looked very serious as he laid the morning paper down and asked the

blessing on their food. Then he remarked as casually as possible as they

started breakfast, "Look at these headlines: ‘Robbers pull off big jewel

robbery! Listen to this. Last night daring robbers drilled into the Hong

Kong Bank vault and stole the two million dollar ‘Orient Diamond’ and

many other precious jewels which were to go on display in a few days. It

was one of the biggest jewel thefts on record. The police believe it had

to be an inside job because the bank had taken special security measures

to protect the jewels. It is believed that a very dangerous gang has

masterminded this robbery, who will stop at nothing to smuggle the jewels

out of Hong Kong! Well, what do you think of that?" he said as he looked

at Jack. "There you have it, Jack. Smugglers in Hong Kong!"

"Now who’s laughing?" asked Jack grinning from ear to ear. "I told you

there were smugglers here. I just knew it. And you know what I think?"

"Don’t tell us, Jack," said Mother, rolling her eyes. "You expect to see

them, don’t you?"

"You know, Mom, I really do," he responded, but not with the same

excitement as before. "Well, maybe we’ll see them on the TV news after

they are captured. If they’re that dangerous, maybe that would be enough

excitement."

"Yes, I agree, Jack. I’m going to pray that you see them on TV. That

would be close enough for me and for you.:"

"Well, Honey," said Dad, "I agree, too, but remember what God said, ‘I

will never leave you, nor forsake you. What can man do unto me?’ That’s a

special promise that God will take care of us no matter what happens.

Let’s just trust Him with this whole matter. But, Jack, I want you to be

careful. Remember, you are not Sherlock Holmes, the great detective."

The conversation turned to the evening’s outing at the floating

restaurant. The day passed very slowly for the twins as they waited for

the time when they would start out to Aberdeen and the restaurant. When

the Chens arrived, it was decided that the boys would travel together in

the company car Mr. Carlton was using and the girls would go with the

Chens. The boys had their heads together almost instantly talking about

the big robbery.

Tim told Jack quietly, "My Dad said this afternoon that there is no sign

of the jewels yet. The police are mystified at their disappearance and

can’t figure out how the robbers pulled it off."

Jack related his Mother’s concerns to Tim and told him that she would be

praying that they would only see the robbers on TV." Then he added, "My

Dad reminded us that God said in the Bible He would never leave us nor

forsake us."

"What does that mean, Jack?" Tim asked curiously. "I still can’t figure

out how your God can be everywhere and able to protect you. We never pray

to be protected from robbers. It wouldn’t do any good anyway. We never

get answers to our prayers."

"Tim, I’ve been listening to what you boys have been saying," said Mr.

Carlton, "and you’ve asked a very good question. The Bible verse Jack

quoted means that God will take care of His children. When we are in

danger, we can pray and trust Him to take care of us. He never sleeps and

is always watching over us."

"Boy, that is some good news. I’m not sure how all this works out, but

I’m going to stick close to you. Maybe your God will take care of me,

too."

"He really will, Tim, because He loves you and wants you to know Him as

your Savior. We are praying that we will stay out of harm’s way, and I

guess that is a good idea. But if anything should ever happen, I believe

God will take care of us and keep us from danger."

Mrs. Carlton lifted her heart in prayer and asked God to watch over them

as they enjoyed this trip to the floating restaurant. She also prayed

that one day soon the Chens would become believers.

Arriving in Aberdeen, they parked their cars and walked down to the

water’s edge. There was a lot of shouting from the people on the boats

trying to get Mr. Chen to pick their boat as the boat taxi to the

restaurant. Finally Mr. Chen motioned them to the boats with the best

price. They carefully boarded the little boat as it rocked in the water,

and sat down on the seats. It seemed strange to Jack and Jenny that a

woman was standing at the back of the boat by a big oar that protruded

out behind the boat. Did she have the strength to row them all out to the

restaurant, they wondered? She began to move the big oar back and forth,

and slowly the boat began to move away from the shore. Mr. Chen explained

that the women usually rowed the boats as the men were out fishing or

working on the larger ships being loaded in the harbor.

In a few minutes they were pulling along side the big floating

restaurant. It was really a big barge with a brightly decorated building

about four stories high built on it. It was painted in red, a favorite

color of the Chinese and had large dragons and flowers intertwined

everywhere. The strange music coming from the boat attracted the

attention of the Carltons who had never heard anything like it. Mr. Chen

explained that Chinese music didn’t have the full octave like western

music and most of the time they used a strange looking one stringed

violin. Later when the Carltons saw the instrument, they had to admit it

didn’t look like a violin at all except that it had a bow made of bamboo

and horse hair. They found it amazing that so much music could be played

on only one string!

