The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 10, 1904, Page 3

THE SAN F-EANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. perfectly The King, after the Japan- China war and the murder of his Queen by Chinese renegades, had fled to the Russian legation; here well “in hand,” he had been played clean to the hilt. Old Andorph i secured practical possession of the mint and customs, nd Dejneff had come quickly into the ces of Quelpartien army offi- ely a nigh a banquet of kind or another served in the t dining egation. The of re ht merrily up ks, ofter ver was the I attended Oranoff contir y at first, but as.he found it less and less necessary to mov s often detailed under was straightening yetween us we were whipy nent or two that More thar A v were far 1 when we the ave ar the palace, thcusands ast review the s beard was full o sled w he crowds d what was sa w v t i 3 as v T t kt Mar- n, tell « ght that we shall I v wh would be ready it was rroach ng in eCAUSE the King of Quel- Su, hang- brok: » spell of roy- sauntering into the nd another of nd here and calling “a name and then by a ng on the sofa and lighting Egyptian cigarette which he drew from case He had just broken his fast—for, since the murder of the Queen, the King of Quelparte slept when the world was awake, and met his Cabinet and issued his heathen decrees when the rest of the world was Colonel once got to the center Your consulted the soothsayers Wang-Su bowed, smiling blandly. “And the Imperial funeral will be ds- as we planned?” “Yes,” answered the King of Quel- parte, taking the cigarette from his ps on the night of the round moon, that s, #f—" and he glanced quickly to a nobleman near him, Prince Ting. The latter knelt, then rose, saluted, and spoke Your Majesty has been correctly in- formed; the usoleum is quite com- pleted But s ot answer the King’s question, and he instantly arose to his feet s t Queen’s body,” he cried, lowering his voice. All had en with the King And now Colonel Oranoff spoke quick- ly to him a low d, satisfied, at length King called Prince Ting to his side, to whom, in & low tone, he gave several on swift succession. You will ne more, gentle- men,” he then said, turning to depart. Trust Pr g and have all in ness night of the round moon. I go even now to invite the eign representatives; you will do the rest.” Turning to go, he electrified me (the others seemed not to notice it) by turning to Oranoff and saying with a Yes: you will do the rest! Ha, ha, having withdrawn but Prince Ting, we three drew close together, Cole Orancff summoning me to a them conve side From the sation, I learned that the Queen's be was being secretly kept in a Buddhist temple on Lynx Island in Wun Chow Bay, sixty miles westward from Tsi. The “round moon™ (full moon) « e on the 19th. This was the 10th, There were nine days, therefore, in which to bring the Imperi- al sarcophagus a distance of one hun- dred and fifty mil by water and twenty by land to the in which we sat Rusian Legation Frequently, as we talked in low tones, Colonel Oranoff looked quietly at me, and T felt, long before Prince Ting left, that I was to be employed in this singular but vitally important mis- sjon, and, as Oranoff returned from the door through which the Prince passed out, 1 could not resist the impulse to grasp his hand The spontaneousness of the action pleased him, I think, though his face instantly sobered: “But wait. This is a more difficult mission than you have thought. First, of all-we are gaining in Quelparte in these days, nothing is to be kept perma- nently except this very Lynx Island. If Port Arthur cannot be retained for any reason, Wun Chew Bay is to be the ter- minus of the Siberian railway. Our agents on the yacht Dulcette are at work there now making private pur- chases which 4¥ill enable us to control Lynx Island and its bay. Thus the ef- fort to obtain the sarcophagus must not be gllowed to jeopardize these negotia- pending. ¥, gave me an oppor- the service, I drew up quickly and ted, for I would not have withdrawn for worlds, and I knew he knew it A squad of Quelpartien cavalry with Col Yon Li and twenty Cossacks disguised in Quelpartien uniform will await you when you are ready tc g0,” said Colonel Oranoff, and, though he walked away to his table, I knew by the ht rising inflection of his words that he meant to ask me how soon that I shall be ready to go, Colunel Oranoff,” said I, with as much candor, ’ I hope, as earnestnes I looked him honestly in the face as I said thel 1 I shall have seen and to Dulcine.” . papers on his ta the mean. been mis- paused as I nded to exam- paper he had But h eyes Ve t and he was star- 1 table cover. He stood T ait, then thering his kly (in very le order) ve able. lit in- irawer, he turned frankly held out hts hand I will call her. Col- 1t member y m Han Chow.” 1y atch It Duleine came sm nxious and full of qu stuously drew the up to the fire and Oranoff entered a from us which contained k and sat down to a pile ch he stirred bu thro: was in her olonel Li to the body