by Anthology
The mandarin arose and the councillors, with a low rustling of their robes, stood in their places as their chief came down from his platform and advanced towards the Captain.
"The Western nations have always compelled us by force to yield to their countless injustices," said the old man bitterly; "we have no recourse but to yield now."
"The Western nations," answered Leslie severely, "have done you harm because you were willing that harm should be done to you. But I have no time to discuss this matter now. Our races have never understood one another and never will." He paused an instant. "I don't see Prince Wu among you," he continued sharply; "if he is missing, others are likely to be also. Where is he?"
For a moment the old mandarin appeared to be nonplussed, but he quickly recovered himself and replied readily enough, "Prince Wu is no longer a member of our council. I am not answerable for his actions."
"That's a lie," returned Leslie coldly. "He is and has been for some time one of your chief advisers. You thought," he went on, growing more and more angry, "that we would not be familiar with the men who made up your secret body — that we wouldn't detect the absence of the most important members until they had time to get away. Well, my friend, you made a mistake there. I know Prince Wu well, and I know that he has escaped and several others with him, trusting to you to hold us here until they were safe." This last was pure supposition, but the Captain felt reasonably sure of his ground and in spite of the attempted impassivity of the other, he could see that the shot had told.
"I know nothing of him," persisted the old man doggedly. "We are all here before you."
"I know better," replied Leslie furiously as he saw the precious minutes slipping away. "Come now — will you tell me where he is, or must I make you?"
"I will not tell," said the old man calmly; "and you cannot make me."
Leslie regarded him for a moment, but the aged president returned his gaze without flinching.
"That's true enough," said the Captain with something of admiration in his tone. "But if you won't, there are others who will." He hesitated and surveyed the silent group of councillors keenly. "Bring that man here!" he commanded.
Two of the marines dragged forward the unfortunate individual whom the Captain pointed out to them, and Leslie looked him over with considerable contempt. The unhappy Chinaman was green with fear and his knees shook so that he could scarcely stand. Gardiner smiled grimly. The man was plainly an arrant coward and if terrorised sufficiently, would be sure to tell — always supposing that he knew.
"Three of you stay here on guard," Leslie ordered briefly. "You, corporal, and you — and you — come with me and bring that fellow along with you."
He led the way into the outer apartment and at his direction, the trembling councillor was forced to a kneeling posture and his upper garments roughly torn from his back. The soldiers waited, their eyes shining ferociously as they contemplated the work that lay before them. The scene had called forth their worst passions and the frightened captive knew that from them he could expect no pity. Yet two of them were citizens of one of the most highly civilised nations on the globe, and the third was ordinarily a kindly man enough.
"Now," said Leslie harshly to his victim, "I'll give you one chance to tell us what we want to know. If you won't, we'll have to try a little persuasion and I'll guarantee our methods won't be any too gentle. Where has Prince Wu gone, and how many are with him?"
The Chinaman's teeth were chattering, but his terror of the future vengeance of his companions overcame his fear of the foreigners and he shook his head. Leslie had spoken in Chinese, but the urgent tone of his question and the refusal of the prisoner were perfectly obvious. With a low-growled oath one of the guards, the swarthy Russian, flung up his rifle, but the Captain cursed him savagely and struck the weapon up as it spat flame.
"The man's no good to us dead, you damned fool!" he raved. "We've got to keep him alive until he speaks, anyhow. One of you bring some of those empty ammunition cases we saw back there and start a fire. You, corporal, get a cleaning rod out of one of those rifles in the rack. We'll see if our friend won't give up his information with a little assistance."
