Evening star., 1921-03-20

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British and American coneuls, that !,
was absolutely necessary to cal
Wang Foo in upon the case. Tor al
the time and the trouble and tne
money expended upon the native ON
GERS and constables had SO far pro
duced absolutely nothing.
So the cables flashed the call for tnt
great detective to his modest nome III
the Red Cloud alley at Hongkone
and in less than twenty-four hours ne
was steaming northward along the
China coast.
CA H. Mr.. Wang. / declare. the
promptest man on all our force
if I may have the honor of including
him in our number exclaimed tne
inspector as he greeted the man OF
mystery, who was just stepping ou'
of his jinrikisha in front of head
quarters. "Delighted to see you. sir
but we didn't expect you for a day OF
two yet"
81 like to delay as little as possible
when a life is at stake modestiy re-
piled Wang Foo. "and l understand
from the little have heard, that TINS
is case of that kind Inspector Is II
not?"
II regret to say it is, sir
We'll, we have no time to lose. Lei
us go into the inner office and heaI
the whole story from beginning &c
end" And suiting the action 10 the
word. the two detectors or crime
passed within and securely closed the
doors.
You see." remarked the inspector
as they came to the end Of the inter
view, "there are several different pos
sibilRies-"
NO" interrupted his visitor. there
are not several; there are put Two
and two only. She has either beer
drowned or kidnapped, and l am al
ready strongly of the opinion that l,
is the latter But I don't want tina,
opinion to leak out. and SO you VIII
please consider it absolutely secre'
for the present.
Securely locked and sealed. as tne
post office men say of the mailbags,
smiled the inspector as he tapped ine
top of his head significantly with ms
nine stem. "And you will start 1oi
the Bridge of Lions at once, take II!
mo, not at once: l must see all tne
members of the party nrst, ana tha'
will take several days. ana then ,!, Mmel
l start for the scene Of the tragedy.
he paused and waved his hand slgnih'
cantly from right TO left. as the
Chjness always do to indicate igno-
rance-"why. no one VIII kno" IL
don't You see:
So back to his old room at me pas
ketmaker's home he hurried for a
soothing bowl OF tea. quiet smoke
and an opportunity to think over all
that he had heard from the ponce
The next few days were spent In the
consulate, where he was most cor,
daily received by DR.. Holloway, ano
where every opportunity was given
rim To fnterrogate the members OF the
houseboat party-all except George
Weatherby, who was still detained by
the American surgeons at the nos
pital, though rapidly recovering IRON
his injuries. He also made caretul
Of all the consular serv-
.nta who had accompanied the party
and who. by special courtesy OF the
nrovinoial authorities. had been re-
leased from Imprisonment ana per.
mitted to return to their du1les. ~
only remained for him to nnd the
boatman and his crew. ana :; .nese .h M nd
c;ty iaiI. So, after a private inter
slew with the patient at the hospital
ne made his preparations to can upon
his ercellency the tao tai at his va
men or official residence.
Declining the kind lnvitatlon OF 1ne m
pN~
t,o knew full we'll that Chinese man
darins are always prejudiced against
~ native visitor that uses a foreign
cnnveyance-he engaged a complete
ontft from a local furnisher and IN
the morning appeared at the va me1
gates with uniformed bearers anS raS
naner card to the Office OF the secre'
tarv and was promptly admitted to
The hall of reception. where the In
evitable tea and pipes were Waltine
an the carved ebony tables, and from
here, after half hours delay. ne wa@
mshered into the private inner cham
her (known in the va men as BE
Wind the Green Curtain"D, where his
old friend the tao tai was waiting to
"Nien va! Men va, Lao hung tze
hiang moo hwai pei yen. l1t II,
INV venerable brother has passed pc;
fore my humble eyes") was his cordia
Tai foo, Tai foo. Keng hung poe
kang tang" tGrand is the honor
Grand is the honor. OF wnicn tnS
humble brother is quite unworthy!
was the corresponding answer OF
wang Foo, as they both bowed do"r
to the very ground.
After the ceremonial preliminaries
and the usual inquiries as 10 heaitt
and happiness, MS
asked: "Is it in the interests OF the
brotherhood"
wang Foo did not answer by words
but drawing the lighted taper IRON
his pipeholder, he made three circles
OF FIRE in the air. and in the center
drew the mystic symbol tao" the an
cient warning of death to him whc
reveals the secrets of the order.
"'Tis we'll. then. let us proceed:
And. summoning the attendants te
close every door and window, they sal
in secret conclave for an hour. At tht
end Of this time they had the boat
man and his crew brought before
them. but all the carefully directed
questions of the detective added moth
ing to the simple fact of their having
found the form Of young Mr.. Wealth
erby that night before sailing lying
senseless at the foot Of the grea
stone lion.
"Shall we press the questions fur.
ther?" inquired the Tao Tai. with &
significant finger pointing to the tor
ture irons in the court yard The poor
prisoners kneeling on the grount
trembled as they heard the words. FOL
they knew only too well their mean.
ing. Thinking that their fate lay II