Page:Frank Owen - Rare Earth, 1931.djvu/239

 When late evening came, Pau Dah emerged from his sleeping-room and rejoined Scobee and Hung Long Tom in the garden. He yawned once or twice displaying a cavernous mouth devoid of teeth. But lack of teeth had not prevented him from devouring a meal of sundry courses. He had taught Zung, the cook, how to prepare many new and tempting dishes which he swallowed as payment for the knowledge. It had been long since he had been better nourished or his appetite appeased by more tempting viands.

In the garden he glanced slowly about him. The moon was rising and it shone through the entwining branches of the trees as though they formed a scarf of black lace for it.

Pau Dah placed a small bowl on the ground. Into it he put some bits of leaves and broken twigs. Then he sprinkled a bit of powder over them and chanted a guttural verse in sing-song monotone that was harsh and unpleasant.

This done he suddenly clapped his hands, uttered three piercing shrieks and fell