'He comes now; he is expected any moment.'
'Then I will have a word with him. He must know that I too have had a share in this business. Perhaps it will fall out that I shall regain the post which I lost but lately. Ah! foreign devils were the cause of my undoing. Willingly will I slay all with whom I come in contact.'
'The ruffian! That's the sort of fellow I've got to deal with, is it?' muttered David, who had listened eagerly, and, thanks to his own quickness and keenness to learn the language, had managed to pick up the gist of the conversation. 'So Chang and the deputy-governor are hand in glove in this affair, and the deputy seeks to throw dust in the eyes of the authorities, in other words to make his face good, as is the saying in this queer country. Why! If this isn't my opportunity! Supposing I find Dick and hoist him out, we are still in a walled city. We've still to get clear away, and very little chance of doing that as matters are. If this isn't the very thing I've been wanting.'
He shrank back as the gaoler left the room, lurching sleepily, and watched the Tartar as he too stepped towards the door. A moment later the man was gone, leaving the room empty.
'My turn now. Here goes to clear up the whole business.'
With reckless courage, and yet without neglecting his usual caution, David first peered into every corner of the room. Then he rapidly made fast his rope to the centre pillar of the window, waved to Jong in the deep shadow beyond, and at once slipped inside the building. A second later he was sliding down to the floor of the place in which the Tartar had been sitting.
CHAPTER XIV
Tsu-Hi is Astonished
For perhaps one whole minute David Harbor stood perfectly still, once he had slid down the rope from the window above and had gained the floor of the room in which he had seen the Tartar under-officer. He leaned forward, still gripping the cord, listening intently for any sounds there might be, and fancied as he did so that he could hear the soft-footed slither of some one in the passage.