Under the Chinese Dragon: A Tale of Mongolia

'The shirts and things of that description we can get ready made,' the Professor said. 'In the hot weather you will wear cotton only, and that sort of thing is best obtained in China. In the very cold weather, and often at other times, we shall wear native costume. Now you will want a magazine pistol, of the same pattern as carried by us all, thus necessitating only one class of ammunition for that sort of weapon, a rifle, and a gun. Those, with a compass, will complete your equipment. Come here in a week's time, and we will see the clothes tried on.'

Those were busy days for our hero. There seemed a thousand and one things to be done, so much so that the hours flew. But at last the most exciting day of all arrived. He bade farewell to Mr. and Mrs. Jones, and went over the river to see Sergeant Hemming and his wife. Then he joined the Professor, and together they drove to the docks. It was not till the following morning, when they were well away at sea, that David was introduced to the two who were, besides the Professor, to be his travelling companions, and who went to complete the staff of the expedition going to China to investigate Mongolian ruins.

'David,' shouted the Professor, unceremoniously, as he leaned against the ship's rail talking with a passenger, 'come along and meet one of the band. Dick, this is David. David, Dick. Shake hands.'

'You! Why, this beats me altogether!'

The passenger who had been conversing with the Professor swung round, smiling, as the words were spoken, and stretched out his hand; but the instant his eyes fell on our hero he started back in amazement. The next second he had leaped forward, and was shaking David's hand as if he would never cease.

'You! David Harbor of all people! You and I to be travelling companions, on the staff of the same expedition. This is too good!'

It was Dick Cartwell, the young fellow to whom David had taken such a fancy on his eventful ride up to London, the son of the lady who had so narrowly escaped an accident in a runaway brougham.

'Ripping!' ejaculated David on his part, delighted beyond anything. 'I never asked the name of the other fellow. Just fancy it's being you! What a time we shall have together!'

'Perhaps,' said the Professor, smiling at the keenness and the friendship displayed by the two, and delighted beyond measure to find that they knew one another, 'perhaps you will have the goodness to explain. When Dick Cartwell came to me and begged of me to take him on this trip, I hesitated.'

He looked severely at the handsome young fellow, though there was a smile on his lips.

'I say!' exclaimed Dick, protesting.

'I hesitated,' went on the Professor, silencing Dick with uplifted finger. 'I said to myself, I want a man, a steady man, used to expeditions. Besides, I had just read about a certain David Harbor, quite a youngster, and I conceived that one young fellow would be ample trouble and to spare. But I gave way, and here I find you known to one another. Did David tell you to come to me, sir?'

Dick protested again, amid much laughter, and then turned abruptly on the Professor. 'It's just all chance, sir,' he said. 'But the happiest chance imaginable. David and I became acquainted only a little while ago. He made my mother's acquaintance on the high road to London. There was almost a nasty accident. He stepped in in the nick of time.'

'As he did in the case of the burglars. Tell me all about it,' asked the professor, in the peculiar jerky way he had. 'And so you saved those ladies, David,' he said, a little later, becoming serious. 'I'm glad; you have shown now on more than one occasion that you have a cool head on your shoulders, and that is just what is wanted out in China. I hope Dick will cultivate similar coolness, and joking apart, I'm delighted to have you both with me. Now to introduce you to the other member of our party. He has been with me once before, and is perfectly invaluable. Here he comes. Alphonse, mon cher.'

The jovial Professor had set his eyes on the quaintest figure of a man imaginable, and called to him as he promenaded the deck. And at his summons the passenger approached David and Dick and their employer in the most humorous manner. A little man, smaller in fact than the Professor, Alphonse was remarkably broad. His shoulders were extraordinary in their width, while one was struck by the fact that his head – a tiny, bullet-like head, covered with the shortest, bristly crop of hair, which stood upright everywhere – was sunk deep between the shoulders. For the rest, an extremely ample waistcoat expanse, short, thick legs, which nevertheless moved very swiftly, and a most engaging face made up the personality of Alphonse. From the long, pointed toes of his French boots, to the crown of his stubble-covered head, the passenger was an oddity, while voice and jesture added to his eccentricity.

