Chapter XIV: Where the Prisoners Disappeared

49. Then this entry reveals the sequence:

"We had been a number of days on the road,--our lives imperceptibly growing into a closer and more intimate companionship as the days ambled slowly away with the bleak snow-clad mountains that we left behind.... Descending down the slopes into a fertile valley, the hillsides terraced with a series of rice yards, and our paths softly shaded with the mulberry tree.... Behind us was the white-fringed mountain of the Lama, before us loomed the SACRED PINNACLE OF OMAY and off to the south spread an ancient walled city with steeples pointing heavenward surmounted by the CROSS.... Where the pagoda stood a thousand years ago now rise the hospital and the Christian missionary school.... Here the people walk on well-paved and broad sweeping streets and the tourists spend their afternoons promenading along the smooth and high and broad city wall.... As we approached this city a stream of 'rickshas came dashing in our direction commanded by the TALL slim 'lama' I had supposed we left behind!... The coolies appeared to understand their parts.... Quickly making a circle around us they pulled the women from their camels and tried to rope and bind my 'prisoner' and myself.

"Of course we were in full view of the consular flags of a dozen different nations; but that did not seem to bother the ringleader of this tatterdemalion mob.... My 'prisoner' fought like a demon.... He well remembered the lessons he received from Heath in the manly art of self-defense.... Right and left he boxed like a well-trained athlete delivering his dynamic punches well.... But finally the gang overpowered him and turned their undivided attention to me.... I was vainly attempting to reach the side of Maria and her sisters, whom the tall bully was forcing into a waiting 'ricksha manned by two barelegged men,--a dozen coolies pounced upon me, tore my clothing into fragments, furrowed my face with their infernal nails and actually attempted to bite me on the ears!..."

"I have no notion how well or hard I fought, but as I knocked one down another took his place as I fought my way to the side of the now bound and helpless girls.... Their hair was streaming down their backs, their faces flushed, their eyes filled with tears ... that sight maddened me!... I have been in many fights before, I have lain beside the dead in Flanders and among the Balkan highlands, I have seen blood flowing by me like a river,--and the thought of all these seemed to electrify my soul and fill my veins with steel.... I tore madly right and left.... I never struck such herculean blows before or since.

"I literally grabbed the tall man by the heels and whirled him round like a flail and tore into that gang of snarling hellhounds with cyclonic fury.... I literally mowed them down.... But finally a dull thud sounded in my ears.... A wave of light blinded both my eyes.... I knew nothing more until this morning when I awoke in a tent. Beside me was a loaf of bread and a canteen of cool water.... NOT ANOTHER SIGN OF A LIVING CREATURE IS IN SIGHT.... I am in a deep mountain gorge, leading to the south along a narrow roadway that has apparently witnessed the procession of unnumbered ages."

50. Then this entry:

"After tramping all day I finally emerged in the sight of a swift-flowing river on either bank of which, in the distance, appeared two walled-off cities of considerable size.... Foreign GUNBOATS were lying in the harbor in holiday attire.... As I approached the city a courier came running to meet me.... When he approached I drew back prepared to fight....

"But his friendliness disarmed me and I allowed him to draw near.... 'Li'l' ladee wantee see you quick; you cum foller me,' he said, and turned back from where he came.... I followed him with beating heart.... On the dock at the landing where the gunboat was steaming up MARIA met me with moistened eyes....

"She informed me in a low voice that the officer was ready to receive me and accept my orders.... And then she said,

"'Before you go I wish to thank you for all you have done for us.... If our paths should ever meet again I want you to know my heart will beat more quickly when I shall see you coming up the path.'... That said, she flung her slender arms around my neck, impulsively, and looked calmly in my eyes.... When, involuntarily, my arms showed signs of being prehensile, she sprang away quickly and flashed along the gangway to disappear, like a holy vision, behind that gray storm door!..."

51. The last entry reads:

"It has been a habit with me for many years to never be surprised.... When I appeared on deck to give the code to the commander of that vessel this habit was unmoored.... A tall, square-jawed man approached me with a twinkle in his clear blue eyes.... I looked at him inquiringly and a little reminiscently until I heard him speak.... 'I see the loaf of bread came in handy,' he said, extending me his bony hand.... 'I thought I left you at Ekaterinburg,' I exclaimed, recalling the moments we spent after our escape from the abandoned tunnel.... 'Oh,' he laughed, 'YOURS was not a one-man job; there are others in the world besides yourself intrusted with state secrets.... 'But what do you know about the bread, you just spoke of it?'

"'My company was following on behind,' he answered. 'When we came round the bend we saw you scrapping with that outlaw from Trebizond. You did quite well; you had all but three of them laid out in manly fashion when you got that clip on the back of the head. Then we stepped in and conducted your party to their present quarters ... thought it better for you to remain in the tent while the authorities here locked up those cutthroats for your disappearance.'

"'Have you the CODE WORD?' I asked.... He whispered it in my ear.... Then I lettered the order.... Finally he asked, 'Would you not like to meet my SISTER who has been so much interested in you?'

"His sister! I had never heard of her!... 'Of course!' I answered amiably enough for one completely stumped....

"He called a petty officer and said a few words in an undertone.... In a minute a radiant young woman with springing steps glided gracefully down the deck.... She was not, in her present attire, much different from Maria ... but as she drew near I noted the difference at a glance.... She came forward quickly and held out her hand. 'Congratulations, Mr. Fox!' she said smiling.... The Métropole!' I gasped,--'what brings YOU here?' 'Still asking questions!' she coquetted prettily. 'I merely called, of course, to inform you that the sapphire is in America!'... I thought hard for more than a minute.... Then it occurred to me that I had seen her in a dozen disguises shadowing me from Buckingham to the room upstairs on Downing Street,--to charm me later at The Hague--to disappear like a will-o'-the-wisp,--then to fascinate me at the Métropole.'...

"Well, the commander of the vessel tells me that it is fourteen hundred miles down stream to Woosung and that the voyage will take seven days from there.... With his code word still ringing in my ears to be repeated to one man at Berlin, to another man in England, another in Japan, and to a dignitary in Italy, the mission I have undertaken shall have been successfully discharged, so far as history and public policy is concerned.... But there is another mission that I shall, some day, undertake that will be enshrined in lovely memories and lively fancies until that day shall come."