Part 26 (1/2)

But just behind this lay the real China, looking probably the same as three hundred thousand years ago. The little streets, so narrow in places that the houses almost touched and a carriage could not pa.s.s! That strange medley of sounds and smells and noises! Here a tinker mending his pans on the sidewalk! There a dentist, pulling a tooth in the open street, jugglers performing their tricks, snake charmers exhibiting their slimy pets.

There was a bewildering jumble of trades, occupations and amus.e.m.e.nts, so utterly different from what the tourists had ever before seen that it held their curiosity unabated and their interest stimulated to its highest pitch during the period of their stay.

”Everything is so topsy turvy!” exclaimed Mabel, as she threaded the noisome streets, clinging close to Joe's arm. ”I feel like Alice in Wonderland.”

”It's not surprising that things should be upside down when we're in the Antipodes,” laughed Joe.

”If we saw men walking on their heads it would seem natural out here,”

said Jim. ”All that a Chinaman wants to know is what other people do, then he does something different.”

”Sure thing,” said Joe. ”See those fellows across the street. They're evidently old friends and each one is shaking hands with himself.”

”You can't dope out anything here,” said Jim. ”When an American's puzzled he scratches his head--the Chinaman scratches his foot. We wear black for mourning, they wear white. We pay the doctor when we're sick----”

”If the doctor's lucky,” interrupted Joe.

”They pay him only while they're well. They figure that it's to his interest then to keep them well. We think what few brains we have are in our head. The Chinaman thinks they're in the stomach. Whenever he gets off what he thinks is a good thing he pats his stomach in approval. We put a guest of honor on our right, the Chinaman puts him on his left.”

”Anything else?” asked Clara laughingly.

”Lots of things,” replied Joe. ”And we'll probably find them out before we go away.”

As they pa.s.sed a corner they saw a man standing there, rigged out in a queer fas.h.i.+on. About him was what seemed to be a tree box, from which only his head protruded.

”Why is he going around that way?” asked Mabel, curiously.

”You wouldn't care to know that,” said Joe, hurrying her along, but Mabel was not to be disposed of in so cavalier a fas.h.i.+on.

”But I do want to know,” she persisted.

”Might as well tell her,” said Jim, ”and let her suffer.”

”Well,” said Joe, reluctantly, ”that fellow's being executed.”

”What do you mean?” exclaimed Mabel, in horror.

”Just that,” replied Joe. ”That thing that looked like a tree box is what they call a cangue. They put him in there so that he's standing on thin slabs of wood that just enable him to keep his head above that narrow opening around his neck. Every little while they take one of the slabs of wood from underneath him; then he has to stand on tiptoe. By and by his feet can't touch the slabs at all, and then he chokes to death.”

The girls shuddered and Mabel regretted her ill-timed curiosity.

”What a hideous thing!” exclaimed Clara.

”And what cruel people!” added Mabel.

”One of the most cruel on G.o.d's earth,” replied Jim. ”You see in all this crowd there is n.o.body looking at that fellow with pity. They don't seem to have the slightest tincture of it.”

”Let's go back to our hotel,” pleaded Mabel. ”I've seen all I want to for to-day.”

The games at Hong Kong were interesting and largely attended. There was one rattling contest between the major leaguers that after an eleventh-inning fight was won by the Giants.