“What in thunder’s the matter with you, Sam?” growled Archie, who had his hand on my shoulder.
I did not care to say; but just then Joe, who was in advance of me, touched the grating and whispered:
“Here’s the gate — stop a minute.”
He unfastened the catch and we passed into the great domed hall.
On our right came a sudden rattling of the bars, where the monster ape was still struggling to escape his prison. I reflected that he must be getting hungry by this time, and hunger would make him more ferocious than ever. But our first impulse was to peer anxiously around the great chamber to discover if any light indicated the presence of Mai Lo.
There it was! a faint glimmer coming from one of the alcoves far to the right.
“We’ve got him,” muttered Archie, triumphantly.
“Why, he’s here, all right,” I replied in a low tone, “but in order to reach the place we must creep along the wall, so as not to get lost.”
“Come ahead, then,” said Joe, and started feeling his way by keeping one hand on the tapestry hangings that separated the various alcoves.
Suddenly there came a violent rattling of metal near at hand and Joe stopped so abruptly that I ran into him.
“Say, fellows; we can’t pass this alcove,” warned Joe. “That infernal monkey might reach out and grab us if we came too near.”
“Light the lamp,” said I, “and hold it under your coat.
Mai Lo is in an alcove and he’s too busy to notice us at this distance.”
Joe obeyed. As the light of the wick illuminated our surroundings we found we had halted none too soon. The huge ape had his body pressed close to the grating, which, to our astonishment, we saw was now a mass of twisted and bent metal, so loosened and displaced by the constant wrenching of the powerful beast that only the chain and lock with which we had fastened it seemed to hold the grating in place.
“He’ll be out of there before long,” remarked Joe, half fearfully.
“Then we must dive into some alcove,” I suggested. “But I guess the bars will hold until we’ve had our talk with Mai Lo.”
Circling around the place so as to avoid the reach of the ape’s long arms we came to the tapestries beyond his den and continued our progress, extinguishing the light as we drew nearer to the alcove from whence came the glimmer we had first observed.
We walked with stealthy tread and stood before the alcove without a sound of our approach having been noted.
The grating had been set wide open and held from swinging to by a big vase set against it. In the center of the alcove a light burned upon a low taboret, and near it squatted Mai Lo, absorbed in selecting and arranging a mass of jewels piled up before him.
So occupied was the governor with this pleasant task that he never looked up until after we had entered and stood in a silent row before him.
Then his body gave a twitch beneath his broidered robes, but his passive face showed no expression at all. Perhaps it was incapable of expression. Even the eyes had no more animation beneath their surfaces than shoe-but-tons. “So you have escaped,” he said.
“Oh, there was nothing to escape,” I answered with a smile.
“My guards surrounded you.”
“They tried to, but there were not enough of them. And they are fewer in number now than they were.”
He stared at us without reply; without altering his position. He even rubbed the ruby that was in his hand against the satin of his sleeve as if to polish it.
“Hasn’t all this nonsense gone far enough, Mai Lo?” I inquired. “Are you not getting tired of opposing us when you know we can defy your power and carry out our plans without your consent?”
He calmly lowered his gaze and began to polish the ruby again. From the distant alcove where Fo-Chu was confined came the ape’s horrid growls and the shaking of the bars; but the governor seemed little interested in anything but the heap of plunder before him.
“You have tried in various ways to destroy us,” I went on. “You set your eunuchs on us in the pavilion; you ordered your soldiers to cut us down in the palace; you loosed the King Ape in these vaults to tear us to pieces. But what is the result? We are here still, and free, and masters of the situation.”
Mai Lo slipped the ruby in his pocket and took another from the heap before him.
“How can you enter the Ancestral Chih?” he asked. “My soldiers guard every avenue of approach.”
“There are some things it is not necessary for you to know,” I retorted; “and that is one of them. But we did not come here to quarrel, but to make peace with you.”
This seemed to interest him, for he transferred his beady gaze from the gems to my face.
