Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-09-14

interesting hour In discussing the
of the missionary and In
whether 1t could be possi-
BILE that a contest Of this kind had
actually taken place in their midst
and been SO carefully and SO success
fully concealed.
Goodness knows. 1t may be-" lacon-
ically remarked Brownlow. "for all
you and know to the contrary. they
may be smuggling each other now right
under this very private Office. thirty
feet or more under ground and you
and a-sitting here in blissful igno-
rance. as the poet says"
Hardly that" replied the inspector,
"for these headquarters are resting on
solid granite; but it's just possible
they may have burrowed larger tun-
mel than we've found yet under some
other part Of the town. Do you re-
member the day we opened up that
old drain by the post office and found
a whole gang of them buried there
like moles. sleeping off the effects OF
the opium"
II do, indeed, sir. and the wonder
was how many human beings could
have survived 1t, for 1t surely was
worse than the old Black Hole OF
Calcutta in the days Of the mutiny."
"Dr. Bradlaw of the Church Mission
Hospital tells me as how he believes
they can get along with less fresh air
than any human beings that ever
lived. Says they not only close up all
the windows in the hospital, but &C
tually stuff up all the ventilators and
airholes with bits Of paper. SO that
not breath can get In"
you're right, Brownlow, don't be-
lieve our laws of life and oxygen ap-
ply to this portion of the human race.
Well. as to this prizefght story. I
suggest we get the ideas Of the ma
tive staff upon it and see what they
think Of its possibilities"
Fright you are. sir, and here's hop
ing that II they have dug right under
us they won't think 1t worth while to
put dynamite in the tunnel and blow
us all up. sir"
ooh! They'll never do that"
"Why not, pray?"
"why, don't you remember that old
Kang. who was on the force two years
ago, explained to us that the Chinese
considered that terrible waste of time
and strength; just to dig tunnel for
the sake of blowing it up, even II 1t
did send the foreign devil' with 1t into
the air7"
Eyes, I believe he did, sir"
In accordance with the above agree
ment the native staff of officers and
detectives was taken into consulta-
ton, but they didn't give the story
much credence. They agreed that 1t
would be well night impossible for q
gathering Of that size to take place
regularly without its leaking out
and, besides that. prize fighting was
really a western form OF amusement
for which the Celestial had not YET
any very great fondness. The whole
affair would probably have been al
lowed to quietly die out. had not the
persistent Mr.. Smalltree taken 1t upor
himself to intrude into. the sacred
precincts Of government house ant
repeat to Sir Arthur Wayne-Evingtor
the report of Lord Dubbins of Aber
deem. This led his excellency to sent
for Inspector Wallace and to insis
upon a thorough and exhaustive
search being made as to whether any
thing in the nature of q prize fgh
could have actually taken place in tn
colony under ground or abov
ground-without the knowledge
the authorities. The inspector. in nj
dilemma, naturally turnedi to his bes
and most helpful friends in the mat
ter of unraveling crime, and SO tina
evening found him by appointment !
the upper room of No. 6-s-6 IN tn
Red Cloud alley, smoking soothin
cheroot in the armchair of the grea
Wang Foo, the prince Of Chinese de
tectives.
Wang Foo listened long and pa
tiently to the inspectors story, max
ing his usual careful notes in tn
we'll worn leather notebook from n
sleeve.
IN