Adventure, July 1, 1928 — page 173: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE THRALDOM OF SINGAN before at college, that was the strangest meal that he had ever had in his life. _ They dined on the veranda, which was illumined by three large oil-paper Chinese lanterns. Ah Yen waited at table, taking the plates and dishes from the hands of the coolie boy who brought them from the kitchen up the front steps. It was as if they were sitting in a fur- nished greenhouse. The trellis-work of the veranda was overgrown with creepers; the orchids in their hanging baskets sus- pended from the eaves of the attap roof resembled so many minute, fairy faces peeping curiously from out of banks of moss and fern. Ah Yen moved here and there, soft footed, his features inscrutable, though his bright eyes were wonderfully alive. Beyond the veranda the night was dark as pitch. There was no moon. Not even the palm trees across the road were visible, though they leaned towards the bungalow and could not have been much more than ten yards away. More- over, there were no stars. The mist from the river hung like a pall above the tree tops of the jungle. They-had already discussed their plans. Cartwright had decided that it would be useless to try to find Scala that night. They might as well look for a needle in a haystack. There were so many jungle streams up any one of which the Singan launch could have made its way, that they might explore a dozen before they struck the right one. And so Mahomet could come to the mountain. If they remained where they were,.. sooner or later Liu Tang would turn up all right. The Chinese hadn’t stolen Cartwright’s razor for nothing; and they could do no better than be ready for him. Even as they dined, Eade had his automatic, and Cartwright a Colt revolver, both ready loaded in their coat pockets. Also, the two Sikh policemen whom the district officer had detailed for duty at the Nolak estate were on watch outside, one in the jungle at the back of the kitchen, the other on the far side of the roadway. 167 Eade caught something of his cousin’s self-confidence. Instead of being nervous, as Eade would have expected him to be, he wasi more speculative than anything else. He even let fall the observation that he hoped the night wouldn’t pass off without event. “When you’re worked up to concert pitch,” he observed, “guess you want something better to do than twiddle your thumbs. You've got the stage set, Charles, my boy, for a very pretty tragedy or comedy—whichever it’s going to be; and if this fellow doesn’t turn up some time in the night, I shall feel I’ve got a moral right to get my money back.” afterward. Knowledge that Madame Scala was in safe hands and being well looked after was quite enough to put Cart- wright at ease for the time being. If Liu Tang was joined by Eugene Pai, and even by Scala himself, they would find the proposition more than they bargained for. The Sikhs, who were big and strong men, were armed with rifles and, as ex- soldiers of the Indian army, first class shots. It was impossible that any one could approach the bungalow unheard by one or the other. “TI ask nothing more,” said Charles, “than a reasonable excuse to put a bullet through that Chinaman. Had I not got away from Singan in the nick of time, he and Scala would have made short work of me.” “By which token,” said Eade, ‘‘you may as well tell me what actually hap- pened on the island.” Charles pushed a box of Borneo che- roots towards his cousin. “Try one of those,” said he. “You can smoke ’em all day. But you’ve got to keep your throat wet in this country. Headley drinks short drinks one after the other, and mixes gin with rye whisky. I don’t believe in that. On the Equator, don’t drink until sundown, and then stick to stingers, and put them away as fast as you like. Singan, eh? Well, it Jone EADE remembered that remark comiicloooks.com