Under the Dragon Flag Part 3

There was a rush and hurry of fugitives all around me, and now for the first time I saw the j.a.panese soldiers in pursuit, pressing on the fleeing throng, and using rifle and bayonet furiously on all and sundry, stabbing and hacking fiendishly at those who fell. I was knocked down in the rush and trampled upon, and it was some time before I could rise. A j.a.panese soldier was near me as I staggered to my feet, and took aim at me with his rifle. The barrel was within a foot of me, and I struck it aside just in time to escape getting a bullet through my body. I had no weapon but those of nature, but in their use I was, like most of the Anglo-Saxon breed, something of an artist, and before the j.a.p could recover his piece I gave him a good, straight, British right-hander between the eyes, which sent him down like a nine-pin. In all human probability it was the first sample of the article that had ever come under his notice; he was clearly unused to the method of attack, and lay quite flat as if to think it over, whilst I retreated as fast as my legs could carry me. I resolved to hold on for the inn, thinking that if I succeeded in reaching it, I should be comparatively safe, as perhaps the outbreak of fury might confine itself to the streets. I knew, too, that I had not much farther to go. I made little progress, nevertheless, being frequently turned out of the road by the necessity of avoiding the soldiers, who were spreading fast across the town, shooting down all whom they encountered. One began to stumble over corpses in nearly every street, and the risk of encountering parties of the murderers increased, every minute. Again and again I came into the midst of the work of butchery, and every now and then ran the gauntlet of a flight of bullets fired down the narrow avenues. At length I lost my way completely, and wandered about through the pandemonium around, thinking that each minute would be my last. At length, in emerging from a dark lane leading up an ascent, I came upon a sheet of water. I immediately recognized it as a large shallow fresh-water lake in the rear of the dock basin, and it thus appeared that I had strayed back nearly to the point where I had re-entered the town on descending from White Boulders.

A frightful scene was before me. I have said that the land by which I had come out on the lake inclined steeply upwards, and the water was about fifteen feet below me when I arrived in sight of it. It was surrounded by crowds of j.a.panese soldiers, who had driven large numbers of the fugitives into the water, and were firing on them from every side, and driving back with the bayonet those who attempted to struggle out. The dead floated on the water, which was reddened with blood. The soldiers, yelling and laughing with vengeful glee, seemed to gloat over the agonies of their victims. It was fearful to see those gory forms struggling in the agitated water, those who still lived endeavouring to extricate themselves from the ma.s.s of corpses, falling fast, but often rising again with their last energies, streaming with water and blood, and uttering piteous cries and appeals for mercy, which were mocked by the fiends around them. Many women were amongst them; one I noticed carrying a little child, which, struggling forward, she held up to the soldiers as if in appeal. As she reached the bank, one of the wretches struck her through with his bayonet, and with a second stroke as she fell transfixed the child, which might have been two years old, and held its little body aloft.

The woman rose and made a wild effort to regain the child, but evidently exhausted and dying, fell back again into the water. Her body--and in fact it was done with everybody that came within reach--was hacked in pieces. Fresh batches of victims were being driven in, until there threatened soon to be no room in the water for any more. I could bear the spectacle no longer, but turned and fled from the ghastly spot.

I now knew my whereabouts, and once more set out for the inn, along the line from which I had strayed. Heaps of dead and spectacles of murder were continually presenting themselves. In one place I saw some ten or twelve soldiers with a number of unfortunates whom they had tied back to back in a batch. With volley after volley they despatched them, and proceeded to mutilate their bodies in the usual horrible fas.h.i.+on. n.o.body was spared, man, woman, or child, that I could see.

The Chinese appeared to offer no resistance. Many of them prostrated themselves on the ground before the butchers with abject submission, and were shot or stabbed in that posture.

I was now to have a close shave. I came suddenly and unawares upon a party engaged in slaughtering some shrieking wretches--women and children amongst them--and being perceived was shot at by one of the soldiers. I rapidly retreated, but he detached himself in pursuit. I entered a house; he followed, but I had the start of him, and for a while evaded him. I got into what looked like a kitchen or scullery, and amongst some other utensils I came upon a curiously shaped hatchet, very heavy and sharp. I waited for about a quarter of an hour, and then, judging that the j.a.p must have left when unable to find me, I prepared to sally forth again, as it was rather more dangerous to be in the houses than in the streets, the soldiers entering and pillaging them one by one, and of course slaughtering anybody they found within. No sooner, however, had I got to the front, than I unexpectedly encountered the very man who had driven me in, retiring laden with booty. He dropped his plunder at once upon seeing me, and handled his bayonet to run me through. We were in a little low room, with a door in a corner opening on the street. He made a furious thrust at me; by a quick movement I evaded it. The steel grazed my left side, and crashed through the wall behind me, to which I was pinned by the clothes, and as he tried to withdraw his weapon, I had a fair stroke at him in return. The axe was very sharp; rage and despair seemed to have doubled my strength, and I split his skull half-way down to the jaw. Brains and blood were scattered over me, as he sank dead at my feet.

I felt no inclination to stay any longer, and was about to take my departure, when it struck me that I might as well arm myself with my defunct antagonist's rifle and cartridge-pouch. This led immediately to a better idea. The j.a.p was a man of nearly my own stature; why not put on his clothes? It was fast darkening, and aided in the deception by the obscurity, my chance of escape would be greatly increased, though I began to have an uneasy feeling that it would be a miracle if I escaped destruction anyhow. I immediately acted on the inspiration.

