The Flying Boat: A Story of Adventure and Misadventure

"MY DEAR PIDGE,

"I've just heard that I owe the recovery of the old flier to you.Many thanks.I'm burning to know more about it, and would run up if I weren't too busy just now.When I can find time I shall come, and give you a call.I hope you like your new quarters.

"Yours ever, "THE MOLE."

Errington read the note with a curling lip.

"He thinks I've forgotten, does he?"he thought.

And he tore the note across, and threw it petulantly into the waste-paper basket.

CHAPTER IX

SU FING'S PRISONER

Four days after Burroughs dispatched his letter to Errington, when the lapse of time showed pretty plainly that it was not likely to get an answer, he received a visit from Mr. Ting.The merchant, though he had refused Errington's request for help, had not done so out of hard-heartedness or stinginess, but from a wish that the boy should learn a severe lesson, that would leave an enduring stamp.But when he had gone a few days' journey down the river his heart smote him.He was young enough himself to understand the racking anxiety which his old friend's son was suffering; and his knowledge of the desperate expedients to which harassed young fellows sometimes resorted, made him decide to return to Chia-ling Fu, so that he might be at hand to rescue Errington from the worst consequences of his folly.

He had called at Sui-Fu on his way up a few days before, intending to find out from Burroughs more precise details of Errington's circumstances; for as yet he had not heard of the split between the two friends.But Burroughs chanced to be absent up country, and they did not meet.On this second occasion, however, Burroughs was in his office when the Chinaman called.

"How d'you do, Mr. Ting?"he said; "sorry I wasn't in the other day.All well at Shanghai?"

"Yes, when I left.That is now some days ago.You are doing well, your father says."

"Rubbing along, you know.These disturbances up the river aren't good for business."

"That is tlue.And your flend Pidge--I have his school name, you see--will know that even better than you.I saw him a few days ago."

Burroughs did not reply, and Mr. Ting's observant eyes detected an air of constraint in his manner.

"You do not see him so often now, of course," the Chinaman went on."That is a pity, when you are such good flends.It is a pity, too, that he is so fa' away.He did not look well: do you know what tloubles him?"

"He hasn't said anything to me," said Burroughs, looking still more uncomfortable.

"He has not sent you a letter lately?"

"No," said Burroughs, adding hastily: "but I wrote to him a few days ago."

"And you have heard of no tlouble he is in?"Mr. Ting persisted.

Burroughs hesitated: it was his way to think before he spoke.He had heard only gossip about the card-playing that went on at Chia-ling Fu, and it seemed hardly fair to Errington to discuss his personal matters merely on hearsay.Mr. Ting, of course, was his friend; all the more reason, thought Burroughs, for not telling what Errington himself had evidently not told.But Mr. Ting seemed to divine what was passing in the boy's mind.

"I think you had better tell me all about it," he said quietly."I have a good leason for asking: we are both his flends.Tlouble neglected becomes still more tloublesome, as we say.Tell me, then."

"The truth is," said Burroughs, won over by the Chinaman's evident sincerity, "Pidge and I have had a row.A ridiculous cause.He thought I doubted his honour; I lost my wool----"

"Your wool!I do not understand: is it not cotton?"

"My temper, I mean," said Burroughs, with a smile."A silly thing to do, because you always say more than you mean."

"Ah yes!Anger is a little fire: if it is not checked, it burns down a lofty pile.Well?"

"We parted on bad terms, and haven't spoken since.He said he wouldn't have anything to do with me till I apologized."

"And the apology?You sent it in your letter?"

"No, I'm sorry to say I didn't.Idiotic pride on my part, for of course I never really doubted him; only after you've had a row it's jolly hard to say so--to a fellow like me, at any rate."

"Then you come with me, and you shall be flends again.The yielding tongue endures: the stubborn teeth pelish.Now you have had confidence in me, I will be open too.Pidge has been gambling."

"I know," said Burroughs gloomily.

"And he owes a thousand dollars or mo'e.We must save him flom the men who have led him away, and turn him flom gambling.I asked him to plomise not to gamble again: he would not; plaps for you he will."

"I don't know," said Burroughs."He is so touchy, you know; can't bear to be advised.We shall have to go very carefully to work.But there's a hope in what has happened lately.He can't really bear me a serious grudge, because he took the trouble to recover my flying boat and send it back to me."

"Hai!How was that?"

Burroughs told of the theft of the vessel, and of what had happened since.Mr. Ting listened attentively, and then related a curious story.

On his way up the river he had met the captain of a junk whom he occasionally employed, and in conversation with him learnt of a strange experience that had befallen him not far above Sui-Fu.He had been sailing down in his junk, and called at a riverside village to take on some goods.Having stowed his cargo, and wishing that the junk should reach Sui-Fu before night, for fear of the river pirates, he sent her on under charge of his mate, while he remained to negotiate a certain business transaction with an up-country merchant whose arrival at the village had been delayed.

On the completion of his business, just before sunset, he started in a sampan manned by two men, expecting to overtake the junk before she anchored for the night.Much to his alarm, when only three or four miles above the port, he discovered that a boat was dogging him.He did not know whether the crew were pirates or police: it was now too dark to distinguish; but as a matter of precaution he ordered his men to pull into the bank, and wait until the boat passed.

When he got within the shadow of some trees overhanging the stream, he was more alarmed than ever: the pursuers were also making for the bank.He was quaking in his shoes; but the boat, instead of coming directly towards him, passed by at a distance of some thirty yards, and disappeared.

He waited until it had had time to get out of earshot, and resumed his journey.But he had hardly gone a quarter-mile down stream, when he heard a low hail, and then the sound of several voices.Steering again into the bank, he looked down the river, upon which a crescent moon was throwing a pale light.And then he saw the boat re-appear, towing what looked like a launch into mid-stream.At the same moment he heard the throbbing of a motor vessel, and from round a bend in the river there came a large launch, which hove to as it reached the boat.

In a few minutes the motor launch was again under way, and as it passed rapidly up stream, the captain of the junk, being well acquainted with all the motor vessels on the river, recognized it at once as that belonging to Reinhardt.But it was not alone.It had in tow the smaller craft which had been drawn out from the bank.This smaller vessel would perhaps not have attracted the captain's attention had it not been somewhat curious in shape, owing, as he supposed, to a full cargo which was concealed under matting.

"There's not much doubt it was my boat," said Burroughs, when Mr. Ting had ended his story.His face had gone pale, and there was a twitching of his nostrils; but his tone of voice was perhaps even more equable than usual.Mr. Ting noted how he differed from Errington in that respect.

"It looks as if Mr. Reinhardt wanted to pick a quarrel," he added.

"Velly culious," said Mr. Ting, reflectively."What you call a plactical joke, plaps."

"A kind of joke I don't appreciate," said Burroughs shortly."I think Pidge must have understood that.He's thick with Reinhardt, who probably told him of the trick, and learnt that he had gone a trifle too far.Are you going up to Chia-ling Fu to-day, sir?"

"If you will come with me.A word of advice, if I may.Say nothing to Leinhadt about the matter until you know.One egg is better than ten cackles."

Burroughs discussed a few business matters with his comprador; his boy Chin Tai meanwhile packed his bag; and in an hour he was ready to accompany the merchant to his launch.They had crossed the gang-way, and were waiting for the skipper to cast off, when they saw an old steam launch coming swiftly down from the direction of Chia-ling Fu.

"Do you mind holding on a few minutes?"said Burroughs."She may have a letter from Pidge on board."

"Velly well," said Mr. Ting, putting on his spectacles."Lot of passengers, you see: velly culious."

The deck of the launch did, indeed, present an unusual appearance.Instead of the one or two white passengers who might have been expected at this hour--for the vessel must have left Chia-ling Fu very early in the morning--there was a considerable crowd of men, women and children.Every inch of standing room appeared to be occupied.And as the launch drew nearer, it was plain that the passengers were of all nationalities--German, English and Japanese traders with their families, English and French missionaries conspicuous among the rest by their Chinese garments.

"Looks like a general exodus," said Burroughs, his eyes narrowing."Something is wrong."

"Yes," said Mr. Ting: "velly much long."

He recrossed the gangway to the quay.Burroughs, shading his eyes against the sunlight, remained on the boat, searching the crowd for the familiar tall form of Errington.

The launch drew in, and the merchants on board, recognizing Mr. Ting, began to shout to him; but all speaking together in their respective languages, it was impossible to make out what any of them said.As soon as they had landed, however, Burroughs, who had now returned to the quay, was singled out by his agent, and told of the exciting events which had happened at Chia-ling Fu.

For several days the European community had been in a state of nervous tension owing to reports of the successes of the rebels further north.Despite all the efforts of the ill-armed, ill-disciplined rabble that so frequently masquerades as an army in the interior of China, the insurgents had made great headway.They had captured Cheng Tu, and an attempt to retake the place had been defeated, with considerable loss to the so-called regular troops.The success of the rebels had brought, as is always the case, large accessions to their numbers.All the restless and turbulent elements of the province for two hundred miles round had flocked to the captured city.There were no Europeans there except a few French missionaries who were reported to be held prisoners, but to have suffered no ill-usage.

This news put every one at Chia-ling Fu on the alert.Arrangements were made to move down river at short notice.The Europeans recognized that, whatever might be the treatment of the missionary prisoners, the lives of any white men captured by the insurgents must always be in jeopardy.Even where their leaders desired, from policy, to protect their prisoners, the blood-thirstiness and anti-foreign prejudices of their ignorant following were always likely to force their hand.

It had been expected at Chia-ling Fu, however, that news of any southward movement of the rebels would be reported by native spies in time to enable the Europeans to make their escape.But just before dawn on this morning, they had been wakened by the sound of shots and a great hubbub.They sprang up, pulled on their clothes hurriedly, seized their arms, and sallied out to see what was afoot.They found the city already in the hands of the insurgents.Making a wide circuit by night, an immense force had crept upon the place from the landward side, and at the same time a large fleet of vessels of all descriptions, including two or three steamers captured at Cheng Tu, had come down the river and anchored at some little distance above the city.The sleepy sentinels at all the gates had been surprised and overpowered, the rabble poured in, and the place fell without striking a blow.

All these details were not known until afterwards: the confusion at dawn had been so great that the Europeans knew nothing except the bare fact that the city was captured, and that they were prisoners.To their great surprise, in a few hours they were all released, told to collect their belongings, and conveyed to the steamer which had just brought them down the river.Clearly the leaders of the insurgents intended to show that the rising was a purely domestic one; they did not wish to provoke action by the foreign Powers.

All the time that Burroughs was listening to the story told him by his agent, he kept his eyes on the gangway, hoping to see Errington step off.He recognized several acquaintances among the passengers, but his old friend did not appear.

"Where's Mr. Errington?"he asked his agent.

"Upon my word, Mr. Burroughs, I don't know.I never thought of him.I suppose----"

"Mr. Stevens, was Errington on the boat?"asked Burroughs, stepping towards the gangway and taking the merchant by the sleeve.

"Errington!Of course he was.That is, I suppose so.We are all here; but such a crowd of us that we were very much mixed up.Hamilton, did you see Errington?"

"Surely: but no, now I come to think of it, I didn't.Isn't he here?"

Answers of the same kind came from all the passengers who were interrogated.In the confusion and excitement, in their preoccupation with themselves and their families, they hardly knew who had been among them, and who not.It was very soon certain, however, that Errington was not among those who left the vessel.

"What can have happened to him?"Burroughs said to Mr. Ting anxiously."He's such a hot-headed chap that it would be just like him to show fight."

Mr. Ting looked more troubled than Burroughs had ever before seen him.

"I hope he is safe," he said."Plaps he escaped in a sampan, and will come by and by.We must wait and see."

But though several vessels came down in the course of the day, bringing native merchants who had fled from the city, Errington was not in any of them, nor did his boy appear.Mr. Ting's journey up-stream was necessarily abandoned.With the rebels in possession of the river no one would be safe.It was with very anxious hearts that Burroughs and the Chinaman awaited the dawn of another day.

CHAPTER X

LO SAN'S PILGRIMAGE

Startled from sleep by the mingled din of shots and yells, Errington sprang from his bed, and seizing his revolver, rushed to the door of his little bungalow and unlocked it.It was thrown back in his face, and before he could recover himself, the weapon was knocked from his hand, and he found himself on the floor, with a dozen villainous-looking, ragged and dirty Chinamen on top of him, screeching at the pitch of their voices.He understood not a word of what they said; none of them could speak even pidgin-English: had he known Chinese he would have learnt that the "foreign devil" was destined to be carried to the arch-leader of the insurrection.Su Fing had an old grudge to pay off against him.The brigand had taken particular trouble to ascertain the dwelling of the young Englishman to whom he owed a deep scar on his learned brow, and a period of imprisonment which, though short, had left a rankling sore in his aspiring soul.

