As Gregory squirmed upon the bed he knew that his only hope lay in getting rid of the poison he had swallowed. With a great effort he managed to sit up and push his finger down his throat. He was sick on the floor; but that did not relieve the tearing pains in his chest, and his stomach now felt as if it were on fire.
Groaning he fell back again. As he had been sitting sideways on the bed his head came down with a hard thud against the wall of the cabin. What the poison had begun, the blow completed. He lost consciousness of his surroundings, although he still knew himself to be moaning and twisting in agony.
For how long he lay as though in a black pit, submerged under waves of pain, he had no idea. It was the sound of an exclamation which made him open his eyes. He could see again, but tears and sweat running into them partially obscured his vision. As through a mist he saw Wu-ming’s face poised about eighteen inches above his own.
The sight of the Chinaman bending above him jerked his mind back into full consciousness. Gripped by renewed terror of death he stared upward. It flashed upon him that there could be only one explanation for Wu-ming’s presence. He must have come to make sure that his victim was dead, and by taking away the cocktail glass remove the only evidence that he had been murdered. And now, finding that his enemy was still alive, but helpless, surely he would seize the opportunity to finish him off while he had him at his mercy.
Gregory’s immediate impulse was to thrust up his hands, grasp Wu-ming’s arms and, while grappling with him, shout for help; but he managed to check it. His throat was so exhausted from the effects of the poison that in a fight the odds must prove heavily against him. But he could feel some strength ebbing back into his limbs, and fear was making his brain work swiftly.
Frantically he wondered what means the jealousy-crazed Chinaman would use to kill him. It was very unlikely that so sophisticated a man would carry a knife; and, if he were, to use it would be to betray himself as the murderer. The same objection applied to strangulation, for it was certain that the marks on his victim’s throat would be noticed and give away the fact that death had not been caused by a stroke or sudden seizure. Suffocation with a pillow would lead to blackening of the face, so also cast on him immediate suspicion. But there remained the posion. If he could manage to force his victim to swallow even another half mouthful, that would probably do the trick.
These thoughts raced through Gregory’s mind in less than half a minute. During it he had remained absolutely rigid, and although he was not aware of it his staring eyes gave the impression that he was in a fit. Without speaking to him Wu-ming straightened up and turned away.
Gregory felt certain he was about to fetch the poison from the dressing-table. Gathering his strength he swung his legs off the bed and sat up. His head began to swim but, stretching out his hand, he grasped a heavy torch that lay on his bed-side shelf. At that moment the cabin door opened and Foo came in.
The sweat was streaming down Gregory’s face and his mouth sagged open. It was possible that, believing him to be at dinner, Foo had come to tidy the cabin; but his appearance on the scene might have a very different explanation. Gregory’s heart suddenly began to thud with even greater apprehension. It was Foo who had brought him the poisoned cocktail. If his young protégé had been suborned by Wu-ming and was his accomplice the game was up. He might have fought off Wu-ming alone, but in his present state he could not possibly prove a match for the two of them.
Foo’s face showed blank surprise; but that might have been at finding Gregory still alive. On hearing Gregory move Wu-ming swung round and stared at him. His eyes were bloodshot, his face demoniac with pain, strain and fear. Suddenly he found his voice. It came half strangled at first then rose to a shout as he brandished the heavy torch:
‘Stay where you are! I’ll brain the first of you who tries to lay a hand on me!’
The cabin door was still open and his raised voice could have been heard by anyone passing along the deck outside. Wu-ming and Foo exchanged a swift glance of consternation, then the former said, ‘He must have had some form of fit and gone out of his mind.’
‘I’m not out of my mind!’ Gregory cried angrily.
‘Then why do you threaten us?’ Wu-ming asked. ‘It must be that a demon has got into you.’
Gregory glared at him. ‘You know what’s the matter with me, or you wouldn’t be here.’
Wu-ming’s expression remained blank and he shook his head. ‘When you did not come in to dinner, we wondered what had happened to you; and I volunteered to find out. Since you will not let me help you, I will go and tell the others of the strange manner in which you have been afflicted.’
