Page:Shen of the Sea.pdf/152

 end his wholly useless existence. Build a tremendous fire, Ah Fun, my precious jewel. Ai ya, I am cold and ill."

Ah Fun tore a few leaves of paper from a medicine book, and inserting them under the kang, struck fire to them. Then he resumed his play. After a while Dr. Chu Ping raised the quilt from his head and hoarsely whispered, "I—I—I am still shivering, Ah—Ah Fun. M—m—more w—w—wood." Ah Fun looked about, but he saw no firewood. And he was too lazy to go in search. However, the doctor's gold-crested cane stood in a corner. Well, why not? It was bamboo. It would burn. Into the kang went the cane, and right pleasantly did it crackle. But after a time Dr. Chu Ping again uncovered his head and begged weakly, "M—m—more w—w—wood, Ah—Ah Fun!" Once more Ah Fun looked round the room. There was positively no firewood in sight. However upon a shelf lay half a hundred bamboo cylinders, tubes that contained medicines. In one bamboo was cuttlefish-bone. In another