The Washington herald., 1912-01-22

men ordered a halt. under the lee Of a
high board fence-the boundary OF a miry.
evil-looking yard.
Now, me sons" said Hogan, right
here is where we have to show a bit OF
generalship, ye understand. Go youse two
through this yard to a small back door
yen find at the far end. Knock three
times an whistle Some wan will look at
ye through a peephole Seem that ye
are only kids an harmless-lookin'. they
will let ye in. II ye find the big nagur
| there. Il is up TO youse to open the door,
sudden. an let US in. II they hinder ye
from openin' the door, yell-we'n hear ye-
II the nagur Is not there, make some
excuse-a friend ye wanted is not there,
or ye have no money to buy card av
hop-an' come out again. Then well hang
around an wait for the black gazabo.
Can ye make good? Ye can7 Then go
| TO it,
The boys walked through a yard filled
with mud, bricks, and wreckage OF every
| imaginable kind. At the far end Of the
yard they brought up against a brick
wall. They fumbled along this wall. soon
finding the little doorway. and tapped
thrice upou the panels. Somewhere IN
the woodwork Of the door a spark OF
light CLEANED. and they were uncom-
fortably aware that they were under
scrutiny. They whistled softly and tapped
the door again II opened and China
man confronted them.
''You want smoke?"
'Of course we do" SoIano answered.
The yellow man looked them over. and
then beckoned them inside the portals.
shutting and boiling the door behind
them. Cat-footed, noissless, he conduct
ed them up a hallway damp with mold,
noIsome with dirt and the smell Of many
nights Of opium Cooking" and guided
them into a room OF considerable size
A mattress, gray with dirt. hay on the
floor, and on this mattress three men
two negroes and one white man-were
stupidly reclining, while a peanut OIL
lamp burned on a bit Of mating near oy,
and a bamboo pipe was being passed
| from hand to hand. The sweet, pene-
tratIng. sickish smell Of opium thickened
the air: reaches ran, fearless and In
quisitive, along the floor. and the wooers
OF the POPPY god, silent. lost in happi-
ness, drowsed. smoked, and drowsed
again. contented in their horrible sur
roundIngs as monarchs IN q palace hall.
Cheap. fslla, hims." said the China
man. You want bunk, yes!
Curtains Of cheap. drab material mask
ed wide stretches of the wall. From
behind these curtains came the hum Of
subdued conversation and the perfume
of the cooking hop" The Chinaman
parted two strips OF the drab cloth and
showed a bunk between the curtains and
the wall. Brockett and Solano looked
up and down the room. There was no
sign Of their quarry. The boys quletly
entered the bunk which the Chinaman
had assigned them, and their host quickly
brought them the full paraphsrnala OF
the opium smokers pastine-
You know how cookT questioned the
yellow man, as the young fellows handed
him a few silver coins. You not can
cook, me cook for you?"
Not lust yet" said Solano- Let US
rest a nttIe-we are tired and need to
stretch out awhile before we smoke"
IAN lite. You get leady smoke, call
me. I cook for you And the heather
shuffied away to his eyrte near the door,
where, with a mulatto woman, he al
ternately chatted softly and cast up ac-
counts on the age-old counting strings
Of the Mongolian race.
This is worth watching" whispered
Brockett. "Our black man may be in
one Of those hunks, or he may come
| in at any time We can stay here a
little while before calling in our friends
or going out again
A voice came to them from 4 nearby
bunk-a voice that they had heard be-
fore. Both boys started agitatedly as
they recognized its thick, oily tone, but
they restrained their impatience by grip
ping each other with firm though shak-
| ing hands.
''Ah done tole 70. nah fren'," came
| the voice, dat dis heah place am
haunted. Haunted by a ghos' wivout
any haid. Dass right Long time ago.
dere was a man done been killed right
heah. Dey cut of his haid, took de
haid away wiv EN-, an left de body.
Evah since den dis heah haidless man
have done haunted de spot. Now an den
he comes right in heah an scahes de
smokehs silly. Now an den yo'l see
him in de yahd. Nah Ill fren', dis amt
no joke. Onst every so often dat hald-
less man comes roun' heah, an Ah'm
Amos suah dat he's pretty nigh due.
Didn't yo' neveh see no ghostses oven
in Manila?''
TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW.