Under the Chinese Dragon Part 20

Now, I have looked over your list of stores, and have suddenly remembered drugs. Alphonse has packed a box containing useful tabloids and other medicines, besides a supply of bandages and dressings. Ah!

breakfast's ready; come along.'

An hour later the little cavalcade was ready to set out, and once more the Professor inspected the lads and their mounts. To speak the truth, even a native of the country would easily have been deceived, for David and his friend looked exactly what they were meant to look, namely, two Chinese gentlemen of some importance travelling through the country with their servant.

'Of course you are not bent on commerce,' said the Professor. 'No Chinaman of any importance would soil his hands with trade. You are two officials going through to see Tw.a.n.g Chun. Good-bye! Look for me in a month's time.'

'Gee-up!' shouted d.i.c.k, shaking his reins. 'Good-bye, Professor!'

They headed at once for the road that stretched across the country adjacent to the camp, and which perhaps had even borne Tsin, the mighty ruler of the Celestial Empire in those far-off days. Then they settled down to their long journey, David and d.i.c.k alongside one another, chatting and laughing, and Jong behind, his bare toes in the stirrups,--for the cold weather was not yet on them,--his reins knotted on his pony's neck, and leads from the other three animals attached to the bow of his native saddle.

'I rather fancy it will be as well to have some sort of regulations for marching,' said David, when they had accomplished some ten miles, and the camp was only a memory to them. 'You see we are foreigners, though we don't look it, and something might turn up when we least expect it.'

d.i.c.k laughed loudly. David vastly amused him, and, if he had only made a clear confession, interested him also. For the lad displayed so many sides to his character. At one moment he was as dashing and plucky as one could wish. A regular fire-eater he had shown himself in the affair in the gulf of Pechili. And at other times he was as cautious as any old woman.

'You do make me smile,' declared d.i.c.k, searching for a handkerchief, a luxury which neither had yet abandoned, but for which, nevertheless, it was somewhat difficult to find a handy place in the strange garments they were wearing. "Pon my word, you make a chap roar. Always imagining danger's coming; always taking precautions; always getting ready; and then, no sooner does something spring up, all unforeseen, as it were, than you chuck all precautions, venture out into the open, and practically invite people to shoot you. Look at the ship--helped to get the party away from what was an ugly trap, and then, when all were safe, walked peacefully back in search of an axe. You do really take it.'

'Shut up!' growled David, crossly. 'I'm serious.'

'So am I.'

'Look here,' declared our hero, with some warmth, 'I'll not stand any more of--oh, I say, let's be serious,' he laughed, for who could be angry with d.i.c.k--d.i.c.k the merriest and most light-hearted of the party?

For if ever contrasts were asked for, a better example could not be brought forward than David and his companion. The one, as d.i.c.k had said, a strange mixture of dash and daring, and of shrewd, almost nervous caution; and the other, d.i.c.k Cartwell, as jolly as the day was long, the most thoughtless individual breathing, an inconsequent, harmless sort of fellow, who made friends of all and sundry with an ease which was astonishing. Caution! d.i.c.k threw it to the winds.

'Don't get looking round for trouble till trouble troubles you, old boy,' he had said on more than one occasion when twitting David. d.i.c.k followed the proverb strictly. He made no effort to look into the future, to prepare for squabbles, even in a country not altogether friendly. Left in command of the Professor's party, he would have been soundly asleep when the pirates so stealthily slipped aboard the vessel and slid along the decks towards the cabin. But once the danger was present, once he was with his back against a wall, there was no better nor more reliable fellow. d.i.c.k fought with as light a heart as he possessed when eating his dinner. Light-heartedness was his one fault, in fact, if one could actually declare it a fault; for on the march and under everyday conditions it cheered his companions and helped wonderfully to keep every one going.

'Well, let's hear all about this matter,' he asked, smiling at our hero, and urging his steed beside him with a kick from his heel. 'You are antic.i.p.ating trouble.'

