“Then listen to my wish. I do not care to sleep, nor do I want to suffer in the brief time you have allotted me. Let me secure all the pleasure I am able to until the Earth Dragon completes his vengeance upon me. That will be kind, dear Doctor, and your reward shall be provided for.”
The old surgeon took the Chinaman’s hand and pressed it warmly.
“Never mind the reward, my Prince,” said he. “I’m out of a job just now, and am glad to experiment upon you, so I shan’t get rusty. Your wish shall be respected.”
“Then leave me with Mr. Steele awhile,” was the reply, “and see that Mai Lo doesn’t disturb us.”
The Doctor bowed with deference and withdrew.
“Prince,” said I, “they call me Sam aboard this ship, and I’ll be glad to have you do the same. I’m not much used to a handle to my name, and if we’re to be friends——”
“We’re to be friends, Sam,” he rejoined, quickly; “so just squat upon that stool and let us have a good chat together.”
I was really charmed with my new acquaintance, he was so animated, so frank in admitting me to his friendship and so evidently grateful to me for the slight service I had rendered him. His brightness made me forget the pitiful fact that he had but a short time to live, until he himself reminded me of it.
I can imagine no more delightful a companion than Prince Kai Lun Pu must have been before his terrible accident. He began by telling me much of his history, in a whimsical, half facetious way that deprived the relation of any affectation or egotism.
A prince of the royal blood and related to the reigning Manchu family, Kai had been early singled out for an important position in the empire and sent to England to be educated. He had graduated from Oxford a year before, and after a brief visit to his own country, where he held a long consultation with the Emperor and that terrible old woman, Tsi An, the Dowager Empress, he had toured Europe, Egypt and India, and afterward visited the principal cities of the United States. This had enabled him to study other nations and to note their manners and customs, and he was returning to China as a Viceroy and a member of the Imperial Cabinet, to which post he had already been appointed, when he met with the terrible accident which was to cut short his brilliant career.