Errington made his captors understand by signs that he preferred not to face the world in his pyjamas, and was allowed to dress himself in their presence, amid a battery of remarks more or less offensive, but luckily incomprehensible to him.His hands were then tied behind him, and he was hurried down to the quay, placed on board a gunboat, and carried up the river.

His captors, squatting about him with their spears held upright in their hands, may perhaps have been surprised at the smile upon the young Englishman's face.Errington was, in fact, amused at his situation--rather relieved than dismayed.This was the very day on which he had promised to pay his debt to Reinhardt--the end of the week of grace.He had gone to bed feeling that next day he would be ruined and shamed; to find himself the prisoner of Chinese rebels, who were carrying him he knew not where, but certainly out of Reinhardt's reach, struck him as a comical trick of fate.At that moment he felt almost affectionate towards the ugly ruffians who were squinting at him.

Meanwhile some of the rebel band were making themselves very free with his belongings.They ransacked his wardrobe, appropriated his rifle, his silver cups and other trophies of athletic prowess, tossed about his papers and a pack of cards they discovered in a drawer, and gathered up into bundles all that they deemed worth looting.One of them, passing into the out-buildings at the back, caught Lo San by the pigtail, and soundly thrashed him for being so evil-disposed as to serve a European master.The cook and the other domestics had already seen the error of their ways and left without notice.

It would perhaps have surprised any one who had seen Lo San only on the occasion of the adventure in the swamp, to find that he alone of Errington's household had not fled at this climax of his master's misfortunes.But Lo San was made of good stuff.He might tremble before a pirate, but his soul was staunch to the master who had been kind to him and paid him well.The devotion of his native servant is a gift which many an Englishman in the East has learnt to prize.

Lo San hung about the house, having received his thrashing meekly, until the looters had stripped it bare.When they had gone away, he wandered disconsolately through the disordered rooms; nothing of value was left, but he collected the scattered papers and the pack of cards: "Massa velly muchee likee he," he murmured.

Then he sat down to think.He was very sore, in body and mind; and very poor, for his castigator had snatched away the little bag, hung at his waist, in which he kept his store of cash."Massa Ellington" was gone, and it seemed to Lo San that he would know no peace of mind until he at least discovered his master's fate."Supposey he come back sometime," he thought, "and look-see my belongey 'nother massa!My no catchee plopa pidgin[#] that time, galaw!"And after an hour's solemn meditation he got up, groaning as the movement reminded him of his stripes, and went out into the town.

[#] That won't be good business.

Outside a mean little eating-house he saw a group of insurgents eating a breakfast (for which they had not paid) of fat pork, rice and beans, washed down with tea.He looked at them hard; none of the looters of his master's bungalow were among them; and it occurred to him that, as he had probably a long journey before him, it was sound sense to fortify himself with a meal.But he had no money; and though he guessed, by the lugubrious countenance of the eating-house keeper in the background, that the eaters had none either, or at any rate would not part with any, he was shy of joining himself to them uninvited.All at once a happy thought struck him.He put on an engaging air of cheerful humility, and addressing the group in the terms of flowery compliment that come natural to a Chinaman, he offered to show them a little magic in return for food.Being as comfortable and content as men may be who have fed well at another's expense, they gave a glad assent, and Lo San, squatting before them, produced the pack of cards.He was a very watchful and observant person, and, silent and unnoticed in his master's room, had looked on sometimes when Errington amused his company with those tricks that seem to the uninitiated such marvels of thought-reading.He had picked up the secrets of one or two, and now for a good hour he amazed and mystified the rebels with simple tricks which he had to repeat over and over again.

Thus establishing himself in their good graces, he accepted with unctuous gratitude the food which they dealt out to him--somewhat meagrely, as a sea-beach audience rewards its entertainers; and then, praising their valour, generously buttering them, he led them on to talk of the doings of the day.It was not long before he had heard more than enough about the exceeding greatness of Su Fing, their august chief, whose Chinese virtues shone with the lustre of the sun: and with quick wit he jumped to the conclusion that his master had been captured by emissaries of Su Fing, who to be sure had reason to remember his only meeting with the Englishman.The prisoner had without doubt been carried to the rebel chief's headquarters at Meichow, higher up the river; and Lo San made up his mind that it was his plain duty to journey to Meichow and discover what his master's fate was to be.

Putting up the cards very carefully, for they had a new value for him, he kow-towed to his illustrious benefactors, as he called the sorry ruffians, and took his way to the riverside.The river was crowded with various craft of the insurgents, and some distance down stream the launch on which the Europeans had been placed was puffing towards Sui-Fu.Lo San, primed with information gleaned from his late hosts, found it now an easy matter to pass himself off as a rebel, especially as he contrived to get possession of a spear which had been incautiously laid down by its owner.Swaggering with a truculent air among the crowd, he soon discovered from their talk that the Europeans had been released, and supposed that his master was among them.But just as he was considering which of the sampans lying at the shore he should appropriate for a night journey to Sui-Fu, he was unlucky enough to catch the eye of a seller of wood, whom he had kicked from the house a day or two before for asking an absurd price.This man also had armed himself with a spear, and letting out a fierce "Hai yah!"he sprang towards Lo San to avenge himself for his kicking, at the same time acquainting people at large with the fact that the wretch was the impudent wind-inflated hireling of a foreign devil.The unhappy consequence was that Lo San was set upon by a dozen others besides the wood-seller, and soundly thrashed a second time for the same offence, an injustice that wounded his soul even more poignantly than the spear-butts his body.

But there was compensation even in this, for while his persecutors were belabouring him, they let their tongues wag freely with abuse and objurgation, and the wood-seller taunted him with the loss of his master, who would soon, he said, be "sliced" for the amusement of the august Su Fing.Lo San, when left to himself, reflected that but for this second beating he might have gone down uselessly to Sui-Fu, when his master had been carried in a quite contrary direction."Even in the blackest thunderstorm there is a flash of lightning," he said to himself, resolving to journey up-stream as soon as he ached less.

His misfortunes, however, made him wary.If he purloined a sampan and paddled up the river, he would certainly meet many rebels; and with his self-confidence shaken he could not face the risk of another thrashing.So he resolved to perform the journey to Meichow on foot.He found a secluded nook where he might rest a while; then, still sore, and beginning to feel hungry again, he set off on his long tramp.

It is not necessary to describe his journey at length.There was no beaten road; he had to find his way over fields of mustard and beans, through woods, and across streams lined with bamboos.He passed the night, cold and hungry, perched in the lower branches of an oak, and started again as soon as it was light.When he came to a village, he procured food by exhibiting his magical skill with the cards; but he avoided the more populous places, and walked for hours together without seeing a human being.It was a very weary, tattered, woebegone object that at length stole into Meichow.

Here again he put the cards to profitable use at an eating-house.He learnt that Su Fing was absent, having gone westward with a large force to deal with the regular troops that were said to be marching from Tibet.Everybody knew that an English prisoner had been brought in the day before, and was now incarcerated in the yamen of the prefect, who had fled when Su Fing raided the town.It was a commodious mansion, standing in excellently laid-out grounds, with a large piece of ornamental water on which the prefect had been wont to paddle his pagoda-boat of an evening, feeding his swans.In Su Fing's absence, the place was occupied by his personal retainers.

Footsore and exceedingly depressed, Lo San dragged himself to the yamen, and stood like a humble mendicant at the gate, watching the stream of people that went in and out.If only he had had his bag of cash, he might have been able to convey a message to the prisoner within; door-keepers, and more important officials, in China will do much for money.But he had no money; even his pack of cards was useless now, and Lo San limped sorrowfully away.

Once more giving himself to meditation, his thoughts turned to "Massa Bullows."He knew of the rift between the friends; he knew its cause; there is little concerning his master that a Chinese "boy" does not know.He liked Burroughs; the only thing in his disfavour was that he employed a wretched creature named Chin Tai.It occurred to Lo San that "Massa Bullows" ought at least to know of "Massa Ellington's" whereabouts.So it happened that under cover of night the Chinaman loosed a sampan from its moorings, steered it into the river, and allowed himself to be carried down by the stream towards Chia-ling Fu and Sui-Fu beyond.There was not the same risk in going down the river as there would have been in coming up, and Lo San, paddling as soon as he was out of earshot, was soon speeding along at a rapid rate towards Sui-Fu.

CHAPTER XI

REINHARDT SHOWS HIS COLOURS

Early next morning, Burroughs, lying awake, thinking about getting up, and worrying about Errington, heard sounds of a violent altercation in the compound outside his windows.He recognized the voice of his boy Chin Tai, raised to an indignant squeal, mingled with tones less shrill indeed, but quite as angry.The disputants were raging at each other in Chinese, the words following one upon another like the magnified twittering of birds, or, as Burroughs thought with mild amusement, like the click of typewriters.

Knowing no Chinese, he was unable to follow the furious dialogue, and listened drowsily, expecting that the noise would soon subside.But presently he heard the sound of blows; the war of words had led to active hostilities.Springing out of bed, he went to the window, and saw Chin Tai wrestling with a Chinaman of most disreputable appearance--some beggar, perhaps, who had proved too importunate.

A moment afterwards Chin Tai flung his opponent to the ground, knelt upon him, and clasping his hands about the man's throat was proceeding to knock his head against the ground, when Burroughs called sharply from the window.

"Get up!"he said."What for you makee all this bobbely?"

Chin Tai rose at once, trembling with rage, and for the moment unable to express himself.Released from his clutches, the other man staggered to his feet as soon as he had regained his breath; and Burroughs recognized him, with a start of amazement, as Lo San, Errington's boy.

"He come this side makee bobbely, sah," shouted Chin Tai."He hab catchee plenty muck, no plopa come look-see massa so-fashion."

"Get out of it," cried Burroughs."Where did you come from, Lo San?Where's Mr. Errington?"

"Massa Ellington he Meichow side, sah.He belongey plison Su Fing.My come this side tellum massa; Chin Tai he belongey too-muchee sassy[#]; he say no can see massa; my come long long wailo nightey-time, velly sick inside.What time my stlong, my smash Chin Tai he ugly facee."

[#] Saucy.

"That'll do.I'll be down in a minute.Stay where you are."

Burroughs made a hasty toilet, ran down into the compound, and eagerly questioned the man, who he could see was half dead with fatigue and hunger.He shouted a peremptory order to Chin Tai to bring some food, which the boy obeyed with a very bad grace.Lo San told his story, and produced the pack of cards, now bent, torn and indescribably dirty.

His news gave Burroughs a great shock.He had half convinced himself that Errington had escaped from Chia-ling Fu at the first alarm, and probably made his way down stream with the idea of taking refuge on Reinhardt's launch, which had been seen off Pa-tang.There was just a chance that he had shown fight, and been overpowered; but the fact that the other Europeans had suffered no ill-treatment reassured Burroughs as to Errington's ultimate safety.The knowledge that he had been deliberately captured by Su Fing's orders and carried to the rebel's head-quarters was alarming.It seemed that Su Fing's personal grudge against the Englishman had prevailed over his wish to avoid any act that would call for intervention by a European Power.

Burroughs at once sent for his comprador, Sing Wen.He wished that he could have consulted Mr. Ting, but the merchant had gone down-stream to urge on preparations for an expedition to recapture Chia-ling Fu.A few hundred soldiers had come into Sui-Fu on the previous day, and a small Chinese gunboat was expected to arrive shortly; but it was generally known that two or three weeks must elapse before it was possible to bring up a force large enough to cope with the insurgents.Meanwhile what was to become of Errington?Lo San had reported the wood-seller's boast that Su Fing would "slice" his prisoner; and though it was incredible to Burroughs that the rebel chief should dare to commit so monstrous a crime, he felt very uneasy: there were many indignities short of actual torture or death that his old friend might suffer by Chinese ingenuity.It was important, if anything was to be done for Errington, that it should be done at once.

Having put all this to his comprador, Burroughs asked for his advice.Sing Wen was a solid, hard-headed man of forty, who had many connections of a business kind up the river.But he had to confess that in this emergency he was at a loss.Burroughs suggested the bribing of the guards at Su Fing's yamen before Su Fing himself returned; but Sing Wen, while admitting that money would work wonders sometimes, pointed out that the present case was exceptional.The rebel chief's underlings would scarcely be persuaded to connive at the prisoner's escape, knowing that on Su Fing's return they would certainly be put to the torture.Sing Wen quoted the maxim of the famous bandit Ah Lum

"Virtue is best: hold Knavery in dread;

A Thief gains nothing if he lose his Head."

