by Sax Rohmer
CHAPTER XX. THE CROSS BAR
How long I lay there alone I had no means of computing. My mind wasbusy with many matters, but principally concerned with my fate in theimmediate future. That Dr. Fu-Manchu entertained for me a singularkind of regard, I had had evidence before. He had formed the erroneousopinion that I was an advanced scientist who could be of use to himin his experiments and I was aware that he cherished a project oftransporting me to some place in China where his principal laboratorywas situated. Respecting the means which he proposed to employ, I wasunlikely to forget that this man, who had penetrated further alongcertain byways of science than seemed humanly possible, undoubtedly wasmaster of a process for producing artificial catalepsy. It was my lot,then, to be packed in a chest (to all intents and purposes a dead manfor the time being) and despatched to the interior of China!
What a fool I had been. To think that I had learned nothing from my longand dreadful experience of the methods of Dr. Fu-Manchu; to think that Ihad come alone in quest of him; that, leaving no trace behind me, I haddeliberately penetrated to his secret abode!
I have said that my wrists were manacled behind me, the manacles beingattached to a chain fastened in the wall. I now contrived, with extremedifficulty, to reverse the position of my hands; that is to say, Iclimbed backward through the loop formed by my fettered arms, so thatinstead of their being locked behind me, they now were locked in front.
Then I began to examine the fetters, learning, as I had anticipated,that they fastened with a lock. I sat gazing at the steel bracelets inthe light of the lamp which swung over my head, and it became apparentto me that I had gained little by my contortion.
A slight noise disturbed these unpleasant reveries. It was nothing lessthan the rattling of keys!
For a moment I wondered if I had heard aright, or if the sound portendedthe coming of some servant of the doctor, who was locking up theestablishment for the night. The jangling sound was repeated, and insuch a way that I could not suppose it to be accidental. Some one wasdeliberately rattling a small bunch of keys in an adjoining room.
And now my heart leaped wildly--then seemed to stand still.
With a low whistling cry a little gray shape shot through the doorway bywhich Fu-Manchu had retired, and rolled, like a ball of fluff blown bythe wind, completely under the table which bore the weird scientificappliances of the Chinaman; the advent of the gray object wasaccompanied by a further rattling of keys.
My fear left me, and a mighty anxiety took its place. This creaturewhich now crouched chattering at me from beneath the big table wasFu-Manchu's marmoset, and in the intervals of its chattering andgrimacing, it nibbled, speculatively, at the keys upon the ring whichit clutched in its tiny hands. Key after key it sampled in this manner,evincing a growing dissatisfaction with the uncrackable nature of itsfind.
One of those keys might be that of the handcuffs!
I could not believe that the tortures of Tantulus were greater thanwere mine at this moment. In all my hopes of rescue or release, Ihad included nothing so strange, so improbable as this. A sort of awepossessed me; for if by this means the key which should release meshould come into my possession, how, ever again, could I doubt abeneficent Providence?
But they were not yet in my possession; moreover, the key of thehandcuffs might not be amongst the bunch.
Were there no means whereby I could induce the marmoset to approach me?
Whilst I racked my brains for some scheme, the little animal took thematter out of my hands. Tossing the ring with its jangling contentsa yard or so across the carpet in my direction, it leaped in pursuit,picked up the ring, whirled it over its head, and then threw a completesomersault around it. Now it snatched up the keys again, and holdingthem close to its ear, rattled them furiously. Finally, with anincredible spring, it leaped onto the chain supporting the lamp abovemy head, and with the garish shade swinging and spinning wildly, clungthere looking down at me like an acrobat on a trapeze. The tiny, bluishface, completely framed in grotesque whiskers, enhanced the illusion ofan acrobatic comedian. Never for a moment did it release its hold uponthe key-ring.
My suspense now was intolerable. I feared to move, lest, alarming themarmoset, it should run off again, taking the keys with it. So as I laythere, looking up at the little creature swinging above me, the secondwonder of the night came to pass.
A voice that I could never forget, strive how I would, a voice thathaunted my dreams by night, and for which by day I was ever listening,cried out from some adjoining room.
"Ta'ala hina!" it called. "Ta'ala hina, Peko!"
It was Karamaneh!
The effect upon the marmoset was instantaneous. Down came the bunch ofkeys upon one side of the shade, almost falling on my head, and downleaped the ape upon the other. In two leaps it had traversed the roomand had vanished through the curtained doorway.
