“Let’s sleep,” he said. “I’m tired.” He pulled off his shirt and yawned. His eyes felt as if sand was in them, and he attempted rubbing the irritation away but only made it worse.
“I saw you talking to the princess,” she said. “Your eyes were eating her as if she were a feast. She is Prince Kung’s niece, and you were flattered. You cannot hide that. The prince wants you to be a member of his family. She was perfect for you, and it would bind you to him.”
“Stop, Ayaou, I am not interested.”
“I do not believe that,” she said. “They will change your mind. Prince Kung picked the best for you, and she was told to capture your heart. I do not see you resisting her since she will make you more connections leading to more wealth and promotions.”
“What are you worried about—that you’ll lose me? You didn’t want our wedding anyway!” He regretted the bitter words but did not apologize.
Without expression, she undressed, slipped under the sheet and slept with her back to him.
In the morning, he went to work early as planned. Before the day ended, Robert was called home, and Guan-jiah was waiting at the gate when he arrived.
The eunuch looked pale and guilty beyond words. “Master, they went shopping this morning. When they were not back by noon, I went to search. I checked the entire market and could not find them.”
“Who are you talking about?” he said. “Slow down and make sense.”
“Ayaou, the children and Fooyen have vanished,” Guan-jiah replied.
Chapter 52
Late in January, a few days after Ayaou’s disappearance, Fooyen stumbled into the house. The temperature outside hovered close to freezing, and in the mornings, a crust of frost covered the ground and roofs.
“The Longhaired Bandits have taken Mistress Ayaou and the children,” Fooyen said, as she sat in Robert’s kitchen shivering despite the blankets heaped about her shoulders and the fire blazing in the stove. Dried mud streaked her tangled hair. Her torn and filthy clothes smelled like dung as if she had crawled through the sewers.
“Do you know where they are?” Robert asked. After hearing the shocking news, he feared that panic, shock, and depression would overwhelm him. Instead, he focused on Fooyen’s words as energy rushed through his body.
Slack jawed and with glassy eyes, she shook her head. “Mistress Ayaou did not know we were being followed when we went to shop in the market. A group of Longhaired Bandits came dressed as bannermen shouting ‘Death to the barbarians!’ They took the Mistress and the children.”
“How could the Taipings pretend to be bannermen when they wear their hair long?” he asked.
Fooyen stared at him with a blank face.
Of course, he thought, the Taipings shaved their heads for this subterfuge to succeed. His family could be dead. A cold chill swept through him, and he swayed on his feet, but Guan-jiah was there holding him by the arm, steadying him. He felt an oppressive fear stirring in his guts. Then a calm voice inside his head said that losing control would not bring his family back. Until he learned they were dead, he had to stay focused. He closed his eyes and pressed fingers against them to fight the fear.
His mind raced to discover a solution. He examined one choice after another as if they were specimens. It was like living in a high-speed dream, and the world around him was moving in slow motion. He found it odd that he was relieved that Ayaou had not run away like before.
Prince Kung should have assigned guards for Ayaou and the children, but even Robert hadn’t considered that. Guan-jiah had mentioned the risk to his family after the Taipings had put a price on his head, but Robert had been a fool and didn’t listen.
Fooyen’s hand went into a pocket. “Here, Master. They told me to give you this note. I cannot read, so I do not know what it says.”
His hands shook as he carefully opened the damp scrap of paper. The Chinese characters were poorly written and difficult to read. No Chinese had written this. The characters were too sloppy. Even the construction of the phrases sounded wrong. He thought of the Englishman Prince Kung said was working for the Taipings and wondered if that man was involved.
“Deliver one hundred thousand taels and pick up your whore and bastards at the port of Ningpo on February fifteenth, or we will behead them in public. You must come alone.
“Do not seek help from the corrupt Manchu. We have eyes and ears everywhere. Nothing will save your family unless you do exactly as told. If you do not, we will kill them sooner and make them suffer horribly before they die.”
