feet, and a few moments later was safely ashore and riding hard along
the bank, parallel with the stream. By this time Ling had swallowed a
considerable quantity of water, and his lungs were already half-full; it
was evident, therefore, that in a few minutes the fellow would sink for
the last time. But Frobisher was now abreast of him, and a few seconds
later he sighted another low place in the bank where he could re-enter
the stream. Urging his animal to top speed, in another moment he was
plunging down the bank into the water. The plunge submerged both horse
and rider for the moment, and when Frobisher's head again appeared he
saw Ling's body swirling past him in the strongest part of the current.
Another moment and Frobisher had drawn the man to him, hoisting his head
clear of the water on to the peak of the saddle in front of him. He
then steered the horse to the bank, and was fortunate enough to be able
to regain solid ground without further mishap. He lowered Ling
carefully to the ground, dismounted himself, and, after securing his
horse by the bridle to a convenient tree, set about the task of
restoring the half-drowned Korean to consciousness.
Frobisher had had a good deal of "first-aid" experience during the
period of his service in the Navy, and he therefore knew exactly what to
do. Laying the Korean flat on his back, he knelt on the ground astride
of the body, seized both Ling's wrists in his hands, and then proceeded
to move the man's arms slowly backward and forward from a position right
above his head forward to the sides of his body, and then back again,
thus actually pumping air forcibly into the lungs.
After a few minutes of this treatment Ling began to show signs of
returning life, and before long he opened his eyes, coughed chokingly,
and then rolled over on his side, vomiting up the water he had swallowed
and coughing it out of his lungs as well. Then Frobisher completed his
work of restoration by administering a sip or two of brandy from the cup
belonging to his emergency flask, and a few more moments later Ling was
able to stagger to his feet.
Then, and not until then, did the Korean appear to recover his full
faculties and recognise who it was that had saved him from a watery
grave.
The Korean licked his dry lips and, carefully avoiding looking his
rescuer in the face, stammered out some kind of thanks to his master for
saving his life; and Frobisher observing the man's manner, became more
than ever convinced that there was treachery in the wind, and determined
to be thoroughly on his guard, day and night.
But there was no time to think about such matters just now; the river
was rising higher every moment, and if the carts were to be got safely
across without the loss of men, mules, or cargo, it was necessary to set
things in motion immediately. On the opposite bank of the stream were
now collected some of the Sam-riek drivers who had run along so as to be
"in at the death" as they fully expected, and Frobisher sharply ordered
them back to their posts, telling them to get the caravan in motion and
prepare to cross.
The men had seen their leader negotiate the ford in safety, so they were
not quite so timid as might have been expected, and as the heavily-laden
carts formed a kind of anchorage and support to both mules and drivers,
the young man soon had the satisfaction of seeing the entire caravan
safely on the desired side without loss, when he immediately got the
procession once more in motion toward Yong-wol.
During the whole of that day they travelled along the jungle road, with
the thick, solid greenery hemming them in on each side, and the sun
pouring down upon them like a flame. Ling marched along, silent and
morose, never speaking a word unless Frobisher actually addressed him or
ordered him to translate some command to the men; and it was with
unfeigned thankfulness that, just as the sun was about to set, the young
man saw, not far ahead of him, a small clearing somewhat similar to the
one where they had camped on the previous evening, and determined to
spend the night there.
The carts were drawn up in precisely similar formation, and supper was
cooked; and by the time that this was disposed of, all hands were more
than ready to seek their couches. Frobisher had already pitched his
tent, and had just entered it to get his cutlass and second revolver
when Ling came up to him.
"Me keep filst watch, mastel, same as last night," he remarked
ingratiatingly.
Frobisher looked fixedly at him for a few moments, and Ling lowered his
eyes.
"No, my man," answered the Englishman; "I keep first watch to-night.
You kept it yesterday, I keep it to-day. Now run away and get your
rest, Ling. I expect you need it after your experience this morning."
