Kai Lung's Golden Hours by Ernest Bramah (best detective novels of all time .TXT) 📕

appearance of an affluent merchant. The northernward way was remote and solitary, but seeing that the stranger carried no outward arms Chang Tao greeted him suitably and presently spoke of the difficulty of meeting dragons, or of discovering their retreats from dwellers in that region.

“In such delicate matters those who know don’t talk, and those who talk don’t know,” replied the other sympathetically. “Yet for what purpose should one who would pass as a pacific student seek to encounter dragons?”

“For a sufficient private reason it is necessary that I should kill a certain number,” replied Chang Tao freely. “Thus their absence involves me in much ill-spared delay.”

At this avowal the stranger’s looks became more sombre, and he breathed inwards several times between his formidable teeth before he made reply.

“This is doubtless your angle, but there is another; nor is it well to ignore the saying, ‘Should you miss the tiger be assured that he will not miss you,’” he remarked at length. “Have you sufficiently considered the eventuality of a dragon killing you?”

“It is no less aptly said: ‘To be born is in the course of nature, but to die is according to the decree of destiny.’”

“That is a two-edged weapon, and the dragon may be the first to apply it.”

“In that case this person will fall back upon the point of the adage: ‘It is better to die two years too soon than to live one year too long,’” replied Chang Tao. “Should he fail in the adventure and thus lose all hope of Melodious Vision, of the house of Shen, there will be no further object in prolonging a wearisome career.”

“You speak of Melodious Vision, she being of the house of Shen,” said the stranger, regarding his companion with an added scrutiny. “Is the unmentioned part of her father’s honourable name Yi, and is his agreeable house so positioned that it fronts upon a summer-seat domed with red copper?”

“The description is exact,” admitted Chang Tao. “Have you, then, in the course of your many-sided travels, passed that way?”

“It is not unknown to me,” replied the other briefly. “Learn now how incautious had been your speech, and how narrowly you have avoided the exact fate of which I warned you. The one speaking to you is in reality a powerful dragon, his name being Pe-lung, from the circumstance that the northern limits are within his sway. Had it not been for a chance reference you would certainly have been struck dead at the parting of our ways.”

“If this is so it admittedly puts a new face upon the matter,” agreed Chang Tao. “Yet how can reliance be spontaneously placed upon so incredible a claim? You are a man of moderate cast, neither diffident nor austere, and with no unnatural attributes. All the dragons with which history is concerned possess a long body and a scaly skin, and have, moreover, the power of breathing fire at will.”

“That is easily put to the test.” No sooner had Pe-lung uttered these words than he faded, and in his place appeared a formidable monster possessing all the terror-inspiring characteristics of his kind. Yet in spite of his tree-like eyebrows, fiercely-moving whiskers and fire-breathing jaws, his voice was mild and pacific as he continued: “What further proof can be required? Assuredly, the self-opinionated spirit in which you conduct your quest will bring you no nearer to a desired end.”

“Yet this will!” exclaimed Chang Tao, and suddenly drawing his reliable sword he drove it through the middle part of the dragon’s body. So expertly was the thrust weighted that the point of the weapon protruded on the other side and scarred the earth. Instead of falling lifeless to the ground, however, the Being continued to regard its assailant with benignant composure, whereupon the youth withdrew the blade and drove it through again, five or six times more. As this produced no effect beyond rendering the edge of the weapon unfit for further use, and almost paralysing the sinews of his own right arm, Chang Tao threw away the sword and sat down on the road in order to recall his breath. When he raised his head again the dragon had disappeared and Pe-lung stood there as before.

“Fortunately it is possible to take a broad-minded view of your uncourteous action, owing to your sense of the fitnesses being for the time in abeyance through allegiance to so engaging a maiden as Melodious Vision,” said Pe-lung in a voice not devoid of reproach. “Had you but confided in me more fully I should certainly have cautioned you in time. As it is, you have ended by notching your otherwise capable weapon beyond repair and seriously damaging the scanty cloak I wear”—indicating the numerous rents that marred his dress of costly fur. “No wonder dejection sits upon your downcast brow.”

“Your priceless robe is a matter of profuse regret and my self-esteem can only be restored by your accepting in its place this threadbare one of mine. My rust-eaten sword is unworthy of your second thought. But certainly neither of these two details is the real reason of my dark despair.”

“Disclose yourself more openly,” urged Pe-lung.

“I now plainly recognize the futility of my well-intentioned quest. Obviously it is impossible to kill a dragon, and I am thus the sport either of Melodious Vision’s deliberate ridicule or of my own ill-arranged presumption.”

“Set your mind at rest upon that score: each blow was competently struck and convincingly fatal. You may quite fittingly claim to have slain half a dozen dragons at the least—none of the legendary champions of the past has done more.”

“Yet how can so arrogant a claim be held, seeing that you stand before me in the unimpaired state of an ordinary existence?”

“The explanation is simple and assuring. It is, in reality, very easy to kill a dragon, but it is impossible to keep him dead. The reason for this is that the Five Essential Constituents of fire, water, earth, wood and metal are blended in our bodies in the Sublime or Indivisible proportion. Thus although it is not difficult by extreme violence to disturb the harmonious balance of the Constituents, and so bring about the effect of no-existence, they at once re-tranquillize again, and all effect of the ill usage is spontaneously repaired.”

