tion, the
weariness of a long, full day was so heavy upon him that he went to
sleep almost before Sum Fat had finished making him comfortable.

Extinguishing the candle, the Chinaman, moving with the silent assurance
of a cat in the dark, closed and latched the shutters, then sat down
just outside the living-room door, to wait and watch, sleeplessly alert.

An hour passed in silence, and another, and yet another: Sum Fat sat
moveless in the shadow, which blended so perfectly with his dark
blue-silk garments as to render him almost indistinguishable: a figure
as patient and imperturbable as any bland, stout, graven god of his
religion. Slowly the moonlight shifted over the floor, lengthened until
it almost touched the toe of one of his felt-soled shoes, and
imperceptibly withdrew. The wind had fallen, and the night was very
quiet; few sounds disturbed the stillness, and those inconsiderable: the
steady respiration of the sleeping man; such faint, stealthy creakings
as seemingly infest every human habitation through the night; the dull
lisp and murmur of the tide groping its way along the shore; the muted
grumble of the distant surf; hushed whisperings of leaves disturbed by
wandering airs.

Sum Fat heard all and held impassive. But in time there fell upon his
ears another sound, to which he stirred, if imperceptibly--drawing
himself together, tensing and flexing his tired muscles while his eyes
shifted quickly from one quarter to another of the darkened living-room
and the still more dark bedchamber.

And yet, apparently all that had aroused him was the drowsy whistle of a
whippoorwill.

Then, with no other presage, a shadow flitted past one of the side
windows, and in another reappeared more substantially on the veranda.
Sum Fat grew altogether tense, his gaze fixed and exclusively focussed
upon that apparition.

Cautiously, noiselessly, edging inch by inch across the veranda, the man
approached the door. It was open, hooked back against the wall; only the
wire screen was in his way. Against this he flattened his face; and a
full, long minute elapsed while he carefully surveyed what was visible
of the interior. Even Sum Fat held his breath throughout that
interminable reconnoissance.

At length, reassured, the man laid hold of the screen and drew it open.
It complained a little, and he started violently and waited another
minute for the alarm which did not ensue. Then abruptly he slipped into
the room and slowl