Under the Chinese Dragon: A Tale of Mongolia

by F. S. Brereton

The young fellow, looking so exceedingly pale still, took the officer by the sleeve and led him into the lift. Then he switched on the light and invited him to inspect the roof.

'Goodness! There are a dozen holes, bullet holes. And—blood on the floor. Whose? Yours?'

He swung round on David instantly, and like Hemming treated him to a very critical stare.

'A mere nothing,' said our hero, somewhat feebly, smiling all the same.

'Set men to watch all round the place.'

'Done already,' came the prompt answer. 'I placed the men as soon as we heard there was an alarm.'

'Put two at the entrance to the basement staircase, and send two more down to the large cupboard with its back to the wall—here's the key. Let them go through the hole these burglars entered by, at the back of the cupboard, and learn what happened there, whose premises they are, and all that.'

'He's like an officer,' cried the sergeant. 'Hole in the wall! You don't mean to say these fellows broke through from outside premises, and cloaked the entrance by means of a cupboard? That looks like an inside accomplice.'

'He's there,' said David promptly, jerking his finger at the form lying amid the debris of broken glass and the contents of the overturned case. 'Henricksen we knew him as; from the jewellery department. Sergeant, there's a steel flap on the outside of the fire doors I closed on those Russians. Second floor, don't forget. A man might see them through it. Then we might rush them through the door or get at them by the lift.'

It took but a few minutes to prepare their plans. The sergeant relieved David of his revolver, and himself went to the door upstairs, reporting that the Russians were to be seen at the far end of the store. Then Hemming joined him, while a constable was sent off to the nearest station to procure more arms. By the time he was back again there were fifty constables on the scene, the outside of the house as well as the inside being guarded. As for our hero, that he was wounded by Henricksen's shot he knew, and no doubt the shock and loss of blood had caused him to lose consciousness. But he had got over that now. The draught he had received had revived him wonderfully, and that and the desire to see the matter to its very end kept him bright and smiling. He took a revolver from one of the officers, and at a signal from the sergeant above, set the lift in motion. With him there was an inspector and four officers, all armed with revolvers.