Magnus was pleased to hear that the lawyers had chosen to protect him. He had fully expected his father to destroy his inheritance, to leave him nothing of value, reducing the entailed lands to dereliction. Evidently that had been prevented. He much suspected that Captain Hawkins’ people would have taken a part in that - and would be quick to accuse him of ingratitude if he did not play their game for them.
‘Every swing has its roundabout’, he mused, turning to the second letter, glancing first at the signature.
‘A well-wisher’.
He had heard of that sort before. Blackmail, he presumed. He read with every expectation of being entertained.
‘My lord, I had the doubtful pleasure of acquaintance with your late brother. As a young man of eighteen I became a victim of his unnatural lusts and was forced to acts of utter perversion whose memory remains with me still.’
“Dear me, Carter! Put the coffee on the desk, please. It’s amazing what some of these young chaps get up to, you know. And now he expects me to pay him vast sums of money, I expect. Let me just finish reading this unedifying missive and write a covering note to Captain Hawkins, then you can run it across to Captain Parker’s office for me.”
The letter described in technical detail a number of the acts to which the young man had been subjected and suggested that Lord Eskdale might wish to forward five hundred pounds to a particular Poste Restante office in London. The alternative was for the blackmailer to make contact with London’s newspapers and magazines.
Magnus scribbled his note to Captain Hawkins and sent Carter off at the run. He was annoyed that he had to request Hawkins to do him a service which he must repay in kind. He could not now simply cut his connection with Hawkins and his people.
“To hell with it!”
It occurred to him that the young victim was quite certain that his scapegrace brother was dead; he wondered how he could be so sure. No doubt the same thought would occur to Captain Hawkins’ people; they would ask the anonymous gentleman, most forcefully, no doubt. Having specified a means of payment, the foolish young man would be easily caught. He trotted up to the forebridge, looked out over the Bund, saw his swelling wife in the crowd watching them sail, waved his hat to her, saw her spot him and respond, to the approval of the men on deck, all of whom had a soft spot for the captain’s beautiful lady.
“Sailing signal is up, sir.”
“Take her out, Mr Knowles. Course and speed as you specified. Gunnery Officer to the bridge.”
Orders for every man to practice with rifle or pistol over the days of passage, to be ready to be part of an expeditionary force.
“Can we take our Maxims ashore, Guns?”
Lieutenant Pattishall shook his head.
He had obtained a description of the Scott gun carriages recently designed for land use.
“No, sir. Their mountings are fixed and could not be modified for a mobile carriage, or not with our facilities. Our four point sevens are not designed to be shifted except by a dockyard. Our party of gunners could be of value to man one of the big guns taken ashore from the heavy cruisers, sir.”
“Pity, but let it be so, Guns. Let us hope we reach the fleet in time to join the Admiral’s expeditionary force. Liable to be the only chance of seeing action. The Admiral expects to push to Peking and raise any siege there and then destroy the great mass of the Boxers. Won’t be much left for those of us who don’t get ashore with him.”
“Beg pardon, sir, but that ain’t Captain Parker’s view on the situation. He is to follow, sir, on a ship hired from Jardines with more volunteers and a full load of stores. He expects that the expeditionary force will fail and that we will need to go to its rescue.”
“Under his command, no doubt… Is it likely?”
Lieutenant Pattishall had few doubts.
“The buzz is that it’s almost certain, sir. You know that Chinese man, Mr Sia? The important man in Shanghai? He sent a message, sir, with orders that it should be given to you when Obelisk had sailed. He said that Lord Ping had ordered it to be done that way. I didn’t like it, but I know you have trust in both of them, sir.”
“I have trust in your judgement as well, Guns. Let’s have it.”
The sealed envelope was passed across and Magnus opened it on the bridge.
‘An attack on the Taku Forts will result in the Empress declaring war. She wishes for the excuse. The garrison has been reinforced, at her order, but by poorly trained soldiers at the generals’ connivance. The best gunners have been sent away from the fortresses. If there is war, then all Treaties will be abrogated and will be renegotiated by the victors.’
