CHAPTER II.
THE YELLOW CORD.
"Excellent youth," said the Chinaman, "you pronounce my name. How isthis?"
"I'm Motor Matt," answered the king of the motor boys, "and this is mychum, Joe McGlory. You asked us to come, and here we are. There's yourletter to me."
Matt opened the written sheet and held it in front of Tsan Ti's face.The Celestial's face underwent a change. A flicker of hope ran throughthe fear and consternation.
"_Omito fuh!_" he muttered, rising slowly to his feet. "The fivehundred gods have covered me with much disgrace, this last hour, butnow they bring me a gleam of hope from the clouds of despair. By theplumes of the sacred peacock, I bow before you with much gratefulness."
He bowed--or tried to. His ponderous stomach interfered with themanoeuvre, and he caught a crick in his back--the direct result,probably, of his recent spill.
"You are here to be of aid to the unfortunate mandarin, are you not,illustrious sirs?" went on Tsan Ti, leaning against a tree, andrubbing his right sandal up and down his left shin. Quite likely theleft shin was barked, and the right sandal was affording it consolation.
"First aid to the injured, Tsan," grinned McGlory, getting a good dealof fun out of this novel encounter.
The cowboy had met many Chinamen, but never before one of this sort.The experience was mildly exciting.
"Wit," chanted Tsan Ti, "is the weapon of the wise, the idol of thefool; a runaway knock at laughter's door; arrows from the quiver ofgenius; intellectual lightning from the thunder clouds of talent; thelever of----"
"Sufferin' cats!" exploded McGlory. "What is he talking about? In thatletter, Tsan, you speak about insulting us with a thousand plunks andexpenses. Was that a rhinecaboo or the real thing?"
Without changing his countenance by so much as a line, Tsan Ti liftedthe bottom of his blouse, and unbuttoned the pocket of a leather beltaround his huge girth. From the pocket he took five gold double eaglesin good American money.
"Have I the understanding," he asked, "that you will be of help to mydistress?"
"Tell us, first," answered Matt, a little bewildered by the mandarin'squeer talk and actions, "what it is you want."
"What I want, notable friend, is the Eye of Buddha, the greatruby which was stolen from the forehead of the idol in temple ofHai-chwang-sze, in the city named Canton. I, even I, now the mostmiserable of creatures, was guardian of the temple when this theftoccurred. I fled to find the thief, and Kien Lung, by order of the Sonof the Morning, our imperial regent, fled after me with that invitationto death, the yellow cord."
Tsan Ti pointed to the ground where the cord was lying. His flabbycheeks grew hueless, and he caught his breath.
"An invitation to death?" repeated Matt, staring at the yellow cord.
"It is so, gracious youth," explained Tsan Ti. "When our regent wishesone of his officials to efface himself, he sends the yellow cord. It isthe death warrant. The card tells me that I have two weeks before it isnecessary that I should strangle myself. This happy dispatch must beperformed unless, through you, I can recover the Eye of Buddha. So runsthe scroll."
"Speak to me about this!" muttered McGlory. "But look here, old man,you don't have to strangle yourself because some High Mucky Muck, a fewthousand miles off, sends you the thing to do it with, do you?"
"Unless it is done," was the calm response, "I shall be disgraced forall time, and my memory reviled."
"Oh, blazes! I'd rather be a live Chinaman in disgrace, than a dead onewith a monument a mile high."
"You converse without knowledge," said Tsan Ti.
"That's horse sense, anyhow."
"Let's get at the nub of this thing, Tsan Ti," said Matt, feeling adeep interest in the strange Chinaman in spite of himself. "You werein charge of a Canton temple in which was an image of Buddha. Thatimage had a ruby set in the forehead. The ruby was stolen. You ranaway from China to find the thief, and this Kien Lung, as you callhim, trailed after you with the yellow cord from the regent. The cordwas accompanied by a written order to the effect that, if you didnot succeed in recovering the ruby in two weeks, you must strangleyourself. Before the cord was delivered to you, you sent that letter tome."
"What you say is true," answered Tsan Ti. "I have been for a longperiod endeavoring to keep away from Kien Lung. I knew what he hadto give me, and I did not want it. Now that I have the cord, you canunderstand, out of courtesy I must slay myself--unless, through you, Iregain the Eye of Buddha."
"How did you come to pick _me_ out for an assistant?" went on Matt."What you ought to have is a detective. This part of the country isfull of detectives."
"I cannot trust the detectives. The ruby is valuable, and I am adiscredited mandarin in a far country. The detectives would keep theruby, and then there would be for me only death by the cord. I read inthe public prints generous and never-to-be-forgotten things about MotorMatt, and my heart assures me that you are the one, and the only one,to come to my aid."
"You tune up like a professor," remarked McGlory. "Where'd you corralso much good pidgin, Tsan?"
