“Have no fear, little friend,” said I, gently. “Go and fetch Ko-Tua and Mai Mou to us. In that way alone can you possibly save them.”
She nodded brightly, smiling through her tears, and tripped away.
We watched the passage an hour; two hours. Then we began to fear that Nor Ghai had in some way been prevented from returning. But no; she appeared, finally, leading the governor’s girl wife and daughter by either hand, and then she explained that she had much trouble in inducing her friends to accept our protection.
To them the governor of Kwang-Kai-Nong was a mighty power, and they feared to defy his authority by seeking the protection of three boys who were foreigners and themselves fighting for their lives.
Indeed, when I came to consider the matter from this point of view, I was surprised that Nor Ghai had succeeded in winning them over.
But here they were, finally, and Ko-Tua said to us in her simple way:
“With no tongue a woman could not live happy, could she? So we do not care if we lose our lives. We come to you and trust you, for Nor Ghai says Wi-to is your servant, and Wi-to is almost as great as Mai Lo.”
I had my doubts of Wi-to’s usefulness to us at this juncture, but did not express them. As well as we could we impressed the maids with the fact that we were not beaten yet and intended to put up a good fight to the last. Nor Ghai told us that the news of our defeat of the soldiers had already reached the harem, and had caused the condemned girls to decide to place themselves under our protection.
We had Nux lead Ko-Tua and Mai Mou to the further chamber of our suite, and when they had entered we ordered the black to stand at the door and guard them.
Nor Ghai thanked us and went back to her harem. She said she was in no danger, as no one had authority to punish her except Wi-to. There would be a hunt for Ko-Tua and Mai Mou presently, but only Nor Ghai knew the secret entrance to our corridor.
When she had gone we felt our responsibilities overpowering us, and tried to concoct some plan to force old Mai Lo to pardon his wife and daughter. If we could not do that we must carry them away with us to Shanghai; but in that case they would double our danger and we should not know what to do with them after they were safe out of Kwang-Kai-Nong.
“I say, Sam,” remarked Archie, after we had been thinking it over for a long time, “this is one of those bridges you’re always talking about. Don’t let’s cross it till we come to it.”
After luncheon, which Tun and his helpers served as usual, we passed an anxious and dreary afternoon. Tun had informed us that the captain of the soldiers had still been unable to locate the governor to get his commands, and seemed unwilling to attack us again without further orders. Also we gleaned the information in a roundabout way that Wi was still shut up in his room under the influence of a strong drink brewed from rice.
About three o’clock Archie slapped his leg and exclaimed:
“I’ll bet a cookie Mai Lo is in the vaults sorting treasure!”
“I feel sure of it,” said I.
“Well, then,” proposed Joe, after a pause, “let’s go down and find him, and have it out with the old rascal in the tombs of the ancestors.”
“In what way?” I asked.
“Let’s offer to divide with him. There’s enough for us all. Who cares what becomes of the governor—whether he suicides or not—so long as we get out of this infernal country and back to Shanghai with our share of the plunder?”
“That’s a clever idea, Joe!” I exclaimed. “There’s no use fighting if a peaceable arrangement can be made. Why haven’t we thought of making a bargain with Mai Lo before?”
It did not take us long to prepare for the trip. The passage was still deserted, but it was necessary to leave both Nux and Bry to guard the entrance to the rooms, and the girls.
So we three boys crept to the dragon tapestry, passed the secret panel without being discovered and soon were creeping along the tunnel for the third time on our way to the chih of the Ancestors of Kai.
I carried with me the famous scimitar we had found in the cabinet—the one with the seven great rubies set in the hilt. For our ammunition was getting low, and if we found a need to use weapons in our present adventure the scimitar might prove very handy.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE VENGEANCE OF THE RUBY SCIMITAR.
I think we had all forgotten that the King Ape had been left imprisoned in the vaults. But when we entered the first alcove from the tunnel and heard the monster barking and growling in the recess at our right, the presence of the beast was recalled to us very forcibly. We paid little attention to the ape just then, however, for we were eager to discover whether or not the governor was really in the ancestral vaults.
