by Sax Rohmer
But the matches had also attracted the attention of another, highly skilled observer. So that, as the police officer hauled the drunk to his feet and led him off, the call of a dacoit was heard in the empty warehouse.
* * * *
“This was formerly the office of a firm of importers known as the Shen Yan Tea Company,” said Dr. Fu-Manchu. “An old friend of mine had an interest in that business.”
Morris Craig swallowed — with difficulty. He had by no means recovered from the strangling grip of those unseen fingers. He would have liked to massage his bruised throat. But his wrists were secured by metal clamps to the arms of his chair, a remarkable piece of furniture, evidently of great age; it had a curious, domed canopy which at some time might have been gilded. He was helpless, mad with anxiety about Camille, but undaunted.
“Strange coincidence,” he replied huskily. “No doubt this attractive and comfortable rest-chair has quite a history, too?”
“A long one, Dr. Craig. I came across it in Seville. It dates from the days of the Spanish Inquisition, when it was known as the Chair of Conversion. I regret that of all those treasured possessions formerly in the Woolton Building, this one must be left behind.”
“Seems a great pity. Cozy little piece.”
Fu-Manchu stood watching him, his long narrow eyes nearly closed, his expression indecipherable. There was that about the tall, fur-capped figure which radiated power. Craig’s nonchalance in the presence of this formidable and wholly unpredictable man demanded an immense nervous effort.
“It may be no more than a national trait, Dr. Craig, but your imperturbable façade reminds me of Sir Denis.”
“You flatter me.”
“You may not know, but it will interest you to learn, that your capture, some hours ago, was largely an accident.”
“Clearly not my lucky day.”
“I doubt if the opportunity would have arisen but for the unforeseen appearance of Miss Navarre. In running to join her, you ran, almost literally, into the arms of two of my servants who were concerned only in retiring undetected.”
“Practically left the poor fellows no choice?”
“Therefore they brought you along with them.”
“Friendly thought.”
Dr. Fu-Manchu turned slowly and crossed the office. Like the adjoining warehouse, it was lighted only by a partly draped lantern which stood on a box beside the Spanish chair. The floor, in which were many yawning gaps, was littered with rubbish. A boarded-up window probably overlooked a passage, for there was no sound to suggest that a thoroughfare lay beyond.
Directly facing Craig, a long, high desk was built against the cracked and blackened wall. In this wall were two other windows, level with the top of the desk, and closed by sliding shutters. And on the desk Craig saw a metal-bound teak chest…
Very deliberately Dr. Fu-Manchu lifted this chest, came back, and set it on the box beside the lantern. His nearness produced a tingling nervous tension, as if a hidden cobra had reared its threatening hood.
“Amongst those curious possessions to which I referred,” he continued in his cold, conversational manner (he was unlocking the chest), “is the mummied head of Queen Taia, known to the Egyptians as the ‘witch queen.’ Her skull possesses uncommon characteristics. And certain experiments I am carrying out with it would interest you.”
“Not a doubt of it. My mother gave me a mummy’s head to play with when I was only four.”
“The crystal sets we use in our system of private communication also accompany me to headquarters. This” — he opened the chest— “which I borrowed from there, must never leave my personal possession until I return it.”
Morris Craig’s hands — for only his wrists were constrained — became slowly clenched. Here, he felt, came the final test; this might well be the end.
What he expected to happen, what he expected to see, he could not have put into words. What he did see was an exquisitely fashioned model of just such an equipment as that which had been destroyed in the Huston Building!
The top, front, and sides of the chest were hinged, so that the miniature plant, mounted on its polished teak base, lay fully open to inspection. Wonder reduced Morris Craig to an awed silence. Apart from the fact that there were certain differences (differences which had instantly inflamed his scientific curiosity), to have constructed this model must have called for the labor of months, perhaps of years.
“I don’t understand.” His voice sounded unfamiliar to him. “I don’t understand at all!”
