CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
"NOT A BIT DEAD."
"What will you do about poor Wing?" said Stan the morning after hisreturn, when he was out on the wharf, all the better for bed, bath, andbreakfast.
"Wait," said Blunt, frowning.
"Wait? In such an emergency, with the poor fellow regularly murdered?"
"We don't know that yet, youngster," said the manager. "You did not seehim murdered, and you did not see his body."
"No; but--"
"Exactly; but I've known Wing longer than you have. He is a very quietfellow, but he is full of resource, and being amongst hisfellow-countrymen, I think it very doubtful about his having beenkilled."
"I only hope you are right," said Stan; "but there was a desperatefight."
"No--not desperate. You see that though you were one they looked uponas an enemy they did not kill you, and evidently never intended anythingof the kind."
"Well, no; I don't think they meant to kill me."
"I'm sure they did not. If they had, they would have done it. In fact,I hardly know why they took you at all. It seems to me more out of idlerecklessness than anything else; a party of rough soldiery with nothingto do, and under very little control. They have some discipline, but itis very slight. It's a rarity for them to get any pay, even when theyare on duty. There seems to have been a detachment hanging about thegate of the city, doing as they pleased, and dependent upon the peoplecoming in to the market for their supplies. They saw you, a stranger,passing the place; and as there was no one to check them, they followedand pounced upon you."
"But what for?"
"Ah! what for? I can only place one construction upon the act."
"And what is that?" asked Stan.
"The one you suggested."
"I? I suggested none."
"Yes--by your words. What did you say they did?"
"Nothing but behave to me in a very insulting way, and refuse to carry amessage or fetch help."
"Yes, they did."
"Yes, I see what you mean. The insolent creatures! They treated mejust as if I were another monkey."
"To be sure; and made a show of you."
"Yes," said Stan, beginning to swell with indignation. "Brought no endof people into the yard beyond the bars of the prison grating."
"And who were the people?"
"Oh, I don't know. Rough-looking country-folk."
"To be sure. People coming in from the country; and if we knew thetruth of the matter, depend upon it, they took some toll in some kind ofprovisions for giving them a peep at the Tchili monkey and the foreigndevil they had caught."
"Oh, I say, Mr Blunt, don't!" cried Stan quickly. "It's horrible.It's so degrading."
"Well, it was not pleasant, my lad," said the manager, smiling; "but youcouldn't help its being degrading, and you gave them the slip."
"But you'll send a report to my father and uncle, so that they can laythe matter before the Consul?"
"I will if you like; but if I do, it will be a very long business. Itwill be to maintain the English dignity, but only at the expense of afew poor wretches in a distant part of the country, who will be takenand bastinadoed--perhaps decapitated."
"Oh! I don't wish that," cried Stan quickly.
"Whether you wish it or not it will be done, to quiet the foreignsettlers and traders and to keep up our prestige. It may be right, onlythe mischief is that the right men will not be punished."
"What! not the soldiers?"
"No," said Blunt; "they'll escape for certain. The mandarins will nevercatch them."
"Then I shouldn't like to feel that I had been the cause of thepunishment of innocent people. But I do feel that such a crime as themurder of poor Wing ought not to go unpunished."
"So do I," said Blunt; "and it must not. But, as I say, we don't knowthat he is dead yet."
"But where is he?"
"I don't know: Let's wait a bit and see. It is quite possible that heis making his way back by land, as the boat was sent home, and it may bedays yet before we see him. It is quite as possible that we may not seehim for a long time, for he will be afraid to show his face here onaccount of losing you."
"But he'll get to know that I escaped," cried Stan.
"Some day, perhaps. Then he'll come--delighted. Let's wait, for it maybe some days or weeks, hanging about as he will be in the country, whichis terribly unsettled, as I have just learned, by a fresh incursion ofpirates and disbanded soldiers. Wait, my lad--wait. By-and-by perhapsI may be able to come down heavily upon one of the up-country mandarinsfor compensation; but we shall see. China is a place where matters movevery slowly, and law and order are very seldom at home. I don't likethe news at all that I have been hearing about what is going onup-country. It hinders trade, too. I'm very glad, however, that youare safely back, instead of being weeks wandering about from plantationto plantation."
"Then you feel pretty sure that Wing is not dead?"
"No, not pretty sure," replied Blunt; "only very hopeful about his beingalive. What do you think of that?"
