*CHAPTER XIX*
*Sound and Fury*
Across the Yalu--Kobo gives Counsel--A Monastery--A BuddhistSettlement--Big Bobbely--An Attack at Dusk--A PyrrhicVictory--Boanerges--A Despatch--"A Terrible Curse"
In a few minutes the whole party set off to retrace their steps, ridingfor a short distance over their tracks, then striking off in a newdirection under the leadership of Sing-Cheng. But the difficulties ofthe march were even greater than the man had indicated. At almost everystep the party were confronted by a new danger. The path was so ruggedthat riding was impossible. All had to dismount and lead their horses.A single false step might carry horse and pedestrian over the edge of aprecipice and dash them to pieces hundreds of feet below. Bob thoughthis hair would have turned white with the anxiety of watching over theladies, guiding them at every turn, diverting their attention wheneverthe path led over more than usually dizzy eminences. They struggled onwith heroic determination; and Bob spared them the knowledge that beforethe day was out two of the Chunchuses in the long line had missed theirfooting and fallen headlong to their death.
Struggling on painfully, the party covered nearly twenty miles that day,encamping at nightfall on the north bank of the river. The chief waseager to cross by the ford at once, but Bob was unwilling to risk thedangers of a crossing in the darkness, and without having assuredhimself that the Russians were not here also. Before it was light hestole down with Sing-Cheng to reconnoitre. There was no sign of theenemy; and at daybreak the whole party started with unutterable gladnessto complete, as they hoped, the last stage of their journey.
Before they reached the river one of the Manchu peasants who had beencaptured, seizing a favourable moment, felled the man in charge of himand scrambled down an almost perpendicular declivity. A dozen shotsfollowed him before Bob could interfere to stop the fusillade. Thesound of the shots echoed and re-echoed over the hills; they must beheard by any Russians who happened to be in the neighbourhood, and ifheard they would certainly bring the enemy upon the track. For severalmiles Bob turned at intervals anxiously to look back; there was no signof pursuit. But, unknown to him, ten minutes after the unfortunateincident a Manchu had galloped up to the spot where the firing had takenplace, and there, hidden behind a rock, had watched the disappearingtail of the procession. His fierce eyes lit up as he looked. In a fewmoments he was galloping back. The Manchu was Chang-Wo.
The cavalcade crossed the river. It was a question of the directionthey should take. There were probably Russians between them and theJapanese lines, it would therefore be well for them to strike south-eastin order to give the enemy as wide a berth as possible. Bob pointed outthat this would probably cause the loss of a day; but Kobo replied thathe would rather lose one day, or even two, than run the risk of hisinformation never reaching General Kuroki. Bob noticed that the safetyof himself or of the party never entered into Kobo's calculations. Withhim it was merely a weighing of advantages, with the sole considerationhow best his news might be delivered.
On the south side of the Yalu the fugitives saw on all hands traces ofthe Russian occupation. Almost every village had been sacked andburned; the country was for the most part deserted; the few Koreans whowere seen wandering in disconsolate helplessness about the sites oftheir ruined homes scuttled away in terror when Bob's cavalcadeapproached. They were evidently afraid lest the party should be a bandof raiders come to capture and destroy the little that the Russians hadleft.
No precaution was neglected to save the party from coming upon the enemyunawares. Pickets and supports were thrown out in front and rear, andthe pace was regulated by the careful reconnoitring of the advanceguard. The march continued for six or seven hours, and then wasinterrupted by a short halt to rest and feed the horses. About oneo'clock, shortly after they had started again, one of the men in advancegalloped back with the news that he had seen a force of Cossackscrossing the line of march from east to west about a mile ahead. Wordwas at once given to halt again, in order to allow this body time topass out of sight. Bob, accompanied by Sing-Cheng and Ah-Sam, wentforward, and, taking his stand behind a rock so that he could not beseen, looked out, and saw the troop of horsemen, plainly Cossacks bytheir yellow facings, winding among the hills, apparently strikingacross from Chen-seng, as the chief explained, higher up the river, toWiju. In a quarter of an hour they would have disappeared, and it wouldbe safe for the fugitives to continue their advance.
