CHAPTER XII.
MAI LO MAKES A DISCOVERY.
Mai Lo looked at me a long time in silence. Then he said:
“The noble physician is old and wise.”
“And that means that we boys are young and foolish,” I retorted. “But listen to me, Mai Lo. We have traveled in many lands, young as we are. We have had adventures, and faced dangers. Some who decided to oppose us are lying buried in Alaska, Panama, and Egypt—and we are here to travel in your company to Kai-Nong.”
I am not given to boasting, but here was an occasion when a little bombast might count in our favor; so I looked Mai Lo squarely in the eye and took a step nearer to him as I spoke, that he might understand that I was not afraid. Moreover, the mandarin was assuming airs of superiority that I resented. It would never do to let him believe that we were in his power.
But no one could have told by Mai Lo’s expression whether my speech had impressed him or not. His eyes were like beads of glass, and I had begun to believe that there were no muscles in his face at all.
“What is your object in traveling to Kai-Nong?” he asked, after one of his irritating pauses.
“As a matter of fact, that does not concern you, my man,” I replied. “A higher authority than your own has given me a mission to perform, and if I have any trouble with you I shall use the letter and ring of Prince Kai to provide a separate escort to Kai-Nong.”
“I am your servant,” said Mai Lo, in his rasping voice.
“Please do not forget it,” I rejoined, curtly.