Page:Pacific Monthly volumes 9 and 10.djvu/137



THE MYSTERY OF LO WAN SEE

87

Lo in the hands of Pinkerton's,'* ob- served the Colonel, rising from the breakfast table.

Margaret's cup of coffee was tipped upon the cloth by a sudden nervous motion of her hand.

"What for?" she asked, sharply.

'They think the jewels may have been brought to America. The Chinese Consul has cabled the government that there has been an exhibition in Seattle of some rare curios, said to have be- longed to the Empress. They were said to have been smuggled."

Margaret was very pale now.

"How very startling!" she said in an odd tone. "If Seattle should have the distinction of such an incident "

"Count Cabello!" the servant an- nounced.

The Colonel cleared his throat.

"Your Portuguese is getting on, Madge!" he exclaimed. "He comes to breakfast."

Madge arose precipitately and left the room. There was a carriage at the door. In half an hour she peeped into the library.

"I am going out, father, with Count Cabello," she said, hurriedly. "I shall not be back for some time."

Margaret did not come back at all! It was a most romantic affair. She and the Count took the train for San Fran- cisco, and from Portland there came a telegram signed by the Count ana Countess Cabello. It was given out that this Portuguese Lochinvar had taken his bride to Brazil, where he had an estate at Petropolis. The Colonel heard from them by letter in the course

of a few weeks, when they had reached Mexico.

The day after the elopement there was another sensation. The beautiful curio shop of the Sou Chong Company on Second avenue was invaded by the police with a warrant for the arrest of Hi Suie Long, a smuggler, supposed to be implicated in the disappearance of Prince Lo and in the theft of the late Empress' jewels. Hi Suie Long was not there. The Chinese usher, very pale and nervous, explained that Long had gone away a week before.

"He sell this man!" the servant said, indicating a tall, ungainly fellow who was busy about the shop.

"Mr. John Thomas," said the Chinese usher, briefly, and John Thomas bowed. Yes, he was the owner. He had bought out Hi Suie Long. He was the Ameri- can agent of the Sou Chong Company. He didn't know anything about the Chinaman, except the fact that he had left Seattle. He didn't know anything about any smuggled goods or any jew- elry. The gentlemen were welcome to search his shop.

The search was ineffectual. The Buddhist temple had been to a large ex- tent dismantled. It had been so when Mr. Thomas bought out the place. The police went away disappointed. As they disappeared Thomas said something to the little usher in very good Chinese. They went together and opened a little cupboard concealed by a bit of matting. In it there was a coffin and a box se- curely bound with brass.

"Sam Loo!" said Thomas, quietly, "take these things out in the shed and chop them up for kindling."