Bob was just returning with this good news to his party, when he was metby a messenger hastening to tell him that a large force of cavalry hadbeen seen coming up behind, and were at the present moment no more thantwo miles away. He put his horse to a gallop, debating within himself,as he rode, what to do in face of this new emergency. For a moment hefelt oppressed by a sense of despair. The events of the past fortnighthad put a great strain upon him, and the present dilemma, coming at atime when he had hoped that all was safe, was almost overmastering. Butcollecting his thoughts he tried to look the situation squarely in theface. If he pressed on, he ran the risk of bringing upon him theCossacks whom he had just seen out of harm's way. If he hesitated, hemust assuredly be overtaken by the cavalry behind, which in alllikelihood would turn out to be Chang-Wo's band. There was danger eitherway. He had not made up his mind how to choose between the twoalternatives when he reached the rest of his party.
"What are we to do, sir?" he asked Kobo, after telling him of thedirection in which the Cossacks had disappeared.
"I advise an immediate advance," replied the Japanese, whose serenityalways had a bracing effect upon Bob. "If the Cossacks see us, they maymistake us for Manchu allies of theirs. We shall at any rate be a mileand a half farther on our way before they discover us; while if we waitand allow the horsemen behind to overtake us there is bound to befiring, the shots will bring the Cossacks down upon us, and we shall behemmed in between the two bands. In any case we must make up our mindsthat both parties may chase us, but the Cossacks at any rate will notcarry the pursuit far, knowing as they must do that our army cannot befar away."
The soundness of Kobo's advice was self-evident. The word was at oncegiven, the little party set off at a trot, and in a few minutes hadcrossed the path of the Cossacks, easily discovered by the trampledslush. Some time elapsed before they came in sight of the rear files ofthe departing enemy. These had their backs to them, and the horses'hoofs making little sound in the soft earth, the Cossacks rode on inignorance of the riders behind them. It was soon clear that no immediatedanger need be feared ahead. If Bob's party could elude the horsemen intheir rear they might yet make good their escape. Every step increasedtheir distance from the Cossacks, whose course they had cut at rightangles. As soon as it appeared that there was no risk of being heard,Bob gave the order to gallop, in the hope that if they had not alreadybeen sighted by the riders behind, they might either escape their noticealtogether or gain a sufficient lead to make pursuit vain.
But it was soon evident that the pursuit had already begun. Riding inthe rear of his party, Bob looked back at a point that promised a goodview of the country, and saw that the horsemen were urging their steedsat a pace much more rapid than the horses of his own party were capableof. Half an hour later he judged that they were only a mile away; inanother half-hour they might overtake him. Already some of his partywere beginning to drop behind; he knew what their fate must be if theywere overtaken by the enemy, and he rode up beside Kobo to consult him.
"We cannot go on much longer," he said. "Our horses are almost knockedup after their hard work. It seems to me that our only chance is tofind some defensible position and make a stand."
"I agree with you, Mr. Fawcett," said Kobo. "To find such a position inthis country will not be easy. There are no gullies or defiles, as yousee. I have already asked the chief if he knows of any spot that wecould hold; he cannot help us. But we won't give up hope."
"No. And look, sir, I believe there is a
chance after all."
He pointed eagerly to a rocky spur a little in front of them, somewhatto the right. Following his outstretched forefinger, Kobo saw fourwhite-clad figures standing there, apparently watching the approachingbodies of horse.
"Monks!" he said. "You are right; where there are monks there willcertainly be a monastery. Let us hope it is near at hand."
"There it is!" cried Bob; "farther up the hillside, among the trees. Isee the roof. We had better make for it."
Kobo assented, and Bob instantly swung round to the right, and began tolead the party down the steep slope which separated the path from thestill steeper slope on which the monastery stood. As soon as the monkssaw his intention, they turned tail and began to scamper up towards thebuilding. Bob shouted to them, urging his tired horse in advance of hisparty, scrambling as rapidly as possible over rocks and tangled shrubs,and breasting the opposite hill. The more he shouted the faster ran themonks. If they reached the monastery before him they might shut theirouter gates. Urging his horse still more vehemently with whip and voicein an oblique direction to the path taken by the monks, he came to awall; the gateway was open; he dashed through into the courtyard up tothe main door of the temple enclosure just in time to thrust the handleof his whip between the post and the door as the monks were shutting itagainst him. Bringing his horse sideways to the door, he made theanimal push it open, though the monks did all in their power to keep itshut. Other monks from within came to the assistance of their fellows,but by this time Sing-Cheng with some of his men had reached Bob's side;the monks were overwhelmed; Bob pushed his way in, followed by the restof his party, and the last man had only just come within the wall whenthe foremost ranks of the enemy came surging up the hillside.
