The Last Ditch

, Tientsin, was a still place of many riches. Minglapo sat in the far shadows, an elderly C

Minglapo his faculties at first were deeply occupied with the problem of where he had seen this old master before. It dawned upon him at last that he hadn't, bu

leman named Dr. Ti

apo b

that a direct statement of facts would have discountenanced the Oriental. "It was all very hurried at the last. He was stricken with illness in the

his eyebrows just a trifle,

of a Chinese who had been among the younger peoples for many y

al sumptuous rugs between him and the polished woo

s body rippled under the silks; the ashen yellow left his face and neck, giving way to rising ruddiness, the yellowish eyelids dropped, suggesting the mask again, but this was broken by the open mouth. Mastering all was the sound-soft,

ns, and lifting his eyelids at length, surv

nderful order-book

utability of the fat figure challenged Romney. It occurred to him that if he should start to go

he door of his carriage closed upon him. I presume, having fulfi

rally," sa

ll bid you

d the paper lightly, while the face bowed above. The eyelids narrowed and the corners of the mouth were sunken, the broad, bland forehead, just faintly ruffled. There came to the white man a sense of prodigious power, as if this man's thought could ma

se almost i

end informed me you were coming some time ago

ey s

ever, over wounds that could delay such a man for six days. Much depends upon his coming. The character of Dr. Ti Kung's service cannot be duplicated. In saving his life, Friend Romney, you have done one of those significant things upon which the destiny of a great people hangs, and an

t perfect creature of the boy-class appeared, ale

ow so much of China realize that a bestowal of this kind be

out from under his lifted brows. Romney knew enough about China to realise that Bamban held something in the deeps of his being that could not be transferre

He had nothing to conceal, and no plan apart. He met all fancied subtleties by being himself, just that, which in the case of uncomplicated purpose is the invariable master-stroke. The fact is, Romney had learned much from the Great Drift. He could let himself go. His nerves had left the surface once more, covered th

ised a little before his feet, and he was aware of a deep oil-lit basement that had every look and indication of being a fully equipped chemical laboratory-vials, flames and crucibles, tables with spawn-trays and culture-boards. An oppressive, earthy breath as from fungoid growths tou

is considerable acquaintance in the East. Ensconced here in the midst of influences insistently languorous, he was amused to find a tendency of his own character to tighten rather than to let down. The first night in Ti Kung's house had seemed to straighten him out and render distasteful a

ble in his nature-something of him no longer, but around him. She was not the woman, but she had made the picture of what a woman could be. The farther from her, the more he appreciated. She had known in two weeks what it had taken him nearly a year to find out-that they were not for each other. The change had come to

usiness at hand. There had been talk at the dais for several moments, when the old master turned at the s

re ready to meet a countryman

to hurry forward and help the Hunchback to the cushions. At the same time-a hot thrill for an unemotional man-the t

opening on Merchant's Square, closed and barred it as if for the night, though the afternoon w

Peking, but to Longstruth's where his impressions of that brief former interview became vivid and animate again for t

ess under the second appraisal, as was the other's in the warm gathering dusk. The unhasting and uninflected voice spoke again-the voice

y the expediency of toleration, and yet we observe to the east and south, India, and on the north and west, Japan. Old India is magnificent in philosophy and yet so far without the physical impulse to protect herself; Japan, empty-minded, imitative, is furious with the idea of her own raw power

e in case of war with Japan. He may have been a mystic in so far as his vision of the future went, but he had been enough of the manip

though his hand affectionately

w but for your action in saving our Doctor's life. It appears they burned his house that night in Shanghai. You were intrusted with papers that contain certain of our plans. You may be asked to carry them again-even to Japan. There is for you a

nd now sp

velist myself. That was in the days before the big dream of being a foster-child to the ancient Yellow Mother. In order that

apped together. No servant appeared. It had undoubtedly been a servant of the household and had he been innocent he would have responded to the master's signal. Minglapo clapped his hands a second time, louder, and Romney saw in his eye what to him was unmistakably a command to make

y no more than an inch. The American pushed it open. This rear-room was empty, and there was no sound whatsoever. He crossed quickly to a further door which opened to a dim hall. A crouched figur