He closed his eyes and took several calming breaths, before he said, “Guan-jiah, count the silver taels!” The thought of losing Ayaou and the children was threatening to crush him, but he wasn’t going to let it. “And come with me to Ningpo. We only have two weeks. We have to act now.”
“Master, I suggest you do not go,” Guan-jiah said. “I believe it is a trap. The Longhaired Bandits are set on killing you. Remember, they put a price on your head that is the same as the ransom. They want you to pay for your execution.”
“Caution be damned,” Robert said. He quickly wrote a note explaining what had happened and arranged for a messenger to deliver it to Prince Kung late the next day. “There is no time to waste. Obviously, I can’t do as the Taipings demand.”
Guan-jiah threw himself on the floor and kowtowed repeatedly. “Master, I will follow you to hell.”
“Oh, get up, Guan-jiah,” he said, exasperated. “You have to stop doing that.” He took the eunuch by the shoulders and pulled him to his feet.
With a gentle expression, he looked into his servant’s eyes. “I know I can count on you, Guan-jiah. You have proved that more than once over the years. I still recall that time you were ready to fight alongside Dr. Winchester and me at the Ningpo consulate against those pirates. I value your loyalty as if you were my brother.”
Guan-jiah stared at the floor and shuffled his feet. “I am unworthy of your praise, Master.” Robert detected a smile of pride tugging the corners of the eunuch’s mouth. “How are we going to save the mistress and the children?”
“By doing something the Taipings least expect,” he replied. “We are going to give everyone the slip, including the bannermen who are my guards. Even if the Taipings have spies watching, if we move fast enough, we will arrive in Ningpo before any message they could send.”
“We are only two, Master. How are we going to defeat a Taiping army?”
“I’ll think of a way.”
Guan-jiah stared at him as if he had gone mad.
An hour later, Guan-jiah and Robert, looking like peasants wearing rags with dirt smeared faces, managed to avoid the guards and slipped out of Peking unnoticed. Once outside the walls, Guan-jiah bought two horses.
Impulsive thoughts raced through Robert’s mind while they rode the eighty miles to the coast and Tientsin. He rejected one far-fetched scheme after another. It was crazy to act impulsively, but he had to do something. If he didn’t keep moving, the fear and panic would take control. Then he would be useless. He also knew that if he acted with too much caution, the Taipings would kill Ayaou and the children before the deadline.
If he asked Prince Kung for help, he was sure the prince would shrug it off as futile and let Ayaou and the children die. After all, to Kung and the other Manchu princes and ministers, Ayaou was a worthless Chinese boat girl and the children were bastards. Prince Kung wanted Robert to marry a Manchu princess anyway, and this was a perfect opportunity to achieve that goal.
Halfway to the coast, a possible solution materialized. Just as he’d constructed the plans for China’s future, he knew what had to be done to have any chance to save his family.
It was reckless, a total gamble, but the audacity of it might work. With luck, they would have the same results Patridge had all those years ago when he made that daring raid against the Taipings. With overwhelming odds against him, Patridge took back his opium and freed the boat people. Robert planned to do something similar but more dange
rous.
By sunset, they were almost to Tientsin and could see the city’s ancient walls in the distance. Tientsin was thirty-seven miles up the Peihao River from the ocean and had been opened to world trade in 1860. It now had foreign concessions similar to Shanghai, and because it was a major port, Robert should find a steamship to speed him south. A steamer would be much faster than a junk, which he assumed was what the Taipings were using to spirit Ayaou and the children away.
Ningpo was seven hundred miles by water from Tientsin. He planned to put together a force of trusted men from Tientsin and Shanghai. They would have to come from the customs service since he couldn’t trust anyone else.
Modern weapons were stored in Shanghai. He knew what was in the warehouse, and the shipment that should be there now was exactly what he wanted. Without modern weapons, he wouldn’t have considered going ahead with his wild scheme, and the weapons Robert had in mind were special.
