When Frank was thrown into the little room beneath the stairs, and heard
the key turn upon him, he at first believed himself to be in utter
darkness. But very soon his eyes became accustomed to the dim light
that emanated from several cracks in the woodwork.
These cracks were in the stairs that led from the lower room to the
balcony. The opium den was, of course, well illumined by several
paraffin lamps. The little room in which Frank was imprisoned extended
from the foot of the staircase to the back wall, the staircase itself
forming the ceiling, which was in consequence only about three feet high
at one end of the room, and about twelve feet high at the other. Now it
so happened that the largest crack was at the lower end of the room, and
Frank Armitage was not slow to discover that, by placing his eye to
this, he could see quite easily into the opium den.
When he looked into the outer room he was able to observe several opium
smokers, and Ah Wu himself, who was seated at his desk at the doorway.
There was, however, no sign of Ling, and Frank rightly concluded that
the Honanese must have left the establishment in pursuit of Yung How.
There could be no doubt upon this point; for not only could the boy see,
but he was able to hear quite distinctly, the woodwork of which the
small room was constructed being extraordinarily thin. If Ling had been
either upon the balcony or in the lower room Frank must have heard him;
for the man seldom spoke without raising his voice to such a pitch that
he might have been giving a word of command to a regiment of cavalry.
Fully an hour elapsed before the Honanese returned. He was then in a
towering rage. He called for Ah Wu, who chanced to be absent in the
kitchen. Frank heard Ling inform the proprietor of the opium den that
Yung How had escaped on the Hong-Kong boat. Both men then repaired to
Ah Wu's private apartments, where they remained for the greater part of
the night, Ah Wu occasionally looking in upon the opium den to see that
his business prospered.
Until about eleven o'clock the following morning, Frank Armitage was
left to his thoughts; and these were none of the pleasantest. He was
suffering considerable discomfort. It was a long time since he had had
any food; and the great heat and stifling atmosphere of the opium den,
together with the pungent smell of the smoke, had served to make him so
thirsty that his lips were dry and his tongue clave to the roof of his
mouth. He regretted bitterly that he had not been able to escape with
Yung How. He felt that he could not stand the extreme suspense of his
situation much longer. It seemed to him inevitable that before long
Ling would discover who he was.
This was all the more probable, since--according to Ling--Cheong-Chau
himself was coming to the opium den. The brigand would be far more
likely than anyone else to recognise Frank--because he knew which of his
prisoners had escaped, and had evidently come south in order to hunt for
the fugitive.
Frank was seized with a great dread that Cheong-Chau had already made
away with his other prisoners, that he had murdered both Sir Thomas
Armitage and Mr Waldron. There was a possibility, on the other hand,
that he had brought his captives with him, which he might have done
quite easily on board a river-junk. Knowing full well that he could not
hope to obtain the ransom if Sir Thomas and Mr Waldron were known to be
dead, he may have decided to send further evidence to Hong-Kong to the
effect that his hostages were still alive. On thinking the matter over,
Frank was inclined to the belief that this was what had actually
happened.
There was another aspect of the business which demanded consideration.
It was now Cheong-Chau's intention to go himself to the Glade of
Children's Tears, in order to procure the money as soon as it arrived.
This, as we know, was a privilege that the mighty Ling had chosen to
reserve for himself; and so a meeting between these two redoubtable
villains was sooner or later inevitable. Cheong-Chau would have upon
his side the advantage of numbers. Ling, on the other hand, was in
possession of the more accurate information: he knew Cheong-Chau's
whereabouts and his intentions, whilst Cheong-Chau knew nothing about
him; he knew also that Yung How had escaped to Hong-Kong and that
intervention by the British was by no means improbable--a circumstance
of which the brigand chieftain remained in ignorance.
That night Frank endeavoured to work out every possible contingency,
until his brain grew dizzy with thinking. At last, dead tired, feeling
sick with suspense, hunger and thirst, with such a splitting headache
resulting from the foul atmosphere of the den that he could hardly open
his eyes, he flung himself down upon the couch and almost at once fell
fast asleep.
In the boy's last waking thoughts he found some degree of comfort. He
had come to realise that he himself could do nothing. He was at the
mercy of fate, in the hands of Providence--just as helpless as a wisp of
straw carried down-stream upon the current of a river. So far as his
own safety was concerned, he had come to such a pass that it might
almost be said that he no longer regarded it. To himself it did not
seem a matter of supreme importance whether he lived or died. He had
not given up hope, but physical exhaustion and mental strain had done
their work.
During the earlier hours of the night his sleep was disturbed and
restless. He was conscious all the time of the voices of men talking in
the outer room, and these voices were in some way mingled with his
dreams, which were nothing but a series of nightmares, in which the
sinister figure of the colossal Ling was ever present--Ling with his
great hands and brute strength, his long glistening pigtail, his evil,
snake-like eyes, his rude jokes, his loud laughter, and the
half-mocking, half-serious manner in which he quoted from the writings
of the great Chinese philosophers. But, given a fair chance, a sane,
healthy and youthful constitution will in the end triumph over both
mental and bodily disorders, and towards the small hours of the morning
the boy fell into a heavy, dreamless sleep, from which he was not
awakened until Ling unlocked the door of the little room about eleven
o'clock in the morning.
