One link in that chain Smith himself for long failed to recognize. Yet it was a big and important link.
"Petrie," he said to me one morning, "listen to this:
"'… In sight of Shanghai—a clear, dark night. On board the deck of a junk passing close to seaward of the Andaman a blue flare7 started up. A minute later there was a cry of "Man overboard!"
"'Mr. Lewin, the chief officer, who was in charge, stopped the engines. A boat was put out. But no one was recovered. There are sharks in these waters. A fairly heavy sea was running.
"'Inquiry8 showed the missing man to be a James Edwards, second class, booked to Shanghai. I think the name was assumed. The man was some sort of Oriental, and we had had him under close observation.…'"
"That's the end of their report," exclaimed Smith.
He referred to the two C.I.D. men who had joined the Andaman at the moment of her departure from Tilbury.
He carefully lighted his pipe.
"IS it a victory for China, Petrie?" he said softly.
"Until the great war reveals her secret resources—and I pray that the day be not in my time—we shall never know," I replied.
Smith began striding up and down the room.
He referred to a list which we had compiled of the notable men intervening between the evil genius who secretly had invaded London and the triumph of his cause—the triumph of the yellow races.
I glanced at our notes. "Lord Southery," I replied.
Smith tossed the morning paper across to me.
"Look," he said shortly. "He's dead."
I read the account of the peer's death, and glanced at the long obituary10 notice; but no more than glanced at it. He had but recently returned from the East, and now, after a short illness, had died from some affection of the heart. There had been no intimation that his illness was of a serious nature, and even Smith, who watched over his flock—the flock threatened by the wolf, Fu-Manchu—with jealous zeal11, had not suspected that the end was so near.
"Do you think he died a natural death, Smith?" I asked.
My friend reached across the table and rested the tip of a long finger upon one of the sub-headings to the account:
"SIR FRANK NARCOMBE SUMMONED TOO LATE."
"You see," said Smith, "Southery died during the night, but Sir Frank Narcombe, arriving a few minutes later, unhesitatingly pronounced death to be due to syncope, and seems to have noticed nothing suspicious."
I looked at him thoughtfully.
"Sir Frank is a great physician," I said slowly; "but we must remember he would be looking for nothing suspicious."
"We must remember," rapped Smith, "that, if Dr. Fu-Manchu is responsible for Southery's death, except to the eye of an expert there would be nothing suspicious to see. Fu-Manchu leaves no clews."
"Are you going around?" I asked.
"I think not," he replied. "Either a greater One than Fu-Manchu has taken Lord Southery, or the yellow doctor has done his work so well that no trace remains13 of his presence in the matter."
Leaving his breakfast untasted, he wandered aimlessly about the room, littering the hearth14 with matches as he constantly relighted his pipe, which went out every few minutes.
"It's no good, Petrie," he burst out suddenly; "it cannot be a coincidence. We must go around and see him."
An hour later we stood in the silent room, with its drawn15 blinds and its deathful atmosphere, looking down at the pale, intellectual face of Henry Stradwick, Lord Southery, the greatest engineer of his day. The mind that lay behind that splendid brow had planned the construction of the railway for which Russia had paid so great a price, had conceived the scheme for the canal which, in the near future, was to bring two great continents, a full week's journey nearer one to the other. But now it would plan no more.
"He had latterly developed symptoms of angina pectoris," explained the family physician; "but I had not anticipated a fatal termination so soon. I was called about two o'clock this morning, and found Lord Southery in a dangerously exhausted16 condition. I did all that was possible, and Sir Frank Narcombe was sent for. But shortly before his arrival the patient expired."
"I understand, Doctor, that you had been treating Lord Southery for angina pectoris?" I said.
"Yes," was the reply, "for some months."
"Certainly. Do you observe anything unusual yourself? Sir Frank Narcombe quite agrees with me. There is surely no room for doubt?"
"No," said Smith, tugging18 reflectively at the lobe19 of his left ear. "We do not question the accuracy of your diagnosis20 in any way, sir."
The physician seemed puzzled.
"But am I not right in supposing that you are connected with the police?" asked the physician.
"Neither Dr. Petrie nor myself are in any way connected with the police," answered Smith. "But, nevertheless, I look to you to regard our recent questions as confidential21."
