CHAPTER IX
SU FING'S PRISONER
Four days after Burroughs dispatched his letter to Errington, when thelapse of time showed pretty plainly that it was not likely to get ananswer, he received a visit from Mr. Ting. The merchant, though he hadrefused Errington's request for help, had not done so out ofhard-heartedness or stinginess, but from a wish that the boy shouldlearn a severe lesson, that would leave an enduring stamp. But when hehad gone a few days' journey down the river his heart smote him. He wasyoung enough himself to understand the racking anxiety which his oldfriend's son was suffering; and his knowledge of the desperateexpedients to which harassed young fellows sometimes resorted, made himdecide to return to Chia-ling Fu, so that he might be at hand to rescueErrington from the worst consequences of his folly.
He had called at Sui-Fu on his way up a few days before, intending tofind out from Burroughs more precise details of Errington'scircumstances; for as yet he had not heard of the split between the twofriends. But Burroughs chanced to be absent up country, and they didnot meet. On this second occasion, however, Burroughs was in his officewhen the Chinaman called.
"How d'you do, Mr. Ting?" he said; "sorry I wasn't in the other day.All well at Shanghai?"
"Yes, when I left. That is now some days ago. You are doing well, yourfather says."
"Rubbing along, you know. These disturbances up the river aren't goodfor business."
"That is tlue. And your flend Pidge--I have his school name, yousee--will know that even better than you. I saw him a few days ago."
Burroughs did not reply, and Mr. Ting's observant eyes detected an airof constraint in his manner.
"You do not see him so often now, of course," the Chinaman went on."That is a pity, when you are such good flends. It is a pity, too, thathe is so fa' away. He did not look well: do you know what tloubles him?"
"He hasn't said anything to me," said Burroughs, looking still moreuncomfortable.
"He has not sent you a letter lately?"
"No," said Burroughs, adding hastily: "but I wrote to him a few daysago."
"And you have heard of no tlouble he is in?" Mr. Ting persisted.
Burroughs hesitated: it was his way to think before he spoke. He hadheard only gossip about the card-playing that went on at Chia-ling Fu,and it seemed hardly fair to Errington to discuss his personal mattersmerely on hearsay. Mr. Ting, of course, was his friend; all the morereason, thought Burroughs, for not telling what Errington himself hadevidently not told. But Mr. Ting seemed to divine what was passing inthe boy's mind.
"I think you had better tell me all about it," he said quietly. "I havea good leason for asking: we are both his flends. Tlouble neglectedbecomes still more tloublesome, as we say. Tell me, then."
"The truth is," said Burroughs, won over by the Chinaman's evidentsincerity, "Pidge and I have had a row. A ridiculous cause. He thoughtI doubted his honour; I lost my wool----"
"Your wool! I do not understand: is it not cotton?"
"My temper, I mean," said Burroughs, with a smile. "A silly thing todo, because you always say more than you mean."
"Ah yes! Anger is a little fire: if it is not checked, it burns down alofty pile. Well?"
"We parted on bad terms, and haven't spoken since. He said he wouldn'thave anything to do with me till I apologized."
"And the apology? You sent it in your letter?"
"No, I'm sorry to say I didn't. Idiotic pride on my part, for of courseI never really doubted him; only after you've had a row it's jolly hardto say so--to a fellow like me, at any rate."
"Then you come with me, and you shall be flends again. The yieldingtongue endures: the stubborn teeth pelish. Now you have had confidencein me, I will be open too. Pidge has been gambling."
"I know," said Burroughs gloomily.
"And he owes a thousand dollars or mo'e. We must save him flom the menwho have led him away, and turn him flom gambling. I asked him toplomise not to gamble again: he would not; plaps for you he will."
"I don't know," said Burroughs. "He is so touchy, you know; can't bearto be advised. We shall have to go very carefully to work. But there'sa hope in what has happened lately. He can't really bear me a seriousgrudge, because he took the trouble to recover my flying boat and sendit back to me."
"Hai! How was that?"
Burroughs told of the theft of the vessel, and of what had happenedsince. Mr. Ting listened attentively, and then related a curious story.
