The Boy Fortune Hunters in China

The sinking of the first-class passenger steamship _Karamata Maru_ in the neighborhood of Hawaii on June 17, 1908, has been the subject of so much newspaper comment that doubtle...

When I gained the deck of the _Seagull_ an affecting sight met my eyes. It was crowded thick with despairing and agitated men and women, for all had lost their possessions and m...

I advanced with a respectful bow and found myself looking squarely into the eyes of the injured man. Then I gave a start of surprise, for a young man—almost a boy, he seemed—was...

Next morning after breakfast I was again summoned to attend Prince Kai Lun Pu. I may as well remark in this place that with the Chinese the surname comes first, and Kai was my n...

“Nonsense!” cried Kai, laughing at us again; “the word ‘rob’ does not mean to steal, even in your bungling English. And I used it figuratively. To rob my ancestral halls would n...

When we arrived on deck again the wind had freshened and the pleasant spell of weather we had lately experienced seemed likely to leave us. But our gallant _Seagull_ headed the...

“You’ll find my first suggestion was good,” said Archie, as we stood in the shelter of the wheel-house, for the wind was half a gale by this time. “The proper thing to do is to...

The doctor and I had an important interview with Mai Lo that very evening. The man was evidently on guard before the door of his dead master’s room; for, the moment one of us ap...

“He is dead,” I answered, with a shrug. “I am not sure the commands of the dead Prince are as powerful as those of his living servant. I am told you are all-powerful in Kai-Nong...

The voyage of the _Seagull_ across the Pacific was safely accomplished and with excellent speed. We crossed the Yellow Sea without incident and in due time anchored at Woosung,...

No one can gain any adequate idea of the magnitude of the Empire of China until he has journeyed up that great waterway, the Yang-tse-Kiang, and observed the millions upon milli...

“And that means that we boys are young and foolish,” I retorted. “But listen to me, Mai Lo. We have traveled in many lands, young as we are. We have had adventures, and faced da...

That overland journey of more than eight hundred miles by elephant train is well worth describing, yet it has so little real bearing upon this story that I shall pass it over as...

About the middle of the seventeenth day we passed through a dark and gloomy teak forest and came to a place where two stone towers stood, one on either side of our road. Just be...

The casket of the Prince was loaded upon a magnificent elephant, which was caparisoned from head to foot with silken streamers and bunting of gorgeous colors. No one now rode be...

Followed by Nux and Bryonia, who never relaxed their vigilance over us, we three boys attended the governor and the Chief Eunuch to the entrance of the palace—the first foreigne...

The governor had left us in the hall and we had not seen him since; but as it was now to be open warfare between us we did not care what his future intentions might be.

I am not much acquainted with palaces, but I venture to state that those of European countries are not more magnificent, even when inhabited by royalty, than that of this Manchu...

“He had none at all. In the harem lives his sister, a young girl but sixteen years of age. Her mother is long since dead, but she has nine aunts, now well advanced in years, to...

The Chief Eunuch eyed me expectantly. He was a clever fellow in his way, and had more than ordinary intelligence; but all his life had been passed in this retired place and he j...

Really, we had created a sensation in the summer-house. The three beauties were huddled together in a bunch as far away as the circling willows would permit, and with clasped ha...

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...

From alcove to alcove we went, finding in each a different class of treasure, according to the wealth of the occupant and the period in which he had lived. Here a scholar was la...

When the governor had gone—and he returned along the path as silently as he had come, after his passionless inspection of us—we arose and walked to the palace, finding mighty li...

Next morning we found the Chief Eunuch quite recovered from his debauch and as keen and attentive to his duties as ever. One of his men had neglected his tasks while Wi-to was u...

I have always believed Wi-to was the best friend we had in Kai-Nong, and that he was quite willing to serve us to the best of his ability, thus honoring the will of his dead mas...

“But it isn’t on board the _Seagull_ yet,” Joe reminded us, and we sighed regretfully as we realized the truth of this statement. Nux took charge of the booty and then we all we...

I think we had all forgotten that the King Ape had been left imprisoned in the vaults. But when we entered the first alcove from the tunnel and heard the monster barking and gro...

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...

That evening, being unable to sleep, we sat up late, packing our booty into the chests furnished by the eunuch. They were light and strong and so closely did the gems pack that...