The Mask of Fu Manchu f-5

by Sax Rohmer

  The learned Englishmen were late: they arrived together;

  and I was glad of their arrival. Professor Eisner was sipping a glass of the chiefs magnificent old sherry and nibbling some sort of savoury provided by Betts; Dr. Brieux, hands behind him, was staring out of the window, his back ostentatiously turned to his German confrere.

  When Mr. Hall-Ramsden of the British Museum and Sir Wallace Syms of the Royal Society had chatted for a time with the distinguished visitors, I led the way upstairs to the Museum Room.

  As I have mentioned I had prepared everything early the night before. My notes, a map of our route, a diary covering the period we had spent in the Place of the Great Magician, and one or two minor objects discovered in the tomb of the prophet, were ready upon the table.

  At all costs (such were the chief’s instructions) I had to avoid giving away any of the dramatic points—he had made a list of them—which he proposed to spring upon the Royal Society.

  This was not in the remotest degree my kind of job. I hated it from the word Go! The dream or vision which had disturbed my sleep during the night continued to haunt me. I was uncertain of myself—uncertain that the whole episode was not some damnable aftermath to that drug which had taken toll of several hours of my life in Cairo.

  At the best of times I should have been ill at ease, but on this occasion I was doubly so. However, I attacked the business. Removing the mask, the plates, and the sword from the cabinet in which they rested, I placed them upon the big table.

  Professor Eisner claimed the gold plates with a motion resembling that of a hawk swooping upon its prey. Dr. Brieux took up the mask between delicate, nervous fingers, and peered at it closely through the powerful lenses of his spectacles. Hall-Ramsden and Sir Wallace Syms bent over the Sword of God.

  I glanced at my notes, and, realising that nobody was listening to me, intoned the situation, condition, external appearance, and so forth, of the half-buried ruin which had been the tomb of the Mokanna. Finally:

  “Here are the photographs to which I have referred, gentlemen,” I said, opening a portfolio containing more than three hundred photographs taken by Rima. “If any questions occur to you, I shall be glad in Sir Lionel’s absence to answer them to the best of my ability.”

  I had gone through this painful duty quite automatically. Now, I had time to observe the four specialists. And looking at them where they sat around the big table, I sensed at once a queer atmosphere.

  Mr. Hall-Ramsden glanced at me furtively, but catching my eye resumed a muttered colloquy with Sir Wallace Syms. Professor Eisner and Dr. Brieux seemed to have discovered common ground. The doctor, holding up the mask, was talking with tremendous rapidity, and the professor, alternately tapping the plates and pointing to the sword seemed to be agreeing, judging from his short ejaculations of “Ja, ja!”

  “Can I assist you in any way, gentlemen?” I asked somewhat irritably.

  As the chief officer of the expedition which had discovered the relics, I felt that I was receiving scant courtesy. But, as I spoke, four pairs of eyes were turned upon me.

  There came a moment of silence, as I looked from face to face; and then it was the German professor who spoke:

  “Mr. Greville,” he said, “I understand that you were present when Sir Lionel Barton opened the tomb of El Mokanna?”

  “Certainly I was present. Professor.”

  “This was what I understood.” He nodded slowly. “Were you actually present at the time that these relics were unearthed?”

  His inquiry was made in a way kindly enough, but it jagged me horribly. I looked from face to face, meeting with nothing but unfathomable glances.

  “Your question is a strange one,” I replied slowly. “Alt Mahmoud, the headman in charge of our party, was actually first among us to see anything of the relics: he saw a comer of one of those gold plates. I was the first to see an entire plate (I think it was ninth in the series, as a matter of fact). Sir Lionel, and Rima, his niece, as well as the late Dr. Van Berg, were present when the treasure was brought to light.”

  Professor Eisner had a habit of closing his left eye; betokening concentration, no doubt; and, now, his right eye—a cold blue eye—focused upon me through the little monocle, registered something between incredulity, amusement and pity.

