The Blue Dragon: A Tale of Recent Adventure in China
Play Sample
CHAPTER XVI
"FISTS OF RIGHTEOUS HARMONY"
The people of China have suffered much at the hands of foreigners, and, in their ignorance of everything beyond their own line of vision, imagine many grievances that really do not exist.Once China was the foremost nation of the earth in arts, literature, commerce, and all that goes to the making of what we call civilization.She invented, used, and forgot a thousand things that the Western world is only now discovering.She was sufficient unto herself, and desired only to be let alone.
But the Western nations would not let her alone.They insisted upon forcing their unwelcome trade into the country; and, moreover, upon conducting it themselves, according to their own ideas.When she resisted their demands they took possession of her seaports, destroyed her forts and war-ships, placed their own steamers, protected by gun-boats, on her rivers, monopolized her coasting trade, and even appropriated as their own, large slices of her territory.
Thus, while England holds the island of Hong-Kong, together with two hundred square miles of the opposite mainland, Shanghai, and Wei-hai-Wei, besides controlling the trade of the great Yang-tse Valley, Russia, on the north, has seized Manchuria, Germany occupies the province of Shan-tung, Portugal has for three hundred years been established at Macao, and France, the chief aggressor, already in possession of Anam and Tonquin, is making insidious but certain progress northward through Yunan, with covetous eyes cast in the direction of Canton, where she already has gained a foothold.Japan owns the great Chinese island of Formosa, and only awaits a favorable opportunity for seizing the opposite mainland province of Fu-Kien, while even Italy has laid claim to a Chinese port and "sphere of influence."
All these foreign nations, together with Americans and Belgians, are building, or are proposing to build, railways in China, and all of them, with the further additions of Canada and Sweden, are overrunning the bewildered country with missionaries of clashing denominations, each one of which teaches that it only is right, while all the others are wrong.Some of these foreign teachers even go so far as to interfere with local governments, taking upon themselves the office of magistrate, administering the laws according to their own interpretation, and always in favor of their own converts, and at the same time demanding to be accorded all outward forms of respect due only to mandarins.
On the other hand, the great mass of Chinese, groping in the darkness of the Middle Ages, burdened by densest ignorance, steeped in superstition, robbed by their rulers to the extreme of poverty, and forced to unceasing toil from long before daylight until long after dark every day of the week throughout every year of their joyless lives, are taught by their priests, and by others of their own race to whom they look for guidance, that all their sorrows, including floods, famines, and plagues, are caused by the foreigners who are spreading over their country with the ultimate intention of seizing it and subjecting its people to their own barbarous customs. They are told that these same foreigners sweep the rain-clouds from one portion of the sky to cause droughts, and gather them at another to produce devastating floods, and that they poison wells to bring on plagues.They are made to believe that the "foreign devils" collect Chinese children in asylums, homes, and hospitals for the sole purpose of extracting their eyes, to be used in enchantments; that every railway-sleeper, and the foundations of every Christian edifice, are laid upon living human bodies; and a thousand other tales, equally monstrous but equally terrifying.
To remedy these evils the people are invited to form themselves into associations, and thus gain strength for the destruction of the hated foreign devils, or at least to drive them back into the sea, whence they came.For the benefit of those who can read, pamphlets setting forth these views are written, printed by the million, and distributed throughout the land; while the minds of the more ignorant are inflamed by pictured posters illustrating the horrors perpetrated by foreigners, and posted broadcast in every direction.
To these invitations a Chinese readily responds; for there is nothing in which he more greatly delights than to belong to an association of any kind or for any purpose.Thus societies for the exclusion of foreigners have sprung up like mushrooms, especially in those coast provinces where foreign influences are most noticeable; and strongest of them all is the great I-Ho-Chuan, or "Fists of Righteous Harmony" Society, sometimes called "The Great Sword Society," but known to the world at large as "Boxers," a name first used by the missionary correspondent of a foreign journal.The motto of this society, as borne on its banners, is, "Protect the empire!Exterminate foreigners!"
During the initiation of its members they fall into trances, and believe that, while in this state, the spirits of departed heroes enter their bodies.After that they are pronounced invulnerable to sword or bullet, and are declared to be possessed of magic charms that no enemy may withstand.
In 1898 the Boxer movement was checked by the sudden declaration of China's young emperor, Kuang Hsu, in favor of sweeping reforms based upon Western ideas.These he proceeded to carry out with unsuspected energy, deposing corrupt officials in all parts of the empire, and replacing them with others who had been educated abroad.He issued edicts intended to revolutionize the army, the navy, the time-honored but senseless methods of literary examination, and the manner of collecting taxes, which, if obeyed, would place his people upon the upward path of progress so recently and so successfully trodden by Japan.There is no doubt that the Emperor was sincere in his avowed determination to lift his distressed country from the depths to which it was sunk; and had he remained in power the awful Boxer uprising of two years later never would have taken place.But his enemies were too strong; and, after a few months of praiseworthy effort, the young reformer was overthrown by a powerful palace clique, headed by his great aunt, the Empress Dowager, and composed of the high officials whom he had removed from office.They forced him to sign a decree announcing his own abdication of the throne, and again the Empress Dowager, China's worst enemy, assumed the reins of power.
At once all reform decrees were repealed, the old order of things was restored, and hatred of foreigners was preached more loudly and more bitterly than ever.A new life was infused into the Boxer movement, which from that moment spread like wildfire over the northern provinces, until in the summer of 1900 it reached its height.During that dreadful summer mission stations everywhere were looted and destroyed, while their unfortunate occupants were driven out to be killed or cast into loathsome prisons, from which death was their only release.Christian converts were massacred by scores and hundreds, railroad property was destroyed, and railroad employés suffered the fate of missionaries.A rumor to the effect that all foreigners, including members of legations, had been driven from Pekin, was generally believed; as was another, stating that every foreign resident of Tien-Tsin had been killed.Above all, it was understood that the Empress Dowager was in full sympathy with the movement to rid her kingdom of foreigners, and would render every assistance in her power to those engaged in the effort.
Such was the condition of affairs in north China when, in the early summer of 1900, the young American, Rob Hinckley, on a peaceful mission to Pekin, suddenly found himself deserted and alone in the presence of a mob of crazed fanatics, intent upon taking his life.Our lad did not know why they wished to kill him; for, since leaving the Yang-tse River, he had found an ever-increasing difficulty in comprehending the dialect spoken by the common people, until at length it had become wholly incomprehensible.Thus he knew almost nothing of the Boxer movement, nor of the awful state of affairs existing in the country between him and Pekin.
He, however, instantly recognized the danger of his present position, and, clapping spurs to the jaded pony he was riding, he dashed away in the direction of the nearest city gate, with the mob in full cry at his heels.The distance was short, and Rob was within fifty feet of the outer gate, with a good lead of his pursuers, when all at once it occurred to him that he was about to jump from the frying-pan into the fire, since once within the city walls his enemies could close all exits and hunt him down at their leisure.With this he pulled his pony so sharply to one side that the animal, already exhausted to the point of dropping, stumbled and fell, flinging Rob to earth over his head.As the lad scrambled to his feet he was amazed to hear in English a shout of—
"Keep on to the gate!It's your only chance!"
Although he could see no one in that direction, the voice seemed to come from the gateway itself; and, as his madly yelling pursuers were now close upon him, Rob accepted the advice so strangely given and darted forward on his original course.
"HIS MADLY YELLING PURSUERS WERE NOW CLOSE UPON HIM"
A few minutes earlier a young Chinese, clad in the uniform of an officer of imperial troops, stood at a narrow loop-hole in the watch-tower above the city gate, gazing listlessly outward over a vast expanse of flat, parched, uninteresting country.He had carelessly noted the approach from afar of Rob's little party, whom he supposed to be ordinary native travellers, and had only been aroused from his apathy by the yells of the rain-dancers, as they raised the cry of, "Death to the foreign devil!"
"They must be mistaken," thought the officer, "for there can't be any foreigners left in this part of the country."He watched Rob's flight with ever-growing interest, and was about to descend from the tower so as to meet him at the gate when the young American attempted to change his pony's course.Then the watcher uttered the surprising call that again altered Rob's determination, and in another moment he was springing down the flight of stone steps leading to the outer gateway.As he reached it, Rob had just entered, and was starting across the barbican towards the inner gate.
"Stop!"shouted the young Chinese."Come here quick and help me!"
Rob hesitated only the fraction of a second and then did as he was bidden.The Chinese was straining at one of the two massive, iron-bound doors of the gateway, and in another moment Rob was adding every ounce of his own strength to the effort.It yielded slowly, and its hinges creaked rustily as it swung heavily into place.
"Now the other, quick!"exclaimed the stranger, and with an effort that nearly started blood from their swelling veins the two young fellows closed the great valve in the very faces of the frantic outside mob that flung themselves bodily against it mad with baffled rage.They could not open it, for a stout iron bolt had dropped into place as the gate was closed, and nothing short of a cannonade could now force an entrance.
"Follow me!"said the Chinese, huskily, and panting from his recent exertion, at the same time turning up the narrow stairway leading to the watch-tower, and Rob obeyed.
The latter was full of perplexity at finding in this out-of-the-way place a Chinese who not only spoke English, but apparently was willing to endanger himself to rescue a foreigner from a mob.So quick had been all their movements since he darted through the gateway that he had not yet obtained a view of his rescuer's face, and, of course, had not been able to question him.
In the tower, at the top of the stairway, he found his strange companion taking a quick view of the raging mob below.As he stepped to his side, the young Chinese turned and stared him full in the eyes.For a moment they regarded each other in amazed silence.Then a simultaneous exclamation burst from their lips:
"Rob Hinckley!"
"Chinese Jo!"
CHAPTER XVII
LEAPING INTO UNKNOWN BLACKNESS
To the friends who had been so mysteriously separated many months earlier, and on the other side of the world, their reunion at this place and under such conditions was bewildering and incredible.They could scarcely believe the evidence of their own eyes.The last time Rob had seen Jo the latter had been shorn of his queue, while now his hair again hung in a long, glossy braid.For a moment they stood clasping each other's hand, after the fashion of the West, and staring without speech.There was so much to be said that they could say nothing.Then they were aroused to a sense of imminent danger by the sounds of ascending voices and hurrying footsteps on the stone stairway.Evidently the present was no time for explanations.
"Quick, Rob!Go up there and hide," whispered Jo, pointing, as he spoke, to a rude ladder leading into the darkness of an upper loft."Stay there till I come or I cannot save you."
Even as he spoke, Jo turned to the stairway as though about to descend, while Rob sprang to the ladder.
A Chinese soldier was so close at hand that he would have gained the room and caught sight of the fugitive had not the young officer arrested his progress with the stern inquiry:
"What is going on below?Are you all mad or drunk with the juice of poppies?Cannot I meditate in peace without being disturbed by the howlings of you swine?How dare you come up here without orders?Answer me, dog, and son of generations of dogs, before I cause you to be beaten with a hundred blows!"
The terrified soldier, who held a petty office, corresponding to that of corporal of the guard, recoiled from the presence of his angry superior, who, if he had chosen, could have him beaten even to death, and, kotowing until his forehead touched the stones, answered:
"Know, your honorable excellency, that the outer gate has been closed without knowledge of any in the guard-house, and beyond it many persons, mad with anger, are clamorous for admittance.It is a mystery; and before opening the gate I came up here for a look at the outsiders, to make certain that they are not enemies."
"Closed, pig?How can it be that the gate is closed without orders from me, the keeper of the gate?This thing must be examined into," cried the young officer, with every appearance of extreme anger."Let it be opened without delay.But first come with me and look at these outside howlers.It may be, even as your stupidity suggests, that they are men from Chang-Chow, who have ever been unfriendly to this city because of its greater prosperity."
This was said to give the soldier an opportunity for seeing that no other person was in the room, which fact he would report to his comrades.
As they examined the furious crowd besieging the gate, Jo exclaimed, even more angrily than before:
"Those be no Chang-Chow men, but our friends and own people.They are the dancers, who, together with the good priests, pray constantly for rain, and who went out to the shrine of the holy rain-god but an hour ago.Ah, but you shall smartly suffer for closing a gate of their own city against them.Hasten and open it again if you would have the setting sun behold your worthless head still upon your wretched shoulders."
Thus saying, the young officer spurned the trembling soldier with his foot and followed him down the stairway.In another moment the great gate was opened to the torrent of frantic humanity that rushed in demanding to know what had become of the foreign devil whom they had seen enter only a few minutes before, and where the soldiers had hidden him.Also why they had closed the gate in the very faces of his pursuers.
"Give him up to us," shrieked the priests, "that we may kill him, for doubtless it is he who keeps away the blessed rain."
The denials of the guard that they even had seen any foreigner, or that they had closed the gate, were so little heeded by the clamorous throng, that it might have gone hard with them had not Jo secured a hearing by firing a shot from his revolver, a weapon that he alone of all those present possessed.
"The guard has not seen the foreign devil or surely they would have arrested him," he cried, in the awed silence that followed his shot."Nor did they close the gate, for they would not dare without my orders, and I gave none.Nor could one man, not even a foreign devil, close the gate unaided, since it often has been tried and they have proved too heavy.Only by magic could he have done this thing, and by magic must he have blinded the eyes of the soldiers so that they did not see him pass them into the city.But your priests have magic as well as the foreigners, and by means of it he may be discovered.Let us then again close the gate that he may not escape, and search for him in every quarter of the city.When he is found let his head promptly be cut off, before he has time again to use his magic.Thus shall the city be purified and the wrath of the rain-god be appeased.Protect the empire!Exterminate foreigners!"
With this rallying-cry of the Great Swords, Jo led the way across the enclosed space separating the inner from the outer gate, past the guard-house, where his soldiers spent their waking hours in gambling with long, slim Chinese cards and piles of beans, and on into the narrow streets of the city.There he was so active in the search that was maintained, until stopped by darkness, that he gained a notable reputation as a hater of foreigners.Thus by his prompt action were Rob's enemies so completely thrown off his track that not once was his real hiding-place approached or even suspected.
In the mean time he, intensely wearied by hours of confinement in that hot, dusty loft, grew vastly impatient of inaction.He was hungry and parched with thirst; no sound penetrated his prison, nor any ray of light.He had no idea of the passage of time, and imagined it to be much later in the night than it really was, when he was startled by a sharp "Hist!"that seemed to come from the top of the ladder.
Too wary to answer it, he only listened, with senses all alert, for something further.Then came a whispered "Rob," and he knew that his only friend in that part of the world was at hand.
"Crawl here on your hands and knees," whispered Jo."Don't let your boots touch the floor, for the guards below are wide awake and listening to every sound.That's right.Now put on these felt boots.Leave your own behind, and follow me without a word."
Rob obeyed these instructions in all but one thing.His boots were of heavy English leather, lacing high on his ankles, and had been procured in Hankow.They were very comfortable as well as durable, and he could not bear the thought of exchanging them for cloth shoes with felt soles, especially in view of the amount of walking ahead of him if he made good his escape.So, though he put on the pair provided by Jo, he tied the others about his neck, and, thus equipped, noiselessly followed his friend down the ladder to the room below.From this room a narrow doorway opened on the broad parapet of the city wall.Towards this door they were making their cautious way, when suddenly the hastily tied strings of Rob's heavy boots gave way, and they fell to the stone floor with a clatter that awoke the echoes.
