by T. T. Jeans
*CHAPTER XIII*
*Mr. Ching to the Rescue*
Just in Time--Too Late!--In Hiding--Mr. Ching Arrives--Death of Mr. Hoffman--The Attack on the House--The Vigilant Signals--The Fog Increases--Searching for Rifles--Ford finds the Ammunition--Ford Saves the Situation--Waiting for Daybreak
_Written by Midshipman Ford_
We went wriggling along through the dark, and presently began to passbetween junks--heaps of them. You could see nothing but their tallleaning masts sticking up like slate pencils. We dodged in and out, andsometimes a voice would sing out from one of them, and we would huddledown in the bottom of the boat, whilst the Scotchman replied in what Isuppose was Chinese, and pushed on.
We must have gone like this for nearly twenty minutes, I should imagine,and then he stopped to take a breath.
"Who are you? Where are you taking us?" I whispered; but he didn'tanswer, and, changing his hands, went on pushing the scull from side toside very vigorously, but stopped a minute or two later and lookedbehind us, where we could all at once see a great red glow, which showedup the junks we had just passed.
"They've set a light to the boss's hoose," he whispered; "they'll beafter seeking the little lass the noo." And he worked harder andharder, and the shadows got darker and the water more narrow, and I knewthat we were getting under some high land, and wondered whether wereally were being taken to that house on the hill. Up over our heads wecould hear a lot of talking and wrangling, and suddenly a rifle wentoff, and then another, and we could hear cries, and presently all wasquiet again.
My heart was simply thumping against my side.
"God grant we be in time," I heard him say to himself; and he stoppedsculling for a second, peered through the darkness, and then shot theboat in till it rasped against some stones.
"Get oot!" he whispered. "Doan't talk a word, and jest follow me."
We got ashore as quickly as we could. He had a piece of rope in hishand, and made us all take hold of it, and we followed him along a steeppath. We hadn't gone ten yards when there were more rifle shots andmore yells.
"The Lord be praised! they're still shooting 'em," he said, and hurriedalong all the faster. I could hardly keep up, and the stones hurt myfeet.
We seemed to be making a long curve away from the noises and the water,and he kept on losing the path, and we had to shove our way between highbushes, which scratched us; but then we turned to our right, and couldsee the top of a high wall right in front of us.
He broke into a run, we dropped the rope, and ran after him up to asmall door. He fumbled for a moment with the lock, it opened, we creptin, and he shut it again.
We were in a garden place now, pitch dark, and he led us across itunderneath some trees with low branches. The noise of rifles seemed tobe right in front of us, and we came to the walls of a house with not alight showing. He knocked at a door; nothing happened. We rushed roundto the other side to a smaller one; he tried his key again, and itopened, and an old Chinese woman with a tiny lamp in her hand, and hermouth open with fright, was looking down at us.
The Scotchman turned to me. "Go in there; Hobbs and his lassie arethere. Get them here in two minutes; I'll be back then. We must getthem away. Quick, for God's sake, boy!" and he disappeared.
I went in, and heard Sally's voice singing out--very frightened and verysad, it seemed, "Who's that? Is it Captain Evans?"
"Midshipman Ford of the _Vigilant_," I called out, not knowing the leastwho Captain Evans was. "We've come to take you away." My aunt! I wasproud then; for it suddenly struck me that, after all, I should be ableto do something for Captain Lester. Everything had really seemed towork out right, and I expected Sally to come tearing down, and was jollyglad that there wasn't enough light for her to see me; but instead, Iheard a sob and then a fall, and guessed what had happened.
The old woman brought her light, and I saw that she was lying all in aheap. I hadn't the least idea what to do. "What d'you do for a faint,Miller?" I asked. "You've been through 'first aid'." I was frightenedagain, and didn't know what to do; but the old Scotchman came rushinginto the house, picked her up, took her into another room, and shookher. Miller had got hold of some water and shoved it over her head, andshe tried to sit up.
"Where's Hobbs? Where's your father?" he called to her loudly; and shepointed through another door. And we found the little man lying in bed,looking ghastly; he looked an absolute skeleton.
He began to curse the Scotchman, but I stepped between them. "I'mMidshipman Ford of the _Vigilant_, sir, come to fetch you and MissHobbs. You must come immediately; these are two of my men."
I must say that we didn't look very respectable, but we were good enoughfor him, and he crawled out of bed and began to dress.
