Bridgeton pioneer., 1885-03-26
CHI LUNG;
A BIT OF HUMAN NATURE.
BY DAVID CHRISTIE MURRAY.

the granary is filled with snow. Below the
windows it is u meter deep
''You have had bad times of +. said Law
renee to Chi Lung, who was $! uyrring at the
fire. Give him cup of cof , Fltine, and
put a little pequet III it,"
The woman obeyed him, and the hapess
wanderer being supplied, clanked the cup
and saucer violently together as he slipped
the hot and comforting mixture.
rs Monsieur Potvin out of bed yet, Fl
fneT asked Lawrence, cropping in his pock-
cts.
He goes to descend,' replied Fifne. ''Ho
will be here before your departure"
Tell him | should like to see him."
Monsieur Potvin was the landlord, and
gave most of his mind and time to poaching.
Game was always plentiful at the Hotel of
the Three Friends, and during the close sea-
son Ftine was trained to call salmon pike,
and venison mutton, and hare rabbit, with
an unmoved countenance. The Judge de
Pax. the Brigader of the Gendarmerie, the
very Garde Champetre himself, who might
have been supposed to know better, sub
mitted to be imposed upon by the unchang-
ing innocence of Flfne's air. Monsieur Pot
win had reached home late OH the previous
night with a hare IN each pocket and a
young chevreuil across his shoulders,
freight at which the local gardes and gen.
darmerie could only pretend to wink in the
densest darkness.
"Good-morning, said Lawrence, when
the landlord entered. II want you to change
an English note for me-
He drew Il little bundle of bank-notes
from a poclet-book which he carried in an
pocket, safely buttOned over, and, lay
ing one upon the table, carefully restored
the others. Chi Lung, from his place near
the stove, looked on with no great interest,
and slipped at new supply of hot coffee.
Monsieur POtyin bowed, examined the note.
and retired, leaving it on the table. He was
back again in a minute or two, and solemn
ly counted down twelve and a half Napo-
Icons in gold. Chi Lung began to look in
terested, and gleam came into his almond
shaped eyes. The landlord put the note in
to the leathern bag from which he had
counted out the gold, and was about to re-
tire when Lawrence called him.
Monsieur Potvin, change one of those
Napoleons for me-" He swept the rest up
III his hand, and put them awayin his purse,
leaving one alone upon the table.
Monsieur Potvin, again disappearing for
moment, returned with four five-franc
pieces, laid them down, and took up the
Napoleon. Lawrence looked up with
laugh.
'We haven't done yet, Monsieur Potvin.
Change one of those, if you please, into the
smallest coins you have"
Once again Monsieur Potvin bowed and
retired, returning almost Immediately with
another leathern bag, out of which he
counted one hundred fve-centime pieces in
that nickel currency of the country which
looks as if the natives might so easily mis-
take it for silver. The verdant traveller may
mistake it-perhaps it was made for him
but the uaIy HatiyO never!
AS this performance went OIL the CLEAN
of interest in Chi Lungs almond-shaped
eyes grew and broadened. Neither Law
renee nor the landlord looked at him, though
Chinaman who permitted himself to seem
interested was surely worth looking at if
only for his rarity.
Within limits Chi Lung understood the
transaction perfectly. The handful of FIVE
centime pieces was equivalent to the big
piece of silver. That in its turn was the
fourth part of one of the gold pieces, and
little handful of the gold pieces made up the
value of one of those rustling scraps of pa
per. To the eye of Chi Lung the young
western barbarian was a sort of walking
gold-mine. The Celestial stranger was but
humble arithmetcian, but he rather un-
derdid than overdid the real thing in the cal
culatlon he made. Say ten rustling bits of
paper, and each worth ten yellow pieces
four hundred big white pieces-forty thou
sand smaller pieces of a duller white. For
now many lusters might man live like
mandarin if he had but that prodigious pile
of money?
Evil thoughts began to move about in the
heather mind of Chi Lung. He had never
done benevolent action in his life, and as
consequence he knew nothing about the
claims of gratitude. If he had ever had any
thing to. be robbed of and anybody had rob-
bed him, he might have thought the action
reprehensble. Even a Chinaman's moral
sense can achieve to that elevation. No
body had ever told Chi Lung that it was i'm
proper for him to steal, and if anybody ever
had told him so, Chi Lung would probably
have been amused but would certainly have
put himself on guard against that too shall
low moralist.
The little pile of dull white pieces lay up
on the table when the landlord had retired,
and Chi Lung, standing behind the English
mans chair, felt his fingers itch for them.
1t was of no use to hit his preserver over
the head and run away with the money, be-
cause he would infallibly be caught, and
there was nothing handy at that moment
which was big enough to hit with. OF course
1t would be great mistake not to hit hard
enough, and would lead to immediate con-
sequences of nature more or less the un-
pleasant. But none the less the soul of
Chi Lung yearned after the small pile of
dull white pieces, and when Lawrence
scraped them up in double handful he
could, but for the obvious inutility of the
thing, have fallen upon him and scratched
him.
When Lawrence turned upon Chi Lung
all the greed and wrathful envy which had
looked out of the Celestiaps eyes were hid
den, and his face was like waxen mask.
"Here!' said Lawrence, stretching out
both hands toward him. "This, my unhap.
py Nebuchadnezzar, will keep you going for
a time, at all events. am afraid that it's
something like pouring water in a sieve to
help you, but you may find somebody else
to moisten you hereafter. Poor Nebuchad-
nezzar! Take this small donation and nv
blessing. Go back to the Flowery Land.
my bankrupt musician"