 

Still, it would be something to open up communications with the insurgents; and Sing Wen in the last resort mentioned his brother's brother-in-law, the keeper of the opium den at Pa-tang, who had an extensive acquaintance among Chinamen of doubtful reputation, and could learn, better than any other man he knew, what were the possibilities of bringing influence to bear at Meichow.

Pa-tang was not quite half-way between Sui-Fu and Chia-ling Fu.It was likely to escape annoyance by the rebels because it contained the only well-equipped opium establishment in the district, and would be visited indifferently by insurgents and Government troops as neutral ground.Burroughs decided to run up there with the comprador in his hydroplane.Sing Wen pointed out that caution would be necessary, because the river between Pa-tang and Chia-ling Fu would certainly be well patrolled by the rebels, and there was some risk of being snapped up if the vessel were discovered out of bounds, so to speak.Burroughs, however, made light of this.His machine was in perfect order, and he was confident of being able to escape danger from anything less than a shot from a gunboat.

They started before noon, and ran into the little harbour of Pa-tang without attracting much attention.Burroughs remained on the boat while Sing Wen visited his brother's brother-in-law.The comprador returned in the course of an hour, and reported that, as he had expected, his brother's brother-in-law knew one of Su Fing's most trusted retainers.He was ready to go up river himself and see what could be done to arrange the escape of the prisoner.

Sing Wen, however, looked so downcast that Burroughs asked him what was the inside matter.

"My no likee pidgin so-fashion," replied the man."My velly 'spectable fella, catchee bad namee supposey fellas see my walkee inside smokee houso."

Burroughs agreed, but pointed out that an Englishman's life was at least as valuable as a Chinaman's good name.Since, however, he wished to see the brother's brother-in-law himself, it was arranged that the three should meet at a little inn at the head of a creek below the town, into which the hydroplane could be run.

Thither the comprador brought his relative, a man of perfectly respectable appearance.Burroughs told him to offer five hundred dollars down to his friend at Pa-tang, and promise a further two thousand, to be paid in Shanghai, if the prisoner was permitted to escape.For his work as honest broker the opium-house keeper should receive five hundred dollars.This arrangement having been made, Burroughs returned to Sui-Fu, promising to run up to the inn from time to time to meet the man on his return, the date of which would depend on circumstances.

Burroughs found it difficult to control his impatience.During the next three days he ran to Pa-tang and back several times--more often than his comprador thought wise.On the afternoon of the fourth day the negotiator returned, only to report failure.The man he had hoped to bribe was, if not too faithful, at least too fearful to undertake the job: Su Fing had shown himself swift and terrible in his punishments.Endeavours to open up negotiations in other directions had almost ended in discovery, and the emissary had received from his friend a hint that he was in imminent danger.He flatly refused to venture a second time within the lion's jaws.

While they were speaking at the door of the inn, they heard the sound of a launch coming down the river.The inn stood on a slight eminence, from which the river could be seen for some distance in each direction.Sing Wen closely scanned the approaching vessel, and in a few moments recognized it as Reinhardt's launch.It drew to the side and entered the harbour.A European was seen to land.

"That massa Leinhadt," said the brother's brother-in-law."My savvy he come my shop.He velly good customer.My belongey go chop-chop, no can keep he waitin'.He no likee pipe got leady 'nother fella.Velly solly, sah; no good this time."

He went away, and Burroughs was left to digest the loss of five hundred dollars, and to face the problem over again.It seemed quite hopeless.If two thousand dollars would not tempt the rebel, nothing would.To most Chinamen up-country, such a sum represented affluence beyond their wildest dreams. But Burroughs was one of those men who never let go.At school he had been a plodder; all his successes had been won by dogged perseverance; and he returned to Sui-Fu determined to find some means or other of securing the safety of his friend.

An idea occurred to him later in the day.Reinhardt had been coming down the river, from the direction of Chia-ling Fu.That fact suggested that he was at any rate on good terms with the rebels; indeed, it reawakened Burroughs' suspicion that, behind the scenes, the German was taking some part in the insurrection.He wondered whether Reinhardt knew of Errington's capture and imprisonment, and decided that it was impossible, for the German, if he had any influence with the rebels, would certainly have taken immediate steps to liberate a servant of his own firm, and one who had been so closely associated with himself.Burroughs caught at the idea that Reinhardt, as soon as he knew of Errington's plight, would at once communicate with the rebels on his behalf.

Reinhardt was at Pa-tang.Burroughs considered whether he should go there and call upon him.But reflecting that he would find him at the opium-shop, he came to the conclusion that it would be imprudent and possibly useless to open the matter to him there.He was thinking of sending him a note when, from his window, he saw the motor launch coming down-stream, and steering towards the town.Reinhardt must have paid only a passing call at Pa-tang, he thought.

He sent Chin Tai down to the harbour to discover if the German landed from the vessel.In twenty minutes the man returned with the news that Reinhardt had gone to his own bungalow.Instantly putting on his hat, Burroughs hurried to see the German.

"Ah, Mr. Burroughs, zis is an honour," said Reinhardt, as his visitor was shown in."It is ze first time you visit my little house; I hope it will not be ze last."

"Thanks, I'm sure," said Burroughs."I've come on a private matter of importance, Mr. Reinhardt.You've heard about Errington?"

"What!Has he apsconded?"

"Absconded!What on earth do you mean?He's shut up in Su Fing's yamen at Meichow."

"Indeed!Zat surprise me.Zat is a little awkward for your friend."

"Your friend too, Mr. Reinhardt," said Burroughs bluntly."I am glad you didn't know it.I came to ask if you would use your influence with Su Fing to get the poor chap released."

"My influence!Wiz Su Fing!Himmel, do you not know zat Su Fing is ze leader, ze motor spirit, of zis insurrection?Zat he violates law and order?And you speak of me, a German, having influence wiz him?My dear boy," he went on, laying his hand on Burroughs' arm, "you are young, wiz not much experience; zerefore I forgive ze insult."

Burroughs drew his arm away, and was on the point of blurting out the common talk of the place; but his habit of self-restraint came to his aid.

"I didn't intend any insult," he said."If you take it so, I apologize.But anyhow, Mr. Reinhardt, don't you think that strong representations on your part, on behalf of Ehrlich Söhne, might prove very effectual?Even Su Fing has a wholesome respect for the Kaiser, you may be sure."

"Wizout doubt, but zat enters not into ze business.It is not a matter zat concerns Ehrlich Söhne: your friend no longer is in zeir employ."

"What?"

"I am sorry," said the German, with a shrug; "but it must be.He was so very irregular, you know; let ze business go all to pieces; piled up debts--I beg your pardon?"

In his honest indignation Burroughs had let fall a word, but pulled himself up in time: it was not his cue at present to quarrel with the German.

"Ze firm could not stand no more," Reinhardt went on, "so zey have dismissed him: I have ze cheque for his zree munce salary."

"It's an unfortunate affair," said Burroughs, as calmly as he could."Still, even though he is no longer a servant of your firm, you have yourself been so thick with him that I'm sure you will do all you can, as a merely personal matter."

"So zick!Yes; and what is ze consequence?He is in my debt; he bleed me, sir: he owe me five hundred dollars and more.He promised to pay me wizin a week; ze week is past: he did not pay; and now he is a prisoner: I never see my money.You say, do somezink for him; what has he done for me?You ask me to spend my money, risk my life, for a young fool wiz no principle, no backbone, as you say--for a fellow zat sponge on me, and zen cheat me----"

The German was working up to a fine heat of spurious indignation; but he was suddenly checked by an abrupt movement on Burroughs' part.White with anger the young Englishman had clenched his fist and raised his arm to strike.But he curbed himself as Reinhardt shrank back.

"This is your house," he said, in a fierce low tone, "and for the moment I am your guest.You may think yourself lucky.If I hear of your repeating any of the lies you have just uttered, I swear I'll thrash you within an inch of your life--you mean hound!"

He could not help catching the man by the collar and shaking him.Then, flinging him off, he hurried out of the house.

CHAPTER XII

THE PRICE OF A MOUSTACHE

A man in a rage cannot think clearly; and Burroughs was in such a heat of indignation with Reinhardt that it was some time before he was able to devote himself calmly to the still unsolved problem.The solution came to him presently in a flash: he must save Errington himself.He could not leave his friend to an unknown fate; something must be done; he alone could do it.His flying boat was the fastest craft on the river.He must fly up to Meichow, get Errington out of the yamen by hook or crook, and bring him back.If he were discovered and pursued, his speed, whether on the water or in the air, would give him at least a good chance of escape.

He sent for his comprador.

"I'm going up to Meichow, Sing Wen," he said."You'll be in charge during my absence.If any one inquires for me, tell nothing."

"Hai galaw!No can do!"cried the astonished Chinaman."Fly boatee velly good: no can get inside plison; China fellas look-see Yinkelis[#] man; makee plenty bobbely, catchee all-same."

[#] English.

"Could you make me look like a Chinaman?"

"Plaps can do," said the comprador, doubtfully."Yinkelis man no can talkee Chinee all-same; he no smart inside."

"That's true.I wish I could talk Chinese like Reinhardt.But look here: why shouldn't I go as a German?Mr. Errington's firm is German; and if there is any hanky-panky between the Germans and the rebels I shall be all right in Meichow; at any rate I can bluff it out."

"My no aglee all same."

"I don't want you to agree; you've nothing to do with it."

"Supposey you catchee tlouble, what my tellum boss Shanghai side?He say my no do plopa pidgin let you go wailo."

"I'll leave a note saying that I went against your advice, so that in case anything happens to me my father won't hold you responsible.You needn't say any more: it's fixed.You must make me look as much like a German as you can; darken my eyebrows, crop my hair.I can't grow a moustache, worse luck."

Feeling that an awkward situation might arise if he made any change in his appearance at Sui-Fu, he decided to run up to the creek below Pa-tang, and do on board the boat what little was possible to disguise himself.He set off when the Europeans were taking their midday meal, accompanied by Sing Wen, who would leave him at Pa-tang, and by Chin Tai and Lo San, the latter because he had already visited Meichow, and knew something of the conditions there.

Very reluctantly the comprador proceeded to carry out his master's instructions.An hour's work with burnt cork and scissors changed the Englishman's appearance passably to that of a young German.

While Sing Wen was putting the finishing touches to his work, Burroughs saw Reinhardt's launch pass the mouth of the creek in the direction of Pa-tang.

"Not after me?"he said."He's probably going for his smoke; don't you think so?"

"Yes, sah: Massa Leinhadt velly fond smokee."

"Well, I only wish I had his moustache.I'd give a hundred dollars down for one like it."

He felt that all that was wanted to complete his transformation was a thick moustache like the one that Reinhardt brushed and tended with such affectionate care.

"It's a pity he has come, though," he went on."I mustn't start before dark, in case he sees the boat, or hears it.And I ought to keep that opium fellow's mouth shut.Sing Wen, you'd better go and tell your disreputable relative that it'll pay him to say nothing about me."

"Velly good, sah," said the comprador."Hai!My fo'get one ting.No hab got no chow-chow.[#]"

[#] Food.

"Well, bring some back with you.Make your brother's brother-in-law understand clearly."

The comprador went ashore.He was absent much longer than Burroughs anticipated.When he at length returned, his usually inexpressive face wore a look of smug satisfaction hardly to be accounted for by his purchases of food.

"What a time you have been!"said Burroughs."Have you made it all right with your brother's brother-in-law?"

"Yes, sah, allo lightee," replied the man, with a gleam of suppressed amusement.

He laid his bundles in the boat, then approached his master, fumbled in the little bag he wore at his waist, and drew from it a small packet done up in rice paper, which he handed to Burroughs.

"Allo lightee, sah," he repeated.

Burroughs opened the packet with a mild curiosity, and started.There lay a thick brown moustache, brushed up and waxed at each end, and neatly attached to a strip of light flexible gauze.

"Where on earth did you get this?"he asked, fingering the stiff hair.

"Pa-tang, sah.My catchee he fo' hundled dolla."

"I hadn't any idea you could buy such things here.Where did you buy it?"

The comprador smiled an enigmatical smile.

"My makee allo plopa Toitsche,[#]" he said, and, taking from his pouch a small bottle of gum, he proceeded to fix the moustache upon his master's upper lip.When this was done to his satisfaction, he produced a small cracked mirror which he had obtained in the town, and held it before Burroughs' face.

[#] German.

"By George!It's almost exactly like Reinhardt's," he said; "a shade darker, perhaps.It's the very thing, Sing Wen; you shall have the money when I get back.I could almost venture to start now, but I suppose I had better wait until night."

