CHAPTER XV
AN ADVENTURE ON THE HILLS--THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH--TALIEN-WAN
For a while I was passive. Then, realising the danger of this newsituation, I made violent efforts to escape my captors. A prod of asword-bayonet was the only reply, and the sharp steel point caused acry of pain to escape me. What had I done? I looked at the men whohad captured me. They did not appear to be regular soldiers. Theywere armed indeed, but they lacked the uniform, the gaiters, and theknapsacks, so heavy to be borne, which the Japanese regular infantrywear. Where were the white-crowned caps or the white bands of theregiments I had seen? nor was the grenade-star of the engineersvisible. Then I guessed that these men werecamp-followers--coolies--robbers, perhaps, who had got out of hand andintended to kill or torture the Chinese. Finding me in the fort, and astranger, they had seized me too. No one amid all the hurryingsoldiers took any notice of my escort save to glance at us. Thespectacle of Chinese prisoners was too common then.
"The Japanese never kill their prisoners." These soothing words cameinto my mind as the party of camp-followers descended the hill--not inthe direction of the camp which I had quitted, but in that of theseaside. As we advanced I could see the warships shelling the villagesalong the coast, punishing the innocent natives. My captors also sawthem, and gesticulated savagely. Then the idea struck me that I was inthe power of banditti! Men who made war equally upon both sides, andin Japanese garb or in Chinese dress plundered or murdered all alike.The two Chinese, my companions in misfortune, wore buttons on theirhats. They were perhaps mandarin officers. The buttons seemed to meto be of glass or crystal, and the men were perhaps of moderately highrank. The coral button is the highest token, and descends to blue andlapis-lazuli, to crystal and gilt buttons.
These officers made no reply to the remarks which I supposed wereaddressed to them, if they understood them. But when we had reached aretired ravine amongst the twisted hills which bound that coast, ourcaptors raised their pistols and evidently demanded money, tearing atour dress, and searching our garments and persons. All this time theChinese gentlemen submitted to the insults with a truly Christian, orChinese, patience. But one could discern the flash of the eye and themovement of the face which spoke of the passion within. When we hadbeen robbed, we were bound by our ankles and made to stand against theslope of the hill, half-naked, wholly chilled, and destitute. Verily,between Jack and Jap I was having a cheerful season.
My belt and all my money, my "pass" and badge, which I prized mosthighly, were confiscated. The Chinese officers were even worsetreated--their clothing was appropriated, their rings and distinctions.All this time no one had taken any trouble about us. Everyoneapparently was occupied in fighting or pursuing the fugitives, of whoma number had been taken to the rear.
When the robbers had completed their work, and prevented our escape,they slowly retired to the end of the ravine, covering us with theirpurloined rifles as they went backward. At times these pleasantgentlemen halted, aimed at us, and again retired, till I began to thinkthey would leave us, bound, to die there of cold and hunger. Thenagain I fancied they intended to shoot at us as targets, and practiseupon us, and this idea was almost confirmed by the way in which theyseparated into a line; they took up positions apart, and looked totheir arms. The suspense was torture!
I looked at my fellow-prisoners of olive complexion, they wereperfectly passive, and apparently unconcerned by these manoeuvres. ButI was not. After the first glance at them I concentrated my gaze uponthe robbers, who evidently wished to put us away to the place where notales can be told. I watched the levelled rifles, I heard a voice saysomething, I saw five faces laid upon the gun-stocks, and uttering acry fell flat on my face as a heavy body came hurtling down the ravineand kicked up a furious dust beyond us. The roar and the detonationsarose simultaneously. Then more guns, but perhaps blank--at least theydid no visible harm; and then, after a while, silence: deadly, thicksilence in the solitary ravine near the village on the cliff!
I lay still, half-suffocated, breathing with great difficulty, butquite afraid to move. The shells had ceased, the "blank shots" hadstopped resounding amid the hills, the robbers had fled--for I couldnot hear them, and the Chinese I knew were habitually silent. But thesilence was particularly impressive after the late uproar, and eventhough I was glad to lie unmolested I began to wish for a change fromthe death-like silence of the now gloomy ravine. The sun wasdisappearing into the clouds beyond the farthest hills, and still noone came. I determined to rise. I moved, and felt rather dizzy;perhaps I had been asleep! I sat up. What had happened?
