CHAPTER XXI
THE REFUGEES OF CHENG-TING-FU
The malady with which Dr. Mason Hinckley had lain critically ill atWu-Hsing was of so strange a nature that, directly after the cablegramcalling Rob to his supposed death-bed was sent, it took a surprisingturn for the better. As he longed for a change of air and scene, andfelt that with them a full recovery of health might be effected, hedecided to resign his position at Wu-Hsing and, with his wife, travelas far as Nagasaki. There they would meet the steamer on which, as theyhad been notified by cable from America, Rob was coming to them, and thereunited family would spend together a delightful holiday on the lovelyJapanese coast.
So they set forth full of hopeful anticipations, and travelled downthe Si-Kiang to Hong-Kong, where they were so fortunate as to find the_China_ on the point of sailing for San Francisco by way of Nagasaki.At Hong-Kong they told an acquaintance who assisted the invalid to acarriage that they were going to Japan to meet an American steamer; butin the confusion of the moment he understood them to say that they weregoing to America, and so reported to Mr. Bishop, who, in turn, repeatedthe story to Rob a few weeks later.
In the mean time, the doctor and his wife journeyed to Nagasaki, theformer so gaining strength with every mile of the voyage that uponreaching Japan he deemed himself to be practically a well man. Thus theywere prepared to give Rob a most joyful surprise; but when, only threedays after their own arrival, the _Occidental_ steamed into Nagasakiharbor, they were met by the bitter disappointment of finding that theirboy was not on board. From the purser, as well as from the gentlemanwho had taken Rob's cabin, they learned that somehow he had missedconnection and had been left behind. After that the anxious parentswaited in Nagasaki a month, boarding every incoming ship from theStates, but without finding their boy or hearing a word from him. Theyhad written to Hatton immediately upon their arrival, and finally fromthere came the cable message, "Rob, transport, Manila."
What could it mean? Why had their boy gone to Manila? Where would he gofrom there? Where was he now? How in the world did he happen to be onboard a transport? Had he enlisted in the army? These and a thousandother equally puzzling questions presented themselves, but no one ofthem was accompanied by an answer. They had received news of the murderof missionaries at Wu-Hsing. Could Rob have reached there in time tobecome involved in the trouble? If so, was he alive or dead? They nolonger could remain in Japan, but must return to China where news mightmore readily be obtained. So they sailed for Shanghai, from which placethey sent letters of inquiry to Manila, Wu-Hsing, Hong-Kong, and Canton.
Then ensued another month of anxious waiting, during which Dr. Hinckley,now restored to perfect health, received from Pekin a fine offer tobecome missionary medical director for the province of Shan-Si. It wasan offer that he gladly would have accepted but for his uncertaintyconcerning Rob.
At length came a letter from Canton informing the anxious parents thattheir boy had been there a month earlier, but almost immediately hadjoined an expedition that was to traverse the interior from that pointto Pekin in the interests of an American railway syndicate.
Again did the puzzled parents ask each other questions concerning theerratic movements of their son that neither could answer. Finally, Dr.Hinckley said:
"It is useless to worry ourselves any more about the boy, since it isevident that he has passed entirely beyond our reach. He is in God'shands, and that there is some good reason for the apparent strangenessof his actions will sooner or later be made plain. Let us be thankfulthat he is alive and in the same country as ourselves. Also, we now canaccept that offer from Pekin, where, as it seems, we are most likely tomeet him."
So the bewildered but still hopeful parents took steamer from Shanghaito Tien-Tsin and rail from there to China's capital, at that time awonderland of mystery to the greater part of the outside world. FromPekin they travelled south to Cheng-Ting-Fu, which then was the extremeterminus of railway construction, and here Dr. Hinckley left his wife,while he should go on by horseback to Tai-Yuan, the capital of Shan-Si,and prepare their new home.
Then, almost without warning, came the terrible Boxer uprising, sweepingover the northern provinces with the fatal speed of a storm-drivenprairie-fire. From every direction were heard reports of murder andoutrage--some of them simple relations of actual happenings, othersgross exaggerations based upon fact, and still others pure inventions,but all equally terrifying to the handful of foreigners within the wallsof Cheng-Ting-Fu. A little later refugees, bearing evidence of theterrible sufferings through which they had passed, began to stragglein. Some told of the beheadings and burnings to death in Pao-Ting-Fuon the north, and others of the frightful tragedies enacted in Shan-Sion the west, by orders of the infamous governor, Yu-Hsien, creditedwith being the originator of the Great Sword Society, and who was themost vindictive hater of foreigners in all China. The Shan-Si refugeesreported that one day in Tai-Yuan this monster personally superintendedthe beheading of forty-five foreigners, men, women, and little children,besides a much larger number of native Christians; and on hearing this,Mrs. Hinckley lost all hope of ever again seeing the husband who hadgone to prepare a home for her in that very city. Also, she mourned forher boy, who, if he had carried out his reported intention of traversingthe interior provinces to Pekin, must have been overtaken by this sameall-devouring storm of wrath.
