Page:Ballinger Price--Fortune of the Indies.djvu/102

 produced two or three papers from his pocket.

"I have been at great pains," he said, "to make sure of a true translation of this thing. It's in a sort of Mandarine, very complex and beautiful. Here is, what it says, as nearly as English can give it."

He looked quickly around at his transfixed audience over the rim of his glasses, and cleared his throat.

The cherry petal falls each spring upon the stone of the court-yard, but next year it blooms again in fresh beauty. So is renewed gratitude in the heart of T'ang Min, who will not forget.

How auspicious the day, how gentle the winds, when the golden dragon-ships of T'ang Min set forth! They are laden with the treasures of human desire. The jade and pearls weigh down the dragon-ships; they are bright with silk and gold and fragrant with spices. How vile is the nature of man! The dragon-ships are beset by sea-robbers; these orange sails are the sails of pirates. The greatest of the dragon-ships sinks under the green jade water. With it goes the wealth of