As he turned on his heel and left the cabin, Foo stepped forward again. He looked so genuinely distressed that Gregory now felt doubt of his complicity. It might be that he owed his life to Foo’s timely arrival, as it had occurred well before he had recovered his power to shout for help. Yet it was Foo who had brought him the poison. It was possible that during the past few days Wu-ming had been working secretly upon him, learned his story, and promised to have him put safely ashore when they reached China in return for his unquestioning obedience
Gregory’s previous experience of such matters had taught him that if Foo were guilty, he would be much more likely to give himself away if questioned now than later, when he had had an opportunity to concoct with Wu-ming a series of plausible answers; so he rallied his returning strength for the effort. Beckoning the young man over to him, he said:
‘Give me your hand.’
Under the impression that Gregory wished to be helped to his feet, Foo at once made to obey, but suddenly found his outstretched fingers seized in an unexpected grip by which the backs of his knuckles lay beneath Gregory’s thumb. With a swift motion Gregory jerked Foo’s hand over and forced it down. Giving a squeal of pain he fell to his knees, his head thrown back, his body twisted sideways.
‘Now!’ said Gregory hoarsely. ‘I want the truth; or I’ll send you back to the stoke-hold.’
‘Please, Sir! You’re not yourself,’ Foo gasped. ‘Oh, you’re hurting!’
‘I’ve hardly started yet. I’ll break every bone in your fingers unless you answer me properly. What was in that cocktail you brought me?’
‘White wine and orange juice, with a slice of fresh lime.’
‘What else?’
‘Nothing else. Oh, let me go! No, nothing; I swear!’
‘Where did you mix it?’
‘In the pantry off the upper deck lounge.’
‘Who else was in the pantry at the time?’
‘The second steward and Mr. Kâo Hsüan’s servant, P’ei. He too was mixing a drink for his master.’
‘Who was in the lounge?’
‘The chief engineer, the purser, two officers who were playing chess, and one of the young cadets.’
‘No one else? Think now!’
‘No, Sir. No one.’
‘Did you walk straight through the lounge with the drink and bring it direct to me, or did you for any reason stop on the way?’
‘I stopped once, Sir; but only for a moment.’
‘Where, and why?’
‘At the top of the upper deck companion-way. I almost ran into Mr. Wu-ming Loo there. He was on his knees looking for a little gold toothpick he had dropped. It was already getting dark and he asked me to help him find it before the light failed.’
‘Ah!’ muttered Gregory. ‘And what happened then?’
‘I put my tray down on the deck and helped him to search. We found the toothpick almost at once; or rather he did.’
Gregory released his vice-like grip on Foo’s fingers, let him get up, and said, ‘Thank you. That’s all I wish to know. I don’t think you are in any way to blame for what happened.’
‘You … you mean, Sir, that you won’t send me back to the stoke-hold? That I may continue as your servant?’
‘Yes,’ Gregory nodded, wearily passing a hand over his eyes. The plan to kill him now appeared simplicity itself. Wu-ming need only have noticed that Foo brought him down a cocktail at the same hour every evening, then lain in wait outside the lounge. A servant could not possibly have refused his request to help him look for his toothpick, and in the failing light, while the man’s back was turned, it would have been child’s-play to slip the poison into the drink unobserved by him or anyone else.
Having given joyful expression to his relief at regaining his master’s confidence, Foo slipped over to the dressing-table, picked up the cocktail and, sniffing at it, asked, ‘But why should you think this to have been the cause of your attack? It smells as usual and the glass is still nearly full; so you can have taken only a sip.’
‘Put that down!’ said Gregory sharply. ‘And leave it there. In no circumstances are you to take it away.’
At that moment a babble of voices sounded outside, and on Foo’s opening the door, A-lu-te, Kâo, Captain Ah-moi and the ship’s doctor all crowded into the little cabin.
