The Washington herald., 1920-02-05

eieeens OF Andrew March.
CHAPTER x
| on THE RIGHT FOOT
chee Ming thought. n ne had bsen
holding any suspicion arainst the
wnite man who had ridden with
MIN froms the Yang-gun Gate, n
/ was now insured by March's hand.
clasp with Lexington.
! I've been waiting for our friend
Ming. but ] hardly expected to see
you." said Con.
so would Judge" replied
march smiling. But why wait
HE was on the ship com,ns
oxer' said Con. "He'put me under
Win olow-needle, and got my
map. l beat him this far by two
about It," A'A'
! Ah, yes" said March. And Con
did not tell his story In full.
Or l inquired ] might ride on
with him.. added Lexington.
Ihat was all right. But you will
not need the map. and we can allow
MIN TO go his way alone. / did
not expect to pick you up SO soon"
There was a shadow over Leyfnr-
ton. and the elder man felt il
! quickly. He hasteped to add: ..Notn-
ing wrong, boy. Only I could not
: tell you that should be Just a few
| Gays nehind you all the way. IT
d, was planned. II would be tust
plain murder to send one man alone,
out into-that. But we wanted YOU
to think you were going alone
foure all right i wanted you to
lead out. to draw all the attention.
Oh l guess you've learned by now
that your travels are not SO private
as you'd like. perhaps" -.
| Con was relieved. He smiled and
offered his hand again. 'I never
had a real Job before. I like 1t.
Thanks"
The old pride came into Andrew
March's eyes. But he merely said.
in the businesslike tone of a United
ing good"
| 1t appeared that March had ar
rived in Peking about fourteen
4 hours after Levington's departure
by the Western Gate. Con asked:
How did you find Chez Ming?
Il saw him in Tien-tsin, at the
baggage rooms. j am sure he did
not notice me, for I believe he never
had glimpse of me in America
when I was shadowing him, but it's
never wise to be too sure of any
thing about a Chinese. kept out
of his sight until we had come as
! far as the Yang-gun Gate, and
there met him openly. like a
1 stranger. 1t was natural to talk.
/ after finding that he knew English.
He told me he was a wool-mer-
chant.
| IL never gave you the details,
but my acquaintance with Chez
Ming really began one. evening in
Dory Street. several weeks before
! met you in Cincinnati. You know
| the Dory Street district in San
Francisco. / had found that il was
the distributing-point for koresh.
! / managed to connect with Chez
Ming the night he received his
money for all he had brought in,
fresh from somewhere"
Il am honored by your conf
! dence." said the younger man. "At
one time my father and / lived on
! Dory Street"
Then you know koresh.'
81 can't say that / do. was
very young then"
There are twelve thousand rec
orded users of it in the United
States. and that is but a fraction
Of those who enter secretly the bliss
and the agony of it,"
Con felt again the Importance of
| his mission. But he occupied his
hands in attending to the smaller
personal luggage of his friend
"fve been staying in that. Will
you come imp
He indicated a hut. and the sight
OF the low misshapen structure
seemed to bring back TO him the
j taste and smell of that tan-colored
goats milk which they had given
him there, in their mistaken idea
! of nourishment. And now she OF
the iron face had another guest
Chez Ming and his servants
spread their camp just beyond the
group of kennels. and there was
no further communication between
him and the white men.
March made desert veterans
final preparations for a journey of
many weeks. He included with the
usual stores several lunches of
dried meat, hard as bone; also
leather sacks to go over the head
when the hail of gravel in the wind
should cut too keenly across their
faces. At present 10 filled these
bags with cheese. His weapons
were of the finest, and this seemed
odd to Lexington, who knew his
mild ways. Andrew March seemed
changed, older, more stern, in these
preparations. The dart that had
drugged Lexington on shipboard
seemed also to have struck an un-
healed spot in March's soul. This
border-land held bitter memories,
His eyes had narrowed, as though
he felt from distance the biting
dust. He resisted the emotions that
preyed upon him, and the only sign
was an cagerness to be near Lev
ington, to have Con talk to him.
The old magnetism by which he
held the younger man was uncon-
sciously renewed. a vital current
of more than friendship.
Next morning the two servants
of Chez Ming were seen to rias
eastward upon a single camel, TAX
ing leave of a master who needed
them no further. At noon the Chi
nese, with pack-beasts in tow, Sc,
forth alone into the west.
He wants us to follow him.
said March, land IL we did, all the
maps in the world wouldn't help.
Time enough for US this evening""
So when the western sky was
spattered with flame, and long vio-
let shadows stretched out upon the
sands. Commissioner March ana
Commissioner Con Lexington laid
their course according to map, and
proceeded into the. sunset. The
camels had taken their last long