CHAPTER XI.

MR. LI's WONDERFUL HOUSE.

But this state of things could not go on for ever. Mr. Crawford waited in an agony of impatience; for every moment he expected one of the party to turn round, and then he knew he would be discovered. Would the man never be able to undo the door? It seemed an eternity to him, whilst the bolts and bars were being withdrawn; and what a terrible noise they made! He felt sure they would be heard, and--yes, one of the men talking to Wang suddenly turned, started, and pointed in the direction in which he was standing. He gave himself up for lost; but at that very moment the ground under his feet seemed to slide away--so suddenly, that he would have fallen into the dark cavern had he not sprung quickly to one side.

A dark head, adorned with a pigtail, appeared for a moment above ground.

"Quick! quick!" the man said, in Chinese, "I fear we are followed."

Mr. Crawford had hardly time to think, though, like lightning, the thought did cross his mind that Wang might have betrayed him; but even a moment's hesitation might have been fatal, and he sprang down into the darkness. Not a minute too soon--as the trap door closed above him, he distinctly heard voices and footsteps overhead. His fears of an ambush, however, and treachery in one direction were soon dispelled, for his hand was seized in an honest British clasp, and an English voice exclaimed:--

"Mr. Crawford, I believe?"

"Yes; and you are--?"

"Paul St. John. You may have heard of me."

"Often," replied the younger man. "I am so glad to meet you."

"And I to meet you." And the two men grasped each other's hands.

"How is Miss Leicester?" asked Mr. Crawford, eagerly.

"Better," replied Mr. St. John, "but she is still very weak. Her nervous system has undergone a great shock, and it will be some time before she is quite herself again. In addition to the blow which she received, and the fright, there was a good deal of fever, and in this climate fever seems to have a tremendous grip on the constitution, and it is a long time before one recovers, even when one is young and strong. She needs rest, but that, unfortunately, she cannot have, poor child, as I gather that it would not be safe to remain here another night. I am thankful to say the fever has now gone; I must give her a strong cordial, and we must make the journey as easy as we can for her."

"I will carry her all the way," cried Mr. Crawford eagerly.

"I know you will do all you can," replied Mr. St. John, kindly. "You will be of the greatest possible assistance to us, and you will bring Nina news of the Colonel; she has felt very much being the cause of so much anxiety to him, and of course you know that worry always retards recovery. We will join the others now, and make our plans for instant removal, if necessary."

"I fear it is necessary," said Mr. Crawford, gravely. "I'm very much afraid those yellow fellows saw me. They were talking to Wang, and he tried to distract their attention, and succeeded to a certain extent admirably; but I rather fancy they saw me and smelt a rat. Ah, here is Wang; now we shall hear what he has to say."

The man appeared to be in the greatest state of excitement.

"They are coming, sir! All is lost; they will be upon us in less than an hour. They saw you, sir," he said, turning to Mr. Crawford. "I was certain of it, because I saw them exchange glances, and they said nothing to me. They will not go into the secret entrance, because they might think we should expect them there, but they will go to the gates."

"Are you quite sure that they saw Mr. Crawford?" asked Mr. St. John.

"Perfectly," replied Wang. "There is no time to lose. I know these fellows so well; they were extra polite and friendly with me, when we parted, but I had my suspicions, and, to make it a certainty, I hid and watched their movements after they left me. First they examined the place where you disappeared, Mr. Crawford, and I heard them say it would be impossible to force that, and we might expect them to do so, and prepare accordingly. I heard them say this, and saw them make their way to the Hall, whither they were going to acquaint the others."

Paul St. John and Mr. Crawford looked grave and anxious; they were not acquainted with the secret passages, as were Lilian and Nina. They instinctively turned to Mr. Li, who had not yet spoken. His dark, colourless face was as imperturbable as ever.

"There is no reason for so much terror," he said, quietly, turning to Wang. "Have you seen that the gates are closed and barred?"

"Yes; but they will be over them like monkeys, and we shall all be killed. I did not bargain for this; it has been very stupidly managed. I do not care to stay for the reward, as it is no use to me when I am dead. With your permission, gentlemen, I will make my way back to Pekin and acquaint the Colonel of the fate of his daughter."

"You will do nothing of the kind," said Mr. Li, sternly, looking at Wang, whose white face and shaking hands betrayed his abject terror. "You will remain with us, and make yourself as useful as you can. I may tell you, though you do not deserve it, that there is no need for such excessive alarm. Do you really think it likely that I would allow myself to be caught like a rat in a hole, especially when I have two ladies under my charge?"

The man muttered a sulky rejoinder, but he seemed partially reassured; and there was that in Mr. Li which commanded respect and instant obedience.

"I do not mean to minimize the danger, of course," said Mr. Li, gravely, when the Chinaman had gone out to see that the entrance was made as secure as possible; "or to say that we run no risk, because that would not be true, and I think the longer we remain here the greater risk we run. If we are ready, let us start at once."

"Stop," said Paul St. John. "There is one thing we have forgotten: my brothers, let us pray."

When he rose, the light was on his face, as on the day when he had faced the rioters at Chen-si.

"Now, my friend," he said, turning to Mr. Li, "I am quite ready, and I think I am expressing our universal wish when I say that it will be best for you to take command of our little expedition."

