“We shall be obliged to take my father and Uncle Naboth into our confidence soon,” I continued, “for the Seagull must make straight for Woosung anchorage, so that we may escort the body of Prince Kai to Shanghai, and up the Yang-tse, while our ship goes to Canton to unload. Then they can pick us up when we return.”
“Look here,” said Dr. Gaylord, testily, “have you gone crazy?”
“I hope not, sir.”
“Then what’s this nonsense about escorting Prince Kai’s body——”
“To Kai-Nong, so he may rest with his ancestors,” I interrupted. “That will save Mai Lo from disgrace, and will enable him to return home in triumph. To do this, he will gladly show us the way.”
The doctor’s stare turned to a grin.
“I begin to understand,” said he. “So that is why you wanted me to join your party.”
“Exactly,” I replied. “We can’t get along without you.”
“And the spoils of war?”
“There shall be an equal division.”
“Very good!” said the doctor. “Very good indeed. The conspiracy is an established fact, and the conspirators are bound to win.”
With a smile I glanced over his shoulder to where a motionless form stood by the rail gazing steadfastly into the sea. The man was too far away to have overheard us, but the sight of him froze my smile in an instant.
It was Mai Lo.
“Come,” I said abruptly; “let’s go below and talk it over. It’s getting chilly here.”
The doctor and I had an important interview with Mai Lo that very evening. The man was evidently on guard before the door of his dead master’s room; for, the moment one of us approached the state cabin, there was Mai Lo confronting him, although the mandarin had been seen at quite another part of the ship a short time before. At such times the expressionless face and unfathomable beady eyes were turned toward us like those of a basilisk, and they impressed me with an uneasy sensation in spite of the fact that I felt that he alone was helpless to oppose us in anything we might decide to do.
But it was not our cue at present to antagonize Mai Lo, but to win his confidence. My father had already loudly declared in the Manchu’s hearing that the body of Prince Kai must be buried at sea, and considering Mai Lo’s prejudices it was not unreasonable to suppose that he looked upon us as his enemies.
Our first act in the comedy we were playing was to send Uncle Naboth to explain to the attendant that Captain Steele regretted the necessity of disposing of the body of his master at sea; but because the Seagull’s medicine chest contained no drugs or chemicals with which to embalm or preserve the body, there was no way to avoid this sea-burial if we wished to preserve the health of all on board.
Mai listened in apparent apathy to this explanation, which he had doubtless understood before, and the doctor and I waited a couple of hours to give him time to think it over before we sought him out and with mysterious gestures beckoned him to follow us to my own cabin. This he did, but would not close the door and sat in a position where he could keep an eye upon the locked door of the state cabin.
“Mai Lo,” said I, “you know that Prince Kai and I became friends before he died, and that he wished me to go to his palace at Kai-Nong and there perform for him certain services, the details of which are secret and must not be confided to anyone—even to you, his most faithful servant.”
He listened to me calmly, and then nodded his head.
“The Prince well knew his body would be lowered into the waters of the sea,” I continued, “and he was resigned to the necessity. We Americans do not care very much what becomes of our bodies when we are dead, but I know you Chinese feel differently about it, and it has made me unhappy to think I could not take the body of my friend Kai to China and place it in the burial-halls of his ancestors. Dr. Gaylord and I were conversing upon this subject, a short time ago, when he informed me that his science had taught him a way to preserve a body for a long period without the use of the usual drugs; but it is a method that requires great skill and labor, and constant watching, and is, moreover, very expensive.”
By this time Mai Lo was intensely interested; there was no doubt of that. His gaze was fixed steadfastly upon my face and I thought there was a faint gleam of curiosity in his eyes.
He was silent at first; but I intended he should speak, and after a long pause he did so.
“The expense,” said he, in a harsh, guttural voice, but fair English, “is not to be considered. The estates of Prince Kai are ample to meet any demand.”
