by Sax Rohmer
THE LAIR OF THE SCORPION
CHAPTER I
THE SUBLIME ORDER
Stuart awoke to a discovery so strange that for some time he foundhimself unable to accept its reality. He passed his hands over hisface and eyes and looked about him dazedly. He experienced greatpain in his throat, and he could feel that his neck was swollen. Hestared down at his ankles, which also were throbbing agonisingly--tolearn that they were confined in gyves attached by a short chain toa ring in the floor!
He was lying upon a deep _diwan,_ which was covered with leopard-skinsand which occupied one corner of the most extraordinary room he hadever seen or ever could have imagined. He sat up, but was immediatelyovercome 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 lampsswung from the ceiling, illuminated it warmly, and a great number oflarge and bright silk cushions were strewn about the floor. Therewere tapestries in black and gold, rich carpets and couches, severalhandsome cabinets and a number of tall cases of Oriental workmanshipcontaining large and strangely bound books, scientific paraphernalia,curios and ornaments.
At the further end of the room was a deep tiled hearth in which stooda kind of chemical furnace which hissed constantly. Upon ornate smalltables and pedestals were vases and cases--one of the lattercontaining a number or orchids, in flower.
Preserved lizards, snakes, and other creatures were in a row of jarsupon a shelf, together with small skeletons of animals in frames.There was also a perfect human skeleton. Near the centre of the roomwas a canopied chair, of grotesque Chinese design, upon a dais, a bigbronze bell hanging from it; and near to the _diwan_ upon which Stuartwas lying stood a large, very finely carved table upon which were someopen faded volumes and a litter of scientific implements. Near thetable stood a very large bowl of what looked like platinum, upon atripod, 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 whichenveloped him from head to feet. It possessed oval eye-holes, andthrough these apertures gleamed two eyes which looked scarcely likethe eyes of a human being. They were of that brilliant yellow colorsometimes seen in the eyes of tigers, and their most marked and awfulpeculiarity was their unblinking regard. They seemed always to be opento their fullest extent, and Stuart realized with anger that it wasimpossible to sustain for long the piercing gaze of Fo-Hi ... for heknew that he was in the presence of "The Scorpion"!
Walking with a slow and curious dignity, the cowled figure came acrossto the table, first closing the lacquer door. Stuart's handsconvulsively clutched the covering of the _diwan_ as the sinisterfigure approached. The intolerable gaze of those weird eyes hadawakened a horror, a loathing horror, within him, such as he neverremembered to have experienced in regard to any human being. It wasthe sort of horror which the proximity of a poisonous serpentoccasions--or the nearness of a scorpion....
Fo-Hi seated himself at the table.
Absolute silence reigned in the big room, except for the hissing ofthe furnace. No sound penetrated from the outer world. Having no meansof judging how long he had been insensible, Stuart found himselfwondering if the raid on the den of Ah-Fang-Fu had taken place hoursbefore, days earlier, or weeks ago.
Taking up a test-tube from a rack on the table, Fo-Hi held it near alamp and examined the contents--a few drops of colourless fluid. Thesehe 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 wasslow and distinctive. He seemed deliberately to choose each word andto give to it all its value, syllable by syllable. His English wasperfect to the verge of the pedantic; and his voice was metallic andharsh, touching at time, when his words were vested with some subtleor hidden significance, guttural depths which betrayed the Chinaman.He possessed uncanny dignity as of tremendous intellect and consciouspower.
"I regret that you were so rash as to take part in last night'sabortive raid, Dr. Stuart," he said.
Stuart started. So he had been unconscious for many hour!
"Because of your professional acquirements at one time I hadcontemplated removing you," continued the unemotional voice. "But Irejoice to think that I failed. It would have been an error ofjudgement. I have useful work for such men. You shall assist in theextensive 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 andemotions.
"Your prejudice is natural," rejoined Fo-Hi calmly. "You are ignorantof our sublime motives, but you shall nevertheless assist us toestablish that intellectual control which is destined to be the newWorld Force. No doubt you are conscious of a mental hiatus extendingfrom the moment when you found the pigtail of the worthy Ah-Fang-Fuabout your throat until that when you recovered consciousness in thisroom. It has covered a period roughly of twenty-four hours, Dr. Stuart."
"I don't believe it," muttered Stuart--and found his own voice toseem as unreal as everything else in the nightmare apartment. "If Ihad 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 Ifound it necessary to make. Otherwise, as you remark, it would havebeen prolonged indefinitely. Your clever but rash companion was lesshappy."
"What!" cried Stuart--"he is dead? You fiend! You damned yellowfiend!" Emotion shook him and he sat clutching the leopard-skins andglaring 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 scufflingattendant upon arresting this unfortunate follower of mine,immediately outside the door of the house, led to the discovery ofyour own presence. Nevertheless, the others departed safely. My owndeparture is imminent; it has been because of certain domestic detailsand by the necessity of awaiting nightfall. You see, I am frank withyou."
"Because the grave is silent!"
"The grave, and ... China. There is no other alternative in yourcase."
