The cheque?" cried Dunbar. - -"Was cashed half an hour later." - -"At what bank?" - -"London County & Birmingham, Canning Town. Her own account at a Strand -bank was closed yesterday. The details all concern milliners, -jewellers, hotels and so forth. There's nothing there. I've been to -the Savoy, of course." - -"Yes!" - -"A lady named Dorian has had rooms there for six weeks, has dined there -on several occasions, but was more often away than in the hotel." - -"Visitors?" - -"Never had any." - -"She used to dine alone, then?" - -"Always." - -"In the public dining-room?" - -"No. In her own room." - -"_Morbleu!_" muttered Max. "It is she beyond doubt. I recognize her -sociable habits!" - -"Has she left now?" asked Dunbar. - -"She left a week ago." - -Sowerby closed his note-book and returned it to his pocket. - -"Is that all you have to report, Sergeant?" asked the Assistant -Commissioner. - -"That's all, sir." - -"Very good." - -Sergeant Sowerby retired. - -"Now, sir," said Dunbar, "I've got Inspector Kelly here. He looks -after the Chinese quarter. Shall I call him?" - -"Yes, Inspector." - -Presently there entered a burly Irishman, bluff and good-humoured, a -very typical example of the intelligent superior police officer, -looking keenly around him. - -"Ah, Inspector," the Assistant Commissioner greeted him--"we want your -assistance in a little matter concerning the Chinese residential -quarter. You know this district?" - -"Certainly, sir. I know it very well." - -"On this map"--the Assistant Commissioner laid a discoloured -forefinger upon the map of London--"you will perceive that we have -drawn a circle." - -Inspector Kelly bent over the table. - -"Yes, sir." - -"Within that circle, which is no larger in circumference that a -shilling as you observe, lies a house used by a certain group of -people. It has been suggested to me that these people may be Chinese -or associates of Chinese." - -"Well, sir," said Inspector Kelly, smiling broadly, "considering the -patch inside the circle I think it more than likely! Seventy-five or -it may be eighty per cent of the rooms and cellars and attics in -those three streets are occupied by Chinese." - -"For your guidance, Inspector, we believe these people to be a -dangerous gang of international criminals. Do you know of any -particular house, or houses, likely to be used as a meeting-place by -such a gang?" - -Inspector Kelly scratched his close-cropped head. - -"A woman was murdered just there, sir," he said, taking up a pen from -the table and touching a point near the corner of Three Colt Street, -"about a twelve-month ago. We traced the man--a Chinese sailor--to a -house lying just about here." Again he touched the map. "It's a sort -of little junk-shop with a ramshackle house attached, all cellars and -rabbit-hutches, as you might say, overhanging a disused cutting which -is filled at high tide. Opium is to be had there and card-playing -goes on, and I won't swear that you couldn't get liquor. But it's -well conducted as such dives go." - -"Why is it not closed?" inquired the Assistant Commissioner, seizing -an opportunity to air his departmental ignorance. - -"Well, sir," replied Inspector Kelly, his eyes twinkling--"if we shut -up all these places we should never know where to look for some of -our regular customers! As I mentioned, we found the wanted Chinaman, -three parts drunk, in one of the rooms." - -"It's a sort of lodging-house, then?" - -"Exactly. There's a moderately big room just behind the shop, -principally used by opium-smokers, and a whole nest of smaller rooms -above and below. Mind you, sir, I don't say this is the place you're -looking for, but it's the most likely inside your circle." - -"Who is the proprietor?" - -"A retired Chinese sailor called Ah-Fang-Fu, but better known as -'Pidgin.' His establishment is called locally 'The Pidgin House.'" - -"Ah." The Commissioner lighted a cigarette. "And you know of no other -house which might be selected for such a purpose as I have mentioned?" - -"I can't say I do, sir. I know pretty well all the business affairs of -that neighbourhood, and none of the houses inside your circle have -changed hands during the past twelve months. Between ourselves, sir, -nearly all the property in the district belongs to Ah-Fang-Fu, and -anything that goes on in Chinatown _he_ knows about!" - -"Ah, I see. Then in any event he is the man we want to watch?" - -"Well, sir, you ought to keep an eye on his visitors, I should say." - -"I am obliged to you, Inspector," said the courteous Assistant -Commissioner, "for your very exact information. If necessary I shall -communicate with you again. Good-day." - -"Good-day, sir," replied the Inspector. "Good-day, gentlemen." - -He went out. - -Gaston Max, who had diplomatically remained in the background -throughout this interview, now spoke. - -_"Pardieu!_ but I have been thinking," he said. "Although 'The -Scorpion,' as I hope, believes that that troublesome Charles Malet is -dead, he may also wonder if Scotland Yard has secured from Dr. -Stuart's fire any fragments of the information sealed in the envelope! -What does it mean, this releasing of the yellow car, closing of the -bank account and departure from the Savoy?" - -"It means flight!" cried Dunbar, jumping violently to his feet. "By -gad, sir!" he turned to the Assistant Commissioner--"the birds may -have flown already!" - -The Assistant Commissioner leaned back in his chair. - -"I have sufficient confidence in M. Max," he said, "to believe that, -having taken the responsibility of permitting this dangerous group to -learn that they were under surveillance, he has good reason to -suppose that they have not slipped through our fingers." - -Gaston Max bowed. - -"It is true," he replied, and from his pocket he took a slip of flimsy -paper. "This code message reached me as I was about to leave my hotel. -The quadroon, Miguel, left Paris last night and arrived in London this -morning----" - -"He was followed?" cried Dunbar. - -"But certainly. He was followed to Limehouse, and he was definitely -seen to enter the establishment described to us by Inspector Kelly!" - -"Gad!" said Dunbar--"then _someone_ is still there?" - -"Someone, as you say, is still there," replied Max. "But everything -points to the imminent departure of this someone. Will you see to it, -Inspector, that not a rat--_pardieu_ not a little mouse--is allowed to -slip out of our red circle to-day. For to-night we shall pay a -friendly visit to the house of Ah-Fang-Fu, and I should wish all the -company to be present." - - - - -CHAPTER III - -MISKA'S STORY - - -Stuart returned to his house in a troubled frame of mind. He had -refrained so long from betraying the circumstances of his last meeting -with Mlle. Dorian to the police authorities that this meeting now -constituted a sort of guilty secret, a link binding him to the -beautiful accomplice of "The Scorpion"--to the dark-eyed servant of -the uncanny cowled thing which had sought his life by strange means. -He hugged this secret to his breast, and the pain of it afforded him a -kind of savage joy. - -In his study he found a Post Office workman engaged in fitting a new -telephone. As Stuart entered the man turned. - -"Good-afternoon, sir," he said, taking up the destroyed instrument -from the litter of flux, pincers and screw drivers lying upon the -table. "If it's not a rude question, how on earth did _this_ happen?" - -Stuart laughed uneasily. - -"It got mixed up with an experiment which I was conducting," he -replied evasively. - -The man inspected the headless trunk of the instrument. - -"It seems to be fused, as though the top of it had been in a blast -furnace," he continued. "Experiments of that sort are a bit dangerous -outside a proper laboratory, I should think." - -"They are," agreed Stuart. "But I have no facilities here, you see, -and I was--er--compelled to attempt the experiment. I don't intend to -repeat it." - -"That's lucky," murmured the man, dropping the instrument into a -carpet-bag. "If you do, it will cost you a tidy penny for telephones!" - -Walking out towards the dispensary, Stuart met Mrs. M'Gregor. - -"A Post Office messenger brought this letter for you, Mr. Keppel, just -the now," she said, handing Stuart a sealed envelope. - -He took the envelope from her hand, and turned quickly away. He felt -that he had changed colour. For it was addressed in the handwriting -of ... Mlle. Dorian! - -"Thank you, Mrs. M'Gregor," he said and turned into the dining-room. - -Mrs. M'Gregor proceeded about her household duties, and as her -footsteps receded, Stuart feverishly tore open the envelope. That -elusive scent of jasmine crept to his nostrils. In the envelope was a -sheet of thick note-paper (having the top cut off evidently in order -to remove the printed address), upon which the following singular -message was written: - -"Before I go away there is something I want to say to you. You do not -trust me. It is not wonderful that you do not. But I swear that I -only want to save you from a _great_ danger. If you will promise not -to tell the police anything of it, I will meet you at six o'clock by -the Book Stall at Victoria Station--on the Brighton side. If you agree -you will wear something white in your button-hole. If not you cannot -find me there. Nobody ever sees me again." - -There was no signature, but no signature was necessary. - -Stuart laid the letter on the table, and began to pace up and down -the room. His heart was beating ridiculously. His self-contempt was -profound. But he could not mistake his sentiments. - -His duty was plain enough. But he had failed in it once, and even as -he strode up and down the room, already he knew that he must fail -again. He knew that, rightly or wrongly, he was incapable of placing -this note in the hands of the police ... and he knew that he should -be at Victoria Station at six o'clock. - -He would never have believed himself capable of becoming accessory to -a series of crimes--for this was what his conduct amounted to; he had -thought that sentiment no longer held any meaning for him. Yet the -only excuse which he could find wherewith to solace himself was that -this girl had endeavoured to save him from assassination. Weighed -against the undoubted fact that she was a member of a dangerous -criminal group what was it worth? If the supposition of Gaston Max -was correct, "The Scorpion" had at least six successful murders to -his credit, in addition to the attempt upon his (Stuart's) life and -that of "Le Balafre", upon the life of Gaston Max. - -It was an accomplice of this nameless horror called "The Scorpion" -with whom at six o'clock he had a tryst, whom he was protecting from -justice, by the suppression of whose messages to himself he was adding -difficulties to the already difficult task of the authorities! - -Up and down he paced, restlessly, every now and again glancing at a -clock upon the mantelpiece. His behavior he told himself was -contemptible. - -Yet, at a quarter to six, he went out--and seeing a little cluster -of daisies growing amongst the grass bordering the path, he plucked -one and set it in his button-hole! - -A few minutes before the hour he entered the station and glanced -sharply around at the many groups scattered about in the neighbourhood -of the bookstall. There was no sign of Mlle. Dorian. He walked -around the booking office without seeing her and glanced into the -waiting-room. Then, looking up at the station clock, he saw that the -hour had come, and as he stood there staring upward he felt a timid -touch upon his shoulder. - -He turned--and she was standing by his side! - -She was Parisian from head to foot, simply but perfectly gowned. A -veil hung from her hat and half concealed her face, but could not -hide her wonderful eyes nor disguise the delightful curves of her red -lips. Stuart automatically raised his hat, and even as he did so -wondered what she should have said and done had she suddenly found -Gaston Max standing at his elbow! He laughed shortly. - -"You are angry with me," said Mlle. Dorian, and Stuart thought that -her quaint accent was adorable. "Or are you angry with yourself for -seeing me?" - -"I am angry with myself," he replied, "for being so weak." - -"Is it so weak," she said, rather tremulously, "not to judge a woman -by what she seems to be and not to condemn her before you hear what -she has to say? If that is weak, I am glad; I think it is how a man -should be." - -Her voice and her eyes completed the spell, and Stuart resigned -himself without another struggle to this insane infatuation. - -"We cannot very well talk here," he said. "Suppose we go into the -hotel and have late tea, Mlle. Dorian." - -"Yes. Very well. But please do not call me that. It is not my name." - -Stuart was on the point of saying, "Zara el-Khala then," but checked -himself in the nick of time. He might hold communication with the -enemy, but at least he would give away no information. - -"I am called Miska," she added. "Will you please call me Miska?" - -"Of course, if you wish," said Stuart, looking down at her as she -walked by his side and wondering what he would do when he had to stand -up in Court, look at Miska in the felon's dock and speak words which -would help to condemn her--perhaps to death, at least to penal -servitude! He shuddered. - -"Have I said something that displeases you?" she asked, resting a -white-gloved hand on his arm. "I am sorry." - -"No, no," he assured her. "But I was thinking--I cannot help -thinking ..." - -"How wicked I am?" she whispered. - -"How lovely you are!" he said hotly, "and how maddening it is to -remember that you are an accomplice of criminals!" - -"Oh," she said, and removed her hand, but not before he had felt how -it trembled. They were about to enter the tea-room when she added: -"Please don't say that until I have told you why I do what I do." - -Obeying a sudden impulse, he took her hand and drew it close under -his arm. - -"No," he said; "I won't. I was a brute, Miska. Miska means 'musk', -surely?" - -"Yes." She glanced up at him timidly. "Do you think it a pretty name?" - -"Very," he said, laughing. - -Underlying the Western veneer was the fascinating naivete of the -Eastern woman, and Miska had all the suave grace, too, which belongs -to the women of the Orient, so that many admiring glances followed -her charming figure as she crossed the room to a vacant table. - -"Now," said Stuart, when he had given an order to the waiter, "what -do you want to tell me? Whatever it may be, I am all anxiety to hear -it. I promise that I will only act upon anything you may tell me in -the event of my life, or that of another, being palpably endangered -by my silence." - -"Very well. I want to tell you," replied Miska, "why I stay with -Fo-Hi." - -"Who is Fo-Hi?" - -"I do not know!" - -"What!" said Stuart. "I am afraid I don't understand you." - -"If I speak in French will you be able to follow what I say?" - -"Certainly. Are you more at ease with French?" - -"Yes," replied Miska, beginning to speak in the latter language. "My -mother was French, you see, and although I can speak in English -fairly well I cannot yet _think_ in English. Do you understand? - -"Perfectly. So perhaps you will now explain to whom you refer when -you speak of Fo-Hi." - -Miska glanced apprehensively around her, bending further forward over -the table. - -"Let me tell you from the beginning," she said in a low voice, "and -then you will understand. It must not take me long. You see me as I -am to-day because of a dreadful misfortune that befell me when I was -fifteen years old." - -"My father was _Wali_ of Aleppo, and my mother, his third wife, was a -Frenchwoman, a member of a theatrical company which had come to Cairo, -where he had first seen her. She must have loved him, for she gave up -the world, embraced Islam and entered his _harem_ in the great house -on the outskirts of Aleppo. Perhaps it was because he, too, was half -French, that they were mutually attracted. My father's mother was a -Frenchwoman also, you understand. - -"Until I was fifteen years of age, I never left the _harem,_ but my -mother taught me French and also a little English; and she prevailed -upon my father not to give me in marriage so early as is usual in the -East. She taught me to understand the ways of European women, and we -used to have Paris journals and many books come to us regularly. Then -an awful pestilence visited Aleppo. People were dying in the mosques -and in the streets, and my father decided to send my mother and myself -and some others of the _harem_ to his brother's house in Damaskus. - -"Perhaps you will think that such things do not happen in these days, -and particularly to members of the household of a chief magistrate, -but I can only tell you what is true. On the second night of our -journey a band of Arabs swept down upon the caravan, overpowered the -guards, killing them all, and carried of everything of value which we -had. Me, also, they carried off--me and one other, a little Syrian -girl, my cousin. Oh!" she shuddered violently--"even now I can -sometimes hear the shrieks of my mother ... and I can hear, also, the -way they suddenly ceased, those cries ..." - -Stuart looked up with a start to find a Swiss waiter placing tea upon -the table. He felt like rubbing his eyes. He had been dragged rudely -back from the Syrian desert to the prosaic realities of a London hotel. - -"Perhaps," continued Miska, "you will think that we were ill-treated, -but it was not so. No one molested us. We were given every comfort -which desert life can provide, servant to wait upon us and plenty of -good food. After several weeks' journeying we came to a large city, -having many minarets and domes glimmering in the moonlight; for we -entered at night. Indeed, we always travelled at night. At the time I -had no idea of the name of this city but I learned afterwards that it -was Mecca. - -"As we proceeded through the streets, the Assyrian girl and I peeped -out through the little windows of the _shibriyeh_--which is a kind of -tent on the back of a camel--in which we travelled, hoping to see some -familiar face or someone to whom we could appeal. But there seemed to -be scarcely anyone visible in the streets, although lights shone out -from many windows, and the few men we saw seemed to be anxious to -avoid us. In fact, several ran down side turnings as the camels -approached. - -"We stopped before the gate of a large house which was presently -opened, and the camels entered the courtyard. We descended, and I saw -that a number of small apartments surrounded the courtyard in the -manner of a _caravanserai._ Then, suddenly, I saw something else, and -I knew why we had been treated with such consideration on the journey; -I knew into what hand I had fallen--I knew that I was in the house of -a _slave-dealer!_" - -"Good heavens!" muttered Stuart--"this is almost incredible." - -"I knew you would doubt what I had to tell you," declared Miska -plaintively; "but I solemnly swear what I tell you is the truth. Yes, -I was in the house of a slave-dealer, and on the very next day, -because I was proficient in languages, in music and in dancing, and -also because--according to their Eastern ideas--I was pretty, the -dealer, Mohammed Abd-el-Bali ... offered me for sale." - -She stopped, lowering her eyes and flushing hotly, then continued -with hesitancy. - -"In a small room which I can never forget I was offered the only -indignity which I had been called upon to suffer since my abduction. -I was _exhibited_ to prospective purchasers." - -"As she spoke the words, Miska's eyes flashed passionately and her -hand, which lay on the table, trembled. Stuart silently reached -across and rested his own upon it. - -"There were all kinds of girls," Miska continued, "black and brown and -white, in the adjoining rooms, and some of them were singing and some -dancing, whilst others wept. Four different visitors inspected me -critically, two of them being agents for royal _harems_ and the other -two--how shall I say it?