Kobo: A Story of the Russo-Japanese War

  *CHAPTER XIII*

  *Ah-Sam*

  A Silent Journey--An Old Friend--Circumstances Alter Cases--EnterAh-Sam--A Manchurian Inn--Held Up--Chinese Receipts

  Not a word was said as the sampan floated down the river. For someminutes Bob was too much amazed to take in anything beyond the mere factthat he had escaped from his prison; his brain was in a whirl; theevents of the last few hours seemed a dream. He crouched in the boat,covered by the cloak thrown over him by one of his rescuers: his outergarments had been left at the foot of the tower. But collecting himselfby degrees, he noticed that one of the men stood in the bow with a longpole fending off the spars of ice that jutted out into the stream, whilethe other lay almost horizontal in the boat. Both were Chinamen, as hejudged from their pigtails. There was floating ice on all sides, andthe progress of the sampan was a succession of bumps. Sometimes it cameto a stop, and the curved bow was pushed on to a large floe by thepressure of ice behind. But the man with the pole knew his work. Atouch here, a push there, or a vigorous shove sent the light craft onits way again; and all the time the second Chinaman lay motionless,saying never a word.

  Meanwhile the noise of alarm and pursuit from Antung struck Bob's ears,and his thoughts were divided between wonder concerning the identity ofhis preservers, the strangeness of their intervention, and anxiety lestit should after all prove vain. He heard a deep bell booming, the blareof bugles, the shouts of men: by and by from the right came the sound ofgalloping horses. At this moment the man in the bow dropped silentlyinto the boat beside his comrade, and the vessel was left to take itscourse. It was scarcely more than level with the surface of the water,and must have been invisible in the dark night at the distance of a fewyards. Even if it were seen from the bank, the horsemen dared notapproach the waterway owing to the rotten state of the ice: all thatthey could do was to fire at it, with no certainty of aim. Graduallythe sounds from the shore diminished, and at last died away; theChinaman resumed his work with the pole, and floating, jolting,stopping, jerking forward again, the sampan went safely on its way.

  Still not a word had been spoken. Bob wished that one of the twofigures would say something, no matter in what language. He had astrange longing for the sound of a friendly voice. But even when, twohours after their flight from Antung, the second Chinaman at last raisedhimself from his prone position, he gave the first an order by signs,not by words. With a combined push the two men drove the sampan with aswish and creak upon the ice on the right bank, where it remainedstationary. They leapt overboard. At a sign from the second man Bobfollowed them; both then pushed the boat back into the stream, watchedit for a moment as it circled irresolutely in the current, and then, asit gained its head and bounded more buoyantly on its way, they set offrapidly in a direction at right angles to the river, the second man nowleading, and Bob making the best of his way with his companion.

  Every now and then the leader paused to get his bearings, and alteredhis direction to right or left with little hesitation. At one point,when they came to a beaten track, he motioned to the others to remainwhere they were, and went ahead alone. In a few minutes he returned,and the silent march was resumed. The course led from the river-bedover country that became more and more hilly, and Bob was almostdropping with fatigue when, after walking rapidly for some eight or ninemiles as he guessed, they came almost suddenly upon a high wall.Skirting the wall, they reached a gate, giving access to a courtyard.The gate was locked; the two Chinamen assisted Bob to climb it; a dogbarked, but was instantly silenced by a sharp exclamation from one ofthe men mounting immediately behind Bob. Before them stood a lowfarmhouse, with still lower structures adjoining, which Bob found laterwere pig-styes and cow-byres not very different from similarappurtenances of farms at home. One of the Chinamen tapped twice at awindow-frame latticed and filled with paper; there was no reply; herapped again, twice, but slightly louder. In a moment a glimmerappeared within; a movement was heard; the frame was drawn aside, andagainst the dim light of a small bowl-lamp the form of a Chinaman wasoutlined. The moment he distinguished the features of the man who hadtapped, he closed his fists, pressed them together against his chest,and bowed almost to the ground.

  The three entered; the movable window-frame was replaced. Then one ofthe Chinamen turned suddenly to Bob, held out his hand, and with a smileand a bow said in careful clear-cut tones:

  "I am glad to meet you again, Mr. Fawcett."

  Bob stared at him in amazement. He recognized him now as the younger ofthe two Chinamen who had rescued him from the drunken students inSasebo, who knew no English, and whom subsequently he had seen in thestreets of Seoul. But though this was what he saw, the voice, theaccent, the manner, reminded him of another person, not a Chinaman, butthe Samurai who had been his host in Nikko. Grasping the outstretchedhand, he said, with a gasp of amazement:

  "Kobo!"