Our lad uttered an exclamation of dismay as he groped about the floor to recover his lost treasures; but it was drowned in a tumult of shouts from below.At the same time a scuffling of feet on the stairway proved that the alarmed guard were on their way to investigate.
Jo, knowing nothing of the boots, could not imagine what had happened, and called from the doorway that he already had reached:
"Never mind anything!Come on, quick, for your life!"
But Rob, having found one boot, was determined to have the other, for which he still was feeling over a wide area of floor space.At length his fingers touched it; but as he triumphantly rose to his feet a dark, heavily breathing form, brandishing some sort of a weapon, confronted him.The next instant he had sent the overzealous guard reeling backward with a swinging blow from the heavy boot just recovered, that took him full in the face.With a yell of combined pain and fright, the soldier pitched down the narrow stairway, carrying with him the comrades who were close at his heels.Before the confused heap could disentangle itself, our lads had fled through the doorway and were speeding like shadows along the top of the lofty wall.
As they ran they heard behind them a shrill screaming and a furious beating of gongs.Then from the tall drum-tower in the centre of the city came a deep, booming sound that could be heard for miles.The great drum that is only sounded in times of public peril was arousing the citizens and sending them swarming from their houses.Torches appeared not only in the streets but on the wall behind our flying lads.Then, to Rob's dismay, others began to gleam in front of them.To be sure, these still were a long distance away, but they gave certain evidence that flight in that direction must come to a speedy end.
"What is the use of running any farther?"asked Rob."We'll only fall in with that torch-light procession all the sooner.Seems to me we might as well stop where we are and see about getting down off this perch."
"There's only one place to get down," answered Jo, "and it still is ahead of us.Run faster!We've got to reach it first."
So the fugitives put on an added burst of speed, though to Rob it seemed that they were only rushing directly into the arms of the advancing torch-bearers.
Suddenly Jo exclaimed, breathlessly, "Here's the place!"and then, to Rob's dismay, he took a flying leap off the parapet into the gulf of impenetrable blackness lying on the outer side of the wall.
For a moment the young American turned sick with the thought that, despairing of ultimate escape, his comrade had chosen death by suicide, and now lay lifeless at the foot of the lofty battlement.
Then came the familiar voice rising from some unknown depth, and calling on him to follow.
"Jump, Rob!"it cried; "you'll land all right, the same as I have."
Even with this assurance our lad hesitated to leap into the darkness.He knew that the wall was at least fifty feet high.There was at its bottom no moat filled with water, into which one might launch himself with safety."Nor is there any pile of feather-beds, that I know of," he thought, grimly.
From both sides lines of torches were steadily advancing, while up from the city rose a tumult of angry voices.Only in the outside blackness that already had engulfed his friend was there the slightest promise of escape.
"I suppose there's nothing else to be done," he muttered, setting his teeth and bracing himself for the effort."So, here goes!"
With this he sprang out into space and instantly vanished.
When, a minute later, the advancing lines of torch-bearers came together at that very point, they were bewildered and frightened by the absolute disappearance of those whom they had thought to be so surely within their grasp.
Certainly the magic of the foreign devils was stronger than their priests had led them to believe.
CHAPTER XVIII
A SUPPER OF SACRED EELS
The great plain of northern China is composed of alluvial matter extending to an unknown depth, reddish-yellow in color, and possessed of wonderful fertility.When wet it packs closely; and later, under the influence of a hot sun, it bakes like clay.During seasons of drought it pulverizes to an almost impalpable dust that is blown by fierce winds into ridges and heaps like snow-drifts.These are piled high against obstructing walls, so that sometimes buildings standing in exposed situations are completely buried beneath them.Such a drift of fine sand had formed in an angle of the city wall, along which our lads fled; and Chinese Jo, knowing of it, had selected this as a point for escape.
Thus, when Rob, with many misgivings, leaped into unknown blackness, he had not dropped more than twenty feet when he struck a steep slope of soft material down which he slid with great velocity amid a smother of choking dust.The next thing he knew, Jo was pulling him to his feet, and bidding him make haste to get away before their mode of escape should be discovered by the torch-bearers, who now swarmed on the wall above them.So the lads ran, with Jo acting as guide, across cropless fields, climbing over useless dikes, and stumbling through dry ditches, until a black mass, dimly outlined against the sky, rose before them.As they drew near, this resolved itself into a clump of trees, which, from experience already gained in China, Rob knew must be a sacred grove.It was, in fact, the very grove from which the frantic rain-dancers had streamed in pursuit of him a few hours earlier.Now it was silent and deserted, even the ancient temple of the rain-god, standing in its centre, being empty of priests or worshippers.
Finding the door of this temple open, and hearing no sound within, the fugitives made a cautious entry into the sacred precincts.Here their attention was attracted by a faint glow coming from a heap of embers on an altar that stood before a gigantic image of the rain-god himself.
"THE FUGITIVES MADE A CAUTIOUS ENTRY INTO THE SACRED PRECINCTS"
While endeavoring to get a closer view of the idol, Rob stumbled and pitched forward, thrusting his outstretched hands into an invisible but shallow tank of water.He uttered a yell of affright as he withdrew them and sprang back."It's a nest of snakes!"he cried—"slimy, wriggling snakes!"
"Hush!"admonished Jo, listening intently; but there was no sound, save of a slight splashing in the as yet unseen water.
"If there were any priests here your racket certainly would have roused them," he said."But, as nobody seems to be stirring, I expect we've got the place to ourselves.Close the door while I make a light, so that we can see where we are."
From the floor the speaker gathered a few bits of unburned joss-paper that he laid on the faintly glowing altar embers and blew into a blaze.Though this lasted but a moment, it served to show some half-burned candles standing behind the altar, one of which Jo lighted from the expiring flame.
By this faint light the lads discovered a number of crude figures of men and beasts ranged on either side of the rain-god, while a pool of water glittered at their feet.In it squirmed a score or more of eels, emblems of the god, among which Rob had thrust his arms.
"There are your snakes," laughed the young Chinese, "and with them plenty of water to drink, if you are thirsty."
"Goodness knows!I'm thirsty enough, and stuffed full of dust besides, but I wouldn't drink that water, with those things in it, not if I was dying of thirst."
"I would, then," replied Jo, who was too thoroughly Chinese to be fastidious; and, to prove his words, he scooped a handful of the water to his lips.
"It isn't very good water," he acknowledged; "but perhaps we can find some that is better where this came from."
A short search revealed a well just back of the temple, and from it, by means of a section of hollow bamboo attached to a long cord, they drew a plentiful supply of water that was much purer than that in the tank, and was not visibly contaminated by eels, snakes, or any other unpleasant creatures.
"My!what a blessed thing water is!"exclaimed Rob, after a long pull at the bamboo bucket."I don't wonder that the people of a burned-up country like this pray to a rain-god.Now, if only we had something to eat we'd be well fixed to move on."
"That's easy," replied Jo, reaching into the tank and drawing forth a large, squirming eel as he spoke.
"Eat a snake!"cried Rob, in a disgusted tone."Not much!I won't!"
Jo smiled as he cut off the eel's head and proceeded to skin its still wriggling body, which he divided into short sections.Wrapping each of these in green bamboo leaves that he procured from a clump of the giant grass growing beside the well, he buried them in the hot sand of the altar, and raked over them a lot of glowing coals.
While he did this, Rob, with the aid of a lighted candle was examining the strange figures that occupied the interior of the temple.All at once, from somewhere behind the great idol, he called out, "Look here, Jo!He's hollow!"
Going to see what was meant, the young Chinese found his friend holding the candle above his head and pointing to a small door, standing slightly ajar, in the back of the image.It was so perfectly fitted that, had it been closed, no trace of an opening could have been discovered.
Climbing to the place, they easily opened the door, and through the aperture thus disclosed crawled into the very body of the rain-god.They found themselves in a space large enough for them to stand up or to lie in at full length, but filled with a confused litter of garments, masks, banners, and other paraphernalia of the priestly trade.
"It's the biggest kind of a find," said Jo, evidently much excited over this discovery, "and it gives me an idea; but I must eat before explaining, so let us go to tiffin."
The cooked eel, which Rob still insisted was nothing more nor less than a snake, looked and smelled so good that the latter's desperate hunger finally persuaded him to taste a morsel.Then he took another, and a few minutes later, gazing thoughtfully at a small heap of well-cleaned bones, he asked Jo if he didn't think they might cook a few more eels while they were about it.An hour later he declared that he had eaten one of the best meals of his life, and was altogether too well content with their present situation to think of travelling any farther that night.
Jo readily agreed that they should spend a few hours where they were, as he wanted time to think out a plan of escape, and believed that for the present this temple was as safe a place as they were likely to find.So, while they removed all traces of their presence, Rob arranged the priestly vestments they had found inside the rain-god into a sort of a bed, and a little later, lying on this, each of the lads gave the other an account of his adventures since they had parted in far-away America.Rob's story we know, as we do that of Jo up to the time of his commitment to prison in New York, charged with being a Chinese laundry-worker who had illegally entered the United States.
"I was kept there two weeks," he now said, "and treated worse than a dog all the time.They would not allow me to write or telegraph to you or any of my friends, and finally carried me off at night in a prison-van, together with a dozen coolies gathered from different parts of the country, who hated me because I had cut off my queue.After that we travelled handcuffed together, two and two, in a crowded immigrant-car, to San Francisco, where we were locked up in a filthy shed until a steamer was ready to sail.On our journey to that point we got very little to eat, but what we had was fairly good.The food given us in the shed was bad, but what we got on the steamer, where we were put in the hold, without being allowed to go on deck during the whole voyage, was simply rotten.
"The ship was under contract to deliver us at Shanghai; but when she anchored off Woo-Sung and they began to transfer us into a launch that would take us to the city, fourteen miles farther up the river, we were in such a horrible condition that the other passengers objected to having us on board.So we were set ashore at Woo-Sung and told we might walk the rest of the way.
"I was so sick and weak that, after we had walked a few miles, I gave out and laid down by the road-side.There, I suppose, I should have frozen to death, for it was bitter cold, winter weather, if a farmer had not found me and taken me to his house.My father afterwards made him a rich man for it.He fed, clothed, and kept me until I could get word to some friends in Shanghai, after which, of course, I was all right.
"Finding that my father had been transferred to Pao-Ting-Fu—between here and Pekin, you know—I went there; and when he heard how I had been treated, he was so angry that he swore he'd do everything in his power to drive foreigners out of China.He did drive a good many from his own district, especially railroad people; but when the Great Swords began killing them, he drew the line and said that that was going too far.One day a Boxer army came along with a lot of missionaries, whom they proposed to burn to death in the city temple.My father told them they must give up their prisoners to him, and when they refused he ordered out his own soldiers, killed a lot of the Boxers, rescued the missionaries, and sent them under guard to the coast.For that he was recalled to Pekin, and Mandarin Ting Yuan was put in his place.Last week that man turned over fifteen missionary people, some of them women and little children, to be tortured and put to death by the Boxers of Pao-Ting-Fu."
"But what were you doing all this time?"asked Rob, his face paling at thought of these horrors.
"I had obtained a commission as captain of imperial troops, and was sent down here, where I have been ever since."
"You haven't seen any missionaries killed, have you?"demanded Rob, anxiously.
"No, and I don't think I should have, without trying to save them, in spite of the way I was treated in America.But I received orders from Pekin only yesterday not to oppose the Boxers in anyway, no matter what they did.I was up in that watch-tower wondering what I ought to do if any missionaries should come this way, when I saw the rain-dancers chasing you.Of course, I didn't recognize you; but the moment I discovered you were a foreigner I knew that I couldn't stand by and see you killed without making an effort to prevent it."
"Didn't you know who I was until we stood together on the watch-tower?"asked Rob, curiously.
"No.I had not time for a good look at you until that moment.Even then I couldn't at first believe it really was you; it seemed so utterly impossible that you could be in China."
"What do you propose to do now?"
"Stay with you until I get you to a place of safety."
"But you will lose your position in the army if you leave your post."
"Yes."
"And perhaps be shot as a deserter."
"Quite so."
"Aren't you almost certain to be killed if you are found in company with a foreigner whom you are aiding to escape?"
"Yes."
"And you are willing to risk your life, besides throwing away your career, for the sake of one of the very people who treated you so shamefully when you were in America?"
"It is a saying of the ancients," replied Jo, "that friendship shines among the brightest jewels in the ring of life; also, that life without friendship is as a barren fruit tree, and that for a true friendship life itself is not too high a price to pay.Therefore, may I not risk, and gladly, a life of little value, to save that of one who, though he is of a people who ill-treated me, is also the best friend I have in all the world?Did he not, even when we were strangers, fight to save me from abuse?and can I do less for him now that we are friends?So it is foolish for you to ask questions, since it is assured that until I can leave you in a place of safety your enemies are my enemies, your friends are my friends, and wherever you go there go I also."
"Then," said Rob, who was greatly affected by these words, "let us stay right where we are until morning, for I want to think over all you have told me."
After this the lads did not talk any more, but a few minutes later were sound asleep inside the very rain-god to which one of them would have been sacrificed had he been caught in that vicinity a few hours earlier.
CHAPTER XIX
AN EXHIBITION OF THE RAIN-GOD'S ANGER
Mongolians, including Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans, can get along with less sleep than any other of the world's people; and Jo, in spite of having travelled and learned to speak English, still was a true Mongolian.Therefore, he awoke quite refreshed after two hours of sleep, and, moving with the utmost caution, so as not to arouse Rob, he left their strange hiding-place, carefully closing and fastening its door behind him.Then he swiftly made his way back to the city, where he skirted its wall to the farther side, and forced an entrance through a now dry culvert or water-gate.After showing himself at the several guard-houses, that, if necessary, he afterwards might be able to prove his presence in the city that night, he went to his own quarters, where he made preparations for a journey.He ordered a horse to be brought, saddled, and ready for travel, and sent for his lieutenant, a man who, though older than he, was possessed of so little influence as still to be under the orders of his junior.
To this officer Jo turned over command of the guard, telling him that he considered the escape of the foreign devil, who had eluded them by the exercise of magic arts, to be an event of such grave importance that he was about to report it in person at Pao-Ting-Fu, and possibly to Pekin itself.The young captain named these places in order to throw possible pursuit off the scent, for he had decided to carry Rob in exactly the opposite direction, or back over the way he had come, to Hankow.Having thus arranged affairs to his satisfaction, he set forth at sunrise, riding by way of the very gate through which Rob had made so hasty an entrance the day before.
Jo was ready to leave the city a full hour earlier than this, and wanted to do so; but even greater authority than his would be insufficient to open the gates of any Chinese city before sunrise, and so he was forced to await that hour.
Once in the open he rode with all speed, hoping to reach the temple of the rain-god before any worshippers should appear, and while Rob still slept.In this, however, he was disappointed, for, though he reached the temple in advance of the priests who served it, and who, having joined in the pursuit of the foreigner, had been forced to spend the night in the city, he was dismayed to find a certain number of worshippers kotowing and burning incense before the great image.These were wretched farmers from the near-by country, who, having no work to do in their burned-up fields, and with death from starvation staring them in the face, had come in desperation to the only source they knew of from which aid might be asked.
