“Have the—­ er—­ enemy made off in a car?” said Mrs. Forbes.

“Yes.  A constable in a taxi is trying to follow them.”

“Well, then, let us finish our luncheon.  I had hardly touched my cutlet.”

“By Jove, Helena, that doctor of ours was decidedly in error,” cried her husband.  “You’re right.  If we’re besieged we must carry ourselves according to the code.  Mrs. Paxton, I hope it won’t disturb you if a shell bursts before coffee is served!”

Theydon glanced through a window before resuming his seat.

“That volley has done things!” he announced.  “London is stirring at last.  There’s a crowd in front of the house, and a short, fat man is explaining the procedure.  Prepare now to receive the press in battalions.”

CHAPTER XVI

 Wherein unexpected allies appear

Although, as shall be seen, the final and complete defeat and extinction of the London section of the Young Manchus were directly due to forces set in motion by Furneaux, it was Winter’s painstaking way of covering the ground that unearthed the fraternity’s meeting place, and thus brought matters to a head speedily.  For the rest, events followed their own course, and great would have been the fame of the prophet who predicted that course accurately.

In later days, when more ample knowledge was available, it was a debatable point whether or not the inmates of No. 11 Fortescue Square were saved from an almost maniacal vengeance by the fact that a crisis was precipitated.  Winter maintained stoutly that the police must triumph in the long run, whereas Furneaux held, with even greater tenacity, that although the gang would undoubtedly be broken up, that much-desired end might have been attained after, and not before, a dire tragedy occurred in the Forbes household.

The pros and cons of the argument were equally numerous and weighty.  They cannot be marshaled here.  Each man and woman who reads this record will probably form an emphatic opinion tending toward the one side or the other.  All that a veracious chronicler can accomplish is to set forth a plain tale of events in their proper sequence, and leave the ultimate verdict to individual judgment.

Winter was a hard-headed, broad-minded official, whose long and wide experience enabled him to estimate at their true value the far-reaching powers of the State as opposed to the machinations of a few determined outlaws.  On the other hand, the amazing facility with which Furneaux could enter into the twists and turns of the criminal mind entitles his matured views to much respect.

At any rate, this is what happened.

Winter was sitting in his office, smoking a fat cigar, and wading through reports brought in by subordinates concerning every opium den and Chinese boarding house in the East End, when Furneaux entered.

“Any luck?” inquired the chief, laying aside one document which seemed to merit fuller inquiry; it described a club much frequented by Chinese residents in London, men of a higher class than the sailors and firemen brought to the port by ships trading with the Far East, and an outstanding feature of the Young Manchus’ operations was the intelligent grasp of the ways and means of modern civilized life these filibusters exhibited.