Bob shouted to Ah-Sam to conduct the ladies to a place of safety, thenordered the men to dismount and line the wall that stretched across theneck of the crag. Immediately afterwards he gave the command to fire,and the volley emptied several saddles among the assailants. Theleading files halted indecisively, but the next moment a big Manchu,whom Bob recognized even in the distance as Chang-Wo, dashed up theslope on a fine white horse, and with yells of fury called on his men tofollow him. They responded with a shout, and galloped forward,discharging their rifles. But the wall was too high for them to jump,approaching, as they did, up a slope, and the movements of their horseson the rough ground spoilt their aim. Bob saw that if his garrisonbehaved with ordinary steadiness he could defeat any attempt at directstorming, and he knew that since their defence of the gully his men hadlost whatever dread they might formerly have had of Chang-Wo and hisband. They fired again at the word of command; Chang-Wo himself waspowerless to hold his men together; they had all the disadvantages ofthe position, and turning their horses' heads the survivors dashed downthe slope at the imminent risk of breaking their necks. Seeing thatnothing could be done, Chang-Wo, raving with baffled rage, followedthem, narrowly escaping a bullet from Kobo's rifle. The Japanese, whosewounded foot prevented him from standing with the rest, had draggedhimself to the top of the wall when the enemy surged up, and fired atthem as calmly as at target practice. But he was so weak that he couldscarcely hold his rifle steady, and it was to this physical weaknessthat Chang-Wo owed his escape.
Two or three minutes had been enough to decide the fight. The bodies oftwenty of Chang-Wo's men and several horses strewed the slope. Exceptfor two men with slight flesh wounds Bob's party had suffered no hurt.Looking at the retreating enemy, Bob thought it unlikely that they wouldmake another attempt on the position for some hours to come. It was nownearly dusk. He left a portion of his band at the wall to be on thewatch against the Manchus, who had now disappeared round the base of thehill, then went to assist Kobo into the monastery, and to find out whatmanner of place it was into which he and his party had thusunceremoniously intruded.
It had evidently been at one time a very extensive settlement. Besidesthe temple, a large rectangular structure of wood, with a tiled doubleroof and curved eaves, there were several smaller buildings, thedwelling-places of the abbot and monks; but the majority of these weremuch dilapidated, only two or three being kept in repair. The templeitself was richly decorated, with an elaborate altar ornamented withbeautiful carvings and a lavish display of gilt and colour, and severalfigures representing various incarnations of Buddha. Everything wasspotlessly clean, showing evidence of reverent care on the part of thewhite-robed monks.
Mrs. Pottle and her niece had been taken to the abbot's house, and whenBob came to them the former was voluble in praise of the tidiness of hersurroundings. To find a roof over her head once more was sufficientcomfort in itself; but the abbot, as soon as he learnt from Kobo that hehad nothing to fear from this strange intrusion, had already shown greatattention to his visitors. Bob learnt that the inmates of the monasteryat present numbered sixteen, six of whom, however, had gone to a distanttown to purchase stores. They had been expected back all day, and itwas for them that the monks had been looking when Bob caught sight ofthem so opportunely. If they arrived now they would find themselves shutout; and the abbot, when he learnt that the leader of the besiegers wasnone other than Chang-Wo, wrung his hands at the prospective fate of hismonks, for the Manchu was well known all over the country, and his namestruck terror into all who heard it.
Bob asked to be taken through the settlement. He was anxious to seewhat possibilities of defence it afforded. Its size was a seriousconsideration. The stone wall that ran for about ninety yards acrossthe neck of rocks was loose and crumbling, in some places ruinous,having clearly been used as a passage-way instead of the main gate. Thespot was fortunately inaccessible from the rear, which was protected bysteep rocks; but in front, except for the clear space up which theManchus had made their futile charge, the hill-face was on both sidesdotted with chestnuts, pines, and other trees, together with a tangle ofimmense ferns and shrubs, affording complete cover to the enemy if theymustered courage for a planned attack.
