Instantly he assembled his own men and armed them. He was satisfied of their loyalty, and distributed ammunition that same night. For some reason the hostility in the bazaar had ceased after that one act of stone-throwing. The escort disappeared from the town as if by magic. It was not a healthy sign as Talham knew, because armed or disarmed, they were men who carried the Imperial badge upon their breast, and their hurried departure was ominous. He rode out now to Mount Li with an escort of four of his own men. He thought he had detected the entrance to the tomb. Half-way down the hill two straight ledges of the rock jutted out. They ran parallel to one another for about twenty yards, and then curved downward into the earth. From a distance they had every appearance of being placed there by nature, but something induced Talham to take a closer view. He made the ascent over the loose rubble and through the stunted bushes which covered the hillside. He examined them carefully, and in the end he had no doubt whatever that they were placed there by the hand of man. This would be the entrance, if entrance there were. He had looked for an opening to the tomb at the foot of the hill. Apparently, it was half-way up that he must seek it. “I am perfectly sure,” he told Tillizinni that night, “that if we can dig between those two pieces of sculpture, for pieces of sculpture they are, ingeniously carved to represent natural rock, and at the same time to afford some interested person a clue as to the whereabouts of the hill, we shall come upon the famous bronze door which hides the secret of the Emperor’s artificers. “We shall have to do our digging by night,” he went on; “but I don’t anticipate digging very far. From what I have seen of the entrance to the tomb, it looks as though a few more showers of rain would wash the bronze door into view.” Preparations were far advanced towards the final examination of the hill, and it was in the afternoon previous to the day on which the attempt was to be made, that a courier came hot-foot from the Yamen summoning Talham to the Mandarin’s presence. He had not seen the great man for some days, and wondering what was new, and somewhat apprehensive, since it was quite on the cards that Pekin may have sent an Imperial edict prohibiting any further research, he hurried to the Yamen, and was instantly admitted to the presence of the Mandarin, who received him with great geniality. “A courier has brought a letter for your honourable self from Pekin,” and he picked it up from a little ebony table. The letter, whatever it was, was enclosed in a large envelope covered with Chinese characters. Talham opened the outer envelope slowly, dreading the contents. They proved to be two letters, and the first of these was startling enough, for it was addressed to Miss Yvonne Yale, c/o the British Consul, Hoo Sin. Talham stared. There was no British Consul in Hoo Sin.