The Golden Scorpion .........................................................................................................................................1

Sax Rohmer ..............................................................................................................................................1

KEPPEL STUART, M.D., F.R.S., awoke with a start and discovered himself to be bathed in cold

perspiration. The moonlight shone in at his window, but did not touch the bed, therefore his awakening could

not be due to this cause. He lay for some time listening for any unfamiliar noise which might account for the

sudden disturbance of his usually sound slumbers. In the house below nothing stirred. His windows were

widely open and he could detect that vague drumming which is characteristic of midnight London;

sometimes, too, the clashing of buffers upon some siding of the Brighton railway where shunting was in

He glanced at the luminous disk of his watch. The hour was halfpast two. Dawn was not far off. The night

seemed to have become almost intolerably hot, and to this heat Stuart felt disposed to ascribe both his

awakening and also a feeling of uncomfortable tension of which he now became aware. He continued to

listen, and, listening and hearing nothing, recognised with anger that he was frightened. A sense of some

presence oppressed him. Someone or something evil was near himperhaps in the room, veiled by the

Stuart sat up in bed, slowly and cautiously, looking all about him. He remembered to have awakened once

thus in Indiaand to have found a great cobra coiled at his feet. His inspection revealed the presence of

A faint clicking sound reached his ears. He stood quite still. The clicking was repeated.

He became aware that the fear which held him was such that unless he acted and acted swiftly he should

become incapable of action, but he remembered that whereas the moonlight poured into the bedroom, the

staircase would be in complete darkness. He walked barefooted across to the dressingtable and took up an

electric torch which lay there. He had not used it for some time, and he pressed the button to learn if the torch

was charged. A beam of white light shone out across the room, and at the same instant came another sound.

If it came from below or above, from the adjoining room or from outside in the road, Stuart knew not. But

following hard upon the mysterious disturbance which had aroused him it seemed to pour ice into his veins, it

added the complementary touch to his panic. For it was a kind of low waila ghostly minor wail in falling

cadencesunlike any sound he had heard. It was so excessively horrible that it produced a curious effect.

Discovering from the dancing of the torchray that his hand was trembling, Stuart concluded that he had

awakened from a nightmare and that this fiendish wailing was no more than an unusually delayed aftermath

He walked resolutely to the door, threw it open, and cast the beam of light on to the staircase. Softly he began

to descend. Before the study door he paused. There was no sound. He threw open the door, directing the

Cutting a white lane through the blackness, it shone fully upon his writingtable, which was a rather fine

Jacobean piece having a sort of quaint bureau superstructure containing cabinets and drawers. He could

detect nothing unusual in the appearance of the littered table. A tobacco jar stood there, a pipe resting in the

lid. Papers and books were scattered untidily as he had left them, surrounding a tray full of pipe and cigarette

Stuart stood quite still, staring at the table. There was no sound in the room. He crossed slowly, moving the

light from right to left. His papers had been overhauled methodically. The drawers had been replaced, but he

felt assured that all had been examined. The light switch was immediately beside the outer door, and Stuart

walked over to it and switched on both lamps. Turning, he surveyed the brilliantly illuminated room. Save for

himself, it was empty. He looked out into the hallway again. There was no one there. No sound broke the

stillness. But that consciousness of some near presence asserted itself persistently and uncannily.

"My nerves are out of order!" he muttered. "No one has touched my papers. I must have left the drawer open

He switched off the light and walked across to the door. He had actually passed out, intending to return to his

Someone or something, evil and watchful, seemed to be very near again. Stuart turned and found himself

gazing fearfully in the direction of the open study door. He became persuaded anew that someone was hiding

there, and snatching up an ash stick which lay upon a chair in the hall he returned to the door. One step into

the room he took and pausedpalsied with a sudden fear which exceeded anything he had known.

A white casement curtain was drawn across the French windows . . . and outlined upon this moonbright

Such an apparition would have been sufficiently alarming had the cowl been that of a monk, but the outline

of this phantom being suggested that of one of the Misericordia brethren or the costume worn of old by the

His heart leapt wildly, and seemed to grow still. He sought to cry out in his terror, but only emitted a dry

The psychology of panic is obscure and has been but imperfectly explored. The presence of the terrible

cowled figure afforded confirmation of Stuart's theory that he was the victim of a species of waking

Stuart ran across the room, jerked open the curtains and stared out across the moonbathed lawn, its prospect

terminated by high privet hedges. One of the French windows was wide open. There was no one on the lawn;

"Mrs. M'Gregor swears that I always forget to shut these windows at night!" he muttered.

He closed and bolted the window, stood for a moment looking out across the empty lawn, then turned and

DR. STUART awoke in the morning and tried to recall what had occurred during the night. He consulted his

watch and found the hour to be six a.m. No one was stirring in the house, and he rose and put on a bath robe.

He felt perfectly well and could detect no symptoms of nervous disorder. Bright sunlight was streaming into

the room, and he went out on to the landing, fastening the cord of his gown as he descended the stairs.

His study door was locked, with the key outside. He remembered having locked it. Opening it, he entered and

looked about him. He was vaguely disappointed. Save for the untidy litter of papers upon the table, the study

was as he had left it on retiring. If he could believe the evidence of his senses, nothing had been disturbed.

Not content with a casual inspection, he particularly examined those papers which, in his dream adventure, he

had believed to have been submitted to mysterious inspection. They showed no signs of having been touched.

The casement curtains were drawn across the recess formed by the French windows, and sunlight streamed in

where, silhouetted against the pallid illumination of the moon, he had seen the man in the cowl. Drawing

back the curtains, he examined the window fastenings. They were secure. If the window had really been open

He determined, immediately he had bathed and completed his toilet, to write an account of the dream for the

Psychical Research Society, in whose work he was interested. Half an hour later, as the movements of an

awakened household began to proclaim themselves, he sat down at his writingtable and commenced to

Keppel Stuart was a dark, goodlooking man of about thirtytwo, an easygoing bachelor who, whilst not

over ambitious, was nevertheless a brilliant physician. He had worked for the Liverpool School of Tropical

Medicine and had spent several years in India studying snake poisons. His purchase of this humdrum

suburban practice had been dictated by a desire to make a home for a girl who at the eleventh hour had

declined to share it. Two years had elapsed since then, but the shadow still lay upon Stuart's life, its influence

being revealed in a certain apathy, almost indifference, which characterised his professional conduct.

His account of the dream completed, he put the paper into a pigeonhole and forgot all about the matter. That

day seemed to be more than usually dull and the hours to drag wearily on. He was conscious of a sort of

suspense. He was waiting for something, or for someone. He did not choose to analyse this mental condition.

At about ten o'clock that night, having been called out to a case, he returned to his house, walking straight

into the study as was his custom and casting a light Burberry with a soft hat upon the sofa beside his stick and

bag. The lamps were lighted, and the booklined room, indicative of a studious and not overwealthy

Mrs. M'Gregor, a greyhaired Scotch lady, attired with scrupulous neatness, was tending the fire at the

"A fire is rather superfluous tonight, Mrs. M'Gregor," he said. "I found it unpleasantly warm walking."

"May is a fearsome treacherous month, Mr. Keppel," replied the old housekeeper, who from long association

with the struggling practitioner had come to regard him as a son. "An' a wheen o' dry logs is worth a barrel o'

pheesic. To which I would add that if ye're hintin' it's time ye shed ye're woolsies for ye're summer wear, all I

have to reply is that I hope sincerely ye're patients are more prudent than yoursel'."

She placed his slippers in the fender and took up the hat, stick and coat from the sofa. Stuart laughed.

"Most of the neighbours exhibit their wisdom by refraining from becoming patients of mine, Mrs. M'Gregor."

"Aye," replied Mrs. M'Gregor firmly"prejudice! They're no' that daft but they're well aware o' who's the

cleverest physician in the deestrict, an' they come to nane other than Dr. Keppel Stuart when they're sair sick

and think they're dying; but ye'll never establish the practice you desairve, Mr. Keppelneveruntil"

"Mrs. M'Gregor!" exclaimed Stuart with concern. "You don't mean that you want to desert me? Afterlet

"Thirty years come last Shrove Tuesday; I dandled ye on my knee, and eh! but ye were bonny! God forbid,

but I'd like to see ye thriving as ye desairve, and that ye'll never do whilst ye're a bachelor."

"Oh!" cried Stuart, laughing again"oh, that's it, is it? So you would like me to find some poor inoffensive

Mrs. M'Gregor nodded wisely. "She have nane so many to share. I know ye think I'm oldfashioned, Mr.

Keppel, and it may be I am; but I do assure you I would be sair harassed, if stricken to my bedwhich,

"ErMrs. M'Gregor!" interrupted Stuart, coughing in mock rebuke"quite so! I fancy we have discussed

this point before, and as you say your ideas are a wee big, just a wee bit, behind the times. On this particular

point I mean. But I am very grateful to you, very sincerely grateful, for your disinterested kindness; and if

Mrs. M'Gregor interrupted him, pointing to his boots. "Ye're no' that daft as to sit in wet boots?"

"Really they are perfectly dry. Except for a light shower this evening, there has been no rain for several days.

He began to unlace his boots as Mrs. M'Gregor pulled the white casement curtains across the windows and

then prepared to retire. Her hand upon the door knob, she turned again to Stuart.

Stuart desisted from unlacing his boots and looked up with lively interest. "Mlle. Dorian! Did she leave any

"She obsairved that she might repeat her veesit later," replied Mrs. M'Gregor, and, after a moment's

"Really, I am sorry I was detained," declared Stuart, relacing his boot. "How long has she been gone, then?"

"So I am given to understand, Mr. Keppel," replied the old lady dryly; "and in a grand luxurious car."

Stuart assumed an expression of perplexity to hide his embarrassment. "Mrs. M'Gregor," he said rather

ruefully, "you watch over me as tenderly as my own mother would have done. I have observed a certain

restraint in your manner whenever you have had occasion to refer to Mlle. Dorian. In what way does she

differ from my other lady patients?" And even as he spoke the words he knew in his heart that she differed

Mrs. M'Gregor sniffed. "Do your other lady patients wear furs that your airnings for six months could never

"No, unfortunately they pin their faith, for the most part to gaily coloured shawls. All the more reason why I

Mrs. M'Gregor, betraying, in her interest, real suspicion, murmured sotto voce, "Then she is a patient?"

"What's that?" asked Stuart, regarding her surprisedly. "A patient? Certainly. She suffers from insomnia."

"Now, Mr. Keppel, laddie, ye're angry with me, and like enough I am a meddlesome old woman. But I know

what a man will do for shining een and a winsome facenane better to my sorrowand twa times have I

Stuart stood up in real perplexity. "Pardon my density, Mrs. M'Gregor, buterthe Warning? To what

Seating herself in the chair before the writingtable, Mrs. M'Gregor shook her head pensively. "What would

Stuart came across and leaned upon a corner of the table. "The Pibroch of the M'Gregors?" he repeated.

"None other. 'Tis said to be Rob Roy's ain piper that gives warning when danger threatens ane o' the

Stuart restrained a smile, and, "A wellmeaning but melancholy retainer!" he commented.

"As well as I hear you now, laddie, I heard the pibroch on the day a certain woman first crossed my threshold,

nigh thirty years ago, in Inverary. And as plainly as I heard it wailing then, I heard it the first evening that

Torn between goodhumoured amusement and real interest, "If I remember rightly," said Stuart, "Mlle.

Dorian first called here just a week ago, and immediately before I returned from an Infirmary case?"

"Ye're laughing at an auld wife, laddie. No, but I saw Miss Dorian away in her car and twa minutes later I

"If she had only waited another two minutes," murmured Stuart. "No matter; she may return. And are these

the only occasions upon which you have heard this mysterious sound, Mrs. M'Gregor?"

"No, Master Keppel, they are not. I assure ye something threatens. It wakened me up in the wee sma' hours

"Mrs. M'Gregor"he leaned across the table and rested his hands upon her shoulders"you are a second

mother to me, your care makes me feel like a boy again; and in these grey days it's good to feel like a boy

again. You think I am laughing at you, but I'm not. The strange tradition of your family is associated with a

tragedy in your life; therefore I respect it. But have no fear with regard to Mlle. Dorian. In the first place she

is a patient; in the secondI am merely a penniless suburban practitioner. Goodnight, Mrs. M'Gregor.

Don't think of waiting up. Tell Mary to show Mademoiselle in here directly she arrivesthat is if she really

Mrs. M'Gregor stood up and walked slowly to the door. "I'll show Mademoiselle in mysel', Mr. Keppel," she

SEATING himself at the writingtable, Stuart began mechanically to arrange his papers. Then from the

tobacco jar he loaded his pipe, but his manner remained abstracted. Yet he was not thinking of the phantom

Until he had met this bewilderingly pretty woman he had thought that his heart was for evermore proof

against the glances of bright eyes. Mademoiselle had disillusioned him. She was the most fragrantly lovely

creature he had ever met, and never for one waking moment since her first visit had he succeeded in driving

her bewitching image from his mind. He had tried to laugh at his own folly, then had grown angry with

himself, but finally had settled down to a dismayed acceptance of a wild infatuation.

He had no idea who Mlle. Dorian was; he did not even know her exact nationality, but he strongly suspected

that there was a strain of Eastern blood in her veins. Although she was quite young, apparently little more

than twenty years of age, she dressed like a woman of unlimited means, and although all her visits had been

at night he had had glimpses of the big car which had aroused Mrs. M'Gregor's displeasure.

Yesso ran his musings, as, pipe in mouth, he rested his chin in his hands and stared grimly into the

fireshe had always come at night and always alone. He had supposed her to be a Frenchwoman, but an

unmarried French girl of good family does not make late calls, even upon a medical man, unattended. Had he

perchance unwittingly made himself a party to the escapade of some unruly member of a noble family? From

the first he had shrewdly suspected the ailments of Mlle. Dorian to be imaginaryMlle. Dorian? It was an

"I shall be imagining she is a disguised princess if I wonder about her any more!" he muttered angrily.

Detecting himself in the act of heaving a weary sigh, he coughed in selfreproval and reached into a

pigeonhole for the MS. Of his unfinished paper on "Snake Poisons and Their Antidotes." By chance he

pulled out the brief account, written the same morning, of his uncanny experience during the night. He read it

It was incomplete. A certain mental laziness which he had noted upon awakening had in some way obscured

the facts. His memory of the dream had been imperfect. Even now, whilst recognizing that some feature of

the experience was missing from his written account, he could not identify the omission. But one memory

arose starkly before himthat of the cowled man who had stood behind the curtains. It had power to chill

him yet. The old incredulity returned and methodically he reexamined the contents of some of the table

"What the devil could a penniless doctor have hidden in his desk that was worth stealing!" he said aloud. "I

He tossed the statement aside and turned to his scientific paper. There came a knock at the door.

"Come in!" snapped Stuart irritably; but the next moment he had turned, eagereyed, to the servant who had

There entered, shortly, a man of unusual height, a man gaunt and square both of figure and face. He wore his

clothes and his hair untidily. He was iron grey and a grim mouth was ill concealed by the wiry moustache.

The most notable features of a striking face were the tawny leonine eyes, which could be fierce, which could

"Goodevening, doctor," he saidand his voice was pleasant and unexpectedly light in tone. "Hope I don't

"Not at all, Inspector," Stuart assured him. "Make yourself comfortable in the armchair and fill your pipe.

"Thanks," said Dunbar. "I will." He took out his pipe and reached out a long arm for the tobacco jar. "I came

"Something in my line?" asked Stuart, a keen professional look coming momentarily into his eyes.

"It's supposed to be a poison case, although I can't see it myself," answered the detectiveto whom Keppel

Stuart's unusual knowledge of poisons had been of service in the past; "but if what I suspect is true, it's a very

Laying down his pipe, which he had filled but not lighted, Inspector Dunbar pulled out from the inside pocket

of his tweed coat a bulging notebook and extract therefrom some small object wrapped up in tissue paper.

Stuart peered closely at that which lay before him. It was a piece of curiously shaped gold, cunningly

engraved in a most unusual way. Rather less than an inch in length, it formed a crescent made up of six oval

segments joined one to another, the sixth terminating in a curled point. The first and largest segment ended

jaggedly where it had evidently been snapped off from the rest of the ornamentif the thing had formed part

Inspector Dunbar lighted his pipe and tossed the matchend into the fire. "But what does it represent?" he

"Oh, as to thatI said a curious fragment advisedly, because I cannot imagine any woman wearing such a

"Ah!" cried Dunbar, the tawny eyes glittering with excitement. "The tail of a scorpion! I thought so! And

Sowerby would have it that it represented the stem of a Cactus or Prickly Pear!"

"Not so bad a guess," replied Stuart. "There are resemblancesnot in the originals but in such a miniature

reproduction as this. He was wrong, however. May I ask where you obtained the fragment?"

"I'm here to tell you, doctor, for now that I know it's a scorpion's tail I know that I'm out of my depth as well.

You've travelled in the East and lived in the Easttwo very different things. Now, while you were out there,

in India, China, Burma and so on, did you ever come across a religion or a cult that worshipped scorpions?"

Stuart frowned throughfully, rubbing his chin with the mouthpiece of his pipe. Dunbar watched him

"Help yourself to whiskyandsoda, Inspector," said Stuart absently. "You'll find everything on the

Inspector Dunbar nodded, stood up and crossed the room, where he busied himself with syphon and decanter.

Presently he returned, carrying two full glasses, one of which he set before Stuart. "What's the answer,

"The answer is no. I am not acquainted with any sect of scorpionworshippers, Inspector. But I once met

with a curious experience at SuChow in China, which I have never been able to explain, but which may

interest you. It wanted but a few minutes to sunset, and I was anxious to get back to my quarters before dusk

fell. Therefore I hurried up my boy, who was drawing the rickshaw, telling him to cross the Canal by the

WuMen Bridge. He ran fleetly in that direction, and we were actually come to the steep acclivity of the

bridge, when suddenly the boy dropped the shafts and fell down on his knees, hiding his face in his hand.

"I stared down at him in amazement, as was natural, and not a little angrily; for his sudden action had almost

pitched me on my head. But there he crouched, immovable, and staring up the slope I saw that it was entirely

deserted except for one strange figure at that moment crossing the crown of the bridge and approaching. It

was the figure of a tall and dignified Chinaman, or of one who wore the dress of a Chinaman. For the

extraordinary thing about the stranger's appearance was this: he also wore a thick green veil!"

"So as to cover his face completely. I was staring at him in wonder, when the boy, seeming to divine the

"Undoubtedly. Of course I did nothing of the kind, but it was impossible to discern the stranger's features

through the thick gauze, although he passed quite close to me. He had not proceeded another three paces, I

should think, before my boy had snatched up the shafts and darted across the bridge as though all hell were

after him! Here's the odd thing, though: I could never induce him to speak a word on the subject afterwards! I

bullied him and bribed him, but all to no purpose. And although I must have asked more than a hundred

Chinamen in every station of society from mandarin to mendicant, 'Who or what is The Scorpion?' one and

"H'm!" said Dunbar, "it's a queer yarn, certainly. How long ago would that be, doctor?"

"It sounds as though it might belong to the case. Some months back, early in the winter, we received

instructions at the Yard to look out everywhere in the press, in buffets, theatres, but particularly in criminal

quarters, for any reference (of any kind whatever) to a scorpion. I was so puzzled that I saw the

Commissioner about it, and he could tell me next to nothing. He said the word had come through from Paris,

but that Paris seemed to know no more about it than we did. It was associated in some way with the sudden

deaths of several notable public men about that time; but as there was no evidence of foul play in any of the

cases, I couldn't see what it meant at all. Then, six weeks ago, Sir Frank Narcombe, the surgeon, fell dead in

"It's curious you should say so, doctor, because we had the tip to press for one; but Sir Frank's people had big

influence, and we lost. This is the point, though. I was working day and night for a week or more,

crossquestioning Tom, Dick and Harry and examining shoals of papers to try and find some connection

between Sir Frank Narcombe and a scorpion! Paris information again! Of course I found no trace of such a

thing. It was a devil of a job, because I didn't really know what I was looking for. I had begun to think that

the scorpionhunt had gone the way of a good many other giant gooseberries, when last night the River

Police got the grapnel on a man off Hanover Holea rich spot for 'finds.' He was frightfully battered about;

he seemed to have got mixed up with a steamer's propeller blades. The only two things by which me may

ultimately be identified are a metal disk which he wore on a chain around his wrist and which bore the initials

Stuart reached across for the instrument and raised the receiver. "Yes," he said"Dr. Stuart speaking.

He passed the instrument to Dunbar, who had stood up on hearing his name mentioned. "Sergeant Sowerby at

"Hullo," said Dunbar"that you, Sowerby. Yesbut I arrived here only a short time ago. What's

that?Max! Did you say Max? Good God! what does it all mean! Are you sure of the number49685?

Poor chaphe should have worked with us instead of going off alone like that. But he was always given to

that sort of thing. Wait for me. I'll be with you in a few minutes. I can get a taxi. And, Sowerbylisten! It's

'The Scorpion' case right enough. That bit of gold found on the dead man is not a cactus stem; it's a scorpion's

He put down the telephone and turned to Stuart, who had been listening to the words with growing concern.

"We have been asleep!" he exclaimed. "Gaston Max of the Paris Service has been at work in London for a

As a student of criminology the name of the celebrated Frenchman was familiar to him as that of the foremost

criminal investigator in Europe, and he found himself staring at the fragment of gold with a new and keener

"Poor chap," continued Dunbar"it was his last. The body brought in from Hanover Hole has been

"Paris has just wired that Max's reports ceased over a week ago. He was working on the case of Sir Frank

Narcombe, it seems, and I never knew! But I predicted a long time ago that Max would play the lonehand

game once too often. The identification disk is his. Oh! there's no doubt about it, unfortunately. The dead

man's face is unrecognizable, but it's not likely there are two disks of that sort bearing the initials G.M. and

"I am expecting a patient, Inspector," replied Stuart"era special case. But I hope you will keep me in

"Well, I shouldn't have suggested your coming to the Yard if I hadn't wanted to do that. As a matter of fact,

this scorpion job seems to resolve itself into a case of elaborate assassination by means of some unknown

poison; and although I should have come to see you in any event, because you have helped me more than

once, I came tonight at the suggestion of the Commissioner. He instructed me to retain your services if they

"I am honoured," replied Stuart. "But after all, Inspector, I am merely an ordinary suburban practitioner. My

reputation has yet to be made. What's the matter with Halesowen of Upper Wimpole Street? He's the big

"And if Sir Frank Narcombe was really poisonedas Paris seems to think he washe's also a big fool,"

"If he was right," said Dunbar, taking up the piece of gold from the table, "what was Gaston Max doing with

"There may be no earthly connection between Max's inquiries and the death of Sir Frank."

"On the other handthere may! Leaving Dr. Halesowen out of the question, are you open to act as expert

"Your fee is your own affair, doctor. I will communicate with you later, if you wish, or call again in the

Dunbar wrapped up the scorpion's tail in the piece of tisue paper and was about to replace it in his notecase.

"I'll leave this with you, doctor," he said. "I know it will be safe enough, and you might like to examine it at

"Very well," replied Stuart. "Some of the engraving is very minute. I will have a look at it through a glass

He took the fragment from Dunbary, who had again unwrapped it, and, opening a drawer of the writingtable

in which he kept his chequebook and some few other personal valuables, he placed the curious piece of

"I will walk as far as the cabrank with you," he said, finding himself to be possessed of a spirit of unrest.

Whereupon the two went out of the room, Stuart extinguishing the lamps as he came to the door.

They had not left the study for more than two minutes ere a car drew up outside the house, and Mrs.

M'Gregor ushered a lady into the room but lately quitted by Stuart and Dunbar, turning up the lights as she

"The doctor has gone out but just the now, Miss Dorian," she said stiffly. "I am sorry that ye are so

The girl addressed was of a type fully to account for the misgivings of the shrewd old Scotswoman. She had

the slim beauty of the East allied to the elegance of the West. Her features, whilst cast in a charming

European mould, at the same time suggested in some subtle way the Oriental. She had the long,

almondshaped eyes of the Egyptian, and her hair, which she wore unconventionally in a picturesque fashion

reminiscent of the har�m, was inclined to be "fuzzy," but gleamed with coppery tints where the light touched

She wore a cloak of purple velvet having a hooded collar of white fox fur; it fastened with golden cords.

Beneath it was a white and gold robe, cut with classic simplicity of line and confined at the waist by an ornate

Eastern girdle. White stockings and dull gold shoes exhibited to advantage her charming little feet and slim

ankles, and she carried a handbag of Indian beadwork. Mlle. Dorian was a figure calculated to fire the

"You are very good," said the visitor, speaking with a certain hesitancy and with a slight accent most musical

"Dear, dear," muttered Mrs. M'Gregor, beginning to poke the fire, "he has let the fire down, of course! Is it

She set the poker upright before the nearly extinguished fire and turned triumphantly to Mlle. Dorian, who

"That will be a comforting blaze in a few minutes, Miss Dorian," she said, and went towards the door.

"If you please," called the girl, detaining her"do you permit me to speak on the telephone a moment? As

"Certainly, Miss Dorian," replied Mrs. M'Gregor; "use the telephone by all means. But I think the doctor will

Mrs. M'Gregor went out, not without a final backward glance at the elegant figure in the armchair. Mlle.

Dorian was seated, her chin resting in her hand and her elbow upon the arm of the chair, gazing into the

smoke arising from the nearly extinguished embers of the fire. The door closed, and Mrs. M'Gregor's

Mlle. Dorian sprang from the chair and took out of her handbag a number of small keys attached to a ring.

Furtively she crossed the room, all the time listening intently, and cast her cloak over the back of the chair

which was placed before the writingtable. Her robe of white and gold clung to her shapely figure as she bent

over the table and tried three of the keys in the lock of the drawer which contained Stuart's chequebook and

in which he had recently placed the mysterious gold ornament. The third key fitted the lock, and Mlle. Dorian

pulled open the drawer. She discovered first the chequebook and next a private accountbook; then from

under the latter she drew out a foolscap envelope sealed with red wax and bearing, in Stuart's handwriting,

She uttered a subdued exclamation; then, as a spark of light gleamed within the open drawer, she gazed as if

stupefied at the little ornament which she had suddenly perceived lying near the chequebook. She picked it

up and stared at it aghast. A moment she hesitated; then, laying down the fragment of gold and also the long

envelope upon the table, she took up the telephone. Keeping her eyes fixed upon the closed door of the study,

she asked for the number East 89512, and whilst she waited for the connection continued that nervous

"Yes! . . . Miska speaks. Listen! One of the new keysit fits. I have the envelope. But, also, in the same

drawer, I find a part of a broken gold 'agrab (scorpion). Yes, it is broken. It must be they find it, on him." Her

manner grew more and more agitated. "Shall I bring it? The envelope it is very large. I do not know if"

From somewhere outside the house came a low, wailing crya cry which Stuart, if he had heard it, must

have recognized to be identical with that which he had heard in the nightbut which he had forgotten to

"Ah!" whispered the girl"there is the signal! It is the doctor who returns." She listened eagerly, fearfully, to

Always glancing toward the door, she put down the instrument, took up the long envelope and paused for a

moment, thinking that she had heard the sound of approaching footsteps. She exhibited signs of nervous

indecision, tried to thrust the envelope into her little bag and realized that even folded it would not fit so as to

escape observation. She ran across to the grate and dropped the envelope upon the smouldering fire. As she

She started wildly, ran back to the table, took up the broken ornament and was about to thrust it into the open

"MADEMOISELLE DORIAN!" cried Stuart joyously, advancing with outstretched hand. She leaned back

against the table watching himand suddenly he perceived the open drawer. He stopped. His expression

changed to one of surprise and anger, and the girl's slim fingers convulsively clutched the table edge as she

confronted him. Her exquisite colour fled and left her pallid, darkeyed and dismayed.

"Your object in selecting an obscure practitioner for your medical adviser becomes painfully evident to me.

Diagnosis of your case would have been much more easy if I had associated your symptoms with the

presence in my table drawer of"he hesitated"of something which you have taken out. Give me whatever

He was cruel in his disillusionment. Here lay the explanation of his romance; here was his disguised

"Nothingsee." She cast the little gold ornament on the table. "I look at this, but I do not mean to steal it."

She raised her beautiful eyes to his face again, and he found himself wavering. That she had made his

acquaintance in order to steal the fragment of the golden scorpion was impossible, for he had not possessed it

at the time of her first visit. He was hopelessly mystified and utterly miserable.

She took up the bunch of keys which lay upon the table and na�vely exhibited that which fitted the lock of the

She watched him intently, her lips trembling and her eyes wells of sorrow into which he could not gaze

"I shall make no promises, for I can believe nothing that you may tell me. You gained my confidence by a

lieand now, by another lie, you seem to think that you can induce me to overlook a deliberate attempt at

burglarycommon burglary." He clenched his hands. "Heavens! I could never have believed it of you!"

She flinched as though from a blow and regarded him pitifully as he stood, head averted.

"Ah! you are cruelyou have no pity! You judge me as you judgeone of your Englishwomen. Perhaps I

cannot help what I do. In the East a woman is a chattel and has no will of her own."

"A chattel!" cried Stuart scornfully. "Your resemblance to the 'chattels' of the East is a remote one. There is

Eastern blood in your veins, no doubt, but you are educated, you are a linguist, you know the world. Right

"You are simply seeking to enlist my sympathy," he said bitterly. "But you have said nothing which inclines

me to listen to you any longer. Apart from the shock of finding you to bewhat you are, I am utterly

mystified as to your object. I am a poor man. The entire contents of my house would fetch only a few

hundred pounds if sold tomorrow. Yet you risk your liberty to rifle my bureau. For the last timewhat have

She leaned back against the table, toying with the broken piece of gold and glancing down at it as she did so.

Her long lashes cast shadows below her eyes, and a hint of colour was returning to her cheeks. Stuart studied

her attentivelyeven delightedly, for all her shortcomings, and knew in his heart that he could never give

her in charge of the police. More and more the wonder of it all grew upon him, and now he suddenly found

"You do not answer," he said. "I will ask you another question: have you attempted to open that drawer prior

Mlle. Dorian looked up rapidly, and her cheeks, which had been pale, now flushed rosily.

"Oh?" she cried and threw out her hands in entreaty. "Do not ask me of him! I dare not answerI dare not!"

"You have answered," said Stuart, in a voice unlike his own; for a horrified amazement was creeping upon

him and supplanting the contemptuous anger which the discovery of this beautiful girl engaged in pilfering

The mystery of her operations was explainedexplained by a deeper and a darker mystery. The horror of the

night had been no dream but an almost incredible reality. He now saw before him an agent of the man in the

cowl; he perceived that he was in some way entangled in an affair vastly more complex and sinister than a

And in the eyes of his beautiful captive he read the answer. She flinched again as she had done when he had

"I was not!" she cried at him fiercely, and her widely opened eyes were magnificent. "Sir Frank Narcombe

She falteredand ceased speaking, biting her lip which had become tremulous again.

"Sir Frank Narcombe is?" prompted Stuart, feeling himself to stand upon the brink of a revelation.

"Am I, by any chance, in danger of sharing the fate of that distinguished surgeon?" he asked ironically.

His question produced an unforeseen effect. Mlle. Dorian suddenly rested her jewelled hands upon his

shoulders, and he found himself looking hungrily into those wonderful Eastern eyes.

