Show T 7 0 yellow 1 ell wv v me men ll 11 slee sleep by LANE C by TU mcenniry co i s il tt CON LOSES HIS MAP synopsis john levington a post poet visionary and impractical and mary blary martin the daughter of rich and worldly parents hear the call of love and unite their lives live they go to a small michigan city where john finds work in a stove factory and on sundays writes write verses the martins try in vain to get the happy wife to leave her husband mary begins to breathe tor for two john loses his hh job tie he appeals in vain to the martins mary goes to tho the hospital and never returns relur nii thus comes into the story etory cornelius levington the father airier leaves town and the city farms out the child after atter two years year the father returns and takes his hi little son eon with him on his bis world the father becomes the slave of cf a mysterious orious drug koresh with odors of wine and cinnamon and returns with little con to die on his cifes grave crave con Is again farmed out grows up in the underworld and Is saved for better things thine by andrew march so much by way of introduction e tion li the hero of gf the strange adventures advent ureA of yellow men sleep these be tin gin when con takes by force a small mall leather tack sack from chee ming mine the chinese cook of an acquaintance tills this sack contains a chinese chines map of the gobi desert which Is precious beyond price to andrew march eighteen rears before armed men in uie the gobi had taken marahs wife and infant daughter from hlin him now he be sends con in search of them on the voyage con onda finds cries chee ming mine a fellow passenger would you in uch such circumstances have hav kept faith and gone on wit with march instructions unread CHAPTER IV 5 the feathered needle the queen was wa neither the largest nor the newest ship afloat the pacific was inclined to handle her roughly she was not long enough to be comfortable in a breeze but she was wait of a sturdy depth profitable to her owners the wind was sharper than levington had bad anticipated nothing was as he had planned he went shivering to his cabin the fire that lurked in cons veins was not mint saintly ay he never knew that his mother had dwelt on the clear heights ot of emotion that john levington had bad seen all things with the vision ot of a poet even in those shabby fragrant days in dory street toward the last the father had bad mentioned the beauty of gods world not meant for himself and had looked to his little boy for answer often after that levington glanced across at chee mang tin lit in the dining salon ealon or passed him on deck A perfect lack of relation was preserved between them as it they had never met before the queen hesitated at nagasaki let go a little of her burden and bounced onward into the yellow sea BOB the wind changed thrice lifted then died the ship was not quieted but wallowed anyway A thick dim mist filled the air cold riven only by the dignified warning which was repeated every everly forty seconds throughout the final night and day small low craft scuttled out of her path the presence of the ancient yellow mother permeated the tog fog as if creeping out from invisible shores to sniff the stranger old mother china who started halt half the good things odthe world but left them for others to finish to abuse and forget some of her best have never been dig discovered slie she Is waiting she did not ask for the torch of light and there was no sorrow in her yielding when they took it from her her timeless eyes have never wept and they will never smile dynasties empires race of men emerge from her cast their tinsel upon the dust and vanish god knows where and mother brother china waits and waits in his cabin con levington was sleeping leeping the harbor at tong hu was crowd 1 mongrel craft of the world were flattered flittered flitt littered ered here sul I 1 in gs g s hips that had pl pt liverpool in the girlhood 0 of queen victoria and never returned gray cray japanese coasters netting detting tugs from the south a low neglected revenue chaser built for the king of portugal at present carrying artichokes and salt and sisal a tramp like flke the rest threading these were the native river boats three decked and nd tat fat their ralls rails mere perforated ste aleain nin elpes arranged against the day of pirates when live steam would fenoli from them broadside arid and scald the robbers as they came aboard with ever a shifting shit ting background of junks like vermin swarming an old coat crooked discolored floating shapes that would have sunk in water thinner than this pel pei ho mud short cries sounded S and a dim rattle of gongs A sooty tug tog worried at the hawser of the bulky queen there followed me of strained timbers as one ene leaned against the dock a aemile culliver amid the little dirty ships of tong hu bu the tug rug snorted at her then ran up the foggy river coolies cool lea ran up the wet gangways human wharf rats sat on the cargo that was presently to be loaded smoking in the lie foul cold yellow air of the harbor the handful of passengers disembark ed far from being the last was chee ming with his carriers trotting before him levington was still asleep cons room was in disorder the porter came on his rounds with broom and dustpan dust pan and