*CHAPTER XII*
*Midshipman Ford on his Mettle*
Ford Sees Red--Close Fighting--"Where are we?"--Comparing Notes--A Strange Reception--The Captain's Letter--The Chinese Doctor--Investigating--The Mob Attacks--To the Rescue
_Written by Midshipman Ford_
Directly they started firing we all ran back to the huts, because wewere in between the Chinese and the flames, and of course made splendidtargets.
Captain Marshall sang out, "Run, Ford, run!" and I did, and jolly fasttoo; but he and the Commander and Wilkins, the bugler boy, only camealong at a jog trot, and "miles" behind me, and Captain Marshall was"hee-hawing" as if he had never seen anything so funny before in hislife. He asked me whether I had done the hundred yards in ten seconds,or some rot like that, and before all the men, too, which made me getvery red and simply furious. It was all his fault for shouting out"run", and with those bullets kicking up the ground and flying past, Ijolly well couldn't stop myself when once I had started. I don't thinkanyone could. Do you? I caught Wilkins grinning, and this made me moreangry still.
"Don't you worry; it was only Marshall's joke," the Commander said. Hemeant to be nice, but I knew that he thought I ought not to have run,and I simply hated myself.
I was so mad at being such a coward, that I think I would have runstraight at them if they had gone on shooting, just to show the men thatI could run just as fast that way; but they had left off, and were onlyshouting at us from the darkness behind the huts. I felt most horrid,and wondered what the Captain would think when Captain Marshall toldhim. I knew that he would tell him--"hee-hawing" like a grampus, andthinking it a tremendous joke.
"May I take six men out there, sir, out to the right, creep round in thedark, and see if I can find them? Do let me, sir!" I blurted out,almost before I thought of it.
He looked at me very grimly, and must have seen that there was somethingthe matter (there was, very much the matter--everything inside me wasworking), thought a few moments, smiled at me, and said: "Right you are,if you can get volunteers. Don't go far, and come back when I sound the'close'."
Get volunteers! Why, they all would have come, and I just took the sixnearest, I didn't really care who they were, or if none of them came, Iwas so mad, and we dropped over the battery wall, and then behind thebank to the beach, and crept along in its shadows. I could just see thewater jacket of the Maxim in the bows of the barge lighted up by theflames, and they must have seen our shadows and thought we wereChinamen, because I heard Withers sing out some order, and if I hadn'tgiven the gunroom "whistle", I do believe he might have tried to shootus. We crept along till we were clear of the firelight, and then I toldthe marines what I was going to do, extended them to three paces, andstarted to make inland. I knew pretty well where those rifles hadfired--I'd seen the flashes--and I didn't think that there were morethan seven or eight altogether, and meant to get behind them, get theChinamen between me and the fire, and try and bag one or two.
I don't believe anything would have frightened me. That silly "hee-haw"of Captain Marshall, and thinking of running back so fast, simply shovedme along. I wasn't going to let that story get to the Captain and toMrs. Lester, and my mother and Nan, and all over Upton Overy, withoutsomething else tacked on to it.
We crept up to a deserted hut, made a great noise breaking our waythrough a fence behind it, and were bothered by a lot of beastly dogsrushing at us, till I gave one of them a jolly good "welt" in the headwith my boot, and they all ran off yelping. We went scrambling overrough ground, and stumbling over what seemed like heaps of brokencrockery, and then we came to a ditch. I was so "mad" angry, that Isimply slid straight down into it, and had to swim one or two strokes,and nearly got my feet caught up by weeds; but I didn't care in theleast, and only worried lest my revolver cartridges were notwater-tight.
Two of the men wouldn't face it, and went along the side to find aneasier place, and I never saw them again. At the other side there was ahigh mud wall, and we skirted along it till it came to an end, and thenwe suddenly turned a corner and came upon four or five men standingwatching the flames. They yelled and fled, and we went after them ashard as we could go; but they were running away from the flames, andwere not the men we wanted, so I pulled up, and waited till the marineshad got their breath. Right away inland we could hear a lot ofrifle-firing and then some volleys.
"That's the Gunnery Lootenant an' 'is little lot, sir," one of the menwhispered, and I recognized his voice. It was Martin, one of thesentries in the gunroom "flat". We used to plague the life out of him.
