<h2 id="c21"><span class="small">CHAPTER XXI</span> <br/>Out of the Frying Pan</h2>
<p>The clank of a heavy key in the lock of the door
woke Biff the next day. He started to yawn, and
stretched the kinks from his shoulders and legs. Abruptly
he sat up. It could be the “cook!” Biff’s hopes
dimmed when the man entered. Again it was the same
old servant, well protected by an armed guard.</p>
<p>Biff looked at the Ancient One. His face was expressionless.
Uncle Charlie shrugged his shoulders at
Biff’s questioning look.</p>
<p>“Don’t let it get you down, Biff. We haven’t lost
yet. Maybe at the noon meal, perhaps we’ll get some
word then.”</p>
<p>“Wish Muscles were here. If he were we could
overpower the guard and make a break for it.”</p>
<p>“Muscles—what made you think of Muscles all of a
sudden?”</p>
<p>Biff clamped his open hand on his head, his jaw
dropped as a thought struck him.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_169">169</div>
<p>“I com-plete-ly forgot to tell you. Muscles is <i>here</i>,
in <i>China</i>, in Jaraminka!”</p>
<p>“Where’d you leave him?” Uncle Charlie decided
details could be explained later.</p>
<p>“Back at a spring, just west of the city. I hope he
got my message. I tried to tell him—he was hiding,
but I’m sure he could hear us—that if we weren’t
back in four hours then we’d been led into a trap.”
Biff’s words rushed out in one jumbled sentence.</p>
<p>“That’s the best news I’ve heard yet, Biff. Muscles
is a good operator.”</p>
<p>“But what could he do? He’d be spotted in a minute,”
Biff said.</p>
<p>“Haven’t got the answer to that one,” Uncle Charlie
replied. “But I’d bet on Muscles in any situation.
He bulldogs in where angels fear to tread.”</p>
<p>The morning hours dragged. As noon approached,
Biff became more and more restless.</p>
<p>“Wish something would happen—anything! I wonder
why Ping Lu hasn’t sent for us?”</p>
<p>“Playing a waiting game, Biff,” his uncle replied.
“The longer he keeps us here with no word, the more
tense and nervous we’ll get. He knows that. Uncertainty,
waiting, not knowing what move the enemy
will make next is one of the surest ways of making a
man reach his breaking point. And your being here,
he reasons, will make me twice as jittery.”</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_170">170</div>
<p>The hour of noon came and passed. No one came
to the prison room. Biff was wondering how near his
breaking point was when, shortly after one o’clock,
the now familiar rasp of a key in the door was heard.</p>
<p>“Make it be the Ancient One’s grandson,” Biff said
half aloud. The others were praying for the same
thing.</p>
<p>The door swung inward. Whether the new servant
was the grandson, Biff didn’t know. But it was a different
man. He brought a tray of food over and
placed it beside Tao Kwang. Biff thought he saw the
man’s lips move, but he couldn’t be sure. The servant
left. The door was locked behind him. Biff looked at
Chuba. “Did he say anything? Ask the Ancient One.”</p>
<p>Chuba spoke softly, rapidly to the old man. The
old one’s reply was a single sentence. Chuba translated:</p>
<p>“Tonight when the clock makes the twelve strikes.”</p>
<p>“That’s all? Didn’t give you any details?”</p>
<p>“That’s all Ancient One tell Chuba. I think that all
grandson tell the Ancient One.”</p>
<p>Never had Biff known a day to pass so slowly. The
suspense became unbearable. Charlie Keene tried to
calm Biff down.</p>
<p>“I think you’d be better off if you’d try to rest.
Pacing back and forth isn’t going to make the time go
by any quicker. Get Chuba to teach you the Oriental
art of patience.”</p>
<p>“Rest? Who can rest at a time like this?” Biff replied.
Then he was ashamed at the angry tone in his
voice. “I’m sorry, Uncle Charlie. I didn’t mean to—”</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_171">171</div>
<p>“I understand, Biff. But you may need all your
strength when midnight comes. Try stretching out
for a little while.”</p>
<p>Biff took his uncle’s advice. His mind was in a turmoil
as he lay on the hard wooden bench, his cupped
hands beneath his head serving for a pillow. Sleep
would never come, he told himself. The next thing he
knew, he was being gently shaken. Uncle Charlie was
bending over him, grinning.</p>
<p>“Almost midnight, Biff. Better come alive.”</p>
<p>“Midnight!” Biff sat up in astonishment. He
couldn’t believe it. “But what about supper? Did I
sleep right through it?”</p>
<p>“No one brought anything tonight. Don’t know
why.” Charles Keene picked up the kerosene lamp
which gave the room its only light, and blew it out.
