THE SECRET PASSAGE.
When we met the girls in the secluded pavilion the next afternoon, we
found that Nor Ghai had brought the Shakespeare and Byron, and she
begged us to explain certain passages in them that had puzzled the fair
students of English. This we did, and before we parted that day a
friendly footing had been established between us that was very pleasant
indeed. Of course another interview was arranged for, as all of us had
become reassured by our success in escaping observation, and if we still
had any qualms of fear we did not allow them to prevent future meetings.
But the girls were more alive to the conditions surrounding them than we
were, and their fertile brains arranged a series of signals to let us
know whether it was safe to enter the pavilion or not, since at any time
one of the eunuchs or older members of the harem might see fit to
accompany them. Also they timed their stay by our watches, so as to
leave before there was a chance of their being sought for.
All this savored of intrigue, but our meetings were harmless enough. I
don’t say that little Nor Ghai was averse to a bit of flirtation, but
none of us encouraged her because we had no thought of flirting with our
new friends. We talked in boyish fashion and treated them exactly as if
we were brothers and sisters.
Meantime the days flew swiftly by, and still Mai Lo paced the gravel
paths before the Ancestral Halls of Kai, and we hesitated to begin our
appointed task. But finally one evening, while talking over our plans
and chances of success, Joe proposed that we should explore the secret
passage and accustom ourselves to the way to the underground vaults; so
we promptly decided upon the adventure.
At about ten o’clock, the usual time, we dismissed our eunuch, Tun, who
always remained in waiting until we retired for the night, and then,
instead of going to bed, we put out our lights and sat quietly in the
darkness until after midnight.
Every time we had passed by the bend in the hall we had noticed the
tapestry of the dragon, but never had we ventured to disturb it to see
what was behind the hangings. We dared not show a light in this passage
because just around the bend was the guard of the royal apartments,
eternally pacing up and down to prevent anyone from penetrating to the
sacred precincts.
We had, unfortunately, no candles; but I had unhooked a small oil lamp
from a bracket in one of our rooms, and matches were plentiful. When I
softly opened our door to listen, there was not a sound to be heard
throughout the palace except the steady footfalls of the distant guard;
so, being in our stocking-feet, we tip-toed along the corridor, feeling
our way in the darkness by keeping one hand on the wall, until we
reached the bend in the passage.
We could not see the dragon tapestry, but knowing its exact location I
crept beneath the heavy drapery, followed closely by Archie and Joe, and
then began to feel for the bronze knob.
Across the face of the wall in every direction we fumbled, and I had
almost begun to despair of finding it without a light when Joe grasped
my shoulder and guided my hand to a tiny projection far to the left.
Yes; it was a knob, all right. I grasped it and pulled it toward me, and
at once we heard a faint swish, and a breath of colder air reached us. I
felt along the wall, and found an opening, through which I passed,
drawing the others with me. Another heavy tapestry was on this side of
the wall, and we crept beneath its folds on hands and knees.
“Do you think it’s safe to scratch a match?” I whispered.
“It’s got to be done, safe or unsafe,” replied Joe, and in a moment a
faint light flared up, and Joe shaded it with his hands while I cast a
hurried glance at the tapestry.
“No light can shine through that, I’m sure,” said I. “Here, Joe; light
the lamp.”
I held it while he touched the match to the wick, and then we stood up
and gazed curiously around us.
We found ourselves in a lofty sleeping chamber that was beautifully
furnished. The carved mahogany bedstead with its pagoda-like canopy
towered fully fifteen feet in height, and its curtains were
cloth-of-gold. Around the frieze, just above the heavy tapestry
hangings, was a row of embossed golden fishes with ivory horns, set in a
background of azure blue. Near to where we stood, at the left of the
secret panel, a number of bronze tablets were attached to the wall,
their faces engraved with Chinese characters. I supposed these to be the
tablets of ancestors, which every house contains in its inmost sanctum.
Before the tablets was a sort of altar, containing a vase for burning
incense and prayers.
A broad archway, hung with stiff draperies, formed a communication with
the next room of the suite, and just beyond it stood a great carved
cabinet with numerous drawers and recesses and a writing shelf in the
center. This I thought must be the Prince’s “desk” which I had asked the
Chief Eunuch to remove to my room, without realizing its size. That he
had promised to do so filled me with wonder, for I doubted if it could
be carried through the archway.
Passing around the huge bedstead and holding the lamp before us, we
peered into the further corner of the room and with one accord shrank
back in sudden fear. For before us stood a gigantic form in glittering
armor, with a face-mask so terrible in expression that it might well
cause a sinking of the heart. And behind the mask glittered two cruel,
piercing eyes, while the right arm swung a scimitar as if about to
attack the beholder and hack him asunder.
“Never mind,” muttered Joe, with a low laugh. “It isn’t alive, although
it looks it.”
“It’s the statue we were searching for,” said I.
“No wonder it used to scare the Prince,” remarked Archie. “Ugh! I
shouldn’t want to own that fellow for an ancestor.”
“This was the first Kai,” I rejoined. “They must have been giants in
those days, if he’s a sample warrior.”
Then I leaned down and tried to press outward the left foot of the
statue, which stood flat upon the floor without any pedestal. It
resisted and I knelt down and tried again, pushing with all my strength
and using the other foot as a purchase. The foot gave a little—not more
than half an inch—and I heard a sharp click and a grating sound behind
the tapestries.
“All right,” said Joe, pushing aside the drapery while Archie held the
lamp. “The panel is open.”