  "Rokuro Kobo San," corrected the voice of Taru.

  "Pardon me, sir; you will understand that I am--"

  "A little taken aback, Mr. Fawcett? Yes, I understand. But you must bevery tired and very hungry. You will permit my friend here to give yousome food, and provide you with a jacket, then we can talk more at ourease."

  In a few moments Bob, clad in a new silk jacket, was resting his wearylimbs on a wadded quilt unrolled on the floor, eating with a goodappetite and without enquiry the dishes placed before him. Kobo sharedhis meal, at the same time entering into explanations.

  "You have no doubt guessed," he said, "that both myself and my servantTaru are on secret service. Our Japanese system is very elaborate. Ithas been most carefully organized since the Chinese war. No quarter ofManchuria has not been surveyed by our agents; many of the inhabitantsare in sympathy with us, many of them are in our pay."

  Bob glanced at their host.

  "No," said Kobo, smiling, "he is not a Chinaman; he is a Japanese, likemyself."

  "But he has a pigtail!"

  "So have I! Mine, however, was assumed a few weeks ago, its hold isprecarious; our host's is natural, it was grown for the purpose. Wehave seen this war coming for ten years; and two or three suffice forthe growth of a pigtail, if one sets about cultivating it in earnest.Our friend, with hundreds more, was sent over to settle in this country;some have cultivated the pigtail and become good Chinamen, others withequal success have devoted themselves to the topknot and are passableKoreans."

  "Your motto is 'thorough'," said Bob admiringly.

  "Yes, even to the loss of our heads. You see now why I was unable torecognize you in Sasebo and Seoul, though I half believed that in Seoulat any rate you recognized me. I could say nothing. There are Russianspies also in all parts of the country, and a single incautious signmight have compromised me and led to my discovery and suicide."

  "Suicide!"

  "Of course. Any Japanese would kill himself rather than do harm to hiscountry's cause."

  "Evidently one might never know when one is meeting a Japanese. May Iask--is Mr. Helping-to-decide a Japanese?"

  "No, no," returned Kobo, laughing outright. "He is a real Korean; hemeans to help, but he never can decide. Now I want you to tell me howyou met him; indeed, to give me a full account of what has happened toyou. I have a reason for asking."

  Bob rapidly sketched an outline of his adventures since he left Japan.

  "Yes," said Kobo, when his story was ended. "Of course I learnt fromYamaguchi in Yongampo that you were with him. I heard of the fight onthe shore; I did not know you had so thoughtfully come to Yamaguchi'sassistance; in fact, I followed you as a Cossack despatch-rider untilyou killed your first tiger--"

  "You knew that!" exclaimed Bob in surprise. He had said nothing aboutthat incident.

  "Yes, I came in at the death; that is to say, I was present when Mr.Helping-to-decide came upon the scene, and having satisfied myself thatthe man I had been following was not a Russian, I resumed my journeynorthward. I was proceeding
to Feng-huang-cheng when I heard that youhad fallen into the hands of Chang-Wo--an old enemy of mine, as youknow--and had been sentenced to death. I came back at once to Antung.Fortunately the baker who contracts for the Russians' ammunition-breadin Antung is a Japanese agent. He discovered the place of yourimprisonment, and bribed one of the Siberian guards--an easy matter, Iassure you--to see that a special loaf was delivered to you. The restyou know; and let me say, you did your part much more rapidly than I hadsupposed possible."

  "It was really extremely good of you to--"

  "Not at all, not at all," interrupted Kobo; "it was my duty--in thecircumstances."

  "In what circumstances?"

  "They had sentenced you to death. You will understand my position. IfI had been perfectly sure that, with the prospect of death before you,you would have acted as you did--refused to give them anyinformation,--it would have been my duty to go straight to mydestination."

  "I should have been shot?"

  "Undoubtedly. Personal considerations are immaterial. Only reasons ofstate can override reasons of state. Another time--let us hope it willnever occur--I need not trouble; I can go on my way--now that I know youare to be trusted."

  This gave Bob something to think about. It was a view that had notstruck him till then. He could not but recognize that it was strictlylogical. One life was of no account compared with the vast nationalissues at stake. Kobo could allow nothing to delay him but the publicservice. Logical as it was, however, Bob had somewhat of a shock whenit was brought so nearly home to him that Japan, if not the world atlarge, was governed by logic; and though he had a passing pang at thethought that Kobo, after a few days' knowledge of him, was not convincedof his trustworthiness, his soreness was a good deal relieved when heremembered that but for Kobo's caution he would now be lying in aRussian grave.

