San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1886-11-26

on the shoulder. Up already? Come in
lie pushed his shiyering guest before him
There was pleasant Odor of coffee in the
salon, and Fifine followed close upon Law.
rence's heels with a dish OF eggs. "Om
friend is an early riser" said the young En-.
glishman to Fifne.
"Ah, the POOr!' said Fifine. The hail
has broken all the granary windows and
the granary is filled with snow. Below the
windows it is meter deep"
You have had bad times of it, said Law.
renee to Chi Lung, who was shivering at the
! fire. Give him a cup of coffee, Fifine and
put little pequet in it."
The woman Obeyed him, and the hapless
wanderer being supplied, clanked the cup
and saucer violently together as he slipped
the hot and comforting mixture.
SIS Monsieur POtvin out of bed yet, Fl
| fine? asked Lawrence, cropping in his pOck-
| cts.
"HegO to descend, replied Fifine. He
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 v the Hotel of
the Three Friends, and during the close sea-
son FIfine was trained to call salmon pike
and venison mutton, and hare rabbit, with
an unmOved cOuntenance. The Judge de
PaiX, the Brigadier 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 Fltine'S air. Monsieur Pot
vim had reached home late on the previous
night with hare in each pocket and a
young chevreuil scrOSS his shoulders. a
freight at which the local gardes and gen
darmerie could only pretend to wink in the
densest darkness.
"GOOd-mOning," said Lawrence, when
the landlord entered. II want you to change
an English note for me-"
He drew a little bundle of bank-nOtes
from pOcket-bOOk which he carried in an
inner 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 minute or two, and solemn
ly counted down twelve and half NapO-
Icons in gold. Chi Lung began to look in
tereStod, and IL gieam came into his almond
shaped eyes the landlord put the note in
TO the leath"rn bag from which he had
counted ont the gold, and was about to re-
tire when Lawrence called him.
Monsieur Potyin, change one of those
NapOleOns for me-" He swept the rest up
in his hand, and put them away in his purse,
leaving one alone upon the table.
Monsieur POtyin, again disappearing for
a moment, returned with four fve-fTanc
,.fa I,sI 81 4. 4 ,,1r fha
Napoleon. Lawrence looked up with
laugh.
I'VE 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 wary native never.
As this performance went on 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 upthe
value of one of those rustling scraps of pa
per. To the eye of Chi Lung the young
Western barbarian was sort of walking
gold-mine. The Celestial stranger was but
humble arithmetician, but he rather un-
derdd than Overdid the real thing in the cal
culatiOn he made. Say ten Tustlng bits of
paper, and each worth ten yellow pieces
four hundred big white pieces-forty thou
sand smaller pieces of a duler white. For
how 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
a 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
reprehensible. 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
10, Fol l., It'll, a.,
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 hitwith. OF course
it would be a great mistake not to hit hard
enough, and would lead to immediate con-
sequences of nature more or less the I'M
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 wTathful envy which had
looked out Of the CelestiaTs eyes were hid
den, and his face was like waxen mask.
"Herep said Lawrence, stretching out
both hands toward him. This, my unhap-
Ply Nebuchadnezzar, will keep you going for
a time, at all events. am afraid that it's
something like pouring water in sieve to
help you, but you may find somebody else
to moisten you hereafter. Poor Nebuchad-
nezzar! Take this small donation and my
blessing. Go back to the FlOwery Land,
my bankrupt musician"
Chi Lung extended both his hands togeth-
er, palms upward, and Lawrence poured the
nickel pieces into them. One momentary