Under the Chinese Dragon: A Tale of Mongolia

"A ROAR OF APPLAUSE GREETED THE FIFTH SHOT"

'Thus ends all our trouble,' he cried. 'We can shorten sail, and go on slowly.'

Late that evening Hung announced a ship in the offing, and before darkness had fallen a gun-boat ranged up beside them. In fact, she fired a shot across the bows of this suspicious-looking vessel, and then sent a boat's crew aboard her. A dapper little Chinese officer swarmed up on her deck, and even he, with all his native impassiveness, showed unusual surprise as his eyes fell upon the Professor and his party.

'English?' he asked pleasantly, bowing courteously, and then, when he had received an assuring answer, 'Then there is something to explain. We are in search of a notorious pirate.'

He spoke English with hardly an accent, and his face lit up wonderfully as the Professor answered. Then, as he listened to the tale the latter told him, a flush rose to his sallow cheeks.

'You will please to come aboard at once,' he commanded. 'This news is very important. My commander will require the fullest information.'

It appeared, in fact, that news of the pirate's presence in those waters had come to the Chinese navy officials, who had despatched a gun-boat.

'Some one gave information in Shanghai,' explained the dapper little officer. 'No doubt he did so for a reward. But we learned that some Europeans had set off in a native boat, and that there was a plot to seize them. We made sure when we sighted you that you were the pirate. Now, of course, we shall take them easily.'

Which actually happened, for four hours' steaming brought the gun-boat within easy range of the vessel that had so lately accommodated the Professor and his party. Then, such is the summary justice handed out by the celestial race, the ship was callously bombarded, and sent with all the villains aboard her to the bottom.

'For which one cannot really grieve, though it does seem a barbarous way of executing them,' said the Professor. 'And now to get ashore and pursue our search for ruins.'

Two days later saw them landed, and within a little while the expedition had left for the interior.

Ebenezer Clayhill's Inspiration

Mr. Ebenezer Clayhill was not the man to be thwarted without displaying some show of opposition, and though the course which David Harbor had taken, and the result of his action in the Courts had considerably perturbed the owner of 'The Haven,' the latter did not remain despondent for long.

'The young rascal!' he exclaimed to his wife one day, as they sat in the flat which they had rented in London, for longer residence in their own house was hardly possible, the publication of their doings having roused the ire of the countryside. Indeed, both Ebenezer and his wife had been hooted in the village, while, on rising the morning after their return from the trial of the case they had been astounded to discover a huge notice board in the garden, prominently displayed, with 'To Let' in large figures, a very obvious hint that their presence in those parts was no longer required.

'The young rascal!' he exclaimed again, blowing his huge nose with unusual violence. 'I suppose he thinks to have things all his own way.'

'And so far he has won all along the line,' came the brusque if not very encouraging answer from Mrs. Clayhill. 'I knew what it would be if you quarrelled with the boy. A more stubborn, strong-headed youth I never met. It was your sending him from home which upset matters.'

Mr. Ebenezer glared at his wife over the top of his handkerchief, and when he at length exposed the whole of his countenance it was flushed a deep red to match the wonted colour of his proboscis.

'We won't discuss that,' he said icily. 'The boy hasn't won, though he appears to have done so. Recollect that he has yet to find that will, and China is a big country.'

The reflection appeased Mrs. Clayhill for the moment. 'Yes, China is a big country,' she agreed, thoughtfully. Then she again recurred to David's stubbornness, as she was pleased to characterise his pluck and staunchness. Indeed, the reader will have been able to draw his own conclusions. If standing up for oneself, and fighting one's own battles when a most evident wrong was attempted was stubbornness, then David was undoubtedly of that persuasion, decidedly stubborn to say the least. 'China is a big country, as Edward Harbor was never tired of telling me. But he'll do it. If that will exists, as I believe it does—for my late husband was most careful and particular—then David will discover it. Drat the boy!'

'Precisely! We will allow that he will hunt high and low,' said Mr. Ebenezer, assuming a soothing tone of voice. 'We will even assume that he will find the will, though of that I am extremely doubtful. But will he bring it back in safety? That is the question.'

At his words his wife looked up sharply. She was accustomed to Ebenezer now, and had found him to be a schemer. Not that that fact annoyed her. On the contrary, as has been already mentioned, this lady was not of the nicest disposition. Had the whole truth been known, she had schemed to marry Edward Harbor, knowing him to be a rich man, while she was almost penniless. She was, indeed, not altogether guiltless of scheming herself, and found in Ebenezer a man somewhat after her own heart. She looked up sharply, questioningly, and waited for him to continue.

'Well?' she demanded, after a while, finding he remained silent, save for the fact that he drew his handkerchief from his pocket again and applied it to his nose, trumpeting loudly, an old and disagreeable habit that was often annoying. 'Put that handkerchief away, Ebenezer, and tell me what you mean. What are you driving at? The boy may find the will, you say, but you doubt his bringing it back safely. Why shouldn't he be able to do so? If he actually finds this will, surely that is the most difficult part of the task. I don't understand you.'

'My dear,' came the answer, as Ebenezer pulled at his handkerchief again, and then, suddenly remembering that it annoyed his wife, tucked it away. Instead he rose and placed himself in his favourite position on the hearth-rug, expanded his chest, and put on an air of great importance. 'My dear,' he said, 'let us assume that he gets this document. He discovers it in China, in the part where his father carried out research work in connection with some old Mongolian city. I say, let us assume that he is so fortunate. Well, China is a country of disturbances. Foreign devils are not over loved, and—er—well, you see—er—sometimes there are robberies committed. Edward Harbor was murdered, probably for his small possessions, his guns and other things necessary to him on such an expedition. David might——'

'Be murdered! You don't mean that!' exclaimed Mrs. Clayhill, holding up her hands in horror, and sitting up sharply in her chair. For that was going too far. A scheme was a scheme, she told herself. She had gone so far already in her efforts to oust her stepson from all benefit in his father's possessions, that she would not hesitate to scheme further; but she drew the line sharply at personal violence. That was against her wishes altogether.

'Ebenezer,' she cried severely, 'I forbid you even to talk of such a thing. If we cannot enjoy this money without doing actual violence to David, then I will at once go to the solicitor, Mr. Jones, and show him that letter Edward wrote me. If I produced it, there is not a shadow of doubt but that a judge would advise a jury against the will we have put forward. The wording is so strong that there can be no doubt not only of my late husband's intentions, but also of the fact that he actually executed a will in David's favour. It would end the matter for good and all; we should be almost paupers.'

Mrs. Clayhill was quite agitated, to say the least, and was almost angry with her husband. In any case she was consistent; for while she was not averse to a scheme which would do no one personal or bodily harm, she would rather resign all interest in the possessions of her late husband than have David injured. And as might be expected, Ebenezer was not left altogether unruffled. The excitement was too much for his powers of self-control. He dragged his handkerchief from his pocket and trumpeted again, a shrilly, discordant note which seemed to match with Mrs. Clayhill's temper. Then he regained his coolness, and held his hands up in a soothing manner.

