"Len Shi will now confess." Once started, Len Shi talked volubly.

The others merely put in a question now and then, and the detectives curbed their impatience as best they might until Len Shi was safely lodged in Bow Street again.
Then Winter led his Chinese helpers into an inner office and closed the door.
"Well ?" he said, addressing the jute merchant.

The other Chinaman had very little English and could not maintain a conversation.
But, to the chief inspector's surprise and wrath, the English-speaking Chinaman had only a request to make.
"Give me and my friend those three ivory skulls," he said.
"Why ?" he said.
"Without them we can accomplish nothing." "Be good enough to explain yourself.

Above all, tell me what Len Shi has been jabbering about.

He had plenty to say." "He told us of the fate of our friends in China.