Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 136: what you’re looking at

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

- - > x “s ~ ~ — —- “ fairs in Chinatown this modern policy of ours. We shall have to make a change.” _“ When?” The young man’s slender legs gripped his chair more firmly. ** We will wait one moon. You should be able to find another place by then,” said Tze Mong gravely, almost sorrowfully, for he liked Charlie Chong and knew that his - flowerlike daughter, Tze Chan, had cast ap- praising eyes upon him. With ceremonious bow the publisher withdrew, and the slender, youthful legs were unwound with a snap as Charlie Chong bestirred himself with the thought that but one month remained in which to save the Chung Mei Bo to modernity and at the same time rescue his own job from swiftly impending dissolution. ‘* There must be a change,” was his re- flection, as he winged his way down Grant Avenue, Chinatown’s main thoroughfare. Thus far did he agree with his em- ployer, but that there should be a shift of personnel in the editor’s chair was a de- cision with which he disagreed violently. - His first. call was upon the revered Ho Si Bing, necromancer in the Temple, a seared and sallow ancient with skull-like face and hands that were mere claws. The thaumaturgy Ho practiced might be brum- magem, but his knowledge of men and af- was based upon the wisdom of life. It was to this wisdom ‘that Charlie Chong appealed when he out- lined his dilemma. “One does not need to conjure the spirits of the wind and water to find an answer,” the sage replied. “‘ Your paper is of the new world, your advertisers and their goods are of the old. Do you yourself eat bird nest soup or pay high prices for shark fins?” “ Roast beef medium or a good steak,” declared the youth. ~ Ho’s thin hands executed a gesture like a man suddenly opening a fan. The ques- tion and answer had been sufficient for him. “ What would be your advice?” “ Return to the ways of your fathers.” Then, with a sly glance from yellowed eyes: “J may be of some aid to you upon the Chung Mei Bo, if you could find a place for me. The recompense for necromancy has dwindled sadly.” " ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. Charlie Chong reached into his pocket to draw forth an emaciated roll of bills, but the aged prophet stayed him. ‘‘ My words to you are without charge,” he said, “ but I trust that you will leave to his own swinish devices that seed of vermin known as Bong Lee. He is the un- worthy son of a turtle, and some day this hand will strike him down—no more to rise.” He held up a palsied talon, his irareed eyes glaring defiantly as he continued to mutter imprecations upon the head of the venerable schoolmaster. “ But he is my friend,” protested Charlie loyally. ‘A friend he may be—but pay no atten- tion to his words,” conceded Ho. “ He ex- udes ignorance in clouds like a marsh at sundown.” Despite this warning, the young man next hied himself to the poor home of the scholar, there to state his problem, for Ho Si Bing’s solution did not meet with his approval. “J have just come from the Temple,” he admitted diffidently, when he had con- cluded. “Shun the mockery of magic,” warned the gaunt Bong jealously, “ especially when conjured by that pious old fraud, Ho—” “But what is your solution, worthy sir?” “Tt is manifest,” retorted the scholar. ‘You must either change the policy of your paper or your advertisers. Your advertisers are changing themselves. Therefore you must seek business that befits this ultra- modernity. Our young people are following the mode of the fan quai—the foreign dev- ils—why not turn to the white men for trade? You give him yours. Look at your readers—can the dealer in shark fins, bird nests and dried lizards sell to them? Where did you get that straw hat?” ““ Why—er—Jones & Company.” Bong Lee’s gesture. like that of Ho Si Bing, was that of a man opening a fan with a swift snap. The question and answer had closed all doors to argument. Fairly aflame with the idea that the spark of Bong Lee’s logic had ignited, Charlie Chong strode swiftly to the offices of the — oO o com chook ‘S; COM *< Pi : a an ae or =