The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1900-07-24

toward tne doctor as InOuSH luey were
eager to have his blood. I'VE kill white
devil doctor now if he not do what we
say. Give us the heart of Wong Chez.
~ cannot take it with bound hands"
the doctor said.
The three brothers consulted in Chi
nese, for they We're unwilling to loose ..
the hands of the doctor. 1t was true
that he could not cut the .eart from
Wong Chez if his hands We're tied, yet
If his hands We're free and the sur
geon's knife was put in them, they had
to fear the rashness of despair. Then
the small brother advised that the doc
tor be made to kneel before his hands
We're loosed. And thereupon All Kim
saw him forced to his knees by the
body of Wong Chez, and the tall broth
er flung the moose about the neck of
the kneeling man, and the stout broth
er lifted the Ratchet while the small
brother slipped the cords that bound
his arms
Now All Kim breathed hard and
gripped his knife fast, for he feared
that the life of the shrewd Wong Chez
was lost. He had wild wish to cry
out to the doctor that there was a
friend at hand and that he should make
an effort for life and freedom. Yet he
knew that to cry out was folly and
would be death to him along with the
shrewd Wong Chez and the good doc
tor, and he had to use all his strength
to keep his teeth from chatterng.
what was that" suddenly asked
no ,,riol |, ie
u hear nothing said the stout
brother
"a step on the stair. thought" said
the small brother.
81 locked the door, said the tall
brother. with an evil smile. ut is
Wong Chees devil come for his soul"
Now, at this All Kim could scarce
keep himself from sinking, for it is evil
| indeed to be between the three broth
ers of the Ratchet and the devils that
come for the dying. And the three
brothers themselves lost little of their
confident air, for even the brothers.
who feared not the joss, liked not to
think of the devils. But All Kim smiled
in the midst of his fears at the mistake
of the tall brother in thinking that he
had locked the door.
"Well, let us make haste" said the
small brother that the devils may fin
ish their work." And with move he
shook the bonds from the Doctors arms
| surgeons knife.
| Nov cut" he said.
At this word the doctor flung his
arms about the small brother and
dashed him to the floor and at the same
time made a mighty effort to rise
Strike. BROTHER" cried the small
brother to the one with the Ratchet.
| The Ratchet was in the air, and the
doctors brains would have scattered
over the floor but that All Kim, nerved
by the danger of the men before him
and by the noise of devils on the stairs
behind him, had flung open the door
and with one leap buried his knife in
the throat of the stout brother with
the Ratchet.
The stout brother flung up his arms
with scream, his blood spurted over
the bald head of the doctor, his Ratchet
fell to the floor, and his knees giving
way he fell heavily against the tall
brother and they went down together
The moose frightened in the hands of the
tall brother, the doctor was brought
over with jerk, and assassins and vic
tins lay in heap, All Kim alone
standing, with bloody knife and shak-
Ing knees, crying out in the extremity
of terror for the brothers struggled
before him, and the noise of devils
was behind him, and he stood still for
want of way to fly.
Then the devils burst into the room,
seized upon All Kim with an oath,
and in the maze of confused impress
sions he thought he saw them strike
the small brother and the tall brother
with clubs till they lay still. bring the
doctor to his feet and wipe the blood
from his head, and his ears told him
that they all talked at once. And at
last he saw that the devils were not of
the air, but of the white devils police,
and he learned that he and the tall
brother and the small brother were I'M
der arrest and that the stout brother
had gone where the joss and the devils
deal with his kind. And dimly came to
his mind the words of one Of the DO
licemen:
81 was that unaisy about you that
got these men and came back. for
found that the house was vacant up to
shutdown. We was afraid of mischief
afoot, and bedad we've found it,
Then the terror stricken All Kim,
when he found that he was arrested as
one of the three brothers, fell upon the
floor and howled and called out his
name to the doctor. And the doctor,
having now recovered his shaken wits,
knew All Kim.
'See here, officer" he said. You've
made a mistake. This fellow Is my
cook, and if it hadn't been for him Pm
afraid you would have been minute
late"
And the doctor explained as much as
he knew of the affair in which he had
played so great part, and All Kim
pieced out the tale of the three BROTH
ers with a sad disarray of the English
language. So Ah Kim was released on