“Just so,” I replied easily. “Were it not so, my own fortune would willingly be devoted to the honor of my friend. The question is not one of money, but whether we can prevail upon Doctor Gaylord to give us his time and services. He says the task is a difficult one; and, if he undertakes to preserve the body of my friend and your master, he must watch over it constantly and escort it in person to the halls of Prince Kai’s ancestors. I have promised to go with him and to take two of my own friends to assist him and guard him; but the doctor knows something of China and fears he will be molested and perhaps lose his life during the long journey to the province of Kwang-Kai-Nong and back again to Shanghai. It is this that makes him refuse the undertaking, so I have decided to ask you if you cannot help us, and relieve Doctor Gaylord of his fears.”
I spoke slowly, so that each word might be fully understood by the Chinaman, and it was not long before he answered me.
“China is a safe country at all times,” said Mai Lo, and I noticed that his raspy, guttural tones were as expressionless as his face. “But on this mission, when one is in the service of Mai Lo, and favoring the powerful family of Kai, the person of Doctor Gaylord would be sacred from harm.”
There were several things about this brief assertion that I did not like. The mandarin, so humble and subservient to his Prince that I had come to regard him as a mere valet, now assumed that we would be “in the service of Mai Lo” during our journey into the interior. Then, again, our return trip was not assured; it would only be of interest to Mai Lo to see that we arrived safely at the capital of Kai-Nong with the body.
This struck the doctor, too; for he said, in his positive way:
“If I go in safety I must return in safety. It won’t do, Mai Lo, to give me empty promises. Either you must show me, without the shadow of a doubt, how I am to return to Shanghai with my American escort, or I don’t stir a step and the body of Prince Kai goes overboard.”
Mai Lo took a silver box from inside his richly embroidered robe and abstracted some betel-nut and lime leaves, which he placed in his mouth.
“What assurance do you demand?” he asked.
“This,” said the doctor. “You will yourself remain on board the Seagull as an hostage, until we return from Kai-Nong.”
Mai Lo remained silent a long time, while we watched him anxiously. At last he spoke, as deliberately as before.
“You imperil your own safety by this request,” said he. “Without me to protect you, your party might be attacked and slain.”
“I thought you said China was perfectly safe!” I exclaimed, contemptuously.
“It is perfectly safe wherever I go,” he answered.
We were both greatly disappointed at this position of Mai Lo, for we had thought that by leaving him on board the ship we could carry out our plans safely. China might be a dangerous country to travel in, but we feared this incomprehensible mandarin more than anything else.
“Oh, well,” said the doctor, carelessly, “let us abandon the idea altogether. I don’t want the job, to be frank with you both, and I won’t run my head into danger if I can help it. So we’ll say no more about it.”
“There are other ways to assure your safety,” said Mai Lo, as the doctor rose as if to go.
Then he turned his face toward me and asked:
“Cannot the friend of Prince Kai trust the promises of his friend’s servant?”
“No,” I replied. “The Prince himself told me to trust no one.”
“You have his letter of authority and his ring.”
“He is dead,” I answered, with a shrug. “I am not sure the commands of the dead Prince are as powerful as those of his living servant. I am told you are all-powerful in Kai-Nong, Mai Lo.”
“We who worship our ancestors obey the commands of the dead without question, even if it costs us our lives,” said the mandarin.
This might be true, but I had little faith in Mai Lo being influenced by the traditions of his people. Prince Kai had distrusted the man and warned me to look out for any treachery from him. But it was not my purpose to antagonize the mandarin at this juncture.
“Satisfy the doctor, and you satisfy me,” I declared, with assumed indifference.
“I will write an agreement,” said Mai Lo, “in which I promise you safe conduct to Kai-Nong and back to Shanghai. This you will deposit with the American Consul at Shanghai. If I fail in my agreement he will send the paper to the Emperor, who will at once order me beheaded.”
“Very good,” said the doctor, somewhat to my surprise. “That will satisfy us amply. Write the agreement and I will at once begin work upon the body of Prince Kai. If I am to succeed no time must be lost.”
“And the price?” asked the mandarin.
“Ten thousand taels, and all expenses of the journey.”
“It is agreed.”
Mai Lo composedly arose and went to the state cabin, which he entered.
“It’s just as well to accept his terms,” said the doctor to me, in a low voice. “What we want is to impress him with the fact that we rely upon his protection. Then we’ll watch him for evidences of treachery and be upon our guard.”
