CHAPTER XIX

A Fight to a Finish

'Monsieur, I see men coming across the plain, and they are hurrying,'

said Alphonse, one early morning, bursting unceremoniously into the huge apartment which the diggers had discovered in the ruins, and which for nearly a month now had served as quarters for the Professor's party.

Indeed, thanks no doubt to the preservative nature of the material which for ages now had covered up the ancient Mongolian city, there had been no difficulty in finding room for all engaged in the work of excavating.

'_Monsieur le Professeur_, it would be well to come above with me and see who it is who comes,' cried Alphonse again, striding across to the little cot occupied by his employer. 'I declare to you, I was above lighting the fire so as to boil the water for a cup of tea when, in the far distance, I saw figures. There were many of them. They were hastening hither as if they were pursued.'

It took the Professor and his two young comrades less than two minutes, perhaps, to jump into their clothing, when all hastened out of the apartment, and pa.s.sing along the ancient covered way, clambered up the steep, log-paved steps which led to the surface. It was a glorious morning, with a cold, wintery sun flooding the dreary landscape, and shining upon the uneven surface of sand where it lay over the ruins, and on the tower, tottering near the centre, the same which had attracted David so often.

'See!' cried Alphonse, dancing to the top of the steps as if he were standing on hot bricks. 'See, there are thirty of the figures at least, and now they are running.'

The Professor instantly threw up his field-gla.s.ses and fixed them upon the advancing strangers. There was a look of anxiety on his face when he lowered them again.

'Call Chu-Li and the other soldiers,' he commanded abruptly. 'Issue arms to Ho-Hung and our other servants, and tell the diggers we may need their help. David, those are the people who once helped you and your comrades when you were attacked by wolves in the open. They are running here as if they were pursued. I fear we are in for trouble, and had better make our preparations now.'

At a sign from the Professor, David doubled out from the ruins, so as to meet the men who were running towards them, and was soon in conversation with the headman, who panted so hard that he could hardly explain himself. But halting for a few moments he managed to tell his tale.

'It is as I have feared,' he said breathlessly. 'The country to the east of us is in a turmoil. Scarcely a day pa.s.ses that stray parties fleeing from the plague scourge do not demand food from us, often with threats, while one village has to my knowledge been burned, and every soul within it murdered. The night before last we received news that a thousand men were marching south and west, and had turned in our direction from the more direct course, as soldiers had been sent to intercept them. They pa.s.sed the night in a village ten miles from us, and ruthlessly robbed every one. Those who opposed them were killed. It was clear that they would serve us in the same manner, and for that reason we left hastily, bringing what possessions we could, as well as a supply of provisions. This morning the invading army was within sight of us, for they carry nothing but their clothes.'

'And are now near at hand?' demanded David eagerly, for common-sense and sc.r.a.ps of news which had reached him told him that the danger was real.

The people of Manchuria, and portions of Mongolia, had in fact gone stark staring mad in the past few weeks. Black plague was upon them, and was decimating whole villages, while those not attacked were fleeing towards Pekin regardless of the consequences, and without having made provision for such a journey. And as a natural sequence they were soon on the borders of starvation.

'There's not a doubt that we have come to China at a most unfortunate time,' the Professor had declared. 'If I had heard of the plague in this district before we sailed, I should have delayed my departure. But it is always the same with severe epidemics. There is a case here, and another there at first; then, suddenly, the disease blazes out in all directions, spreads like wild-fire, and creates pandemonium and terror everywhere. China is a country less prepared for such an event almost than any other, for the people are so intensely ignorant. You see they think to escape by rushing away from the infected areas, forgetting that in every case they carry the infection with them.'

'There was news from a place forty miles to the east that a band had taken up its quarters in a town of small proportions, and were terrorising the inhabitants,' David reminded himself. 'Tell me,' he asked of the headman, who had now almost recovered his breath, 'what is there to fear from these fellows? A thousand strong you place them?'

'There is that number at least, Excellency. As to their intentions, I tell you they will eat up all before them. Already they have emptied every sack and bin in our village. That was two nights ago, or almost so. By now they are starving once more, and will seize the first provisions which come their way. They will know at once that men have been camping here. They will investigate, and will gather the fact that it is a European expedition, and therefore rich. That will be enough for this army of frightened people, for though the thought of plague terrifies them, they fear nothing else. Hunger makes them terribly savage. They will murder us all if we do nothing to prevent them.'

'If that's the case I shall certainly object, and pretty strongly,' said David, with a decision which seemed to put heart into the headman.

'Bring your men along. We will see at once what can be done.'

They found on their return to the entrance of the stairway that the Professor and his helpers had been wonderfully busy. Every article of value had been carried down from the surface, while even the ponies had been transported bodily and placed in a position of safety.

'We've done all that's possible, I imagine,' said the leader. 'Now we have only to wait and see what happens. I trust these people will pa.s.s without giving us a call. Perhaps they will miss us altogether.'

'I hardly think so,' ventured David. 'The headman tells me that they are wonderfully well informed, and that they have come round this way so as to avoid soldiers sent to arrest their progress, and who are situated at this moment about forty miles to the east. Wouldn't it be as well to send a message across to their commanding officer?'

The Professor jumped at the suggestion. He hastily scrawled a message in Chinese, explaining the situation, and then, having caused two of the ponies to be carried to the surface again, he despatched one of the soldiers with the note.

'Ride fast,' he ordered. 'If these men attack us we shall have need of all the help that can be sent.'

