CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.
THE ENTERTAINMENT.
I felt as it were a sudden jar run through me when I heard Ching'swords. It was as if I had been awakened by a sudden revelation. This,then, was the grand show he had contrived for us as a treat! It was allclear enough: our officers had been invited to the execution of thepirates we had taken, and conceiving, with all a Chinaman's indifferenceto death, that we three lads, who had been present at their capture,would consider it as a great treat to be witnesses of the punishmentawarded by the Government, Ching had contrived to get permission for usto be present.
I glanced at the Tanner, who had grasped the situation, and was screwinghis face up so as to look perfectly unconcerned; but it was a dismalfailure, for I could see a peculiar twitching going on at the corners ofhis eyes, and he passed his tongue rapidly over his lips and wentthrough the action of swallowing as if his mouth and throat were dry.
I next looked at Smithy, whose eyes showed more white than usual, andwhose complexion was of a sickly-green, just as I had seen it duringsome very rough weather we had going down the Channel on first startingfor this voyage.
How I looked I have only Barkins' word for, and he told me afterwardsthat I seemed as if I was waiting for my turn to suffer with thepirates.
After the sharp glance I gave at my fellows neither of us stirred, butsat there as if petrified. I was horror-stricken, and there was astrong impulse upon me to jump up and run out, but shame and the dreadof being considered cowardly kept me in my place. In fact, asafter-confessions made clear, we were absolutely stunned, and I don'tthink we could have stirred had we made up our minds to go.
Then I felt dizzy, and the brilliant group of officials and militarymagnates and judges opposite to where we sat grew blurred andstrange-looking in the bright sunshine.
At last I felt as if I must argue out the question, and with my teethset firm, and my eyes fixed upon the sandy ground of the enclosure, somesuch thoughts as these ran through my brain--"It is only just that thesemen should suffer for their horrible crimes, for they are more dangerousthan venomous serpents, and I suppose that Captain Thwaites andLieutenant Reardon are obliged to come as a kind of duty; but we threecame under the idea that we were to see some kind of exhibition, and oldChing did it out of kindness, not knowing of what kind of stuff we weremade. I shan't stop."
There I paused to fight with other ideas.
"Tanner and Blacksmith will laugh at me and think I am a coward. Well,let them," I said to myself at last. "It isn't cowardice not to wish tosee such a horror as this. I didn't feel cowardly when they wereshooting at us down in the creek, and it would be far more cowardly tosit here against my will without speaking. I will tell them I want togo."
I should think that every lad of the age I then was, will pretty wellunderstand my feelings, and what a bitter thing it was to turn andconfess what they would jeer at and call "funk." It was hard workindeed.
"I don't care," I muttered. "I know they'll protest and say they don'twant to come, but be very glad to come away all the time. I willspeak."
Just then that horrible Chinaman turned to me with his round fat face,all smiling and delighted.
"You velly glad you come?" he said. "You feel velly happy?"
My mind was made up at this, and I spoke out.
"No," I said in a husky whisper. "I didn't know we had come to seethis. I shall go."
"What?" said Barkins, with a forced laugh. "Look here, Blacksmith, he'sshowing the white feather."
"Ho! ho!" laughed Smith. "Come, Gnat, I thought you had a little morespirit in you. Serve the beggars right."
"Yes, I know that," I said firmly enough now, as I looked at theirfaces, which, in spite of the masks they had assumed, looked ghastly;"and I daresay I haven't pluck enough to sit it out. But I don't carefor your grins; I'm not ashamed to say that I shall go."
"Oh, well, if you feel that it would upset you," said Barkins, in a toneof voice full of protest, "I suppose that we had better see you off, andgo somewhere else."
"Poof!" ejaculated Smith in a low tone. "Look at him, Gnat; he's injust as much of a stew as you are. Well, it's too bad of you both, butif you must go, why, I suppose we must."
"You beggar!" snarled Barkins angrily. "Why, you're worse than I am.Look at him, Gnat! There, I will own it. I felt sick as soon as I knewwhat was going to happen, but I won't be such a bumptious, braggingsneak as he is. Look at his face. It's green and yellow. He wants togo worse than we do."
Smith did not seem to be listening, for his starting eyes were fixedupon the far right-hand gate, over which there was a kind of pagoda, andhe rose from his seat.
"Come on at once," he whispered, "they're going to begin."
"Confessed!" whispered Barkins, pinching my knee. "Come on then quick,Gnat, old man; it's too horrid."
