“In one corner of this chamber is a great statue of the first Kai in armor. It is a dreadful thing, and used to frighten me when a boy; but in its carving the statue shows great artistic skill. By pushing the left foot sideways — it will require a strong pressure — a panel in the wall back of the statue will be released. It is the entrance to the secret passage and once you have found it the rest is easy. It leads to one of the niches in the vault of my ancestors, the tapestries cleverly concealing the doorway. By means of this passage you may convey all or a part of the treasure to my chamber in the palace, and from there I must leave you to your own ingenious devices to transport it safely to Shanghai or aboard your ship. Have I made this quite plain to you, my friends?”
“Quite plain,” we all answered, pleased to have the adventure so easily arranged for us; and I added:
“How can we thank you, Prince Kai?”
He smiled.
“I am well repaid in believing you will outwit old Mai Lo, and secure the treasure he means to steal,” was his reply. “If I possess a spirit I shall try to watch you and enjoy the fun.”
“Oh, don’t do that!” exclaimed Archie with a shudder.
“But you won’t know it, and I haven’t much faith in a spiritual existence,” he replied.
“What have you faith in?” I asked, shocked to hear him speak so lightly on his death-bed.
“We Shintoists believe in our ancestors,” said the Prince mockingly, I thought; “and that has always made us more sensible than our Buddhist neighbors. Also I have studied Christianity, Mohammedanism and Theosophy, and they have led me to admire Confucius more. So I get back to Shintoism in the end. I shall die in the faith of my ancestors, but not hampered by their narrow prejudices, I hope.”
He sighed with this, and I thought his cheeks looked more sunken and his skin more pallid than I had yet noticed them. So I said:
“This has been a trying interview, your Highness, and you need rest. Shall we retire?”
He hesitated, and then nodded with a return of his old brightness:
“Send in the doctor,” said he, “it’s time for more morphine.”
CHAPTER SIX
“OLD DEATH’S HEAD”
When we arrived on deck again the wind had freshened and the pleasant spell of weather we had lately experienced seemed likely to leave us. But our gallant Seagull headed the waves merrily, with scarcely any heaving of her swan-like body, and we knew her staunchness so well that we did not dread any weather that might overtake us.
Finding a sheltered position in the waist, we three boys eagerly discussed our important interview with the Prince and the chances of success in the adventure offered us.
“He’s made everything so blamed easy for us that it’s like taking candy from a babe,” said Archie, gleefully.
“He has certainly proved himself a generous friend,” I assented. “It’s a pity he must die. I’d rather have him alive and my friend, than to get the treasure. Eh, Joe?”
“Exactly,” answered Joe, in his quiet voice.
“I like the chap, too,” said Archie, “but our sentiment won’t alter the facts in the case, will it? Here’s a treasure — and a whopper, too, I imagine — calling to us to come and take it, and — ”
“And here’s Mai Lo, who wants it himself,” added Joe.
“Oh, him!” cried Archie, scornfully.
“Joe’s right,” said I, thoughtfully; “Mai Lo is a power to be reckoned with. Even the Prince fears him.”
“I don’t,” declared Archie, “the man’s a dummy. Anyone that’ll kow-tow and get on his knees the way this fellow does, is a coward and a sneak.”
“The doctor,” said Joe, softly, “calls him ‘Old Death’s-Head.’”
“Well, what of it?”
“I’m afraid of Death.”
We both started at this; but Archie, recovering courage, asked:
“What can one miserable Chinaman do, opposed to three Americans?”
“Very little, in America,” replied Joe. “But we’re going to his own country, to China, where old Death’s-Head is a high mandarin, and the governor of a province. He won’t kow-tow there, for the Prince is his only superior, and the Prince will be deep under the ocean soon.”
We thought this over. There was usually something to think over when Joe made a long speech.
“Do you mean, then, that you’re scared out; that you won’t undertake this thing?” demanded Archie, finally.
“No,” said Joe, “I’m going to China. That is, if you fellows are game to go with me.”
“That’s the way to talk!”
“But we’re putting our heads in the jaws of a trap, and the least little thing is likely to spring it,” added Joe.
Archie looked puzzled.
“I can’t understand why you take that view of it,” he protested. “It seems to me the thing’s easy enough. We’ve got the Prince’s letter to his people, and the ring, and the secret of the private way into his ancestral hall. If we bungle such a job as that, we ought to be hanged.”
“And will be, or worse. So we mustn’t bungle it,” said Joe. “Where is this province of Kwang-Kai-Nong, Sam?”
“I forgot to ask,” I replied, wondering at my oversight.
“China’s a big country,” suggested Joe.
“I know. I’ll inquire about the location, and how to get to it, the next time I see the Prince.”
“Do,” said Archie, “that’ll help a lot.”
But I didn’t see the Prince again. At the lunch table we found the doctor, eating with apparent gusto but with an intent look on his face.
“How’s your patient, Doc?” Uncle Naboth was asking as I entered.
“Why, I’m out of a job again,” replied Doctor Gaylord, gravely.
“Great Goodness! The man ain’t dead, is he?” demanded my uncle.
“He is, sir.”
