Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1923-03-21
The stupor Was Not That of Alcohol.

The Stupor Was Not That of Alcohol.
was presently to be loaded, smoking in
the foul, cold yellow air of the harbor.
The handful of passengers disembark-
ed. Far from being the last was
Chez Ming, with his carriers trotting
before him. Lexington was still asleep.
Cons room was in disorder. The
porter came on his rounds with broom
md dust-pan, and found the sleeper.
He reused Con and thought him drunk.
But the stupor was not that OF alcohol.
Levington's pulse was slow. One
side of his body felt dead. Every
hing was thick and puffy to his touch,
and pain ran deep into his head.
The porter spilled out a glass OF
brandy for him, keeping the bottle for
himself, to finish up later.
Lexington sat up shakfly. This
movement brought prickling sensa-
lion in his shoulder, and he fumbled
there. The tiny jabbing was repeated
under his clumsy fingers. Something
soft it was, too, a little tuft OF fea-
theirs. Concealed in the tuft was the
barb of dart.
From far away, he recollected the
story of Andrew March, and the dart
from desert riders. A mate to that
swift, delicate weapon had been cling
ing a long while to his own shoulder.
None but Chez Ming could have blown
II in through the window. In sudden
panic. Con rummaged across his
breast. and discovered that the bit OF
parchment was gone, the leather thong
alone remaining. Chez Ming had en-
tered the cabin and taken the map.
The black bag was overturned
clothing upon the floor. The envelop
containing instructions to be opened al
Shan-sung, had already been torn open
It mattered very little that its con-
tents remained safely enough. Lev
ington was too confused to read now
There seemed no end to his failure.
The shock of his loss, and the reall
cation that he had been feather-strlcK
en- by the Chinese, fastened the return
of full faculties, a painful process
He threw off the feeling that weighed
him down, dressed as rapidly as ne
could command fingers not yet com
pletely controlled by his own Will
made sure that his money had not beer
touched, and then fed from the snip
Tong-hu is no place in which to stop
It was cold. In it's streets the CUTTERS
have welled up their filth until II
overspreads the narrow walk. CooneS
with their carts patter and sloI
through this, while their passengers
glance up and away in the nope o.
getting the Odor out of mind. pas
sage along the waterfront is hanKeC
with squat buildings, seeming as OF
as the Shiny water that twists abou1
the pole foundations. At the afrlva
of a ship, amid petty confusion, thf
coolie carts run faster, always locKlns
wheels and endangering their fares
The natives curse shrilly and untangle
Lexington found there would be
boat in twenty minutes up the river tC
Picking. He mounted through the blacl
dust and walked impatiently aroune
the upper deck.
He was serious now, as if all the
warm tides of life had flooded away
from him. His treasured map was
gone. The Cobb would be meaning
less without it. He thought of tn'
racket of final instructions. Th'
Chinese had not wanted that Coz
examined the broken envelop, ana
started to draw forth the papers with
in, but stopped short. Instantly III
replaced it inside his coat, and grinneC
at himself for having so nearly slip
ped. ;.
Tn five minutes the river boat woult
clear. The sodden air was clover
with far boots and near replies. In'
final barrow of coal was run up th'
plank. Lexington stretched his legs
and might have lapsed into an after
math of his nights drugging, but JUS
now every faculty was livened by
collision with Chez Ming.
The brown skin was close-furlec
around the eyes of jade. Chez Mint
was inscrutable. He regarded TIT
American with the usual blank stare
but honored him with very fam
how. The figured folds of his blous!
Jacket were damp with the river fog
Lexington narrowed the freezin;
space between them, and peered int
the stony eyes