since we started loading our cargo, he has been on the watch every day
and all day. I'll wager he counted every chest and case that we took
aboard; and I feel convinced in my own mind that he is a Korean spy. If
so, we may be in for a lot of trouble when we arrive out there; for he
can easily cable, or even get there before us by catching a fast
mail-boat. I tell you candidly that I am not very comfortable about the
business; and I shall be glad to get out of English waters, too, for I
am not quite as clear as I should like to be concerning the law, in its
bearing on cases of this sort. I fancy that the British Government has
the power to stop or delay us, if our Korean friend chooses to represent
in the proper quarters that I am carrying arms to rebels arrayed against
their lawful sovereign."
"If the news should by any means leak out," said Frobisher, "I think
there's no doubt that you will be delayed, if not stopped altogether;
for England does not want a quarrel on her hands with anybody just now,
however insignificant they may be. So we had better keep our weather
eyes lifting, and be prepared for all eventualities."
By the time they cleared the mouth of the river and dropped the pilot,
however, darkness had long since fallen; and Drake hoped that with the
dawn of the morrow he would be far enough down the Channel to be clear
of any danger of recall or overhauling.
To this end he shaped a course that would carry him well over toward the
French coast, determining to run down on that side of the Channel and so
avoid, if possible, any prowling English cruisers. And it was well for
him that he did so; for on the following morning, happening to take a
glance astern through the glass, Frobisher caught sight, about eight
miles distant, of a small gunboat coming along in their wake at
top-speed, and flying a signal of some sort which the ex-naval officer
shrewdly suspected to be a summons to heave-to, though the craft was too
far away for the signal to be plainly read.
He at once informed Drake, who promptly went down to the engine-room and
gave the chief engineer a few private instructions, with the result
that, presently, dense volumes of smoke began to pour out of the
_Quernmore's_ funnel, and her speed quickened up until Frobisher judged
her to be doing quite sixteen knots. Then he and Drake took turns at
watching the war-ship astern, when it soon became evident that, even if
she was not increasing the distance, the _Quernmore_ was at least
holding her own.
That this was apparent to the commander of the gunboat was demonstrated
shortly afterwards, when a puff of white smoke broke out from her bows,
and the distant boom of a gun floated down to them.
"I feared as much," exclaimed Drake, uneasily; "but I believe we shall
get clear unless that fellow's firing brings a cruiser out from Plymouth
to stop us. But,"--brightening up a little--"I fancy we are too far
over toward the French side for anything of that sort; so, if we can
only keep ahead, I think we shall pull out safely."
The gunboat continued firing, and after a time began to send solid shot
after the flying _Quernmore_, as a stronger hint to heave-to; but her
guns were not powerful enough for the range, and the shot dropped
harmlessly into the water far away astern. She was still in sight when
darkness fell, but had lost ground badly during the day; and when the
following morning dawned she was out of sight below the horizon.
This was the only attempt made to stop Drake in English waters; and he
was shortly afterward safely in the Bay of Biscay.
There is no need to describe in detail the voyage to the East, since it
was entirely uneventful. They stopped at Port Said to coal; coaled
again at Colombo and Hongkong; and then headed straight for the Korean
coast, neither Drake nor Frobisher having taken particular notice of the
P&O liner that had left England the day after themselves, and steamed
out of Colombo harbour just as the _Quernmore_ was entering it. Neither
did they observe the fashionably-dressed, yellow-skinned gentleman on
board the liner who treated them to such a close scrutiny through a pair
of field-glasses. They had, for the moment, forgotten all about their
Korean friend of the docks; and, in any case, would hardly have expected
to find him on the first-class promenade deck of a crack ocean liner.
It was just two months after leaving London when, late one afternoon,
Drake pointed ahead, to the north, indicating what at first sight
appeared to be a belt of cloud right down upon the horizon.
"Ah!" remarked Frobisher, following the direction of the skipper's
outstretched finger; "we are nearly at our destination. That's Quelpart
Island, I take it. We ought to anchor off Fusan, then, about this time
to-morrow, eh, skipper?"
Drake turned and regarded his officer solemnly. Then he slowly lowered
his right eyelid.
