“No, Burke, those hundred men we found weren’t in the battle. They were respectable Chinese, who had fallen for some hokum, handed them by Shan Kwan. We had no evidence against them. What evidence have you got when nobody says anything but ‘Ying Ko’?
“Anyway, Shan Kwan proved to be the man we wanted. His niece, Loy Ming, came to headquarters with her husband, a smart young Chinee, Noy Dow. They had run away from Shan Kwan, knowing him to be crooked. They gave us the lowdown on his hiring Hoang Fu to murder Roucard and Laudring.
“Satsu, the Korean, showed up, too. His evidence fitted. All three of them were scared of Shan Kwan — they’d taken refuge with Doctor Roy Tam. He was the fellow who sent them to us, Doctor Tam was. He’s a straight shooter, Tam, more American than Chinese. He keeps out of mix-ups in Chinatown; that’s why the girl went to him for help.
“Shan Kwan got what he deserved; and that ends it. Chinatown’s quiet; we’re satisfied. But I’ve got a hunch that the fellows who cleared out Shan Kwan’s dirty crew made a get-away in a boat from an underground channel that we uncovered. I think they took that idol they called the Fate Joss and shipped it aboard some freighter off shore, to send it back to China.
“Yes, the Fate Joss was in it; and the Fate Joss is gone, for there’s no more palaver about it. The Fate Joss — Ying Ko — Say! There’s an idea! Maybe they meant the idol when they kept saying ‘Ying Ko’; yes, maybe Ying Ko was the Fate Joss. I’m going to look that one up, Burke.”
A LATER episode concerned The Shadow; this aftermath found him visiting Yat Soon, within the wise arbiter’s concealed abode. To Yat Soon, The Shadow showed a letter that he had already allowed Doctor Tam to see. The letter was in Chinese; Yat Soon nodded solemnly as he scanned its upward-reading lines.
“The thanks of Cho Tsing,” affirmed Yat Soon, in English. “His word — the word of General Cho Tsing — to you, The Shadow, whom he terms Ying Ko. He tells you that the temple of Je Ho is once more open; that the Fate Joss stands within its own portals, guarded by its brazen War Dogs. That is well.”
Smiling, Yat Soon returned the crinkled rice paper into the gloved hand of The Shadow, that it might be preserved with the first message from Cho Tsing. For these proofs of a successful cause were to remain with him whom the Chinese called Ying Ko.
With other records that referred to conquered crime, those curious letters would repose among the archives of The Shadow.