With the Allies to Pekin: A Tale of the Relief of the Legations

Suddenly flames broke out from one of the houses they had crossed, and soon it was seen that other houses were on fire also. A cry of dismay broke from the Chinese standing near. They were accustomed to high–handed proceedings, for many houses had been burnt by the Boxers in the pursuit of plunder or in their indignation at failing to find any. They had now evidently fired the houses as the easiest way of destroying the fugitives, who had shown that they would sell their lives dearly.

Gradually Rex and Ah Lo withdrew themselves to the edge of the excited crowd. Many of the people were already moving off to carry their goods from the houses in the adjoining lanes, for the wind was blowing strong, and there was no saying how far the conflagration would spread, as the houses were but flimsy erections, being composed chiefly of bamboo and mud, which would catch like tinder when attacked by the flame. They moved away from the scene gradually, and without any appearance of haste. The alarm had evidently spread some distance, for they met a fire–brigade of men carrying tubs of water slung on poles hurrying towards the spot. People were standing at their doors watching the blaze, and calculating whether, if it spread, it would come their way.

“Well, Ah Lo,” Rex said, “you see it has not been a very dangerous business after all, and if those two soldiers we killed had not been so fast we might have got away without being pressed at all.”

“It was very unfortunate for them,” Ah Lo said quietly, “and I donʼt suppose they knew what they were running for. Very few of them could have known that we had spiked the guns. It was lucky that those two houses were so close to each other that we were able to leap across, otherwise they might have had us.”

“I donʼt think they would, even in that case, Ah Lo. We might really have gone down through that last house and joined the crowd there.”

“We might, master, but I donʼt think we could. Everyone had run to the streets by that time, and doubtless many were standing at their doors, and would have noticed two strange men running behind them.”

“At any rate we are well out of it, Ah Lo. We can now walk quietly round and go up our ladder; but mind you do not say a word to anyone about this affair.”

“Why not, master?” Ah Lo asked in surprise.

“For two or three reasons. In the first place, the governor might blame us for undertaking a business of that sort without asking permission. You see, although I did not think so at the time, any Chinaman coming along there and seeing that ladder might have gone and reported the fact, and by its means a large number of the enemy might have crossed the wall before they were discovered, and the safety of the garrison would then have been endangered. That is one reason. The next is, that I donʼt want everyone to be making a fuss now that it is over. Some might blame me for my recklessness, while others might pat me on the back because of my success. That is a thing that I should specially hate. We did not do it for praise, but to be of service to the garrison. For these reasons I want you to hold your tongue, and not whisper a word to anyone. We are quite content that we have rendered good service to the Legation, saved many lives, and put the garrison in a position to repair damages unmolested. That ought to be satisfaction enough for anyone.”

“Very good, master; Ah Lo will keep his mouth shut if master wishes it. He is not a talker, and now that he knows what master wishes he will do it.”

Half an hourʼs walking brought them to the foot of the ladder, and having climbed over the wall they coiled up the rope again, and Rex took it to the magazine and put it where he had found it. Then, satisfied that he had done a good piece of work, he went and lay down until it was his turn to go on sentry.

The next morning there was considerable surprise when it was found that the two troublesome guns were silent. It was some time before there was any thought of making good the damage, but as the hours went by, and there was still no firing, a strong body of men was put on to repair the defences as fast as possible.

Many were the surmises and conjectures circulated through the Residency as to the cause of the change. Some said that the Peace party had again got the upper hand, and that fresh terms had been offered. Others asserted that fresh cannon had been planted round the Residency, and that the others were to hold their fire till these were ready for action, when an overwhelming fire would be poured in. Some again were of opinion that the soldiers had mutinied on account of the heavy losses they had sustained without making any appreciable progress, while a few maintained that the relieving army must be near at hand, and that every fighting–man had been sent out to oppose them. The next morning Sandwich came into the room where Rex was eating his breakfast after being relieved from guard.

“You know, Rex,” he said excitedly, “about those two guns being silenced.”

“Yes. I suppose everyone in the Residency knows about it,” Rex replied quietly.