'My dear, my dear,' he cried, somewhat querulously, still hot and perturbed at the thought of the consequences of such an act as his wife had threatened, 'whoever said a word about violence? Not I; of that I am sure. I merely remarked that China was a disturbed country, and that Europeans are hated people, open to robbery and violence. I was about to proceed when——'

'What then?' asked Mrs. Clayhill, abruptly, relieved to hear that no violence to David was premeditated, and eager at the same time to learn what her crafty husband could have thought of. 'What is the scheme, Ebenezer? You keep me in a whirl. The anxiety of this will is making me quite miserable. See what has happened already. The people in the village actually insulting, hooting us in the street; servants leaving us en masse, even the outside staff ceasing work and departing. Why, we shall have to let the house. We can never show our faces there again. And then think of what the papers said. It makes me hot and cold all over in turn as I remember the names they called us.'

It was all very true. Mr. Ebenezer and his scheming wife had imagined that everything would go very smoothly for them; for they had but a lad to deal with. Up to the time of David's being told that he must now work, and must leave home for London, there had not been even a question as to the succession to Edward Harbor's money. It had been a recognised fact that all his wealth was to descend, and at once too, to Mrs. Ebenezer Clayhill and her husband. Even the solicitor, Mr. Jones, with a natural liking for our hero, and, therefore, with every wish to see him done justice to, had been unable to demur. Unwillingly, it is true, but as a matter of ordinary business, he had carried through the proving of the will put forward by Mr. Ebenezer Clayhill and his wife, and had obtained judgment allowing him to presume Edward Harbor's death. Then, when everything should have gone smoothly, trouble had begun. David had for the first time shown an inclination to contest the will. He had mentioned the existence of a letter from his late father, evidently written at the same time as that sent to Mrs. Ebenezer, and intimating that he was to be the chief beneficiary under his father's will. That bomb-shell had caused consternation, even greater consternation than David's sudden determination to leave home. From that moment the two schemers had known little peace; their scheme was threatened. They began to wonder whether they would actually succeed to the money, and whether also by their action in suppressing that important communication from Edward Harbor they laid themselves open to punishment. David's sudden accession to popularity, the laudatory remarks made concerning him in the papers after the burglary at the store near Bond Street had served to increase their ire and vexation. Finally, they were forced to attend the courts to show reason why the will of the late Edward Harbor should not remain unexecuted, pending a search for a later one mentioned in the letter which David's advisers laid before the courts. Let the reader imagine their anger and mortification. Let him add to that the fact that Ebenezer and his wife were the talk of the country, universally condemned by all, and that their own home no longer afforded them an asylum; he will then readily agree that retribution was coming, that these two schemers were not finding their path of the smoothest. But they were not beaten. Ebenezer spread out his hands again, in an attitude meant to be most soothing, and addressed his wife once more.

'We are wandering from my point,' he said, as placidly as he could, though he found it hard to keep his temper. 'I mentioned no violence to the young cub whom you have the misfortune to own as a stepson. I merely said that he might find it difficult to bring the document home with him, even if he were so fortunate as to discover it.'

'Ebenezer, you have something to tell me,' came the sharp answer. 'What is it? You have been hatching some plan.'

His wife smiled encouragingly at him, and awaited his reply with obvious eagerness. For she had found in this new husband a crafty fellow, and even now had faith in his powers to bring this matter to a successful issue. 'Come,' she said, 'what have you done?'

'I have had a most distinct piece of good fortune. All this prominence which the papers have given us, and which has been so disagreeable, has been useful nevertheless. It has roused a vast amount of interest in the case. People have read every word the papers have written.'

'As we know to our cost,' sniffed Mrs. Ebenezer.

'Precisely. People have read every word, even foreigners, and as a result I received a few days ago a letter from a man living in the east end of London—from a Chinaman.'

Mrs. Ebenezer pricked up her ears; the plan was beginning in a promising manner. 'A Chinaman,' she ejaculated. 'Indeed!'

'A Chinaman engaged in the East End; a man recently come from his own country, where he had come in contact with Europeans. He had actually been with Edward Harbor on one occasion, and seems to have made himself invaluable, for he speaks English well, and can cook and do other things. He offered to help us.'

'For money, of course!' exclaimed Mrs. Ebenezer, satirically.

'Of course, my dear; for what else? He has no direct interest in us. But supposing he were to succeed in helping us, then his interest comes in. We could afford to reward him handsomely.'

The lady leaning back in her chair nodded sharply, and looked at her husband with a cunning gleam in her eyes. She was beginning to see daylight Here, perhaps, was a means to defeat David Harbor and without subjecting him to violence. She fanned herself with a newspaper, for the sudden hope which the tale brought made her feel oppressively hot. 'We could afford to reward him handsomely,' she declared, in the most unctuous manner. 'What did you offer?'

'I gave him a hundred pounds for his expenses, and promised a thousand if he were successful.'

Mrs. Ebenezer clapped her hands energetically. She was delighted, and thoroughly in agreement with her husband. What a shrewd fellow he was, to be sure, she thought. Why, a thousand pounds was well spent if only they could destroy that will, the existence of which paralysed their own schemes, and might make paupers of them. Then a sudden doubt came to her mind, for like every schemer and dishonest person this lady was quick to perceive where this plan might break down. She imagined herself in the place of the Chinaman who had come to her husband, and cogitated what she would do under similar circumstances.

'Why,' she suddenly declared, in no little alarm, 'a hundred pounds is riches to a Chinaman. Supposing this ruffian makes off with your money, and does not try to help you. Supposing he forgets all about us once he has left the country?'

'He has left the country already,' came the swift and somewhat disconcerting answer. 'I sent him off hurriedly; he will not fail us.'

'Why?' Mrs. Clayhill was insistent. More than that, she was more than usually artful. In fact, Edward Harbor, poor fellow, could not have come across a woman less suited to his tastes and feelings, while Ebenezer Clayhill found in the widow of the late Edward Harbor a woman cunning and clever, and to some extent unscrupulous. To some large extent one might say, for who could describe the action of this pair as other than unscrupulous? Alas! the attempt to deprive a near relative of possessions due to him is nothing new. The same sort of sordid scheme has been practised many a time with variations, and sometimes with success. Not every case has been associated with a lad of David Harbor's nature, nor with one possessed of his determination and courage. Still, if in this particular affair there were such a person, as these two schemers had found already to their chagrin and cost, on the other side our hero was opposed to a couple of crafty people, of whom Mrs. Clayhill was by no means the inferior.

'How do you know that this fellow will not fail us?' she demanded, rising from her seat and walking to the window, which she threw up, as if the room were too hot for her. 'How? I am suspicious.'

'You always are, my dear,' chuckled her husband. 'But it will be all right. This Chinaman is the very man we want. I told you it was a piece of extraordinary good fortune his writing to me, for there is more to tell you about him. He is a deposed mandarin.'

'I thought no such person existed,' said Mrs. Clayhill quickly. 'A mandarin at fault is a dead mandarin, so far as I have been able to gather.'

'Unless he escapes. Unless he escapes, my dear,' suggested Mr. Ebenezer.

'Then this man?——'

'Escaped. Disguised himself, and made for Canton on a river boat. Then, thanks to his knowledge of English, he was able to ship aboard a vessel sailing for England. Once China was left behind he was safe, and the crafty fellow so contrived matters that it was assumed in his own country that he had become desperate, and had thrown himself into the river. That mandarin, to all intents and purposes, is dead. He can begin life again in China as an altogether different person, without incurring any suspicion. No one, not even the mandarin who had his trial in hand, and who had caused him to be arrested for an attack upon some Europeans would recognise him. Dao Chang is a name which none will associate with Hang Chiou, the mandarin who was to have been beheaded.'

'Attack on Europeans! This man a mandarin, and yet a servant to Europeans,' protested Mrs. Clayhill. 'I am bewildered. There is something missing in your description, Ebenezer.'