As we passed from behind the tapestry we put out our lamp, each of us holding a few matches in our hands to use in case of emergency.
The blackness was now intense, and as we crept stealthily in single file toward the gate the gloom seemed to press upon us and embrace us. Likewise the silence of the immense vaults, which had been hewn out of solid rock beneath the great mound, was oppressive; for while the jabbering of the King Ape and his violent shaking of his grating at times reverberated through the dome with a thousand echoes, the hush of death that otherwise pervaded the place was but rendered the more effective.
On the occasions of our former visits I had looked upon these chih as mere treasure-houses; now, moving silently through the darkness, I suddenly realized we were in a place of the dead, with many generations of warriors, princes and imperial viceroys lying in state in their heretofore inviolable tombs. Would not the spirits of these great ancestors of Kai resent our intrusion? Spirits! I gave a start at the recollection of a remark Kai Lun Pu had made on his deathbed: “If I find that I possess a spirit I shall try to watch you, and enjoy the fun.”
I am not usually nervous, but I admit that when I recalled this significant speech I shuddered and grasped the scimitar of Kai Abon more tightly in my hand.
“What in thunder’s the matter with you, Sam?” growled Archie, who had his hand on my shoulder.
I did not care to say; but just then Joe, who was in advance of me, touched the grating and whispered:
“Here’s the gate—stop a minute.”
He unfastened the catch and we passed into the great domed hall.
On our right came a sudden rattling of the bars, where the monster ape was still struggling to escape his prison. I reflected that he must be getting hungry by this time, and hunger would make him more ferocious than ever. But our first impulse was to peer anxiously around the great chamber to discover if any light indicated the presence of Mai Lo.
There it was! a faint glimmer coming from one of the alcoves far to the right.
“We’ve got him,” muttered Archie, triumphantly.
“Why, he’s here, all right,” I replied in a low tone, “but in order to reach the place we must creep along the wall, so as not to get lost.”
“Come ahead, then,” said Joe, and started feeling his way by keeping one hand on the tapestry hangings that separated the various alcoves.
Suddenly there came a violent rattling of metal near at hand and Joe stopped so abruptly that I ran into him.
“Say, fellows; we can’t pass this alcove,” warned Joe. “That infernal monkey might reach out and grab us if we came too near.”
“Light the lamp,” said I, “and hold it under your coat. Mai Lo is in an alcove and he’s too busy to notice us at this distance.”
Joe obeyed. As the light of the wick illuminated our surroundings we found we had halted none too soon. The huge ape had his body pressed close to the grating, which, to our astonishment, we saw was now a mass of twisted and bent metal, so loosened and displaced by the constant wrenching of the powerful beast that only the chain and lock with which we had fastened it seemed to hold the grating in place.
“He’ll be out of there before long,” remarked Joe, half fearfully.
“Then we must dive into some alcove,” I suggested. “But I guess the bars will hold until we’ve had our talk with Mai Lo.”
Circling around the place so as to avoid the reach of the ape’s long arms we came to the tapestries beyond his den and continued our progress, extinguishing the light as we drew nearer to the alcove from whence came the glimmer we had first observed.
We walked with stealthy tread and stood before the alcove without a sound of our approach having been noted.
The grating had been set wide open and held from swinging to by a big vase set against it. In the center of the alcove a light burned upon a low taboret, and near it squatted Mai Lo, absorbed in selecting and arranging a mass of jewels piled up before him.
So occupied was the governor with this pleasant task that he never looked up until after we had entered and stood in a silent row before him.
Then his body gave a twitch beneath his broidered robes, but his passive face showed no expression at all. Perhaps it was incapable of expression. Even the eyes had no more animation beneath their surfaces than shoe-buttons.
“So you have escaped,” he said.
“Oh, there was nothing to escape,” I answered with a smile.
“My guards surrounded you.”
“They tried to, but there were not enough of them. And they are fewer in number now than they were.”
He stared at us without reply; without altering his position. He even rubbed the ruby that was in his hand against the satin of his sleeve as if to polish it.
