A Chinese Command: A Story of Adventure in Eastern Seas

by Harry Collingwood

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

  THE DRAGON AWAKES.

  On their way to the dockyard, while passing along the "Street of ManyWaters", they heard in the distance the sound of a military band,playing very barbaric music--to English ears, that is to say--but inwhat was undoubtedly "march" time. Presently they found themselvescompelled to halt for about five minutes at a cross street, named "TheLotus", while several companies of a Chinese Line regiment went swingingpast on their way to the barracks; and Drake and his companion could notrefrain from commenting favourably upon the smart and businesslikeappearance of the men.

  They were, it appeared, part of a crack corps; and every officer andprivate seemed fully to realise the fact, and to be proud of it. Therewas not a single soldier among them standing less than six feet inheight, and the majority were broad in proportion. The Navy men whomFrobisher had so far encountered were usually uniformed somewhat afterthe fashion of European officers and seamen. The officers wore theflat, peaked cap, with a gold dragon in front instead of the crown andanchor, while their jackets and trousers of dark-blue cloth were almostexactly similar to those of our own men, except that the facings,instead of being gold, were of that peculiar shade of blue so much infavour among the Chinese. The ordinary tars wore the conventionaldark--blue, baggy trousers, and a blouse of the same colour, cut to a"V" shape at the neck in front, but minus the collar at the back whichEuropean seamen have adopted, while the skirt of the blouse was allowedto hang loose outside the trousers, instead of being tucked in. Theonly essential difference between the Celestial seamen's uniform and ourown lay in the cap, which, instead of being flat and dark-blue incolour, was of the conventional Chinese shape and white in colour, witha knob of some soft material on the top. Their pigtails were rolled upand tucked into the crown of these caps--or, more correctly, hats.Their arms consisted of rifles--which, Frobisher noted, were ofwidely-different patterns, most of them obsolete, although all werebreech-loaders--and a kind of cutlass, somewhat similar to the Britishnaval weapon, but with a two-handed hilt, and only a small, circularpiece of polished brass for a guard.

  The soldiery, however, smart though they were, in no way resembled thoseof European armies. Their uniforms, all similar of course, consisted ofidentically the same hat as that worn in the Navy; a white jacket, verylong and very loose, with baggy sleeves, the collar, front, and skirt,and the edges of the cuffs all edged with broad Chinese-blue braid; andshort and baggy trousers, gathered just below the knee, and tucked intoa kind of "puttee" legging, consisting of a long wrapping of whitecanvas. The trousers were also white, with a Chinese-blue stripe ofbroad braid down the outside--and, strangely enough, the inside also--ofthe leg. The boots were eminently sensible and serviceable, and weresomething like the Red Indian's moccasin, the uppers being made of twothicknesses of deer hide, which were kept on the foot by means of anarrow tape run through eyelets, while the soles were built up ofseveral thicknesses of felt, amounting in all to about an inch and ahalf. They had an appearance of great clumsiness, but were, as a matterof fact, extremely light, springy, and comfortable. The thickness ofthe soles, the springiness of the felt, and the absence of heels madethe boots particularly easy to march in, and the soldiers were thus ableto cover great distances without feeling fatigue. These men, instead ofhiding their pigtails under their head-gear, allowed them to hang down;and some of them, Frobisher observed, were of great length, in somecases falling as low as the back of the knee.

  For arms the men carried rifles, of a more modern pattern than those inuse in the sister service; in fact, they seemed, so far as Frobishercould see without close inspection, to be Martini weapons of the 1879pattern--a most serviceable and reliable fire-arm, far superior to themodern small-bore rifle in the opinion of soldiers themselves, as aman-stopper and rush-checker. A long, wicked-looking bayonet with abasket hilt, the back of the blade serrated for three-quarters of itslength, like the edge of a large saw, swung from the left hip; and thearmoury was completed by a long-hilted, long-bladed knife, or shortsword, stuck through the belt which supported the bayonet. They wouldcertainly be a "tough crowd to meet at close quarters", as Drakemurmured to his companion while the men swung past.