In the course of his round, Bob learnt a very disconcerting fact. Thewell on the crag from which the monastery had in old days been suppliedwith water had failed for several years past. The monks were too poorto dig a new one; too characteristically indolent also, as Bob surmised.They were content to fetch their water as it was required from amountain stream that ran at the foot of the hill. At present, whiletheir stock of provisions was fairly large, they had only a few gallonsof water in their tanks. This news reminded Bob of the horses, who inthe excitement of the recent fight had been overlooked. After theirlong march they were in urgent need of water, and Bob saw that it wasnecessary to get a supply before the investment became stricter.Questioning the abbot through Ah-Sam, he found that the stream could beapproached under cover of the trees, and there was just a chance, if theenemy had retired to some distance round the bend of the hill, that aquiet sortie for water might pass unobserved. He therefore, as apreliminary precaution, sent three men down as scouts to discover whatthe enemy were about.
While they were gone he returned to the abbot's house, and found thatMrs. Pottle was making merry over the discovery of a gramophone ofimmense size in one of the apartments. The abbot explained that theinstrument had been left in his charge some time before by a high Koreanofficial fleeing southwards before the Russian advance. He knew nothingabout its use; indeed, had left it severely alone; it looked to him agood deal like an instrument of war, and was entirely out of place amonghis peaceful community.
"He tinkum makee velly big bobbely," explained Ah-Sam.
"No doubt," said Bob to Mrs. Pottle with a smile. "He would probablyfeel somewhat alarmed if he heard some of our popular music-hall songscoming from the bell. I think we might respect his feelings, don'tyou?"
"Why certainly, Mr. Fawcett. He seems a nice old gentleman, and itwould be a pity to shock him. But, my dear boy, what is to become ofus? Shall we ever get away from those horrid Manchus? I blame myselfnow very much for not following your advice and throwing myself on themercy
of the Russians, for without us women hampering you I am sure youcould have got away in safety."
"Never fear, we shall get through in time," said Bob. "We have Kobo Sanwith us now, and he is a tower of strength in himself."
"The very look of him gives me courage," added Ethel. "What a brave manhe must be! He has never complained once of his wounded foot, and I amsure it must hurt him terribly."
"Yes; I am much interested in him," said Mrs. Pottle. "He is so close,so silent; a strong man, if I am not mistaken. Where did you meet Mr.Kobo?"
"I will tell you all about it--but here come my scouts," replied Bob."What have they discovered?"
He learnt that they had seen nothing of the enemy, save for half a dozenwhom they had noticed riding away to the south-west.
"Possibly to bring assistance," he thought, though on reflection thatseemed hardly the quarter in which help could be obtained. He soughtout Kobo, who was resting in one of the other houses, and asked hisopinion.
"No doubt they have been sent by Chang-Wo to be on the look-out againstthe approach of a Japanese force. It is clear to me that Chang-Wo willnot retire without an attempt to reduce the monastery, especially as heknows that I am here."
"But you think it would be possible to fetch water?"
"Certainly, if it can be done very quietly."
Bob at once went off to make the necessary arrangements. He first sent anumber of the Chunchuses down the hillside to a clump of trees on theright, some distance below the wall, to cover the water-carriers andtake the Manchus in flank in the event of a sudden assault. Then, underguidance of one of the monks, he himself with twenty men stole out tothe left. He stationed the men at equal distances apart down the slope,then started six buckets along the line. As these were filled they werepassed up from hand to hand, and returned in the same way when empty tobe filled again. Within the walls the monks received the full bucketsas they arrived, and emptied them into a large tank behind the temple.The work was done as quickly and quietly as possible, but every now andthen one of the men as he moved up the slope to the man above him struckthe edge of his bucket against a rock, causing a sound that could hardlyescape attentive ears. Such accidents could not be avoided, but at lastthey occurred so frequently as the men grew tired that Bob thought ittime to make good a retreat. Just as he was giving the order, there wasan outburst of yells from lower down the slope, and some hundreds ofManchus on foot came surging upwards. Seizing the muskets that layready to their hands Bob's men made a break for the wall, the enemy onlya few yards behind them. From the Chunchuses in the clump of treesthere was a sharp discharge of musketry, but it was ineffectual to checkthe rush, which had evidently been prepared with some skill, or themovement could scarcely have been unobserved by Bob's scouts.