“Hasn’t all this nonsense gone far enough, Mai Lo?” I inquired. “Are you not getting tired of opposing us when you know we can defy your power and carry out our plans without your consent?”
He calmly lowered his gaze and began to polish the ruby again. From the distant alcove where Fo-Chu was confined came the ape’s horrid growls and the shaking of the bars; but the governor seemed little interested in anything but the heap of plunder before him.
“You have tried in various ways to destroy us,” I went on. “You set your eunuchs on us in the pavilion; you ordered your soldiers to cut us down in the palace; you loosed the King Ape in these vaults to tear us to pieces. But what is the result? We are here still, and free, and masters of the situation.”
Mai Lo slipped the ruby in his pocket and took another from the heap before him.
“How can you enter the Ancestral Chih?” he asked. “My soldiers guard every avenue of approach.”
“There are some things it is not necessary for you to know,” I retorted; “and that is one of them. But we did not come here to quarrel, but to make peace with you.”
This seemed to interest him, for he transferred his beady gaze from the gems to my face.
“This constant opposition is annoying,” I continued, “and while Prince Kai Lun Pu gave to us the riches contained in these vaults, and showed us how to secure them, we find there is more than we need, or can carry back with us.”
“Prince Kai had no right to give you the wealth of his ancestors,” said Mai Lo.
“Perhaps not. Neither have you any right to rob the Ancestral Halls. Instead, you ought to seal them up, and commit suicide. But you won’t do that. You want to escape with enough treasure to make you rich for the rest of your life.”
He regarded me intently, but made no reply. So I went on:
“We do not care whether you escape or kill yourself, except that by working together, instead of in opposition, we may all succeed in getting away with the treasure. There’s more than enough for us all.”
Still he made no reply. From the dome came a sudden crash of metal and the wild yelp of the giant ape. But we all stood motionless, wrapped in the importance of the governor’s decision.
“Well, what is it to be—war or peace?” I asked, impatiently.
“War,” he said, quietly. “You are miserable foreign pigs, and I will kill you. Not one gem of this treasure shall you carry away. Your knowledge of these chih has sealed your doom.”
I felt like striking the rascal with the naked scimitar I held—the scimitar for which the seven kings fought whose life-blood was contained in the seven rubies. But I resisted the temptation, while Archie exclaimed: “Don’t be a fool, Mai Lo!”
“Your obstinacy may ruin us all,” Joe added.
“We don’t intend to be killed,” I observed, bitterly; “and you ought to know that by this time. We——”
I stopped short with a thrill of horror, for a sudden pattering of feet reached my ears. The governor sprang up just as we three with one accord shrank back against the wall, and the next instant the King Ape bounded into the alcove, his eyes like balls of fire, his grinning teeth bared viciously.
Mai Lo alone confronted the beast, who faced his victim chattering with an almost human expression of cruel joy. I saw the mandarin feel in his breast and draw out a glittering poniard, while his eyes fastened themselves upon those of the ape. An instant more and the brute sprang forward and caught Mai Lo in his embrace.
Once, twice, I saw the keen blade bury itself in the hairy breast of Fo-Chu. Then the monster, with a shriek of mingled rage and agony, thrust the man from him and bounded back against me, the sudden movement sending me reeling against the wall. As I fell I extended my arm in which I still clasped the ruby scimitar, and in a flash the ape had snatched the weapon from my hand and with renewed screams swung it in a gleaming circle around his head.
But his attention was distracted from us, who stood motionless with fear, toward the form of the governor, who was rising from the place where he had fallen. And Fo-Chu remembered that the great pain in his breast had been caused by the weapon of Mai Lo. So with a wild cry he leaped forward and swung the scimitar with tremendous power. It caught Mai Lo just above the shoulders, and the rarely tempered blade sheared through bone and muscle. The head toppled with a dreadful thud to the pavement, while for an instant the body stood erect and swaying. Then it fell in a heap, and with a screech that chilled my very blood with horror, the monster threw himself upon the body and rent it limb from limb with a fury that was absolutely devilish. The cracking bones and tearing flesh sickened me so that for the first time in my life I fainted, losing all sense of danger and surroundings as I sank limply to the floor.