"I'm too weak to walk much, but reckon I'll do it if it ain't far.You've been a tarnation long while finding us," he grumbled.
I don't think that I liked him very much.
All this time the noise outside was awful--rifles firing, crowds ofpeople yelling--and stones began to patter against the shutters. Theold Scotchman couldn't wait any longer, wrapped the little man in a longChinese coat, lifted him off his feet, told Miller to bring Sally along,and ran out of the house. "So long as the boss's people keep firing,it's all right," he told me; and then I saw Miller lift Sally in hisarms, in spite of her struggles, and we all followed, stones flying pastour heads and rebounding from the walls. We went across the gardenunder those trees, and made our way back to that small door. TheScotchman put Mr. Hobbs on his feet, and I heard him trying to get thekey in the lock; but just as he was going to open it, there was thesound of a whole lot of people running towards it, and they threw theirshoulders against it and began talking very softly.
I was very frightened again, and I heard the Scotchman moan: "Too late!We're done for!" and we all fled back to the house.
The front of it was now all lighted up with a red glare, showing abovethe top of the wall.
"They're setting fire to the huts," he cried; "go up to the top room.Take them up there, bar the door at the front, and block it up withtables--anything." And he rushed off, came back for his revolver, whichhe had given to Martin, and disappeared.
"Guess Sally Hobbs ain't a ten-cent doll," I heard her sob. "You canput me down right away." She led us along some passages, up some steps,and then to the foot of a ladder. The little man got up it like amonkey, and she followed him.
"Draw it up, and let it down when you hear us call," I sang out; andthen we went back and began to pull along tables and benches and boxes,everything we could find, and piled them up behind the door in the frontof the house. Before we had finished, the Scotchman came running upwith his hands over his head. "We're fair lost! God be merciful to us!The boss's men want to know where he is, and won't hold out many moreminutes unless he turns up. They want to open the gates; say they'llget their throats cut if they don't. Jorgensen has been killed--down inthe town--two hours ago--down by that six-inch gun."
"Can't you do anything?" I asked quickly.
"No, mon, they hate me; and I fear they've killed the boss, and no oneelse can keep them in hand. They're all round us, and they've tastedblood, and the mandarins themselves couldn't stop them.
"Hark!" he said, "they're beating down the little door in the gardenwall. Oh, God, they'll be right here in a moment!"
I was in an awful funk, though not for myself, I think, but more becauseof Sally. When one isn't in a funk for oneself it is easier to keepone's head. I don't think that Miller or myself cared a scrap whathappened to us, so long as we could keep Sally safe. The Scotchman toldus to bring any heavy things we could find to block up the door at theback, and then ran off and brought some rifles and bandoliers.
We bolted the door and piled everything we could find against it, andthen ran round, barring the shutters. We didn't need any lamp, becausethe red glare streamed through the cracks and
lighted up the wholeplace. The old woman had disappeared. Then we picked up the rifles andbandoliers, and he led us to the ladder, Sally crying out and loweringit. We all swarmed up and drew it after us.
The room was a small square place, with stone walls and narrowopenings--you could hardly call them windows--in each wall. They wereclosed with iron shutters, and the one looking over the front was open,and the whole place was lighted up. The Scotchman and I looked out, andit was a most awesome sight.
Down below, about twenty yards from the foot of the house, was the walland the big gateway, and behind it were the Englishman's men, stoopingdown to load and then popping up and firing. They seemed to be standingon some kind of platform or ledge, and were not taking the trouble toaim.
Out beyond there were flames pouring up from half a dozen huts, and wecould hardly hear their noise because of the fearful shouts and yellsfrom a dense crowd of people in between us and them.
They must have seen our faces in the light of the fires, for they yelledmore loudly than ever, and we could see them bending down and thenthrowing stones at us. Stones began clattering against the outside wallall round us, and one came flying into the room, and I heard Sally sobwith fright. We drew in our heads and closed the shutter, but before Idrew in mine I am certain that I saw one of the Chinamen inside the wallpoint his rifle at us and fire. The room was almost dark now, exceptfor one streak of light which came through a gap at one edge of theshutter, and just made light enough for us to see each other. Mr. Hobbswas lying full length on the floor near a wall, and Sally was lying downtoo, with her head on his chest, and moaning. I did wish she wouldleave off, because it made us all so much more frightened.
Directly we had closed the shutter, stones began clattering againstit--and, I'm certain, some bullets too--and we heard a rush, and the mobcharged the big gateway.
