"I never thought of this," said Mr. Crawford, laughing. "My friends are more to be feared than yours."
"Oh, we shall come upon mine soon enough, sir," Wang replied, "and then it will be best for you to be silent."
He had hardly finished speaking when they almost ran into a company of Boxers, but with great adroitness, Wang contrived to mingle and join with them, raising the cry as he did so, "Sha, sha, sha." They kept with them until the Chinese began to loot and burn some buildings, then they slipped off.
"Now, sir, we are safe, unless we meet any of the men who were here the day the ladies were taken." They were passing, as he spoke, the rude hall where Lilian and Nina so nearly lost their lives.
As they left it behind they heaved a sigh of relief.
"We are very near now, sir; the secret entrance, known only to Mr. Li and myself, is just ahead; I will wait here in case anyone comes up, and distract their attention whilst you make the entrance. About twenty yards ahead you will see a curious stone in the ground, close by the plane tree; measure again six feet from that, and you will come to another tree; hit the tree three times smartly and they will let you in."
Mr. Crawford walked on quickly. Time was passing; there was already a glimmering of dawn in the East. It was necessary that he should effect an entrance, and also necessary that the entrance should not be betrayed to the enemy. His heart beat high, the goal was almost reached, and half, at least, of his mission had been accomplished. He approached the tree indicated, hit it three times smartly with his sword, and then waited anxiously. After a few seconds, which seemed to him of interminable length, he thought he distinguished a faint sound beneath him, but, to his horror, he saw a party of men approaching from the road down which he had just come. He had only just time to slip behind the plane tree, and from this post of observation he noticed that Wang was talking to them, and had adroitly contrived to distract their attention; he was pointing to the hall in the distance, and they were all eagerly looking the other way.
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 It seemed an eternity to him, whilst the bolts and bars were being withdrawn; and what a terrible noise they made!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.