The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1902-05-16

y
past, and many an authority on east
ern history would have been aston
ished at the extent of his learning.
He was never so happy as when bur-
| rowing amongst ancient records, and
it was mainly due to his learning in
| the first place, and to somewhat sim
| gular accident in the second, that the
! trio were now foregathered in Singa-
pore. His personal appearance was a
| peculiar one. His height was scarce
| ly more than four feet six inches. His
| face was round, and at distance APP
peared almost boyish. 1t was only
when one came to look into it more
closely that it was seen to be scored
| by numberless small lines. Moreover,
it was unadorned by either beard or
>mustache. His hair was gray, and was
worn somewhat longer than is usual.
He could speak fuently almost every
| language of the east, and had been
| imprisoned by the Russians for seal
| ing in prohibited waters, had been tor
tured by the Chinese on the Yangtse,
and, to his own unextinguishable dis
grace, flogged by the French in Ton
quin. Not the least curious trait in
his character was the affection he en-
tertained for Kitwater. The pair had
been together for years, had quarreled
repeatedly, but had never separated.
The record of their doings would form
an interesting book, but for want of
space cannot be more than referred
to here. Hayle had been their part
| mot favy Of +ha;. NV
dertakings, for his courage and re-
source made him valuable ally,
though how far they trusted each
other it is impossible to say.
Breakfast over they adjourned to
the veranda, where the inevitable
cigars made their appearance.
"Now let's hear what you've got to
say to me??" Hayle began.
"Not here, "Kitwater replied. "There
are too many listeners. Come down
to the harbor."
So saying he led his companions to
the water side, where he chartered q
native boat for an hours sail. Then,
when they were out of earshot of the
land, he bade Hayle pay attention to
what he had to say.
First and foremost you must under
stand" he said, chat it's all due to
Coddy here. We heard something of it
from an old Siamese in Hanoi, but we
never put much trust in it. Then
Coddy began to look around, to hunt
up some of the musty records, and
after awhile he began to think that
there might be ething in the story
after all. You see it's this way: You
know Sengkor-Wat?
"Sengkor how much?"
Sengkor-Wat-the old ruin at the
back of Burmah, near the Chinese
border. Such place as you never
dreamt of. Tumble-down palaces,
temples, and all that sort of thing
lying out there all alone in the Jungle"
GIVE seen Amber" said Hayle, with
the air of man who makes remark
that cannot be lightly turned aside.
"After that I don't want any more
ruined cities. I've got no use for
them"
"No, but you've got use for other
things, haven't you? You can use ru-
bies as big as pigeons eggs, suppose.
You've got use for sapphires, the
like of which mortal man never set
eyes on BEFORE"
"That's certainly So" Hayle replied.
"But what has this Sengkor-Wat to do
with it?"
Everything in the world" Kitwa-
ter replied "That's where those ru-
bies are, and, what's more, that's
where we are going to find them"
care you joking, or is this sober
earnest?"
He looked from Kitwater to Codd.
The little man thus appealed to nodded
his head. He agreed with all his COM
panion said.
cts quite true" said he, after a
pause. "Rubies, sapphires and gold
enough to make us all millionaires
times over"
'Bravo for sengkor-Wat, them" said
Hayle. "But how do you know all this ?'
eve told you already that Coddy
found it out" Kitwater replied
Looking over his old records he dis
covered something that put him on
the track. Then I happened to re-
member that, years ago, when was in
Hanoi, an old man had told me a won.
derful story about treasure cham.
Der in ruined city in the Burmese
jungle. A Frenchman who visited the
place, and had written book about it,
mentions the fact that there is a
legend amongst the natives that vast
treasure is buried in the ruins, but
only one man, SO far as we can dis
cover, seems to have taken the trouble
to have looked for it,"
"But how big are the ruins?''
bigger than London, so Coddy
says!"
Coddy nodded his head in confirma.
ton of this fact. But still Hayle
seemed incredulous.
"And you are going to search all
that area? 1t strikes me that you
will be an old man by the time you
find the treasure, Kitwater."
Don't you believe it. We've got
something better to go upon than
that. There was an old Chinese trav.
a1ar who visited rJooo