struggling to take off the helmet as they drove away. "They may be
here--at any moment."

The machine was off like a shot and even if we had been able to
follow, we could not now have caught it.

Back in Wu's sumptuous apartment, later, Wu and his slave, Long
Sin, after their hurried ride, dismissed all the servants and
placed the little box on the table. Wu rose and locked the door.

Then, together, they took a sharp instrument and tried to pry off
the lid of the box.

The lid flew off. They gazed in eagerly.

Inside was a smaller box, which Wu seized eagerly and opened.

There, on the plush cushion lay merely a round knobbed ring!

Was this the end of their great expectations? Were Bennett's
millions merely mythical?

The two stared at each other in chagrin.

Wu was the first to speak.

"Where there should have been seven million dollars," he muttered
to himself, "why is there only a mystic ring?"