Jou-sahn, Ah Neel, said Compton.
Jou-sahn, Compton.
‘Come meet my teacher, Chang Lou-si.’
Both men rose and bowed and Neel reciprocated as best he could.
Compton and Chang Lou-si had been sitting around a low, stone table, drinking tea. Compton now ushered Neel to an empty chair and they spent a few minutes inquiring after each other’s health. Then Compton said: ‘So-yih, Ah Neel, perhaps you know what happen at the meeting last night?’
Neel nodded. ‘Yes, they offered to give up a thousand chests of opium.’
‘Jeng; that is right. Early this morning the Co-Hong go to Yum-chae to tell about offer.’
‘What happened? Was His Excellency satisfied?’
‘No. Yum-chae understand very well what it is – jik-haih foreigners are trying to bargain. They think he can be bought off, like other mandarin before. But Yum-chae cast their offer aside at once.’
‘So what will happen then?’ said Neel. ‘Are Howqua and Mowqua to face execution?’
‘No,’ said Compton. ‘His Excellency understand Co-Hong have gone as far as they can. He understand also that some foreigners do not object to surrender of opium. Only a few make trouble. Now time has come to move against those men – the worst criminals, ones who make most trouble.’
‘Who do you mean?’
‘Who you think, Ah Neel?’
‘Dent? Burnham?’
Compton nodded. ‘Jardine gone, so now Dent is the worst. We follow his doings over many years; he smuggle, he bribe; he is the black hand behind everything.’
‘So what will be done to him?’
Compton glanced at Chang Lou-si, and then turned back to Neel. ‘All this ji-haih for you, Ah Neel. You understand ne? Cannot speak to anyone.’
‘Yes. Of course.’
‘Dent must answer questions. He will be brought in.’
‘What about Burnham?’
‘No. Not him. Just one British enough for now la.’ He paused. ‘But one other man also will be arrested.’
Neel took a sip of his tea: it was a strong pu-er and made his mouth pucker. ‘Who?’
Compton exchanged a word with Chang Lou-si before turning back to Neel. ‘Listen, Ah Neeclass="underline" again I say this just to you la? Many people here say that one from Hindusthan must be arrested also. Almost all opium come from there, ne? Without them opium cannot come. They too must be stopped. Best way is to hold up one Hindusthani so others can take warning. Houh-chih with Dent.’
‘And who are you thinking of?’
‘Can be only one man, ne? Leader of Canton Achhas.’
Neel was surprised to find that his throat had gone dry; he had to take another sip of his tea before he could speak. ‘Seth Bahramji?’
Compton nodded. ‘Deui-me-jyuh Neel, but he is responsible for do bad things; a lot of information has come out. And dou, he is allied with Dent.’
Neel looked into his cup and tried to think of Seth Bahram being led off to prison with a cangue around his neck, like Punhyqua. He remembered how, at one time, he had been amused by the devotion of the Seth’s entourage. It was with a start of surprise that he realized that he too had now come to regard him with a loyalty that bordered on love. It was almost as if the tie of blood between Ah Fatt and his father had become his own, making it impossible for him to sit in judgement upon the Seth. He knew then that if he were to play a part in bringing harm upon Bahram, he would be haunted by it ever afterwards.
‘Look,’ said Neel, ‘it is not surprising that you should think of taking this step. But you should know that even if Seth Bahramji and every other Achha trader were to stop trading opium it would make no difference. The drug may come from India, but the trade is almost entirely in British hands. In the Bengal Presidency, the cultivation of opium is their monopoly: few Achhas play any part in it, apart from the peasants who are made to grow it – and they suffer just as much as the Chinese who buy the drug. In Bombay, the British were not able to set up a monopoly because they were not in control of the entire region. That is why local merchants like Seth Bahramji were able to enter the trade. Their earnings are the only part of this immense commerce that trickles back to Hindusthan – all the rest goes to England and Europe and America. If Bahramji and all the other Bombay Seths stopped trading opium tomorrow, all that would happen is that the drug trade would become another British monopoly. It was not the Achhas who started sending opium to China: it was the British. Even if every Achha washed his hands of opium, nothing would change in China; the British and Americans would make sure that opium continued to pour in.’
Neel waited for Compton to translate this and then he laid out the argument that he had saved for the last: ‘And you know what will happen if you include Seth Bahramji’s name with Dent’s?’
‘What?’
‘The Chamber will save Dent by giving up Bahramji instead. Dent will slip out of your grasp.’
‘Haih me! Would they do that?’
‘I am sure of it. After all, they owe much more to the Co-Hong than to Bahramji. If they are willing to risk the lives of their Hongist friends, why would they not give up the Seth?’
He left the words hanging in the air and sat back to sip his tea. In a while, Compton said: ‘Chang Lou-si asks if you and Mr Moddie are from same province? Dihng-hai same clan?’
‘No,’ said Neel. ‘His province and mine are far away – like Manchuria and Kwangtung. We are not even born into the same religion.’
‘Cheng-mahn, Neel, can I ask why you are so loyal to him? Gam, what is difference between him and Dent and Burnham?’
‘Seth Bahram is not like Dent and Burnham,’ said Neel. ‘In other circumstances he would have been a pioneer, a genius even. It is his misfortune that he comes from a land where it is impossible even for the very best men to be true to themselves.’
‘You mean Hindusthan, Ah Neel?’
‘Yes. Hindusthan.’
A look of pity came into Chang Lou-si’s eyes when Compton translated this for him. He said something which seemed to be addressed mostly to himself.
‘Chang Lou-si says: it is so China does not become another Hindusthan that the Yum-chae must do what he has to do.’
‘That is right,’ said Neel with a nod. ‘That is why I am sitting here with you.’
*
The meeting at the Chamber had ended so late, amidst so much ill-feeling, that Bahram would have had no sleep that night if not for a generous dose of laudanum. Having once drifted off, he slept deeply and awoke just as the chapel clock was striking eleven.
The windows of the bedroom were shuttered and except for the lamp on the altar it was completely dark. Still fuzzy from the laudanum, Bahram wondered whether he had slept right through the day and into the night. Then he saw glimmers of sunlight filtering in through the gaps in the window frames and suddenly the events of the night before came rushing back to him: the arguments and counter-arguments; the broken faces of Howqua and Mowqua, and Dent’s warning that giving up a single chest would quickly lead to the surrender of them all; and then he remembered the intervention that had clinched the matter: Mr Thom’s prediction that there would be riots if any harm came to Howqua, Mowqua or any other Co-Hong merchant. That was when Wetmore had suggested that the Chamber offer up a thousand chests of opium as ransom for the Hongists’ lives.
Like the other tai-pans Bahram had agreed to contribute his fair share of crates – but there was no surety, of course, that Commissioner Lin would accept the offer: not till ten in the morning would it be known whether he was going to carry out his threats.
And now it was eleven, the hour well past: for all he knew Howqua and Mowqua were already dead.
Reaching for the bell-rope, Bahram tugged hard and within minutes a khidmatgar appeared at the door.
Where’s Vico? said Bahram.
He went out, Sethji.
And the munshi?
He’s in the daftar, Sethji. Waiting for you.
Bahram gestured to the man to step inside. Lay out my clothes, jaldi.