River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1912-07-18
cHAprER xxx.-fcontinued.l

CHAPTER XxX.-(Continued)
Sypher had very explicitly named
his dinner hour, after the formal Eng
lish fashion, nowhere and by nobody
more rigidly observed than by the
Englishman In the Orient; Eight Tor
eight-thirty," he had said. And as
O'Rourke, very dignified and impos-
ing O'Rourke in his evening dress,
waited for a sampan on the lower
grating Of the Poonah's passenger
gangplank he had round three-quar-
tiers for an hour for leeway-ample le1s-
ure for an interested inspection OF
that part of Rangoon lying between
the floating jetty and Sypher's resi-
dence in a suburb near Dalhousle
Park.
Danny remained aboard ship only
temporarily, being instructed to follow
with O'Rourke's belongings to suitable
accommodations already engaged at
hotel on the Strand, overlooking the
roadstead; from whose windows
O'Rourke was promising himself the
pleasure of watching the arrival of
the steamship bearing his wife to his
arms.
BLESS her dear facet" said he soft
ly "'Tis meself will be desolated If
she's not aboard that Messageries boat
due tomorrow-now that can go
back to her, man of property, no
longer a pauper ne'erdo-wen! Think
of that. We lucky dog!"
A sampan slid noiselessly in beside
the grating O'Rourke let himself eau
tiously into it and incontinently col
lapsed upon the rear seat as the boat
slid away toward the shore lights.
yielding to the vigorous sweeps of the
single long oar welded by the Bur
man in the bows.
Ashore, a tikkagharryl caught him
up and bore him down the silent road
that winds between the Strand and
the rivers edge, then whipped into
Mogul street. where the fluent tide
of life ran broad and deep beneath a
glare of light
All too quickly the tikka whisked
out of the main channel of the city's
life, out beyond the Mohammedan
mosque and the Chetti's hall and the
Christian chapel, and into the soft,
dense night of the countryside-a
world of darkness sparsely studded with
dim, glowing windows; and all too
soon. again, it swung off from rhe
highway into private drive. crunched
over gravel and stopped before the
illuminated veranda of a native bum
galow
O'Rourke got down. discharged the
driver and assembled the steps, little
puzzled to find no one waiting to well
come him, whether Sypher. Miss Pyn-
sent. or at worst a servant Surely
he was expected. But nobody
appeared The grating tires of the
departing tikkagharry had made noise
enough to apprise the household of
the arrival of a guest, one would think.
Nevertheless O'Rourke remained IN
greeted.
He stroked his chm. perplexed. won
dering If by mischance the native
driver had brought him to the wrong
bungalow. But it was now too late to
call him back and make sure. And
this verandah. still and empty as it
was. softly lighted by lanterns depend
ent from its roof. was to him a small
oasis in a world of darkness. With
out advice he was lost, could find his
way no other where. He would have
simply to wait until the house
hold came to life. or until by his own
efforts he succeeded in Quickening it.
He tried to do this latter to the
best of his ability by tapping a sum-
mons on the door-jamb. Through the
wire insect-screens a broad hallway
and a staircase rising to the upper