"
"I will be there, Kinko, I will be there. Glass fragile, I will see
that they don't handle it too roughly. And if you like I will accompany
the case to Avenue Cha-Coua--"
"I hardly like to ask you to do that--"
"You are wrong, Kinko. You should not stand on ceremony with a friend,
and I am yours, Kinko. Besides, it will be a pleasure to me to make the
acquaintance of Mademoiselle Zinca Klork. I will be there when they
deliver the box, the precious box. I will help her to get the nails out
of it--"
"The nails out of it, Monsieur Bombarnac? My panel? Ah, I will jump
through my panel!"
A terrible clap of thunder interrupted our conversation. I thought the
train had been thrown off the line by the commotion of the air. I left
the young Roumanian and regained my place within the car.
In the morning--26th of May, 7 A.M.--we arrived at Lan-Tcheou. Three
hours to stop, three hours only.
"Come, Major Noltitz, come, Pan-Chao, come, Caterna, we have not a
minute to spare."
But as we are leaving the station we are stopped by the appearance of a
tall, fat, gray, solemn personage. It is the governor of the town in a
double robe of white and yellow silk, fan in hand, buckled belt, and a
mantilla--a black mantilla which would have looked much better on the
shoulders of a manola.
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