CHAPTER XIII
KINCHOW--ARRESTED BY CHINESE SOLDIERS--CAPTURE OF THE CITY
As I have said, my heart sank as the sergeant came up roughly andprepared to strip me again. Such an indignity I was unable to resist,and when the man indicated a spot apart where my costume could beconveniently removed if needful, my anger rose, and I made someremarks, which, as a fancy display of Chinese, may have given rise tocuriosity, but as a means of release were void of effect. As Icontinued to address the "sergeant," he stood still, and gazed at me inas much surprise as a Manchu soldier usually exhibits. Seeing this, myanger and expostulations grew more fierce. I waved my arms,gesticulated, performed _sleight-of-hand_ movements with my fingers,and in fact exhibited such manifest tokens of ability to take a"first-class" at Earlswood (England), that the man retreated to makeinquiry respecting me, and I breathed again.
What was my late companion doing all this time? He had apparentlydeserted me, and this after all my lavish--in a Chinesesense--expenditure of _cash_. Again my bad feelings predominated, andI felt truly disgusted with my "luck." There was no loophole forescape, and though the disappearance of the sergeant was a blessing, itmight really result in death.
The man had left me alone in the hut,--I cannot call it house,--andwhen my ill temper had quickly evaporated I began to think of escape.The door was open to the passage or side street, and when I peeped outI perceived a soldier, armed, standing sentry at the end of the _cul desac_, as the alley was. Escape seemed impossible. I was again aprisoner; whither could I go, what could I do were the thoughts whichsurged through my excited brain. The Chinese (or Manchu) soldier hadme in his keeping, and perhaps had orders to kill me if I attempted toescape, pending the return of the lieutenant of the guard. Meantime, Iwas absolutely helpless. In any "civilised" country one might havemanaged to intercede for oneself, but there in Manchuria the case wasdifferent. I was lost!--strayed!
During the minutes already at my disposal I considered all theavailable plans of evasion I had heard of. Captives in stories, and inall the imaginative books which I had devoured, always had a friendwho, whether a Freemason or not, had means at hand to circumvent thevillain! But there was no villain in my case; nothing unusual, nothingout of the way in my circumstances, and this dead-level of experienceappeared devoid of any person who could undertake the role of the "godin the machine," and release me. Here was the sentry, there the loftygate, its platform surmounted by a two-storeyed tower, from which theadvance of the enemy was doubtless perceived, or would shortly beperceived. Neither sentinel nor entrance seemed likely to afford mepassage. Ah! the sentry was approaching. I shrank back into the hut,and peeped through the opening of the door. The sentry came on slowlyand somewhat limply.
He had a rifle and ammunition, and seemed well equipped. He passed theplace of my concealment, and I began to hope that he would pass on, andpermit of my escape to the main street, which, being full of people,might afford opportunities for it; but to my disgust he turned, andcame directly towards me. As he came nearer I retreated into the gloomof the hut, and not perceiving me, he came in. Still uncertain, headvanced carelessly, I fancied, and at that moment something promptedme to make a decided effort at release.
He was carrying his rifle on his arm above the elbow, not in anyEuropean soldierly manner; a sword or bayonet was at his side.Suddenly I made a spring like a tiger upon the man, and in a second hadhim thrown. He struggled manfully, and attempted to strike me with aknife, but I was half-maddened, youthful, and strong. I hit himviolently between the eyes, and dazed him; then wresting the rifle fromhis relaxed grasp, I banged it upon his head in a manner which Iafterwards regretted, and darted from the hut. As I ran into the alleyI encountered my late guide, who was then coming in search of me.
His surprise was genuine, and he made some inquiries by the pantomimemethod, assisting it by a few words, which I interpreted to indicatesurprise at my escape. I told him in the same tongue what hadhappened, and he was aghast at my temerity! He dragged me back at oncehastily, and I was unable to resist him. When he saw the unconscioussoldier he became calmer, but still apparently greatly in the samehaste, motioning me to assist in taking off the man's outward dress.Seeing some prospect of escape, I helped him, and then putting his ownclothes upon the soldier, who never stirred all the time, but laypassive as the dead, my guide quickly dragged me out with him, aprisoner, having first hidden the rifle and ammunition, keeping thesword of the sentry.