Ling gritted his teeth under his long, scanty moustache. This
arrangement would not suit his plans at all. Why could not these
eccentric westerners be consistent? he wondered. The Englishman kept
second watch yesterday, and Ling had fully expected that he would do the
same again; while now--
"Me lathel watch filst, mastel," he pleaded; "me no sleepy. You sleep
now, mastel; me look out."
"Look here, my man," exclaimed Frobisher, wrathfully, "who's master
here, you or I? Just understand this, as it will save trouble in the
future. When I tell you to do a thing, just remember that you've got to
do it, and do it at once. Now, get away to wherever you're going to lie
down, and I'll call you when it's time for you to go on duty. No, not
another word; off you go, without any more palaver."
For a moment it seemed as though Ling intended to disobey. Then the
Englishman's great stature and commanding presence had their effect, and
he slunk off and lay down under one of the wagons, but not to sleep. He
simply lay there leaning on his elbow, regarding Frobisher with a
malignant expression. About a couple of hours later, after darkness had
fallen upon the camp for some considerable time, and the rest of the men
were asleep, he began to listen for something; and Frobisher would have
been intensely interested could he but have glanced into Ling's mind and
read what was working there.
About ten o'clock Frobisher began to feel so drowsy, that although he
had made the rounds only half an hour previously he determined to repeat
them, in order to avoid falling asleep at his post; so, taking up the
lantern and cautiously feeling his way, to avoid stepping on the
slumbering forms of any of the men, he began again to make the circuit
of the camp.
Ling had been in his place, apparently sound asleep, when Frobisher had
passed half an hour previously, but when the young man now directed the
light of his lantern under Ling's cart he saw that the fellow was no
longer there; and a hurried survey of the camp soon convinced him that
the Korean was nowhere within the circle of the carts. He must
therefore be outside, Frobisher argued; and, if outside, where, and what
doing?
There could be but one answer to that question, so, without a moment's
hesitation, Frobisher set to work to arouse the slumbering Koreans,
afterwards herding them in front of him until he had them all collected
together in a little knot in the centre of the camp.
He next endeavoured, in "pidgin" English, to make them comprehend the
situation as it presented itself to him; but, unfortunately, they were
men who had seldom or never come in contact with white people, and he
soon saw that they did not understand a word he was saying. He was
compelled, therefore, to fall back upon signs; and after a time they
began to comprehend dimly what it was that their leader was trying to
tell them.
When at length he had succeeded in impressing upon them the fact that
the camp was in imminent danger, he took four of their number to one of
the carts, unloaded one of the chests of rifles and one of ammunition,
broke both open, and distributed the weapons and a quantity of
ammunition to each Korean, at the same time carefully instructing them
by repeated action how to load and fire the rifles. Luckily, the men
were quick to learn, and appeared delighted with the weapons, which they
seemed to look upon as presents; but Frobisher fully realised that,
however willing they might be, they would scarcely be able to hold out
long against regular troops, even though the latter were poorly
trained--especially if those troops should appear, as might be fully
expected, in overwhelming numbers.
It was his duty, however, to protect the property committed to his
charge as long as he could; and there was always the possibility that
the rebels at Yong-wol might come part of the way to meet him, and that
the sound of firing might bring them to his assistance. He therefore
selected a rifle for himself, stuffed a quantity of ammunition into his
breeches pockets--the pockets of his coat being full of revolver
cartridges--and then went round, placing his small force of some twenty
men in the most sheltered and advantageous positions he could arrange.
After this there was nothing to be done but to keep a sharp look-out and
await developments.
These were not long in coming. Frobisher had barely found time to get
his men to their places, and to arm himself--having previously enjoined
strict silence, by signs again, of course--when his straining ears
caught slight, rustling sounds in the jungle close at hand. They were
the sounds of bush, fern, and shrub being cautiously pushed aside--the
sounds of the stealthy approach of a considerable body of men; and it
soon became abundantly evident that the camp was entirely surrounded,
and that it was to be attacked from all sides at once.
