CHAPTER VI.
A SMASH.
The Hotel Kaaterskill was within a stone's throw of the Mountain House.So far as situation went, there was small choice between them, but Mattresented Tsan Ti's deception in declaring he was staying at one when hewas really staying at the other. It seemed so trivial a matter comparedwith the mandarin's critical situation--as set forth by himself.
"I don't like the way you are acting, Tsan Ti," said Matt, as soonas they had reached the trees. "In your letter to me you asked me tomeet you at the Mountain House; and on the mountainside, after youreceived the yellow cord, you spoke about our going up to the MountainHouse; and again, as I remember it, it was on the porch of the MountainHouse where you were drinking tea when you saw Kien Lung coming towardyou, and bolted away on the bicycle. What excuse was there for such adeception? And how can we help you if you are not open and aboveboardwith us?"
"The left hand, honored and exalted sir," returned Tsan Ti, "must notknow what the right hand does when one is so unfortunate as I. SamWing, in leaving word for me at the house named Kaaterskill, remarkedupon the courier Kien Lung being after me upon his unhappy errand,and counseled that I keep myself obscurely. But I should have madecommunication with you at the Mountain House had you arrived by thatplace for meeting me. My intentions were high-minded, albeit secretive."
"Then, for now," pursued Matt, "we will let that pass. Why did youvanish from the mountainside after we had been left to chase theone-eyed sailor? He threw two of those glass balls at us, and we weredropped in the road, unconscious. It was not a long distance from wherewe had left you, and you could easily have come down to us."
"_Omito fuh!_" muttered Tsan Ti. "My regret is most consuming! Thegods crossed my will, notable one; nothing else could have kept me ata distance from you. It was thus. Young men on bicycles, pursuing KienLung and me who had made away at high speed on two of their go-devilmachines, swarmed suddenly around me like the sacred rocks in thebanyans at Honam. In spite of my entreaties, they carried me to theKaaterskill, and there I made repayment for the broken machine, and forthe one which Kien Lung took for himself and did not return. Theseaffairs occupied me profoundly until half an hour since; then I hiredyonder devil wagon and started to find you. Behold, you were on theveranda of the hotel as I fared past. Confucius said, in ancient times,'When I have presented one corner of a subject, and the pupil cannot ofhimself make out the other three, I do not repeat my lesson.' So thesight of you informed me the sailor of the single eye had escaped, andI concluded best that we hurry after him. Am I not right, honorablefriend?"
"He's good with his bazoo," remarked McGlory. "I reckon he makes out aclean case for himself."
Matt was satisfied. Still, he thought that instead of attending to hispersonal appearance and running around hiring an automobile, Tsan Timight have taken some quicker method of finding out what had happeneddown the mountainside. But he was a Chinaman, and his ways and meanswere not those of a Caucasian.
"Where did you learn to drive an automobile, Tsan Ti?" asked Matt.
"We have the devil wagons in Canton. There are many in the foreignquarter, and I have one of my own." Tsan Ti fanned himself and lookedtroubled. "There is something," he went on presently, "of which I mustinform you. Perhaps, when you know, you will leave me to find the Eyeof Buddha unaided. But it is right that I should tell you."
"What is it?" inquired Matt.
"This, courageous youth: The ten thousand demons of misfortune havebeen let loose upon those most closely concerned with the loss of theruby. While the great Buddha sits eyeless in the temple at Honam, hiswrath falls upon me in particular; and, now that you are helping me, itwill likewise fall upon you. Disasters have crowded upon me, and if youkeep on in the search, they will surely overtake you. Already you havehad experience of them."
"Sufferin' snakes!" grunted McGlory. "It'll take more'n a heathen idolover in China to get me on the run."
"I guess we'll face the music," laughed Matt. "That ruby eye may be ahoodoo, but we're not superstitious enough to get scared."
"Excellent!" wheezed Tsan Ti. "I have done well to secure yourinvaluable services. Shall we now proceed down the mountain in pursuitof the sailor?"
"Why, he may be a hundred miles from here by this time."
"Not so!" was the positive answer. "I have my warning that he is near,and that we must hasten."
"Warning?" repeated Matt.
Tsan Ti poked two fingers down the neck of his blouse and fished up asmall black V-shaped object attached to a gold chain.
"Observe," he said solemnly, "my jade-stone amulet, covered with choiceideographs from the Book of Auguries. When it burns the skin upon thespeaking of a name, then have I a warning. Look!" He held the stoneon his fat palm. "With it thus I breathe the words 'one-eyed thief'and"--he winced as though from pain--"the amulet nearly burns."
