CHAPTER IV
A RESCUE
An hour after dawn they started. Early as it was the vegetables hadbeen cut and packed in three large baskets, and after paying for themthey put the straps of the baskets across their foreheads and started.The loads were fairly heavy and although Ah Lo carried his withoutdifficulty, Rex found the strap press very heavily on his forehead.
“I was thinking it over in the night, master,” Ah Lo said, when theyhad gone a short distance.
“Don?t call me master, Ah Lo; you know that we agreed that you shouldalways call me Shen Yo.”
“I will try to do so. Well, I have been thinking it over, and Iconsider that if we succeed in getting the ladies away, we should atfirst go north. The search will be made for us chiefly on the roadsto Tientsin and Pekin. The distance is about the same to both towns.They will scarcely suspect that we have gone north, and if we travelall night, hide in a rice–field during the day, and then again travelall night, we should be beyond the reach of searchers, and could thentravel round to Pekin, which would, I think, be safer than Tientsin,where the Boxers will always be in numbers. Of course we must havedisguises for the ladies. Their best plan would be to dress as boys.Chinese women do not travel about, and their doing so would at oncegive rise to suspicion. We must, of course, get some stain to give themthe proper native colour. When we have turned our faces towards Pekinwe must state that you and I are going to enlist in the Chinese army,that we have friends in Pekin, and that the boys are going with us toget any work they can. We can account for our guns by saying that wehave obtained them from some of the Boxers who had brought them fromTientsin.”
“Yes, we must stick to them if we can,” Rex agreed. “As they aremagazine rifles we ought to be a match for any twenty of thesevillagers or a dozen Boxers; and at any rate, if the worst came to theworst, we could be killed fighting and not be put to death by slowtorture.
“I have been thinking too,” Rex added, “that the best thing to dowill be to set the house on fire. If we take in with us a large canof spirit, sprinkle it over everything in one of the rooms, and thenspill a lot in the passage and set it all alight, the sudden alarm willcreate such a tremendous confusion and panic that we may be able toseize the girls and carry them off without being noticed.”
“That would be a very good plan,” Ah Lo agreed. “We shall have to carrya heavy sledge–hammer with us to break in the door of their prison,for they are sure to be locked up. A sentry will probably be stationedat their door, and of course we must stab him. If we set fire to thehouse, as you propose, we had better carry thick clothes with us tothrow round them, as, in order to carry them off, we may have to runthrough the flames. The wrappings will protect them, and besides peoplewon?t notice what we are carrying and will think that we are rescuingvaluables from the flames. It will be well also, if possible, to seizeporcelain jars or other valuables. I can carry the elder girl; and youcan take the younger on one shoulder, and carry a jar or some othervaluable on the other. We had better have cloaks and broad hats, likethose of the soldiers. There would be no fear, in the confusion, ofanyone noticing our faces.
“I really think, Shen Yo, that we may be able to succeed. It did notseem possible at first, but I think now that with the aid of fire wemay be successful.”
“I certainly don?t see why we shouldn?t,” Rex said. “In such wildconfusion as there would be, no one would notice anyone else. Thegreat thing is to be quite sure where the girls are kept, and that wemust find out to–day if possible. We will get rid of our vegetables assoon as we can, and then wander about with the empty baskets on ourshoulders. We shall then see if people go in and out of the yamen.It is most likely that they will. Many will have petitions to makeand some complaints to lay before the governor. Some, perhaps, willonly go in to stare about. Possibly a little cash may induce one ofthe soldiers to point out the door of the room where the girls areconfined, and that will be all that we shall want. When we have foundthat out we shall have to buy two suits of clothes for the girls,two cloaks and hats like those worn by the military, long lengths ofrope for climbing the wall and getting down, a hook of some sort forcatching the top of the wall, a sledge–hammer, a chisel for opening adoor or a window, and a bottle holding a couple of gallons of spirit.Can you think of anything else?”
“We must get some provisions and leave them at the bottom of the wallbefore we climb up, for we must not go anywhere to buy food for thefirst day or two after we start.”
“Yes, that will certainly be a good plan.”
