CHAPTER VII
At Sea on a Chinese Junk
'Steady!' David commanded himself, feeling for the moment as if he wereabout to give way to panic. 'Go below and get the four men, then make arush. You couldn't get back to the cabin alone.'
He stood on the narrow steps, with his head just above the level of thehatch and watched for a moment; for the sudden view he had obtained ofthe attackers, and their unexpected rush aft had taken him unawares. Ashe stared into the gloom he could see the figures which had passed himat a rush moving about from side to side of the vessel, just outside thehuge deck cabin that occupied the whole of the stern. He heard blowsstruck against the woodwork, and a loud, resounding bang, as the doorwas locked and bolted. Then the shouts died away. A man stood outprominently from his comrades, and gave a sharp order. A second laterthere was a blinding flash, a deafening roar rolled along the decks andover 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 friendswere behind it. Ah! that is the answer.'
For one brief second he had obtained a clear view of the attackers. Sometwenty-four in number, they crouched on the deck as the weapon wasfired, so that the ruffian who pulled the trigger became all the moreprominent. He was a tall, lanky Chinaman, dressed in loose cottonclothing, and with arms bared to the shoulder. David even caught a viewof his swaying pigtail. Then darkness descended again, and blotted outthe 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 hadjoined the staff of the expedition, and who had been with the Professoron a previous occasion. Ho Hung, indeed, was well known to our hero, forit was he who made such valiant efforts every day to teach him thelanguage. 'Gently, Ho Hung,' he called again, speaking in Chinese aswell as he could. 'I am here, at the bottom of the ladder.'
Something touched his leg. Strong fingers closed about the ankle, andsent a thrill throughout David's frame. He clenched his teeth, andstooping, gripped the wrist of the man below, prepared to throw himselfupon 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 escapinghim. '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 hisquestion three more figures rose up before him as if they were ghosts,though in the dense darkness of the 'tween decks he could not perceivethem. But the men spoke huskily, their tones strangely different fromthe 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 stretchingout 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 orDick, though he would never have dared in the case of the Professor orin that of Alphonse. Still he was a merry, privileged rascal, andenjoyed the name of John, probably because of its similarity to his ownof Jong, and also, perhaps, because he was the only one of the four whocould understand and speak English.
'Allee lightee, Excellency David,' he said, using his queerpidgin-English. 'Allee four here. What then? Trouble above? Dat rascalcaptain up to some nicee little game?'
But David ignored the questions. Ho Hung was the leader of this littlequartet, 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 thewhile, and spoke hastily, his knowledge of the language, small thoughit 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 gaveguttural approval. 'And you are armed?'
From the neighbourhood of John Jong there came the sound made when amatch is struck, and almost at once a flame illuminated thesurroundings, showing the four Chinamen, their eyes strangely big andprominent in the flare, and David at the foot of the ladder. Jong heldthe 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 inhis own belt, while Lo Fing and Hu Ty held theirs forward, smilinggrimly.
'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 tothe 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 theend drop on to the boards, stamping the ash out with his feet; but thelight given even by such a small incandescent piece of wood in thedarkness was sufficient to show up the figures for a few seconds. Davidwatched the men and nodded. There was no doubt that they had understoodhis laboured rendering of their own language.
'Then wait,' he said curtly. 'I will see what is happening. One of thecrew fired a gun at the cabin door. I heard a shot in return, andbelieve the man fell; since then there has not been a sound. Wait; I'llbe back in a moment.'
He stole softly up the ladder, for he had only a pair of soft bedroomslippers on his feet, and they were as good for the purpose as even thecotton-soled shoe worn by the Chinese themselves. In a twinkling hishead 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 toldhimself, seeing moving figures. 'One lying on the deck just where thatfellow stood to fire his shot. Killed, I expect, by our own party. Whaton earth are the rascals up to?'
He was puzzling his brains as to what could be passing, for there seemedno object in the movement of the men on deck, while the attack on thecabin appeared to have been forgotten. Then a sharp exclamation reachedhis ears, and one of the attackers stood upright, lifting something fromthe deck. David could not be sure, but believed it was an axe, and againwondered 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 forthese two axes--and axes they undoubtedly were--for the methods of thecommander of the native boat were anything but excellent. Untidiness wasnoticeable everywhere; odds and ends of things, bales and boxes andcoils of rope and tackle of every description littering the deck. Andamidst the various items were the axes.
'Talking the matter over amongst themselves,' thought David, seeing thedusky figures come together at one side of the deck. 'That shows theycounted on winning their way into the cabin at the first rush. They madesure that they would pounce upon us unawares, and never imagined that weshould be ready for them. Now they'll decide upon some plan for forcingtheir way in. This would be our chance for rushing along to join ourcomrades.'
