some words in the Miaotze tongue, whereupon a follower appeared, and
opened a gate in the stockade of prickly mimosa which guarded the
mouth of the den. Within the enclosure a fire burned, and food was
being prepared. At a word from the chief, the unfortunate Kai Lung
found his hands seized and tied behind his back, while a second later
a rough hemp rope was fixed round his neck, and the other end tied to
an overhanging tree.

Lin Yi smiled pleasantly and critically upon these preparations, and
when they were complete dismissed his follower.

"Now we can converse at our ease and without restraint," he remarked
to Kai Lung. "It will be a distinguished privilege for a person
occupying the important public position which you undoubtedly do; for
myself, my instincts are so degraded and low-minded that nothing gives
me more gratification than to dispense with ceremony."

To this Kai Lung made no reply, chiefly because at that moment the
wind swayed the tree, and compelled him to stand on his toes in order
to escape suffocation.

"It would be useless to try to conceal from a person of your inspired
intelligence that I am indeed Lin Yi," continued the robber. "It is a
dignified position to occupy, and one for which I am quite
incompetent. In the sixth month of the third year ago, it chanced that
this unworthy person, at that time engaged in commercial affairs at
Knei Yang, became inextricably immersed in the insidious delights of
quail-fighting. Having been entrusted with a large number of taels
with which to purchase elephants' teeth, it suddenly occurred to him
that if he doubled the number of taels by staking them upon an