The soldier, I have said, was nearly of my own height (5 ft. 6 in.), but I was a good deal broader across the shoulders, and I made an extensive split up the back of his tunic in struggling into it. That, however, was no great matter, and I was soon equipped in all his outer cas.e.m.e.nt, except his cap, which had been bisected along with his head.

There was a little keen dagger in his belt, and with it I cut off my moustache as close as I could, as the j.a.panese seldom have much hair on their faces. Then, not forgetting his rifle, a beautiful Lee-Metford, I sallied forth, carrying my discarded clothes over my arm, a circ.u.mstance not at all likely to attract attention, as they were all loading themselves with booty.

I was undecided enough how to proceed. I might pa.s.s out into the open country north of the town, but if I did so I should probably either die of starvation or get killed as a j.a.panese straggler. I began to think my best course would be to return to the port, and take my chance of getting away in some small vessel. First of all, however, I resolved to complete my intention of seeing what was going on at the inn, to which I was now quite close. I kept boldly on, and my disguise answered admirably, not one of the soldiers seeming to suspect that I was anything but a comrade. Now and then I would be greeted by wild cries in their high, shrill voices, or one, waving his rifle, would shout something as he pa.s.sed. I returned the greetings in dumb show, and hurried on. I do not know how it would have fared with me in broad daylight; probably not nearly so well; but it was now nearly dark.

Most of the soldiers had provided themselves, to light the work of slaughter and pillage, with one of those coloured lanterns which are to be found in such profusion in Chinese towns, and their demoniac aspect was greatly heightened by the illuminations they carried as they flitted to and fro. The butchery was proceeding without the least sign of abatement; shots, shouts, shrieks, and groans resounded on every side; the streets presented a fearful spectacle; the ground was saturated with blood, and everywhere strewn with horribly mutilated corpses; some of the narrower avenues were positively choked with carnage. The dead were mostly the townspeople; their valiant defenders seemed to have been able to make themselves scarce; where they all got to is a mystery to me; perhaps owing to the fact that they got rid of their uniforms early in the proceedings in order not to be identified as combatants, a dodge that must have served them very little, as the conquerors killed everyone they came across.

At length I reached Sen's house, only to find that the destroyer had been there. The place was in darkness; I took down the lantern from over the outer gate, with the name of the inn and its proprietor's written on it in the Chinese character, lit it, and began an inspection. The first thing I saw was the corpse of my landlord himself, lying in the covered court. His head was almost severed, and he had been disembowelled. Most of the lower storey rooms had doors opening into this court; across the threshold of one lay the corpse of a female servant, mutilated in an unspeakable manner. The household establishment consisted in all of some ten or twelve persons, and eight of them I found lying murdered in different parts of the premises. There was no sign of living presence anywhere. The place had been thoroughly ransacked, and everything worth having carried off. My blood boiled as I surveyed the scene of desolation and ma.s.sacre, where lately I had witnessed happiness and cheerful industry, and I felt that I could willingly have died myself on the spot to obtain vengeance on the murderers.

In one of the upper rooms there was a bamboo ladder and trap leading on the roof, which was flat, and it occurred to me to ascend and look round. It was quite dark, and there was little to be seen beyond the limits of the street. Distant illuminations marked the positions of the forts on the surrounding heights. The seaward ones were still in possession of the Chinese. They fell easily on the following day, and had been practically abandoned. I noticed that the sounds of violence in the town were rapidly decreasing. As I walked slowly round, the dim light of my lantern fell on two figures skulking in the shadow. They retreated as I advanced, until they could back no further, and then one of them fell on his knees before me, bowing his forehead on the roof with abject cries. I held the lantern towards him, and to my astonishment recognized Chung. He evidently did not know me, and no wonder, considering the manner in which I had rigged myself out. He seemed half out of his wits with fear, and I had some difficulty in forcing the fact of my ident.i.ty upon his conviction. Then his delight was as great as his previous terror. His companion was a stranger to him--a man of exceedingly gentlemanly and prepossessing appearance, and clearly a person of condition, being, in fact, as I afterwards found, a mandarin. His own residence had been sacked and his family murdered. He and a brother had escaped into the street, were pursued, and his relative shot in running away. Though with his left arm broken by a bullet, he had run into the inn. When the soldiers entered it he and Chung got on to the roof, where none of the j.a.panese thought of looking for victims. His broken arm was causing him considerable suffering, and having acquired during my knock-about life some rude knowledge of surgery, I put the fracture together, and made a sling with my neck-tie.

I explained my situation to Chung as well as I was able; he translated to his countryman, who knew no English, and we held a council as to future proceedings. The work of slaughter had apparently been suspended; either the soldiers were tired of it or had been recalled.

The j.a.panese forces exceeded 20,000, and of these I do not think that more than one half, perhaps not one third, were engaged in this first evening's work, which was only the opening scene of the ma.s.sacre.

Ma.s.ses of the troops had been placed to occupy the forts, and otherwise secure the conquest. We thought it likely, as indeed was the case, that they would all withdraw to the camps outside as the night advanced, and we resolved to attempt to gain the water-side, and seek a last chance of escape, under cover of darkness. We searched the place for food, but all we could find was a little bread, and a few prepared sweetmeat cakes.

