A Chinese Command: A Story of Adventure in Eastern Seas

by Harry Collingwood

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

  PRINCE--AND TRAITOR?

  Once fairly settled on board the _Chih' Yuen_, although there turned outto be an enormous amount of work to be done, and numerous little mattersto be attended to before the cruiser could be said to be thoroughly"shipshape", Frobisher found time to look round him a little, and tocast his eyes over the remainder of the northern fleet lying off thecity of Tien-tsin. Accustomed as he was to the sight of Great Britain'snoble squadrons, and the enormous size of her battleships and cruisers,the Chinese fleet at first glance seemed utterly insignificant as afighting machine. In the first place, the ships were few in number, andthere were but two battleships among them; and both they and thecruisers would nearly all have been considered obsolete in England.

  About a quarter of a mile from his own ship, and anchored in mid-stream,lay the two battleships which formed the backbone of the Chinese Navy atthat time--the _Ting Yuen_, the flagship of Admiral Ting, withFrobisher's pet abomination, Prince Hsi, as captain; and the _ChenYuen_, commanded, like his own ship, by an Englishman.

  Both these craft were old and out of date, having been built as long agoas the year 1879; but their armour was enormously thick, and both ofthem carried two eighty-ton monster guns, placed in turrets and set in_echelon_, so that the immense weight of the weapons should be evenlydistributed. The ships themselves were a little over seven thousandtons displacement, and were fitted with particularly long and stronglyreinforced rams, upon the effective use of which the Chinese admiral wasbuilding largely--not without justification, as events proved.

  These two battleships completely dwarfed the fleet of cruisers lyingabove and below them in the river, none of these being of more thanthree thousand five hundred tons--less than half the size of theflagship, and of course not nearly so heavily armed. In fact, none ofthe cruisers carried anything more powerful in the way of guns than thefive-inch weapons which Frobisher's own ship, the latest addition to theNavy, mounted; and of these the _Chih' Yuen_ possessed only two, one ina barbette forward, and one similarly mounted aft.

  Then came two sister ships, cruisers of three thousand tons, the_Yen-fu_ and the _Kau-ling_, armoured vessels, and one of two thousandseven hundred tons, also armoured, named the _Shan-si_; while close upunder the walls of the city lay a couple of protected cruisers, of twothousand five hundred tons each, the _Yung-chau_ and the _Tung-yen_.Frobisher's old acquaintance, the _Hat-yen_, which had been AdmiralWong-lih's flagship at the battle of Asan, was also to be seen busilypreparing for sea; and the dispatch vessel _San-chau_, which he likewiserecognised, had also been pressed into service. The _Su-chen_, in whichFrobisher had made his ill-fated attack on the pirates, was still in thehands of the repairers, who had managed to spin out the job of puttingher to rights again after the fight ever since the time of her returnfrom the Hoang-ho. Lastly, there was the old cruiser _Kwei-lin_, whichhad been in the Navy for over twenty years, and which had not moved fromher anchorage for the last decade. She was absolutely useless as afighting machine; and, short as the Chinese were of ships, the futilityof taking her to sea was at once recognised, and she was to be leftbehind to carry on her former duty as guardship to the port.

  In addition to the above-mentioned ships, there were seventorpedo-boats, which were to accompany the fleet, ranging in size fromseventy to a hundred and twenty tons; but, unlike Japan, China possessednone of the type of craft known as torpedo-boat destroyers--T.B.D.'s forshort. Japan had quite a number of these, all over a hundred tons, oneor two being even over two hundred; and they were, of course, muchfaster and more heavily armed than the Chinese torpedo-boats. Japanalso possessed an advantage in that her cruisers were not only largerthan those of China, they were also newer, faster, and more heavilyarmed; and there were more of them. One ship in particular, the_Yoshino_, was larger than the Chinese battleships; while the armouredcruisers _Matsushima, Hiroshima_, and _Hakodate_ were all well over fourthousand tons, and much more heavily armed than any of the Chineseships, with the exception of the _Chen Yuen_ and _Ting Yuen_. Thesewere superior only in the possession of the two big guns each: theirsecondary armament was not so powerful as that of the enemy's cruisers.

