CHAPTER XXVIII.
ATTACK ON THE PALACE.--SUICIDE OF THE EMPEROR, THE PRINCESS WOUNDED.
Having dismissed the soldiers, the two boys mingled with the vast crowdthat was surging toward the palace with deafening cheers for Li-Kong,who, by the treachery of the general, aided by those of his own troopswho for weeks past had been passing into the city under the pretence ofbeing fugitive tradespeople, had now reached the very walls of the outerpalace without opposition. Indeed, so great were the numbers of therebel troops and the mass of people who joined on their way, that whenthey came in sight of the palace walls the imperial soldiers fled indismay, and so well had the rebel chief, and his brother traitors nearthe person of the Emperor, organized the conspiracy, that it was notuntil the outer palace was in flames that Wey-t-song became aware thatLi-Kong had even entered Pekin. Then, however, like anotherSardanapalus, his energies became aroused, and he collected togethersome few hundreds of his body guard, and determined to sell his life asdearly as possible, and till morning he held out; for so well did hisguards handle the bows, and so clumsily did the rebels use theirmatchlocks, that it was early morning before the latter could effect anentrance to the inner palace.
When, however, the broad light of morning came, what with the force ofnumbers, and their being enabled to use their matchlocks to greateradvantage, they soon forced the gates and rushed into the great court_en masse_. Being among the first to enter, Nicholas and Chow beheld theEmperor, in the uniform of one of his own officers, exhorting his troopsto die with him rather than to succumb to rebels. After a short fight,however, the coward guards threw down their arms, and shouted, "Longlife to the heaven-bestowed Emperor Li-Kong." Indignant at theircowardice, Nicholas would have rushed among them, but for Chow, whowhispered the danger of the princess.
For a minute the fraternization of the guards appeased the rebels--itwas only for a minute--then they shouted for the head of the vileWey-t-song, and one of the guards pointing to the inner palace, they ranin that direction like a herd of hungry wolves, killing all, men, women,or children, whom they met in their way; then they came to the ladies'palace, and with hideous shouts of exultation, set it on fire; and thepoor women, at least those who were not destroyed by the flames, ranfrom all quarters, but, alas! only to fall by the swords of the fiends,or, if escaping the latter, to perform, to them, the sacred duty ofthrowing themselves headlong into the canals, that they might notsurvive the downfall of their imperial master.
More infuriated than the rebels, and with a wild hope of saving theEmperor and the princess, Nicholas ran through the burning palace, as ifseeking death from the falling timbers; but, alas no clue could be foundto those he sought. At length he thought of the imperial gardens, aplace that the rebels, in their anxiety to plunder the palace, hadforgotten.
"So, while Chow went in an opposite direction, he took the path leadingto the mulberry grove, and there, upon a mound, he discovered the objectof his search--both Emperor and princess; but, to his horror, the firstdead, and hanging by his own girdle from the bough of a prune-tree, andthe princess senseless, expiring from a deep wound in her side, fromwhich the blood was flowing copiously. Shocked so that the blood in hisveins seemed congealed, Nicholas cut down the dead Emperor with hissword, then stanched the wound of the princess with his silk girdle, ranto the lake, filled his cap with water, and sprinkled it in her face,when, joy! the pale face resumed the hue of life--still she wasinsensible, and he miserable, for he knew not what other means to adoptfor her restoration. Then came the sound of approaching footsteps--itmight be a rebel, and he clutched his sword, determined to die beforethe royal lady should be taken from him--but no, it was Chow, who,having lost himself for some time in the mazes of the garden, hadreached the spot by mere accident; and no sooner did the faithful fellowperceive the tragic scene, than he fell upon his knees and wept.
"Truly the villains will speedily be here, and we shall be lost if wecan not discover some hiding-place," said Nicholas.
"The gods must intend our escape from this den of thieves, for I havejust crept out of yonder cavern," said Chow, pointing to a thick bush atsome short distance from where they were standing.
Then, without more words, they bore the senseless girl to the spotindicated by Chow, and pushing aside the brushwood, entered a cavernlighted from the top by a small grating, and laid her upon the floor.The stanching of the blood, the cold water, and the movement, revivedher, when she exclaimed, "This terrible dream--where am I? who art thou,thou terrible man?"
"Fear not beautiful daughter of the Ming, for thou art in the hands ofthy own servants, who have saved thee----"
"Saved me!" she said, with a vacant gaze at Nicholas; then, as ifremembering some terrible occurrence, added, "From my royal father, whoplunged his dagger in my side, that his daughter might escape thevillain Li-Kong, but the Emperor, my parent, O noble youth?"
"Alas! unfortunate princess----"
"Enough--enough--I remember all--the holy Emperor has saved himself thedisgrace of falling into the power of the traitor. But why then," sheadded, bitterly, "has the worthless life of a daughter of his own bloodbeen saved?"
"To be the most valued jewel in the throne of her brother the EmperorYong-Li," said Nicholas.
"By restoring my worthless life thou hast brought shame and disgraceupon the daughter of thy Emperor, for hath it not ever been the customof the daughters of the Son of Heaven to kill themselves upon thedownfall of their sovereign?"
"The princess is of the religion of the Lord of Heaven, who alone givethand taketh life," replied Nicholas.