It was not at all remarkable that she was to some extent confused, for at the beginning of his tale of this Chinaman, the ruffian, who was the instigator of this attempt to rob David Harbor, had declared that the man had taken service with some Europeans, and could cook, as well as speak English. Then how could he be servant and mandarin at one and the same time? Surely there was an error in the narrative! But Ebenezer smiled cunningly as he noticed his wife's bewilderment, and again spread his hands out in a manner calculated to soothe her. Then he made a dive for his handkerchief, but remembering in time, rubbed both fat members together as if he were washing them. To speak with absolute impartiality the man looked, as he stood there in front of the fire, precisely and exactly what he was. He had the appearance of a mean, sneaking villain, capable of planning the most cunning plot from the security of his fireside, but sure to turn tail and decamp at the first sign of danger. But his wife was blind to his imperfections. Had she been as other women are, no doubt, she would have recoiled from this man. But Mrs. Clayhill was what she was, and guile and cunning pleased her. She went back to her chair, and sat down in the most placid manner, as if she were listening to the most ordinary tale.

'Go on, Ebenezer,' she lisped. 'You interest me vastly. Tell me more of this man who was mandarin and common servant.'

'And who was arrested for complicity in the murder of certain Europeans,' remarked her husband, promptly, and in the quietest tones, to which, however, he contrived to lend some subtle note that was easily detected. Swiftly his wife looked up, loosing all appearance of placidity.

'For complicity in the murder of certain Europeans,' repeated Ebenezer, watching his wife closely, and bringing into special prominence the last two words of his short sentence.

'Certain Europeans 'What do you mean? Ebenezer, I do declare, you bewilder me. Certain Europeans! Why, you can't mean that——'

There was a sleek smile on the man's face as she looked up at him. He appeared to be in that position where he hardly knew whether it would do, considering all the circumstances, to show pleasure here, though, knowing his wife as he did, he rather fancied she would not take umbrage if he were to show some trace of satisfaction. And he was right. Mrs. Clayhill smiled. After all, poor Edward Harbor was only a bitter memory to her.

'You can't mean that this man had to do with the murder of poor Edward,' she cried, attempting to assume horror, though there was no doubt at all that she was vastly interested. 'Tell me more,' she demanded eagerly. 'This man is a find indeed. I can't believe it possible. He implicated in that wretched affair! You will tell me next that he had something to do with this will which David has gone in search of.'

If Ebenezer ever allowed himself to laugh outright, he was as near as possible permitting himself that luxury on this occasion. His fat face reddened and beamed. His nose became peculiarly prominent on account of its heightened colour, and once more his hands washed oilily together. Ugh! He would have given an honest person a cold shiver.

'You are wonderfully far-seeing, my dear,' he laughed. 'And now you seem to have got to the depth of the story. This Hang Chiou, or to give him his modern name, Dao Chang, is as crafty as he is long-headed. It appears that Edward Harbor and his staff were working in his district, for Chang was only a minor official, and very poor at that. He saw that the expedition was possessed of certain riches, and moreover, he knew that they had discovered ancient bronzes which would bring money in one of the open ports. He decided to have that money. He gave out that he was going to Pekin on an official visit, and quietly disguised himself as a coolie. Then he took service with Edward Harbor and his partners. One day he led a band of coolies against them, and killed them all. Then he swore all the coolies to secrecy, and declared himself as the mandarin of the district. Of course, the bulk of the booty fell to him, and with it all Edward's papers. He had hardly returned home, however, making believe that he was from Pekin, when he was betrayed by a coolie, and at once arrested. You know the rest of the story.'

Truly it was a marvellous narrative; it was almost unbelievable—yet, why not? Unless the whole thing was a plot to obtain money. Mrs. Clayhill promptly voiced the doubts in her mind.

'He may have fooled you,' she declared. 'One hundred pounds would hardly tempt him to return to China. Most likely he is still here.'

But there was no doubt in the face of the man who had been speaking. Ebenezer looked confident. He chuckled as he thought of his own astuteness.

'My dear,' he proclaimed, with unusual emphasis, 'it requires a clever man to deceive me. Besides, I am very careful. I booked the man's passage. I saw him off. He was aboard when the ship was in mid-ocean. The wireless telegraph told me that with ease and certainty. No, let us have no doubts. Dao Chang does not require money alone to tempt him to China. He willingly risks his head to get even with the coolie who betrayed him, as also to work his revenge on the mandarin who was the actual cause of his downfall. Besides there is another reason. If he could earn the money I have promised, he could buy evidence to clear his name with the greatest certainty. He could even buy a position of some power, and of greater affluence. In fact, he could reinstate himself. There is his object.'

'But——'

'You cannot see farther. Quite so,' said this soft-spoken ruffian. 'I will proceed at once. Chang sailed promptly so as to land in China before the party to which David is attached. He will enter himself as one of their servants. Then he will earn his reward from us by taking possession of the will should they happen to find it. If not, he himself will make search for it on his own account. Should that happen he will have done with your stepson and his friends, though I suspect that he will relieve them of any valuables. He will send us the document so that we may destroy it, and will then be free to carry out his own business. Our affair first, you understand, his own afterwards.'

It was a crafty piece of scheming when all things were considered, and looking at the matter from Ebenezer's point of view there was no reason at all why he should not be eminently satisfied. For fortune seemed to have played fairly with him. The very ruffian who had instigated the murder of Edward Harbor had offered his services; and it was this Chinaman's direct interest to find the will for which David was journeying to the country of the Celestials. It was not as if the man had been asked to discover a jewel of vast value. For then one might easily have suspected his honesty and good intentions. Here only a document was in question, a piece of parchment, perhaps, with a few written lines upon it, valueless to all but our hero and the two schemers who should have been father and mother to him. Valueless in any case to Chang, the ruffianly Chinaman, so useless, in fact, that he would be eager to change it for the thousand pounds so readily offered by Ebenezer. Undoubtedly, the man who had married David's stepmother was delighted, and by the time he had finished his narrative, so also was Mrs. Clayhill.

'It is all wonderful and most fortunate. I can sleep in peace,' she ventured, 'for I know that no violence will be offered.'

She departed from the room in high feather, while hardly had the door closed when her husband smiled broadly, and in a most suggestive manner.'

'Clever woman,' he told himself. 'Precious clever; but I have to remember that she is a woman, with natural distaste of murders and sudden attacks. Glad I didn't tell her all that Chang hinted. What luck to be sure to have dropped on the fellow. You could have knocked me down with a hat pin when I received his letter.'

Perhaps it was as well that Ebenezer had not told his wife all the story; for there were parts of it to which that lady would most certainly have taken exception. As Ebenezer had remarked, Chang had hinted many things, and had, in fact, spoken openly.

'You leave it to me to stop this English boy, then?' he had asked, prior to his departure on the boat. 'If, for instance, I could send certain news that he was killed or drowned, or something of that sort, that would be sufficient?'

'I will pay a thousand pounds for that will with pleasure,' Ebenezer answered promptly. 'Of course, should this young fellow come by an accident, and his death be sworn to by a British Consul, then the money would be paid with equal pleasure.'

