Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1901-06-21

!: The utmost GLANCE will be necessary
y we wish to escape detection. :
{, well 2, 81 Il. .3
~ Il have arranged ali that. We shall
land early tomorrow morning. when /
hope few people will be about. Your
excellencies will follow me from the
ship. bur without speaking. You may
bring your servant with you, as lie
may be useful. have a cousin in
Hankow,a worthy tailor, who has suf-
sfered somewhat through Kung. He
will give us hearty welcome o.ss..
And then - 's s , .'s. I, z$S s# II
81 Once i have your exeellencies safe
in the house Of my illustrious cousin
we shall soon devise a plan Of reach.
ing the island Of Ching-hi. It is even
possible that my distinguished relative
may know something Of the move
ments OF Kung. Your excellency un.
derstands?" ~. s. y: "a a. :: =
Quite" sss :: = ri : i:
He strikes twice who strikes first. :" +
The gaunt figure 81 the carpenter
slipped from our side and disappeared
inathe gloom. and friend as lie was, and
avenger. too, was glad that he had
gone. But ! felt. to the full our impo.
tence and the horror Of being depend
ent upon this ghoulish creature, He
was like bad *exhalation9 or the night.
and | almost wished that be would dis.
solve into the bosom Of his mother. :
.a4stss5Ats dayhneak the folloWing morn
Ing We arrived at Hankow. and in ac-
cordance with our prearranged plan
followed the worthy carpenter from
the ship, our invaluable Alb Yon bring
ing up the rear with our few worldly
possessions in valise. Fortunately
there were not many people about, and
such as were belonged so obviously TO
the cody class that we surveyed them
with little apprehension. They merely
honored US with the usual stolid stare
Of the oriental. made some remarks un-
Ineligible to us. but in no way evinced
q hattering curiosity. -, Il
Koon-Si In the meantime marched
steadily ahead, turning to the right up
on leaving the landing stage. and after
pursuing his way for some distance
through a long. shambling street he
suddenly branched off to the left, and
presently we found ourselves before a
house. upon the door Of which the car
penter knocked somewhat anxiously,
and saw our guide give two or three
uneasy glances over his shoulder as
though be feared the neighbors in the
street. Then there was an unbolting of
bars. and presently a yellow, sleepy
face appeared in the aperture caused
by the gradual opening of the door. 1t
was not pretty face. and it might
easily have been cleaner. but that was
nothing. AS soon as it saw Koon-Si it
weltnsaed him with a smile, and while
he spoke it opened wide the door.
The carpenter evidently knew his
ground wei, sfor, turning to us with a
smile, he babe us enter and at once led
Us through stuffy. dimly lit passage
to a room at the back. Then; bowling
us to a seat, he seemed to breathe free
~ for the first time. So. : ~. ~. !
= 'Safe," he said. Having got so far
the rest is easy" .% ~ -.
I was sorry l could not share his
optimism. 1t seemed to me that our
difficulties were i::st about to begin.
hope so.'' said Jim, "but should
like to know how we are going to &C.
complish the s.rest?'" - = -
''All in good time: replied the car.
penter. "You. shall see. You ere with.
In striking distance. This is something
accomplished"
Something" Jim admitted.
"Good. Now I shall speak to my
cousin. He is & :;hrewd man and has
many IDEAS" He turned to 60, but,
seeing Alb Yon lingering in one corner,
beckoned to him and said something
in Chinese, something sharp. fancied,
judging from the tone and the look
which accompanied the words. All
Yon turned to my uncle, l thought, al
most appealingly, but Koon-Si stepped
between them. -
II will take this fellow with me-" he
said. @"He is shrewd and may be Of
use. l will explain to him and test bis
courage" ~ 4 ~ -,
Then he spoke again in his native
tongue, more sharply still, I thought,
and -Yon bowed humbly. The carpen.
ter was q. man who meant to be obey.
ed, and he spoke and moved like one
who had been accustomed to rule men.
Truth to tell, I had long marveled at
the depths to which my father must
have sunk before he had taken as col
league this degraded looking creature,
but something in that monetary flash
of authority revealed another Koon-Si,
one who had not always been sawyer
of wood. 1t was strange country we
were in, and the people about us were
worthy to inhabit it. !: It might even
have been interesting to know what
Koon-St originally was. u. ~. ). s.. <,
4 At all events, despite his evident un-
willingness to go, All Yon marched OF,
Koon-Si promising to be back in a few
minutes. Jim looked at me and at
him, and some commonplace remarks
passed between us, neither giving ut
terance to the thought which was up
permost In his mind. An unaccounta
bic depression stn-u me, ana Tn.
Qfrai6& NV f0oos ohnuo1 - - NIn<hS ~ q