--wealthy connoisseurs. But the price asked by -Mohammed Abd-el-Bali was beyond the purses of all except one of the -agents. He had indeed settled the bargain, when the singing and -dancing and shouting--every sound it seemed--ceased about me ... and -into the little room in which I crouched amongst perfumed cushions at -the feet of the two men, walked Fo-Hi." - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -MISKA'S STORY _(concluded)_ - - -"Of course, I did not know that this was his name at the time; I only -knew that a tall Chinaman had entered the room--and that his face was -entirely covered by a green veil." - -Stuart started, but did not interrupt Miska's story. - -"This veil gave him in some way a frightfully malign and repellent -appearance. As he stood in the doorway looking down I seemed to _feel_ -his gaze passing over me like a flame, although of course I could not -see his eyes. For a moment he stood there looking at me; and much as -his presence had affected me, its affect upon the slave-dealer and my -purchaser was extraordinary. They seemed to be stricken dumb. Suddenly -the Chinaman spoke, in perfect Arabic. 'Her price?' he said. - -"Mohammed Abd-el-Bali, standing trembling before him, replied: - -"'Miska is already sold, lord, but----" - -"'Her price?' repeated the Chinaman, in the same hard metallic voice -and without the slightest change of intonation. - -"The _harem_ agent who had bought me now said, his voice shaking so -that the words were barely audible: - -"'I give her up, Mohammed--I give her up. Who am I to dispute with the -Mandarin Fo-Hi;' and performing an abject obeisance he backed out of -the room. - -"At the same moment, Mohammed, whose knees were trembling so that they -seemed no longer capable of supporting him, addressed the Chinaman. - -"'Accept the maiden as an unworthy gift,' he began-- - -"'Her price?' repeated Fo-Hi. - -"Mohammed, whose teeth had begun to chatter, asked him twice as much -as he had agreed to accept from the other, Fo-Hi clapped his hands, -and a fierce-eyed Hindu entered the room. - -"Fo-Hi addressed him in a language which I did not understand, -although I have since learned that it was Hindustani, and the Indian -from a purse which he carried counted out the amount demanded by the -dealer and placed the money upon a little inlaid table which stood in -the room. Fo-Hi gave him some brief order, turned and walked out of -the room. I did not see him again for four years--that is until my -nineteenth birthday. - -"I know that you are wondering about many things and I will try to -make some of them clear to you. You are wondering, no doubt, how such -a trade as I have described is carried on in the East to-day almost -under the eyes of European Governments. Now I shall surprise you. When -I was taken from the house of the slave-dealer, in charge of Chunda -Lal--for this was the name of the Hindu--do you know where I was -carried to? I will tell you: to _Cairo!"_ - -"Cairo!" cried Stuart--then, perceiving that he had attracted -attention by speaking so loudly, he lowered his voice. "Do you mean to -tell me that you were taken as a _slave_ to Cairo?" - -Miska smiled--and her smile was the taunting smile of the East, which -is at once a caress and an invitation. - -"You think, no doubt, that there are no slaves in Cairo!" she said. -"So do most people, and so did I--once. I learned better. There are -palaces in Cairo, I assure you, in which there are many slaves. I -myself lived in such a palace for four years, and I was not the only -slave there. What do British residents and French residents know of -the inner domestic life of their Oriental neighbours? Are they ever -admitted to the _harem?_ And the slaves--are they ever admitted -outside the walls of the palace? Sometimes, yes, but never alone! - -"By slow stages, following the ancient caravan routes, and accompanied -by an extensive retinue of servants in charge of Chunda Lal, we came -to Cairo; and one night, approaching the city from the north-east and -entering by the Bab en-Nasr, I was taken to the old palace which was -to be my prison for four years. How I passed those four years has no -bearing upon the matters which I have to tell you, but I lived the -useless, luxurious life of some Arabian princess, my lightest wish -anticipated and gratified; nothing was denied me, except freedom. - -"Then, one day--it was actually my nineteenth birthday--Chunda Lal -presented himself and told me that I was to have an interview with -Fo-Hi. Hearing these words, I nearly swooned, for a hundred times -during the years of my strange luxurious captivity I had awakened -trembling in the night, thinking that the figure of the awful veiled -Chinaman had entered the room. - -"You must understand that having spent my childhood in a _harem,_ -the mode of life which I was compelled to follow in Cairo was not so -insufferable as it must have been for a European woman. Neither was my -captivity made unduly irksome. I often drove through the European -quarters, always accompanied by Chunda Lal, and closely veiled, and -I regularly went shopping in the bazaars--but never alone. The death -of my mother--and later that of my father, of which Chunda Lal had -told me--were griefs that time had dulled. But the horror of Fo-Hi was -one which lived with me, day and night. - -"To a wing of the palace kept closely locked, and which I had never -seen opened, I was conducted by Chunda Lal. There, in a room of a -kind with which was part library and part _mandarah,_ part museum -and part laboratory, I found the veiled man seated at a great -littered table. As I stood trembling before him he raised a long -yellow hand and waved to Chunda Lal to depart. When he obeyed and I -heard the door close I could scarcely repress a shriek of terror. - -"For what seemed an interminable time he sat watching me. I dared not -look at him, but again I felt his gaze passing over me like a flame. -Then he began to speak, in French, which he spoke without a trace of -accent. - -"He told me briefly that my life of idleness had ended and that a new -life of activity in many parts of the world was about to commence. -His manner was quite unemotional, neither harsh nor kindly, his -metallic voice conveyed no more than the bare meaning of the words -which he uttered. When, finally, he ceased speaking, he struck a gong -which hung from a corner of the huge table, and Chunda Lal entered. - -"Fo-Hi addressed a brief order to him in Hindustani--and a few -moments later a second Chinaman walked slowly into the room." - -Miska paused, as if to collect her ideas, but continued almost -immediately. - -"He wore a plain yellow robe and had a little black cap on his head. -His face, his wonderful evil face I can never forget, and his eyes--I -fear you will think I exaggerate--but his eyes were green as emeralds! -He fixed them upon me. - -"'This,' said Fo-Hi, 'is Miska.' - -"The other Chinaman continued to regard me with those dreadful eyes; -then: - -"'You have chosen well.' he said, turned and slowly went out again. - -"I thank God that I have never seen him since, for his dreadful face -haunted my dreams for long afterwards. But I have learned of him, and -I know that next to Fo-Hi he is the most dangerous being in the known -world. He has invented horrible things--poisons and instruments, which -I cannot describe because I have never seen them; but I have seen ... -some of their effects." - -She paused, overcome with the horror of her memories. - -"What is the name of this other man?" asked Stuart eagerly. Miska -glanced at him rapidly. - -"Oh, do not ask me questions, please!" she pleaded. "I will tell you -all I can, all I dare; what I do not tell you I cannot tell you--and -this is one of the things I dare not tell. He is a Chinese scientist -and, I have heard, the greatest genius in the whole world, but I can -say no more--yet." - -"Is he still alive--this man?" - -"I do not know that. If he is alive, he is in China--at some secret -palace in the province of Ho-Nan, which is the headquarters of what -is called the 'Sublime Order.' I have never been there, but there are -Europeans there, as well as Orientals." - -"What! in the company of these fiends!" - -"It is useless to ask me--oh! indeed, I would tell you if I could, but -I cannot! Let me go on from the time when I saw Fo-Hi in Cairo. He -told me that I was a member of an organization dating back to remote -antiquity which was destined to rule all the races of mankind--the -Celestial age he called their coming triumph. Something which they had -lacked in order to achieve success had been supplied by the dreadful -man who had entered the room and expressed his approval of me. - -"For many years they had been at work in Europe, secretly, as well as -in the East. I understood that they had acquired a quantity of -valuable information of some kind by means of a system of opium-houses -situated in the principal capitals of the world and directed by Fo-Hi -and a number of Chinese assistants. Fo-Hi had remained in China most -of the time, but had paid occasional visits to Europe. The other -man--the monster with the black skull cap--had been responsible for -the conduct of the European enterprises." - -"Throughout this interview," interrupted Stuart, forgetful of the fact -that Miska had warned him of the futility of asking questions, "and -during others which you must have had with Fo-Hi, did you never obtain -a glimpse of his face?" - -"Never! No one has ever seen his face! I know that his eyes are a -brilliant and unnatural yellow colour, but otherwise I should not -know him if I saw him unveiled, to-morrow. Except," she added, "by a -sense of loathing which his presence inspires in me. But I must hurry. -If you interrupt me, I shall not have time. - -"From that day in Cairo--oh! how can I tell you! I began the life of -an adventuress! I do not deny it. I came here to confess it to you. I -went to New York, to London, to Paris, to Petrograd; I went all over -the world. I had beautiful dresses, jewels, admiration--all that women -live for! And in the midst of it all mine was the life of the -cloister; no nun could be more secluded! - -"I see the question in your eyes--why did I do it? Why did I lure men -into the clutches of Fo-Hi? For this is what I did; and when I have -failed, I have been punished." - -Stuart shrank from her. - -"You confess," he said hoarsely, "that you knowing lured men to -_death?"_ - -"Ah, no!" she whispered, looking about her fearfully--"never! never! -I swear it--never!" - -"Then"--he stared at her blankly--"I do not understand you!" - -"I dare not make it clearer--now: I dare not--dare not! But _believe_ -me! Oh, please, please," she pleaded, her soft voice dropping to a -whisper--"believe me! If you know what I risked to tell you so much, -you would be more merciful. A horror which cannot be described"--again -she shuddered--"will fall upon me if _he_ ever suspects! You think me -young and full of life, with all the world before me. You do not know. -I am, literally, _already dead!_ Oh! I have followed a strange career. -I have danced in a Paris theatre and I have sold flowers in Rome; I -have had my box at the Opera and I have filled opium pipes in a den at -San Francisco! But never, never have I lured a man to his death. And -through it all, from first to last, no man has so much as kissed my -finger-tips! - -"At a word, at a sign, I have been compelled to go from Monte Carlo to -Buenos Ayres; at another sign from there to Tokio! Chunda Lal has -guarded me as only the women of the East are guarded. Yet, in his -fierce way, he has always tried to befriend me, he has always been -faithful. But ah! I shrink from him many times, in horror, because I -know _what_ he is! But I may not tell you. Look! Chunda Lal has never -been out of sound of this whistle"--she drew a little silver whistle -from her dress--"for a moment since that day when he came into the -house of the slave-dealer in Mecca, except----" - -And now, suddenly, a wave of glorious colour flooded her beautiful -face and swiftly she lowered her eyes, replacing the little whistle. -Stuart's rebellious heart leapt madly, for whatever he might think -of her almost incredible story, that sweet blush was no subterfuge, -no product of acting. - -"You almost drive me mad," he said in low voice, resembling the tones -of repressed savagery. "You tell me so much, but withhold so much -that I am more bewildered than ever. I can understand your -helplessness in an Eastern household, but why should you obey the -behests of this veiled monster in London, in New York, in Paris?" - -She did not raise her eyes. - -"I dare not tell you. But I dare not disobey him." - -"Who is he!" - -"No one knows, because no one has ever seen his face! Ah! you are -laughing! But I swear before heaven I speak the truth! Indoors he -wears a Chinese dress and a green veil. In passing from place to place, -which he always does at night, he is attired in a kind of cowl which -only exposes his eyes----" - -"But how _can_ such a fantastic being travel?" - -"By road, on land, and in a steam yacht, at sea. Why should _you_ -doubt my honesty?" She suddenly raises her glance to Stuart's face and -he saw that she had grown pale. "I have risked what I cannot tell you, -and more than once--for you! I tried to call you on the telephone on -the night that he set out from the house near Hampton Court to kill -you, but I could get no reply, and----" - -"Stop!" said Stuart, almost too exited to note at the time that she -had betrayed a secret. "It was _you_ who rang up that night? - -"Yes. Why did you not answer?" - -"Never mind. Your call saved my life. I shall not forget." He looked -into her eyes. "But can you not tell me what it all means? What or -whom is 'The Scorpion'?" - -She flinched. - -"The Scorpion is--a passport. See." From a little pocket in the coat -of her costume she drew out a golden scorpion! "I have one." She -replaced it hurriedly. "I dare not, dare not tell you more. But this -much I had to tell you, because ... I shall never see you again!" - -"What!" - -"A French detective, a very clever man, learned a lot about 'The -Scorpion' and he followed one of the members to England. This man -killed him. Oh, I know I belong to a horrible organization!" she -cried bitterly. "But I tell you I am helpless and _I_ have never -aided in such a thing. You should know that! But all he found out he -left with you--and I do not know if I succeeded in destroying it. I do -not ask you. I do not care. But I leave England to-night. Good-bye." - -She suddenly stood up. Stuart rose also. He was about to speak when -Miska's expression changed. A look of terror crept over her face, and -hastily lowering her veil she walked rapidly away from the table and -out of the room! - -Many curious glances followed the elegant figure to the door. Then -those glances were directed upon Stuart. - -Flushing with embarrassment, he quickly settled the bill and hurried -out of the hotel. Gaining the street, he looked eagerly right and left. - -But Miska had disappeared! - - - - -CHAPTER V - -THE HEART OF CHUNDA LAL - - -Dusk had drawn a grey mantle over the East-End streets when Miska, -discharging the cab in which she had come from Victoria, hurried -furtively along a narrow alley tending Thamesward. Unconsciously she -crossed a certain line--a line invisible except upon a map of London -which lay upon the table of the Assistant Commissioner in New Scotland -Yard--the line forming the "red circle" of M. Gaston Max. And, -crossing this line, she became the focus upon which four pairs of -watchful eyes were directed. - -Arriving at the door of a mean house some little distance removed -from that of Ah-Fang-Fu, Miska entered, for the door was open, and -disappeared from the view of the four detectives who were watching the -street. Her heart was beating rapidly. For she had thought, as she -had stood up to leave the restaurant, that the fierce eyes of Chunda -Lal had looked in through the glass panel of one of the doors. - -This gloomy house seemed to swallow her up, and the men who watched -wondered more and more what had become of the elegant figure, -grotesque in such a setting, which had vanished into the narrow -doorway--and which did not reappear. Even Inspector Kelly, who knew -so much about Chinatown, did not know that the cellars of the three -houses left and right of Ah-Fang-Fu's were connected by a series of -doors planned and masked with Chinese cunning. - -Half an hour after Miska had disappeared into the little house near -the corner, the hidden door in the damp cellar below "The Pidgin -House" opened and a bent old woman, a ragged, grey-haired and dirty -figure, walked slowly up the rickety wooden stair and entered a bare -room behind and below the shop and to the immediate left of the den -of the opium-smoker. This room, which was windowless, was lighted by -a tin paraffin lamp hung upon a nail in the dirty plaster wall. The -floor presented a litter of straw, paper and broken packing-cases. -Two steps led up to a second door, a square heavy door of great -strength. The old woman, by means of a key which she carried, was -about to open this door when it was opened from the other side. - -Lowering his head as he came through, Chunda Lal descended. He wore -European clothes and a white turban. Save for his ardent eyes and -the handsome fanatical face of the man, he might have passed for a -lascar. He turned and half closed the door. The woman shrank from -him, but extending a lean brown hand he gripped her arm. His eyes -glittered feverishly. - -"So!" he said, "we are all leaving England? Five of the Chinese sail -with the P. and O. boat to-night. Ali Khan goes to-morrow, and Rama -Dass, with Miguel, and the _Andaman_. I meet them at Singapore. But you?" - -The woman raised her finger to her lips, glancing fearfully towards -the open door. But the Hindu, drawing her nearer, repeated with subdued -fierceness: - -"I ask it again--but _you_?" - -"I do not know," muttered the woman, keeping her head lowered and -moving in the direction of the steps. - -But Chunda Lal intercepted her. - -"Stop!" he said--"not yet are you going. There is something I have to -speak to you." - -"Ssh!" she whispered, half turning and pointing up toward the door. - -"Those!" said the Hindu contemptuously--"the poor slaves of the black -smoke! Ah! they are floating in their dream paradise; they have no -ears to hear, no eyes to see!" He grasped her wrist again. "They -contest for shadow smiles and dream kisses, but Chunda Lal have eyes -to see and ears to hear. He dream, too but of lips more sweet than -honey, of a voice like the Song of the Daood! _Inshalla!"_ - -Suddenly he clutched the grey hair of the bent old woman and with one -angry jerk snatched it from her head--for it was a cunning wig. -Disordered, hair gleaming like bronze waves in the dim lamplight was -revealed and the great dark eyes of Miska looked out from the -artificially haggard face--eyes wide open and fearful. - -"Bend not that beautiful body so," whispered Chunda Lal, "that is -straight and supple as the willow branch. O, Miska"--his voice -trembled emotionally and he that had been but a moment since so fierce -stood abashed before her--"for you I become as the meanest and the -lowest; for you I die!" - -Miska started back from him as a muffled outcry sounded in the room -beyond the half-open door. Chunda Las started also, but almost -immediately smiled--and his smile was tender as a woman's. - -"It is the voice of the black smoke that speaks, Miska. We are alone. -Those are dead men speaking from their tombs." - -"Ah-Fang-Fu is in the shop," whispered Miska. - -"And there he remain." - -"But what of ... _him!"