*CHAPTER XIX*
*Captain Kargopol finds the Chunchuses*
Grumbles--Pai-chi-kou--The Masterful Muscovite--A Midnight Council--TheInn--A Summons--Betrayal--Confirmation--Miss-fire--The Rounds--IvanIvanovitch
Captain Vassily Nikolaeitch Kargopol was not in the best of tempers.His pony, which had carried him all day over some of the worst mountaintracks in Manchuria, slipped at the frozen edge of a rut, and nearlyrolled over. The rider, as a captain of Transbaikal Cossacks, was toogood a horseman to be thrown; but he was severely jolted, and he broughtthe poor jaded beast up with a smart lash of his whip. This seemed torelieve his feelings; and further consideration, together with acomically reproachful look on the face of his companion, broughtrepentance. Leaning forward he patted the animal's neck.
"You needn't look at me like that, Borisoff," he said. "I know it's toobad of me to visit the sins of this accursed country on the beast.Never mind; he shall have an extra feed of buckwheat to-night, and I'llsee that he gets it."
"That's more like you, Kargopol," returned Lieutenant Casimir AndreitchBorisoff. The cloud had indeed cleared like magic from the captain'sround, jovial, somewhat rubicund face; evidently he was not a man onwhom ill-temper sat long or heavily.
"The truth is, I am becoming a little uneasy. Isn't there something inthe Scriptures about hunting after a dead dog, after a flea? I confessI'd rather stick to our proper work, and smash Oyama instead of runningafter this Ah Lum and his Chunchuses."
"Yes, confound the fellow! He's as agile as the little unmentionablefellow you were beguiled into naming, though by all accounts he's morelike a live lion than a dead dog. That fight of his was a masterlypiece of work."
"I only wish we could get to grips with him. Here have I been forweeks--months--on the hunt, and haven't so much as sighted a bandit. Hithere! Ivan Samsonitch, ask the Chinaman how far it is to this preciousvillage."
The trooper addressed, riding beside a burly Chinaman twenty pacesahead, translated the question into a barbarous mixture of Chinese andpidgin Russian. The Chinaman, whose legs as he bestrode his little ponyalmost touched the ground, bowed humbly upon the animal's neck, andbarked a reply.
"He says, little father," said the sergeant, translating, "thatPai-chi-kou is about seven li farther; that is four versts; but there isa river to be forded."
"Another river! That makes a round dozen since we started. And thewater's icy cold, confound it!"
The captain had drawn up to the sergeant; only to him and the Chinamanwas his mild grumble audible. The sergeant was a man of responsibilitywith whom he could to a certain extent unbend; the men must hear nocomplaints. For nine hours the detachment of 150 Cossacks had marchedup hill and down dale over tracks slippery with frost, wading streamsthat in another month would be deeply coated with ice. Their progresswas hampered by the necessity of watching and assisting theheavily-laden pack-mules that formed the major part of the column. Theirdestination was the village of Pai-chi-kou, where they were to be joinedby the larger force for which they were carrying ammunition andsupplies. As verst succeeded verst, the captain thought, and said toLieutenant Borisoff, hard things of the transport officer who had drawnout the itinerary. The want of good service maps was a terribledisadvantage. Once the detachment had lost its way altogether; and onlyafter an hour had been spent in futile search was a countrymanopportunely discovered and pressed into the service as guide. The manwas very unwilling to act; he protested his wish to go in an entirelydifferent direction, to a village where his grandfather awaited burialrites. But Captain Kargopol had had enough dealings with Chinamen toregard this grandfather as an oriental Mrs. Harris; he turned a deaf earto the man's protests, and was unmelted by his facile tears. Under hisguidance the troops had trudged along, the men bearing the fatigues ofthe march with the fine cheerfulness of the Russian soldier, breakingout every now and then into song, their rich voices ringing outgloriously in the clear, frosty air.
The twelfth river was waded, only one of the mules losing its footingand submerging its load. Shortly afterwards, just as dusk was falling,the column arrived at a long, straggling village.
"This is Pai-chi-kou?" said the captain.
"Yes, little father," replied the sergeant, after questioning the guide.
"H'm! It seems very populous. Where do they stow all the people? Andwhat is the noise about?"
The street was crowded with Chinese men, women, and children, making aterrible din with gongs, drums, and crackers. The guide explained thata great number of people had come into the village to keep the annualDragon-boat Festival; if the Russians had arrived a little earlier theywould have seen the river covered with long, narrow, gaily-painted boatspaddled by crews of twenty in fantastic costumes, the banks throngedwith onlookers.