  The soldiers appeared to be extremely partial to flags, for there seemedto be one to every twenty or thirty men. These were all identical inshape and colour, being triangular and yellow, with the device of acrimson dragon, open-jawed, in the centre.

  As soon as the men had passed, Frobisher and Drake continued their walk,and shortly afterward reached the entrance to the dockyard, where theywere sharply challenged in Chinese by a sentry. Fortunately, as hasbeen before noted, Drake was an excellent Chinese scholar; and, inanswer to his explanation that they were in search of Admiral Wong-lih,the man allowed them to pass, and very civilly directed them where togo, having seen the officer in question pass but a short timepreviously.

  While Drake was obtaining this information Frobisher amused himself bylooking around him; and as he did so, he caught sight of a verygorgeously dressed official approaching, attended by several servants,one of whom was holding a large umbrella over his master's head, whileanother timidly supported the heavy silken train of the mandarin'scloak. There was something familiar about this man's appearance, butthe Englishman could not remember whether or not he had really met himbefore, or whether it was only a resemblance to some other that hadattracted his notice. He was a man of very high standing--there couldbe no doubt about that; for, while he was yet some ten yards away, thesentry abruptly ceased his conversation with Drake, pushed the littleskipper aside, and presented arms, his face assuming the fixedexpression of a wooden image, touched, Frobisher imagined, with morethan a trace of fear. And indeed, upon closer inspection, theofficial's countenance itself was seen to be anything but pleasant inexpression.

  He did not deign to return the sentry's salute, but stared in aparticularly offensive manner at the two Englishmen, finally coming to ahalt and putting several questions to the sentry, who replied in tonesthat positively quavered with apprehension. During this time thepersonage never took his eyes off the two friends, and Frobisher was onthe point of losing his temper when the unknown, with a distinctlyperceptible sneer, turned his back rudely and, with a curt command tohis waiting attendants, stalked majestically away.

  "Who the--?"

  "What a--" began Drake and Frobisher simultaneously, then stopped.Frobisher, simmering with rage, continued:

  "Drake, ask this sentry, here, who in thunder that insolent bounder is.By Jingo! I have half a mind to go after him and tweak his pigtailsoundly. Why, he looked at us as though we were dirt beneath his feet--as though we had no business to be alive. Confound his impudence!"

  Drake, fully as indignant, sharply put the desired question, and inreply received a long explanation from the sentry, who constantly sentglances after the mandarin, as though fearful that the latter mightoverhear what he was saying, even at that distance. Presently heconcluded, and Drake translated whilst the two continued their searchfor Wong-lih.

  "The fellow says," explained Drake, "that the individual who treated usto such a close scrutiny is a very important official indeed. He is oneof the members--the chief, in fact--of the Naval Council, also afour-button mandarin, entitled to wear the insignia of the goldenpeacock. And he is also the captain of the battleship _Ting-yuen_, theflagship of the Chinese northern fleet, which flies the flag of thecelebrated Admiral Ting himself. Last, but by no means least, he holdsan important post in the dockyard (though how he manages to carry outthe duties of that and those of captain at one and the same time I donot know); while, to cap everything, he is a member of the Chinese RoyalFamily, a Prince, no less, I assure you. What do you think of that fora tally, eh, Mr Frobisher?"

  "Well, I am rather inclined to be sorry for the people who come underthe scope of his Naval jurisdiction," returned Frobisher. "I shouldhate to serve in any ship of which he was captain. Of course I don'tknow the fellow from Adam, but there is something
about him that arousedin me a very strong sense of repulsion; he looked to me like anarch-criminal. By the way, did the man tell you what his name was? Ifeel sure I've seen him somewhere before; I remember that repellent,snaky look in his eyes, which gives one the shivers up and down one'sspine."

