The Blue Dress Girl

by E. V. Thompson

  Chapter 31

  FROM THE MOMENT She-she was dragged from the home of the Strachans by Taiping rebels she knew that Chang must be behind her abduction. As her kidnappers hurried her away through the night she tried desperately to think of ways to escape.

  While they fled through the foreign settlements a rebel maintained a grip on each arm. However, when they came to a narrow causeway that crossed a network of rice-fields one of the Taiping rebels was forced to relinquish his grip.

  Seizing the opportunity, She-she managed to wrench herself free. Tumbling down a steep but low bank, she landed heavily on the ground beneath the causeway. The fields had been drained of water but the recent rains had made them muddy. Picking herself up she tried to run, but slipped and fell. Before she could take advantage of the darkness and make her escape, her captors had plunged from the bank and surrounded her.

  Minutes later they were on their way once more, but this time her hands were pinioned behind her back and a rope about her waist was held fast by the man in front of her.

  Gasping for breath she was hurried through the night until they reached the camp of the Taiping rebels. Muddy and dishevelled, she was thrust through the doorway of a hut that seemed to be the only permanent building within the confines of the camp.

  ‘Kneel in the presence of the Heavenly Prince.’ A fist in the middle of her back sent She-she sprawling to the ground.

  Raising her head, she looked up at the seated figure of the ‘Heavenly Prince’. Suddenly, and without warning, she began to shake from a combination of shock and fear.

  ‘You are as beautiful as I have always remembered, She-she – but so muddy! Never mind, we will clean you up soon. It made me very sad when I learned you had escaped from Nanking. It also made the Tien Wang extremely angry. No one has ever run away from his palace before. He will be very pleased to know I have recovered you. Of course, the Tien Wang will not concern himself with details of the fate of such a lowly person, so I anticipate we will have many days and nights of enjoyment together.’

  Signalling to the guards who had been grinning at the exchange, he said, ‘Take her away. Have her bathed and dressed in some of the spoils that have been taken on the way from Nanking.’

  She-she was seized by the guards and hoisted to her feet before being bundled from the hut.

  Manhandled by the rebel soldiers, She-she’s ordeal was brought to an end by the shrill voice of a woman.

  ‘Is touching a woman’s body more important to you than your head? Go, before I call for the Heavenly Prince’s executioner!’

  Releasing She-she, the Taipings fled before the woman’s far from idle threat. No one knew whence Sai-tin had come, but during the short time Chang had been with the Taipings, she had become a legend. She had proved an exception to the rule of strict segregation within the Taiping army. Accompanying the Heavenly Prince wherever he went, Sai-tin attended to all his household needs and kept his male servants in constant fear for their lives.

  ‘Come with me.’ Sai-tin beckoned to She-she. ‘We have part of the river screened off in order that the women soldiers might bathe in privacy. It’s cold, but it will liven you up, I dare say.’

  ‘Women soldiers?’ She-she’s hopes rose momentarily. ‘Is Kau-lin with them?’

  ‘You know her?’ Sai-tin looked at She-she suspiciously. ‘Yes, she is here, but not in this part of the camp.’

  ‘Can you get a message to her for me?’ She-she spoke eagerly. Too eagerly.

  ‘No – and if you try to speak to anyone at the river I’ll have some of the soldiers brought from the camp to bathe you and ensure you behave.’

  She-she said nothing, but if there was any chance of making good her escape at the river she would take it. Like most Hakka girls from her village, she was a strong swimmer.

  Once at the river it soon became clear there would be no opportunity to use her talents as a swimmer. The women’s bathing area was screened around with stout linen cloth securely fastened to stakes driven deep into the river bed. It would be impossible for a man or woman to enter the bathing area – or to leave.

  Frustrated, She-she bathed and changed into clean clothing. All the time she was constantly aware that guards were nearby.

  Her ablutions completed, She-she expected to be taken back to the hut where she had met Chang. To her relief she was taken instead to a large tent – but her relief was short-lived.