We all rose together, and were in the act of turning when a low hoarsemurmur rose from behind, and we saw that a crowd of angry faces weregazing at us, and that they were nearly all armed men.
But before we had recovered from our surprise, Ching had caught my armand pressed me to my seat.
"No go now," he whispered, with a look of alarm in his face, and heleaned over me and dragged my companions down in turn. "No can go now.Allee gate fasten. Makee blave velly angly and dlaw sword; fighteefightee. Ching velly solly. Must stop now."
There was a low hissing noise all about us, and threatening looks, whilea fierce man in embroidered silk said something in his own tongue toChing, who answered humbly, and then tamed to us and whispered--
"Small-button mandalin say make big-button peacock-feather mandalinvelly angly. You no sit still. Sh! sh!"
"We must sit it out, boys," I said, with a shudder; "but we need notlook."
My words were quite correct to a certain extent, but as my companions,who now looked more ghastly than ever, sank back in their seats, I feltcompelled to gaze across to where I could now see a red table exactlyfacing me. Then a movement to the right caught my attention, andthrough the far gateway, and lowering it a little as he passed under thearchway, rode an officer with a yellow silk banner, upon which werelarge black Chinese characters. Behind him came some moreshowily-dressed officials; and then, in a kind of sedan chair, one whomI at once saw to be the chief mandarin, for whom we had been waiting.
He was carried across to the front, where he alighted and walked slowlyacross to the red table, followed by sword, spear, and matchlock men,who, as he took his place at the table, ranged themselves on either sidefacing us, and completing a spectacle that, seen there in the brightlight, strongly suggested the opening of some grand pantomime.
I remember thinking this, and then shuddering at the horrible thought,and at the same time I began wondering at the intense interest I couldnot help taking in what was going on.
Two more grandees in chairs of state followed, and then there was apause. I could see that our officers were politely saluted, and thatcare was taken that no one should be in front of them. And now came themore exciting part of the terrible exhibition.
Suddenly there was the loud booming of a gong, and the head of an escortof spearmen marched through the gateway, followed by a group of men intwos, each pair bearing a long bamboo pole, from which, hanging in eachcase like a scale, was a large basket, and heavily chained in eachbasket was a man, whom we knew at once to be one of the pirates we hadcaptured, without Ching whispering to us--
"Velly bad men, killee evelybody. They killee now."
My eyes would not close. They were fascinated by the horribleprocession; and I now saw, just in front of the bearers, a tall-lookingbare-headed man carrying a large bright sword, curved in the fashion wesee in old pictures of the Turkish scimitar, a blade which increases inwidth from the hilt nearly to the end, where it is suddenly cut offdiagonally to form a sharp point.
Behind this man marched five more, the procession moving right to thefront between us and the brilliant party whose centre was the principalm
andarin.
I now saw, too, that every one of the miserable culprits was ticketed orlabelled, a bamboo upon which a piece of paper was stuck being attachedto his neck and head.
A low murmur ran round among the spectators, as, at a signal from theman with the great sword, who I saw now must be the executioner, thebearers stopped, and with a jerk threw the poles off their shouldersinto their hands, bumped the baskets heavily down upon the ground, andshot the malefactors out as unceremoniously as if they had been so muchearth.
I heard Barkins draw a deep breath, and saw Smith leaning forward andgazing wildly at the scene, while I felt my heart go _throb throb_heavily, and found myself wishing that I had not shared in the captureof the wretched men.
The chief mandarin then turned to the officer on horseback, who carriedthe imperial yellow flag, said a few words in a low tone, and he in turnpushed his horse a little forward to where the executioner was waiting,and evidently conveyed the mandarin's orders.
Then suddenly the pirates, as if moved by one consent, struggled totheir feet and began shouting.
Ching placed his lips close to my ear--
"Say, please no choppee off head. Velly bad men, killee lot always;velly bad."
And now I felt that the time had come to close my eyes, but theyremained fixed. I could not avert my gaze from a scene which was mademore horrible by a struggle which took place between the first pirate ofthe long row in which they stood and the executioner.
The man shouted out some words angrily, and Ching interpreted them in myear, his explanation being in company with a strange surging noise--
"Say he come back and killee him if he choppee off head. Oh, he vellybad man."
But quickly, as if quite accustomed to the task, two of theexecutioner's assistants rushed at the pirate; one of them forced himdown into a kneeling position; they then seized his long tail, drew itover his head and hung back, thus holding the pirate's neckoutstretched; lastly, I saw the executioner draw back, the swordflashed, I heard a dull thud--the head fell, and the body rolled over onone side.