He watched with cruel eyes while one of the soldiers kindled the fire and the corporal thrust the cleaning rod into the flames to heat. Hate and bitterness and a burning thirst for revenge had seared away the years of civilisation, and for the time being the Captain was no better than an animal with all an animal's brutal pleasure in the sufferings of its victim. Wrapping a piece of silk from the prisoner's torn clothing about his hand, the corporal drew the cleaning-rod, dyed a cherry-red, from the crackling fire and approached the miserable captive. But as his nostrils caught the smell of the glowing metal, the man screamed shrilly and burst out in a torrent of words and Leslie, motioning his subordinate back, leaned forward eagerly and listened with brightening eyes.
"That's all right," he exclaimed when the councillor had finished. "Take him back to the others. Tell the lieutenant I want him. Thank the Lord," he added aloud to himself when the soldiers had gone, "they've only a few hours' start of us. We'll get them yet."
As he ended, the Frenchman appeared and saluted grudgingly, for Leslie was considered, among the lower officers of the expedition, a rank adventurer who had climbed into favour by some inexplicable means known only to himself and who, although only a volunteer, had been placed in command over men of the regular service through a strange whim of the Admiral. However, since he was in command, he had to be obeyed; and as long as his orders were carried out, the Captain did not trouble himself greatly over the attitude of his fellow-officers. In his present state of mind, popularity meant little to him and the favour of the world at large a thing not worth wasting a moment's thought about. So he took no notice of the lieutenant's thinly-veiled hostility and gave his commands with the cold precision which had gained him the very general appreciation and dislike of those of the commissioned rank who were subordinate to him. Among the enlisted men, it might be added, he was admired, respected, and a trifle feared.
"Bring the prisoners to headquarters as soon as it's safe to move," he said shortly. "I'm going to report to Admiral Scott now, and I'll send a man to let you know when the city's in our hands."
He turned on his heel and running up to the entrance hall, left a few words of caution with the guards at the door, mounted his pony, and rode off rapidly, heedless of the fact that the streets were filled with fleeing Chinese soldiery, many of whom paused in their retreat to crack off a shot at this mad officer who was so recklessly taking his life in his hands. But with no thought of his own safety, Leslie urged his mount at top speed along the way he had come, and circling the northern wall of the city unharmed, galloped up to the little group of staff officers surrounding the commander of the expedition, who beamed with satisfaction as he watched his men pour through the shattered gate and heard the crash of the volleys which drove the broken Chinese pell-mell through the narrow streets.
"Ah, Captain," said the Admiral cordially; "have you managed to round them up all right?"
"I've got some of them, sir, but eight of the principal ones, including the Minister of War, left the city by rail four hours ago for Nankow pass."
"Too bad," observed Scott regretfully. "However it can't be helped, and at all events we won't go back empty-handed —"
"Beg pardon, sir, but if I start now, I believe I can catch them before they get clean away. They've only gone as far as Nankow — waiting there until we retire — thirty miles — I can go and come in two days, at the most."
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Captain. If they hear that you're coming, they'll move on, and I daren't stay here while you chase them halfway through Mongolia."
"But, sir, they won't be looking for a pursuit — at least not so soon. I feel sure that I could surprise and capture them. Give me twenty good cavalrymen and I'll answer for the result."
"You wouldn't have a single chance, Captain. The country all around here
is swarming with the remains of the Tientsin garrison and you'd be cut off and surrounded before you even got there. Even if you managed to make the capture and get back to Peking, which is very doubtful, we'd be gone and there might be a whole division between you and Tientsin by that time. No, Captain, I appreciate your courage and enterprise in making this offer, but you've done enough. Don't attempt the impossible."
"Admiral Scott," replied Leslie, with the calmness of desperation, "if you won't let me have the men, by Heaven, I'll go alone. I'll be killed, of course, but I'll take one or two of them to hell with me to keep me company."
The Admiral looked him full in the face and whistled.
"Jove, Captain, that sounds to me as though it was a personal matter —"
"What if it is, sir?" broke in Leslie passionately. "You'll have to admit that if I'm serving myself, I'll be serving the Federation as well."
