CHAPTER XIII--HOW FRANK WAS CAUGHT IN THE TOILS
Throughout the greater part of the morning the pursuit continued withoutthe _sampan_ gaining upon the larger boat. Indeed, when they had saileda few miles towards the east it became apparent to Ling that they werelosing ground, that the distance between the two boats was graduallybecoming greater.
The man was infuriated. He stood at his great height in the bows of the_sampan_ from time to time, shaking his fist at the scarlet coat ofMen-Ching, who was plainly visible upon the deck of the river-junk.After a time, however, Ling's wrath subsided; and seating himself, heconfined his attention to the management of the sail. Frank, who was inthe stern of the boat, had received orders to steer.
Ling shrugged his great shoulders and came out with a kind of grunt.
"He shall not escape me," said he, talking aloud to himself. "The oldfool would be wiser to haul down the sail of the _wupan_ and throwhimself upon my mercy."
Frank, summoning to his aid all his moral courage, decided to questionthe man outright, taking the bull by the horns.
"Why do you want this man Men-Ching?" he asked.
Ling looked up, lifting his black eyebrows, and then chuckled.
"Men-Ching carries upon his person certain letters," said he. "I wouldhave you to know that those letters are worth thousands of dollars."
Frank Armitage was so much astonished that it was some moments before hecould recover his presence of mind. How was this man, of all people, inpossession of such information? Ling was certainly not a member ofCheong-Chau's brigand band. It was only a week before that Men-Chinghad been entrusted with the letters--indeed, he had not been givenpossession of them until immediately after they were written. The wholething was a mystery that Frank was in no position to solve.
Sitting amidships in the boat, the man continued to chuckle.
"I will find him in Canton," said he. "He is certain to go to the houseof Ah Wu. There I will find him. I will take possession of thoseletters. A score of men could not prevent me. If Men-Ching hands themover quietly all will be well. If he resists, I cannot say what willhappen." And Ling shrugged his shoulders.
Frank was dismayed. It took him some time to realise the extremegravity of the situation. There was something in the aspect of theboisterous Honanese giant, seated immediately before him, that made theboy feel quite sure that Ling seldom failed in any enterprise heundertook. The man was at once clever, strong and unscrupulous. Hemeant to obtain those letters, and Frank felt quite sure that he wouldnot fail to do so.
That brought the boy face to face with the fact that the lives of hisuncle and Mr Waldron were in the greatest danger. Ling no doubtintended to appropriate the ransom, thus foiling Cheong-Chau. In thesecircumstances, there could be but little doubt that the brigand chief,robbed of what he already regarded as his own property, would put bothhis captives to death out of sheer fiendish spite.
Frank could not for the life of him think what course he should take.His brain was in a whirl. In the end he decided that at any cost hemust escape from Ling the moment they arrived at Canton, where he hopedto gain an interview with the British consul.
Throughout the remainder of the journey the boy's thoughts rancontinuously upon the mystery in which he found himself enveloped. Hecould not explain it, and after a time he gave up attempting to do so.He neither knew who Ling was nor how the man had such intimate knowledgeof Cheong-Chau's affairs. He regretted bitterly that he had renderedLing such valuable assistance. He was, however, determined never to doso again, and during the pursuit down the river he even went so far asto hold the _sampan_ back by means of the oar with which he was supposedto be steering. All the time he was doing so his heart was beatingrapidly, since he dared not think what would happen to him if Lingdiscovered his deception.
When they reached the great city of Canton it was still early in themorning. Ling hauled down the sail and himself took charge of the sternoar, by means of which he propelled the boat into the narrow creek thatseparates the main part of the city from the island of Shamien. Runninginto the bank alongside a sea-going junk, he ordered Frank to stepashore. The boy did so, determined to avail himself of his first chanceto escape. In such narrow, close-packed streets as those of the greatsouthern city, he thought he would have many opportunities of givingLing the slip. He did not expect any difficulty in getting away, sincehe had no reason to believe that Ling required his services any longer.
Frank--as the saying goes--had counted his chickens before they werehatched. They had not progressed thirty yards along one of the mainstreets of the city before Frank dived down a side street, brushed pasta party of coolies, and then turned into a still smaller street to theright. There he found a ricksha. Jumping into this, he ordered thericksha coolie to go ahead as fast as he could. The man had picked upthe shafts, and was about to set forward, when Frank was seized by thescruff of the neck and lifted bodily from the seat. He was then thrownso violently to the ground that one of his knees was cut and his elbowsbadly bruised.
