A Game of Long Bowls
'Excellency, we have come to the end of the passage; we can go no
further,' declared Hung, some two minutes after the Professor and his
party had set out down the alley-way. 'A ladder leads to the deck above,
while there are sleeping places for the crew on either side. Is it here
that you will make a stand?'
'Halt! Put your loads on the floor and wait. Come with me, David.'
The leader of the expedition, still puffing heavily at his cigar, and
showing an almost unruffled countenance in the lamp-light, stepped
casually to the foot of the ladder and began to ascend to the deck of
the native craft which he had chartered at Shanghai for the
accommodation of his staff, and upon which such a treacherous and
unforeseen attack had been made. But if he were the essence of coolness,
and declined to hurry, he was by no means a fool, as he showed very
plainly in the course of a minute. For while the Professor refused to be
frightened and scared out of his wits, he declined at the same time to
throw away the lives of his party for the want of necessary caution.
'Don't come higher,' he whispered to David. 'I'll beckon if I want you.
Ah, it is still too dark for those ruffians to see us from the poop
where they are at work. Come up, lad, and look about you.'
He tossed his cigar over the side, and David heard the hiss of the water
as it met the burning weed. A moment later he was beside the Professor.
'Well?' demanded the latter, when some seconds had elapsed. 'What do you
say to the situation? Critical I think, eh? Very critical. By the row
those demons are making they have broken through into our cabin in more
places than one. In a few minutes they will have a leader, and then
there will be a rush. We certainly couldn't have stemmed it; they would
have killed us with the greatest ease; but where shall the next stand be
made?'
Where indeed? David cast his eyes in every direction, piercing the gloom
as far as possible. The bare decks gave no promise of successful
defence. To retreat to the wide cabin below, which served as the crew's
quarters, was but to repeat a former experiment. There remained the
rigging and the alley-way, and neither was very enticing. He shrugged
his shoulders, as if he had caught the habit from Alphonse, and then
turned to his employer.
'We can put up a fight anywhere almost,' he said. 'Out here we should
soon be rushed and knocked down. In the alley-way we could hold them for
hours. But it couldn't go on for ever; there are too many of them. My
idea was calmly to board the other ship and push her off. That would
give us a breathing spell. We could then discuss matters again and
consider our plans from a different standpoint.'
The Professor chuckled loudly; unconsciously he reached in an inner
pocket for his cigar case, and extracting a weed, bit the end off. David
even heard the sharp snap of his teeth coming together. 'Boy,' suddenly
exclaimed the leader, 'they say that great minds think alike; then yours
and mine are great indeed, for the plan you have suggested is mine also.
That is why we carried our baggage all along the alley-way. Summon the
others on deck. We go aboard the stranger and merely change our
quarters; but bid them be silent, for even now those fiends might hear
something to rouse their suspicion.'
However, it was not a likely contingency, for as David went to the
hatchway to call to those below fiendish yells rose from the poop of the
vessel. Then some ponderous weapon was fired, the flame for a moment
allowing the Professor to catch a sight of the crowd on the roof of the
cabin. A second later they were swallowed up in the gloom, though their
shrieks and shouts still told of their presence.
'All on deck, sir,' reported David in his most official manner.
'Then follow to the other ship. Not a sound, friends; not a sound. Once
aboard David and Dick run to find a suitable place which we can defend;
Hung and his comrades set their boxes down and prepare to stop a rush.
Alphonse and I cut the hawsers which hold the two ships and push them
apart. Forward!'
In one corner of his mouth the unlighted weed was held, and all
unconscious of the fact that he had not set flame to it, the Professor
sucked hard at the weed, exclaiming as he found it did not draw. Then,
as if habit were too strong for him, or perhaps because he realised that
none were likely to see him in that gloom, he stepped back to the
hatchway, descended a few rungs of the ladder, and opening his lantern
sucked at the flame. Then he followed the others, and was soon at the
side of the vessel. Casting his eyes upward, he could see the rigging of
the other ship against the stars, while a dull creaking, and an
occasional bump showed that the two ships were riding close together.
'But with rope fenders between them,' he told himself, 'else in this
swell they'd grind holes in one another. Ah, the rascals threw planks
across from rail to rail, which was most thoughtful of them.'
With half his attention given to the enemy, and the other half to his
own following, he helped to hand the various bales and boxes across the
planks connecting the two ships. Then he crossed over himself, and
searched for the ropes it was necessary to sever. Here a sudden
difficulty presented itself. One of the connecting links was a stout
chain, which the swell and the drift of the vessels had pulled so taught
that there was no unloosening it.
