“I,” the man hesitated, “poured some water into the touch–holes from the pitcher I had brought with me. Then I returned the way that I had come.”
Sir Claude waved his hand with a gesture of contempt.
“Water could only have silenced the guns for five minutes,” he said. “You know of no better way of silencing them?”
The man hesitated.
“I might have thrown them off the carriage,” he said, “but I was afraid of doing this, as it might have awakened the men.”
“I should think it would,” Sir Claude said quietly, “and if you had had the strength of ten men you could not have got them over. Mr. Bateman, will you kindly give me your account of the affair?”
“I am sorry, sir, to give any account at all, for I had particularly ordered my servant not to open his lips on the subject. Enraged at this fellowʼs preposterous claim, however, he lost his temper and blurted out the truth. It was a very simple affair, sir, though not so simple, I own, as this gentlemanʼs exploit, for I did not find the whole of the Chinese army asleep.” He then related the steps they had taken, their pursuit and escape.
“You agree in every particular with what your master has said?” Sir Claude asked Ah Lo.
“He tell it all right; just so, that just how it happen.”
“Provost Marshal,” Sir Claude said quietly, “take that man out and give him three dozen well laid on for his infamous attempt to gain credit and reward at the expense of others.”