Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 4, 1922 — page 106: what you’re looking at

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

416 away from you. I fancy that Fung picked up the brass gong from the restaurant as they went in. There was a gong used, wasn’t there?” “Most decidedly,” I answered. ‘But the affair was largely impromptu. I am sure that Meng Fu did not change his costume for the effect he produced.” “But he was wearing green, bright green,” I insisted. “I am not color-blind.” ‘Green is the suggestion of growth, is it not? You hinted at hypnotism last night as the basis of Meng Fu’s illusion. Sug- gestion would be the better word—subli- mate suggestion. Requiring certain condi- tions of time, place, excitation and oppor- tunity. The gong had a good deal to do with it, you know. Vibratory orchestra- tion.”’ I shrugged my shoulders. I could dimly see how the thing might ‘be done, as I can dimly understand the existence and cer- tain qualities of the fourth dimension. En Sue continued: “T traced Shang Wa to the river front, where a man was waiting for him. Both set out for a two-masted junk that had its rudder up and was close-moored to the bank, Its sails had not been furled, but I set that, in combination with the lifted rudder, to laziness rather than readiness to clear. I was in error. I saw Shang Wa go aboard and forward. I heard the sound of several voices talking the Macao dialect. It seemed that I was on the right trail. I returned to the gate and found Ned, and together we managed to screen ourselves behind a sail, close to the cabin where Shang Wa and some of his own men were interviewing the Visitors from Macao. “T learned much, but not everything. You were right, father. It was T’ang Seng who desired the stone. He knew that Ray- mond Dean bought it and had it with him aboard the Zuleika. I think he got that news from Manila. At any rate, at Manila, Dean made up his mind to visit Borneo with an idea of seeing the burial caves in the Valley of Kinabatangan. ‘These had been described to him as very wonderful and containing certain buried treasures, in- cluding jewels. ‘T have pieced things together, Ned, by ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. inference and deduction,” En Sue ex- plained. “I did not hear all of this in detail, but sufficient to make me feel sure of T’ang Seng’s mode of procedure. With- out doubt he sent some man in Manila to Dean with this talk of Kinabatangan and the treasure caves. Also, he arranged either for a treacherous pilot or the de- liberate shifting of lights—perhaps the placing of false ones. The Zuleika ignored Balabac Strait and wandered into the maze of sea jungle between Balambangan Ban- guey and Mallewalle Islands and the mainland. Somewhere in there she lies with a broken back. ‘‘ Something went wrong just about the time she struck. Either the Bajaus misun- derstood orders or failed to arrive on time. These men from Macao were only repeat- ing a story second-hand, though they ap- pear to have been mixed up in the piracy in some manner, for their trip up from Macao to Hongkong and thence to Shang- hai was on some errand conhected with it, an errand that has been successfully car- ried out and which they alluded to last, night only casually. ‘“‘ But they told Shang Wa of the escape of some of the white men aboard the Zu- leika, bearing off the ruby; the chase after these same men, and a vague account of the fight at the lighthouse. Whether Shang Wa connects you with the lighthouse-keeper matters little; he has seen the Blood of Buddha in your possession at Lung His. As a pirate Shang Wa is jealous of his reputation, or his lack of it. He resents. the fact that T’ang Seng did not employ him in the matter, which seems to have - been bungled in a way Shang Wa doubt- less prides himself would never have hap- pened had he been called in. Now he thinks he can get hold of the ruby, sell it for a price to T’ang Seng far exceeding what he would have been paid for his services; vaunt himself and show T’ang Seng what a mistake he made in not taking him in the first place. On top of that he knows that T’ang Seng is a protector whom he may need, for he has been sailing pretty close to the wind with his piracies of late. “Doubtless they killed the rest of the Zuleika’s complement and looted the yacht. 6A COMmicCcbooks.Gom