There being three or four hours to spare, he decided to employ part of the time in thoroughly overhauling the engine.His Chinese engineer was supposed to have seen that everything was in order, but Burroughs always examined things for himself, and had only omitted to do so in the hurry of starting.The engineer had been left behind as an unnecessary encumbrance.All the parts had been well cleaned; there was plenty of petrol; but Burroughs saw to his annoyance that the lubricating oil was low.Luckily there was still time to supply the deficiency.He sent Chin Tai into the town to buy some castor oil, warning him not to talk, and to be very careful not to bring any one upon his track.

It was nearly dark before the man returned.Then he ran up in great excitement.

"My hab catchee plenty muchee fun, sah," he said breathlessly."My go longside opium houso.Hai!boss he come outside chop-chop; bang!Knock my velly hard, makee my spill plenty oil.Whitey man he come bust 'long after boss, catchee he, catchee pigtail, whack, whack, velly hard.He say all time: 'What fo' you steal my moustachee?What fo' you piecee devil steal my moustachee?'Boss he makee plenty bobbely; he call p'liceman; two piecee p'liceman he come, catchee boss, catchee whitey man all same, makee he belongey chop-chop inside yamen.My belongey inside too--What fo' you pinch my?"he cried, suddenly turning on the comprador, who had sidled up to him.

"You talkee plenty too muchee all same," said Sing Wen, indignantly."Massa no wantchee listen foolo talkee."

"Let him alone," said Burroughs."Go on, Chin Tai."

"My go inside yamen," the boy continued, while the comprador sidled away, gained the gangway unobserved, and presently slipped ashore."Plenty men inside.White man he say he go sleep inside houso little time, wake up, no can find moustachee.He velly angly; he say mandalin makee opium boss smart.Mandalin say boss muss find moustachee.Boss say no can do.He say: 'Hon'ble fan-kwei[#] he belongey plenty big moustachee what time he come inside houso; no belongey what time he go wailo.Two piecee man inside all same; he look-see fan-kwei sleep; my look-see other side; hai!he shave moustachee, fan-kwei no savvy all same.My no savvy nuffin."

[#] Foreign devil.

"Mandalin he say, 'You plenty bad fella: you pay hundled dolla.'Boss he cly he velly poor man; mandalin say he catchee plenty big stick: boss he pay all same.Massa Leinhadt----"

"Sing Wen!"called Burroughs.

But the comprador had disappeared.

Burroughs was at once amused and concerned at the story.He could hardly return the moustache; he guessed that Reinhardt would hardly be pleased if he did.The trick was one of which he would not have believed his staid comprador capable; but he could only admire the dexterity with which the stolen moustache had been mounted by some ingenious Chinese barber.He felt rather sorry for the brother's brother-in-law, who had had to disgorge the hundred dollars he had earned at the expense of Reinhardt's future patronage.Considering the matter seriously, he felt that he had better use the ornament that so materially improved his disguise.Perhaps he might regard it as a set-off against the loan of the hydroplane.And Reinhardt could not expect much sympathy after his callous refusal to aid the man whom he had helped to ruin.

The rage into which Reinhardt had been thrown by the loss of his cherished moustache made it the more necessary not to start up the river until late.Burroughs filled the interval by carefully coaching the two servants in the parts they were to play.The story he concocted did some credit to his ingenuity.He was the younger brother of Reinhardt, and had just come from Kiauchou to find his brother, and hand over to him the hydroplane and a sum of money, to be placed at the service of Su Fing, of course secretly.Having missed his brother somewhere on the river, he had pushed on rather than wait and delay the gifts of his government.In order to relieve the German authorities from the suspicion of acting in concert with the rebels, Burroughs would suggest that these latter should arrest him, and place him in the same prison as the Englishman whom they had already captured.By meting out the same treatment to a supposed German, they would certainly avert suspicion.Naturally the imprisonment would be only a pretence: he must be allowed freedom to come and go; but the pretence must be kept up with a reasonable show of determination.

Such was the story with which Burroughs primed Chin Tai and Lo San. He warned them that difficulties might arise; he could not foresee events at Meichow; but they must employ all their wits to support the fiction, and above all things they were to remember that he was Lieutenant Eitel Reinhardt of the German gunboat Kaiser Wilhelm, which, as Burroughs was aware, was then in Chinese waters.

"And there's one thing more," he said sternly in conclusion."If you two boys squabble, I shall first knock your heads together, and then put you ashore and leave you.Mr. Errington's life may depend on us; when we know that he is safe you can black each other's eyes if you like, so long as you don't make a row."

The Chinamen both protested that they loved each other like brothers, scowling all the time.

Having purchased the silence of the inn-keeper, Burroughs borrowed a sampan from him; and as soon as darkness fell over the river, the two servants towed the hydroplane down the creek and for some distance up stream.Reinhardt's launch still lay off the town: the German was apparently spending the night on board.Burroughs guessed that he would shrink from facing his friends in Sui-Fu and the ordeal of their interrogations.But of course the story of the moustache would be all over the district in a day or two, and Burroughs was somewhat anxious lest it should penetrate to Meichow, and give rise to suspicion.

The hydroplane was thus towed up until the port had been left some distance behind.Then, when there was no danger of the throb of the engine being heard and provoking awkward inquiries, the sampan was hoisted on board, the engine was started, and the light craft skimmed up the river at the rate of twenty-five knots against the current.

CHAPTER XIII

RECONCILIATION

It was midnight when the hydroplane came in sight of Chia-ling Fu.The river was thronged with junks and other vessels moored for the night, and as many of these no doubt had their crews sleeping on board, Burroughs thought it desirable again to tow the hydroplane.It was necessary that no alarm should be given which might have the effect of causing uneasiness at Meichow.He wished that Su Fing had selected a smaller and less busy place than Meichow for his head-quarters; the larger the population, the greater the risk that the hydroplane would be recognized; for it was quite on the cards that some of the river boatmen had seen it skimming or flying on the lower reaches of the Yang-tse.But it was probably known that the vessel had once been stolen from its rightful owner at Sui-Fu, in which case any suspicious person might perhaps be persuaded that the theft had been repeated, with more success.

They got safely past Chia-ling Fu, and then Burroughs moored the hydroplane for a time, so that he might not arrive at Meichow before morning.As he waited, he pondered deeply on the knotty problem that would face him next day.The silence of a cold winter night does not conduce to over-confidence, and Burroughs was at no time one who saw things in too rosy a light.His story was plausible enough, if he had not made an egregious mistake in supposing that Reinhardt was more or less in league with the rebels.But the bubble would be pricked if Reinhardt were to follow him speedily up the river.Much depended also on whether Su Fing was still absent, for the rebel chief was no fool, and the slightest slip might land him in a quagmire from which there would be no escape.As he sat leaning his arms on the gunwale, and watching the dark water swirling by, Burroughs was conscious of many qualms; but in the background of his mind there was always the image of his old-time friend eating his heart out in captivity, and for the sake of his friend he was ready to dare all, to risk all, disregarding the consequences to himself.

He had made up his mind what to do on reaching Meichow; beyond that moment all must be left to the course of circumstances.When, in the early dawn, he came in sight of the town, he ordered Chin Tai to hail the landing-stage as soon as he was near enough, and command a rope to be thrown.His only safety lay in boldness.The rope having been thrown, Chin Tai was to say that his master had come on a visit to Su Fing, and demand a guide.

Just before arriving at the landing-stage, they passed a river gunboat lying off the town.The sight of this craft somewhat surprised him, until he learnt later that it had been employed by the Chinese Government in policing the upper reaches of the Yang-tse-kiang, and fallen a prey to the rebels.

There was no sign of the morning bustle that was usually to be seen at a riverside town.The seizure of the place by Su Fing had put a stop to trade for the time being.The man on the landing-stage responded somewhat sleepily to Chin Tai's order; but the boy, being jealous of Lo San's enterprise in previously visiting the town, was determined to show that he also was a man of mettle, and hurled such a torrent of abuse at the sluggard as caused him to hurry.The hydroplane was moored; Burroughs stepped on to the landing-stage, assuming a mien as like Reinhardt's as he could muster; and Chin Tai, with the self-importance natural to the servant of an august personage, demanded that his honourable master should be instantly led to the chief.The man said something in reply.

"He say hon'ble Su Fing no belongey Meichow this time," Chin Tai reported.

"Ask him who is in charge."

"He say hon'ble Fen Ti," said Chin Tai, after questioning the man; "all same Fen Ti gone wailo; he takee tousand fightee men help Su Fing Cheng Tu side."

"Tell him not to waste time; who is in charge now?"

It was at length explained that the man at present in command was one Chung Pi.

"He no muchee big fella," said Chin Tai scornfully; "one time he mafoo[#]; he belongey good fightee man; this time he tinkee numpa one topside fella."

[#] Horse-boy.

"Does he live in the yamen?"

The reply was that Chung Pi was not a big enough man to occupy the yamen, but was living in a small house hard by.

"Then I'll go and see Chung Pi," said Burroughs.

A guide was called up, and Burroughs was led through an extraordinary succession of narrow lanes and by-ways to a small house a few yards from the gate of the yamen.Chin Tai accompanied his master, Lo San remaining on the boat, with strict orders to sound the siren if he saw any vessel of importance approaching.

On arriving at the house, Chin Tai learnt from the door-keeper that his honourable master was still in bed.Burroughs was in ordinary circumstances courtesy itself; but he felt that he would lose a point now if he allowed himself to be kept waiting.Accordingly, with a curtness that went much against the grain, he bade Chin Tai tell the man that his honourable master must be immediately roused.His manner impressed the servant; the servant evidently conveyed the impression to his master; for in a few minutes there appeared at the door, kow-towing in the manner of an inferior humbly inviting an august visitor to enter his unworthy dwelling, a stout jolly-looking Chinaman, whose appearance strangely reminded Burroughs of a well-fed lord mayor's coachman.The horse-boy had grown in girth; his prowess as a fighting man might have won for him his present position; but at bottom he was a horse-boy still, with all the cheerfulness and ready good-humour of his kind.

Burroughs felt so much attracted to the man that he had some compunction about deceiving him; but he hoped that he could serve his friend without doing Chung Pi any harm.Accepting his invitation to enter his insignificant abode, Burroughs made a few complimentary remarks, which he ordered Chin Tai to translate scrupulously, and then plunged into his story, wishing that he could tell it himself in Chinese.But Chin Tai evidently did not diminish his master's importance; Chung Pi looked more and more impressed; and to do honour to his guest he ordered in breakfast, and regaled him with melon seeds, pea-nuts, fat pork boiled with rice, and weak tea.

Burroughs ventured to ask him whether he knew his brother.

"No," replied the man, "but I have seen him.He has a moustache like your honourable excellency's.Our fighting men envy that moustache.Not one of them has a moustache like your excellency's honourable brother.Theirs are long and silky, like mine; but, as you perceive, they turn downwards.Yours and your honourable brother's are firm and stiff like your noble hearts; they turn up, surely a sign of greatness and majesty."

This was very comforting to Burroughs.He had not before imagined that so much virtue could reside in a moustache.

It was now time to make the suggestion that he should be arrested and imprisoned with the Englishman.At this his host looked troubled.

"I am a poor unworthy captain," he said, trying to draw in his waist."It is not for me to meddle with the arrangements made in the yamen of my august master Su Fing.Nobody but Su Fing himself, or his honourable lieutenant, Fen Ti, could do that."

Burroughs felt bound to put on an air of extreme indignation.

"Do you mean to tell me," he said, "that you will endanger the success of your master's mighty enterprise, lose the support of the greatest nation in the world, and compel me to return with the swift boat and the thousand dollars I carry?Of a truth, when your august chief returns he will think that the honourable captain he left to fill his place ought to have shown more discretion.Do you not see that if it is known I am supporting your master it may lead to war between Germany and England?My country, of course, has no fear of failure in such a war.but it suits our purpose at present to avoid it.It must be told in the ports up-river that your chief is arresting Germans as well as Englishmen."

Chung Pi, being no politician, was properly impressed by the possible momentous consequences of his refusal to have greatness thrust upon him.After some further talk, he came round to the view that it was his duty to serve Germans and English alike, and he went off to the yamen to make the necessary arrangements.On his return he explained that the room in which the Englishman was confined was at his honourable guest's service, and it would give him great pleasure to shut the two foreign devils up together.At this Burroughs feared that he had perhaps pressed the point too far: to be strictly confined would not suit him at all, So he carefully explained that the prison was a detail of no importance: all that was necessary was that it should be given out that a German had been arrested.The rumour would be carried down the river, and come to the ears of the English; whereupon the German emperor and the English king would be so much occupied in disputing which should have his man out first, that Su Fing would have plenty of time to overrun the whole province and make good his position with the aid of German gold.