“I have just heard a report that your servant asserts that it was your doing.”

Rex jumped up with an angry exclamation.

“The rascal! I will break every bone in his body. He promised me faithfully that not a word about it should pass his lips.”

“Then it is really true?” Sandwich said in surprise.

“True! Yes, but I was particularly anxious that it should not be known, so that I should escape the fuss that people are always ready to make about every little thing. I will go out and talk to Master Ah Lo. I canʼt think how he can have spoken about it after his promises to me, for he has always proved himself a most faithful fellow. I canʼt believe he did it to get a reward, but I donʼt see any other motive that he can have had.”

So saying he hurried out of the room, followed by Sandwich, who in vain attempted to get some of the particulars from him. He found Ah Lo standing with the Provost Marshalʼs hand on his shoulder.

“Your servant has been making a row,” the latter said, “and thrashing a servant of the Belgian embassy.”

“Yes, sir, and I would thrash him again,” Ah Lo blurted out.

“What has he done?” Rex asked, calming down instantly on seeing his man in this predicament.

“It was like this, sir. The Belgian man came up to three or four of us who were standing together, and he said, ʻDo you know who did it?ʼ So we all said ʻNo,ʼ and I said it as loud as any of them. Then he said ʻI did.ʼ We all stood astonished, one as much as the other; and he went on: ʻI crept out of the Russian Legation and made my way through the market and got up to the guns and silenced them!ʼ Then, sir, I was furious, and I shouted, ʻYou are a liar! my master did it,ʼ and I seized him by the throat and beat him. I know I was wrong, master, to say anything about you, but my rage was too great for me to think what I was saying. Then others ran in, and of course the Provost Marshal came, and having once said it, of course I repeated it.”

“You were wrong, Ah Lo, but at the same time I can make allowances for your indignation. Now that the thing has begun it must be gone through with. Provost, will you take this man before Sir Claude Macdonald? We will go too, and I think between us we will get at the truth of the matter.”

“I am ready,” the Belgian said, “you both wish to win my honour and reward from me, after my risking my life. Sir Claude Macdonald will soon see which story is true.”

“I have no doubt he will,” Rex said. “We had better go at once, Provost, or we shall have the whole of the Legation here,” for a crowd was rapidly gathering round them.

When they reached the ambassadorʼs quarters the Provost went in first to acquaint him with the cause of the dispute, and then the others entered. Sir Claude acknowledged Rexʼs salute, and then, turning to the Belgian, said: “As you seem to have made the first claim to this honour, I shall be obliged if you will give me the account of how you managed it.”

“I went out through the back of the Russian embassy,” the man said; “there is a little tower close to the corner.”

“But that is known to be full of Chinese.”

“It was full,” the man said, “but they were all asleep. Then I passed through the market–place unobserved.”

“How was that?” Sir Claude asked. “Only the night before we made a sortie, and found the place held in great force.”

“They must all have gone out,” the man said; “I saw none of them. Then, creeping very cautiously, I got to the guns,” he continued. “The soldiers there were also asleep, and I silenced the guns without difficulty.”

“And how did you do that?” Sir Claude asked.

“I,” the man hesitated, “poured some water into the touch–holes from the pitcher I had brought with me. Then I returned the way that I had come.”

Sir Claude waved his hand with a gesture of contempt.

“Water could only have silenced the guns for five minutes,” he said. “You know of no better way of silencing them?”

The man hesitated.

“I might have thrown them off the carriage,” he said, “but I was afraid of doing this, as it might have awakened the men.”

“I should think it would,” Sir Claude said quietly, “and if you had had the strength of ten men you could not have got them over. Mr. Bateman, will you kindly give me your account of the affair?”

“I am sorry, sir, to give any account at all, for I had particularly ordered my servant not to open his lips on the subject. Enraged at this fellowʼs preposterous claim, however, he lost his temper and blurted out the truth. It was a very simple affair, sir, though not so simple, I own, as this gentlemanʼs exploit, for I did not find the whole of the Chinese army asleep.” He then related the steps they had taken, their pursuit and escape.

