Blood of the Eagle/Chapter 8
VIII
Despite the embargo which Liu Ku had raised like a wall between Ngong and the lower country, despite the measures he had taken to guard every road leading to Annam and the French territory, news had leaked out.
Owing to his knowledge of the dialects and the skill of his Tais hunters, Smith had gained a fairly accurate knowledge of what had happened in Ngong, even before he reached the first watchtower guarding the road to Ngongfu. Owing to the marvelous rapidity with which news travels in the jungles and hill country, he had gained much more—he had gained some idea of the intrigues which were going forward in the secluded city.
Smith spoke the language fairly well, but he concealed that fact from his nominal captors, and used only French. Before he had been in custody two hours, he picked up an astonishing amount of information; from which he gleaned that Ardzrouni, if still alive, was destined to a very unpleasant death in the near future.
He ordered Ninh Bang, accordingly, to slip away at the first opportunity, reach Ngong and Ardzrouni if possible, and deliver a message. Then he instructed the guards that, instead of sending him back into the jungle, they were to take a note to the son of heaven, who was his very good friend. This they did, in some dismay, sending off a courier in the late hours of the night.
The courier ran without pause, save to snatch a few hours of rest; but Ninh Bang far outdistanced him. The courier reached Ngongfu in two days. Ninh Bang arrived in a trifle more than twenty-four hours.
Ten minutes after Ardzrouni gave Chou the orders concerning Smith, the huge bronze gongs were humming and throbbing down the valleys toward the lower country. Before midnight, Smith and his five Tais boys were hurriedly sent off up country, under escort. Late the following afternoon they met Colonel Chou's brother and fifty archers.
Smith was recognized by the native officer, who remembered his former visit to Ngongfu, and promptly took the status of French resident. As such, he was welcomed eagerly by the colonel's brother, who discussed matters with him and showed no reserve.
Thus it will be perceived that Smith knew pretty well what he was about.
As for Ardzrouni, meanwhile, the royal Armenian found himself in troubled waters. The Wemyss caravan departed; Major Wemyss and his daughter remained. Ardzrouni sent fifty archers to overtake and guard the gold. The naked wizards, in chains, were cleaning the streets of the outer city—much to the disgust of its inhabitants. The merchants wanted to know who would now furnish business auguries, burial auguries, and so forth. The nobles and soldiers were in some dread of magical reprisals. A great silence settled upon the city—a silence that boded trouble.
Ardzrouni, alone in his own quarter of the palace, faced the situation with sane eyes. For the first time he regarded himself and his situation as it really was. That talk with Florence Wemyss under the stars had cleared his vision, had stripped away his blinders of false romanticism.
He saw himself tottering. He was the ruler of a little town in the hills, and under him were a few thousand half barbaric folk upon whom he could not depend. His little orgy of despotism had served only to split and sunder these yellow folk into bitter factions, and they were ripe for blood. Colonel Chou and a handful of the palace guard were loyal to him; the others, perhaps two hundred in number, could not be counted upon.
Ardzrouni realized perfectly that his frank talk with Florence Wemyss had caused him to lose his grip. Had he been able to lure and to deceive himself with his old bombast, he might yet win out; but having once allowed his inner man to show upon the surface, he was undone.
He sent for Liu Ku. To his angry dismay, he was informed that the eunuch had left the palace shortly after daybreak, and could not be found. This report might or might not be true; Ardzrouni made no effort to investigate, but went at once to the quarters of Wemyss. He found father and daughter together, dismissed his guard, accepted an Egyptian cigarette with keen relish, and made a frank confession.
"I can't get any advice from Liu Ku," he concluded, "for that gentleman is either cooking up a scheme to murder me, or has left the city. I can't very well go to Chou for help, since he believes me an actual son of heaven—which I am not. So, Major Wemyss, I have come to you. I'm not sure that I was right in detaining you here. I have an uneasy premonition that this palace is going to be a very unhealthy place ere long. However, advise me—shall I hunt down Liu Ku and take off his head, or let matters drift?"