  Frobisher, who, of course, knew pretty accurately the composition of theJapanese naval strength, shook his head as he contemplated thecollection of vessels in the river. There was a sad lack of homogeneityin the squadron, which would render quick and effective manoeuvringextremely difficult. Some of the newer ships--his own, for instance--were capable of steaming fifteen or sixteen knots, but the battleshipswere not good for more than thirteen, while some of the older cruiserscould not be relied upon for more than ten or eleven; and as the speedof a fleet is necessarily that of its slowest ship, this meant that thewhole squadron could not steam at more than ten knots or thereabout.The speed of the slowest Japanese ships he knew to be not less thanthirteen knots; so, in the event of a naval engagement, the enemy'sfleet would be able to outmanoeuvre the Chinese, and choose their ownlocality for fighting, as well as the range and position. It was a mostimportant advantage to possess; and, as Frobisher considered thelikelihood--nay, the practical certainty--of the Chinese ammunitionproving faulty, he did not feel at all certain that China would come outon top, notwithstanding her possession of the two powerful battleships.

  He was aroused from his somewhat gloomy reverie by observing a signalfluttering up to the signal-yard of the flagship. Running below to hiscabin, he seized his telescope, and, hurrying up on deck again, read offthe communication, which he was enabled to do by means of his Chinesesecret naval code book, a few copies of which had been prepared withEnglish translations for the use of the British naval officers in thefleet, of whom there were several.

  The signal read: "Captains to repair on board the flagship immediately",and Frobisher then knew that the time for action was close at hand. Acouncil would be held in the admiral's cabin on the _Ting Yuen_, and theadmiral would inform his captains of his intended plans, and be willingat the same time to receive suggestions. It was to be, in fact, aCouncil of War, and Frobisher looked forward to it eagerly, as being thefirst actual war debate he would ever have attended. This would be hisfirst introduction to war as a reality. Hitherto he had only taken partin sham naval battles; he was now face to face with the stern reality,and he rejoiced exceedingly.

  Calling his interpreter to him, he had his gig ordered, got himselfquickly into his full-dress uniform, handed over the ship to Drake'scharge during his absence, and in a few minutes was being pulled acrossthe quarter-mile stretch of water that lay between the _Chih' Yuen_ andthe flagship.

  On his arrival there, owing to his ship lying farthest away, he foundthe remainder of the captains assembled, only awaiting his presence tocommence business. He was greeted very cordially in English by AdmiralTing, with whom Wong-lih had already been in communication, and receiveda few very courteous words of condolence upon the disaster on theHoang-ho. Then followed his introduction to his fellow captains, amongwhom was Prince Hsi. With this one exception, he was very warmlywelcomed by them all, especially by his compatriots, Captain Foster, ofthe _Chen Yuen_, who, as a matter of strict fact, was a Scotsman, andCaptain James, of the cruiser _Shan-si_. These were the only otherBritishers present being captains; but there were several others in thefleet in the capacity of first and second lieutenants, and especially inthe engineering department. In fact, with one exception, the chiefengineers of the ships were all either Englishmen or Scotsmen.

  The council was not a very lengthy one, for it was impossible to makeplans very far ahead, since little information was so far available asto the enemy's movements. The first duty of the fleet, explainedAdmiral Ting, was therefore to proceed to Wei-hai-wei, where a fleet oftransports was already taking aboard several Chinese regiments destinedfor service in Korea. These were to be convoyed by the entire squadronto the mouth of the River Yalu, forming the boundary between China andKorea, and landed there; after which the fleet's future movements wouldbe guided by
circumstances.

  The probability was that enough information would be obtained meanwhileto enable Admiral Ting to locate the position of the Japanese fleet. Inthis event, the Chinese squadron would sail for the spot indicated, andendeavour to force a general action; for it was vitally important toChina that she should obtain command of the sea at the earliest possiblemoment, and keep it; otherwise she would be seriously handicapped intransporting her troops to the seat of war, if not entirely preventedfrom doing so. Similarly, it was necessary to prevent the Japanese, ifpossible, from transporting their troops and supplies to Korea; and thiscould only be accomplished by first destroying or seriously cripplingthe Japanese Navy. In conclusion, Admiral Ting stated that he intendedto put to sea that same afternoon, and desired his captains to maketheir preparations accordingly.

  This decision was received with every symptom of delight by everybodyexcept Prince Hsi, who argued long and forcibly for a delay of a day atleast, giving as his reason that the flagship was not, in his opinion,quite ready for sea.

  On hearing this statement the admiral looked very keenly at hissubordinate, and asked him to explain his ship's unreadiness, while therest of the captains looked the astonishment they were too polite to putinto words. The ensuing explanation was somewhat unintelligible toFrobisher, notwithstanding the valiant efforts of his interpreter. Buthe gathered that the admiral considered Prince Hsi's reasons as quiteinadequate, and concluded by informing the Prince, without anycircumlocution, that he, as admiral, was quite as capable as her captainof judging whether the ship was fit for sea or not, that as in hisopinion she was perfectly ready, to sea she should go, and the rest ofthe squadron with her, as he had already decided.