Frobisher flitted hither and thither silently, peering into the jungle
from between the carts and underneath the wheels; and he was presently
able, by the dim light of the stars, to distinguish that the whole bush
was in barely perceptible motion. The attackers were at the very edge
of it, evidently only waiting for the command to commence operations;
the Englishman, therefore, determined, by being first, to secure the
advantage of surprise himself. At his shouted word the Koreans
discharged their rifles into the jungle at point-blank range, reloading
on the instant; while Frobisher heightened the effect by selecting a
spot where he could already see the glint of rifle barrels in the
starlight and discharging all six chambers of both his revolvers in that
direction.
The effect upon the attackers must have been considerable, for
immediately following the discharge there arose a tremendous outburst of
shrieks, yells, and groans, shouted orders, and cries of encouragement;
and Frobisher saw several forms leap out of the bush and go crashing to
earth in the clearing.
He had just time to re-load his revolvers before the surrounding bush
burst into a perfect tempest of flame and lead, indicating that the
Government troops must be present in force. One of the Sam-riek men,
right at his elbow, uttered a pitiful cry, clutched frenziedly at his
breast, from which the blood was spouting, and dropped to the ground,
his chest torn to pieces by five charges of pot-leg, or stout nails,
which had struck him at the same moment; while groans and screams from
various parts of the enclosure showed that the little force had suffered
pretty severely.
The men were now, however, re-loading and firing as rapidly as they
could, each independently of the other, and Frobisher, not knowing their
language, found it impossible to control them sufficiently to make them
fire only at the word of command. He realised that, at the rate at
which they were firing, an enormous wastage was taking place, but he was
powerless, and could only hope that the result would justify the
expenditure.
The attackers presently lighted a large fire at the edge of the
clearing, that they might have light to fight by; and what with the
ruddy flickering of the flames and the incessant flashing of the rifles,
the running crouching forms of the troops, and the desperate energy with
which the defenders fought, the scene was a fit subject for the brush of
a Wiertz or a Verestchagin. Men on both sides were falling fast, and
Frobisher himself was half-blinded by the blood from a wound in his
forehead inflicted by a ricochetting slug or bullet. And presently he
began to realise that, despite the stubborn resistance of his men, the
Government troops were slowly but surely closing in on him, and that the
end could not be very long delayed.
He himself fought as Englishmen fight, doing as much execution as any
four of his men; but he could not be everywhere at once, although he
rushed here and there, encouraging and urging the defenders to fresh
effort. Grimy, bleeding, and powder-stained, they did their best to
obey; but the pelting rain of lead was rapidly reducing their numbers,
and as their fire slackened for want of men, the troops edged in ever
closer and closer until, at a sudden shouted word of command, they
surged forward and stormed the enclosure, carrying it by sheer weight of
numbers.
The Sam-riek men were slaughtered like sheep, and Frobisher found
himself surrounded by at least a dozen men, shooting and stabbing at him
until it seemed miraculous that he still survived. He laid about him
desperately, and many a man of the enemy went down under the terrific
sweep of his cutlass--his revolvers he had emptied long ago, save for a
single shot which he was hoarding against some special emergency.
But the fight could not last much longer; his foes pressed so closely
about him that Frobisher could no longer freely swing his cutlass, while
the blood running down into his eyes half-blinded him. Out of the
corner of one eye, however, he suddenly caught sight of a heap of
cartridges that he had emptied on the ground for his men to help
themselves from. His foes had driven him almost on the top of the pile,
and, seeing that there was no possible escape, the young Englishman
determined to sell his life dearly.
With his cutlass hand he warded off the blows that were raining upon his
head, and with the other he fired the last chamber of his revolver right
into the middle of the heap of ammunition. The next instant there shot
forth a dazzling burst of flame accompanied by a crackling report, and
for a brief instant Frobisher had a confused vision of torn and writhing
limbs and bodies. Then something struck him sharply; there was a sound
as of roaring, tumbling, thundering waters in his ears; and he knew no
more.
CHAPTER FIVE.
ON THE RIVER.
When Frobisher recovered consciousness he became aware of most
excruciating pains in his head and his left side, and so extreme was his
suffering that he could scarcely restrain a groan. To add to his
discomfort he was in complete darkness, and furthermore he was being
jolted and shaken about in a most agonising manner.