“Only because,” came in cold, incisive tones, “you remain obsessed with the idea that you invented this method of harnessing primeval energy. The model before you was made by a Buddhist monk, in Burma. I had been to inspect it at the time that I first encountered Sir Denis Nayland Smith. Detailed formulae for its employment are in my possession. You, again, after a lapse of years, have solved this problem. My congratulations. Such men were meant to reshape the world — not to destroy it.”
Dr. Fu-Manchu began to reclose the chest.
“I don’t understand,” Craig repeated. “If the principle was known to you, as well as the method of applying it — and I can’t dispute that it was—”
“Why did I permit you to complete your experiments? The explanation is simple. I wanted to know if you could complete them. On my arrival, the main plant had already been set up in the Huston laboratory. I was anxious to learn if the final problem would baffle you. It did not. Such a man is a man to watch.”
Dr. Fu-Manchu locked the teak chest.
“Then it was you who destroyed my work?”
“I had no choice, Dr. Craig. Your work was destined for the use of the Kremlin. I have also your original plans, and every formula. The only blueprints existing I secured tonight. One danger, only, remains.”
“What’s that?”
“Yourself.”
And the word was spoken in a voice which made it a sentence of death.
Dr. Fu-Manchu carried the chest across the cluttered room, and opened what looked like a deep cupboard. He placed the chest inside, and turned again to Craig.
“You will have noted that I am dressed for travel, Dr. Craig. My time is limited. Otherwise, I should employ less mediaeval methods to incline your mind to reason. You seem to have failed to recognize me as Professor Hoffmeyer, but a committee such as I spoke of when we met already exists. It is called the Council of Seven. In our service we have some of the best brains of every continent. We have wealth. We are not criminals. We are idealists—”
A second of those wailing cries, the first of which had terrified Camille, checked his words. Craig started.
“I may delay no longer. You have it in your power, while you live, to destroy all our plans. Therefore, Dr. Craig — I speak with sincere regret — either you must consent to place your undoubted genius at my disposal — or you must die.”
“The choice is made.”
“I trust not, yet.”
Dr. Fu-Manchu opened one of the sliding shutters over the long desk. It disclosed an iron grille through which crept a glimmer of light.
“Miss Navarre!” There was no slightest change of tone, of inflection, in his strange voice. “You were anxious about Dr. Craig. Here he is — perfectly well, as you may judge for yourself.”
And Morris Craig saw Camille’s pale face, her eyes wide with terror, her hair disordered, staring at him through the bars!
A torrent of words, frenzied, scathing, useless words, flooded his brain. But he choked them back — rejected them; and when he spoke, in a whisper, he said simply:
“Camille!”
* * * *
“When we move” — Nayland Smith’s expression was very grim— “we must be sure the net has no holes in it. We have Regan’s evidence that there are people in that building. We know who put Regan there. So we know what to expect. Is our cordon wide enough?”
“Hard to make it wider,” Harkness assured him. “But these old places are honeycombs.
There are sixty men on the job. I have sent for the keys of all the adjoining buildings.”
“We daren’t wait!” Smith said savagely. “Fu-Manchu has destroyed the last possibility of Craig’s invention being used — except Craig… We daren’t wait.”
“Report coming through,” said Harkness.
The report was one which might have meant next to nothing. A cry had been heard, more than once, in the neighborhood of the closely covered building, which at first hearing had been mistaken for the cry of a cat. Repeated, however, doubt had arisen on this point.
“That settles the matter!” rapped Smith. “It was the call of one of his Burmese bodyguard! Fu-Manchu is there.”
* * * *
“There was a pleasant simplicity,” Dr. Fu-Manchu was saying, “in the character of the unknown designer of this chair. I fear I must start its elementary mechanism. The device bears some resemblance to a type of orange-squeezer used in this country.”
He stood behind Craig for a moment; and Craig became aware of a regular, ticking sound, of vibrations in the framework of the chair; he clenched his teeth.
