Crossing to a glass case which rested upon a table near the _diwan_
he struck it lightly with his hand. The case contained sand and
fragments of rock, but as Fo-Hi struck it, out from beneath the pieces
of rock darted black active creatures.
"The common black scorpion of Southern India," he said softly. "Its
venom is the basis of the priceless formula, _F. Katalepsis,_ upon
which the structure of our Sublime Order rests, Dr. Stuart; hence the
adoption of a scorpion as our device."
He took up a long slender flask.
"This virus prepared from a glandular secretion of the Chinese
swamp-adder is also beyond price. Again-the case upon the pedestal
yonder contains five perfect bulbs, three already in flower, as you
observe, of an orchid discovered by our chief chemist in certain
forests of Burma. It only occurs at extremely rare intervals--eighty
years or more--and under highly special conditions. If the other two
bulbs flower, I shall be enabled to obtain from the blooms a minimum
quantity of an essential oil for which the nations of the earth, if
they knew its properties, would gladly empty their treasuries. This
case must at all costs accompany me."
"Yet because you are still in England," said Stuart huskily, "I
venture to hope that your devil dreams may end on the scaffold."
"That can never be, Dr. Stuart," returned Fo-Hi placidly. "The
scaffold is not for such as I. Moreover, it is a crude and barbaric
institution which I deplore.
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