through which we had entered--and out on to a narrow road bordering the wall on the side which faced the palm grove. This path was deserted.
'Where is he?' I demanded.
'Fah Lo Suee smiled a mocking smile, and:
'Tou must be patient,' she replied. They have to bring him a long way.' 'I pocketed my pistol and contented myself with keeping an arm around her. It was a natural gesture, but one for which I was to pay a high price, as I shall tell you.
'Two men appeared around the angle of the wall carrying a limp body. They hesitated, looking towards us. Madame raised her hand. They came on.... I saw you, Greville, lying on the sandy path at my feet, insensible.
'I continued to clutch Fah Lo Suee tightly, and now I reached for my pistol. I had detected one of the Negro bearers looking across my shoulder in a curiously significant way....'
He paused and struck a match; then:
'It was short warning,' he added, 'but it might have been enough. If I had had the pistol against Fah Lo Suee's ribs, today the world would be rid of a very dangerous devil.
'Someone dropped from the wall behind me... and a swift blow with a sandbag concluded this episode!'
Nayland Smith raised his hand reflectively to his skull.
'I woke up amid complete silence, my head singing like a kettle. I was slow to realise the facts; but when I did I was appalled. That lonely house is shunned by all, I have learned; for the Sheikh Ismail has an evil reputa- tion as a dealer in Black Magic. I was a pris- oner there. What were my chances?
'I was in a cell, Greville'--he suddenly turned to me in the course of his ceaseless rambling walk--'some three yards square. I was lying on the hard mud floor. Not a thing had been taken from me; even my pistol remained in my belt... and the sandbag which had downed me lay close by! A subtle touch, that--but to-night I capped the jest! A window, just beyond reach, admitted light. There wasn't a scrap of furniture in the place. It had a heavy door reinforced with iron. I was desperately thirsty... and on the ledge of the window above me, I saw a water-jar standing on a tray.
'Knowing myself to be in Egypt and failing my experience of Chinese humour, I might have questioned the meaning of all this. But, looking at the lock of the door, and taking out my pistol--to learn that the shells had been withdrawn--I knew. And I resigned myself.
'It was physically impossible to reach the water-jar on the window-ledge.
'I had been judged worthy of that Chinese penalty known as The Protracted Death....'
6
'Perhaps I groaned when these facts forced themselves upon me. You see, Greville, as we entered the saloon I had recognized another undesirable acquaintance ... Ibrahim Bey--Swazi's twin brother! . 'I have known Swazi Pasha for many years and in my newer capacity at Scotland Yard have had intimate dealings with him. Beyond doubt he stands between Turkey and that indeterminable menace which some believe to emanate from Moscow and others from elsewhere--but which includes Turkey in its programme.
'Recognising now the fact that Ibrahim-- a cold-blooded sedition monger--was a member of the Council of Seven, I knew! Here was the clue to those mysterious movements--of which you, Weymouth, had news, and which were painfully familiar to myself in the Near and Far East.
'Swazi Pasha was doomed!... So, likewise was I--the one man who might have saved him!
'You tell me, Weymouth, and you also, Petrie, that you searched the sheikh's house from roof to cellar. One spot of cellar you overlooked--the spot in which I awakened! 'I had no means of knowing how long I had been unconscious. My wrist-watch remained but had been smashed, doubtless as I fell. I had no means of learning if the raid had taken place. Two ideas were paramount. First, your fate, Greville. Second, Swazi Pasha.
'I considered the window carefully. It was some two feet square, protected by rusty- looking iron bars, and from the nature of the light which it admitted, I determined that I was in a cellar and that the time was early morning. I determined, also, that the window was inaccessible. A careful examination of the door convinced me that I had no means of opening it. And since not a sound reached me, it was then I resigned myself to that most horrible of deaths--starvation and thirst.... Thirst, with a moist jar of water standing on the ledge above me!
'From my condition I judged that only a few hours had elapsed, and I detected a sporting gesture on the part of Fah Lo Suee --a gamble characteristically Chinese. If anyone chanced to pass that way I might be rescued! All this was surmise, of course, but I decided to test it. My eyes were burning feverishly. My head throbbed madly. But otherwise I was vigorous enough. Loudly I cried for help in English and in Arabic. Then, I listened intently.
'There was no sound.
'A Buddhist-like resignation was threat- ening me more and more. But I was by no means disposed to abandon myself to it. To sit down was impossible, otherwise than on the floor-- and I felt peculiarly limp. I leaned up against the door and weighed my chances.
'And it was at this moment that a good man announced his presence. Failing him I shouldn't be here to- night!
'I heard the howl of a dog!
'Said! '
'In that moment, Petrie'--instinctively Nayland Smith turned to his old friend--'the face of the world changed for me! The mood of resignation passed. Standing immediately under the window I howled a reply.
'The signal was repeated. I answered it. And two minutes later I heard Said's voice above.
'Details are unnecessary, now. He had to go back to the car for gear and a rope. Scram- bling down the shallow well with which the window communicated, he succeeded in wrenching the bars loose.
'And so I climbed out, to find myself on the fringe of the palm grove. I can't blame you, Weymouth, for failing to discover this far-flung chamber of the Sheikh's house. Undoubtedly it had been designed for a dungeon. I can only suppose the iron-barred door communicated with a tunnel leading to the cellars.
'My mind was made up. Beneath my monkish cowl I was an Arab, and an Arab I would remain! I was heart- sick about you, Greville, but knew that I could do nothing-- yet. Stamboul was my objective. The reason you failed to find the car in the gully was that I commandeered it for the overland journey to the railroad!
'I had realized the efficiency of the organ- isation to which I was opposed. My funds were fortunately sufficient for my purpose, and I reached Stamboul a week after the raid on the house of the Sheikh Ismail. Officially, I was not present in Constantinople. But I acquainted myself with the latest news in the possession of Scotland Yard--through the medium of Kemal's police. Acting upon this, I checked his journey in Paris. The rest you know.'
Nayland Smith ceased speaking, and:
'Something you do not know,' said Mrs. Petrie from her shadowy corner on the divan. 'I have seen him--Fu Manchu--in London to-night!'
Nayland Smith turned to her.
'You were never at fault, Karamaneh,' he said. 'Dr. Fu Manchu occupied rooms next to those of Swazi Pasha in Paris!'
A taxi hooted outside in Piccadilly....
Chapter Tenth
ABBOTS HOLD
'It all seems so peaceful,' said Rima, clinging very tightly to my arm; 'yet somehow, Shan, I never feel safe here. Last night, as I told you, I thought I saw the Abbots Hold ghost from my window.... '
'A natural thing to imagine, darling,' I replied reassuringly. 'Every one of these old monastic houses has its phantom monk! But, even if authentic, no doubt he'd be a jovial fellow.'
As is the fashion of such autumn distur- bances, a storm which had been threatening all the evening hovered to the west, blackly. Remote peals of thunder there had been during the dinner, and two short but heavy showers. Now, although angry cloud banks were visible in the distance, immediately overhead the sky was cloudless.