As we were leaving the house, hushed awesomely23 in deference24 to the unseen visitor who had touched Lord Southery with gray, cold fingers, Smith paused, detaining a black-coated man who passed us on the stairs.
"You were Lord Southery's valet?"
The man bowed.
"I was, sir."
"Did you see or hear anything unusual—anything unaccountable?"
"Nothing, sir."
"No strange sounds outside the house, for instance?"
The man shook his head, and Smith, taking my arm, passed out into the street.
"Perhaps this business is making me imaginative," he said; "but there seems to be something tainting26 the air in yonder—something peculiar27 to houses whose doors bear the invisible death-mark of Fu-Manchu."
"You are right, Smith!" I cried. "I hesitated to mention the matter, but I, too, have developed some other sense which warns me of the Doctor's presence. Although there is not a scrap28 of confirmatory evidence, I am as sure that he has brought about Lord Southery's death as if I had seen him strike the blow."
It was in that torturing frame of mind—chained, helpless, in our ignorance, or by reason of the Chinaman's supernormal genius—that we lived throughout the ensuing days. My friend began to look like a man consumed by a burning fever. Yet, we could not act.
In the growing dark of an evening shortly following I stood idly turning over some of the works exposed for sale outside a second-hand29 bookseller's in New Oxford30 Street. One dealing31 with the secret societies of China struck me as being likely to prove instructive, and I was about to call the shopman when I was startled to feel a hand clutch my arm.
I turned around rapidly—and was looking into the darkly beautiful eyes of Karamaneh! She—whom I had seen in so many guises—was dressed in a perfectly32 fitting walking habit, and had much of her wonderful hair concealed beneath a fashionable hat.
She glanced about her apprehensively33.
"Quick! Come round the corner. I must speak to you," she said, her musical voice thrilling with excitement.
I never was quite master of myself in her presence. He must have been a man of ice who could have been, I think, for her beauty had all the bouquet34 of rarity; she was a mystery—and mystery adds charm to a woman. Probably she should have been under arrest, but I know I would have risked much to save her from it.
As we turned into a quiet thoroughfare she stopped and said:
"I am in distress35. You have often asked me to enable you to capture Dr. Fu-Manchu. I am prepared to do so."
I could scarcely believe that I heard right.
"Your brother—" I began.
She seized my arm entreatingly36, looking into my eyes.
"You are a doctor," she said. "I want you to come and see him now."
"What! Is he in London?"
"He is at the house of Dr. Fu-Manchu."
"And you would have me—"
"Accompany me there, yes."
Nayland Smith, I doubted not, would have counseled me against trusting my life in the hands of this girl with the pleading eyes. Yet I did so, and with little hesitation37; shortly we were traveling eastward38 in a closed cab. Karamaneh was very silent, but always when I turned to her I found her big eyes fixed39 upon me with an expression in which there was pleading, in which there was sorrow, in which there was something else—something indefinable, yet strangely disturbing. The cabman she had directed to drive to the lower end of the Commercial Road, the neighborhood of the new docks, and the scene of one of our early adventures with Dr. Fu-Manchu. The mantle40 of dusk had closed about the squalid activity of the East End streets as we neared our destination. Aliens of every shade of color were about us now, emerging from burrow-like alleys42 into the glare of the lamps upon the main road. In the short space of the drive we had passed from the bright world of the West into the dubious43 underworld of the East.
I do not know that Karamaneh moved; but in sympathy, as we neared the abode44 of the sinister45 Chinaman, she crept nearer to me, and when the cab was discharged, and together we walked down a narrow turning leading riverward, she clung to me fearfully, hesitated, and even seemed upon the point of turning back. But, overcoming her fear or repugnance46, she led on, through a maze47 of alleyways and courts, wherein I hopelessly lost my bearings, so that it came home to me how wholly I was in the hands of this girl whose history was so full of shadows, whose real character was so inscrutable, whose beauty, whose charm truly might mask the cunning of a serpent.
The high, drab brick wall of what looked like some part of a dock building loomed50 above us in the darkness, and the indescribable stenches of the lower Thames were borne to my nostrils51 through a gloomy, tunnel-like opening, beyond which whispered the river. The muffled52 clangor of waterside activity was about us. I heard a key grate in a lock, and Karamaneh drew me into the shadow of an open door, entered, and closed it behind her.