Sick and faint with pain, it was several minutes before he was able to
recall what had happened to him; and then he remembered the last scene
of the fight, when, in the hope of destroying as many of his foes as
possible, he had discharged his revolver into the heap of ammunition.
There must, he recollected, have been some hundreds of rounds of
cartridges lying loose within a very few feet of him, and it was
doubtless a bullet from one of those that had struck him in the side
and, he felt pretty sure, shattered one or more of his ribs. As for the
pain in his head, that was of course accounted for by the stroke which
he had received across his forehead early in the fight.
He put up his hand to his aching brow, and discovered to his surprise
that it had been carefully bandaged, and that the wound had evidently
been cleansed, for his hair was still damp, and there was no clotted
blood adhering to it. Also he found, upon further investigation, that
his jacket had been removed, and that his body had been strapped up with
rough wrappings. It appeared probable, therefore, that his captors had
received orders to capture him alive, if possible; otherwise, knowing as
he did the usual methods adopted by the Chinese and Koreans toward their
wounded prisoners, he felt tolerably certain that he would have been
barbarously destroyed while still unconscious--particularly as he had
been the direct means of bringing a dreadful death upon so many of his
assailants. As he thought of this he could only come to one
conclusion--he had been kept alive in order that, upon his arrival at
head-quarters, he might be examined, by torture if necessary, as to the
extent of his knowledge of the plot against the Government, and as to
the existence of any other schemes for bringing arms into the country.
Now, he had no intention of being submitted to the diabolically
ingenious torments practised by the Korean executioners; the important
thing, therefore, was to contrive, if possible, to escape while there
was yet time. But before thinking about escape it was absolutely
necessary that he should discover his own whereabouts, and the number of
men by whom he was at present guarded. He was now entirely unarmed,
having no doubt dropped his cutlass and one of his revolvers at the time
when he had been struck down; while the second revolver, which had been
in the side pocket of his coat, had probably been discovered and seized
when the jacket was stripped off him by the individual who had attended
to the wound in his side.
With a great effort and a wrench that caused him to bite his lips to
bleeding-point, to keep back his groans, Frobisher contrived to raise
himself to a sitting posture, and he then discovered that he was in a
closed litter of some sort, or palanquin, which, he could tell by its
short, jerky motion, was being borne over very rough ground.
Feeling cautiously around him, in the faint hope that his jacket might
have been thrown into the palanquin, and with it, perhaps, the revolver
still in the pocket, Frobisher's fingers encountered one of the
curtains, and gradually gathering it up, he was presently able to pull
it aside sufficiently to enable him to see out.
It was still dark, but the stars were shining brightly, and a thin slice
of moon had risen just clear of the treetops that bordered the jungle,
so that the young Englishman was able to make out his surroundings with
comparative ease. Marching alongside the palanquin, on each side, at a
distance of a few feet only, so narrow was the jungle path, was a line
of Government troops, their weapons, consisting of flint-locks,
match-locks, halberds, old muzzle-loaders, and, in a few cases, modern
breechloaders, sloped over their shoulders; while close beside the
litter, but a little in advance, so that Frobisher was unable to see the
man's face, walked an officer with a drawn two-handed Chinese sword in
his hand. He was evidently quite prepared to cut the prisoner down
without parley, should he make the slightest attempt at escape.
Beside him walked another man, whom Frobisher had no difficulty in
recognising as Ling; and he was by no means grieved to observe that the
Korean had also suffered damage; for Ling's head was roughly bandaged,
and his right arm hung down limp and useless, while he walked with a
limp that proved he had received an injury to his leg as well. A
cautious glance rearward through the open curtains disclosed the fact
that the caravan of carts was coming along in the rear, escorted by a
few files of troops; but there was nothing to be seen of the unfortunate
Sam-riek drivers, and Frobisher was forced to the conclusion that,
rather than encumber themselves with other prisoners, the soldiers had
simply shot down and butchered the few who might have remained alive
after the capture of the encampment.