  The tent was fitted out as a luxurious bedroom, but the clothes hanging in one corner were a man’s. They were of such a fine quality that they could belong to only one man … Chang, the Heavenly Prince of the Taipings.

  ‘Why have I been brought here?’ She-she demanded of Sai-tin.

  ‘You will find out soon enough. It is said the Heavenly Prince led a celibate life before joining the Tien Wang. His virility makes such claims difficult to believe. Perhaps he is working hard to make up for all the lost years. He is almost as virile as the Tien Wang himself.’

  As the old woman began chuckling to herself, She-she said, ‘I don’t want Chang. I’ve never wanted him. He knows this.’

  Sai-tin glared at her. ‘It does not matter what you want. You are nobody. The Heavenly Prince is a cousin of the Tien Wang …’ Her voice tailed away to an indignant muttering. Eventually, she said, ‘It is late, the Heavenly Prince will be here soon. Drink this.’

  She-she was thirsty. She took the drink from the woman, but as she put it to her lips breathed in a strange aroma that caused her to catch her breath.

  Lowering the beaker, she said, ‘What is this?’

  ‘It doesn’t matter what it is. Drink.’

  ‘No, I don’t like it.’

  ‘You will do as you are told. Drink it.’ Sai-tin stood in front of She-she, hands on her hips.

  ‘It smells like opium and I will not take it.’ She-she tipped the beaker and poured the contents to the floor.

  ‘You are a very foolish girl. You are making it hard for yourself.’

  Going to the flap of the tent, Sai-tin called into the darkness. Moments later a number of guards filed inside the tent.

  ‘Take hold of her.’ The guards hastened to obey the woman and, despite her struggles, She-she was soon held fast.

  Sai-tin spent some minutes mixing a drink. When she was satisfied she carried it to where She-she was secured by the Taiping soldiers.

  She-she began struggling once more but the soldiers held her even tighter. They used her struggles as an opportunity to fondle her, until Sai-tin brought their activities to a halt.

  ‘Enough! Hold her head back – and keep it still.’

  One of the soldiers took a firm grip on She-she’s hair and pulled her head back. She still refused to open her mouth, but Sai-tin pinched her nose.

  She-she held her breath until she felt she must burst. When she could hold it no more, she opened her mouth to suck in air and the infusion of opium was poured down her throat.

  She-she still struggled desperately, alternately spluttering, choking, and swallowing. She tried to spit out the liquid that was being poured down her throat but most of the infusion was swallowed and the first beaker was followed by a second.

  By now She-she was sobbing with a combination of frustration and anger, but Sai-tin had won.

  Gradually, in spite of herself, the anger within She-she began to seep away. As it disappeared she experienced a ringing in her ears. She suddenly felt as though her body was caught in an invisible tide, alternately ebbing and flowing. At the same time her eyelids began drooping, trying hard to close.

  Sai-tin had been watching her closely. Now she said to the soldiers, ‘Leave us. Go.’

  She-she was not aware that she and Sai-tin were alone. She realised the older woman was helping her to the bed but could not resist as Sai-tin laid her down and undressed her, occasionally stroking her body. She felt incredibly drowsy. There was an overwhelming desire to sleep, but sleep would not come.

  She did not know how long this feeling lasted. It seemed there w
as an increasing weight pressing on her brain. At the same time it felt as though an invisible hand was stroking her arms, legs and spine, yet she was sure no one was there.

  She-she found she could no longer move, yet neither did she want to. She felt more relaxed than at any time in her life and was possessed of an extraordinary sense of well-being.

  While she was feeling like this she became vaguely aware that someone was standing over her. Whoever it was reached down and laid aside the loose clothing in which she had been dressed. The other being was a shadowy, indistinct figure and then it was touching her, removing her remaining clothing.

  At some point in this timeless period she realised that the person touching her was a man. She knew because he lay upon her and she felt him inside her … moving with a wonderful motion she remembered as though from another life.

  Her body moved in rhythm with his and suddenly a name was upon her lips. For a few moments the name remained there, going no further. Then, as her body began to move, independent of her brain, the name escaped.