It was now nearly dark, and as the men of Bob's party scrambled in hothaste over the wall they were in imminent danger of being shot down bythe excited garrison in mistake for Manchus. Bob was glad that he hadbeen able to leave in command so cool and experienced a warrior as Kobo.As he vaulted over the low wall, pursued by a Manchu, he heard Kobo'sclear voice, incisive amid the tumult, addressing the Chunchuses intheir own tongue. Not a man of them fired his piece: it was clear thatKobo had ordered them to await his command. At last, just as Bob,unrecognized in the darkness, had followed the last of his men acrossthe wall, he heard Kobo give a sharp order. There was a rush ofChunchuses to the wall; they had stood some paces back in order to allowtheir comrades room to get across. Muskets and rifles flashed all alongthe line; and the cries of wounded men mingled with shouts of rage anddefiance as the whole mass of the enemy swarmed up to the lowbreastwork.
There was no time for the defenders to reload; the fading light barelyallowed man to see man; snatching up their long spears they stoodresolute to meet their foes. Seventeen of the men who went out with Bobhad returned in safety. For a few moments they were too breathlessafter their scramble to take a hand in the fight; but with Ah-Sam's helpBob collected them into a compact body and held them as a reserve. Hesucceeded but just in time. Scarcely thirty yards away a mass ofyelling figures, led by a tall man armed with a bayonet, swept through agap in the wall. Others followed; the space beyond was choked withadvancing forms. With the instinct of seasoned warriors the Manchusfelt that at this point the defence was weak. Pointing to the furiouscrowd, Bob, having learnt the word from Ah-Sam, ordered his men to fire.There was a burst of flame; every shot told in the dense throng; andwhile they were at a momentary recoil Bob led his men headlong into thethick of the melee. He could never afterwards recall any details of theensuing fight. He only remembered Kobo limping at his side, the gruntsof the combatants, the reek of gunpowder, an occasional sigh or groan asa man dropped to the ground, felled by the stock of a musket ortransfixed by a spear. But it was his charge that turned the scale inthe quarter where the attack was fiercest. Suddenly the pressurerelaxed; a tremor of panic seemed to pulse through the enemy's ranks;and a moment later the space in front of the wall was clear of theenemy.
He was almost inclined to rub his eyes, so sudden was the change. Helooked round for Kobo, but could not see him. His first feeling was oneof relief for the sake of the two ladies whose fortunes had been sostrangely linked with his own. But he could scarcely hope even now thatall danger from Chang-Wo and his ruffians was past. The accounts he hadhad of that warrior gave him little expectation that even a third orfourth rebuff would turn him from his purpose of vengeance. In thesilence that followed the repulse--a silence unbroken even by cheersfrom the victors, for the men were exhausted--he wondered whetheranother attack was immediately to be feared. He looked again for Kobo,but in vain. Then he called up the chief and Ah-Sam, and told them toplace pickets down the hill to watch the enemy. The rest of the men hebade to tend the wounded, among whom he feared that Kobo would be found.It was now quite dark, but he hesitated to use torches, lest they shoulddraw the fire of the enemy and facilitate another assault. After someminutes an exclamation from Ah-Sam announced that Kobo was found. Hewas pinned to the ground beneath a huge Manchu. Bob had him carefullylifted and carried to the abbot's house, where the ladies, who hadawaited the issue of the fight in nervous dread, were only too glad tofind relief for their emotions in active tendance. Kobo, unconsciousfrom a blow on the head, was placed in their hands. Under their care hesoon came round, but found himself unable to rise. The wound in hisfoot had reopened through his recent exertions; it was clear that hesuffered great pain, but he was smiling when he said to Mrs. Pottle:
"Thank you, dear madam. I am a battered wreck, I fear, put hopelesslyout of action."
Kobo might still advise, but evidently the whole weight of the activedefence was now to fall on Bob. He went out to take stock of thesituation. He found that twelve of his men had been killed outright,and twice as many wounded. Doubtless the Manchus had suffered far moreheavily, but their losses were unimportant, so greatly did theyoutnumber the garrison. Another assault, pressed with anything like thedetermination of the last, must drive the defenders from the wall intothe temple and the dwelling-houses, all flimsy wooden buildings uselessas fortresses against a greatly superior enemy. Yet Bob felt sure thatanother attack would be made. Chang-Wo could not afford to wait. TheJapanese advanced-guard must be drawing ever nearer, and might come upat any moment. The assault might not be made during the night--theManchus had painful experience of the perils of darkness--but it mustcertainly be expected at dawn. With scarcely more than half his forceleft, Bob felt that the wall must be abandoned. Was it possible inmorning light to do anything that would materially strengthen hisposition?
