betrayed no traces of agitation.
The man's unbroken calm had in it something inhuman. For he had just
perpetrated an act of daring unparalleled in my experience, and, in the
clamor now shut out by the glass door I tardily recognized the entrance
of the police into some barricaded part of the house--the coming of
those who would save us--who would hold the Chinese doctor for the
hangman!

"I have decided," he said deliberately, "that you are more worthy of my
attention than I had formerly supposed. A man who can solve the secret
of the Golden Elixir (I had not solved it; I had merely stolen some)
should be a valuable acquisition to my Council. The extent of the
plans of Mr. Commissioner Nayland Smith and of the English Scotland
Yard it is incumbent upon me to learn. Therefore, gentlemen, you
live--for the present!"

"And you'll swing," came Weymouth's hoarse voice, "in the near future!
You and all your yellow gang!"

"I trust not," was the placid reply. "Most of my people are safe: some
are shipped as lascars upon the liners; others have departed by
different means. Ah!"

That last word was the only one indicative of excitement which had yet
escaped him. A disk of light danced among the brilliant poison hues of
the passages--but no sound reached us; by which I knew that the glass
door must fit almost hermetically. It was much cooler here than in the
place through which we had passed, and the nausea began to leave me, my
brain to grow more clear. Had I known what was to follow I should have
cursed the lucidity of mind which now came to me; I should have prayed
for oblivion--to be spared the sight of that which ensued.

"It's Logan!" cried Inspector Weymouth; and I could tell that he was
struggling to free himself of his bonds. From his voice it was evident
that he, too, was recovering from the effects of the narcotic which had
been administered to us all.

"Logan!" he cried. "Logan! This way--HELP!"

But the cry beat back upon us in that enclosed space and seemed to
carry no farther than the invisible walls of our prison.

"The door fits well," came Fu-Manchu's mocking voice. "It is fortunate
for us all that it is so. This is my observation window, Dr. Petrie,
and you are about to enjoy an unique opportunity of studying fungology.
I have already drawn your attention to the anaesthetic properties of
the lycoperdon, or common puff-ball. You may have recognized the fumes?
The chamber into which you r