If ever I had need of coolness it was now; the slightest mistake wouldbe fatal. The keys had slipped from the mattress of the divan, and nowlay just beyond reach of my fingers. Rapidly I changed my position, andsought, without undue noise, to move the keys with my foot.
I had actually succeeded in sliding them back on to the mattress, when,unheralded by any audible footstep, Karamaneh came through the doorway,holding the marmoset in her arms. She wore a dress of fragile muslinmaterial, and out from its folds protruded one silk-stockinged foot,resting in a high-heeled red shoe....
For a moment she stood watching me, with a sort of enforced composure;then her glance strayed to the keys lying upon the floor. Slowly, andwith her eyes fixed again upon my face, she crossed the room, stooped,and took up the key-ring.
It was one of the poignant moments of my life; for by that simple actall my hopes had been shattered!
Any poor lingering doubt that I may have had, left me now. Had theslightest spark of friendship animated the bosom of Karamaneh mostcertainly she would have overlooked the presence of the keys--of thekeys which represented my one hope of escape from the clutches of thefiendish Chinaman.
There is a silence more eloquent than words. For half a minute or more,Karamaneh stood watching me--forcing herself to watch me--and I lookedup at her with a concentrated gaze in which rage and reproach must havebeen strangely mingled. What eyes she had!--of that blackly lustroussort nearly always associated with unusually dark complexions; butKaramaneh's complexion was peachlike, or rather of an exquisite anddelicate fairness which reminded me of the petal of a rose. By some Ihad been accused of raving about this girl's beauty, but only by thosewho had not met her; for indeed she was astonishingly lovely.
At last her eyes fell, the long lashes drooped upon her cheeks. Sheturned and walked slowly to the chair in which Fu-Manchu had sat.Placing the keys upon the table amid the scientific litter, she restedone dimpled elbow upon the yellow page of the book, and with her chin inher palm, again directed upon me that enigmatical gaze.
I dared not think of the past, of the past in which this beautiful,treacherous girl had played a part; yet, watching her, I could notbelieve, even now, that she was false! My state was truly a pitiableone; I could have cried out in sheer anguish. With her long lashespartly lowered, she watched me awhile, then spoke; and her voice wasmusic which seemed to mock me; every inflection of that elusive accentreopened, lancet-like, the ancient wound.
"Why do you look at me so?" she said, almost in a whisper. "By whatright do you reproach me?--Have you ever offered me friendship, that Ishould repay you with friendship? When first you came to the house whereI was, by the river--came to save some one from" (there was the familiarhesitation which always preceded the name of Fu-Manchu) "from--him, youtreated me as your enemy, although--I would have been your friend..."
There was appeal in the soft voice, but I laughed mockingly, and threwmyself back upon the divan.
Karamaneh stretched out her hands toward me, and I shall never forgetthe expression which flashed into those glorious eyes; but, seeing meintolerant of her appeal, she drew back and quickly turned her he
adaside. Even in this hour of extremity, of impotent wrath, I could findno contempt in my heart for her feeble hypocrisy; with all theold wonder I watched that exquisite profile, and Karamaneh's verydeceitfulness was a salve--for had she not cared she would not haveattempted it!
Suddenly she stood up, taking the keys in her hands, and approached me.
"Not by word, nor by look," she said, quietly, "have you asked for myfriendship, but because I cannot bear you to think of me as you do, Iwill prove that I am not the hypocrite and the liar you think me. Youwill not trust me, but I will trust you."
I looked up into her eyes, and knew a pagan joy when they falteredbefore my searching gaze. She threw herself upon her knees beside me,and the faint exquisite perfume inseparable from my memories of her,became perceptible, and seemed as of old to intoxicate me. The lockclicked... and I was free.
Karamaneh rose swiftly to her feet as I stood upright and outstretchedmy cramped arms. For one delirious moment her bewitching face was closeto mine, and the dictates of madness almost ruled; but I clenched myteeth and turned sharply aside. I could not trust myself to speak.
With Fu-Manchu's marmoset again gamboling before us, she walked throughthe curtained doorway into the room beyond. It was in darkness, butI could see the slave-girl in front of me, a slim silhouette, as shewalked to a screened window, and, opening the screen in the manner of afolding door, also threw up the window.
"Look!" she whispered.