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE SEVERED HEAD.
“It’s all right, Sam,” said Archie, vigorously shaking me. “Sit up, old man.”
I obeyed, opening my eyes to gaze fearfully around me. The lamp on the taboret still burned steadily and crouching motionless upon the mangled remains of Mai Lo was the form of the giant ape. Joe and Archie supported me to my feet, peering into my face anxiously.
“Is—is he dead?” I asked in a faint voice.
“Dead as nails!” declared Archie, with a laugh. “Old Fo-Chu has saved us a lot of trouble, while the governor kindly saved us from the beast by giving Fo-Chu his quietus. It couldn’t have been better if we had planned it; but my! wasn’t it a jolly fight?”
“It was awful, boys!” I exclaimed.
Joe nodded.
“The horror of it nearly got me, too,” he admitted. “But, as Archie says, it was a fortunate thing for us, take it all in all.”
Feeling somewhat restored in strength I stooped down and picked up the scimitar, which lay where the ape had dropped it. The blade was reeking with warm blood, and I hastily wiped it clean with the rich tapestry that hung upon the wall of the room.
“The seven kings must have fought for the scimitar that time,” I observed. “It was a fearful blow.”
Together we rolled the great body of the dead ape over, with the idea of getting together the remains of Mai Lo. But the nauseating heap of flesh, mingled with shreds of the broidered robes that had enveloped it, was so repulsive that we decided not to touch it.
“Leave him with the ancestors of Kai,” advised Joe. “We’ll be away from here before long.”
“I’ll never enter this place again!” I declared, with a shudder, for my nerves were still on edge.
“Nor I,” said Joe, hastily.
“Then let’s get all we want now,” suggested Archie.
We did. Without fear of further interruption we explored such alcoves as we had not previously visited and appropriated the best of the treasure they contained. We were all fairly well loaded when at last we returned to the scene of the recent tragedy, where we added the heap of jewels that Mai Lo had been examining. There was no time to assort them, so we took them all.
Archie seized the scimitar and hacked away a section of the tapestry, and while I wondered what he was going to do he picked up the severed head of Mai Lo by its queue and dropped it into the cloth, gathering up the corners to form a bag.
“What is that for?” I asked, wonderingly.
“Why, it’s proof that the governor is extinct,” he said, with a grin. “No one is allowed to enter this place, so we must establish the demise of our dearly detested enemy in the upper world. Are you fellows ready?”
“Come on,” I said, picking up my burdens.
We returned to the alcove of the first Kai and for the last time crept behind the tapestry and emerged into the tunnel through the steel door.
Silently we plodded along the incline, for the dreadful sight we had witnessed and the repulsive burden Archie carried in his left hand depressed us in spite of our attempt to appear cheerful.
As we reached the flight of steps leading to the palace, Joe, who bore the lamp, turned to me and said:
“Going to take that thing home with you, Sam?”
Then I remembered I was carrying the ruby scimitar. As I looked upon it a horror of the weapon suddenly took possession of me. I set down my bundles, snapped the blade across my knee, close to the handle, and cast the ancient bit of steel upon the ground. The golden hilt, set with the seven rubies of the kings, I slipped into my pocket. It is the one prize of those I secured in Kai-Nong that I have never parted with.
By the time we reached our rooms we found that twilight had fallen. Bry met us at the door with the information that no one had disturbed him during our absence. We placed our burdens in a corner and covered them with a cloth, afterward retiring to our rooms to wash the grime from our hands and faces.
Tun came in shortly to ask if he should serve dinner, and told us that Wi-to was “better now” and would be “alle light” by morning.
We had little appetite for the meal, but made an attempt to eat. The exciting events of the past few days were beginning to tell upon us and there was little hope of relaxing the nervous tension until our strange adventure had been accomplished.
The death of Mai Lo had simplified matters very much. “Unless,” said Joe, “we are accused of his murder; in which case our goose is cooked.”
