Page:On to Pekin.djvu/253

Rh the bullet crashed into the roof far above, bringing down dust and splinters upon their heads.

The priest continued to call out; and soon a light appeared, and with it two men, one being the messenger who had come for Gilbert. Both were armed with daggers of the Malay pattern. In a trice Gilbert had the pair at his side, both trying to drag him away, and thus save the old priest from harm.

"Capture him alive! Do not kill him!" screamed the Buddhist priest, in Chinese. "I must have him for a sacrifice."

"We will do our best," answered one of his followers. "But he looks like a mighty fighter."

"So much the better. It is what our good god needs," returned the old Buddhist.

He leaped up, and reached for the lantern, to place it where it would be more to his followers' advantage. Meanwhile the two new-comers were hauling away at Gilbert, one at one arm and the other at the other.

Gilbert could not use his sword, but the pistol was available; and, watching his opportunity, he blazed away, and brought one of the men down with a serious wound in the abdomen. Then he turned