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"I can o to town, but first you must darken your face once more Was it my tobacco that you used?"

"Yes"

"I hope there is enough left to do the job Go ahead, it is all right I will not need more now Go ahead"

The taste of the tobacco alain, but I chewed it and rubbed the resulting liquid into ave my hands and forear this ti to endoith a yellowish color all le with the crowds, you will stay close to the entrance of the command headquarters I will see to the rest"

"What time-"

"You will knohen it is time, my friend I only hope that it can be done before it is too late"

Chapter 11

I don’t re ue or cholera and that I had not yet been bitten by a rabid skunk Nor had I walked through any caves cluttered with bat crap I would tell ain, and I would becoood control of ed to lean over the side of the cart

In Tao Dan the old man parked the bullock and took me to a little restaurant He knew the proprietor and spoke rapidly to hi me to a small booth at the rear Then he pressed a feell-creased little bank notes intoyou cups of herbal tea," he said "I have said that you have a weakness of the brain and cannot speak clearly Thus it will not be necessary for you to say anything, and you may remain here until I return No one will disturb you"

I nodded

"I will be back shortly I will arrange for a boat I had thought to take you with me, but it may be more readily done this way Then I will tell you how to find the boat after I return You ait here? You will not move?"

"There is little ti"

He left I looked down at the table top It ooden, and the finish had long ago been worn away My eyes saw intricate patterns in the scarred surface, patterns alive with aesthetic is to one’sand looked to be about twelve years old I thought at first that she was a very pretty child, but when I lookedThe empty socket was black inside She smiled shyly and set the tea down beforeup behind my own eyes and blamed them on the fever The world, after all, is filled with blind children who envy the one-eyed ones, and legless men who envy cripples, and millionaires who envy billionaires One has to irl I held ht the motions

"You are to have only tea," she said "You are not to have food The ain, and went through the routine once , chewing and spitting

"Not food?"

I shook aain" I did "Betel nut? You wish betel nut?"

I set it for you I ask my father if you may have You wait"

She rushed away In a fewback with a slice of betel nut wrapped in the usual leaf The flavoring agent was different fro’s betel but by no iggled happily, made a small but very courtly bow, and sca of Minna and hoping that she was all right I knew that Kitty Bazerian would take good care of her, and I was privately convinced that the child was sufficiently adaptable to get along almatism far beyond her years But she was happiest at home with me in the apartment on 107th Street, which hy I would undoubtedly never get around to having her adopted, or sending her to school, or doing any of the things one really ought to do with a child her age