Okiu stared, and then came slowly to his feet.
"You have found it?"
"No." And Ashton-Kirk yawned contentedly. "But I could place my hands in a very few moments upon the person who has."
At this the palms of the Japanese came together softly.
"Why," said he, and his voice was full of gentle surprise, "perhaps I have been mistaken in my opinion of you, after all."
"Perhaps," answered Ashton-Kirk.
But for all the secret agent's seeming ease of manner, at the soft slap of the Oriental's hands, his every sense had grown alert; and now his ear caught a rustling behind him which said plainly that some one had stepped quietly into the room. An instant later, a peculiar, high scent as of an Eastern oil reached his nostrils; and though he did not turn his head, he knew that the newcomer was the wrestler, Sorakicha.