Under the Chinese Dragon Part 28

'But, Excellency----' whined the man.

'You be slippy and don't waste time talking,' cried d.i.c.k, beginning to fathom his chum's meaning. 'Going to provide him with another covering, eh?' he grinned. 'You don't mean that you're----'

'Here, help me with these boots. I thought I should never be able to get into them. Now I'm a bit doubtful that I'll be successful in pulling them off. Ah, thanks. Chang, your shoes are far more comfortable. Don't you trouble to put these boots on. You won't want 'em. You ain't going to walk.'

'Because, you see,' added d.i.c.k, enjoying the discomfiture of the rascal immensely, 'you'll be carried--carried, Chang. Got it?'

It was evident that the wretch had, for he shivered and whined as he sat on the edge of the _kang_. But David took no more notice of him for the moment. He coolly dressed himself in the clothes this secret enemy had been wearing, and then walked out of the cell. A quarter of an hour later, when Jong arrived on the scene, and the scrunch of wheels was heard outside on the road, two men stood ready to accompany the party.

'Carry out the baskets,' whispered one, who seemed to be none other than the man who had come to warn the inhabitants of Hatsu of the foreign devils. 'You will give all orders till we are out of the city.'

It took but five minutes to load those two heavy baskets on the cart, and then the party set forward, Chang, and to all who peeped at him, the n.o.ble deputy-governor following closely. David, as he stepped along the white, moon-lit road in the garments lately worn by Chang, could hardly believe that the fortunes of his little party had been so utterly changed. It was hard to credit the fact that the pompous individual beside him, at whose nod men cringed, was indeed, and in fact none other than, his chum d.i.c.k, while it brought a broad smile to a face, which he struggled hard to keep impa.s.sive, when he thought of the contents of the baskets. Could it actually be that those long, creaking shapes hid in their depths the mighty Tsu-Hi, deputy-governor of the walled city of Hatsu, and Chang, conspirator, villain, the hired ruffian of Ebenezer Clayhill?

But the gates of the city were yet before them. A challenge there, a shriek from the burdens the cart carried, the smallest untoward event would change their fortunes, and might yet land himself and d.i.c.k back in the prison, there to await the execution which had been promised.

CHAPTER XVI

Freedom Again

The gates of the walled city of Hatsu were not calculated to inspire a person eager to pa.s.s without them with a feeling of the greatest enthusiasm, for they stood black and forbidding against the moon-lit background, the battlemented wall on either side, the flanking towers and bastions sharply outlined. Beneath the towers yawned a huge cavern, so dark that no one could see beneath it, carrying the white road to the huge double doors which, if they were shut, could bar the egress or the entry of an army.

'Beastly looking place,' whispered d.i.c.k, as the little party came near to it. 'Hope there won't be any parleying. Ah! here's Jong, come to ask instructions.'

'Ma.s.ser Davie,' whispered the man, 'what now? What do wid dese China boys I bring wid me to help carry out de baskets?'

'Dismiss them here. Wait till they have gone out of sight, and then go on. You have that note?'

'Yes, sar; him here. But not sure dat dey open de door for him. Suppose not? What den?'

'You can expect to be busy, d.i.c.k,' whispered David, as Jong went ahead again; 'if there's trouble here we've a way left out of it. You know which basket contains his Excellency?'

'One on the left, the heaviest. Being a governor gives a fellow a chance to put on flesh. He leads a life of ease and luxury.'

'You could manage, perhaps, to open it at the head, and pull the gag from the n.o.ble fellow's mouth?'

'In a twinkling,' came the ready answer.

'Then, if I call, do so. I'll cover the guard while you get the fine gentleman into a position for talking. If we're held up, he'll have to give definite orders to the soldiers to open to us. If not----'

'If not?' echoed d.i.c.k, 'you'll shoot him.'

'Without hesitation, as if he were a dog, which indeed he is. Now, those men have gone. Jong's moving forward. It does look a beastly hole to go into.'

'Look, a gate is open,' whispered d.i.c.k quickly. 'That's promising. A man has come into the archway with a lantern. Hope he won't hold it up so as to inspect our faces.'

