Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 139: what you’re looking at

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

_ the beads of his calculator. "CHARLIE CHONG, A. M. See oe oh but" : # ~ | “On contract we might—” 3 ‘‘We never contract until we are sure of cesults. This is only an experiment. I'll take a page for the Saturday issue, but we -. must have results if there is to be any more business. Ill have the copy ready for you to-morrow, but you will have to translate it and read proof. Any charge for that?” “No charge. I’ll attend to that myself— personally.” “Thanks—elad to have met you, Mr. Chong—I’ll leave the copy with my secre- tary—remember, we must have results—im- mediate results—good morning.” ‘Charlie Chong found himself on the rug outside the private office, utterly crushed. Crushed down by full-blossomed joy. A page at two dollars an inch. The nim- ble brain needed no abacus to calculate— twenty inches to the column—forty dollars. _ Eight columns to the page—three hundred and twenty dollars. His fingers were play- _-ing in the air as though they were operating Fifteen per cent of three hundred and twenty dollars. . Re- sult: -Forty-eight—almost twice what Tze Mong paid him for six days of twelve hours each. He winged his way back. to the office to find a note upon his desk saying that his . - employer had been called te Sacramento upon business, but would be back Saturday morning. Bong Lee was immersed in.com- posing sonorous paragraphs on the comings and goings of Chinatown—a task Charlie Chong was willing he should continue, for _ he realized that his own labors were only beginning instead of having been brought _ to fruitful conclusion. “Vou spoke words of great wisdom, learned. Bong,” the young man told his former schoolmaster. ‘‘ J have.an order for @ page announcement that will be of great profit to the Chung Mei Bo—I am ever your debtor.” “Then let me tell an utterly deceived ~~ world the truth about that worm that ~ crawls in our Temple—the wretched Ho Si—” _. “No—anything else, soe Bong, any- thing—” “ Nothing else really matters,” sighed the schoolmaster.as does a child when a toy almost within its reach is snatched away. With Bong Lee’s aid, the paper was 449 sent to press a trifle earlier than usual, and = Charlie Chong centered his attention upon | his great problem. “He demands results—immediate re- — sults,” the young man told himselfas he bent his mind to the task, ‘‘ I must see that he gets them.” From a drawer in his desk he took forth a tiny -volume—almost a sacred volume it was to him—his savings account with the Canton bank. the deposit of one dollar and its total of It had been conceived with — more than one hundred represented the most painstaking thrift. with the smile of Ah Moy—will reward the player manyfold. Late into the night he labored, studying But Charlie Chong was — 5 Chinese and had within his heart that in- nate love of a gamble where long odds— — the advertisements of the Chain’stores ap- pearing in one of the English language dailies from which he copied long lists of articles, The next morning saw him among the first to enter the Canton bank and when he departed, the balance in his favor stood . once more at its starting point—one dollar. His next call was at the Temple, where again 2 7 : he sought the venerable Ho Si Bing. To = him he confided his plan and a number of - © the lists of articles he had transcribed the night before. lie Chong’s scanty savigns changed hands. ‘“T shall regard it as an honor to be your commissioner in making these purchases,” Ho Si Bing spoke gravely, “and besides T shall buy a few trifles upon my own ac- count. Brothers of my tong will be given lists and urged to aid you in your worthy And then with a covert glance cause,’ through his heavily lensed glasses: | that unspeakable upstart and sty of ignor- Likewise a portion of Char-— ance, Bong Lee, be a party to this affair?” _ “I shall seek his aid,” Chong replied honestly, ‘for he is my friend, ‘but you need not work together.” “See that he keeps from my sight,” rasped the aged prophet. ‘I do not wish to soil these hands with the blood of a turtle.” Ho Si Bing held aloft twin claws, gar- O Eomichooks (S@)