Patrick O’Brian 3-Book Adventure Collection: The Road to Samarcand, The Golden Ocean, The Unknown Shore. Patrick O’Brian

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СКАЧАТЬ not, a small present, accompanied by promises of more, will turn their wrath.’

      ‘These guys ban tough eggs,’ said Olaf. ‘They ain’t out for no parlour-conversation. Ay reckon the best kind of present ban one ounce of lead, right between the eyes, see?’

      ‘But suppose the barbarians should shoot first, with two ounces of lead? Or leap upon us with horrible cries?’ Li Han shuddered. ‘But doubtless,’ he added, to comfort himself, ‘philosophic Professor will dissuade both sides from actual blows at the last moment by honeyed words and sage-like example.’

      ‘Not at all, Li Han,’ cried Professor Ayrton, who had caught these last words, ‘I am all for blows in this emergency. If these invading Kazaks try to come between me and the Wu Ti jade, I shall endeavour to deal out the shrewdest and most painful blows that I can manage, with no honeyed words at all. You must remember the precept of Chih Hsü, “In a sudden encounter with a tiger, a double-edged sword of proved temper is of a greater material value than the polished manners of Chang-An.”’ He raised his voice, and speaking to Ross and Sullivan, he said, ‘I feel quite like the warhorse in Job. Have we much farther to go?’

      ‘A fair distance yet. Did you say a warhorse, Professor?’

      ‘Yes. “He saith among the trumpets Ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.” I believe you people have corrupted me by your example: why, when I return to the museum, they will call me the Scourge of Bloomsbury.’

      ‘The Professor says that he feels like a warhorse,’ said Derrick to Chingiz.

      ‘Hum. Well, perhaps his learning will be of some use to us with spells and incantations.’

      ‘Don’t look now, Professor,’ said Ross, quietly, ‘but I think your principles are slipping.’

      ‘My principles? Oh, yes: I apprehend your meaning. But, my dear sir, do you not appreciate the difference between attack and defence? Here are we, in the middle of our good friends’ country, and we find them being annoyed, harassed and put to serious inconvenience by a pack of invading ruffians. Are we not to show our displeasure? Furthermore, Sullivan assured me that the Kazaks will undoubtedly associate us with the Kokonor horde, and that if they are not discouraged by firm action on our parts, they will certainly molest us, even to the point of taking away our belongings. And thirdly as the Kazaks are Mohammedans, and there is an element of religious fanaticism in their attack, they may, if victorious, go so far as to destroy the Wu Ti jades, many of which, I am glad to say, are graven images, and anathema to these bigots. All these things being considered, therefore – loyalty to our friends, a due regard for our own safety, and the preservation of these artistic treasures – I feel wholly justified in crying “Forward, with the greatest convenient speed, and smite them hip and thigh.”’

      Chingiz pushed his horse up to Sullivan, and when the Professor had finished, he pointed. ‘There is the Kazak Tomb,’ he said. On a high rock before them there was a low, crumbling mound: once it had reached up in a steep-sided pyramid; the centuries had brought it down, but as they came nearer they could still see that the whole erection had been made of hundreds upon hundreds of skulls.

      ‘We will add to that before dawn,’ said Chingiz, ‘either with their heads or our own.’

      Beyond the Kazak Tomb the way grew harder. On either hand the broken, weathered rocks leaned over their path: they rode in single file, picking their way with care. From the shadow of a great boulder came a single man, a Kokonor Mongol who was waiting for them. Down through a steep canyon he led them, and there the shadow of the night lingered still: they tethered their horses in a place where there was a thin sprinkling of grass, and began to climb. They came up into the light over a difficult shoulder of moving shale, and as the first red glow of the sunrise appeared they reached the skyline.

      They were at the top of a cliff that overlooked a narrow valley, almost a ravine, with sheer sides: the valley led out into the distant plain, in the open country far beyond; but anyone who tried to pass through the tumbled ridge by this valley would find themselves brought up short by the perpendicular cliff at the hither end of it. The plan was that the Kazaks should be lured up this ravine to its very end, and that there they should be caught by rifle-fire from the heights.

      They strung themselves out along the sides, finding good hiding-places among the boulders. They would have several hours to wait, but as it was impossible to say for certain when Hulagu and his men would lead their pursuers into the trap, they must remain hidden, silent and motionless for the whole of the long wait. When they had been there an hour Chang barked. ‘Put a strap round that dog’s muzzle,’ snapped Sullivan. Some minutes later there came a soft whistle, to which Chingiz replied, and they saw another group of Mongols creeping among the rocks on the other side, taking up places opposite to them.

      The hours passed slowly, very slowly, and the sun crept up the sky. A wind blew up from the farther steppe: it increased in strength, and as it howled and whistled through the rocks and down the narrow gully, it became very difficult to listen for the sounds they hoped to hear.

      Derrick was changing from one cramped position to another when he saw the heads of the three men to his left all whip round at the same moment; they were listening intently down the length of the ravine. He froze motionless, and he heard the crackle of many rifles, far away and whipped from them by the wind.

      Sullivan nodded and winked his eye: at the same instant Derrick became aware of the Professor’s lanky form stretched out behind him and creeping towards Sullivan.

      ‘Forgive me, Sullivan,’ whispered the Professor, ‘if this is an inopportune moment – I should have thought of it before, but it slipped my mind. What I wished to say was that although I am conversant with the general principles underlying the use of firearms, I have never actually –’

      ‘Get down,’ hissed Ross, pulling the Professor off the skyline. ‘Here they come.’

      Derrick flung himself flat and rammed home his bolt: he heard the same sharp, metallic sound to his right and his left. From where he lay he had a perfect view of the whole of the gulley, and he saw Kubilai and Hulagu with some twenty of their men coming into sight at the far end. Behind them came the Kazaks. It was difficult to see how many there were, because of the number of spare horses that galloped with them, but they were many; and as they raced nearer Derrick saw among them a white horse whose rider carried a lance with a yak’s tail flying like a pennant.

      ‘That is the son of the Altai Khan,’ murmured Chingiz, staring down his sights.

      ‘Quiet,’ whispered Sullivan. ‘Wait for it, wait for it.’

      Now Hulagu and his men put on a great burst of speed: as they passed the silent watchers, Hulagu took the reins in his teeth, turned in his saddle and fired back. He scanned the rocks anxiously, and raced by.

      The Kazak lances swept nearer and nearer, and above the wind came the thundering of their horses’ hooves. ‘Just a little closer,’ whispered Sullivan, cuddling the stock into his shoulder, ‘and you’re for it.’

      A shot rang out behind them. The bullet spat rock six inches from Derrick’s heels, and the Professor said, ‘Dear me, it went off.’

      The Kazaks pulled up in a cloud of dust. Ross and Chingiz fired together and two men fell. There was confusion in the ravine, some pushing on and some turning back. Sullivan waited a moment and then fired six shots so fast that it sounded like a burst of machine-gun fire. On the other side the Mongols opened up, and Hulagu’s men from the foot of the cliff kept up a rapid fire.

      ‘One,’ СКАЧАТЬ