The Return of Dr. Fu-Manchu

by Sax Rohmer

  CHAPTER XIX. DR. FU-MANCHU'S LABORATORY

  I cannot conceive that any ordinary mortal ever attained to anythinglike an intimacy with Dr. Fu-Manchu; I cannot believe that any man couldever grow used to his presence, could ever cease to fear him. I supposeI had set eyes upon Fu-Manchu some five or six times prior to thisoccasion, and now he was dressed in the manner which I always associatedwith him, probably because it was thus I first saw him. He wore a plainyellow robe, and, with his pointed chin resting upon his bosom, helooked down at me, revealing a great expanse of the marvelous brow withits sparse, neutral-colored hair.

  Never in my experience have I known such force to dwell in the glanceof any human eye as dwelt in that of this uncanny being. His singularaffliction (if affliction it were), the film or slight membrane whichsometimes obscured the oblique eyes, was particularly evident at themoment that I crossed the threshold, but now, as I looked up at Dr.Fu-Manchu, it lifted--revealing the eyes in all their emerald greenness.

  The idea of physical attack upon this incredible being seemedchildish--inadequate. But, following that first instant of stupefaction,I forced myself to advance upon him.

  A dull, crushing blow descended on the top of my skull, and I becameoblivious of all things.

  My return to consciousness was accompanied by tremendous pains in myhead, whereby, from previous experience, I knew that a sandbag had beenused against me by some one in the shop, presumably by the immobileshopman. This awakening was accompanied by none of those hazy doubtsrespecting previous events and present surroundings which are the usualsymptoms of revival from sudden unconsciousness; even before I openedmy eyes, before I had more than a partial command of my senses, I knewthat, with my wrists handcuffed behind me, I lay in a room whichwas also occupied by Dr. Fu-Manchu. This absolute certainty of theChinaman's presence was evidenced, not by my senses, but only by aninner consciousness, and the same that always awoke into life at theapproach not only of Fu-Manchu in person but of certain of his uncannyservants.

  A faint perfume hung in the air about me; I do not mean that of anyessence or of any incense, but rather the smell which is suffusedby Oriental furniture, by Oriental draperies; the indefinable butunmistakable perfume of the East.

  Thus, London has a distinct smell of its own, and so has Paris, whilstthe difference between Marseilles and Suez, for instance, is even moremarked.

  Now, the atmosphere surrounding me was Eastern, but not of the East thatI knew; rather it was Far Eastern. Perhaps I do not make myself veryclear, but to me there was a mysterious significance in that perfumedatmosphere. I opened my eyes.

  I lay upon a long low settee, in a fairly large room which was furnishedas I had anticipated in an absolutely Oriental fashion. The two windowswere so screened as to have lost, from the interior point of view, allresemblance to European windows, and the whole structure of the room hadbeen altered in conformity, bearing out my idea that the place had beenprepared for Fu-Manchu's reception some time before his actual return. Idoubt if, East or West, a duplicate of that singular apartment could befound.

  The end in which I lay, was, as I have said, typical of an Easternhouse, and a large, ornate lantern hung from the ceiling almost directlyabove me. The further end of the room was occupied by tall cases,some of them containing books, but the majority filled with scientificparaphernalia; rows of flasks and jars, frames of test-tubes, retorts,scales, and other objects of the laboratory. At a large and very finelycarved table sat Dr. Fu-Manchu, a yellow and faded volume open beforehim, and some dark red fluid, almost like blood, bubbling in a test-tubewhich he held over the flame of a Bunsen-burner.

  The enormously long nail of his right index finger rested upon theopened page of the book to which he seemed constantly to refer, dividinghis attention between the volume, the contents of the test-tube, and theprogress of a second experiment, or possibly a part of the same, whichwas taking place upon another corner of the littered table.

  A huge glass retort (the bulb was fully two feet in diameter), fittedwith a Liebig's Condenser, rested in a metal frame, and within the bulb,floating in an oily substance, was a fungus some six inches high, shapedlike a toadstool, but of a brilliant and venomous orange color. Threeflat tubes of light were so arranged as to cast violet rays upward intothe retort, and the receiver, wherein condensed the product of thisstrange experiment, contained some drops of a red fluid which may havebeen identical with that boiling in the test-tube.

  These things I perceived at a glance: then the filmy eyes of Dr.Fu-Manchu were raised from the book, turned in my direction, and allelse was forgotten.

  "I regret," came the sibilant voice, "that unpleasant measures werenecessary, but hesitation would have been fatal. I trust, Dr. Petrie,that you suffer no inconvenience?"

