Stan Lynn: A Boy's Adventures in China

by George Manville Fenn

  CHAPTER TWENTY.

  "NOW THEN, CARTRIDGES!"

  There was an end to peaceful mercantile pursuits at the great warehouseand wharf, and all was hurry and bustle, but with little confusion, forBlunt had suddenly become military in his orders and issue ofdirections; while, full of excitement now, Stan dashed at the task inhand, proving himself a worthy lieutenant to the fighting manager. Themen began busily handling boxes and bales, and at first sight it seemedas if they were preparing to load a trading-junk with the contents ofthe storehouse, so actively were they engaged in bearing out silk-balesand tea-chests; but the pleasant herb which cheers but does notinebriate was to be put to a very different purpose.

  "You take that job in hand, Lynn," cried Blunt, "and make the fellowsplant the chests down right along the front, just as if you werebuilding a wall of blocks of stone; but after the second row is placed,leave a loophole between every second and third chest so that we canfire through, while I set to work and make a breastwork with thesilk-bales at every door and window. No bullets or shot that the enemycan fire will go through the soft, elastic silk.--Work away, my lads."

  Englishmen and Chinamen cheered together, and worked with might andmain, every one feeling that it was a race against time, but growinglighter-hearted as they went on, the materials being so close at hand;and as they were brought down from above or taken from the huge stackson the ground-floor, they were rapidly formed outside into a light butstrong loopholed wall extending along the wharf and facing the sea. Oneeasy enough to tear down, no doubt, if the enemy determinedly faced thestorm of bullets poured upon them from the loopholes, but good enough toprotect the defenders and keep the assailants in check for a time;while, when it began to yield, the besieged party had only to rush intothe warehouse offices and dwelling, close and barricade the doors, tohelp to defend what formed the keep or stronghold of the mercantilefort, and continue the firing from behind the silk-bales advantageouslyplaced as breastworks behind the first-floor windows, where they couldfire down upon any of the pirates who tried to shelter themselves behindthe tea-chest wall.

  It was wonderful with what rapidity the wall and breastworks rose, whilethe Chinese carpenters, whose general work was the making of the chests,sawed and hammered away, barricading the lower windows, and placingplanks ready for closing up the two doors that were left for temporaryuse.

  "They'll never get past the chest wall," panted Stan excitedly as Bluntcame down from where he had been showing his men how to wedge thesilk-bales together so as to stand tightly in the windows.

  "Don't you be too sure, my boy," said Blunt. "They are regular fiends,these half-wild Chinamen, and they'll come swarming over the wall likemonkeys."

  "And I thought it so strong that nothing but fire would have any effectupon it," said Stan gloomily.

  "Fire would have hardly any effect upon it," said Blunt, "unless therewas a strong wind. The chests might burn, but the tea would onlysmoulder away."

  "I am disappointed," said Stan, wrinkling up his forehead.

  "Not a bit. I'm delighted with what you have done. It is strong, but aparty of our sappers and miners would laugh at it all and say it was asweak as so much cobweb."

  "But I say, if they come, how will they attack?"

  "Like civilised savages: pour in a hail of swivel-gun balls, scrap-iron,and pebbles from the junks till they land, and then come on with spears,pitchforks, tridents, and swords. Some of them will have long_jingals_--matchlocks, you know--and no doubt muskets and rifles aswell. Then, too, I dare say they will bring plenty of stink-pots tothrow--earthen jars full of burning pitch. We shall have a high oldtime of it, Stan, my lad, as soon as the fight begins."

  "Oh!" exclaimed Stan suddenly, with a look of dismay.

  "Hullo!" cried Blunt, looking at his companion in a peculiar way."Beginning to think it will be too much of a good thing?"

  "No-o-o-o!" cried Stan angrily. "That I wasn't. I was thinking of thestink-pots."

  "Well, of course they'll stink, as 'tis their nature to," said Bluntmerrily.

  "Of course they will; but burning pitch--it will stick."

  "Pitch has a habit of doing so, my son," said Blunt mockingly.

  "Oh, you don't see what I mean," cried Stan excitedly. "The warehouse--wood--they'll set the whole place on fire and burn us out."

  _Phee-ew_!

  Blunt gave forth a long-drawn whistle.

  "By Saint Jingo, the great fighting-man," he cried, "I never thought ofthat Stan Lynn, you're a regular Todleben--a prince of engineeringdefence. Why, of course! They'd roast us out, and it would hurthorribly, without reckoning how they would poke us back with theirtridents to go on cooking if we tried to run away."

  "You see now, then?" said Stan.

  "See? Yes. I can almost feel. I am glad you thought of that. Allright. We'll have half-a-dozen casks in the middle of the big office,and I'll set a line of men to work across the wharf with buckets to fillthe casks from the river."

  "So as to nip any little fire in the bud?" cried Stan eagerly.

  "I don't see how you can nip a fire in the bud," said Blunt, with shamseriousness.

  "Oh yes, you can," cried Stan laughingly. "Nip it in the bud before itblossoms out into a big blaze."

  "Good boy, Stan! But the old people ought to have called you Solomon.Come on; let's get the men at work filling the water-casks, and thenwe'll serve out the firearms."

