CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
GENGHIZ KHAN'S HOARD.
Hideous brutes the dogs were, quite unlike the usual breed ofbloodhound, for they were fully as large as young leopards and everywhit as powerful and ferocious. They certainly possessed the droopingears and heavy loose jowl of the bloodhound, but their hides were notsmooth-haired, like the Cuban dog's, but rough and shaggy like a wolf's,with which animal it is quite possible their forebears had been crossed.Their legs were extremely long, but very massive and powerful, givingthem the power of covering great distances at high speed; and altogetherthe appearance of the beasts was sufficient to inspire a very wholesometerror in any unfortunate person on whose track they were placed. Therewere, fortunately, only three of them, and as their masters had not yetappeared in sight Frobisher and Drake hoped to be able to settle themwith their clubs and revolvers, and reach the shelter of the ruined citybefore the pirates could overtake and recapture them.
No time was to be lost, however, for they were still at a considerabledistance from the nearest buildings on the outskirts of the city, whilethe dogs' owners would probably be not very far behind, since they wouldbe certain to have come on horseback, so as to keep in reasonably closetouch with the hounds.
Drake drew his revolver from a fold of his voluminous Chinese jacket,ranged himself alongside his friend, and, without a word, fired hisweapon at the first of the dogs, which by this time was almost uponthem. In his excitement, however, or perhaps because of the strain uponhis muscles from the long and fatiguing flight, he missed; and before hecould fire again the animal had sprung full at his throat, knocking himdown and sending the revolver flying out of his hand. In another secondDrake's throat would have been torn open by the savage, slavering beast,but Frobisher was either cooler or more fortunate. Whirling himselfround right on top of the dog, he thrust his revolver's muzzle into itsear and fired, at the moment when the terrible jaws were in the very actof closing on his companion's throat.
He had no time to assist Drake to his feet, for the other two bruteswere in the very act of springing as he turned away from the dead dogand cocked his weapon for a second shot. Strangely enough, this coupleentirely ignored Drake, and confined their attentions to Frobisher, whoonly saved himself by making a rapid leap backward, and so avoidingtheir first charge. Baulked in their spring, they seemed, like almostall other savage animals, dazed for a moment, as though they could notunderstand why they had missed their prey; and that momentary hesitationgave Frobisher an opportunity to pull the trigger of his revolver, whileDrake, who had caught sight of his own weapon, half-buried in the sand afew yards away, executed a quick roll in that direction, and in a secondhad the revolver in his hand. Frobisher's bullet struck the creature heaimed at in the upper part of the near fore leg, and, the heavy missileshattering the bone like a pipe stem, the brute collapsed upon theground with a deep, raucous howl of pain.
At the same moment Drake raised his revolver and fired as he sat; andthis time his aim was excellent, the bullet striking the hound Frobisherhad just lamed full in the spine, severing the backbone and killing thecreature instantly. The other dog, apparently cowed by the death of itsmates, stood motionless, in a crouching attitude, glaring at each man inturn, and seemingly undecided which to attack first; and its hesitationor cowardice was fatal. The two men fired almost together, one bulletdrilling a hole in its skull, and the other smashing in at one side ofits body and out at the other. It did not live long enough to raiseeven a whimper, but dropped dead where it stood, a pool of bloodimmediately welling out from beneath the carcass.
"By Jove, Drake!" exclaimed Frobisher, "that shot of yours finished himoff in fine style. But what in the world are you using in that pistol?"he went on, as he turned the body over and curiously examined a greathole in the brute's side. "I've seen wounds like this in a man who hasbeen hit with a piece of `pot-leg' or a handful of nails, but never withan ordinary bullet."
Drake winked. "That", he remarked, "is a little device of my own. Ihave often noticed that it is a very difficult matter to bring down aman, especially a fanatical savage, with an ordinary bullet; it goes inat one side and out at the other so cleanly that the man whom it hitsdoes not know that he is hit until he is dead, and he frequently managesto do a lot of damage before he dies. So I invented a little dodgewhich I call the `man-stopper'. It consists in simply `rymering' a holein the nose of the bullet, with a file tang or anything else that comeshandy; then, when the bullet strikes, the edges of the hole expand andbecome `mushroomed', and the man who is hit knows all about it, I assureyou. Of course that sort of thing is not permitted in civilisedwarfare, but when fighting savages the trick is used quite frequently.Indeed, this is the only kind of missile that will effectually stop arushing savage. I would advise you to treat your bullets in the sameway as soon as you have time. But these dogs' masters may appear insight at any moment; and if they do, before we leave this spot, andhappen to be mounted--as I feel sure they are--they will catch us easilybefore we can possibly reach shelter, yonder. And we're scarcelyprepared to fight a crowd."
