Page:Guy Boothby--A Bid for Fortune.djvu/285

Rh how I lie here, dying like a dog, with the key to over ten millions in my hand. Nikola has tried for five years to obtain it, without success, however. He little dreams I've got it after all. If he did I'd be a dead man by this time.'

"'Who is this Nikola, then?' I asked.

"'Dr. Nikola! Well, he's Nikola, and that's all I can tell you. If you're a wise man you'll want to know no more. Ask the Chinese mothers nursing their almond-eyed spawn in Peking who he is. Ask the Japanese, ask the Malays, the Hindoos, the Burmese, the coal porters in Port Said, the Buddhist priests of Ceylon; ask the King of Corea, the men up in Thibet, the Spanish priests in Manila or the Sultans of Borneo, the Ministers of Siam, or the French in Saigon. They'll all know Dr. Nikola and his cat, and, take my word for it, they fear him.'

"I looked at the little stick in my hand and wondered if the man had gone mad.

"'What do you wish me to do with this?' I asked.

"'Take it away with you,' he answered. 'Guard it like your life, and when you have occasion, use it. Remember you have in your hand what will raise a million men and the equivalent of over ten mil'

"At this point a violent fit of coughing seized him and nearly tore him to pieces. I lifted him up a little in the bed, but before I could take my hands away a stream of blood gushed from his lips. Like a flash of thought I ran to the door to call the girl. The boy on the stairs re-echoed my shout, and in less time than it takes to tell, the woman was in the room. But we were too late. China Pete was dead!

"After giving her all the money I had in my pocket to pay for the funeral, I bade her good-bye, and, with