As they boarded the main section of the boat, they passed huge tanks

with live fish swimming around. Mr. Chen explained that he would select

one of the fish for their dinner, and the cook would prepare it for them.

It was guaranteed to be fresh! The four children were filled with

excitement as they watched Mr. Chen giving directions to the man assigned

to catch their dinner. It wasn’t easy to catch the fish in the big net,

but the man moved it around swiftly until finally he netted the fish Mr.

Chen had ordered.

"Why, that’s just the way they catch gold fish in the pet shop"

exclaimed Jenny in surprise. "But it is strange to see them catch your

dinner right before your eyes."

"This is an old Chinese custom that we like very much at places like

this. There will be lots of other good food coming soon, too," said Mr.

Chen graciously. "Let’s go find our table and then watch the sights of

the harbor." Before long the meal began to be served, and everyone had a

chance to taste the specialty food of the floating restaurant.

The meal was about half finished when four men sauntered in and occupied

a table nearby. Jack was immediately struck with curiosity as he watched

these men huddle together and speak in soft voices. The leader was a

short, stocky man with a rather large round balding head. What attracted

Jack was his beady, shifting eyes. They seemed to be moving all the time

from man to man and then around the room. Every once in awhile the man

clenched his fist and softly rapped the table to emphasize what he was

saying. It was clear that he was some kind of a leader or spokesman for

the group because the others just nodded their heads and only interjected

a word now and then. Jack gave Tim a little poke and called his attention

to the men at the neighboring table.

Jack whispered behind his hand to Tim and said, "Look at those men over

there. That stocky man sure looks suspicious to me. They must be having

some kind of an argument because he keeps tapping the table with his

fist."

Tim glanced over and noticed them for the first time. He nodded to Jack

and whispered back, "They really do look like suspicious characters! I

wonder what’s going on over there. You don’t suppose they are the

smugglers, do you? See that brown pouch that stout man is clutching?

Maybe that’s the jewels that were stolen."

Jack had been thinking the same thing but thought his imagination was

running away with him. Now he looked more closely at the men. It might be

a good idea to be able to identify them if that ever became necessary. He

made a mental picture of each of them, but the short, stocky man

impressed him the most. The boys kept a wary eye on them for the

remainder of the meal. That brown pouch was intriguing and evidently

very valuable because the stocky man never let it out of his sight.

Just as mysteriously as the four men arrived, they left looking around

in all directions and talking quietly as they went. The boys watched them

intently as they left the table and made their way to the door. Jack

sighed and thought, ‘Well, there goes our hunch about the smugglers.

We’ll never see them again.’

Mrs. Carlton was observing her son intently as she, too, had noticed the

strange behavior of the four men. The thought had also flashed across her

mind that these men looked like the kind of shady characters she wouldn’t

want to meet on a dark street. She noticed how the boys were transfixed

by these men, and she surmised that Jack was again dreaming of smugglers.

That boy was always looking for adventure, and sometimes ended up in

trouble because of it.

"Dear Lord," she prayed, "keep him safe and don’t let anything happen to

him here in Hong Kong."

Twenty minutes had passed since the men left. The delightful meal with

the Chens was drawing to a close, and Mr. Carlton was expressing his

thanks to the Chens as they all rose to leave. As soon as they all stood,

Jenny rushed over to Jack’s side and whispered, "Did you see those four

men? I got a feeling that they are bad men; maybe even rubbers!"

Jack glanced at his twin sister. Boy, she sure is sharp, he thought. She

had noticed the strange behavior of the men and had become suspicious,

too.

"I don’t know if they are robbers or not," Jack responded softly, "but

Tim and I noticed that short, beady-eyed man. He seemed to be angry about

something and he never let that brown pouch out of his sight. He kept his

hand on it most of the time except when he was using his chopsticks to

eat. Then he had it right in front of him. You know, the jewels could be

in that bag!"

Just then mother walked over to her twins and leaned over and whispered,

"Don’t get any ideas in your heads about smugglers. I’ve been watching

you, and I think you are getting suspicious about those men who left a

little while ago. Never accuse anyone of something you are not sure of

until you know for certain. Looks often deceive."

Jack nodded agreement and knew that his mother was right. To think these

men were robbers just by watching them at the table would be wrong and

very unfair to them. But then, they did look suspicious. Probably they

would never see the men again, but he knew he would always wonder what