Vaguely I discerned an incredible figure--like that of a tall cowled monk, towering over me. I struggled to retain consciousness--there was a rush of feet ... the throb of a motor. It stimulated me--that sound! I must get to the telephone and cause the yellow car to be intercepted. I staggered to my feet and groped my way along the hedge to where I had observed a tree by means of which one might climb over. I was dizzy as a drunken man; but I half climbed and half fell on to the lawn. The windows were open. I rushed into the study of Dr. Stuart. Pah! it was full of fumes. I looked around me. _Mon Dieu!_ I staggered. For I knew that in this fume-laden room a thing more horrible and more strange than any within my experience had taken place that night. Part III AT THE HOUSE OF AH-FANG-FU CHAPTER I THE BRAIN-THIEVES The Assistant Commissioner lighted a cigarette. "It would appear, then," he said, "that whilst some minor difficulties have been smoothed away, we remain face to face with the major problem: who is 'The Scorpion' and to what end are his activities directed?" Gaston Max shrugged his shoulders and smiled at Dr. Stuart. "Let us see," he suggested, "what we really know about this 'Scorpion'. Let us make a brief survey of our position in the matter. Let us take first what we have learned of him--if it is a 'him' with whom we have to deal--from the strange experiences of Dr. Stuart. Without attaching too much importance to that episode five years ago on the Wu-Men Bridge; perhaps he is not. We will talk about this one again presently. "We come to the arrival on the scene of Zara el-Khala, also called Mlle. Dorian. She comes because of what _I_ have told to the scarred man from Paris, she comes to obtain that dangerous information which is to be sent to Scotland Yard, she comes, in a word, from 'The Scorpion.' We have two links binding the poor one 'Le Balafre' to 'The Scorpion': (1) his intimacy with Miguel and those others with whom 'Scorpion' communicated by telephone; (2) his possession of the golden ornament which lies there upon the table and which I took from his pocket. What can we gather from the statement made to Dr. Stuart by Mlle. Dorian? Let us study this point for a moment.