'Have you a flask?' demanded Smith of Carter.
The detective silently administered to Burke a stiff restorative.
'Now,' continued Smith, 'you, Petrie, will want to examine him, I suppose?' He pointed to the body. 'And in the meantime I have some questions to put to you, my man.'
He clapped his hand upon Burke's shoulder.
'My God!' Burke broke out, 'I was ten yards from him when it happened!'
'No one is accusing you,' said Smith, less harshly; 'but since you were the only witness, it is by your aid that we hope to clear the matter up.'
Exerting a gigantic effort to regain control of himself, Burke nodded, watching my friend with a childlike eagerness. During the ensuing conversation, I examined Slattin for marks of violence; and of what I found, more anon.
'In the first place,' said Smith, 'you say that you warned him. When did you warn him and of what?'
'I warned him, sir, that it would come to this—'
'That what would come to this?''
'His dealings with the Chinaman!'
'He had dealings with Chinamen?'
'He accidentally met a Chinaman at an East End gaming-house, a man he had known in Frisco—a man called Singapore Charlie—'
'What! Singapore Charlie!'
'Yes, sir, the same man that had a dope-shop, two years ago, down Ratcliffe way—'
'There was a fire—'
'But Singapore Charlie escaped, sir.'
'And he is one of the gang?'
'He is one of what we used to call in New York, the Seven Group.'
Smith began to tug at the lobe of his left ear, reflectively, as I saw out of the corner of my eye.
'The Seven Group!' he mused. 'That is significant. I always suspected that Dr. Fu-Manchu and the notorious Seven Group were one and the same. Go on, Burke.'
'Well, sir,' the man continued, more calmly, 'the lieutenant—'
'The lieutenant!' began Smith; then: 'Oh! of course; Slattin used to be a police lieutenant!'
'Well, sir, he—Mr. Slattin—had a sort of hold on this Singapore Charlie, and two years ago, when he first met him, he thought that with his aid he was going to pull off the biggest thing of his life—'
'Forestall me, in fact?'
'Yes, sir; but you got in first, with the big raid and spoiled it.'
Smith nodded grimly, glancing at the Scotland Yard man, who returned his nod with equal grimness.
'A couple of months ago,' resumed Burke, 'he met Charlie again down East, and the Chinaman introduced him to a girl—some sort of an Egyptian girl.'
'Go on!' snapped Smith—'I know her.'
'He saw her a good many times—and she came here once or twice. She made out that she and Singapore Charlie were prepared to give away the boss of the Yellow gang—'
'For a price, of course?'
'I suppose so,' said Burke; 'but I don't know. I only know that I warned him.'
'H'm!' muttered Smith. 'And now, what took place to-night?'
'He had an appointment here with the girl,' began Burke
'I know all that,' interrupted Smith. 'I merely want to know, what took place after the telephone call?'
'Well, he told me to wait up, and I was dozing in the next room to the study—the dining-room—when the 'phone bell aroused me. I heard the lieutenant—Mr. Slattin, coming out, and I ran out too, but only in time to see him taking his hat from the rack—'
'But he wears no hat!'
'He never got it off the peg! Just as he reached up to take it, he gave a most frightful scream, and turned around like lightning as though some one had attacked him from behind!'
'There was no one else in the hall?'
'No one at all. I was standing down there outside the dining-room just by the stairs, but he didn't turn in my direction, he turned and looked right behind him—where there was no one—nothing. His cries were frightful.' Burke's voice broke, and he shuddered feverishly. 'Then he made a rush for the front door. It seemed as though he had not seen me. He stood there screaming; but, before I could reach him, he fell… .'
Nayland Smith fixed a piercing gaze upon Burke.
'Is that all you know?' he demanded slowly.
'As God is my judge, sir, that's all I know, and all I saw. There was no living thing near him when he met his death.'
'We shall see,' muttered Smith. He turned to me—'What killed him?' he asked, shortly.
'Apparently, a minute wound on the left wrist,' I replied, and, stooping, I raised the already cold hand in mine.
A tiny, inflamed wound showed on the wrist; and a certain puffiness was becoming observable in the injured hand and arm. Smith bent down and drew a quick, sibilant breath.
'You know what this is, Petrie?' he cried.
'Certainly. It was too late to employ a ligature and useless to inject ammonia. Death was practically instantaneous. His heart… '
There came a loud knocking and ringing.
'Carter!' cried Smith, turning to the detective, 'open that door to no one—no one. Explain who I am—'
'But if it is the inspector?—'
'I said, open the door to no one!' snapped Smith.
'Burke, stand exactly where you are! Carter, you can speak to whoever knocks, through the letter-box. Petrie, don't move for your life! It may be here, in the hallway!—'
Chapter 9 THE CLIMBER
Our search of the house of Abel Slattin ceased only with the coming of the dawn, and yielded nothing but disappointment. Failure followed upon failure; for, in the gray light of the morning, our own quest concluded, Inspector Weymouth returned to report that the girl, Karamaneh, had thrown him off the scent.
Again he stood before me, the big, burly friend of old and dreadful days, a little grayer above the temples, which I set down for a record of former horrors, but deliberate, stoical, thorough, as ever. His blue eyes melted in the old generous way as he saw me, and he gripped my hand in greeting.
'Once again,' he said, 'your dark-eyed friend has been too clever for me, Doctor. But the track as far as I could follow, leads to the old spot. In fact,'—he turned to Smith, who, grim-faced and haggard, looked thoroughly ill in that gray light—'I believe Fu-Manchu's lair is somewhere near the former opium-den of Shen-Yan—'Singapore Charlie.''
Smith nodded.
'We will turn our attention in that direction,' he replied, 'at a very early date.'
Inspector Weymouth looked down at the body of Abel Slattin.
'How was it done?' he asked softly.
'Clumsily for Fu-Manchu,' I replied. 'A snake was introduced into the house by some means—'
'By Karamaneh!' rapped Smith.
'Very possibly by Karamaneh,' I continued firmly. 'The thing has escaped us.'
'My own idea,' said Smith, 'is that it was concealed about his clothing. When he fell by the open door it glided out of the house. We must have the garden searched thoroughly by daylight.'
'He'—Weymouth glanced at that which lay upon the floor—'must be moved; but otherwise we can leave the place untouched, clear out the servants, and lock the house up.'
'I have already given orders to that effect,' answered Smith. He spoke wearily and with a note of conscious
