“It worked, sir.”
“So it did. Put your indent in for more blanks, Mr Marlborough.”
“Yes, sir. a lot of policeman are down, sir.”
“My heart bleeds for them, Mr Marlborough. Do you give a damn for a bunch of flatfoots?”
“Not me, sir.”
“Nor me. Order the launches to patrol the Bund for the next two hours, Mr Marlborough and then bring us back to the pontoon.”
Magnus returned to Captain Grafton’s office, found him there, visibly not present at the scene of the riot.
“The initial disturbance is over, sir. Crowd dispersed.”
“I might expect so, Eskdale. That was gunfire I heard, was it not?”
“Blanks, sir. Three quickfirers with well-trained crews – five rounds in little more than thirty seconds. A great drumroll of gunfire that terrified the crowd – they had run before they realised there had been no exploding shells.”
Grafton gave a burst of relieved laughter. He had been waiting for thousands blown to shreds.
“No casualties at all, Eskdale?”
“A few policemen hit by stones – but who cares about the fate of a handful of rozzers?”
“Wogs at that! No need to worry about them!”
“There were a few bodies as well – the crowd panicked and some of them fell and were spurned underfoot. Killed by their own people, sir.”
“Their problem, not ours. Well done, Eskdale – yet again!”
Congratulations rolled in over the next days.
The Municipal Council had sent observers, knew all that had happened and deeply approved.
“Even better than machine-gunning the lot! Left their leaders, the agitators, the self-styled politicals, with egg on their faces! Made them look foolish. They won’t find it so easy to whip up a mob next time!”
Captain Hawkins sent a congratulatory telegram. The admiral followed suit.
Magnus was pleased with himself. Not only had he avoided a massacre, for the sake of his own conscience, he had also carried out his orders in a highly efficient fashion.
Importantly, the word was passed on the sly that the Board of Jardine Mathieson had been informed and had approved of his actions.
Captain Grafton was delighted.
“Was speaking to the consul at dinner last night, Eskdale. He tells me that the Foreign Office is pleased, which is good for him. The Boxer business cost a lot of money, you know, and they don’t want to go to the expense of sending a brigade of infantry here to keep the peace along the Bund. One small destroyer and half a dozen launches did the trick instead – like a dog with two tails, the consul, didn’t know which to wag first.”
“I’ve heard variants on that, sir.”
Grafton laughed. He had as well.
“The Navy is not always a polite institution, Eskdale.”
A brief discussion of conditions along the river and Magnus retired to his own office to deal with the paperwork generated by his flotilla – most of which had been handled by Oakley so that he needed no more than to sign his name a dozen times.
“Have you picked up any intelligence appreciations, Oakley?”
“A dozen, sir. All say that the Yangtse is quiet and will remain so for the next few months. The warlords know that there is a mixed army still sat down in Peking. They fear that if they become restless then the soldiers will march their way. Every one of them knows what has happened to Peking. The looting has scared them, sir, because they are aware that their own palaces would suffer. A battle in which they lost a few thousand men would be an inconvenience, but they don’t particularly care how many peasants die. The sack of their cities and the residences in them would hurt – it would destroy their personal wealth. Funny, sir, but the vicious indiscipline of the sack of Peking has frightened them far more than the efficiency of the European and American and Russian and Japanese armies.”
“That’s not funny, Oakley. That is sickening!”
Magnus sat back in his office and reflected on the value of terror.
The unscrupulous use of unchecked force had done some good, or so it seemed. If the warlords had remained unconstrained they would have fought a dozen little battles, would have taken and lost fifty small towns in the previous and coming months. Thousands of peasant soldiers would have died; tens of thousands of farmers and townspeople would have been butchered, dying vilely in many cases. Those deaths had been averted. Ordinary peasants and craftsmen – possibly numbered in their millions - lived their simple lives, untouched by rampaging armies, all because Peking had been viciously sacked and their masters had been frightened.
Where was the morality?
Perhaps China was no place for the man who believed in right and wrong.
Possibly there was no place on earth where such a belief made sense.
It was a black world he was forced to live in.
“Oakley, I’m going home.”
He would find comfort there.
Ellen offered the sympathy and understanding he needed.
“We do our best, Magnus. Others, it seems, do their worst. Whether that can be called a balance of right and wrong – who can give an answer? I have no doubt that the bishop would explain all to us, at length, but you have shown me that the churches are no less fallible than the rest of humanity. Try to live your day so you can sleep at night, my love. I can think of no other advice.”
“Simple and probably sensible – I can think of no better course. How is your father? Has he decided on a date to leave Shanghai?”
“Two months from now. His replacement is due next week and he will spend a month easing him into his place and then a week or two to tidy his own affairs and he will be off on the P and O boat out.”
“Good. We might follow him soon after – or, possibly, go before him. I do not know.”
They spent hours planning their exit from Shanghai, working out all they must do before they left, and accepting that they could not manage everything if Magnus received immediate orders.
