Works of Sax Rohmer

by Sax Rohmer

  “Maybe none. Fu-Manchu’s organization isn’t primarily Chinese, or even Oriental. He’s head of a group known as the Council of Seven. They have affiliations in every walk of society and in every country, as I believe. The Communists aren’t the only plotters with far-flung cells.”

  “That may be so,” Harkness went on patiently, “but as a matter of routine I had the possibility looked into. Broadly, we drew blank. But there’s one old gentleman, highly respected in the Chinatown area, who seems to be a bit of a mystery.”

  “What’s his name?”

  “Huan Tsung.”

  “What does he look like?”

  “He is tall, I am told, for a Chinese, but old and frail. I’ve never seen him personally.”

  “What!” Nayland Smith pulled up and stared. “Don’t follow. Myth?”

  “Oh, he exists. But he’s hard to get at. Some sort of invalid, I believe. Easy enough to see him officially, but I don’t want to do that. He has tremendous influence of some kind amongst the Asiatic population.”

  Nayland Smith tugged at the lobe of his ear reflectively. “This aged, invisible character intrigues me,” he said. “How long has he lived in New York?”

  “According to police records, for many years.”

  “But his remarkable habits suggest that he might be absent for a long time without his absence being noticed?”

  “That’s true,” Harkness admitted.

  “For instance, you are really sure he’s there now?”

  “Practically certain. I have learned in the last few days, since I came up from Washington to meet you, that he has been seen going for a late drive — around eleven at night — in an old Ford which is kept in a shed not far from his shop.”

  “Where does he go?”

  “I have no information. I have ordered an inquiry on that point. You see” — he spoke with added earnestness— “I have it on reliable grounds that Huan Tsung is in the game against us. I don’t know where he stands. But—”

  “You want me to try to look him over?” Nayland Smith broke in. “I might recognize this hermit! I agree with you.”

  He began to walk about again in his restless way. His pipe had gone out, but he didn’t appear to notice it.

  “I could make the necessary arrangements, Sir Denis. You might try tonight, if you have no other plans.”

  “I have no other plans. At any hour, at any moment, Craig may complete his hell machine. In that hour, the enemy will strike — and I don’t know where to look for the blow, how to cover up against it. Tell me” — Smith shot a swift glance at Harkness— “does Huan Tsung ever drive out at night more than once?”

  Harkness frowned thoughtfully. “I should have to check on that. But may I suggest that, tonight—”

  “No. Leave it to me. I’m tired of going around like an escorted tourist. I want my hands free. Leave it to me.”

  * * * *

  When Nayland Smith left police headquarters that night and set out to pick up Harkness, he might have been anything from a ship’s carpenter to a bosun’s mate ashore. His demands on the Bureau’s fancy wardrobe had been simple, and no item of his make-up could fairly be described as a disguise.

  Upon this, a sea-going walk, dirty hands, and a weird, nasal accent which was one of his many accomplishments, Nayland Smith relied, as he had relied on former occasions.

  He had started early, for he had it in mind to prospect the shop of Huan Tsung before joining Harkness at the agreed spot — a point from which that establishment could conveniently be kept in view.

  Whilst still some distance from Chinatown proper, he found himself wondering if these streets were always so empty at this comparatively early hour. He saw parked vehicles, and some traffic, but few pedestrians.

  The lights of the restaurant quarter were visible ahead, when this quietude was violently disturbed.

  A woman screamed — the scream of deadly terror.

  As if this had been a reveille, figures, hitherto unseen, began to materialize out of nowhere, and all of them running in the same direction. Nayland Smith ran, too.

  A group of perhaps a dozen people, of various colors, surrounded a woman hysterically explaining that she had been knocked down and her handbag snatched by a man who sprang upon her from behind.

  As Smith reached the outskirts of the group, pressing forward to get a glimpse of the woman’s face, someone clapped a hand on his back and seemed to be trying to muscle past. His behavior was so violent that Smith turned savagely — at which moment he felt an acute stab in his neck as if a pin had been thrust in.