"Thou art right, noble youth, and the descendant of Tait-sou will bearher misfortunes more as becomes a Christian than a daughter of China,"said the princess; adding, sorrowfully, "but the remains of my belovedparent----"
"Shall be saved from the profane hands of rebels if the princess willremain within this cavern," replied Nicholas; who, followed by Chow,returned to the mound, where for a minute he stood contemplating allthat remained of the last Emperor of the Ming dynasty. "Alas! poorprince, that thy virtues should have been clouded with so many faults.See, O Chow, how bitterly he felt the ingratitude of his petted andpampered guards," said Nicholas, reading some lines that the Emperor hadwritten in his own blood upon the border of his robe, and whichwere:--"The heavens are in thy favor, O Li-Kong; yet, although mysubjects have basely abandoned me, I beseech of thee, as their parent,to wreak thy vengeance on my body; but save, O save my deluded people."
"The rebels come this way," said Chow.
"Let us hide till they have passed," said Nicholas, and snatching uphis cross-bow, he ascended the nearest tree, believing that Chow haddone likewise.
The new comers were two officers of Li-Kong.
"It was in this direction, O Lee, near the mulberry grove, that thewoman slave saw the princess fly," said one, looking about.
"So said the heaven-bestowed Li," replied the other; but perceiving thebody of the deposed sovereign, rebel as he was, his inherited awe forthe majesty of the Emperor caused him to throw himself upon the ground,saying, "This then, O my poor prince, is the end of thy glories! indeedthy punishment has been severe, may it lead thy successor to avoid thyfaults."
"Get thee to thy feet, O Quang, for the Emperor who can forsake hispeople well merits that they should forsake him in his extremity;moreover, should the heaven-bestowed Li see thee, he will cause thyfoolish head to be chopped from thy shoulders, for, like a hungry tiger,he cares but little whether his food be friends or enemies, so that hecan satisfy his appetite."
"Thy words are good," said Quang, rising to his feet; adding, "Yet themost ravenous beast becomes satisfied."
"True, O Quang, but when this morning the great Li for the first timesat upon the golden throne of state, it trembled and tottered."
"A sad omen, O Lee; surely his majesty should have chosen a fortunateday."
"Truly, according to the chief bonze, it is an omen, signifying thatwhile the body of Wey-t-song remains whole, the heav
en-bestowed Emperoris in danger, and it is this that has angered him; but see, he comes,"and both fell to the earth before the rebel general, who approachingwith his great officers, said, "Have you discovered the princess, youcrawling slaves?"
"At the risk of their lives thy slaves must deliver their miserableintelligence to the fortunate and heaven-bestowed founder of the mostmagnificent of dynasties," said Quang.
"Let the slave open his lips."
"The great princess has escaped with the Christian woman Candida,"replied the trembling Quang.
"Escaped!" exclaimed the tyrant; "then let it be proclaimed throughoutthe empire that he who can bring her unarmed to our feet, shall receivehigh promotion, and the weight of his mean body in gold;" but at thatmoment, for the first time, seeing the body of the Emperor, heexclaimed, "The great traitor to his people has been too fortunate inhaving been permitted to close a luxurious career with the honorablepunishment of self-destruction; he should have been exhibited alive in acage;" then reading the lines upon the dead sovereign's robe, "See thou,O Quang, that the miserable body be cut into a thousand pieces, anddistributed far from the tombs of his royal ancestors," said thisnew-made sovereign, with less generosity than the second Emperor of theTartar race, who some years after, while hunting, happening to see inthe distance the monument which had been erected to the memory of theunfortunate Wey-t-song, quitted his horse, and falling upon the earth,said, with tears in his eyes, "O Prince! O Emperor! worthy of a betterfate, you know that your destruction was not owing to us, your deathlies not at our door, your own subjects brought it upon you, it was theythat betrayed you; it is therefore upon them, and not on my ancestors,that heaven must send down vengeance."
As you may imagine, this arrested the attention of Nicholas, who becamedeeply interested, and, as he listened, it was with difficulty he couldkeep down his indignation. He had smiled as he heard of Lee's terror atthe omen, groaned at the slaughter of the people, rejoiced at the escapeof the Lady Candida, the more so as the soldiers believed that she hadcarried away the princess with her, which would at least throw them offthe right track; then at the sight of the brutal Li he had instinctivelyplaced an arrow on his bow, but the danger of the princess taught himprudence, and he did but nervously twitch the string; when, however, Lispoke of the dead Emperor his heart throbbed with indignation, and hewas nigh losing his presence of mind; then when Li delivered the orderfor the mutilation of the body, every vein in the boy's forehead andneck seemed bursting with rage, which, when the tyrant struck the corpsewith his foot, he could no longer suppress; no human power could keep itback, and just missing the tyrant's throat so narrowly that its featherbrushed his necklace, an arrow pierced the bark of the tree againstwhich he was standing.
"See with what vigilance the guards have sought for traitors, when thiscould so nearly reach the mark," said the brave rogue, coolly, butholding his shield in readiness for the next.
Unlike Li-Kong, whose courage was as remarkable as his crimes, the teethof his officers chattered, and their knees knocked together with fear,as if the arrow had been a thunderbolt from their own gods; when,however, they recovered, they placed their shields before their facesand rushed to the direction from whence the arrow had flown, and wouldsoon have discovered Nicholas but for a huge lion, who, finding the doorof his cage open, rushed upon the group with such unmistakableintentions, that not only the officers, but Li-Kong, brave as he was,fled in terror to the palace, with the beast at their heels. You willlittle wonder at the extreme fright of the soldiers, when I tell youthat this lion was the only animal of his kind in China, having beenpresented to the late Emperor by a foreign king, or they would probablyhave met the brute face to face.
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