Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1925-09-04
THE
DECISION OF
HIP TOY
By JOHN X. TURNER
e by Short story Pub. Coz

wAD any one suggested to Miss
- Elsie Smith, teacher Of Chinese
Mission Number Three, corner
Third and Post streets, that
Hip Toy-rosy-faced, innocent-eyed,
neat and Clearly, eighteen-year-old Hip
Toy, her Hip Toy-might be a blood
letting highlander, she would have In
dlgnantly replied that it was Islander
and an outrage, Why, of all her 81
pupils enrolled not one prayed louder
nor came more near to singing In tune
than her Hip Toy
And yet Hip Toy was highlander.
The proof of the pudding was In the
long barreled revolver which he ca
ressed beneath his blouse. Hip Toy
had not yet taken the life Of fellow
being, but he was going to take the
life of Bing Chee. There could be no
douht of that. True, Hip Toy was a
regular attendant and beloved pupil
of Mission Number Three; true, he
prayed and sang as industriously as
the best Of them, but he considered
these things merely as irksome ex-
igencies Of situation In which he was
learning, free Of charge, to count
American money, TO speak English, to
read, to write, to figure. learning a
thing or two about occidental char
acter and occidental business. learning
many things that would enable him to
meet and swindle the white devil at
his own games and In his own country.
Moreover, 1t was universally accepted
as good policy for young hlghbinders
to enroll themselves as pupils In Chris
tian missions. 1t was known to serve
as added protection in case Of trouble
with the police.
At this moment Hip Toy was sitting
on a bench In a downtown park, one
hand holding lighted cigar, the other
fumbling that long-barreled revolver
under his blouse. Facing him. across
the park and on the opposite side Of
the street, stood a row Of ramshackle,
ne-story buildings. Above one. the
lowest and most ramshackle of them
all, Hip Toy spelled out the gold let
tiers Of sign: "Bing Chez, General
Merchandise"
No personal grudge did Hip Toy har-
Dor against Bling Chez. Yet he waited
eagerly, joyfully, for the time when
darkness should fall and he would
cross the street for the kill. He knew
that precisely at seven o'clock every
evening Bling Chez. leathery-faced and
gray-headed Bing Chee-Bing Chez the
miser, q man who had scraped together
10000 American dollars in half life
time and now refused polnt-blank to
give one-tenth of 1t to the Suey Yup
society Of hatchetmen, would step out
Of his place of business, look cautious
to his heavy outside doors, lock them
and, In dangling queue and slippered
feet, patter two blocks west, turn into
an alley, climb q flight Of stairs and
take supper with some cronles In an
exclusive Chinese restaurant on the
second floor.
That Is, he would do these things
If he were permitted to do them. But
Hip Toy was there to see that he did
not do them. Hip Toys plans were
made It was early September and the
sun would be down soon after six. At
seven the lamps would begin to sput-
ter In the deepening twilight. While
Bling Chez was yet In his store, bend
ing over his accounts, Hip Toy would
sldle across the street and slip behind
one Of those heavy outside doors.
When the old merchant swung the door
away from the wall, the long barrel
would press close against his body,
there would be a muffied report, Bing
Chez would fall, young Chinaman
would dash Into a driveway close by,
run around stable, scale fence,
sprint the length Of an alley, emerge
onto lighted street and walk leisure
ly to Low FOo's fan-tan joint, where
the Suey Yups would be waiting In
back room for him and his report. All,
It would be very easyl Seldom do the
meddlesDme police succeed In laying
their hands heavily upon one China
man who kills another-seldom In
deed
Thou shalt not KILL" The words
meant nothing to Hip Toy. But as he
turned over In his mind the killing that
he was to do, the sentence w0rmed Its
way to the surface of his conscious
ness. 1t was In the mission that he
had heard 1t, In the mission only. They
thought he would be cowed by such
commandment Thou shalt not kill"
What did 1t amount TOT Merely chip
from the moral law Of the white devil.
whom all Chinese hate, no matter how
friendly the smile on their lips "rhou
shalt not kill" Hip Toy bent back
his head and laughed silently and deep.
What fools they were
As the sun dropped low a park
squirrel, which had come from some
where among the trees, crossed the
vision Of Hip Toy and he idly watched
II. II was evidently on foraging ex-
pedltion and lodged this way and that
over the grass, smiling at every strange
and familiar object as 1t passed along.
The squirrel was large and gray,
bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. A passer
by threw 1t a peanut, upon which II
fell with avldlty, tearing the thin shell
apart with Its clicking teeth and de
v0urlng the kernel Another was dis
posed OF In the same manner, but the
third the furry thing carried In Its jaws
TO the base Of the nearest tree, where
II dug hole with It's forefeet, pushed |
the treasure into the hole with its tiny |
nose and then covered II over by |
.rrutchina the dirt 80 ".''' lts claws