Before he left Chung Pi's house for the yamen, he asked that the boat should be carefully guarded during his absence, promising to give the Chinaman a trip in the vessel before it was formally handed over to his chief.The transfer could not properly be made except to Su Fing himself, but he felt that his government would warmly approve of his handing a hundred dollars to so trusty a lieutenant as Chung Pi.He passed the notes to the gratified captain with a flowery compliment which Chin Tai took pains to embellish; and Chung Pi, well satisfied with himself and his guest, sent for his chair and an escort, put a rope round Burroughs' neck for form's sake, and was carried to the yamen, his prisoner following among the escort.

Burroughs did not much like the look of the rebel soldiers.They were the ugliest set of ruffians he had ever set eyes on.Their uniforms were as dirty as they were gaudy: cummerbunds about their waists, enormous turbans of yellow and scarlet on their heads.Some had spears, some rifles or muskets; all had immense knives thrust through their sashes.

He was surprised, however, agreeably in one respect, disagreeably in another, at the appearance of the yamen.It stood within a large enclosure, surrounded by a wall ten feet high and five thick.The gate opened upon a courtyard, beyond which stood a palatial mansion, consisting of several lofty halls rising one behind another, their walls of brick, their tiled roofs supported on massive wooden pillars.The grounds were laid out in groves and terraced gardens, and Burroughs caught a glimpse between the trees of the large ornamental water or fish-pond of which Lo San had spoken.It was surrounded by a stone quay, and crossed by a zigzag bridge of quaintly carved stone.Excellently picturesque as a residence, the yamen was, however, not pleasant to contemplate as a prison, for every gate was guarded by sentries as ruffianly as the captain's escort, and when the gates were closed, it would be an almost impossible feat to climb the stout walls.

Chung Pi descended from his chair at the entrance of the yamen, and speaking in a hectoring tone that consorted ill with his jolly friendly countenance, ordered his escort to conduct the prisoner to the inner room in which the Englishman was confined.He himself brought up the rear.Burroughs protested violently against the indignity a German suffered in being shut up with an Englishman; and Chung Pi, obviously relishing the joke, declared with a chuckle that brown pigs and black often occupied the same sty.The door of the room was opened, Burroughs was thrust in, and the door having been shut and locked, Chung Pi walked away rolling his bulky form with enjoyment.

Errington, sitting on a small stool, looking disconsolately out through a barred window upon the pleasant garden, was suddenly startled from a reverie by the sound of a voice which, muffled as it came through the door, seemed to him to be that of the Mole.He turned about eagerly, then felt a keen pang of disappointment when he saw enter the tall straight figure of a moustachioed German.But the German was smiling at him; and puzzled as he was at the fiercely aggressive moustache, he could not mistake the steady honest eyes of his old chum.He sprang up, and rushed forward with outstretched hand--then drew back suddenly, muttering with a cloudy face---

"I was forgetting."

"It's the apology, is it?"cried Burroughs."Well then, I apologize--you old fathead!"

They shook hands--and when English boys shake hands the action has a meaning beyond the conventional.The past was buried: they were chums again.

"You've come to get me out; it's jolly good of you," said Errington."But why are you got up like this?Where did you get your moustache?You look a regular German."

"Like Reinhardt, eh?"

"Don't mention the fellow.What a fool I've been!But I mustn't say anything against him: I owe him five hundred dollars; and to tell you the truth, I was in so much of a funk that I was actually glad the brigands collared me: it staved off the evil day."

"We'll settle with Reinhardt by and by.This moustache is his: it cost me a hundred dollars--cheap at the price."

He told the story of his comprador's enterprise, and Errington was much tickled at the opium-house keeper's having to disgorge as a fine the sum he had received for shaving off the moustache.Burroughs checked his laughter; the guards at the door must not suspect that the Englishman and the supposed German were fraternizing.He then related how Lo San had trudged the weary miles to find his master, and explained why he had come disguised as a German, and the means by which he had gained admittance to Errington's room.Errington was troubled.

"I didn't suspect that," he said."You're running a fearful risk.If that fellow Su Fing catches you here, we shall both be in the same cart: he owes you the same grudge as me."

"Let's hope he won't come back in a hurry.He sent for more of his ruffians, which looks as if he's got his hands full.We'll get away together, old man.Chung Pi is such a genial ass that we shall be able to get over him.You haven't tried to bolt?"

"No.Not much chance with the window barred and four blackguards at the door--not to speak of a ten-foot wall, and absolute ignorance of the lie of the land.You had better leave it to the consul, hadn't you?"

"Not I.Everything has worked out well so far, and with a little luck we'll dish Su Fing."

"Look here, old Mole, there's a thing I must say.Since I've been here I've had plenty of time to think things over, and I see now what a thundering ass and ungrateful beast I've----"

"Shut up!"

"No, I've got to get it out.I chucked away my money on those cards, got into debt all round, went to the Chinky moneylenders like a fool, and cut up rough when you and Ting tried to put the brake on----"

"Oh, chuck it!Wasn't I juggins enough to wonder if you'd done me over that deal with Feng Wai?We'll cry quits, old man."

"Ting asked me to promise not to gamble again, and I let out at him.But if you'll take the promise I'll be glad.If we get out of this I'll never play for money again."

CHAPTER XIV

'MY BROTHER!'

The two friends sat for a long time discussing their situation.The problem of escape was a thorny one.The yamen was at some distance from the landing-stage, and the labyrinth of narrow ways by which Burroughs had come to it would puzzle anybody but a Chinaman acquainted with the town.Even if they contrived to elude the sentinels they might easily lose their way, especially in darkness--and they had already come to the conclusion that only by night could they hope to reach the river safely.The appearance of two Europeans in a town where there were no European residents would at once attract a curious crowd, and detection must be inevitable.And the first step of all, the escape from the room in which they were, was itself at present utterly baffling.Time was of the utmost importance.Su Fing might return any day; it was scarcely possible that a man whose mental powers were attested by the passing of so many examinations would be imposed on as the simple Chung Pi had been; and there was no knowing what summary methods he might use in dealing with the two Englishmen to whom he owed a grudge.

Burroughs examined the bars of the window.They were so deeply imbedded in the masonry that to loosen them within a reasonable time seemed a hopeless undertaking.The chances of succeeding in a rush through the doorway, when the door was opened, seemed slight.Burroughs had his revolver; Errington was unarmed; and though Chin Tai, who was waiting without to act as interpreter between Chung Pi and his German visitor, had his knife, it was not very likely that Burroughs and he could overpower the four sentinels on guard at the door.Even if they were taken by surprise, the sound of the scuffle would quickly bring up others from the gates and courtyards between the room and the outer wall.The more they thought of the problem, the more thoroughly were they convinced that violent measures were doomed to failure; they must have recourse to stratagem.But puzzle as they might, neither had the glimmering of a notion what the first move in the game must be.

They were so deeply immersed in talk that they did not notice the flight of time, and both were surprised when the door was opened, and a Chinese cook brought in their breakfast.

"Rice and beans again, I suppose!"said Errington, with a groan."I've had nothing else."

An idea occurred to Burroughs.

"Take care not to seem friendly with me," he said, twirling his moustache--Reinhardt's moustache!--and turning his back on Errington with true Germanic disdain."Hai!Chin Tai, tell these fellows that I demand to see the captain at once."

He had some doubt whether his demand would be acceded to, but Chung Pi had apparently anticipated something of the sort, for one of the sentinels called up a man from the courtyard, and sent him with the message to the captain.

When Chung Pi appeared, it was evident that he was much amused.He laughed as he spoke to Chin Tai.

"He say massa hab catchee too plenty muchee plison," said Chin Tai.

"It's all very well," said Burroughs, frowning haughtily."I asked you to arrest me, for form's sake, but I didn't say I'd agree to be starved.Is this the fare to put before a German?It is good enough for the Englishman, but it won't do for me."

He glanced scornfully at Errington, who, taking the cue, assumed an air of dejection and humility.

"I am sorry," said Chung Pi contritely."It was a mere oversight on my part.The cook naturally provided for the second prisoner as for the first.He did not know of the understanding between your honourable excellency and my unworthy self.I will at once have a dinner prepared worthy of your august eminence."

"That is well," said Burroughs."When I have finished my meal, I shall give myself the pleasure of showing to you the boat which lies at the landing-stage."

"I must sleep a little first," said Chung Pi."I have eaten so many melon seeds that my belt is exceedingly tight."

"At any time your excellency pleases," said Burroughs, with a bow.

The captain retired, after giving orders to the cook.Presently the servant returned, bringing a right royal feast--pickled duck's eggs, bean curd, pork patties, chopped cucumber, millet cakes soaked in treacle, fried cabbage--all very tastily dressed, together with water melons and tea.

As soon as the door was shut, the two prisoners fell to with a will.

"You'll want something better than rice and beans if we're to have any bother," said Burroughs."This is very good; I only wish they didn't use quite so much garlic and oil."

When they had finished their dinner, Burroughs knocked at the door, and ordered Chin Tai, who meanwhile had had to satisfy himself with rice, to let the captain know that he was ready.It was some time before Chung Pi appeared, cracking and eating melon seeds.What explanation he gave to the sentinels of his indulgence to the second prisoner, or whether he condescended to give any explanation at all, Burroughs never knew.He accompanied Chung Pi to the outer gate, where chairs were waiting, and when they had entered these antiquated vehicles, each was lifted by four chai-jen or yamen runners, and carried through crooked and unsavoury streets, too narrow to admit of more than one passing at a time, down to the landing-stage.Two chai-jen went in advance, clearing a way with their sticks through the crowd.Chin Tai followed.

Lo San's face beamed at the sight of "Massa Bullows."He had begun to fear that some mishap had befallen him, and saw another beating in prospect.

Burroughs invited the captain to step into the hydroplane, but Chung Pi excused himself with many apologies, regretting that the present state of his health--by which Burroughs understood a surfeit of melon seeds--rendered it inadvisable for him to undergo any excitement.Leaving Chin Tai on the landing-stage, as a guarantee of good faith, Burroughs accordingly embarked alone, and for the space of a quarter of an hour or so exhibited the qualities of the vessel as a hydroplane, skimming up and down the river at full speed.Its flying powers, however, he refrained from showing.

Chung Pi was so much impressed and delighted with the marvellous vessel that he overcame his squeamishness, and consented to try a short trip up-stream.A few miles above the town, Burroughs caught sight of a small launch coming down swiftly on the current, and ran up to meet it, intending to turn and race it, with the object of still further impressing the captain.But in a few moments Lo San, interpreting a sentence of his passenger, informed him that the launch was one of Su Fing's dispatch boats, and was probably bringing a message from the chief to Chung Pi.

Feeling somewhat alarmed, Burroughs slowed down, and ran the hydroplane alongside the launch.A sashed and turbaned officer on deck shouted a greeting to Chung Pi, and told him that Su Fing was now on his way down the river with the bulk of his force, and might be expected to arrive before sunset.

"He say you velly happy this time," Lo San interpreted."Su Fing he come look-see boat, say he velly good, numpa one boat."

Burroughs was anything but happy.He forced a smile, but felt most unphilosophically irritated when the ends of Reinhardt's moustache tickled his cheeks.He listened unheeding to the monotonous voice of Lo San translating the encomiums passed by Chung Pi on the admirable vessel, and steered mechanically down-stream towards Meichow, whither the captain said they must return at once in order to make preparations for Su Fing's fitting reception.Sufficiently alive to the necessity of sparing petrol, he did not drive the vessel at full speed, much to the disappointment of Chung Pi, who was looking forward to a dashing reappearance before the eyes of the thousands of admiring spectators now, beyond doubt, congregated at the riverside.

The imminent return of Su Fing threatened to put a bar to any plan that might be evolved for releasing Errington.As yet, think as hard as he might, Burroughs had been quite unable to form any likely scheme.On the way down the river he bent his brains exclusively on the problem, blind to the probability that Chung Pi might become suspicious of his lack of exhilaration at the prospect of a speedy meeting with the chief.The more he puzzled, the more hopeless the situation appeared.He knew that the coming of Su Fing would draw the whole population into the narrow contorted alley-ways that served as streets, so that, even if he got Errington out of the yamen, the chances of gaining the landing-stage undetected were naught.He tried to think of some means of persuading Chung Pi to bring Errington to the hydroplane; indeed, he ventured to hint that it would be a fine thing to meet the chief far up the river, and offer the prisoner to him as a sort of slave to grace his triumph.But Chung Pi would not hear of it.He objected that the orders he had received were strict: the Englishman was to be closely guarded; and it was as much as his rank was worth to disobey commands so explicit.Burroughs would not excite suspicion by pressing the point; and, indeed, he liked the fat simpleton so well as to wish to avoid getting him into hot water.

