CHAPTER VII
At Sea on a Chinese Junk
'Steady!' David commanded himself, feeling for the moment as if he were about to give way to panic. 'Go below and get the four men, then make a rush. You couldn't get back to the cabin alone.'
He stood on the narrow steps, with his head just above the level of the hatch and watched for a moment; for the sudden view he had obtained of the attackers, and their unexpected rush aft had taken him unawares. As he stared into the gloom he could see the figures which had passed him at a rush moving about from side to side of the vessel, just outside the huge deck cabin that occupied the whole of the stern. He heard blows struck against the woodwork, and a loud, resounding bang, as the door was locked and bolted. Then the shouts died away. A man stood out prominently from his comrades, and gave a sharp order. A second later there was a blinding flash, a deafening roar rolled along the decks and over the sea, while the flame lit up the surroundings.
'Fired a blunderbuss or some other ancient weapon,' David told himself. 'Blew a hole clean through the door. I do hope that none of my friends were behind it. Ah! that is the answer.'
For one brief second he had obtained a clear view of the attackers. Some twenty-four in number, they crouched on the deck as the weapon was fired, so that the ruffian who pulled the trigger became all the more prominent. He was a tall, lanky Chinaman, dressed in loose cotton clothing, and with arms bared to the shoulder. David even caught a view of his swaying pigtail. Then darkness descended again, and blotted out the figure. A moment later startled voices came to his ear from below; at once he dropped to the bottom of the ladder.
'Gently, Ho Hung,' he whispered, calling to one of the four men who had joined the staff of the expedition, and who had been with the Professor on a previous occasion. Ho Hung, indeed, was well known to our hero, for it was he who made such valiant efforts every day to teach him the language. 'Gently, Ho Hung,' he called again, speaking in Chinese as well as he could. 'I am here, at the bottom of the ladder.'
Something touched his leg. Strong fingers closed about the ankle, and sent a thrill throughout David's frame. He clenched his teeth, and stooping, gripped the wrist of the man below, prepared to throw himself upon him.
'Speak,' he commanded, hoarsely. 'Who are you?'
'Ho Hung, Excellency. I heard you call; there is trouble on the deck?'
'Listen,' said David, breathing deeply, a huge sigh of relief escaping him. 'We are attacked. My friends are in the cabin; we must reach them, you and I and the other three. Where are they?'
Not a sound had he heard below, save Ho Hung's voice; but at his question three more figures rose up before him as if they were ghosts, though in the dense darkness of the 'tween decks he could not perceive them. But the men spoke huskily, their tones strangely different from the high-pitched notes they were wont to employ.
'Lo Fing, Excellency, here, ready.'
'And Hu Ty, at your orders.'
'With John Jong, Excellency, prepared to obey.'
The latter individual impressed his presence upon our hero by stretching out a long, thin hand in the darkness, and laying it upon his shoulder. But that was often this Chinaman's salutation in the case of David or Dick, though he would never have dared in the case of the Professor or in that of Alphonse. Still he was a merry, privileged rascal, and enjoyed the name of John, probably because of its similarity to his own of Jong, and also, perhaps, because he was the only one of the four who could understand and speak English.
'Allee lightee, Excellency David,' he said, using his queer pidgin-English. 'Allee four here. What then? Trouble above? Dat rascal captain up to some nicee little game?'
But David ignored the questions. Ho Hung was the leader of this little quartet, and by far the most reliable. He swung round upon the Chinaman, who still gripped his ankle, as if to assure him of his presence all the while, and spoke hastily, his knowledge of the language, small though it was, proving of the greatest service.
'You will stand by us then?' he asked.
'We swear it,' came solemnly from Ho Hung, while the other three gave guttural approval. 'And you are armed?'
From the neighbourhood of John Jong there came the sound made when a match is struck, and almost at once a flame illuminated the surroundings, showing the four Chinamen, their eyes strangely big and prominent in the flare, and David at the foot of the ladder. Jong held the match forward, and each man in turn showed the weapon he possessed.
