They were now at the junction of the passage and a broader artery, where a barbershop was in operation, partly upon the corner and partly within doors. Dr. Ti Kung beckoned and three of the barbers were at his side in an instant. The idea was not broached to the white man. He was seized and benched, lather applied at once. He had evidently met Chinese at home. His jaw hardened and he appeared to await some brutality from without, before taking exception to events. At the first scrape of the blade, however, he lay back at ease—a white man’s long training under the knife.
Meanwhile the chief barber, disdaining other than to officiate in the present activity, turned to Dr. Ti Kung as if resuming a conversation halted yesterday:
"... The amazement of this low-minded proprietor in having his unmentionable shop patronized by so enlightened a personage, is without bounds and earth-defying." He produced a water-pipe of silver mounting and proceeded: "To say nothing of this illustrious foreigner who thus disguises his exalted rank—"
"You suffer from slight misconception," said Dr. Ti Kung, "only as regards the companion of this foreign prince. Behold in myself a rural born of lowest degree—"
The barber drowned the utterances in the loud bubbling of his water-pipe. "This day will ever linger in the memory of one degraded chief of barbers, for the patronage of a court companion of the great Yi—"
Dr. Ti Kung again courteously depreciated himself, and they turned to the American. The chief of barbers said:
"The illustrious one now occupying the chair has relapsed in revery, having given no directions. Is it desirable that the entire head be denuded?"
Ti Kung uncovered his own queue-less head. "Let the hair be short-cropped merely, as this of his servant—and the features shaven."
"So be," said the chief, shuffling over to direct the operators. In a moment he was back in his position beside the Chinese gentleman.
"This illiterate one," he began again, as the gurgling of the water-pipe was renewed, "perceived in the reports today that the wrestler, Kwong, won all honours in the athletic contests at the Imperial Pavilion. His prowess has doubtless come under court attention before. Today the trained cormorant of the Mandarin Pih has proved to be the best diver in a tournament that has been held three successive days on the river. Probably, however, this fact is already known to one whose relatives recline in the Yellow Palanquin...."