impressed with her hospitality and her cook’s formidable skills. The doctor also discovered that Master Chow Eng- Shu, not to put too fine a point on it, rather enjoyed his wine, for he consumed a goodly portion and consequently went to his bed much affected by its potency. The doctor filed this knowledge away for future use.
The next day, somewhat worse for the wear, Master Chow Eng-Shu accompanied the doctor and Master Ah Chung back to the tong hall to supervise the packing of the artifacts for shipment. The process proved rather complex, but Master Chow Eng-Shu, despite the pounding in his head, paid very close attention. First, the artifacts were wrapped in several layers of soft linen. Then, the stones were wrapped again in two layers of heavy waxed silk, which was in turn painted with a thick coat of melted beeswax thinned with turpentine. As it slowly cooled, Master Chow Eng-Shu and Master Ah Chung pressed their chops into the wax coating at several critical points. Any distortion to these marks would indicate that the contents had been tampered with. Finally, the packages were bundled in small quilted blankets, and then placed into a wooden tea chest and cushioned with tightly packed straw all around so that they could not move about within the chest. Lastly, the chest was tightly bound all about with a heavy cord. When the ornamental knot was secured to everyone’s satisfaction, Master Ah Chung poured hot red sealing wax onto every intersection of the cords and also upon the knots. Into each, Master Ah Chung pressed the tong’s chop to mark the final seal.
Once this was accomplished, a stout chain was wrapped in two directions around the chest. The chain was then looped twice around a strong pillar at the back of the hall near the now empty altar, and secured with a large padlock. The senior elder took the key, turned, bowed toward the altar, and then ceremoniously presented it to Master Chow Eng-Shu. He politely informed Master Chow Eng-Shu that two of the strongest men available had been armed and told to guard the chest until they were relieved.
Just then a side door opened, and three men entered carrying furniture. The first two hefted a simple Chinese- style bed, and the second entered with a low table and cushions. These they placed near the chained tea chest in front of the altar.
Master Ah Chung turned to Master Chow Eng-Shu and said they appreciated that the esteemed Three Corporations required their own guard to oversee the security and protection of the treasure. To that end the tong was only too happy to accommodate Master Chow Eng-Shu until the steamer departed the following day. They would also send a cook to attend to his meals. In that way he could keep an eye on the treasure and be comfortable at the same time.
Dr. Lao-Hong watched the master clerk out of the corner of his eye, and he knew at once what was going through his mind. Master Chow Eng-Shu could either accept the tong’s Spartan hospitality, or return to the obvious pleasures and stately affluence of Lady Yee’s home. As the doctor expected, Master Chow Eng-Shu took no time in making up his mind. He bowed to Master Ah Chung and said there was no need for him to guard the treasure personally. The tong had done very well in that respect for quite some time. He bowed again and said that he had every confidence the treasure would be safe in their hands.
Dr. Lao-Hong knew that Master Chow Eng-Shu was quite confident of the chest’s security, since the funds and documents he had brought in exchange would not be handed over until the treasure was safely placed aboard the steamer. Only then would he officially take possession in the name of the Three Corporations. A Chinese notary would be present to witness the contracts signed, and the funds counted out and handed over.
THAT NIGHT LADY YEE AGAIN entertained her esteemed guests with a lavish farewell feast, and again Master Chow Eng-Shu enjoyed a surfeit of excellent wine. The doctor took note of this and suspected the master clerk might pay dearly for his overindulgence the following day. For those not used to the experience, the motions of a ship at sea would only enhance the discomforts awaiting one who overindulges. But it was not the doctor’s place to criticize. Master Chow Eng-Shu would have to plumb those depths for himself. Besides, the doctor was already experiencing his own catalog of disquieting symptoms, but his could easily be traced to an unsettling phalanx of tormenting preoccupations.
Dr. Lao-Hong could not help but reflect upon the complex Imperial ambitions and vast heroic accomplishments commemorated by those two stones, and by what strange chain of events they would now undertake another fateful voyage. Whether they found their rightful place of repose, or were sucked into the maw of greed, power, and jealousy, which in itself was a kind of oblivion, only time and fortune would determine.
Dr. Lao-Hong was quickly learning that it was a tasking burden to shoulder another man’s honor, not to mention his mortality; lives were at hazard, families and clans imperiled. The doctor had done the best he could for all concerned. He prayed that it wasn’t too late.
———
THE NEXT MORNING THE GUESTS bid their generous hostess a respectful farewell, a formality that included the doctor presenting Lady Yee with a beautiful and intricately pierced ivory fan, inlaid with mother-of-pearl and amber. And though it wasn’t exactly the truth, he said the Three Corporations wished her to accept the gift as a mark of their respect. Lady Yee was delighted with both the fan and the recognition.
A half hour later the concerned parties again met at the tong hall. Everything was just as they had left it the night before. Even the same guards were in attendance. A table and chairs had been arranged for the signing of contracts and the counting out of the agreed payment. This was made in small gold bars called teals. Each was weighed carefully, stamped by the notary, and entered on a receipt. Only after all the necessary documents had been signed and exchanged, and all financial formalities accomplished in good order, would the sealed chest be transported to the pier and loaded aboard the little hired steamer.
Master Chow Eng-Shu was formally presented the tong’s key to the padlock. The treasure was duly released from its bonds, and the two guards then slung the chest from a stout pole, which they carried away upon their shoulders. With the tong elders in informal attendance, the procession made its way to the pier. There the chest was loaded down into the stern cabin of the steam launch that would take it to meet the mail packet in Santa Cruz.
The chartered steam launch was fifty feet long, and had started life as an excursion boat for the guests of the famed Hotel del Monte. After the hotel burned down in 1887, the launch had been sold to a merchant, who put it back into service as a tour boat. Though of heftier construction, it had been built to the standards and lines of an English lake steamer. The brass-trimmed engine and boiler sat amidships, and a tall carriage cabin with large windows all around surmounted the aft third of the vessel. The cabin was furnished with plush upholstered benches on both sides, and even boasted an enclosed toilet for the convenience of the passengers. For the sake of security, the tong had insisted on manning the steamer with its own seamen. Only three men were necessary: a helmsman, a stoker, and a deckhand.
Heavy swells and a stiff chop of whitecaps troubled the bay, and the doctor noted that as soon as Master Chow Eng-Shu boarded the vessel, his previous overindulgence began to register as an evident change in complexion. Dr. Lao-Hong, who wished no creature harm, felt guilty that he had not made a finer point of cautioning his colleague the night before about the discomforts awaiting those unused to traveling under such conditions.
After parting salutations and compliments, the little steamer pulled away from the pier. A towed jolly boat skipped attendance at the stern. The party waited a short while watching the steamer move off, and then returned to the tong hall to have tea and discuss events.
