ts Oriental splendor.

Priceless rugs covered the floor and walls, while on wonderfully carved
teakwood stands reposed ancient porcelains, specimens of bygone
dynasties, antique arms and armor cunningly wrought, jades and ivories
marvelously fashioned by master craftsmen long since dead. Seen through
the filmy haze of rising incense, the room was a veritable
treasure-house of Oriental art.

On low settees a few richly clad Chinese were reclining, and in a far
corner, gazing intently into a globe of crystal, sat a man of the same
race as the new-comer, a Madagascan.

Startled at the entrance of the giant, he left off his shadow-gazing and
came hastily forward, cringing as he did so.

The giant, in an impressive, booming voice, now spoke for the first
time.

"I, the Strangler, have come from Madagascar with the Great Torture."

A door opened and Doctor Q entered the room, his head wagging from side
to side.

As he caught sight of the Madagascan he stopped short and put his hand
to his head with a gesture of perplexity, striving piteously to place
the stranger. He could not succeed. With a half-running, half-stumbling
gait he withdrew to a corner of the room and furtively watched the two
Madagascans.

There came the sound of a gong. A panel slid back, and into the room
there majestically swept a Chinaman of pure Mongolian type.

He was gorgeously clad in flowing silks and wore the princely cap with a
button. At a glance his piercing eye took in every detail of the room.
Then he went directly to the Madagascan, whose overbearing air of
assurance immediately forsook him at the Chinaman's approach.

He bowed low and reverently, for it was Long Fang to whom he made
obeisance, Long Fang, leader of a great Tong, and implacable foe to all
others, a Chinese whose tentacles of power reached into every corner of
the underworld, spreading terror.

In an incisive, icy voice that sent a chill through the big man's frame,
he now spoke.

"You have been overlong on your journey and we have been waiting for
you." Then with a menace in his voice he snarled, "It is well for you
that you came at last."

The big man shuddered and remained silent. Long Fang crossed to Doctor
Q.

"The instrument of torture is here," he said. "The Madagascan has just
brought it. He is an unrivaled strangler."

"Let him approach," commanded Doctor Q.

Long Fang beckoned, and the Strangler came forward. His eyes had been
fixed on the Chinese,