There was only one course open to the Burman and Leh Shin, and that was to wait until there was a Pwe at the Pagoda, which Mhtoon Pah would certainly attend, as his new shrine drew many curious gazers to the Temple.  It would also draw the inhabitants of Paradise Street out of the quarter, and leave the place practically deserted.  For many reasons it was necessary to wait such an opportunity, though Leh Shin raved at the delay.  It seemed to him that the whole plan was of his suggesting, and he did not realize that every vague question put by the Burman led him step by step to the complicated scheme.

“To-morrow I will send forth my assistant to bring me word of the next Pwe, so that the night may be marked in my mind, and that I shall gain pleasure in considering the nearing downfall of my enemy.”

Coryndon slipped off to his house.  He was tired mentally and physically, but before he slept, he took a bundle of keys from his dispatch-box and tied them to the waist of his loongyi.

In the morning there was a fresh surprise for Leh Shin.  His assistant refused to leave the river house, and no persuasion would lure him out to look after his master’s shop.  He was afraid of something or someone, and he wept and entreated to be left where he was.  Leh Shin beat him and tried to drive him out, to no purpose, and in the end he prevailed over his master, whose mind was occupied with other and more weighty affairs.

Like a black shadow, Leh Shin crept about the streets, and he questioned one and another as to the festivities to be held at the Pagoda.  Everywhere he heard of Mhtoon Pah’s shrine, and of the great holiness of the curio dealer.  Mhtoon Pah was giving a feast at the Pagoda with presents for the priests, and the night chosen was the night of the full moon.

“Art thou bidden?” asked one who remembered the day of Leh Shin’s prosperity.

“It is in my thoughts, friend, to make my peace,” said Leh Shin, with an immovable face.  “On the night when the moon is full, I am minded to do so.”

His words were carried back to Mhtoon Pah, who pondered over them, wondering what the Chinaman meant, finding something sinister in the sound that added to his rage against his enemy.

The day of the feast was dark and overcast, and the inhabitants of Paradise Street looked at the sky with great misgiving, but the curio dealer refused to be alarmed.

“The night will be fine, for I have greatly propitiated the Nats,” he said with conviction, and he lolled and smoked in his chair at an earlier hour than was usual with him.

Even as he had said, the evening began to clear, and by sunset the heavy clouds were all dispersed.  A red sunset unfolded itself in a scroll of fire across the sky, and Mangadone looked as though it was illuminated by the flames of a conflagration.  A strange evening, some said then, and many said after.  Even the pointing man lost his jaundice-yellow and seemed to blush as he pointed up the steps.  He had nothing to blush for.  His master was at the summit of his power.  The Hypongyis lauded him openly in the streets, and he was giving a feast at the Temple at which the poorest would not be forgotten.