  Sir Wallace I knew for an avowed enemy of the chief. Regarding Hall-Ramsden’s attitude, I knew nothing. Of Professor Eisner Sir Lionel had always spoken favourably, but I was aware that he regarded Dr. Brieux as a mere impostor.

  But now, under the gaze of that magnified blue eye, I realised that the authenticity of these treasures, which had nearly led to a Holy War in the East, was being questioned by the four men seated about the table!

  Instantly I pictured the scene if Sir Lionel had been present! Hall-Ramsden might have put up a show, and the German looked like a man of his hands: but as for the other two, I was confident that they would have been thrown bodily downstairs….

  “Gentlemen,” I said, “you seem to share some common opinion about the relics of El Mokanna. I should be glad to know your views.”

  A further exchange of glances followed. I realised that in some way my words had created embarrassment. Finally, having cleared his throat, it was Hall-Ramsden who answered me.

  “Mr. Greville,” he said, “I have heard you well spoken of, and, personally, I should not think of doubting your integrity. Sir Lionel Barton—” he cleared his throat again—”as an Orientalist of international reputation, is naturally above suspicion.”

  Dr. Brieux blew his nose.

  “Since it has been arranged for Sir Lionel to address the Royal Society next Thursday on the subject”—he extended his hand towards the objects on the table—”of these relics, I recognise, of course—we all recognise—that there must be some strange mistake, or else…”

  He hesitated, glancing about as if to seek help from one of his confreres.

  “That Barton,” Sir Wallace Syms continued—”whose sense of humour sometimes betrays him—has seen fit to play a joke upon us!”

  By this time I was thoroughly angry.

  “What the devil do you mean. Sir Wallace?” I asked.

  My anger had one immediate effect. Professor Eisner stood up and approached me, putting his arm about my shoulders.

  “My young friend,” he explained, “something has gone wrong. It will all be explained, no doubt. But be calm.”

  His manner quietened me. I recognized its sincerity. And, giving me a kind of final reassuring hug: “I shall not be surprised to hear,” he went on, “that you have not examined these relics recently. Eh?”

  “Not,” I admitted, “since they were put in the case.”

  “Since you placed them in the case, eh? Now, you have already a considerable reputation, Mr. Greville. I have talked with you, and you know your subject. Before we say any more, please to look at this sword.”

  He stepped to the table, took up the Sword of God, returned, and handed it to me. My anger was still simmering as I took the thing up and glanced at it. Having done so:

  “Well,” I replied, “I have looked. What do you expect me to say?”

  “To say nothing—yet.” Again that reassuring arm was around my shoulders. “But to look, examine carefully—”

  “It’s simply absurd!” came the voice of Dr. Brieux.

  “If you please!” snapped the Professor sharply—”if you please! What you have to say, Doctor can wait for a moment.”

  Amid a silence which vibrated with hostility, I examined the blade in my hand. And I suppose, as I did so, my expression changed.

  “Ah! you see, eh?” said the German.

  And while I stared with horrified eyes at the blade, the inlay, the hilt, he had darted to the table, almost immediately to return with one of the gold plates. Relieving me of the sword, he placed the inscribed tablet in my hands.

  “It is beautifully done!” He almost whispered the words, very close to my ear; “and rubbed down very fine. But l
ook…”

  He held a glass before my eye—one of those which I had provided for this very purpose.

  I looked—and I knew!

  Tossing the plate down, I faced the three men around the table. Professor Eisner remained beside me.

  “Gentlemen,” I said—”my apologies. I can only ask you to remain silent until this mystery has been cleared up. I will try, to the best of my ability, to explain.”

  The sword, the plates, and the mask, which I had exhibited to these four experts, were, beyond any shadow of doubt, the duplicates made by Solomon Ishak….

  CHAPTER FIFTIETH

  DR. FU MANCHU TRIUMPHS

  Thanks to Rima’s photographs, I proved my case. The blade of the sword, as I realised, had been provided by Soloman Ishak. It closely resembled the sword of the prophet, but differed in several essential particulars.

