The hundred-odd men and women of Scorpia shivered in the darkness beyond the stage. All had heard tales of Cho-San’s torture room. Some even had visited the vaulted chamber and seen old bloodstains on those devilish machines.
They remembered their fellow agents who had disappeared to be “tried” later in this same underground auditorium. In such cases the accused were brought on the stage to give their “confessions”; but their broken bodies and fear stricken tones told plainer than words of secret torments. Not even the few who were released after trial ever told exactly what had happened to them.
And now these members of Scorpia’s Inner Council were to see with their own eyes the fate of two who had defied the Scorpion’s power. Their cruel natures were as thrilled by the prospect as they were awed by thought that their own turn might come some day.
Such was the mind of the audience which heard Cho-San’s grim accusation. With savage eagerness they drank in the Scorpion leader’s every word, while their eyes gloated over those helpless victims on the wheel and rack.
With the tread of a great jungle beast, Cho-San approached the half-conscious Lotus.
Facing the assembly, the Chinese raised his voice.
“This girl, this fickle traitoress,” he cried, “has gone over to the enemy, body and soul. In a few minutes you will hear her confess her guilt under mortal pain. But first—”
Cho-San paused dramatically.
“First,” he repeated, “she will listen to the screams of this other enemy of Scorpia—the man who was once a member of this very Inner Council—Count André Borg! We shall see what confession another turn of the ropes will wring from him ... Dr. Skell!”
Into the spotlight moved a tall man garbed in a white laboratory coat. His bald, skull-like head turned to face Cho-San.