t now, but it did not come.

"One quality possessed by Mr. Nayland Smith," resumed the Chinaman, "I
admire; I refer to his courage. I would wish that so courageous a man
should seek his own end, should voluntarily efface himself from the
path of that world-movement which he is powerless to check. In short,
I would have him show himself a _samurai_. Always his friend, you
shall remain so to the end, Dr. Petrie. I have arranged for this."

He struck lightly a little silver gong, dependent from the corner of
the table, whereupon, from the curtained doorway, there entered a
short, thickly built Burman whom I recognized for a dacoit. He wore a
shoddy blue suit, which had been made for a much larger man; but these
things claimed little of my attention, which automatically was
directed to the load beneath which the Burman laboured.

Upon his back he carried a sort of wire box rather less than six feet
long, some two feet high, and about two feet wide. In short, it was a
stout framework covered with fine wire-netting on the tops, sides and
ends, but open at the bottom. It seemed to be made in five sections,
or to contain four sliding partitions which could be raised or lowered
at will. These were of wood, and in the bottom of each was cut a
little arch. The arches in the four partitions varied in size, so that
whereas the first was not more than five inches high, the fourth
opened almost to the wire roof of the box or cage; and a fifth, which
was but little higher than the first, was cut in the actual end of the
contrivance.

So intent was I upon this device, the purpose of which I was wholly
unable to divine, that I directed the whole of my attention upon it.
Then, as the Burman paused in the doorway, resting a corner of the
cage upon the brilliant carpet, I glanced toward Dr. Fu-Manchu. He was
watching Nayland Smith, and revealing his irregular yellow teeth--the
teeth of an opium smoker--in the awful mirthless smile which I knew.

"God!" whispered Smith, "the Six Gates!"

"Your knowledge of my beautiful country serves you well," replied
Fu-Manchu gently.

Instantly I looked to my friend ... and every drop of blood seemed to
recede from my heart, leaving it cold in my breast. If _I_ did not
know the purpose of the cage, obviously Smith knew it all too well.
His pallor had grown more marked, and although his grey eyes stared
defiantly at the Chinaman, I, who knew him, could read a deathly
horror in their depths.

The