  "Now, Mr. Fawcett," said Kobo after a pause, "you no doubt feel the needof a good sleep. But I will ask you to wait a little longer, while wediscuss your future movements. It will soon be daylight, and I mustthen be gone; I must continue the journey you have twice unwittinglyinterrupted. You cannot, of course, accompany me. I do not wish tocarry you into danger, nor can I endanger my mission by being encumberedwith you. On the other hand, you cannot remain here, for Chinesehouses, as you see, are not built for secrecy, and you would certainlybe discovered ere long by the Russians. It will be best for you to makeanother attempt to reach our lines. You must go alone; I wouldwillingly lend you my servant Taru, but that I myself require him. Butour host here has a Chinese servant who is familiar with the country; hewill act as your guide."

  "Does he speak English?" asked Bob.

  "Yes, pidgin English; indeed, he considers himself an accomplishedlinguist. As to your route, it will be dangerous to attempt to crossthe Yalu anywhere between Antung and the sea. The Russians willnaturally be on the alert, the more so because of the recent appearanceof destroyers off the coast. All the fords between Antung and Wiju willbe narrowly watched. When they discover the sampan they will probablyconnect it with your escape, and suspect that you have taken theshortest way to our lines. Your best course will be to go northward andmake a circuit as soon as it is safe to do so."

  "But will there not be a danger of meeting Russians northward also? Ican't pass for a native, unluckily."

  "Not as you now appear, but we can alter that. I think your guide hadbetter travel as a carter; you will go as his man. Our host will dyeyour hair and stain your face and dress you as a Korean."

  "But I shall never be able to manage the topknot."

  "True, but that will not be necessary. Being unmarried, I presume--"

  "Certainly."

  "You will not require a topknot, which is the monopoly of the marriedmen. Your hair is sufficiently long for you to pass as a bachelor,which, you will take care to remember, is an inferior and ignominiouscondition. As a further precaution, you had better pretend to be dumbwhenever you encounter people. Your guide should, I think, set off withhis cart in the morning towards Tang-shan until he finds an opportunityof crossing the main road. In order not to attract attention you followat night, and do not join the cart until it has crossed. If a strangeKorean were seen leaving this house it might arouse suspicion, and thefact might be reported by spies to the Russians. Your further coursemust be determined as circumstances dictate, and may safely be left toyour guide. I think all is arranged, then; it only remains to introducethe Chinese boy to you."

  Kobo said a few words to their host, who called in a loud tone. In afew moments a stout little Chinaman appeared, salaaming as he enteredthe room. His round hairless face was impassive, his slanting eyeslooked intelligent, and he kow-towed profoundly when Kobo brieflyintroduced him.

  "This, Mr. Fawcett, is Ah-Sam. Ah-Sam, Mr. Fawcett is an Englishman; hedoes not speak Chinese; you will be able to turn your knowledge of hislanguage to account."

  "My speakee Yinkelis first-chop so-fashion," said the Chinaman, givingBob some qualms as to the possibility of using this dialect of Englishas a means of communication.

  Kobo then proceeded to explain to Ah-Sam in his own language the schemeof action he had arranged. The Chinese listened gravely, nodding hishead from time to time. When his instructions were concluded, he wentoff silently to prepare for his journey. Kobo then gave Bob detailedparticulars of the road he was to follow on the next evening, andfinally bade him farewell.

  "I hope I shall see you again," said Bob after warmly thanking him oncemore for his rescue.

  "I hope so. We cannot tell. Good-bye!"

  Bob slept for many hours. When he awoke he had to undergo a longprocess of disguising at the hands of his host, from which he emergedcompletely transformed in complexion, appearance, and dress. His hairfrom light-brown had become black, his cheeks sallow. He wore theKorean national costume--huge cotton trousers padded with cotton wool,tied round his waist with a long tasselled ribbon; a short bell-shapedcoat, also padded, with long sleeves; padded socks, in which the ends ofthe trousers were tucked; and paper shoes, fastened to the feet likesandals. These last were much more durable than they appeared. He woreno hat, but as it was cold, and there was a prospect of snow, he wasprovided with a large umbrella on a bamboo frame that fitted the head,so that in case of need he might carry some means of protection.

  At nightfall he left the house with his host, who offered to accompanyhim until he overtook the cart. Both were mounted on small Koreanponies. After three or four hours' riding over snow-covered hills theystruck the high-road, and leaving this at an angle in a north-easterlydirection, they ascended into another low chain of hills, and in abouttwo hours reached a small village. Here, as the Japanese host hadanticipated, they found Ah-Sam awaiting them in an inn. The Japanesethen took his leave, and Bob was left to his new guide.

