In it was the half-coin.

Dunross took it carefully, his heart grinding. They watched him like snakes, both of them, and he felt the strength of their eyes. His fingers shook imperceptibly. It was like the other half-coins that were still in Dirk's Bible, in the safe in the Great House, two still left, two gone, already redeemed, Wu Kwok's one of them. Fighting to control the trembling of his fingers, he handed the coin back. Wu took it, careless that his hand shook.

"Perhaps real," Dunross said, his voice sounding strange. "Must check. Where get it?"

"It's genuine, of course it's fornicating genuine. You acknowl- edge it as genuine?"

"No. Where get it?"

Four Fingers lit a cigarette and coughed. He cleared his throat and spat. "How many coins were there at first? How many did the illustrious Mandarin Jin-qua give Green-Eyed Devil?"

"I not sure."

"Four. There were four."

"Ah, one to your illustrious ancestor, Wu Kwok, paid and hon- ored. Why would great Jin-qua give him two? Not possible so this stolen. From whom?"

The old man flushed and Dunross wondered if he had gone too far.

"Stolen or not," the old man spat, "you grant favor. Heya?" Dunross just stared at him. "Heya? Or is the face of Green-Eyed Devil no longer the face of the Noble House?"

"Where get it?"

Wu stared at him. He stubbed out the cigarette on the carpet. "Why should Green-Eyed Devil agree to four coins? Why? And why would he swear by his gods that he and all his heirs would honor his word, heya7"

"For another favor."

"Ah, tai-pan, yes for a favor. Do you know what favor?"

Dunross stared back at him. "Honorable Jin-qua loaned the tai- pan, my great-great-grandfather, forty lace of silver."

"Forty lac $4 million. One hundred twenty years ago." The old man sighed. His eyes slitted even more. Paul Choy was breathless, motionless. "Was a paper asked for? A debt paper chopped by your illustrious forebear on the chop of the Noble House?"

"No."

"Forty lacs of silver. No paper no chop just trust! The bargain was just a bargain between Old Friends, no chop, just trust, heya?"

"Yes."

The old man's thumbless hand snaked out palm upward and held the half-coin under Dunross's face. "One coin, grant favor. Who- ever asks. I ask."

Dunross sighed. At length he broke the silence. "First I fit half to half. Next make sure metal here same metal there. Then you say favor." He went to pick up the half-coin but the fist snapped closed and withdrew and Four Fingers jerked his good thumb at Paul Choy. "Explain," he said.

"Excuse me, tai-pan," Paul Choy said in English, very uneasily, hating the closeness of the cabin and the devil-borne currents in the cabin, all because of a promise given twelve decades ago by one pirate to another, both murdering cutthroats if half the stories were true, he thought. "My uncle wants me to explain how he wants to do this." He tried to keep his voice level. "Of course he understands you'll have reservations and want to be a thousand percent sure. At the same time he doesn't want to give up possession, just at this time. Until he's sure, one way or the other, he'd pr"

"You're saying he doesn't trust me?"

Paul Choy flinched at the viciousness of the words. "Oh no, sir," he said quickly and translated what Dunross had said.

"Of course I trust you," Wu said. His smile was crooked. "But do you trust me?"

"Oh yes, Old Friend. I trust very much. Give me coin. If real, I tai-pan of Noble House will grant your ask if possible."

"Whatever ask, whatever, is granted!" the old man flared.

"If possible. Yes. If real coin I grant favor, if not real, I give back the coin. Finish."

"Not finish." Wu waved his hand at Paul Choy. "You finish, quickly!"

"Mya my uncle suggests the following compromise. You take this." The young man brought out a flat piece of beeswax. Three separate imprints of the half-coin had been pressed into it. "You'll be able to fit the other half to these, sir. The edges're sharp enough for you to be sure, almost sure. This's step one. If you're reasonably satisfied, step two's we go together to a government assayer or the curator of a museum and get him to test both coins in front of us. Then we'll both know at the same time." Paul Choywas dripping with sweat. "That's what my uncle says."

"One side could easily bribe the essayist."

"Sure. But before we see him we mix up the two halves. We'd know ours, you'd know yours but he wouldn't, huh?"

"He could be got at."

"Sure. But if wea if we do this tomorrow and if Wu Sang gives you his word and you give him your word not to try a setup, it'd work." The young man wiped the sweat offhis face. "Jesus, it's close in here!"

Dunross thought a moment. Then he turned his cold eyes on Four Fingers. "Yesterday I ask favor, you said no."

"That favor was different, tai-pan," the old man replied at once, his tongue darting like a snake's. "That was not the same as an ancient promise collecting an ancient debt."

"You ask your friends concerning my ask, heya7"

Wu lit another cigarette. His voice sharpened. "Yes. My friends are worried about the Noble House."

"If no Noble House, no noble favor, heya?"