Another company of these people, who reached the place at the same time with Jo, were provided with fire-crackers, with which they proposed to arouse the god's attention if he should happen to be asleep.A bunch was exploded as soon as they entered the temple, and to their awed delight the efficacy of this proceeding was immediately apparent, for the image of the rain-god trembled, and a muffled sound came from its interior.Evidently the god, who alone was all-powerful in this emergency, had been asleep, but now was awaking to the gravity of the situation.With heads in the dust, the worshippers humbly bowed before his image and implored his aid.Loudest of them all was the young officer who had forced a way to the very front of the assemblage.
His prayer was in Chinese, of the mandarin dialect, which no one present, except he, understood.Strange as it was to the ears of his fellow-worshippers, it also contained words of another tongue still stranger, that their ignorance did not permit them to recognize.Thus Jo was able to call out, under guise of a prayer, and undetected:
"It's all right, Rob.I am here, and we are safe so long as you keep quiet."
At this point some one at the back of the temple uttered a loud cry, at which all the bowed heads were raised.Jo looked up with the others, and, to his dismay, saw the great right arm of the god slowly lifting as though to impose silence upon those who persisted in annoying him with their unwelcome clamor.At this phenomenon the superstitious spectators gazed in breathless suspense, and when the arm suddenly dropped back into its former position they sprang to their feet.
They were not so much frightened as they were awed; for in China it has often happened that the gods have seemed to enter certain of their own earthly images, and by well-understood movements or sounds have caused these to express their will to the people.It was reported that the very image of the rain-god now under observation had been thus favored, and upon previous occasions of grave importance had made motions of the arms or head that only the priests could interpret.So the people now waited in terrified but eager expectation.
Nor were they disappointed; for no sooner had the arm dropped than the head of the image, which was big enough to hold a man, was seen to be in motion.It certainly was bending forward and assuming an attitude benign, but so terrifying that the awe-stricken spectators instinctively pressed backward.As they gazed with dilated eyes and quaking souls the great head was bowed farther and farther forward, until suddenly, with a convulsive movement, it was seen to part from its supporting shoulders and leap into the air.
The crash with which that vast mass of painted and gilded clay struck the stone pavement, where it was shattered into a thousand fragments, was echoed by shrieks of terror as the dismayed beholders of this dire calamity plunged in headlong flight from the temple.Never before in all the annals of priesthood had been recorded a manifestation of godly anger so frightful and so unmistakable.From this time on, that particular temple of the rain-god was a place accursed and to be shunned; for if after this warning any person should enter it, he would be crushed to death beneath the body of the idol, which surely would fall on him.
So the people fled, spreading far and wide the dreadful news, and only one among them dared return to the temple and brave the rain-god's anger.This one, of course, was Jo, who, startled and alarmed by what had taken place, had fled with the others.But he had paused while still within the shelter of the grove, and, flinging himself to the ground for concealment, had allowed the others to pass on without him.When all had disappeared he arose and returned to the temple.As he re-entered its dust-clouded doorway he was confronted by a spectacle at once so amazing and so absurd that for an instant he gazed at it bewildered.Then he burst into almost uncontrollable laughter.
The image of the rain-god already had acquired a new head, dishevelled and dust-covered, to be sure, but one endowed with speech as well as with motion, and which, when Jo first saw it, was violently coughing.
"I say, Jo Lee," called out a husky voice from this new feature of the giant image, "I think it was a mean trick to go off and leave me shut up in that beastly place.I mighty near smothered in there, and I don't suppose I ever would have got out if an earthquake or something hadn't happened.It almost shook down the whole house, and it knocked the roof off as it was, nearly burying me in falling plaster besides."
"It isn't a house," explained Jo, laughing hysterically in spite of his habitual Chinese self-control."It's the image of a god.Don't you remember crawling into it last night?I don't know how its head happened to tumble off, but I expect you did it yourself.And now you have managed to give it a new one, a hundred times more useful but not half so good looking.I never in all my life saw anything so funny, and if you only could see yourself, you'd laugh, too."
"Maybe I would," replied Rob, with a tone of injured dignity; "but if you were as battered and choked as I am, you wouldn't laugh—I know that much.Of course, I remember now all about this thing being a god, only I was so confused when I woke up that I forgot all about where I was.I only knew that there had been an explosion of some kind, and that I should smother if I didn't get out.I could see a little light up above and tried to climb to it by some ropes that I found dangling.Two of them gave way slowly, while a third was so rotten that it gave way mighty sudden.Then came the earthquake and an avalanche of mud that nearly buried me; but I managed somehow to climb on top of it, and here I am.Now I want to get down and out, for I don't like the place."
"All right.Drop down inside, and I will open the door."
Accepting this advice, Rob withdrew the head that had looked so absurdly small on top of that great image, and in another minute slid out of the open doorway far below, in company with a quantity of débris.
"Whew!"he gasped."That was a sure enough dust-bath.Now let us get outside and into an atmosphere that isn't quite so thick with mud."
"Wouldn't you rather remain in here and live than go out and meet a certain death?"asked Jo, quietly.
"Of course; but, even so, we can't always stay shut up in this old rat-trap."
"No, but it will be safer to leave at night, and also we have much to do before we shall be ready."
"Have we?"asked Rob."What, for instance?"
"It is my plan that you should travel as a priest under a vow of silence, until we reach Hankow, while I go as your servant.If it is agreed, then must your head be shaved in priestly fashion, your skin must be stained a darker color, and we must obtain garments suitable."
"That's all right, so far as the priest business is concerned, if you think I can act the character; but you are way off when you talk about going to Hankow, for I am not bound in that direction.You see, I have just come from there and am on my way to Pekin."
"But the road to Pekin is filled with danger."
"So is the road to Hankow.I ought to know, for I have come over it, and I am certain, from the posters I saw displayed in every town, that Ho-nan is a Boxer province by this time.Besides, Hankow is twice as far away as Pekin."
"It is reported that all foreigners in Pekin have been killed."
"Including members of the legations?"
"So it is said."
"Well, then, the report can't be true.In the first place, the foreign ministers would have called in troops of their own countries for protection upon the first intimation of danger.In the second place, to kill a foreign minister is to declare war against that minister's country; and I don't believe that even the Chinese government is so foolish as to declare war against the whole world.At the same time, if there is to be any fighting I want to be where I can see it, or at least know about it, which is another reason for going to Pekin.Besides, I must go there, for it is in Pekin that I am to get news of my mother and father.Only think, I don't even know for certain if they are alive.If you didn't know that about your family, wouldn't you want to go where you could find out?"
Jo admitted that he would.
"By-the-way," continued Rob, "speaking of families, I thought you had a wife.Where is she?Are you going to take her with us to Pekin?Wasn't she awfully glad to see you when you got back from America?"
For the second time that day the young Chinese laughed."Yes," he replied, "I have a wife.I think she is in Canton, for that is where my father left her when he came north.No, I am not going to take her to Pekin.No, she was not glad to see me when I came back from America, for she has not yet seen me."
"If I had only known your wife was in Canton, and where to find her, I should have called," said Rob, soberly.
The idea thus presented was so absurd that Jo laughed again as at a good joke, for in China no man ever calls on the wife of another.
CHAPTER XX
ROB MAKES A STARTLING DISCOVERY
Finding Rob determined to go to Pekin, Jo yielded, though with many misgivings, and at once began preparations for their dangerous journey.Thanks to the general terror inspired by the fall of the rain-god's head, the lads were secure from interruption so long as they remained in the temple.Having thought over his plan the evening before, Jo had brought with him from the city a number of things necessary to carrying it out.Among them were shears and a razor, with which he removed every trace of hair from Rob's head, after the fashion of the lamas or priests of Buddha.Then his whole body, from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet, was tinted yellow with a dye that would have to wear off, since it never could be washed away.He was further disguised in priestly robes of yellow, and, worst of all, was finally obliged to give up his cherished boots in favor of sandals, which of all forms of foot-wear he most despised.For head-covering he was given a priest's huge straw hat, as large as a small umbrella.
As neither of the lads was sufficiently expert in "making up" features to change Rob's wide-open eyes into oblique slits, he submitted to the wearing of big, round, shell-rimmed, smoked-glass spectacles, found among the temple properties.Another thing there obtained was an inscribed iron tablet that had hung upon the breast of the rain-god, and to carry this to Pekin was to be the ostensible reason for their journey in that direction.Also the silence with which Rob was to conceal his ignorance of the northern dialect was to be explained as being imposed by a vow not to speak a word, even in prayer, until he had safely deposited that holy tablet in the great Pekin temple of the rain-god.The only bit of property formerly belonging to him that he was allowed to retain was his revolver, which, together with a belt full of cartridges, was concealed beneath his robe.
As their changed plan was to carry them in the very direction Jo had announced his intention of taking before leaving the city, he decided to maintain his character as an officer of imperial troops, escorting the priest, rather than to assume that of a servant, as he at first had proposed.Thus he would be able to ride horseback, carry weapons in plain sight, and disburse money for many comforts that a priest's servant could not obtain.
With these preparations completed, our lads waited impatiently for darkness, and no sooner had it descended than they set forth, exercising great caution in leaving the temple grove, but after that travelling as briskly as Jo could walk.The latter insisted that Rob, being unused to sandals, should ride his pony, while he proceeded on foot until they could beg, borrow, steal, or buy another.
They had gone but a few li, or Chinese miles, each of which equals about one-third of an English mile, when they heard the steady beat of a horse's hoofs, accompanied by a grinding noise as of machinery.After listening until he located the sound as coming from a field at one side of the road, Jo crept softly in that direction.He quickly discovered a horse, attached to a long, wooden beam, travelling in a monotonous circle, and thus lifting an endless chain of earthen jars full of water from a deep well.Each, as it came to the surface, emptied itself into an irrigating ditch, and then went down to be refilled.All this was simple enough, and did not particularly interest Jo, for he had seen hundreds of just such irrigating plants in operation all over the great plain.Heretofore, however, a prominent feature of the outfit had been the man or boy who, armed with a bamboo whip, had kept the horse awake and at work; but here no human figure was to be distinguished.At the same time, there was a sound of blows, delivered at regular intervals, each of which inspired the horse to fresh exertion.Finally, becoming convinced that, in spite of the blows, there was no person in the vicinity, Jo went closer to determine their origin.At the machine he found working a scheme so practical, simple, and ingenious as to arouse his admiration—a section of stiff but springy bamboo, and a stout cord fixed on the beam to which the horse was attached.That was all.Three revolutions of the beam wound up the cord and sprung back the bamboo.At the beginning of the fourth revolution the cord suddenly was slackened, and the liberated bamboo struck the horse a blow across the hind quarters.Nor did these blows always descend at the same point of the circle or at regular intervals, since their frequency depended upon the speed of the horse, who, being blindfolded, was thus made to believe that he was at the mercy of some constantly alert though invisible person.
So impressed was Jo with the ingenuity of this contrivance that he went back to persuade Rob to come and see it.The latter did so, though somewhat unwillingly, not caring to waste time over Chinese inventions just then; but when he had approached close enough to the horse to discern its markings, he exclaimed: "Hello!That's my pony!The very one I was riding yesterday when the rain-dancers got after me.And here he is, being made to work all night by an infernal machine.I never heard of anything so disgusting.Here!whoa, you beast!You have done the tread-mill act long enough, and now we'll put you to a better service."
Thus it happened that the very ingenuity of this inventor of perpetual motion, by which he gained a few hours of sleep, also caused him a heavy loss; for, had he been on hand, Jo would have bought the horse from him at his own price, while Rob would not have appeared on the scene at all.
As no saddle could be found near the tread-mill, Jo was forced to ride bareback until they reached a town where one could be purchased.At this same town they slept a few hours, during which their horses also rested and were liberally fed on beans and chopped bamboo grass.Our young travellers were again on the road by sunrise, and after this they pushed ahead with all speed for the greater part of a week, riding early and late, but taking long rests in the middle of each day.
Although as a priest and an officer of imperial troops they were suffered to pass, without delay, many points at which any other class of travellers would have been detained for rigorous examination, they met with ever-increasing evidences of trouble as they advanced northward.Everywhere they came across dead bodies, ruined buildings, and occasionally whole villages swept by fire.Everywhere people gazed on them with suspicion or fled at their coming.They heard of the great Boxer army gathering near Pekin, and encountered numerous small bodies of armed men hastening to swell its ranks.Also they came into constant contact with prowling bands of starving peasantry.Several times, in order to escape from the latter, our lads joined themselves to one or another of the Boxer companies, and remained with it until the immediate danger was passed.Then, on the plea of urgent haste, they would push ahead.
Finally, when thus travelling with a company who would have hacked them to bits had they discovered their identity, they crossed the Hu-Tho-ho (the river that goes where it pleases) and approached the walled city of Cheng-Ting-Fu.In this city stands a Roman Catholic cathedral, built of stone, and having a massive square tower that looms like a great fortress above the low roofs of the surrounding temples and native dwellings.
In this stronghold were many foreign refugees, priests, nuns, and Belgian engineers who had been engaged on the railway running south from Pekin; also several American missionaries who, wounded and plundered of everything, had gained this asylum barely in time to save their lives.
For more than a month the great gate of Cheng-Ting-Fu had been kept closed to all companies of friends and foes alike, only a little wicket being occasionally opened for the passage in or out of one or two persons at a time.In addition to this precaution, which was taken by the Chinese authorities of the city, the foreign refugees inside the cathedral were compelled to remain hidden behind its stout doors for fear lest their appearance on the streets should excite the local population to acts of violence.On the sandy plain beyond the city wall was a large and ever-changing encampment of Boxers thirsting for foreign blood, undisciplined soldiers, highwaymen, and outlaws of every description.
Upon reaching Cheng-Ting-Fu our lads, wearied by a day of continuous riding, felt that they could go no farther that night.In fact, there was no place for them to go to nearer than the city of Pao-Ting-Fu, a long day's journey away, so bare had this section of country been swept of inhabitants.At the same time, they regarded with dismay the prospect of spending a night amid the horrors and dangers of the lawless outside camp, where robbery and murder were committed unchecked and unpunished at all hours of day and night.
"We must try to get inside the wall," said Jo, in a low tone, "for if we stay out here it is pretty certain that neither of us will live to see another sunrise."
With this they turned their jaded ponies towards the city gate and rode to it, followed at a short distance by a small crowd of pig-tailed cut-throats, who only awaited a favorable opportunity for making a rush upon them.So desperately hungry were these wretches that they joyfully would have killed even a priest and an imperial officer for sake of the meagre food-supply represented by the animals they rode.
At the gate Jo's demand for admittance was at first received with stout refusal by a guard who gazed carelessly at the travellers from behind a small, heavily barred opening.Fortunately, Jo still had money with him, and a handful of silver, temptingly displayed, finally unclosed the coveted entrance.As the wicket opened, the starving rabble, seeing their prey about to escape them, made their threatened rush; but Jo, leaping to the ground and calling on Rob to get the horses through the gate, held them at bay with his revolver.Only one minute was necessary, for the ponies, as though aware of their danger, scrambled through the narrow wicket like cats.Rob followed close at their heels; Jo, firing one shot over the heads of the crowd for effect, sprang after him, and the gate was slammed shut, not again to be opened that night.
Even now the officer of the guard, who had yielded to a silver influence, dared not give the strangers the freedom of the city; but, under threat of again being thrust outside, compelled their promise to spend the night in a temple to which he would conduct them, without attempting to leave it before morning.Also, they must not hold communication with a soul outside the temple walls, and they must depart from the city at sunrise.
When Jo had given this promise in words, and Rob had assented to it by nodding his priestly head, they were conducted to the temple selected as their lodging under an escort of soldiers detailed to act as their guard during the night.On their way the travellers, thus cautiously welcomed, gazed curiously about them at the sights of the beleaguered city, and especially at the grim walls of the great cathedral uplifted above its houses.Especially was Rob affected by this ecclesiastical fortress, which at that very moment was giving safe shelter to persons of his own race.
As they passed it he stared hard at a row of narrow windows, with the hope of seeing an American face, but none presented itself until the last window was reached.In it was dimly outlined the form of a woman who turned upon the passers-by a face expressive of hopeless weariness.She gave them one listless glance and then stepped from sight, but that fleeting view caused Rob Hinckley to utter a choking exclamation and to reel in his saddle until only a supreme effort saved him from falling.He had seen his mother.
CHAPTER XXI
THE REFUGEES OF CHENG-TING-FU
The malady with which Dr. Mason Hinckley had lain critically ill at Wu-Hsing was of so strange a nature that, directly after the cablegram calling Rob to his supposed death-bed was sent, it took a surprising turn for the better.As he longed for a change of air and scene, and felt that with them a full recovery of health might be effected, he decided to resign his position at Wu-Hsing and, with his wife, travel as far as Nagasaki.There they would meet the steamer on which, as they had been notified by cable from America, Rob was coming to them, and the reunited family would spend together a delightful holiday on the lovely Japanese coast.
So they set forth full of hopeful anticipations, and travelled down the Si-Kiang to Hong-Kong, where they were so fortunate as to find the China on the point of sailing for San Francisco by way of Nagasaki. At Hong-Kong they told an acquaintance who assisted the invalid to a carriage that they were going to Japan to meet an American steamer; but in the confusion of the moment he understood them to say that they were going to America, and so reported to Mr. Bishop, who, in turn, repeated the story to Rob a few weeks later.
In the mean time, the doctor and his wife journeyed to Nagasaki, the former so gaining strength with every mile of the voyage that upon reaching Japan he deemed himself to be practically a well man. Thus they were prepared to give Rob a most joyful surprise; but when, only three days after their own arrival, the Occidental steamed into Nagasaki harbor, they were met by the bitter disappointment of finding that their boy was not on board. From the purser, as well as from the gentleman who had taken Rob's cabin, they learned that somehow he had missed connection and had been left behind. After that the anxious parents waited in Nagasaki a month, boarding every incoming ship from the States, but without finding their boy or hearing a word from him. They had written to Hatton immediately upon their arrival, and finally from there came the cable message, "Rob, transport, Manila."
What could it mean?Why had their boy gone to Manila?Where would he go from there?Where was he now?How in the world did he happen to be on board a transport?Had he enlisted in the army?These and a thousand other equally puzzling questions presented themselves, but no one of them was accompanied by an answer.They had received news of the murder of missionaries at Wu-Hsing.Could Rob have reached there in time to become involved in the trouble?If so, was he alive or dead?They no longer could remain in Japan, but must return to China where news might more readily be obtained.So they sailed for Shanghai, from which place they sent letters of inquiry to Manila, Wu-Hsing, Hong-Kong, and Canton.
Then ensued another month of anxious waiting, during which Dr. Hinckley, now restored to perfect health, received from Pekin a fine offer to become missionary medical director for the province of Shan-Si.It was an offer that he gladly would have accepted but for his uncertainty concerning Rob.
At length came a letter from Canton informing the anxious parents that their boy had been there a month earlier, but almost immediately had joined an expedition that was to traverse the interior from that point to Pekin in the interests of an American railway syndicate.
Again did the puzzled parents ask each other questions concerning the erratic movements of their son that neither could answer.Finally, Dr. Hinckley said:
"It is useless to worry ourselves any more about the boy, since it is evident that he has passed entirely beyond our reach.He is in God's hands, and that there is some good reason for the apparent strangeness of his actions will sooner or later be made plain.Let us be thankful that he is alive and in the same country as ourselves.Also, we now can accept that offer from Pekin, where, as it seems, we are most likely to meet him."
So the bewildered but still hopeful parents took steamer from Shanghai to Tien-Tsin and rail from there to China's capital, at that time a wonderland of mystery to the greater part of the outside world.From Pekin they travelled south to Cheng-Ting-Fu, which then was the extreme terminus of railway construction, and here Dr. Hinckley left his wife, while he should go on by horseback to Tai-Yuan, the capital of Shan-Si, and prepare their new home.
Then, almost without warning, came the terrible Boxer uprising, sweeping over the northern provinces with the fatal speed of a storm-driven prairie-fire.From every direction were heard reports of murder and outrage—some of them simple relations of actual happenings, others gross exaggerations based upon fact, and still others pure inventions, but all equally terrifying to the handful of foreigners within the walls of Cheng-Ting-Fu.A little later refugees, bearing evidence of the terrible sufferings through which they had passed, began to straggle in.Some told of the beheadings and burnings to death in Pao-Ting-Fu on the north, and others of the frightful tragedies enacted in Shan-Si on the west, by orders of the infamous governor, Yu-Hsien, credited with being the originator of the Great Sword Society, and who was the most vindictive hater of foreigners in all China.The Shan-Si refugees reported that one day in Tai-Yuan this monster personally superintended the beheading of forty-five foreigners, men, women, and little children, besides a much larger number of native Christians; and on hearing this, Mrs. Hinckley lost all hope of ever again seeing the husband who had gone to prepare a home for her in that very city.Also, she mourned for her boy, who, if he had carried out his reported intention of traversing the interior provinces to Pekin, must have been overtaken by this same all-devouring storm of wrath.
Although the southern end of the railway as far as Pao-Ting-Fu was kept open by the Chinese for the transportation of their own troops, it was reported that everything north of that point, including the telegraph-line, had been destroyed.Thus Cheng-Ting-Fu, with closed gate and surrounded by enemies, was cut off from all news of the outside world.Only rumors drifted in, and these were of such a nature that the handful of refugees facing an almost certain death in the cathedral believed themselves to be the only foreigners left alive in northern China.
Such was the state of affairs on that evening of early summer when Mrs. Hinckley, hopelessly weary of life, happened to glance from one of the cathedral windows just as a yellow-robed priest was passing along the narrow street.She turned quickly away, for, of all Chinese, the priests had been most active in persecuting foreigners, and she never saw one without thinking that he might be the murderer of either her husband or son.
An hour later the "boy" who brought in her light supper of tea and toast laid something else on the tray beside it, and disappeared without having spoken.For a minute Mrs. Hinckley did not notice the strange object, but finally it caught her eye, and she picked it up.It was a narrow strip about six inches long, cut from the dried leaf of a talipot palm, the material used instead of writing-paper in certain Buddhist temples.Characters traced on the smooth surface with a sharp stylus, afterwards are rubbed with lampblack, which brings them out in bold relief.In the present case, to Mrs. Hinckley's amazement, she found the strip of palm-leaf to be a letter written in English, and beginning, "My own dear mother!"
The poor woman uttered a stifled cry, and a blur so dimmed her eyes that for a moment she could read no more.Then it passed, and she eagerly scanned the following message, written on both sides of the slip:
"I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw you at the cathedral window.How did you get here?Where is father?I am the priest who rode past on horseback with a guard of soldiers.Am safe and on way to Pekin.They will not let me come to you, nor even leave this temple where I am spending the night under guard.I must go on at sunrise, when they will put us out of the city.Jo is with me.Perhaps I shall again pass window, so please stand in same place on chance.I will come back to you from Pekin quick as possible.Don't worry a single little bit about me, for I am all right.Your own loving Rob.
"Send an answer by the one who gives you this."
Over and over did the happy mother read this message from the boy whom she had been mourning as dead, until she knew every word of it by heart.
Then, on a leaf torn from her journal, she wrote with lead-pencil an outpouring of love, joy, and anxiety such as only a mother situated as she was could write.She begged Rob to be careful, for her sake, and warned him of the danger of going to Pekin, though she added that if his father still were alive that city would be the most likely place in which to obtain news of him.She said she should remain near the window all night for fear of missing her boy when he again passed.Then the servant came for the untouched tea-tray, looked at her inquiringly, and she only had time to sign: "Ever your own devoted mother," fold the note, and slip it into his hand ere he again left the room.
The shock of seeing his mother in that dreadful place, when he had supposed her to be safe in America, was so great that Rob had been on the point of proclaiming his amazement aloud, when Jo, always keenly on the watch for some such slip on the part of the pretended priest, checked him.
"It is but a little more to go," he said in Chinese, so that all who heard might understand him, "and then the holy one shall find a place of rest.He is very weary," added Jo to the officer of the guard, "and his vow of silence sits heavy upon him."
"Yet he does not look so old," replied the officer.
"It is true that he is well preserved, and may give us the joy of his presence for some years to come; but mere looks cannot restore to age the lost strength of youth.I pray you, therefore, find for him a place of quietness, where he may have a season of rest undisturbed."
Thus it came about that a small building of the temple to which our lads were conducted was set apart for them, and orders were given that no other person should enter it that night.
When they were alone, and Rob had explained to Jo the cause of his excitement, he added: "And now I must go to her for a long talk."
It took Jo some time to persuade his friend of the impossibility of what he proposed, and that to attempt it would only endanger all their lives, including that of his mother.
"Then," said Rob, finally convinced, "I must write, and you must somehow manage to get the letter to her."
The letter was prepared with the only materials that the temple afforded, and by the liberal use of money Jo got it sent to its destination and had the answer brought back.After that, much as Rob hated to leave his mother behind, he had the sense to realize that she probably was safer in the cathedral of Cheng-Ting-Fu just then than she would be anywhere else in north China.Also, what she had written concerning the possibility of gaining news of his father in Pekin made him more than ever desirous of reaching that city.
"HE WAS ABLE TO GAZE CALMLY AT HER WHEN THEY ONCE MORE WERE ESCORTED PAST THE CATHEDRAL"
Jo warned him against the danger of allowing any sign of recognition to escape him in case he again saw his mother; so he was able to gaze calmly at her the next morning when they once more were escorted past the cathedral, and she stood at the same window watching eagerly for him to pass.She, too, realized the danger to him of any show of interest on the part of a foreigner; and no one could have guessed from their faces, as they exchanged farewell glances, that thus a mother and son, with a full knowledge of the perils besetting both, were parting, perhaps forever.
CHAPTER XXII
A CHARGE AND A RACE FOR LIFE
There is but one gateway to the walled city of Cheng-Ting-Fu, and this opens on the west.Consequently, it was on this side that most of the Boxer rabble, who longed for an opportunity to loot the valuable mission property within its walls, were gathered.Their object was to starve the stubborn city into submission, and they watched always for the opening of its gate in token of surrender.If our lads had been willing to leave their ponies in the city, they could have been let down from the wall on an opposite side and made good their escape on foot.This, however, they would not do, for without horses the long journey still before them, through a region swarming with footpads, was practically impossible.So they issued from the wicket, which instantly was closed behind them, sprang into their saddles, and turned northward, hoping to ride for some distance unnoticed in the shadow of the lofty wall.
But this hope was doomed to a quick disappointment, for almost instantly they were discovered, and a crowd of men were seen running so as to head them off.
"We've got to ride through them," said Rob, "and shoot down any one who tries to stop us.I will go first, and do you follow close.Don't fire a shot until my pistol is empty; then I'll drop behind and reload while you clear the way.It's our only show for life, Jo.Come on!"
With this Rob wheeled his pony and dashed at full speed straight at the swarming encampment, with Jo close at his heels.It was a glorious charge, that of two against a thousand, but it could not have lasted a minute had the latter been anything save a wretched rabble, unprovided with fire-arms and without leaders.As it was, they were scattered like chaff by the madly racing ponies, the few who attempted interference were shot down, and three minutes later our lads, still yelling with excitement, drove through the last of their enemies and found themselves safe on the open plain.
"After that experience I would undertake to ride through the whole Chinese army with twenty American cow-boys," boasted Rob, as he reined his panting steed down to a walk.
"Of course, it might be done," answered Jo, quietly, "only it would be well to consider that an army is made up of soldiers provided with guns, and that even a Chinese bullet sometimes finds its mark."
"I beg your pardon, old fellow!It was a mean thing to say," cried Rob, contritely."I ought to be ashamed of myself, especially when I remember how splendidly one Chinese, by the name of Jo Lee, rode through that howling mob only a few minutes ago.But Americans can't help bragging, you know, and I surely am an American."
"If they do brag," replied Jo, "it is because they have so much to brag of, while my poor country has so little."
"Your country has a history older than that of any other nation on earth," said Rob, consolingly; "and you invented more than half the things that go to making the civilization of the world, such as the compass, and printing, and gunpowder, and ever so many more; for I remember our history teacher telling us about them.He said the civilization that started in China thousands of years ago had been spreading westward from this country ever since: first over Asia, then over Europe, and finally over America.'At length,' he said, 'the great wave of enlightenment has swept across the Pacific, and again is making itself felt on the coasts of Asia.Japan already is uplifted by the flood, and China, now at the lowest ebb of her fortunes, will soon feel the life-giving influence of the rising tide.'
"I remember it particularly," continued Rob, "because, of course, I always was interested in everything about China; but I never realized just what he meant until I came back and saw what a splendid country this has been and what a splendid country it could be again.Why, Mr. Bishop said that China's wealth of coal and iron alone is sufficient to make her one of the greatest nations of the world."
"I expect your teacher was right when he said that China was at the lowest point of her fortunes," remarked Jo."I don't see how she could very well sink any lower, and she will stay down just so long as the Empress Dowager lives and rules the country.She hates foreigners, and is bitterly opposed to progress, reformers, and changes of any kind.It is certain that she is encouraging and helping on this Boxer uprising, for if she wanted to she could have it put down and stamped out within a week.I told you of my orders not to interfere with them, no matter what they did, and while we were charging through that encampment just now I caught sight of a Boxer banner on which was written: 'By Official Decree: Exterminate Foreigners.'They never would dare display such a flag if they didn't really have official backing, and in China to-day the only 'official' whose word is law is the Empress Dowager."
"I don't see how you found time to read what was on a flag," said Rob, "or even to notice it.I didn't see a thing except the crowd, that looked like so many wolves snarling at us, and especially those who tried to stop us.If it hadn't been for our pistols they would have got us sure.I only hope we didn't kill any of them."
"Why?"asked Jo."They were trying to kill us, and if we don't look out," he added, sharply, "they will do it yet."
Thus saying, he pointed over his shoulder to a rapidly advancing cloud of dust, moving from the direction of the Boxer encampment they had so recently charged.The dust-cloud hung above a road that ran parallel to the direction they were taking.In fact, it was the road over which they now would be riding had the bare fields that they had chosen instead been covered with their usual crops.That they could not see the horsemen raising the dust was because the highway along which the latter were moving was a "low-way," worn by generations of travel, scoured by floods in winter and swept by the strong winds of summer until it was many feet below the level of the adjoining land.
