The Fate of Ah Ling
"I've made a thorough mess of things this time," thought Alwyn, angry
with himself that his idea of a "one man show" had run Miss Vivian
into danger. "If I'd had Peter and Minalto to bear a hand, we'd have
settled the Chink on the spot."
Jumping into the stern-sheets of the dinghy, Burgoyne urged his
companions to "pull like blue smoke", then, shouting at the top of
his voice, he warned Hilda of her peril.
Hitherto the girl's attention had been centred on the dinghy lying
alongside the schooner. She had heard the fusillade, and, unable to
remain any longer in suspense, she had left the cave and made her way
to the shore, fortunately giving the site of the camp and its ghastly
occupants a wide berth.
The fact that Peter and Jasper were in the boat reassured her to a
great extent, but she could not think of a satisfactory explanation
of Burgoyne's disappearance.
The Third Officer's stentorian warning called her attention to the
yellow, expressionless features of the Chinaman as he swam for the
beach. For a moment Hilda hesitated, half inclined to swim off to
meet the rapidly approaching boat, but the danger of being
intercepted by the Celestial urged her to make for the cave.
She had a little less than a hundred yards start when Ah Ling gained
the shore. Brandishing a knife in one hand and an automatic pistol in
the other, he ran in pursuit.
Thrice did Alwyn fire at the Chinaman before he disappeared behind
the palm trees, but the jerky motion of the boat spoilt his aim. Ah
Ling paid not the faintest attention to the shots. He seemed to
ignore the fact that he was being pursued, and devoted all his
energies to overtake the terrified girl. In short, he had a fixed
idea that he would soon be killed, but before he died he would take
care to slay the "white she-devil", in quest of whom his companions
had met with utter disaster.
Well before the dinghy's forefoot grounded on the sandy beach,
Burgoyne leapt out of the boat and ran in the direction taken by
Hilda and the Chinaman, Mostyn being a good second, while the heavily
built Minalto followed at his top speed, which was barely half that
of his agile companions.
Alwyn had discarded his rifle on account of the weight of the weapon,
trusting to his small but powerful revolver. The others carried
rifles, Jasper in addition having the naked cutlass stuck in his
leather belt.
The dull thud of Ah Ling's wooden shoes upon the hard ground guided
them until with uncanny suddenness the sounds ceased. The hitherto
clearly defined trail of moisture dropping from the Chinaman's sodden
clothes also failed. Burgoyne, revolver in hand, found himself
standing at the junction of two forked paths, utterly uncertain which
direction to take.
He was afraid to shout to Hilda lest her reply should betray her
whereabouts. Listening intently, he could hear nothing of either the
pursued or the pursuer.
"Take that path, Peter!" he said hurriedly, as Mostyn overtook him.
"I'll take this one. Let the brute have it on sight if you spot him."
[Illustration: THE FATE OF AH LING]
Alwyn, following the left-hand branch of the fork, had barely covered
a hundred paces when he almost stumbled over the motionless figure of
Hilda Vivian lying face downwards in a patch of trodden grass. Before
he could get to the girl he heard a heavy body crashing through the
brushwood.
Wild with fury and desperate to wreck vengeance upon the Chinaman,
Alwyn dashed in pursuit, forcing his way at breakneck speed through
the dense undergrowth. With feelings of grim satisfaction he realized
that he was gaining on the object of his pursuit.
Meanwhile Jasper Minalto, proceeding as fast as he could along the
path, was beginning to grasp the fact that his companions were
forging ahead hand over fist. More than once the cutlass nearly
tripped him up, and the weight of the rifle proved a heavy
encumbrance. Pausing for breath, he laid his rifle against the trunk
of a tree, removed the cutlass from his belt, taking in the slack of
the latter.
The temporary halt had caused the perspiration to run freely. Before
he resumed his way he was obliged to wipe the moisture from his face
and eyes with the broad leaf of a large plant.
Then, grasping the cutlass, he was about to start running again, when
to his surprise he saw Ah Ling's head and shoulders cautiously appear
from behind a clump of canes.
The Chinaman's tactics were fairly obvious. He had worked to the rear
of his pursuers by a circular route, hoping to be able to take them
unawares and shoot them down. His strategy was good up to a certain
point. He had reckoned that the three white men would keep together,
not knowing that the giant Scillonian was eighty yards or more behind
the others.