'We shall have to cut it,' cried the Professor. 'Alphonse, an axe,
quick, those rascals are dropping into our cabin.'
But to call for such an article when just arrived on a strange ship is
one thing; to find it an altogether different matter. Neither Alphonse
nor Hung, nor any of the Chinese could hit upon one. And while they
searched the uproar made by the enemy, which had almost ceased for a
time, became of a sudden even more deafening.
'Discovered our absence; awfully bothered,' ejaculated the Professor.
'But they won't be long in discovering our ruse. Can no one find an axe?
David, the scheme fails if we do not hit upon one within the minute.'
Alphonse ground his teeth in a manner which would have made our hero
squirm on any ordinary occasion. The Professor sucked hard at his cigar
and muttered beneath his breath, while Hung threw himself upon the
tantalising chain and tugged vainly at it. Then David recollected an
incident he had watched at the beginning of the battle between
themselves and the Chinese pirates.
'One moment, sir,' he said. 'An axe? Yes, I know where to find one.'
Without hint of his intentions, he cooly stepped on to the planks still
uniting the two vessels, and leaped down upon the deck of the one which
had proved such insecure shelter for them. Not a sound did his light
shoes make, while his figure was swallowed up within a few seconds; for
though it was already lighter, the dawn was not there yet, and gloom
still hung over the water. Behind him he left a Professor not so
unruffled as he had been. To speak the truth the leader of the party was
dumfounded for the moment, and only awoke to the danger our hero was
necessarily likely to encounter when the latter was already out of
sight. He called to him loudly; he even leaped on to the planks
himself. Then Alphonse stopped him with a grimace and a tug at the
sleeve of his jacket.
'Pardon, monsieur,' he said, 'a leader stays with the bulk of his
command. It is the young and brave who attempt such deeds. Monsieur
David is no chicken; he will be back with us within the minute.'
'Or hacked to pieces by those villains; but you are right, I will stay.
Still I wish that I had guessed his intentions. Dick there, and all the
others, get ready, in case he is seen and pursued.'
Alphonse clicked the lock of his rifle promptly, while Dick ranged up at
the end of the planks, his magazine revolver gripped in his hand. Then
the ever-smiling Jong lisped an apology, pushed the Professor aside, and
solemnly clambered on to the planks and crossed them. There was a huge
knife in his hand, and his smile was but the cloak to a most sinister
expression.
'Velly likely he no wantee helpee,' he lisped, as he dropped to the deck
of the other vessel. 'But velly likely also he velly glad. Jong stay
here unless he happen to see de Excellency; den p'laps he go towards
him.'
The words had hardly left his lips, and his padded soles scarcely gained
the deck when a figure was seen coming swiftly towards him. It was
David. No, it was a Chinaman, a burly, thick-shouldered individual; then
close on his heels another figure followed.
'David,' whispered Dick, scarcely able to breathe. 'George! that other
chap is coming aboard.'
Certainly that was the man's intention. He was returning to his own ship
to fetch a mighty muzzle-loader which he had previously forgotten. He
reached the rail, placed a hand upon it, and was about to spring on to
the plank bridge when Jong was upon him. And if any one had ever doubted
the grinning Chinaman's courage before, his doubts would have been for
ever silenced if he could have witnessed what followed. For this was not
one of those sudden conquests, when an unsuspecting man is struck down
without time for self-protection. The stranger saw Jong as the latter
moved towards him, and faced round with the swiftness of a panther. Then
his head went back, and such a shout went up that none could have failed
to hear it. A moment later the two were locked in one another's arms,
rolling this way and that on the deck, tearing madly at one another. And
over them David stepped, with an axe across his shoulders.
'Grandly done! Bravely done!' cried the Professor, showing not a little
excitement. 'David, stand by to cut that chain. Hung.'
But Ho Hung was not there to acknowledge the summons. He had flown
across the bridge of planks the instant David gave room for passage,
while Lo Fing chased close on his heels. How exactly they ended the
contest between the two rolling figures none of their own party ever
knew; but end it they did.
Meanwhile a lamp flared suddenly in the cabin which David and his
friends had so recently vacated, while shouts resounded from various
parts. Then the half shattered door of the cabin was burst open with a
bang, and a crowd of men swarmed on to the deck. They were met by
another group ascending from the hatch by which the Professor had
brought his party, and then by a solitary man, who shouted and bellowed
at them.
'They have fooled us; they have slipped across into the other vessel.
While we have been cutting holes through the roof of the cabin they have
been transferring themselves and their possessions.'
The greeting which the news received was such that Dick winced, and felt
almost unnerved for the moment. But the Professor reassured him; a
glance at the leader showed that he was still drawing heavily at his
weed, while his features and his general pose were almost jaunty.
'Shout yourselves hoarse, my beauties,' Dick heard him say. 'I fancy
we've fooled you finely. Now, lad, you can strike your hardest.'
And strike David did, careless of the shots which two of the enemy aimed
at him. He brought the edge of his axe down with a thud on the chain,
and severed it easily. Then he leaped from the plank bridge and helped
to throw the boards over.
'Moving asunder already, sir,' he said. 'Might just as well get under
cover.'
'Quite so; it will want an active man to leap that breach. Get beneath
the rail all of you,' commanded the Professor. 'Don't trouble to return
their fire, for they cannot damage us easily, while we have already read
them a handsome lesson. Ah, they are more than vexed, I fear.'
Through the rising gloom it was seen that the rail of the ship which had
so lately borne David and his friends, and which had proved well nigh a
death-trap, was lined with men. Some had clambered on to it, and held
their places there with the aid of the rigging. All were shouting and
gesticulating, all save the few possessed of fire-arms, and these rammed
charges home with frantic haste, and poured their shot into the vessel
slowly and steadily drifting away. If their defeat so far had enraged
the piratical crews, their anger now was almost stifling. At the very
beginning the feat of murdering the foreign devils, and of purloining
all their possessions, was one not to be considered twice. Had the
Professor been gifted with second sight, or had he had the help of some
clever native detective, he would have learned that the rascally captain
who had been so eager to charter his boat was already gloating over his
gains when the ship set sail from Shanghai, while the leader of the
pirates treated the whole affair as if already accomplished. There was
to be a secret meeting, a sudden attack, and then cold-blooded murder.
And see the result! Men here and there stark and dead on the deck or in
the alley-way, others grovelling in the scuppers useless to their
comrades, stricken hard by the knives of Hung and his fellows, or by the
bullets of the foreign devils. Worse than all, the men whose death had
been aimed at were drifting quietly away, not showing so much as a head,
bearing with them all their possessions--yes, all their possessions. The
pirate leader had already assured himself of that fact, exclaiming
bitterly at it. David and his friends caught a glimpse of the man, a
bull-necked, almost bald-headed Chinaman, with long, swinging pigtail,
and possessed of most powerful arms and legs. They saw him standing on
the rail, clinging to the rigging, brandishing a huge sword which, could
it have come into close contact with them, would have done grave injury
to more than one. The rascal seemed to be almost mad. The failure of a
well-laid scheme, the loss of his own vessel on top of that, seemed to
have combined to rob him of his wits. His eyes were staring. He frothed
at the mouth, while the cruel lips curled back from a row of fangs as
yellow as his own skin. And how he shrieked! Then he suddenly dropped
back on to the deck, and they saw him beckoning to his comrades, rushing
at those nearest him and dragging them along with him by main force. He
drove them with threats from his weapon to the halyards, and shouted at
them as they hauled at the rigging.
'Going to set sail on her,' said the Professor, raising his head now
that a greater distance separated the two vessels, and the shot had
ceased to hail upon the one on which he and his party had taken refuge.
'Well, two can play at that game. I'm not much of a sailor myself, but
Alphonse knows something about other things besides cooking and
valeting. Eh, _mon ami_?'
'_Parfaitement_; the Professor has a memory. Alphonse can certainly sail
a boat, though he has never attempted much with one of these native
craft. But the thing shall be done. Will monsieur be good enough to
order the hands to come to the rigging?'
It was remarkable how swiftly the gloom lifted, now that the dawn was
actually at hand. A second or so before it had seemed certain that the
two vessels drifting slowly apart would soon be out of sight of one
another. But though the distance sensibly increased David could still
see men lining the rail of the enemy. He could still hear frantic
shouts, while now and again a muzzle-loader belched forth its contents,
the flame of the discharge showing less redly than on former occasions.