  "Oh ay," replied the skipper; "I'd forgotten that. He did mention histally, as a matter of fact. Let's see--um--what was it again? Ah, Iremember. He called him Prince See--at least, that's what it soundedlike."

  "By Jove! then I remember when I met him last, Drake," exclaimedFrobisher. "It was when I went with my friend the admiral to theCouncil meeting at the Navy Building, when I received my commission inthe Chinese Navy. Wong-lih mentioned then, that his name was PrinceHsi; and I recollect how very unpleasantly he impressed me then. Itappears also that he is a bit of a scoundrel; for in Wong-lih's absencein Korea the fellow had the audacity to send the _Chih' Yuen_, the shipI was to be appointed to, to Wei-hai-wei to have her 9.4's replaced by12-inch guns, intending to sell the smaller weapons, substitute old,out-of-date twelves, and pocket the difference. But, luckily, Wong-lihmet her on the way there, screwed the information out of her captain,and stopped Hsi's little game. He hates Wong-lih, therefore; and, as Iam a friend of the admiral's, he has honoured me also with a share ofhis dislike."

  "The low-down, ruffianly swab!" Drake burst out. "But there! that'sjust the sort of beast he looks. Well, Mr Frobisher, if, as you say,he dislikes you--and from the way he looked at you I should say that`hate' was the more correct word--I would advise you to keep yourweather eye lifting. That sort of man hesitates at very little, and heseems to have the power, as well as the will, to do you a bad turn; sowatch out!"

  "I will, Drake," replied Frobisher; "you can rely on that. But here weare at last, I think; this is the place where the sentry said we shouldfind Wong-lih, isn't it?"

  "Ordnance Wharf, third shed along, first door on the far side of thesheer-legs before you come to the fifty-ton crane, he said," repliedDrake; "so I reckon that this is the door. And, by Jiminy! there is theadmiral himself, walking beside the other officer in gold lace--aflag-captain, I should say, by his aiguillettes."

  "That's him, right enough," agreed Frobisher, and together the two menset off in pursuit, keeping a little in the rear until the two officersshould have finished their conversation.

  Presently the captain saluted and went off about his own business, andWong-lih, turning, caught sight of Drake and Frobisher. As his eyesfell upon the latter, he stood stock-still, his jaw dropped, hiseyebrows went up, and he looked as though he had seen a ghost.

  "Why, Captain Frobisher," he exclaimed at last, coming forward andholding out his hand, "is it then really you? My dear boy, I am glad tosee you again, safe and sound, too, by all appearances. I have beenmourning you as dead these three months and more, ever since I got backfrom the south and learnt of the disaster to the _Su-chen_ on theHoang-ho. I never expected to see you alive again when I heard that youhad fallen into the clutches of the pirates; and I was more grieved thanI can tell you--as Captain Drake here can testify--not to be able tosend a rescue party after you to try to save, or at least avenge, you.But it was absolutely impossible; I had neither ships nor men to spare.The imminence of our war with Japan, which has been threatening dailyfor months past, and which is now an all-but-acknowledged fact, wouldnot allow of it. Much as I regretted you, my country naturally was myfirst consideration."

  "Of course, sir," agreed Frobisher heartily; "I quite understand. I,too, am delighted to see you once more; indeed, I came down here to theyard on purpose to find you and report myself ready for duty. I hope,sir, that you can still employ me."

  "Employ you?" ejaculated the admiral. "I should rather say we can!Why, I could use hundreds of men like you, if only they existed inChina. But come along to my office; we can talk more comfortably there.And you too, Captain Drake, if you will so far honour my poorquarters."

  "With pleasure, with pleasure, my lord--your maj---er--Sir, I mean,"Drake almost shouted, in his confusion, quite "flabbergasted", as hehimself would have called it, at the Chinaman's stately, old-worldcourtesy. And a few minutes later they found themselves in Wong-lih'scomfortably-furnished office, in the ordnance department of thedockyard. Arrived there, and having seated themselves, the admiralordered refreshments, and immediately plunged into the matter alwaysnearest his heart, now more so than ever.

