Part 18 (1/2)
”Wonderful!” said the Chinaman. ”It is very like a b.u.t.terfly.”
”How fine a thing it would be to fly to meet Su Fing, n.o.ble captain!
That would indeed show at once the matchless qualities of this vessel, and the courage of the ill.u.s.trious officer who so well fills the place of the chief here.”
Chung Pi's simple face expressed the longing and the terror which a child shows when he is invited for the first time to taste some new experience--the first ride on an elephant, or on a hobby-horse at the village fair.
”If you would show me first,” he said.
He stepped on to the landing-stage, and stood fascinated as the vessel, skimming the surface until it attained its lifting speed, rose into the air, circled, and returning, alighted gently at the very spot whence it had started. Beyond measure delighted, Chung Pi hesitated no longer.
Making sure that the red string sustaining his charm was securely about his neck, he entered the boat, and uttered childish exclamations of wonderment and pleasure as the vessel once more performed the same flight. On landing, he bore himself with a vainglorious swagger before the crowd of excited onlookers. He insisted on taking Burroughs back to his own house for a few melon seeds and cups of tea, and talked incessantly of the sensation he would make when he flew to meet Su Fing.
While they were at tea, with Chin Tai in attendance as interpreter, Lo San, enjoying a certain prestige as the servant of the kind German who had brought so precious a gift, was entertained by the captain's escort.
They were exchanging notes with him when the long-expected message was signalled: the watchman on the roof of the yamen had seen a signal on a hill two miles away; the signaller there had received the message from another, and he from another. Su Fing was little more than an hour's journey distant. At once there was a ringing of bells and beating of gongs. Chung Pi, trembling with eagerness, came forth with Burroughs; a procession was formed, and with an armed escort before and behind the chairmen carried their burdens down to the river.
At the landing-stage Lo San approached Burroughs, and said in an undertone--
”Su Fing he no lick all-same. Fellas he say Su Fing hab catchee numpa one beatin' Cheng Tu side. He belongey velly bad temper.”
Rumour, flying swiftly through the country, had brought news that the chief, so far from being victorious, had been driven headlong from Cheng Tu by regular forces summoned from Tibet, and was now falling back on Meichow to recoup his losses. There was no doubt that Chung Pi had heard the news; but Burroughs guessed that it was as much as his place was worth to greet his master otherwise than as a conqueror.
This information, strange as it may appear, rendered Burroughs the more anxious to set off on his trip up-river. Chung Pi was equally eager, for a different reason. They entered the boat, followed by Chin Tai and Lo San. The ropes were cast off; Burroughs started the engine, and amid loud shouts from the a.s.sembled soldiery drawn up on the sh.o.r.e and about the landing-stage in antic.i.p.ation of the chief's arrival, and from the rag-tag populace swarming on every patch of open s.p.a.ce, the vessel ran a few yards up the river, planed as it gathered speed, and finally soared smoothly into the air.
Burroughs flew low, so that the trees that edged the river might prevent the spectators at the harbour from following too closely the direction of his flight. Chung Pi was as happy as a lark. He sat, beaming a bland smile, in the seat which Errington had so often occupied. What visions of greatness shone before his soaring soul! He wished that the honourable stranger would rise higher, so that he might descend upon his chief like a celestial benediction. But the honourable stranger's mood seemed to have changed since he left the town. There, he was affable, condescending, communicative; he had a pleasant smile; now he was silent, his lips were pressed together, his moustache appeared stern and forbidding. Chung Pi reflected that he naturally felt his responsibility.
For some two miles Burroughs headed straight up the river. Then, well clear of the town, he suddenly altered his course, leaving the river, flying inland, rising as he did so, in order to clear the tree-tops and to get a complete view of the city. The flying boat was describing a circle; presently it was heading on a straight course for Su Fing's yamen, that stood, bright and picturesque, a conspicuous object on its elevated site.
”But what is this?” said Chung Pi anxiously. ”We are going back!”
Burroughs did not turn his head or open his lips. But Chin Tai, squatting a little in the rear of the captain, remembered the instructions which his master had impressed upon him in that quiet talk by the window of the prisoner's room.
”Be not alarmed, n.o.ble captain,” he said with obsequious reverence. ”My august master has forgotten the little charm which he carries to keep off the evil spirits of the air. It would be terrible to start on so important a journey without this necessary talisman.”
”But we have already started,” Chung Pi objected. ”And have I not the red silk in my queue, and my own charm about my neck? Will they not suffice, O foolish one?”
”Heaven-born excellency,” replied Chin Tai in still more submissive tones, ”you perceive that we have started to return to the yamen. We shall begin our real journey from there.”
”But your ill.u.s.trious master has the charm. He showed it me long ago.”
For a moment Chin Tai was staggered; but ready wit coming to his aid, he said--
”This is another charm, n.o.ble captain--a better one. My august master must have left it in the yamen. Even the great are at times foolish.”
”That is true,” said Chung Pi, thinking of Su Fing. ”Your ill.u.s.trious master does well to be quite safe, but we waste much time.”
”Very little, ill.u.s.trious captain. Are we not flying swift as any bird?
Your excellency will be amazed to see how fast we can go, before our flight is finished.”
Chung Pi was pacified. Indeed, he began to revel in his sensations.