  ‘Kernow … Kernow … Kernow…!’

  She was not aware that as she uttered the name the movement of the body lying upon her ceased abruptly. She was drifting off into a sleep that bordered upon unconsciousness.

  She was unaware of the unheavenly curses uttered by Chang, the Heavenly Prince. Unaware of his anger, his frenzied kicking caused her no pain….

  Chapter 32

  WHEN KERNOW ARRIVED at the camp where he had left the Chinese commissioners, he found they were no longer there. If any further confirmation was needed that the Chinese planned mischief, this was it. The commissioners should have been at the camp, preparing to meet Lord Elgin.

  Kernow had a dragoon-trooper and two Indian sowars acting as his escort. Angrily leaving the commissioners’ empty tent, he said, ‘This is another of the Chinese ploys to gain time. They’re hoping that winter will defeat us where they can’t. We’ll ride back to where we left the colonel and all return to General Grant. There’s nothing more for us here.’

  As Kernow was speaking the Chinese crowded about the four men. Suddenly, in response to a signal given by an officer standing out of Kernow’s sight, the Chinese soldiers rushed in and seized them.

  ‘Don’t try to struggle!’ Kernow shouted the warning, but he was too late. The British trooper fought back violently until he was felled with a blow from the butt of a musket.

  The soldier who had knocked him to the ground raised his musket to deal him another blow, but Kernow called, ‘No!’ in Chinese. The soldier lowered his musket, but Kernow received a blow from a pike handle to the side of his head for daring to give an order to a Chinese soldier.

  Kernow and his three companions then had their hands tied behind their backs, the cords being pulled so tight that they dug deep into the flesh of their wrists.

  Kernow protested volubly, demanding that the commissioners be called to the scene.

  The officer who had ordered the seizure of the four men gripped Kernow by the shoulder and spun him around. Then he pushed him in the back, causing him to stumble. Speaking in Chinese, he said, ‘The commissioners have returned to Peking. That’s where you are going. Maybe they will speak to you, but I doubt if you will hear them. You will certainly not be able to reply. Heads on the poles above the gates of the city do not say very much.’

  The officer’s reply provoked much laughter among his men. They followed his example in pushing the pinioned men from one to the other, kicking them to their feet when they stumbled.

  This game went on for almost half-an-hour until, staggering dazedly, they started off on the road to Peking.

  Proof that this had been a deliberate and planned taking of hostages was provided along the way. The cavalry colonel and his handful of men had been the only ones to make their way hack to British lines. By the time Kernow and his party reached Peking they had been joined by some forty French, English and Indian soldiers.

  Paraded through the streets, the Fan Qui soldiers were reviled by jeering crowds who threw mud and stones at them.

  When the novelty of parading the foreigners palled, their Chinese escorts herded them to the Emperor’s Summer Palace. The temple and its gardens were monuments to beauty, but the unfortunate prisoners were given no opportunity to appreciate its wonders.

  Herded into an enclosed courtyard they were thrown to the ground and now their captors bound each man’s ankles as tightly as his hands.

  One of the Indian cavalryman was crying that the bonds left his hands with no feeling at all. Kernow called to the Chinese officer, pleading that he allow someone to slacken off the rope on the cavalryman’s wrists.

  The Chinese officer’s response was to call for water to be brought. When it arrived he ordered that each man be turned on to his face and water poured over the ropes, tightening them even further.

  Soon after this the Chinese soldiers discovered a sport that seemed to please them greatly. Lifting a man to his knees they would then kick him on to his back. This game kept them amused until dusk when they went off leaving about a dozen soldiers to guard the bound and moaning men.

  Soon after darkness fell one of the prisoners began screaming. Two of the guards went to the man and Kernow could hear the sounds of a beating. Long before it stopped the screams had subsided to a low, uncontrolled sobbing.

  When daylight broke over the courtyard, the man who had been sobbing was dead. So too was one of the Indian soldiers who had been beaten badly earlier in the day.

