not mean that he would shoot him, strangle him,
or even beat him with his fists; he meant precisely what he said--that
he would kick him to death--and Zani Chada knew it.

Thus there were some moments of tense silence during which the savage
face of the Chief Inspector drew even closer to the gaunt, yellow face
of the Eurasian. Finally:

"Listen only for one moment," said Zani Chada. His voice had lost
its guttural intonation. He spoke softly, sibilantly. "I, too, am a
father------"

"Don't mince words!" shouted Kerry. "You've kidnapped my boy. If I have
to tear your house down brick by brick I'll find him. And if you've hurt
one hair of his head--you know what to expect!"

He quivered. The effort of suppression which he had imposed upon himself
was frightful to witness. Zani Chada, student of men, knew that in
despite of his own physical strength and of the hidden resources at his
beck, he stood nearer to primitive retribution than he had ever done.
Yet:

"I understand," he continued. "But you do not understand. Your boy is
not in this house. Oh! violence cannot avail! It can only make his loss
irreparable."

Kerry, nostrils distended, eyes glaring madly, bent over him.

"Your scallywag of a son," he said hoarsely, "has gone one step too far.
His adventures have twice before ended in murder--and you have covered
him. This time you can't do it. I'm not to be bought. We've stood for
the Far East in London long enough. Your cub hangs this time. Get me?
There'll be no bargaining. The woman's reputation won't stop me. My
kid's danger won't stop me. But if you try to use him as a lever I'll
boot you to your stinking yellow paradise and they'll check you in as
pulp."

"You speak of three deaths," murmured Zani Chada.

Kerry clenched his teeth so tightly that his maxillary muscles protruded
to an abnormal degree. He thrust his clenched fists into his coat
pockets.

"We all follow our vocations in life," resumed the Eurasian, "to the
best of our abilities. But is professional kudos not too dearly bought
at the price of a loved one lost for ever? A far better bargain
would be, shall we say, ten thousand pounds, as the price of a silk
handkerchief------"

Kerry's fierce blue eyes closed for a fraction of a second. Yet, in that
fraction of a second, he had visualized some of the things which ten
thousand pounds--a sum he could never hope to possess--would buy. He had
seen his home, as he would have it--and he had se