One of our first errands after our arrival was to visit the American Consul, who received us very courteously. We told him of our contract to escort the body of Prince Kai Lun Pu to the province of Kwang-Kai-Nong, and that our agreement with Mai Lo provided for our safe return to Shanghai. He shook his head dubiously and asked to see the contract. This we produced, and waited patiently while the consul's interpreter translated it in writing. When reduced to English the paper read as follows:
"Listen to the obligation which Mai Lo, High Mandarin and Governor of the province of Kwang-Kai-Nong, in His Imperial Chinese Majesty's Domain, hereby voluntarily agrees to perform:
"Mai Lo will escort in honor and safety the person of the renowned physician Gregory Gaylord, a subject of the Kingdom of England, from the City of Shanghai, in the Province of Chili, to the City of Kai-Nong in the Province of Kwang-Kai-Nong, and with him shall go the Americans known as Sam Steele, Archie Ackley, and Joe Herring, with their attendants, all in equal honor and safety.
"And if Doctor Gregory Gaylord shall conduct the corpse of His Royal Highness the Revered Prince Kai Lun Pu, well preserved and cared for, upon this journey to the City of Kai-Nong, then will Mai Lo pay to this Doctor Gregory Gaylord the sum of ten thousand taels in genuine money of the Empire of China.
"And if the Englishman and the Americans and their attendants before mentioned do conduct themselves with honesty and faith, neither stealing nor murdering upon the journey or while within the City of Kai-Nong, then shall Mai Lo escort them each and every one in honor and safety back again to the City of Shanghai and deliver them to the American Consul in that city, unharmed.
"And this Mai Lo shall do as soon as the foreign guests shall together or separately make request to return to Shanghai, and all of the expenses of guards and of food and of transportation shall be defrayed from the private purse of Mai Lo, as a part of his contract and obligations.
"So Mai Lo, promising to be faithful in the names of his greatly worshipped ancestors, agrees to do and will do, or forfeit his life, his rank and his fortune. And that all men may know his intentions he has here signed his name in witness.