“All the more so, major, as the redoubtable Ki-Tsang has been reported in the northern provinces.”
“Quite so, and a haul of fifteen millions is worth having by a bandit chief.”
“But how could the chief be informed of the treasure being sent?”
“That sort of people always know what it is their interest to know.”
“Yes,” thought I, “although they do not read the Twentieth Century.”
Meanwhile different opinions were being exchanged on the gangways. Some would rather travel with the millions than carry a corpse along with them, even though it was that of a first-class mandarin. Others considered the carrying of the treasure a danger to the passengers. And that was the opinion of Baron Weissschnitzerdörfer in a furious attack on Popof.
“You ought to have told us about it, sir, you ought to have told us about it! Those millions are known to be in the train, and they will tempt people to attack us. And an attack, even if repulsed, will mean delay, and delay I will not submit to! No, sir, I will not!”
“No one will attack us,” replied Popof. “No one will dream of doing it!”
“And how do you know that? how do you know that?”
“Be calm, pray.”