"If I swear that I speak the truth, will you believe me?" she whispered, and her fingers closed convulsively

"Listen, then. Now you are in danger, yes. Before, you were not, but now you must be very careful. Oh!

indeed, indeed, I tell you true! I tell you for your own sake. Do with me what you please. I do not care. It

does not matter. You ask me why I come here. I tell you that also. I come for what is in the long

Stuart turned and glanced toward the grate. A faint wisp of brown smoke was arising from a long white

envelope which lay there. Had the fire been actually burning, it must long ago have been destroyed. More

than ever mystified, for the significance of the envelope was not evident to him, he ran to the grate and

As he did so, the girl, with one quick glance in his direction, snatched her cloak, keys and bag and ran from

the room. Stuart heard the door close, and racing back to the table he placed the slightly charred envelope

His escaped prisoner had turned the key on the outside. He was locked in his own study!

Momentarily nonplussed, he stood looking at the closed door. The sound of a restarted motor from outside

the house spurred him to action. He switched off the lamps, crossed the darkened room and drew back the

curtain, throwing open the French windows. Brilliant moonlight bathed the little lawn with its bordering of

high privet hedges. Stuart ran out as the sound of the receding car reached his ears. By the time that he had

reached the front of the house the street was vacant from end to end. He walked up the steps to the front door,

which he unfastened with his latchkey. As he entered the hall, Mrs. M'Gregor appeared from her room.

"Now tell me, Mr. Keppel, did ye or did ye no' hear the wail o' the pibroch the night?"

"NoI am afraid I cannot say that I did, Mrs. M'Gregor," replied Stuart patiently. "I feel sure you must be

very tired and you can justifiably turn in now. I am expecting no other visitor. Goodnight."

Stuart, no longer able to control his impatience, hurried to the study door, unlocked it and entered. Turning on

the light, he crossed and hastily drew the curtains over the window recess, but without troubling to close the

window which he had opened. Then he returned to the writingtable and took up the sealed envelope whose

presence in his bureau was clearly responsible for the singular visitation of the cowled man and for the

The "pibroch of the M'Gregors"? He remembered somethingsomething which, unaccountably, he hitherto

had failed to recall: that fearful wailing in the nightwhich had heralded the coming of the cowled

He stared at the envelope blankly, then laid it down and stood looking for some time at the golden scorpion's

tail. Finally, his hands resting upon the table, he found that almost unconsciously he had been

listeninglistening to the dim night sounds of London and to the vague stirrings within the house.

Could he believe her? If in naught else, in this at least surely she had been sincere? Stuart startedthen

DETECTIVEINSPECTOR DUNBAR arrived at New Scotland Yard in a veritable fever of excitement.

Jumping out of the cab, he ran into the building and without troubling the man in charge of the lift went

straight on upstairs to his room. He found it to be in darkness and switched on the greenshaded lamp which

was suspended above the table. Its light revealed a bare apartment having distempered walls severely

decorated by an etching of a former and unbeautiful Commissioner. The blinds were drawn. A plain, heavy

deal table (bearing a blottingpad, a pewter inkpot, several pens and a telephone), together with three

uncomfortable chairs, alone broke the expanse of highly polished floor. Dunbar glanced at the table and then

stood undecided in the middle of the bare room, tapping his small, widely separated teeth with a pencil which

"What!" cried Dunbar. "Three hours ago! But I have been here myself within that timein the

"But, my good fellow, he has been back again. He spoke to me on the telephone less than a quarter of an hour

"But I say it was from here!" shouted Dunbar fiercely; "and I told him to wait for me."

He walked out into the bare corridor and along to the room of the Assistant Commissioner. Knocking upon

the door, he opened it immediately, and entered an apartment which afforded a striking contrast to his own.

For whereas the room of Inspector Dunbar was practically unfurnished, that of his superior was so filled with

tables, cupboards, desks, bureaux, files, telephones, bookshelves and stacks of documents that only one

discovered the Assistant Commissioner sunk deep in a padded armchair and a cloud of tobacco smoke by dint

of close scrutiny. The Assistant Commissioner was small, sallow and satanic. His black moustache was very

black and his eyes were of so dark a brown as to appear black also. When he smiled he revealed a row of very

large white teeth, and his smile was correctly Mephistophelean. He smoked a hundred and twenty Egyptian

cigarettes per diem, and the first and second fingers of either hand were coffeecoloured.

"Goodevening, Inspector," he said courteously. "You come in at an opportune moment." He lighted a fresh

cigarette. "I was detained here unusually late tonight or this news would not have reached us till the

morning." He laid his finger upon a yellow form. "There is an unpleasant development in 'The Scorpion'

The Assistant Commissioner glanced up sharply. "What brought you back to the Yard?" he asked.

"Might I ask, Inspector," he said, "what news you have learned and how you have learned it?"

"Sowerby 'phoned me about half an hour ago, sir. Did he do so without your instructions?"

"He told me," replied Dunbar, in evergrowing amazement, "that the body brought in by the River Police last

The Assistant Commissioner handed a penciled slip to Dunbar. It read as follows:

"Gaston Max in London. Scorpion, Narcombe. No report since 30th ult. Fear trouble. Identitydisk G.M.

"Quite so. That is the really extraordinary feature of the affair. Because, you see, Inspector, I only finished

"There is no room for a 'but,' Inspector. This confidential message from Paris reached me ten minutes ago.

You know as well as I know that there is no possibility of leakage. No one has entered my room in the

interval, yet you tell me that Sergeant Sowerby communicated this information to you, by telephone, half an

Dunbar was tapping his teeth with the pencil. His amazement was too great for words.

"Had the message been a false one," continued the Commissioner, "the matter would have been resolved into

a meaningless hoax, but the message having been what it was, we find ourselves face to face with no ordinary

"Remember, Inspector, that voices on the telephone are deceptive. Sergeant Sowerby has marked vocal

"But it brings us no nearer to the real problems; viz., first, the sender of the message; and, second, his

There was a dull purring sound and the Assistant Commissioner raised the telephone.

"Yes. Who is it that wishes to speak to him? Dr. Keppel Stuart? Connect with my office."

"Dr. Stuart has a matter of the utmost urgency to communicate, Inspector. It was at the house of Dr. Stuart, I

"Ah!" The Assistant Commissioner smiled satanically and lighted a fresh cigarette. "And is Dr. Stuart

agreeable to placing his unusual knowledge at our disposal for the purposes of this case?"

"Hullo!" cried Dunbar, taking up the receiver"is that Dr. Stuart? Dunbar speaking."

"You want me to come around now, doctor? Very well. I'll be with you in less than half an hour."

"Something extraordinary seems to have taken place at Dr. Stuart's house a few minutes after I left, sir," he

said. "I'm going back there, now, for particulars. It sounds as though the 'phone message might have been

intended to get me away." He stared down at the pencilled slip which the Assistant Commissioner had handed

to him, but stared vacantly, and: "Do you mind if I call someone up, sir?" he asked. "It should be done at

"Is that Battersea 0966?" he asked. "Is Dr. Stuart there? He is speaking? Oh, this is Inspector Dunbar. You

called me up here at the Yard a few moments ago, did you not? Correct, doctor; that's all I wanted to know. I

"Good," said the Assistant Commissioner, nodding his approval. "You will have to check 'phone messages in

that way until you have run your mimic to earth, Inspector. I don't believe for a moment that it was Sergeant

"Neither do I," said Dunbar grimly. "But I begin to have a glimmer of a notion who it was. I'll be saying

As a mere matter of form he waited for the report of the constable who had gone in quest of Sowerby, but it

merely confirmed the fact that Sowerby had left Scotland Yard over three hours earlier. Dunbar summoned a

STUART personally admitted Dunbar, and once more the Inspector found himself in the armchair in the

study. The fire was almost out and the room seemed to be chilly. Stuart was labouring under the influence of

"Inspector," he began, "I find it difficult to tell you the facts which have recently come to my knowledge

bearing upon this most mysterious 'Scorpion' case. I clearly perceive, now, that without being aware of the

"A fortnight ago," Stuart continued, "I found myself in the neighbourhood of the West India Docks. I had

been spending the evening with a very old friend, chief officer of a liner then in dock. I had intended to leave

the ship at about ten o'clock and to walk to the railway station, but, as it fell out, the party did not break up

until after midnight. Declining the offer of a berth on board, I came ashore determined to make my way home

by tram and afoot. I should probably have done so and have been sparedmuch; but rain began to fall

suddenly and I found myself, foolishly unprovided with a topcoat, in those grey East End streets without

"It was just as I was crossing Limehouse Causeway that I observed, to my astonishment, the headlamps of a

cab or car shining out from a dark and forbidding thoroughfare which led down to the river. The sight was so

utterly unexpected that I paused, looking through the rain mist in the direction of the stationary vehicle. I was

still unable to make out if it were a cab or a car, and accordingly I walked along to where it stood and found

"I gave him this address and he drove me home. On arriving, so grateful did I feel that I took pity upon the

man, for it had settled down into a brute of a night, and asked him to come in and take a glass of grog. He

was only too glad to do so. He turned out to be quite an intelligent sort of fellow, and we chatted together for

"I had forgotten all about him when, I believe on the following night, he reappeared in the character of a

patient. He had a badly damaged skull, and I gathered that he had had an accident with his cab and had been

"When I had fixed him up he asked me to do him a small favour. From inside his tunic he pulled out a long

stiff envelope, bearing no address but the number 30 in big red letters. It was secured at both ends with black

"'A gentleman left this behind in the cab today, sir,' said the man'perhaps the one who was with me when

I had the spill, and I've got no means of tracing him; but he may be able to trace me if he happened to notice

"'Then why not take it to Scotland Yard?' I asked. 'Isn't that the proper course?'

"'It is,' he admitted; 'but here's the point: if the owner reclaims it from Scotland Yard he's less likely to dub up

"I laughed at that, for the soundness of the argument was beyond dispute. 'But what on earth do you want to

"'Selfprotection,' was the reply. 'They can't say I meant to pinch it! Whereas, directly there's any inquiry I

can come and collect it and get the reward; and your word will back me up if any questions are asked; that's if

"I told him I didn't mind in the least, and accordingly I sealed the envelope in a yet larger one which I

addressed to the Lost Property Office and put into a private drawer of my bureau. 'You will have no

objection,' I said, 'to this being posted if it isn't reclaimed within a reasonable time?'

"He said that would be all right and departedsince which moment I have not set eyes upon him. I now

Stuart's agitation grew more marked, and it was only by dint of a palpable effort that he forced himself to

"On the evening of the following day a lady called, professionally. She was young, pretty, and dressed with

extraordinary elegance. My housekeeper admitted her, as I was out at the time but momentarily expected. She

awaited my return here, in this room. She came again two days later. The name she gave was an odd one:

Mademoiselle Dorian. There is her card,"Stuart opened a drawer and laid a visitingcard before

Dunbar"no initials and no address. She travelled in a large and handsome car. That is to say, according to

my housekeeper's account it is a large and handsome car. I, personally, have had but an imperfect glimpse of

it. It does not await her in front of the house, for some reason, but just around the corner in the side turning.

Beyond wondering why Mademoiselle Dorian had selected me as her medical adviser I had detected nothing

"Last night there was a singular development, and tonight matters came to a head."

Thereupon Stuart related as briefly as possible the mysterious episode of the cowled man, and finally gave an

account of the last visit of Mlle. Dorian. Inspector Dunbar did not interrupt him, but listened attentively to the

Dunbar took it up eagerly. A small hole had been burned in one end of the envelope and much of the

surrounding paper was charred. The wax with which Stuart had sealed it had lain uppermost, and although it

had been partly melted, the mark of his signetring was still discernible upon it. Dunbar stood staring at it.

"In the circumstances, Inspector, I think you would be justified in opening both envelopes," said Stuart.

"I am inclined to agree. But let me just be clear on one or two points." He took out the bulging notebook and

also a fountainpen with which he prepared to make entries. "About this cabman, now. You didn't by any

"Over medium height and muscular. Somewhat inclined to flesh and past his youth, but active all the same."

"Dark and streaked with grey. I noted this particularly in dressing his skull. He wore his hair cropped close to

his scalp. He had a short beard and moustache and heavily marked eyebrows. He seemed to be very

shortsighted and kept his eyes so screwed up that it was impossible to detect their colour, by night at any

"A short ugly gash. He had caught his head on the footboard in falling. I may add that on the occasion of his

professional visit his breath smelled strongly of spirits, and I rather suspected that his accident might have

"By no means. He was perfectly sober, but he had recently been drinkingpossibly because his fall had

"Yes. The fittings were dilapidated, I remember, and the cab had a very fusty smell."

"Ah," said Dunbar, making several notes. "And nowthe lady: about what would be her age?"

"Difficult to say, Inspector. She had Eastern blood and may have been much younger than she appeared to be.

Judged from a European standpoint and from her appearance and manner of dress, she might be about

"She pronounced both English and French words with an intonation which suggested familiarity with

"It does, Inspector, but I had no means of learning more. She had certainly lived for a long time somewhere

"Some of it was European and some of it Oriental, but not characteristic of any particular country of the

"Yes, but it was scarcely discernible. Jasmineprobably the Eastern preparation."

"Her evidence will do tomorrow. We come to the man in the hood. Can you give me any kind of a

"He appeared to be tall, but a shadow is deceptive, and his extraordinary costume would produce that effect,

too. I can tell you absolutely nothing further about him. Remember, I thought I was dreaming. I could not

Inspector Dunbar glanced over the notes which he had made, then returning the notebook and pen to his

pocket, he took up the long smokediscoloured envelope and with a paperknife which lay upon the table slit

one end open. Inserting two fingers, he drew out the second envelope which the first enclosed. It was an

ordinary commercial envelope only notable by reason of the number, 30, appearing in large red figures upon

Stuart bent over him intently as he slit this envelope in turn. Again, he inserted two fingersand brought

forth the sole contents. . . a plain piece of cardboard, roughly rectangular and obviously cut in haste from the

ON THE following morning Inspector Dunbar, having questioned Mrs. M'Gregor respecting the car in which

Mlle. Dorian had visited the house and having elicited no other evidence than that it was "a fine luxurious

concern," the Inspector and Dr. Stuart prepared to set out upon gruesome business. Mrs. M'Gregor was very

favourably impressed with the Inspector. "A grand, pairsonable body," she confided to Stuart. "He'd look

To an EastEnd mortuary the cab bore them, and they were led by a constable in attendance to a

stonepaved, illlighted apartment in which a swathed form lay upon a long deal table. The spectacle

presented, when the covering was removed, was one to have shocked less hardened nerves than those of

Stuart and Dunbar; but the duties of a police officer, like those of a medical man, not infrequently necessitate

such inspections. The two bent over the tragic flotsam of the Thames unmoved and critical.

"H'm," said Stuart"he's about the build, certainly. Hair irongrey and close cropped and he seems to have

He bent, making a close inspection of the skull; then turned and shook his head.

"No, Inspector," he said definitely. "This is not the cabman. There is no wound corresponding to the one

"You were wrong, Inspector. It was not Gaston Max who left the envelope with me."

"Your theory that Max, jealously working alone, had left particulars of his inquiries, and clues, in my hands,

knowing that they would reach Scotland Yard in the event of his death, surely collapsed when the envelope

"YesI suppose it did. But it sounded so much like Max's roundabout methods. Anyway I wanted to make

sure that the dead man from Hanover Hole and your mysterious cabman were not one and the same."

Stuart entertained a lively suspicion that Inspector Dunbar was keeping something up his sleeve, but with this

very proper reticence he had no quarrel, and followed by the constable, who relocked the mortuary behind

them, they came out into the yard where the cab waited which was to take them to Scotland Yard. Dunbar,

"No one is to be allowed to do soyou understand?no one, unless he has written permission from the

Half an hour later they arrived at New Scotland Yard and went up to Dunbar's room. A thickset, florid man

of genial appearance, having a dark moustache, a breezy manner and a head of hair resembling a very

hardworked blackingbrush, awaited them. This was DetectiveSergeant Sowerby with whom Stuart was

"What do you mean exactly, Sowerby?" inquired Dunbar, fixing the fierce eyes upon his subordinate.

"I mean nothing offensive, Inspector. I was referring to the joker who gave so good an imitation of my voice

"Ah," replied Dunbar"I see. Yeshe did it well. He spoke just like you. I could hardly make out a word

With this Caledonian shaft and a sideglance at Stuart, Inspector Dunbar sat down at the table.

"Here's Dr. Stuart's description of the missing cabman," he continued, taking out his notebook. "Dr. Stuart

"I believe you told me so before," said Dunbar dourly. "I also seem to recall that you thought a scorpion's tail

was a Prickly Pear. Howeverhere, on the page numbered twentysix, is a description of the woman known

as Mlle. Dorian. It should be a fairly easy matter to trace the car through the usual channels, and she ought to

He glanced at his watch. Stuart was standing by the lofty window looking out across the Embankment.

Leaving Sergeant Sowerby seated at the table studying the notebook, Stuart and Dunbar proceeded to the

smokeladen room of the Assistant Commissioner. The great man, suavely satanic, greeted Stuart with that

"You have been of inestimable assistance to us in the past, Dr. Stuart," he said, "and I feel happy to know that

we are to enjoy the aid of your special knowledge in the present case. Will you smoke one of my cigarettes?

They are some which a friend is kind enough to supply to me direct from Cairo, and are really quite good."

"Thanks," replied Stuart. "May I ask in what direction my services are like to prove available?"

The Commissioner lighted a fresh cigarette. Then from a heap of correspondence he selected a long report

"I have here," he said, "confirmation of the telegraphic report received last night. The name of M. Gaston

"Well," continued the Commissioner, "it appears that he has been engaged in England for the past month

endeavouring to trace the connection which he claims to exist between the sudden deaths of various notable

people, recentlya list is appendedand some person or organization represented by, or associated with, a

scorpion. His personal theory not being availablepoor fellow, you have heard of his tragic deathI have

this morning consulted such particulars as I could obtain respecting these cases. If they were really cases of

assassination, some obscure poison was the only mode of death that could possibly have been employed. Do

"Now, the death of Gaston Max under circumstances not yet explained, would seem to indicate that his

theory was a sound one. In other words, I am disposed to believe that he himself represents the most recent

outrage of what we will call 'The Scorpion.' Even at the time that the body of the man found by the River

Police had not been identified, the presence upon his person of a fragment of gold strongly resembling the tail

of a scorpion prompted me to instruct Inspector Dunbar to consult you. I had determined upon a certain

course. The identification of the dead man with Gaston Max merely strengthens my determination and

"Without mentioning names, the experts consulted in the other cases whichaccording to the late Gaston

Maxwere victims of 'The Scorpion,' do not seem to have justified their titles. I am arranging that you shall

be present at the autopsy upon the body of Gaston Max. And now, permit me to ask you a question: are you

acquainted with any poison which would produce the symptoms noted in the case of Sir Frank Narcombe, for

"All that I know of the case," he said, "is that he was taken suddenly ill in the foyer of a WestEnd theatre,

immediately removed to his house in Half Moon Street, and died shortly afterwards. Can you give me copies

of the specialist's reports and other particulars? I may then be able to form some opinion."

"I will get them for you," replied the Commissioner, the exact nature of whose theory was by no means

evident to Stuart. He opened a drawer. "I have here," he continued, "the piece of cardboard and the envelope

left with you by the missing cabman. Do you think there is any possibility of invisible writing?"

"None," said Stuart confidently. "I have tested in three or four places as you will see by the spots, but my

experiments will in no way interfere with those which no doubt your own people will want to make. I have

also submitted both surfaces to a microscopic examination. I am prepared to state definitely that there is no

writing upon the cardboard, and except for the number, 30, none upon the envelope."

"It is only reasonable to suppose," continued the Commissioner, "that the telephone message which led

Inspector Dunbar to leave your house last night was originated by that unseen intelligence against which we

find ourselves pitted. In the first place, no one in London, myself and, presumably, 'The Scorpion' excepted,

knew at that time that M. Gaston Max was in England or that M. Gaston Max was dead. I say, presumably

'The Scorpion' because it is fair to assume that the person whom Max pursued was responsible for his death.

"Of course"the Commissioner reached for the box of cigarettes"were it not for the telephone message,

we should be unjustified in assuming that Mlle. Dorian and this"he laid his finger upon the piece of

cardboard"had any connection with the case of M. Max. But the message was so obviously designed to

facilitate the purloining of the sealed envelope and so obviously emanated from one already aware of the

"Finally," he said, "the mode of death in the case of M. Max may not have been the same as in the other

cases. Therefore, Dr. Stuart"he paused impressively"if you fail to detect anything suspicious at the post

mortem examination I propose to apply to the Home Secretary for powers to exhume the body of the late Sir

DEEP in reflection, Stuart walked alone along the Embankment. The full facts contained in the report from

Paris for the Commissioner had not divulged, but Stuart concluded that this sudden activity was directly due,

not to the death of M. Max, but to the fact that he (Max) had left behind him some more or less tangible clue.

Stuart fully recognized that the Commissioner had afforded him an opportunity to establish his

Yet, upon closer consideration, it became apparent that it was to Fate and not to the Commissioner that he

was indebted. Strictly speaking, his association with the matter dated from the night of his meeting with the

mysterious cabman in West India Dock Road. Or had the curtain first been lifted upon this occult drama that

evening, five years ago, as the setting sun reddened the waters of the Imperial Canal and a veiled figure

He seemed to hear the boy's words now, as he passed along the Embankment; he seemed to see again the tall

figure. And suddenly he stopped, stood still and stared with unseeing eyes across the muddy waters of the

Thames. He was thinking of the cowled man who had stood behind the curtains in his studyof that figure

so wildly bizarre that even now he could scarcely believe that he had ever actually seen it. He walked on.

Automatically his reflections led him to Mlle. Dorian, and he remembered that even as he paced along there

beside the river the wonderful mechanism of New Scotland Yard was in motion, its many tentacles

seekingseeking tirelesslyfor the girl whose dark eyes haunted his sleeping and waking hours. He was

responsible, and if she were arrested he would be called upon to identify her. He condemned himself bitterly.

After all, what crime had she committed? She had tried to purloin a letterwhich did not belong to Stuart in

the first place. And she had failed. Nowthe police were looking for her. His reflections took a new form.

What of Gaston Max, foremost criminologist in Europe, who now lay dead and mutilated in an EastEnd

mortuary? The telephone message which had summoned Dunbar away had been too opportune to be regarded

as a mere coincidence. Mlle. Dorian was, therefore, an accomplice of a murderer.

Stuart sighed. He would have given muchmore than he was prepared to admit to himselfto have known

The identity of the missing cabman now engaged his mind. It was quite possible, of course, that the man had

actually found the envelope in his cab and was in no other way concerned in the matter. But how had Mlle.

Dorian, or the person instructing her, traced the envelope to his study? And why, if they could establish a

claim to it, had they preferred to attempt to steal it? Finally, why all this disturbance about a blank piece of

A mental picture of the envelope arose before him, the number, 30, written upon it and the two black seals

securing the lapels. He paused again in his walk. His reflections had led him to a second definite point and he

fumbled in his waistcoat pocket for a time, seeking a certain brass coin about the size of a halfpenny, having

a square hole in the middle and peculiar characters engraved around the square, one on each of the four sides.

He failed to find the coin in his pocket however, but he walked briskly up a side street until he came to the

entrance to a tube station. Entering a public telephone callbox, he asked for the number, City 400. Being put

"Is that the Commissioner's Office, New Scotland Yard?" he asked. "Yes! My name is Dr. Keppel Stuart. If

"Yes. That you, Inspector? I have just remembered something which I should have observed in the first place

if I had been really wideawake. The envelopeyou know the one I mean?the one bearing the number,

30, has been sealed with a Chinese coin, known as cash. I have just recognized the fact and thought it wise to

"Certain. If you care to call at my place later today I can show you some cash. Bring the envelope with you

and you will see that the coins correspond to the impression in the wax. The inscriptions vary in different

"Very good. Thanks for letting me know at once. It seems to establish a link with China, don't you think?"

Coming out of the callbox, Stuart proceeded home, but made one or two professional visits before he

actually returned to the house. He now remembered having left this particular cash piece (which he usually

carried) in his dispensary, which satisfactorily accounted for his failure to find the coin in his waistcoat

pocket. He had broken the cork of a flask, and in the absence of another of correct size had manufactured a

temporary stopper with a small cork to the top of which he had fixed the Chinese coin with a drawingpin.

His purpose served he had left the extemporised stopper lying somewhere in the dispensary.

Stuart's dispensary was merely a curtained recess at one end of the waitingroom and shortly after entering

the house he had occasion to visit it. Lying upon a shelf among flasks and bottles was the Chinese coin with

Incredulous and half fearful, he peered at it closely. He remembered that the impression upon the wax sealing

the mysterious envelope had had a circular depression in the centre. It had been made by the head of the

He found himself staring at the shelf immediately above that upon which the coin had lain. A stick of black

sealingwax used for sealing medicine was thrust in beside a bundle of long envelopes in which he was

One hand raised to his head, Stuart stood endeavouring to marshal his ideas into some sane order. Then,

knowing what he should find, he raised the green baize curtain hanging from the lower shelf, which

concealed a sort of cupboard containing miscellaneous stores and not a little rubbish, including a number of

The mysterious envelope and its contents, the wax and the sealall had come from his own dispensary!

INSPECTOR DUNBAR stood in the little dispensary tapping his teeth with the end of a fountainpen.

"The last time he visited you, doctorthe time when he gave you the envelopedid the cabman wait here in

"He didyes. He came after my ordinary consulting hours and I was at supper, I remember, as I am

"Would he have had time to find the box, cut out the piece of cardboard from the lid, put it in the envelope

"It was in your consultingroom that he asked you to take charge of the envelope?"

From the waitingroom they went up a short flight of stairs into the small apartment in which Stuart saw his

patients. Dunbar looked slowly about him, standing in the middle of the room, then crossed and stared out of

"Ah," said Dunbar, and scribbled busily in his notebook. "We are badly tied at Scotland Yard, doctor, and

this case looks like being another for which somebody else will reap the credit. I am going to make a request

"I am going to ask you to seal up something and lock it away! But I don't think you'll be troubled by cowled

burglars or beautiful women because of it. On this piece of paper I have writtena"he ticked off the

points on his fingers: "what I believe to be the name of the man who cut out the cardboard and sealed it in an

envelope; b: the name of the cabman; and, c: the name of the man who rang me up here last night and gave

me information which had only just reached the Commissioner. I'll ask you to lock it away until it's wanted,

"Certainly, if you wish it," replied Stuart. "Come into the study and you shall see me do as you direct. I may

Entering the study, he took an envelope, enclosed the piece of paper, sealed the lapel, and locked the

envelope in the same drawer of the bureau which once had contained that marked 30.

"Mlle. Dorian has a duplicate key to this drawer," he said. "Are you prepared to take the chance?"

"Quite," replied Dunbar, smiling; "although my information is worth more than that which she risked so

"It's most astounding. At every step the darkness increases. Why should anyone have asked me to lock up a

"Why, indeed," murmured Dunbar. "Well, I may as well get back. I am expecting a report from Sowerby.

Look after yourself, sir. I'm inclined to think your pretty patient was talking square when she told you there

"Because," replied Inspector Dunbar, "if 'The Scorpion' is a poisoner, as the chief seems to think, there's

really only one man in England he has to fear, and that man is Dr. Keppel Stuart."

When the Inspector had taken his departure, Stuart stood for a long time staring out of the study window at

the little lawn with its bordering of high neatlytrimmed privet above which at intervals arose the mop

crowns of dwarf acacias. A spell of warm weather seemed at last to have begun, and clouds of gnats floated

over the grass, their minute wings glittering in the sunshine. Despite the nearness of teeming streets, this was

He sighed and returned to some work which the visit of the Scotland Yard man had interrupted.

Later in the afternoon he had occasion to visit the institution to which he had recently been appointed as

medical officer, and in contemplation of the squalor through which his steps led him he sought forgetfulness

of the Scorpion problemand of the dark eyes of Mlle. Dorian. He was not entirely successful, and returning

A taxicab passed him, moving slowly very close to the pavement. He scarcely noted it until it had proceeded

some distance ahead of him. Then its slow progress so near to the pavement at last attracted his attention, and

Stuart's heart leapt high. For an instant he paused, then began to walk rapidly after the retreating vehicle.

Perceiving that she had attracted his attention, the girl extended a whitegloved hand from the window and

dropped a note upon the edge of the pavement. Immediately she withdrew into the vehiclewhich moved

Stuart ran forward and picked up the note. Without pausing to read it, he pressed on to the corner. The cab

was already two hundred yards away, and he recognized pursuit to be out of the question. The streets were

almost deserted at the moment, and no one apparently had witnessed the episode. He unfolded the sheet of

plain notepaper, faintly perfumed with jasmine, and read the following, written in an uneven feminine hand:

DUSK found Stuart in a singular frame of mind. He was torn between dutyor what he conceived to be his

dutyto the community, and . . . something else. A messenger from Scotland Yard had brought him a

bundle of documents relating to the case of Sir Frank Narcombe, and a smaller packet touching upon the

sudden end of Henrik Ericksen, the Norwegian electrician, and of the equally unexpected death of the Grand

Duke Ivan. There were medical certificates, proceedings of coroners, reports of detectives, evidence of

specialists and statements of friends, relatives and servants of the deceased. A proper examination of all the

Stuart was flattered by the opinion held of his ability by the Assistant Commissioner, but dubious of his

chance of detecting any flaw in the evidence which had escaped the scrutiny of so many highly trained

He paced the study restlessly. Although more than six hours had elapsed, he had not communicated to

Scotland Yard the fact of his having seen Mlle. Dorian that afternoon. A hundred times he had read the

message, although he knew it by heart, knew the form of every letter, the odd crossing of the t's and the

If only he could have taken counsel with someonewith someone not bound to act upon such

informationit would have relieved his mental stress. His ideas were so chaotic that he felt himself to be

incapable of approaching the task presented by the pile of papers lying upon his table.

The night was pleasantly warm and the sky cloudless. Often enough he found himself glancing toward the

opened French windows, and one he had peered closely across into the belt of shadow below the hedge,

thinking that he had detected something which moved there. Stepping to the window, the slinking shape had

Yet he had been sorely tempted to act upon the advice so strangely offered. He refrained from doing so,

however, reflecting that to spend his evenings with closed and barred shutters now that a spell of hot weather

seemed to be imminent would be insufferable. Up and down the room he paced tirelessly, always confronted

Forcing himself at last to begin work if only as a sedative, he filled and lighted his pipe, turned off the centre

lamp and lighted the reading lamp upon his table. He sat down to consider the papers bearing upon the death

of Ericksen. For half an hour he read on steadily and made a number of pencil notes. Then he desisted and sat

What possible motive could there be in assassinating these people? The case of the Grand Duke might be

susceptible of explanation, but those of Henrik Ericksen and Sir Frank Narcombe were not. Furthermore he

could perceive no links connecting the three, and no reason why they should have engaged the attention of a

common enemy. Such crimes would seem to be purposeless. Assuming that "The Scorpion" was an

But, throughout the documents, he could discover no clue pointing to the existence of such an entity. "The

Scorpion" might be an invention of the fertile brain of M. Gaston Max; for it had become more and more

evident, as he had read, that the attempt to trace these deaths to an identical source had originated at the

Service de Suret�, and it was from Paris that the name "The Scorpion" had come. The fate of Max was

significant, of course. The chances of his death proving to have been due to accident were almost negligible

and th3e fact that a fragment of a golden scorpion had actually been found upon his body was certainly

How the words haunted him and how hotly he despised himself for a growing apprehension which refused to

be ignored. It was more mental than physical, this dread which grew with the approach of midnight, and it

resembled that which had robbed him if individuality and all but stricken him inert when he had seen upon

Dark forces seemed to be stirring, and some unseen menace crept near to him out of the darkness.