"H'm," said the Admiral; "there's some truth in that, at all events. See here, Captain, it's no business of mine if you choose to get yourself shot or cut up to satisfy an old grudge, but I'm not going to sacrifice even twenty good men to further your interests, unless I can be reasonably sure of having something to show for it. Now if you can convince me that there's any chance of making the capture and bringing your prisoners back again and at least part of your detachment with them, I'll give you the men you want and my best wishes for your success as well."
"This is my plan, then. By starting now, I'll reach Nankow after dark. They won't expect to be pursued at all — at least, not by anything less than a regiment, and even if they have guards or posts along the route, I'm counting on being able to surprise and overpower any such details before they have a chance to give the alarm. With the small force I'll have with me, I ought to be able to move very quickly and without making very much noise about it. Once I have them, it'll be easy work to get back. Suppose the Chinese can rally a considerable army in Peking within three or four days, which I greatly doubt. I know the country well, and can pass the city far enough to the north or south so that the enemy won't even get a glimpse of us. As for any wandering soldiers we may meet, they'll either be alone or in such small bands that they won't attempt to attack a determined, well-disciplined force. If I'm successful — and I confidently expect to be — you'll get the credit for a stroke that may break the back of the Chinese resistance."
Although he did not know it, his last words turned the beam in Leslie's favour. Scott was very human and the thought that, with small risk, he might have the honour of making one of the most important coups of the war, outweighed all the other arguments — which were sound enough as far as they went — that the Captain had advanced. He considered for a few moments longer, while Leslie bit his lips with impatience, and finally gave assent, though still with some show of reluctance.
"All right, Captain, I'll let you go — but only on the understanding that it won't be any further than Nankow." He scribbled a few words on a rather dirty scrap of paper. "Here's an order for Colonel Harrison, directing him to let you have twenty men for special detachment duty. Have the prisoners you've made already sent to me."
Leslie took the precious order, saluted, and after giving a few low-voiced directions to an orderly, cantered off in the direction of the eastern gate, where the mounted troops were drawn up, waiting for the command that would send them in to help their comrades, who were still volleying briskly as they cleared the streets in the vicinity of the archway.
The long-moustached cavalry officer read the order Leslie presented to him, swore comprehensively, not through any feeling against his superior who had given it, or hostility towards the Captain who had brought it, but simply because it was his customary manner of expressing surprise at any unexpected event, and profanely told Gardiner to go ahead and select what minutely-adjectived troopers he wanted for his triple-blanked detachment. With this sulphurous permission, the Captain, riding down the column of horsemen, swiftly chose sixteen of the rank-and-file, added a veteran sergeant and a wiry-looking lieutenant, commandeered a big, black troop horse to take the place of his mangy pony, and wheeled his mount westward, his little party clattering behind him. It must be confessed that there was considerable grumbling among the soldiers over the fact that they would lose their opportunity of helping to loot the much-magnified riches of the once Imperial City. They were well acquainted with the story of 1860 and 1900.
History repeats itself, runs the saying, and there is nothing new under the sun. Even before the Captain and his troopers had lost sight of the Tartar wall, lifting its fifty feet of height futilely above the surrounding plain, the soldiers and sailors of the Federation were smashing in the doors of shops and palaces and staggering forth, laden with silks, rare ornaments curiously wrought, precious stones, silver and gold, while their officers turned away or looked on with unseeing eyes. For the third time in little more than a hundred years, the treasures of the Chinese were the sacrifice to Chinese sloth and inefficiency.
Chapter XVII
Leslie Settles One Account
THE Captain believed correctly that the fleeing officials had cut the railway between themselves and the source of possible pursuit. Besides, if they hadn't, the railway would be the one thing they would watch most carefully. So without even attempting to ascertain whether or not rail communication was still possible between Peking and Nankow, he trotted out purposefully along the old caravan road, with his men behind him.