"You're right, skipper," agreed Frobisher; "let's get along as fast aswe can." And the two men, thrusting their revolvers into their pockets,set off at top speed toward the ruined city, not a little refreshed bytheir brief halt while fighting the dogs.
"I wonder," Drake jerked out as they ran, "how the pirates managed toset those dogs after us? They hadn't any garments of yours, had they?And I'm sure they had none of mine by which they could lay them on thescent."
"They had my boots, confound them!" returned Frobisher, "as I ambeginning to realise to my cost. These wrappings are about wornthrough, and my feet are almost as sore as though they had beenskinned."
"By Jove, yes! I had forgotten them," said the little skipper.
The two men pounded along over the sand in silence once more, the wallsand buildings of the ruined town standing out more and more clearlyevery moment. Only another half-mile or so, and they would be safelyhidden from view among the maze-like streets of the place. But couldthey do it in time? Would their pursuers sight them before they couldget under cover? These were the questions which haunted them both.
"See," Drake presently panted, pointing in front of him, "we are prettynearly there now. That opening in the walls is the site of one of thecity gates; and once inside that, we are safe."
Frobisher took a hasty glance behind him, but the pursuers had not yetput in an appearance. There was nothing in sight but the three blackdots on the sand, where the fight with the dogs had taken place.
"Nothing in sight as yet," he gasped encouragingly to Drake, on whom thepace was again beginning to tell. "Keep it up a little longer; we arenearly there now."
A couple of minutes more of hard running placed them almost in theshadow of the walls, and Frobisher was congratulating himself on theirescape, when suddenly something whizzed past his ear with a shrill,whining sound, and starred itself out in a splash of metal on the stonesof the gateway, plainly visible in the moonlight. A moment later thecrack of a modern rifle made itself heard.
"Confound it!" growled Frobisher, looking round, "half a minute toolate, by all that's annoying! Buck up, Drake! Those fellows are insight and have spotted us," he shouted. "It will be touch-and-go now,and no mistake."
Drake nobly responded to the call, and a few seconds later the two menplunged through the gateway and were under cover. But, unfortunately,their pursuers had seen where they had gone, and would not now be at alllikely to give up the chase until they had examined every possiblehiding-place inside the walls.
Along the first street that the fugitives came to they dashed, then downa turning to the left, and along another street leading out of it, onlyto find that this was a blind alley, and that their way was stopped.
"Quick--back again!" gasped Drake. "We cannot get out this way. Hurry,or they'll catch us at the other end."
"No time," replied Frobisher, breathing heavily. "We must of necessitygo
forward now. Here, into this open doorway! This will give usshelter for the moment, and if they do not sight us they may not trythis street at all."
Accordingly they dashed into the house indicated by Frobisher, andvanished from view just as a chorus of yells at the mouth of the streetindicated the arrival of their pursuers, while the clatter of horses'hoofs told only too plainly that the pirates, even if they had notactually sighted their quarry, had decided to search that particularstreet, at all events.
"Here they come," whispered the skipper. "We mustn't stay here, or weshall be caught like rats in a trap. Up this staircase for your life!We'll get out on the roof, and make a stand there if they decide tosearch the house."
Taking the stone steps two at a time, the fugitives dashed upward,presently coming to a kind of landing from which several stone-flaggedpassages radiated; thence they climbed up another narrow staircase whichled to the flat roof. They went up this last so quickly that Drake, whowas leading, had popped his head up above the level of the parapetbefore he realised what he was doing. Luckily, none of the pirateshappened to be looking upward at that particular moment; they were allriding helter-skelter down the street, evidently determined to see whatlay at the end. Drake counted them before getting under cover again,and found that there were thirty of them; and that there might possiblybe others searching elsewhere, was a contingency to be kept in mind.
