A Chinese Command: A Story of Adventure in Eastern Seas

by Harry Collingwood

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

  PURSUED BY BLOODHOUNDS.

  With a smothered ejaculation of bitter disappointment Frobisher recoileda few steps in sheer despair, bringing up rather sharply against theiron-plated door through which he had just emerged; and the next instanthe realised that he was doubly trapped. Escape was cut off in front ofhim by that broken glass, and he had been in such haste to _get away_from his prison that he had never thought of removing the key from theinside of the door, or of taking precautions to prevent the door fromclosing behind him and cutting off his retreat, as it had done.

  Retreat, after he was once clear of the walls, had naturally neverentered his mind. But now he would have been glad enough to have beenable to return to his cell unobserved. It would be intenselyhumiliating to be obliged to wait there, in the small space between thedoor and the glass-sown path, until his jailer arrived, some twenty-fourhours later, to release him. Yet there seemed to be no alternative.

  How careless, how criminally foolish he had been to allow himself to betrapped by so transparent a device! thought Frobisher. He ought to havesuspected a trap directly he discovered that his boots had been removed,and he might have known that such jailers as he was dealing with do notleave cell doors unlatched by accident, or leave keys to open otherdoors hanging on walls in conspicuous places, just where an escapingprisoner would be most likely to see them. How those pirates wouldlaugh and jeer at him on the morrow, when they arrived and found himthere, shivering with the bitter cold of night in that climate, at thattime of year! The mere thought of such humiliation caused Frobisher togrit his teeth with anger, and he had almost made up his mind to chancea quick dash across that cruel barrier, trusting that he would notinjure himself so severely as to make escape absolutely impossible, whensomething occurred which caused him quickly to change his mind, and madehim shrink back into the shadow of the door, pressing himself up intoone of the corners, to avoid observation and consequent discovery, ifpossible.

  He had caught sight of the figure of a Chinaman emerging from the shadowof the jungle which surrounded the fort on its landward side. The man'sfigure stood out plain and clear-cut in the moonlight, which was sobright that Frobisher could easily distinguish his every movement, couldeven see how the man was dressed; and he wondered what the fellow couldbe doing there at that time of night.

  In that part of northern China, especially at that season, men do notwander about in the jungle at night, or indeed at any other time, ifthey can help it, having a very natural objection to being caught andeaten by prowling, hungry tigers; and it was therefore not a littlestrange that this man should arrive at the fort by that way,particularly as it could be reached much more easily by the road whichthe pirates had constructed for their own convenience. It would almostappear as though the man bad come by this route in order to avoid thepirates' observation; and the longer Frobisher considered the matter,the more certain did he become that this was actually the case, and themore he wondered what the reason might be.

  The man had only stood in full view for a few brief seconds, just longenough to convince the Englishman that he was real, and not a figment ofhis own heated imagination. Then he had stepped back quickly into theshadow of the jungle, crouching down beside a clump of bamboo, where hewas so well concealed from observation that Frobisher could justdistinguish the outline of his stooping body. Indeed, had he not kepthis eyes on the man the whole time, it would have been impossible todetect his hiding-place, so well did the colour of his clothing blendwith the vegetation which formed his background.

  The Englishman's heart began to beat with excitement and hope, for athousand possibilities at once presented themselves to him. It wasmorally certain that the hiding man could have no connection with thepirates, or he would have come forward boldly and demanded admittance;and if not a friend of, or connected with the outlaws, he mustnecessarily be opposed to them. Ah! if it were only possible to attractthe man's attention without also attracting that of the pirates, escapeshould be a simple matter, thought Frobisher. He was alreadypractically as good as outside the walls, and all that was necessary wasthat something should be laid down on the top of the glass over which hecould walk without cutting his feet, and the thing was done; he could bemiles beyond the possibility of pursuit before morning broke, if onlythe preliminaries could be put in hand immediately.

  It did not take him long to decide that he would make the attempt toattract the man's attention. If the latter were a friend, and theattempt were crowned with success, all would be well, and he would befree within an hour; while if the man should after all prove to be anenemy--well, he might as well be discovered and taken back to prisonnow, as wait all night in the cold. One thing was quite certain--without outside assistance escape was impossible; so he decided to puthis fortune to the test and risk his freedom, if not his life, upon theturn of the die.

