CHAPTER XXVI The Fate of Ah Ling

"I've made a thorough mess of things this time," thought Alwyn, angry with himself that his idea of a "one man show" had run Miss Vivian into danger. "If I'd had Peter and Minalto to bear a hand, we'd have settled the Chink on the spot."

Jumping into the stern-sheets of the dinghy, Burgoyne urged his companions to "pull like blue smoke", then, shouting at the top of his voice, he warned Hilda of her peril.

Hitherto the girl's attention had been centred on the dinghy lying alongside the schooner. She had heard the fusillade, and, unable to remain any longer in suspense, she had left the cave and made her way to the shore, fortunately giving the site of the camp and its ghastly occupants a wide berth.

The fact that Peter and Jasper were in the boat reassured her to a great extent, but she could not think of a satisfactory explanation of Burgoyne's disappearance.

The Third Officer's stentorian warning called her attention to the yellow, expressionless features of the Chinaman as he swam for the beach. For a moment Hilda hesitated, half inclined to swim off to meet the rapidly approaching boat, but the danger of being intercepted by the Celestial urged her to make for the cave.

She had a little less than a hundred yards start when Ah Ling gained the shore. Brandishing a knife in one hand and an automatic pistol in the other, he ran in pursuit.

Thrice did Alwyn fire at the Chinaman before he disappeared behind the palm trees, but the jerky motion of the boat spoilt his aim. Ah Ling paid not the faintest attention to the shots. He seemed to ignore the fact that he was being pursued, and devoted all his energies to overtake the terrified girl. In short, he had a fixed idea that he would soon be killed, but before he died he would take care to slay the "white she-devil", in quest of whom his companions had met with utter disaster.

Well before the dinghy's forefoot grounded on the sandy beach, Burgoyne leapt out of the boat and ran in the direction taken by Hilda and the Chinaman, Mostyn being a good second, while the heavily built Minalto followed at his top speed, which was barely half that of his agile companions.

Alwyn had discarded his rifle on account of the weight of the weapon, trusting to his small but powerful revolver. The others carried rifles, Jasper in addition having the naked cutlass stuck in his leather belt.

The dull thud of Ah Ling's wooden shoes upon the hard ground guided them until with uncanny suddenness the sounds ceased. The hitherto clearly defined trail of moisture dropping from the Chinaman's sodden clothes also failed. Burgoyne, revolver in hand, found himself standing at the junction of two forked paths, utterly uncertain which direction to take.

He was afraid to shout to Hilda lest her reply should betray her whereabouts. Listening intently, he could hear nothing of either the pursued or the pursuer.

"Take that path, Peter!" he said hurriedly, as Mostyn overtook him. "I'll take this one. Let the brute have it on sight if you spot him."


image: 07_ling.jpg
[Illustration: THE FATE OF AH LING]


Alwyn, following the left-hand branch of the fork, had barely covered a hundred paces when he almost stumbled over the motionless figure of Hilda Vivian lying face downwards in a patch of trodden grass. Before he could get to the girl he heard a heavy body crashing through the brushwood.

Wild with fury and desperate to wreck vengeance upon the Chinaman, Alwyn dashed in pursuit, forcing his way at breakneck speed through the dense undergrowth. With feelings of grim satisfaction he realized that he was gaining on the object of his pursuit.

Meanwhile Jasper Minalto, proceeding as fast as he could along the path, was beginning to grasp the fact that his companions were forging ahead hand over fist. More than once the cutlass nearly tripped him up, and the weight of the rifle proved a heavy encumbrance. Pausing for breath, he laid his rifle against the trunk of a tree, removed the cutlass from his belt, taking in the slack of the latter.

The temporary halt had caused the perspiration to run freely. Before he resumed his way he was obliged to wipe the moisture from his face and eyes with the broad leaf of a large plant.

Then, grasping the cutlass, he was about to start running again, when to his surprise he saw Ah Ling's head and shoulders cautiously appear from behind a clump of canes.

The Chinaman's tactics were fairly obvious. He had worked to the rear of his pursuers by a circular route, hoping to be able to take them unawares and shoot them down. His strategy was good up to a certain point. He had reckoned that the three white men would keep together, not knowing that the giant Scillonian was eighty yards or more behind the others.