'See, Excellency, a staff,' said Ho Hung, displaying a massive staff, that would prove a formidable weapon.
'And knives here, and here, and here.' Jong pointed to the one he had in his own belt, while Lo Fing and Hu Ty held theirs forward, smiling grimly.
'Then wait while I see what is happening. We have to join the others, and I have arranged to make use of the port under the ladder leading to the top of the cabin. We shall have to make a rush – you understand that? You follow what I mean?'
The match had burned down to Jong's finger tips by now, and he let the end drop on to the boards, stamping the ash out with his feet; but the light given even by such a small incandescent piece of wood in the darkness was sufficient to show up the figures for a few seconds. David watched the men and nodded. There was no doubt that they had understood his laboured rendering of their own language.
'Then wait,' he said curtly. 'I will see what is happening. One of the crew fired a gun at the cabin door. I heard a shot in return, and believe the man fell; since then there has not been a sound. Wait; I'll be back in a moment.'
He stole softly up the ladder, for he had only a pair of soft bedroom slippers on his feet, and they were as good for the purpose as even the cotton-soled shoe worn by the Chinese themselves. In a twinkling his head was on a level with the hatch, and then he cautiously raised it.
'Men creeping about as if they were in search of something,' he told himself, seeing moving figures. 'One lying on the deck just where that fellow stood to fire his shot. Killed, I expect, by our own party. What on earth are the rascals up to?'
He was puzzling his brains as to what could be passing, for there seemed no object in the movement of the men on deck, while the attack on the cabin appeared to have been forgotten. Then a sharp exclamation reached his ears, and one of the attackers stood upright, lifting something from the deck. David could not be sure, but believed it was an axe, and again wondered what would be done with it.
'Break in the door, I suppose,' he told himself. 'That'll want doing; there are pistols there, my friend, as you will soon learn to your cost. Ah! Another seems to have discovered a similar weapon.'
It was not at all remarkable that such a search should be needed for these two axes – and axes they undoubtedly were – for the methods of the commander of the native boat were anything but excellent. Untidiness was noticeable everywhere; odds and ends of things, bales and boxes and coils of rope and tackle of every description littering the deck. And amidst the various items were the axes.
'Talking the matter over amongst themselves,' thought David, seeing the dusky figures come together at one side of the deck. 'That shows they counted on winning their way into the cabin at the first rush. They made sure that they would pounce upon us unawares, and never imagined that we should be ready for them. Now they'll decide upon some plan for forcing their way in. This would be our chance for rushing along to join our comrades.'
The thought had hardly crossed his mind when those long, firm fingers closed again round his ankle, a sure signal that Ho Hung wished to communicate with him. Instantly David slid down into the depths of the vessel.
'Well?' he asked, somewhat curtly, for he was anxious not to lose sight of the enemy. 'They have been searching the decks for axes and have discovered two. I think they are about to rush at the door and attempt to beat it in. That will be the moment for us to run. You have all that, Hung? Can't make it a bit clearer.'
A guttural response reassured him. 'We have understood. His Excellency speaks plainly, though he makes many mistakes. Hung wished only to tell of something which has been forgotten. There is no need to go out on deck and enter by the port, for there is a path to the cabin by this way. Does his Excellency forget that meals are brought to his friends through a hatchway leading up through the floor of the cabin?'
The position of that hatch flashed across David's brain instantly, and he could have struck himself for having forgotten it so readily. Of course, it was the only way by which to rejoin the party in the cabin, and offered a perfectly safe road.
'We will make along it at once, Hung,' he said. 'Let Jong run and warn our friends immediately. I will watch at the top of the ladder, while you and the other two search about for something with which to block the foot of the ladder leading up to that hatch. Quick with it! They may have remembered it too.'
Feeling sure that his orders would be carried out promptly, he swarmed up to the level of the deck again, and once more cautiously protruded his head. At the same moment a heavy thud reached his ears; there came the sound of splintering wood, then the sharp, distinctive snap of a magazine pistol. As on a former occasion, though to a lesser degree this time, the flash of the weapon gave our hero an instant's view of his surroundings. Thirty feet away was the wall of the cabin, with the dark lines of the doorposts in the centre, while the deck on either hand was occupied by crouching figures. One Chinaman alone was prominent, and he stood before the door, frantically struggling to drag the blade of the axe he had been wielding out of the woodwork. He staggered backwards with the weapon, as the darkness fell like a screen about him. Then the sound of splintering wood was repeated, a pistol snapped, and after it another, illuminating the scene for the space of a few seconds. David saw the Chinaman reel across the deck, and heard the axe fall heavily upon the boards, then his eye fell upon other figures. Half a dozen men were creeping towards the hatchway from which he was watching, and the leader of the band was within a few inches.
'One of the foreign devils,' he heard a man call. 'Hold him! Seize him! He has stolen out of the cabin.'
'I have him. Follow. Push your knives into his carcass.'
The leader so close to our hero recovered from his astonishment far sooner than did David, and hardly had his companion shouted when the man threw himself forward as if he were diving, and landing full upon the lad, who was standing on the steep steps that lead to the 'tween decks, gripped him round the neck in an embrace that was stifling. The result must have been as much of a surprise to him as it was to our hero; for the latter's feet slipped, his soft, felt soles failing to grip the rungs of the ladder, and at once both were precipitated to the bottom.
'Yield, foreign devil,' the man hissed in his ear. 'Yield, or I will thrust my knife through you.'
He made frantic efforts to get at the weapon, and releasing one hand groped at his belt. But the fall had shaken the weapon from its place, and had sent it tinkling on to the boards, while the movement gave David an opportunity he took the utmost advantage of. Naturally strong and active, and by this time fully restored to health, he was a good match for the Chinaman. Indeed, he was more; for, exerting all his strength, he thrust the man beneath him and held him there, wondering what next he should do with him. However, he was not to be spared time for such a purpose, for by now a second man was beside them. David felt his hand on his shoulder as the Chinaman sought in the darkness to assure himself which was friend and which foreign devil. In a moment he would know, for the clothing would tell its own story promptly, and if David were to escape a thrust from the long knife the rascal bore he must act on the instant. It may have been an inspiration – perhaps the whole thing was done unconsciously – in any case our hero braced his muscles as he had never done on a former occasion, and stretching out a hand gripped the pigtail of the man beneath him. Then he lifted the head sharply and sent it back against the deck with a sickening thud that stunned his antagonist instantly. A moment later something struck hard against his own shoulder, and, though he did not realise the fact then, the explanation came afterwards. The second Chinaman had thrust at him in the darkness, and missing his aim, had sent his blade within a couple of inches of his back, and far across it till his wrist came against the shoulder.
'Which shows he means business in any case,' thought David, recoiling before the blow. 'How's that?'
Kneeling up, with a swift motion, and realising that he had no time to get to his feet, he lunged forward sharply with his right fist, met something solid and sent it flying. Indeed, he heard the man stagger across the alley-way, and crash against a bulkhead two yards from him. Then, long before the fellow could pounce upon him, David was on his feet.
'Hist!' he heard at his elbow, then there was the scrape of a match against the roughened paper on the box. A flame suddenly illuminated the 'tween decks, showing our hero, dishevelled and somewhat breathless, close to the foot of the ladder, Ho Hung beside him, and the Chinaman advancing again with upraised weapon. More than that, it showed faces filling the dark square of the hatchway, and a man already half-way down the ladder.
'On to him,' shouted David. 'I'll see to the other.'
His hand dipped into his pocket swiftly, and reappeared with his magazine pistol. Before the flame had quite died out, or the Chinaman could reach him, he pressed the trigger, and caught a glimpse of the fellow as he doubled up like a rabbit, and crashed to the boards. A second later he was swept from his feet by Ho Hung and the Chinaman, who had by now reached the foot of the ladder.
