avagely at the lobe of his left ear. To-night his increasing
grayness was very perceptible, and with his feverishly bright eyes
staring straightly before him, he looked haggard and ill, despite the
deceptive tan of his skin.

"Petrie," he began in his abrupt fashion, "I am losing confidence in
myself."

"Why?" I asked in surprise.

"I hardly know; but for some occult reason I feel afraid."

"Afraid?"

"Exactly; afraid. There is some deep mystery here that I cannot fathom.
In the first place, if they had really meant you to remain ignorant of
the place at which the episodes described by you occurred, they would
scarcely have dropped you at the end of Portland Place."

"You mean ...?"

"I mean that I don't believe you were taken to the Chinese Legation at
all. Undoubtedly you saw the mandarin Ki-Ming; I recognize him from
your description."

"You have met him, then?"

"No; but I know those who have. He is undoubtedly a very dangerous man,
and it is just possible----"

He hesitated, glancing at me strangely.

"It is just possible," he continued musingly, "that his presence
marks the beginning of the end. Fu-Manchu's health may be permanently
impaired, and Ki-Ming may have superceded him."

"But, if what you suspect, Smith, be only partly true, with what
object was I seized and carried to that singular interview? What was
the meaning of the whole solemn farce?"

"Its meaning remains to be discovered," he answered; "but that the
mandarin is amicably disposed I refuse to believe. You may dismiss the
idea. In dealing with Ki-Ming we are to all intents and purposes
dealing with Fu-Manchu. To me, this man's presence means one thing: we
are about to be subjected to attempts along slightly different lines."

I was completely puzzled by Smith's tone.

"You evidently know more of this man, Ki-Ming, than you have yet
explained to me," I said.

Nayland Smith pulled out the blackened briar and began rapidly to
load it.

"He is a graduate," he replied, "of the Lama College, or monastery, of
Rache-Churan.

"This does not enlighten me."

Having got his pipe going well--

"What do you know of animal magnetism?" snapped Smith.

The question seemed so wildly irrelevant that I stared at him in
silence for some moments. Then--

"Certain powers sometimes grouped under that head are recognized in
every hospital to-day," I answered shortly.

"Quite so. And the monastery of Rache-Churan is entirely devoted to
the s