Stuart, to my brilliant
predecessor). They were buried alive; but no surgeon in Europe or
America would have hesitated to certify them dead. Aided by a group
of six Hindu fanatics, trained as _Lughais_ (grave-diggers), it was
easy to gain access to their resting-places. One had the misfortune to
be cremated by his family--a great loss to my Council. But the others
are now in China, at our headquarters. They are labouring day and
night to bring this war-scarred world under the sceptre of an Eastern
Emperor."
"Faugh!" cried Stuart. "The whole of that war-scarred world will stand
armed before you!"
"We realise that, doctor; therefore we are prepared for it. We spoke
of the Norwegian Henrick Ericksen. This is his most recent
contribution to our armament."
Fo-Hi rested on long yellow hand upon a kind of model searchlight.
"I nearly committed the clumsy indiscretion of removing you with this
little instrument," he said. "You recall the episode? Ericksen's
Disintegrating Ray, Dr. Stuart. The model, here, possesses a limited
range, of course, but the actual instrument has a compass of seven and
a half miles. It can readily be carried by a heavy plane! One such
plane in a flight from Suez to Port Said, could destroy all the
shipping in the Canal and explode every grain of ammunition on either
shore! Since I must leave England to-night, the model must be
destroyed, and unfortunately a good collection of bacilli has already
suffered the same fate.
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