With the Allies to Pekin: A Tale of the Relief of the Legations

“We never really get near the Chinese. They live in their native city; we live in our own settlement. We draw what labour we require from them, it comes and it goes again; but as far as the people are concerned, their ways, their talk, and their manner of life, we know no more of them than if the native town were situated in the moon. Their whole existence differs in almost every respect from ours. A Chinaman, if he is aggrieved by another, will go to the house of the man he has quarrelled with, and will cut his own throat at the door, and public opinion demands that the other man shall also cut his. If a man commits a crime and bolts, they donʼt trouble greatly to catch him. They simply inflict the punishment due to him on his nearest relative. I donʼt say that the system doesnʼt act well, for the ties of family are tremendously strong, and few Chinamen, indeed, would so utterly disgrace themselves as to allow their fathers to be executed in their place.

“As to religion, it can scarcely be said that they have any except worship of ancestors. They have superstitions, but no real religion. They look at everything, in fact, in a light that differs directly from that in which we regard it. Every Chinaman will cheat in a bargain if he can, and only laugh if he is found out, for he has no shame whatever in conduct which he considers natural if not meritorious. But they have not the slightest fear of death. I do not know that they have the same fatalism as the Mohammedans, but practically it comes to the same thing. I donʼt know whether you have heard in England about the Boxers?”

“Yes, I have heard something about them, but not much.”

“The sect has existed some two hundred years. It doesnʼt seem originally to have had any very positive aims. Its members performed certain rites and certain exercises in a secret sort of way, but I fancy that is pretty well all that is known of them. It is really only lately that they have become at all prominent, and have gone in for recruiting their numbers to any extent. The whole basis of the association has been changed. It was formerly an association apparently without any political aims, and to some extent resembling our own freemasonry; and it has become an active, militant, and in a certain sense a national movement, directed principally against foreigners, but also against the corruption of the Chinese Court and the terrible condition of the people in general.

“In one of their early proclamations they say the whole populace is sunk in wretchedness, and that all the officials are spoilers of their food. The condition of the Yamen is unspeakable. In every market and in every guild nothing can be done unless the officials are bribed. All sorts of exactions are made. They are all alike; ill–gotten wealth is their one object; right has disappeared from the world, and sins are unnumbered. In the Yamens it is of no avail to have a clear case; unless you bribe, you will lose the day. All this is unquestionably true. After reciting these things the proclamation then turns to foreigners. It says: ʻGreater calamities have overtaken the nation. Foreigners, devils come with their teaching, and converts to Christianity, Roman Catholics and Protestants, have become numerous. These are without human relations, but being most cunning they have attracted all the greedy and covetous as converts, and to an unlimited degree they have practised oppression.ʼ

“The great impulse was given in Shan Tung in the north, but the movement spread like wildfire. At first the authorities at Pekin were altogether hostile to it, but, seeing its increasing power, there can be little doubt that the Empress has secretly encouraged it, with the object, no doubt, of diverting it from internal reform to hostility to foreigners. On the other hand, the more enlightened of the Chinese see the danger of the association. Several of the viceroys have taken measures against them, and General Nieh is preparing to attack them. The nine Yangtze viceroys are strongly opposed to the association. At present there has been no overt movement. It seems, as I said, true enough that some small missions in the interior have been attacked, but even this is unconfirmed. The cloud may blow over, or it may burst. I hope that in any case it will be confined to Northern China. If it extends over the whole country there can be little doubt that every missionary settlement in China will be wiped out, and the European settlements in all the mission towns will be attacked and their position become precarious in the extreme.

“As long as the movement is confined to the North it will be manageable. I do not say that the position of the European inhabits of Pekin will not become one of terrible peril, and we here may get our share of trouble; but Pekin is comparatively close to the sea, and although for a time the movement may have its own way, it will be only a repetition of the last troubles. A fleet of the Allied Powers could batter down the Taku forts and an army march to Pekin. They would have a battle or two to fight on the way, but they would defeat the Chinese with great slaughter, capture Pekin, and force the Empress to make terms. This will, to my mind, be almost assuredly the way things will go, unless the Empress takes firm ground, issues a proclamation denouncing the Boxers in the strongest terms, and orders all viceroys and generals to take prompt and energetic steps against them. I may tell you, however, that a considerable number of the British colony here do not share my views, and believe that the thing will die out.

“At any rate, for the present there is nothing to do but go on with our regular work, and see what comes of it. Your work will not be very heavy, for trade is nearly at a stand–still, and no one is getting fresh goods up from Shanghai. So you will have an easy breaking–in to work, which will give you an opportunity of looking up the few young fellows you knew before you left. There are, I think, only five or six who have not been home, but there are others who, being a few years older than you, went home before you and have since returned. There are, of course, some pleasant families here, and these I will give you an opportunity of knowing by having some of them to dinner every night this week. In that way you will speedily get to feel at home in the place. I shall, of course, take you up to the club. You used to do a good deal of drilling with Ah Lo before you went away, and as you would no doubt like to keep up your rowing, you will have plenty of opportunities of doing so on the river.”