The silence thickened. Dunross saw the cunning old eyes dart at Paul Choy and then back to him again. He knew he was entrapped by the coin. He would have to pay. If it was genuine he would have to pay, whether stolen or not. Stolen from whom, his mind was shouting. Who here would have had one? Dirk Struan never knew who the others had been given to. In his testament he had written that he suspected one went to his mistress May-may but there was no reason for such a gift by Jin-qua. If to May-may, Dunross reasoned, then it would have passed down to Shitee T'chung, who was presently the head of the T'chung line, May-may's line. Maybe it was stolen from him.

Who else in Hong Kong?

If the tai-pan or the Hag couldn't answer that one, I can't. There's no family connection back to Jin-qua!

In the heavy silence Dunross watched and waited. Another bead of sweat dropped off Paul Choy's chin as he looked at his father, then back at the table again. Dunross sensed the hate and that interested him. Then he saw Wu sizing up Paul Choy strangely. Instantly his mind leaped forward. "I'm the arbiter of Hong Kong," he said in English. "Support me and within a week huge profits can be made."

"Neyal"

Dunross had been watching Paul Choy. He had seen him look up, startled. "Please translate, Mr. Choy," he said.

Paul Choy obeyed. Dunross sighed, satisfied. Paul Choy had not translated "I'm the arbiter of Hong Kong." Again a silence. He relaxed, more at ease now, sensing both men had taken the bait.

"Tai-pan, my suggestion, about the coin, you agree?" the old man said.

"About my ask, my ask for money support, you agree?"

Wu said angrily, "The two are not interwoven like rain in a fornicating storm. Yes or no on the coin?"

"I agree on the coin. But not tomorrow. Next week. Fifth day."

"Tomorrow."

Paul Choy carefully interjected, "Honored Uncle, perhaps you could ask your friends again tomorrow. Tomorrow morning. Perhaps they could help the tai-pan." His shrewd eyes turned to Dunross. "Tomorrow's Friday," he said in English, "how about Monday ata at 4:00 P.M. for the coin?" He repeated it in Haklo.

"Why that time?" Wu asked irritably.

"The foreign devil money market closes at the third hour of the afternoon, Honored Uncle. By that time the Noble House: will be noble or not."

"We will always be the Noble House, Mr. Choy," Dunross said politely in English, impressed with the man's skill and shrewdness to take an oblique hint. "I agree."

"Neya'"

When Paul Choy had finished the old man grunted. "First I will check the Heaven-Earth currents to see if that is an auspicious day. If it is, then I agree. " He jerked his thumb at Paul Choy. "Go aboard the other boat."

Paul Choy got up. "Thank you, tai-pan. Good night."

"See you soon, Mr. Choy," Dunross replied, expecting him the next day.

When they were quite alone, the old man said softly, "Thank you, Old Friend. Soon we'll do much closer business."

"Remember, Old Friend, what my forebears say," Dunross said ominously. "Both Green-Eyed Devil and her of Evil Eye and Dra- gon's Teeth how they put a great curse and Evil Eye on White Powders and those who profit from White Powders.~'

The gnarled old seaman in the nice clothes shrugged nervously. "What's that to me? I know nothing of White Powders. Fornicate all White Powders. I know nothing of them."

Then he was gone.

Shakily Dunross poured a long drink. He felt the new motion of the sampan being sculled again. His fingers brought out the waxen imprints. A thousand to one the coin's genuine. Christ almighty, what will that devil ask? Drugs, I'll bet it's something to do with drugs! That about the curse and the Evil Eye was made up not part of Dirk's bargain at all. Even so, I won't agree to drugs.

But he was ill-at-ease. He could see Dirk Struan's writing in the Bible that he had signed and endorsed, agreeing before God "to grant to whomsoever shall present one of the half-coins, whatsoever he shall ask, if it is in the tai-pan's power to givea"

His ears sensed the alien presence before the sound arrived. Another boat scraped his gently. The pad of feet. He readied, not knowing the danger.

The girl was young, beautiful and joyous. "My name is Snow Jade, tai-pan, I'm eighteen years and Honorable Wu Sang's personal gift for the night!" Lilting Cantonese, neat chong-sam, high collar, long stockinged legs and high heels. She smiled, showing her lovely white teeth. "He thought you might be in need of sustenance."

"Is that so?" he muttered, trying to collect himself.

She laughed and sat down. "Oh yes, that's what he said and I'd like your sustenance also I'm starving, aren't you? Honorable Goldtooth has ordered a morsel or two to whet your appetite: quick fried prawns with peapods, shredded beef in black bean sauce, some deep-fried dumplings Shanghai style, quick fried vegetables spiced with Szechuan cabbage and tangy Chtiang Pao chicken." She beamed. "I'm dessert!"

F R I D A Y.

57 - 12:35 A.M.:.

Irritably, Banker Kwang stabbed the doorbell again and again. The door swung open and Venus Poonscreeched in Cantonese, "How dare you come here at this time of night without an invitation!" Her chin jutted and she stood with one hand on the door, the other imperiously on her hip, her low-cut evening dress devastating.

