Tales of Chinatown eBook


The trap opened, and up to his nostrils there stole a queer, indefinable odour, partly that which belongs to old Oriental furniture and stuffs, but having mingled with it a hint of incense and of something else not so easily named.  He recognized the smell of that strange store-room, which, as Mr. Hampden, he had recently visited.

For one moment he thought he could detect the distant note of a bell.  But, listening, he heard nothing, and was reassured.

He rested the trap back against the frame, and shone the ray of an electric torch down into the darkness beneath him.  The light fell upon the top of a low carven table, dragon-legged and gilded.  Upon it rested the model pagoda constructed of human teeth, and there was something in this discovery which made Durham feel inclined to shudder.  However, the impulse was only a passing one.

He measured the distance with his eye.  The little table stood beside a deep divan, and he saw that with care it would be possible to drop upon this divan without making much noise.  He calculated its exact position before replacing the torch in his pocket, and then, resting back against one side of the frame, he clutched the other with his hands.  He wriggled gradually down until further purchase became impossible.  He then let himself drop, and swung for a moment by his hands before releasing his hold.

He fell, as he had calculated, upon the divan.  It creaked ominously.  Catching his foot in the cushions, he stumbled and lay forward for a moment upon his face, listening intently.

The room was very hot but nothing stirred.



Detective Durham, as he lay there inhaling the peculiar perfume of the place, recognized that he had put himself outside the pale of official protection, and was become technically a burglar.

He wondered if Chief Inspector Kerry would have approved; but he had outlined this plan of investigation for himself, and knew well that, if it were crowned by success, the end would be regarded as having justified the means.  On the other hand, in the event of detention he must personally bear the consequences of such irregular behaviour.  He knew well, however, that his celebrated superior had achieved promotion by methods at least as irregular; and he knew that if he could but obtain evidence to account for the death of the man Cohen, and of the Chinaman Pi Lung, who had preceded him by the same mysterious path, the way of his obtaining it would not be too closely questioned.

He was an ambitious man, and consequently one who took big chances.  Nothing disturbed the silence; he sat upon the divan and again pressed the button of his torch, shining it all about the low-beamed apartment and peering curiously into the weird shadows of the place.  He calculated he was now in the position which Cohen had occupied during the last moments of his life, and a sense of the uncanny touched him coldly.

Project Gutenberg
Tales of Chinatown from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
Follow Us on Facebook