“This constant opposition is annoying,” I continued, “and while Prince Kai Lun Pu gave to us the riches contained in these vaults, and showed us how to secure them, we find there is more than we need, or can carry back with us.”
“Prince Kai had no right to give you the wealth of his ancestors,” said Mai Lo.
“Perhaps not. Neither have you any right to rob the Ancestral Halls. Instead, you ought to seal them up, and commit suicide. But you won’t do that. You want to escape with enough treasure to make you rich for the rest of your life.”
He regarded me intently, but made no reply. So I went on:
“We do not care whether you escape or kill yourself, except that by working together, instead of in opposition, we may all succeed in getting away with the treasure. There’s more than enough for us all.”
Still he made no reply. From the dome came a sudden crash of metal and the wild yelp of the giant ape. But we all stood motionless, wrapped in the importance of the governor’s decision.
“Well, what is it to be — war or peace?” I asked, impatiently.
“War,” he said, quietly. “You are miserable foreign pigs, and I will kill you. Not one gem of this treasure shall you carry away. Your knowledge of these chih has sealed your doom.”
I felt like striking the rascal with the naked scimitar I held — the scimitar for which the seven kings fought whose life-blood was contained in the seven rubies. But I resisted the temptation, while Archie exclaimed: “Don’t be a fool, Mai Lo!”
“Your obstinacy may ruin us all,” Joe added.
“We don’t intend to be killed,” I observed, bitterly; “and you ought to know that by this time. We — ”
I stopped short with a thrill of horror, for a sudden pattering of feet reached my ears. The governor sprang up just as we three with one accord shrank back against the wall, and the next instant the King Ape bounded into the alcove, his eyes like balls of fire, his grinning teeth bared viciously.
Mai Lo alone confronted the beast, who faced his victim chattering with an almost human expression of cruel joy. I saw the mandarin feel in his breast and draw out a glittering poniard, while his eyes fastened themselves upon those of the ape. An instant more and the brute sprang forward and caught Mai Lo in his embrace.
Once, twice, I saw the keen blade bury itself in the hairy breast of Fo-Chu. Then the monster, with a shriek of mingled rage and agony, thrust the man from him and bounded back against me, the sudden movement sending me reeling against the wall. As I fell I extended my arm in which I still clasped the ruby scimitar, and in a flash the ape had snatched the weapon from my hand and with renewed screams swung it in a gleaming circle around his head.
But his attention was distracted from us, who stood motionless with fear, toward the form of the governor, who was rising from the place where he had fallen. And Fo-Chu remembered that the great pain in his breast had been caused by the weapon of Mai Lo. So with a wild cry he leaped forward and swung the scimitar with tremendous power. It caught Mai Lo just above the shoulders, and the rarely tempered blade sheared through bone and muscle. The head toppled with a dreadful thud to the pavement,’ while for an instant the body stood erect and swaying. Then it fell in a heap, and with a screech that chilled my very blood with horror, the mon
ster threw himself upon the body and rent it limb from limb with a fury that was absolutely devilish. The cracking bones and tearing flesh sickened me so that for the first time in my life I fainted, losing all sense of danger and surroundings as I sank limply to the floor.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
THE SEVERED HEAD
It’s all right, Sam,” said Archie, vigorously shaking me. “Sit up, old man.”
I obeyed, opening my eyes to gaze fearfully around me. The lamp on the taboret still burned steadily and crouching motionless upon the mangled remains of Mai Lo was the form of the giant ape. Joe and Archie supported me to my feet, peering into my face anxiously.
“Is — is he dead?” I asked in a faint voice.
“Dead as nails!” declared Archie, with a laugh. “Old Fo-Chu has saved us a lot of trouble, while the governor kindly saved us from the beast by giving Fo-Chu his quietus. It couldn’t have been better if we had planned it; but my! wasn’t it a jolly fight?”
“It was awful, boys!” I exclaimed.
Joe nodded.
“The horror of it nearly got me, too,” he admitted. “But, as Archie says, it was a fortunate thing for us, take it all in all.”