“Would the Emperor behead him if he played false?” I asked, thoughtfully.
“Assuredly. Tsi An doesn’t want any trouble with foreign countries just now, and when we speak of the Emperor we really mean the old dowager, Tsi An.”
Presently the Chinaman returned and handed the doctor a paper closely written upon in Chinese characters. I looked at the document rather suspiciously, being unable to read it; but the doctor promptly folded it and put it in his pocket-book. Then he said in a brisk and business-like tone:
“Take me to the Prince, Mai Lo. I must get to work.”
Work he did, and to all appearances very energetically. While he made his preliminary arrangements I had a long talk with father and Uncle Naboth, and after explaining to them the details of the entire adventure I obtained their permission to carry it out. Uncle Naboth wanted to go with us to “see the country,” he said; but I pointed out that it was a long and tedious journey which my respected relative might not enjoy, being quite stout and rather short of breath. Moreover, the cargo of merchandise we were carrying needed his attention; and, if we boys failed to secure the treasure we were to hunt for, it would be as well to make the trip a profitable one in a more legitimate way. Finally it was arranged that only Archie, Joe and I should proceed to Kwang-Kai-Nong in the doctor’s company, with the two black South Sea Islanders, Nux and Bryonia, for body-servants. Numbers would not count for much in the expedition, while courage, wit and caution would accomplish more than an army.
It would only delay the Seagull a few days to stop at Woosung anchorage before proceeding to Hong Kong on the way to Canton to unload cargo, and the prospect of rich returns for this delay fully warranted it.
These matters being arranged, and my father and Uncle Naboth being acquainted with the doctor’s secret plans, we proceeded quietly to complete our arrangements.
Dr. Gaylord employed only the services of Mai Lo to prepare the body of his Prince for the process of preservation, and it must be admitted that the mandarin worked faithfully and willingly—almost I had said cheerfully, except that such a word could never be applied to the unemotional Mai Lo.
These preparations being completed at midnight, Dr. Gaylord drove the attendant away, claiming that his “secret process” would not allow the presence of any one. And then the doctor, as he afterward told me, rolled himself up in a blanket and behind the locked door slept peacefully in the presence of the corpse until morning.
Nor was Mai Lo again admitted to the state cabin, although he maintained his position as guard outside the door, both day and night.
As soon as breakfast was over I went to the carpenter and had him make a pine box for a coffin. This we covered with black cloth and clamped with heavy bands of iron. The cover was hinged and fastened down with three Yale locks, in addition to a row of stout screws.
This funeral strong-box was completed about the middle of the afternoon, and Archie, Joe and I lugged it down to the saloon and deposited it before the door of the state cabin.
Very soon the doctor came out with his sleeves rolled up and looking very business-like, although he had been reading a novel all day. He, also, approved the chest; so we solemnly carried it into the state cabin and deposited it upon the floor. Mai Lo was ordered to remain at the door, but he kept it open and watched us intently from his position there. The body lay upon the bunk swathed from head to foot in bandages, which were thoroughly dampened, and gave out an odor which I knew to be rum, as I had conveyed several bottles of this liquor to the room, concealed in a gunny sack to puzzle Mai Lo.
The lid of the Coffin being laid back, we gently lifted the body of the Prince in our arms and deposited it in the box, wrappings and all. Then the doctor sprinkled the corpse with more rum from a jar, and closed the lid and locked it, placing the keys in his pocket.
“Everything is all right, so far,” he remarked to Mai Lo, as he put on his coat and prepared to leave the room. “It will be necessary for me to sprinkle the body with my secret preparation every few hours, especially during the next week or ten days. In this work I shall require the services of Sam Steele only. You will keep out of this room, my man, and prevent any one from entering it without my orders, as the fumes of the drugs might cause another death aboard.”
Mai Lo nodded and locked the door behind us, and I was greatly pleased that the doctor had succeeded so far in his imposition.
At seven o’clock the doctor and I again entered the state cabin and remained there for half an hour, leaning out of the port-hole, which was extra large in this cabin, and conversing together in low tones. Then we emerged and passed the evening as usual, everyone on board seeming to take little interest in the fact that we had a dead man in the state cabin.