The opening disclosed was about five feet high and not more than
eighteen inches wide, but it was sufficient to allow us to pass through
with ease. A secret passage, narrow and low, had been built in the great
side-wall of the palace, and a few paces from the panel a flight of
steps, made of stone, led downward. These continued to descend until we
had passed below the foundations of the building, when we entered a
tunnelled passage slanting straight into the earth. The walls were
protected with stone and cement, but there was a damp, musty smell in
the passage; and, as we advanced, numerous vermin, such as rats, lizards
and fat spiders, scampered away from the path to hide in the little
nooks between the stones.
Archie, who went first, carrying the lamp, growled continually at these
pests, but I felt they could not be dangerous or the Prince would have
warned us against them.
We traveled what seemed a very long distance to us, under the
circumstances; but I now believe the passage was a bee-line to the
burial vaults from the palace, and of course the vaults were located
some distance from the building that appeared above ground. But my sense
of direction was so confused that I would then, and even afterward, have
been unable to locate the vaults from the palace grounds.
Finally we reached a steel door which was unlocked and opened easily.
Beyond this hung a tapestry, and pushing that aside we came to an
alcove, arched high above us and having a grating of bronze or similar
metal at the further side.
In the center of the alcove lay a superb sarcophagus or burial casket,
set across two slabs of marble. This was of wrought bronze and bore upon
the cover a mask with a surprising resemblance to the statue of the
first Kai in the Prince’s bedroom.
We did not pause to examine it long, however, for all about the coffin
stood carven stands and taborets weighted with curious ornaments in
solid gold and silver, while upon a low table were several suits of
splendid armor, inlaid with gold and set with precious stones that
glistened brightly under the lamplight. Nor was this all. Ornaments of
green and yellow jade were scattered about, and at the foot of the
coffin stood a semi-circle of big jars of bronze.
I thrust my hand into one of these jars and drew it out filled with
beautiful emeralds.
“We don’t need to go any farther, boys!” I exclaimed with a gasp. “Here
are riches enough, in this one niche, to satisfy a dozen fortune
hunters.”
Archie examined another vase and found rubies and pearls in it. The
third was quite empty, and so was the fourth, but the fifth and last one
contained many jade rings, bracelets and necklaces, with which were
mingled several large sapphires.
“Yes,” said Archie, sighing; “here’s more treasure than the priests of
Luxor buried in the desert. But let’s continue our explorations. This
can’t be all of the ancestral chih, for only one ancestor is buried
here.”
“He must have been very rich in his lifetime, if this was but half of
his fortune,” remarked Joe. “I wonder if he got it all honestly?”
“Probably not,” I replied. “This fellow is an ancient, and perhaps lived
in an age of robbing and pillaging. But come on, fellows; let’s see if
we can pass those gratings.”
Only a catch, worked from either side, held the grating in place, and
swinging it open we passed into what was doubtless an immense domed
chamber, for our tiny lamp could not light more than a small portion of
it. On either side of the alcove from which we had emerged hung
magnificent tapestries worked in threads of gold and silver and
representing scenes of battles, processions and the like. The
workmanship was so fine on the first tapestry we examined that it seemed
impossible it could be anything but a painting, and a marvelous one at
that. But we found the other fifty or more sections hung around the
domed chamber to be equally perfect in execution.
Beyond the tapestry hangings, each section of which was some sixteen
feet in width, was another grating leading to an alcove, and this system
we afterward found was continued all around the chamber. None of the
gratings were locked and all opened readily to our touch. The alcove we
next entered contained another splendid casket and even more golden
ornaments and precious gems than we had found in the first. We accounted
for the empty jars in the first alcove, which connected with the secret
passage, by the pilfering from them by Prince Kai, of which he had told
us.
“Wait a minute!” exclaimed Joe, as we eagerly started to examine the
next alcove. “If we’re not careful we’re going to lose our bearings in
this big place and get lost. Before we wander any further away let’s
mark the grating to the alcove we came from when we entered.”
That seemed good advice, so we retraced our steps until we reached the
first alcove, where Joe tied his handkerchief to the grating. Then,
feeling assured we could find the place again, we proceeded upon our
explorations.
We had examined five or six of the chih, or alcoves of the dead, all of
which contained enormous wealth, when suddenly I stumbled against a low
stand just outside of a grating. Holding the lamp high to see what the
obstruction was, I found upon the stand a large lamp, nearly filled with
oil, and a box of London safety-matches.
“Oho!” said I; “Mai Lo has been here.”
“I suppose he can now wander through these ancestral vaults at will,
since there is no one to forbid him,” said Joe.
“I hope he won’t decide to come while we’re here,” remarked Archie, “or
our pretty plans will be nipped in the bud.”
“Oh, it isn’t necessary for Mai Lo to lose sleep to enter these vaults,”
I replied. “But it is as well to be on our guard, and I’m glad we found
the evidences of his visit.”
Entering the alcove before which the table and lamp stood, we looked
around with astonishment, for here was more evidence of Mai Lo’s
presence in the tomb. This niche was evidently very rich in treasure,
and the vases and bowls of gems had been emptied into a great heap in
the center of the floor. From this heap some one had been assorting the
jewels into varieties and sizes. In one place were pearls, the finest of
which had been placed in one row, the next largest in a second row, and
so on.
Rubies had been assorted in a similar way on another side of the chih,
and emeralds in a third place. No jewels seemed to have been taken away,
and from the size of the heap there was much more assorting to be done,
and the job was scarcely begun.
The beauty of the row of great pearls appealed to Archie strongly, so he
picked them up, one by one, and placed them in the pocket of his jacket.
“If anything should prevent our coming here again,” he remarked, “these
pearls will well repay us for our journey to Kai-Nong.”
But he never suspected that they were likely nearly to cost us all our
lives.