Feeling somewhat restored in strength I stooped down and picked up the scimitar, which lay where the ape had dropped it. The blade was reeking with warm blood, and I hastily wiped it clean with the rich tapestry that hung upon the wall of the room.
“The seven kings must have fought for the scimitar that time,” I observed. “It was a fearful blow.”
Together we rolled the great body of the dead ape over, with the idea of getting together the remains of Mai Lo. But the nauseating heap of flesh, mingled with shreds of the broidered robes that had enveloped it, was so repulsive that we decided not to touch it.
“Leave him with the ancestors of Kai,” advised Joe. “We’ll be away from here before long.”
“I’ll never enter this place again!” I declared, with a shudder, for my nerves were still on edge.
“Nor I,” said Joe, hastily.
“Then let’s get all we want now,” suggested Archie.
We did. Without fear of further interruption we explored such alcoves as we had not previously visited and appropriated the best of the treasure they contained. We were all fairly well loaded when at last we returned to the scene of the recent tragedy, where we added the heap of jewels that Mai Lo had been examining. There was no time to assort them, so we took them all.
Archie seized the scimitar and hacked away a section of the tapestry, and while I wondered what he was going to do he picked up the severed head of Mai Lo by its queue and dropped it into the cloth, gathering up the corners to form a bag.
“What is that for?” I asked, wonderingly.
“Why, it’s proof that the governor is extinct,” he said, with a grin. “No one is allowed to enter this place, so we must establish the demise of our dearly detested enemy in the upper world. Are you fellows ready?”
“Come on,” I said, picking up my burdens.
We returned to the alcove of the first Kai and for the last time crept behind the tapestry and emerged into the tunnel through the steel door.
Silently we plodded along the incline, for the dreadful sight we had witnessed and the repulsive burden Archie carried in his left hand depressed us in spite of our attempt to appear cheerful.
As we reached the flight of steps leading to the palace, Joe, who bore the lamp, turned to me and said:
“Going to take that thing home with you, Sam?”
Then I remembered I was carrying the ruby scimitar. As I looked upon it a horror of the weapon suddenly took possession of me. I set down my bundles, snapped the blade across my knee, close to the handle, and cast the ancient bit of steel upon the ground. The golden hilt, set with the seven rubies of the kings, I slipped into my pocket. It is the one prize of those I secured in Kai-Nong that I have never parted with.
By the time we reached our rooms we found that twilight had fallen. Bry met us at the door with the information that no one had disturbed him during our absence. We placed our burdens in a corner and covered them with a cloth, afterward retiring to our rooms to wash the grime from our hands and faces. Tun came in shortly to ask if he should serve dinner, and told us that Wi-to was “better now” and would be “alle light” by morning.
We had little appetite for the meal, but made an attempt to eat. The exciting events of the past few days were beginning to tell upon us and there was little hope of relaxing the nervous tension until our strange adventure had been accomplished.
The death of Mai Lo had simplified matters very much. “Unless,” said Joe, “we are accused of his murder; in which case our goose is cooked.”
“That’s why I brought the head,” remarked Archie, glancing at the corner.
“That’s why you ought not to have brought it,” I objected.
“But we must have peace and the good will of the natives in order to get away safely with the treasure,” he replied, sensibly enough. “Mai Lo has committed suicide.”
“Suicide!” I exclaimed.
“Certainly, my boy. It was up to him to make away with himself, thus doing his duty and fulfilling the expectations of the people.”
I looked at him admiringly.
“Will you please tell me, Archie,” I said, “how we can convince the people that Mai Lo cut off his own head?”
“Why, tell ‘em the truth,” he returned. “Tell them Mai Lo gave the Sacred Ape a scimitar and fought a duel with him. That would be a neat way to suicide and appeal to their artistic sense. The ape got in the first swipe and — and-”
“And what?”
“And here’s the head to prove it,” he answered triumphantly.
I shook my head.
“It won’t do, old man. Such an absurd story, coming from us, his enemies, would be enough to condemn us.”
