Read The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu for Free Online Page B

theatrical business there
was, to my mind, something ridiculous-almost childish-and I could
have laughed heartily had it not been that grim tragedy lurked so
near to farce.
    The mere recollection that somewhere at our journey's end
Fu-Manchu awaited us was sufficient to sober my
reflections-Fu-Manchu, who, with all the powers represented by
Nayland Smith pitted against him, pursued his dark schemes
triumphantly, and lurked in hiding within this very area which was
so sedulously patrolled-Fu-Manchu, whom I had never seen, but whose
name stood for horrors indefinable! Perhaps I was destined to meet
the terrible Chinese doctor to-night.
    I ceased to pursue a train of thought which promised to lead to
morbid depths, and directed my attention to what Smith was
saying.
    "We will drop down from Wapping and reconnoiter, as you say the
place is close to the riverside. Then you can put us ashore
somewhere below. Ryman can keep the launch close to the back of the
premises, and your fellows will be hanging about near the front,
near enough to hear the whistle."
    "Yes," assented Weymouth; "I've arranged for that. If you are
suspected, you shall give the alarm?"
    "I don't know," said Smith thoughtfully. "Even in that event I
might wait awhile."
    "Don't wait too long," advised the Inspector. "We shouldn't be
much wiser if your next appearance was on the end of a grapnel,
somewhere down Greenwich Reach, with half your fingers
missing."
    The cab pulled up outside the river police depot, and Smith and
I entered without delay, four shabby-looking fellows who had been
seated in the office springing up to salute the Inspector, who
followed us in.
    "Guthrie and Lisle," he said briskly, "get along and find a dark
corner which commands the door of Singapore Charlie's off the old
Highway. You look the dirtiest of the troupe, Guthrie; you might
drop asleep on the pavement, and Lisle can argue with you about
getting home. Don't move till you hear the whistle inside or have
my orders, and note everybody that goes in and comes out. You other
two belong to this division?"
    The C.I.D. men having departed, the remaining pair saluted
again.
    "Well, you're on special duty to-night. You've been prompt, but
don't stick your chests out so much. Do you know of a back way to
Shen-Yan's?"
    The men looked at one another, and both shook their heads.
    "There's an empty shop nearly opposite, sir," replied one of
them. "I know a broken window at the back where we could climb in.
Then we could get through to the front and watch from there."
    "Good!" cried the Inspector. "See you are not spotted, though;
and if you hear the whistle, don't mind doing a bit of damage, but
be inside Shen-Yan's like lightning. Otherwise, wait for
orders."
    Inspector Ryman came in, glancing at the clock.
    "Launch is waiting," he said.
    "Right," replied Smith thoughtfully. "I am half afraid, though,
that the recent alarms may have scared our quarry-your man, Mason,
and then Cadby. Against which we have that, so far as he is likely
to know, there has been no clew pointing to this opium den.
Remember, he thinks Cadby's notes are destroyed."
    "The whole business is an utter mystery to me," confessed Ryman.
"I'm told that there's some dangerous Chinese devil hiding
somewhere in London, and that you expect to find him at Shen-Yan's.
Supposing he uses that place, which is possible, how do you know
he's there to-night?"
    "I don't," said Smith; "but it is the first clew we have had
pointing to one of his haunts, and time means precious lives where
Dr. Fu-Manchu is concerned."
    "Who is he, sir, exactly, this Dr. Fu-Manchu?"
    "I have only the vaguest idea, Inspector; but he is no ordinary
criminal. He is the greatest genius which the powers of evil have
put on earth for centuries. He has the backing of a political group
whose wealth is enormous, and his mission in Europe is to PAVE THE
WAY! Do you follow me? He is the advance-agent of a movement so
epoch-making that not one Britisher, and not one