THE 
 
 CHINESE 
 LABEL 
 
 Hi 
 
 J. FRANK DAVIS 
 

THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
She broke in sharply. " Do you mean you would not go to 
 the police if you knew ? " Page 1 70. 
 
THE 
 CHINESE LABEL 
 
 BY J. FRANK DAVIS 
 
 WITH FRONTISPIECE BY 
 
 RALPH P. COLEMAN 
 
 A. L. BURT COMPANY 
 
 Publishers New York 
 
 Published by arrangement with Little, Brown and Company 
 
Copyright, IQ2O, 
 BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. 
 
 All rights reserved 
 Published March, 1920 
 

 To 
 
 Dr. Fred Houdlett Albee 
 
 t for whose professional skill 
 this and many other stories 
 would never have been 
 written 
 
 M667758 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 SLOWLY his livery automobile edged its way 
 through the excited, shouting carnival crowds, 
 while Julian Napier scanned the features of the 
 revelers, seeking the well-remembered face of 
 Kalat Pasha. 
 
 San Antonio s Fiesta San Jacinto was in full 
 swing. The downtown streets and plazas 
 swarmed from curb to curb with merrymakers 
 and spectators, roared and echoed to shouts and 
 laughter, to the raucous, persuading cries of 
 street merchants, to the tooting of horns and the 
 clatter of rattles. With their thousands of extra 
 electric lamps and their staring, high-powered 
 flood-lights, they were almost as bright and much 
 more beautiful than in the sunlight. Lights and 
 flags and banners ; now and then, when there fell 
 a lull in the turmoil of voices, rose the drone and 
 thump of not distant bands, and everywhere the 
 swirling crowd, in tens of thousands. 
 
 Three days, now, Julian Napier had been in 
 San Antonio, always seeking that one olive- 
 tinted face. 
 
 It was a face he had not seen for more than 
 eight years. Kalat would be looking older,, 
 
4 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 naturally, and probably somewhat disguised. 
 His jet-black mustache, whose little ends he used 
 to train to point upward, would probably have 
 disappeared. He would be stouter, likely. He 
 might not be dressed so immaculately as was his 
 wont when Napier last saw him, in Peking. Eut 
 Napier did not doubt he would know the man if 
 they met. 
 
 He hoped Kalat would not know him. He 
 rather thought he wouldn t. Back there in 
 China, Yusef Kalat, although barely thirty, was 
 already quite an important person among the 
 lesser diplomatic representatives. Although not 
 yet a pasha that honor came after his return to 
 Turkey it was common knowledge that he 
 stood high in the favor of some of the most 
 powerful leaders of the Young Turk Party, then 
 riding triumphantly on the crest of the wave at 
 Constantinople, while Napier was merely so far 
 as Kalat could know a dillydallying tourist. 
 Not more than three men in all China knew that 
 the young American was a representative of the 
 Treasury Department, fitting himself by observa 
 tion and study for specialization in matters 
 Oriental, and none of the three was a person 
 prone to babble secrets to Turks or any one else. 
 
 " I doubt very much if he knows me," Napier 
 had told his chief, a week since at Washington, 
 when that personage put up to him the problem 
 that was confronting the department agents at 
 the Mexican border. " I saw him several times 
 in Peking and once at Shanghai, but we were 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 1 5 
 
 never introduced and, even if we had been, it is 
 hardly likely he would have remembered a 
 youngster as inconspicuous as I tried to be. I 
 wouldn t swear he doesn t, of course ; that would 
 be foolish. But I don t think so." 
 
 " But you feel reasonably sure you would 
 know him? " 
 
 " Positive. He isn t the sort that is easily 
 forgotten, and he can t have changed greatly in 
 eight years. Of course, I take it for granted he 
 won t be passing as a Turk, or as an Armenian 
 or Syrian, either. He will probably claim to be 
 a Latin of some sort. His safest stunt, if he 
 speaks the language well enough, would be to 
 call himself a Spaniard, and he is reputed to have 
 a great gift of tongues. As a Spaniard, in San 
 Antonio or any other South Texas city, he 
 wouldn t be conspicuous at all. You say you are 
 sure he came across the border? " 
 
 " Reasonably sure. Mexico City reported he 
 had left there, supposed to be headed for the 
 States, and we found a record that almost cer 
 tainly applies to him. He would not attempt to 
 come in under his own name or nationality, natu 
 rally, but a man whose description tallies per 
 fectly with his entered at Eagle Pass. He had 
 a Greek passport in perfect order, viseed at 
 Madrid, Havana and Mexico City. He declared 
 nothing dutiable, was searched and found to have 
 nothing dutiable on him. The name he gave " 
 the chief read from a card on his desk " was 
 Demitri Poulos." 
 
6 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 Which is exactly as valuable for identifica 
 tion purposes as John Smith." 
 
 " Exactly. This Demitri Poulos took a train 
 north, probably to San Antonio. All this, you 
 understand, had happened before our people in 
 Mexico City got wind of the stones, or of his con 
 nection with them before they knew anything 
 
 about him at all, as a matter of fact. Well 
 
 He didn t have the diamonds with him when he 
 came across, so we are justified in believing they 
 are to follow him across, if they haven t already 
 done so. He wouldn t get any farther from the 
 border than was necessary, if that is the case, and 
 yet he couldn t remain inconspicuous in one of 
 those little towns on the Rio Grande. So we are 
 taking it for granted he went to San Antonio. 
 Our agents there have been unable to get any 
 track of him, but that means nothing. None of 
 them ever saw him, and we have no photograph. 
 So - Well, it looks like a long shot, but I 
 
 don t see anything to do but to go down there and 
 take a thorough look-see. You are the only man 
 in the department at least the only one who is in 
 America just now who knows him." 
 
 "And when I find him, if I do, the job is just 
 begun." 
 
 The chief nodded. " When you find him, you 
 may be on the track of the diamonds and you 
 may not be. But if he still had them in Spain, 
 as our people report, and still had them in Mexico 
 City, it means he has them in the United States 
 or expects to." 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 1 T 
 
 " It is quite certain, is it, that he had them in 
 Mexico? " 
 
 " One of our men got a tip that he offered them 
 to a dealer, hoping the man might be willing or 
 able to make a trade. Perhaps a price might 
 have been arranged, if Kalat had been willing to 
 make enough of a sacrifice, but the jeweler had 
 no way to get enough for the payment in gold, 
 and naturally Kalat wasn t taking any part of 
 his payment in Mexican paper." 
 
 " Do I understand the stones are Kalat s own 
 property? I mean, there is no charge that they 
 are stolen goods." 
 
 The chief shrugged his shoulders. " The 
 Turkish government, whatever it happens to be 
 at this moment, would undoubtedly claim they 
 were stolen, but whether or not it could make the 
 charge stick is something else. That is an angle 
 we are not much interested in. So far as we are 
 concerned, Kalat has them and, for all we know, 
 they are his. Our interest in them ceases when 
 they have paid a proper duty, or, if they are 
 smuggled in, when they have been seized." 
 
 " Describe them to me more fully, will you, 
 please? Of course I have heard of them, but I 
 never saw them. The Gorgeous Lily is the 
 more famous of the two, I think. Is it the lar- 
 ger?" 
 
 " No. c The Ray of Light is considerably the 
 larger; a fraction over fifty-one carats." 
 
 Napier did not attempt to conceal his surprise. 
 " I had no idea it was as heavy as that," he 
 
8 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 said. Why, the Regent, in the Louvre, is a 
 little less than three times that size, and it is val 
 ued by the French government at two million and 
 a half dollars." 
 
 " But the Regent is regarded by experts as 
 the world s most perfect large stone, and the Ray 
 of Light is not perfect, either in color or cutting. 
 There have been many stories as to its value- 
 most of them from Turkish sources and hence to 
 be taken with reservation. Perhaps, if it were 
 offered in the open market, with no possibility of 
 cloud to the title, it might bring a quarter of a 
 million dollars. Under the circumstances, Kalat 
 will probably feel well satisfied if he can get a 
 hundred thousand and let the buyer take the 
 chance of evading the duty." 
 
 " And tKe Gorgeous Lily? " 
 
 " That is a much better stone. It is blue- 
 white, well cut, and weighs forty -three and seven- 
 eighths carats. Its intrinsic value is greater than 
 the other. There is a rumor in Spain that Kalat 
 offered the pair for a quarter of a million dollars 
 gold. He would probably take two hundred 
 thousand." 
 
 " Is there any inside information as to how 
 they came into his possession? " 
 
 The chief shook his head. 
 
 " He just has them," he replied simply. " They 
 were always on the sultan s sash when he ap 
 peared on State occasions, and now they are not 
 only gone from the sash, but gone from Con 
 stantinople. Presumably they were Kalat s 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 9 
 
 share of the loot, when the smash came. The 
 Young Turk officials, when they made their final 
 clean-up, got away with over a hundred and 
 twenty million dollars worth of grand larceny. 
 Kalat had been one of the gang, well up in the 
 confidence of the three big fellows. Whether 
 they divided with some of their henchmen and 
 gave Kalat the two stones, or whether it was 
 everybody for himself and Kalat happened to 
 have access to the sultan s jewelry I don t know, 
 and I doubt if anybody else knows outside the 
 looters themselves. The world is aware that the 
 gang made their get-away with all they needed 
 and the next we hear of the Gorgeous Lily and 
 the Ray of Light, Kalat Pasha is trying to make 
 a deal to get rid of them in Madrid." 
 
 " Then our people lost track of him, you 
 say." 
 
 " He had powerful friends among the pro- 
 Germans at court. We suppose from the pass 
 port that this alleged Greek Demitri Poulos had 
 when he entered at Eagle Pass that things got 
 unpleasant for Kalat in Spain, that he and his 
 friends framed up the phony Greek papers, and 
 that he slipped over to Havana and thence across 
 to Vera Cruz. We are guessing at all that, how 
 ever. All we know is that Kalat was in Mexico 
 City, that he had the stones with him, failed in 
 an attempt to sell them, and disappeared, sup 
 posed to be heading toward the States. And 
 that Demitri Poulos came in at Eagle Pass." 
 
 Napier sat for a moment in thought. " If he 
 
10 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 left the stones behind him to be sent in afterward, 
 there is somebody in Mexico whom he can trust 
 implicitly," he mused. "And a Turk seldom 
 trusts anybody implicitly. Not a Mexican, 
 surely, and especially not another Turk." He 
 frowned over the problem. " He would be put 
 ting himself at the mercy of the other man; 
 depending on nothing but the fellow s word un 
 less he had something on him and a way to punish 
 him if he didn t make good." 
 
 "A man big enough to be involved with him in 
 a scheme like this wouldn t be likely to fear many 
 consequences." 
 
 " That is true. Which gets us back to the 
 matter of trust. It isn t according to Oriental 
 
 nature Wait a minute ! I was thinking of 
 
 Turkish Oriental nature. Kalat knows China. 
 He knows, once a high-class Chinaman has given 
 his word, palm touching palm, on the memory of 
 
 his honorable ancestors Are there as many 
 
 Chinese smugglers on the other side of the Mex 
 ican border as usual, chief? " 
 
 " More than there used to be. Mostly opium, 
 of course." 
 
 " Is much of it getting in? " 
 
 The chief smiled wryly. "We don t know 
 how much is getting in but it is too much. We 
 know how much we are seizing. Not two weeks 
 ago we made one haul of sixty-seven five-tael 
 cans. A jitney driver who was going back and 
 forth a dozen times a day had it packed in the 
 upholstery of his car. We got a good quantity 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 11 
 
 last week in the false bottom of what looked like 
 an ordinary farm wagon. A few cans in an 
 automobile radiator is pretty common. And that 
 is only telling what happens at the international 
 crossings, where they take a chance with the cus 
 toms officers. What gets in at the fords and in 
 boats, I wouldn t pretend to estimate. We catch 
 a lot of them, of course, but the Rio Grande is a 
 long river." 
 
 " It is a profitable business at that, I imagine; 
 for the fellows who stay in Mexico take no risks." 
 
 "A five-tael can is worth better than fifty dol 
 lars now on this side." 
 
 " If Kalat trusted anybody we don t know, 
 of course, that he did, or even positively that he 
 is your Demitri Poulos the Greek, although it is 
 reasonable to suppose he is it is my guess that 
 the chances are the man he trusted is Chinese. I 
 think I ll nose around among the yellow people 
 in San Antonio a bit, anyway. Are there many 
 there now? " 
 
 "A rather large colony, I think. Some odd 
 fact or other about its location came out in one 
 of our reports. Oh, I have it! The city au 
 thorities abolished the old Red Light district, and 
 a lot of handsome real estate went begging for 
 awhile. Nobody wanted to live in that section. 
 Then the well-to-do Chinese went in. I don t 
 remember anything more about it, but the San 
 Antonio office can post you on all that after you 
 get there." 
 
 Napier rose. " I ll get to-night s train," he 
 
12 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 said. " If Kalat is there, I ll try to locate 
 him." 
 
 "After which," the chief smiled, " you have 
 located nothing of any value whatever to us un 
 less you are also able to locate the Gorgeous Lily 
 and the Ray of Light." 
 
 Lamb, the collector of customs at San Antonio, 
 with whom Napier conferred before he had been 
 in the city two hours, was unable to advise any 
 especial course of action. 
 
 " You say Kalat could easily pass for a Span 
 iard, or a white Mexican," he remarked. " There 
 are at least twenty-five thousand Mexicans in 
 San Antonio perhaps thirty and at least a 
 thousand of them are white, or near enough white 
 so that you can t be sure of the Indian strain at 
 first glance. And a very great number, since the 
 disorders in Mexico have located them here as 
 refugees, are people of fine education and breed 
 ing. So you see looking for one individual who 
 answers that description, unless you actually 
 know him by sight, has got looking for a needle 
 in a haystack in the list of simple sports and pas 
 times. We have kept our ears and eyes open 
 for new Spaniards in town as differentiated 
 from Mexicans, who frequently refer to them 
 selves here as Spanish, when they are of pure 
 white or nearly pure white blood but we haven t 
 got anywhere." 
 
 "Where do the best Spanish and Mexican 
 people hang out? At what hotels and amuse 
 ment places, I mean." 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 13 
 
 Lamb told him. 
 
 "And their residential section? " 
 
 " There is none. There are purely Mexican 
 sections, where the poorer classes live the 
 principal one is over back of Main and Military 
 Plazas but the better people live anywhere and 
 everywhere. Your man might be at any of the 
 hotels; he might be visiting or boarding or oc 
 cupying a house of his own in any of the good 
 residential sections ; or, of course, he might think 
 he would be better buried in Little Mexico." The 
 collector got out a map and located the purely 
 Mexican quarter on it. 
 
 " You have a Chinese colony here, the chief 
 told me. A new one, where the old Red Light 
 district used to be." 
 
 Collector Lamb put his finger on a point on 
 the map. " Right there," he said. "Across the 
 San Pedro Creek, just behind the big Mexican 
 quarter." 
 
 " Handy to the center of town," Napier com 
 mented. " When did this unusual influx of 
 Chinamen take place, and where did they come 
 from? " 
 
 " From Mexico, a good many of them. It s 
 quite unique, how several hundred of them came 
 to be living here, because, theoretically, they 
 aren t supposed to be in the United States at all. 
 They date from our little Villa adventure. When 
 Pershing was in Mexico, he had four or five hun 
 dred Chinks working for him with the army of 
 occupation, doing one thing or another, and when 
 
14 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 he got his orders to forget that Villa-dead-or- 
 alive thing, it was easy to see the finish of those 
 Chinamen if he left them there. He was up 
 against both Villistas and Carranzistas at that 
 time, you know, and neither faction of the Mexi 
 cans would be friendly to anybody who had 
 helped the gringos, and there would have been a 
 fine open season on Chinese and their property if 
 they had been left behind. So Pershing brought 
 them across the border. 
 
 "A good many of them were of the menial 
 laboring class. They were taken out to Fort 
 Sam Houston and Camp Travis and given jobs 
 for Uncle Sam, and they are still there, working 
 very contentedly. A good many more were of a 
 little better grade small merchants and men of 
 limited means and a scheme was worked out 
 whereby they could stay here * in bond , as you 
 might say, until it gets safe for them in Mexico. 
 There is a representative of the Chinese govern 
 ment here and a representative of our govern 
 ment to look after them, and they report to these 
 regularly and are allowed to come and go with 
 almost as much freedom as anybody else, so long 
 as they don t attempt to leave town. Not one of 
 them, up to now, has broken his bond , or 
 * parole , or whatever you want to call it. When 
 there is a government in Northern Mexico strong 
 enough to protect them, and willing to, they will 
 be sent back." 
 
 "And these compose this new colony? " 
 
 " Partially. But there are a lot of other new- 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 15 
 
 comers, not in bond , who say they came from 
 Southern California and other places where 
 Chinese have been thick for years. I suppose a 
 good many of them did; it isn t susceptible of 
 proof that any of them didn t, anyway. If a few 
 of them succeeded in slipping across the border, 
 they don t boast of it and their papers ap 
 pear to be all right. You know how much 
 that papers in order business means, or 
 doesn t. If any Chinaman ever died in this 
 country and his papers weren t left where 
 they could be used over again by some Chink 
 who didn t have any of his own, I never heard 
 of it." 
 
 " Is there anybody here among the more pros 
 perous Chinese who is under suspicion of being 
 mixed up in opium smuggling? " 
 
 The collector shrugged his shoulders and 
 grinned. " Every Chinaman in America is 
 under suspicion of being an opium smuggler," he 
 asserted. " But we haven t anything on any of 
 these fellows that live in the new district. They 
 live quietly, keep to themselves and seem to mind 
 their own business. We see what they appear 
 to be doing; but what they really do or what they 
 really think, of course, is beyond me. I confess 
 it cheerfully and brazenly. I can make a guess 
 at what a pelado Mexican will do or think under 
 a given combination of circumstances, but the 
 Oriental mind is a sealed book. My experience 
 in the customs game has been the Mexican border 
 and points East." 
 
16 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 " Most of these people have some way of mak 
 ing a living here, I suppose." 
 
 Yes. In the restaurant and grocery busi 
 ness, principally." 
 
 " Who is the leading citizen of the colony? " 
 
 The collector considered this thoughtfully. 
 " I can tell you who is the best known among 
 Americans. He runs a very decent restaurant, 
 over on Stonewall Street, right in the heart of 
 town, and seems to have plenty of capital. His 
 name is Charles Toy." 
 
 " Know anything about him? " 
 
 1 Very little, except that he isn t one of the in 
 bond gang. He has been here about three years. 
 He runs an orderly place, has never had any trou 
 ble with the police, so far as I have heard, and our 
 customs agents work has never led in his 
 direction. A rather tall, stout, dignified old 
 party with spectacles and American clothes, of 
 course." 
 
 " Why of course? " 
 
 "No Chinaman in San Antonio ever appears in 
 public in Chinese clothes. A relic, I suppose, of 
 the days when the cowboys would have played 
 horse with them if they did." 
 
 Napier returned to the subject of Spanish 
 crowds, in which he might find the face of Kalat 
 Pasha. 
 
 " You will see crowds enough here next week," 
 Lamb told him. " The Fiesta opens on Monday. 
 Everybody in town will be out on the main streets 
 at one time or another. It isn t unusual for fifty 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 17 
 
 or sixty thousand people to get out to see any one 
 of the big parades." 
 
 So for lack of any better system, Napier had 
 circulated through the crowds; in the lobbies of 
 the big hotels, as busy now as they had been in 
 the height of the winter tourist season; in hotel 
 dining rooms and restaurants ; on the sidewalk in 
 front of theatres and moving-picture houses, 
 while audiences were gathering and being dis 
 missed; through the downtown streets and plazas, 
 sometimes afoot, more often in a slow-moving 
 automobile, scrutinizing the throngs intently, al 
 ways hoping to catch a glimpse of Kalat s dis 
 tinguished features. Several times he had 
 thought his quest was to be rewarded; then the 
 man would turn his head, or laugh, or speak, and 
 he would realize that this was only another hand 
 some Mexican. The recurrence of these experi 
 ences emphasized how correct had been his opinion 
 that Kalat would have no difficulty, so far as 
 appearance was concerned at least, in passing as 
 Spanish. 
 
 Napier was not at all discouraged. Almost 
 infinite patience is a first qualification for success 
 in the Treasury Department secret service, and 
 only three days had elapsed ; if he found his man 
 in a week or a fortnight he would be fortunate. 
 
 Except for the customs collector and two or 
 three of the agents at the Treasury Department 
 in the Federal Building, he had seen no one he 
 knew. In all the thousands of eyes into which 
 he had looked, none had twinkled with the faint- 
 
18 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 est sign of recognition. But now, early in the 
 evening of the first big pageant, when the crowds 
 were gathering to welcome the King of the Fiesta 
 and to witness the ceremonies of presenting him 
 the keys of the city, a woman smiled at him and 
 bowed. 
 
 He recognized her instantly and bowed in re 
 turn; then he had passed her. She was standing 
 at the curb in a group of well-dressed people, and 
 even in a city where beautiful women are by no 
 means rare, she was one to command more than 
 a transient look from any eye. Napier knew she 
 must be nearly forty; it was five years since he 
 had seen her, and she had been in her early 
 thirties then, but her looks denied it. It was to 
 be presumed that artistry had some share in the 
 freshness of her complexion, and the artificial 
 illumination, bright as it was, would be kind to 
 her, but his feeling, nevertheless, was one of sur 
 prise at her youthfulness. 
 
 Twice or three times he had met her, in Paris. 
 They had been members of a dinner party, with 
 the theatre afterward. He had run into her, 
 a week later, in the mob at an official recep 
 tion. She was Madame Frezzi, supposed to be 
 Italian; he recalled that some of the people at 
 the dinner party had called her " Madame 
 Lucia." He had asked Brainard, at the Amer 
 ican Embassy, at a convenient moment, who and 
 what she was. 
 
 "A beautiful lady with an absent husband," 
 Brainard had laughed. "And further than that, 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 19 
 
 deponent saieth not, because deponent knoweth 
 not. She has money; you can see that from her 
 jewelry. And good breeding; that is obvious. 
 And powerful friends. And that is about as far 
 as I can go. It has been gossiped that she has 
 been not without influence with members of the 
 Chamber of Deputies, but she is no ordinary 
 lobbyist. We have thought, at times, she might 
 be on somebody s secret diplomatic staff, which 
 would presumably mean Italy s, but we ve never 
 felt sure. These Latin peoples keep so many 
 beautiful women at the capitals of other govern 
 ments, you can t hope to keep track of all of 
 them." * 
 
 What, he wondered idly, was Madame Lucia, 
 former frequenter of Parisian salons, doing in 
 America, especially away down here in the 
 Southwest. The matter did not intrigue him 
 greatly; for all he knew she might have been 
 living in the United States four years or more. 
 What more natural, in that event, than that she 
 should go a-touring to witness an American car 
 nival that gave promise of having an interesting 
 Latin color. He would keep his eyes open for 
 her at the hotels, he thought. He would need 
 to remember how Brainard had identified him, at 
 the moment of their introduction. Merely as a 
 traveling American, he recalled. She would 
 have no knowledge of his connection with the 
 government; he, too, if they met, would be a 
 tourist. 
 
 Mounted policemen came clattering, ordering 
 
20 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 vehicles from the streets that formed the path 
 for the coming parade, and he descended from his 
 car, arranged for it to wait in a side street, and 
 mingled afoot with the crowds. He had an im 
 pulse to return to where he had seen Madame 
 Lucia, but the throng was too solid for him to 
 reach there before the head of the parade arrived, 
 and after the procession had passed he gave the 
 idea up ; it was unlikely she would be in the same 
 place. He found his car again and had his driver 
 edge into the stream of automobiles that was 
 filtering from every side into the principal streets, 
 now again open to vehicular traffic. 
 
 They were slow processions, two in each street, 
 passing one another in compact lines, every chauf 
 feur on the alert to avoid pedestrians who walked 
 and ran and skipped and shouted between the 
 curbs. The downtown streets in Fiesta week 
 belong to those afoot; vehicles, there by suffer 
 ance of the masses who walk, must watch their 
 brakes. The long lines of cars barely crawled, 
 a matter which worried none of their occupants ; 
 if they had been in haste they would have taken 
 other and parallel streets. There were frequent 
 blockades and jerky stops and starts. 
 
 During one of these stops Napier became sud 
 denly conscious of a face in an automobile di 
 rectly opposite him and not four feet distant, 
 the face of a girl, strange and yet hauntingly 
 familiar. As their eyes met, he had the tempta 
 tion to bow and the immediate afterthought that 
 he ought not; that he did not really know her. 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 21 
 
 Then, before he had fairly reached this conclu 
 sion, the girl s face lighted with recognition, she 
 bowed and smiled quite cordially, and, although 
 he could hear nothing above the racket of the 
 cars and crowds, he thought her lips shaped the 
 words, " Why, Mr. Napier! " 
 
 The little traffic blockade broke and she was 
 gone. And still, although he had returned the 
 bow and smile with a feeling that this could not 
 be a mistake, that he knew the girl perfectly, and 
 that it was only an embarrassing mental lapse 
 that prevented his recalling who she was, her 
 name refused to come to him. She was plainly 
 a girl of class, such as he might have met at the 
 home of some friend ; in fact, his mind held a dis 
 tinct impression that his meeting with her had 
 been purely social. Some chance acquaintance 
 in Washington or New York, perhaps, down here 
 for the carnival. He started to put it from his 
 mind as quite unimportant, reminding himself 
 that one cannot hope to remember every girl one 
 meets for a moment and exchanges a dozen sen 
 tences with, even as pretty a girl as this one, but, 
 somehow, he could not. Some subconscious force 
 was urging him to try to place her. 
 
 Although his eyes had been all for the girl, it 
 came to him that in the tonneau beside her had 
 sat an elderly man, thin, grim and rather strik 
 ing in appearance, although there was absolutely 
 nothing familiar about his face. An old army 
 man, perhaps; the way he held his shoulders 
 would fortify that guess. Vaguely the girl be- 
 
22 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 gan to associate herself in his mind with some 
 quite unusual occasion. Some army occasion? 
 Yes. A tea table? Yes, he thought so, but not 
 an ordinary tea table in an ordinary place. Had 
 it been at some army officer s home? Somewhere 
 abroad? In Europe or the East? Could it have 
 been 
 
 "Turnaround! Quick! I ve got to follow a 
 car we just passed! " he snapped at his chauffeur. 
 
 He recalled it now as though the incident had 
 taken place that afternoon. 
 
 The last time he had seen that girl was in 
 Shanghai, and she was playing tennis with Yusef 
 Kalat. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 " PROUD chance ! " remarked the chauffeur, un 
 emotionally, sounding his horn and twisting his 
 wheel to miss by a hair a twelve-year-old Mexican 
 boy who had dashed from the curb as though not 
 an automobile existed in the world. " Even if 
 there wasn t no crowd, it s against traffic rules. 
 I can turn off at the next comer if you want." 
 
 Napier leaned out, looking back. His im 
 pulse was to leap to the ground and overtake the 
 other car on foot. How hopeless this would be 
 he realized when he saw how jammed and slow- 
 moving were the thousands that blocked the 
 street. Besides, the girl must be at least two 
 blocks away by now. Her car might even have 
 turned into another street. 
 
 " Get out of this crowd," he commanded his 
 driver. " Go to the left and let s get around into 
 Alamo Plaza. Maybe we ll meet it again." 
 
 " Can t go to the left not for five blocks, any 
 way. Special rules this week don t let us cut 
 across the cars that are coming the other way, 
 not in these streets." 
 
 Napier fumed impatiently. " To the right, 
 then. Get out of the crowd any way you can, 
 and go around it somehow. There isn t a chance 
 in a hundred we can find that car, but we ll 
 try to." 
 
24 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 The chauffeur obeyed intelligently. Out of 
 the crowd, around blocks where traffic was light, 
 into the congested streets and plazas again, out 
 of them and into them. A hundred to one did 
 not express the slimness of the chance; it was 
 nearer a thousand to one. But not for nearly 
 two hours, when the brimming streets had spilled 
 most of their human floods toward the residential 
 districts and there were hardly more people 
 abroad than there would be on a fairly busy night 
 of an ordinary week, did Napier give it up. 
 
 Sharper and more distinct, as this time passed, 
 the picture of where and how he had met the girl 
 came back to his mind. 
 
 A long, wide veranda. Women in summery 
 gowns, men in business clothes, in flannels, a few 
 in uniform. The clatter of horses* hoofs, the 
 alighting of their riders, the high-pitched, clack 
 ing dialogue of the horseboys who led the animals 
 away. A buzz about him of well-bred voices. 
 Talk of the current social affairs, of the latest 
 diplomatic gossip, of who lost last night at bridge 
 and who hoped to win to-day at golf. A babel 
 of tongues, in which English predominated. 
 Pink faces and sallow ones, tanned faces and 
 olive ones; above the blue robes of the servants 
 who came noiselessly to serve tea at the teakwood 
 tables, faces yellow, narrow-eyed, expressionless. 
 
 Broad lawns and spacious athletic grounds. 
 A straight white road, beyond it fields of lush 
 green, a native hamlet in the middle distance and, 
 far across the plain, the graceful, glistening tiers 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 25 
 
 of the Porcelain Pagoda. A sunshiny afternoon 
 in spring at the Bubbling Well Road Country 
 Club. 
 
 "Oh, Mr. Napier!" A pleasant, drawling 
 American voice; a handsome, stylishly garbed 
 woman of middle age. Won t you have your 
 tea with us? " 
 
 He dropped with pleasure into the seat she 
 indicated ; he had not been sure of seeing anybody 
 he knew, although one who had a guest card at 
 the Bubbling Well Club could nearly always 
 reckon on finding acquaintances there on a pleas 
 ant afternoon. Not until he was seated did it 
 occur to the woman to introduce the girl at her 
 side: 
 
 " Haven t you two ever met? I thought of 
 course you had. Let me present Mr. Napier, 
 Miss Glenn. Miss Glenn is an army girl; from 
 my State Ohio, you know." 
 
 Miss Glenn was a very attractive girl, un 
 deniably, but as he now recalled the meeting, he 
 realized why her face seemed only partially 
 familiar an hour ago. The Miss Glenn of the 
 tea across the teakwood table was a young person 
 of sixteen, or perhaps seventeen. Eight sum 
 mers and winters had rolled by since then. She 
 had grown up. 
 
 Her recognizing him so quickly was quite a 
 different matter. He had changed very little. 
 
 He could not definitely recall a thing they had 
 said. There had been the usual reference to 
 common acquaintances, perhaps some inter- 
 
26 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 change of customary triteness regarding the 
 East, and he vaguely recollected a bit of talk re 
 garding army posts at which the girl had lived. 
 She mentioned, he remembered, that she was go 
 ing to play tennis that afternoon; she was in 
 clothes suitable for the game and had a racquet 
 case. 
 
 He remembered he had tried to make himself 
 agreeable in a perfunctory sort of way, and that 
 she had seemed to be very pleasant and unaf 
 fected, with the frank sophistication that comes to 
 American girls from much travel and cosmo 
 politan acquaintanceship. "A nice kid," had been 
 his thought of her in after days so long as he had 
 remembered her, which was not long. His holi 
 day was ending that afternoon; he returned to 
 Peking the following morning; once there, he 
 had many things to think of more engrossing 
 than pretty American sub-debutantes. 
 
 Other people came to their table, and Miss 
 Glenn finally left, with some girl of her own 
 age an English girl, he thought to join a 
 party of young people in a farther corner of the 
 veranda. After a while he, too, had seen some 
 other acquaintances, and had excused himself and 
 gone over to their table. It had been some time 
 after this that he observed the arrival of Yusef 
 Kalat Bey. 
 
 The Oriental, in flannels and carrying a rac 
 quet, came up the steps of the veranda and swept 
 it with his eyes, bowing once or twice to acquaint 
 ances before he located Miss Glenn. Then he 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 27 
 
 hurried over to her side, and together they de 
 parted in the direction of the tennis courts, chat 
 ting and laughing. 
 
 All this made almost no impresson on Napier 
 at the moment. He had no interest in Miss 
 Glenn, and Kalat Bey was to him merely a very 
 good-looking young representative of the Otto 
 man Empire of whom older men said he prom 
 ised to go quite a way in diplomacy. Napier 
 might hardly have noticed the girl s partner had 
 not two dowagers, sitting near enough to his 
 table so that their voices carried that far and 
 not at all careful whether they were overheard or 
 not seen fit to make comment, after the fashion 
 of piazza dowagers the world over. 
 
 " There goes Ruth Glenn with that young 
 Turk again. If I were her father " 
 
 " He s a pretty decent young man, isn t he? " 
 the other half defended, when the first left her 
 sentence significantly unfinished. " I ll say this 
 for him: I wish some of our own young men 
 were as invariably polite as he is. And as for the 
 
 Glenn child It is just a matter of playing 
 
 tennis together, isn t it? " 
 
 The woman who had introduced the subject 
 she looked to be the elder of the pair disposed 
 of the whole matter in five short words: 
 
 " A Turk is a Turk." 
 
 Napier tried, now, to remember whether or 
 not he had ever heard anything about Miss 
 Glenn s father. If he were mentioned during 
 that tea-table meeting he could not recall it, nor 
 
28 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 did he remember ever having known an Ameri 
 can army officer of that name in the East. This, 
 he had to admit, by no means proved that he had 
 not ; in China, Japan, the Philippines and Hono 
 lulu he had run into at least a hundred whose 
 names he did not recall. If he had met one 
 named Glenn after his introduction to the girl, 
 he probably would have noted the name, but this 
 brief meeting at the Bubbling Well Road Club 
 was almost on the eve of his leaving China for 
 home. 
 
 Was the tall, grim man in the automobile her 
 father? He wasn t in uniform, and her father 
 would hardly be old enough to have been retired 
 for age. Would it be possible to find them at a 
 hotel, or were they perhaps permanent residents 
 of San Antonio, as so many retired army people 
 are? Were they here because Kalat Pasha was 
 here, or was their presence a mere coincidence? 
 
 He decided, at last, that there was no chance 
 whatever of finding the automobile and its occu 
 pants that night. " We ll call it a day," he told 
 the chauffeur. " Get back to the hotel." 
 
 The big, high-ceilinged lobby of the Bonham 
 was filled with people as he entered after dismiss 
 ing the motor. He made his way to the desk and 
 called for his room key. A soft voice at his 
 elbow, as he turned from the desk, accosted him: 
 
 " Excoose me. You are Meester Napier? " 
 
 He felt sure the man had not just crossed the 
 floor toward him, but had been standing there 
 when he came. From this, before he answered, 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 29 
 
 he deduced that the other did not know him by 
 sight, but had ascertained the number of his room 
 and had been waiting for him to call for the 
 key. 
 
 " Yes," he replied. 
 
 " If I could spik to you, pliz, a moment " 
 
 The man was a Mexican, young, perhaps not 
 much over twenty, neatly but not expensively 
 dressed. His manner was excessively polite and 
 the smile that he was displaying for Napier s 
 benefit was ingratiating but not pleasant. Three 
 other things beside the smile Napier noted as his 
 eyes appraised the youth s face : He had a slight 
 but not especially disfiguring scar near the angle 
 of the left jawbone, under the ear; his skin bore 
 a rather striking and unhealthy pallor; and there 
 was a story in the pupils of his eyes, a story 
 easy to read by any physician or any student of 
 men who had lived long in the East. Two facts 
 about the youth Napier determined in one 
 glance; he had at some fairly distant time been 
 nicked across the jaw by the blade of a knife, and 
 he was an addict to some form of drug. 
 
 " What about? " 
 
 Napier s tone was frankly suspicious, the 
 tone one uses to the pan-handler who seeks to 
 gain time to recount his woeful explanation of 
 why he requires, at once, a bit of financial assist 
 ance. The Mexican continued to smile, taking 
 no offense. 
 
 " No," he said quickly. " You have guess me 
 wrong. I am not asking you to do me any favor 
 
30 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 at all. I have a message for you. A message 
 that ees in confidence." 
 
 He giggled slightly, a bit unsteadily, and 
 Napier saw that he was unnaturally elated; he 
 had soothed himself with his drug not long before 
 and was distinctly under its influence. " No," 
 he went on, and again he laughed a little. " No 
 favor for me at all. It ees a favor for you." 
 
 Napier moved with him away from the busy 
 counter and across the lobby to a comparatively 
 open space. 
 
 " It ees a message," the Mexican said, still gig 
 gling a little. " From a lady who smiled at you 
 this evening, Meester Napier. A lady you have 
 not see for a long time. She says she guess you 
 will know from that wno I mean." 
 
 "What is her name?" 
 
 " Excoose," the man apologized. " She did 
 not say to spik her name." He added uncon- 
 vincingly: " I do not know her name." 
 
 " How did she know where to find me? And 
 how did you know me when I came? " 
 
 " She told me to go to the beeg hotels. I hap 
 pen to come to this one first. As to knowing 
 you she describe you ver good, so when you 
 call for the key I have no doubt." Again a little 
 giggle. " She said you would be a ver hand 
 some, ver dark man. She especially describe 
 the eyes. Oh, yes. That lady describe you 
 perfect. So. She sends you this message. She 
 wishes to see you to-night. Now." 
 
 " Where? " 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 31 
 
 " I am to show you. I will go out from here 
 and you will follow me, pliz. We will not walk 
 together. There is ^good reason for that. You 
 will follow me, and we will come to that place 
 where the lady waits. Ees that not fair 
 enough? " 
 
 Napier did not at all relish the leer that accom 
 panied the Mexican s attempt at American slang. 
 He could not see what reason Miss Glenn would 
 have for sending for him at such an hour, nor did 
 he like her choice of a messenger, but he felt in 
 tensely annoyed at the inference the man had 
 obviously gained from his errand. Although, 
 until this moment, he had been searching nearly 
 two hours for the girl, his impulse now was not to 
 see her until to-morrow; as she wanted to see 
 him, it was safe to presume this could be ar 
 ranged. And then a new idea came into his 
 mind, a thought that he should have had from 
 the beginning and would have had, except that 
 his brain was filled with the desire to locate the 
 girl in the automobile, to the exclusion of all 
 other ideas. 
 
 Why was he taking it for granted the message 
 came from Miss Glenn? Two women had smiled 
 at him that night. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 " WHERE was I when the lady smiled? " he 
 demanded. 
 
 "In an automobile," the Mexican replied 
 promptly. " Yes, I didn t remember to spik of 
 that. She said in an automobile." 
 
 " And she? Where was she? " 
 
 " She did not say." 
 
 " Describe her." 
 
 Again the Mexican s face bore that insinuat 
 ing leer, and again he giggled offensively. " She 
 is a ver pretty lady," he said. " Yes, sir. She 
 ees certainly " again he went after the Ameri 
 can way to say it " a peach of a good-looker." 
 
 Napier was both irritated and disgusted, and it 
 was getting well along toward midnight. 
 
 " Tell the lady it was very late when you found 
 me," he said shortly, " and that I should be glad 
 to have her call me here at the hotel by phone." 
 
 " Excoose," the man insisted. " She said I 
 was to bring you back with me pronto. She 
 said I should tell you you better come. She said 
 it would help you in your beesness." 
 
 " What is my business? " Napier threw at him, 
 and from the way the Mexican shrugged and 
 grinned he knew the fellow hadn t the slightest 
 idea. 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 33 
 
 "Search me!" 
 
 Napier considered rapidly. It could be pos 
 sible, although highly improbable, that either of 
 the two women who had recognized him smilingly 
 might have an inkling of his real occupation, and 
 certainly, if the one who had sent the messenger 
 were Miss Glenn, there was pretty good ground 
 for believing she could help him if she desired. 
 More likely, of course, the message didn t mean 
 what it sounded as if it might mean, at all, and 
 yet 
 
 " How far is it? I suppose I could get a car," 
 he decided. 
 
 " No." The Mexican s negative was em 
 phatic. " We cannot go in a car. We cannot 
 go together at all. You will follow me, a little 
 way behind. There is good reason for that. 
 The lady said so herself. It ees not such a much 
 of a distance." 
 
 " All right. Wait here until I go to my room 
 for a minute." 
 
 The Mexican must have solaced himself with 
 his drug not long before Napier arrived, for its 
 influence on him was becoming more pronounced. 
 He laughed shrilly. 
 
 "Fair enough!" he cried. "Fair enough! 
 You want to go to your room and leave your 
 money, for fear this ees some leetle game to rob 
 you or something. All right, meester. Go 
 leave your money. But I do not need it. Poof ! 
 I am neither robber nor beggar." 
 
 Into a waistcoat pocket, a bit hysterical and 
 
34 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 altogether reckless, he thrust hurried fingers, and 
 brought out folded bills. There seemed to be 
 several, and one of them, at least, was yellow. 
 " Jus to show you I do not need your money," 
 he giggled, "and that you do not need to be 
 afraid of me at all. A beeg man like you could 
 not be afraid of a leetle fellow like me anyway, I 
 guess." 
 
 Out of his pocket, when he dragged forth the 
 bills, another paper came, and slipped to the 
 floor. It, too, was folded, and Napier s eyes fell 
 upon it as it came to rest on the tiling. In the 
 clear illumination of the lobby it shone luridly, 
 a paper of a bright orange tint, with black mark 
 ings of a most unusual character. Chinese ideo 
 graphs. 
 
 The Mexican looked down and saw the paper 
 at his feet. He made a hasty swoop, and it dis 
 appeared in his pocket. He caught his breath 
 and looked about him, giggling no longer. It 
 was very obvious he was frightened. 
 
 A light-skinned, foreign-looking man of mid 
 dle age, who would have been quite handsome 
 were it not for large pock-marks on either side of 
 his nose, had dropped into a chair a dozen feet 
 away since Napier and the youth began to talk, 
 and buried himself in the folds of an evening 
 paper. When the orange slip went fluttering to 
 the floor his eyes fixed themselves on it. He was 
 again behind his paper when the youth, after sal 
 vaging it, looked in his direction. 
 
 " I m not especially afraid of you," Napier re- 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 35 
 
 marked, coldly. " At the same time I ll feel just 
 as safe if you know I haven t got enough on me 
 to make any hold-up worth while. I ll go to my 
 room, and be right down again." 
 
 The Mexican seemed glad to find an excuse to 
 make for the open air. He had been surpris 
 ingly shaken and sobered by the sight of the care 
 lessly exposed orange-colored paper, and Napier 
 thought he knew why. 
 
 " You will see me outside, on the street by the 
 corner," the man said. " Pliz do not spik to 
 me after we are out on the street, and pliz 
 do not come too close to me. When we get 
 to that house where we are going, I will show 
 you." 
 
 " Wait a minute," Napier called, as the other 
 turned. " What is your name? " 
 
 The Mexican hesitated almost imperceptibly. 
 "Jose Garcia," he said. Napier knew there 
 were probably at least two hundred Jose Garcias 
 in San Antonio, and he felt sure this pallid little 
 man was not one of them. 
 
 "All right," he said, shortly. "I ll follow 
 you." 
 
 The little Mexican was trying to get his nerves 
 in hand. These words suggested a bit of ancient 
 American slang. He achieved a hysterical gig 
 gle and replied: 
 
 " That s right. You follow me, meester, and 
 you ll wear diamonds." 
 
 How jangled were his nerves was demon 
 strated by the way he shrilled the sentence. The 
 
36 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 last word he almost shouted. He turned and 
 went out through the side door. 
 
 Napier entered an elevator and hurried to his 
 room. He opened his trunk and took two ar 
 ticles from the tray. One, a little businesslike 
 automatic pistol, he dropped into the side pocket 
 of his light overcoat. The other, a small, rec 
 tangular, flat electric flashlight, he tested and 
 stowed in his hip pocket. He started to close the 
 trunk, remembered the Mexican s suggestion 
 about money and thought well of it, hid all the 
 cash he had in his pockets except less than twenty 
 dollars, locked the trunk, went down and left 
 his room key at the desk, and passed out to the 
 street. 
 
 The messenger stood at the nearby corner, 
 staring at a window display. As Napier swung 
 toward him he turned away and went around the 
 corner, headed west. 
 
 From the side entrance, the middle-aged man 
 with the pock-marks down the sides of his nose, 
 who had remained engrossed in his newspaper 
 until Napier came down in the elevator, watched 
 them both out of sight. As soon as he was cer 
 tain of the direction they had taken, he turned 
 briskly and hurried toward the telephone pay 
 station. Nearly there, he had an afterthought. 
 He spun on his heel, left the hotel by the main 
 entrance and crossed the street to the entrance of 
 a big business block. In the open and deserted 
 lobby of that building was a coin-in-the-slot tele 
 phone booth. He entered it, closed the door be- 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 37 
 
 hind him carefully, and called a number. When, 
 after much impatience, he had secured the person 
 he wanted, he spoke rapidly in Spanish: 
 
 " Villabosa is talking. Attend, and do not ask 
 questions. This must be told to the old man at 
 once. Without a minute s delay. You know 
 the little man of the angels do you get who I 
 mean? It is better to speak no names." 
 
 " Once of the city Piedras Negras? " the voice 
 at the other end of the wire asked. 
 
 " You have it. Now listen. He has just met 
 a man, an American, and is leading him in the 
 direction of of the big house the house with 
 the safe padlocks. Understand? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " He approached the American. I could not 
 hear what they said, except one word. Tell the 
 old man the word was diamonds. " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " And attend to this. Tell the old man also 
 that he has the label that was lost." 
 
 "Who has?" 
 
 " The little man. He showed it to the Ameri 
 
 can." 
 
 The fool. He must be 
 
 " Do not comment, but give the message at 
 once. They are afoot, and have just left down 
 town five minutes ago. They will not walk 
 fast, probably. You have fifteen minutes, per 
 haps twenty. Tell the old man the little one did 
 not see me. He does not suspect he is watched; 
 if he did, he would not be doing it." 
 
38 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 " But Why do you think they are going 
 
 to the place you mention? " 
 
 " The label came from there, did it not? Is it 
 not plain the house is to be pointed out? " 
 
 "But why?" 
 
 " How do I know? To be robbed, perhaps. 
 But let the old man consider that. Tell him." 
 
 " Within two minutes. Is that all? " 
 
 " Yes. No, wait. The label that was lost is 
 in his right-hand lower vest pocket. That is all. 
 Good-night." 
 
 Back across the street to the Bonham hurried 
 the light-complexioned man with the pock 
 marked nose, and into the lobby, which he did not 
 leave to go to his room for more than an hour. 
 During that hour he talked to two night clerks, a 
 cashier, a porter and two other hotel guests. At 
 nearly one o clock he compared his watch with the 
 hotel clock ostentatiously, and made comment on 
 the time. He impressed on a number of people 
 the fact that he was continuously present ; to any 
 one who knew what he had witnessed there in the 
 lobby and of the warning he had telephoned (if 
 there had been any such person) it would have 
 been obvious that the man was establishing a per 
 fect alibi. 
 
 Julian Napier followed the little Mexican, 
 who did not hurry. With the American half a 
 block or more behind, they sauntered two blocks 
 west and turned to the south. They came out, 
 presently, into Main Plaza, and went past great 
 canvas-walled carnival shows, the platforms be- 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 39 
 
 fore their gaudily decorated fronts now deserted, 
 and past little booths with cane-boards, wheels of 
 fortune, and similar games, a few of them still 
 open and surrounded by lingering groups over 
 whose heads came the hoarse monotone of the 
 barkers, urging their hearers to part with a few 
 more nickels and dimes before leaving. 
 
 They came into the shadow of the Cathedral, 
 went through the still street past the ancient 
 Moorish dome that marks the original church of 
 the mission fathers, and came into Military 
 Plaza, where they skirted more tents and booths 
 and passed out to the west, into a narrow street. 
 After a little they turned to the left. They had 
 left the sounds of the plazas far behind and these 
 thoroughfares were deserted and silent. Ahead, 
 the Mexican went on, not rapidly but unhesitat 
 ingly. Napier lost sight of him sometimes in the 
 shadows, only to see him again under the lights at 
 street corners. He presumed his guide had sat 
 isfied himself, from time to time, that he was 
 being followed, but not once had he paused, or 
 seemed to look behind. 
 
 The way led through darker, narrower streets. 
 Napier, visualizing the map Lamb, the collector, 
 had shown him, would have appreciated that they 
 were in the borders of the big Mexican quarter 
 even if occasional signs in Spanish and the ap 
 pearance of the houses had not advertised it. To 
 the west of them, not more than two or three 
 blocks distant, would be the new Chinese colony. 
 Napier remembered the staring black ideo- 
 
40 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 graphs on the orange slip that the Mexican had 
 dropped. 
 
