'Nothing here! '
'Next floor!'
A background of excited conversation; then:
'Nayland Smith!' came the great voice --'are you there, sir? Shan Greville! Are you there?'
I did know that voice!
'Silence!' it commanded. 'Listen!'
In the interval of stillness which followed, I tried to reply. My heart was beating like a racing engine. My brain had become a circus. And the answering cry died in my throat.
'Carry on!'
Clattering of footsteps was renewed. They were somewhere outside the green-gold room, when:
'God's mercy!'
They had found the hunchback. Sudden silence fell.
Subdued voices broke it, until, above them:
There's another room!' came a cry.
Holding an electric lamp, the speaker burst through the doorway....
Delirium was ended: this was reality! 'Greville! '
'Weymouth!' I said faintly and stretched out a shaking hand.
Chapter Eighth
SWAZI PASHA ARRIVES
Perhaps the presence of blue-uniformed and helmeted constables in a measure prepared me. But, looking back, I realized that this anomalous intrusion upon the oasis did not register a hundred per cent of its true force at the time.
I was weak in a degree which I simply couldn't believe or accept. The idea of mirage remained. When they carried me through a queer room adjoining that in which I had suffered--a room where something lay covered by a piece of ornate tapestry torn from the wall--I was still no more than half alive to facts.
That the house of the Sheikh Ismail had been raided in the nick of time was clear enough. What had become of Petrie I failed to imagine, nor could I account for the presence of London policemen. Also, I was dreadfully concerned about Nayland Smith.
Weymouth's appearance--he wore dinner kit--also intrigued me. But I remembered that at least two days had elapsed; and in some way, I supposed wearily, this hiatus must explain these seeming discrepancies.
Then we reached the outside of the house. A big grey car stood before the door. There was a crowd. I saw several constables.
I saw the street....
I saw a long, neglected wall. From a doorway in this wall I had been carried out to the car. Adjoining was a row of drab two- storied houses. Similar houses faced them from across the narrow way. Some of the doors were open and in the dim light shining out groups were gathered.
They were Chinese--some of them. Others were nondescript. The crowd about the car, kept in check by two constables, was made up of typical East End London elements!
I was placed comfortably on the cushions. A man whom I suddenly recognized as Fletcher seated himself in front with the chauffeur. Weymouth got in beside me. The car moved off.
'You're all at sea!' he said, and rested his hand reassuringly on my arm. 'Don't think too much about it yet. I'm going to take you to Dr. Petrie's hotel. Hell get you on your feet again. '
'But... where am I? '
'You're in Limehouse at the moment. '
'What!'
'Keep cool! You didn't know? Well, it is so. '
'But two days back, I was in Egypt!'
As the car swung into a wide, populous thoroughfare--West India Dock Road, I learned later--Weymouth turned to me. His expression, blank at first, gradually changed, and then:
'Good heavens, Greville,' he said, 'I'm just beginning to understand! '
'I wish I could! '
'Brace yourself up--because it's going to be a shock; although the facts must have prepared you for it. You said, which you can see now is impossible, that you were in Egypt two days back.... Can you stand the truth? You left Egypt a month ago!'
2
A week elapsed. Petrie's treatment worked wonders. And a day came when, looking down from a hotel sitting-room on the busy life ofPiccadilly, I realized that the raw edges of the thing had worn off.
I had lost a month out of my life. I had been translated in the manner of the old Arabian tales from the Oasis ofKharga to some place in Limehouse. The smooth channel of my ways had been diverted; and the shock of recognising this had staggered me. But now, as I say, I was reconciled. Also, better equipped to cope with it: indeed, nearly fit again.
'My extraordinary experience with Sir Lionel,' said Petrie, who stood just behind me, 'was of enormous assistance in your own case, Greville. '
'You mean the success of the new treat- ment suggested by Sir Brian Hawkins? '
'Yes... at least, so I believed.'
I turned away from the window and stared at Petrie curiously. His expression puzzled me.
'I don't understand, doctor. You sent a telegram from Luxor to Sir Brian in London, giving him full details about the chief. He cabled back saying that he had communicated these particulars to a Dr. Amber--a former assistant--who was fortunately then in Cairo and who would ring you up. '
'Quite so, Greville. And this Dr. Amber did ring up, discussed the case with me, said he agreed with Sir Brian's suggestions and despatched, express, a small box. It contained a third of a fluid drachm of some preparation, labelled 'One minim per day subcutaneously until normal.'After four injections, Sir Lionel fully recovered--except that he had no recollection of what had taken place from the time of the attack to that when he opened his eyes in his room at the Luxor hotel. '
'That's plain sailing enough, Petrie, and a big success for Sir Brian Hawkins. You came to the conclusion that I was suffering from the effects of overdoses of the same drug-- '
'And so I tried the same cure--with equally marvellous results.'
He paused, staring me hard in the face; then:
'When we got down to Cairo,' he went on--'as you know, I postponed sailing--Dr. Amber had left his hotel. And when we reached London, Sir Brian Hawkins was abroad. He came home this morning. '
'Well?' I said, for he had paused again, staring at me in that peculiar manner.
'Sir Brian Hawkins never received my telegram. '
'What! '
'He was unacquainted with anyone called Dr. Amber--and the preparation, a specimen of which I had taken with me, was totally unknown to him! '
'Good God! '
'Don't let it worry you, Greville. We've been the victims of a cunning plot. But the unknown plotter has saved two valuable lives --and defeated Fah Lo Suee! Excuse me if I run away now. Please stay here and make yourself at home. My wife wants to do some shopping, and I never allow her out alone, even in London. You know why,' he added significantly.
I nodded, as:
'Rima and Sir Lionel are due to- morrow,' he said, 'and I know how you're counting the hours.'
3
