Emperor Fu-Manchu (8 page)

“There she goes. See what it is to be the wife of a jailer.”

“A jailer?”

“Don’t you know her? Her husband is head jailer at Chia-Ting. Give me the old days.”

Head jailer at Chia-Ting. The leering brute who used to gloat over his misery. The man Yueh Hua had claimed as her father.

Yueh Hua’s instincts hadn’t misled her. Niu-fo-tu was dangerous.

“Can you tell me the way to the house of the Lama?” he asked.

“You can’t miss it, son. Straight up the main street. The second turning on the right, and his house faces you.”

He bought two of her smelly delicacies and returned to the main street.

It was just possible to see part of the waterfront, sails and masts of junks. Then, he saw the fat woman in the rickshaw. She was talking to an excited boy who stood beside her.

His heart seemed to miss a beat.

It was the cross-eyed little monster Tony thought they had shaken off.

He must make a decision—and swiftly.

The group was some distance away down the narrow, crowded street. But even so, he heard the shrill voice of the fat woman.

“Impudent liar! My daughter indeed! My husband will flog the skin off her back!”

Tony cast one swift, longing glance toward the gate, and as he did so, Mahmud, Dr. Fu-Manchu’s giant bodyguard, came in.

Instinctively, Tony swung around, forced his way through a surge of people hurrying in the direction of the disturbance, and plunged into a narrow and odorous alley on the right which would lead him from the point of danger. Some heads craned from windows, but they were all turned in the direction of the main street.

He cursed the hour that he had entered Niu-fo-tu for now, from behind, he heard a renewed uproar and detected the words, “Escaped prisoner! Reward.”

Swift footsteps were following him. To run would be to betray himself. But he knew that his life hung in the balance. He went on walking fast. The following footsteps drew nearer. A hand touched his shoulder.

“Have you seen a man with a crutch?” came a crisp inquiry.

The password!

Gulping his relief, Tony gave the countersign. “What is the name of his crutch?”

He twisted around. The speaker was a Buddhist lama, his head closely shaved; he wore horn-rimmed glasses. The proper reply was “Freedom.” But the monk gave another.

“Nayland Smith,” he snapped and went on in English. “I wasn’t sure, McKay, but, thank God, I was right. Your disguise is perfect. Keep calm, and keep walking. I came to look for you. Don’t bother to say anything. Walk on left two blocks and the lama’s house is right opposite. Jump to it. It’s urgent!”

Giving Tony’s arm a reassuring squeeze, Nayland Smith turned and hurried back along the way they had come.

Tony gave a parting glance to the tall figure, then turned left and hurried along the narrow street. He passed the first alley he came to, reached the second, and pulled up, staring anxiously at the house indicated.

It was an old house, the front quaintly decorated, and as he slipped into a small passage, immediately he noticed a smell of incense.

The passage was very dark. He began to walk quietly along. As his eyes became used to this gloom, he saw two doors ahead. The one directly before him was closed. The other, on the right, was open a few inches, and light showed through the cranny.

Walking on tiptoe, he reached it, hesitated…

“Please come in,” a pleasant old voice invited, speaking a pure Chinese of a kind he rarely heard.

He pushed the door open.

He was in a room furnished as a library. Shelves were packed with scrolls of parchment and bound books. There was a shrine directly facing the door. Incense burned in a bronze bowl. And squatting behind a long, low table on which a yellow manuscript was spread, he saw a very old man who wore the same kind of lama robe as Nayland Smith had worn.

The old man removed his spectacles and looked up. Tony found himself being analyzed by a pair of eyes which seemed—like the dreadful eyes of Fu-Manchu—to read his thoughts. But these were kindly eyes.

There was a wooden stool near the door. He sat down and listened for sounds from the street. He had to say something.

“Your door was open, Excellency.”

“My door is always open to those who may need me. Nor have I achieved excellency, my son.”

Tony became tongue-tied.

