The Washington herald., 1915-09-26

Among the arts and crafts of The
world, Mr.. Mollison, two-born in he
East. both Of them-have defaed an ,ba
efforts Of Western civilization to nnast.r
and their secret remains a secret still To
all lands but those Of their origin. One
OF those arts 10 the Turkish secret Of 1n-
laying gold upon steel: the other is tSa
manufacture OF Chinese. vermilior For
thousands Of years the secret f, 1r1uIa
Tor the preparation Of that masn .fcent
color, engraved upon the surface OF sev,n
green beryls. has been handed down from,
father to Son of the great house of Frne
Loo Chung. and was not aware until 7
, read an account this morning in an Old
Chinese paper that any eve but one be-
longing TO that race had ever looked UPON
those sacred and jealously- guarded bervls
In that paper. however. read tbat a
treacherous orshoot OF the race-one II
An Swong-probing the secret OF their
whereabouts. had got at them. stolen
them. and run of with then-only. how
ever. to be caught red-handed and To
suner violent death for hfs treachery
But. according to the report. when the
oeryls. which were recovered from him
ana taken back to their repository, came
to be counted IT was discovered thar nna
was missing.
Shall tell you what became Of n INV
friend? An English sailor. recently dis
charged from the hospital and unable to
read or write. picked il up in the street
within foot or two Of the spot where
Ii All Swong was caught and seized. and
with It tube Of vermillion, and put the
lot in his pocket, not knowing its value
nor that the natives whose tongue he did
not understand. paid by the owners Of IL.
were inquirfns for IL everywhere. That
sailor was David Lasswade, II was
within an hour of his sailing that he
learned the slightest thing regarding the
value OF thc stone he had picked up Ave
or six nights before. The knowledge
came to him then by inadvertently pro-
dueins the stone in the presen-e of a
felNw-seaman an Urasian - who had
signed on for the same ship with him.
and the instant the man saw II he recog-
nized it. told him its history. ii immense
value, the vast reward that could be xor
for 1t if caution were used. the certainty
OF violent death If it were found upon
him. and instantly laid claim to 4 half
share in it. under penalty Of betraying
its finder to the Chinese II he were re-
fused Lasswade did refuse Like the
silly fellow he was he believed that once
on English soil he need not fear asssas-
sins, whether Chinese or not, and that
he could then sell the stone for a good
price to some one who would attend to
the matter Of negotiating for the return
of 1t to the house of Fung Loo Chang
and so carry a nice little sum home to
his wife and child. The ship sailed and
the Urasian with It, but that night he
dropped over the side and swan ashore
and betrayed his mate. as he had said he
would. for the sake Of the reward his
treachery brought him. Evidently the
cable came into play and agents in Eng
land Of the Fung Loo Chang were set on
the watch for Lasswade, for when the
poor chap arrived in his native land and
hired man in a public mouse to write
that letter to his wife. telling her that
he was on his way home to ker with
something valuable which he had picked
up he first became aware that Cinnamon
were after him and that his positien was
one Of danger
I'm a panic, he got away from the
place. eluding them adroitly, and started
on his way home. believing that he had
slipped them entirely. and 1t was not un-
til he was coming across the fields near
mis- mothers house-where he met and
spoke to the boy Owen-that he was un-
deceived. For Of a sudden, after the boy
had passed on and left him and he was
within fifty yards Of his mothers house.
two Cinnamon started up from behind
a knoll on the waste and made toward
him. Whether they meant violence or
the return OF the stone We shall never
know: but to him their appearance here
meant nothing but violence, and in
panic he turned tail and ran with all the
speed he was capable of One thought
alone was in his mind: that. come what
might. they shouldn't get the stone even
Il they killed him and. with a wild
hope that his mother might find it. as he
passed that fowl inclosure. he took the
oeryl from his pocket and cast it over
he wall. dinnly conscious of all the fowls
rushing to one spot as it fell.
Well. the Chinese didn't catch him,
Mr.. Mollison. He got into the woods and
made for a sort of cave he'd dug out
here when he was a boy. and they
an past him and never discovered his
hiding place from that hour to this. They
missed him and after a time. when it
became dark and he thought of the
,eryl lying out there in the fowl yard.
all unguarded when IT might as well be
afe in the woods with him, he crept out
md went back to get it, he couldn't hnd
trace of 1t anywhere. and II was not
Until he remembered that wild scamper
II the fowls when ne flung it into their
midst that an idea of what might pos
IDLY have become of it entered his mind.
Ind set him running amuck. as 1t were.
mong the unfortunate birds. As sur
missed. he flew at the hens first and kill
d three of them before he remembered
hat they were less likely to have snap
,ed up the stone and swallowed 1t than
were the voracious and more stupid
Iucks and geese, and he went Staying
nd disemboweling them right and left
Until he came upon the one in whose crop
he stone lay. and his bloodthirsty search
vas ended
The rest is very soon told. for you
an ina gine that from that hour he
welt in his cave retreat in the woods
nd life was a life of mental torture.
lie dared not risk visiting his wife
r his mother for fear of those Chi
ese getting a hint that the women
nd possibly revenging themselves
pom him by some savage act toward
hem, yet he ached to let them know
hat he was alive and safe, and could
OF because he was unable to write a
'ord to convey the intelligence to
hem. 1t was in this dilemma that he
it upon the idea Of the scarlet cubes.
n sneaking pilgrimage to his own
ouse under cover of the night. he had
zen those little building bricks lying
n the doorstep just where the child
ad left them, and they put the idea
Ito his head. In the belief that. with
lie Chinese in the neighborhood, the
tory of the beryl must surely have
OF out and perhaps come to the ears
his wife, he smeared the cubes with
lie v,rmillion as sign that he still
ad the stone. and he added cuts from
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