The Devil Doctor
es from the lamp when we heard the thuddi
ing place, a quest which I seconded with equal anxiety. And Fate was kind to us-doubly kind as after events revealed. A wooden gate broke the
ith his foot in this as in a stirrup. He threw his arm over the top an
he said, and reached
ain, grasped at a projection in t
, on this side to st
e car turned the corner, slowly, for there was scanty room; but I was standing upon the b
es," hissed my companion, below.
en began to die away. I felt about with my left foot, disc
was a close thing! Sm
yourself the question: what would any ordinary man be doing
th," I agreed. "Sha
ave an idea.
turning me in the
of moonlight slanted into the place wherein we s
an dimly to perceive him beside me. "If my calculatio
ismally, apparently fr
"That turning leads down t
h the ranks of casks, and led the way to the farther door. A good two
grease," he said, "and I want
seems easy to move," I reported
edestal of casks. Then Smith mounted to this observation platform a
oor, was a stack of empty casks. Beyond, over the way, was a kind of ramshackle building that had possibly been a dwelling-house at some time. Bills
chill from the near river and hear the vague noises which,
e no noise! I suspected it. T
rt; for I was suddenly dizzy, and my
her?" he
oor dream-world was toppling about me,
the corner of the lane-was Karamanèh ... Karamanèh whom once we had rescued from the house of this fiendish Chinese doctor; Karamanèh who had been our ally
gain-God knows by what chains he holds her. But she's only a woman, old boy, an
eeth with that mechanical physical effort which often accompanies a mental one, I swallowed the bitter draught of
above the woodwork, I quite distinctly saw her go out of the room. The door, as she opened it, admitt
he other window
was over and had dropped almost noiselessly up
empt anything, single-han
here to be put to the question, in the medi?val, an
ertainly, but so expressed it was defini
added Smith; "follow
st to the closed door of the house. I helped him place it under the open wind
h mo
evil. I would forgive any man who, knowing Dr. Fu-Manchu, feared him; I feared him myself-feared him as one fears a scorpion; but when Nayland Smith hauled himself up on to the wooden ledge above
close t
steady? We may
anèh, whom this wonderful, evil product of secret
me!" I said
ased-frozen
d which at that moment literally struck me rigid with horror. Yet it was only a groan;
w a sibil
hispered hoarsely,
voice that thrilled me anew, but wi
e scuffling. A door somewhere at the back of the house opened-a
ce was low, but perfectly
pened, admitting again the faint light-and Karamanèh came in. The place was qu
s arm about the girl's waist and one hand clapped to her mouth
or, Petrie,"
eminiscent of strange days that, now, seemed to belong to a remote past. Karamanèh! that faint, indefinable perfum
cket," rapped Sm
ave wished that I had had more certain mastery of myself. I took the to
she whom Eltham had mistaken for a French maid. A brooch set with a ruby was pinned at the point where the bl
t-hand pocket," said Smith. "I
nk I never essayed a less congenial task than that of binding her
of it!" rapped Sm
eeks, for I knew well
, and I turned the ray of
e looked up at me with eyes in which I could have sworn there was no recogn
have to-
I can'
h tears and she looked up
re. "Every one-every one-is cruel to me. I will promise-indeed I will swear, to be quiet. Oh, believe me, if
e would have believed y
rted vi
was barely audible. "Yet I h
locks," interrupt
our lovely captive-vacant from wonder of it al
turned towards me fascinatedly. Smith locked the door with much
n was another door. A voice was speaking in the lighted room; yet I could have sworn that K
it, could ever mistake that singular v
nchu was
n-Yang. I have suggested that he may be the Mandarin Yen-Sun-Yat, but you have declined to confirm me. Yet I know" (Smith had the door open a goo
s intonation of the words "the question." This was the
rew the
g. A Chinaman, who wore a slop-shop blue suit and who held an open knife in his hand, stood beside him. Eltham was ghastly white. The appearance of his chest puzzled me mo
"they have the wire-jacket on him! Shoot dow
h the head. I saw his oblique eyes turn up to the whites; I saw the mark squarely between his brows; and with no word nor cry he sank to his knees and toppled for
; and I leapt forward, took up the bloody knife from th
I deserve. Unscrew ... the jacket, Petrie ... I think ... I was very nea
ct of removing the jacket was too agonizing for Eltham-ma
is Fu-M
ry in a tone of stark amaze. I stood up-I could do nothing
on the wall. The dead Chinaman lay close beside Smith. There was no second door, the one window was
-Manchu wa
od there, looking from the dead man to the tortured man
ffled rage Smith leapt along the passage to the second door. It was wide open.
ng-tube fixed betw
ally ground
tly promised Eltham his life if he would divulge the name of his corres
w s
tter than you know the Strand. Probably, if he saw Fu-Manchu, he would recognize
where we had
om was
th bitterly. "The Yellow Dev
he skirl of a police whistle s