“That’s why I brought the head,” remarked Archie, glancing at the corner.
“That’s why you ought not to have brought it,” I objected.
“But we must have peace and the good will of the natives in order to get away safely with the treasure,” he replied, sensibly enough. “Mai Lo has committed suicide.”
“Suicide!” I exclaimed.
“Certainly, my boy. It was up to him to make away with himself, thus doing his duty and fulfilling the expectations of the people.”
I looked at him admiringly.
“Will you please tell me, Archie,” I said, “how we can convince the people that Mai Lo cut off his own head?”
“Why, tell ’em the truth,” he returned. “Tell them Mai Lo gave the Sacred Ape a scimitar and fought a duel with him. That would be a neat way to suicide and appeal to their artistic sense. The ape got in the first swipe and—and——”
“And what?”
“And here’s the head to prove it,” he answered triumphantly.
I shook my head.
“It won’t do, old man. Such an absurd story, coming from us, his enemies, would be enough to condemn us.”
We sat thinking over the situation for a time, and then Joe exclaimed abruptly:
“I have it! We will get Wi-to to tell the story.”
“That’s better,” I said, relieved. “He ought to be sober enough to act the part tomorrow. But in the meantime what are we to do with the governor’s wife and daughter? They are in no further danger, so we needn’t keep them cooped up in that room any longer.”
“Send for them,” suggested Joe.
So we asked Nux to summon the two maids, and soon they toddled timidly into our presence.
“Ko-Tua,” said I, solemnly, “you may go home and put on your widow’s gown.”
“What you mean, Sam?” she asked, eagerly.
“Why, your respected husband, the admirable old villain Mai Lo, has had the kindness to commit suicide.”
“Ah, oh!” cried both the girls, with one voice; and then to our amazement they plumped down upon their knees and bowed their heads to the floor and began wailing and beating their front hair with the palms of their hands.
We allowed their emotions full play for a time, but they kept up the monotonous cries and self-inflicted blows longer than we thought necessary.
“Oh, shut up, Ko-Tua!” grunted Archie, stooping down to give the pretty widow’s shoulder a vigorous shake. “Stop the racket until you’re in public. You’re not so eternally sorry, are you?”
She looked up with a smile and slowly rose, Mai Mou demurely following her example.
“I’m glad,” said Ko-Tua, frankly. “Now I no have tongue cut out. But Mai Lo my husban’, an’ he dead, an’—oh, oh! ah-oh! oh-ah!——”
“Hi! cut it out!” yelled Archie, as the widow relapsed into her wails. “If you don’t behave, I’ll—I’ll bring Mai Lo to life again!”
She stopped at once.
“You sure he dead?” inquired Mai Mou.
“Absolutely sure,” I replied. “He committed suicide, and we saw him do it. But see here, young ladies; you mustn’t mention this till tomorrow, when public announcement is made. Do you understand? Go home and control your grief until you hear the news from others, and then howl as much as you please.”
They were puzzled at this order, but when we explained that our own lives depended upon their silence they willingly promised to obey.
At first we were all unable to figure out how they were to return to their homes without being seen and causing gossip; but Bry proposed that he should rap upon the door at the end of the passage and see if he could not arouse Nor Ghai.
The rapping had no effect for a time, and after a few attempts we abandoned that idea and tried to think of something else. Meantime, as our dinner-table still stood piled with eatables, we prevailed upon Ko-Tua and Mai Mou to satisfy their hunger, which they did with ardor but exquisite daintiness, smiling at us happily as they ate.
“Really,” whispered Archie, “if I’d known Mai Lo’s death could cause so much pleasure I’d have asked him to commit suicide long ago.”
Presently, without warning, Nor Ghai glided into the room and took in the scene with one comprehensive glance.
“I heard the knock, but could not come then, as I was not alone,” she explained. “Is there something you wish me to do?”
“You might take these girls into your harem and keep them there,” I replied.
“But Mai Lo’s eunuchs will find them!” she exclaimed.
“Never mind; there is nothing to fear. Mai Lo is dead.”
“Dead!” she repeated, clasping her little hands.