“I perceive,” the gentle voice went on, “that you are in some urgent danger. Give me the facts, and leave it to me to decide if I may justly help you.”

“There are people out there who want to arrest me.” This confession was considered quietly.

“Have you committed any crime?”

“No, my father. My only crime is that I tried to help China, where I was born.”

Then, the lama smiled again and said an unexpected but welcome thing.

“Have you seen a man with a crutch?”

Tony jumped up in his glad excitement.

“What is the name of his crutch?” he asked hoarsely.

“Freedom, my son. You are welcome.” He began to speak almost faultless English. “You are Captain McKay, for whom Sir Denis Nayland Smith is searching.”

“By God, he found me out there and saved me from the mob!”

“He felt responsible for your safety. I hope he will join us shortly. No one saw you together?”

“I believe not. A big Nubian, who is the personal bodyguard of the man you call ‘the Master’ and who knows me, has just come into the town.”

“Has he seen you?”

“Not to my knowledge. But there’s a boy—”

He got no further. Splitting the perfumed quiet of the room, came the uproar, “Escaped prisoner! Search all the houses! Reward for whoever…”

Tony felt the sharp pang of despair. A group had gathered just outside the house. The old lama raised his hand.

“Pray don’t disturb yourself, my son.”

He stood up. He proved to be much taller than Tony had judged. There was quiet dignity in his bearing. He went out, leaving the door ajar. Tony reached it in one stride and stood there, breathlessly listening.

Communist China might be irreligious, but the old beliefs still swayed the masses. Sudden silence fell on the babble outside. It was broken by the gentle voice.

“What troubles you, my children?”

A chorus replied. There was a dangerous criminal hiding in the town. They were going to search all the houses.

“As you please. Search by all means—but not here. There is no criminal, dangerous or otherwise, in my house. And you are interrupting my studies.”

Tony heard him coming back. He heard mutterings outside as well. But when the lama reentered the room his calm remained unruffled.

“My door is still open. But no one will come in.”

“You have great courage, father, and I thank you.”

The priest returned to his place behind the low table.

“Courage is a myth. There is only faith and doubt. Nor have you cause to thank me. You owe me nothing. If what I do has merit, then mine is the debt to you.”

Tony dropped back on the stool, conscious of perspiration on his forehead. The noise of the crowd outside faded away. But, almost immediately, there was a swift step along the passage and Nayland Smith walked in. He nodded to Tony and addressed the old lama in English.

“Dr. Li Wu Chang, you are a magician. I was on the fringe of the crowd outside and heard you dismiss them. Those people would eat out of your hand.”

“Because they know, Sir Denis, that I never told them a lie.”

“Misdirection is an art.” Nayland Smith grinned at Tony. “I prefer to call it magic!”

“Between you,” Tony burst out, “you have saved my life. But what now?”

“First,” snapped Nayland Smith, “reverting to the last report I had before you were compelled to scrap your walkie-talkie. You explored some village on the pretext of looking for a mythical relative, or somebody. You reported that you came across a large barbed-wire enclosure on the outskirts, with several buildings resembling an isolation hospital. Guards. You retired unobserved. Remember?”

“Clearly.”

“What was the name of this village?”

Tony clutched his head, thought hard, and then, “Hua-Tzu,” he said.

“Good,” came the gentle voice of the lama. “As I suspected. That is the Soviet research plant.”

Nayland Smith, a strange figure with his shaven skull and monk’s robe, clapped Tony on the shoulder. “Sound work. And have you discovered the identity of the Master?”

“I have. He cross-examined me in jail. The Master is Dr. Fu-Manchu.”

* * *

Half an hour later, wearing a new outfit and a bamboo hat the size of a car tire, supplied by the lama, and bending under a load of lumber, Tony set out along a narrow track formed by a dried-up ditch which ran at the foot of the lama’s little garden. It joined the canal not far from the sampan.

He was sweating, his new suit soiled, when he broke out onto the bank above the boat.

“Yueh Hua. Yueh Hua.”

There was no reply.

