A Fight to a Finish
'Monsieur, I see men coming across the plain, and they are hurrying,' said Alphonse, one early morning, bursting unceremoniously into the huge apartment which the diggers had discovered in the ruins, and which for nearly a month now had served as quarters for the Professor's party. Indeed, thanks no doubt to the preservative nature of the material which for ages now had covered up the ancient Mongolian city, there had been no difficulty in finding room for all engaged in the work of excavating.
'Monsieur le Professeur, it would be well to come above with me and see who it is who comes,' cried Alphonse again, striding across to the little cot occupied by his employer. 'I declare to you, I was above lighting the fire so as to boil the water for a cup of tea when, in the far distance, I saw figures. There were many of them. They were hastening hither as if they were pursued.'
It took the Professor and his two young comrades less than two minutes, perhaps, to jump into their clothing, when all hastened out of the apartment, and passing along the ancient covered way, clambered up the steep, log-paved steps which led to the surface. It was a glorious morning, with a cold, wintery sun flooding the dreary landscape, and shining upon the uneven surface of sand where it lay over the ruins, and on the tower, tottering near the centre, the same which had attracted David so often.
'See!' cried Alphonse, dancing to the top of the steps as if he were standing on hot bricks. 'See, there are thirty of the figures at least, and now they are running.'
The Professor instantly threw up his field-glasses and fixed them upon the advancing strangers. There was a look of anxiety on his face when he lowered them again.
'Call Chu-Li and the other soldiers,' he commanded abruptly. 'Issue arms to Ho-Hung and our other servants, and tell the diggers we may need their help. David, those are the people who once helped you and your comrades when you were attacked by wolves in the open. They are running here as if they were pursued. I fear we are in for trouble, and had better make our preparations now.'
At a sign from the Professor, David doubled out from the ruins, so as to meet the men who were running towards them, and was soon in conversation with the headman, who panted so hard that he could hardly explain himself. But halting for a few moments he managed to tell his tale.
'It is as I have feared,' he said breathlessly. 'The country to the east of us is in a turmoil. Scarcely a day passes that stray parties fleeing from the plague scourge do not demand food from us, often with threats, while one village has to my knowledge been burned, and every soul within it murdered. The night before last we received news that a thousand men were marching south and west, and had turned in our direction from the more direct course, as soldiers had been sent to intercept them. They passed the night in a village ten miles from us, and ruthlessly robbed every one. Those who opposed them were killed. It was clear that they would serve us in the same manner, and for that reason we left hastily, bringing what possessions we could, as well as a supply of provisions. This morning the invading army was within sight of us, for they carry nothing but their clothes.'
'And are now near at hand?' demanded David eagerly, for common-sense and scraps of news which had reached him told him that the danger was real. The people of Manchuria, and portions of Mongolia, had in fact gone stark staring mad in the past few weeks. Black plague was upon them, and was decimating whole villages, while those not attacked were fleeing towards Pekin regardless of the consequences, and without having made provision for such a journey. And as a natural sequence they were soon on the borders of starvation.