If ever there were a time when David felt inclined to lose his head and act in an aimless manner, it was at this very moment, when he was swept from his feet by the fall of Hung and the villain who had grappled with him. Tumbled on the deck with a crash, he stretched out his hands to help himself to rise, and, instead of feeling his fingers fall upon the boards, realised at once that they had come in contact with a man. He pounced on the fellow, and after gripping his arms, he shifted his fingers to the neck. A growl of vexation escaped him.
'He's the other fellow. The chap I shot a moment ago. Call this acting steadily?' he asked himself fiercely. 'Where's Hung? What's he doing?'
It was useless to ask the question, for the sound of a violent scuffle at his feet, and the fact that he was again nearly felled to the deck provided sufficient answer to any but the most unintelligent. Obviously Hung was locked in the arms of one of the enemy, and in the darkness who could say who was the victor? Then that coolness which David had momentarily lost, and which was so essential under such circumstances, returned to him like a flash. He dropped his pistol into his pocket, extracted a box of matches and struck one.
'Now,' he thought, 'we shall see how matters are going. Ah! another of the fellows.'
The many faces of which he had caught a glimpse a little while before filling the dark square of the hatchway were blotted out by the figure of a Chinaman sliding down the ladder, while the light was reflected brightly from almost a yard of steel that was gripped between the newcomer's teeth. In a second or two he would be at the bottom of the ladder, and then, even if David wished to help Hung, he would be unable to. It was just one of those acute moments when instant decision is necessary, and immediate action, consequent on that decision, of vital importance. We have said that David Harbor was assailed but a minute earlier by one of those strange panics which come to the best of men, to the very bravest. Who knows? perhaps his meeting with the burglars in the store so close to Bond Street had in a measure unnerved him; or even, though his healthy colour and obvious robustness gave the lie direct to the suggestion, he was not yet entirely recovered from his injury sustained in that memorable conflict with Henricksen and his accomplices. Whatever the cause, David had without a shadow of doubt been on the verge of losing his head and his coolness entirely within a few seconds of Hung's arrival to help him. Perhaps the shame he felt immediately afterwards helped him now to behave in the coolest possible manner, and with a promptness that was commendable. Seeing the Chinaman just at the foot of the ladder, he tossed the match to the floor, and stepping forward seized the man round the waist. Then he lifted him from his feet as if he weighed a mere nothing, and using all his strength threw him across the alley-way. The crash had hardly died away when he had another match burning.
'Now we will run to the cabin, Excellency,' he heard Hung say, and turning towards him he saw the gallant fellow standing within a foot of him, a long knife in one hand, and the staff which he had carried at the foot of the ladder. Also the light showed the hatchway above, with its gallery of staring faces, and a huddled figure at Hung's feet. As for the man David had tackled, he lay in a heap against the bulkhead, stunned and helpless after such a rough experience.
'Lead the way,' commanded David, promptly. 'I'll bring the ladder with me. Stand aside, and let us have another match.'
He gripped the sides of the steep ladder leading from the hatchway, and, as Hung fumbled for a match, tore it from its flimsy fastenings. Then he pointed down the alley-way, and seeing Hung advance, slid along after him. Nor was their retreat undertaken a moment too soon. For as David stepped away from the hatchway a dozen more heads were suddenly shown there, standing out dimly against the starlight. Men shouted and bellowed, while one yellow ruffian slid a long, skinny arm downwards, took hasty aim, and pulled the trigger of a huge horse pistol. The concussion in the narrow alley-way deafened our hero, though the bullet did not touch him – for it was as big almost as a pigeon's egg – and crashing against the deck planks, it bored a hole clean through them. The smoke which belched from this antique weapon formed an excellent screen, behind which Hung and his companion were able to cloak their movements.
'You follow closely, Excellency,' David heard the Chinaman say. 'Not safe to strike more matches, for some of the men may have dropped through the hatchway and will fire at us. Follow closely, and bring the ladder. Our friends are within short distance of us.'
'And they have warned the others?' asked David. 'They have made some preparation to hold the enemy?'
'That I cannot say,' came the swift answer. 'But Jong is cunning, while the others will have obeyed his Excellency's orders. Ah! we have arrived. Hist! we are coming towards you.'