  "Since you have reported, Captain Frobisher," he commenced, "I take itthat you are ready for service at any moment."

  "This instant, if you wish it, sir," answered Frobisher.

  "Thank you, Captain!" said Wong-lih. "That is practically what itamounts to. Your ship, the _Chih' Yuen_, is here now; and I would likeyou to take command of her at the earliest possible moment. She is inreadiness to go to sea, with stores, ammunition, and men aboard--wouldbe at sea now, as a matter of fact, had we had an officer to whom wedared trust her. And you, sir," turning to Drake, "are you willing toaccept service under my Emperor? If so, I can offer you a berth."

  "Certainly I am, your Highness," replied Drake heartily. "Only, if Imay be so bold as to say so, I should like to be on the same ship as myfr--as Captain Frobisher here."

  "Say `friend', Drake," broke in Frobisher. "It was on the tip of yourtongue, and it is the truth. If a man who saves another's life is not afriend, I do not know what else you would call him."

  "Quite right, Captain Frobisher," said Wong-lih. "I like to hear yousay that. And as for you, Mr Drake, I can satisfy your wish veryeasily, as it happens. The acting first lieutenant of Mr Frobisher'sship is not fitted for the post, but he was the best we had at the time.Now, if you choose, you shall replace him as first lieutenant of the_Chih' Yuen_, and I will have your commission made out immediately."

  "Nothing would please me better, my lord," replied Drake, with theutmost enthusiasm; "and I assure you that you--"

  "Very well, then," interrupted the admiral, who was plainly hard pressedfor time; "that's agreed. You shall receive your commission to-night.And now, gentlemen both, although I am so busy that I scarcely know whatto do first, I must spare the time to give you a short account of thestate of affairs as it stands at present, since it is necessary that youshould have the fullest information to enable you--you in particular,Captain Frobisher--to understand exactly how things are with China, andhow extremely critical the situation is. When you have heard what I amabout to tell you, you will be able to form your own ideas and plans,and so be in a position to work intelligently with your brothercaptains, and under the admiral who is going to command the northernfleet, to which you will be attached. I may mention that I am to be incommand of the southern division, while Admiral Ting will be your chief.

  "You remember, of course, Captain Frobisher, that when the rebellion inKorea became so serious that the Government could not deal with it, theKorean Minister asked our assistance, and we gave it, as you saw, atAsan. I also informed you then that Japan had thereupon thought fit tomanifest a somewhat unfriendly attitude by sending an unnecessarilystrong guard to her Minister at Seoul, coupled with an intimation thatshe would feel obliged to send a much larger force if the rebellion wasnot immediately crushed. That, in itself, as we fully realised,amounted very nearly to a threat of war against China, and showed usthat Japan was only awaiting her opportunity. We therefore sent a verystrongly worded protest against such action to Tokio; and the Japanesethereupon agreed to defer action until it could be seen what turn eventsin Korea were going to take.

  "That was the situation when you were sent in the _Su-chen_ up theHoang-ho; and those of us who had eyes to see and ears to hear werefully awake to the fact that this concession on the part of Japan wasmerely a postponement of the evil day. Perhaps she found she was not asfully prepared for war as she had imagined. I know we were not. Mycolleagues and I, and those of us who had our country's interests atheart, took warning, therefore, and hurried forward our preparations forwar as rapidly as we could.

  "Th
en things remained fairly quiescent until a few days ago. We hadpractically quelled the Korean rebellion, and matters were resumingtheir normal status in Korea, the only thing that remained being toinstitute the reforms which were undoubtedly necessary in that country.The proposals for these were offered to, and accepted by, the KoreanGovernment; and the proposed modifications of policy began to take shapeat once. One would therefore have thought that our little campaign inKorea might be said to have terminated satisfactorily, and that Koreamight be left to carry out the course of action to which she had pledgedherself. In fact, we actually commenced the withdrawal of our troops.