'Monsieur, I have the honour to hear you call,' said the little man, advancing at the Professor's summons, with little prancing steps which might have been employed by a professor of dancing, while he bowed deeply, flourishing a cap with a mighty peak, again, like his boots and his whole person, entirely and convincingly French in origin. 'You called Alphonse.'

'To make him known to these two gentlemen. Alphonse, these are the two who accompany us. I trust that they may be as well pleased with you when our travels are over as I have been. Alphonse Pichart, David, Dick.'

The three shook hands eagerly, with vast enthusiasm in the case of the Frenchman. Indeed, David found himself unconsciously wondering at the little man, and marvelling whence came all his energy. And how the face of Alphonse attracted him. Beneath the stubbly, shock head of hair was a wide forehead, a pair of honest, sparkling, blue eyes, a good nose, and strong mouth and chin.

Not a hair was visible on this shining, healthy-looking countenance till one arrived at the chin, from which depended a peaky little beard, cut very narrow and curling forward at the tip.

'I shall have the honour and the pleasure to serve all three, then. Eh?' said Alphonse, backing and bowing once more, and replacing his hideous hat with a flourish. 'Monsieur can rely on me. I shall see to every one's comfort. And now, if Monsieur will permit, I go to the cabins to unpack.'

The Professor dismissed him with a nod and a smile.

'The best of fellows,' he exclaimed. 'Came last expedition as cook and valet.'

'Cook and valet!' exclaimed David, surprised that such individuals should be necessary, when the members of the expedition were obviously going to a part where they would have to rough it. 'I thought we should do our own cooking, or have a Chinaman for the job. As for a valet, why, clothes won't trouble us much I should think.'

'Perhaps not,' came the answer. 'But then, Alphonse is more cook than valet. I shall tell you something. An army, it is said, lives on its stomach. An exploring party does so, but in a different sense. The work is sometimes arduous, and all our attention will be required. Very well, one might have a good native cook. On the other hand one might very well have a villainous one. See the result – uncooked food, dyspepsia; you and I and Dick unfit for really good work. Lost time. Lost opportunities. Besides, Alphonse does more than cook or valet. He is shrewd, and has an abundance of courage. But you will see. He is the life and soul of the expedition. He keeps us and himself all going.'

Before the ship had been at sea a whole week, Dick and David found this to be very true; for Alphonse was always smiling, always humorous. And if there happened to be nothing in his actual words to make one laugh, his comical antics, his bows and flourishes always drew a smile, if not a roar of laughter, at which the little man beamed, for he was never angered.

No need to describe the voyage as far as Hong-Kong. It passed as other voyages do, with numerous deck games amongst the passengers, an occasional dance or concert, and one terrific gale, which swept the decks clear of all but the crew and confined the passengers to the saloon. Dick and David revelled in the movement of the ship. Not once did they shy from the saloon when the hours for meals arrived, nor feel squeamish.

'Just the lads for me,' the Professor told himself, rubbing his hands together, his face shining with enjoyment and good health. 'Nothing mamby pamby about them. They will prove excellent companions.'

At Hong-Kong the party transhipped to a coaster, and having reached Shanghai chartered a native boat.

'Our journeying may be said to begin here,' said the Professor, as he watched Alphonse arranging their belongings in the huge, roomy cabin aft. 'We run up the coast to a certain spot abutting on a portion of the Gulf of Pechili. Then we land and inspect certain ruins of which I have heard. From thence we can return to Shanghai, and take the train to Pekin, or we can journey overland. My lads, to-morrow we shall don our rougher clothing.'

That cruise up the Gulf of Pechili proved to be a most enjoyable experience, and David and his friend Dick made the most of every hour of it. They fell in with the four native hands whom the Professor had engaged at Hong-Kong, Chinese whom he had had in his service before, and helped the crew of the huge, wide-built boat haul at the ropes, and hoist extra canvas on her. Then, at the Professor's wish, they studied the language for three hours every day, sitting amongst the men, or more often with the four engaged with the expedition. And even a week, they found, saw some improvement in their knowledge.

'You have only to stick to it and you will become excellent linguists,' declared the Professor, 'and will find the power to converse most valuable. As for your instructors, a Chinaman when he takes an interest in anything is not to be beaten, and those servants of mine seem to have made up their minds that you shall both learn to speak in a record short time.'

