by Sax Rohmer
Nayland Smith nodded, and walked to the door which led to the “club”. He opened it, went along the narrow passage, and presently entered the club room, Murphy following.
The place presented much of its usual appearance. One of those games disallowed in Chinatown was being played. A fan-tan party occupied a table on the left. Two nondescript sailormen were throwing dice. Old Sam Pak sat behind the bar, apparently dead.
Nayland Smith and Murphy dropped down on to the dirty settee, half-way up the right-hand side of the room. From the withered lips of Sam Pak a faint whistle emitted.
A hunchback Chinese boy with a patch over his eye appeared from the doorway on the left of the bar and approached the new arrivals.
“Beer!” said Murphy, in a loud, thick voice, assuming his usual role of a hard drinker.
The visible eye of the waiter opened widely. It was a long narrow eye, brilliantly green, and dark-lashed. Automatically, as it seemed, the waiter bent over the table and swabbed it with a dirty duster.
“Sir Denis,” came the soothing voice of Fah Lo Suee, “you are in danger.
“Blimey,” muttered Murphy, “we’re spotted!”
“Thank you,” Nayland Smith replied in a low tone. “I rather suspected it.”
“It is useless to attempt anything to-night. You would find nothing.” She continued to swab the table. “I will join you if you say so. I mean it.”
“I could never trust you.”
“My life has been hell, since something you know about. I am sincere—I don’t wish his death . . . but I must get away.”
“I wonder ...”
Old Sam Pak whistled again, this time more shrilly. One of the fan-tan players deserted the party, and crossed to the door which communicated with the shop.
“Oh God!” whispered Fah Lo Suee. “He knows! If I can save you, will you save me?”
“Yes!” snapped Nayland Smith.
CHAPTER
31
THE SI-FAN
“Hands up!”
Nayland Smith was on his feet, covering the room.
He had noted that the door which now barred the way out to the shop and to the street was a heavy iron door of that kind which at one time gave so much exercise to the police of New York’s Chinatown. The man who had closed the door, turned, and, back to it, slowly raised his hands. He was a short, incredibly thick-set Burman, built like a gorilla, with long arms and a span of shoulder which told of formidable strength.
The other men at the fan-tan table also obeyed the order. Fah Lo Suee, following a moment’s hesitation, caught a swift side-glance from Smith and raised her hands.
Murphy, pistol ready, slipped behind Sir Denis and made for the Burman.
The bowl of a heavy bronze incense-burner stood upon the counter where it was used as a paper-weight and a receptacle for small change. At this moment, the aged Sam Pak— snatching it up with a lighning movement incredible in a man of his years—hurled the heavy bowl with unerring aim.
It struck Nayland Smith on the right temple.
He dropped his automatic, staggered, and fell forward over the table.
Sergeant Murphy came about in a flash, a police whistle between his teeth. Stupefaction claimed him for a moment as he saw Sir Denis lying apparently dead across the table . . . for no more than a moment; but this was long enough for the baboon-like Burman who guarded the door.
In two leaps worthy of the jungle beast he so closely resembled, the man hurled himself across the room, sprang upon the detective’s shoulders, and, herculean hands locked about his neck, brought him to the floor!
Too late to turn to meet the attack, Murphy had sensed the man’s approach. At the very moment that the Burman made his second spring, the detective pulled the trigger.
The sound of the shot was curiously muffled in that airless, sealed-up place. The bullet crashed through the woodwork of the bar, and into a wall beyond, missing old Sam Pak by a matter of inches. But that veteran, motionless in his chair, never stirred.
As the pistol dropped from Murphy’s grasp, the Burman, kneeling on his back, lifted one hand to the detective’s jaw, and began to twist his head sideways—slowly.
“No!” Fah Lo Suee whispered—’Wo!”
The wrinkled yellow lips of Sam Pak moved slightly.
“It is for the Master to decide,” he said, in that seaport bastard Chinese which evidently the Burman understood.