The house was of early Victorian fashion and massive folding shutters were provided to close the French

windows. He never used them, as a matter of fact, but now he tested the fastenings which kept them in place

against the inner wall and even moved them in order to learn if they were still serviceable.

Of all the mysteries which baffled him, that of the piece of cardboard in the envelope sealed with a Chinese

coin was the most irritating. It seemed like the purposeless trick of a child, yet it had led to the presence of

Selecting from the heap of documents a large sheet of notepaper bearing a blue diagram of a human bust,

marked with figures and marginal notes, he began to read the report to which it was appendedthat of Dr.

Halesowen. It stated that the late Sir Frank Narcombe had a "horizontal" heart, slightly misplaced and

dilatated, with other details which really threw no light whatever upon the cause of his death.

"I have a horizontal heart," growled Stuart"and considering my consumption of tobacco it is certainly

He read on, striving to escape from that shadowy apprehension, but as he read he was listening to the night

sounds of London, to the whirring of distant motors, the whistling of engines upon the railway and dim

hooting of sirens from the Thames. A slight breeze had arisen and it rustled in the feathery foliage of the

acacias and made a whispering sound as it stirred the leaves of the privet hedge.

The drone of an approaching car reached his ears. Pencil in hand, he sat listening. The sound grew louder,

then ceased. Either the car had passed or had stopped somewhere near the house. Came a rap on the door.

"No," said Stuart, strangely disappointed, but smiling at the old lady cheerfully. "I shall turn in very shortly."

"A keen east wind has arisen," she continued, severely eyeing the opened windows, "and even for a medical

"No, don't trouble, Mrs. M'Gregor. The room gets very stuffy with tobacco smoke, and really it is quite a

She retired, and Stuart sat staring out into the darkness. He was not prone to superstition, but it seemed like

tempting providence to remain there with the windows open any longer. Yet paradoxically, he lacked the

The telephone bell rang, and he started back in his chair as though to avoid a blow.

At the very instant that the bell rang out sharply in the silenceso exact is the timetable of Kismeta

needlelike ray of blue light shot across the lawn from beyond and above the hedge andbut for that

nervous startmust have struck fully upon the back of Stuart's skull. Instead, it shone past his head, which it

missed only by inches, and he experienced a sensation as though some one had buffeted him upon the cheek

The first object which the ray touched was the telephone; and next, beyond it, a medical dictionary; beyond

An intense crackling sound deafened him, and the air of the room seemed to have become hot as that of an

oven. There came a series of dull reportsan uncanny wailing . . . and the needleray vanished. A

monstrous shadow, mooncast, which had lain across the carpet of the lawnthe shadow of a cowled

Clutching the side of his head, which throbbed and tingled as though from the blow of an open hand, Stuart

struggled to his feet. There was smoke in the room, a smell of burning and of fusing metal. He glared at the

His dictionary was smouldering slowly. It had a neat round hole some three inches in diameter, bored

completely through, cover to cover! The fire in the grate was flaring up the chimney!

He heard the purr of a motor in the lane beside the house. The room was laden with suffocating fumes. Stuart

stood clutching the chair and striving to retain composuresanity. The car moved out of the lane.

Someone was running towards the back gate of the house . . . was scrambling over the hedge . . . was racing

A man burst into the study. He was a man of somewhat heavy build, cleanshaven and inclined to pallor. The

hirsute blue tinge about his lips and jaw lent added vigour to a flexible but masterful mouth. His dark hair

was tinged with grey, his dark eyes were brilliant with excitement. He was very smartly dressed and wore

Just inside the window he stood, swaying and breathing rapidly, his gaze upon the destroyed instrument.

"Ah!" said the stranger"again he eludes me! The telephone was the only chance. Pas d'blague! we are

He dropped into a chair, removed his light grey hat and began to dry his moist brow with a fine silk

handkerchief. Stuart stared at him like a man who is stupefied. The room was still laden with strange fumes.

"Blimey!" remarked the newcomer, and his Whitechapel was as perfect as his Montmartre. He was looking

"Might I ask," said Stuart, endeavouring to collect his scattered senses, "where you came from?"

"Exactly. Yes, I was foolish. I am too heavy. But what could I do? We must begin all over again."

"Ah!" The stranger laughed merrily. "You wonder about meI can see it. Permit me to present

"Gaston Max!" Stuart glared at the speaker incredulously. "Gaston Max! Why, I conduct a postmortem

"Do not trouble, doctor. That poor fellow is not Gaston Max and he was not poisoned. I had the misfortune to

THE following statement which I, Gaston Max, am drawing up in duplicate for the guidance of whoever may

inherit the task of tracing "The Scorpion"a task which I have begunwill be lodgedone copy at the

Service de Suret� in Paris, and the other copy with the Commissioner of Police, New Scotland Yard. As I

apprehend that I may be assassinated at any time, I propose to put upon record all that I have learned

concerning the series of murders which I believe to be traceable to a certain person. In the event of my death,

my French colleagues will open the sealed packet containing this statement and the English Assistant

Commissioner of the Special Branch responsible for international affairs will receive instructions to open that

This matter properly commenced, then, with the visit to Paris, incognito, of the Grand Duke Ivan, that famous

soldier of whom so much was expected, and because I had made myself responsible for his safety during the

time that he remained in the French capital, A (also incognito be it understood) struck up a friendship with

one Casimir, the Grand Duke's valet. Nothing is sacred to a valet, and from Casimir I counted upon learning

the real reason which had led this nobleman to visit Paris at so troublous a time. Knowing the Grand Duke to

be a man of gallantry, I anticipated finding a woman in the caseand I was not wrong.

Now in Paris we have many beautiful women, and in times of international strife it is true that we have had to

shoot some of them. For my own part I say with joy that I have never been instrumental in bringing a woman

to such an end. Perhaps I am sentimental; it is a French weakness; but on those few occasions when I have

found a guilty woman in my powerand she has been prettymorbleu! she has escaped! It may be said that

I have seen to it that she was kept out of further mischief, but nevertheless she has never met a firingparty

From the good fellow Casimir I learned that a certain dancer appearing at one of our Montmartre theatres had

written to the Grand Duke craving the honour of his autographand enclosing her photograph.

Pf! It was enough. One week later the autograph arrivedattached to an invitation to dine with the Grand

Duke at his hotel in Paris. Yeshe had come to Paris. I have said that he was susceptible and I have said that

she was beautiful. I address myself to men of the world, and I shall not be in error if I assume that they will

The confidences of Casimir interested me in more ways than one. In the first place I had particular reasons

for suspecting anyone who sought to obtain access to the Grand Duke. These were diplomatic. And in the

Yesso she called herselfZ�ra elKhal�, which in Arabic is "Flower of the Desert." She professed to be

an Egyptian, and certainly she had the long, almondshaped eyes of the East, but her white skin betrayed her,

and I knew that whilst she might possess Eastern blood, she was more nearly allied to Europe than to Africa.

It is my business to note unusual matters, you understand, and I noticed that this beautiful and accomplished

woman of whom all Paris was beginning to speak rapturously remained for many weeks at a small

Montmartre theatre. Her performance, which was unusually decorous for the type of establishment at which

This aroused the suspicions to which I have referred. In the character of a vaudeville agent I called at the

Montmartre theatre and was informed by the management that Z�ra elKhal� received no visitors,

professional or otherwise. A small but expensive car awaited her at the stage door. My suspicions increased. I

went away, but returned on the following night, otherwise attired, and from a hidingplace which I had

She came out so enveloped in furs and veils as to be unrecognizable, and a Hindu wearing chauffeur's

uniform opened the door of the car for her, and then, having arranged the rugs to her satisfaction, mounted to

I traced the car. It had been hired for the purpose of taking Z�ra elKhal� from her hotela small one in an

unfashionable part of Paristo the theatre and home nightly. I sent a man to call upon her at the hotelin

order to obtain press material, ostensibly. She declined to see him. I became really interested. I sent her a

choice bouquet, having the card of a nobleman attached to it, together with a message of respectful

admiration. It was returned. I prevailed upon one of the most handsome and gallant cavalry officers in Paris

You will at once perceive that when I heard from the worthy Casimir how this unapproachable lady had

actually written to the Grand Duke Ivan and had gone so far as to send him her photograph, I became excited.

It appeared to me that I found myself upon the brink of an important discovery. I set six of my firstclass

men at work: three being detailed to watch the hotel of the Grand Duke Ivan and three to watch Z�ra

elKhal�. Two more were employed in watching the Hindu servant and one in watching my good friend

Casimir. Thus, nine clever men and myself were immediately engaged upon the case.

Why do I speak of a "case" when thus far nothing of apparent importance had occurred? I will explain.

Although the Grand Duke travelled incognito, his Government knew of the journey and wished to learn with

At the time that I made the acquaintance of Casimir the Grand Duke had been in Paris for three days, and he

wasaccording to my informant"like a raging lion." The charming dancer had vouchsafed no reply to his

invitation and he had met with the same reception, on presenting himself in person, which had been accorded

to myself and to those others who had sought to obtain an interview with Z�ra elKhal�!

My state of mystification grew more and more profound. I studied the reports of my nine assistants.

It appeared that the girl had been in Paris for a period of two months. She occupied a suite of rooms in which

all her meals were served. Except the Hindu who drove the hired car, she had no servant. She never appeared

in the public part of the hotel unless veiled, and then merely in order to pass out to the car or in from it on

returning. She drove out every day. She had been followed, of course, but her proceedings were

unexceptionable. Leaving the car at a point in the Bois de Boulogne, she would take a short walk, if the day

was fine enough, never proceeding out of sight of the Hindu, who followed with the automobile, and would

then drive back to her hotel. She never received visits and never met any one during these daily excursions.

He had hired a room high up under the roof of an apartment house where foreign waiters and others had their

abodes. He bought and cooked his own food, which apparently consisted solely of rice, lentils and fruit. He

went every morning to the garage and attended to the car, called for his mistress, and having returned

remained until evening in his own apartment. At night, after returning from the theatre, he sometimes went

out, and my agent had failed to keep track of him on every occasion that he had attempted pursuit. I detached

the man who was watching Casimir and whose excellent reports revealed the fact that Casimir was an honest

fellowas valets goand instructed him to assist in tracing the movements of the Hindu.

Two nights later they tracked him to a riverside caf� kept by a gigantic quadroon from Dominique and

patronized by that type which forms a link between the lowest commercial and the criminal classes: itinerant

At last I began to have hopes. The Grand Duke at this time was speaking of leaving Paris, but as he had found

temporary consolation in the smiles of a lady engaged at the "Folies" I did not anticipate that he would depart

for several days at any rate. Also, he was the kind of man who is stimulated by obstacles.

The Hindu remained for an hour in the caf�, smoking and drinking some kind of syrup, and one of my

fellows watched him. Presently the proprietor called him into a little room behind the counter and closed the

door. The Hindu and the quadroon remained there for a few minutes, then the Hindu came out and left the

caf�, returning to his abode. There was a telephone in this inner room, and my agent was of opinion that the

Indian had entered either to make or to receive a call. I caused the line to be tapped.

On the following night the Hindu came back to the caf�, followed by one of my men. I posted myself at a

selected point and listened for any message that might pass over the line to or from the caf�. At about the

same hour as beforeaccording to the reportsomeone called up the establishment, asking for "Miguel."

This was the quadroon, and I heard his thick voice replying. The other voicewhich had first spokenwas

curiously sibilant but very distinct. Yet it did not sound like the voice of a Frenchman or of any European.

Almost holding my breath, so intense was my excitement, I waited whilst Miguel went to bring the Hindu.

"Scorpion" replied . . . in voluble Hindustania language of which I know less than a dozen words!

ALTHOUGH I had met with an unforeseen check I had nevertheless learned three things. I had learned that

Miguel the quadroon was possibly in league with the Hindu; that the Hindu was called Chunda Lal; and that

Chunda Lal received messages, probably instructions, from a third party who announced his presence by the

One of my fellows, of course, had been in the caf� all the evening, and from him I obtained confirmation of

the fact that it had been the Hindu who had been summoned to the telephone and whom I had heard speaking.

Instant upon the man at the caf� replacing the telephone and disconnecting, I called up the exchange. They

Alas! another check awaited me. It had originated in a public call office, and "Scorpion" was untraceable by

Despair is not permitted by the traditions of the Service de Suret�. Therefore I returned to my flat and

recorded the facts of the matter thus far established. I perceived that I had to deal, not with a designing

woman, but with some shadowy being of whom she was an instrument. The anomaly of her life was in a

measure explained. She sojourned in Paris for a purposea mysterious purpose which was concerned (I

could not doubt it) with the Grand Duke Ivan. This was not an amorous but a political intrigue.

I communicated, at a late hour, with the senior of the three men watching the Grand Duke. The Grand Duke

that evening had sent a handsome piece of jewellery purchased in the Rue de la Paix to the dancer. It had

In the morning I met the good Casimir at his favourite caf�. He had just discovered that Z�ra elKhal� drove

daily to the Bois de Boulogne, alone, and that afternoon the Grand Duke had determined to accost her during

her solitary walk. I prepared myself for this event. Arrayed in a workman's blouse and having a modest

luncheon and a small bottle of wine in a basket, I concealed myself in that part of the Bois which was the

The Grand Duke appeared first upon the scene, accompanied by Casimir. The latter pointed out to him a path

through the trees along which Z�ra elKhal� habitually strolled and showed him the point at which she

usually rejoined the Hindu who followed along the road with the car. They retired. I seated myself beneath a

tree from whence I could watch the path and the road and began to partake of the repast which I had brought

At about three o'clock the dancer's car appeared, and the girl, veiled as usual, stepped out, and having

exchanged a few words with the Indian, began to walk slowly towards me, sometimes pausing to watch a bird

in the boughs above her and sometimes to examine some wild plant growing beside the way. I ate cheese

She had cast her veil aside in order to enjoy the cool and fragrant air, and as she stopped and regarded me

doubtfully where I sat, I saw her beautiful face, undefiled, now, by makeup and unspoiled by the presence

of garish Eastern ornaments. Nom d'un nom! but she was truly a lovely woman! My heart went out in

sympathy to the poor Grand Duke. Had I received such a mark of favour from her as he had received, and had

I then been scorned as now she scorned him, I should have been desperate indeed.

Coming around a bend in the path, then, she stood only a few paces away, looking at me. I touched the peak

I continued to eat cheese, and reassured she walked on past me. Twenty yards beyond, the Grand Duke was

waiting. As I laid down my knife upon the paper which had been wrapped around the bread and cheese, and

raised the bottle to my lips, the enamoured nobleman stepped out from the trees and bowed low before Z�ra

She started back from hima movement of inimitable grace, like that of a startled gazelle. And even before I

had time to get upon my feet she had raised a little silver whistle to her lips and blown a short shrill note.

The Grand Duke, endeavouring to seize her hand, was pouring out voluble expressions of adoration in

execrable French, and Z�ra elKhal� was retreating step by step. She had quickly thrown the veil about her

again. I heard the pad of swiftly running feet. If I was to intervene before the arrival of the Hindu, I must act

rapidly. I raced along the path and thrust myself between the Grand Duke and the girl.

"How dare you, low pig!" cried the Grand Duke, and with a sweep of his powerful arm he hurled me aside.

"Thank you," replied Z�ra elKhal�, with great composure. "But my servant is here."

As I turned, Chunda Lal hurled himself upon the Grand Duke from behind. I had never seen an expression in

a man's eyes like that in the eyes of the Hindu at this moment. They blazed like the eyes of a tiger, and his

teeth were bared in a savage grin which I cannot hope to describe. His lean body seemed to shoot through the

air, and he descended upon his burly adversary as a jungle beast falls upon its prey. Those long brown fingers

Kneeling, his right knee thrust between the shoulder blades of the prostrate man, the Hindu looked upand I

read murder in those glaring eyes. That he was an accomplished wrestleror perhaps a stranglerI divined

from the helplessness of the Grand Duke, who lay inert, robbed of every power except that of his tongue. He

The Hindu shifted his grip from the neck to the arms of the Grand Duke. He pinioned him as is done in

jujitsu and forced him to stand upright. It was a curious spectaclethe impotency of this burly nobleman in

the hands of his slight adversary. As they swayed to their feet, I thought I saw the glint of metal in the right

hand of the Indian, but I could not be sure, for my attention was diverted. At this moment Casimir appeared

Suddenly releasing his hold altogether, the Hindu, glaring into the empurpled face of the Grand Duke, shot

The Grand Duke clenched his fists, looked from face to face as if calculating his chances, then shrugged his

shoulders, very deliberately wiped his neck and wrists, where the Indian had held him, with a large silk

handkerchief and threw the handkerchief on the ground. I saw a speck of blood upon the silk. Without

another glance he walked away, Casimir following sheepishly. It is needless, perhaps, to add that Casimir had

She placed five francs in my hand and set off rapidly through the trees in the direction of the road, her

That afternoon I posted a man acquainted with Hindustani to tap any message which might be sent to or from

the caf� used by Chunda Lal. I learned that the Grand Duke had taken a stage box at the Montmartre theatre

Z�ra elKhal� had at this time established a reputation which extended beyond those circles from which the

regular patrons of this establishment were exclusively drawn and which had begun to penetrate to all parts of

Paris. You will remember that it was the extraordinary circumstance of her remaining at this obscure place of

entertainment so long which had first interested me in the lady. I had learned that she had rejected a number

of professional offers, and, as I have already stated, I had assured myself of this unusual attitude by

Now, as I leaned upon the rail at the back of the auditorium and the time for the dancer's appearance drew

near, I could not fail to observe that there was a sprinkling of eveningdress in the stalls and that the two

boxes already occupied boasted the presence of parties of wellknown men of fashion. Then the Grand Duke

entered as a troupe of acrobats finished their performance. Z�ra elKhal� was next upon the programme. I

The tableau curtain fell and the manager appeared behind the footlights. He, also, seemed to be much

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "I greatly regret to announce that Mlle. Z�ra elKhal� is indisposed and

Of whom he had succeeded in obtaining the services I never heard, for the rougher section of the audience

rose at him like a menacing wave! They had come to see the Egyptian dancer and they would have their

If one had doubted the great and growing popularity of Z�ra elKhal�, this demonstration must have proved

convincing. Over the heads of the excited audience I saw the Grand Duke rise as if to retire. The other box

"We did not know until twenty minutes ago!" cried the manager in accents of despair.

I hurried from the theatre and took a taxicab to the hotel of the dancer. Running into the hall, I thrust a card in

"But certainly. Her baskets were taken to the Gare du Nord an hour earlier by her servant and she went off by

the sevenfifteen rapide for Calais. The theatre people were here asking for her an hour ago."

I hurried to my office to obtain the latest reports of my men. I had lost touch with them, you understand,

during the latter part of the afternoon and evening. I found there the utmost confusion. They had been seeking

me all over Paris to inform me that Z�ra elKhal� had left. Two men had followed her and had telephoned

from Calais for instructions. She had crossed by the night mail for Dover. It was already to late to instruct the

For a few hours I had relaxed my usual vigilanceand this was the result. What could I do? Z�ra elKhal�

had committed no crime, but her sudden flightfor it looked like flight you will agreewas highly

suspicious. And as I sat there in my office filled with all sorts of misgivings, in ran one of the men engaged in

The Grand Duke had been seized with illness as he left his box in the Montmartre theatre and had died before

A CONVICTION burst upon my mind that a frightful crime had been committed. By whom and for what

purpose I knew not. I hastened to the hotel of the Grand Duke. Tremendous excitement prevailed there, of

course. There is no more certain way for a great personage to court publicity than to travel incognito.

Everywhere that "M. de Stahler" had appeared all Paris had cried, "There goes the Grand Duke Ivan!" And

now as I entered the hotel, press, police and public were demanding: "Is it true that the Grand Duke is dead?"

Just emerging from the lift I saw Casimir. In propria personaas M. Maxhe failed to recognize me.

"To me 'M. de Stahler' is the Grand Duke Ivan. What other servants had he with him?" I asked, although I

"At the Theatre Coquerico, Montmartre, at about a quarterpast ten o'clock tonight."

"No one, monsieur. His Highness was alone in a box. I had instructions to call with the car at eleven o'clock."

"The theatre management telephoned at a quarterpast ten to say that His Highness had been taken ill and

that a physician had been sent for. I went in the car at once and found him lying in one of the dressingrooms

to which he had been carried. A medical man was in attendance. The Grand Duke was unconscious. We

"The doctor, the theatre manager, and myself. The Grand Duke was then alive, the physician declared,

although he seemed to me to be already dead. But just before we reached the hotel, the physician, who was

watching His Highness anxiously, cried, "Ah, mon Dieu! It is finished. What a catastrophe!"

"They have telephoned for half the doctors in Paris, monsieur, but it is too late."

He was affected, the good Casimir. Tears welled up in his eyes. I mounted in the lift to the apartment in

which the Grand Duke lay. Three doctors were there, one of them being he of whom Casimir had spoken.

"It was his heart," I was assured by the doctor who had been summoned to the theatre. "We shall find that he

"Did the Grand Duke make any statement at the time of the seizure which would confirm the theory of a heart

No. He had fallen down unconscious outside the door of his box, and from this unconsciousness he had never

recovered. (Depositions of witnesses, medical evidence and other documents are available for the guidance of

whoever may care to see them, but, as is well known, the death of the Grand Duke was ascribed to natural

causes and it seemed as though my trouble would after all prove to be in vain.) Let us see what happened.

Leaving the hotel, on the night of the Grand Duke's death, I joined the man who was watching the caf�

There had been a message during the course of the evening, but it had been for a Greek cigarettemaker and

it referred to the theft of several bales of Turkish tobaccouseful information, of a minor kind, but of little

interest to me. I knew that it would be useless to question the man Miguel, although I strongly suspected him

of being a member of "The Scorpion's" organization. Any patron of the establishment enjoyed the privilege of

A man of less experience in obscure criminology might now have assumed that he had been misled by a

series of striking coincidences. Remember, there was not a shadow of a doubt in the minds of the medical

experts that the Grand Duke had died from syncope. His own professional adviser had sent written testimony

to show tht there was hereditary heart trouble, although not of a character calculated to lead to a fatal

termination except under extraordinary circumstances. His own Government, which had every reason to

suspect that the Grand Duke's assassination might be attempted, was satisfied. Eh, bien! I was not.

I crossexamined the manager of the Theatre Coquerico. He admitted that Mlle. Z�ra elKhal� had been a

mystery throughout her engagement. Neither he nor anyone else connected with the house had ever entered

her dressingroom or held any conversation with her, whatever, except the stagemanager and the musical

director. These had spoken to her about her music and about lighting and other stage effects. She spoke

Such a state of affairs was almost incredible, but was explained by the fact that the dancer, at a most modest

salary, had doubled the takings of the theatre in a few days and had attracted capacity business throughout the

remainder of her engagement. She had written from Marseilles, enclosing press notices and other usual matter

and had been booked direct for one week. She had remained for two months, and might have remained for

A curious fact now came to light. In all her photographs Z�ra elKhal� appeared veiled, in the Eastern

manner; that is to say, she wore a white silk yashmak which concealed all her face except her magnificent

eyes! On the stage the veil was discarded; in the photographs it was always present.

And the famous picture which she had sent to the Grand Duke? He had destroyed it, in a fit of passion, on

It is Fate after allKismetand not the wit of man which leads to the apprehension of really great

criminalsa tireless Fate which dogs their footsteps, a remorseless Fate from which they fly in vain. Long

after the funeral of the Grand Duke, and at a time when I had almost forgotten Z�ra elKhal�, I found myself

one evening at the opera with a distinguished French scientist and he chanced to refer to the premature death

(which had occurred a few months earlier) of Henrik Ericksen, the Norwegian electrician.

"A very great loss to the century, M. Max," he said. "Ericksen was as eminent in electrical science as the

Grand Duke Ivan was eminent in the science of war. Both were stricken down in the prime of lifeand

"It would almost seem," he continued, "as if Nature had determined to foil any further attempts to rifle her

secrets and Heaven to check mankind in the making of future wars. Only three months after the Grand Duke's

death, the American admiral, Mackney, died at seayou will remember? Now, following Ericksen, Van

Rembold, undoubtedly the greatest mining engineer of the century and the only man who has ever produced

radium in workable quantities, is seized with illness at a friend's house and expires even before medical aid

"I knew him intimatelya man of unusual charm, M. Max; and I have particular reason to remember his

death, for I actually met him and spoke to him less than an hour before he died. We only exchanged a few

"Well, I presume Van Rembold's question was prompted by his knowledge of the fact that I had studied such

subjects at one time; but he asked me if I knew of any race or sect in Africa or Asia who worshipped

"Undoubtedly. I could not imagine what had occurred to account for his asking so strange a question. I

replied that I knew of no such sect, and Van Rembold immediately changed the subject, nor did he revert to

You can imagine that this conversation afforded me much food for reflection. Whilst I could think of no

reason why anyone should plot to assassinate Grand Dukes, admirals and mining engineers, the

circumstances of the several cases were undoubtedly similar in a number of respects. But it was the

remarkable question asked by Van Rembold which particularly aroused my interest.

Of course it might prove to be nothing more than a coincidence, but when one comes to consider how rarely

the word "scorpion" is used, outside those countries in which these insects abound, it appears to be something

more. Van Rembold, then, had had some occasion to feel curious about scorpions; the name "Scorpion" was

associated with the Hindu follower of Z�ra elKhal�; and she it was who had brought the Grand Duke to

Oh! it was a very fragile thread, but by following such a thread as this we are sometimes led to the heart of a

Beyond wondering if some sinister chain bound together this series of apparently natural deaths I might have

made no move in the matter, but something occurred which spurred me to action. Sir Frank Narcombe, the

great English surgeon, collapsed in the foyer of a London theatre and died shortly afterwards. Here again I

perceived a case of a notable man succumbing unexpectedly in a public placea case parallel to that of the

Grand Duke, of Ericksen, of Van Rembold! It seemed as though some strange epidemic had attacked men of

scienceyes! they were all men of science, even including the Grand Duke, who was said to be the most

scientific soldier in Europe, and the admiral, who had perfected the science of submarine warfare.

"The Scorpion!" . . . that name haunted me persistently. So much so that at last I determined to find out for

myself if Sir Frank Narcombe had ever spoken about a scorpion or if there was any evidence to show that he

I could not fail to remember, too, that Z�ra elKhal� had last been reported as crossing to England.

NEW SCOTLAND YARD had been advised that any reference to a scorpion, in whatever form it occurred,

should be noted and followed up, but nothing had resulted and as a matter of fact I was not surprised in the

least. All that I had learnedand this was little enoughI had learned more or less by accident. But I came

I had caused a watch to be kept upon the man Miguel, whose establishment seemed to be a recognized resort

of shady characters. I had no absolute proof, remember, that he knew anything of the private affairs of the

Hindu, and no further reference to a scorpion had been made by anyone using the caf� telephone.

Nevertheless I determined to give him a courtesy call before leaving for London . . . and to this determination

Attired in a manner calculated to enable me to pass unnoticed among the patrons of the establishment, I

entered the place and ordered cognac. Miguel having placed it before me, I lighted a cigarette and surveyed

Eight or nine men were in the caf�, and two women. Four of the men were playing cards at a corner table, and

the others were distributed about the place, drinking and smoking. The women, who were flashily dressed but

who belonged to that order of society which breeds the Apache, were deep in conversation with a handsome

Algerian. I recognized only one face in the caf�that of a dangerous character, Jean Sach, who had narrowly

escaped the electric chair in the United States and who was well known to the Bureau. He was smiling at one

of the two womenthe woman to whom the Algerian seemed to be more particularly addressing himself.

Another there was in the caf� who interested me as a student of physiognomya dark, bearded man, one of

the cardplayers. His face was disfigured by a purple scar extending from his brow to the left corner of his

mouth, which it had drawn up into a permanent snarl, so that he resembled an enraged and dangerous wild

I had just made up my mind to depart when the man Sach arose, crossed the caf� and seated himself

insolently between the Algerian and the woman to whom the latter was talking. Turning his back upon the

brown man, he addressed some remark to the woman, at the same time leering in her face.

Women of this class are difficult, you understand? Sach received from the lady a violent blow upon the face

which rolled him on the floor! As he fell, the Algerian sprang up and drew a knife. Sach rolled away from

Before he could draw it, Miguel, the quadroon proprietor, threw himself upon him and tried to pitch him into

the street. But Sach, although a small man, was both agile and ferocious. He twisted out of the grasp of the

huge quadroon and turned, raising the knife. As he did so, the Algerian deftly kicked it from his grasp and left

Sach to face Miguel unarmed. Screaming with rage, he sprang at Miguel's throat, and the two fell writhing

There could only be one end to such a struggle, of course, as the Algerian recognized by replacing his knife

in his pocket and resuming his seat. Miguel obtained a firm hold upon Sach and raised him bodily above his

head, as one has seen a professional weightlifter raise a heavy dumbbell. Thus he carried him, kicking and

foaming at the mouth with passion, to the open door. From the step he threw him into the middle of the street.

At this moment I observed something glittering upon the floor close to the chair occupied by the Algerian.

Standing upfor I had determined to departI crossed in that direction, stooped and picked up this object

Forgetful of my dangerous surroundings I stood looking at the golden ornament in my hand . . . when

suddenly and violently it was snatched from me! The Algerian, his brown face convulsed with rage,

He glared at me with a ferocity which the incident scarcely seemed to merit and exchanged a significant

glance with someone who had approached and who now stood behind me. Turning, I met a second black

gazethat of the quadroon, who having restored order had returned from the caf� door and now stood

"It fell when you kicked the knife from the hand of that pig," he said. "You should be more careful."

Again they exchanged significant glances, but the Algerian resumed his seat and Miguel went behind the

The night was very dark, and as I came out on to the pavement someone touched me on the arm. I turned in a

"Walk on, friend," said the voice of Jean Sach. "What was it that you picked up from the floor?"

"Ah!" he whispered"I thought so! It is enough. They shall pay for what they have done to methose two.

Before I could say another word or strive to detain him, he turned and ran off along a narrow courtway which

I stood for a moment, nonplussed, staring after him. By good fortune I had learned more in ten minutes than

by the exercise of all my ingenu8ity and the resources of the Service I could have learned in ten months! Par

la barbe du prophete! the Kismet which dogs the footsteps of malefactors assisted me!

Recollecting the advice of Jean Sach, I set off at a brisk pace along the street, which was dark and deserted

and which passed through a district marked red on the Paris crimesmap. Arriving at the corner, above which

projected a lamp, I paused and glanced back into the darkness. I could see no one, but I thought I could detect

The suspicion was enough. I quickened my pace, anxious to reach the crowded boulevard upon which this

second street opened. I reached it unmolested, but intending to throw any pursuer off the track, I dodged and

doubled repeatedly on the way to my flat and arrived there about midnight, convinced that I had eluded

All my arrangements were made for leaving Paris, and now I telephoned to the assistant on duty in my office,

instructing him to take certain steps in regard to the proprietor of the caf� and the Algerian and to find the

hidingplace of the man Jean Sach. I counted it more than ever important that I should go to London at once.