found the sleeper he fie roused con and thought him drunk but the stupor was not that of alcohol Leving tonA pulse was slow one side of his body felt dead everything was thick and puffy to his fits touch rind a pain ran deep into his head the porter spilled out jut a glass of brandy for him keep loir the bottle for himself to finish up later levington sat up tip shakily this movement brought a prickling sensation in ills his shoulder and he be fumbled there the tiny jabbing was repented repeated under his clumsy fin fingers ers something soft it was too a little tuft of feathers a concealed in the alie tuft was the barb of a dart from far away he recollected the story of andrew march and the dart from desert riders A mate male to that swift delicate e wei jsn had been clin clinging a long while to his own shoulder none but chee ming could have blown it in through the window in sudden panic con rummaged across hla his breast and discovered that the hit bit of par parchment climent was as gone the leather tho thong ng R alone one rema remaining ping chee ming had bad entered the cabin and taken the map the black bag was overturned clothing upon the floor the envelop containing instructions to be opened at shan sung had already been torn open it mattered very little that its contents remained safely enough levington was too confused to read now there seemed no end to his failure 0 0 0 0 0 0 the shock of his loss and the realization that he be had been feather strick en cn by the chinese hastened the return of full faculties a painful process ne he threw off the feeling that weighed him down dressed as rapidly as he 10 the stupor was wag not that of alcohol could command fingers not yet completely controlled rolled by his own will made sure that his money had not been touched and then flod fled from the ship tong hu Is no place in which to stop it was cold in its streets the gutters have welled up their filth until it overspreads over spreads the narrow walk coolies with fill their carts patter and slop through this while their passengers glance once up and awny away in the hope of getting the odor out of mind A passage along the waterfront Is flanked with squat buildings seeming as old as the minty water that awis twists is about a 1 0 ut the pole foundations at the arrival of a ship amid arbid petty confusion the coolie carts run faster always locking wheels and endangering their fares the natives curse shrilly and untangle levington found there would be a hoat boat in twenty minutes up the river to peking ile he mounted through the black dust and walked impatiently around the upper deck J j f ile he was serious now dow as it if nil fill it the e warm tides of life had bad it flooded away away from him ills his treasured map was gone the gobi would be meaningless without it he thought of the packet of final instructions the chinese had not wanted that con examined the broken envelop and started to draw forth the papers within but stopped short abort instantly he replaced it inside his coat and grinned at himself for having so nearly slipped in five minutes the riverboat river boat would clear the sodden air was cloven with tar far hoots arid and near replies the final barrow of coal was run up the plank levington stretched his legs i and might have lapsed into an after math of 0 his nights drug drugging gln but just now every faculty was livened by a collision with chee ming the brown skin was close furled around the eyes of jade chee ming was inscrutable lie regarded the american with the usual blank stare I 1 but honored him with a very faint tiow bow the figured folds of his blossy jacket were damp iab with the river fog levington nor narrowed the freezing space beaw between en them and peered into the stony eyes your little feather sticker put me to sleep 0 you have no business in A asia aia ia said the other beadily in good english you lies hesitate liate to come to america remarked the white man put kilt we should not quarrel now As soon as the ropes are thrown aboard and we get out into the river I 1 am going to tell you something chee sling ming 1 I have no desire said the chinese conscious that this white adversary had now no map and was therefore I 1 helpless Lel pless yes you have dont go yet you pearly killed me last night 11 1 I would not kill any one unless he be makes me trouble said the oriental it pleased con to have him talk it was interesting to watch the thin brown lips hold stiffly the formation of the english words every syllable was vas a struggle for chee ming ile he hated bated levington which Is a refined emotion in the east ile he had not by any means forgotten the sickening twist delivered to bis big own spine when he had met this young mountain llon lion in the pantry the boat began to grind internally T the he 10 low wet wharf drew backward A space of muddy water widened the passage to peking was begun there would lie be a brief stop at the alen tsin front then on to the tartar city darkness completely claimed the river before the boat jolted to a 0 stop the end of her voyage u upstream up p stream street lights were hazy around the quay coolies were lined up in order all was different from the lie port town it was one of the final fogs for peking kin and winter ans ready to harden down there would be weeks of