  “Damn you!” he snapped. “What in hell are you up to?”

  These words were the last he spoke.

  Strong fingers were clasped over his mouth; a sinewy arm jerked his head back — and the stinging in his neck continued!

  Nayland Smith believed (he was not in a condition to observe accurately) that the assaulted woman was giving particulars to a patrolman, that the group of onlookers was dispersing.

  Making a sudden effort, he bent, twisted, and threw off his attacker.

  Turning, fists clenched, he faced a tall man dimly seen in the darkness, for the scuffle had taken place at a badly lighted point. He registered a medium right on this man’s chin and was about to follow it up when the man closed with him. He made no attempt to use his fists, he just threw himself upon Smith and twined powerful arms around his body, at the same time crying out:

  “Officer! Come and lend me a hand!”

  This colossal impudence had a curious effect.

  It changed Nayland Smith’s anger to something which he could only have described as cold hatred. By heavens! he would have a reckoning with this suave ruffian!

  But he ceased to struggle.

  Those onlookers who still remained, promptly deserted the robbed woman and surrounded this new center of interest. The officer, slipping his notebook into a tunic pocket, stepped forward, a big fellow marked by the traditional sangfroid of a New York policeman.

  He shone a light onto the face of the tall man, who still had his arms around Nayland Smith, and Smith studied this face attentively.

  He saw pale, clear-cut features, a shadowy moustache, heavy brows, and dark, penetrating eyes. The man wore a black overcoat, a white muffler, and a soft black hat. Smith noted with pleasure a thin trickle of blood on his heavy chin.

  Then the light was turned upon himself, and:

  “What goes on?” the patrolman asked.

  “My patient grew fractious. Excitement has this effect. I think he’s cooling down, though. Do you think you could lend me a hand as far as my car? I am Dr. Malcolm — Central Park South.”

  “Poor guy. Do what I can, Doctor.”

  But Nayland Smith smiled grimly. It was his turn.

  “Listen, Officer,” he said — or, more exactly, he framed his lips to say… for no sound issued from his mouth!

  He tried again — and produced only a sort of horrible, gurgling laughter.

  Then he understood.

  He knew that he was in the hands of that same bogus physician who had visited Moreno — that the man was a servant of Dr. Fu-Manchu.

  And he knew that the stinging sensation had been caused by the point of a hypodermic syringe.

  He was stricken dumb…

  The only sound he could utter was that imbecile laugh!

  “Poor guy,” muttered the officer again.

  “War veteran,” Dr. Malcolm explained in a low voice. The onlookers murmured their sympathy. “Japanese prison camp. Escaped from my clinic yesterday. But we shall get him right — in time — with care.”

  During this astounding statement, Dr. Malcolm, overconfident, perhaps, in the presence of the burly patrolman, made the mistake of slightly relaxing his hold.

  The temptation was too strong for Nayland Smith.

  Tensing every relevant muscle in his body, he broke free. He had no foot room to haul off for a straight one, no time to maneuvre, but he managed to register a re
ally superior uppercut on the point of Dr. Malcolm’s prominent jaw. Dr. Malcolm tottered — and fell.

  Then, turning, Smith ran for his life. He knew nothing less was at stake.

  A whistle was blown. A girl screamed. Someone shouted, “Escaped madman! Stop him!” Runners were hot on his heels.

  The hunt was up!

  No nightmare of the past, in his long battle with Fu-Manchu, approached in its terrors those which now hounded him on. Capture meant death — and what a death! For he could not doubt that Dr. Fu-Manchu intended, first, to interrogate him.

  And escape?

  Escape meant the life of a dumb man…

  He saw now, plainly enough, how he had held the game in his hands if only he had kept his poise. Many things that he might have done appeared to mock him.

  And throughout this time, all about him, hunters multiplied. Voices cried, “Escaped madman — stop him!” Police whistles skirled; the night became a charivari of racing footsteps.

  All New York pursued him.

  He tried to think as he ran.

