Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1918-11-28

whimsical way, / paraphrased an old
voice / once had heard:
A Chinese in taxicab.
a Chinese was to him, by Grab,
And he was nothing more.
And grinned. Since Dual and
had been friends, the spirit of adven,
ture had grown familiar to me. Peo
pie said adventure was dead in these
commercial days.
Well, then, people didn't know. A
tingling thrill of impatience laid hold
of me as in the old days of our early
acquaintance, and l mentally urged
the wheels of my cab as we climbed
the long hill.
Adventure dead! What fallacy.
1t was no more dead today than a
thousand years ago.
1t could not die as long as men and
women loved and gave life to their
children, and reared them with hopes
and aspirations of what they, too,
were to become.
Life itself was the great adventure,
and today Dual, and now /, were en-
gaging in the task of saving life.
What more could there be than that
to save life itself-the life of man
and a woman who loved, and If l was
to believe the words of my paradox
speaking friend, would mate and give
yet another life to the world.
What an adventures! To save life!
And before Dual had left our hotel
he had known. He had read it from
the stars themselves, and told Sheldon
that Mercury and Venus were drawing
to conjunction.
He was a strange man, an odd man,
who spoke plainly in riddle-which
became plain after the things they pre-
dicted had happened, so that you won
dercl why you had not seen his deep
er meaning instead of being confused
by mere words.
Yet what chance did a man like
Connol, trained in the technical meth
ods of the police, stand Of compre-
henGing?
Poor Connel! He was worried.
felt sorry for him in his worry be-
cause l knew from his words, and
their tone of this mornings that a sim
cere friendship for McKabe lay back
of the anxiety he felt.
Well l told myself after bit now,
when Dual really went into action
Connel might give over worry and
take up rejoicing instead.
And surely, now, that the evening
fingers were feeling across the land
scape, Dual must be getting ready to
strike.
All the long day he had been laying
= his threads of leading, knotting each
to the other to form a strong net of
holding.
By now he should be almost ready
to begin drawing up that net with its
catch of poor, blind, distorted human
souls.
And when it was done, like the true
Oriental. he would say
"Kismet! 1t is fate debt Of
Karma-a mans misdeeds have over
taken him at last"
And he would glory that the right
had triumphed. and that he had once
more been made an instrument to that
end.
The cab lurched to a standstill.
Here we are, John" called my
driver.
made no answer. merely opened
the door, climbed down, backwards as
Chinaman will always leave a vehi-
Gle, much as woman leaves trolley
against the rules; fumbled in my
baggy trousers for some coin / had
placed there when changing, and paid
him his fare.
He took it. grinned, and ratified
away.
turned about and faced the great
store had been told to enter. With
out hesitation or any effort at conceal
ment / went up it's steps and pushed
open the door.
A small man hurried forward on my
entrance.
prince Abdul" / said to him soft
ly He turned with sign to me to
follow, and led me back to a stairs.
We mounted, turned, and again
went upward. came out on second
floor and attacked second flight OF
stairs.
At their top he opened a door and
entered little reception-room of great
beauty. Miss Foote has described It,
SO shall not try, save to mention that
as entered saw very large man, as
Cinnamon go, lounging back in a
heavy carved chair.
He was dark, with an oily skin. His
eyes were little, and set close under a
high narrow brow. His lips were
thin. loose and almost without color
He was idly smoking a cigarette,
and l noticed the hand which held It.
II was long fingered, sinewy. and the
nails of the fingers were like talons--
thick, horny. and sharpened till they
looked like claws.
He gave no notice to my entrance
save by his eyes.
For one instant they rested piercing
ly upon me. and turned away. Yet in
that instants inspection felt the soul
of brooding hawk rest upon me.