We could still hear the ships firing. "My God, I wish they'd come!" Iheard Miller mutter; and that was what I had been praying all the time.
The noise at the back of the garden seemed to have stopped; but thefiring from the wall was easing down too, and the Scotchman groaned out,"They're going to leave us;" and Sally, who seemed almost "off herhead", kept on moaning, "Why doesn't Captain Evans come?"
I felt that I should go mad in a minute if I didn't do something.Miller must have thought the same. "It's no use sitting 'ere to getkilled, sir. Can't we do something? Can't we fire at them? We've gotthree rifles." But the Scotchman wouldn't let us open the shutter.
"Keep still, mon; they haven't all left us yet," and we could still heara few rifles firing from inside the wall.
Just for something to do, I began pulling on my boots--they were stilltied round my neck with the laces--and it was awfully hard work withonly one hand, and they were all sodden and stiff; but Miller helped me.We had just finished, when suddenly there was a rush of feet underneathus at the back of the house, and a furious battering noise on theshutters.
"They've broken in!" the Scotchman groaned, and Sally shrieked andburied her head in her lap. Miller seized a rifle and jumped across,pushed her out of the way, opened the shutter at the back, and leantout. I saw him load it, and he was just going to fire, when there werecries of "Sally! Sally! Open the door!" and more hammering.
"HE WAS JUST GOING TO FIRE"]
We jumped to our feet. Sally shrieked that it was Captain Evans come tosave her, Miller roared "Who's there?" and we heard someone sing out,"Who are you? Is Sally safe?"
I knew the voice; it was Mr. Ching's, the Lieutenant on board the _HuanMin_. I forgot all about my arm, and jumped over to where Miller was."Get out of the way!" I cried, and yelled down, "Midshipman Ford of the_Vigilant_. There are six of us up here, and Miss Hobbs is all right."
"Come down and let me in."
"Right you are, sir!" I shouted, and drew in my head.
"Isn't it Captain Evans?" Sally asked me.
"No. Mr. Ching of the _Huan Min_"
She moaned and began crying again.
We lowered the ladder and scrambled down, pulled the things away fromthe door at the back, and opened it, and there was Mr. Ching and twentyor thirty of his men, all crowding round.
I could only say, "Thank you very much, sir," and should have blubbed ifI'd tried to say any more.
"Hoffman brought us, showed us a path up from the water. He's gone totry and keep order. Can she come away at once?"
I don't know what I was going to say. It didn't make any difference,because the noise at the other side of the house suddenly grew fearfullyloud, and we heard the gates give way and swing back with a crash, andthe mob rush through with frightful yells of triumph. Mr. Ching gave anorder, and ran round to the front of the house, and I found myselffollowing him with Miller behind me.
Some more men joined him at the corner, and then we came out into theglare and saw the bright gap in the dark wall made by the gates beingopen, and a mob sweeping up to the house. They had torches and blazingtufts of straw on poles. A few of the Chinamen inside the wall weretrying to keep them back, but I could see most of them dropping over thewall outside.
Mr. Ching's people fired a volley into the mob, and then another, andsome shots came from the room I'd just left--the Scotchman and Martinfiring, I expect.
The mob didn't seem to have expected any resistance, and stopped andleft off shouting. I could see many of them throw their hands up andfall, and there were shrieks and screams, the blazing bits of straw fellon the ground and were trampled out, and they began to fly back throughthe gateway.
I was swept along with Mr. Ching's men, and found myself in the gateway.Some of them were swinging back one side of it, and pulling aside bodieswhich were in the way.
Someone was trying to crawl away as the big gate swung towards him. Itwas Mr. Hoffman. I could see him well, and just managed to pull hislegs clear as it swung to. He didn't recognize me.
"You hurt, sir?" I asked him.
"Shot through the chest; get me into a corner. Is Sally safe?"
Miller was nowhere to be seen, and I couldn't make any of the _HuanMin's_ bluejackets understand. They were too excited.
"Try and get hold of me; get hold of my coat."
He grabbed at my left side; I gave a yell with the pain of it. "Notthat side; the other, sir," and he got his fingers into the slit of myother pocket and drew himself on his knees, spitting blood out of hismouth and coughing.
Supporting himself like that, and with the other hand on the ground, hemanaged to crawl back to the house and then rolled on his back.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"I'm Ford of the _Vigilant_."
