Daughter of Fu Manchu by Sax Rohmer

Author:Sax Rohmer [Rohmer, Sax]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Published: 2011-11-28T05:03:35+00:00

Chapter Eighth

SWAZI PASHA ARRIVES

Perhaps the presence of blue-uniformed and helmeted constables in a measure prepared me. But, looking back, I realized that this anomalous intrusion upon the oasis did not register a hundred per cent of its true force at the time.

I was weak in a degree which I simply couldn't believe or accept. The idea of mirage remained. When they carried me through a queer room adjoining that in which I had suffered--a room where something lay covered by a piece of ornate tapestry torn from the wall--I was still no more than half alive to facts.

That the house of the Sheikh Ismail had been raided in the nick of time was clear enough. What had become of Petrie I failed to imagine, nor could I account for the presence of London policemen. Also, I was dreadfully concerned about Nayland Smith.

Weymouth's appearance--he wore dinner kit--also intrigued me. But I remembered that at least two days had elapsed; and in some way, I supposed wearily, this hiatus must explain these seeming discrepancies.

Then we reached the outside of the house. A big grey car stood before the door. There was a crowd. I saw several constables.

I saw the street....

I saw a long, neglected wall. From a doorway in this wall I had been carried out to the car. Adjoining was a row of drab two- storied houses. Similar houses faced them from across the narrow way. Some of the doors were open and in the dim light shining out groups were gathered.

They were Chinese--some of them. Others were nondescript. The crowd about the car, kept in check by two constables, was made up of typical East End London elements!

I was placed comfortably on the cushions. A man whom I suddenly recognized as Fletcher seated himself in front with the chauffeur. Weymouth got in beside me. The car moved off.

"You're all at sea!" he said, and rested his hand reassuringly on my arm. "Don't think too much about it yet. I'm going to take you to Dr. Petrie's hotel. Hell get you on your feet again. "

"But... where am I? "

"You're in Limehouse at the moment. "

"What!"

"Keep cool! You didn't know? Well, it is so. "

"But two days back, I was in Egypt!"

As the car swung into a wide, populous thoroughfare--West India Dock Road, I learned later--Weymouth turned to me. His expression, blank at first, gradually changed, and then:

"Good heavens, Greville," he said, "I'm just beginning to understand! "

"I wish I could! "

"Brace yourself up--because it's going to be a shock; although the facts must have prepared you for it. You said, which you can see now is impossible, that you were in Egypt two days back.... Can you stand the truth? You left Egypt a month ago!"

2

A week elapsed. Petrie's treatment worked wonders. And a day came when, looking down from a hotel sitting-room on the busy life ofPiccadilly, I realized that the raw edges of the thing had worn off.

I had lost a month out of my life. I had

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.