We couldn't see the flames now, only a few sparks rushing up, andthought that the fires must be dying down; but I felt certain that wewere right behind them, and that those brutes who had made me run mustbe close to us now.
CLOSE FIGHTING]
I don't quite know why--it may have been because we couldn't see theflames, or because I was wet through and cold again, or because we couldhear people running about near us in the dark, without being able to seethem--but I forgot all about being so brave, and felt frightened, andwas jolly glad when I heard the bugle sound the "close". I wasn'tcertain which way to go, for I funked that ditch, and didn't think wecould have found our way back there. Whatever it was, we foundourselves going straight towards the sparks, came up against anotherwall, turned round the end of it, and then found that that was what hadprevented us seeing the flames. They were still making a great light,and in between them and us there was a crowd of Chinamen. We could seetheir heads showing like black discs, and they were all jabberingtogether, with their backs to us.
I don't know who started--I didn't--but we all began shouting andcharging down at them. They had just time to turn round before we wereon top of them. The men let off their rifles, and I pulled the triggerof my revolver, and haven't the least idea whether it went off or not.They must have thought that all the demons in the world were after them,for they opened out and let us through; but directly we had rushed pastand came into the light, they saw that we were only five, and camehowling after us. Right in front of me a man jumped up with a rifle andlet it off almost in my face. He didn't touch me, but probably hit someof his own people, and before he could fire again I had hold of thebarrel with one hand, and was banging him in the face with my revolver,though that didn't seem to hurt him. He was just going to pull therifle out of my hands, when I heard Martin curse and swing his rifledown on his head, and he fell so suddenly that I fell on top of him.
Before I could get up again, someone had thrown himself on top of me,and began clawing hold of my windpipe. I felt my ears beginning to sing;but then he gave a gurgle and a squirm, and his fingers loosened, and asI crawled out I saw Martin trying to pull his bayonet out of him,holding him down with his foot whilst he tugged at the rifle. Before hecould get it out, a huge fellow sprang at him with his rifle clubbed. Isang out, and he just managed to turn his head in time, but got an awfulblow on his shoulder which knocked him over. The man jumped at himagain, but one of the other three marines was on him in a moment, struckat him with his bayonet, and caught him just under the armpit. Therewas a frightful yell and he fell, and I seized his rifle, pointed it atthe crowd, and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. Hardly knowingwhat I did, I shot the bolt backwards and forwards and pulled again.The magazine must have been loaded, for it went off then and hit a brutewho was running at me, somewhere in the leg. I know that it hit himthere, because he stumbled, and sat holding on to it, and I quite wellremember thinking that it served him jolly well right. The other threemarines were close to me, and Martin scrambled to his feet, trying totwist his bayonet off his rifle to use as a dagger, because one arm wasuseless. The others were jabbing with their bayonets, springing out,thrusting, and springing back again, and parrying and trying to keep acircle clear. One of them (Tuck) threw up his arms and fell facedownwards. I saw his fingers dig into the earth. Then something struckme
on the left arm, just as if it had been struck by a wooden hammer,and the Chinaman's rifle fell out of my hands. I stooped down to pickit up, but couldn't--I remember that perfectly.
* * * * *
I don't remember anything more till I woke with a splitting headache,feeling as if I wanted to be sick and couldn't be. It was almost dark.I thought that I'd had a nightmare--I often did, after too much gunroomtinned salmon--and wondered why the lanterns had gone out. You know howyou often wake up and think that you are in some strange place, andgradually work things out till they come right again.
That's what I tried to do, but I couldn't fix things, and one eye didn'tseem to work, and I wondered why I had my boots and my uniform on, andwhy it was all so wet. I put out my arm to feel if Jim's hammock was inits place, and then I let out a yell and rolled back pretty quickly.
That yell seemed to blow away the cobwebs, and I lay back and began tomake out that I was lying on a funny kind of floor, in a small room withwhitewashed walls and a broken-down roof, with straw hanging through thecracks. The walls seemed to be made of bricks and mud, and one had adoor in it and a small square opening above it, through which a littlelight came. Someone close to me began to move, and then sat up, veryslowly. It was Martin, the gunroom "flat" sentry, and then I rememberedthat he had saved me from being choked, and all the things that hadhappened came back to me all at once.