“Yueh Hua!”

He couldn’t keep the sudden terror out of his voice as he jumped on board.

Then he dropped down and buried his face in his hands.

He had saved himself. But they had caught Moon Flower.

That abominable boy must have seen the boat and raced into the town to report it.

A wave of madness swept over him. He heard again the shrill voice of the fat wife of the jailer. He knew what Yueh Hua’s fate would be. And he had left her to it.

There was a mist before his eyes. He clenched his teeth, tried to think. He leaped ashore like a madman and began to run. He had reached the road when he stopped running and dropped into a slow walk. Sanity, of sorts, was returning.

Why, since he still remained free, had no watch been posted over the sampan?

If only he could think clearly. He had avoided any reference to Yueh Hua during his interview with Nayland Smith and the lama. So he must handle this situation alone.

He kept on his way toward the town. His huge hat and new clothes altered his appearance, but he was sure, by now, that his enemies would be hard to deceive.

Along the road ahead, he began to count the trees; one-two-three, up to seven, then straining his eyes, looking for the little figure.

He thought miserable thoughts as he walked past a bend in the tree-lined road. Then he looked up unhappily and began counting again—one-two-three-four-five… He stood still, as if checked by a blow in the face.

A small figure was hurrying along ahead, making for the town.

As if the sound of his racing footsteps had been a dreaded warning, the figure suddenly turned aside and disappeared among banks of golden grain.

Wondering if he was going insane, if grief had led to illusion, he ran on until he came to the spot, as well as he could judge, where the disappearance had taken place. He stood panting and staring into a golden sea, billowing softly in a slight breeze.

He could find no track, see no broken stalks. Nothing stirred, except those gentle waves which passed over the sunny yellow sea.

“Yueh Hua!” he shouted hoarsely. “Yueh Hua! This is Chi Foh!”

And then the second illusion took place. Like a dark little Venus arising from golden foam, Yueh Hua stood up, not two yards from the road.

She stretched out her arms.

“Chi Foh! Chi Foh! I didn’t know it was you… I thought they… I was going to look for you…”

Trampling ripe grain under his feet, Tony ran to her. Tears were streaming down her face. Her eyes shone like blue jewels.

“Moon Flower! My Moon Flower!”

He swept her close. Her heart beat against him like a hammer as he began to kiss her. He kissed her until she lay breathless in his arms.

D
r. Fu-Manchu pressed a switch, and a spot of blue light disappeared from a small switchboard on the lacquered desk. He looked at General Huan, seated on a couch facing him across the room.

“Skobolov has reached Niu-fo-tu,” he said softly. “So Mahmud reports. It is also suspected that the man Wu Chi Foh was seen here today. But this rumor is unconfirmed. It is possible, for we have no evidence to the contrary, that Wu Chi Foh had a rendezvous there with Skobolov; that, after all, Wu Chi Foh is a Communist agent.”

Huan Tsung-Chao shook his head slightly. “This I doubt, Master, but I admit it may be so. Since Skobolov is closely covered, should they meet, Mahmud will take suitable steps.”

The conversation was interrupted.

Uttering a shrill whistling sound, a tiny marmoset who had been hiding on a high ledge sprang like a miniature acrobat from there to Fu-Manchu’s shoulder and began chattering angrily in his ear. The saturnine mask of that wonderful but evil face softened, melted into something almost human.

“Ah, Peko, my little friend. You are angry with me? Yet I have small sweet bananas flown all the way from Madeira for you. Is it a banana you want?”

Peko went on spitting and cursing in monkey language.

“Some nuts?”

Peko’s language was dreadful.

“You are teasing him,” General Huan smiled. “He is asking for his ration of my 1850 vintage rosé wine which ever since he tasted it, he has never forgotten.”

Peko sprang from Fu-Manchu’s shoulder onto the rug-covered floor, from there onto the shoulder of Huan. The old soldier raised his gnarled hand to caress Peko, a strange creature which he knew to be of incalculable age.