The thought had hardly crossed his mind when those long, firm fingersclosed again round his ankle, a sure signal that Ho Hung wished tocommunicate with him. Instantly David slid down into the depths of thevessel.
'Well?' he asked, somewhat curtly, for he was anxious not to lose sightof the enemy. 'They have been searching the decks for axes and havediscovered two. I think they are about to rush at the door and attemptto 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 Excellencyspeaks plainly, though he makes many mistakes. Hung wished only to tellof something which has been forgotten. There is no need to g
o out ondeck and enter by the port, for there is a path to the cabin by thisway. Does his Excellency forget that meals are brought to his friendsthrough a hatchway leading up through the floor of the cabin?'
The position of that hatch flashed across David's brain instantly, andhe could have struck himself for having forgotten it so readily. Ofcourse, 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 warnour friends immediately. I will watch at the top of the ladder, whileyou and the other two search about for something with which to block thefoot of the ladder leading up to that hatch. Quick with it! They mayhave remembered it too.'
Feeling sure that his orders would be carried out promptly, he swarmedup to the level of the deck again, and once more cautiously protrudedhis head. At the same moment a heavy thud reached his ears; there camethe sound of splintering wood, then the sharp, distinctive snap of amagazine pistol. As on a former occasion, though to a lesser degree thistime, the flash of the weapon gave our hero an instant's view of hissurroundings. Thirty feet away was the wall of the cabin, with the darklines of the doorposts in the centre, while the deck on either hand wasoccupied by crouching figures. One Chinaman alone was prominent, and hestood before the door, frantically struggling to drag the blade of theaxe he had been wielding out of the woodwork. He staggered backwardswith the weapon, as the darkness fell like a screen about him. Then thesound of splintering wood was repeated, a pistol snapped, and after itanother, illuminating the scene for the space of a few seconds. Davidsaw the Chinaman reel across the deck, and heard the axe fall heavilyupon the boards, then his eye fell upon other figures. Half a dozen menwere creeping towards the hatchway from which he was watching, and theleader of the band was within a few inches.
'One of the foreign devils,' he heard a man call. 'Hold him! Seize him!He has stolen out of the cabin.'
'I have him. Follow. Push your knives into his carcass.'
The leader so close to our hero recovered from his astonishment farsooner than did David, and hardly had his companion shouted when the manthrew himself forward as if he were diving, and landing full upon thelad, who was standing on the steep steps that lead to the 'tween decks,gripped him round the neck in an embrace that was stifling. The resultmust have been as much of a surprise to him as it was to our hero; forthe latter's feet slipped, his soft, felt soles failing to grip therungs of the ladder, and at once both were precipitated to the bottom.
'Yield, foreign devil,' the man hissed in his ear. 'Yield, or I willthrust my knife through you.'
He made frantic efforts to get at the weapon, and releasing one handgroped at his belt. But the fall had shaken the weapon from its place,and had sent it tinkling on to the boards, while the movement gave Davidan opportunity he took the utmost advantage of. Naturally strong andactive, and by this time fully restored to health, he was a good matchfor the Chinaman. Indeed, he was more; for, exerting all his strength,he thrust the man beneath him and held him there, wondering what next heshould do with him. However, he was not to be spared time for such apurpose, for by now a second man was beside them. David felt his hand onhis shoulder as the Chinaman sought in the darkness to assure himselfwhich was friend and which foreign devil. In a moment he would know, forthe clothing would tell its own story promptly, and if David were toescape a thrust from the long knife the rascal bore he must act on theinstant. It may have been an inspiration--perhaps the whole thing wasdone unconsciously--in any case our hero braced his muscles as he hadnever done on a former occasion, and stretching out a hand gripped thepigtail of the man beneath him. Then he lifted the head sharply and sentit back against the deck with a sickening thud that stunned hisantagonist instantly. A moment later something struck hard against hisown shoulder, and, though he did not realise the fact then, theexplanation came afterwards. The second Chinaman had thrust at him inthe darkness, and missing his aim, had sent his blade within a couple ofinches of his back, and far across it till his wrist came against theshoulder.
'Which shows he means business in any case,' thought David, recoilingbefore the blow. 'How's that?'
Kneeling up, with a swift motion, and realising that he had no time toget to his feet, he lunged forward sharply with his right fist, metsomething solid and sent it flying. Indeed, he heard the man staggeracross the alley-way, and crash against a bulkhead two yards from him.Then, long before the fellow could pounce upon him, David was on hisfeet.