The same fear had evidently come to Jong, who was by no means a dullard, and without doubt the intention of the guard who had so suddenly stepped into the dark gateway was to take stock of those who pa.s.sed with the aid of his dangling paper lantern.

'Beware at whom you look,' cried Jong suddenly. 'Has not an order come bidding you pa.s.s a party without noise and without inspection? Go then, else his Excellency will not be best pleased with you. Does he desire that any fool should see him pa.s.sing, and be able to talk. Away with the lamp quickly.'

They were already beneath the huge gateway, and glancing upward David was able to distinguish the roof, which was blackened with the smoke of ages, for in the cold months the guards were accustomed to place braziers on the roadway so as to make watching possible. A second later, however, the swaying lantern disappeared, the man who carried it diving out of sight into a gallery leading from the gateway. On went the party, Jong leading the ponies, while David had taken the rein of the animal drawing the cart. He heard the wicker of the baskets creaking, and guessed that his prisoners were struggling with might and main. But there seemed no one near enough to hear the noise, while the strong native cart did not feel the movement of the ruffians it carried. Just at the very exit from the gates there stood one solitary sentry, and he, as if bearing in mind the caution which Jong had given his fellow, turned his face away. It was not well, perhaps, he thought, to look too closely upon the doings of such a high personage as the deputy-governor.

'Else it might happen that I should be called in evidence,' he told himself, 'when, had I, indeed, seen his honour, it would be hard to find a reason for denying the fact. A deputy-governor is a mighty person. He may come and go as he likes.'

After all, the incident in such a country as China, where conspiracy is common enough, was not so very remarkable. 'Saving face' is an expression thoroughly well known, and many and many an exalted person has been under the need of cloaking his movements, so that when an accusation of complicity in some conspiracy was levelled at him, he could bring evidence to prove that he had never been seen in that locality, and that, on the contrary, he was at home with his servants.

And, no doubt, here was some similar movement. His Excellency was, without fear of contradiction, asleep in his palace. His servants could swear that on the morrow. It was not the business of the guard at the gate to inspect too closely, when he had received a direct message ordering him to pa.s.s the governor secretly. Besides, there were the foreign-devils, of whom the rumour had reached him that they had been attacked. Doubtless the baskets he heard creaking in the cart held them securely, though for his part, the guard was not going to be too curious.

'Pa.s.s! All's well,' he whispered, as the cart issued from the gate and crossed the drawbridge, with d.i.c.k in close attendance. 'Pa.s.s to your business.'

The revolving gate scrunched on its runners. The huge hinges creaked.

The ma.s.s of wood, with its heavy bronze bolts and locks, swung into position with a bang. Then the dull reverberation beneath the drawbridge died away, while the wheels of the cart began to rattle on the hard roadway. David wiped the perspiration from his forehead, while d.i.c.k let go a gentle whistle. But not one dared to alter his position. There might be, and probably were, many pairs of eyes watching them from the narrow slits on the outer face of the towers and bastions, the slits from which, even now-a-days, should there be a siege, Chinese soldiers would discharge arrows, using precisely the same weapons as did their forefathers, and that in spite of the fact that many of their comrades were armed with modern rifles. Yes, no doubt, many an inquisitive glance was cast after the party, and it was still necessary to preserve caution. And so they continued, showing black and easily distinguishable on the white roadway, till the latter curled out of sight of the city in a stretch of forest. It was only then that David dared to bring the animal hauling the cart to an abrupt halt, while a whistle caused Jong to draw rein promptly.

'I think,' began d.i.c.k, struggling to keep his impa.s.siveness, and yet almost bursting in consequence, 'I think things begin to look a little more healthy. A fellow begins to actually believe that he may be wanting another breakfast. In fact, one may go so far as to say that it's a case of all right.'

Then he went off into a fit of the most hilarious laughter, which doubled him up, till he looked anything but the n.o.ble Governor of the city they had just quitted.

'What a tale for the Professor!' he shouted. 'Won't he enjoy the whole thing, and roar when he hears how you've turned the tables.'

'I! We, you mean,' came sharply from David, who was enjoying his friend's remarks immensely. 'We, you should have said.'