In this belief I was confirmed at the very moment that I boarded the Channel steamer at Boulogne; for as I

stepped upon the deck I found myself face to face with a man who was leaning upon the rail and apparently

watching the passengers coming on board. He was a man of heavy build, dark and bearded, and his face was

Turning, as I lighted a cigarette, I glanced back at him in order to obtain a view of his profile. I knew him

instantlyfor now the scar was visible. It was "Le Balafr�," who had been playing cards in Miguel's caf� on

I have sometimes been criticised, especially by my English confreres, for my faith in disguises. I have been

told that no disguise is impenetrable to the trained eye. I reply that there are many disguises but few trained

eyes! To my faith in disguise I owed the knowledge that a golden scorpion was the token of some sort of

gang, society, or criminal group, and to this same face which an English inspector of police once assured me

to be a misplaced one I owed, on boarding the steamer, my escape from detection by this big bearded fellow

Yet, I began to wonder if after all I had escaped the shadowy pursuer whose presence I had suspected in the

dark street outside the caf� or if he had tracked me and learned my real identity. In any event, the roles were

about to be reversed! "Le Balafr�" at Folkestone took a seat in a thirdclass carriage of the London train. I

Arriving at Charing Cross, he stood for a time in the bookinghall, glanced at his watch, and then took up the

handbag which he carried and walked out into the station yard. I walked out also.

"Le Balafr�" accosted a cabman; and as he did so I passed close behind him and overheard a part of the

I glanced back. The bearded man was holding up a notea pound note apparently. I saw the cabman nod.

Without an instant's delay I rushed up to another cabman who had just discharged a passenger.

It would be a close race. But I counted on the aid of that Fate which dogs the steps of wrongdoers! My cab

was off first and the driver had every reason for hurrying. From the moment that we turned out into the

Strand until we arrived at our destination I saw no more of "Le Balafr�." My extensive baggage I must hope

to recover later. Nothing else mattered, you understand, but the tracing of the man with the scar.

At Bow Road Station I discovered a telephone box in a dark corner which commanded a view of the street. I

entered the box and waited. It was important that I should remain invisible. Unless my bearded friend had

As it chanced I had nearly six minutes to wait. Then, not ten yards away, I saw "Le Balafr�" arrive and

dismiss the cabman outside the station. There was nothing furtive in his manner; he was evidently satisfied

that no one pursued him; and he stood in the station entrance almost outside my box and lighted a cigar!

"Placing his bag upon the floor, he lingered, looking to left and right, when suddenly a big closed car painted

dull yellow drew up beside the pavement. It was driven by a brownfaced chauffeur whose nationality I

found difficulty in placing, for he wore large goggles. But before I could determine upon my plan of action,

"Le Balafr�" crossed the pavement and entered the carand the car glided smoothly away, going East. A

passing lorry obstructed my view and I even failed to obtain a glimpse of the number on the plate.

But I had seen something which had repaid me for my trouble. As the man of the scar had walked up to the

car, he had exhibited to the brownskinned chauffeur some object which he held in the palm of his hand . . .

BEHOLD me established in rooms in Battersea and living retired during the day whilst I permitted my beard

to grow. I had recognized that this mystery of "The Scorpion" was the biggest case which had ever engaged

the attention of the Service de Suret�, and I was prepared, if necessary, to devote my whole time for twelve

months to its solution. I had placed myself in touch with Paris, and had had certain papers and licences

forwarded to me. A daily bulletin reached me, and one of these bulletins was sensational.

The body of Jean Sach had been recovered from the Seine. The man had been stabbed to the heart.

Surveillance of Miguel and his associates continued unceasingly, but I had directed that no raids or arrests

I was now possessed of a French motor licence and also that of a Paris taxidriver, together w2ith all the

other documents necessary to establish the identity of one Charles Malet. Everything was now in order. I

presented myselfnow handsomely beardedat New Scotland Yard and applied for a licence. The

"knowledge of London" and other tests I passed successfully and emerged a fullyfledged cabman!

Already I had opened negotiations for the purchase of a dilapidated but serviceable cab which belonged to a

small proprietor who had obtained a car of more uptodate pattern to replace this obsolete one. I completed

these negotiations by paying down a certain sum and arranged to garage my cab in the disused stable of a

Thus I now found myself in a position to appear anywhere at any time without exciting suspicion, enabled

swiftly to proceed from point to point and to pursue anyone either walking or driving whom it might please

me to pursue.. It was a modus operandi which had served me well in Paris and which had led to one of my

biggest successes (the capture of the French desperado known as "Mr. Q.") in New York.

I had obtained, via Paris, particulars of the recent death of Sir Frank Narcombe, and the circumstances

attendant upon his end were so similar to those which had characterized the fate of the Grand Duke, of Van

Rembold and the others, that I could not for a moment believe them to be due to mere coincidence. Acting

upon my advice Paris advised Scotland Yard to press for a post mortem examination of the body, but the

influence of Sir Frank's family was exercised to prevent this being carried outand exercised successfully.

Meanwhile, I hovered around the houses, flats, clubs and offices of everyone who had been associated with

the late surgeon, noting to what addresses they directed me to drive and who lived at those addresses. In this

way I obtained evidence sufficient to secure three judicial separations, but not a single clue leading to "The

At every available opportunity I haunted the EastEnd streets, hoping for a glimpse of the big car and the

brownskinned chauffeur or of my scarred man from Paris. I frequented all sorts of public bars and

eatinghouses used by foreign sailors and Asiatics. By day and by night I roamed about the dismal

thoroughfares of that depressing district, usually with my flag down to imply that I was engaged.

Such diligence never goes long unrewarded. One evening, having discharged a passenger, a mercantile

officer, at the East India Docks, as I was drifting, watchfully, back through Limehouse, I saw a large car pull

Two courses presented themselves. I was not sure that this was the car for which I sought, but it strangely

resembled it. Should I follow the car or the man? A rapid decision was called for. I followed the man.

That I had not been mistaken in the identity of the car shortly appeared. The man took out a cigar and

standing on the corner opposite the Town Hall, lighted it. I was close to him at the time, and by the light of

the match, which he sheltered with his hands, I saw the scarred and bearded face! Triomphe! it was he!

Having lighted his cigar, he crossed the road and entered the saloon of a neighbouring publichouse. Locking

my cab I, also, entered that saloon. I ordered a glass of bitter beer and glanced around at the object of my

interest. He had obtained a glass of brandy and was contorting his hideous face as he sipped the beverage. I

"You want to have it out of a bottle," I continued confidentially"Martell's Three Stars."

"Oh, that's it!" I cried, speaking French with a barbarous accent. "You only speak French?"

"Yes, yes," he replied eagerly. "It is so difficult to make oneself understood. This spirit is not cognac; it is

Finishing my bitter, I ordered two glasses of good brandy from the bartender and placed one before "Le

"Try that," I said, continuing to speak in French. "You will find it is better."

He sipped from his glass and agreed that I was right. We chatted together for ten minutes and had another

drink, after which my dangerouslooking acquaintance wished me goodnight and went out. The car had

come from the West, and I strongly suspected that my man either lived in the neighbourhood or had come

there to keep an appointment. Leaving my cab outside the publichouse, I followed him on foot, down Three

Colt Street to Ropemaker Street, where he turned into a narrow alley leading to the riverside. It was straight

and deserted, and I dared not follow further until he had reached the corner. I heard his footsteps pass right to

the end. Then the sound died away. I ran to the corner. The back of a wharf buildinga high blank

wallfaced a row of ramshackle tenements, some of them built of wood; but not a soul was in sight.

I reluctantly returned to the spot at which I had left the caband found a constable there who wanted to

know what I meant by leaving a vehicle in the street unattended. I managed to enlist his sympathy by telling

him that I had been in pursuit of a "fare" who had swindled me with a bad halfcrown. The ruse succeeded.

I described the street and described the scarred man. The constable shook his head.

"Sounds like one o' them foreign sailormen," he said. "But I don't know what he can have gone down there

His words came as a revelation; they changed the whole complexion of the case. It dawned upon me even as

he spoke the word "Chinese" that the golden scorpion which I had seen in the Paris caf� was of Chinese

workmanship! I started my engine and drove slowly to that street in which I had lost the track of "Le

Balafr�." I turned the cab so that I should be ready to drive off at a moment's notice, and sat there wondering

what my next move should be. How long I had been there I cannot say, when suddenly it began to rain in

What I might have done or what I had hoped to do is of no importance; for as I sat there staring out at the

dismal rainswept street, a man came along, saw the headlamps of the cab and stopped, peering in my

direction. Evidently perceiving that I drove a cab and not a private car, he came towards me.

Whether it was that I sympathized with himhe had no topcoat or umbrellaor whether I was guided by

Fate I know not, but as he spoke I determined to give up my dreary vigil for that night. Pardieu! but certainly

He gave an address not five hundred yards from my own rooms! I thought this so curious that I hesitated no

"Jump in," I said; and still seeking in my mind for a link between the scorpion case and China, I drove off,

and in less than half an hour, for the streets were nearly empty, arrived at my destination.

The passenger, whose name was Dr. Keppel Stuart, very kindly suggested a glass of hot grog, and I did not

refuse his proferred hospitality. When I came out of his house again, the rain had almost ceased, and just as I

stooped to crank the car I though I saw a shadowy figure moving near the end of a lane which led to the

tradesmen's entrance of Dr. Stuart's house. A sudden suspicion laid hold upon mea horrible doubt.

Having driven some twenty yards along the road, I leaned from my seat and looked back. A big man wearing

Remembering how cleverly I had been trailed from Miguel's caf� to my flat, in Paris (for I no longer doubted

that someone had followed me on that occasion), I now perceived that I might again be the object of the same

expert's attention. Stopping my engine halfway along the next road, I jumped out and ran back, hiding in the

bushes which grew beside the gate of a large empty house. I had only a few seconds to wait.

A big closed car, running almost silently, passed before me . . . and "Le Balafr�" was leaning out of the

At last I saw my chance of finding the headquarters of "The Scorpion." Alas! The man of the scar was as

swift to recognize that possibility as I. A moment after he had passed my stationary cab, and found it to be

deserted, his big car was off like the wind, and even before I could step out from the bushes the roar of the

THE following morning I spent at home, in my modest rooms, reviewing my position and endeavouring to

adjust my plans in accordance with the latest development. "The Scorpion" had scored a point. What had

aroused the suspicions of "Le Balafr�," I knew not; but I was inclined to think that he had been looking from

some window or peephole in the narrow street with the wooden houses when I had, injudiciously, followed

On the other hand, the leakage might be in Parisor in my correspondence system. The man of the scar

might have been looking for me as I was looking for him. That he was looking for someone on the

He was aware, then, that Charles Malet, cabman, was watching him. But was he aware that Charles Malet

was Gaston Max? And did he know where I lived? Alsodid he perchance think that my meeting with Dr.

Stuart in Limehouse had been prearranged? Clearly he had seen Dr. Stuart enter my cab, for he had pursued

This course of reflection presently led me to a plan. It was a dangerous plan, but I doubted if I should ever

find myself in greater danger than I was in already. Nom d'un nom! I had not forgotten the poor Jean Sach!

That night, well knowing that I carried my life in my hands, I drove again to Limehouse Town Hall, and

again leaving my cab outside went into the bar where I had previously met "Le Balafr�." If I had doubted that

my movements were watched, I must now have had such doubts dispelled; for two minutes later the man with

I had learned something else. He did not know that I had recognized him as the person who had tracked me to

He invited me to drink with him, and I did so. As we raised our glasses I made a move. Looking all about me

"Am I right in supposing that you have business in this part of London?" I asked.

"Take my advice, as a friend," I said, "and visit these parts as rarely as possible."

"It is dangerous. From the friendly manner to which you entered into conversation with me, I perceived that

you were of a genial and unsuspicious nature. Very well. I warn you. Last night I was followed from a certain

street not far from here to the house of a medical man who is a specialist in certain kinds of criminology, you

"Perhaps I am. No matter. Take my advice. I have things written here"I tapped the breast of my

tunic"which will astonish all the world shortly. I tell you, my friend, my fortune is made."

I finished my drink and ordered another for myself and one for my acquaintance. He was watching me

doubtfully. Taking up my replenished glass, I emptied it at a draught and ordered a third. I leaned over

"Five thousand pounds," I whispered thickly, "has been offered for the information which I have here in my

pocket. It is not yet complete, you understand, and because they may mu7rder me before I obtain the rest of

"I know what I am talking about," I assured him, speaking more and more huskily. "Listen, then: I am going

to take all my notes to my friend, the doctor, and leave them with him, sealedsealed, you follow me? If I

do not come back for them, in a week, shall we say?he sends them to the police. I do not profit, you think?

Emptying my third glass, I ordered a fourth and one for my companion. He checked me.

"No more for me, thank you," he said. "I havebusiness to attend to. I will wish you goodnight."

"Goodnight!" I cried boisterously"goodnight, friend! Take heed of my good advice!"

As he went out, the barman brought me my fourth glass of cognac, staring at me doubtfully. Our conversation

"Quite enough!" I replied, in English now of course. "But I've had a stroke of luck tonight and I feel happy.

On going out into the street I looked cautiously about me, for I did not expect to reach the house of Dr. Stuart

unmolested. I credited "Le Balafr�" with sufficient acumen to distrust the genuineness of my intoxication,

even if he was unaware of my real identity. I never make the mistake of underestimating an opponent's wit,

and whilst acting on the assumption that the scarred man knew me to be forcing his hand, I recognized that

whether he believed me to be drunk or sober, Gaston Max or another, his line of conduct must be the same.

He must take it for granted that I actually designed to lodge my notes with Dr. Stuart and endeavour to

I could detect no evidence of surveillance whatever and cranking the engine I mounted and drove off. More

than once, as I passed along Commercial Road, I stopped and looked back. But so far as I could make out no

one was following me. The greater part of my route lay along populous thoroughfares, and of this I was not

sorry; but I did not relish the prospect of Thames Street, along which presently my course led me.

Leaving the city behind me, I turned into that thoroughfare, which at night is almost quite deserted, and there

I pulled up. Pardieu! I was disappointed! It seemed as though my scheme had miscarried. I could not

understand why I had been permitted to go unmolested, and I intended to walk back to the corner for a final

As I stopped the cab and prepared to descend, a fainta very faintsound almost in my ear, set me keenly

on the alert. Just in the nick of time I ducked . . . as the blade of a long knife flashed past my head, ripping its

Yes! That movement had saved my life, for otherwise the knife must have entered my shoulderand pierced

He had quietly opened one of the front windows and had awaited a suitable opportunity to stab me. Now,

recognizing failure, he leapt out on the near side as I lurched and stumbled from my seat, and ran off like the

"Mon Dieu!" I muttered, raising my hand to my head, from which blood was trickling down my face, "the

I bound a handkerchief as tightly as possible around the wound in my scalp and put my cap on to keep the

bandage in place. The wound was only a superficial one, and except for the bleeding I suffered no

inconvenience from it. But I had now a legitimate reason for visiting Dr. Stuart, and as I drove on towards

Battersea I was modifying my original plan in accordance with the unforeseen conditions.

It was long past Dr. Stuart's hours of consultation when I arrived at his house, and the servant showed me into

a waitingroom, informing me that the doctor would join me in a few minutes. Directly she had gone out I

took from the pocket of my tunic the sealed envelope which I had intended to lodge with the doctor. Pah! it

Actually, you will say, there was no reason why I should place a letter in the hands of Dr. Stuart; my purpose

would equally well be served by pretending that I had done so. Ah, but I knew that I had to deal with clever

peoplewith artists in crimeand it behoved me to be an artist also. I had good reason to know that their

The unpleasantly sticky letter I returned to my pocket, looking around me for some means of making up any

kind of packet which could do duty as a substitute. Beyond a curtain draped over a recess at one end of the

waitingroom I saw a row of bottles, a box of lint and other medical paraphernalia. It was the doctor's

I crossed the room and looked. Immediately around the corner, on a level with my eyes, was a packet of

foolscap envelopes and a stick of black sealingwax! Bien! all that I now required was a stout sheet of paper

to enclose in one of those envelopes. But not a scrap of paper could I find, except the bloodstained letter in

my pockettowards which I had formed a strong antipathy. I had not even a newspaper in my possession. I

thought of folding three or four envelopes, but there were only six in all, and the absence of so many might be

Drawing aside a baize curtain which hung from the bottom shelf, I discovered a number of old cardboard

boxes. It was sufficient. With a pair of surgical scissors I cut a piece rom the lid of one and thrust it into an

envelope, gumming down the lapel. At a little gas jet intended for the purpose I closed both ends with was

andsingular coincidence!finding a Chinese coin fastened to a cork lying on the shelf, my sense of

humour prompted me to use it as a seal! Finally, to add to the verisimilitude of the affair I borrowed a pen

which rested in a bottle of red ink and wrote upon the envelope a number: 30, that day being the thirtieth day

It was well that the artist within me had dictated this careful elaboration, as became evident a few minutes

later when the doctor appeared at the head of a short flight of stairs and requested me to step up into his

consultingroom. It was a small room, so that the window, over which a linen blind was drawn, occupied

nearly the whole of one wall. As Dr. Stuart, having examined the cut on my scalp, descended to the

I quickly switched off the light and peeped out of the window around the edge of the blind, which I drew

slightly aside. In the shadow of the wall upon the opposite side of the narrow lane a man was standing! I

My skull being dressed, I broached the subject of the letter, which I said I had found in my cab after the

"Someone left this behind today, sir," I said; "perhaps the gentleman who was with me when I had the

accident; and I've got no means of tracing him. He may be able to trace me, though, or he may advertise. It

evidently contains something valuable. I wonder if you would do me a small favour? Would you mind taking

"Because," said I, "if the owner claims it from Scotland Yard he is less likely to be generous than if he gets it

I explained that if I kept the letter I might be suspected of an intention of stealing it, whereas directly there

was any inquiry, he could certify that I had left it in his charge. He seemed to be satisfied and asked me to

come into his study for a moment. The man in the lane was probably satisfied, too. I had stood three paces

from the tablelamp all the time, waving the letter about as I talked, and casting a bold shadow on the linen

The first thing that struck me as I entered the doctor's study was that the French windows, which opened on a

"You see," said Dr. Stuart, "I am enclosing your precious letter in this big envelope which I am sealing."

"Yes, sir," I replied, standing at some distance from him, so that he had to speak loudly. "And would you

"Not at all," said he, and did as I suggested. "If not reclaimed within a reasonable time, it will be sent to

"Meanwhile," concluded the doctor, "I am locking it in this private drawer in my bureau."

KNOWING, and I knew it well, that people of "The Scorpion" were watching, I do not pretend that I felt at

my ease as I drove around to the empty house in which I garaged my cab. My inquiry had entered upon

another stage, and Charles Malet was about to disappear from the case. I was well aware that if he failed in

The path which led to the stables was overgrown with weeds and flanked by ragged bushes; weeds and grass

sprouted between the stones paving the little yard, also, although they were withered to a great extent by the

petrol recently spilled there. Having run the cab into the yard, I alighted and looked around the deserted

grounds, mysterious in the moonlight. Company would have been welcome, but excepting a constable who

had stopped and chatted with me on one or two evenings I always had the stables to myself at night.

I determined to run the cab into the stable and lock it up without delay, for it was palpably dangerous in the

circumstances to remain longer than necessary in that lonely spot. Hurriedly I began to put out the lamps. I

unlocked the stable doors and stood looking all about me again. I was dreading the ordeal of driving the cab

those last ten yards into the garage, for whilst I had my back to the wilderness of bushes it would be an easy

Nevertheless, it had to be done. Seating myself at the wheel I drove into the narrow building, stopped the

engine and peered cautiously around towards the bright square formed by the open doors. Nothing was to be

A magazine pistol held in my hand, I crept, step by step, along the wall until I stood just within the opening.

Dropping quietly down upon the pavement, I slowly protruded my head around the angle of the brick wall at

a point not four inches above the ground. I knew that whoever waited would have his eyes fixed upon the

Close to the wall, a pistol held in his left hand and an upraised sandbag in his right, stood "Le Balafr�!" His

eyes gleamed savagely in the light of the moon and his teeth were bared in that fearful animal snarl. But he

Inch by inch I thrust my pistol forward, the barrel raised sharply. I could not be sure of my aim, of course, nor

The bullet was meant for his right wrist, but it struck him in the fleshy part of his arm. Uttering a ferocious

cry he leapt back, dropped his pistoland perceiving me as I sprang to my feet, lashed at my head with the

sandbag. I raised my left arm to guard my skull and sustained the full force of the blow upon it.

I staggered back against the wall, and my own pistol was knocked from my grasp! My left arm was

temporarily useless and the man of the scar was deprived of the use of his right. Pardieu! I had the better

Instantly he recovered the advantage, for he grasped me by the throat with his left handand, nom d'un nom!

what a grip he had! Flat against the wall he held me, and began, his teeth bared in that fearful grin, to crush

To such an attack there was only one counter. I kicked him savagelyand that deathgrip relaxed. I writhed,

twistedand was free! As I regained my freedom I struck at him, and by great good fortune caught him upon

the point of the jaw. He staggered. I struck him over the heart, and he fell. I pounced upon him, exulting, for

Yet I had not thought so strong a man would choke so easily, and for some moments I stood looking down at

him, believing that he sought to trick me. But it was not so. His affair was finished.

I listened. The situation in which I found myself was full of difficulty. An owl screeched somewhere in the

trees, but nothing else stirred. The sound of the shot had not attracted attention, apparently. I stooped and

He carried a travel coupon to Paris bearing that day's date, together with some other papers, but, although I

searched all his pockets, I could find nothing of real interest, until in an inside pocket of his coat I felt some

hard, irregularly shaped object. I withdrew it, and in the moonlight it lay glittering in my palm . . . a golden

It had apparently been broken in the struggle. The tail was missing, nor could I find it; but I must confess that

Some chance effect produced by the shadow of the moonlight, and the presence of that recently purchased

ticket, gave me the idea upon which without delay I proceeded to act. Satisfying myself that there was no

mark upon any of his garments by which the man could be identified, I unlocked from my wrist an

identification disk which I habitually wore there, and locked it upon the wrist of the man with the scar!

Clearly, I argued, he had been detailed to dispatch me and then to leave at once for France. I would make it

Behold me, ten minutes later, driving slowly along a part of the Thames Embankment which I chanced to

remember, a gruesome passenger riding behind me in the cab. I was reflecting as I kept a sharp lookout for a

spot which I had noted one day during my travels, how easily one could commit murder in London, when a

"What for?" I asked, and remembering a rare fragment of idiom: "What's up with you?" I added.

"Oh," said I, climbing from my seat"very well. I'm sorry. I didn't know. But here is my license."

I handed him the little booklet and began to light my lamps, cursing myself for a dreadful artist because I had

"All right," he replied, and handed it back to me. "But how the devil you've managed to get all your lamps

"This is my first job since dusk," I explained, hurrying around to the taillight.

I replaced my matches in my pocket and returned to the front of the cab, making a gesture as of one raising a

glass to his lips and jerking my thumb across my shoulder in the direction of my unseen fare.

I drove on slowly. The point for which I was making was only some three hundred yards further along, but I

had noted that the constable had walked off in the opposite direction. Therefore, arriving at my

Only the wash of the tide upon the piles of the wharf was audible, for the night was now far advanced.

I opened the door of the cab and dragged out "Le Balafr�." Right and left I peered, truly like a stage villain,

and then hauled my unpleasant burden along the irregularly paved path and on to the little wharf. Out in

midstream a Thames Police patrol was passing, and I stood a moment until the creak of the oars grew dim.

Returning again to the garage, I wondered very much who he had been, this one, "Le Balafr�." Could it be

that he was "The Scorpion"? I could not tell, but I had hopes very shortly of finding out.

I had settled up my affairs with my landlady and had removed from my apartments all papers and other

effects. In the garage I had placed a good suit of clothes and other necessities, and by telephone I had secured

The cab returned to the stable, I locked the door, and by the light of one of the lamps, shaved off my beard

and moustache. My uniform and cap I hung up on the hook where I usually left them after working hours,

and changed into the suit which I had placed there in readiness. I next destroyed all evidences of identity and

left the place in a neat condition. I extinguished the lamp, went out and locked the door behind me, and

ON THE corner opposite Dr. Stuart's establishment stood a house which was "to be let or sold." From the

estateagent whose name appeared upon the noticeboard I obtained the keysand had a duplicate made of

that which opened the front door. It was a simple matter, and the locksmith returned both keys to me within

Nevertheless, having bolted the door, in order that prospective purchasers might not surprise me, I "camped

out" in an upper room all day, watching from behind the screen of trees all who came to the house of Dr.

Stuart. Dusk found me still at my post, armed with a pair of good binoculars. Every patient who presented

himself I scrutinized carefully, and finding as the darkness grew that it became increasingly difficult to

discern the features of visitors, I descended to the front garden and resumed my watch from the lower

At selected intervals I crept from my post and surveyed the lane upon which the window of the

consultingroom opened and also the path leading to the tradesmen's entrance, from which one might look

across the lawn and in at the open study windows. It was during one of these tours of inspection and whilst I

was actually peering through a gap in the hedge, that I heard the telephone bell. Dr. Stuart was in the study

I gathered that his services were required immediately at some institution in the neighbourhood. I saw him

take his hat, stick and bag from the sofa and go out of the room. Then I returned to the front garden of my

No one appeared for some time. A policeman walked slowly up the road, and flashed his lantern in at the gate

of the house I had commandeered. His footsteps died away. Then, faintly, I heard the hum of a powerful

motor. I held my breath. The approaching car turned into the road at a point above me to the right, came

It was the brownskinned man! Nom d'un nom! a woman was descending from the car. She was enveloped in

furs and I could not see her face. She walked up the steps to the door and was admitted.

My heart bearing rapidly with excitement, I crept out by the further gate of the drive, crossed the road at a

point fifty yards above the house and walking very quietly came back to the tradesmen's entrance. Into its

The elegant visitor, as I had hoped, had been shown, not into the ordinary waitingroom but into the doctor's

study. She was seated with her back to the window, talking to a greyhaired old ladyprobably the doctor's

housekeeper. Impatiently I waited for this old lady to depart, and the moment that she did so, the visitor stood

It was only with difficulty that I restrained the cry of triumph which arose to my lips. On the instant that the

study door closed, Z�ra elKhal� began to try a number of keys which she took from her handbag upon the

Suddenly she desisted, looking nervously at the open windows; then, crossing the room she drew the curtains.

I crept out into the road again and by the same roundabout route came back to the empty house. Feeling my

way in the darkness of the shrubbery, I found the motor bicycle which I had hidden there and I wheeled it

I could see the doctor's door, and I saw him returning along the road. As he appeared, from somewhereI

could not determine from wherecame a strange and uncanny wailing sound, a sound that chilled me like an

Even as it died away, and before Dr. Stuart had reached his door, I knew what it portendedthat horrible

wail. Some one hidden I knew not where, had warned Z�ra elKhal� that the doctor returned! But stay!

How I congratulated myself upon the precautions which I had taken to escape observation! Evidently the

watcher had place himself somewhere where he could command a view of the front door and the road.

Five minutes later the girl came out, the old housekeeper accompanying her to the door, the car emerged from

the land, Z�ra elKhal� entered it and was driven away. I could see no third person inside the car, and no one

As I had anticipated, the route was Eastward, and I found myself traversing familiar ground. From the

southwest to the east of London whirled the big car of mysteryand I was ever close behind it. Sometimes,

in the crowded streets, I lost sight of my quarry for a time, but always I caught up again, and at last I found

Just by the canal bridge a drunken sailor lurched out in front of my wheel, and only by twisting perilously

right into a turning called, I believe, Salmon Lane, did I avoid running him down.

Sacre nom! how I cursed him! The lane was too narrow for me to turn and I was compelled to dismount and

to wheel my "Indian" back to the highroad. The yellow car had vanished, of course, but I took it for granted

that it had followed the main road. At a dangerous speed, pursued by execrations from the sailor and all his

friends, I set off east once more, turning to the right down West India Dock Road.

Arriving at the dock, and seeing nothing ahead of me but desolation and ships' masts, I knew that that

inebriated pig had spoiled everything! I could have sat down upon the dirty pavement and wept, so mortified

was I! For if Z�ra elKhal� had secured the envelope I had missed my only chance.

However, pardieu! I have said that despair is not permitted by the Bureau. I rode home to my hotel, deep in

reflection. Whether the girl had the envelope or not, at least she had escaped detection by the doctor;

therefore if she had failed she would try again. I could sleep in peace until the morrow.

Of the following day, which I spent as I had spent the preceding one, I have nothing to record. At about the

same time in the evening the yellow car again rolled into view, and on this occasion, I devoted all my

As the girl alighted and spoke to him for a moment, he raised the goggles which habitually he wore and I saw

his face. A theory which I had formed on the previous night proved to be correct. The chauffeur was the

Hindu, Chunda Lal! As Z�ra elKhal� walked up the steps he backed the car into the narrow lane and I

watched him constantly. Yet, watch as closely as I might, I could not see where he concealed himself in order

On this occasion, as I know, Dr. Stuart was at home. Nevertheless the girl stayed for close upon half an hour,

and I began to wonder if some new move had been planned. Suddenly the door opened and she came out.

I crept away through the bushes to my bicycle and wheeled in on to the drive. I saw the car start; but Madame

Fortune being in playful mood, my own engine refused to start at all, and when ten minutes later I at last

aroused a spark of life in the torpid machine I knew that pursuit would be futile.

Since this record is intended for the guidance of those who may take up the quest of "The Scorpion" either in

cooperation with myself or, in the event of my failure, it would be profitless for me to record my disasters.

Very well, I had one success. One night I pursued the yellow car from Dr. Stuart's house to the end of

A string of lorries from the docks, drawn by a tractionengine, checked me a the corner for a time, although

the yellow car had passed. But I raced furiously on and by great good luck overtook it near the Dock Station.

From thence onward pursuing a strangely tortuous route, I kept it in sight to Canning Town, when it turned

Chunda Lal was talking to the man in charge; he had not yet left his seat. But the car was empty!

At first I was stupid with astonishment. Par la barbe du proph�te! I was astounded. Then I saw that I had

really made a great discovery. The street into which I had injudiciously followed "Le Balafr�" lay between

Limehouse Causeway and Ropemaker Street, and it was at no great distance from this point that I had lost

sight of the yellow car. In that street, which according to my friend the policeman was "nearly all Chinese,"

I COME now to the conclusion of this statement and to the strange occurrence which led to my proclaiming

myself. The fear of imminent assassination, which first had prompted me to record what I knew of "The

Scorpion" had left me since I had ceased to be Charles Malet. And that the disappearance of "Le Balafr�" had

been accepted by his unknown chief as evidence of his success in removing me, I did not doubt. Therefore I

Yes, my body was recovered from Hanover Hole; I read of ita very short paragraph, but it is the short

paragraphs that matterin my morning paper. I knew then that I should very shortly be dead

indeedofficially dead. I had counted on this happening before, you understand, for I more than ever

suspected that "The Scorpion" knew me to be in England and I feared that he would "lie low" as the English

say. However, since a fortunate thing happens better late than never, I saw in this paragraph two things: (1)

that the enemy would cease to count upon Gaston Max; (2) that the Scotland Yard Commissioner would be

authorised to open Part First of this Statement which had been lodged at his office two days after I landed in

Englandthe portion dealing with my inquiries in Paris and with my tracking of "Le Balafr�" to Bow Road

Station and observing that he showed a golden scorpion to the chauffeur of the yellow car.

