"Chao huo,(Fire)" one of them had called.
Nothing can exceed the dread in which the fire-demon is held in the East. Whether it is merely a fear, natural enough in lands where destruction is always absolute and irreparable, is uncertain—but what is incontestable is that conflagrations inspire horror from one end of Asia to the other.
Wang the Ninth had rushed outside.
"Where is it?" he called in his shrill voice, stumbling forward in the dark.
But the man had already disappeared. As he halted there irresolutely, a glare on the dark horizon caught his attention.
Even as he looked the light grew magically. It spread in a fan of red and yellow across the skies, making mysterious effects on the dark night clouds which seemed to become living things like wrathful dragons. Now the distant cries swelled to a veritable storm which was borne to him like a call for help.
His quick mind instantly leaped to the conclusion that this was incendiarism; it could only be the torch that carried the flames to so many points at once, and then joined them together into such a vast circle of dancing light. He ran through the darkness to the gatehouse to seek companionship.
The Mohammedan gatekeeper was standing at the gates which had been thrown wide-open; and already a large company of his neighbours had collected there. They were women and babies, and weeping children—all dragged to the gatehouse of a foreigner because that seemed to promise protection. Awe-stricken stories passed from mouth to mouth; there was enough to learn to keep the boy listening until dawn.
The Sword-Society—everybody said that they were at work. They had descended on the outer city in their thousands and were setting fire to the shops after they had looted to their fill. Far more awful things would soon occur. No one dared to stir. Every mind was only occupied with the question of personal safety.
"But the foreigners won't let them bring harm in here," protested Wang the Ninth at last. "They will shoot them down; if you do not hear firing very shortly it will be strange."