We sat thinking over the situation for a time, and then Joe exclaimed abruptly:
“I have it! We will get Wi-to to tell the story.”
“That’s better,” I said, relieved. “He ought to be sober enough to act the part tomorrow. But in the meantime what are we to do with the governor’s wife and daughter? They are in no further danger, so we needn’t keep them cooped up in that room any longer.”
“Send for them,” suggested Joe.
So we asked Nux to summon the two maids, and soon they toddled timidly into our presence.
“Ko-Tua,” said I, solemnly, “you may go home and put on your widow’s gown.”
“What you mean, Sam?” she asked, eagerly.
“Why, your respected husband, the admirable old villain Mai Lo, has had the kindness to commit suicide.”
“Ah, oh!” cried both the girls, with one voice; and then to our amazement they plumped down upon their knees and bowed their heads to the floor and began wailing and beating their front hair with the palms of their hands.
We allowed their emotions full play for a time, but they kept up the monotonous cries and self-inflicted blows longer than we thought necessary.
“Oh, shut up, Ko-Tua!” grunted Archie, stooping down to give the pretty widow’s shoulder a vigorous shake. “Stop the racket until you’re in public. You’re not so eternally sorry, are you?”
She looked up with a smile and slowly rose, Mai Mou demurely following her example.
“I’m glad,” said Ko-Tua, frankly. “Now I no have tongue cut out. But Mai Lo my husban’, an’ he dead, an’ — oh, oh! ah-oh! oh-ah! — ”
“Hi! cut it out!” yelled Archie, as the widow relapsed into her wails. “If you don’t behave, I’ll — I’ll bring Mai Lo to life again!”
She stopped at once.
“You sure he dead?” inquired Mai Mou.
“Absolutely sure,” I replied. “He committed suicide, and we saw him do it. But see here, young ladies; you mustn’t mention this till tomorrow, when public announcement is made. Do you understand? Go home and control your grief until you hear the
news from others, and then howl as much as you please.”
They were puzzled at this order, but when we explained that our own lives depended upon their silence they willingly promised to obey.
At first we were all unable to figure out how they were to return to their homes without being seen and causing gossip; but Bry proposed that he should rap upon the door at the end of the passage and see if he could not arouse Nor Ghai.
The rapping had no effect for a time, and after a few attempts we abandoned that idea and tried to think of something else. Meantime, as our dinner-table still stood piled with eatables, we prevailed upon Ko-Tua and Mai Mou to satisfy their hunger, which they did with ardor but exquisite daintiness, smiling at us happily as they ate.
“Really,” whispered Archie, “if I’d known Mai Lo’s death could cause so much pleasure I’d have asked him to commit suicide long ago.”
Presently, without warning, Nor Ghai glided into the room and took in the scene with one comprehensive glance.
“I heard the knock, but could not come then, as I was not alone,” she explained. “Is there something you wish me to do?”
“You might take these girls into your harem and keep them there,” I replied.
“But Mai Lo’s eunuchs will find them!” she exclaimed.
“Never mind; there is nothing to fear. Mai Lo is dead.”
“Dead!” she repeated, clasping her little hands.
“He has committed suicide,” I answered.
“Never! Mai Lo never suicide,” she declared, positively. “If Mai Lo dead, somebody kill him.”
“Somebody did,” I replied, smiling at her shrewd knowledge of the governor’s character. “It was the Sacred Ape, Fo-Chu.”
“But Fo-Chu is escaped and lost. I heard it today.”
“Well, Mai Lo found him, and thought it was a good time to shuffle off his mortal coil. You remember that in Shakespeare?”
She nodded.
“So Mai Lo shuffled.”
“Isn’t it nice, Nor Ghai?” asked the widow, delightedly. Then with a sudden thought: “Ah — oo! ah-oo! ah — ”
“Cut it out, Ko-Tua,” warned Archie.
“Her tongue!” gasped Nor Ghai.
Complete Works of L. Frank Baum Page 697