When they approached Chafui they overtook some other peasants alsocarrying in vegetables, and, joining them, they entered the towntogether. Numbers of Boxers in their red jackets were in the streets,and a good many of the regular soldiers. The townspeople were movingabout; some were laughing and chatting with the soldiers, others movedquietly about, evidently feeling by no means sure that the Boxers wouldnot, before they left the town, plunder the houses.
Rex and Ah Lo were not long in disposing of the contents of theirbaskets, and they moved nearer and nearer to the yamen as they did so,getting rid of a large number of their goods within a short distanceof the gate. They sat down for a while near the gate of the yamen andwatched the people go in and out of the courtyard. Then, approachingthe gate, they laid their blankets down a short distance from thesoldiers standing at the gate, and entered. No questions were asked,and, crossing the courtyard, they entered the house. They saw twosoldiers standing at a door and went up to them.
“What do you want?” one of them asked.
“Can we see the little white devils? We have come a long way to have alook at them.” And he slipped a few coins into the man?s hands.
“No, you can?t see them,” the man said; “the orders of the governor arestrict. They won?t be here much longer; the governor expects a messagefrom the viceroy to–morrow, and then we shall put an end to them. Itmight just as well have been done at first. If it had, we should havebeen saved the trouble of keeping sentry over them for the past week.”
This was serious news, but they had seen all they required. There wasa door between the private apartment and the public rooms. This wasclosed, and the room occupied by the prisoners was next to it. Havingascertained this important fact, Rex and his follower left the house,took up their baskets, and walked off.
“I think that is as well as we could expect,” Rex said. “We may take itfor certain that no sentries will be placed in the private part of thehouse; so that if we enter on that side we can make our preparationsand light our fire without fear of being disturbed. Now we had bettertake a turn round the place behind, to choose the spot where we willclimb over, and see if any sentries are placed on that side.”
The wall was about fourteen feet high, and there was a door at theback. All was quiet, and there was a piece of waste ground behind thegarden. They examined the door carefully.
“I think, Ah Lo,” said Rex, “it will be better to cut round this lock,if we cannot force it, instead of climbing over the wall. That wouldtake us time; while if the door could be opened at once we shouldrun straight down the garden, close the door behind us, and make offwithout a moment?s delay.”
“It would certainly be much better,” Ah Lo agreed. “We should haveplenty of time to cut through the door after it gets dark. If we decideto do that we shall have to buy a saw and a tool for cutting a holethrough which to thrust it. It would certainly be a relief to get ridof the ropes. We may as well get the other things at once, and then wecan sit down in some quiet place, eat our food, and talk matters over.”
When Ah Lo had bought all the various things they required, they satdown with their backs against a wall. All their purchases were stowedin the bottom of one of their baskets, the other being put into it sothat no one might see what they were carrying.
“Of course,” said Rex when they were seated, “it won?t be an easy job.In the first place, we have to make an entrance; I don?t think thatthere will be much difficulty about that. Then, you see, we shal
l haveto light a fire in two rooms, one on each side, and as the flames rushout of the doors, we must open the door of communication. Probablyit is fastened with a bar. There must be a sufficient blaze to causea panic among the sentries. For a moment there will, no doubt, be atremendous uproar, and anyone in the passage or rooms will rush out.Then we must seize the moment to break in the door. If the sentriesshould keep their place, which I should think is very doubtful, we mustthrow ourselves upon them at once. The door once open, the rest willbe easy; we shall have but to wrap the girls in the blankets and runthrough the fire with them. The critical moment will be that at whichwe open the door; we must make perfectly sure that the two sentriesare taken by surprise. I have every hope that the place will be burntdown, and in that case it is likely enough that they will never givethe captives a thought beyond concluding that they have been burntto death. I think it would be a good thing to take the hangings fromsome of the rooms, roll them up into a bundle, and soak them with thespirit. Then, when we have taken down the bar and have the door readyfor opening, we will light that bundle, so that when we open the doorthere will be a great blaze close to the men and at the same time theywill see the flames from the rooms farther down the passage. The scareis almost certain to make them bolt, and we can then break in the otherdoor. The noise will merely sound to them as if something on fire hadfallen down, and we shall have got the girls out through the doorbefore they can open the gate of the yard and call the sentries fromthe guard–house.”