McGlory dropped his head, and his shoulders shook with suppressedmirth. Never had he met so humorous a person as this mandarin of thered button, with his yellow cord, his jade-stone amulet, and his loadof trouble.
Matt was also possessed of a desire to laugh, but managed to keep hisfeatures straight. Tsan Ti observed the incredulity of the boys, anddropped the amulet back down his blouse.
"Let us go, doubting ones," he puffed, "and you will see. Come,accompany me, and you will not be long in learning why the amuletburns!"
"Our motor cycles are here, at the garage," demurred Matt, "and----"
"They will be safely kept until you come for them again. Let us, as yousay, hustle."
He was up and waddling toward the automobile before Matt or McGlorycould answer. The boys followed him, Matt climbing into the front seatat the mandarin's side, and the cowboy getting into the seat behind.
"Hadn't I better drive?" queried Matt.
"It is a pleasure for me to guide and control the pounding demon," theChinaman answered. "Ha, we start."
But they did not start. Naturally, the long halt had not left enoughgas in the cylinders to take the spark, and Tsan Ti had neglected touse the crank.
Matt got down and turned the engine over--and came within one of beingrun down before he could get out of the way. Regaining the car at aflying leap, he snuggled down in his seat and proceeded to hold hisbreath. Of all the reckless drivers he had ever seen, Tsan Ti wasthe limit. He banged over the edge of the level into the long slope,engaging the high speed so quickly that Matt wondered he did not stripthe gear. As the car lurched, and swayed, and bounded Tsan Ti's joyshone in his puffy face.
"Glory to glory, and all hands 'round!" yelled the cowboy, from behind."Change seats with him, Matt! If you don't, he'll string us from theMountain House clean to Catskill."
Matt leaned over and gave the steering wheel a turn barely in timeto keep them from hitting a tree. The wake the machine left behindit looked like a zigzag streak. First they were on one side of theroad, and then on the other, juggling back and forth by the narrowestof margins, and keeping right side up in defiance with every law ofgravity with which Matt was familiar.
"Cut out the high speed!" shouted Matt. "It's suicide to use that gearon such a slope as this. We could coast down this hill without an ounceof power."
A mud guard was loose, and it rattled horribly. The Chinaman wasfeeding too much gasoline part of the time, and not enough the rest ofthe time. Now and again, the cylinders would misfire, pop wildly, thenjump into a racing hum. That high-powered roadster made as much noiseas a railroad train; and what with Matt yelling directions, and McGlorywhooping like a Comanche at every close call they nipped out of, theuproar was tremendous.
Through it all the fat Chinaman glowed and, at intervals, gave vent toecstatic howls. Whenever they escaped a tree that had threatened them,he exploded jubilantly.
"I can't stand this, pard!" roared McGlory. "I'm goin' to jump out, ifyou don't stop him!"
To argue with Tsan Ti, in all that turmoil of sound, was out of thequestion.
Hardly had the cowboy ceased speaking when,
through the wild hubbub ofnoise, Matt thought he heard a sharp detonation. Of this he was notsure, but, almost immediately, a front tire blew up, and the machineswerved wildly.
Bang--_crash!_
The automobile made a wild effort to climb a tree, and the next thingMotor Matt realized was the fact that he was turning handsprings in theroad.
Silence, sudden and grim, followed the frantic medley of sound. A birdtwittered somewhere off in the woods, and the flutelike notes hitMatt's tortured ear-drums like a volley of musketry.
He got up, dazedly. His hat was gone, and one of his trouser legs wasmissing. The back of his head, still tender from a blow he had receivedin Grand Rapids, reminded him by a sharp twinge that it had been badlytreated.
Matt limped to the tree that had caused the wreck, and leaned againstit. Then, and not till then, was he able to make a comprehensive viewof the scene.
The front of the automobile was badly smashed--so badly that it was awonder Matt had ever escaped with his life. One of the forward wheelshad come off.
McGlory, in his shirt sleeves--and with one sleeve missing--was on hishands and knees. He was facing the mandarin--staring at that remarkableperson with a well-what-do-you-think-of-that expression.
The mandarin was sitting up in the road. The black cap with the redbutton was hanging to one side of his head, one of his embroideredsandals was gone, and the yellow silk blouse and trousers were torn.In some manner the steering wheel had become detached from the post,and Tsan Ti was hanging to it like grim death. He seemed still to bedriving, for the steering wheel was in the correct position.
Certainly it was not a time to laugh, but Motor Matt could hardly helpit.