"Are you sure that there is no other in your own?" asked Stuarthuskily.
"An alternative to my returning to China? Can you suggest one?"
"The scaffold!" cried Stuart furiously, "for you and the scum whofollow you!"
Fo-Hi lighted a Bunsen burner.
"I trust not," he rejoined placidly. "With two exceptions, all mypeople are out of England."
Stuart's heart began to throb painfully. With two exceptions! DidMiska still remain? He conquered his anger and tried to speak calmly,recognising how he lay utterly in the power of this uncanny being andhow 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 alwaysmodelled my behavior upon that of the brilliant scientist whopreceded me as European representative of our movement. Yourbeautiful Thames is my highway as it was his highway. No one of myimmediate neighbours has ever seen me or my once extensive followingenter this house." He selected an empty test-tube. "No one shall seeme leave."
The unreality of it all threatened to swamp Stuart's mind again, buthe forced himself to speak calmly.
"Your own escape is just possible, if some vessel awaits you; but doyou imagine for a moment that you can carry me to China and eludepursuit?"
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 yourmem
ory retain the name of Van Rembold and has your Scotland Yard yetsatisfied itself that Sir Frank Narcombe died from 'natural causes'?Then, there was Ericksen, the most brilliant European electricalexpert of the century, who died quite suddenly last year. I honoryou, 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 heknew that he was on the verge of learning that which poor Gaston Maxhad given his life to learn. A moment Fo-Hi hesitated--and in thatmoment his captive recognised, and shuddered to recognise, that hewon this secret too late. Then:
"The Grand Duke is a tactician who, had he remained in Europe, mightwell have readjusted the frontiers of his country. Van Rembold, as amining engineer, stands alone, as does Henrik Ericksen in theelectrical world. As for Sir Frank Narcombe, he is beyond doubt themost brilliant surgeon of today, and I, a judge of men, count you hispeer in the realm of pure therapeutics. Whilst your studies insnake-poisons (which were narrowly watched for us in India) give youan unique place in toxicology. These great men will be some of yourcompanions in China."
"In China!"
"In China, Dr. Stuart, where I hope you will join them. Youmisapprehend the purpose of my mission. It is not destructive,although neither I nor my enlightened predecessor have ever scrupledto remove any obstacle from the path of that world-change which nohuman power can check or hinder; it is primarily constructive. Nostate or group of states can hope to resist the progress of a movementguided and upheld by a monopoly of the world's genius. The SublimeOrder, 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 fromthe vast pitchblend deposits of Ho-Nan--which industry we control. Hevisited China arrayed in his shroud, and he travelled in a handsomeEgyptian sarcophagus purchased at Sotherby's on behalf of a Chinesecollector."
Fo-Hi stood up and crossed to the hissing furnace. He busied himselfwith 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--myimmediate predecessor in office--devised a means of inducingartificial catalepsy----"
"My God!" muttered Stuart, as the incredible, the appalling truthburst upon his mind.
"My own rather hazardous delay," continued Fo-Hi, "is occasioned insome measure by my anxiety to complete the present experiment. Itsproduct will be your passport to China."
Carrying a tiny crucible, he returned to the table.
Stuart felt that his self-possession was deserting him. Madnessthreatened ... If he was not already mad. He forced himself to speak.
"You taunt me because I am helpless. I do not believe that those menhave been spirited into China. Even if it were so, they would die, asI would die, rather than prostitute their talents to such mad infamy."
Fo-Hi carefully poured the contents of the crucible into a flatplatinum pan.
"In China, Dr. Stuart," he said, "we know how to _make_ men work! Imyself am the deviser of a variant of the unduly notorious _kite_device and the scarcely less celebrated 'Six Gates of Wisdom.' I termit The Feast of a Thousand Ants. It is performed with the aid ofAfrican 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 anuntimely end quite recently. You are wondering, no doubt, how Iobtained 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 merestflattery. You are either a fiend or a madman!"
"When you are enlisted as a member of the Sublime Order," said Fo-Hisoftly, "and you awaken in China, Dr. Stuart--you will work. We haveno 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 thetrue significance of this movement. You have seen mighty nations,armed with every known resource of science, at a deadlock on thebattlefield. You naturally fail to perceive how a group of Orientalphilosophers can achieve what the might of Europe failed to achieve.You will remember, in favour of my claims, that we command theservice of the world's genius, and have a financial backing whichcould settle the national loans of the world! In other words,exhumation of a large percentage of the great men who have died inrecent 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, "ofa theatre, of a concert-room; in the privacy of their home, of theiroffice; wherever opportunity offered, I caused them to be touchedwith the point of a hypodermic needle such as this." He held up asmall hypodermic syringe.
"It contained a minute quantity of the serum which I am nowpreparing--the serum whose discovery was the crowning achievement ofa great scientist's career (I refer, Dr. Stuart, to my brilliantpredecessor). They were buried alive; but no surgeon in Europe orAmerica would have hesitated to certify them dead. Aided by a groupof six Hindu fanatics, trained as _Lughais_ (grave-diggers), it waseasy to gain access to their resting-places. One had the misfortune tobe cremated by his family--a great loss to my Council. But the othersare now in China, at our headquarters. They are labouring day andnight to bring this war-scarred world under the sceptre of an EasternEmperor."