 He saw his guide pass under the rays of a dim 
 light, half a block ahead, turn slowly to the right, 
 and disappear. The manner in which he changed 
 his direction indicated that he wanted it espe 
 cially noted. Napier came to the light, himself 
 passed it, and saw, in the darkness at the side of 
 the street, a greater darkness that he made out to 
 be the yawning mouth of a little street or alley, 
 into which the Mexican had vanished. 
 
 He approached the alley with caution; he liked 
 neither its looks nor its intense silence. The 
 thoroughfare if it could properly be called that 
 was barely a dozen feet wide. Looking west 
 ward into it he could make out nothing but high 
 walls of stone on either side, the rear walls, he 
 took it, of estates fronting on other streets. He 
 could see almost nothing, as he stopped at the 
 entrance, but far in the distance, nearly through 
 to the next street, he thought he heard retreating 
 footsteps. Convinced that the Mexican was still 
 ahead of him, he slipped his automatic out of his 
 pocket, saw that its safety catch was adjusted, 
 and stepped into the lane. 
 
 It was paved and smooth walking. His eyes 
 became a little used to the darkness after a mo 
 ment, and he moved on more confidently. He 
 had come perhaps ten yards from the street when 
 he stumbled, stepped on something that yielded 
 sickeningly, and heard at his feet a faint, gasp 
 ing groan. He recoiled with a leap, getting 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 41 
 
 his back against the wall and holding his pistol 
 ready. 
 
 No further sound came from the object he had 
 stumbled over. No sound came from anywhere 
 in the alley. The footsteps at the farther end 
 had now faded from hearing. The silence was 
 oppressive, sinister. He listened intently; 
 changed his position without noise; got out his 
 flashlight. 
 
 Its sudden beams fell upon the figure of a man, 
 sprawled face down upon the flagstones. They 
 fell, also, upon a red stain that glistened on his 
 coat, just beneath the left shoulder, and trickled 
 darkly away across the pavement. One other 
 thing the light showed, before Napier turned it to 
 sweep in every direction and prove that he was 
 alone except for the prone figure, an arm out 
 stretched, a clenched fist, and in its fingers a 
 bright fragment of orange-colored paper. 
 
 Napier approached, leaned over, and turned 
 the man face upward. 
 
 A little knife scar showed under the left ear, at 
 the angle of the jaw. The face was chalky white. 
 The eyelids that fluttered faintly at the glow of 
 his lamp shaded eyes in which the pupils were 
 drug-contracted. 
 
 " He didn t get it," whispering lips declared. 
 " He tried but I took it back. I got it back. 
 And then he ran." 
 
 "Who?" 
 
 The question fell on deaf ears. Napier did 
 not think the man even knew him. 
 
42 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 " It was on the box. I heard them talking." 
 
 The eyelids fell and raised again with mortal 
 weariness. "Twenty boxes I brought," the youth 
 faltered, while Napier s ear went nearer and 
 nearer his lips to catch the words. " Twenty 
 boxes. And it was in one of them. I didn t know. 
 I thought they were all alike. And they were 
 foolish to talk of it. They didn t know I heard." 
 
 The eyes closed and the youth groaned faintly. 
 
 " Who? " Napier demanded, close to his ear. 
 " Who did it? " 
 
 " All alike and they were foolish. . . . 
 They took off the label. And talked, not know 
 ing I could hear. With the label off, it looked 
 just like the rest but they put it away by it 
 self. . . . Then I stole the label. . . . 
 Twenty all alike, but in only one the diamond. 
 I didn t know. Would I have delivered it to 
 them if I had known about the diamond? For 
 el nombre de Dios, no ! " 
 
 " Listen! Who did you deliver it to? " 
 
 He could barely make out the broken ram- 
 blings that were not an answer: " I carried a 
 
 message . . . She said just a little 
 
 extra errand for a little extra money. . . . 
 They were sure to kill me if they ever found 
 out. ... I took a chance. . . . They 
 were sure to " 
 
 A struggling breath rattled past his throat. 
 His eyelids snapped wide open and the pinpoint 
 pupils of his eyes, unblinking, stared into the 
 vistas of a far country. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 NAPIER switched off his lamp and strained his 
 ears. The faintest rustle of a breeze in the 
 branches of invisible trees beyond the wall was 
 all he heard. He bent over the body again, illu 
 minated the clenched hand, and gently withdrew 
 the orange paper from the fingers. It was only 
 a part perhaps a quarter of the slip that had 
 fallen from the Mexican s pocket back in the 
 Bonham. The remainder had been torn away. 
 Two Chinese characters were left. 
 
 Observing first that there were no stains of 
 blood upon the fragment, Napier carefully put it 
 in his own pocket. He felt in the vest pocket 
 from which the slip had fallen, back at the hotel, 
 and to which the Mexican had returned it to 
 gether with his little roll of money, and found it 
 empty. A hasty sweep of his light s rays about 
 the ground failed to show any further trace of 
 the torn paper. 
 
 He carefully concealed his pistol and stepped 
 quickly back to the street through which he had 
 come. Not a soul was in sight in either direc 
 tion. 
 
 While he hesitated, puzzling how best to give 
 the alarm, a figure came around a corner to the 
 north, a block and half away, and under the light 
 
44 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 he caught the glint of a silver badge. He cupped 
 his hands and shouted: " Help! Police! Hurry! " 
 
 He went a few steps toward the officer, who 
 came on the run, and met him under the street 
 light by whose rays he had seen the little Mex 
 ican turn aside into the dark passage. " I just 
 stumbled over the body of a man there in the 
 alley," he told the policeman. " He is dead." 
 
 The officer s hand went to the butt of his pistol 
 and hitched it more conveniently toward the 
 front. " We ll take a look," he said, producing 
 a flashlight. " Come on." 
 
 He was a dark-skinned man, at least quarter 
 and probably half Mexican, Napier thought, and 
 looked very competent. He stooped not more 
 than five seconds over the corpse; then straight 
 ened and blew several sharp blasts on his whistle. 
 His light swung suddenly to take in Napier s 
 figure, and the treasury agent had a feeling that 
 in the dense shadow behind the glare was a hand 
 that would not hesitate to produce and use fire 
 arms. 
 
 " Who are you? " he demanded. 
 
 " My name is Napier. I am stopping at the 
 Bonham." 
 
 " What are you doing over here at this hour of 
 the night? " 
 
 Napier did not choose to identify himself to a 
 mere patrolman if it could be avoided. It struck 
 him that perhaps well-dressed men wandering 
 through this part of town after midnight might 
 naturally have reasons that would not lend them- 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 45 
 
 selves to discussion without being at all criminal, 
 and he tried to give the policeman the idea that 
 his presence was the outcome of some romantic 
 adventure. 
 
 " I had a little errand over this way," he said. 
 
 "Where?" 
 
 " I d rather not tell you exactly where, if you 
 don t mind. It is a sort of personal matter." 
 
 " You can tell me, or you can go to the station 
 and tell the cap n," the officer decided promptly. 
 
 " That s all right. I ll be glad to have you 
 take me to the station, and I ll tell the captain if 
 he insists. I am not anxious to get away, and I 
 had nothing to do with this killing." 
 
 The officer hurled a suspicious question: 
 
 " How do you know he was killed? " 
 
 " He was on his face I turned him over to see 
 if he was alive and I saw where he was knifed. 
 A man can t stab himself in the back." 
 
 " You saw? How? " 
 
 " I have a flashlight," 
 
 Approaching, a block away, sounded the clat 
 ter of a swift-moving horse s hoofs. 
 
 " Get out ahead of me toward the street," the 
 policeman commanded. He followed Napier to 
 the alley entrance, at which a mounted officer 
 drew up just as they reached it and slid swiftly 
 to the ground. From the opposite direction 
 came the pounding footsteps of a man running, 
 and another policeman turned a corner into 
 sight. 
 
 " Man dead in the alley," the first officer told 
 
46 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 the horseman sharply. " Knifed in the back. 
 You better telephone the sergeant; he ll want to 
 get word to the coroner and send some detectives 
 
 over." 
 
 The other patrolman had arrived, and the 
 mounted officer, with a curious look at Napier 
 but no words to waste, threw his leg over the 
 saddle and went galloping back in the direction 
 of town. The first policeman explained the 
 trouble to the newcomer in two sentences, and 
 Napier returned with them into the alley. 
 
 " Say, Guerra, I ought to know that guy," the 
 newcomer exclaimed, as the flashlight fell on the 
 Mexican s features. " I m sure I know him, but 
 the name don t come to me. They look so dif 
 ferent when they re croaked." 
 
 " Name is Angel Puenta," Guerra told him. 
 " I know him well. He s a hop-head." 
 
 " Sure! Angel Puenta," the other agreed. 
 " Of course I know him. They had him at head 
 quarters on some dope charge and couldn t make 
 it stick. He had an alibi or sump n." 
 
 " He was friends with some of them Chinks 
 over back here. He was working with them on 
 the hop-peddling, if you ask me but I couldn t 
 prove it. ... Suppose you range around a 
 little and see if you can find the knife or I will. 
 The other one can stay with the body and this 
 
 man." 
 
 The second officer looked at Napier almost as 
 if he had just realized his presence. " He found 
 him," Guerra explained. 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 47 
 
 " What was you doing here, mister? " the other 
 asked. 
 
 " Just passing through." 
 
 " Going where? " 
 
 " I already told this officer I d rather not say 
 unless the captain insists. I ll be glad to go to 
 the station and talk it over with him." 
 
 " Sure," the officer replied. " Of course you ll 
 go to the station. And then you ll tell the cap n. 
 You might s well have it over with." 
 
 " How come you stopped to get out a light and 
 look the body over? " Guerra asked. " Seems to 
 me you didn t act as scared as some folks would 
 if they fell over a dead body in the dark that- 
 away." 
 
 " I ve seen a good many dead people, at one 
 time and another," Napier answered. 
 
 " Humph! " sniffed the policeman. " Well," 
 to his colleague, " I ll scout around and see if I 
 can find a knife, or anything." This he pro 
 ceeded to do, without success. An automobile 
 roared up to the mouth of the alley while he was 
 still searching, and four men in civilian clothes 
 tumbled out and came hurrying. 
 
 Guerra quickly put them in possession of all 
 the information he had. 
 
 " He might a thrown the knife over one of 
 these walls," one of the detectives said. " You 
 better take that end, Morgan. Search all the 
 yards along both sides of the alley. It s a pretty 
 blind hunt without the knife." He turned 
 to Napier, half menacingly. " You don t hap- 
 
48 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 pen to have a knife anywhere on you, do 
 you? " 
 
 " Nothing bigger than a pocket knife," Napier 
 smiled. He had met many detectives, and knew 
 they could usually be depended upon to run true 
 to form. These did not suspect him of really be 
 ing concerned in this crime any more than the po 
 licemen did ; the manner of all of them clearly pro 
 claimed it. But he did not expect police detective 
 methods to be substantially different in San An 
 tonio from what they are in New York or Omaha 
 or Cincinnati or Portland, and he was more 
 amused than surprised at the next development. 
 
 The detective who had given orders, evidently 
 in charge of the case, flashed a sudden light in his 
 face and spoke with conviction: 
 
 " Oh, yes," he said. " I know you perfectly 
 well. How long you been in town? " 
 
 Napier knew that not only had the detective 
 probably never seen him before, but that the de 
 tective did not think he had. He was merely 
 making the usual next move according to the es 
 tablished rules of his profession. He did not 
 think Napier was guilty of murder, or of having 
 any knowledge of the murder, but proper tactics 
 might determine what he really was dodging the 
 law for, and in the suspicious lexicon of the de 
 tective business every man in the wide, wide 
 world is guilty of something, if only you can find 
 out what it is. 
 
 Three days," Napier informed him cheer 
 fully. " I am at the Bonham." 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 49 
 
 " What name do you say? " 
 
 " Napier. Julian Napier." 
 
 " That s a good name," the detective com 
 mented, with heavy sarcasm. " Napier. Sure. 
 Well, we ll talk to you a little later and see why 
 you don t want to tell us what you are doing so 
 far from the Hotel Bonham at this hour of the 
 night." He turned to one of the other detec 
 tives, who had not spoken. " Take him in the 
 car down to headquarters and turn him over to 
 Burlen," he ordered. " And ask the captain to 
 have anybody picked up that is running round 
 loose and can t explain what he s out for, and 
 search em for knives. Then you better come 
 back here." 
 
 " An officer certainly gets help quickly when 
 he whistles for it in this town," Napier com 
 mented admiringly to his guard, as they took 
 their seats in the tonneau of the police automobile, 
 and the chauffeur headed it toward downtown. 
 
 " Yeah," the other agreed. " You run fast 
 when you hear a whistle here on the West Side. 
 Things can get to going mighty quick over in this 
 part of town, and when you hear a whistle you 
 think it might be you that was in a mess and 
 wanted somebody to come a-running and you 
 arrive pronto. Say, I m wise to what you was 
 doing over here." 
 
 " Are you? " 
 
 " Sure. I knew the minute Smith threw that 
 lamp into your face. Say, friend. Burlen 
 that s the chief of detectives, you know is more 
 
50 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 or less of a grouch. Me, I m a good fellow and 
 reasonable. Tell me about it before we get to 
 the station, and I ll be able to fix it, prob ly." 
 
 " That s mighty good of you," Napier declared 
 warmly. " But I m going to take my chance 
 with the chief." 
 
 " And I certainly had my work cut out for me 
 to make Mr. Burlen shoo the other fellow out of 
 the room and let me speak to him alone," he told 
 Collector Lamb in the Federal Building at nine 
 the next forenoon. " He wanted a witness to 
 whatever slips I made, and I can t be sure, of 
 course, that there wasn t one hidden, at that. 
 But I didn t have to tell my affairs to the entire 
 police force. You can usually trust a chief of 
 police or the chief of detectives, but letting sub 
 ordinates know your business is always risky. 
 With the best intentions, some of them will make 
 loose conversation. Well, as soon as we were 
 alone, I showed him my badge, told him I was 
 here on special smuggling work, and that was all 
 there was to it. He was genial and quite dis 
 appointed." 
 
 " Naturally." 
 
 " I didn t tell him I was following Puenta. I 
 just said I was making some investigations over 
 in that section. I didn t see that it would help 
 them any. And I didn t think it advisable to say 
 anything about the slip of paper I took out of his 
 hand. I hate to hold out evidence on the police, 
 but if we can t get somewhere following up that 
 paper I m pretty sure they couldn t, and they 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 51 
 
 would be practically certain to start asking ques 
 tions of Chinamen and then the fat would be in 
 the fire." 
 
 A telegram was handed to the collector. 
 " This is for you," he told Napier, and passed it 
 over. 
 
 " Let s see the code book. It is a reply, I im 
 agine, to a wire I sent Washington as soon as I 
 got back to the hotel from the police station, ask 
 ing for all the information they could dig up 
 about an American officer named Glenn, located 
 in China at the time I met the young lady who 
 bowed to me. I d like to be forearmed with all 
 the facts I can get about him before I go out to 
 look her up." 
 
 While the collector attended to routine mat 
 ters, Napier worked out the cipher. 
 
 " Here it is," he said, after awhile, looking up 
 from his labors. He read aloud his translation 
 of the code: 
 
 The only American officer named Glenn 
 in China at the time you name was Captain 
 George Walton Glenn. He was on an ex 
 tended furlough from Philippine duty. 
 Records show he resigned from service two 
 years later, at age of forty-six. Reason 
 given: Failing health. There seems to have 
 been a vague but quite general impression 
 that something was behind the resignation 
 which his superiors preferred to overlook, 
 but his record is officially clean. He re 
 turned to America and has since resided in 
 
52 THE CHINESE LABEL! 
 
 several cities. Most recent address: Cleve 
 land. Will endeavor to secure additional 
 information and will advise you promptly. 
 
 " It gives us the whole of his name, anyway," 
 Napier commented. " Now we want to see if 
 we can locate the gentleman in San Antonio. 
 I ll tackle the hotels first, if you will let me use 
 the phone." 
 
 " One of the fellows out in the other room can 
 do it just as well as not, unless you have some 
 reason for wanting to do it yourself," Lamb of 
 fered, and on Napier s agreement, stepped to the 
 door and opened it. " Come in a minute, Powell, 
 will you please? We want to locate Captain 
 George Walton Glenn, formerly of the United 
 States Army, at some hotel. See if you can do 
 it, will you? Without giving him or anybody 
 else any idea who you are." 
 
 " Want to talk to him if I get him? " 
 
 " No," Napier replied. " Give him some kind 
 of explanation about his being the wrong Cap 
 tain Glenn. All I want is to learn where he is 
 living." 
 
 Powell withdrew and closed the door. 
 
 " You were speaking, when the telegram 
 came," Lamb reminded Napier, " of the torn 
 slip of paper you found in Puenta s hand." 
 
 Napier went into an inner pocket, took the 
 fragment from a small card-case, and tossed it on 
 the table before the collector. "What is it?" 
 he asked. 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 53 
 
 " Part of a label from a five-tad opium tin," 
 answered Lamb without hesitation. 
 
 " That is exactly what I thought when I first 
 saw it. When Puenta dropped it on the floor 
 and looked scared as he picked it up again and 
 stuffed it away out of sight, I had no ques 
 tion that it was a dope label. That would 
 have explained his fright perfectly. But it 
 isn t." 
 
 " It isn t! " Lamb examined the paper more 
 carefully. " It looks like one." 
 
 " The paper seems to be the same quality and 
 color, but the ideographs on an opium tin label 
 are printed on a printing press. These look 
 about the same, at first glance, but they are done 
 with a brush. Besides, I never saw these par 
 ticular characters on an opium tin." 
 
 " Do you read Chinese? " 
 
 "A little; not as much as I wish I did. I 
 speak it well enough to make myself understood, 
 although not to pass for a Chinaman; there are 
 mighty few white men who can do that. I have a 
 pretty good ideograph chart in my trunk, though, 
 to help me out in a case like this." 
 
 He leaned over and pointed to the two char 
 acters. 
 
 " This first word, on the left," he said, " is pro 
 nounced * tsai in Mandarin Chinese. Tsai 
 happens to be a word that has quite a number of 
 meanings. It means in, within and select 
 able. It is also quite a common given name of 
 
 a man." 
 
54 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 " Cheerful language, where one word means 
 all that," Lamb remarked. 
 
 " Before you get too critical of it on that ac 
 count," grinned Napier, " suppose you recall a 
 few of our own simple little words. Bow/ for 
 instance; or fast. 
 
 " The boat cannot go fast because it has been 
 made fast, so we will take a day off and fast," 
 commented the collector appreciatively. "All 
 right; I d buy, if there were any place. Eng 
 lish is a grand old tongue. And the other 
 word? " 
 
 A tap at the door was followed by the en 
 trance of Agent Powell. " I got him," he said. 
 " He is at the Edgemont. Fourth place I 
 called." 
 
 " No doubt about his being the right man? " 
 
 " They put him on the wire. We had a little 
 cross-purpose conversation, during which I asked 
 him if he had had the talk he was going to have 
 with Minihan, and told him I was his friend 
 Freeman. Then I suggested that his voice didn t 
 sound right and asked if he was Captain Walter 
 Glynn of Laredo, and he said he was George 
 Walton Glenn. So I cussed somebody indefi 
 nite for getting me the wrong person, apolo 
 gized fluently, and hung up." 
 
 " Where is the Edgemont? " Napier asked. 
 
 " About half a mile from here, just outside the 
 business section. A family hotel." 
 
 " Respectable? " 
 
 " I have never heard otherwise." 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 55 
 
 " And comparatively inexpensive," Lamb 
 added. " No transients, I believe, for less than 
 a week." 
 
 Napier thanked Powell, who went out. " Is 
 the Edgemont at all in the same general direction 
 from the center as the Mexican quarter? " he 
 asked. 
 
 " No. In almost the opposite direction." 
 
 " It is pretty evident, then, that if my message 
 of last evening came from Miss Glenn, she wasn t 
 at her hotel, but that doesn t prove she didn t 
 send it from somewhere else, of course. How 
 ever, guessing doesn t get us anywhere. One of 
 two women sent me that message, and there is no 
 use trying to figure out which it was without any 
 thing definite to go on. I ve got to find them 
 both." 
 
 " The fact that one of them knows Kalat " 
 
 Napier nodded. " Yes. It makes the Miss 
 Glenn lead the one to follow up as quickly as pos 
 sible, not neglecting, in the meantime, to keep my 
 eyes open for Madame Frezzi." He considered 
 briefly. " Do you know," he smiled, " I m be 
 ginning to find it too crowded at the Bonham. I 
 wouldn t be surprised, before I leave town, if I 
 moved from there provided I like the looks of 
 the Edgemont and they have any vacant rooms. 
 I m going over and see the place with that to talk 
 about, anyway." 
 
 He became more serious: " It might prove in 
 teresting to meet this ex-captain. Retired from 
 the army at forty-six for ill health and still alive 
 
56 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 and well, so far as I could see, if he was the 
 straight-shouldered old party who was in the au 
 tomobile with the young lady, last evening. 
 Didn t get back into the service during the late 
 unpleasantness. Spent an extended furlough in 
 China in preference to coming home to the 
 States. With this Chinese angle to our problem, 
 he is worth looking over." 
 
 The collector went back to the fragment of 
 orange paper that lay on the desk between them. 
 
 " What is this other word? " he asked. 
 It means lily. " 
 
 Then the two, together, would mean in a 
 lily/ within a lily/ or a selectable lily ? " 
 
 " No, because this is the very bottom of the 
 slip, and the words that preceded each of these 
 are missing. There were characters, evidently, 
 that came before the word * tsai and then, read 
 ing from the top of the next column, other words 
 before you get to the * lily. No, the best we 
 can be sure of is that lily was the last word on 
 the paper, and that somewhere back of it about 
 three or four words back, I should say from the 
 size of the slip as it looked when it fell out of 
 Puenta s pocket was in, within, or select 
 able. " 
 
 " Selectable is an elastic word," Lamb 
 mused. " It could have a lot of synonyms, 
 I should think." He looked up suddenly. 
 " Would it call for too much stretch of the im 
 agination to translate tsai as gorgeous ? 
 Couldn t this refer to The Gorgeous Lily? " 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 57 
 
 " Remembering what Puenta said about a dia 
 mond in a box," Napier agreed, " the idea cer 
 tainly opens up some mighty interesting possi 
 bilities/ 
 
CHAPTER Y 
 
 NAPIER returned the orange slip to his pocket. 
 " Have you somebody here in your outfit who 
 would be able to get at this Officer Guerra? " he 
 asked. 
 
 " I think so. We get inside police stuff when 
 it is necessary without going to the department 
 officials." 
 
 " He said Puenta was friendly with some of 
 the Chinese in the section back of where he was 
 killed. We need to find out who they are. 
 What Chinese resorts he hung out at, if any. 
 What Chinese he had ever been seen with. 
 Guerra or some other policeman in that section 
 would know, but it wouldn t do for me to show 
 any interest." 
 
 " I ll have one of the men tackle it right away." 
 
 " And we also ought to keep track of what 
 progress the police make, if any." 
 
 " I ll get some lines out. What do you make 
 out of that dying talk of Puenta s? Was he 
 killed for stealing that paper, or for going to you 
 with his message? " 
 
 " It could have been either, from the way he 
 said it, and I was entirely unable to get him to 
 answer a question." 
 
 " Or it could have been both." 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 59 
 
 " Yes, with the remote possibility that he didn t 
 know, but was merely babbling his suspicions in 
 a sort of delirium." 
 
 " But the murderer was after his paper." 
 
 " He thought so and I think so, too. But 
 when we remember that the slip was in the same 
 pocket with his money, we have to admit a possi 
 bility that the man who killed him went through 
 him for cash, that he got the label by accident 
 when he found the roll, and that Puenta, snatch 
 ing at it and recovering it, as he supposed he 
 never knew he only got a piece of it, poor 
 devil! could only think of that. I don t be 
 lieve this is the true explanation, you under 
 stand; I am merely trying to consider all the 
 possibilities." 
 
 " There is this to be said for the idea of a sim 
 ple motive robbery, or revenge over some old 
 feud, or something like that," Lamb said. " If 
 the murderer were after that label, why did he 
 leave part of it in Puenta s hand? Why didn t 
 he make sure he had it all? " 
 
 " Perhaps because he thought he did have it 
 all. Perhaps because he heard me coming and 
 didn t have another second of time. I must have 
 been getting mighty close when he left Puenta. 
 I moved into the alley slowly, and his footsteps 
 were plainly to be heard at the other end. I take 
 it he must have had to work fast and that he 
 was probably surprised when Puenta grabbed for 
 the paper and didn t have time to do much think 
 ing." 
 
60 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 " Surprised? " 
 
 " The Mexican was stabbed in the back 
 struck from behind, without any warning, by 
 some one who was probably lurking in the shadow 
 of a doorway in the wall on the left. I observed 
 there is such a door, right beside where the body 
 lay. He fell forward on his face. The mur 
 derer, wasting not a second perhaps he had a 
 little lamp turned him over and searched for 
 whatever he wanted to find. The money or the 
 label. He got both. Puenta realized what was 
 happening and clutched for the paper. He got 
 a corner of it, turned over, struggled to his knees, 
 and fell forward again. Something the sound 
 of my footsteps, in all probability sent the killer 
 running toward the other end of the alley. It 
 was the second thing that had disturbed his plans, 
 the first being Puenta s surprising grab for the 
 paper after the other thought he was dead." 
 
 Both men were silent for a moment, turning 
 the thing over in their minds. Then Napier 
 said: 
 
 " I should like to know who, if anybody, was 
 watching Puenta down there in the Bonham when 
 the slip fell to the floor." 
 
 " Could any one who was there have got to the 
 place where the murder happened before you 
 did? " 
 
 " Easily, by using an automobile. But I don t 
 see how any such person could have known ex 
 actly where Puenta was going, unless he also 
 knew about the message from the smiling lady 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 61 
 
 and where the Mexican was planning to take me. 
 Even then, how could he have known the exact 
 route?" 
 
 " That alley leads directly toward the Chinese 
 quarter, only two or three blocks away." 
 
 " Yes; I have been studying a map. But I 
 can t see, if Puenta was bound for that quarter, 
 why he should have selected that narrow, dark 
 and dangerous alley, when he could have reached 
 any part of the Chinese section by wider and 
 safer streets. It almost seems as if his destina 
 tion could not have been far from the alley itself." 
 He sighed. " Well, I don t know and I won t 
 find out by sitting here theorizing. I have two 
 immediate jobs cut out for me. Find Miss 
 Glenn and ascertain, if I can, whether she sent 
 for me last night, and get a line on young Senor 
 Puenta s Chinese friends. I ll tackle the first, 
 and you, if you will be so good, can get somebody 
 hustling out to get a line on the second." 
 
 " I ll have somebody whom he won t suspect 
 gossiping with Officer Guerra before he goes on 
 duty again to-night." 
 
 " I ll phone you from time to time; it probably 
 won t be much use trying to get me but if any 
 thing turns up that needs me in a hurry there 
 might be a chance of catching me at the Bonham. 
 The Edgemont, you say, is " 
 
 Lamb directed him. 
 
 As Napier turned into the modest entrance of 
 the Hotel Edgemont, the gods of chance most 
 surprisingly favored him. He met Miss Glenn, 
 
62 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 dressed for the street, just coming through the 
 door. 
 
 This is fortunate," he exclaimed, with con 
 ventional politeness, as she murmured his name 
 and gave him her hand. " I have wondered ever 
 since I saw you last evening if I would be so 
 lucky." 
 
 " I wasn t sure you recognized me," she smiled. 
 
 " I almost didn t. I m afraid I must have 
 stared like a gawk. It isn t really so many years 
 since I saw you, but you don t look exactly as you 
 did then, you know." His next sentence was 
 not all empty compliment: Those years have 
 been very kind to you, Miss Glenn. If you still 
 are Miss Glenn." 
 
 " I am." She laughed and looked frankly 
 into his eyes ; his thought at the moment was that 
 he had shown very little sense there on the Bub 
 bling Well Club veranda in being merely per 
 functorily polite to a girl who was going to turn 
 out to be as attractive as this one. Those years 
 haven t done a single thing to you, that I can 
 see," she said. " You look exactly as you did 
 then." 
 
 " I pull out the white hairs at the temples," he 
 assured her. " With pincers. It hurts, but 
 once in a while, when I meet young women who 
 speak kindly, I realize it is worth the pain." 
 
 :< Do you live here in San Antonio? " 
 
 " No. I m a poor tourist, with no place to lay 
 his head. At least, no place to lay his head where 
 the roar and riot of this celebrating town doesn t 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 63 
 
 get into his ears." He looked into the shade 
 of the small Edgemont lobby. " That explains 
 my errand here. A friend told me they sell a 
 very excellent variety of night s rest at this 
 place." 
 
 " We live here," she said. " My father and I." 
 
 " As I recollect it, you mentioned that day we 
 
 met or Mrs. Morey did that he was an army 
 
 man." 
 
 Yes. He is retired. We find the Edge 
 mont very comfortable and quiet. I don t know 
 what luck you will have; it is pretty well filled up 
 now, I think." 
 
 " If I get in, perhaps I may hope to see some 
 thing of you. We could probably find something 
 to talk about; one doesn t meet old acquaint 
 ances every day whose experiences include the 
 East. Seeing you last night sent my thoughts 
 flying back there." 
 
 " One never completely gets over the East," 
 she said. I hope we do get a chance to talk 
 about it." He was a little puzzled at her man 
 ner. It was as though she really wanted to see 
 him again, and didn t. She shifted the subject 
 deftly and spoke of the carnival and of the parade 
 that was scheduled for that afternoon, and he 
 gathered she was on her way to have luncheon 
 with some one and then see the procession from a 
 vantage point. A Mrs. Jeffries, she said, whom 
 she had known in Ohio. " Our home, you know, 
 is in Cleveland," she added. We are also tour* 
 ists, in a way. Do you ever get to Cleveland? " 
 
64 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 " Not often," he told her. " My home is in 
 New York." 
 
 " Are you in the same business as when you 
 were in Shanghai? " 
 
 It had been generally supposed, when he was 
 in China, that he had some connection with an 
 importing concern, and for the past seven years 
 he actually had owned a small interest in a New 
 York importing house, with his name on the door 
 and no duties; a logical and satisfying explana 
 tion of many of his activities that had to do with 
 foreign places and peoples. It was possible Mrs. 
 Morey had told the girl, that day at the tea table, 
 that he was with a firm of importers, and that she 
 had remembered it. On the other hand, the mes 
 sage last night had said the sender of it " could 
 help him in his business," which would hardly 
 mean importing. Was there anything signifi 
 cant in this question? 
 
 " Yes," he replied. 
 
 She did not follow this up at all. Her next 
 remark was inconsequential. They spoke for a 
 moment or so of quite unimportant things the 
 city, the climate, the crowds, the odds and ends of 
 subjects that comprise small talk for those who 
 have no closer subjects in common. She showed 
 no impatience at standing there, but he thought 
 she would have been too well-bred to do so, even 
 had she desired to get away. He ought not to 
 hold her, yet he had made no headway regarding 
 his mysterious message. He determined to refer 
 once more to the previous evening, to give her 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL; 65 
 
 another opening if she wanted to take advantage 
 of it. 
 
 " I can t tell you what pleasure it has given me 
 to see you again," he said earnestly. " From the 
 moment we met, last night, I hoped I would run 
 into you somewhere. All the rest of the evening 
 I was going nowhere in particular; just watch 
 ing the crowds I kept my eyes open for you, 
 hoping our autos would pass. But it was like 
 searching for the needle in the haystack." 
 
 " Particularly as the haystack did not have the 
 needle in it ten minutes after we saw you," she 
 laughed. " We were on our way home then. 
 My father was tired of the noise and confusion, 
 and we didn t wait long after the parade." 
 
 " I hope I shall have an opportunity of meet 
 ing your father." 
 
 For the first time the girl did not look frankly 
 into his eyes, and there was a peculiar and quite 
 unexplainable note of embarrassment in her 
 voice. 
 
 " Father does not go out much," she said. " He 
 meets very few people. He he is not at all 
 well." 
 
 " I am sorry," Napier told her, with the right 
 shade of regret. " It has been mighty good of 
 you to stand and talk to me so long. I am afraid 
 I have imposed on your good nature." 
 
 " It has been nice to see you," she said, with 
 what he thought was a little more than per 
 functory politeness. " Let us hope we shall meet 
 again." 
 
66 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 She smiled cordially and was gone. Three 
 minutes later he learned that there were no suites 
 or single rooms to be had at the Edgemont, either 
 with or without baths, and that there wasn t the 
 slightest chance there would be any until after the 
 Fiesta. 
 
 He went over to the Bonham and ordered 
 lunch in a dining-room that opened out of the 
 main lobby. 
 
 He felt almost certain, now, that his message 
 from the lady who smiled had not been sent by 
 Ruth Glenn; it was highly improbable that she 
 would not have mentioned it. This belief, even 
 if it were proven true, did not eliminate her from 
 his case, however; he had been anxious to find her 
 before ever he received a message. He had been 
 tempted, during their conversation, to mention 
 Kalat Pasha in some indirect way, watching her 
 face as she replied, but instantly dismissed the 
 idea as foolish. At best, he could only learn that 
 Kalat was in San Antonio and that she knew it, 
 and any mention of the Turk, if her presence here 
 had anything to do with his, would only serve to 
 put Kalat on his guard. He had to remember, 
 also, that Kalat, so far as he was aware, did not 
 know him at all, and his attitude ought to be, if 
 he and the Turk met, that neither did he know 
 Kalat. 
 
 Harking back to their conversation, the whole 
 idea that the girl could have anything whatever 
 to do with a smuggling plot seemed almost im 
 possible. Well-bred, well-groomed, self-reliant 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 1 67 
 
 American girls do not get themselves mixed up 
 with Turks, Mexicans and Chinese in schemes 
 to He pulled himself up short on this argu 
 ment. Many most excellent people do not hold 
 smuggling to be a serious crime, and he had to 
 admit that his experiences in the department did 
 not justify him in dismissing anybody as being 
 outside the possibilities of participation in it. 
 He himself could recall more than one well-bred, 
 
 well-groomed, self-reliant young American 
 
 " But not with eyes like that," he argued to him 
 self. " Not with frank, honest brown eyes like 
 that." 
 
 Brown, with little glints in them; eyes that 
 laughed easily, looked as if they could be very 
 sympathetic, and met one s gaze frankly and 
 squarely except when one discussed father. 
 Perhaps when one discussed some other things, 
 too; how did he know? Would they have been 
 frank and straightforward if he had mentioned 
 Kalat Pasha? 
 
 He thought he was trying to analyze the girl 
 in his most professional manner. He would have 
 contended, and made it a matter of serious debate 
 with any one who differed, that the personal 
 equation was not entering into his thoughts at 
 all. But his conclusion was, notwithstanding 
 that unexplained embarrassment when her father 
 came into their conversation, that she wasn t that 
 sort of girl. He hoped she would never find out 
 that he had suspected she might have something 
 to do with a gang of smugglers; she wouldn t be 
 
68 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 able to understand it. Rather foolish to hope 
 that, when perhaps he would never see her again. 
 But he must see her again. Purely as a matter 
 of business, of course. He couldn t let any lead 
 in the case go unexplored, however improbable it 
 might be. He wondered how soon. 
 
 A man who had been eating at a distant table 
 passed out of the dining-room. At the entrance, 
 stopping to get his hat, his eyes roamed over the 
 room and rested upon Napier, who noticed him 
 standing there but did not give him a second 
 thought. He disappeared, and the treasury 
 agent finished his lunch and sauntered out into 
 the lobby. 
 
 The man stood at the clerk s desk, and, as 
 Napier came out through the dining-room door 
 way, spoke a word to the clerk, who looked 
 sharply at Napier and replied briefly, whereupon 
 the man spoke again and moved away from the 
 desk. It was perfectly obvious to Napier, who 
 had seen the interchange of sentences, that the 
 man had asked the clerk who he was. 
 
 He remembered, then, that the questioner had 
 stood looking at him in the dining-room. He 
 also recalled, vaguely, that he had seen the man 
 before during his four days at the hotel. He 
 wondered if it could have been on the previous 
 evening. 
 
 He devoted a minute to the cutting and light 
 ing of a cigar. Then he moved across the lobby 
 to the news stand, selected a magazine, and 
 strolled toward the elevator. Once in his room* 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 69 
 
 he tossed the magazine on a table and called the 
 manager of the hotel on the telephone. With 
 some difficulty he succeeded in getting that busy 
 gentleman to come to the room at once. 
 
 He introduced himself, when the manager ar 
 rived, in his true capacity, and the news was re 
 ceived with entire absence of enthusiasm. A 
 hotel manager may spend tens of thousands of 
 dollars a year for publicity, but he prefers to 
 choose its character; that sort of prominence 
 which follows police and secret service activities 
 he is quite willing to do without. 
 
 " In the first place, sir, I want to make a bar 
 gain with you," Napier said. " You give me a 
 little assistance and consider this whole meeting 
 as in confidence, promising to forget, for all prac 
 tical purposes, who I am, and I will assure 
 you that, if I can help it, there will be nothing 
 made public that can annoy your house or its 
 guests." 
 
 The hotel manager brightened. " Of course 
 I will do anything I can," he said. "As to keep 
 ing your identity a secret, even if it wasn t a duty 
 I owe the government, it is part of my business 
 not to tell everything I know." 
 
 "As a matter of fact," Napier assured him, " I 
 haven t any reason to think anything is likely to 
 happen that will affect your place at all. But 
 certain angles of a certain case you had rather 
 not know any more about it, I am sure, even if 
 it were proper for me to tell you, which it isn t 
 seem to touch one or two people who live here. 
 
70 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 Primarily, I want some information regarding a 
 man who is in the lobby at this minute; at least 
 he was when I came up, just now. As I came 
 out of the dining-room, he asked the clerk at the 
 desk who I was. The solemn-looking clerk with 
 the round spectacles. That is, I think he did; 
 one of the things I am going to ask you to do is 
 to verify that. He is a man of fifty, perhaps, 
 apparently a Mexican. Light complexion, gray, 
 cropped mustache, thick gray hair. Deep pock- 
 marks down both sides of his nose." 
 
 The manager nodded. " Mr. Villabosa," he 
 said. " Salvador Villabosa. Did you say you 
 were with the Department of Justice? " 
 
 * Treasury Department." 
 
 " Because I wouldn t have been surprised if 
 you had been Department of Justice, these 
 Mexican refugees are all the time running up 
 against that outfit, but I am surprised that he 
 has been doing anything to tangle himself up 
 with your end of the government." 
 
 " Don t misunderstand me; I don t know that 
 he has. Who is he, please, and how long has he 
 been at the Bonham? " 
 
 " More than two months, this time," tHe man 
 ager said. "And he has been here before. A 
 
 number of times. As to wlio he is A 
 
 refugee. That is about all I can tell you. Not 
 an extremely rich man, I should say, but fairly 
 well-to-do. Well-to-do enough to live here and 
 always pay his bill on time, anyway." 
 
 " You use the word * refugee to mean any 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 71 
 
 Mexican who has been forced to leave Mexico 
 since the troubles began six or seven years ago, 
 don t you?" 
 
 " That is the usual meaning in San Antonio, 
 yes. This man began to come here some time 
 ago- several years, I guess. He has lived here 
 quite a bit, off and on." 
 
 " From what part of Mexico? " 
 
 The manager shrugged. " I haven t the slight 
 est idea. I don t even know that he is a refugee. 
 He merely acts like one. We have always taken 
 it for granted." 
 
 "Acts like one? How?" 
 
 " He isn t in business in this city, so far as I 
 know. He does not seem to have any particular 
 means of support. He hangs around the hotel, 
 meets other Mexicans from time to time, just 
 seems to be waiting for something to turn up. 
 Those are the usual refugee symptoms." 
 
 " Thank you," Napier said. " Now, I would 
 like you to make some guarded inquiries and let 
 me know, if you will, what you find out. Are 
 the clerks who were in charge at the desk from, 
 say, eleven o clock to a little past midnight, last 
 night, out of bed yet?" 
 
 " Yes. There is a shift of clerks at midnight, 
 when two go off duty and one comes on, and 
 ordinarily the after-midnight man wouldn t be 
 where he could be got at now, but on account of 
 the rush of business we are all working overtime 
 this week. I can find all three." 
 
 " Good. Will you ask them if they know 
 
72 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 whether this man Villabosa was in the lobby of 
 the hotel last night at or soon after eleven? And, 
 if it is possible for them to say, how long he was 
 there? " 
 
 The manager shook his head. " Even if he 
 were there all the evening, it would be mighty 
 unlikely they would remember it," he doubted. 
 " Our lobby was a pretty crowded place, last 
 night." 
 
 " I know it; I was there. But it is quite im 
 portant." The manager turned to go. "And 
 make sure, please, what Villabosa asked the 
 round-spectacled clerk as I came out of the din 
 ing-room." 
 
 The manager was back in twenty minutes. 
 
 " You were right about his talk with the clerk," 
 he said, at once. Villabosa said your face was 
 familiar and asked him your name. When the 
 clerk gave it, Villabosa said he guessed you must 
 look like somebody else. And as to last night, 
 it s a funny thing, but for all the mob there was 
 swarming through that lobby, two of those clerks 
 are so sure Villabosa was here that they are will 
 ing to swear to it." 
 
 "At what hour? And how do they place 
 it?" 
 
 " One of them places it by a matter that hap 
 pens to concern you. Did a young man, probably 
 a Mexican, find you about half -past eleven? " 
 
 " Yes. When I came in after the parade." 
 
 " He had asked the clerk if you were stopping 
 here, and the clerk misunderstood him and 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 73 
 
 thought he wanted to know if you were in the 
 house, so he turned to the telephone switchboard 
 and said, See if Mr. Napier is in Room 697. 
 The girl reported you were not, and the young 
 Mexican said he would wait and stayed right 
 there, close to the desk. The clerk continued to 
 notice him, because he didn t seem to want to 
 move, and he was more or less under the guests 
 feet. The whole matter is one easily remem 
 bered, because my assistant manager was in hear 
 ing, and he called the clerk down, afterward, for 
 shouting your room number that way. We are 
 careful who we give the numbers of guests rooms 
 to, of course." 
 
 " What did Villabosa have to do with this? " 
 " It seems he was standing at the desk when 
 the young Mexican came up, and the clerk 
 noticed his sort of peculiar manner. He turned 
 his back very squarely to the young man and 
 moved off in such a way that the clerk thought 
 he didn t want the chap who was looking for you 
 to see him. The clerk s impression at the mo 
 ment was that Villabosa knew the fellow and was 
 dodging a touch, or something like that." 
 "And afterward? After I had come? " 
 " It was really an odd thing about that. Out 
 of all the guests in this house, I don t suppose 
 those fellows could tell you what a single other 
 man did between half-past eleven and one o clock, 
 but three men are perfectly positive about Villa 
 bosa. One of the clerks who went off at mid 
 night, the one who came on at midnight and the 
 
74 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 night cashier every one of them happens to 
 have talked with him about something or other 
 that impressed the conversation on his mind, and 
 they are sure he was in the lobby all the time. 
 The last time anybody saw him was at just six 
 minutes to one, and the clerk remembers it be 
 cause Villabosa was comparing his watch with 
 our clock and argued that we were a minute 
 wrong. The clerks think he disappeared after 
 that. He probably went to his room." 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 " I M afraid I can t give you much informa 
 tion. Salvador Villabosa is more or less of a 
 mystery." 
 
 The speaker was an agent of the Department 
 of Justice, whose duties for several years had 
 made him familiar with refugee Mexicans, espe 
 cially if at any time they had been suspected of 
 connection with the various juntas that had been 
 born, flourished, decayed, and died a natural 
 death or been officially executed in San Antonio. 
 Napier sat in the agent s office, where he had ar 
 rived after a circuitous and erratic journey. 
 That Villabosa, or some friend of Villabosa, 
 might have seen fit to follow him, was not at all 
 improbable in fact, he thought the odds were in 
 favor of it but he was skilful in shaking off pur 
 suers, the streets were very crowded, and he was 
 certain, if any one had started out to trail his 
 footsteps, that the trailer had long since been 
 lost. 
 
 We have had our eyes on him, of course," 
 the D. J. man said. " The same as we have had 
 them on a hundred others of whom we have never 
 been able to find out much. I have no doubt 
 there is some plot to revolutionize the govern- 
 men of his own, his native land, that he would 
 
76 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 like to see succeed. He would hardly be a 
 refugee if there wasn t. But we don t know it. 
 He seems to have some income, and he appar 
 ently behaves himself. Lately, he hasn t come to 
 our attention at all, but at one time we watched 
 him a good deal because he had some bum 
 friends and we have to go on the principle, you 
 know, that evil associations corrupt good man 
 ners. That crowd he used to seem to know 
 pretty well has gone away from here, now. 
 Things happened to most of them. They were 
 Pancho Villa men." 
 
 " He wasn t active in the group, you say? " 
 
 " Never that we could find out. He merely 
 kept bad company. There hasn t been much of 
 a Villa group here since the Pershing expedition, 
 and such friends as Villabosa has now he isn t 
 much of a mixer aren t connected with any 
 junta at all, so far as we know. He seems to be 
 a quiet, orderly, still-waters-run-deep sort of old 
 fellow, who mostly minds his own business. 
 What are you after him for? Has he been 
 dodging duties? " 
 
 " That is what I am trying to find out. Tell 
 me some more about those old friends he used 
 to have. That Villa group." 
 
 " They were mostly men from Northern Mex 
 ico Coahuila and Chihuahua who had got 
 tangled up in one or the other of the ructions 
 after old Don Porfirio quit, and had found this 
 side of the border safer than the other. Bad 
 hombres. We got some of them at the time of 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 77 
 
 the Plan of San Diego uprising, and some others 
 of them went back when Pancho was going 
 strong, and disappeared. But, as I say, we 
 never were sure this Villabosa had anything to 
 do with their political plots." 
 
 " Would you think it likely he might have a 
 present acquaintance with hard characters across 
 the Rio Grande bandits, perhaps? " 
 
 " More than likely. Any man who knew that 
 Villa gang he used to associate with wouldn t be 
 fussy about his acquaintances. And he isn t the 
 real thing; you don t see any of these rich old 
 refugees of good Mexican family associating with 
 him. I suppose what you are getting at is that 
 he might be a member of a gang of smugglers. 
 That is quite out of my line, of course, and I 
 don t know a thing about it, but if you want to 
 know whether I think he is too good to have con 
 nections of that sort, I don t." 
 
 Less than an hour afterward, an unobtrusive, 
 wiry young man named Gordon, invited to as 
 sist on the recommendation of Collector Lamb, 
 took upon himself the task of following Senor 
 Villabosa until further orders, with a view to 
 adding to the Treasury Department s knowledge 
 of him and his friends. When Gordon had lis 
 tened to Napier s description of the man and set 
 out for the Bonham to begin his labors, the col 
 lector smiled across his desk at the special agent. 
 
 :< Making progress, are you? " he commented. 
 
 Well, we have made a little, too. Our man 
 
 saw Policeman Guerra, and Guerra was glad to 
 
78 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 talk. The late Angel Puenta s Chinese friends, 
 so far as he had observed, all seem to be connected 
 more or less with that big restaurant keeper I 
 told you about the other day Charles Toy." 
 
 He consulted a slip of paper on his desk. 
 
 " Wang Ting is one of the Chinks Guerra has 
 -seen him with, and Wang Ting is a servant of 
 some sort at Toy s house. And he has seen 
 Puenta coming and going from Toy s place 
 several times. He had the impression, always, 
 that Puenta was a sort of errand boy for Toy. 
 Having some Mexican blood himself, he was 
 scornful of a Mexican who would run errands for 
 Chinamen, but he figured that Puenta, being a 
 dope fiend, was keeping close to a source of 
 supply." 
 
 " By Toy s place, do you mean the restaur 
 ant?" 
 
 " No. Guerra doesn t know anything about 
 the restaurant ; that isn t on his beat or anywhere 
 near it. It was Toy s house where he saw Puenta. 
 It is a large house, one of the elaborate build 
 ings over in that section. In the old days it 
 used to be called Harmony Palace ; made 
 a specialty of its music. It sets in the middle of 
 a quarter of a block of land here, I ll show you." 
 The collector indicated the location on his map. 
 
 " Toy has a family, has he? " 
 
 " He has a considerable household, I gather. 
 Whether the other Chinese who live there are 
 his relatives, or business associates, or fellow 
 members of a society, I don t know, and I don t 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 79 
 
 suppose any other American does. Rents are 
 nothing like what they used to be over in that 
 section, of course, but, even so, Mr. Charles Toy 
 must be a prosperous person to be able to afford 
 a house like that. Well, Guerra saw Puenta 
 coming and going there several times, and he saw 
 Puenta meet and talk to this Wang Ting I men 
 tioned, who is some sort of servant or henchman 
 of Toy s. But principally, he has the fellow 
 placed as an acquaintance of Joe Fong s, and Joe 
 Fong is one of Toy s right-hand men." 
 