Jo was convinced that the dust-cloud was raised by horsemen, because of its volume and its rapid advance.That they were enemies was almost certain, since they came from the direction of the angry encampment; and he believed them to be endeavoring to cut off Rob and himself, because otherwise they, too, would be riding across the open fields instead of ploughing through the smothering dust of the gully-like road.
Our lads had allowed their ponies to walk for the last mile or so, but now they urged them forward at a brisk "lope," for they were determined that no man nor body of men from that encampment should get in advance of them if they could help it.Every few seconds one or the other of them glanced over his shoulder at the dust-cloud, to see if they were gaining on it, and finally Rob uttered a shout of: "Here they come, helter-skelter, and enough of them to eat us alive if they catch us!Now we've got to make time.Great Scott!They've got guns, too!"
The horsemen, having discovered that their object was suspected and that their prey was likely to escape, had left the sunken road and now were streaming across the fields in open and hot pursuit.Also, just as Rob glanced back, one of them fired a shot, though where the bullet went to, no one knows.Certainly, it did no harm to our friends, but the shot itself filled them with dismay, as it showed their present pursuers to be better armed than any of the vagrant bands they yet had encountered.
"I believe they are imperial cavalry!"exclaimed Jo."Yes, I am sure of it," he added, a moment later, as he detected a triangular, yellow pennon fluttering from a lance borne by one of the pursuing horsemen."They must have been sent out from the city and must have some reason for suspecting us.I wonder if it has become known that we communicated with your mother?That would be a sufficient cause for beheading us both if we are caught, so we must not be."
"I won't be!"declared Rob, clinching his teeth and urging his pony to greater effort."I'll die first!"
On they swept, mile after mile, over the parched land and under a blazing sun.How they longed for rest and water and shade and coolness; but none of those things were for them so long as that deadly pursuit was kept up.It did not seem to gain on them, but neither did it lose ground.To be sure, some of the cavalry-men straggled, so that they came on in a long, irregular line, but a group of half a dozen leaders kept well together.
A river came into view, and Rob wondered what would happen when they reached it.He began to think he didn't much care so long as he could get a drink of its water.All at once he almost jumped from his saddle, for from beyond the river came a sound both startling and familiar, such as he had not heard since leaving America.At Cheng-Ting-Fu he had seen the torn-up track of the recently constructed railway, but he had forgotten it, as he also had the fact that a portion of it, somewhere to the northward, still was in working order.Thus, for a moment, he could hardly believe to be real the sound that came echoing across the Hsuho.It was the sharp whistle of a locomotive calling for brakes, and as our lads plunged down the steep river-bank they saw a train of open "gondolas" slowly backing towards the stream on the opposite side.They also saw a crowd of people evidently awaiting its coming.
For half a mile they forced their nearly spent ponies across the sand and gravel of the dry river-bottom.Then appeared a channel so shallow as easily to be forded.Directly from this rose the steep farther bank, and in an effort to climb it Rob's exhausted steed fell and rolled to the bottom, while Jo's pony refused even to attempt the ascent.
Rob disentangled himself from the struggling beast, and gained his feet, bruised but sound in limb.As he stood up a yell of triumph came from across the narrow water, and a quick glance showed that the pursuing Chinese cavalry-men were close at hand.At this same moment Jo sprang from his exhausted pony.
"We must run," he cried, "and mix with the people on the bank.Perhaps we can hide in one of the cars."
So the lads, one still in the yellow robes of a priest, and the other in the dark-blue blouse with red facings, full trousers, and short boots of imperial troops, dashed up the bank together and ran towards a throng of soldiers now crowding aboard the cars, as though they, too, sought passage on the train.
As they began to push their way into the crowd, one of the soldiers, staring hard at Rob, uttered an ejaculation that caused Jo to turn and look at his friend with sudden dismay.In the haste of leaving their ponies and running for the train he had not noticed that Rob had lost both his priestly head-covering and the great, shell-rimmed spectacles that had proved so complete a disguise.Now, without them, though he still was tinted yellow and robed as a priest, there was no mistaking him for anything but a foreigner, and "fan kwei" (foreign devil) was what the soldier had just called him.
Others, attracted by the man's exclamation, were turning to look, and at the same moment came a loud shouting from the rear.Those who had chased our lads so persistently all that morning were close at hand.
For an instant Jo's heart sank like lead and he believed they were lost.Then like a flash came a thought of one thing that they still might do.
CHAPTER XXIII
STEALING A LOCOMOTIVE
Jo's plan was communicated to Rob in a few breathless words as the lads dashed up the track towards the head of the train.The crowd of soldiers, not yet understanding that they were fugitives, and awed by the sight of Jo's uniform, parted before them, only stupidly wondering at their haste.Rob's mind instantly seized the possibilities of Jo's suggestion, and as they ran he gasped:
"You get aboard, Jo, while I cut it loose.Persuade the driver to start her.Never mind me.I'll climb aboard somehow."
Even as he spoke, Rob turned in between the locomotive and the foremost car, which already was filled with Chinese craning their necks over the side to see what was going on.Fortunately, there were no patent couplers to be dealt with, and no pneumatic tubes, for on this primitive train brakes were applied by hand, while the connections were simple link-and-pin affairs that any one could understand.Rob pulled the pin and scrambled across the bumpers to the opposite side of the train.As he did so his flowing priestly robe caught and was torn from his shoulders, leaving him fully revealed in unmistakable European costume.
Instantly there arose a yell of "Fan kwei!"from the soldiers in the car above him, but a sudden shot from his pistol cut it short and sent those who were uttering it tumbling over backward in pell-mell consternation.
The locomotive already was moving as Rob ran forward and sprang into the cab, where he was just in time to break up a most startling tableau.The Chinese engine-driver, with hand on the open throttle, was cowering beneath the threatening muzzle of Jo's cocked revolver.The latter's back was turned, and behind him, with an uplifted bar of iron, crept the overlooked fireman.In another instant the blow would have fallen, and the whole course of Chinese history might have been changed; but, as it was about to descend, Rob caught the unsuspecting man by his convenient pig-tail and jerked him violently backward, while the murderous bar clattered to the iron floor of the cab.The next moment Rob had bundled the fireman overboard, and the locomotive sprang forward as though relieved of a clogging weight.
A tremendous clamor of yells and shooting rose from behind, while half a dozen bullets splintered the wood-work and shivered the glass of the cab; but no one was hurt, and no one minded the fusillade except the poor engine-driver, who was scared almost white.Rob sprang on top of the coal in the tender and waved his pistol defiantly above his head; at the same time shouting derisive farewells to the baffled soldiers, many of whom were hopelessly running after the vanishing locomotive.He remained there until these dwindled to the size of distracted ants wandering aimlessly about a ruined hill, and then he returned to the cab, where Jo still remained on guard.
"I say, old man," cried the young American, speaking loudly to make himself heard above the roar and rattle of the on-rushing engine, "this beats anything I've struck in China yet.Isn't it the greatest bit of luck in the world?and isn't it fun running off with a locomotive?I never before stole anything worth speaking of, and I'm glad my first burglary is something worth while.I don't suppose it comes under the head of burglary, though.Perhaps we'd be called sneak thieves, only I hardly like the sound of that, either.How would highwaymen do, or stage robbers, or land pirates.That's it, Jo; we are land pirates who have just captured a ship and made her crew walk the plank, and now—"
"I'm hungry," interrupted the young Chinese, who, never having read any pirate stories, didn't know what his companion was talking about, "and thirsty," he added, looking longingly at the faucet of the tender's water-tank.
"So am I," shouted back Rob."Make your slave there slow down a bit, for we're in no hurry anyhow, and I'll get you a drink."
As the speed with which they had started began to slacken, Rob suddenly added:
"Great Scott!There's another thing I hadn't thought of.Stop her, quick, Jo!We've got to cut that telegraph-wire, or they'll run us off the track at the first station.What a chucklehead I am!"
Before the locomotive had come to a stand-still the active young fellow was off and was swarming up a short, iron telegraph-pole near the track.Thus it was owing to his prompt action that a hurry message at that moment clicking into the Ting-Chow station, a few miles ahead, was interrupted after the words, "Look out for engine; open—" Probably the sender at Hsu River would have added, "derailing switch," and then proceeded to give enlightening particulars of what had happened, if he had been allowed the opportunity; but he was not, and the Ting-Chow operator was left to think what he pleased.The latter, however, had been warned that for some unknown reason an engine might be expected from the south, so he side-tracked and held a train of empty cars that was just about to proceed in that direction.Thus he left an open track for our friends, and saved them an awkward if not disastrous meeting.
Without knowing whether he had cut the wire in time to prevent mischief or not, Rob returned to the locomotive, got a big, satisfying drink of water from the tank, chucked a lot of coal into the furnace, assumed a new disguise in shape of the cap, jumper, and overalls of the engine-driver, which he calmly appropriated to his own use; and as the great, swaying machine again sped forward over the shining rails he reopened conversation with his comrade.
"How far is the line open?"he asked.
"To Pao-Ting-Fu, at any rate," replied Jo, "and perhaps some distance beyond."
"That's the worst place between here and Pekin, isn't it?"
"Yes; the Boxers are in complete control of the city, and more foreigners have been killed there than at any other point in this province."
"Then it won't be good for our health to stop there too long."
"I should think not!"
"How far is it from Pao-Ting-Fu to Pekin?"
"About three hundred li."
"That's about a hundred miles—three or four days if we have to walk it, two days if we can steal a couple of ponies, and less than half a day if we only could carry this old rattle-trap the whole distance," mused Rob.Then, again speaking to Jo, he said:
"Ask your friend what's wrong with the road beyond Pao-Ting-Fu?"
Jo did as requested, and after a short conversation with the frightened engine-driver reported that two bridges had been destroyed, one at Ting Shing, about half-way between Pao-Ting-Fu and Pekin, and the other at Lu Kow, only a few miles from the capital.
"The first would be enough to stop us," said Rob, gloomily."What other damage has been done?"
"He says not much, only a rail torn up here and there."
"Well," said Rob, "we might as well play this game for all it is worth; so, suppose we make the operator at the next station telegraph for a car with a dozen or so of rails on it, and a gang of track-layers, to be ready for us at Pao-Ting-Fu.Sign the message with the biggest name you can think of in this part of the country; say it is a matter of life or death to the Emperor himself for this engine to get as near Pekin as possible in the shortest possible time.It will be an awful bluff, of course, but bluffs sometimes work when you least expect them to.At any rate, we won't lose anything by trying.Hello!There's a station now, and a train headed this way on the siding.Lucky for us that it waited here, for there's apt to be trouble when two trains meet on a single track.I hope it doesn't mean, though, that they have heard of our coming.You run in and do your best with the telegraph man, while I stay here and keep this chap from getting busy.Better tell the agent, or whatever you call him, to rush that train out in a hurry, so its hands won't come rubbering round us for news.See if you can't pick up something to eat, too, for I am starving.We'll run up and take in water from that tank while you are gone.I'll make our friend here sabe somehow what I want him to do."
Rob's bluff worked to perfection.The waiting train pulled out the moment they had passed the siding switch, and went on its southward way without carrying a suspicion of anything having gone wrong.Rob got his tank full of water without trouble, and had hardly done so when Jo reappeared, hurrying towards the locomotive.He was followed by a boy bearing a basket full of cooked rice and Chinese cakes.The young officer had ordered the few employés of the station about with such a lordly air that they had obeyed him without question.
"Did they know we were coming?"asked Rob, as the engine again gathered headway.
"Yes," replied Jo."They had received part of a message, telling them to look out for us.Then it was cut off, and they were a good deal troubled at not hearing a word from the south since."
"Good!"cried Rob."We cut the wire just in time then."
"Yes.I told them I saw somebody destroying the line, and said I thought he was a Boxer."
"So I am," laughed Rob, munching a Chinese sweetcake as he spoke."But how about the message to Pao-Ting?"
"Oh, he sent it off all right.That is, I suppose he did.Anyhow, he seemed a good deal impressed by the name I signed to it."
"What name was it?"
"Yu-Hsien."
"What!The governor of Shan-Si!The big man of all the Boxers!You didn't have the cheek!"
"I did, though," declared Jo, stoutly; "and if it don't get us what we want at Pao-Ting, there isn't another name in all China that would."
They were barely out of sight of the station before they came to a bridge across a small river.Here, as the telegraph-line was strung on it within easy reach, the locomotive was brought to a stand-still, while Rob again tried his hand at wire-cutting.Jo leaned from the cab to watch him, thus relaxing for a minute his close watch of their useful prisoner.
As Rob came back, calling out: "Let her go again, I'm aboard," Jo turned to give the necessary order, only to discover to his consternation that the engine-driver was nowhere in sight.In vain did they search through the cab and its tender, in the water-tanks, and even under the coal.In vain did they look up and down the track, at the bridge on both sides, even staring down into the water twenty feet below them.The man had disappeared, so far as they could discover, as absolutely as though the ground had opened and swallowed him.
"Well," remarked Rob, in a melancholy tone, "that beats anything I ever experienced.We certainly have got the old wagon to ourselves now, and the question is, what shall we do with it?"
"I say run it," replied Jo."I've watched him until I know how to start and stop, and how to go slow or fast.I'll do that part if you will keep up the fire, and I don't believe there is anything else to be looked out for."
"All right," agreed Rob, "go ahead.I don't like it, and I expect we shall come to grief; but I can stand it if you can."
CHAPTER XXIV
THE TIMELY EXPLOSION OF A BOILER
Greatly depressed by the unexplained disappearance of their Chinese engine-driver, our lads, ignorant of everything connected with machinery, set themselves the hazardous task of running a locomotive.They got it started without difficulty, and ten minutes later were running at tremendous speed over the level line that extended without grade or curve as far as they could see.While Rob shovelled coal until his back ached and his face was as black as that of a negro, Jo occupied the engine-driver's seat and anxiously stared ahead.Neither of them spoke, for the strain on their nerves was too great, since each knew that at any moment they were likely to be blown up, flung from the track, or sent plunging through some weakened bridge.They were facing death in a dozen forms, but stuck to their posts without flinching, for they knew that a like fate, absolutely certain, awaited the unprotected foreigner who should be caught attempting to cross those plains on foot.
So they drove on, mile after mile, dashing past the station of Sing Yang without a pause or even a slow-down, and shortly before sunset came within sight of the gray walls of Pao-Ting-Fu.
"SO THEY DROVE ON, MILE AFTER MILE"
"Shut her off, Jo.We've done the act so far all right," said Rob, speaking jerkily and with ill-repressed excitement."Now comes the real danger.What a crowd there is about the station.There's an engine, though, with a single car attached.See!Waiting up by the tank.Perhaps our bluff has worked!Steady!Here they come!"
The stolen locomotive had come to a stop at the lower end of the station platform, panting as though exhausted by its long run, and a group of Chinese officials were hurrying to meet it.
"Where is his excellency, Yu-Hsien?"asked one of these, peering with an expectant air into the cab.
"He is following on a special train," replied Jo, promptly; "but I am his representative, sent ahead to prepare the way for him.Is the track-repairing car ready, as the governor requested?If not he will cause the officials of Pao-Ting to suffer the same 'bitterness' that has gained him fame among the foreigners of Shan-Si."
"It has been prepared according to the most noble governor's desire," replied the official, hesitatingly, "but—"
"Let us, then, go to it," interrupted Jo, stepping from the locomotive as he spoke and starting up the platform.