"We shall pass Fusan about that time, Mr Frobisher," he said; "but we
do not stop there. Fusan is our port, according to the ship's papers, I
happen to remember; but our actual destination is a small harbour about
two hundred miles north of that. We should never be able to get our
cargo unloaded at Fusan, much less into the rebels' hands. Sam-riek is
our goal--quite a small unimportant place, right on the coast. There's
good, sheltered anchorage there; and, if we have the luck we deserve, we
shall be able to unload the stuff without fear of interruption."
"Ah!" remarked Frobisher, and relapsed into deep thought.
On the evening of the second day following, the _Quernmore_ was close in
under the land; and, just as the sun was setting behind the Korean
hills, the anchor plashed down from the bows, and the voyage was at an
end. The _Quernmore_ had reached her destination, done her part; and
now it was for Murray Frobisher to carry out the other half of Drake's
contract, and place the cargo in the hands of the rebels, at a spot a
week's journey or more up-country. Would he, or would he not, be able
to do this; and, more important still, from his own personal point of
view, would he be able to get back to the ship with a whole skin? Time
alone would show.
CHAPTER THREE.
UP-COUNTRY.
No sooner had the anchor splashed into the water than Captain Drake gave
the order for the ship's lanterns to be lighted, and some of them slung
in the rigging, while others were to be placed at intervals along the
bulwarks. Blocks and tackles were then made fast to the end of the fore
and main booms, the booms were triced up at an angle to serve as
derricks, and the hatch-covers were stripped off.
It was to be a case of all hands working all night to get the cargo
ashore; for now that the ship had arrived in Korean waters--and
consequently in the zone of danger--Drake was all eagerness to get his
contract completed, to collect his payments, and to clear off out of
harm's way, with his steamer still in his own hands. For she was his
own property, and to lose her would mean ruin for her owner.
Arrangements had long since been made between Drake and Frobisher as to
the method of procedure upon arrival at their destination, and the mere
fact that at the last moment the point of disembarkation of the cargo
had been changed to Sam-riek made no difference in the plans.
It had been agreed between Drake and the official negotiating for the
rebels that the latter should not put in an appearance at the point of
debarkation, because of the possibility that things might at the
critical moment go wrong, but that the Englishman should land the arms
in his own boats, and convey them up-country at his own risk, to a place
which, it now transpired, was called Yong-wol, in the department of
Kang-won, and situated on the river Han. Here they were to be handed
over to the rebel representative and his escort; after which they could
be conveyed by water to the environs of Seoul itself, where, in all
probability, they would in the first instance be used. This arrangement
would necessitate a journey across the entire peninsula of Korea; but to
land the arms on the west coast, where the Government troops were mostly
posted, would have been simply courting disaster. On the east coast
there were only a _few_ scattered outposts of troops; the inhabitants
were hand-in-glove with the rebels--although none of them had as yet
actually implicated themselves; and the inhabitants of Sam-riek, in
particular, could be relied upon not to offer any opposition to the
landing, or to inform the Government authorities of what was in the
wind.
When, therefore, about nine o'clock that night--at which time the decks
were packed with cases that had been got up from below in readiness to
be sent ashore in the boats--there came from the look-out whom Drake, as
a precautionary measure, had posted in the foretop a hail of "Ho! boat
ahoy! What do you want?" every man on deck jumped as though he had been
shot, so little was any interruption of any sort expected.
Drake and Frobisher darted to the side together, as though moved by the
same impulse, and leant over the bulwarks, peering into the darkness and
listening intently for any sound of oars that should enable them to
discover the whereabouts of the approaching craft.
Whoever the occupant of the boat might be, he was evidently neither an
enemy nor a spy; for hardly had the challenge left the seaman's mouth
when the reply came out of the darkness, in a thin, high-pitched, timid
voice: "All alightee; all alightee; it only me."
"And who the mischief may `only me' be?" growled Drake, who had been
very considerably startled, and therefore felt rather annoyed with
himself.
