The king of the motor boys hurried to him and jerked his hands from the cord with a quick movement.
"That will do, Tsan Ti!" cried Matt sternly. "Can't you be a man? You're not going to strangle yourself while I'm around!"
"There is no hope for Tsan Ti," mumbled the mandarin. "The august decree of my regent—may his years be many and glorious!—calls for my quick dispatch."
Matt pulled the cord from the mandarin's neck.
"Listen, Tsan Ti," said he; "don't give up until you know the case is really hopeless. We can go back over the ground Sam Wing covered while I was chasing him, and it is possible we can find the ruby."
"Not possible, deluded friend," answered the mandarin. "The contemptible Canton dog says the gem may be in the water, or in many other places where its recovery is out of the question. The blandishments of hope pale into the heavy darkness of my certain destruction. Present me with the cord, I beg of you. Tsan Ti, mandarin of the red button, is not afraid to join his exalted ancestors in the country dear to true believers."
"Wrong in the upper story, ain't he?" put in the farmer.
"In a way," replied Matt.
"He sure had himself goin' with that piece o' yellow string. Them heathens is queer, anyway."
"I'll not give you this cord, Tsan Ti," declared Matt, "until I can look over the course followed by Sam Wing and make an attempt to find the ruby."