“I am going to ask Miss Navarre to add her powers of persuasion to mine. If you prefer to live — in her company — to devote yourself to the most worthy task of all, the salvation of men from slavery or from destruction, I welcome you — gladly. You are a man of honor. Your word is enough. It is a bond neither you nor I could ever break. Do you accept these terms?”
“Suppose I don’t?”
Morris Craig had grown desperately white.
“I should lock the control, which, you may have noted, lies under your right hand: an embossed gold crown. I should prefer to leave it free. You have only to depress it, and the descent will be arrested. Choose — quickly.”
“Whichever you please. The result will be the same.”
“Words worthy of Molotov! The time for evasion is past. I offer you life — a life of usefulness. I await your promise that, if you accept, you will press the control. Your doing so will mean, on the word of an English gentleman, that you agree to join the Council of Seven. Quickly. Speak!”
“I give you my word” — Morris Craig’s eyes were closed; he spoke all but tonelessly— “that if I press the control it will mean that I accept your offer.”
Dr. Fu-Manchu crossed to the door behind which he had placed the teak chest. As he passed the grilled window:
“The issue, Miss Navarre,” he said, “rests with you.”
He went out, closing the door.
“No! No! Come back!” Camille clutched the iron bars, shook them frantically. “Come back!… No! No! Merciful God! stop him! Morris! Agree! Agree to anything! I — I can’t bear it…”
The domed canopy, its gilding barely touched by upcast lantern light, was descending slowly.
“Don’t look at me. I shall — weaken — if you look at me…”
“Weaken, Morris, darling, listen to me! Dr. Fu-Manchu is a madman! There can be no obligation to a madman… I tell you he’s mad! Press the control! Do it! Do it!”
The canopy continued to descend, moving in tiny jerks which corresponded to audible ticks of some hidden clockwork mechanism. It was evidently controlled by counterweights, for Craig found the chair to be immovably heavy.
He closed his eyes. He couldn’t endure the sight of Camille’s chalk-white, frenzied face staring at him through those bars. A parade of heretics who had rejected conversion passed before him in the darkness, attired in the silk and velvet, the rags and tatters, of Old Seville. Their heads lolled on their shoulders. Their skulls were crushed.
“Morris! Have you no pity for me? Is this your love…”
He must think. “A bond neither you nor I could ever break.” Those had been the words. That had been the bargain. If he chose life, Dr. Fu-Manchu would claim his services.
“Camille, my dearest, you have faced worse things than this—”
“I tell you he is mad!”
“Unfortunately, I think he’s particularly sane. I even think, in a way, he has the right idea.”
Tick-tick… Tick-tick… Tick-tick. In fractions of an inch, the canopy crept lower.
“I shall lose my reason! O God in heaven, hear me!”
Camille dropped to her knees, hands clasped in passionate supplication. Kneeling, she could no longer see Morris. But, soon, she must look again.
Meaningless incidents from the past, childish memories, trivial things, submerged dreams of a future that was never to be; Morris’s closed eyes; the open, dreadful eyes of Dr. Fu-Manchu: all these images moved, in a mocking dance, through her prayers…
A whistle skirled — a long way off. It was answered by another, nearer.
Camille sprang up, clutched the bars.
The canopy almost touched Morris’s head. His eyes remained closed.
She began to scream wildly:
“Help! Help! Be quick! Oh, be quick!” She clenched her hand so tightly that her nails bit into the palms, and spoke again, a low, quivering whisper: “Morris! He may be right, as you think. Morris! For my sake, believe it. There is just time.”
Craig’s hand twitched, where it rested over the gilded crown of life which meant… He did not open his eyes.
There came a wild tide of rushing footsteps, a charivari of shouting, crash of axes on woodwork…
“This way! This way!”
Camille’s attempted cry was only a strangled murmur. She supported herself by clinging with all but nerveless fingers to the grille.
“A light in here!” came a breathless shout.
