"True, lord," answered Arisuga.
"They don't lose caste after the—er—debt has been paid, but go back to their husbands?"
"True, lord."
"Well, that's a pretty sensible arrangement. You Jap chaps are always sensible; and"—the yellow fangs came out—"I am your creditor for a couple of thousand dollars. Arisuga, I am willing to be so paid and to pay you a couple more thousand than you owe me! Then your passage will be safe. I don't believe, now, it will be otherwise. I have got you in too deep a hole."
Jones laughed hoarsely at his own cunning.
Arisuga received the suggestion as he would have received an unimportant business proposition.
"I will consider and let the enlightened eijinsan know," he said. This, also, as if it were the mere oriental courtesy of bargaining—the sloth which is polite.
"I guess it will be all right," laughed Jones. "Take your time. No one is proof against the blandishments of American gold. Even oriental virtue yields to it. Don't you think it will be all right?"—a bit anxiously.
"Let the honorable American lord so think," said Arisuga. "I will consider."
"I shan't be niggardly, understand. If you are not satisfied with a couple of thousands, we'll make it a quartette. She is about the dearest little morsel I have ever seen."