An awful stillness, broken at times by ominous sounds, came over the town. Lights flitted at times through its dark labyrinths, by whom borne it was impossible to perceive. The presence of death, in its most fearful shapes, seemed palpable to the senses, and we, crouching in the gloom on the roof, to which as the safest place we had returned, had before our mental vision the mutilated bodies in the rooms close below us, with the ghastly probability, almost the certainty, that another hour or two would join us in their horrid fate. To myself, the reckless, wasted past presented itself, in that situation of appalling terrors, in all its enormity. There was I, after throwing away the high advantages of fortune and prosperity, a ruined and degraded man, about to meet an appropriate ending to such a career by a b.l.o.o.d.y death at the hands of some brutal soldier, in an unknown land, at the ends of the earth, where scarcely a human being knew a word of my native tongue. If these pages should be read by any young man embarking without a thought of the future, in the flush of high spirits and inexperience, upon courses similar to mine, I hope he will take warning, and stop in time.

It was, I should judge, about ten o'clock when at last we descended to the street. There had been no firing for about two hours. The lantern was re-lit, and Chung, who knew the way best, took it and went ahead.

I still wore the soldier's dress; if met and challenged, I proposed to make it appear, as best I could, that I was making the Chinamen conduct me to one of the camps, or if I failed in this to sell my life dearly with the rifle.

Our path lay right across the town, and the dead lay thickly in nearly every street in the quarters we traversed, where, of every age, s.e.x, and condition, they had been promiscuously butchered by the hundred.

Here and there the miserable survivors--survivors only for the present--were searching, with low wailings and lamentations, for those they had lost, with the aid of their coloured lanterns, which gave a look of indescribable ghastliness to the mutilated forms they bent over to examine. To my last day I shall remember, with unfading horror, the aspect of those remnants of mortality, in all the hideousness stamped upon them by the unnamable atrocities practised during that diabolical orgy of murder and mutilation, rape, l.u.s.t, and rapine. This is war! Away, in the splendid pavilion of the vanquished, the conquering marshal, surrounded by his generals and officers, was installed in triumph, secure of his country's applause and his emperor's favour; but here, amid these desolated homes, these mutilated heaps of death, was the night side, the shadow, of their glory. And this was but the first day of _four_! It must be admitted that the Chinese drew it upon themselves, that everywhere else the j.a.panese behaved with admirable clemency and moderation; but after making every allowance, their conduct in this instance, and particularly that of the high commanding chiefs in never seeking to put a stop to the devilish excesses perpetrated before their eyes on unoffending non-combatants, is richly deserving of everlasting infamy.

Many of the poor wretches thus cowering about ran away upon perceiving, as they thought, an armed j.a.panese soldier, but in one instance I had reason to be thankful that I was not alone. A middle-aged man and two younger ones were carrying away, in one of the streets we traversed, the half-naked body of a woman, which had been split open from the abdomen to the chest. The elder man glared upon me, in the dim light, with the expression of a tiger, and drawing a long curved knife from his breast, and pointing at me, shouted something to his companions, who perhaps were his sons. Chung at once interposed, and talked with them rapidly for a few moments, and naturally his explanation sufficed and we proceeded. I asked Chung what the man had said:--"There is one of the j.a.panese devils; let us rip him up."

But it would only be needlessly harrowing to dwell on the sights of horror we encountered at every turn. We pressed on, rapidly yet cautiously, our feet dabbling in blood wherever we trod. As we proceeded down a street about ten feet broad, we heard in front sounds as of voices shouting and singing. The avenue we were in took a turn about fifteen yards in advance of us, and as we hesitated and finally stopped, there appeared round it a body of men in whom we at once recognized the j.a.panese soldiers. There was a low but wide doorway on our right, and into it we at once slipped with no trifling celerity.

It was intensely dark and offered a good concealment. We could not afford to extinguish our lantern, and I placed it behind an angle of the inner wall where it was impossible that its glimmer could be seen from the street. Crouching in the deep shadow, we anxiously awaited the pa.s.sing of the soldiers, whose voices we heard momentarily approaching, shouting at their full pitch a discordant song, accompanied by a loud ringing sound which at first I mistook for that of some instrument. They were soon abreast of us, some twenty or thirty in number. I scarcely breathed as the ferocious band went trooping past. Their appearance was ghastly and terrible beyond conception. They were literally reeking from the shambles of inhuman butchery; their clothes and weapons were smeared and clotted with blood; some held human heads aloft on their bayonets; the lanterns which most of them carried, and swung to and fro as they marched, threw on their repulsive figures and savage Oriental faces, their white teeth, oblique eyes, and sallow countenances, a weird, wavering light, appropriate to their infernal aspect; they looked more like demons than like men. The foremost, who appeared to be dismounted dragoons, were clas.h.i.+ng their sabres together in a kind of accompaniment to the yelling chant in which they all joined. On they went, trampling the dead with whom their b.e.s.t.i.a.l ferocity had strewn the devoted town, the sound of their high shrill voices and the ring of the clas.h.i.+ng steel being audible for some time after they had pa.s.sed out of sight. At length it died away and all was still again, so silent that I seemed to hear the quick and heavy throbbing of my heart.