"Thank God you are safe! I'm dying. Bring Sally to me;" and he coughedagain.
"It's not safe for her here; I'll try and get you round to the back."
I heard my name called, and ran towards the gate, and there was Mr.Ching looking for me. "Where is Hoffman? Are you all ready to start?We can keep them off for a time," he panted.
I pointed to where Mr. Hoffman was lying. "He's shot through the chest.He's dying. He can't move."
Mr. Ching groaned. "We shall have to stay here till daylight. I cannever find my way back without him."
I forgot about the Scotchman.
The last of his bluejackets rushed back through the gate, the other halfwere swung across, and we were in darkness again, except for the glareover the top of the wall. Bullets were now spattering against the frontof the house, and bits of plaster were trickling down, and we knew thatthe Chinamen from inside must have joined the mob. Mr. Ching rushed offto place his men round the wall, and I went back to Mr. Hoffman. He wastrying to pull himself up against the side of the house, and I gave himmy right shoulder to lean upon, and we got round to the back like thatand to the door; but he couldn't drag himself over the boxes and pilesof things heaped there, and lay down with his head on the stone slab,half in and half out of the door.
"Get me some water and bring Sally," he whispered. "I'm finished. Godhave m
ercy on me!"
I couldn't see his face--it was so dark--but his voice sounded awful.
I was trembling all over, and scrambled in and called out for Sally. Iforgot to call her Miss Hobbs.
She was still in that small room, and I heard her crawling across thefloor. I heard the Scotchman and Martin firing out of the window too.
"What is it?" she asked in a scared voice. "Are we safe? Has CaptainEvans come?"
"Come down with me. Mr. Hoffman's dying, and wants to see you."
She wouldn't come for some time; and when she did come she was tremblingall over, and I had to steady her with my right arm along the passage.
We found a tin with some water in it, and I took her to Mr. Hoffman,where we could just see him lying.
"Thank God!" I heard him whisper, when she bent over him.
I went away, wanting to cry.
Then I suddenly remembered that the Scotchman could guide us down to thewater, and ran off to find Mr. Ching, but couldn't.
Miller appeared from somewhere.
"That old Scotchman could guide us back," I said. "Where's Mr. Ching?"
"That ain't no good, sir," he said. "They're all round us now, 'undredsand 'undreds of 'em, an' 'e's got only fifty men with 'im." Then Inoticed that bullets were coming from the back of the house as well, andheard furious firing near the little gate by which we had entered.
"That Chinese Lootenant is over there now, sir."
I went across for him, but couldn't find him. His people were outsidethe little doorway, firing into the dark, and he must have been theretoo, and I didn't dare to go out. I couldn't see a yard in front of me.
I think I must have been too absolutely "done up" then to do anythingmore, and I really forget what I did and what happened. I know that Isat down on a stone somewhere near that small doorway, and rested myhead on my knees, and squeezed my left arm to change the pain of it. Iknow that rifles were going oft all round me, and people were shriekingand yelling, and sometimes I heard Miller's voice shouting; buteverything seemed to buzz round in my head, and nothing seemed to matterin the least.
I rather fancy that my idea was to wait there till Mr. Ching came back,and tell him about the Scotchman.
I was roused by hearing the door slammed and being nearly knocked over.Mr. Ching saw me. "Get along back to the house," he gasped--his facewas streaming with blood--"I can't hold the walls any longer. I havenot enough men;" and he more or less lifted me to my feet and gave me apush, and I went staggering along with my legs giving way under me.
I remember seeing Mr. Hoffman lying flat on his back, with his faceturned up and his eyes looking at me, and remember speaking to him; buthe didn't answer. Sally wasn't there either, and I stepped across him,and somehow or other found myself stumbling up the ladder into thatroom, and heard Sally sobbing in a corner. I was shivering, and myteeth were chattering, and that horrid sick feeling came on again.
Just as I got to the bottom of the ladder a stream of fire shot upacross one of the windows, and I heard a rushing noise, as if it were arocket; but I didn't take any notice of it, for everything seemed to begoing round and round People crowded up after me, and pushed me aside,and began firing out of the windows, and the room felt stuffy and fullof powder smoke. Sometimes someone would give a cry, and once someonefell across my legs, and I tried to pull them from under him, butcouldn't, and let them stop there, and remember that the weight waspulled away presently, and I was pushed nearer the wall, and someonegave me some water.
