The Call of the Red Gods 9 
allowing plenty of latitude to his English friends now busy 
racking their brains to find acceptable gifts, also implied 
that the old man enjoyed exercising his prerogative of 
choice. The Consul came out strongly with a bottle of 
scent, a box of Vinolia soap, and a silk handkerchief. The 
fourth item was rather a puzzle, but not to be daunted a 
bright idea finally came to him, and having filched a nice 
blanket with pretty blue and red stripes from his bed, he 
despatched it on a tray with the other articles; then, remorse 
succeeding, he spent the afternoon in an agony of appre- 
hension lest the old man should choose the blanket, and he 
be compelled to freeze every night till he could get another 
one up from Bhamo. But this was as nothing compared 
with the horror which presently possessed him. With a 
view to enhanced effect the Consul had covered over the 
things on the tray with his best tea-cloth, and no sooner 
were the wedding presents under way than an appalling 
thought occurred to him. Suppose the old man, instead of 
whisking off the table-cloth to gaze with rapt eyes on the 
treasures beneath, as was expected of him—suppose that 
his gaze should be arrested before the curtain went up, so 
to speak, and that with nice discrimination he should 
choose the tea-cloth itself before he had a chance of falling 
in love with the scent or the soap! The Consul groaned 
at the bare possibility ; it was just the sort of tactless thing 
a retired General might be expected to do. 
However, the old man rose grandly to the occasion, 
eschewed the table-cloth and the blanket, and chose the 
silk handkerchief. The Consul slept warmly that night, 
we spread the tea-cloth again next day, and all came back 
from the wedding feast, which was a sort of high tea lasting 
from 5 p.m. till 9 p.m., looking pale but satisfied. 
On March 15th my missing baggage came up from 
Bhamo and on the 18th I started eastwards, having in the 
meantime procured the services of a Minchia cook, Ho- 
shing by name, who had had some previous experience 
with Europeans. 
Sorry as I was to say good-bye to my friends in T’eng- 
yueh, who had done everything to give me a real good 
time, I nevertheless felt in the best of spirits at the 
prospect of leaving. The sky was turquoise blue, and the 