"That I feel much better satisfied. It would have been bad enough ifany poor servant of the _hong_ had suffered, but horrible for Wing tohave come to so sudden an end. I liked Wing."
"So did--So do I," said Blunt, correcting himself. "Cheer up. He'llcome along smiling some day, as soon as he hears you are back."
Something happened much sooner than either of the Europeans at the_hong_ anticipated.
The next day Stan talked a good deal with Lawrence, the foreman of thecoolies, and several of the clerks about Wing's absence, and could notfind one who believed that the man was dead.
"Unless he has fallen amongst pirates," said Lawrence. "That would bedifferent. He had charge of you, and he lost you. _Ergo_, as the oldfellow in Shakespeare says, he's afraid to meet Mr Blunt. I shouldfeel just the same if I were Mr Wing."
Stan felt more encouraged still; and the very next morning, as he wasgoing through the big warehouse, his attention was suddenly caught by afigure stepping out of a small _sampan_ which had just reached the sideafter crossing the river.
"Hi! Mr Blunt!" cried Stan. "Look through that window. Isn't thatWing?"
"Wing?" replied the manager thoughtfully as he bent down to examine theChinese brand on one of a stack of tea-chests. "Not likely yet. He hasa long way to come overland."
"But I'm sure I saw him step out of a boat on to the wharf."
"Hardly likely. These fellows look so much alike in their blue frocksand glazed hats. Where did you see him?--Why, hullo! Well done! It ishe after all."
For just then the object of their conversation came slowly in throughthe open door, ragged, worn out, and dejected, the very shadow of thetrim, neat Chinaman familiar to Stan. Coming out of the brightsunshine, he stood with puckered face blinking and looking about, and soweak and weary that he seemed to be glad to hold on by the first pile ofbales he reached.
There he stood, peering about till he dimly made out the tall, upright,unmistakable figure of the manager in his white garb, when he made adeprecating movement with his hands as if about to salaam like a Hindu,and he was in the act of bending down when he suddenly saw Stan.
In an instant the man's whole manner was changed. Throwing up hishands, he uttered a hoarse cry, and ran forward to throw himself uponhis knees at the lad's feet, flinging his arms about his legs, and thenburst forth into a fit of sobbing, crying like a woman, and the nextminute laughing hysterically.
"Wing t'ink young Lynn go dead. Wing t'ink bad soljee man killee deadyoung Lynn. Oh deah! oh deah! Come along. Walkee allee way telleeMisteh Blunt. Ha, ha, ha! Allee light now. Give poo' Wing eateedlinkee. Feel dleadful bad. Allee light now. Oolay! oolay! oolay!"
The poor fellow began his cheer fairly, but ended it in a miserablesqueak, and then loosened his grasp of Lynn, and pressing hissleeve-covered hands to his mouth to stifle the hysterical criesstruggling to escape, he began to rock himself to and fr
o; while Stan,who felt touched by the poor fellow's display of emotion, stood pattinghis shoulder and trying to calm him.
"No, no, Wing; not a bit dead," he said, with a husky laugh. "They tookme prisoner and shut me up. Why, I've been thinking you were killed.What became of you? How did you get away from the brutes?"
"Wing tellee soon. Wing tellee soon. Allee chokee chokee. Got floateevelly full. Makee cly like big boy so glad young Lynn allee 'live."
"Well, it makes me ready to laugh to find you're alive," said Stan,though his features did not endorse his words. "Here, tell us where youhave been."
"Evelywheh," said the poor fellow. "Bad soljee put big pitchfolks toWing, makee lun away. Keep folly Wing. Wing tly come back. Soljee putpitch-folk to Wing back and dlive light away. Makee lun velly fass.Come light away tell Misteh Blunt. Allee way soljee, allee way pilate.Wing wantee lie down and die. Wantee come tellee young Lynn plisneh.Wing t'inkee nevah get back to _hong_. Come at las' find young Lynnallee 'live. Wing leady lie down die now."
The poor fellow sank over sideways as he said the last words veryfeebly, and it was quite evident that he was not very far from death'sdoor through his exhaustion.
"Poor beggar!" said Blunt gruffly. "There's no deception here. Getsomething out for the poor fellow at once, Lawrence. Look at him; hemust have suffered horribly. He looks as if he has been travellingnight and day. My word! I'll never think him a coward again. Fancycoming to meet me with such news as that! I should have been ready tokill him if it had been true."