I crept forward and stood beside her. I found myself looking down intoMuseum Street from a first-floor window! Belated traffic still passedalong New Oxford Street on the left, but not a solitary figure wasvisible to the right, as far as I could see, and that was nearly to therailings of the Museum. Immediately opposite, in one of the flats whichI had noticed earlier in the evening, another window was opened. Iturned, and in the reflected light saw that Karamaneh held a cord in herhand. Our eyes met in the semi-darkness.
She began to haul the cord into the window, and, looking upward, Iperceived that it was looped in some way over the telegraph cables whichcrossed the street at that point. It was a slender cord, and it appearedto be passed across a joint in the cables almost immediately above thecenter of the roadway. As it was hauled in, a second and stronger lineattached to it was pulled, in turn, over the cables, and thence in bythe window. Karamaneh twisted a length of it around a metal bracketfastened in the wall, and placed a light wooden crossbar in my hand.
"Make sure that there is no one in the street," she said, craning outand looking to right and left, "then swing across. The length of therope is just sufficient to enable you to swing through the open windowopposite, and there is a mattress inside to drop upon. But release thebar immediately, or you may be dragged back. The door of the room inwhich you will find yourself is unlocked, and you have only to walk downthe stairs and out into the street."
I peered at the crossbar in my hand, then looked hard at the girl besideme. I missed something of the old fire of her nature; she was verysubdued, tonight.
"Thank you, Karamaneh," I said, softly.
She suppressed a little cry as I spoke her name, and drew back into theshadows.
"I believe you are my friend," I said, "but I cannot understand. Won'tyou help me to understand?"
I took her unresisting hand, and drew her toward me. My very soul seemedto thrill at the contact of her lithe body...
She was trembling wildly and seemed to be trying to speak, but althoughher lips framed the words no sound followed. Suddenly comprehension cameto me. I looked down into the street, hitherto deserted... and into theupturned face of Fu-Manchu.
Wearing a heavy fur-collared coat, and with his yellow, malignantcountenance grotesquely horrible beneath the shade of a large tweedmotor cap, he stood motionless, looking up at me. That he had seen me, Icould not doubt; but had he seen my companion?
In a choking whisper Karamaneh answered my unspoken question.
"He has not seen me! I have done much for you; do in return a smallthing for me. Save my life!"
She dragged me back from the window and fled across the room to theweird laboratory where I had lain captive. Throwing herself upon thedivan, she held out her white wrists and glanced significantly at themanacles.
"Lock them upon me!" she said, rapidly. "Quick! quick!"
Great as was my mental disturbance, I managed to grasp the purpose ofthis device. The very extremity of my danger found me cool. I fastenedthe manacles, which so recently had confined my own wrists, upon theslim wrists of Karamaneh. A faint and muffled disturbance, doublyominous because there was nothing to proclaim its nature, reached mefrom some place below, on the ground floor.
"Tie something around my mouth!" directed Karamaneh with nervousrapidity. As I began to look about me:--"Tear a strip from my dress,"she said; "do not hesitate--be quick! be quick!"
I seized the flimsy muslin and tore off half a yard or so from the hemof the skirt. The voice of Dr Fu-Manchu became audible. He was speakingrapidly, sibilantly, and evidently was approaching--would be upon mein a matter of moments. I fastened the strip of fabric over the girl'smouth and tied it behind, experiencing a pang half pleasurable and halffearful as I found my hands in contact with the foamy luxuriance of herhair.
Dr. Fu-Manchu was entering the room immediately beyond.
Snatching up the bunch of keys, I turned and ran, for in another instantmy retreat would be cut off. As I burst once more into the darkenedroom I became aware that a door on the further side of it was open;and framed in the opening was the tall, high-shouldered figure of theChinaman, still enveloped in his fur coat and wearing the grotesquecap. As I saw him, so he perceived me; and as I sprang to the window, headvanced.
I turned desperately and hurled the bunch of keys with all my force intothe dimly-seen face...
Either because they possessed a chatoyant quality of their own (as I hadoften suspected), or by reason of the light reflected through the openwindow, the green eyes gleamed upon me vividly like those of a giantcat. One short guttural exclamation paid tribute to the accuracy ofmy aim; then I had the crossbar in my hand. I threw one leg acrossthe sill, and dire as was my extremity, hesitated for an instant eretrusting myself to the flight...
A vise-like grip fastened upon my left ankle.
Hazily I became aware that the dark room was flooded with figures. Thewhole yellow gang were upon me--the entire murder-group composed ofunits recruited from the darkest place of the East!
