LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2257, 27 June 1881, Page 4

LITERATURE.

| TIITS FIBM OF AH-WHY & 00. A banker's story. (Concluded.) We had walked up and down more than an hour, and wore turning to go homo at the Consulate end of the Bund, when wo heard voices close by us. We listened, and the words 'Bank,' 'Heygate,' and my own name were distinct. We could not see tho eptmkers, bat from the sound of their volcei guessed that they were on the mud-beach under the Bund wall. Clinging to a sort of instinctive hope that we wore on the point of discovering something new about our bank affair, we crouched down and worked ourselves gradually to the Bund wall. Heygato, as the smaller m»n, looked over. He waited about five minutes, beckoned to mo, and pointed to a sampan, or small bo»t, grounded 'on the mud, and to the three fieures of* Hai-ling, his successor and the partner of Ah-why and Co. Ihey were talking in ' pidgin English,' as do natives of distant porta of China to each other, and so animated and absorbing was their conversation that they did not notice a slip of mine whioh nearly preoipitated me on to their heads. We listened with breathless Interest, and learned that Hal-ling's successor had been telling them of the scene at the bank when the forged notes were discovered, and that they weie concocting a plan of escape. We heard much about a certain large junk which was lying off Wu-Uhang, and of whioh the movements were to be ruled by signals from the Hankow shore. Wai it not very possible, I thought, that this junk, which probably had our dollars on board, was to convey them down the river, out of the reach of justice ? Every minute was of value to us, so I whispered to Heygate to Blip off to the bank, about whioh I knew Orthwaite was lurking, to toll of our Buapicions, and to bring him to us. As Heygate crept away the clock on the Bund struck eleven; the moon was down, and thick darkness settled over the »cene. I waited, watched, and listened. The partner of Ah why and Co.—or, as I shall call him for greater convenience, Ah-why—produced what seemed to be a map, and over this, with the aid of a small paper lantern, the three men pored and argued for several minutes. Finally, they seemed to agree upon a plan, the map was shut up and they made a move towards tho tampan. It was an anxious] minute for me, as I was alone, and imagined that they were about to slip out of my grasp; but, unarmed as I was, I made up my mind to prevent their embarkation at any cost. 8o I raised myself on one knee, ready to spring out. To my Intense relief they hauled the sampan higher out oi'the- mud, mack it fast to » ring in the Bund mil, and Blowly passed along the "bora towards some steps by whleh they would ascend to the Bund. Directly they were out of hearing, I jumped down, cut the rope, and sent the s»mpan drifting down the rapid stream. This done, 1 was scrambling up to the Bund again, when my eye caught sight of a white paper on the ground ; striking a match, I saw that It was a letter written In Chinese oharaoters, and, although it was Hebrew to me, I folded it up, and put it in my pocket. Scarcely had I reached tho Bund, when Heygate returned, bringing with him Orthwoite. The lantern still betrayed the whereabouts of the three Chinamen, so after them we went, the darkness favouring our movements. As we went, I told the sergeant all that we had seen, and what I had done. Not a man of many words, he expressed complete approval and delight by sundry grunts and tremendous slaps on the chest. • Now,' said he, when I had finished, •them thre« chaps la going into Ah-loo'a grog shop. If you gentlemen don't mind just keeping yonr eyes on them and staying under this josshouse gate, I'll step off and get some of my best men ' —by which the worthy sergeant intimated that he would return with the whole police force of Hankow, mustering in full half-a-dozen. • Just before you go, sergeant,' I said, pulling out the piece of paper I had picked up, «tell me if this is of any value ; I can't translate it, and I know yon oan read a little Chinese.' . . Orthwaite took the paper, and examining it under a lamp, expressed the moat complete satisfaction. ■ We've got 'em beautiful,' he almost shouted ; * this ere's a letter from the ►kipper of that junk off Wu-ohang ; he says if our friends here in the grog shop don't look alive, the Wu-chang oustoms folk will be after the dollars they've got aboard—your dollars, gentlemen, aa sure as my name's John Orthwaite ; now, please stop here ; I won't be long, and I know that if them chaps have gone into Ah-loo's, it's to get a little courage into them, whioh they'll be some time doing, I'm thinking." In a quarter of an hour the sergeant returned with three European constables— Yorkshiremen like himself—and three smartlooking Chinamen. All were armed, and the sergeant gave us a revolver each, retaining a huge navy cutlass for himself. ' Not that we shall want 'em, gentlemen, but the sight of them may cool yon chaps' pluck. Besides, the crew of the junk are just as likely to be armed as not.'