Rob followed him closely.As he left the cab he caught a glimpse of a begrimed, dishevelled, and nearly naked man crawling from beneath the tender.In an instant it flashed across him that this was their lost engine-driver.Looking back a moment later he saw the same figure following them.
They in the mean time were being conducted towards the agent's quarters in the station-house, where refreshments had been prepared for Governor Yu-Hsien.
"If he were but here," remarked the official spokesman, deprecatingly, "of course, everything would be at his disposal; but we have been so expressly ordered not to allow the passage north of any save troops or mandarins of the highest rank, that we are at a loss how to act."
"Am I not a representative of one of the greatest mandarins of the empire?"demanded Jo, fiercely, "and am I not come to prepare the way for him?Has it not already been told to your dull ears that upon his reaching the imperial city within two days depends the very life of the Son of Heaven?"At this august name every one present, excepting Rob, and including the speaker himself, made a deep reverence.
"The Emperor is no longer in danger, since the ocean-devil army has been driven back, and now is being cut to pieces by his own invincible troops," boasted the official.
"What do you mean?"asked Jo."No such news has come to the ears of his excellency the governor."
"It is nevertheless true that from the ships gathered off Taku bar thousands of ocean men were landed to go to Pekin.They travelled by the road of iron-fire, restoring the track, even as you now propose to do.Slower and slower they moved, being beset on all sides by sons of the Great Sword.Beyond An-Ting they could not go, for there they were met by imperial cavalry from the South Hunting Park, and turned back in disorderly flight.Hundreds were killed, and hundreds more are being cut down at this moment.All their guns and banners are captured, and it is certain that not one of them will escape alive.The ocean devils still on their ships have threatened to fire on the Taku forts, but they dare not do it.General Nieh has made answer that, with the firing of the first shot, every foreign devil in Tien-Tsin and Pekin will be put to death; for so commands an edict from the imperial city."
"What has all this to do with us?"inquired Jo, pretending not to be at all affected by this startling news."The governor of Shan-Si must pass in spite of everything.Let him be delayed by so much as the fraction of an hour, and those whom he will hold responsible may well tremble in their shoes."
"Is not the man with the black face, standing by your side at this moment, a foreign devil?"suddenly demanded the official, ignoring Jo's threat and pointing an accusing, clawlike finger at Rob.
"No," answered Jo, stoutly."He is a native of the Middle Kingdom; but he comes from the far south, where he was born.Also, he is wise in the science of iron-fire, and has been sent on in advance of the great governor to make safe his way.If you should harm so much as a hair of his head, the vengeance of Yu-Hsien would be swift and terrible as that of Heaven itself."
"He is yang-kwei!" (foreign devil, northern dialect) cried a voice from the back of the room, and Rob, turning quickly, caught a glimpse of the begrimed engine-driver whom he had seen crawl out from under the tender and who afterwards had followed them.
At the same instant he, together with every one in the room, was hurled violently to the floor, the walls of the building were blown in as though they were of card-board, and the city of Pao-Ting-Fu was shaken by an explosion so terrific that its inhabitants ran shrieking from their houses into the streets.
Some of the occupants of the station-agent's room fled from it unharmed, while others, and among them our lads, more or less bruised by falling bricks or tiles, crawled out from the débris and made exit more slowly.Only one remained behind, crushed to death beneath a heavy roof-timber, and he was the engine-driver, killed, in the very act of denouncing Rob, by the blowing up of his own locomotive.It had been left with a roaring fire behind its closed furnace door and very little water in its boiler.
"Are you hurt, Rob?"
"Nothing to speak of.Are you?"
"No."
"Then what do you say?Shall we take advantage of the confusion to light out?Things seemed to be getting pretty hot for us when that blessed old engine interrupted the proceedings."
"What do you mean?Run away?No, indeed!"replied Jo, earnestly."Things are just as we want them now.Don't you remember that I was telling them what Yu-Hsien would do if they interfered with his plans?He is the head Boxer, you know, and just now the I-Ho-Chuan are credited with being masters of magic.Wait till I speak to these big men."
The official, or, as Jo called him, "the big man," who had been foremost in examining our lads, was excitedly chattering with one of his fellows when Jo and Rob stepped up to him.
"You are alive and not harmed?"he gasped at sight of them.
"Of course we are not harmed," replied Jo."Did I not tell you that we are the servants of Yu-Hsien?and do you think he would harm his own?"
"Is this terrible thing the work of the great Boxer?"
"Certainly it is.I warned you how it would be.He has killed one who defied him, that you may have evidence of his strength; and if you still go against his wishes your own sons will shortly erect a new ancestral tablet."
"It is true, most honorable one," admitted the frightened official, humbly; "and we are not so dense but that we can learn the lesson thus plainly stated.Tell us, then, how we can serve you, and thus appease the wrath of the mighty Boxer, that he may not visit further destruction upon us."
"Give us the slight thing for which we asked: a few rails, a few track-layers, and a fresh engine, that we may go about our work and prepare the way for our master," replied Jo, boldly, "then shall all go well with you and with this city of Pao-Ting, which otherwise might be bereft of its walls by the next exhibition of Yu-Hsien's wrath."
So superstitious are the Chinese, so dreaded were the mysterious incantations of the I-Ho-Chuan, and so unnerved were the officials of Pao-Ting-Fu by the explosion of a few minutes before, that they yielded to Jo's demands.
A locomotive attached to a car holding rails and a gang of coolies had been made ready in anticipation of Yu-Hsien's coming.This train, standing by the water-tank, at a distance from the scene of explosion, had remained uninjured, and now was placed at the disposal of our lads.They were told that for fifty li the track still was in good condition; after that they could readily repair it with the means at their disposal, until they came to the great bridge at Cho Chou, which had been hopelessly destroyed.
So our young adventurers left the officials of Pao-Ting-Fu, promising them that Yu-Hsien should be informed of their efforts in his behalf, and were thankfully seen to disappear in the gathering twilight.
"Well!"exclaimed Rob, who had not spoken during all these negotiations, heaving a great sigh of relief as they pulled out from the deadly neighborhood."Our bluff worked, after all.But, take it all around, it was about as close a call as I ever want to experience."
"Yes," replied Jo."I never expected to be saved from sudden death by the blowing-up of a boiler."
That night they remained on board their new locomotive at the little town of An-Su-Hsien, where Jo procured for each of them the red hats, sashes, and shoes worn by Boxers.At daylight they again were under way, and, though they were obliged to stop a dozen times to replace missing rails, they had reached Cho Chou, only forty miles from Pekin, before dark.Here they were able to hire horses that by late afternoon of the following day had carried them within sight of the far-extended walls of the great Chinese capital.Beyond the wall rolled dense clouds of smoke, as though the whole city were on fire, while distinct above all other sounds rose the sharp rattle of musketry, mingled with the deeper roar of heavier guns.
At these evidences of strife our lads drew rein and looked inquiringly at each other.After all, was the city of Pekin a good place for a young American and a Chinese who had befriended him to enter at that moment?
"Yes," said Rob, at length, "I think we will keep on, only we will give up our horses here.I don't see that we will be any worse off, in any event, inside the city than where we are.There is fighting going on, to be sure, but it must be between our friends and our enemies.If the former are getting the worst of it, then they need our help; while if the fight is going the other way, we have nothing to fear."
"I wonder," remarked Jo, bitterly, as they moved slowly forward on foot, "which side will prove friendly to me, or will all prove enemies of the Chinese who has befriended a foreigner?"
CHAPTER XXV
IN CHINA'S CAPITAL CITY
China's capital, the great northern city of Pekin, is situated on a plain one hundred and twenty miles from the sea, and near the eastern base of a low mountain-range known as the Western Hills.It is divided into two nearly equal parts, the northern being the Manchu, or Tartar City, while the other is called the southern, or Chinese City.The northern city is surrounded by a vast brick wall ten miles in length, fifty feet thick at the base, sixty feet high, and forty feet wide on top, pierced by nine massive gateways, two on the north side, two on the east, two on the west, and three on the south.These last open into the southern city, which is of about the same size as the other, and also is surrounded by a lofty wall having seven gates.In the southern city, standing in the middle of a forty-acre park, is the great Temple of Heaven, in which the Emperor alone may worship.
In the centre of the northern, or Tartar City, and occupying one-eighth of the enclosed space, is located the Forbidden City, surrounded by a fifty-foot wall of red brick coped with tiles of imperial yellow.This wall has but four gates, and within it are the yamens, or palaces of high-rank mandarins, besides parks and pleasure-grounds.Inside of the Forbidden City is yet another, known as the Imperial City, strongly fortified, and containing the palaces, pleasure-grounds, lakes, and lotus ponds of the imperial family.
While Canton, in the far south, has been called the most wonderful city of the world, Pekin is almost as remarkable, although in an entirely different way.Canton streets are noted for their extreme narrowness, and those of Pekin for their width, some of the latter being one hundred feet wide.In Canton there are no wheeled vehicles and no beasts of burden, while Pekin streets swarm with blue-covered, two-wheeled carts, very heavy, and drawn by large, fine-looking mules, two-coolie jinrikishas, bullock-carts, wheelbarrows loaded with passengers or freight, pushed by one coolie and pulled by another, long caravans of shaggy, two-humped camels, besides innumerable riding ponies and donkeys.Also, in Pekin, may occasionally be seen the smart European brougham, drawn by a high-stepping American horse, of some wealthy mandarin, though most of those who can afford to ride prefer to do so in sedan-chairs.Of these chairs, those used by members of the imperial family are roofed and curtained in yellow, those of the higher-class mandarins are red, those of the next lower grade are blue, and so the descent is continued through green to black, while mourning chairs of every class invariably are white.
In Canton a large proportion of the houses have two stories, while in all directions tower lofty, six-to-nine-storied pawn-shops, looking like flat-topped grain elevators; but in Pekin all dwellings and shops, even including the imperial palaces, have but a single story.The only buildings in all the city that exceed this height are the pagoda-like Temple of Heaven, the great drum-tower, the great bell-tower, the fortified gate-towers surmounting the city walls, and certain foreign establishments belonging to missions, legations, or business firms that have been erected since 1900.
Pekin is well provided with wide breathing spaces in the shape of temple and palace grounds, and shade trees are fairly abundant throughout the city.Most of its broad avenues are unpaved, and it is visited by suffocating dust-storms at certain seasons of the year, while at others it wades through fathomless mud.
In 1897 the capital was connected with Tien-Tsin, eighty miles away, and with the sea by rail, but the track was compelled to end two miles outside the southern wall.In 1900 came the great Boxer uprising, the siege of the foreign legations in Pekin, and the capture, occupation, and terrible punishment of the city by the troops of nine foreign powers.These retained possession for a year, during which time they carried the railroad into the very heart of the city, largely increased the area of legation "concessions," established a clean-swept neutral zone three hundred feet wide around the legation territory, paved Legation Street, built commodious barracks for the foreign troops that were to remain as permanent legation guards, and erected handsome legation buildings; while the United States and Germany took possession of and will permanently control a quarter of a mile of the city wall adjoining their legations.After a year of foreign control Pekin was restored to its Chinese rulers, and the self-exiled imperial court returned to their capital city.During 1903 a number of large foreign buildings, including a European hotel, banks, hospitals, chapels, schools, etc., were erected, and many more were projected for this year (1904).Electric lighting on an extensive scale, as well as electric trams, are already planned for.The Pe-Han (Pekin-Hankow) Railway, over a portion of which our lads travelled, and which was wholly destroyed by Boxers immediately afterwards, has been restored and the track extended southward to the Yellow River.Beyond this construction is being so rapidly pushed from both ends that the completion of the whole line is promised by 1906.
Thus China's capital, rudely roused by foreign guns from the sleep of ages, is now awake and in a fair way speedily to take a prominent place among the progressive cities of the world.
None of these things were thought of, however, on that June day of 1900 when Rob Hinckley, accompanied by his stanch friend, Chinese Jo, hesitatingly approached the great city; for at that moment it was shadowed by the darkness of despair.The tidal wave of Boxer uprising had reached and overwhelmed it.The I-Ho-Chuan were in complete possession, and Pekin, with its teeming population, its accumulated wealth of years, and, above all, with its hundreds of hated foreigners, diplomats, missionaries, business men, and legation guards, lay at their mercy.They had nothing to fear from imperial troops, for these, always in sympathy with their movement, already had begun to co-operate with them in their killing of Christian converts, their burnings and their lootings.Bolder and bolder they became, wilder and wilder grew their excesses, until shortly before the arrival of Rob and Jo they had started fierce conflagrations in all parts of the city, had destroyed two Roman Catholic cathedrals, and were regularly besieging a third with cannonade and rifle-fire.In this great fortress, and within its spacious, wall-enclosed grounds, ninety foreigners, forty-three of whom were French and Italian marines, and more than three thousand native converts had taken refuge.For sixty days this isolated stronghold of Christianity was shelled and bombarded with cannon-ball and rifle-bullet; but it held out to the end, and stands to-day a monument to the heroic endurance of its defenders.The attack on it had been begun three days before the arrival of our lads, and the sounds of heavy firing that had so aroused their anxiety was the cannonade directed against its walls.
With many misgivings they skirted the southern city, which seemed a seething caldron of riot and flame, and sought an entrance to the Tartar City through one of its western gates.Here, to Jo's great satisfaction, he found, in the officer of the guard who examined them, an acquaintance not only willing to admit them, but of whom he could ask questions.Believing Jo to feel even more bitterly than himself concerning foreigners, this officer did not hesitate to give him the very latest news.He confirmed the report heard at Pao-Ting-Fu of the defeat and driving back towards Tien-Tsin of the combined American and British relief expedition, under Admiral Seymour, told of the siege of the northern cathedral, and, most startling of all, informed Jo of the imperial edict, issued that very day, ordering the destruction of every foreigner within the walls of Pekin.
"Already," he said, "have the invincible troops of Jung Lu entered the city, and with them are the Kwang-su tigers, under the terrible Tung-Fu-Hsang, who thirsts for foreign blood as does a babe for its mother's milk.To-day they are placing guns to command the legations, and to-morrow at four o'clock, if the ocean devils have not left the city, they will be attacked and killed like rats in their holes."
It was fortunate that Rob failed to comprehend what the officer said, for he could not have listened unmoved as did Jo.That the latter did so was because he was not quite certain that he did not approve of the plan for driving all foreigners from China.Foreigners expelled Chinese from their countries, so why should not his people in turn expel foreigners from China?Still, he did not express any views on the subject at that time, but changed the topic of conversation by asking the officer if he could tell him where his father might be found.
For a moment the latter hesitated, and his face assumed a peculiar expression.Then he said: "Did you not know that his excellency Li Ching Cheng had been given a position on the Board of Punishment?It is doubtless at the yamen of that illustrious body that you will find him."
Thanking the officer for his courtesy, Jo and his companion took their departure, and, making their way through alleys and the quieter streets as remote as possible from conflagrations and all scenes of disturbance, they finally reached the yamen of the Board of Punishment, which corresponds to what in an American city would be a combined court-house and jail.
A main entrance through the street wall led to a court, reached by the descent of several steps.This court was surrounded by low buildings, occupied as offices of the board, and in its centre was a pond of water.As no person of whom they could ask questions was to be seen here, our lads passed on to a second or inner court that opened from the first.It also contained a stone-bordered reservoir of water, and was surrounded by fantastically ornamented buildings.In one feature that was immediately noticeable, these low buildings differed from any other that Rob ever had seen in China.They were provided with cellar-like basements, divided into small compartments, from each of which a little, grated window opened into a tiny outside well-hole.
