Wu Ling opened one of the lower drawers of his desk. He searched for a few moments and then produced an ordinary pack of playing cards. He laid them upon the table.
"In here?" Gregory demanded, glancing at the silent forms, always moving around them.
"Why not?" Wu Ling replied. "What we do is nothing to them. They see nothing. They work."
Mr. Endacott chuckled as he took the cards in his hands and shuffled them.
"You will lose, young man," he warned Gregory. "I've seen a great many games of cards in this city, but I have never yet seen a European who could hold his own against a Chinese."
"This isn't a game," Gregory pointed out. "It's just a show-down. My chance must be as good as his. We'll make it the best of three, though."
"A card each three times," his partner explained, "and the one who wins twice out of three times gets the Images. It appears to me that I too am rather largely interested in this. Any choice as to who turns the first card up?"
Gregory shook his head, cut the cards which were handed to him, and passed them to Wu Ling. The latter hesitated only for the fraction of a second. Then he threw one card to his opponent and one to himself. Gregory's card was a knave; his own a queen.
"One up to the firm," Mr. Endacott observed.
Gregory took the cards. His hands were beginning to shake. He gave his opponent a four. He himself threw down a ten.
"One each," he exclaimed, trying his best to keep his tone level.
He shuffled and passed the cards across once more. Wu Ling sat for a moment toying with them, almost as though in silent prayer. Then he threw a card to Gregory.
"And the firm has an ace," Mr. Endacott pointed out, as Wu Ling's card fell upon the table.
Gregory sat staring at it, motionless and rigid, the light of triumph fading from his face. There had been gamblers in his family, though, and heredity asserted itself. He rose calmly to his feet.
"I'll go down and pack the Image," he said.
Wu Ling clapped his hands. His expression had never varied. He showed no signs, even of content.
"There will be porters who attend you," he announced. "They will follow your 'rickshaw and bring back the Image."
Gregory held out his hand, even then scarcely realising the position. All this risk and privation for nothing, his friend's life for nothing, all gone on the turn of a card. For a moment the place with its strange atmosphere seemed unreal, his adventure a nightmare. Then he heard Wu Ling giving orders to the foreman and saw him point to the harbour. He choked down his feelings.