Under the Chinese Dragon

Contents


Chap. Page

I. EBENEZER SPEAKS HIS MIND 9

II. THE ROAD TO LONDON 28

III. WANTED A JOB 47

IV. A RESPONSIBLE POSITION 66

V. LONDON'S ALIEN CRIMINALS 84

VI. THE PROFESSOR MAKES A SUGGESTION 101

VII. AT SEA ON A CHINESE JUNK 121

VIII. IN A TIGHT CORNER 138

IX. A GAME OF LONG BOWLS 157

X. EBENEZER CLAYHILL'S INSPIRATION 176

XI. DAVID GOES ON A JOURNEY 194

XII. CHANG ANNOUNCES HIS ERRAND 211

XIII. IN A CHINESE PRISON 230

XIV. TSU-HI IS ASTONISHED 247

XV. DICK AND DAVID TURN THE TABLES 265

XVI. FREEDOM AGAIN 282

XVII. A CHAPTER OF ADVENTURES 299

XVIII. TERRORS OF THE MONGOLIAN DESERT 317

XIX. A FIGHT TO A FINISH 336

XX. THE SECRET OF THE RUINS 352




Illustrations


Page

"THE BRUTE SPRANG FULL AT DAVID" _Frontispiece_ 316

BURGLARS AT THE STORE 82

"A FLAME SUDDENLY ILLUMINATED THE 'TWEEN DECKS" 130

"A ROAR OF APPLAUSE GREETED THE FIFTH SHOT" 172

"IN A SECOND DAVID WAS ON HIM" 252

STORMING THE BARRICADE 346




UNDER THE CHINESE DRAGON




CHAPTER I

Ebenezer speaks his Mind


Mr. Ebenezer Clayhill was a man who impressed his personality upon one,
so that those who had once obtained but a passing glimpse of him could
not fail but recognise him, however long afterwards.

'Fust it's his nose what strikes yer,' had declared old Isaac Webster,
when ensconced with his bosom friends of an evening down in the snug
parlour of the 'Three Pigeons.' 'It's just the most almighty one as ever
I seed, and I've seed a power of noses, I have, Mr. Jarney.'

He sniffed and looked across at that individual, as if he challenged him
to disprove the statement, or even to doubt it; for Jarney was a
cross-grained fellow, an old weather-beaten boatman, into whose
composition quite a considerable quantity of salt seemed to have been
absorbed. The man was short in stature and in manner. There was an
acidity about his voice which made him the reverse of popular, though
when he held forth in the cosy parlour of the public-house there were
few who failed to listen; for Jarney had travelled. Unlike Isaac
Webster, he had not been a stay-at-home all his days, but had seen
things and people which were strange for the most part to the old
cronies who gathered together of an evening. No one dare dispute
Jarney's statements, for to do so was to lay oneself open to a course of
scathing, biting sarcasm, in which Jarney excelled.

Isaac coughed, finding that Jarney had failed to answer. 'I've seed a
power of noses, I have, Mr. Jarney,' he repeated in his most solemn
tones.

The boatman, comfortably quartered in a huge arm-chair in the centre of
the circle about the blazing fire, twisted his eyes round till they were
fixed on the speaker. He pulled the short clay which he was smoking out
of his mouth with a hand bearing many a tar stain, and contemplated it
with much interest. His lips curled back in what was meant to be a
derisive smile, then back went the pipe between his toothless gums.

'You've seed a sight of noses, you have, Mr. Webster,' he growled.
'Well, so has we all. There's noses all round us most of the day. I
could yarn to yer about a nigger man 'way out in the Caroline Islands
who'd a nose that you couldn't pass in a day's walk, it war that big and
attractive. But you was talkin' of this here Ebenezer Clayhill.'

'Him as ain't long come to these parts,' interposed another of the men
gathered about the fire. 'Him as you're acting gardener to, Mr.
Webster.'

'Or rather, him as has gone and married the lady as you've been gardener
to this three years past,' ventured a third. 'Mrs. Harbor that was; now
Mrs. Ebenezer Clayhill.'