  There was therefore nothing left for his Highness but to obey; but thespoilt scion of royalty showed very plainly by his bearing that he wasconsiderably upset by the admiral's adherence to his decision.

  Admiral Ting then signified in his courteous fashion that thedeliberations were at an end, and dismissed each of his captains with aword or two of hope and encouragement; being particularly gracious tothe three Britons. He added for the benefit of all that it was hisintention to _hoist the signal to_ proceed to sea as soon as _possibleafter the skippers had regained their own ships_.

  Frobisher noticed that no sooner were these words out of Ting's mouththan Prince Hsi murmured a low-voiced excuse, and disappeared hastilyfrom the cabin, as though he had suddenly recollected something ofimportance. He paid little attention to the fact at the moment, beingtoo fully occupied with his own thoughts; but the circumstance wasrecalled to his memory during the short journey between the _Ting Yuen_and his own ship.

  His gig had just passed under the stern gallery of the flagship, at afew yards' distance, when one of the Chinese seamen who were pulling theboat uttered an exclamation and covered his eyes for a few seconds withhis hand, as though something had blown into them. Frobisher instructedthe interpreter to enquire what was the matter, and was told that "theremust be an evil spirit in the boat", for while he had been keeping hiseyes on the _Ting Yuen_ a blaze of light, "brighter than the sun", hadflashed into them, nearly blinding him. The Englishman could see forhimself, when the fellow removed his hand, that he was still dazzled.

  Puzzled to know what had happened, for the sky was absolutely clear,with no possibility of the light being attributable to a flash oflightning, Frobisher handed the yoke-lines to the interpreter and turnedround in the sternsheets, looking to see where it could have originated.A few seconds later he saw what it was. From one of the cabin ports inthe flagship's stern, situated just below the gallery and in theposition where the captain's quarters would almost certainly be placed,there came another quick flash of brilliant light, lasting but aninstant, but extraordinarily dazzling in its intensity; and theEnglishman at once recognised what was happening. Somebody--and he wasable to form a pretty accurate guess who--was using a hand-glass orshaving-mirror as a heliograph, evidently either trying to attract theattention of someone on shore, or sending a message: it did not muchsignify which, for Frobisher was easily able to pick out the spot onshore where the light impinged. This was a window in a small,whitewashed house standing by itself in a large garden, situated abouthalf-way up the hill; and that the message or signal was expected wassoon proved to Frobisher when he saw, through his telescope, a manhurriedly dash out of the house and make his way through the gardentoward the beach, where several boats could be made out, drawn up on thesand.

  By this time, however, the gig had reached the _Chih' Yuen_, andFrobisher was unable to spend any more time watching the strange gamethat seemed to be going on, being fully occupied as soon as he got onboard in giving orders to his officers to prepare the ship forproceeding to sea, the signal for which, as Ting had said, was nowflying from the signal-yard of the _Ting Yuen_.

  Just as the anchor was in process of being catted, however, he chancedto glance again in the direction of the flagship, and saw, lying rightunder her stern, and concealed from the view of those on deck by thestern gallery, a small boat; and in that small boat was the man to whomthe signal had been heliographed. He was evidently talking to somebodythrough the open port of the captain's cabin; and a few seconds laterFrobisher saw a hand appear through the same port holding somethingwhite that looked suspiciously like a letter or packet. The man in theboat at once seized it and thrust it into his bosom; then, after a hastyglance round, he seated himself, and pulled slowly back again toward theshore with an exaggerated air of nonchalance.

  Frobisher could not avoid wondering who was the man that had been soanxious to send a message ashore, and also what the nature of themessage might be that the sender was so intensely eager to dispatch atthe very last moment. It must certainly be an important one to renderit advisable to send for a special bearer to take it, instead of lettingit go ashore in the usual way by the boat in which the admiral wouldsend off his last official dispatches, notifying his departure to theNavy Council.

  But, as a matter of fact, Frobisher could hardly be said to wonder verymuch about these points; for if he had been put to it he felt almostcertain that he could have named both the sender and the contents of themessage. Also, he thought that, without a very great effort, he mightbe able to name the man for whom that message was intended. What he didwonder at was the audacity of the man who dared to undertake sodangerous a business in full view of the fleet, and also whether anybodybesides himself had witnessed the transaction. Perhaps the mysterioussender had reckoned on everyone else being too busy to notice theoccurrence.

  A voice just beside Frobisher at that moment testified to the fact thatat least one other person in the fleet had eyes wherewith to see. Thevoice was Drake's, and all he said was: "I suppose you saw that, sir?"But from the tone in which the words were spoken Frobisher knew that hisown suspicions were shared.