For the next three weeks Rex had a very pleasant time. He spent the morning always in his fatherʼs office, where he was instructed in the method of book–keeping employed, and in the general work of the house. Of an afternoon he either went with Ah Lo for a ramble in the native city or for a sail on the river, and sometimes played at cricket. Of an evening he either dined at home or at other houses, and at the end of the three weeks had made the acquaintance of almost all the British families in the settlement. Dick Chambers was generally at liberty in the afternoon and shared in the amusements.

“Stick to your amusements, Rex,” said his father. “The great thing in this country is to take to outdoor exercise as much as possible, and to make life go pleasantly when your work is done. I consider that for the next two or three years it will be quite sufficient for you to work here from nine till one, except on mail days, when you will find it necessary to stick at it all day. The more amusement you get out of your life the better I shall be pleased.”

So Rex joined in all that was going on. He and Dick were at once enrolled in the volunteer corps that had recently been formed, and of which all the clerks and younger members of the firms there had become members as soon as there were signs of possible trouble. As the news from without became daily more serious, cricket was given up and the evenings were devoted to drilling and shooting. The latter was specially attended to. It was evident that so small a body of men could have small occasion for manœuvres of any kind, but that individual shooting might be of extreme importance. Dick Chambers had been elected captain of the corps, as he had learned his work at Marlborough and was the best marksman of his year.

“It isnʼt much of a place for defence,” he said to Rex, “but of course we shall have troops up from the ships; and at any rate five–and–twenty of us, if we shoot straight, can do a good deal; and of course all the heads will join if necessary, though they may not think it worth while to do so now. There is no doubt that the news gets worse every day, and that there are large numbers of these Boxers all over the country. I think the Chinese general is really, as he says, hostile to them, but of course what he does when the time comes will depend upon what orders he gets from the Empress, who is in every sense an unknown quantity in the problem. If he fights the Boxers, we shaʼnʼt have to; if he joins them, we shall all have our work cut out for us. In case of a row we may take it as certain that the population of the native town will all join in, partly because, like the rest of them, they hate us, partly to get a share in the loot. I hear that some of the traders are getting alarmed, and are sending their goods down to the port to be shipped back to Shanghai by the first steamer that comes along. I donʼt think that our people are going to do so.”

“I am sure my father will not,” Rex said. “He thinks there is no doubt that we shall be able to defend ourselves with the aid of the force they will send up, and I believe he expects that they will send some troops up from Shanghai very shortly. Things may hang on as they are for some time. He rather calculates that a good many of the coolies who have been in the employ of the various houses for the past ten or twelve years will stand by us. I donʼt think that any strong national feeling exists among them, and I believe they will stick to those who have paid and treated them well. I donʼt mean that he thinks that they will fight, but they will throw up barricades and strengthen the godowns. In that way they would be of immense use.”

“It all depends, from what I hear,” Dick said, “upon whether they have families in the town. Those that have will be obliged to leave us whatever their own feelings may be, otherwise their families would be massacred at once. Of course if a man has come from a distance with a wife and a child or two he will probably bring them in here, but those born and bred here who have lots of relations would have no option in the matter, poor beggars!”

More alarming reports from up country continued to arrive, and the greatest anxiety began to prevail as to the fate of the missionaries. One morning when Rex went in to breakfast he found his mother in tears and his father looking very grave.

“What is the matter?” he asked.

“There is a report in the town that there has been a riot at Chafui. The mission–house has been attacked, and certainly some of the missionaries have been killed. Others, it is said, were taken to the governorʼs Yamen. What has been their fate no one knows. It is certain that what troops there were in the town did not in any way interfere with the Boxers, and whether the governor had the power or the will to resist them is not known. Robson had no right to keep his wife and girls there. I wrote him again and again begging him to send them down here, but he is one of the most obstinate men I ever knew. If he liked to risk martyrdom, of course he was at liberty to do so, but he had no right to expose them to such a fate. However, it is useless to talk of that now. It is maddening to think that Kate and the two girls should be in the power of these fiendish scoundrels.”

“Can nothing be done, father?”

“What can be done?” Mr. Bateman said bitterly. “It will be as much as we are able to do to hold our own here. The whole country round is in their hands, and it is very doubtful whether Admiral Seymour can, with every man that possibly can be spared, fight his way to Pekin, which is two hundred miles away. Certainly no force can be spared to rescue people who fall into the hands of the Boxers so far away.”

Rex stood in silent consternation. He had not seen his uncle or any of the family since his return, but his aunt and the two girls had been staying some weeks at the house before he went away. “It is awful!” he said at last; “and Uncle must have been mad not to have sent them down when the troubles began.”

