“If you find we’ve disappeared, or anything has happened to us, please see that Mai Lo is punished,” concluded the doctor.
“I will do all in my power,” responded the consul. “The Chinese character is complex, and crafty beyond measure. But I am sure Mai Lo would not have executed this document unless he meant fairly by you. I shall lock the original up in my safe, and you may keep the translation to refer to in case of necessity.”
We thanked him and went our way, rather more gloomy than the consul suspected. For we could not tell the American representative that our errand to Kai-Nong was to carry away the treasure from Prince Kai’s ancestral halls, and that if we were caught doing this, Mai Lo might easily construe our act as one of theft, and have us put to death. It did not matter that we were acting according to the Prince’s expressed wishes.
“Mai Lo must have suspected why we wanted to go to Kai-Nong, and so have put in that dangerous clause,” I said to the doctor.
“True; the fellow has entrapped us very cleverly,” replied Doctor Gaylord. “Yet he may be innocent of any intent to do so.”
“I’m not going to bank on that,” said I. “The consul knows the Chinese, and he says they are crafty. Mai Lo seems to have no more intelligence than a lump of putty, but for that reason he’s doubly dangerous. You can’t tell how much he knows, or what he thinks.”
“If we object to that clause in the agreement, we shall acknowledge evil intentions on our part,” remarked the doctor; “and, if we say nothing, he may find a way to use that same clause to excuse himself for our murder.”
“Well,” said I, grimly, “I’ve gone into this thing, and I’m going to stay in—to the finish.”
“So am I,” replied Doctor Gaylord; but I did not like the way he said it.