“He has committed suicide,” I answered.
“Never! Mai Lo never suicide,” she declared, positively. “If Mai Lo dead, somebody kill him.”
“Somebody did,” I replied, smiling at her shrewd knowledge of the governor’s character. “It was the Sacred Ape, Fo-Chu.”
“But Fo-Chu is escaped and lost. I heard it today.”
“Well, Mai Lo found him, and thought it was a good time to shuffle off his mortal coil. You remember that in Shakespeare?”
She nodded.
“So Mai Lo shuffled.”
“Isn’t it nice, Nor Ghai?” asked the widow, delightedly. Then with a sudden thought: “Ah—oo! ah-oo! ah——”
“Cut it out, Ko-Tua,” warned Archie.
“Her tongue!” gasped Nor Ghai.
“No, that’s quite safe; but she isn’t supposed to use it for wailing except in public. Take her to your rooms, little one, and don’t fear for her or Mai Mou any longer. Your troubles are nearly over, I’m sure.”
So Nor Ghai smiled also, and led her two friends away. The last we ever saw of them were their pretty forms toddling up the passage with their pretty faces turned over their shoulders to smile upon us. Then the tapestry hid them and they were gone.
CHAPTER XXX.
THE POOL OF THE DEVIL-FISH.
That evening, being unable to sleep, we sat up late, packing our booty into the chests furnished by the eunuch. They were light and strong and so closely did the gems pack that we were able to get our ivories and some other valuable ornaments into an extra case. Before we went to bed all the boxes were tightly nailed, wound with cords, and the cords sealed with wax. As the seals bore the impression of Prince Kai’s signet ring I felt sure they would be respected.
Next morning we sent for Wi-to, and when he appeared, looking still a bit “groggy,” as Archie expressed it, we told him the story we had invented to suit our necessity.
“Mai Lo is dead,” I began.
The Chief Eunuch started.
“You have killed him?” he asked.
“No; he committed suicide.”
“Impossible!”
“So I would have said had I not seen it,” I answered, gravely. “And perhaps, after all, the governor did not intend to fulfil his duty so hastily. Sit down, Wi-to, and listen to the story.”
He sat down, but looked incredulous and uneasy.
“While you were ill yesterday,” I began, “we went out to take a walk.”
“With the governor’s soldiers guarding every door?” he asked.
“Why, you yourself have said there were secret passages that the governor did not know of. You must not forget, sir, that we are the trusted friends and emissaries of Prince Kai Lun Pu.”
This may or may not have satisfied him. Anyhow, he said nothing but looked at me inquiringly.
“We wandered through the grounds, trying not to meet anyone,” I continued, “until we came to the great pool by the rocks which your people say is inhabited by the devil-fish.”
“It is true,” said Wi-to. “I, myself, have seen the monster.”
I was much relieved to hear this, for it made my invention seem more plausible.
“While we stood looking into the pool,” said I, “the governor suddenly stepped from the grove of trees nearby and advanced toward us. He held a naked scimitar in his hand, such as his soldiers use, and he seemed very angry. He reproached us for making the acquaintance of his wife and daughter and for opposing his soldiers, and declared we should not escape him again.”
This struck the eunuch as quite reasonable. He began to look interested.
“We were angry, and argued with him,” I went on, “and while we were quarreling Mai Lo suddenly gave a loud cry. We looked around and saw the great ape called Fo-Chu, the King, leaping toward us from the grove.”
I paused and Wi-to said:
“He escaped from the pagoda several days ago, and could not be found.”
“We were all frightened,” said I, “for the beast seemed fierce and excited. The governor alone was armed, and as Fo-Chu bounded forward Mai Lo thrust out the scimitar, and ran it through the ape’s body. But Fo-Chu drew the blade from his own breast, swung it in the air, and with one blow severed the governor’s head from his shoulders. Then the ape seized the body and leaped into the pool with it, and both sank quickly beneath the black waters. I am quite sure the beast was dying at the time, and perhaps the devil-fish grabbed them, for neither one came to the surface again.”