Fah Lo Suee, wrenching the patch from her eye and the cap from her head, turned blazing eyes upon the old Chinaman.
“Are you mad?” she said, rapidly in Chinese. “Are you mad? This place is surrounded by police!”
“I obey the orders, lady.”
“Whose orders?”
“Mine.”
A curtain on the left of the bar was drawn aside—and Dr. Fu Manchu came in ...
The Orientals in the room who were not already on their feet, stood up; even old Sam Pak rose from his chair. The Burmese strangler, resting his right foot upon Murphy’s neck, rose to confront the Master. A queer hush descended where a scene of violence had been. All saluted the Chinese doctor, using the peculiar salutation of the Si-Fan, that far-flung secret society which Nayland Smith had spent so many years of life in endeavouring to destroy.
Dr. Fu Manchu wore Chinese indoor dress, and a mandarin’s cap was set upon his high skull. His eyes were half closed, but his evil, wonderful face exhibited no expression whatever.
Nevertheless, he was watching Fah Lo Suee.
A muffled scream in a woman’s voice, doubtless that of Mrs Sam Pak, broke this sudden silence. There were loud cries; the flat wailing of a police whistle; and then a resounding crash.
The wooden door of the Sailors’ Club had been broken down . . . but the iron door now confronted the raiding party.
Dr. Fu Manchu turned slowly, holding the curtain aside.
“Let them all be brought down,” he directed.
CHAPTEE32
IRON DOORS
inspector gallaho heard the sound of the shot—but very dimly. Later he was to know why it had sounded so dim. At the time he did not understand, and wondered where the shot had been fired. It was not the prearranged signal, but it was good enough.
He was leaning out of a window above a shuttered-up shop. The room to which it belonged, a dingy bedroom, had recently been leased by a respectable man of the sea. The landlady who owned the shop, a little general store, had been given tickets for the second house at the Palladium, as her well-behaved lodger was unable to use them that evening. It was unlikely that she would be back until considerably after midnight.
The room was full of plain-clothes police.
“Jump to it, Trench,” growled Gallaho. “That was a shot!”
The door behind him was thrown open. Heavy footsteps clattered down the stairs. He waited at the window, watching.
He saw Detective-officer Trench come out from the door below and dash across to the entrance to Sam Pak’s restaurant, two men close behind him. He waited until the rest of the party had set out for their appointed posts; then himself descended.
There was a smell of paraffin and cheese on the staircase which he found definitely unpleasant. In the open door-way he paused for a moment, readjusting his bowler. A woman’s scream came from Sam Pak’s shop. Something about it did not sound English. There was a sudden scuffling—a crash— another crash. On the river bank a police whistle wailed.
Gallaho crossed and walked in.
Mrs. Sam Pak, her gross features curiously leaden in hue, sat in a state of semi-collapse upon a chair before one of the small tables. Trench and another man were breaking down the door at the other end of the shop; the third detective guarded the woman.
“What is this?” she demanded. “Are you bandits? By what right do you break up my place?”
“We are police officers,” growled Gallaho, “as you have already been informed. I have a warrant to search your premises.”
The third man turned.
> “She locked the door and hid the key the moment we came in, Inspector.”
“You know the penalty, don’t you?” said Gallaho.
Mrs. Sam Pak watched him sullenly.
“There is nothing in my house,” she said; “you have no right to search it.”
The lock gave with a splintering crash—but the door refused to open more than a few inches.
“Hello!” said Trench, breathing heavily “What’s this?”
“Let me have a look,” said Gallaho.
As he stepped forward, torch in hand, the third man advanced also, but:
“Close the shop door, and pull the blinds down,” Gallaho directed, tersely.
He reached the broken door which refused to open fully, and shot the light of his torch through the aperture, then:
“K Division has been blind to this dive,” he growled. “They’ve got an iron door!”
“Whew!” whistled Trench.
The four men stared at each other; then, their joint gazes were focussed upon Mrs. Sam Pak, seated, ungainly but indomitable, upon a small chair which threatened to collapse beneath her great bulk.