* * * * *
The next I remember was recognizing Miller's voice; it sounded muffledand cotton-woolly and very far away. He was saying: "The ChineseLootenant wants to know if you can take in Morse[#], sir. The_Vigilant_ is signalling. We fired a rocket an hour ago to let 'em knowthat the _Huan Min's_ men were 'ere, an' we've been tryin' to take intheir signal."
[#] Morse code for signalling at night by means of long and shortflashes of a lamp.
"I can't take in flashing lamp," I told him, trying to make my brainwork.
"It ain't flashing lamp, sir; they're adoin' it with a searchlight, andvery very slow, sir, an' the Chinee signalman what came along with 'im,sir, is dead, sir. You'll 'ave to come along pretty quick too, sir;there's a 'orrid fog been shuttin' everythin' out ever since, but it'sjust cleared off for a time. The wind's gone round to the south, and it'as been as thick as pea soup."
I told him that I would try, and got him to help me up. I knew that Icould read it if it was slow enough, and my brain would only rememberproperly. We had to go to the other end of the house, and I don't knowhow Miller got me down that ladder. I know that I slipped and wascaught at the bottom, and my left arm was wrenched again. The painseemed to wake me up, but I had to grind my teeth and sing out.
Miller helped me along the passage and made me stoop down when we passeda window, because the shutters had been thrown back and men werestanding at them firing out, and sometimes bullets were coming in.
"How are we getting on?" I asked him.
"Pretty middlin', sir. We've only had about three killed and two orthree wounded, and we can keep the skunks out of it when we can seethem, which we can't always do on account of this 'ere blessed fog."
He helped me up some steps, and then up a short ladder. Someone hauledme out of a small square opening, and I saw that there was nothing butfog all round drifting slowly past. I heard Mr. Ching's voice: "Can youtake in Morse? I've forgotten it, and my signalman is dead--shot halfan hour ago;" and he pointed to a huddled-up figure beside him."They've been trying to signal through the fog ever since I fired thatrocket, and he got one or two words, but it's been too thick till now.They're just starting again."
I did my best to pull myself together, and asked him where the_Vigilant_ was, and followed his finger, pointing through the mist, andsuddenly saw a very faint searchlight beam sticking straight up.
"Don't stand up; kneel down," he whispered. "They are firing at us."So I knelt down very quickly. Just seeing that beam made me buck up,and I watched it very steadily. I had only just knelt down in time, fora bullet came flying past, and made me crouch still lower.
Then the beam began to wag very slowly--long sweeps down to the groundfor "longs", and short ones only half-way for "shorts".
"Get your knife and scratch 'longs' and 'shorts' on a tile as I singthem out," I told Miller, and heard him do it.
This is what I took in: "... rst ... tenant to Lieutenant Ching (fullstop). Captain landed with one hundred and fifty men two hours ago(full stop). Afraid dense fog has de----" Then the beam disappeared asa thicker bank of fog rolled across; but it was grand news, and I wantedto cheer for joy, and kept my eye fixed on the same spot, and presentlythe beam showed again, and I spelt out: "rocket if Midshipman Ford,Armourer's Mate Miller, Private of Marines Martin is with you."
"They want another rocket fired, sir," I told him.
"I haven't any more rockets," Mr. Ching said. "We only brought one; theothers were left in the boats by accident."
The beam started again. "First Lieutenant to Lieutenant Ching (fullstop). Captain has----" They were repeating the signal, but then thebeam disappeared entirely, and we could see a white wall of fog creepingalong the ground, and even swallowing up the trees underneath us.
"They ought to be here soon," Mr. Ching said, "if only they can findtheir way."
He sent a man round with the news, and we could hear his bluejacketsmaking a funny cheering noise.
I felt ever so much better, and simply being able to take in thatsignal, and be of a little use, cheered me up wonderfully. It was sogrand to know that the Captain had landed with so many men and wascoming to our rescue. I knew he would come just as quickly as he evercould, and oh! I did so long to see him, whether he was angry or not,and to tell him that it wasn't the Commander's fault--not in the least,and to know that Sally and all of us should be safe.
"Does Mr. Hoffman know?" I asked Miller. Mr. C
hing had sent me downagain, and had come down too, see how his men were going on.
"He's been dead this last hour, sir." He was dead when we had to comeback to the house, and we dragged him in after us.
I did feel so sorry, because we should never have found where Sally wasbut for him, and he had done so magnificently; and I knew that theCaptain would be so sorry too, especially as Mr. Hoffman had beaten himat weight lifting.
