We worked steadily for about half an hour, pausing now and again to
listen. We were practically certain that the opium fiend had gone to
his pipe, and it was more than probable that the fat Mongol was no
longer on guard, knowing that we were safe in a strong-box to which he
alone held the key. Events proved we were wrong in both conjectures.
When the log was ready for use as a battering-ram we held a council of
war, which lasted about half a minute. If there is obviously only one
thing to be done, the sooner it is done the better. I grasped the
forward end of our weapon, Ajax, being the heavier, took the other,
and we charged that door with such hearty goodwill that at the first
assault it yielded, lock and hinges being torn from the woodwork, and
the door itself falling flat with a crash like the crack o' doom.
Ajax, the log, and I rolled into the next room, and as we were
grovelling on the floor I saw that the room was full of Chinamen, and
that our late guide was in the middle of them. The light was so bad
that I was unable to see more than this. It was plain that we had to
deal with an organised gang of criminals.
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