bitter weather this was part of the plan for levington to traverse the known lands in the cold season to be in readiness at the edge of the de desert ert for his real travel task at the first sign of spring here the streets were lighted some of doorways almost western in tippe appearance pe arance save for the dim figures that moved in rind out of them roofs were peaked angular swooping down to wide eaves the peking tenements were squeezed up on top of the wholesale houses and native godowns and it looked as if only eniy the cobblestones kept the weight of these trona pressing the sides of a street together when it would be lost the lateral alleys seemed to have nearly grown shut down one con had a glimpse of a fire a red flare in the dark sparks standing an instant over pitiable housetops the motor bua hurried on amongst the darting ricks rickshaws baws but con could not forget the fire its ruddy wickedness turned loose upon a close knit city of wood and human frailty it was daylight when Leving levington too slept it was still daylight when he awakened somehow the matter of the plain envelop came to his mind those instructions which would bind him if he read it was as if the thought of this had find wakened him the chinese had torn the covering hut the contents had not been what tie lie wanted anted why then had march made so much of the matter con wanted to reopen the enelog here and now lie ile could not say aay hy thoughts of nf the letter possessed him and he felt rather ashamed or of himself in a general generi il way the closed document haunted him tie he thought of burning it unread and then turning himself loose to drift an old boyhood depression was weighing him down reaching him now through mere physical Ave weakness akness and sense of failure ile he felt in a low inon moment lent that march should have told him film everything frankly at the start con wanted to get away somewhere free forgotten lost ile he saw himself slinking into far dim harbors an outcast ile he wis was not au aware are how elaborate and unreal ills his loneliness was the hurn hum of the chinese city entered at the window like secret invitation the lands landa to the south called him as always and the murky spas seas con was nil tangle pain confuso n the inner thing that was himself e fused to let this fog close over him ile fie arose rang for brandy and when it come came was liberal to himself ile he would not think dared not he fie dressed downstairs in the barbers chair he permitted himself to be shaved and in the mirror he glanced once at its ills own face the eyes too bright cheekbones cheek bones pointing brow smooth as chalk he held field against the tempest in his ds heart they bowed him out of the shop like a prince at the desk he cashed his credit checks into gold it was a constant effort to hold himself erect ile he took I 1 more brandy and something like the tides of life were released leased ie and set to la he trod across the lobby for uie tile last time when his sedan its called tiie the order wa was to the western wester gate ot of the city and haste UIs his runners r s started and levington sank back very numb and sick in his mind midd one word was gleaming like an instrument of torture shan sung and his instructions remained unread in the blade black bag near the western gate were a caravansary and many travel stores small houses were pressed together like driftwood against a river bridge they ran up tip on top of one another anoche r or slid down in an aspect of perennial ruin it was dark in the torchlight torch light of the biley alleyways ways many humans moved in and out they were chilled and had no curiosity every roof shelter ed balfa halfa halt a shop and half a nursery business hours were without te termination relna i among the red shadows one might purchase a hundred horses or a pocketful of chestnuts silks from the south or figured linen from the north wine in stone flasks flacks grain in leather bags salt hay camels drivers themselves con sought out a native merchant who spoke english ills purchases were wera swift and simple after that la in the swarm swam of traders and idlers lie forgot himself turned hla his back upon everything except his els mission ile he knew nothing of camels but he felt them over carefully by torchlight torch light to discover any sores bores or cracked pads tile the english speaking merchant a well fed chinese watched him soberly and later with feeble protest accepted a certain reward for his advice near nine in the evening iab with a cold wind pressing in all was ready and Leving tons private caravan moved forth from the city passing under the ancient bricks of the western arch perhaps it was imagination only but the air felt different outside the walls as though the sky had receded t to 0 its normal distance fro from m earth leaving much cb clear clr air and breeze in between the reason was more truly that the fog bad gone winter was waa down in earnest it wai was late the next day when th they ey reached the inner line of the or great eat wall where arrangements were made to join a merchant caravan on its ita westward journey cons was waa the sixth outfit in line the head driver of one party had half a dozen english eng fish words which it pleased him to address to levington the young white |