This would happen because Paris would wire that the identification disk found on the dead man was that of

Gaston Max. Why would Paris do so? Because my reports had been discontinued since I had ceased to be

Charles Malet and Paris would be seeking evidence of my whereabouts. My reports had discontinued because

I had learned that I had to do with a criminal organization of whose ramifications I knew nothing. Therefore I

I return to the night when Inspector Dunbar, the grim Dunbar of Scotland Yard, came to Dr. Stuart's house.

His appearance there puzzled me. I could not fail to recognize him, for as dusk had fully come I had

descended from my top window and was posted among the bushes of the empty house from whence I

commanded a perfect view of the doctor's door. The night was unusually chillythere had been some

rainand when I crept around to the lane bordering the lawn, hoping to see or hear something of what was

taking place in the study, I found that the windows were closed and the blinds drawn.

Luck seemed to have turned against me; for that night, at dusk, when I had gone to a local garage where I

kept my motor bicycle, I had discovered the back tyre to be perfectly flat and had been forced to contain my

soul in patience whilst the man repaired a serious puncture. The result was of course that for more than half

an hour I had not had Dr. Stuart's house under observation. And a hundred and one things can happen in half

Had Dr. Stuart sent for the Inspector? If so, I feared that the envelope was missing, or at any rate that he had

detected Z�ra elKhal� in the act of stealing it and had determined to place the matter in the hands of the

police. It was a maddening reflection. AgainI shrewdly suspected that I was not the only watcher of Dr.

Stuart's house. The frequency with which the big yellow car drew up at the door a few moments after the

doctor had gone out could not be due to accident. Yet I had been unable to detect the presence of this other

watcher, nor had I any idea of the spot where the car remained hiddenif my theory was a correct one.

Nevertheless I did not expect to see it come along whilst the Inspector remained at the housealways

supposing that Z�ra elKhal� had not yet succeeded. I wheeled out the "Indian" and rode to a certain

He had a telephone in a room at the rear which customers were allowed to use on payment of a fee, and a

public callbox would not serve my purpose, since the operator usually announces to a subscriber the fact

that a call emanates from such an office. The shop was closed, but I rang the bell at the side door and

obtained permission to use the telephone upon pleading urgency. I had assiduously cultivated a natural gift

for mimicry, having found it of inestimable service in the practice of my profession. It served me now. I had

worked in the past with Inspector Dunbar and his subordinate Sergeant Sowerby, and I determined to trust to

I rang up Dr. Stuart and asked for the Inspector, saying that Sergeant Sowerby spoke from Scotland Yard?

"Yes," I replied in Sowerby's voice. "I thought I should find you there. About the body of Max. . ."

I knew immediately that Paris had not yet wired, therefore I told him that Paris had done so, and that the disk

numbered 49685 was that of Gaston Max. He was inexpressibly shocked, deploring the rashness of Max in

He said he would be with me in a few minutes, and I was racking my brains for some means of learning what

business had taken him to Dr. Stuart when he gave me the desired information spontaneously.

"Sowerby, listen," said he: "It's 'The Scorpion' case right enough! That bit of gold found on the dead man is

So! they had found what I had failed to find! It must have been attached, I concluded, to some inner part of

"Le Balafr�'s" clothing. There had been no mention of Z�ra elKhal�; therefore, as I rode back to my post I

permitted myself to assume that she would come again, since presumably she had thus far failed. I was right.

Morbleu! quick as I was the car was there before me! But I had not overlooked this possibility and I had

dismounted at a good distance from the house and had left the "Indian" in someone's front garden. As I had

turned out of the main road I had seen Dr. Stuart and Inspector Dunbar approaching a rank upon which two or

I watched la Belle Z�ra enter the house, a beautiful woman most elegantly attired, and then, even before

Chunda Lal had backed the car into the lane I was off . . . to the spot at which I had abandoned my motor

bicycle. In little more than half an hour I had traversed London, and was standing in the shadow of that high,

blank wall to which I have referred as facing a row of wooden houses in a certain street adjoining Limehouse

You perceive my plan? I was practically sure of the street; all I had to learn was which house sheltered "The

I had already suspected that this night was to be for me an unlucky night. Nom d'un p'tit bonhomme! it was

so. Until an hour before dawn I crouched under that wall and saw no living thing except a very old Chinaman

who came out of one of the houses and walked slowly away. The other houses appeared to be empty. No

Turning over in my mind the details of this most perplexing case, it became evident to me that the advantages

of working alone were now outweighed by the disadvantages. The affair had reached a stage at which

ordinary police methods should be put into operation. I had collected some of the threads; the next thing was

I determined to remain dead. I would afford me greater freedom of action. The disappearance of "Le Balafr�"

which must by this time have been noted by his associates, might possibly lead to a suspicion that the dead

man was not Gaston Max; but providing no member of "The Scorpion" group obtained access to the body I

The sealed letter had achieved its purpose in part. Although I had failed to locate the house from which these

people operated, I could draw a circle on the map within which I knew it to be; and I had learned that Z�ra

elKhal� and the Hindu were in London. What it all meantto what end "The Scorpion" was working I did

It was now imperative that I should get in touch with Dunbar and that I should find out e3xactly what had

occurred at Dr. Stuart's house. Accordingly I determined to call upon the Inspector at Scotland Yard. I

presented myself towards evening of the day following my vigil in Limehouse, sending up the card of a

Bureau confrere, for I did not intend to let it be generally known that I was alive.

Presently I was shown up to that bare and shining room which I remembered having visited in the past. I

stood just within the doorway, smiling. Inspector Dunbar rose, as the constable went out, and stood looking

I had counted on striking him dumb with astonishment. He was Scottishly unmoved.

"Well," he said, coming forward with outstretched hand, "I'm glad to see you. I knew you would have to

I felt that my eyes sparkled. There was no resentment within my heart. I rejoiced.

"Look," he continued, taking a slip of paper from his notebook. "This is a copy of a note I left with Dr.

"A: the name of the man who cut out the lid of the cardboard box and sealed it in an envelopeGaston Max!

"C: The name of the man who rang me up at Dr. Stuart's and told me that Gaston Max was deadGaston

This statement is nearly concluded. The whole of the evening I spent in the room of the Assistant

Commissioner discussing the matters herein set forth and comparing notes with Inspector Dunbar. One

important thing I learned: that I had abandoned my nightly watches too early. For one morning just before

dawn someone who was not Z�ra had paid a visit to the house of Dr. Stuart! I determined to call upon the

As it chanced I was delayed and did not actually arrive until so late an hour that I had almost decided not to

present myself . . . when a big yellow car flashed past the taxicab in which I was driving!

Nom d'un nom! I could not mistake it! This was within a few hundred yards of the house of Dr. Stuart, you

understand, and I instantly dismissed my cabman and proceeded to advance cautiously on foot. I could not

longer hear the engine of the car which had passed ahead of me, but then I knew that it could run almost

noiselessly. As I crept along in that friendly shadow cast by a high hedge which had served me so well

From my left, in the direction of the back lawn of the house, came a sudden singular crackling noise and I

discerned a flash of blue flame resembling faint "summer lightning." A series of muffled explosions followed

. . . and in the darkness I tripped over something which lay along the ground at my feeta length of cable it

Stumbling, I uttered a slight exclamation . . . and instantly received a blow on the head that knocked me flat

on the ground! Everything was swimming around me, but I realized that someoneChunda Lal

probablyhad been hiding in the very passage which I had entered! I heard again that uncanny wailing,

Vaguely I discerned an incredible figurelike that of a tall cowled monk, towering over me. I struggled to

retain consciousnessthere was a rush of feet . . . the throb of a motor. It stimulated methat sound! I must

I staggered to my feet and groped my way along the hedge to where I had observed a tree by means of which

one might climb over. I was dizzy as a drunken man; but I half climbed and half fell on to the lawn. The

Pah! it was full of fumes. I looked around me. Mon Dieu! I staggered. For I knew that in this fumeladen

room a thing more horrible and more strange than any within my experience had taken place that night.

"It would appear, then," he said, "that whilst some minor difficulties have been smoothed away, we remain

face to face with the major problem: who is "The Scorpion" and to what end are his activities directed?"

"Let us see," he suggested, "what we really know about this 'Scorpion.' Let us make a brief survey of our

position in the matter. Let us take first what we have learned of himif it is a 'him' with whom we have to

dealfrom the strange experiences of Dr. Stuart. Without attaching too much importance to that episode five

years ago on the WuMen Bridge in China, we should remember, I think, that for any man to be known and,

it would appear, to be feared, as 'The Scorpion,' is remarkable. Very well. Perhaps the one we seek is the man

of the WuMen Bridge, perhaps he is not. We will talk about this one again presently.

"We come to the arrival on the scene of Z�ra elKhal�, also called Mlle. Dorian. She comes because of what

I have told to the scarred man from Paris, she comes to obtain that dangerous information which is to be sent

to Scotland Yard, she comes, in a word, from 'The Scorpion.' We have two links binding the poor one 'Le

Balafr�' to 'The Scorpion': (1) his intimacy with Miguel and those others with whom 'Scorpion'

communicated by telephone; (2) his possession of the golden ornament which lies there upon the table and

which I took from his pocket. What can we gather from the statement made to Dr. Stuart by Mlle. Dorian?

"In the first place we can only accept her words with a certain scepticism. Her story may be nothing but a

fabrication. However, it is interesting because she claims to be the unwilling servant of a dreaded master. She

lays stress upon the fact that she is an Oriental and does not enjoy the same freedom as a European woman.

This is possible, up to a point. On the other hand she seems to enjoy not only freedom but every luxury.

Therefore it may equally well be a lie. Some slight colour is lent to her story by the extraordinary mode of

life which she followed in Paris. In the midst of Bohemianism she remained secluded as an odalisque in some

har�m garden of Stambul, whether by her own will or by will of another we do not know. One little point her

existence seems to strengthen: that we are dealing with Easterns; for Z�ra elKhal� is partly of Eastern blood

"Consider the cowled man whose shadow Dr. Stuart has seen on two occasions: once behind the curtain of

his window and once cast by the moonlight across the lawn of his house. The man himself he has never seen.

Now this hooded man cannot have been 'Le Balafr�,' for 'Le Balafr�' was already dead at the time of his first

"For a moment I return to the man of the WuMen Bridge. The man of the WuMen Bridge was veiled and

this one is hooded! The man of the WuMen Bridge was known as 'The Scorpion,' and this one also is

"Is there something else which we may learn from the experiences of Dr. Stuart? Yes! We learn that 'The

Scorpion' suddenly decides that Dr. Stuart is dangerous, either because of his special knowledge (which

would be interesting) or because the 'Scorpion' believes that he has become acquainted with the contents of

the sealed envelopewhich is not so interesting although equally dangerous for Dr. Stuart. 'The Scorpion'

acts. He pays a second visit, again accompanied by Chunda Lal, who seems to be a kind of watchdog who

not only guards the person of Z�ra elKhal� but who also howls when danger threatens the cowled man!

"And what is the weapon which the cowled man (who may be 'The Scorpion') uses to remove Dr. Stuart? It is

a frightful weapon, my friends; it is a novel and a deadly weapon. It is a weapon of which science knows

nothinga blue ray of the colour produced by a Mercury Vapour Lamp, according to Dr. Stuart who has

seen it, and producing an odour like that of a blast furnace according to myself, who smelled it! Or this odour

might have been caused by the fusing of the telephone; for the blue ray destroys such fragile things as

telephones as easily as it destroys wood and paper! There is even a large round hole burned through the clay

at the back of the study grate and through the brick wall behind it! Very well. 'The Scorpion' is a scientist and

he is also the greatest menace to the world which the world has ever been called upon to deal with. You agree

Inspector Dunbar heaved a great sigh. Stuart silently accepted a cigarette from the Assistant Commissioner's

"I entirely agree with you, M. Max. Respecting this ray, as well as some one or two other minuti�, I have

made a short note which we will discuss when you have completed your admirably lucid survey of the case."

"These are the things, then, which we learn from the terrible experiences of Dr. Stuart. Placing these

experiences side by side with my own, in Paris and in Londonwhich we have already discussed in

detailwe find that we have to deal with an organisationthe object of which is unknowncomprising

among its members both Europeans ('Le Balafr�' was a Frenchman, I believe), crossbreeds such as Miguel

and Z�ra elKhal�" (Stuart winced), "one Algerian and a Hindu. It is then an organisation having

ramifications throughout Europe, the East and, Mon Dieu! where not? To continue. This little image"he

took up from the Commissioner's table the golden scorpion, and the broken fragment of tail"is now

definitely recognized by Dr. Stuartwho is familiar with the work of Oriental goldsmithsto be of Chinese

"It may possibly be Tibetan," interrupted Stuart; "but it comes to the same thing."

"Very well," continued Max. "It is Chinese. We hope, very shortly, to identify a house situated somewhere

within this red ink circle"he placed his finger on a map of London which lay open on the table"and

which I know to be used as a meeting place by members of this mysterious group. That circle, my friends,

surrounds what is known as 'Chinatown'! For the third time I return to the man of the WuMen Bridge; for

the man of the WuMen Bridge was, apparently, a Chinaman! Do I make myself clear?"

"Remarkably so," declared the Assistant Commissioner, taking a fresh cigarette. "Pray continue, M. Max."

"I will do so. One of my most important investigations, in which I had the honour and the pleasure to be

associated with Inspector Dunbar, led to the discovery of a dangerous group controlled by a certain 'Mr.

"Ah!" cried Dunbar, his tawny eyes sparkling with excitement, "I was waiting for that!"

"I knew you would be waiting for it, Inspector. Your powers of deductive reasoning more and more are

earning my respect. You recall that singular case? The elaborate network extending from London to Buenos

Ayres, from Peking to Petrograd? Ah! a wonderful system. It was an opium syndicate, you

"I recall the case," replied the Commissioner, "although I did not hold my present appointment at the time. I

"There were," agreed Max. "We never solved the mystery of the identity of 'Mr. King,' and although we

succeeded in destroying the enterprise I have since thought that we acted with undue precipitation."

"Yes," said Dunbar rapidly; "but there was that poor girl to be rescued, you will remember? We couldn't

"I agree entirely, Inspector. Our hands were forced. Yet, I repeat, I have since thought that we acted with

undue precipitation. I will tell you why. Do you recall the lossnot explained to this dayof the plans of

"Very well. A similar national loss was sustained about the same time by my own Government. I am not at

liberty to divulge its exact nature, as in the latter case the loss never became known to the public. But the only

member of the French Chamber who had seen this document to which I refer was a certain 'M. Blank,' shall

we say? I believe also that I am correct in stating that the late Sir Brian Malpas was a member of the British

"That is correct," said the Assistant Commissioner, "but surely the honour of the late Sir Brian was above

"Quite," agreed Max; "so also was that of 'M. Blank.' But my point is this: Both 'M. Blank' and the late Sir

"Hard work I had to hush it up," he said. "It would have finished his political career."

"It was generally supposed that Sir Brian Malpas was addicted to drugs," he remarked; "and I am not

surprised to learn that he patronised this syndicate to which you refer. But" he paused, smiling

"You perceive the drift of my argument?" cried Max. "You grasp what I mean when I say that we were too

hasty? This syndicate existed for a more terrible purpose than the promulgating of a Chinese vice; it had in its

clutches men entrusted with national secrets, men of genius but slaves of a horrible drug. Under the influence

of that drug, my friends, how many of those secrets may they not have divulged?"

"What became of those stolen plans?" he continued, speaking now in a very low voice. "In the stress of recent

years has the Haley torpedo made its appearance so that we might learn to which Government the plans had

been taken? No! the same mystery surrounds the fate of the information filched from the drugged brain of 'M.

Blank.' In a word"he raised a finger dramatically"someone is hoarding up those instruments of

destruction! Who is it that collects such things and for what purpose does he collect them?"

"It is not worthy of the name of a theory," he replied, "the surmise which I have made. But recently I found

myself considering the fact that 'The Scorpion' might just conceivably be a Chinaman. Now, 'Mr. King,' we

believe, was a Chinaman, and 'Mr. King,' as I am now convinced, operated not for a personal but for a deeper,

political purpose. He stole the brains of genius and accumulated that which he had stolen. 'The Scorpion'

destroys genius. Is it not possible that these contrary operations may be part of a common plan?"

"YOU are not by any chance," suggested Stuart smiling slightly, "hinting at that defunct bogey the 'Yellow

"Ah!" cried Max, "but certainly I am not! Do not misunderstand me. This group with which we are dealing is

shown to be not of a national but of an international character. The same applied to the organisation of 'Mr.

King.' But a Chinaman directed the one, and I begin to suspect that a Chinaman directs the other. No, I speak

of no ridiculous 'Yellow Peril,' my friends. John Chinaman, as I have known him, is the whitest man

breathing; but can you not imagine"he dropped his voice again in that impressive way which was yet so

truly Gallic"can you not imagine a kind of Oriental society which like a great, a formidable serpent, lies

hidden somewhere below that deceptive jungle of the East? These are troubled times. It is a wise state today

that knows its own leaders. Can you not imagine a dreadful sudden menace, not of men and guns but of

"You mean," said Dunbar slowly, "that 'The Scorpion' may be getting people out of the way who might

"Just as 'Mr. King' accumulated material for it," interjected the Assistant Commissioner. "It is a bold

conception, M. Max, and it raises the case out of the ordinary category and invests it with enormous

All were silent for a time. Stuart, Dunbar and the Commissioner watching the famous Frenchman as he sat

there, arrayed in the latest fashion of Savile Row, yet Gallic to his fingertips and in every gesture. It was

almost impossible at times to credit the fact that a Parisian was speaking, for the English of Gaston Max was

flawless except that he spoke with a faint American accent. Then, suddenly, a gesture, an expletive, would

But such betrayals never escaped from him when, in one of his inimitable disguises, he penetrated to the

purlieus of Whitechapel, to the dens of Limehouse. Then he was the perfect Hooligan, as, mingling with the

dangerous thieves of Paris, he was the perfect Apache. It was an innate gift of mimicry which had made him

the greatest investigator of his day. He could have studied Chinese social life for six months and thereupon

have become a mandarin whom his own servants would never have suspected to be a "foreign barbarian." It

But in the heart of the latter, as he studied Gaston Max and realized the gulf that separated them, there was

nothing but generous admiration for a master; yet Dunbar was no novice, for a process of fine deductive

reasoning he had come to the conclusion, as has appeared, that Gaston Max had been masquerading as a

cabman and that the sealed letter left with Dr. Stuart had been left as a lure. By one of those tricks of fate

which sometimes perfect the plans of men but more often destroy them, the body of "Le Balafr�" had been so

disfigured during the time that it had been buffeted about in the Thames that it was utterly unrecognizable

and indescribable. But even the disk had not deceived Dunbar. He had seen in that another ruse of his brilliant

confrere, and his orders to the keeper of the mortuary to admit no one without a written permit had been

dictated by the conviction that Max wished the body to be mistaken for his own. In Inspector Dunbar, Gaston

Max immediately had recognized an able colleague as Mrs. M'Gregor had recognized "a grand figure of a

"There have been other cases," he said reflectively, "now that one considers the matter, which seemed to

point to the existence of such a group or society as you indicate, M. Max, notably one with which, if I

remember rightly, Inspector"turning his dark eyes towards Dunbar"Inspector Weymouth, late of this

"Quite right, sir. It was his big case, and it got him a fine billet as Superintendent in Cairo if you remember?"

"Yes," mused the Assistant Commissioner"he transferred to Egypta very good appointment, as you say.

That, again, was before my term of office, but there were a number of very ghastly crimes connected with the

case and it was more or less definitely established, I believe, that some extensive secret society did actually

"Yes, yes, from China as you say, Inspector." He turned to Gaston Max. "Can it really be, M. Max, that we

have to deal with an upcrop of some deeplyseated evil which resides in the Far East? Are all these cases, not

the word of individual criminals but manifestations of a more sinister, a darker force?"

"I honestly believe so," he answered. "I have believed it for nearly two yearsever since the Grand Duke

died. And now, you said, I remember, that you had made a note the nature of which you would

"Yes," replied the Assistant Commissioner"a small point, but one which may be worthy of attention. This

ray, Dr. Stuart, which played such havoc in your studydo you know of anything approaching to it in more

"Well," said Stuart, "it may be no more than a development of one of several systems, notably of that of the

"Exactly." The Assistant Commissioner smiled in his most Mephistophelean manner. "Of the late Henrik

He said no more for a moment and sat smoking and looking from face to face. Then:

"That is the subject of my note, gentlemen," he added. "The other minuti� are of no immediate importance."

"Nom d'un p'tit bonhomme!" whispered Gaston Max. "I see! You think that Ericksen had completed his

The Assistant Commissioner waved one hand in the air so that the discoloration of first and second fingers

"It is for you to ascertain these points, M. Max," he said"I only suggest. But I begin to share your belief

that a series of daring and unusual assassinations has been taking place under the eyes of the police

authorities of Europe. It can only be poisonan unknown poison, perhaps. We shall be empowered to

exhume the body of the late Sir Frank Narcombe in a few days' time, I hope. His case puzzles me hopelessly.

What obstacle did a surgeon offer to this hypothetical Eastern movement? On the other hand, what can have

been filched from him before his death? The death of an inventor, a statesman, a soldier, can be variously

explained by your 'Yellow' hypothesis, M. Max, but what of the death of a surgeon?"

"We have learned a little," he said, "and guessed a lot. Let us hope to guess moreand learn everything!"

A moment later Sergeant Sowerby entered, his face very red and his hair bristling more persistently than

"Yes, Inspector," replied Sowerby, in his Police Court manner;he faced the Assistant Commissioner "with

He took out a notebook which appeared to be the twin of Dunbar's and consulted it, assuming an expression

"In the first place, sir," he began, never raising his eyes from the page, "I have traced the cab sold on the

"Ha, ha!" laughed Max breezily"he calls me a hammer! It is not Mallet, Sergeant Sowerbyyou have got

too many l's in that name; it is Malet and is called like one from the Malay States!"

"Oh," commented Sowerby, glancing up"indeed. Very good, sir. The owner claims the balance of purchase

"Pay your debts, M. Max," he said. "You will bring the Service de Suret� into bad repute! Carry on,

"Cut out the part about the cab, Sowerby," he said. "We've found that out from M. Max. Have you anything

"Yes," replied Sowerby, unperturbed, and turning over to the next page. "It was hired from Messrs. Wickers'

garage, at Canning Town, by the week. The lady who hired it was a Miss Dorian, a French lady. She gave no

reference, except that of the Savoy Hotel, where she was stopping. She paid a big deposit and had her own

"No, Inspector. She claimed her deposit this morning and said she was leaving London."

"London County & Birmingham, Canning Town. Her own account at a Strand bank was closed yesterday.

The details all concern milliners, jewellers, hotels and so forth. There's nothing there. I've been to the Savoy,

"A lady named Dorian has had rooms there for six weeks, has dined there on several occasions, but was more

"Morbleu!" muttered Max. "It is she beyond doubt. I recognize her sociable habits!"

"Now, sir," said Dunbar, "I've got Inspector Kelly here. He looks after the Chinese quarter. Shall I call him?"

Presently there entered a burly Irishman, bluff and goodhumoured, a very typical example of the intelligent

"Ah, Inspector," the Assistant Commissioner greeted him"we want your assistance in a little matter

"On this map"the Assistant Commissioner laid a discoloured forefinger upon the map of London"you

"Within that circle, which is no larger in circumference than a shilling as you observe, lies a house used by a

certain group of people. It has been suggested to me that these people may be Chinese associates of Chinese."

"Well, sir," said Inspector Kelly, smiling broadly, "considering the patch inside the circle I think it more than

likely! Seventyfive or it may be eighty per cent of the rooms and cellars and attics in those three streets are

"For your guidance, Inspector, we believe these people to be a dangerous gang of international criminals. Do

you know of any particular house, or houses, likely to be used as a meetingplace by such a gang?"

"A woman was murdered just there, sir," he said, taking up a pen from the table and touching a point near the

corner of Three Colt Street, "about a twelvemonth ago. We traced the mana Chinese sailorto a house

lying just about here." Again he touched the map. "It's a sort of little junkshop with a ramshackle house

attached, all cellars and rabbithutches, as you might say, overhanging a disused cutting which is filled at

high tide. Opium is to be had there and cardplaying goes on, and I won't swear that you couldn't get liquor.

"Why is it not closed?" inquired the Assistant Commissioner, seizing an opportunity to air his departmental

"Well, sir," replied Inspector Kelly, his eyes twinkling"if we shut up all these places we should never

know where to look for some of our regular customers! As I mentioned, we found the wanted Chinaman,

"Exactly. There's a moderately big room just behind the shop, principally used by opiumsmokers, and a

whole nest of smaller rooms above and below. Mind you, sir, I don't say this is the place you're looking for,

"A retired Chinese sailor called AhFangFu, but better known as 'Pidgin.' His establishment is called locally

"Ah." The Commissioner lighted a cigarette. "And you know of no other house which might be selected for

"I can't say I do, sir. I know pretty well all the business affairs of that neighbourhood, and none of the houses

inside your circle have changed hands during the past twelve months. Between ourselves, sir, nearly all the

property in the district belongs to AhFangFu, and anything that goes on in Chinatown he knows about!"

"I am obliged to you, Inspector," said the courteous Assistant Commissioner, "for your very exact

Gaston Max, who had diplomatically remained in the background throughout this interview, now spoke.

"Pardieu! but I have been thinking," he said. "Although 'The Scorpion,' as I hope, believes that that

troublesome Charles Malet is dead, he may also wonder if Scotland Yard has secured from Dr. Stuart's fire

any fragments of the information sealed in the envelope! What does it mean, this releasing of the yellow car,

"It means flight!" cried Dunbar, jumping violently to his feet. "By gad, sir!" he turned to the Assistant

"I have sufficient confidence in M. Max," he said, "to believe that, having taken the responsibility of

permitting this dangerous group to learn that they were under surveillance, he has good reason to suppose that

"It is true," he replied, and from his pocket he took a slip of flimsy paper. "This code message reached me as I

was about to leave my hotel. The quadroon, Miguel, left Paris last night and arrived in London this

"But certainly. He was followed to Limehouse, and he was definitely seen to enter the establishment

"Someone, as you say, is still there," replied Max. "But everything points to the imminent departure of this

some one. Will you see to it, Inspector, that not a ratpardieu! not a little mouseis allowed to slip out of

our red circle today. For tonight we shall pay a friendly visit to the house of AhFangFu, and I should

STUART returned to his house in a troubled frame of mind. He had refrained so long from betraying the

circumstances of his last meeting with Mlle. Dorian to the police authorities that this meeting now constituted

a sort of guilty secret, a link binding him to the beautiful accomplice of "The Scorpion"to the darkeyed

servant of the uncanny cowled thing which had sought his life by strange means. He hugged this secret to his

In his study he found a Post Office workman engaged in fitting a new telephone. As Stuart entered the man

"Goodafternoon, sir," he said, taking up the destroyed instrument from the litter of flux, pincers and

screwdrivers lying upon the table. "If it's not a rude question, how on earth did this happen?"

"It got mixed up with an experiment which I was conducting," he replied evasively.

"It seems to be fused, as though the top of it had been in a blast furnace," he continued. "Experiments of that

"They are," agreed Stuart. "But I have no facilities here, you see, and I wasercompelled to attempt the

"That's lucky," murmured the man, dropping the instrument into a carpetbag. "If you do, it will cost you a

"A Post Office messenger brought this letter for you, Mr. Keppel, just the now," she said, handing Stuart a

He took the envelope from her hand, and turned quickly away. He felt that he had changed colour. For it was

Mrs. M'Gregor proceeded about her household duties, and as her footsteps receded, Stuart feverishly tore

open the envelope. That elusive scent of jasmine crept to his nostrils. In the envelope was a sheet of thick

notepaper (having the top cut off evidently in order to remove a printed address), upon which the following

"Before I go away there is something I want to say to you. You do not trust me. It is not wonderful that you

do not. But I swear that I only want to save you from a great danger. If you will promise not to tell the police

anything of it, I will meet you at six o'clock by the Book Stall at Victoria Stationon the Brighton side. If

you agree you will wear something white in your buttonhole. If not you cannot fine me there. Nobody ever

Stuart laid the letter on the table, and began to pace up and down the room. His heart was beating

ridiculously. His selfcontempt was profound. But he could not mistake his sentiments.

His duty was plain enough. But he had failed in it once, and even as he strode up and down the room, already

he knew that he must fail again. He knew that, rightly or wrongly, he was incapable of placing this note in the

hands of the police . . . and he knew that he should be at Victoria Station at six o'clock!

He would never have believed himself capable of becoming accessory to a series of crimesfor this was

what his conduct amounted to; he had thought that sentiment no longer held any meaning for him. Yet the

only excuse which he could find wherewith to solace himself was that this girl had endeavoured to save him

from assassination. Weighed against the undoubted fact that she was a member of a dangerous criminal group

what was it worth? If the supposition of Gaston Max was correct, "The Scorpion" had at least six successful

murders to his credit, in addition tot he attempt upon his (Stuart's life and that of "Le Balafr�" upon the life of

Gaston Max. It was an accomplice of this nameless horror called "The Scorpion" with whom at six o'clock he

had a tryst, whom he was protecting from justice, by the suppression of whose messages to himself he was

Up and down he paced, restlessly, every now and again glancing at a clock upon the mantelpiece. His

Yet, at a quarter to six, he went outand seeing a little cluster of daisies growing amongst the grass

A few minutes before the hour he entered the station and glanced sharply around at the many groups scattered

about in the neighbourhood of the bookstall. There was no sign of Mlle. Dorian. He walked around the

booking office without seeing her and glanced into the waitingroom. Then, looking up at the station clock,

he saw that the hour had come, and as he stood there staring upward he felt a timid touch upon his shoulder.

She was Parisian from head to foot, simply but perfectly gowned. A veil hung from her hat and

halfconcealed her face, but could not hide her wonderful eyes nor disguise the delightful curves of her red

lips. Stuart automatically raised his hat, and even as he did so wondered what he should have said and done

"You are angry with me," said Mlle. Dorian, and Stuart thought that her quaint accent was adorable. "Or are

"Is it so weak," she said, rather tremulously, "not to judge a woman by what she seems to be and not to

condemn her before you hear what she has to say? If that is weak, I am glad; I think it is how a man should

Her voice and her eyes completed the spell, and Stuart resigned himself without another struggle to this

"We cannot very well talk here," he said. "Suppose we go into the hotel and have late tea, Mlle. Dorian."

Stuart was on the point of saying, "Z�ra elKhal� then, "but checked himself in the nick of time. He might

hold communication with the enemy, but at least he would give away no information.

"Of course, if you wish," said Stuart, looking down at her as she walked by his side and wondering what he

would do when he had to stand up in Court, look at Miska in the felon's dock and speak words which would

"Have I said something that displeases you?" she asked, resting a little whitegloved hand on his arm. "I am

"How lovely you are!" he said hotly, "and how maddening it is to remember that you are an accomplice of

"Oh," she said, and removed her hand, but not before he had felt how it trembled. They were about to enter

the tearoom when she added: "Please don't say that until I have told you why I do what I do."