 "At his place of business? " 
 
 " Yes. This Fong seems to be an interesting 
 character. If there is any connection between 
 Mexicans and Chinese in a smuggling scheme, 
 he might prove to be more or less of a go-be 
 tween. At least, his blood fits him to be. He is 
 a half-breed. Half Chinese and half pelado 
 Mexican. There s a combination for you! 
 Guerra says his name is supposed to be Jose, 
 and that the Mexicans say his mother tried to 
 have him raised Christian, but the Lord only 
 knows whether he thinks of himself as Chinese 
 or Mexican. Some days he acts like one and 
 some days like the other." 
 
 "And probably with the worst attributes of 
 both," Napier commented. 
 
 Well, that s the story. The only other name 
 I have here is the name of Toy s manager, or 
 something of that sort, at the restaurant the 
 man who always seems to be in charge when Toy 
 isn t there. He also lives at * Harmony Palace, 
 
80 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 but Guerra never saw Puenta in his company. 
 Our man made a memoranda of the name only on 
 general principles. It is Tung Sheng." 
 
 Napier had made note of the names as the 
 collector read them. Now he put away his little 
 memorandum book and remarked: 
 
 They could be a company of most excellent 
 merchants, and they could be a fine gang of 
 crooks, with opium-running and other activities 
 on the side and I don t know but one way to 
 find out. I am going to become a chop-suey 
 hound. Beginning at dinner time to-night/ 7 
 
 He consulted his watch. "Arid in the mean 
 time I will go back to the hotel, order my phleg 
 matic chauffeur, and get out into the crowded 
 highways and byways to keep my eyes open for 
 Kalat Pasha. And also for a beautiful Italian 
 lady who smiled and sent a message." 
 
 " Did she? You must have learned that since 
 you saw me this forenoon. How do you know? " 
 
 " I don t. It is merely my best guess at this 
 minute. I ve seen the other one, and I am con 
 vinced she didn t." 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 IT was not yet dark, that evening, when 
 Napier, with a magazine in his hand, leisurely 
 ascended the stairs that led to the Oriental 
 restaurant of Charles Toy and surveyed the big 
 dining-room from the entrance door. 
 
 It was a well-furnished, prosperous looking 
 place, with the customary Chinese decorations, 
 the inevitable odors, and many tables for two and 
 four people. Off at one side was a doorway that 
 a party of diners was just passing through, 
 probably to private rooms. The place was fairly 
 well filled, but not crowded; it was hardly late 
 enough for it to be doing its heavy business; 
 Napier thought that in ordinary weeks it would 
 have been nearly empty at this hour, but during 
 Fiesta time any restaurant of whatever char 
 acter is bound to have an unusual patronage. 
 
 Close at hand, in a cashier s cage, sat a tall, 
 stout, elderly Chinaman with round spectacles 
 and an air of bland benevolence. This, he 
 thought, would probably be Toy. As he stood 
 there, sizing up the place and seeming only to 
 look for a table that he liked, another Chinaman 
 came from somewhere rearward and also entered 
 the cage, where he conversed with Toy. He was 
 in early middle age, intelligent looking and quick 
 
82 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 in his movements. From his manner of author 
 ity and the freedom with which he addressed 
 the old, benevolent one, Napier guessed this to 
 be the manager, Tung Sheng. 
 
 He observed, with gratification, a large table 
 far back at the rear of the room, a table with 
 eight stools, two of which were occupied by 
 Chinamen who were being served with steaming 
 bowls of rice. In the center of the table was a 
 great platter of boiled meat of some sort, from 
 which the pair were making ready to help them 
 selves. He had hoped to find something like this 
 during an off hour. Charles Toy evidently 
 served Chinese regular boarders, or, at least, 
 served a meal for his compatriots more in accord 
 ance with their likes than the dishes on his regu 
 lar bill-of-fare. 
 
 By the size of the platter in the middle of the 
 table Napier thought more diners were momen 
 tarily expected to join the two already present, 
 who, however, were not waiting or otherwise 
 standing upon ceremony, but were fishing bits of 
 meat out of the common dish with deft chop 
 sticks and alternating them with gulped mouth- 
 fuls of rice, pushed swiftly between their lips 
 from the edges of their bowls. 
 
 It would be from that table that gossip might 
 be overheard, if anywhere in the room. He 
 sauntered toward it, studying the lights above 
 the tables. It was quite clear to any one ob 
 serving him that he proposed eating in leisurely 
 fashion and reading as he ate, and that he sought 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 83 
 
 a place where the light would fall conveniently. 
 A little table that filled these specifications stood 
 at the side of the room, not ten feet from the 
 big one where the Chinese were. He took a seat, 
 studied the bill-of-f are, ordered chow mien, which, 
 needing to be cooked to order, takes considerable 
 time, and opened his magazine. 
 
 Two more Chinese came in after a few mo 
 ments, and just behind them another and another. 
 They dropped into the places at the large table 
 and fell to eating their rice and meat. A waiter 
 brought a tureen of soup, of which each took a 
 share in a flat-bottomed ladle that thereafter 
 rested at the side of his rice bowl. They all 
 drank many little cups of tea. 
 
 After the first edge of their hunger had passed, 
 they talked, not loudly. Napier could hear some 
 of the things they said, especially when some 
 diner, feeling impelled to make a remark when 
 his mouth was full of rice, raised his voice. They 
 all spoke the Cantonese dialect. 
 
 What they said was excessively unimportant. 
 Napier, who made his eyes follow the print be 
 fore him and did not forget to turn a page 
 occasionally, made out something about a 
 man a grocer, he gathered who had passed 
 through a painful experience with some un 
 reasonable official who had declared he did not 
 screen his vegetables sufficiently; that another 
 person had lost eighty dollars, American gold, 
 at fan-tan ; that somebody else had received word 
 from China that his grandfather had gone to join 
 
84 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 his honorable ancestors. Two more Chinese 
 came in, and the table was filled. One of the 
 latest arrivals was a fat man who seemed to have 
 a reputation as a humorist. At his comments 
 on men and things the table laughed Avith quiet 
 immoderation. 
 
 The old man in the cashier s cage looked at the 
 clock, got up out of his chair, and called one of 
 his men, who took his place at the desk. The 
 manager came from somewhere with his hat in 
 his hand. Old Toy took his hat down from a 
 hook, and he and the manager went out to 
 gether. 
 
 " Never have I seen the old sire and Tung both 
 leave this place in the evening at the same time," 
 one of the Chinese at the boarders table re 
 marked. " Old sire " was the literal translation 
 of the phrase; it was the common Cantonese ap 
 pellation for one in authority, the boss. A 
 more correct translation, as regards its meaning, 
 would be " great one." 
 
 "And with all these festival crowds." another 
 Chinaman added idly. " Last night, because of 
 the sickness of Look Sing, I waited on tables 
 here. It was so crowded, after the parade, that 
 people in numbers waited their turn. Not until 
 one o clock in the morning did the last customer 
 depart. And all that time, from seven to one, 
 they were both here. It must be something im 
 portant that makes them leave now. But per 
 haps they will come back before the crowds get 
 large." 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 85 
 
 " There must be a meeting at the great house," 
 the first speaker guessed. " It would be an im 
 portant meeting to take both." 
 
 " Perhaps a ship arrives," the fat, humorous 
 person chuckled. " With bitter ballast." The 
 others laughed appreciatively. Napier turned 
 another page, tried to look absorbed in his maga 
 zine, and strained his ears. Here was a phrase 
 with significance. "A ship with bitter ballast." 
 Often had he heard it in China, where daring men 
 risk their junks, their cargoes and their liberty to 
 evade the salt duties. A smuggling ship. 
 
 A soft voice, a new one, replied to the fat man s 
 pleasantry. For all its softness, there was in it 
 a note of cold menace: 
 
 " He who speaks too much with his voice some 
 times comes suddenly to a day when his voice is 
 hushed." 
 
 Out of the corner of his eye Napier saw that 
 he who had uttered this obvious reproof and 
 warning, who had come up from kitchenward to 
 the rear of the boarders table just in time to hear 
 the fat man s pleasantry, was a young man with 
 the complexion and cheekbones of a Mexican 
 pelado, or low-class Indian, and the slant eyes 
 of a Mongolian. The combination was repellant 
 and sinister. He had no difficulty in identifying 
 him, from Lamb s description, as that half-caste 
 member of Toy s staff of right-hand men who 
 was called Joe Fong. 
 
 The humorist no longer smiled, and the others 
 ceased their cackling as though an extinguisher 
 
86 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 had been jammed down on their merriment and 
 ate hurriedly, their faces wooden. 
 
 " It was only a jest," the fat man protested. 
 His voice was apologetic, his whole attitude 
 cringing. * There is no one here who is not one 
 of us, except the barbarians, who do not under 
 stand our tongue." 
 
 " Jests can be foolish and dangerous even 
 when there is nobody to hear," Joe Fong de 
 clared. And added, sententiously : There is 
 wisdom in a short tongue, but the tongue that is 
 too long becomes silent." 
 
 He turned and disappeared noiselessly, leav 
 ing a hushed and uncomfortable double quar 
 tette of Chinamen. 
 
 Napier ate his chow mien, drank his tea, and 
 left the restaurant. Until then, he had rather 
 planned to spend the evening in the automobile, 
 still searching for the face of Kalat, but the con 
 versation he had overheard decided him to devote 
 at least a portion of the coming hours to a survey 
 of the residence of Charles Toy. He took it for 
 granted the man who had referred to a meeting 
 at " the great house " had meant the ornate estab 
 lishment across the creek formerly known as 
 " Harmony Palace." 
 
 When he had come to the vicinity of the place, 
 by a roundabout way, it was half-past nine 
 o clock. There was no moon, and except where 
 the arcs burned on the street corners or here and 
 there a beam of light streamed out from an un 
 curtained window, the section was very dark. 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 87 
 
 He came down a cross street to the side of the 
 three big lots, in the center of which the house 
 sat, and saw with satisfaction that the deep shade 
 of several mulberry trees just off the sidewalk 
 would afford him concealment. 
 
 The big, many-roomed mansion, two storied 
 and architecturally ambitious he had no doubt 
 some designer had been given a free hand at the 
 time of its building, and that the interior would 
 prove to be even more ornate than its outside 
 gave little sign of being occupied. A glimmer 
 of light showed in one upstairs window. Down 
 stairs no lights showed, probably due to the pres 
 ence of heavy curtains and window draperies. 
 In striking contrast to this interior darkness was 
 a garish brilliancy of light outside the house, in 
 front, where over the door a cluster of incandes- 
 cents of high candle-power made the walk that 
 led up from the sidewalk a path in which one s 
 personality would not be hidden from any eye 
 looking out from a darkened room or hall. 
 
 Expected guests, Napier judged, would enter 
 by that front door, and those in the house would 
 know whether or not they were the right ones be 
 fore ever they came within reaching distance of 
 the doorbell. 
 
 The neighborhood was still. Somewhere, a 
 block or two away, a player with Oriental ideas 
 of music was extorting weird noises from a Chi 
 nese fiddle. At a distance in the other direction, 
 in strange opposition, a phonograph was shrilling 
 the monotonous syncopation of a most up-to-date 
 
88 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 jazz waltz. Except for these, there were almost 
 no sounds. 
 
 Napier, from his place of concealment behind 
 a mulberry tree, wondered if the gossiping China 
 man in the restaurant had really guessed right 
 if there really were any meeting or conference in 
 progress here in the great house. If so, had the 
 participants all arrived? This was not impor 
 tant ; he could study them as they departed. He 
 leaned his shoulder against the tree trunk, mak 
 ing himself comfortable for a wait. 
 
 An automobile came through the street from 
 the direction of town, and stopped with a squeal 
 of brakes at the walk leading up to the house. 
 From the tonneau, alone, alighted Ruth Glenn. 
 
 She moved briskly toward the house as though 
 she were quite familiar with her surroundings. 
 She stood a moment on the gallery. The door 
 opened. Napier could not see who stood inside, 
 or hear what she said. She stepped in and the 
 door closed. 
 
 At that instant Napier became conscious of a 
 sound, a movement, a presence behind him. He 
 spun around to face it, not quickly enough. A 
 heavy blow crashed against his skull, over the ear, 
 and he pitched forward into a blackness that was 
 spattered with whirling suns. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 NAPIER struggled back to consciousness and 
 raised his head dizzily. " Steady," a voice whis 
 pered. " You re all right. Take it easy." 
 
 "What : " 
 
 " Softly. Better not talk. Sound carries on 
 a night like this, and we are pretty close to the 
 house. Better not try to sit up for a minute, 
 till your head clears a bit." 
 
 His head ached and throbbed, and he tried to 
 recall exactly how he came to be unconscious. 
 He remembered, in a minute, and opened his 
 eyes to demand, with cautiously lowered voice: 
 " " Who are you? " 
 
 " Gordon," the man on his knees beside him 
 said. " I was following your old friend Villa- 
 bosa, you know." 
 
 Napier s mind cleared rapidly, and he sat up. 
 An outstretched hand, on the side away from the 
 wiry young treasury agent, encountered a still 
 object that was plainly part of the prostrate 
 
 figure of a man. " What Who is that? " 
 
 he asked. 
 
 " The said Villabosa," Gordon chuckled. " I 
 don t know exactly what shape he is in I went 
 to work on you first. We ll take a look-see as 
 soon as you are sure you are quite all right. I 
 
90 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 would expect him to take a little longer sleep 
 than you, anyway, because all he hit you with was 
 a blackjack, and I had to wallop him over the 
 side of the head with a pistol." 
 
 Napier rested his hand on the Mexican s 
 breast ; it was rising and falling regularly. His 
 fingers came in contact with metal. 
 
 Handcuffed." 
 
 " Thought I wouldn t take any chances while 
 I was fussing with you. I guess maybe we d 
 better gag him when he comes to. There s no 
 sense letting him holler in this neighborhood." 
 
 " I d like to know what happened, if there s 
 time to tell it. I m getting clear-headed enough 
 now." Napier delicately patted a bump of in 
 creasing size an inch and a half above his right 
 ear. " It doesn t seem to have broken the skin, 
 but it surely hurts." 
 
 " There s mighty little to tell. He tried to 
 follow you, late this afternoon, when you left 
 the hotel and lost you inside of ten minutes. 
 He went back to the Bonham and stayed there 
 until after dinner. A little while ago he started 
 for here. You crossed the street ahead of him 
 about two blocks back, and he slowed up and took 
 his time trailing you. Perhaps I ought to have 
 tried to warn you, but " 
 
 " But you thought I probably was able to take 
 care of myself," Napier supplied, when Gordon 
 hesitated. 
 
 " I would have warned you when he sneaked 
 up in back of you if I had known he was so close. 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 1 91 
 
 But I was a long way off when you disappeared 
 among these trees, and when he came up behind 
 you, with me behind him, I didn t know that you 
 hadn t gone beyond the trees and up to the back 
 of the house, or somewhere. I didn t know you 
 were right here until he rose up and lammed you. 
 He turned you over in a hurry and started to go 
 through your pockets." 
 
 "And you rose up and lammed him. Thanks, 
 I ll do the same for you some time. What had 
 we better do with him? " 
 
 " That s up to you. I don t know all the de 
 tails of the case, but I shouldn t suppose we ought 
 to let him loose after this." 
 
 " No, it wouldn t do. If he were headed for 
 this house, and it looks pretty certain that he was, 
 he would tell them the first chance he got that I 
 was watching it." 
 
 "We can take him down to headquarters, 
 temporarily, and then consider what to do with 
 him afterward. My idea is that when he be 
 gins to take notice we had better see he is fixed 
 so he can t do any shouting, and then one of us 
 can stay here with him, nice and quiet and out of 
 sight, while the other goes and gets an automo 
 bile. Perhaps I d better be the one to go; I 
 know the town better than you do." 
 
 Villabosa sighed and moved. 
 
 " Que didb~le! " he muttered, and Napier s 
 hands went to his throat, while he commanded, 
 "Keep quiet!" 
 
 Gordon wadded a handkerchief, forced it be- 
 
92 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 tween Villabosa s teeth, and fastened it with an 
 other handkerchief before the dazed prisoner was 
 fairly aware of what was happening. 
 
 " I ll slip away and come back with a closed 
 car," he whispered to Napier. " If the police 
 happen to see us taking him to it, or happen to 
 discover you here which is unlikely I don t 
 suppose there is anything to do but identify our 
 selves and ask them to run away and play, but I 
 hope we won t have to do that." 
 
 " If any policemen pass while you are gone, I 
 shan t do anything to attract their attention 
 and neither will he." 
 
 Gordon rose to his feet. It suddenly occurred 
 to Napier that he had not looked toward the big 
 house since he drifted back to consciousness. He 
 turned quickly. The automobile that had brought 
 Ruth Glenn was gone. 
 
 " How many people left the house while I was 
 down and out? " he asked. "And who? " 
 
 " Nobody I ever saw before. To tell the 
 truth, I was so busy I didn t notice very 
 particularly. A woman and a man went away 
 in the auto. Perhaps it was a woman and two 
 
 men." 
 
 " Can you describe them? " 
 
 " No. I didn t hear them come out of the 
 house. I happened to hear voices and looked up, 
 and they were all right at the car, getting in. I 
 saw a woman and two men, but one of the men 
 may have been the chauffeur, for all I know. 
 He might have got out of the car for something. 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 93 
 
 I think one of the men was sort of stout and 
 Spanish looking, but I m not sure. I m mighty 
 sorry I didn t notice more, but just at that minute 
 I was trying to find out whether you had been 
 badly hurt " 
 
 "A man can t do everything at once. You 
 could hear their voices, you say? " 
 
 " But not a word they said. I don t even 
 know whether they were speaking English." 
 
 Villabosa moved uneasily, discovered the hand 
 cuffs and sought to give voice to some emotion. 
 
 " You lie still, old sport," Gordon told him, 
 " and when I come back I ll take you where we 
 can get that little cut in your head fixed up." 
 
 " In the meantime," Napier growled, with his 
 hand on his own throbbing bruise, " if you get 
 to threshing around and trying to attract atten 
 tion, I ll be obliged to give you another cut to 
 go with that one on the other side." 
 
 Villabosa relapsed into watchful waiting, and 
 Gordon silently departed. 
 
 Napier, crouching beside the Mexican, fixed 
 his eyes on the house. No one entered or left. 
 No sour c came from it. Its contrast of exterior 
 light and interior darkness was unchanged. 
 
 Two Chinamen crossed the street at the corner 
 above, chattering in shrill singsong, and passed 
 on about their business. The muffled click of a 
 walking horse s hoofs was followed by the ap 
 pearance of a mounted policeman, who rode by 
 casually, his body slouched, his hands on the 
 pommel of his saddle. The officer had been gone 
 
94 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 five minutes when Gordon stepped out of a cov 
 ered automobile and hurried to Napier s side. 
 
 "All right? Anything happen? I had good 
 luck called a garage and found this driver in. 
 I ve had him before. Perfectly reliable and 
 close-mouthed. He came a-runnin ." 
 
 " I can t very well go back with you," Napier 
 told him. " I want to see who comes out of the 
 house; nobody has since you ve been gone. Sup 
 pose you take him down to the Federal Building 
 and let me join you there a little later. Or you 
 could have him locked up, if I don t get there for 
 some time, and we can question him in the morn- 
 ing." 
 
 " I haven t anything to do but stick to him, and 
 he hasn t a thing in the world on hand but hang 
 around with me. I ll do a little first-aid on his 
 head, or get in a doctor if he seems to need a 
 stitch or two, and then we ll make ourselves com 
 fortable and wait. It isn t late hardly ten 
 o clock." 
 
 They turned to Villabosa and bade him get up 
 and go with Gordon. Resistance was useless; 
 protest impossible. He went with docility. 
 
 The purr of their motor had hardly faded when 
 another automobile came through the street on 
 which the big house faced and drew up in front 
 of it. Its chauffeur sounded his horn with that 
 impatient emphasis that is almost the trademark 
 of taxi-drivers who prefer to avoid the steps 
 necessary to walk to a door and announce that 
 the carriage waits. Immediately Charles Toy 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 95 
 
 and Tung Sheng, his manager, came out of the 
 house, climbed into the car, and were driven 
 away back to the restaurant, no doubt, in time 
 for the evening s greatest rush. 
 
 The cluster of electric lights under the veranda 
 roof went dark. Whatever meeting had been 
 held at the " great house " that evening was ob 
 viously adjourned. 
 
 Napier waited a little, to see if any other 
 activities developed. For all he could see or 
 hear, the place might have been unoccupied. He 
 slipped out of the shadow of the mulberry trees, 
 finally, and set out in the direction of town. 
 
 Somewhere ahead of him, a player was tor 
 turing a Chinese fiddle. He had noticed it about 
 the time of his arrival; it occurred to him, now, 
 that he had been subconsciously aware of the 
 monotonous repetitions of the musician most of 
 the time since. 
 
 For two blocks his mind had been filled with 
 the complications that the evening s adventures 
 had added to his problem, but now, when he was 
 within perhaps a block of the player, something 
 about the weird scrapings and squealings made 
 an insistent demand upon his powers of recollec 
 tion. Where, among all the Chinese fiddling he 
 had heard, had something happened that this one 
 was recalling? 
 
 Three shrill, ascending notes discordant and 
 barbaric to Western ears a shrieking run, and 
 then three shrill, sharp, descending notes. It 
 came to Napier what it was that hammered at his 
 
96 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 memory. He knew this tune; it was one of the 
 two or three Chinese airs he had ever been able 
 to distinguish definitely from the others. Old 
 Kwong Li played it, over and over, when he and 
 Kwong were friends in San Francisco, three 
 years ago. Kwong had solemnly assured him 
 that there were only a few musicians who could 
 play it exactly as it should be played. Its name 
 was " The Running Brook at Springtime and 
 the Little Bird in the Tree." For all his head 
 ache he grinned a little as he remembered how he 
 had always wanted to ask Kwong whether the 
 three sharp, descending notes were supposed to 
 represent the running brook hitting a waterfall 
 or the little bird falling out of the tree. Of 
 course he never had, for that would have hurt 
 Kwong s feelings. Kwong took it for granted 
 he knew. Kwong thought he appreciated Chi 
 nese music. 
 
 The player was back at the beginning of the 
 tune now, starting all over again. He must be 
 as fond of it as old Kwong. 
 
 Napier saw, a half block before him, a little, 
 one-storied grocery. It had not yet closed for 
 the night; there was a light inside and at least 
 one customer. The narrow front gallery was in 
 darkness except for such rays as straggled 
 through the front window, and the fiddler was 
 seated out there. Napier thought amusedly that 
 the man was having an enthusiastic evening all 
 by himself. Neighboring Chinese had probably 
 not even noticed him, but in a Caucasian section 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 97 
 
 such harrowing sounds as he was producing 
 would have long since busied every telephone in 
 the vicinity with frantic calls for the police. 
 
 The customer came out through the door, 
 chanting a Cantonese farewell to the grocer in 
 side. He stepped down from the gallery and 
 then turned and bowed deferentially in the direc 
 tion of the hidden musician. 
 
 " Good night, Kwong Li," he called respect 
 fully. " May no demons disturb your dreams." 
 
 The fiddler stopped. " Good night, honorable 
 friend," he replied. " May you awaken, re 
 freshed, to the best of rice." 
 
 All requirements of etiquette now being per 
 fectly fulfilled, the one-string fiddle resumed the 
 tune on the next note to that on which it had been 
 interrupted. 
 
 The customer had vanished, and the grocer had 
 gone to the rear of the store when Napier paused 
 in the shadows close to the gallery and called 
 softly, in his best Mandarin: 
 
 "Kwong Li! Is it not the honorable and 
 venerable Kwong Li? " 
 
 The bow bit off the sound in the middle of a 
 dispirited wail, and the old Chinaman shuffled 
 quickly forward. Napier stepped a little into 
 the light, and the other bowed with sedate dignity, 
 while from his lips fell a sentence out of the 
 Analects of Confucius: 
 
 " Is it not a charming thing when a friend 
 comes from afar? * " 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 "AT a distance I heard the music," Napier said 
 gravely, " and I thought, * Can it be possible that 
 in this city there is one who can play of The 
 Running Brook at Springtime and the Little 
 Bird in the Tree like Kwong Li, who is in San 
 Francisco? 
 
 Kwong inclined his head to the compliment. 
 " Will you not honor me by entering the humble 
 abode of my nephew? " he asked ceremoniously. 
 And added, after Napier, with regard for the 
 conventions, had murmured, " It would be pre 
 sumptuous for me to precede you," and then, on 
 the old man s insistence, had passed first through 
 the door. "It is a poor place. A very poor 
 place." 
 
 It was, but Napier, who knew Kwong would 
 have spoken the same words if he had been re 
 ceiving him in a palace, replied with the proper 
 sentiment : 
 
 " It is a most excellent place. A very delight 
 ful place." 
 
 A young Chinaman appeared in the door to a 
 living room behind the store, surveying this most 
 unusual guest as impassively as though tall 
 Americans who spoke Chinese were quite within 
 his common daily experience. 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 99 
 
 " Kwong Yet, we are honored by the visit of 
 my great friend Nah Poo," old Kwong told him, 
 " Nah Poo " being the nearest he had ever been 
 able to come to the pronunciation of Napier. " I 
 have told you the story of how I was accused of 
 being concerned in smuggling with which I had 
 nothing to do, and that I should surely have been 
 punished, being entangled in evidence that I 
 could not prove false, but for an official who 
 sought to protect the innocent as well as punish 
 the guilty. Nah Poo is he who saved your 
 father s brother." 
 
 The nephew of Kwong Li is your servant for 
 your kindness to the elder one of his clan," mur 
 mured Kwong Yet. " This is your home, and 
 all the poor things in it are your property." 
 
 Kwong Li, since coming into his nephew s 
 hearing, had dropped the Mandarin dialect and 
 spoken in Cantonese, from which Napier judged 
 the younger man, perhaps American born, did 
 not possess the education of his uncle. He also 
 dropped into Cantonese in his courteous reply. 
 
 Old Kwong urged him to be seated and accept 
 a pipe. "A tobacco pipe," he smiled. " I know 
 you do not use opium, and you know already, my 
 friend, that neither do I. Nor does Kwong 
 Yet." 
 
 "A plain pipe and a mere pinch of tobacco," 
 Napier deprecated. Clearly Kwong Li pro 
 posed to make this a ceremonial visit, and he 
 could not let his impatience to rejoin Gordon and 
 his prisoner show in any slighting of the 
 
100 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 ternary forms unless he wished Kwong to take 
 offense. Kwong Yet got pipes, filled them, and 
 brought matches. Then, perhaps in obedience to 
 some sign from his uncle, he mentioned apolo 
 getically that he had a small errand which would 
 take him out of the store for a while. He would 
 close it for the night, and his honorable elders 
 would not be disturbed. He bowed deeply and 
 went away. 
 
 In silence Napier and his wrinkled host smoked 
 slowly. Not until half a pipeful had been burned 
 did either speak. Then Napier said: 
 
 "It is strange to find you a thousand miles 
 from San Francisco." 
 
 " Only four days have I been here," Kwong re 
 plied. " I came to visit the son of my brother. 
 Some day I shall return, I think, but it is not 
 important. I have sold my business." 
 
 " So good a merchant as you has surely been 
 successful." 
 
 " I have saved enough. I need not call on 
 friends for alms, if illness comes, or fear that 
 there is not enough to send my bones to rest be 
 side those of the honorable ancestors," the old 
 man replied complacently. " Not for many 
 years had I seen my nephew. His business here 
 is not a great one, but better men have done worse 
 than he is doing." 
 
 Another interval of smoking, and Napier 
 thought the time had arrived when he might 
 properly introduce the subject that was fore 
 most in his thoughts. 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 101 
 
 " I think, Kwong Li," he said, " that I am 
 going to ask of you a very great favor." 
 
 The Chinaman inhaled a deep puff of smoke 
 before he replied. He knew Napier s occupa 
 tion. 
 
 " No favor for you would be great," he said 
 then. " I am old, but my mind is still as clear 
 as when I was young. I do not forget. There 
 was a day when I said to you that if ever you 
 should come to me and demand payment for the 
 debt I owed you, that day the payment should be 
 made. My memory tells me that I struck palms 
 of hands with you when I said it. What do 
 you require of me, Nah Poo? " 
 
 " No," Napier said. " It is not a demand. It 
 is what I said a favor. If it is a very danger 
 ous thing for you to accede to it, I do not hold 
 you to the promise. I am not asking payment; 
 the slight thing I was able to do for you was not 
 in hope of reward. You will remember I did 
 not even know you and your excellent qualities 
 when I did it. Our friendship came after 
 ward." 
 
 " That is true," Kwong said, and waited. 
 
 " No Chinese in this city know my business," 
 Napier remarked. 
 
 " None shall, from me or my nephew," the old 
 man assured him. 
 
 " Yet my business has to do with Chinese. 
 There are those Here who Seal with * cargoes of 
 bitter ballast. " 
 
 "As everywhere." 
 
102 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 " Perhaps they are friends of yours. They 
 might even be connections of your clan." 
 
 " Not that I know. I have not heard, since I 
 came here, who are those who trade in I sup 
 pose it is opium." 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Kwong Yet may know. Undoubtedly he 
 does know. He has been here some time." 
 
 " The favor that I mention with hesitation has 
 to do with the doings of certain men. Hear me, 
 Kwong Li. If, when I name them to you, or 
 after you have talked with your nephew, it ap 
 pears that they are of your tong, or of any clan 
 which it would be dishonorable for you to injure, 
 my request is withdrawn, and this talk becomes 
 a thing to be forgotten. If not " 
 
 His smoking host did not hesitate to show re 
 lief. " * The consideration of a friend for the 
 honor of a friend is a shining thing, like moon 
 beams upon a placid river, " he quoted. " You 
 make it very easy." 
 
 " One of these men," Napier told him, without 
 more hesitation, " is called Charles Toy. He has 
 a big restaurant." 
 
 What is his real name? " 
 
 " I do not know." 
 
 Kwong shook his head. " So far as I am 
 aware, I never heard of him." 
 
 " His manager who lives with him in a large 
 house three streets away from here is Tung 
 Sheng." 
 
 " I have not heard that name, either." 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 103 
 
 "And there is another, but I hear he is a 
 menial, called Wang Ting." 
 
 Still no recognition. 
 
 " The fourth and these are all the names I 
 know as yet is one Joe Fong. He is half Chi 
 nese, half Mexican." 
 
 The old man s heavy-lidded eyes showed in 
 terest. " There are not so many who are of that 
 mixture," he said. " Can you describe him? " 
 
 Napier did so. The result was quite surpris 
 ing. 
 
 Kwong Li made fluent remarks, made them 
 coldly, dispassionately, without raising his voice, 
 but positively. They had to do with Joe Fong, 
 with the characteristics and present abode of his 
 ancestors to the fiftieth generation, with the 
 morals of his mother and the occupation of his 
 sisters and the appropriate fate of his male chil 
 dren, if he should ever have any. Kwong was 
 very thorough. When he had finished for lack 
 of further expletive and it was some time, be 
 cause there are many things a Chinaman can say 
 in derogation of a person, and several ways of 
 saying each one, and the old man went with detail 
 into most of them Napier merely remarked: " I 
 see he is known to you." 
 
 " Since noon to-day. He came past this place 
 when I was sitting outside in the shade, making 
 music with the fiddle. He does not know how to 
 talk to his elders; his ears are the ears of a fool; 
 and his sense is as the sense in the flat head of a 
 snake." 
 
104 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 Napier waited in silence. 
 
 " I am making music, and he passes by. And 
 calls to me, What is the good of all this disturb 
 ance when there is no Chinese theater in town 
 where you can get work? And then, as natur 
 ally I did not deign even to notice him, he cried, 
 6 But if there was, you would hardly play in it. 
 As big a town as this would have a theater with a 
 good orchestra. I was playing, Nah Poo, the 
 beautiful song of The Running Brook at 
 Springtime and the Little Bird in the Tree. as 
 not more than five other musicians can play it (I 
 say this modestly; as a matter of fact, I have not 
 heard but two of them) and I am an old man, 
 entitled to the respect of the young, even though 
 he might be an idiot who does not know music." 
 
 " Did you reply to him? " 
 
 " Does the man on horseback pay attention to 
 the mangy dog that yaps? But I shall not for 
 get him, Nah Poo. Tell me what you want to 
 know about him and his friends." 
 
 Kwong Yet unlocked the outer door, some 
 minutes later, and came through the store into 
 the room where they sat. 
 
 " I have a task to do for Nah Poo that I shall 
 tell you of, Kwong Yet," the old man said at 
 once, " and when you have heard it, you may 
 help me do it, or you may not, as you wish. What 
 obligation your father s brother owes to Nah Poo 
 you already understand, yet he has not demanded 
 payment. You know, because you remember 
 my story, that he is an official, and you have 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 105 
 
 guessed that his being here has to do with those 
 who avoid duties. He needs assistance that per 
 haps we can give, but although I was ready to 
 promise in advance indeed I had already prom 
 ised, that time when it looked as though I would 
 spend the remaining days of my life in jail he 
 made it clear that he does not ask us to do any 
 thing that would make us lose face with any one. 
 He does not ask us to tell anything that would 
 affect our tong or our clan." 
 
 The young Chinaman inclined his head in 
 Napier s direction. " What my father s brother 
 wishes me to do, I will do," he said. " His honor 
 is the honor of our family. His promises are my 
 promises." 
 
 " He has told me names," Kwong Li went on. 
 " Charles Toy, and Tung Sheng, and Wang 
 Ting, and Joe Fong. Joe Fong is the half- 
 caste pig may the bones of his fathers be dug 
 up and scattered who called to me this noon 
 with insulting words, as I told you, Kwong Yet. 
 Do you know any of these names? " 
 
 "All of them," Yet replied, " although I do not 
 know any of the men themselves. They are un 
 doubtedly smugglers, as our friend here thinks. 
 At least I can tell you that they have opium to sell. 
 But I have never asked many questions about 
 them. There are people about whom it is not wise 
 to be curious. And yet," he hastened to add, " I 
 will ask questions, if it is the wish of my uncle." 
 
 They have no connections with our family? " 
 old Kwong queried. 
 
106 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 " None." 
 
 " Their tong is not ours? " 
 
 " No. It is " He went to the window to 
 
 look out before he finished the sentence, and when 
 he came back he lowered his voice: 
 
 " Their organization is the Society of the Fra 
 grant Lily. Charles Toy, whose name is Ng 
 Choy, is its chief in these parts." 
 
 Napier needed no explanation of the young 
 man s tiptoed excursion to the window or his 
 uneasily hushed voice, for the Society of the 
 Fragrant Lily is not to be spoken of lightly by a 
 man with a yellow skin, or to be considered with 
 contempt by any man, whatever his complexion. 
 Its arm is long and its judgments ruthless. The 
 Boxers, most of the worst of them, were members 
 of the Society of the Fragrant Lily. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 VILLABOSA sat in a comfortable chair in a cor 
 ner of the customs office, physically more or less 
 at ease although he rested his cheek in his hand 
 and from time to time extended his fingers up 
 ward to tenderly caress a contusion ornamented 
 by a shaved area in which was centered a strip of 
 sticking plaster but seemingly low in his mind. 
 He scowled at Napier s entrance, but tried to 
 amend his expression in line with a plan of con 
 duct he had worked out while waiting. 
 
 Erect and alert, Gordon sat at the flat desk 
 several feet from the Mexican, watching him. 
 On the desk top were spread various articles, 
 quite plainly the salvage from the prisoner s 
 pockets. 
 
 " I gathered them in before I took the cuffs 
 off," Gordon cheerfully informed Napier. 
 " Here s the persuader he swiped you with. 
 Pleasant little instrument, isn t it?" 
 
 "Are you the man I struck?" Villabosa de 
 manded. " I couldn t see you after I came to 
 myself. Are you the man? " 
 
 Napier eyed him without answering. 
 
 " I felt sure it was a mistake, the minute I had 
 done it," the Mexican went on earnestly. " I 
 was turning you over to see if it wasn t a mis- 
 
108 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 take, when " He shrugged and made a 
 
 significant gesture toward Gordon and then to 
 ward his own damaged scalp. " I am certainly 
 very sorry. I took you for another man." 
 
 " Who? " Napier asked, and Gordon put in, 
 
 We haven t had any conversation at all. I 
 
 thought I would wait till you came. Except that 
 
 he has asked me two or three times why I didn t 
 
 take him to the police station." 
 
 " I decline to say who I thought it was," Villa- 
 bosa declared, with only the slightest Spanish 
 accent. * That would make me convict myself. 
 This is what happened: I was walking through 
 the street and I saw a man ahead of me who I 
 thought was my enemy. I came up behind him 
 and hit him. If it were you, why, I sure made a 
 mistake." He tried to smile, but his effort was 
 not particularly pleasant. " It is pretty clear I 
 am telling the truth, isn t it? I didn t have any 
 reason to hit you, a fellow that I never saw before 
 in my life." 
 
 " Don t know me from Adam, eh? " 
 
 Villabosa spread his hands. " If I ever saw 
 you I didn t know where," he said. " You know 
 as well as I do that you and I had no quarrel." 
 
 " We ve got one now," Napier told him. 
 " We ll have one until my head stops aching, at 
 least." 
 
 " I am ready to pay my fine. There is noth 
 ing else to do. To plead guilty and pay the fine. 
 And I am willing, if you would not consider it 
 wrong, to ask you to accept some some dam- 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 109 
 
 ages, that is the word for my mistake. I want 
 to be fair. Am I not fair? " 
 
 " What were you looking for in my pockets? " 
 
 Villabosa s face indicated shocked surprise. 
 " Pockets ! No, sir. You are mistaken. I am 
 not a robber. Look, there on the desk where this 
 officer took it out of my clothes, is more than a 
 hundred dollars, and I have money in the bank. 
 No, senor. You are mistaken." 
 
 " You turned him over oil his back and started 
 to go through his pockets," Gordon remarked dis 
 passionately. " He didn t ask you did you do it, 
 but why you did it." 
 
 " You are mistaken. But why do I have to 
 stay here, to talk only to you? I take it, from 
 this office, that you are a government officer. 
 Hitting a man assault isn t a crime against 
 the United States, even if I got the right man, is 
 it? I ask you to take me to the police. I will 
 pay the fine. Or get bail, if that is what is re 
 quired." 
 
 "After you tell me what you were trying to 
 steal out of my pockets," Napier said. 
 
 Villabosa s continued denials were profuse and 
 vehement. His tactics were obvious enough. 
 He was not aware that Napier knew him at all; 
 certainly not that he suspected him of any con 
 nection with the tragedy of the night before. He 
 was hoping to bluff out the story of mistaken 
 identity. 
 
 " What is your name and where do you live? " 
 Napier demanded. 
 
110 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 " Salvador Villabosa, and I live at the Bon- 
 ham. They will tell you there about me. Be 
 lieve me, mister, I am not the sort that goes about 
 assaulting and robbing." 
 
 " Where were you last evening? " 
 
 " Last evening? " He hesitated a barely per 
 ceptible second. " Early in the evening, I was 
 out on the street, seeing the parade. I was on 
 the sidewalk not far from the Bonham when it 
 went by. Afterward I was in the hotel, all the 
 rest of the evening." 
 
 You may have to prove that." 
 
 " I can." His assurance was too positive; too 
 eager. It confirmed all the things Napier had 
 believed. 
 
 "And you say you never saw me before in your 
 life. Don t you know that I am stopping at the 
 Bonham? " 
 
 " You are? " His surprise was well simulated. 
 " I have not seen everybody who stops there. 
 There are many guests at the Bonham, mister." 
 
 " You haven t seen me at any time during the 
 past three or four days? " 
 
 " No, sir. Not that I remember." 
 
 " Who did your little dope-fiend friend come to 
 see at the Bonham, last night? " 
 
 Villabosa was not adept at concealing emotion. 
 The expression that came into his eyes, and the 
 flush and succeeding pallor that mounted to 
 his face, told how heavily the question had 
 scored. 
 
 " Little dope-fiend friend," he repeated, stam- 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 111 
 
 mering. "I do not know who you mean. I 
 have no such friend." 
 
 " Named Puenta," Napier supplied. " Weren t 
 you standing there by the desk when he came into 
 the lobby? He said you were." 
 
 " He said How could he, when he didn t 
 
 look I mean, how could he, when I don t 
 
 know any such person? " 
 
 " You followed him when he left and went up 
 Houston Street and through Main and Military 
 Plazas. What happened after that? " 
 
 " But I didn t follow him. I was at the hotel 
 every minute after he left. I can prove it. 
 Prove it by many people. Huh! You are 
 guessing wrong there, senor. I was there in the 
 lobby of the Bonham every minute from eleven 
 o clock until one. I can prove it." 
 
 * You say he didn t leave the Bonham until 
 after eleven." 
 
 " I say No, I don t say that. I don t 
 
 know what time he left, because I don t know 
 him. I don t know anything about him. Who 
 is he, this Angel Puenta? " 
 
 " Never heard of him, eh? " 
 
 " Never, on my word of honor." 
 
 Then how did you know his first name was 
 Angel? " 
 
 Villabosa saw his slip; his face showed it. 
 But he tried to extricate himself. " It is the 
 name you said. A dope-fiend named Angel 
 Puenta, you told me. Say, mister! I don t 
 want to be questioned like this. I haven t done 
 
112 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 anything wrong, except hit a man that I thought 
 was my enemy, and got the wrong fellow. Take 
 me to the police station. If you won t, send word 
 to my friends. I want a lawyer." 
 
 " It s hard to get a lawyer this hour of the 
 night," Gordon remarked amiably. " Probably 
 the man you wanted wouldn t be in. There 
 won t be anything doing in lawyers for the 
 present." 
 
 " But I demand it. I demand to have word 
 sent. Either take me to a judge, or I shall get 
 habeas corpus, and then we ll see." 
 
 Napier considered him silently for more than 
 a minute, during which Villabosa again repeated 
 his demand for friends and legal assistance. 
 Then: 
 
 " Who killed Puenta? " he suddenly asked. 
 
 " I don t know. How should I know. I was 
 at the hotel, I tell you. And I can prove it, 
 too." He made a wriggling amendment, to 
 square his previous admissions. " I know now 
 who you are talking about. I saw about that 
 killing in the newspaper. But I wasn t there. 
 It was at twelve o clock, the paper said, and at 
 twelve o clock " 
 
 " Yes, I know. You were at the Bonham, and 
 you can prove it. And I can prove a few things, 
 too. What interest did you have in that Chinese 
 label?" 
 
 This time Villabosa, realizing at last that al 
 ready he had talked too much, waited a moment 
 before he answered, and then merely said, " I 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 113 
 
 don t know what you are talking about. I want 
 a lawyer." 
 
 And to many other questions which Napier 
 and Gordon threw at him during the next fifteen 
 minutes his replies, over and over again, were 
 the same. " I don t know." " I won t answer." 
 " I want a lawyer." 
 
 They finally gave it up. 
 
 " Very well," Napier said. " We ll let you 
 take the night to think it over. When you get 
 ready to tell us what we want to know, you can 
 send word." He rose and picked up the hand 
 cuffs that Gordon had tossed on the desk after 
 relieving the prisoner of them. * We haven t 
 any cells here in the Federal Building, have we? " 
 he said to Gordon. " I suppose he has to go 
 over to police headquarters." 
 
 " That s where we keep em," Gordon agreed. 
 "As long as that is where he has been demanding 
 to be taken, he ought to be tickled to death." 
 
 Villabosa glared, but held out his hands. 
 
 " How about my money and other things," he 
 growled, indicating the small array of posses 
 sions on the desk. 
 
 " We ll put them in a nice sealed envelope and 
 keep them all safe," Gordon assured him. 
 * You ll get them back by and by all except the 
 blackjack. I don t believe you will ever crack 
 another man over the head with that particular 
 one. Do you know, I don t believe you are ever 
 going to crack anybody over the head with any 
 blackjack." 
 
114 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 Gordon counted the money and made a memo 
 randum of its amount before putting it into the 
 envelope. He picked up and weighed in his 
 hand a knife that could be called a pocket-knife, 
 if one were merely trying to keep within legal 
 definitions, but was large enough to be very dan 
 gerous in a scrimmage in which its wielder was 
 one familiar with the use of edged steel, opened 
 it and commented on the keenness of its blade. 
 
 " Not quite big enough to constitute * con 
 cealed weapons/ but a handy little tool at that. 
 They almost always have a practical knife about 
 em somewhere, these Mexicans," he remarked to 
 Napier. He put the knife, some papers which 
 seemed to be of no consequence, and a watch and 
 chain, into the envelope. 
 
 There remained of the prisoner s belongings 
 on the desk only a small bunch of keys and a 
 separate key, long, rectangular, flat and appar 
 ently quite new. As Gordon moved to sweep 
 these in with the rest, Villabosa, whose eyes had 
 been fixed on the agent s hands and whose chest 
 was heaving with the emotion of his protests 
 and demands, made an effort to calm himself 
 and said, in what he tried to make a natural 
 voice: 
 
 " I can t hurt anybody else or myself with my 
 keys, can I? What s the use of keeping those? " 
 
 " We especially want to keep those," Napier 
 replied quickly, a mere shot in the air suggested 
 by the man s anxiety. 
 
 " Car-r-ramba! " Villabosa cried, losing all 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 115 
 
 control of himself and leaping at Gordon, hand 
 cuffed arms upraised. " I won t stand for it ! I 
 won t! I 
 
 It is neither a difficult nor an especially credit 
 able task for two powerful young men to subdue 
 a middle-aged ruffian who is handcuffed. They 
 did not even have to hurt him. When the excite 
 ment was over, Napier took up the flat key that 
 seemingly had precipitated the outbreak and 
 studied it carefully. 
 
 " A padlock, and a very up-to-date and rather 
 high-priced padlock. Where is that padlock? " 
 he asked. 
 
 Villabosa s reply was in muttered Spanish and 
 clearly both profane and insulting. 
 
 " He mustn t get a chance to communicate 
 with his friends," Napier whispered to Gordon, 
 whom he had drawn into a corner after the en 
 velope with Villabosa s belongings was safely 
 locked in the desk. " Can it be arranged at the 
 station? What sort of people are the police 
 here?" 
 
 * They work with us very nicely ; we have 
 never had any trouble getting whatever assist 
 ance from them we asked. I don t think there 
 will be any difficulty keeping him incommunicado 
 there. You ll go over with us, won t you? 
 Then I ll have the car take me home and drop 
 you at the Bonham." 
 
 They came up to police headquarters through 
 a narrow, dark street at the rear, and Gordon left 
 Napier with the prisoner while he disappeared 
 
116 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 into the building. When he came out he said, as 
 much for Villabosa s information as for Napier s, 
 " I wanted to be sure there weren t any visitors 
 sitting around the guard room who might know 
 him. There aren t." 
 
 Villabosa got the implication of this. " You 
 cant lock me up secretly, and not let any one 
 know I am here," he protested. 
 
 " Think so? " 
 
 1 You have to put my name on the police book 
 the blotter and anybody has a right to see 
 that blotter. You have to. The law says so. 
 A man can t be locked up without his name on 
 the blotter. The police have to write it." 
 
 "So they do," Gordon replied. "Your 
 knowledge of Texas law is excellent. All right. 
 We ll go in." 
 
 At the desk Gordon addressed the sergeant, 
 with whom it was plain he had already discussed 
 the matter: 
 
 " We want this man held for us, please. His 
 name is John Doe." 
 
 " The name is Salvador Villabosa," the pris 
 oner declared loudly. 
 
 " John Doe, alias Salvador Villabosa," Gor 
 don amended, and busied himself removing the 
 handcuffs. 
 
 The sergeant wrote. Villabosa, craning his 
 neck to watch, cried out excitedly. " Here, Mis 
 ter Sergeant, I told you my name is Villabosa. 
 Salvador Villabosa. You haven t written it." 
 
 " John Doe, alias. For Federal, " the ser- 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 117 
 
 geant read complacently from what he had writ 
 ten. " That s fair enough, isn t it? Do you ex 
 pect an officer to clutter up the blotter with all a 
 man s aliases? " 
 
 " When he wants to talk to us, get us word, 
 will you? " Gordon said. " It isn t necessary for 
 him to send messages to any one else." 
 
 " Sure," agreed the sergeant. " If he talks 
 with anybody, it s you." 
 
 " But I demand a lawyer," Villabosa shouted. 
 " I demand to have word sent to my friends. 
 You can t hold me like this." 
 
