Frank grasped the man's hand and pressed it. "I promise you my uncle will forgive you. More than that, on his behalf, I promise you a reward."
"That is not necessary," said Yung How. "I am disgraced; you have made me realise my own baseness. I should like you to see that a Chinaman can be an honest man. But, I repeat, we do but waste time in words. We must go together and we must go now--at once--if we are to catch the boat!"
Even as he continued speaking, he moved forward rapidly, followed by Frank. They passed hastily down the stairs, and thence, passing the little room in which Men-Ching had been done to death, they went to the back door, with the object of letting themselves out.
As Frank Armitage stretched forth a hand to take hold of the handle, the door swung back, as on its own accord. And there entered Ling, who had to stoop in order that his gigantic form might pass beneath the lintel.
"And so," cried Ling, "we have returned. Men-Ching sleeps with his fathers. As the West River flows eastward to the sea, the waters sing a song of sleep to the celestial graves on either bank. Opium, Ah Wu! Give me opium to smoke, for like the long-tailed horse of a Manchu warrior, the mighty Ling scents battle from afar."
[CHAPTER XVII--HOW LING WAS TOO LATE]
It was, with Ling, something in the nature of a pose to speak after the fashion of the scholars, using the flowery language of the writers of poesy, or quoting the philosophical maxims of the sages. None the less, the moment he entered the opium den, though he spoke of other things, it was apparent both to Frank Armitage and Yung How that Ling had detected the fact that they were about to make their escape.
In his customary boisterous manner, the great Honanese ushered them into the room. Ascending the stairs, he sprawled at full length upon the couch upon which Frank had been seated but a few moments before, when Yung How made his confession.
"At last," said Ling, "Cheong-Chau and myself are to meet. He knows me of old. This will not be the first time that I have snatched the ripe fruit from his mouth. Cheong-Chau has no cause to love me. I have heard it said that he regards me as his deadly enemy, the only man who ever foiled him."
He puffed at the opium pipe which Ah Wu had brought him. The amount of the drug that the man consumed was extraordinary, and moreover, it seemed to have very little effect upon either his physical or mental constitution. As he sent thin clouds of blue smoke upward to the ceiling, in the close, stifling atmosphere of the room, he half closed his eyes, and appeared to be lost in his thoughts.