THE LUCK OF THE IRISH
from a long fiber thread much used by the Chinese fruit-sellers.
"Pshaw!" said Camden. "I wish you'd let me guide you into the markets again. I know where you can get bushels of the fruit for almost nothing."
"How long will it take?" she asked, eagerly.
"A quarter of an hour at the longest."
So Ruth handed her mangosteens to the spinsters, took Camden's rickshaw while he engaged another, and the two of them wheeled away. Now Ruth possessed a good idea of locality; and it presently occurred to her that her rickshaw boy was not going in the direction of the markets, which lay eastward. She touched the boy on the shoulder with her sunshade. Instead of turning his head to inquire what she wished, he broke into the full run which is almost as fast as a horse ordinarily trots. He would be able to maintain this gait for an hour or more. The Chinese in Singapore are the sturdiest in the world.
Ruth became alarmed. The boy was patently running away with her. She looked back to find that Camden had stopped and was arguing furiously with his boy. Next she saw him jump from the rickshaw and run after her. He stumbled and fell, and by the time he was on his feet again there was no possible chance of his overtaking her. He stood in the middle of the dusty road, apparently bewildered and undecided; and this picture was the last she ever saw of him, for her boy shot up a side street. All this was very good acting
261