Well it was that Minalto had made no sound during his brief halt; and so intent was Ah Ling upon stalking his foes that he was quite unaware that one of them was stalking him.

There were moments when the usually slow-working mind of Jasper Minalto moved rapidly, and this was one of them. In a trice the now keen cutlass, wielded by a brawny muscular arm, flashed in the sunlight. The swish of the blade through the air was followed by a dull, indescribable thud, as Ah Ling's head parted company with his shoulders.

During the Great War Jasper Minalto had seen some ghastly sights. He had served on board a Q-boat when shells from a U-boat were taking heavy toll of the devoted crew; he had seen the same Q-boat, almost a wreck, suddenly spring into activity and send the Boche to the bottom with one well-directed salvo. On another occasion the same ship had rammed a U-boat with all hands. And on board the Donibristle he had seen his unresisting comrades mown down by shells from the pirate Malfilio. But never before had he knowingly killed a man. He had assisted in the slaughter of dozens, but that was hardly the same thing as personally sending a human being—even though he were a Chinese pirate and ruffian—into the unknown The thought of it made him feel sick. Like most men of great stature, he was a child at heart, although brought up in a rough school.

Having deliberately cleaned the blade of the cutlass by thrusting it into the ground, Jasper leisurely resumed his way. He decided that, Ah Ling being of no further account, there was no need to exert himself. At the fork of the path he stopped irresolutely, until a rifle-shot fired at no great distance stirred him to action.

Hurrying along the left-hand path, he, too, almost stumbled over the unconscious form of Hilda Vivian. Her white canvas coat was stained with blood that flowed copiously from a small wound in the left shoulder.

Horror stricken, Jasper raised the girl. Then in helpless perplexity he raised his voice and shouted, calling to Burgoyne for aid.

Totally unaware of the rapid events of the last few minutes, Alwyn was closely following up his prey. Suddenly he noticed a movement in the brushwood, not five yards ahead of him. Raising his revolver, he sent a bullet straight at the writhing object. An unearthly groan followed the report of the weapon, and a heavy body collapsed on the hard ground.

"That's done for you!" ejaculated Burgoyne wrathfully.

Then, tearing aside the undergrowth, he found that the supposed Chinaman was a young boar, killed outright by the severing of the spinal cord.

Alwyn decided that his luck was right out. There was Hilda lying murdered while her ruffianly assailant Ah Ling had escaped, and was probably hiding safe from pursuit in the dense undergrowth that covered the greater part of the island.

"I'll have the brute yet," he vowed, "even if we have to burn the rest of the scrub."

He was on the point of hailing Mostyn to warn him of what had occurred, when he heard his own name shouted in a voice that he hardly recognized as Minalto's.

Retracing his course, Burgoyne found Jasper trying to restore Miss Vivian to consciousness.

"I've lost the blighter, Jasper," announced Alwyn regretfully. "He's somewhere in the scrub."

"He is, sir," agreed Minalto with firm conviction.

"I'd give my right hand," continued the Third Officer, "to see Ah Ling dead as a door-nail."

"Then put it here, sir," rejoined Jasper, extending his hand.

"What do you mean?" demanded Burgoyne.

"Same's what I was a-sayin', sir," replied the imperturbable man, for his agitation had vanished at his companion's return. "But seems best as if we wur tu tak the young leddy out o' this. She ain't much hurt as I can see. Looks more like a graze than a bullet hole or a stick wi' a knife."

"Right-o," agreed Alwyn. "What we want is fresh water to dress the wound. Yes, you're right, Jasper; it is a graze."

Burgoyne raised the unconscious girl.

"Best let me, sir," interposed Jasper. "Seein' as' 'ow we might be fallin' foul of that there Chink, an' I left me rifle up along."

Realizing the soundness of Minalto's advice but ignorant of the motives that prompted the tendering of it, Burgoyne transferred the girl's limp form to Jasper's massive arms. Then, with his revolver ready for instant use, Alwyn led the way back to the spring hard by the devastated camp.

Suddenly he stopped dead, hardly able to credit the evidence of his eyes, for lying in his path was the head of the pirate Ah Ling.

Burgoyne glanced over his shoulder and met the stolid gaze of his companion.

