Evening star., 1921-12-18
4 I'M HANECY stood in the street
outside the house of mourning
and inspected his enemy with

and inspected his enemy with
grim smile.
Smallpox" he said curtly. Going
in with me. Benson?"
Benson. who was one of the biggest
curio dealers and agents in. China.
shook his head. Only the glitter in
his short-sighted eyes betrayed his
vivid hatred of Jim Hanecy. He was
q rather small man, soft-spoken, very
deadly. allied with all the forces of
graft and evil in China.
"The game isn't worth the candle"
he answered.
Hanecy regarded him with that
same thin, dangerous smile on his
bronzed hatchet face. The two men
stood in side street of Cheng-tu.
Somewhere in or near this city, 1900
miles from the coast, were number
of objects recently taken from the
grave of the Emperor Ling I'll of the
Han dynasty-objects which. from an
historical and artistic standpoint of
value, were worth their weight in
rubles to any collector or museum.
One Of those objects had been in
the possession of the man who had
just died of smallpox.
"One word, Benson" said Hanecy
slowly. You're a clever devil. The
mandarin here Is working for you.
You'd cheerfully pay high to have me
killed. Now. Benson, you're too slick
to give me any excuse for coming to
you and putting a bullet into your
ugly hide-but you look out! All 1
want Is the excuse"
Benson produced a cigarette and
lighted it. He knew that Jim Hanecy
would shoot him if given an excuse
Hanecy had a reputation for keeping
his word-but Benson was a man who
never lost his head. So now he re-
fused to let himself be shared into
saying anything. Hanecy was only
talking from suspicion. anyway.
You have gone into partnership
with Toptit, haven't you?" Benson in
quired casually.
Il have" snapped Hanecy. And
we mean to get the whole Ling I'll
outfit"
Benson smiled. waved his cigarette
with an assurance that maddened
Hanecy. and responded:
There's one piece you won't get
nobody will get 1t! That's the piece
in there, the tongue-amulet Of Ling
II. It's been lost. The man is dead"
You're such a cursed liar I'd hate
to believe you," said Hanecy sourly.
Then 60 in and ask"
HANECY turned on his heel and
strobe into the house of mourn
ing. Benson glanced after him with
a vivid CLEAN in his eyes. then
shrugged his shoulders and walked
away.
A few moments later Jim Hanecy
came from the house. frowningly.
After all. Benson had told him the
truth-probably had discovered it
through the local mandarin or from
official sources. The emperor's ANU
let had disappeared some days pre-
viously while the man lay sick. Now
the man was dead and the amulet
was gone.
Tough luck" murmured Hanecy.
"Old Toptit will throw fit when he
finds it's been lost. One of Benson's
crooks may have stolen it-but I
rather think not"
He slowly retracsd his steps
through the crowded streets to the
house Of old Kiang. the fur merchant.
where his friend and partner. Toptit,
awaited him. So far as the emperor's
amulet was concerned. there seemed
to be a complete checkmate.
In the Hsuo-tau-kai, or street Of
was playing with peculiar object
which he had picked from garbage
pile in the gutter.
This plaything appeared to be a
dead cicada, about two inches in
length, Of a beautiful transparent
leaf-green. The boy had inserted a
cord through a hole in the nose, and
drew the cicada after him by the
cord. It was a very pretty plaything.
A poor scholar, who was earnest
enough but more ignorant than his
title justified, was sitting in contem-
plation when the boy passed him.
Ignorant or clever, scholars are
scholars the world over. This yellow
man with the horn spectacles saw
what the boy was playing with and
realized that no real cicada would
last ten minutes at such game: also.
that this cicada seemed to be petri-
fed or carved from stone. He called
to the boy, and the cicada changed
hands for matter of two coppers-
cash.
Examining his purchase, the scholar
found that the cicada really was
carved from stone-a stone resem-
bling jade, but like no jade that he
had ever seen: On the belly were
cut two characters of some ancient
script which he could not read. De-
termining that it was a luck-plece,
the scholar tucked it into his giidie
and took his accustomed way to the
south gate, toward the temple OF the
famous minister, Chu-ko Liang, where
he was wont to study the two memo
rails of this great mantle memo
riaIs which have become classics and
sources of political inspiration to
China.
Now, there were a number of things
about this cicada which the poor
scholar did not know and probably
never would know, since he was
mere learner of words and not an
ethnologist.