  Instinctively he had turned back the way he had come. He had a faint hope that, contrary to his orders, a detective might have been assigned to follow him. How he regretted those orders! What madness to underestimate the profound cunning of Dr. Fu-Manchu…

  Suddenly someone stepped out upon him and tried a tackle. He missed. Smith tripped the tackler (he admired his pluck) and ran on.

  “Escaped madman! Stop him!”

  Those cries seemed to come from all around. Once he tried to shout also, wildly anxious to test again his power of speech. Only a guttural laugh rewarded him. After that he ran in silence, wondering how long he could hope to last at that pace.

  Some swift runner was hot on his heels, having outdistanced all others. But Nayland Smith had recognized a warehouse just ahead, the yard gate open, which he had passed a few minutes earlier. If he could reach it first, he still had a chance. Desperation had prompted a plan.

  Then, as he raced up to the gate, something happened which was not in the plan… A pair of stocky figures sprang out, one on either hand!

  They had been posted to intercept him — the game was up!

  The man on the left Smith accounted for — and he used his feet as well as his fists. The other threw him. He was a trained wrestler and gave not one opening. Then the pack came up. It was led by the big policeman who had muttered, “Poor guy.” His were the footsteps which Smith had heard so close behind.

  As he lay, face downward, in a stranglehold, this officer took charge, speaking breathlessly.

  “Good work! Don’t hurt him. The doctor’s coming.” Dimly Nayland Smith became aware of an increasing crowd. “Hand him over to me. I can manage him.”

  He was lifted upright and seized skillfully by the patrolman. The two thickset thugs vanished into darkness outside a ring of light cast by several flashlamps. Smith retained sufficient sanity to observe that one of them limped badly. He thought and hoped that his kick had put cancelled to his kneecap.

  He opened his mouth to speak, remembered, and remained silent.

  “Take it easy, brother,” said the big officer sympathetically. He was still breathing hard from his run. “You’re not in Japan now. I don’t like holding you, but you surely can use ’em, and I’m not looking for a K.O.” He steered Smith into the warehouse yard — that very haven he had prayed to reach!

  “We’ll wait here. Hi! you!” — to the audience— “shift!”

  A car came along. It pulled up opposite the gateway in which they were standing… and Dr. Malcolm got out! A second patrolman was with him. Dr. Malcolm’s voice sounded pleasantly shaky.

  “Congratulations, Officer. I shall commend you for this.”

  “All in the day’s work,” replied the man who held Smith. “Glad to see you’ve snapped out of it. A nifty one, that was. Shall I get the wagon?”

  “No, no.” Dr. Malcolm stepped forward. “It would only excite him. Here is my chauffeur. He is used to — such cases. We can manage quite well between us. Just call me in about twenty minutes. Dr. Scott Malcolm, Circle 7-0300.”

  Whilst this conversation proceeded, Nayland Smith made up his mind to play the last card he held — the one he had planned to play if he could have gained temporary shelter. One arm being semi-free, although the other was pinioned behind him, he managed to pull his wallet out and to force it under the fingers of the man who held him.

  That efficient officer grasped it but did not relax his hold. “Okay,” he said in a low voice, like that of one soothing a child. “I’ve got it. Safe enough with me. Come along.”

  Smith was led to the car by Dr. Malcolm and a low-browed, grey-uniformed chauffeur, who had the face and the physique of a gorilla. Dr. Malcolm took the wheel; the chauffeur got in beside Smith.

  And, as the car moved away and excited voices faded, Smith’s brain seemed to become a phonograph which remorselessly repeated the words:

  “Dr. Scott Malcolm … Circle Seven — 0-3-0-0… Dr. Scott Malcolm… Circle Seven… 0-3-0-0…

  “Dr. Scott Malcolm… Circle Seven—”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  It was on the following morning that Morris Craig arrived ahead of time to find Camille already there. He was just stripping his jacket off when he saw her at the door of her room.

  “Hullo!” he called. “Why the wild enthusiasm for toil?”

  She was immaculate as always, but he thought she looked pale. She did not wear her glasses.

  “I couldn’t sleep, Dr. Craig. When daylight broke at last I was glad to come. And there’s always plenty to do.”