The sailors, always a superstitious and suspicious lot, had asked some questions of Archie and Joe, but when told that the doctor had preserved the body, which was to be taken to Shanghai, they seemed satisfied with the situation, although I knew every man Jack would have been relieved to see the corpse lowered into the sea.
The doctor rapped on my door at midnight, although I was not asleep and had been eagerly awaiting the summons.
Together we entered the state cabin, the door of which was unlocked by Mai Lo, who seemed perpetually sleepless and alert. We first bolted the door to prevent intrusion, and then lighted a lamp and began preparations for the most important act in our comedy.
My heart was beating strongly as I assisted the doctor to unlock the lid of the box and silently lay it back. Then we lifted out the corpse and the doctor swiftly and skillfully removed the bandages, disclosing the still smiling face of the dead Prince.
We had smuggled in at various times several heavy pieces of iron, and these were now congregated in a gunny sack. We attached this sack to the feet of the body, carried it to the port-hole and slid it out into the water. It disappeared into the night almost without a sound, although I thought I heard a faint splash at the stern.
But now our task was only half accomplished. Bolsters and blankets were bound together in such shape that they resembled in outline the form of the Prince. Then the doctor carefully bandaged it, and when the dummy was put in the coffin to replace the corpse it was difficult to realize the substitution. With a sigh of relief we moistened the bandages anew with rum, and then closed and locked the lid.
Mai Lo was at his post when we left the state cabin.
“Everything is progressing finely,” remarked the doctor; but the stolid attendant made no reply and we passed on to our own cabins.
The voyage of the Seagull across the Pacific was safely accomplished and with excellent speed. We crossed the Yellow Sea without incident and in due time anchored at Woosung, which is at the mouth of the Yang-tse-Kiang. This river is navigable for small steamers for several hundred miles, but the yellow mud that it washes down from the foothills of the interior mountain ranges forms a huge bar across the mouth, which ocean steamships cannot cross. So passengers are obliged to disembark at Woosung and take either the railway or a small steamer for the twenty-five mile run up to Shanghai.
Mai Lo decided upon the steamer. As soon as we anchored we went ashore and made arrangements, and on the following morning our little party prepared to follow him, and start at once upon our strange adventure.
The Chinese Health Inspector for the port was curious and exacting. He made us unlock the coffin of Prince Kai and when the swathed figure was exposed he prodded it cautiously with his bamboo wand. Mai Lo was indignant at this outrage, and protested so vigorously that the official refrained from further investigation. He countersigned the doctor’s certificate of death from accidental injury, and allowed us to proceed.
Until this time we had been uneasy lest Mai Lo should suspect the imposture we had practiced. He had remained so stolid and indifferent that, although we had allowed him at various times to see us saturating the bandaged form with our rum, we could not feel really assured that he believed the corpse of Prince Kai was still in our keeping. But the mandarin’s genuine anger at the meddling official—if voluble and brusque phrases in Chinese may be construed as anger—fully restored our confidence.
The chest was solemnly rowed to the quay, just beneath one of the mud forts, and placed aboard a smart little river steamer that was puffing a cloud of black smoke from its funnel. Uncle Naboth came off with us in another boat, for he was to accompany us as far as Shanghai and see us started upon our real journey up the Yang-tse. We carried light baggage, but concealed about our persons a plentiful supply of arms and ammunition.
Less than half a day’s ride upon the winding yellow waters of the river brought us to the important city of Shanghai—the most important in all the Province of Chili.
The doctor and I insisted upon conveying the important casket to the Astor House, where we were to stop, and the proprietor gave us a private room for it in an outbuilding and appointed several Chinese servants to guard the supposed corpse of the Prince.
Here, during the next few days, came several Chinese relatives of the dead man to burn prayers for his peaceful repose before the little image of a god and the wooden ancestral tablets which Mai Lo had set up at the head of the casket. These prayers were printed in Chinese characters upon rice paper, and when burned before the god were considered very efficacious.
