The man entered the opium den, advancing down the centre of the room. Frank recognised him at once: he was the man who had accompanied Men-Ching upon his journey from the mountains. He went straight up to Ah Wu, to whom he bowed, folding his hands in accordance with the custom of his nation.
"You, I believe, are Ah Wu?" he asked. "You are the landlord of this establishment?"
"I am," said Ah Wu.
"I come for a friend of mine, Men-Ching by name. I think you know him. He told me he would be here."
"He is not here," said Ah Wu, who, palpably nervous, from time to time glanced in the direction of Ling.
"That is strange," said the man. "He certainly told me that I should find him here. Can you tell me where he is?"
Ah Wu shook his head. "I cannot say," said he.
The man looked perplexed. He stood for a moment stroking his chin, as if he was undecided what to do. Then Ling laid one of his great hands upon the man's shoulder.
"I will tell you where he is," said he. "He left here in great haste--and unexpectedly. He has gone upon a journey--a long journey. He did not say where he was going, for two reasons: firstly, he had no time to tell us; secondly, I do not believe he knew. And so, my friend, we can give you no information likely to be of value. Who are we, that we should know all things, that we should be able to solve the riddles of the universe? We are poor mortals, with little wisdom and great hopes. We arrange our lives in accordance with our own ideas, and those ideas are but guess-work, the product of imagination. We know nothing. We live in the dark. The printed page of the book of mysteries lies open before us, but we are blind and unable to read. Could I soar higher than an eagle, traversing the eternal plains of space, I might be able to tell you something of Men-Ching. As it is, I cannot." And Ling, with a shrug of the shoulders, turned away.
The man regarded his broad back in amazement. He could make neither head nor tail of what he had been told. And at the same time he was in a dilemma: he could do nothing without Men-Ching; in a great city like Canton--with which he was not well acquainted--he had no idea where to look for him.