'Nothing of the sort. I do declare you are an aggravating fellow. I say that we are in a country where foreign devils are not too popular, and though we don't appear to be foreigners, yet people might discover our nationality. In fact, they are sure to when we put up in the towns. Very well, then. We must take it turn and turn about to watch, Jong doing his share with us. Of course I'm speaking of the time when we are out on the road, or in camp, should we settle down outside a village or town. In the house of a mandarin we should be free from interference. Now, what do you say to the plan?'

'A beastly bother, but necessary perhaps. I agree. When do we start?'

'Right away; nothing like getting settled down to our duties. We'll have a chat with Jong.'

They pulled their ponies round and edged them up alongside the single store pony trotting at the Chinaman's left hand.

'We're going to take it in turns to watch when on the road,' said David.

'I'll start now, and continue till noon; then d.i.c.k till late in the afternoon; then you'll come on duty. We'll share the night out evenly when we're in the open.'

Jong took a few minutes to absorb his meaning. Not that the man was dense; it was simply because he had not a very abundant command of English.

'Allee lightee; savvey,' he exclaimed at last, with a curious little lisp which rather became him. 'Jong say dat allee lightee. Watch, den no easy to be cut to piecee. Neber know who or what comin' along. P'laps dere robbers. Dey make mincemeat of de lot of us before you have time to breathe. Jong watch like a dog. Him savvey!'

'Then I start right off; let's get back to our places.'

The two young fellows kicked their lazy little ponies into a canter, and pulled them in again when they were some fifty yards ahead of the Chinaman. And until the hour of noon David kept a careful eye all about him. Then they halted for a spell, Jong quickly getting a kettle over a fire and the water boiling. A cup of tea and a slice from a tin of meat put all in a good temper, and made them ready to proceed. That evening, as the shades were lengthening, they slid through the gates of a walled city. d.i.c.k's hours for duty were almost ended. In a little while they would be under a roof and, they hoped, in hospitable quarters. But neither d.i.c.k nor David nor the talkative Jong saw that figure trailing along behind them on the main road. Not one had observed a man creep from a ditch a mile from the gates of the city, and slink cunningly after the party. For it was Chang, and his object so far was to remain in the background, undiscovered till the hour for action had arrived.

CHAPTER XII

Chang announces his Errand

Never before had David or d.i.c.k been within a Chinese city, and from the moment of their arrival at Hatsu they were vastly interested with their surroundings.

'Lidee light through de gate, Misser Davie,' advised Jong. 'Not take no notice of de guards. Dey common fellows. Den Jong lead you to de house of de mandarin; you have fine food and lodgin' dere.'

But as it turned out, there was no easy admission to the city. A dozen quaintly dressed Tartar soldiers barred the way, bearing modern rifles across their shoulders.

'Who are you? Say where you come from!' demanded one, who seemed to be an under-officer. 'Do you come from the country where sickness rages?'

Jong at once came forward as interpreter.

'My masters come from the sea-coast,' he said, with an air of authority, which carried weight at once with the soldiers. 'There is no sickness in the parts where they have been. They bear important letters to Tw.a.n.g Chun, and pa.s.sports for your governor.'

'Show them,' demanded the Tartar under-officer, who seemed to be bursting with his own importance. 'Perhaps you are telling lies. Show the letters.'

He stepped up to David and seized his pony by the head. Then he closely scrutinised our hero.

'Bring a lamp,' he ordered one of his men. 'It's too plaguey dark to see, particularly under this gateway. Bring a light; we shall then be able to look at these fellows.'

He jerked at the bit, causing the animal to rear, and the man himself to let go his hold. At once David put his heel to the pony's side, and sent him plunging in amongst the soldiers, upsetting the officer with a crash. At the same instant a lamp was brought, and the light showed the Tartar picking himself up, while already he had drawn his sword. Then, fuming with rage, he advanced again and seized the pony.

'Let us look closely at you, you who bear important letters,' he cried.

