The peasants shook their heads.

"How is it possible to talk of security, when we fear at any moment the resumption of fighting? As it is, until the _kaoliang_ is cut there will be no protection from the robber-bands who lurk in the tall grain far and wide, following close on the heels of the soldiers."

"Robber bands!" cried the wool-dealers despairingly, starting up with fear.

"Yes," chorussed the peasants. "Here the bands have made so much in ransoms that they can afford to rest a while from their labours--everything has been taken from us, all our poor savings. But the country to the southeast is not yet clear. We have just heard of a man at Ko-chuan who has been carried off and held for a big sum, the ransom even including firearms. Such is the audacity of these brigands that they force their victims to send their families into the towns to buy their weapons. We ourselves were watching your honourable selves approaching, fearing some wile or stratagem; for often does it happen that these men ply their trade in the guise of innocent travellers."

The oldest of the three wool-dealers, who had grey hair and a face mottled from over-indulgence in wine, gave voice to his fears openly and unashamedly. But w.a.n.g the Ninth smiled to himself, greatly relieved. Now he knew that these three would never dare to go to the southeast to reach the coast.

"This is indeed a country without administration! The people are oppressed by dangers from within and without and it is impossible to know where to flee for safety. And the Sword Society, have we them also to expect?" Although the old wool-dealer ended the phrase indignantly, he used a polite term for fear that there might be adherents listening.

"They are those also inside the walls--" rejoined one of the countrymen, pointing to the township. "But at the beginning of the trouble the soldiers fired on them for failing to make good their promise that they were invulnerable and could instantly defeat the foreign devils. They are not highly valued here."

"We are saved from one ceremony," rejoined the dealer irately. "Six times have I kowtowed in the dust since the Sword Society was established."

"The day is not early," interrupted w.a.n.g the Ninth, anxious to make retreat impossible. "We have learnt all there is to learn. Those who intend to proceed had better delay no longer since night will soon fall."

He had been squatting motionless on his b.u.t.tocks--tracing designs in the mud with his staff whilst his quick eyes looked slily from one speaker to another. Now he rose and picked his way forward through the mora.s.s which lay ahead of them, plunging and sliding in the mud and often pausing to take breath. The heavy rain had reduced this low-lying ground to a veritable quagmire, making progress very difficult even for one as unburdened as he was. As for the unfortunate wool-dealers, laden with their heavy saddlebags, they had not gone far before their cries of distress became hearty and real. They were so badly mired that it was necessary for the others to lend a hand in dragging them out.

At last they gained the tumble-down gate of the township, splashed to the shoulders and panting and sweating. Errant dogs barked at them; but the shuttered and miserable aspect of the main street showed that the place had been totally deserted by the inhabitants.

The eldest wool-dealer was now quite exhausted and raised his voice in loud, piteous complaints.

"I should have never undertaken this journey," he exclaimed, stopping short to wipe the perspiration from his lined face. "From early morning have I had great misgivings which have oppressed me. Ruin is better than such travels."

"_Tso_--let us proceed," said w.a.n.g the Ninth stoutly, aiming a blow at a barking cur which ran off yelping. "We shall find a sleeping-place somehow. In any case it is too late to turn back, for whither should we go?"

He walked on briskly, peering keenly in every direction, and not at all alarmed, for he knew that no one would hurt a boy when there were men with saddlebags accompanying him.

The township had indeed been picked clean by looters--that was amply clear from the ruined appearance of every shop front. The robbers had vied with the soldiers, and what was left had been rejected by both. But at last they reached a big caravansary that in times of peace catered to the cart-trade; and there sitting at a broken table in the central yard was a single servant eating his evening meal as if nothing had happened.

The man declared that he had been left by his master with the promise of a great reward if he saved the premises from fire; but as for food or lodging there was nothing to be had.

A great parleying ensued; and finally in return for hard cash hidden food was produced. When w.a.n.g the Ninth had eaten his share he felt extraordinarily drowsy. Going into the first rough room he could find, he stretched himself on the raised brick _k'ang_ and fell instantly asleep.

The talk about robbers, however, made him dream bad dreams and he saw whole hosts of evil men who conspired to torture him. Yet through it all--in spite of his alarm--he always seemed to see his master, and to hear the same strange foreign words which had urged him forward before.

Once in the night he awoke with a cry, fearing for his life, and peered out. Then he saw through the broken paper windows the three wool-dealers still sitting in the courtyard drinking wine from their leather bottles and babbling their fears. The shadows from the waning moon made them look queer and strange; they were like men submerged. Half their bodies was hidden in darkness, and only when they lifted their arms to drink could he trace them clearly. The inn-servant, who had been included in this jollification, was asleep with his head on the table. His loud breathing was punctuated by groans as though the wine he had drunk was torturing him. Silently the boy crept back to his rough couch and slept once more.

When morning came he went out down the street to see whatever there was to see; but he met no one or saw no signs of life, excepting a miserable beggar who disappeared at once and whom he had no wish to follow. On returning to the inn he waited until the wool-dealers were awake; and then gave them a long account of his observations.

