The young Englishman touched his forehead. The heat was great and there were drops of moisture upon his fingers.
“One was still amongst the train baggage,” he confided. “It is now safely on board the steamer. The other was taken away by the robbers.”
Wu Ling reflected for several moments, looking downward upon the table. He seemed indisposed for speech, and presently his visitor continued.
“Of course,” he went on, “according to the superstition, one is supposed to be worthless without the other. I am going to risk that, however. Mine is under lock and key in the purser’s safe, and I sha’n’t even look at it until we’re well out of these seas.”
“The steamer sail at four o’clock to-morrow,” Wu Ling remarked, glancing at a chart.
The young man nodded.
“I have been on board already,” he said. “I came back to pay my promised call upon you and to thank you once more for all you did for me.”
Wu Ling waved his hand.
“It was nothing,” he declared. “Wu Abst, bad man. If he had killed you, there would have been trouble on the river. My trading all disturbed. You safe now. Better leave the Image behind.”
“I’m damned if I do,” was the emphatic reply. “It’s cost my pal’s life and very nearly mine. I am going to stick to it.”