"Hush, Remo. How many times have I told you never to criticize another empire's way of doing things?"
"But human bone. It's barbarous."
"That is easy for you to say, you who come from a land where everything is wasted. Do you know that I have a steamer trunk full of perfectly good toothpicks that careless waiter persons tried to throw out simply because they had been used once?"
"They were made to be used just once. It's unsanitary to reuse toothpicks."
"They are washable. On Moo, toothpicks would be handed down from generation to generation by people who know the value of property."
"I give up," Remo said. "If you'll excuse me ..."
"Where are you going?"
"I left my shoes back at the grove."
"You can retrieve them when we leave-if we leave."
"No ifs about it. We're leaving. In a month."
"Before you waste your time, examine your feet."
"For what? Athlete's foot?"
When Chiun didn't answer, Remo sat down and pulled off a sock. His toenails were very long. Too long to accommodate his shoes.
"Damn!" he said. "How'd you know that?"
"Perhaps I am psychic," Chiun said with a smile.
"I'm going after my shoes anyway," Remo said, pulling on his sock and storming out the door.
"I will join you."
"Suit yourself," Remo growled.
Chapter 23
Remo stepped into the blinding tropical sun of the palace courtyard. The courtyard was empty. The ashes of the feast sifted in the breeze. The smells of meat clung to the air. They offended Remo's sensitive nostrils.
Chiun materialized beside him. "Where is everybody?" Remo asked.
"Working, of course."
Remo frowned. "I thought islanders lived the life of Riley. "
"Who is Riley?"
"A figment of someone's imagination. Why do people have to work here? They have the sun, all the fruit and fish they could want. This place is a paradise."
"Come," said Chiun.
"I want to get my shoes back," Remo said.
"What I have to show you is on the way to your precious shoes."
Remo shrugged. He followed silently as Chiun began speaking. The jungle all around them steamed with a pleasant warmth.
"I have heard you speak of Moo with ill-concealed mockery in your voice. You think Moo is small?"
"It is small."
"Once it was larger."
"I'll bet Old Moo was nothing to crow about either, otherwise why wouldn't anyone have heard about it?" Chiun stopped and whirled.
"Sinanju has heard of it. And the nation that is looked upon with favor by the House of Sinanju needs nothing else especially the approval of a nation that is only two hundred years old."
Remo sighed. "Point taken. Shall we just try to keep up the pace?" he suggested.
Chiun turned and stalked off. It was a while before the dark flush left his face and he resumed speaking.
"Once, Moo was the great seafaring empire in the world. Before Egypt it was. Before Greece it was, and before the oldest settlements in Africa."
"Okay, it's old. So's the moon. So what?"
"Before Sinanju it was," Chiun continued. Remo's face registered surprise. It was rare that Chiun gave anything credit that dimmed the shining beacon that was Sinanju.
"Yeah?"
"For in truth, when Moo became a client of Sinanju, Moo was old. Its glory days were waning like the moon that we will behold tonight. It had withdrawn its mighty fleet from the world's seas. Moo had turned inward, beset by octopus worshipers and internal strife. But strong it was still. And its coins were the most prized of all currencies. "
They walked along a winding jungle path. On either side, Remo saw rice and sweet-potato fields tended by young boys and girls. They stood in the rice fields, ankle-deep in brown water. Their bare brown backs were bent. They paid Remo and Chiun no heed.
"The rice did not grow itself in the days of Old Moo, either," Chiun remarked dryly.
"They could live off the coconuts."
"You could live off egg-lemon soup if you wished. But variety is preferable."
"I wouldn't mind a steady diet of it."
"Good," Chiun murmured.
"What's that?" Remo asked.
"Moo was strong because it produced abundant food," Chiun went on as if he hadn't heard. "It is a tradition that the current High Moo holds dear. Each year, they grow more rice than necessary. This way they never want."