Mr Sia was probably as well-informed as any man in China – his word could be trusted.
“What and why, Guns? Mr Knowles, read this and give me your opinion.”
Knowles read and reread the short note. Then he scratched his head.
“This Chink, Sia, don’t want a telegram sent to Wei-Hai-Wei and a fast ship to get a message to the Admiral, sir. He must believe that the Admiral will set off for Peking before we join the fleet. If the Admiral is stopped, then we must put more men ashore, which means taking the Taku Forts. Possible to send the first force ashore but once they start fighting, the forts will be held against reinforcements or a relief column. If there is a war, then the Treaties must be remade, in our favour when we win. Sia and Ping want us to have more power in China, because they have backed us. They will make good and sure that the Boxers don’t spread their word into Southern China. As well, sir, they want you to come out smelling of violets. You will command some of the forces attacking the Taku Forts, sir, and they need you to be one of the heroes. They will require something from you, sir.”
Magnus knew he must squash any rumour before it could start.
“They are working together in trade with England. They want me to lend them my name as a director of their firm in London and to use my lawyers for buying offices and a warehouse. As foreigners, they would be sold bad premises in the wrong place for a hell of a lot of money. Lord Eskdale won’t be cheated that way.”
That made good sense to both men. They were also aware that if Magnus led a force ashore then he would want them behind him; if he distinguished himself, they would be carried along in his wake.
“What do you think will happen to Admiral Seymour, sir?”
“Not too much, with any luck. He has Captain Jellicoe at his shoulder. The Admiral will dive into trouble, but Jellicoe will pull him out again if any man can.”
Jellicoe’s name was famous in the whole fleet. He was one of the most able men in the Fishpond and destined for the highest office in the Navy, provided all went as it should and Jacky Fisher became First Lord. Was Charlie Beresford to come out on top, then a different set of possibilities would prevail.
“Fortunate that we are an eight-knot convoy, sir. We won’t get to Pechihli too quickly.”
“Mr Sia will know that. It will be part of his calculations. He will be fairly certain of what is to happen. Admiral Seymour will have his expedition ready to go, just waiting on a telegram from the Grand Mustachio in Peking – Sir Claude MacDonald, that is. One might have expected that the telegraph lines would have been cut first thing of all – the Chinese know exactly what they are and how to use them, and how to cut the posts down. They are keeping the lines open for their own reasons, and one of those is to make sure that Admiral Seymour will be drawn inland. He has made his intentions clear this last six months.”
“Plots within plots, sir!”
“Just so, Guns. I wonder what other schemes there are which we know nothing of.”
“I wonder too, sir. I think, sir, I shall get my people to put a sharp on all of the bayonets and cutlasses, sir. Officers’ swords as well, sir?”
“No, Guns. Officers to carry revolvers and at least sixty rounds and a cutlass as well. Might not be unwise to issue a second revolver to any man who wishes to carry one. Our ceremonial swords are too light to be practical. Personally speakin
g, I would rather have my Boxers at revolver’s distance than at sword length, but any enthusiasts for cold steel can have a heavy, solid cutlass in their hand.”
“Pass that order to the whole flotilla, sir?”
“Yes, Mr Knowles. Do you know how the Volunteers are equipped?”
“Lee-Enfields, sir. Better than we are.”
“The Lee-Metford is almost as good – it will do for this sort of untidy, close-range scrapping.”
They agreed, but it was irritating that the civilians should be better equipped for war than the Navy.
“They can afford it, sir. The hongs have the spare money. The Admiralty don’t. They’ve all got revolvers as well, sir, apart from the ones who have purchased their own automatic pistols, with their quickly changed magazines. Not many of them about yet. There will be, I do not doubt.”
Magnus had heard of the automatic, was not especially interested because he had been told it could jam.
