The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1913-05-01

| absence from the new manager to
| accompany his cX-chief to Shanghai
1t was evident to Gordon that the two
men had not yet completed their dis
cuSsion Of the subject that bad refer
ence to "a Iidless eye" and an omin-
Gus killing" Of something
1T cant be my position of manager
that is responsible for all their auimos-
ity." he unused rs he sat in the hot lit
tie office after another excursion into
| the mill, where the coolies were labor
ing like clockwork under the direction
Of Wockkcu's well trained underlings.
As he talked to himself Gordon was
clearing out the dusty. rubbish filed
desk that Wockken had left as q leg
acy to his successor. AS he tossed n
drawcrful of trash into the waste pa
per basket a bit of paper futtered up
ward and settled on the desk under his
very nose A few lines of German
scrubbed in Wockken's small writing
seemed like an answer to the question
that had harassed him ever since he
had overheard the two men talking in
the garden Translated. Y read as fo,-
lows:
A heavy liddod eye against the sunset sky
Conceals n secret that men would have
| revealed
A red and lidless eye vics with "a sunset
sky
Revealing secrets the gods would have
concealed.
| "Rubbishr' commented Gordon, paus-
ing. however. to reread the lines.
''Tommyrotr' he said after the sec
ond reading, but he did not throw the
paper aside. He was drawing thought
fully on his pipe. scanning the paper
with narrowing eyes.
THE lidless eye by Jove!" be ex-
claimed at last. That's the very thing
Wockken was talking about and Often
was promising to put me out of the
way If I medded in the matter 1t
may be they are on the trail of some
big jewel. These old temples are full
of relics hidden away by cunning
priests in time of revolution. perhaps
forgotten and the only clew to their
existence being some legend handed
down from one generation to another"
He tucked the bit of paper into his
pocket and resumed his clearing of the
disordered desk
Gordon had reached the rear garden
wall and leaned there From that emf
hence he could look across at the
broken line of hills against the west
ern sky.
The sunset fiaredsprange and red al
most TO the zenith of the evening sky.
and the land was bathed in rosy
glow. Filled with wonder at the beau
ty of tho scene, Gordon Jeralds turned
slowly and looked ut the color heaped
against the opposite clouds and at the
| glow of the southern hills.
The heavy lidded eyer he gasped
suddenly. staring at a point in the
southern bills II wonder IL Wockken
has discovered that?"
Against the summit of low, grassy
| hill there lay u large oval stone. Above
! it there was n dark growth of some
plant that looked like the line of an
! eyebrow Below the stone there was
|
| eyeIashes Behind the hill was the re
| fiected glory of the sunset and Gordon
repeated the lines he had discovered in
| Wockken's desk that afternoon:
| A heavy lidded eye against the sunset sky
| Coneeals a secret that men would have
| revealed
A red and lidIess eye ves with sunset
sky.
| Revealing secrets the gods would have
concealed
81 wonder If there is any meaning
in that verse" mused Gordon Very
! likely it is Wockken's translation of
a Chinese prophecy-the reference to
gods admits of that superstition.
believe | will walk over to that hill
after dinner Often won't return until
tomorrow morning. and 1t will be my
only chance to investigate this eye
business without that weasel faced
German on my trail"
When dinner was over and the rim
of the moon was just touching the
summit of the hills Gordon slipped
over the garden wall and went down
narrow path that led to the valley.
He skirted the noisy town where the
Chinese were gathered aud made his
way as directly as possible to the
bill where he had noted the heavy
lidded eye" 1t proved to be farther
away than he had suspected in the
mystic glow Of the sunset. and he
was compelled to traverse thorny
thickets and push through the gloom
of cedar grove before he found him
self at the foot of the desired hill.
Above him the ground sloped gently
to the summit, and, although the moon
was quite bright. he could discover no
path In the tangle of the long grasses.
He came upon the curious stone
very suddenly-iD fact, be stumbled
over It, Standing there close beside 1t
be could see no resemblance to hui
man eye. and he chided himself for
INDUCING in a wild flight of imagina-
ton. The stone appeared to be en-
bedded in the turf and from its ap-
pearance was sort of sandstone, pale