The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1909-04-29

Portable couch for himself in the bot
tom of the boat.
The four on shore missed Tong ear.
ly that evening. One of their number
had wasted considerable amount of
time and patience in crawling silent
ly to the spot where the Chinaman
usually slept. and was much disguised
at finding that Tong Sue had changed
quarters. His companions were also
disguised when he made his report.
They made an extensive search of
! the beach, and towards midnight the
moon, that peeped for an instant from
behind the black clouds, enabled them
to locate the boat in the middle of
the little bay.
The four felt aggrieved. They looked
upon the Chinaman's action as a per-
sonal insult. He had insinuated by
! his action that their company was not
desirable, and they acted quickly to
avenge the indignity.. They drew lots
between themselves, and five minutes
afterwards two of the laps placed
their knives between their teeth,
stepped out of their scanty clothing
and waded into the warm water Of
the bay. The white man and the 9TH
er Jap sat themselves down on the
sand and waited.
An hour passed and the two who had
swan out to expostulate with Tong
had not returned. Three hours went
by. yet no sounds came from the
water. At last the white man, ours
, ing softly. moved up the beach. The
Jap followed slowly. It was plain to
both that the gods had not been kind
to the two swimmers. +,,s
Tong Sue did not como ashore
next morning. He had examined the
beach very early, and seeing only two
of his visitors moving about he thought
It advisable to stay on the water and
rest. The Jap and the white man also
rested. They sat on the beach and
watched the. little boat, punctuating
long silences with strange curses.
They wondered how Tong had dis
posed Of their two friends. There
were no firearms at Cape De Castro,
and one has to be quick with q knife
to deal with two visitors who make
surprise call Sometimes the two
on the beach wondered what was il
the bag that Tong Sue had suspended
from the stern of his boat.
He will be sleepy tonight" re-
marked the white man, as the sun
dipped towards the mangrove trees.
The Jap nodded and sharpened his
knife on smooth pebble.
We'll get him sure" continued the
white, and the other barred his yellow
teeth in smile of approval.
"Gettem good" he snapped. "They
two dam fools last night. Never mind,
mucha more for u.s." He thought of
the Chinamsn's gold and stroked his
knife cunningly.
They relapsed into silence, sitting
side by side till the thick night swept
down from Asia and blotted out the
little boat.
Tong Sue oversight himself the fol-
lowing morning. The sun was shin
ing upon deserted beach when he
looked shorewards. He searched the
shoreline patiently, but no one. was
visible. Then he glanced cunningly
at the suspended bag of offal and the
blue water beneath.
"Gettem all four!" he laughed soft
ly. "Plentee good smell, plentee good
shark Dam fool not know"
He tripped lightly to the stern and
started to unfasten .the rope that
bound the end of the pole to the seat.
Tong Sues thoughts were far away at
the moment. The little maiden at
Hankow came up before his eyes, and
he fingered the rope with clumsy fin
gers.
But it was bad moment for day
dreams. AS Tong stepped across the
pole, the united end was suddenly
jerked up by the weight hanging upon
the other extremity, and the Celestial
was thrown into the water.
A big gray nurse shark that had
shepherded the buffalo meat for the
preceding SO hours, snapped the bag
before it touched the surface of the
water. Her travelling companion, a
medium-sized bull nose," attended to
Tong Sue, and peace settled down
on the white beach of Cape De Castro.
Ano>eiean Rnval<v