Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-01-11

you are!" asserted the man rough
ly. The brotherhood does not make
mistakes"
you blunder this time. 1 am Mel
SON."
The other laughed derlsively. ~
was told you would claim that name.
Nelson died that night"
"Ah." cried Nelson suddenly, you
are the big brotheri This is the tri-
bunal. You are alone; you thought to
fool me; see you later. Tai Laaor' He
started to leap up the stairs and then
stopped short.
Tai Laao made no move to arrest his
flight. He merely folded his long claw
tipped fingers into either capacious
sleeve and smiled widely.
1t was this smile that halted Nelson's
departure, the smile and certain hiss
ing whisper that sang down the stair
way and bore warning on its breath.
Again he turned to the Chinese.
Have 1t over with-this court Of
yours! Be quick, for l have business
to attend to-matters of Importance"
VERY good, Captain Lesson" COM
mented the man called Tai Lao. "FOi-
low me-"
He led the way to a shadowy corner
and pushed open a door into another
dimly lighted room. At a long table
sat seven men. three on either side
and one at the end. At the farther
end of the table there stood a wide
armed empty chair. Except for a Iow
swung lamp above the table the room
-
Captain Lesson" he announced In
q low voice, ION trial for betraying Sc
crets of the White Brothers"
Captain Lesson died, as you ali
know" said Nelson sternly. 81 saw
him die, killed by your orders. He
died In the street off,
"SilenceP menaced the leader. He
claims to be Nelson, the one who died
that night
The seven nodded in unison, but did
not remove their gaze from Nelson's
angry face.
He kept silence now, briefly review
ing the strange events that had snatch
ed him from the busy streets of the
city into as dismal a den of murderers
as one might hope to find along the
water front Of any Chinese city.
Before his eyes there flashed a pic
ture Of his last year in China. Then
he had been in the diplomatic service
Of his country. Lesson, his friend, an
Englishman in the British employ at
Hongkong-lnspector of health or some
thing of that sort-had interested Mel
son in his establishment of leper col
ony down in Anam.
1t was Lessons ambition to clean
out the Iepers hidden in the city, to
root them out from their places of CON
cealment and transport them to the
colony where preparations had been
made for their segregation. where
their cases should be studied and
modern methods be employed.
It happened that the afflicted ones
looked on the idea Of Punishment with
distaste. They cared little 10 he herd
ed together in a foreign province far
from friends and familiar scenes.
They cared nothing whatever for the
benefits that might accrue 10 poster!ty
through their segregation.
Lessons efforts met with little sue
cess, and he brought the law to his
aid Thus he gained permission TO
capture the afflicted ones. and so his
colony prospered for awhile. Then
there was formed against him the So
ciety Of the White Brothers. created to
protect the lepers scattered throughout
the city from Lessons agents Each
one bore some mark OF the disease.
and they had some other emblem by
which they might be known TO each
other il the mark of the disease was
not plain enough. And this emblem
was the green and gold paper umbreI-
Ia. with it's snaky twisting golden
dragon coiling I'm and out of the green
painted bamboo shoots.
Nelson remeE-Eed the first time he