There was no need to say more. The two ruffians parted with the most perfect understanding, Chang to formulate schemes to bring about David's undoing. And very soon he had an opportunity to carry them out. He disembarked at Hong-Kong, and waited for the arrival of the steamer on which David and his friends had left England. Then he sneaked on board as a deck passenger, disembarking at Shanghai, where it will be remembered, the Professor and his party landed. And at once news reached Chang that a native boat was about to be chartered. It was an opportunity not to be missed. The Chinaman dived in amongst the ruck of men in the bazaar, and soon discovered others of equal villainy. It took little persuasion on his part to induce a man to offer his boat to the Professor, and but little work to organise a scheme of attack with a piratical vessel. Then Chang watched the departure with a grin on his ugly features.

'I think I shall be able to apply for that money very quickly,' he told himself. 'The scheme of attack is one which can hardly fail to be successful.'

Yet it failed, much to his fury. Thanks to Alphonse's watchfulness, and to the heroism of the whole party David and his friends escaped. It was the miscreants hired by Chang who suffered in the adventure, and indeed lost life and everything. Chang found himself at the beginning of his task again, and what was worse, was now far removed from the Professor and his party. However, that was a matter which could be remedied, and taking a boat along the coast it was not long before he landed at the port where the gun-boat commanded by the dapper little, English-speaking Chinese officer had set them.

'Foreign devils marched up country,' he was told, when he made cautious enquiries. 'Been gone some days, but you will easily catch them. They are making for the Ming To ruins.'

It was in that neighbourhood that the rascal Chang actually came up with the expedition, and thereafter set his wits to work to bring about the destruction of the party, and failing that, the death of David Harbor.

'I can crawl into the camp at night and slay him,' he told himself. 'Or I can fire at him while at work in the ruins. Yes, that is better. I shall certainly kill him.'

He crept off to a hovel where he had obtained a lodging, and throwing himself upon the kang, closed his eyes and gave himself up to deep contemplation. In Chang David had all unknowingly an enemy even more subtle and more dangerous than Ebenezer Clayhill.

David goes on a Journey

'And now to investigate the secrets of the ruined city wherein dwelled Tsin the mighty, Tsin, the ruler of a tiny principality, who years and years ago set himself one of the biggest tasks man has ever undertaken.'

They were seated in their tent in the light shed by a candle lamp, and the Professor lolled back on the tiny camp-bed which was to be his own special property. Indeed, a glance round the camp showed clearly that the expedition was organised thoroughly, and promised by the equipment it carried to give comfort to every one. For first, there was the large tent for the use of the Professor, David, and Dick, with its three narrow beds, its collapsible table and chairs, and its waterproof flooring. Then, a little distance away was a smaller, bell tent, in which Alphonse was to repose, and beside it, within easy reach, a field kitchen, while further still was a third tent, similar to that occupied by Alphonse, for the accommodation of the four Chinese.

'Of course, those whom we employ to help us with the digging will have to find their own quarters,' said the Professor at the very beginning of their forming camp. 'There happens to be a village some two miles away, and no doubt the inn there will take them in. But there are also one or two old buildings still standing in this ruined place, and they will probably elect to settle there.'

That, in fact, was what the dozen coolies whom he had hired had decided on. Already they had secured the basement of what had been a two-storied house, though now the upper part had gone, while to effect an entrance into that below needed quite a lot of excavation. For the rest, the camp was pitched on a grassy knoll some hundred yards from the ruins and within three miles of the huge Chinese wall, which, not so perfect now-a-days as it was wont to be, is still a marvel of human ingenuity and perseverance, stretching as it does for fourteen hundred miles over hill and valley, cutting the northern provinces of China from the rest of the world.

'As I was saying,' began the Professor again, 'we are about to investigate the ruins of the city—quite a small place, I imagine—in which dwelt Tsin, the one-time ruler of a small province in this neighbourhood. You must understand that he was one of many kings controlling the numerous provinces into which China was divided some two thousand years ago, a somewhat different condition to that now ruling, for there are only some fifteen provinces now-a-days. Tsin, like all the rest of these little kings, was for ever squabbling with his neighbours, so that there were frequent little wars, and as a natural consequence many additions were made to, or territory taken from, the various lands belonging to these kings. However, Tsin seems to have been fortunate, for he made additions. In fact, he ate up his neighbours, and with more wealth and more men increased wonderfully in power. He ended by conquering every part of China, and becoming Emperor of the Celestial Empire.'

'And richly deserved his reward, no doubt,' ventured David. 'I should imagine that the people were all the happier for having one ruler only. Trade and other matters must have gone more smoothly.'

'I agree with you; things probably were more fortunate. But Tsin was not without his troubles; his kingdom was for ever being invaded by Mongolian nomads from the north, nomads who were as elusive as they were warlike. They devastated portions of his kingdom, and when armies were sent in pursuit they melted away, taken in ambush, or lost hopelessly in the desert. It was to check those nomads that Tsin started the Great Wall of China beside which we lie, and no doubt, once completed, it fulfilled its purpose. It will repay a visit one of these days.'

Dick and David had, as a matter of fact, already visited the huge wall, and had marvelled at its vastness. For this Great Wall of China is not merely an erection two bricks thick; it is a huge earth wall, faced with masonry, buttressed and supported everywhere, and freely supplied with fortified gates and quarters for its garrison. Fourteen hundred miles of it, stretching across the kingdom! Think of the enormous labour, think of the host required to guard its length. And to-day it is deserted, or almost so. The broad track on its summit, constructed of such a width that three carts could conveniently be driven side by side, is now no longer of service. Mongolia has ceased to send in her nomads. Perhaps the very presence of the wall has prevented them, or maybe they have become less warlike. There the wall lies, a work to rouse the admiration of modern-day people.

'And now to speak of these ruins. They are small, as I have said already,' the Professor told them, 'and since I do not expect to discover much of interest, I have decided to send you two lads forward. John Jong shall go with you, while the naval officer who spoke such excellent English has provided me with passports. It seems that his father is a mandarin, and commands the district a hundred and fifty miles north, where are located the Mongolian ruins I am so anxious to investigate. Will you go?'

Would they go? David and Dick were as eager as the Professor himself to dip into the past by investigating the ruins of the city in which Tsin had dwelled so many hundreds of years before. But a journey through China offered superior attractions; and besides, there was another city to be visited, or rather the ruins of one that had formerly existed.

'Go, sir? Of course!' declared David, with marked enthusiasm. 'Nothing I should like better.'

'Quite a little experience for us, sir,' declared Dick. 'Do we march or ride?'

'The latter. You will go in state; that is, you must create a good impression wherever you travel, for that will appeal to the natives. I don't think that there should be any difficulty, nor any danger. The passports I have and the letter you will carry to Twang Chun should command attention, for it seems that he is a very important official. More than that, like his son, he is westernised, speaks English and French, and longs for the day when his country will be less bigoted and cramped. Of course you will take arms with you, and since it is always as well to keep on the right side of the natives and attract little attention, you will travel in native costume. Jong will see to that part for you.'

There was jubilation in the faces of our hero and his friend. They glanced at one another as the Professor ceased speaking, and then grinned openly.

'Ripping!' exclaimed the latter. 'Swells we shall be. Jong will be too big after such a journey to speak to his countrymen. But how about putting up for the night, sir?'