'Hist!' he heard at his elbow, then there was the scrape of a matchagainst the roughened paper on the box. A flame suddenly illuminated the'tween decks, showing our hero, dishevelled and somewhat breathless,close to the foot of the ladder, Ho Hung beside him, and the Chinamanadvancing again with upraised weapon. More than that, it showed facesfilling the dark square of the hatchway, and a man already half-way downthe ladder.
"A FLAME SUDDENLY ILLUMINATED THE 'TWEEN DECKS"]
'On to him,' shouted David. 'I'll see to the other.'
His hand dipped into his pocket swiftly, and reappeared with hismagazine pistol. Before the flame had quite died out, or the Chinamancould reach him, he pressed the trigger, and caught a glimpse of thefellow as he doubled up like a rabbit, and crashed to the boards. Asecond later he was swept from his feet by Ho Hung and the Chinaman, whohad by now reached the foot of the ladder.
If ever there were a time when David felt inclined to lose his head andact in an aimless manner, it was at this very moment, when he was sweptfrom his feet by the fall of Hung and the villain who had grappled withhim. Tumbled on the deck with a crash, he stretched out his hands tohelp himself to rise, and, instead of feeling his fingers fall upon theboards, realised at once that they had come in contact with a man. Hepounced on the fellow, and after gripping his arms, he shifted hisfingers to the neck. A growl of vexation escaped him.
'He's the other fellow. The chap I shot a moment ago. Call this actingsteadily?' he asked himself fiercely. 'Where's Hung? What's he doing?'
It was useless to ask the question, for the sound of a violent scuffleat his feet, and the fact that he was again nearly felled to the deckprovided sufficient answer to any but the most unintelligent. ObviouslyHung was locked in the arms of one of the enemy, and in the darkness whocould say who was the victor? Then that coolness which David hadmomentarily lost, and which was so essential under such circumstances,returned to him like a flash. He dropped his pistol into his pocket,extracted a box of matches and struck one.
'Now,' he thought, 'we shall see how matters are going. Ah! another ofthe fellows.'
The many faces of which he had caught a glimpse a little while beforefilling the dark square of the hatchway were blotted out by the figureof a Chinaman sliding down the ladder, while the light was reflectedbrightly from almost a yard of steel that was gripped between thenewcomer's teeth. In a second or two he would be at the bottom of theladder, and then, even if David wished to help Hung, he would be unableto. It was just one of those acute moments when instant decision isnecessary, and immediate action, consequent on that decision, of vitalimportance. We have said that David Harbor was assailed but a minuteearlier by one of those strange panics which come to the best of men,to the very bravest. Who knows? perhaps his meeting with the burglars inthe store so close to Bond Street had in a measure unnerved him; oreven, though his healthy colour and obvious robustness gave the liedirect to the suggestion, he was not yet entirely recovered from hisinjury sustained in that memorable conflict with Henricksen and hisaccomplices. Whatever the cause, David had without a shadow of doubtbeen on the verge of losing his head and his coolness entirely within afew seconds of Hung's arrival to help him. Perhaps the shame he feltimmediately afterwards helped him now to behave in the coolest possiblemanner, and with a promptness that was commendable. Seeing the Chinamanjust at the foot of the ladder, he tossed the match to the floor, andstepping forward seized the man round the waist. Then he lifted him fromhis feet as if he weighed a mere nothing, and using all hi
s strengththrew him across the alley-way. The crash had hardly died away when hehad another match burning.
'Now we will run to the cabin, Excellency,' he heard Hung say, andturning towards him he saw the gallant fellow standing within a foot ofhim, a long knife in one hand, and the staff which he had carried at thefoot of the ladder. Also the light showed the hatchway above, with itsgallery of staring faces, and a huddled figure at Hung's feet. As forthe man David had tackled, he lay in a heap against the bulkhead,stunned and helpless after such a rough experience.
'Lead the way,' commanded David, promptly. 'I'll bring the ladder withme. Stand aside, and let us have another match.'
He gripped the sides of the steep ladder leading from the hatchway, and,as Hung fumbled for a match, tore it from its flimsy fastenings. Then hepointed down the alley-way, and seeing Hung advance, slid along afterhim. Nor was their retreat undertaken a moment too soon. For as Davidstepped away from the hatchway a dozen more heads were suddenly shownthere, standing out dimly against the starlight. Men shouted andbellowed, while one yellow ruffian slid a long, skinny arm downwards,took hasty aim, and pulled the trigger of a huge horse pistol. Theconcussion in the narrow alley-way deafened our hero, though the bulletdid not touch him--for it was as big almost as a pigeon's egg--andcrashing against the deck planks, it bored a hole clean through them.The smoke which belched from this antique weapon formed an excellentscreen, behind which Hung and his companion were able to cloak theirmovements.
