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Page 55
"We shall know where to find it if it's wanted, Mr. Knox," said
the Yard man, "and I can trust you to look after your own
property."
The clock of St. Paul's was chiming the hour of two when I locked
the door of my chambers and prepared to turn in. The clangour of
the final strokes yet vibrated through the night's silence when
someone set my own door bell loudly ringing.
With an exclamation of annoyance I shot back the bolts and threw
open the door.
A Chinaman stood outside upon the mat!
IV
HOW IT ALL ENDED
"Me wishee see you," said the apparition, smiling blandly; "me
comee in?"
"Come in, by all means," I said without enthusiasm, and,
switching on the light in my study, I admitted the Chinaman and
stood facing him with an expression upon my face which I doubt
not was the reverse of agreeable.
My visitor, who wore a slop-shop suit, also wore a wide-brimmed
bowler hat; now, the set bland smile still upon his yellow face,
he removed the bowler and pointed significantly to his skull.
His pigtail had been severed some three inches from the root!
"You gotchee my pigtail," he explained; "me callee get it--thank
you."
"Thank you," I said grimly. "But I must ask you to establish
your claim rather more firmly."
"Yessir," agreed the Chinaman.
And thereupon in tolerable pidgin English he unfolded his tale.
He proclaimed his name to be Hi Wing Ho, and his profession that
of a sailor, or so I understood him. While ashore at Suez he had
become embroiled with some drunken seamen: knives had been drawn,
and in the scuffle by some strange accident his pigtail had been
severed. He had escaped from the conflict, badly frightened, and
had run a great distance before he realized his loss. Since
Southern Chinamen of his particular Tong hold their pigtails in
the highest regard, he had instituted inquiries as soon as
possible, and had presently learned from a Chinese member of the
crew of the S.S. Jupiter that the precious queue had fallen
into the hands of a fireman on that vessel. He (Hi Wing Ho) had
shipped on the first available steamer bound for England, having
in the meanwhile communicated with his friend on the Jupiter
respecting the recovery of the pigtail.
"What was the name of your friend on the Jupiter?"
"Him Li Ping--yessir!"--without the least hesitation or hurry.
I nodded. "Go on," I said.
He arrived at the London docks very shortly after the Jupiter.
Indeed, the crew of the latter vessel had not yet been paid off
when Hi Wing Ho presented himself at the dock gates. He admitted
that, finding the fireman so obdurate, he and his friend Li Ping
had resorted to violence, but he did not seem to recognize me as
the person who had frustrated their designs. Thus far I found
his story credible enough, excepting the accidental severing of
the pigtail at Suez, but now it became wildly improbable, for he
would have me believe that Li Ping, or Ah Fu, obtaining
possession of the pigtail (in what manner Hi Wing Ho protested
that he knew not) he sought to hold it to ransom, knowing how
highly Hi Wing Ho valued it.
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