"You go and get some more sleep," Mr. Ching told me; but I felt so muchbetter, that I implored him to let me stay with him, and he did.
"We are doing all right, aren't we, sir?"
"So far; but this fog makes it difficult for us to see them, and I fearthey may try and rush us. We have not much ammunition left."
We went all round the house, and he spoke very cheerfully to all hismen. They were at all the windows with their rifles pointing out, andpeering into the fog. One or two men were wounded, and sitting withtheir backs to the wall.
"I am going to tell the news to Hobbs and his daughter," Mr. Ching said,when we had come to that end of the house. I had been going to ask himif I could do this, but he said it so curtly, that I thought he wantedto do it by himself, so didn't go with him.
"You have a lot of blood on your face, sir," I told him. "I hope youaren't hurt much."
"Only a stone," he said; but he wiped it off, till I told him there wasno more showing--he wiped it off very carefully--and then went up theladder.
Miller hadn't the faintest idea what time it was--somewhere aboutmidnight, he thought. We were standing near one of the open shutters,and could just see the three or four bluejackets who were guarding it.Outside there was simply a grey black wall of fog. It had settled downso thickly, that you couldn't see a yard from the house, and wasdrifting in through the windows all damp and beastly. Everything waspitch dark; I couldn't see the flames at all (as a matter of fact, thehuts had burnt themselves out, but I didn't know that); and Miller toldme that everything had been pretty quiet during the last half-hour,nothing except an occasional shot, and that the Scotchman and Martinwere still in the upper room. "We had a stiffish bit of businessgetting back to the house, sir. There seemed to be thousands of them ontop of us, but they seem to have cleared off--some of them--and I'mthinkin' they may be after going for the Captain's party."
"Have you heard nothing of them--no firing or anything like that?" Iasked; and when he said "No", asked him if he thought they would be ableto find their way to us. He scratched his head and wouldn't give ananswer.
"It's lucky, sir, you picked up that bit of Morse, sir; it's put newlife into all of us."
I was so proud and conceited of myself, that I told him to go and liedown, and that I would look after the lower windows.
"No, I dars'n't, sir; they're keeping quiet now; but I'm dreadin'they'll be tryin' to rush us. I durs'n't, sir. We've only got aboutten rounds a man left, and it may come to bayonet work, sir, afore weget through the night."
There really wasn't a sound coming from outside, and it all seemed sodark and moist and "creepy", that I really had a most horrid feeling"inside".
Mr. Ching came down the ladder. "She's asleep," he said, and I knewthat he was disappointed. He began going round the men at the windows,seeing that the ammunition was distributed equally. Some men had onlytwo or three rounds left, and I knew by the sound of his voice that thisworried him very much.
One of his men brought round a huge bowl of boiled rice, and thebluejackets scooped it out with their hands and stuffed it down. Theybrought another one for Mr. Ching, and he shared it with Miller and meand the Scotchman and Martin. It was jolly good and jolly warming, andI have never forgotten it; and now, whenever the messman has a lot ofscraps left over, and gives us curry in the gunroom, I think of it andof trying to save the bits of rice that wouldn't go into my mouth, andof that horrid fog.
Mr. Ching was talking of the possibility of getting some ammunition bysearching all the dead Chinamen between the house and the wall, but thenhe remembered that the bluejackets' rifles wouldn't take the pirates'cartridges. They were using Mauser, and his men had only a very oldpattern rifle.
"Why couldn't we bring in rifles too, sir?" I said. "There must be heapsof them lying out there;" and then, without thinking what I was going todo, I sang out to Miller to give me a "leg up", and scrambled throughthe window, and slid down on the ground underneath. Miller slipped downalongside me.
"Come back," I heard Mr. Ching say, but not very determinedly, and I hadsuch a lot of "leeway" to make up for all the stupid things I had done,that I would not have gone back for anybody. You see, I thought that Imight do something useful, and also I was rather ashamed that Mr. Chingand his men should have done everything and we so little.
"Give me two bags," Miller whispered; and Mr. Ching handed out twothings like haversacks, and he slung one over my shoulder and one overhis.
"Tell your people, sir, that we've gone, in case they think we'repirates, please;" and then we crept along until we found the door infront of the house.
"Most of them are in the path to the gate," Miller whispered, and wegroped along it.