Perplexed and almost despondent, he went back to the abbot's house toconsult Kobo. As he entered, it happened that the light from a smalloil-lamp was reflected in his face from the polished brass of thegramophone. With its wide bell-shaped mouth projecting upwards it bore acertain resemblance to a mortar. Bob was not surprised that the abbothad mistaken it for a piece of ordnance, and he caught himself idlyw
ishing that it were indeed a heavy gun of some kind. Kobo saw hislook, and with a smile gave voice to Bob's unuttered thought.
"Unfortunately, it only discharges words," he said.
Bob stood stock-still. An idea had struck him--an idea that, even ashis intelligence seized on it, amused him by its whimsicality. Why not?Before now, in the history of the world, a speech had proved moreeffective than the heaviest artillery. Kobo and the ladies watched withcuriosity the changing expressions on his face.
"Where is the abbot?" he cried.
"My lun chop-chop find he," said Ah-Sam. It was some time before hereturned; he had found the venerable man prostrate before the high altarin the temple, intoning with constant genuflection a formula of whicheven he had no notion of the meaning--the mystic words Na-mu-Ami Tabul,handed down through generations from the time when Buddhism was aspiritual power. Ah-Sam had not dared to interrupt; he knew that theabbot would not heed an interruption. Only when his prayers werefinished did the old man rise and accompany Ah-Sam, and Bob saw that hiseyes still bore the rapt, far-away look of devotion. A few questionsand answers passed; then Bob sent for Sing-Cheng and several of his men,and asked them whether they had ever seen an instrument like the onebefore them. They looked solemnly at the gramophone. Not one gave anaffirmative answer.
"Do they think Chang-Wo or any of his men has seen such a thing?" heasked.
"He say no ting likum belongey this-side no tim'," interpreted Ah-Sam.
"Ask him whether one of his men has a fine loud voice and can cursewell."
"He say one piecee man hab got velly big loud sing-song; he one tim'bonze, hab got sack cos he velly bad bonze, makee plenty too muchbobbely in joss-house. He can do swear first-chop: topside galaw!"
"The very man!" exclaimed Bob, unconscious of the broad smile with whichKobo was now regarding him, or of the look of mystification on the facesof the ladies. He got the chief to send for the whilom Buddhist priestwho had been expelled from his monastery. While waiting for the man toappear he examined the gramophone; saw that it was in order and readyfor use; and found, as the abbot's reply to his questions had led him toexpect, that there were several spare cylinders for taking records. Ashe moved about, too intent on his proceedings to notice anything aroundhim, a light dawned on Mrs. Pottle.
"Well, I never!" she exclaimed in a loud whisper. "The boy's aright-down genius, Ethel; I told you so."
Ethel put her fingers to her lips, as the messenger returned,accompanied by a bullet-headed scowling individual whom Bob had alreadyremarked as one of the most determined of his fighters. The man lookedsomewhat suspicious of the company, still more when Ah-Sam explained whyhe had been sent for. He had never been asked to curse professionallybefore. But he brightened, up when he at last understood that hispowers of denunciation were to be employed against the enemy. He wastouched on a point of personal pride, and declared that his curses hadno match in all Manchuria. Bob invited him to curse the Manchus asloudly and venomously as he was able, and the bonze was soon launched ona full tide of invective which, though in a strange tongue, Bob felt tobe quite overpowering. Ah-Sam explained to him afterwards that everyone of the enemy had been signalized by a special curse, embracing notonly himself but his ancestors for a thousand years. The man woundhimself up to such a pitch of frenzy that he was quite oblivious of thefact that he was yelling, by Bob's careful manipulation, full into thebrazen mouth of the gramophone, whose whirring was wholly smothered byhis virulent bellow. Kobo was silently laughing; the ladies tried not tolook shocked; Ah-Sam nodded his head and beamed approval, though he wasas ignorant as the man himself of the true inwardness of the situation.The capacity of the cylinder was exhausted long before the unfrockedbonze; he was streaming with perspiration when he at length drew hislurid declamation to a close. And he went away a happy man when Bobthanked him fervently, assuring him that such terrible cursing would nodoubt avail where all else had failed.
