by Guy Boothby
CHAPTER II.
AN EVENTFUL VOYAGE.
The last stroke of twelve was just booming out on the muggy night whenI stepped on to the landing-stage to await my mysterious employer. Thehotel servant who had carried my bag put it down, and having receivedhis gratuity left me. The soft moonlight flooded everything, threwquaint shadows upon the wharf planks, shone upon the sleeping sampansbeside it, and gurgled in oily wreaths on the placid water in thedepths between them. Very few people were abroad, and those who werehad no attention to spare for me. The Sikh policeman, who passed andrepassed, alone seemed to wonder what a white lord could be doing insuch a place at such a time. But doubtless he had had experience ofthe curious ways of Sahibdom, and, being a wise man, if he possessedany curiosity, he refrained from giving me evidence of the fact.
Suddenly the patter of naked feet behind me caught my ear. A Chinesechair, borne by two stalwart bearers, was approaching. Very naturallyI settled it in my own mind that it contained the man whom I was tomeet, and turned to receive him. But when the conveyance was set down,it was not the respectable Englishman I had seen before who steppedout of it, but a portly Chinaman of considerable rank and dignity. Hewas gorgeously clad in figured silk; his pigtail reached halfway tohis heels and was adorned with much ornamentation; and I noticed thathe wore large tortoiseshell spectacles which, while they completelyhid his eyes, gave a curious effect to his otherwise not unhandsomecountenance. Having descended from his equipage, he dismissed hisbearers, and began to stump solemnly up and down the landing-stage,drawing closer and closer to me at every turn. Presently he summonedup courage enough to accost me. To my surprise he said:
"What for you come here one piecee look see?"
Not being an adept at pigeon English, I simply answered--
"I'm afraid I don't understand you."
"What for you come here look see?"
"I'm waiting for a friend."
"Your friend allee same Engleesman?"
"Yes, I believe he's an Englishman."
"You go 'way look see chop-chop?"
"You'll excuse me, but that's my own affair, I think."
"Allee same smallee pox, I think!"
"You may think what you please."
"S'posing you say, smallee poxee, allee same one piecee thousan'pound?"
"I'm afraid I can't continue this conversation. Good evening."
I turned on my heel, and was about to leave him, when he stopped me bysaying in excellent English:
"Thank you, Dr. De Normanville. I'm quite satisfied."
"Good gracious, what's all this?"
"Why, it means that I have been trying you, that's all. Forgive thedeception, but the importance of our mission must be my excuse. Now wemust be going. Here is the boat."
As he spoke, a large sampan shot out from among its companions andcame swiftly towards the wharf.
"Two cautions before we embark. The first--remember that I am aChinaman, and speak only pigeon English. The second--if you are armed,be careful of your revolver. The men who work the junk we are goingdown to meet are not to be trusted; hence my disguise."
He left me and descended the steps. The sampan by this time had comealongside; a woman was rowing and a vigorous conversation in Chineseensued. When it was finished my companion beckoned to me, and pickingup my bag I went down to him. Next moment I was aboard and stuffedaway in the little pokey rat-hole of a cabin amidships. My friend tookhis place beside me, a small boy took the helm, and we pushed off. Nota word was spoken, and in this fashion for nearly an hour we pursuedour way down the harbour, passed a flotilla of junks, threaded acourse between the blue and red funnel boats, and finally swept outinto the clear space that stretches away from Port Victoria as far asGreen Island.
For hours we seemed to be imprisoned in that stuffy little cabin. Likemost sampans, the boat smelt abominably, and as we could only see themechanical rowing of the women in the well forrard, and hear theoccasional commands of the tiny boy steering aft, our enjoyment may beplaced on the debit side of the account without any fear ofmiscalculation.
At length my companion, who had not uttered a word since he steppedaboard, began to show signs of impatience. He rose from his seat andpeered out into the night. Presently he appeared to be a littlerelieved in his mind, for he reseated himself with a muttered "Thankgoodness," and gave himself up to a careful consideration of ourposition. Through a slit in the tarpaulin I could just see that wewere approaching a big junk, whose ample girth almost blocked thefairway. Her great, square cut stern loomed above us, and round it ourcoxswain steered us with a deftness extraordinary.
As we came alongside one of the women rowing drew in her oar and saida few words to my companion. In answer he stepped out of the shelterand called something in Chinese. A voice from the junk replied, andthe answer being evidently satisfactory we hitched on and prepared tochange vessels. A rope was thrown to us, and when it had been madefast my guide signed to me to clamber aboard. I did so, and the nextmoment was on the junk's deck assisting him to a place beside me.