"Where are we?" I asked.
He gave me a startled look. "Crickey, sir, beggin' your pardon, youdoes look a awful sight!"
"What's the matter? What's happened?" I felt that it was awkward totalk, my lips felt uncomfortable, and I put my hand up to my face and itfelt all raw and swollen. I couldn't see at all if I shut my right eye,so knew that my left one was closed up.
"Kicked you in the face, sir, and dragged you away afore we could stop'em."
"What!" I said, very alarmed. "The Commander not here? Where am I?"
"I don't exactly know where we be, sir, but them pirate chaps 'ave got'old of us, and Old Tinker Bill too; 'e was brought in 'ere after us."
Then I saw that there was a bluejacket lying asleep on the other side ofhim, and he dug him in the ribs--"'Ere, wake up, Tinker!" and he sat upgrowling.
I saw that it was Miller, one of the armourers, and I remembered that hehad gone with Mr. Whitmore's party, and I forgot all about worryingabout where we were for a second.
"Did we smash that gun?" I cried, and tried to sit up in my excitement,but fell back again pretty quickly--my left arm was so painful everytime I tried to move.
Miller yawned and shook his head dolefully: "We never got nowhere nearit, sir. Jerusalem!" he gasped, "you do look a fair 'knock-out', sir,that you does."
"Well, tell me. What happened? Did Mr. Rawlings get hurt?"
Then he told me that Mr. Hoffman had guided them all right, but theymade a goodish deal of noise themselves, and our party (the Commander'sparty) had given the alarm too soon, and they simply found themselvesrunning into hundreds of Chinese, and had to fall back again.
"You see, sir, it was like this. We went along all right till thosehuts began a burnin', but the light from 'em just gave the show away,and let 'em see where to fire. Mr. Rawlings was knocked over, an' a lotmore, sir, an' the last as I seed of 'em was going back, very slow,a-carryin' some people, an' stoppin' and firin' back--occasional."
And all the time we had thought how jolly comforting those flames were,and that they might help them to find their way back. I tried to getmore from him about Jim, but he didn't know any more, except that therehad been a lot of firing, and he had seen him fall, and two men lift himup. But that was enough to make me feel frightfully sad, though Ididn't really seem to imagine that it was all quite real; and the painin my head was so bad, and my arm was so painful, and I was so stiff andcold and cramped all over, that nothing could make me much moremiserable, not even knowing that we had been captured by the pirates, orJim had been badly wounded.
"I fell into a ditch or something," Miller went on, "an lost my way andgot be'ind'and, and tried a-takin' a short cut, and something 'it me onthe head and fair dazed me, and them ugly devils came up and collaredme--came up from be'ind, they did. I never got a chance.
"I've got a bit of a scratch 'ere, sir," and he crawled over to me, andstooped to show me a groove across the top of his head. A bullet musthave done it, and the hair was all matted together with blood.
"How did they catch you?" I asked Martin.
"Well, it was like this, sir. I saw 'em a-picking of you up--that notbeing so difficult, beggin' your pardon--and, not thinking, I slippedalong arter you, forgettin' that I'd only got one arm that 'ud work.Well, sir, I got separated from them two others, and had 'em 'eathensall round me, and they got the best of it, sir." He was very gloomy,and lifted his left arm a little way from his side. "Ain't no good, sir!Somethink's broke in my shoulder."
Miller had found a bowl full of water, and that made me remember howthirsty I was, and he knelt down and gave me some too, holding my headup. It was jolly difficult to drink, my lips were so swollen, and agood deal of it ran down my neck, but it was jolly refreshing.
"What's the matter with my arm?" I asked him. "I think it's broken."
He took hold of it very gingerly, whilst I held on to the wrist andjammed my teeth together, and then I saw by the funny way the sleevebent up halfway above the elbow that it must be broken. I felt thebroken ends grate together when he tried to move it. Oh! it was sopainful.
He knew something about bandaging and splints, and tore down some of thethin rafters and lashed them on each side of it with his black silkhandkerchief, and that made it more comfortable, and I managed to get onmy feet. I felt an awful wreck, and was as weak as a mouse.