Well it was that Minalto had made no sound during his brief halt; and
so intent was Ah Ling upon stalking his foes that he was quite
unaware that one of them was stalking him.
There were moments when the usually slow-working mind of Jasper
Minalto moved rapidly, and this was one of them. In a trice the now
keen cutlass, wielded by a brawny muscular arm, flashed in the
sunlight. The swish of the blade through the air was followed by a
dull, indescribable thud, as Ah Ling's head parted company with his
shoulders.
During the Great War Jasper Minalto had seen some ghastly sights. He
had served on board a Q-boat when shells from a U-boat were taking
heavy toll of the devoted crew; he had seen the same Q-boat, almost a
wreck, suddenly spring into activity and send the Boche to the bottom
with one well-directed salvo. On another occasion the same ship had
rammed a U-boat with all hands. And on board the _Donibristle_ he had
seen his unresisting comrades mown down by shells from the pirate
_Malfilio_. But never before had he knowingly killed a man. He had
assisted in the slaughter of dozens, but that was hardly the same
thing as personally sending a human being--even though he were a
Chinese pirate and ruffian--into the unknown The thought of it made
him feel sick. Like most men of great stature, he was a child at
heart, although brought up in a rough school.
Having deliberately cleaned the blade of the cutlass by thrusting it
into the ground, Jasper leisurely resumed his way. He decided that,
Ah Ling being of no further account, there was no need to exert
himself. At the fork of the path he stopped irresolutely, until a
rifle-shot fired at no great distance stirred him to action.
Hurrying along the left-hand path, he, too, almost stumbled over the
unconscious form of Hilda Vivian. Her white canvas coat was stained
with blood that flowed copiously from a small wound in the left
shoulder.
Horror stricken, Jasper raised the girl. Then in helpless perplexity
he raised his voice and shouted, calling to Burgoyne for aid.
Totally unaware of the rapid events of the last few minutes, Alwyn
was closely following up his prey. Suddenly he noticed a movement in
the brushwood, not five yards ahead of him. Raising his revolver, he
sent a bullet straight at the writhing object. An unearthly groan
followed the report of the weapon, and a heavy body collapsed on the
hard ground.
"That's done for you!" ejaculated Burgoyne wrathfully.
Then, tearing aside the undergrowth, he found that the supposed
Chinaman was a young boar, killed outright by the severing of the
spinal cord.
Alwyn decided that his luck was right out. There was Hilda lying
murdered while her ruffianly assailant Ah Ling had escaped, and was
probably hiding safe from pursuit in the dense undergrowth that
covered the greater part of the island.
"I'll have the brute yet," he vowed, "even if we have to burn the
rest of the scrub."
He was on the point of hailing Mostyn to warn him of what had
occurred, when he heard his own name shouted in a voice that he
hardly recognized as Minalto's.
Retracing his course, Burgoyne found Jasper trying to restore Miss
Vivian to consciousness.
"I've lost the blighter, Jasper," announced Alwyn regretfully. "He's
somewhere in the scrub."
"He is, sir," agreed Minalto with firm conviction.
"I'd give my right hand," continued the Third Officer, "to see Ah
Ling dead as a door-nail."
"Then put it here, sir," rejoined Jasper, extending his hand.
"What do you mean?" demanded Burgoyne.
"Same's what I was a-sayin', sir," replied the imperturbable man, for
his agitation had vanished at his companion's return. "But seems best
as if we wur tu tak the young leddy out o' this. She ain't much hurt
as I can see. Looks more like a graze than a bullet hole or a stick
wi' a knife."
"Right-o," agreed Alwyn. "What we want is fresh water to dress the
wound. Yes, you're right, Jasper; it is a graze."
Burgoyne raised the unconscious girl.
"Best let me, sir," interposed Jasper. "Seein' as' 'ow we might be
fallin' foul of that there Chink, an' I left me rifle up along."
Realizing the soundness of Minalto's advice but ignorant of the
motives that prompted the tendering of it, Burgoyne transferred the
girl's limp form to Jasper's massive arms. Then, with his revolver
ready for instant use, Alwyn led the way back to the spring hard by
the devastated camp.
Suddenly he stopped dead, hardly able to credit the evidence of his
eyes, for lying in his path was the head of the pirate Ah Ling.
Burgoyne glanced over his shoulder and met the stolid gaze of his
companion.
