Bill Mosely was keen enough to understand the Chinaman's meaning, and answered, "Long or not, I will go and see your master. I am a doctor," he added, winking to Hadley, "and perhaps I can help him.—Ain't I a doctor, Tom?"
"I should say so," answered Hadley, whose respect for truth did not interfere with his corroborating in his usual style anything which his companion saw fit to assert.
Ki Sing did not express any opinion on the subject of Bill Mosely's medical pretensions, though he was quite incredulous.
"Lead the way, John," said Mosely.
"Where me go?" asked the Chinaman innocently.
"Go? Go to the cabin where your master lives, and that by the shortest path. Do you hear?"
"Yes."
Ki Sing, however, still faithful to the man who had befriended him in the hour of danger, did not direct his course toward Richard Dewey's cabin, but guided the two adventurers in a different direction. The course he took was a circuitous one, taking him no farther away from the cabin, but encircling the summit and drawing no nearer to it. He hoped that the two men, whose purpose he suspected was not honest nor friendly, would become tired and would give up the quest.
He did not, however, understand the perseverance of Mosely when he felt that he was on the scent of gold.
Finally, Mosely spoke. "John," he said, "is the cabin near by?"