  “True. But I don’t like the insomnia.” He walked across to her. “You and I need a rest. When the job’s finished, we’re both going to have one. Shall I tell you something? I’m at it early myself because I mean to finish by Friday night so that we both have a carefree week-end.”

  He patted her shoulder and turned away. Pulling out a key-ring, he went over to the big safe.

  “Dr. Craig.”

  “Yes?” He glanced back.

  “I suppose you will think it is none of my business, but I feel” — she hesitated— “there are… dangers.”

  Craig faced her. The boyish gaiety became disturbed.

  “What sort of dangers?”

  Camille met his glance gravely, and he thought her eyes were glorious.

  “You have invented something which many people — people capable of any outrage — want to steal from you. And sometimes I think you are very careless.”

  “In what way?”

  “Well” — she lowered her eyes, for Craig’s regard was becoming ardent— “I know Sir Denis Nayland Smith’s reputation. I expect he came here to tell you the same thing.”

  “So what?”

  “There are precautions which you neglect.”

  “Tell me one.”

  “The safe combination is one. Do you ever change it?”

  Craig smiled. “No,” he confessed. “Why should I? Nobody else knows it.”

  “How can you be sure?”

  “Sam might have picked it up — so might you. But why worry?”

  “I may be foolish. But even if only Sam and I knew it, in your place I should change it, Dr. Craig.”

  Craig stared. His expression conveyed nothing definite, but it embarrassed her.

  “Not suggesting that Sam—”

  “Of course not! I’m only suggesting that, for all our sakes, nobody but yourself should know that combination.”

  Craig brushed his hair back and began to grope in a pocket for cigarettes.

  “Point begins to dawn, vaguely,” he said. “Rather cloudy morning, but promise of a bright day. You mean that if something should be pinched therefrom, it must be clear that neither you nor Sam could possibly have known how to open the safe?”

  “Yes,” said Camille, “I suppose that is what I mean.”

  Craig stood there watching her door for some time after she had gone in and closed it. Then
, he crossed, slowly, to the safe.

  He had come to the conclusion that Camille was as clever as she was beautiful. He could not know that she had forced herself to this decision to warn him only after many sleepless hours.

  Having arranged his work to his satisfaction, Craig took up the phone and dialled a number. When he got through:

  “Please connect me with Sir Denis Nayland Smith,” he said.

  There was an interval, and then the girl at the hotel switchboard reported, “There’s no reply from his apartment.”

  “Oh — well, would you give him a message to call Dr. Morris Craig when he comes in.”

  As he hung up he was thinking that Smith was early afoot. He had seen nothing of him since they had dined together, and was burning with anxiety on his behalf. The delicate instrument which Craig called a transmuter had already gone into construction. Shaw was working on a blueprint in the laboratory. It remained only for Craig to complete three details, and for tests to discover whether his plant could control the power he had invoked.

  In view of what failure might mean, he had determined to insist that the entire equipment be moved, secretly, to a selected and guarded site in the open country for the carrying out of these tests.

  He was beginning to realize that the transmuter might burst under the enormous load of energy it was designed to distribute. If it did, not only the Huston Building but also a great part of neighboring Manhattan could be dispersed like that lump of steel he had used in a demonstration for Nayland Smith.

  Craig, in fact, was victim of an odd feeling of unrest. He continued to discount Smith’s more dramatic warnings, and this in spite of the murderous attempt on Moreno, but he was unsure of the future. The feathered dart he had sent to Professor White at Harvard for examination, but so far had had no report.

  He pressed a button, then sat on a corner of the desk, swinging one leg, as Sam came in, chewing industriously. “Morning, boss.”

  “Good morning, Sam. What time do you turn up here as a rule?”

  “Well” — Sam shook his head thoughtfully— “I’m mostly around by eight, on account of Mr. Shaw or Mr. Regan come off night watch then. I might easy be wanted — see?”

  “Yes, I see. Reason I ask is I thought I saw you tailing me as I came along. If this impression was chimerical, correct me. But it isn’t the first time I have had it.”