Rex jumped up with an angry exclamation.
“The rascal! I will break every bone in his body. He promised me faithfully that not a word about it should pass his lips.”
“Then it is really true?” Sandwich said in surprise.
“True! Yes, but I was particularly anxious that it should not be known, so that I should escape the fuss that people are always ready to make about every little thing. I will go out and talk to Master Ah Lo. I canʼt think how he can have spoken about it after his promises to me, for he has always proved himself a most faithful fellow. I canʼt believe he did it to get a reward, but I donʼt see any other motive that he can have had.”
So saying he hurried out of the room, followed by Sandwich, who in vain attempted to get some of the particulars from him. He found Ah Lo standing with the Provost Marshalʼs hand on his shoulder.
“Your servant has been making a row,” the latter said, “and thrashing a servant of the Belgian embassy.”
“Yes, sir, and I would thrash him again,” Ah Lo blurted out.
“What has he done?” Rex asked, calming down instantly on seeing his man in this predicament.
“It was like this, sir. The Belgian man came up to three or four of us who were standing together, and he said, ʻDo you know who did it?ʼ So we all said ʻNo,ʼ and I said it as loud as any of them. Then he said ʻI did.ʼ We all stood astonished, one as much as the other; and he went on: ʻI crept out of the Russian Legation and made my way through the market and got up to the guns and silenced them!ʼ Then, sir, I was furious, and I shouted, ʻYou are a liar! my master did it,ʼ and I seized him by the throat and beat him. I know I was wrong, master, to say anything about you, but my rage was too great for me to think what I was saying. Then others ran in, and of course the Provost Marshal came, and having once said it, of course I repeated it.”