With the Allies to Pekin: A Tale of the Relief of the Legations

“Without any opposition to speak of, sir. We had to kill a couple of Boxers, and we were pursued hotly. After we got over the wall one of the men made a splash in the water, and the sentry heard it. But, with those two slight exceptions, everything went off well.”

“But how on earth did you get in here?”

“We got over the wall close by the Americans, and were hauled up by them on our return.”

“Well, sir, you must at once report what you have done.”

“Oh, I would rather say nothing about it at all!” Rex said. “I shall only be questioned about it, and have all sorts of bother.”

“Nevertheless it must be reported, Mr. Bateman. I shall have to account for the issue of thirteen more rations than before, and shall have to explain in my report that these are people who were brought in by you during the night.”

“Well, I only hope that nobody will take the trouble to read your report, sir. I hate being talked about, and as likely as not I should be blown up for going out without orders.”

“Perhaps something will be said about that, Mr. Bateman, but certainly you will get more praise than blame.”

Rex shrugged his shoulders.

“I would much rather get neither, sir. The affair was a very simple and straightforward one, and there is no occasion that I can see for anything to be said about it one way or another.”

Nevertheless, to his disgust, he saw, an hour later, a notice stuck up among those in the tower, that Mr. Bateman, with his man, had gone out and succeeded in bringing in thirteen native Christians from a hiding–place among the ruins.

CHAPTER IX

IN THE ENEMYʼS CAMP

As Rex was returning to breakfast in a state of exceeding bad temper, he met Sandwich, who said: “Sir Claudeʼs secretary has been round. He wishes to see you.”

Rex swung himself round with a grunt of dissatisfaction, and made his way to the residency. Sir Claude, with four other gentlemen, had just sat down to breakfast when he was shown in.

“Have you breakfasted, Mr. Bateman?” he asked.

“No, sir, not yet.”

“Sit down and take it with me, then; we can talk while we eat.”

Rex would much rather have gone through his examination and made off to breakfast with his chum, but as he could not refuse the invitation, he sat down in no very good temper. Sir Claude smiled a little.

“I can understand,” he said after a minute or two, “by what you said last time I had a conversation with you, that you donʼt like having your good deeds talked about.”

“I donʼt like being talked about in any way, sir.”

“But in that case, Mr. Bateman, you should not do things that necessitate your being talked about.”

Rex, after a little struggle to maintain his serious face, laughed.

“Well, sir, I can assure you that if I had my own way I should prefer to go about and do what I like and to keep it entirely to myself.”

“Well, now, you see, the thing has come out, Mr. Bateman, certainly not from what you said about it, but from the report made by Mr. Graham, when you applied to him for thirteen Chinamen to be put on rations. I have just been telling these gentlemen of the manner in which you rescued your cousins, and they, as well as myself, want to hear this second chapter of adventure. Please tell us all about it.”

“There is very little to tell, sir.”

“Excuse me, Mr. Bateman, there must be a good deal to tell, and as you must be perfectly well aware that you ought not to have left the Legation without permission, the least you can do is to give us a full account of your reasons for doing so, and of the manner in which you carried out your adventure. Now, please, begin at the beginning and tell us how you learned that the people were in hiding.”

Beginning, therefore, with his meeting with the Chinaman, Rex told the story, ending with: “There, sir, I said at the beginning that there was really nothing to tell, and that it was the simplest thing in the world.”

“I do not quite agree with you. Mr. Bateman. I think my friends here will all join with me in saying that it was an admirably planned and well carried out scheme, and it cannot, I am sure, be otherwise than a matter of intense gratification to yourself that you have saved these twelve poor people from a terrible death. It does you very great credit, sir, but I hope that you will not undertake any more enterprises of this kind without speaking to me beforehand. I am commander–in–chief of the forces here, and before any of my officers undertake enterprises that might deprive me of their services they must have my consent.”

As soon as the meal was over, Rex ran back to his quarters.

“Is there anything left to eat, Sandwich?” he asked.

“Yes, we put some by for you.”

“That is a comfort. The governor asked me to breakfast with him, and I had scarcely got down two or three mouthfuls when he asked me to tell him all about that affair last night, and as a fellow cannot talk and eat at once, I fared very badly. What have you got?”

“There is half a pot of jam and boiled rice.”

