HERE are two points to be held in constant remembrance,” said Nikola, “one is that you are not a Chinaman, and the other is that if you go before the chief priest to-morrow morning and pose as one he'll certainly find you out, and then we shall be done for completely. If you run away I had better run too, for all the good I can get by stopping, but that I am resolved not to do. It has cost me many years' labour, to say nothing of some thousands of pounds, to get as far as I have in this business, and come what may I am determined not to turn back.”
“But what way is there out of the difficulty?” I asked dejectedly. “If I can't come before them and brazen the matter out, and I can't remain away for fear of confirming what they already suspect, and I can't leave the monastery without drawing down suspicion on you, I must confess I don't see what is to be done. I suppose we couldn't bribe the man to withdraw his charge?”
“Not to be thought of,” said Nikola with conviction. “Our lives would then be simply dependent on his reading of the word 'honesty.' You ought to know what sort of faith we could place in that.”
“Could we not force him to clear out then, and thus let it be supposed that he had brought a false accusation against me, and was afraid to stay and face the consequences?”
“That is not possible either,” said Nikola. “He would only begin to bargain with us, and to be revenged on us, turn traitor when we refused his demand. In that case it would be a case of pull devil pull baker, and the one who could pull the longest would gain the day. No, you had better leave the situation to me and let me tackle it.”
I did as he wished, and for nearly half an hour could hear him pacing his room, deep in thought. Throughout the time I did not intrude myself upon him or interrupt him in any way. At the end of the time stated he abandoned his sentry-go and came in to me.
“I see my way,” he cried. “But when all is said and done it is almost as desperate as either of the other remedies we thought of. You will have to carry it out, and if you fail—well, heaven have mercy upon both of us. You have saved my life before, I am going to trust it to you now; but remember this, if you do not carry my plan exactly as I wish you will never see me alive again. Give me your best attention, and recollect everything I say. It is now close on midnight; the gong for early service will sound at half-past five, but it will be daylight an hour before that. I must get you out of this place within a quarter of an hour, by hook or crook, and even if you have to steal a horse to do it you must be in Pekin before half-past one. Once there you will find the house of Yoo Laoyeh, which is situated in the street at the rear of Legation Street, near the chief gate of the Tartar city.”
“But how am I going to get into the city at all?” I asked, amazed that he should have forgotten what struck me as such a hopeless barrier—the wall. “The gates are closed at sundown and not opened again till sunrise.”
“You'll have to climb the wall,” he answered.
“But, as you know very well, that's altogether impossible,” I said.
“Not a bit of it,” he replied. I will tell you of a place where it is quite practicable. Do you remember the spot where you proposed to Miss Medwin?”
“Perfectly,” I answered with a smile. “But how do you know it?”