“You agree in every particular with what your master has said?” Sir Claude asked Ah Lo.

“He tell it all right; just so, that just how it happen.”

“Provost Marshal,” Sir Claude said quietly, “take that man out and give him three dozen well laid on for his infamous attempt to gain credit and reward at the expense of others.”

The Provost bowed and left the room with his prisoner, who began to howl for mercy.

“Now, Mr. Bateman,” Sir Claude said, turning to Rex, “I hardly know whether to praise or blame you. This is the third dangerous expedition you have made on your own account, and, like the others, it has been successful. Still, as I told you on the last occasion, while shut up here, you, although a civilian, are subject to military rule, and it is strictly forbidden for anyone to leave the circle of the defences without permission. For doing this I cannot but speak severely. On the other hand, the advantages which have been attained by your silencing those guns are quite inestimable. Their fire menaced our defences most seriously, and if it had continued many hours longer we should have been exposed to a desperate attack by that half–frenzied mob. That attack we might have repulsed or we might not, but assuredly it would have taxed our strength to the utmost, and even if the first had been unsuccessful, the second might not have been. I thank you, sir, in the name of the whole of the garrison, foreign as well as British, for the service you have rendered us. Already the defences have been so far repaired as to enable us to withstand any sudden attack; very soon they will be still stronger. If we succeed in winning our deliverance and holding out till the relieving column arrives it will be to no small extent due to your courage and pluck. It must add considerably to your pleasure to know that your cousins are among those who will benefit by your bravery.”

“I am greatly pleased and honoured by your approval, sir,” Rex said, “but I would very much rather that the affair had not been known at all. I carried it out assuredly without any wish of gaining credit, but simply for the good of the garrison, and I should very greatly have preferred escaping the talk and congratulation that I shall now have to submit to.”

Sir Claude smiled.

“My dear lad,” he said, “it is only right that the great deeds men do should be known, if only as an example to others. If we all shrank from danger there would be few great deeds. You know the old saying, ʻto the victor is the wreath,ʼ and it is only right that it should be so. It is one thing to glorify yourself and another to be glorified by others. Ah Lo, here are fifty guineas from me as a mark of my approbation of the manner in which you assisted your master in carrying out this undertaking.”

In a very short time the story was known throughout the Residencies, and Rex received so many congratulations and so much praise that he determined to leave Pekin as soon as possible and try to join the relieving column.

CHAPTER X

A MISSION

The next morning there was a serious alarm. The Italians and Austrians fell back suddenly under a strong and violent attack, and had the Chinese pressed their advantage the Fu must have fallen and the British Legation have been laid open to attack on that side. Fortunately, on a previous occasion the Japanese had made a sham retreat, and, having induced the enemy to follow them, had then inflicted heavy loss upon them. Fearing a renewal of this strategy the Chinese fell back, and the Italian commander was able to rally his forces and reoccupy the abandoned position. The result showed, however, that the Italians could not be trusted to hold their ground without support, and consequently a small body of British marines were added to the garrison, an event that caused almost as much excitement as the return of a native messenger sent out in the morning by Mr. Squiers of the United States Legation.

This man reported that he had gone out by one gate and had come in by another. He said there were no soldiers in the Chinese city, that business was being carried on as usual inside the Chien Mên, the gate by which Rex had entered the city. To prove his statement he brought in with him a couple of chickens and a few peaches. He also reported that the Emperor and Empress were still in the city, and that the French and native converts still held out at the North Cathedral.

While discussing the matter afterwards Rex said to Sandwich: “The report quite bears out what I have said; there is no difficulty in going out of or getting into the city from the north side.”

“That seems to be so, but that does not show that it is at all easy to enter the Forbidden City, still less to reach the Empress. The question is: Where is Prince Ching? It seems to me that he is the chap that we want to get hold of.”

“It is certain that he disapproves altogether of the proceedings of the Empress and Prince Tung, and the sounds of firing which we have heard several times in the city can only be accounted for by the supposition that his troops are fighting Tungʼs. Of course Ching lives somewhere in the Imperial City, and as the Northern Cathedral stands in that part, there must be some way of getting in.”

