Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1910-09-16
CHAPTER VI.-Continued.

In the middle Of the block, sunk a
little back from the fronts of the
others, the gOldsmith's shop showed
a single, filmed window; and the pale
glow through 1t proclaimed that the
worker in metals preferred another
light to the suns. The threshold was
worn to a hollow that surprised the
foot; and the interior into which it
led them gloOmed so suddenly around
them after the broad sunlight, that it
was a moment before they made out
the little man behind the counter, sit
4ing hunched up on a high stool.
"Hullo, joe said Harry, in the
same voice that hailed his friends or
the street corners; but the goldsmith
only nodded like a nodding mandarin,
as if, without looking up, he o
them in and sensed their errand. He
wore a round, blue Chinese cap drawn
over his crown; a pair of strange
goggles like a mask over his eyes, and
his little body seemed to pOise as
lightly on his high stool as a wisp, as
If there were no more flesh in it thai
in his long. dry fingers that so mar
~velOusly manipulated the metal. Save
for that glitter Of gold on his glass
plate, and the grin Of a lighted brazier,
al was dark, discOlOred and cluttered.
Over everything was spread a dim
ness of age like dust. 1t envelOped
the little man behind the counter, no
with the frailneSS that belongs to
human age, but with that weathered,
polished hardness which time brings
to antiques of wood and metal. In
deed, he appeared SO like a carved
idol in a curio shop that Flora was a
little startled to find that he was look
ing at her.
Harry" she murmured to Cressy,
who was stirring the contents of a
box with a disdainful forefinger, "this
little man gives me the shivers."
"OId JOe?" Harry smiled indulgent-
1y. He's a queer customer. Been
quite a hgurehead in Chinatown for 20
years. Say, Joe, heap bad!" and with
the back of his hand he flicked the
tray away from him.
The little man undoubled his knees
and descended the stool. He stood
breast-high behind the counter. He
dropped a lack-luster eye to the box.
"Nelly nice" he murmured with
vague, falling infection.
"Oh, rotten!" Harry laughed at him.
You no like?"
INC. No like. You got something
else-something nice?"
No" 1t was like a door closed
in the face of their hope-that falling
infection, that blank of vacuity that
settled over his face, and his whole
dropping figure. He seemed to be
4 50 Ii,
to climb back again on his high stool.
But Harry still leaned on the counter
and grinned overwhelmingly. "Oh, Joe,
you good fen. You got something
pretty-maybe?"
The curtain Of vacuity parted just a
craCk-let through a CLEAN of intense
intelligence. Maybe The gold
smith chuckled deeply, as if Harry
had unwittingiy perpetrated some joke
some particularly clever c%Onjurer's
trick. He sidIed out behind the coun-
ter, past the grinning b~razier, and
shufled into the back of the shop
where he opened a door.
Flora had expected a cupboard, but
the vista it CAV upon was a long.
black, incredibly narrow passage, that
stretched away into gloom with all
the suggestion of distance of a road
going over a horizon. Down his the
goldsmith went, with his straw Slip
pers Clapping on his heels, until his
small figure merged in the gloom and
presently disappeared altogether, and
only the faint fipper-lap of his Slip
pers came back growing more and
more distant to them, and finally dy-
ing into silence. In the stiffness that
followed while they waited they could
hear each other breathe.
Then came the flipper-1ap of the
goldsmith's slippers returning. The
sound snapped their tension, and Har-
ry laughed.
Lord knows how far he went to
get it,"
Across the street?" Flora won
dered.
cor under it. And it won't be worth
two bits when it gets here" He
peered at the little man, coming to-
ward them down the passage, tapping
and shutting and carrying. held be-
fore him in both hands, a square, deep
little box.
1t was a worm, nOndescript o that
he set down before them, but the
Jealous way he had carried it had sug-
Gestsd treasure, and Flora leaned Gag