ht into the
garden, the bats out of the eaves, and he played the shadow of Joicey's
shame off his own soul until he was refreshed and renewed, and it was
time for him to return to his disguise and slip out of the house.

XXI

DEMONSTRATES THE PERSUASIVE POWER OF A KNIFE EDGE, AND TELLS A STORY OF
A GOLD LACQUER BOWL

The obese boy sat in Leh Shin's shop, fiddling sometimes with his ears
and sometimes with the soles of his bare feet. He found life just a
little dull, and had he been able to express himself as "bored," he
would doubtless have done so. Peeling small dry scales of skin off
wear-hardened heels is not the most exciting occupation life affords,
and the assistant wished more than once that his master would return
from either the gambling den or the Joss House and liberate him for the
night.

It was his night at the river house, and small opportunities for
pilfering from the drugged sleepers made these occasions both amusing
and profitable. On the whole he enjoyed the nights in the den, and they
added considerably to his bank in a box secreted behind the Joss who
flamed and pranced on the wall. Meanwhile, nothing was doing in the
shop, and company there was none, unless the cockroaches and the lizards
could be reckoned in that category.

His master had been shaky and short of temper when he awoke from his
afternoon sleep, and had struck his assistant over the head more than
once in the course of an argument. Unseen things ticked and rustled in
dark corners, and the boy yawned loudly and stretched his arms, making
himself more hideous as his contracted mouth opened to its full oval in
his large round face. Still nothing happened and no one came, and he
returned to the closer examination of a blister that interested him. He
probed it with a needle, and it indicated its connection with his foot
by stinging as though he had burnt himself with a match.

He was seated on a table bending over his horrible employment, half
pastime, half primitive operation, the light of the lamp full upon him,
when a sound of padding feet shook the floor and he looked up, his eyes
full of the effort of listening attentively, and saw a face peering in
at the door. For a moment he was startled, and then he swung his legs,
which hung short of the floor, over the side of the table and laughed
out loud.

"So thou art back, Mountain of Wisdom?" he said jeeringly. "Come within
and tell me of thy journey."

The Burman crept i