The blade of an axe split through woodwork covering the only exterior window in the office. A second blow — a third. The planking was wrenched away. Outside lay a stone-paved passage crowded with men.
“Good God! Look! Here’s Dr. Craig, sir!”
“Be quick!” Camille murmured, and fought to check insane laughter which bubbled to her lips. “Under his hand… that knob… press it…”
Nayland Smith, his dark complexion oddly blanched, forced his way through. The canopy just touched the top of Craig’s head. A wave of strength, sanity, the last, swept over Camille.
“Sir Denis! That gold crown on the arm of the chair… Press it.”
Nayland Smith glanced swiftly towards the grille, then sprang to the chair, groped for and found a crown-shaped knob under Craig’s listless fingers, and pressed it, pressed it madly.
The clockwork sound ceased. He dropped to one knee.
“Craig! Craig!”
Beads of sweat trickled from a limp forelock down an ivory face, but there was no reply.
Morris Craig had fainted.
* * * *
“This is the way she pointed, but maybe it didn’t mean anything.” Sam had joined the party. “Gee! Those two must have gone through hell!”
“Fortunately,” said Nayland Smith, “they have youth on their side. But the ordeal was ghastly. It is characteristic of Fu-Manchu’s unusual sense of humor that the canopy is made so that it cannot descend any further. Craig was in no danger! Hullo! what’s this?”
They had reached the foot of a short flight of stone steps, the entrance to which Craig had mistaken for a deep cupboard. Harkness was in front, with two men. Two more followed. All carried flashlamps.
An empty passage, concrete-floored, extended to left and to right.
“Take a party left, Harkness. I’ll take the right.”
Ten paces brought Smith to a metal door in the wall. He pulled up. Retreating footsteps, the sound of which echoed hollowly, as in a vault, indicated that the other party had found nothing of interest so far.
“Job for a safebreaker,” Sam grumbled. “If this is the way he went, he’ll get a long start.”
“Quiet!” rapped Nayland Smith. “Listen.”
He beat a syncopated tattoo on the metal with his knuckles. Harkness’s party had apparently turned in somewhere. Their footsteps were no more than faintly audible.
Answering knocks came from the oth
er side of the door!
“Regan!” Sam exclaimed.
Smith nodded. “This is what he called the strong room. Quiet again.”
He rapped a message — listened to the reply; then turned.
“This scent is stale,” he said shortly. “Regan states nobody has passed this way tonight.”
“We must get Mr. Regan out, right now.” Sam spoke urgently. “You, back there, O’Leary, report upstairs there’s an iron door to be softened. Poor devil! Guess he’s dumb for life!”
“Not at all,” Nayland Smith assured him. “The effect wears off after a few days — so I was recently informed by my old friend, Dr. Fu-Manchu.”
He spoke bitterly — a note of defeat in the crisp voice. What had he accomplished? He could not even claim credit for saving the blueprints from Soviet hands. Some servant of Fu-Manchu’s had secured them before the dogs attacked Frobisher —
“Sir Denis!” came a distant, excited hail. “This way! I think we have him!”
Nayland Smith led the run back to where Harkness and two men stood before another closed door near the end of a passage which formed an L with that from which they had started.
“I think it’s an old furnace room. And I saw a light in there!”
“Don’t waste time! Down with it!”
Two of the party carried axes. And they went to work with a will. The door was double-bolted on the inside, but it collapsed under their united onslaughts. A cavity yawned in which the rays of Nayland Smith’s lamp picked out an old-fashioned, soot-begrimed boiler, half buried in mounds of coal ash.
“Be careful!” he warned. “We are dealing with no ordinary criminal. Stand by for anything.”
They entered cautiously.
The place proved to have unexpected ramifications. It was merely part of what had been an extensive cellarage system. They groped in its darkness, shedding light into every conceivable spot where a fugitive might lie. But they found nothing. A sense of futility crept down upon all, when a cry came: