Six
For some time no one spoke. Sullivan drummed his fingers on the floor: at last he said, ‘I have it. Is Li Han still around?’
‘I’m not sure,’ said Derrick, ‘but I think he is.’
‘Good. We left the three sons of the Khan at the village of Tu Fu just before we were taken. They will wait for us five days. If Li Han takes a message to them at once, and they ride like the wind to Hsien Lu, they can tell him to bring his men up into the hills where the road leads into Liao Meng, to the place called the valley of the Three Winds. It is a perfect place for an ambush – plenty of cover and a steep slope – and it is just about there that their engines should give out. I’m right, aren’t I, Ross?’
‘Yes, just about seven li should do it.’
‘The next thing to do is to disable the new machine-guns and the bombs. Do you know what pattern they are?’
‘I am afraid I do not – these things are quite outside my province. But I have the blue-prints here, if they would be any use to you.’
‘That will be as good as seeing the actual machines,’ said Ross, unfolding the plans. ‘Derrick, keep an eye open through the crack of the door.’
Ross, who knew more about machinery than all the rest of them put together, looked closely at the plans. ‘They have got some important new ideas here,’ he said. ‘Any government would give a pretty penny to see these plans. I dare say they are trying them out here as a test under war conditions. We’ll keep these. Look here, Professor, do you see this locking-pin? And this tension nut above it? If you loosen these thoroughly, the gun will jam after the first few rounds, and in all likelihood the whole thing will explode, blowing the gun and the gunner to – to wherever Communist bandits go.’
‘I see,’ said the Professor, poring over the blue-print. ‘This object is to be loosened, and this nut also. Turned to the left, I take it? Derrick, you had better inspect the plan too, in case I make a mistake. I recall that I did so once, with a plan of a mechanical excavator. It buried the foreman and seventeen undergraduates, as well as the umbrella of my colleague Bloom. He was disproportionately vexed: he said that the umbrella had belonged to his father, the expert on Middle European Hebrew symbolism, you know, and –’
‘Forgive me if I interrupt, Professor,’ said Sullivan, ‘but what about the bombs?’
‘What bombs? Oh, yes, the bombs. Dear me, I was almost forgetting the bombs. Here is a full description of them. Nasty, ugly, dangerous machines, in my opinion.’
‘This is a cinch,’ said Sullivan. ‘You see the variable fuse, Ross?’
‘Yes. Set that to zero and they’ll blow every man-jack to pieces the minute he tries to use them.’
‘It’s a cinch,’ repeated Sullivan. ‘Look, Professor, you must unscrew the cap here, and set the marker to the figure nought. Then put on the cap again and leave the bombs strictly alone. In no circumstances touch this pin, or you will be blown up.’
‘Oh,’ said the Professor, uncertainly. ‘Blown up?’
‘Blown right up sky high, so have a care.’
‘I will, I assure you. This is the pin that is not to be touched. Derrick, come and look at this pin, and if you see me touching it, remind me that I should not touch it, then walk – no, run – quickly off.’
Derrick was looking at the plan, and Ross was pointing out the vital pin, when Dimitri Mihailovitch walked silently in. He saw the blue-print in Ross’s hands, and an expression of intense suspicion shot across his ugly face. He swung to Professor Ayrton and opened his mouth to speak, but Sullivan had been gliding sideways through the shadow towards him, and before a sound came out of his mouth Sullivan leapt on him, covering his face with a large and powerful hand. There was a momentary struggle: the Russian was bent violently back; they heard a strangled cry, a crack like the breaking of a stick, and Sullivan put the inert body gently down.
‘I’m afraid I had to break his neck,’ said Sullivan. ‘If he had fired that would have been the end of us all.’
‘That complicates things,’ remarked Ross quietly, pocketing the Russian’s revolver.
Derrick was tough: he had seen death before: but now he felt pale and sick with horror. The Professor could hardly speak.
‘Take a drink,’ ordered Sullivan, passing the vodka.
‘You must excuse my agitation,’ said the Professor in a trembling voice, wiping his spectacles nervously. ‘I am unused to … dear me …’ his voice trailed off into silence.
‘Now, to continue,’ said Sullivan, ‘when you have done those things, you will have to remain with Shun Chi’s army until they reach the gorge in the hills, or they will get suspicious. You must keep on the extreme right, and at the first shot you lie down dead. We will have men there and ready to take care of you.’
Ross suddenly looked at him with a question in his eyes.
‘Yes. We’ll be there,’ said Sullivan. ‘We are going to tie you up, Professor, and take your clothes and the Russian’s. Derrick will have two horses ready untied behind. When we have been gone an hour Derrick will come in and find you tied up and will give the alarm. There will be no suspicion of a plot with this dead Russian here. Then you will arrange the machine-guns and the bombs. Repeat what you have to do.’
The Professor was correct in every detail.
‘Derrick,’ said Sullivan, after a moment’s thought, ‘give me the bearings of the camp again. Right: that’s plain. As a precaution you must send Li Han off with the message as well. Now is everything clear? Good. Then I’ll trouble you for your clothes, Professor, and the blue-prints. Derrick, get the horses ready. Do not stand by them – walk clean away, and come back here to give the alarm in one hour. Got it? Right. Professor, I am going to jam this gag into your mouth, so if there is anything that is not quite clear, say it now.’
‘I have it all plain in my mind,’ said the Professor. ‘Good luck and God-speed.’ He opened his mouth for the gag, and lay still while they bound him.
‘Go on, Derrick,’ said his uncle, softly, patting him on the shoulder, ‘you can take it, can’t you?’
‘Yes, sir,’ said Derrick. ‘Good luck.’
He sauntered out: the guards were rolling dice at some distance from the door, and they did not even look up as he passed. He turned the corner of the house and came to the place where the horses stood. He quickly chose the best and untied them: he noticed that his hands were trembling, but he forced himself to remain calm. He lengthened the stirrups to suit the long legs of his uncle and Mr Ross, and he tightened the girths. While he was doing this he became aware that someone was watching him from behind. Cautiously he sidled round the horse and peered under its belly. It was only Li Han. He gasped with relief, gave the girths a final pull, left the reins hanging through the loop and turned away. He gave Li Han a jerk of his head, and the Chinese followed him.
Derrick went slowly to the place where he knew that Li Han had left his ass, and there, pretending to be examining the little creature’s hooves, he murmured his news and the message. Li Han nodded, mounted his donkey and rode slowly out of the rebel encampment.
Now
