The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1902-06-10
My Strangest Case
BY GUY BooTHBY.
Author Of "Dr. Kikola,', "The Beautiful
White Devii,'' "Pharos, The
Egyptian" Etc.
copyrighted. 1901. by Ward. Lock q Col
P II.-CoNT1NuED.

OAA1 ASAs = O6A
"Ourcaseis as follows," he began. Gas
] have told you, we have been in China
for several years, and during that
time we have had the good fortune to
enroll not a few w~ell-known names
among u converts. TO make a 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 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
ing-table. "It is a sad story, and the
mere telling of it causes me more pain
than you would believe. You must un-
derstand that at the time of the man
darin's death an English traveller, who
aad been passing through the west
ern provinces, reached our city and
to say, we were overwhelmed with
grief at the loss of our patron. The
reasure he had presented US with We
took to the mission and deposited it
in a safe place. We had no suspicion
of any sort of treachery. l fear my
companion and I are not men of the
world, that is to say we do not go
aboutsuspecting evil of our neighbors."
81 think l understand," / said. "You
brought the treasure home, put it
in what you considered a safe place,
and one day awoke to find your es-
Unable guest missing and the treas-
ure gone with him. Have l guessed cor
rectly?"
you have hit the mark exactly
Kitwater replied. "We woke one day
not only to find the treasure gone, but
also ourselves and Jul mission serious
~ 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 a 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 a heavy sigh.
"And what form did your punish
menu ldkes 1 inquired, LOT WAS De-
ginning to be interested in their story.
Can you not see for yourself?"the
man answered. "Can you not see hat
l am blind, while my companion is
dumb? That was what they con-
demned us to. By that mans villainyI
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 l had the best of evil
dence to show that it was correct.
"And why have you come to me?
What do .yon wantm me to do? Icannot
give you back your sight, o 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 ~nerlnitted to enjoy the wealth he
; N US. 1t is sacred to a spe-
CO. and that duty it must per-