by Sax Rohmer
CHAPTER V
WHAT HAPPENED TO STUART
Stuart had gained the end of the corridor, unmolested. There he founda short flight of steps, which he descended and came to a secondcorridor forming a right angle with the first. A lamp was hung at thefoot of the steps, and by its light he discerned a shadowy figurestanding at the further end of this second passage.
A moment he hesitated, peering eagerly along the corridor. The manwho waited was Chunda Lal. Stuart approached him and silently placedin his hand the gold amulet.
Chunda Lal took it as one touching something holy, and raising it hekissed it with reverence. His dark eyes were sorrowful. Long andardently he pressed the little trinket to his lips, then concealed itunder the white robe which he wore and turned to Stuart. His eyes weresorrowful no more, but fierce as the eyes of a tiger.
"Follow!" he said.
He unlocked a door and stepped out into a neglected garden, Stuartclose at his heels. The sky was cloudy, and the moon obscured. Neverglancing back, Chunda Lal led the way along a path skirting a highwall upon which climbing fruit trees were growing until they came to asecond door and this also the Hindu unlocked. He stood aside.
"To the end of this lane," he said, in his soft queerly modulatedvoice, "and along the turning to the left to the river bank. Followthe bank towards the palace and you will meet them."
"I owe you my life," said Stuart.
"Go! you owe me nothing," returned the Hindu fiercely.
Stuart turned and walked rapidly along the lane. Once he glanced back.Chunda Lal was looking after him ... and he detected something thatgleamed in his hand, gleamed not like gold but like the blade of aknife!
Turning the corner, Stuart began to run. For he was unarmed and stillweak, and there had been that in the fierce black eyes of the Hinduwhen he had scorned Stuart's thanks which had bred suspicion anddistrust.
From the position of the moon, Stuart judged the hour to be somethingafter midnight. No living thing stirred about him. The lane in whichnow he found himself was skirted on one side by a hedge beyond whichwas open country and on the other by a continuation of the high wallwhich evidently enclosed the grounds of the house that he had justquitted. A cool breezed fanned his face, and he knew that he wasapproaching the Thames. Ten more paces and he came to the bank.
In his weak condition the short run had exhausted him. His bruisedthroat was throbbing painfully, and he experienced some difficulty inbreathing. He leaned up against the moss-grown wall, looking back intothe darkness of the lane.
No one was in sight. There was no sound save the gently lapping of thewater upon the bank.
He would have like to bathe his throat and to quench his feverishthirst, but a mingled hope and despair spurred him and he set offalong the narrow path towards where dimly above some trees he coulddiscern in the distance a group of red-roofed buildings. Havingproceeded for a considerable distance, he stood still, listening forany sound that might guide him to the search-party--or warn him thathe was followed. But he could hear nothing.
Onward he pressed, not daring to think of what the future held forhim, not daring to dwell upon the memory, the maddening sweetness, ofthat parting kiss. His eyes grew misty, he stumbled as he walked, andbecame oblivious of his surrounding. His awakening was a rude one.
Suddenly a man, concealed behind a bush, sprang out upon him and borehim irresistibly to the ground!
"Not a word!" rapped his assailant, "or I'll knock you out!"
Stuart glared into the red face lowered so threateningly over his own,and:
"Sergeant Sowerby!" he gasped.
The grip upon his shoulders relaxed.
"Damn!" cried Sowerby--"if it isn't Dr. Stuart?"
"What is that!" cried another voice from the shelter of the bush._"Pardieu!_ say it again! ... Dr. Stuart!"
And Gaston Max sprang out!
"Max!" murmured Stuart, staggering to his feet--"Max!"
_"Nom d'un nom!_ Two dead men meet!" exclaimed Gaston Max. "Butindeed"--he grasped Stuart by both hands and his voice shook withemotion--"I thank God that I see you!"
Stuart was dazed. Words failed him, and he swayed dizzily.
"I thought _you_ were murdered," said Max, still grasping his hand,"and I perceive that you had made the same mistake about me! Do youknow what saved me, my friend, from the consequences of that frightfulblow? It was the bandage of 'Le Balafre'!"
"You must possess a skull like a negro's!" said Stuart feebly.
"I believe I have a skull like a baboon!" returned Max, laughing withjoyous excitement. "And you, doctor, you must possess a steelwind-pipe; for flesh and blood could never have survived the pressureof that horrible pigtail. You will rejoice to learn that Miguel wasarrested on the Dover boat-train this morning and Ah-Fang-Fu atTilbury Dock some four hours ago. So we are both avenged! But wewaste time!"