For the first time I perceived, in contrast to the odors of the court without, the fragrance53 of the peculiar perfume which now I had come to associate with her. Absolute darkness was about us, and by this perfume alone I knew that she was near to me, until her hand touched mine, and I was led along an uncarpeted passage and up an uncarpeted stair. A second door was unlocked, and I found myself in an exquisitely54 furnished room, illuminated55 by the soft light of a shaded lamp which stood upon a low, inlaid table amidst a perfect ocean of silken cushions, strewn upon a Persian carpet, whose yellow richness was lost in the shadows beyond the circle of light.
The silence was unbroken.
Then something stirred amid the wilderness57 of cushions, and two tiny bright eyes looked up at me. Peering closely, I succeeded in distinguishing, crouched58 in that soft luxuriance, a little ape. It was Dr. Fu-Manchu's marmoset. "This way," whispered Karamaneh.
Never, I thought, was a staid medical man committed to a more unwise enterprise, but so far I had gone, and no consideration of prudence59 could now be of avail.
The corridor beyond was thickly carpeted. Following the direction of a faint light which gleamed ahead, it proved to extend as a balcony across one end of a spacious60 apartment. Together we stood high up there in the shadows, and looked down upon such a scene as I never could have imagined to exist within many a mile of that district.
The place below was even more richly appointed than the room into which first we had come. Here, as there, piles of cushions formed splashes of gaudy61 color about the floor. Three lamps hung by chains from the ceiling, their light softened62 by rich silk shades. One wall was almost entirely occupied by glass cases containing chemical apparatus63, tubes, retorts and other less orthodox indications of Dr. Fu-Manchu's pursuits, whilst close against another lay the most extraordinary object of a sufficiently64 extraordinary room—a low couch, upon which was extended the motionless form of a boy. In the light of a lamp which hung directly above him, his olive face showed an almost startling resemblance to that of Karamaneh—save that the girl's coloring was more delicate. He had black, curly hair, which stood out prominently against the white covering upon which he lay, his hands crossed upon his breast.
Transfixed with astonishment65, I stood looking down upon him. The wonders of the "Arabian Nights" were wonders no longer, for here, in East-End London, was a true magician's palace, lacking not its beautiful slave, lacking not its enchanted66 prince!
"It is Aziz, my brother," said Karamaneh.
We passed down a stairway on to the floor of the apartment. Karamaneh knelt and bent67 over the boy, stroking his hair and whispering to him lovingly. I, too, bent over him; and I shall never forget the anxiety in the girl's eyes as she watched me eagerly whilst I made a brief examination.
Brief, indeed, for even ere I had touched him I knew that the comely68 shell held no spark of life. But Karamaneh fondled the cold hands, and spoke softly in that Arabic tongue which long before I had divined must be her native language.
Then, as I remained silent, she turned and looked at me, read the truth in my eyes, and rose from her knees, stood rigidly69 upright, and clutched me tremblingly.
"He is not dead—he is NOT dead!" she whispered, and shook me as a child might, seeking to arouse me to a proper understanding. "Oh, tell me he is not—"
"I cannot," I replied gently, "for indeed he is."
"No!" she said, wild-eyed, and raising her hands to her face as though half distraught. "You do not understand—yet you are a doctor. You do not understand—"
She stopped, moaning to herself and looking from the handsome face of the boy to me. It was pitiful; it was uncanny. But sorrow for the girl predominated in my mind.
Then from somewhere I heard a sound which I had heard before in houses occupied by Dr. Fu-Manchu—that of a muffled gong.
"Quick!" Karamaneh had me by the arm. "Up! He has returned!"
She fled up the stairs to the balcony, I close at her heels. The shadows veiled us, the thick carpet deadened the sound of our tread, or certainly we must have been detected by the man who entered the room we had just quitted.
It was Dr. Fu-Manchu!
Yellow-robed, immobile, the inhuman70 green eyes glittering catlike even, it seemed, before the light struck them, he threaded his way through the archipelago of cushions and bent over the couch of Aziz.
Karamaneh dragged me down on to my knees.
"Watch!" she whispered. "Watch!"
Dr. Fu-Manchu felt for the pulse of the boy whom a moment since I had pronounced dead, and, stepping to the tall glass case, took out a long-necked flask71 of chased gold, and from it, into a graduated glass, he poured some drops of an amber72 liquid wholly unfamiliar73 to me. I watched him with all my eyes, and noted74 how high the liquid rose in the measure. He charged a needle-syringe, and, bending again over Aziz, made an injection.
