LING SOO paced the broad deck of the Pung-Shoon. He looked upward at the towering turrets of the old-fashioned Chinese ship. There, in the gloom, he could distinguish the forms of sailors. They were waiting for Ling Soo’s signal.
The insidious Chinaman was gloating. He and four members of the Wu-Fan were aboard the junk. It had been Ling Soo’s plan to go below and slay the false Foy himself. Then he had realized that a better scheme of death would do.
He had dispatched two of his men to do the work. Both were ones whom he knew that he could trust. One traitor — like Foy — did not mean a flock. For the secret methods of the Wu-Fan were too insidious to permit of plotting.
Other traitors had been discovered before — traitors like Stephen Laird — when they had begun to suggest their schemes to men whom they thought would work with them.
Ling Soo was near the door to the oddly furnished cabin. His keen ears were set to hear a dull shot from below. That shot would mean the death of the traitor, Foy. Then Ling Soo would give the signal. No time would be lost while the two men were coming from the hold.
It had been difficult for Ling Soo to waddle up those stairs from the hold. That reason, as much as any, was why the leader of the Wu-Fan had delegated his appointed work to his trusted subordinates.
By the high-railed side of the ship, Ling Soo could see the forms of the other two Wu-Fan men. They were ready at the ladder.
As soon as the signal was given, pandemonium would break loose. Then Ling Soo would join his companions, and they would escape, by the little boat, accompanied by the men who came from the hold.
All the crew of this ship were Chinamen — members of a chapter of the Wu-Fan, which existed in China itself. They were sworn to secrecy. They had done good work before; they would do good work tonight!
Ling Soo grinned as he bethought himself of what would be happening elsewhere, when others of the Wu-Fan took advantage of the furor on the junk to do a work that would mean great profit for Ling Soo. Profit for Ling Soo — and for Green Eyes! Millions of dollars in good American money!