Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1903-01-17

have hoped to succeed so easily.
\ Il think You wpcng- me somewhat
and dc not rightly consider all the cir.
J curnstances. Whysare you here? You
do not answer. 1vsyill tell you. To
: kill Kung and me- Why? Because.
thUugb our agency, your sister ant
her husband met their death. 1t E
very natural. Il have no fault to find
But eonsiderIIEy, case MY father was
betrayed to death, and l pursued the
betrsyer. What is ms turaf in one in
stance cannot Sbe unnatural in anoth-
.er."
The cafinnesseof, this, man; The calm:
.rness Of them all, was amazing. 1t was
livery odd TO think that; this individual
IN the silk robe, who condescenied to
argue so pSlitely with his enemy, was
iGfhe man with The strange eyes who
had walked up oour garden path that
awful day art Windsor, who had allied
my life with "A terror (which VIII al
ways be a part, Of me- ,Wooehinx. the
implacaSle yellow man, the subject Of
80 many fears, Sc many dreams l
could scarcely realize, though STAINS ng
face to fsce with him, thai. this, polite
little gentleman was the dend who had
wrought such horror to me and mine.
i .was like one ,corfounded, amazed,
. and, strange as n may seem his dread.
sful presence nov awakened in me a
feeling more of curiosity than of ter
| ICor, seren though j knew that death
'eut of his eyes was staring ,sne in the
face.
AS GJim dill not answer Wooching
turned 70 Knng with a smile. And
still it was impossible to reahze that
these 1.-Two men, so quiet, SO polite.
| welded such awful power. The i'm
| passive, 'Nung, with the thin, curling
lips, the. meaning smile. Was itvpossi-
bic that this could he the man who
wiIled aicTime in China and had II exc
4 cuted in- country town In England
| There was no sign of power, nothing to
impress cene, as it were and yet shis
| grip was as sure as death itself.
CT fear our illussrious guests realize
the force Of my argument" said Woo
ching Well, 1t is an excellent thing
TO have avgood understanding, and II
| hope IL will enable them to bear phile
sophically some of the surprises whicl
the society has in store for them.'
He went back TO his position by thu
chair, and then Kung rose slowly and
came TO me. yEor time he stared me
| closely in the face, as though be would
devour every feature. His litrle black
| eyes, at first cold and insG - able. be-
gan to glow, and. presently they .gleam-
ed like fire.
ut is long time ago." he said land
II cannot trace feature. Yet you do
mot deny that yonssre the son Of Cap
tain KingstonT
~ do not deny It."
You are not wise. A serpent breeds
sespents, and as they are dangerous we
kill them"
| bis lips writhed, Ibis eyes cleaned
The memory OF my father stirred all
that was black and wicked in this
mauss nature. He was no longer the
impassive yellow man, but a seething
caldron of wrath which, feared,
would presently bubbleoover.
80" he continued, you are the son
| OF that dog, that wretched traitor who
| betrayed his friends, that miserable
I creature who thought he could pit his
/, FOOLS wits against mine2 The dog!
But he persisted, as all perish who
would destroy me. Our friendship is
sacred, our hate is death. For your
| fathers crime / swore that ITwould ex-
! terminate his brood, and with you will
( go the last dog and son OF a dog!' and
| with his long, yellow fingers be struck
ne fercely across the eyes and then
spat in my face.
Fools" he went on, ''to think that
| you could grapple with me and hope to
win-to win where the emperor himself
has failed. Kung, the boat builder, is
in Ching-hi today; tomorrow where?
But wherever he goes the sign rallies
the faithful round him. You have seen
it once, twice maybe? You shall see il
| again, and you shall feel it, too, before
| you go hence"
He flew from the chamber, shouting
something in Chinese, and the Others
! quickly followed him, extinguishing
the lights as they went. But Jim this
time was left to keep me company, and
L had no doubt that the last order of
kung had been to this effect What
! was the meaning of it L could not
guess, but / was glad of the compan-
lonship. 1t was some consolation to
hear even the rattle of Jim's chains.
For some time we did not speak at
all. Under such conditions there was
nothing left for us but to deplore our
rate, and as Jim was one not much
given to railing at misfortune we spoke
but little. We knew that the end was
not far off, and my prayer was for
speedy death. l did not want to die,
but had grown so accustomed to the
thought of death that insensibly / had
robbed it of some of its terror. What
l feared was the torture, the threat of
Kung foreshadowing some such horri-
Die fate. knew something of Chinese
fortunes, and ere l was subjected to
them prayed devoutly that God would
strike me dead.
For long time we were left in
peace-perhaps an hour, perhaps three.
no longer attempted accurately to
gauge the time / only knou +bat T