  "Then, suddenly, Japan sprang her mine. Our Minister at Seoul wasinformed by the Japanese representative that Japan did not considerKorea competent to carry out her promises, and that therefore Japanwould unite with China to carry out the reforms between them. This, ofcourse, was tantamount to Japan claiming the right to share China'ssuzerainty over Korea, a most audacious and--I may almost call it--infamous proposition. It was one to which Japan, of course, knew wewould never agree, and we told her so in very plain terms.

  "The next thing we heard was that Japan had landed no fewer that fivethousand men in Korea, and that they were marching on Seoul; and on thesame day the Japanese Minister there forced the situation by tenderingtwo ultimatums--one to Korea, and one to us. The Korean ultimatumrequired that, within twenty-four hours, Korea should disclaim Chinesesuzerainty and pledge herself to allow Japan alone to carry out thereforms in question. The alternative was that, if Korea would notagree, she was to be treated as an enemy to Japan. The ultimatumaddressed to us was to the effect that we should, also within the sametime, surrender our suzerainty to Japan and relinquish all claims overKorea--the alternative in our case being war!

  "Of course we could not possibly send a reply within the timestipulated; and even if we could, we should have refused the proposalwith scorn. Our Minister at Seoul did all that man could do to gaintime, and sent the news to us immediately. As soon as we heard ofJapan's action we knew that the anticipated moment had come, and thatwar had become inevitable; we therefore hurried eight thousand men onboard transports, and dispatched them at once to Asan. And now comes acircumstance it almost breaks my heart to tell.

  "War had not yet been actually declared, you understand, and Japan wasstill officially awaiting our decision; yet the Japanese fleet, in itsfull strength, lay in wait for our transports and the convoyingmen-of-war, and attacked them, sinking the transport _Kowshing_, withover a thousand men on board, and one of our cruisers. The othertransports and cruisers escaped and got safely to Asan, where the troopswere landed, the ships sheltering under the guns of the fortress. Themessenger who brought the news of this treacherous attack informed usthat the five thousand Japanese troops which I mentioned just now,having reached Seoul, had been dispatched again immediately, underGeneral Oshima, to Asan to attack the garrison there. They met a smallforce of our soldiers four days later, at Song-hwan, and, I am sorry tosay, defeated them; and the only silver lining to our cloud lies in thesurprise those Japanese will receive when they find themselves met atAsan by seven thousand of our men, instead of only the small garrison ofthe place; for it is not very likely that Oshima's force, being on themarch, will have heard either of the naval battle, or of our successfullanding of the majority of our men at Asan.

  "The sea fight occurred a week ago, but we only received news of theland battle to-day; and although we have been taken unawares by Japan'streachery in striking before the declaration of war, we have managed toprepare ourselves pretty well, thanks to the warnings we had that thiswas coming. Mark me!--Japan shall find to her cost that she cannotinsult and ride rough-shod over my country without being called to verystrict account. War, Mr Frobisher, will be declared by China againstJapan tomorrow, the 1st of August; and I rely upon you, as well as uponall the rest of my officers, to do your utmost to keep command of thesea. The country which secures that will have the other at her mercy;and we ought to be able to secure it, as our Navy is, if anything, alittle more powerful than that of Japan, seeing that we have twobattleships, as well as cruisers, whereas Japan has only cruisers. Thatis the situation, gentlemen; and you are now as fully posted as I amwith regard to the state of affairs; so strike hard and often for China,when you get the opportunity."

  "We will, sir," replied both men enthusiastically.

  "But," continued Frobisher, "I trust that our ammunition will prove verydifferent from that supplied me on the _Su-chen_. You probably heardthat the expedition failed for no other reason than that more than halfour shells were filled with charcoal instead of gunpowder?"