"It's a bad business. Everything has been taken, not a mule, not an animal, not a pig, not a chicken is to be found. There's a few beggars--that is all. My uncle, whom I came to find, has fled with the rest and all my journeying has proved fruitless."

"Then what will you do?" they inquired.

"I have no plan," he rejoined, making his face look very glum. "I must take things as I find them."

But soon afterwards, when he found the eldest wool-dealer alone, he made this proposition to him:

"My money is exhausted, so only for my food will I travel with you, finding the road and giving you early warning of danger. It will be well for you to have such a one as me, since I am fleet off foot and not timid by nature."

"We shall see, we shall see," rejoined the old man testily. "The cost is unimportant, but first must we wait here to discover the nature of the road ahead of us."

All that day was spent in fitful debate. The inn-servant, who declared he was of this district, for a handsome bribe undertook to find out from villagers the state of the road towards the next township which was ten miles off. But w.a.n.g the Ninth, who followed him stealthily, found that he went nowhere, only sitting down for a long time on a block of stone in a back street where he was well hidden; and finally returning to say that there was no trace of soldiers and that all was quiet within a great radius. w.a.n.g the Ninth began to suspect that he was in league with the robbers, and that was why he dared to remain in a place where there were hardly a dozen souls. But these suspicions he kept to himself for he was forming his plan.

That night he explained it privately to the eldest wool-dealer, drawing lines on the ground to show his meaning. He said:

"I have discovered that the river to the sea is only a few _li_ distant from here, and that all the country is so badly flooded that if we cross the stream we can go by boat through the marshes for a long way. Then we can reach a point only a few _li_ distant from the harbour. There will be no soldiers about, for what would soldiers be doing in marshes? As for the inn-servant he is a rascal. It would be well to leave here before he attempts some dangerous game."

The wool-dealer was so impressed by this common-sense that he called the others, and after much discussion it was finally settled that the next day they would make the attempt.

At dawn they started, creeping out of the inn very carefully so as to give no hint of their departure to the inn-servant who lay soundly asleep. They were out of the township very soon, seeing only two people who ran and hid the moment they caught sight of them. Now hastening due south they made for the river.

The sandy roads had greatly dried during the time they had delayed in the town; and now it was possible to keep to the paths which led from village to village. A couple of hours from the township they fell in with some men who were travelling in the same direction; and after these had heard where they had pa.s.sed two nights they congratulated them on their escape.

"It is known that all the people in that district are in league with the brigands," explained one stout fellow who carried a staff tipped with iron and who had a big roll of bedding on his shoulder. "It can only be that the inn-drawer was waiting for his band to return before killing and robbing you."

It was w.a.n.g the Ninth's hour of triumph.

"Is not that what I declared?" he cried. "Lucky have we been to escape.

From the manner in which the fellow answered my questions I knew suspicion attached to him."

"This _tu-ti_(apprentice) is worthy of his wage," said the eldest wool-dealer approvingly. "Certain it is that his abilities are not small."

On they went discussing their plans with the newcomers and picking up what news there was. Long before noon they caught sight of a sail, which was quite unexpected since the river was entirely hidden. w.a.n.g the Ninth ran on fleetly ahead. But when he caught sight of the bright red and blue tunics and the black turbans on the boat, he ran into the tall grain and signed violently with his hands to the others to hide. They, too, dropped out of sight like marionettes.

From out of the _kaoliang_ the boy now peered, his brown face hardly distinguishable from the soil. Now he worked his way forward like a scout.

The boat sailed on and presently there was a sharp crack from a rifle.

Gaining in courage he crept into the reeds on the very edge of the river so that he could see.

The soldiers were firing violently now one after the other. The boy's quick mind instantly jumped to the right conclusion. Being powerless to navigate a boat properly, they were pursuing and shooting at the boatmen who had fled.

Suddenly the vessel grounded a few hundred yards away. w.a.n.g the Ninth saw the soldiers, furious with rage, leap one by one from the boat and scramble on sh.o.r.e. The sound of firing became fainter, showing that the pursuit was leading them far away.

It was now or never. Fairly crazy with excitement he ran back to the wool-dealers who lay tremblingly awaiting the upshot.

"Now is the time for us," he cried. "There is not a soul left. Let us seize the boat and cross to the south bank. Then we are safe."

He did not wait for a reply: he ran on ahead. The wool-dealers and the two men they had met followed cautiously a good many yards behind, doubting his words yet hoping that they were true. But when they saw him reach the boat and signal that all was clear, they ran too; and in a hurried clumsy manner got on board and by their united efforts pushed the boat off, towards the south sh.o.r.e.

CHAPTER XXIV

The river was less than a hundred yards wide here, and the five men and the boy had enough skill to get the boat across with rapidity. The big man with the iron-p.r.o.nged stick, seizing an oar, rowed frantically. One of the wool-dealers aided him by poling with desperation until the water became too deep. And as a little breeze filled the hoisted sail, they swung on to the opposite sh.o.r.e at a point far lower down than they had embarked.

It was this circ.u.mstance which saved their lives. For w.a.n.g the Ninth, sitting astride of the tiller, and turning back constantly to look suddenly gave a great leap and was out of the boat before there was time to realize what he was doing.