New Britain herald., 1923-08-02

The man with the irongray hal
who was writing at table under tn,
swinging oil lamp, looked up and hi
eye fell upon the figure of tai
Chinaman who had come noselessl,
to the top of the steps that led to the
veranda. The intruder was as dark.
skinned as a Dyak, and an ugly seal
ran the whole length of one cheek
Hyde, glaring at him. classed him as
a member of one of those many tribes
of fisher-folk created by a fusion OF
Oriental and Dusun blood.
He pushed back his chair and con-
fronted the newcomer.
Well?" he demanded in fluent
Malay. What the devil d'you want ?"
The scarecrows features puckered
into a grin.
las a matter of fact, Hyde" he
Of many things I'm deuced hungry,
for one: my throat's good deal drier
than ] like 1t to be. and I'd be CRATE
full for decent suit of whites!"
The planted scratched his head.
What the! Who are you, any,
way"
Pennington" said the other hum
bly,. Peter Pennington, commonly
referred to as Chinese Pennington" a
Good Lord" He scrutinized the
younger mans features. Presently
he extended hand and Pennington
gripped it hard.
A quarter-of-an-h our later both
men sat facing one another, a glass
resting in the aperture made in the
arm Of each chair for that purpose
As the man with the gray hair looked
across at his guest, he could not re-
frain from wondering at the COM
pleteness of the transformation. The
swarthy complexion, scar, everything
was gone except the one great asset
that made Chinese Pennington the
most dreaded of all detectives in
Borneo-that strange, unaccountable
set of the eyes that made him look
as If his origin had been partly Chi
nese.
There's a hundred -and-ore ques-
tons on the tip of my tongue" he
said, shifting a cigar to the corner of
his mouth. What's puzzling me most |
! suppose, is the motive that's brought |
you here"
"Chai- Hung"
The planter almost jumped from
his chair.
But, man alive. had chit from
the Commissioner. ages ago, saying
hat Chai-Huns was dead"
Pennington smiled blandly.
1--WE all thought so--once; but that
1af he Tor
properties of the man with whom we
had to deal You remember the
Yellow Seven scare, when no white
nan dared go out alone. when we all
began digging out firearms the very
existence of which we'd forgotten?
That was Mr.. Chai-Hung. He'd or
,anized practically the entire Chinese
population and score of times I
bought I'd run him to earth, only to
discover that the inherent cunning of
lis race had succeeded in finding
oophole in the wall I'd built around
him."
The planter emptied his glass.
That's all wonderfully interest
ng," he said slowly, but I still don't
zee"
why ! chose to invade your
bungalow like a thief in the night
III? | am on a game of hare and
lounds-a form of paper-chase that
schoolboy might be beguiled into.
lnly the scent isn't laid in bits of
orn paper--it's blazed--positively
,iazed--in Japanese fans"
Fans"
Sounds idiotic, doesn't it?-but it's
rue enough. The trail led be here
md then stopped abruptly"
What are they like-these fans"
Just ordinary affairs-a flimsy
rame and a handle of polished cane
With some sort of light material
tretched across--and picture on It,"
Hyde smiled.
Nothing very wonderful in that,
lie grunted. 1--WE a dozen or so of
EN- myself"
II daresay you have. Everybody