Then the dawn arrived. The expanse of oily, yellow sea, hitherto
invisible, widened on every hand, while a pinky redness towards the east
told of an approaching sunrise. The Professor sucked with satisfaction
at his weed and glanced aloft. Alphonse was swarming into the rigging,
no doubt to inform himself of its arrangement. Then he came scuttling
down, his frightful check shirt fluttering in the fresh morning breeze.
'It is easy, monsieur,' he said, with a bow, dropping on the deck at the
Professor's feet. 'All is plain and straightforward. I shall set the
sails with the help of our friends, and then I shall go below and see
what can be done in the way of coffee and something to eat. _Parbleu!_
but the inside needs attention after such a night There are things a man
loves more even than fighting.'
He called loudly to the Chinese, and then, with David and Dick and the
Professor to help him, soon got sail on the ship. A vast expanse of
coarse canvas was soon stretched from the rigging, and catching the
breeze caused the vessel to careen nicely. She gathered way, and was
soon tearing away with white foam washing about her stern post.
Meanwhile the pirates had crowded every stitch of canvas they could find
on to their own ship, and came heading up a little in rear and on a
parallel course with the one the Professor had so cleverly taken from
them. As for the latter, his jovial, fleshy face shone with good humour
and _bonhomie_ as he stood at the tiller. Now and again he took his
cheroot from his lips and regarded it affectionately, then he put it
back between his fine, white teeth with such relish that one could see
that he was decidedly enjoying it. In fact, Professor Padmore was
proving himself a leader in more than one respect. For after all, beyond
the power to command, such an one has need to show other virtues. Of
what use even the most astute leader, if he be not confident even in the
midst of acute danger? For confidence is as catching as is a display of
fear. Men will run from a fight with little reason if there be one
suddenly to set the base example and arouse needless alarm. And on the
other hand even those possessed of no extravagant share of courage will
stand firm if they have a leader who laughs at danger, who scoffs at the
enemy, who openly exposes himself to bullet and shot. But here there
were no cravens. David and Dick had proved their fortitude, while the
four Chinamen were to be trusted entirely. But the odds were vastly
against them, so great indeed that even bold men might have been
intimidated. However, the Professor smoked as if he had forgotten the
existence of the enemy, though now and again he cast his eye over his
shoulder.
'Holding them nicely, I think, David. They're not likely to come
alongside before breakfast's ready, and that'll be a comfort, for I
confess to being ravenous. Just fancy a professor being anything so
vulgar. But there you are, I admit to the vulgarity; this morning breeze
spurs a man's appetite.'
He felt in his waistcoat pocket, and drew out a metal case, somewhat
bigger than a watch. With a movement of the finger he sprang the lid
open, and exposed the face of a compass.
'H-hm! North-north-east,' he said. 'That's our course. Not for a moment
will I allow those ruffians to set me off it.'
Perhaps a quarter of an hour elapsed from the time when sail had been
set before Alphonse put in an appearance. He came clambering to the
deck, his enormous hat set far back on his head, and showing the stubbly
growth beneath it. In one hand he bore a smoking coffee pot, and with it
beckoned to the Professor.
'I have the honour to announce breakfast!' he exclaimed, in his most
pompous manner, and with his most portly bow. 'There is a cabin below
decks, not big, monsieur, not very clean either; but serviceable, and
possessed of a table. There I have laid the things.'
The whole thing seemed so impossible, that as they squatted before a
table not more than a foot high, and ate rashers of bacon which were
steaming hot, David could hardly believe that but an hour ago they had
been fighting desperately. The change in their circumstances was so
extraordinary. It was so entirely unexpected, and withal, so fortunate.
And here they were, satisfying the inner man, for Alphonse was an
excellent caterer. The boxes which the Professor had brought with him
contained a multiplicity of things, including cameras and other
instruments necessary for exploration. And amongst them was one fitted
with all the implements to make a field kitchen. There was a charcoal
stove, as well as one designed for the use of kerosene under air
pressure, an instrument with which a good-sized kettle of water could be
made to boil within a few minutes. Then there were pots and pans
innumerable, while other boxes contained stores of groceries and tinned
goods sufficient to keep every member of the expedition satisfied for a
considerable period.
'Now to discuss the position,' said the Professor, when he had swallowed
a third cup of coffee and had begun to smoke again. 'Hung has just sent
a report to inform me that we still hold our place ahead of those men
who so dearly long to draw level with us. We sail, as I have said
already, on a course which suits us exactly. That being so, we shall
continue till we reach some port, where we will run in and demand
protection, or until we meet with some other vessel. There are gun-boats
in these waters at times, and we might have the fortune to hit upon one
belonging to Great Britain, or to France or Germany. I fancy those
rascals would quickly beat a retreat if that were to happen.'