  In very few minutes the empty casks were in place, and two lines ofcoolies at work dipping water from the edge of the wharf, passing itfrom hand to hand along one line to where it was emptied into the opencasks, and sending the empty buckets back along the other line to berefilled.

  "Goes like clockwork," said Stan as he watched the men.

  "Thanks to you, my lad," said Blunt. "Now then, let us consult theoracle."

  "Eh?" asked Stan.

  "Old Wing," replied Blunt; and stepping outside, he hailed the Chinamanwhere he was perched upon the extremity of one gable, using the glassmost energetically.

  "Ahoy, there! Hullo, Wing!" shouted the manager. "How many junks canyou see, and how many pirates in each?"

  "No see not one yet while," cried Wing, lowering his glass. "Velly,velly long time coming."

  "And a good job too, my man. Have you looked right out yonder where theriver bends round?"

  "Yes; Wing look evelywheh. No junk come yet."

  "That's right. Keep on looking out."

  "You think junk full o' pilate come now?"

  "Of course I do. Didn't you say they were coming?"

  "Yes. Wing think allee junk come long ago."

  "Which means he is getting very tired of sitting perched up there," saidStan, laughing.

  "Yes; and we're getting very tired of working down here, but it has tobe done," responded Blunt. Then aloud: "Never mind what you expected,Wing; keep a sharp lookout all round, and don't miss the enemy unlessyou want to have a sharp something round your neck, and your head offbefore you know it."

  "Yes, Wing look all alound. No wantee head choppee off by pilate man."

  "That's right," said Blunt, turning away.--"Well, we are getting into agood state of defence even now, and of course we are bound to have acouple of hours' notice, unless the enemy make their attack in thedark."

  "In the dark?" said Stan, whom the idea quite appalled.

  "Yes; they may wait till dark, and then drop down slowly with thestream. It will be bad for us if they do, but we must take things asthey come; but I should like it to be daylight for our job."

  Stan felt ready to shiver, but he suppressed it.

  "You see it is of no use to be nice about this bit of business, my lad,"said Blunt gravely. "There'll be no compunction on the part of theenemy. They'll come on with the intention of massacring us all, andthey'll do it if they can."

  "But they can't," said Stan hoarsely.

  "They shan't," said Blunt; "for, as I said, it will be no time for beingnice. We've got to kill every one of
the wretches if we can."

  "For the benefit of humanity," said Stan eagerly.

  "I suppose so, my lad, but principally for the benefit of ourselves. Wewant to live out our time, and we'll do it too, so we must shoot themwhen the game begins. There! don't let us talk about what may be; thepirates haven't arrived yet. All we've got to do is to be ready forthem if they do come."

  "Then you think that perhaps, after all, they may not attack us?"

  "No, I don't," said Blunt in the roughest manner. "I trust Wing--as faras one can trust a Chinaman--but it is always on the cards that thescare is not so bad as he made out. Now then, let's see about theshooting-tackle."

  Blunt led the way quickly, and with a decision in his step that showedhow much he was in earnest, to the portion of the warehouse set apartfor the arms-rack, chest, and the magazine.

  "This is the sort of thing your people at Hai-Hai ought to set up," saidBlunt. "I hinted at it when I was over there, but your father said soplainly that he preferred to trust to the police there that I said nomore, only made up my mind that, as we have no police or protection ofany kind here, I was quite right in being prepared for the worst. Whatdo you say?"

  "I hate the idea of using such things," said Stan gravely, "but it mustbe right here."

  "Of course; and you won't mind using a rifle?"

  "I shall mind very much," replied Stan, "but I'm going to use one."

  "That's right. Here we are," said Blunt, unlocking and raising thetrap-door in the floor by its ring, and descending half-a-dozen stepsinto a bricked-in place with something resembling a wine-bin of threeshelves on one side, in which were stacked a few boxes not unlike casesof wine.

  "Here! let's have them out at once," said Blunt, and he handed up to hisyoung companion case after case.

  "Set them on that big table," he said. "Mind be careful. I don't knowwhether if one were dropped the cartridges would explode, but Ishouldn't like to try it. There you are; two cases for the rifles, andone for the revolvers. We'll leave the rest here, with the key in readyif wanted. Now for the tools themselves."

  He stepped out, closed the trap, and turned to the arms-rack.

  "You, Stan, take to the arms-chest and open it ready. I'll serve outthe rifles; you do the same with the revolvers.--Hi, you!" was shoutedto one of the clerks busy helping to pass out more tea-chests for thecontinuation of the wall-building; "pass the word for the men to comefor their rifles."

  The order was given, and as the men filed up each received aMartini-Henry, bandolier, and revolver, afterwards proceeding to the bigtable to wait till the weapons were supplied to all who needed them.

  "There you are," said Blunt as the last one was supplied. "Splendid newweapons that shoot perfectly straight if you hold them so. Now then,cartridges!"

  Packets of large and small cartridges were handed to the men for rifleand revolver, several of them receiving instructions how to fit thelittle rolls of powder and lead into the clips of the bandoliers, beforethey marched out, ready for the great emergency, keeping their weaponswith them now as they went on with their several duties of finishing thedefences.