The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1900-09-04

charge was dismissed; the old man had
to listen to short homily on jealousy;
the young couple were married there
and then and given hut in the town
ship for their own use, while the old
man was ordered, by way Of compensa-
ton for the false accusation he had
brought, to provide them that selfsame
day with certain goods and chattels
necessary to their housekeeping. AS
for the three false witnesses, who had
placed SO small value upon their repu-
tations for veraoity as to allow them
selves to be suborned against an inno-
cent man, their case was somewhat
harder. They were taken to the rear of
the house, where they received ten
strokes Of the rod apiece, we'll laid on,
as warning to them against future
dealings in unsound evidence.
This case finished, Allie made another
sign to one of her men, who instantly
disappeared. Then she settled herself in
her chair, and noticed that harder
look came into her face.
'You have witnessed how conduct
one side Of my court, y she said. CHOW
you shall see the other.n
Again the tramp Of feet was heard,
and once more guards and prisoner
made their appearance round the corner.
To my surprise, the latter was none
other than my old acquaintance Kwong
Fung, the notorious Chinese pirate.
But though he must have remembered
me his sullen, evil face betrayed no
sign of surprise. He only stood between
his guards watching my hostess and
waiting for her to speak. Presently she
did so, in Chinese, and once, only once,
did he answer her. During the harangue
I glanced at her face and was amazed
at the change in it. The old soft express
sion was completely gone, and in it's
place had come one that, to tell the
honest truth, even frightened me- Never
before or since have I seen such per-
feet exhibition of self contained but all
consuming rage. Once more she spoke
to the prisoner, who refused to answer
She instantly addressed herself to the
escort.
The man in command was in the act
Of replying when the prisoner, by some
means which I shall never be able to
explain, raised his right arm before his
guards could stop him. In the palm Of
his hand lay knife, somewhat resem-
bling Malay creese, but with shorter
and straighter blade. With the swift
ness OF. thought the hand seemed to drop
back and instantly resume its upright
position. The impetus thus given sent
the weapon flying along the veranda to-
ward us, and it / had not thrown II
left arm before her there could be =.
doubt that it would have found scab-
bard in Allies breast. Asitwas, it stuck
in the Sleeve of my white jacket, pass
ing through the fabric without even
scratching the flesh. Unnerving as the
incident was, the Beautiful White Devil
did not show the slightest sign of fear,
but simply said, Thank you'll" to me
and then resumed her instructions to
the guard. Kwong Fung was iramedi-
ately led away.
For some seconds after this departure
neither of us spoke, then, noticing that
her face was regaining its old express
sion, took courage enough to inquire
my enemy's fate.
Death /" she answered. II have for
given that man times out Of number. /
have helped him when he was in dis
tress, and once rescued him when he
was within an ace of being executed.
But since he has murdered one of my
bravest subjects in cold blood and cam
not respect the orders have given, but
must needs attempt the lives Of those /
have sworn to protect, he must be pre-
vented from doing any more harm by
the safest means we can employ"
She was silent again for few mo-
ments, then picking up the dagger,
which had fallen on the floor, she looked
me steadily in the face and said:
''Dr. De Normanville owe you my
life. If ever the opportunity arrives.
you will not find me'ungrateful 1t was
near escape, was it not? l shall have
to change my servants if they cannot
see that their prisoners are unarmed.
was about to reply, but was inter
rupted by the arrival of second batch
of litigants, who were followed by a
third. They were all natives, for, as
discovered later, there was not one sim
gle instance on record in the history of
the island of the white population hav-
ing found it necessary to resort to law
to settle their differences. A more peace
able, happy and law abiding community
could not be found One thing was very
noticeable in each of these cases, and
that was the pacific reception of and
the resignation with which the deci-
sions of their ruler were received She
spoke to them, chided them, sympa-
thized with them and smoothed down
their ruffled feathers just as if they had
in reality been what she had called
them-her children. And as result in
each case plaintiff and defendant went
off together, their differences settled
and their former animosity quite for
gotten. When the last case was con-
cluded. Allie put on her large white hat,
which throughout the legal business
had been lying beside her, and we were
in the act of setting out for the village,
accompanied by the dog, when an Incl
dent occurred which was fraught with
a ,,roI, inf r., ,,,o 49,,