'Meanwhile, perhaps, sir,' began David, 'we might as well see if,
supposing the worst were to happen, there are means aboard to make those
fellows keep their distance.'
'Cannon?' asked the Professor.
David nodded. 'That was my idea, sir,' he said. 'This vessel belongs to
pirates; the chances are that they have some sort of weapons.'
'And we might make good use of them. Good! we'll make a search.
Alphonse, we leave you here for the moment.'
They clambered to the deck hurriedly, to find the ship careening well to
a freshening breeze, and bowling along merrily through a sea that was
sunlit in all directions. Some distance astern, and now on a dead line
with them was the other craft, white foam at her fore foot. Even her
white decks could be seen as she canted over, while with the naked eye
one could distinguish figures moving about on it. Suddenly Dick gave a
shout of satisfaction, and pointed to a canvas cover at the back of the
steersman.
'A long tom, or I'm much mistaken!' he cried. 'Covered up to keep the
weather from it, and used only to bring some stubborn captain to his
senses. Couldn't we manage----'
'I rather think so,' agreed the Professor, smiling gleefully. 'I rather
fancy we might make use of that weapon, Dick. Strip the covering, and
let us obtain a glimpse of it.'
It took but little effort to lift the cover which had attracted Dick's
attention, and then, as they had suspected, there was a long, swivel gun
cast in brass, and no doubt capable of throwing a shot some considerable
distance.
'Then we'll put it in action,' decided the Professor. 'Not that I want
to damage any more of those rascals; but there might be some accident to
our rigging. Or, in a fresher breeze, which I fancy is coming, this
vessel might prove slower than the other. We'll make the most of fairly
smooth water and of our new possession; perhaps it will scare them.'
Once more the handy and invaluable Alphonse was in request. The natty
little Frenchman seemed to have had a hand in almost everything. He
could cook, as all knew, particularly his employer, while he was the
tidiest of valets. Moreover, Alphonse could fight, and with a spirit
that matched the Professor's. Now he showed his capacity as a gunner. He
led the search for shot and powder, and then ranged himself behind the
gun.
'Once I was a soldier, monsieur,' he said, 'and though I did not belong
to the artillery, still I had to do with a gun; for I was in garrison
where a mid-day gun was fired, and to me that duty fell. _Oui,
vraiment_, we shall be able to manage. We must guess the charge of
powder. Not too much at first, monsieur David; else there will perhaps
be only pieces of us left for the pirates. We will watch where the ball
strikes the water, and add more if necessary. You shall see; Alphonse
will send those men a pill which will make them ill at ease and cause
them to go elsewhere in search of a doctor. Ah, there is the powder; we
have rammed it home. Now a piece of the sacking as a wad. Now the ball.
Push with me on the rod and we will soon send it home.'
The practical little fellow slewed the muzzle of the gun round, and used
the screw as he squinted along the sights. Already he had sprinkled
powder on the touch hole, and presently announced that all was in
readiness.
'I have laid it to be fired as we rise to the top of the swell,' he
said. 'Now for a match with which to fire it.'
David had thoughtfully prepared a match, consisting of a candle end tied
to a stick, and shaded by a paper hood which kept the wind from it. It
was a makeshift affair, and the flame blew out twice in succession. Then
the gun splashed out a stream of flame, followed by a dense volume of
smoke, which, however, blew away instantly. Their ears were still
tingling after the loud report when a jet of water was seen to rise a
hundred yards in front of the pursuer. Instantly Alphonse tossed his hat
into the air and shouted.
'_Bon! Bon!_ The next time we will do it, yes,' he said. 'Now to sponge
the gun clean, and then for a fresh charge.'
That second shot proved far more encouraging. The ball struck the
surface just to one side of the vessel that was following them, and
ricochetted some three or four times before it finally sank to the
bottom. But the third shot plumped clear on to the deck of the enemy,
causing considerable commotion.
'_Bien_, we have the charge at last, and with this long swivel the aim
is easy,' cried the Frenchman. 'Let us try again.'
A roar of applause greeted the fifth shot, for though fired by amateurs
it struck the mast of the pursuer, and as they watched, the Professor
and his friends saw the rigging sway and come tottering over.
[Illustration: "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.