  The stones in the hilt (the hilt had been reproduced exactly) were genuine and must have cost the chief some hundreds of pounds; but they were much smaller than those shown in the photograph; and some of them badly flawed.

  Under a powerful lens the plates shrieked forgery aloud. I learned later that they had been photographed from Rima’s negatives onto the gold and then engraved by Solomon’s workmen. Closely examined, the newly cut gold betrayed the secret.

  The mask was the most perfect duplicate I have ever handled; but the two large jewels were reconstructed; and the delicate engravery, magnified, betrayed itself in the same way as that upon the plates.

  However, a friendly atmosphere was re-established before the party broke up. I had admitted—could see no alternative— that Sir Lionel had a duplicate set made in Persia. And it was obvious that this was the set which now lay upon the table.

  When and where the substitution had taken place, I left to the imagination of my visitors. They were sympathetic in a way, but the Englishmen were laughing at me; and the Frenchman, who had come from Paris especially to view the relics, was very plainly annoyed.

  Professor Eisner alone seemed to understand and to sympathise. He was the last to leave, and:

  “Mr. Greville,” he said in parting, “Sir Lionel Barton has touched deep, secret influences in this matter. He has been clever—very clever; but they have been more clever still. Eh? You will find out one day when this trick was done.”

  But as from the window I watched him swinging down Bruton Street with the walk of a dragoon, I knew that I had nothing to find out. I already knew where dreaming had ended and reality had begun. And I knew why Fah Lo Suee had whispered: “You will live to hate me….”

  I was still trying to get a call through to the chief, whose Norfolk number was a private extension, when Belts came in and announced:

  “Sir Denis Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie, sir.”

  I hung up the receiver and positively sprang to meet them.

  They were waiting for me in the room on the left of the lobby, the room in which I had received my learned visitors that morning. I suppose my expression must have betrayed me, for I saw, as I ran in, that both had sensed the fact that there was something wrong.

  “What is it, Greville?” snapped Nayland Smith—”Barton? Rima?”

  “Both safe,” I replied. “This is a delightful surprise! You are a whole day ahead of your schedule!”

  “Flew from Marseilles,” said Sir Denis.

  “But something is wrong with you,” Dr. Petrie declared, holding onto my hand and looking at me searchingly.

  I nodded, smiling, although I was far from mirthful.

  “Suppose you prescribe a drink. Doctor!” I suggested; “I feel badly shot away. Then I will try to explain the position.”

  It occupied me longer than I could have supposed; involving as it did an account of what had happened since I had parted from my friend on the previous night, right up to my recent interview with the four experts.

  Long before I had reached the end of it, Nayland Smith was pacing up and down the room in his restless fashion, having relighted his pipe three or four times. But at last, when that strange story was ended:

  “Amazing,” he snapped, “but ghastly.” He turned to Petrie. “I told you that Fu Manchu would be in England ahead of us.”

  “You did,” the doctor agreed.

  “He is here?” I exclaimed.

  “Undoubtedly, Greville. He keeps a close watch upon his beautiful daughter! Your dream, as it seemed to you, was of course no dream at all. You were subjected last night, in the basement of the adjoining house, to the treatment referred to by Dr. Fu Manchu; an injection in your arm. Petrie can probably discover the mark. Eh, Petrie?”

  “Possibly,” the doctor replied guardedly. “But I can make an examination later, Smith. Please carry on.”

  “Very well. Later, you were given that ‘simple antidote’ which he mentioned. You remember now those lost hours in Cairo. And some of your memories, Greville, are most illuminating. I can see Hewlett and myself searching the Sukkariya quarter, when actually the house for which we were looking was somewhere out at Gizeh!

  “The drug used by Fu Manchu (obviously that mentioned by McGovem) renders the subject peculiarly susceptible to suggestion. I suppose you appreciate that you had your instructions from Fah Lo Suee, who was awaiting your return in the adjoining empty house, to open the door for her at a specified time?”

  “I must have opened it,” I returned blankly;” for, otherwise, how did she get in?”