"Sh, sh! mastel," urged the voice; "you makee not so muchee shout; it
vely dangelous. Thlow me lope, so I climb up; I got big piecee news for
mastel." And the sound of muffled oars was again heard, this time
evidently close to the ship.
"H'm!" muttered Drake under his breath to Frobisher; "I don't much like
the look of this. It seems as though something had miscarried, for this
fellow to come out here at this time of night, with a `big piecee news'.
I suppose there is no doubt the beggar really has a message of some
sort for us, so I'll have to let him come aboard. But if he tries any
hanky-panky tricks, I'll send him over the side in double-quick time to
feed the sharks. I can't afford to have this venture miss fire now.
Jones, open the gangway, and throw a rope over the side," he added,
turning to one of the seamen; "and stand by to hit, and hit hard, if
everything is not exactly as it should be."
A rope was allowed to slide over the side through the open entry port;
and a moment later it began to quiver as the occupant of the boat left
his craft and proceeded to scramble up, hand over hand. Presently there
appeared on deck a little, thin, wizened man, who might have been any
age over sixty. He was clothed in nothing but a length of brown cotton
material swathed round his body, and round the upper part of each leg,
the end being drawn up between the thighs so as to form a kind of rough
apology for a pair of knickerbockers. His lower limbs and feet were
bare, and on his head he wore one of those high, broad-brimmed, conical
hats that are so common among the Koreans.
"Well," exclaimed Drake sharply, as this peculiar-looking individual
reached the deck and stood staring round him, "what the dickens d'ye
want? Who are ye? What's your name?"
"My name Ling-Wong, mastel," replied the Korean, "and I come flom
Excellency Kyong-Bah, at Yong-wol."
"Phew!" whistled Drake, turning to Frobisher. "Kyong-bah is the man I
negotiated with about this cargo. What's in the wind, I wonder? Yes--
go on," he added to Ling impatiently. "What's your message?"
"Me wait, mastel, six, seven day," said Ling, "wait fol the smoke-junk,
to tell you that the Govelnol at Seoul, he got know about evelything,
and he sendee tloops catchee you, if he can. Excellency Kyong-Bah tell
me say you he must havee those lifles, and think you get them safe
thlough if you vely quick and caleful; but he tell me say you must
hully, ol you be caught."
"And that's over a week ago!" groaned Drake. "What chance have we,
think you, Mr Frobisher, of getting this cargo safely through now?"
"Oh!" exclaimed Frobisher cheerfully, seeing that Drake was inclined to
take a dismal view of things; "if we can get 'em ashore uninterfered
with, I'll engage to deliver them to Kyong-Bah, or whatever the johnny's
name is, safely enough. _Nil desperandum_, you know, skipper--that's
Latin for `You never know what you can do till you try'."
"Those Latin chaps certainly did know how to say a lot in a few words,
didn't they, Mr Frobisher?" remarked Drake, a little more cheerfully.
"But do you really think you can get through if we get the arms safely
ashore?"
"Sure of it," answered Frobisher, with a good deal more confidence than
he really felt. "I'll take this chap as a guide, collect sufficient
carts and mules at Sam-riek to take the whole lot at one trip, and then
get this man Ling to show me some bypath over the hills which the
Government troops are not likely to take. I understood you to say that
there is a good road from Yong-wol to Sam-riek; and, if I know anything
of Orientals, the troops will take it. If, then, we take another route,
you will have the pleasure of seeing those fellows sitting on their
haunches in Sam-riek, waiting for you to unload your cargo into their
lap, while I shall be travelling another way, under a heavy press of
canvas, conveying the consignment on its way to its proper owners.
Savvee?"
Drake brought his hand down on Frobisher's shoulder. "By the Great Horn
Spoon, Mr Frobisher," he exclaimed, "I don't know what I should have
done without you! That's a Hundred A1 plan; and if you can only get
safely away before the troops appear, I'll engage so to arrange matters
that they shall believe the cargo to be still in the ship. That'll keep
'em busy long enough to allow you to carry out your part without
interference. Of course a lot'll depend upon the extent to which the
people of Sam-riek dislike the Government. If they are really on the
side of the rebels, they'll keep mum about the stuff being already
ashore; but if there are any traitors among them, the first thing
they'll do will be to curry favour by setting the troops after you,
one-time."
