ed up and got
in through the skylight I'd shown him. When I got there he was missing,
but the skylight was open. I started off after him."

Then Poland clutched me, and his fright was very real.

"I heard a shriek like nothing I ever heard in my life. I saw a light
shine through the trap, and then I heard a sort of moaning. Last, I
heard a bang, and the light went out. I staggered down the passage half
silly, started to run, and ran straight into the arms of two coppers."

This evidence I thought was conclusive, and in accordance with your
instructions I proceeded to Mr. Isaacs in Dover Street. He didn't seem
too pleased at my suggestion, but when I pointed out to him that one
good turn deserved another, he agreed to give me an introduction to
Huang Chow.

I adopted a very simple disguise, just altering my complexion and
sticking on a moustache with spirit gum, hair by hair, and trimming it
down military fashion. Everything ran smoothly, and I seemed to make a
fairly favourable impression upon Lala Huang, the Chinaman's daughter,
who evidently interviews prospective customers before they are admitted
to the warehouse.

She is a Eurasian and extremely good looking. But when I found myself
in the room where old Huang keeps his treasures, I really thought I was
dreaming. It's a collection that must be worth thousands. He showed me
snuff-bottles, cut out of gems, and with a little opening no bigger than
the hole in a pipe-stem, but with wonderful paintings done inside the
bottles. He'd got a model of a pagoda made out of human teeth, and a big
golden rug woven from the hair of Circassian slave girls. Excuse this,
Chief Inspector; I know it is what you call the romantic stuff; but I
think it would have impressed you if you had seen it.

Anyway, I bought a little enamelled box, in accordance with Mr. Isaacs's
instructions, although whether I succeeded in convincing Huang Chow that
I knew anything about the matter is more than doubtful. He got up from
a sort of throne he sits on, and led the way up a broad staircase to a
private room above.

"Of course, you have brought the cash, Mr. Hampden?" he said.

He speaks quite faultless English. He walked up three steps to a sort of
raised writing-table in this upstairs room, and I counted out the
money to him. When he sat at the table he faced toward the room, and I
couldn't help thinking that, in his horn-rimmed spectacles, he looked
like some old magistrate. He explained t