It was very hot. The dust rose in choking clouds and hung about the little troop, and the cavalrymen gasped and swore. Clusters of thatched and mud-walled houses dotted the plain and blue-clad farmers worked in the fields, seemingly oblivious to the fact that their country was engaged in its death struggle with the whole civilised world. The spirit of China was typified there. The few great hearts which had been stirred by the new feeling of nationalism that had roused the more intelligent and better-educated classes to stake the latent forces of their empire against the powers of the West, might strive and sacrifice and perish, but the great mass of the people, as long as they were left alone, cared not at all. Following precedent blindly, blocking by their inertia the efforts of their leaders to wipe out the many years of futility and shame, they neither saw nor wished to see that the limits of their vision bounded the destiny of their empire.
At Sha-ho, the detachment halted to rest the weary horses and the heat-tired men and then, somewhat refreshed, pushed on more vigorously. As they neared the mountains, the plain became rougher and more uneven. Gradually the sunlight faded and the hills turned purple and violet. At last, when the road had become little more than a stony track, darkness closed in and with two troopers for an advance guard, the little party proceeded at a foot pace and very warily. Presently the Captain pulled up and gave his final orders.
"Lieutenant, take two squads and go ahead. You'll open a way for the rest of us if there's a guard at the gate. Then stay behind and keep them busy while we cage the birds. Don't let yourself be cut off from my detachment. If they're too strong for you, fall back through the town and join me. Understand?"
"Yes, sir."
"All right— hell!"
A confusion of shots echoed between the hills and the ring of hoofs sounded on the hard rock.
"Those damned fools'll wake up the whole town! Hurry, Lieutenant — I'll be right behind you!"
Careless of pitfalls and the unevennesses of the way, the troopers dashed forward. The two soldiers in advance had halted and as the party came up with them, excitedly explained that they had stumbled on a post of three cavalrymen. One of the enemy lay dead across a boulder and the hoof-beats of the other two could still be heard as they raced ahead to give the alarm. Without giving the scouts time to finish, Leslie cursed his men on.
A volley greeted them as they reached the city gate and a riderless troop horse reared and plunged. Then came the shock of meeting, groans and yells and the whistle of swinging sabres. Pistol flames lit lightning-like the faces of the combatants. The strugg
ling men struck blindly. Horses screamed and drove shattering hoofs backwards. A path opened narrowly in the press and, with eight men following him, Leslie flashed through it and tore up the broad street of the city. He did not know which one of the many inns sheltered his prey, but a group of horsemen clustered confusedly about a wide, arched doorway gave him the key, and in an instant he was among them, his pistol spitting fire. The Chinese were all in disorder and gave way at once. They were only a handful at best and those who could work free, galloped wildly for the western gate and the entrance to the pass, while the others piled pell-mell back into the inn yard. The Americans followed, cutting and stabbing, mad with the lust of killing and the two non-commissioned officers could scarcely restrain them.
And then Leslie saw Prince Wu. He stood impassive in the turmoil, dressed in the uniform of a Chinese general officer, and clustered composedly around him were the seven other officials. They had evidently been about to mount and ride for the railway station a mile away, trusting to the guard at the gate to hold back the pursuers until they made good their escape. But though they saw their plans rudely shattered and their hopes fade into nothingness, they remained calm and dignified to the end, regarding the frenzied troopers with something of disdain. It was again the eternal, mystifying spirit of the East, which in spite of the wreck of material fortunes, in spite of inherent weakness oft revealed, retained unshaken belief in the superiority of its race and civilisation.
For an instant the demon desire to slay possessed the Captain and, with a red mist in his eyes, he levelled his pistol at his enemy. But the unflinching gaze of the Oriental checked him, and shoving the weapon back into its holster, he bade his men bind the prisoners as quickly as possible and be off, for the town seethed about them and if the Chinese were given time to recover from their first surprise and rally, the lives of the party would not be worth a moment's purchase. Hardly was the work completed when a sweating cavalryman rode up with a message from the anxious lieutenant.