At times the doctor and I continued to treat the bandages with rum, for although Mai Lo was not often present upon these occasions we feared he might have spies set to watch us, and so dared not neglect our functions.
The mandarin lived, during these days of our stay in Shanghai, in the native city, and said he was busy perfecting arrangements for our long trip to the Province of Kwang-Kai-Nong.
Shanghai consists of a native city and an European city, besides four conceded districts occupied by Americans, French, English and Germans. These grants or concessions have their own judicial courts and are guarded by their national marines, so that we found our surroundings wholly American, and plenty of American faces greeted us in our country’s section of the city.
This was at first quite reassuring; but one had only to walk into the European section, patrolled by the handsome and gigantic Indian Sikhs, or into the dirty native city, to realize that we were indeed upon foreign territory.
One of our first errands after our arrival was to visit the American Consul, who received us very courteously. We told him of our contract to escort the body of Prince Kai Lun Pu to the province of Kwang-Kai-Nong, and that our agreement with Mai Lo provided for our safe return to Shanghai. He shook his head dubiously and asked to see the contract. This we produced, and waited patiently while the consul’s interpreter translated it in writing. When reduced to English the paper read as follows:
“Listen to the obligation which Mai Lo, High Mandarin and Governor of the province of Kwang-Kai-Nong, in His Imperial Chinese Majesty’s Domain, hereby voluntarily agrees to perform:
“Mai Lo will escort in honor and safety the person of the renowned physician Gregory Gaylord, a subject of the Kingdom of England, from the City of Shanghai, in the Province of Chili, to the City of Kai-Nong in the Province of Kwang-Kai-Nong, and with him shall go the Americans known as Sam Steele, Archie Ackley, and Joe Herring, with their attendants, all in equal honor and safety.
“And if Doctor Gregory Gaylord shall conduct the corpse of His Royal Highness the Revered Prince Kai Lun Pu, well preserved and cared for, upon this journey to the City of Kai-Nong, then will Mai Lo pay to this Doctor Gregory Gaylord the sum of ten thousand taels in genuine money of the Empire of China.
“And if the Englishman and the Americans and their attendants before mentioned do conduct themselves with honesty and faith, neither stealing nor murdering upon the journey or while within the City of Kai-Nong, then shall Mai Lo escort them each and every one in honor and safety back again to the City of Shanghai and deliver them to the American Consul in that city, unharmed.
“And this Mai Lo shall do as soon as the foreign guests shall together or separately make request to return to Shanghai, and all of the expenses of guards and of food and of transportation shall be defrayed from the private purse of Mai Lo, as a part of his contract and obligations.
“So Mai Lo, promising to be faithful in the names of his greatly worshipped ancestors, agrees to do and will do, or forfeit his life, his rank and his fortune. And that all men may know his intentions he has here signed his name in witness.
“Mai Lo.”
The doctor and I each read this translation in silence, but afterward glanced at one another with grim forebodings. But the consul, who was studying another copy, said to us thoughtfully:
“This agreement is more frank and favorable than I feared it would prove. Usually these unscrupulous mandarins insert such clauses in their contracts that their subtle meanings may be construed in various ways, thus giving them opportunities to violate the real meaning of their promises. But here is a paper of a different sort, direct and concise and with no subterfuges. I think you may trust yourselves to Mai Lo, especially as he knows this document is in my possession; and I will inquire carefully into the matter should any harm befall you. Without the good-will of this powerful governor, however, I would advise you not to undertake the dangerous journey into the far-away province of Kwang-Kai-Nong. Indeed, I warn you that the City of Kai-Nong has considerable evil repute, and is seldom visited by Americans or Europeans. But Mai Lo is able to protect you even in that remote capital.”
“We shall go,” replied the doctor, briefly. “But if we do not return by the first of September you must make inquiries concerning us; and if——”
“If?” said the consul, with an amused glance.
“If you find we’ve disappeared, or anything has happened to us, please see that Mai Lo is punished,” concluded the doctor.
“I will do all in my power,” responded the consul. “The Chinese character is complex, and crafty beyond measure. But I am sure Mai Lo would not have executed this document unless he meant fairly by you. I shall lock the original up in my safe, and you may keep the translation to refer to in case of necessity.”
