IT was with my mind in a condition of unique perplexity that I hurried with Nayland
Smith into the cab which waited and dashed off through the streets in which the busy life
of London just stirred into being. I suppose I need not say that I could penetrate no farther
into this, Fu-Manchu's latest plot, than the drugging of Norris West with hashish? Of his
having been so drugged with Indian hemp--that is, converted temporarily into a maniac--
would have been evident to any medical man who had heard his statement and noted the
distressing after-effects which conclusively pointed to Indian hemp poisoning. Knowing
something of the Chinese doctor's powers, I could understand that he might have
extracted from West the secret of the combination by sheer force of will whilst the
American was under the influence of the drug. But I could not understand how Fu-
Manchu had gained access to locked chambers on the third story of a building.
"Smith," I said, "those bird tracks on the window-sill-- they furnish the key to a mystery
which is puzzling me."
"They do," said Smith, glancing impatiently at his watch. "Consult your memories of Dr.
Fu-Manchu's habits--especially your memories of his pets."
I reviewed in my mind the creatures gruesome and terrible which surrounded the
Chinaman--the scorpions, the bacteria, the noxious things which were the weapons
wherewith he visited death upon whomsoever opposed the establishment of a potential
Yellow Empire. But no one of them could account for the imprints upon the dust of
West's window-sill.
"You puzzle me, Smith," I confessed. "There is much in this extraordinary case that
puzzles me. I can think of nothing to account for the marks."
"Have you thought of Fu-Manchu's marmoset?" asked Smith.
"They were the footprints of a small ape," my friend continued. "For a moment I was
deceived as you were, and believed them to be the tracks of a large bird; but I have seen
the footprints of apes before now, and a marmoset, though an American variety, I believe,
is not unlike some of the apes of Burma."
"I am still in the dark," I said.
"It is pure hypothesis," continued Smith, "but here is the theory-- in lieu of a better one it
covers the facts. The marmoset-- and it is contrary from the character of Fu-Manchu to
keep any creature for mere amusement--is trained to perform certain duties.
