Kobo: A Story of the Russo-Japanese War

by Herbert Strang

  *CHAPTER XIV*

  *Mrs. Isidore G. Pottle*

  Fair Captives--Pidgin--Among the Chunchuses--Seeking Cover--A BreathingSpace--A Picnic

  The travellers pursued their journey without incident through the restof the day. Occasionally they met a native with whom Ah-Sam exchanged afew words, and in these conversations he learnt that the Russians werein great strength between them and the river, and had impressed hundredsof Manchurians to work on the fortifications. This forced labour was byno means to their taste, and many of the inhabitants were therefore inhiding, so that the travellers need not be surprised at thecomparatively deserted condition of the country through which theypassed. From this information it was clear that to turn southwardswould be dangerous as yet. Ah-Sam accordingly drove on in an easterlydirection, making long detours to avoid climbing the hills, which becamehigher and higher as they advanced. They spent the night in a solitaryinn, smaller than the first, and fortunately less crowded. Early on thefollowing morning they pushed on again. Ah-Sam told Bob that they werenow passing beyond the region which he knew intimately. He had only ageneral knowledge of the country, and must trust to passing wayfarers tokeep him in the right way.

  So that day passed. On the next, Ah-Sam thought that they had probablyby this time turned the Russian positions on the Yalu, and might safelytake a southerly course. The country was very wild; the hills werehigher and more precipitous than those in the district alreadytraversed. But there were signs of spring. The snow was thawing in thevalleys and the less exposed parts of the hills, and the ice of thestreams they crossed was rotten, the cart often crashing through. Butthese being shallow hill rivulets, no harm was done; the onlyinconveniences were the having sometimes to cut a way to the oppositebank, and the strain on the mules in drawing the heavy cart over therocky beds and up the rugged slopes. It was easier to make progress atearly morning or late at night, for then the snow was still crisp andthe ice still solid.

  About mid-day they were slowly following the valley of a stream somewhatbroader than those hitherto encountered, hoping that it would bring themout some distance up the Yalu about the neighbourhood of Sukuchen. Asthey proceeded, they came almost unawares upon a remarkable cleft in thehills to their right--a wild and rocky gorge, strewn with irregularmasses of rock small and large, and narrowing as it led upwards to asparse clump of trees at the top. Even in broad daylight it formed adark forbidding gully, the hills rising sheer precipices on either side,showing masses of granite too steep even to give lodgment to the snow.From a point high up, a thin waterfall plunged over the crags and wormedits way down among the boulders. The travellers stopped for a fewmoments to observe the scene. Suddenly Ah-Sam pointed upwards: on aledge of rock almost at the summit, near a narrow fissure, he haddescried the form of a bear motionless on its haunches. Following theChinaman's outstretched finger, Bob at last made out the distant form.For a moment the instinct of the British sportsman prompted him toattempt to stalk the animal, but even as he looked it suddenlydisappeared, and he remembered then that as a menial Korean he wouldhave cut an absurd and outrageous figure in pursuit of a bear.

  He was still regretting the impossibility of obtaining the skin, when hewas startled by the sound of a high-pitched voice coming from some spotahead of them. The valley here rounded a prominent bluff; no human formwas to be seen. Before he had quite collected himself he heard thevoice again; it was a woman's voice, speaking in accents of distress, orat least excited remonstrance, and he fancied that it had a very Britishring. Springing from the cart, and bidding Ah-Sam follow him quickly,he hurried on ahead, turned the bend, and saw before him, hastening upthe slope, five persons, two of them little more than a hundred yardsaway, the other three at a somewhat greater distance. He was amazed tosee that two of the five were ladies, in European costume. The nearerwas a young lady, tall, in a costume of grey tweed; her right wrist wasin the grasp of a native. The farther was a lady of maturer years,equally tall, very stout, wearing a heavy sealskin jacket, her bonnetawry, her arms pinioned by two natives who were urging her along. Thecaptors were obviously Manchus; they wore the pigtails, the wide-brimmedhats, cotton blouses and loose pantaloons common to the country.