But I understood his plan. Armed he might assist me, and quit the townin the dusk of the evening. Proceeding by side streets, and avoidingthe largest--all very small--thoroughfares, my rescuer reached a houseat which he was recognised as I supposed, but I was wrong. He hadmerely brought me to an opium-house, where he intended to remain awhile till an opportunity arose for leaving the city.
This was a most dreadful experience, because, of course, the idea ofopium smoking to me was abhorrent. To lie there upon one of those hardbed-planks, inhaling a pipeful of sticky stuff, which thoughexceedingly minute, is always--at first at anyrate--most sickly. Myguide seemed to think it essential, I supposed, to my safety, and Imade shift to comply with his suggestions, but speedily becameunconscious, which, I presume, he desired.
My sensations were _at first_ unpleasant. As a smoker of tobacco Ihave had my most deadly experiences when learning to smoke, butcertainly in my case the attempt I made was not so unpleasant inKinchow opium smoking. But the moral effect of the surroundings wasbad, and even though acknowledging the risk and my guide's anxiety, Iwould not attempt opium again. The flavour is not unpleasant, and israther aromatic perhaps. The smoke is inhaled as usual, and expelledby the nostrils. Before I became unconscious I felt quite happy, andfull of a pleasant sense of content, as if "I wouldn't call the Emperorof China my uncle"! This happiness lasted into oblivion, into which Iwas lulled that evening by the sound of cannon-fire.
Unfortunately I cannot tell how long I remained in the den, because theChinese have no clocks, and those which are imported from America andelsewhere are not in favour with the people. The day had died, and Ifelt rather "seedy" when I made an effort to get up. The cannonade andfiring continued at a distance during my sleep, and later, when I madea serious attempt to rouse myself, I heard the roar of distant guns. Isuppose that when the effects of the opium had passed away I had slept,and in my dreams heard the noise. Daylight was near then, and when Icould plainly discern things I discovered that I had been carried intoanother room, and was alone.
This did not alarm me, because all was perfectly still in the house.Possibly the Chinese were sleeping, and my Manchurian guide had placedme in a place of safety. I began to understand his good nature, which,whether the result of _cash_ or not, was quite praiseworthy andopportune. So far as I could perceive I was free and unfettered. Irose and looked about me. It was about five a.m.
There was nothing remarkable so far as I could discern. The day wasbreaking rather sadly, and still the sound of firing continued from thedirection of the hills, across which I had already passed, on theFuchow Road, and I considered that the Japanese were already shellingthe forts. If they succumbed there would be no chance for the townunder assault, and under the circumstances I deemed it desirable toprepare for my departure.
My simple toilet was quickly arranged, and I descended to the narrowalley, hesitating, even when I reached the street, whither I shouldbend my way. Perhaps I could manage to get out of the town by thenorth gate, at which I had entered; and made my way thither amid thepress of civilians and soldiers, the latter of whom seemed to beimpressing men to convey ammunition to the upper portion of the gateand the castle walls. These coolies were quickly at work, and weredirected to ascend the walls in places, or to bring the rifleammunition to the men lining the loopholes.
Amongst these labourers I soon discerned my guide, and had just mademyself known to him when he by signs suggested that I should assisthim. As an officer was approaching I deemed it politic to c
omply, andthus escape detection. So I willingly seized a case of cartridges, andassisted my friend in distributing them to the sharpshooters. Whileoccupied in this way I caught sight of a means of ascent to thebattlements above, and at once ran up to the upper platform, where, inthe still dim light, I remained in hiding, peeping from behind an angleof the wall through an unoccupied loophole.
I was now above the firing line, and as the daylight increased I madeout the condition of affairs. All this time musketry, or rather riflefire, had been accentuated by big guns, and I could perceive theJapanese struggling over the hill (Mount Potau), and advancing upon thefort. The advance had been made in the dusk of the dawn, and now whenthe day was clearing and a bright morning was promised I could make outthe Chinese retreating before the Japanese, in a panic. So far as Isaw, the Chinese did not make any decided attempt to withstand theattack. They streamed from the fort, delivering a feeble fire, avolley, and a dropping fire, then another volley; but all the time theJapanese assailants kept charging into the confused mass of Dragon-ledmen, who suddenly broke away, and "pelted" in the direction of thecastle.
