The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1907-08-02

Inc snop where the Chinese coin
came into my possession was In that
part OF Shanghai where foreigners
seldom so. | went there to get some
rare porcelain.
A wizened'up Ch!naman came for.
ward salaamlng to me. ! was mo-
toned to a silken cushion and after
| had seated myself the shop keeper
disappeared. | glanced about the
bazaar, | gave a long-drawn All" as
| saw a matchless tea service of the
ware ! sought. That indeed was he.
angsee porcelain. but finer than any
| had ever seen before, Alacia would
be pleased with that,
The shop.keeper returned. On a
tray he bore a pot OF tea and two
small cups, He placed the tray on
the teak wood stand by my side and
after gravely pouring me a cup, did
the same for himself, Nothing was
said of buying or selling; that Is
against eastern etiquette, We drank
In silence. When the tea was fin.
ished the old man arose.
"Chang.ho he speak Englaish. Me
no. he said, by way of explanation,
and then vanished,
In the course OF time Chang.ho ap.
peared. He was a fat Celestial with
a face as innocent in expression as a
baby's, He was young, little mor
than a boy. He hoped my most glo.
rious excellency was well, after hay.
Ing salaamed gravcly for just FIVE min
utes. We exchanged a few more
formalities, and then | began by ask
Ing to see everything In the shop, but
the keang-see tea service. After |
had looked at a quantity of things |
did not want, / asked to see the thing
| SO much desired.
Chang-ho brought the tea service
over to the lakewood stand. 1t came
into my possession for so low a sum
that | was ashamed Of my bargain,
| had nothing but a rather large
piece OF silver to give In payment. SC
1t was necessary for me to have
change. Chang-hoo went to the back
of the shop and returned with a hand
full of coins. He placed them In my
outstretched had and Just as | was
withdrawing 1t an evil CLEAN shot
over his angelic ~countenance and with
his eye on the old shop-keeper, who
had reentered the room and was
busily arranging some Of his wares.
he placed the Chinese coin in my
hand.
air Of the bazaar into the ~foulness of
the alley and made my way to my
rooms. ] did not think of the coin
till | was retiring late In the evening.
Then took 1t from my inner pocket
and examined It by the light. 1t was
indeed peculiar. 1t was nearly a quar-
ter of an inch thick and about the size
of a half dollar. The more | looked
at 1t the more the mystery of what it
could be grew upon me. I studied its
cabalistic characters till far into the
night.
1t must have been a week after the
Chinese coin came into my possession
that a peculiar thing happened. | had
left Shanghai and was in Canton.
One day while walking along the
street | heard something hit the pave.
ment with a clink. | looked down. II
was the Chinese coin. It bounded
along over the rough pavement with
a most remarkable velocity, and
gave chase. Just ahead Of me was a
crowd of coolies, "Good.by, coin i"
said to myself, and sure enough It had
vanished. ] spoke with what little
Chinese | knew, offering the coolies
any price to restore my coin. But
they protested that they knew nothing
of 1t. | really felt grieyed over the
loss for ] had intended to keep II for
a pocketpiece and curio.
From China ! went to Japan, spend.
ing several months there. From
Japan | went to the Philippines, where
my stay was somewhat shorter. Just
before | left for India another strange
thing happened. ! was walking along
the beach when my foot hit upon a
small piece Of wreckage, and | stopped
examine II. 1t seemed to have
been lately washed up, for the wood
was well preserved, though much
water'soaked. Idly turning the piece
Of wreckage ove I was astonished to