Frobisher had now also crept out on to the roof through the smallopening, or trap-door, at the top of the stairs, and both men cautiouslypeeped over the low parapet. And as they watched, they saw the horsemencome to a halt opposite the identical house they were in, evidentlydiscussing matters. Some appeared to think that the men they wanted hadnot come that way at all, while others--these the majority--believeddifferently, and seemed to want to search every house in the street. Atany rate they had certainly made up their minds to search thisparticular dwelling, for they began to dismount outside the doorway.
"We're bottled at last, I'm afraid," said Frobisher. "What do you sayto our opening fire on 'em now?"
"Not yet," whispered Drake. "Let's see first if there isn't another waydown. If once they discover our presence here, they will get us forcertain; for we have only six shots left between us. I couldn't bringany spare cartridge for reloads."
"Phew!" whistled Frobisher under his breath. "That's bad. We are in atight place indeed, then. Come, let's see if there's any other waydown."
They crept silently away from the parapet toward the back of the house,and, to their intense gratification, discovered a flight of ruined stonesteps leading down the outside of the wall to a narrow alley in therear. Down these steps they at once made their way, then ran at topspeed up the alley and out of the end of it into one of the broaderstreets of the city. They had now got a good start, for it would takesome little time for the pirates to ride round, even if they shouldchance to catch sight of the fugitives. But no shouts were raisedbehind them to indicate that they had been seen, and they sprinted alongover the rough cobbles for all they were worth. There was a large andvery handsome building at the end of this road, and they determined tomake for it, since a structure of that size would surely afford greaterfacilities for concealment than a smaller house.
From its extent, which became more apparent as they drew nearer,Frobisher conjectured that it was probably the ruins of some ancientmandarin's palace, or possibly the summer palace of one of the pettykings of China who ruled in the far-off days when the place was built;for he could see at a glance that the city had been abandoned forcenturies, and that the buildings themselves were doubtless fairlyancient at the time of the abandonment.
So absorbed were both men on the goal they had set themselves that theydashed past the ends of sundry streets without even glancing down them,and so failed to realise that they were still in considerable dangeruntil they heard a series of yells proceeding from one of them. Theenemy had divided forces, and one of these had passed ahead and,searching the side streets, had seen the Englishmen run past. Theclatter of horses' hoofs told Drake and Frobisher that their pursuerswere close behind, and it did not seem possible now to get clear away.Without consultation, they at once determined to sell their lives asdearly as possible, and looked round them for some favourable placewhere they might make a last stand. Then, with a muttered exclamation,Frobisher seized Drake's arm and dragged him into a narrow passagebetween two houses, just as the pirates swept into the street. Thepassage was in deep shadow, and with one accord both men threwthemselves down at full length, hoping that they would not be seen, andthat the pirates would pass on, imagining their quarry still in front ofthem.
And, luckily, this was just what happened. The pirates never thought ofexamining the narrow passage--perhaps they never even saw it. At anyrate they dashed past and turned down another street, which theyevidently considered to be the road the fugitives had taken. Theinstant they were out of sight Drake and his companion rose to theirfeet and continued their run toward the palace, only a few hundred yardsaway now. But they were not yet at the end of their troubles.
The horsemen, as soon as they had turned down the side street alludedto, had seen that the fugitives were certainly not in it, or they wouldhave been in full view, unless indeed they had taken refuge in one ofthe ruined houses thereabouts. Some of the pirates suggested searchingthese before looking elsewhere, while others insisted that they hadoverrun the pursuit, and advised going back at once. The whole bandwere noisily discussing the pros and cons when Drake and Frobisherdarted past the end of the street; and, seeing the fugitives, thepirates wheeled their horses and, with a savage whoop, started inpursuit again.
One circumstance, however, gave the Englishmen a little advantage--sufficient, indeed, as a matter of fact, to save their lives. Whiletalking, the horsemen were all bunched together in a little crowd, andas it happened to be one of the men on the far side of the group who hadbeen the first to catch sight of the fugitives, he galloped his horseright through the knot of his companions without a moment's hesitationor warning, thus throwing the whole company into momentary confusion,one man being unhorsed, while in another instance horse and rider wentdown together. Before the remainder could extricate themselves from themelde and make a fair start, Drake and Frobisher had obtained a fullfifty yards' lead; and by the time their pursuers had reached the mainstreet, the fugitives were more than half-way to the palace.
Once on the straight, however, the horsemen had the advantage, andoverhauled them so rapidly that when the Englishmen were still twentyyards from the palace steps the foremost of the pirates were so closebehind that Frobisher knew they would be cut off unless something couldbe done. He therefore gave a warning cry to Drake, and instantly dartedto one side; and as the first man dashed past, unable to rein up hishorse, the Navy man fired point-blank into the animal, bringing it andits rider to the earth with a tremendous thud. Drake accounted for thenext two men in quick succession, while Frobisher dropped a fourth;then, the others having reined up, the better to use their rifles, thetwo men took to their heels again and reached the long and broad flightof steps leading up to the palace entrance in the midst of a hail ofbullets, none of which, fortunately, took effect.
The pirates wasted no time in reloading, but came on again to the footof the steps. Here they were of course obliged to dismount, and somehanded over their horses to others of their number to hold, so that theywere only beginning to mount the steps as Drake and Frobisher reachedthe top and darted in through the great doorway. Drake was by this timedreadfully out of breath, and gaspingly protested that he had come tothe end of his tether; nevertheless he managed to muster sufficientstrength to jog along close behind his friend. At their lasthiding-place they had sought concealment aloft, but Frobisher decidednow to take refuge below, since the palace appeared to be the kind ofstructure that would afford a better prospect of escape from the vaultsor cellars.
Accordingly the younger man kept his eyes open for a flight of stepsleading downward,
and, as the pirates were close behind, darted down thefirst that met his eyes. This was a narrow, winding, stone staircasethat led downward so far that they appeared to be reaching to the verybowels of the earth; but the pair eventually came to the bottom, findingthemselves in a long, stone-flagged corridor, extending a considerabledistance, and very dimly lighted by small gratings which evidentlycommunicated with some chamber above.
They seemed to have come to the end of their tether at last, however,for nowhere could they find an opening leading out of the corridor. Andalready they could hear the pirates descending the stairs.
"Come, Drake!" whispered Frobisher; "we dare not remain here. Let's tryto the left; there may be a door concealed somewhere among the shadows.I wish we had a little more light."
The other end of the passage was reached without a single exit beingdiscovered, and there was no time to run back and try farther in theother direction.
"This is the end, I guess," said Drake, as the approaching footstepssounded nearer. "It's `backs against the wall and fight to the death'for us now, my friend."
Suiting the action to the word, the little skipper grasped his cudgel bythe thinner end, took his revolver--with only one shot remaining--in hisother, and flung himself backward against the wall.
Then a curious thing happened. The solid wall at the end of the passageyielded to the pressure of the skipper's body, and Drake, still leaningagainst it, fell farther and farther backward, until at last he foundhimself in a reclining position on the now sloping wall. Then, toFrobisher's unbounded amazement, the little man disappeared from view, adull thud from below announcing the fact that he had dropped a distanceof several feet. In an instant the younger man realised what hadhappened. The corridor had a purpose, after all; and the door at theend was probably secured by a concealed spring of some sort which Drakemust have unwittingly pressed when he flung himself back against thewall.
Without losing an instant Frobisher knelt down at the edge of the darkopening, then turning, allowed himself to slip downward gradually, forit was obvious that there were no steps; and as his feet touched bottomhe was barely in time to remove his fingers from the sill when the doorswung to above him with a muffled "click."
The pirates had not reached the foot of the stairs when the door closed,so that, unless they knew or guessed at and found the secret of openingit, the fugitives were safe from them, at any rate. But the thoughtoccurred to Frobisher when the door closed behind him: now that theywere in, how were they to get out again?
He called softly to Drake, and soon found that that worthy was much morestartled than hurt, although even yet hardly able to realise what hadhappened to him. As soon as the little skipper had recovered hisfaculties a little he listened, and hearing nothing of their pursuers,struck a match, a box of which he had fortunately concealed in his robe,and looked to see whether there was a spring inside the door. He failedto find one, however, and he and Frobisher exchanged glances full ofapprehension. They seemed to have escaped a swift death for one oflingering starvation.
