Jack could not help smiling at this naïve evidence of the oriental habit of bargaining. He felt that if he reached Vladivostok for fifty roubles he would have got off remarkably well.
"But how is it to be managed?" he asked.
"I gave him to understand, sir, that you are a foreign correspondent wishing to see Vladivostok, and that there is a delay in the forwarding of the necessary authorization. It was because you are a foreigner that the sergeant was so firm about the five roubles. He talked about the risk he ran, and said that you must leave the train some time before it arrives at Vladivostok and walk the rest of the way. He said, too, that if you should be discovered you were not to admit that he had any knowledge of your presence. I promised that you would do all this."
"Very well. I am exceedingly obliged to you. But how am I to go? What will the sergeant do for twenty roubles?"
"He will give you a corner in a horse-box."
"Does the train consist of nothing but horse-boxes?"
"Horse-boxes and the sergeant's van. You cannot go in that."
"No. And how am I to get into the horse-box without being seen? There are sure to be soldiers and officials about."
The Chinaman rubbed his hands slowly and pondered.
"If it had been yesterday," he said, "you might then have gone hidden in a hay-cart. But my last loads were delivered yesterday."