The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-05-21

the lining Of his round hat, and AZ last pro-
duesd " carefully folded, piece of.paper,
which he held ont toward thu Judgment
seat. explaining that il was Lung Stems re-
ceipt for the bars and entreating that y
might be compared with them. Al he held
IL out happened to be looking IN Lung
Sien's direction, and what saw there
startled me. Could those staring eyes,
that pallid, ehastly countensnes hong 70
The snus. oily merchant? I draW Nor
lsy's attention 10 Il. and for moment
he stared a. hard AZ I did; but the
next a light seemed to break In on him.
Though young. he had had more service In
the Chinese .sAs THAI, ! had; hss leoss
knowledge and general shrswuness gave
him the clew. and In less than q minute he
was over BY Sing Ooh's side trying to make
her understand something In his pid9in
English. So far ~ the words went he
might just ~ we'll have tried her with pure
Bosson, but his gestures we're unmistaks-
BILE. and the poor girl began TO look up with
. little hope Frightening her features. The
magistrate. aftsr examining the paper. had
given some orders, and the officials were
busy Weighing tho bars. A dramatic scene
il was to the mysti6ed spectators, compris-
ing all Of us Delaware men except Frank.
"The magistrate and mandarin were con-
vsrsipa in an undertons, and evidently try
ing to conceal their Amusement at m
thing. Morley was boiling over with exul-
tation. Lung Sien and his cashier were
looking the picture of misery. and the good
old captain was glazing at tho lot.
"At Lass the fiery old man could stand It
laid his heavy hand on the shoulder Of
Frank. who had ooms back After his par.
italy successful effort to cheer mp tho
poor BRIDE. What's in the wind, you
young scapeerace?' he whispered hoarsely.
You seem to be having some nice little
l S~AA N -----~t-~A r. kn- Ornv AhAvNA
for the poor fellow-Ritl ! mssn?'
"'Nothing particular that I know Of, cap
TAIN answsi cd Morley in his most provok-
ing dravl. only It crossed my mind that II
Lung sien should happen to have taken ad-
vantage of Wan Lees eagerness, and our
little a little In the weight of those bars. it
might be awkward for him just now
1.-THE old man stared o moment as The
idea slowly filtered into his mind. and then.
He's done.'by Jove! broke from his lips,
az his mighty land rose and fell ngain on
Morley's shoulder. like a twenty ton steam
hammer with patent grip attachment.
ut was the only time I ever heard him
swear, and I believe that his shame at it
caused him as much pain a. r : s,npstuosity
did to poor Morley. For III feAt Of the
time they spoke not. Poor hank busted
himself with tsnderly trying to raise and
s%traiehten the crushed bones Of his left
AOAAAVA - Ahc A8~V ANAA~ "AAs
Roberts was mainly occupied in hiding a
two-foot blush with an eightesn-inch
handkerchief.
by this time the weights had been taken
and handed up to the judges. and l must
say the gravity with which they oompa ed
tina calm tone in which the magistrate drew
Lung Stems attention to the discrepancy
and asked for an explanation.
Highly creditable. too. was the
in which the latter took the blow. He had
had time to somewhat recover from the
shook. and the eager n astonished air
with which he compared tho two papers
would have made . Bowery actors fortune;
carefully did he examine them ere he
handed them over to his cashier with some
remarks which evidently bore reference to
the differences. Had there been but one
bar he would doubtless have claimed a
mistake in his receipts, but four inpots.
three to six ounces, and all in his own favor.
were too much for even Chinese etfrontery.
Sadly did he hand them back to the usher
and gravsly did he admit that he had mis-
judged an innocent man. that some ono of
his clerks must have distracted the inRots
from his safe and replaced them with the
base metal in hopes of delaying the dis
covery. SO he freely withdrew from the
prosecution.
"There was a quiet smile on the maRis-
trate's face as he ordered the prisoner re-
lease, but that was about all the quietness
there was in that court. Wan Ice was in
stantly surrounded by q shouting crowd OF
sailors, and the poor injured innocent was
partly dragged aud partly carried out of
court, along with the happy Sing Ooh.
Poor Lung Sion had a longer stay, for he
had to pay the different court fees, and his
purse by the time he left was a good deal
lighter than whom he came in.
I'VE dropped down the river next day,
and as we PASSED CheeFoo we put the happy
peir ashore within twenty miles of Wan
Lees home, with a nice little sum collected
for them as Il start for housekeeping. At
dinner time that day young Morley tried
very mildly to chat the captain on the in
consistency of a church member encourag-
ing fraud, but the old man turned on him
rather savagelv. You young scamp be
exclaimed. would you blame a dog fox
barking or a Chinaman for swindlinRI
They must net act according TO their lights.
The next man of you that tries to jolly me
I'll stop his shore leave as long as we are
In Chinese waters.' so, as he was a maj
of his word. we dropped the subject
From Advance Sheets of the Gentleman's
Magazine.