You may be the Gray Dragon for all of me. No
one in Len Yang sees him. No one dares! It is death to see that man!
Didn't I try? But only once!"

"You did try?"

"That was enough. I got as far as the first step of the ivory palace.
Some one clubbed me! I was sick. I thought I was going to die! There
is a scar on my neck. It never seems to heal!"

The senile whine trailed off into a thin, abusive whimper. His bony
jaws moved slowly and meditatively. He went on:

"He is crazy, too. Women! Beautiful women for the mines!
Men--men--men everywhere know the price he will pay. In pure silver!"

"He pays well, my son?"

"A thousand taels, if he is satisfied. That is where this hole got its
name. You know the name--the City of Stolen Lives? It should be the
City of Lost Hope. For none ever leave. The mines swallow them up.
What becomes of them?"

"Ah! What does become of the stolen lives?"

The sunken eyes stared playfully at him. "What is a thousand taels to
him? He is rich, I tell you! They say his cellar is filled with
gold--pure gold; that his rooms and halls run and drip with gold, just
as his rat-eaters run and drip with the cinnabar poison. And the
wireless--he has stations, and this is the best. Mine is the best. I
see to that, let me tell you!"

"To be sure!"

"These hunters, these men who know his price for beautiful women--he
will have none other--and who are paid a thousand taels----"

"Where did you say these stations are?"

"In all parts. There is a station in Afghanistan, between Kabul and
Jalalabad, and one in Bengal, in the Khasi Hills, and another in
northern Szechwan Province, and one in Siam, on the Bang Pakong
River----"

"A station on the Bang Pakong?"

"Yes, I tell you. All over. These hunters find a woman, a lovely
girl; and they must describe their prize in a few words. He is sly!
The fewer the better. If the words appeal to him, he has me tell them
to come. Lucky devils! A thousand taels to the lucky devils! Some
day I myself may become a hunter."

"It is tempting," agreed Peter. "But why does he want beautiful young
girls for his mine, my son?"

Harrison ignored the question.

"To-night I will listen. You can watch me. Then you can see how
simple it is. It is time."

Peter was aware that the door had opened and closed behind his back,
and now he heard the faint scraping of a sandaled foot, heavy with the
red slime. A Chinese, in the severe