No one who caught a glimpse of the fleeing army from Manchuria could doubt that statement, for a more tattered and desperate set David had never set his eyes on. They reached the excavation works in a straggling ma.s.s of hollow-eyed people, many of whom were almost too weak to drag one foot after the other. But there were strong men amongst them, in spite of their sunken cheeks, men whose blazing eyes and hungry looks showed that nothing but superior force would prevent their carrying out whatever they aimed at. Nor did they leave the Professor and his party long in doubt as to their intentions. A couple of ragged but huge men came down the stairway, their pigtails swaying from side to side, and called hoa.r.s.ely to any one who might be in hearing. The Professor at once showed himself at the door of the apartment which he and his friends were occupying.

'What do you wish?' he asked.

'Food; give us food,' cried one of the men, not as if he were asking for a favour, but as if for something that he would as soon take by force.

'I will give you three bags of rice; that is all we can spare,' answered the Professor steadily.

'Hear him! Three bags of rice, when we know he has a pile. Hear the foreign devil, brother,' shouted one of the men, the one who had not previously spoken. 'Listen, foreign devil,' he bellowed, as if he wished to terrorise the Professor by the force of his voice, 'we will be satisfied with fifty.'

'Three is the allowance I will make; take it or leave it,' came the curt answer.

'And you refuse more?'

The Professor nodded coolly. 'We refuse more; we have to provide for our own needs.'

'Then we will take every sack you have, and strip you of all your possessions. You have had fair warning.'

Without the smallest indication of what he intended doing the rascal levelled a pistol, and fired point blank at the Professor, sending a bullet crashing against the ancient doorpost. Then the two men turned and swaggered up the stairs, calling loudly to their comrades. Nor was it long before the latter put in an appearance.

'They will attack us without fail,' said the headman, when appealed to by the Professor. 'In fact, you may say that they are bound to do so, for the next place where they can possibly obtain food is more than a day's march from here. Also, no doubt, they have learned that you have a goodly store, and fancying you to be an easy prey they will fight to take everything from you, thereby supplying the needs of all in the band till they arrive in the neighbourhood of Pekin.'

'What arms do they carry?' asked David, suddenly.

'A few have pistols and guns, but the majority carry knives or swords, and a few pikes. But it is their numbers which make them formidable.'

There was little doubt that that was the true aspect of the affair, for this army of people flying from Manchuria, and rendered desperate by their hunger were dangerous even if unarmed. Their huge numbers told wonderfully in their favour, while the ease with which they had wiped out other parties had given them confidence. The situation was, in fact, one of extreme danger.

'Hadn't we better block up every sort of place through which they could fire?' asked David. 'We can easily leave port-holes for ourselves, and if we place them properly we shall be able to command the stairway. I rather think, too, that it would be as well to set our diggers at work to discover a way out of this apartment. We may be so hard pressed that flight will be necessary.'

The suggestion was one which the Professor eagerly accepted, and as promptly adopted. Calling Ho-Hung he set him to work to organise some of the diggers, and requested David to supervise the work they were to do until the enemy appeared in sight. Then every available man was pressed into the task of blocking up the wide doorway leading to this ancient house, and in filling the only window. But in spite of the many helpers the task was only half completed when there was a commotion above. The two ragam.u.f.fins who had descended and so haughtily demanded food appeared in sight, leading a huge following to the stairway. Those who led bore with them the trunk of a tree felled a week before to serve as fire-wood, but now intended to be used as a species of ram.

'Silence!' called the Professor. 'Let every man go on with his work quietly and take advantage of every second we have. Use anything you can lay your hands on to help the barricades so long as it be not provisions. Ah, they are coming in their hundreds.'

The wide stairway which the men employed by the Professor had made as they proceeded with their work, and which they had paved with stout tree branches, was now crammed with men who presented a terrible spectacle.

For, whereas in former attacks David had noticed that the Chinese advanced with loud shouts, these people crowded down the stairway in a stony silence that was remarkable. Not one but wore a haggard appearance. Their faces were pinched without exception, while in every pair of eyes there was a desperate look, something altogether savage that reminded him of the eyes of the wolves which had so recently surrounded himself and his three comrades.

'One can see that it is not a question of bearing us ill will,' he whispered in the Professor's ear. 'It is a case of sheer necessity.

Either they must secure what we have, or they will starve.'

'It is they or us, David,' answered the Professor solemnly. 'If I had food in abundance, willingly would I give it. But were I to dole out all we have, there would hardly be enough to go the round of this mult.i.tude, and even so we ourselves would starve. Tell me, what are the diggers doing?'

'Cutting a hole through the wall at the back, Sir. We thought it sounded hollow, and have an idea that there may be another covered way there.

They will make only a hole large enough to let us get through with the ponies, so that we can easily fill it again. What are you going to do with these fellows?'

'Warn them that we shall defend our goods. Then leave it to them to clear off or to make the first attack. I hate firing at poor wretches such as these are, but, candidly, I look upon them as infinitely more dangerous than a well-fed mob.'

Rearing his head over the top of the barricade with which the doorway was now almost completely blocked, the Professor called loudly to the mob, and at once they came to a halt. Perhaps three hundred pair of hungry eyes were directed on his face.

'Good people,' he called, 'I beg of you to retire and be satisfied with what I have already said. If I feed you all, my stores will but allow for one meal at most, while I and my men must starve. Go, therefore, for if you persist I warn you I will defend this place till I and all are killed.'

A loud chorus of shouts greeted his words. Men shook their fists at him and brandished a hundred different weapons, while the very mention of food seemed to madden the desperate individuals. Then the rascal who had fired at the Professor, and who was leading the band, once more lifted his weapon and sent a second bullet thudding against the doorpost.

'Listen to him, comrades,' he bellowed. 'He admits that he has food there sufficient for all of us. Are then we who own the country to starve while foreign devils live on the fat of the land? Forward! We have cleared more than one roost now with more bantams in it to stand in our way.'