Evening star., 1922-01-15

u chartered ElNcE oo@s ~~
we'll to Cheng-tu.
about the best cleanup I've ever
NADER he reflected. We've got most
Sf the things taken from the grave OF
The Emperor Ling Tt: also, we nave
The whole magnificent collection OF
Wu LANG the antiquary. Well clear
big money on this-if we safely reach
.ae coast And Benson-drfven MIN
out.'
This was true enough. Benson had
fled for his life from Cheng-tu. Crook
ed work was well enough along the
coast, but up in the interior OF China
old-fashioned ethics prevailed. Jim
Hanecy was glad that he had seen the
last of Benson.
He opened and read again the note
he had received at the last moment
from his partner. Toptit, who mad
gone down-river to secure. IL possible,
the Image of Earth.
Have secured the Image. Am
stopping at the Sen-chi villa near the
Pe-lo-chou. Shall wait for you. Pick
me up. Toptit."
Hanecy called the master Of his
boat.
chou is-the beach of >white herons?"
HALFWAY to the Yang-tse, excel
lency." was the prompt response. This
indicated about a hundred miles down
the Min-kiang, on which river they
were voyaging.
There is a villa near that spot-the
Sen-chi villa?'
The captain repressed a smile.
ct would hardly call it by the po-
lite name of villa" he answered. "The
Winning Game House, as its name
signifies, is devoted to the pleasure Of
gambling. There are women also.
Once it was a very fine resort for
mandarins. but now only unworthy
persons frequent it,"
HANEcY frowned at this. Neither
Il gambling houses nor women
would have drawn Toptit there: some-
how it did not look right. But since
his partner was there. he ordered the
captain to stop at the White Heron
Beach. Then, observing a great ac-
tivity of workmen and teams on the
shore, outside the Cheng-tu walls, he
asked the reason of it.
THAT is the new landing station,
Excellency." said the captain, "for
the line of air machines between this
place and Shanghai. A mail-and-pas-
senger service"
Hanecy remembered, and eyed the
dust-clouded work with interest. A
company. confined to Chinese mer-
chants, with a capital of nearly
million, had organized this air service
fifteen hundred miles above the
Yang-tse and Min rivers. from Shang-
hal on the coast to the great plain of
Cheng-tu far inland.
IF I'd waited a few weeks"
thought Hanecy, I'VE might have
flown to the coast, 1 wonder where
that scoundred Benson went to? It'd
be like him to try and lay me out on
the voyage down, and get the whole
shipload of loot! 1 wish he'd try it,"
It did not occur to Jim Hanecy that
Benson, maddened by his repeated de-
feats, might have thought of this little
scheme some time previously.
Toptit had secured the Image Of
Earth-how, does not matter here
and was really at the Winning Game
House. This much was true, right
enough. sas .'' .s.,
The Sen-chi-lou was a disreputable
ruin set amid wondrously beautiful
surroundings by the river. Once re-
sort Of mand:rins. it was now a den
Of thieving. lechery and murder. Its
delicate buildings we're filthy and
ruinous; it's magnificent gardens had
been untouched for a score of years.
y-H -
the most delicate melons and rare
delicacies had been grown, were now
knse-deep in uncut grass. The ORCH
ard had been cut down for firewood.
The place lay in backwater of the
river. Here was a wide beach of
white sand where white herons had
come in flocks through unknown CEN
turies. A gradual ascent from the
beach still bore traces of it's wondrous
gardening and landscape work; then
the buildings themselves, family gay
with old gliding and lacquer. Still
very beautiful, one had to come close
to realize that this was in reality
whited sepulcher, where the lowest Of
rivermen gambled and drank and
lusted after abomination.
Half dozen small craft lay tied at
the neglected. crazy landing place. In
the main pavilion, whose tattered
silken hangings had once witnessed
the poetical competitions of man.
darins; the keen Intellectual pursuits
of scholarly men; the gently veiled
and refined obscGnity of talented
courtesans and courtly princes-there
was low another scene. Nearly naked
coolies guzzled their wine sweating-
ly; low women exchanged vile jests
across the dice; in one corner hud-
died a yellow body with knife-hilt
protruding from the neck. Over the
place hovered a raw, shameless de-
bauchery.
Into the main doorway came a white
man. This was Benson-rather small,
smooth-spoken, always deadly COOL
Benson, whose Affiliations with the
tongs Of thieves and river folk
brought into his hands many stolen.
beautiful things. Although he had
fed for his life from Cheng-tu. Ben
son had not fled far before finding
friends and haven.
X y x
A T sight of Benson there fell silence
n on the pavilion. All gazed Curl
ously at him. There were more than
a dozen men in the place Their leader.
a brawny and SCARED pilot of the
Rorges named Shwang, came to his
feet and spoke with some respect.
n>r~op S;lapcod him with n gesture.