  For three days and nights the prisoners were held in the courtyard of the Summer Palace, by which time four more men had died and a number of others were delirious.

  No food or water had been brought for the prisoners during the whole of this time. When Kernow lodged a protest through cracked lips, the soldiers’ response was to cram earth and dirt into the mouths of their helpless prisoners, treating it as a huge and clever joke.

  At the end of the third night the men were wakened by their captors who brought iron shackles and chains to take the place of the cruel ropes. By this time the hands of a number of the prisoners had been starved of blood for so long they would never function again.

  When sufficient feeling had returned to the feet of the surviving prisoners, they were divided into four parties and led away, staggering from lack of food and the effect of their bonds.

  Kernow and five other prisoners were taken to what appeared to be a small fort in the hills outside Peking. Here they were lodged in an evil-smelling building that had until recently been occupied by the buffaloes used on the fields around the fort.

  They had still been given no food and Kernow was very worried about the condition of a young bugler boy belonging to one of the infantry regiments. Kernow pleaded through the high, barred window of the outhouse whenever he heard a sound from outside, but his pleas for food went unanswered.

  ‘We’re going to die here, sir, aren’t we?’

  The bugler’s voice was weak and cracked. He was one of those who had lost all sense of feeling in his hands, and much of the use of his feet. He had been supported by Kernow and a Frenchman during the last hours of the journey from the Summer Palace.

  ‘Of course we’re not going to die – and you’ll outlive us all. One day you’re going to be able to spend your days sitting in the sun, surrounded by grandchildren. Then you’ll tell them how you were imprisoned by the Chinese and were so brave they promoted you to corporal immediately upon your return to the regiment.’

  The young boy made a pitiful attempt at a smile. It seemed to drain much of the remaining strength from him. ‘They can’t make me a corporal yet, sir. I … I’m only a boy bugler.’

  ‘They’ll make you a corporal, or I’ll want to know why. What’s more, I shall personally recommend it to General Grant.’ Kernow’s voice was hardly stronger than the bugler boy’s, but he hoped he sounded more convincing than he felt.

  In the middle of the night Kernow awoke from a fitful doze to hear the sound of vo
ices outside the outhouse. For a moment he thought they were part of some delirious dream. Then he heard the sound of bolts being drawn on the outside of the door. The next moment a number of men entered the outhouse, some carrying lanterns.

  Kernow was certain he was suffering from delirium when a voice said in French, ‘Hello, Captain Keats. You seem to make a habit of being taken prisoner by the Chinese.’ It was Shalonga, son of the Tartar general.

  ‘Have you come to gloat, or to set us free?’

  ‘Neither, my friend. I cannot order your release because you were taken prisoner on the orders of one of the Emperor’s commissioners. Even I cannot defy such an order. But I can ensure you are treated better than you have been until now. I have had food and water brought. Which will you have first?’

  ‘A drink … but give some to the young boy in the corner first. He’s in a bad way.’

  Shalonga snapped an order in a language that Kernow did not understand. A soldier wearing a shaggy ankle-length fur coat carried a pitcher of water to the form lying in a corner of the outhouse. Another leaned over him with a lantern.

  The soldier carrying the water spoke over his shoulder in the same, unfamiliar language used by Shalonga and then straightened up.

  ‘Your young friend is in a bad way no longer, Captain Keats. He is dead. Here, let me help you to sit up. You were unfortunate enough to be taken prisoner by a brigade of bannermen who have seen little fighting. Fighting men understand and respect other soldiers. Men such as these do not.’

  Kernow took some water as other prisoners about him did the same. He felt it travelling every inch of the way to his stomach. Although he took only five or six mouthfuls it bloated him as though he had drunk a couple of pints.

  ‘Your commissioners have much to answer for. The Emperor too. Lord Elgin is not likely to allow him to forget this.’

  ‘The Emperor will not be in Peking to greet Lord Elgin. He has fled to a place many, many miles from Peking. But we can talk of this tomorrow. I am having you moved to more suitable quarters. There will be beds and good food.’