"Yes, that's so," agreed Frobisher, stroking his chin. "Still, it's the
only way out that I can see; and the sooner we get the cargo ashore and
test the scheme for ourselves, the better, I think."
"Right!" answered Drake. "Come along, boys,"--to the listening
crew--"you have heard what's been said, so you see we've got to hurry.
Jones, take this fellow Ling down below, and lock him up somewhere until
Mr Frobisher is ready for him--I'm not taking any risks this trip.
Then, when you've done that, take a few of the hands and swing eery one
of our boats over into the water. We have enough cases on deck now to
begin taking some of them ashore."
Encouraged by the captain and Frobisher, both of whom worked as hard as,
or harder than, any of the seamen, the men buckled-to again in earnest;
and soon the chests and cases were leaping up out of the holds on to the
decks, off the decks into the boats, and so ashore, at a very
satisfactory rate of progress.
All night the work went swiftly and steadily on, and well into the
following morning, with only a few minutes' break for meals. Frobisher
went ashore early in the morning with one of the loads, taking Ling with
him as interpreter, in order to make arrangements for the transport of
the cargo, and also to try to discover if there were as yet any signs of
the arrival of the troops.
The villagers proved only too glad of the chance to hire out their carts
and animals; and after a lengthy ride along the Yong-wol road, on a
horse which he had borrowed, Frobisher satisfied himself that, thus far
at any rate, there was no sign of troops in the neighbourhood.
By the time he got back to the ship the last of the cases was just being
placed on deck, and two more trips of the little fleet of the
_Quernmore's_ boats would see the whole of the cargo safely ashore.
Frobisher therefore ran down to his cabin and, throwing off his uniform,
dressed himself in a pair of khaki-coloured riding-breeches, which he
had brought out with him from England, thick-soled brown boots, and good
leather leggings. An old Norfolk jacket completed the outfit, so far as
his outer garb was concerned. And when he had donned an old and
somewhat battered, but still serviceable, topi helmet--a relic of more
prosperous days--and had fastened round him a leather belt and bandolier
combined, filled it with cartridges, and attached to it one of Penryn's
revolvers in a leather holster, it would have been rather difficult to
recognise in him the erstwhile smart and spruce Murray Frobisher.
Rather he resembled a South African transport-rider in a state of
disrepair, and of so truculent an appearance that he might have been
expected to put to flight with ease, and singlehanded, a considerable
detachment of Korean soldiery. He slipped the second revolver into one
of the side pockets of his jacket, and an extra supply of cartridges
into the other pocket, and then ran up on deck, ready to start on his
perilous journey into the interior.
By the time he had said good-bye to the skipper, and had received his
instructions with regard to the collection of the purchase-money and
sundry other matters, the last of the cargo had been sent ashore; and
Drake's own gig was waiting at the foot of the accommodation-ladder to
take the young man to the landing-place.
As he was on the point of descending the side-ladder, Drake asked him to
wait a moment, and ran down below; reappearing, a few seconds later,
with a serviceable ship's cutlass in his hand, which he himself belted
round Frobisher's waist.
"Revolvers are all very well in their way," remarked the little skipper;
"but sometimes a man is too busy fighting to have time to reload, and
then he is very glad to have a yard of good, stout steel in his fist.
Take it along with you, Mr Frobisher. If there should happen to be a
scrap, I feel sure you will find it mighty handy. Avoid a fight if you
can, of course; but, as Charlie Dickens says in that play of his, _Jim
the Penman_, `once in a fight so carry yourself that the enemy shall be
sorry for himself.' Good-bye, my boy, and take care of yourself!"
With a laughing reply Frobisher clasped Drake's hand once more, and ran
lightly down the ladder into the boat; and fifteen minutes later he
found himself safely ashore. The boat pulled back to the ship, where
the remainder of the small fleet were already being hoisted up to the
davits; and he was alone in a strange land, charged with a dangerous
mission, with no white man to share his burden, and with only one man,
Ling, who had even a nodding acquaintance with the English language.
