“What a bloody mess! What about the land here in the hills?”
Daubney knew nothing of that transaction but suspected that Reverend Lakeham had proposed to expropriate it using the powers of Divine Right.
“Bloody Hell! Corporal Allen, remain here with your men overnight. I shall meet with the Chinese authorities in the morning, but it may take some hours before I can clear up this mess. I will arrange for food.”
Magnus left the suite of rooms, stood outside in the fresher air, trying to compose his mind.
“Jian. Please to inform the captain that I am leaving my men to hold the madman under restraint. Thank him for his aid and beg that meals may be sent in to my men. Ask him to convey my apologies to his general for the great inconvenience he has been caused. I do not know what is to be done. I must speak to the Prefect in the morning and endeavour to find a solution to this problem.”
The Prefect was inclined towards indignation. It was bad enough that the foreign godmen must be tolerated, but that they should be mad as well was unacceptable.
“Jian, offer my agreement but point out that the Americans are generally so strange to English eyes that it is difficult to tell if they are sane. This is especially true of their religious people, who are commonly known to us as Rednecks and tend to be very peculiar indeed.”
The Prefect was interested to hear this and was surprised to discover that Americans and British were not entirely the same in culture.
“Ask him of the merchant Tsu Run, Jian.”
Two minutes of rapid and agitated discussion followed.
“Tsu Run, my lord, is a fine gentleman in very good standing in the city and throughout the whole of the province and very likely in Peking as well. That, my lord, suggests that he has a certain eminence. He most definitely cannot be regarded as in any way party to this affair. As for the missionary’s daughter – an unfortunate misunderstanding and she is in no way fit to be more than a junior concubine in any case. No doubt Tsu Run had no interest in the girl.”
“There is no reason then why she should not be taken away from Yanking?”
It seemed most desirable to the Prefect that she should go. He much suspected she was a mercenary baggage who had wanted to ensnare a wealthy husband – she should be taken away.
“Her mother, sister and little brother too?”
All of them and the sooner and farther the better, it seemed.
That would make things easier, Magnus suspected. Getting the women and children to safety was a first necessity. The well-being of the menfolk came a long way second.
“What of the land, Jian?”
“Tsu Run will deal with that, my lord. He will have come to some sort of agreement with the Prefect. We may ignore it.”
“Good. That leaves the adult men. Daubney first.”
Jian asked the Prefect his intentions with regard to the younger of the godmen.
“He is a coward, my lord. A weakling who would not act to restrain the madness of the old man. Was he a Chinaman, the Prefect would have his head without second thought for such poor behaviour. Being a gwailo, people who do not know what proper conduct is, the Prefect believes he should be beaten and then sent away.”
That sounded not unreasonable to Magnus. He was about to agree when he had a sudden thought.
“Beaten to what extent, Jian?”
The interpreter inquired, checking again before replying.
“A thousand strokes with thin bamboo rods, my lord.”
“That would kill him!”
“Some very strong men survive such a punishment, my lord.”
“He is a weak man, one who sits at a desk all his life. Even fifty would break him.”
There was a further discussion in Mandarin, Jian eventually summarising for Magnus.
“The Prefect says that Daubney was rude to Tsu Run, my lord. He cannot go unpunished.”
If Daubney had been offensive to the leader of a Triad, then he could not expect mercy.
“The Americans might go to war if one of their godmen was beaten to death here. It cannot happen, not here.”
Jian conveyed Magnus’ words, ensuring their precise meaning was clear.
“Elsewhere, my lord?”
“Bandit attacks occur and are much to be regretted. Was the gentleman to reach Peking safely, then he would no longer be a diplomatic problem.”
The Prefect bowed in his chair; Magnus acknowledged his courtesy. Jian made a note in his record of the morning’s proceedings.
“Mr Daubney is found blameless in the affair. He is exonerated. He must go to Peking as a matter of some immediacy.”
“I will take him there, in company with the Lakeham family. Once in the city, he is no concern of mine.”
They sat in silence a couple of minutes, neither wishing to speak first. Jian took the initiative.
“The matter of the murdered cook, my lord?”
“Self-defence, Jian. The Reverend is unable to answer questions on the matter. I much fear that the poor man may do harm to himself in fact. Was he to commit suicide then no doubt the American Legation could arrange for payment to be made to any he might have harmed in his madness.”
Jian translated, and the Prefect gave an infinitesimal nod, so slight a movement that it might not have existed, could certainly not be recorded.
“Might he possibly recover, my lord? Could he regain his sanity?”
“Not a chance! I believe his wife and children and the man Daubney should be moved into apartments next to mine for the while. I suspect that the Reverend will commit suicide almost immediately in their absence. That should be before I leave Yanking, so that I may write my statement that he certainly killed himself.”
The Prefect agreed and adjourned their meeting, to make the necessary arrangements.
The Prefect offered to provide an open ox-cart for the family to travel in – undignified, humiliating in the eyes of the townsfolk, who saw them leave. The Lakehams were too pleased to be going to quibble and Daubney did not realise that he was being treated with contempt. It was agreed that they would move out at first light next day, without fanfare but with a strong escort of mounted soldiers.