On his way up the river he had met the captain of a junk whom heoccasionally employed, and in conversation with him learnt of a strangeexperience that had befallen him not far above Sui-Fu. He had beensailing down in his junk, and called at a riverside village to take onsome goods. Having stowed his cargo, and wishing that the junk shouldreach Sui-Fu before night, for fear of the river pirates, he sent her onunder charge of his mate, while he remained to negotiate a certainbusiness transaction with an up-country merchant whose arrival at thevillage had been delayed.
On the completion of his business, just before sunset, he started in asampan manned by two men, expecting to overtake the junk before sheanchored for the night. Much to his alarm, when only three or four milesabove the port, he discovered that a boat was dogging him. He did notknow whether the crew were pirates or police: it was now too dark todistinguish; but as a matter of precaution he ordered his men to pullinto the bank, and wait until the boat passed.
When he got within the shadow of some trees overhanging the stream, hewas more alarmed than ever: the pursuers were also making for the bank.He was quaking in his shoes; but the boat, instead of coming directlytowards him, passed by at a distance of some thirty yards, anddisappeared.
He waited until it had had time to get out of earshot, and resumed hisjourney. But he had hardly gone a quarter-mile down stream, when heheard a low hail, and then the sound of several voices. Steering againinto the bank, he looked down the river, upon which a crescent moon wasthrowing a pale light. And then he saw the boat re-appear, towing whatlooked like a launch into mid-stream. At the same moment he heard thethrobbing of a motor vessel, and from round a bend in the river therecame a large launch, which hove to as it reached the boat.
In a few minutes the motor launch was again under way, and as it passedrapidly up stream, the captain of the junk, being well acquainted withall the motor vessels on the river, recognized it at once as thatbelonging to Reinhardt. But it was not alone. It had in tow thesmaller craft which had been drawn out from the bank. This smallervessel would perhaps not have attracted the captain's attention had itnot been somewhat curious in shape, owing, as he supposed, to a fullcargo which was concealed under matting.
"There's not much doubt it was my boat," said Burroughs, when Mr. Tinghad ended his story. His face had gone pale, and there was a twitchingof his nostrils; but his tone of voice was perhaps even more equablethan usual. Mr. Ting noted how he differed from Errington in thatrespect.
"It looks as if Mr. Reinhardt wanted to pick a quarrel," he added.
"Velly culious," said Mr. Ting, reflectively. "What you call a placticaljoke, plaps."
"A kind of joke I don't appreciate," said Burroughs shortly. "I thinkPidge must have understood that. He's thick with Reinhardt, whoprobably told him of the trick, and learnt that he had gone a trifle toofar. Are you going up to Chia-ling Fu to-day, sir?"
"If you will come with me. A word of advice, if I may. Say nothing toLeinhadt about the matter until you know. One egg is better than tencackles."
Burroughs discussed a few business matters with his comprador; his boyChin Tai meanwhile packed his bag; and in an hour he was ready toaccompany the merchant to his launch. They had crossed the gang-way,and were waiting for the skipper to cast off, when they saw an old steamlaunch coming swiftly down from the direction of Chia-ling Fu.
"Do you mind holding on a few minutes?" said Burroughs. "She may have aletter from Pidge on board."
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"Velly well," said Mr. Ting, putting on his spectacles. "Lot ofpassengers, you see: velly culious."
The deck of the launch did, indeed, present an unusual appearance.Instead of the one or two white passengers who might have been expectedat this hour--for the vessel must have left Chia-ling Fu very early inthe morning--there was a considerable crowd of men, women and children.Every inch of standing room appeared to be occupied. And as the launchdrew nearer, it was plain that the passengers were of allnationalities--German, English and Japanese traders with their families,English and French missionaries conspicuous among the rest by theirChinese garments.
"Looks like a general exodus," said Burroughs, his eyes narrowing."Something is wrong."
"Yes," said Mr. Ting: "velly much long."
He recrossed the gangway to the quay. Burroughs, shading his eyesagainst the sunlight, remained on the boat, searching the crowd for thefamiliar tall form of Errington.
