Read Passage of Arms for Free Online Page B

original mnfrs. packings, containers, etc.
    Prices: All prices f.o.b. vicinity Kuala Pangkalan.
    Terms and Conditions: Items sold separate subject 20% increase.
     
    Mr. Tan looked up.
    "You see, sir?” said Girija softly; "I was wrong. It is not just a matter of a few hundred dollars, but of many thousands."
    Mr. Tan pretended to read the list through a second time in order to give himself time to think. He had little doubt that the 'friend' for whom the clerk claimed to be acting was non-existent. The Indian must have been desperate for money to take the risk of approaching a comparative stranger in this way; or very sure of himself as a judge of character. Mr. Tan had an uneasy feeling that the latter explanation might be the more likely. The fellow looked confident enough, and not at all desperate. Of course, he could be lying, and the whole story could be a mere trick to get money; but Mr. Tan did not really think so. In any case it would be simple to find out. He looked up again and met the clerk's eyes.
    "My friend," said Girija, "would be willing to pay a commission of fifty per cent to anyone who found a buyer, and who would take delivery of the goods."
    Mr. Tan shook his head. "But this would be a serious criminal matter. Does your friend not understand that?"
    "That was my first thought, too," said Girija approvingly; "but he did not agree. This is not stolen property, he says. It has no owner. If it should leave the country the police would have no interest in it. The emergency is over."
    "But the laws remain."
    "That is true." Girija nodded thoughtfully. "You think, then, sir, that I should tell my friend that you advise him to go to the police?"
    "I think you should tell him to put the whole matter out of his mind." Mr. Tan paused and then added: "Perhaps later the law will not be so strict."
    "Yes, that is so."
    "Such merchandise as this is always saleable." Mr. Tan looked down again at the list. "Have you seen any of these items?"
    "My friend is naturally careful."
    "But do you believe him? You say he wishes to find a buyer. A list is not proof that there is something to sell. Could he produce samples?"
    "He would be more than ready to do that, sir."
    Mr. Tan refolded the inventory. "I know little about these matters," he said; "but I have heard that buyers in this market are not easy to reach. Contacts must be found. Time must be spent. There can be no urgency."
    "My friend is very patient."
    "Then, do as I suggest. Tell him to forget for a while." He looked up at Girija. "You agree?"
    "Of course, sir."
    Mr. Tan held up the list. "And I may keep this paper?"
    It was a test question.
    Girija smiled. "My friend will be happy for it to remain in such wise hands, sir."
    He rose. The interview was over. When the usual courtesies had been exchanged, he left.
    Mr. Tan watched him walk away across the yard, then sent for the Chiang Thye Phu Syndicate estate's files.
    The first thing was to find out whether the clerk's discretion and sense of self-preservation were as lively as they had appeared to be. If he had been foolhardy enough to type out his list on Mr. Wright's estate office typewriter and then leave it with someone who could, if it seemed advantageous, go to the authorities and gain credit by reporting the incident, Mr. Tan wanted no more to do with him and would burn the paper at once. If, as he suspected, the young man had been careful to leave himself in a position to deny effectively all knowledge of the conversation they had just had, and of the list, then something might be made of the situation.
    He looked through Mr. Wright's office consignment notes and compared the typing on them with that of the list. It was obvious that the list had not been typed on the same machine. So far so good. He read through the list once more and then locked it in his private office safe.
    Later that day, when he had had further time to think, he wrote to his brother in Singapore.
     
    II
     
    Tan Yam Heng was the