Part 14 (1/2)

Then suddenly he acted. He had rolled it into a thin wad, and quickly but carefully slipped it into an ear. It was absolutely hidden.

There were exclamations of surprise from the gentlemen at the table at his cleverness.

”But are you sure that you can keep it there for many days?” questioned his master anxiously.

”Certainly. In smuggling, the account of the smuggled goods is always carried like that--”

”But then it may be known to others?”

The boy shook his head.

”No--it is only known to a few. It is a trick of the city gates and in the country they will not suspect it.”

After that they kept him there until the sun had set and it had become dark. A crackling rifle-fire commenced but n.o.body moved from the house.

This was more important than anything that could happen at the barricades. When it was quite dark, and he had been given a meal, and money in sufficient quant.i.ty for a fortnight's food, they started off in a body. To the city wall they all marched quickly, and up the self-same ramp where he had jested and played with the foreign soldiers.

On the city wall a long rope was tied round his waist, an anxious group surrounded him--and some last advice whispered to him which he brushed aside.

”I who have gone up and down with my naked hands am not afraid,” he muttered. ”Only it is necessary to lower away the rope until all weight is released. When I have cast myself free I shall jerk so, once, twice hard.”

”In an hour or so the moon will rise,” spoke his master for the last time. ”Whether there are soldiery posted at night beneath the city wall we do not know. But some have been seen from time to time at dawn. Be cautious but be quick. By dawn you must be far away. Are you ready?”

For answer the boy climbed on to the parapet, a small lithe figure. With his graceful Oriental hands, he clasped the brickwork for a moment; then with infinite quickness slipped his weight on to the strain of the rope.

”Now,” he muttered, balancing himself beautifully.

Quickly they began lowering. The boy, with his rough, powerful toes working through his cloth shoes, played at the brickwork as he descended, always keeping touch so that as the cord lengthened he should not be dashed against the hard rough face. He was down the fifty feet in less than thirty seconds--standing on the sand of the outer city.

He drew a deep breath, untied the loose knots, jerked quickly at the rope twice, saw a dim outline of heads peering over at him, and then without fear or hesitation stole straight into the black night where the enemy lay.

CHAPTER XVIII

He showed infinite cunning in his advance. His sheltered life dropped from him like a discarded garment. Fortified by his long experience of vagabond days he displayed the cunning of the young animal that knows that older animals are stronger and more savage, and must be kept off by stealth and not by strength.

Keeping close to the deep shadow of the city wall, he watched carefully the ground in front of his feet so that he should not fall over sleeping men. In summer it was not rare for men to sleep along this sandy stretch where the camel caravans pa.s.sed; and if there were soldiers posted here that was what they would certainly be doing.

South of him lay the broad city moat, a noisome antediluvian defence.

This he knew he could not cross save by the stone bridges at the city gates, for it was full of a black terrible slime. Once in his childhood he had been nearly choked by falling into it, and he still cherished a wholesome dread of its nature.

He went on slowly thinking of all sorts of things as he stole forward.

Down here, with the great barrier of the city wall cutting him off, the rifle-fire round the foreign quarter sounded faint--as if it were miles away. He seemed to have left far behind him all the troubles and the interests of many chequered days; what was real and absorbing to him was to keep tally of the outjutting b.u.t.tresses, so that he might carefully hide himself before the stone bridge was reached.

Some hovels, built by beggars, loomed up unexpectedly after he had gone half-a-mile or so. He threw himself on the ground, and listened long and carefully before he advanced any further. He knew well that if there were soldiers about they would have certainly taken these shelters and driven the owners away. He lay so long and so still on the ground that he dozed a little; when he opened his eyes the waning moon was coming slowly and majestically over the horizon, making the obscurity of the mighty city wall seem more funereal than ever.

He watched the moon curiously and lazily as if it had some special message for him. In a stately manner it lifted itself higher and higher until it was far above the earthline. Now it threw over the scene a great silver light in which the hovels stood out like black islands.

Not a sound from them--not a movement. Rea.s.sured he scuttled forward until he was in their shadow. He was sure they were empty. There was no sound of breathing. Yet to be quite sure he did not stir for minutes.