  "Alas! alas! I did," replied Wong-lih; "and I wish I could promise youthat such monstrous iniquities should never occur again. But I cannot.I am doing, and have always done, my best to prevent this shamefultampering with Government property; but what can one man do, amongst somany? You will remember that I told you the mandarins were fillingtheir pockets at the expense of their country; and there is no tellinghow far their peculations may have extended. I have examined as muchammunition as I have had time for, and I am bound to say that it looksall right; but beyond that I cannot go, for it is impossible to know forcertain without opening every cartridge, and at a crisis like this, thatwould be an impossibility. You must do as I do, and trust that yourpowder will prove what it pretends to be."

  "Very well, sir," returned Frobisher, bowing. "It does not seem a verysatisfactory state of affairs; but I shall do my best, I assure you."

  "I am certain of it," returned Wong-lih. "And now, one last word.Sorry as I am to have to acknowledge it, there are traitors everywhereabout us, so trust no one but yourself and your admiral. News must havebeen conveyed to Japan by one of my countrymen to have enabled her fleetto know when the transports sailed, and where to meet them. That man,whoever he is, has Japanese gold in his pocket, and the blood of athousand of his countrymen on his head."

  Drake and Frobisher exchanged glances involuntarily. The same suspicionhad evidently crossed the mind of each simultaneously.

  "Do you suspect anyone in particular, sir?" enquired Frobisher. "If so,perhaps you will kindly warn me in which direction to exercise the mostcare."

  "I am sorry to say that I do suspect someone most strongly," wasWong-lih's reply, after a somewhat lengthy pause. "But, unfortunately,he is so highly placed that even I dare not mention his name. If theman so much as guessed that I suspected his treachery, I should beassassinated within twenty-four hours; so, for my country's sake, I mustrefrain from telling you something I would give a good deal to be ableto do."

  "Someone very highly placed?" repeated Frobisher, drawing his chair alittle closer to Wong-lih's, and lowering his voice. "Should I be verywide of the mark in guessing him to be a prince of the blood royal?"

  Wong-lih turned pale, and glanced uneasily round him. "You would be, onthe contrary, very near the truth, if my suspicions are correct," hereplied. "That man has played many a scurvy trick in his time; but hisother delinquencies are light compared with treachery to his country;and I fear to breathe his name in connection with so horrible a crime.But tell me, how came you to suspect also? Have you any grounds?"

  "None," replied Frobisher. "But I have met the man twice, and on eachoccasion he has impressed me most unfavourably. I suppose one shouldtake no notice of intuitions; but he certainly looks a thoroughscoundrel, to my mind. I shall watch him as carefully as I can."

  "Do," said the admiral. "You say you have met him twice; I recollectthe first time, but do not recall a second. When was it?"

  "Not an hour ago, sir," returned Frobisher. "I met him, with hisretinue, just leaving the dockyard. He honoured me so far as to treatme to a very impertinent scrutiny as he passed."

  "Leaving the dockyard!" echoed Wong-lih. "I did not see him about here.He ought to be on board his ship, the _Ting Yuen_, by rights, for sheis quite ready for sea; and I know Admiral Ting is only too eager totake his fleet out to look for
the enemy. Indeed, as soon as you areaboard the _Chih' Yuen_ and have hoisted your flag, he is likely to makethe signal to proceed to sea. No; that man had no business here. Iwonder what he was doing."

  Acting upon Wong-lih's hint that the interview had better terminate,Frobisher and Drake took their leave of the kindly admiral, and wentback into the city to transact some necessary business before going onboard. This included securing uniforms, and suits of mufti, toiletarticles, and, in fact, personal requisites of every kind, of which bothmen had been destitute for several months past. This business havingbeen transacted, their new possessions were packed and sent to the ship,and Frobisher and Drake followed immediately afterward. Arrived onboard, the former had his commission read by the interpreter (for itwas, of course, written in Chinese script), and at last, after manystrange vicissitudes, found himself standing on his own quarterdeck,captain of the Chinese cruiser _Chih' Yuen_.