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Rh sense of unfinished justice gave him strength while he battered the cringing reptile into an amorphous, hideous mass.

With Allister dazed, half understanding, he still had the business of words. A courteous smile crackled the parchment of his face as he took from his sleeve an envelope and held it out to Allister.

"Three lives for two," he murmured, "and the debt is more than paid. May the August Elder Brother's voyage into the friendly bosom of the West be as pleasant as the repove of Buddha."

Allister's wondering fingers disclosed within the envelope a steamer ticket to Seattle. He put out a protesting hand, began self-accusing phrases, but the seller of opium was beyond argument. Ssu Yin was on his knees murmuring before the shelf of the gods:

"Unabashed, Great Ancestors—into the Vale of Longevity Ssu Yin walks without shame."