The
oil lamp swung overhead with the lift and fall of the ship, and
Sadler spread himself six feet and more on the cabin lounge, and
unloaded his mind.
"You remember what Fu Shan said of his brother's joss house?" he
says. "It's this way. Why, Fu Shan had a father once, named Lo Tsin
Shan, and he was a sort of mandarin family in China. He went to
Singapore and started in the tea business. He had a large hard head.
He went into a lot of different enterprises, and cut a considerable
swath. He died and left ten or twelve sons, who scattered to look
after his enterprises. That's how Fu Shan came to Saleratus six years
ago. Fu Shan was always some stuck on his own intellect, and at that
time he thought he could play cards, but he couldn't. I cleared him
out of two hundred and fifty one night, and we went into partnership,
but that's neither here nor there. Now, Lo Tsin Shan appears to have
been a little fishy as to his feelings, but he had brains. Fu Shan's
opinion is reverential, and he don't admit the fish. Lo Tsin had an
agency at Calcutta, and Burmah lies on the way, but it wasn't
commercial in those days. Now, in Burmah there's a navigable river
that runs the length of the country, and all along it are cities full
of temples, some of 'em deserted, and some of 'em lively.
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