The Wrath of Fu Manchu and Other Stories by Sax Rohmer Read Free Book Online Page B

sound, ominously like that of a time-bomb, drew his glance swiftly upward.
    From somewhere in the shadowy roof an object that looked like a lacquered tray, suspended on thin metal chains, was descending slowly! Lower it came, and lower, until it swung within reach of his hand.
    Feverishly, Nayland Smith reviewed the pencilled notes.
    Give up card…
    He might be right, he might be wrong. But to hesitate would certainly be fatal.
    Taking from his pocket the card found in Orson’s flask, Smith dropped it in the tray and gently twitched the chain.
    The tray was wound up again.
    A moment after it had been swallowed in the shadows of the roof beams, that now familiar rumbling was repeated. He saw that the half-draped door had begun to open. When the opening became wide enough, he stepped through.
    The rumbling ceased for three seconds, was renewed—and the metal door closed upon his entrance.
    He was in a small, square room, unfurnished except for a long couch and a row of pegs on the wall, and lighted by one ceiling lamp. A number of cases and handbags lay on the settee. Two robes, or gowns, rather like those of university bachelors but of a dull green colour, hung on the pegs.
    His next step was crystal clear…
Mask. Gown
.
    Taking out the hideous green mask, he removed his glasses and fitted it onto his head. It was contrived so as to cover the hair, and made of some flexible, lightweight material. The mouth aperture was hidden by a sort of grating, but the eyeholes were not obstructed in any way.
    Orson’s case he laid on the settee, where five others lay already. None of the cases was initialled, he noted. Then he draped one of the two voluminous gowns over his shoulders.
    And now came the crucial test:
    Seven rings. Sixth bell
.
    What in the name of reason, did that mean?
    He inspected the room closely. Apart from the heavy, mechanical door now shutting him off from the world of normal men, he could see no other way in or out. But he saw something else: a narrow board, with seven green buttons. Reaching out, Nayland Smith pressed the button numbered six. He pressed it seven times.
    Throughout, no human sound had reached him; but he could not dismiss an impression of being covertly watched. So far, he believed, he had done nothing to betray himself. So that, unless the unseen watcher had recognised him, his course still remained clear.
    As for anything which might happen now, he was totally without guidance and must rely on his wits.
    His pressure on the bell-push had produced no audible result. Complete silence claimed the small room. He was just beginning to wonder, uneasily, if he had misread Orson’s last note, when a second door, camouflaged so cleverly in a wall that he had overlooked it, slid almost noiselessly open.
    Nayland Smith stood at the head of a flight of concrete stairs.
    He was about to enter the secret cellars!
    Smiling grimly (from now onward he stood alone against the Si-Fan) he began to go down.
    The stairs led to a long, paved passage. It seemed to end before semi-transparent green draperies. Evidently green was the Si-Fan colour. Light showed through the drapes.
    And then, at last, a silence which had been disturbed only by the sound of his footsteps on the stair, was broken.
    It was broken so sharply that he started, clenched his fists.
    Six strokes on a deep-toned gong echoed, eerily, from wall to wall of the passage…
    * * *
    Raymond Harkness had just received the report, “The woman has gone in,” when he noted a disturbance outside the yard in which the black sedan was parked. He stubbed out a cigarette he had been inhaling and sat quite still to listen.
    A bulky figure appeared-—and came right up to the open window.
    “Who is it?” Harkness asked, sharply.
    The glowing end of a big cigar was poked right in.
    “Who does it look like?” Burke’s growling bass inquired. “Your Aunt Fanny? Suppose I could wear out the seat of my pants with a show like this on? I have all the dope up to