and with great deliberation, as if particularly desirous that his words should not be misunderstood.
"I make you a fair offer," said he. "It is not my habit to mince matters. I hold you captive. You are my prisoner. I can do with you what I like. No one will ever find you here. Neither can you escape; day and night there are sentries at the mouth of the cave. They tell me that you have the reputation of being a wise man. If that is so, you cannot fail to see that you and your companions are in my power-birds caught in the fowler's net."
He paused again and looked at the judge, who merely nodded his head.
"This is my offer," he continued. "After I have explained matters I shall give you ten minutes in which to make up your mind. You are to write a letter to the Governor of Hong-Kong, or to anyone else you may choose. In that letter you are to say that your life, and the lives of those who are with you, are in the hands of Cheong-Chau, and that Cheong-Chau demands, as the price of your freedom, the sum of twenty thousand Hong-Kong dollars, to be paid in cash before the new moon."
Having laid down his conditions, the man remained silent whilst the judge explained the meaning of his words to Mr Waldron.
"It is as I told you," said Sir Thomas. "Twenty thousand dollars. The rascal certainly cannot be accused of being modest."
Mr Waldron snapped his fingers.
"So far as I am concerned," said he, "he can have it. Don't let the money worry you, Judge. I've paid that for a picture."
The judge turned to Cheong-Chau and asked him to continue. The man grinned-an unholy grin of fiendish satisfaction. To him and his cut-throats the sum was more than a fortune; it would serve to keep the whole gang of them in luxury for the rest of their lives.
"The matter," said he, "is quite simple to arrange. Write your letter, and I will undertake to have it conveyed to Hong-Kong. The moon is but three days old. We have therefore twenty-five days. Together with your letter I will send one of my own, in which I propose to demand that the money be left hidden in a certain place upon the Sang River, not far from Canton. If the whole of this sum is safely deposited in the proper place before the conclusion of the waning of the moon, you and your friends shall be set at liberty. If, however, for any reason, the ransom is not paid, I swear by the Five Sacred Books that all three of you will be put to death. Concerning the manner of your death," he added, "I say nothing-beyond a warning that those who die by order of Cheong-Chau die neither easily nor swiftly."
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