We were all plastered with mud and green slime, and were wet and horrid.I had lost one of my gaiters and my cap, and my revolver, lanyard, andcartridge belt were gone; but I didn't really worry, because I felt tooill, and my head throbbed so much that I had to lie down again, and itwas impossible to think properly, because everything was going round andround inside it.
There was a noise on the outside of that door, and it opened veryslowly, whilst we all stared at it, and a Chinaman put his head veryslowly in, looked at us, saw me turn to look at him, drew it back again,and shut the door. I suppose he must have heard us talking. I thinkthat I must have gone to sleep after this, because the next I rememberwas a tall, gloomy-looking man standing over me. "You're an officer,aren't you?" he asked me, and I told him that I was a midshipman.
"Come down with me," he said, and helped me to my feet, and supported medown a spiral wooden staircase.
He got me into a room below, which was fitted up with Europeanfurniture--a writing-table, some cane easy chairs, and a camp bed. Hemade me sit down, and began pacing up and down the room. There was aclock on the table, and I saw that it was nearly midday. He went onpacing backwards and forwards, and I wondered whether he was theEnglishman who had stolen Mr. Hoffman's yacht. I hadn't the least ideawhat was going to happen. Then he took down a shaving glass and held itin front of me.
My aunt! I was a sight, if you like. All the left side of my foreheadand face was black and blue, and my left eye was quite shut up, and myupper lip was tremendously swollen and cut. No wonder that Miller andMartin had been surprised when they saw me.
He smiled grimly, put the glass down, and just then a Chinese servantcame in and spoke to him.
"I have some food ready for you; come and take some, it will do yougood," he said, and led me into the next room, where there was a bigbowl of hot soup. The sight of it made me feel ill; but I swallowed alittle, and found that it was doing me good, and managed to get throughit all. It was jolly painful to put the spoon in my mouth.
He told me that he had sent some food up to Martin and Miller, and thatan old native who "doctored" for him was coming soon.
He seemed strangely worried, and couldn't sit still. I should thinkthat
quite a dozen Chinamen must have come in whilst I was gettingthrough that soup and soaking bread in it. They all seemed very excitedwhen they saw me. Most of them scowled at me. Several of them wereplump, prosperous-looking men, jolly well dressed, but others lookedmore like soldiers or sailors, great bony, leather-skinned,fierce-looking fellows. He seemed to have trouble with them, and onceor twice spoke very angrily. I noticed, too, that whenever any of themcame in, he put his hand to his pocket. I think, from the bulge, thathe had a revolver there.
He didn't look in the least fierce, except when he was angry--not at alllike a man who could have done all those wicked things--and I beganwondering whether he could really be the man everyone had been cursing.I suddenly thought of Mr. Travers, and blurted out, "We've got Mr.Travers back--that lieutenant you caught"--and, like the conceited ass Iam, said, "I found him."
"I know," he said bitterly; "I never wanted to take him along; it waseither killing him or taking him prisoner, just as it was with you andthose two men. He fought like a demon, simply threw himself on us, andhad a revolver, too. I had to knock him on the head and take him along.You'd better not let those people you've just seen know that you werethe one who found him. They've vowed to torture every one of thosejunks' crews who fall into their hands."
I wished then that I hadn't spoken.
He began working himself into a passion, and his face did look wicked.He was tall and lean and very good looking, and he clenched his fists,and jerked his arms about, and began cursing everyone--Captain Lester,the Admiral, Mr. Hoffman, himself, and Mr. Hobbs.
"How are they? How's Sally?" I asked; but he didn't seem to hear thefirst time, and raved about his cursed bad luck. Presently I askedagain.
"I wish to heavens I'd never set eyes on either of them."
"Why don't you send them back to us?" I asked.
"Send 'em back? I daren't; my life isn't worth an hour's purchase now,and they'd never let me. They'd kill them first, and me too. I don'trun this show--not really; it's run by some of those Chinesemandarins--two or three of those who've just been in here. They thinkthat as long as Hobbs and his daughter are in their hands they can gettheer ransom, and that your old fool bull dog of a Skipper don't daretouch them. They want me to marry the girl--to make it more certain."
"We thought that you were trying to marry her," I said stupidly.
"That's nothing to do with it--nothing to do with you," he jerked outvery fiercely.
"If your fool Captain will run his head up against us, I shall have tomarry her to save her life and mine too."
