"Prior to shipping him to China; I think so. His clearing-house is probably on the Thames." "A boat?" "A yacht, presumably, is lying off the coast in readiness. Fu-Manchu may even have designed to ship him direct to China." Lord Southery, a bizarre figure, my traveling coat wrapped about him, and supported by his solicitor, who was almost as pale as himself, emerged from the vault into the moonlight. "This is a triumph for you, Smith," I said. The throb of Fu-Manchu's car died into faintness and was lost in the night's silence. "Only half a triumph," he replied. "But we still have another chance--the raid on his house. When will the word come from Karamaneh?" Southery spoke in a weak voice. "Gentlemen," he said, "it seems I am raised from the dead." It was the weirdest moment of the night wherein we heard that newly buried man speak from the mold of his tomb. "Yes," replied Smith slowly, "and spared from the fate of Heaven alone knows how many men of genius. The yellow society lacks a Southery, but that Dr. Fu-Manchu was in Germany three years ago I have reason to believe; so that, even without visiting the grave of your great Teutonic rival, who suddenly died at about that time, I venture to predict that they have a Von Homber. And the futurist group in China knows how to MAKE men work!" CHAPTER XXIV FROM the rescue of Lord Southery my story bears me mercilessly on to other things. I may not tarry, as more leisurely penmen, to round my incidents; they were not of my choosing. I may not pause to make you better acquainted with the figure of my drama; its scheme is none of mine. Often enough, in those days, I found a fitness in the lines of Omar: We are no other than a moving show Of Magic Shadow-shapes that come and go Round with the Sun-illumined Lantern held In Midnight by the Master of the Show. But "the Master of the Show," in this case, was Dr. Fu-Manchu! I have been asked many times since the days with which these records deal: Who WAS Dr. Fu-Manchu? Let me confess here that my final answer must be postponed. I can only indicate, at this place, the trend of my reasoning, and leave my reader to form whatever conclusion he pleases. What group can we isolate and label as responsible for the overthrow of the Manchus? The casual student of modern Chinese history will reply: "Young China." This is unsatisfactory. What do we mean by Young China? In my own hearing Fu-Manchu had disclaimed, with scorn, association with the whole of that movement; and assuming that the name were not an assumed one, he clearly can have been no anti-Manchu, no Republican.