"I got up abruptly and began to pace the floor. The damnable affair had made me sick at heart, and a little sick at the stomach. What to think?—what to believe? It seemed incredible, fantastic; there must be some mistake.... While I was pacing, Lee Fu changed his position. He faced the desk, stretched out an arm, and put his palm flat down on the polished surface. "’Thus the gods have struck’ said he, in that changeless voice that seemed an echo of the ages ’There is blood at last, Captain—twenty-seven lives, and among them one dear to us—enough to convince even one of your race that a crime has been committed. But my analysis was seriously in error. The criminal, it seems, is destined not to suffer. He continues to go about carried by three men in white and crimson livery, his belly full of food and wine. Others have paid the price. Instead of toppling, his life spins on with renewed momentum. My query has been answered; he has escaped the gods’ "’Can’t you rip the case open, jostle his security? Isn’t there some way...?’ "’No way’ said Lee Fu with a shake of the head ’You forget the fine principle of extraterritoriality, which you have so kindly imposed on us by force of arms. Captain Wilbur is not subject to Chinese justice; your own courts have exclusive jurisdiction over him, his kind, and all their works. No, Captain, he is amply protected. What could I accomplish in your courts with this fanciful accusation, and for witnesses a coolie and a sampan-man?’ "I continued to pace the floor, thinking dark thoughts. There was a way, of course ... between man and man; but such things aren’t done any longer by civilized people. We’re supposed not to go about with firearms, privately meting out justice. We are domesticated. Whatever the thoughts I might have harboured, in the first anger of the realization of wrong, I knew very well that I shouldn’t act on them. Lee Fu was right, there was nothing to be done; the man had made good his escape from the hand of destiny. "Pacing rapidly, as if pursued by a veritable phantom of crime, and oblivious of everything but the four walls of the room, I nearly floored the chief clerk, Sing Toy, as he pattered in with a message from the outer office. He ducked, slipped behind the lamp, and began whispering in Lee Fu’s ear. "’_Ah!_’ exclaimed Lee Fu sharply.