I do not know why I had such a sudden sinking of the heart as I heard this. Perhaps the noble young Chinaman had won from me more admiration and affection than I had suspected, during the brief time I had known him.
I glanced at Joe and Archie, and they were looking mighty solemn.
“Wasn’t it rather sudden, Doc?” inquired Uncle Naboth, after a pause, during which he stirred his tea energetically.
“Yes, he might have lived another four-and-twenty hours. But he wore out the morphine and began to suffer terribly. So I killed him.”
“What!”
“Gave him an overdose of morphine, at his own request, and he went to his long sleep with a smile of gratitude upon his face.”
There was another pause. “Ahem!” said Capt. Steele, clearing his throat, “was that — er — er — strictly professional, Dr. Gaylord?”
“It was strictly humane, Captain. The man was crushed and mangled from the waist down, and according to all the laws of science and common-sense has been as good as dead ever since the accident. He couldn’t have lived until now without the morphine. When that failed to soothe him the end was bound to creep nearer by slow degrees, allowing him to suffer horrible torments. I couldn’t stand that, and he couldn’t. So he begged me to end it for him, and I did.”
“You’re a good man, Gaylord,” remarked Uncle Naboth, mopping his bald head with his red bandanna. “I’m glad you had the courage to do it.”
“This Prince of China,” said the doctor, leaning back in his chair and thrusting his hands in his pockets, “was a royal good fellow. I had observed him on shipboard, and was attracted by his cheerful, intelligent face. When the Karamata Maru broke up I left everyone else to attend to Kai Lun Pu, until I discovered he was fatally injured. Unfortunately all my surgical tools and requirements were out of reach, and in the pockets of the clothes which I grabbed up before I rushed on deck were only a small medicine case and my hypodermic outfit. I assisted Mai Lo, the only one of the Prince’s attendants who survived, to get Kai off the wreck and safe aboard this ship, and at his urgent request I remained with him, si
nce the doctor of the Nagasaki Maru could look after the few survivors of the Karamata Maru who were injured. I am well paid for doing this, but I want to state that the money did not influence me in the least.”
To look at the doctor was evidence of the truth of this statement; so we merely nodded assent.
“As soon as I had him settled in your cabin yonder,” he continued, “I told him that he was dying. Kai accepted the decree like a philosopher and asked me how long I could keep him alive without suffering. It was then that we made our bargain, and I promised he should die comfortably. It seems he had certain family affairs to arrange with Mai Lo, who represents him in his province, and afterward he had several long talks with Sam and the other boys here.”
He paused to look from one to the other of us curiously, and the shrewd glance from beneath his prominent gray eyebrows was rather disconcerting.
“By good luck,” he went on, “the Prince finished his arrangements, whatever they were, before the effect of the morphine wore out. When I went to him a while ago I saw the time had come to fulfil my promise. I asked him if he was ready and he said he was. So, in the parlance of the Chinese, he sleeps with his ancestors.”
In the silence that followed we were all busy with our own thoughts. Finally my father asked:
“Where is Mai Lo?”
“Burning prayers before the body. He’s going to make trouble for us, pretty soon.”
“How’s that?” asked the Captain.
“These Chinese believe it’s a lasting disgrace to allow their bodies to be buried anywhere but at home. Mai Lo has already asked me when I would embalm the body; but I’ve been making inquiries and find there’s no material aboard the Seagull that will enable me to preserve the corpse of Kai Lun Pu until we can get him to China. He himself understood this, and was willing to be cast overboard; but old Death’s-Head has different ideas, and when he learns what we are going to do he will make trouble, as I said.”
“What can he do?” asked Uncle Naboth.
“These Chinese have a disagreeable way of running amuck and slicing a few people into mincemeat before they can be overcome. I won’t say Mai Lo will do that, but he will do something — anything in his power to prevent us lowering his master’s body into the sea.”
“He won’t run amuck,” said I, positively; “nor will he do anything that will endanger his own life.”
“Why not, Sam?” asked my father. “Mai Lo’s a queer chap. I can’t make him out at all. Seems to me he’s likely to do anything.”
“Except endanger himself,” I added. “The Prince knew Mai Lo better than anyone, and from what he told me I believe Mai’s more clever than you suppose, and too ambitious to sacrifice his life for a mere whim.”
“It isn’t a mere whim,” said the doctor. “The Shintoists are ancestor worshippers, and the sacredness of a dead body is part of their religion. Mai Lo, if he’s a good Shintoist, believes he himself will be condemned by the spirits of his own ancestors if he allows his master to be cast into the sea, whence it is impossible he can be resurrected when the end of the world comes.”
“But is Mai Lo a good Shintoist?” I asked.
“Mm — I don’t know. He claims to be; but the fellow puzzles me. Many of the Chinese wear a mask of expressionless reserve; but Mai Lo is the most incomprehensible being I have ever met. If he weren’t clever he wouldn’t be a high mandarin, so we can’t judge him by his terracotta face and beady eyes.”