After waiting two or three minutes I told Chung to take the lantern so that we might set out again. He did so, but as he was about to step from the doorway he tripped over some object concealed by the darkness and fell: it was a dead body. I examined it by the lantern-light.

There were several deep bayonet wounds and a terrific sabre-slash across the face which had completely destroyed the left eye. The abdomen was abominably mutilated. A knife was clenched in the right hand of the victim, showing that he had not died without an effort to defend himself. I swung the lantern about the recess, and perceived further back three or four steps, ascending to a door slightly open.

These steps were covered with blood which seemed to flow from behind the door. I pushed it open, and entered the place to which it gave access. It seemed to be a kind of public office--a wide, low, bare apartment, divided on one side by a ma.s.sive wooden counter, surmounted by a part.i.tion pierced at intervals with pigeon-holes, as if for communication between persons on opposite sides of the division. It may have been a bank or money-changer's office. It is not, however, on account of the place itself, but of its contents, that I describe it.

The floor was covered with the corpses of men, women, and children, mingled indiscriminately together, fugitives who had there taken refuge and been relentlessly butchered. The bodies had been decapitated, and the b.l.o.o.d.y heads stuck up on a long row of spikes which surmounted the wooden part.i.tion over the counter. Both Chung and the mandarin uttered a cry of terror as we caught sight of those distorted countenances, grinning upon us with the livid stare of violent death through the dim medium of the coloured lamplight. My blood seemed to freeze as my eyes encountered that ghastly gaze of the dead, to which the upright position of the heads gave a sort of semblance or mockery of life. An infant a few months old was pinned to the counter below by a sharp piece of iron run through its little body. The floor was two or three inches deep in thickening blood and the entrails of the mutilated bodies. The arms and legs as well as heads had been hacked off some of them and flung about the place.

Altogether a more hideous and revolting spectacle than this chamber of horrors can never have been presented to mortal gaze. Such a scene, and the sickening smell of blood, drove us out again almost immediately. At that moment another party of the j.a.panese pa.s.sed our hiding-place. An infantry soldier in advance carried a large uncovered flambeau, which threw a broad, red, steady glare over all surrounding objects. I at once saw that these were all officers, excepting two or three; smart, well-got-up, gentlemanly-looking little men in the extreme; returning, perhaps, from calling off the last of their b.l.o.o.d.y war-dogs, or making sure that all resistance had ceased. They were laughing and chatting gaily, as if the ma.s.sacre were rather a pleasant affair than otherwise. When they had gone by, we issued into the street, but had proceeded only a few paces when we saw a man carrying a lantern appear round the abrupt bend before mentioned. He looked like another j.a.panese hurrying after his companions who had just pa.s.sed. We returned with all haste to the doorway; and as we judged that he had probably seen us, we re-entered the inner slaughter-house and closed the door. We were right in thinking we had been seen, and in about a minute we heard steps outside the door, which was presently thrust violently open and the soldier entered, a low, sinister figure, holding a drawn sword in what seemed to me a curiously white hand. He peered into the obscurity, perceived me, and doubtless taking me, in the uncertain light, for a j.a.panese, from the clothes I wore, lowered his weapon and addressed me in a harsh authoritative tone. The sound of the language was singularly like that of Italian. He pointed to the Chinamen, probably asking what they were. I took advantage of his unguarded pause to plunge my bayonet in his body, with a thrust so rapid that he had not time to make the least movement to avoid it. He fell at once where he stood, but attempted to rise again, when I gave him another p.r.i.c.k which settled his business. He fell back heavily against the counter with a groan. One of the heads above was shaken off its spike by the concussion and struck him on the shoulder as he lay. His eyes, opening and shutting convulsively, seemed to gaze upon the ghastly object. He groaned again, and in a few moments was dead. I bent over him with the lantern, and soon perceived from the richness of his uniform and accoutrements, as well as from the look of caste about the head and face, that I had killed an officer of high rank. He wore white gloves, which accounted for the odd look of his hands when he appeared on the threshold. I felt sorry when I realized that he was a man of consequence and authority, for had I perceived it at first I would certainly have endeavoured to obtain his protection for myself and my companions; but Chung had slunk behind me with the lantern, the officer's own was a very dim one, so that in the obscurity I could only make out that he was a j.a.panese soldier, and expecting to be attacked judged it prudent to get my blow in first. Having given him what his countrymen called the "happy despatch," he could be of no further use to us. Before again leaving the place, I took possession of his sword, which was a very beautiful and valuable weapon, the hilt ornamented by a quant.i.ty of ma.s.sive and richly-chased gold, and a great number of tiny diamonds and rubies,--infinitesimal gems, set in pretty, quaint devices, with a larger stone here and there. This trophy I brought away with me from Port Arthur, but when in Liverpool at the beginning of the year of grace 1896, the pressure of financial exigency compelled me to entrust it to the temporary care of the universal uncle of mankind, who said it was worth 600 or 700. I could by no means persuade him to believe my account of how it came into my possession. He laughed and said I was making fun of him. His obstinate incredulity was amusing. "You're a sailor, sir, I see," he said, "and we know what sailors' yarns are in this town. I've heard a few of them."

Again stealing outside, we resumed our perilous way through this city of dreadful night. We lost no time in turning out of the street where had occurred the incidents just described, and which seemed in the track of stragglers moving towards the adjacent Golden Hill fort. We left it by a very narrow lane ab.u.t.ting at right angles. The other end of this was blocked by a heap of corpses which we had to climb over.

