The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu

recovered from the Thames off Tilbury by the river police at six A.M. this mo

he evening paper and poin

, fortunately for us, failed to follow his instructions. Also, he lost the cent

hom we had to deal. My very soul recoiled from bare considerati

and found that Inspector Weymouth of

ome to the Wapping River Police

ere few enough throug

nd; "and, if Fu-Manchu is at the bottom of it-as we

at there were no trains to serve our haste. We

avoided any reference to the circumstances which first had brought him in contact with the sinister

of us seemed disposed to break, we entered the police depot, and fo

ed us briefly, nodd

at the Yard," he said; and his usual

wn the neat little room. No one spoke for a moment, and in the silence I could hear the whispering of the

a seaman of nondescript nationality-such as is no stranger in Wapping and Shadwell. His dark, curly hair clung clammily about the

his own time on some funny business down St. George's way-and Thursday night the ten-o'clock boat got the grapnel on him

and glance

ed, "that you came down to see

h no

r," he said shortly

e fell

, except that which had been found thrust into the loose neck of his shirt. This last it was which had led the police to send fo

e; but it was rendered more so by the fact that the plaited que

e-up?" questioned Weymouth, his eye on the s

s with a certain irritation, and tr

ook how it's padded in the crown. This t

and fell to paci

find him-exac

r Commercial Dock Pie

at eight o'clock las

o a quar

en dead nearly twent

nty-four hour

lowed up some clew which led him to the neighborhood of old Ratcliff Highwa

m if he pulled the case off. But he gave me to understand that he expected to spend last night in th

any record

ith ambitions, sir! You'll want to see his book. Wait

and Inspector Ryman cove

th was palp

Fu-Manchu! Poor Mason had probably blundered on the scent, too, and he met with a similar fate. Without other evidence, the

ing of the mutila

s death was from d

other marks

led off the quarter-mile championship at the Crystal Palace last year! Cadby wasn't a

d his shoulde

ay we shall know how th

urned from t

Police Station. There's no family, fortunately; he was quite alone in the world. His case-book isn't in the American desk, which you'll

h no

he said. "We haven'

apping High Street. We had gone no more than a few hundred yards,

have left it behind! We must

lled up, and S

outh's card. Remember where he said the book was? It's all w

ted, "a few minutes c

to leave evidence like that lying about? It's a thousand

Yet I had had leisure to review the whole troop of events which had crowded my life since the return of Nayland Smith from Burma. Mentally, I had looked again upon the dead Sir Crichton Davey, and with Smith had waited in the dark

with a queer mixture of fear a

and I regret that I bring ba

And divining something of the mission on which I was come, for such sad d

m that hour, since the sorrow of the worthy old soul was qui

ight, Doctor, and I heard it again to-night, a second before

; but when she was sufficiently composed I went on to explain what I thought necessary. And no

ung lady-in h

ight mean little

until half-past-and this morning again. She came the th

ow her, Mr

grew embarr

od knows he was a good lad, and I like a mother to him; but she i

haps it meant that one of Fu-Manchu's dacoit followers was watching the house, to give warning of any stranger's approach! Warning to whom? It was

n his rooms-" began Mrs. Dolan aga

ears-intimately feminine.

k up the stairs! Taking three steps at a time, I followed her, bounded in

n's distrust. The gaslight was turned very low, and her hat shadowed her face, but could not hide its startling be

said grimly, and turn

acing me, leaning back with her jewel

ed from here," I said sternly, "

d, her eyes wide with

o! Please, let me go!" And impulsively she threw herself forward, pressing clasped h

this girl's infatuation. "Love in the East," he had said, "is like the conjurer's mango-tree; it is born, grows and flowers at the touch of a hand." Now, in those pleading eyes I read con

hrust h

said. "Do not count upon any.

the lapels

tand you would not be so cruel." Her slight accent added charm to the musical voice. "I am not free, as your English women are. What I do I must do, for it is the w

eril once-at the expense of my friend. But I had feared the plea, for I did not know how to meet it. How cou

er woman in the eyes-one that you loved, and know that she trusted you-if you had done such a thing? Ah, I have no friend in all the world, or I should not be here. Do not b

of Dr. Fu-Manchu? Furthermore, she was an Oriental, and her code must necessarily be different from mine. Irreconcilable as the thing may be with Western ideas, Nayland Smith had really told me th

ulders nervously, and her slim body quivered against mine as she watched me, with all her soul in her ey

his death," I said

cause he would not be warned that he met his death. I could not save him! Ah, I am not so bad as that. I will tell you. I have taken his notebook and torn

where and how to seiz

k a backward step. A new terr

not! I d

would-if y

atching m

uld go to find

ustice that I would have had myself, I felt the hot blood leap

him if I came to you,

uthori

me on the rack if they choose, but never o

cornfully. Then the pro

ll speak

closer, until she cou

om HIM, from everybody, and I

hat by the charm of her personality and the art of her pleading she had brought me down from my judgment seat-had made it all but impossible for me to give her up to justice. No

dent, from the time that I stepped across the

or the key turned ge

e comforted, for there is one near who would have killed you had I wishe

stifled cry from Mrs. Dolan as the mysterious visi