Although the southern end of the railway as far as Pao-Ting-Fu waskept open by the Chinese for the transportation of their own troops,it was reported that everything north of that point, including thetelegraph-line, had been destroyed. Thus Cheng-Ting-Fu, with closed gateand surrounded by enemies, was cut off from all news of the outsideworld. Only rumors drifted in, and these were of such a nature that thehandful of refugees facing an almost certain death in the cathedralbelieved themselves to be the only foreigners left alive in northernChina.
Such was the state of affairs on that evening of early summer when Mrs.Hinckley, hopelessly weary of life, happened to glance from one of thecathedral windows just as a yellow-robed priest was passing along thenarrow street. She turned quickly away, for, of all Chinese, the priestshad been most active in persecuting foreigners, and she never saw onewithout thinking that he might be the murderer of either her husband orson.
An hour later the "boy" who brought in her light supper of tea and toastlaid something else on the tray beside it, and disappeared withouthaving spoken. For a minute Mrs. Hinckley did not notice the strangeobject, but finally it caught her eye, and she picked it up. It was anarrow strip about six inches long, cut from the dried leaf of a talipotpalm, the material used instead of writing-paper in certain Buddhisttemples. Characters traced on the smooth surface with a sharp stylus,afterwards are rubbed with lampblack, which brings them out in boldrelief. In the present case, to Mrs. Hinckley's amazement, she found thestrip of palm-leaf to be a letter written in English, and beginning, "Myown dear mother!"
The poor woman uttered a stifled cry, and a blur so dimmed her eyes thatfor a moment she could read no more. Then it passed, and she eagerlyscanned the following message, written on both sides of the slip:
"I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw you at the cathedral window.How did you get here? Where is father? I am the priest who rode paston horseback with a guard of soldiers. Am safe and on way to Pekin.They will not let me come to you, nor even leave this temple where Iam spending the night under guard. I must go on at sunrise, when theywill put us out of the city. Jo is with me. Perhaps I shall again passwindow, so please stand in same place on chance. I will come back to youfrom Pekin quick as possible. Don't worry a single little bit about me,for I am all right. Your own loving Rob.
"Send an answer by the one who gives you this."
Over and over did the happy mother read this message from the boy whomshe had been mourning as dead, until she knew every word of it by heart.
Then, on a leaf torn from her journal, she wrote with lead-pencil anoutpouring of love, joy, and anxiety such as only a mother situated asshe was co
uld write. She begged Rob to be careful, for her sake, andwarned him of the danger of going to Pekin, though she added that ifhis father still were alive that city would be the most likely place inwhich to obtain news of him. She said she should remain near the windowall night for fear of missing her boy when he again passed. Then theservant came for the untouched tea-tray, looked at her inquiringly, andshe only had time to sign: "Ever your own devoted mother," fold thenote, and slip it into his hand ere he again left the room.
The shock of seeing his mother in that dreadful place, when he hadsupposed her to be safe in America, was so great that Rob had been onthe point of proclaiming his amazement aloud, when Jo, always keenlyon the watch for some such slip on the part of the pretended priest,checked him.
"It is but a little more to go," he said in Chinese, so that all whoheard might understand him, "and then the holy one shall find a place ofrest. He is very weary," added Jo to the officer of the guard, "and hisvow of silence sits heavy upon him."
"Yet he does not look so old," replied the officer.
"It is true that he is well preserved, and may give us the joy of hispresence for some years to come; but mere looks cannot restore to agethe lost strength of youth. I pray you, therefore, find for him aplace of quietness, where he may have a season of rest undisturbed."
Thus it came about that a small building of the temple to which our ladswere conducted was set apart for them, and orders were given that noother person should enter it that night.
When they were alone, and Rob had explained to Jo the cause of hisexcitement, he added: "And now I must go to her for a long talk."
It took Jo some time to persuade his friend of the impossibility of whathe proposed, and that to attempt it would only endanger all their lives,including that of his mother.
"Then," said Rob, finally convinced, "I must write, and you must somehowmanage to get the letter to her."
The letter was prepared with the only materials that the templeafforded, and by the liberal use of money Jo got it sent to itsdestination and had the answer brought back. After that, much as Robhated to leave his mother behind, he had the sense to realize that sheprobably was safer in the cathedral of Cheng-Ting-Fu just then thanshe would be anywhere else in north China. Also, what she had writtenconcerning the possibility of gaining news of his father in Pekin madehim more than ever desirous of reaching that city.
"HE WAS ABLE TO GAZE CALMLY AT HER WHEN THEY ONCE MOREWERE ESCORTED PAST THE CATHEDRAL"]
Jo warned him against the danger of allowing any sign of recognitionto escape him in case he again saw his mother; so he was able to gazecalmly at her the next morning when they once more were escorted pastthe cathedral, and she stood at the same window watching eagerly for himto pass. She, too, realized the danger to him of any show of interest onthe part of a foreigner; and no one could have guessed from their faces,as they exchanged farewell glances, that thus a mother and son, witha full knowledge of the perils besetting both, were parting, perhapsforever.