“That will do first–rate. Where are you going to work to–day?”

“We are going over to the Fu, and are just starting.”

“Well, I will come across when I am done, and so get out of the way of being jawed at. I suppose we shanʼt come back till dusk. That will suit me admirably, for there is sure to be something else fresh during the day, and by to–morrow this business of mine will be forgotten.”

On the way down to the Fu Rex was captured by a party on the search for volunteers to drive a hole through the south walls, in order that a watch could be placed there to see that the Chinese were not mining in that direction. The day was tremendously hot, and as the wall was well built the labour was extremely exhausting. It was therefore a relief when they were called off to take any measures that might be necessary at the stable–house. The Chinese had mounted a gun at the barricade on their side of the Mongol Market and opened fire on the stable–house. Four shells crashed, one after another, into the stable–house, and the marines had to evacuate the upper story, and the whole building was so damaged that it was in danger of falling. Several shells also burst over the hospital. One entered it, and another killed a pony just outside it. The marines kept up a steady musketry fire on the Chinese who were working the gun, and soon managed to drive them off. In the evening the gun again began firing, this time aiming at the door of the stable–yard. As, however, the newly–built wall behind it was ten feet thick they effected no serious damage, and the next morning the gun was removed; and it was not again brought into play.

This cessation of fire was singular, as, though it had failed to breach the wall behind the door, it could certainly have destroyed with a few shot the old wall beside the door. Half a dozen guns placed here would have brought the whole wall down in a very short time and laid our defences open. All sorts of explanations were suggested, but the general idea was that the Chinese officer commanding at that point must have been secretly in favour of the defenders of the Legation, and anxious that total destruction should not be effected, either because he was favourable to the Christian doctrine or feared the vengeance that would follow by the united powers of Europe.

While the fire on the stable–house was continuing, a strong attack had been directed against the barricades of the French Legation. The Chinese lines had been pushed up so close that the fighting was almost hand to hand. M. von Rosthorn, the Austriansʼ chargé dʼaffaires, was fighting here, with his brave wife, a lady who had taken more than her share in the defence. She endeavoured to destroy the Chinese barrier by throwing upon it straw dipped in petroleum. The Chinese retorted with showers of stones, by one of which M. Rosthorn was somewhat severely wounded. Throughout the siege this lady evinced an amount of courage that was the astonishment of the troops. When Rex went back in the evening from the Fu he looked into the hospital to see the girls. They ran up to him eagerly, crying breathlessly: “Oh, Rex, everyone is talking about your going out and bringing in a party of men and women!”

“Well, then, I wish to goodness they would find something better to talk about. There is nothing in the thing at all. A Chinaman who had come in told me that the party was in hiding, and guided Ah Lo and me to the place. Of course they were glad enough to come out, and we had no adventure at all on the way, except that three Boxers came up and interfered with us, and we had to cut two of them down. The other bolted, and we then got over the wall, made a circuit through the fields, and climbed back over the wall behind the American Legation. I am quite sick of hearing about it, as if there was nothing else to talk about. It is quite ridiculous.”

“Well, people must have thought it was something out of the way, because a notice about it was posted up on the tower early in the morning, and another report that Sir Claude was praising your action very much. Lots of people have come in to tell us about it.”

“It is a pity they hadnʼt something better to do,” Rex grumbled. “I am quite sick of the subject; let us talk about something else.”

“This is the first time I have seen you cross, Rex,” said Jenny.

“Well, it is enough to make one cross, having such a fuss made about nothing. Now, how are you getting on here?”

“We are all right, though some shells burst over the house this afternoon, which made us fairly jump.”

“Yes, I know; they gave us quite a start, but we could see that no great harm had been done.”

“The heat has been awful; we have knocked out all the panes of the upper windows to try and get a little air in, but we have all been feeling it very much, and of course you must have felt it more. I really donʼt know how we should get on if we were not allowed off duty for two hours each evening, when we can go out and enjoy the cool air.”

“Yes, it must be terribly trying,” Rex said. “It must be worse for you in that stifling room inside than it is for us, even working in the sun.”

That night a small party of marines and volunteers went out and endeavoured to capture the gun on the other side of the market–place, but the Chinese stood firm, and they were obliged to retire without having effected anything. They were very well satisfied in the morning, however, when they found that the gun had been removed during the night.