Under the Chinese Dragon Part 14

He shouted; the same skinny arm was thrown up, and before David could realise his danger he was staring into the expanded muzzle of as murderous a weapon as could be found anywhere. Yes, murderous; for it was but ten feet away, and carried a ball like a young cannon-shot. And how it roared as the rascal pulled the trigger! A wide stream of flame spurted from the muzzle, and then such a dense cloud of smoke that the alley-way, the men within it, even the barricade was swallowed up.

Moreover, the bullet as near as possible put an end to this narrative, and to the quest of David Harbor; for it tore past his cheek, rattled and ricochetted along the stout wooden wall of the pa.s.sage, and striking the runner of the ladder behind more than half severed it. In addition, it considerably startled our hero.

'Hit?' called out d.i.c.k, swinging his head round, for, of course, he like David had obtained a clear view of the man. 'There still, old chap?'

A growl was his only answer, and then a hasty order.

'You've swung the light off him, though the smoke is too thick to let one see just now. Get it shining down the pa.s.sage. We must put a stop to that fellow's antics; his bullet as near as possible took my head off.

Ah, steady! I can see.'

Yes, he could see. The lamp-light shining into the alley-way was directed upon the ruffian who had just fired; but it showed more than he. It showed a couple of dozen men pressing along behind him, the look on their faces telling plainly that they were determined to rush the barricade. Instantly David gave warning, and levelling his own weapon fired at the pirate who had so recently discharged the pistol; but he did not stop him. The bullet went astray, and striking a man just behind him brought him tumbling to the deck. However, the next proved more successful. The rascal howled with pain, then, as if driven frantic by it, he threw his pistol at the figure which he could only dimly discern above the barricade, and led his comrades forward. For ten whole minutes none of the defenders had so much as a breathing spell. Those four Chinamen at the back of the barricade fought as if they were possessed, and fought too, like Englishmen, in silence. Their knives rose and fell constantly. Now one of them would spring upward, and grabbing an attacker by the shoulder would haul him within reach; now Hung would give vent to a guttural exclamation, at which d.i.c.k and his comrades would unconsciously move aside. Then there came the thud of the huge club he wielded, a sickening, dull thud, followed by a heavy fall on the far side of the bales placed across the alley-way. A sudden fusillade from David's magazine pistol drove the a.s.sailants out of sight, and allowed the defenders to rest after their exhausting efforts.

'Put the lamp on the top of the bales,' said David at once. 'We must chance a fellow firing at it and smashing it altogether. Hung, post a man up here to watch. I'll go up and report progress, unless, of course, you'd like to, d.i.c.k.'

The latter shook his head vigorously, and was about to answer when another voice came from behind them in the alley-way. It was the Professor, jaunty and high-spirited as ever, a silent witness of the late conflict. He stepped from the foot of the ladder, and came towards them, turning the slide of a lantern he carried. And the light reflected from the narrow pa.s.sage showed up everything distinctly--the dead Chinaman at the foot of the barricade; David on the ladder, and d.i.c.k and the other defenders at their posts. It even showed the huge splinter of wood half torn from the ladder by the bullet which had so nearly put an end to the existence of one of the party. And the Professor was as easily seen as any one. There was a bland smile on his clean-shaven face. His eyes sparkled; he laughed outright.

'Please don't move,' he said, coming closer. 'A more perfect picture I never beheld; but I do congratulate you all. You know I hate fighting, and always have done so; but when it's necessary, I can admire the men who show a good front. No need to report, David boy; my own eyes have shown me everything.'

Turning suddenly to the Chinamen, he spoke to them in their own language, which he knew as a native, praising them warmly, and sending the blood flying once more to their cheeks.

'A gallant fight, well organised and generalled,' he said, turning again to d.i.c.k. 'Whose idea was the ladder?'

'His,' came the curt answer. 'He fixed everything: David is a born leader.'

'I say!' came indignantly from our hero, who was still perched on his ladder.

'It's true,' came warmly from d.i.c.k, for the young fellow had formed a great opinion of David. Secretly he had admired the lad, partly for the courage which he knew he possessed, for had he not been instrumental in saving d.i.c.k's mother; and also there was the case of those burglars at Bond Street. But it was not pluck alone that roused his enthusiasm for our hero; it was his grit, his staunchness.

'Just fancy a fellow doing so much all on his own,' d.i.c.k had exclaimed more than once to the Professor. 'Many fellows of his age would have been browbeaten by that man who married his stepmother. Very few would have taken the post of lift-boy as he did. I've known young fellows sent up to London to make their way who would have turned up their noses at it, and because they could not get just the cla.s.s of job that suited them would prefer to live with relatives and do nothing. That's out and out cadging. And here's David, still all alone, determined to go out to China to find a will which may never have existed.'