The launch drew in, and the merchants on board, recognizing Mr. Ting,began to shout to him; but all speaking together in their respectivelanguages, it was impossible to make out what any of them said. As soonas they had landed, however, Burroughs, who had now returned to thequay, was singled out by his agent, and told of the exciting eventswhich had happened at Chia-ling Fu.
For several days the European community had been in a state of nervoustension owing to reports of the successes of the rebels further north.Despite all the efforts of the ill-armed, ill-disciplined rabble that sofrequently masquerades as an army in the interior of China, theinsurgents had made great headway. They had captured Cheng Tu, and anattempt to retake the place had been defeated, with considerable loss tothe so-called regular troops. The success of the rebels had brought, asis always the case, large accessions to their numbers. All the restlessand turbulent elements of the province for two hundred miles round hadflocked to the captured city. There were no Europeans there except afew French missionaries who were reported to be held prisoners, but tohave suffered no ill-usage.
This news put every one at Chia-ling Fu on the alert. Arrangements weremade to move down river at short notice. The Europeans recognized that,whatever might be the treatment of the missionary prisoners, the livesof any white men captured by the insurgents must always be in jeopardy.Even where their leaders desired, from policy, to protect theirprisoners, the blood-thirstiness and anti-foreign prejudices of theirignorant following were always likely to force their hand.
It had been expected at Chia-ling Fu, however, that news of anysouthward movement of the rebels would be reported by native spies intime to enable the Europeans to make their escape. But just before dawnon this morning, they had been wakened by the sound of shots and a greathubbub. They sprang up, pulled on their clothes hurriedly, seized theirarms, and sallied out to see what was afoot. They found the cityalready in the hands of the insurgents. Making a wide circuit by night,an immense force had crept upon the place from the landward side, and atthe same time a large fleet of vessels of all descriptions, includingtwo or three steamers captured at Cheng Tu, had come down the river andanchored at some little distance above the city. The sleepy sentinelsat all the gates had been surprised and overpowered, the rabble pouredin, and the place fell without striking a blow.
All these details were not known until afterwards: the confusion at dawnhad been so great that the Europeans knew nothing except the bare factthat the city was captured, and that they were prisoners. To their greatsurprise, in a few hours they were all released, told to collect theirbelongings, and conveyed to the steamer which had just brought them downthe river. Clearly the leaders of the insurgents intended to show thatthe rising was a purely domestic one; they did not wish to provokeaction by the foreign Powers.
All the time that Burroughs was listening to the story told him by hisagent, he kept his eyes on the gangway, hoping to see Errington stepoff. He recognized several acquaintances among the passengers, but hisold friend did not appear.
"Where's Mr. Errington?" he asked his agent.
"Upon my word, Mr. Burroughs, I don't know. I never thought of him. Isuppose----"
"Mr. Stevens, was Errington on the boat?" asked Burroughs, steppingtowards the gangway and taking the merchant by the sleeve.
"Errington! Of course he was. That is, I suppose so. We are all here;but such a crowd of us that we were very much mixed up. Hamilton, didyou see Errington?"
"Surely: but no, now I come to think of it, I didn't. Isn't he here?"
Answers of the same kind came from all the passengers who wereinterrogated. In the confusion and excitement, in their preoccupationwith themselves and their families, they hardly knew who had been amongthem, and who not. It was very soon certain, however, that Erringtonwas not among those who left the vessel.
"What can have happened to him?" Burroughs said to Mr. Ting anxiously."He's such a hot-headed chap that it would be just like him to showfight."
Mr. Ting looked more troubled than Burroughs had ever before seen him.
"I hope he is safe," he said. "Plaps he escaped in a sampan, and willcome by and by. We must wait and see."
But though several vessels came down in the course of the day, bringingnative merchants who had fled from the city, Errington was not in any ofthem, nor did his boy appear. Mr. Ting's journey up-stream wasnecessarily abandoned. With the rebels in possession of the river noone would be safe. It was with very anxious hearts that Burroughs andthe Chinaman awaited the dawn of another day.