The Chinese Parrot (Charlie Chan Detective Series) — page 147: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Je oe He went out, leaving Bob Eden to a Los Angeles paper he had picked up in Eldorado. From time to time, as the boy read, the quaint little figure of Ah Kim passed noiselessly. He was setting the table for dinner. An hour later, there on the lonely desert, they again sat down to Ah Kim's cooking. Very different from the restaurant of which Bob Eden thought with longing, but if the company was far from lively, the food was excellent, for the Chinese had negotiated well. When the servant came in with coffee, Madden said: "Light the fire in the patio, Ah Kim. We'll sit out there a while." The Chinese went to comply with this order, and Eden saw Madden regarding him expectantly. He smiled and rose. "Well, dad ought to be struggling in from his hard day on the links any minute now," he said. "I'll put in that call." Madden leaped up. "Let me do it,” he suggested. "Just tell me the number." The boy told him, and Madden spoke over the telephone in a voice to command respect. "By the way," he said, when he had finished, "last night you intimated that certain things happened in San Francisco—things that made your father cautious. What —if you don't mind telling me?" 147 comiicboeoe S CO