As I was doing so a hideous groan struck my ear, and the body under my foot seemed to heave. I started back, and simultaneously the apparent corpse rose up, a tall, blood-besmeared figure, which stared horribly upon me for a moment and then, with another loud and horrid groan, fell p.r.o.ne on his back, his arms widely extended. I lost no time in scrambling past him after my companions, who had run away, and small blame to them, for it was like the rising of a corpse suddenly endowed with volition. Both were by this time in what has been forcibly and picturesquely described as a "blue funk"; they trembled ceaselessly; their teeth chattered, and their eyes roved here and there with a wild, hunted look; every now and then they stopped convulsively, imagining that they saw or heard something to indicate the proximity of the ferocious murderers. As for myself, if my outward man were less open to reproach, my inward condition was nothing much to boast of, and truly the horrors which continually presented themselves, joined to the oppressive midnight shadow and stillness which hung over the place of doom, would have damaged the nerve of a football referee.

We reached the basin through a series of open brick-works, used as timber stores, on its north side. Everything was darkness and desertion. The moon was rising far beyond the West Port away in our front, but it was in the last quarter and afforded little light. There were very few stars visible. The night had turned piercingly cold, but so great was my mental anxiety and excitement that I seemed unaffected in body by the severity of the weather. With the lantern we began to search about for a boat, at first without success. In a square-shaped inlet or creek a little above the dockyard we presently came upon another horrifying spectacle. A junk lay stranded in the shallows. It was literally full of dead bodies, and many lay on the adjacent sh.o.r.e.

The unfortunates had evidently been pursued down to where the junk lay, and slaughtered before they could get it off. It struck me that what we were looking for, a boat, might in all probability be found on board the fatal vessel. It lay heeled over broadside to the beach, and I waded out to it through the shallow water. I gained the upper deck with some difficulty and stood amidst the ma.s.s of carnage. Rifle-b.a.l.l.s had done the work of death. Many of the bodies were in army uniforms.

I could find only two boats. One, a mere c.o.c.kle-sh.e.l.l, had been perforated by bullets and rendered useless. Another lay inboard on the quarter-deck, but it was so filled and covered with corpses that at first I did not notice it. It seemed in fair condition, but the task of ridding it of its horrible freight was so repugnant that I returned on sh.o.r.e to resume the search for one elsewhere. It was in vain, however; all we could find in the vicinity was an old sampan, which besides being very leaky, was more than three men could manage, only one of them, moreover, having any knowledge of sailoring. There was nothing for it but to return to the death-s.h.i.+p. We all went on board this time, and applied ourselves to the work. The pile of dead were dragged away, and with considerable labour, and aided by the careened condition of the junk, we managed to launch the boat, which had been secured inside the bulwark. It was in a horrid state with blood, but we were not in a situation to be particular. We found a quant.i.ty of provisions and fresh water--or rather water which had once been fresh--in the cook-house of the junk.

It must have been after midnight when we shoved off and got afloat.

Neither of my companions were experts with an oar, and could render me very little aid; moreover, Chinese oars, like Chinese belongings altogether, are very unlike anything else in the world and need some practice to use. We were, however, close to the entrance of the port, which being defended by torpedoes and mines, we ran little risk of encountering j.a.panese vessels, although the submarine dangers threatened us as well, if we strayed from the deep-water channel in the dark. We got on in safety, though very slowly, and another two hours had been consumed before we were through.

What to do next I had no fixed idea. One thing, however, was a.s.sured, that it was certain death to stay in Port Arthur, and that our only chance, slender as it seemed at best, consisted in getting as far away as possible. I resolved, after some consideration, to hold on south round the extremity of the Peninsula.

In the seaward forts above us we could discern no signs of activity, and only a light here and there, far out on the misty expanse of waters, showed the position of the j.a.panese war-vessels, which had an easy job of it as far as Port Arthur was concerned. The weather, though so bitterly cold, was far from stormy, yet the difficulty of rowing was increased naturally when we got out into the heavier waters of the sea. So unpromising in fact did our situation look, that I began to reflect whether it would not be better to stay about the mouth of the harbour, and allow ourselves to be taken by some j.a.panese s.h.i.+p, than wander off I knew not where, probably in the end to perish of starvation. Luck decided the point. We had painfully made a couple of miles from the estuary of the harbour, when we came upon a large junk stranded on a sand-bank. There were no lights showing on board her; in the obscurity we could see n.o.body; yet she did not look like a wreck, and at first we did not know what to make of it. After a consultation, it was decided to fire a shot from the rifle and see what it would lead to. No sooner had the report rung out, than there was a bustle and stir on the vessel's decks, which appeared suddenly to swarm with men, and became illuminated by lanterns. I told Chung to hail. He did so, and a voice replied in Chinese. We drew close abreast, and my companions held a parley with those on board. Our situation explained we were permitted to ascend. The junk was full of men. She had got into her present predicament in escaping, and they were waiting for the morning flood tide to float her off. Two or three junks, we were told, had struck torpedoes in leaving the harbour and been blown in pieces, and many others had fallen into the clutches of the enemy. Those on board, besides her usual crew, were chiefly soldiers. With the profound deference paid to rank by the Orientals, the chief cabin was at once given up to the mandarin, who insisted on my sharing it with him. He and Chung gave a most glowing account of me to those on board, to whom, in my remarkable accoutrement, I was an object of legitimate curiosity.

