CHAPTER XVII. ONE DAY IN RANGOON
Nayland Smith returned from the telephone. Nearly twenty-four hours hadelapsed since the awful death of Burke.
"No news, Petrie," he said, shortly. "It must have crept into someinaccessible hole to die."
I glanced up from my notes. Smith settled into the white cane armchair,and began to surround himself with clouds of aromatic smoke. I took upa half-sheet of foolscap covered with penciled writing in my friend'scramped characters, and transcribed the following, in order to completemy account of the latest Fu-Manchu outrage:
"The Amharun, a Semitic tribe allied to the Falashas, who havebeen settled for many generations in the southern province of Shoa(Abyssinia) have been regarded as unclean and outcast, apparently sincethe days of Menelek--son of Suleyman and the Queen of Sheba--from whomthey claim descent. Apart from their custom of eating meat cut fromliving beasts, they are accursed because of their alleged associationwith the Cynocephalus hamadryas (Sacred Baboon). I, myself, was takento a hut on the banks of the Hawash and shown a creature... whosepredominant trait was an unreasoning malignity toward... and a ferocioustenderness for the society of its furry brethren. Its powers of scentwere fully equal to those of a bloodhound, whilst its abnormally longforearms possessed incredible strength... a Cynocephalyte such as this,contracts phthisis even in the more northern provinces of Abyssinia..."
"You have not explained to me, Smith," I said, having completed thisnote, "how you got in touch with Fu-Manchu; how you learnt that he wasnot dead, as we had supposed, but living--active."
Nayland Smith stood up and fixed his steely eyes upon me with anindefinable expression in them. Then:
"No," he replied; "I haven't. Do you wish to know?"
"Certainly," I said with surprise; "is there any reason why I shouldnot?"
"There is no real reason," said Smith; "or"--staring at me very hard--"Ihope there is no real reason."
"What do you mean?"
"Well"--he grabbed up his pipe from the table and began furiously toload it--"I blundered upon the truth one day in Rangoon. I was walkingout of a house which I occupied there for a time, and as I swung aroundthe corner into the main street, I ran into--literally ran into..."
Again he hesitated oddly; then closed up his pouch and tossed it intothe cane chair. He struck a match.
"I ran into Karamaneh," he continued abruptly, and began to puff away athis pipe, filling the air with clouds of tobacco smoke.
I caught my breath. This was the reason why he had kept me so long inignorance of the story. He knew of my hopeless, uncrushable sentimentstoward the gloriously beautiful but utterly hypocritical and evilEastern girl who was perhaps the most dangerous of all Dr. Fu-Manchu'sservants; for the power of her loveliness was magical, as I knew to mycost.
"What did you do?" I asked quietly, my fingers drumming upon the table.
"Naturally enough," continued Smith, "with a cry of recognition Iheld out both my hands to her, gladly. I welcomed her as a dear friendregained; I thought of the joy with which you would learn that I hadfound the missing one; I thought how you would be in Rangoon just asquickly as the fastest steamer could get you there..."
"Well?"
"Karamaneh started back and treated me to a glance of absoluteanimosity. No recognition was there, and no friendliness--only a sort ofscornful anger."
He shrugged his shoulders and began to walk up and down the room.
"I do not know what you would have done in the circumstances, Petrie,but I--"
"Yes?"
"I dealt with the situation rather promptly, I think. I simply pickedher up without another word, right there in the public street, and racedback into the house, with her kicking and fighting like a little demon!She did not shriek or do anything of that kind, but fought silently likea vicious wild animal. Oh! I had some scars, I assure you; but I carriedher up into my office, which fortunately was empty at the time, plumpedher down in a chair, and stood looking at her."
"Go on," I said rather hollowly; "what next?"
"She glared at me with those wonderful eyes, an expression of implacablehatred in them! Remembering all that we had done for her; rememberingour former friendship; above all, remembering you--this look of hersalmost made me shiver. She was dressed very smartly in European fashion,and the whole thing had been so sudden that as I stood looking at her Ihalf expected to wake up presently and find it all a day-dream. But itwas real--as real as her enmity. I felt the need for reflection, andhaving vainly endeavored to draw her into conversation, and elicited noother answer than this glare of hatred--I left her there, going out andlocking the door behind me."
"Very high-handed?"