Thus uneasy, depressed, more nervous than he had ever been in his life before, he was running towards the landing-stage, not giving a glance beyond, when an exclamation from Lo San caused him to lift his eyes.Then he saw something that shot a cold shiver through him.This was the last straw.A quarter of a mile beyond the landing-stage, coming round a bend in the river, was the nose of a launch which he instantly recognized as Reinhardt's.It would reach the stage about the same time as his own vessel.The game was up!Reinhardt was certainly on board; the launch had never been seen on the river without him.He would certainly betray the pseudo-German.There had never been any love lost between them.They had parted in anger.And with a man of Reinhardt's temperament the "rape of the lock," the explanation of which would flash upon him the moment he caught sight of it adorning Burroughs' lip, would supply the fiercest motive for revenge.

Burroughs turned his head away from Chung Pi; he could no longer keep up the forced smile, which he felt must have become an awful grimace. Always a little slow of thought, he did not remember, for a moment or two, that in his story to Chung Pi he had unwittingly provided himself with an avenue of safety. All at once the recollection flashed upon him: he was Lieutenant Eitel Reinhardt, of the gunboat Kaiser WilhelmThe moustacheless German was his brother!

"My brother!my brother!"he shouted excitedly.

Lo San looked at him in amazement.Was his master mad?Then he, too, remembered.

"My honourable master's brother," he exclaimed to Chung Pi.

The captain's broad face gleamed with interest and satisfaction.This new arrival was the very man who had arranged the gifts for Su Fing, whom his brother had so unfortunately missed, of whose money he himself had a hundred dollars safely tucked into his pouch.

"Brothers are as double cherries," he said."The coming of your august relative is as the shining of the morning sun on the closed petals of a rose."

Burroughs bowed as Lo San translated, feeling that another word would make him shout with maniacal laughter.With a turn of the wrist he ran the boat alongside the landing-stage, just a second or two before the launch came up at the farther end.With Chung Pi he stepped off, observing that Reinhardt was standing at his gangway, waiting for his heavier and more cumbersome vessel to be brought alongside.And almost wishing that the planks might part, and plunge him into the water and oblivion, he walked forward to meet his fate.

CHAPTER XV

REINHARDT IN THE TOILS

Burroughs and the smiling captain were still some few yards away from Reinhardt's gangway; Reinhardt was staring with puzzled curiosity at the tall German with the moustache so like his own lost treasure; when Burroughs whispered to Lo San--

"Say to the captain: 'That is the launch, but where is my brother?My brother wears a moustache like mine.Do not the English shave the lip?Ask him who he is.'"

Chung Pi was a horse-boy turned captain; like many great men sprung from humble origin, he was apt to stand upon his dignity.Advancing towards the stranger as he stepped on to the landing-stage, he introduced himself with a grave pomposity, and asked Reinhardt to what Meichow owed the honour of his visit.

The German's eyes were fixed in a puzzled stare on Burroughs, who had taken off his cap as in respectful salutation.The close-cropped hair, the pencilled eyebrows, the stiff perpendicularity of his waxed moustache-ends, had so much altered his appearance that Reinhardt, though he felt that he had seen him somewhere before, did not recognize him.Germanic though his aspect was, there was a nameless something about him that put Reinhardt on his guard.Turning to Chung Pi, he replied courteously, in Chinese, that he was a German employed by his government to keep in touch with the august Su Fing, and that his honourable questioner without doubt knew the name of Reinhardt as a friend and ally of his chief.

Lo San was quick-witted.He saw that there was no time to translate the conversation to Burroughs, and for the moment held his peace.Burroughs could only stand in a commanding attitude with folded arms, accusation in his frown.He bethought himself of his moustache, and gave it a cautious twirl.And all the time he wished with desperate anxiety that he could understand what Reinhardt was saying.

Chung Pi looked at the German with fatuous indecision.Burroughs felt that another moment might seal his fate.He was beating his brains for a possible move if his stratagem failed, when Lo San interrupted Reinhardt as he was asking whether Su Fing had returned to the town.

"You see, honourable captain," he said, "that this man who calls himself a German has no moustache!"

And now the pen of the narrator fails: only a gramophone and a cinematograph could faithfully record the scene.Imagine the three men: the magnified horse-boy, bewildered between a furious German, shouting in Chinese, and a calm but quaking Englishman, standing like a judge about to condemn; with a shrill-voiced China boy at his side, screaming into Chung Pi's very ear; the men on the landing-stage gaping; the motley crowd at the shoreward end watching keenly, like the spectators at a boxing-match.Chung Pi, Reinhardt, Lo San, were all talking at once.Reinhardt, incoherent with rage, yelled "I am a German."Chung Pi asked him not to shout.Lo San, determined to make himself heard, screamed "He is an Englishman.As your excellency knows, the friend of Su Fing wears a moustache; it is the custom in his country; look at my august master."

Chung Pi, a peasant beneath his uniform, was slow, tenacious and pig-headed.He had seen Reinhardt once or twice, and carried away an impression of a moustache and little more.If this was Reinhardt, where was the moustache?He felt that he was being played with--he, the lieutenant of Su Fing, was bemocked by a man whose upper lip was even cleaner than that of the Englishman in the yamen.And when Burroughs, taking advantage of Reinhardt's vociferous abuse, whispered to Lo San to suggest that the man should be put with the other Englishman, and Lo San yelled the suggestion into the captain's ear, Chung Pi's simple mind was made up.Beckoning to some of his ruffians who stood expectantly by, he ordered them to seize the pig of an Englishman and carry him to the yamen.The chief should deal with him.

For a few seconds a whirling mass gyrated at the edge of the landing-stage.The centre of it was Conrad Reinhardt; the circumference was formed by a dozen Chinese legs.Yells of rage and derision arose from the variegated crowd of spectators as they watched the supposed Englishman--as much as they could see of him--struggling in the grasp of the spearmen.The scuffle ceased as suddenly as it had begun.Reinhardt appeared to bethink himself of his dignity.He made no further resistance, but allowed the insurgents to lead him away.

That procession is probably a cherished memory in Meichow to this day.It was led by the lictors--if the ragged ruffians may be dignified with that name for the nonce--who thrust back the shouting people that flocked from every alley to see the sight.Then came the prisoner amid the spearmen.A few paces behind marched the two sets of chairmen, carrying Burroughs and Chung Pi, with Chin Tai stepping beside.More spearmen brought up the rear.Lo San had returned to the hydroplane.

At the gate of the yamen Burroughs got out of his chair and approached that of the captain, beckoning Chin Tai forward to interpret.

"Your honourable presence," he said, "has no doubt great preparations to make for the reception of the august Su Fing.I feel that it would ill beseem me to take up more of your time.For myself, I think I ought to follow the prisoner.Who knows what conspiracy he may not hatch with the other if I am not there to keep an eye on them!"

"But you may be in danger from their violence," said Chung Pi."You saw how the Englishman fought and kicked."

"Yes, he behaved very badly," replied Burroughs; "but with four of your brave warriors outside the door, the prisoners would not dare to molest me."

And with ceremonious salutations they parted.

Meanwhile Reinhardt had been marched through the courtyards, and taken to the room where Errington was wondering anxiously what had happened to his friend.The door was thrown open, and the German thrust inside.The spearmen reported by and by to their captain that on entering the room, the new prisoner advanced towards the other, holding out his hand, and saying some few words of greeting.The first prisoner neither took his hand nor replied to him.Chung Pi had sufficient intelligence to explain this incident satisfactorily to himself.The new-comer was undoubtedly English.He had recognized the prisoner, who, however, was more prudent, and pretended not to know him.Chung Pi plumed himself on his sagacity, and basked in the anticipated light of Su Fing's countenance when he should return and find two birds in his cage.

Reinhardt had made up his mind, while walking up to the yamen, to accept with as good a grace as possible the temporary inconvenience which he owed to the loss of his moustache--also temporary: he felt his upper lip, and discovered proofs of a new crop. By keeping his temper under control he would give himself the best chance of dealing with circumstances as they arose. Of course, when Su Fing returned all would be set right; and he promised himself that the ass of a captain who had so stupidly mistaken him should have cause to regret his imbecility. But he was a good deal puzzled. Who was this man, ostensibly a German, who had stood by indifferent while a compatriot of his own was being shamed? And who was the Chinaman who had uttered such abominable things about him? He was something like Lo San, Errington's boy. And then a light flashed upon him: it was Lo San; Errington, he knew, had been captured; no doubt he was the "other Englishman" who had been mentioned; and the whole affair was a plot on Lo San's part to bring his master and Reinhardt together, in the hope that the German might be persuaded to plead for him with the chief.

This thought comforted Reinhardt.Lo San was evidently a clever fellow; and as Errington's career was of course ended, his boy would probably be quite willing to enter the service of a new master.The German was therefore prepared, when he was pushed forward into the room, to find Errington waiting with open arms to receive him.

He was surprised when Errington refused to speak to him.

"Come, my friend," he said, "zis is not kind.Here am I, come at great cost to serve you, and you cut me!Zere is some big mistake; ze fool of a captain supposes me to be English, and makes me a prisoner.We are two prisoners togezer.Zis is not ze time for coldness between friends.Wizout you, I should not be here at zis moment."Reinhardt was unaware how truly he had spoken."You owe me much.But you are young, and like many young men, you do not know your best friends."

Errington, on his part, was thoroughly amazed when he saw Reinhardt enter the room.Hearing footsteps outside the door, he had expected to see Burroughs again.The entrance of a man whom, after his recent interview with Burroughs, he distrusted and despised gave him a shock.Instinctively he refused him his hand.But now, at the German's explanation, strange as it was, he began to wonder whether he had not done him a double injustice.Perhaps the man had repented of his refusal of Burroughs' appeal, and after all had come up the river to his assistance.

He was wavering, on the point of asking Reinhardt whether he had seen Burroughs, when the German began to speak again.

"Yes, when your own countrymen do nozink for you, behold me, a German, putting my head into ze lion's mouse on your behalf.I ask you, why should I do so?You owe me five hundred dollars: bah!I zink nozink of zat.You are to me nozink but a friend----"

"And a servant of your firm," Errington blurted out, resenting the reference to his debt, and desperately uneasy now that it was clear that Burroughs and the German had not met.

"Not so," said Reinhardt complacently."Zere is no reason why I should come to help you--nozink but friendship.You are no longer employed by my firm."

This took Errington's breath away.He listened in stony silence as Reinhardt proceeded.

"Zey pay you zree munce salary instead of notice.I have ze cheque in my pocket.Now you see what a friend I am, when you are no longer wiz me in business, and owe me five hundred dollars.Which is ze friend, Conrad Reinhardt, or Burroughs, ze man what preach, ze man who is what you call a smug, who eats and drinks merry when his old friend is----"

Errington could stand no more.Springing to his feet, he hit out a swinging blow that sent the German spinning across the room.

Reinhardt's hand flew to his breast pocket.He whipped out a revolver, and was taking a snapshot at Errington when his arm was struck up from behind; the weapon exploded harmlessly, and next moment was wrenched from his grasp and flung across the room.Unseen, unheard, Burroughs had quietly entered the room and taken in the situation at a glance.

No word had been spoken.While a man might count three there was a dead silence in the room.Then Burroughs, stepping to the still open door, confronted the sentinels and Chin Tai, who were pressing forward, alarmed by the shot.

"Bind that man!"cried Burroughs, pointing to the German, now slowly rising to his feet.

There was no hesitation among the men.They understood by this time that the supposed detention of Burroughs was only a move in their chief's policy.They did not understand it, but it was no affair of theirs.There were no ropes at hand, but they stripped off their cummerbunds; and in a few minutes Reinhardt, glowering from Burroughs to Errington, and from Errington to Burroughs, lay on the floor, trussed with bonds of yellow and red.

CHAPTER XVI

A LITTLE LUNCHEON PARTY

"What's the row, Pidge?"asked Burroughs, when the sentinels and Chin Tai had been dismissed, and the door closed behind them.

"Oh, he'd been telling a heap of lies, and when he started abusing you, I knocked him down."

Reinhardt started when he heard Burroughs speak in his natural voice.The disguise as it were fell off: his vague misgiving was justified; the cropped hair, the thickened eyebrows, the upturned moustache, no longer imposed upon him, and he writhed in his bonds.

Burroughs gave him a contemptuous stare.

"I don't care, personally," he said very quietly, "what lies you tell about me.There never has been any love lost between us.All I regret is that, among Chinamen, I should have had to treat a European--even such a European as you are--with such indignity.But you've brought it on yourself.You're a dangerous man.You're in league with these rebels; I know it, you needn't protest; in spite of that, in spite of my appeal to you, you wouldn't move a finger in Errington's behalf.I must treat you as an enemy--a secret enemy, and take the precautions that fit the case.Errington and I have matters to discuss, and owing to the action of your friends the rebels, we have to discuss them here.Your company has been forced upon us, so I'll take the liberty of relieving you from the necessity of overhearing our conversation."