Exhausted by exertion and anxiety, I was fast asleep within half-an-hour after stepping up the junk's side. I slept far into the day, and when I emerged found that she had been successfully floated off the bank, and got out to sea without so far attracting the notice of the j.a.panese s.h.i.+ps.

CHAPTER VII

A very queer craft is a Chinese junk. Few Europeans have any defined idea what they are like. They are of different sizes, most of them suited to the numerous rivers and ca.n.a.ls which intersect the country in every part. The largest are of about one thousand tons burden. The whole mode of building is most peculiar. Instead of the timbers being first raised as with us, they are the last in their places, and the vessel is put together with immense spiked nails. The next process is doubling and clamping above and below decks. Two immense beams or string pieces are then ranged below, fore and aft, and keep the other beams in their places. The deck-frames are an arch, and a platform erected on it protects it from the sun, and from other injuries otherwise inevitable. The seams are caulked either with old fis.h.i.+ng-net or bamboo shavings, and then paid with a cement called chinam, consisting of oyster-sh.e.l.ls burnt to lime, with a mixture of fine bamboo shavings, pounded together with a vegetable oil extracted from a ground nut. When dried it becomes excessively hard; it never starts, and the seams thus secured are perfectly safe and water-tight.

All the work about her is of the roughest kind. The trees when found of a suitable size are cut down, stripped of their bark, and sawn into convenient lengths; the sides are not squared, but left just as they grew. No artificial means are resorted to for any bends; a tree or branch of a tree is found with the requisite natural curvature. There is not in the building, rigging, or fitting-up of a Chinese junk one single thing which is similar to what we see on board a European vessel. Everything is different; the mode of construction; the absence of keel, bowsprit, and shrouds; the materials employed; the mast, the sails, the yard, the rudder, the compa.s.s, the anchor--all are dissimilar.

The vessel in which I now found myself, the _King-s.h.i.+ng_, was of about seven hundred tons. She was built entirely of teak, and her skipper, or Ty Kong, as he is called, alleged that she was more than a hundred years old, and said that one of her crew who had recently died, had served in her for fifty years. Her extreme length was one hundred and sixty feet; breadth of beam, twenty-five feet and a half; depth of hold, twelve feet; height of p.o.o.p from the water, thirty-eight feet; height of bow, thirty feet. Her most attractive portion was the saloon, or state cabin, the beauty of whose furniture and decorations formed a curious contrast to the rude and rough workmans.h.i.+p of the cabin itself. Its carved and gilded entrance was protected by a sort of skylight, the sides of which were formed of the prepared oyster-sh.e.l.ls so commonly used in China instead of gla.s.s, the latter being too expensive for general purposes. The enclosure was thirty feet long, twenty-five broad, and eleven in height. From the beams overhead were suspended numbers of the different kinds of lanterns used in China. They were of every imaginable form, size, and variety of material. The sides and deck-roof were of a yellow ground, and covered with paintings of flowers, leaves, fruit, insects, birds, monkeys, dogs, and cats; some of those latter animals were what in heraldic language would be called _queue-fourchee_. The place was filled with a vast a.s.sortment of curious and beautiful articles, gathered together during the long existence of the vessel. To give a list of them would require pages; brought to Europe they would have made the reputations of a dozen museums.

At the end of the saloon was the Joss-house, or idol-house, containing the idol Chin-Tee, having eighteen arms, with her attendants, Tung-Sam and Tung-See. The richly-gilt idol was made of one solid piece of camphor-wood, and had a red scarf thrown round it. An altar-table, also of camphor-wood, and painted red, stood in front of the Joss-house, with an incense burner placed upon it. The red ground of the table had gilt carvings of flowers and insects, and the imperial dragons with the ball of flame between them. On each side of the front was a square place painted green, with words in Chinese inviting wors.h.i.+ppers to bring gold and agate stones as offerings.

The sleeping berths of the crew were all _aft_, on a lower deck.

Close by these was the most astonis.h.i.+ng part of the vessel, the colossal rudder, not hung with pintles and gudgeons, the vessel having no stern-post, but suspended to two windla.s.ses by three large ropes made of cane and hemp; one round a windla.s.s on the next deck, and two round a windla.s.s on the upper deck of all, so that it could be raised or lowered according to the depth of water. When lowered to its full extent it drew about twenty-four feet, being twelve feet more than the draught of the vessel. It was steered on this berth-deck when fully lowered. It was also drawn close into the stern, into a kind of socket, by means of two immense bamboo ropes attached to the bottom of the rudder, pa.s.sing beneath the bottom of the vessel, and coming over the bow on the upper deck, and there hove in taut and fastened. When let down to its greatest depth it required occasionally the strength of fifteen men to move the large tiller.

On ascending to the next deck, one pa.s.sed under a covering made of oyster-sh.e.l.ls, similar to that over the entrance to the saloon; under this hung a flag which had been borne before the Emperor on one of the most solemn religious processions. On a piece of wood near one of the windla.s.ses was inscribed--"May the sea never wash over this junk."