"A commissioner has certain privileges, Petrie, and any action I mightchoose to take was not likely to be questioned. There was only onewindow to the office, and it was fully twenty feet above the level; itoverlooked a narrow street off the main thoroughfare (I think I haveexplained that the house stood on a corner) so I did not fear herescaping. I had an important engagement which I had been on my way tofulfil when the encounter took place, and now, with a word to my nativeservant--who chanced to be downstairs--I hurried off."
Smith's pipe had gone out as usual, and he proceeded to relight it,whilst, with my eyes lowered, I continued to drum upon the table.
"This boy took her some tea later in the afternoon," he continued,"and apparently found her in a more placid frame of mind. I returnedimmediately after dusk, and he reported that when last he had looked in,about half an hour earlier, she had been seated in an armchair readinga newspaper (I may mention that everything of value in the office wassecurely locked up!) I was determined upon a certain course by thistime, and I went slowly upstairs, unlocked the door, and walked into thedarkened office. I turned up the light... the place was empty!"
"Empty!"
"The window was open, and the bird flown! Oh! it was not so simple aflight--as you would realize if you knew the place. The street, whichthe window overlooked, was bounded by a blank wall, on the oppositeside, for thirty or forty yards along; and as we had been having heavyrains, it was full of glutinous mud. Furthermore, the boy whom I hadleft in charge had been sitting in the doorway immediately below theoffice window watching for my return ever since his last visit to theroom above..."
"She must have bribed him," I said bitterly--"or corrupted him with herinfernal blandishments."
"I'll swear she did not," rapped Smith decisively. "I know my man, andI'll swear she did not. There were no marks in the mud of the road toshow that a ladder had been placed there; moreover, nothing of the kindcould have been attempted whilst the boy was sitting in the doorway;that was evident. In short, she did not descend into the roadway and didnot come out by the door..."
"Was there a gallery outside the window?"
"No; it was impossible to climb to right or left of the window or up onto the roof. I convinced myself of that."
"But, my dear man!" I cried, "you are eliminating every natural mode ofegress! Nothing remains but flight."
"I am aware, Petrie, that nothing remains but flight; in other words Ihave never to this day understood how she quitted the room. I only knowthat she did."
"And then?"
"I saw in this incredible escape the cunning hand of Dr. Fu-Manchu--sawit at once. Peace was ended; and I set to work along certain channelswithout delay. In this manner I got on the track at last, and learned,beyond the possibility of doubt, that the Chinese doctor lived--nay! wasactually on his way to Europe again!"
There followed a short silence. Then:
"I suppose it's a mystery that will be cleared up some day," concludedSmith; "but to date the riddle remains intact." He glanced at the clock."I have an appointment with Weymouth; therefore, leaving you to the taskof solving this problem which thus far has defied my own efforts, I willget along."
He read a query in my glance.
"Oh! I shall not be late," he added; "I think I may venture out alone onthis occasion without personal danger
."
Nayland Smith went upstairs to dress, leaving me seated at my writingtable, deep in thought. My notes upon the renewed activity of Dr.Fu-Manchu were stacked at my left hand, and, opening a new writingblock, I commenced to add to them particulars of this surprising eventin Rangoon which properly marked the opening of the Chinaman's secondcampaign. Smith looked in at the door on his way out, but seeing me thusengaged, did not disturb me.
I think I have made it sufficiently evident in these records that mypractice was not an extensive one, and my hour for receiving patientsarrived and passed with only two professional interruptions.
My task concluded, I glanced at the clock, and determined to devote theremainder of the evening to a little private investigation of my own.From Nayland Smith I had preserved the matter a secret, largely becauseI feared his ridicule; but I had by no means forgotten that I had seen,or had strongly imagined that I had seen, Karamaneh--that beautifulanomaly, who (in modern London) asserted herself to be a slave--in theshop of an antique dealer not a hundred yards from the British Museum!
A theory was forming in my brain, which I was burningly anxious to putto the test. I remembered how, two years before, I had met Karamanehnear to this same spot; and I had heard Inspector Weymouth assertpositively that Fu-Manchu's headquarters were no longer in the EastEnd, as of yore. There seemed to me to be a distinct probability that asuitable center had been established for his reception in this place, somuch less likely to be suspected by the authorities. Perhaps I attachedtoo great a value to what may have been a delusion; perhaps my theoryrested upon no more solid foundation than the belief that I had seenKaramaneh in the shop of the curio dealer. If her appearance thereshould prove to have been phantasmal, the structure of my theory wouldbe shattered at its base. To-night I should test my premises, and uponthe result of my investigations determine my future action.