Evening star., 1921-02-20

secured his hog-skin trunk. He drew
out several garments and. laying them
on the chair unfolded an embroider-
ed vest of yellow silk. In the middle
with q double red cord. He slowly
undid the knots and out upon the ta-
BILE rolled the stolen fillet, right un-
der the eyes OF the self-confessed
thief!
was it possible that Wang Foo had
er. not at all! He had not stolen it.
he had simply appropriated 1t for
little while and for a very special
purpose. He had simply "loong ed
1t. as the Chinese say. and every old
resident in the far east has had. at
some time or other in his career. to
encounter that most felicitous term
"loong." 1t is an ancient word. handed
down from hoary antiquity. and is
always used as convenient term to
explain a mysterious disappearance.
For instance. you miss some day an
article of jewelry or wearing apparel.
or it may be some useful tool or i'm
plement. and when you interrogate
the Buddha-like houseboy or coolie
and ask them where it has gone the e
no makee stealee, my tinkee some
Ipiecee man hav' 1oong.' S'pose
waitchee little time. can come back
dis side" And there you are! There
appealing to the police. for they are
as helpless as you are. So you pa
tiently bide-a-wee and in a few days
you will almost certainly find the
missing article in its usual place.
Some one in your employ has lent
what is more likely. he has rented 1t
out for q small consideration. with
the guarantee that it will eventually
come back. 1t has simply been
'loong- ed"-that Is all! And SO Wang
Foo had "loong- ed" the golden fillet!
fully examined II. It was apparently
a plain gold band. Of pure and heavy
metal. about an inch ir width and long
enough to be bound around a lady's
head and fastened with two ingenious
buckles at the ends. He ran his finger
gently along the edge several times
as II feeling for something rough.
I "Ah! j thought so!" he said. and.
taking his magnifying glass from it's
little case in his sleeve. he discovered
delicate black line which appeared
to be joint in the metal. 1t was but
the work OF moment to insert the
blade Of his penknife into the line
ana: with little pressure. to cause a
70 ny open and reveal the interior OF
. the hllet. Something white met his
eye: and the glass showed it at once
20 be fnided strip Of paper. Bend
bacco pipe into a hook. he carefully
drew II out without tearing and pro-
| ceeded TO unfold 1t. 1t proved to be a
large sheet Of fine white tissue. COW
! cred from top to bottom with the
eral mysterious diagrams. 1t took
more than an hour to decipher it all.
but when 1t was finished he leaned
back In his chair and drawing a very
long breath. exclaimed with that feel
IN lot AtS loH
to every great diacoverer: so, 80 !!
Madame Rodinsky, 80 these are the
| thoughts that you claim to catch
; floating In ether are they? How in.
tterss'ing sa IsS.s How very Interest.
lclairvoyance 10. after air.
After breakfast with his host and
the family the following morning
Wang Foo remarked that he had some
very very, important mp tai, T. writing to do in his
noon. Taking from his hogskin trunk
his travelling ink case and pans. he sat
down at the table and never arose
until he had completed two exact
lish and one in Chinese. which he
carefully worked out from the RUS
stan original by the aid Of his little
dictionary and phrase book. He then
and, with the aid of the silver wire.
pushed It back into the interior Of the
case and carefully closed the opening.
iTHE second stage in the '1oong-ing"
process. to be sure. was a little
more complicated and dangerous than
the first stage Of procuring the fllet
from Nine. Rodinsky's apartment, but
tactful native diplomacy-in which
the hotel servants played their re.
spective parts-enabled the amah to
say to the good lady few mornings
afterward: 20 Missee. Missee, my hav'
hndee dat soldee libbon you makee
lose. Pleasee you come chop chop
look see!"
You have found 1t. Where? Show