Close by was the sailors' Joss-house, containing the deity of the sea with her two attendants, each with a red scarf. Near the princ.i.p.al G.o.ddess was a piece of the wood from the first timber of the junk that was laid; this was taken to one of their princ.i.p.al temples, there consecrated, and then brought on board, and placed as symbolic of the whole vessel's being under the protection of the deity. A small earthen pot, containing sacred earth and rice, stood in front, in which Joss-sticks and other incense was burnt. A lighted lamp, too, was here always kept burning; if it had gone out during a voyage it would have been considered an omen of bad luck. On the right and left, before coming to this Joss-house, were paintings. One panel represented the Mandarin Ducks; another, a Chinese lady at her toilette; a third, a globe of gold-fish. On this deck were cabins for pa.s.sengers and supercargoes, the doors painted with different devices.

Above was the lofty p.o.o.p-deck, with one of the rudder-windla.s.ses on it, and the mizzen-mast, fifty feet long, and placed on one side, in order to allow the tiller to work when in shallow water. The main-mast was ninety-five feet in length, and ten feet in circ.u.mference at the bottom. It was one spar of teak, and just as the tree grew with merely the bark taken off. It was not perfectly straight--a defect with us, but not so considered by the Chinese, who prefer a mast with a bend in it to one without, thinking it adds to the strength, and is conclusive evidence of the goodness of the spar. This mast was hooped round, in consequence of being cracked while undergoing the process of hardening. The mode adopted for this purpose by the Chinese is to bury the timber for a considerable time in marshy ground; thus treated, they say teak becomes hard as iron. The mast did not go within four feet of the bottom--the s.h.i.+p having no kelson--but, to use the technical term, was "toggled" to two large pieces of wood which answered as partners. To these were added two other heavy pieces as chocks, which were intended to keep the huge spars in their places.

Neither stays nor shrouds were used. The main yards were made of teak quite rough; the upper one was seventy-five feet long, and the lower sixty.

The sails were made of closely-woven matting, a substance much lighter than canvas. It holds the wind better, and rarely splits, because it never shakes in the wind. So large and heavy was the mainsail of the _King-s.h.i.+ng_, that it required forty men with the aid of the capstan to raise it. Without the capstan eighty men would have been needed. It had eighteen reefs. The sails were reefed by being lowered, which precluded any necessity for going aloft.

The vane was in the shape of a fish, the body formed of rattan work, the head and gills of painted matting, with two projections like the antennae of a b.u.t.terfly. The tail was furnished with long streamers, and little flags were stuck in the body for additional ornament. There were also Chinese characters painted on the body signifying "Good luck to the Junk." Between the main-mast and fore-mast were two large rough windla.s.ses stretching across the deck, and used for getting up the anchor. By the entrance to the forecastle were two water-tanks, capable of holding one thousand five hundred gallons each. The fore-mast was seventy-five feet from the deck. It raked forward, and was supported by a large piece of wood on the after part, and secured similarly to the main-mast. The anchors were of wood, the flukes shod with iron, and attached to the shank by strong las.h.i.+ngs of bamboo. The stock was composed of three separate pieces of wood lashed together by rattan ropes, and was fixed to the crown. As the Chinese drag their anchors on board instead of catting and fis.h.i.+ng as other seamen do, this position of the stock offers no impediment. The flukes were of the same dimensions as those of similar sized anchors with us; they were straight and not rounded, and there were no palms. There was also a kedge, with only one fluke. The cables were of rattan. The junk had no bitts, but to supply their place the strong beams across the deck had large holes for stoppers. The "wales" formed another singular feature of the vessel--airtight boxes, projecting three feet from the side; their object was to make the vessel more buoyant, to enable her to carry more cargo, and prevent her rolling, but this last, in my opinion, was chiefly prevented by the size and position of the rudder.

The cook-house was placed differently from the galleys of European vessels, being aft of the main-mast. The lower part was built of brick, with two square holes in front for the fires. Troughs of water were placed in front of these holes, so that any ignited fuel that might drop out would be at once extinguished. Wood was the fuel used.

For cooking they used iron pans surrounded by red tiles. One was covered by a kind of half cask; this was used for boiling the rice, the cover being to preserve the steam after the water was boiled away, which causes the rice to be beautifully done and not soddened, as is often the case in our cooking. It also prevents it from being thrown out when the vessel rolls. The quant.i.ty of rice for each man was about three pounds daily. All was.h.i.+ng of dishes, etc., was performed on a stage outside the galley so that it might be kept perfectly clean. The proper allowance for each mess was delivered in front. Close to the cook-house was a water-tank of wood, painted in imitation of bricks, and capable of holding three thousand gallons.

Such was the _King-s.h.i.+ng_ junk, and such are most of the craft of the Celestials. They would appear to be gradually coming round to Western ideas in the matter of s.h.i.+ps, and in fact have done so entirely for war purposes, but the fas.h.i.+ons of their ancestors are still good enough for most of them, and the junk is to be seen everywhere. Not a mere thing of yesterday is the junk. Vessels essentially similar to the one I have described were navigating the Chinese seas and rivers when the fleets of Rome and Carthage were contesting the supremacy of the Mediterranean, and long before. Rome and Carthage, and many another mighty maritime power, have risen and pa.s.sed away utterly, like bubbles, or dreams, but the Chinaman and his everlasting junk are still here.

