Marching Sands
At their room in the hotel Gray showed the vase to Delabar. It was a valuable object, of enamel wrought on gold leaves, and inscribed with some Chinese characters.
"What do you make of our worthy Wu Fang—
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/89/P_38_illus_-_Marching_sands.jpg/70px-P_38_illus_-_Marching_sands.jpg)
hullo!" he broke off. Delabar had seized the vase and taken off the top.
"It is what the Chinese call a message jar," explained the scientist, feeling within the vase. He removed a slim roll of silk, wound about an ebony stick. On the silk four Chinese characters were delicately painted.
"What do they mean?" asked Gray, looking over his shoulder.
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