CHAPTER XII.
ANOTHER SURPRISE.
Bunce was accepting his hard luck with all the complaisance he couldmuster. His pursuit of the mandarin had led him into difficultiesundreamed of, but he still indulged a hope that the resourceful Grattanmight come to his aid. He went into the barn, and recoiled a little asa savage growl struck on his ears. Tige was still guarding Sam Wing.
"Sit down," said Matt, to Bunce, nodding toward some bags of groundfeed lying on the barn floor. "The dog won't molest you; he's lookingafter Sam Wing."
Bunce, plainly uncomfortable, seated himself, watching Tige warily.
The instant Tsan Ti came through the barn door and saw Sam Wing, a cryof rage burst from his lips, and he flew at his treacherous servant.Matt grabbed the angry mandarin and held him back.
"That won't do, Tsan Ti," said Matt. "Sit down and take things calmly.There's your money," and he pointed to the alligator-skin pouch whichlay by the wagon tongue. "Sam Wing turned it over to me. You'd bettercount it and make sure it's all there. Hereafter, it would be wise foryou to take care of your money yourself."
Tsan Ti glared at Sam Wing, then stooped down, and recovered the pouch.The receptacle was filled with soggy banknotes, and, while the mandarinwas fingering them over, he kept up a running fire of talk in Chinese.The condemnation must have been of the most scathing sort, for thewretched Sam Wing shivered as he listened.
Presently Sam Wing himself began to talk. He spoke at length, and musthave been acquainting the mandarin with the dread fact that the Eyeof Buddha was lost, for, suddenly, Tsan Ti dropped the alligator-skinpouch and the wet bills and reeled back against the barn wall. His eyesbecame glassy and his face turned white.
Presently he sank down on the barn floor, listless and staring.
"Has he told you about the ruby, Tsan Ti?" asked Matt, his pity for themandarin rising paramount to any other feeling he may have cherishedagainst him.
Tsan Ti did not answer; in fact, he did not seem to hear. He hadsuffered a blow that paralyzed his faculties.
"Blow me tight!" breathed Bunce, astonished. "Hasn't he got the ruby?"
"Didn't Grattan search him?" returned Matt.
"Ah, he looked through his pockets and his sandals, and even tried tofind the Eye of Buddha in his queue, but it wasn't there. For all that,we thought the chink knowed where the stone was an' could be made totell."
"He knew where it was--Sam Wing had it."
"Hocused it?"
"Stole it--then lost it!"
"Shiver me!" exclaimed Bunce, aghast. "Then Tsan Ti ain't got the ruby,an' Grattan won't never be able to put hands on it!"
"It's gone for good," answered Matt. "Now you can see, Bunce, just howmuch good Grattan's trickery and double-dealing has benefited him.You and he stole the ruby from the Honam joss house and brought it toAmerica; Tsan Ti followed you, under orders from the regent of Chinato recover the idol's eye or else to strangle himself with the yellowcord; the ruby was recovered for Tsan Ti here in the Catskills, butGrattan kept up his wild scheming and committed one piece of lawlessvillainy after another in his attempts to get the ruby away from TsanTi; now we're at the end of the whole business, and neither Grattan norTsan Ti has the ruby, or will ever have it."
Just at that moment the farmer came into the barn.
"I got them machines where they'll be safe," he announced, "an'----Gosh all Whittaker! What's the fat Chinaman doin'?"
Matt turned to look at Tsan Ti. He had the yellow cord around histhroat, rove into a running bowline, and was pulling at the loose end.
The king of the motor boys hurried to him and jerked his hands from thecord 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 augustdecree of my regent--may his years be many and glorious!--calls for myquick dispatch."
Matt pulled the cord from the mandarin's neck.
"Listen, Tsan Ti," said he; "don't give up until you know the case isreally hopeless. We can go back over the ground Sam Wing covered whileI was chasing him, and it is possible we can find the ruby."
"Not possible, deluded friend," answered the mandarin. "Thecontemptible Canton dog says the gem may be in the water, or inmany other places where its recovery is out of the question. Theblandishments of hope pale into the heavy darkness of my certaindestruction. Present me with the cord, I beg of you. Tsan Ti, mandarinof the red button, is not afraid to join his exalted ancestors in thecountry 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. Themheathens is queer, anyway."
"I'll not give you this cord, Tsan Ti," declared Matt, "until I canlook over the course followed by Sam Wing and make an attempt to findthe ruby."
"There are other means for performing the quick dispatch," said Tsan Ticalmly. "I prefer the cord; it is an honor to use an instrument directfrom the regent's hands; but, if the cord is not at hand, other meanswill avail me, ungenerous youth."
Matt studied the mandarin for a few moments. In his eyes he readdetermination. Matt, matter-of-fact American lad that he was, could notunderstand the Oriental custom now exemplified by Tsan Ti--he couldnot understand the thousands of years' usage which had made the custompart of a Chinaman's faith, and he had nothing but contempt for theexhibition the mandarin was making of himself.
"Get the rope, please," said Matt to the farmer. "I think we'll useit."
The farmer brought the rope, and Matt, with his assistance, tied TsanTi's hands and feet. The mandarin yielded passively.
"This will not serve," was all he said; "the time for my dispatch willarrive, in spite of you."
"If you keep on acting in this foolish way, Tsan Ti," answered Matt,"I'll lose all the respect I ever had for you. Face the music, can'tyou? There's no merit in throwing up your hands and quitting justbecause you have run into a streak of hard luck."
"You don't understand, ignorant one."
"I understand, fast enough, that you can't hurt yourself while you'retied up."
He turned away.
"Do you think Tige can watch two prisoners?" he asked of the farmer.
"Yew bet he can," answered the farmer enthusiastically, "two 'r adozen. Why, that dorg's quicker'n chain lightnin'."
"Then," went on Matt, "just give Tige to understand that he's to watchthe sailor, as well as that other Chinaman."
The farmer spoke to the dog, and the animal took up a position betweenSam Wing and Bunce. The sailor tried to draw back, but Tige stopped themovement with a savage snarl and a half move as though he would bite.
"Keelhaul me!" cried Bunce. "Is this what ye call treatin' a fellerwhite? Why, I wouldn't treat a Hottentot swab like this!"
"I've got you, Bunce," said Matt grimly, "and, no matter what becomesof Grattan and Pardo, the law won't be cheated entirely."
"What've I done that ye can send me to the brig for? Tell me that!"
"Isn't the theft of the ruby enough to send you to jail?"
"That happened in Chiny, an' we're in America now."
"Well, putting that aside, there remains the criminal work you did atthe Catskill garage last night. You can be sent to the penitentiary forthat, Bunce."
That was a blow that left Bunce gasping.
"Grattan done that," he cried; "it wasn't me planned it."
"You helped Grattan, Bunce, and you were recognized by the night man.There's a clear case against you, and you'll deserve all the punishmentyou receive."
"Say," said Bunce, with a sudden inspiration, "if ye'll let me go, I'lltake ye to that pocket where McGlory is! I'll do more'n that, sink meif I won't! You let me slip my hawse and slant away clear o' thesehills, an' I'll help ye git McGlory away from Grattan an' Pardo. Whatd'ye say, mate? It ain't a job ye could do alone, an' it ain't a place
ye can find onless I show the way. What's the word?"
"I've had enough experience with you, Bunce," returned Matt, "to knowthat you're not to be depended on. You'd play some treacherous trickthat would----"
Here a voice--a very familiar voice--came floating through the openbarn door.
"Whoop-ya! Any one around? Show up, somebody, and tell me where Iam and how to go to get to the spring on the trail from Catskill toGardenville! Whoo-ee!"
"Woods is full o' strangers to-day, seems like!" exclaimed the farmer.
Matt bolted past him through the door, then halted, and gazedspellbound at a blue automobile with Joe McGlory in the driver's seat.
This might have been considered the culminating surprise of the day'sevents. And it was a mutual surprise, too, judging by the way McGloryacted.
Leaning over the steering wheel, the cowboy gazed like one in a trance.
"Matt!" he shouted at last, "is this a dream, or the real thing? Saysomething, you old hardshell. Sufferin' tenterhooks! I can't tell hownervous you make me."