"A pity we missed it, Borisoff," said the captain. "However, I'm glad wehave arrived safely at last."
If Captain Kargopol had known a little more about Chinese customs, hewould certainly have asked why in this village the Festival--a summerfestival held on the fifth day of the fifth moon--was being celebratedfour months after the proper time. Moreover, it is only celebratedwhere the rivers are broad; on a hill stream the procession of boatsmust be a mere travesty. But the captain could hardly be expected toknow that.
The captain rode up to the only inn, where the one habitable room wascrammed with Chinamen. After a short colloquy with the innkeeper thesenatives were unceremoniously bundled out into the courtyard; the captainhad declared his intention of occupying the room with LieutenantBorisoff for the night. He then sent his sergeant to find quarters forthe troopers in the village. The man reported that every house was fullup.
"Then we must empty them," said the captain, who was tired and grumpy."Make the Chinese turn out. The men have more need of rest than they."
This was unanswerable, if illogical. The sergeant went to do hisbidding, and soon the street was noisier than ever, the dispossessedChinamen in scattered knots cackling away in their high-pitched voices,some of them weeping, and crowding to suffocation the few houses thatwere not required by these masterful foreign devils.
With military punctiliousness Captain Kargopol set a strong guard ateach end of the village, arranged for the single street to be patrolled,and the inn to be watched by a sentry; then threw himself on the k'angwith a weary sigh, and prepared to eat, if not digest, the meal whichthe innkeeper soon had ready for his guests. It was quite clear that,though the Chinamen had all been turned out, some had ventured to creepback into the passage and a sort of shanty adjoining the room. Theinnkeeper kow-towed and apologized; he hoped the honourable officerwould not object to the men occupying this shelter for the night; theyhad paid their scot in advance, and if he did not give them house-roomhe would have to refund the money and pay compensation in addition.
"Poor wretches!" said the captain to Borisoff. "We're pretty hard onthem at the best. They won't interfere with us, I suppose, unless theysnore; and even then, I fancy I'm so dead beat I could sleep throughanything."
When the officers had finished their supper, they wrapped themselves intheir cloaks, and lay, Captain Kargopol on the k'ang, the lieutenant onthe floor. Though the inn was now quiet, and the troopers were no doubtsleeping as soundly as their superiors, it was evident from the soundsproceeding from the houses that the Chinese were wakeful, possiblythrough the excitement of their festival.
Towards midnight, under the shelter of a low shed not far from the inn,where they crouched for protection from a biting north wind, twoChinamen were talking in low tones. One was the guide who had soreluctantly accompanied the Russians; the other a much younger man. Allat once, out of the darkness crept a short Chinese boy, looking fatterthan he was by reason of his thickly wadded clothes. He came to theyounger of the two men, and addressed him in an excited whisper. Toanyone who overheard him it would have been clear that he had beenhiding, according to instructions, in the inn. He said that he had
overheard a conversation between Hu Hang and C'hu Tan, who were amongthe Chinamen in the shanty. He had seemingly heard more than wasexpected. The ex-constable and Ah Lum's ex-lieutenant were going toseize and gag the innkeeper, and then to waken the Russian officers andgive them an important piece of information. The howl of a dog outsidethe village was to be the signal for carrying this plan into effect.They had said that between the first howl and the second there would beplenty of time for what they meant to do.
"Hai-yah!" growled the larger of the two listeners, following up theexclamation with an oath. The other made no comment on the news he hadjust heard, but, turning to the boy, he said rapidly:
"Run and tell Pai Ting there are to be two howls, not three. What wasto have been the first will now be the second. The signal will be givenas soon as the moon goes down behind yonder clump of trees. Youunderstand?"
The boy nodded, and without a word crept away, wriggling down a narrowpassage between the shed and the next house towards the outskirts of thevillage.
As soon as he had gone, the two men rose quietly and went into thestreet. Dodging the patrol, they hurried to the inn, passed to therear, and cautiously made their way into the shanty or lean-to. Therewere several Chinamen in the stuffy den, to all seeming fast asleep; buta close observer might have noticed that the entrance of the new-comerswas at once remarked, and that, as they passed by or actually steppedover the recumbent forms, they were the object of a keen scrutiny. Theinspection appeared to satisfy the men, for they at once resumed theirattitude of complete repose.