 " Number 257," remarked the sergeant to 
 the officer who stood at the prisoner s shoul 
 der, waiting to take him to his lodging 
 place, and entered the cell number against the 
 name on the blotter. " Come on, hombre" the 
 officer said. 
 
 " But hold on ! Wait ! I demand " 
 
 " On our way," the turnkey interrupted and 
 took Villabosa by the arm. The prisoner took 
 one step, held back, and turned. 
 
 " I know what my rights are, Mister Ser 
 geant," he threatened. " And I propose to have 
 them." 
 
 " Sure," the sergeant agreed, with per 
 fect good temper. " Sure you ll have em. 
 Su-u-ure!" He waited until the prisoner had 
 passed out of hearing. " If anybody should find 
 out he was here and come around beefin about it 
 and demandin to see him, I refer em to you 
 people, as usual." 
 
118 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 " Pass the buck to us," Gordon replied. " We 
 take the responsibility." 
 
 Napier walked into the nearly deserted Bon- 
 ham lobby, ten minutes later, and called for his 
 room key. There was a slip of paper in the box 
 with it. It read: 
 
 " Mr. Napier, please call Alamo 1266 as soon 
 as he comes in. Important." 
 
 " How long has this been here? Do you 
 know? " he asked the clerk. 
 
 The man shook his head regretfully. " I 
 don t recall it s being put in your box since 
 I came on," he said. " Before midnight, I 
 guess." 
 
 As soon as he had reached his room Napier 
 called the number. 
 
 " Hotel Edgemont," a sleepy voice replied. 
 
 " Some one there left a call for Mr. Napier, at 
 the Bonham. Asked me to call your number as 
 soon as I came in." 
 
 " Wait a minute," the operator languidly ad 
 vised, and a moment later he heard her say, 
 There s your party at the Bonham." 
 
 " Hello," came in Miss Glenn s voice. 
 
 " This is Julian Napier. Did you call me? " 
 
 " Why, yes, Mr. Napier, but It was a 
 
 long time ago. It must be after one o clock, 
 isn t it? " 
 
 " Yes. Quite a little after. I know it is ter 
 ribly late, but the note I found said to get you as 
 soon as I came in." 
 
 " Thank you for calling, but I couldn t 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 possibly see you to-night. Not at this hour. 
 You see I phoned you about eleven." 
 
 " I m sorry I woke you up," Napier apolo 
 gized. " There wasn t anything on the memo 
 randum to show what time the call came." 
 
 " I I haven t been asleep." She hesitated, 
 and then went on, " I wanted to see you. There 
 
 was a matter There is a matter I want to 
 
 talk to you about. It is an imposition to ask 
 you, but I want I need a little advice." 
 
 " I am at your service whenever you wish. At 
 what time to-morrow shall I call? " 
 
 " Really, Mr. Napier, I feel embarrassed ask 
 ing you to take any interest in my affairs, but if 
 it isn t too much trouble " 
 
 " It is no trouble whatever. It will be a real 
 pleasure." The words sounded sincere, because 
 they were. 
 
 " Then at ten o clock, if that is convenient." 
 
 " I ll send up my name as near ten o clock as I 
 can get there." 
 
 " No," the girl objected. " Don t send up 
 your name. I will be in the lobby or the little 
 lounge that opens just off of it. If I am not 
 there, would you mind waiting until I come? I 
 would rather, if you don t mind, that you didn t 
 send word up to our rooms." 
 
 He promised, she thanked him and said good 
 night, and he replaced the receiver. As he went 
 about his preparations for bed first solicitously 
 surveying his damaged head in the bathroom mir 
 ror, and discovering with satisfaction that it 
 
120 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 didn t look anywhere near as bad as it felt He 
 tried to imagine what she wanted to advise with 
 him about, or to confess. He admitted to him 
 self that he didn t like that word " confess " in 
 connection with Miss Glenn, and yet, after what 
 he had seen 
 
 She didn t want her father to know, that was 
 plain enough. She didn t want him to know 
 even that Napier was calling at the hotel. Her 
 voice, now that he thought of it, had been very 
 discreetly lowered throughout their conversation. 
 Her father, if the door to his room were closed, 
 would have been unable to make out what she 
 said, even if he could have heard her at all. 
 
 After he had convinced his subconscious self 
 that this was a night during which he must lie 
 exclusively on his back and left side, because the 
 northeast corner of his head could touch the pil 
 low only at the cost of great discomfort, Napier 
 went to sleep promptly enough. His last 
 thought but one was wonder as to how she had 
 ever first got mixed up with such a rotten crowd. 
 His last thought, after impending sleep began to 
 twist his imaginings into absurd channels and 
 switch his reasonings beyond sensible control, was 
 that a girl with eyes like that couldn t possibly 
 have anything to confess. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 ALTHOUGH it still lacked three minutes of ten 
 o clock when Napier turned into the entrance of 
 the Hotel Edgemont, Miss Glenn was waiting 
 for him in the lounge. Except for her, the little 
 room was unoccupied, and she met him at the 
 door and led him to chairs in the further corner. 
 
 If she had slept less than usual the night be 
 fore, he thought she did not show it. Nor did 
 her manner show signs of the mental disturbance 
 that her summons of the evening before had 
 seemed to evidence. Some explanation of this, 
 came in almost her first sentence. 
 
 " It was so good of you to come," she told him. 
 " I have been thinking how hysterical I must 
 have seemed, calling you at all hours of the night. 
 I got to thinking, and it seemed as if I simply 
 had to talk to some one. Isn t it strange how 
 different things look in the sunshine of the morn 
 ing after? " 
 
 " If that means that the things that were troub 
 ling you have disappeared, let us be thankful 
 there are no clouds in the sky," he said. " But it 
 was no trouble to come, of course. Exactly the 
 opposite. I am sorry I did not receive your mes 
 sage in time to get here last night." 
 
 She was a bit embarrassed, and he thought she 
 
 
122 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 regretted having sent for him. It would be un 
 grateful as well as discourteous, however, not to 
 give him any inkling of what she had wanted, 
 even though, as she intimated, her morning wor 
 ries were not as great as they had seemed in the 
 dark hours. She set out to explain: 
 
 " Do you know, it sounds rather absurd, Mr. 
 Napier, but I haven t any friends I mean, here 
 in San Antonio. Oh, acquaintances, of course, 
 as he murmured deprecatingly " but no 
 friends that I could go to in an emergency and 
 ask to help me. And something came up " 
 
 She rather groped for words with which to tell 
 it, while he waited, willing but unable to make it 
 easier for her. 
 
 " I was a little frightened, last night. A little 
 frightened and nervous. I thought I needed 
 help. Advice, anyway. And the only person 
 in the world I could think of was you. That 
 must sound strange, considering how very slight 
 our acquaintance is, but I had the feeling 
 
 that Well, I have traveled a great deal, 
 
 you know. I have met a good many people. I 
 thought, if I were to ask you to help me, you 
 would be the sort who would do what you could. 
 And not misunderstand." 
 
 There was nothing of coquetry in her manner; 
 she was looking him squarely in the face and talk 
 ing seriously. " Man to man " was the phrase 
 that came into his mind to describe her attitude. 
 And he did not think she was trying to flatter 
 him. 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 123 
 
 " If there is anything that I can do " he 
 
 assured her, but she shook her head thoughtfully. 
 
 " I don t think there is, this morning. I can t 
 even say there was anything in particular I 
 thought you could do last night. It was just 
 that I was nervous and excited, and I had to talk 
 to somebody." 
 
 " Your father wasn t here? " 
 
 Instantly came into her face the expression that 
 he had seen before when Captain Glenn was men 
 tioned. " My father," she said, " was He 
 
 is not well. There were reasons It hap 
 pens to be a matter that I cannot talk over with 
 him." As though she had said a little more than 
 she intended, she made an amendment. " I 
 wouldn t want him to know I was worried. His 
 health 
 
 Napier, as she left the sentence unfinished, 
 suggested sympathetically: 
 
 " If you feel like telling me anything about 
 what is troubling you " 
 
 She shook her head. " The foolish troubles of 
 night," she said. " They do not sound real in the 
 daytime. One can get terribly worked up over 
 small things after going to bed in the dark and 
 giving way to nerves. Giving way to nerves 
 always has been and always will be a woman s 
 privilege." 
 
 Napier did not believe Miss Glenn was subject 
 to nerves, and he felt positive she had not been in 
 bed before she called him at eleven o clock. 
 
 She did not seem quite satisfied with the ex-* 
 
124 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 planation she had made; perhaps she felt she 
 owed him a little more confidence under the cir 
 cumstances. 
 
 " I actually felt, last night," she said, slowly 
 and seriously, " that I was in danger, in a sense. 
 It was quite silly, of course, but I had the feeling. 
 And it seemed to me I must have some one I 
 could call on if the thing that I thought was 
 threatening ever really came to pass." 
 
 Would it be too much to ask what sort of 
 danger? " 
 
 " I m afraid it would. If I were to tell you, 
 you would think I had been reading thrillers. I 
 might have told you if you had come last night, 
 although I think more likely my nerves would 
 have calmed down once you had arrived and I 
 would have reneged, apologized, and sent you 
 home again. But in this broad daylight it 
 would sound perfectly outrageous." She laughed 
 lightly. " This is San Antonio, United States of 
 America, in the Twentieth Century." 
 
 " There can be dangers, even in the United 
 States of America and the Twentieth Century," 
 he said quietly. " Not as many as there can be 
 in the East, or as there could be in other cen 
 turies, perhaps, but this place and time isn t free 
 from them." 
 
 " If I didn t know something of the East I 
 shouldn t have been as frightened as I was last 
 night," she said impulsively. " It is because I 
 have seen there what people who propose to have 
 their own way, and are in the habit of getting 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 125 
 
 it " Seemingly this sentence was bound 
 
 farther than she wanted to go, for she halted it 
 abruptly. " I m still a little upset, I guess. It 
 is awfully good of you to be willing to let me 
 make an exhibition of temperament so patiently." 
 
 " If it shouldn t be temperament," Napier said. 
 " If it should turn out that there really was some 
 thing to worry about, I expect to be in San An 
 tonio some little time, and I shall be at the Bon- 
 ham unless I am able, later, to get rooms here 
 at the Edgemont. They didn t have any when I 
 was here yesterday." 
 
 " That s awfully good of you," she assured 
 him, and seemed disposed to dismiss the matter, 
 but he was unwilling to let the subject drop with 
 out adding a word. He spoke earnestly: 
 
 " I think you really have a bit of trouble. And 
 I am sincere when I say I would like to have you 
 call on me if there is anything I can do. It isn t 
 merely a polite promise." 
 
 " What makes you think so? " she demanded, 
 ignoring the latter part of his speech. 
 
 " I, too, have lived in the East." 
 
 The quick glance that she threw him told him 
 she wondered if there were anything significant 
 in his remark; if he could possibly know that her 
 trouble might have an Oriental side. As his face 
 showed only sympathy and, perhaps, admira 
 tion she apparently dismissed the thought as 
 unreasonable. But from the seriousness with 
 which she sat for a moment in silence, while he 
 tactfully waited, he knew she was turning her 
 
126 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 problem over in her mind, perhaps readjusting 
 some former decision. When she looked up, her 
 eyes rested on his frankly. 
 
 " I am going to be quite honest," she said. 
 " It wasn t all a matter of getting nervous in the 
 dark. I made up my mind, after thinking it 
 over this morning, not to say anything to you of 
 the things I would have said if you had been able 
 to get here last night, and I am not going to say 
 all of them, even now. But I am going to tell 
 you that I am terribly worried over something 
 that may turn out very seriously. I really may 
 need somebody to help me badty. I can t tell 
 you what the trouble is. There is a possibility 
 I think maybe a probability that it won t corne 
 to a head at all. But if it should, I would be all 
 alone here." 
 
 She seemed unconscious that her words implied 
 the absence of her father, and he wondered if the 
 danger that threatened her was indirect, by being 
 aimed at him. He opened his mouth to urge her 
 to tell him, in personal confidence, what she 
 feared. He closed it again as he realized that he 
 could not accept, in confidence, what might prove 
 to be a confession. His reply, warm and sincere 
 as it really was, nevertheless contained a hidden 
 reserve. 
 
 " If you should be in trouble and should call 
 upon me, I want you to believe that I would do 
 everything to help you that was in my power." 
 
 " If I am, I will." She smiled, trying to ease 
 the tension. " I shall get word to you the first 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 thing. I shall say, * Dear Mr. Napier; it s hap 
 pened. 
 
 " And I, to use the expressive language of 
 Texas, shall * come a-runninY " he assured her. 
 " Even if it is in the most depressing hours of the 
 night, when our spirits get lowest." 
 
 " It probably will be in those dark hours, if you 
 ever get it," she declared. " If I were to wait 
 until daylight, I d finally find there wasn t really 
 
 any danger, and " She broke off and 
 
 dropped the badinage. " That isn t so," she 
 said, serious again. " If I send for you at all, 
 I m afraid I ll really need you. You will for 
 give me if I don t tell you any more about it, 
 won t you? I can t really understand why I 
 have told you as much as I have, or why I tele 
 phoned you. We are practically strangers." 
 
 " I have known you eight years." 
 
 She shook her head. " You do not know me 
 at all. And I don t know you, except that you 
 are an American man. One learns to appreciate 
 American men, the right kind of American men, 
 after meeting so many foreigners as in the 
 East." 
 
 He wondered if she was thinking of Orientals 
 in the East, or Orientals transplanted to the 
 West. It came to him how little any foreigner, 
 either Oriental or Continental, would or could 
 have understood her frank appeal to him for 
 help in an hour of need. He did not take too 
 much credit to himself for her confidence; she 
 was a shrewd, sophisticated young woman who 
 
128 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 had seen enough of life to gauge men more or less 
 and pick out those who were probably ordinarily 
 decent. Of course he felt pleased and compli 
 mented; who would not? He looked at her ear 
 nestly and honestly and said, " If you should 
 need me, I ll try to come up to specifications." 
 
 " I m really very sorry I can t ask you to call 
 on me formally," she said. " It seems so absurd, 
 my telling you all this and asking you to run to 
 my assistance if something should happen that 
 probably won t and yet not asking you to come 
 and see me. But you will forgive me. As I 
 told you yesterday, my father " 
 
 He rose. " Let us hope he will soon be bet 
 ter," he said. " When he is " 
 
 You know I d like to have you," she assured 
 him. He felt certain she spoke with perfect sin 
 cerity. 
 
 He went back to the Bonham, found no mail 
 or telegrams, and went out to stroll about the 
 streets, not yet crowded but beginning to be filled 
 with sight-seers, mostly out-of-town people in 
 their best city-visiting clothes, wandering rather 
 aimlessly but with a determined holiday spirit. 
 At noon he took lunch where he happened to be, 
 in a little dairy restaurant. He was sauntering, 
 afterward, through Alamo Plaza, his mind re 
 volving theories which refused to work out at all 
 satisfactorily, when his attention f ocussed sharply 
 on the figure of Madame Lucia Frezzi, just dis 
 appearing into the entrance of the Plaza Hotel. 
 
 It was only a glimpse, but he knew he was not 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 129 
 
 mistaken. He crossed the plaza and went into 
 the hotel, stopping at the cigar counter and 
 glancing at magazines on the news stand. After 
 a bit, not seeing her, he looked into the several 
 public parlors, and finally decided, unless she was 
 above the first floor, that she must be in one of 
 the dining-rooms. 
 
 Several people were ahead of him as he came 
 up to check his hat, and perhaps ten minutes had 
 elapsed since he first saw her before he stood in 
 the main dining-room, surveyed the tables, 
 and informed a grand-mannered head waiter that 
 he was looking for friends. 
 
 She was there, facing him at a side table, and 
 there was a man across the cloth from her. 
 Napier could see only his shoulders and the back 
 of his head. Obviously they were just beginning 
 lunch, and there would be ample time before they 
 finished to telephone for an agent from the 
 customs office and have her followed. He was 
 about to turn and leave the room, with a manner 
 implying that the friends for whom he was 
 searching were not present, when Madame 
 Frezzi suddenly looked toward the door and saw 
 him. 
 
 Her face lighted with pleased recognition, and 
 she smiled cordially. There was nothing to do 
 but look equally delighted and step over to her 
 table. 
 
 "Mr. Napier!" she exclaimed, as he came 
 within hearing. " What a pleasure! " 
 
 As she half rose to welcome him, her com- 
 
130 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 panion came courteously to his feet, pushing his 
 chair back, and stood, napkin in hand and an 
 amiable smile on his face, waiting to be presented. 
 It was Kalat Pasha. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 "MR. SASTANADA; Mr. Napier," she intro 
 duced them. Kalat extended a friendly hand 
 and bowed gracefully. " Mr. Napier and I met 
 in Paris," she told him. " Four five years 
 ago." 
 
 " Have you lunched, Mr. Napier? " Kalat 
 asked in English that was precise and a trifle too 
 correct. " Won t you sit down with us? " With 
 out waiting for a reply, he signalled to a hovering 
 waiter, who brought a third chair. 
 
 " Thank you," Napier said, dropping into the 
 seat. " I m sorry I can t have lunch, but I al 
 ready have an appointment. It was to have been 
 here at least, that is the way the message was 
 delivered but I am pretty sure he said the St. 
 Francis, and I shall have to go over there. Tele 
 phone messages taken by a third party " 
 
 He smiled and dismissed his annoyance. " It is 
 a great pleasure to see you again," he told Ma 
 dame Frezzi. ;< There are many miles between 
 here and the Rue de Varenne." 
 
 " I have been in the United States some little 
 time," she said. " But I have always put off 
 visiting my relatives here until now. They told 
 me I would enjoy the Fiesta, and I have. It is 
 very interesting, isn t it? " 
 
132 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 " As distinctive, in its way, as the Mardi 
 Gras," he agreed. 
 
 " I have never seen the Mardi Gras." 
 
 " Its atmosphere is French, of course, while 
 the Fiesta San Jacinto is essentially Spanish. I 
 always enjoy these carnivals. I am especially 
 impressed with the fact that they are only pos 
 sible in cities where there is much Latin blood 
 and a Latin tradition. Any attempt to accom 
 plish a carnival spirit like this in a Northern city 
 in the United States would be a dreary failure." 
 
 " We Latins know how to play," Kalat put in. 
 
 " Mr. Sastanada is a fellow countryman of 
 mine," Madame Frezzi explained. 
 
 " Ah? " Napier remarked, politely. " From 
 what part of Italy? " 
 
 " Oh, but you are not remembering me as well 
 as I hoped you did," the lady cried, " or else you 
 were misinformed. I am Spanish." 
 
 " Perhaps I thought the name was Italian." 
 
 " It is. My husband was of Italian blood." 
 From the tense of the verb, Napier took it the 
 husband who once was conveniently absent was 
 now conveniently deceased. " My relatives here 
 are Spanish, although they have lived for a num 
 ber of years in Mexico. * Had lived would be 
 a better way of saying it, because they have been 
 in San Antonio since the revolutions began. 
 They were so unfortunate as to be Cientificos." 
 
 "You are, like us, a tourist?" Kalat asked. 
 " Or have you business interests here? " 
 
 " I am a visitor." 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 133 
 
 " Mr. Napier is in business in New York or 
 was," Madame Frezzi said. " I am sure I recall 
 that it was mentioned by some one, the first time 
 we met." 
 
 " Your memory is better than mine was as to 
 your nationality," Napier laughed. " I was 
 and am." 
 
 " In what business?" Kalat asked. His in 
 terest was merely polite, the interest of one who 
 knows that some Americans like to discuss their 
 commercial concerns. 
 
 " Not a very active one during the past few 
 years," Napier said. " Oriental importations." 
 He took out a business card and laid it before 
 Kalat. 
 
 He looked at his watch, with an apology; he 
 must have time, before they finished luncheon, to 
 telephone the collector s office. 
 
 " I hope you can come and see me," Madame 
 Frezzi said. " I haven t a card with the address, 
 of course, but if you would make a note of it I 
 am at Number 311 Chiromoya Street. I am 
 always at home Wednesdays, after three. This 
 has been no meeting at all. Do come." 
 
 " I shall be delighted to," he told her, and 
 noted the address. 
 
 " I hope we also shall meet again," Kalat said, 
 as Napier rose to leave. 
 
 " I hope so." He said the proper things to 
 Madame Frezzi and left them. 
 
 From a pay station across the plaza he got 
 Collector Lamb s office and was so fortunate as 
 
134 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 to find Gordon back from lunch and with no im 
 portant work in hand. Guardedly he told him 
 what he wanted. " I shall be inside the doorway 
 of the drug store just across from the main en 
 trance," he said, " and when he comes out I will 
 shake out my handkerchief. He is rather stout, 
 quite dark, smooth-shaven and exceedingly well 
 dressed in a light suit ; there isn t one chance in a 
 thousand that two men of that description will 
 come out together. If there should, however, 
 make some sign with your hand toward one of 
 them and one shake of the handkerchief means 
 1 yes ; two, no. " 
 
 " O. K.," said Gordon. " And I m to stick to 
 him till further notice? " 
 
 " If you please. I will come over to the office 
 as soon as you have got started, of course, and 
 talk it over with Mr. Lamb. If he has some 
 thing else he wants you to do, I will ask him to 
 have you relieved. If things break so you can, 
 you might telephone in later and ask him." 
 
 " That won t be necessary, I know," Gordon 
 said. " There isn t anything in the works at this 
 minute that he thinks half as important as your 
 affair. All right. I ll be over just as soon as I 
 can get there." 
 
 Napier saw the wiry young man arrive and 
 take up a position that, without being conspicu 
 ous, commanded both entrances to the hotel and 
 the drug store in whose busy doorway he waited. 
 He saw Kalat and Madame Frezzi, after a while, 
 come leisurely out and move up the plaza, afoot, 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 135 
 
 and he shook his handkerchief. Gordon disap 
 peared, strolling aimlessly behind them. 
 
 He went over to the Federal Building at once 
 and saw Collector Lamb. 
 
 " Please excuse me for seeming to give your 
 men orders," he said, " but you were out, and the 
 matter couldn t wait. It was Kalat himself." 
 
 The collector nearly permitted himself to show 
 excitement. 
 
 " Are you sure? " 
 
 "I sat for fifteen minutes nearer to him than 
 I am to you." Napier recounted the circum 
 stances of the meeting. 
 
 " He asked your business, you say. Do you 
 suppose he knows? " 
 
 " I don t think so. It is possible Madame 
 Frezzi might know she might have learned in 
 Paris and, of course, she could have tipped him 
 while I was crossing the room. But if he had 
 known, I think he would have said more about 
 his presence here in San Antonio. He would 
 have explained. The fact that he had no reason 
 to suppose I knew him wouldn t have altered 
 that. As a matter of fact, he explained nothing. 
 He didn t even refer to it, except to intimate that 
 he was a tourist. In other words, he acted ex 
 actly as a Spanish friend of Madame Frezzi s, 
 who was anxious to be courteous to one of her old 
 acquaintances but had no other interest whatever 
 in him, would have acted." 
 
 :< What is the connection between those two? " 
 
 Napier shook his head. " That remains to be 
 
136 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 learned. If we could get a line on her, it might 
 help us. When I telegraphed Washington Mon 
 day night, asking for information regarding 
 Captain Glenn, I also asked them to see what 
 they could dig up about Madame Frezzi. They 
 have passed the request on to our people in Paris ; 
 it is almost time to get a reply. She and Kalat 
 could have met for the first time right here in San 
 Antonio, within the past week." 
 
 Lamb considered this and nodded to its possi 
 bility. " And she could really believe that his 
 name is Sastanada," he added. 
 
 " She could, and yet I doubt it. It isn t likely 
 she dropped her work whatever it was when 
 the war began, and secret agents began to be 
 really valuable. No. Before I felt certain that 
 her presence here is entirely due to a desire to 
 visit Spanish relatives and witness the carnival, 
 I would want some evidence beyond her sim 
 ple say-so. Which, naturally, I shall try to 
 get." 
 
 " It s good progress, anyway. Mighty good 
 progress. If you should happen to be able to 
 connect this alleged Spaniard Sastanada with 
 any of the Mexicans who are mixed up with these 
 Chinks " He broke off. " I was so inter 
 ested in what you had to tell me that I almost for 
 got I had something to tell you," he said. " The 
 chief of police telephoned a few minutes before 
 you came to say he wanted to talk to me about 
 this fellow Villabosa that you and Gordon locked 
 up over at headquarters, last night. That was a 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 137 
 
 good job, too; Gordon told me about it. How 
 is your head? " 
 
 " Sore, but not troublesome, if I take pains in 
 adjusting my hat. I have been so busy to-day 
 I ve hardly had time to think about it. What 
 has happened regarding Villabosa? Is he ready 
 to talk? " 
 
 " I don t think so; the chief didn t intimate it, 
 anyway. He was a little careful about what he 
 said over the phone; he didn t mention Villa- 
 bosa s name at all; I took it for granted some 
 body was in hearing, or perhaps he didn t feel 
 sure of who might have been listening in some 
 where. He said he was coming over this way 
 and would drop in to see me. He ought to be 
 here pretty soon." 
 
 " Police chiefs don t always take that much 
 trouble for the Federal outfits." 
 
 " This one does. He sees things from our end 
 as well as the police end ; he used to be in the Fed 
 eral service himself, in the D. J." 
 
 Announced by a clerk, only a few moments 
 later, the chief came in and was introduced to 
 Napier. 
 
 " You must be the fellow who stumbled over 
 that Angel Puenta over on the West Side, night 
 before last," was his opening comment, when the 
 ceremony of shaking hands and lighting the in 
 evitable Southwestern cigarettes had been con 
 cluded. 
 
 " I was. How did you know? " 
 
 " Burlen described you. When you get 
 
138 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 through with this case you re on now, I wish 
 you d take a little vacation from your regular job 
 and find out for my department who killed that 
 Mex." 
 
 " Aren t the detectives making headway? " 
 Lamb asked. 
 
 " If they are they re in reverse gear," the chief 
 declared. " They know less about it now than 
 they did right after it happened." He grinned 
 amiably. " Right after it happened they knew 
 all about it." 
 
 " If I fall over any evidence as I fell over 
 Puenta, I ll try to help you get the murderer," 
 Napier smiled. " Did they ever find the knife? " 
 
 " Nary sign of it." 
 
 " If I had been the killer, I would have thrown 
 it away," Napier said positively. " Once he 
 started to escape through that alley, he took a 
 chance of meeting some one at the further end, 
 with no opportunity to turn back. He wouldn t 
 hide the knife in his clothes, and get them blood 
 stained, and the chances he was taking if he 
 
 carried a knife in his hand If he didn t get 
 
 rid of it, he was a fool." 
 
 " Well, nobody seems to have seen him coming 
 out of the alley," the chief said dryly. " And 
 whoever he met, after that, it wasn t a police 
 
 man." 
 
 He stooped to discard the end of his cigarette. 
 " What I came over for," he said, " was to tell 
 you that this pock-marked Mex that you ve 
 locked up over in our hotel is certainly anxious 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 130 
 
 to get word to his friends. Ever hear of Pedro 
 Flores of Eagle Pass?" 
 
 " Never," Napier replied. " Who is he? " 
 
 " Search me! He is this prisoner s one best 
 bet, I gather. This Villabosa that s his name, 
 isn t it? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " He said it was; I thought he was telling the 
 truth. The blotter, you know, says just John 
 Doe, alias. Well, this Villabosa is making a 
 good deal of a holler. He seems mighty set on 
 having somebody find out where he is so they can 
 start habeas corpus proceedings. Thus far he 
 hasn t succeeded in getting any word out, so far 
 as I know I m pretty sure of it but I m not 
 sure he can t, sooner or later. We ve got as good 
 policemen as any town but he is a good prom- 
 iser. He might find one who needed the money, 
 especially as we wouldn t ever be able, probably, 
 to find out who did it." 
 
 " Trying to bribe the officers, eh? " 
 
 " Last I heard he was up to a hundred dollars, 
 and giving indications that he would go higher. 
 So I thought I d better come over and see you. 
 Of course, I don t know whether it is vitally im 
 portant to your case that nobody shall find out 
 he is there, because I don t know what the case is, 
 but I gathered from what Gordon told the ser 
 geant that you would prefer his friends didn t get 
 to him." 
 
 " We very much prefer it. And it is impor 
 tant." 
 
140 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 " Maybe I d better tell you what happened, 
 and you can make your own decision. When I 
 came on, this morning, I saw the entry on the 
 blotter and heard about the request that he be 
 kept incommunicado, and I went down, natu 
 rally, to look him over. He went at me, hammer 
 and tongs, the minute I showed up. Demanding 
 to be arraigned, to have a lawyer, to see his 
 friends. Knows quite a lot of law, of one sort 
 and another. Mentioned the Constitution and 
 statutes of the State of Texas pretty fluently, 
 and when I came away I think he was beginning 
 to quote the Constitution of the United States. 
 He was sure anxious to get word somewhere, 
 pronto. Well, that was all there was of that. 
 About an hour ago one of the officers man 
 named Hathaway happened to have an errand 
 that took him into that part of the station." 
 
 " I know Hathaway," Lamb said. " Good 
 man, isn t he? " 
 
 " One of the best I ve got. Well, he sung out 
 to Hathaway and began to tell him his troubles. 
 Hathaway, knowing his business, went over and 
 listened. When this Villabosa thought he had 
 him sympathetic, he came across with his big 
 thought. Hathaway was to slip out and send a 
 telegram for him, and the honorarium was to be 
 fifty dollars. He raised it to seventy-five, and 
 just before Hathaway left, it went to a hundred. 
 The telegram was to go to Pedro Flores, Eagle 
 Pass, and it was merely to say where Villabosa 
 was and that he was incommunicado." 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 141 
 
 " And Flores, naturally, would start the neces 
 sary machinery moving," Napier said. " I won 
 der why he didn t name some of his local friends. 
 He has some." 
 
 " That s no riddle I know the answer of," the 
 chief said. " But he didn t mention a single 
 other person except Flores. Well, that s all 
 there is to it. Far be it from me to intimate that 
 there is any chance over in that establishment of 
 mine for a leak, but a hundred dollars is a lot of 
 money, and I can t draw a dead line and keep 
 policemen from getting within hearing of him. 
 I don t think any of them would fall for it, but 
 you ought to know how the situation lies. If the 
 important thing is that Villabosa sha n t see any 
 body, there is nothing to worry about, because if 
 any of his friends should call, we would refer 
 them to you and let it go at that. But if it is 
 vital that they sha n t even know where he is 
 well, there s a little chance, and it don t get us 
 anywhere to ignore it." 
 
 " It is important that nobody shall know where 
 he is," Napier said. " What other place is there 
 where he could be kept? " 
 
 " The county jail, I suppose, if they ve got 
 room and the sheriff is willing, and of course 
 he would be. But that wouldn t be any improve 
 ment. Human nature is the same in a county 
 jail as in a police station, and a hundred dollars 
 is just as big." 
 
 " In all this we are overlooking the most vital 
 thing. We not only need to keep his friends 
 
142 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 from getting at him, or even from learning where 
 he is, but he has got to be made to talk, if pos 
 sible. If I haven t doped our case wrong, he 
 would be able to straighten us out on a number 
 of things that we need to know badly." 
 
 " Of course, not knowing anything about the 
 case " the chief began, when Napier inter 
 rupted. 
 
 " I m going to tell you about it, and I hope you 
 won t be offended when I tell you that I have 
 held out some evidence on your department. If 
 I had met you, or known that you used to be in 
 the Federal Service, I would have gone to you 
 first thing with it, but having been in the service, 
 you know yourself how it is. Some police de 
 partments are all right, and some get jealous." 
 
 The chief admitted this with a gesture. 
 
 Napier rapidly outlined the main points of his 
 case, telling of his quest for Kalat Pasha and the 
 diamonds from the sultan s sash. He spoke of 
 a woman who smiled at him, speaking no names 
 and not mentioning that there were two, and 
 told of the messenger who came from her with a 
 summons, of the orange label that fluttered from 
 his pocket to the floor of the Bonham lobby, and 
 of the walk to the Mexican section that came to 
 an abrupt end with the killing of his guide. 
 
 " I didn t tell the officers that he spoke before 
 he died, or that he had this in his hand," Napier 
 concluded, producing the torn fragment of the 
 label. " Perhaps you won t agree with me, but 
 from my viewpoint, if a bunch of detectives ever 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 143 
 
 started asking Chinamen questions about a thing 
 like that, the case would be gummed in five min 
 utes. So I held out on you." 
 
 The chief, who had listened without interrupt 
 ing, nodded good-naturedly. " I don t blame 
 you," he said. " I would have done the same, 
 when I was in the D. J." 
 
 " Our cases really dovetail," Napier went on. 
 " If we find the diamonds, we stand a fair-to- 
 middling chance of finding out who killed 
 Puenta, and whatever credit there may be 
 for landing him will go to you people, natu 
 rally. Public credit, as you know from your 
 own experience, is a thing we fellows don t 
 seek." 
 
 " Fair enough," the chief agreed. " Thanks." 
 He reached over to the collector s box, helped 
 himself to a cigarette, and lighted it thoughtfully. 
 " Do you know," he said, " I was pretty sure, if 
 I came over here this afternoon, you would be on 
 the level and tell me about Puenta." 
 
 " Did you think we " Lamb began. 
 
 The chief nodded. " You see, I couldn t help 
 putting two and two together. Here was 
 Puenta, a dope-fiend, with some connection with 
 Chinks that are supposed to be tangled up in 
 opium smuggling; all of them are. Here was a 
 strange special agent of the Treasury Depart 
 ment in town. After what? Smugglers wouldn t 
 be a bad guess, seeing as that is what you re al 
 ways after. Puenta is over on the West Side, 
 heading toward the Chinese quarter, and gets 
 
144 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 killed. You happen to be right there and notify 
 the police. Well " 
 
 " It was good figuring and correct," Napier 
 said. 
 
 " And then, besides all that," the chief grinned, 
 "when I went down to call on Villabosa, this 
 morning, he happened to say that it was impos 
 sible he could have been mixed up in the murder 
 of Puenta, like you accused him last night, be 
 cause he was in the lobby of the Bonham all the 
 time and could prove it. So I thought I d come 
 over and find out." 
 
 " And you did, very artistically," Napier re 
 marked, and joined in the laugh. " And now 
 that you know what we know, and we know what 
 you know, what are we going to do to make Villa 
 bosa tell us something about that Chinese label 
 that was on the box that had a diamond in it? " 
 
 The chief became instantly serious. " Unless 
 I m a poor judge, he isn t ready to talk yet, and 
 he isn t going to be ready to talk for some time. 
 If he can get word to his friends and start habeas 
 corpus or something like that, he figures he won t 
 ever have to talk. It s my strong opinion that 
 you could keep him over in our place a week, and 
 still he would keep his tongue between his teeth, 
 unless there was more pressure put on him than 
 either you or I have any way to put on. I don t 
 know as you know much about these Mexicans, 
 Mr. Napier, but Mr. Lamb does. It s darned 
 hard to make them talk, especially when some 
 thing bad, like a murder, is involved. The 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 145 
 
 Rangers have the best luck with them, and they 
 don t always succeed. But if I were you, and 
 there was any good, old-time Ranger within 
 reach, I d get to him and holler for help." 
 
 " They are all mortally afraid of the Texas 
 Rangers," Lamb explained to Napier. " And 
 with good cause." 
 
 " It would have to be one of the best," the chief 
 said. " None of these young fellows that have 
 gone in lately. I don t know whether any of the 
 old-timers are in town, but " 
 
 " I saw Captain Dalton on the street only this 
 forenoon," Lamb broke in. " Didn t speak to 
 him, except to say howdy. If he isn t on some 
 important work, and if you agree that he would 
 be a good man, I could telephone Austin and ask 
 them to lend him to the government for a day or 
 two." 
 
 You do the telephoning, and I ll locate the 
 cap n and ask him to come over and see us," the 
 chief agreed with enthusiasm. " I didn t know 
 he was in town. Why, he s our one best bet in 
 the Ranger service. If there is one man more 
 than another in the State of Texas that can put 
 the fear of God into the heart of a Mexican, it s 
 Bob Dalton." 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THEY sat in the chief s office at four o clock, 
 the chief, Napier and Dalton, and the special 
 treasury agent again told his story for the 
 Ranger s benefit. 
 
 Captain Dalton smoked quietly throughout 
 the recital without displaying excessive interest 
 and did not once interrupt. He was a tall man, 
 with broad shoulders and a tapering waist, calm 
 gray eyes and a wind-burned, leathery skin. His 
 age was forty-six, and one who saw only his face 
 might have said he was ten years older than that, 
 but one who saw only his body would have been 
 more likely to guess ten years younger. 
 
 Off duty, clothed as any comfortably well-to- 
 do cattleman on a visit to town might have been 
 clothed, his movements moderate and unhurried, 
 it was not easy for Napier to fit the Ranger s ap 
 pearance into the tales the chief had told him 
 while they waited for him to come, tales that 
 explained why Dalton was distinguished for in 
 itiative, resourcefulness and courage even in an 
 organization which expects all those qualities 
 from its members as a matter of course and in the 
 day s work. 
 
 It was hard to visualize in this quiet, reserved 
 person the unhesitating dead shot and lightning 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 147 
 
 gun man that he was reputed to be. His low- 
 pitched, drawling voice did not sound as though 
 it could, in desperate emergency, bark harsh com 
 mands that would overawe a mob, as so the 
 chief said Dalton had more than once done, 
 single-handed. During the sinister Plan of San 
 Diego in 1915, when the southern half of Texas 
 was to be captured and restored to Mexico, " all 
 white Americans being killed, but no negroes," 
 as the manifesto naively proposed, Dalton had 
 had charge of the Rangers in several border 
 counties where Mexicans outnumbered Ameri 
 cans fifty to one, and the manner in which he and 
 his men had handled the situation had established 
 forever his reputation among the bandits who 
 came across the river and their swarm of friends 
 on the northern side as one who hurled swift-driv 
 ing bullets first and discussed the matter after 
 ward (if, indeed, he discussed it at all), yet was 
 neither a bully nor a murderer. 
 
 " So there is the situation," Napier concluded. 
 " Villabosa knows something about this label." 
 He indicated the orange slip lying before them 
 on the chief s desk. " He probably knows who 
 killed Puenta. I want to find out about one and 
 the chief, here, wants to know about the other." 
 
 " I told him if anybody could make a Mexican 
 admit that he wasn t entirely without sin, it was 
 you," the chief said. 
 
 " I don t know," the Ranger said. " I don t 
 know. I kain t do any impossibilities. You 
 haven t got anything anything else, I mean 
 
148 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 on this Villabosa. Don t know who his friends 
 are, or his connections, or anything." 
 
 Yes. We know he used to be tied up with a 
 crowd that was supposed to be friendly to Villa," 
 Napier said. " And we got this new name this 
 Pedro Flores, of Eagle Pass." 
 
 " I ll have somebody look Pedro up," Dalton 
 said. " It may help us get a line on this other 
 hombre. About this Villa outfit, didn t you say 
 all that was several years ago? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " There s no telling from whom a Mexican s 
 friends were some years ago what brand he s 
 wearing now. Well, maybe we better have a 
 look at him. He might be ready to say some 
 thing by now, without any unusual pressure. If 
 he isn t, I ll try to be thinking up something to 
 suggest while you are talking to him. Suppose 
 you have him in and don t mention me. We ll 
 see whether he knows me. If he doesn t, at the 
 right minute, after I have butted into the con 
 versation, say, you might mention my name and 
 see what happens." 
 
 The chief pressed a button and ordered that 
 Villabosa be brought to them. Napier leaned 
 forward to pick up the piece of orange label from 
 in front of the chief and hesitated. " I wonder 
 if it wouldn t be just as well to let that lie there 
 in plain sight while we are talking to him, and 
 not refer to it, at first," he suggested. 
 
 " It will help keep him guessing," Dalton ap 
 proved. " Pretty well over this side of the desk, 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 149 
 
 where he kain t grab it and eat it, or something 
 like that." 
 
 Villabosa was brought in and the officer who 
 escorted him, at the chief s order, went out and 
 closed the door. 
 
 " You can sit down in that chair," the chief 
 told him, indicating. He obeyed, and silence 
 followed. The eyes of the three men were upon 
 him, but they did not speak. Villabosa scowled 
 from one to the other. 
 
 "Why don t I have a lawyer?" he finally 
 cried. " Ever since last night I have been here, 
 demanding a lawyer, and you do not let me send 
 for him. I know my rights, and I ll get them, 
 too." 
 
 " You ll get them," the chief said significantly 
 and fell silent again. 
 
 " I haven t done anything except hit this man 
 by mistake, and I am willing to plead guilty to 
 that," the prisoner began, and then his eye fell on 
 the bit of bright paper with its sprawling Chinese 
 ideographs. He stopped, looked quickly about 
 the hostile triangle, and swallowed. "Why don t 
 you let me send for a lawyer? " he demanded, in 
 a much less truculent voice. 
 
 "Who knifed Angel Puenta?" the chief 
 snapped at him. " Come on. Don t tell us you 
 don t know, because you do." 
 
 Again his eyes fluttered to the fragment of 
 label. " I don t know anything about him," he 
 replied. " On my word of honor, I don t. I 
 told this man I didn t, and I told the truth." He 
 
150 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 nodded toward Napier. " You can find out at 
 the Bonham " 
 
 " Who did you get word to? Who did you 
 tell that Puenta had it in his pocket? " It was a 
 shot in the dark, but it had its effect. Villabosa 
 did not immediately answer in words, but his eyes 
 went sharply to the blotch of color on the desk. 
 " Yes, that s it," the chief followed up. " You 
 get what I mean. Who did you get word to? " 
 
 " I don t know what you mean at all. See 
 here, chief, and you too," to the others. " I m 
 not going to say another word until I get a law 
 yer. I haven t done anything, and I don t pro 
 pose to let you put up any job on me. I want to 
 notify my friends where I am." 
 
 Dalton, while Villabosa was saying this, had 
 taken a paper from his pocket and was studying 
 it, looking up every line or so to stare at Villa- 
 bosa s face. It was a printed paper and looked 
 like a police description of some wanted fugitive, 
 as, in fact, it was, the description of an Ameri 
 can youth aged eighteen who was greatly desired 
 in El Paso for the embezzlement of his em 
 ployer s funds. 
 
 " He certainly answers the description," he 
 suddenly said to the chief. 
 
 The chief smiled with satisfaction. " I thought 
 he would." 
 
 Villabosa said nothing, shifting his gaze from 
 one to the other warily. The chief, still smiling, 
 gave him a bit of casual information. This is 
 Captain Dalton, of the Rangers." 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 151 
 
 The Mexican s eyes narrowed, and Napier 
 knew that he was well aware of Dalton s reputa 
 tion. The chief had said there wasn t a bad 
 Mexican in Texas who didn t fear him mortally, 
 but he hardly looked for such speedy confirma 
 tion of it, on the mere mention of his name. 
 
 " Yes," Dalton told the chief again, folding 
 the paper and replacing it in his pocket. " It 
 shore looks like he is the man." Napier noticed 
 that he hadn t said he was the man, either time. 
 He felt certain the qualification had been for the 
 prisoner s benefit, although he couldn t see the 
 point of it. He was not familiar with the one 
 piece of Ranger tactics that may be depended 
 upon beyond all others to terrify a Mexican with 
 a guilty conscience. 
 
 " Are you demanding that we turn him over to 
 you? " the chief asked. 
 
 " Not necessarily," Dalton said. " When we 
 hear his story about this killing here in San 
 Ntonio, we ll see. Maybe, if he tells it straight, 
 I ll let you hold on to him. It s going to be a lot 
 of trouble to take him way down there by the 
 river to get him identified. Me, I d just as lives 
 not have to do it. And Ranger Hard, who would 
 have to go along with me, he s just got in town 
 here after three months border duty, and he ll 
 shore feel mean if he has to quit when he s hardly 
 got started to amusing himself he s got a girl 
 here, too to go gallyhooting down into that 
 country guarding this feller. No. Let s hear 
 what he s got to say about this case here, and 
 
152 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 maybe it ll be all right for you to hold him. 
 We ll see after he comes through." 
 
 At Dalton s opening words in reply to the 
 chief s query, Villabosa s eyes fixed themselves 
 on the Ranger s face. When Dalton spoke of 
 taking him " way down there by the river " to 
 get him identified, muscles in his cheeks twitched 
 nervously. As it appeared that two Rangers 
 would make the journey, and that at least one of 
 them would feel disgruntled at having to leave 
 San Antonio, he sat back in his chair, breathing 
 hard. When Dalton finished, he began to sput 
 ter with fluent desperation. 
 
 " You can t do it! " he cried. " You can t do 
 it ! No, chief, don t turn me over to him. Don t 
 do it, chief. I won t stand for it! " 
 
 " You ll stand for it if he demands it," the 
 chief told him coldly. " However, if you ve got 
 anything you want to say about this Angel 
 Puenta killing, and this piece of paper that you 
 saw fall out of his pocket in the Bonham, we ll 
 hear it." 
 
 " I don t know anything about it," Villabosa 
 protested. " And I don t know anything about 
 this other thing this Ranger talks about, either. 
 I haven t done anything down in any of the river 
 counties. They don t want me for anything, 
 honest, chief. He don t say I m the man; didn t 
 you notice that? He only says I look like the 
 man. He wants to get me down in one of those 
 counties, and " He stopped, panting. 
 
 " We re waiting for that story about Puenta." 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL, 153 
 
 " I tell you I don t know anything about 
 Puenta. Listen, chief! They take a man down 
 to the river, these Rangers, and maybe somebody 
 identifies him as a murderer, or something, but 
 maybe nobody does. What does the Ranger re 
 port say? What did it say when Liborio Tamez 
 started for the Rio Grande and never got there? 
 You know what it said: * Killed while attempt 
 ing to escape. The ley fuega. I won t go, 
 chief. Don t let him take me." 
 
 " Was Liborio Tamez a friend of yours? " 
 The significance of this was lost on Napier until 
 afterward, when he learned that Tamez was a 
 leader in the insane plot of 1916 to seize, burn 
 and loot a chain of South Texas cities and towns 
 as desperate a bandit as ever met a violent and 
 just reward. 
 
 " No. But everybody knows what happened 
 to him. Chief!" His voice lifted a bit hys 
 terically. " Don t turn me over to the Rangers." 
 
 "All right. We ll see. What about Pu 
 enta? " 
 
 But if he feared the Rangers, it might be 
 judged there were other things he feared as 
 much, for he persisted in denying all knowledge 
 of the little Mexican s death or of the Chinese 
 label that was in his pocket. Frightened he ob 
 viously was, but not frightened enough to con 
 fess. His nerve was clearly shaken, but it did 
 not break, and after a period of protests, appeals 
 and demands, he suddenly got a grip on himself. 
 
 " I don t know anything about Pu- 
 
154 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 enta," he declared, with emphasis on every word. 
 "And I m through. I am not going to say an 
 other thing until I get a lawyer, and if you won t 
 send for one, I ll get one somehow. This is an 
 outrage, and I won t stand for it. When I get 
 out, I ll make you pay for it, the whole of you. 
 I am not wanted by the police down on the border 
 for anything, and you know it. I warn you not 
 to send me down there. If there is anybody 
 there who thinks he can identify me, let him come 
 up here. I ll pay all his expenses, and this man " 
 jerking his head toward Napier " has money 
 enough of mine to foot the bills, and I give him 
 authority to spend it for that, now." He sat 
 back, pale but determined. " Now you can lock 
 me up again, or you can let me go, just as you 
 please, but you won t get any story out of me, be 
 cause I haven t got anything to tell or you can 
 go to the devil." He spat the words, envenomed. 
 
 The chief raised his eyebrows and looked at 
 Dalton, who had listened quite unmoved to the 
 Mexican s peroration. 
 
 "All right," the Ranger captain said. "If 
 you don t mind, I ll get hold of Ranger Hard, 
 and Senor Villabosa can get ready to start on a 
 little journey." 
 
 " Do it! " Villabosa defied him. " Do it, and 
 my friends will learn where I am and once I 
 get before a judge on a habeas corpus you ll let 
 me go quick, and you know it. Do it ! Start me 
 for the border. Somebody will see me that 
 knows me. 5 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 155 
 
 " Not in an automobile, after dark/ Captain 
 Dalton told him equably. "And they won t hear 
 you, either, because you ll be gagged." 
 
 " Take him back," the chief commanded the 
 officer who responded to his signal. 
 
 The prisoner was hardly out of the room be 
 fore his voice rang loudly through the corridor. 
 " Villabosa! " he shouted. " My name is Villa- 
 bosa. Salvador Villabosa. Are there any re 
 porters here? Print it. Salv " An abrupt 
 
 cessation of the bellow indicated that a hard and 
 heavy hand had come into action as an ex 
 tinguisher. 
 