  With this idea, he drew his handkerchief from his pocket and was aboutto step forward and wave it, when he saw a movement among the clump ofbamboo, and the next instant the Chinaman rose to his feet and ran likea deer toward the very part of the fort in which Frobisher's cell wassituated. He ran noiselessly, on his toes, and bent almost double inthe effort to make himself as small as possible. And he did not slackenspeed until he had reached the walls of the fort, where he againcrouched down in the shadow, almost directly under the window ofFrobisher's cell, about twenty yards away from the spot where theEnglishman himself was concealed.

  The latter, in the face of this new move, determined to watch a fewminutes longer before revealing himself, and kept his eyes on thecrouching figure with the greatest interest. Was the man going to provefriend or foe, rescuer or would-be assassin? Scarcely the latter, theEnglishman thought, for there seemed something strangely familiar in theman's movements and in his whole appearance; and Frobisher experiencedthe sensation of having met, or seen, this man somewhere before, thoughunder what circumstances he could not for the life of him recall. Hewas something of the same build as Ling; but Ling, he knew, was dead,for he had seen the man's body. Then, again, he might pass at adistance for Quen-lung, the interpreter; but from what Frobisher hadalready seen of that person, he did not for a moment believe thatQuen-lung was at all the kind of man to risk his skin on a midnightexcursion to a pirate stronghold.

  Suddenly Frobisher's attention was disturbed by the sound of a very lowwhistle, undoubtedly proceeding from the Chinaman. That whistle wasbeyond question a signal of some sort, and was just as certainlyintended for himself. To hesitate longer would have been the height offolly, for the longer the delay now, the greater would be the danger ofdiscovery; so, putting his fingers in his mouth, Frobisher replied withanother whistle in exactly the same key and tone as the Chinaman's. Thelatter leapt to his feet, took a few steps backward, and looked up atthe window; but seeing nothing there, he proceeded to glance round himanxiously.

  Frobisher gave another low whistle, and, as the man now turned his headin his direction, fluttered the white handkerchief. The Chinamaninstantly caught sight of the movement, and commenced to run toward theprisoner, coming to a sudden standstill as he encountered the outer edgeof the carpet of broken glass. A low exclamation of "Phew!" escaped himas he understood the meaning of the obstacle, followed by a subduedexecration in English; and on hearing this, Frobisher at once knew whoit was that was risking his life in an endeavour to save him. The manwas none other than Captain Drake!

  How the little skipper had come to hear of his friend's predicament, andhow he had contrived to travel some three hundred miles in disguiseundetected, Frobisher could not guess. All he knew was that at last hehad again a stanch comrade by his side--one who would not forsake him,even in the last extremity; and in his relief he could scarcely helpshouting aloud for very joy. But fortunately he remembered in time theabsolute necessity for strict silence, and contented himself withcalling in a low voice:

  "That's you, Drake, surely?"

  "It is that same," responded the little ma
n, in a tone as subdued asFrobisher's own; "but where the dickens are you? I saw something movejust now, but I'm hanged if I can see a thing now."

  "I'm here, just beside this door," replied Frobisher. "I should havebeen away an hour ago, if it had not been for this confounded glass."

  "But couldn't you manage to get across, if you take it coolly and walkslowly?" whispered Drake. "If you plant your feet carefully and balanceyourself well before each step, you ought to be able to do it. Butwatch you don't slip; that's where the danger comes in."

  "D'ye think I should not have done that long ago, skipper, if it hadbeen possible?" Frobisher whispered. "The thing is impossible, becausethey have taken away my boots, and the thin wrappings I have round myfeet would be cut to ribbons in half a dozen steps."

  "I might have known," replied Drake. "That's an old game of theirs.Well, you must be got across somehow, that's clear, and quickly.There's nobody on guard up above us as yet, but there's no knowing whenthey may take it into their heads to post a sentry. H'm!" pulling atone of the pieces of glass, "the stuff's stuck in too securely to move,so it's no use thinking of trying to get over the difficulty that way.And there's neither time nor opportunity to collect anything to lay downon top of it. There's only one way that I can see, and so let's tryit."

  Without waiting for Frobisher to ask his plan, the little man commencedthe dangerous voyage across the pavement of glass. He had a thick stickin his hand, and Frobisher saw that he was wearing thick, wooden-soledChinese boots. Thus provided, Drake succeeded in making the journey insafety, and in a few minutes stood unharmed by his friend's side,shaking his hand as though he meant to pull his arm from its socket.