  It was from the elder lady that the cries had proceeded and were stillproceeding. They were not cries of fear or appeals for mercy, butrather outpourings of wrath and indignation. Her head was being shakenvigorously from side to side, threatening to dislodge her alreadydisordered head-gear. She was evidently not merely protesting, butresisting with all her might, and as she dwarfed the men in both heightand breadth, she was giving them no little trouble. The younger ladywas causing no such commotion. She was walking quietly by her captor'sside, unresisting, saying nothing, accepting the situation resignedly.

  Bob took in these details in a few seconds. Then, without counting theodds, he rushed forward, fumbling in the slit of his wadded pantaloonsfor the pistol he carried there. In the soft snow his footfall made nosound that was not smothered by the unceasing denunciation of the stoutlady, and the Manchus were too much occupied with their captives to bealive to the presence of strangers. Bob noticed that the man leadingthe younger lady held in his right hand a musket or rifle. Makingrapidly up on him, Bob stooped just as the Manchu at last heard histread and was turning, snatched the weapon from his grasp, thrust itbetween his legs and tripped him up. Then without waiting he dashed on,came within a few feet of the Manchus by the time they had contrived toface round, the lady still struggling between them, and pointing hispistol full at the head of one of them, shouted in English:

  "Hands up!"

  A Korean Knight-errant]

  The very sight of a Korean with a pistol in his hand was enough to throwa Manchu bandit off his balance. The Koreans are a soft, inert,unwarlike race; even their soldiers are never known to fight; and yethere was a Korean, without a topknot and therefore of no social account,actually pointing a pistol and uttering a menace which sounded all thefiercer because it was in a language never heard in these parts fromKorean lips before. Bob did not give the bandits time to recover fromtheir amazement. Rushing up to them he sent one spinning over with aright-hander, and wrested the weapon from the other. The large andindignant lady being now released, struck this man smartly over the headwith her umbrella, and then, marched down the hill to meet the youngerlady, who was coming rapidly towards her with an air of mingledastonishment and relief. Behind came Ah-Sam, who had left his team atthe foot of the slope, and was driving before him, in cowed amazement,the Manchu who had held the girl. For a moment it seemed as if thethree Manchus, trusting in their numerical superiority, were inclined toretaliate, but there was something in Bob's manner that warned them intime, and they slunk away, muttering curses Manchurian but unmistakable.As they did so, the elder lady stood watching them with menace in hermien, her left hand clasping the hand of the girl now by her side, herright retaining a determined grip of her umbrella. Bob meanwhile walkedslowly down the hill towards her. He was a little out of breath, and agreat deal astonished. His lips twitched with amusement at the sight ofthe elder lady, so large, and so unconscious of her disarray, like aruffled hen in her attitude. The girl seemed partly to share hisfeeling, for he detected a slight twinkle in her dark eyes as they methis. When the Manchus were out of sight, the elder lady's featuresrelaxed, and becoming aware that the stranger to whose intervention sheowed her release was within arm's length, she turned to him and saidquickly:

  "You speakee English?"

  "Yes, madam."

  Before Bob could explain himself further, the lady, with a capacioussigh of relief, said:

  "That's a comfort, Ethel. Now I guess we shall find a track out of thishorrid country." Then, in the pidgin English of literature, she added,addressing Bob: "You plenty muchee goodee Chinee boy. Me givee youheapee thankee--plenty muchee cashee. You belongee this country?"

  "No, madam----"

  Again his explana
tion was forestalled.

  "Me wantee go Seoulee. You savvy Seoulee?"

  "Yes, madam. I--"

  "You takee us rightee there--can do?"

  During this interrupted monologue the younger lady had shown signs ofincreasing embarrassment. With flushed checks she half interposedbetween her companion and Bob, touched the lady's arm, and said quickly:

  "Auntie, don't you see?--you are making a mistake; this gentleman is nota--"

  "Is not what?" said the lady, putting up her eye-glass, and adding withsome asperity: "Then what is he?"

  "Let me introduce myself," said Bob, bowing. "My name is Fawcett--anEnglishman, at your service."

  The lady put up her eyeglass and stared with unfeigned amazement,exclaiming under her breath:

  "A Britisher! Well, of all the extraordinary--You will excuse mysurprise, Mr.--Fawcett, I think you said? The circumstances are soremarkable. I fear I owe you an apology, but really--" she turned toher companion and began to tie her bonnet-strings--"it just beatsanything."