  The aspect of the inn was not very inviting. Bob's nose as he enteredwas assailed by the strong smell of pork and vegetables stewing in twohuge cauldrons, one on each side of the door. The place consisted ofone room, about forty feet long, with a low platform called a k'angrunning the whole length of the wall, covered with dirty matting,sheep-skin coats, pedlars' packs, and miscellaneous frippery, with ascore of rough labourers and carters lolling on them, eating, drinking,and smoking a very pungent tobacco. The k'ang, Bob found, covered theheating apparatus of the place, and was, in fact, a kind of flue. Themiddle of the room was occupied by what appeared to be a rough altar,but which turned out to be a kitchen-range--an oblong brick structureabout three feet high, hollow in the centre, with an arched coveringpierced with holes, above which various cooking pots were placed duringthe evening.

  As Bob entered, Ah-Sam came from his perch at the end of the k'angnearest the door, putting his finger to his lips. Bob suddenlyremembered that he was to feign dumbness. He therefore made no reply tothe remarks addressed to him, presumably in Korean, by the boy, butsubmissively accepted a bowl of soup, the mere odour of which wasnauseating. He went through the forms of eating, but soon
gave it up,and making a virtue of necessity, settled himself to sleep at thecleanest part of the k'ang, picked out for him by Ah-Sam.

  At daybreak next morning they set off, and Bob had his first experienceof riding on a Manchurian cart. It was rather more unpleasant thanjolting in a four-wheeler over the cobbles of the Glasgow streets. Theframework of the cart, about fifteen feet long by four wide, rested on ahuge axle-tree between two wooden wheels whose iron tyres were more thanan inch thick. There were no springs. On each side ran a low woodenrail, intended to support so much of the load as overlapped from thebody of the cart. There was a small pony in the shafts, and in front ofit six mules three abreast, attached by long hempen ropes to iron hooksin the framework. The mules had neither bit nor bridle; they wereguided wholly by the driver's voice and whip, the latter twelve feetlong in the handle, with a thong of equal length, and so heavy that bothhands were required to wield it. Ah-Sam sat on the front of the cart,and gave Bob a place behind, where he helped to balance the vehicle onits two wheels. The cart was but lightly loaded; it contained a fewempty sacks, some fodder for the animals, a supply of food, and a coupleof spades. Beneath the framework, cunningly hidden between the wheels,there were two rifles and a good stock of ammunition.

  Bob had had no little difficulty in remembering that he was dumb. Aftertheir meal in the inn that morning Ah-Sam had roughly ordered him tomake himself useful and help to harness the mules, pouring out upon hima torrent of Chinese which Bob judged from its tone to be highlyabusive. He went submissively enough to work, but being new to the jobfumbled a good deal, and was several times on the point of asking howthis or that was to be done. But he always caught himself up in time,turning what he intended to say into such inarticulate grunts as even adumb man can utter. When, however, the inn and the village were leftbehind, and no human being was in sight, he thought it safe to throw offhis restraint, and ventured to address a question to Ah-Sam in the frontof the cart. He found the Chinaman's pidgin English at first ratherdifficult to understand, but after half an hour's conversation hadgained sufficient familiarity with the idiom to get a fair idea of theman's meaning. He learnt that the talk in the inn had been of twomatters: first, the great entrenchments which the Russians were makingaround Antung and Kiu-lien-cheng; and secondly, the annihilation of aCossack detachment by a band of Chunchuses, the bandits of the country,some distance away in the hills.

  "Russians belongey allo muchee mad," said Ah-Sam. "He say catchee killumallo piecee Chunchuses, galaw!"

  Bob was about to ask for particulars of the Chunchuses, when, from rounda corner, appeared a native driving a laden ox. Ah-Sam instantly puthis finger to his lips, reminding Bob of his dumbness. When the nativeappeared, Ah-Sam stopped for a talk. This occupied some time; then theteamsters parted and went on their several ways. The route followed byAh-Sam was rather a foot-path than a cart-track; and but for the snow,which filled the ruts and formed a fairly hard and even roadway, itwould have been impassable for wheeled traffic. As it was, the progressof the cart was very slow and toilsome.

