by Sax Rohmer
CHAPTER VIII
THE GREEN-EYED JOSS
Sinister silence reclaimed the house of Ah-Fang-Fu. And Ah-Fang-Furesumed his solitary game.
_"He_ recognised 'Le Belafre'" whispered Max--"and was surprised tosee him! So there are three of the gang here! Did you particularlyobserve in which bunks they lay, doctor. _Ssh!"_
A voice from a bunk had commenced to sing monotonously.
_"Peyala peah,"_ it sang, weird above the murmured accompaniment ofthe other dreaming smokers and the _wash-wash_ of the tide--_"Tomyn-na-peah-Phir Kysee ko kyah ..."_
"He is speaking from an opium-trance," said Stuart softly. "A nativesong: 'If a cup of wine is drunk, and I have drunk it, what of that?'"
_"Mon Dieu!_ it is uncanny!" whispered Max. _"Brr!_ do you hear thoserats? I am wondering in what order we shall be admitted to the'Scorpion's' presence, or if we shall see him together."
"He may come in here."
"All the better."
"Gimme 'nother pipe, Pidgin," drawled a very drowsy voice from BillBean's corner.
Ah-Fang-Fu left his eternal arranging and rearranging of the cards andcrossed the room. He took the opium-pipe from the fireman's limpfingers and returning to the box, refilled and lighted it. Max andStuart watched him in silence until he had handed the second pipe tothe man and returned to his chair.
"We must be very careful," said Stuart. "We do not know which are realsmokers and which are not."
Again there was a weird interruption. A Chinaman lying in one of thebunks began to chant in a monotonous far-away voice:
_"Chong-liou-chouay Om mani padme hum."_
"The Buddhist formula," whispered Stuart. _"He_ is a real smoker.Heavens! the reek is choking me!"
The chant was repeated, the words dying away into a long murmur.Ah-Fang-Fu continued to shuffle the cards. And presently Bill Bean'ssecond pipe dropped from his fingers. His husky voice spoke almostinaudibly.
"I'm ... old ... Bill ... Bean ... I ..."
A deep-noted siren hooted dimly.
"A steamer making for dock," whispered Max. _"Brr!_ it is a nightmare,this! I think in a minute something will happen. _Ssh!"_
Ah-Fang-Fu glanced slowly around. Then he stood up, raised the lampfrom the table and made a tour of the bunks, shining the light in uponthe faces of the occupants. Max watched him closely, hoping to learnin which bunks the members of 'The Scorpion's' group lay. But he wasdisappointed. Ah-Fang-Fu examined _all_ the bunks and even shone thelight down upon Stuart and Max. He muttered to himself constantly, butseemed to address no one.
Replacing the lamp on the box, he whistled softly; and:----
"Look!" breathed Max. "The stair again!"
Stuart cautiously turned his eyes toward the open stair.
On the platform above stood a bent old hag whose witch-eyes weresearching the place keenly! With a curiously lithe step, for all herage, she descended, and standing behind Ah-Fang-Fu tapped him on theshoulder and pointed to the outer door. He stood up and shuffledacross, went up the four steps and unbarred the door.
_"Tchee, tchee,"_ he chattered. "Pidgin make a look-out."
He went out and closed the door.
"Something happens!" whispered Max.
A gong sounded.
"Ah!"
The old woman approached the matting curtain hung over a portion ofthe wall, raised it slightly in the centre--where it opened--anddisappeared beyond.
"You see!" said Stuart excitedly.
"Yes! it is the audience-chamber of 'The Scorpion'!"
The ancient hag came out again, crossed to a bunk and touched itsoccupant, a Chinaman, with her hand. He immediately shot up andfollowed her. The two disappeared beyond the curtain.
"What shall we do," said Stuart, "if _you_ are summoned?"
"I shall throw open those curtains the moment I reach them, andpresent my pistol at the head of whoever is on the other side.You--_ssh!"_
The old woman reappeared, looked slowly around and then held thecurtains slightly apart to allow of the Chinaman's coming out. Hesaluted her by touching his head, lips and breast with his right hand,then passed up to the door communicating with the shop, which heopened, and went out.
His voice came, muffled:
"Fo-Hi!"
"Fo-Hi," returned the high voice of Ah-Fang-Fu.
The outer door was opened and shut. The old woman went up and barredthe inner door, then returned and stood by the matting curtain. Thesound of the water below alone broke the silence. It was the hour ofhigh tide.
"There goes the first fish into Dunbar's net!" whispered Max.
The gong sounded again.
Thereupon the old woman crossed to another bunk and conducted abrown-skinned Eastern into the hidden room. Immediately they haddisappeared:
"As I pull the curtains aside," continued Max rapidly, "blow thewhistle and run across and unbar the door...."
So engrossed was he in giving these directions, and so engrossed wasStuart in listening to them, that neither detected a faint creak whichproceeded from almost immediately behind them. This sound wasoccasioned by the slow and cautious opening of that sunken, heavy doornear to which they lay--the door which communicated with the labyrinthof cellars. Inch by inch from the opening protruded the head ofAh-Fang-Fu!
"If the Chinaman offers any resistance," Max went on, speaking veryrapidly--_"morbleu!_ you have the means to deal with him! In a word,admit the police. _Sh!_ what is that!"
A moaning voice from one of the bunks came.
_"Cheal kegur-men, mas ka dheer!"_
"A native adage," whispered Stuart. "He is dreaming. 'There is alwaysmeat in a kite's nest.'"
_"Eh bien!_ very true--and I think the kite is at home!"
The head of Ah-Fang-Fu vanished. A moment later the curtains openedagain slightly and the old woman came out, ushering the brown man. Hesaluted her and unbarred the door, going out.