We thanked him and went our way, rather more gloomy than the consul suspected. For we could not tell the American representative that our errand to Kai-Nong was to carry away the treasure from Prince Kai’s ancestral halls, and that if we were caught doing this, Mai Lo might easily construe our act as one of theft, and have us put to death. It did not matter that we were acting according to the Prince’s expressed wishes.
“Mai Lo must have suspected why we wanted to go to Kai-Nong, and so have put in that dangerous clause,” I said to the doctor.
“True; the fellow has entrapped us very cleverly,” replied Doctor Gaylord. “Yet he may be innocent of any intent to do so.”
“I’m not going to bank on that,” said I. “The consul knows the Chinese, and he says they are crafty. Mai Lo seems to have no more intelligence than a lump of putty, but for that reason he’s doubly dangerous. You can’t tell how much he knows, or what he thinks.”
“If we object to that clause in the agreement, we shall acknowledge evil intentions on our part,” remarked the doctor; “and, if we say nothing, he may find a way to use that same clause to excuse himself for our murder.”
“Well,” said I, grimly, “I’ve gone into this thing, and I’m going to stay in—to the finish.”
“So am I,” replied Doctor Gaylord; but I did not like the way he said it.
No one can gain any adequate idea of the magnitude of the Empire of China until he has journeyed up that great waterway, the Yang-tse-Kiang, and observed the millions upon millions of natives that throng both the river and its banks. For the first four hundred miles of its twisting, serpentine course, the Yang-tse seems to wind through one successive village, back of which the skilfully cultivated gardens and fields are visible. The people as a rule seem peaceful and plodding; but we soon discovered a deep-rooted antipathy for foreigners in their character which induced them to regard us with scowling countenances or mischievous jeers. Whenever we tied up at the river-bank they crowded around to mock us and make faces at us like a pack of unruly schoolboys, and we began to realize that we would be far from safe if we ventured among them unprotected.
Our steamer was a wheezy little flat-bottomed affair, which in spite of its awkward appearance breasted the stream energetically and made fairly good time. It had been chartered especially for our party by Mai Lo, and was to carry us as far as Ichang, where we were to take mules and elephants to Kai-Nong.
Mai Lo was now a vastly different personage from the humble and groveling attendant of Prince Kai whom we had first known. He boarded the steamer at Shanghai clothed in gorgeous Chinese raiment of embroidered silks and accompanied by a band of servitors from his own province, whom he had picked up in the city. He was as silent and undemonstrative as ever, but had assumed a new dignity of demeanor. His commands were obeyed by all around him as readily as if he had been an autocrat, or the Emperor himself, and whenever he spoke to any of our party, which was but seldom, there was a suspicion of a sneer in his harsh tones that was very annoying, although his words were so courteous that we could not well find fault with them.
It mattered very little to Archie, Joe or myself that Mai Lo assumed these airs, but the doctor was uneasy and discontented, and more than once expressed regrets that we had been foolish enough to undertake such a risky adventure. Yet he continued to perform the duties he had undertaken in a brisk, businesslike manner. At least three or four times in every twenty-four hours the doctor and I entered the little room where the supposed body of the Prince had been placed in state, surrounded by flags and decorations, and moistened the bandages with the rum. We had brought with us three large demijohns of the liquor, which Doctor Gaylord had labelled “poison,” so that we might continue the farce until the end of our journey.
Mai Lo, however, no longer guarded the corpse of his Prince in the same jealous manner as he had on board the Seagull. This might easily be accounted for by the fact that now there was no danger that could menace the dead. The Chinese have an intense reverence for a corpse, and would not molest one under any circumstances.
“All the same,” said the doctor, gloomily, “I wish Mai Lo would take a little more interest in the remains of Prince Kai. His indifference makes me suspect that the crafty mandarin knows more than we give him credit for.”
Our little party was accorded excellent treatment on this voyage, and we had little to complain of. Our South Sea Islanders had nothing to do, and received almost as much deference as ourselves from the Chinese aboard the steamboat, who looked upon Nux and Bryonia with unfeigned curiosity. Our blacks were as grave and dignified as judges, and conducted themselves in their customary admirable manner. I believe they had themselves been princes, or at least nobles, in the half-civilized island from whence they had come, and certainly their conduct under trying circumstances had always been such as to win my confidence.
