'I! Disguised as the deputy-governor! Look here, David, are you silly, or have I gone clean staring mad? I as Tsu-Hi, indeed! The rascal's safely tucked in bed at this moment.'
'He is; agreed,' admitted David curtly, a grin on his lips.
'As safe as houses in his gilded palace,' said Dick bitterly.
'Wrong! He's not in his gilded palace. He's tucked safely in bed along with that pompous Tartar under-officer. He's tied up as if he were a dangerous hyena.'
Dick scratched his head energetically, and rubbed his eyes again. He was seriously anxious about his old friend, who had so suddenly come to visit him. The stubborn look on his face, his evident determination, and the curtness of his answer roused an awful suspicion in his mind. Was David mad, driven out of his mind by this sudden trouble? Then he shook his head.
'It's I who am a fool,' he whispered. 'Here he is in Tartar uniform. That shows he's been moving. But this business of Tsu-Hi beats me altogether; it knocks the stuffing entirely out of yours truly.'
'It'll knock the stuffing out of someone else I know of.'
David blurted out the words gruffly, while a frown crossed his forehead.
'Sit down for a moment,' he said shortly. 'I'll tell you what's been passing. Don't ask a heap of questions. We're still in a beastly hole, and unless everything is in readiness we shall be too late to slip out of the city. Sit down; for goodness sake don't interrupt.'
He sate himself down beside his friend, and told him as swiftly as possible of Chang's visit, of his own escape, and of what had followed.