We felt uncommonly like a band of smugglers or preventive men, as we stood_ there in the darkness, stowing away our pistols, and talking in whispers, and iathsr prayed for a brush than otherwise. John Orthwaite was completely in his element. He had been many years in her Majesty's navy ; and the police duties of dull, respectable Hankow were monotonous In the extreme to a man who had served at the Greenhill battery before Sebaatopol, and who had been third man into the breach of the Takn forts. * Now, lads,' said he to his men ; ' run out silently the four-oared galley, and steer to that junk with the red light, dodge about between the ships, and don't let yourselves be seen. I'll be after you in the pairoar.'

The men replied with an * Ay, ay! sergeant,' aud in a very few minutes we saw them pulling up against an eight-knot tide. Very soon after the three Chinamen Issued from the grog shop—not exactly intoxicated, but well fortified, and talking with more vociferation than discretion.

We jumped back into the obscurity of tne temple poroh, and allowed them to proceed down the Bund, following them under the shadow of the trees.

Arrived at the spot where they had tied up the sampan, they found nothing but a bit of tattered rope hanging to the ring, and their surprise and disgust took the form of tremendous execrations and violent gesticulation. Back they turned, evidently with the intention of getting a craft from the quays, and we followed them, resolved not to lose Bight of them for a moment. We watohed them descend to the water's side, and heard them wake up tho owner of a Bampan and haggle with him. Then we jumped into our pair-oar—Heygate and I pulling, whilst the sergeant took the rudderlines.

'Walt a bit, gentlemen,' said he; 'I want to soe them start, and then up with the boat 1'

Very soon a sampan glided out from the mass of vessels lying alongside the quay, proceeded up-stream. Dodging alongside the xhips, wn fetched the Wu-ohang shore unobserved, some time before the Chinamen ; the galley lay unugly hanging on by its boat-hook to the slle of a big junk, and we were soon by her tide. We waited, saw the sampan drift silently down towards the junk with the red light, heard voices as in challenge and reply, and observed the three Chinamen climb on board. Then came the rattfe of the windlass, and we knew that our opportunity had arrived. We dropped alongside, made the boat fast, and jumped on to the junk. At first we thought there would be a shindy, for several very ugly looking fellows, armed to the teeth, ran towards us ; but the apparition of the big sergeant with his cutlass, and of our revolver barrels, checked their ardour. We caught Mr Hai-ling and his successor just aa they wero slipping over tho side of the junk Into the sampan. Mr Ah-way tried the same dodge also; but I caught him with one hand by the arm. and with the other by the pigtail, which, coming off in my hand, enabled me to recognise In the disguised Chinaman our lata clerk Manero ! No wonder, when he first appeared in my private room at the bank, to open the business connection on behalf of the great firm of Ah-why and Co., that I was e truck by his resemblance to some one I could not recall,

The agony of the three men at thus being chfukmucea was at once pitiable ana ludicrous. Wo tied them together in :i corner, aud put an English constable over then), and thoro they sat, writhing and moaning and crying like whipped children. Tho crew of tho junk, seeing us in such indisputable possession, yielded without r.ny further bother. Heygate went ashore to lodge information at thn British consu I '* ofiioe, whilst I with the others remained on board. At daybreak we commoccen ( .ho oporat'on of searching the junk. Beneath a cleverlycontrived layer of wine-tuba and tea-chests, we found tho dollars and aycoe sliver, just as they had beeu taken from us, save that clumsy attempts had been made to erase the bank's marks and numbers. To cut a long story shor*, Hai-ling and his companions were turned over to the ' mercy ' of the Chinese court of justice, and would certainly never have seen another sun rise but for the intercession of the British consul and ourselves. John Orthwaite received a very substantial reward for his services, and only regrets one faot in tho business —that there was no fighting. Heygate and ,1 still pull together, and are often called upon to tell the story of Hai-ling.