But the Manchus were not altogether defeated. They had been takennapping, no doubt, but they made an effort, assured by thereinforcements which came from the other forts. Across the road theyhalted, and began a terrific fire upon the advancing troops, and fromthe rocky redoubts the Chinese also began to make good practice.
This was getting "warm"; the smoke rose slowly from the guns andrifles, as the white-banded caps descended the slope where they hadcaptured the forts first. There were other forts upon the rocks nearerthe town, and I could not think that these, perched three hundred feetabove the road, in rugged and difficult positions, would be taken, orindeed reached. The Japanese tried, however, and the Celestials abovepelted them with shot in a fearful manner as they advanced; but whenthe Japs reached the bases of the cliffs they simply climbed up likeschoolboys, ignoring the leaden hail, some of which passed over theirheads.
This seemed madness; but another force was at the same time climbing onthe left (my right) side of the picture, and was making a line so as toascend to the left rear of the redoubt. Still another regimentascended behind the first, and all the time these Japanese men werebeing tumbled off the rocks by the bullets of the Chinese above. Icould see bodies falling and striking heavily on the rugged and pointededges of the rocks; but still the Japanese climbed, and when theartillery found a chance they "chipped in," knocking corners off theChinese and their defences.
There was a pause for a little, and some arrangement appeared to bemade by the Japanese troops, who kept climbing, climbing. Then came asudden rush upwards and sideways, and I could see no result until thecannon ceased firing gradually. Then I saw the defenders rushing away,pursued by the Japanese, who shot and bayoneted them unmercifully. Thefugitives fell by dozens, and were killed. Dark spots lay thickly uponthe summit of the hill, and in the ravines near, while the Dragonstandards were displaced, and the Rising Sun uplifted in their place.Such a stampede I never expect to see again, and the killing was donesystematically, because when two advancing bodies of Japanese troopstook the entrenchments by storm, a third company did not enter theredoubt, but went on in chase of the flying enemy.
While I was thus sheltered, the soldiers in the town were all inreadiness to repel the expected attack. The dispersed Manchus, orChinese, were cut off from the gate; and it seemed to me that a strongcolumn, with guns, was approaching from Fuchow. The question was nowserious for me. I did not dare retire because the Chinese wereimmediately below. I did not venture to go up higher because I must atonce have been seen and shot as a deserter; or perhaps cast down fromthe walls. Meantime time was pressing. The exterior defences of thetown and citadel had been taken, and after all I had witnessed itseemed to me that Kinchow was doomed. The assailants were convergingupon the town, in which uproar and dismay were already rife, while theadvancing troops were being shelled by the Krupp guns mounted upon theChinese fortifications. The situation was, at least, embarrassing.
It was, I suppose, about nine o'clock that morning, when I grasped thefact that the artillery was getting into position. It was difficultfor me to make out these arrangements, situated as I was a full milefrom the advancing troops, though in an advantageous position forwitnessing the attack from the top side of the north gate, built like arailway arch in the surrounding wall of the town, a wall twenty feethigh, and surrounded by the edifice already mentioned--a kind of pagodaerection. But when I beheld puffs of steely smoke rising from thehillside, and heard the shells--at first a few, and then incessantly, Icrouched behind the masonry, and did not dare to look out.
My head seemed to swim as these furious missiles came hurtling alongover the wall and gate, crashing, bursting, killing, and maiming allout of shelter in the streets, and even in the hospital buildingserected inside the gate, which yawned like a small tunnel in the wall.The unfortunate donkeys, and more unfortunate men in attendance, wereblown into atoms at times, the streets were filled with dead andwounded, and on them lay ruins of the town; while the defenders, thoughfiring steadily, could do little because the black smoke of thebombarding guns shut out all except the ploughed-up earth, theshrieking shells, the dead and wounded by the wall, and within the"castled city." Outside, the ground was ridged by shot, and the noiseof the contest was simply indescribable. The bursting and cracking,mingled with the fearful detonation of the guns, of which I should sayforty assailed us, at once gave me a sensation of splitting headacheand a giddiness which I had never experienced. Stones split andfractured, wood disappeared in gigantic matches and splinters, the irongate resounded and shook, the noise of the arch below beingthunderous--yet it stood; and when the salvoes ceased a while, and thesmoke cleared a bit, I looked out and saw some soldiers advancingcloser amid the furrowed ground, and the dead Japs who lay outside.