Two or three men were grouped about amidships watching us, and one,the owner, or skipper of the boat I presumed, entered upon alongwinded conversation with my conductor. As they talked I heard thesampan push off and disappear astern. Then our crew fell to work--thegreat sails were hoisted, a hand went aft to the tiller, and withinfive minutes we were waddling down the straits at a pace that mightpossibly have been four knots an hour. All this time my companion hadnot addressed me once. His whole attention seemed to be concentratedupon the work going on around him. He treated me with thecontemptuous indifference generally shown by Chinamen towardsbarbarian Englishmen, and this I was wise enough not to resent.
I will not deny, however, that I was nervous. The mysterious errand onwhich I was bound, the emphatic, but not reassuring, warning of myastute companion, and the company in which I now found myself, werecalculated to have this effect. But as we left the land behind us andwaddled out to sea, my fears began in a measure to subside, and Ifound myself gazing about me with more interest than I should at anyother time have thought possible.
The junk was one of the largest I had ever seen, and, like most of herclass, appeared to be all masts, sails, and stern. The crew were asusual very numerous, and a more evil-looking lot no one could possiblywish to set eyes on; the face of one little pock-marked fellow beingparticularly distasteful to me. That this individual, for some reason,bore me no good will I was pretty positive, and on one occasion, inpassing where I stood, he jolted against me in such a fashion and withsuch violence that he nearly capsized me. At any other time I shouldhave resented his behaviour, but, bearing in mind my companion'sadvice, I held my peace.
By this time it was nearly two o'clock. The wind was every momentfreshening and a brisk sea rising. The old tub began to pitchunpleasantly, and I found repeated occasion to thank my stars that Iwas a good sailor. Sharp dashes of spray broke over her decks at everyplunge, soaking us to the skin, and adding considerably to theunpleasantness of our position. Still, however, my companion did notspeak, but I noticed that he watched the men about him with whatstruck me as increased attention.
Seeing that I had had no sleep at all that night it may not be amatter of much surprise that I presently began to nod. Stowing myselfaway in a sheltered corner, I was in the act of indulging in a napwhen I felt a body fall heavily against me. It was my companion whohad dropped asleep sitting up, and had been dislodged by a sudden rollof the ship. He fell clean across me, his face against my ear. Nextmoment I knew that the catastrophe was intentional.
"Keep your eyes open," he whispered as he lay; "there is treacheryaboard. We shall have trouble before long."
After that you may be sure I thought no more of sleep. Pulling myselftogether I slipped my hand into the pocket that had contained myrevolver, only to find, to my horror and astonishment, that it wasgone. My pocket had been picked since I had come aboard the junk.
My consternation may be better imagined than described, a
nd as soon asI could find occasion I let my companion know of my misfortune.
"I gave you fair warning," he replied calmly, "now we shall probablyboth lose our lives. However, what can't be cured must be endured, sopretend to be asleep and don't move, whatever happens, until you hearfrom me. That little pock-marked devil haranguing the others forrardis Kwong Fung, the most notorious pirate along the whole length of thecoast, and if we fall into his hands, well, there will not be twodoubts as to what our fate will be."
He tumbled over on to his side with a grunt, while I shut my eyes andpretended to be asleep. It was growing cold; the wind was rising andwith it the sea. Already the stars in the East were palingperceptibly, and in another hour, at most, day would be born.
It's all very well for people to talk about coolness and presence ofmind in moments of extreme danger. Since the events I'm now narratingtook place, I've been in queerer quarters than most men, and thoughI've met with dozens who could be brave enough when the actual momentfor fighting arrived, I've never yet encountered one who could liestill, doing nothing, for three-quarters of an hour, watching hisdeath preparing for him, and not show some sign of nervousness.Frankly, I will admit that I was afraid. To have to lie on thatuncomfortable heaving deck, a big sea running, and more than a capfulof wind blowing, watching, in the half dark, a gang of murderousruffians plotting one's destruction, would try the nerves of theboldest of men. Small wonder then that my lower limbs soon became likeblocks of ice, that my teeth chattered in my head, and that anindescribable sinking sensation assumed possession of my internalregions. I could not take my eyes off the group seated frog fashion onthe deck forrard. Their very backs held an awful fascination for me.
But, as it soon turned out, my interest in them was almost my undoing.For had I not been so intent upon watching what was before me I shouldperhaps have heard the rustling of a human body outside the bulwarksagainst which I had seated myself. In that case I should have detectedthe figure that had crawled quietly over and was now stealing alongthe deck towards where I lay. In his hand he carried a thin cord atthe end of which was a noose just capable of encircling my head.
