Argosy All-Story Weekly, 4 February 1922 — page 105: what you’re looking at

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

“1 opened my eyes to the creak of En Sue’s lounge as he rose to his feet to meet his father. Dawn was reddening the ‘sky, streaking in through the bamboo tatties, flushing the face of Li Yuen. Father and son looked at each other with the quiet of perfect understanding, and as he turned to me I felt again the emanation of wisdom and benevolence that always inspired in me a certain reverence and affection toward him. I had yet to see the other side of “ Shall we go down?” he asked. As we descended to the walled-in garden I understood why En Sue had not yet talked of the events of the night. His filial respect had demanded that he reserve the story for his father. The three of ts sat down on a deep- curving seat of carved stone that faced a sunken basin where goldfish, trailing fins and tails so voluminous they suggested silken robes, swam through grottoes under the flat lily pads. Over the seat arched a great willow, its branches trimmed to form a natural sun-shade. The air was delicious, - charged with garden scents. “You have not asked me where the ruby is,” said Li Yuen. ‘I answered him truthfully that I had not thought of it. “It is within five feet of you,” he told me. ‘“ Not on my person.” I looked at the lily pond, but he shook his head. “ Too easy. I often play gardener here. I graft and prune and try to hybridize. This morning, before I came to you, I was grafting. “Look.” -I turned to where he touched the bark of the willow tree. It was slightly corru- gated, ahd here and there gnarled and twisted where the growth had been coaxed into characteristic Chinese oddities of form. This part of the garden was entirely privy, shut off from the rest by screens of stone openwork; backed and fronted by close- clipped growths. And the great willow shut us off still more completely. But, at a look from his father, En Sue made a quiet, ef- fective scout. “On his return Li Yuen produced an = fvary-handled knife with a blade as flexible — _—— eNGs: +: =o ee — es wr << * al Tn — 2 a * f Sees = —_ did you learn?” - 3 » ‘ - - co = — = _ ey Ve mes ; ~\ a a P SS Se - anes ~—— -* ¢ ot io oo a > 3 ; —w > oe 1 em a Me aces y= Se SS : == = : a ae ig te eens a eae rs OE re <A - fs — ~ ie a 7 ASS < esse seas: Sane aint = See — pe . a = < Pa - i ne oe > —— ms pen ae a ae ae a ~ © cen I - = — — an ae ee a © _ ee ee ne = \ ~<a — : a - - wm, "a" 4 - id a = : - —. ow sade Jha 2 _. — a ee OS iy =. es DG OO np < ~~ = FP 3 ae a ee eee . or > : hn ~ . ~~ wat Se Pee - a} ~aake : - eS * “ sae slags m = = 2 - a “ < eee == as that of an artist’s palette-tool, and se are to work to raise a portion of the string re = bark already incised and cemented in ple ee with a brown clay or wax. It came peas = to disclose apparently nothing but the in- = ner bark of the tree. But behind this was — = | a cavity, scooped out in the wood and filled with a plastic substance that made the re- _ Et. toa cess hard to distinguish, so closely did its — tint, and a texture imparted to the surface — = e of the filling, match the surroundings. This __ = stuff Li Yuen took away from the Ss and handed to me. It felt ape heavy. ' <2 “The ruby?” I asked. = “Is inside the wax. That is plastic and = will keep so. It is easily soluble. The — sealing clay that holds the outer bark will — harden in a few hours.” He took back the — = = gob of wax and opened it up with his katie 2 ae displaying a glint of crimson in its heart. — Then he put back jewel and inner bark and _ then the outer strip. It was impossible = to distinguish the slightest hint of a crevice. The Blood of Buddha was eet = shrined in a tree. = “ Now, my son,” said Li Yuen, “ what — “a 9 on y ie “Ned, here,” began En Sue, “ recog- = nized Shang Wa as we went into Wuk — = Cha’s, where I had hoped at least to find — trace of him. As it was, I missed him my- _ self and had to follow close and fast to the rendezvous to which I imagined he was - bound. ‘““Ned went in to watch the Pee se Meng Fu and Fung were trailing us. They =e had. the password to enter Wuk Cha’s — = = gate. They found some suspicion attached — to Ned, some fault in my disguise, and were = able to divert the crowd while Ned got — = away to the place ‘where he was to wait for me until I came back after establishing Shang Wa’s whereabouts.” ~ “Just a moment,” I broke in. “Did Meng Fu expect to play that juggler’s role? I suppose he did, since he was dressed for _ the part.” “How dressed?” asked En Sue. “Tn vivid green. Clothes and face.” a -“ Meng Fu is a man of many parts,” said En Sue. “ And he is quick-witted. The _ wee <— main n thing, was to << the sranit's otter ‘ior n a ic +. =az — 4 »* ‘Omicbe jooks:com a” eo S~ as ae =e =< “a mm a a J» :