ter with
the ugly figure of Li Min beside him, followed by the interpreter, while
Inspector Burns, stepping quickly to the Magistrate's desk, said a few
hurried words to him in a low voice.

The Magistrate, apparently very much surprised, turned to the
court-room, rapped loudly for order and motioned to the officer in
charge of Major Temple to release him. Sergeant McQuade, meanwhile, with
his prisoner, had advanced to the dock, and without further ceremony I
saw the court attendants administer the oath, the import of this being
explained to the Chinaman by the interpreter.

I learned afterward that Li Min, upon his first appearance as a witness,
had been under the impression that he was being tried for his attempt to
steal my satchel, and, as he did not then know that his compatriots in
London had secured the emerald, feared to make disclosures regarding his
attempt to secure it which would inform the police of its whereabouts.
The interpreter, a Chinaman of the better class, who was in the habit
of acting in this capacity for the police, had argued with him during
the noon hour, had convinced him that he was not charged with any crime,
that the emerald Buddha had been secured by his friends in London, and
was, ere now, no doubt, on its way back to China. Under these
circumstances he was at last persuaded to tell his story and, after an
interminable amount of questioning, it was at last dragged from him. I
have placed his testimony together into the form of a narrative, which
will enable the reader to understand its purport, without being under
the necessity of going through the laborious cross-questioning by the
Magistrate and the interpreter which was necessary in order to drag it
forth.

It seems that Li Min, a native of South China, and by religion a
follower of Buddha, had associated himself with the reform movement in
China, which has drawn into its ranks many of the most intelligent of
the Chinese. Like many of his countrymen, he was under suspicion, and,
knowing the enmity of the Dowager Empress and her advisers toward the
movement, had come to Hong Kong with the intention of leaving the
country. His engagement as a servant by Major Temple was for him a piece
of excellent luck, as it enabled him to leave China without being under
any suspicion as to his motives for doing so. It was during the voyage
to England, and his subsequent stay in Major Temple's service, that he
first learned the story of the emerald