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Page 108
"'I assured him that my services were at his disposal, and
blankly declined to accept so large a fee. He thereupon explained
that the circumstances were peculiar. His friend belonged to a
religious cult of an extremely high order. He would lose caste if
it became known that he had been attended by a Christian surgeon;
therefore my visit must be a secret one.
"'It made no difference,' I replied. 'I quite understood; and he
might rely upon my discretion.
"'Accordingly I was driven in a car which was waiting to some
house upon the outskirts of the city and conducted to a room
where the patient had been carried. I saw him to be a singularly
handsome young man, apparently about twenty-three years of age.
His features were flawless, and he possessed light ivory skin and
wavy jet-black hair. His eyes, which were very dark and
almond-shaped, had a strange and arresting beauty. But there was
something effeminate about him which repelled me, I cannot say in
what way; nor did I approve of the presence of many bowls of
hyacinths in the room.
"'However, I performed the operation, which, although slight,
demanded some skill, and with the nature of which I will not
trouble you. Intense anxiety was manifested by the young man's
attendants, and one of these, a strikingly beautiful woman,
insisted on remaining while the operation was performed.
"'She seemed more especially to concern herself with preserving
intact a lock of the young man's jet-black hair, which was
brushed in rather an odd manner across his ivory forehead.
Naturally enough, this circumstance excited my curiosity and,
distracting the woman's attention for a moment--I asked her to
bring me something from a table at the opposite side of the
room--I lightly raised this wayward lock and immediately replaced
it again.
"'Do you know what it concealed, Mr. Brinn?'
"I assured him that I did not.
"'A mark, apparently natural, resembling a torch surmounted by a
tongue of fire!'
"I was amazed, gentlemen, by Sir Charles's story. He was given
his fee and driven back to his quarters. But that he had succeeded
where I had failed, that he had actually looked upon Fire-Tongue
in person, I could not doubt. I learned from this, too, that the
Prophet of Fire did not always remain in his mountain stronghold,
for Delhi is a long way from the Secret City.
"Strange though it must appear, at this time I failed to account
for Sir Charles confiding this thing to me. Later, I realized
that he must have seen the mark on my arm, although he never
referred to it.
"Well, the past leapt out at me, as you see, and worse was to
come. The death of Sir Charles Abingdon told me what I hated to
know: that Fire-Tongue was in England!
"I moved at once. I inserted in the Times the prearranged
message, hardly daring to hope that it would come to the eye of
Naida; but it did! She visited me. And I learned that not only
Sir Charles Abingdon, but another, knew of the mark which I bore!
"I was summoned to appear before the Prophet of fire!
"Gentlemen, what I saw and how I succeeded in finding out the
location of his abode are matters that can wait. The important
things are these: first, I learned why Sir Charles Abingdon had
been done to death!
"The unwelcome attentions of the man known as Ormuz Khan led Sir
Charles to seek an interview with him. I may say here and now
that Ormuz Khan is Fire-Tongue! Oh! it's a tough statement--but I
can prove it. Sir Charles practically forced his way into this
man's presence--and immediately recognized his mysterious patient
of years ago!
"He accused him of having set spies upon his daughter's
movements--an accusation which was true--and forbade him to see
her again. From that hour the fate of Sir Charles was sealed.
What he knew, the world must never know. He had recorded, in a
private paper, all that he had learned. This paper was stolen
from his bureau--and its contents led to my being summoned to the
house of Fire-Tongue! It also spurred the organization to renewed
efforts, for it revealed the fact that Sir Charles contemplated
confiding the story to others.
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