Evening star., 1925-03-08
Cross Worker Mysted by Silent Arm of Death in China

capaciously; he sympathized with me:
he told me that 1t was far warmer in
bed than up; then went straight to
the point 20 explain that my pony
was lame.
'Mafoo. what thing?" I asked. And
the mafoo grinned from ear to ear in
reply, but said nothing.
This particular animal had never
been known to be lame. 1t seemed
as if no hard work could lame that
pony, and when ! had handed him 70
the mafoo's coolie outside the club
the night before he was exceedingly
tired, but the animal certainly was
not lame, nor did he show any trace
of lameness. l therefore wanted to
know the reason, which, with usual
Chinese stiffness (when it suits
them) was not forthcoming. / was
actually annoyed, disappointed, for l
thought we should be able to get the
burying work done by the week end,
but that did not matter. The mafoo
merely grinned.
1t would, L thought, certainly be
possible to get another pony But
as my leg was paining me, as / looked
out and saw that it was showing, as
felt that day resting in bed could
not fail to do me good after my
strenuous three weeks in the saddle, ]
told my boy that | would stay in bed
that day, and felt grateful that l had
reasonable excuse for doing so.
But if a Chinese comes here and
says that he is my Number Two" l
said to the boy, "let him come up"
| dismissed the mafoo and settled
down to my ham and eggs.
!: x !: Z
THEN l must have slept for when l
10 - a
noon. Evidently nobody had either
telephoned to me or come to see me,
for my boy had not called me. In
stantly on waking / rang my bell
above my head, and before the boy
could enter the room he had to un-
lock the door. l heard him insert
and turn the key.
What thing, you makee lock the
door, boy?"
"oh, l think so master wantchee
plenty sleep--think so master want
chez plenty, plenty sleepAbelong velly
tired"
/ had never known him to lock the
door before, but / thought nothing
further of the episode. Upon being
questioned the boy told me that no
man had come to see me, but have
got one piece letter. and he pro-
duced Chinese envelope of red and
white. which contained a piece of
crumpled Chinese notepaper as thin
as thinnest tissue.
Dear Mr. Dingle," ran the letter.
You are not a fool. Therefore, use
your brains. l am the man you saw
yesterday laying out the dollars to
| the coolies. You are kindly asked
not to have anything to say of this
affair when you get out again. If you
wish to be recompensed, be on the
right side of the stone steps of the
Canton Guild at 3 pm. on the 21st
From
ut is not necessary for you to
know whom"
l lay back thinking. The writing
was evidently that of an Englishman
a German or a Chinese educated in
England or Germany. l foolishly tore
| up the paper and burned it in the
| open CRATE.
That the affair had upset me a
| little 1 had to admit. l was more
than usually surprised, therefore
| when the door opened a couple OF
minutes afterward without any warn
| ing and my boy again pushed himselt
in, beckoning to another man to enter
| as hastily as he could, and the door
closed behind the pair
For a moment / did not recognize
| this stranger. He was dressed for
eign style. He was highly decorated
with bright red tie that harmonized
with big red nose, and his short
cropped black hair stood up like the
quills of a porcupine. 1t was only
when he spoke that l recognized him
as my Number Two. He was scarcely
recognizable in his ill-fitting foreign
| toggery.
Like me, he knew that there was
something in the wind; that there was
| possibly some discomfort among the
| burying coolies. but he also knew
! that Number One had been a man
DARN In the north of China. This In.
| formation astounded me. I had nat
urally felt that my Number One, whom
! had known only in a casual fashion
before the war broke out was one ot
the common people. Since we bac
been on that burying party together
| had got to know him well. He had
always struck me as being a man OF
considerable natural gentleness, wa.
able to read and write well, knew
something of first-aid work, and in
the matter of manners had a charm
that any European monarch could
well envy.
Number Two told me now that sthe
man had been a high official in the
Peking government and had stolen the
wife of fellow-otficial some time
ago. holding her up to the time of his
death for a ransom of $4,000. Halt
this amount had been delivered to him
in coffin "a favorite way Chinese
have on occasion of handling contra
band goods, for rarely is coffin
opened by the authoriries). but he