  Here Ah-Sam, who had been hovering restlessly in the background, came upand said:

  "No tim' belongey this-side, massa. Plenty Chunchu man come this-sidechop-chop, makee big bobbely, supposey catchee, he killum allo pieceemassa, two-piecee girley, Ah-Sam all-same."

  "What does the man say?" asked the lady, staring at the Chinaman as atsome strange animal.

  "He says that we must not remain here. The men, Chunchuses apparently,threatened to return, and if they do--well, we shall all be in a veryawkward fix. Perhaps if you would let me know who these people are--"

  "Why certainly. My niece and I are doing Asia. We got as far asMukden, and there the Russians tried to stop us--said it would not besafe, war was expected. I told them it was all nonsense. They insisted;I persisted. They set a guard over us--free citizens of the UnitedStates. Intolerable! We slipped away; naturally;--bribery, of course;very disgusting, but the only way. We struck east for Gensan; got amongthe hills. Our Chinese guide lost his way, or pretended to, and we weresnapped up by a party of brigands, who figured that we spelt dollars,and have kept us with them ever since."

  "Then you are Mrs.--Mrs. Isidore--?"

  Bob hesitated, endeavouring to recall a name that for the moment eludedhim.

  "I guess you're on the right track," replied the lady with a look ofsurprise. "Pottle--Mrs. Isidore G. Pottle; though it beats me how youhappened on my name."

  Bob then explained that he had learnt of Mrs. Pottle's disappearancefrom the columns of a San Francisco paper at Tokio. But he cutexplanations short, looking anxiously in the direction in which thebrigands had disappeared, and parried the questions which he saw Mrs.Pottle was eager to put, by asking for information as to the strengthand position of the band. The three men he had seen belonged to a gangof some sixty or seventy, whose last camp was about a mile distant fromthat spot. Mrs. Pottle was uncertain of the exact number, for itdiffered from day to day, and that morning the whole band had riddenaway with the exception of the three in whose hands Bob had found theladies, and a few left to guard the camp. Such absences were common.They lasted sometimes only a few hours, sometimes for several days. Thebrigands were all mounted, and when the camp was changed the ladies werealways sent on foot in advance, since nothing on earth would induce Mrs.Pottle to ride pillion on a wild horse behind a wild man. The brigandshad done them no harm; they were well fed with atrocious food. Mrs.Pottle said she thought there could be nothing worse than a Russianhotel till she met the Chunchuses. Their Chinese guide had decampedwith everything they possessed, including Mrs. Pottle's purse, thoughshe still had her cheque-book, note-book, and umbrella.

  "I am not alarmed for myself," said Mrs. Pottle in conclusion; "I am anold traveller, tough, seasoned. But dear Ethel--this is her first tour,and though the poor child bears up well, I am terribly afraid thesehardships will ruin her constitution, and then I shall not be able tolook her poppa in the face."

  "Auntie, I am quite well," said the younger lady, who indeed looked, asBob thought, the picture of health, with her fresh cheeks and brighteyes. "I am only afraid that your nerves will break down."

  "Nerves! I never had any. But Mr.--Fawcett, I think?--what are we todo?--Well, of all the--a Britisher, and in Korean dress!..."

  Bob asked the ladies to walk down the hill while he took a look round.He really wanted a few minutes to think over the situation alone. Hewas beset by perplexities. Difficult as his own position was, it wasdoubly difficult now that he had someone else to think of. It was mostembarrassing--to have to act as squire of dames in such a clumsy,ridiculous costume. Mrs. Pottle's state of mind, he could see, wasunmixed amazement; but her niece evidently had a sense of humour. "Ifshe wasn't so confoundedly pretty!--", and then Bob caught himself up,and bent his mind to the problem before him. If the brigands returnedin force, he could hardly hope to escape them. If he did, it might beonly to fall among another gang: brigandage is an organized professionin Manchuria. Supposing he escaped all danger on that side, he mightencounter Russians, and though he himself might pass unmolested as adumb Korean in company with a Chinese carter, the presence of two ladiesin European dress would awake suspicion and provoke the most dangerousenquiries.

  Yet he could not leave the ladies: that was out of the question. Hesecretly suspected that the portly and strong-minded Mrs. Isidore G.Pottle was capable of brow-beating and scaring any number of Manchus orRussians, but her niece!--He looked again at the trim figure.