'You're wrong. I said you, and I meant you. It's you all the time.

There's no one else in it,' declared d.i.c.k warmly.

'But, you----'

'Oh, yes, we know all about that,' interrupted the fine young fellow impersonating Tsu-Hi. 'I did a terrible lot. I started the business, of course. It was I who managed to clamber out of my cell, and was then such a good comrade that instead of getting clear away, as sensible fellows would have done----'

'Sensible fellows! Oh, come now,' cried David hotly.

'Yes. Just what I said. Sensible fellows, just as sensible fellows would have done. I repeat, instead of clearing off as I had a right to do, of course it is well known that I went back again at the risk of my skin, knocked the sense out of the gentle Tartar soldier, took his place for a few moments, n.o.bbled the Governor of the city, and then, when things were getting ship-shape, called in the help of my friend to cure the wounds of the wretches I had been operating on. Look here, David, here's my hand. I'm not going to chip in with heaps of thanks. But I know how it is that I am alive and capable of thinking of a breakfast.'

Out there, beneath the shade of the trees, they gripped hands firmly, and thereafter never a word did d.i.c.k say with regard to his grat.i.tude.

But he knew who was his benefactor. David had stalked inches higher in his estimation.

'What'll you do with the baggage?' he asked after a while. 'Drop it into the river, upset it at the side of the road? What?'

'Take those villains on another fifteen miles,' answered David. 'Then fish out Tsu-Hi and send him back. Guess he'll have a deal of difficulty in explaining his absence. As for the other, this Chang, I shall keep him till I can hand him over to the authorities. It seems to me that if I fail in that he may very well attempt some other game and perhaps actually earn the money Ebenezer promised him. But now for breakfast, then we'll put our best leg forward.'

That afternoon they dragged the discomfited and almost suffocated deputy-governor from the basket in which he had been reposing, and having handed him his clothing; for both lads had by now donned their own, they sent him back to the city of Hatsu a sorry and unhappy figure.

Then they pushed on again, arriving in the hours of dusk at Chi-Luang, another walled city of great age, where their request to see the governor brought them at once a polite invitation written in purest English. Judge of their delight in discovering that Tw.a.n.g Chun himself, the enlightened governor of the province, was the writer, and that he was in those parts on a tour of inspection. He greeted them warmly, sent their prisoner to the cells, and at once arranged for comfortable quarters to be given to David and his following. And that night, after having joined them at dinner, which, by the way, was a feast of the utmost attraction, being of purely Chinese origin, and therefore most interesting to our heroes as well as appetising, Tw.a.n.g Chun called on the lads to give their story.

'I'm glad I had the good fortune to be in this direction,' he said, when d.i.c.k had finished; for no persuasion would induce David to tell of his own exploits in the prison. 'Very glad indeed, for had the question been left to the city's governor he would have found it difficult to decide how best to act. To be candid, foreign devils are still foreign devils to the majority of my countrymen, and more so at a time such as this is, when plague is stalking through Manchuria, and threatening to reach Pekin. I a.s.sure you that the people are driven frantic, and that I am here and am patrolling the province, solely with a view to making arrangements to stop all travellers who may come from infected areas, and to arrest, if possible, the course of the disease. But, as I said, Europeans are not much loved. The Chinese do not understand them, and in a case such as this, with such an exalted personage as Tsu-Hi implicated, the governor here could only hold him in prison till orders came from Pekin; that might take months. I have known years to elapse, so that the course of justice does not run either smoothly or for the benefit of the people. However, I am here, and will sift the matter. An example must be made of these wretches.'

Let the reader imagine the terror of Chang on the following morning when he was brought into the presence of Tw.a.n.g Chun, the governor who had once before condemned him. Little by little the whole story leaked out, so that David learned that this heartless rascal had been engaged in the murder of his father. In any case, there was no doubt of his guilt on this occasion. He had been taken red-handed, while the letter which he had had the boldness to write to Ebenezer Clayhill condemned him.

Justice might be slow and lagging when the authorities at Pekin controlled it; but here it was swift--terribly swift--for the wrong-doer. Chang was beheaded that very morning, and thus Ebenezer Clayhill's rascally scheme came to an ending.