Evening star., 1921-03-27

his hands and heard him speak the
| words"
They closed the shutter and re-
turning 10 the table stood facing each
| other for a moment in perfect silence
They uttered but two words as they
took the sticks Of burning incense
and waved them in the air, ''The OATH!
And so Hongkong was saved from
a disaster which-it little suspected.
<<1 THINK said Wang Foo to In
spector Higgins. as he made his
! promised visit to him on the day fol-
lowing the interview in the Red Cloud
er to Government house and enlight-
en- his excellency as to the facts in
| the case"
Right you are. And. as time is
precious. We will order the jinriki-
shaws at once" touching the bell for
! the office boy as he spoke. They
were fortunate enough to find the
governor disengaged and. after the
doors OF the private Office had been
/ securely closed, the inspector began:
J Your excellency. our friend Mr.
wang here has some very important
information on this native trouble
and l thought we had better come up
, at once and see you together. so that
! further"
! II am very glad to welcome you
both" was his courteous reply, "and
j want to say right here that I am
: relieved to find that it is not as wide
spread as / feared Just in a quiet
j way. l have had one or two of my
| friends look into their servants quar-
ters and while there are some that
nave packed up their belongings there
are others that do not seem to have
/ been affected at ALL"
/ All exclaimed Wang Foo. "tha.
is as / suspected: it is confined en-
| tirey to one of the large 'tangs' or
! guilds. and they are very secretive
among themselves and conceal their
| friends"
! We'll. let US have the whole story"
at is just this: The Ching Chene
! Tang Cor Pure Truth GuildD is a
semi-religious organization which
counts among its members a large
number Of the servants employed in
the colony. They are all capable men.
but while bright and intelligent in
other matters. they are really slaves
! to the grossest superstitions and are
completely under the sway of a body
Just at present a rascal by the name
! of Hulk Shak' or Black Tongue -
who is really a renegade priest from
one OF the most respectable temples
| on our own island-has hypnotized
| them all by representing himself as a
pilgrim from Thibet. and has promis-
ed them untold riches if they will fol-
| low the revelation of the Book of
| Mystery under his guidance"
And what, pray, may this ancient
governor. deeping interested in the
recital
| 1T is an old and very sacred vol
| ume. sir. which pretends to go into
| the secrets OF astrology and to reveal
the mysteries of heaven and earth
| 1t contains an account OF the earth
quake which destroyed Hongkong over
| three hundred years ago"
"Ah! ! have heard faint rumors of
I "And then goes on to predict = re-
currence of the same. when eight
cycles OF sixty years shall have rolled
away. which makes it a hundred and
twenty years from the present date.
But surely no human being can
| predict an earthquake"
That is just the point, sir. You
and l know that. but these poor. ieno-
rant souls will believe anything and
everything the Book may tell them.
Now this rascal has skilifully erased
the number eight before the char
acter for cycles and submitted tho
| number six. bringing it. you see. ex-
ectly at the present time. The in
formation and warning has been So
cretly conveyed to every member Of
! the tang and they have been told to
| be ready to flee at moments notice
! which explains at once the packing
OF the trunks and the rolling-up ~
the bedding"
And what is the signal Of the com.
| ing quake to be-"
Smoke issuing from the cave of
| the clouds on the Sacred Island. yonr
| excellency. for there was eyidentiv
volcanic eruption there on the day be-
| fore the great earthquake occurred -.
"Ah. I see, some confederates are
| to go there and start fire, the smoks
| of which will be visible from orr
! peak. and that is to indicate to the
| faithful that the earthquake will fol-
| low on the morrow
Exactly So.
And that same night they will all
| fee to parts unknown-'
Yes. and thesgangs of thieves and
/ looters stationed at convenient points
| will then swoop down and help them.
selves to what is left"
! We'll. well. gentlemen" said tho
governor when Wang Foo had con-
| cluded the expose. this is indeed a
| revelation. And now. let me ask
what is our plan of action?"
spoke up the inspector-"and I NAV
say that MIR. Wang and the depart,
| ment are working perfectly together
on the case-the first thing that we
have agreed upon is that guard Of
soldiers must be sent to the Sacred
| Island to prevent the possibility OF
any one landing there and lighting
fire in the Cave Of the Clouds"
quite So Shall they be foreigners