CHAPTER XXIX.
THE SECRET CAVERN.--THE PRINCESS SAVED BY THE BOYS.
"Thou hast had a narrow escape, O most prudent master," said Chow,coming forth when he saw the coast clear.
"Had I been taken, it would have been a just punishment for missing mymark; but by what fortunate chance did that savage beast escape from hiscage, O Chow?" replied Nicholas, descending the tree.
"That chance, O my master was the foresight of thy servant, whounfastened the door of the cage of that four-footed brother of Yen-Vang,neither knowing nor caring whether he might not himself be the firstmeal, so that the noble Nicholas escaped."
"It was well done, my brave Chow; yet surely that rebel rogue must beprotected by some demon to have escaped so narrowly both arrow and lion;but let us haste to the cavern, or they may return."
Now, although the whole of this adventure had not occupied more than anhour, Nicholas was greatly in fear for what might have happened to theprincess, an anxiety reciprocated by the princess, who, as soon as shesaw them again, exclaimed, "Thank heaven, the noble youth is saved;"then added reproachfully, "But he has not performed his promise, for hebrings not the sacred remains of his royal master;" when, however,Nicholas related the adventure, although in great anguish of mind atbeing denied the sacred right of paying the last office of respect tothe corpse of her parent, she was overjoyed at their escape.
"Escape, O great princess; thy small servant is not clever and gifted,like the mole, or he would eat a hole through the end of this rat-trap;for to attempt it by the entrance would be to submissively ask thetraitor Li-Kong to cut us all into ten thousand pieces," said Chow.
"The words of the brave Chow are reasonable, for truly this cavern isbut a trap," said Nicholas.
"It is not so; push thou against the end of the cavern," said theprincess.
"Truly we are fortunate," said Nicholas with astonishment, as he foundthe end giving way, and disclosing to his vision a long narrow passage.
"It was made by the great Tait-sou, and leads to an unfrequented suburbof the city; by this means he could leave the palace alone, and bymixing among the people judge for himself how the mandarins wererespected by them," said the princess.
"Surely they will follow us here," said Nicholas.
"Not so, noble youth; for the secret is known but to few. It was thesole vile act of the great Tait-sou's reign that he caused this passageto be made by condemned prisoners, whom he afterward slew, that theymight not divulge the secret," said the princess, adding, "Let us traceits course."
Then, helping the wounded girl to walk, they proceeded down the passagefor a considerable distance, till their progress was arrested by a door;pushing this, however, they found themselves in a small cavern, lighted,like the one at which they had entered, by a small grating from above.
"How is it possible, O noble Nicholas, that we can pass through theroaring rebels, who are, doubtless, without?" said Chow.
"It is a reasonable question, O noble youth; truly we had better remainhere till night," said the princess.
But, having considered for a minute, Nicholas said, "Not so, greatprincess; remain thou here with Chow, and thy servant will find somemeans of deliverance;" whereupon he borrowed from Chow his lessconspicuous cap, robe, and boots, then felt his way up a flight ofnarrow steps, till his head struck against a trap-door; lifting thisgently, he found himself in a small stone room, the door of which stoodopen; passing this, he came into an oblong court, and saw at once thatthe place had been erected as a tomb, and, moreover, that he was at themost remote end of a valley of tombs. So far he believed the princess tobe in a place of safety, for none, even in those rebellious days, woulddare to enter the ancestral tomb of another.
Crossing this valley of sepulchres with inverted face, as if in deepcontemplation after visiting the tomb of his ancestors, he came into theopen road, where a vast crowd were floating onward into the city, madwith excitement, and shouting, "Many years' life to the heaven-sentEmperor!" he mixed with them, and so, safely passed onward to the houseof the merchant Yang, who no sooner saw him than he ordered an incensetable, and returned thanks to Fo for his safety. "For," said he, "thyservant made but little doubt that the son of the great Chin-Chi-Loonghad been slain."
