Daughter of Fu-Manchu Read Online Free PDF Page A

looked suddenly grave; and then:
    “Perhaps, Mr. Greville,” he said, “you would ask Forester to come in?”
    I opened the door and walked out in the dense shadow of the wâdi. A new atmosphere invested it, an atmosphere to which, even mentally, I didn’t like to give a name, but which nevertheless was an atmosphere of terror.
    What was the meaning of the disappearance of Sir Lionel’s body? Whom could it benefit? Most damnable mystery of all—what was the information clearly shared by Weymouth and Petrie which they were suppressing?
    So my thoughts ran as I walked through the shadows. The moon was out of sight from the wâdi but the stars were wonderful. And suddenly the natural law of things had its way. I began to think of Rima, to the exclusion of everything else. Her empty tent—the tent which she occupied when she spent the night in camp—was on the slope directly ahead. Moonlight touched it at one point, but the front was in shadow.
    “If I am in the way,” I seemed to hear her voice saying again, “I can go—”
    If she was in the way! What had she meant? I had had no chance to find out. She had gone. Undoubtedly she was labouring under some strange delusion. But where was she—and did she know what had happened?
    I was abreast of her tent, now, and something—an empty longing, no doubt—prompted me to peep inside. As I did so, an incredible thing happened—or, rather, two incredible things.
    The mournful howling of a dog arose, apparently quite close to the camp. And in the darkness of the tent something stirred!
    I suppressed a cry, bent forward with outstretched arms… and found a slim soft body in my embrace.
    Even then, I couldn’t believe what was true, couldn’t appreciate the nature of my capture, until:
    “Shan! Shan!” came a stifled cry. “You’re hurting me dreadfully!”
    “Rima!” I exclaimed—and wondered if my heart or hers throbbed the more wildly.
    I said not another word. Stooping, I kissed her with a desperation which probably sprang from a submerged fear that she would never give me an opportunity of kissing her again.
    But, thank heaven, that doubt was groundless. She threw her arms around my neck, as the mournful howling died away, and:
    “Shan,” she said, “I’m terrified, Shan dear!”
    But her kisses had given me the right to console her, and when we presently reverted to sanity:
    “When did you arrive, darling?” I asked.
    “I came back with Ali. He told me—everything about it. So, of course, I had to come.”
    “But what made you go?”
    She nestled her adorable little tousled head against me.
    “I won’t be scolded,” she said—“although I am to blame! No, please, Shan. I truly meant what I said. I did really think I was in the way.”
    “In whose way?”
    “If you talk to me like that I won’t answer. Besides, there isn’t time now. I should have come back tonight even if I had had to come alone. I have something most extraordinary to tell you…”
    But now came the sound of voices.
    “I tell you it wasn’t a dog,” I heard Forester say.
    “It wasn’t either!” Rima whispered. “But you must go, Shan. I’m all right, now. Who is in the big hut?”
    “Dr. Petrie and Superintendent Weymouth—”
    “They were old friends… weren’t they—”
    “Yes, darling. Don’t despair. It sounds absurd to say so, but they have a theory that the chief—”
    “Please tell me.”
    “It’s hardly fair, Rima. I don’t believe it, myself. But they think he may be alive!”
    She clung to me very tightly, and then:
    “But I think so, too!” she whispered.
    “Do you know, Greville,” said Forester. “I never liked this job. Lafleur’s Tomb has a bad name.”
    We were walking back to the hut.
    “What do you mean?”
    “Well, you know as much as I do. Nobody has tackled it since Lafleur’s time. But old Zeitland was planning to come out.”
    “He died recently in London.”
    “I know! And what about the Frenchman—”
    “Do you mean