 The chief stepped to the door and spoke to a 
 passing officer. "Are there? " he asked. 
 
 "Are there what, chief? " 
 
 "Any reporters in the building. Look quick. 
 If there are, ask them to come here right away. 
 And see if anybody else seemed to take any notice 
 of that man s yelling." 
 
 The officer was back in a moment. " Nobody 
 here at all just now except officers. Not an out 
 sider on the floor." 
 
 "All right," the chief dismissed him and turned 
 to where Dalton was rolling a fresh cigarette, 
 seemingly very much at peace with the world. 
 
 What was the matter? " he asked. " We al 
 most had him going for a minute. What changed 
 him?" 
 
 " Well," the Ranger drawled, still busy with 
 the adequate manufacture of his smoke. " For 
 one thing, he got to thinking that maybe it was 
 
156 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 all a bluff, and that if it wasn t, he would have 
 plenty of time to squeal after he was sure it 
 wasn t. For another, maybe he s as afraid of 
 somebody that would get him if he told what he 
 knows as he is of the Rangers. And, another 
 thing, he kept sizing me up and wondering if I 
 was the kind of a feller that would take a Mex 
 ican out and kill him in cold blood and guessed 
 right on the answer." 
 
 He scratched a match and inhaled deeply. 
 " But there is a lot of time to change his mind 
 as to that," he said. " Maybe, by to-morrow, 
 he ll feel different. If not, he will sooner or 
 later, or he s got more nerve than most of em. 
 When Hard and I get him out in the sticks, and 
 he realizes there ain t any chances of dodging one 
 kind of a hereafter or another we ll see." 
 
 " Where are you going to take him? " Napier 
 asked. 
 
 " Down here about a hundred miles to a little 
 farm that I happen to own, down in San Miguel 
 County. There s nobody there but one man, who 
 can be depended on, and Villabosa will suppose 
 that it is the county where somebody needs to be 
 identified for something. If necessary, I prob ly 
 will have a few folks I can trust come see him 
 from time to time and look him over speculative. 
 In the meantime we ll see what we can find out 
 about him. That name at Eagle Pass was Pedro 
 Flores, wasn t it? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " It s some common name, and I suppose there 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 157 
 
 are ten of em there, but I m betting there ain t 
 more n one that would be the kind of feller this 
 Villabosa would be trying to get word to. He 
 isn t telegraphing any common pelado. This 
 feller is prob ly some prominent among the Mex 
 population. If we kin get a line on Pedro, it 
 may give us something on Villabosa. All I need 
 to know is who his friends are on the other side 
 of the river, and I ll take my chances on being 
 able to make the information useful." He puffed 
 meditatively a moment, and added, " When you 
 know who a greaser s friends are, these days, you 
 quite frequently don t have to ask who are his 
 
 enemies." 
 
 " I ll be here to see you make your start," the 
 chief said. " What time ? " 
 
 "About nine, I guess. It will be dark then. 
 And in the meantime I m going to write a little 
 letter to Cap n Williams he s in charge of the 
 Rangers down in that Eagle Pass country just 
 now and ask him to get busy looking Flores and 
 Villabosa up. And I d suggest that you " he 
 addressed Napier " write your customs officers 
 down there, or ask Lamb to, and see what they 
 can gather along the same line." 
 
 We could telegraph, or telephone." 
 
 " I wouldn t," Dalton advised. " It s quicker, 
 but only one person knows what s in a letter un 
 less he tells it. It has to be done sometimes, but 
 mentioning names over a wire isn t the most 
 secret of indoor sports." 
 
 " I ll go over to the Federal Building and see 
 
158 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 that a letter is sent right away, and be here at 
 eight." 
 
 He pocketed the slip of paper with its Chinese 
 lettering and hurried to carry out his errand. 
 Lamb, who was still at his desk, signed the letter 
 that he dictated, and he went downstairs and 
 mailed it, after which, with nothing more to do 
 and no desire to bother the collector, who was ex 
 tremely busy, he wandered out on to the street. 
 Gordon had not telephoned or otherwise re 
 ported. 
 
 Napier looked at his watch; it was not yet five 
 o clock. It was hardly likely Madame Frezzi 
 would be at home, but he had a sudden impulse 
 to see at least what sort of a house she lived in 
 and where. He got a car and told the driver to 
 take him to 311 Chiromoya Street. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE automobile set him down, ten minutes 
 later, before a good-sized residence in the edge 
 of the Mexican quarter, and he went up the short 
 walk to the door and rang the bell. 
 
 A dark-skinned maid responded. " Madame 
 Frezzi? " he asked, and the girl looked puzzled 
 and replied in Spanish, spoken too rapidly and 
 with too much of a Mexican accent for him to 
 understand. He had an inspiration, amended 
 his inquiry to " Senora Frezzi," and gave the 
 name the Spanish pronunciation instead of the 
 Italian. 
 
 " Si seiior" the girl replied, and opened the 
 door wider for his entrance. ff Espere usted un 
 poco." She left him and disappeared up a flight 
 of stairs. He gathered that she had indicated 
 she would go to summon the senora and took a 
 seat. 
 
 It was a very old house, but in fairly good re 
 pair and seemingly well furnished, so far as he 
 could make out from his view of a broad parlor 
 that opened out of the hall. He could see com 
 fortable chairs, a piano, and too much bric-a-brac. 
 The hall where he sat was wide and led com 
 pletely through the house to the back, and a cloor 
 that was partly open at the rear framed a glimpse 
 
160 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 of what looked to be a good-sized yard, its foliage 
 glistening green in the afternoon sun. 
 
 Madame Frezzi came down almost immedi 
 ately, her hand cordially extended. 
 
 " I couldn t have dared hope you would come 
 so soon," she said. 
 
 "And I was afraid you wouldn t be here, but 
 you said always on Wednesdays and this is 
 Wednesday. The parade this afternoon didn t 
 interest me, and I suddenly determined to look 
 you up, although I realized you might be out 
 seeing it." 
 
 There is nothing picturesque in a trades 
 parade," she said. " I wouldn t be uncomfort 
 able in a crowd for it. But Mrs. Bonillas she 
 is my relative here is one who likes not to miss 
 any detail of the Fiesta. I am sorry she is not 
 at home; I would like you to meet her." 
 
 Throughout this brief interchange they had re 
 mained standing in the hall. Madame Frezzi 
 now took a step toward the parlor at the side and 
 then changed her mind. " Wouldn t it be nicer 
 to sit out in the patio? " she asked. " It is such a 
 lovely afternoon, and we can have tea out there." 
 She led the way down the hall. " It isn t really 
 a patio at all," she told him, over her shoulder. 
 " It is only a yard. But it is quite pleasant. 
 We spend a great deal of our time out here." 
 
 They passed through the door and into an en 
 closure, high walled at sides and back, that was 
 surprisingly spacious. Land in that section of 
 the city had not been especially valuable when 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 161 
 
 the house was built, and the lot was deep and 
 wide, with many shade trees, vines and creepers 
 to contrast their color with the gray stone or 
 perhaps adobe of the wall, and flowers and 
 blooming shrubs, profusely scattered, with pome 
 granates, poppies and roses already in bloom. 
 
 There were two or three little tables under the 
 trees, and she led the way to one of them, after 
 having called a command in melodious Spanish 
 to some one in the house, who replied, " Si, 
 senora" 
 
 "Delightful!" he exclaimed, as they took 
 seats. " One could never imagine, from the 
 street, that you had so pleasant a retreat back 
 here." 
 
 " The Mexicans are like the Spaniards and 
 unlike you Americans, if you won t take offense, 
 which you won t, because you are too well- 
 traveled. They do not like to live their lives in 
 public." 
 
 The dark servant came out with tea and little 
 cakes, and Madame Frezzi poured while they 
 chatted of inconsequential things, of some of 
 the people who had been present when they met 
 in Paris; of how Paris must have changed, in 
 some respects, and naturally, of how Madame 
 Frezzi liked America. 
 
 " You didn t tell me where you make your 
 home," he said. 
 
 "A little way outside New York, on Long 
 Island," she told him. " I have a little house 
 there, near enough to town to get in and out 
 
162 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 easily, and far enough away to be quiet and not 
 demand every cent of my income for rent. When 
 you are back in New York, I hope you will be 
 able to come down and see me some time." 
 
 He expressed the pleasure it would give him. 
 
 "And you? I suppose you live close to the 
 city, so as to be near your business." 
 
 " In the city," he said. "At a club." 
 
 " But your business doesn t hold you in an 
 office like most men s, I imagine. You travel a 
 great deal, naturally. What are you poor im 
 porters doing these days, when there are neither 
 ships to bring the goods nor passports for the 
 agents who go up and down the earth buving 
 them? " 
 
 He answered that business had indeed been bad 
 for lo! these several years, but, as he talked, 
 lightly describing the depleted condition of most 
 importers warerooms, he reflected on the fact 
 that twice he had met Madame Frezzi that day, 
 and each time his business had been one of the 
 earliest things to be discussed, although, at noon, 
 she had not introduced the subject. And neither 
 Italians nor Spaniards nor European ladies of 
 any other blood, concerned principally with af 
 fairs of state and politics, are prone to discuss 
 commercial matters at all. That message, Mon 
 day night, had said his business would be bene 
 fited if he would respond to it. 
 
 " Shall you remain in San Antonio after the 
 Fiesta? " he asked, " or are you here only for the 
 week?" 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 163 
 
 " Oh, I haven t just arrived," she said. " I 
 have been here more than a fortnight. I timed 
 my visit to include Fiesta Week, of course, but I 
 wouldn t have felt like making my cousin a little, 
 fly-by-night visit like that. It would have looked 
 as though I only wanted to see the carnival and 
 had made her my excuse. As to going, I haven t 
 made up my mind. It may be next week. I 
 may stay two or three weeks longer. How long 
 are you planning to be here? " 
 
 He implied in his answer that he was on a vaca 
 tion and had some thought of extending it to the 
 Pacific coast, although he might decide to spend 
 the whole outing in Texas. 
 
 " I was mighty sorry not to accept Mr. Sas- 
 tanada s invitation to take lunch with you," he 
 said, after a little. " Seems like a mighty nice 
 chap, Sastanada." 
 
 This lead might have induced her to tell him 
 something about her amiable luncheon com 
 panion, but it didn t. " It was too bad you had 
 to run away," was her reply. " Did you find 
 your friend at the St. Francis, as you hoped? " 
 
 " It was a good guess. Can you understand 
 how a hotel clerk can get a message over the tele 
 phone, making an appointment for the St. Fran 
 cis, and deliver it as being the Plaza? " 
 
 He took some more tea and spoke highly of 
 the little cakes. Then he said, idly: 
 
 " I had a notion, when I saw you in the crowd, 
 Monday night, to come back and try to find you. 
 As a matter of fact, I did start back, but the 
 
164 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 jam was too great. I had been in town three 
 days, and yours was the first face I had seen that 
 I knew. There is no place quite so lonely as a 
 crowd." 
 
 She smiled at the bromide as flatteringly as 
 though it were new. " You would have met 
 some very pleasant people if you had found us," 
 she said, " and we had a good place to see the 
 king s ceremonies. It is an interesting thing, the 
 way Americans, who insist they don t like kings 
 and queens at all, like to play at bowing down to 
 royalty." 
 
 " Some pretty conservative monarchies are 
 only playing at it, these days," he laughed. 
 " There is more than one bona fide king, I fancy, 
 who would be glad to have his throne guaranteed 
 for as long as this San Antonio s king s reign. 
 That fellow with the crown, the ermine-trimmed 
 mantle and the look of pained embarrassment 
 Monday night, is sure of his job for a whole 
 week." 
 
 She spoke kindly of George, Victor Emanuel 
 and Alfonso. " What I enjoy about these car 
 nivals," she said, " is not the processions and 
 coronations ; they aren t very thrilling to one who 
 has seen the real thing. It is the spirit of the 
 crowds. You were speaking about it at lunch 
 to-day. Were you in New York on armistice 
 night"? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " If you had been, you would never cease to 
 note the difference in these Latin crowds or, 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 165 
 
 rather, crowds in places that have a deep strain 
 of Latin blood and tradition. New York had 
 the crowd, the noise, and far more cause to be 
 merry than these people have here, this week. 
 It had everything except the carnival spirit. 
 And it was as different from this as though the 
 people came from two worlds." 
 
 Adroitly, she had succeeded in leading the con 
 versation a long way, he thought, from Monday 
 evening and his desire to see her again. 
 
 He brought it back: " I tried to find you later, 
 that night, but was unable to." 
 
 There was no emphasis to give his words sig 
 nificance, but he looked into her face as he said it, 
 alert for some expression that would show she 
 understood. " The woman who smiled," Puenta 
 had said, and Madame Frezzi could not know 
 that this, to Napier, had been cryptic. She could 
 not possibly be aware that two women had smiled 
 at him that evening. 
 
 " It was all we could do to get home, the 
 crowds were so thick," she said, and went on with 
 an account of how the automobile in which she 
 rode stalled for an incredible period at one of 
 the corners. He was disappointed. Not by the 
 slightest flicker of an eyelash had she indicated 
 that his words had any more meaning for her than 
 they purported to have. 
 
 The Mexican girl came out and spoke a few 
 words in Spanish. 
 
 " Will you excuse me a moment? " Madame 
 Frezzi asked. " I am called to the telephone." 
 
160 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 While she was gone he moved about the yard. 
 The high walls were of adobe, as he had guessed. 
 There was a shrub whose name he did not know 
 and a tree that was quite unfamiliar; he thought 
 he would ask her their names when she came out. 
 
 But when she came, he ceased to be interested 
 in shrubs and trees. Something had occurred to 
 agitate his hostess violently, and her emotion was 
 not sorrow, but anger. She was making a strong 
 effort to hold herself in hand, but her bosom was 
 heaving, her voice quivered perceptibly, and there 
 was a flash in her eye that boded no comfort for 
 the person or thing which had enraged her, if that 
 object happened to be near at hand while she 
 was still in her present mood. Not enough time 
 had elapsed for her to have participated in any 
 quarrel, either over a telephone or directly. 
 There was but one other probable answer. Some 
 one had telephoned disturbing news. 
 
 Ordinarily, as she had recently demonstrated 
 or so he believed Madame Frezzi was able to 
 dissemble cleverly. But perhaps, when she was 
 under the stress of such passion as now swayed 
 her, with her emotions near to the surface, her 
 real thoughts would not be so easily hidden. As 
 she resumed their interrupted conversation, try 
 ing to speak as lightly as before and plainly striv 
 ing both to gain mastery over herself and keep 
 him from observing her excitement, he suddenly 
 determined upon an action that until that moment 
 he had not planned at all. 
 
 "It is certainly a beautiful near- patio" he 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 167 
 
 said, " with all the atmosphere of a home in Spain 
 or Mexico. Even the romantic looking door in 
 the gray wall, where the hero can slip out, or the 
 villain in, without being seen from the front." 
 
 He opened the narrow door, took one step 
 through it and stood on the spot where Angel 
 Puenta died. 
 
 Instantly he turned, stepped back, closed the 
 door, and looked down, unsmiling, into Madame 
 Frezzi s eyes. 
 
 " Your messenger did his best to bring me here, 
 but he met with a serious accident, as you know," 
 he said. " You had better tell me about it." 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 " WHAT messenger? " she repeated. " I do 
 not understand." But her hand was at her 
 throat, and in her eyes was startled apprehension. 
 
 " We had better sit down," Napier told her. 
 She sank into her chair, and he took the seat 
 opposite. His eyes, since his question, had not 
 left her face. " He was killed at your gate. 
 Why?" 
 
 " How should I know? " she replied. "And 
 why do you call him my messenger? " Very des 
 perately she was trying to regain her usual poise, 
 but without success, and her eyes fell under his 
 grave gaze. " You mean that Mexican, of course. 
 He was no messenger of mine." 
 
 " You did not know him? " 
 
 " No," she declared, and then caught her breath 
 and bit her lip. Perhaps it would be an easy 
 thing to discover that she did. " That is I mean 
 I did not know much about him. I had seen 
 him working around here." 
 
 " He worked here? " 
 
 " Not not exactly. He came here on work 
 doing errands, or something like that." 
 
 "For whom?" 
 
 Clearly she felt she must, if possible, counter 
 this cross-examination. " How should I know?" 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 169 
 
 she asked. "And why should you ask me these 
 things? A man was murdered in the alley be 
 yond our wall. What should I know about it? " 
 
 " That is what I am asking." 
 
 " Nothing, except what I saw in the news 
 paper. Somebody found him dead. It said he 
 had been stabbed." 
 
 "And you, I suppose, were in the house." 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Then who was going to unlock this gate for 
 him? " 
 
 Again she tried to shift the questioning. " Do 
 you mean to say he was coming here? " 
 
 " He hadn t said. But he gave me your mes 
 sage. If you were here " He left the sen 
 tence significantly suspended. 
 
 "My message?" She hesitated, and Napier 
 sensed in her voice a note of indecision. There 
 was no way by which she could know whether or 
 not Puenta had given him the name of the one 
 who sent him. You say he brought you a mes 
 sage? " 
 
 Napier refused to let her become the examiner. 
 You haven t told me who was going to open 
 the gate," he insisted. 
 
 " How do I know any one was? " 
 
 " Did any one else want to see me besides 
 you? " 
 
 Her hands, on the table before her, were 
 clasped, and the ends of her nails were white with 
 their tension. She tried to smile naturally. 
 " But you still seem to be taking it for granted 
 
170 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 your message came from me, when I have told 
 you it did not. That is not very complimentary, 
 Mr. Napier." 
 
 "Where were you when I discovered his 
 body?" Napier demanded. He was surprised 
 at the real astonishment with which she cried, 
 " You ! Was it you who found him ? " 
 
 He nodded. Where were you? " he re 
 peated. 
 
 4 If it was around twelve o clock I must have 
 been " 
 
 He interrupted her impatiently. " There is 
 no use our going on this way, Madame Frezzi. 
 I propose to know. I don t want to have to go 
 to the police with this, but if you do not tell 
 me " 
 
 She broke in sharply. "Do you mean you 
 would not go to the police if you knew? " 
 
 " It would depend on what I knew. Per 
 haps." 
 
 She leaned forward, speaking rapidly, eagerly. 
 " If you were certain I had no responsibility in 
 regard to it at all if you were convinced I knew 
 nothing whatever about who did it or why it was 
 done neither I nor anybody in the house 
 would you promise not to tell the police? " She 
 seemed to feel this outburst called for explana 
 tion. " They are blockheads. They do not use 
 reason. American police and European police, 
 they are all alike. They believe everybody to be 
 guilty." 
 
 " If you were to tell me," Napier said quietly, 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 171 
 
 but without withdrawing his eyes from her face, 
 " if you were to tell me all you know about this 
 Puenta and how he was killed, and if I were abso 
 lutely convinced that neither you nor anybody in 
 this house were really concerned in it at all, and 
 that the ends of justice did not require that you 
 should be brought into it, I do not see why it 
 would be necessary to go to the police. If you 
 are satisfied with those qualifications, I promise." 
 
 " I am," she said promptly. She laughed, a 
 little shakily to be sure, but with a certain air of 
 triumph. " Isn t it unusual," she asked, " for 
 a citizen who has become so interested in a crime 
 as you have in this one to think perhaps he can 
 work it out all by himself without the help of the 
 police while he is on a holiday? " Mockery was 
 in her eyes and her voice. " You are allowing 
 yourself to get out of character, Mr. Napier, and 
 I had about made up my mind you never did. I 
 am a little surprised at you." 
 
 It was his turn to parrot words. " Out of 
 character? " 
 
 " We might as well speak frankly, because I 
 don t want you to think I would be such a fool as 
 to trust every well-mannered Oriental importer 
 that I might meet for the fourth time in my life 
 not to run straight to police headquarters, prom 
 ise or no promise. I am trusting you because I 
 am quite aware of your reputation for not con 
 fusing the innocent with the guilty and your 
 very wide experience." 
 
 He wisely remained silent. 
 
172 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 " In Paris, the first time we met/ she told 
 him, " I was given quite elaborate details as to 
 your profession and some of your major suc 
 cesses, by an American who knew." 
 
 He hoped he was concealing his inner feel 
 ings. So she had been amusing herself by her 
 questions about his business. 
 
 " You prefer not to admit any connection with 
 the government, eh? " she said, as he did not an 
 swer. " Well, I will not hold that against you. 
 It isn t done, I suppose." 
 
 She became serious again, but with her tem 
 porary shift from defense to attack (able tactics, 
 Napier admiringly admitted to himself), she had 
 gained self-control, and when she went on her 
 poise was almost normal. " I am going to tell 
 you, now, exactly what happened Monday night, 
 so far as I can. I shall show you that I really 
 know almost nothing about the murder, and then 
 I shall leave myself in your hands. You will 
 not, I am sure, forget your promise." 
 
 Napier bowed gravely, and she continued: 
 
 " I was waiting for him to come, sitting very 
 quietly, right here where I am sitting now. I 
 had told him to be here at twelve o clock, whether 
 he found you or not; I did not want to be out 
 here later than that. As he came through the 
 alley he was to whistle, very softly, four notes, 
 and then he was to knock four times on the door, 
 and I would open it. I heard his steps, and then 
 the whistle there were only the footsteps of one, 
 and I supposed he was alone." She looked in- 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 173 
 
 quiringly at Napier, and he said, " I was some 
 distance behind; he asked me not to walk with 
 him." 
 
 " Yes," she nodded. " Naturally, but I sup 
 posed you would have joined him outside the 
 alley. I did not think there was any danger of 
 his being observed after you got this far; I sup 
 posed he would wait out there in the street for 
 you to come up. When only one came, I was 
 sure he hadn t found you." She smiled a little 
 as she added, " If I had known you were the one 
 who found his body, what an idiot I would have 
 been to give you my address, this noon, and ask 
 you to call." 
 
 " I wondered about that," he admitted. 
 
 " The paper said, The body was discovered 
 by a passing pedestrian. I didn t know how 
 long afterward it was ; the paper didn t say." 
 
 He nodded understanding, and waited for her 
 to go on. 
 
 " He whistled," she said. " Four notes. And 
 I got up and went quietly to the gate, waiting 
 for the four knocks. He never gave them." 
 
 Her face reflected some of the emotions of the 
 night. 
 
 " His footsteps had not quite reached the door, 
 although they were very near he was already 
 stopping when I heard a different sound. It 
 was the movement of some one else, not loud, 
 and at the same instant a blow. Then there was 
 a groan and a fall. I shrank back by the door, 
 holding my breath. For a second or two there 
 
174 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 was no sound at all, and then came a rustling, 
 dragging noise. I think he was moving the 
 body. And then something fell in the yard, 
 right there by the pomegranate bush behind you. 
 There was another groan and more rustling but 
 only a little. Then the murderer set out toward 
 the other end of the alley. He ran at first, but 
 as he got toward the end I think he walked. Be 
 fore that I had slipped over to the pomegranate 
 bush and was groping around for what he had 
 thrown over the wall." She had difficulty in re 
 pressing a shudder. " It was a knife wet." 
 
 She paused a moment. " Wet," she repeated. 
 " On my hands, and a little on my dress, and I 
 had sent him on the errand. How would it look 
 to the police? And there was another matter. 
 No one in the house knew I was out here, and I 
 could not explain to them why I was not in bed, 
 
 as they thought. So I hid the knife, as 
 
 quickly as ever I could, and hurried into the house 
 and up to my room, and nobody saw or heard me. 
 Then I went to the bathroom and washed my 
 hands, and the stain on my dress. Nobody sus 
 pected I had been out here." She stopped. 
 "And that is all I know about it. On my word 
 of honor." 
 
 Napier, his eyes fixed on her face throughout 
 the recital, believed she had spoken the exact 
 truth. 
 
 "And the knife? "he asked. 
 There was no use trying to bury it," she said. 
 " This ground is too hard, and, anyway, there 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 175 
 
 wasn t time. So I " She moved her head, 
 
 indicating a point above him. " I hid it in this 
 tree that we are sitting under. If you were to 
 stand on a chair, as I did, you could reach it." 
 
 The tree was a chinaberry, its foliage quite 
 impenetrable to the eye. " I stood on a chair, 
 and drove the point into a crutch of the tree, be 
 tween two branches," she said. " I have not 
 seen it since." 
 
 " Then it is still there? " he queried, without 
 looking toward it. 
 
 " I suppose so. If it had been found, I would 
 surely have heard of it. People in the house said 
 the police were in the yard, later that night, with 
 flashlights, but they searched on the ground. I 
 did not hear or see them. Either I was in the 
 bathroom, getting rid of the stains, or I had gone 
 to bed. Do you wonder, with that knife to ex 
 plain, and the fact that he was coming here, that 
 I did not want my story to be juggled and 
 blundered over by the police? " 
 
 " How many people are in the house at this 
 moment?" Napier asked. 
 
 :< Unless some one has just come in, no one but 
 the servant you saw. The other one was given 
 an afternoon off to see the parade, and everybody 
 who lives here is out or was, a few moments 
 ago." 
 
 " I am going to put this chair on the other side 
 of the tree trunk and get the knife," he told her. 
 I think they cannot see from the house, even if 
 some one has come home and happens to be look- 
 
176 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 ing, but I suggest you walk about a bit with me 
 and describe some of the vegetation. That tree 
 over there, for instance. What is it? " 
 
 While she played the part he had outlined, he 
 moved about with her. They came, after a while, 
 to the chinaberry tree again. " I never saw 
 thicker foliage," he remarked, looking up into it 
 openly. "Are the branches extraordinarily 
 thick and close together, or is it entirely the 
 leaves that cause the effect?" He shifted the 
 chair, stood upon it and parted the foliage to see 
 for himself, the upper third of his body hidden 
 in the leaves. " Perfectly explainable, if any one 
 is watching, on the ground of my deep interest in 
 unfamiliar trees and shrubs," he said evenly, as 
 he stepped down and replaced the chair by the 
 table. " Now tell me about that bush over by 
 this side wall." He led the way in that direction. 
 
 " The knife? " she whispered. 
 
 " In my breast pocket. There was a rather 
 heavy thunder storm very early yesterday morn- 
 ing." 
 
 " You mean " 
 
 " It seems to be washed clean. That undoubt 
 edly means there are no finger prints left on it 
 including yours." 
 
 She sighed with relief. 
 
 You don t know how glad I am it is gone 
 from the tree. They might have decided to trim 
 the branches. Well, do you believe I have told 
 you the truth? Is it necessary for you to tell 
 anybody? You see, I really could not help the 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 177 
 
 police at all. The only aid I could have been to 
 them at any time was to give them the knife, and 
 now you have it. But they would never have be 
 lieved that I did not know more than I do. 
 Police never believe anything that doesn t prove 
 somebody guilty." 
 
 " You haven t told me what you know about 
 Puenta. How did you come to select him for a 
 messenger? " 
 
 " He came here on an errand and I spoke to 
 him as he was leaving, and offered to pay him for 
 finding you. I know very little about him ; I had 
 seen him here once or twice, that is all." 
 
 " Who had he come to see? That night, I 
 
 mean." 
 
 " I don t know. I saw him as he was coming 
 out. This is a sort of hotel, you know, and I do 
 not know everybody in it very well. I did not 
 ask him who he had come to see. I merely knew 
 he was a sort of errand boy in the neighborhood 
 here. If he could bring a message to others, per 
 haps he would take one for me. I have no doubt 
 the police know more about him than I do; they 
 wouldn t need to ask me about him at all." He 
 felt sure she had not told him all she knew about 
 Puenta, and surmised that she would not if she 
 could avoid it. She quite obviously wanted to 
 get away from the subject of the little Mexican s 
 personality and played a card (again he admired 
 her cleverness) which she had been saving for a 
 moment like this. 
 
 " When we made our little bargain," she said, 
 
178 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 " you didn t make it a condition that I shouldn t 
 tell any one who you really are, because, at that 
 minute, you didn t know I knew. Now that I 
 have told you all about it, I am going to give you 
 good measure, to prove how is it you Americans 
 say it? to prove that my heart is in the right 
 place. I am going to promise not to say who you 
 are to a soul." 
 
 " How many people know it already? " he 
 asked. 
 
 " None, so far as I know." 
 
 " You didn t happen to mention it to the 
 friends you were on the plaza with when I drove 
 by, the other night, or to Sastanada, this noon? " 
 
 " I have spoken of it to no one. Oh, I sup 
 pose it would have been the most natural thing 
 in the world, if I were a talkative, gossipy person, 
 for me to have leaned over to whoever was near 
 est to me and said, Do you see that nice-looking 
 man who bowed to me? That is Napier, of the 
 United States Treasury Department. He is a 
 great smuggler-catcher. But I didn t. I have 
 found out it is just as well not to tell all one 
 knows. A few secrets, just for oneself, are good 
 to keep." 
 
 "And that matter of not telling all one knows," 
 Napier remarked pleasantly, " brings us to the 
 subject of what it was you wanted to see me 
 about Monday night." 
 
 She hesitated. " It wasn t at all an important 
 thing," she said. " Just a thing that came into 
 my mind that I thought I would tell you. I am 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 179 
 
 very impulsive sometimes. It wasn t important 
 at all. If you don t mind, I would like to leave 
 that out." 
 
 " But I am afraid I do mind. Our bargain 
 was that you were to tell me the whole story." 
 
 " It had no bearing whatever on his death," 
 she said. She stood in thought, weighing, it 
 seemed to him, arguments for and against frank 
 ness. He believed, at one moment, that she had 
 about decided either to decline flatly or to invent 
 a plausible substitute for the truth. Then, as 
 she meditated, her eyes narrowed slightly and 
 there came into her face an expression faintly 
 reminiscent of the passion that had marred it 
 when she returned from the telephone. 
 
 " It was a sudden impulse," she said. " I 
 don t often act on impulse, but that night I 
 saw you, and remembered your work, and won 
 dered what you were doing here in San Antonio. 
 And I happened, quite by accident, to have heard 
 a whisper as to a violation of your customs laws. 
 I cannot tell you how I heard it. I mean I will 
 not tell, because that would bring friends into it, 
 who mentioned it merely in the way of gossip and 
 oughtn t to be dragged in. It was about some 
 people who are interested in smuggling opium. 
 So, just because you would like to know, and 
 and you looked friendly and reminded me of old 
 times when I saw you I thought I would get 
 you word." 
 
 Napier felt positive of two things as he 
 watched her face. One was that she was speak- 
 
180 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 ing the truth when she said she had sent for him 
 to give him the information she outlined; the 
 other was that the lame explanation she was giv 
 ing of why she was going to give it to him was 
 absolutely false. 
 
 " You can tell me now/ he said. 
 
 " I will," she decided. " But I cannot tell you 
 more than the bare fact without letting you know 
 how I came to hear it, and that would involve 
 others. So I shall not say a word further than to 
 tell you who the people are, and you will be able 
 to get the evidence easily enough, yourself. If I 
 am not mistaken, a search " 
 
 " Yes? " he encouraged her, thinking of Kalat 
 and the Chinamen at " the great house." 
 
 " The man is a retired officer of the United 
 States army. He lives at a little hotel called the 
 Edgemont, and his name is Captain Glenn." 
 
 Napier masked his surprise. " You said 
 people, " he reminded her. " Who else? " 
 
 " He has a daughter," she told him. 
 
 With this he had to be content. She would 
 not answer another question. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 BACK in his hotel room, Napier took the knife 
 out of his pocket and examined it carefully. It 
 was a nasty looking weapon, with a thin, keen 
 blade, but there was nothing especially distinctive 
 about it. A Mexican might have owned it, or a 
 Chinaman, or a Sicilian, or any other national, 
 for that matter, whose preference in weapons was 
 for edged ones. He put it away carefully and 
 went down to dinner, after which he was at police 
 headquarters in time to see Villabosa start on his 
 unwilling journey. 
 
 Captain Dalton was accompanied by Ranger 
 Hard, a young man who, twenty years hence, if 
 he survived the wear and tear of his profession so 
 long, would be of a similar type to Dalton. 
 Hard bore out, in the presence of Villabosa, the 
 mention that Dalton had made of his probable 
 dissatisfaction at being called upon to leave San 
 Antonio and a girl a condition of mind that 
 would not make him friendly toward the prisoner 
 who had forced him to make the trip but he 
 grumbled as to the errand only once, and then 
 apparently not at all for Villabosa s benefit. 
 Before the Mexican had been brought into the 
 office, however, Napier had not observed that 
 
182 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 Hard was suffering from any lowness of spirits; 
 if he had a girl in San Antonio he did not seem 
 to be in despair at leaving her ; in fact, it did not 
 seem far-fetched from his manner and comment 
 to judge that he rather fancied the work the cap 
 tain and he were about to undertake. " Don t 
 you worry," he said, in a brief burst of confidence 
 to the treasury agent, his head jerking in Dai- 
 ton s direction with his emphasized word, " He ll 
 have him eating out of our hands before he gets 
 finished. Leave em to Cap n Bob ! " 
 
 Villabosa entered the back seat of the auto 
 mobile, unostentatiously, at a rear entrance to the 
 station, and Hard sat beside him. Dalton 
 climbed in behind the wheel, spoke a cheery good 
 night to the chief and Napier, standing at the 
 curb, and let in his clutch. Napier did not see 
 the other car after it turned the near-by corner, 
 but he knew that if Villabosa were to see any of 
 his friends as they passed toward the outskirts of 
 town, he would not wave or shout to them. For 
 most excellent and binding reasons. 
 
 He had some time on his hands before keeping 
 an appointment, made the evening previous, at 
 the little grocery of Kwong Yet, and he went 
 back to the Bonham and up to his room. There, 
 well pleased with a day s work well completed, 
 Gordon came to him at ten o clock, just as he was 
 thinking of starting for the Chinese quarter. 
 
 "Another man has relieved me Carver," he 
 said, " although I doubt if he will have anything 
 to do. However, if our friend moves out of his 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 183 
 
 house for any; late calls, he ll be there to trail 
 along and see what s doing. I had a satisfactory 
 afternoon and evening. Not exciting; merely 
 satisfactory." 
 
 " No trouble keeping track of him, eh? " 
 
 " I had an uneasy time for a while, following 
 him in an automobile; that s always risky, at the 
 distance you have to keep in broad daylight. 
 But I got along all right, and he didn t get wise 
 to being followed." 
 
 "What did he do?" 
 
 " Had a mighty pleasant afternoon, if my 
 judgment is any good. I ll tell it in detail: 
 
 " First, when he came out of the Plaza, he and 
 the fine-looking woman he was with went down 
 the street a block to the entrance of a depart 
 ment store, and she went in. He walked off as if 
 he didn t have any place in particular to go; just 
 sauntered up the street, smoking. When he 
 came to Main Plaza, he drifted into the crowd 
 and listened to the ballyhoos. Watched the 
 folks around the cane boards and the other 
 games. Went into two of the shows. In other 
 words, gave a mighty correct imitation of a man 
 with nothing on his mind but a willingness to be 
 entertained by the carnival. He kept this up for 
 two hours. Once in a while he looked at his 
 watch. Plain to see he had an appointment 
 later. 
 
 "At about half -past three he hired an auto 
 mobile one of those public so-much-an-hour 
 cars on the plaza. I was lucky ; I knew the driver 
 
184 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 of another car that stood along there^ and knew 
 he could be depended on to use a reasonable de 
 gree of horse sense in following, so I hired him. 
 Our friend went to a little hotel over here on the 
 north side of town called the Edgemont. It s a 
 little family place." 
 
 " I know where it is," Napier said. 
 
 " He was gone in there twenty minutes. 
 When he came out he had a girl with him a 
 mighty pretty girl, a good deal younger than the 
 other. Her name is Glenn; I found that out 
 later. They got into the car and took a ride. 
 Went around the North Loop and when they got 
 to Brackenridge Park, on the way back, they 
 turned in there. Drove around slowly in the 
 park, looking at the scenery. Stopped, finally, 
 at the Japanese tea garden. Went in and had 
 tea. So did I. 
 
 " Mr. Kalat is a very fascinating gentleman 
 with the ladies, I should say, and he was doing 
 his best to please. Everything was fine and 
 dandy until a couple came in and passed his 
 table. Mexican couple, a man and a woman. 
 They bowed to Kalat and passed on, but he was 
 disturbed about it. It didn t appear why. 
 Perhaps because they saw him with the young 
 lady; at least, that looked plausible. Is this 
 Kalat married? " 
 
 " If he is, it isn t likely his wife is where she 
 could hear about it." 
 
 " The Mexican couple nice, high-class look 
 ing people, they were went over to a table in 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 185 
 
 the further corner from Kalat, and the woman 
 left the man after they had given their orders and 
 came over to the telephone. The phone hap 
 pened to be right near where I was sitting. I 
 don t know whether what she said has any bear 
 ing on the case or not, but as long as she men 
 tioned his name that phony name that you told 
 me this noon he was going under it is worth 
 repeating, perhaps. 
 
 " She called a number, and asked in Spanish, 
 you understand; I speak it pretty well if Senora 
 Bonillas could come to the phone. Then she 
 asked who was there. Then she said, All right. 
 Will you ask her to come, please. After a bit 
 she began to explain to somebody that she and 
 her husband had decided not to come home to 
 dinner, and would whoever it was on the other 
 end of the line tell Senora Bonillas, so she 
 wouldn t expect them. She said she didn t dare 
 trust any message to that fool of a servant. And 
 she said there was something malicious about 
 this, although she said it sweetly enough, or I 
 don t know one single thing about women she 
 said, * Who do you suppose I ran into in the 
 tea room? Senor Sastanada. And the pretti 
 est girl ! Ramon I suppose Ramon was this 
 woman s husband was so envious he would 
 hardly look at me all the time we were having 
 
 our tea. She was Why, how stupid I am ! 
 
 It never occurred to me until this minute. It 
 was the same girl he was riding with Monday 
 night, when he left her to join us just before the 
 
186 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 parade came along. You ll tell Senora Bonillas 
 not to expect us for dinner, won t you? Gracias/ 
 
 " Well, about that time Mr. Kalat and Miss 
 Glenn left, and I trailed along. They rode 
 around in the park a little more, and then 
 came into town and went to the Edgemont. 
 After a while Kalat came out, paid off the chauf 
 feur, and went back. He had dinner there, at 
 seven, with Miss Glenn and her father. I got 
 the names from a friend of mine behind the desk 
 while they were eating. After dinner he went 
 upstairs with them, to their rooms, I suppose. 
 He came down at nine-fifteen, ordered a car by 
 phone, and went home. By now, I reckon, he 
 is tucked up nice and comfy for the night. I ll 
 relieve Carver again in the morning." 
 
 " Where is this house where he is all tucked up 
 for the night? " Napier asked. 
 
 " It s a sort of cross between a hotel and a 
 high-grade boarding-house run by this Senora 
 Bonillas I heard the conversation about. In the 
 better part of the Mexican quarter. Respect 
 able enough, in a way, but the Mexicans who 
 stop there do not expect their fellow guests to 
 pry too much into their business. Just the place 
 to suit a man who did not want to answer many 
 questions. It s at 311 Chiromoya Street." 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 No one sat on the front gallery of the little 
 grocery store as Napier approached, and the one- 
 string fiddle was silent. Except for a pencil of 
 light from a closed and curtained window at the 
 rear, the building was in darkness, but the front 
 door opened instantly to his guarded tap, and 
 Kwong Yet motioned (first quickly closing and 
 securing the door) for him to pass on to the living 
 room at the back. Old Kwong Li met him 
 there with a greeting that fulfilled the require 
 ments of simple etiquette, and invited him to 
 take the seat of honor on the west side of the 
 room, but did not seem to consider it necessary 
 to go further into ceremony, a gratifying de 
 cision. 
 
 The young Chinaman filled tobacco pipes and 
 presented them to his uncle and the guest. Old 
 Kwong smoked a moment and then came to the 
 object of Napier s call with unusual directness. 
 
 " This day, since noon, I have tended the 
 grocery," he said, adding complacently, " I have 
 not forgotten how to trade profitably. While I 
 was here, Kwong Yet has been taking a holiday. 
 You will tell him, Kwong Yet." 
 
 "All the afternoon and all the evening, until 
 ten o clock, I have been at places where fan-tan 
 
188 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 is played," Yet obeyed. " I have gambled much 
 money." 
 
 " It would not be the part of a friend for me 
 not to reimburse you for the losses, seeing they 
 were made on my errand," Napier said. 
 
 There were no losses," Kwong Yet told him 
 simply. " On the contrary. So the day passed 
 until well into the evening, and I had not met any 
 man who would be valuable to me. Then I fell 
 in with one who is of the Society of the Fragrant 
 Lily, whose losses had been considerable and 
 whose head was muddled with the fumes of 
 poppy. I loaned him a little money when his 
 was gone, and afterward I went home with him 
 and smoked tobacco while he had a pipe of opium. 
 Three pills. He did not realize how much he 
 told me; I was able to make him think I already 
 knew." 
 
 The young Chinaman paused a moment and 
 went on, as evenly as before: 
 
 "If he remembers all he told me, and asks 
 those in authority whether it was right for him to 
 speak of it, I think my days draw toward their 
 end. However " 
 
 " If a man in the morning hear the right way, 
 he may die in the evening without regret/ 
 quoted old Kwong from the sayings of the 
 Master. 
 
 " However," Kwong Yet went on, after a re 
 spectful wait to make sure his uncle had finished 
 speaking, " I do not think he will remember, 
 and if he does I think he will be more afraid to 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 189 
 
 tell than not to tell. What sentence would be 
 passed on me, for knowing, would hardly be less 
 than that passed upon him for talking. No, I 
 think he will not speak of the matter." 
 
 Napier waited in patience. 
 
 "As to the great house," Kwong Yet pro 
 ceeded, " it is, as you thought, the headquarters 
 of those who deal in bitter cargoes. Ng Choy, 
 who goes here under the name of Charles Toy, is 
 the master of those who are of our people, but 
 there are said to be white men who are chief above 
 him. My drowsy-headed friend does not know 
 who they are. He does not even know whether 
 they live here in San Antonio or elsewhere. They 
 could be in Mexico, or near the border." 
 
 Again old Kwong quoted, this time from the 
 Book of Poetry: 
 
 " In hewing an axe-handle, the pattern is not 
 far off. 
 
 " I think likely that is so," his nephew agreed. 
 " So I asked what white men came to the house. 
 There are three. My friend did not know the 
 names of any of them. He might have heard 
 them, he said, but he could not be expected to re 
 member, because they are barbarous." Kwong 
 Yet inclined his head deferentially toward 
 Napier, as though to say, " You understand my 
 meaning of barbarous is merely unpronounce 
 able. 
 
 "Did he describe the white men?" Napier 
 asked. 
 
 " Somewhat. Two are Mexicans, he thinks. 
 
190 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 Of these one is round and very black of hair. 
 The other is older, somewhat gray, and has been 
 sick at some time of the demon s breath so that 
 there are marks on each side of his nose. The 
 third man who comes is an American. He is 
 tall, and thin, and old. My friend has heard that 
 he was once in the American army." 
 " Which of them seems to be chief? " 
 " The smoking one did not know. He did not 
 even know that they are concerned in the matter, 
 except that they come to the house to see Ng 
 Choy. One other thing, however, he was more 
 positive about. You asked me to learn about the 
 kind and quality of the bitter cargoes. My 
 friend is very sure they are not concerned with 
 anything but opium. If there were diamonds, 
 such as you mentioned, or other things except 
 opium, he would know, he said. He told me 
 there is a strict accounting among the members 
 for the profits large shares for the leaders; small 
 shares for the lesser ones ; but an accounting, with 
 an exact division. The opium comes to the big 
 house, but he does not know where it is kept be 
 fore it is sold. It may leave there for some 
 better hiding place very soon after its arrival. It 
 is brought by a messenger from near the Mex 
 ican border." 
 
 You mean from the other side? " 
 
 " From this side. The messenger who brings 
 
 it to San Antonio does not know how it conies 
 
 across the river, and no one but the chiefs and 
 
 the messenger himself know from whom he re- 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 191 
 
 ceives it on this side; that is a secret from the 
 ordinary members. The messenger departs from 
 here and returns, with ten or twenty or thirty 
 cans, as the case may be. It is not known that 
 those cans come across the river all at one time. 
 Perhaps they are gathered together in small lots, 
 one and two and three corning in at one time and 
 one and two and three coming in at another, until 
 there is sufficient on hand for the messenger to be 
 sent. As to this my talkative friend does not 
 know ; he says none of the lesser ones know. Just 
 at this moment, unless one has been selected 
 within a day, there is no messenger to go to the 
 border for the supply. And that brings us to 
 your matter of a Mexican who was killed. He 
 was the messenger. And he did not keep his lips 
 locked." 
 
 " How did they know? Had your opium- 
 smoking friend heard? " 
 
 " He knew when they heard, and where. Joe 
 Fong, he who is half Chinese and half Mexican, 
 spoke over the telephone at the restaurant of 
 Ng Choy. Then he came hastily and called for 
 three men who are waiters there and who belong 
 to the society. He went with them, making four, 
 and it is said there were two more from the 
 great house, perhaps. There were six ways the 
 Mexican might approach, and they spread to 
 meet him by whatever road he came. I do not 
 know which one was chosen by heaven to strike. 
 Is it of any importance? Whichever one met 
 him was a proper executioner. He had been a 
 
192 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 traitor to the tong that trusted him, so he went 
 speedily to join the departed." This, quite ob 
 viously, was to Kwong Yet s mind exactly as it 
 should be. 
 
 " It is of importance," Napier said. 
 
 " Then I will inquire into it further." The 
 promise was made courteously and sincerely ; far 
 be it from him, the young Chinaman s manner 
 said, to attempt to delve into the workings of a 
 white official s brain. Napier, with his knowl 
 edge of China and Chinese, ought to understand 
 that this execution had been quite regular, and 
 probably did, but he was bound by the laws of 
 America, which are usually unreasonable and pot 
 at all to be comprehended. 
 
 " It is of importance, also, to learn if the opium 
 is kept at the great house, qr, if not, where," 
 Napier went on. * You know, of course, that I 
 would seize it. It would not do to search a place 
 where it was not, for they would be warned." 
 
 " I will try to learn as to that, too. I regret 
 I have failed to find out all you wished. I am 
 slow and dull." 
 
 " You are rapid and alert," Napier amended, 
 making the reply that politeness required to his 
 purely rhetorical deprecation. " Yet I would 
 know a little more, and I will come again to 
 morrow night at this hour, or the night after, if 
 I may." 
 
 " Is it not your house? " protested old Kwong. 
 " Shall a man ask permission to come into his 
 own? " 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 193 
 
 " One thing more. You named three white 
 men who come to the house of Ng Choy. Did 
 he who smoked and talked speak of any white 
 women? " 
 
 " None." Kwong Yet had an opinion as to 
 this and expressed it. " Ng Choy is a wise man. 
 He would not trust such a matter as this to the 
 discretion of any woman." 
 
 " But the white men might," the older China 
 man said. And Kwong Yet, again reminded of 
 the incomprehensible ways of barbarian peoples, 
 inclined his head and replied, " I did not think 
 of that. It is true." 
 
 Napier produced the weapon that Madame 
 Frezzi had hidden in the tree and laid it on the 
 table. " There is the knife that killed the mes 
 senger," he said. " Does it tell you any story? " 
 
 Both the others examined it dispassionately. 
 " It means nothing to me," the older one said. 
 " It is certainly not of any unusual make or pat 
 tern. I have seen fifty knives near enough like 
 it to have been fashioned the same day by the 
 same hand." 
 
 " I myself have one almost like it and another 
 that does not differ except as to the thickness of 
 the blade," Kwong Yet added. " I think you 
 will not trace it to its owner." 
 
 "All the more need for you to make inquiry," 
 Napier remarked, as he wrapped the weapon 
 again and restored it to his pocket. " It is need 
 ful that I know who handled it." 
 
 " Six there were," said old Kwong Li, thought- 
 
194 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 fully. " It could have been any one of the six. 
 But I shall burn scented sticks to-night before 
 the spirits of those who sit honorably on high, to 
 the end that it shall prove to be that sneering- 
 faced, loud-mouthed son of disgraced ancestors 
 who jibed at my years and my music, and caused 
 me to lose face with my neighbors if any heard." 
 He spoke regretfully. " If one of the other five 
 did the killing I shall be sorry, although he is no 
 clansman of mine, because you will punish him 
 under your laws, and he has only done a just 
 thing. But if Joe Fong did it I shall be glad, 
 because he is an incumbrance on the flatness of 
 the earth, and it would be better if his breath and 
 his body occupied separate places." 
 