The Chinese in shelter fired still from the loopholes at the Japs, andthe Japanese came running up to the gate, while the guns again sentmessages of iron into the town. The Japanese soldiers managed to reacha small cluster of houses--a deserted kind of village, if one may socall it--facing the gate. One of these huts was standing in advance ofthe rest, a peculiar position for a house, and so the Japanese thought,because the officer in command must have sent a party to examine it,right before me, and some of the venturesome ones never reached it.The men ran up amid the rifle fire from the wall, and judging by thetime it took to gain entrance, the hut was barricaded. The men fellfast, but at length the survivors gained admission, and apparentlyfound nothing.[1]
[1] It was ascertained afterwards that the wires of the "mines" werecut there.--H.F.
My attention had been directed to this hut, but then the Japanesetroops advanced in masses, rushing at the walls. But they could donothing. Chinese of all sorts, soldiers and coolies, rained bulletsand missiles at them when they reached the walls and attempted to climbup. It was impossible to scale these smooth surfaces, great masses ofbrick eighty feet thick, from the summit of which the people werehurling stones, and firing guns and rifles. In this I saw myopportunity, and joined the defenders on the ramparts.
What immediately followed is a little confused in my mind. We couldsee the soldiers retreating, leaving their dead and some wounded on thefield, while crashing shells came, again devastating the defenders'ranks. But the Chinese stuck to it and replied in kind. We all seemedwild, and even I became careless in showing myself in the excitementand the roar of the battle. I actually saw men cut across their blueclothing in an instant, steeped in blood, and yet they seemed to moveand writhe. Their associates took no notice of them. Life in China isof no value apparently, and when the spectator in his turn falls insilent anguish, the survivors thrust him aside, and seize the weaponthey themselves require. Many fell over the wall and died amid theenemy, when they _slipped_ from the ensanguined battlements, orplatform.
At length the defeated stormers retired baffled. But while thedefenders were perchance congr
atulating themselves, another band rushedup. The crowd of assailants had been defeated, the yelling multitudeat the base of the smooth walls were chagrined, but they sent anotherforce. Meanwhile we kept up the fire, and I saw a few Japanese lyingclose to the west end of the wall, apparently dead, but occasionallystirring as if in pain. I pointed them out to some soldiers, whoglanced and took no further notice, because the attack was about to berenewed; but I wished I could have put the poor fellows in safety, ortended them. A vain wish, and one later repented.
Again the Japanese advanced carrying boxes. Some of them then ran inclose to the great iron-lined gate, and, notwithstanding the furiousfiring, remained under the shelter of the arch until they hadaccomplished their design. It was evident. These were engineers, andthey intended to blow up the gate. It was a most terribly anxiousmoment when the men hurried off, not unscathed, and some of us waitedfor the result. The Chinese mines had failed, would the Japanese besuccessful? I retired to the west side, where the bricks of the wallat the corner project a little, as we see in isolated brick houses. Tomy consternation, at that moment I perceived three Japanese _mountingthe "ladder" of bricks_ to gain the summit of the walls. I shouted,but at that moment my voice was drowned in the uproar of the explosionunder us, and I, with others, was thrown down amid the ruins of themasonry.
The tumult was fearful. The great gate was rent, the stones flew farand wide, the wall bulged, and at the same moment the apparently deadJapanese, who had been lying in wait, came rushing up, and cut down thegunners before them. One soldier, the leader, pulled away the Dragonflag, and shouted "_Banzai_!" I saw no more. Struck by a glancingbullet I sank back, almost insensible, behind the western parapet; andthe last sounds in my ears were the vociferous cheers of the Japaneseas they poured through the dismantled gate, and took possession of the"castle-town" of Kinchow.