_ - -Miska pointed toward the eastern wall of the room in which they stood. - -Chunda Lal clenched his hands convulsively and turned his eyes in the -same direction. - -"It is of _him_," he replied in a voice of suppressed vehemence, "it -is of _him_ I would speak." He bent close to Miska's ear. "In the -creek, below the house, is lying the motor-boat. I go to-day to bring -it down for him. He goes to-night to the other house up the river. -To-morrow I am gone. Only you remaining." - -"Yes, yes. He also leaves England to-morrow." - -"And you?" - -"I go with him," she whispered. - -Chunda Lal glanced apprehensively toward the door. Then: - -"Do not go with him!" he said, and sought to draw Miska into his arms. -"O, light of my eyes, do not go with him!" - -Miska repulsed him, but not harshly. - -"No, no, it is no good, Chunda Lal. I cannot hear you." - -"You think"--the Hindu's voice was hoarse with emotion--"that _he_ will -trace you--and kill you?" - -_"Trace me!"_ exclaimed Miska with sudden scorn. "Is it necessary for -him to trace me? Am I not already dead except for _him!_ Would I be -his servant, his lure, his slave for one little hour, for one short -minute, if my life was my own!" - -Beads of perspiration gleamed upon the brown forehead of the Hindu, -and his eyes turned from the door to the eastern wall and back again -to Miska. He was torn by conflicting desires, but suddenly came -resolution. - -"Listen, then." His voice was barely audible. "If I tell you that your -life _is_ your own--if I reveal to you a secret which I learned in the -house of Abdul Rozan in Cairo----" - -Miska watched him with eyes in which a new, a wild expression was -dawning. - -"If I tell you that life and not death awaits you, will you come away -to-night, and we sail for India to-morrow! Ah! I have money! Perhaps I -am rich as well as--someone; perhaps I can buy you the robes of a -princess"--he drew her swiftly to him--"and cover those white arms -with jewels." - -Miska shrank from him. - -"All this means nothing," she said. "How can the secret of Abdul -Rozan help me to live! And you--you will be dead before I die!--yes! -One little hour after _he_ finds out that I go!" - -"Listen again," hissed Chunda Lal intensely. "Promise me, and I will -open for you a gate of life. For you, Miska, I will do it, and we -shall be free. _He_ will never find out. He shall not be living to -find out!" - -"No, no, Chunda Lal," she moaned. "You have been my only friend, and -I have tried to forget ..." - -"I will forswear Kali forever," he said fervently, "and shed no blood -for all my life! I will live for you alone and be your slave." - -"It is no good. I cannot, Chunda Lal, I cannot." - -"Miska!" he pleaded tenderly. - -"No, no," she repeated, her voice quivering--"I cannot ... Oh! do not -ask it; I cannot!" - -She picked up the hideous wig, moving towards the door. Chunda Lal -watched her, clenching his hands; and his eyes, which had been so -tender, grew fierce. - -"Ah!" he cried--"and it may be I know a reason!" - -She stopped, glancing back at him. - -"It may be," he continued, and his repressed violence was terrible, -"it may be that I, whose heart is never sleeping, have seen and heard! -One night"--he crept towards her--"one night when I cry the warning -that the Doctor Sahib returns to his house, you do not come! He goes -in at the house and you remain. But at last you come, and I see in -your eyes----" - -"Oh!" breathed Miska, watching him fearfully. - -"Do I not see it in your eyes now! Never before have I thought so -until you go to that house, never before have you escaped from my care -as here in London. Twice again I have doubted, and because there was -other work to do I have been helpless to find out. _To-night_"--he -stood before her, glaring madly into her face--"I think so again--that -you have gone to him...." - -"Oh, Chunda Lal!" cried Miska piteously and extended her hands towards -him. "No, no--do not say it!" - -"So!" he whispered--"I understand! You risk so much for him--for me -you risk nothing! If he--the Doctor Sahib--say to you: 'Come with me, -Miska----'" - -"No, no! Can I never have one friend in all the world! I hear you -call, Chunda Lal, but I am burning the envelope and--Doctor Stuart-- -finds me. I am trapped. You know it is so. - -"I know you say so. And because he--Fo-Hi--is not sure and because of -the piece of the scorpion which you find there, we go to that house-- -_he_ and I--and we fail in what we go for." Chunda Lal's hand dropped -limply to his sides. "Ah! I cannot understand, Miska. If we are not -sure then, are we sure _now?_ It may be"--he bent towards her--"we are -trapped!" - -"Oh, what do you mean?" - -"We do not know how much they read of what he had written. Why do we -wait?" - -_"He_ has some plan, Chunda Lal," replied Miska wearily. "Does he -ever fail?" - -Her words rekindled the Hindu's ardour; his eyes lighted up anew. - -"I tell you his plan," he whispered tensely. "Oh! you shall hear -me! He watch you grow from a little lovely child, as he watch his -death-spiders and his grey scorpions grow! He tend you and care for -you and make you perfect, and he plan for you as he plan for this -other creatures. Then, he see what I see, that you are not only his -servant but also a woman and that you have a woman's heart. He -learn--who think he knows all--that he, too, is not yet a spirit -but only a man, and have a man's heart, a man's blood, a man's -longings! It is because of the Doctor Sahib that he learn it----" - -He grasped Miska again, but she struggled to elude him. "Oh, let me -go!" she pleaded. "It is madness you speak!" - -"It is madness, yes--for _you!_ Always I have watched, always I have -waited; and I also have seen you bloom like a rose in the desert. -To-night I am here--watching ... and _he_ knows it! Tomorrow I am -gone! Do you stay, for--_him?_ - -"Oh," she whispered fearfully, "it cannot be." - -"You say true when you say I have been your only friend, Miska. -To-morrow _he_ plan that you have no friend." - -He released her, and slowly, from the sleeve of his coat, slipped into -view the curved blade of a native knife. - -_"Ali Khan Bhai Salam!"_ he muttered--by which formula he -proclaimed himself a _Thug!_ - -Rolling his eyes in the direction of the eastern wall, he concealed -the knife. - -"Chunda Lal!" Miska spoke wildly. "I am frightened! Please let me go, -and tomorrow----" - -"To-morrow!" Chunda Lal raised his eyes, which were alight with the -awful light of fanaticism. "For me there may be no tomorrow! _Jey -Bhowani! Yah Allah!"_ - -"Oh, _he_ may hear you!" whispered Miska pitifully. "Please go now. -I shall know that you are near me, if----" - -"And then?" - -"I will ask your aid." - -Her voice was very low. - -"And if it is written that I succeed?" - -Miska averted her head. - -"Oh, Chunda Lal ... I cannot." - -She hid her face in her hands. - -Chunda Lal stood watching her for a moment in silence, then he turned -toward the cellar door, and then again to Miska. Suddenly he dropped -upon one knee before her, took her hand and kissed it, gently. - -"I am your slave," he said, his voice shaken with emotion. "For myself -I ask nothing--only your pity." - -He rose, opened the door by which Miska had entered the room and went -down into the cellars. She watched him silently, half fearfully, yet -her eyes were filled with compassionate tears. Then, readjusting the -hideous grey wig, she went up the steps and passed through the doorway -into the den of the opium smokers. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE MAN WITH THE SCAR - - -Stuart read through a paper, consisting of six closely written pages, -then he pinned the sheets together, folded them and placed them in one -of those long envelopes associated in his memory with the opening -phase of "The Scorpion" mystery. Smiling grimly, he descended to his -dispensary and returned with the Chinese coin attached to the cork. -With this he sealed the envelope. - -He had volunteered that night for onerous service, and his offer had -been accepted. Gaston Max's knowledge of Eastern languages was slight, -whilst Stuart's was sound and extensive, and the Frenchman had -cordially welcomed the doctor's proposal that he should accompany him -to the house of Ah-Fang-Fu. Reviewing the facts gleaned from Miska -during the earlier part of the evening, Stuart perceived that, apart -from the additional light which they shed upon her own relations with -the group, they could be of slight assistance to the immediate success -of the inquiry--unless the raid failed. Therefore he had determined -upon the course which now he was adopting. - -As he completed the sealing of the envelope and laid it down upon the -table, he heard a cab drawn up in front of the house, and presently -Mrs. M'Gregor knocked and entered the study. - -"Inspector Dunbar to see you, Mr. Keppel," she said--"and he has with -him an awful-looking body, all cuts and bandages. A patient, no doubt." - -Stuart stood up, wondering what this could mean. - -"Will you please show them up, Mrs. M'Gregor," he replied. - -A few moments later Dunbar entered, accompanied by a bearded man -whose head was bandaged so as to partly cover one eye and who had an -evil-looking scar running from his cheekbone, apparently--or at any -rate from the edge of the bandage--to the corner of his mouth, so that -the lip was drawn up in a fierce and permanent snarl. - -At this person Stuart stared blankly, until Dunbar began to laugh. - -"It's a wonderful make-up, isn't it?" he said. "I used to say that -disguises were out of date, but M. Max has taught me I was wrong." - -"Max!" cried Stuart. - -"At your service," replied the apparition, "but for this evening only -I am 'Le Belafre.' Yes, _pardieu!_ I am a real dead man!" - -The airy indifference which he proclaimed himself to represent one -whose awful body had but that day been removed from a mortuary, and -one whom in his own words he had "had the misfortune to strangle," -was rather ghastly and at the same time admirable. For "Le Balafre" -had deliberately tried to murder him, and false sentiment should form -no part of the complement of a criminal investigator. - -"It is a daring idea," said Stuart, "and relies for its success upon -the chance that 'The Scorpion' remains ignorant of the fate of his -agent and continues to believe that the body found off Hanover Hole -was yours." - -"The admirable precautions of my clever colleague," replied Max, -laying his hand upon Dunbar's shoulder, "in closing the mortuary and -publishing particulars of the identification disk, made it perfectly -safe. 'Le Balafre' has been in hiding. He emerges!" - -Stuart had secret reasons for knowing that Max's logic was not at -fault, and this brought him to the matter of the sealed paper. He -took up the envelope. - -"I have here," he said slowly, "a statement. Examine the seal." - -He held it out, and Max and Dunbar looked at it. The latter laughed -shortly. - -"Oh, it is a real statement," continued Stuart, "the nature of which -I am not at liberty to divulge. But as to-night we take risks, I -propose to leave it in your charge, Inspector." - -He handed the envelope to Dunbar, whose face was blank with -astonishment. - -"In the event of failure to-night," added Stuart, "or catastrophe, I -authorise you to read this statement--and act upon it. If, however, I -escape safely, I ask you to return it to me, unread." - -_"Eh bien,"_ said Max, and fixed that eye the whole of which was -visible upon Stuart. "Perhaps I understand, and certainly"--he removed -his hand from Dunbar's shoulder and rested it upon that of Stuart-- -"but certainly, my friend, I sympathise!" - -Stuart started guiltily, but Max immediately turned aside and began -to speak about their plans. - -"In a bag which Inspector Dunbar has thoughtfully left in the cab," -he said---- - -Dunbar hastily retired and Max laughed. - -"In that bag," he continued, "is a suit of clothes such as habitues of -'The Pidgin House' rejoice to wear. I, who have studied disguise -almost as deeply as the great Willy Clarkson, will transform you into -a perfect ruffian. It is important, you understand, that someone -should be inside the house of Ah-Fang-Fu, as otherwise by means of -some secret exit the man we seek may escape. I believe that he -contemplates departing at any moment, and I believe that the visit of -Miguel means that what I may term the masters of the minor lodges are -coming to London for parting instructions--or, of course Miguel may -have come about the disappearance of 'Le Balafre.'" - -"Suppose you meet Miguel!" - -"My dear friend, I must trust to the Kismet who pursues evil-doers! -The only reason which has led me to adopt this daring disguise is a -simple one. Although I believe 'The Pidgin House' to be open to -ordinary opium-smokers, it may not be open on 'lodge nights.' Do you -follow me? Very well. I have the golden scorpion--which I suppose to -be a sort of passport." - -Stuart wondered more and more at the reasoning powers of this -remarkable man, which could lead him to such an accurate conclusion. - -"The existence of such a passport," continued Max, "would seem to -point to the fact that all the members of this organisation are not -known personally to one another. At the same time those invited or -expected at present _may_ be known to Ah-Fang-Fu or to whoever acts -as concierge. You see? Expected or otherwise, I assume that 'Le -Balafre' would be admitted--and at night I shall pass very well for -'Le Balafre'--somewhat damaged as a result of my encounter with the -late Charles Malet, but still recognisable!" - -"And I?" - -"You will be 'franked' in. The word of 'Le Balafre' should be -sufficient for that! Of course I may be conducted immediately into -the presence of the Chief--'The Scorpion'--and he may prove to be -none other than Miguel, for instance--or my Algerian acquaintance-- -or may even be a 'she'--the fascinating Zara el-Khala! We do not -know. But I _think_--oh, decidedly I think--that the cowled one is a -male creature, and his habits and habitat suggests to me that he is a -Chinaman." - -"And in that event how shall you act?" - -"At once! I shall hold him, if I can, or shoot him if I cannot hold -him! Both of us will blow police-whistles with which we shall be -provided and Inspectors Dunbar and Kelly will raid the premises. But I -am hoping for an interval. I do not like these inartistic scrimmages! -The fact that these people foregather at an opium-house suggests to me -that a certain procedure may be followed which I observed during the -course of the celebrated 'Mr. Q' case in New York. 'Mr. Q.' also had -an audience-chamber adjoining and opium den, and his visitors went -there ostensibly to smoke opium. The opium-den was a sort of anteroom." - -"Weymouth's big Chinese case had similar features," said Inspector -Dunbar, who re-entered at that moment carrying a leathern grip. "If -you are kept waiting and you keep your ears open, doctor, that's when -your knowledge of the lingo will come in useful. We might rope in the -whole gang and find we hadn't a scrap of evidence against them, for -except the attempt on yourself, Dr. Stuart, there's nothing so far -that I can see to connect 'The Scorpion' with Sir Frank Newcombe!" - -"It is such a bungle that I fear!" cried Max. "Ah! how this looped-up -lip annoys me!" He adjusted the bandage carefully. - -"We've got the place comfortably surrounded," continued Dunbar, "and -whoever may be inside is booked! A lady, answering to the description -of Mlle. Dorian, went in this evening, so Sowerby reports." - -Stuart felt that he was changing colour, and he stooped hastily to -inspect the contents of the bag which Dunbar had opened. - -_"Eh bien!"_ said Gaston Max. "We shall not go empty-handed, then. And -now to transfigure you, my friend!" - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -IN THE OPIUM DEN - - -Interrupting a spell of warm, fine weather the night had set in wet -and stormy. The squalid streets through which Stuart and Gaston Max -made their way looked more than normally deserted and uninviting. The -wind moaned and the rain accompanied with a dreary tattoo. Sometimes -a siren wailed out upon the river. - -"We are nearly there," said Max. _"Pardieu!_ they are well concealed, -those fellows. I have not seen so much as an eyebrow." - -"It would be encouraging to get a glimpse of some one!" replied Stuart. - -"Ah, but bad--inartistic. It is the next door, I think ... yes. I hope -they have no special way of knocking." - -Upon the door of a dark and apparently deserted shop he rapped. - -Both had anticipated an interval of waiting, and both were astonished -when the door opened almost at once, revealing a blackly cavernous -interior. - -"Go off! Too late! Shuttee shop!" chattered a voice out of the -darkness. - -Max thrust his way resolutely in, followed by Stuart. "Shut the door, -Ah-Fang-Fu!" he said curtly, speaking with a laboured French accent. -_"Scorpion!"_ - -The door was closed by the invisible Chinaman, there was a sound of -soft movements and a hurricane-lantern suddenly made its appearance. -Its light revealed the interior of a nondescript untidy little shop -and revealed the presence of an old and very wrinkled Chinaman who -held the lantern. He wore a blue smock and a bowler hat and his face -possessed the absolute impassivity of an image. As he leaned over the -counter, scrutinising his visitors, Max thrust forward the golden -scorpion held in the palm of his hand. - -_"Hoi, hoi"_ chattered the Chinaman. "Fo-Hi fellers, eh? You hab got -plenty much late. Other fellers Fo-Hi pidgin plenty much sooner. You -one time catchee allee same bhobbery, b'long number one joss-pidgin -man!" - -Being covertly nudged by Max: - -"Cut the palaver, Pidgin," growled Stuart. - -"Allee lightee," chattered Ah-Fang-Fu, for evidently this was he. "You -play one piecee pipee till Fo-Hi got." Raising the lantern, he led -the way through a door at the back of the shop. Descending four -wooden steps, Stuart and Max found themselves in the opium-den. - -"Full up. No loom," said the Chinaman. - -It was a low-ceilinged apartment, the beams of the roof sloping -slightly upward from west to east. The centre part of the wall at the -back was covered with matting hung from the rough cornice supporting -the beams. To the right of the matting was the door communicating with -the shop, and to the left were bunks. Other bunks lined the southerly -wall, except where, set in the thickness of the bare brick and -plaster, a second strong door was partly hidden by a pile of empty -packing-cases and an untidy litter of straw and matting. - -Along the northern wall were more bunks, and an open wooden stair, -with a handrail, ascended to a small landing or platform before a -third door high up in the wall. A few mats were strewn about the -floor. The place was dimly lighted by a red-shaded lamp swung from -the centre of the ceiling and near the foot of the stairs another lamp -(of the common tin variety) stood upon a box near which was a broken -cane chair. Opium-pipes, tins, and a pack of cards were on this box. - -All the bunks appeared to be occupied. Most of the occupants were -lying motionless, but one or two were noisily sucking at the -opium-pipes. These had not yet attained to the opium-smokers Nirvana. -So much did Gaston Max, a trained observer, gather in one swift glance. -Then Ah-Fang-Fu, leaving the lantern in the shop, descended the four -steps and crossing the room began to arrange two mats with round -head-cushions near to the empty packing-cases. Stuart and Max remained -by the door. - -"You see," whispered Max, "he has taken you on trust! And he did not -appear to recognise me. It is as I thought. The place is 'open to the -public' as usual, and Ah-Fang-Fu does a roaring trade, one would -judge. For the benefit of patrons not affiliated to the order we have -to pretend to smoke." - -"Yes," replied Stuart with repressed excitement--"until someone called -Fo-Hi is at home, or visible; the word 'got' may mean either of those -things." - -"Fo-Hi," whispered Max, "is 'The Scorpion!' - -"I believe you are right," said Stuart--who had good reason to know it. -"My God! what a foul den! The reek is suffocating. Look at that yellow -lifeless face yonder, and see that other fellow whose hand hangs -limply down upon the floor. Those bunks might be occupied by corpses -for all the evidence of life that some of them show." - -_"Morbleu!