'You follow closely, Excellency,' David heard the Chinaman say. 'Notsafe to strike more matches, for some of the men may have droppedthrough the hatchway and will fire at us. Follow closely, and bring theladder. Our friends are within short distance of us.'
'And they have warned the others?' asked David. 'They have made somepreparation to hold the enemy?'
'That I cannot say,' came the swift answer. 'But Jong is cunning, whilethe others will have obeyed his Excellency's orders. Ah! we havearrived. Hist! we are coming towards you.'
In the black darkness at the end of the alley-way a faint sound washeard, as if some one had sharply closed the lid of a metal match-box,though as a matter of fact it was the cocking of a pistol held in Dick'shands. Then the light from a lantern was thrown for one brief instant inDavid's direction, showing the walls of the alley-way, Hung's hurryingfigure, and ahead of him a huge square mass, covered in sacking. Dick'scheery voice broke the silence immediately.
'Cheer oh! David!' he cried. 'What news? We were beginning to get thefidgets about you. Thought those fellows might have bagged youaltogether. What's happened?'
'Heaps,' came the laconic answer. 'Just let me get past this bale andtake a breather. I've never been so scared in all my life.'
There was a savage note in his voice, a note altogether foreign toDavid, and hearing it Dick realised that something altogether out of thecommon had happened.
'Come and sit down on the deck beside me,' he said. 'You can go up intothe cabin later. I've sent word to say you were arriving. What's upsetyou?'
'Look here,' David blurted, turning upon him, 'would you feel yourselfif you had been within an inch of proving a funk, of running away withyour tail between your legs? Would you? Eh? That's the question.'
'Depends,' came the cautious answer. 'Perhaps there was reason forgetting funked. I tell you I was at first when you woke me. Well? What'sall the bother?'
'I'll tell you,' said our hero, feeling somewhat relieved and in betterfavour with himself, now that he heard Dick admit to the fact that hehimself had been scared. 'I met our men at the bottom of the hatchway,and sent them on various errands. Then, as I watched from the top of theladder a beggar threw himself on me, and we both went crash to thebottom. A second fellow followed, and then a third, whom Hung tackled.Well, I stunned my first man, and knocked the breath out of the second.I could feel Hung scuffling with his man in the darkness, and I tell youI nearly bolted. I got into a panic, and might very well have fired inall directions. Gurr! It makes a fellow ashamed of himself.'
Dick roared with laughter, till a sharp command from the cabin abovestopped him. 'You do amuse me, David,' he said, dropping his voice to awhisper. 'Stun one man, knock the wind out of another, and then getscared. As if a fellow hadn't a right to be, after such an experience;but what happened then?'
'Pulled myself together, I suppose; did the only sensible thing underthe circumstances. I struck a match, and only just in time. There wasanother beggar at the foot of the ladder, with a whole heap staringthrough the hatchway. I bet I shook that last rascal. I heaved himacross the alley-way as if he were a box, and I should say that he'shardly fit to move yet awhile. Talk about collaring a chap out of thescrum, or getting a quick man extra well when coming all out down thefield--that Chinaman don't need to fear a game of footer in the future.He'll never be collared or slung harder. Well, there you are: Hung hadfinished his man with the most murderous knife you ever saw, while Iended the matter for the moment by tearing the ladder away; but theywon't be long in coming after us. What have you done?'
'Half-blocked the alley-way near the bottom of our hatchway with balesof cotton, leaving room for you to come through. Jong's been shovingothers into position since. Beyond that I've done nothing; the Professorand Alphonse have been watching the door of the cabin.'
'Then supposing we show that lamp again,' said David. 'If all's clearI'll hop up and report progress, then I'll get leave to come down toyou. There'll be a ruction in this neighbourhood before many minutes.'
Dick reached for the dark lantern from the corner in which he had placedit, and turned the slide swiftly, showing first the figures of Jong, ofHu Ty, and Lo Fing crouching behind the barrier erected in thealley-way. Then he flashed the light over the top of the bales ofcotton, and illuminated the alley-way beyond. The rays fell upon a dozeneager faces, upon a mass of half-clad men hemmed in the narrow place,and was reflected from a number of brandished weapons. A deafening shoutgreeted the appearance of the lantern, and the bales it showed barringthe progress of the attacking party. Then the same lean, skinny armwhich had dropped from the other hatchway, and had fired a horse pistol,jerked itself into a horizontal position, a crashing report filled thealley-way, while a bullet roared between the heads of Dick and David,and thundered against the woodwork behind. Hidden by the eddying smokethe Chinese pirates struggled forward and threw themselves with furyupon the barrier behind which lay the Professor's slender party.