“I think it ought all to go right,” Ah Lo agreed. “Now, master, I thinkthat I will go back again. I must see my father and mother and tellthem that I have to go away on urgent business, for that I hear theBoxers are coming to our village in the morning to search for everyable–bodied man, and that, therefore, I must leave at once. What willyou do?”
“Can we return to the back of this yamen without passing through thetown?”
“Yes.”
“Then I will go with you. We need not bring our baskets back with us;we can make the things up into a bundle. I would rather walk home withyou and return than hang about here where I might be questioned.”
Accordingly they again took their baskets on their backs and returnedto the village, hiding their parcels before they entered. Hearing thenews they brought, several young men, who had managed to escape thelast search of the Boxers, at once made off into the country. Ah Loand Rex remained with the two old people until dusk. The old peoplewere much distressed to hear that their son had to leave them so soon.He promised to pay them a longer visit as soon as it was safe to doso, and having left a sufficient supply of money to last them for sometime, he took a tender farewell of them and started once more with hiscompanion.
They arrived without adventure at the back of the yamen, and at onceset to work on the lock, as it was now perfectly dark and the streetswere already deserted except by parties of Boxers. In an hour theyhad cut round the lock, but then they found that the door was alsoheld by bolts. It did not take them long, however, to enlarge the holesufficiently for Rex to get his arm through and unfasten the bolts.They now waited until the lights in the house gradually disappeared,and then moved quietly up to it. They found, as they hoped would be thecase, that the door of the house was unfastened.
Having ascertained this, they waited another hour until they were surethat everyone was asleep. Then they entered, lit a lamp that theyhad bought for the purpose, and set to work. They soon piled mats andcurtains near the doors of the rooms on both sides of the passage, andpoured oil and spirit over them. When this was done they made up a rollsix feet high and six feet long, and, saturating this with oil, carriedit to the door. They then set a light to the great piles of inflammablematerials in the two rooms. These flashed up instantly, and the flamescame rushing through the doors. When they saw that the blaze had takena good hold of the material they set fire to the bundle in the passage.
As this blazed up they removed the bar and flung the door open. Thetwo sentries gave a loud cry as they saw the flames rushing out at theend of the passage, and made a simultaneous rush for the front door.Running in, Rex and his companion found that the door of the girls?prison was held by bars only. These they undid, and found to theirsatisfaction that the door opened, and that there was no occasion tobreak it down.
The light of the flames was amply sufficient to enable them to see. Thetwo girls lay in each other?s arms in one corner.
“It is all right, girls!” Rex cried. “I am Rex, and I have come here tosave you!”
Then, lifting the girls to their feet, they wrapped the blankets roundthem. Each lifted one and sprang through the flames rising from theroll, and then through the sheet of fire at the end of the passage.When they reached the open air they released the girls from thewrappings, and, snatching up their rifles, which they had left leaningagainst the wall outside, ran down the garden. Once outside they feltthat they were for the present safe.
Already a babel of noises was arising from the yamen—shrieks of womenand shouts of men.
REX RESCUES HIS COUSINS FROM THE BOXERS.]
“I hope the women won?t be burned,” Rex said.
“If they cannot get down the staircase they can jump from the windows,”said Ah Lo.
“Thank God, girls, that we have got you out! We have some nativeclothes for you, but we must run for some little distance first; thefire will bring all the town out.”
“Are we dreaming?” Jenny said. “Can it be really you, Rex?”
“It is, dear; you can seize me and shake me, to make sure that you areawake. Are you strong enough to walk?”
“Yes, if I am really awake.”
The younger sister, however, could scarcely stand, and Ah Lo caught herup and they at once started, Jenny pouring question after question intoRex?s ear as he hurried her along. When they were two or three hundredyards away they broke into a walk.
“Now we can go on steadily,” Rex said. “We are absolutely safe till themorning, and by that time I hope we shall be a good many miles away.”
When they had gone another mile Rex said: “We had better stop here andeat something, for we shall want all our strength for the journey.”
“But how did you come to be here, Rex?”