Once in Tientsin, he gathered a group of his employees in a large back room at the customs house. They were all men he had carefully selected for their courage, loyalty and honesty.
Under the Chinese system of government, Robert was like a king and his kingdom was the customs service. The only higher authority was the emperor of China. Since the emperor was a child, that meant Kung and the Dowagers ruled the empire, three who called Robert ‘Our Hart’.
“I have always had a difficult time asking for help,” he said, “but since most of you are family men, I think you will understand.
“I know everyone here as if we were members of the same family. I attended one wedding in Tientsin.” He looked at Anwar Cardiff, a wild looking Welshman, but one of the gentlest men he’d ever known.
“Not long ago,” he said, “a certain Welshman was pining for his love, so I arranged, without him knowing, for her to come from England to join him. I was even his best man at the wedding. And one of you asked me to be godfather to your last newborn child.” He looked at Henry Cooper, who grew up on a farm in Devon, England. “We’ve worked many long hours together.”
Robert struggled to fight back the tears that were sparkling in his eyes. This time when he spoke, his voice cracked as he struggled to maintain control. “The woman I love and my children were kidnapped by Taipings.” He had to stop. Taking several breaths, he calmed down.
“I can’t count on the Dynasty for help—at least not in the time left before my family will be executed. I need your help in a risky venture to save my family from certain death. If you are willing, please step forward. If you aren’t, I will understand.”
Everyone stepped forward, which caused a balloon of gratitude to swell inside his chest. The expressions on their faces caused tears to escape from his eyes, and he turned away to hide his face as he struggled to regain control.
These were his men. Among them were Italians, Germans, Americans, and British citizens and even one Chinese, Guan-jiah.
Other Chinese worked here, but he doubted that any had ever handled a weapon. This was China, the land of Confucius and Taoism, which respected scholarship and learning above all else.
The Chinese warriors were either in the army or were bandits and as such were considered below the status of a scholar. Even the wealthiest merchants were not equal to the poorest scholar, and the Chinese who worked in customs were all scholars of some sort—men who spent their free time writing poetry and painting ink on rice paper.
“One more thing,” he said, after he wiped the tears from his face. “I must be assured that all of you know how to use firearms and ride horses, as we may have a tough fight. My plans are to arrive and leave by ship but if circumstances warrant, we may have to use horses to escape.”
Anwar, his Welshman, chuckled. His gentle voice did not fit his appearance. “No worries there, Sir. I was with the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry at Lucknow during the Indian Mutiny, and I’m not the only veteran here.” He gestured toward Cooper, a thirty-year-old whose head was bald as the moon. “Cooper was with the 93rd Highlanders in the Crimean War.”
“I fought in second Opium War in 1857,” Leopold Huber, a German, said. Leopold had a weak chin and a thin nose. “That’s what brought me to China, and I decided to stay.” Two others nodded to include themselves in that war.
“And I served in the second Maori War in New Zealand with the 14th West Yorkshire regiment in 1860,” another man said.
“Every man here can use a musket or shotgun,” Cooper said. “We’ve all hunted wild game, and you’ll have a hard time finding better marksmen.”
“What about horses?” Robert asked.
“That’s like asking if a duck has wings and can float,” Anwar said. “None of us grew up in a city like London. We are all country boys. Since Britain has been in so many wars around the world, I doubt you’ll find many of us that haven’t served somewhere. Fighting is what took us away from home. Then after we saw some of the world, it was difficult to go back because we wanted to see more. You could say we’re the adventuresome sort.”
This was why Robert had decided to talk to these men. It was gratifying to know he’d judged correctly.
“Guan-jiah,” he said, “I dare not risk leaving this building with these men until it’s dark in case there are spies watching. However, you will not be noticed, as you are Chinese. I want you to go and find us a suitable, fast ship.
“Once you find one, go aboard and talk to the captain. Introduce yourself. Mention my name. Tell the captain that we have pressing business in Shanghai and Ningpo. Say that I will make it worth his while if he gets underway immediately once we are on board.”