And then he gave vent to a shout of astonishment. 'Mandarins of importance, did you say, rogue?' he shouted, turning on Jong. 'These are foreigners, white men, hated foreigners from the West.'

He gripped at David's clothing and would have torn it from him, had not the young fellow again set his mount plunging. Then Jong pressed his own animal forward; for whatever else he might be, however amusing and garrulous, Jong was not a laggard where blows were being given and received, nor did he hang in the background when there was need for instant action. He gripped the Tartar by the shoulder and shook him as a dog would shake a rat.

'Fool! he growled, angrily. 'Who said that my masters were indeed mandarins? They are people of importance, and bear important letters.

Are you so anxious then to incur the anger of Tw.a.n.g Chun, the Excellency who commands the province, that you thus interfere with us? My masters will show the letters, but you shall not read them. Bring the lamp; if you are not careful we will take you with us to His Honour who commands in this city.'

At a sign from the faithful fellow David produced the pouch in which the letters were carried, and showed them to the man, looking askance as he did so at the soldiers, for it was evident that they were fully ready for mischief. Indeed, had he but known it, Hatsu bore none too enviable a reputation. It appeared, indeed, that only some few months before an attack had been made in this city upon some European missionaries, and had resulted in the death of one. As a consequence the commander of the place had been dismissed, while a number of the delinquents had been beheaded; and the common people still smarted under what they imagined was a grievance. However, the magic name of Tw.a.n.g Chun carried the day.

The Tartar officer drew back grudgingly, eyeing Jong as if he would dearly have loved to kill him. Nor did he regard the disappearing figures of David and his merry companion with any better favour.

'Foreign devils in disguise!' he growled to his men. 'Why in disguise?

Tell me that. Answer me that question. Why do foreign devils come to our city and demand entrance when the dusk has fallen? Why?'

He held the lamp up to each face in turn, and receiving no answer bade them enter the guard-house with him. He caused the doors to be closed, and then spoke with no little show of excitement.

'Why do foreign devils reach us when the evening has come, and attempt to pa.s.s us disguised as mandarins? I will tell you now. You who are ignorant and do not gather news have heard only as a rumour, perhaps, the fact that death stalks through the provinces of Manchuria--black death!'

They recoiled from him at the words. Lethargic and eminently fatalists as are the Celestials, their fatalism and their easy resignation to all that is inevitable are not proof against the terrible epidemics that sweep across the country at times. Even small-pox, which makes its ravages in different quarters practically the year through, and being, therefore, no new thing to the natives, scares them wonderfully when it makes its appearance in any particular locality. But small-pox is not to be compared with the black death, not to be mentioned in the same breath with that hideous pneumonic plague, which decimates cities in a week, attacks both young and old, and once it has seized a victim, rarely spares his life. Besides the Tartar officer was right. Pneumonic plague had appeared in Manchuria, and was stalking through the land. Cases had even been reported in the adjacent provinces of Russia, while the disease was spreading in the direction of Pekin. Everywhere in the neighbourhood of the infected area distracted creatures were fleeing, carrying the disease with them, and spreading it across the land. What more natural thing in a country of amazingly simple and ignorant people than that the onset of this black death should here and there be put down to some outside influence? The foreign devil was a target at which to throw all the blame. And this Tartar under-officer, no doubt as bigoted and ignorant as his fellows, found in the coming of David and d.i.c.k a subtle scheme to import the plague to Hatsu.

'We have heard that there is great sickness,' said one of his men. 'We have been told that plague a.s.sails the people. It has even been reported that soldiers have been called to positions north and east of Pekin to hold the frightened people back.'

'True, comrade, true, every word of these reports. Our commander has himself been called away to receive orders with regard to the placing of the soldiers. But see how the foreign devils manage these things. They come to us in disguise. They enter our city with letters of introduction to his Excellency Tw.a.n.g Chun. With forged letters, you may be certain.'

The gaping mouths of his audience showed how the news affected them.