The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1914-03-06

i was commissioned 10 take squad
Of troopers and follow you into the
interior, and not to come back until l
had you. You know the government
never let's up on criminals in China
they can't afford to. We tracked you
to Prince Tsin Tsai's palace, and
there we discovered, to our amaze
ment, that you had voluntarily offered
yourself as a substitute for the heads
man.
"What?" cried in amazement
"Why-how--"
"The prince had just received the
yellow cord. signifying that he was ex-
pected to commit suicide at the ear
Hest convenient moment While he
was sitting in his house, the fatal dag.
ger hidden in his sleeve, surrounded
by his weeping women folk, you and
your companion broke in in some
mysterious way, and you offered to
suffer the death penalty in his place,
as the Chinese law allows. Why, your
heroism Is the talk of China 1t is
rare enough in these days to find a
Chinaman who is willing to die for his
pr1nce-but you, a foreigner! They
talked Of erecting a temple to you.
They put you In palanquin and con-
veyed you to the empress palace, that
she might gaze upon this prodigy, and
l believe she looked on you through
hole in a screen as you were taken
out. I believe that the court Gazette
has onnnh1od 20 fh~o
generations back. But I concluded
that you were crazy. However, my
duty was to follow and apprehend you.
because you had stolen the vase. 1t
was no task of mine to inquire into
your motives
We'll, they lodged you in the palace
and paid you the highest honors pos
sible. Then, when your time came
they took you to the public execution
ground for the decapitation. But all
this while I and my troop were hur.
rying into Pekin to stop the spectacle
because. under the treaty, English jus.
tice takes precedence over Chinese.
"You seem to have behaved admir-.
ably until you saw the executioner
and then, the natives say, you be-
| came scared. It was q sad throw.
down for them. Many a worthy citi
zen had brought his offspring to the
execution ground to impress them
| with lesson in fortitude. But you
spoiled it all by struggling. However
that prolonged matters a trif1e, and
/ got there in the nick of time and
rescued you. After you've done your
time you can go back and be put to
| death If you want to-"
"But l don't want to-" I shouted
II thought l was going to Pekin upon
| private mission from the Brother
of the Moon, and that the yellow cord
was the sign of honor and he gave
me his own peach-blow vase as a re
| ward"
Tell that to the magistrate" said
the police officer, dryly. "Now, if you
are ready, we will appear before hin,
in his chambers"
He led me across the prison court
yard to the hall of justice, and, enter
| ing by a side door, ushered me up two
| flights of stairs to the magistrates
rooms. When we entered 1 saw a
| short. stout, jolly-looking man upon g
| chair at a desk-and at his side
Nikolai!
He started forward and grasped me
warmly by the hands. There was
nothing upon his face but friends
| welcome.
Il have explained all to the magis
trate," he cried "And now, Summers
he has given me permission to repeat
the process with you.
| Il own that deceived you as to the
nature of our mission to Pekin. Yes
the truth is that bargained with the
| prince to receive the peach blow vase
in exchange for your life. sold you
as a substitute to the eXecutioner
| But all the while I knew that troops
were upon our path and that we would
tons close. But succeeded-and lei
the measure of that success serve tc
restore our friendship"
IF you had failed l should be dead >
said bitterly.
knew he lied. l knew that he had
sold my life for the peach-blow vase
as cheerfully as though l had been
no more to him than the old prince
whom I had seen working his claw
like fingers among the rich stuffs OF
his gown and playing with the silker
cord.
well" said the magistrate cheer
fully, you gentlemen ran your calcu
lations fine, but you forgot one thing
A Chinaman is as good as Caucasian
at horse-deal and especially in
swapping vases. AS you may see by
now, he never gave you his vase al
ALL"
II saw It," / cried. 'T handled It.
"You handled Mr.. Soltykoffs vase,
said the magistrate, laughing. GAS
soon as you had described 1t he sent
for the most expert thief In Pekir
and had it stolen and brought to him
He bought his life with Mr.. Solty
koff's property. However, the vase
has since been restored. Let me sug
gest that when you go bargain hunt
ing again beware Of Chinese princes
with yellow cords"