The vessel belonged to some mandarins at Shanghai, who used it for trading to Cochin-China. It had recently, however, been despatched with a cargo to Cheefoo, had been blown away north by a gale, and forced to run into the harbour at Port Arthur to escape the j.a.panese.

There it had lain until the place fell. The crew numbered fifty-four, all told.

After floating off the sand-bank, and getting an offing, we were within the Gulf of Pechili, and determined to make for one or other of its ports, but on the first day we encountered a very heavy nor'-wester, which blew us far out of the Gulf. When, after lasting a day and a night, the gale abated, we were well down the Yellow Sea, and the skipper, or Ty Kong, whose name was Sam-Sing, determined to hold on for the port where the junk's owners dwelt. I had no objection to make to this, nor had the mandarin, who possessed friends and relatives in the south. The soldiers on board, however, were very discontented and mutinous, and as they considerably outnumbered the crew I began to fear trouble. They were all from northern provinces and had no desire to go south. Their language was scarcely intelligible even to their nominal countrymen. The immense diversity of dialects in China is, in fact, a great hindrance to progress by preventing the unification of the people. After some excited discussion they were prevailed upon to acquiesce by the solemn promise of the mandarin to make arrangements with the authorities for their return to their own parts, or failing that to send them back at his own expense; besides, the representation that to turn north again would most likely end in capture by the j.a.panese vessels, through whose present cruising-ground the gale had luckily blown us, had great weight.

I was vastly amused, during my voyage in the _King-s.h.i.+ng_, by the superst.i.tions of her crew. Their devotion to their idols was indeed truly edifying. A religious man, according to his lights, was Sam-Sing, and rigidly punctual in the daily observance of incense-burning, gong-banging, and other rites supposed to be propitiatory of the deity. He was also, however, greatly addicted to opium-smoking, and when under the influence of the drug, of which, as an old stager, he could consume great quant.i.ties without being stupefied, the idea of the occult power of the G.o.ddess, never absent from his mind, was turned completely upside down. When free from the fumes of opium n.o.body could have been more respectful to the Josses, but when intoxicated, and with the weather threatening, he openly poured upon them abuse, reviling, and suspicion. He usually started a pipe of opium about noon, and the change in his demeanour came round gradually during the afternoon. In the morning he was sober and pious, in the evening intoxicated and blasphemous, particularly, as I have said, when the weather was bad. "As for that infernal Chin-Tee," he would say in effect, shaking his fist in the direction of the idol, "it's all her fault we're in this mess. What's the use of her--lazy harridan! Much she cares what becomes of us"--and so on till overpowered by excess. When by the next morning he had slept off his debauch, and came round to recollection of his enormities, his penitence knew no bounds; he would prostrate himself in the Joss-house, and in the most abject terms implore forgiveness for his intemperate language over-night. Then he would generally abstain for two or three days, but at the first sign of bad weather, he took to his pipe, and Chin-Tee came in for another blast of abuse. The rest of the crew were always horrified by the shocking impiety of the Ty Kong, and on more than one occasion I really feared that they were about to proceed to Jonahize him. They were by no means all opium-smokers; some of them smoked tobacco, of a vile quality, in metal pipes, with an under-hanging curved portion containing water, through which the smoke pa.s.sed. The opium-pipe is a quite different thing. It is a reed of about an inch in diameter, and the aperture in the bowl for the admission of the opium is not larger than a pin's head. The drug is prepared by boiling and evaporation to the consistence of treacle.

Very few whiffs can be taken from a single pipe, but one is enough to have an effect on a beginner, as I have already described in my own case, but an old hand, like the Ty Kong, can smoke for hours.

The incense burned before the idols consisted mostly of pieces of aromatic wood, called Joss-sticks, silvered paper, and tin-foil. One of their most revered objects was the mariner's compa.s.s, and before it they would place tea, sweet cake, and pork, in order to keep it faithful and true! It is well known that the Chinese were acquainted with the phenomenon of the magnetized needle centuries before it was known in Europe, and their compa.s.s differs materially from ours; instead of consisting of a movable card attached to the needle, theirs is simply a needle of little more than an inch in length balanced in a glazed hole in the centre of a solid wooden dish, finely varnished. It has only twenty-four points, and with its use they combine some of their most ancient astrological ideas. The broad circ.u.mference of the dish is marked off into concentric circles, inscribed with mystical figures. We say the needle points to the north; they hold that the attraction is to the south, and therefore colour that end of the needle red, a hue that appears to have a mysterious efficacy in their eyes. I have already told how the Josses were wrapped in red scarves, and bits of red cloth were tied on the rudder, cable, mast, and other princ.i.p.al parts of the vessel, as safeguards against danger. There was also a large painted eye on either side of the bow, to enable the junk to see her way! At first I could not understand the meaning of this, and told Chung to ask the Ty Kong for an explanation. "Have eye,"

translated Chung, "can see; no have eye, no can see." On occasions of special religious demonstration these optics were decorated with strips of red cloth. On one occasion when a steamer suspiciously like a j.a.panese cruiser hove in sight, they tied red rags to their antique guns, or gin-galls, and with this consecration on their defensive arrangements, seemed to feel perfectly secure. I suppose the English-trained crews of their navy must have been persuaded out of these amazing notions, and taught the European compa.s.s, but the ideas of Sam-Sing and his merry men were as old as their vessel.