As they bombarded Gregory with questions and expressions of sympathy, he did some quick thinking. There was no more chance of bringing home to Wu-ming this second attempt at murder than there had been the first; so to accuse him of it could result only in creating an incredibly awkward situation for all concerned. When their clamour had subsided a little, he raised a pale smile, and said:
‘I’m afraid I made rather a fool of myself, just now. I’ve had a nasty turn, but it was my own fault. I meant to take a dose of ammoniated quinine to stave off a cold that I felt coming on; but in the half-light I poured the dose from a small bottle of carbolic by mistake. Fortunately I didn’t swallow much of it, but the pain was enough to drive me temporararily crazy. I’m over the worst now, though, so there’s no need to worry about me.’
His explanation was readily accepted, but they continued to show much concern about him. Ah-moi offered to help his servant get him to bed, Kâo wished to fetch joss-sticks to fumigate the cabin against evil spirits, the doctor—who was of an older generation than Ho-Ping, and still had great faith in the ancient remedies of China—proposed to write out a prescription, burn it and mix the ashes with a soothing broth to be taken every two hours, while A-lu-te begged to be allowed to stay and nurse him through the night.
Gratefully but firmly he refused all these ministrations, insisting that he had everything he needed in the way of medicines, and that the kindest thing they could do was to leave him to recover in darkness and quiet.
When they had at last been persuaded to return to their interrupted dinner, he washed, drank a pint of hot water, then made himself sick again while Foo cleaned up and aired the cabin. With Foo’s aid he undressed and, after filling the basin with cold water, freshened himself up by sluicing his head in it. Next he told Foo that he was to make no mention whatever of the cocktail to anyone, dismissed him for the night, and locked the door after him. Finally, he took two Carters and a luminol, put his gun and torch handy, got into his bunk and turned out the light.
His throat and stomach were still very sore, but the drug soon began to take effect. As he drifted off to sleep a grimly humorous thought came to him. Never before had it occurred to him to spare a mosquito, but he wished now that he had not killed the one that had settled on his hand; for by doing so at that critical instant the insect had prevented him from drinking down half the cocktail at one go, as was his usual custom, and thus undoubtedly saved his life.
He was woken in the morning by a gentle knocking, and, getting out of bed, let Foo in. To the young man’s anxious enquiries he was able to reply truthfully that he had had an excellent night and now felt little the worse for his misadventure. But he added that he meant to stay in bed till lunch time, and that for breakfast he would have only a cup of clear soup or Bovril and some dry biscuits.
It was while Foo was absent, fetching this light meal, that Gregory noticed that the glass containing the rest of the poisoned cocktail had disappeared. Foo had been in the cabin for no more than two minutes and, in the full light of morning, it would have been impossible for him to have taken it away unobserved; so it must have been removed the previous evening when the cabin was full of people.
But by whom? Wu-ming had not returned with Gregory’s other visitors, so it could not have been him. It occurred to Gregory then that while the others had crowded round his bed, blocking his view of the doorway and the cabin, Foo had remained deferentially in the background; so without being seen he could have snatched up the glass and slipped outside for long enough to toss it overboard. If he had, it could only mean that, after all, he was Wu-ming’s secret accomplice.
As Gregory had already made up his mind that to accuse Wu-ming would be futile, the disappearance of the cocktail was of no great importance. Nevertheless it annoyed him, as he had meant to put it in a bottle and seal it up in Foo’s presence, then make him sign a statement that he had witnessed the act; so that in the remote chance of fresh developments it could still be produced as a piece of definite evidence.
When Foo returned, Gregory said nothing about the cocktail, as he wanted a little more time to think things over. After breakfast he shaved and went along to have a bath. Then, as he was about to get back into bed, Foo raised the matter himself.
‘Sir,’ he said. ‘Immediately I began to do the cabin I noticed that the cocktail was no longer on the dressing-table. Have you thrown it away, or put it somewhere? I ask only because you gave me strict orders not to touch it.’
Taking him by the shoulders, Gregory looked down straight into his eyes and said, ‘No, but I noticed that it had gone while you were getting me my breakfast. If you did not take it away, who did?’
Foo’s glance never wavered. ‘I have no idea, but I swear to you, Sir, that I did not. You see, I understood the importance of leaving it there. Your explanation to your friends last night about the cause of your illness may have served for them, but not for me. It was drinking some of the cocktail that caused you such agony. The way you questioned me about it before they came in put that beyond doubt. Someone tried to kill you by putting poison in it.’