Having thus discovered all that was possible at the moment, Frobisher
closed the curtains again and threw himself back in the litter, a trifle
relieved by his few breaths of fresh air, and determined to sleep, if he
could, so that he might the sooner recover his strength, and be fit to
attempt his escape should the chance occur. As he painfully twisted his
body round so as to lie on his back, and thus take as much weight as
possible off his broken ribs, he became aware of something hard in his
hip-pocket, and thrusting in his hand, he brought out the little
travelling-flask of brandy which he had used to revive Ling that very
morning.
How little he had thought when he did so, that the next occasion on
which he was to use it would find him a prisoner in the hands of a
barbarous soldiery, on his way--he had not a shadow of doubt--to
imprisonment and, only too probably, a revolting, lingering death at the
end of all!
However, as he told himself, he was not dead yet--very far from it
indeed; and while there was life there was always hope. So he took a
good long pull at the flask, and felt so much benefited and restored
thereby that a very few minutes afterward he fell into a doze which,
although not exactly amounting to complete unconsciousness, yet served
to mitigate to a considerable extent the pain from which he was
suffering, and mercifully prevented his mind from dwelling unduly upon
the horrid possibilities of the future before him. Finally, he fell
into a deep and refreshing sleep.
When he awoke it was broad daylight, and the atmosphere was perceptibly
cooler. This, together with the fact that the palanquin was frequently
tilted to a considerable angle, and that the bearers seemed to be
finding some difficulty in retaining their footing, convinced him that
they must be descending the other side of the range of hills which he
knew he would have had to cross if he had been allowed to continue his
journey to Yong-wol. But he felt pretty certain that Yong-wol was not
the objective of the party. Since they had been informed of the
presence of the caravan, they must naturally also have been told that a
rebel force awaited its arrival there; and they would, of course, take
particular care to avoid an encounter, especially if it were known that
the rebels were there in force.
It was just noon by Frobisher's watch--which he had been allowed to
retain, or which had escaped the notice of his captors--when they
regained level ground; and half an hour or so later the company came to
a halt, the litter was set down, and all hands, as Frobisher could see
by looking through the curtains, prepared to make a meal.
He was by this time beginning to suffer very severely from thirst, and
had about made up his mind to call for Ling and order him to bring some
water, when that individual softly pulled the curtains aside and stood
looking down at the prisoner with an expression on his face that
Frobisher found difficult to fathom. Then, seeing that the Englishman
was conscious, Ling remarked:
"Me glad see mastel open eyes again. Me thinkee once that mastel killed
dead."
"It is no fault of yours that I was not, you treacherous rascal!"
returned Frobisher, so savagely that the Korean involuntarily stepped
backward a pace. "If ever I get out of this and can get my hands on
you, I'll make you sorry for your betrayal of me!"
"Ah, mastel," exclaimed Ling, glancing apprehensively over his shoulder;
"no speak so loud. Listen. When you save my life this molning, me wish
velly much that me could wain you, but me dale not then--it too late.
But Ling nevel folget kindness of mastel; and me tly to savee you, if
can. But to do that me must pletend me velly glad you caught; pletend
me velly angly against you. Allee same, me not so leally; and me do
allee can fol you on q.t."
Despite his anger and pain Frobisher could scarcely refrain from smiling
at the quaint "pidgin" English, especially the phrase "q.t.", which the
man had evidently picked up from some Englishman, and of which he seemed
quite proud. But he sternly repressed the inclination, and looked
keenly at Ling, to ascertain, if he could, whether the man were really
in earnest in saying that he would help him if he could. The Korean now
bore the scrutiny boldly, and did not lower his eyes; and from the
expression of his face Frobisher felt almost convinced that Ling meant
what he said. If the fellow could be relied upon implicitly, he would
be simply invaluable, and might be the means of getting Frobisher out of
the clutches of the Koreans; whereas, without assistance, escape seemed
almost beyond the bounds of possibility. It was therefore in a gentler
voice that the Englishman said:
"Very well, Ling; I'll believe you. And, what's more, if you prove
yourself true to me, and help me to effect my escape, I'll see that you
are given a reward such as you have never before dreamed of. But if you
want to prove that you are in earnest, for goodness' sake bring me
water, and plenty of it; I am nearly dying of thirst."