“I shall pass the responsibility to Grafton if the need arises, Ellen. One of SNO’s jobs is to organise postings when the Admiralty sends unreasonable orders, which it does frequently.”
A week accepting the congratulations of the rich and powerful, basking in their approval, and a cable arrived at Captain Grafton’s office. He called for Magnus.
“From Hawkins, Captain.”
Magnus noticed that Grafton did not use his name – which suggested that he was no longer Lord Eskdale. It would have been discourteous to have called him by his new title before he had been informed of his father’s decease. He read the few words knowing what they would be.
“Regret that the Earl of Calvine passed away two days since. Official confirmation from Admiralty follows. Expect orders within the week. My personal condolences.”
“I am sorry for your loss, my lord.”
“Thank you, Captain Grafton. ‘Orders within the week’, so it says. I must expect to be posted away, sir. Might I recommend that the Yangtse Flotilla be placed under your direct command, sir? It seems to me right that the Senior Naval Officer should have ships to enforce his will on the River. We have worked together well, I believe, sir, but I can imagine that different personalities might have discovered any number of problems.”
“You think that I should make that suggestion to the admiral, my lord? In advance of your actually receiving your orders? It might well make sense.”
“It would, I believe, sir. If I submit my hand-over report making the same recommendation, then they might well listen to our opinion.”
“Saving them money – one post captain rather than two must be welcome, considering how short of more senior officers they are on station. Write your report, my lord, and I will send it with mine, as soon as possible. For the while, you should be at home, my lord. My runner will come to your house as information arrives at this office.”
They started the process of packing having once drawn the blinds and placed
a funeral wreath at the knocker on the front door. The staff were brought together to be told their future.
“My father is dead and I am now the Earl of Calvine. I expect orders to send me away from the China station. This house will be closed and it will probably be sold.”
There were subdued cries of woe – a mixture of sorrow for his loss, that he should have been far distant when his dear father died, and a deeper regret that their jobs were lost.
“For those of you who must stay in Shanghai, there will be money – at least a year of wages. Blantyres may be able to find you work. Lady Calvine and I will talk to you and will ask some of you to come across the seas with us. If you come with us, there will be a place for life – you will not be cast off in a foreign land.”
The valet and the nursery maids thought they must be kept on, became immediately more cheerful. Others were left in doubt. Many had no wish to leave their homeland, never to return, yet faced the prospect of a return to abject poverty competing with dozens for each job that became vacant if they stayed. A year’s wages would help, but they would have to share that money with their families and it would not last long.
The staff dispersed to their work in sombre mood, busying themselves in order to think less about their troubles.
Magnus called the butler to him.
“Will you come to my home with me, Fong? I own houses in London and in Scotland and will need a butler to run one at least. I know that my father had closed the houses and dismissed the staff and there will be a place for you.”
“My lord, I cannot. I have a wife and two sons and daughters as well. I cannot leave them here, my lord. I must stay with them.”
“Good God, man! What do you think I am? If you are to come, then your wife and children must come too. There will be a place in school for your sons and daughters and I will find something for them in time. They are not to be left like unwanted trash, Fong!”
“My lord. I apologise. I did not know that you would take them as well. I will come to London with you, my lord. I shall be pleased to take my family from Shanghai. It is not a good town.”
“You are right, I fear, Fong. Please to speak to Lee and to the nursery maids and to the best skilled of our people. The cooks are very good and really should come to Britain, if they will. I leave the decisions to you, Fong.”
Magnus knew that this was to place power in Fong’s hands – he was to be the arbiter of the prosperity of every member of the household. He would be offered bribes of all sorts. He hoped he would at least be discreet.
Orders arrived four days later and threw the household into even deeper chaos.
Chapter Fourteen
The Earl’s Other Son Series
Peking Nightmares
“As one might have expected, Ellen!”
He handed her the telegraph, and let her read the blocks of capital letters:
“’CAPTAIN EARL OF CALVINE RELIEVED YANGTSE FLOTILLA. EFFECT 15TH FEBRUARY 1901. POSTED ADMIRALTY, NAVAL CONSTRUCTION. ACCOMPANIED PASSAGE AT EARLIEST CONVENIENCE.’ WHAT DOES THAT MEAN, MAGNUS?”
“I must book the next first-class cabin out of Shanghai, on a British ship. You are to come with me rather than follow later. That gives me a degree of leeway – there must be a cabin for us and another for George and his nursemaids, both in first-class. The household can be accommodated in steerage, of course – there will always be space there. I can make sure there is nothing available this week; I should make certain we sail next.”
“My father will be able to organise that. We should speak to him today.”
“Will do. You will notice the lack of detail in the posting?”
“Naval Construction? The department that deals with new ships, I must imagine.”
“Yes, but…”
She was puzzled - it seemed simple enough.
“No commanding officer to report to, my love. One does not work to the orders of a whole department – there must be a superior to maintain a chain of command. I do not know what they have planned for me, but it is presumably not to sit in an office poring over the plans for the latest battleship.”
“But… They are not hiding what they are doing, not from you, because you know they have not followed the correct form… What is the point of it?”