"I think it _will_ be best," said Mr. Li, "because I am so well acquainted with the ground--and with the men also," he added, smiling. "I have some influence over Wang. Mr. St. John, you and Mr. Crawford will go forward with the ladies. I will bring up the rear with Wang."

Very white, very fragile, looked Nina, very different from the laughing girl who had left her father's house only a few days since. Mr. St. John had administered a cordial to her, and under its influence the faintest tinge of colour was beginning to creep up into her pale cheeks.

She clung to him for support; Lilian Ross and Mr. Crawford supporting her on the other side. Mr. Li and Wang brought up the rear. Alert, calm, decisive, Mr. Li was evidently one of those born to command.

"They are coming," said Wang, beginning to tremble again, "swarming the gates like rats."

It was true; hideous yellow faces, with heavy pigtails and coarse black hair, were already crowding the entrance, and in the course of a few minutes they would be in the courtyard. There was nothing then to prevent their getting into the outer room in which Mr. Li and Wang were standing. The others were in the inner room prepared to await his orders.

At that moment the Chinese caught sight of Mr. Li and Wang, and a fiendish smile of triumph lighted up their faces. Mr. Li also smiled.

"Not so fast, my friends," he said, quietly; and as the first man landed on the ground he gently pushed Wang in front of him through the door leading into the inner apartment, and slid the bolt.

"That bolt will be no good, sir," said Wang; "they will force the door in a few minutes, and we shall all be tortured and killed."

"I must beg of you to be silent," said Mr. Li, sternly. "If you would like to join the party outside, there is still time to do so, but I think that you would probably prefer to remain with us."

Poor Wang protested most humbly that he had never meant anything by his words, and so great was his attachment to their persons that nothing in the world would induce him to leave them.

"That being the case," said Mr. Li, drily, "and your attachment to us being so great, you will do all in your power to help instead of hindering us. I cannot have these ladies alarmed. Now see," he said, turning to Lilian and Nina, who had turned a shade whiter, for though they placed unbounded confidence in Mr. Li, it was not pleasant to hear the sounds in the outer room.

"Now see: I touch this button, and look at the result!" As he spoke he pressed a spring in the wall, and a huge sliding door shot right across, protecting the door through which they had passed, and which the Chinese were forcing from the outer side.

"I think," said Mr. Li, with a smile of triumph in his dark eyes, "they will find it a little difficult to break through that door. Now let us collect what we require for the journey."

"The packages are here," said Mr. St. John. "We have had them all placed in the corner of the room."

"That is well," replied Mr. Li. "Now we will continue our journey. It will take our friends some little time," he added, pleasantly, "to force an entrance into this room, and I think they will be more than ever puzzled when they get here. You see these four doors," he said, pointing to one side of the apartment which seemed to be composed entirely of doors, "Which do you think is the one to be used? They are all dummies," he continued, after a pause, in which the doors had been tried and various opinions expressed: "but I fancy they will puzzle our friends. The real one is here."

He touched a spring which was wholly invisible to any but the most practised eye, and they found themselves in a kind of hall, the walls of which were very lofty, the light entering by mere apologies for windows, let in close to the ceiling. There were low divans all round this hall, and Mr. Li begged them to be seated.

"We may as well rest here a few moments," he said, noticing Nina's white face. "We are safe for the present, at least."

At this moment Mr. Crawford crossed over to where Mr. Li was standing, and spoke in a low tone.

"I suppose," he said, "there is no danger from outside? I wonder they do not try and effect an entrance from without."

"They would find it a little difficult," replied Mr. Li. "No cat could climb these walls, and only a cat could get in at the windows. No, the danger does not lie here, but further on. From this room there is a subterranean passage about a quarter of a mile long, but unfortunately it has no communication with the rest of the house opposite; the exit being at the other end of the grove of plantains, under which it runs. I always intended to complete the work, but it has not been done, and the consequence is, we must risk getting across twenty yards of open country. For men it would not be so difficult, but the care of two ladies complicates matters. We must hope and pray that the men will be so occupied with getting into the house that they will not think of anything beyond. Still, we must prepare for emergencies. I shall lead the way, for I must open the door of the other house. The lock is a complicated one, and only I can turn the key. You and Mr. St. John will follow with the ladies. It will be as well to acquaint Mr. St. John also of the possible danger, without alarming the ladies. Ah, here he is."

"Brother," said Paul St. John, laying his hand on the other's arm, "what fills me with wonder is your great ingenuity. Surely you must have travelled a great deal, for I have never seen a house like this in China."

"No," replied Mr. Li, smiling; "_I have_ travelled a great deal, and am very cosmopolitan in my tastes. When I was a boy I used to pore over Eastern tales of adventure, and I determined to build one of those wonderful fairy palaces one reads of: a place of concealed doors, sliding panels, and underground passages."

"It is the dream of most children," said Mr. St. John, smiling, "but very seldom realized. You have succeeded admirably."

"Not quite as well as I could wish, though." added Mr. Li; and he then told Mr. St. John wherein the danger lay.

Paul St. John grasped his hand. His smile was as bright and radiant as before.

"Well, brother," he said, gently, "it shall all be well. You can say with us now; 'For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.'"