"Such vastness of misfortune takes my courage," he groaned. "The Eye of Buddha can not be recovered with all the thousand demons fighting against me. The jade-stone amulet burns me fiercely——"
"Wish it had burned a hole clear through you before you'd ever written that letter to Matt," cried McGlory.
"I have involved two honorable assistants in my so-great ill luck," went on the mandarin.
"Never mind that," said Matt. "I thought you knew how to drive a car?"
"He's the craziest thing on wheels when it comes to drivin' a bubble," called out McGlory. "Here's where I quit. Scratch my entry in the race for the Eye of Buddha. I always know when I've got enough. We've had four hours of this, and it's a-plenty."
Motor Matt began looking for his cap. Where it had gone was a mystery. He finally discovered it hanging to a clump of bushes. As he turned around, he was startled to see Tsan Ti with the yellow cord coiled about his throat.
Could it be possible that the mandarin, cast down by his latest accident, was on the point of carrying out the mandate of the regent?
"I say!" shouted Matt, hurrying forward.
But the Chinaman was interrupted in his fell purpose by an explosion in the car directly behind him.
Bang!