Gregory nodded. ‘Yes; that is what happened. And to you there is no point in my pretending otherwise.’
Tears came into Foo’s eyes and he said earnestly, ‘It is terrible. I have not slept all night for worry. You must know, Sir, that I am devoted to you. How could I be anything else when I owe you so much? From now on I shall do my utmost to protect you. Whenever I bring you a drink in future it will be in a jug with two glasses, so that I can taste it first in your presence; and I intend to sleep on a mat outside your cabin door every night.’
With a smile, Gregory said, ‘Thank you, Foo. I am quite satisfied now about your fidelity.’
The excessive caution which had become second nature to him warned him that Foo might be staging a bluff, but his life had depended on his judgment of men too often for him to be easily taken in, and he did not believe the young Chinaman capable of such a superb piece of acting. Taking his hands from Foo’s shoulders, he stripped off his dressing-gown and got into bed.
‘One thing seems to me certain, Sir,’ Foo remarked as he folded the dressing-gown. ‘Although we cannot prove it, the only person who could have put the poison in your cocktail is Mr. Wu-ming Loo.’
Owing to the warmth of the weather the cabin door was hooked back and its entrance had only the curtain drawn across it. Before Gregory had time to reply there came a knock on the door frame. With a swift uneasy glance at the curtain, he called, ‘Come in.’
It was A-lu-te, accompanied by her maid Su-sen, who had come to inquire after him. As Gregory now spoke Chinese with considerable fluency and no other language was ever used at meals or in general conversation, they rarely spoke English except when alone together; so it was in Chinese that she anxiously addressed him, and that he assured her that he had really recovered sufficiently to get up, but was making his indisposition an excuse for a lazy morning in bed.
Smiling with relief, she took the chair that Foo set for her; but the moment he had left the cabin, the smile disappeared from her face. Breaking into English, which Su-sen did not understand, she exclaimed in a low tense voice:
‘It can’t be true! That man of yours must be crazy!’
Her words made it clear enough that, as Gregory already feared, she had overheard Foo’s last remark. To gain a moment’s time, he replied blankly, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘I could hardly believe my ears, but I distinctly heard him say that Wu-ming put poison in your drink.’
‘Perhaps your ears deceived you.’
‘Gregory, stop fencing with me! A servant cannot be allowed to make such a terrible accusation and go unchallenged. Either he must show good cause for what he has said or be punished. But perhaps this horrible suspicion has something to do with the way poor Wu-ming says you threatened to brain him with a torch last night. Did you intentionally mislead us when you told us afterwards that you had swallowed carbolic by mistake? What really happened? I insist on your telling me the truth.’
Her earnestness and excitement decided Gregory that she was liable to make serious trouble aboard unless she was given a good reason for keeping to herself what she had overheard, and he knew that she was much too intelligent to be fobbed off with a few uncoordinated lies, which were all he was capable of inventing on the spur of the moment; so he said:
‘I wish I could tell you the truth. The trouble is that I don’t know it myself for certain. All I do know is that two attempts have been made to murder me.’
‘Two attempts! But, in heaven’s name, why have you never said anything about this?’
‘For the simple reason that, although I have very definite suspicions about the identity of the person who is endeavouring to kill me, I have not one atom of proof. And to make an accusation without being able to prove it could result only in creating a most deplorable atmosphere of hate, distrust, lies and suspicion all round. That is why I have been keeping all this to myself, and must ask you to give me your word that you will do the same if I tell you about it.’
‘Very well,’ she said, after only a second’s hesitation. ‘I promise. But why should you suspect the unfortunate Wu-ming?’
‘You have said it yourself. Just because he is unfortunate—unfortunate in loving you and finding it impossible to arouse in you the least sign of tenderness for himself.’
‘Oh, Gregory! You are being absurd.’