I gazed around me in all directions, unable to comprehend the result ofthe adventure. The first objects which met my wondering eyes were thefive camp-followers lying in all sorts of attitudes, dead andmutilated; their rifles lay at their feet or rested upon the bodies.They had been instantly killed; and, indeed, partly destroyed.
Turning my head seaward I beheld the ships at a distance, and close byme the Chinese officers resting limp and lifeless against the rocks,wearing the same stolid expression upon their now pale-yellow features,their eyes being nearly closed altogether. Again I asked myself whathad happened? What--who--had killed all these men and yet spared me?
My first movement was directed to my feet. I managed to unbind myankles, and after a while was able to walk steadily. Then, moved bycuriosity first--not by compassion, I regret to say--I advancedcautiously towards the camp-followers, still clad in the leggings andloose blouses, a kind of undress uniform. I went up and stood overthem. They were dead, blown to pieces by a shell, I decided; theirrifles lying upon their chests, or beside them. But what had killedthe Chinese officers, then? They, too, were dead. It was not possiblethat the shell would have slain them also and left me alone alive!
I took up one of the rifles and examined it. It had been discharged.Another, and another! Yes, all five were empty! Then the fellows hadfired at us as I had anticipated. Anticipated is the correctexpression. I had anticipated the discharge by one second, when Ibeheld the flying body--the shell--in the air dark against the sky andflaming. I had fallen flat: the bullets had struck above me; the fierymessage had completed the tragedy of the day.
That was all! By some impulse I had flung myself on my face, no doubtin fear you will say--perhaps. I was very young, and did not wish topose as a hero when there was no gain in bravado and no dishonour instooping. I have read of soldiers "ducking" at a cannon-ball, and whyis it blameworthy in me--a lad almost--if I winced at the bullet of theassassin? At anyrate I didn't see the good of being killed, and I"ducked" to the shell, and to the expected bullets.
What could I do now? Evening was closing in, and to wander amid thosehills alone would be to woo death once more. Yet to remain there withthe dead was worse. So I took a look at the robbers, and ventured tosearch the pockets of the leader of the party, from which I took myprecious "passes" and the money, which were still in my belt. Then,having secured them as before, I quitted the scene of slaughter, andmade my way across the darkening hills, thankful to the Providencewhich had preserved me from a horrible death.
All the night I wandered aimlessly--fancying that I was near the campand the fires, but finding deep and black ravines between myself andthem. At length I gave way, and seating myself in a deserted spot, notwithout qualms concerning wild animals, and commending myself toHeaven, I slept and dreamed.
My dream figured a kind of Robinson Crusoe incident. The savages werepreparing their feast on the desert island, I thought, and were passingback and forward in front of the flames. Even in my dream the air "bitshrewdly"--and I shivered and looked on. A vivid dream indeed! Icould almost fancy I was awake. I could see the men and the fire, anddistinguished dark forms carrying others and throwing them into theflames. My senses were leaving me. Was this a dream or a vision ofthe fiend's concoction? Was I _mad_? Had my trouble unhinged my mind?
I shut my eyes and tried to think. I pinched myse
lf, and thumped mychest. I was awake! Opening my eyes I sat up. Still the same weirdscene: the black mountain glade, the bright, cold sky studded withstars, the great leaping flame surmounted by thick vapour which roseslowly and crawled along the hill inland. What could it be? I lay fora while, and then crept nearer and nearer to attempt to distinguish theactors in this Walpurgis night-drama enacted on the Manchurian Brocken.
Nearer and nearer I came, lying still a while and then proceeding. Theactors were _men_: I decided that; but their occupation? I lay andlooked.
