Adventure Magazine, Mid-September 1917 — page 120: what you’re looking at

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

118 When, still breathless, I got back to the doorway, Haichi Kamura was lying on a pile of sugar his eyes closed, his arms dangling inertly over the bags, while Brock was bending down over him. As I entered, he straightened up, and slipped a package into the inside pocket of his blouse. : “The vanished plans, Peel,” he said, coolly wiping his hands on his handker- chief. ‘“‘And he?” I asked, pointing to the pros- trate figure. “Only knocked out temporarily. You ought to learn jiu-jitsu, Peel. I tried to warn you.” Brock disappeared behind the sugar pile, returning a moment later with a water- bucket on which was painted in large red letters the word “Fire.” After the second sprinkling Haichi Ka- mura opened his eyes. Our attack had been so sudden and unex- pected, and the blow which stretched him out so swift, that the Oriental could only have had a confused impression of what was happening. Now as the full realization came to him, I watched to see whether his face would show either disappointment or chagrin. It did not. He slipped to his feet with the same po- lite, ingratiating smile with which he had a few nights before met me at one of the governor-general’s receptions at Mala- chan. But as he brushed the front of his coat with his small but well-modeled hand, I noticed that his fingers pressed for a mo- ment against the pocket in which he had carried the papers. Brock was the first to speak, and what he said took me as much by surprise as it evi- dently did Haichi Kamura. “T am sorry to learn, Mr. Kamura, that your health is impaired and you are leaving the Islands,”’ said the captain in an even voice which contained none of the regret his words expressed. For a moment I did not catch his mean- ing, and then, as Haichi Kamura flashed a swift, appraising glance at the man who had defeated his plans, I saw it. Brock was both warning him that his machinations had been discovered and giving him an opportu- nity of saving his face. Being a true Ori- ental, Haichi accepted it. “Ves, Captain,’ he answered in a friendly, smiling manner, “‘the climate of Manila, it is hot, and there has been much work. I Adventure must change. I go to take vacation on the Chiyo next week.”’ “But Maxwell—will he not get away?” I asked, as we came out onto the Plaza, Haichi Kamura, after a cordial leave taking, having returned to the Bazaar of the Rising Sun. Brock smiled. ‘‘Maxwell is safe,” he said. ‘“There was a man waiting for him here.” And he added with a sigh of relaxation. ‘‘I’ll meet you at the club in half an hour. I feel as if I could eat a horse.”’ ““A GLORIOUS evening, Mr. Peel. You can’t beat the tropics at night, can youp”’ It was Colonel Levin coming from Brock’s room. At the heartiness of his tone I smiled. As a matter of fact it was a wretched night, for during the late after- noon one of those dismal, persistent rains of September had set in. But he swung his cane, walking with his shoulders squared back and his head erect as though daring the world. I had not seen Brock since morning. He had not kept his appointment for lunch, and a servant had only a short while before come from him with word that he was in his room. He was writing when in answer toa ‘‘Come in,”’ I entered and closed the door. On the table before him was a thick pile of bank-notes. “Sorry I couldn’t do the lunch, but the general insisted on keeping me,” he said, picking up and addressing a large envelope. Then dropping his pen, he swung around and faced me quizzically. ‘‘Well, where shall I begin?” he asked. “First off, where’s Maxwell?” ‘Packing his things. He has been dis- missed from the service and goes home on the transport to-morrow. This was his price—twenty thousand pesos. He had it on him when arrested.”’ He pointed to the pile of bank-notes before him. ‘“‘And he is not to be tried for stealing the plans?” At my tone Brock shrugged his shoulders. “No. The whole thing was put up to Washington by cable, and they replied to let it drop. Thestory would come out if Max- well were tried, you know, and that might cause some embarrassing comment at home. Some da eS He did not finish his sentence, and I did ray Sz } oO CoOMmMiclooks C©