CHAPTER XVI
"FISTS OF RIGHTEOUS HARMONY"
The people of China have suffered much at the hands of foreigners,and, in their ignorance of everything beyond their own line of vision,imagine many grievances that really do not exist. Once China was theforemost nation of the earth in arts, literature, commerce, and all thatgoes to the making of what we call civilization. She invented, used, andforgot a thousand things that the Western world is only now discovering.She was sufficient unto herself, and desired only to be let alone.
But the Western nations would not let her alone. They insisted uponforcing their unwelcome trade into the country; and, moreover, uponconducting it themselves, according to their own ideas. When sheresisted their demands they took possession of her seaports, destroyedher forts and war-ships, placed their own steamers, protected bygun-boats, on her rivers, monopolized her coasting trade, and evenappropriated as their own, large slices of her territory.
Thus, while England holds the island of Hong-Kong, together withtwo hundred square miles of the opposite mainland, Shanghai, andWei-hai-Wei, besides controlling the trade of the great Yang-tseValley, Russia, on the north, has seized Manchuria, Germany occupiesthe province of Shan-tung, Portugal has for three hundred years beenestablished at Macao, and France, the chief aggressor, already inpossession of Anam and Tonquin, is making insidious but certain progressnorthward through Yunan, with covetous eyes cast in the direction ofCanton, where she already has gained a foothold. Japan owns the greatChinese island of Formosa, and only awaits a favorable opportunity forseizing the opposite mainland province of Fu-Kien, while even Italy haslaid claim to a Chinese port and "sphere of influence."
All these foreign nations, together with Americans and Belgians, arebuilding, or are proposing to build, railways in China, and all of them,with the further additions of Canada and Sweden, are overrunning thebewildered country with missionaries of clashing denominations, eachone of which teaches that it only is right, while all the others arewrong. Some of these foreign teachers even go so far as to interferewith local governments, taking upon themselves the office of magistrate,administering the laws according to their own interpretation, and alwaysin favor of their own converts, and at the same time demanding to beaccorded all outward forms of respect due only to mandarins.
On the other hand, the great mass of Chinese, groping in the darknessof the Middle Ages, burdened by densest ignorance, steeped insuperstition, robbed by their rulers to the extreme of poverty, andforced to unceasing toil from long before daylight until long after darkevery day of the week throughout every year of their joyless lives, aretaught by their priests, and by others of their own race to whom theylook for guidance, that all their sorrows, including floods, famines,and plagues, are caused by the foreigners who are spreading over theircountry with the ultimate intention of seizing it and subjecting itspeople to their own barbarous customs. They are told that these sameforeigners sweep the rain-clouds from one portion of the sky to causedroughts, and gather them at another to produce devastating floods, andthat they poison wells to bring on plagues. They are made to believethat the "foreign devils" collect Chinese children in asylums, homes,and hospitals for the sole purpose of extracting their eyes, to beused in enchantments; that every railway-sleeper, and the foundationsof every Christian edifice, are laid upon living human bodies; and athousand other tales, equally monstrous but equally terrifying.
To remedy these evils the people are invited to form themselves intoassociations, and thus gain strength for the destruction of the hatedforeign devils, or at least to drive them back into the sea, whencethey came. For the benefit of those who can read, pamphlets settingforth these views are written, printed by the million, and distributedthroughout the land; while the minds of the more ignorant are inflamedby pictured posters illustrating the horrors perpetrated by foreigners,and posted broadcast in every direction.
To these invitations a Chinese readily responds; for there is nothing inwhich he more greatly delights than to belong to an association of anykind or for any purpose. Thus societies for the exclusion of foreignershave sprung up like mushrooms, especially in those coast provinceswhere foreign influences are most noticeable; and strongest of themall is the great I-Ho-Chuan, or "Fists of Righteous Harmony" Society,sometimes called "The Great Sword Society," but known to the world atlarge as "Boxers," a name first used by the missionary correspondent ofa foreign journal. The motto of this society, as borne on its banners,is, "Protect the empire! Exterminate foreigners!"
During the initiation of its members they fall into trances, and believethat, while in this state, the spirits of departed heroes enter theirbodies. After that they are pronounced invulnerable to sword or bullet,and are declared to be possessed of magic charms that no enemy maywithstand.
In 1898 the Boxer movement was checked by the sudden declaration ofChina's young emperor, Kuang Hsu, in favor of sweeping reforms basedupon Western ideas. These he proceeded to carry out with unsuspectedenergy, deposing corrupt officials in all parts of the empire, andreplacing them with others who had been educated abroad. He issuededicts intended to revolutionize the army, the navy, the time-honoredbut senseless methods of literary examination, and the manner ofcollecting taxes, which, if obeyed, would place his people upon theupward path of progress so recently and so successfully trodden byJapan. There is no doubt that the Emperor was sincere in his avoweddetermination to lift his distressed country from the depths to whichit was sunk; and had he remained in power the awful Boxer uprising oftwo years later never would have taken place. But his enemies weretoo strong; and, after a few months of praiseworthy effort, the youngreformer was overthrown by a powerful palace clique, headed by his greataunt, the Empress Dowager, and composed of the high officials whom hehad removed from office. They forced him to sign a decree announcing hisown abdication of the throne, and again the Empress Dowager, China'sworst enemy, assumed the reins of power.