of the words, and I at there was ut this miserable Queen t know—and God knows I I kept girl's ather than Dejmeff?” she looking into the fire to remove an cbnoxious wered with assumed not se men on er- rid himself of them.” 1 mean by ‘errands like was a moment before the answer cam and then it me slowly as with pain 2 not heard the talk of 1 knew Prince Tuen of thrcugh his agents, caused . Queen and that he ownfall of Whang-Su, uelparte. More than this It y with the King,” Dulcine at last replied; * he said Tuen was paw- ing Quelparte over for the dead Queen’'s Ay the devil the Chinese Prince of the rem of the former Queen more than I P . I kept a crowd of ques- tions back, and at last Dulcine crept arer me and I feit her tremble as she f tten Dejneff end that insanity comes upon the relatives of the dead who are desecrated.” I burst out, angry with myself for the chill of fear that ran through me ords. “No wonder Col- onel Or: chose another man than old Dejne He knows too much and beli “For to know is to fear,” whispered Dulcine; she did not tremble mow. I knew she liked my uncompromising at- titude (I had always laughed those s to scorn out of principle), ugh she did not possess the guile to counterfeit it as I did. “I thought father would trust Dej- neff anywhere,” she said thoughtfully. “He is more needed here than I, and your father happens me. 1 did not know how the words would sound until I blurted them out. The girl’s hands went to her face, and the echo of my own words cut my heart right and left. “Forgive me, Dulcine,” and I seized her bended shoulders in both arms; “you would not have me refuse, would The wet face was slowly lifted to mine. “You know I would not, Rob- ert,” she said. And I drew her to me now in the silence which was broken only by the rustle in the little room far beyond and the flutter of the dying fire which cast a red glow over our mottled throne. It was 6 o'clock when I again leoked at my watch. We were just trotting out of the old West Gate of Keinning, for I had found Colonel Li and his es- cort forming in the barracks parade, the Cossacks looked rather disgusted in their outlandish oriental garb, though taking like the soldiers they were. Once in the open country the Quel- partien cavairy scurried ahead, a mot- ley crowd and ill-horsed. Behind them rode Colonel Yon Li. My Cossacks came after me, well-horsed, silent, and ing neither to the right nor the left. ond them, as I looked back, lay the old walls of Keinning; before me, fifty miles as the crow flies across the mountains, the Buddhist monastery on Lynx Island, and its Imperial secret, Three miles from Keinning we passed the completed mausoleum where the Queen was soon to be buried. Colonei Li fell back and explained this to me, A mound of solid earth fifty feet high contained the great granite tomb above which was suspended a monstrous tab- let. When the sarcophagus was placed within the tomb, this tablet was to be dropped. and no human power could raise it again and disturb the royal re- mains. Colonel Li informed me that this was the second tablet imported; it all good-naturedly, to dare to trust the other had broken on the first trial drop. The present slab had stood one test, by being dropped upon a tempo- rary foundation. A second test was to be made to-day. Indeed, we had not gone far when a strange noise ‘came over the foot-hills with the wind. Colonel Li nodded to me, saying: 3 . “The great tablet has stood tke test.” The sound was as though a gigantic hammer had struck a mountain cliff, and it rang and rang in my ears un- pleasantly. CHAPTER V. THE ROAD TO WUN CHOW. We made forty miles over the rough mountainous. road and rested our horses the night of the 11th at the little village Tu Men in the mountains. The Quelpartiens lagged far behind, but got in before midnight. We knew that the remaining twengy odd miles of the journey would be more difficult than the forty we had covered, as the road would be constantly descending ragged mountain spurs. During the long hours in the saddle 1 had much time to think cf the future, and I confess I never looked it more sternly In iue face than during those hourz. But the best-planned battle in history was lost by him who planned it, and won by these who had no plan. The fears of a possible encounter with the agents of the Chinese Tuen were of a nature to sober the most dauntless, and the more I pondered upon that phase of the situation, the more inter- ested I became. The Queen of Quel- parte had been murdered by Prince Tuen’s agents, on the well-founded suspicion that she was playing Quel- parte into the hands of the Japanese, who, after the Japan-China war, came to have, as all the world knows, the upper hand in Quelpartien affairs.’ If, on mere suspicion of Japanese ascend- ency in Quelparte, Prince Tuen had caused the murder of the Queen, there could be little doubt that, upon learn- ing of Russian predominance, he would make a bolder stroke at Wong-Su and his dynasty. And if the secret of the temple. on Lynx Island had been discovered, what could be easier than the seizure of the sarcophagus to those who had run a hundred guards, entered a palace, and murdered a trebly-guarded Queen. 