"Quiet, you mealy-mouthed whore!" Banker Kwang shouted back at her and shoved past into her apartment. "Who's paying the rent? Who bought all this furniture? Who paid for that dress? Why aren't you ready for bed? Wh"

"Quiet!" Her voice was piercing and easily drowned out his. "You were paying the rent, but today's the day when the rent was due and where is it, heyaheyaheyaheya?"

"Here!" Banker Kwang ripped the check out of his pocket and waved it under her nose. "Do I forget my fornicating promises no! Do you forget your fornicating promises yess!"

Venus Poon blinked. Her rage disappeared, her face changed, her voice became laden with honey. "Oh did Father remember? Oh I was told you'd forsaken your poor lonely Daughter and gone back to the whores of Blore Street."

"Lies!" Banker Kwang gasped, almost apoplectic even though it was the truth. "Why aren't you dressed for bed? Why are you wear"

"But I was called by three different people who said you'd been there this afternoon at 4:15. Oh how terrible people are," she said crooningly, knowing that he was there though he only went to introduce Banker Ching from whom he was trying to borrow funds. "Oh poor Father, how dreadful people are." As she talked placatingly, she moved closer. Suddenly her hand snaked out and she snatched the check before he could withdraw it though her voice continued to be sweet. "Oh thank you, Father, from the bottom of my hearta oh ho!" Her eyes crossed, her voice hardened and the screech returned. "The check is not signed, you dirty old dogmeat! It's another of your banker tricks! Oh oh oh I think I shall kill myself on your doorstepa no, better I shall do it in front of the TV camera, telling all Hong Kong how youa Oh oh oha"

Her amah was in the living room now, joining in, wailing and caterwauling, both women swamping him in a swelter of invective, challenges and accusations.

Impotently he cursed them both back but that only made them increase their volume. He stood his ground for a moment, then, vanquished, pulled out a fountain pen with a flourish, grabbed the check and signed it. The noise ceased. Venus Poon took it and examined it carefully. Very very carefully. It vanished into her purse.

"Oh thank you, Honorable Father," she said meekly and abruptly whirled on her amah. "How dare you interfere in a discussion between the love of my life and your mistress, you lump of festering dogmeat. It's all your fault for spreading other people's cruel lies about Father's infidelity! Out! Fetch tea and food! Outl Father needs a brandya fetch a brandy, hurry!"

The old woman pretended to buckle under the assumed rage and scuttled out in pretended tears. Venus Poon cooed and bustled and her hands were soft on Richard Kwang's neck.

At length, under their magic, he allowed himself to be mollified and helped to drink, groaning aloud all the time at his ill joss and how his subordinates, friends, allies and debtors had maliciously forsaken him, after he alone in the whole Ho-Pak empire had worked his fingers to their tendons, his feet to the flesh, worrying over all of them.

"Oh you poor man," Venus Poon said soothingly, her mind darting while her fingers were tender and deft. She had barely half an hour to reach her rendezvous with Four Finger Wu, and while she knew it would be wise to keep him waiting, she did not want to keep him waiting too long in case his ardor lagged. Their last encounter had excited him so much he had promised her a diamond if the performance was repeated.

"I guarantee it, Lord," she had gasped weakly, her skin clammy with sweat from two hours of concentrated labor, feeling herself afloat with the immensity of his at long last explosion.

Her eyes crossed as she remembered Four Finger Wu's prodigious efforts, his size, conformity and undoubted technique. Ayeeyah, she thought, still massaging the neck of her former lover, I will need every tael of energy and every measure of juice the yin can muster to dominate that old reprobate's yowling yang. "How is your neck, my dearest love?" she crooned.

"Better, better," Richard Kwang said reluctantly. His head had cleared and he was well aware that her fingers were as skilled as her mouth and her peerless parts.

He pulled her down onto his knee and confidently slipped his hand into the low-cut black silk evening dress that he had bought for her last week and fondled her breasts. When she did not resist, he slipped one strap off and complimented her on the size, texture, taste and shape of the whole. Her warmth shafted him and he stirred. At once his other hand went for the yin but before he knew it she had neatly squirmed out of his grasp. "Oh no, Father! Honorable Red's visiting me and as much as I wa"

"Eh?" Banker Kwang said suspiciously. "Honorable Red? Honorable Red's not due till the day after tomorrow!"

"Oh no, he arrived with storm th"

"Eh? He's due the day after tomorrow. I know. I looked at my calendar and made sure before I came here! Am I a fool? Do I fish for a tiger in a stream? We have a long-standing date tonight, all night. Why else am I supposed to be in Taiwan? You're never early and ne"

"Oh no it was this morning the shock of the fire and the greater shock that you had forsaken me, br"

"Come here, you little baggage"

"Oh no, Father, Honorable R"

Before she could avoid him, his hands darted out and he sat her back on his knees and began to lift her dress but Venus Poon was an old stager in this kind of warfare and champion of a hundred jousts, even though she was only nineteen. She fought him note just pressed closer, twisted and got one hand on him, caressingly, and whispered throatily, "Oh but Father, it's very bad joss to interfere with Honorable Red and as much as I desire your immensity within, we both know there are other ways for the yin to titillate the vital vortex."

"But first I wan"