Some time later he was sitting with some newly-made friends, who had
come in for protection because they had received foreign religion. They
had built a sort of rude hut which he found enchanting because it was
under a big tree and contained all the _disjectamembra_ of a disrupted
household and he was just in the middle of a long conversation, when a
messenger ran him to earth.
"The master is looking for you," he was told.
The summons was so urgent that he made his way off without a word. He
was certainly going to be taken to task for the shiftless life into
which he had fallen, sleeping wherever he might be and having his food
with any one who was good enough to offer him a bowl. He tried to think
of a good, plausible way of describing what he was doing; but for some
reason his excuses did not seem to him very good. His stained blue
cotton coat, his muddy trousers and his torn shoes made him look a
veritable ragamuffin; and when he arrived at his destination and found
a number of foreign gentlemen sitting together at a table his
awkwardness redoubled. He wracked his brains in a vain effort to
discover what was going to happen to him.
Presently his master, who was inside a house came out with a large sheet
of paper in his hand. Then he saw all the foreigners put their heads
together and talk for a long time arguing so earnestly that he began to
realize that it was a matter of great moment. More paper was
requisitioned, and several began writing while the others talked.
He watched them intently, trying to pick up what it was all about by
their manner and their gestures since he could not understand a word.
Through the open window, behind the group, he could see in the room of
the house a piece of embroidery spread on a chair which had a golden
dragon on it. A ray of sunlight, striking in through the window, lit up
the dragon in an amazing way and made it flash and gleam, as if it lived
and moved. It amused him to study it. All these fine things would
speedily disappear, he mused, if the foreigners decided to go
away--everything would be stripped in a flash. He himself would like to
own that fine dragon....
A general movement of chairs snapped the thread of his thoughts. The
foreigners seemed to have made up their minds. For nobody spoke any
more, and his master had folded up his papers. Now they all looked at
him and made remarks in undertones.
The boy forgot about the dragon and shifted uneasily from one foot to
the other.
"Wang the Ninth," said his master at last in the vernacular, addressing
him in the familiar local way and looking at his soiled figure very
earnestly. "We have a very important request to make to you."
"Yes, your Honour," he replied at once.
The language used was so peculiar that he was flustered. It was the
first time in his life that any one had "requested him." Hitherto he had
always been summarily ordered. What did it mean?
"There is no question of obeying or not obeying," continued the master.
"It is a matter for your free choice. If you accept and are successful
you will be given as much money as you like--a great deal of money. In
fact you may claim what you like. Do you understand?"
"Money is unimportant," rejoined the boy stolidly, dealing with the only
point that was intelligible to him. "If I can perform the task it shall
be freely done."
He stood with his face very tense waiting to hear what was the ordeal.
This was indeed very different from what he had first imagined.
The master said a few words to the other gentlemen in an undertone. Then
he resumed the vernacular, using the short clipped sentences of the
people, which are very emphatic and precise.
"Listen. It is time that you knew the truth. Already many days have gone
by with this battle raging round us, and with all communication cut off.
Two weeks ago, according to messages received by us, the foreign army
should have arrived. Why has it not come--who is arresting its progress?
We must know how long we have to wait. An answer is imperative. Counting
all who are here, those who were in residence originally, and those who
have come for protection, there are more than three thousand mouths to
feed. Already food is insufficient and many are suffering. Our condition
must be made known to those who are delaying their advance--otherwise it
may be too late. Do you understand?"
The boy nodded, a queer light coming into his eyes. Now his lips remain
parted expectantly.
"Yes, your Honour," he said mechanically.
"Well," said the master, "we have cast about for a suitable person to
carry a message and I told these gentlemen of you."
"I am to go--that is your wish!" exclaimed the boy, clasping his hands.
"Yes," said the master gravely.
"Then I will start," he said roughly. "Being of the soil it may be that
I can pass through. If not--"
He unclasped his hands and made a rude gesture. Now he stood stockstill
entirely absorbed with this new idea that he was to go out from this
place which had been a home for so long--go out alone into the unknown.
His master, instead of answering, turned and said three words in English
which the boy always remembered by their sound.
"_He will go_," said the master gravely. The gentlemen turned to one
another and repeated the words several times. "_He will go_," they said.
"I offered your services," resumed his master in the vernacular,
speaking very deliberately, "because I knew that you had courage and
were accustomed to every kind of life. Most of our people here have
lived only in the city--they would be helpless on such a journey. I told
these gentlemen how you came to me in the winter from afar and waited at
my door. But this is different. It is no small business. Three hundred
_li_ by road must you travel and three hundred _li_ back. A man, with
everything helping him, may make the journey in ten days and less. But
now that the road is infested with soldiers and that fighting is
general, we should count ourselves lucky if you made the journey in
twenty days. We can wait twenty days, even thirty. But forty days would
be too long. Do you understand?"
"Yes, your Honour," said the boy simply. "I shall make inquiries from
others who know the road and then it will be easy."
"No inquiries must be made," interrupted the master. "You must remain
here until you start tonight. There may be spies in our midst. Silence
is necessary. Otherwise all may prove useless. Everything will be
explained to you here."
He began showing him on a map the chief places on the road and taught
him the names. He drilled him as to his line of conduct in every
eventuality that he could think of. And at last, when he had exhausted
all this catechizing, he heaved a sigh and stopped abruptly.
"Now for the message," he said.
One of the other gentlemen handed him a tiny piece of tissue paper with
writing on it. He showed the boy how it could be rolled up into a ball
or into a spiral or folded flat--just as he liked.
The boy took the little scrap in his hand, tested it quickly with an
adroit hand to see what he could do with it.
Then suddenly he acted. He had rolled it into a thin wad, and quickly
but carefully slipped it into an ear. It was absolutely hidden.
There were exclamations of surprise from the gentlemen at the table at
his cleverness.
"But are you sure that you can keep it there for many days?" questioned
his master anxiously.
"Certainly. In smuggling, the account of the smuggled goods is always
carried like that--"
"But then it may be known to others?"
The boy shook his head.
"No--it is only known to a few. It is a trick of the city gates and in
the country they will not suspect it."
After that they kept him there until the sun had set and it had become
dark. A crackling rifle-fire commenced but nobody moved from the house.
This was more important than anything that could happen at the
barricades. When it was quite dark, and he had been given a meal, and
money in sufficient quantity for a fortnight's food, they started off in
a body. To the city wall they all marched quickly, and up the self-same
ramp where he had jested and played with the foreign soldiers.
On the city wall a long rope was tied round his waist, an anxious group
surrounded him--and some last advice whispered to him which he brushed
aside.
"I who have gone up and down with my naked hands am not afraid," he
muttered. "Only it is necessary to lower away the rope until all weight
is released. When I have cast myself free I shall jerk so, once, twice
hard."
"In an hour or so the moon will rise," spoke his master for the last
time. "Whether there are soldiery posted at night beneath the city wall
we do not know. But some have been seen from time to time at dawn. Be
cautious but be quick. By dawn you must be far away. Are you ready?"
For answer the boy climbed on to the parapet, a small lithe figure. With
his graceful Oriental hands, he clasped the brickwork for a moment; then
with infinite quickness slipped his weight on to the strain of the rope.
"Now," he muttered, balancing himself beautifully.
Quickly they began lowering. The boy, with his rough, powerful toes
working through his cloth shoes, played at the brickwork as he
descended, always keeping touch so that as the cord lengthened he should
not be dashed against the hard rough face. He was down the fifty feet in
less than thirty seconds--standing on the sand of the outer city.
He drew a deep breath, untied the loose knots, jerked quickly at the
rope twice, saw a dim outline of heads peering over at him, and then
without fear or hesitation stole straight into the black night where the
enemy lay.