the other room, "for
he died in my stead!--and Dr. Fu-Manchu scores an undeserved failure!"

CHAPTER XV

ZARMI REAPPEARS

"Come in!" I cried.

The door opened and a page-boy entered.

"A cable for Dr. Petrie."

I started up from my chair. A thousand possibilities--some of a sort
to bring dread to my heart--instantly occurred to me. I tore open the
envelope and, as one does, glanced first at the name of the sender.

It was signed "Karamaneh!"

"Smith!" I said hoarsely, glancing over the massage, "Karamaneh is on
her way to England. She arrives by the _Nicobar_ to-morrow!"

"Eh?" cried Nayland Smith, in turn leaping to his feet. "She had no
right to come alone, unless----"

The boy, open-mouthed, was listening to our conversation, and I
hastily thrust a coin into his hand and dismissed him. As the door
closed--

"Unless what, Smith?" I said, looking my friend squarely in the eyes.

"Unless she has learnt something, or--is flying away from some one!"

My mind set in a whirl of hopes and fears, longings and dreads.

"What do you mean, Smith?" I asked. "This is the place of danger, as
we know to our cost; she was safe in Egypt."

Nayland Smith commenced one of his restless perambulations, glancing
at me from time to time and frequently tugging at the lobe of his ear.

"_Was_ she safe in Egypt?" he rapped. "We are dealing, remember, with
the Si-Fan, which, if I am not mistaken, is a sort of Eleusinian
Mystery holding some kind of dominion over the eastern mind, and
boasting initiates throughout the Orient. It is almost certain that
there is an Egyptian branch, or group--call it what you will--of the
damnable organization."

"But Dr. Fu-Manchu----"

"Dr. Fu-Manchu--for he lives, Petrie! my own eyes bear witness to the
fact--Dr. Fu-Manchu is a sort of delegate from the headquarters. His
prodigious genius will readily enable him to keep in touch with every
branch of the movement, East and West."

He paused to knock out his pipe into an ashtray and to watch me for
some moments in silence.

"He may have instructed his Cairo agents," he added significantly.

"God grant she get to England in safety," I whispered. "Smith! can we
make no move to round up the devils who defy us, here in the very
heart of civilized England? Listen. You will not have forgotten the
wild-cat Eurasian Zarmi?"

Smith nodded. "I recall the lady perfectly!" he snapped.

"Unless my imagination has been playing me tricks, I ha