  Frobisher glanced round him. "Ay, I saw," he replied, with set teeth."There is a noose waiting for a certain acquaintance of ours, Drake; andthe sooner it is placed round his neck and hauled taut, the better willit be for China."

  Further conversation was out of the question, for at this moment therecame the boom of a gun, followed by a string of flags fluttering up tothe signal-yard of the _Ting Yuen_, which, interpreted, signified thatthe flagship's anchor was up and that she was under way. Then cameanother signal, ordering the ships to proceed to sea in double column ofline ahead, the starboard line being led by the flagship, and the portline by the other battleship, the _Chen Yuen_.

  Gradually the two battleships gathered way and proceeded to head downthe river abreast of each other. Then came Frobisher's own ship, the_Chih' Yuen_, in the starboard division, with the _Shan-si_ as hercompanion; the _Yen-fu_ and _Khu-ling_ came next, then the _Yung-chau_and _Tung-yen_; while the old _Hai-yen_ and _San-chau_ ended the lines,the fleet thus being composed often vessels, two of which--the two lastnamed--were practically useless for the fighting line, but were to beemployed as tenders or dispatch vessels as occasion might require. Thes
even torpedo-boats had taken their departure from the anchorage whilethe War Council on the flagship was in progress, and had been sent onahead to the mouth of the river as scouts. They were to run a distanceof twenty miles out to sea, to ascertain whether there were any of theenemy's ships in the offing, and then to return with their report to theentrance of the Pei-ho, where the battle fleet would await their arrivalunder the guns of the Taku forts.

  The torpedo-boats, on their return from the scouting expedition,reported the sea clear of the enemy's war-ships, and the fleetimmediately proceeded on its way to Wei-hai-wei, which was reached thefollowing afternoon. Here things were in a state of almost hopelessconfusion, and the troops waiting to be embarked were scattered all overthe neighbourhood, foraging the countryside for provisions on their ownaccount. Some of the baggage had been put aboard the transports; somecould not be found at all; officers could not find their troops; and the_men_ themselves did not know their own officers when they saw them: soit was not until the fleet arrived and the Navy men began to take thingsin hand that order began to be evolved out of chaos, and matters tostraighten themselves out gradually.

  At length, however, the last man, the last horse, and the last riflewere safely got aboard the transports, of which there were no less thanten, and the fleet with its convoy got under way for the port of Wi-ju,at the mouth of the Yalu, where the troops were to be disembarked.

  The distance from Wei-hai-wei to Wi-ju is a little under two hundredmiles, and the voyage was completed without mishap in about twentyhours, the whole fleet coming to an anchor in the roadstead just as thefirst shades of evening were falling. There being no facilities at theport for working during the night, the task of disembarkation wasdeferred until the following morning, and the soldiers on board thetroop-ships seized the opportunity to indulge in a "sing-song" to whileaway the evening--the last entertainment of its kind that many of themwere ever to take part in.

  The transports were of course anchored nearest the shore, with thewar-ships outside of them for protection in case of a sudden raid by theJapanese fleet; while outside of all, a mile distant, the seventorpedo-boats steamed constantly to and fro, acting the part ofpatrol-boats, and keeping a sharp look-out seaward, for the Chinesewould have been caught in a trap had the enemy appeared while they werelying at anchor in the roadstead, unable to manoeuvre.

  Night came down as black as the inside of a wolf's mouth; the air wasthick and heavy, difficult to breathe, and surcharged with electricity;and to Drake, intimately acquainted as he was with these seas, it seemedthat a typhoon was more than probably brewing. There was a sense ofdiscomfort and uneasiness in the atmosphere which communicated itself toman and beast, for in the stillness of the night, in the pauses in thesinging and uproar, the horses in their stalls on board the transportscould be heard whinnying and neighing, as though not altogether at ease.Little balls of electricity came and went on the yards and at themastheads, like mysterious signals, presenting a very weird and uncannyeffect; and some of the superstitious Chinese sailors, who had had noprevious experience of "Saint Elmo's fire", burnt joss-sticks andtwisted their prayer-wheels, in the hope of scaring away the evilspirits which they averred were hovering round the ships.

  From the moment of joining the _Chih' Yuen_, Frobisher had been workingearly and late to get his ship into proper fighting trim; and beingthoroughly tired out by the time that the fleet anchored, he had turnedin for a few hours' well-earned repose. He seemed, however, to havebeen asleep only a few short minutes, instead of some four or fivehours, when he was aroused by a gentle but persistent knocking on hisdoor.

  In a moment he was broad awake, out of his bunk, and across to the door,being too cautious, in face of the stealthy character of the summons, tocall a question as to who was there.