“Can we trust them, Jian?”
“The Prefect has gained much from the agreement, my lord. He will not wish to break it. The general might be less happy but will probably decide he is wiser to not to get involved. The notification of the Reverend’s suicide is due this afternoon, before food, my lord.”
“Send Corporal Allen back to the barracks with the others, if you please, Jian.”
“Done, my lord. I arranged that with the Prefect’s men an hour ago. I thought it better that you were not officially told, so that you would not need to lie to an inquiry, if there should be one.”
“Good of you, Jian. Thank you.”
The interpreter was evidently making himself indispensable, working hard for his promised rewards.
The messenger arrived a little later, announcing that, so sadly, the mad old godman had killed himself. The Lord should come to view the body.
Lakeham was still in his manacles but was indisputably dead, impaled on a spear. How he had achieved that particular trick was unclear, but Magnus was not about to open any debate. He doubted it had been a quick death but was not to argue with the Prefect’s notions of justice. It was better that the missionary was dead than that there should be another war with the mass butchery that would entail.
“The man is dead. I shall inform the American Minister that he had fallen into insanity and that he had killed innocent Chinese servants. No doubt his widow will confirm his madness. I would hope that the Americans might pay properly to the servant’s widow and children.”
Jian translated for the benefit of the military present; they said nothing in return.
The Prefect called Magnus to a final meeting, an official farewell, diplomatically necessary so that they were seen to part on good terms.
“The merchant Tsu Run has expressed his satisfac
tion with the outcome of this unfortunate affair, my lord.”
“I am glad to hear that, Jian. I regret that I have been unable to meet the gentleman but shall inform Lord Ping of his great courtesy.”
Jian made his translation and listened again.
“The Prefect, my lord, offers his personal thanks to you for enabling the problem to be settled so swiftly and with such honour.”
“Inform the gentleman that there have been too many wars and too much killing in China. Irrespective of their cause, and saying nothing of blame, I would not wish to see another war if it could be prevented.”
Magnus was pleased with that sentence. It was almost meaningless but gave the sound of virtue. The Prefect recognised it for all it was; he too thought that the foreigners had caused too many wars.
The return was slower because of the cart carrying the mission family, but five days saw them back in the Legations, with Magnus still trying to finalise his report on the incident. The problem was that he knew the Chinese in Yanking would also be reporting to their people, and to the Tsongli Yamen particularly. He did not wish to contradict their version too flagrantly. He spoke to Sir Claude immediately on his return from the American Legation.
“Bit of a mess, this Yanking business, Sir Claude.”
Sir Claude was of the opinion that all had gone really rather well.
“Got the women and children out, old boy! That’s the most important thing. Can’t leave them in the hands of the Chinks. What was this about the daughter? Girl can’t be fifteen, surely?”
“One of the things I want to keep quiet, Sir Claude.”
Magnus’ first verbal report had been laconic, in the extreme. He expanded now.
“Thing is, Sir Claude, that her father offered her to a Chink merchant. Selling her, that is. Don’t want to make too much of that in public!”
“My God! Nothing of that in public, Eskdale. I’ll talk to Conger, quickly. Best they should get them out of the country as soon as possible. This fellow Daubney can be their escort, I expect.”
“Better not, Sir Claude. The man’s not at all the thing, you know. When I first met him, he was stripped to the waist with a bare sword slipped through a scarlet sash. Just like the Barbary pirates, do you know? Don’t know what he’d been doing, but the girls – both of them – were trying to keep well clear of him. The younger is no more than a child, too.”
Sir Claude was reduced almost to despair, despite being almost inured to missionaries and their scandals.
“Is there no end to what these missionary types will do, Eskdale? I shall tell Conger that Daubney should be kept clear of the Lakeham family. Put him into a room of his own for the while and hold him here for a month or two until the family is well into the voyage.”
That seemed satisfactory to Magnus. It gave quite sufficient time for Tsu Run to do whatever he wished and kept his own end of the bargain. No need to explain to Sir Claude exactly what had been agreed.
Sir Claude accompanied Magnus to the meeting with Mr Conger, made it obvious that he was there to second the American Minister in his applause of British diplomacy and daring.
Mr Conger was interested primarily in suppression of the story, not wishing the least hint of impropriety to reach the American newspapers.
“No telling what they might say, gentlemen. You English have it easier with your press – all of them owned by your political people and never treading on your toes. Your Times, for example, thunders occasionally, but keeps the important matters quiet for you – no big scandals when they affect Royalty, you know.”
That was true, Magnus reflected. Had his foolish brother been in the company of the Prince of Wales when he was caught dabbling, then nothing would ever have become public knowledge.
“Bad business, Mr Conger. Daughter is a schoolgirl and no telling what they had been up to with her. The man Lakeham was mad, of course, but he was certainly in the way of selling her to a Chinaman.”