In the black darkness at the end of the alley-way a faint sound was heard, as if some one had sharply closed the lid of a metal match-box, though as a matter of fact it was the cocking of a pistol held in Dick's hands. Then the light from a lantern was thrown for one brief instant in David's direction, showing the walls of the alley-way, Hung's hurrying figure, and ahead of him a huge square mass, covered in sacking. Dick's cheery voice broke the silence immediately.
'Cheer oh! David!' he cried. 'What news? We were beginning to get the fidgets about you. Thought those fellows might have bagged you altogether. What's happened?'
'Heaps,' came the laconic answer. 'Just let me get past this bale and take a breather. I've never been so scared in all my life.'
There was a savage note in his voice, a note altogether foreign to David, and hearing it Dick realised that something altogether out of the common had happened.
'Come and sit down on the deck beside me,' he said. 'You can go up into the cabin later. I've sent word to say you were arriving. What's upset you?'
'Look here,' David blurted, turning upon him, 'would you feel yourself if you had been within an inch of proving a funk, of running away with your tail between your legs? Would you? Eh? That's the question.'
'Depends,' came the cautious answer. 'Perhaps there was reason for getting funked. I tell you I was at first when you woke me. Well? What's all the bother?'
'I'll tell you,' said our hero, feeling somewhat relieved and in better favour with himself, now that he heard Dick admit to the fact that he himself had been scared. 'I met our men at the bottom of the hatchway, and sent them on various errands. Then, as I watched from the top of the ladder a beggar threw himself on me, and we both went crash to the bottom. A second fellow followed, and then a third, whom Hung tackled. Well, I stunned my first man, and knocked the breath out of the second. I could feel Hung scuffling with his man in the darkness, and I tell you I nearly bolted. I got into a panic, and might very well have fired in all directions. Gurr! It makes a fellow ashamed of himself.'
Dick roared with laughter, till a sharp command from the cabin above stopped him. 'You do amuse me, David,' he said, dropping his voice to a whisper. 'Stun one man, knock the wind out of another, and then get scared. As if a fellow hadn't a right to be, after such an experience; but what happened then?'
'Pulled myself together, I suppose; did the only sensible thing under the circumstances. I struck a match, and only just in time. There was another beggar at the foot of the ladder, with a whole heap staring through the hatchway. I bet I shook that last rascal. I heaved him across the alley-way as if he were a box, and I should say that he's hardly fit to move yet awhile. Talk about collaring a chap out of the scrum, or getting a quick man extra well when coming all out down the field – that Chinaman don't need to fear a game of footer in the future. He'll never be collared or slung harder. Well, there you are: Hung had finished his man with the most murderous knife you ever saw, while I ended the matter for the moment by tearing the ladder away; but they won't be long in coming after us. What have you done?'
'Half-blocked the alley-way near the bottom of our hatchway with bales of cotton, leaving room for you to come through. Jong's been shoving others into position since. Beyond that I've done nothing; the Professor and Alphonse have been watching the door of the cabin.'
'Then supposing we show that lamp again,' said David. 'If all's clear I'll hop up and report progress, then I'll get leave to come down to you. There'll be a ruction in this neighbourhood before many minutes.'
Dick reached for the dark lantern from the corner in which he had placed it, and turned the slide swiftly, showing first the figures of Jong, of Hu Ty, and Lo Fing crouching behind the barrier erected in the alley-way. Then he flashed the light over the top of the bales of cotton, and illuminated the alley-way beyond. The rays fell upon a dozen eager faces, upon a mass of half-clad men hemmed in the narrow place, and was reflected from a number of brandished weapons. A deafening shout greeted the appearance of the lantern, and the bales it showed barring the progress of the attacking party. Then the same lean, skinny arm which had dropped from the other hatchway, and had fired a horse pistol, jerked itself into a horizontal position, a crashing report filled the alley-way, while a bullet roared between the heads of Dick and David, and thundered against the woodwork behind. Hidden by the eddying smoke the Chinese pirates struggled forward and threw themselves with fury upon the barrier behind which lay the Professor's slender party.