  "I'm glad, glad indeed to see you again, laddie," he murmured heartily;"and more than glad to see that those yellow-skinned pirates have notdeprived you of any of your limbs. That is quite a common trick amongthe Chinks."

  "And," returned Frobisher heartily, "I don't think I need tell you howglad I am to see you again. But how did you get to know I was here? Iunderstood from the admiral at Tien-tsin that you had gone to Englandfor a cargo of arms and ammunition for the Chinese Government."

  "So I did," replied Drake; "and I carried out my contract, too. I'veonly been back in China a couple of weeks. But we must not stay hereyarning; this is much too dangerous a place to be swapping experiencesin. These will keep until later, when we are out of this mess."

  "That's so," agreed Frobisher. "But the question is, how are we to getaway? You saw for yourself what a ticklish matter it is to cross thatglass, even with stout boots on your feet and with the assistance of athick stick to help you to keep your balance; and upon my word I fail tosee how I am going to manage the business. You don't propose to carryme, I take it?" he concluded, chuckling, and giving the little man a slydig in the ribs.

  "I would even try that, and succeed too, perhaps," was Drake's reply,"if there was no other way out. But we can do better than that. Ithought of a scheme directly I came to the edge of the glass-sown patchand understood the game that the Chinks had been playing off upon you,but I wasn't such a born fool as to stand there and shout it across toyou, with the chance that some yellow-skin might be up aloft there andhear me. Besides, I wanted to see for myself whether or not the schemewould work. And it has, for here I am, safe and sound, and not a pennythe worse for the passage.

  "Now, here it is, just as simple as ABC. You are a thundering big chap,I know, while I'm a little 'un; but I noticed long ago that your bootsand mine are pretty much of a size, while these that I'm wearing now area bit big for me, though they're the best I could get hold of. I justslip these boots off, and you slip 'em on; then, with the help of thisstick, you make the passage of the glass, same as I've done, while Istand here to watch you do it, and at the same time keep a look-out.Then, as soon as you're across, you chuck me back the boots and thestick, one at a time, and I'll catch 'em--I haven't been a cricketer allthese years for nothing. The rest'll be all plain sailing, and I'll bealongside you on the right side of the glass in two shakes of a lamb'stail. Savez?"

  "Excellent!" returned Frobisher in a whisper; "and, as you say,perfectly simple. Only, you must go first. You surely do not supposethat I am going to make good my escape, leaving you here to run the riskof being taken in my stead--"

  Drake kicked off his shoes, with a muttered sailor's blessing onFrobisher's head at what he termed the latter's "tomfoolery", and, goingdown upon one knee, seized first one and then the other of Frobisher'sfeet, removed the bandages from them, and then thrust on the boots.

  "Capital fit!" he murmured, as he rose to his feet and put the stickinto his companion's hand. "Now, off you go, my buck, and look sharpabout it, or the pirates will have two prisoners to amuse themselveswith instead of one."

  Recognising that the little skipper was determined to have his own way,Frobisher forbore to protest further. He stepped carefully out upon thebroad area of broken glass, and, creeping along close under the wall,was able so effectually to steady himself by it and with the help of thestick that in a few minutes he had safely negotiated the passage which ashort time before had appeared practically impassable. Then, runningfar enough round the outer margin of the glass-sown ground to secure aclear shot in through the doorway, he threw back to Drake first oneboot, then the other, and finally the stick, and had the satisfaction ofseeing his friend deftly catch each of them. Five minutes later thelittle skipper was safely beside him.

  "Thank God we are both out of that hole!" piously ejaculated Frobisherunder his breath, as the pair crept along in the deep shadow of the rearwall of the fort. "Where away to now?"

  "Into the jungle first, where we can't be seen by any chance look-out upaloft," answered Drake. "Then, as soon as we are safely hidden, I'llexplain."

  They made the passage across the open and reached the cover of thejungle in safety, whereupon Drake replaced his boots, while Frobisherswathed his feet again in the strips of underclothing which he hadbrought away with him. These were serviceable enough as foot-gear, andFrobisher found that they protected his feet much better than he hadanticipated, lasting quite a long time before needing to be replaced byother strips.

  Having readjusted their clothing, the two men were ready to begin theirlong and perilous journey back to civilisation, which Drake gave hiscompanion to understand would have to be made overland. But beforestarting, Frobisher requested Drake to cut him a heavy cudgel, similarto the one he himself was using, so that, in the event of theirencountering an enemy, they might have something, at least, to defendthemselves with. Drake did so, and, as he handed it to his friend,plunged his hand into one of his pockets and brought out something whichhe also passed over to Frobisher.

