page 241--

--dan knew  exactly  where  to  go  , it  was  somewhere  in the  north eastern chinese  town , the  old  fashioned  cottage   was  built   in the  traditional  chinese  style, the  wooden gate  was  opened  by  them dan  announced  himself  , the  walls  and  ceiling  had  tiles  on them, someone  from inside  asked  them to  step in,  a  young woman in traditional  robes  asked  them to  pay  four  hundred  yens,  entering  their  names  and  giving  them the  receipt  she  allowed  them to  go  to  another  room,where  in a  brass   pot   something  aromatic  was  boiling  , smoke   was  rising   filling  their  nostrils, a  small old  man  sat  on the  floor  on a  mat  leaning  against  a  large  long pillow , in front  of  him   burning  candles  were  placed  in rows,   he  asked  them to  sit  down before  him on the  floor  like  him, the  old  astrologer  asked  yong if  he  was  a  chinese,  but  he  was  a  korean, he  wanted  to  know  where  could  they  look for  the  nurse   abducted  by  someone  whose  charm  they  had  brought, taking  the  metal  stringed   token the  old  man"s  hands  trembled, then he  threw  it  away  angrily, how  dare  they  gave  him such  a  thing,  both dang  and  yong  looked  at  each other,  they  told  the  astrologer  how  they  had  found  it  and  wanted  to  know  the  where  abouts  of  the  owner, it  belonged  to  a  manchurian white  bear  --the  head  of  a  tribe  , not  even police  or  army  or  anyone  could  enter  there  without   his  permission, it  was  his  domain and  if  the  nurse  was  abducted  there  was  a  reason behind  that,  then calling  to his  grand  daughter  he  asked her  to  return their  four  hundred  yens for  they  might  need  it -in his  opinion dang  was  no  fool  and  too  brave  to  be  with yong  on the  journey