“No one will listen to me, Master,” Guan-jiah replied. “They will see a skinny Chinese and ignore me.”
“That will not happen,” Robert said. “I’ll write a note. That should work.”
The eunuch returned after dark and took them to the Nanzing, which was bound for Shanghai with passengers and a cargo of wheat. The Nanzing, owned by the British firm of Trautman and Company, was a steamship that worked the coast from Shanghai to the northern ports.
The captain met Robert the moment he stepped on deck. He studied Robert’s face and nodded. “Just wanted to make sure you are who the Chinaman said you were. I was suspicious of that note.”
They shook hands, and Robert said, “You understand that we have pressing business and must be on our way.”
“The Chinaman didn’t say much about what that business was.”
“But he did tell you what I’m willing to pay?”
The captain nodded.
“Then you know what’s important. To earn that money, you must have us in Shanghai then Ningpo as soon as possible.”
“Well, the Chinaman—”
“His name is Guan-jiah,” Robert said. “How soon before we are underway?”
The captain’s eyes went from Robert to the serious faces of the dozen men standing behind him. “We were planning to raise anchor in the morning.”
Robert pulled out his pocket watch. “Morning arrives in ten hours. It’s eight now. You know who I am, so take what I say seriously. If Trautman and Company wants to continue doing business in China, we will be underway sooner, within the hour. Do we understand each other?”
The captain looked startled then nodded yes.
“When will that departure time be?” Robert asked.
“Tonight before nine.”
“Make it faster!”
In thirty minutes, the Nanzing was steaming from Tientsin. During the voyage, Robert stood next to the captain in the wheelhouse and watched every junk they passed for any sign that it might be the one carrying Ayaou and his children to their fate.
Of course, he couldn’t see inside the junks and to stop and search each boat would have been futile. Still, he had to do something and sleep was not a choice.
The Nanzing reached Shanghai in less than three days and unloaded the wheat and the passengers. Robert recruited nine more men from the customs office there.
Aft
er he finished, he went to the warehouse where he ordered the Chinese men who worked there to load several heavy crates on a wagon to be delivered to the Nanzing.
Once on board ship, with Guan-jiah’s help, he went to work cleaning the weapons and loading them. It would have been easier to have someone else do this job, but he didn’t want anyone messing with the hardware.
While steaming the hundred miles to Ningpo, he gathered his small army of twenty on the aft deck and stood by the crates that were covered by a canvas tarp. “I understand that most of you are good shots and know how to use muzzle loaders and shotguns, but what I have here is something most of you may never have seen before.”
He pulled back the canvas tarp and Guan-jiah stepped forward with a pry bar and used it to remove the top off a wooden crate. Robert reached in and took out one of the revolvers. “This is an 1860, .44 Caliber United States Army Colt Revolver. It weighs two pounds and eleven ounces. It also holds six black powder bullets.”
He lifted the revolver and aimed at the waves as the Nanzing steamed along. Squeezing the trigger, he fired the first shot. He then cocked the hammer and squeezed the trigger again. After the sixth blast died away, he said, “This weapon has a revolving cylinder. It will fire as fast as you can cock the hammer and pull the trigger. We have enough of these Army Colts so each man has two, and you will have leather cartridge boxes holding fifty .44 caliber bullets for reloading.”
“What about holsters?” Anwar asked. “I hope we don’t have to shove those beauties under our belts. That barrel looks mighty long.”
“Eight inches,” Robert replied, and handed Anwar the Colt. He then reached into the crate and brought out a belt with two hip holsters. Leather cartridge boxes filled with bullets were fastened to the belt. He handed that to Anwar, who took it and strapped it to his lean waist before he took a step toward the crate.
“Hold it,” Robert said. “I’m not done.” Anwar took a step back to stand with his colleagues. He examined the Colt as if it were priceless and then ran his fingers through the unruly mop of curly brown hair that covered his head and smiled.
My Splendid Concubine Page 61