  "Why," exclaimed the latter in astonishment, "that's one of my own braceof revolvers! How in the name of fortune did you get hold of it?"

  "And here's the other," said Drake, showing the butt. "I got them outof your cabin aboard the _Su-chen_--she got back safely to Tien-tsin, Imay tell you; but how I came to be aboard her, or to get up here, is toolong a yarn to spin now. Let it wait until we are in less danger thanwe are in at present."

  "Right you are, skipper!" answered Frobisher; "the yarn will beinteresting enough, I'll be bound. I'm glad you found these revolversand brought them along, for they are good barkers, and a man feels acertain sense of security with one of them in his hand. Now, lead theway, since you probably know it best."

  Drake took a comprehensive glance at the stars, and then plunged along anarrow and apparently seldom-trodden path through the jungle, seeming tofind his way by instinct, for the forest was so dense that the moon'srays seldom succeeded in penetrating it.

  They had been jogging along at a steady four miles an hour for about anhour and a half, when the fugitives were startled by hearing the distantboom of a heavy gun, proceeding apparently from the spot which they hadrecently left. They at once guessed what it meant, and realised thedanger in which they still stood. Evidently Frobisher's escape
hadsomehow been prematurely discovered, and that gun had been fired as analarm. Instead of having, as they had confidently anticipated, abouteighteen or twenty hours in which to make a good start, they had gainedbut an hour and a half; and the pirates would be already on their track.True, it might take them some time to discover in which direction thefugitives had headed; but they would assuredly make the discovery sooneror later, and then it would be purely a question of speed.

  "By Jove, Drake!" exclaimed Frobisher, "we must hurry now. Thosefellows have discovered my absence; and they will lose no time in takingup the pursuit, you may depend. Do you know of any hiding-place that wecan make for?"

  "I thought of just this thing on my way here," answered Drake, breakinginto a run, "and picked out a spot which will suit us to a T, if we canbut reach it in time. It's an old ruined town, goodness knows howancient; nobody lives there now, and there are thousands of ruinedhouses and plenty of underground passages where we can hide, if we canonly get there unseen."

  Breath being precious, the pair wasted no more in talk, but saved it allfor the long run before them. Side by side they dashed along at topspeed, sometimes colliding with trees, or stumbling over stones andcreepers, until they were bruised from head to foot, but never oncehalting.

  When they were beginning to hope that they might be out-distancing thepursuit, a deep, bell-like note floating down the wind warned them thatthe pirates possessed bloodhounds, and that the dogs were hard upontheir trail. Frobisher took out his revolver and spun the cylinder tosatisfy himself that it was loaded, and then thrust it back into hispocket. If those dogs came within shot, he would take care that theyhunted no more prisoners.

  "How far ahead now?" he panted, when they had been running for anotherhalf-hour at top speed.

  "About five miles," grunted Drake, who was feeling the strain even morethan Frobisher. "We should be there in about half an hour at thispace--if we can keep it up. Hope I shall be able to hold out. I'm notin such good form as I once was. Getting old, too. If I can't keep up,you push on, lad; and I'll try to keep 'em back with my pistol."

  "Likely, isn't it?" replied Frobisher ironically. "If you can't holdout, of course I shall stay and face it out with you: but do all youcan; we must not give in at the last moment."

  On and on they plunged, and at last they began to find the junglethinning out, so that the going was a little easier, and their paceconsequently increased; but they could tell by the frequent,deep-throated baying that the dogs were gaining on them steadily. Theydashed out of the forest altogether at last; and away in front of them,on the right bank of the mighty Hoang-ho, its houses gleaming spectrallyin the moonlight, stood the ruined city that Drake had referred to, notmore than two miles distant--a very haven of refuge, as Frobisher couldeasily imagine, if they could but reach it; for it was of considerableextent, and, once lost in its labyrinthine streets or undergroundpassages, the pirates might search for them in vain.

  They had not heard the dogs for some minutes, and, hoping that thepursuit had perhaps been abandoned, Frobisher glanced round. It waswell that he did so. The dogs had also left the forest, and, seeingtheir prey in front of them, were running in silence. They were notmore than fifty yards distant, and, grasping his revolver, Frobishercalled to Drake, and together the two men turned to face the beasts.