  “You certainly did open it; just as certainly as you once aided in the abduction of Rima from Shepheard’s in Cairo!

  “She substituted the duplicates, which of course she had brought with her, for the real relics, and presumably handed the latter to an accomplice in waiting. The phase which followed, Greville—” he smiled that inimitable smile—”is one which I prefer to forget.”

  “Let’s all agree to forget it,” said Petrie.

  “Dr. Fu Manchu is the greatest master of drugs this old world of ours has ever known. His daughter is an apt pupil. I believe she has a sincere affection for you, Greville—God knows why! But, since you did not dream, we have the word of Fu Manchu that no harm will come to you. Frankly, I think Barton has got off lightly—”

  “So do I!” Petrie interrupted again.

  “After all, even in this stage of laxity, there are things which are not done. The word of a prison governor to a convict is as sacred as any man’s word to any other man; and according to my view, which may be peculiar, Barton doubled on Dr. Fu Manchu. I believe that super-devil to be too great a character to waste a moment upon revenge. But in the circumstances, Greville, if you don’t mind, I should like to get through to Sir Lionel—and there’s someone there whom Petrie is dying to speak to….”

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FIRST

  WEDDING MORNING

  Upon the events of the next few days I prefer not to dwell. At my first interview with Sir Lionel following the loss of the relics of the Masked Prophet, I believed for one hectic moment that he would attempt to strangle me with his own hands.

  Perhaps it was the presence of Nayland Smith, alone, which prevented him from making an assault. I can see him now, pacing up and down the Museum Room, clenching and relaxing his trig fists, and looking murder from underneath tufted eyebrows.

  “No possible blame attaches to Greville,” said Sir Denis.

  The chief growled inarticulately.

  “And I would remind you that in somewhat similar circumstances, and not long ago, you personally assisted the same lady to open the Tomb of the Black Ape, in the Valley of the Kings, and to walk away with its contents. Rather a good parallel, I think?”

  Sir Lionel stood still, staring hard at the speaker, then:

  “Damn it!” he admitted—’you’re right!”

  He transferred his stare to Petrie, and finally to me.

  “Forget my somewhat harsh criticisms, Greville,” he said. “Unlike Smith, I often say more than I mean. But this cancellation of my address to the Royal Society is going to set poisoned tongues
wagging.”

  This was true enough. Not only had he been deprived of that hour of triumph in anticipation of which he had lived for many months past, but unpleasant whispers were going around the more scholarly clubs. Scotland Yard, working secretly, had put its vast machinery in motion in an endeavour to trace Fah Lo Suee.

  They failed, as indeed we all knew they must fail. Servants of Dr. Fu Manchu perused secret avenues of travel upon which the Customs and the police apparently had no check. There was a theory held at Scotland Yard, and shared, I believe, by our old friend Weymouth, that the Chinese doctor worked in concert with what is known as the “underworld”.

  This theory Nayland Smith declined to entertain.

  “His organisation is infinitely superior to anything established among the criminal classes,” he declared. “He would not stoop to use such instruments.”

  However, the chief’s resiliency of character was not the least amazing of his attributes; and within forty-eight hours he was deep in a book dealing with the Masked Prophet, of which he designed to publish a limited edition, illustrated by selected photographs ofRima’s.

  “I don’t know why I allow you to issue your rotten accounts of my expeditions, Greville!” he shouted one day, when I entered the library and found him at word.

  He was surrounded by masses of records and untidy heaps of manuscript notes, portfolios, and what-not. Two shorthand typists were in attendance.

  “Their scientific value is nil, and they depict me personally as a cross between a large ape and a human half-wit….”

  In the meantime he had relaxed no jot of his publicity campaign upon my wedding, to which an added piquancy was given by what happened at the Athenaeum Club.

  Following a heated argument there with Sir Wallace Syms, the chief challenged him to a duel within hearing of fully twelve members!

  This resulted in a crop of spicy paragraphs, practically all of which included a reference to the forthcoming ceremony at St. Margaret’s. My horror of this ceremony grew with almost every passing hour.