  "That white tam o' shanter makes her--h'm! ... What in the world are weto do, Ah-Sam?" he asked of the Chinaman, who had remained at his side.

  "My no can tinkee. One piecee velly largo woman; he makee plentybobbely; one piecee littee girley, he too muchee fliten, evelyting makeecly-cly, galaw! Supposey you hab larn fightee pidgin, you no cancham-tow allo velly bad tief-man, all-same."

  This speech fell on deaf ears, for in the middle of it Bob caught sightof several horsemen in single file far up the hillside in front.Noticing that his eyes were fixed on some distant object, Ah-Sam turnedin that direction also, looked hard for a moment, and then exclaimed:

  "Chunchuses! Bimeby allo come this-side. What can do? Catchee killumone-tim'."

  Now that danger was actually upon him, Bob prepared instantly to meetit. In a flash he remembered the gully he had passed recently withAh-Sam, and recognized that it was the nearest, indeed the only,defensible position within reach. It was so narrow that, near itssummit, it might be held, he thought, by a few against a host. He atonce ordered Ah-Sam to turn the cart and drive it as quickly as possibleback to the spot where the waterfall emptied itself into the stream, andthen up the steep, rocky gorge. In a few minutes the team was plungingthrough the broken ice at a great pace. Nothing but a Manchurian cartcould have stood the strain. It was flung about at all angles; itcannoned against rocks, now one wheel, now the other disappearing in mudor snow; but it survived every shock, and drawn by its four sturdybeasts with Ah-Sam at their head, it groaned and creaked on its upwardcourse until it reached an abrupt twist in the gorge about three hundredyards from its lower extremity.

  Meanwhile Bob had led the two ladies diagonally across the hillside by ashorter route than that taken by the cart. Mrs. Pottle bravely pantedalong, making tremendous exertions under her thick sealskin jacket tokeep pace with Bob, who assisted her with his arm. Her niece steppedalong as lightly as a doe, her cheeks flushed with excitement, and herwavy black hair escaping in disorder below her white tam o' shanter.

  Gaining a point above the bend at which the cart had just arrived, Bobsaw that the stream flowed around a huge granite boulder which hadslipped, apparently at no very distant date, from the almostperpendicular cliffs above, blocking up the greater part of the alreadynarrow defile. Here Bob shouted to Ah-Sam to stop and wedge the cartbetween the boulder and the opposite wall of the ravine. Looking round,he saw, some fifty feet above, to the left of the stream, the cleft nearwhich the bear had been seated. It was visible no
w as a fault in therock, a few yards across. The fissure narrowed towards its base, andfrom it a shelf of rock ran horizontally outwards, meeting the stream atan acute angle about a hundred yards from where Bob stood. Beyond thisjunction the gorge rapidly narrowed, and became extremely steep.Leaving the ladies to rest, Bob climbed up the rocky bed to explore, andfound that after a time further progress was blocked by a perpendicularwall that rose sheer two hundred feet.

  Returning, he reassured the ladies with a word, and then took Ah-Samwith him down the gully. The mouth, some thirty yards wide, was jaggedand strewn with rocks, and formed so eminently defensible a positionthat Bob hesitated whether to attempt to hold it or to retire at once tothe still more difficult post behind the cart. It would be a hazardousmatter to turn his position; before this could be effected he couldinflict severe loss on his assailants. But in a few moments he gave upthe idea of holding the lower ground. To begin with, he had no desireto come to blows if a fight could be avoided, for, apart from the riskof being overpowered by the Chunchuses, there was the likelihood thatthe sound of shots would bring the Russians on the scene. They must bein great force no more than twenty or thirty miles away, engaged on theYalu entrenchments, and firing in the hills would almost certainly beheard by scouting parties. If the Russians came up, the Chunchusescould disperse with their accustomed celerity, but Bob would be unableto save himself unless he were prepared to abandon the ladies who had sostrangely fallen under his care. They would no doubt be well treated ifentrusted to an officer of rank; but if the Russians happened to be anordinary troop of Cossacks, Bob doubted whether he might not as wellleave the ladies to the Chunchuses as to them. First of all, at anyrate, he had the Chunchuses to deal with. He hoped that when they sawhow strongly he was posted behind the cart and the boulder they woulddraw off. In any case, Ah-Sam's forethought had stocked the cart withenough provisions to last through a siege of some days, and in view ofthat contingency it was wise to do what he could to strengthen hisposition still further.