But they had no time to spend in dismal forebodings. They could nowfaintly hear the uproar above them in the passage as the pirates huntedfor the door by which their quarry had escaped, and crouched downtogether, wondering whether their pursuers would hit upon the spring.Minute after minute passed, however, and the door still remained closed;and after about a quarter of an hour the pirates were heard to taketheir departure, probably convinced that the fugitives had not gone downthe stairs, after all.
With a sigh of relief Frobisher turned to Drake and asked him to strikeanother light, so that they might get some sort of notion where theywere. Drake did so; and the first thing the light revealed was a greatbundle of torches, evidently placed there in the bygone days for the useof people whose business took them into this underground chamber. Thetwo men eagerly lighted one each, and then, taking a few more as astand-by, proceeded to explore.
The enormous chamber which the light revealed appeared to containnothing whatever; but there were several passages leading from it--sevenin all, as the explorers counted--and they tried the first they came to,to ascertain where it led.
It extended for a distance of about a hundred feet, and then terminated;nor did there appear to be any door, concealed or otherwise, at the endof it. Two more passages were explored with the same result; but thefourth, or middle passage of the seven, was different, in that, at theend, they came to a massive iron door. Drake stretched out his hand andmade an attempt to twist the iron handle, but it would not budge. Againhe tried, and this time it seemed to move a little; and as it did soFrobisher thought he caught a slight grinding, whirring sound, likerusty machinery reluctantly moving.
What it was that prompted him to act he did not know, but suddenlybecoming possessed with a suspicion of that door and a sense of dangerin its vicinity, he dragged Drake quickly away from the handle, andhimself retreated a few steps.
It was well that he did so, for at that moment the grinding soundsbecame quite perceptible, waxed louder, and then--like lightning from acloud, a row of curved swordblades shot out of slots in the stone-workwhich the men had not previously noticed, and swept together for all theworld like a pair of calliper legs. Any person standing by the doormust have infallibly been stabbed through and through by that deadlydevice. Then, just as suddenly, the blades sprang back into the walland the door swung back on its hinges, revealing another and smallerchamber beyond.
"By all the Powers," gasped Drake, wiping the perspiration from hisforehead, "what a fiendish invention! Mr Frobisher, that's the secondtime this night that you've saved my life. I shall not forget."
"Pshaw!" answered Frobisher; "what about the times you've saved mine?But, Drake," he continued excitedly, "I've got an idea that we are onthe point of discovering something. The man who owned this palace musthave had something very well worth guarding, or he would never havetaken the trouble to instal such an elaborate arrangement as that todestroy possible thieves, for that's what it was intended to do, withouta doubt. Let's get along and see what there is to see; but be careful,for goodness' sake. There may be more of these man-traps about, and wedon't want to be left dead in this hole."
So saying, Frobisher stepped slowly and cautiously through the door-way,holding his torch high above his head, and at once found himself in asmall, circular chamber, which was almost completely filled withironbound cases and chests of every description.
"Great Caesar's ghost!" almost shouted Frobisher to Drake, who wasstanding just inside the door, with mouth wide open and torch almostdropping out of his hand; "we have dropped right into somebody'streasure-house, and no mistake. If those chests do not containvaluables, my name is not Murray Frobisher. Bring your stick, and letus see whether we can wrench off one of the locks. It should not bevery difficult, for the wood looks so rotten as almost to be crumblingto powder."
No sooner said than done. Drake eagerly placed the end of his stoutcudgel under the hasp of the nearest of the boxes and, using it as alever, soon sent the iron flying, the nails drawing out of the soft,"punky" wood as easily as though they had been set in putty. Next theyswung the lid back; and then--what a sight met their astounded eyes!
The box contained neither gold nor silver, but was full to the brim withjewels of the most magnificent description, unset, every one of them,and all flashing and scintillating in the glare of the torches like aboxful of the most exquisitely coloured liquid fire. The sight was soextraordinarily beautiful that it fairly took the beholders' breathaway, and for quite a minute neither of them could speak a word; theysimply stood still, gasping with wonder and delight.
Another chest, and then another was opened, both of
Missing pages 223 and 224.
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A Chinese Command: A Story of Adventure in Eastern Seas Page 14