"I was educated in one of your institutions of learning," was thereply. "But, illustrious sirs, shall we return to the hotel on themountain top? I have this go-devil machine to pay for. It did notbelong to me. A dozen of the machines were near the porch of the hotel,where I was drinking tea. I saw Kien Lung coming toward me along theporch, and I left my tea and sprang to one of the machines. I learnedto ride while I was educating myself in this country. Kien Lung wasalso able to ride, but that I did not know until I saw him later. Shallwe go on to the hotel? I am bruised and in much distress."
"We might just as well find out all you can tell us about the Eye ofBuddha before we go to the hotel," returned Matt. "We are by ourselves,here, and I'd like to get all the information possible."
Tsan Ti picked up the card and the yellow cord. Thoughtfully he twistedthe cord around and around his fat palm and tucked it into the blackbox. On the cord he placed the card, and over all closed the box lid.With a rumbling sigh, he dropped the black box into the breast of hisblouse.
"Foreign devils," said he, once more bracing himself against the treetrunk, "call the temple of Hai-chwang-sze the Honam Joss House. It isby the beautiful river, in the suburb named Honam. Around the templethere is a wall. The avenue of a thousand delights leads from the greatgate to the temple courts, and noble banyan trees shade the avenue. Atvespers, some weeks ago, two foreign devils were present. The hour wasfive in the afternoon. One of the foreign devils was English, and worea tourist hat with a pugree; the other had but a single eye. Lob Loo, apriest, told me what happened.
"The Englishman threw a shimmering ball upon the temple floor. Odorscame from it, quick as an eyeflash. Quick as another eyeflash, thepriests reeled where they stood, their senses leaving them. Lob Lootells me the foreign devils had covered their faces suddenly with whitemasks. Then, after seeing that much, Lob Loo lost his five senses, andwandered in fields of darkness.
"When Lob Loo opened his eyes, he saw glass fragments on the floor, anda ladder of silk swinging from the neck of the god. The image, renownedsirs, is twenty feet in height, and to reach the ruby eye the foreigndevils had to climb. The eye was gone. When Lob Loo told me thesethings, I was seized of a mighty fear, and fled to Hongkong. There thefive hundred gods favored me, and I learned that a man in a touristhat with a pugree, and another with a single eye, had sailed for SanFrancisco. Quickly I caught the next steamer, after sending cablemessages to the leaders of a San Francisco _tong_ who are Cantonese,and friends of mine. When the ship brought the thieves through theGolden Gate, some of the _tong_ watched the landing. The thieves werein San Francisco three days, and Sam Wing followed them when theyleft for Chicago, then for New York, and then for these CatskillMountains. When I reached San Francisco, the leading men of the _tong_had telegrams from Sam Wing. By use of the telegrams, I followed, andarrived here. Wing had left a writing for me at the hotel, telling meto wait. I waited, but Wing had disappeared. I kept
on waiting, andout of my discouragement, remarkable sir, I wrote to you. That is all,until this morning, when Kien Lung came with the yellow cord. Two weeksare left me. If the Eye of Buddha is not found in that time, then"--andTsan Ti tapped the breast of his sagging blouse--"all that remains isthe quick dispatch."
Both Matt and McGlory had listened with intense interest to this oddyarn. Although a heathen, and lately keeper of a heathen temple, themandarin was nevertheless a person of culture and of considerableimportance. The sending of the yellow cord was a custom of his country,and it was evident that he intended to abide by the custom in case theEye of Buddha was not recovered within two weeks.
"Shall we turn the trick for him, pard?" asked McGlory. "This palaverof his makes a bit of a hit with me. I'd hate like Sam Hill to have himshut off his breath with that yellow cord. If----"
The hum of an approaching automobile reached the ears of those at theroadside. The machine was coming from above, and Matt pulled the brokenbicycle out of the road.
The boys and the mandarin stood in a group while waiting for the carto pass. Tsan Ti, seemingly wrapped up in his own miseries, gave noattention to the car, at first.
There were two passengers in the car--the driver, and another in thetonneau.
The car, on the down grade, was coming at a terrific clip, and the manin the tonneau was hanging on for dear life and yelling at the top ofhis voice:
"Avast there, mate, or you'll have me overboard! By the seven holyspritsails----"
The voice broke off and gave vent to a frantic yell. Although thedriver had shut off the power and applied a brake, the car had leapedinto the air when it struck the root.
The man in the tonneau shot straight up into the air for two or threefeet, and Matt and McGlory had a glimpse of a grizzled red face witha patch over one eye, a fringe of "mutton-chop" whiskers, and a bluesailor cap.
"The mariner!" came in a clamoring wheeze, from Tsan Ti.
As the automobile whirled past, the mandarin flung himself crazily atthe rear of the tonneau, only to be knocked head over heels for hispains.
As he floundered in the dust, Matt rushed for his motor cycle.
"Is that one of the two men who stole the ruby?" cried Matt.
"What fortune!" puffed Tsan Ti. "Pursue and capture the villain! If hehas the Eye of Buddha----"
But the rest of it was lost. Matt, followed by McGlory, was tearingaway on the track of the automobile.