Gathering himself together, he looked up, and found himself at the feetof Ling.
"Do you take me for a fool?" roared the man. "Why have you run away?"
"I did not think," answered the boy, somewhat weakly, "that you neededme any longer."
"No more I do," said Ling. "But you know too much about me. When Ihave run Men-Ching to ground, and emptied the old rascal's pockets, thenyou are free to go where you like. For the present you remain with me."
He bent down, and seizing the boy by a wrist, dragged him to his feet.Then he set off walking briskly through the narrow streets, dragging theboy after him like a dog on a leash and roughly thrusting aside everyonewho got in his way.
In about ten minutes they found themselves in the neighbourhood of theMohammedan Mosque. Having crossed the main street that runs parallel tothe river, Ling turned into a by-street, and thence into the blindalley, at the termination of which was Ah Wu's opium den.
He kicked open the door with his foot and thrust the boy inside. Frankfound himself standing before the embroidered curtains that weresuspended across the entrance of the smoking-room. Ling lifted hisgreat voice in a kind of shout, mingling his words with triumphantlaughter.
"Ah Wu," he cried, "give welcome to a visitor who loves you. There isone here whom it will rejoice your heart to see. Come forth, old fox,and greet the mighty Ling!"
Having delivered himself thus dramatically, he flung the curtains aside,and stepped into the opium den, dragging Frank with him.
Ah Wu, as fat and crafty-looking as ever, stood in the centre of thelower room in front of the stairs that led to the balcony above.
He was holding in his hand a blue china bowl filled with _samshu_. Andso dismayed was he when he set eyes upon his gigantic guest that thebowl fell from his hand and smashed to atoms on the floor.
"Ling!" he gasped.
"The same," roared Ling. "And this time I come not to debate and argue,to exchange words with liars. I come for Men-Ching. I have reason tobelieve that he is here."
Ah Wu strove to pretend he was delighted to welcome Ling. He smiledfrom ear to ear, his little eyes almost disappearing in the fat of hisface. He bowed, folding his hands in the prescribed Chinese fashion. Heeven took a few steps forward, so that he was almost within reach of thelong arms of the Honanese.
"Men-Ching," said he, still smiling, "is not here."
And no sooner had the words left his lips than he was given a practicaland somewhat painful demonstration of the violent character of the manwith whom he had to deal. Upon the right of the entrance, adorned bythe embroidered curtains, was a lacquer table, upon which stood a heavychina vase. Without a word of warning, Ling seized this vase by theneck, and hurled it with all his force at the proprietor of the opiumden. The ornament must have weighed several pounds, and it struck Ah Wufair in the chest, with the result that he went over backwards and lay,stretched at his full length, at the foot of the st
aircase. Almost aminute elapsed before he struggled to his feet. Ling had not moved.
"And now," he roared, "lie to me again."
In the meantime, in spite of such extraordinary happenings, Frank hadtaken in his surroundings. Ah Wu's opium den has been alreadydescribed--except that we saw it before at night, when the place wascrowded. On this occasion there was only one man asleep upon a couch inthe lower room. It was about twelve o'clock in the morning, and at thishour, as a general rule, Chinese opium dens are empty, the smokers ofthe previous evening having departed and the day's customers not havingarrived.
Strangely enough, the vase had not broken, but in falling to the floorit had made a considerable noise, and this was sufficient to awaken thesleeper, who evidently suffered from a guilty conscience. The mansprang to his feet, and rushed to the entrance, as if he intended toescape. There, of course, he found his way barred by Ling, who liftedone of his huge fists as if to strike the fellow. The man jumpedbackward like a cat that finds itself face to face with a dog. And itwas then, once again, that Ling burst into one of his boisterous fits oflaughter.
"And here's the flunkey!" he cried. "Here's the Hong-Kong cur-dog! Haveyou also a mind to lie to me, or do you set a value on your life? I tellyou truly, I am not here to exchange words. I know what I want, and Iam come to get it. Hands up!" he shouted, seeing the man move one ofhis hands to his waistbelt, under his coat, where he might have carrieda firearm. "Hands up, or I wring your neck like a duck!"
In fear and trembling the man lifted both hands above his head. Frankregarded him then for the first time. And it was as if the boy's hearthad suddenly ceased to beat when he recognised Yung How, his uncle'sservant.