Evening star., 1921-12-25
TIGER f1lLl4nohe Fascinating Sto-By H.

=
A pail Of black powder smoke from
the floating keg mine overspread the
river bank. Through this fog Toptit
saw the other sampans drifting In upon
them, Ngig and his companion strug-
Cling up from the bottom of the craft
into which they had been flung.
Then Toptit was aware of the tower
ing figure Of kang Ho. it's arm NOV
ing swiftly. Two flashes of light sped
from the hand of the giant. Knives!
NGIG Po TUT and his oarsman never
knew what struck them. They
collapsed together, and their sampan
gradually drifted out from shore.
Through the smoke pail Toptit saw
the dim shape of Ngig's junk slowly
settling at, the bows.
This entire affair passed with light
ming rapidity. The explosion was fol-
lowed by an instant Of dead silence.
1t was in this instant that Kang Ho
flung his deadly knives. With the
next second the sinking junk emitted
a pandemonium of yells and oaths.
MY men will be upon them in a
ly. Admiration of the mans scheme
flashed upon Toptit. who was rising.
Before he could speak, something
dropped about his neck and dragged
at him. A wild and furious shout
from Kang Ho showed that second
moose had fallen. Through the thin
ming smoke a horde of figures dashed
from the bushes, and crowded upon
the boat.
They were the soldiers Of the man
DARN. Ngig Pc TUT had arranged a
clever trap for the river pirate and
also for the foreign devil in order to
get the whole reward himself
Toptit perceived that he w6uld be
murdered very nicely. and the blame
would be laid upon river pirates
probably upon Kang HG who would
be executed for the crime.
= These provincial soldiers from the
mandarin's yamen were not the ex-
cellent national army men. but they
knew their business. Toptit saw the
great figure of Kang Ho totter and
go down. overturning the boat. and
sending the whole crowd of assailants
in a pile. AS he himself went into
the mud Toptit felt the knotted silk
cord tighten about his throat. but he
did not resist. He was already free
ing himself.
/ Standing knee-deep in the ooze, he
calmly held the muzzle of his auto
matte against the taut cord and fired.
If you think this an easy feat under
the best of circumstances, try it. Top
tits bullet cut the cord. His second
and third bullets dropped two of the
men above kang Ho. The giant river
pirate came erect with a below.
At this point the yamen soldiers
opened fire If they could not capture
they could kill.
Toptit did not wait to see what hap
pened next. He showed the automatic
into his pocket, gently dropped into
the water, and went away from there
as long as breath would hold him un-
der the surface.
When he came up bullets spla he'd
his face. He gasped new air into his
lungs and went down again. He
emerged to find himself goodly dis
| tance from shore. where the powder
smoke still chung thickly, cloaking
| the scene.
This is very pleasant" he reflected.
turning on his back and letting him
Sn1f haS 4
into a private war in which torpedoes.
pirates and soldier-bandits all take
large shares. The only consolation is
that I have . the tiger hilt in my
pocket. This proves that l am not
| dreaming. I think kang Ho would
be an excellent subject for an epic
i poem. or at least an ode in the epic
style"
For ten minutes he swan hurriedly,
then a heartfelt curse broke from
| him. He perceived a small. swift
| craft bearing down to pick him up,
and from the flags at the stern saw
| that it was one of the patrol cutters
under jurisdiction of the Chang-tu
mandarin.
"A thousand dollars reward-strict-
ly sub .rosa-for the foreign devil"'
| murmured Toptit, philosophically.
That means they'll knock me on the
| head. take me in and collect the re-
/ ward-and the newspapers will tell
how a promising young American was
victim Of river pirates! Damn. This
| is my finish, all right
x 4 * X
THE American consul at Chung
king was on his way up the river
! to Cheng-tu to investigate the beet
sugar industry. There was no beet
| sugar industry there, so it would
| make an excellent subject for a spe-
cial report which would fill many
pages and keep the government print
ing Office busy for while.
The consul sat beneath the awning
of his steam launch and watched the
river. Something was always happen
I ing here-that was one beauty of the
Chinese river life. There was nc
| monotony. Since leaving Hsu-chow
| and starting up the Min to 0heng-tu
! on the final two-hundred- mile lap. the
consul had witnessed one murder. two
! free-for-all fights and several other
T; episodes>of like interest.
Now, as he lighted his midafter-