“Well, dear, we heard such terrible news of what was going onthroughout the country that Ah Lo and I determined to come out indisguise to see if we could be of any assistance to you. Of course wehave heard all that has happened, so do not pain yourselves by talkingabout it at present. We have got stain for you to colour your skin, andthe dresses of Chinese boys in which you must disguise yourselves. Itwould not do for you to be travelling as girls. We shall try to makeour way to Pekin. Of course we shall have difficulties, but I trustthat we shall get through all right. We intend to give out that we aregoing to enlist in the army, and we shall have to invent some storyto account for your going with us. We have got rifles, so that if weshould be interfered with by any small party we shall be able to givea good account of them. We have got you out more easily than we hadexpected, and no one is likely to notice that you have escaped. Theywill have more than enough to do if they wish to save the house, and Idoubt whether they will succeed in putting out the fire, for I think weset the place pretty well alight.”
Indeed, it was already evident that the fire had got a great hold,for, from the point that they had now gained, the flames could be seenleaping out of all the windows on the ground floor at the back ofthe house. The fugitives went almost at a run for another mile, andwhen they stopped and looked round, the yamen was in a blaze from topto bottom. Ah Lo now set Mabel on her feet, and the two girls threwthemselves into each other?s arms and burst into tears.
“Now you had better eat something,” Rex said, after he allowed them ashort time to recover themselves. “Did the brutes feed you well?”
“We had enough to eat till to–day; they have given us nothing to–day,and we thought that that was a sign that the end had very nearly come.”
“No doubt it was so. Now i
n the first place you must each eat and drinksomething.”
“I don?t feel as if I wanted anything.”
“Never mind, it is absolutely necessary that you should eat. We mustget as far away as we can before morning, and unless you eat you won?tbe able to walk.”
The girls ate slowly at first, but as their appetites came back theymanaged to eat a hearty meal. While they did so Rex told them about thefighting at Tientsin, and the way in which they had made their wayinto the yamen and set it on fire.
“I can only just see the outline of your figure, Rex,” Jenny said, “butyou seem to have grown tremendously since I saw you last.”
“Yes, I have grown a good deal. Four years make a great difference atmy age. You have grown a good deal too, Jenny; you were quite a smallgirl when I saw you last. How pleased my father and mother will be tosee you both again!”
“Did they send any messages?”
“No, Jenny, and for a very good reason. They did not know that we werecoming. We stole off quietly in the night, for I was not at all surethat they would let me try if I asked their permission. I left a letterfor them saying where I had gone, and that, as I had Ah Lo with me, Ifelt pretty sure that it would come out all right. You see, I speakChinese nearly as well as he does, and there was no real reason whyanyone should suspect that we were not what we looked. Now, dear, ifyou have finished we will go on.”
They went for some ten miles before the day began to break. Ah Locarried Mabel for the last five, for both girls were weakened by thescenes they had gone through, the grief at the loss of their parents,and the fear as to their own fate. As day approached they went into alarge field of standing corn, which rose some feet above their heads.
“Now, girls, you go on a few yards and then change your clothes. Hereis the stain. You must dye your whole skin and darken your eyebrows,eyelashes, and hair. You know a great deal better than I do how yourhair must be plaited into pigtails and wound up under these hats.I think you will find the clothes all right; they are just jacketsbuttoning up in front, and loose trousers. You can put on your ownboots as long as we are walking in an open country and there is no oneabout, but when we are likely to meet anyone you must put on theseChinese shoes. After you have dressed yourselves you had better liedown and have a long sleep. We shall keep a look–out; but as we enteredthe field in single file, and raised the stalks after us, it is notlikely that, even if the owner comes along, he will suspect that anyoneis in hiding here. Before you try to go off to sleep you had better eatanother meal.”
“Are we on our way to Pekin, Rex?”
“No, we have come north so far; for if a search is made it will be inthe direction of Pekin or Tientsin. I do not think it at all likely,however, that they will trouble to look for us. They will not giveyou a thought at first; and when they do think of you the place willbe in such a blaze that they won?t be able to get at your room, andwill certainly conclude that you have perished in the flames. The onlypossible ground for suspicion will be that the door at the end of thegarden may be found open; but no one may think of going round there forsome days, and at the worst they will but fancy that robbers broke inthere, and, while plundering the rooms, accidentally set the house onfire. At any rate, long before the idea can occur to them that it wasan attempt to rescue you, we shall be a hundred miles away.”