Underlying the Western veneer was the fascinating na�vete of the Eastern woman, and Miska had all the

suave grace, too, which belongs to the women of the Orient, so that many admiring glances followed her

"Now," said Stuart, when he had given an order to the waiter, "what do you want to tell me? Whatever it may

be, I am all anxiety to hear it. I promise that I will only act upon anything you may tell me in the event of my

"Yes," replied Miska, beginning to speak in the latter language. "My mother was French, you see, and

although I can speak in English fairly well I cannot yet think in English. Do you understand?"

"Perfectly. So perhaps you will now explain to whom you refer when you speak of FoHi."

Miska glanced apprehensively around her, bending further forward over the table.

"Let me tell you from the beginning," she said in a low voice, "and then you will understand. It must not take

me too long. You see me as I am today because of a dreadful misfortune that befell me when I was fifteen

"My father was Wali of Aleppo, and my mother, his third wife, was a Frenchwoman, a member of a theatrical

company which had come to Cairo, where he had first seen her. She must have loved him, for she gave up the

world, embraced Islam and entered his har�m in the great house on the outskirts of Aleppo. Perhaps it was

because he, too, was half French, that they were mutually attracted. My father's mother was a Frenchwoman

"Until I was fifteen years of age I never left the har�m, but my mother taught me French and also a little

English; and she prevailed upon my father not to give me in marriage so early as is usual in the East. She

taught me to understand the ways of European women, and we used to have Paris journals and many books

come to us regularly. Then an awful pestilence visited Aleppo. People were dying in the mosques and in the

streets, and my father decided to send my mother and myself and some others of the har�m to his brother's

"Perhaps you will think that such things do not happen in these days, and particularly to members of the

household of a chief magistrate, but I can only tell you what is true. On the second night of our journey a

band of Arabs swept down upon the caravan, overpowered the guards, killing them all, and carried off

everything of value which we had. Me, also, they carried offme and one other, a little Syrian girl, my

cousin. Oh!" she shuddered violently"even now I can sometimes hear the shrieks of my mother . . . and I

Stuart looked up with a start to find a Swiss waiter placing tea on the table. He felt like rubbing his eyes. He

had been dragged rudely back from the Syrian desert to the prosaic realities of a London hotel.

"Perhaps," continued Misko, "you will think that we were illtreated, but it was not so. No one molested us.

We were given every comfort which desert life can provide, servants to wait upon us and plenty of good

food. After several weeks' journeying we came to a large city, having many minarets and domes glimmering

in the moonlight; for we entered at night. Indeed, we always travelled at night. At the time I had no idea of

"As we proceeded through the streets, the Assyrian girl and I peeped out through the little windows of the

shibriyehwhich is a kind of tent on the back of a camelin which we travelled, hoping to see some

familiar face or someone to whom we could appeal. But there seemed to be scarcely anyone visible in the

streets, although lights shone out from many window, and the few men we saw seemed to be anxious to avoid

"We stopped before the gate of a large house which was presently opened, and the camels entered the

courtyard. We descended, and I saw that a number of small apartments surrounded the courtyard in the

manner of a caravanserai. Then, suddenly, I saw something else, and I knew why we had been treated with

such consideration on the journey; I knew into what hands I had fallenI knew that I was in the house of a

"I knew you would doubt what I had to tell you," declared Miska plaintively; "but I solemnly swear what I

tell you is the truth. Yes, I was in the house of a slavedealer, and on the very next day, because I was

proficient in languages, in music and in dancing, and also becauseaccording to their Eastern ideasI was

She stopped, lowering her eyes and flushing hotly, then continued with hesitancy.

"In a small room which I can never forget I was offered the only indignity which I had been called upon to

As she spoke the words, Miska's eyes flashed passionately and her hand, which lay on the table, trembled.

"There were all kinds of girls," Miska continued, "black and brown and white, in the adjoining rooms, and

some of them were singing and some dancing, whilst others wept. Four different visitors inspected me

critically, two of them being agents for royal har�ms and the other twohow shall I say it?wealthy

connoisseurs. But the price asked by Mohammed AbdelB�li was beyond the purses of all except one of the

agents. He had indeed settled the bargain, when the singing and dancing and shoutingevery sound it

seemedceased about me . . . and into the little room in which I crouched amongst perfumed cushions at the

"OF COURSE, I did not know that this was his name at the time; I only knew that a tall Chinaman had

"This veil gave him in some way a frightfully malign and repellent appearance. As he stood in the doorway

looking down I seemed to feel his gaze passing over me like a flame, although of course I could not see his

eyes. For a moment he stood there looking at me; and much as his presence had affected me, its effect upon

the slavedealer and my purchaser was extraordinary. They seemed to be stricken dumb. Suddenly the

"'Her price?' repeated the Chinaman, in the same hard metallic voice and without the slightest change of

"The har�m agent who had bought me now said, his voice shaking so that the words were barely audible:

"'I give her up, MohammedI give her up. Who am I to dispute with the Mandarin FoHi?' and performing

"At the same moment, Mohammed, whose knees were trembling so that they seemed no longer capable of

"Mohammed, whose teeth had begun to chatter, asked him twice as much as he had agreed to accept from the

"FoHi addressed him in a language which I did not understand, although I have since learned that it was

Hindustani, and the Indian from a purse which he carried counted out the amount demanded by the dealer and

placed the money upon a little inlaid table which stood in the room. FoHi gave him some brief order, turned

and walked out of the room. I did not see him again for four yearsthat is to say until my nineteenth

"I know that you are wondering about many things and I will try to make some of them clear to you. You are

wondering, no doubt, how such a trade as I have described is carried on in the East today almost under the

eyes of European Governments. Now I shall surprise you. When I was taken from the house of the

slavedealer, in charge of Chunda Lalfor this was the name of the Hindudo you know where I was

"Cairo!" cried Stuartthen, perceiving that he had attracted attention by speaking so loudly, he lowered his

Miska smiledand her smile was the taunting smile of the East, which is at once a caress and an invitation.

"You think, no doubt, that there are no slaves in Cairo?" she said. "So do most people, and so did Ionce. I

learned better. There are palaces in Cairo, I assure you, in which there are many slaves. I myself lived in such

a palace for four years, and I was not the only slave there. What do British residents and French residents

know of the inner domestic life of their Oriental neighbours? Are they ever admitted to the har�m? And the

slavesare they ever admitted outside the walls of the palace? Sometimes, yes, but never alone!

"By slow stages, following the ancient caravan routes, and accompanied by an extensive retinue of servants

in charge of Chunda Lal, we came to Cairo; and one night, approaching the city from the northeast and

entering by the Bab enNasr, I was taken to the old palace which was to be my prison for four years. How I

passed those four years has no bearing upon the matters which I have to tell you, but I lived the useless,

luxurious life of some Arabian princess, my lightest wish anticipated and gratified; nothing was denied me,

"Then, one dayit was actually my nineteenth birthdayChunda Lal presented himself and told me that I

was to have an interview with FoHi. Hearing these words, I nearly swooned, for a hundred times during the

years of my strange luxurious captivity I had awakened trembling in the night, thinking that the figure of the

"You must understand that having spent my childhood in a har�m, the mode of life which I was compelled to

follow in Cairo was not so insufferable as it must have been for a European woman. Neither was my captivity

made unduly irksome. I often drove through the European quarters, always accompanied by Chunda Lal, and

closely veiled, and I regularly went shopping in the bazaarsbut never alone. The death of my motherand

later that of my father, of which Chunda Lal had told mewere griefs that time had dulled. But the horror of

To a wing of the palace kept closely locked, and which I had never seen opened, I was conducted by Chunda

Lal. There, in a room of a kind with which I have since become painfully familiar, a room which was part

library and part mandarah, part museum and part laboratory, I found the veiled man seated at a great littered

table. As I stood trembling before him he raised a long yellow hand and waved to Chunda Lal to depart.

When he obeyed and I heard the door close I could scarcely repress a shriek of terror.

"For what seemed an interminable time he sat watching me. I dared not look at him, but again I felt his gaze

passing over me like a flame. Then he began to speak, in French, which he spoke without a trace of an accent.

"He told me briefly that my life of idleness had ended and that a new life of activity in many parts of the

world was about to commence. His manner was quite unemotional, neither harsh nor kindly, his metallic

voice conveyed no more than the bare meaning of the words which he uttered. When, finally, he ceased

speaking, he struck a gong which hung from a corner of the huge table, and Chunda Lal entered.

"FoHi addressed a brief order to him in Hindustaniand a few moments later a second Chinaman walked

"He wore a plain yellow robe and had a little black cap on his head. His face, his wonderful evil face I can

never forget, and his eyesI fear you will think I exaggeratebut his eyes were green as emeralds! He

"I thank God that I have never seen him since, for his dreadful face haunted my dreams for long afterwards.

But I have heard of him, and I know that next to FoHi he is the most dangerous being in the known world.

He has invented horrible thingspoisons and instruments, which I cannot describe because I have never seen

"What is the name of this other man?" asked Stuart eagerly. Miska glanced at him rapidly.

"Oh, do not ask me questions, please!" she pleaded. "I will tell you all I can, all I dare; what I do not tell you I

cannot tell youand this is one of the things I dare not tell. He is a Chinese scientist and, I have heard, the

"I do not know that. If he is alive, he is in Chinaat some secret palace in the province of HoNan, which is

the headquarters of what is called the 'Sublime Order.' I have never been there, but there are European men

"It is useless to ask meoh! Indeed, I would tell you if I could, but I cannot! Let me go on from the time

when I saw FoHi in Cairo. He told me that I was a member of an organization dating back to remote

antiquity which was destined to rule all the races of mankindthe Celestial Age he called their coming

triumph. Something which they had lacked in order to achieve success had been supplied by the dreadful man

"For many years they had been at work in Europe, secretly, as well as in the East. I understood that they had

acquired a quantity of valuable information of some kind by means of a system of opiumhouses situated in

the principal capitals of the world and directed by FoHi and a number of Chinese assistants. FoHi had

remained in China most of the time, but had paid occasional visits to Europe. The other manthe monster

with the black skull caphad been responsible for the conduct of the European enterprises."

"Throughout this interview," interrupted Stuart, forgetful of the fact that Miska had warned him of the futility

of asking questions, "and during others which you must have had with FoHi, did you never obtain a glimpse

"Never! No one has ever seen his face! I know that his eyes are a brilliant and unnatural yellow colour, but

otherwise I should not know him if I saw him unveiled, tomorrow. Except," she added, "by a sense of

loathing which his presence inspires in me. But I must hurry. If you interrupt me, I shall not have time.

"From that day in Cairooh! how can I tell you! I began the life of an adventuress! I do not deny it. I came

here to confess it to you. I went to New York, to London, to Paris, to Petrograd; I went all over the world. I

had beautiful dresses, jewels, admirationall that women live for! And in the midst of it all mine was the

"I see the question in your eyeswhy did I do it? Why did I lure men into the clutches of FoHi? For this is

"Ah, no!" she whispered, looking about her fearfully"never! never! I swear itnever!"

"I dare not make it clearernow: I dare notdare not! But believe me! Oh, please, please," she pleaded, her

soft voice dropping to a whisper"believe me! If you know what I risked to tell you so much, you would be

more merciful. A horror which cannot be described"again she shuddered"will fall upon me if he ever

suspects! You think me young and full of life, with all the world before me. You do not know. I am, literally,

already dead! Oh! I have followed a strange career. I have danced in a Paris theatre and I have sold flowers in

Rome; I have had my box at the Opera and I have filled opium pipes in a den at San Francisco! But never,

never have I lured a man to his death. And through it all, from first to last, no man as so much as kissed the

"At a word, at a sign, I have been compelled to go from Monte Carlo to Buenos Ayres; at another sign from

there to Tokio! Chunda Lal has guarded me as only the women of the East are guarded. Yet, in his fierce

way, he has always tried to befriend me, he has always been faithful. But ah! I shrink from him many times,

in horror, because I know what he is! But I may not tell you. Look! Chunda Lal has never been out of sound

of this whistle"she drew a little silver whistle from her dress"for a moment since that day when he came

And now, suddenly, a wave of glorious colour flooded her beautiful face and swiftly she lowered her eyes,

replacing the little whistle. Stuart's rebellious heart leapt madly, for whatever he might think of her almost

"You almost drive me mad," he said in a low voice, resembling the tones of repressed savagery. "You tell me

so much, but withhold so much, that I am more bewildered than ever. I can understand your helplessness in

an Eastern household, but why should you obey the behests of this veiled monster in London, in New York,

"No one knows, because no one has ever seen his face! Ah! you are laughing! But I swear before heaven I

speak the truth! Indoors he wears a Chinese dress and a green veil. In passing from place to place, which he

always does at night, he is attired in a kind of cowl which only exposes his eyes"

"By road, on land, and in a steam yacht, at sea. Why should you doubt my honesty?" She suddenly raised her

glance to Stuart's face and he saw that she had grown pale. "I have risked what I cannot tell you, and more

than oncefor you! I tried to call you on the telephone on the night that he set out from the house near

"Stop!" said Stuart, almost too excited to note at the time that she had betrayed a secret. "It was you who rang

"Never mind. Your call saved my life. I shall not forget." He looked into her eyes. "But can you not tell me

"The Scorpion isa passport. See." From a little pocket in the coat of her costume she drew out a golden

scorpion! "I have one." She replaced it hurriedly. "I dare not, dare not tell you more. But this much I had to

"A French detective, a very clever man, learned a lot about 'The Scorpion' and he followed one of the

members to England. This man killed him. Oh, I know I belong to a horrible organization!" she cried bitterly.

"But I tell you I am helpless and I have never aided in such a thing. You should know that! But all he found

out he left with youand I do not know if I succeeded in destroying it. I do not ask you. I do not care. But I

She suddenly stood up. Stuart rose also. He was about to speak when Miska's expression changed. A look of

terror crept over her face, and hastily lowering her veil she walked rapidly away from the table and out of the

Many curious glances followed the elegant figure to the door. Then those glances were directed upon Stuart.

Flushing with embarrassment, he quickly settled the bill and hurried out of the hotel. Gaining the street, he

DUSK had drawn a grey mantle over the EastEnd streets when Miska, discharging the cab in which she had

come from Victoria, hurried furtively along a narrow alley tending Thamesward. Unconsciously she crossed

a certain linea line invisible except upon a map of London which lay upon the table of the Assistant

Commissioner in New Scotland Yardthe line forming the "red circle" of M. Gaston Max. And, crossing

this line, she became the focus upon which four pairs of watchful eyes were directed.

Arriving at the door of a mean house some little distance removed from that of AhFangFu, Miska entered,

for the door was open, and disappeared from the view of the four detectives who were watching the street.

Her heart was beating rapidly. For she had thought, as she had stood up to leave the restaurant, that the fierce

This gloomy house seemed to swallow her up, and the men who watched wondered more and more what had

become of the elegant figure, grotesque in such a setting, which had vanished into the narrow doorwayand

which did not reappear. Even Inspector Kelly, who knew so much about Chinatown, did not know that the

cellars of the three houses left and right of AhFangFu's were connected by a series of doors planned and

Half an hour after Miska had disappeared into the little house near the corner, the hidden door in the damp

cellar below "The Pidgin House" opened and a bent old woman, a ragged, greyhaired and dirty figure,

walked slowly up the rickety wooden stair and entered a bare room behind and below the shop and to the

immediate left of the den of the opiumsmokers. This room, which was windowless, was lighted by a tin

paraffin lamp hung upon a nail in the dirty plaster wall. The floor presented a litter of straw, paper and broken

packingcases. Two steps led up to a second door, a square heavy door of great strength. The old woman, by

means of a key which she carried, was about to open this door when it was opened from the other side.

Lowering his head as he came through, Chunda Lal descended. He wore European clothes and a white

turban. Save for his ardent eyes and the handsome fanatical face of the man, he might have passed for a

lascar. He turned and half closed the door. The woman shrank from him, but extending a lean brown hand he

"So!" he said, "we are all leaving England? Five of the Chinese sail with the P. and O. boat tonight. Ali

Khan goes tomorrow, and Rama Dass, with Miguel, on the Andaman. I meet them at Singapore. But you?"

The woman raised her finger to her lips, glancing fearfully towards the open door. But the Hindu, drawing

"I do not know," muttered the woman, keeping her head lowered and moving in the direction of the steps.

"Stop!" he said"not yet are you going. There is something I have to speak to you."

"Those!" said the Hindu contemptuously"the poor slaves of the black smoke! Ah! they floating in their

dream paradise; they have no ears to hear, no eyes to see!" He grasped her wrist again. "They content for

shadow smiles and dream kisses, but Chunda Lal have eyes to see and ears to hear. He dream, too, but of lips

Suddenly he clutched the grey hair of the bent old woman and with one angry jerk snatched it from her

headfor it was a cunning wig. Disorderred hair gleaming like bronze waves in the dim lamplight was

revealed and the great dark eyes of Miska looked out from the artificially haggard faceeyes wide open and

"Bend not that beautiful body so," whispered Chunda Lal, "that is straight and supple as the willow branch.

O, Miska"his voice trembled emotionally and he that had been but a moment since so fierce stood abashed

Miska started back from him as a muffled outcry sounded in the room beyond the halfopen door. Chunda

Lal started also, but almost immediately smiledand his smile was tender as a woman's.

"It is the voice of the black smoke that speaks, Miska. We are alone. Those are dead men speaking from their

Chunda Lal clenched his hands convulsively and turned his eyes in the same direction.

"It is of him," he replied in a voice of suppressed vehemence, "it is of I would speak." He bent close to

Miska's ear. "In the creek, below the house, is lying the motorboat. I go today to bring it down for him. He

goes tonight to the other house up the river. Tomorrow I am gone. Only you remaining."

"Do not go with him!" he said, and sought to draw Miska into his arms. "O, light of my eyes, do not go with

"You think,"the Hindu's voice was hoarse with emotion"that he will trace youand kill you?"

"Trace me!" exclaimed Miska with sudden scorn. "Is it necessary for him to trace me? Am I not already dead

except for him! Would I be his servant, his lure, his slave for one little hour, for one short minute, if my life

Beads of perspiration gleamed upon the brown forehead of the Hindu, and his eyes turned from the door to

the eastern wall and back again to Miska. He was torn by conflicting desires, but suddenly came resolution.

"Listen, then." His voice was barely audible. "If I tell you that your life is your ownif I reveal to you a

"If I tell you that life and not death awaits you, will you come away tonight, and we sail for India

tomorrow! Ah! I have money! Perhaps I am rich as well assomeone; perhaps I can buy you the robes of a

"All this mean nothing," she said. "How can the secret of Abd�l Roz�n help me to live? And youyou will

"Listen again," hissed Chunda Lal intensely. "Promise me, and I will open for you a gate of life. For you,

Miska, I will do it, and we shall be free. He will never find out. He shall not be living to find out!"

"No, no, Chunda Lal," she moaned. "You have been my only friend, and I have tried to forget . . ."

"I will forswear Kali for ever," he said fervently, "and shed no blood for all my life! I will live for you alone

"No, no," she repeated, her voice quivering"I cannot . . . Oh! do not ask it; I cannot!"

She picked up the hideous wig, moving towards the door. Chunda Lal watched her, clenching his hands; and

"It may be," he continued, and his repressed violence was terrible, "it may be that I, whose heart is never

sleeping, have seen and heard! One night"he crept towards her"one night when I cry the warning that

the Doctor Sahib returns to his house, you do not come! He goes in at the house, and you remain. But at last

"Do I not see it in your eyes, now! Never before have I thought so until you go to that house, never before

have you escaped from my care as here in London. Twice again I have doubted, and because there was other

work to do I have been helpless to find out. Tonighthe stood before her, glaring madly into her face"I

"Oh, Chunda Lal!" cried Miska piteously and extended her hands towards him. "No, nodo not say it!"

"So!" he whispered"I understand! You risk so much for himfor me you risk nothing! If hethe Doctor

"No, no! Can I never have one friend in all the world! I hear you call, Chunda Lal, but I am burning the

"I know you say so. And because heFoHi is not sure and because of the piece of the scorpion which

you find there, we go to that househe and Iand we fail in what we go for." Chunda Lal's hands dropped

limply to his sides. "Ah! I cannot understand, Miska. If we are not sure then, are we sure now? It may

"We do not know how much the Frenchman learns. We do not know how much they read of what he had

"I tell you his plan," he whispered tensely. "Oh, you shall hear me! He watch you grow from a little lovely

child, as he watch his deathspiders and his grey scorpions grow! He tend you and care for you and make

you perfect, and he plan for you as he plan for his other creatures. Then, he see what I see, that you are not

only his servant but also a woman and that you have a woman's heart. He learnwho think he knows

allthat he, too, is not yet a spirit but only a man, and have a man's heart, a man's blood, a man's longings! It

"It is madness, yesfor you! Always I have watched, always I have waited; and I also have seen you bloom

like a rose in the desert. Tonight I am herewatching . . . and he knew it! Tomorrow I am gone! Do you

"You say true when you say I have been your only friend, Miska. Tomorrow he plan that you have no

He released her, and slowly, from the sleeve of his coat, slipped into view the curved blade of a native knife.

"Ali Kh�n Bha� Sal�m!" he mutteredby which formula he pronounced himself a Thug!"

"Chunda Lal!" Miska spoke wildly. "I am frightened! Please let me go, and tomorrow"

"Tomorrow!" Chunda Lal raised his eyes, which were alight with the awful light of fanaticism. "For me

"Oh, he may hear you!" whispered Miska pitifully. "Please go now. I shall know that you are next me,

Chunda Lal stood watching her for a moment in silence, then he turned toward the cellar door, and then again

to Miska. Suddenly he dropped upon one knee before her, took her hand and kissed it, gently.

"I am your slave," he said, his voice shaken with emotion. "For myself I ask nothingonly your pity."

He rose, opened the door by which Miska had entered the room and went down into the cellars. She watched

him silently, half fearfully, yet her eyes were filled with compassionate tears. Then, readjusting the hideous

grey wig, she went up the steps and passed through the doorway into the den of the opium smokers.

STUART read through a paper, consisting of six closely written pages, then he pinned the sheets together,

folded them and placed them in one of those long envelopes associated in his memory with the opening phase

of "The Scorpion" mystery. Smiling grimly, he descended to his dispensary and returned with the Chinese

He had volunteered that night for onerous service, and his offer had been accepted. Gaston Max's knowledge

of Eastern languages was slight, whilst Stuart's was sound and extensive, and the Frenchman had cordially

welcomed the doctor's proposal that he should accompany him to the house of AhFangFu. Reviewing the

facts gleaned from Miska during the earlier part of the evening, Stuart perceived that, apart from the

additional light which they shed upon her own relations with the group, they could be of slight assistance to

the immediate success of the inquiryunless the raid failed. Therefore he had determined upon the course

As he completed the sealing of the envelope and laid it down upon the table, he heard a cab draw up in front

"Inspector Dunbar to see you, Mr. Keppel," she said"and he has with him an awfullooking body, all cuts

A few moments later Dunbar entered, accompanied by a bearded man whose head was bandaged so as partly

to cover one eye and who had an evillooking scar running from his cheekbone, apparentlyor at any rate

from the edge of the bandageto the corner of his mouth, so that the lip was drawn up in a fierce and

"It's a wonderful makeup, isn't it?" he said. "I used to say that disguises were out of date, but M. Max has

"At your service," replied the apparition, "but for this evening only I am 'Le Balafr�.' Yes, pardieu! I am a

The airy indifference with which he proclaimed himself to represent one whose awful body had but that day

been removed from a mortuary, and one who, in his own words, he had "had the misfortune to strangle," was

rather ghastly and at the same time admirable. For "Le Balafr�" had deliberately tried to murder him, and

false sentiment should form no part of the complement of a criminal investigator.

"It is a daring idea," said Stuart, "and relies for its success upon the chance that 'The Scorpion' remains

ignorant of the fate of his agent and continues to believe that the body found off Hanover Hole was yours."

"The admirable precautions of my clever colleague," replied Max, laying his hand upon Dunbar's shoulder,

"in closing the mortuary and publishing particulars of the identification disk, make it perfectly safe. 'Le

Stuart had secret reasons for knowing that Max's logic was not at fault, and this brought him to the matter of

"Oh, it is a real statement," continued Stuart, "the nature of which I am not at liberty to divulge. But as

"In the event of failure tonight," added Stuart, "or catastrophe, I authorise you to read this statementand

act upon it. If, however, I escape safely, I ask you to return it to me, unread."

"Eh bien!" said Max, and fixed that eye the whole of which was visible upon Stuart. "Perhaps I understand,

and certainly"he removed his hand from Dunbar's shoulder and rested it upon that of Stuart"but

Stuart started guiltily, but Max immediately turned aside and began to speak about their plans.

"In that bag," he continued, "is a suit of clothes such as habitues of 'The Pidgin House' rejoice to wear. I, who

have studied disguise almost as deeply as the great Willy Clarkson, will transform you into a perfect ruffian.

It is important, you understand, that someone should be inside the house of AhFangFu, as otherwise by

means of some secret exit the man we seek may escape. I believe that he contemplates departing at any

moment, and I believe that the visit of Miguel means that what I may term the masters of the minor lodges

are coming to London for parting instructionsor, of course, Miguel may have come about the

"My dear friend, I must trust to the Kismet who pursues evildoers! The only reason which has led me to

adopt this daring disguise is a simple one. Although I believe 'The Pidgin House' to be open to ordinary

opiumsmokers, it may not be open on 'lodge nights.' Do you follow me? Very well. I have the golden

Stuart wondered more and more at the reasoning powers of this remarkable man, which could lead him to

"The existence of such a passport," continued Max, "would seem to point to the fact that all the members of

this organisation are not known personally to one another. At the same time those invited or expected at

present may be known to AhFangFu or to whoever acts as concierge. You see? Expected or otherwise, I

assume that 'Le Balafr�' would be admittedand at night I shall pass very well for 'Le Balafr�'somewhat

damaged as a result of my encounter with the late Charles Malet, but still recognisable!"

"You will be 'franked' in. The word of 'Le Balafr�' should be sufficient for that! Of course I may be

conducted immediately into the presence of the Chief'The Scorpion'and he may prove to be none other

than Miguel, for instanceor my Algerian acquaintanceor may even be a 'she'the fascinating Z�ra

elKhal�! We do not know. But I thinkoh, decidedly I thinkthat the cowled one is a male creature, and

"At once! I shall hold him, if I can, or shoot him, if I cannot hold him! Both of us will blow policewhistles

with which we shall be provided, and Inspectors Dunbar and Kelly will raid the premises. But I am hoping

for an interval. I do not like these inartistic scrimmages! The fact that these people foregather at an

opiumhouse suggests to me that a certain procedure may be followed which I observed during the course of

the celebrated 'Mr. Q.' case in New York. 'Mr. Q.' also had an audiencechamber adjoining an opiumden,

and his visitors went there ostensibly to smoke opium. The opiumden was a sort of anteroom."

"Weymouth's big Chinese case had similar features," said Inspector Dunbar, who reentered at that moment

carrying a leathern grip. "If you are kept waiting and you keep your ears open, doctor, that's when your

knowledge of the lingo will come in useful. We might rope in the whole gang and find we hadn't a scrap of

evidence against them, for except the attempt on yourself, Dr. Stuart, there's nothing so far that I can see to

"It is such a bungle that I fear" cried Max. "Ah! how this loopedup lip annoys me!" He adjusted the bandage

"We've got the place comfortably surrounded," continued Dunbar, "and whoever may be inside is booked! A

lady, answering to the description of Mlle. Dorian, went in this evening, so Sowerby reports."

Stuart felt that he was changing colour, and he stooped hastily to inspect the contents of the bag which

"Eh bien!" said Gaston Max. "We shall not go emptyhanded, then. And now to transfigure you, my friend!"

INTERRUPTING a spell of warm, fine weather the night had set in wet and stormy. The squalid streets

through which Stuart and Gaston Max made their way looked more than normally deserted and uninviting.

The wind moaned and the rain accompanied with a dreary tattoo. Sometimes a siren wailed out upon the

"We are nearly there," said Max. "Pardieu! they are well concealed, those fellows. I have not seen so much as

"Ah, but badinartistic. It is the next door, I think . . . yes. I hope they have no special way of knocking."

Both had anticipated an interval of waiting, and both were astonished when the door opened almost at once,

Max thrust his way resolutely in, followed by Stuart. "Shut the door, AhFangFu!" he said curtly, speaking

The door was closed by the invisible Chinaman, thee was a sound of soft movements and a hurricanelantern

suddenly made its appearance. Its light revealed the interior of a nondescript untidy little shop and revealed

the presence of an old and very wrinkled Chinaman who held the lantern. He wore a blue smock and a bowler

hat and his face possessed the absolute impassivity of an image. As he leaned over the counter, scrutinising

his visitors, Max thrust forward the golden scorpion held in the palm of his hand.

"Hoi, hoi!" chattered the Chinaman. "FoHi fellers, ey? You hab got plenty much late. Other fellers FoHi

pidgin plenty much sooner. You one time catchee allee same bhobbery, b'long number one JossPidgin

"Allee lightee," chattered AhFangFu, for evidently this was he. "You play one piece pipee till FoHi got."

Raising the lantern, he led the way through a door at the back of the shop. Descending four wooden steps,

It was a lowceiled apartment, the beams of the roof sloping slightly upward from west to east. The centre

part of the wall at the back was covered with matting hung from the rough cornice supporting the beams. To

the right of the matting was the door communicating with the shop, and to the left were bunks. Other bunks

lined the southerly wall, except where, set in the thickness of the bare brick and plaster, a second strong door

was partly hidden by a pile of empty packingcases and an untidy litter of straw and matting.

Along the northern wall were more bunks, and an open wooden stair, with a handrail, ascended to a small

landing or platform before a third door high up in the wall. A few mats were strewn about the floor. The place

was dimly lighted by a redshaded lamp swung from the centre of the ceiling and near the foot of the stairs

another lamp (of the common tin variety) stood upon a box near which was a broken cane chair.

All the bunks appeared to be occupied. Most of the occupants were lying motionless, but one or two were

noisily sucking at the opiumpipe. These had not yet attained to the opiumsmokers' Nirvana. So much did

Gaston Max, a trained observer, gather in one swift glance. Then AhFangFu, leaving the lantern in the

shop, descended the four steps and crossing the room began to arrange two mats with round headcushions

"You see," whispered Max, "he has taken you on trust! And he did not appear to recognise me. It is as I

thought. The place is 'open to the public' as usual, and AhFang does a roaring trade, one would judge. For

the benefit of patrons not affiliated to the order we have to pretend to smoke."

"Yes," replied Stuart with repressed excitement"until someone called FoHi is at home, or visible; the

"I believe you are right," said Stuartwho had good reason to know it. "My God! what a foul den! The reek

is suffocating. Look at that yellow lifeless face yonder, and see that other fellow whose hand hangs limply

down upon the floor. Those bunks might be occupied b corpses for all the evidence of life that some of them

"Morbleu! do not raise your voice; for some of them are occupied by 'Scorpions.' You noted the words of

The old Chinaman returned with his curious shuffling walk, raising his hand to beckon them.

He passed from bunk to bunk, and presently came to a comatose Chinaman from whose limp hand, which

hung down upon the floor, the pipe had dropped. This pipe AhFangFu took from the smoker's fingers and

returning to the box upon which the tin lamp was standing began calmly to load it.