'As far as possible you will avoid staying in a village, and in case it should happen that you find yourselves a long way from a town of any importance, you will camp in the open. I brought three tentes d'abris with me, and those will accommodate you very nicely. Of course you might go to the native rest-house or inn; but I don't advise it. There is, as a rule, only one guest-chamber, with one long kang or couch on which to lie, and since the Chinese are none too clean in their persons you would find such quarters most unpleasant, besides laying yourselves open to robbery. In the big towns you will at once ask for the residence of the mandarin, and this letter which I shall entrust to you will certainly obtain a lodging under a fine roof and with comfortable surroundings, unless, of course, the mandarin happens to be bigoted, and hates all foreign devils. There are few, I imagine, who will care to displease Twang Chun, the Governor of the province. Now, as practice in such matters is excellent for all people, I leave it to you two to organise your own expedition. Get out a list of the things you imagine you will want. You will each have a Tartar pony for riding purposes, and can take three more besides the one Jong will ride, making roughly a spare horse apiece for your baggage. Let me see the list when completed.'

It may be thought that such a task as was now given to the two young fellows would take but a little while to complete. But when they came to make the list of which the Professor had spoken they discovered that they were often in doubt. For instance, with regard to the question of ammunition.

'Twelve rounds apiece for magazine pistols, ditto for rifles,' said Dick, as if he had been at this sort of work a long while.

'More!' exclaimed David, with a knowing wag of his head. 'There might be a ruction; we might be attacked.'

'Pooh! Never did come across such a firebrand,' laughed Dick. 'Always imagining that we are going to run our heads up against some sort of trouble. Still, if you think so, we'll carry more. Say forty rounds each. How's that?'

'Right; far more sensible. Now for grub. My word, we mustn't run short of that!'

David was always a good man at his trencher. The open-air life they were now leading, the novelty of his surroundings, and the exercise he enjoyed had given him an appetite there was no denying.

'Of course we might shoot something,' he said, 'though we haven't seen much so far that would be worth the while. Besides, in this queer country one hardly knows what it would be proper to kill and what not. The Professor says one has to be careful not to touch other people's belongings, and the latter are often straying about. Vote we make our list of stores a handsome one.'

In the end they took sufficient tinned meats to last them for two weeks, having reckoned that the journey would not take longer than eight days. A small bottle of brandy was included in their stores, rice for Jong, a bag of biscuit, and a box of dried apples.

'Makes a splendid sweet,' declared David. 'Soak 'em over night in water, or milk if you can get it. Same with the rice you mean to use. Then put the two into a cloth, tie up the top and pop the whole into a kettle. Boil it, my boy, till the rice is done to a turn, and serve it with a sprinkling of sugar. That reminds me—tea's wanted, sugar too, and don't forget a kettle, a frying-pan, and a saucepan.'

'Besides tin mugs, a teapot, spoons, forks and knives.'

'And a filter to pass the water through. Can't be too careful,' said David. 'Water supplies in this country are not often too reliable, and though one can be quite secure by drinking boiled water, yet one hasn't always the time, nor the fuel, so we'll take a filter.'

Having completed their list to their entire satisfaction, they consulted Jong, and with his help packed their stores into three lots, which were so arranged as to be easily secured on the pack saddles which the Professor had purchased. Then they took their list to the latter and asked for his approval.

'Very complete,' he agreed. 'All that I can suggest now is cash. You will want an abundance of the small coins on which the Chinese coolie places such value. A little scattered now and again will gain friends for you. A handful will buy you a sack of rice when your store is exhausted; I shall hand over a sufficiency, while for funds on your arrival, should you need money, this letter will obtain the same from Twang Chun. And now, the sooner you get away the better; let us say to-morrow. You had best be up early so that Jong can complete your toilets. Don't forget that it is necessary that your appearance should be correct in every particular, just as if you were endeavouring to disguise yourselves.'

On the following morning, before the sun had risen, and while still a grey mist hung over the cold land, David and Dick turned out of the tent, took a dip in a lake close at hand, and then submitted themselves to Jong's attentions.

'Allee lightee,' he lisped, grinning as they came to him. 'Soon makee Excellencies same as one Chinaman. Allee same, so that mother not be able to knowee dem. Jong shavee de head now. Den put on de pigtail. Not eber wear him before, Misser Davie? Den you soon see. Fine, Misser Davie. You one great big swell, wid a tail reachin' lightee down to de middle ob you. Now boil de kettle, get de soap, sharpen de razor.'

He set about his work humming a Chinese refrain devoid of all tune, while Alphonse emerged from his tent in his shirt sleeves, and using a native bellows soon had his fire going. It made the lads laugh to watch him hopping quickly about, and to see the extraordinary costume which he still adhered to. For if David and his friends out there in China were still, in spite of their local surroundings, in spite of essentially Celestial environment, undoubtedly Englishmen, Alphonse was as decidedly a Frenchman. His peaky little beard, and the way he carried himself, as well as the quickness of his movements, told one that. It was not necessary to regard his extremely loud shirt, his appalling cap, nor the pointed boots which he found comfort in wearing.

'Bien! You depart to-day. Bon voyage, messieurs,' he said, as he brought them each a steaming cup of tea. 'Let Alphonse tell you that you will find native costume comfortable, as comfortable as is mine, for he has tried it. Oui, messieurs, he has tried it. He owed his life to the disguise once.'

David could not imagine how any disguise could cloak this very obvious Frenchman. He smiled a little dubiously.

'Ah, you do not believe. Then I will tell you. It was on our last journey, the Professor's and mine. The people were angry with us; we were foreign devils who had caused the rain to fall for a month in succession. They surrounded the house; guns were fired; there was a great commotion.'

'What happened then?' asked Dick, eagerly.

'They dragged us out, the Professor and myself. They put us into wooden cages and carried us in them to their mandarin. But he, though he did not love foreign devils, was afraid to harm us. He took us into his house, saying to the mob that he would hand us over in the morning. Then he dressed us like natives, and passed us out through a back door very secretly. Bien, messieurs, we strolled through the mob. They would have torn us to pieces had they known that we were the foreign devils they had captured. We passed through them and got right away. It was what you call a narrow shave.'

'And the mandarin, how did he explain your flight?' asked David, curious to hear how such a matter would be arranged in this country of surprises, of ignorance and bigotry.

'I will tell you. He barred the door and the window. He burned our clothes. In the morning he took the ringleaders of the mob to the room and announced that they were free to kill us. Then he feigned as great surprise as they. He pointed to the charred remains of our clothing, and suggested that we had vanished into the air, perhaps to stop the rain, for as luck would have it, the downpour ceased that very evening. I tell you, for us it was a close shave.'

He bustled off to his camp kitchen, leaving the lads wondering greatly. To them the tale seemed impossible. But then they did not know China very well. They had no idea of the crass ignorance and superstition which even to-day sways the mass of the people. Had they had more knowledge, they would instantly have realised that such a sequel was possible, and that in the Celestial Empire one can encounter hopeless ignorance on one hand, and a depth of cunning adjacent to it. But Jong had his pot of water boiling now, and had put a fine edge on to the wedge-shaped native razor which he intended to use. He quickly lathered the hair over the temples and round the crown of each lad's head, and rapidly removed those portions. Then he produced two wonderful pigtails, and having snipped the hair left on the crown as short as possible, he heated the base of the pigtails, thus melting the adhesive already there, and applied them. A touch with a stick of charcoal to their eyebrows made a vast effect, while a line drawn outside the eyes gave a distinctly Celestial expression. After that it took but little time to don the native costume, and before Alphonse announced breakfast both David and Dick were dressed for their journey.

'You look at least forty,' declared the latter, surveying his friend, and bursting into a merry peal of laughter, 'and as wise as any judge.'