To any but ears keenly alert the progress of the two men would have beeninaudible; for there was a constant noise from the courtyard and a largeopen space behind the inn, where the greater number of the ponies of theconvoy were picketed under a Cossack guard. A Cossack was also doingsentry-go in front of the inn, but approaching from the back the twoChinamen had avoided him.
When they came in sight of the main room they exercised the extremestcaution. The door was but half-closed, and through the opening came thefaint yellow light of a small oil-lamp. Coming to a spot whence theycould see the greater part of the interior, they halted, and peepedwithin. Near the door they could just make out the forms of threeChinamen huddled on the floor--doubtless the innkeeper, and the two menwhose little plot the boy had overheard and reported. The Russianofficers had apparently been too much fatigued to resent this invasionof their privacy.
Waiting merely to get a mental photograph of the position in the room,the younger of the two Chinamen moved gently backward, and, touching oneof the dormant figures on the shoulder, beckoned him towards the backdoor. Then he whispered an instruction. The man was to enter the room,boldly but not aggressively, and summon the innkeeper to join Wang Shihat the house of the village headman. This was but a move in the gameshortly to be played out. The two conspirators would doubtless berelieved to find themselves--by a lucky accident, they wouldsuppose--free from the presence of the innkeeper; it would no longer benecessary to dispose of him; at the same time they would be reassured asto the whereabouts of Wang Shih. The man crept in as directed. Hisentrance caused the captain to stir.
"What is it?" he growled.
The innkeeper explained as well as he could that he was called away.
"Out with you, then, and tell the sentry to allow no one else in. Iwant to sleep."
He then turned over, and was instantly oblivious. The innkeeper, comingout, was surprised to find Wang Shih at the door, but was warned by thatburly man's younger companion not to open his lips.
He had scarcely left the room before one of the two Chinamen lyingwithin the room began to wriggle towards the officers. The other man,none other than Hu Hang, once a constable, now a disappointed Chunchuse,bent forward, intent upon his companion's progress. At a hint from theyounger of the two watchers, the elder, Wang Shih himself, slipped intothe room and stood silent and unnoticed behind Hu Hang.
The creeping Chinaman came first to Lieutenant Borisoff, stretched onthe floor. He nudged him; the Russian grunted. A second gentle nudgeprovoked another grunt. Then the officer awoke with a start, and seeingby the dim light a Chinaman bending over him, he instinctively felt forand grasped the revolver beneath the cloak that formed his pillow. TheChinaman held up his hands to show that he wras unarmed.
"What do you want, confound you?" asked Borisoff in pidgin Russian.
"Ss-s-h!" was the answer. "Listen quietly, honourable nobility. Thereis danger."
"What is it?" asked the lieutenant, raising himself on his elbow. "Tellme quickly, and be sure you tell me the truth, or----"
There was an ominous movement of the revolver. He touched CaptainKargopol's foot, and that officer, awake in an instant, sat up on thek'ang and looked about him.
"This village is not Pai-chi-kou, honourable nobility. It isTa-kang-tzue. The Chinamen here are all Chunchuses. Very soonhonourable master will hear the howl of a dog. It will not be the voiceof a dog, but of a man. It is a signal. Ah Lum's men are outside. Atthe signal they will surround the village."
Both officers were now on their feet, gripping their revolvers.
"Afterwards another howl," continued the informer. "The Chunchuses inthe village will seize rifles and pistols hidden in the gardens andpig-sties. Afterwards a third signal; every house with Russians in itwill be attacked, every honourable soldier captured or killed."
The captain rapped out an oath. The Chinaman, still on his knees,lifted up his hands and spoke earnestly.
"I can show the honourable nobility how to cheat them; honourable masterwill reward his humble slave. Is it not so?"
The captain, none too quick-witted, nodded to the man to proceed. TheChinaman stood erect.
"At the first howl, master will cut a hole in the window--quickly, sothat the men in the passage hear nothing; they are all Chunchuses. Hewill whisper to the sentry outside; the soldier will warn the patrol,and they will in haste make the round of the houses where soldiers are.Before the second signal is given, honourable master's men will beready; they can shoot down the Chunchuses in the village, and Ah Lumwill have to retreat, for honourable nobility's countrymen are only tenmiles away."
For a moment the captain gazed doubtfully at the man.
"Do you think it a trap?" he asked Borisoff.
The long-drawn howl of a dog as if baying the moon rose and died away atsome distance from the village. The officers started.