_ do not raise your voice; for some of them are occupied by -'Scorpions.' You noted the words of Ah-Fang? _Ssh!"_ - -The old Chinaman returned with his curious shuffling walk, raising his -hand to beckon to them. - -"Number one piece bunk, lo!" he chattered. - -"Good enough," growled Stuart. - -The two crossed and reclined upon the uncleanly mats. - -"Make special loom," explained Ah-Fang-Fu. "Velly special chop!" - -He passed from bunk to bunk, and presently came to a comatose Chinaman -from whose limp hand, which hung down upon the floor, the pipe had -dropped. This pipe Ah-Fang-Fu took from the smoker's fingers and -returning to the box upon which the tin lamp was standing began calmly -to load it. - -"Good heavens!" muttered Stuart--"he is short of pipes! Pah! how the -place reeks!" - -Ah-Fang-Fu busied himself with a tin of opium, the pipe which he had -taken from the sleeper, and another pipe--apparently the last of his -stock--which lay near the lamp. Igniting the two, he crossed and -handed them to Stuart and Max. - -"Velly soon-lo!" he said and made a curious sign, touching his brow, -his lips and his breast in a manner resembling that of a Moslem. - -Max repeated the gesture and then lay back upon his elbow, raising -the mouthpiece of the little pipe to his lips--but carefully avoiding -contact. - -Ah-Fang-Fu shuffled back to the broken cane chair, from which he had -evidently arisen to admit his late visitors. - -Inarticulate sounds proceeded from the bunks, breaking the sinister -silence which now descended upon the den. Ah-Fang-Fu began to play -Patience, constantly muttering to himself. The occasional wash of -tidal water became audible, and once there came a scampering and -squealing of rates from beneath the floor. - -"Do you notice the sound of lapping water" whispered Stuart. "The -place is evidently built upon a foundation of piles and the cellars -must actually be submerged at high-tide." - -_"Pardieu!_ it is a death trap. What is this!" - -A loud knocking sounded upon the street door. Ah-Fang-Fu rose and -shuffled up the steps into the shop. He could be heard unbarring the -outer door. Then: - -"Too late! shuttee shop, shuttee shop!" sounded. - -"I don't want nothin' out of your blasted shop, Pidgin!" roared a loud -and thick voice. "I'm old Bill Bean, I am, and I want a pipe, I do!" - -"Hullo, Bill!" replied the invisible 'Pidgin.' "Allee samee dlunk -again!" - -A red-bearded ship's fireman, wearing sea-boots, a rough blue suit -similar to that which Stuart wore, a muffler and a peaked cap, lurched -into view at the head of the steps. - -"Blimey!" he roared, over his shoulder. "Drunk! _Me_ drunk! An' all -the pubs in these parts sell barley-water coloured brown! Blimey! Chuck -it, Pidgin!" - -Ah-Fang-Fu reappeared behind him. "Catchee dlunk ev'ly time for comee -here," he chattered. - -"'Taint 'umanly possible," declared the new arrival, staggering down -the steps, "fer a 'ealthy sailorman to git drunk on coloured water -just 'cause the publican calls it beer! I ain't drunk; I'm only -miserable. Gimmee a pipe, Pidgin." - -Ah-Fang-Fu barred the door and ascended. - -"Comee here," he muttered, "my placee, all full up and no other placee -b'long open." - -Bill Bean slapped him boisterously on the back. - -"Cut the palaver, Pidgin, and gimme a pipe. Piecee pipe, Pidgin!" - -He lurched across the floor, nearly falling over Stuart's legs, took -up a mat and a cushion, lurched into the further corner and cast -himself down. - -"Ain't I one o' yer oldest customers, Pidgin?" he inquired. "One o' -yer oldest, I am." - -"Blight side twelve-time," muttered the Chinaman. "Getchee me in -tlouble, Bill. Number one police chop." - -"Not the first time it wouldn't be!" retorted the fireman. "Not the -first time as you've been in trouble, Pidgin. An' unless they 'ung -yer--which it ain't 'umanly possible to 'ang a Chink--it wouldn't be -the last--an' not by a damn long way ..._an'_ not by a damn long way!" - -Ah-Fang-Fu, shrugging resignedly, shuffled from bunk to bunk in quest -of a disused pipe, found one, and returning to the extemporised table, -began to load it, muttering to himself. - -"Don't like to 'ear about your wicked past, do you?" continued Bill. -"Wicked old yellow-faced 'eathen! Remember the 'dive' in 'Frisco, -Pidgin? _Wot_ a rough 'ouse! Remember when I come in--full up I was: -me back teeth well under water--an' you tried to Shanghai me?" - -"You cutee palaber. All damn lie," muttered the Chinaman. - -"Ho! a lie is it?" roared the other. "Wot about me wakin' up all -of a tremble aboard o' the old _Nancy Lee_--aboard of a blasted -wind-jammer! Me--a fireman! Wot about it? Wasn't that Shanghaiin'? -Blighter! _An'_ not a 'oat' in me pocket--not a 'bean'! Broke to -the wide an' aboard of a old wind-jammer wot was a coffin-ship--a -coffin-ship she was; an' 'er old man was the devil's father-in-law. -Ho! lies! I _don't_ think!" - -"You cutee palaber!" chattered Ah-Fang-Fu, busy with the pipe. "You -likee too much chin-chin. You make nice piece bhobbery." - -"Not a 'bean'," continued Bill reminiscently--"not a 'oat.'" He sat up -violently. "Even me pipe an' baccy was gone!" he shouted. "You'd even -pinched me pipe an' baccy! You'd pinch the whiskers off a blind man, -_you_ would, Pidgin! 'And over the dope. Thank Gawd somebody's still -the right stuff!" - -Suddenly, from a bunk on the left of Gaston Max came a faint cry. - -"Ah! He has bitten me!" - -"'Ullo!" said Bill--"wotcher bin given' _'im,_ Pidgin? _Chandu_ or -hydrerphobia?" - -Ah-Fang-Fu crossed and handed him the pipe. - -"One piecee pipee. No more hab." - -Bill grasped the pipe eagerly and raised it to his lips. Ah-Fang-Fu -returned unmoved to his Patience and silence reclaimed the den, only -broken by the inarticulate murmuring and the lapping of the tide. - -"A genuine customer!" whispered Max. - -"Ah!" came again, more faintly--"he ... has ... bitten ... me." - -"Blimey!" said Bill in a drowsy voice--"'eave the chair at 'im, -Pidgin." - -Stuart was about to speak when Gaston Max furtively grasped his arm. -"Ssh!" he whispered. "Do not move, but look ... at the top of the -stair!" - -Stuart turned his eyes. On the platform at the head of the stairs a -Hindu was standing! - -"Chunda Lal!" whispered Max. "Prepare for--anything!" - -"Chunda Lal descended slowly. Ah-Fang-Fu continued to play Patience. -The Hindu stood behind him and began to speak in a voice of subdued -fervour and with soft Hindu modulations. - -"Why do you allow them, strangers, coming here to-night!" - -Ah-Fang-Fu continued complacently to arrange the cards. - -"S'pose hab gotchee pidgin allee samee Chunda Lal hab got? Fo-Hi no -catchee buy bled and cheese for Ah-Fang-Fu. He"--nodding casually in -the direction of Bill Bean--"plitty soon all blissful." - -"Be very careful, Ah-Fang-Fu," said Chunda Lal tensely. He lowered -his voice. "Do you forget so soon what happen last week?" - -"No sabby." - -"Some one comes here--we do not know how close he comes; perhaps he -comes in--and he is of the _police."_ - -Ah-Fang-Fu shuffled uneasily in his chair. - -"No police chop for Pidgin!" he muttered. "Same feller tumble in -liver?" - -"He is killed--yes; but suppose they find the writing he has made! -Suppose he has written that it is _here_ people meet together?" - -"Makee chit tell my name? Muchee hard luck! Number one police chop." - -"You say Fo-Hi not buying you bread and cheese. Perhaps it is Fo-Hi -that save you from hanging!" - -Ah-Fang-Fu hugged himself. - -_"Yak pozee!"_ (Very good) he muttered. - -Chunda Lal raised his finger. - -"Be very careful, Ah-Fang-Fu!" - -"Allee time velly careful." - -"But admit no more of them to come in, these strangers." - -_"Tchee, tchee!_ Velly ploper. Sometime big feller come in if Pidgin -palaber or not. Pidgin never lude to big feller." - -"Your life may depend on it," said Chunda Lal impressively. "How many -are here?" - -Ah-Fang-Fu turned at last from his cards, pointing in three -directions, and, finally, at Gaston Max. - -"Four?" said the Hindu--"how can it be?" - -He peered from bunk to bunk, muttering something--a name apparently-- -after scrutinizing each. When his gaze rested upon Max he started, -stared hard, and meeting the gaze of the one visible eye, made the -strange sign. - -Max repeated it; and Chunda Lal turned again to the Chinaman. "Because -of that drunken pig," he said, pointing at Bill Bean--"we must wait. -See to it that he is the last." - -He walked slowly up the stairs, opened the door at the top and -disappeared. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -THE GREEN-EYED JOSS - - -Sinister silence reclaimed the house of Ah-Fang-Fu. And Ah-Fang-Fu -resumed his solitary game. - -_"He_ recognised 'Le Belafre'" whispered Max--"and was surprised to -see him! So there are three of the gang here! Did you particularly -observe in which bunks they lay, doctor. _Ssh!"_ - -A voice from a bunk had commenced to sing monotonously. - -_"Peyala peah,"_ it sang, weird above the murmured accompaniment of -the other dreaming smokers and the _wash-wash_ of the tide--_"To -myn-na-peah-Phir Kysee ko kyah ..."_ - -"He is speaking from an opium-trance," said Stuart softly. "A native -song: 'If a cup of wine is drunk, and I have drunk it, what of that?'" - -_"Mon Dieu!_ it is uncanny!" whispered Max. _"Brr!_ do you hear those -rats? I am wondering in what order we shall be admitted to the -'Scorpion's' presence, or if we shall see him together." - -"He may come in here." - -"All the better." - -"Gimme 'nother pipe, Pidgin," drawled a very drowsy voice from Bill -Bean's corner. - -Ah-Fang-Fu left his eternal arranging and rearranging of the cards and -crossed the room. He took the opium-pipe from the fireman's limp -fingers and returning to the box, refilled and lighted it. Max and -Stuart watched him in silence until he had handed the second pipe to -the man and returned to his chair. - -"We must be very careful," said Stuart. "We do not know which are real -smokers and which are not." - -Again there was a weird interruption. A Chinaman lying in one of the -bunks began to chant in a monotonous far-away voice: - - _"Chong-liou-chouay - Om mani padme hum."_ - -"The Buddhist formula," whispered Stuart. _"He_ is a real smoker. -Heavens! the reek is choking me!" - -The chant was repeated, the words dying away into a long murmur. -Ah-Fang-Fu continued to shuffle the cards. And presently Bill Bean's -second pipe dropped from his fingers. His husky voice spoke almost -inaudibly. - -"I'm ... old ... Bill ... Bean ... I ..." - -A deep-noted siren hooted dimly. - -"A steamer making for dock," whispered Max. _"Brr!_ it is a nightmare, -this! I think in a minute something will happen. _Ssh!"_ - -Ah-Fang-Fu glanced slowly around. Then he stood up, raised the lamp -from the table and made a tour of the bunks, shining the light in upon -the faces of the occupants. Max watched him closely, hoping to learn -in which bunks the members of 'The Scorpion's' group lay. But he was -disappointed. Ah-Fang-Fu examined _all_ the bunks and even shone the -light down upon Stuart and Max. He muttered to himself constantly, but -seemed to address no one. - -Replacing the lamp on the box, he whistled softly; and:---- - -"Look!" breathed Max. "The stair again!" - -Stuart cautiously turned his eyes toward the open stair. - -On the platform above stood a bent old hag whose witch-eyes were -searching the place keenly! With a curiously lithe step, for all her -age, she descended, and standing behind Ah-Fang-Fu tapped him on the -shoulder and pointed to the outer door. He stood up and shuffled -across, went up the four steps and unbarred the door. - -_"Tchee, tchee,"_ he chattered. "Pidgin make a look-out." - -He went out and closed the door. - -"Something happens!" whispered Max. - -A gong sounded. - -"Ah!" - -The old woman approached the matting curtain hung over a portion of -the wall, raised it slightly in the centre--where it opened--and -disappeared beyond. - -"You see!" said Stuart excitedly. - -"Yes! it is the audience-chamber of 'The Scorpion'!" - -The ancient hag came out again, crossed to a bunk and touched its -occupant, a Chinaman, with her hand. He immediately shot up and -followed her. The two disappeared beyond the curtain. - -"What shall we do," said Stuart, "if _you_ are summoned?" - -"I shall throw open those curtains the moment I reach them, and -present my pistol at the head of whoever is on the other side. -You--_ssh!"_ - -The old woman reappeared, looked slowly around and then held the -curtains slightly apart to allow of the Chinaman's coming out. He -saluted her by touching his head, lips and breast with his right hand, -then passed up to the door communicating with the shop, which he -opened, and went out. - -His voice came, muffled: - -"Fo-Hi!" - -"Fo-Hi," returned the high voice of Ah-Fang-Fu. - -The outer door was opened and shut. The old woman went up and barred -the inner door, then returned and stood by the matting curtain. The -sound of the water below alone broke the silence. It was the hour of -high tide. - -"There goes the first fish into Dunbar's net!" whispered Max. - -The gong sounded again. - -Thereupon the old woman crossed to another bunk and conducted a -brown-skinned Eastern into the hidden room. Immediately they had -disappeared: - -"As I pull the curtains aside," continued Max rapidly, "blow the -whistle and run across and unbar the door...." - -So engrossed was he in giving these directions, and so engrossed was -Stuart in listening to them, that neither detected a faint creak which -proceeded from almost immediately behind them. This sound was -occasioned by the slow and cautious opening of that sunken, heavy door -near to which they lay--the door which communicated with the labyrinth -of cellars. Inch by inch from the opening protruded the head of -Ah-Fang-Fu! - -"If the Chinaman offers any resistance," Max went on, speaking very -rapidly--_"morbleu!_ you have the means to deal with him! In a word, -admit the police. _Sh!_ what is that!" - -A moaning voice from one of the bunks came. - -_"Cheal kegur-men, mas ka dheer!"_ - -"A native adage," whispered Stuart. "He is dreaming. 'There is always -meat in a kite's nest.'" - -_"Eh bien!_ very true--and I think the kite is at home!" - -The head of Ah-Fang-Fu vanished. A moment later the curtains opened -again slightly and the old woman came out, ushering the brown man. He -saluted her and unbarred the door, going out. - -"Fo-Hi," came dimly. - -There was no definite answer--only the sound of a muttered colloquy; -and suddenly the brown man returned and spoke to the old woman in a -voice so low that his words were inaudible to the two attentive -listeners in the distant corner. - -"Ah!" whispered Max--"what now?" - -"Shall we rush the curtain!" said Stuart. - -"No!" Max grasped his arm--"wait! wait! See! he is going out. He has -perhaps forgotten something. A second fish in the net." - -The Oriental went up the steps into the shop. The old woman closed -and barred the door, then opened the matting curtain and disappeared -within. - -"I was right," said Max. - -But for once in his career he was wrong. - -She was out again almost immediately and bending over a bunk close to -the left of the masked opening. The occupant concealed in its shadow -did not rise and follow her, however. She seemed to be speaking to -him. Stuart and Max watched intently. - -The head of Ah-Fang-Fu reappeared in the doorway behind them. - -"Now is our time!" whispered Max tensely. "As I rush for the curtains, -you run to the shop door and get it unbolted, whistling for Dunbar----" - -Ah-Fang-Fu, fully opening the door behind them, crept out stealthily. - -"Have your pistol ready," continued Max, "and first put the whistle -between your teeth----" - -Ah-Fang-Fu silently placed his bowler hat upon the floor, shook down -his long pigtail, and moving with catlike tread, stooping, drew nearer. - -_"Now, doctor!"_ cried Max. - -Both sprang to their feet. Max leapt clear of the matting and other -litter and dashed for the curtain. He reached it, seized it and tore -bodily from its fastenings. Behind him the long flat note of a police -whistle sounded--and ended abruptly. - -_"Ah! Nom d'un nom!"_ cried Max. - -A cunningly devised door--looking like a section of solid brick and -plaster wall--was closing slowly--heavily. Through the opening which -yet remained he caught a glimpse of a small room, draped with Chinese -dragon tapestry and having upon a raised, carpeted dais a number of -cushions forming a _diwan_ and an inlaid table bearing a silver snuff -vase. A cowled figure was seated upon the dais. The door closed -completely. Within a niche in its centre sat a yellow leering idol, -green eyed and complacent. - -Wild, gurgling cries brought Max sharply about. - -An answering whistle sounded from the street outside ... a second ... -a third. - -Ah-Fang-Fu, stooping ever lower, at the instant that Stuart had sprung -to his feet had seized his ankle from behind, pitching him on to his -face. It was then that the note of the whistle had ceased. Now, the -Chinaman had his long pigtail about Stuart's neck, at which Stuart, -prone with the other kneeling upon his body, plucked vainly. - -Max raised his pistol ... and from the bunk almost at his elbow leapt -Miguel the quadroon, a sand-bag raised. It descended upon the -Frenchman's skull ... and he crumbled up limply and collapsed upon -the floor. There came a crash of broken glass from the shop. - -Uttering a piercing cry, the old woman staggered from the door near -which she had been standing as if stricken helpless, during the -lightning moments in which these things had happened--and advanced in -the direction of Ah-Fang-Fu. - -"Ah, God! You kill him! You _kill_ him?" she moaned. - -"Through the window, Sowerby! This way!" came Dunbar's voice. "Max! -Max!" - -The sustained note of a whistle, a confusion of voices and a sound of -heavy steps proclaimed the entrance of the police into the shop and -the summoning of reinforcements. - -Ah-Fang-Fu rose. Stuart had ceased to struggle. The Chinaman replaced -his hat and looked up at the woman, whose eyes glared madly into his -own. - -_"Tche', tche'e,"_ he said sibilantly--_"Tchon-dzee-ti Fan-Fu.