‘I am not. The classic formula for every murder investigation is to look for motive and opportunity. Wu-ming has had ample opportunities, and uncontrollable jealousy is one of the most common of all motives for murder. From the second he saw you that day in San Francisco, after you had dressed in your new clothes and been Americanised in a beauty parlour, he fell as flat for you as if he had been struck by an atom bomb. Within a few days he had changed from a pleasant, talkative, sophisticated young man of the world to a morose, silent goop who had so far forgotten his manners that he could not even keep his eyes from devouring you in public.’
‘Of course he is in love with me; that is obvious. But I am not to blame for being unable to return his love.’
‘I did not suggest that you were; but, as he sees it, you might if the circumstances were different.’
‘You mean if I had not brought you with me from the island?’
‘Yes.’ On an impulse Gregory stretched out his hand to take A-lu-te’s, but suddenly remembering Su-sen’s silent presence in the corner, quickly withdrew it, as he went on, ‘I owe you more than I can ever repay. Four months ago you most generously set yourself the task of restoring me to sanity, and you have succeeded in that. But to do so has necessitated your giving me your constant companionship.’
‘You have already more than repaid the debt by opening a hundred new horizons to me.’
He smiled. ‘I’m glad you feel that. We have certainly spent many happy hours together, and learned a lot from one another. But—let’s face it—anyone having only a vague idea about the origin of our friendship might put a very different interpretation on the obvious pleasure we take in each other’s company.’
‘Even if I had never met you, it does not at all follow that I should have been in the least attracted to Wu-ming.’
‘No, but the fact remains that after your transformation in San Francisco he suddenly realised that, in addition to your natural attractions, you personified a unique blend of the traditional East and sophisticated West; and for a man with his background that meant perfection.’
‘It is true that he has said as much.’
‘There you are, then. But he has had darned little chance to do more than whisper it once or twice, and I am the barrier that has prevented his doing so. That’s why he has been driven so desperate that he is trying to get rid of me.’
‘If you were my husband and he a lover to whom I had given some encouragement, I can imagine him contemplating such a crime; but not as things are. But tell me, what grounds have you for your extraordinary suspicions?’
For answer Gregory gave her an account of both attempts upon him; and, in order that she should not think him prejudiced, he went into every detail of his own speculations from the moment that the banana crates had crashed upon Tsai-Ping’s head up to his noticing that the cocktail glass had disappeared that morning.
When he had done, she sat silent for a moment, then she said, ‘Even if it is true that Foo met Wu-ming by the upper deck companion-way and set down your drink while helping him to look for his toothpick, there are no grounds whatever for supposing that he put poison in the glass while Foo had his back turned. To me that looks like a red herring; and you say yourself that at first you suspected Foo of being Wu-ming’s accomplice. If you put out of your mind for one moment this idea of yours that Wu-ming has been planning your murder, you will see that no one but Foo could have poisoned your drink. Instead of suspecting him to be only an accomplice, you should have realised that it must be he who both planned and carried out his attempt to kill you.’
‘No,’ Gregory shook his head. ‘That won’t hold water. He has no possible reason for wishing me dead. On the contrary; not only does he owe me a great deal but my death would result in his being sent back to slavery in the stoke-hold. If he were implicated at all it could only be because someone else had tempted him with the promise of a very considerable reward for his help. But I am convinced now that my suspicions of him were unjustified. Besides, how about the business with the banana crates? Foo could have had no hand in that.’
Again A-lu-te sat silent for a while, then her intelligent eyes narrowed a little as a new thought crossed her mind. ‘When you were telling me about your speculations after Tsai-Ping’s death, you mentioned that at one time you thought Quong-Yü might have been responsible.’
‘Yes. If, through his grape-vine, he had learned of my association with Edgar C. Grace he might have thought that I was investigating some much more serious matter than Josephine’s disappearance, and was using Kâo only as a stalking-horse to make certain of catching him at home. That would have been a motive for his trying to do me in before I could get at and cross-question him. But I discarded the theory as much too far fetched.’
‘You must admit, though, that if he had a motive it would have been a simple matter for him, as a Tong boss, to order one of his hatchet-men to cut that rope. Whereas, in the very short time available, it would have been far from easy for an ordinary business man, like Wu-ming, to arrange an attempt on your life.’