It seemed to me very astonishing that these funereal figures should bethus occupied in such a stealthy manner in an outlying spot amid thehills. What they were destroying I could not discern, because all thesurroundings beyond the glare of the fire were more intensely dark thanthe atmosphere, but I could see, time after time, that the men carriedburdens, and cast them into the flames. Then the fearful reflectioncame into my mind--
These men, Japanese, were thus disposing of their prisoners by torture!Yet I heard no cries, nor saw any resistance.
Again I crawled nearer, nearer. I was then within the circle ofleaping light, and lay as still as possible.
Two men appeared near me. They looked around them, and, horror ofhorrors! saw me extended upon the coarse herbage, my staring eyesreflecting the glare of the flames, no doubt. They at once cametowards me, their blackened faces and untidy dress causing them toappear absolutely repulsive. They might have posed, in suchsurroundings, for fiends incarnate.
Without a word they raised me by shoulders and below the knees; in acareless, rough manner they advanced towards the fire, which wasblazing fiercely at a little distance. I could feel the heat of it,but so upset was I, and so perplexed, that I could not utter a sound.My tongue was a piece of dry stick in my mouth, my lips were parchedand cracked, and I was almost in a fever. The whole seemed a horriblenightmare--the fire and smoke, the blackness of the more distantsurroundings, the black inquisitors, like the assistants pictured inillustrations of the burnings under Queen Mary, which I had seen in the_Tower of London_--a favourite book of mine. All the accessories werefrightful, stupefying, maddening! yet I could utter no complaint, norwas I able to resist my captors.
But fortunately this hypnotic trance did not continue. The smell ofoil (petroleum) penetrated my half-conscious brain, and aroused me frommy stupor. The oil was blazing in the fire, the receptacles--andbodies, I had fancied them also--were steeped in oil, the pungent smellof which had aroused my faculties. I wriggled in my bearers' hands,and they let me fall suddenly and heavily with some loud exclamations.
Other assistants in this holocaust came up at this, and all of themchattered and stared, but I understood none of their remarks orexclamations. Left to myself, I rose to my feet, and stood there inthe circle as if the victim of some usury game. To my requests forinformation they only replied in the Japanese language,--so far I couldunderstand,--and then again the pass and badge proclaimed my identity.These relics were passed from hand to hand, and I felt what perhaps acustodian of the Bank of England feels when he first sees a lump ofuncoined gold passing from hand to hand amongst privileged spectatorsto the door of the vault, and wonders whether the precious sample willreturn to him. Thus was my attention directed to my credentials. Theydid come back; and when the men had burned all the bodies and coffinsthey took me to the camp again.
Then I understood the scene I had witnessed. The Japanese habit is toburn the bodies of the dead after an engagement, for sanitary reasons.The coffins are steeped in oil, and then burned in some remote place,after certain rites performed. I had wandered into this Gehenna, andhad been rescued from the fire into which I had been so nearly cast.
When we returned to the camp my identity was firmly established. Myacquaintance, Hoko, the interpreter, was summoned, and he againconstituted himself my guardian. Well it was that he did, for intwelve hours I was in a high fever. My brain had been overtaxed, andmy body so reduced, that recovery seemed almost hopeless, as Iafterwards was informed. But the attack was sharp and short. In lessthan two weeks I was on my legs again, tottering indeed, but useful,and my first question asked of the officer who spoke English was--
"Can I get away from Port Arthur?"
"Perhaps. We have not taken it yet."
"Ah!" I said, "then it is different from what you imagined?"
"No; we have been compelled to await the heavy guns."
"When will they arrive?"
"They are expected immediately. When they are planted we shall assaultthe forts and seize the port."
"Has there been fighting?"
"Yes; outposts and pickets have been engaged frequently."
"Is that artillery now? I hear firing."
"Yes; there is another attack developing. We do not fear."
There was a pause, then I asked--
"What day is it, pray?"
"In your calendar it is the twentieth of November."
"The twentieth! Then I have been here ill for thirteen days? How canI ever repay this kindness and care? Most heartily I thank you, sir,and"--
"But say no more, please. I am glad. Farewell."
He hastened away, leaving me overwhelmed with gratitude, and highlyappreciative of the courtesy and kindness of the Japanese officers bothof army and navy.