'While you should be at least the governor of a province,' grinned David, delighted at his friend's appearance. 'Now for the Professor.'

'Excellent!' declared the latter, walking all round them. 'I can find no fault; Jong has turned you out wonderfully well. But you mustn't stride along like that, David—nor walk with such an elastic step, Dick, my lad. Recollect that a Chinese gentleman, as you are supposed to be, has little if any call to show energy. He is essentially a tranquil person. His face is as impassive as that of a Red Indian's, while he seldom smiles. And above all he is deeply imbued with his own dignity. So, however youthful and merry you may feel when by yourselves, remember to look austere when in the company of strangers. And now to discuss the route. I have a map here, and as I have been over the ground before I have been able to put down all the chief towns you will pass. Of course there are thousands of completely walled cities in China, particularly up in this direction, where Mongolian incursions are always likely. You will pass several, and will, no doubt, sleep the night in more than one. Now, I have looked over your list of stores, and have suddenly remembered drugs. Alphonse has packed a box containing useful tabloids and other medicines, besides a supply of bandages and dressings. Ah! breakfast's ready; come along.'

An hour later the little cavalcade was ready to set out, and once more the Professor inspected the lads and their mounts. To speak the truth, even a native of the country would easily have been deceived, for David and his friend looked exactly what they were meant to look, namely, two Chinese gentlemen of some importance travelling through the country with their servant.

'Of course you are not bent on commerce,' said the Professor. 'No Chinaman of any importance would soil his hands with trade. You are two officials going through to see Twang Chun. Good-bye! Look for me in a month's time.'

'Gee-up!' shouted Dick, shaking his reins. 'Good-bye, Professor!'

They headed at once for the road that stretched across the country adjacent to the camp, and which perhaps had even borne Tsin, the mighty ruler of the Celestial Empire in those far-off days. Then they settled down to their long journey, David and Dick alongside one another, chatting and laughing, and Jong behind, his bare toes in the stirrups,—for the cold weather was not yet on them,—his reins knotted on his pony's neck, and leads from the other three animals attached to the bow of his native saddle.

'I rather fancy it will be as well to have some sort of regulations for marching,' said David, when they had accomplished some ten miles, and the camp was only a memory to them. 'You see we are foreigners, though we don't look it, and something might turn up when we least expect it.'

Dick laughed loudly. David vastly amused him, and, if he had only made a clear confession, interested him also. For the lad displayed so many sides to his character. At one moment he was as dashing and plucky as one could wish. A regular fire-eater he had shown himself in the affair in the gulf of Pechili. And at other times he was as cautious as any old woman.

'You do make me smile,' declared Dick, searching for a handkerchief, a luxury which neither had yet abandoned, but for which, nevertheless, it was somewhat difficult to find a handy place in the strange garments they were wearing. ''Pon my word, you make a chap roar. Always imagining danger's coming; always taking precautions; always getting ready; and then, no sooner does something spring up, all unforeseen, as it were, than you chuck all precautions, venture out into the open, and practically invite people to shoot you. Look at the ship—helped to get the party away from what was an ugly trap, and then, when all were safe, walked peacefully back in search of an axe. You do really take it.'

'Shut up!' growled David, crossly. 'I'm serious.'

'So am I.'

'Look here,' declared our hero, with some warmth, 'I'll not stand any more of—oh, I say, let's be serious,' he laughed, for who could be angry with Dick—Dick the merriest and most light-hearted of the party? For if ever contrasts were asked for, a better example could not be brought forward than David and his companion. The one, as Dick had said, a strange mixture of dash and daring, and of shrewd, almost nervous caution; and the other, Dick Cartwell, as jolly as the day was long, the most thoughtless individual breathing, an inconsequent, harmless sort of fellow, who made friends of all and sundry with an ease which was astonishing. Caution! Dick threw it to the winds.

'Don't get looking round for trouble till trouble troubles you, old boy,' he had said on more than one occasion when twitting David. Dick followed the proverb strictly. He made no effort to look into the future, to prepare for squabbles, even in a country not altogether friendly. Left in command of the Professor's party, he would have been soundly asleep when the pirates so stealthily slipped aboard the vessel and slid along the decks towards the cabin. But once the danger was present, once he was with his back against a wall, there was no better nor more reliable fellow. Dick fought with as light a heart as he possessed when eating his dinner. Light-heartedness was his one fault, in fact, if one could actually declare it a fault; for on the march and under everyday conditions it cheered his companions and helped wonderfully to keep every one going.

'Well, let's hear all about this matter,' he asked, smiling at our hero, and urging his steed beside him with a kick from his heel. 'You are anticipating trouble.'

'Nothing of the sort. I do declare you are an aggravating fellow. I say that we are in a country where foreign devils are not too popular, and though we don't appear to be foreigners, yet people might discover our nationality. In fact, they are sure to when we put up in the towns. Very well, then. We must take it turn and turn about to watch, Jong doing his share with us. Of course I'm speaking of the time when we are out on the road, or in camp, should we settle down outside a village or town. In the house of a mandarin we should be free from interference. Now, what do you say to the plan?'

'A beastly bother, but necessary perhaps. I agree. When do we start?'

'Right away; nothing like getting settled down to our duties. We'll have a chat with Jong.'

They pulled their ponies round and edged them up alongside the single store pony trotting at the Chinaman's left hand.

'We're going to take it in turns to watch when on the road,' said David. 'I'll start now, and continue till noon; then Dick till late in the afternoon; then you'll come on duty. We'll share the night out evenly when we're in the open.'

Jong took a few minutes to absorb his meaning. Not that the man was dense; it was simply because he had not a very abundant command of English.

'Allee lightee; savvey,' he exclaimed at last, with a curious little lisp which rather became him. 'Jong say dat allee lightee. Watch, den no easy to be cut to piecee. Neber know who or what comin' along. P'laps dere robbers. Dey make mincemeat of de lot of us before you have time to breathe. Jong watch like a dog. Him savvey!'

'Then I start right off; let's get back to our places.'

The two young fellows kicked their lazy little ponies into a canter, and pulled them in again when they were some fifty yards ahead of the Chinaman. And until the hour of noon David kept a careful eye all about him. Then they halted for a spell, Jong quickly getting a kettle over a fire and the water boiling. A cup of tea and a slice from a tin of meat put all in a good temper, and made them ready to proceed. That evening, as the shades were lengthening, they slid through the gates of a walled city. Dick's hours for duty were almost ended. In a little while they would be under a roof and, they hoped, in hospitable quarters. But neither Dick nor David nor the talkative Jong saw that figure trailing along behind them on the main road. Not one had observed a man creep from a ditch a mile from the gates of the city, and slink cunningly after the party. For it was Chang, and his object so far was to remain in the background, undiscovered till the hour for action had arrived.

Chang announces his Errand

Never before had David or Dick been within a Chinese city, and from the moment of their arrival at Hatsu they were vastly interested with their surroundings.

'Lidee light through de gate, Misser Davie,' advised Jong. 'Not take no notice of de guards. Dey common fellows. Den Jong lead you to de house of de mandarin; you have fine food and lodgin' dere.'

But as it turned out, there was no easy admission to the city. A dozen quaintly dressed Tartar soldiers barred the way, bearing modern rifles across their shoulders.

'Who are you? Say where you come from!' demanded one, who seemed to be an under-officer. 'Do you come from the country where sickness rages?'

Jong at once came forward as interpreter.

