visited upon man, earth offers a cure," he
answered. "Life would be a mock could Death, unchallenged, take it."

"True. Have you found in the earth, then, the cure for each ailment of
man?"

"For most, yes. They seek yet, where I learned the art of healing, an
antidote for the cobra's bite. I know of no other they lack."

"Where you were taught they must know more than we of this country
know."

Fong Wu gave his shoulders a characteristic shrug.

"But," she continued, "you speak English so perfectly. Perhaps you were
taught that in this country."

"No--in England. But the other, I was not."

"In England! Well!"

"I went there as a young man."

"But these herbs, these medicines you have--they did not come from
England, did they?"

He smiled. "Some came from the hills at our back." Then, crossing to his
shelves and reaching up, "This"--he touched a silk-covered package--"is
from Sumbawa in the Indian Sea; and this"--his finger was upon the cork
of a phial--"is from Feng-shan, Formosa; and other roots are taken in
winter from the lake of Ting-ting-hu, which is then dry; and still
others come from the far mountains of Chamur."

"Do you know," Mrs. Barrett said tentatively, "I have always heard that
Chinese doctors give horrid things for medicine--sharks' teeth, frogs'
feet, lizards' tails, and--and all sorts of dreadful things."

Fong Wu proffered no enlightenment.

"I am glad," she went on, "that I have learned better."

After a while she began again: "Doubtless there is other wonderful
knowledge, besides that about doctoring, which Chinese gentlemen
possess."

Fong Wu gave her a swift glance. "The followers of Laou-Tsze know many
things," he replied, and moved into the shadows as if to close their
talk.

Toward morning, when he again gave her some tea, she spoke of something
that she had been turning over in her mind for hours.

"You would not take money for helping me when I was hurt," she said,
"and I presume you will refuse to take it for what you are doing now.
But I should like you to know that Mr. Barrett and I will always, always
be your friends. If"--she looked across at him, no more a part of his
rude surroundings than was she--"if ever there comes a time when we
could be of use to you, you have only to tell us. Please remember that."

"I will remember."

"I cannot help but feel," she went on, and with a sincere desire to
prove her gratitude, rather than to pry out any secret of his, "tha