As I finished the yarn the Chief Eunuch coughed and looked puzzled.
“But although the bodies were gone,” I added, “the head of Mai Lo remained upon the ground where it had fallen.”
“Here it is,” announced Archie, “we used to call him old Death’s-Head, and may be it is appropriate,” and holding the horrible thing in his hand, he advanced and laid it at the eunuch’s feet.
Wi-to grew pale and stared into the placid face of his enemy. Mai Lo stared back at him, and I could not see that the beady eyes or parchment face had changed at all in death.
“Ugh!” said the eunuch, turning away. “It is certain the man is dead. But who will believe your story?”
“You will, to begin with,” said I, confidently, “and you will make others believe it.”
“How?”
I brought some rice-paper, brush and ink from the cabinet, where there was a store of such material, and laid them on the table.
“Write the words I shall give you, in Chinese, as Mai Lo would have written them,” I said.
The eunuch smiled as if suddenly enlightened, and accepted the task cheerfully.
“‘Wishing to die, as it is my duty to do,’” I dictated, “‘I have loosed the Sacred Ape and trusted myself to his avenging hand. If I am dead after we have met, all the world will know that Mai Lo, Governor of Kwang-Kai-Nong and the trusted servant of Prince Kai Lun Pu, who lies with his ancestors, has done his full duty.’”
Wi-to nodded like an automaton and wrote with much skill upon the paper, beginning at one of the bottom corners of the sheet and working up.
The Chinese characters were neat and uniform, and when the document was finished Wi-to laid down the brush with a sigh of content.
“I have not used your words,” said he, “but I have used the idea. And the signature,” he added, with a sly leer, “is the signature of Mai Lo himself. I will now go and exhibit the head and the paper, and salute Mai-Tchin as the new governor.”
So eager was he that he caught up the head by its queue and dragged the grinning trophy away with him without having it wrapped into a neat parcel, as I had intended should be done.
Wi-to might not believe our story, but he was assuredly glad to be rid of his long-standing foe, and we had given the wily eunuch the clew that would enable him to deceive anyone who might be interested in knowing how the governor met his death.
I have beside me, as I write, a clipping from the Hong-Kong Gazette announcing the death of the Governor of the Province of Kwang-Kai-Nong. It states that he committed suicide according to Shinto requirements, owing to the premature death of his master, Prince Kai Lun Pu, late Viceroy of the Imperial Chinese Empire.
Within an hour we left our rooms and ventured to walk out into the palace and wander in the grounds again. The soldiers had all been withdrawn and the palace eunuchs made humble obeisance to us as we passed.
There was no excitement apparent around the palace. The artisans were busy with their tasks and the gardeners pruned and weeded as deliberately as ever. But when we descended the mound we heard a loud chorus of moans proceeding from the governor’s house, and knew that his death was now publicly recognized.
The place was getting decidedly distasteful to us, and that evening we told Wi-to that we had performed all the requests of Prince Kai and wanted to return to Shanghai at once. He replied that he was sorry to have us go, but appreciated the fact that the unpleasant incidents of our visit must outweigh with us the pleasure we had had.
Next morning we were waited upon by the new governor, who received us in the state apartment of the palace. We found him a weak, undecided young man, who seemed frightfully nervous at his sudden accession to power and eager to get rid of us. We explained to him the terms of our contract with his father, Mai Lo, and while we did not mention the ten thousand taels, we insisted upon a proper escort to Ichang and payment of all the expenses of the trip back to Shanghai. He agreed to every demand with alacrity, and I could see he was in positive terror of the “foreign devils.”
Within forty-eight hours the arrangements were all completed and the train of elephants, horses and attendants gathered in the open space before the palace. The eunuchs carried down our heavy cases and loaded them upon the elephants, and while the bearers must have thought them tremendously heavy they dared not complain, and the Chief Eunuch’s suspicions were in no way aroused.
Wi-to seemed really grieved to lose his guests, and we thanked him cordially for his hospitality and parted from him, both he and we expressing the utmost good will.
