"NOW THEN, CARTRIDGES!"
There was an end to peaceful mercantile pursuits at the great warehouse
and wharf, and all was hurry and bustle, but with little confusion, for
Blunt had suddenly become military in his orders and issue of
directions; while, full of excitement now, Stan dashed at the task in
hand, proving himself a worthy lieutenant to the fighting manager. The
men began busily handling boxes and bales, and at first sight it seemed
as if they were preparing to load a trading-junk with the contents of
the storehouse, so actively were they engaged in bearing out silk-bales
and tea-chests; but the pleasant herb which cheers but does not
inebriate was to be put to a very different purpose.
"You take that job in hand, Lynn," cried Blunt, "and make the fellows
plant the chests down right along the front, just as if you were
building a wall of blocks of stone; but after the second row is placed,
leave a loophole between every second and third chest so that we can
fire through, while I set to work and make a breastwork with the
silk-bales at every door and window. No bullets or shot that the enemy
can fire will go through the soft, elastic silk.--Work away, my lads."
Englishmen and Chinamen cheered together, and worked with might and
main, every one feeling that it was a race against time, but growing
lighter-hearted as they went on, the materials being so close at hand;
and as they were brought down from above or taken from the huge stacks
on the ground-floor, they were rapidly formed outside into a light but
strong loopholed wall extending along the wharf and facing the sea. One
easy enough to tear down, no doubt, if the enemy determinedly faced the
storm of bullets poured upon them from the loopholes, but good enough to
protect the defenders and keep the assailants in check for a time;
while, when it began to yield, the besieged party had only to rush into
the warehouse offices and dwelling, close and barricade the doors, to
help to defend what formed the keep or stronghold of the mercantile
fort, and continue the firing from behind the silk-bales advantageously
placed as breastworks behind the first-floor windows, where they could
fire down upon any of the pirates who tried to shelter themselves behind
the tea-chest wall.
It was wonderful with what rapidity the wall and breastworks rose, while
the Chinese carpenters, whose general work was the making of the chests,
sawed and hammered away, barricading the lower windows, and placing
planks ready for closing up the two doors that were left for temporary
use.
"They'll never get past the chest wall," panted Stan excitedly as Blunt
came down from where he had been showing his men how to wedge the
silk-bales together so as to stand tightly in the windows.
"Don't you be too sure, my boy," said Blunt. "They are regular fiends,
these half-wild Chinamen, and they'll come swarming over the wall like
monkeys."
"And I thought it so strong that nothing but fire would have any effect
upon it," said Stan gloomily.
"Fire would have hardly any effect upon it," said Blunt, "unless there
was a strong wind. The chests might burn, but the tea would only
smoulder away."
"I am disappointed," said Stan, wrinkling up his forehead.
"Not a bit. I'm delighted with what you have done. It is strong, but a
party of our sappers and miners would laugh at it all and say it was as
weak as so much cobweb."
"But I say, if they come, how will they attack?"
"Like civilised savages: pour in a hail of swivel-gun balls, scrap-iron,
and pebbles from the junks till they land, and then come on with spears,
pitchforks, tridents, and swords. Some of them will have long
_jingals_--matchlocks, you know--and no doubt muskets and rifles as
well. Then, too, I dare say they will bring plenty of stink-pots to
throw--earthen jars full of burning pitch. We shall have a high old
time of it, Stan, my lad, as soon as the fight begins."
"Oh!" exclaimed Stan suddenly, with a look of dismay.
"Hullo!" cried Blunt, looking at his companion in a peculiar way.
"Beginning to think it will be too much of a good thing?"
"No-o-o-o!" cried Stan angrily. "That I wasn't. I was thinking of the
stink-pots."
"Well, of course they'll stink, as 'tis their nature to," said Blunt
merrily.
"Of course they will; but burning pitch--it will stick."
"Pitch has a habit of doing so, my son," said Blunt mockingly.
"Oh, you don't see what I mean," cried Stan excitedly. "The warehouse--
wood--they'll set the whole place on fire and burn us out."
_Phee-ew_!
Blunt gave forth a long-drawn whistle.
"By Saint Jingo, the great fighting-man," he cried, "I never thought of
that Stan Lynn, you're a regular Todleben--a prince of engineering
defence. Why, of course! They'd roast us out, and it would hurt
horribly, without reckoning how they would poke us back with their
tridents to go on cooking if we tried to run away."
"You see now, then?" said Stan.
"See? Yes. I can almost feel. I am glad you thought of that. All
right. We'll have half-a-dozen casks in the middle of the big office,
and I'll set a line of men to work across the wharf with buckets to fill
the casks from the river."
"So as to nip any little fire in the bud?" cried Stan eagerly.
"I don't see how you can nip a fire in the bud," said Blunt, with sham
seriousness.
"Oh yes, you can," cried Stan laughingly. "Nip it in the bud before it
blossoms out into a big blaze."
"Good boy, Stan! But the old people ought to have called you Solomon.
Come on; let's get the men at work filling the water-casks, and then
we'll serve out the firearms."