“You are under arrest,” said Gallaho, “for obstructing the police in the execution of their duty.”
There came the roar of a powerful motor. The Scotland Yard car concealed not far away, had arrived.
“Open the door,” Gallaho directed, “and take her out.”
The woman, breathing heavily and pressing one hand over her heart, went out without protest.
“What now, Inspector?”
“We’ve got to find another way in. Make contact with Forester. That sailor man of his is on the job again to-night. We shall have to go up the ladder and in at the back window.”
“Very good, Inspector.”
At any hour in any London street, whatever the weather conditions, a crowd assembles magically at the first sign of trouble. A sort of drizzling rain descended through the mist which overhung Limehouse. Few pedestrians had been abroad when that muffled shot had sounded at Sam Pak’s. But now an interested group, eight or ten strong, formed a semicircle before the door as the man detailed to get in touch with the River Police came out and ran rapidly along the street.
As he disappeared in the mist, Gallaho opened the door and stepped out on to the wet pavement. Two police constables came up at the double.
“Clear these people away,” Gallaho directed. “I’m in charge here, and I don’t want loafers.”
At that the two constables got busy with the well-known formula “Move on, there.” The reluctant ones were gently shoved, and by that combination of persuasion and force which is one of the highest assets of the Metropolitan Police, the immediate neighbourhood was cleared of unofficial spectators. Windows had been opened, and heads craned curiously from them. The police car had pulled up half a block away, but now the officer in charge of the party came forward.
“What’s the trouble, sir?” he asked, saluting Gallaho. “Can’t we get through?”
“Iron door,” growled the Inspector.
“That means the finish of Sam Pak.”
“I know it does—and I’m wondering why it’s worth it.”
Forester of the River Police, handling the matter in accordance with his own ideas, had already sent Merton up with a line, and the rope-ladder was attached fully ten minutes before the signal reached him.
The shot in the Sailors’ Club he did not hear. A tugboat was passing at the time and the noise of its passage entirely drowned that of the muffled shot. But he heard the whistle.
Regardless on this occasion of attracting attention the River Police craft was pushed as near as possible to the overhanging superstructure. Forester got on to the ladder, and began to climb. He turned.
“Nobody else until I give the word!” he shouted.
He reached the lighted window and looked in. He saw a dismal kind of bedroom, with a cheap iron bedstead in one corner, a dressing-table by the further window on his right, a chair, a number of odds and ends suggesting occupancy by a woman, and very little else. He crashed a heavy sea-boot through the glass, bent perilously, found that the window was unlatched, and raised it an inch or two with the heel of his boot. Then, descending a rung, he raised it fully, reached over the ledge and drew himself into the room.
He stood for a moment listening. There was not a sound.
He leaned out of the window.
“Come on!” he shouted.
Forester turned left, running along the room in the direction of a half-open door, and found himself upon a staircase, uncarpeted. Not waiting for the party, he went clattering down.
The room above had been lighted by an unshaded electric bulb, and there was a similar crude light upon the stair. But, reaching its foot and jerking a curtain aside, a curtain of some kind of rough patterned material, Forester saw darkness ahead of him.
Voices and bumping sounds indicated that his men were tumbling into the room above.
Forester shot the light of a torch into a place resembling a small restaurant. He stood, he discovered, at the end of a fairly well-stocked bar; dirty plush-covered seats ran along the wall on his left; there were a number of tables and chairs. Some of the tables were upset, and there was a faint tang,, perceptible above the fugg of the place, which told him that it was here the shot had been fired.
Footsteps sounded upon the stairs behind him.
But Forester continued to direct the light of his torch steadily upon a door immediately ahead. It was an iron door of the kind one meets with in strong-rooms.
Forester whistled softly and walked forward.
“Hullo, Chief, where are you?” called a voice.
“O.K. Try to find a switch and light this place up.”