“If anything is going to happen, it would be better if
the guards thought we were asleep.”</p>
<p>They waited in the darkness. There was no conversation.
But the tension in the room was so strong,
it seemed as though you could touch it like a physical
thing. Biff knew he could feel it.</p>
<p>Biff’s hopes went high and low like a playground
swing. Suddenly his ears caught a strange noise. It
came from the far end of the corridor through which
Biff and Chuba had been led to Ping Lu.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_172">172</div>
<p>The noise grew louder. Shouts were heard. Running
feet could be heard in the corridor. Biff sprang
to the barred window of the door. He peered into the
dimly lighted hall. The guard was gone. Now the
cries became louder.</p>
<p>“Chuba! Can you make out what’s being said?”</p>
<p>Chuba came to the door. He put his head close to
the bars.</p>
<p>“Fire! Much shoutings of fire. Fire in kitchen!”</p>
<p>In the kitchen. Where the grandson served as a
cook. This must be it!</p>
<p>Moments passed. Heavy footsteps were heard in the
hall. Biff, his uncle, and Chuba crowded toward the
door. Only the Ancient One remained where he was,
seated on the far wall bench. He sat quietly, waiting.</p>
<p>The sound of running feet came nearer. A figure
skidded to a stop by their door. Behind this figure
stood what was certainly the biggest Chinese in all the
Orient.</p>
<p>The key turned. The grandson came in. Behind him
came the giant. Under an almost concealing broad-brimmed
hat, the “Oriental” was grinning widely.</p>
<p>“Muscles! How did you get here?” Biff and Charlie
shot the question at their friend in the same breath.</p>
<p>“No time for an answer now. We got to make with
the feet. There’s enough excitement in the kitchen
now to cover our escape.”</p>
<p>The grandson was at the side of the Ancient One.
He helped him to his feet.</p>
<p>“Hold it,” Muscles called out. “Let me see if the
coast is clear.” He leaned out the door. “Looks okay—oh-oh—hold
it. A guard’s coming along. I’ll take
him.”</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_173">173</div>
<p>And he did. As the guard reached the door, Muscle’s
huge arm snaked out. He grabbed the guard by
the collar and lifted him by one hand into the room.
With his other hand, he struck the guard a chopping
blow, and the guard went limp without uttering a
sound. Charlie Keene caught him as he slumped over.</p>
<p>“Stack him in the corner, Charlie. Might be another
one coming along.”</p>
<p>Muscles was right. Another guard came trotting
down the hall and received the same treatment.</p>
<p>“Two down—how many to go?” Muscles was
enjoying himself.</p>
<p>“More guards coming,” Chuba whispered excitedly.</p>
<p>“Two of them this time,” Muscles said. “Makes a
more even match.”</p>
<p>The giant mechanic waited until the two were in
the corridor a pace beyond the door. He jerked the
door open, pounced on the two guards, and in a
swooping motion, cracked their heads together. He
dragged them into the room.</p>
<p>“Muscles, look, let’s put these four on the benches.
Anybody looking in will think it’s us sleeping,” Biff
suggested in a whisper.</p>
<p>“Smart,” Uncle Charlie agreed, nodding. The unconscious
guards were carefully posed as drowsy prisoners.
Chuba had taken a position just outside the door
as this was being done.</p>
<p>“No more guards coming,” he called softly.</p>
<p>The four prisoners left their cell. Muscles motioned
to the grandson for the keys. He turned the lock.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_174">174</div>
<p>“Don’t know whether you’d call that a fair exchange,”
he said, “but it’s an even one.”</p>
<p>“Come. We must lose no more time.” The grandson
took the lead. The others followed. They passed
through the room where Ping Lu had held court. A
door on the other side of the room led to another
corridor, this one narrower and shorter.</p>
<p>“Hope he knows where he’s going,” Biff said.</p>
<p>“He ought to. This used to be his home. He grew
up here,” Muscles replied.</p>
<p>At the end of the corridor, their path was blocked
by another door. The grandson tried it. It wouldn’t
yield.</p>
<p>“No keys,” he said.</p>
<p>“Okay then, stand back.” Muscles took six steps
away from the door. Then, with a bull-like charge,
he hurtled his powerful body against it. The door
sprang from its hinges, fell flat on the ground outside,
with Muscles sprawling on top of it.</p>
<p>It took only seconds to reach the stone wall. The
Ancient One was helped over. Biff turned as he
crossed the wall. One end of the house was ablaze.
Figures could be seen running frantically around, casting
weird, dancing shadows.</p>
<p>As Biff watched, he saw four men leave the light of
the blaze and come on a run to the place in the wall
they had just crossed.</p>
<p>“Hurry,” Biff shouted. “They’re after us.”</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_175">175</div>
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