s own hands. At the moment that the silent
Chinaman was about to throw his arms about him, the pride of the junior
school registered a most surprising left accurately on the point of Ah
Fang's jaw, following it up by a wilful transgression of Queensberry
rules in the form of a stomach punch which temporarily decided the
issue. Then:

"Quick! quick!" he cried breathlessly, grasping Lady Pat's hand. "This
is where we run!"

In such fashion was Zani Chada interrupted, the interruption taking the
form of a sudden, shrill outcry:

"Dad! dad! Where are you, dad?"

Kerry spun about as a man galvanized. His face became transfigured.

"This way, Dan!" he cried. "This way, boy!"

Came a clatter of hurrying feet, and into the low, perfumed room
burst Dan Kerry, junior, tightly clasping the hand of a pale-faced,
dishevelled woman in evening dress. It was Lady Rourke; and although
she seemed to be in a nearly fainting condition, Dan dragged her, half
running, into the room.

Kerry gave one glance at the pair, then, instantly, he turned to face
Zani Chada. The latter, like a man of stone, sat in his carved chair,
eyes nearly closed. The Chief Inspector whipped out a whistle and raised
it to his lips. He blew three blasts upon it.

From one--two--three--four points around the house the signal was
answered.

Zani Chada fully opened his long, basilisk eyes.

"You win, Chief Inspector," he said. "But much may be done by clever
counsel. If all fails------"

"Well?" rapped Kerry fiercely, at the same time throwing his arm around
the boy.

"I may continue to take an interest in your affairs."

A tremendous uproar arose, within and without the house. The police
were raiding the place. Lady Rourke sank down, slowly, almost at the
Eurasian's feet.

But Chief Inspector Kerry experienced an unfamiliar chill as his
uncompromising stare met the cold hatred which blazed out of the black
eyes, narrowed, now, and serpentine, of Zani Chada.

THE PIGTAIL OF HI WING HO

I

HOW I OBTAINED IT

Leaving the dock gates behind me I tramped through the steady drizzle,
going parallel with the river and making for the Chinese quarter. The
hour was about half-past eleven on one of those September nights when,
in such a locality as this, a stifling quality seems to enter the
atmosphere, rendering it all but unbreathable. A mist floated over
the river, and it was difficult to say if the rain was still falling,
indee