“I think so, too, Rex. As for his staying himself it is different. He has a large number of converts there, and no doubt he hoped that his presence there would be some protection. You see, one of the principal causes of the Chinese dislike for us is the missionary question. It is a religious question as much as a political one. The Chinese are in some things very superstitious. They worship to some extent the spirits of their ancestors, but for other religion they care but little. There is no ill–feeling between men of different religion here. No resistance was offered to the spread of Buddhism; the Taoists do not quarrel with those who are practically Confucians. But with Christianity it is different. The converts come under the protection of the missionaries, who have behind them the European powers, and consequently they are, to a great extent, independent of the local officials. The feeling has been greatly aggravated by France insisting that her bishops should have the rank of mandarins, and be judges over their native converts. All this has been a great mistake, for which we are paying now. I believe that our own missions have striven hard to avoid giving offence, and all missionaries in the up–country stations dress in native costume, for the Chinese regard dress as a serious matter.”

While this conversation had been going on, Mrs. Bateman had left the room.

“You had better sit down and eat your breakfast, Rex. You can give me a cup of tea; I could not eat anything now. Kate is very dear to me, and so are the girls. They were here twice while you were away, and stayed with us each time for some weeks.”

“I donʼt remember much about the girls, father. The elder was three years younger than I, and was quite a child, and Mabel was two years younger still.”

“They were growing up very nice girls,” Mr. Bateman said sadly. “Jenny is now nearly fifteen and Mabel thirteen. Of course they had not the freshness of girls brought up at home, and I spoke to their mother when she was up here, and wrote to your uncle, urging that they should go home for a couple of years, and offering to pay all their expenses. He said that in another year he would take the matter into consideration.”

Rex ate a few mouthfuls, and then went out into the courtyard. Ah Lo was sitting there. By his serious face Rex saw that he had heard the news.

“This is a terrible business,” Rex began.

“A very bad business, master.”

“Is there anything to be done, do you think?”

The Chinaman knit his eyebrows. “What could be done?” he asked.

“That I donʼt know; but it is horrible to sit here and do nothing when my aunt and cousins are, if they are alive, prisoners, and may be put to horrible tortures before they are killed.”

Ah Lo was silent.

“Do you think you and I could get there and try to rescue them?”

The Chinamanʼs eyes opened wide. “Do you really mean that, young master?”

“Yes; I do not see why we should not get there all right, though I donʼt say that we could rescue them. We could both dress up as villagers, or as Boxers if you like, and as I speak Chinese as well as you do, I donʼt see why we should not both make our way through. I could stain my skin just a little so as to get it just the right colour, and shave my head and put on a pigtail. Many Chinese wear spectacles, great things with thick rims.”

“Villagers do not often wear them, master, though the literati who wear their eyes out in staring at a book often do. You could not go as one of them, for you do not speak the same language.”

“Well, I should think that you might paint a little line in each corner of my eyes so as to make them look a little up and down like the Chinese eyes.”

“Ah Lo had better go alone,” the Chinaman said quietly.

“Not at all,” Rex said. “My aunt and cousins are a great deal to me, they are nothing to you, and I certainly wonʼt let you go alone.”

“The master would never let you go,” Ah Lo said positively.

“I donʼt suppose he would; but he would not know anything about it until I had gone. I should leave a letter behind telling him why I had gone, and that I was so disguised that I could pass for a Chinaman anywhere. I should say also that I know my chance of succeeding is not great, but that I consider the risk of being found out is still less. I should, of course, promise to take every precaution.”

“The master would never forgive me,” Ah Lo said.

“Oh, yes! he would. I should say further that I had made up my mind to go, and that I told you that if you did not go with me I should go alone, which I mean to do. I am some months past sixteen now, and I think I can take care of myself, though I should feel a great deal more comfortable having you with me.”

CHAPTER III

IN DISGUISE

“Well, what do you think of it, Ah Lo?”

“If you have quite made up your mind, young master, I will go with you,” Ah Lo said quietly; “if I return with you the master will not say much, and certainly if you do not return I shall not.”

“Thank you, Ah Lo! Now, let us settle at once how we shall go, for every hour is of importance. Which do you think would be best, to go as villagers or as Boxers?”

“I think as villagers, master. We can go from village to village with the tale that we have been coolies working here, and that now there is no trade and no employment we are going to visit our family, who live near Chafui. We can carry with us clothes such as the Boxers wear, either red or yellow, so that when we get to Chafui we can put them on if we like. Of course we shall take swords and long knives.”

“I have the two revolvers my uncle gave me when I came away,” Rex said; “we can each carry one of them. As we shall say that we come from Tientsin, the fact that we have revolvers would excite no suspicion. If we are questioned we could easily say that we took them secretly from our employerʼs house when we came away from here. I have got a good stock of cartridges. Of course many of the Boxers are armed with good rifles, but would a villager be carrying them?”