That was sufficient to close down the whole affair. There would be a report to Washington, but only for the purpose of silencing voices in the States. No senators or congressmen would become interested in the Lakehams.
“What about the people in Yanking, Lord Eskdale?”
“Money to the family of the cook who was murdered by Lakeham. Shot down like a dog, they told me.”
The budget was tight, but money would be found, Conger assured him.
“Other than that? My advice is to say nothing, sir. Let it be forgotten.”
“Can it be, my lord?”
“No. It can be silenced, no more. I would not permit missionaries to return to the area of that prefecture, Mr Conger. Provided the family of the cook receives a very substantial payment, sufficient to compensate for his earnings for life, then they will say nothing. The sole problem lies in the offence caused to the triad commanded by the merchant, Tsu Run, by name.”
Both Mr Conger and Sir Claude protested that there was no such thing as a triad – such secret societies were wholly imaginary.
“As you will, gentlemen. I am sure you can accept that Tsu Run is leader of a criminal gang numbering several hundreds of armed men and with influence over many thousands of ordinary Chinese.”
That was a different matter – gangs were known to exist.
“What happened, do you know, my lord?”
“In detail, no. Probably my interpreter was told the story but felt it wiser not to give me the sordid details.”
They nodded thoughtfully – they were aware of the tendency of their Chinese employees to protect them from unpleasantness.
“They seem to think that we must not be made aware of the evils that exist underground, as it were, in their country. To ensure that we do not feel contempt for them, perhaps.”
“Possibly so, Mr Conger. Perhaps it is because they never inform the Qing of all that is going on and feel we should remain in similar ignorance. If it is your wish, I shall ask Jian to make a full report of all he came to know.”
They thought it was better that he should do so – otherwise they would have to fabricate their cover-up from a basis of ignorance, which could lead to unfortunate results when facts eventually came to the surface.
“No story remains unchallenged for all eternity, Lord Eskdale. What normally happens is that one of the parties to a cover-up keeps a diary and dies without burning it. A son or grandson reads the volume and tells the world and then the investigation begins. Eventually it all comes out, unless the perpetrators have been thorough in their destruction of the evidence, and you can’t do that if you don’t know everything that went on.”
Magnus immediately thought of the Tranby Croft case, the scandal which had put the Prince of Wales into the witness box in a trial for slander. According to rumour in Society the government’s agents had swept up every letter and diary retained by any of those present and had terrorised the staff at the house into silence. They had been thorough in a fashion that would not be possible in Yanking and in China generally.
“I shall discover all I can, gentlemen. I do not see how rumour can be prevented. The Boxers are opposed to the missions already – once they hear of Lakeham they will spread the most scurrilous of stories and will be believed. Mind you, gentlemen, I will never be surprised by anything I hear of missionaries – I will believe the rumours, too.”
Mr Conger was appalled – he had no doubt that ninety-nine in a hundred of missionaries were the finest of people. Sir Claude had African experience to draw upon as well as his knowledge of China and could not place his figure so high, he said.
“I expect most of them are fine folk, Mr Conger. Quite a lot, anyway.”
Ellen was not entirely pleased that Magnus had been back in the Legation for the better part of a day before he could find time for her.
He apologised at some length, admitting fault but offering the need to silence the damned fools at the American Legation as an immediate excuse.
“They can send cables off these days, you know,
and be heard in Washington and London well before the week is out. Once a message is sent it becomes almost impossible to suppress it. The last thing we want is for the governments back at home to get hold of the wrong end of the stick. The missionary’s wife knows only part of all that happened but that man Daubney is aware of too much. Between them, they could have undone most of the little good I have achieved. Nasty damned business, my love!”
He wondered if he should protect her ears from the extent of the vileness Jian had discovered and had finally outlined to him. She was a grown woman, and intelligent, strange though that seemed in any female, and he must offer her his trust, or keep her ignorant of all of his business. He took a deep breath.
“In brief, Ellen, Lakeham was wholly insane. He believed himself to be the incarnation of the second coming of the Lord – in capital letters, no doubt. Whatever he did was the will of God, as followed from that. He sought to recruit a following of Chinese, particularly from one of the triads. His means of attracting the leader was to offer him his fifteen years old daughter, so that the man’s children would be part divine, being grandchildren of the Lord in person. According to Jian, the man Daubney, who was an assistant missionary of some sort – a lay brother or some such – had ambitions there as well and sought to protect the girl. Daubney certainly met the triad leader, a merchant by the name of Tsu Run and grossly insulted him when he called at the mission and possibly chased him away at the point of a sword.”
Ellen knew enough of China to be horrified.
“Oh, but one must not do that, Magnus! He could never forgive such an affront.”
“I know. I have been arranging for the Widow Lakeham and her children to leave Peking immediately, and to be out of China on the next possible ship. Mr Conger will have them placed under escort and taken to Taku, there to be sent out to a passenger liner. There is a ship for Hong Kong lying offshore at the moment and there will be transport from Hong Kong to San Francisco within days – there are regular services across the Pacific.”
Chinese Whispers Page 10