Wemyss listened to all this with an air of sardonic astonishment. His sallow features and upturned brows were cynical in the extreme.
"My dear chap," he returned, "my advice to you is to make peace with Liu Ku, let him run the government, and—"
"Devil take such counsel!" burst out Ardzrouni. "I am no puppet! And besides, this man Smith is coming on behalf of the French; he will punish Liu Ku."
"If he had a regiment, he might succeed," said Wemyss. "Then you reject my advice that you should surrender to the eunuch?"
"By the eagle, yes!" cried Ardzrouni, with a flush.
"Egad, then it's settled!" Wemyss leaned back and surveyed the dark man with a grin. "My dear chap, do you know why you've failed? Because you have upset custom. Had you come in here and been content to remain a mysterious and invisible personage, secluded in your harem—"
"Confound it, I have no harem!" snapped Ardzrouni.
"I am speaking hypothetically, of course." Wemyss grinned again. "Had you done all this, well and good; but you have displayed yourself prominently. You have dealt with matters in person, instead of through subordinates. You have, in effect, showed the people that their son of heaven is really a son of earth. They have lost reverence."
Ardzrouni plucked at his mustache and nodded gloomily. He could realize this very well indeed. In the thoughtful eyes of Florence Wemyss he found no help.
"Then what shall I do?" he exclaimed petulantly.
"Let us look at it from a military standpoint," said Wemyss cheerfully. "How many men have you here?"
"Colonel Chou has fifty riflemen and archers, trustworthy men, but the rifle cartridges have all vanished."
"Thanks to Liu Ku, undoubtedly. He probably has rifles of his own. Well?"
"Two hundred more men, who can't be trusted."
The Mephistophelean brows of Wemyss shot up.
"No more than that?"
"I sent fifty of the best away this morning, to guard your gold caravan—"
"Get them back!" broke out Florence impulsively. "Let the gold—"
"Not at all," said her father with a hasty gesture. "That gold, my dear, is very important. Egad, that gold means a good deal to me, I assure you!"
The girl drew back sharply in scorn, but Ardzrouni shook his head, and she remained silent.
"Let that rest," said Ardzrouni. "You are right, Wemyss; that gold must be delivered. Then there are perhaps a hundred men scattered through the lower country as guards. Most of these are good men."
"Send for them at once," said Wemyss energetically. "How soon can they get here?"
"The signal gongs can summon them in half an hour. They'll all be here by tomorrow night."
Ardzrouni went to the door and sent one of his guards for Colonel Chou. Ten minutes later that noble appeared, and Ardzrouni issued his orders. Chou assented, not without a look of relief, and disappeared again.
"Then," said Ardzrouni, settling himself with a fresh cigarette, "am I to sit here and let that devil of a fat frog spring some coup?"
"Exactly," said Wemyss, who appeared very complacent.
"What about you, then?" snapped Ardzrouni. "Do you fancy that Liu Ku loves you?"
Wemyss shrugged his shoulders.
"Florence has told me what she saw and heard last night. It is evident, therefore, that the eunuch wants to get rid of me as well as of you. Egad, my dear chap, there's nothing to do but to stick with you and see things through!"
Ardzrouni stared, for he had not expected this speech.
"By the eagle, you are a better man than I thought!" he said admiringly. "Have you no fears for yourself or your daughter?"
Wemyss smiled thinly.
"I'm not particularly nervous about myself. If that gold reaches Yunnan safely, my fears are ended. As for Florence, why, I have a firm belief in Providence—also in that man Smith. You know, old chap, I've heard a good deal about this fellow Smith. He's an American, you know, but not a bad sort at all, and clever, really. They say he's done some surprising things—most surprising. If he comes as French resident, he'd never allow an Englishwoman to be harmed. It isn't done."