After an interval, Bob took the gramophone to the remotest corner of thesettlement, where, shutting himself up in a disused house, he tested theinstrument under a covering of blankets. Satisfying himself that thelatest record was effective, he got Ah-Sam to carry the machine into theopen space in front of the gate. He formed a connection between it andthe abbot's house by leading a thread of strong silk from it beneathsmall rocks into the courtyard. Having proved that the connection wascomplete, he sat down to wait for the onslaught of the Manchus, which heexpected to take place as soon as morning dawned.
No one thought of going to sleep that night. Mrs. Pottle wrotediligently in her note-book, and Bob, without neglecting any precautionsfor the guarding of the camp, found several opportunities ofconversation with Ethel. In a far corner of the large hall Kobo spentseveral hours in writing alone. By and by he folded the paper, andbeckoned Bob to his side.
"I hope much from your device, Mr. Fawcett," he said. "It is a cleveridea of yours--to turn the superstitions of these people to account. Ithink you will succeed. But you must use your success without me. I amso useless that I should only be an encumbrance to you. But myinformation must not be lost; I have therefore written it down here, andI give you this paper, and entreat you, when you get away, to deliver itas speedily as possible to our general."
"But what will become of you?"
"I shall remain here. Perhaps Chang-Wo will not trouble about me afteryou are gone. If he finds me--well, I shall then kill myself, as manyof my ancestors did; but my life belongs to my country, and while thereis any chance of living to do service, I shall not take the extremestep."
"But the Manchus will torture you if they catch you."
"That is likely enough. It is the fortune of war."
"I cannot agree to it," said Bob flatly. "I will not take your despatchunless you make an effort to escape with us. In any case I cannot leavethe rest of the wounded to fall into Chang-Wo's hands, and you, KoboSan--no, I certainly shall not go without you."
Kobo endeavoured to induce Bob to change his mind, but finding himobdurate, he at length unwillingly consented to share the fortunes ofthe rest of the party. As it was now drawing towards dawn, Bob had thehorses saddled in readiness to seize the moment when the gramophoneshould have done its work, and one of the animals was specially fittedup for Kobo, with a rest for the wounded leg. Then he went the round ofthe defences, giving the men instructions how they were to act.
At the wall, as dawn stole over the sky, stood Bob anxiously waiting.It was still half dark when he saw the enemy cautiously approach. Theyhad conceived too great a respect for the defenders to attempt to takethe position at a rush; for they were unaware how much the garrison hadbeen reduced in the combat of the previous night. They took everyadvantage of cover, flitting in the half light from tree to tree andclump to clump until they had come within a few yards of the walls.Then they halted, puzzled apparently by the strange stillness and theseeming desertion of the position. Bob himself was hidden by an angleof the wall; not a man of the garrison was to be seen. For all theManchus knew, the defenders might be crowding under shelter of the wall.Bob saw a man climb a tall birch from which the greater part of thesettlement could be seen. Discovering from his perch no sign of theChunchuses, the Manchu shouted excitedly to his comrades, and theyrushed forward all along the line. The central body at once came uponthe gramophone, which stood lifting its great brazen mouth towards therising sun. From his secret nook Bob saw them recoil; they evidentlytook it to be a gun of some kind. Then, finding that nothing happened,and no doubt reflecting that a gun needs a man to fire it, some of thebolder among them approached the instrument cautiously and walked roundit, keeping at a safe distance. The rest were now hidden by the wall,under which they crouched until they should receive the command to burstinto the courtyard.
Bob felt that the moment had come. He pulled the silken cord, and sawthe Manchus nearest the instrument start and look round in apprehension.They heard the preliminary whirring. Then, though the mouth waspointing away from
him, Bob could hear in the still morning air thefirst few words of the bonze's speech. The Manchus stood as ifspellbound; one or two edged towards the trees. What was thisincredible thing? They looked in alarm at one another; no man butthemselves was in sight; it must be from the seeming gun that this voiceproceeded, calling down upon them and their ancestors the most terribledefilements and atrocities. This strange monster must be in league withthe devils against them. The blatant voice from the gramophone roselouder and louder; curse rolled upon curse, shaming Ernulfus for ever;the passionate tones rose higher and higher towards the peroration, tillthey became a shriek. The Manchus did not wait for the end. With oneaccord they bolted under cover; anathema remorselessly pursued themthrough the trees, over the rocks; and before the bell emitted its finalhowl the scared enemy had rushed pell-mell down the hill, round thebend, and out of sight.
Kobo: A Story of the Russo-Japanese War Page 20