We were eight days getting to Ichang, for the boat tied up at the bank the greater part of each night, and resumed its journey at daybreak. The Chinese boatmen have a horror of traveling by night, except those of the pirate junks, who prefer the dark to cloak their movements. Sometimes, of course, it is necessary to travel at night, and in consequence every Chinese boat has an eye painted on each side of the bow so that the boat can see where it is going in the dark and avoid running aground or into the rocks.
Ichang we found to be another important and densely populated city, and to my surprise there were several European travelers there. A regular line of steamers runs between Ichang and Shanghai.
Doctor Gaylord met an old friend, a retired English officer, and seemed overjoyed to see him, for they held a long and animated conversation together that evening.
Mai Lo put us up at the best hotel, but the proprietor objected to receiving the “remains” of Prince Kai, and so the casket was left on board the steamer until we were ready to start—the next morning but one after our arrival. This made it necessary for the doctor and me to make trips to the boat from the hotel, since we dared not neglect any of the useless but impressive duties we had assumed in caring for the dummy corpse.
On the first of these excursions we were nearly mobbed by the natives; but fortunately our entire band was together and Nux and Bryonia cleared the way, using freely some stout lengths of bamboo.
So the rabble did not press us too closely, and on our following trips to the boat they were careful not to interfere with us, although they jeered and mocked “the foreign pigs.”
The attitude of the natives seemed to make the doctor very nervous; but the others of us did not mind their silly actions, as it was evident that we were feared as much as we were hated.
It appeared that Mai Lo had arranged for his caravan in advance—probably by the Chinese Imperial Telegraph—so we were delayed only two days in Ichang. The evening before we started Doctor Gaylord was again engaged in earnest conversation with his tourist acquaintance, and when we left him to go to bed—for we were to start at daybreak next morning—they were still talking together.
Joe aroused me next morning while it was still dark, and told me that I had barely time to dress and get my breakfast.
When the meal was finished—and Chinese breakfasts do not consume much time—we all marched down to the river, from the banks of which the caravan was to start.
There were three elephants and some twenty spindle-legged mules in the convoy, and our escort consisted of Chinese warriors carefully selected by Mai Lo.
The casket of Prince Kai was to ride in state upon one of the elephants, and to be accompanied by the doctor and myself, as his assistant. The doctor was late and had not yet arrived, so I personally directed the removal of the casket from the cabin of the steamer and saw that it was carefully loaded upon the elephant and secured just in front of the howdah. The beast was profusely decorated with flags and streamers of gay colors. The Chinese do not use black as mourning, and this was their way of honoring the memory of the late Prince. Some of the flags were embroidered with the regulation Earth Dragon, but others bore the figure of the Sacred Ape, which was the especial emblem of the House of Kai.
The doctor had not yet arrived by the time the elephant was loaded, and we began to be impatient. Mai Lo came to me to inquire why the noble physician was delayed, but I could not tell him. Messengers were sent back to the hotel, and in the meantime I watched two of the puffing, flat-bottomed little river steamers leave the bank a few rods away and begin a race down the river toward Shanghai. They had disappeared around the bend of the river a full half hour when a native touched my shoulder and stealthily handed me a soiled bit of crumpled paper.
I found it was a note from the doctor, and to my astonishment it read as follows:
“I have thrown up the job and gone back to Shanghai. Too dangerous to tackle. I advise you to follow my example. Life is worth more than you can possibly gain.
“Gaylord.”
“So,” said a harsh voice beside me; “the noble physician has run away.”
I turned with a start to face Mai Lo, who had insolently read the note over my shoulder.
“So it seems,” I answered, blankly.
“Run away!” exclaimed Joe and Archie, who were unable to comprehend this desertion.
“Gone back to Shanghai,” I answered, handing them the paper.
“Will you follow his example?” asked Mai Lo, calmly. “I must know at once, as we are ready to start.”
