CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE [I. A Sea Tragedy] 11 [II. Prince Kai Lun Pu] 25 [III. Smiling at Death] 32 [IV. A Startling Proposition] 42 [V. The Halls of His Ancestors] 53 [VI. “Old Death’s-Head”] 65 [VII. We Become Conspirators] 76 [VIII. Dr. Gaylord’s Proposal] 86 [IX. We Outwit Mai Lo.] 93 [X. An Unheeded Warning] 102 [XI. An Unexpected Desertion] 112 [XII. Mai Lo Makes a Discovery] 121 [XIII. The Elephant Train] 131 [XIV. The Chief Eunuch] 139 [XV. The Royal House of Kai] 150 [XVI. The Governor Shows His Teeth] 156 [XVII. Wi-to Proves Faithful] 165 [XVIII. The Sacred Apes of Kai] 177 [XIX. The Pearl of Kai-Nong] 186 [XX. “Three Little Maids from School”] 199 [XXI. An Unlawful Interview] 210 [XXII. The Secret Passage] 220 [XXIII. The Treasure of the Ancients] 233 [XXIV. The Royal Cabinet] 244 [XXV. The Trap is Sprung] 256 [XXVI. A Fearful Encounter] 267 [XXVII. The Battle in the Corridor] 280 [XXVIII. The Vengeance of the Ruby Scimitar] 293 [XXIX. The Severed Head] 304 [XXX. The Pool of the Devil-Fish] 315
FOREWORD
Those readers who have penetrated far into the Chinese Empire, as has the author, will be quick to discover that he has substituted for the name of the Thibetan Province one that will not be recognized.
The reasons for this are evident. Ancestor worship is still the prevailing creed of the most numerous class of Chinese, and a violation of the sanctity of any ancestral chih, or underground tomb, would naturally be resented if it disgraced a family so important as that of a royal prince of the realm.
The Chinese characters presented in the story are drawn from life. Prince Kai Lun Pu is a well-known type of the liberal-minded, educated young men who are the best guarantee of the future expansion of the Celestial Empire. The rule of the Chief Eunuch still dominates every palace in China, and even the efforts of the late Dowager Empress could not restrain the encroaching powers of these masterful creatures.
The manners and customs herein described will serve to acquaint those who have not visited China with some of the most curious traditions of that ancient race, while the adventures related, startling as they are, are fully within the bounds of possibility.
The Boy Fortune Hunters in China
CHAPTER I.
A SEA TRAGEDY.
The sinking of the first-class passenger steamship Karamata Maru in the neighborhood of Hawaii on June 17, 1908, has been the subject of so much newspaper comment that doubtless the reader imagines he knows all the circumstances connected with the fatal affair. But I have carefully read these newspaper reports and am astonished to find them quite perverted and unreliable, the result of carelessness or ignorance on the part of correspondents, the desire of officials to shield themselves from blame and the tendency of editors to amplify scant material into three-column articles with numerous “scare heads.”