If you will look at the slip, you will see that it is not written but printed." He passed the little red square across the table, and the Commissioner examined it.
"That's true," he said in surprise.

"I did not notice that.

Have you seen these slips before ?" Tarling nodded.
"A few years ago," he said.

"There was a very bad outbreak of crime in Shanghai, mostly under the leadership of a notorious criminal whom I was instrumental in getting beheaded.

He ran a gang called 'The Cheerful Hearts'-- you know the fantastic titles which these Chinese gangs adopt.
It was their custom to leave on the scene of their depredations the _Hong_, or sign-manual of the gang.