“Suffice it to say that they are better off than us. Do you know anything of their training?”
“Most come from a proper school in England, sir. They will have had cadet training there.”
They would do, in fact, provided they were willing to accept discipline, and that would not be discovered until they were actually in the field.
The flotilla reached the fleet at anchor off Pechihli on the tenth of June, discovering that Admiral Seymour had taken his expeditionary force ashore on the previous day.
Rear-Admiral Bruce was in command of the British fleet, in Barfleur. The Senior Naval Officer on station was a Russian vice-admiral in the big, modern armoured cruiser, Rossia. Magnus noticed the number of cameras focussed on the Russian, a ship supposedly designed as a commerce raider and hence aimed specifically at British interests in case of war.
Magnus stood in the admiral’s cabin, looking out of the stern ports, assessing the big Russian.
“Thirteen thousand tons, four eight inch and sixteen of six and God knows how many of three pounders and Hotchkiss revolving guns, Eskdale. Guns are badly placed, mostly on the broadside rather than turrets on the centre-line. Vice-Admiral Hiltebrandt has no great reputation as a strategist – normal Russian problem, appointed for his birth rather than his ability. Ship’s in poor order, do ye see?”
Magnus did. He could see two of the eight inchers, placed singly in sponsons. The barrels were not aligned fore and aft and the muzzles showed blackened from their last practice firing – they had not been scrubbed clean. There was rust showing on some of the plates along the hull and a trail of garbage where a cook had habitually emptied stew pots down the side.
“Very slack, sir.”
“Just that, Eskdale. Says the ship will be unreliable. If they can’t be bothered to keep clean, what else will they have skimped on?”
Magnus agreed wholeheartedly – a dirty ship had idle officers and a captain who did not care.
“No worry about them if we have to go to war. You can bet the Japanese think the same – very tidy, their ships! Business, Eskdale. Vice-Admiral Seymour went ashore yesterday and entrained for Tientsin.”
Magnus made the correct noises that he had arrived too late.
“We know that they reached Tientsin without opposition, Eskdale. Due to have entrained again this morning and should reach Peking this evening. All over bar the shouting, man!”
Magnus returned to Obelisk, reporting the rear-admiral’s words.
“Ready ourselves to return to Shanghai, sir?”
“No such thing, Mr Knowles! All boats in the water and practise putting the men into them. The whole flotilla to conform. Where possible, steam picket boats to tow the pulling boats. It’s a fourteen mile run into the forts – the oarsmen will be exhausted if the wind is against us. I want the Volunteers especially to get used to going down the side and sitting properly in the boats.”
“But… It’s over, is it not, sir?”
“Not until we receive the word that the Admiral is in Peking and that the leaders of the Boxers are dangling from trees throughout the city. That is a double-track railway but not built to English standards, Mr Knowles. A hundred men with crowbars could lift a rail in a minute. I have travelled in the trains on that line, Mr Knowles. There are forts placed within half a mile of the permanent way, and all with heavy guns. There are a dozen of fair-size bridges. The rolling stock is old and frail. That line could be cut in a dozen places, Mr Knowles. It would be easy to wait until the trains passed by and then cut the rails, knowing that another party of Boxers was doing the same ten miles further along the line.”
“There is a drought as well, sir. If the railway is cut then the Admiral is left to march his party in dry country in summer, with tens of thousands of these Boxers sniping at them. It could be like the march from Kabul, sir, in the 1840s. A whole army was killed then, almost to the last man.”
Magnus had not been a great reader in his boyhood, knew nothing of the history of sixty years past. He agreed politely.
“I doubt it will be as bad as that, Mr Knowles. Captain Jellicoe and the other officers will provide a strong backing for the Admiral.”
“What can we expect, sir?”
“A call for reinforcements, I should imagine. If the word reaches us, then the garrison in the Taku Forts will hear as well. If they know we have faced defeat, they will be disinclined to let another force row past them upriver. My money is on the need to take the forts. That will have to be a landing in the river mouth and then over the walls. The smaller ships and gunboats can lead in and bombard, but mostly it will have to be an assault, climbing the walls and over.”