"That's what those fat, oily-looking beasts want to do, and want me todo; and those other bloodthirsty rascals want to cut their throats andhave done with them, say they've only brought us trouble, and wish toget back to their old established pirate business," he added, sneering.
"I've got them in the only strong walled house in the town, and I've gota hundred of my best men to guard them, but I can't trust 'em."
"If I'm caught I hang," he began shouting--I really thought that he'dforgotten me--"and if she knows that it will save my life, I believe shewill marry me. If things go wrong I go, and directly I go, you allgo--Hobbs and all of you, and the poor girl too" (he clenched his handsacross his forehead). "We've the scum of the Yangste here. They'd cutmy throat for a cent if I left off being useful to them, and they'll cutall your throats for pure devilment."
He sank down on a chair and stared in front of him.
I had dropped my spoon and was very frightened.
A man came running in with a letter, talking very fast. He gave a horridsmile when he had read it. "It's from your fool Captain. Wants to knowwhether you're alive, and says if any harm comes to you, he'll do Idon't know what."
"Go back upstairs and don't move till I tell you;" and he sat down atthe writing-table.
"Please tell the Captain that I'm well, all but my arm, and that it wasmy fault that I was captured, not the Commander's," I asked him, becauseI had been worrying about that all the time, and knew that the Commandermust have had an awful time with Captain Lester, and that that would beunfair. I knew jolly well that I'd made an ass of myself, and madethings worse and more difficult for everyone by getting myself andMartin taken prisoners.
He nodded grimly.
"Do tell me whether they all got away safely last night?" I blurted out.
"They left one marine dead, no one else." He began to work himself intoa passion again. "My men almost got out of hand last night--I'd a hardjob to keep them back--and if that old fool of yours lands again I shalllose all control over them. He won't believe what I wrote to him, soI'm going to write it stronger this time. If he comes lumbering alonghere they'll all see 'red', and kill every white man they can get holdof--and woman." Then he suddenly came across and gripped my shoulder."A thousand years ago--eight hundred years ago--a girl wouldn't marry aman unless he did something to win her--sacked a town and carried heroff. Now they want flowers, and chocolates, and candies, and prettyspeeches--ugh!"
Then he grew calmer.
"Go along up now--Ford your name is, I see--and wait till dusk. I'lltry and get you all over to that walled house. It's your only chance."
I was just going, when he called out, "In case anything happens, you hadbetter take this," and he opened a drawer and pulled out a revolver anda couple of packets of ammunition. "They say it's easier to diefighting," and he turned his back on me.
Feeling very frightened, and not quite understanding what he'd beentalking about, I crawled upstairs, the Chinaman outside the door scowledat me, opened it and shut it after me, and I heard him swing the bigwooden bar into its hole.
Martin and Miller were asleep--they evidently had had a jolly goodmeal--and presently a funny, jovial, fat old Chinaman came along andlooked at my arm. He took my coat off and cut the sleeve of my flannelshirt, and the arm was a most horrid sight, absolutely all mottledpurple from the elbow to the shoulder. He showed me two tiny holes,made a "poof" noise with his lips, darted his finger as if it was abullet, and nodded at me kindly. Then I knew that it was a bullet thathad broken the bone. He put on cotton wool and proper splints andproper bandages, and slung the arm up to my side and across my chest,under my shirt, and helped me on with my monkey jacket, and sewed mysleeve to the side. Really the old chap made me very comfortable.
He woke the others too, and did Martin's arm--the collar bone wasbroken--and cleaned Miller's head, and then went away, apparently quitehonoured at being able to show his skill. I quite loved the old chap,and he made me so comfortable that I lay down, and when my head wasquite still it did not throb so much, and I got in a jolly good sleep.
I woke and found the room quite dark, and Miller and Martin bothsnoring. My head was quite clear now, and I felt much stronger, gropedabout, and managed to get hold of that bowl of water, drank a little,and then propped myself up against the wall and wondered when thatEnglishman was going to take us away to Mr. Hobbs and Sally. It was soexciting to think that I should see them soon, that I really forgot thatwe were prisoners for some time; but then, after waiting and waiting,and hearing nothing except those snores, I began to feel frightened andmiserable. I could think now without my head burning inside, and then Ithought how I had muddled up all Captain Lester's plans, and "washedout" all that I had done for him. If I had only been man enough not tohave minded Captain Marshall's chaff, I shouldn't be here, with my armbroken and a prisoner, and with Martin too; and I was so wretched, thatI wished that I had been killed instead of Tuck, that marine whom I hadseen fall and dig his nails into the ground. After all I had beenlonging to do, it had simply come to this, and I snivelled a little, inthe dark, for there seemed to be nothing more worth living for.