‘That is true; but where does Foo come into this?’
A-lu-te’s eyes narrowed again. ‘We know that Quong-Yü and Lin Wân co-operated in carrying Josephine off from the United States. Let us suppose that they have some very strong reason for preventing anyone else getting hold of her. As you say yourself, Quong might have learned that the F.B.I. were behind you, and for that matter that you were helping us in our attempt to trace Josephine. If so, he would have realised that you were the only one of the four people coming to see him who really had the power to force his hand. Once he had eliminated you he would have had a good chance of stalling off his own compatriots. Tell me, does not that make sense?’
‘Yes, it certainly does,’ Gregory agreed. ‘As a matter of fact it was one of my own first lines of thought; but where do we go from there?’
‘Assuming I am right, on your first attempt to see Quong-Yü, Fate ordained that his thug should kill the wrong man; and on your second he had no chance to prevent you because you took him by surprise. We are already agreed that on being threatened by you he decided that things might be made too hot for him unless he told the truth; although no doubt he was largely influenced in that by the belief that we should give up our hunt rather than face a journey to Yen-an. Had you been in his place when he learned through his Tong members among the dock-workers that the yacht was being fuelled and provisioned for a ten-thousand mile journey, what would you have done?’
‘Guessed that the hunt was still on,’ replied Gregory promptly, ‘then endeavoured to warn my pal Lin Wân that I had been forced to disclose Josephine’s whereabouts, and that a bunch of people was setting out for China to attempt to get hold of her.’
‘Exactly. And what do you think Lin Wân’s reaction would be to such a warning?’
‘He would curse Quong for having let him down and prepare a hot reception for us when we reached Yen-an.’
‘Why should he wait till then?’
‘True. He may try to make trouble for us directly he learns we have landed in China.’
‘That would be difficult, because he cannot possibly know for what part of China’s immensely long coast we are making. But he might have wirelessed back to Quong instructing him to do his utmost to prevent the key members of our mission ever getting there.’
‘Ah!’ Gregory exclaimed with an admiring glance. ‘Now I see how your mind has been working. You think Foo is one of Quong’s hatchet-men and was smuggled aboard with orders to do me in. But why me? In the first instance I was a special case, because I was the link with the F.B.I.; but as soon as we left the States I once more became only an auxiliary. Your uncle is the head of the mission, and since Tsai-Ping’s death Wu-ming has been the driving force behind it.’
‘Regard the matter from Quong’s point of view. Being acquainted with Uncle Kâo he would appreciate that he is elderly, lazy and self-indulgent. He could know nothing of Wu-ming’s change of spirit; and if he ordered a full enquiry into the way we spent our time while in San Francisco he would have learned that Wu-ming was neglecting his business to dance attendance on me, so probably assumed that he came on this voyage only on my account. Whereas after his meeting with you he would have recognised that you were the brains of our party.’
‘Thanks!’ Gregory smiled. ‘But what about that subtle brain of yours?’
She shrugged. ‘I am only a woman, so he would write me off as of no importance. And he would be right to do so, for unaccompanied by a determined man I should be quite incapable of reaching Yen-an.’
‘There is one assumption in your theory which I think invalidates it,’ Gregory remarked after a moment. ‘Except through neutral Legations, I doubt very much if anyone in the United States can now communicate by wireless with a private person in China. Quong may have sent a warning to Lin Wân by some under-cover route, but I’m quite certain he could never have got a message to the borders of Mongolia and received a reply to it before we sailed.’
‘Yes, I suppose you are right about that,’ A-lu-te admitted slowly. ‘Still, if Quong has some big interest at stake in stopping us from reaching Josephine, he might have put Foo on board on his own initiative.’
‘That is possible; but I don’t believe it for one minute. In fact I’m sure that in all this you have been barking up the wrong tree from the beginning. After my talk with Foo this morning I am convinced that he is innocent.’
‘How, then, can you explain the disappearance of the cocktail glass?’
‘I can’t; unless Wu-ming sneaked up behind you when you and the others came to see me. You were all crowded round my bed with your backs turned to the door so he could have slipped his arm past the curtain and picked it up off the dressing table with comparatively little risk of being caught.’