The day passed quietly. Ah Lo and Rex in turn slept and watched nearthe edge of the corn. Men could be seen working in some of the fields,but no one approached the edge of the field in which they were hidden.Late in the afternoon the girls joined them, looking their characterso well that even Ah Lo said that he would not have suspected them ofbeing anything but what they seemed. A hearty meal was then eaten,and an hour after dark they started again, this time making towardsthe east. They passed through many small villages during the night,and walked, they calculated, over twenty miles, Ah Lo, as before,carrying Mabel the last seven or eight miles. Again they hid during theday, and in the evening turned their faces towards Pekin. Their stockof provisions was now exhausted, and the next day Ah Lo went into avillage and brought a fresh supply.
They met with no adventure until they were half–way on their journey,when one evening as they were passing through a village, the door ofone of the houses opened and three men whose dress showed them to beBoxers came out.
“Hello!” one of them said, “who are you?”
“We the travellers,” Ah Lo replied.
“What makes you travel so late?”
“We are anxious to push on to the next village.”
“Come in here and let us have a look at you,” one of them said.
“Shall we go in, master?” Ah Lo said in a whisper.
“Yes, you had better; there is a large party of them. You go on, girls;stop by the side of the last house in the village on the right–handside.”
Rex and Lo then followed the men into the house. Inside were nineothers, several of them smoking. “Now where are you going to?” demandedthe Boxer who had before spoken, and who was apparently the leader ofthe party.
“We are going to enlist in the army.”
“You had better join us. I see you have a good gun; where did you getit from?”
“I got it from some men who were fighting at Tientsin and returned homewounded.”
“Well, you will get others there,” the man said; “you had better handthem over to us. You must stop here for the night and go on with us. Itappears to me that there is something suspicious about you. Where arethe two boys who were with you?”
“They have gone on. I told them to.”
“Two of you run after them and fetch them back,” the man said angrily.
Ah Lo and Rex both unslung their guns from their shoulders as ifto hand them over. They were still standing in the doorway, and AhLo shoved one of the Boxers, who tried to pass him, and sent himstaggering backwards. The captain, with an exclamation of fury, drewhis sword. Ah Lo dropped his rifle against the man?s chest and fired.The others at once sprang to their feet.
“Don?t throw away a shot!” Rex exclaimed. “Now it is begun we mustfinish them,” and he shot down the man next him. “Step back outside thedoor, then only one can get at us at a time.”
The rifles rang out again, and three more of the Boxers fell. Theothers, seizing their arms, rushed in a mass towards them.
“Fire by turns, Ah Lo,” Rex said as he fired, and then drove the muzzleof his rifle with all his force into the chest of the next man comingat him; the man fell as instantaneously as though he had been shot. Twoor three of the Boxers were armed with guns, and these attempted topress forward so as to be able to use them. Rex?s thrust had clearedthe crowd a little back, and Ah Lo shot one of the men with a gun ashe pressed forward. Almost at the same moment one of the others fired,and the ball passed along Rex?s arm and came out in the shoulder.With a howl the man rushed forward again. Rex and Ah Lo fired at thesame moment. There were now but four Boxers left, and these chargedbefore they were ready to fire again. Ah Lo clubbed his musket; Rex,as before, used his gun as a spear, and as a Boxer rushed at him withuplifted sword, caught him full in the chest.
“Hold the door while I load, Ah Lo,” he said.
It took but a couple of seconds to discharge the cartridge and reloadand close the breech, and then Rex shot one assailant just when Ah Lostruck down another. The last man threw down his weapon, but Ah Lo?sblood was up, and knowing that none of the party must be allowed to getaway, he brought the butt of his musket down with all his strength uponthe man?s head.
“That has been sharp work, Ah Lo,” Rex panted. “Now, we must be off.”
“I don?t think they are all killed,” Ah Lo said.
“Well, most of them must be, and certainly none of the others can bein a position to take up the pursuit. We had better not wait anothermoment, or we shall have the villagers out on us.” So saying he startedto run.
“I will run,” Ah Lo said, “but there is no fear that the villagers willcome out. When they hear the firing
they will think that the Boxers arequarrelling among themselves, and certainly no one will venture out tosee about it.”
They found the girls waiting at the appointed place, and they gave acry of joy as Rex ran up.
“What has happened?” they asked together.
