Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-06-03

stead of lances and spears and jave-
Inns"
! must hurry, hurry. hurry! I must
tell the governor of Yuan Kee, the
blue-eyed Manchu, who there in Kow-
loon, in an English colony, under the
very noses of the British authorities,
was fiinging the iron nets of intrigue
and murder.
With, redoubied strength I bent to the
oars.
And again | increased my speed.
Suddenly the message Of the gongs
and the tomtoms burst out with re-
newed vigor. The reed-pipes shrieked
and moaned. Then a new sound foated
on the breeze-a sound OF far-away
human voices, believing and cursing
and yelling. There was a momentary
lull. Then came a gliding, shifting,
sucking noise. as of boats being
They were pursuing US. I smiled to
myself. All right. Let them come. 1
was nearly there. Another hundred
yards and my sampan would bump the
friendly shore of Victoria.
I turned to Mascasenhas.
We've beat them to ii. old fellow"
/ said. with ringing laugh.
Mascasenhas looked at me. A change
had come over him. He was servant
no more.
I'VE must turn down the river, mas
ter. and away from the land. Quick
He swung the tiller at right angle,
and the sampan obeyed with protest.
ing swish and gurgIe. We were head
ed away from Hongkong.
Momentarily l thought again that he
was a traitor.
Damn your cried. What the devil
do you mean by"
voice.
you cannot fight fire with fire, nor
water with water. Listen, master
They have launched their boats"
] was becoming impatient
Rot, man, We're nearly home"
Mascasenhas laughed a cold, mirth-
less laugh.
Home? Did you say home? Is Hong
kong home to you? Can it ever be
home to you or to me? Hongkour is
Asia. though the cross of St George
flies from the top of the governors
palace. And Asia can never be home
to the white man. No. no. no. They
would get US over there though a mil
lion soldiers were camping in front of
our hotel; though thousand dread
naughts were swinging at anchor in
the bay, with decks cleared for action
They would get US and kill us even If
we went to hide in the highest steeple
of the English cathedral, or in The
lowest cellar of the gunners barracks
They would wait-a second, a min
ute, an hour, day, week they
cause they are Chinese-and will not
even have the mercy Of tho hooded
cobra, which Kisses before it strikes
They will strike at us suddenly, out of
the dark. with weapons which YOU do
not know. which your white mans
mind has never dreamt of, will never
dream of. We be marked men YOU and
l. See" He pointed to the sky. AL
ready they are signaling from shore
to shore"
/ looked.
A whirling column of smoke was ris-
ing from the mainland in straight, sill
ver-gray lines, which melted slowly
into the purplish sable of the night:
and. as l watched. other smokeshafts
took up the message from Victoria
wavered. motioned and disappeared. A
minute later a fire signal blazed up
from distant hill above kowloon with
a dancing. slittering light that was like
sunshine upon running water.
You are right, Mascasenhas," said
But what can we do? What's the
incidence"
We have exactly one chance master
OF mine-one chance But 1t is a good
one. We must head away from shore
and cut straight through the narroWs.