Free The Drums of Fu-Manchu by Sax Rohmer Page B

of the crime) begging us to set out without a moment’s delay—not for the inn itself,but for a stone boathouse which lies twenty yards further down the creek. We had come provided to break the door in, but as luck, would have it, Constable Weldon, who was leading us, detected the sound made by those Thugs in the boat. You know the rest.”
    He continued to stare at me and I at him.
    “Was it a man’s voice?”
    “No: a woman—a young woman.”
    A medley of emotions had me silent for a moment, and then:
    “Did you find anyone here?”
    “My party, with Gallaho, found the pair of Thugs, as you know. Inspector Derbyshire, who entered from the front, discovered the man Pallant bathing a deep cut in his forehead. There’s a fellow who combines the duties of stablelad and bartender, but he’s off duty… There was no one else.”
    “I am glad—although perhaps I shouldn’t be.”
    After ten minutes’ rest I was fit to move again.
    Apart from the fact that the secret cellars were packed with contraband, nothing of value bearing upon the matter which had brought the police there was discovered in the Monks’ Arms. Both yellow men remained imperturbably dumb. The ex-pugilist, under a gruelling examination by Chief Detective Inspector Gallaho, pleaded guilty to smuggling but denied all knowledge of the identity or activities of his Chinese guest. He said that from time to time this person whom he knew as Mr Chang, stayed at the inn, usually accompanied by two coloured servants, and sometimes by a lady. He flatly denied all knowledge of the tragedy, and finally:
    “Take him away,” Gallaho growled, “we’ll find enough evidence later. Book him in on a charge of smuggling.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

THE SI-FAN
    M any hours had elapsed, hours of bitter disappointment, before Nayland Smith and I found ourselves at his flat in Whitehall.
    Fey had nothing to report. Smith glanced significantly at the television set which in some unaccountable manner Dr. Fu-Manchu had converted to his private uses.
    “No sir.” Fey shook his head.
    When he had gone out:
    “It seems almost incredible,” said Smith, beginning to pace up and down the carpet, “that this man whom I held in the hollow of my hand has slipped away! Every point of egress was watched, every, officer afloat and ashore notified for miles around.”
    “Perhaps he doubled back?”
    Nayland Smith began to tug at the lobe of his left ear.
    “Impossible to predict his movements. I am beginning to wonder if it is time I retired from the unequal contest. It is many years since Doctor Fu-Manchu first crossed my path. It was in a swampy district of Burma and I was nearly counted out in the first round.”He suddenly pulled up his sleeve and rolled back his shirt cuff, revealing a wicked-looking wound upon the forearm. “A primitive weapon, but a deadly one. An arrow, steeped in snake’s venom.”
    He rolled his sleeve down again.
    “You should never be alone, Smith. You need a bodyguard.”
    “I assure you I rarely go about alone. Why do you suppose I drag six feet of newspaper correspondent about with me? You are my bodyguard, Kerrigan! But Fu-Manchu’s methods are of a kind from which no bodyguard could protect me. I am saved by my utter futility. I believe he is laughing at me.”
    “He has small cause for laughter. Although you have failed to destroy him you have foiled him all along.”
    Nayland Smith’s grim face relaxed in a smile.
    “Then I can’t account for it. He must enjoy the sport, or I shouldn’t be alive!”
    “Do you think he was making for the open sea?”
    “I have a strong suspicion that he was. It has occurred to me that this mysterious radio plant which he controls may be on some vessel.”
    “Such a vessel would require a pretty tall mast.”
    “Not at all. Fu-Manchu is probably half a century ahead of what we call modern radio. However, I can do no more. We can hang the Thugs, no doubt, but like Fu-Manchu, what we want to do is to strike