Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-03-06

enroll not a few well-known names
among our converts. To make long
story short, we were so successful as
to be able to persuade even the man
DARN of the province to listen to our
message. He was an enormously rich
man, one of the richest, perhaps, in.
China, and was so impressed by the
good news we brought to him that, on
his death-bed, he left TO us for the
benefit of the mission al his wealth, in
gold, silver and precious stones. 1t
was a princely legacy, and one that
would have enabled us to carry on our
mission with such success as we had
never dreamed Of
but if you were so lucky and so
much in love with your profession. how
does it come about that you are in
England now?" I inquired.
II will tell you why" he answered,
leaning toward me and tapping with
his fingers upon the edge of the writ
ing-table. ut is sad story, and the
mere telling of it causes me more pain,
! than you would believe. You must I'M
!
! darin's death an English traveller, who
had been passing throcgh the west
ern provinces, reached our city and
| took up his abode with us. Needless
to say, we were overwhelmed with
grief at the loss OF our patron. The
treasure he had presented us with we
took to the mission and deposited it
in safe place. We had no suspicion
of any sort of treachery. I fear my
companion and / are not men of the
world, that is to say we do not go
about suspecting evil of our neigh
bors."
II think understand" said. "You
brought the treasure home, put it
in what you considered safe place,
and one day awoke to find your es-
| Unable guest missing and the treas
ure gone with him. Have guessed cor
rectly?"
"You have hit the mark exactly"
Kitwater replied. eve woke one day
not only to find the treasure gone, but
also ourselves and our mission serious
| ly compromised. The relations of the
dead man not only accused us of hav-
| ing alienated him from the faith of his
| forefathers, but also of having robbed
| him of his ancestral treasure. We
could not but admit that we had been
| presented with the wealth in question,
! and when it was demanded of US we
could only explain that we had lost it
in our turn. You can imagine the po-
sition for yourself. At the best of
times the foreigner is not popular in
| China, and our situation was particu-
larly unpleasant. Situated as we were
in one of the widest portions of the
empire, and accused of the basest sac
rilege, that is to say of violating the
home of dead man, we could hope for
but small mercy. The man who had
robbed US had entirely disappeared,
and no trace of him could be discov-
cred. To attempt to offer any expla-
nation, or to incriminate him, was out
of the question. We could only suffer
in silence"
He paused and heaved heavy sigh.
"And what, form did your punish
ment take?" I inquired, for was be-
ginning to be interested in their story,
"Can you not see for yourself?" the
man answered. "Can you not see that
I am blind, while my companion is
dumb? That was what they con-
demned us to. BY that mans villainy I
am destined never to look upon Gods
earth again, while my companion will
never be able to converse with his
fellow-men, except by signs. We are
in the world, yet out of it,"
Hooked at them both in amazement.
Their tale seemed too terrible to be
true. And yet had the best of evil
dence to show that it was correct.
"And why have you come to me?
What do you want me to do? Icannot
give you back your sight, nor your
friend his power of speech"
But you can help us to find the man
who brought this misery upon u.s.
Kitwater replied. ''That is what we
have come to ask of you. He must not
be permitted to enjoy the wealth he
stole from us. 1t is sacred to spe-
cial duty, and that duty it must per-
form. We are not overburdened with
riches, in fact, we are dependent upon
the bounty of another, but if you can
help us to recover the sum that was
stolen from us, we will gladly pay
whatever you may ask! We cannot
say more than that"
But this is most unheard-of re-
quest" l said. "How do you know
where the man may be at this mo-
ment?"
"We do not know, or we should
scarcely have asked your assistance"
Kitwater replied. with some show of
reason. ut is because we have heard
of your wonderful powers in tracing
people that we have come TO you. Our
only cause for attending the trial at
which you saw us wa to hear the evil
dence you gave and to draw our own
conclusions from it. That those con-
illusions were complimentary to you,
our presence here is evidence of. We
know that we could not put our case
in better hands, and we will leave it
with you to say whether or not you will
help US. AS said just now. my com