We three boys, confronted by this trying emergency, glanced into one another’s eyes; but after exchanging this look I was prepared to answer Mai Lo.
“We are going to Kai-Nong,” I said, with an air of unconcern. “Whenever you are ready, we will begin the journey.”
Mai Lo looked at me a long time in silence. Then he said:
“The noble physician is old and wise.”
“And that means that we boys are young and foolish,” I retorted. “But listen to me, Mai Lo. We have traveled in many lands, young as we are. We have had adventures, and faced dangers. Some who decided to oppose us are lying buried in Alaska, Panama, and Egypt—and we are here to travel in your company to Kai-Nong.”
I am not given to boasting, but here was an occasion when a little bombast might count in our favor; so I looked Mai Lo squarely in the eye and took a step nearer to him as I spoke, that he might understand that I was not afraid. Moreover, the mandarin was assuming airs of superiority that I resented. It would never do to let him believe that we were in his power.
But no one could have told by Mai Lo’s expression whether my speech had impressed him or not. His eyes were like beads of glass, and I had begun to believe that there were no muscles in his face at all.
“What is your object in traveling to Kai-Nong?” he asked, after one of his irritating pauses.
“As a matter of fact, that does not concern you, my man,” I replied. “A higher authority than your own has given me a mission to perform, and if I have any trouble with you I shall use the letter and ring of Prince Kai to provide a separate escort to Kai-Nong.”
“I am your servant,” said Mai Lo, in his rasping voice.
“Please do not forget it,” I rejoined, curtly.
“I will put some of my own people on the elephant to guard the body of my illustrious master,” said he.
“No; I will ride there myself, and perform the doctor’s duties in preserving the body. I have assisted him so long that I understand the process perfectly, and I have a duplicate set of the keys in my pocket.”
Again the mandarin stared at me silently before he ventured to speak. Then he said:
“It is not necessary to continue that farce longer.”
It was my turn to stare now; and I heard Archie cough softly and Joe give vent to a low whistle.
“Farce!” I exclaimed indignantly.
“Yes. The body of the mighty and magnificent Prince Kai is by this time sufficiently preserved. Save yourself any further trouble concerning it.”
“Oh, I intend to carry out the contract,” I declared, hardly knowing how else to reply to this astounding statement.
“Do you intend to demand the ten thousand taels?” he asked.
“Certainly. We have earned it already.”
“You shall have it,” said Mai Lo, calmly. “This matter is between you and me, and I will pay you the money in Kai-Nong. But let the casket alone, hereafter, and save yourself trouble. Give me the keys.”
“In Kai-Nong, when I have the ten thousand taels.”
“Very well,” was the ready reply.
My easy victory assured me I was still master of the situation. For some reason Mai Lo, finding he could not bulldoze me, was afraid to oppose me openly.
I ordered Nux and Bryonia to ride upon the elephant bearing the casket of Prince Kai, and the mandarin made no objection to the arrangement. In their native language, which I understood to some extent, I told the blacks to keep their eyes open and their weapons handy, and at a signal from us to hasten to our assistance. Then Archie, Joe and I mounted the second elephant, while Mai Lo climbed the third one, followed by a little withered Chinaman in yellow dress, whom I had never seen before.
The escort mounted the mules, several of which bore our light baggage, and then the word was given to start.
Our mahout, or elephant driver, was a small Chinaman with an enormous head but a merry and even jovial face that formed a sharp contrast to that of the impassive Mai Lo. As we started I asked him a question, to determine if he understood English, and he replied with a flood of sing-song Chinese that formed a sentence a mile long.
We were well out of the city gates before the speech ended, and when our driver found we had ceased to pay any attention to him he threw back his head and laughed as heartily as a schoolboy.
Knowing that we could talk freely together in our howdah, we three began to discuss earnestly the desertion of Doctor Gaylord and its bearing upon our fortunes.
“I’d like to know what scared him out,” said Archie. “Doc wanted the money and the treasure as badly as any of us, and his ten thousand taels was a sure thing.”
“He was all right until he met that English friend at Ichang,” I said. “I believe he must have heard something from him about Mai Lo or the country between here and Kai-Nong that took away his courage.”