 The old man shrewdly realized whither this 
 outburst might lead in Napier s mind, and he 
 rose to his feet with hand extended. 
 
 " Notwithstanding which," he said gravely, " I 
 will strike palms with you and promise by my 
 forbears whom I honor that the name that shall 
 be given to you by Kwong Yet or by me shall be 
 the true one, whether it be the name of Joe Fong 
 or another." 
 
 Napier s palm met his, arid the younger 
 Chinaman also stretched forth his hand. "As 
 my uncle, so also do I promise," he said. Where 
 upon Napier, who for a moment had been un 
 easy in his mind regarding the value of their 
 prospective information, knew that Fong was 
 safe from the punishment of the law unless he 
 had really been the murderer. Whether he was 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 195 
 
 safe from Kwong Li and his brother s son was 
 quite another matter and one outside his respon 
 sibility or concern. 
 
 He returned to the Bonham and found a 
 long cipher telegram in his box from his chief in 
 Washington. Decoding it was a long but inter 
 esting occupation, as the information it contained 
 grew slowly under his pencil. As finally trans 
 lated, it read: 
 
 Paris has secured information you asked 
 regarding Madame Lucia Frezzi through 
 French Intelligence Department. Her na 
 tionality is not positively known, but believed 
 to be Greek, although while in France she 
 claimed Italian allegiance. Prior to the war 
 she resided principally in Paris, supposed by 
 the French to be engaged in lesser diplomatic 
 espionage work in behalf of Italy. When 
 Italy joined the allies, inquiries regarding 
 Frezzi were made at Rome which developed 
 the information (Italy having in some man 
 ner become aware of her true allegiance) 
 that she had never been in the Italian service 
 but was employed by Turkey. She was 
 probably aware of this investigation, for she 
 crossed to Spain before the French could 
 arrest her. 
 
 Madrid informs us she remained in Spain 
 a short time and then sailed for New York. 
 Passport showed Spanish nationality. She 
 has since resided in and near New York, 
 with a few visits to Washington. Has not 
 
196 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 been under espionage, of course. Regret 
 this is the limit of our information. 
 
 Have been able to get the following ad 
 ditional data concerning Captain Glenn: 
 
 From former army associates, confi 
 dential, we learn that he was requested to 
 resign from army because he had become an 
 opium addict. When under influence, he 
 associated with Chinese. There was nothing 
 against him except this habit and he was 
 allowed to quit with a clear record. From 
 Cleveland we learn he has taken treatment 
 two or three times in attempt to break the 
 habit, without permanent results, and that 
 he is believed to have gone South because of 
 supposed greater ease in procuring drug 
 near the border. 
 
 Relative to Frezzi report, it is at least in 
 teresting to remember that during all the 
 period while she was employed by Turkey at 
 Paris, the Ottoman government was con 
 trolled by the party to which Kalat belonged, 
 and that he had charge of many of its espion 
 age activities. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 DALTON S car had gone five miles or more be 
 yond the city limits when the captain looked over 
 his shoulder and addressed Ranger Hard: 
 
 " You might take that gag out now, I reckon. 
 Better leave the cuffs on; they won t give him no 
 discomfort to speak of. If, when we are going 
 through any village or passing another car, or 
 anything, he takes a notion to yawp, bend a pis 
 tol-barrel against the side of his head." 
 
 " I shore will," Hard promised grimly, as he 
 removed the impediment to Villabosa s speech. 
 His voice and manner implied that he was still 
 thinking of the girl he had been forced to leave 
 behind in San Antonio. 
 
 Villabosa did not " yawp." He sat perfectly 
 quiet in the corner of the covered car and took 
 no chances. After a time he dozed, and finally 
 he slept. All night the car drove ahead, most 
 of the time over roads that were far from being 
 state highways. The sun had risen when they 
 turned off toward a small farmhouse that stood 
 well back from the road, Dalton s little prop 
 erty in San Miguel County. 
 
 A youngish, red-haired, competent looking 
 man came out of the house and awaited the 
 stopping of the car by the gallery. He said, 
 
198 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 " Mawnin , cap n," quite as though Dalton were 
 in the habit of appearing at this hour, nodded to 
 Hard, and eyed Villabosa as the captain ordered 
 him to the ground. Dalton got out himself and 
 took off the prisoner s handcuffs. 
 
 " Gentleman I ve brought to stay with us a 
 few days maybe more an maybe less, depend 
 ing," he explained. " I reckon, if you don t 
 mind, we d all like a little breakfast. After that, 
 Hard and me need some sleep. Prob ly our 
 friend does, too. However, it wouldn t be fitten 
 for everybody to sleep all at once. You wasn t 
 doing anything that would prevent you keeping 
 an eye on him while we catch up a little, was you, 
 Jim? " 
 
 " Nothing a-tall, cap n," the farmer replied. 
 " Me, I went to bed with the little birds and got 
 up with the same, and I ain t got nothing im 
 portant on my mind to-day a-tall." He entered 
 the house and began to prepare a second break 
 fast. Villabosa chafed his wrists gently and 
 gloomed in silence. Except when addressed, 
 which had been only two or three times, he had 
 not spoken all night. 
 
 " Mr. Manning here will look out for you," 
 Dalton told him crisply, when they had eaten. 
 " You can take that cot-bed in that front room 
 there and sleep as long as you want to. If you 
 want to move around any, ask him. It won t be 
 healthy to try it otherwise. Jim, I want to talk 
 to you outside." 
 
 They were gone five minutes, while Banger 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 199 
 
 Hard smoked a cigarette and yawned mightily. 
 When they came in, Manning went through into 
 another room and came back with a pistol in its 
 holster hanging from his belt. Villabosa s lip 
 curled. 
 
 " If you think I am going to try to get away," 
 he sneered at Dal ton, " you are mistaken. No. 
 That would be playing your game. Shot while 
 trying to escape. No, thank you. If you mur 
 der me you will do it in cold blood. I shall not 
 give you the excuse." 
 
 " You re safer thataway," Dalton commented 
 dryly. He and Hard went into the back room, 
 whence, very soon, came sounds of their slumber. 
 Villabosa, stretched on the cot the captain had 
 pointed out, also slept. Only Jim Manning re 
 mained awake, sitting by the window where he 
 had the prisoner in full sight, smiling once in a 
 while to himself at the recollection of that five 
 minutes conversation he had had with Dalton, 
 no part of which had been on the subject of safely 
 guarding the Mexican. At noon he got his 
 dinner so quietly that none of the sleepers 
 wakened. Toward mid-afternoon, Dalton and 
 Hard came to life and ate. Villabosa was al 
 ready awake, but they paid little attention to 
 him. After he had been given food and tobacco 
 he returned to the cot. Manning went about his 
 farm work and Ranger Hard took his place as 
 guard. Dalton mentioned in Villabosa s hearing 
 that he didn t believe the people who wanted to 
 identify the prisoner would be over before the 
 
200 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 next day, or perhaps the day after that. He im 
 plied that he had written a letter to some sheriff 
 about it. 
 
 Something happened in the evening that Villa- 
 bosa could not understand. Manning, at supper, 
 had seemed a little sullen, and Dalton and he had 
 exchanged few words. Later, they went out 
 and stood talking near the shed that sheltered 
 agricultural implements and the automobile. 
 Villabosa could not hear what they said, but their 
 voices were slightly raised. He was quite sure 
 they were arguing, and -not in best of temper. 
 Finally Dalton, from the sound, turned toward 
 the house and Manning said something while he 
 was on his way. The captain spoke sharply in 
 reply over his shoulder, and now his words 
 reached Villabosa s ears. " You can do exactly 
 as you please about that, Jim," he said. " Stay 
 or leave ; it don t make no difference to me a-tall. 
 Think it over and let me know in the mawnin ." 
 
 Then Dalton came in and took a nap. Man 
 ning entered the house some time later and went 
 to bed without a word. Hard remained on 
 guard until midnight, when he woke Dalton, who 
 took his place. 
 
 Villabosa found it hard to get to sleep. He 
 was puzzled at their tactics. Quite clearly it was 
 not their intention to put him in jail or otherwise 
 lock him up, but they had no notion of letting 
 him out of their sight. The unusualness of this 
 procedure worried him. He was free to eat, to 
 sleep, to get up and move around (always under 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 201 
 
 somebody s eye) and to make himself as comfort 
 able as he pleased, yet he would have felt some 
 how safer behind the doors and bolts of a jail. 
 His last waking recollection was of the Ranger 
 captain sitting by the window, smoking, wide 
 awake, stern. 
 
 When he awoke in the morning he was first 
 conscious that there was no one sitting in the 
 chair by the window. Next he realized that 
 voices were coming from the room in which the 
 two Rangers slept. The walls were thin, and 
 although the voices were pitched low, he could 
 make out nearly every word. He closed his 
 eyes, against the possibility of a sudden opening 
 of the door, and listened intently. 
 
 " But I ve got to go to town; you know that," 
 Dalton was saying. " You ve just natchully got 
 to do it." 
 
 There was the sound of some one moving to 
 get out of bed and falling back again. 
 
 " Gee ! " Hard exclaimed. " My head goes 
 around like one of these flying hawse things at 
 the carnival. I kain t, cap n. I don t know 
 when I ever been so dizzy. It s my stummick, I 
 reckon. I ll prob ly be all right by and by. It 
 must be something I et." 
 
 There was a brief silence. " Well, if you 
 kain t, I s pose you kain t," Dalton said. " But 
 it shore leaves me in a fine mess, having to go to 
 town and a prisoner to watch, and Manning 
 quitting." 
 
 " Maybe, in a little while, I ll be able to get 
 
202 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 up. I d be all right now, I guess, if my head 
 didn t go around so like blazes. I can watch this 
 Mex all right." 
 
 "And have him jump you, maybe, and you 
 toppling over, if you moved quick. Not any," 
 Dalton decided. " But I ve got to go, just the 
 same. With only you and me left when Man 
 ning goes, we ve got to get another one of the 
 boys down, and I ve got to telephone for him. 
 Why the thunder couldn t Manning wait until 
 some time when I didn t absolutely have to have 
 an extra man here? " 
 
 " Maybe he had that in mind," Hard sug 
 gested. " He didn t look, when we came in yes 
 terday mawnin , like he was aimin to start some 
 thing. It come to him afterward. Held you 
 up good and plenty, did he? " 
 
 " He didn t get away with it. I told him he 
 could stay for what he is getting, or go. Well, 
 he s got to stay through to-day, till I get back 
 from town, anyway, if I have to call upon him to 
 do it in the name of the Service. He ll watch the 
 Mex and get vou what you want to eat." 
 
 " Eat ! " ejaculated Hard. " Ugh ! " 
 
 "And I ll get back as soon as I can. Ought 
 to be here by noon or a little after. Then Man 
 ning can go as soon as he likes. I didn t believe 
 Jim d act like this. Him and me are off being 
 friends for good." 
 
 Hard s voice expressed curiosity, tempered by 
 discomfort. 
 
 " Did he ugh! I moved my head like a fool 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 20a 
 
 and started it to spinning again did he get mad 
 and talk rough, cap n? " 
 
 " He didn t talk rough, not to me" Dalton said 
 grimly. " He knew better. But he was good 
 and mad, all right. I told him where he got off 
 on this man s place, and he didn t take to it." 
 
 Footsteps came around the house, and there 
 were sounds, in the kitchen, of breakfast prepara 
 tions. The voices in the next room stopped, and 
 Dalton came out and went toward the back of the 
 house. Villabosa kept his eyes closed, breathing 
 evenly. After a minute he heard voices in the 
 kitchen, short, choppy sentences from both Dal 
 ton and Manning, but could not make out any 
 words. He awoke officially, signalling the event 
 by a prodigious stretching, and got up. 
 
 Except that Manning and Dalton spoke no 
 more than was necessary during breakfast, there 
 were no visible signs of the difficulty. Ranger 
 Hard s absence from the table was not explained, 
 As soon as he had finished eating, the captain 
 went out and tinkered with his car. He drove 
 away, not long after, and Manning, after look 
 ing in on Hard and perhaps finding him asleep, 
 as they did not speak, came and sat by the win 
 dow in the room with Villabosa. He was scowl 
 ing, and once or twice the Mexican saw his lips 
 move. He was mentally reciting, apparently, 
 the things he wished he had nerve enough to say 
 to Captain Dalton. 
 
 " Can I go outside? It s hot in here," Villa 
 bosa asked, after a time. 
 
204 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 Manning nodded, and followed the Mexican, 
 who carried a chair out on the gallery and to the 
 end of it farthest from the room where Hard lay 
 and, he was quite sure, out of hearing of it. 
 Manning took along another chair and they made 
 themselves comfortable. More than a half hour 
 passed without a word. Then Villabosa, his 
 voice only loud enough to reach Manning s ears, 
 began to carry out the plan he had been formu 
 lating ever since he had been so fortunate as to 
 awake and overhear Dalton and Hard. 
 
 " Want to make twenty-five dollars? " he 
 asked. 
 
 Manning turned cold and suspicious eyes in 
 his direction and let them rove away again 
 before he replied with an uninterested monosyl 
 lable: 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Fifty? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 Villabosa shrugged his shoulders, and a shadow 
 passed over his face. " I can t bid higher," he 
 said. * What I wanted is not wrong and no 
 one in the world would ever know you did me 
 the favor." 
 
 Three minutes passed. Then : 
 
 "How?" 
 
 " Carry a little note for me to a friend." As 
 Manning did not reply, he added: " There will 
 be nothing whatever in it except word that I am 
 a prisoner. It will be up to him to do what needs 
 to be done." 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 205 
 
 " Habeas corpus, I s pose," Manning sug 
 gested. 
 
 " Yes. They did not let me get word to any 
 body that I was arrested." Villabosa sighed. " I 
 didn t suppose you would do it, but there is no 
 body else. It wouldn t please your friend Cap 
 tain Dalton, of course. It would put a crimp, 
 is it not? a crimp in his plans. It would be 
 lawful and right that somebody should know I 
 was arrested, but that would not please him. I 
 admit that. You will tell him, of course, that I 
 asked you, but that doesn t make any difference. 
 I told him I should get word to my friends some 
 how. He doesn t know for sure that I haven t 
 already done it," He paused. " Neither do I, 
 for that matter. I tried, in the police station at 
 San Antonio, and some of those messages may 
 have gone through. He won t know, when my 
 friends act, how they found out about it." 
 
 Perhaps five minutes more passed without a 
 word from either. Manning s face was expres 
 sionless, his eyes on a distant clump of live-oak 
 trees that shaded a little creek. Finally he asked: 
 
 " Who to? " 
 
 ;< No," Villabosa said, smiling slightly. " I 
 am not as simple as that." 
 
 " Where is he? San Ntonio? " 
 
 " Not as far as San Antonio, but not in this 
 county, either. I suppose you couldn t leave 
 this place to deliver it without explaining to Cap 
 tain Dalton. I had thought maybe you could 
 get a few days off on some excuse, and earn a 
 
206 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 little bit of dinero on the side. Maybe you 
 couldn t." 
 
 " How come you ve got as much as fifty dollars 
 on you? " Manning asked, after a little. " Didn t 
 they take your money away? " 
 
 " I haven t," the Mexican told him promptly. 
 " I haven t got a cent. The payment would be 
 made on the other end when you delivered the 
 message." 
 
 Proud chance ! Manning remarked. 4 Noth 
 ing doing." 
 
 Another period of silence ensued. " I have 
 money," Villabosa said. " Not much " has 
 tily " but a little. The man I want to send word 
 to is a man with money. He would pay as much 
 as fifty dollars or more on my written order. 
 You would only have to gamble enough of your 
 own money to get to him, and that would not be 
 much. I would expect to add that to the fifty 
 your expenses to get to him and get back." 
 
 Manning got up and went into the house. 
 Villabosa smiled slightly as he heard him cross 
 the front room and look in upon Ranger Hard. 
 After a moment or two he came back and hitched 
 his chair a little nearer to the Mexican before he 
 sat down. 
 
 " Then when he gets the message he tells me to 
 go take a running jump at myself," he remarked. 
 
 " I thought of that. I will give you two notes. 
 One of them tells him to pay you the sixty-five 
 dollars fifteen dollars for expenses and the 
 other tells him I am arrested. You do not give 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 207 
 
 him the second one until he has paid you the 
 sixty-five." 
 
 " The hundred," Manning corrected him. 
 " Seventy-five dollars for doing the errand and 
 twenty-five for expenses." 
 
 " He might not be willing to advance me that 
 much," Villabosa hesitated. 
 
 " If you re good for fifty with him, you re 
 prob ly good for a hundred if you make that 
 first note strong enough." 
 
 It was Villabosa s turn to sit in silence, con 
 sidering. He said, then: 
 
 " I need paper and pencil. And envelopes." 
 
 Manning went into the house and came out 
 with a pencil, a pad and one envelope. The 
 first note don t need to be in no envelope," he 
 remarked, significantly, " the one I give him 
 that tells him about the hundred. I ll want to 
 know it is written right." 
 
 " You can read it. That is, if you can read 
 Spanish. I can t write English." 
 
 " I don t read Spanish much," Manning said, 
 " but maybe I can read enough to know the sub 
 stance of what you re saying." He looked un 
 easily toward the road. " Better get busy. The 
 cap n didn t aim to get home before evenin , but 
 he might make it quicker n he thought. Or 
 Hard might come out." 
 
 Villabosa wrote hurriedly. 
 
 The first note, when it was finished, he handed 
 to Manning, who pored over it slowly. He 
 couldn t make out every word, having told the 
 
208 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 truth when he said he didn t read Spanish well, 
 but he spoke the language quite fluently, al 
 though ungrammatically, and he was able to see 
 that Villabosa had put nothing in that he had 
 agreed to leave out. He handed it back and 
 commanded: " Read it out loud." 
 
 " Very important, " Villabosa read. " * Please 
 pay to the man who gives you this letter one hun 
 dred dollars, which I agree to repay to you at the 
 first possible moment. When you have paid it, 
 he will give you another letter, which contains in 
 formation worth more than one hundred dollars 
 to both of us. Salvador Villabosa. 
 
 " You haven t put his name at the top," Man 
 ning objected. 
 
 " No. And it is better that I should not. I 
 tell you the name and the address, and when he 
 receives it, he will know." 
 
 "All right; it s you that s tryin to get loose. 
 If you don t play your cards right, it hurts you 
 worse n it does me. I think," Manning said, 
 as an afterthought, " I think I ll need to look at 
 the other letter, too. I gotta make sure there 
 isn t anything in it that gives me away." 
 
 Villabosa went to work on the second letter. 
 He looked up once to ask, " How do I describe 
 this place? I have to tell him where I am." 
 
 " Cap n Dalton s farm in San Miguel 
 County." 
 
 The Mexican finished the note and handed it 
 to Manning, who puzzled over it for some min 
 utes; plainly he was not having as easy a time 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 209 
 
 translating this one as he had had with the first. 
 " Read it," he finally said, passing it back. " I 
 guess I got it pretty well, but I d like to hear you 
 go over it in English." 
 Villabosa read: 
 
 I am an unlawful prisoner. I was ar 
 rested in San Antonio, without any charge 
 being made against me, and put in the police 
 station incommunicado. I was turned over 
 to Captain Dalton of the Texas Rangers, 
 and he brought me here to his farm in San 
 Miguel County. I am not allowed to send 
 word to friends or get a lawyer. I do not 
 know why I am arrested and am not guilty 
 of any crime. Habeas icorpus should be 
 started at once. Get a good lawyer and see 
 to it, please. 
 
 The messenger who used to serve us being 
 dead, I advise, without waiting, that you get 
 another from across the river at once. 
 
 SALVADOR VILLABOSA. 
 
 " What s that mean about a messenger? " 
 Manning asked suspiciously. 
 
 " It has nothing to do with my getting free. 
 It is a reply to a letter he wrote me, which he 
 wanted me to answer at once. I don t see how it 
 does any harm to put it in." 
 
 " Oh, I s pose not," Manning agreed. " Now 
 where do I take these? " 
 
 "To Pedro Floras, Eagle Pass. He 
 lives " Followed careful directions as to 
 
210 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 finding the house. " Almost always you will 
 find him at home. He is retired from active 
 business." 
 
 " All right." Manning took the sealed envel 
 ope with the long letter and put it carefully 
 away with the note that called for his payment. 
 " And, look here, Jiombre! If this man Flores 
 don t live up to what you say and come across 
 with that hundred, I ll put this whole business 
 
 up to Cap n Dalton I don t have to tell 
 
 him I ve been down there, you know ; all I ll need 
 to say to him is that you ve turned me over these 
 letters and that I said I d deliver em and what 
 he ll do to you will prob ly be a-plenty." 
 
 " You ll get the hundred," Villabosa said. 
 
 Manning hitched his chair farther away from 
 the prisoner, and they relapsed into silence. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 DALTON drove in at one o clock, and Manning, 
 as soon as the captain had eaten dinner, saddled 
 his horse and left the place. He and Dalton had 
 spoken briefly, while the Ranger was eating, and 
 Villabosa had not been able to hear what they 
 said. He knew, however, that Manning had 
 asked Dalton if it was all right for him to go now, 
 and that Manning had expected him to think that 
 he was asking Dalton for permission to take a 
 brief vacation. 
 
 Ranger Hard s health improved as the day 
 went on, and he was able (although Villabosa was 
 not aware of the details, because Hard ate earlier 
 than the others) to partake of some slight nour 
 ishment. Two slices of ham, four fried eggs, 
 much bread and butter and half a can of peaches, 
 to be exact. He said, when he came out of 
 the kitchen, that his " stummick " was certainly 
 better. 
 
 While Hard guarded Villabosa, a little after 
 dark, Dalton went out of the house and sauntered 
 circuitously to the clump of live oaks that shad 
 owed the creek. There, beyond a little rise which 
 would have made them invisible from the house 
 even if there had been no trees, he came upon 
 
212 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 Jim Manning, reclining comfortably on his back 
 and smoking. 
 
 " It worked," Manning informed him, without 
 preface, and handed Dalton the two notes. 
 " For Pedro Flores, Eagle Pass." 
 
 He recounted the forenoon s happenings. 
 
 " Did you read this sealed letter? " the captain 
 asked. " Does it say anything about being 
 sealed? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 Dalton slit the envelope. He switched on a 
 flashlight and ran his eye over the contents. 
 
 " I don t read Spanish much, you know," 
 Manning said, " but it seemed to me, as near as 
 I could follow it, that he translated it to me 
 pretty straight, except perhaps that last para 
 graph. I can tell you how he read that: The 
 messenger who used to work for us being dead, 
 I advise that you don t wait, but get another 
 from across the river at once. 
 
 Captain Dalton s face, in the reflected light of 
 his torch, expressed grim satisfaction. 
 
 " What it says," he remarked, reading care 
 fully, " is * The messenger who last served us is 
 dead. Without waiting for me to get another, 
 get the other across the river at once. 
 
 " Not much difference, is there? Although 
 that * another and other don t seem exactly 
 to make sense." 
 
 " The other doesn t refer to a messenger," 
 Dalton declared, positively. 
 
 " To what? " 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 213 
 
 The captain left the question unanswered. He 
 was studying the sheet of paper before him. 
 Finally, coming to a decision, he took his pocket- 
 knife and cut it across between the two para 
 graphs. Then he trimmed the lower part at 
 sides and bottom, so there was no margin at all. 
 When he had finished, there remained two sen 
 tences and a signature: 
 
 The messenger who last served us is dead. 
 Without waiting for me to get another, get 
 the other across the river at once. 
 
 SALVADOR VILLABOSA. 
 
 He handed this to Manning. "There! That s 
 a nice little letter for Mr. Flores," he said. " It ll 
 get us the kind of action we want, without caus 
 ing him to get all worked up about his friend 
 Villabosa being in the hands of the law." 
 
 " You mean I m to deliver this? " 
 
 " To Pedro Flores, at Eagle Pass. Not in too 
 much of a hurry. Not until I have a chance to 
 get down there and hang around about twenty- 
 four hours looking into things. I ve sent for an 
 other man, and Ranger McQuestion will get here 
 to-morrow rnawnin . Then I ll leave and move 
 on down to Eagle Pass. I ll be there to-morrow 
 evenin . To-morrow s Saturday. You blow in 
 about Monday mawnin , and do your little er 
 rand with Flores without paying any attention to 
 me a-tall. Stop at the hotel, and I ll find a way 
 to get word to you if there s anything I want to 
 
214 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 tell you. After you ve seen Flores, you can hunt 
 me up, when there s nobody around, and tell me 
 what happened. I ll be stopping at the hotel, 
 too." 
 
 * Wait a minute. Do my errand, you say. I 
 kain t do it the way Villabosa laid it out without 
 both letters." 
 
 " And the trimming I gave that letter costs 
 you exactly one hundred iron American dollars," 
 Dalton grinned. " You don t give him that one 
 a-tall. He d know something was wrong with 
 Villabosa in a minute, because Villabosa s got 
 plenty of money and wouldn t have to give a mes 
 senger an order for pay at the other end. No. 
 You just give him this here little short message, 
 and you tell him Villabosa wrote it small and 
 trimmed the paper so s you could carry it in the 
 sweatband of your hat and if anything happened 
 that you got searched, it d probably get over 
 looked. I don t believe it would do any harm if 
 you sort of let Flores think there are reasons why 
 getting arrested and searched wouldn t come as a 
 great surprise to you at any minute. And you 
 tell him Villabosa gave you the letter in San 
 Ntonio. He didn t explain to you when he hired 
 you why he didn t want to use the mails or the 
 telegraph or the telephone, but you got the idea 
 that the matter was too darn secret to take any 
 chances with em. And if he asks you what the 
 letter means about the messenger that is dead, 
 you tell him you don t know." 
 
 " I don t," Manning remarked invitingly. 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 215 
 
 " Then you ll be able to tell him so convincing 
 that he kain t help but believe it. All right. 
 You go out and lose yourself somewhere until 
 over Sunday, and slide into Eagle Pass Monday 
 mawnin with your note and get it into Flores 
 hands, secret, as soon after as convenient. In 
 the meantime, there s something I want you to 
 do to-night. Call William B. Lamb, of San 
 Ntonio, on the telephone. He s the collector of 
 customs there, but you ll prob ly have to get him 
 at his house. Tell him you are talking for a man 
 who went in an automobile party to San Miguel 
 County; don t mention my name unless you have 
 to, but ask him if he understands. If he doesn t, 
 you can give my name. Then you tell him I 
 want him to get word to a man named Napier to 
 catch the first train for Eagle Pass. Have him 
 tell Napier not to look me up or come near me, 
 or even recognize me if he sees me on the street, 
 unless I speak to him first, but to get in touch with 
 the customs officers there and have em keep their 
 eyes extra wide open until further notice. Re 
 member all that? " 
 
 Manning repeated most of it. 
 
 " Correct. And if you have luck, maybe 
 Napier can catch to-night s train and be there 
 when I get in. Have Lamb tell him to get the 
 first one he can, anyway. I guess that s all. I ll 
 be moving back along toward the house. Hard 
 will be wanting to eat another litle snack of vict 
 uals before I go to bed, I reckon. He spent the 
 day in fasting and prayer." 
 
216 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 The telephone message, relayed by Collector 
 Lamb, reached Napier at the Bonham after a 
 most unsatisfactory day. He had made abso 
 lutely no progress at all. His visit to the Chi 
 nese grocery had developed no new information; 
 Kwong Yet s travels had not brought him in 
 touch with any one of whom it was safe to ask 
 questions; he and Kwong Li hoped another 
 twenty- four hours would have better results; 
 meantime they accepted the situation Orientally. 
 
 Back in his room he had received Gordon s re 
 port as to the espionage of Kalat, and it had un 
 settled him. Kalat had remained at home until 
 noon, when he had taken a walk that seemed aim 
 less but brought him finally to the Chinese 
 " great house," where he remained not more than 
 ten minutes. He went, then, to the Bonham, 
 where he inquired for Villabosa. The hotel peo 
 ple, not unused to having their Mexican refugees 
 absent themselves mysteriously from the house 
 for two or three days without explanation, had 
 informed him merely that Villabosa was not in. 
 Kalat had then done much as he did the after 
 noon before, wandering about the plazas and 
 seeming to get entertainment out of the shows. 
 He had eaten a leisurely dinner at the St. Francis 
 hotel, smoked on the loggia for an hour, and then 
 walked to the Edgemont, where he sent his name 
 to Captain Glenn and was invited to come up. 
 Some time later he came down in the elevator, 
 accompanied by Miss Glenn, and they talked for 
 a few minutes alone in the little lounge off the 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 217 
 
 lobby. After this, Kalat walked to the nearest 
 car line, transferred at the most direct point, and 
 returned to his boarding place at 311 Chiromoya 
 Street, where Gordon had been relieved for the 
 night by another agent. 
 
 Kalat had been to see Ng Choy or one of Ng 
 Choy s men at the " great house." He had tried 
 to find the missing Villabosa. He had called on 
 Captain Glenn and talked confidentially with 
 Miss Glenn. 
 
 Napier had a troubled conscience. He had 
 done nothing whatever that day to have Captain 
 Glenn s movements followed. He had not men 
 tioned to Lamb or to any customs agent what 
 Madame Frezzi had told him regarding the 
 army man. He had put it off, saying to 
 himself that he would take care of that detail 
 of the investigation in person, but he had 
 not begun to do so. He would not believe that 
 Ruth Glenn was willingly involved with crimi 
 nals, yet he hadn t done a thing to prove she 
 wasn t, because he grimaced as he admitted it 
 to himself it might turn out she was. He had 
 neglected an obvious duty. 
 
 It was while he was revolving this disquieting 
 thought that Lamb called him and gave him Dai- 
 ton s message. Scarcely more than a half hour 
 remained before train time. 
 
 Notifying the hotel office that he would be out 
 of town for a day or two but wished to keep his 
 room, and ordering an automobile to be ready to 
 take him to the station, he packed for the trip. 
 
218 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 This wasn t as simple a matter as it would have 
 been for the ordinary tourist ; not only did clothes 
 and articles for use on a brief excursion have to 
 be selected and thrown into one bag, but various 
 belongings that were in his trunk, which it would 
 not do to leave, had to be taken along. He 
 worked systematically and rapidly. 
 
 He had finished, locked his trunk and suitcase, 
 and stood at the door, bag in hand, taking one 
 final look about to be sure he had forgotten noth 
 ing, when the telephone bell tinkled. 
 
 " Mr. Napier? " came in Ruth Glenn s voice. 
 
 " Yes, Miss Glenn." 
 
 " I seem to be fated always to call you late at 
 night. But you said night or day. Can you 
 
 come to see me, please? I " Her voice 
 
 shook a trifle. " It has happened, I think. Or 
 is going to." 
 
 He had promised when " it " happened, to 
 " come a-running," and she was so sure he would 
 keep his word that she was going on without 
 waiting for his answer. " I am not in my room," 
 she said, " but downstairs, in the booth. There 
 is no place here where we could be sure not to be 
 disturbed. Can you come in an automobile? 
 We can ride a little and talk. I will be waiting 
 in that little lounge room." 
 
 " I m so sorry, but I can t," Napier cried, fum 
 ing inwardly that he had to talk rapidly and 
 sharply if he would not miss the train. " I am 
 going out of town for a few days and my train 
 leaves in fifteen minutes. The car to take me to 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 219 
 
 the station is waiting right now. I m so sorry, 
 Miss Glenn, but just as soon as I get back " 
 
 " Can t you come to-night? " 
 
 " I m afraid it is absolutely impossible." 
 
 " If you can t, you can t," she said, and there 
 was a hopeless note in her voice or was it a 
 
 frightened one? "Well I mustn t make 
 
 you miss your train." 
 
 " The very minute I get back " he began, 
 
 but she said: 
 
 " That may be too late. I hope it won t. 
 Good-by." 
 
 He caught the train with seconds to spare. 
 Through half the night, while he tossed and 
 turned and tried to summon sleep, the thought 
 persisted that Kalat had talked to her, alone, not 
 an hour before she telephoned. The car wheels 
 spurning the joints of the rails clicked an inter 
 minable message, " Kalat was there! Kalat was 
 there!" 
 
 What had Kalat told her that made her believe 
 the thing she feared had happened or was about 
 to happen? And why unless the reason she 
 had given him was true was she appealing to 
 Napier? 
 
 There was another thought, an ugly one. 
 Had Kalat, friend and master of Madame 
 Frezzi, visitor to Ng Choy and searcher for 
 Villabosa, holder of confidential conversations 
 with Ruth Glenn and her father, had Kalat be 
 come aware of the official personality of Julian 
 Napier and set a trap for him with the oldest bait 
 
220 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 in the world? Had he asked her to invite him to 
 a midnight ride? Or perhaps ordered it? 
 
 He put this immediately out of his head as 
 impossible and refused to dwell upon it many 
 times. But always, as drowsiness crept over him 
 and his brain took unguided charge of its own 
 operations, the question came leaping back, and 
 with it stark wakefulness. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 ACROSS the wide, slow-sweeping Rio Grande 
 at Eagle Pass stretches an international bridge, 
 high above the coffee-colored tide, at its further 
 end a rough-paved street that leads up a hill be 
 tween adobe houses, on past the cuartel to a plaza 
 with a squat-towered church. The City of Por- 
 firio Diaz it used to be called, new-named Pieclras 
 Negras since the brief day in power of Don Pan- 
 chito Madero. 
 
 There was a time, not so many years ago, when 
 crossing this bridge did not mean much of a for 
 mality unless one had a certain reputation or 
 aroused suspicion. That was when Don Porfirio 
 administered the high, the low and the middle 
 justice in Old Mexico, and Americans were not 
 only welcome across the border, but safe. 
 
 Sundays in the hot springtime, in those days, 
 saw excursion trains running in from as far away 
 as San Antonio, hundreds of whose passengers 
 alighted at Eagle Pass and walked across this 
 bridge, to avoid the tedious train inspection of the 
 Mexican officials on the railroad viaduct. When 
 they had come into Mexico, with no more trouble 
 or inconvenience than one suffers in entering 
 Canada at Niagara Falls, they wandered through 
 narrow-sidewalked streets, swarmed over the 
 
222 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 plaza with its feverish gambling tables in the 
 shadow of the church, followed dark-skinned lit 
 tle men with roosters under their arms to the 
 cockpits, and finally, as the sun began to lower, 
 witnessed the killing of four bulls and a dozen 
 rack-o -bones horses (and sometimes of a capa- 
 dor who stubbed his toe or his judgment) in the 
 Plaza de Toros where a file of shabby convict 
 soldiers sat with their rifles between their knees 
 behind the frock-coated, silk-hatted jefe politico 
 in his seat of honor on the shady side. It was 
 safe to let crowds gather in Northern Mexico in 
 those days, and the thirty or forty shuffling, 
 hang-dog soldiers were not present at the bull 
 fight in fear of any revolutionary uprising, but 
 only to guard against the impulse that sometimes 
 seizes a Latin populace to tear the amphitheatre 
 to pieces if the bulls or the human performers do 
 not give satisfaction. 
 
 The little Mexican city is still there at the end 
 of the bridge, but those whose business calls them 
 in one direction or the other run a stricter gaunt 
 let. There are passports to be inspected, or 
 " border permits," which are issued only to per 
 sons living within ten miles of the border and 
 good only for a belt of ten miles on the other side. 
 One does not, unchallenged, pass the guard 
 houses on the bridge with a nod ; unless he has the 
 proper documents and carries nothing upon him 
 that the regulations of one country or the other 
 forbid, he does not pass at all. 
 
 The long bridge looked deserted as a horseman 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 223 
 
 clattered out upon it on Monday afternoon. 
 There were men, to be sure, in the American 
 guardhouse, a hundred yards this side of the 
 white monument that marks the place where one 
 steps from the States into Mexico, and men in 
 the Mexican guardhouse beyond the boundary, 
 and, of course, they were looking at him through 
 the windows of their little stations, but for the 
 moment they were invisible. 
 
 The rider was a man of thirty or thereabouts, 
 dressed rather elaborately in the fashion that 
 often represents a cowboy s ideal of sartorial ele 
 gance, although his outfit was not at all new. 
 His peaked hat was a little higher and a little 
 broader brimmed than common, and obviously 
 expensive. His corduroy trousers were tucked 
 into high boots that cost as much or more than the 
 hat; custom-made boots of finest leather, with 
 heels so high that walking meant discomfort, and 
 with four-inch fancy straps dangling at each side 
 of their tops. His shirt, open at the neck with 
 a loose-knotted tie, was of fancy material. 
 
 He dismounted in front of the American 
 guardhouse, hitched his horse to the rail, and 
 nodded to the inspector whose face appeared at 
 the window. " Good evenin , Mr. Burke," he 
 said easily. He caught sight of Julian Napier, 
 sitting in a corner of the little building behind the 
 inspector, saw that he was a stranger, and nodded 
 again casually to include him in the greeting. 
 
 His right hand was already at his hip, lifting 
 a six-shooter from a holster that hung inside his 
 
224 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 trousers. He handed it, butt first, to the in 
 spector. He collected a half-dozen cartridges 
 from a pocket, and turned them over. " That s 
 all," he said. The inspector came out of the 
 house and ran a practiced hand over his clothes. 
 Arms and ammunition, under the American law, 
 may not be carried into Mexico. Whether the 
 rider had anything in his pockets that the Mexi 
 cans would not want him to bring into their 
 country was a matter of concern only to the in 
 spectors at the other end of the bridge, beyond 
 the white stone monument. 
 
 "All right, Mr. Sanders," Inspector Burke 
 said. The man turned and limped to his horse. 
 It was not a very noticeable limp, merely a slight 
 stiffness of the right ankle, apparently. He 
 threw his leg over his horse, and steadied the 
 animal as it would have set off. 
 
 " Better come over with me and have a liT 
 snifter," he grinned. " This side of the river 
 gets awful dry." 
 
 " It sure does," Inspector Burke replied, not 
 taking the invitation for more than the pleas 
 antry it was intended to be. " Take two one 
 for me." 
 
 " By golly, that s a great idea! " Sanders cried. 
 " Dogged if I don t." He let his horse go, and 
 they saw him alight again at the Mexican guard 
 house and submit to search. After a bit, he went 
 his way. 
 
 He had disappeared up the hill in the direction 
 of the plaza when Captain Dalton, afoot, came 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 225 
 
 out on the bridge and entered the American 
 guardhouse. No one except the officers was in 
 within hearing; they could talk freely. 
 
 " What has he been doing, all this time? " 
 Napier asked eagerly, the moment the Captain 
 arrived. 
 
 " Nothing. Just loafing around. Looks like 
 he had been waiting for some special time to go 
 across. Manning gave Villabosa s note to old 
 man Flores at half -past eight, and Flores sent 
 for this Sanders pronto. Sanders didn t stay at 
 his house more n ten or fifteen minutes. Since 
 then he s been killing time, as near as I can make 
 out. Is he in the habit of crossing pretty often? " 
 he asked the inspector. 
 
 " Pretty nearly every day," Burke replied. 
 " He has a border permit." 
 
 "Does he usually go about this time of 
 day?" 
 
 The inspector thought. " I don t remember 
 his ever going in the morning," he said. " Yes, 
 I guess it s always at just about this time. He 
 says he goes over on business, and laughs. 
 Doesn t make any bones of the fact that mostly 
 he slips over to get a couple of drinks. If he 
 made any practice of coming back drunk he d 
 lose his permit, but he doesn t. He always has 
 a fine ripe smell of ex- American whiskey on him, 
 but I ve never seen him even pleasantly jingled." 
 
 " Do you know where he goes, over there? " 
 We make it our business to find that out, re 
 garding people who cross a good deal," Burke 
 
226 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 smiled. " He mostly goes to just one place. 
 It s a barroom. Run by a Chink named Tom 
 Sing." 
 
 " You have searched him? " 
 
 " Of course." 
 
 " Ever investigate those high heels on his 
 shoes?" 
 
 " No. We ve never had grounds to especially 
 suspect him, you know." 
 
 " We won t overlook the heels this time," Na 
 pier said. What have you found out about 
 him, captain? " 
 
 " Not much, because folks here in Eagle Pass 
 know mighty little about him. He s been here 
 about two months, without any visible means of 
 support, but with enough money in his clothes so 
 he hasn t had to hang up any debts. Says he 
 used to have some cattle in West Texas, and sold 
 em. Talks about maybe going into business 
 here, if he finds something he likes, but hasn t 
 found it yet. Principal friend, old Pedro Flores, 
 and that s against him, to start with; he isn t 
 the kind of a feller, by his looks, that chums with 
 any Mexican just to be chummy. There is talk 
 that he used to be more or less bad, out there in 
 West Texas, but, of course, I haven t had time 
 to look that up. He explained that little limp of 
 his, once, by saying he and another feller were 
 having a little argument and the feller got him in 
 the ankle. Didn t go into any details, but sort 
 of left the impression that his bullet landed 
 higher than the foot." 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 227 
 
 " He wears a gun regular," Burke said. " Al 
 ways checks it here." 
 
 " He hasn t any legal right to not in this 
 county, anyway. I inquired about that. It s 
 handy to know ; gives a reason for arresting him, 
 if you want him and there isn t any better one. 
 Let s look at his gun." 
 
 He closely examined the weapon that Burke 
 passed him. 
 
 " Don t it beat all," he commented, " how van 
 ity makes a man do that, nine times out of ten? " 
 and showed them two parallel file marks on the 
 side of the barrel. " Of course he may have 
 bought this gun from the man that put those 
 notches in, but seeing as he seems to have a repu 
 tation for being bad, the chances are at least 
 equal that he earned em himself." 
 
 He handed the pistol back to Burke. " Better 
 not let him get within reach of it until after 
 you ve searched him," he advised. "And don t 
 overlook his hawse." 
 
 Napier nodded. " It certainly looks as though 
 Flores might be sending him after the diamond, 
 doesn t it? " 
 
 " Either sending him after it, or sending orders 
 by him to somebody else to bring it in," the cap 
 tain agreed. " And if the orders were to go to 
 somebody else, why did Floras have to send a 
 messenger? He could have telephoned." 
 
 " Where is Flores? Is he being watched? " 
 
 " I didn t have a chance to tell you, when we 
 had those few words this forenoon, that I ran into 
 
228 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 Cap n Williams of the Service. He had written 
 me a letter, by the way, which, of course, I hadn t 
 got yet, containing a lot of nice, valuable infor 
 mation about our friend Villabosa. It may come 
 in handy. Well, I asked the cap n to help me 
 out, and he s over in Flores house at this minute, 
 questioning him about a cattle mix-up between 
 some Mexicans across the river and some over 
 here on this side that Flores never heard of, be 
 cause the whole thing is imaginary. The cap n 
 will stay there, though, until we get somewhere 
 or don t. If we should happen to get the goods 
 on Mr. Sanders, there won t be any clanger of 
 Flores making a get-away or doing any telephon 
 ing. And Manning is within reach, if he needs 
 him." 
 
 " It would be a nervy proceeding to try to 
 bring it in past us in broad daylight," Napier 
 said. 
 
 " This Ed Sanders looks like a nervy person. 
 I m as likely to be wrong as right, and frequently 
 more so, but I won t believe he hasn t got that 
 Turkish rock somewhere on him until you ve got 
 through searching him." 
 
 " How much is it worth? " Inspector Burke 
 asked Napier. 
 
 " Two hundred thousand dollars. Perhaps 
 
 more." 
 
 The inspector whistled. " Forty thousand 
 dollars duty! No wonder the owner can afford 
 to hire able men to slip it across for him. You 
 said there were two, didn t you? " 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 229 
 
 " Yes, but the other, unless I am mistaken, is 
 already in. That s forty thousand more we 
 didn t get. And it looks as though it came 
 through here." 
 
 Burke did not take offense. He was not on 
 duty the entire twenty-four hours, so the respon 
 sibility for the post was divided, and a competent 
 customs officer does not fool himself into thinking 
 he can never be outwitted. " If Sanders is the 
 man, it could have been in one of those heels, at 
 that," he admitted, thoughtfully. 
 
 " It didn t take him long to get his two drinks 
 this afternoon," Captain Dalton remarked. 
 " Here he comes on to the bridge. While you 
 pull your search, I ll go out and lean up against 
 the rail, like I was just a caller who didn t want 
 to get under foot." 
 
 Sanders came to the Mexican guardhouse and 
 alighted. They saw two officers come out and 
 examine his horse, and Sanders emptied all his 
 pockets to show them he was not bringing out of 
 the country any gold or an illegal amount of sil 
 ver. He remounted presently, and came canter 
 ing across the boundary. 
 
 " I took your drink, Mr. Burke, and it tasted 
 just as good as mine did," he laughed, as he slid 
 off his horse and limped toward the guardhouse. 
 " Nothing dutiable," he added perfunctorily. 
 " Let me come in and sit down a minute, will 
 you? I ve got something in my boot that s hurt 
 ing like blazes." 
 
 He came through the door, sat in the chair that 
 
230 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 Dalton had just vacated, hauled off his right 
 boot, turned it upside down, and let a forty-five 
 cartridge fall to the floor. 
 
 " That s a nice little thing to have squeezed up 
 against the side of your foot ! " he remarked. " I 
 was cleaning my pistol this noon and dropped 
 that cartridge, and it fell into the top of my boot. 
 Stay there! says I. You ll be safe, and never 
 looked for it to give me any trouble. But the 
 darned thing slipped down. Man, it felt as big 
 as a house." 
 
 " Let s have a look at that boot, while you ve 
 got it off," Burke said. 
 
 He examined it carefully, saw that the heel 
 was fastened on in the usual manner, and ran his 
 arm down inside the boot to satisfy himself there 
 was no entrance to it from the interior. Sanders 
 watched his movements with a grin. Want the 
 other one? " he asked, and stuck out his left foot. 
 " Pull it off, will you, please, suh? " 
 
 Burke accommodated and gave the second 
 boot an examination as thorough as the first, dur 
 ing which Sanders put on the other. The in 
 spector handed it back, after a moment or two, 
 and Sanders put it on also. "All right?" he 
 asked good-naturedly. 
 
 "All right so far as the boots go," the in 
 spector told him. " Stand up, please. We ll look 
 you over a little." He smiled. " Have to do 
 this to our regular customers about once in so 
 often, you know." 
 
 Sanders not only made no objection to the 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 231 
 
 search, but cheerfully assisted in it. He chatted 
 with Burke and Napier, who looked sharply on, 
 and showed no impatience at the inspector s thor 
 oughness. When they had satisfied themselves 
 that nothing so small as a one-carat diamond, 
 much less one almost as large as a pigeon s egg, 
 could possibly be concealed on his person, they 
 went outside and paid careful attention to the 
 trappings of his horse. He watched them toler 
 antly from the doorway. 
 
 Burke succeeded in showing no disappointment 
 as, after a glance at Napier which the special 
 agent answered with a nod, he told Sanders the 
 inquisition was over. " That s all," he smiled. 
 " Sorry to have to make you so much trouble, 
 after that drink you bought me and drank." 
 
 " No trouble at all," Sanders told him cor 
 dially. " It s your job. Now if you will let me 
 have my pistol, please, suh! " 
 
 Burke handed it over, together with the extra 
 cartridges, and he stowed it in the holster inside 
 his waistband. He unhitched his horse and pre 
 pared to mount, Burke and Napier both stand 
 ing outside the doorway of the guardhouse. 
 
 " Well, so long, gentlemen," he called, and put 
 his left toe to the stirrup. Something in the way 
 his other foot twisted on the ground gave Napier 
 a sudden flash of inspiration. 
 
 " Wait ! " he called. " Stop ! " And, as San 
 ders leg had already lifted lightly over the horse 
 and he was settling into the saddle, " Get down 
 again, please. We overlooked that foot." 
 
232 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 One swift look Sanders cast toward Napier 
 and Burke; they had no weapons in their hands 
 and were not reaching for any. His glance flew 
 in the direction of Eagle Pass ; the road was clear. 
 His face set into hard, determined lines; his 
 eyes narrowed; his right hand moved stealthily 
 toward the pistol on his hip. 
 
 " Leave that gun alone ! You re under ar 
 rest!" snapped Captain Dalton, from the pre 
 viously unobserved side lines. 
 
 Sanders looked at Dalton and saw that he had 
 not moved to draw a pistol. He could overawe 
 three with a waving gun as well as two. His 
 hand snapped to his revolver and his fingers 
 closed on the butt; as it came from its holster 
 Dalton drew and fired with what seemed to be 
 one uninterrupted motion, and shot him through 
 the right shoulder. Sanders reeled in the saddle, 
 his horse spun, pitched and threw him, and his 
 pistol went flying and rebounded from the plank 
 roadway. 
 