"You did this, then," he said.

"Ay, ay, sir," was the calm admission.

"Then why on earth didn't you tell me?"

"I never was axed; arter all, it wurn't much tu brag about, seeing as 'ow I took 'im unawares-like. An' me bein' a quiet, well-disposed man. But, there, sir; I did gi' ye my 'and when you offered yours, so you'm no call to say I didn't warn 'ee."

Although considerably nettled by the bad breakdown of his method of conducting operations, Burgoyne was quite ready to admit that the fault was his. After all, success had crowned the united efforts of the castaways. Black Strogoff, Ah Ling, and the rest of the pirates were back numbers, and the schooner was a prize to Burgoyne and his companions. As an off-set Hilda Vivian had been stricken down, but how as yet remained an unsolved problem. Had the Chinaman been her assailant she would not have got off so lightly.

For her injuries were found to be slight. Beyond the wound in her shoulder and a slight gash on her forehead there were no evidences of injury.

Deftly Burgoyne and Minalto dressed the hurts and bathed her temples and wrists in cold water. By the time Peter Mostyn returned, having scoured the greater part of the island in an unsuccessful search, Hilda was able to sit up.

She was considerably shaken, and her nerves, already subjected to a severe strain, were on edge, but she was able to give a clear account of her adventures after the three men had sallied forth from the cave to try conclusions with the crew of the schooner.

For a considerable time after their departure Hilda remained in her retreat, until, unable to resist her anxiety, she had cautiously made her way down to the shore, without seeing anything of the dead pirates lying around the ashes of the camp-fire.

When Burgoyne's shouts warned her of her peril, the girl saw Ah Ling's evil face as he swam towards the shore. Once she made up her mind she started to return to the cave, but the Chinaman had already cut off her retreat in that direction; or at all events she would not have been able to regain the shelter without betraying its whereabouts.

So she took to the woods, hoping either to elude the Chinaman or else to make a circuitous route back to the beach, where by that time Burgoyne and his companions would have landed.

Then, as luck would have it, a boar dashed out of the undergrowth, and, charging, threw her violently to the ground. She remembered nothing more until she found herself on the shore with Burgoyne and Jasper bathing her face and hands with cold water.

"There's nothing now to fear from the pirates," Alwyn reassured her. "We've captured the schooner, and as soon as we can we'll leave Swan Island astern of us. But try and get a few hours' quiet sleep. By that time we ought to be ready to go aboard."

Hilda obeyed readily enough. She was too weak to do otherwise, although she would have liked to take an active part in the preparations for continuing the interrupted voyage.

"Now, lads," said Burgoyne. "We've work to do, and the sooner the better. We'll have to make the schooner habitable. I don't know what she's like 'tween decks, but I can guess. And another thing: Miss Vivian mustn't be allowed to see our old camp. We'll square things up a bit, but that isn't everything."

"I suppose the schooner's properly moored," remarked Mostyn.

"I doubt it. Single anchor," replied Alwyn. "We'll tow her into the creek at high water; there'll be depth enough and more over the bar, and once inside she'll be safer and easier to provision."

While waiting for sufficient depth of water to float the captured schooner into the creek, Burgoyne and his companions proceeded to the spot where lay the bodies of the eight pirates. As they expected, nothing of use was left in the camp. Even the bow and stern portions had been smashed up and burnt, but the staves of Minalto's li'l ole cask were still in evidence.

Presently Peter touched Alwyn's arm.

"Come here a minute," he said, and led him to where one of the men lay with his skull battered in, and a broken rifle by his side.

"Good heavens!" ejaculated Burgoyne. "It's Miles, or what's left of him."

The treacherous Canuk bagman had met with his just deserts. It was he who had betrayed the identity of Young Bill, hoping to curry favour with the pirate leaders. Black Strogoff, in Ramon Porfirio's absence, decided to act upon the information, but he was a few hours too late. Miles's reward was not at all what he expected. He was curtly ordered to join the band of pirates told off to man the schooner that was to set sail in pursuit of the English girl and her three companions. And the traitor was to a great extent responsible for the disaster that had overtaken the pursuers, for it was he who had found the li'l ole keg, and had started the quarrel when most of the men were drunk with the well-matured rum.