"You did this, then," he said.
"Ay, ay, sir," was the calm admission.
"Then why on earth didn't you tell me?"
"I never was axed; arter all, it wurn't much tu brag about, seeing as
'ow I took 'im unawares-like. An' me bein' a quiet, well-disposed
man. But, there, sir; I did gi' ye my 'and when you offered yours, so
you'm no call to say I didn't warn 'ee."
Although considerably nettled by the bad breakdown of his method of
conducting operations, Burgoyne was quite ready to admit that the
fault was his. After all, success had crowned the united efforts of
the castaways. Black Strogoff, Ah Ling, and the rest of the pirates
were back numbers, and the schooner was a prize to Burgoyne and his
companions. As an off-set Hilda Vivian had been stricken down, but
how as yet remained an unsolved problem. Had the Chinaman been her
assailant she would not have got off so lightly.
For her injuries were found to be slight. Beyond the wound in her
shoulder and a slight gash on her forehead there were no evidences of
injury.
Deftly Burgoyne and Minalto dressed the hurts and bathed her temples
and wrists in cold water. By the time Peter Mostyn returned, having
scoured the greater part of the island in an unsuccessful search,
Hilda was able to sit up.
She was considerably shaken, and her nerves, already subjected to a
severe strain, were on edge, but she was able to give a clear account
of her adventures after the three men had sallied forth from the cave
to try conclusions with the crew of the schooner.
For a considerable time after their departure Hilda remained in her
retreat, until, unable to resist her anxiety, she had cautiously made
her way down to the shore, without seeing anything of the dead
pirates lying around the ashes of the camp-fire.
When Burgoyne's shouts warned her of her peril, the girl saw Ah
Ling's evil face as he swam towards the shore. Once she made up her
mind she started to return to the cave, but the Chinaman had already
cut off her retreat in that direction; or at all events she would not
have been able to regain the shelter without betraying its
whereabouts.
So she took to the woods, hoping either to elude the Chinaman or else
to make a circuitous route back to the beach, where by that time
Burgoyne and his companions would have landed.
Then, as luck would have it, a boar dashed out of the undergrowth,
and, charging, threw her violently to the ground. She remembered
nothing more until she found herself on the shore with Burgoyne and
Jasper bathing her face and hands with cold water.
"There's nothing now to fear from the pirates," Alwyn reassured her.
"We've captured the schooner, and as soon as we can we'll leave Swan
Island astern of us. But try and get a few hours' quiet sleep. By
that time we ought to be ready to go aboard."
Hilda obeyed readily enough. She was too weak to do otherwise,
although she would have liked to take an active part in the
preparations for continuing the interrupted voyage.
"Now, lads," said Burgoyne. "We've work to do, and the sooner the
better. We'll have to make the schooner habitable. I don't know what
she's like 'tween decks, but I can guess. And another thing: Miss
Vivian mustn't be allowed to see our old camp. We'll square things up
a bit, but that isn't everything."
"I suppose the schooner's properly moored," remarked Mostyn.
"I doubt it. Single anchor," replied Alwyn. "We'll tow her into the
creek at high water; there'll be depth enough and more over the bar,
and once inside she'll be safer and easier to provision."
While waiting for sufficient depth of water to float the captured
schooner into the creek, Burgoyne and his companions proceeded to the
spot where lay the bodies of the eight pirates. As they expected,
nothing of use was left in the camp. Even the bow and stern portions
had been smashed up and burnt, but the staves of Minalto's li'l ole
cask were still in evidence.
Presently Peter touched Alwyn's arm.
"Come here a minute," he said, and led him to where one of the men
lay with his skull battered in, and a broken rifle by his side.
"Good heavens!" ejaculated Burgoyne. "It's Miles, or what's left of
him."
The treacherous Canuk bagman had met with his just deserts. It was he
who had betrayed the identity of Young Bill, hoping to curry favour
with the pirate leaders. Black Strogoff, in Ramon Porfirio's absence,
decided to act upon the information, but he was a few hours too late.
Miles's reward was not at all what he expected. He was curtly ordered
to join the band of pirates told off to man the schooner that was to
set sail in pursuit of the English girl and her three companions. And
the traitor was to a great extent responsible for the disaster that
had overtaken the pursuers, for it was he who had found the li'l ole
keg, and had started the quarrel when most of the men were drunk with
the well-matured rum.