"Good heavens!" muttered Stuart"he is short of pipes! Pah! how the place reeks!"

AhFangFu busied himself with a tin of opium, the pipe which he had taken from the sleeper, and another

pipeapparently the last of the stockwhich lay near the lamp. Igniting the two, he crossed and handed

"Velly soonlo!" he said, and made a curious sign, touching his brow, his lips and his breast in a manner

Max repeated the gesture and then lay back upon his elbow, raising the mouthpiece of the little pipe to his

AhFangFu shuffled back to the broken cane chair, from which he had evidently arisen to admit his late

Inarticulate sounds proceeded from the bunks, breaking the sinister silence which now descended upon the

den. AhFangFu began to play Patience, constantly muttering to himself. The occasional wash of tidal

water became inaudible, and once there came a scampering and squealing of rats from beneath the floor.

"Do you notice the sound of lapping water?" whispered Stuart. "The place is evidently built upon a

A loud knocking sounded upon the street door. AhFangFu rose and shuffled up the steps into the shop. He

"I don't want nothin' out of your blasted shop, Pidgin!" roared a loud and thick voice. "I'm old Bill Bean, I

A redbearded ship's fireman, wearing seaboots, a rough blue suit similar to that which Stuart wore, a

"Blimey!" he roared, over his shoulder. "Drunk! Me drunk! An' all the pubs in these parts sell barleywater

AhFangFu reappeared behind him. "Catchee dlunk ev'ly time for comee here," he chattered.

"'Tain't 'umanly possible," declared the new arrival, staggering down the steps, "fer a 'ealthy sailorman to git

drunk on coloured water just 'cause the publican calls it beer! I ain't drunk; I'm only miserable. Gimme a pipe,

"Comee here," he muttered, "my placee, all full up and no other placee b'long open."

He lurched across the floor, nearly falling over Stuart's legs, took up a mat and a cushion, lurched into the

"Ain't I one o' yer oldest customers, Pidgin?" he inquired. "One o' yer oldest I am."

"Blight side twelvetime," muttered the Chinaman. "Getchee me in tlouble, Bill. Number one police chop."

"Not the first time it wouldn't be!" retorted the fireman. "Not the first time as you've been in trouble, Pidgin.

An' unless they 'ung yerwhich it ain't 'umanly possible to 'ang a Chinkit wouldn't be the lastan' not by

AhFangFu, shrugging resignedly, shuffled from bunk to bunk in quest of a disused pipe, found one, and

"Don't like to 'ear about your wicked past, do you?" continued Bill. "Wicked old yellowfaced 'eathen!

Remember the 'dive' in 'Frisco, Pidgin? Wot a rough 'ouse! Remember when I come infull up I was: me

"Ho! a lie is it?" roared the other. "Wot about me wakin' up all of a tremble aboard o' the old Nancy

Leeaboard of a blasted windjammer! Mea fireman! Wot about it? Wasn't that Shanghai'n? Blighter! an'

not a 'oat' in me pocketnot a 'bean'! Broke to the wide an' aboard of a old windjammer, wot was a

coffinshipa coffinship she was; an' 'er old man was the devil's fatherinlaw. Ho! lies! I don't think!"

"You cutee palaber!" chattered AhFangFu, busy with the pipe. "You likee too much chinchin. You make

"Not a 'bean.'" Continued Bill reminiscently"not a 'oat.'" He sat up violently. "Even me pipe an 'baccy was

gone!" he shouted. "You'd even pinched me pipe an' baccy! You'd pinch the whiskers off of a blind man, you

would, Pidgin! 'And over the dope. Thank Gawd somebody still keeps the right stuff!"

Bill grasped the pipe eagerly and raised it to his lips. AhFangFu returned unmoved to his Patience, and

silence reclaimed the den, only broken by the inarticulate murmurings and the lapping of the tide.

Stuart was about to speak when Gaston Max furtively grasped his arm. "Ssh!" he whispered. "Do not move,

Stuart turned his eyes. On the platform at the head of the stairs a Hindu was standing!

Chunda Lal descended slowly. AhFangFu continued to play Patience. The Hindu stood behind him and

"S'pose hab gotchee pidgin allee samee Chunda Lal hab got? FoHi no catchee buy bled and cheese for

AhFangFu. He"nodding casually in the direction of Bill Bean"plitty soon all blissful."

"Be very careful, AhFangFu," said Chunda Lal tensely. He lowered his voice. "Do you forget so soon what

"Some one comes herewe do not know how close he comes; perhaps he comes inand he is of the

"He is killedyes; but suppose they find the writing he has made! Suppose he has written that it is here

"You say FoHi not buying you bread and cheese. Perhaps it is FoHi that save you from hanging!"

"Tch�e, tch�e! Velly ploper. Sometime big feller come in if Pidgin palaber or not. Pidgin never lude to big

"Your life may depend on it," said Chunda Lal impressively. "How many are here?"

AhFangFu turned at last from his cards, pointing in three directions, and, finally, at Gaston Max.

He peered from bunk to bunk, muttering somethinga name apparentlyafter scrutinising each. When his

gaze rested upon Max he started, stared hard, and meeting the gaze of the one visible eye, made the strange

Max repeated it; and Chunda Lal turned again to the Chinaman. "Because of that drunken pig," he said,

SINISTER silence reclaimed the house of AhFangFu. And AhFangFu resumed his solitary game.

"He recognised 'Le Balafr�'" whispered Max"and was surprised to see him! So there are three of the gang

"Peyala peah," it sang, weird above the murmured accompaniment of the other dreaming smokers and the

"He is speaking from an opiumtrance," said Stuart softly. "A native song: 'If a cup of wine is drunk, and I

"Mon Dieu! it is uncanny!" whispered Max. "Brr! do you hear those rats? I am wondering in what order we

shall be admitted to the 'Scorpion's' presence, or if we shall all see him together."

"Gimme 'nother pipe, Pidgin," drawled a very drowsy voice from Bill Bean's corner.

AhFangFu left his eternal arranging and rearranging of the cards and crossed the room. He took the

opiumpipe from the fireman's limp fingers and returning to the box, refilled and lighted it. Max and Stuart

watched him in silence until he had handed the second pipe to the man and returned to his chair.

"We must be very careful," said Stuart. "We do not know which are real smokers and which are not."

Again there was a weird interruption. A Chinaman lying in one of the bunks began to chant in a monotonous

"The Buddhist formula," whispered Stuart. "He is a real smoker. Heavens! the reek is choking me!"

The chant was repeated, the words dying away into a long murmur. AhFangFu continued to shuffle the

cards. And presently Bill Bean's second pipe dropped from his fingers. His husky voice spoke, almost

"A steamer making for dock," whispered Max. "Brr! it is a nightmare, this! I think in a minute something will

AhFangFu glanced slowly around. Then he stood up, raised the lamp from the table and made a tour of the

bunks, shining the light in upon the faces of the occupants. Max watched him closely, hoping to learn in

which bunks the members of 'The Scorpion' group lay. But he was disappointed. AhFangFu examined all

the bunks and even shone the light down upon Stuart and Max. He muttered to himself constantly, but

On the platform above stood a bent old hag whose witcheyes were searching the place keenly! With a

curiously lithe step, for all her age, she descended, and standing behind AhFangFu tapped him on the

shoulder and pointed to the outer door. He stood up and shuffled across, went up the four steps and unbarred

The old woman approached the matting curtain hung over a portion of the wall, raised it slightly in the

The ancient hag came out again, crossed to a bunk and touched its occupant, a Chinaman, with her hand. He

"I shall throw open those curtains the moment I reach them, and present my pistol at the head of whoever is

The old woman reappeared, looked slowly around and then held the curtains slightly apart to allow of the

Chinaman's coming out. He saluted her by touching his head, lips and breast with his right hand, then passed

The outer door was opened and shut. The old woman went up and barred the inner door, then returned and

stood by the matting curtain. The sound of the water below alone broke the silence. It was the hour of high

Thereupon the old woman crossed to another bunk and conducted a brownskinned Eastern into the hidden

"As I pull the curtains aside," continued Max rapidly, "blow the whistle and run across and unbar the door. . .

So engrossed was he in giving these directions, and so engrossed was Stuart in listening to them, that neither

detected a faint creak which proceeded from almost immediately behind them. This sound was occasioned by

the slow and cautious opening of that sunken, heavy door near to which they laythe door which

communicated with the labyrinth of cellars. Inch by inch from the opening protruded the head of

"If the Chinaman offers any resistance," Max went on, speaking very rapidly"morbleu! you have the

"A native adage," whispered Stuart. "He is dreaming. 'There is always meat in a kite's nest.'"

The head of AhFangFu vanished. A moment later the curtains opened again slightly and the old woman

came out, ushering the brown man. He saluted her and unbarred the door, going out.

There was no definite answeronly the sound of a muttered colloquy; and suddenly the brown man returned

and spoke to the old woman in a voice so low that his words were inaudible to the two attentive listeners in

"No!" Max grasped his arm"wait! wait! See! he is going out. He has perhaps forgotten something. A

The Oriental went up the steps into the shop. The old woman closed and barred the door, then opened the

She was out again almost immediately and bending over a bunk close to the left of the masked opening. The

occupant concealed in its shadows did not rise and follow her, however. She seemed to be speaking to him.

"Now is our time!" whispered Max tensely. "As I rush for the curtains, you run to the shop door and get it

"Have your pistol ready," continued Max, "and first put the whistle between your teeth"

AhFangFu silently placed his bowler hat upon the floor, shook down his long pigtail, and moving with

Both sprang to their feet. Max leapt clear of the matting and other litter and dashed for the curtain. He

reached it, seized it and tore it bodily from its fastenings. Behind him the long flat note of a police whistle

"Ah! Nom d'un nom! A cunningly devised doorlooking like a section of solid brick and plaster wallwas

closing slowlyheavily. Through the opening which yet remained he caught a glimpse of a small room,

draped with Chinese dragon tapestry and having upon a raised, carpeted dais a number of cushions forming a

d�wan and an inlaid table bearing a silver snuff vase. A cowled figure was seated upon the dais. The door

closed completely. Within a niche in its centre sat a yellow leering idol, greeneyed and complacent.

An answering whistle sounded from the street outside . . . a second . . . a third.

AhFangFu, stooping ever lower, at the instant that Stuart had sprung to his feet had seized his ankle from

behind, pitching him on to his face. It was then that the note of the whistle had ceased. Now, the Chinaman

had his long pigtail about Stuart's neck, at which Stuart, prone with the other kneeling upon his body, plucked

Max raised his pistol . . . and from the bunk almost at his elbow leapt Miguel the quadroon, a sandbag

raised. It descended upon the Frenchman's skull . . . and he crumpled up limply and collapsed upon the floor.

Uttering a piercing cry, the old woman staggered from the door near which she had been standing as if

stricken helpless, during the lightning moments in which these things had happenedand advanced in the

The sustained note of a whistle, a confusion of voices and a sound of heavy steps proclaimed the entrance of

AhFangFu rose. Stuart had ceased to struggle. The Chinaman replaced his hat and looked up at the

Ensued a series of splintering crashes, and finally the head of an axe appeared through the panels of the door.

AhFangFu tried to drag the woman away, but she clung to Stuart desperately and was immovable.

Thereupon the huge quadroon, running across the room, swept them both up into his giant embrace, man and

woman together, and bore them down by the sunken doorway into the cellars below!

The shop door fell inwards, crashing down the four steps, and Dunbar sprang into the place, revolver in hand,

followed by Inspector Kelly and four men of the River Police, one of whom carried a hurricanelantern.

"Try this way, boys!" cried Kelly, and rushed up the stair. The four men followed him. The lantern was left

on the floor. Dunbar stared about him. Sowerby and several other men entered. Suddenly Dunbar saw Gaston

Inspector Kelly reaching the top of the stairs and finding the door locked, hurled his great bulk against it and

The fourth man grasped the lantern and all followed the Inspector up the stair and out through the doorway.

Sowerby was struggling with the door by which Miguel and AhFangFu unseen had made their escape, and

Dunbar, having rested Max's head upon a pillow, was glaring all about him, his square jaw set grimly and his

The police were moving from bunk to bunk, scrutinising the occupants. The uproar had penetrated to them

even in their drugged slumbers. There were stirrings and mutterings and movements of yellow hands.

He turned and stared at the wall from which the matting had been torn. And out of the little niche in the

STUART awoke to a discovery so strange that for some time he found himself unable to accept its reality. He

passed his hands over his face and eyes and looked about him dazedly. He experienced great pain in his

throat, and he could feel that his neck was swollen. He stared down at his ankles, which also were throbbing

agonisinglyto learn that they were confined in gyves connected by a short chain to a ring in the floor!

He was lying upon a deep d�wan, which was covered with leopardskins and which occupied one corner of

the most extraordinary room he had ever seen or ever could have imagined. He sat up, but was immediately

The apartment, then, was one of extraordinary Oriental elegance, having two entrances closed with lacquer

sliding doors. Chinese lamps swung from the ceiling, illuminated it warmly, and a great number of large and

bright silk cushions were strewn about the floor. There were tapestries in black and gold, rich carpets and

couches, several handsome cabinets and a number of tall cases of Oriental workmanship containing large and

At the further end of the room was a deep tiled hearth in which stood a kind of chemical furnace which hissed

constantly. Upon ornate small tables and pedestals were vases and casesone of the latter containing a

Preserved lizards, snakes, and other creatures were in a row of jars upon a shelf, together with small skeletons

of animals in frames. There was also a perfect human skeleton. Near the centre of the room was a canopied

chair, of grotesque Chinese design, upon a dais, a big bronze bell hanging beside it; and nearer to the d�wan

upon which Stuart was lying stood a large, very finely carved table upon which were some open faded

volumes and a little of scientific implements. Near the table stood a very large bowl of what looked like

platinum, upon a tripod, and several volumes lay scattered near it upon the carpet. From a silver

One of the lacquer doors slid noiselessly open and a man entered. Stuart inhaled sibilantly and clenched his

The newcomer wore a cowled garment of some dark blue material which enveloped him from head to feet.

It possessed oval eyeholes, and through these apertures gleamed two eyes which looked scarcely like the

eyes of a human being. They were of that brilliant yellow colour sometimes seen in the eyes of tigers, and

their most marked and awful peculiarity was their unblinking regard. They seemed always to be open to their

fullest extent, and Stuart realised with anger that it was impossible to sustain for long the piercing unmoved

Walking with a slow and curious dignity, the cowled figure came across to the table, first closing the lacquer

door. Stuart's hands convulsively clutched the covering of the d�wan as the sinister figure approached. The

intolerable gaze of those weird eyes had awakened a horror, a loathing horror, within him, such as he had

never remembered to have experienced in regard to any human being. It was the sort of horror which the

Absolute silence reigned in the big room, except for the hissing of the furnace. No sound penetrated from the

outer world. Having no means of judging how long he had been insensible, Stuart found himself wondering if

the raid on the den of AhFangFu had taken place hours before, days earlier, or weeks ago.

Taking up a testtube from a rack on the table, FoHi held it near a lamp and examined the contentsa few

drops of colourless fluid. These he poured into a curious longnecked yellow bottle. He began to speak, but

His diction was characteristic, resembling his carriage in that it was slow and distinctive. He seemed

deliberately to choose each word and to give to it all its value, syllable by syllable. His English was perfect to

the verge of the pedantic; and his voice was metallic and harsh, touching at times, when his words were

vested with some subtle or hidden significance, guttural depths which betrayed the Chinaman. He possessed

"I regret that you were so rash as to take part in last night's abortive raid, Dr. Stuart," he said.

"Because of your professional acquirements at one time I had contemplated removing you," continued the

unemotional voice. "But I rejoice to think that I failed. It would have been an error of judgment. I have useful

work for such men. You shall assist in the extensive laboratories of my distinguished predecessor."

The man's callousness was so purposeful and deliberate that it awed. He seemed like one who stands above

"Your prejudice is natural," rejoined FoHi calmly. "You are ignorant of our sublime motives. But you shall

nevertheless assist us to establish that intellectual control which is destined to be the new World Force. No

doubt you are conscious of a mental hiatus extending from the moment when you found the pigtail of the

worthy AhFangFu about your throat until that when you recovered consciousness in this room. It has

"I don't believe it," muttered Stuartand found his own voice to seem as unreal as everything else in the

nightmare apartment. "If I had not revived earlier, I should never have revived at all."

"Your unconsciousness was prolonged," explained FoHi, consulting an open book written in Chinese

characters, "by an injection which I found it necessary to make. Otherwise, as you remark, it would have been

"What!" cried Stuart"he is dead? You fiend! You damned yellow fiend!" Emotion shook him and he sat

"Fortunately," resumed FoHi, "my peoplewith one exceptionsucceeded in making their escape. I may

add that the needless scuffling attendant upon arresting this unfortunate follower of mine, immediately

outside the door of the house, led to the discovery of your own presence. Nevertheless, the others departed

safely. My own departure is imminent; it has been delayed because of certain domestic details and by the

"I trust not," he rejoined placidly. "With two exceptions, all my people are now out of England."

Stuart's heart began to throb painfully. With two exceptions! Did Miska still remain? He conquered his anger

and tried to speak calmly, recognising how he lay utterly in the power of this uncanny being and how closely

"In these matters, Dr. Stuart," replied FoHi, "I have always modelled my behaviour upon that of the brilliant

scientist who preceded me as European representative of our movement. Your beautiful Thames is my

highway as it was his highway. No one of my immediate neighbours has ever seen me or my once extensive

following enter this house." He selected an empty testtube. "No one shall see me leave."

The unreality of it all threatened to swamp Stuart's mind again, but he forced himself to speak calmly.

"Your own escape is just possible, if some vessel awaits you; but do you imagine for a moment that you can

FoHi again consulting the huge book with its yellow faded characters, answered him absently.

"Do you recall the death of the Grand Duke Ivan?" he said. "Does your memory retain the name of Van

Rembold and has your Scotland Yard yet satisfied itself that Sir Frank Narcombe died from 'natural causes'?

Then, there was Ericksen, the most brilliant European electrical expert of the century, who died quite

suddenly last year. I honour you, Dr. Stuart, by inviting you to join a company so distinguished."

Stuart found himself holding his breath as he awaited a replyfor he knew that he was on the verge of

learning that which poor Gaston Max had given his life to learn. A moment FoHi hesitatedand in that

moment his captive recognised, and shuddered to recognise, that he won this secret too late. Then:

"The Grand Duke is a tactician who, had he remained in Europe, might well have readjusted the frontiers of

his country. Van Rembold, as a mining engineer, stands alone. As for Sir Frank Narcombe, he is beyond

doubt the most brilliant surgeon of today, and I, a judge of men, count you his peer in the realm of pure

therapeutics. Whilst your studies in snakepoisons (which were narrowly watched for us in India) give you

an unique place in toxicology. These great men will be some of your companions in China."

"In China, Dr. Stuart, where I hope you will join them. You misapprehend the purpose of my mission. It is

not destructive, although neither I nor my enlightened predecessor have ever scrupled to remove any obstacle

from the path of that worldchange which no human power can check or hinder; it is primarily constructive.

No state or group of states can hope to resist the progress of a movement guided and upheld by a monopoly

of the world's genius. The Sublime Order, of which I am an unworthy member, stands for such a movement."

"Van Rembold is preparing radium in quantities hitherto unknown from the vast pitchblend deposits of

HoNanwhich industry we control. He visited China arrayed in his shroud, and he travelled in a handsome

FoHi stood up and crossed to the hissing furnace. He busied himself with some obscure experiment which

"Your own stateroom will be less romantic, Dr. Stuart," he said, speaking without turning his head;

"possibly a packingcase. In brief, that intellectual giant who achieved so much for the Sublime Ordermy

immediate predecessor in officedevised a means of inducing artificial catalepsy"

"My God!" muttered Stuart, as the incredible, the appalling truth burst upon his mind.

"My own rather hazardous delay," continued FoHi, "is occasioned in some measure by my anxiety to

Stuart felt that his selfpossession was deserting him. Madness threatened . . . if he was not already mad. He

"You taunt me because I am helpless. I do not believe that those men have been spirited into China. Even if it

were so, they would die, as I would die, rather than prostitute their talents to such mad infamy."

"In China, Dr. Stuart," he said, "we know how to make men work! I myself am the deviser of a variant of the

unduly notorious kite device and the scarcely less celebrated 'Six Gates of Wisdom.' I term it The Feast of a

Thousand Ants. It is performed with the aid of African driver ants, a pair of surgical scissors and a pot of

honey. I have observed you studying with interest the human skeleton yonder. It is that of one of my

followersa Nubian mutewho met with an untimely end quite recently. You are wondering, no doubt,

how I obtained the frame in so short a time? My African driver ants, Dr. Stuart, of which I have three large

cases in a cellar below this room, performed the task for me in exactly sixtynine minutes."

"My God!" he groaned. "All I have heard of you was the merest flattery. You are either a fiend or a

"When you are enlisted as a member of the Sublime Order," said FoHi softly, "and you awaken in China,

"I appreciate the difficulty which you must experience in grasping the true significance of this moment. You

have seen might nations, armed with every known resource of science, at a deadlock on the battlefield. You

naturally fail to perceive how a group of Oriental philosophers can achieve what the might of Europe have

failed to achieve. You will remember, in favour of my claims, that we command the service of the world's

genius, and have a financial backing which could settle the national loans of the world! In other words,

exhumation of a large percentage of the great men who have died in recent years would be impossible. Their

"In the crowded foyer of a hotel," continued FoHi imperturbably, "of a theatre, of a concertroom; in the

privacy of their home, of their office; wherever opportunity offered, I caused them to be touched with the

"It contained a minute quantity of the serum which I am now preparingthe serum whose discovery was the

crowning achievement of a great scientist's career (I refer, Dr. Stuart, to my brilliant predecessor). They were

buried alive; but no surgeon in Europe or America would have hesitated to certify them dead. Aided by a

group of six Hindu fanatics, trained as Lughais (gravediggers), it was easy to gain access to their

restingplaces. One had the misfortune to be cremated by his familya great loss to my Council. But the

others are now in China, at our headquarters. They are labouring day and night to bring this warscarred

"Faugh!" cried Stuart. "The whole of that warscarred world will stand armed before you!"

"We realise that, doctor; therefore we are prepared for it. We spoke of the Norwegian Henrik Ericksen. This

"I nearly committed the clumsy indiscretion of removing you with this little instrument," he said. "You recall

the episode? Ericksen's Disintegrating Ray, Dr. Stuart. The model, here, possesses a limited range, of course,

but the actual instrument has a compass of seven and a half miles. It can readily be carried by a heavy plane!

One such plane in a flight from Suez to Port Said, could destroy all the shipping in the Canal and explode

every grain of ammunition on either shore! Since I must leave England tonight, the model must be

destroyed, and unfortunately a good collection of bacilli has already suffered the same fate."

Placidly, slowly, and unmoved from his habit of unruffled dignity, FoHi placed the model in a deep mortar,

whilst Stuart watched him speechless and aghast. He poured the contents of a large jar into the mortar,

whereupon a loud hissing sound broke the awesome silence of the room and a cloud of fumes arose.

"Not a trace, doctor!" said the cowled man. "A little preparation of my own. It destroys the hardest known

substancewith the solitary exception of a certain clayin the same way that nitric acid would destroy

tissue paper. You see I might legitimately have aspired to become famous among safebreakers."

"To murder, Dr. Stuart, I have never stooped. I am a specialist in selective warfare. When you visit the

laboratory of our chief chemist in Kiangsu you will be shown the whole of the armoury of the Sublime Order.

I regret that the activities of your zealous and painfully inquisitive friend, M. Gaston Max, have forced me to

FoHi having added some bright green fluid to that in the flat pan, had now poured the whole into a large

testtube, and was holding it in the flame of the burner. At the moment that it reached boilingpoint it

became colourless. He carefully placed the whole of the liquid in a retort to which he attached a condenser.

Crossing to a glass case which rested upon a table near the d�wan he struck it lightly with his hand. The case

contained sand and fragments of rock, but as FoHi struck it, out from beneath the pieces of rock darted

"The common black scorpion of Southern India," he said softly. "Its venom is the basis of the priceless

formula, F. Katalepsis, upon which the structure of our Sublime Order rests, Dr. Stuart; hence the adoption of

"This virus prepared from a glandular secretion of the Chinese swampadder is also beyond price.

Againthe case upon the pedestal yonder contains five perfect bulbs, three already in flower, as you

observe, of an orchid discovered by our chief chemist in certain forests of Burma. It only occurs at extremely

rare intervalseighty years or moreand under highly special conditions. If the other two bulbs flower, I

shall be enabled to obtain from the blooms a minimum quantity of an essential oil for which the nations of the

earth, if they knew its properties, would gladly empty their treasuries. This case must at all costs accompany

"Yet because you are still in England," said Stuart huskily, "I venture to hope that your devil dreams may end

"That can never be, Dr. Stuart," returned FoHi placidly. "The scaffold is not for such as I. Moreover, it is a

crude and barbaric institution which I deplore. Do you see that somewhat peculiarly constructed chair,

yonder? It is an adaptation, by a brilliant young chemist of Canton, of Ericksen's Disintegrating Ray. A bell

hangs beside it. If you were seated in that chair and I desired to dismiss you, it would merely be necessary for

me to strike the bell once with the hammer. Before the vibration of the note had become inaudible you would

be seeking your ancestors among the shades. It is the throne of the gods. Such a death is poetic."

He returned to the table and, observing meticulous care, emptied the few drops of colourless liquid from the

condenser into a testtube. Holding the tube near a lamp, he examined the contents, then poured the liquid

"You would scarcely suppose," he said, "that yonder window opens upon an ivygrown balcony

commanding an excellent view of that picturesque Tudor survival, Hampton Court? I apprehend, however,

that the researches of your late friend, M. Gaston Max, may ere long lead Scotland Yard to my doors,

although there has been nothing in the outward seeming of this house, in the circumstances of my tenancy, or

"One of the two followers I have retained here with me, watches at the gate," replied FoHi. "An intruder

seeking to enter by any other route, through the hedge, over the wall, or from the river, would cause electric

bells to ring loudly in this room, the note of the bell signifying the point of entry. Finally, in the event of such

a surprise, I have an exit whereby one emerges at a secret spot on the river bank. A motorboat, suitably

HE placed a thermometer in the neck of the yellow bottle and placed the bottle in a rack. He directed the

intolerable gaze of his awful yellow eyes upon the man who sat, teeth tightly clenched, watching him from

"Ten minutes of lifein Englandyet remain to you, Dr. Stuart. In ten minutes this fluid will have cooled

to a temperature of 99 degrees, when I shall be enabled safely to make an injection. You will be reborn in

FoHi walked slowly to the door whereby he had entered, opened it and went out. The door closed.

THE LITTLE furnace hissed continuously. A wisp of smoke floated up from the incenseburner.

Stuart sat with his hands locked between his knees, and his gaze set upon the yellow flask in the rack.

Even now he found it difficult to credit the verity of his case. He found it almost impossible to believe that

such a being as FoHi existed, that such deeds had been done, were being done, in England, as those of

which he had heard from the sinister cowled man. Save for the hissing of the furnace and the clanking of the

chain as he strove with all his strength to win freedom, that wonderful evil room was silent as the King's

Terror claimed himthe terror which he had with difficulty been fending off throughout that nightmare

interview with FoHi. Madness threatened him, and he was seized by an almost incontrollable desire to shout

execrationsprayershe knew not what. He clenched his teeth grimly and tried to think, to plan.

The statement left with Inspector Dunbar, in which he had mentioned the existence of a house "near Hampton

That she was one of the two exceptions mentioned by FoHi he felt assured. But was she in this house, and

did she know of his presence there? Even so, had she access to that room of mysteriesof horrors?

And who was the other who remained? Almost certainly it was the fanatical Hindu, Chunda Lal, of whom she

had spoken with such palpable terror and who watched her unceasingly, untiringly. He would prevent her

At the coming of that thought, the foul doing to death of the fearless Frenchman, he gnashed his teeth

savagely and strained at the gyves until the pain in his ankles brought out beads of perspiration upon his

He dropped his head into his hands and frenziedly clutched at his hair with twitching fingers.

The faint sound occasioned by the opening of one of the sliding doors brought him sharply upright.

She looked so bewilderingly beautiful that terror and sorrow fled, leaving Stuart filled only with passionate

admiration. She wore an Eastern dress, of gauzy shimmering silk and highheeled gilt Turkish slippers upon

her stockingless feet. About her left ankle was a gold bangle, and there was barbaric jewellery upon her arms.

She was a figure unreal as all else in that house of dreams, but a figure so lovely that Stuart forgot the yellow

She exhibited intense but repressed excitement and fear. Creeping to the second doorthat by which FoHi

had gone outshe pressed her ear to the lacquered panel and listened intently. Then, coming swiftly to the

table, she took up a bunch of keys, approaching Stuart and, kneeling, unlocked the gyves. The scent of

She rose quickly to her feet, standing before him with head downcast. Stuart rose with difficulty. His legs

were cramped and aching. He grasped Miska's hand and endeavoured to induce her to look up. One swift

"You must gothis instant," she said. "I show you the way. There is not a moment to lose. . . ."

"You have told me, but I cannot understand. Here, in England, you are free. Why should you remain with that

"Shall I tell you?" she asked, and he could feel how she trembled. "If I tell you, will you promise to believe

"Ah, no, no! If I tell you that my only chance of lifesuch a little, little chanceis to stay, will you go?"

"Tell me," he said softly. "I will believe youand if it can spare you one moment of pain or sorrow, I will go

"Listen," she whispered, glancing fearfully back toward the closed door"FoHi has something that makes

"Ah! you know! Very well. On that day in Cairo, when I am taken before himyou remember, I tell

She shuddered wildly and hid her beautiful face against Stuart's breast. He threw his arm about her.

"There is something else," she went on, almost inaudibly, "with which he gives life again to those he has

made dead with the needle. It is a light green liquid tasting like bitter apples; and once each week for six

months it must be drunk or else . . . the living death comes. Sometimes I have not see FoHi for six months at

a time, but a tiny flask, one draught, of the green liquid always comes to me wherever I am, every week . . .

Her voice quivered, and ceased. Moving back, she slipped a soft shoulder free of its flimsy covering.

"You see?" she whispered tremulously. "If I go, I die, and I am buried alive . . . or else, I live until my body. .

"Oh, God!" moaned Stuart"the fiend! The merciless, cunning fiend! Is there nothing . . ."

"Yes, yes!" said Miska, looking up. "If I can get enough of the green fluid and escape. But he tell me

onceit was in Americathat he only prepares one tiny draught at a time! Listen! I must stay, and if he can

Her words ended in a sob, and Stuart held her to him convulsively, his heart filled with such helpless, fierce

"Go, please go!" she whispered. "It is my only chancethere is no other. There is not a moment to wait.

Listen to me! You will go by that door by which I come in. There is a better way, through a tunnel he has

made to the river bank; but I cannot open the door. Only he has the key. At the end of the passage some one

She removed an amulet upon a gold chain from about her neck and thrust it into Stuart's hand.

"It seems to you silly, but Chunda Lal is of the East; and he has promised. Oh! be quick! I am afraid. I tell

you something. FoHi does not know, but the police Inspector and many men search the river bank for this

"Ssh! ssh!" Miska clutched him wildly. "He is not far away. You will go and bring him here. No! for me do

not fear. I put the keys back and he will think you have opened the lock by some trick"

She slipped from his arms, crossed and reopened the lacquered door, revealing a corridor dimly lighted.