"I protest," the German began, blusteringly."I don't want to hear your conversation.Speak in ze corner; whisper."

Burroughs paid him no attention, but opened the door and called to Chin Tai.

"Stuff up Mr. Reinhardt's ears," he said.

Chin Tai produced a dirty rag from the pouch at his waist.

"No, not that," said Errington impulsively."Haven't you a handkerchief, Ted?"

Burroughs gave his handkerchief to the Chinaman, who tore it in strips, and rolled up two wads which he placed in the German's ears.

"Wait outside, and let me know if the captain comes."

As soon as the door was shut, Burroughs took Errington to the window.

"The position's this, old man," he said."Su Fing is coming down river.It's all up with us if he finds us here.Reinhardt won't stick at a trifle.We must get away somehow or other before evening.How it's to be done beats me."

"Where did you go when you left me?"

"I showed off the boat to Chung Pi.He'd eaten so many melon seeds that he wouldn't venture on board at first; but I got him on after a bit.I only did it to heighten my importance.It was when we were going up-stream that we met a launch of Su Fing's, and heard that the chief would be here to-night."

"You didn't fly?"

"No.Chung Pi is sure to have heard of the flying boat, and he'd have smelt a rat.Why?"

"I've just had an idea," said Errington eagerly.

"Gently, old chap.I'm not at all sure that Reinhardt can't hear if you raise your voice.What is it?"

In a low tone, but with great animation, Errington explained the plan which had suddenly suggested itself.For some time the two discussed it together.It was a strange conversation, conducted under the eyes of the German, glaring at them as he lay fierce and helpless on the floor.

They were interrupted by the entrance of the cook man bringing the midday meal.It was a generous repast; the cook had taken a hint from what happened at breakfast-time, and provided food in even greater variety than before.Burroughs and Errington took their chop-sticks and sat on the floor in front of the pots and pans.Errington glanced at Reinhardt.

"We can't feed while he goes hungry," he said.

"Speak for yourself," said Burroughs."I've not the slightest objection."

"But they've brought grub for him.He'd better have his share."

"Just like you!All right; but he'll be a sort of skeleton at the feast."

"A substantial skeleton!He won't depress me.But it's a rummy go, when you come to think of it."

Burroughs went to the German and released him.

"Some of this food is for you," he said, speaking close to Reinhardt's ear."Errington suggests that you should join us."

He went back to his place beside Errington.For some seconds Reinhardt made no movement beyond sitting up and stretching himself, with a sullen stare at Burroughs.Then either the matter-of-fact consideration that he was hungry, or something in the humour of the situation, caused him to banish his sulks.He crossed the room, and squatted heavily opposite the Englishmen.

"Whatever happens to any of us, this is certainly the last time we three are likely to have a meal together," said Errington.

The situation was certainly novel.Men have sat down at table with murder in their hearts; quarrels have arisen at the board; but it is not common for two men to eat with a third whom one has just knocked down, and whose moustache the other is wearing.

There was naturally a constraint upon the party--upon Errington more particularly, for he could not forget that he had once been Reinhardt's friend, nor that he owed him money.He might suspect that the German had cheated him, but a debt is a debt.Yet to eat in silence was impossible, and presently Burroughs broke the ice.

"Have some of this," he said to Reinhardt, looking into one of the pans.

"I beg pardon," said Reinhardt."I am a little hard of hearing."

The Englishmen glanced at each other.

"Better go the whole hog and do it decently while we are about it," said Errington.

"Perhaps you can do something to cure yourself," said Burroughs in a loud tone to the German.

Reinhardt removed the wads from his ears, and looking at them doubtfully for a moment, laid them down on the floor beside him.

"Zanks," he said."Now I am all attention."

"Not at all," said Burroughs."Have some of this--I don't know what it is."

He ladled a sort of stew on to Reinhardt's plate.For a few moments there was silence as they plied their chop-sticks.Then Reinhardt, glancing up under his eyebrows, said gravely--

"I zink it is chow--puppy-dog, you know."

The others held their chop-sticks suspended.

"I'll try something else," said Burroughs, looking suspiciously into another pan.

"In China one must not inquire too much," the German went on."One must have faith.Once I was at an inn, deep in ze country.I demand dinner; zey say zere is none.Naturally I must have dinner, and I command ze innkeeper very loud.Zat is effective.Soon he bring me a ragout--excellent; I eat it wiz gusto.Afterwards I discover it is rats."

The Englishmen's faces expressed their disgust, and again there was silence.

"China is a great country for rats," said Errington lamely.

"Zat is true; zere are rats all up ze Yang-tse."

"Water-rats," suggested Burroughs.

"So; four legs--and two," said the German.

"Tails--and pigtails," said Burroughs.

"I make a study of zem all."

"My boy says that rats' whiskers are lucky," said Errington after a pause.

"White rats!"added Burroughs.

Reinhardt's eyelids flickered.He seemed to avert his gaze with an effort from Burroughs' moustache.

"I zink he is perhaps mistaken," he said.

Then he appeared to feel that he was skating on thin ice, towards a danger-mark.An observant onlooker might have discovered a resemblance between these three men, talking so quietly over their meal, and fencers, warily feeling for each other, but careful not to engage.Each was trying to "make" conversation, and found, almost in spite of himself, that it trended towards the personal.Reinhardt, the keenest and most experienced of the three, was the first to feel the tendency, and to attempt to divert it.

"Ze Chinese," he went on, "zey are very superstitious.Zey believe in spells and charms, zings which Europe dismissed hundred years ago, and more.Zey talk always of luck."

"Don't you see that men make their own luck," said Burroughs.

"Perhaps, but not at cards," said Reinhardt."Zat is skill."He pulled himself up suddenly."Ze Chinese are indeed extremely skilful.As you English say, zey will catch a weasel asleep."

"And skin him!"said Errington artlessly.

"I have heard of that too," said Burroughs, catching Reinhardt's eyes again fixed on his moustache.

"Is zere any more cabbage?"asked the German, bending forward over the pan.

"No, but there is some parsley," replied Burroughs, in best phrase-book style; and a minute or two afterwards the meal and the difficult conversation came to an end together.

During the pauses each of the party had been busily thinking: Burroughs and Errington of the scheme which they had partially discussed, Reinhardt of the extraordinary circumstances in which he found himself.For once, at any rate, the German felt that he had no trumps.He saw through Burroughs' imposture; and he was pretty sure that the moustache which had fascinated his eyes during the meal was his own.Inwardly boiling with indignation and outraged vanity, he was sportsman enough to enter into the spirit of the situation so far as speech was concerned; his brain was cogitating an exemplary vengeance, and he hugged himself with the thought that the hour of revenge was at hand.The apparent coolness of the Englishmen amazed him.With Su Fing already on his way down the river, their heads were as good as gone.Yet nobody watching them, or listening to their talk, could ever have imagined that their lives hung on a thread.

At the conclusion of the meal, Burroughs said politely--

"I regret the necessity of tying you up again."

"And I," said the German, with equal courtesy, though his eyes were blazing, "I regret to be ze cause of so much trouble."

Burroughs called in his servant and the sentinels, and by their hands Reinhardt was again bound.Chin Tai caught sight of the ear-wads lying beside the German's plate.

"He wantchee he 'nother time all-same?"he asked his master.

"Your conversation--is it not finished?"the German interposed."One is incomplete wizout ears."

"I'm afraid you must remain incomplete for a while," said Burroughs."Put them in, Chin Tai; then tell those fellows they can clear away the food and eat what's left.I want you."

As soon as the door was closed behind the guard, Burroughs took Errington and Chin Tai to the window, and the three remained for some minutes in earnest conversation.

"Now," said Burroughs at last to the servant, "you know what you have to do.First of all, cut off to the captain; he has finished his luncheon by this time--and say that I request the honour of waiting upon him on a matter of great urgency."

"Allo lightee, sah; my talkee he allo plopa."

And he went with an air of much self-importance to fulfil his errand, reflecting with a chuckle that Lo San was out of this.

CHAPTER XVII

THE DASH FROM THE YAMEN

Chin Tai returned in about twenty minutes.

"Captain he say hon'ble genelum come this time; he velly glad look-see."

"Good luck," said Errington as Burroughs got up."If there's any hitch, don't mind about me."

Burroughs mumbled something and went out with his servant.The chair was awaiting him at the outer gate.Ordering two of the guards there to accompany him for appearance' sake, he had himself carried to the captain's quarters hard by.On the way he noticed, without any appearance of concern, a large number of wild-looking warriors assembling to form, as he guessed, a guard of honour for the chief on his return.Many of the men scowled at him as he passed.They did not distinguish one "foreign devil" from another.To many of the lower orders of Chinamen, all foreigners are poison.

Chung Pi had evidently been indulging freely in the pleasures of the table.He was breathing rather hard; melon seeds are very "filling"; and the number of thimblefuls of hot sam-shu, a fiery drink made of millet, which he had consumed had reddened his face and put him on very good terms with himself.

"Honourable stranger," he said, when Burroughs entered, "your honourable face is like the sun at noon-day.You have fed well?"

"Excellently, noble captain."

"You cracked many melon seeds?"

"Not a great number."

"Then you will never be fat.Will you take a little sam-shu?"

"Thank you, not now.Better reserve that until your august chief returns.There has been no further message from him?"

"No; but I have made preparations for greeting him.The bannermen and gong-beaters will go down to the river in due time, and we shall issue forth to greet the illustrious Su Fing with bands of music."

"Would it not be fitting, noble captain, a deed worthy of your high renown, to meet your chief on the marvellous vessel of whose speed you have already made trial?Su Fing returns victorious; he would feel himself duly honoured if his trusty lieutenant met him while still a great way from the town, offering for his acceptance this matchless gift from a great nation."

"You speak well, illustrious stranger.The gift is indeed a noble one.But I fear that I cannot dispense with my afternoon nap.Sleep after meat is a gift of the gods."

"I would not deprive you of it for worlds.I must go down to the boat, to see that all is in order for the journey we propose to make.I will do that while you sleep."

"Not so.The boat pleases me, and drowsy though I am, I am disposed to accompany you.Perhaps Su Fing may give the vessel into my charge; it will be well, then, that I understand something of its qualities.I shall thereby be superior to any other officer of my chief's, and the way of promotion will be open to me."

"By all means, noble captain."

"Yes.To be well fed is vain without true understanding.But tell me, what of the Englishmen?It was told me that one of them was so daring and wicked as to fire a shot at the other.The guards ought to have searched him; I have given orders that when the rejoicings are over they shall be soundly beaten with the leather."

"The man who attempted the crime is bound hand and foot.He can do no more mischief."

"It is well.I am fortunate in having another Englishman for Su Fing.He hates all Englishmen, because they do not approve of his warlike deeds.Furthermore, he was wounded by an Englishman, and taken captive, and he suffered stripes and the cage.His heart will laugh when he knows that another of the hated race lies bound in his yamen.Now let us go."

He summoned his chairmen and armed escort, and was carried along with Burroughs down to the landing-stage, and on to the vessel.There he watched curiously as the Englishman overhauled the engine, and filled his petrol tank.When this was done, Burroughs took from the end of his watch-chain an Indian charm which had been given him by his mother, and made a few meaningless passes with it over the throttle.

"Why do you do that?"Chung Pi asked.

"To ward off evil spirits," replied Burroughs."We must have a lucky voyage."

"You do well.I myself, as you perceive, have a thread of red silk braided in my queue for the same purpose; and I wear a charm attached to a red string within my shirt.So we shall be doubly secure."

Burroughs, having satisfied himself that everything was in working order, was at leisure to answer the innumerable questions about the hydroplane with which the Chinaman plied him.They were such futile questions as a simple ignorant peasant might put.Burroughs felt that he was answering a fool according to his folly, and again had compunctions about making this guileless ignoramus his accomplice.It was clear that Chung Pi's vanity was flattered by the idea of showing a new importance before the populace.The machine had become an obsession with him, and as he grew more and more wonder-struck at what Burroughs told him, the approaching arrival of his chief became of less interest to him than the prospect of making an impression on the home-coming warriors.

Time slipped away.Burroughs felt restless and impatient.Chung Pi had told him that the approach of the chief's launch would be signalled by a man stationed on the roof of the yamen, which rose high above the surrounding country, and from which another signal station could be seen many miles distant.Burroughs dared not start until the signal was given; yet he felt that time was being wasted.

