Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1902-04-16


"Ourcase isas follows. he began. "As
] 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 well-known names
among our 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. lie was an enormously rich
man. one Of the richest. perhaps. in
China. end 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 prinCCly 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 profes sion. how
does 4 come about that you are in
England now?" / inquired.
Il viii tell you why" he answered.
leaning toward me and tapping with
his fingers upon the edge of the writ
lng-table ut i 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
oar'n's death an English traveller. who
had been passing through the west
ern provinces, reached our city and
took up his abode with us. Needless
TO say, We were overwhelmed with
grit at the loss of our patron The
treasure he had presented US with We
took 10 the mission and deposited it
il "a safe place We had no suspicion
Of any sort of treachery ! fear my
companion and ! are not men of the
world. that is to say we do not 60
about suspectjng evilOfour neighbours"
Il think | understand" said. You
brought the treasure home, put il
in what you considered a safe place
ana one day awoke to find your es-
tma Die guest missing and the treas
ure gone with him. Have guessed cor
rectly?"
You have hit the mark exactly"
kitwater replied. I'VE woke one day
not only to find the treasure gone, but
also ourselves and our mis- sion serious
ly compromised. The relations of the
dead man not only accused us Of hav-
ing alienated him from the faith Of his
forcfathers, but also OF having robbed
him Of his ancestral treasure. We
could not but admit that we had been
pre- cnted with the wealth i'm question.
and when it was demanded OF us we
could only explain that we had lost i
IN our turn. You can imagine the DO
sition for yourself Al the best OF
times he foreigner Is not popular in
China, and our situation vas particu-
larry unpleasant. Situated as wc were
in one 81 the widest portions OF the
empire, and accused Of The basest sac
riIeRc. that is TO say Of violating the
home Of dead man, we could hope for
but small mercy. The man who had
robbed as had entirely disappeared.
and uo trace ~ him could be- discov-
cred. To attempt 10 offer any expIa-
nation. or 90 incriminaic him, was out
81 The question. we could only suffer
in silence"
lie paused and heaved heavy sigh.
And what form did your punish
meut take?" inquired. for / was be
ginning to be interested in thcirstory
"Can you not see for yoursclf?" the
man answered "Can you not see that
an DINO. Whilc my companion Is
dumb? That was what they con
dcmned US &c.. By that mans yillainyT
am destined never TO look upon Gods
earth again, while my companion will
never be able to converse with his
fei4ow-men. except by signs We are
10 the world. yet out Of &C."
looked at them both ju amazement
Their tale seemed too terrible to be
true. And yet ! bad The best Of evi-
dence 20 show that 90 va. correct.
And why have you come TO me?
What do you want me to do2 Icannot
give you back your sight. nor your
friend his power Of speech"
But you can help US 20 find the man
who brought this misery upon US"
Bitwater replied. THAT is what we
We come TO ask Of you. lie must not
permitted to enjoy the wealth he
ole from us. II is sacred TO a spe-
eel duty, end that duty it must per-