1 could have endured with better rel- ish the idea of a contest for the body of the Queen with Europeans. But China- men! I would rather fight Indians or Burmese, though they, too, like ‘the Chinaman, have an absurd way of rea- soning backward. Prejudice led me to feel that Chinamen would never choose the reasonable or expected alternative, or do the thing you were prepared to resist, but would eventually win out against you by the use of unheard of expedients, as ineconsistent as illogical. When I try to recall those days I find I have only the dimmest recollections of Quelparte. Of this singular journey over those mountains I remember little more than my fears. But there were great brown hills which we climbed by a tortuous path after leaving gray Keinning. Further on we found our- selves in the foot-hills of the moun- tains, cut up by many a pleasant vale, but somber and dreary because of the great rocks which arose oR every hand. Here and there on the mountain-sides white-rcbed figures (for Quelpartiens dress all in white like Koreans) were raking dry grass or burrowing for roots to burn. Now and theén we met a na- tive boy with a string of little Korean ponies loaded with wood, which was worth its weight in copper ,éash in Keinning. At times we [ clattered through a little mountain valley where diminutive paddy-fields were covered with rippling water, which gurgled to the roadside on its way from one ter- race t& another, or we awoke the echoes of a secluded mountain village of straw-thatched mud-huts, from which uncouth heads were thrust with many querulous, guttural exclamaticns of surprise. Little boys and girls dressed in multicolored coats peculiar to the youths in Quelparte, as in Korea, scur- ried awar as fast as they could in their ungainly wooden shoes. Some- times, if we came With great sudden- ness upon a sleeping hamlet, an odd collection of little wooden and hob- nailed shoes lay in and along the road, indicating a flight quite as uncere- monious as our arrival. In more than one village the national game of kite-fighting was being played, the total population, with faces up- turned, watching the battle. The two contestants, crossing their strings, sayed back and forth until one of the strings broke, whereupon victory was claimed by him whose string had long- est stood the test, and the laughter of the crowd was the unhappy portion of the vanquished. Colonel Li- informed me that in a village through which we passed there once arose the greatest kite-fighter in Quelparte, a reputation gained by a series of victories won in every province in the kingdom. - Final- ly the secret of his success was unhap- pily discovered. A paste of meal and pounded glass was made to coat his kite string! And the- victor, whose praises had been sung so loudly, was ‘stoned to death by the infuriated in- habitants of the city where' the trick- ery had been exposed. But these visions of villages and vil- lagers came and went before my eyes as though I were in a dream, and from each succeeding height I strained my eyes to catch a glimpse of the sea and the temple roofs on Lynx Island. Beneath a stolid, commonplace, ori- ental appearance, I found Colcnel Li to be an interesting, even a remarka- ble, man. I came to kKnow him but slowly, and found, to my amazement, that he had traveled much, and that he could talk intelligently of Chicago and ‘Washington, of London and Paris. All this drew me to him at first, though I came to fear him as I hope I shall never have cause to fear another man. Touching the business before us, Col- onel Li was to the point. He bore the Imperial order for the sarcophagus of the Queen. He had assisted in bringing it to this lonely island toward which we were hastening. But while we spoke of the work be- fore us, I could not refer to that which was uppermost in my mind—Tuen. I did, however, make up my mind to sound the man cautiously as to any positive difficulty in our way. This side of our task had not been altogeth- er ¢verlooked, but when Colonel Li re- ferred to it, incidentally, I could not de- termine whether he was keeping up courage by inward denials, or was ac- tually in ignorance of the suspected de- To enlighten my- signs of Prince Tuen. self further on this all-important point, T diplomatically directed our conversa- tion. Turning the talk again to the cclonel’s experiences on the Western Continent, I inquired: “But, colonel, you seem greatly to have appreciated your visit to America and Europe. Did the wish never come to you to remain and become a citizen with us? 1 should think Quelparte would seem tame to one who had been once lost in the roar of our great cities, and who enjoyed the novelties and at- tractions of the new world as keenly as you.” ‘We were just topping a commanding spur. ‘Far up on the face of a cliff, foom which an eagle's scream came rasping down, a dark hole showed the mouth of a Buddhist monastery in the solid rock. A tinkling beil, swayed by the winds, and the dull throb of a cym- bal could be heard above thé. eagle's scream, and a thin puff of , smoke showed where scme suffering devotee had just burned a paper prayer. In a notch in the road far above us a pony boy was singing, and the smell of burn- ing leaves in some hidden hut came to us on the wind. Colonel Li pulled up his horse quickly at my words, and I SIW, BESTING QY . 