At last, turning to Chung Pi, he said that he had one great surprise in store for him.He had in fact two, but the second was to be revealed at the proper time.

"You have seen, noble captain," he said, "with what marvellous speed this vessel skims the water, but you have yet to see that it can also fly--even as a duck, which swims ordinarily on the surface, can at need raise itself upon its wings and take the air.But a duck cannot fly so well as this vessel."

"What end is there to the marvels you tell me!"exclaimed the captain."In truth I have heard of a flying boat, belonging to an Englishman at Sui-Fu; but I mocked at the tale, for men are liars."

"It is true.This boat is even as that of the Englishman; it flies quite as well."

"But how can a boat fly without wings?"

"I will show you."

Burroughs unfolded and spread out the canvas planes at the sides of the boat.

"Wonderful!"said the Chinaman."It is very like a butterfly."

"How fine a thing it would be to fly to meet Su Fing, noble captain!That would indeed show at once the matchless qualities of this vessel, and the courage of the illustrious officer who so well fills the place of the chief here."

Chung Pi's simple face expressed the longing and the terror which a child shows when he is invited for the first time to taste some new experience--the first ride on an elephant, or on a hobby-horse at the village fair.

"If you would show me first," he said.

He stepped on to the landing-stage, and stood fascinated as the vessel, skimming the surface until it attained its lifting speed, rose into the air, circled, and returning, alighted gently at the very spot whence it had started.Beyond measure delighted, Chung Pi hesitated no longer.Making sure that the red string sustaining his charm was securely about his neck, he entered the boat, and uttered childish exclamations of wonderment and pleasure as the vessel once more performed the same flight.On landing, he bore himself with a vainglorious swagger before the crowd of excited onlookers.He insisted on taking Burroughs back to his own house for a few melon seeds and cups of tea, and talked incessantly of the sensation he would make when he flew to meet Su Fing.

While they were at tea, with Chin Tai in attendance as interpreter, Lo San, enjoying a certain prestige as the servant of the kind German who had brought so precious a gift, was entertained by the captain's escort.They were exchanging notes with him when the long-expected message was signalled: the watchman on the roof of the yamen had seen a signal on a hill two miles away; the signaller there had received the message from another, and he from another.Su Fing was little more than an hour's journey distant.At once there was a ringing of bells and beating of gongs.Chung Pi, trembling with eagerness, came forth with Burroughs; a procession was formed, and with an armed escort before and behind the chairmen carried their burdens down to the river.

At the landing-stage Lo San approached Burroughs, and said in an undertone--

"Su Fing he no lick all-same.Fellas he say Su Fing hab catchee numpa one beatin' Cheng Tu side.He belongey velly bad temper."

Rumour, flying swiftly through the country, had brought news that the chief, so far from being victorious, had been driven headlong from Cheng Tu by regular forces summoned from Tibet, and was now falling back on Meichow to recoup his losses.There was no doubt that Chung Pi had heard the news; but Burroughs guessed that it was as much as his place was worth to greet his master otherwise than as a conqueror.

This information, strange as it may appear, rendered Burroughs the more anxious to set off on his trip up-river.Chung Pi was equally eager, for a different reason.They entered the boat, followed by Chin Tai and Lo San.The ropes were cast off; Burroughs started the engine, and amid loud shouts from the assembled soldiery drawn up on the shore and about the landing-stage in anticipation of the chief's arrival, and from the rag-tag populace swarming on every patch of open space, the vessel ran a few yards up the river, planed as it gathered speed, and finally soared smoothly into the air.

Burroughs flew low, so that the trees that edged the river might prevent the spectators at the harbour from following too closely the direction of his flight.Chung Pi was as happy as a lark.He sat, beaming a bland smile, in the seat which Errington had so often occupied.What visions of greatness shone before his soaring soul!He wished that the honourable stranger would rise higher, so that he might descend upon his chief like a celestial benediction.But the honourable stranger's mood seemed to have changed since he left the town.There, he was affable, condescending, communicative; he had a pleasant smile; now he was silent, his lips were pressed together, his moustache appeared stern and forbidding.Chung Pi reflected that he naturally felt his responsibility.

For some two miles Burroughs headed straight up the river.Then, well clear of the town, he suddenly altered his course, leaving the river, flying inland, rising as he did so, in order to clear the tree-tops and to get a complete view of the city.The flying boat was describing a circle; presently it was heading on a straight course for Su Fing's yamen, that stood, bright and picturesque, a conspicuous object on its elevated site.

"But what is this?"said Chung Pi anxiously."We are going back!"

Burroughs did not turn his head or open his lips.But Chin Tai, squatting a little in the rear of the captain, remembered the instructions which his master had impressed upon him in that quiet talk by the window of the prisoner's room.

"Be not alarmed, noble captain," he said with obsequious reverence."My august master has forgotten the little charm which he carries to keep off the evil spirits of the air.It would be terrible to start on so important a journey without this necessary talisman."

"But we have already started," Chung Pi objected."And have I not the red silk in my queue, and my own charm about my neck?Will they not suffice, O foolish one?"

"Heaven-born excellency," replied Chin Tai in still more submissive tones, "you perceive that we have started to return to the yamen.We shall begin our real journey from there."

"But your illustrious master has the charm.He showed it me long ago."

For a moment Chin Tai was staggered; but ready wit coming to his aid, he said--

"This is another charm, noble captain--a better one.My august master must have left it in the yamen.Even the great are at times foolish."

"That is true," said Chung Pi, thinking of Su Fing."Your illustrious master does well to be quite safe, but we waste much time."

"Very little, illustrious captain.Are we not flying swift as any bird?Your excellency will be amazed to see how fast we can go, before our flight is finished."

Chung Pi was pacified.Indeed, he began to revel in his sensations.How smoothly the vessel flew!How delightful was the scene below--the tree-tops never beheld yet except by the birds of the air, the rolling river, the woods and vales beyond; the city, so rapidly approaching, in its new aspect no longer a labyrinth of mean streets, but a picturesque pattern of masonry!Su Fing, with all his examinations, had never learnt these secrets of the air; Chung Pi began to wonder whether so ignorant a man was fitted to be chief.

Burroughs steered straight for the yamen.It was a severe test of his airmanship to alight on the narrow piece of ornamental water that graced the gardens, and to avoid the bridge that zigzagged across it from shore to shore.He shaved it almost by a hair-breadth, and came safely down upon the lake's unruffled surface.Then he ran the vessel to the end nearest the yamen, and brought it up against the stone parapet of a terrace on which Su Fing was wont to walk of an evening, watching the graceful movements of his swans, and meditating his projects against tyranny.

And now Burroughs found his tongue.Speaking with a curt brevity that somewhat offended the captain's sense of what was due to his new-born dignity, he ordered--for it was more an order than a request--Chung Pi to remain in the boat with Lo San; he himself with his servant would proceed to the yamen and fetch the charm.Lo San was nervous.He had made up his mind to throttle the captain if any harm befell "Massa Bullows," or if he attempted in any way to interfere.But looking at the big man, his muscular limbs, his sword and dagger, he felt that the task might prove to be beyond his powers.

"Massa Bullows" had ordered him to turn the vessel round, so that its head pointed towards the river, and to be ready to throw the engine into first speed as soon as he gave the word on his return.Having brought the boat again alongside the parapet, he sat waiting, with his eyes fixed on Chung Pi's half-sullen face.

Burroughs, meanwhile, had hurried with Chin Tai through the garden, crossed the rising terraces, and come round to the entrance of the yamen.The guards stood aside to let him pass.Without any appearance of haste he entered, and reached the door of the room in which Errington and Reinhardt were still confined.The sentinels were clustered about a window at one end of the passage, gazing with curiosity at the boat in which their captain sat.Chin Tai hailed them, and pointing to Chung Pi, ordered the men to enter the room, release the bound prisoner, and march him down to the vessel.Burroughs watched them nervously, asking himself whether his scheme would succeed.It was at this point that it threatened to break down.He had calculated that all four men would flock into the room together, but only three did so, the fourth remaining outside.

"Watch this man," said Burroughs to Chin Tai, following the three men into the room.

They were stooping over the German, fumbling with the knots which they had themselves tied, when Errington, who had moved unconcernedly towards the door, suddenly darted out.At the same moment Burroughs stepped back into the passage, pulled the door after him, and shot the bolt; and Chin Tai sprang at the bewildered sentinel, caught him by the throat, and held on until he was half strangled.Then Burroughs drew from his pocket some cords and a piece of canvas he had brought from the boat, and with Errington's assistance gagged and bound the man.

Before this was done, the sentinels bolted in the room had begun to yell, hammering on the door with the butts of their spears.The sounds attracted two or three servants of the yamen, who had nothing to do until their master returned.They came running into the passage from the outer courtyard, just in time to see the two foreigners, and the Chinaman, leap from the window on to the walk beneath.Instead of opening the door of the prisoner's room, the servants ran yelling towards the outer gate, to inform the guards that the English prisoner had escaped, and was being pursued by the German and his boy.The guards rushed up to the walk beneath the window, from which they could see Errington spring like a deer from terrace to terrace, with the two others close behind as if chasing him.

Burroughs had calculated that, even if Chung Pi should catch sight of them the moment they left the house, he would scarcely be able to grasp and grapple with the situation during the few seconds in which they were sprinting across the eighty yards of terraces that separated the yamen from the lakeside.They expected that his first movement would be to spring ashore, and Lo San had been ordered to lay the boat at the steps leading up to the parapet so as to give him an opportunity of doing so.But they had not reckoned with the effect of their startling actions upon the captain's wits, or with the clamour that had sprung up behind them.The whole population of the yamen was streaming out into the grounds, yelling at the top of their voices, many of them without knowing why.Su Fing's wife and children were drawn from their secluded quarters; cooks, scullions, hair-dressers, nurses, gardeners, all the personnel of the chief's establishment were out of doors.

Chung Pi, who had been sitting in impatient dudgeon in the boat, rose to his feet at this extraordinary hullabaloo, and gazed in consternation up towards the yamen, missing the three men, who were nearer to him, but partially hidden by the shrubbery of the terraces.When they pulled themselves up sharply at the stone parapet, leapt down the stairs, and stepped gingerly, as became the light framework of the craft, into the canvas boat, he sank, utterly unstrung, on to one of the thwarts.

This unhappy consequence of a surfeit of melon seeds and sam-shu very much simplified the matter for Burroughs and Errington.They had discussed in the room in the yamen what they should do if the genial warrior showed fight, and had come reluctantly to the conclusion that it might be necessary to tumble him into the lake.It was shallow, and there was no danger of so buoyant a man drowning.The fugitives were much relieved to find that it was unnecessary to adopt a violent course with him.It went against the grain to discommode physically so friendly a simpleton, to say nothing of the unwisdom of engaging in a tussle when a score or two pursuers were within a few yards of them.

At the moment of reaching the lakeside Burroughs signed to Lo San to put the engine at full speed.Then dashing past the bewildered captain, he seized the steering-wheel as the vessel moved out.For a few yards the boat planed, but by the time it had gathered way, and Burroughs adjusted the elevator and switched the engine on to the air tractor, the bridge was perilously near.But for the zigzag construction of the bridge, the boat could hardly have been prevented from dashing into it.But a slight movement of the rudder caused it to clear the bridge where it dropped down towards the approach on the lakeside, and it soared over the stonework with the narrowest of margins.From that point the grounds of the yamen were open for the space of more than a hundred yards, except for some clumps of shrubbery which were easily avoided.Free now to employ the elevating planes, Burroughs sent the vessel aloft, cleared the outer walls, dodged the trees beyond, and set his course straight for the river.

By this time Chung Pi had partially regained his composure.Not a word had been spoken; everything had happened in the space of a minute or two.The captain's dominating feeling was annoyance that the stranger had dared to bring the prisoner from the yamen without consulting him; indeed, in defiance of the contrary wish he had expressed earlier in the day.But he put it down to an ambitious desire to cut a figure before the chief; and since he, Chung Pi, would share in the glory of the feat, he decided to overlook the presumption and content himself by and by with a reprimand.

His feeling changed, however, to amazement, suspicion and foreboding, when he saw that the flying boat, instead of turning up-river, skimmed over the tops of the houses in the contrary direction.He heard the shouts of the crowds below, the ringing of bells, the beating of gongs, and glancing to the right he saw with dismay the smoke of the chief's launch high up the river.

"We are going the wrong way!"he cried in desperation."Su Fing is at hand!"

"Be at ease, noble captain," said Lo San pleasantly."We shall soon be at Sui-Fu!"

He flattered himself that the shock of this announcement would give Chung Pi "pins and needles inside," as he said afterwards; little foreseeing that he himself was to have a succession of very unpleasant shocks before night.