'I beg your pardon; it did exist,' the Professor corrected. 'I knew Edward Harbor. If he said he had made a new will, he had done so without doubt. He was most exact and painstaking in everything. He made that will in David's favour, but circ.u.mstances over which he had no control prevented his having it conveyed to a safe quarter. He perished; perhaps the will perished with him. Perhaps it was purloined along with his other belongings by some rascally mandarin, and is lying forgotten at the bottom of a heap of rubbish at this moment. But I interrupted.'

'I was saying he's so determined,' said d.i.c.k. 'He says he'll go to China when he has hardly a sixpence to bless himself with. But he takes the post of lift-boy, and in a twinkling he's made enough to take him round the world. It's grit that does it, sir. Sheer perseverance and doggedness.'

'And knowing that your cause is just; yes,' reflected the Professor.

But to return to our friends in the alley-way, the Professor again demanded who had led in the conflict which he had watched from the foot of the ladder.

'He did without a doubt,' declared d.i.c.k, pointing at David. 'Ask him about the ruction along there, sir, and then ask Hung and the others.'

Slowly the Professor dragged the details from David and from the Chinamen. Then he solemnly shook hands with every one present.

'I'm awfully glad I wrote that letter to you, David boy,' he said, when he came to the figure still perched on the ladder, 'and it was a lucky chance which sent d.i.c.k here along to trouble me. Together you've made a fine defence in this quarter. Alphonse will be delighted. But now let us go to the cabin; Hung and his friends will watch here and send us a warning if there is to be another attack. Meanwhile, there are other parts to be considered. I tell you plainly, those demons will not rest till they have taken every one of us and looted our belongings. I know the pirates of this gulf; they are a detestable set of cut-throats. But don't let that statement trouble you; we're a long way from being taken, or I'm much mistaken.'

The smile came back to his face, a cheery, confident smile. He spoke swiftly to the men present, and then skipped to the ladder.

'My word,' he cried, as he reached it, and his lamp fell upon the woodwork. 'That must have been done by the shot I heard. It was a big bullet that tore away this piece of the ladder.'

'And precious nigh took David with it,' laughed d.i.c.k. 'He got quite angry.'

That set them all laughing, for, somehow, what with the success they had already had, and the Professor's cheery presence, there seemed ample cause for merriment, merriment that was accentuated to no small degree when they reached the cabin; for Alphonse was there, in his shirt sleeves, and posted beside a huge rent torn through the doorway.

'Ah, ha!' he cried, coming towards them. 'You have made much noise below. There has been shooting. None are hurt I hope?'

'None but the fellows who attacked us,' answered d.i.c.k. 'How have things gone here?'

'Wonderful! I tell you, wonderful.'

The little man puffed out an enormous chest, and stretched his arms before him. He was pomposity itself, while the manner in which he swung the rifle, that he gripped with one hand, hardly gave one confidence.

That and his peaky little beard, which seemed to project even more abruptly forward now, the huge check pattern of his shirt, and the long pointed-toe boots, which he still insisted on wearing, made one more inclined to smile at little Alphonse; and if not at his appearance, then at his gestures and his antics, for the lamp which the Professor carried played full upon him. But a moment or two later one gathered a different impression of the man.

'Ah!' he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed suddenly, bending his head to one side as if he were a bird, and placing his hand behind the ear. 'Did I hear some one coming? Monsieur, Alphonse was never deaf, and he has trained his ears to catch the sound of bare feet. You do not believe it? _Bien_, then see.'

His eyebrows went up a little, as if he were unable to credit the fact that his listeners did not believe him, then calling on all for silence, he stole towards the door of the cabin, and almost at once his rifle went to his shoulder. He bent swiftly, then there came a sharp report. A crash on the deck outside, and a thunderous explosion told all within the cabin that Alphonse had accomplished something, and crowding at once to the gaping hole which the ringleader of the pirates had torn in the door with his muzzle-loader, they stared beyond at the deck. A man was crawling painfully along the boards, while immediately outside the door, as shown by the lantern, the blunder-bus the man had carried, that undoubtedly he had intended firing through the hole in the door, lay still smoking after its recent discharge.

'_Parbleu!_ Did I not say so?' declared Alphonse with a flourish. 'I have ears to hear, monsieur. I caught the slither of a bare foot and I was warned. My shot caught him just at the right moment. But it might be well to hold a council. Eh? A council of war, monsieur.'

