"Of course," he went on, "it must sound to you, as it does to me, although you would scarcely understand the word, like rot, but the man from whom I heard it was a great person in Pekin, a friend even of the Emperor, and not only of the Emperor, but of the Emperor's great adviser whom some people think the greatest Chinaman who ever lived. He had privileges which had never before been extended to any European."
"So," he said, with the painstaking air of one trying to solve a problem, "you were seeking to take Images from temple, away from priests to whom belong, that you might possess jewels."
The young man coughed. Somehow or other Wu Ling's eyes were very penetrating.
"Well," he admitted, "I suppose in a way it was robbery, but robbery on a legitimate scale. I don't suppose you've read much European history, have you?"
"That makes it difficult to explain," his companion regretted, pausing for a moment to breathe in, with great satisfaction, a gulp of the cool night air. "However, most of the territories in different parts of the world which England possesses and a great deal of her inherited wealth, have come because centuries ago Englishmen went across the seas to every country in the world and helped themselves to pretty well what they wanted."
"That," Wu Ling remarked, "sounds like Wu Abst, the pirate."
"Well," he continued, "the invasion of a foreign country for purposes of aggrandisement is robbery, I suppose, only, you see, it is robbery on a big scale. We looked at this present affair in the same way. If it is true that there are a million pounds' worth of jewels in these images, what good can they possibly do to any one hidden there for centuries? No one could see them. No one could derive any good from them. Their very beauty is lost to the world. Robbery, if you like, Wu Ling, but not petty larceny."
Wu Ling shook his head with an uncomprehending smile.
"Of course you won't understand that," the other observed. "Still, what I mean to say is, that the very danger of the exploit, the fact that you risk your life--look how near I came to losing mine!--makes the enterprise almost worth while. Nothing mean about it, anyway."
"Ah!" Wu Ling murmured meditatively. "And now please tell, where Images?"