Before I could drag my eyes from the horror there was the same terriblesound again, and another head fell upon the ground, while, with arapidity that was astounding, the assistants passed from one culprit tothe other in the long row, the miserable wretches making not theslightest resistance, but kneeling patiently in the position in whichthey were thrust, while _whish, whish, whish_, the executioner loppedoff their heads at one blow.
"Allee done," said Ching. "Execution man have velly much plactice."
He said this to me, but I made no reply, for the whole place seemed tobe going round and round.
"You thinkee they all come back again and have junk? Go kill shootevelybody, pilate ghost-man?"
"No," I said hoarsely; "can we go now?"
"Velly soon. Gleat clowd all along gate. Lookee, Mis' Tanner gos'eep."
These words roused me, and I turned to Barkins, who was lying back withhis eyes nearly closed and looking ghastly, while Smith sat staringstraight before him, with his hands grasping the seat on either side, ina stiff, awkward position.
"Here, Smithy," I said, "quick, Tanner has fainted;" but he took nonotice, and I whispered to him angrily--
"Get up. It's all over now. Come and help me. Don't let thesehorrible people see Tanner like this."
He turned to me then, and let his eyes fall on our messmate.
"Can you get me a drink of water, Ching?" he murmured.
"Yes, d'leckly; wait lit' bit. Po' Mr Barki' Tanner leg velly bad,makee sick. You' alm velly bad still?"
"Very bad; it throbs," murmured Smith.
"Ah, yes! Wait lit' bit and no clowd. Ching take you have cup fleshtea, and quite well d'leckly. You not likee execution?"
I shook my head.
"Velly good job cut allee head off. No go killee killee, burn ship nomore."
"We're not used to seeing such things," I said weakly, as I supportedBarkins to keep him from slipping to the ground.
"You no go see execution when Queen Victolia cut off bad men's head?"
I shook my head.
"Ah, I see," said Ching. "Me tink you have velly gleat tleat. But Isee, not used to see. Velly blave boy, not mind littlee bit next time."
"What's the matter? Don't, doctor. It's getting well now."
It was Barkins who spoke, and his hands went suddenly to his injuredleg, and held it, as he bent over towards it and rocked himself to andfro.
"Throbs and burns," he said, drawing in his breath as if in pain. "I--I--"
He looked round wildly.
"I remember now," he said faintly. "Don't laugh at me, you chaps. Iturned sick as a dog as soon as that butchering was over. I never feltlike this over the fighting. I say, Gnat, did I faint right away?"
"Yes, dead!" I said; "I was nearly as bad."
"Enough to make you. But oh, my leg, how it does sting! I say, isn'tit queer that it should come on now? Did the fainting do it?"
"I dunno," said Smith hastily, "but my arm aches horribly. I say, dolet's get away from here, or I shall be obliged to look over yonderagain."
"Yes, I'm all right again now," said Barkins quietly. "Let's get away.I say, lads, it's of no use to be humbugs; we did all feel precious bad,eh?"
We looked at each other dolefully.
"Yes, let's get away," I said. "I thought we were coming out for ajolly day."
Barkins shuddered and now stood up.
"Yes," he said; "I hope the skipper liked it. Can you see him now?"
"Skipper? Cap'n?" said Ching, whose ears were always sharp enough tocatch our words. "Gone along, Mr Leardon. Make gland plocession allaway back to palace. You go sail, soon catch more pilate."
"I hope, if we do," said Smith, "that we shall not bring back anyprisoners."
The enclosure was thinning fast now, as we walked toward the gateway bywhich we had entered, where a strong body of soldiers had been on guardover the barricades, in case of an attempt being made by the pirates'friends to rescue them, and we saw plainly enough that had we wantedthere would have been no getting away.
"You likee go in and see plison?" said Ching insinuatingly. "Plenty badmen lock up safe."
"No, thank you," I said eagerly. "Let's get out of this, and go andhave some tea."
"Yes, plenty tea. Ching show way."
The Chinese soldiers stared at us haughtily as we walked by, and I drewmyself up, hoping that no one there had witnessed our weakness, for ifthey had I knew that they could not feel much respect for theblue-jackets who hunted down the scoundrels that infested their seas.
Both Barkins and Smith must have felt something after the fashion that Idid, for they too drew themselves up, returned the haughty stares, andBarkins stopped short to look one truculent savage fellow over from headto foot, especially gazing at his weapons, and then, turning coolly tome, he said, with a nod in the man's direction--
"Tidy sort of stuff to make soldiers off, Gnat, but too heavy."
