CHAPTER XIV--DAVE HEARS SOME EYE-OPENERS
"I'll look at the chap in a moment," replied Dr. Oliver.
But Pembroke had fainted, not died. Restoratives were applied, andpresently he was ready to go on.
"Shall I listen to him now, or wait until to-morrow?" Dave asked thesurgeon.
"The man will feel better if he talks himself out now," advised thesurgeon.
So Dave sat down again, while Pembroke rambled on:
"You see, Darrin, this isn't the first time I have served Chineseofficials among white men. I was in Nu-ping when that yarn got abroadthat the missionaries had secretly looted that old temple and hadremoved millions in loot, burying the treasure secretly in the compoundgrounds of the mission at Nu-ping. You have no idea how such storiestake hold in China. Doubtless, as a result of former rebellions andwars in China, the country is full of spots where fortunes have beenburied for safety, with the people who buried the treasure killed offand the secret lost. I believed fully that the missionaries had buriedsuch a treasure here at Nu-ping. The governor was sure of it, and sowere his secretaries and the few other officials who had heard thestory."
"Then why didn't the governor proceed officially and legally to havethe mission grounds dug up and searched?" Dave asked.
"Don't you understand?" cried Pembroke. "If the governor had done thatand found the treasure, he would have had to turn it over to thecentral government. In that there would be mighty little graft for hisexcellency. Now, unless he did it in an open and official manner, themissionaries could resist and report his excellency to the centralgovernment. Being a governor in China in these days isn't quite so finea job as it was in the old days under the emperors. In those days thegovernor was called a viceroy--a ruler who served in the place of themonarch, and a mighty big chap a viceroy was. But these governors ofthe new breed are not such powerful chaps, though they still have manychances to steal without detection.
"But our yellow governor here at Nu-ping looked the situation over onall sides. He decided that it would be best to have a rebellion takeplace here on a small scale, have the missionaries killed or chasedaway, and then have his own men dig up the mission grounds and find thetreasure. In the first place, our Nu-ping chap has about twelvethousand troops under his command. They could stop any rebellion thatstarted around here. It was necessary to get the troops out of the way,so his excellency got ready to send them out of the way. He kept intown only the few troops you saw to-day. With so few soldiers hecouldn't be expected to stop a rebellion, could he?
"The more his excellency thought over the matter of the hidden millionsin the mission grounds, the more he itched for them. Sin Foo sent forme, and I talked it over with them. The rebellion, once started, mightlast quite a while. We looked over the American fleet in Asiatic watersand decided that the 'Castoga' was the only naval craft of light enoughdraft to come up the Nung-kiang River to this point. His excellencywanted to take time for a leisurely rebellion, but knew that thisgunboat would be sent up here at the first murmurs of trouble. So hesent me to Manila to look over this craft, and, if possible, to crippleor sink her."
"Sink this gunboat?" asked Dave, in amazement.
"Yes," Pembroke nodded. "It struck his excellency as being worth while,in case his rebellion here should last long enough."
"But how could you sink the 'Castoga'?"
"Not such a difficult thing, if I got myself liked by the officersaboard," Pembroke replied. "Some afternoon I could put off and comeaboard, carrying a suitcase. I could have asked you, or any otherofficer, to let me leave my case in his cabin over night, couldn't I?"
"Yes," Dave said. "But how sink the boat?"
"If the suitcase contained the right contents, and if those contentswent off in the dead of night, it would be easy, wouldn't it?" askedPembroke, flushing.
"And--you--you--would have done such a thing as that?" gasped Ensign Dave.
"I would have done it--at that time," Pembroke confessed. "Darrin,drifting through the Orient as I have done for some years, and alwaysneeding money--as I did--a fellow gets so he will do many things that hewould hardly do in the good old home town."
Dave shuddered.
"His excellency's secretary--" Pembroke went on, but Darrin interruptedto ask:
"The 'Burnt-face' chap?"
"Yes. He went to Manila with me to see that I stuck to my job, and thatI didn't misapply too much of the expense money that I carried."
"I want to ask you something, Pembroke," Dave broke in quietly. "Do youknow anything about the Chinaman who was slain almost alongside thiscraft one night in Manila?"
"A good deal," the stricken man admitted. "He was a Christian convert,and the fellow overheard the secretary and myself talking of our plans.In trying to get away the eavesdropper made noise enough so that wepursued him. He escaped us, but we felt that he had to be found. Now,that Chinese convert, like most poor and simple people of his race, didnot think of going to the police. He was bound to reason toward moredirect procedure. My accomplice felt that the convert would try to warnthe commander of the threatened gunboat. That was what he did. He putoff alone, at night, to paddle out to the Castoga.' My accomplice andanother Chinese pursued, and--well, you know what was done with thesword."
Dave looked up from a deep revery as Pembroke finished. As he did so henoticed that the surgeon and a hospital man had been listening in theshadow beyond. Witnesses to such a rehearsal were necessary, so Darrindid not object.
"But tell me one thing," Dave asked, presently. "In Manila I saw'Burnt-face' look after Miss Chapin with a look amounting to hatred.Why should that have been?"
"Because, in the first place, the fellow hates all Christians, andmissionaries in especial. Miss Chapin is a missionary; more, she isengaged to wed the Rev. Mr. Barstow, of the party that you rescued.Now, he and the Rev. Mr. Barstow have been at odds for some time, andthe Chinaman hates the missionary most sincerely. Probably thesecretary knew that Miss Chapin is engaged to Mr. Barstow."
"Why did you come up with the party with which Miss Chapin and my wifetraveled?" asked Dave.
"Because it was the quickest way to get to Nu-ping," Pembroke admitted."And my own reason for coming back here was to get my own share of theloot which, until to-day, I really believed existed in the missiongrounds. Now, I think you know all. I--I--"
"You are very tired; I can see that," said Ensign Darrin quietly. "I amgreatly obliged to you for what you have told me, for it has cleared upmany points that had puzzled me."
"You think me a villain--an utter scoundrel, don't you?" asked Pembroke.
"Yes," Dave assented, speaking as quietly as before. "Any man who canplot to take innocent lives at wholesale is certainly a wickedscoundrel. But, if you should recover, I hope that you will lead a newlife, and will be manly hereafter."
"I--I wonder if a man can do that, after he has led the kind of lifethat I have led?" smiled Pembroke, weakly.
"I think so. I believe that you can. But that is not as much in my lineas some other questions. The man you should talk with is one of themissionary party. Shall I waken one of them and ask him to come toyou?"
"Not to-night," Pembroke answered, tossing. "I am too weary. If I amalive in the morning, perhaps."
"Good night," said Dave, bending over the berth and holding out hishand.
"Can you shake hands with a fellow such as you now know me to be?"demanded Pembroke, in utter amazement.
"Not with the fellow you have been, but with the man I hope you'regoing to be," Dave answered. "Good night, Pembroke."
"Good night, Darrin."