"The son of the merchant of the south lives to avenge the death of hisEmperor," said Nicholas.
"Hist! hist!" said the merchant, pale with fear, lest some servant mighthear the words; adding, "Truly Wey-t-song but merited his fate."
"Art thou also a traitor, O Yang?" exclaimed Nicholas, indignantly.
"The rich need be cautious, for is it not a maxim, that a successfulrebel is more to be feared than a dead Emperor, O noble Nicholas?"
Indignant as he was at this disloyalty, Nicholas, remembering thenecessity of the princess, dissembled his anger, and said, "Is theworthy Yang under sufficient obligation to Chin-Chi-Loong to serve hisson?"
"Even to the extent of his life and fortune."
"Then I will trust thee," said Nicholas, dropping the usual formality ofspeech, and telling him the whole of his adventure of the morning.
"Truly, O youth, this is a dangerous affair; but Yang dares not breakfaith with the great chief who may some day be master of us all," saidthe merchant, trembling with fear.
"This, then, is just; I would have the head-dress and mourning garb of awidow, and the coarse robes of two Coolies."
"This is a cautious method of proceeding, and shall be done," said Yang,who left the room, leaving the impatient youth walking to and fro withgreat anxiety. The articles, however, not being very difficult to obtainin that part of the city, the merchant soon returned with them packed upin a small bale; then, hastily thanking Yang, Nicholas took the balewith him some little distance from the house, and paid two Coolies tocarry him in their sedan to the gate of the valley of tombs; havingarrived there, he jumped out of the chair, and paid the Coolieshandsomely, telling them to leave it near the gate, and to fetch himagain in two hours' time; when, not in the least doubting the honesty ofso generous a customer, the Coolies went off to spend their earnings ata wine-shop, and Nicholas proceeded cautiously to the cavern.
Having explained his scheme to the princess, he left her in the cavernto attire herself in the widow's weeds, while he and Chow proceeded tothe tomb above, to assume the garbs of Coolies.
This being done, he gave Chow some silver and sent him off to thewine-shop, after which he assisted the princess up the steps, and,supporting her, they slowly walked through the valley, till they camewithin a short distance of the gate, when, to the delight of Nicholas,Chow came up to them and said:--
"I found the two sots drinking like fishes, and when I told them amerchant wished to hire them, they laughed heartily, saying, that theyhad already been engaged by too good a passenger to stir for the nexttwo hours."
Then, assisting the princess into the chair, Nicholas and Chow took theplace of the Coolies, and so carried it to the house of Yang.
As Yang had prepared the ladies of his family to receive a young girl,who, he said, was about to be taken into a distant province by herbrother, as soon as the troubles had subsided, the princess was warmlyreceived in the Hall of Ancestors, and immediately conducted to theinner apartments of the house. Cleverly as this was managed, Nicholasnow trembled for the safety of the princess; indeed, she could be safeno where, but with the Lady Candida, or the Prince Yong-Li, both of whomhe believed to have fled to Woo-san-Kwei, in Leao-tong, therefore,difficult as was the task, he determined to take her to that province.As for Yang, whose loyalty was stronger toward the family of Nicholasthan to the imperial line, and who really wished a person likely toprove so dangerous as the princess out of his house, he offered hisadvice and assistance; and as a small junk belonging to him was about toproceed to Tien-sin, on the banks of the Pei-ho (or white river) with acargo of goods in exchange for salt, he offered to place it at thecommand of Nicholas, who, when at the mouth of the river, would find itno difficult matter to make a voyage through the
gulf of Pe-tche-Lee,and of Leao-tong, to some town upon the coast.
This being arranged, they determined that the junk should start as soonas she was laden, and that the princess should embark as a young widow,whose husband having been killed in the rebellion, was returning to seeher friends in Leao-tong. But then the princess could not travel withouta female attendant,--and whom could they trust? that seemed theirgreatest difficulty. It was surmounted, however as you will see in thenext chapter.
The War Tiger Page 31