We hadn't gone five yards before my foot struck something soft, and itwas a body, and I felt it all over, but couldn't feel any cartridges,and there was nothing either on the ground all round. I found severalmore without ammunition, and then, presently, a couple by themselves,with two rifles lying on the ground close by. It was ripping to feeltheir cold barrels, and the men had full bandoliers round their waists.I couldn't take them off by myself, so whistled for Miller very softly,and he came over to me. He had found another rifle and a good number ofcartridges.
"Better take these back," he whispered; and we did, groping our waythrough the fog, and handed them in at a window.
I knew that there ought to be a good many on that ledge under the wall,where I had seen the Chinamen standing to fire over it, and told Miller.
"Right you are, sir! Let's try;" and we shoved off into the fog again.
"Is that gateway still closed?" I asked him.
"Been smashed over an hour, an' they've been swarming all over 'ere, upto 'arf an 'our ago, sir, just where we are now, sir."
Phew! I'd never thought that the pirates had been right inside the wallagain, and I'm certain that I never should have come if I had--I'mpositive about that.
I was fearfully nervous, and I think Miller was too, and we stopped andlistened, and tried to peer through the fog.
We couldn't hear a single thing, and started out again. Then I ran intoa tree, and the wet leaves and twigs scratched across the raw part of myface, and I let out a little "yelp", and we stopped to listen once more.
"We're too much to the right, sir," Miller whispered, and we both keptclose together and moved towards the left.
We came on the wall all of a sudden, and felt that ledge. There stillwasn't the least sound of anyone moving.
"You go that way, sir, and I'll go the other," Miller whispered, andleft me, and I felt my way along towards where I thought the gatewaymust be. I felt any number of empty cartridge cases, and every now andagain my fingers clutched a loaded one, and I slipped it into the bag;and I felt a rifle and was awfully pleased, and slung it round myneck--it was jolly difficult to do it with only one hand, and jollyuncomfortable too. Presently my foot hit up against some big woodenthing, and I knelt down and felt it, and thought it must be a part ofthe gateway, and that I must be right in the opening. That made mefrightened, and I crept across and bumped into the other side of thedoor; it was simply swung back. I had kicked another rifle, but hadn'tthe pluck to go back and fetch it.
I just held on, trembling all over, and waited and listened, and thenstarted again, following the door round till I got to the wall, andthere, the first thing I felt, was a box on the ledge, right in thecorner between the door and the wall. I felt it all over; it had asquare hole in the top, and my hand went in and--oh! it was such a jollyfeeling--it was nearly full of paper packets of ammunition.<
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It was too heavy to lift with my one hand, so I began to whistle verysoftly for Miller, and waited for him to come. I heard his whistle, butalmost at the same moment I heard someone moving on the outside of thewall. I knew that it couldn't be Miller, and I do really believe thatmy hair stood on end with absolute funk. I couldn't have whistled againif I'd tried, and could not have run back to the house, however much Iwanted to, because my feet wouldn't--absolutely wouldn't--move an inch.
There were more than one coming. There seemed to be a long string ofthem, and there was a funny rustling sound against the wall, as if theywere carrying something soft, and they began coming round the doorway,some of them stepping on that rifle that I had kicked, but not pickedup. The gate door was pushed back on me, and I squeezed myself into thecorner against the ammunition box, and they began running past me, goingalong inside the wall--away from where Miller was. I could hear thembreathing hard, and held my breath, till I thought I should burst, andthought they must hear my heart thumping--it was thumping away likeanything. I'm not at all big, and I huddled down so close, that theywent by without finding me, though once or twice something brushed myface, and knew by the touch and the smell of it that it was straw orhay, and that that was what had made that rustling sound.
I guessed directly what they were going to try to do--pile it up againstthe house and set fire to it.
I waited till the last one had gone, and then I managed to get to myfeet, and heard Miller's whistle, very close, on the other side of thatdoor, and that started my legs working, and I ran, stumbling, back tothe house, with Miller after me. We bumped up against it; I don'tremember getting inside, but only remember telling Mr. Ching everything,and that the Chinese seemed to be following the wall in order to get tothe back of the house.
"The left side of the gate door doesn't seem to be damaged, sir," I toldhim; "they swung it back on me."
He made up his mind in no time. "They'll try and burn down the door atthe back, there's no window from which we can shoot them," and he gaveMiller ten men to go and close the left half of the gateway, whilst hetook another ten and slipped round to drive the Chinese across to him.
He wouldn't let me go.
