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.But they did not say these things because itseemed no one wished to hear them, and instead all wished to heap praise uponNuihc who preened himself and soaked up the adulation as he stood by thepremier."Where is he?" asked Kim Il Sung of Nuihc.His answer did not come from Nuihc, The crowd was silent, its humming babblestopped in midword.All eyes turned toward Chiun's home.Coming down the street slowly, down the thirty yards toward the cars and thecrowd and his tormentor, came Chiun, his face impassive, his steps slow butlight, his hands folded within each other inside the voluminous sleeves of histraditional white robe."Where is the American?" one man called."The false Master still protects the westerner," said another in outrage."Traitor," screamed another man.And then the voices rose above the tiny square, "Traitor! Traitor! Traitor!"Back inside Chiun's house, the young woman who was his servant heard thecatcalls and the hoots and her eyes watered with tears.How could they? Howdid they dare to do such a thing to the Master? And finally she realized thereason.It was not the Master they hated, but the white American.For thewhite American, the Master was doing this.It was not fair.The Master's life destroyed because of the American.The American would not escape the responsibility for his being.She went tothe living room and from a pearl-encrusted scabbard withdrew a highly polishedknife with a long, curved blade.Holding it behind her, she went into the room where Remo slept.His eyes werestill closed.She knelt down beside the sleeping mat.She raised her eyes tothe heavens and offered up a prayer to her ancestors, to understand what shewas doing.She looked down on the hated white man."Lift the knife up and drive it intohis heart," a small voice whispered insistently inside her.The white man's eyes opened.He smiled at her."Hi, sweetheart, where's Chiun?" he said.She lifted the knife up over her head and willed herself to drive it down intoRemo's chest, but then she let it drop from her hands and buried her faceagainst Remo's chest, weeping.CHAPTER SIXTEEN"Where is the swine American?" Nuihc's voice was a sneer as he looked acrossthe two feet of space separating him from Chiun.Chiun ignored him.To the premier, he said: "I see you have chosen a side."The premier shrugged."How like a creature from Pyongyang," said Chiun."To cast his lot with atrollop."One of the motorcycle soldiers stepped forward.He raised his pistol over hishead to club Chiun for his insult.Chiun did not move.The pistol poised andKim Il Sung barked: "Cease."The soldier let his hand down slowly, then with a look of hatred at Chiun hebacked away."Do not be angry," said Chiun."Your premier has saved you to die anotherday."Page 61ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"Enough," said Nuihc."Remo.Where is he?""He rests," said Chiun."I have challenged him.He is a coward not to be here.""A coward.A coward.The traitor has given the wisdom to a coward," came criesfrom the crowd.Chiun waited until the noise subsided."Who is the coward?" said Chiun."Is it the injured white man? Or is it thecowardly squirrel who used three people to have him injured?""Enough, old man," said Nuihc."Not enough," said Chiun."You fool these people now into thinking how braveNuihc is.Did you tell them how you last faced the American? In the museum ofthe whale? And how he left you tied up, with your own belt, like a child?"Nuihc's face flushed."He had help.He did not do it alone.""And did you tell them how you tried to kill the Master, in the oil fields ofthat faraway land? And how I left you to dry in the sun like a starfish?""You talk much, old man," said Nuihc bitterly."But I have come here to getrid of the American for good.And then I, not you, am the Master of Sinanju.Because you have betrayed your people by giving the secrets to a white man.""Traitor!""Traitor!" came the voices again."You have forgotten the legend of the night tiger," said Chiun."Of the deadman whose face is pale and who will come from the dead and be trained by theMaster to be the night tiger who cannot die.You have forgotten these things.""Your legends are for children," said Nuihc with a sneer."Bring on yourAmerican and we will see who cannot die.""Where is he?""The white man… bring him forward!"The voices raised in a roar and under them, Chiun spoke softly to Nuihc."Youmay have Sinanju, Nuihc.Let Remo live.That is my price."Loudly, so he could be heard by all, Nuihc answered."I do not deal with thesenile and the foolish.Remo must die.And you must be sent home." A hush fellover the crowd.In the old days, before the labors of the Masters of Sinanjuhad given the villagers sustenance, the old and the weak and the hungry babieswere sent home—by being put into the cold waters of the bay to drown.Chum looked carefully into Nuihc's eyes.There was no mercy there, no pity, noflicker of humanity.His final offer."I will send myself home," said Chum."But the man with white skin must live."His voice was a tired plea for mercy for Remo.His answer was a smile from Nuihc who said, "So long as he lives, Sinanju'ssecrets are not secrets.He has learned the ancient ways, now they must diewith him.Now.""Now!" came the cries."The American must die!"And then it was that a voice rang over the shouts of the maddened townspeople.And so it was that they turned and cast their eyes toward the palace of theMaster and a hush fell over them as there they saw, standing in the dust ofthe road, the white man dressed in a two-piece black suit without belt.And his voice rang over the heads of the villagers like an alarm bell and theylooked at each other in amazement because the white man spoke in the tongue ofthe villagers, and his words were the words of that land and its old ways, andwhat he did say was."I am created Shiva, the Destroyer, death the shatterer of worlds.The deadnight tiger made whole by the Master of Sinanju.What is this dog meat thatnow challenges me?"And the crowd was hushed, for their tongues were coated with the powder offear.Chiun was looking at Nuihc when Remo's voice sounded.The old man saw Nuihc'sPage 62ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmleyes widen with surprise and perhaps fear
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