friends, plenty of piracy did flourish. The enormous canal and river traffic just outside the door, so to speak, has been a prey for pirates ever since the world was young, and I saw where we had a whole nest of villages to clean out in the near future.
The Heart-resting-place was only a little hillock, and fortunately most of the river below was masked by trees. When I saw what was waiting for us, however, I’m afraid I uttered several naughty words.
Mary and the baron had picked out a fine large river boat, upcurved at each end, with a small matting sail forward and the usual rounded grass cover amidships. The crew of three were bringing her up to the landing—so far all right. But Wan Shih had chosen to invite himself, and four priests with him, in another craft of the same enlarged-sampan type. They were going to keep a careful watch upon us, evidently.
This put the odds pretty high, for I considered Groot useless, while Rosoff would be at my elbow. However, we greeted Wan Shih warmly and stood around chatting in pleasant guise. Everybody was on their best behavior, and Mary snapped the delighted baron and Wan Shih together. Then she snapped me and Alan, just to play no favorites. That little kodak of hers restored all my good humor, for if we did manage to get away those films would be precious objects at headquarters.
Rosoff, catching me standing alone, walked over to me. He wasted no preliminaries.
“Breck, Peking has no report on you.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Never mind—they’ll get me traced down soon enough. I say, baron, any chance for me to get in on the game here? You know, there are better things than money to be had as rewards.”
My gaze was on Mary Fisher as I spoke.
Yes, I know it was nasty work—but it was also a bold stroke to feel him out. And it succeeded. It brought out all the buried Prussian in him.
“None of that!” he said, his voice low and vicious, “She is marked down for me!”
“Pardon—my mistake,” I answered coolly enough. We understood each other perfectly, and I had the answer I sought. Groot joined us at this instant, and we started aboard the boat.
Rosoff handed down Mary. He was a handsome devil as he stood there smiling at her, no hint of his black soul showing in his face! My hand itched for the trigger; but I had no notion of putting a bullet into him unless it were necessary. I knew what would hurt him far worse than any bullet.
So he had marked down Mary Fisher! That made all my guesswork fit together excellently. Groot would be shot, and Mary would vanish. I wondered how many other girls the baron had to his account; plenty, no doubt. A man of that type is like a predatory tiger, like the man-slayer who lusts only for blood of the kill.
At Mary’s suggestion, the rounded grass cover of our boat was lifted off from amidships and dumped on the landing. This left us all with a clear view, and we had plenty of room. The three river-men hoisted the sail, two of them squatted in the bow and the third came aft to the tiller, and we shot out from the landing. There was a fair breeze from the south, although the heavy cloud-masses were piling up steadily from the west in big thunderheads. The river was about fifty yards wide, but broadened out below us.
The other boat came along quickly, for Wan Shih knew what he was doing, and drew alongside. We rippled downstream, everybody talking and laughing, and presently Wan Shih began giving a lecture upon the history and so forth of the shores. We drew in to a beautiful little nook that had been a favorite retreat of some ancient emperor, and ran down the sails. Mary snapped the place and we drifted on with the stream.
Meantime, I had my eye on that sail up forward. It had only a single halyard that I could see, and was a primitive affair. Rosoff and Groot were sitting amidships with Mary, while I was in the stern.
Half an hour passed. We floated with the current, Wan Shih keeping up a more or less steady flow of talk, and a pleasant time was had by all, as the small-town papers say. The farther we got from the temple, the better pleased I was. The clouds were creeping up rapidly, however, and after, a bit Rosoff suggested that we had better head for home.
“Oh, there’s one place more—just around the next bend!” Mary gave me a glance, and I knew that she was playing her last card. After this, it was up to me. “I’ve saved two films especially for it! You know, Wan Shih—the beach and grotto where all the narcissus plants twine among the stones like snakes!”
Wan Shih nodded and flung a word to the boatmen. All together, his boat had eight men aboard, and our crew numbered three. I caught Groot’s eye, and beckoned.
Leaving Rosoff entertained by Mary, Alan Groot joined me and gave me the match for my pipe that I requested. The poor chap looked strained and desperate. I was standing beside the man at the tiller, a brawny river-man who knew no word of English, naturally.
“See here, Alan,” I said quietly, “when the fuss starts, you scramble up for’ard and get the sail up. The halyard’s beside that chap on the right, get it? You let everything else drop and shove up that sail.”
His eyes widened on me.
“But, my boy, the two men there!”
I chuckled. “Don’t worry. They won’t be there when I start to work. But unless we get away from that other boat, it’s good night!”
He went back, and crawled up to the bow, where he remained.
We swept around a bend. Directly ahead of us, the river widened a good bit. On the right was the place to which Mary had referred—a charming little spot overhung with ancient trees and boasting lilies which curled upward from among mossy rocks. Wan Shih informed us about it, but I was not paying attention to historical details at the moment.
“Make haste with your pictures!” warned the baron. “The sun is going fast!”
Mary stood up and snapped the scene as we drifted in, one of the men up forward poling us. The western sky was a black mass now, and as the sun went out of sight under the clouds, a little gust of colder air came along.
“We bette’ go ve’y quick!” cried Wan Shih, and barked at the boatmen. I pocketed my pipe.
The two boats headed about. The wind came in another gust from the south—it would shift around to the westward presently, under the pressure of the clouding currents above. There was no time to lose, and I leaned forward.
“Have you a cigarette to spare, baron?” Rosoff was playing the polite gentleman in front of Mary. Since I made no move to rise, he got up and came aft, bringing out his cigarette case and proffering it to me. I selected a cigarette with my left hand.
Now, when you are offering a man a cigarette, you naturally watch him take it. Rosoff did just that—watched me pick out the cigarette. Consequently, he did not observe what my right hand was doing. I thanked him, he put back the cigarette case in his pocket and turned to go; and I caught him as he turned. I belted him with the automatic in my right hand, and the front sight raked into his skull; clear to the bone. I could hear it grit, and was even afraid lest I had struck too hard.
Rosoff toppled forward. Before he hit the deck, I landed my left elbow amidships of the helmsman just behind me, and then gave him the automatic over the head as he doubled up. He went overboard.
I had planned these two blows with great nicety, and the affair went off like clockwork. It was over in a flash; and before Wan Shin’s crowd had even let out a yell, I got in the