“Oh, well,” remarked my father, “we can’t endanger our own health by keeping a decaying body on board, so whenever you’re ready for the ceremony, Doctor, we will give the Prince as decent a sea-burial as possible. And that in spite of the old mandarin. By the way, Sam, see if Mai Lo wants anything to eat.”
I arose and knocked softly upon the door of the state cabin. Presently it was opened a mere crack and I caught a glimpse of Mai Lo’s expressionless face behind it. But when he saw me he closed the door again quickly, before I had time to speak; and I heard the key click in the lock.
“Let the beast starve,” I growled, turning away to go on deck; and the others seemed to approve the sentiment, for they followed me without protest.
CHAPTER SEVEN
WE BECOME CONSPIRATORS
You’ll find my first suggestion was good,” said Archie, as we stood in the shelter of the wheel-house, for the wind was half a gale by this time. “The proper thing to do is to chuck old Death’s-Head overboard.”
“It would certainly simplify matters,” I agreed; “but unfortunately it can’t be done.”
“Then we ought to cultivate his friendship,” said Joe.
“How can we?”
“I don’t know; but it’s a great mistake to allow him to think he’s our enemy.”
“Why so, Joe?”
“We’ve got to go into his province to get the treasure. He’s powerful there, and we need his good will. He might make it pretty hot for us otherwise.”
“True enough,” said Archie, gloomily. “But you can’t cultivate the friendship of a dummy. He won’t respond worth a cent.”
“He must have some sentiment,” suggested Joe; “his faithfulness to his Prince proves that. Let’s study him and try to discover how to reach his gratitude, or self-esteem, or--”
“Or what?”
“How to further his ambition.”
“If the Prince is buried at sea,” I said, reflectively, “Mai Lo will be disgraced at home. If we can save him from this disgrace he ought to be grateful, for it will give him a chance to carry out his ambitious plans.”
“I thought he was obliged to commit suicide,” said Archie.
“So he is; but not immediately. First he must settle his master’s affairs, and that business ought to provide pretty fair pickings for an unscrupulous man. Then he will be obliged to seal up the ancestral hall and destroy all traces of any entrance to it, or even its existence. All this takes time, and will give him a chance to complete his plans for running away with his plunder, most of which will be stolen from the tombs of the Prince’s ancestors.”
“Will he dare do that?” asked Archie.
“Mai Lo has seen a good deal of the world outside of China,” said I, “and such experience is bound to destroy many of the doctrines of his religious belief. Contact with our western civilization made the Prince an unbeliever in Shintoism, and perhaps did the same for Mai Lo.”
“Then why is he so set on lugging the body of the Prince to China? He must know that this ancestor worship is a humbug.”
“He does. Also he knows that his people at home are still firm believers in it. It is to save himself from disgrace that he will insist on taking the body home.”
“I see,” responded Archie. “But he can’t do that, you know. There’s no way to embalm the Prince properly, and Captain Steele has already decided to drop the body overboard.”
Looking aft I saw the doctor pacing the quarter-deck with his pipe in his mouth, and suddenly the sight inspired me with an idea.
“Boys,” I said, “we’ve got to have some help in this affair. We can’t carry out the adventure all alone. Suppose we ask the doctor to join us?”
“Old Gaylord?”
“Yes. He has good stuff in him, to my notion; and he says he’s out of a job.”
“A good idea,” said Joe.
“Won’t he ask for too big a slice of the pie?” inquired Archie.
“According to the Prince there’s more treasure in his ancestral halls than we could cart away in a year. If Dr. Gaylord will help us we won’t lose anything by giving him his share.”
“I don’t see how he can help us a bit,” declared Archie. “For my part I’d rather have Ned Britton or Mr. Perkins. They’re true blue and game to fight to the last.”
“This isn’t a matter that depends on fighting, Archie,” I reminded him. “Our whole ship’s crew wouldn’t make a showing against the thousands of Chinamen if it came to open warfare. It’s a question of ready wit, courage and audac
ity.”
“Then I can’t make out why you want the doctor,” returned Archie, with a puzzled look.
“I know,” said Joe, in his quiet voice. “I think I’ve caught Sam’s idea, and it’s a good one.”
“What is it, then?” asked Archie.
“With the doctor’s help we can fool Mai Lo and save him from disgrace. And that will win his gratitude. Eh, Sam?”
“Quite right, Joe. Shall I call the doctor over?”
They nodded, and at my summons Dr. Gaylord willingly joined our little group.
“Doctor,” said I, “there’s a conspiracy afloat. Do you want to join it?”
He gave me a shrewd glance.
“I knew there was something up,” he said, “and I’ve been trying to study out what secret Prince Kai confided to you. It has worried me almost as much as it has Mai Lo.”
“Oh!” said I, with a gasp. “Does he suspect anything?”
“Mai Lo is no fool, and you were closeted with Prince Kai a long time. Also, he witnessed an important paper, and I heard him ask the Prince what had become of his ring.”
“What was the reply?” I inquired.
“Prince Kai told him he had given it to Sam Steele for an important purpose, and that he had appointed you to carry out his secret wishes. Also he exacted a promise from Mai Lo to obey you and render you any assistance you might demand.”
Complete Works of L. Frank Baum Page 685
