Chris's thoughts were so taken up with the pleasure of the little
Chinese Princess at her first rose that he had miscalculated. As a
matter of fact he had forgotten about the guards in his excitement at
holding the Jewel Tree and at getting away, and just as the eagle rose
to the top of the wall, one of the guards saw him.
Had it been earlier, Chris could have risen quickly out of sight. But
the Jewel Tree was heavy in itself; the earth holding its roots was an
additional weight, so that the eagle only rose half as quickly as it
had before.
The guard gave a shout, and a spear whistled past Chris's ear.
Instantly the flames of bonfires spurted on all the walls, and to his
terror Chris found himself in a glare of light as powerful as modern
searchlights. He clutched the Jewel Tree, urging the magic bird up,
but there are limits even to magic and the bird was moving at the peak
of its ability. Black racing figures darted along the walls, the
flames of the watchfires leapt higher in the air, and now arrows were
singing their keening note of death about the boy lifting so slowly
into the night.
Chris, crouching behind the Jewel Tree, was rocked and nearly unseated
from the eagle when an arrow hit the earth around the Tree roots,
imbedding itself deeply and quivering there at an angle. The shouts
and confusion grew, but after a few terror-stricken moments Chris knew
he was high enough to be out of danger. He gave a deep shuddering sigh
of relief, and turned the head of the laboring eagle toward the city.
His thoughts were on escape, but first he had a duty that as an
honorable person he felt bound to perform.
He was naturally observant; he had also made a point of noticing
landmarks, so that he found the garden from which he had taken the
rosebush without too much trouble. What he was totally unprepared for
was that the entire city of Peking, aroused by the watchfires on the
palace walls, was awake and in alarm, and the light of flares and
lanterns glowed from every house.
Nevertheless, to replace the rosebush was an honorable necessity, and
in spite of wide canary-yellow blocks streaming from the windows of
the lesser palace and falling in broad sections over the lawns and far
into the gardens, Chris came down as much in the shadow of trees as he
could, and breaking off a sprig of the Jewel Tree, stuck it in the
ground where the rosebush had been. Then quickly regaining the eagle's
back, he was lifted into the air and up over the roofs.
What was his consternation, however, on nearing the pine knoll, to see
the whole group of scrubby trees aflame, and no sign of Amos! The pine
needles and tree trunks thick with resin burnt fiercely. Chris did not
dare to come too close. Not only was the heat intense but the crowds
collecting below looked upward to watch in a puzzled way, while others
ran from near the palace gates to gaze and speculate.
Chris turned sadly away, large tears for Amos running down his cheeks,
his heart constricted and his eyes half blinded, when from a great
distance, he heard a trailing call.
"Oo-h Chris! You--Chris!"
Chris's heart leapt up, and wiping his eyes clear he looked in the
direction of the sound. A balloon was moving rapidly away over the
peaked curved roofs of Peking, careening slightly from side to side as
it sailed on the night breeze. By the time Chris had caught up with
Amos in the balloon, Peking lay far behind them.
Holding on to the edge of the basket, Chris blurted out: "What in the
world goes on, Amos? I thought you were burned alive! I was never more
scared in my life!"
Amos's eyes, wider than ever from the excitement of events, batted at
Chris. "_You're_ scared! What do you think _I_ am? Get me out of
this--I never did want to be up in the air nohow, and I want out
_now_!"
"But what about the fire, Amos?" Chris persisted, holding to the Jewel
Tree with one hand and the balloon basket with the other. "How did you
get out?"
Amos sent a squeamish glance out of the corner of one eye at the
moving ground beneath them, and then, realizing that they were on
their way back to the _Mirabelle_, swallowed and began to talk.
"I waited, like you said, an' I guess I fell asleep. All at once such
a noise, and flames flashing, woke me up, and right away, seeing fires
and commotion all over the palace walls, I supposed they had spotted
you somehow. I thought--should another fire break out somewhere else,
it might pull the crowds away from the palace, or make them think
something was goin' on up there. So I lit a fire with my flint, and
then ran right quick with the package to the ledge, struck three
times, and shut my eyes"--here Amos covered his eyes with one
hand--"and got in. And this silly thing's been a-tippin' and
a-teeterin' ever since."
[Illustration]
Chris brought balloon and eagle down into a rice field, and the two
boys transferred the Jewel Tree to the greater safety of the balloon
basket. Amos, having the wonderful Jewel Tree to guard, forgot his
fears and sat down beside it, where he soon fell asleep. Chris, tying
the tail of the eagle to the side of the basket with his shirt, towed
Amos and the Jewel Tree through the air all that night and all the
next day. They came down at noon in a deserted part of the country so
that Chris could sleep and rest, and Amos find fresh water for the
leathern bottles they had strapped to their waists. Then they went on
until they saw the sea and the wavering line of the coast below and
ahead of them.
[Illustration]
The eagle and balloon came gently down at dusk. The balloon was folded
into its small size and put back in the pouch around Chris's neck. Out
of sight of Amos, Chris transformed the eagle to a boat in which, in
the dark of the night, the two boys reached the side of the
_Mirabelle_ with their precious cargo. The sailors of the _Mirabelle_
were asleep, but Chris roused the Captain, who helped them secretly
carry the Jewel Tree to a corner of his cabin.
All hands were then called on deck and everything was hurry and
bustle. Before dawn had broken, the _Mirabelle_ had left the coast of
China and was well out to sea.