He dragged a seat close to the door, and sat down there with his head at the jagged opening. The Professor drew a cigar from his pocket, bit the end off with a snap, and lit the weed.

'A council, yes,' he said. 'I will state the facts. We chartered a ship at Shanghai captained by a rascal, and with a crew none the better. They had accomplices in the Gulf of Pechili, and the ruffians hoped to secure their booty without a struggle. Of course, we should have been cut to pieces and dropped overboard.'

Alphonse shivered, though every one could see that he was merely making pretence to be frightened. '_Dites donc_,' he cried pleadingly, 'but that is dreadful. It makes me feel faint. They would surely not be so harsh with us.'

The grimace he made set d.i.c.k roaring, while the Professor smiled grimly.

'Easy enough to make fun of it, Alphonse, but if it hadn't been for your watching we should be down below already. Other Europeans have suffered in the same way, have disappeared and never been heard of again.'

Unconsciously David's thoughts went to his father. He had been a.s.sailed more than once when in China; for even at this day, when Western influence is slowly beginning to gain ground in the Celestial Empire, Europeans are still foreign devils to the common mob, intruders, to be killed whenever possible. True, in some quarters the old animosity is beginning to disappear. Wealthy Chinese travel now-a-days, and return home imbued with the wish to give up old and useless inst.i.tutions and habits, to subst.i.tute a modern education for one dating back to the days of Confucius, and to throw open the doors of their native land, so that the miles and miles of rich territory may be developed and bring forth its wealth. That is something. Thirty years ago there was hardly one single Chinaman amongst all the millions the Emperor boasted of who had been away from his native sh.o.r.es, and though an amba.s.sador here and there may have returned with his eyes widely opened, with a desire to westernise his country, what was the value of his influence when all else were against him? It was death almost to suggest change. Arrogance was always a failing of the pig-tailed race, and only time and severe lessons could teach the people that there were other races on a higher footing. And lessons China has had. She has seen foreigners s.n.a.t.c.h corners of her territory. She has stood helplessly aside and watched Russia enter Manchuria and lay her railways to Port Arthur, and again has watched her neighbour, whom she formerly despised, throw herself upon the Russians and conquer them. And why? Because she had westernised her people. Because j.a.pan had organised her navy and her army on modern lines, and armed them with modern guns. Then why should China not follow? Slowly but surely the desire to do so is filtering through the country, and slowly the change will come. As we have said, a European is still a 'foreign devil' to the bulk of the people to-day. To-morrow he may be as a brother.

'My father was killed during a sudden attack,' said David. 'He was up country, north of Pekin----'

'Where I shall hope to take you all,' interrupted the Professor. 'That is to say, if these rascals will allow us.'

'There was a missionary with him, one who knew the people well. But they were murdered for what they carried, and, as it afterwards appeared, on a sudden suggestion made to the people in the nearest village. There had been several cases of fever, and four persons had died. It was put down to the white men, and that was the excuse for their murder.'

'And that is nearly always the case ash.o.r.e,' agreed the Professor. 'A missionary, for example, is the best of fellows. He helps the people, is great friends with them, and all goes well till some bigoted ruffian comes along. He wants the odds and ends the missionary possesses. He trumps up some paltry charge, works up his ignorant comrades into a fury, and sends them to murder the "foreign devil." The rascal himself generally disappears with all the white man's possessions. But here there is no working up. The pirates of the Gulf have existed for centuries; murder and pillage is their profession.'

'Hark! I heard something more; stay still if you please, messieurs.'

Alphonse again canted his head to one side like a bird, and one could see that he was listening. His peaky little beard seemed actually to bristle. He jerked his head. His blue eyes sparkled in the lamp-light, then he leaped to his feet.

'The lamp, monsieur,' he cried, 'put it out. They are above us; they have clambered on to the roof of the cabin.'

David could hardly believe it, and though the whole party stood absolutely silent for nearly five minutes, it was not till that time had elapsed that a sound came to their ears to confirm Alphonse's statement.

There was a loud bang on the roof, followed by others.

'Pardon, monsieur,' said Alphonse quietly, taking the lantern from the Professor's hand. 'I go to see what is doing. Perhaps one of the messieurs will support me.'

He moved to the doorway promptly, and David sprang to follow. d.i.c.k and the Professor drew the bolts silently, though there was little fear of being heard, for the noise above was now very great, the sound of rending wood coming clearly to them. Then they pulled the door open, and Alphonse and David stepped out.