Apart from their custom of eating
meat cut from living beasts, they are accursed because of their
alleged association with the _Cynocephalus hamadryas_ (Sacred Baboon).
I, myself, was taken to a hut on the banks of the Hawash and shown a
creature ... whose predominant trait was an unreasoning malignity
toward ... and a ferocious tenderness for the society of its furry
brethren. Its powers of _scent_ were fully equal to those of a
bloodhound, whilst its abnormally long forearms possessed incredible
strength ... a _Cynocephalyte_ such as this, contracts phthisis even
in the more northern provinces of Abyssinia...."
"You have not yet explained to me, Smith," I said, having completed
this note, "how you got in touch with Fu-Manchu; how you learnt that
he was not dead, as we had supposed, but living--active."
Nayland Smith stood up and fixed his steely eyes upon me with an
indefinable expression in them. Then:
"No," he replied; "I haven't. Do you wish to know?"
"Certainly," I said with surprise; "is there any reason why I should
not?"
"There is no real reason," said Smith; "or"--staring at me very
hard--"I hope there is no real reason."
"What do you mean?"
"Well"--he grabbed up his pipe from the table and began furiously to
load it--"I blundered upon the truth one day in Rangoon. I was
walking out of a house which I occupied there for a time, and as I
swung around the corner into the main street, I ran into--literally
ran into.
Pages:
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152