Presently there was a loud boom a long way off, and almost directlyafterwards, the sound of a very big shell bursting. That wasn't verynear either, but I knew jolly well that nothing could make that noiseexcept one of the _Vigilant's_ eight-inch guns, and I could feel my headthrobbing inside
again with excitement, and wondered what was happening.Then more came, and other smaller ones, from quite a differentdirection. I had seen an opening in the wall--you couldn't call it awindow--just outside the door, and I thought that perhaps the Chinamanwould let me look out; so I groped round until I felt the door, andrapped on it with my knuckles. They didn't make much noise, and Ikicked it with my feet, and then listened to hear if anyone moved; butthere wasn't a sound.
I tried to shake the door, and it seemed to "give" towards me, and thento stick in the frame--I felt certain that the wooden beam was not inplace--but I couldn't make it budge any more. I woke Miller, and hecame across and got his fingers in a crack and pulled, and the doorcreaked and opened, almost knocking me down. We peered through thedarkness and listened, and presently I could hear a clock ticking--itwas that old clock I had seen in the Englishman's room.
"I'm going down," I whispered to Miller. "Help me off with my boots."
I got them off, felt that the revolver was still in my pocket, and begancreeping down that spiral staircase, keeping to the outside and feelingthe wall with my one hand. Every step creaked most horribly, and Iwaited, trembling, each time, but nothing happened, and then I hadturned the corner and saw the bottom, and that some lamplight was comingout of that room.
"Are you all right, sir?" I heard Miller whisper; and I whispered backand felt braver, and got out the revolver and crept down. I couldn'thear the clock, because my heart was beating so horridly, but I got downto the door and looked in. There was a lamp burning on thewriting-table, but not a soul there, and I went through, very softly,into the room where I had had that soup, and there was another lampburning there, and any amount of food on the table. It looked as ifsomeone had only just finished a meal--a book and a fork were lying onthe floor, and the chair had been upset.
There was a dark place beyond, with a flickering light in it, as if afire was burning; but I wasn't plucky enough to go in there, ran back tothe foot of the stairs, and could just see Miller's scared face lookingdown. I beckoned to him to come down, and he did so, making an awfulnoise, and Martin came too. They got hold of one of the lamps, and Ididn't mind going into the kitchen place then. It was quite empty;there was no one there. A funny-looking kettle hung over a small woodenfire, on a big flat stone, and was singing very quietly, and there was asaucepan full of cooked potatoes. They were quite warm, and I seizedone and began to eat it. It was jolly good.
Miller and Martin were so hungry, that they forgot everything else, andran back to the table and began "wolfing" food.
I had never thought of escape till now; but it flashed across me thatperhaps we could get away, and I went back to the foot of the stairs andfollowed a long passage, towards where I felt some cold air, andsuddenly came to an open door, and put my head out.
You know what happens when you open the door of a rabbit hutch, and therabbits come and pop their heads out, and swizzle their noses and blinktheir eyes, and look as if they didn't believe it, and run back again?Well, that was exactly how I felt and what I did. I ran back to Martinand Miller and told them, and they left off eating and came along withme, and we all three looked out.
It was quite dark, except for some stars overhead, and it seemed to be asmall courtyard. We stepped out very gingerly--I had my revolver in myhand again--and we searched round, and found a high wall all round, anda very big door all studded with iron bolt heads, and with several thickbeams across it.
We couldn't hear any noise near us, but there was a funny murmuring,buzzing sound some way off, and just like the sound of the mob atTinghai that night of the fire, and far away we could hear big guns, andshells bursting.
"That's our old eight-inch, sir," Miller whispered, as one especiallyloud report shook the door. "I expects the old man--beggin' yourpardon, sir, Captain Lester--is coming along to look for us." Thesmaller noises, right in the other direction, he said was probably the_Ringdove_ and the _Oh-my-eye_ on the other side of the island (thebluejackets called the _Omaha_ the _Oh-my-eye_). We couldn't reallyquite understand why they were firing, but it was jolly comforting forall that.
