The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1901-02-11

ny arnEs III Ii pf ri az q wien w. ID
itself acute asony, I. having carefully
marked n nv tnihd the exact position
Of the food and water, stretched out
my hand to them, and, though l knew
not II either was poisoned, I cared but
little. If 80, an end would be made Of
me once and for all. But this was not
Kupgs way. The water was pure, the
food palatable, and. having eaten and
drunk, felt inconcelvably refreshed.
What happened then l know not;
but, wearied out, I must have fallen
asleep, and for aught I know may
have slept for hours. However, out
Of that sleep was suddenly awakened
by the sound Of gong, and when l
looked up l was astonished to see the
chamber In food OF light and the thin
Tipped Kung seated in his chair Of au-
thorlty, supported by the diabolical
Koon-Si and two other men.
Presently the door opened through
which had last seen them drag my
uncle, and, TO my inexpressible relief,
saw him led in once more. He was
horribly pale and emaclated, bis blue
eyes shining with a mad sort of light,
but when he saw ME glad look
frightened his face. However, he did
not speak. and l had nothing to say
save such as would cause Kung in
finite satisfaction. But we understood
each other, Jim and l. We were still
alive.
He was quickly triced UP TO his old
position against the wall, and then al
most Immediately after there entered
through the same door man bearing
a burning brazier. This he deposited
between Kung and me and turned the
irons with n malicious movement. l
stared at the glowing Goals spellbound,
Mortified. Was the wretch going to
torture us? l looked at him, and he
smiled. Without d doubt he read my
thoughts.
Then long and painful silence fol-
lowed, broken only by an occasional
low crackle of the fire. AS have said,
the horror Of these men was intensified
by the extraordinary silence they in
variably maintained and by the Sc
crecy of their movements. But pres
emily Kung spoke.
Il presume you have seen the writ
ing Of Kungw he said.
Seen it! Heaven, but 1t had come
between me and my sleep for many
years! Now was to feel it upon my
forehead.
ut is written in many ways he
continued suavely, though we always
use the one design--that of our Illus
trious society, of which am the I'M
worthy chief. If you have not seen 1t,
you shall-and feel 1t too. 1t Is n
mark we sometimes place upon the dis
obedient, but oftener upon the enemy.
1t is a very interesting operation. l
promise that you shall take part in It,"
He smiled again: he always smiled
with an easiness which in some in.
definablc way proclaimed power. The
man knew what he could do and seem.
ed content.
Neither Jim nor I answered, and Mt
our obstinacy he smiled more darby
still, while at the same time the cor.
ners OF his mouth curled with unmis.
taxable scorn.
"Mr. Carter and Mr.. Gray" he said,
"your names are strange to me, but
your movements are not You arrived
from Australia by the steamship Air.
lie and took up your residence at the
Hongkong hotel. From there you
sought to find one Ko0n-Si, worthy
carpenter who crossed our path and Is
no more. But being unable to discover
his whereabouts, which might puzzle
much wiser men, you called in the aid
of one All Yon, who quickly unearthed
the illustrious Koon-Si. Strange, Is II
not? And yet not strange. All Yon,
like Koon-Si, is a member Of this So
ciety, and you rendered it comparative.
" easy for the one to play into the
hands of the other. When you set out
to match yourselves against me, you
were not thoroughly equipped for the
encounter"
ITO BE CoNTINuED)
1OCuRE THE CIR p IN TWO DAYS.
Lnxative Brono.Qulniae removes tho