CHAPTER XIX--HOW LING READ CONFUCIUS
Frank, who feared instinctively that the worst would happen, retreatedhastily to the other end of the room. There he busied himself withvigorously sweeping the floor, until he was summoned by Ah Wu to attendto the wants of the new-comer.
The boy's heart was beating violently. It was as much as he could do tolift his eyes from the ground to meet those of the redoubtable brigandfrom whose clutches he had so recently escaped; and when at last he didso, he was more than ever dismayed to perceive that Cheong-Chau wasattended by three of his ruffians, whom Frank knew well by sight.
As in a flash, the boy reviewed the circumstances of the predicament inwhich he found himself. He saw no hope that he could avoid detection.Even if Cheong-Chau himself failed to recognise the fugitive--a veryunlikely contingency--one of the other three would be almost sure to doso. It must be remembered that the boy had not disguised his features.His identity was but thinly veiled by the Chinese clothes he waswearing--which had been given him by the tea-grower--the false pigtailand the shaven forepart of his head. He could not believe for a momentthat Cheong-Chau would fail to know him.
In his extreme anxiety, it did not occur to the boy that Yung How, whoknew him a great deal better than any of the brigands, had been quitedeceived, that Frank had been obliged to declare his identity to the manwho had known him since childhood. For all that, even if the boy hadhad either the presence of mind or the inclination to take stock of hischances of success, he could not have overlooked a very important fact:that Cheong-Chau was looking for him, whereas Yung How, on the otherhand, had never suspected for an instant that he had escaped.
Cheong-Chau and his men had come south in pursuit of the fugitive. Theman had been enticed into the opium den by Ah Wu, whom he still believedto be his colleague. Here Cheong-Chau was to be drugged by order of thesubtle and relentless villain who even then lay in hiding--like a greatcat crouching by the side of a mouse-hole--behind the embroideredcurtains. And now Cheong-Chau was to find himself, suddenly andunexpectedly, confronted by the very fugitive whom he had pursued fordays.
Frank, cold with fear, certain of disaster, and dreading that he wouldbe mercilessly put to death, looked Cheong-Chau in the face. The variedsensations he experienced were akin to what those must be of a condemnedman upon the scaffold. He did but wait for the terminating blow tofall.
He could not look at Cheong-Chau for more than an instant. He turnedand regarded Ah Wu, who was standing on the other side of him. Ah Wuwas smiling in his oily, plausible manner. He looked the complete host,affability itself, and all the time he was planning the discomfiture ofhis guest. A fat, genuine rogue!
"Ah Li," said he, addressing Frank, "you will attend to the wants of ourdistinguished guest. Conduct Cheong-Chau and his friends to the morecomfortable couches upstairs, smooth the pillows, place a spirit-lampupon each table, and then hasten to the storeroom and procure the bestquality opium. Cheong-Chau would smoke the Indian variety, that whichcomes from Calcutta, than which there is no finer opium in the world."
Frank turned, and departed up the staircase. Indeed, he was devoutlythankful to get away. At the top of the steps he paused, and stood fora moment trying to think, with his back turned to the room.
Nothing had happened--nothing at all. Cheong-Chau had not spoken. Noneof his men had said a word. The boy was still unrecognised. It was toogood to be true. It was all like a dream.
Pulling himself together, Frank carried out his orders, thinking all thetime that the remarkable chain of circumstances which had carried himagainst his will and inclination from one adventure to another wassomething altogether foreign to his former experiences. Life, insteadof a pleasant and somewhat homely occupation, had become a kind ofromantic nightmare. It was hard not to believe that presently he wouldawaken to find that Cheong-Chau, Ah Wu and Ling himself were phantasms,hallucinations, that would vanish at the moment of waking, theirsinister and evil personalities fading away, in the boy's memory, likesmoke upon the air.
He could scarce believe that a few minutes' calm reasoning would notinstantly dissipate the reality of these strange and terrible people,the remarkable events dependent upon the thoughts and actions of aruffian like Ling. Everything was all the more unreal to Frank becausehe appeared to exist, to continue to undergo such singular experiences,only by virtue of a series of miracles. The unexpected always happened.
It was also inconceivable to the boy that he himself, the nephew of oneof the most distinguished government officials in Hong-Kong, a man ofalmost world-wide reputation as a lawyer, should find himself a coolieattendant in a Canton opium den, in which he conversed, in terms ofintimate acquaintance, with Chinese thieves, brigands, swindlers andcut-throats. And yet he was not dreaming: he was conscious of aheadache; both his knees and elbows had been badly bruised; and besides,Yung How, who had once been wont to take a small five-year-old boy forwalks upon the level paths on the crest of the Peak, had known him, hadfallen upon his knees before him, and had wept tears of repentance.
Whilst the boy was busy with these thoughts, he was carrying out hisduties. He had arranged the couches, lighted the spirit-lamps, and seenthat there was one of Ah Wu's best carved ivory opium pipes upon eachlacquer table.