The man's eyes flashed and his hand stole toward his sword hilt.
"'Tention!" roared Barkins with a fierce stamp, and though the order wasnew to the guard, he took it to be a military command and stepped backto remain stiff and motionless.
"Ha! that's better," cried Barkins, and he nodded and then passed onwith us after Ching, whose eyes bespoke the agony of terror he felt.
"Come long quickee," he whispered excitedly. "Very big blave thatfellow. Killee--fightee man. You no 'flaid of him?"
"Afraid? No," said Barkins shortly. "There, let's have this tea."
Ching glanced round once, and we were about to imitate his example, buthe said excitedly--
"No, no, don't lookee. Big blave talkee talkee soldier, and tink Inglisofflicer 'flaid. Walkee past."
He led us as quickly as he could get us to go towards the tea-house hesought, and I must own that I was only too anxious about the Chineseguards to help feeling in a good deal of perturbation lest they s
houldfeel that they had been insulted, and follow us so as to take revenge.Hence I was glad enough to get within the tea-house's hospitable walls,and sat there quite content to go on sipping the fragrant infusion forlong enough.
I suppose we were there quite an hour and a half drinking tea, until wewere satisfied, and then passing a look round to draw attention to ourinterpreter, who sat back with his eyes half closed, sipping away cupfulafter cupful, till Smith whispered to me that he thought he had keptcorrect account.
"How many do you think Ching has had?" he whispered.
"Don't know; nearly a dozen?"
"Fifty-three, or thereabouts," whispered Smith.
But I did not believe him, and I do not think he believed himself.
"Now, you likee go 'long see somethin' else?" said Ching, when he hadreally drunk tea enough.
"Yes," said Barkins, "I feel ready. What do you say to going to see the_Teaser_, lads?" he continued.
"I'm willing," said Smith. "I want to lie down."
"You ready, Gnat?"
"Oh yes," I replied. "I don't feel as if I could enjoy anythingto-day."
"Right, then. No, Ching; back on board ship."
"You go velly soon? Now?"
"Yes, directly."
Ching smiled--he had a habit of smiling at everything nearly, and wepaid our reckoning and followed him down to the landing-place, to arrivethere just in time to see the barge with the captain and his escortgliding rapidly away toward the ship.
"Too soon findee boat," said Ching. "Tellee man come when sun go out ofsight."
"Yes, and that means two hours good," said Barkins. "Look here, Ching,hire a boat cheap. Get a fellow with a sailing-boat, if you can."
"Yes," said the Chinaman, nodding his head in a satisfied way, "Goodboat--velly nice boat--boat with velly big sail fly over water, eh?"
"Yes, that's it," said Barkins. "And look sharp, for there are a lot oflow blackguardly-looking fellows coming up, and we don't want anotherrow."
Barkins was quite right, for, as in our own seaports, there were plentyof roughs about, and whether in blue frocks and pith boots or Britishrags, the loafer is much the same. Ching saw at a glance that thesooner we were off the better, and hurried us a little way along thewharf till he saw a boat that seemed suitable.
"You all get in velly quick," he said.
"But we must make a bargain with the man."
"Plesently," he replied, as we hurried in, and he ordered the man incharge to put off.
The man began to protest volubly, but Ching rose up, and with a fiercelook rustled his new coat and sat down again, with the result that theman loosened the rope which held his boat to the side, and the swifttide began to bear us away directly, the man hoisting up a smallmatting-sail and then meekly thrusting an oar over, with which to steer.
"Why, what did you say to him, Ching?" I asked; and the interpretersmiled, and wrinkled up his eyes till he resembled a piece of old chinaon a chimney-piece.
"Ching say velly lit' bit; only shake his new coat till common man seeit silk. He feel velly much flighten all a same, as if big-buttonmandalin get in him boat."
"And what shall we have to pay him?"
"P'laps nothing 'tall."
"Oh, nonsense!" I said. "We must pay him the proper fare."
"Velly well, pay him ploper money."
I anticipated trouble, but when we got to the side and a dollar washanded to the man, his heavy round face lit up with pleasure, and hesaid something aloud.
"What does he say, Ching?" I asked.
"Say velly glad, and didn't tink he get anything 'tall."
We made the best of our way below, fully expecting that, if the captainand Mr Reardon saw us, they would take us to task for being at theexecution, and ask; us how we dared to follow them there. But, as luckhad it, they had been too much occupied by the horrible affair inprogress, and our presence had escaped them. But it was a long whilebefore I could get the scene out of my head or think of our trip ashorethat day as anything but a horrible mistake.