"What answer made my honorable father?" said Nicholas.
"A promise to consent, that the traitors may be caught like rats in a trap."
"Surely this is not well, for why need the brave stoop to such villainy?" replied the youth boldly.
Not noticing this reply, the chief became pensive for a few minutes, then exclaimed, "Would that I could place a letter in the hands of the Son of Heaven himself!"
"Surely that cannot be a difficulty," said Nicholas.
"Alas! my son, Wey-t-song is so resigned to his pleasures and the company of the vile bonzes, that the audience-denying tablet is for ever suspended at the gates of the inner palace."
"Truly it is a maxim that nothing is impossible to the brave. Let my father place the letter in the hands of his son, and it shall reach the imperial eyes!"
For a minute the chief gazed proudly at the boy, then passing his hand across his eyes, as if to chase away some sad thought, said, "It shall be so, but for nothing less than the safety of his Emperor would Chin-Chi-Loong risk the life of his only son; but haste, and assume the dress of a traveling merchant, while I prepare these important characters."
Without another word Nicholas left the cabin, returning, however, shortly afterward, dressed in a plain robe of coarse brown silk, with a girdle of the same color, a couple of short swords beneath his garment, and thick staff of bamboo.
"This promptness is good and bespeaks success," said the chief, laying his hand on a letter which was enclosed in three wrappers of satin, the outer being sealed in many places, adding, "Secure this packet beneath thy inner robe, for upon its safety may depend the fate of the empire. I know not by what means thou mayest reach the Emperor, therefore, when in Pekin it would be well to seek the merchant Yang, in the great square, who will aid the son of the great merchant of the south." Then taking another letter from the table, he added, "As you pass through the city of Hang-tcheou, seek out Father Adam, the chief priest of the Christians, and place this in his hands; but guard it well, for the contents are such that were they to meet the eyeballs of the bonzes it might prove thy destruction."