About one of these well-holes stood a group of half a dozen Chinese officials, towards whom Jo made his way, intending to ask them where his father might be found.As he drew near and was about to speak, he glanced downward to see what so had attracted their curiosity that no one of them had turned at his approach.What he saw was a human face, tortured and livid, pressed against the grating, and straining upward in mute agony.The man was supporting himself by hands clinched about two bars of the grating, and evidently was standing on tiptoe.
Rob, looking over Jo's shoulder, also saw the awful face, and for an instant wondered at the black line that seemed to cut it at the uplifted chin.Then it flashed across him that this was a line of black water, slowly but surely rising, and that in another moment the man would be drowned.And no one dared try to save him, even were it possible to do so, for he was a condemned prisoner suffering one of the innumerable, ingeniously awful forms of Chinese capital punishment.
"What was his crime?"asked one of the fascinated spectators of another.
"He was that member of the Tsung Li Yamen who, before circulating the palace edict, 'Feng yang jen pi sha'" (whenever meeting foreigners, kill them), "dared alter 'pi'" (kill) "into 'pao'" (protect).
"It is enough, and his punishment is righteous," declared the other.
Rob did not quite understand this, but Jo did, and, seizing his comrade's arm with so fierce a grip that the latter winced, he dragged him from the awful scene.As they gained the street he whispered, in choking voice:
"From this moment I am with you and with the foreign people, until the Empress is overthrown.Let us get to your legation."
"Was it any one you knew?"asked Rob, not yet comprehending.
"He was my father."
CHAPTER XXVI
WAR CLOUDS
China, in her ignorant self-confidence, and goaded to desperation by foreign aggressions, was defying the world.Not only was she killing missionaries, together with their converts, wherever found, and putting to shameful death such of her own people, from highest mandarin to lowest coolie, as dared lift a hand to save them or speak a word in their behalf, but by imperial order Chinese troops were preparing to attack foreign ministers in their own legations.Thus China deliberately was about to commit the gravest of international crimes.For some time the foreign ministers, foreseeing the dangers of the apparently uncontrollable Boxer uprising, had been calling upon their respective governments for protection.In response an ever-increasing fleet of war-ships was gathered off the mouth of the Pei-ho, which was as near as they could approach to Pekin.From those ships which first arrived a mixed force of marines, four hundred in all, and representing eight nations, was sent to the capital to act as legation guards, and the train that brought them was the last to reach Pekin for many weeks.
These marines arrived on the first day of June, and forty-five of them immediately were detailed to protect the great northern cathedral, while twenty more were sent to the compound of the American Methodist Mission.A week later the Empress Dowager returned to Pekin from her summer palace in the Western Hills.From that moment the situation grew so rapidly worse that the ministers again telegraphed the foreign fleet to send at once a strong force for their further protection.
In response to this urgent request Captain McCalla, the senior American naval officer with the fleet, declared that he should start for Pekin the next day.The British admiral, Seymour, promptly proposed to join him, and other commanding officers entered so heartily into the project that on the following morning, when the expedition started by rail from Tongku, the nearest landing-point, it comprised 2066 troops.Of these 112 were Americans, 915 British, 450 Germans, 312 Russians, 158 French, 54 Japanese, 40 Italians, and 25 Austrians.
This force, made up of sailors and marines, well provided with light artillery and rapid-fire guns, set forth in high spirits, expecting to reach Pekin that very night, or, at any rate, within twenty-four hours.Nine days later saw them still twenty miles from their destination, short of ammunition and food, encumbered with two hundred wounded men, cut off from their base of supplies by the destruction of the railway behind them, as well as in front, unable to communicate either with Pekin or the outside world on account of the telegraph-line having absolutely disappeared, while couriers with despatches were caught and killed as fast as sent out.
From the beginning they had been harassed by hordes of Boxers, and now they were confronted by five thousand imperial troops, including a strong body of cavalry, armed with modern rifles and well supplied with artillery.Under the circumstances a farther advance was impossible, and a retreat was ordered.At the end of another week the unfortunate expedition reached Tien-Tsin exhausted, demoralized, and sadly depleted in numbers, but having learned the bitter lesson that no small force of foreigners, no matter how brave and well-armed, could traverse the interior of China against the wishes of the Chinese.
During the absence of this expedition the fleet of war-ships lying off the Taku bar, at the mouth of the Pei-ho, had been strengthened by numerous additions.The Taku forts had been captured after six hours of fighting, and an army of ten thousand troops had advanced to the relief of the foreign portion of Tien-Tsin, which was being besieged by Boxers from the walled city of Tien-Tsin proper.Now the allied foreign troops turned their attention to this stronghold and set about its capture; but it held out for three weeks, and did not fall into their hands until the 14th of July.
But let us return to the middle of June and the city of Pekin, where a handful of foreigners, cut off from all communication with the outside world, were anxiously but confidently awaiting the coming of the McCalla-Seymour relief expedition.All sorts of rumors were afloat concerning its progress and position, and one of these so persistently asserted that it would reach the city by the very evening on which Rob and Jo entered Pekin that many persons ascended the city wall near the American legation, and remained there for hours, straining their eyes for a sight of the expected troops.But they did not come; and as the sun, transformed to a blood-red ball by the smoke from many conflagrations, disappeared in the lowering west, the disappointed ones returned to their homes doubly weighted with anxiety.
After dinner that evening two guests sat with the United States minister and his wife, earnestly discussing the situation.They were an American tourist and his daughter, who, not realizing the danger of their position, had lingered one day too long in Pekin, and then, owing to the sudden destruction of the railway, found it impossible to leave.The subject of their present conversation was a note from the Tsung Li Yamen (Chinese State Department) received by the minister a few hours earlier.It declared the situation in Pekin to have reached such a stage that the authorities could not undertake to protect the ministers longer than twenty-four hours from the date of the note, which also urged their departure, under Chinese escort, for Tien-Tsin.
"Are you going to accept that proposition?"asked the tourist.
"Frankly, I don't know," replied the minister."Certainly we cannot leave within the time limit specified.It won't do for us to abandon the missionaries, and they declare they will not desert their converts, whom we, of course, could not take with us."
"What means of transportation should we have if you did decide to leave, now that the railway is no longer in operation?"
"We have demanded carts, boats, provisions, and that a member of the Tsung Li Yamen high in authority shall accompany us.This, of course, is playing for delay, that we may have more time in which to hear from Seymour's expedition.It is now four days since the last word came from it, and we must know its position before starting.No, I don't believe we will leave within twenty-four hours, though some of my colleagues think differently and already are packing their effects."
"My daughter and I will not try to carry out anything but our hand-bags, which can be made ready at a moment's notice," said the tourist.
"You are wise.I shall attempt to carry very little myself, and my baggage will consist largely of state papers, which already are packed for transportation."
"Then you are pretty certain that we will go sooner or later?"
"Yes, sooner or later, for the city is growing untenable.The hour of our departure probably will be decided by the morning advices from the Tsung Li Yamen.If no word should come from them, Von Ketteler, who does not agree that it is necessary for us to leave Pekin, declares he will go to them and demand satisfactory guarantees for our safety."
"It will be a bold thing to do."
"Yes, it will, especially as Von Ketteler recently incurred the additional ill-will of all Boxers by personally beating with his stick one of them whom he caught parading Legation Street in the full regalia of his infamous society.He is a brave man, but, unfortunately, he regards the Chinese with a contempt that will, I fear, lead him into difficulties."
At this moment a servant announced Lieutenant Hibbard.
"Excuse me, sir, for disturbing you," said this individual, after he had saluted those present, "but it seemed best to report a rather peculiar case.Two young Chinese, wearing the Boxer uniform, have just been arrested, and are now held by the guard at the gate.They demand an interview with the American minister, and, curiously enough, both of them speak English remarkably well—at least, so the corporal of the guard says, for I have not yet seen them myself."
"Are they armed?"asked the minister.
"Yes, sir.That is, they were armed with revolvers, but, of course, those were taken from them."
"Very well, let these English-speaking Boxers be brought in, under guard, and we will hear what they have to say for themselves—unless this young lady objects to their presence," he added.
"Oh no, sir; of course I don't!"exclaimed the girl, who hitherto had listened in silence, but with intense interest, to the conversation between her father and the minister."I want ever so much to see a Boxer whom I can be certain really is one."
In another minute the prisoners, guarded by two heavily armed marines, were ushered into the room."Pretty tough-looking characters, aren't they?"asked the lieutenant of the girl, by whose side he had taken a position as though to protect her in case of trouble.
"Yes," she replied, hesitatingly."But do you know," she added, in a low tone, "the face of one of them seems very familiar.I mean the one with the queue."
"Oh, all Chinamen look alike," replied the officer, carelessly."I've seen a hundred that you'd think were twin brothers of the other one, the tougher of the two.I expect he has murdered more converts than he could count."
Just here the minister, who had stepped for a moment into his office, returned, and at once proceeded to question the prisoners.
"I am told that you speak English; who are you, and why do you come here?"he asked.
"Are you the American minister?"cautiously inquired the one whom the lieutenant had indicated as being the tougher-looking of the two.
"I am."
"Well, then, we've come to tell you that the American and British relief expedition you are expecting has been attacked by more than five thousand imperial troops.It has been badly cut up, and now is in full retreat towards Tien-Tsin."
"Impossible!"gasped the minister.
"It is true, sir; and if you leave this city to-morrow in the hope of reaching Tien-Tsin you will be killed as soon as you pass the city gates.An edict was issued from the palace to-day for the extermination of all foreigners in Pekin, and an attack on the legations will be begun at four o'clock to-morrow afternoon."
"Who are you?"demanded the startled minister, "and what proof can you give that your astounding statements are true?"
"I am an American, of course," replied Rob, in a tone expressive of surprise that any one should question his nationality, "and my friend here is a son of Mandarin Li Ching Cheng, recently a member of the Tsung Li Yamen.He was put to death a few hours since for having tried to protect foreigners instead of killing them.My friend and I got acquainted in the States, where he was being educated, and—"
"His name is Joseph Lee!"cried the American girl, no longer able to restrain herself, and springing to her feet in her excitement."I knew I had seen him before!"
"But who are you, sir?What is your own name?"interrupted the minister, sternly.
"Hinckley," replied Rob, but not withdrawing his eyes from the flushed face of the girl; and, speaking to her, he added: "I knew you and your father as soon as I saw you, Miss Lorimer, but I thought that perhaps you wouldn't care to recognize us in this costume."
"As if any one could!"cried Annabel Lorimer."I am sure you wouldn't recognize yourself if you could see how horrible you look.Even now I only recognize your voice.Should you have known him, papa?"
"No," replied Mr. Lorimer, staring hard at Rob; "and I am not certain that I do even now."
"Is your first name Robert?" asked the lieutenant of marines; "and were you ever on board the United States monitor Monterey?"
"Yes, my name is Robert Hinckley. I was aboard the Monterey about four months ago, and you are Ensign Hibbard," was the reply.
"He's all right, sir!"exclaimed the lieutenant, turning to the minister."I know him well, and can swear that somewhere about him he's got a skin as white as mine."
"Well," said the minister, his stern face breaking into a smile, "I'll take your word for it, Mr. Hibbard, but even you must acknowledge that its whiteness is pretty effectually concealed at present.Mr. Hinckley, I am much pleased to meet you, especially as you must be a son of Dr. Mason Hinckley, whom I long have counted as among my friends.But the news you bring is of such momentous character that I must ask for further details, even before extending to you the hospitalities of the legation.Will you and your friend sit down and kindly tell us everything that you know concerning the situation?"
CHAPTER XXVII
CHINA DEFIES THE WORLD
The startling news conveyed to the American legation by our lads was transmitted to all the other ministers that same night, and it at once put an end to the preparations for departure.It was further discussed at a meeting held the next morning, when it was determined that their only chance for safety lay in remaining where they were and defending themselves to the best of their ability.It had been hoped that some members of the Tsung Li Yamen would attend this meeting, but none appeared.The German minister, Baron von Ketteler, thereupon reaffirmed his intention of going to the yamen and demanding a conference.Moreover, to show his contempt for the Chinese, he declared that he would go unarmed and unescorted, save by his official interpreter, Mr. Cordes.
No entreaties served to deter the brave but obstinate man from his mad enterprise.Entering his sedan-chair, which he had furnished with cigars and reading-matter to aid him in passing the time if he should be compelled to wait at the yamen, he set forth, followed by his interpreter in another chair, and preceded by a Chinese outrider attached to the legation.
Just before their departure the American minister had requested Rob Hinckley, who, still disguised as a Chinese, might traverse the streets without detection as a foreigner, to proceed to the Methodist Mission, nearly a mile away, and warn its inmates to make ready for a speedy retreat to the legation grounds.Jo also was asked to go out and make special note of what the people of the city were saying.
So the two lads set forth, going by way of Instruct the People Street, called by foreigners Legation Street, past the Hôtel de Pékin, in which the Lorimers were staying, and where Rob wished he might make a call.From there they held their way eastward to Ha-ta (Great) Street, which they found thronged with citizens and soldiery.They walked slowly up this broad avenue, paying close attention to scraps of conversation, until they came to Filial Piety Alley, into which they should have turned to gain the mission compound by the shortest route.
Instead of so doing, they hesitated, attracted by a decided and excited movement towards the north of the swarming populace.Involuntarily, they joined it, and continued to make their way slowly up Ha-ta Street, until they had nearly reached the Pai-lou, or wooden arch, that spanned the middle of the roadway, just below Tsung Pu Alley.At this point they saw two sedan-chairs, preceded by an outrider in the livery of the German Legation, come from the Street of Permanent Peace into Ha-ta Street, and turn north ahead of them.As they halted in their walk and stood watching this little procession, Jo was saying:
"In case of serious trouble, Rob, I believe I could do more good outside in the city than if I were to stay shut up in a legation.There, also, I should always be an object of more or less suspicion, on account of being a Chinese.Of course, I sha'n't leave you unless it seems best to do so; but if we are separated, don't forget the old academy call."
"Do you mean the 'Hi-ho' call?"
"Yes; and isn't it queer that it should be the same as the first two names of the I-Ho-Chuan?"
At that instant the sharp report of a rifle rang out a short distance up the street.For a moment it was followed by a deathlike hush.Then pandemonium broke loose.Other shots were fired in quick succession, and the street populace, transformed into a howling mob, swarmed towards the scene of tragedy, yelling like demons: "Kill the foreign devils!Kill!Kill!Kill!"
A horseman fled before them.Two sedan-chairs were dropped by their terrified bearers, who also took to their heels.From one of the chairs a man leaped and ran for his life, but from the other came neither sound nor motion.In it sat Baron von Ketteler, the Kaiser's representative in China, shot to death by a Chinese officer of imperial troops.To-day a magnificent memorial arch of marble spans the busy roadway above the spot where he was killed.
"Come!"gasped Rob, as he realized the awful nature of the tragedy."That shot is China's declaration of war against the world.We must warn the mission!"