Head and baffling winds delayed the progress of the boat immensely, so that ten days after leaving Shanghai, she was only half way toward her destination. Then there came a fair wind, lasting two whole days, which bore her a long way in the right direction. But towards evening it fell away altogether, leaving the huge native vessel wallowing in an oily yellow swell, and slowly drifting landward.

'Nothing to do but wait and hope for a change for the better,' said Alphonse. 'Monsieur the Professor can sleep; the other gentlemen can work at the language. Already they know more than I, who have been months and months in the country.'

But there were other things to attract the attention of our hero and his friend beside the Chinese language. Indeed, that very night there was an interruption. Awakening in the small hours David listened for a moment to the flop of the swell as it heaved against the side of the vessel. Then he heard a chain rattle, while, an instant later, a gentle hail came across the water. Throwing off the mosquito curtain, under which all now slept, he slid out of the deck cabin, and went to the rail. There was a figure already there dimly seen against the places where the swell broke at its summit and washed in white froth across the surface. 'Hist!' David heard, and a moment later realised that it was Alphonse.

'Ah, ha, that is Monsieur David? Good,' he heard the little Frenchman whisper. 'I can trust Monsieur David. He has been in danger before; he understands caution.'

'But – what is it? Why is there need for caution?' asked our hero, careful to keep his voice low, and wondering what the Frenchman could mean. 'I heard someone hail us; there must be another ship.'

At once Alphonse's arm swung out, he became as rigid as a board, while he pointed towards the bows of the vessel.

'See there, Monsieur. You are right; there is a boat. She has come alongside, and so silently that few of us have heard her. Does Monsieur know what she is here for?'

David could not even guess, but then he had never been in the Gulf of Pechili before. However, Alphonse knew the part, and had an idea of its dangers.

'Listen, Monsieur,' he whispered. 'I saw a boat three days ago, and thought I detected signals passing between us and her. She sailed right out of sight, but that night a lantern flashed right ahead of this vessel. To-night I detected the same, but knowing that there was a calm I felt sure that none could approach us without our hearing, for they would have to employ sweeps. Bien! I would not sleep. I crawled out on deck. I waited and watched. And presently a gentle breeze got up. Our men made no movement; they made no effort to put the vessel on her course, though they were moving about on the deck. Again I saw a lantern flash, and then, just a few minutes ago, I caught sight of a stranger approaching us. Monsieur, that is a Chinese pirate. She comes to take our weapons, and to loot those boxes the Professor carries with him.'

'Then the sooner he is warned the better,' said David, his voice hardly audible. 'This is serious.'

'Monsieur will perhaps go to the cabin and wake the two gentlemen,' suggested Alphonse, not a tremor in his words. 'I will remain and watch.'

'Listen to this,' whispered David, eagerly. 'I will warn the two in the cabin, and will then go to the four Chinese who form part of our staff. I will bring them back to our quarters as soon as possible. Meanwhile, if there is a movement in this direction, retire to the cabin yourself, and close the door firmly. It is the only means of entrance, except by way of a large port under the companion ladder leading to the roof of the cabin.'

'And that?' asked Alphonse, still as cool as ever, as if this were an everyday matter.

'Will do for me and the four men,' declared David. 'If the main door is shut we will slip in there. Warn the others about it.'

He was gone in a moment, and within the space of half a minute had awakened the Professor and Dick. In a few words he related what was happening.

'Stand by the door and admit Alphonse,' he said. 'I am going for the men we engaged at Hong-Kong; they are to be trusted.'

He took his magazine pistol from the rack in which all the weapons were housed, and slid out on to the deck again. Then, bending low, he ran towards the hatchway which led to the quarters occupied by the men attached to the expedition. He was just disappearing down it when his eyes fell upon some two dozen bent and dusky figures creeping along the deck. A moment later one of them gave a sharp order, and at once, with shouts and cries, the whole party dashed toward the stern of the vessel. The attack on the Professor's party was about to begin. David's retreat was entirely cut off by the enemy.

CHAPTER VII

At Sea on a Chinese Junk

'Steady!' David commanded himself, feeling for the moment as if he were about to give way to panic. 'Go below and get the four men, then make a rush. You couldn't get back to the cabin alone.'