In very few minutes the empty casks were in place, and two lines of
coolies at work dipping water from the edge of the wharf, passing it
from hand to hand along one line to where it was emptied into the open
casks, and sending the empty buckets back along the other line to be
refilled.
"Goes like clockwork," said Stan as he watched the men.
"Thanks to you, my lad," said Blunt. "Now then, let us consult the
oracle."
"Eh?" asked Stan.
"Old Wing," replied Blunt; and stepping outside, he hailed the Chinaman
where he was perched upon the extremity of one gable, using the glass
most energetically.
"Ahoy, there! Hullo, Wing!" shouted the manager. "How many junks can
you see, and how many pirates in each?"
"No see not one yet while," cried Wing, lowering his glass. "Velly,
velly long time coming."
"And a good job too, my man. Have you looked right out yonder where the
river bends round?"
"Yes; Wing look evelywheh. No junk come yet."
"That's right. Keep on looking out."
"You think junk full o' pilate come now?"
"Of course I do. Didn't you say they were coming?"
"Yes. Wing think allee junk come long ago."
"Which means he is getting very tired of sitting perched up there," said
Stan, laughing.
"Yes; and we're getting very tired of working down here, but it has to
be done," responded Blunt. Then aloud: "Never mind what you expected,
Wing; keep a sharp lookout all round, and don't miss the enemy unless
you want to have a sharp something round your neck, and your head off
before you know it."
"Yes, Wing look all alound. No wantee head choppee off by pilate man."
"That's right," said Blunt, turning away.--"Well, we are getting into a
good state of defence even now, and of course we are bound to have a
couple of hours' notice, unless the enemy make their attack in the
dark."
"In the dark?" said Stan, whom the idea quite appalled.
"Yes; they may wait till dark, and then drop down slowly with the
stream. It will be bad for us if they do, but we must take things as
they come; but I should like it to be daylight for our job."
Stan felt ready to shiver, but he suppressed it.
"You see it is of no use to be nice about this bit of business, my lad,"
said Blunt gravely. "There'll be no compunction on the part of the
enemy. They'll come on with the intention of massacring us all, and
they'll do it if they can."
"But they can't," said Stan hoarsely.
"They shan't," said Blunt; "for, as I said, it will be no time for being
nice. We've got to kill every one of the wretches if we can."
"For the benefit of humanity," said Stan eagerly.
"I suppose so, my lad, but principally for the benefit of ourselves. We
want to live out our time, and we'll do it too, so we must shoot them
when the game begins. There! don't let us talk about what may be; the
pirates haven't arrived yet. All we've got to do is to be ready for
them if they do come."
"Then you think that perhaps, after all, they may not attack us?"
"No, I don't," said Blunt in the roughest manner. "I trust Wing--as far
as one can trust a Chinaman--but it is always on the cards that the
scare is not so bad as he made out. Now then, let's see about the
shooting-tackle."
Blunt led the way quickly, and with a decision in his step that showed
how much he was in earnest, to the portion of the warehouse set apart
for the arms-rack, chest, and the magazine.
"This is the sort of thing your people at Hai-Hai ought to set up," said
Blunt. "I hinted at it when I was over there, but your father said so
plainly that he preferred to trust to the police there that I said no
more, only made up my mind that, as we have no police or protection of
any kind here, I was quite right in being prepared for the worst. What
do you say?"
"I hate the idea of using such things," said Stan gravely, "but it must
be right here."
"Of course; and you won't mind using a rifle?"
"I shall mind very much," replied Stan, "but I'm going to use one."
"That's right. Here we are," said Blunt, unlocking and raising the
trap-door in the floor by its ring, and descending half-a-dozen steps
into a bricked-in place with something resembling a wine-bin of three
shelves on one side, in which were stacked a few boxes not unlike cases
of wine.
"Here! let's have them out at once," said Blunt, and he handed up to his
young companion case after case.
"Set them on that big table," he said. "Mind be careful. I don't know
whether if one were dropped the cartridges would explode, but I
shouldn't like to try it. There you are; two cases for the rifles, and
one for the revolvers. We'll leave the rest here, with the key in ready
if wanted. Now for the tools themselves."
He stepped out, closed the trap, and turned to the arms-rack.
"You, Stan, take to the arms-chest and open it ready. I'll serve out
the rifles; you do the same with the revolvers.--Hi, you!" was shouted
to one of the clerks busy helping to pass out more tea-chests for the
continuation of the wall-building; "pass the word for the men to come
for their rifles."
The order was given, and as the men filed up each received a
Martini-Henry, bandolier, and revolver, afterwards proceeding to the big
table to wait till the weapons were supplied to all who needed them.
"There you are," said Blunt as the last one was supplied. "Splendid new
weapons that shoot perfectly straight if you hold them so. Now then,
cartridges!"
Packets of large and small cartridges were handed to the men for rifle
and revolver, several of them receiving instructions how to fit the
little rolls of powder and lead into the clips of the bandoliers, before
they marched out, ready for the great emergency, keeping their weapons
with them now as they went on with their several duties of finishing the
defences.