Then all the wonders I had heard of this man became possible, and with an awe22 which any other physician who had examined Aziz must have felt, I admitted him a miracle-worker. For as I watched, all but breathless, the dead came to life! The glow of health crept upon the olive cheek—the boy moved—he raised his hands above his head—he sat up, supported by the Chinese doctor!
Fu-Manchu touched some hidden bell. A hideous75 yellow man with a scarred face entered, carrying a tray upon which were a bowl containing some steaming fluid, apparently76 soup, what looked like oaten cakes, and a flask of red wine.
As the boy, exhibiting no more unusual symptoms than if he had just awakened77 from a normal sleep, commenced his repast, Karamaneh drew me gently along the passage into the room which we had first entered. My heart leaped wildly as the marmoset bounded past us to drop hand over hand to the lower apartment in search of its master.
"You see," said Karamaneh, her voice quivering, "he is not dead! But without Fu-Manchu he is dead to me. How can I leave him when he holds the life of Aziz in his hand?"
"You must get me that flask, or some of its contents," I directed. "But tell me, how does he produce the appearance of death?"
"I cannot tell you," she replied. "I do not know. It is something in the wine. In another hour Aziz will be again as you saw him. But see." And, opening a little ebony box, she produced a phial half filled with the amber liquid.
"Good!" I said, and slipped it into my pocket. "When will be the best time to seize Fu-Manchu and to restore your brother?"
"I will let you know," she whispered, and, opening the door, pushed me hurriedly from the room. "He is going away to-night to the north; but you must not come to-night. Quick! Quick! Along the passage. He may call me at any moment."
So, with the phial in my pocket containing a potent78 preparation unknown to Western science, and with a last long look into the eyes of Karamaneh, I passed out into the narrow alley41, out from the fragrant79 perfumes of that mystery house into the place of Thames-side stenches.
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1
unravel
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| v.弄清楚（秘密）；拆开，解开，松开 | |
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disappearances
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| n.消失( disappearance的名词复数 )；丢失；失踪；失踪案 | |
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baneful
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| adj.有害的 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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metropolis
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| n.首府；大城市 | |
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eluding
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| v.（尤指机敏地）避开( elude的现在分词 )；逃避；躲避；使达不到 | |
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flare
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| v.闪耀，闪烁；n.潮红；突发 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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obituary
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| n.讣告，死亡公告；adj.死亡的 | |
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zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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12
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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tugging
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| n.牵引感v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的现在分词 ) | |
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lobe
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| n.耳垂，（肺，肝等的）叶 | |
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diagnosis
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| n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断 | |
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confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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awesomely
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| 赫然 | |
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deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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seizure
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| n.没收；占有；抵押 | |
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tainting
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| v.使变质( taint的现在分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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scrap
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| n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废 | |
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second-hand
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| adj.用过的，旧的，二手的 | |
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Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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apprehensively
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| adv.担心地 | |
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bouquet
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| n.花束，酒香 | |
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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entreatingly
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| 哀求地，乞求地 | |
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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mantle
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| n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红 | |
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alley
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| n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路 | |
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42
alleys
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| 胡同，小巷( alley的名词复数 )； 小径 | |
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43
dubious
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| adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的 | |
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abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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46
repugnance
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| n.嫌恶 | |
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maze
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| n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑 | |
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48
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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49
enjoining
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| v.命令( enjoin的现在分词 ) | |
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50
loomed
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| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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51
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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52
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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53
fragrance
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| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
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54
exquisitely
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| adv.精致地；强烈地；剧烈地；异常地 | |
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55
illuminated
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| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
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56
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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57
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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58
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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59
prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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60
spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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61
gaudy
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| adj.华而不实的；俗丽的 | |
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62
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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63
apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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64
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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65
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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66
enchanted
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| adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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67
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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68
comely
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| adj.漂亮的，合宜的 | |
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69
rigidly
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| adv.刻板地，僵化地 | |
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70
inhuman
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| adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的 | |
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71
flask
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| n.瓶，火药筒，砂箱 | |
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72
amber
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| n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的 | |
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73
unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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74
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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75
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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76
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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77
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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78
potent
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| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
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fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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