"Keep the rest of the men at the windows," he said, and disappeared inthe fog. I ran round the windows to see that the men were thereproperly, and then went and stood behind the things piled behind thedoor at the back and waited.
It seemed like twenty minutes--it probably was only about one--and I wastrembling with excitement, and when a little piece of mortar orsomething fell down the wall, I nearly yelled with fright. Then I heardthe rustling noise again, and heard a bundle pushed against the bottomof the door, and then another and another. All of a sudden Mr. Ching'svoice shouted, and there were cheers and shrieks, someone fell againstthe door with a soft noise, and there was the noise of people scamperingall over the ground outside. A volley sounded out from behind me--thecrash seemed to come through the windows--and more shouting and yelling,and I couldn't think what that meant, because the men with the strawcouldn't possibly have got round there by that time.
I ran round to one of the windows at the front, and was just in time toprevent some of the bluejackets jumping out. We couldn't see anything,not even the flashes of the rifles at the gate. But the firing dieddown almost at once, and then people began running past the house, andwe could hear them panting, and heavy blows and shrieks, and knew thatMr. Ching's bluejackets were chasing them. It was awfully weird, knowingall going on round us, and not being able to see anything.
Some of the bluejackets were so excited, that they did scramble out tojoin in the killing, and Martin and the Scotchman called out, from thetop of the ladder, to know what was happening, and I heard Sally, veryscared, asking too.
The noises stopped, and we could hear our people calling to one another;and we all shouted to let them know the way, and they gradually began tocome back, climbing through the windows and panting for breath, severalof them wiping their sword bayonets.
"Did you kill them all?" I asked Mr. Ching.
"Most of them, I think. You've done us a good turn--very lucky that yousaw them."
He had left half a dozen men at the gateway to give him warning if theymade another attempt, but Miller himself came back and brought that boxof ammunition and two more rifles with him.
Mr. Ching was very pleased with these, because we now had altogethereleven Mauser rifles and seven or eight hundred cartridges.
It was grand, and I forgot all about the mistakes I had made, and myarm, and only longed for the fog to clear away and to see the Captainstalking through the gateway, and Blucher--I knew that Blucher would bethere--smelling the bodies and wagging his tail and looking up at him,thinking he had shot them. It was splendid to know that it was partlydue to me that we had driven them off, this last time, and that I hadfound all that ammunition.
"What were you firing at?" I asked Miller; and he told me that a lot ofChinamen had tried to rush through the gate--not the men with the strawbundles, but others from outside.
"We gave 'em 'gip', sir." He was very happy.
Mr. Ching told me afterwards that they had some tins of paraffin tothrow over the straw. Wasn't it lucky that I had spotted them?
Sally was awfully sweet to Mr. Ching, said that he had saved her lifetwice, and was so nice that he ferreted round and got her somethinghot--tea, I think.
The old American was still sticking to his corner; I don't think that hehad moved all the night.
After we had spoiled their little game they let us alone, and all we hadto do was to take it in turns to lie down and sleep, and when we were onwatch, to listen for any sign of Captain Lester.
The ships hadn't fired since the fog had come on. We had wondered whatthey had been firing at all the time.
You can just imagine how we did long for daybreak, and for that beastlyfog to clear away.
A long time afterwards Miller came up to me; he was very excited.
"Listen, sir! Listen! The Cap'en's a-comin'."
I jumped up; it was still pitch dark, and the fog just as thick as ever,and then I heard far away the noise of Maxims--tut-tut-tut-tut,tut-tut-tut-tut.
"Them's Mary and Jane, sir, right enough." Those were the names the menhad given the two Maxims which we used to drill on field-gun carriages.
"They've been firin' for the last twenty minutes, sir."
The Captain's coming at last. Hurrah! I couldn't help giving a shoutof joy, and ran off to tell Sally, but Mr. Ching had told her a quarterof an hour ago.
"Guess I'm right tired," was all she said to me, and began crying again.I know she had something she wanted to ask me, but didn't like to.
She didn't seem half as pleased as I thought she ought to be; but thatdidn't worry me at all, and I went round the men who were talking andchattering, and I grinned at them in the dark, and I'm sure that theygrinned back. I could have hugged them, they were such fine greatfellows, and Mr. Ching squeezed my arm--not the bad one--and said,"We've saved Sally Hobbs all right, Ford."
I was absolutely happy, and felt jolly hungry at the same time.