“You are not thinking of carrying him off, are you?”

“No, I should like to carry Tung off, so that we could stick him up in some prominent position and send him word that we should cut his head off if the troops attacking us did not withdraw. No, I had no intention of doing any carrying–off, but I was thinking that it would be possible to take out a message to Ching of a friendly character, of course from Sir Claude.”

“That is not quite such an impossible business,” Sandwich admitted, “though the betting would be a hundred to one against your being able to see him.”

“Well, of course, it would be difficult, but one could not say how difficult till one tried. Nevertheless, as that messenger went out this morning and came in again, it is evident that things are going on pretty well as usual in the town, except round here, and that people walk about without being questioned or interfered with.”

Rex thought the matter over all day while he was at work, and after his duty was over went into the Residency and asked to see the Minister. After waiting half an hour he was shown in.

“How are you, Mr. Bateman?” Sir Claude said. “I have not seen you for the past fortnight. Can I do anything for you?”

“Well, sir, you know that this morning one of the natives under Mr. Squiers went into the town and came out again safely?”

The Minister nodded.

“Well, sir, what one man has done another might do. I have thought that you might like to communicate with Prince Ching.”

“I should certainly like to do so if it were possible.”

“In that case, sir, I should be glad to try to take a communication to him. I have passed out several times as a Chinaman without exciting the slightest suspicion, and it seems to me that I could at any rate reach Chingʼs Palace without any special danger. How I should obtain an audience with him would, of course, depend upon circumstances, and I should guide myself by these when I got there. I do not at all say that I should succeed, but it seems to me that it would be well worth trying if you are desirous of communicating with him.”

“It is a bold proposal, Mr. Bateman, a very bold proposal. Certainly I should like to communicate with Ching, and to learn from him how he really stands affected towards us, what the Empressʼs intentions are, and to what extent Tung and his partisans influence her. Of course it would be a joint letter, signed by all of us – but it would be a fearfully dangerous service. As he is at enmity with Tung, and probably in bad repute with the Empress, he would be sure to be surrounded with guards and soldiers. Even if you were to reach him, you might not be safe. At the beginning of the trouble, he certainly assured us of his regard, and did his best to prevent Tung and the Boxers from attacking us, but there is no saying what his opinions may be now. Seeing how far the others have gone, he may have ceased to oppose them, and might either have you put to death or hand you over to the Empress.”

“I am perfectly well aware that there is danger, sir, but if there is a chance of my mission succeeding, or of conferring any benefit upon all here, I should be ready to undertake it. I do not engage to deliver the communication, but I will at least do all in my power to do so. Everyone here is risking his life every half–hour, and I do not think that I should be risking mine to any greater extent than the officers in the Fu, or indeed those at any of the barricades.”

“At any rate, Mr. Bateman, I thank you for the offer. We shall have, as usual, a council this evening of all the Ministers, and I will discuss your offer with my colleagues. Have you thought what character you will go in?”

“I should say either a Chinese bonze or a Buddhist priest. It seems to me that in either of these I should find it easier to obtain access to him than in any other character, except perhaps in that of a high–class mandarin. This would be in several respects the best, but I should have to be attended by at least four men. Of course my own man could be one, and the others could be natives got up in suitable attire.”

“That would certainly be the most appropriate. Perhaps as a second–or third–class mandarin, with two attendants, you might succeed as well. If you went as a first–class mandarin you might easily be recognized; whereas, as a third–class mandarin you might have arrived from the provinces and so be unknown. Well, I will think it over, Mr. Bateman. I should certainly be very glad to learn what Chingʼs real opinions are, and how far he will be inclined to aid us. Will you look in again to–night at ten oʼclock?”

“Yes, sir, and I hope you will have decided to make me useful.”

Rex said nothing either to his cousins or to Sandwich of the offer he had made, but he had a long talk with Ah Lo about it.

“I donʼt think there will be any difficulty in getting to the kingʼs palace, master, but I cannot say whether you could get into the palace. Ching will no doubt always have people with him. If he has, what would you say? You could not declare who you were before others.”