“The Boxers were nasty and were sending two men off to catch you, so westopped them, and we had a tough fight, but none of them got away.”
“How many were there?”
“Twelve.”
“And you killed them all?”
“We shot eight of them. Ah Lo broke the skulls of two, and I knockedthe wind out of the other two. Whether I killed them or not I do notknow, but it is quite certain that they cannot be in a fit conditionto take up the pursuit. We can now go on again; only for the rest ofthe journey we must avoid villages.
“You needn?t grieve for the Boxers,” he said, as the girls uttered anexclamation of horror at what he had said. “As likely as not they havecome from Chafui; but if not, no doubt they have taken part in someof these massacres and were making for Tientsin to join their fellowsthere.”
“Oh, how could you do it, Rex? I am not sorry for the Boxers a bit, butit is wonderful that you two should have killed twelve of them in twominutes; I am sure the firing did not last longer than that.”
“It was quick work certainly, Jenny; but with these breech–loaders onecan fire all the shots in a magazine in less than a minute, and at suchclose quarters there was no possibility of missing one?s aim. If therehad been a few more of them we should probably not have succeeded sowell, for our magazines were nearly empty when we had finished. Still,holding the door as we did, so that only one man could really get at usat once, I think we should have given a good account of ourselves evenif there had been five or six more.”
They made an unusually long journey that night; the girls would nothear of stopping, although Rex assured them that there was no chance ofbeing overtaken. When day dawned they were more than usually careful inhiding themselves among some very high grass. Rex and Ah Lo took turnsto watch all day, but to their satisfaction they saw no one hurryingalong the road as if carrying a message of importance.
“I did not expect to see one,” Ah Lo said; “the villagers will befrightened out of their lives when they venture out in the morning andsee what has happened. I think it likely that they will at once buryall the bodies, for they will be afraid that should a party of Boxerscome along and see what has taken place, they would plunder and burnthe village and kill all the inhabitants. No, I do not think there isany fear that the alarm will be given.”
They continued their journey thus till they were within fifteen milesof Pekin. Here the road was no longer unfrequented during the day,bands of armed men and Boxers frequently passing along. The next daythey made ten miles and then lay down to sleep. Soon after daybreaknatives in carts, with vegetables and grain, came along. As soon asthey had passed, the fugitives issued out, and presently overtaking oneof the parties journeyed on in company with them until they reached thegates of the city. They wandered about for some hours before they foundthe quarter where the Legations were situated, for they did not liketo ask directions, as that would have shown that they were strangersin the city. They came at last to a building where two marines werekeeping guard. From these they heard that the British Legation wasin the next street, and soon they were gladdened by the sight of anEnglish uniform.
They were stopped by the sentries, but on Rex saying in English thatthey were fugitives from one of the missions that had been destroyedthey were allowed to enter.
The Legation stood in a very large enclosure which had at one time beena palace belonging to a member of the imperial family. The gardenswere charmingly laid out, and it contained several courtyards, eachsurrounded by buildings.
They were conducted by one of the servants of the Legation to the houseof the minister, Sir Claude Macdonald, and upon Rex sending in theirnames they were at once admitted.
“We have made our escape, sir,” Rex said, “from Chafui, where themission has been destroyed and all save these two young ladies,daughters of the missionary in charge, murdered. I myself am the son ofMr. Bateman of Tientsin. These young ladies are my cousins, and withthe aid of this faithful Chinaman, who has for many years been in myfather?s service, I have succeeded in rescuing them from the hands ofthe Boxers.”
“I congratulate you indeed, sir. A considerable number of fugitiveshave already arrived here. I will hand the ladies over at once into thecharge of Lady Macdonald, who will see that they are well cared for.”
He rang a bell and told a servant to take the girls to Lady Macdonald,and then turned again to Rex:
“We had heard reports of the massacre at Chafui, and were afraid thatall had perished. I shall be glad to know how you and these youngladies escaped?”
Rex gave a brief account of the incident.
“I congratulate you most warmly on the success of your enterprise, andon the courage you displayed in undertaking it and carrying it out. Itcertainly seemed, on the face of it, to be a most mad–brained attempt,but it has been amply justified by the success that has attended it.