 Dazed anger substituted in his brain for or 
 dinary discretion. He staggered to his knees, 
 to his feet, and stumbled toward the pistol, his 
 right arm hanging helpless, his left hand ex 
 tended. 
 
 "Leave it alone!" warned Dalton. "Don t 
 pick up that gun! " He paid no heed. " You 
 damn fool!" the Ranger cried, almost dispas 
 sionately, and fired again. The bullet shat 
 tered Sanders left forearm. " Now if you ve 
 got any more ways of picking it up, try em, 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 233 
 
 and I ll just natchully have to let you have it 
 right" 
 
 " What quarrel is this of yours? " Sanders de 
 manded weakly. He swayed, fell over, came to 
 a sitting position and contemplated his bleeding 
 arm. Napier ran and kicked his gun away from 
 him, then took possession of it. 
 
 " Ranger Service," the captain explained 
 tersely. " You was arrested for totin a gun, 
 and you resisted. If you want to tell anybody it 
 was for anything else, that s your business. Un 
 derstand? " 
 
 The man was suffering and faint. " You shore 
 handle a pistol some quick," he mumbled, trying 
 to smile, and fell back on the boards. " You d 
 better get me to a doctor, hadn t you? I m all 
 shot to pieces." 
 
 Dalton was already busy with crude first aid. 
 " Don t worry, liombre" he said, not at all 
 angrily, almost soothingly. " You ain t bad 
 hurt. It s lucky for you I most always hit 
 where I m looking, and know I can. If I didn t, 
 I prob ly wouldn t have taken no chances, you 
 with your hand on a gun thataway. We ll have 
 you fixed up all right." 
 
 He turned to Napier and Burke, as men came 
 running along the bridge from the town. " I 
 went to take a gun off him, and he started some 
 thing," he said. "That s all we ll tell em. 
 Nothing about your being mixed into it a- tall. 
 When we get him to a doctor you come with 
 me, Napier we ll get this foot off " he tapped 
 
234 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 Sanders ankle with his knuckles " and have a 
 look. Wasn t I a darn fool not to think of it? 
 He doesn t limp hardly any." He looked down 
 at the white-faced Sanders, frank admiration in 
 his eyes. "And wasn t it a foxy stunt for him to 
 get that right boot off and on again himself, first 
 thing, so you natchully wouldn t investigate that 
 corner of him a-tall." 
 
 In a room next to the one where the wounded 
 man lay, a half hour later, Dalton and Napier 
 and one of the two doctors examined an artificial 
 lower leg. Out of its cavity, which had been 
 cleverly enlarged, Napier drew a package with a 
 bright orange label, marked in Chinese. " Please 
 note, in order that you can testify to it when 
 called upon, doctor," he said, " that this is found 
 in the leg that you yourself detached from the 
 prisoner." 
 
 " Opium, eh? " the physician commented. 
 
 " Wait a minute. If we have guessed 
 
 right " Napier pried off the top of the box 
 
 and disclosed the usual brown, gummy mass of 
 the forbidden drug. " Is there something we can 
 empty this into? " The doctor brought a flat 
 metal basin, and the others stood close as Napier 
 carefully dumped the contents of the tin into 
 it. 
 
 At the bottom of the can, quite hidden in the 
 opium, was a symmetrically shaped object 
 wrapped in oiled silk and sealed. Napier ripped 
 its covering with the point of his pocketknife, and 
 held on the palm of his hand, its facets flashing 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 235 
 
 in the afternoon sunlight, a magnificent un 
 mounted diamond. As his hand moved with his 
 breathing and perhaps with excitement the 
 jewel blazed and glittered with a cold, blue- 
 white iridescence. Even the undemonstrative 
 Captain Dalton caught his breath. 
 
 " This is seized by the Government, of course/ 
 Napier told the physician, " but for the pres 
 ent there must be no publicity. I ask you to 
 keep it as secret as you would a professional 
 matter." 
 
 The doctor nodded agreement. " How much 
 is it worth? " he asked, his voice reverent. 
 
 " That is a matter for the appraiser. I am not 
 sure which one this is, but I think, from its color, 
 that it is the one called the Gorgeous Lily." 
 
 "Are there two? " 
 
 " There were, where this came from," Napier 
 evaded, just as he had avoided naming the value. 
 " That is all, I think, doctor, if you want to get 
 back to your patient." 
 
 He rewrapped the stone, and the doctor went 
 reluctantly away. 
 
 * This man has been bringing in a can every 
 day," Napier told Dalton confidently. " When 
 the supply got large enough to make it worth 
 while, a messenger came down from San Antonio 
 and got it. There hasn t been any messenger for 
 at least eight or ten days and we don t know how 
 much longer; somewhere hereabouts there are a 
 number of tins of opium. For a best guess, 
 somewhere in or near Pedro Flores house." 
 
236 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 Dalton nodded agreement with this. " Some 
 body has to stay with this Sanders after the 
 doctors get through with him," he said, with de 
 cision, " to keep him under arrest and, more im 
 portant at this stage of the game, to see that he 
 doesn t have any visitors. You will attend to 
 that, I suppose." 
 
 "As soon as I can get a customs officer here. 
 Can you stay around until he comes? I want to 
 gather two or three of the men in a hurry and 
 get over to Flores place." 
 
 " You will find Cap n Williams still visiting 
 with him, and the cap n will keep him from 
 getting in the way while you search or out of 
 the way. If you need any extra help you ll 
 prob ly find Jim Manning waiting handy to the 
 place somewhere; I told him to stick around in 
 case Williams needed him. You don t know 
 Manning, but he s a big, red-headed young feller. 
 He will prob ly show up in sight when he sees 
 you men going into the house." 
 
 Napier, who had put the diamond in the inner 
 most pocket of his vest and pinned the pocket fast 
 above it, took up the tin and scrutinized it. He 
 got out his knife again and picked at the label. 
 The paper, stuck only at the top and bottom, 
 came away readily and disclosed another label 
 of similar appearance beneath it. To the eye 
 which sees all Chinese ideographs as a scrawl of 
 hopeless hieroglyphics, the two would have looked 
 to be the same, but the ideographs were not 
 identical at all. 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 237 
 
 " Fastened loosely," he commented to Dalton, 
 " so the outer label could be removed and the tin 
 would not look different from any of the others, 
 once it had been delivered. They could be de 
 pended upon there not to mix it with common 
 opium cans. The messenger, unless he was Chi 
 nese, would never realize that one of the tins in 
 his lot was different from the others, or, if he did 
 notice that the marks were not the same, would 
 think it merely meant a different shipper." 
 
 He got out the fragment of label that Angel 
 Puenta s dying clutch had retained, and com 
 pared them. So far as matching was pos 
 sible, they were identical. He nodded slowly. 
 " When Villabosa wrote the other one, he meant 
 exactly what you thought he meant," he said. 
 " Puenta carried the first stone to San Antonio 
 on his last trip." 
 
 He studied the ideographs on the false label. 
 
 " Can you read that stuff? " Dalton asked. 
 
 " I think so. I ll have to check it up with some 
 plates I ve got over in the hotel, but unless I am 
 
 mistaken He let a finger drop from 
 
 character to character in the left-hand column: 
 " This reads: For the Honorable Wu Tsai. 
 His finger went to the top ideograph on the right. 
 "And this says: Society of the Fragrant 
 Lily. 
 
 " What does that mean? " 
 
 " It is the address. I know the headquarters 
 of the Society of the Fragrant Lily, in San An 
 tonio, and I thought I knew the names of all the 
 
238 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 leading Chinese in it, but " His forehead 
 
 wrinkled with undisguised disappointment. " I 
 don t know who Wu Tsai is, or where he hangs 
 out. I never heard of him. He is a brand-new 
 character." 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 VILLABOSA, sitting in the front room of Dai- 
 ton s farmhouse, maintained an outward appear 
 ance of sneering calm, but his eyes glowed with 
 the malignant hatred of a cornered rattlesnake. 
 Napier, who had been doing the talking, sat back 
 with a look at Dalton that inquired whether he 
 had overlooked anything, and the Ranger nodded 
 approval. 
 
 " So there you are," Napier summed it up, 
 " We have Flores. We have his man Sanders. 
 We have sixteen five-tael cans of opium from 
 Flores house. We have the diamond. . . . 
 And we have your letter to Flores, telling him to 
 have it brought over without awaiting the arrival 
 of a messenger, because Angel Puenta is dead." 
 
 Villabosa still sat silent. 
 
 " In other words, the jig is up," Dalton added. 
 
 " If it was, you wouldn t be talking to me at 
 all," the Mexican retorted, with cunning ap 
 praisal of the situation. " You would have me 
 on my way back to San Antonio, to go before a 
 Federal court. Suppose you say the rest of it." 
 
 " Where is the other diamond? " Napier de 
 manded. " We can find it, of course, but you 
 can make it easier for us. If you do, perhaps 
 
240 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 you won t hang or go to prison for life as an 
 accessory to Puenta s murder." 
 
 " I won t do that, anyway. I had nothing to 
 do with it." 
 
 " You didn t see him drop that label on the 
 floor of the Bonham and telephone Joe Fong, 
 I suppose." 
 
 This first intimation that they knew to whom 
 he had telephoned must have come as a shock, 
 but Villabosa had had many hours to consider 
 all the possibilities of the law s demands upon 
 him in connection with Puenta s death, and he 
 replied coolly: 
 
 " I did not. I don t know what evidence you 
 think you have that makes you say I telephoned 
 to a Joe Fong or anybody else, but even if you 
 were able to prove that I did, and even if you 
 were able to prove that I told him Puenta had 
 a lost paper, that wouldn t prove that I wanted 
 him killed or that I knew he would be killed." 
 
 " You re quite a lawyer, ain t you? " Dalton 
 remarked. 
 
 " It doesn t take a lawyer to know that much," 
 Villabosa said. " I don t know who killed 
 Puenta, or anything about it." 
 
 " Where is that other diamond? " Napier asked 
 again. 
 
 " I don t know." 
 
 He did not say it sincerely, nor did he put him 
 self out particularly to make his words sound 
 sincere. 
 
 " Has it been delivered to Kalat? " 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 241 
 
 The expression of puzzled surprise that flitted 
 over Villabosa s face was not feigned. " Is that 
 a man or a place? " he asked. " I don t know 
 the name." 
 
 " Has Sastanada got it? " 
 
 This time his ignorance was counterfeited. 
 " I don t know him, either." 
 
 4 You don t think you have a chance in a mil 
 lion of ever doing any more work with this par 
 ticular gang, do you? Or of getting any share 
 of whatever the gang s profits are from handling 
 that stone for Sastanada. You see we know you 
 had it brought across. Wouldn t you be show 
 ing ordinary common sense if you got in out of 
 the rain while the getting in is good? " 
 
 " If there is another diamond anywhere," 
 Villabosa replied warily, " and if I had any idea 
 where it was, wouldn t I be showing ordinary 
 common sense if I kept my mouth shut until I 
 found out what the proposition was? You 
 haven t said anything yet to show me where I d 
 be getting in out of the rain any more by talking 
 than I would by keeping still." 
 
 * We ll listen to any proposition you want to 
 make," Napier told him. 
 
 Villabosa was prepared with it. "I don t ad 
 mit I know a thing about any other diamond, orf 
 if I did, that I have the slightest idea where it 
 is," he said. " But if I did, I should make a 
 suggestion something like this: I might be will 
 ing to tell all I knew, privately not as state s 
 evidence, in court; I d take a sentence in jail be- 
 
242 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 fore I would go that far to antagonize certain 
 people and when I had done so, and you had 
 had plenty of time to learn whether I told the 
 truth or not, I go free. I have a little money in 
 a bank in San Antonio. Let me get it. Then 
 let me get out of the country. Not to Mexico. 
 Say to Cuba or South America." 
 
 Napier shook his head. " Not a chance," he 
 replied. 
 
 " Then you can find out where that diamond 
 is by yourself and by the time you get track of 
 it they will have heard of what happened at Eagle 
 Pass, and " he waved his hand widely and con 
 cluded with a most characteristic American ex 
 pression " blooie! " 
 
 Napier turned to Dalton. " You talk to him, 
 Captain." 
 
 The Ranger fixed a stern eye on the Mexican, 
 but his first words seemed to refer only to the 
 recent exhibition of American idiom. You 
 speak English pretty fluently, don t you? Where 
 did you learn? " 
 
 " I have a moderately good education," Villa- 
 bosa shrugged. 
 
 " You must have come of a pretty good fam 
 ily. Where?" 
 
 " That is my concern. My family has nothing 
 to do with this matter." 
 
 " No," Dalton agreed. " I suppose it hasn t. 
 It was just my idea that perhaps there was a time 
 when you wasn t mixed up with a gang of crooks, 
 like you are now. I thought maybe something 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 243 
 
 might have come up that pried you loose from 
 associating with decent people. You might have 
 made a mistake, or something." 
 
 Villabosa s eyes were suspicious, but he did not 
 answer. 
 
 " Well," the Ranger went on. "As you say, 
 your family and where you came from and all 
 that is your concern. But where you go is ours. 
 Now I ve been talking your case over a little 
 with Mr. Napier, here, and with one or two 
 other people, and, as long as you ve declared so 
 strong and positive what you ll do and what you 
 won t do, I ll do a little declaring myself." 
 
 He paused a second and then went on, evenly: 
 " There s something in what you say about going 
 on the witness stand and testifying against those 
 Chinks; I don t suppose I d want to do it myself. 
 And we re prepared I m speaking for Mr. 
 Napier, of course; he s just letting me do the 
 talking at this stage of the game because I ve had 
 a little more experience with fellers of your kind 
 
 than he has and By the way, have you ever 
 
 happened to hear about any experiences any of 
 your bandit friends ever had with me? " 
 
 " I have no bandit friends," Villabosa said sul 
 lenly, but it was clear enough his recollection was 
 supplying incidents such as those to which the 
 Ranger referred. 
 
 " I merely asked that so you could remember 
 that I ve got a habit of keeping my promises. 
 Well, as I was saying, maybe you won t have to 
 testify against anybody. Maybe we can produce 
 
244 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 the evidence that convicts you and all the rest of 
 the gang for the smuggling without any of your 
 fellow crooks having to know that you gave them 
 away at all. That remains to be seen. If, after 
 you ve told us the facts, we can get away with it 
 that way, we will. Then your life will be moder 
 ately safe after you get out of the pen. So that s 
 understood. But you are going to tell us. And 
 in token of our appreciation of your doing it we 
 are going to try you for smuggling, or let the 
 San Antonio police have you, perhaps, for being 
 accessory to the murder of Puenta. That is, if 
 they want you, which perhaps they won t." 
 
 " I m likely to tell you under those circum 
 stances," Villabosa sneered. 
 
 " But if you don t tell us all you know who 
 killed Puenta, where the diamond is, who is in 
 the gang and where its headquarters is Mr. 
 Napier is going to turn you over to me, and I m 
 going to take you down to the river and push you 
 
 across." 
 
 The prisoner sensed that a threat was concealed 
 in this, but he could not see where. "And shoot 
 me while I m swimming, or something like that? " 
 
 " Oh, we re no murderers," Dalton assured 
 him. " No, I wouldn t harm a hair of your head. 
 I would just take you to the middle of the river 
 and say to whatever Mexican officer came out to 
 get you, Here s a fellow countryman of yours 
 that we don t need over here. You better take 
 him and see that he keeps out of trouble here 
 after. At Matamoras." 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 245 
 
 Somewhere in that last word Villabosa knew 
 the threat centered, but still it was meaningless to 
 him. "At Matamoras? " he repeated. 
 
 " It s the darndest thing," the Ranger went on 
 conversationally, " how a man s mistakes of judg 
 ment will come up to bother him. Take your old 
 friend Pancho Villa, for instance. Right now 
 he s getting his revolution livened up, tying up 
 to some right good men as I understand it, and 
 hoping the past will be overlooked, but most 
 folks kain t forget that two-three years ago he 
 was raising the devil in the bandit line. It was 
 back of that when you and he were friends, 
 wasn t it? " 
 
 " I never knew Villa," the Mexican said 
 shortly. 
 
 " That so? Well, one of Pancho s failings has 
 been that he guessed wrong how things were com 
 ing out, one time and another. ... I heard 
 about another Mexican that shore busted things 
 wide open for himself making a bad guess. He 
 guessed, when Pancho was going at his best, that 
 he was going to win, and there wouldn t be any 
 comeback for those that tied up to him. This fel 
 ler had been supposed to be quite decent. Had a 
 good family and a good practice I didn t men 
 tion he was a lawyer, did I? Yes, he was a 
 lawyer. Got part of his education here in the 
 States. Quite a respected citizen there in Chi 
 huahua." 
 
 Villabosa wet this lips. 
 
 " That time when Villa and his gang took the 
 
246 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 city in Chihuahua where this man lived, folks 
 there had to choose whether they d tie up to him 
 or stand by old man Carranza. The Carran- 
 zistas got out of town if they could. This 
 lawyer I m telling you about would naturally 
 have been with the Constitutionalists, I reckon, 
 if it hadn t been for a woman. Not exactly a 
 woman, either; she wasn t more n a girl, way 
 it was told to me. He d been trying to make a 
 hit with her for some time, with nothing what 
 ever doing. For one thing, he was about old 
 enough to be her grandfather. For another, she 
 was already in love with a youngster about her 
 own age. 
 
 " Well, Villa came in. Some of his dorados 
 captured a number of young women, you may 
 have heard. So many, as a matter of fact, that 
 it didn t especially interest Pancho who got some 
 of em. And right there was where this lawyer 
 Mexican made his error of judgment. He 
 thought Villa was going to continue to be the big 
 noise not only in Chihuahua but all over Mexico, 
 and he wanted the girl. So he made a trade with 
 Pancho. The lady was his price. Well, when 
 Villa got driven out, there wasn t anything for 
 this Mex lawyer to do but get out, too. He for 
 feited quite considerable property, to say nothing 
 of having no small number of Constitutionalists 
 telling what they would do to him if they ever got 
 
 a chance. Julia Did I mention that the 
 
 girl s name was Julia Trejo, a member of that old 
 Trejo family? Julia wasn t with him when he 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 247 
 
 arrived in Texas. It seems she had committed 
 suicide some time before that. Within a week 
 after Pancho turned her over to you, wasn t it? " 
 
 Villabosa did not answer. He was watching 
 Dalton s face as a captured mouse might watch 
 a leisurely cat. 
 
 " Oh, yes. I forgot to say that she had a 
 couple of brothers. The young one named 
 Roberto wasn t in Chihuahua at that time. 
 The other was trying to prevent Pancho s 
 dorados from taking his sister when one of them 
 ran a bayonet through him. You ve never met 
 up with any of the Trejo family since then, have 
 you? It will be quite an interesting reunion." 
 
 Dalton leaned over and carefully jammed out 
 the fire at the end of his nearly consumed ciga 
 rette. Then he rolled another, and all the while 
 Villabosa stared apprehensively, but said not a 
 word. " One of the Carranza officers at Mata- 
 moras," Dalton remarked casually, as though it 
 were entirely an afterthought, " is Captain 
 Roberto Trejo." 
 
 The prisoner s teeth were showing at the cor 
 ners of his lips, now, but neither in a smile nor a 
 sneer. Undisguised fear gleamed in his eyes, 
 and his voice shook as he cried, " Not to him! " 
 
 "Afraid he d take too long killing you? " Dal 
 ton asked cheerfully. " Well, I reckon you re 
 right. I happened to hear how he said he d do 
 it, and the programme was quite thorough. 
 
 However " The Ranger spread his hands 
 
 and sat back, inhaling his new cigarette content-^ 
 
248 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 edly. " It s up to you, of course. You can go 
 or stay." 
 
 Yillabosa s restraint broke, and he cursed in 
 two languages. 
 
 " I don t blame you," Dalton said sympathetic 
 ally. " I d be a little worked up if I was in your 
 place and was going to be turned over to Roberto 
 Trejo with handcuffs on." 
 
 " I am not, and you know I am not! " Villa- 
 bosa raged. " You ve got me, damn you! But 
 I don t know a thing more about that killing of 
 Puenta than I ve told you except that I did 
 telephone Joe Fong he had the label that had dis 
 appeared. I don t know who killed him. I 
 didn t ask. And that is all I can tell, because it 
 
 is all I know. But as to the diamond " 
 
 His face worked convulsively. " I hold you to 
 that promise not to turn me over to Trejo. I ll 
 tell where it is." 
 
 Fifteen minutes later Napier asked him a final 
 question : 
 
 " Does Charles Toy read Spanish or English, 
 or both?" 
 
 " He doesn t speak Spanish. I think he reads 
 English more or less; I don t know how much." 
 
 At Napier s request, Dalton got paper, pen 
 and ink. " Write what I dictate," the treasury 
 agent commanded, and Villabosa indited this 
 note: 
 
 CHARLES TOY: 
 
 My associate at the border has been ar- 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 249 
 
 rested. His messenger was shot. The 
 officers have the package that is of special 
 value. With my partner under arrest, I 
 fear they will be after me, and I am going to 
 get across into Mexico to-night. 
 
 " The idea will be, when you see your old 
 friends again, that you were caught after you 
 wrote this letter and before you could make your 
 get-away," Napier explained. "Also that this 
 note, which you are supposed to have given to a 
 Chinaman, was also seized. Perhaps the China 
 man was arrested. All right; we ll continue:" 
 
 The bearer, Charley Chew, happened to 
 be here in Eagle Pass. For value received, 
 I have transferred to him all my interest in 
 the article that is behind the door with the 
 five padlocks, and have given him my key. 
 You will settle with him the same as you 
 would with me if I could get there. 
 
 " Sign your name." Villabosa did so, and 
 Napier, as soon as the ink was dry, put the note 
 carefully away in his pocket. " Will you take 
 me to the first train for San Antonio? " he asked 
 Dalton. " I ll get you word as soon as I find 
 whether he has told the truth." 
 
 Dalton nodded agreement. " Having gone 
 this far, I d shorely like to be in with you at the 
 finish," he said regretfully, " but my job is to 
 stay with this Jiombre until we find whether he s 
 overlooked anything or not. If he hasn t, I ll 
 
250 THE CHINESE LABEL, 
 
 bring him back to San Ntonio. If he has, He 
 and I, with Hard and McQuestion to guard 
 against accidents, will be making a little trip 
 down to the mouth of the Rio Grande." 
 
 " Don t worry," Villabosa snarled. " I m not 
 going to Matamoras." 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 AGENT GORDON was waiting when Napier s 
 train, in the early evening, pulled into the palm- 
 surrounded station at San Antonio. " Mr. 
 Lamb would have come down to meet you him 
 self," he said, " but a matter came up that is 
 likely to keep him busy all the evening. So he 
 had Carver relieve me from watching Kalat 
 earlier than usual and asked me to express his 
 regrets and do the best I could to take his place. 
 If there is anything that needs his special atten 
 tion, we can get hold of him, and he can break 
 loose. I ve got my own little car here." 
 
 When they were seated in it and on their way 
 to the Bonham, Napier briefly put Gordon in 
 touch with such developments of the case as were 
 subsequent to the Eagle Pass incidents. Then 
 he asked, " What has Kalat been doing? " 
 
 " Nothing exciting. Wandering around like 
 a lost soul, principally. He has been to the 
 Chinese house every day, and he called at the 
 Bonham once to ask for Villabosa, and since then 
 has telephoned five or six times; I suppose he 
 doesn t want the hotel people to get too familiar 
 with his looks. And, two evenings, he has called 
 on the Glenns at the Edgemont." 
 
 " Nothing has happened to the Glenns? " 
 
252 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 Gordon looked surprised. " Happened to the 
 Glemis? Not that I know of. The most inter 
 esting thing I have observed in keeping track of 
 Kalat is that somebody else is doing it, too. 
 There is another man following him a good deal 
 of the time especially after dark. A stranger 
 to me. A Mexican. Perhaps his own gang has 
 him under observation." 
 
 " It sounds plausible enough," Napier agreed. 
 " Everybody in the gang seems to be double- 
 crossing about everybody else. The common 
 members of the Chinese society don t know that 
 anything is being smuggled except opium. The 
 big Chinks distrust their Mexican friends so 
 much that they don t let them know exactly where 
 they keep the dope, although it is probably some 
 where in the big house, seeing that the diamond is 
 there or was, the last Villabosa knew. The 
 Mexicans are so suspicious of the Chinese that 
 they won t even trust them to keep the jewel in 
 a combination safe. And Kalat seems to have 
 done the most artistic double-crossing of all. He 
 has them believing that the two diamonds he is 
 bringing in are worth about forty thousand 
 apiece, which would make the total duty sixteen 
 thousand dollars. They think he is paying them 
 half the regular duty when he agrees to give them 
 eight thousand for the whole job." 
 
 " Honor among thieves, " quoted Gordon. 
 " Not." 
 
 They came in sight of the Bonham. " What 
 is the programme? " the local agent asked. 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 253 
 
 " I m not sure as to all the details yet," Napier 
 told him. " First, if you will, I wish you would 
 go to your office and get that padlock key that 
 Villabosa made such a fuss about when we 
 wouldn t let him keep it. A little later, I ll prob 
 ably want you to get some men s clothing store 
 friend to open up long enough to let me buy 
 quite a lot of stuff I shall need and there are 
 things I ll want to get at a drug store, also. I 
 think we could get the diamond without anything 
 more complicated than an ordinary raid, but that 
 wouldn t get the men that are involved, or pro 
 duce the evidence to convict them. We have to 
 catch them all together and with their keys in 
 their pockets. And that means I have been 
 trying to think of some other way, and there isn t 
 any that I ve got to do an absolutely fool thing. 
 For the third time in my life." 
 
 " Remarkable record," Gordon grinned. 
 
 " The third time I ve done this one particular 
 fool thing," Napier amended, smiling with him. 
 " It worked the other two times, which makes the 
 odds all the bigger against its working again. 
 However It couldn t be done in the day 
 time, of course, but perhaps I can get away with 
 it by artificial light." 
 
 " The details sound feasible," Gordon agreed 
 dryly. 
 
 You won t think so when you see me with 
 my hair coarsened up with that sticky stuff from 
 the drug store, and an artistic and quite hopeless 
 attempt to make my eyes look as if they were 
 
254 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 almond-shaped. You will think it is crazy, wild, 
 foolish Old Sleuth stuff, which we know isn t 
 really done." 
 
 Gordon was plainly surprised. " Letting your 
 whiskers grow and dressing like a bum and 
 griming up with dirt, I guess we ve all done 
 that at one time or another," he said, " but I ve 
 always supposed no American or European could 
 act or talk like a Chinaman well enough to fool 
 a real one. And you ve got away with it twice, 
 you say? " 
 
 " Not as a regular Chinaman. I don t believe 
 that could be done, by any one except Nick 
 Carter, and if it could, I certainly don t talk the 
 language well enough to do it. But an Amer 
 ican-born, half-breed Chinaman, educated in the 
 San Francisco schools and who has never been to 
 China, is a little different. Making breaks with 
 the language is discounted in that case, and that 
 leaves the success of the experiment largely de 
 pendent on looks and manners. And the office 
 corner there in Charles Toy s restaurant isn t 
 very brightly lighted." 
 
 He grimaced. " But I don t like the idea. It 
 is bound to fail if I meet anybody who ever saw 
 me before, which means Kalat, for one. And it 
 is not only a ticklish job to get away with, but 
 I ll feel like an imitation of a dime-novel cle- 
 teckertif from the minute I begin it until I get 
 it finished, if I have that much luck. Yet it is 
 the only way I can see to get them all together, 
 and if it fails we aren t any worse off as regards 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 255 
 
 making a quick raid for the diamond. Come 
 back as soon as you get the key, will you, and 
 come right up? I ll know by then what I m go 
 ing to do and when I m going to do it." 
 
 The moment he was in his room he called the 
 Edgemont. 
 
 " Miss Glenn? " he asked, when her voice came 
 over the wire. " I ve just got back to town. 
 I hope it isn t too late." 
 
 " No," she said, and even in the monosyllable 
 was such a note of relief and pleasure that he 
 beamed fatuously at the transmitter. :< Where 
 are you? " 
 
 " In my room at the Bonham." 
 
 Will you please hang up and wait a few min 
 utes? I ll call you." 
 
 The bell jangled before he had fairly begun 
 to unpack his bag. 
 
 " I am downstairs at the booth," she said. " I 
 didn t want to talk from the room. I was afraid 
 of disturbing my father. He is lying 
 down." 
 
 " I must have seemed terribly curt, the other 
 night, but trains won t wait, and my trip couldn t 
 possibly be postponed. I can t tell you how 
 sorry I was that I couldn t come." 
 
 " It s all right. I knew you were from your 
 voice. And now will do just as well." 
 
 " Shall I come this evening? Say, in half an 
 hour or so? " 
 
 Miss Glenn hesitated. " I couldn t see you 
 here. Could we ride a little way? We couldn t 
 
256 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 be gone long; I have to get back to father; he 
 isn t very well." 
 
 " I ll be there with a car at half -past eight, if 
 that is agreeable." 
 
 " I ll be ready." 
 
 Gordon came in while he was hastily getting 
 into clean linen. 
 
 " Can I borrow your car? " Napier asked him 
 abruptly. " I have an errand that would call 
 for a deaf and dumb chauffeur, and I don t know 
 any. I won t be gone an hour, probably. It s 
 a nervy thing to ask, but " 
 
 " No nerve at all. You can t do anything 
 to that car that I haven t. Sure you can have 
 it." 
 
 "And while I m gone you had better round up 
 some of our fellows, as many as you can get, and 
 have them ready for a sudden call. Better have 
 one of them go over and keep an eye on the 
 Chinese house. We may want to call there in 
 force later in the night. The others can just 
 stick around where they can be got at. And then 
 maybe it wouldn t be a bad idea to get in touch 
 with the chief of police and see if we can have 
 two or three of his men if we need them. There 
 are at least four people to catch, and several ways 
 to get out of that house; it will need to be well 
 surrounded." 
 
 " Better one too many than one too few," Gor 
 don agreed. " I ll attend to it. And that men s 
 clothing chap that you mentioned? " 
 
 " Yes. If he will be at his store at a little 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 257 
 
 after nine It may be nine-thirty before I 
 
 get back, but I shall come as soon as I can." 
 " He won t mind waiting; he s a good friend of 
 
 mine." 
 
 " I ll meet you here at the hotel. And I ll try 
 to bring Tin Lizzie back with all her cylinders 
 and wheels in their normal places. Has she got 
 any especial peculiarity? " 
 
 " She rattles." 
 
 " I said especial peculiarity." 
 
 They went down in the elevator. As they 
 were passing the desk, a clerk called to Na 
 pier. 
 
 "A lady was here asking for you twice yester 
 day," he said, low-voiced. " Late in the after 
 noon and again in the evening. She was here 
 again this afternoon. We couldn t tell her when 
 you would be in, of course. She did not care to 
 leave her name." 
 
 " What sort of looking lady? " Napier asked. 
 
 " Very dark. Very dark indeed. Spanish, 
 perhaps, although she had no accent." 
 
 " Thank you. If she should come in again, 
 tell her I am back, will you, and that she can find 
 me here any time to-morrow." 
 
 He rejoined Gordon, and they went out and 
 up the side street to where the treasury agent had 
 parked his car. Gordon warned him regarding 
 two or three traffic rules which differ substantially 
 from most Eastern regulations, advised him as 
 to the quantity of gas on hand, remarked cheer 
 fully that the left rear tire might last forever but 
 
258 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 was much more likely to give out inside of five 
 miles, and let him depart. 
 
 Miss Glenn was waiting in the Edgemont en 
 trance. They spoke only commonplaces until 
 they had reached a suburb. Then she said: 
 
 " I have to get back; I mustn t leave father too 
 long. Do you suppose you could find some wide 
 place where we won t be disturbed, and pull up 
 by the side of the road? Perhaps you would 
 rather not drive and listen, too." She laughed 
 a little. " Not while driving somebody else s 
 car for the first time, over roads you never saw 
 before, anyway." 
 
 He admitted the reasonableness of this, found 
 a place where there was little traffic, drew up at 
 the side, and shut off his power. She did not 
 speak at once, clearly at a loss exactly how to 
 begin. " I hope I can be of some real help to 
 you," he said, to make it easier. 
 
 " It will help me merely to tell it," she replied. 
 " I don t know whether you can advise me or not, 
 but just knowing that you are also considering 
 what I ought to do will relieve my mind. I have 
 borne it alone just as long as I can." 
 
 He waited sympathetically. 
 
 " I might as well confess what is at the bottom 
 of it all and have it over with," she went on, after 
 a few seconds, with manifest reluctance. " It 
 
 it is a family skeleton. My father My 
 
 father has a terrible disease, Mr. Napier. He is 
 addicted to a drug." 
 
 She found words more easily now that the 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 259 
 
 worst was told. " It is of old standing. Pie be 
 came addicted in the Philippines, after he was 
 wounded. You believe that using opium is a 
 disease, don t you? " 
 
 " That is recognized by almost everybody, 
 these days." 
 
 " He has tried to be cured. Nobody can ever 
 know how hard he has tried. But he has always 
 
 gone back. And now You can t imagine 
 
 how I hate to tell you this, but he is in danger. 
 He is in danger of doing something that all the 
 money in the world wouldn t have induced him to 
 do when he was himself. He isn t himself at all, 
 you know. When he cannot get the drug " 
 
 " I know," Napier assured her gently. " They 
 are not really to blame for what they do then." 
 
 ; There never was a better father," she said. 
 " My mother died when I was five years old, and 
 he was mother and father both. We were chums. 
 I was almost grown when he came out of the 
 hospital and found that he couldn t give up the 
 drug. It is so easy for one to get it over there 
 
 in the East, in some forms. After a while " 
 
 She paused, then went on bravely, "After a while 
 it got the better of him and he left the army. 
 From that day until now he has he has never 
 been better." 
 
 " The danger? " Napier prompted her. 
 
 " He found a place here where he could get it. 
 From Chinese. And then, after a while, they 
 wanted him to help them distribute it. He said 
 he wouldn t, of course, and they shut down on. 
 
230 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 his supply. You can imagine the result. All 
 they had to do was let him have it in such small 
 quantities that he would never be quite satisfied, 
 vary this some days by refusing to give him any 
 they said they didn t have it and wait. You 
 know how a Chinaman can wait." 
 
 " I know." 
 
 " So finally he told them he would do it. And 
 I know perfectly well he cannot. Not only has 
 he promised to break the law, but he hasn t the 
 brain power, any longer, to do it successfully. 
 I know how the officers trace back the way the 
 addicts get their supply. He is certain to be 
 caught." She hesitated. " It is an awful thing 
 that he should be willing to do it, but I know it 
 isn t his real self who has promised ; it is the slave 
 to the drug. It would be terrible enough to have 
 him working for these Chinamen, doing an illegal 
 thing, but if he were detected, and I know he 
 would be sooner or later, I couldn t bear it. I 
 can t sleep without dreaming of him under arrest. 
 In prison." She shuddered. 
 
 "Had you thought of anything I can do?" 
 Napier asked. 
 
 " No, except that you might be able to advise 
 me. He promised to take a lot of opium North 
 and deliver it to various people mostly Chi 
 nese in several cities. They want us to start 
 soon. He promised, and then he told me; you 
 know, perhaps, that they babble sometimes when 
 they are under the influence. And I waited until 
 he was more himself and pleaded with him, and 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 2C1 
 
 he went to them and refused. So they merely 
 cut off his supply again. He had enough on 
 hand for three days, and to-day is the third day. 
 He is sleeping now, and when he wakes there will 
 be no more. He will struggle a little while. 
 But in the end it is always the same. I cannot 
 hope that he won t go back to those Chinamen, 
 sooner or later, and beg for opium and do ex 
 actly as they say to pay for it." She sighed, a 
 hopeless, pathetic sigh. " Poor old daddy! " she 
 breathed. " He can t help it. He is just a poor 
 sick wreck of a man, with no resistance left. 
 And he isn t ever going to be any better; I know 
 that. What can I do to save him from himself? " 
 
 "A good doctor might " Napier began, 
 
 but she interrupted him: " We have had the best 
 there are. Nobody knows how much he has suf 
 fered during some of his treatments. He won t 
 do it again. It has gone too far." 
 
 " You say he has no supply? I take it, from 
 that, they have not yet turned over to him the 
 stock they want him to distribute." 
 
 " No. They have some plan, when they do 
 that, to protect themselves against his taking it 
 for himself. They know addicts too well to trust 
 them." 
 
 So there was no evidence against himself in 
 Captain Glenn s possession, and he had not yet 
 made himself amenable to any law. Napier 
 tremendously wanted to assure the girl that he 
 hoped, within a day, perhaps within a few hours, 
 to remove this particular danger, but it could not 
 
262 m THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 be done. He wondered if she, as well as Madame 
 Frezzi, had learned of his connection w r ith the 
 government. He put out a suggestion that 
 ought to determine it. 
 
 " If you knew any one who had influence with 
 
 any treasury official " he mused, and left the 
 
 sentence unfinished. If she knew he was a treas 
 ury agent she would believe he was intimating 
 that he might be able to exercise some pull to save 
 the situation and would leap enthusiastically at 
 the idea. 
 
 " I don t," she replied. "And if I did, they 
 wouldn t do it. I can t blame them. It is their 
 duty. No. There isn t any hope in that direc 
 tion." 
 
 " It is a tough problem," Napier admitted. 
 " There doesn t seem to be any answer to it, not 
 right off the reel, anyway. Perhaps, if I can 
 sleep on it and think it over, something will come 
 to me that I can advise. It has gone several 
 days without coming to a crisis. Probably a 
 little more delay won t make it any worse." 
 
 " I hoped I had it all worked out, a week ago/ 
 she said. " I thought I had found a way." 
 There was a trace of bitterness in her next words. 
 " But Lhadn t. I had forgotten that * East is 
 East and West is West. " 
 
 He looked at her inquiringly, and she saw she 
 ought to explain. 
 
 * There is a man connected in some way with 
 those Chinamen," she said, "whom I used to 
 know. He is a Turk and his name is Yusef 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 263 
 
 Kalat. Yusef Kalat Bey. I knew him in China, 
 years ago." 
 
 Napier was himself astonished at the delighted 
 relief that came over him at her words. She 
 didn t know that Kalat had been made a pasha, 
 and Kalat had not been confidential enough with 
 her to tell her. 
 
 " Twice, lately, father has got away from me 
 at night," she was going on, " and, both times, I 
 found him at the place where the Chinamen are. 
 Both times, also, I found Kalat Bey there, and 
 he rode home with us. Father remembered him, 
 of course, and was glad to see him. He has 
 called on us several times and was very kind and 
 thoughtful. He isn t going by his real name, 
 by the way, because he was afraid, he says, he 
 would be interned if we had gone to war with 
 Turkey. He came to America before we were 
 in the war at all. He is passing as a Spaniard." 
 
 She did not seem to think it important to men 
 tion Kalat s pseudonym, and Napier did not 
 ask it. 
 
 "After a day or two he was so friendly I 
 asked him to use his influence with the Chinese to 
 have them release father from his promise. He 
 said he would." She hesitated, then went on, 
 " But that is over. He won t. I had been living 
 so long in America that I had begun to forget the 
 ways of the East. Kalat Bey helped to remind 
 me that never the twain shall meet. Now he 
 is more likely to harm us than help us." Napier 
 did not ask her why, but she told him. " He 
 
264 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 became tiresome and finally insulting. He will 
 not come again, I think." 
 
 " I have an idea," Napier told her. He could 
 not be definite. " If it works, and I believe it 
 will, I want you to go home and rest comfort 
 ably to-night, Miss Glenn, without bad dreams. 
 Your father isn t going to prison. He isn t even 
 going to be in danger of going. I feel sure of it. 
 I will see you to-morrow." 
 
 " But what is the idea? How will it " 
 
 " You will agree it is a practical one when I 
 tell you. Will you trust me if I don t explain it 
 now? " 
 
 " I would like to know, but if you think it 
 best " 
 
 " Trust me, please," he urged. " Believe that 
 I shall do everything I can and that I shall 
 succeed." 
 
 The confidence in his voice had its effect. " I 
 do," she told him. " Somehow, I do. You don t 
 know what a relief it has been to tell you and to 
 feel that the worry from now on isn t all mine. 
 You see there hasn t been anybody I could talk 
 with or ask for advice. There never has. For 
 years father and I have been alone. I couldn t 
 make friends, without their finding out about his 
 failing. Do you know, I haven t one close friend 
 in the world." 
 
 "" Didn t have," Napier corrected her. 
 
 "Didn t have," she repeated, smiling a bit 
 tremulously. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 MADAME FREZZI, waiting in a little reception 
 room where the entrance to the elevators was un 
 der her eye, stepped swiftly out as Napier came 
 hurrying into the Bonham. He turned at the 
 touch of her hand on his arm and with difficulty 
 refrained from exclaiming at her changed ap 
 pearance. She looked ten years older than when 
 he had last seen her, a week before. 
 
 That art must have much to do with her con 
 tinued youthful appearance he had vaguely real 
 ized, but he had never guessed how much. This 
 night she had neglected all her customary artifices 
 of the toilet, and the result was almost startling. 
 . There was no responding smile on her face at 
 his polite greeting, and her voice was determined 
 and tense: 
 
 " I must see you alone. Where can we talk 
 and be undisturbed? " 
 
 For reply, he motioned toward the elevator, 
 which had descended and was discharging its 
 passengers. She preceded him into it and at the 
 first stop he ushered her out into the mezzanine 
 balcony. There were numbers of people there, 
 but most of them were grouped where they could 
 look down on the lobby, and he led her to a dis- 
 
266 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 tant corner where they would be out of hearing 
 and not conspicuous. 
 
 " You won t think I am discourteous, I hope," 
 he said, as he placed a chair for her and took a 
 seat facing it, " but I have to be economical of 
 my time, just at this moment. I have some work 
 to do 
 
 She interrupted him. 
 
 " You will have some work to do after you 
 have listened to me. Whatever thing you are 
 working on will not be of great importance com 
 pared to what I am going to tell you." 
 
 Now he observed that the contrast between this 
 woman and the Madame Frezzi with whom he had 
 talked in the garden was not merely physical. She 
 was not only altered in outward appearance, but 
 beneath externals he was conscious of some other 
 change, psychological, perhaps spiritual. Her 
 black eyes were somber and her voice pitched in 
 a deeper key. There was nothing of the fiery 
 passion that she had displayed when the malicious 
 acquaintance had telephoned her that Kalat was 
 playing the squire to a younger and more beauti 
 ful woman, but in the repression of her tones, no 
 less than in the set, unsmiling lines of her face, 
 Napier sensed a burning, unrelenting glow of 
 vindictive determination. With his eyes on hers, 
 he bowed and waited. 
 
 " Did you ever hear of a Turk named Yusef 
 Kalat Pasha? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " He is Sastanada." 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 267 
 
 Napier tried to let his face express the right 
 degree of surprise, but he did not speak. She 
 was continuing, in a low monotone: 
 
 " Pie is working with a group of Chinese and 
 Mexican smugglers, and they are bringing into 
 this country two diamonds that are called the 
 Gorgeous Lily and the Ray of Light. Kalat 
 looted them from the sultan s sash. One of them 
 is already in; it is here in San Antonio, at a house 
 over in the Chinese quarter. The other is to be 
 brought in very soon. It is at Piedras Negras." 
 
 "And Kalat? Why didn t he bring them him 
 self? " 
 
 " He came in with a false passport, as a Greek, 
 through Mexico. He knew he would be searched, 
 and he had no familiarity with your border and 
 the ways of your customs officers. So he left the 
 stones at Piedras Negras with Chinamen that he 
 could trust. They belong to a society that he 
 had done business with when he was in China." 
 
 "And the place where the stone is? The one 
 that has reached here? " 
 
 She described the great house. " There are a 
 number of Chinese interested with Kalat," she 
 added. " I know the name of only one of them. 
 It is Charles Toy. He is the proprietor of a 
 restaurant. The Mexican who was killed was a 
 messenger who came and went between him and 
 Kalat. He had brought word to Kalat, that 
 night, to come to the Chinese house at once, and 
 Kalat had gone there, when I got him to take my 
 message to you." 
 
268 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 " How do you come to know all this? " 
 
 "Kalatandl " She hesitated. "We have 
 
 been friends for a number of years. He knew I 
 was in America. He sent for me to join him 
 here." She paused, seemed to be considering 
 whether it was worth while to conceal anything 
 whatever, and then went on in the same toneless 
 voice, " He said, after this matter of the dia 
 monds had been settled and he had found a place 
 to remain in America, that we would be mar 
 ried." 
 
 "And something has happened to change the 
 programme? " 
 
 To make it impossible." 
 
 She did not explain. Her mind was in a 
 single groove, the betrayal of the man she had 
 recently wanted to marry. Napier wondered 
 what ignition of jealousy could be responsible for 
 such a desperate turning against him. 
 
 " Why did you send Puenta to find me, a week 
 ago Monday night?" he asked. 
 
 " I told you the truth about that; at least, I 
 told you part of the truth. I had heard from 
 Kalat that Captain Glenn was concerned with 
 the Chinese smugglers; that he had met him at 
 their house. And I wanted him removed." She 
 replied simply and promptly to Napier s look of 
 inquiry, " Because I wanted his daughter re 
 moved. If he were taken away, she would go. 
 When Kalat joined us, that night of the parade, 
 just after I saw you, he came in an automobile 
 with Glenn and the girl. I saw him bid her 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 269 
 
 good night. I saw how he looked at her. I 
 know Yusef Kalat." 
 
 She smiled a little, bitterly. "And I was 
 right. I have had him followed, since then, and 
 I was right. Well, what of it? You are think 
 ing that this has something to do with my coming 
 to you to-night and telling you about Kalat and 
 his smuggling, and you are mistaken. I was 
 jealous, but I am not jealous any more. Jeal 
 ous!" She laughed; a mirthless, dreary laugh. 
 "As if I could hold him, when I am almost old 
 enough to be her mother ! But one must care, to 
 be jealous. I do not care for Yusef Kalat." 
 She leaned forward and her suppressed voice fell 
 still lower. " I want you to get him and his 
 diamonds. I want him sent to prison. Better 
 still, I would like to have him turned over to the 
 Allies. To those who are going to punish Turks 
 for what they did to the weak peoples, during the 
 war. Do you suppose you could do that? " 
 
 For the first time Napier sensed that this, in 
 deed, was not a j.ealous woman; that the motive 
 which had impelled her when she sent for him be 
 fore was not the urge that was driving her now. 
 It is something more than pathetic, it is some 
 thing tragic, when a woman of her type suddenly 
 determines not only to confess her increasing 
 years but to look them, but back of her changed 
 manner and appearance, back of her tense, low 
 monotone, he grasped a deeper, more hopeless 
 tragedy than the loss of a lover or the sudden 
 realization of a forever vanished youth. It came 
 
270 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 to him that her smouldering eyes were the eyes 
 of an Oriental fanatic. This was not jealousy; 
 it was cold, remorseless hate. 
 
 " What has he done to you? " he asked. 
 
 " The news came yesterday," she replied, with 
 out emotion. " In a letter in yesterday morn 
 ing s mail. He does not know I have it. I have 
 tried four times to find you. . . . My father, 
 my mother, my brother and two sisters. They 
 have been dead more than two years, and Kalat 
 told me, only three weeks ago, that he had seen 
 them just before he left Turkey and that they 
 were all well. Well and happy, he said. 
 
 " I am Armenian. My father was a trusted 
 eff endi of the sultan. He sent me to be educated 
 in Italy and France. I came back to Constanti 
 nople. I met Kalat. ... It was some time 
 afterward that he proposed I do secret work. 
 You did not know I represented the Turkish 
 government, of course; you supposed, if you 
 heard anything about me at all, that I was in the 
 Italian service. That was what we wanted every 
 body to believe. . . . The war came. Then 
 the massacres. Kalat promised me he himself 
 would see to the safety of my family. He has 
 assured me, all along, that they were all hidden 
 and safe. He even gave me messages, three 
 weeks ago, that he said they sent me just before 
 he left. Not in writing, of course; he couldn t 
 bring writing. . . . Two years my father has 
 been dead, and my mother, and my brother and 
 sisters. But my sisters did not die at once. . . * 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 271 
 
 And Yusef Kalat was there, in Constantinople, 
 with power, and did not raise his hand to save 
 them. ... I thought, at first, I would kill 
 him, but that would be too quick." 
 
 She sat a moment looking at the floor. " Is 
 there anything more I can tell you, to make his 
 punishment more certain? " she asked dully. 
 
 " I am very sorry," he said. 
 
 She raised her eyes, and they were as hard as 
 her voice. " I do not want sympathy," she re 
 plied. " I want Yusef Kalat to suffer." 
 
 " I shall do what I can," he promised her. 
 