Escort there was none, in the usual sense of the word, for the drivers
of the carts containing the arms and ammunition-chests, although armed
with old-fashioned muzzle-loading muskets, out-of-date halberds, and, in
some cases, bows and arrows, could not possibly be relied upon to put up
any sort of a fight in the event of an encounter with the regular Korean
soldiery. The only person beside himself who was armed with a modern
weapon was the interpreter, Ling, who carried a fairly recent and
reliable Marlin repeating rifle, holding eight cartridges; but this was
all the ammunition he had, so that, if trouble arose, he could not be
relied upon very far, either.
Having reached the village, Frobisher took Ling with him and went off to
see that the carts were properly loaded, and the mule-drivers at their
stations; and to his astonishment found that, in spite of the proverbial
slackness of the Korean, everything was in readiness, and only his word
was necessary to enable the caravan to start. During his previous visit
to the shore he had done a little exploration, and had quite made up his
mind which road to take in order to avoid the troops coming from
Yong-wol--provided, of course, that they came by the direct route. So
he did not waste any time, but, after a last look round, to see that
everything was satisfactory, commanded Ling to set the caravan in
motion, himself remaining behind until the last cart had left the
village, in order to make sure that, at the last moment, none of the
drivers should shirk the risks and try to desert.
There was no attempt of the kind, however. The Korean mule-drivers
appeared absolutely apathetic and indifferent to any possible danger.
They were being well paid for their trouble, and "sufficient unto the
day" was evidently their motto. Satisfied, therefore, that there was
nothing to fear in that respect, Frobisher mounted the elderly steed
which he had managed to purchase at about ten times its proper value,
and rode to the head of the column, where he found Ling, already fast
asleep on the back of the mule which he had elected to ride.
So the long column was at last fairly started on its perilous hundred
miles' journey into the interior of Korea--a journey which involved the
negotiation of heavy, ill-made roads, the fording of deep, swift rivers
and streams, and, most difficult of all, the passage of the range of
lofty hills on the other side of which the town of Yong-wol, their
destination, was situated.
For a long time, until, in fact, the caravan disappeared from view among
the trees, Captain Drake watched it through his telescope; and, when
finally the last cart disappeared in the forest, the man whom Frobisher
had once called his "little pirate" was not ashamed to follow the
example of his illustrious namesake of immortal memory. He went down to
his cabin and remained there for some minutes, actually praying for the
safe return of the man to whom he had grown to be very sincerely
attached--our friend Murray Frobisher.
It was about three o'clock in the afternoon when the caravan got away
from Sam-riek, and urge and command and even implore as he might,
Frobisher was quite unable to get the expedition farther than ten miles
from the coast before darkness fell and it became necessary to camp for
the night. A suitable place for an encampment was eventually found, on
an open, level strip of ground by the side of a considerable stream,
about half a mile ahead, a distance which Frobisher was compelled to
force the drivers to traverse almost at the muzzle of the pistol. He
managed, however, to convince the dull-witted Koreans that another
half-mile would not kill them; and about seven o'clock the party pulled
up at the spot selected. A couple of the carts contained provisions,
and on the top of these Frobisher had placed a bundle containing a tent
and blankets for his personal use.
He pitched the tent, spread his blankets on the ground, and then, before
allowing the men to prepare their supper, ordered that all the vehicles
should be formed into a circle, with his own tent in the centre, the
shafts of each being run in under the hind wheels of the one in front,
so as to form a fairly effective barricade, which would at least prevent
the camp being rushed without warning, should an attack be made by the
enemy. He also took care that the mules were picketed within the
enclosure so formed, so that they might not stray away or be stolen; and
finally, he told off half a dozen of the best-armed and most
resolute-looking men, under the command of Ling, to act as sentries in
different watches during the first half of the night, resolving to keep
watch himself during the second half--the period during which there was
most likelihood of danger.
These arrangements having been made, Frobisher served out their rations
to the men, partook of his own supper, and, leaving strict orders with
Ling that he was to be called at midnight, went to his tent, rolled
himself up in his blankets, laid his cutlass and revolvers beside him,
and was soon asleep.