  Opening the cabin door, he found Drake, who, with a worried andmysterious air, proffered the request that the captain would come up ondeck for a few minutes, if convenient.

  "Why, what's the matter, Drake?" asked Frobisher. "Are there any signsof the storm bursting?"

  "Well," was the reply, "it certainly does not look any too healthy. Butit is not on that account that I have disturbed you. I believe there issome hanky-panky work going on, sir, and that's why I want you to comeon deck and see for yourself."

  "I'll be up in a minute," replied the captain; and in less than the timespecified he had pulled on his trousers, flung a greatcoat over hisshoulders, and was standing by Drake's side at the taffrail. "Now, whatis the business?" he said.

  "It's got something to do with that Prince chap, or I'm a Dutchman," wasDrake's reply. "I was leaning over the rail here, a little while ago,thinking of nothing in particular--for Lieutenant Sing is on duty untilmidnight--when I saw a light appear suddenly away in that direction,"pointing. "There was nothing out of the way in that, you'll say; butthis light was a red one, and, what's more, somebody was holding it inhis hand, and was waving it about. That lantern, to my mind, was asignal; for after waving it for a few minutes, the man who held it beganto open and close the slide rapidly, as though sending a message byflash-light. I don't know the Morse code of flash telegraphy, and foraught I know it may not have been Morse; but it certainly was a signal,and when I tell you that it came from the _Ting Yuen_, and from the samecabin, so far as I can judge, as the `helio' message was sent from atTien-tsin, you will see why I thought it best to call you."

  "You were quite right, Drake," replied the captain. "There wassomething very queer about that business at Tien-tsin; and from what yousay, it would seem that the same man is playing the same trick here. Ionly wish I could catch him at his dirty work. It seems strange to methat nobody on board the flagship has got an inkling of--well, we willsay, the unknown man's game. Or perhaps it is that they do suspect, butdare not speak? Did you by any chance catch sight of an answering lightof any sort?"

  "I was just coming to that," replied Drake. "I did. When the first setof signals was finished, the red light disappeared, and away in theoffing another red light showed. That's what really made me come downand rouse you."

  "Perhaps it may have come from our own torpedo-boats," suggestedFrobisher.

  "No," replied Drake, "it came from a spot beyond them, and--there youare, sir; look there! There's the light again on the _Ting Yuen_. Now,watch for the light from seaward in reply."

  Frobisher did not do so, however. Without even answering, he dartedforward, gave a few low-voiced orders, and then came back to Drake.Immediately afterwards could be heard the sound of bare-footed seamenrunning about, carrying out some duty, and then a man stepped up to thecaptain and announced that all was ready.

  "Very well; wait for the signal," was Frobisher's reply, and he turnedhis eyes seaward, watching for the answering flash. A second later itcame; and as it winked out, the captain placed a whistle in his mouthand blew three short calls.

  In an instant the _Chih' Yuen's_ great search-light blazed out, to theastonishment of Drake and sundry other folk, and began to sweep slowlyand steadily back and forth across the horizon. The light on the _TingYuen_ vanished instantly, Frobisher noticed, and the one to seaward wentout immediately afterward. But the vessel from which it had been showncould not put herself out of sight so easily.

  The beam of the search-light hesitated a moment, and then settledunwaveringly upon a little vessel about five miles away. She circledand dodged, but all to no purpose; she could not escape that unblinkingray, which followed her, relentless as fate, revealing every detail onboard her as distinctly as though she were under the light of day.

  That she was a destroyer was at once apparent; there could be nomistaking the long, low, clean-cut black hull, with the four squatfunnels and the short signal-mast. Nor could there be any doubt as toher nationality. Chinese she was not, China possessing no boats of thatdescription; and since she was lurking in that particular spot under thecover of night, there was only one thing she could possibly be--aJapanese scout. The locality of the Chinese fleet had been discover
ed,thanks to the traitor in their midst, and the destroyer would now returnto her parent fleet with her report; and, unless the Chinese were verycareful, they would be caught in the roadstead, like rats in a trap.

  Frobisher watched the flying shape of the destroyer, undecided whetheror not to try a shot from his heavy guns; but he soon realised that, bythe time that the gun could be loaded and trained, the chances of makinga hit would be small indeed. He therefore ordered the search-light tobe kept going in case any other similar craft should be lurking in theoffing, and, after a few words to Drake, went below and dressed himselffully. Then, late as it was, he ordered his gig, and had himself pulledacross with all speed to the _Ting Yuen_. He smiled grimly as hepictured Admiral Ting's face when he should hear what he was about totell him.