servants—probably a Burman—to release one of these flies in the neighbourhood of the selected victim. I have learned that they seek shadow during the daytime, and operate at dusk and in artificial light. Directly there was presumptive evidence that the fly had bitten the selected subject, it was the duty of Fu Manchu’s servant to place a spray of this fly-catching plant—the name of which I don’t know—where it would attract the fly.
To make assurance doubly sure, the seductive leaves were sprayed with human blood! Vegetable fly-papers, Sterling-nothing less!”
“My God! It’s plain enough to me now.”
“Such experiments have apparently been carried out all over the world.
That Dr. Fu Manchu—or the si-Fan, which is the same thing—has international agents, I know for a fact. This means that collections of these flies, which have been specially bred to carry the new plague and to spread it, exist at unknown centres in various parts of Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia—also, doubtless, in the Continent of America.
“Of all those seeking it, Petrie alone discovered a treatment which promised to be successful! Dr. Fu Manchu’s allies would of course be inoculated against the plague. But do you see, Sterling, do you see what Petrie did, and why he stood in the Chinaman’s way?”
I hesitated. I was beginning to grasp the truth, but before I could reply:
The formula for ‘654’ would have been broadcast to the medical authorities of the world, in the event of a general outbreak. This would have shattered Fu Manchu’s army.”
“Fu Manchu’s army?”
“An army, Sterling, bred and trained to depopulate the white world! An army of
I was awed, silenced.
“Police manned a boat in the neighbouring bay,” Nayland Smith went on; “I distrusted the sound of a motor. They told me that there was a little beach attached to Ste Claire. And in this again I recognized such a spot as Fu Manchu would have chosen.
“At dusk, I waded ashore, ordering the boat to lie off in the shadow of the cliff. I was acting unofficially; I was outside the law if I should be wrong; but I had left a sealed envelope with the Chief of Police, telling him upon what evidence I had acted—if I should not return.
“I walked up the strip of sand, reached the pebbles, and had just come to the big boulders, when I saw a speedboat heading in! I took cover behind one of the boulders and waited.
“It came right in. The police had orders not to show themselves unless they received a prearranged signal. A man waded ashore through the shallow water, and the boat immediately set out again, and soon had disappeared around the headland.
“I watched him come through the gap between the boulders. He was wearing gum boots and went very silently. But I was rubber-shod, and could go silently too. I followed him. It was a difficult business, because of the fact that part of the path, more then than now, wad bathed in moonlight. But it evidently never occurred to the man to look back.
“In this way, unconsciously he led me to the foot of the steps, and I followed him, flight by flight, to the top. I was craning over the parapet when he opened he door; but, nevertheless, it took me nearly ten minutes to find how it worked.”
“Do you mean to say that you broke into that house alone?”
“Yes. It was a one-man job; two would have bungled it.”
I could find no words with which to reply. It was a privilege merely to listen to a man at once so clear-headed and so fearless.
“I was first attracted,” he went on, “by the long corridor at the end of which a green light burned. There was not a sound in the place, and so I explored this corridor first. I discovered a sliding door operated by one of the button controls, and I opened it.”
He paused—laughing shortly.
“I asked you to describe Fleurette particularly,” he went on, “because my first investigation led me to Fleurette’s bedroom!
“Yes, Sterling, the palace of the Sleeping Beauty. I could see her in the reflected moonlight, one arm thrown over her head, and her face turned towards the window. Your description was that of an artist. I agree with you; she is beautiful. Yet it wasn’t her beauty which pulled me up, nor even the knowledge that I had made a mistake: it was something else.”
“What?” I asked eagerly
“I knew her, Sterling! Yes! I know who she is, this mystery girl who has taken such a hold upon you.”
“But, Sir Denis, do you mean...”
“I understand your eagerness, and you shall hear everything later. I was anxious to leam the colour of her eyes. You see, they were closed; she was asleep. I retired without disturbing her. I next descended the stairs...”
“Good God! I wish I had your nerve!”
“Really, I had very little to fear.”
“You may think so—but please go on, Sir Denis.”
“My guide, of course, had disappeared, but I found a square space with corridors opening right and left. The trail of wet rubber boots gave me the clue. The imprint of fingers on a panel three feet from the floor enabled me to open the door. I found myself in that insane laboratory—”
“Insane is the word,” I murmured.
“It was empty. It was permeated by a dim violet light. And as I entered—the door closed! I was particularly intrigued by a piece of mechanism resembling an ancient Egyptian harp.”
“I noticed it, also.”
“I determined to investigate more closely, but there was a black mark on the floor surrounding the table on which this piece of mechanism stood...”
“Say no more, Sir Denis! I have had the same experience.”
“Oh! Is that so? This rather checked me. I observed that such a mark ran entirely around the laboratory close to the wall: you may have failed to notice this? And I can only suppose that this system of checking intruders has been disconnected in relation to the doors because the unknown man who had unwittingly acted as my guide was expected.
“As the idea flashed across my mind, I had no more than time to duck when the man in question came out!
“A panel slid open on the left-hand wall, and a Chinaman, still wearing wet gum boots, closed the door behind him, crossed the laboratory, opened another door on the farther side, and disappeared.
“I waited for a while, listening to a sort of throbbing which alone disturbed the silence, and then I too ventured to open that door. Do you know what I found?”
“I can guess.”
“I found myself face to face with Dr. Fu Manchu....”
chapter thiry-second
RECALL
“for the last twenty years. Sterling, I have prayed for an opportunity to rid the world of this monster. My automatic was raised; I could have shot him where he sat. He hadn’t a chance in a million. You know the room? I saw you come out of it.
“He was seated in that throne-like chair behind the big table, and his marmoset, that wizened little creature which I haven’t seen for fifteen years, was asleep on his shoulder. The reek told me the story—Dr. Fu Manchu has always been addicted to opium. He was asleep.”
“I know!” I groaned.
“You evidently conquered the same temptation. But I am still wondering if we are right. When I decided that I couldn’t shoot him as he slept, I cursed my own ridiculous prejudices. A hundred, perhaps a thousand deaths lay at this man’s door—yet, it was impossible.
“I looked at him, seated there, and his crimes made a sort of bloody mountain behind him. I have never