Ardzrouni opened his mouth and regarded Wemyss with an air of stupefaction. The adventurer was quite in earnest. Florence, however, broke into a sudden laugh.
"Father, don't you realize that Smith is alone? He is quite powerless against these yellow people."
"Oh, he can fetch up a regiment or so," said Wemyss confidently.
"And by the time they got here we should be a long while dead!" The girl laughed again. "Never mind, Ardzrouni; we have rifles and pistols, and if a revolt breaks out you may call on us. Are you still determined to hold on to the throne here?"
Ardzrouni made a gesture of distaste.
"Only until I can get rid of it," he said, and smiled.
"Then why not loot the treasury and run away—with us?"
His dark features flushed.
"By the eagle, I have some pride!" he responded. "As to looting, that is all very well. I have a money belt full of jewels; but I refuse to loot and run. That is another thing entirely!"
"Quite right, my lad," agreed Wemyss. "Nothing like a scheme of ethics, I assure you. Egad, if it weren't for ethics, I might be a rich man to-day! However, we've done very well here, if that gold gets through safely. When do you expect Smith?"
"Some time to-day," said Ardzrouni, and took his departure.
He was not particularly comforted by the cheerfully pessimistic and entirely individual view of the situation taken by Wemyss. Indeed, he was more alarmed than ever. Ardzrouni was not a tactician; he was an extremist. He could now perceive nothing ahead save disaster. Accordingly, he got out his automatics and cartridges, put them in order, and with them laid aside the worn khaki suit in which he had reached the outskirts of Ngongfu. About his waist he buckled the money belt, in which reposed a fat handful of jewels which he had taken occasion to appropriate.
Early in the afternoon he observed a distinct exodus of litters and palanquins from the palace city. Inquiring into this, he heard a number of different reasons. One noble was going to his country house to marry a wife; another was taking a sick child to the hills; a third was joining a party at the royal hunting preserves.
Ardzrouni promptly clapped an embargo on any further withdrawals. The families might go, but the nobles must remain. He smiled grimly as he gave the orders.
Presently he met Florence Wemyss, walking in the palace gardens with her two slave women following. Ardzrouni, in full panoply, and accompanied by a dozen nobles and guards, shocked decorum by lighting a cigarette and offering the girl his arm. When she would have protested, he shrugged.
"Bah! The deluge comes soon enough. Why worry?"
He told her of the exodus, and she listened gravely.
"You did wrong to keep them here," she said. "They know that something is going to take place, and they want to get away. Now they will join your enemies."
Ardzrouni laughed in his old reckless fashion.
"A lot I care! Let the dogs stay and meet what comes! I wish that man Smith would get here. I liked him singularly, and his advice might help."
Florence gave him a swift, whimsical glance.
"Didn't you care for father's advice?"
"I have taken it, but I did not like it. Still no word of Liu Ku; I can't understand why he has vanished like this."
"I'm afraid you will understand soon enough," said the girl, her voice grave.
"Undoubtedly. In the meantime, I am a king! Come to this little summerhouse, and let us indulge our appetites. They make excellent sherbets here, and small cakes that are divine. Colonel Cbou is attending to all that I eat, so there is no fear of poison. Besides, a little wine would do us both good."
They entered the summerhouse, slaves were summoned, and Ardzrouni took a gloomy satisfaction in plying his nobles with wine. In the midst of this scene, as Florence was about to excuse herself, appeared Colonel Chou. He approached Ardzrouni, uttered a few low words, and withdrew.
Ardzrouni laughed suddenly, and his eyes flashed. He turned and met the girl's inquiring gaze.
"Let us eat, drink, and be merry—for to-night we die!" he said gayly. "Go and tell your father to be ready. I'll send for you both when the time comes. Chou thinks the trouble is going to burst tonight. Join me in my wing of the palace. Au revoir!"
The girl smiled and summoned her two women. Ardzrouni called for more wine.