The Argosy, Vol. 76, No. 3 — page 121: what you’re looking at

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

THE THING THAT WAS CAISAR’S. matter straightened out the coolies that we took north will be beyond my reach, but we ought to be able to get others, and under the circumstances they can hardly refuse me an exten- sion of time on the contract.” “ Has it ever occurred to you,” said Hemingway, ‘that what your friend Takayashi told you is probably Gos- pel truth? I mean about the compli- cations. Here it is in a nutshell: “Japan wants the road built in or- der to develop Korea. Russia knows that when Japan puts her foot down in Korea it is put.to stay, and that- every sleeper—ties, as you Americans call ’em—that you lay on that road binds the land so much firmer to Japan. “In the future war which is bound to come between the two countries Japan will begin her operations where the railroad ends. That is why Rus- sia does not want the road built. That is why China has been approached and probably compelled by pressure from St. Petersburg to hold up the Atlanta. “And in all probability Takayashi and Itasura are acting under orders from Tokyo itself to make your con- tract fall through in this way, so that the imperial Japanese government can ‘save its face,’ so to speak. So that the world will not know that the de- signs of the imperial government were blocked by Russia. See?” “Good Lord! And I thought I knew a little, too.” Oakes tapped his head disgustedly. ‘“‘ Yes, I see. For- tunately, we do not lose anything in cash. We were really doing the work on account of the international pres- tige it would have given us, for we are a very young firm. “ Burton never cared for this job. He is anxious to go into oil in Mex- ico. We have a concession under way now near Tampico that we have had excellent reports of, and it may well be that it will pan out well. We're tired of working so far away from home, and if we can get that oil con- cession it means that we can get to work on the in-field, so to speak. 591 We are at work now closing out our island work, and this would have been cur last work for any one but our- selves. Burton wants to retire after next year if he can. How’d you get to Peking? ” “Caught the early morning train, and so went up third class with a lot of down-country Chinese pigs, three French officers of marine, and a drunken American sailor—” “And then—’” “Oh, yes! And then when I got off I found myself the cynosure of all eyes. You see a white man who has no ostensible business in a Chinese city is not looked upon with eyes de- void of suspicion. “I went to see the British ambas- sador, and told him that I had come to Peking to look into the matter of a claim for some lost property. That was true enough. The only reason that I had for doing that was that I wanted to establish myself among white men on a semiofficial basis in case anything should happen to me. “Also, I knew that if the officials at the legation thought I was after property they’d think I meant to for- ward a claim through them so they’d let me alone—keep as far away from me as they could. “ After that when they had seen me and could swear it on a book in case a Chinese official should swear that no such person as I had ever been in Peking, I went to the saloon that you find in every Asiatic city—the Flag of All Nations. “Just as I thought, I found there the very man I was after, the Ameri- can sailor who was at liberty—takin’ the liberty of washin’ his neck — in- side, I mean—with sam shu, which is the very vilest rice brandy that I know of. ““T stopped him before he got more than half-seas over, and I asked him if he wanted to earn ten dollars. In- cidentally, it was very nearly the last ten dollars that I had. You might have thought I was asking him if he COMicdoo S CO@