During the
walk, you will precede us. I will hold my revolver in my hand--and I am
an excellent shot. If you attempt to escape, or to communicate with any
passer-by, you will immediately be dead. Do not think that I would fear
the consequences; we will pass through Chinese streets, where action of
mine would not be questioned.'
"'Damn you!' Wilbur burst out. 'What silly nonsense are you up to?
Nichols, will you permit this? Where are you going to take me?'
"'Never mind,' replied Lee Fu. 'As for Captain Nichols, he, also, is at
my mercy. Ah, here are the raincoats. Put one on, Captain Wilbur; you
will need it sorely before your return. Now we must hurry. I would be
clear of the harbor before darkness entirely falls.'
"Issuing from the doorway, the gale caught us with a swirl that carried
us around the corner and down a side street. 'To the right!' Lee Fu
shouted. Wilbur, lurching ahead, obeyed sullenly. We came about and made
for the water front through the fringe of the Chinese quarter, the most
remarkable trio, perhaps, that had ever threaded those familiar
thoroughfares.
"Overhead, the sky had settled low on the slope of the Peak. We
floundered on, enveloped in a gray gloom like that of an eclipse. When
we reached the water front the face of the bay had undergone a sinister
change, its yellow-green waters lashed into sickly foam and shrouded by
an unnatural gleaming darkness.
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