CHAPTER XX--HOW THE TIGER SPRANG
Upon the balcony Frank found Cheong-Chau still in conversation with AhWu. No one would have suspected from the demeanour of the fatproprietor of the opium den that he plotted the overthrow of theredoubtable brigand chief. The man was all smiles and Chinese courtesy.He rubbed his hands together; he flattered his guest; he bowedrepeatedly. Frank advanced, carrying the tray upon which were the fourbowls of opium.
"Ah!" exclaimed Ah Wu. "We have here the choice opium of which I spoke.I guarantee that the distinguished Cheong-Chau has never smoked the likeof it. I procure it from an agent in Burma. This, I believe, is theonly house in China in which it is sold."
"I thank you, Ah Wu," said the brigand, who had divested himself of thegreater part of his clothing. "I thank you from my heart. I am a roughman, accustomed to the wilds. Such luxuries seldom come my way. At thesame time, Ah Wu, who is this boy? It occurs to me that I have seen himbefore."
The man was staring at Frank, who felt his heart sink within him. AhWu's answer, given without hesitation, was somewhat reassuring.
"He has been here," said Ah Wu, "for many months."
"Strange," said Cheong-Chau, "that I have never seen him before!"
Frank was, at first, at a loss to explain what motive Ah Wu could havefor telling such a deliberate falsehood. It then occurred to him thatAh Wu could not explain truthfully who he was without mentioning Ling;and it was--from Ah Wu's point of view--of extreme importance to keepthe name of Ling out of the whole affair. If Cheong-Chau but knew thatthe great Honanese was in the building, he would not have remained inthe place for five seconds, much less would he have been so careless asto allow his physical and mental capacities to be temporarily subdued bythe subtle fumes of the opium poppy.
"Come here, boy," said Cheong-Chau, who had not yet removed his eyesfrom Frank. "I want to look at you more closely."
The boy went forward in fear and trembling. Cheong-Chau grasped him bya wrist, and drew him downward, so that their faces were not more than afoot apart.
"You bear," said Cheong-Chau, speaking very deliberately, "a mostremarkable resemblance to the very man I am looking for. What is yourname?"
"Ah Li," said Frank.
The boy's heart was beating like a sledgehammer. He felt instinctivelythat the Sword of Damocles, which had been suspended for so long abovehis head, was at last about to fall. That the result would be fatal tohimself, and those whose lives depended upon him, he could not for amoment doubt.
"I come from Sanshui," said he, in a weak voice that quailed.
Cheong-Chau suddenly rose to his feet and lifted his voice to a kind ofshriek. It was the voice Frank had heard when Cheong-Chau addressed hisfollowers in the gloomy nave of the temple; it was the same voice theman had used on the occasion when he staggered into the cave, senselessand drugged with opium.
"It is in my way of thinking," he shouted, "that you come fromHong-Kong, that your name is no more Ah Li than mine is, that you are aforeign devil in disguise!"
Ah Wu opened his eyes in astonishment. He lifted both hands withfingers widespread. He looked like an old woman who has seen a ghost.
"There is some mistake!" he cried.
"This boy," roared Cheong-Chau, "is a foreigner."
His voice was so loud that it carried to the farther end of the room.Everyone heard his words, and those who were not asleep raisedthemselves upon their elbows to ascertain what the disturbance wasabout. Behind the embroidered curtains the mighty Ling, who had beenlistening to all that was said, crouching like a cat, rose stealthilyand slowly to his feet. He was like a great beast of prey that suddenlyscents danger. It was as if he stretched the great muscles of his body,preparatory to action.
"You are a foreigner!" cried Cheong-Chau.
Frank knew not which way to look. He had put down the tray upon a smalllacquer table by the side of Cheong-Chau's couch. The brigand stillheld him tightly by a wrist. Realising that he could not deny the truthof the man's words, the boy made a foolish, headstrong effort to escape.With a quick wrench, he freed his arm, and turned upon his heel with theintention of dashing down the steps. Since subterfuge had failed, hefelt that he had nothing else to rely upon but physical agility.
He had almost reached the head of the stairs when Ah Wu stretched fortha hand to detain him. It is strange that the boy's exposure should havebeen brought about by Ah Wu, in whose interests it was for the deceptionto continue--at least, whilst Cheong-Chau was in the house.
Ah Wu attempted to seize the boy by a shoulder, and failing in this, heclutched at Frank's pigtail, which was flying out behind him. Needlessto say, as the boy plunged down the stairs, he left behind him his falsepigtail in the hands of the dumbfounded Ah Wu. Before he could stophimself, Frank was at the bottom of the stairs, and there, for the firsttime, he remembered that he would have to pass Ling at the outer door.
For the brief space of a moment, Frank looked about him like a huntedbeast. He could see no way of escape. Ling, he knew, was in front ofhim, though not visible. The back door was locked. There were nowindows in the lower room. On the other hand, escape from one of thebalcony windows was impossible, for Cheong-Chau and his three followersstood at the stair-head. The voice of Cheong-Chau filled the room,uttering, in a weird, sing-song voice, a kind of triumphant paean.
"I am Cheong-Chau," he cried, "and men fear me from the Nan-lingMountains to the sea. I have hunted down the fugitive and I have foundhim. Those who foil me can expect no mercy. I live by the knife, andmy enemies die by the knife. Death to foreign devils!"
At that, he dashed down the stairs. As he did so he drew from his belta long, curved Chinese knife, which he raised high above his head.
Frank turned and fled down the room, but Cheong-Chau was upon him as acat springs at a mouse. The boy was caught by the coat, and jerkedbackward. With difficulty he maintained his balance. Looking up, hebeheld Cheong-Chau's knife raised on high, whilst the man's eyes werefixed upon the region of the boy's heart.
"By the knife!" shrieked Cheong-Chau. "By the knife!"
The cruel weapon glittered in the light emanating from the paraffinlamps. Frank closed his eyes, knowing that the end was about to come.He felt that he had not strength to look longer into that impassionedface.
Then, quite suddenly, there came a roar like that of a charging lion.Frank was pushed aside and sent flying across the room, to pitch, headforemost, over an unoccupied couch. Gathering himself together, hebeheld a feat of strength that was amazing.
"THERE CAME A ROAR LIKE THAT OF A CHARGING LION."]
The mighty Ling had swooped down upon his rival as an eagle snatches hisprey. A blow from his great fist sounded like a pistol shot, andCheong-Chau, without a sound, fell in a heap senseless on the floor. Andthen two of the brigand's followers were seized by the throat, and theirtwo heads were brought together with a crash. One man pitched forwardon the instant, and lay upon his face, flat across the body of hisleader. As for the other, he went reeling round the room like a mandazed and drunken. Then he dropped down upon both knees by the side ofa couch, holding his head between his hands.
The third man turned and fled in trepidation at the sight of the fate ofhis comrades. However, he had gone no farther than half-way up thestairs, when Ling snatched up one of the small lacquer tables, andhurled it at the fugitive with such force that it crashed to atomsagainst the banisters. This projectile was followed, a fraction of asecond later, by a lighted paraffin lamp, which stretched the mansenseless upon the balcony at the feet of the amazed Ah Wu.
All this had happened in less than a minute. Frank Armitage had onlyjust time to observe that the lamp had fortunately gone out, and thatthere was no danger of the place being set on fire. And then he himselfwas plucked violently from off his feet.
Ling had picked him up as though he were a babe in arms. In his hasteand violence, the man tore down the embroidered curtains. Frank heardthe front door slam, and then
he was conscious of the fact that he wasbeing borne onward at a terrific pace, through the dark and narrowstreets of the great Chinese city.