"Fo-Hi," came dimly.
There was no definite answer--only the sound of a muttered colloquy;and suddenly the brown man returned and spoke to the old woman in avoice so low that his words were inaudible to the two attentivelisteners in the distant corner.
"Ah!" whispered Max--"what now?"
"Shall we rush the curtain!" said Stuart.
"No!" Max grasped his arm--"wait! wait! See! he is going out. He hasperhaps forgotten something. A second fish in the net."
The Oriental went up the steps into the shop. The old woman closedand barred the door, then opened the matting curtain and disappearedwithin.
"I was right," said Max.
But for once in his career he was wrong.
She was out again almost immediately and bending over a bunk close tothe left of the masked opening. The occupant concealed in its shadowdid not rise and follow her, however. She seemed to be speaking tohim. Stuart and Max watched intently.
The head of Ah-Fang-Fu reappeared in the doorway behind them.
"Now is our time!" whispered Max tensely. "As I rush for the curtains,you run to the shop door and get it unbolted, whistling for Dunbar----"
Ah-Fang-Fu, fully opening the door behind them, crept out stealthily.
"Have your pistol ready," continued Max, "and first put the whistlebetween your teeth----"
Ah-Fang-Fu silently placed his bowler hat upon the floor, shook downhis long pigtail, and moving with catlike tread, stooping, drew nearer.
_"Now, doctor!"_ cried Max.
Both sprang to their feet. Max leapt clear of the matting and otherlitter and dashed for the curtain. He reached it, seized it and torebodily from its fastenings. Behind him the long flat note of a policewhistle sounded--and ended abruptly.
_"Ah! Nom d'un nom!"_ cried Max.
A cunningly devised door--looking like a section of solid brick andplaster wall--was closing slowly--heavily. Through the opening whichyet remained he caught a glimpse of a small room, draped with Chinesedragon tapestry and having upon a raised, carpeted dais a number ofcushions forming a _diwan_ and an in
laid table bearing a silver snuffvase. A cowled figure was seated upon the dais. The door closedcompletely. Within a niche in its centre sat a yellow leering idol,green eyed and complacent.
Wild, gurgling cries brought Max sharply about.
An answering whistle sounded from the street outside ... a second ...a third.
Ah-Fang-Fu, stooping ever lower, at the instant that Stuart had sprungto his feet had seized his ankle from behind, pitching him on to hisface. It was then that the note of the whistle had ceased. Now, theChinaman had his long pigtail about Stuart's neck, at which Stuart,prone with the other kneeling upon his body, plucked vainly.
Max raised his pistol ... and from the bunk almost at his elbow leaptMiguel the quadroon, a sand-bag raised. It descended upon theFrenchman's skull ... and he crumbled up limply and collapsed uponthe floor. There came a crash of broken glass from the shop.
Uttering a piercing cry, the old woman staggered from the door nearwhich she had been standing as if stricken helpless, during thelightning moments in which these things had happened--and advanced inthe direction of Ah-Fang-Fu.
"Ah, God! You kill him! You _kill_ him?" she moaned.
"Through the window, Sowerby! This way!" came Dunbar's voice. "Max!Max!"
The sustained note of a whistle, a confusion of voices and a sound ofheavy steps proclaimed the entrance of the police into the shop andthe summoning of reinforcements.
Ah-Fang-Fu rose. Stuart had ceased to struggle. The Chinaman replacedhis hat and looked up at the woman, whose eyes glared madly into hisown.
_"Tche', tche'e,"_ he said sibilantly--_"Tchon-dzee-ti Fan-Fu.*"_
* "Yes, yes. It is the will of the Master."
"Down with the door!" roared Dunbar.
The woman threw herself, with a wild sob, upon the motionless body ofStuart.
Ensued a series of splintering crashes, and finally the head of anaxe appeared through the panels of the door. Ah-Fang-Fu tried todrag the woman away, but she clung to Stuart desperately and wasimmovable. Thereupon the huge quadroon, running across the room,swept them both up into his giant embrace, man and woman together,and bore them down by the sunken doorway into the cellars below!
The shop door fell inwards, crashing down the four steps, and Dunbarsprang into the place, revolver in hand, followed by Inspector Kellyand four men of the River Police, one of whom carried a hurricanelantern. Ah-Fang-Fu had just descended after Miguel and closed theheavy door.
"Try this way, boys!" cried Kelly, and rushed up the stair. The fourmen followed him. The lantern was left on the floor. Dunbar staredabout him. Sowerby and several other men entered. Suddenly Dunbar sawGaston Max lying on the floor.
"My God!" he cried--"they have killed him!"
He ran across, knelt and examined Max, pressing his ear against hisbreast.
Inspector Kelly reaching the top of the stairs and finding the doorlocked, hurled his great bulk against it and burst it open.
"Follow me, boys!" he cried. "Take care! Bring the lantern, somebody."
The fourth man grasped the lantern and all followed the Inspector upthe stair and out through the doorway. His voice came dimly:
"Mind the beam! Pass the light forward...."
Sowerby was struggling with the door by which Miguel and Ah-Fang-Fuunseen had made their escape and Dunbar, having rested Max's head upona pillow, was glaring all about him, his square jaw set grimly and hiseyes fierce with anger.
A voice droned from a bunk:
_"Cheal kegur men ms ka-dheer!"_
The police were moving from bunk to bunk, scrutinising the occupants.The uproar had penetrated to them even in their drugged slumbers.There were stirrings and mutterings and movements of yellow hands.
"But where is 'The Scorpion'?"
He turned and stared at the wall from which the matting had beentorn. And out of the little niche in the cunningly masked door thegreen-eyed joss leered at him complacently.
PART IV