"Pa-tang, sah. My catchee he fo' hundled dolla."
"I hadn't any idea you could buy such things here. Where did you buy it?"
The comprador smiled an enigmatical smile.
"My makee allo plopa Toitsche,[#]" he said, and, taking from his pouch a small bottle of gum, he proceeded to fix the moustache upon his master's upper lip. When this was done to his satisfaction, he produced a small cracked mirror which he had obtained in the town, and held it before Burroughs' face.
[#] German.
"By George! It's almost exactly like Reinhardt's," he said; "a shade darker, perhaps. It's the very thing, Sing Wen; you shall have the money when I get back. I could almost venture to start now, but I suppose I had better wait until night."
There being three or four hours to spare, he decided to employ part of the time in thoroughly overhauling the engine. His Chinese engineer was supposed to have seen that everything was in order, but Burroughs always examined things for himself, and had only omitted to do so in the hurry of starting. The engineer had been left behind as an unnecessary encumbrance. All the parts had been well cleaned; there was plenty of petrol; but Burroughs saw to his annoyance that the lubricating oil was low. Luckily there was still time to supply the deficiency. He sent Chin Tai into the town to buy some castor oil, warning him not to talk, and to be very careful not to bring any one upon his track.
It was nearly dark before the man returned. Then he ran up in great excitement.
"My hab catchee plenty muchee fun, sah," he said breathlessly. "My go longside opium houso. Hai! boss he come outside chop-chop; bang! Knock my velly hard, makee my spill plenty oil. Whitey man he come bust 'long after boss, catchee he, catchee pigtail, whack, whack, velly hard. He say all time: 'What fo' you steal my moustachee? What fo' you piecee devil steal my moustachee?' Boss he makee plenty bobbely; he call p'liceman; two piecee p'liceman he come, catchee boss, catchee whitey man all same, makee he belongey chop-chop inside yamen. My belongey inside too--What fo' you pinch my?" he cried, suddenly turning on the comprador, who had sidled up to him.