He stood on the narrow steps, with his head just above the level of the hatch and watched for a moment; for the sudden view he had obtained of the attackers, and their unexpected rush aft had taken him unawares. As he stared into the gloom he could see the figures which had passed him at a rush moving about from side to side of the vessel, just outside the huge deck cabin that occupied the whole of the stern. He heard blows struck against the woodwork, and a loud, resounding bang, as the door was locked and bolted. Then the shouts died away. A man stood out prominently from his comrades, and gave a sharp order. A second later there was a blinding flash, a deafening roar rolled along the decks and over the sea, while the flame lit up the surroundings.

'Fired a blunderbuss or some other ancient weapon,' David told himself. 'Blew a hole clean through the door. I do hope that none of my friends were behind it. Ah! that is the answer.'

For one brief second he had obtained a clear view of the attackers. Some twenty-four in number, they crouched on the deck as the weapon was fired, so that the ruffian who pulled the trigger became all the more prominent. He was a tall, lanky Chinaman, dressed in loose cotton clothing, and with arms bared to the shoulder. David even caught a view of his swaying pigtail. Then darkness descended again, and blotted out the figure. A moment later startled voices came to his ear from below; at once he dropped to the bottom of the ladder.

'Gently, Ho Hung,' he whispered, calling to one of the four men who had joined the staff of the expedition, and who had been with the Professor on a previous occasion. Ho Hung, indeed, was well known to our hero, for it was he who made such valiant efforts every day to teach him the language. 'Gently, Ho Hung,' he called again, speaking in Chinese as well as he could. 'I am here, at the bottom of the ladder.'

Something touched his leg. Strong fingers closed about the ankle, and sent a thrill throughout David's frame. He clenched his teeth, and stooping, gripped the wrist of the man below, prepared to throw himself upon him.

'Speak,' he commanded, hoarsely. 'Who are you?'

'Ho Hung, Excellency. I heard you call; there is trouble on the deck?'

'Listen,' said David, breathing deeply, a huge sigh of relief escaping him. 'We are attacked. My friends are in the cabin; we must reach them, you and I and the other three. Where are they?'

Not a sound had he heard below, save Ho Hung's voice; but at his question three more figures rose up before him as if they were ghosts, though in the dense darkness of the 'tween decks he could not perceive them. But the men spoke huskily, their tones strangely different from the high-pitched notes they were wont to employ.

'Lo Fing, Excellency, here, ready.'

'And Hu Ty, at your orders.'

'With John Jong, Excellency, prepared to obey.'

The latter individual impressed his presence upon our hero by stretching out a long, thin hand in the darkness, and laying it upon his shoulder. But that was often this Chinaman's salutation in the case of David or Dick, though he would never have dared in the case of the Professor or in that of Alphonse. Still he was a merry, privileged rascal, and enjoyed the name of John, probably because of its similarity to his own of Jong, and also, perhaps, because he was the only one of the four who could understand and speak English.

'Allee lightee, Excellency David,' he said, using his queer pidgin-English. 'Allee four here. What then? Trouble above? Dat rascal captain up to some nicee little game?'

But David ignored the questions. Ho Hung was the leader of this little quartet, and by far the most reliable. He swung round upon the Chinaman, who still gripped his ankle, as if to assure him of his presence all the while, and spoke hastily, his knowledge of the language, small though it was, proving of the greatest service.

'You will stand by us then?' he asked.

'We swear it,' came solemnly from Ho Hung, while the other three gave guttural approval. 'And you are armed?'

From the neighbourhood of John Jong there came the sound made when a match is struck, and almost at once a flame illuminated the surroundings, showing the four Chinamen, their eyes strangely big and prominent in the flare, and David at the foot of the ladder. Jong held the match forward, and each man in turn showed the weapon he possessed.

'See, Excellency, a staff,' said Ho Hung, displaying a massive staff, that would prove a formidable weapon.

'And knives here, and here, and here.' Jong pointed to the one he had in his own belt, while Lo Fing and Hu Ty held theirs forward, smiling grimly.

'Then wait while I see what is happening. We have to join the others, and I have arranged to make use of the port under the ladder leading to the top of the cabin. We shall have to make a rush – you understand that? You follow what I mean?'

