Sax Rohmer

“ But that guttural note had not come from the throat of a dog. Of what was he in pursuit?
At which point his mysterious quarry entered the shrubbery I do not know. I only know that I saw absolutely nothing until Cæsar's lithe shape was streaked across the lawn, and the great creature went crashing into the undergrowth.
Then a faint sound above and to my right told me that I was not the only spectator of the scene. I leaned farther from the window.
"Is that you, Miss Eltham?" I asked.
"Oh! Dr. Petrie!" she said. "I am so glad you are awake! Can we do nothing to help? Cæsar will be killed!" ”

“ For from the edge of the shrubbery a shot sounded, and in the flash we saw Denby with the weapon raised.
"Greba! go in and fasten the windows!" cried Eltham. "Mr. Smith! will you enter the bushes from the West! Dr. Petrie! East! Edwards! Edwards!"—and he was off across the lawn with the nervous activity of a cat. ”

“ Fu-Manchu. It was upon us before we realized it. There is no incidental music to the dramas of real life.
As we sat on the little terrace in the creeping twilight, I remember thinking how the peace of the scene gave the lie to my fears that we bordered upon tragic things. Then Cæsar, who had been a docile patient all day, began howling again, and I saw Greba Eltham shudder.
I caught Smith's eye and was about to propose our retirement indoors, when the party was broken up in a more turbulent fashion. ”

“ By the lawn edge we came upon Denby, half dressed, and almost immediately Edwards the gardener also appeared. The white faces of the house servants showed at one window and Miss Eltham called to me from her room:
"Is he dead?"
"No," I replied, "only stunned."
WE carried the dog round to the yard, and I examined his head. It had been struck by some heavy, blunt instrument, but the skull was not broken. It is hard to kill a mastiff.
"Will you attend to him, doctor?" asked Eltham. "We must see that the villain does not escape!" ”

“ She was not of the neurotic type, with her clear complexion and sun-kissed neck: her arms, healthily toned by exposure to the country airs, were rounded and firm, and she had the agile shape of a young Diana, with none of the anemic languor which breeds morbid dreams. She was frightened—yes; who would not have been? But the mere idea of this thing which she believed to be in Redmoat, without the apparition of the green eyes, must have prostrated a victim of "nerves."
"Have you seen such a creature. Miss Eltham?" ”

“ As we passed downstairs, the howling of the mastiff and the clank! clank! of the tightening chain as he threw the weight of his big body upon it sounded eerily through the house.
I SAT in Smith's room that night for some time, he pacing the floor, smoking and talking.
"Eltham has influential Chinese friends," he said, "but they dare not have him in Nan-Yang at present. He knows the country as he knows Norfolk; he would see things!
"His precautions here have baffled the enemy, I think! The attempt in the train points to an anxiety to waste no opportunity. ”

“ Eltham's voice called from below.
"Dr. Petrie," said the girl quickly, "what do you think they want to do to him?"
"Ah!" I replied, "I wish I knew that!"
"Will you think over what I have told you? For I do assure you there is something here in Redmoat—something that comes and goes in spite of father's 'fortifications'! Cæsar knows there is! Listen to him! He drags at his chain so that I wonder he does not break it!" ”

“ And in his rage he broke loose."
"I think so too," agreed Smith. "But why did this person make for here? And how, having mastered the dog, get out of Redmoat? I am open to the possibility of some one's getting in during the day while the gates are open and hiding until dusk. But how in the name of all that's wonderful does he get out? He must possess the attributes of a bird!"
I thought of Greba Eltham's statements, reminding my friend of her description of the thing which she had seen passing into this strangely haunted shrubbery. ”

“ There is no incidental music to the dramas of real life. ”

“ Smith."
"No, sir! China to-day is not the China of '98. It is a huge secret machine, and Ho-Nan one of its most important wheels! But if. as I understand, this official is a friend of yours, believe me he has saved your life! You would be a dead man now if it were not for your friend in China! My dear sir, you must accept his counsel."
Then, for the first time since I had made his acquaintance. "Parson Dan" showed through the surface of the Rev. J. D. Eltham.
"No, sir!" replied the clergyman—and the change in his voice was startling—"I am called to Nan-Yang. Only One may deter my going!" ”

“ It must do harm. Your experience in 1900 should be fresh in your memory!"
"Hard words, Mr. Smith!"
"The class of missionary work which you favor, sir, is injurious to international peace. At the present moment. Ho-Nan is a barrel of gunpowder: you would be the lighted match. I do not willingly stand between any man and what he chooses to consider his duty—but I insist that you abandon your visit to the interior of China!"
"You insist, Mr. Smith?"
"As your guest I regret the necessity of reminding you that I hold authority to enforce it!'
DENBY fidgeted uneasily. ”

“ There was nothing, so I said it was the howling of the dog that had frightened me!"
"How could anyone get into his room?"
"I cannot imagine. But I am not sure it was a man!"
"Miss Eltham, you alarm me. What do you suspect?"
"You must think me hysterical and silly—but while father and I have been away from Redmoat perhaps the usual precautions have been neglected. Is there any creature—any large creature—which could climb up the wall to the window? Do you know of anything with a long, thin body?" ”

“ But the dead dog in the shrubbery is significant!"
"Do you think some emissary of Fu-Manchu's is actually inside Redmoat?"
"It's impossible, Petrie! You are thinking of secret passages and so forth? There are none. Eltham has measured up every foot of the place. There isn't a rat bole left unaccounted for; and as for a tunnel under the moat—the house stands on a solid mass of Roman masonry, a former camp of Hadrian's time. I have seen a very old plan of the Round Moat Priory, as it was called. There is no entrance and no exit save by the steps. So how was the dog killed?" ”

“ It became more and more incomprehensible how anyone could have entered and quitted Redmoat during the night. The barbed-wire fencing was intact and bore no signs of having been tampered with.
Smith and I undertook an exhaustive examination of the shrubbery.
At the spot where we had found the dog, some five paces to the west of the copper beech, the grass and weeds were trampled and the surrounding laurels and rhododendrons bore evidence of a struggle—but no human footprint could be found.
"The ground is dry," said Smith. "We cannot expect much." ”

“ A series of attempted burglaries, or something of the kind, has alarmed your household. Yesterday, returning here from London with your daughter, you were both drugged in some way, and, occupying a compartment to yourselves, you both slept. ”

“ Father thinks"—she was becoming charmingly confidential, as a woman often will with a tactful physician—"that shut up here we are safe from whatever threatens us." I noted with concern a repetition of the nervous shudder. "But since our return some one else has been in Redmoat!"
"Whatever do you mean, Miss Eltham?"
"Oh! I don't quite know what I do mean. Dr. Petrie! What does it all mean? Vernon has been explaining to me that some awful Chinaman is seeking the life of Mr. Nayland Smith. But if the same man wants to kill my father, why has he not done so?" ”