  The distant specks on the mountain-side had disappeared. Slowly scanningevery portion of the horizon, neither Bob nor Ah-Sam saw any sign oflife. They retraced their steps towards the boulder, halting now andthen to roll down the steep slope such loose rocks as might give coverto an attacking force. The ladies met them as they reached the cart.

  "Well, Mr. Fawcett," said Mrs. Pottle, "did you see anything way downthere?"

  "Nothing. But if those were your friends the brigands, we shall havethem upon us in half an hour."

  "Oh! what shall we do, then? You had some plan in bringing us here?"

  "Yes. Ah-Sam and I are going to fortify ourselves; it is our onlychance."

  "Good gracious! They have guns, and I've only my umbrella!"

  "We have our pistols and a couple of rifles."

  "Against a hundred, perhaps. Still, two determined men, behindrocks--could you spare a pistol for me?"

  "If necessary, but I hope we sha'n't have to fight. They will probablytire of besieging us here."

  "A siege! But, my dear boy, we can't stand a siege without food, and Iconfess, Mr. Fawcett, I am hungry. Really, I must eat, and I will saythis for the brigands: they did give us food, of a sort."

  "Ah-Sam has plenty of food--of a sort," said Bob, smiling. "Andperhaps, Mrs. Pottle, while we are doing what we can to strengthen theposition, you won't mind preparing a meal."

  "Of course not. If only I could get a cup of tea!"

  "Ah-Sam has tea, and rice, and millet, and a few other things."

  "The dear man! But a kettle?"

  "He has a pot, and an oil-lamp, anu plenty of matches."

  "A treasure! Let us have the things, and I will turn up my sleeves andset to work. There is water in the stream. Ethel, my love, we shallhave a cup of tea for the first time in six weeks. Come and help me."

  Bob admired Mrs. Pottle's spirit. Leaving the ladies to themselves, heassisted Ah-Sam to unyoke the team and drag them higher up the ravine,where they tethered the animals to the trunks of some overhanging trees,and supplied them with fodder from the cart. Then, with somedifficulty, they pushed and rolled some of the smaller boulders in frontof the vehicle, arranging them in such a way that loopholes were leftbetween them covering every part of the approach. The position was nowsuch that the little party was effectually concealed from the roadbelow; but Bob knew that their presence could not remain undiscovered,for the cart and the animals had left very distinct traces in the snowand mud.

  Everything possible having now been done, Bob went once more to themouth of the gully to reconnoitre. There was as yet no sign of thebrigands. He was still looking out across the hills when Ah-Sam cameup, carrying a pot of rice.

  "Chow-chow allo leady, massa," he said. "My fetchee chow-chowthis-side; ch'hoy! women boilum tings, spoilum tea; China boy no candlink it; too muchee stlong for China side; no allo plopa; Yinkelis manhab got numpa one tummy; can dlink anyting."

  "I'm afraid we do make it too strong. But I'll explain to the ladies;you shall have some made specially weak for you. Stay here and keepwatch while I get something to eat, and come back at once if you see anysign of the Chunchuses."

  "Allo lightee, massa. My hab catchee plenty chow-chow. No fear!"

  Bob returned to the ladies.

  "Come, Mr. Fawcett," cried Mrs. Pottle. "I've just finished my fourthcup. Capital tea, even without cream and sugar. But I don't understandyour man. I thought Chinamen liked tea, and I gave Ah-Sam aparticularly strong cup. He was positively rude--used most sinfullanguage, and actually threw it away. You must be thirsty; now do drinkthis, and here is some rice--chow, your man called it; I thought thatwas the Chinese for dog?"

  "Yes," said Bob with a twinkle, "or any other form of food."

  "Disgusting!" exclaimed Ethel. "Surely it is not true?"

  "I'm afraid it is. Fido is quite a standing dish in China."

  Mrs. Pottle looked horrified.

  "I wonder," she said reflectively, "what that stew was they gave usyesterday?..."

  Her speculations were broken in upon by the sight of Ah-Sam running upthe gully.

  "Massa," he cried, "my look-see plenty piecee Chunchu come this-sidechop-chop, galaw!"