*"_ - - - * "Yes, yes. It is the will of the Master." - - -"Down with the door!" roared Dunbar. - -The woman threw herself, with a wild sob, upon the motionless body of -Stuart. - -Ensued a series of splintering crashes, and finally the head of an -axe appeared through the panels of the door. Ah-Fang-Fu tried to -drag the woman away, but she clung to Stuart desperately and was -immovable. Thereupon the huge quadroon, running across the room, -swept them both up into his giant embrace, man and woman together, -and bore them down by the sunken doorway into the cellars below! - -The shop door fell inwards, crashing down the four steps, and Dunbar -sprang into the place, revolver in hand, followed by Inspector Kelly -and four men of the River Police, one of whom carried a hurricane -lantern. Ah-Fang-Fu had just descended after Miguel and closed the -heavy door. - -"Try this way, boys!" cried Kelly, and rushed up the stair. The four -men followed him. The lantern was left on the floor. Dunbar stared -about him. Sowerby and several other men entered. Suddenly Dunbar saw -Gaston Max lying on the floor. - -"My God!" he cried--"they have killed him!" - -He ran across, knelt and examined Max, pressing his ear against his -breast. - -Inspector Kelly reaching the top of the stairs and finding the door -locked, hurled his great bulk against it and burst it open. - -"Follow me, boys!" he cried. "Take care! Bring the lantern, somebody." - -The fourth man grasped the lantern and all followed the Inspector up -the stair and out through the doorway. His voice came dimly: - -"Mind the beam! Pass the light forward...." - -Sowerby was struggling with the door by which Miguel and Ah-Fang-Fu -unseen had made their escape and Dunbar, having rested Max's head upon -a pillow, was glaring all about him, his square jaw set grimly and his -eyes fierce with anger. - -A voice droned from a bunk: - -_"Cheal kegur men ms ka-dheer!"_ - -The police were moving from bunk to bunk, scrutinising the occupants. -The uproar had penetrated to them even in their drugged slumbers. -There were stirrings and mutterings and movements of yellow hands. - -"But where is 'The Scorpion'?" - -He turned and stared at the wall from which the matting had been -torn. And out of the little niche in the cunningly masked door the -green-eyed joss leered at him complacently. - - - -PART IV - - - -THE LAIR OF THE SCORPION - - -CHAPTER I - -THE SUBLIME ORDER - - -Stuart awoke to a discovery so strange that for some time he found -himself unable to accept its reality. He passed his hands over his -face and eyes and looked about him dazedly. He experienced great -pain in his throat, and he could feel that his neck was swollen. He -stared down at his ankles, which also were throbbing agonisingly--to -learn that they were confined in gyves attached by a short chain to -a ring in the floor! - -He was lying upon a deep _diwan,_ which was covered with leopard-skins -and which occupied one corner of the most extraordinary room he had -ever seen or ever could have imagined. He sat up, but was immediately -overcome with faintness which he conquered with difficulty. - -The apartment, then, was one of extraordinary Oriental elegance, -having two entrances closed with lacquer sliding doors. Chinese lamps -swung from the ceiling, illuminated it warmly, and a great number of -large and bright silk cushions were strewn about the floor. There -were tapestries in black and gold, rich carpets and couches, several -handsome cabinets and a number of tall cases of Oriental workmanship -containing large and strangely bound books, scientific paraphernalia, -curios and ornaments. - -At the further end of the room was a deep tiled hearth in which stood -a kind of chemical furnace which hissed constantly. Upon ornate small -tables and pedestals were vases and cases--one of the latter -containing a number or orchids, in flower. - -Preserved lizards, snakes, and other creatures were in a row of jars -upon a shelf, together with small skeletons of animals in frames. -There was also a perfect human skeleton. Near the centre of the room -was a canopied chair, of grotesque Chinese design, upon a dais, a big -bronze bell hanging from it; and near to the _diwan_ upon which Stuart -was lying stood a large, very finely carved table upon which were some -open faded volumes and a litter of scientific implements. Near the -table stood a very large bowl of what looked like platinum, upon a -tripod, and several volumes lay scattered near it upon the carpet. -From a silver incense-burner arose a pencilling of blue smoke. - -One of the lacquer doors slid noiselessly open and a man entered, -Stuart inhaled sibilantly and clenched his fists. - -The new-comer wore a cowled garment of some dark blue material which -enveloped him from head to feet. It possessed oval eye-holes, and -through these apertures gleamed two eyes which looked scarcely like -the eyes of a human being. They were of that brilliant yellow color -sometimes seen in the eyes of tigers, and their most marked and awful -peculiarity was their unblinking regard. They seemed always to be open -to their fullest extent, and Stuart realized with anger that it was -impossible to sustain for long the piercing gaze of Fo-Hi ... for he -knew that he was in the presence of "The Scorpion"! - -Walking with a slow and curious dignity, the cowled figure came across -to the table, first closing the lacquer door. Stuart's hands -convulsively clutched the covering of the _diwan_ as the sinister -figure approached. The intolerable gaze of those weird eyes had -awakened a horror, a loathing horror, within him, such as he never -remembered to have experienced in regard to any human being. It was -the sort of horror which the proximity of a poisonous serpent -occasions--or the nearness of a scorpion.... - -Fo-Hi seated himself at the table. - -Absolute silence reigned in the big room, except for the hissing of -the furnace. No sound penetrated from the outer world. Having no means -of judging how long he had been insensible, Stuart found himself -wondering if the raid on the den of Ah-Fang-Fu had taken place hours -before, days earlier, or weeks ago. - -Taking up a test-tube from a rack on the table, Fo-Hi held it near a -lamp and examined the contents--a few drops of colourless fluid. These -he poured into a curious long-necked yellow bottle. He began to speak, -but without looking at Stuart. - -His diction was characteristic, resembling his carriage in that it was -slow and distinctive. He seemed deliberately to choose each word and -to give to it all its value, syllable by syllable. His English was -perfect to the verge of the pedantic; and his voice was metallic and -harsh, touching at time, when his words were vested with some subtle -or hidden significance, guttural depths which betrayed the Chinaman. -He possessed uncanny dignity as of tremendous intellect and conscious -power. - -"I regret that you were so rash as to take part in last night's -abortive raid, Dr. Stuart," he said. - -Stuart started. So he had been unconscious for many hour! - -"Because of your professional acquirements at one time I had -contemplated removing you," continued the unemotional voice. "But I -rejoice to think that I failed. It would have been an error of -judgement. I have useful work for such men. You shall assist in the -extensive laboratories of my distinguished predecessor." - -"Never!" snapped Stuart. - -The man's callousness was so purposeful and deliberate that it awed. -He seemed like one who stands above all ordinary human frailties and -emotions. - -"Your prejudice is natural," rejoined Fo-Hi calmly. "You are ignorant -of our sublime motives, but you shall nevertheless assist us to -establish that intellectual control which is destined to be the new -World Force. No doubt you are conscious of a mental hiatus extending -from the moment when you found the pigtail of the worthy Ah-Fang-Fu -about your throat until that when you recovered consciousness in this -room. It has covered a period roughly of twenty-four hours, Dr. Stuart." - -"I don't believe it," muttered Stuart--and found his own voice to -seem as unreal as everything else in the nightmare apartment. "If I -had not revived earlier, I should never have revived at all." - -He raised his hand to his swollen throat, touching it gingerly. - -"Your unconsciousness was prolonged," explained Fo-Hi, consulting an - open book written in Chinese characters, "by an injection which I -found it necessary to make. Otherwise, as you remark, it would have -been prolonged indefinitely. Your clever but rash companion was less -happy." - -"What!" cried Stuart--"he is dead? You fiend! You damned yellow -fiend!" Emotion shook him and he sat clutching the leopard-skins and -glaring madly at the cowled figure. - -"Fortunately," resumed Fo-Hi, "my people--with one exception-- -succeeded in making their escape. I may add that the needless scuffling -attendant upon arresting this unfortunate follower of mine, -immediately outside the door of the house, led to the discovery of -your own presence. Nevertheless, the others departed safely. My own -departure is imminent; it has been because of certain domestic details -and by the necessity of awaiting nightfall. You see, I am frank with -you." - -"Because the grave is silent!" - -"The grave, and ... China. There is no other alternative in your -case." - -"Are you sure that there is no other in your own?" asked Stuart -huskily. - -"An alternative to my returning to China? Can you suggest one?" - -"The scaffold!" cried Stuart furiously, "for you and the scum who -follow you!" - -Fo-Hi lighted a Bunsen burner. - -"I trust not," he rejoined placidly. "With two exceptions, all my -people are out of England." - -Stuart's heart began to throb painfully. With two exceptions! Did -Miska still remain? He conquered his anger and tried to speak calmly, -recognising how he lay utterly in the power of this uncanny being and -how closely his happiness was involved even if he escaped with life. - -"And you?" he said. - -"In these matters, Dr. Stuart," replied Fo-Hi, "I have always -modelled my behavior upon that of the brilliant scientist who -preceded me as European representative of our movement. Your -beautiful Thames is my highway as it was his highway. No one of my -immediate neighbours has ever seen me or my once extensive following -enter this house." He selected an empty test-tube. "No one shall see -me leave." - -The unreality of it all threatened to swamp Stuart's mind again, but -he forced himself to speak calmly. - -"Your own escape is just possible, if some vessel awaits you; but do -you imagine for a moment that you can carry me to China and elude -pursuit?" - -Fo-Hi, again consulting the huge book with its yellow faded characters, -answered him absently. - -"Do you recall the death of the Grand Duke Ivan?" he said. "Does your -memory retain the name of Van Rembold and has your Scotland Yard yet -satisfied itself that Sir Frank Narcombe died from 'natural causes'? -Then, there was Ericksen, the most brilliant European electrical -expert of the century, who died quite suddenly last year. I honor -you, Dr. Stuart, by inviting you to join a company so distinguished." - -"You are raving! What have these men in common with me?" - -Stuart found himself holding his breath as he awaited a reply--for he -knew that he was on the verge of learning that which poor Gaston Max -had given his life to learn. A moment Fo-Hi hesitated--and in that -moment his captive recognised, and shuddered to recognise, that he -won this secret too late. Then: - -"The Grand Duke is a tactician who, had he remained in Europe, might -well have readjusted the frontiers of his country. Van Rembold, as a -mining engineer, stands alone, as does Henrik Ericksen in the -electrical world. As for Sir Frank Narcombe, he is beyond doubt the -most brilliant surgeon of today, and I, a judge of men, count you his -peer in the realm of pure therapeutics. Whilst your studies in -snake-poisons (which were narrowly watched for us in India) give you -an unique place in toxicology. These great men will be some of your -companions in China." - -"In China!" - -"In China, Dr. Stuart, where I hope you will join them. You -misapprehend the purpose of my mission. It is not destructive, -although neither I nor my enlightened predecessor have ever scrupled -to remove any obstacle from the path of that world-change which no -human power can check or hinder; it is primarily constructive. No -state or group of states can hope to resist the progress of a movement -guided and upheld by a monopoly of the world's genius. The Sublime -Order, of which I am an unworthy member, stands for such a movement." - -"Rest assured it will be crushed." - -"Van Rembold is preparing radium in quantities hitherto unknown from -the vast pitchblend deposits of Ho-Nan--which industry we control. He -visited China arrayed in his shroud, and he travelled in a handsome -Egyptian sarcophagus purchased at Sotherby's on behalf of a Chinese -collector." - -Fo-Hi stood up and crossed to the hissing furnace. He busied himself -with some obscure experiment which proceeded there, and: - -"Your own state-room will be less romantic, Dr. Stuart," he said, -speaking without turning his head; "possibly a packing-case. In brief, -that intellectual giant who achieved to much for the Sublime Order--my -immediate predecessor in office--devised a means of inducing -artificial catalepsy----" - -"My God!" muttered Stuart, as the incredible, the appalling truth -burst upon his mind. - -"My own rather hazardous delay," continued Fo-Hi, "is occasioned in -some measure by my anxiety to complete the present experiment. Its -product will be your passport to China." - -Carrying a tiny crucible, he returned to the table. - -Stuart felt that his self-possession was deserting him. Madness -threatened ... If he was not already mad. He forced himself to speak. - -"You taunt me because I am helpless. I do not believe that those men -have been spirited into China. Even if it were so, they would die, as -I would die, rather than prostitute their talents to such mad infamy." - -Fo-Hi carefully poured the contents of the crucible into a flat -platinum pan. - -"In China, Dr. Stuart," he said, "we know how to _make_ men work! I -myself am the deviser of a variant of the unduly notorious _kite_ -device and the scarcely less celebrated 'Six Gates of Wisdom.' I term -it The Feast of a Thousand Ants. It is performed with the aid of -African driver ant, a pair of surgical scissors and a pot of honey. -I have observed you studying with interest the human skeleton yonder. -It is that of one of my followers--a Nubian mute--who met with an -untimely end quite recently. You are wondering, no doubt, how I -obtained the frame in so short a time? My African driver ants, Dr. -Stuart, of which I have three large cases in a cellar below this room, -performed the task for me in exactly sixty-nine minutes." - -Stuart strained frenziedly at his gyves. - -"My God!" he groaned. "All I have heard of you was the merest -flattery. You are either a fiend or a madman!" - -"When you are enlisted as a member of the Sublime Order," said Fo-Hi -softly, "and you awaken in China, Dr. Stuart--you will work. We have -no unwilling recruits." - -"Stop your accursed talk. I have heard enough." - -But the metallic voice continued smoothly: - -"I appreciate the difficulty which you must experience in grasping the -true significance of this movement. You have seen mighty nations, -armed with every known resource of science, at a deadlock on the -battlefield. You naturally fail to perceive how a group of Oriental -philosophers can achieve what the might of Europe failed to achieve. -You will remember, in favour of my claims, that we command the -service of the world's genius, and have a financial backing which -could settle the national loans of the world! In other words, -exhumation of a large percentage of the great men who have died in -recent years would be impossible. Their tombs are empty." - -"I have heard enough. Drug me, kill me; but spare me your confidences." - -"In the crowded foyer of a hotel," continued Fo-Hi imperturbably, "of -a theatre, of a concert-room; in the privacy of their home, of their -office; wherever opportunity offered, I caused them to be touched -with the point of a hypodermic needle such as this." He held up a -small hypodermic syringe. - -"It contained a minute quantity of the serum which I am now -preparing--the serum whose discovery was the crowning achievement of -a great scientist's career (I refer, Dr. Stuart, to my brilliant -predecessor). They were buried alive; but no surgeon in Europe or -America would have hesitated to certify them dead. Aided by a group -of six Hindu fanatics, trained as _Lughais_ (grave-diggers), it was -easy to gain access to their resting-places. One had the misfortune to -be cremated by his family--a great loss to my Council. But the others -are now in China, at our headquarters. They are labouring day and -night to bring this war-scarred world under the sceptre of an Eastern -Emperor." - -"Faugh!" cried Stuart. "The whole of that war-scarred world will stand -armed before you!" - -"We realise that, doctor; therefore we are prepared for it. We spoke -of the Norwegian Henrick Ericksen. This is his most recent -contribution to our armament." - -Fo-Hi rested on long yellow hand upon a kind of model searchlight. - -"I nearly committed the clumsy indiscretion of removing you with this -little instrument," he said. "You recall the episode? Ericksen's -Disintegrating Ray, Dr. Stuart. The model, here, possesses a limited -range, of course, but the actual instrument has a compass of seven and -a half miles. It can readily be carried by a heavy plane! One such -plane in a flight from Suez to Port Said, could destroy all the -shipping in the Canal and explode every grain of ammunition on either -shore! Since I must leave England to-night, the model must be -destroyed, and unfortunately a good collection of bacilli has already -suffered the same fate." - -Placidly, slowly, and unmoved from his habit of unruffled dignity, -Fo-Hi placed the model in a deep mortar, whilst Stuart watched him -speechless and aghast. He poured the contents of a large pan into the -mortar, whereupon a loud hissing sound broke the awesome silence of -the room and a cloud of fumes arose. - -"Not a trace, doctor!" said the cowled man. "A little preparation of -my own. It destroys the hardest known substance--with the solitary -exception of a certain clay--in the same way that nitric acid would -destroy tissue paper. You see I might have aspired to become famous -among safe-breakers." - -"You have preferred to become infamous among murderers!" snapped -Stuart. - -"To murder, Dr. Stuart, I have never stooped. I am a specialist in -selective warfare. When you visit the laboratory of our chief chemist -in Kiangsu you will be shown the whole of the armory of the Sublime -Order. I regret that the activities of your zealous and painfully -inquisitive friend, M. Gaston Max, have forced me to depart from -England before I had completed my work here." - -"I pray you may never depart," murmured Stuart. - -Fo-Hi having added some bright green fluid to that in the flat pan, -had now poured the whole into a large test-tube, and was holding it -in the flame of the burner. At the moment that it reached the boiling -point it became colourless. He carefully placed the whole of the -liquid in a retort to which he attached a condensor. He stood up. - -Crossing to a glass case which rested upon a table near the _diwan_ -he struck it lightly with his hand. The case contained sand and -fragments of rock, but as Fo-Hi struck it, out from beneath the pieces -of rock darted black active creatures. - -"The common black scorpion of Southern India," he said softly. "Its -venom is the basis of the priceless formula, _F. Katalepsis,_ upon -which the structure of our Sublime Order rests, Dr. Stuart; hence the -adoption of a scorpion as our device." - -He took up a long slender flask. - -"This virus prepared from a glandular secretion of the Chinese -swamp-adder is also beyond price. Again-the case upon the pedestal -yonder contains five perfect bulbs, three already in flower, as you -observe, of an orchid discovered by our chief chemist in certain -forests of Burma. It only occurs at extremely rare intervals--eighty -years or more--and under highly special conditions. If the other two -bulbs flower, I shall be enabled to obtain from the blooms a minimum -quantity of an essential oil for which the nations of the earth, if -they knew its properties, would gladly empty their treasuries. This -case must at all costs accompany me." - -"Yet because you are still in England," said Stuart huskily, "I -venture to hope that your devil dreams may end on the scaffold." - -"That can never be, Dr. Stuart," returned Fo-Hi placidly. "The -scaffold is not for such as I. Moreover, it is a crude and barbaric -institution which I deplore. Do you see that somewhat peculiarly -constructed chair, yonder? It is an adaptation, by a brilliant young -chemist of Canton, of Ericksen's Disintegrating Ray. A bell hangs -beside it. If you were seated in that chair and I desire to dismiss -you, it would merely be necessary fro me to strike the bell once with -the hammer. Before the vibration of the note had become inaudible you -would be seeking your ancestors among the shades. It is the throne of -the gods. Such a death is poetic." - -He returned to the table and, observing meticulous care, emptied the -few drops of colourless liquid from the condenser into a test-tube. -Holding the tube near a lamp, he examined the contents, then poured -the liquid into the curious yellow bottle. A faint vapour arose from it. - -"You would scarcely suppose," he said, "that yonder window opens upon -an ivy-grown balcony commanding an excellent view of that picturesque -Tudor survival, Hampton Court? I apprehend, however, that the researches -of your late friend, M. Gaston Max, may ere long lead Scotland Yard to -my doors, although there has been nothing in the outward seeming of -this house, in the circumstances of my tenancy, or in my behaviour -since I have--secretly--resided here, to excite local suspicion." - -"Scotland Yard men may surround the house now!" said Stuart viciously. - -"One of the two followers I have retained here with me, watches at -the gate," replied Fo-Hi. "An intruder seeking to enter by any other -route, through the hedge, over the wall, or from the river, would -cause electric bells to ring loudly in this room, the note of the bell -signifying the point of entry. Finally, in the event of such a -surprise, I have an exit whereby one emerges at a secret spot on the -river bank. A motor-boat, suitably concealed, awaits me there." - -He placed a thermometer in the neck of the yellow bottle and the -bottle in a rack. He directed the intolerable gaze of his awful eyes -upon the man who sat, teeth tightly clenched, watching him from the -_diwan._ - -"Ten minutes of life--in England--yet remain to you, Dr. Stuart. In -ten minutes this fluid will have cooled to a temperature of 99 degrees, -when I shall be enabled safely make an injection. You will be reborn -in Kiangsu." - -Fo-Hi walked slowly to the door whereby he had entered, opened it and -went out. The door closed. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE LIVING DEATH - - -The little furnace hissed continuously. A wisp of smoke floated up -from the incense-burner. - -Stuart sat with his hands locked between his knees, and his gaze set -upon the yellow flask. - -Even now he found it difficult to credit the verity of his case. He -found it almost impossible to believe that such a being as Fo-Hi -existed, that such deeds had been done, were being done, in England, -as those of which he had heard from the sinister cowled man. Save for -the hissing of the furnace and the clanking of the chain as he strove -with all his strength to win freedom, that wonderful evil room was -silent as the King's Chamber at the heart of the Great Pyramid. - -His gaze reverted to the yellow flask. - -"Oh, my God!" he groaned. - -Terror claimed him--the terror which he had with difficulty been -fending off throughout that nightmare interview with Fo-Hi. Madness -threatened him, and he was seized by an almost incontrollable desire -to shout execrations--prayers--he knew not what. He clenched his teeth -grimly and tried to think, to plan. - -He had two chances: - -The statement left with Inspector Dunbar, in which he had mentioned -the existence of a house "near Hampton Court," and ... Miska. - -That she was one of the two exceptions mentioned by Fo-Hi he felt -assured. But was she in this house, and did she know of his presence -there? Even so, had she access to that room of mysteries--of horrors? - -And who was the other who remained? Almost certainly it was the -fanatical Hindu, Chunda Lal, of whom she had spoken with such palpable -terror and who watched her unceasingly, untiringly. _He_ would prevent -her intervening even if she had power to intervene. - -His great hope, then, was in Dunbar ... for Gaston Max was dead. - -At the coming of that thought, the foul doing to death of the fearless -Frenchman, he gnashed his teeth savagely and strained at the gyves -until the pain in his ankles brought out beads of perspiration upon -his forehead. - -He dropped his head into his hands and frenziedly clutched at his -hair with twitching fingers. - -The faint sound occasioned by the opening of one of the sliding doors -brought him sharply upright. - -Miska entered! - -She looked so bewilderingly beautiful that terror and sorrow fled, -leaving Stuart filled only with passionate admiration. She wore an -Eastern dress of gauzy shimmering silk and high-heeled gilt Turkish -slippers upon her stockingless feet. About her left ankle was a gold -bangle, and there was barbaric jewellery upon her arms. She was a -figure unreal as all lose in that house of dreams, but a figure so -lovely that Stuart forgot the yellow flask ... forgot that less than -ten minutes of life remained to him. - -"Miska!" he whispered--"Miska!" - -She exhibited intense but repressed excitement and fear. Creeping to -the second door--that by which Fo-Hi had gone out--she pressed her -ear to the lacquered panel and listened intently. Then, coming swiftly -to the table, she took up a bunch of keys, approached Stuart and, -kneeling, unlocked the gyves. The scent of jasmine stole to his -nostrils. - -"God bless you!" he said with stifled ardour. - -She rose quickly to her feet, standing before him with head downcast. -Stuart rose with difficulty. His legs were cramped and aching. He -grasped Miska's hand and endeavoured to induce her to look up. One -swift glance she gave him and looked away again. - -"You must go--this instant," she said. "I show you the way. There is -not a moment to lose...." - -"Miska!" - -She glanced at him again. - -"You must come with me!" - -"Ah!" she whispered--"that is impossible! Have I not told you so?" - -"You have told me, but I cannot understand. Here, in England, you are -free. Why should you remain with that cowled monster?" - -"Shall I tell you?" she asked, and he could feel how she trembled. "If -I tell you, will you promise to believe me--and to go?" - -"Not without you!" - -"Ah! no, no! If I tell you that my only chance of life--such a -little, little chance--is to stay, will you go?" - -Stuart secured her other hand and drew her toward him, half resisting. - -"Tell me," he said softly. "I will believe you--and if it can spare -you one moment of pain or sorrow, I will go as you ask me." - -"Listen," she whispered, glancing fearfully back toward the closed -door--"Fo-Hi has something that make people to die; and only he can -bring them to life again. Do you believe this?" - -She looked up at him rapidly, her wonderful eyes wide and fearful. He -nodded. - -"Ah! you know! Very well. On that day in Cairo, which I am taken -before him--you remember, I tell you?--he ... oh!" - -She shuddered wildly and hid her beautiful face against Stuart's -breast. He threw his arms about her. - -"Tell me," he said. - -"With the needle, he ... inject ..." - -"Miska!" - -Stuart felt the blood rushing to his heart and knew that he had paled. - -"There is something else," she went on, almost inaudibly, "with which -he gives life again to those he had made dead with the needle. It is -a light green liquid tasting like bitter apples; and once each week -for six months it must be drunk or else ... the living death comes. -Sometimes I have not seen Fo-Hi for six months at a time, but a tiny -flask, one draught, of the green liquid, always comes to me wherever -I am, every week ... and twice each year I see him--Fo-Hi ... and -he ..." - -Her voice quivered and ceased. Moving back, she slipped a soft -shoulder free of it s flimsy covering. - -Stuart looked--and suppressed a groan. - -Her arm was dotted with the tiny marks made by a hypodermic syringe! - -"You see!" she whispered tremulously. "If I go, I die, and I am -buried alive ... or else I live until my body ..." - -"Oh, God!" moaned Stuart--"the fiend! the merciless, cunning fiend! -Is there _nothing_ ..." - -"Yes, yes!" said Miska, looking up. "If I can get enough of the green -fluid and escape. But he tell me once--it was in America--that he -only prepares one tiny draught at a time! Listen! I must stay, and if -he can be captured he must be forced to make this antidote ... Ah! -go! go!" - -Her words ended in a sob, and Stuart held her to him convulsively, -his heart filled with such helpless, fierce misery and bitterness as -he had never known. - -"Go, please go!" she whispered. "It is my only chance--there is no -other. There is not a moment to wait. Listen to me! You will go by -that door by which I come in. There is a better way, through a tunnel -he has made to the river bank; but I cannot open the door. Only _he_ -has the key. At the end of the passage some one is waiting----" - -"Chunda Lal!" Miska glanced up rapidly and then dropped her eyes again. - -"Yes--poor Chunda Lal. He is my only friend. Give him this." - -She removed an amulet upon a gold chain from about her neck and thrust -it into Stuart's hand. - -"It seems to you silly, but Chunda Lal is of the East; and he has -promised. Oh! be quick! I am afraid. I tell you something. Fo-Hi -does not know, but the police Inspector and many men search the -river bank for the house! I see them from a window----" - -"What!" cried Stuart--"Dunbar is here!" - -_"Ssh! ssh!"_ Miska clutched him wildly. _"He_ is not far away. You -will go and bring him here. No! for me do not fear. I put the keys -back and he will think you have opened the lock by some trick----" - -"Miska!" - -"Oh, no more!" - -She slipped from his arms, crossed and reopened the lacquered door, -revealing a corridor dimly lighted. Stuart followed and looked along -the corridor. - -"Right to the end," she whispered, "and down the steps. You know"-- -touching the amulet which Stuart carried--"how to deal with--Chunda Lal." - -But still he hesitated; until she seized his hand and urged him. -Thereupon he swept her wildly into his arms. - -"Miska! how can I leave you! It is maddening!" - -"You must! you must!" - -He looked into her eyes, stooped and kissed her upon the lips. Then, -with no other word, he tore himself away and walked quickly along the -corridor. Miska watched him until he was out of sight, then -re-entered the great room and closed the door. She turned, and: - -"Oh, God of mercy," she whispered. - -Just within the second doorway stood Fo-Hi watching her. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -THE FIFTH SECRET OF RACHE CHURAN - - -Stricken silent with fear, Miska staggered back against the lacquered -door, dropping the keys which she held in her hand. Fo-Hi had removed -the cowled garment and was now arrayed in a rich mandarin robe. -Through the grotesque green veil which obscured his features the -brilliant eyes shone catlike. - -"So," he said softly, "you speed the parting guest. And did I not -hear the sound of a chaste salute?" - -Miska watched him, wild-eyed. - -"And he knows," continued the metallic voice, "'how to deal with -Chunda Lal'? But it may be that Chunda Lal will know how to deal with -_him!_ I had suspected that Dr. Keppel Stuart entertained an -unprofessional interest in his charming patient. Your failure to -force the bureau drawer in his study excited my suspicion--unjustly, -I admit; for did not I fail also when I paid the doctor a personal -visit? True, I was disturbed. But this suspicion later returned. It -was in order that some lingering doubt might be removed that I -afforded you the opportunity of interviewing my guest. But whatever -surprise his ingenuity, aided by your woman's wit, has planned for -Chunda Lal, I dare to believe that Chunda Lal, being forewarned, will -meet successfully. He is expecting an attempt, by Dr. Stuart, to leave -this house. He has my orders to detain him." - -At that, anger conquered terror in the heart of Miska, and: - -"You mean he has your orders to kill him!" she cried desperately. - -Fo-Hi closed the door. - -"On the contrary, he has my orders to take every possible care of him. -Those blind, tempestuous passions which merely make a woman more -desirable find no place in the trained mind of the scientist. That -Dr. Stuart covets my choicest possession in no way detracts from his -value to my Council." - -Miska had never moved from the doorway by which Stuart had gone out; -and now, having listened covertly and heard no outcry, her faith in -Chunda Lal was restored. Her wonderful eyes narrowed momentarily, and -she spoke with the guile, which seems so naive, of the Oriental woman. - -"I care nothing for him--this Dr. Stuart. But he had done you no -wrong----" - -"Beyond seeking my death--none. I have already said"--the eyes of -Fo-Hi gleamed through the hideous veil--"that I bear him no ill will." - -"But you plan to carry him to China--like those others." - -"I assign him a part in the New Renaissance--yes. In the Deluge that -shall engulf the world, his place is in the Ark. I honor him." - -"Perhaps he rather remain a--nobody--than be so honored." - -"In his present state of imperfect understanding it is quite -possible," said Fo-Hi smoothly. "But if he refuses to achieve -greatness he must have greatness thrust upon him. Van Rembold, I seem -to recall, hesitated for some time to direct his genius to the problem -of producing radium in workable quantities from the pitchblend -deposits of Ho-Nan. But the _split rod_ had not been applied to the -soles of his feet more than five times ere he reviewed his prejudices -and found them to be surmountable." - -Miska, knowing well the moods of the monstrous being whose unveiled -face she had never seen, was not deceived by the suavity of his -manner. Nevertheless, she fought down her terror, knowing how much -might depend upon her retaining her presence of mind. How much of her -interview with Stuart he had overheard she did not know, nor how much -he had witnessed. - -"But," she said, moving away from him, "he does not matter--this one. -Forgive me if I think to let him go; but I am afraid----" - -Fo-Hi crossed slowly, intercepting her. - -"Ah!" said Miska, her eyes opening widely--"you are going to punish -me again! For why? Because I am a woman and cannot always be cruel?" - -From its place on the wall Fo-Hi took a whip. At that: - -"Ah! no, no!" she cried. "You drive me mad! I am only in part of the -East and I cannot bear it--I cannot bear it! You teach me to be like -the women of England, who are free, and you treat me like the women of -China, who are slaves. Once, it did not matter. I thought it was a -part of a woman's life to be treated so. But now I cannot bear it!" -She stamped her foot fiercely upon the floor. "I tell you I cannot -bear it!" - -Whip in hand, Fo-Hi stood watching her. - -"You release that man--for whom you 'care nothing'--in order that he -may bring my enemies about me, in order that he may hand me over to -the barbarous law of England. Now, you 'cannot bear' so light a -rebuke as the whip. Here, I perceive, is some deep psychological -change. Such protests do not belong to the women of my country; they -are never heard in the _zenana,_ and would provoke derision in the -_harems_ of Stambul. - -"You have trained me to know that life in a _harem_ is not life, but -only the existence of an animal." - -"I have trained you--yes. What fate was before you when I intervened -in that Mecca slave-market? You who are 'only in part of the East.' -Do you forget so soon how you cowered there amongst the others, Arabs, -Circassians, Georgians, Nubians, striving to veil your beauty from -those ravenous eyes? From _what_ did I rescue you?" - -"And _for_ what?" cried Miska bitterly. "To use me as a lure--and beat -me if I failed." - -Fo-Hi stood watching her, and slowly, as he watched, terror grew upon -her and she retreated before him, step by step. He made no attempt to -follow her, but continued to watch. Then, raising the whip he broke -it across his knee and dropped the pieces on the floor. - -At that she extended her hands towards him pitifully. - -"Oh! what are you going to do to me!" she said. "Let me go! let me go! -I can no more be of use to you. Give me back my life and let me go-- -et me go and hide away from them all--from all ... the world...." - -Her words died away and ceased upon a suppressed hysterical sob. For, -in silence, Fo-Hi stood watching her, unmoved. - -"Oh!" she moaned, and sank cowering upon a _diwan--_ "why do you watch -me so!" - -"Because," came the metallic voice, softly--"you are beautiful with a -beauty given but rarely to the daughters of men. The Sublime Order -has acquired many pretty women--for they are potent weapons--but none -so fair as you. Miska, I would make life sweet for you." - -"Ah! you do not mean that!" she whispered fearfully. - -"Have I not clothed you in the raiment of a princess!" continued -Fo-Hi. "To-night, at my urgent request, you wear the charming national -costume in which I delight to see you. But is there a woman of Paris, -of London, of New York, who has such robes, such jewels, such -apartments as you possess? Perhaps the peculiar duties which I have -required you to perform, the hideous disguises, which you have -sometimes been called upon to adopt, have disgusted you." - -Her heart beating wildly, for she did not know this mood but divined -it to portend some unique horror, Miska crouched, head averted. - -"To-night the hour has come to break the whip. To-night the master in -me dies. My cloak of wise authority has fallen from me and I offer -myself in bondage to _you_, my slave!" - -"This is some trap you set for me!" she whispered. - -But Fo-Hi, paying no heed to her words, continued in the same rapt -voice: - -"Truly have you observed that the Chinese wife is but a slave to her -lord. I have said that the relation of master and slave is ended -between us. I offer you a companionship that signifies absolute -freedom and perfect understanding. Half of all I have--and the world -lies in my grasp--is yours. I offer a throne set upon the Seven -Mountains of the Universe. Look into my eyes and read the truth." - -But lower and lower she cowered upon the _diwan._ - -"No, no! I am afraid!" - -Fo-Hi approached her closely and abject terror now had robbed her of -strength. Her limbs seemed to have become numbed, her tongue clave to -the roof of her mouth. - -"Fear me no more, Miska," said Fo-Hi. "I _will_ you nothing but joy. -The man who has learned the Fifth Secret of Rache Churan--who has -learned how to control his will--holds a power absolute and beyond -perfectability. You know, who have dwelt beneath my roof, that there -is no escape from my will." His calm was terrible, and his glance, -through the green veil, was like a ray of scorching heat. His voice -sank lower and lower. - -"There is one frailty, Miska, that even the Adept cannot conquer. It -is inherent in every man. Miska, I would not _force_ you to grasp the -joy I offer; I would have you _accept_ it willingly. No! do not turn -from me! No woman in all the world has ever heard me plead, as I -plead to you. Never before have I _sued_ for favours. Do not turn from -me, Miska." - -Slightly, the metallic voice vibrated, and the ruffling of that giant -calm was a thing horrible to witness. Fo-Hi extended his long yellow -hands, advancing step by step until he stood over the cowering girl. -Irresistibly her glance was drawn to those blazing eyes which the veil -could not hide, and as she met that unblinking gaze her own eyes -dilated and grew fixed as those of a sleep-walker. A moment Fo-Hi -stood so. Then passion swept him from his feet and he seized her -fiercely. - -"Your eyes drive me mad!" he hissed. "Your lips taunt me, and I know -all earthly greatness to be a mirage, its conquests visions, and its -fairness dust. I would rather be a captive in your white arms than -the emperor of heaven! Your sweetness intoxicates me, Miska. A fever -burns me up!" - -Helpless, enmeshed in the toils of that mighty will, Miska raised her -head; and gradually her expression changed. Fear was smoothed away -from her lovely face as by some magic brush. She grew placid; and -finally she smiled--the luresome, caressing smile of the East. Nearer -and nearer drew the green veil. Then, uttering a sudden fierce -exclamation, Fo-Hi thrust her from him. - -"That smile is not for _me,_ the man!" he cried gutterally. "Ah! I -could curse the power that I coveted and set above all earthly joys! -I who boasted that he could control his will--I read in your eyes that -I am _willing_ you to love me! I seek a gift and can obtain but a -tribute!" - -Miska, with a sobbing moan, sank upon the _diwan._ Fo-Hi stood -motionless, looking straight before him. His terrible calm was -restored. - -"It is the bitter truth," he said--"that to win the world I have -bartered the birthright of men; the art of winning a woman's heart. -There is much in our Chinese wisdom. I erred in breaking the whip. -I erred in doubting my own prescience, which told me that the smiles -I could not woo were given freely to another ... and perhaps the -kisses. At least I can set these poor frail human doubts at rest." - -He crossed and struck a gong which hung midway between the two doors. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -THE GUILE OF THE EAST - - -Her beautiful face a mask of anguish, Miska cowered upon the _diwan,_ -watching the closed doors. Fo-Hi stood in the centre of the great -room with his back to the entrance. Silently one of the lacquered -panels slid open and Chunda Lal entered. He saluted the figure of -the veiled Chinaman but never once glanced in the direction of the -_diwan_ from which Miska wildly was watching him. - -Without turning his head, Fo-Hi, who seemed to detect the presence -of the silent Hindu by means of some fifth sense, pointed to a bundle -of long rods stacked in a corner of the room. - -His brown face expressionless as that of a bronze statue, Chunda Lal -crossed and took the rods from their place. - -_"Tum samajhte ho?"_ (Do you understand?) said Fo-Hi. Chunda Lal -inclined his head. - -_"Main tumhari bat manunga"_ (Your orders shall be obeyed), he -replied. - -"Ah, God! no!" whispered Miska--"what are you going to do?" - -"Your Hindustani was ever poor, Miska," said Fo-Hi. - -He turned to Chunda Lal. - -"Until you hear the gong," he said in English. - -Miska leapt to her feet, as Chunda Lal, never once glancing at her, -went out bearing the rods, and closed the door behind him. Fo-Hi -turned and confronted her. - -_"Ta'ala hina_ (come hither), Miska!" he said softly. "Shall I speak -to you in the soft Arab tongue? Come to me, lovely Miska. Let me feel -how that sorrowful heart will leap like a captive gazelle." - -But Miska shrank back from him, pale to the lips. - -"Very well." His metallic voice sank to a hiss. "I employ no force. -You shall yield to me your heart as a love offering. Of such motives -as jealousy and revenge you know me incapable. What I do, I do with a -purpose. That compassion of yours shall be a lever to cast you into -my arms. Your hatred you shall conquer." - -"Oh, have you no mercy? Is there _nothing_ human in your heart? Did I -say I hate you!" - -"Your eyes are eloquent, Miska. I cherish two memories of those -beautiful eyes. One is of their fear and loathing--of _me;_ the other -is of their sweet softness when they watched the departure of my guest. -Listen! Do you hear nothing?" - -In an attitude of alert and fearful attention Miska stood listening. -Fo-Hi watched her through the veil with those remorseless blazing eyes. - -"I will open the door," he said smoothly, "that we may more fully -enjoy the protests of one for whom you 'care nothing'--of one whose -lips have pressed--your hand." - -He opened the door by which Chunda Lal had gone out and turned again -to Miska. Her eyes looked unnaturally dark by contrast with the pallor -of her face. - -Chunda Lal had betrayed her. She no longer doubted it. For he had not -dared to meet her glance. His fear of Fo-Hi had overcome his love for -her ... and Stuart had been treacherously seized somewhere in the -corridors and rendered helpless by the awful art of the thug. - -"There is a brief interval," hissed the evil voice. "Chunda Lal is -securing him to the frame and baring the soles of his feet for the -caresses of the rod." - -Suddenly, from somewhere outside the room, came the sound of dull, -regular blows ... then, a smothered moan! - -Miska sprang forward and threw herself upon her knees before Fo-Hi, -clutching at his robe frantically. - -"Ah! merciful God! he is there! Spare him! spare him! No more--no -more!" - -"He is there?" repeated Fo-Hi suavely. "Assuredly he is there, Miska. -I know not by what trick he hoped to 'deal with' Chunda Lal. But, as -I informed you, Chunda Lal was forewarned." - -The sound of blows continued, followed by that of another, louder -groan. - -"Stop him! Stop him!" shrieked Miska. - -"You 'care nothing' for this man. Why do you tremble?" - -"Oh!" she wailed piteously. "I cannot bear it ... oh, I cannot bear -it! Do what you like with me, but spare him. Ah! you have no mercy." - -Fo-Hi handed her the hammer for striking the gong. - -"It is _you_ who have no mercy," he replied. "I have asked but one -gift. The sound of the gong will end Dr. Stuart's discomfort ... and -will mean that you _voluntarily_ accept my offer. What! you hesitate?" -A stifled scream rang out sharply. - -"Ah, yes! yes!" - -Miska ran and struck the gong, then staggered back to the _diwan_ and -fell upon it, hiding her face in her hands. The sounds of torture -ceased. - -Fo-Hi closed the door and stood looking at her where she lay. - -"I permit you some moments of reflection," he said, "in order that you -may compose yourself to receive the addresses which I shall presently -have the honour, and joy, of making to you. Yes--this door is -unlocked." He threw the keys on the table. "I respect your promise ... -and Chunda Lal guards the _outer_ exits." - -He opened the further door, by which he had entered, and went out. - -Miska, through the fingers of her shielding hands, watched him go. - -When he had disappeared she sprang up, clenching her teeth, and her -face was contorted with anguish. She began to move aimlessly about the -room, glancing at the many strange objects on the big table and -fearfully at the canopied chair beside which hung the bronze bell. -Finally: - -"Oh, Chunda Lal! Chunda Lal!" she moaned, and threw herself face -downward on the _diwan,_ sobbing wildly. - -So she lay, her whole body quivering with the frenzy of her emotions, -and as she lay there, inch by inch, cautiously, the nearer door began -to open. Chunda Lal looked in. - -Finding the room to be occupied only by Miska, he crossed rapidly to -the _diwan,_ bending over her with infinite pity and tenderness. - -"Miska!" he whispered softly. - -As though an adder had touched her, Miska sprang to her feet--and -back from the Hindu. Her eyes flashed fiercely. - -"Ah! _you! you!"_ she cried at him, with a repressed savagery that -spoke of the Oriental blood in her veins. "Do not speak to me--look -at me! Do not come near me! I hate you! God! how I hate you!" - -"Miska! Miska!" he said beseechingly--"you pierce my heart! you kill -me! Can you not understand----" - -"Go! go!" - -She drew back from him, clenching and unclenching her jewelled fingers -and glaring madly into his eyes. - -"Look, Miska!" He took the gold chain and amulet from his bosom. "Your -token! Can you not understand! _Yah Allah!_ how little you trust me-- -and I would die for one glance of your eyes! - -"_He_--Stuart Sahib--has gone, gone long since!" - -"Ah! Chunda Lal!" - -Miska swayed dizzily and extended her hands towards him. Chunda Lal -glanced fearfully about him. - -"Did I not," he whispered, with an intense ardour in his soft voice,-- -"did I not lay my life, my service, all I have, at your feet? Did I not -vow to serve you in the name of _Bhowani!_ He is long since gone to -bring his friends--who are searching from house to house along the -river. At any moment they may be here!" - -Miska dropped weakly upon her knees before him and clasped his hand. - -"Chunda Lal, my friend! Oh, forgive me!" Her voice broke. "Forgive ..." - -Chunda Lal raised her gently. - -"Not upon your knees to _me,_ Miska. It was a little thing to do--for -you. Did I not tell you that _he_ had cast his eyes upon you? Mine was -the voice you heard to cry out. Ah! you do not know; it is to gain -_time_ that I seem to serve _him!_ Only this, Miska"--he revealed the -blade of a concealed knife--"stand between Fo-Hi and--you! Had I not -read it in his eyes!" - -He raised his glance upward frantically. - -_"Jey Bhowani!_ give me strength, give me courage! For if I fail ..." - -He glared at her passionately, clutching his bosom; then, pressing the -necklet to his lips, he concealed it again, and bent, whispering -urgently: - -"Listen again--I reveal it to you without price or hope of reward, for -I know there is no love in your heart to give, Miska; I know that it -takes you out of my sight for always. But I tell you what I learn in -the house of Abdul Rozan. Your life is your own, Miska! With the -needle"--yet closer he bent to her ear and even softer he spoke--"he -pricks your white skin--no more! The vial he sends contains a harmless -cordial!" - -"Chunda Lal!" - -Miska swayed again dizzily, clutching at the Hindu for support. - -"Quick! fly!" he said, leading her to the door. "I will see _he_ does -not pursue!" - -"No, no! you shall shed no blood for me! Not even _his_. You come -also!" - -"And if he escape, and know that I was false to him, he will _call me -back,_ and I shall be dragged to those yellow eyes, though I am a -thousand miles away! _Inshalla!_ those eyes! No--I must strike swift, -or he robs me of my strength." - -For a long moment Miska hesitated. - -"Then, I also remain, Chunda Lal, my friend! We will wait--and watch --and listen for the bells--here--that tell they are in the grounds of -the house." - -"Ah, Miska!" the glance of the Hindu grew fearful--"you are -clever--but _he_ is the Evil One! I fear for you. Fly now. There is -yet time ..." - -A faint sound attracted Miska's attention. Placing a quivering finger -to her lips, she gently thrust Chunda Lal out into the corridor. - -"He returns!" she whispered: "If I call--come to me, my friend. But we -have not long to wait!" - -She closed the door. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -WHAT HAPPENED TO STUART - - -Stuart had gained the end of the corridor, unmolested. There he found -a short flight of steps, which he descended and came to a second -corridor forming a right angle with the first. A lamp was hung at the -foot of the steps, and by its light he discerned a shadowy figure -standing at the further end of this second passage. - -A moment he hesitated, peering eagerly along the corridor. The man -who waited was Chunda Lal. Stuart approached him and silently placed -in his hand the gold amulet. - -Chunda Lal took it as one touching something holy, and raising it he -kissed it with reverence. His dark eyes were sorrowful. Long and -ardently he pressed the little trinket to his lips, then concealed it -under the white robe which he wore and turned to Stuart. His eyes were -sorrowful no more, but fierce as the eyes of a tiger. - -"Follow!" he said. - -He unlocked a door and stepped out into a neglected garden, Stuart -close at his heels. The sky was cloudy, and the moon obscured. Never -glancing back, Chunda Lal led the way along a path skirting a high -wall upon which climbing fruit trees were growing until they came to a -second door and this also the Hindu unlocked. He stood aside. - -"To the end of this lane," he said, in his soft queerly modulated -voice, "and along the turning to the left to the river bank. Follow -the bank towards the palace and you will meet them." - -"I owe you my life," said Stuart. - -"Go! you owe me nothing," returned the Hindu fiercely. - -Stuart turned and walked rapidly along the lane. Once he glanced back. -Chunda Lal was looking after him ... and he detected something that -gleamed in his hand, gleamed not like gold but like the blade of a -knife! - -Turning the corner, Stuart began to run. For he was unarmed and still -weak, and there had been that in the fierce black eyes of the Hindu -when he had scorned Stuart's thanks which had bred suspicion and -distrust. - -From the position of the moon, Stuart judged the hour to be something -after midnight. No living thing stirred about him. The lane in which -now he found himself was skirted on one side by a hedge beyond which -was open country and on the other by a continuation of the high wall -which evidently enclosed the grounds of the house that he had just -quitted. A cool breezed fanned his face, and he knew that he was -approaching the Thames. Ten more paces and he came to the bank. - -In his weak condition the short run had exhausted him. His bruised -throat was throbbing painfully, and he experienced some difficulty in -breathing. He leaned up against the moss-grown wall, looking back into -the darkness of the lane. - -No one was in sight. There was no sound save the gently lapping of the -water upon the bank. - -He would have like to bathe his throat and to quench his feverish -thirst, but a mingled hope and despair spurred him and he set off -along the narrow path towards where dimly above some trees he could -discern in the distance a group of red-roofed buildings. Having -proceeded for a considerable distance, he stood still, listening for -any sound that might guide him to the search-party--or warn him that -he was followed. But he could hear nothing. - -Onward he pressed, not daring to think of what the future held for -him, not daring to dwell upon the memory, the maddening sweetness, of -that parting kiss. His eyes grew misty, he stumbled as he walked, and -became oblivious of his surrounding. His awakening was a rude one. - -Suddenly a man, concealed behind a bush, sprang out upon him and bore -him irresistibly to the ground! - -"Not a word!" rapped his assailant, "or I'll knock you out!" - -Stuart glared into the red face lowered so threateningly over his own, -and: - -"Sergeant Sowerby!" he gasped. - -The grip upon his shoulders relaxed. - -"Damn!" cried Sowerby--"if it isn't Dr. Stuart?" - -"What is that!" cried another voice from the shelter of the bush. -_"Pardieu!_ say it again! ... Dr. Stuart!" - -And Gaston Max sprang out! - -"Max!" murmured Stuart, staggering to his feet--"Max!" - -_"Nom d'un nom!_ Two dead men meet!" exclaimed Gaston Max. "But -indeed"--he grasped Stuart by both hands and his voice shook with -emotion--"I thank God that I see you!" - -Stuart was dazed. Words failed him, and he swayed dizzily. - -"I thought _you_ were murdered," said Max, still grasping his hand, -"and I perceive that you had made the same mistake about me! Do you -know what saved me, my friend, from the consequences of that frightful -blow? It was the bandage of 'Le Balafre'!" - -"You must possess a skull like a negro's!" said Stuart feebly. - -"I believe I have a skull like a baboon!" returned Max, laughing with -joyous excitement. "And you, doctor, you must possess a steel -wind-pipe; for flesh and blood could never have survived the pressure -of that horrible pigtail. You will rejoice to learn that Miguel was -arrested on the Dover boat-train this morning and Ah-Fang-Fu at -Tilbury Dock some four hours ago. So we are both avenged! But we -waste time!" - -He unscrewed a flask and handed it to Stuart. - -"A terrible experience has befallen you," he said. "But tell me--do -you know where it is--the lair of 'The Scorpion'?" - -"I do!" replied Stuart, having taken a welcome draught from the flask. -"Where is Dunbar? We must carefully surround the place or he will -elude us." - -"Ah! as he eluded us at 'The Pidgin House'!" cried Max. "Do you know -what happened? They had a motorboat in the very cellar of that warren. -At high tide they could creep out into the cutting, drawing their -craft along from pile to pile, and reach the open river at a point -fifty yards above the house! In the damnable darkness they escaped. -But we have two of them." - -"It was all my fault," said Sowerby guiltily. "I missed my spring when -I went for the Chinaman who came out first, and he gave one yell. The -old fox in the shop heard it and the fat was in the fire." - -"You didn't miss your spring at me!" retort Stuart ruefully. - -"No," agreed Sowerby. "I didn't mean to miss a second time!" - -"What's all this row," came a gruff voice. - -"Ah! Inspector Dunbar!" said Max. - -Dunbar walked up the path, followed by a number of men. At first he -did not observe Stuart, and: - -"You'll be waking all the neighborhood," he said. "It's the next big -house, Sowerby, the one we thought, surrounded by the brick wall. -There's no doubt, I think ... Why!" - -He had seen Stuart, and he sprang forward with outstretched hand. - -"Thank God!" he cried, disregarding his own counsel about creating a -disturbance. "This is fine! Eh, man! but I'm glad to see you!" - -"And _I_ am glad to be here!" Stuart assured him. - -They shook hands warmly. - -"You have read my statement, of course?" asked Stuart. - -"I have," replied the Inspector, and gave him a swift glance of the -tawny eyes. "And considering that you've nearly been strangled, I'll -forgive you! But I wish we'd known about this house----" - -"Ah! Inspector," interrupted Gaston Max, "but you have never seen -Zara el-Khala! I have seen her--and _I_ forgive him, also!" - -Stuart continued rapidly: - -"We have little time to waste. There are only three people in the -house, so far as I am aware: Miska--known to you, M. Max, as Zara -el-Khala--the Hindu, Chunda Lal, and--Fo-Hi----" - -"Ah!" cried Max--"'The Scorpion.' Chunda Lal, for some obscure personal -reason, not entirely unconnected with Miska, enabled me to make my -escape in order that I might lead you to the house. Therefore we may -look upon Chunda Lal, as well as Miska, in the light of an -accomplice----" - -_"Eh, bien!_ a spy in the camp! This is where we see how fatal to the -success of any enterprise, criminal or otherwise, is the presence of -a pretty woman! Proceed, my friend!" - -"There are three entrances to the apartment in which Fo-Hi apparently -spends the greater part of his time. Two of these I know, although I -am unaware where one of them leads to. But the third, of which he -alone holds the key, communicates with a tunnel leading to the river -bank, where a motorboat is concealed." - -"Ah, that motor-boat!" cried Max. "He travels at night, you -understand----" - -"Always, I am told." - -"Yes, always. Therefore, once he is out on the river, he is moderately -secure between the first lock and the Nore! When a police patrol is -near he can shut off his engine and lie under the bank. Last night he -crept away from us in that fashion. Tonight is not so dark, and the -River Police are watching all the way down." - -"Furthermore," replied Stuart, "Chunda Lal, who acts as engineer, has -it in his power to prevent Fo-Hi's escape by that route! But we must -count upon the possibility of his attempting to leave by water. -Therefore, in disposing your forces, place a certain number of men -along the bank and below the house. Is there a River Police boat near?" - -"Not nearer than Putney Bridge," answered Dunbar. "We shall have to -try and block that exit." - -"There's no time to waste," continued Stuart excitedly--"and I have a -very particular request to make: that you will take Fo-Hi _alive."