ce bore a hunted look. Panic was betoken by twitching
mouth and fear-bright eyes. He stopped, glaring at his father, and:

"Why are you not gone?" asked the latter sternly. "Do you wish to wreck
me as well as yourself?"

"The police have posted a man opposite Kwee's house. I cannot get out
that way."

"There was no one there when the boy was brought in."

"No, but there is now. Father!" He took a step forward. "I'm trapped.
They sha'n't take me. You won't let them take me?"

Zani Chada stirred not a muscle, but:

"To-night," he said, "your mad passion has brought ruin to both of us.
For the sake of a golden doll who is not worth the price of the jewels
she wears, you have placed yourself within reach of the hangman."

"I was mad, I was mad," groaned the other.

"But I, who was sane, am involved in the consequences," retorted his
father.

"He will be silent at the price of the boy's life."

"He may be," returned Zani Chada. "I hate him, but he is a man. Had you
escaped, he might have consented to be silent. Once you are arrested,
nothing would silence him."

"If the case is tried it will ruin Pat's reputation."

"What a pity!" said Zani Chada.

In some distant part of the house a gong was struck three times.

"Go," commanded his father. "Remain at Kwee's house until I send for
you. Let Ah Fang go to the room above and see that the woman is silent.
An outcry would ruin our last chance."

Lou Chada raised his hands, brushing the hair back from his wet
forehead, then, staring haggardly at his father, turned and ran from the
room.

A minute later Kerry was ushered in by the Chinese servant. The savage
face was set like a mask. Without removing his hat, he strode across
to the table and bent down so that fierce, wide-open blue eyes stared
closely into long, half-closed black ones.

"I've got one thing to say," explained Kerry huskily. "Whatever the
hangman may do to your slimy son, and whatever happens to the little
blonde fool he kidnapped, if you've laid a hand on my kid I'll kick you
to death, if I follow you round the world to do it."

Zani Chada made no reply, but his knuckles gleamed, so tightly did he
clutch the knobs on the chair arms. Kerry's savagery would have awed
any man, even though he had supposed it to be the idle threat of a
passionate man. But Zani Chada knew all men, and he knew this one. When
Daniel Kerry declared that in given circumstances he would kick Zani
Chada to death, he did