With this our lads darted into the near-by Tsung Pu Alley.At first their progress was impeded by people running in the opposite direction; but in a couple of minutes these had been left behind, and they were free to hasten on at full speed.All at once a foreigner, hatless, haggard, and bleeding, dropped from a low compound wall into the alley close beside them.Behind him sounded the fierce cries of a pursuing mob.
"It is the interpreter!"exclaimed Jo."Go with him and get him to the mission!Take the first right and second left.I will lead those who are after him another way.Quick!Good-bye!"
Rob instantly comprehended, and started after the fugitive, who now was staggering from weakness caused by loss of blood.At sight of the lad's Boxer uniform the man tried to beat him off, but on hearing the words in English—"It is all right!I am American"—he submitted to Rob's guidance.
As they hurried around the first right-hand turn they came face to face with a Boxer armed with a spear.Without giving him time to recognize them, our young American sprang upon him, knocked him down, took away his weapon, and left him in a state of dazed uncertainty as to what had happened.
After running a little farther the fugitives paused to listen, but could hear no sounds of pursuit.Jo had succeeded in diverting it to another direction.Then they proceeded more slowly, the wounded man leaning heavily on Rob's shoulder.Curious faces peered at them from dark portals as they passed, and more than one whom they met turned to give them a wondering look; but Rob's uniform and spear protected them from interference, and finally they reached a side gateway of the mission compound.Here the wounded man fell in a faint, but the American marine on guard sprang to his aid, and, recognizing in Rob's voice that of a fellow-countryman, assisted him to carry the German inside.
"Call your officer, quick as you can," ordered our lad, as he knelt beside the wounded man and dashed water in his face."It is a matter of life or death for us all."
In another minute Captain Hall came running to the post, and in a few words Rob explained who he was and what had happened, at the same time exhibiting a proof of identity given him by the American minister.
"He sent word," continued Rob, "for all foreign inmates of this compound to pack up immediately and be prepared to retreat to the legation at a moment's notice.Now I will leave this wounded man in your care, for I must hurry back and let him know what has happened.Can you let me have one of your men to identify me at the Italian barricade across Legation Street?If I go alone I am afraid they won't let me pass, for they were ugly and threatened us when we came out."
"Certainly.Turner, go with Mr. Hinckley, and see him safely past the barricade."
"This is a rum go," said the marine, as they left the gate and hurried towards Ha-ta Street."I've done a lot of funny things in the Philippines, and seen a lot more in China, but I'm blessed if ever I expected to safe-conduct a bloody Boxer through the streets of Pekin."
"Perhaps he is safe-conducting you," replied Rob, indicating, as he spoke, a group of Chinese soldiers wearing red Boxer hats, who were regarding the marine with very ugly looks.
"I don't know but what you are right," admitted Turner."They do look wolfy, and I almost wish I had another pukka Johnny along to come back with me."
"I'll come back with you if you will go all the way to the legation with me."
"Done!The cap'n didn't say how far I was to escort you.He only said, 'past the barricade,' and maybe there's more than one by this time.But what's the matter with riding?We'd get there twice as quick.Hi, there, 'rikisha coolie.You wanchee catchee one piecee dollar?You makee go ossoty Melican consoo house.Savvy?"
"All litee sojo man, can do," was the reply; and a big, double jinrikisha, drawn by two coolies and pushed by two more, rolled up to where the Americans were standing.Even on the eve of open hostilities the thrifty Chinese of Pekin were perfectly willing to make an honest dollar by serving their enemies.
Jumping in, they set off at a great pace, the 'rikisha men yelling at the top of their voices for pedestrians to clear the way, and not hesitating to knock right and left those who failed to heed their warnings.
Acting on Turner's advice, Rob took off his red hat, and, sitting as low as possible, was partially screened from observation by the marine, who held himself very straight and sat well forward.The guard at the Italian barricade made a motion as though to halt them, but Turner, yelling to his coolies to keep on or he would jab them with his bayonet, called out:
"It's all right, Dagoes!Official business!Can't stop!So long!See you later!"
Then they bowled up Legation Street at a rattling pace, clattered over the imperial canal bridge, and in another minute were at the American Legation.Five minutes later the electrifying news of Baron von Ketteler's assassination had been told.
"That settles it!"cried the minister, who was a veteran soldier of the great American civil war."Now we know exactly where we stand.The Chinese have declared for war, and they shall have war to their hearts' content.As for us who are in Pekin, we will stay right here and fight for our lives.If we are wiped out, the Chinese nation will cease to exist shortly afterwards.Even if we survive to be rescued, the punishment visited upon it for this day's crime will be one of the bitterest in history.But now we haven't a moment to lose.Are you willing to return to the mission with an order for its inmates to set out for this place within half an hour?"
"Of course I am, sir," replied Rob.
"Then go, and come back with them.I will at once notify the German Legation of this terrible happening, and advise that they send a squad of marines to bring back their wounded interpreter.God bless you, lad!I am glad to have you with us in this time of our trouble."
"And I, sir, am mighty glad to be here."
In less than an hour after Rob's report to the minister a long procession of refugees issued from the mouth of Filial Piety Alley, and turned into Ha-ta Street, where it was watched by crowding thousands of impassive Chinese.First came twenty American marines, hardy-looking fellows, bronzed by long service in the Philippines, under command of Captain Hall.These were followed by the American women and children of the mission and one hundred and twenty-six Chinese girl pupils of the mission school.Then came Chinese Christian women with their children, followed by a large body of Chinese men and boy converts.After them marched a stern-looking group of German marines, bearing and guarding a stretcher, on which lay the wounded legation interpreter whom Rob had been so instrumental in saving.The rear was brought up by a body of resolute-appearing missionaries armed with rifles and revolvers.With these marched Rob Hinckley, no longer disguised as a Boxer, but clad in the costume of his own people, and bearing himself with the self-confidence of one who had undergone a long experience in affairs like the present.The Chinese converts numbered over one thousand, and every member of the long procession was laden with food, clothing, household effects, or whatever portable things they had considered of greatest value.
At the Italian barricade on Legation Street it was met by the remaining marines of the American guard and escorted to the legation.Although the streets were crowded with Chinese soldiers, Boxers, and citizens, no attempt was made to interfere in any way with the flight of these refugees, and that afternoon they were quartered within the spacious walls of the British Legation compound, where all foreigners, except those already sustaining attack in the Roman Catholic cathedral, were gathered for protection.
Here was a scene to beggar description.Streams of carts, and swarms of coolies laden with provisions, baggage, and household effects, were pouring in from every direction.The numerous low, one-story buildings of the legation were being assigned to different nationalities, or set apart for specific purposes.Men, women, and children, diplomats, soldiers, missionaries, railway engineers, bank clerks, customs employés, servants, and coolies, speaking every language under the sun, dogs and ponies, rapid-fire guns, jinrikishas, carts, and wheelbarrows, furniture, bedding, provisions, cases of wine, barrels of beer, and a thousand other things, all were mixed in apparently inextricable confusion.
At precisely four o'clock General Tung-Fu-Hsang's soldiers from Kwang-su opened fire with a sharp volley of musketry from the city streets, and the siege of the Pekin legations was begun.
CHAPTER XXVIII
FIGHTING SIXTY FEET ABOVE GROUND
Although the heavily walled compound of the British Legation, which during the siege sheltered four hundred foreigners and as many more Chinese Christians, or nearly one thousand persons in all, was the stronghold of the defence, the lines occupied and held embraced a wide outside area, both to the eastward and on the south.Beyond the imperial canal, just east of the legation, stood an extensive collection of buildings enclosed by a wall, forming the yamen, or palace, of Prince Su.On the first day of the siege this was seized and occupied as quarters for the hundreds of school-girls and native Christians whom the missionaries had refused to abandon.It was defended by the Japanese, assisted by the Italian and Austrian marines, and though it was subject to many fierce attacks and an almost continuous bombardment that set its buildings on fire a dozen times, it never was given up.
Besides this outpost, the American, Russian, German, Japanese, and French legations also were held, as was the Hôtel de Pékin of M.Charnot and his brave American wife.It was strongly fortified with sand-bags, and sent out to its guests, who had taken refuge in the British Legation, three meals a day with unbroken regularity during the siege.A large portion of Legation Street also was included within the foreign lines.On it stood a grain-shop, in which were found eight thousand bushels of wheat and several tons of rice, together with eleven one-mule mills, ready for grinding.As there were in all some three thousand persons to be fed, this food supply proved invaluable.
At first an Austrian captain, named Thomann, by virtue of seniority, assumed command of the defending force; but on the second day of the siege, he having proved himself incapable, the supreme command was, by unanimous consent, given to Sir Claude Macdonald, the British minister.Captain Thomann was killed a few weeks later during an attack on the Su Yamen, and now one of the streets of Pekin bears his name.
Under Sir Claude's intelligent supervision all the details of housing and feeding three thousand people, of preparing and placing fifty thousand sand-bags, of hospital and sanitary arrangements, and a thousand other things, were quickly systematized and placed in the hands of carefully selected committees.The work of fortifying the legations was given over to a young American missionary engineer, while the actual duty of defence was distributed according to nationality.
The British Legation compound, including the northwest angle of the whole line, was left to the resident inmates—ministers, attachés, missionaries, etc. The Su Yamen and northeast angle were intrusted to the Japanese, aided by Italians and Austrians.At the southeast angle were French and Germans, the latter occupying a section of the great city wall, from which, however, they ultimately were driven.On the southwest were the Americans and Russians, in their own legations, with the former holding their own section of city wall.This position, in spite of continuous shelling and repeated assaults, was held by American marines to the end; and, commanding, as it did, the entire legation area, it proved the key to the situation.
On the 1st of July, or after ten days of siege, during which time the Chinese fire of rifle-bullets, solid shot, and shell had been maintained almost without intermission from one quarter or another, thirty-five of the defenders had been killed and nearly twice that number were in the hospital.The Germans had been driven from their section of the wall, the French Legation had been destroyed, and several sorties, made for the purpose of capturing or at least silencing certain particularly annoying Chinese guns, had proved unsuccessful.In all this time no news had been received, nor had it proved possible to send any out; and it was not probable that the desperate plight of the Pekin legations was even known to the outside world.
The bright spots in this gloom were that there still was plenty to eat and to drink within the lines, the defences were constantly being strengthened by additional sand-bags, which the ladies and Chinese women were turning out by the thousand, the plucky Japanese still held the Su Yamen, and American marines still maintained their position on the wall.Also, very early in the siege the latter, dragging their Colt's automatic gun up to their elevated post, had made a raid along the top of the wall for a quarter of a mile, driving the Kwang-su troops in wild confusion before them, and mowing them down by hundreds.
Now, however, the Chinese, profiting by this sad experience, had advanced a series of brick and sandbag approaches, against which the Colt proved ineffective.At the end of the last one the Chinese had erected a small tower, only a few feet from the American barricade, and commanding it.From this, while protected against a return fire, they hurled down huge bricks upon the defenders, who were unable to reply.At the same time the American position, isolated since the Germans on the east had been driven from their wall, was exposed to a galling fire from both directions.The situation thus had become critical in the extreme; for, if the Chinese could succeed in forcing this position, the legations would lie at their mercy.
The top of the wall at this point was reached from the inside by two ramps, or sloping walks, that led upward like the two legs of a letter A.One of these was controlled by the Americans, whose barricades were at its upper end, while the other was in possession of the Chinese.
From the outset Rob Hinckley had cast his lot with the American marines, largely on account of his liking for Turner, the sharp-shooter, whose acquaintance he had made on that first memorable day of the siege.On the morning of July 3d these two had come down from the danger post for a much-needed rest after a forty-eight-hour tour of duty on the wall.At sunset they were to return to the almost untenable barricades.In the mean time, they slept like logs until late in the afternoon, when they were awakened to partake of a meal of cold boiled mule "beef," rice, hard bread, and tea.
"Look here, young man," said Turner, pausing for a moment in his hearty eating, "I don't see why you should go up on that old rockery again to-night.You ain't 'listed, and don't have to."
"I have to just as much now as I did at first," replied Rob, quietly, "and you didn't say anything against it then."
"Things have changed.We seemed to have some show then, with the Germans to look out for one side; but we haven't any now, and I don't see how we can hold the place through another night.You've noticed that the Chinks always get busier at night than in the daytime, and now they are right on top of us."
"The only wonder to me is that they haven't cleaned us out long since," said Rob."They certainly have fired shots enough to destroy an army, let alone a couple of dozen men, which is as many as we ever have had up there at one time."
"It is a funny business," admitted Turner, "and I have puzzled over it a good deal myself.Do you know what I think?I believe that heavy firing from the Ha-ta tower is all a bluff and is mostly done with blank cartridges.If it isn't, we ought, by rights, to have been swept off the wall like puff-balls in a gale, long ago.There's another thing.It looks to me as if about nine out of every ten of the Chinks' rifle-shots must be fired straight up in the air, same as we kids used to do on Fourth of July.At night, when they fire most, I believe they all shoot into the air, 'cause you never hear of anybody getting hit at night, and they sure shoot to beat the band.Looks like they were only trying to scare us or kill us by keeping us from sleeping—I don't know which."
"Speaking of the Fourth of July," said Rob, "do you remember that to-morrow is the Fourth?"
"Sure, and I'm wondering if I'll live to see it.Somehow I don't feel as if I would."
"Oh, pshaw!Don't talk that way!"exclaimed the young volunteer."You'll live to see it, and plenty more like it, only a heap happier.I felt blue myself this morning, but now, after a day's sleep and a good stuffing of mule, I feel all right."
At this point the conversation was interrupted by the entrance of Lieutenant Hibbard, who said:
"Well, boys, we are in for it!Word has gone out that we've got to capture those barricades to-night and sweep the wall clean as far as the Chien Men gate.There's a squad of Tommies going up to help us, and if we don't do the trick this time I am afraid it will be all up with the whole shooting-match.Of course, Hinckley, you don't have to go unless you choose."
"Of course I do have to go, Mr. Hibbard!"cried Rob, hotly."I should be too ashamed ever to call myself an American again if I didn't; and if we don't carry those barricades I hope I'll never come down again alive.What time do we start?"
"Orders are to assemble on the wall as soon as it gets dark enough to go up the ramp unnoticed."
"All right, sir, we'll be there," said Turner, "and I know I'll never come down again alive if we don't get the Chinks on a run. We have got it to do, that's all."
An hour later, in the dusk of evening, a little group of twenty Americans and as many British marines, all of them picked men, crouched on the lofty wall listening to the earnest but low-voiced words of Captain John Meyers, U.S.M.C., the gallant officer who was to lead the charge that would mean life or death to every foreigner then in the city of Pekin.He did not speak more than a minute, but what he said filled every man who heard him with the spirit of a hero.When he had finished he leaped the barricade and started down the wall, with every man of his little party striving to gain his side.
The Chinese tower, from which they had been so harassed, went down like a card-house before their on-rush.A scattering volley of rifle-shots came from the barricade, but the Chinese were too completely taken by surprise to make a stand; even the Kwang-su savages, who never before had known defeat, fled in dismay before that charge of yelling Americans, whose rifles seemed to pour forth a continuous and inexhaustible stream of deadly fire.The Chinese fired a few shots, hurled a few spears, and then ran for their lives, darting from one barricade to another, but never allowed to pause, until such of them as were left alive gained the safe shelter of the Chien Men tower, a quarter of a mile away.