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wrinkled smile. “It is improbable since even I did not know of your arrival in China until you stood at my door.”
    Fu-Manchu remained as motionless as a statue. “He has courage. It was he, or a professional thief in his employ, who stole the register. While he is your guest he knows he is safe. We dare not make the attempt. But he will obey his orders and be here tomorrow. We cannot be sure that he has the register in his possession, but whether he has the register or is to meet the man who stole it, he is far too dangerous an enemy to be permitted to return to Moscow. For it is to the Kremlin he would report such a triumph, not to Peiping. André Skobolov must never reach Russia.”

CHAPTER FIVE

    Y ueh Hua broke a long silence when she looked at Tony and asked, “Were you educated in Hong Kong, Chi Foh?”
    “Yes. Why?”
    “I knew you had more education than most fishermen. You are so kind to me.”
    “Aren’t most fishermen kind?”
    “Not the way you are.”
    Yes, he was hamming the part. He had shown her his small stock of un-Chinese provisions and told her that his father, the storekeeper, who knew he had acquired a taste for foreign delicacies, had packed a case for him when he left Hong Kong. She had laughed happily, clapped her hands. But he wondered if she had believed him. Except for the lime juice and the fresh fruit, she seemed to prefer the national monotonous rice. But she went for the cigarettes. All the same, Yueh Hua’s keen feminine instincts might have detected some chink in the façade. He decided to shift the focus of interest.
    “Yueh Hua, there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you.” She lay very still. “Why are you so afraid of the tall man who wears a long cloak, the man they call ‘Most High’? Has he ever done you any harm?” Yueh Hua was so long in replying that he turned and looked at her.
    “Shall I tell you, Chi Foh?” she asked softly.
    “Of course. I want to know.”
    And as she stared up again at the broken roof of the mat-shed, he knew that she had been trying to make up her mind how far she could trust him, and that she had failed to reach a decision. He was sure that whatever she told him now wouldn’t be the truth.
    “Very well.” She seemed to be thinking hard. “When I came away from the house where I thought I should find my sister, it was dark. I didn’t know what to do or where to go. I had no money. I was afraid to speak to anyone. And there were soldiers in the streets. I was hiding from two of them in the shadow of a big gateway, when the gate was opened.”
    She stared fixedly up at the tattered palm roof.
    “A tall man came out. He wore a uniform—an officer. Four men came out behind him. One was a black man, very big. He carried a lantern. The light shone on the officer’s face and on his eyes, which were like pieces of green jade. You saw him in the boat. His eyes are like that.”
    “Yes, I suppose they are.”
    “I knew he could see me from where I was trying to hide. I turned to run. But I was too late. He called me back. You have heard his voice. No one would ever think of disobeying him. He was very gentle when he asked me some questions, but I was shaking so much I could hardly stand. He told me to wait inside the courtyard until he returned.”
    “And did you wait, Yueh Hua?”
    “No. When the porter had locked the gate and gone inside the house I sat down on a bench and tried to think what to do. There was an old plum tree growing on one of the walls. It had very strong branches. I climbed up. Then I let myself drop on the other side. I tried twice to steal out of the town. But there were soldiers at both gates. Then I thought I would go down to the river and take a boat or try to swim across. Right at the end of the canal I found your sampan.”
    Tony considered this story with some care. It had at least one merit. It could be true. Yet he felt almost certain it wasn’t.
    “So you see,” Yueh Hua said, “why I am afraid