By that time Cheong-Chau and his three companions, attended by theofficious Ah Wu, had ascended the stairs. Cheong-Chau's eyes glistenedat the thought of the treat in store for him; while his men--roughChinese of the very lowest class--stared about them in awed amazement atthe carved wood, the rich draperies, the gilded lacquer that adorned AhWu's premises. Doubtless they had never before found themselves in sucha high-class establishment. They had been wont to smoke their opium inthe foul and verminous dens of the provincial town of Pinglo. Possiblythey had never before beheld the miraculous city of Canton.
Frank observed all this, and knew that he could find here the reason whyhe had not been recognised. The men were too much impressed by theirsurroundings to take note of details. Place a beggar in a palace, andhe will most likely fail to notice the pattern of the carpet upon whichhe stands, even though he stare in his embarrassment at nothing else.
Cheong-Chau stretched himself upon the couch immediately facing thestair-head. His three followers similarly disposed themselves upon hisleft, the one at the end reclining under the window through which YungHow had escaped.
Ah Wu rubbed his hands together and addressed himself to the brigand.
"They tell me," said he, "that one of your prisoners has cut off?"
"That is so," said Cheong-Chau, with an oath. "The fools of sentrieslet him through. He got away in the night. I and ten men started atdaybreak, bringing with us the two other captives, but so far we havefailed to find the culprit."
Frank, standing near at hand, listened intently to every word. The boyhad placed himself against the wall, a little behind Cheong-Chau, sothat the man would have to turn to look at him.
"Can he have reached Hong-Kong, do you think?" asked Ah Wu.
Cheong-Chau shrugged his shoulders.
"I think not," said he. "He has barely had time. But who can say?"
"And you have brought your other captives with you?"
"That was necessary," said Cheong-Chau. "I had to keep them under myeye. I cannot trust my men. They allow hostages to escape."
"Did you not find them very much in the way?" asked Ah Wu.
"Not in the least. We came down in one of my own sea-going junks. Weare now anchored in the Sang River, about two miles from the Glade ofChildren's Tears. Still, I am not here to give information but toreceive it. What news have you of Men-Ching?"
"He left here yesterday morning," answered the other, without moving amuscle of his face.
"Did he not say where he was going?"
"Not a word."
"Strange," said Cheong-Chau. "A surprising circumstance! He knew wellenough that you were in our confidence. He ought to have spoken openlyto you."
Ah W
u laughed.
"Of course," said he. "Why, it was I myself who arranged the wholematter."
"And what of the other man, Yung How, the Hong-Kong servant?"
"He also is gone."
Cheong-Chau was silent a moment.
"We must suppose," said he, "that Men-Ching has gone on to Hong-Kongwith the letters. We may therefore presume that the letters havealready reached their destination. The money may arrive at the Gladeto-morrow. As for Yung How, I do not know the man. But if hecontemplates treachery, it will go ill with him. And now, Ah Wu, myopium. I would smoke."
Ah Wu turned to the boy and ordered him to bring four bowls of Indianopium from the storeroom. Frank descended the stairs, passed down thelength of the lower room, drew back the embroidered curtains and enteredthe storeroom, where he found Ling seated upon a stool. It was one ofthose high stools upon which Chinese of the merchant class are wont todo their accounts, similar to the old-fashioned clerks' stools sometimesseen in offices in England. When seated upon one of these, the averageman rests his feet upon a cross-piece, several inches from the ground.Ling, however, sat with one foot upon the floor and the other legcrossed upon his knee.
When the boy entered, Ling was reading, but he at once looked up fromhis book.
"The writings of Confucius," said he, "assure me that the perfect lifecannot be attained by any man. Troubles, disappointment, sorrows andfailure are bound to accompany us wherever we go. Divine philosophyinstructs us to accept our destiny with grace. The coat of every man ispatched; there are cracks in the armour upon which he depends to defendhimself from the arrows of adversity. He who thinks himself infalliblefalls the most heavily; the conceited man lays the trap by which hehimself is caught; his own vanity trips him up. He who attempts much,hopes for much, but is prepared to go unrewarded, is he to whom successis doubly assured. I trust, my youthful friend, you follow me."
"Perfectly," said Frank.
"That is well," said Ling, laying down his book. "And now we willpoison Cheong-Chau."
"Poison him!" exclaimed the boy.
"Fear not," said Ling. "Send him comfortably to sleep--a sleep thatwill last for some days. By then I shall have gathered the harvest atthe Glade of Children's Tears, and you, my little one, will befree--your heart's sole desire."
He turned and picked up a large pale blue bowl in which he had stirred aquantity of opium, mixing it with a colourless fluid contained in abottle.
"There are four of them, I understand?" said he.
"Yes," said Frank.
"It is as well," observed Ling, "that I have made enough. I fill foursmall bowls--one for each. These fools will not taste anything; theywill not suspect. They will smoke and dream, and enjoy to the full thedelights of opium. And they will fall gradually into such a sleep thatthe firing of a cannon in the room would not awaken them."
He handed to the boy the four small bowls upon a tray of carved blackwood.
"Take it," said he, "and leave me to my reading. Happiness is to befound in wisdom, not wisdom in happiness. In prosperity the heartwithers; in adversity, it blooms. Farewell."
Frank went out, holding the tray before him, and ascended the flight ofsteps.