Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-08
CHAPTER xvIII-continued.

An hour later Sln-Wan anu 4Si-eHine .e
| were ransacking a certain area OF Pekins,
| one for his son. the other for Ah-nh anu
| her lover. but separately, unsupported by
each other. AS for Sin-wan. his kniIe was
! bright and white.
"Oh, where is Foo-chee?" said Ni-ching-
| tang to himself. 'Is my son dead?"
The suspicion grew upon him, 1t became
certainty He hurried back to the I'M
| perial city and made inquiries for Sin-wan
at the prison. Sin-wan, he was told, had
| obtained scroll to pass in and out OF the
sacred precincts at any hour of that night
Sob. Sin-waii was abroad then; and II
| Sin-wan was abroad. then 1t must be that
| Fo0-chee was dead.
Ni-ching-tang went from the PRISON
| straight to the palace of Yen How, and ne
descended into the vaults wherein was his
sleeping room, and he held the reeking
| flame of saucer lamp of earthenware
| over a box. and into the depths of the box
| he dived. He brought up two blue phials
and a broken ioss-stick; one of the phials
contained poison and the other nom
| poisonous drug; and this last he put into
| his bosom.
| Then he reclasped the box: and at once
he fell upon his knees, bowling his body and
| folded hands up and down, touching the
cofd plaster with his forehead. And from
| his lips came groans of prayer. And he
| burnt incense to the gods.
Then he went up again. and out from the
| imperial precincts. He, too, was provided
| tIstl HlSll With a scroll OF permit.
Onward he went, walking very fast. And
as he treaded the intricacies of Peking he
was engaged in a strange continuous eff
fort of mind; the effort to recall all the
English words he had ever known.
once, long ago, he had served in the
Kitchen of an English family in Canton, and
had then been quite a master of pigeon
English. But now he found his voca hillary
Wondrously small On he went cudgeling
his brains, through the dark and swarming
vastness of the city
Nl-chlnR-tang was a great man, If pa
| thence alone make a man great for he
searched all that night for Sin-wan and did
not ind him So was Sin-wan great man
II patience can make a man great for he
did not find him.
But toward the break of day. as he sat
drinking samshu in a den, Sin-wan had an
ldea. lie was drunkard, and could be in
splred by drink; nor was he now sober His
luea was that Ah-lin and Foo-chee were
not in the city at all, but without it
ne Went back once more to the dwelling
OF Amin to inquire if she had not vet come
he said: N n.y.
rearing me, they have fled from the city
eosether and are now at Tung-chow To
Iung-chow, therefore. I will go. For the
u my knI1e mas the itch this night, till
foo-chee scratch it for me-
But IL happened that while Sin-wan was
crying aloud from the street to inquire for
Ah-hn, Ni-ching-tang had come to inquire
as the day was prone to break Ni-chinp-
tang, far behind Sin-wan, was cautiously
shadoW1ng him toward the city gate which
leads out upon the Tung-chow road
Sln-wan waited there twenty minutes
ana when the gates opened he passed swift
~ through under the bellies of the crowd
ing camels the gall of malice and yellow
Jealousy ranking bitterly in his iaundiced
soul.
To kill-to hew. and slice. and stab-a
raVenlng hunger for this red breakfast was
upon sln-wan He had had 81 comfortless
night, a night of dark thought and i'm
pulse. and the hot samshu was talking hot
things to his head.
And surely the gods Were on his side
ANXIOUS for nothing that morning were
they but how to provide a red breakfast
for Sin-wan! See how they draw up the
curtains of night for him; and now the
DAY mas that y-early-mornng grayness
Tor winch one can find no adjective to ex-
press IT'S utter yawniness; and now just
as IT is light enough, something makes S n
wan turn his head to the left--and he sees.
But poor Nf-chngtang is struggling
frantlcaliy among the mules and camels
which press inward and outward through
the Just-opened gateway; and he has got
damned there, and the man is nearly mad
in his agon,zed struggle to be free; for
Sin-Wan has passed through and he has
lost him.
Foo-chee, interlaced with Ah-Iin, was fast
asleep as was also Ah-lin, they half
propped against the outer surface of the
wall. between two buttresses, not very far
from the gates.
Sn-wan walked up to them, smiling, lest
one or the other should be awake and ses
him; and the knife handle was in his palm
and the blade up his wide sleeves And
when he was right over them and saw how
they breathed heavily. and how the conf
dence of old love was In their careless en-
| brace. he drove the knife first into Ah-lin
with loud breath, and she sighed and
died And then, with loud breaths, he
drove 1t several times into Foo-chee ami
And hon i,,ta A n lin,
again, and then into Foo-chee again he
drove his knife.
Dogs gall he said, as he turned away,
and found himself face to face with Nj,
ching-tang.
What, sn-wan. is that your said Nj
chlng-tang; oh can see what you have
been after. Ho, ho,"
Those are they l told you off, said Sin
wan. Il have done what | said l would
do. Ni-ching tang.
so / see, sin-wan! Wen, It is the only
way-the only way
LAS for you, you will tell no one, Nj
ching-tang
"Poh! not I. For why should L? 1 who
have known you these months and the two
dead not at all. Phew! see how they lie
still embraced. Are you sure they are well
dead, Sin-wan?'
"0h, well dead"
They should be. The man--he has one,
two, three, four, five stabs-yes fve-ugly
wounds. too. The knife went deep each
time. What was his name ?-Foo-chee? All,
well, no more Foo-chee now-no more Foo
Chez
Let us be going. Ni-ching- tang. For
watching dead dogs is not pleasant to the
corners of the eyeballs
But / feel pleasure while look
ing upon them, Sin-wan and the
middle of the eye is not offended by
the sight of them embracing together
young things. too. But you leer obliquely
upon them, Sin-wan, having slain them,
through the corners of your eye-balls, and
so receive disagreeable feelings from their
sight
still. let US be going-let us be moving
away, Ni-ching-tang
We'll, as you wish 1t. Sin-wan let US be
moving. But they lie very well together,
Foo-chee and Ah-lin-Foo-chee with his
five gashed wounds, and her arm behind
his neck. young man, too he seems TO
me--a seller of incense sticks, l think you
said. No more incense sticks now for Foo
chee-and no more Foo-chee now at all. Sin
wan. Well, well-well, well. Ii was Foo
chez and Ah-lin; and now 1t is no Ah-lin
any more, and no Foo-chee at all. Five
stabs, too and ugly wounds all. One would
have done the work. but he got five. well