The Honanese regarded his captive for some moments without speaking.
"You have slept well?" he asked.
"I have slept well," said Frank.
"They say," said Ling, "that sound sleep is a sign of a pure conscience.
I myself am in the habit of sleeping like a child. And yet," he added,
in a doubtful voice, "I am half of opinion that I ought to put you out
of the world."
"You are free to do as you wish," said Frank.
"I thank you," said Ling. "I am aware of it."
"At the same time," said the other, "I beg to remind you that I am not
here of my own free will. I did not ask to accompany you; you can
scarcely say that I intruded. You kidnapped me and demanded that I
should assist you. I did so to the best of my ability. I confess I had
no other alternative. That does not alter the fact that had you left me
to mind my own affairs I should not have interfered with you. You told
me a great deal about yourself. I did not ask you to. You brought me
here, where in my presence you committed a crime----"
"No, no," Ling interposed. "You do me a great injustice. I have
committed no crime. I did but defend my life. I usually do so with
success."
"Have it your own way," said Frank, who now--for some reason or
other--felt bolder in the man's presence that he had ever felt before.
"It is not a matter that concerns me. A few days ago I had neither seen
nor heard of you. It was a misfortune for me that I encountered you
that morning upon the wharf at Sanshui. You have no right to detain me.
I have no valuables upon me, but a few copper _cash_. If you want them
you can take them. You are welcome to what I have. I ask but one
thing: to be allowed to go free, to go about my own affairs."
"That is well spoken," said Ling. "I admit I am fond of you. I think I
have told you already that I have admitted you into the innermost
chamber of my heart. Had I a son, I would that he were such as you. I
would bring him up in the way that he should go. I would not entrust
his education to the _literati_ of China. I would teach him myself."
"To be a robber?" asked Frank.
"Robbery," said Ling, "is a profession. I think that education should
be regarded merely as a groundwork, a kind of foundation upon which to
build. A man should be left to discover his own talents. His natural
inclinations will not lead him astray. One man will make a good priest,
another a good pirate. An excellent _scroff_ may make a fool of himself
as a schoolmaster. You cannot grow mangoes upon a cherry-tree, neither
will a river fish live in the salt water. I would teach you, my son,
the divine philosophies of China; I would instruct you in astronomy,
music and mathematics. Then, when you were grown up, you would be able
to fend for yourself. It would be all one to me whether you were a
government prefect, a mandarin of the Red Button, or a brigand like
Cheong-Chau, whom I hope to meet this evening."
"I see," said Frank, "that you would confer many favours upon my humble
self. I ask but one small boon--to be allowed to go away from this
place where you have thought fit to imprison me."
"And that is the one request," said Ling, "that I am unable to grant. It
so happens that I want you."
"Why?"
"Our friend, Ah Wu, has gone away. He has gone upon a visit to
Cheong-Chau. Cheong-Chau and he are old friends; they are brother pigs,
who have eaten many a time from the same trough. Ah Wu will bring
Cheong-Chau here. Cheong-Chau is a great opium smoker, and, as all
Canton is well aware, no better opium can be obtained in the city than
that which is sold by Ah Wu. So Cheong-Chau will come."
"And what has this to do with me?' asked Frank.
"It has a great deal to do with you," said the other, "for, in the
meantime, I am left in charge of this establishment; hence, for the
second time, I need your assistance. Cheong-Chau knows me very well by
sight. He would not remain in this place two seconds if he saw me when
he entered. Therefore, once again, I must hide."
"Where?" asked Frank.
"There is a small storeroom between the curtains and the outer door.
There I shall be. Thence I shall be able to see everyone who enters or
who leaves. There will be no other way of exit, for the back door will
be locked and I shall have the key. When Cheong-Chau enters you are to
attend to his wants. When he asks for opium to smoke, you are to take
it to him; but you are to come to me for it, and the opium which I will
give you will be drugged. That is all you have to do. It will be very
simple. You cannot hope to escape, for I myself guard the outer door,
and I shall be armed with the revolver that I took from Yung How. I
need hardly tell you that, if necessity arises, I shall shoot."
Frank realised at once that this plan of Ling's involved the utmost
peril for himself. It was probable that Cheong-Chau, when he came,
would recognise the fugitive. What the result of this would be, Frank
dared not imagine. On the other hand, he saw no way of escaping from
Ling. It was as if the boy was no more than a fly which had been caught
in the meshes of the huge net woven by this implacable and terrible
spider.
Throughout the whole of that day, he was kept busily employed in the
opium den, brushing the couches, sweeping the floor and cleaning the
spirit-lamps. He was given food to eat, and plenty of green tea to
drink, which had the effect of getting rid of his headache. And all the
time he was working he endeavoured to collect his thoughts; he tried to
think of some definite plan of action. But rack his brain as he might,
he could see no way out of his difficulties. He could think of no means
of staving off the calamity which was impending.
During the afternoon the den began to fill. Customers continually
dropped in, some to smoke opium, others to purchase it and take it away.
At nightfall, there was about a dozen people in the place, and when the
clock which was suspended upon the railings of the balcony struck the
hour of ten, the voice of Ah Wu was heard without the main entrance.
Immediately afterwards, the fat proprietor entered, accompanied by
Cheong-Chau, the brigand chief.