“None. Except that it warns me that I am to undertake some sort of special service, almost certainly based in London. The mention of Naval Construction is for the benefit of outsiders who do not know how the Admiralty works.”
“Why should ‘outsiders’ care, Magnus?”
“The telegram will have been read by agents of Germany, France, Russia and the Qing, for sure. If the Americans are, as they say, ‘on the ball’, they will be intercepting Admiralty despatches too. All of them will be wondering about Naval Construction and why I should be involved. At a guess, most will remember that I have been involved with the torpedo, to the extent that I might be called an expert in the field. This will lead them to conclude that the Admiralty is to expand the use of the self-propelled torpedo, possibly by increasing the numbers of destroyers or even by these underwater boats we hear of. There have been proposals for flotillas of heavy destroyers to be led by a fast light cruiser – and I have commanded two cruisers now.”
“So, it is all part of the Game, Magnus.”
“Partly, yes. More likely, there was a chance to use this posting in the Game, just as an extra, a bonus, one might say, so Intelligence has made use of me. Just temporarily, I have a name that is useful – and therefore, it is used.”
It was not honourable, she feared.
“Anything but, my love. That is one reason why I will not join Intelligence, as they once hoped.”
There was a fast liner, Southern Star, due to sail in eight days, they discovered. Magnus booked his cabins, to the purser’s pleasure – he liked having the aristocracy aboard. The accommodation plan was altered and Captain the Earl of Calvine, RN, DSO* was inked in for the largest cabin, his son and heir, Lord Eskdale, next to him.
The accommodation plan was displayed on a board outside the purser’s office, for the benefit of the curious and the socially active who liked to know who they would rub shoulders with for the two months of the voyage. There was always competition for the best cabins and the winners liked to see their success displayed for lesser mortals to envy.
Mr Sia came to Blantyre’s offices, ostensibly on business, in fact to make a private farewell to Magnus, in the process giving him a quiet reminder that young Mr Ping and Jian would be pleased to greet him on his return to London.
“I expect to be installed at Calvine House within a fortnight of disembarking from Southern Star, Mr Sia. I suspect we shall take a suite in a hotel for two weeks while the staff ready the old place – the furniture will have been under covers for the better part of three years since my brother’s much regretted demise.”
“It is possible that you will be expected, my lord. A cable to London and it will be simple to set servants to work in advance of your appearance on the scene. I could send such a message very easily.”
Magnus smiled and bowed, almost overcome by such kindness, he said.
Sia bowed in turn and vowed to send the cable that very afternoon.
Blantyre observed and said nothing, at that time.
Sia left, making heartfelt and possibly honest farewells, matched by Magnus’ protestations that he would remember his kindness for the remainder of his life.
“Well, my lord?”
“Well, Sir Charles?”
“I believe we must both bear in mind our obligations to Mr Sia and Lord Ping, my lord.”
“I have every intention of so doing, sir. Leaving aside the unwisdom of showing ingratitude to the triads, I am conscious of Mr Sia’s generosity to me. He has done more than mere self-interest might dictate.”
Blantyre shook his head.
“No. He has misjudged, that is more like. He thought that he must do far more than would have been necessary to attract our kindness.
He is used to being an inferior Chinaman in the presence of the gwailos and believed he must go to extremes to obey Lord Ping’s orders to bring us into an alliance. He will eventually discover his error – and must then be heartened by the realisation that we have shown him greater favour than he might have expected.”
“I shall not forget, sir. Three days until we sail. When do you follow?”
“Seven weeks this day, my lord. I have booked my passage and am busily bringing my years here to an end. There is a lot to do, you know, my lord. I have bought more than one house and several pieces of land – the latter unlawfully, of course – and need to sell up some and give some away.”
Magnus did not ask after the recipients of the gifts, simply presumed they would be female.
“I have a buyer in mind for your house, my lord. That should come through in a few days. I will send the money direct to your London bank.”
“Hey! No, sir! You purchased the house – and that I appreciated very much. I do not think I ever mentioned my pleasure in your generosity to Ellen, sir. Because of you, she has enjoyed a far more comfortable life than I could have given her. I must add, that I have, too! But to give me the money is too much of a very good thing, sir. The more so because I may well come to you for a loan when you are settled in England.”
“To bring the estates around, my lord?”
Magnus nodded, grim-faced.
“The crofters and the larger farmers and their labourers on the Scottish acres are as poor as the peasants here in China, sir. Their condition is a disgrace to my family and I will not tolerate it. I much suspect that all I can do for most will be to send them overseas with a few pounds in their pockets and land grants waiting for them. To do so will cost a little, but possibly more than I have to hand. I know nothing of my finances yet. I do know from my days as a cadet and then as a midshipman when I was home on leave and walked the estates with a gun or rode out to exercise that my lands are poverty-stricken. The cause is generations of my family who have screwed every penny in rent out of the lands and put nothing back. Our abuse of the people must cease, sir!”
04 Peking Nightmares (The Earl’s Other Son Series, #4) Page 25