“No. I agree that that would be a difficulty.”

“I should be afraid that he would always have people with him.”

“Yes. I rather reckon upon there being a crowd. I expect the ante–room would be full, and my idea is that, if possible, I should slip away from the crowd and gain his private apartments, so that I might meet him after he had given his audience for the day. If I found that impossible, I should have to pray, when my time to speak to him came, for a private audience. If he demurred to this I could hand him my card, on which would be written in Chinese that I had come from Sir Claude Macdonald and implored a private interview. Of course it is possible that he might order me to be arrested, but it is more likely that he would see me. It is just a toss–up. If he is really friendly to us, I should be safe. If, on the other hand, he has only been playing, as so many of them do play, a double part, he might send me to Tung or the Empress for instant execution. In that case, of course, my only chance would be that you and the three men with you could effect a rescue, and that, of course, must depend on how many guards are sent with me.”

At the appointed hour Rex again went to the quarters of the British Ambassador.

“We have talked the matter over, Mr. Bateman. It is not a mission that we should think of asking anyone to undertake, but undoubtedly good might come of it, and at any rate, you will gather much valuable information. We therefore do not like to decline the offer you have made, so to–morrow morning we will have a letter to Ching written. What disguise have you settled upon?”

“I think, sir, a mandarin of the third or fourth class would be the most suitable.”

“The only thing against that is that we have no appropriate clothes and no means of obtaining them.”

“I was afraid that might be so, sir. In that case I might either be a Buddhist priest, whose garments could be made out of anything, or a respectable land–owner, who might reasonably wish to hand in some petition or complaint of bad conduct on the part of Chingʼs troops, or to ask for an order of protection against them.”

“That would be certainly much easier, so far as the costume goes. A land–owner might very well have a couple of armed retainers, and would, I should think, have as good a chance of obtaining an audience as a mandarin of low rank.”

“I should be glad to have a map of the town, sir, in order that I may see the exact position of the princeʼs palace.”

“That is easy enough;” and Sir Claude opened a bureau and drew out a large map.

“That is Chingʼs palace,” he said; “it is, as you see, by the side of the lake, about half–way between the Northern Cathedral and the bridge across the lake.”

Rex examined the map carefully.

“Thank you, sir!” he said when he had finished. “I shall be able to make my way there without difficulty.”

“I will give orders for the dress to be made; that and the letter to Ching shall be ready to–morrow afternoon, and I will request Mr. Cockburn to choose one of his most reliable men to accompany your man as an attendant. I need hardly say that it would be well not to mention to anyone what you are going to do. We have every reason to believe that in some way or other the Chinese get accurate information of all that passes here. Will you go out in broad daylight?”

“No, sir. I could scarcely hope to get out in that way. The Chinese are quietest toward morning, and by sallying out from the barricade near the Russian Consulate, I may be able to pass, as Mr. Squiersʼs messenger did, through the Chien Mên. Once through that, I should be perfectly safe, and could go round and enter by the Si Chi Mên. After that I should be quite master of my own movements, and, making my way round behind the city, might enter the Imperial City by the How Mên, and, passing between the Northern Cathedral and wall, make my way to Prince Chingʼs palace. The fact that I was going with a petition to him would be sufficient as an answer to any enquiries that might be made. It would be well that I should be furnished with a set of petitions in the usual form, asking for protection against the rough doings of some of his soldiers who had carried off several of my beasts and threatened me with personal violence.”

“A very good idea; that shall be ready for you with my letter.”

At two oʼclock the next day Rex obtained the documents, together with a pass to let him through the barricade, and some clothes that had been made for him, appropriate to the character that he was going to assume. Going to Mr. Cockburn he found the native ready for him. He was a strong, powerful man, who carried a native shield and a long broadsword and dagger, and who would have attracted no notice as a retainer of a well–to–do farmer. Ah Lo had obtained similar weapons from a heap of those that had been taken from the enemy who had fallen in the attacks upon our barricades. Rex directed the Chinaman to join Ah Lo in the evening, and to keep by his side. He himself passed the evening as usual with his friends.