Suddenly I felt something touch my throat. I lifted my head, and atthe same instant the truth dawned upon me. _I was being strangled._How long a time elapsed between the cord's touching my neck and mylosing consciousness I could not say, but brief as was the interval, Ican recollect seeing my companion half raise himself. Then came aflash, a loud report, a sudden singing in my ears, and I remember nomore.
When I recovered my wits again my companion was bending over me.
"Thank God," he said piously, "I began to think the brute had done foryou. Now pull yourself together as fast as you can, for there's goingto be serious trouble."
I looked round me as well as I could. By my side lay the body of theman, with the cord still in his hand, and from the way in which onearm was stretched out and the other doubled under him, I gathered thathe was dead. Amidships the crew of the junk were assembled, listeningto the excited oratory of the little pock-marked devil against whom mycompanion had warned me. He held in his hand a revolver--mine, I hadno difficulty in guessing--and, from the way in which he turned andpointed in our direction, I understood that he was explaining to theothers the necessity which existed for exterminating us without delay.I turned to my companion and warmly thanked him for the shot that hadsaved my life.
"Don't mention it," he answered coolly. "It was fortunate I saw himcoming. You must remember that besides saving you it has put one ofour adversaries out of the way, and every one against odds like thiscounts. By the way, you'd better find something to lay about youwith--for from all appearance we're in for a big thing."
Under the bulwarks, and a little to the left of where I sat, was astout iron bar some two feet six in length. I managed to secure it,and having done so, felt a little easier in my mind.
As I crawled back to my station another report greeted my ears, and atthe same instant a bullet bedded itself in the woodwork, within aninch of my left temple.
"That's the introduction," said my imperturbable friend with a grimsmile. "Are you ready? He's got the only weapon among them and fivemore cartridges left in it. Keep by me and give no quarter--forremember if they win they'll show you none."
Bang! Another bullet whizzed past my ear.
Bang! My companion gave a low whistle and then turned to me.
"Grazed my forearm," he said calmly, and then raising his pistol shotthe nearest of our assailants dead. The man gave a little cry, morelike a sob, and with outspread arms fell on his face upon the deck.The next roll of the vessel carried him into the lee scuppers, wherefor some time he washed idly to and fro. Never in my life before had Iseen anything so coolly deliberate as the way in which he was pickedoff. It was more like rabbit shooting than anything else.
"Two cartridges gone!" said my comrade.
As he spoke a bullet tore up the deck at my feet, while another grazedmy right shoulder.
"Four. Keep steady; he's only two left. Look out _then_, for they'llrush us to a certainty! I wish I could get another shot at themfirst."
But this wish was not destined to be gratified. The scoundrels had hadsufficient evidence of his skill as a marksman, and being prudent,though precious, villains they had no desire to receive further proofof it. They therefore kept in shelter.
Minute after minute went slowly by, and everyone found the nightdrawing further off the sky, and the light widening more perceptibly.But still no sign came from those in hiding forrard. To my mind thiswatching and waiting was the worst part of the whole business. Allsorts of fresh horrors seemed to cluster round our position as wecrouched together in the shelter aft.
Suddenly, without any warning, and with greater majesty than I everremember to have observed in him before or since, the sun rose in thecloudless sky. Instantly with his coming, light and colour shot acrossthe waters, the waves from being of a dull leaden hue became green andfoam-crested, and the great fibre sails of the junk from figuring asblears of double darkness, reaching up to the very clouds, took tothemselves again their ordinary commonplace and forlorn appearance.
Our course lay due east, and for this reason the sun shone directly inour faces, dazzling us, and for the moment preventing our seeinganything that might be occurring forrard. I could tell that this was amatter of some concern to my companion, and certainly it was not toremain very long a matter of indifference to me.
The sun had been above the sky line scarcely a matter of two minuteswhen another shot was fired from forward, and I fell with a cry to thedeck. Next moment I had picked myself up again, and, feeling very sickand giddy, scrambled to my companion's side. He was as cool andapparently as unconcerned as ever.
"The other was the prologue--this is going to be the play itself. Keepas close to me as you can, and above all things fight to thedeath--accept no quarter, and give none."
The words were hardly out of his mouth before we heard a scampering ofbare feet upon the deck, and a succession of shrill yells, and thenthe vessel paying off a little on her course showed us the ruffiansclimbing on to the raised poop upon which we stood. To my horror--for,strangely enough, in that moment of intense excitement, I was capableof a second emotion--I saw that they were six in number, while areinforcement, numbering three more, waited upon the fo'c's'le head towatch the turn of events.
