Magic Shadow-shapes that come and go
Round with the Sun-illumined Lantern held
In Midnight by the Master of the Show.

But "the Master of the Show," in this case, was Dr. Fu-Manchu!

I have been asked many times since the days with which these records
deal: Who WAS Dr. Fu-Manchu? Let me confess here that my final answer
must be postponed. I can only indicate, at this place, the trend of my
reasoning, and leave my reader to form whatever conclusion he pleases.

What group can we isolate and label as responsible for the overthrow of
the Manchus? The casual student of modern Chinese history will reply:
"Young China." This is unsatisfactory. What do we mean by Young
China? In my own hearing Fu-Manchu had disclaimed, with scorn,
association with the whole of that movement; and assuming that the name
were not an assumed one, he clearly can have been no anti-Manchu, no
Republican.

The Chinese Republican is of the mandarin class, but of a new
generation which veneers its Confucianism with Western polish. These
youthful and unbalanced reformers, in conjunction with older but no
less ill-balanced provincial politicians, may be said to represent
Young China. Amid such turmoils as this we invariably look for, and
invariably find, a Third Party. In my opinion, Dr. Fu-Manchu was one
of the leaders of such a party.

Another question often put to me was: Where did the Doctor hide during
the time that he pursued his operations in London? This is more
susceptible of explanation. For a time Nayland Smith supposed, as I
did myself, that the opium den adjacent to the old Ratcliff Highway was
the Chinaman's base of operations; later we came to believe that the
mansion near Windsor was his hiding-place, and later still, the hulk
lying off the downstream flats. But I think I can state with
confidence that the spot which he had chosen for his home was neither
of these, but the East End riverside building which I was the first to
enter. Of this I am all but sure; for the reason that it not only was
the home of Fu-Manchu, of Karamaneh, and of her brother, Aziz, but the
home of something else--of something which I shall speak of later.

The dreadful tragedy (or series of tragedies) which attended the raid
upon the place will always mark in my memory the supreme horror of a
horrible case. Let me endeavor to explain what occurred.

By the aid of Karamaneh, you have seen how we had located the whilom
warehouse, whic