At once all reform decrees were repealed, the old order of things wasrestored, and hatred of foreigners was preached more loudly and morebitterly than ever. A new life was infused into the Boxer movement,which from that moment spread like wildfire over the northern provinces,until in the summer of 1900 it reached its height. During that dreadfulsummer mission stations everywhere were looted and destroyed, whiletheir unfortunate occupants were driven out to be killed or cast intoloathsome prisons, from which death was their only release. Christianconverts were massacred by scores and hundreds, railroad property wasdestroyed, and railroad employes suffered the fate of missionaries. Arumor to the effect that all foreigners, including members of legations,had been driven from Pekin, was generally believed; as was another,stating that every foreign resident of Tien-Tsin had been killed. Aboveall, it was understood that the Empress Dowager was in full sympathywith the movement to rid her kingdom of foreigners, and would renderevery assistance in her power to those engaged in the effort.
Such was the condition of affairs in north China when, in the earlysummer of 1900, the young American, Rob Hinckley, on a peaceful missionto Pekin, suddenly found himself deserted and alone in the presence ofa mob of crazed fanatics, intent upon taking his life. Our lad did notknow why they wished to kill him; for, since leaving the Yang-tse River,he had found an ever-increasing difficulty in comprehending the dialectspoken by the common people, until at length it had become whollyincomprehensible. Thus he knew almost nothing of the Boxer movement, norof the awful state of affairs existing in the country between him andPekin.
He, however, instantly recognized the danger of his present position,and, clapping spurs to the jaded pony he was riding, he dashed away inthe direction of the nearest city gate, with the mob in full cry athis heels. The distance was short, and Rob was within fifty feet ofthe outer gate, with a good lead of his pursuers, when all at once itoccurred to him that he was about to jump from the frying-pan into thefire, since once within the city walls his enemies could close all exitsand hunt him down at their leisure. With this he pulled his pony soshar
ply to one side that the animal, already exhausted to the point ofdropping, stumbled and fell, flinging Rob to earth over his head. As thelad scrambled to his feet he was amazed to hear in English a shout of--
"Keep on to the gate! It's your only chance!"
Although he could see no one in that direction, the voice seemed to comefrom the gateway itself; and, as his madly yelling pursuers were nowclose upon him, Rob accepted the advice so strangely given and dartedforward on his original course.
"HIS MADLY YELLING PURSUERS WERE NOW CLOSE UPON HIM"]
A few minutes earlier a young Chinese, clad in the uniform of an officerof imperial troops, stood at a narrow loop-hole in the watch-tower abovethe city gate, gazing listlessly outward over a vast expanse of flat,parched, uninteresting country. He had carelessly noted the approachfrom afar of Rob's little party, whom he supposed to be ordinary nativetravellers, and had only been aroused from his apathy by the yells ofthe rain-dancers, as they raised the cry of, "Death to the foreigndevil!"
"They must be mistaken," thought the officer, "for there can't be anyforeigners left in this part of the country." He watched Rob's flightwith ever-growing interest, and was about to descend from the tower soas to meet him at the gate when the young American attempted to changehis pony's course. Then the watcher uttered the surprising callthat again altered Rob's determination, and in another moment he wasspringing down the flight of stone steps leading to the outer gateway.As he reached it, Rob had just entered, and was starting across thebarbican towards the inner gate.
"Stop!" shouted the young Chinese. "Come here quick and help me!"
Rob hesitated only the fraction of a second and then did as he wasbidden. The Chinese was straining at one of the two massive, iron-bounddoors of the gateway, and in another moment Rob was adding every ounceof his own strength to the effort. It yielded slowly, and its hingescreaked rustily as it swung heavily into place.
"Now the other, quick!" exclaimed the stranger, and with an effort thatnearly started blood from their swelling veins the two young fellowsclosed the great valve in the very faces of the frantic outside mob thatflung themselves bodily against it mad with baffled rage. They could notopen it, for a stout iron bolt had dropped into place as the gate wasclosed, and nothing short of a cannonade could now force an entrance.
"Follow me!" said the Chinese, huskily, and panting from his recentexertion, at the same time turning up the narrow stairway leading to thewatch-tower, and Rob obeyed.
The latter was full of perplexity at finding in this out-of-the-wayplace a Chinese who not only spoke English, but apparently was willingto endanger himself to rescue a foreigner from a mob. So quick had beenall their movements since he darted through the gateway that he had notyet obtained a view of his rescuer's face, and, of course, had not beenable to question him.
In the tower, at the top of the stairway, he found his strange companiontaking a quick view of the raging mob below. As he stepped to hisside, the young Chinese turned and stared him full in the eyes. For amoment they regarded each other in amazed silence. Then a simultaneousexclamation burst from their lips:
"Rob Hinckley!"
"Chinese Jo!"