The match had burned down to Jong's finger tips by now, and he let the end drop on to the boards, stamping the ash out with his feet; but the light given even by such a small incandescent piece of wood in the darkness was sufficient to show up the figures for a few seconds. David watched the men and nodded. There was no doubt that they had understood his laboured rendering of their own language.

'Then wait,' he said curtly. 'I will see what is happening. One of the crew fired a gun at the cabin door. I heard a shot in return, and believe the man fell; since then there has not been a sound. Wait; I'll be back in a moment.'

He stole softly up the ladder, for he had only a pair of soft bedroom slippers on his feet, and they were as good for the purpose as even the cotton-soled shoe worn by the Chinese themselves. In a twinkling his head was on a level with the hatch, and then he cautiously raised it.

'Men creeping about as if they were in search of something,' he told himself, seeing moving figures. 'One lying on the deck just where that fellow stood to fire his shot. Killed, I expect, by our own party. What on earth are the rascals up to?'

He was puzzling his brains as to what could be passing, for there seemed no object in the movement of the men on deck, while the attack on the cabin appeared to have been forgotten. Then a sharp exclamation reached his ears, and one of the attackers stood upright, lifting something from the deck. David could not be sure, but believed it was an axe, and again wondered what would be done with it.

'Break in the door, I suppose,' he told himself. 'That'll want doing; there are pistols there, my friend, as you will soon learn to your cost. Ah! Another seems to have discovered a similar weapon.'

It was not at all remarkable that such a search should be needed for these two axes – and axes they undoubtedly were – for the methods of the commander of the native boat were anything but excellent. Untidiness was noticeable everywhere; odds and ends of things, bales and boxes and coils of rope and tackle of every description littering the deck. And amidst the various items were the axes.

'Talking the matter over amongst themselves,' thought David, seeing the dusky figures come together at one side of the deck. 'That shows they counted on winning their way into the cabin at the first rush. They made sure that they would pounce upon us unawares, and never imagined that we should be ready for them. Now they'll decide upon some plan for forcing their way in. This would be our chance for rushing along to join our comrades.'

The thought had hardly crossed his mind when those long, firm fingers closed again round his ankle, a sure signal that Ho Hung wished to communicate with him. Instantly David slid down into the depths of the vessel.

'Well?' he asked, somewhat curtly, for he was anxious not to lose sight of the enemy. 'They have been searching the decks for axes and have discovered two. I think they are about to rush at the door and attempt to beat it in. That will be the moment for us to run. You have all that, Hung? Can't make it a bit clearer.'

A guttural response reassured him. 'We have understood. His Excellency speaks plainly, though he makes many mistakes. Hung wished only to tell of something which has been forgotten. There is no need to go out on deck and enter by the port, for there is a path to the cabin by this way. Does his Excellency forget that meals are brought to his friends through a hatchway leading up through the floor of the cabin?'

The position of that hatch flashed across David's brain instantly, and he could have struck himself for having forgotten it so readily. Of course, it was the only way by which to rejoin the party in the cabin, and offered a perfectly safe road.

'We will make along it at once, Hung,' he said. 'Let Jong run and warn our friends immediately. I will watch at the top of the ladder, while you and the other two search about for something with which to block the foot of the ladder leading up to that hatch. Quick with it! They may have remembered it too.'

Feeling sure that his orders would be carried out promptly, he swarmed up to the level of the deck again, and once more cautiously protruded his head. At the same moment a heavy thud reached his ears; there came the sound of splintering wood, then the sharp, distinctive snap of a magazine pistol. As on a former occasion, though to a lesser degree this time, the flash of the weapon gave our hero an instant's view of his surroundings. Thirty feet away was the wall of the cabin, with the dark lines of the doorposts in the centre, while the deck on either hand was occupied by crouching figures. One Chinaman alone was prominent, and he stood before the door, frantically struggling to drag the blade of the axe he had been wielding out of the woodwork. He staggered backwards with the weapon, as the darkness fell like a screen about him. Then the sound of splintering wood was repeated, a pistol snapped, and after it another, illuminating the scene for the space of a few seconds. David saw the Chinaman reel across the deck, and heard the axe fall heavily upon the boards, then his eye fell upon other figures. Half a dozen men were creeping towards the hatchway from which he was watching, and the leader of the band was within a few inches.