_ - -"But of course," said Gaston Max, "if it is humanly possible." - -Stuart repressed a groan; for even so he had little hope of inducing -the awful veiled man to give back life to the woman who would have -been instrumental in bringing him to the scaffold ... and no -compromise was possible! - -"If you will muster your men, Inspector," he said, "I will lead you -to the spot. Once we have affected an entrance we must proceed with -dispatch. He has alarm-bells connected with every possible point of -entry." - -"Lead on, my friend," cried Gaston Max. "I perceive that time is -precious." - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -"JEY BHOWANI!" - - -As the door closed upon Chunda Lal, Miska stepped back from it and -stood, unconsciously, in a curiously rigid and statuesque attitude, -her arms pressed to her sides and her hands directed outward. It was -the physical expression of an intense mental effort to gain control -of herself. Her heart was leaping wildly in her breast--for the -future that had held only horror and a living tomb, now opened out -sweetly before her. She had only to ply her native wiles for a few -precious moments ... and _someone_ would have her in his arms, to -hold her safe from harm! If the will of the awful Chinaman threatened -to swamp her individuality, then--there was Chunda Lal! - -But because of his helpless, unselfish love, she hesitated even at the -price of remaining alone again with Fo-Hi, to demand any further -sacrifice of the Hindu. Furthermore--he might fail! - -The lacquer door slid noiselessly open and Fo-Hi entered. He paused, -watching her. - -"Ah," he said, in that low-pitched voice which was so terrifying--"a -_gaziyeh_ of Ancient Egypt! How beautiful you are, Miska! You -transport me to the court of golden Pharaoh. Miska! daughter of the -moon-magic of Isis--Zara el-Khala! At any hour my enemies may be -clamoring at my doors. But _this_ hour is mine!" - -He moved at his customary slow gait to the table, took up the keys ... -and locked both doors! - -Miska, perceiving in this her chance of aid from Chunda Lal utterly -destroyed, sank slowly upon the _diwan,_ her pale face expressing the -utmost consternation. Suppose the police did not come! - -Fo-Hi dropped the keys on the table again and approached her. She -stood up, retreating before him. He inhaled sibilantly and paused. - -"So your 'acceptance' was only a trick," he said. "Your loathing of -my presence is as strong as ever. Well!" At the word, as a volcano -leaps into life, the hidden fires which burned within this terrible -man leapt up consumingly--"if the gift of the flower is withheld, at -least I will grasp the Dead Sea Fruit!" - -He leapt toward Miska--and she fled shrieking before him. Running -around a couch which stood near the centre of the room, she sprang to -the door and beat upon it madly. - -"Chunda Lal!" she cried--"Chunda Lal!" - -Fo-Hi was close upon her, and she turned striving to elude him. - -"Oh, merciful God! _Chunda Lal!"_ - -The name burst from her lips in a long frenzied scream. Fo-Hi had -seized her! - -Grasping her shoulders, he twisted her about so that he could look -into her eyes. A low, shuddering cry, died away, and her gaze became -set, hypnotically, upon Fo-Hi. He raised one hand, fingers -outstretched before her. She swayed slightly. - -"Forget!" he said in a deep, guttural voice of command--"forget. I -_will_ it. We stand in an empty world, you and I; you, Miska, and I, -Fo-Hi, your master." - -"My master," she whispered mechanically. - -"Your lover." - -"My lover." - -"You give me your life, to do with as I will." - -"As you will." - -Fo-Hi momentarily raised the blazing eyes. - -"Oh, empty shell of a vanished joy!" he cried. - -Then, frenziedly grasping Miska by her arms, he glared into her -impassive face. - -"Your heart leaps wildly in your breast!" he whispered tenderly. -"Look into my eyes...." - -Miska sighed and opened her eyes yet more widely. She shuddered and a -slow smile appeared upon her lips. - -The lacquer screen making the window was pushed open and Chunda Lal -leapt in over the edge. As Fo-Hi drew the yielding, hypnotised girl -towards him, Chunda Lal, a gleaming _kukri_ held aloft, ran with a -silent panther step across the floor. - -He reached Fo-Hi, drew himself upright; the glittering blade -quivered ... and Fo-Hi divined his presence. - -Uttering a short, guttural exclamation, he thrust Miska aside. She -staggered dazedly and fell prone upon the floor. The quivering blade -did not descend. - -Fo-Hi drew himself rigidly upright, extending his hands, palms -downward, before him. He was exerting a superhuman effort. The breath -whistled through his nostrils. Chunda Lal, knife upraised, endeavored -to strike; but his arm seemed to have become incapable of movement -and to be held, helpless, aloft. - -Staring at the rigid figure before him, he began to pant like a man -engaged in a wrestle for life. - -Fo-Hi stretched his right arm outward, and with a gesture of hand and -fingers beckoned to Chunda Lal to come before him. - -And now, Miska, awakening as from a fevered dream, looked wildly about -her, and then, serpentine, began to creep to the table upon which the -keys were lying. Always watching the awful group of two, she rose -slowly, snatched the keys and leapt across to the open window.... - -Chunda Lal, swollen veins standing out cord-like on his brow, his -gaze set hypnotically upon the moving hand, dropped his knife and -began to move in obedience to the will of Fo-Hi. - -As he came finally face to face with the terrible Adept of Rache -Churan, Miska disappeared into the shadow of the balcony. Fo-Hi by -an imperious gesture commanded Chunda Lal to kneel and bow his head. -The Hindu, gasping, obeyed. - -Thereupon Fo-Hi momentarily relaxed his giant concentration and almost -staggered as he glared down at the kneeling man. But never was that -dreadful gaze removed from Chunda Lal. And now the veiled man drew -himself rigidly upright again and stepped backward until the fallen -_kukri_ lay at his feet. He spoke, "Chunda Lal!" - -The Hindu rose, gazing before him with unseeing eyes. His forehead -was wet with perspiration. - -Fo-Hi pointed to the knife. - -Chunda Lal, without removing his sightless gaze from the veiled -face, stooped, groped until he found the knife and rose with it in -his hand. - -Back stepped Fo-Hi, and back, until he could touch the big table. He -moved a brass switch--and a trap opened in the floor behind Chunda -Lal. Fo-Hi raised his right hand, having the fingers tightly closed -as if grasping the hilt of a knife. With his left hand he pointed to -the trap. Again he spoke. - -_"Tum samauhe ho?"_ - -Mechanically Chunda La replied: - -_"Ah, Sahib, tumhara huken jaldi: kiya' jaega'"_ (Yes, I hear and -obey.) - -As Fo-Hi raised his clenched right hand, so did Chunda Lal raise the -_kukri._ Fo-Hi extended his left hand rigidly towards the Hindu and -seemed to force him, step by step, back towards the open trap. Almost -at the brink, Chunda Lal paused, swayed, and began to utter short, -agonised cries. Froth appeared upon his lips. - -Raising his right hand yet further aloft, Fo-Hi swiftly brought it -down, performing the gesture of stabbing himself to the heart. His -ghastly reserve deserted him. - -_"Jey Bhowana!"_ he screamed--"Yah Allah!" - -Chunda Lal, uttering a loud groan, stabbed himself and fell backward -into the opening. Ensued a monstrous crash of broken glass. - -As he fell, Fo-Hi leapt to the brink of the trap, glaring down madly -into the cellar below. His yellow fingers opened and closed -spasmodically. - -"Lie there," he shrieked--"my 'faithful' servant! The ants shall pick -your bones!" - -He grasped the upstanding door of the trap and closed it. It -descended with a reverberating boom. Fo-Hi raised his clenched fists -and stepped to the door. Finding it locked, he stood looking toward -the open screen before the window. - -"Miska!" he whispered despairingly. - -He crossed to the window and was about to look out, when a -high-pitched electric bell began to ring in the room. - -Instantly Fo-Hi closed the screen and turned, looking in the direction -from whence the sound of ringing proceeded. As he did so, a second -bell, in another key, began to ring--a third--a fourth. - -Momentarily the veiled man exhibited evidence of indecision. Then, -from beneath his robe he took a small key. Approaching an ornate -cabinet set against the wall to the left of one of the lacquer doors, -he inserted the key in a hidden lock, and slid the entire cabinet -partly aside revealing an opening. - -Fo-Hi bent, peering down into the darkness of the passage below. A -muffled report came, a flash out of the blackness of the river tunnel, -and a bullet passed through the end of the cabinet upon which his -hand was resting, smashing an ivory statuette and shattering the glass. - -Hurriedly he slid the cabinet into place again and stood with his back -to it, arms outstretched. - -"Miska!" he said--and a note of yet deeper despair had crept into the -harsh voice. - -Awhile he stood thus; then he drew himself up with dignity. The bells -had ceased. - -Methodically Fo-Hi began to take certain books from the shelves and to -cast them into the great metal bowl which stood upon the tripod. Into -the bowl he poured the contents of a large glass jar. Flames and -clouds of smoke arose. He paused, listening. - -Confused voices were audible, seemingly from all around him, together -with a sound of vague movements. - -Fo-Hi took up vials and jars and dashed them to pieces upon the tiled -hearth in which the furnace rested. Test-tubes, flasks and retorts he -shattered, and finally, raising the large glass case of orchids he -dashed it down amid the debris of the other nameless and priceless -monstrosities unknown to Western science. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -THE WAY OF A SCORPION - - -A black cloud swept past the face of the moon and cold illumination -flooded the narrow lane and patched with light the drive leading up -to the front of the isolated mansion. Wrought-iron gates closed both -entrances and a high wall, surmounted by broken glass and barbed -wire, entirely surrounded the grounds. - -"This one also is locked," said Gaston Max, trying the gate and then -peering through the bars in the direction of the gloomy house. - -All the visible windows were shuttered. No ray of light showed -anywhere. The house must have been pronounced deserted by anyone -contemplating it. - -"Upon which side do you suppose the big room to be?" asked Max. - -"It is difficult to judge," replied Stuart. "But I am disposed to -believe that it is in the front of the house and on the first floor, -for I traversed a long corridor, descended several stairs, turned to -the right and emerged in a part of the garden bordering the lane in -which Inspector Kelly is posted." - -"I was thinking of the window and the balcony which 'The Scorpion' -informed you commanded a view of Hampton Court. Hampton Court," he -turned half-left, "lies about yonder. Therefore you are probably -right, doctor; the room as you say should be in front of the house. -Since we do not know how to disconnect the alarms, once we have -entered the grounds it is important that we should gain access to the -house immediately. Ah! _morbleu!_ the moon disappears again!" - -Darkness crept over the countryside. - -"There is an iron balcony jutting out amongst the ivy just above and -to the right of the porch!" cried Stuart, who had also been peering -up the moon-patched drive. "I would wager that that is the room!" - -"Ah!" replied Max, "I believe you are right. This, then is how we -shall proceed: Inspector Kelly, with the aid of two men, can get over -the wall near that garden door by which you came out. If they cannot -force it from inside, you also must get over and lead the way to the -entrance you know of. Sowerby and two more men will remain to watch -the lane. The river front is well guarded. We will post a man here -at this gate and one at the other. Dunbar and I will climb this one -and rush straight for that balcony which we must hope to reach by - climbing up the ivy. Ah! here comes Inspector Dunbar ... and -_someone_ is with him!" - -Dunbar appeared at the double around the corner of the lane which -led riverward, and beside him ran a girl who presented a bizarre -figure beside the gaunt Scotsman and a figure wildly out of place -in that English riverside setting. - -It was Miska, arrayed in her flimsy _harem_ dress! - -"Miska!" cried Stuart, and sprang towards her, sweeping her hungrily -into his arms--forgetful of, indifferent to, the presence of Max and -Dunbar. - -"Ah!" sighed the Frenchman--"yes, she is beautiful!" - -Trembling wildly, Miska clung to Stuart and began to speak, her -English more broken than ever, because of her emotion. - -"Listen--quick!" she panted. "Oh! do not hold me so tight. I have the -house-keys--look!"--she held up a bunch of keys--"but not the keys of -the gates. Two men have gone to the end of the tunnel where the boat -is hid beside the river. Someone--he better climb this gate and by the -ivy he can reach the room in which Fo-Hi is! I come down so. You do -not see me because the moon goes out and I run to the side-door. It -is open. _You_ come with me!" - -She clung to Stuart, looking up into his eyes. - -"Yes, yes, Miska!" - -"Oh! Chunda Lal"--she choked down a sob. "Be quick! be quick! _He_ -will kill him! he will kill him!" - -"Off you go, doctor!" cried Max. "Come along, Dunbar!" - -He began to climb the ironwork of the gate. - -"This way!" said Miska, dragging Stuart by the arm. "Oh! I am wild -with fear and sorrow and joy!" - -"With joy, dear little Miska!" whispered Stuart, as he followed her. - -They passed around the bend into the narrower lane which led toward -the river and upon which the garden-door opened. Stuart detained her. -If the fate of the whole world had hung in the balance--as indeed, -perhaps it did--he could not have acted otherwise. He raised her -bewitching face and kissed her ardently. - -She trembled and clung to him rapturously. - -"I _live_!" she whispered. "Oh! I am mad with happiness! It is Chunda -Lal that gives me life--for he tells me the truth. It is not with the -living-death that _he_ touches me; it is a trick, it is all a trick -to bind me to him! Oh, Chunda Lal! Hurry! he is going to kill him!" - -But supreme above all the other truths in the world, the joyous truth -that Miska was to live set Stuart's heart on fire. - -"Thank God!" he said fervently--"oh, thank God! Miska!" - -At the garden-door a group of men awaited them. Sergeant Sowerby and -two assistants remaining to watch the entrance and the lane, Miska -led Stuart and the burly Inspector Kelly along that path beside the -wall which Stuart so well remembered. - -"Hurry!" she whispered urgently. "We must try to reach him before ..." - -"You fear for Chunda Lal?" said Stuart. - -"Oh, yes! He has a terrible power--Fo-Hi--which he never employs with -me, until to-night. Ah! it is only Chunda Lal, who saved me! But -Chunda Lal he can command with his _Will._ From it, once he has made -anyone a slave to it, there is no escape. I have seen one in the city -of Quebec, in Canada, forget all else and begin to act in obedience -to the will of Fo-Hi who is thousands of miles away!" - -"My God!" murmured Stuart, "what a horrible monster!" - -They had reached the open door beyond which showed the dimly lighted -passage. Miska hesitated. - -"Oh! I am afraid!" she whispered. - -She thrust the keys into the hand of Inspector Kelly, pointing to one -of them, and: - -"That is the key!" she said. "Have your pistol ready. Do not touch -anything in the room and do not go in if I tell you not to. Come!" - -They pressed along the passage, came to the stair and were about to -ascend, when there ensued a dull reverberating boom, and Miska shrank -back into Stuart's arms with a stifled shriek. - -"Oh! Chunda Lal!" she moaned--"Chunda Lal! It is the trap!" - -"The trap!" said Inspector Kelly. - -"The cellar trap. He has thrown him down ... to the ants!" - -Inspector Kelly uttered a short laugh; but Stuart repressed a shudder. -He was never likely to forget the skeleton of the Nubian mute which -had been stripped by the ants in sixty-nine minutes! - -"We are too late!" whispered Miska. "Oh! listen! listen!" - -Bells began to ring somewhere above them. - -"Max and Dunbar are in!" said Kelly. "Come on, sir! Follow closely, -boys!" - -He ran up the stairs and along the corridor to the door at the end. - -A muffled shot sounded from somewhere in the depths of the house. - -"That's Harvey!" said one of the men who followed--"Our man must have -tried to escape by the tunnel to the river bank!" - -Inspector Kelly placed the key in the lock of the door. - -It was at this moment that Gaston Max, climbing up to the front -balcony by means of the natural ladder afforded by the ancient ivy, -grasped the iron railing and drew himself up to the level of the -room. By this same stairway Chunda Lal had ascended to death and -Miska had climbed down to life. - -"Mind the ironwork doesn't give way, sir!" called Dunbar from below. - -"It is strong," replied Max. "Join me here, my friend." - -Max, taking a magazine pistol from his pocket, stepped warily over -the ledge into the mysterious half-light behind the great screen. As -he did so, one of the lacquer doors was unlocked from the outside, -and across the extraordinary, smoke-laden room he saw Inspector Kelly -enter. He saw something else. - -Seated in a strangely-shaped canopied chair was a figure wearing a -rich mandarin robe, but having its face covered with a green veil. - -_"Mon Deiu!_ at last!" he cried, and leapt into the room. "'The -Scorpion'!" - -Even as he leapt, and as the Scotland Yard men closed in upon the -chair also, all of them armed and all half fearful, a thing happened -which struck awe to every heart--for it seemed to be supernatural. - -Raising a metal hammer which he held in his hand, Fo-Hi struck the -bronze bell hung beside the chair. It emitted a deep, loud note.... - -There came a flash of blinding light, and intense crackling sound, -the crash of broken glass, and a dense cloud of pungent fumes rose -in the heated air. - -Dunbar had just climbed in behind Gaston Max. Bother were all but -hurled from their feet by the force of the explosion. Then: - -"Oh, my God!" cried Dunbar, staggering, half blinded, _"look--look!"_ - -A deathly silence claimed them all. Just within the doorway Stuart -appeared, having his arm about the shoulders of Miska. - -The Throne of the Gods was empty! A thin coating of grey dust was -settling upon it and upon the dais which supported it. - -They had witnessed a scientific miracle ... the complete and -instantaneous disintegration of a human body. Gaston Max was the -first to recover speech. - -"We are defeated," he said. "'The Scorpion,' surrounded, destroys -himself. It is the way of a scorpion." - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLDEN SCORPION*** - - -******* This file should be named 18613.txt or 18613.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/6/1/18613 - - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, -set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to -copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to -protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project -Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you -charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. 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