“No, but a coolie from here might do so. Numbers of the Boxers have been killed near Tientsin, and there would be nothing improbable in the statement that as we left the town we had picked up two rifles. A good many rifles are still lying in the suburbs where the fighting went on; if you go out there this morning you might find a couple, for the streets are quite deserted, and then you might put them in a doorway where we could find them as we went along. You would also have to find some packets of cartridges. When shall we start, master?”

“If we can be ready to start to–night all the better.”

“There can be no difficulty about that. I know many native shops where I can get the clothes, and there are plenty of dead Boxers from whom I could take red suits. You could not get your head shaved here, but I will carry a razor and soap with me, and in the morning, first thing, will shave your head. I can buy a pigtail in the town, as many people who have not much hair use false pigtails, and I have no doubt that plenty of them are to be found in the empty shops in the native town.”

“Shall we require to take any food with us?”

“We can take enough rice for our journey, master, and we can get tea anywhere; but you will have to do without anything else.”

“That makes no difference at all; I can do very well on rice, and I can take some of the condiments we use with it. Even if we are searched, these will be as natural as the rice.”

“Is there anything else that you can think of, master?”

“No, I cannot think of anything else at present, but I shall see you again later, and can then fix on the hour for starting.”

During the time when the danger was at its greatest the house had never been so silent, or the face of Mr. Bateman so grave. His wife was absolutely prostrated. This added to the resolution the lad had taken. At whatever risk he might incur, his aunt and cousins must be rescued if they were alive when he reached Chafui, and it were within the limits of possibility to do so. He did not think that the journey in itself really involved any risk, and should he find that all had been massacred he had but to return. He knew how precious his life was in the eyes of his parents, and he resolved to take every means possible to avoid risk. Even if the news he brought back were of the worst, it would be better for his mother than the terrible anxiety that she was now suffering as to the fate of his aunt and cousins.

In the course of the day he wrote a letter to his father, which ran as follows: —

“My Dear Father,

“When you receive this I shall be miles away. As you know, as far as talking goes, I can pass anywhere as a native; and as I shall be thoroughly disguised, I feel sure that with Ah Lo I could go right through China without being suspected. Seeing how terribly anxious my mother and you are about the safety of Aunt and the girls, I have made up my mind to go to Chafui to gather news of them. I am sure that it would be better for Mother to know even the worst than to suffer this terrible anxiety. I do not think I shall run any risk whatever.

“I must tell you that though Ah Lo is going with me it is very much against his will, because he thought that you would blame him if things went wrong, and it was only when I told him that if he did not go with me I should go alone that he consented to accompany me. It was not that he thought of the danger, but that he feared you would be displeased with him for undertaking this journey without your permission. I donʼt think that I should have carried out the threat. Although I know the language well enough I do not know anything of the customs and the religion, and I felt that it would really be a hazardous enterprise if Ah Lo did not go with me. Now, however, that at last he has consented to accompany me, I have no fear whatever.

“I should have asked your permission to undertake this expedition, but I was afraid that you would refuse, and I felt so sure of being able to accomplish my purpose without difficulty that I decided to go without telling you of my intention. You see, Father, it is evident that after what is going on every white man in China will be in peril for a long time to come, and as it is settled that I am going to stay here for at any rate a good many years, I shall have to run risks, and those risks will be greater than any I am likely to meet with now that I am going in disguise. I am quite prepared for emergencies, so I hope that you will not be angry, though I know you will be anxious until I return.

“Ah Loʼs native village is only a few miles from Chafui, and his story that, as there was no longer work to be done in Tientsin, he was going for a time to see his friends is plausible. Indeed, we shall probably stay there among his friends and learn all that has taken place in the town, so that everything will be easy sailing. You must not expect me back for about a month. It will take us ten days to walk to Chafui, ten days to stay at Ah Loʼs village and get full information, and ten to return. That is as near as I can tell at present. There may be unexpected delays, but anyhow we shall not be back in less than a month. Should I find that I am likely to be much longer away, I shall, if possible, send one of Ah Loʼs people down with a message to you.

“Of course, Father, you can, if you think best, tell Mother where I have gone, and why, or lead her to believe that I have gone down to the coast to make arrangements with ships that have arrived with goods for you, or to act as an interpreter to the troops as they come up.

“I believe that if I had never gone to England I should not have thought of carrying out such a plan as this, but one gets to think for oneʼs self when one is at school. I feel sure that there was scarcely a fellow of my age there who, if he had the advantages in the way of speaking languages that I have, would not willingly have undertaken the job. Certainly I feel that the amount of risk to be run is very small compared with the importance of relieving Motherʼs mind and yours, and, of course, though it is some years since I have seen my aunt and cousins, I, too, am very anxious.”