A-lu-te passed the point of her little pink tongue over her full lips before she said slowly, ‘I should not be honest if I did not tell you that Wu-ming came with us when we left the saloon. But as you had threatened him he did not like to come into the cabin again, and waited outside to learn what we thought was wrong with you.’
‘Then that settles it!’ exclaimed Gregory, sitting up in bed. ‘To my mind that lets Foo out entirely.’
‘It does not to mine. It proves nothing, and I am convinced that Wu-ming is innocent.’
‘In that case I am afraid we could argue the matter for hours without getting any further.’
‘But we cannot leave things like this, otherwise another attack may be made upon you; and next time it may prove successful. The first precaution you must take is to get rid of Foo by sending him back to the stoke-hold.’
Gregory shook his head. ‘That wouldn’t help. In fact it might even make it easier to get me.’
‘Why should you think that?’
‘Because I shall stand a better chance of foiling another attack if I have a watch-dog; and this morning Foo volunteered for the job.’
A-lu-te clenched her small hands and cried, ‘How can you even think of trusting this stowaway of whom we know nothing except that he brought you a drink with poison in it? You must be out of your mind!’
‘I assure you I’m not. There is only one person out of his mind in this ship. That’s Wu-ming, who has become so obsessed by you that his madness takes the form of wanting to murder me.’
‘It is you who are obsessed by a prejudice that makes you blind to reason. You know well enough that I would not lose a wink of sleep if I never set eyes on Wu-ming again; but since you will not accuse him and give him the chance to defend himself, in fairness I must speak for him. He is well-bred, well-educated and of a kind and gentle disposition. Violence is contrary to the very nature of such a person, and he has shown no signs whatever of madness.’
‘He soon would though, given certain circumstances; and, believe me, breeding and natural disposition count for nothing in psychological cases of this kind.’
With a slight frown, A-lu-te asked, ‘What do you mean by “given certain circumstances”?’
‘I mean if his obsession were sufficiently stimulated he would lose all control, and break out into a frenzy. For example, if he saw me entering your cabin at night I am sure he would force his way in and attempt to strangle me with his bare hands.’
For a moment A-lu-te considered this, then she said, ‘Gregory, we cannot calmly ignore the fact that you are in great danger. Somehow we must find out who it is that menaces you. Even the risk you would run in an attack deliberately provoked would be less than that of waiting to be struck at again without warning. Do you agree?’
‘Yes,’ he replied, wondering what she was leading up to. ‘It may sound rather boastful, but I’d back myself against most men in a scrimmage in the open.’
‘Then I will tell you what I propose. Because I have at times shown impatience with Wu-ming, you must not think that I am not sorry for him. And now, I am most loath to cause him additional suffering by deliberately turning the knife in his wounded heart. But to do so seems the only way in which I can demonstrate to you that your suspicions of him are unfounded. Do you think you will be sufficiently recovered for us to put him to this test this evening?’
‘Yes; the sooner the better. I meant to get up for lunch anyhow.’
‘Very well, then. After dinner I will give him real cause for jealousy. If you are right in your contention it will send him temporarily out of his mind, and he will offer you physical violence. But, if, as I anticipate, he shows only dignified distress, you must fulfil a promise that I ask of you now.’
‘What do you wish me to promise?’
‘That you will send Foo back to the stoke-hold.’
Gregory did some quick thinking. Such a test could not prove really conclusive either way. Wu-ming might still be guilty yet manage to keep his head. In that case the unforunate Foo would have to be sacrificed. On the other hand, normal jealousy might drive Wu-ming to violence on this occasion without his ever having contemplated murder, and the case that A-lu-te had made out against Foo was unquestionably a strong one. All the same Gregory was still convinced that it was not Foo but Wu-ming who was trying to murder him, and if the latter did swallow the bait that would present an opportunity to put him out of action for quite a long time to come; so he said: ‘All right. I’ll gamble my watch-dog against Wu-ming going berserk. Anyway it should provide us with a very interesting evening.’