I wondered what had become of the Englishman and the Chinaman who hadbeen guarding us, and the servant, and wished he would come back to takeus to that house on the hill. Now that I had a revolver, I thought thatI might still be some use in defending Sally, if once I got there.
I slipped back into the house to see if perhaps he was lying down on thebed and I hadn't noticed him, but he wasn't. The clock showed a quarterpast eight, and I knew that it must have been dark for more than anhour, and felt frightened. The noise of the mob seemed to be gettinglouder and nearer too, and I ran back to Miller and Martin, who werestill near the gateway.
Just as I got to them we heard some feet pattering along the streetoutside, and then more and more, and they stopped outside it and beganpressing against the gateway, and then began banging at it withsomething hard.
The bangs seemed to go right through me. I was awfully frightened.
More people came rushing along; there was a fearful din outside; weheard something scrape against the wall, and someone scrambling up. Ilooked up and saw a man's head just above me. He was crawling over thetop, and was just getting his legs over. I let my revolver off and hedropped back again, though I don't think he was hit, and the crowd beganyelling like mad.
A rifle went off, the door splintered, and something flew past me.Martin pulled me to one side. "Keep out of the way, sir;" and the twoof them hunted round for some piece of wood or other, and came back withsome thick sticks. Stones began dropping over, and we crouched underthe wall to dodge them. They came in hundreds all over the courtyard,and knocking up against the house. There was a terrific crash againstthe great gates, and they sounded as if they were giving way.
"We'll be scuppered, sir," Martin groaned.
"Run for the house," I whispered; and we rushed back. One stone nearlyhit me, and I heard a thud and Miller cursing; but we all got inside andslammed the door, and fumbled about to find the bolts.
"Go and get a lamp, sir," Miller shouted hoarsely--Martin was toofrightened to do anything except get in our way--and I darted off.
As I ran along the passage I heard my name shouted, "Mr. Ford, Mr. Ford!Where are you?" and a short, grey-bearded European came rushing out ofthe kitchen place. I thought at first that it was the Englishman, butit wasn't.
"Show us how to bar the door," I cried, and he came running with me.
"Quick, mon, quick! Bar it up--that way; there's the lock--not thatway," and he shoved Miller aside and shot the bolts in.
I was too frightened to ask him who he was, and even to remember that Ihadn't any boots; but Miller sprang up the stairs and brought them down.The man, whoever he was, wouldn't let me put them on, so Miller tied thelaces together and hung them over my neck.
"Follow me!" the Scotchman yelled impatiently--I knew he was Scotch byhis accent--and we ran through the sitting-room to the kitchen, and thenwe crept through a narrow door. He disappeared into the house, but cameback, and I saw him shove a big key into his pocket.
"Be varry careful," he whispered, and we groped our way down someirregular stone steps. We could hear them still banging away at thecourtyard door. I kept on bruising my feet and toes in the cracks, andstumbling, but the old Scotchman always seemed to keep me from falling;and at last we seemed to be at the bottom, and near some water--I couldhear it lapping against the stones. "Hush!" he whispered, and bentdown, stretched out his hand, got hold of a rope, began hauling it in,and a native boat came sliding up, out of the dark.
"Get in--quick!" he whispered, and we all stumbled in, one after theother, and he jumped in after us. Right above us I could see twolighted windows, and knew they were those two rooms, and as he shovedoff we heard a splintering sound--the big door had given way--and heardthe mob rushing across the courtyard, yelling in the most fearfulmanner, and begin banging at the house door.
I had hurt my arm again getting into t
he boat, and the pain of it musthave numbed me, because I quite well remember that I wasn't sofrightened then as I ought to have been.
We could just see the strange man standing up in the stern, swaying fromside to side, and working a scull as the boat wriggled through thewater.
"It's aboot twa hours afore high water, and we've the flood wi' us, theLord be praised!" he whispered. "Keep down oot o' sight," and we triedto squirm down into the bottom of the boat below the gunwales.
He stopped and stooped down, and we saw that he was putting on some kindof a Chinaman's coat and a native cap.
Then he went on again.