"
Placidly, slowly, and unmoved from his habit of unruffled dignity,
Fo-Hi placed the model in a deep mortar, whilst Stuart watched him
speechless and aghast. He poured the contents of a large pan into the
mortar, whereupon a loud hissing sound broke the awesome silence of
the room and a cloud of fumes arose.
"Not a trace, doctor!" said the cowled man. "A little preparation of
my own. It destroys the hardest known substance--with the solitary
exception of a certain clay--in the same way that nitric acid would
destroy tissue paper. You see I might have aspired to become famous
among safe-breakers."
"You have preferred to become infamous among murderers!" snapped
Stuart.
"To murder, Dr. Stuart, I have never stooped. I am a specialist in
selective warfare. When you visit the laboratory of our chief chemist
in Kiangsu you will be shown the whole of the armory of the Sublime
Order. I regret that the activities of your zealous and painfully
inquisitive friend, M. Gaston Max, have forced me to depart from
England before I had completed my work here."
"I pray you may never depart," murmured Stuart.
Fo-Hi having added some bright green fluid to that in the flat pan,
had now poured the whole into a large test-tube, and was holding it
in the flame of the burner. At the moment that it reached the boiling
point it became colourless. He carefully placed the whole of the
liquid in a retort to which he attached a condensor. He stood up.
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