'My masters come from the sea-coast,' he said, with an air of authority, which carried weight at once with the soldiers. 'There is no sickness in the parts where they have been. They bear important letters to Twang Chun, and passports for your governor.'

'Show them,' demanded the Tartar under-officer, who seemed to be bursting with his own importance. 'Perhaps you are telling lies. Show the letters.'

He stepped up to David and seized his pony by the head. Then he closely scrutinised our hero.

'Bring a lamp,' he ordered one of his men. 'It's too plaguey dark to see, particularly under this gateway. Bring a light; we shall then be able to look at these fellows.'

He jerked at the bit, causing the animal to rear, and the man himself to let go his hold. At once David put his heel to the pony's side, and sent him plunging in amongst the soldiers, upsetting the officer with a crash. At the same instant a lamp was brought, and the light showed the Tartar picking himself up, while already he had drawn his sword. Then, fuming with rage, he advanced again and seized the pony.

'Let us look closely at you, you who bear important letters,' he cried. And then he gave vent to a shout of astonishment. 'Mandarins of importance, did you say, rogue?' he shouted, turning on Jong. 'These are foreigners, white men, hated foreigners from the West.'

He gripped at David's clothing and would have torn it from him, had not the young fellow again set his mount plunging. Then Jong pressed his own animal forward; for whatever else he might be, however amusing and garrulous, Jong was not a laggard where blows were being given and received, nor did he hang in the background when there was need for instant action. He gripped the Tartar by the shoulder and shook him as a dog would shake a rat.

'Fool! he growled, angrily. 'Who said that my masters were indeed mandarins? They are people of importance, and bear important letters. Are you so anxious then to incur the anger of Twang Chun, the Excellency who commands the province, that you thus interfere with us? My masters will show the letters, but you shall not read them. Bring the lamp; if you are not careful we will take you with us to His Honour who commands in this city.'

At a sign from the faithful fellow David produced the pouch in which the letters were carried, and showed them to the man, looking askance as he did so at the soldiers, for it was evident that they were fully ready for mischief. Indeed, had he but known it, Hatsu bore none too enviable a reputation. It appeared, indeed, that only some few months before an attack had been made in this city upon some European missionaries, and had resulted in the death of one. As a consequence the commander of the place had been dismissed, while a number of the delinquents had been beheaded; and the common people still smarted under what they imagined was a grievance. However, the magic name of Twang Chun carried the day. The Tartar officer drew back grudgingly, eyeing Jong as if he would dearly have loved to kill him. Nor did he regard the disappearing figures of David and his merry companion with any better favour.

'Foreign devils in disguise!' he growled to his men. 'Why in disguise? Tell me that. Answer me that question. Why do foreign devils come to our city and demand entrance when the dusk has fallen? Why?'

He held the lamp up to each face in turn, and receiving no answer bade them enter the guard-house with him. He caused the doors to be closed, and then spoke with no little show of excitement.

'Why do foreign devils reach us when the evening has come, and attempt to pass us disguised as mandarins? I will tell you now. You who are ignorant and do not gather news have heard only as a rumour, perhaps, the fact that death stalks through the provinces of Manchuria—black death!'

They recoiled from him at the words. Lethargic and eminently fatalists as are the Celestials, their fatalism and their easy resignation to all that is inevitable are not proof against the terrible epidemics that sweep across the country at times. Even small-pox, which makes its ravages in different quarters practically the year through, and being, therefore, no new thing to the natives, scares them wonderfully when it makes its appearance in any particular locality. But small-pox is not to be compared with the black death, not to be mentioned in the same breath with that hideous pneumonic plague, which decimates cities in a week, attacks both young and old, and once it has seized a victim, rarely spares his life. Besides the Tartar officer was right. Pneumonic plague had appeared in Manchuria, and was stalking through the land. Cases had even been reported in the adjacent provinces of Russia, while the disease was spreading in the direction of Pekin. Everywhere in the neighbourhood of the infected area distracted creatures were fleeing, carrying the disease with them, and spreading it across the land. What more natural thing in a country of amazingly simple and ignorant people than that the onset of this black death should here and there be put down to some outside influence? The foreign devil was a target at which to throw all the blame. And this Tartar under-officer, no doubt as bigoted and ignorant as his fellows, found in the coming of David and Dick a subtle scheme to import the plague to Hatsu.

'We have heard that there is great sickness,' said one of his men. 'We have been told that plague assails the people. It has even been reported that soldiers have been called to positions north and east of Pekin to hold the frightened people back.'

'True, comrade, true, every word of these reports. Our commander has himself been called away to receive orders with regard to the placing of the soldiers. But see how the foreign devils manage these things. They come to us in disguise. They enter our city with letters of introduction to his Excellency Twang Chun. With forged letters, you may be certain.'

The gaping mouths of his audience showed how the news affected them. Give the Tartar soldier his due, he is one of the best soldiers China possesses, but he is as ignorant and as bigoted as any of the people. Moreover, he is just as ready to run from the cry of plague as he is ready to discover in a European the cause of his misfortune. Growls of anger came from the men, disturbed, however, a moment later by a loud challenge from the sentry. He was calling for men to help him to shut the gates—for the hour for closing the city had arrived—and as he did so espied a figure creeping in through the archway. He brought the man to a stop with his bayonet within an inch of his breast.

'Move not,' he commanded, 'else will I plunge the blade home and send you to converse with your ancestors. Son of a dog, what do you here at this time?'

Another shout brought the Tartar officer running out with his men, while one carried the native lantern, a huge affair of oiled paper. They held it up close to the stranger's face, while the officer approached closely.

'Who are you?' he asked suspiciously. 'A follower of those foreign devils?'

'In their service, no,' came the emphatic answer. 'Take this; let us talk.'

The man pulled a handful of money from a bag suspended to his girdle, and gave it to the under-officer. 'Let us talk,' he repeated. 'I follow these foreign devils it is true, but not as their servant. I come to bring a warning.'

'There! did I not say so?' declared the officer instantly, his sallow face flushing. 'I have but just told these comrades that Hatsu would be well without such visitors. I have warned them of the plague.'

Chang, for he it was—the rascal paid to proceed to China in search of David, paid by Mr. Ebenezer Clayhill—beamed on the soldiers, and followed them into the guard-house eagerly. To speak the truth, the artful scoundrel knew something of the history of Hatsu, and recollected that certain of her people had received punishment for an attack on Europeans. He had come to the city with the intention of stirring up popular hatred of the foreigners, if that were possible, and of setting the people on them. If not here, then elsewhere. And here, there was already a beginning with an excellent excuse for further action; for the faces of the Tartar guard showed that even the mention of foreign devils caused them to grunt with anger.

'Then you have been speaking to them, friend,' said Chang, when he was comfortably seated. 'Tell me their story.'

'There is little in it I was suspicious of them on the instant my eyes fell upon them, in spite of the dusk. Mark you, these foreign devils came in the gloaming, in disguise, and told of letters to Twang Chun, the Excellency who commands the province.'

Chang's crafty features twisted at the mention of the high official, for he recollected that it was he who would have executed him. But he told himself that absence and his change of name, to say nothing of the fact that it was supposed that he had been drowned, made him safe from detection. He laughed loudly at the story.

'And you believed all this?' he asked, feigning incredulity.

'I knew they lied. I was but just telling my comrades that they came to bring plague to us, no doubt to increase the punishment already suffered by our people for the justifiable attack made on others of the same race.'