He unscrewed a flask and handed it to Stuart.
"A terrible experience has befallen you," he said. "But tell me--doyou know where it is--the lair of 'The Scorpion'?"
"I do!" replied Stuart, having taken a welcome draught from the flask."Where is Dunbar? We must carefully surround the place or he willelude us."
"Ah! as he eluded us at 'The Pidgin House'!" cried Max. "Do you knowwhat happened? They had a motorboat in the very cellar of that warren.At high tide they could creep out into the cutting, drawing theircraft along from pile to pile, and reach the open river at a pointfifty yards above the house! In the damnable darkness they escaped.But we have two of them."
"It was all my fault," said Sowerby guiltily. "I missed my spring whenI went for the Chinaman who came out first, and he gave one yell. Theold fox in the shop heard it and the fat was in the fire."
"You didn't miss your spring at me!" retort Stuart ruefully.
"No," agreed Sowerby. "I didn't mean to miss a second time!"
"What's all this row," came a gruff voice.
"Ah! Inspector Dunbar!" said Max.
Dunbar walked up the path, followed by a number of men. At first hedid not observe Stuart, and:
"You'll be waking all the neighborhood," he said. "It's the next bighouse, Sowerby, the one we thought, surrounded by the brick wall.There's no doubt, I think ... Why!"
He had seen Stuart, and he sprang forward with outstretched hand.
"Thank God!" he cried, disregarding his own counsel about creating adisturbance. "This is fine! Eh, man! but I'm glad to see you!"
"And _I_ am glad to be here!" Stuart assured him.
They shook hands warmly.
"You have read my statement, of course?" asked Stuart.
"I have," replied the Inspector, and gave him a swift glance of thetawny eyes. "And considering that you've nearly been strangled, I'llforgive you! But I wish we'd known about this house----"
"Ah! Inspector," interrupted Gaston Max, "but you have never seenZara el-Khala! I have seen her--and _I_ forgive him, also!"
Stuart continued rapidly:
"We have little time to waste. There are only three people in thehouse, so far as I am aware: Miska--known to you, M. Max, as Zarael-Khala--the Hindu, Chunda Lal, and--Fo-Hi----"
"Ah!" cried Max--"'The Scorpion.' Chunda Lal, for some obscure personalreason, not entirely unconnected with Miska, enabled me to make myescape in order that I might lead you to the house. Therefore we maylook upon Chunda Lal, as well as Miska, in the light of anaccomplice----"
_"Eh, bien!_ a spy in the camp! This is where we see how fatal to thesuccess of any enterprise, criminal or otherwise, is the presence ofa pretty woman! Proceed, my friend!"
"There are three entrances to the apartment in which Fo-Hi apparentlyspends the greater part of his time. Two of these I know, although Iam unaware where one of them leads to. But the third, of which healone holds the key, communicates with a tunnel leading to the riverbank, where a motorboat is concealed."
"Ah, that motor-boat!" cried Max. "He travels at night, youunderstand----"
"Always, I am told."
"Ye
s, always. Therefore, once he is out on the river, he is moderatelysecure between the first lock and the Nore! When a police patrol isnear he can shut off his engine and lie under the bank. Last night hecrept away from us in that fashion. Tonight is not so dark, and theRiver Police are watching all the way down."
"Furthermore," replied Stuart, "Chunda Lal, who acts as engineer, hasit in his power to prevent Fo-Hi's escape by that route! But we mustcount upon the possibility of his attempting to leave by water.Therefore, in disposing your forces, place a certain number of menalong the bank and below the house. Is there a River Police boat near?"
"Not nearer than Putney Bridge," answered Dunbar. "We shall have totry and block that exit."
"There's no time to waste," continued Stuart excitedly--"and I have avery particular request to make: that you will take Fo-Hi _alive."_
"But of course," said Gaston Max, "if it is humanly possible."
Stuart repressed a groan; for even so he had little hope of inducingthe awful veiled man to give back life to the woman who would havebeen instrumental in bringing him to the scaffold ... and nocompromise was possible!
"If you will muster your men, Inspector," he said, "I will lead youto the spot. Once we have affected an entrance we must proceed withdispatch. He has alarm-bells connected with every possible point ofentry."
"Lead on, my friend," cried Gaston Max. "I perceive that time isprecious."