Evening star., 1925-06-07


wanted to bring his daughter to
Bangkok; Judy was too young
~ too beautiful. and too romantic
He feared that she might fall q
prey to some worthless but fascinat-
ing young man whose days were des
tined to be spent in this or some other
equally septic jungle town. But he
brought her to Bangkok, none the
less.
Mr.. Van Dorm often told himself that
he was not the kind of father who
forcas his will his preferences. and his
dislikes upon his offspring. But he was
always willing to make suggestions.
And his suggestion that Billy Gibson
would make an acceptable son-in-law
was almost emphatic. Billy was a go
getter. Billy was we'll liked by all his
associates. Billy had no vices. He did
not smoke. He did not drink. He did
not gamble. And he played a corking
game of golf
In other words" Judy coldly re-
marked on one occasion, you want
me to marry so you can find out pre-
ctsely what is wrong with your mash
lie shots"
Mr.. Van Dorm sputtered, and the
conversation ended there.
When Mr.. Van Dorm was informed
by the directors of the banking cor
dent that he had been chosen to go
to Siam TO straighten out an Asiatic
bank failure, he did two things; he
cabled an old boyhood friend in Bang
kok that he was coming, and he in
structed Judy to pack her things. Judy
almost swooned with sheer rapture.
She was only 10.
Bangkok blazed up from the jungle,
a memory from the Arabian Nights.
Not IN Ie1
the water front. The gilded and rain
bow-colored spires of temples thrust
themselves into the blazing blue sky,
and through the dark green banks of
mahogany and olive trees white walls
peeped and red roofs cleaned. Ele-
plants and black men, Chinese coolies
and dusky maidenS, jinrikiShaS and
Charles paraded with the fascinating
languor of the East behind the Borneo
Company'S wharf where the Goa st
ing steamer made fast. The only thing
lacking was the smell of incense and
spice: and in place of this were the
hot, ripe smell of steaming vegetation
and the strange sour smell which is
characteristic of Oriental river cities
and no other cities in the world.
A funny-looking old gentleman in i'll
fitting white drill was the first man up
the gangplank. His beardless face was
were of the pale, Opaque blue that
distinguished the eyes of the numer-
Gus Siamese cats on the ship, and his
smile was catlike. too.
Judy was aroused by the voice of her
father, who was presenting her to the
funny old gentleman. She knew some
thing of DR.. Dill from remarks her
father had dropped. He had come to
Bangkok 40 years ago to practice
hnI la,- Il
cure for asqueer disease caused by
eating unhusked rice; had retired
from practice to build up one of the
largest American fortunes in South
eastern Asia; his young men were
scattered throughout the jungles, rep
resenting him in the trading, teak
wood, rubber, rice and mining indus
tries, in all of which, and many
others, he datSled.
He was smoking the strangest
looking thing she had ever seen in
a mans mouth. Her education, she
announced, was complete, when DR..
Dill informed her that the long white
cylinder-it must have been eight
inches in length-waS a white Burmese
cheroot and that he had japanese
spaniel at his house that followed him
around licking up the ashes. After
she had seen the curly-haired, beady-
eyed little beast hungrily licking up
cigar and cheroot ashes she confided
to her father that if the social life
Of Bangkok were as amusing as the
animal life, she would be content to
remain here forever.
II want to warn you, honey"
Sylvester Van Dorm took this splendid
opportunity to say, that the white
men you are going to meet in Bang
kok bear watching. You will find
that they are different from any of
the men you have known. There's a
certain fascination about them that's
misleading. Very few of them are of
DIR. Dilrs character. Men come out
to places of this kind for all sorts of
shady reasons, Judy; many of them
stay because they're lotus eaters or
daren't be seen in civilization. OF
course, I'm not saying they're all
that kind. But l want to put you
on your guard"
THE men Judy met were uniformly
unintereSting to her; slowed down
mentally and physically by the in
tense perpetual heat. On her first
night in Bangkok she went to dance
at the Sports Club and her first
glimpse of the dancers made her
laugh outright. They reminded her
of a slow-motion movie.
She waited in vain for a really
attractive man to appear. And one
day tall young man came down
from the interior and to DR.. Dill S
house with the hollow foreleg of an
elephant under one arm, small,
hammered silver casket lined with
sandalwood in his right hand and
that very indescribable something
shining in his eyes. The moment she
saw him Judy wanted to take Sammy
Bonifer's head in her hands and kiss
him. and il was a lost airplane and