"Faugh!" cried Stuart. "The whole of that war-scarred world will standarmed before you!"
"We realise that, doctor; therefore we are prepared for it. We spokeof the Norwegian Henrick Ericksen. This is his most recentcontribution 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 thislittle instrument," he said. "You recall the episode? Ericksen'sDisintegrating Ray, Dr. Stuart. The model, here, possesses a limitedrange, of course, but the actual instrument has a compass of seven anda half miles. It can readily be carried by a heavy plane! One suchplane in a flight from Suez to Port Said, could destroy all theshipping in the Canal and explode every grain of ammunition on eithershore! Since I must leave England to-night, the model must bedestroyed, and unfortunately a good collection of bacilli has alreadysuffered 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 himspeechless and aghast. He poured the contents of a large pan into themortar, whereupon a loud hissing sound broke the awesome silence ofthe room and a cloud of fumes arose.
"Not a trace, doctor!" said the cowled man. "A little preparation ofmy own. It destroys the hardest known substance--with the solitaryexception of a certain clay--in the same way that nitric acid woulddestroy tissue paper. You see I might have aspired to become famousamong safe-breakers."
"You have preferred to become infamous among murderers!" snappedStuart.
"To murder, Dr. Stuart, I have never stooped. I am a specialist inselective warfare. When you visit the laboratory of our chief chemistin Kiangsu you will be shown the whole of the armory of the SublimeOrder. I regret that the activities of your zealous and painfullyinquisitive friend, M. Gaston Max, have forced me to depart fromEngland 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 itin the flame of the burner. At the moment that it reached the boilingpoint it became colourless. He carefully placed the
whole of theliquid 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 andfragments of rock, but as Fo-Hi struck it, out from beneath the piecesof rock darted black active creatures.
"The common black scorpion of Southern India," he said softly. "Itsvenom is the basis of the priceless formula, _F. Katalepsis,_ uponwhich the structure of our Sublime Order rests, Dr. Stuart; hence theadoption of a scorpion as our device."
He took up a long slender flask.
"This virus prepared from a glandular secretion of the Chineseswamp-adder is also beyond price. Again-the case upon the pedestalyonder contains five perfect bulbs, three already in flower, as youobserve, of an orchid discovered by our chief chemist in certainforests of Burma. It only occurs at extremely rare intervals--eightyyears or more--and under highly special conditions. If the other twobulbs flower, I shall be enabled to obtain from the blooms a minimumquantity of an essential oil for which the nations of the earth, ifthey knew its properties, would gladly empty their treasuries. Thiscase must at all costs accompany me."
"Yet because you are still in England," said Stuart huskily, "Iventure to hope that your devil dreams may end on the scaffold."
"That can never be, Dr. Stuart," returned Fo-Hi placidly. "Thescaffold is not for such as I. Moreover, it is a crude and barbaricinstitution which I deplore. Do you see that somewhat peculiarlyconstructed chair, yonder? It is an adaptation, by a brilliant youngchemist of Canton, of Ericksen's Disintegrating Ray. A bell hangsbeside it. If you were seated in that chair and I desire to dismissyou, it would merely be necessary fro me to strike the bell once withthe hammer. Before the vibration of the note had become inaudible youwould be seeking your ancestors among the shades. It is the throne ofthe gods. Such a death is poetic."
He returned to the table and, observing meticulous care, emptied thefew drops of colourless liquid from the condenser into a test-tube.Holding the tube near a lamp, he examined the contents, then pouredthe liquid into the curious yellow bottle. A faint vapour arose from it.
"You would scarcely suppose," he said, "that yonder window opens uponan ivy-grown balcony commanding an excellent view of that picturesqueTudor survival, Hampton Court? I apprehend, however, that the researchesof your late friend, M. Gaston Max, may ere long lead Scotland Yard tomy doors, although there has been nothing in the outward seeming ofthis house, in the circumstances of my tenancy, or in my behavioursince 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 atthe gate," replied Fo-Hi. "An intruder seeking to enter by any otherroute, through the hedge, over the wall, or from the river, wouldcause electric bells to ring loudly in this room, the note of the bellsignifying the point of entry. Finally, in the event of such asurprise, I have an exit whereby one emerges at a secret spot on theriver bank. A motor-boat, suitably concealed, awaits me there."
He placed a thermometer in the neck of the yellow bottle and thebottle in a rack. He directed the intolerable gaze of his awful eyesupon the man who sat, teeth tightly clenched, watching him from the_diwan._
"Ten minutes of life--in England--yet remain to you, Dr. Stuart. Inten minutes this fluid will have cooled to a temperature of 99 degrees,when I shall be enabled safely make an injection. You will be rebornin Kiangsu."
Fo-Hi walked slowly to the door whereby he had entered, opened it andwent out. The door closed.