The fleet was moored in the deep water, nearly fourteen miles offshore. They could not see the forts.
“Five of them, but only four actually guard the Pei-Ho, the river, that is. Big places, mostly oval and covering about two acres. Earth walls that have been reinforced with heavy layers of concrete. Blockhouses as well as ramparts. Krupp guns inside, as well as ancient cannon that can still fire grapeshot. Manned by riflemen – how many is unknown. There is a rumour that the men are poor quality, as you know. They may have been reinforced. There may be Maxims – we don’t know. The mudflats to the front are prohibited by bamboo stakes. Any attack has to be from the river. Could be a hard nut to crack. Might be they will fall within minutes. No way of telling.”
Lieutenant Pattishall stared at nothing for a few seconds, jerked himself back to the present.
“Could be a nasty one, sir. Wise to ensure that the Volunteers can use their boats well. A petty officer to each boat, sir? It will need our most experienced men, I suggest.”
“Agreed. A midshipman to each of the picket boats. If we need them, we can call in mids from the sloops.”
“Demolition charges as well, sir.”
Magnus did not entirely follow that thought.
“The charges are guncotton, sir, fused, in lumps of about half a pound. Packed into the big corned beef cans together with scrap iron they can be thrown over a wall or into a blockhouse or onto a gun emplacement.”
The weapon sounded atrocious.
“Your people, trained gunners, to carry them, Mr Pattishall.”
“I can lead a party with them, sir.”
“Do so. I can imagine they might be very useful. Take Mr Parnell with you – you may well need two officers at once.”
Magnus still wondered if Parnell was wholly reliable, if he had the backbone for a fight. Throw him in the deep end and they would soon find out. Mr Pattishall was not perhaps the most perceptive of men, did not notice anything untoward in the command.
“Do him good, sir, to get stuck in at this stage in his career. Whale Island for him when we return to England and they will look the more kindly on him for having the Taku Forts on his record, provided we take them, that is. Be a shame if they simply surrendered without a fight, sir.”
“Unfortunate, certainly, Guns. We could all do with a bit of action out here, considering that we’re missing our chance in South A
frica. Much depends on the Russian admiral, of course. He’s senior on station and must put his name to any order for an attack. Admiral Bruce will push him, I would think, but I don’t know about the others, whether the Germans will want a scrap. The Americans are dithering, I know that. The Japanese will want to fight, but their people are low ranking. I should imagine that the Germans will be the determining force – if they push on our side then we will go in.”
Chapter Two
The Earl’s Other Son Series
Peking Nightmares
“Signal from the flagship, sir. The Chancellor of the Japanese Legation was murdered in Peking three days ago. We are to prepare for a landing.”
“Excellent, Mr Knowles. Which flagship?”
“Ours, sir. I would not refer to the Russian in such a fashion.”
Magnus was inclined to agree but felt obliged to make the situation clear.
“The agreement in China is that when naval action kicks off, we accept a unified command under the most senior man present. The Russkis have got a Vice-Admiral, so he’s Flag Officer Pechihli for the time being.”
“Don’t much like that, sir.”
“It’s the Navy, Mr Knowles. We aren’t asked to like it, merely to do it.”
“But the Russian Navy is a joke, sir.”
“A dirty joke, at that, Mr Knowles, but the politicians have spoken and we must hear and obey. Anything from the Japanese ships?”
“No signals, sir.”
“They will push for vigorous action, I must imagine. Taking the Taku Forts should be a start.”
Lieutenant Coulthorne was officer of the watch, interrupted them with a report.
“Boats leaving senior ships, sir. Converging on Rossia. Conference, sir.”
“That will take up the rest of the day, for sure.”
04 Peking Nightmares (The Earl’s Other Son Series, #4) Page 2