“Our position here is very precarious, and although the court continueto give us assurances of the most friendly intentions, we have the bestgrounds for believing that the Empress and her advisers are bent uponour destruction. However, we are making every preparation for defence,and believe that we shall be able to hold out until assistance arrives.What are your own intentions?”
“My intentions, sir, are to make my way at once down to Tientsin. Myparents cannot but feel the most lively anxiety as to my safety, and myfirst duty is to go back to relieve their suspense. If any expeditionis sent up here to your relief, I shall hope to accompany it in somecapacity. I can speak Chinese like a native, and may be useful as aninterpreter. I shall, of course, leave my cousins here if you willkindly permit them to stay, for although with my Chinese follower Imight make my way without difficulty through any bodies of the Chinesewho may be on the road, I could hardly do so if I were accompanied bytwo girls, however well they might be disguised.”
“Certainly not,” the envoy said; “that would be quite impossible.There are, we know, a considerable number of the Chinese between usand Tientsin. They have already torn up the railway, and althoughmy messengers do get through, direct communications are entirelyinterrupted. Still, as you have made the journey from Chafui herewithout difficulty, I should think that you might manage to accomplishthe journey to Tientsin safely. Of course you will remain here a day ortwo. One of the members of my staff will lend you a suit of clothes.”He touched the bell. “Send Mr. Sandwich here. He is one of the studentinterpreters,” he said, turning again to Rex, “and is about your ownheight; and I have no doubt that his things will fit you well. I shallbe glad if you will dine with me and afterwards give me more detailedaccounts of your adventures.”
In a few minutes the young man made his appearance. “Mr. Sandwich,” SirClaude said, “I will hand over this gentleman, who has just arrivedfrom Chafui, to your charge, He will only be staying here for a day ortwo, for he is going to try to make his way down to Tientsin. I shallbe obliged if you will lend him a suit of clothes while he stays here.”
“Certainly, I will do all I can to make him comfortable.”
“I should be obliged, sir,” Rex said, “if you would allow a surgeon todress my arm. A bullet entered just above the wrist and ran up to myshoulder. I think the wound is going on all right, but it is ratherpainful, and I should be glad to have it dressed properly.”
“Certainly, I will send our doctor to the college at once. He will bethere almost as soon as you. You did not tell me that you had been hit.”
“It is not a serious wound, sir; the bullet only just went under theskin, and I fancy that when it has once been properly dressed it willgive me no more trouble.”
“You are well disguised,” Sandwich said as he left the room with Rex.“I am sure that I should not have had any suspicions,
however closely Iinspected you. How did you manage to get here from Chafui?”
“I speak Chinese like a native. I was born in Tientsin, and was senthome to England four years ago; but as my father was most anxious thatI should keep up Chinese, he sent with me one of the coolies who hadalways been my special servant, and so I came back speaking it as wellas when I went.”
“We heard that there had been a massacre at Chafui.”
“Yes, I managed, with the aid of my man, to rescue my two cousins, whoare the daughters of the missionary there. I was just in time, for theywere to have been murdered on the following day.”
“But how was it that you were not murdered yourself?”
“For the simple reason that I was not there when the massacre tookplace. The news of the massacre came to us at Tientsin, and I set offwith my man to see if any of them had survived and if possible torescue them. This we effected by setting fire to the governor?s yamen,where the girls were confined, and carrying them off in the confusionthat ensued. The only adventure we met with on the road was that wewere interfered with by a party of a dozen Boxers. We had a fight withthem; but as we had breech–loaders, and they were jammed up in a room,we had no difficulty in disposing of them all.”
“By Jove, that was a plucky thing,” Sandwich said; “and so you aregoing off again?”
“Yes, I am in a hurry to get back to my people, who must be in greatanxiety about me.”
“Well, this is our college,” the young man said, stopping beforea building of some size. “We are all trained here for the ChineseConsulate service. I will take you to my room first and rig you out. Weshall be having a meal directly, and then I can introduce you to thefellows, when I promise you a hearty reception.”
Half an hour later Rex went down in a suit of white clothes to thedining–room. He had already asked Sandwich to hand over Ah Lo tothe proper quarter, where he could get rations and lodging. He wasintroduced to eight or ten young men who were studying at the college,and, after the meal was over, related the story of the rescue of hiscousins. The narrative excited great interest, and he was warmlypraised.