  About mid-day they came to a dip in the hills where Ah-Sam decided tohalt, take a meal, and feed his team. This done he remounted to hisplace, Bob sprang on to the tail of the cart, and the slow journey wasresumed. But they had barely begun the ascent of the upward slope whenfrom the left, across the snowy waste, a troop of horsemen were seengalloping rapidly towards them. The riders soon defined themselves bythe bright yellow of their uniforms as a sotnia of Cossacks. Ah-Sam atfirst affected not to notice them, stolidly driving on; but turning hishead at length in response to their loud shouts, he drew rein, muttereda warning to Bob and an order to run to the head of the team, and sprangfrom his perch in time to make half a dozen rapid kow-tows before theCossacks reached him. He continued his obeisances as the captain of thetroop roughly addressed him in Chinese, but suddenly stood erect andbegan to expostulate in voluble yet obsequious tones when, in responseto an order, two of the Cossacks dismounted and approached the cart withdrawn swords, evidently with the intention of cutting the traces. Bob,holding the head of one of the mules which was plunging excitedly, ofcourse understood not a word of the colloquy; if he had known Chinese hewould have heard the captain curtly inform Ah-Sam that the mules wererequired for the Russian service, and Ah-Sam's protest that they werealready engaged in that service. He had just delivered, he said, a loadof millet and forage stuffs to the honourable contractor to thehonourable governor of Antung, and was on his way back to a farm atKuan-tien to fetch another load. If the honourable captain took hismules, he would be unable to fulfil his commission. The roads, as thehonourable captain saw, were so bad that with his team, small enough asit was, he was already behind time. He needed more mules, not less; hehad begged the honourable contractor to give him three more, but nonewere to be found. His strong and capable assistant had been taken awayto work in the Russian trenches, and he had been forced to hire at thelast moment a big, loutish, dumb fool of a Korean, who could do nothingbut eat, and who at this moment, as the honourable captain saw, was anabsolutely useless, incapable, soft-muscled--

  He was interrupted by a general hullabaloo among the mules, which,unused to the handling of a European, were kicking and plunging andthreatening to involve the whole team in an inextricable tangle.Stretching his arm, Ah-Sam flicked two or three of the mules with hislong whip, roundly abused Bob, and, apparently in ungovernable rage,struck him also with the lash, which cut through the wadding of histrousers and caused him to utter a smothered growl, at which theCossacks laughed with enjoyment.

  The mules having been reduced to order, Ah-Sam returned to face thecaptain, kow-towed again, and repeated his story. The Russian hadalready countermanded the order to his men, and was clearly hesitating.He was a good-tempered-looking fellow, thought Bob,--a youngclean-limbed captain, picturesque in his long silver-ornamented coat andastrakhan cap. Interrupting Ah-Sam's shrill sing-song of protest, hedemanded to see the receipts which the muleteer doubtless possessed ifhis story was true. The Chinaman instantly produced a number of papersfrom a bag tied beneath his coat, and handed them to the captain, whoexamined them carefully. They were unmistakably receipts, in properChinese form, and recognizing that he might get into hot water with theauthorities if he delayed the procuring of the supplies so urgentlyneeded, he at length said that he would be satisfied with three of themules, and when these had been unyoked, gave the Chinaman permission toproceed.

  Before he rode off, however, he asked, as by an afterthought, a questionwhich appeared to be incomprehensible to Ah-Sam, who looked puzzled,then asked a question in return. The captain smiled as he explained tohis lieutenant what the Chinaman had said; both laughed heartily; thenthe word was given, and the troop rode off in the opposite direction tothat from which they had come.

  Bob had been waiting for an opportunity to tackle Ah-Sam on the matterof the whip. While it was well, no doubt, to keep up their character asmaster and man, he had a suspicion that the Chinaman had laid on withunnecessary vigour, perhaps to experiment on the quality of theforeigner he was escorting. When, therefore, the Cossacks were safelyout of earshot, Bob went forward and sat beside Ah-Sam.

  "What was the Russian laughing at?" he said.

  "Ch'hoy! He say, hab my see one piecee Yinkelis man what lun wailo? Mysay, what likee Yinkelis man my savvy tiger, bear, monkey, hairy Ainu;Yinkelis man belongey likum he?"

  "Oh! And I suppose you hit me with the whip to make it quite clear thatI was not an Englishman. You hit me like this, you know."

  Bob suddenly rose, took the Chinaman's whip, and gave him a smart cut.Ah-Sam yelled.

  "He hurtee velly muchee," he said, rubbing the place.

  "Yes, I know. If we meet any more Russians, perhaps you can prove I amnot the runaway Englishman without using your whip."

  "My no hit massa no mo'e; my member plenty too muchee, no fear!"