I have never counted myself a man of resource, and have always enviedNayland Smith his possession of that quality, in him extraordinarilydeveloped; but on this occasion the gods were kind to me, and Iresorted to the only device, perhaps, which could have saved me. Withoutreleasing my hold upon the crossbar, I clutched at the ledge with thefingers of both hands and swung back into the room my right leg, whichwas already across the sill. With all my strength I kicked out. My heelcame in contact, in sickening contact, with a human head; beyond doubtthat I had split the skull of the man who held me.
The grip upon my ankle was released automatically; and now consigningall my weight to the rope I slipped forward, as a diver, across thebroad ledge and found myself sweeping through the night like a wingedthing...
The line, as Karamaneh had assured me, was of well-judged length. Down Iswept to within six or seven feet of the street level, then up, at everdecreasing speed, toward the vague oblong of the open window beyond.
I hope I have been successful, in some measure, in portraying the variedemotions which it was my lot to experience that night, and it may wellseem that nothing more exquisite could remain for me. Yet it was writtenotherwise; for as I swept up to my goal, describing the inevitable arcwhich I had no power to check, I saw that one awaited me.
Crouching forward half out of the open window was a Burmese dacoit, across-eyed, leering being whom I well remembered to have encounteredtwo years before in my dealings with Dr. Fu-Manchu. One bare, sinewyarm held rigidly at right angles before his breast, he clutched a lon
gcurved knife and waited--waited--for the critical moment when my throatshould be at his mercy!
I have said that a strange coolness had come to my aid; even now it didnot fail me, and so incalculably rapid are the workings of the humanmind that I remember complimenting myself upon an achievement whichSmith himself could not have bettered, and this in the immeasurableinterval which intervened between the commencement of my upward swingand my arrival on a level with the window.
I threw my body back and thrust my feet forward. As my legs went throughthe opening, an acute pain in one calf told me that I was not to escapescatheless from the night's melee. But the dacoit went rolling over inthe darkness of the room, as helpless in face of that ramrod stroke asthe veriest infant...
Back I swept upon my trapeze, a sight to have induced any passingcitizen to question his sanity. With might and main I sought to checkthe swing of the pendulum, for if I should come within reach of thewindow behind I doubted not that other knives awaited me. It was nodifficult feat, and I succeeded in checking my flight. Swinging thereabove Museum Street I could even appreciate, so lucid was my mind, theludicrous element of the situation.
I dropped. My wounded leg almost failed me; and greatly shaken, butwith no other serious damage, I picked myself up from the dust of theroadway. It was a mockery of Fate that the problem which Nayland Smithhad set me to solve, should have been solved thus; for I could not doubtthat by means of the branch of a tall tree or some other suitable objectsituated opposite to Smith's house in Rangoon, Karamaneh had made herescape as tonight I had made mine.
Apart from the acute pain in my calf I knew that the dacoit's knife hadbitten deeply, by reason of the fact that a warm liquid was tricklingdown into my boot. Like any drunkard I stood there in the middle of theroad looking up at the vacant window where the dacoit had been, and upat the window above the shop of J. Salaman where I knew Fu-Manchu to be.But for some reason the latter window had been closed or almost closed,and as I stood there this reason became apparent to me.
The sound of running footsteps came from the direction of New OxfordStreet. I turned--to see two policemen bearing down upon me!
This was a time for quick decisions and prompt action. I weighed allthe circumstances in the balance, and made the last vital choice of thenight; I turned and ran toward the British Museum as though the worst ofFu-Manchu's creatures, and not my allies the police, were at my heels!
No one else was in sight, but, as I whirled into the Square, the redlamp of a slowly retreating taxi became visible some hundred yards tothe left. My leg was paining me greatly, but the nature of the wounddid not interfere with my progress; therefore I continued my headlongcareer, and ere the police had reached the end of Museum Street I had myhand upon the door handle of the cab--for, the Fates being persistentlykind to me, the vehicle was for hire.
"Dr. Cleeve's, Harley Street!" I shouted at the man. "Drive like hell!It's an urgent case."
I leaped into the cab.
Within five seconds from the time that I slammed the door and droppedback panting upon the cushions, we were speeding westward toward thehouse of the famous pathologist, thereby throwing the police hopelesslyoff the track.
Faintly to my ears came the purr of a police whistle. The taxi-manevidently did not hear the significant sound. Merciful Providence hadrung down the curtain; for to-night my role in the yellow drama wasfinished.