Page:Ernest Bramah - Kai Lungs Golden Hours.djvu/284

 "Your worthy confidant would assuredly be a person of incorruptible integrity?"

"The repute of the upright Censor K'o-yih had reached even these stunted ears."

"Inevitably: the Censor K'o-yih!" Shan Tien's hasty glance took in the angle of the sun and for a moment rested on the door leading to the part where his swiftest horses lay. "By this time the message will have reached him?"

"Omnipotence," replied Kai Lung, spreading out his hands to indicate the full extent of his submission, "not even a piece of the finest Pong-hi silk could be inserted between the deepest secret of this person's heart and your all-extracting gaze. Should you, in your meritorious sense of justice, impose upon me a punishment that would seem to be adequate, it would be superfluous to trouble the obliging Censor in the matter. To this end the one who bears the message lurks in a hidden corner of Tai until a certain hour. If I am in a position to intercept him there he will return the message to my hand; if not, he will straightway bear it to the integritous K'o-yih."

"May the President of Hades reward you—I am no longer in a position to do so!" murmured Shan Tien with concentrated feeling. "Draw near, Kai Lung," he continued sympathetically, "and indicate—with as little delay as possible—what in your opinion would constitute a sufficient punishment."

Thus invited and with his cords unbound, Kai Lung advanced and took his station near the table, Ming-shu noticeably making room for him.

"To be driven from your lofty presence and never again permitted to listen to the wisdom of your inspired