 Tung Sheng sat in the little office in the corner 
 of Charles Toy s restaurant when Napier entered. 
 It was long after the early evening rush and not 
 quite time for the arrival of after-theater patrons, 
 and few people were at the tables. The pro 
 prietor was not in evidence. 
 
 Napier felt morally certain that the tint of his 
 face and hands and the coarse stiffness of his 
 black hair were artistic enough to pass muster 
 anywhere by artificial light, and his good ready- 
 made clothes were well in character, but the shad 
 ing that gave his eyes and cheek bones as much a 
 Chinese appearance as was necessary for a half- 
 caste was a different matter, and he was glad to 
 observe not only that the office corner was dimly 
 lighted, but that the principal electric lamp, over 
 the cashier s desk where Tung Sheng sat, was 
 green-shaded. He stood with his face as much 
 in the shadow as was possible, without empha- 
 
272 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 sizing his dislike for illumination, and addressed 
 Toy s manager in his best Cantonese: 
 
 " Is this the honorable Charles Toy? " 
 
 " No," Tung replied. " He is here, in back. 
 He will be out in a moment. I am Tung Sheng." 
 
 " I am Chu Chang," Napier said. " Formerly 
 of San Francisco, where I was born. Also I am 
 called Charley Chew. I have come from the 
 river, where I met a Mexican named Villabosa." 
 He took pains to pronounce the Spanish name 
 not as well as an American could, but a little 
 better than would most Chinese, in accordance 
 with his pose as one who was better versed in 
 English than in the language of his fathers. 
 
 Tung Sheng s face was expressionless, and he 
 did not reply. 
 
 " If you could get Charles Toy at once," 
 Napier went on, " I have a message for him that 
 needs to be acted on quickly, I think. You, also, 
 are interested in the message. And another. 
 One Joe Fong." 
 
 Tung called to a waiter and sent him to sum 
 mon the pair. The old restaurant keeper came 
 through from the direction of the kitchen, a mo 
 ment later, followed by the Chinese-Mexican 
 Fong. Tung Sheng made his introduction 
 laconic and without significance, but Napier 
 thought a sign passed between them as he spoke : 
 
 " This is Chu Chang, once of San Francisco. 
 He comes from the river, he says, with a mes 
 sage." To Napier he said, " This is Ng Choy, 
 who is called Charles Toy." 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 273 
 
 "I cannot bear it!" Napier exclaimed, with 
 his best Chinese etiquette. " Even the sound of 
 your name stuns me." 
 
 " I am too greatly honored. I do not deserve 
 it," Ng Choy replied. 
 
 "And this is Joe Fong," Tung Sheng said. 
 Napier spoke with politeness to him, also, but the 
 reply was muttered and most perfunctory. The 
 upbringing of Joe Fong, obviously, had not been 
 well attended to. 
 
 Napier looked about to see that no waiters 
 were within hearing. Then he took from his 
 pocket the note Villabosa had written and passed 
 it to the old Chinaman, who read it slowly. 
 Some of the words seemed to give him trouble 
 and he looked up at Napier. " Do you read 
 English well? " he asked. 
 
 " My education is public school," Napier re 
 plied, with just the touch of pride that he thought 
 an American-born Chinaman might have used, 
 glad of the opportunity to again emphasize the 
 reason for such inaccuracies of Cantonese tone 
 shading as they all at least the two older men 
 must already have observed. 
 
 " Read this to us aloud, in our own tongue." 
 
 Napier translated it. The faces of both Ng 
 Choy and Tung Sheng remained without ex 
 pression as he read, but Joe Fong scowled 
 angrily. He did not speak, however, but waited 
 for his elders. Ng Choy took back the note when 
 Napier had finished, and studied it through his 
 big glasses, locating and defining for himself the 
 
274 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 words that the translation had made clearer. 
 When he had finished, he looked blandly at 
 Napier and asked: 
 
 " Did he go to Mexico? " 
 
 " I do not know. He was to attempt it after 
 dark. He had no pass. I came away," 
 
 " You are to receive, he says, what he was to 
 receive. What is that? " 
 
 " It was to be three thousand dollars for him 
 and his friend Flores, when both stones were de 
 livered. He supposed, for one, it would be fif 
 teen hundred." 
 
 "And your arrangement with him? " It was 
 Joe Fong who asked this question. " What was 
 your arrangement with him? " 
 
 Napier gestured toward the note. " Value re 
 ceived," he said. Ng Choy nodded quietly, ap 
 proving of the answer as adequate. 
 
 " I do not enjoy this transferring of interest 
 from one to another," Joe Fong said. His look 
 was hostile; it was the dislike of the Mexican 
 half of him for the gringo half of this ex-San 
 Francisco public-school graduate. 
 
 " What is past is not of mighty importance," 
 Tung Sheng said. " It is gone. The present is 
 here, and the future approaches." 
 
 " Where did you say this stone you speak of 
 is? " Ng CHoy asked. 
 
 " In the safe with five padlocks," Napier told 
 him promptly. " One key is in the hands of 
 each of you, one key in the hands of Sas anada, 
 and one" he produced the flat key that 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 275 
 
 had been taken from Villabosa "in my 
 hands, as this writing says. And if I may 
 speak in the presence of those so much older and 
 wiser " 
 
 " Go on," said Ng Choy. 
 
 " It would be well to use the five keys and com 
 plete the bargain that was made with Sas anada 
 very soon. The officials of the government may 
 be able to learn where the stone is. It would be 
 better if we had delivered it and received pay 
 ment before that." 
 
 The words sound wise," Ng Choy replied. 
 " What is your province? " 
 
 " I have never been in China. My honorable 
 father was a Saitsiu man." 
 
 "And your business? " 
 
 " I am an obscure and often unsuccessful 
 speculator," Napier said. He knew the others 
 would take this to mean that he was a fairly well- 
 to-do gambler. 
 
 Ng Choy thought a moment. " The words 
 are wise," he said. " Go, Joe Fong, and see if 
 you can get Sas anada on the telephone. Tell 
 him he must be at the place of the safe at twelve 
 o clock." He turned to Napier. " Whether we 
 find him by telephone, or whether we have to 
 search, we will have him there. Will you wait 
 here and go with us, or shall I describe how to 
 find the place? " 
 
 " If the safe has not been moved, I know the 
 place and how to find it," Napier replied. " In 
 the great house, Villabosa said, in the dark wine 
 
276 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 closet that opens from the little sitting-room off 
 what once was the dance hall." 
 
 " He has instructed you well," the old man 
 said. " The outer door will open to your ring 
 at twelve o clock." 
 
 Napier murmured the proper words called for 
 by politeness and thankfully passed from the 
 restaurant without once looking back. He had 
 succeeded in deceiving them all in that dim light, 
 and perhaps he could continue to deceive them in 
 the brighter light of the great house, but he did 
 not for a moment believe he would look like any 
 one but Julian Napier to one who already knew 
 him. He must continue to utilize the disguise to 
 enter the headquarters of the Chinese, but it 
 would be quite valueless the moment he came face 
 to face with Kalat. \ 
 
 Gordon, fifteen minutes later, set out to gather 
 his forces as speedily as possible. There would 
 be two other customs agents and four policemen. 
 The great house would be under surveillance 
 from all sides before half-past eleven. 
 
 " That will be enough," Napier told him. "Ac 
 cording to Villabosa, we will have only four men 
 to deal with. As all the other Chinese ordinarily 
 in the house are members of the society and sup 
 posed to have an interest in all smuggling, it is 
 necessary to get them out when the diamonds are 
 being dealt in. When the five gathered to put 
 the first stone in the safe and each lock it with his 
 own key, Villabosa says there was not another 
 Chinaman in the house, not even Wang Ting, 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 277 
 
 who is the confidential top servant. Tung Sheng 
 or Joe Fong tended the door." 
 
 They spoke of the details of surrounding the 
 house, and Napier arranged to meet Gordon 
 there at a little before midnight to receive his re 
 port and give any further instructions that might 
 become necessary. Then he went to the grocery 
 of Kwong Yet, who came quickly to his tap on 
 the door and low-voiced hail, and old Kwong Li 
 and his nephew almost allowed their eyes to ex 
 press surprise at the changes in his appearance 
 when he came into the light of the little back 
 room. 
 
 " This seems to be foolishness," Napier said. 
 " It would not deceive you. But once to-night it 
 has deceived men who do not know me, and it will 
 be again useful, later." 
 
 " It is excellently done," old Kwong conceded. 
 
 " If your speech did not betray you " He 
 
 hastened to make polite explanation. " You 
 speak our tongue beautifully, but there are four 
 teen tones in the Cantonese, and it is not to be 
 expected that any " 
 
 " Barbarian," Napier supplied, smiling, as the 
 old man hesitated. " I have not claimed to be of 
 China, but only half Chinese." 
 
 " The endurance of a horse is determined by 
 
 how far it can go. If it succeeded " He 
 
 dismissed the subject. "We have wondered why 
 you have been so long in coming." 
 
 " I have been out of the city. What have you 
 learned? " 
 
278 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 " Not much, and yet a thing that seems to me 
 to be a matter for satisfaction. Six men, it will 
 be remembered, were picked to wait for the Mex 
 ican messenger as he came toward the great house, 
 that night. None of them has said that he did it. 
 Yet this we know, that when the men were being 
 given the places to lie in wait, one of them said 
 that the Mexican was accustomed to bear mes 
 sages to a certain house and had fallen into the 
 habit of always coming past that house on his 
 way to and from this quarter, and Joe Fong 
 spoke and said that he would wait in that 
 path." 
 
 "And it was by that route that he came, and in 
 that path that he was killed." 
 
 Kwong Li inclined his head. " So we know 
 what befell, although it is not evidence such as 
 satisfies judges." 
 
 " It may be that I can make use of it," Napier 
 said. " I have a thought that I may be able to 
 make use of it to-night. In the meantime, there 
 is another thing. A number of men you have 
 named to me as members of the Society of the 
 Fragrant Lily, and yet there is another whose 
 name you have not given. Who is Wu Tsai? " 
 
 To his uncle s inquiring look, the younger 
 Chinaman shook his head in the negative. " I 
 have never heard the name here," he said. 
 
 Napier produced the complete orange label 
 that had marked the tin brought in by Sanders. 
 " Here is the address," he said. " The package 
 bearing this label was to have been delivered to 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 279 
 
 the great house. * To the Honorable Wu Tsai, 
 is its reading." 
 
 Kwong Li took the paper and held it before 
 his eyes under the light. A whimsical smile 
 wrinkled the corners of his lips. " In learning 
 to read our characters, you were being instructed 
 by one who spoke the official tongue, were you 
 not?" he asked. 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " You think, then, when you read, in Man 
 darin. You do not think in Cantonese." 
 
 Napier agreed that this was undoubtedly true, 
 in so far as he thought in Chinese at all; he ad 
 mitted, in reading, he usually had to translate 
 and think in English. 
 
 " It is explained," the old Chinaman said. 
 " These characters read c Wu Tsai, in Mandarin, 
 as you thought, but in Cantonese one speaks 
 them * Ng Choy. " He handed back the label. 
 " The number of men you seek is not increased. * 
 
 With thanks and protestations of regret that 
 he must hasten, Napier moved toward the door. 
 Kwong Yet spoke: 
 
 " If it is permissible, one question. You said 
 you might make use of information to-night. 
 And that this masquerade had succeeded once 
 and might again. Might I ask if men includ 
 ing the enemy of this house, who mocked my 
 uncle are to be seized to-night? I would like 
 to be near to hear the news early, if so. Is the 
 question permissible?" 
 
 Napier hesitated, and old Kwong saved him 
 
280 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 the necessity of a direct reply by quoting senten- 
 tiously from the Analects: 
 
 " The superior man acts before he speaks, 
 and afterward speaks according to his actions. 
 
 " Thank you, Kwong Li," Napier said. 
 " Those are wise words. Nevertheless " he 
 smiled at Kwong Yet " it is a warm night, and 
 pleasant, with many stars. A pleasant night to 
 remain awake for a time. News might come to 
 one who sat before his door, in the darkness." 
 
 Both Chinese bowed grave appreciation, and 
 the elder said, " Good news would be worth sleep 
 lessness, even to one who is old, as I am; sleep 
 lessness even unto the dawn." 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 UNDER the very mulberry tree where he had 
 stood when he made the violent acquaintance of 
 Villabosa, Napier found Gordon. 
 
 " Three Chinamen have gone in," the agent 
 whispered. "Toy and two others; probably 
 your two; I have seen them at the restaurant. 
 And two others have come out, since Toy went 
 in, and gone away." 
 
 " You haven t seen anything of Kalat? " 
 
 " Here he comes now." 
 
 The Turk turned into the broad beam of light 
 that streamed down the walk from the cluster of 
 incandescents over the door. He went up the 
 steps, rang, and there was a slight delay before 
 he was admitted. 
 
 " Nobody to tend the door, as we expected," 
 Napier said. " Whoever opened it came from 
 some distance away. I ll wait, now, until they 
 have a chance to get to wherever the meeting is 
 held in that little room out of which the wine 
 closet opens, probably and then I ll go around 
 and come up the walk openly. The instant the 
 door has closed behind me, come as fast as you 
 can. Who is the other man that will be with 
 you?" 
 
 " Carver. He is over behind that little house 
 
282 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 on the next corner. When he sees me start he ll 
 
 come." 
 
 " Leave him at the door, after you get in, and 
 go with me yourself. Your other man and the 
 police understand what they are to do." 
 
 " They will close in immediately. Anybody 
 who gets out of the house cannot help being 
 taken." 
 
 " All right," Napier agreed, satisfied. " I ll 
 be starting." 
 
 At the door, after ringing, he had to wait a 
 moment, as had Kalat. When it opened, he 
 faced Tung Sheng. He stepped inside, and the 
 Chinaman saw to the closing and fastening of the 
 door. Then he took a step or two to precede 
 Napier into a wide, garish room that opened to 
 the right off the front hall, and as he did so the 
 doorbell rang again. 
 
 The Chinaman turned quickly and leaned for 
 ward, his back to Napier, to inspect this new ar 
 rival through an ingeniously concealed peephole 
 by the side of the door. His eye had not reached 
 it when the hard muzzle of a pistol pressed 
 against the back of his neck and Napier 
 whispered, " Not a sound! Open the door." 
 
 A brief second Tung Sheng hesitated, then 
 obeyed. Gordon came in noiselessly. Beyond 
 him, near the edge of the lawn, another man could 
 be seen running toward the house on the grass. 
 
 " Look for weapons and handcuff him," Na 
 pier commanded, under his breath. " Leave him 
 here, then, with Carver. It won t take but a 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 283 
 
 minute or two. Then come on through that big 
 room. I d better not wait; they may be getting 
 suspicious." 
 
 He turned and entered the big, over-decorated 
 room, which in a past day had been the dancing 
 apartment of " Harmony Palace." On the far 
 ther side, beyond a piano, a door stood open and 
 voices came from beyond it. Napier crossed the 
 dance hall and stood in the doorway. 
 
 Across from him sat Ng Choy, at ease, calm 
 and impassive. Joe Fong, beside him, was 
 fidgeting. At a little distance, Kalat stood with 
 his elbow on a mantel. Napier thought that the 
 older Chinaman had been telling him the story of 
 Villabosa s message, a guess that was proven true 
 by Ng Choy s first words. Kalat, in the face of 
 the news that one of the jewels had been seized 
 and that he must hasten to get the other away, 
 with a possibility of close pursuit, was alarmed 
 and nervous. 
 
 Beyond Ng Choy, a door stood wide into what 
 looked like another small room, but which Napier 
 knew was the big windowless wine closet that had 
 served the house in its day of notoriety. A 
 single electric light, hanging from a cord in the 
 center of the closet, illuminated it, and in plain 
 sight from where Napier stood was the safe. 
 
 Exactly that kind of safe had never come 
 under his eyes before, although he knew they 
 were not rare in Mexican cities where many Chi 
 nese are included in the same business com 
 munity. The original cause for such receptacles, 
 
284 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 he had been told, was a grouping together of sev 
 eral small Chinese merchants to buy and use a 
 safe that none of them, as an individual, needed 
 or could afford ; later it had become something of 
 a custom, in a country where they did not trust 
 either banks or safe deposit boxes, for money 
 and other valuables in which several men had a 
 joint interest to be put in such a safe, to which 
 one could gain access only in the presence of all 
 the other partners. 
 
 It looked, except for its face, not unlike any 
 other iron safe two feet and a half tall. Its door, 
 however, boasted no combination dial. Instead, 
 there extended from the left-hand side, lacing 
 across the crack of the door, one below the other, 
 five hasps. Each ended at a staple that was 
 firmly imbedded in the door, and at each staple 
 was a padlock. Only when all five keys were 
 present at the same time could the safe be opened. 
 
 All this he took in at a glance, while Ng Choy 
 was saying: 
 
 " And here he is. Charley Chew, this is Mis- 
 ser Sas anada." 
 
 Kalat looked, looked harder, and froze into as 
 tonished but wary immobility. 
 
 "What does this mean?" he demanded. 
 " This is an American named Napier." 
 
 " Keep your hands away from your pockets," 
 Napier commanded. " It means you are under 
 arrest. I am a Federal officer." He shifted his 
 eyes to the two Chinese and changed to their 
 tongue, so there could be no misunderstanding. 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 285 
 
 "Don t make any move to get a weapon. It 
 would be dangerous." 
 
 Over his shoulder they saw the face of Gordon, 
 who had come across the dance hall noiselessly. 
 Napier stepped into the room, and Gordon took 
 his place in the doorway. 
 
 " What is this for? " demanded Joe Fong, his 
 face black with anger. We have done noth- 
 ing." 
 
 " As to the others, it is for evading duties," 
 Napier told him. "As to you, there is something 
 else to explain. You work about a kitchen too 
 much, Joe Fong, where you are constantly get 
 ting grease on your hands, to take a chance with 
 finger prints. It is too easy to get a picture of 
 your fingers. When you throw anything over a 
 wall, at night, you should be sure the same marks 
 are not on it that you leave on pots and pans and 
 plates and tables." 
 
 "It is not mine!" Fong shouted. "I did 
 not throw any knife over a wall. I had no 
 knife." 
 
 The countenance of Ng Choy was as bland and 
 expressionless as ever. " So," he murmured in 
 his own tongue. " It was done well and thor 
 oughly. I congratulate you. I especially con 
 gratulate you " his voice was mild and amiable, 
 but his eyes, on Napier s face, were flat and 
 opaque " that no one of us guessed your occu 
 pation when you were at the restaurant. If so, 
 some accident might have befallen you before 
 now." 
 
286 THE CHINESE LABEL 1 
 
 Napier ignored the old Chinaman. " We ll 
 see what kind of firearms or knives they 
 
 carry " he began, to Gordon, when there 
 
 came an interruption. The doorbell rang, a con 
 fusion of voices arose at the outer door, and a 
 voice that was strange to Napier shouted angrily, 
 commandingly, but nevertheless with a queer 
 note of pleading, " I ve got to come in. I ve got 
 to see Toy. Damn it, man, don t tell me I 
 can t! Tell him it s Captain Glenn. Tell 
 him I ve changed my mind. Don t stand there 
 arguing. Great God, man, I can t wait, and I 
 won t!" 
 
 " Let him come in," Napier told Gordon, who 
 went to pass the word to Carver. A moment 
 later Glenn came hurrying into the room, the 
 treasury agent behind him. 
 
 The captain had unquestionably been a hand 
 some man in his youth. Now he was thin almost 
 to the point of emaciation, his face was haggard 
 and lined, his eyes burned feverishly and his 
 tongue continually moistened his lips. He 
 seemed quite unconscious that the presence of 
 strangers might have any significance, for he be 
 gan talking to Ng Choy the moment he came 
 within sight and hearing. 
 
 "I ll do it," he called. "I ve changed my 
 mind. Give me a little dope, Toy. Hurry! 
 We ll talk afterward." 
 
 Ng Choy did not take the trouble to answer 
 him. 
 
 " Good heavens, man, clon t sit there looking at 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 287 
 
 me! " Glenn cried. " I m dying for it. I can t 
 wait/ 
 
 " After a little, we ll see what we can do," 
 Napier said, and Glenn seemed to see him for the 
 first time. " For the moment, you will have to 
 wait. We are Federal officers." 
 
 " Federal officers," the ex-captain repeated 
 dully. He looked blankly from Napier to Gor 
 don. Then, as it drifted into his harrowed con 
 sciousness that this was a raid, his only reaction 
 to the fact was despairing disappointment. 
 " You mean he can t give me any? You mean 
 you won t let him give me any? For the love of 
 mercy, my friend, let him get me just a little." 
 He panted, licking his lips. " Just a little," 
 he pleaded. " Please. For God s sake, a lit 
 tle." 
 
 It was shameful, and rather horrible. Napier, 
 who had sympathy with all drug addicts, tried to 
 soothe him. " I think we can manage it, after a 
 while," he said. " I ll have a doctor here, and he 
 will tell us 
 
 "After a while! A doctor! Don t you un 
 derstand, Mr. Officer? I can t wait. I ve been 
 without it since five o clock. It s too long! 
 Please, sir." 
 
 Again the doorbell rang, and from the front 
 came Agent Carver s voice: 
 
 " It s a lady named Frezzi, Billy. She says 
 if we tell Mr. Napier she is here, he will let her 
 
 come in." 
 
 " All right," Napier called. His eyes were on 
 
288 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 Kalat, whose face displayed surprise, puzzlement 
 and hope. Glenn, for the moment, was ig 
 nored. He stood to one side, muttering. The 
 fullness of the situation seemed to have pene 
 trated his dulled understanding. " After a 
 while," Napier heard him say. " We ll have 
 some after a while." 
 
 Madame Frezzi stood in the doorway. Napier 
 had thought she might have some information 
 that he needed to know, but her eyes swept past 
 him and rested on Kalat. 
 
 " I want you to know that I did it, Yusef," she 
 cried harshly. " I did it. I" 
 
 His eyes narrowed, but he did not reply. He 
 seemed stunned by her words and the cold pas 
 sion behind them. 
 
 " You have been followed lately, Yusef," she 
 went on, " and just now the follower came to me 
 and said you were here, and that the raid had 
 started. So I had to come and see you under 
 arrest. I wanted to enjpy it." Her set face 
 gave no evidence of enjoyment. You are un 
 der arrest, and you are going back to Turkey to 
 be tried. If the Allies cannot prove you had 
 anything to do with the massacres, the Turks will 
 take care of you for stealing the diamonds. And 
 I did it. You didn t think I would ever turn 
 against you, did you, Yusef? You didn t think 
 I would go to the police, and tell them all I knew. 
 But you didn t know that I would ever hear 
 about my father, and my mother, and my brother 
 and sisters. I hope they torture you, as your 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 289 
 
 filthy friends tortured the Christians. I 
 hope " 
 
 He leaped at her, snarling, and Napier met 
 him with a blow under the ear that sent him reel 
 ing against the wall. Then, while Gordon s eyes 
 were also on the Turk, Joe Fong saw his chance, 
 pulled an automatic pistol, and fired. 
 
 Napier and Gordon, whirling at the shot and 
 reaching for their own weapons, saw the Chinese- 
 Mexican and Captain Glenn at grips in the mid 
 dle of the floor, and the face of the captain was 
 slowly whitening, as though a fine powder were 
 being dusted upon it. The pistol was in Fong s 
 hand, and Glenn s fingers were clutched around 
 it. At the instant they looked, Fong fired again, 
 pointblank against Glenn s breast, and the cap 
 tain staggered and his knees bent, but he did not 
 release his hold. With a terrific effort, he twisted 
 Fong s hand back and upward, and the muzzle 
 swung until it stared fairly into the half-caste s 
 face. Then Glenn s fingers pressed over Fong s, 
 and there was a third explosion, and Fong 
 slumped inert to the floor, while the pistol fell 
 between them. 
 
 The three shots and all the struggle that inter 
 vened had not taken the tenth of a minute. 
 
 The captain was spent; his last ounce of 
 strength and will were gone. He collapsed, still 
 breathing, but faintly, as Napier caught him and 
 let him back on a couch. Gordon, gun in hand, 
 threatening Kalat and Ng Choy, was sputtering 
 excitedly: 
 
290 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 " I didn t take my eye off that Fong more than 
 three seconds and then, out of the tail of it, I saw 
 him with the pistol. He was going to pot you. 
 The old man jumped between you. Right into 
 the bullet." 
 
 Glenn heard, opened his eyes, and tried to 
 smile. " Couldn t let a fellow like that shoot a 
 white man, of course," he whispered. " Got me 
 twice, didn t he? Then I got him. Didn t quit 
 till I got him. . . . Didn t quit. ... I 
 never was a quitter when I was younger." The 
 eyelids fluttered wearily. " When I was a man,** 
 he said. And then, after another pause: " I was 
 a man then, and now " Napier thought the re 
 mainder of the sentence would never be spoken, 
 but at last it came, hardly more than a sigh 
 " and now I was a man again." 
 
 Beneath the pallor of the captain s face 
 there settled a look of great contentment and 
 peace. 
 
 Officers from outside had come racing at the 
 pistol shots and they were inside the room now, 
 handcuffing Kalat and Ng Choy, searching them. 
 Kalat had a small pistol. The Chinaman was 
 unarmed. He had not risen from his seat during 
 the shooting, nor had his face expressed emotion. 
 He submitted to the search and the manacles with 
 calm philosophy. 
 
 " Telephone for a doctor," Gordon com 
 manded one of the policemen. " Tell him to 
 come on the jump." 
 
 " And the coroner," Napier told them gravely, 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 291 
 
 as he rose from the still quietly smiling old cap 
 tain. 
 
 A moment later some one came in through the 
 dance hall. " There is a young lady at the 
 door," he said. " She says she is Miss Glenn and 
 that she has come to take her father home." 
 
 " She mustn t come into this room," Napier 
 exclaimed. " Bring her into the dance hall." 
 He went out and met her there, closing the door 
 behind him. 
 
 " Why, what are you doing here? " she cried, 
 as, after a second look she recognized him. 
 " And why are you made up to look like a China 
 man? I came after my father. He got away." 
 
 " There is something I didn t tell you," he said, 
 at a loss how to approach his task. " I am a 
 Federal officer an agent of the Treasury De 
 partment. When I told you I saw a solution, 
 I meant a raid and the arrest of the Chinamen. 
 Won t you sit down? " 
 
 She looked at him, only half understanding, 
 but took the chair he indicated. " Didn t father 
 come here? " she asked. " He always does." 
 
 " Yes," he said, and in his look of sympathetic 
 gravity she sensed something ominous held 
 back. 
 
 "Where is he?" she demanded. "What is 
 the matter? What has happened? " 
 
 " I am very sorry," he told her, " but there has 
 been an accident. It is very serious. Very 
 serious indeed." 
 
 " To daddy? " He inclined his head, his eyes 
 
292 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 on hers. " What kind of an accident? Where 
 is he? " 
 
 " Very serious indeed," he repeated. " Please 
 sit down again," as she came to her feet. " I 
 would give anything not to have to be the one to 
 tell you." 
 
 " You don t mean " Her voice was a 
 
 whisper. " He isn t dead! " 
 
 Slowly he nodded. "Oh!" she cried, and 
 then a crushing explanation came into her mind 
 and she asked, fearfully: " Do you mean he was 
 killed? Was there a fight? " 
 
 He nodded again. "Oh, daddy!" she 
 moaned. " And he sided with them. But you 
 know he wasn t himself." 
 
 He saw now what trend her thoughts had 
 taken and hastened to correct it. " He sided 
 with us" he said. " He fought for us. Your 
 father saved my life." 
 
 Along with the dazed grief that she had hardly 
 begun to comprehend, she felt the relief of a 
 great load lifted. 
 
 " It was quite quick and painless," he said 
 softly. " A man one of the Chinese killed 
 him, and he killed the Chinaman. He realized, 
 at the last, that he had come back to be the kind 
 of man he used to be, and he was glad. He 
 smiled." 
 
 " Let me see him." 
 
 " Not now. You must go home " 
 
 " Home," she echoed bitterly. 
 
 " Back to the hotel," he amended, " and I will 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 293 
 
 come very soon. Everything will be done that 
 ought to be done, and I will take you to see him. 
 I wish I could go with you this minute, but I 
 must wait and you had best not. I will be at 
 the Edgemont as soon as I can get there. In less 
 than an hour, I hope." 
 
 "I can t!" she choked. "I can t go back 
 there alone." 
 
 " May I go with you? " 
 
 Napier had been unconscious of Madame 
 Frezzi s presence. She came, now, to Ruth 
 Glenn s side. Her face was neither hard nor 
 set; her voice was not cold but soft and warm 
 with sympathy, and there were tears rolling un 
 hindered down her cheeks, the first, Napier 
 thought, that she had shed for more than eight- 
 and-forty hours. 
 
 " I would like to go," she said, and her eyes 
 begged Napier not to forbid it. " I understand. 
 I, too, have lost a father." And Napier felt, al 
 though her voice ceased, that her mind continued 
 the sentence " and a mother, and a brother, and 
 two sisters." 
 
 " Go with her," he told Miss Glenn, " and I 
 will come as soon as I can. This is Madame 
 Frezzi. She will stay with you until I come." 
 
 The older woman slipped her hand through the 
 girl s arm, and Miss Glenn leaned gratefully to 
 ward her. 
 
 " Poor daddy ! " she sighed. " To go like that, 
 here in this " 
 
 Napier spoke gravely. * You can be very 
 
294 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 glad and proud of what happened at the end. 
 You have it always to remember that he went 
 away like a brave gentleman and soldier." 
 
 " Come soon," she said, as she followed Ma 
 dame Frezzi to the door. " I want to hear the 
 story and to see him. I haven t a friend, you 
 know, except you. I am all alone now." 
 
 " No," he said softly, for her ears only. " You 
 are not alone, and you won t be, if I can help it 
 
 ever." 
 
 The look she gave him before she turned away 
 was not all mere gratitude. 
 
 A doctor, unneeded, came soon after, and then 
 the coroner, and an ambulance for the dead ; and 
 after that a patrol wagon, into which policemen 
 pushed Kalat and Tung Sheng and Ng Choy. 
 The old restaurant keeper, to the last, maintained 
 a perfect calm, surveying all the proceedings 
 with the detached interest of one for whom they 
 possessed no significance. But his shallow, soul 
 less eyes rested on Napier as he passed, and the 
 special agent was honestly thankful that Ng 
 Choy was not free to give commands to slant- 
 eyed man-killers, and that the day was far distant 
 when he would be. 
 
 With the five keys they opened the safe, and 
 out of its opium tin they took the glinting, scintil 
 lating Ray of Light. And under the floor of the 
 wine room, cunningly concealed, they found a 
 hundred cans and more of opium. 
 
 When Napier and Gordon, with the two other 
 customs agents, leaving policemen to guard the 
 
THE CHINESE LABEL 295 
 
 house, finally came out and climbed into Gor 
 don s little automobile for the trip to the Federal 
 Building, the neighborhood, notwithstanding the 
 hour, was buzzing with repressed excitement. 
 Chinamen in little groups of two and three were 
 passing and repassing the great house, on the 
 opposite side of the street, not seeming to look 
 toward it, clacking steadily and monotonously. 
 There were lights in some of the near-by houses, 
 although more were dark, but in front of every 
 building, illuminated or in shadow, stood or 
 walked men talking. 
 
 " The Chinese underground is going at full 
 speed," Gordon commented. " Isn t it remark 
 able how news spreads with them? I ll wager 
 there isn t a Chink in San Antonio, this side of 
 Government Hill, who hasn t heard all the details 
 by now who is arrested, and who is dead, and, 
 roughly, how it all happened." 
 
 " The Society of the Fragrant Lily isn t raided 
 often," Napier said. " Its members keep out of 
 trouble by removing their enemies. Will you 
 go over to police headquarters and attend to reg 
 istering the prisoners, as soon as we have left this 
 stuff at the office? I want to get these clothes 
 and this stain off, and then I have a number of 
 things to do. I ll be at the office in the morn- 
 ing." 
 
 They passed, when they had gone three or four 
 blocks, a little Chinese grocery. 
 
 The building was dark, but not silent. From 
 under the shadowy gallery at the front came 
 
296 THE CHINESE LABEL 
 
 weird, discordant sounds. Loudly, screamingly, 
 with a tempo and lilt that Napier well knew was 
 the expression of gladsome triumph, an old man 
 with a Chinese fiddle was joyously telling the 
 whole world the inharmonious story of " The 
 Running Brook at Springtime and the Little 
 Bird in the Tree." 
 
 THE END 
 
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 Heart of the Desert, The. By Honore Willsie. 
 
 Heart of the Hills, The. By John Fox, Jr. 
 
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 Heart of the Sunset. By Rex Beach. 
 
 Heart of Thunder Mountain, The. By Edfrid A. Bingham. 
 
 Her Weight in Gold. By Geo. B. McCutcheon. 
 
 Hidden Children, The. By Robert W. Chambers. 
 
 Hidden Spring, The. By Clarence B. Kelland. 
 
 Hillraan, The. By E. Phillips Oppenheim. 
 
 Hills of Refuge, The. By Will N. Harben. 
 
 His Official Fiancee. By Berta Ruck. 
 
 Honor of the Big Snows. By James Oliver Curwood. 
 
 Hopalong Cassidy. By Clarence E. Mulford. 
 
 Hound from the North, The. By Ridgwell Cuttum. 
 
 House of the Whispering Pines, The. By Anna Katharine 
 
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 Hugh Wynne, Free Quaker. By S. Weir Mitchell, M.D, 
 
 I Conquered. By Harold Titus. 
 
 Illustrious Prince, The. By E. Phillips Oppenheim. 
 
 In Another Girl s Shoes. By Berta Ruck. 
 
 Indifference of Juliet, The. By Grace S. Richmond. 
 
 Infelice. By Augusta Evans Wilson. 
 
 Initials Only. By Anna Katharine Green. 
 
 Inner Law, The. By Will N. Harben. 
 
 Innocent. By Marie Corelli. 
 
 Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu, The. By Sax Rohmer. 
 
 In the Brooding Wild. By Ridgwell Cullum. 
 
 Intriguers, The. By Harold Bindloss. 
 
 Iron Trail, The. By Rex Beach. 
 
 Iron Woman, The. By Margaret Deland. 
 
 I Spy. By Natalie Sutnner Lincoln. 
 
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 can of the Lazy A. By B. M. Bower. 
 
 eanne of the Marshes. By E. Phillips Oppenheim, 
 
 ennie Gerhardt. By Theodore Dreiser. 
 
 udgment House, The. By Gilbert Parker. 
 
 Keeper of the Door, The. By Ethel M. Dell. 
 Keith of the Border. By Randall Parrfsh. m 
 Kent Knowles: Ouahaug. By Joseph C. Lincoln. 
 Kingdom of the Blind, The. By E. Phillips Oppenheim. 
 
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 King Spruce. B}^ Holman Day. 
 
 King s Widow, The. By Mrs. Bailiie Reynolds. 
 
 Knave of Diamonds, The. By Ethel M. Dell. 
 
 Ladder of Swords. By Gilbert Parker. 
 
 Lady Betty Across the Water. By C. N. & A. M. William 
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 Land-Girl s Love Story, A. By Berta Ruck. 
 Landloper, The. By Holman Day. 
 Land of Long Ago, The. By Eliza Calvert Hall. 
 Land of Strong Men, The. By A. M. Chisholm. 
 Last Trail, The. By Zane Grey. 
 Laugh and Live. By Douglas Fairbanks. 
 Laughing Bill Hyde. By Rex Beach. 
 Laughing Girl, The. By Robert W. Chambers. 
 Law Breakers, The. By Ridgwell Cullum. 
 Lifted Veil, The. By Basil King. 
 Lighted Way, The. By E. Phillips Oppenheim. 
 Lin McLean. By Owen Wister. 
 Lonesome Land. By B. M. Bower. 
 Lone Wolf, The. By Louis Joseph Vance. 
 Long Ever Ago. By Rupert Hughes. 
 Lonely Stronghold, The. By Mrs. Bailiie Reynolds. 
 Long Live the King. By Mary Roberts Rinehart. 
 Long Roll, The. By Mary Johnston. 
 Lord Tony s Wife. By Baroness Orczy. 
 Lost Ambassador. By E. Phillips Oppenheim. 
 Lost Prince, The. By Frances Hodgson Burnett. 
 Lydia of the Pines. By Honore Willsie. 
 
 Maid of the Forest, The. By Randall Parrish. 
 
 Maid of the Whispering Hills, The. By Vingie E. Roe. 
 
 Maids of Paradise, The. By Robert W. Chambers. 
 
 Major, The. By Ralph Connor. 
 
 Maker of History, A. By E. Phillips Oppenheim. 
 
 Malefactor, The. By E. Phillips Oppenheim. 
 
 Man from Bar 20, The. By Clarence E. Mulford. 
 
 Man in Grey, The. By Baroness Orczy. 
 
 Man Trail, The. By Henry Oyen. 
 
 Man Who Couldn t Sleep, The. By Arthur Stringer. 
 
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 Man with the Club Foot, The. By Valentine Williams. 
 
 Mary- Gusta. By Joseph C. Lincoln. 
 
 Mary Moreland. By Marie Van Vorst. 
 
 Mary Regan. By Leroy Scott. 
 
 Master Mummer, The. By E. Phillips Oppenheim. 
 
 Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. By A. Conan Doyle. 
 
 Men Who Wrought, The. By Ridgwell Cullum. 
 
 Mischief Maker, The. By E. Phillips Oppenheim. 
 
 Missioner, The. By E. Phillips Oppenheim. 
 
 Miss Million s Maid. By Berta Ruck. 
 
 Molly McDonald. By Randall Parrish. 
 
 Money Master, The. By Gilbert Parker. 
 
 Money Moon, The. By Jeffery Farnpl. 
 
 Mountain Girl, The. By Payne Erskine. 
 
 Moving Finger, The. By Natalie Sumner Lincoln. 
 
 Mr. Bingle. By George Barr McCutchepn. 
 
 Mr. Grex of Monte Carlo. By E. Phillips Oppenheim. 
 
 Mr. Pratt. By Joseph C. Lincoln. 
 
 Mr. Pratt s Patients. By Joseph C. Lincoln. 
 
 Mrs. Belfame. By Gertrude Atherton. 
 
 Mrs. Red Pepper. By Grace S. Richmond. 
 
 My Lady Caprice. By Jeffrey Farnol. 
 
 My Lady of the North. By Randall Parrish. 
 
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 Mystery of the Hasty Arrow, The. By Anna K. Green. 
 
 Nameless Man, The. By Nataile Sumner Lincoln. 
 
 Ne er-Do-Well, The. By Rex Beach. 
 
 Nest Builders, The. By Beatrice Forbes-Robertson Hale. 
 
 Net, The. By Rex Beach. 
 
 New Clarion. By Will N. Harben. 
 
 Night Operator, The. By Frank L. Packard. 
 
 Night Riders, The. By Ridgwell Cullum. 
 
 Nobody. By Louis Joseph Vance. 
 
 Okewood of the Secret Service. By the Author of "Tie 
 
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 One Way Trail, The. By Ridgwell Cullum. 
 Open, Sesame, By Mrs. Baillie Reynolds. 
 Otherwise Phyllis. By Meredith Nicholson. 
 Outlaw, The. By Jackson Gregory. 
 
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 Paradise Auction. By Nalbro Hartley. 
 
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 Partners of the Night. By Leroy Scott. 
 
 Partners of the Tide. By Joseph C Lincoln. 
 
 Passionate Friends, The. By H. G. Wells. 
 
 Patrol of the Sun Dance Trail, The. By Ralph Connor. 
 
 Paul Anthony, Christian. By Hiram W. Hays. 
 
 Pawns Count, The. By E. Phillips Oppenheim. 
 
 People s Man, A. By E. Phillips Oppenheim. 
 
 Perch of the Devil. By Gertrude Atherton. 
 
 Peter Ruff and the Double Four. By E. Phillips Oppenheim. 
 
 Pidgin Island. By Harold MacGrath. 
 
 Place of Honeymoon, The. By Harold MacGrath, 
 
 Pool of Flame, The. By Louis Joseph Vance. 
 
 Postmaster, The. By Joseph C. Lincoln. 
 
 Prairie Wife, The. By Arthur Stringer. 
 
 Price of the Prairie, The. By Margaret Hill McCarter. 
 
 Prince of Sinners, A. By E. Phillips Oppenheim. 
 
 Promise, The. By J. B. Hendryx. 
 
 Proof of the Pudding, The. By Meredith Nicholson. 
 
 Rainbow s End, The. By Rex Beach. 
 
 Ranch at the Wolverine, The. By B. M. Bower. 
 
 Ranching for Sylvia. By Harold Bindloss. 
 
 Ransom. By Arthur Somers Roche. 
 
 Reason Why, The. By Elinor Glyn. 
 
 Reclaimers, The. By Margaret Hill McCarter. 
 
 Red Mist, The. By Randall Parrish. 
 
 Red Pepper Burns. By Grace S. Richmond. 
 
 Red Pepper s Patients. By Grace S. Richmond. 
 
 Rejuvenation of Aunt Mary, The. By Anne Warner. 
 
 Restless Sex, The. By Robert W. Chambers. 
 
 Return of Dr. Fu-Manchu, The. By Sax Rohmer. 
 
 Return of Tarzan, The. By Edgar Rice Burroughs. 
 
 Riddle of Night, The. By Thomas W. Han shew. 
 
 Rim of the Desert, The. By Ada Woodruff Anderson. 
 
 Rise of Roscoe Paine, The. By J. C. Lincoln. 
 
 Rising Tide, The. By Margaret Deland. 
 
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 Rocks of Valpre, The. By Ethel M. Dell. 
 
 Rogue by Compulsion, A. By Victor Bridges. 
 
 Room Number 3. By Anna Katharine Green. 
 
 Rose in the Ring, The. By George Barr McCutcheon. 
 
 Rose of Old Harpeth, The. By Maria Thompson Daviess, 
 
 Round the Corner in Gay Street. By Grace S. Richmond. 
 
 Second Choice. By Will N. Harben. 
 
 Second Violin, The. By Grace S. Richmond. 
 
 Secret History. By C. N. & A. M. Williamson. 
 
 Secret of the Reef, The. By Harold Biridloss. 
 
 Seven Darlings, The. By Gouverneur Morris. 
 
 Shavings. By Joseph C. Lincoln. 
 
 Shepherd of the Hills, The. By Harold Bell Wright. 
 
 Sheriff of Dyke Hole, The. By Ridgwell Cullum. 
 
 Sherry. By George Barr McCutcheon. 
 
 Side of the Angels, The. By Basil King. 
 
 Silver Horde, The. By Rex Beach. 
 
 Sin That Was His, The. By Frank L. Packard. 
 
 Sixty-first Second, The. By Owen Johnson. 
 
 Soldier of the Legion, A. By C. N. & A. M. Williamson. 
 
 Son of His Father, The. By Ridgwell Cullum. 
 
 Son of Tarzan, The. By Edgar Rice Burroughs. 
 
 Source, The. By Clarence Buddington Kelland. 
 
 Speckled Bird, A. By Augusta Evans Wilson. 
 
 Spirit in Prison, A. By Robert Hichens. 
 
 Spirit of the Border, The. (New Edition.) By Zane Grey. 
 
 Spoilers, The. By Rex Beach. 
 
 Steele of the Royal Mounted. By James Oliver Curwood. 
 
 Still Jim. By Honore Willsie. 
 
 Story of Foss River Ranch, The. By Ridgwell Cullum. 
 
 Story of Marco, The. By Eleanor H. Porter. 
 
 Strange Case of Cavendish, The. By Randall Parrish. 
 
 Strawberry Acres. By Grace S. Richmond. 
 
 Sudden Jim. By Clarence B. Kelland. 
 
 Tales of Sherlock Holmes. By A. Conan Doyle. 
 Tarzan of the Apes. By Edgar R. Burroughs. 
 Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar. By Edgar Rice Burroughs. 
 
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 Tempting of Tavernake, The. By E. Phillips Oppenheim. 
 
 Tess of the D Urbervilles. By Thos. Hardy. 
 
 Thankful s Inheritance. By Joseph C. Lincoln. 
 
 That Affair Next Door. By Anna Katharine Green. 
 
 That Printer of Udell s. By Harold Bell Wright. 
 
 Their Yesterdays. By Harold Bell Wright. 
 
 Thirteenth Commandment, The. By Rupert Hughes. 
 
 Three of Hearts, The. By Berta Ruck. 
 
 Three Strings, The. By Natalie Summer Lincoln. 
 
 Threshold, The. By Marjorie Benton Cooke. 
 
 Throwback, The. By Alfred Henry Lewis. 
 
 Tish. By Mary Roberts Rinehart. 
 
 To M. L. G.; or, He Who Passed. Anon. 
 
 Trail of the Axe, The. By Ridgwell Cullum. 
 
 Trail to Yesterday, The. By Chas. A. Seltzer. 
 
 Treasure of Heaven, The. By Marie Corelli. 
 
 Triumph, The. By Will N. Harben. 
 
 T. Tembarom. By Frances Hodgson Burnett. 
 
 Turn of the Tide. By Author of "Pollyanna." 
 
 Twenty-fourth of June, The, By Grace S. Richmond, 
 
 Twins of Suffering Creek, The. By Ridgwell Cullum. 
 
 Two-Gun Man, The. By Chas. A. Seltzer. 
 
 Uncle William. By Jeannette Lee. 
 
 Under Handicap. By Jackson Gregory. 
 
 Under the Country Sky. By Grace S. Richmond. 
 
 Unforgiving Offender, The. By John Reed Scott. 
 
 Unknown Mr. Kent, The. By Roy Norton. 
 
 Unpardonable Sin, The. By Major Rupert Hughes. 
 
 Up From Slavery. By Booker T. Washington. 
 
 Valiants of Virginia, The. By Hallie Ermine Rives. 
 Valley of Fear, The. By Sir A. Conan Doyle. 
 Vanished Messenger, The. By E. Phillips Oppenheim 
 Vanguards of the Plains. By Margaret Hill McCarter. 
 Vashti. By Augusta Evans Wilson. 
 Virtuous Wives. By Owen Johnson. 
 Visioning, The. By Susan Glaspell. 
 
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 Waif-o -the-Sea. By Cyrus Townsend Brady. 
 
 Wall of Men, A. By Margaret H. McCarter. 
 
 Watchers of the Plans, The. By Ridgwell Cullum. 
 
 Way Home, The. By Basil King. 
 
 Way of an Eagle, The. By E. M. Dell. 
 
 Way of the Strong, The. By Ridgwell Cullum. 
 
 Way of These Women, The. By E. Phillips Oppenheim. 
 
 We Can t Have Everything. By Major Rupert Hughes. 
 
 Weavers, The. By Gilbert Parker. 
 
 When a Man s a Man. By Harold Bell Wright. 
 
 When Wilderness Was King. By Randall Parrish. 
 
 Where the Trail Divides. By Will Lillibridge. 
 
 Where There s a Will. By Mary R. Rinehart. 
 
 White Sister, The. By Marion Crawford. 
 
 Who Goes There? By Robert W. Chambers. 
 
 Why Not. By Margaret Widdemer. 
 
 Window at the White Cat, The. By Mary Roberts Rinehart. 
 
 Winds of Chance, The. By Rex Beach. 
 
 Wings of Youth, The. By Elizabeth Jordan. 
 
 Winning of Barbara Worth, The. By Harold Bell Wright. 
 
 Wire Devils, The. By Frank L. Packard. 
 
 Winning the Wilderness. By Margaret Hill McCarter. 
 
 Wishing Ring Man, The. By Margaret Widdemer. 
 
 With Juliet in England. By Grace S. Richmond. 
 
 Wolves of the Sea. By Randall Parrish. 
 
 Woman Gives, The. By Owen Johnson. 
 
 Woman Haters, The. By Joseph C. Lincoln. 
 
 Woman in Question, The. By John Reed Scott. 
 
 Woman Thou Gavest Me, The. By Hall Caine. 
 
 Woodcarver of Lympus, The. By Mary E. Waller. 
 
 Wooing of Rosamond Fayre, The. By Berta Ruck. 
 
 World for Sale, The. By Gilbert-Parker. 
 
 Years for Rachel, The. By Berta Ptck. 
 
 Yellow Claw, The. By Sax Rohmer. 
 
 You Never Know Your Luck. By Gilbert Parker. 
 
 Zeppelin s Passenger, The. By E. Phillips Oppenheim. 
 
GENERAL LIBRARY 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY 
 
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 , ^ -.:-. f**, , ^| | nP% 
 
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 JUU 2 1 1958 
 
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 21-100m-l, 54(1887sl6)476 
 
YB 60424