'Then you told them the truth. The foreign devils will scatter the plague in this city of a certainty if they be not removed. Listen, friends. Who knows of their arrival, who but you?'

'None, none save the deputy-commander,' came the answer. 'They have gone to him to seek a lodging. Their letter to his Excellency Twang Chun will command attention. They will be handsomely lodged.'

'And this deputy-commander; tell me of him.'

Chang's eyes gleamed maliciously as he listened to the reply. He tucked his hands into his baggy sleeves and hugged himself with unrestrained delight. Already he began to feel the weight of that thousand pounds which his rascally employer had promised.

As for the Tartar officer, he at once allied himself with this stranger who had come so opportunely to warn the people of Hatsu. Not only because in his ignorance he was genuinely a believer in the fable that David and his friend, or any other Europeans for the matter of that, could at will bring a plague to the city. No, that was not the only reason for his instant decision to help this Chang. It was because he himself, this Tartar under-officer, had suffered for the death of that European attacked some while before. Cunning alone had saved him his head. He had been degraded and soundly thrashed, for in China punishments are by no means half-hearted. People are still put to the torture, wretched criminals still suffer penalties that have long since disappeared from the penal codes of other nations. The man had been degraded and soundly thrashed, and the indignity and the sting of the lash were still fresh with him.

'Listen,' he whispered hoarsely, his eyes glinting dangerously. 'This deputy-commandant is no lover of the foreign devil. It is well known, though it is denied, mark you, that he it was who led the soldiery in that affair when certain people of the west were attacked. He would have been governor here, but the suspicion that he was one of the attackers caused him to lose the high post. Of a surety he is with us.'

'And would dare to hang these wretches on the report we bring him?' asked Chang, his wicked face lit up with eagerness. 'He is bold enough for that?'

The cunning smile on the face of his listener told its own tale. What need had such a man as Chang to question further? For had he not arranged such little matters himself many a time? To a Chinaman was there any difficulty in such an affair, demanding cunning and intrigue? Let it be remembered that in all our dealings with the Celestial race craft has been always met with. In business circles amongst the large commercial firms of which China can now boast, it has come to be well understood and believed in that a Celestial's word is as good as his bond; that he does not depart dishonourably from an undertaking; but amongst the high officials such trust has not been gained. China's word has too often been broken. And here was this deputy-governor of Hatsu at that very moment receiving David and Dick with every sign of deference, though, to speak the truth, the man's ugly face was heavy with scowls when his guests were not observing. Would he dare to attack the foreigners who were about to eat his salt and partake of his hospitality?

'My brother,' declared the Tartar officer, becoming wonderfully friendly with the stranger, 'his Excellency Tsu-Hi will defend his guests if need be with his life. But——'

'But, Yes——'

'But he has other duties. He goes the rounds two hours after sundown, and repeats the visit once more before he goes to his repose. In his absence——'

Chang grinned an expansive grin. This little Tartar was a man after his own heart, and was proving a wonderful ally. He sat as immovable as a statue for some few minutes, his eyes shut, reviewing every side of the situation.

'No one knows of their arrival save these guards here,' he told himself, 'and, of course, the servants employed by his Excellency. Now if a mob in the quarter of the city where his house is situated rises when he is absent on the walls, and captures these foreign devils, how can his Excellency be blamed? How can I be made to appear in the matter, when there is this lusty Tartar to do the work for me. It shall be done. I will proceed without delay.'

Meanwhile David and Dick had been received by the deputy-governor of the city, and had been shown to their rooms, which were plainly but beautifully furnished. Then, as the governor excused his immediate absence on the plea of duty, the two lads called upon Jong to supply them with refreshment 'Not like dis,' said the faithful fellow, as he came into David's room bearing a steaming dish with him. 'Dis not receiving guests as a mandarin or high officer should do. Not at all. Not light. Him should stay and give a feast dat takes much time eating. He should put allee de best dat he have before de foleigners. He should bow allee de time, and ask what next he can do. Not go off as if he hate de sight of white men.'

'Can't say I took a violent fancy to the fellow myself,' laughed Dick, who ate as if he were as hungry as a hunter. 'Can't say the beggar was over handsome either. Seemed to wear a scowl on his face most of the time, as if he particularly disliked foreign devils. But that don't make any difference to a fellow's appetite, do it? Pass along that dish again, David. My! Jong's a cook in a hundred.'

The Chinaman grinned appreciatively, while David scarcely seemed to have heard his friend. His brow was furrowed; he paused long and often between the mouthfuls.

'Bothering again. Letting trouble come along and trouble you before it's time to trouble?' laughed Dick. 'Here, David, I give you fair warning. This is my second go. If you're not pretty slippy the dish'll be empty. You'll be hungry when you go to your bed.'

'I shall sit up to-night.'

'What! sit up! Watch in the house of the governor of Hatsu? David, you're a bit mad I'm beginning to think,' cried Dick, still eating heartily and quizzing his comrade. 'But, seriously,' he went on, 'where's the need? The jolly old fellow didn't wear the most handsome of faces, as I've admitted; but then he's our host. Twang Chun—beg his pardon, his Excellency—seems to be the kind of boy it would be bad practice to fall foul of. Supposing this governor fellow, what's his name?——'

'Tsu-Hi, deputy-governor, I understand.'

'Don't mind what sort o' governor he is any way,' laughed Dick, who was feeling wonderfully jolly and facetious. 'Let's call him Hi for short. This Hi, we'll suppose, hates foreign devils like poison; but there's always Twang Chun, ain't there? There's always this jolly old boy Twang, who, we're told, is ready to wring the neck of any fellow who doesn't offer us hospitality. Bien! as Alphonse says. There we are, safe as houses.'

'Just so,' agreed David, curtly. 'All the same, I shall watch to-night. I've got a kind of feeling that something may happen.'

'Indigestion!' cried Dick. 'Better let me dose you, my boy. One of those pills of the Professor's'll make you feel as right as a hay-stack—A1, in fact. A good sleep'll put you right by morning.'

But though David enjoyed his friend's chaff, and indeed laughed heartily at his last suggestion, he shook his head when invited to turn in. Why, he could not explain. But the fact remained, indigestion or no indigestion, the lad was filled with a sense of insecurity. Perhaps it was the roughness of the Tartar under-officer, perhaps it was the sounds of brawling which had come lately to his ear—who knows? It may have been a genuine premonition. He saw Dick plump himself on the narrow kang in his room, and bade him good-night. Then he lay down on his own, his eyes wide open and staring.

'Suppose it must be indigestion,' he said after a while, 'or is it the face of this Tsu-Hi? I didn't like him. I swear I caught him scowling and muttering.'

As is so often the case with those who lie awake in the silence, David's busy brain was occupied with a vast number of things—matters some of little moment, passed and done with, others of greater interest, his own aims and ambitions in this country of China. He wondered what his stepmother was doing, and sighed when he thought of how things might have been had she been a different woman. Then his mind branched off to the sturdy sergeant of police who had lodged him, to his pleasant little wife, and to Mr. Jones, staunchest of friends and solicitors. Then he gave his thoughts to the matter always uppermost in his mind, the finding of his father's papers; perhaps the discovery of some evidence which would prove or disprove his death. Perhaps even an agreeable surprise was awaiting him. Stranger things had occurred before. It might be even that Edward Harbor was still living. Ah! there was a noise of shouting out in the street. David rose and went to the window. Gently pushing back the wooden frame, with its oiled-paper covering in lieu of glass, he stood in the moonlight listening.