  To this speech no reply was possible, and I attempted none.

  "You have long been aware of my esteem for your acquirements," continuedthe Chinaman, his voice occasionally touching deep guttural notes, "andyou will appreciate the pleasure which this visit affords me. I kneelat the feet of my silver Buddha. I look to you, when you shall haveovercome your prejudices--due to ignorance of my true motives--to assistme in establishing that intellectual control which is destined to be thenew World Force. I bear you no malice for your ancient enmity, and evennow"--he waved one yellow hand toward the retort--"I am conducting anexperiment designed to convert you from your misunderstanding, and toadjust your perspective."

  Quite unemotionally he spoke, then turned again to his book, histest-tube and retort, in the most matter-of-fact way imaginable. I donot think the most frenzied outburst on his part, the most fiendishthreats, could have produced such effect upon me as those cold andcarefully calculated words, spoken in that unique voice which rang aboutthe room sibilantly. In its tones, in the glance of the green eyes,in the very pose of the gaunt, high-shouldered body, there waspower--force.

  I counted myself lost, and in view of the doctor's words, studied theprogress of the experiment with frightful interest. But a few momentssufficed in which to realize that, for all my training, I knew as littleof chemistry--of chemistry as understood by this man's genius--as ajunior student in surgery knows of trephining. The process inoperation was a complete mystery to me; the means and the end alikeincomprehensible.

  Thus, in the heavy silence of that room, a silence only broken by theregular bubbling from the test tube, I found my attention straying fromthe table to the other objects surrounding it; and at one of them mygaze stopped and remained chained with horror.

  It was a glass jar, some five feet in height and filled with viscousfluid of a light amber color. Out from this peered a hideous, dog-likeface, low browed, with pointed ears and a nose almost hoggishly flat.By the death-grin of the face the gleaming fangs were revealed; and thebody, the long yellow-gray body, rested, or seemed to rest, uponshort, malformed legs, whilst one long limp arm, the right, hung downstraightly in the preservative. The left arm had been severed above theelbow.

  Fu-Manchu, finding his experiment to be proceeding favorably, lifted hiseyes to me again.

  "You are interested in my poor Cynocephalyte?" he said; and his eyeswere filmed like the eyes of one afflicted with cataract. "He was adevoted servant, Dr. Petrie, but the lower influences in his genealogy,sometimes conquered. Then he got out of hand; and at last he was soungrateful toward those who had educated him, that, in one of thoseparoxysms of his, he attacked and killed a most faithful Burman, one ofmy oldest followers."

  Fu-Manchu returned to his experiment.

  Not the slightest emotion had he exhibited thus far, but had chattedwith me as any other scientist might chat with a friend who casuallyvisits his laboratory. The horror of the thing was playing havoc withmy own composure, however. There I lay, fettered, in the same room withthis man whose existence was a menace to the entire white race, whilstplacidly he pursued an experiment designed, if his own words werebelievable, to cut me off from my kind--to wreak some change,psychological or physiological I knew not; to place me,
it mightbe, upon a level with such brute-things as that which now hung, halffloating, in the glass jar!

  Something I knew of the history of that ghastly specimen, that thingneither man nor ape; for within my own knowledge had it not attemptedthe life of Nayland Smith, and was it not I who, with an ax, had maimedit in the instant of one of its last slayings?

  Of these things Dr. Fu-Manchu was well aware, so that his placid speechwas doubly, trebly horrible to my ears. I sought, furtively, to movemy arms, only to realize that, as I had anticipated, the handcuffswere chained to a ring in the wall behind me. The establishments of Dr.Fu-Manchu were always well provided with such contrivances as these.

  I uttered a short, harsh laugh. Fu-Manchu stood up slowly from thetable, and, placing the test-tube in a rack, stood the latter carefullyupon a shelf at his side.

  "I am happy to find you in such good humor," he said softly. "Otheraffairs call me; and, in my absence, that profound knowledge ofchemistry, of which I have had evidence in the past, will enable you tofollow with intelligent interest the action of these violet rays uponthis exceptionally fine specimen of Siberian amanita muscaria. At somefuture time, possibly when you are my guest in China--which country I amnow making arrangements for you to visit--I shall discuss with you somelesser-known properties of this species; and I may say that one of yourfirst tasks when you commence your duties as assistant in my laboratoryin Kiang-su, will be to conduct a series of twelve experiments, which Ihave outlined, into other potentialities of this unique fungus."

  He walked quietly to a curtained doorway, with his cat-like yet awkwardgait, lifted the drapery, and, with a slight nod in my direction, wentout of the room.