7O THE GOLDEN : SIPCORPHAGUS OF TE V%V: N OF QUEL took in all this with a significant sweep of his arm: “Leok, listen, breathe! What is the turmoil and foolish fury of your new world to me compared with these? As water in the teapot to the thirsty drunkard!” And 1 could only hum t6 myself the British soldiers’ song: If_you've 'eard the East a-callin’, Why, you won't ‘eed nothin’ else. Nol you won't 'ecd rothin' else But them splcy xariic smells An' the sunshine an’ the palm trees an’ The tinkly temple bells! “But, colonel,” I pressed on, for I had my point to make, “life here seems to have so little to offer. For all your service and devotion to your King what worthy reward have you? Custom in- excrably compels you, if you gain high office, to support all your relatives. So there is little or no financial gain; and you must make enemies, who, because of our triumphs, will be more de- lighted when you fall.” “True,” he said: “but does the thought of failure keep your pcliticians from entering the contest? Triumph is not less sweet in Quelparte than in America. And if you are with the King your triumph is as lasting as the dy- nasty, by the King’s favor.” B T i GRENT BEAILS) ARTE “But what of the dynasty?” 1 nurried on, heedlessly now, for my chance had come. “Who can say how long it will last? Surrcunding nations are rivals/in the fight: for the land, and all the_while the devil Tuen is plotting to overthrow Whang-Su and to wreck his throne.” I held my breath when I said the words. The man was riding at my horse’s flanks and I could not see him. T dared not look back. “Prince Tuen!” he muttered hoarse- ly. That was all he said, but the tone made me shudder. “S¢ the Chinese Prince is Yon Li's enemy, too,” I mused, as we went for- ward in silence. But now I did not know whether Li was thinking of him in connection with our present bus- iness. I resolved not to give up, how- ever, and was about to renew the sub- ject, when the colcnel abruptly left me and dropped back to the Quelpartiens, who were lagging behind as usual. In less than half an hour a cry came from them, and as I trotted back I saw that a trooper had fallen from his horse and lay insensible on the stony road. As I came up, Colonel Li detailed two men to stay with the injured man, and we pressed cn. Then I saw, for the first time, that Li's face was that of a dead man’s. I started at the sight of it. My spurs pierced my horse, and I was car- ried forward to my Cossacks at a rat- tling pace. So I was not the only one who was dreading Prince Tuen’s emissaries at Lynx Island! And that was what I ‘wanted to know. I rode on with the Cossacks for a number of miles. Frcm one of them with whom I could converse I found that they were in bad humor over our business. Moreover, they had become suspicious of the Quelpartiens, who, I ‘was told, were armed as no native cav- alry had ever before been armed—even to dirks concealed in their jackets. This gossip I listened to, but minded not, for soldiers are men bred to idle talk. But as the day wore on, their words kebt ringing in my ears. Colonel Li kept closely with his men, and I with mine. Thus, slowly, a terrible suspicion - dawned on my brain. I was a loyal servant of the King—I and mine. What of him and his? Had Chinese gold been of no avail with him? Was I going to Lynx Island with a wily tool of the Chinese werewolf? Was I the dupe of Colonel Yon Li _and virtually in the hands of the King's enemy already? I cannot tell how disconcerted these awful suspicions, bred by my Cossacks’ idle talk, made me, and at the first thcught of failure I became sick at heart. The capture of the Imperial sarcophagus would, I knew well, make no earthly difference with the length of the dynasty, but I was not so sure that the knowledge of such a capture would not stagger the King's brain and that of every relative. and so, in reality, ful- fill the direful prophecy. My Cossacks were riding their horses at ratural g; some near, some far ifn advance. Suddenly c¢ne of them re- turned up the steep path, his horse wet w lather. Reaching me, he saluted, and said in French “Three of the Quelpartien cavalry have circled us and are riding hard and far in advance.” ¥ remembered instantly the rider who ehad fallen and the two companions left with him; also, that the accident hap- pened after I had spoken as I did of Prince Tuen to Colonel Li. It may seem, I tell it, was all that I needed to as my fears were not groundless. could not distrust Colemel Li without reflecting seriously on Colonel Oranoff, and that I was in no mind to do. How- ever, it was only