"Right to the end," she whispered, "and down the steps. You know"touching the amulet which Stuart

But still he hesitated; until she seized his hand and urged him. Thereupon he swept her wildly into his arms.

He looked into her eyes, stooped and kissed her upon the lips. Then, with no other word, he tore himself

away and walked quickly along the corridor. Miska watched him until he was out of sight, then reentered

STRICKEN silent with fear, Miska staggered back against the lacquered door, dropping the keys which she

held in her hand. FoHi had removed the cowled garment and was now arrayed in a rich mandarin robe.

Through the grotesque green veil which obscured his features the brilliant eyes shown catlike.

"So," he said softly, "you speed the parting guest. And did I not hear the sound of a chaste salute?"

"And he knows," continued the metallic voice, "'how to deal with Chunda Lal'? But it may be that Chunda

Lal will know how to deal with him! I had suspected that Dr. Keppel Stuart entertained an unprofessional

interest in his charming patient. Your failure to force the bureau drawer in his study excited my

suspicionunjustly, I admit; for did not I fail also when I paid the doctor a personal visit? True, I was

disturbed. But this suspicion later returned. It was in order that some lingering doubt might be removed that I

afforded you the opportunity of interviewing my guest. But whatever surprise his ingenuity, aided by your

woman's wit, has planned for Chunda Lal, I dare to believe that Chunda Lal, being forewarned, will meet

successfully. He is expecting an attempt, by Dr. Stuart, to leave this house. He has my orders to detain him."

"On the contrary, he has my orders to take every possible care of him. Those blind, tempestuous passions

which merely make a woman more desirable find no place in the trained mind of the scientist. That Dr. Stuart

Miska had never moved from the doorway by which Stuart had gone out; and now, having listened covertly

and heard no outcry, her faith in Chunda Lal was restored. Her wonderful eyes narrowed momentarily, and

"Beyond seeking my deathnone. I have already said"the eyes of FoHi gleamed through the hideous

"I assign him a part in the New Renaissanceyes. In the Deluge that shall engulf the world, his place is in

"In his present state of imperfect understanding it is quite possible," said FoHi smoothly. "But if he refuses

to achieve greatness he must have greatness thrust upon him. Van Rembold, I seem to recall, hesitated for

some time to direct his genius to the problem of producing radium in workable quantities from the pitchblend

deposits of HoNan. But the split rod had not been applied to the soles of his feet more than five times ere he

Miska, knowing well the moods of the monstrous being whose unveiled face she had never seen, was not

deceived by the suavity of his manner. Nevertheless, she fought down her terror, knowing how much might

depend upon her retaining her presence of mind. How much of her interview with Stuart he had overheard

"But," she said, moving away from him, "he does not matterthis one. Forgive me if I think to let him go;

"Ah!" cried Miska, her eyes opening widely"you are going to punish me again! For why? Because I am a

"Ah! no! no!" she cried. "You drive me mad! I am only in part of the East and I cannot bear itI cannot bear

it! You teach me to be like the women of England, who are free, and you treat me like the women of China,

who are slaves. Once, it did not matter. I thought it was part of a woman's life to be treated so. But now I

cannot bear it!" She stamped her foot fiercely upon the floor. "I tell you I cannot bear it!"

"You release that manfor whom you 'care nothing'in order that he may bring my enemies about me, in

order that he may hand me over to the barbarous law of England. Now, you 'cannot bear' so light a rebuke as

the whip. Here, I perceive, is some deep psychological change. Such protests do not belong to the women of

my country; they are never heard in the zenana, and would provoke derision in the har�ms of Stambul."

"You have trained me to know that life in a har�m is not life, but only the existence of an animal."

"I have trained youyes. What fate was before you when I intervened in that Mecca slavemarket? You

who are 'only in part of the East.' Do you forget so soon how you cowered there amongst the others, Arabs,

Circassians, Georgians, Nubians, striving to veil your beauty from those ravenous eyes? From what did I

"And for what?" cried Miska bitterly. "To use me as a lureand beat me if I failed."

FoHi stood watching her, and slowly, as she watched terror grew upon her and she retreated before him,

step by step. He made no attempt to follow her, but continued to watch. Then, raising the whip he broke it

"Oh! what are you going to do to me!" she said. "Let me go! let me go! I can no more be of use to you. Give

me back my life and let me golet me go and hide away from them allfrom all . . . the world. . . ."

Her words died away and ceased upon a suppressed hysterical sob. For, in silence, FoHi stood watching her,

"Because," came the metallic voice, softly"you are beautiful with a beauty given but rarely to the

daughters of men. The Sublime Order has acquired many pretty womenfor they are potent weaponsbut

"Have I not clothed you in the raiment of a princess?" continued FoHi. "Tonight, at my urgent request, you

wear the charming national costume in which I delight to see you. But is there a woman of Paris, of London,

of New York, who has such robes, such jewels, such apartments as you possess? Perhaps the peculiar duties

which I have required you to perform, the hideous disguises which you have sometimes been called upon to

Her heart beating wildly, for she did not know this mood but divined it to portend some unique horror, Miska

"Tonight the hour has come to break the whip. Tonight the master in me dies. My cloak of wise authority

"Truly have you observed that the Chinese wife is but a slave to her lord. I have said that the relation of

master and slave is ended between us. I offer you a companionship that signifies absolute freedom and

perfect understanding. Half of all I haveand the world lies in my graspis yours. I offer a throne set upon

FoHi approached her closely and abject terror now had robbed her of strength. Her limbs seemed to have

"Fear me no more, Miska," said FoHi. "I will you nothing but joy. The man who has learned the Fifth Secret

of R�che Chur�nwho has learned how to control his willholds a power absolute and beyond

perfectability. You know, who have dwelt beneath my roof, that there is no escape from my will."

His calm was terrible, and his glance, through the green veil, was like a ray of scorching heat. His voice sank

"There is one frailty, Miska, that even the Adept cannot conquer. It is inherent in every man. Miska, I would

not force you to grasp the joy I offer; I would have you accept it willingly. No! do not turn from me! No

woman in all the world has ever heard me plead, as I plead to you. Never before have I sued for favours. Do

Slightly, the metallic voice vibrated, and the ruffling of that giant calm was a thing horrible to witness. FoHi

extended his long yellow hands, advancing step by step until he stood over the cowering girl. Irresistibly her

glance was drawn to those blazing eyes which the veil could not hide, and as she met that unblinking gaze her

own eyes dilated and grew fixed as those of a sleepwalker. A moment FoHi stood so. Then passion swept

"Your eyes drive me mad!" he hissed. "Your lips taunt me, and I know all earthly greatness to be a mirage, its

conquests visions, and its fairness dust. I would rather be a captive in your white arms than the emperor of

Helpless, enmeshed in the toils of that mighty will, Miska raised her head; and gradually her expression

changed. Fear was smoothed away from her lovely face as by some magic brush. She grew placid; and finally

she smiledthe luresome, caressing smile of the East. Nearer and nearer grew the green veil. Then, uttering

"That smile is not for me, the man!" he cried gutturally. "Ah! I could curse the power that I coveted and set

above all earthly joys! I who boasted that he could control his willI read in your eyes that I am willing you

Miska, with a sobbing moan, sank upon the d�wan. FoHi stood motionless, looking straight before him. His

"It is a bitter truth," he said"that to win the world I have bartered the birthright of men; the art of winning a

woman's heart. There is much in our Chinese wisdom. I erred in breaking the whip. I erred in doubting my

own prescience, which told me that the smiles I could not woo were given freely to another . . . and perhaps

HER beautiful face a mask of anguish, Miska cowered upon the d�wan, watching the closed doors. FoHi

stood in the centre of the great room with his back to the entrance. Silently one of the lacquered panels slid

open and Chunda Lal entered. He saluted the figure of the veiled Chinaman but never once glanced in the

Without turning his head, FoHi, who seemed to detect the presence of the silent Hindu by means of some

fifth sense, pointed to a bundle of long rods stacked in the corner of the room.

His brown face expressionless as that of a bronze statue, Chunda Lal crossed and took the rods from their

"M�in t�mhari b�t m�n�ng�," (Your orders shall be obeyed), he replied.

Miska leapt to her feet, as Chunda Lal, never once glancing at her, went out bearing the rods, and closed the

"Ta'ala hina" (come hither), "Miska!" he said softly. "Shall I speak to you in the soft Arab tongue? Come to

me, lovely Miska. Let me feel how that sorrowful heart will leap like a captive gazelle."

"Very well." His metallic voice sank to a hiss. "I employ no force. You shall yield me your heart as a love

offering. Of such motives as jealousy and revenge you know me to be incapable. What I do, I do with a

purpose. That compassion of yours shall be a lever to cast you into my arms. Your hatred you shall conquer."

"Oh, have you no mercy? Is there nothing human in your heart? Did I say I hate you!"

"Your eyes are eloquent, Miska. I cherish two memories of those beautiful eyes. One is of their fear and

loathingof me; the other is of their sweet softness when they watched the departure of my guest. Listen!

In an attitude of alert and fearful attention Miska stood listening. FoHi watched her through the veil with

"I will open the door," he said smoothly, "that we may more fully enjoy the protests of one for whom you

He opened the door by which Chunda Lal had gone out and turned again to Miska. Her eyes looked

Chunda Lal had betrayed her. She no longer doubted it. For he had not dared to meet her glance. His fear of

FoHi had overcome his love for her . . . and Stuart had been treacherously seized somewhere in the

"There is a brief interval," hissed the evil voice. "Chunda Lal is securing him to the frame and baring the

Suddenly from somewhere outside the room, came the sound of dull, regular blows . . then, a smothered

Miska sprang forward and threw herself upon her knees, before FoHi, clutching at his robes frantically.

"He is there?" repeated FoHi suavely. "Assuredly he is there, Miska. I know noat by what trick he hoped to

"Oh!" she wailed piteously. "I cannot bear it . . . oh, I cannot bear it! Do what you like with me, but spare

"It is you who have no mercy," he replied. "I have asked but one gift. The sound of the gong will end Dr.

Stuart's discomfort . . . and will mean that you voluntarily accept my offer. What! you hesitate?"

Miska ran and struck the gong, then staggered back to the d�wan and fell upon it, hiding her face in her hands.

"I permit your some moments of reflection," he said, "in order that you may compose yourself to receive the

addresses which I shall presently have the honour, and joy, of making to you. Yesthis door is unlocked."

He threw the keys on the table. "I respect your promise . . . and Chunda Lal guards the outer exits."

When he had disappeared she sprang up, clenching her teeth, and her face was contorted with anguish. She

began to move aimlessly about the room glancing at the many strange objects on the big table and looking

long and fearfully at the canopied chair beside which hung the bronze bell. Finally:

"Oh, Chunda Lal! Chunda Lal!" she moaned, and threw herself face downward on the d�wan, sobbing wildly.

So she lay, her whole body quivering with the frenzy of her emotions, and as she lay there, inch by inch,

Finding the room to be only occupied by Miska, he crossed rapidly to the d�wan, bending over her with

As though an adder had touched her, Miska sprang to her feetand back from the Hindu. Her eyes flashed

"Ah! you! you!" she cried at him, with a repressed savagery that spoke of the Oriental blood in her veins. "Do

not speak to melook at me! Do not come near me! I hate you! God! how I hate you!"

"Miska! Miska!" he said beseechingly"you pierce my heart! you kill me! Can you not understand"

She drew back from him, clenching and unclenching her jewelled fingers and glaring madly into his eyes.

"Look, Miska!" He took the gold chain and amulet from his bosom. "Your token! Can you not understand!

Yah Allah! how little you trust meand I would die for one glance of your eyes! HeStuart Sahibhas

Miska swayed dizzily and extended her hands towards him. Chunda Lal glanced fearfully about him.

"Did I not," he whispered, with an intense ardour in his soft voice"did I not lay my life, my service, all I

have, at your feet? Did I not vow to serve you in the name of Bh�wan�! He is long since gone to bring his

friendswho are searching frm house to house along the river. At any moment they may be here!"

"Not upon your knees to me, Miska. It was a little thing to dofor you. Did I not tell you thathehad

cast his eyes upon you? Mine was the voice you heard to cry out. Ah! you do not know: it is to gain time that

I seem to serve him! Only this, Miska"he revealed the blade of a concealed knife"stand between FoHi

He glared at her passionately, clutching his bosom; then, pressing the necklet to his lips, he concealed it

"Listen againI reveal it to you without price or hope of reward, for I know there is no love in your heart to

give, Miska; I know that it takes you out of my sight for always. But I tell you what I learn in the house of

Abd�l Roz�n. Your life is your own, Miska! With the needle"yet closer he bent to her ear and even softer

he spoke"he pricks your white skinno more! The vial he sends contains a harmless cordial!"

"Quick! fly!" he said, leading her to the door. "I will see that he does not pursue!"

"And if he escape, and know that I was false to him, he will call me back, and I shall be dragged to those

yellow eyes, though I am a thousand miles away! Inshalla! those eyes! NoI must strike swift, or he robs

"Then, I also must remain, Chunda Lal, my friend! We will waitand watchand listen for the

"Ah, Miska!"the glance of the Hindu grew fearful"you are cleverbut he is the Evil One! I fear for

A faint sound attracted Miska's attention. Placing a quivering finger to her lips, she gently thrust Chunda Lal

"He returns!" she whispered: "If I callcome to me, my friend! But we have not long to wait!"

STUART had gained the end of the corridor, unmolested. There he found a short flight of steps, which he

descended and came to a second corridor forming a right angle with the first. A lamp was hung at the foot of

the steps, and by its light he discerned a shadowy figure standing at the further end of this second passage.

A moment he hesitated, peering eagerly along the corridor. The man who waited was Chunda Lal. Stuart

Chunda Lal took it as one touching something holy and raising it he kissed it with reverence. His dark eyes

were sorrowful. Long and ardently he pressed the little trinket to his lips, then concealed it under the white

robe which he wore and turned to Stuart. His eyes were sorrowful no more, but fierce as the eyes of a tiger.

He unlocked a door and stepped out into a neglected garden, Stuart close at his heels. The sky was cloudy,

and the moon obscured. Never glancing back, Chunda Lal led the way along a path skirting a high wall upon

which climbing fruit trees were growing until they came to a second door and this also the Hindu unlocked.

"To the end of this lane," he said, in his soft queerly modulated voice, "and along the turning to the left to the

Stuart turned and walked rapidly along the lane. Once he glanced back. Chunda Lal was looking after him . . .

and he detected something that gleamed in his hand, gleamed not like gold but like the blade of a knife!

Turning the corner, Stuart began to run. For he was unarmed and still weak, and there had been that in the

fierce black eyes of the Hindu when he had scorned Stuart's thanks which had bred suspicion and distrust.

From the position of the moon, Stuart judged the hour to be something after midnight. No living thing stirred

about him. The lane in which now he found himself was skirted on one side by a hedge beyond which was

open country and on the other by a continuation of the high wall which evidently enclosed the grounds of the

house that he had just quitted. A cool breeze fanned his face, and he knew that he must be approaching the

In his weak condition the short run had exhausted him. His bruised throat was throbbing painfully, and he

experienced some difficulty in breathing. He leaned up against the mossgrown wall, looking back into the

No one was in sight. There was no sound save the gentle lapping of the water upon the bank.

He would have liked to bathe his throat and to quench his feverish thirst, but a mingled hope and despair

spurred him and he set off along the narrow path towards where dimly above some trees he could discern in

the distance a group of redroofed buildings. Having proceeded for a considerable distance, he stood still,

listening for any sound that might guide him to the searchpartyor warn him that he was followed. But he

Onward he pressed, not daring to think of what the future held for him, not daring to dwell upon the memory,

the maddening sweetness, of that parting kiss. His eyes grew misty, he stumbled as he walked, and became

Suddenly a man, concealed behind a bush, sprang out upon him and bore him irresistibly to the ground!

"What is that!" called another voice from the shelter of the bush. "Pardieu! say it again! . . . Dr. Stuart!"

"Nom d'un nom! Two dead men meet!" exclaimed Gaston Max. "But indeed"he grasped Stuart by both

"I thought you were murdered," said Max, still grasping his hand, "and I perceive that you had made the same

mistake about me! Do you know what saved me, my friend, from the consequences of that frightful blow? It

"I believe I have a skull like a baboon!" returned Max, laughing with joyous excitement. "And you, doctor,

you must possess a steel windpipe; for flesh and blood could never have survived the pressure of that

horrible pigtail. You will rejoice to learn that Miguel was arrested on the Dover boattrain this morning and

that AhFangFu at Tilbury Dock some four hours ago. So we are both avenged! But we waste time"

"A terrible experience has befallen you," he said. "But tell medo you know where it isthe lair of 'The

"I do!" replied Stuart, having taken a welcome draught from the flask. "Where is Dunbar? We must carefully

"Ah! as he eluded us at 'The Pidgin House'!" cried Max. "Do you know what happened? They had a

motorboat in the very cellar of that warren! At high tide they could creep out into the cutting, drawing their

craft along from pile to pile, and reach the open river at a point fifty yards above the house! In the damnable

"It was all my fault," said Sowerby guiltily. "I missed my spring when I went for the Chinaman who came out

first, and he gave one yell. The old fox in the shop heard it and the fat was in the fire."

Dunbar walked up the path, followed by a number of men. At first he did not observe Stuart, and:

"You'll be waking all the neighbourhood," he said. "It's the next big house, Sowerby, the one we thought,

"Thank God!" he cried, disregarding his own counsel about creating a disturbance. "This is fine! Eh, man! but

"I have," replied the Inspector, and gave him a swift glance of the tawny eyes. "And considering that you've

nearly been strangled, I'll forgive you! But I wish we'd known about this house"

"Ah! Inspector," interrupted Gaston Max, "but you have never seen Z�ra elKhal�! I have seen herand I

"We have little time to waste. There are only three people in the house, so far as I am aware: Miskaknown

"Exactly, 'The Scorpion.' Chunda Lal, for some obscure personal reason, not entirely unconnected with

Miska, enabled me to make my escape in order that I might lead you to the house. Therefore we may look

"Eh, bien! a spy in the camp! This is where we see how fatal to the success of any enterprise, criminal or

"There are three entrances to the apartment in which FoHi apparently spends the greater part of his time.

Two of these I know, although I am unaware where one of them leads to. But the third, of which he alone

holds the key, communicates with a tunnel leading to the river bank, where a motorboat is concealed."

"Yes, always. Therefore, once he is out on the river, he is moderately secure between the first lock and the

Nore! When a police patrol is near he can shut off his engine and lie under the bank. Last night he crept away

from us in that fashion. Tonight is not so dark, and the River Police are watching all the way down."

"Furthermore," replied Stuart, "Chunda Lal, who acts as engineer, has it in his power to prevent FoHi's

escape by that route! But we must count upon the possibility of his attempting to leave by water. Therefore,

in disposing your forces, place a certain number of men along the bank above and below the house. Is there a

"Not nearer than Putney Bridge," answered Dunbar. "We shall have to try and block that exit."

"There's no time to waste," continued Stuart excitedly"and I have a very particular request to make: that

Stuart repressed a groan; for even so he had little hope of inducing the awful veiled man to give back life to

the woman who would have been instrumental in bringing him to the scaffold . . . and no compromise was

"If you will muster your men, Inspector," he said, "I will lead you to the spot. Once we have effected an

entrance we must proceed with dispatch. He has alarmbells connected with every possible point of entry."

AS THE door closed upon Chunda Lal, Miska stepped back from it and stood, unconsciously, in a curiously

rigid and statuesque attitude, her arms pressed to her sides and her hands directed outward. It was the

physical expression of an intense mental effort to gain control of herself. Her heart was leaping wildly in her

breastfor the future that had held only horror and a living tomb, now opened out sweetly before her. She

had only to ply her native wiles for a few precious moments . . . and someone would have her in his arms, to

hold her safe from harm! If the will of the awful Chinaman threatened to swamp her individuality,

But because of his helpless, unselfish love, she hesitated even at the price of remaining alone again with

The lacquer door slid noiselessly open and FoHi entered. He paused, watching her.

"Ah," he said, in that lowpitched voice which was so terrifying"a ghaz�yeh of Ancient Egypt! How

beautiful you are, Miska! You transport me to the court of golden Pharaoh. Miska! daughter of the

moonmagic of IsisZ�ra elKhal�! At any hour my enemies may be clamouring at my doors. But this hour

He moved at his customary slow gait to the table, took up the keys . . . and locked both doors!

Miska, perceiving in this her chance of aid from Chunda Lal utterly destroyed, sank slowly upon the d�wan,

her pale face expressing the utmost consternation. Suppose the police did not come!

FoHi dropped the keys on the table again and approached her. She stood up, retreating before him. He

"So your 'acceptance' was only a trick," he said. "Your loathing of my presence is as strong as ever. Well!" At

the word, as a volcano leaps into life, the hidden fires which burned within this terrible man leapt up

consumingly"if the gift of the flower is withheld, at least I will grasp the Dead Sea Fruit!"

He leapt toward Miskaand she fled shrieking before him. Running around a couch which stood near the

Grasping her shoulders, he twisted her about so that he could look into her eyes. A low, shuddering cry died

away, and her gaze became set, hypnotically, upon FoHi. He raised one hand, fingers outstretched before

"Forget!" he said in a deep, guttural voice of command"forget. I will it. We stand in an empty world, you

"Your heart leaps wildly in your breast!" he whispered tensely. "Look into my eyes. . . ."

Miska sighed and opened her eyes yet more widely. She shuddered and a slow smile appeared upon her lips.

The lacquer screen masking the window was pushed open and Chunda Lal leapt in over the edge. As FoHi

drew the yielding, hypnotised girl towards him, Chunda Lal, a gleaming k�kri held aloft, ran with a silent

He reached FoHi, drew himself upright; the glittering blade quivered . . . and FoHi divined his presence.

Uttering a short, guttural exclamation, he thrust Miska aside. She staggered dazedly and fell prone upon the

FoHi drew himself rigidly upright, extending his hands, palms downward, before him. He was exerting a

superhuman effort. The breath whistled through his nostrils. Chunda Lal, knife upraised, endeavoured to

strike; but his arm seemed to have become incapable of movement and to be held, helpless, aloft.

Staring at the rigid figure before him, he began to pant like a man engaged in a wrestle for life.

FoHi stretched his right arm outward, and with a gesture of hand and fingers beckoned to Chunda Lal to

And now, Miska, awakening as from a fevered dream, looked wildly about her, and then, serpentine, began to

creep to the table upon which the keys were lying. Always watching the awful group of two she rose slowly,

Chunda Lal, swollen veins standing out cordlike on his brow, his gaze set hypnotically upon the moving

As he came finally face to face with the terrible Adept of R�che Chur�n, Miska disappeared into the shadow

of the balcony. FoHi by an imperious gesture commanded Chunda Lal to kneel and bow his head. The

Thereupon FoHi momentarily relaxed his giant concentration and almost staggered as he glared down at the

kneeling man. But never was that dreadful gaze removed from Chunda Lal. And now the veiled man drew

himself rigidly upright again and stepped backward until the fallen k�kri lay at his feet. He spoke:

The Hindu rose, gazing before him with unseeing eyes. His forehead was wet with perspiration.

Chunda Lal, without removing his sightless gaze from the veiled face, stooped, groped until he found the

Back stepped FoHi, and back, until he could touch the big table. He moved a brass switchand a trap

opened in the floor behind Chunda Lal. FoHi raised his right hand, having the fingers tightly closed as if

grasping the hilt of a knife. With his left hand he pointed to the trap. Again he spoke.

As FoHi raised his clenched right hand, so did Chunda Lal raise the k�kri. FoHi extended his left hand

rigidly towards the Hindu and seemed to force him, step by step, back towards the open trap. Almost at the

brink, Chunda Lal paused, swayed, and began to utter short, agonised cries. Froth appeared upon his lips.

Raising his right hand yet further aloft, FoHi swiftly brought it down, performing the gesture of stabbing

Chunda Lal, uttering a loud groan, stabbed himself and fell backward into the opening. Ensued a monstrous

As he fell, FoHi leapt to the brink of the trap, glaring down madly into the cellar below. His yellow fingers

"Lie there," he shrieked"my 'faithful' servant! The ants shall pick your bones!"

He grasped the upstanding door of the trap and closed it. It descended with a reverberating boom. FoHi

raised his clenched fists and stepped to the door. Finding it locked, he stood looking toward the open screen

He crossed to the window and was about to look out, when a highpitched electric bell began to ring in the

Instantly FoHi closed the screen and turned, looking in the direction from whence the sound of ringing

proceeded. As he did so, a second bell, in another key, began to ringfollowed by a thirda fourth.

Momentarily the veiled man exhibited evidence of indecision. Then, from beneath his robe he took a small

key. Approaching an ornate cabinet set against the wall to the left of one of the lacquer doors, he inserted the

key in a hidden lock, and slid the entire cabinet partly aside revealing an opening.

FoHi bent, peering down into the darkness of the passage below. A muffled report came, a flash out of the

blackness of the river tunnel, and a bullet passed through the end of the cabinet upon which his hand was

Hurriedly he slid the cabinet into place again and stood with his back to it, arms outstretched.

"Miska!" he saidand a note of yet deeper despair had crept into the harsh voice.

Methodically FoHi began to take certain books from the shelves and to cast them into the great metal bowl

which stood upon the tripod. Into the bowl he poured the contents of a large glass jar. Flames and clouds of

Confused voices were audible, seemingly from all around him, together with a sound of vague movements.

FoHi took up vials and jars and dashed them to pieces upon the tiled hearth in which the furnace rested.

Testtubes, flasks and retorts he shattered, and finally, raising the large glass case of orchids he dashed it

down amid the debris of the other nameless and priceless monstrosities unknown to Western science.

A BLACK cloud swept past the face of the moon and cold illumination flooded the narrow lane and patched

with light the drive leading up to the front of the isolated mansion. Wroughtiron gates closed both entrances

and a high wall, surmounted by broken glass and barbed wire, entirely surrounded the gardens.

"This one is locked," said Gaston Max, trying the gate and then peering through the bars in the direction of

All the visible windows were shuttered. No ray of light showed anywhere. The house must have been

"It is difficult to judge," replied Stuart. "But I am disposed to believe that it is in the front of the house and on

the first floor, for I traversed a long corridor, descended several stairs, turned to the right and emerged in a

"I was thinking of the window and the balcony which 'The Scorpion' informed you commanded a view of

Hampton Court. Hampton Court," he turned halfleft, "lies about yonder. Therefore you are probably right,

doctor: the room as you say should be in front of the house. Since we do not know how to disconnect the

alarms, once we have entered the grounds it is important that we should gain access to the house

"There is an iron balcony jutting out amongst the ivy just above and to the right of the porch!" cried Stuart,

who had also been peering up at the moonpatched drive. "I would wager that that is the room!"

"Ah," replied Max, "I believe you are right. This, then, is how we shall proceed. Inspector Kelly, with the aid

of two men, can get over the wall near that garden door by which you came out. If they cannot force it from

inside, you also must get over and lead the way to the entrance you know of. Sowerby and two more men will

remain to watch the lane. The river front is well guarded. We will post a man here at this gate and one at the

other. Dunbar and I will climb this one and rush straight for that balcony which we must hope to reach by

climbing up the ivy. Ah! here comes Inspector Dunbar . . . and someone is with him!"

Dunbar appeared at the double around the corner of the lane which led riverward, and beside him ran a girl

who presented a bizarre figure beside the gaunt Scotsman and a figure wildly out of place in that English

"Miska!" cried Stuart, and sprang towards her, sweeping her hungrily into his armsforgetful of, indifferent

Trembling wildly, Miska clung to Stuart and began to speak, her English more broken than ever, because of

"Listenquick!" she panted. "Oh! do not hold me so tight. I have all the housekeyslook!"she held up

a bunch of keys"but not the keys of the gates. Two men have gone to the end of the tunnel where the boat

is hid beside the river. Someonehe better climb this gate and by the ivy he can reach the room in which

FoHi is! I come down so. You do not see me because the moon goes out and I run to the side door. It is

"Oh; Chunda Lal!"she choked down a sob. "Be quick! be quick! He will kill him! he will kill him!"

"This way!" said Miska, dragging Stuart by the arm. "Oh! I am wild with fear and sorrow and joy!"

They passed around the bend into the narrower lane which led towards the river and upon which the

gardendoor opened. Stuart detained her. If the fat eof the whole world had hung in the balanceas, indeed,

perhaps it didhe could not have acted otherwise. He raised her bewitching face and kissed her ardently.

"I live!" she whispered. "Oh! I am mad with happiness! It is Chunda Lal that gives me lifefor he tells me

the truth. It is not with the livingdeath that he touches me; it is a trick, it is all a trick to bind me to him! Oh,

But supreme above all the other truths in the world, the joyous truth that Miska was to live set Stuart's heart

At the gardendoor a group of men awaited them. Sergeant Sowerby and two assistants remaining to watch

the entrance and the lane, Miska led Stuart and the burly Inspector Kelly along that path beside the wall

"Oh, yes! He has a terrible powerFoHiwhich he never employs with me, until tonight. Ah! it is only

Chunda Lal who saved me! But Chunda Lal he can command with his Will. From it, once he has made

anyone a slave to it, there is no escape. I have seen one in the city of Quebec, in Canada, forget all else and

They had reached the open door beyond which showed the dimly lighted passage. Miska hesitated.

She thrust the keys into the hand of Inspector Kelly, pointing to one of them, and:

"That is the key!" she said. "Have your pistol ready. Do not touch anything in the room and do not go in if I

They pressed along the passage, came to the stair and were about to ascend, when there ensued a dull

reverberating boom, and Miska shrank back into Stuart's arms with a stifled shriek.

Inspector Kelly uttered a short laugh; but Stuart repressed a shudder. He was never likely to forget the

skeleton of the Nubian mute which had been stripped by the ants in sixtynine minutes!

"That's Harvey!" said one of the men who followed"Our man must have tried to escape by the tunnel to the

It was at this moment that Gaston Max, climbing up to the front balcony by means of the natural ladder

afforded by the ancient ivy, grasped the iron railing and drew himself up to the level of the room. By this

same stairway Chunda Lal had ascended to death and Miska had climbed down to life.

Max, taking a magazine pistol from his pocket, stepped warily over the ledge into the mysterious halflight

behind the great screen. As he did so, one of the lacquer doors was unlocked from the outside, and across the

extraordinary, smokeladen room he saw Inspector Kelly enter. He saw something else.

Seated in a strangelyshaped canopied chair was a figure wearing a rich mandarin robe, but having its face

Even as he leapt, and as the Scotland Yard men closed in upon the chair also, all of them armed and all half

fearful, a thing happened which struck awe to every heartfor it seemed to be supernatural.

Raising a metal hammer which he held in his hand, FoHi struck the bronze bell hung beside the chair.

There came a flash of blinding light, an intense crackling sound, the crash of broken glass, and a dense cloud

"Oh, my God!" cried Dunbar, staggering and half blinded. Both were all but hurled from their feet by the

A deathly silence claimed them all. Just within the doorway Stuart appeared, having his arm about the

The Throne of the Gods was empty! A thin coating of grey dust was settling upon it and upon the dais which

They had witnessed a scientific miracle . . . the complete and instantaneous disintegration of a human body.

"We are defeated," he said. "'The Scorpion,' surrounded, destroys itself. It is the way of a scorpion."