Our escort was led by a very polite fellow, who spoke amusing pigeon-English and had evidently been instructed by Mai Tchin to show us especial deference and obey our slightest command.
The result was that we met with little annoyance from the natives along the route, and reached Ichang with our entire treasure intact, after a very agreeable journey.
There we left our elephants and horses and boarded the steamer for Shanghai, taking with us merely an escort of a dozen soldiers. These richly dressed warriors commanded sufficient respect to insure our safety on the trip.
At Shanghai Uncle Naboth was waiting for us, and the dear old fellow was overjoyed at our safe return.
“Got any treasure?” he asked.
We pointed to the sealed packing-cases which the porters were laboriously unloading.
“There’s enough there, Uncle,” I whispered, “to make us all rich as Rockefeller—if we can get it safe aboard the Seagull.”
“Why, we’ll hire a special steamer to transport it to Woosung,” he declared; and knowing Mr. Perkins as we did we were all relieved when the treasure had been turned over to his care.
We met Dr. Gaylord in Shanghai, and he was still “out of a job.” He seemed amazed that we had returned safely from our adventure and asked us a thousand questions which we answered discreetly, without telling him too much. But he was a good-hearted old fellow, and had been of much service to us before his courage had failed him and led him to desert our cause. Remembering this, I placed a small packet in his hands when we parted at the wharf and asked him not to open it until after we had gone.
I hope it helped the good doctor to buy that farm in England which he so much desired; for although the packet merely contained what Archie described as “some of the loose plunder that was in our pockets,” it ought to have been sufficient to set the doctor up for life.
Fortunately there are no customs officials at the port of Woosung, and our chartered steamer puffed directly to the side of the Seagull and loaded us and our treasure on our own craft.
We received a joyful welcome from my father and the officers and crew, you may be sure, and before we had told all of our story we were well out at sea and were homeward bound.
I have often wondered if our visits to the Ancestral Halls of the House of Kai have ever been discovered, or the treasure we abstracted at the instance of the Prince ever missed.
But from the far-away Province of Kwang-Kai-Nong to the deck of the wandering Seagull is a far cry, and it is unlikely we shall ever know what happened in Kai-Nong after our departure.
Since that time we “Boy Fortune Hunters” have been through many other experiences, not all rewarded with equal profit, but, I can assure you, quite as thrilling; and some of these I purpose to relate at another time. Some of our earlier adventures, such as those with which we entertained the dying Prince Kai, may be read in “The Boy Fortune Hunters in Alaska,” “The Boy Fortune Hunters in Panama,” and “The Boy Fortune Hunters in Egypt.”
THE END.
Up-to-the-Minute Boys’ Books
The Airship Boys Series
By H. L. SAYLER
ILLUSTRATED BY F. R. HARPER
This is one of the most fascinating, besides being one of the most timely and technically accurate series of boys’ books yet published. Mr. Sayler is not only first, but, we think, without a rival in this new field of boys’ literature which offers so much in the way of invention, exploration and adventure. The first two volumes are:
The Airship Boys
or, The Quest of the Aztec Treasure
AND
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Good Books for Girls
The Aunt Jane Series
By Edith Van Dyne
- Aunt Jane’s Nieces
- Aunt Jane’s Nieces Abroad
- Aunt Jane’s Nieces at Millville
- Aunt Jane’s Nieces at Work
“Aunt Jane’s Nieces” chronicles the real doings of real girls in a most interesting manner. “Aunt Jane’s Nieces Abroad” tells of a delightfully adventurous trip through Europe, and the third volume describes their summer holiday on a farm “at Millville.” In the last story the “Nieces” are shown at work in the political arena.
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Price 60 cents each
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By Suzanne Metcalf
A bright, swiftly-moving story of a young girl just blossoming into womanhood, and of a boy struggling for a start in life.
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Price 60 cents
Transcriber’s Notes
- Copyright notice provided as in the original—this e-text is public domain in the country of publication.
- Silently corrected palpable typos; left non-standard spellings and dialect unchanged.
- In the text versions, delimited italics text in _underscores_ (the HTML version reproduces the font form of the printed book.)