“Never mind the dacoit, Petrie,” he said.  “Nemesis will know where to find him.  We know now what causes the mark of the Zayat Kiss.  Therefore science is richer for our first brush with the enemy, and the enemy is poorer—­unless he has any more unclassified centipedes.  I understand now something that has been puzzling me since I heard of it—­ Sir Crichton’s stifled cry.  When we remember that he was almost past speech, it is reasonable to suppose that his cry was not `The red hand!’ but `The red ant!’ Petrie, to think that I failed, by less than an hour, to save him from such an end!”

CHAPTER IV

“The body of a lascar, dressed in the manner usual on the P. & O. boats, was recovered from the Thames off Tilbury by the river police at six A.M. this morning.  It is supposed that the man met with an accident in leaving his ship.”

Nayland Smith passed me the evening paper and pointed to the above paragraph.

“For `lascar’ read `dacoit,’” he said.  “Our visitor, who came by way of the ivy, fortunately for us, failed to follow his instructions.  Also, he lost the centipede and left a clew behind him.  Dr. Fu-Manchu does not overlook such lapses.”

It was a sidelight upon the character of the awful being with whom we had to deal.  My very soul recoiled from bare consideration of the fate that would be ours if ever we fell into his hands.

The telephone bell rang.  I went out and found that Inspector Weymouth of New Scotland Yard had called us up.

“Will Mr. Nayland Smith please come to the Wapping River Police Station at once,” was the message.

Peaceful interludes were few enough throughout that wild pursuit.

“It is certainly something important,” said my friend; “and, if Fu-Manchu is at the bottom of it—­as we must presume him to be—­ probably something ghastly.”

A brief survey of the time-tables showed us that there were no trains to serve our haste.  We accordingly chartered a cab and proceeded east.

Smith, throughout the journey, talked entertainingly about his work in Burma.  Of intent, I think, he avoided any reference to the circumstances which first had brought him in contact with the sinister genius of the Yellow Movement.  His talk was rather of the sunshine of the East than of its shadows.

But the drive concluded—­and all too soon.  In a silence which neither of us seemed disposed to break, we entered the police depot, and followed an officer who received us into the room where Weymouth waited.

The inspector greeted us briefly, nodding toward the table.

“Poor Cadby, the most promising lad at the Yard,” he said; and his usually gruff voice had softened strangely.

Smith struck his right fist into the palm of his left hand and swore under his breath, striding up and down the neat little room.  No one spoke for a moment, and in the silence I could hear the whispering of the Thames outside—­of the Thames which had so many strange secrets to tell, and now was burdened with another.