'He is; agreed,' admitted David curtly, a grin on his lips.
'As safe as houses in his gilded palace,' said Dick bitterly.
'Wrong! He's not in his gilded palace. He's tucked safely in bed along with that pompous Tartar under-officer. He's tied up as if he were a dangerous hyena.'
Dick scratched his head energetically, and rubbed his eyes again. He was seriously anxious about his old friend, who had so suddenly come to visit him. The stubborn look on his face, his evident determination, and the curtness of his answer roused an awful suspicion in his mind. Was David mad, driven out of his mind by this sudden trouble? Then he shook his head.
'It's I who am a fool,' he whispered. 'Here he is in Tartar uniform. That shows he's been moving. But this business of Tsu-Hi beats me altogether; it knocks the stuffing entirely out of yours truly.'
'It'll knock the stuffing out of someone else I know of.'
David blurted out the words gruffly, while a frown crossed his forehead.
'Sit down for a moment,' he said shortly. 'I'll tell you what's been passing. Don't ask a heap of questions. We're still in a beastly hole, and unless everything is in readiness we shall be too late to slip out of the city. Sit down; for goodness sake don't interrupt.'
He sate himself down beside his friend, and told him as swiftly as possible of Chang's visit, of his own escape, and of what had followed.
'And now you're going to be Tsu-Hi,' he said abruptly. 'No use in my changing these clothes. You can do the work as well as I can. Let's get along into the other room, and then you can strip off your things and dress in Tsu-Hi's gorgeous raiment.'
'And then?' asked Dick, beginning to grin and bubble over, for the adventure amused him vastly. 'And then, my noble sir, what do I do? Go to the palace and command the foreign devils to be brought before me. Sign their death warrants, and see them executed. Oh, Lor'! I see it all. Here's a splendid ending. We put this Tartar beggar into your clothes, and Tsu-Hi into mine, and let Chang behead 'em as if they were actually foreign devils.'
He would have roared with laughing, had not David stopped him angrily.
'Utter rot you do talk, Dick,' he said severely, though he was bound to smile at the reckless jollity of his comrade. 'You become the deputy-governor, and in due course you will go to the palace, and I with you. For the moment, you've got to dress. Come along--no more jawing.'