Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1902-04-24
lily Strangest Case
BY GUY BOOTHBY.
Aathor of "Dr. Kikoia,' - The Beautiful
White Devil" Pharos, The
Egyptian" Etc.
copyrighted, 1901, by Ward. Lock & Col
CHAPTER u.-CoNTINUED.

C1AI L Eh ll.-IONIINU
"0urcas is as follows" he began. "As
i have told you, we have been in China
Cor several years, and during that
time we have had the good fortune to
enroll not a few well-known names
among our converts. TO make a long
story short, we were so successful as
co be able to persuade even the man
DARN of the province to listen to our
ne sage. He was an enormously rich
,1aau, one of the richest, perhaps, in
Caina, and was so impressed by the
good news we brought to him that, on
mis- death-bed, he left to US for the
benefit of the mission all 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?" l inquired.
II will tell you why" he answered,
leaning toward me and tapping with
his fingers upon the edge of the writ
Eugtable. at is a sad story, and the
mere telling of it causes me more pain
than you would believe. You must un-
5erstand that at the time of the man
darin's death an English traveller, who
had been passing through the west
crn provinces, reached our city and
took up his abode with us. Needless
20 say, we were overwhelmed with
grief a. the loss of our patron. The
trea sure he had presented us with we
took to the mission and deposited it
10 a safe place. We had no suspicion
Of any sort of treachery. l fear my
companion and | are not men of the
world, that is to say we do not go
about suspecting evil ofour neighbors." ;"
4 think | understand" ! said. You
brought the treasure home, put it
Ia what you considered a safe place,
aHG one day awoke to find your es-
eima BILE guest missing and the treas
ere gone with him. Have l guessed cor
.=ectly?"
"You have hit the mark exactly"
.KitWater replied. 1--WE woke one day
not only to find the treasure gone, but
also ourselves and our mission serious
~ compromised. The relations of the
dead man not only accused us of hav-
ing aIienated him from the faith Of his
forefa Tiers, 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
fn 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-
2arly unpleasant. Situated as we were
Ia one of the widest portions of the
empire, and accused of the basest sac
grilege, that is to say of violating the
nome of a dead man, we could hope for
5ut small mercy. The man who had
Eobbed US had entirely disappeared,
and no trace of him could be discoy-
cred. To attempt to offer any eXpla-
nation, or to incriminate him, was out
of che question. We could only suffer
in silence"
He paused and heaved a heavy sigh.
and what form did your punish
-ment take?" l 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 vilIainy
am destined never to look upon Gods
earth again, while my companion will
never be able to converse with his
fe!iow-men, except by signs, We are
In tho world, yet out of it,"
looked at them both in amazement.
Their tale seemed too terrible to be
true And yet l had the best of evil
Idencc 10 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 GONE to ask of you. He must not
be peYnitted to enjoy the wealth he
aEfa7s :. I'm us. Il is sacred to spc-
Saiai duty. and that duty it must per-