The Mystery of the Fire Dragon - Carolyn Keene [37]
“That is Victoria Peak and it’s eighteen hundred and nine feet high,” Ned told Nancy.
“It’s amazing how they build houses right into the side of the mountain,” Nancy remarked.
When she and Ned debarked, he hailed two rickshas and the couple climbed into them. Nancy was intrigued by the man pulling her little two-wheeled vehicle. He trotted along after Ned’s ricksha at a pace that a horse would trot.
Nancy found Hong Kong a fascinating combination of modern skyscrapers and quaint Oriental buildings. Presently the ricksha men turned down an alley and in a few minutes stopped. They had arrived at Mr. Lung’s shop.
“Like the ride?” Ned grinned.
“It was fun,” Nancy replied as they alighted.
She and Ned entered the shop and gazed around at the wall decorations. Every one of them was a dragon in some form. There were painted scrolls, pictures, and a few wooden figures. Nancy shivered. “This is a creepy place,” she whispered.
There was a short counter toward the rear of the shallow shop. As the couple approached it, a man came from behind a curtain in back of the counter.
“Mr. Lung?” Ned asked.
The man nodded.
“We’d like to see some mah-jongg sets,” Ned told him.
Without a word the shop owner took several from a shelf and gave the price of each. All the playing pieces were of ivory, but the less expensive sets were in plain boxes, while others were in carved teakwood chests lined with camphor wood.
“These are very beautiful,” Nancy said. “Do you have any others?”
Mr. Lung shook his head. “We have more that are similar, but these are samples of all the varieties I carry.”
Nancy examined the boxes carefully. It occurred to her that each one contained many places in which small articles could be secreted for smuggling.
“What do you think?” Ned asked her, careful not to use Nancy’s name.
“Let’s decide later,” the young sleuth answered. “After all, we’ve just started to shop.” She turned to Mr. Lung. “Thank you very much. We’ll probably be back.”
The man bowed and started to put the mah-jongg sets back on the shelf. Nancy and Ned left the shop and strolled up the alleyway. They had not gone far when Nancy heard a woman’s familiar voice say loudly, “You charge too much!”
Turning, the girl saw Mrs. Horace Truesdale just alighting from a ricksha. The woman, frowning, put some money in the man’s hand, then walked into Mr. Lung’s shop.
Quickly Nancy told Ned of her encounter with Mrs. Truesdale, then whispered tensely:
“Is it just a coincidence that she knows Mr. Stromberg and came directly here to Mr. Lung’s shop? Or could Mrs. Truesdale, by some chance, be part of the smuggling ring?”
CHAPTER XVI
A Chinese Puzzle
“NANCY, that’s a good hunch,” Ned said. “Let’s eavesdrop on Mrs. Truesdale.”
Quickly the couple moved up the narrow street and cautiously posted themselves, one on either side, at the door of Mr. Lung’s shop.
Nancy and Ned were just in time to see Mrs. Truesdale take a small white paper from her purse. She held it up and turned it first on one side, then the other, for Mr. Lung to see. Then, without looking, she seemingly returned it to her purse. But the paper fluttered to the floor apparently unnoticed.
“Please ship four dozen mah-jongg sets to my sister’s gift shop,” the woman said to the owner.
Mr. Lung grinned. “Very soon,” he said.
Mrs. Truesdale snapped her purse shut and started for the door, evidently unaware that the paper she had shown the man lay on the floor.
“I’d certainly like to see what’s written on it,” the young sleuth told herself.
“We’d better hide!” Ned warned. He took hold of Nancy’s arm and hurried her into the doorway of an adjoining shop.
They saw Mrs. Truesdale come out onto the street, hail a ricksha man, and climb into the cart. As soon as she was out of sight, Nancy urged Ned to return to Mr. Lung’s shop with her.
“Suppose you buy a mah-jongg set while I try to find out what is on the paper.