"Trap or not, we can't go far wrong in doing what he says. Even if heis lying we are no worse off."
"Honourable nobility's servant asks fifty ounces of silver for----"
"By and by, by and by. Your story must be proved. It sounds likelyenough----"
"You are quite right, your nobility," said another voice in goodRussian. "It is more than likely; it is literally true."
As the figure of a young Chinaman advanced from a dark part of the room,the startled officers backed and cocked their revolvers; the informer,turning a sickly green under his yellow skin, stared mouth agape at thespeaker; while, from the corner where the man's fellow-conspirator hadbeen waiting, the sound of a choking gurgle showed that Wang Shih wasbusy with his old friend the constable.
The scene in the dimly-lit room was one not likely to be soon forgottenby the actors in the drama.
While the two officers stood fingering their weapons in amazedirresolution, and the wretched traitor leant for support against thek'ang, the new-comer continued:
"What this man says, gentlemen, is perfectly true, so far as he knows.But he doesn't know all. Before you do anything rash allow me toexplain. The howl you have just heard was the second, not the firstsignal. Ah Lum's men have already surrounded the village, and eightymen inside are prepared to rush the quarters occupied by your troops.The inn is watched; the slightest commotion here will be the thirdsignal."
The news was in itself sufficient to provoke the deepest wrath, but thecoolness with which the explanation was given enraged the captain beyondall bo
unds. Springing forward with an oath he cried, "I will risk it!"and snapped his revolver within a foot of the Chinaman's head.
There was no report.
"It is fortunate for you, sir, that we drew the charges while you slept.But for that, your fate and that of your men would have been sealed. Ifyou will give me your word of honour not to make a sound, I will giveyou ocular proof of what I have said. Believe me, it is only to saveyour detachment from annihilation. But you shall judge."
The officer, pale and quivering with rage and chagrin rather than fear,threw a glance at Lieutenant Borisoff, who nodded.
"Agreed," said Kargopol fiercely.
Going to the door, the Chinaman said a few words to those outside. Theyrose and stood, fully armed, in the passage.
"They are Chunchuses, you observe, sir; not peaceful countrymen, as youbelieved, but the men you are hunting. We will pass outside. Be carefulnot to alarm your Cossacks."
They passed by the row of silent Chinamen out into the street. Theofficers were saluted by the sentry, who supposed them to be making therounds. They came to the largest house in the village. In front, onthe street, nothing was to be seen. But at the back, and in a darkpassage-way at the side, were at least twenty dim figures, armed at allpoints with rifle, pistol, and dagger. The silent group passed toanother house, and to yet another; at each, cunningly placed out ofsight of the patrol, Chunchuses lurked, awaiting the signal for theterrible work of the night.
"We have but a few minutes, gentlemen, before the signal. Are yousatisfied? Nothing stands between your men and extermination, saveyourselves. What is your decision?"
The captain bit his moustache.
"Let things take their course," said Borisoff quietly. "We had betterdie fighting than be tortured to death after surrender."
"I can promise you and your men good treatment as prisoners ofwar--always supposing your general is willing to exchange you for ourmen, and does not hang any more of ours in the meantime. You need notfear torture."
The Russians laughed grimly.
"What are your assurances worth--you, a Chunchuse?"
"A Chunchuse--yes, Captain, but in this case also an Englishman."
"An Englishman!" cried Kargopol with a start of surprise. Borisoffstepped nearer to Jack and peered into his face.
"An Englishman, sir."
"And a Chunchuse?"
"A Chunchuse, by compulsion of your countrymen. But, gentlemen, we wasteprecious time. In a few seconds the matter will be beyond yourdiscretion--or mine."
The captain stopped and faced the speaker. Borisoff's face wore a lookof perplexity.
"You give me your word?" said Kargopol after a moment.
"Yes."
"As an Englishman?"
"As an Englishman."
"Then I surrender."
"Believe me, sir, it is the wisest, the most humane course."
"Your name is Brown?" said Borisoff suddenly.
"Ivan Ivanovitch Brown, Lieutenant Borisoff."
"Batiushki! I was puzzled by something familiar in your voice. What inthe world----"
"Pardon me, the situation is still full of danger, a spark may fire thetrain. I will explain everything afterwards."
Peering into the dark, Jack in a moment beckoned to a small figurecrouching under the shelter of a wall. Hi Lo came bounding up, and tohim Jack gave a rapid order. The boy sped away at full speed.
"I have told him that the third signal is not to be given. I hope he maybe in time."