The door, Forester saw at a glance, was one which locked automatically on being closed. Furthermore, a huge steel bolt had been shot into place. He withdrew the bolt, ignoring the scurrying footsteps of his men seeking the light control. Presently, one of them found it and the place became illuminated.
Forester pulled back the catch and hauled the door into the niche which it normally occupied, safe from the view of any casual visitor, and only to be discovered by one definitely searching for it.
A dingy corridor, dimly lighted, opened beyond. Forester found himself confronted by a badly damaged wooden door, the lock wrenched out of place and surrounded by jagged splinters, which lolled drunkenly in the opening. He started along the passage.
Another door, but this of a cheap wooden variety, was open at the end, and presently he found himself in Sam Pak’s delicatessen store. Only one shaded light was burning, that behind the counter.
“Who’s there?” came sharply.
A man was standing in the darkened shop, his hands thrust into the pockets of his overcoat.
“Inspector Forester. Who are you?”
The man drew his hands from his pockets.
“Detective-sergeant Trench, Inspector,” he introduced himself; “C.I.D. You got through from the back, then?”
“Yes, we’re in. Where’s Inspector Gallaho?”
“I’ll get him.”
CHAPTER 33
DAUGHTER OF THE MANCHUS
Nayland Smith tried to fight his way back to consciousness. He found himself unable to dissociate delirium from reality.
“My love, who has never loved me . . . Perhaps it might never have been, but now, it is too late ...”
A woman’s voice, a soothing, musical voice—and someone was bathing his forehead with Eau de Cologne.
Another blank came . . .
He was lying on a camp bed, in a low, square, brick chamber. His head throbbed agonizingly, but a soft arm pillowed his head, and soothing fingers caressed his brow. He struggled again to recover himself. This was phantasy, a distorted dream.
Where was he?
The act of opening his eyes alone had been an exquisite torture. Now, turning them aside, he experienced new pain. A woman, strangely dressed, knelt beside the
bed upon which he lay. Her dark hair was disordered, her long green eyes watched him, piteously, supplicatingly, as the eyes of a mother watching a sick child.
Those long green eyes stirred latent memories, stimulating the dull brain. What woman had he known who possessed those eyes?
She was a strange creature. Her beautifully moulded lips moved as if she spoke, softly. But Nayland Smith could detect no words. Her shoulders were bare; her skin reminded him of ivory. And now, perhaps recognizing some return of understanding , she bent, fixing the gaze of her brilliant eyes upon him.
A moment of semi-lucidity came. He had seen this woman before; this woman with the ivory shoulders and the green eyes. But if a woman, why did she wear coarse grey flannel trousers? . . . She was perhaps half a woman and half a man . . .
Hot lips were crushed to his own, as darkness came again.
“You have never known . . . you would never have known . . . but at least we shall die together . . . Wake, oh, my dear! Wake; for the time is so short, and because I know I have to die, now I can tell you . . .”
Nayland Smith, as if in obedience to those urgent words, fought his way back to full consciousness.
The brick chamber and the camp bed had not been figments of delirium. He actually lay upon such a bed in a square brick chamber. The woman tending him was Fah Lo Suee!
Recognizing the return of full consciousness, she gently withdrew her arm from beneath his head, composedly rearranging the silk straps of a tiny garment which afforded a strange contrast to the wrinkled flannel trousers.
Nayland Smith saw that a grey coat, a complement of the trousers, lay upon the floor near by. There was a bowl of water on a little table beside him, a small bottle and a piece of torn silk saturated with Eau de Cologne.
Fah Lo Suee replaced the coat which was part of the uniform of the one-eyed waiter, and quietly seating herself on the solitary chair which the chamber boasted, watched him coolly and without embarrassment.
Had he heard aright? Had he heard this woman—thinking that she spoke to an unconscious man—profess her love? Had she pressed her lips to his? He was beginning to remember;
now clearly recalled all that had happened. Perhaps those later impressions were unreliable, or perhaps—a possibility— it was a deliberate move on the part of this daughter of an evil father. A new plot—but what could its purpose be?