that which képt m from stopping in the first rocky pass, that t calling my Cossacks about me, and making a priscner of my guide and senior officer. As it was, I feit for my weapons, put and rode at the village of on a cheerful face, head of my men into the ‘Wun Chow. THE TEMPLE OF CHING-LING. ‘Wun Chow Bay is a basin me: ring about two miles both in widt and length. On three sides it is bounded by the mainland, which ends in a prom- ontory of jutting rock. On the fourth or south side a mountain of an island rises three hundred feet from the sea. The harbor entrance is a narrow inlet between the promontory or the main- land and the eastern extremity of Lynx Island. Several picturesque rocky fig- ures stand out of the water in the in- let as if to mark the mainland’s an- cient bcundary line—the sentinels of Lynx Island, a nightmare to captains inward bound. On the western shore of the bay was the small native village, and around the western end of Lynx Island, on the little neck of water di- viding it from the mainland, was a Ja- panese village; for this was an open port and a regular landing place for Japanese steamers plying between Na- gasaki and northexn Chinese ports. One of these steamers was lying at anchor in the harbor of Wun Chow, surrounded by sampans. Another was just clearing ghe harbor as we entered the village, the black trail of its smoke lying along the horizon, making the sentinels of Lynx Island look like di- minutive smoking volcanoes. But my eyes passed quickly from the merchantmen and rested long om a lit- tle white speck on the blue waters—the yacht Dulcette of the Russian man-of war Ulrie, which was stationed at The little craft lay floating near the precipitous side of Lynx Island, evi- dently as near shore as possible, and [ confess my spirits rose as I watched it rise on the swell of the sea. Then my eyes ran from it to the shore, a dis tance of two hundred feet—how could we bridge that leap? From thegshore I looked up the steep side of the mountain, and my heart sank within me, for it seemed a well- nigh impassable course down which to bring a burden in the dark of night. The mountain side was serrated with great ribs of rock extending from end to end. Here and there the dark ra- vines seemed, from my standpoint on the beach at the village, more impass- able, even, than the rugged face of the mountain side. Our burden, I, doubted not, would weigh no less than six or eight hundred pounds and I knew that the Temple of Ching-ling (so it was called locally) was on the summit of the island, though I could see no trace of it. Two courses were open to us; a diffi- cult (if not impossible) climb down the side of the mountain, or a long round- about trip along the summit, down the descending western slope to the Japan- ese village, then through Wun Chow to the shore of the bay. Secrecy wofld demand that the former course be adopted if it was within the range of possibility. As I have d, I was unable to bring myself to act on my suspicions of Col- onel Yon Li. I have stated them in the order in which they arose, to show what* must have been my perturbed mental condition when I arrived on the ground. In proper order it will be seen whether or not I acted rightly. Once in Wun Chow, Colonel Li ad- vised me to take my Cossacks to the Japanese village, where we could find mcre comfortable accommodations at Japanese inns,” while he and his men remained in Wun Chow. It is needless to say I went with great misgivings, for I had resolved not to let the man out of my sight, unless necessary to prevent raising his suspicions of my doubt. But now, at the outset, I was compelled to choose between my fears and Colonel Li, and, brought to the point which I could not evade with- out discomfort and embarrassment, I assented without betraying a shadow of distrust. He promised to follow quickly after me and pilot me to the temple on the island for a preliminary survey of the ground. In fact I had not finished my late tifin when he came clattering up with fresh horses, and we were off. Fording the narrow inlet which at low tide was not more than two feet deep, we gained thie mountain and began ascending the narrow, stony path. Once on Lynx Island, I felt a new in- terest in our mission. Added to this freshening zeal, Colonel Li was instant- ly full ¢f much necesary information. The monastery of Ching-ling had been .raised to the rank at the time of the Queen’s death. This exaltation in rank made necessary a number of alterations in the temple, a larger and more elab- orate service, and a greater number of priests, the number of the latter being doubled from twenty-five to fifty. I commented, to myself, that the additional force was undoubtedly a soldierly set of men and well armed —and priests! Colonel Li further in- formed me that none of all this retinue knew the nature of the treasure they were guarding, save the three high priests, but that all knew that when the mondstery was made of first rank a precious gift was laid within the al- tar, appropriate to its exalted position