As the head of the first man appeared my companion raised his pistoland pulled the trigger. The bullet struck the poor wretch exactly onthe bridge of the nose, making a clear round hole from which, aninstant later, a jet of blood spurted forth. A second bullet carriedanother man to his account, and by this time the remaining four wereupon us.
Of what followed in that turmoil I have but a very imperfectrecollection. I remember seeing three men rush towards me, one of whomI knew for Kwong Fung, the little pock-marked rascal before mentioned,and I recollect that, with the instinct of despair, I clutched my barof iron in both hands and brought it down on the head of the nearestof th
e trio with all my force. It caught him on the right temple, andcrushed the skull in like a broken egg-shell. But the piraticalscoundrels had forgotten the man lying on the deck. In their haste toadvance they omitted to step over his body, caught their feet and fellto the ground. At least, I am wrong in saying they fell to the ground,for only the pock-marked rascal fell; the other tripped, and wouldhave recovered himself and been upon me had I not sprung upon him,thrown away my bar, caught up his companion's knife, which had fallenfrom his hand, and tried my level best to drive it in above hisshoulder-blade. But it was easier said than done. He clutched mefiercely and, locked hard and fast, we swayed this way and that,fighting like wild-cats for our lives. He was a smaller man than I,but active as an acrobat, and in the most perfect training. Up anddown, round and round we went, eyes glaring, breath coming in greatgasps, our hands upon each other's throats, and every moment drawingcloser and closer to the vessel's side.
Though the whole fight could not have lasted a minute it seemed aneternity. I was beginning to weaken, and I saw by the look in hishateful almond eyes that my antagonist knew it. But he had bargainedwithout his host. A heavy roll sent the little vessel heeling over tothe port side, and an instant later we were both prone upon the deckrolling, tumbling, fighting again to be uppermost. From the manner inwhich I had fallen, however, the advantage now lay with me, and youmay be sure I was not slow to make the most of it. Throwing myselfover and seating myself astride of him, I clutched my adversary bythe throat, and, drawing back my arm, struck him with my clenched fistbetween his eyes. The blow was given with all my strength, and itcertainly told. He lay beneath me a bleeding and insensible mass. Thenstaggering to my feet I looked about me. On the deck were four deadbodies; two on the break of the poop lying faces down, just where theyhad fallen, one at my feet, his skull dashed in and his brainsprotruding, a horrible sight,--another under the bulwarks, his limbstwitching in his death agony, and his mouth vomiting blood withautomatic regularity. My companion I discovered seated astride ofanother individual, admonishing him with what I knew was an emptyrevolver to abstain from any further attempt to escape.
"I think we have got the upper hand of them now," he said as calmly asif he were accustomed to going through this sort of thing every day ofhis life. "Would you be so good as to hand me that piece of rope? Imust make this slippery gentleman fast while I have him."
"Surely it's the leader of the gang," I cried, at the same time doingas he had asked me. "The man you pointed out to me, Kwong Fung?"
"You're quite right. It is."
"And now that you have him, what will his fate be?"
"A short shrift and a long rope, if I have anything to do with thematter. There! That's right, I don't think you'll get into muchmischief now, my friend."
So saying he rose to his feet, rolled the man over on to his back, andturned to me.
"My goodness, man, you're wounded," he cried, spinning me round tofind out whence the blood was dripping.
And so I was, though in my excitement I had quite forgotten the fact.A ball had passed clean through the fleshy part of my left arm, andthe blood flowing from it had stiffened all my sleeve.
With a gentleness one would hardly have expected to find in him, myfriend drew off my coat and cut open my shirt sleeve. Then bidding mestay where I was while he procured some water with which to bathe thewound, he left me and went forrard. I did not, however, see himreturn, for now that the excitement had departed, a great faintnesswas stealing over me. The sea seemed to be turning black, and the deckof the junk to be slipping away from under me. Finally, my legstottered, my senses left me, and I fell heavily to the ground.
When I came to myself again I was lying on a pile of fibre sails underthe shelter of an improvised awning. My companion, whose name Idiscovered later was Walworth, was kneeling beside me with apreternaturally grave expression upon his usually stolid face.
"How do you feel now?" he inquired, holding a cup of water to my lips.
I drank eagerly, and then replied that I felt better, but terriblyweak.
"Oh, that's only to be expected," he answered reassuringly. "We oughtto be glad, considering the amount of blood you must have lost, thatit's no worse. Keep up your heart. You'll soon be all right now."
"Has anything happened?"
"Nothing at all! We're the victors without doubt. As soon as you canspare me I'm going forrard to rouse out the rest of the gang, and getthe junk on her course again. We've no time to waste pottering abouthere."