“That is certainly a logical solution, but it stands in doubtful stead when applied to the familiar requirements of life; nor is it probable that one so acute-witted as Melodious Vision would greet the claim with an acquiescent face,” replied Chang Tao. “Not unnaturally is it said: ‘He who kills tigers does not wear rat-skin sleeves.’ It would be one thing to make a boast of having slain six dragons; it would be quite another to be bidden to bring in their tails.”

“That is a difficulty which must be considered,” admitted Pe-lung, “but a path round it will inevitably be found. In the meantime night is beginning to encircle us, and many dark Powers will be freed and resort to these inaccessible slopes. Accompany me, therefore, to my bankrupt hovel, where you will be safe until you care to resume your journey.”

To this agreeable proposal Chang Tao at once assented. The way was long and laborious, “For,” remarked Pe-lung, “in an ordinary course I should fly there in a single breath of time; but to seize an honoured guest by the body-cloth and thus transfer him over the side of a mountain is toilsome to the one and humiliating to the other.”

To beguile the time he spoke freely of the hardships of his lot.

“We dragons are frequently objects of envy at the hands of the undiscriminating, but the few superficial privileges we enjoy are heavily balanced by the exacting scope of our duties. Thus to-night it is my degraded task to divert the course of the river flowing below us, so as to overwhelm the misguided town of Yang, wherein swells a sordid outcast who has reviled the Sacred Claw. In order to do this properly it will be my distressing part to lie across the bed of the stream, my head resting upon one bank and my tail upon the other, and so remain throughout the rigour of the night.”

As they approached the cloudy pinnacle whereon was situated the dragon’s cave, one came forth at a distance to meet them. As she drew near, alternating emotions from time to time swayed Chang Tao’s mind. From beneath a well-ruled eyebrow Pe-lung continued to observe him closely.

“Fuh-sang, the unattractive daughter of my dwindling line,” remarked the former person, with refined indifference. “I have rendered you invisible, and she, as her custom is, would advance to greet me.”

“But this enchanting apparition is Melodious Vision!” exclaimed Chang Tao. “What new bewilderment is here?”

“Since you have thus expressed yourself, I will now throw off the mask and reveal fully why I have hitherto spared your life, and for what purpose I have brought you to these barren heights,” replied Pe-lung. “In the past Shen Yi provoked the Deities, and to mark their displeasure it was decided to take away his she-child and to substitute for it one of demoniac birth. Accordingly Fuh-sang, being of like age, was moulded to its counterpart, and an attendant gnome was despatched with her secretly to make the change. Becoming overwhelmed with the fumes of rice-spirit, until then unknown to his simple taste, this clay-brained earth-pig left the two she-children alone for a space while he slept. Discovering each other to be the creature of another part, they battled together and tore from one another the signs of recognition. When the untrustworthy gnome recovered from his stupor he saw what he had done, but being terror-driven he took up one of the she-children at a venture and returned with a pliant tale. It was not until a few moons ago that while in a close extremity he confessed his crime. Meanwhile Shen Yi had made his peace with those Above and the order being revoked the she-children had been exchanged again. Thus the matter rests.”

“Which, then, of the twain is she inherent of your house and which Melodious Vision?” demanded Chang Tao in some concern. “The matter can assuredly not rest thus.”

“That,” replied Pe-lung affably, “it will be your engaging task to unravel, and to this end will be your opportunity of closely watching Fuh-sang’s unsuspecting movements in my absence through the night.”

“Yet how should I, to whom the way of either maiden is as yet no more than the title-page of a many-volumed book, succeed where the father native to one has failed?”

“Because in your case the incentive will be deeper. Destined, as you doubtless are, to espouse Melodious Vision, the Forces connected with marriage and its Rites will certainly endeavour to inspire you. This person admittedly has no desire to nurture one who should prove to be of merely human seed, but your objection to propagating a race of dragonets turns on a keener edge. Added to all, a not unnatural disinclination to be dropped from so great a height as this into so deep and rocky a valley as that will conceivably lend wings to your usually nimble-footed mind.”

While speaking to Chang Tao in this encouraging strain, Pe-lung was also conversing suitably with Fuh-sang, who had by this time joined them, warning her of his absence until the dawn, and the like. When he had completed his instruction he stroked her face affectionately, greeting Chang Tao with a short but appropriate farewell, and changing his form projected himself downwards into the darkness of the valley below. Recognizing that the situation into which he had been drawn possessed no other outlet, Chang Tao followed Fuh-sang on her backward path, and with her passed unsuspected into the dragon’s cave.

Early as was Pe-lung’s return on the ensuing morning, Chang Tao stood on a rocky eminence to greet him, and the outline of his face, though not altogether free of doubt, was by no means hopeless. Pe-lung still retained the impressive form of a gigantic dragon as he cleft the Middle Air, shining and iridescent, each beat of his majestic wings being as a roll of thunder and the skittering of sand and water from his crepitant scales leaving blights and rain-storms in his wake. When he saw Chang Tao he drove an earthward angle and alighting near at hand considerately changed into the semblance of an affluent merchant as he approached.

“Greeting,” he remarked cheerfully. “Did you find your early rice?”

“It has sufficed,” replied Chang Tao. “How is your own incomparable stomach?”

Pe-lung pointed to the empty bed of the deflected river and moved his head from side to side as one who draws an analogy to his own condition. “But of your more pressing enterprise,” he continued, with sympathetic concern: “have you persevered to a fruitful end, or will it be necessary—?” And with tactful feeling he indicated the gesture of propelling an antagonist over the side of a