"I'm well enough now. Only give me something to protect myself with incase of accident."
"Here's your own revolver, of which I relieved our pock-marked friendyonder. I've refilled it, so, if you want to, you can do damage to theextent of six shots--two for each of the three remaining men!"
After glancing at his own weapon to see that it was fully charged, hepicked his way forrard and called in Chinese to those in hiding tocome forth, if they wished to save their lives. In response to hissummons three men crawled out and stood in a row. After he hadharangued them, I noticed that he questioned them eagerly in turn, andwas evidently much perturbed at the answers he received. When he hadsaid all that he had to say he searched for something, and, notfinding it, left them and came back to me. Before making any remark heturned over the bodies on the deck, and, when he had done so, seemedstill more put out.
"What's the matter?" I inquired. "Are we in for any more trouble?"
"I'm afraid so. That rascally captain, seeing how the fighting wasgoing, and dreading my vengeance, must have jumped overboard, leavingno man save myself capable of navigating the junk. Added to which thefood and water supply--which, had this trouble not occurred, and wehad got further upon our way, would have been ample for ourrequirements--will only last us, at most, two more meals. However,it's no good crying over spilt milk; we must do our best with whatwe've got, and having done that we can't do more. Let us hope we'llsoon pick up the boat of which we're in search."
"And what boat may that be?"
"Why, the vessel that is to take us to the island, to be sure. Whatother could it be?"
"I had no idea that we were in search of one."
"Well, we are; and it looks as if we shall be in search of her forsome time to come. Confound those treacherous beggars!"
As he said this he assumed possession of the tiller, the vessel's headwas brought round to her course, and presently we were wobbling alongin a new and more westerly direction.
Hour after hour passed in tedious monotony, and still we sailed on.The heat was intense--the wind dropped toward noon, and the face ofthe deep then became like burnished silver--almost impossible to lookupon. But no sign of the craft we were in search of greeted our eyes;only a native boat or two far away to the eastward and a big steamerhull down upon the northern horizon.
It was not a cheerful outlook by any manner of means, and for thehundredth time or so I reproached myself for my folly in ever havingundertaken the voyage. To add to my regret my arm was still verypainful, and though, to a certain extent, I was protected from the sunby the awning my friend had constructed for me, yet I began to sufferagonies of thirst. The afternoon wore on--the sun declined upon thewestern horizon, and still no wind came. It looked as if we weredestined to spend yet another night upon this horrible junk, the verysight of which had become beyond measure loathsome to me. As darknessfell, it seemed peopled with ghosts, for though the bodies of thosekilled in the late affray no longer defaced the deck with theirghastly presence, I could not drive the picture they had presentedfrom my brain.
When the sun disappeared below the horizon, a great peace fell uponthe deep, broken only by the groaning of our timbers and theill-stepped masts. Little by little darkness stole down upon us, a fewstars came into the sky, followed soon after by multitudes of others.But there was no wind at all, and by this time my thirst wasexcruciating. About seven o'clock my companion brought me a small cupof water, hardly sufficient to wet my lips, but more precious than anydiamonds, and held it wh
ile I drank.
"I'm sorry to say that's all we have," he said solemnly when I hadfinished it. "Henceforward we must go without."
His words seemed to toll in my ears like a death knell, and I becamethirsty again immediately. I suppose I must have been in a high stateof fever; at any rate I know that I have never spent such anothernight of pure physical agony in my life.
I was asleep next morning when the sun rose, but his heat soon woke meto the grim reality of our position. My companion was still at thetiller, and from where I lay I could see that we were still sailing inthe same direction. He called to me to know how I felt, and to showhim that I was better, I endeavoured to rise, only to fall back againin what must have been a dead faint.
I have no recollection of what followed immediately upon my recoveringmyself, except a confused remembrance of craving for water--water!water! water! But there was none to be had even if I had offered ahundred pounds for a drop.
Towards evening our plight was indeed pitiable. We were all too weakto work the boat. Friends and foes mingled together unmolested. Unableto bear his agony one of the men jumped overboard, and so ended hissufferings. Others would have followed his example, but my companionpromised that he would shoot the next man who attempted it, and somake his end still more certain.
About half-past seven the sun sank beneath the horizon, and with hisdeparture a welcome breeze came down to us. Within an hour this hadfreshened into a moderate gale. Then, just before darkness obscuredeverything, a cry from one of the Chinamen forrard brought mycompanion to his feet. Rushing to the side he stared towards the west.
"Yes! Yes it is! We're saved, De Normanville--we're saved. As he says,it is the schooner!"
Then for the fourth time during that eventful voyage my sensesdeserted me!
