almost entirely covered with weird and terrible-looking instruments.
Some of these Frobisher recognised through having read about them in
books, but of others he could not possibly guess the use. Their shapes
and forms were, however, so dreadfully suggestive that he felt it to be
a mercy that he was ignorant of the more subtle and refined forms of
Oriental torture, otherwise he would soon lose his reason in
contemplation of the frightful uses to which those instruments could be
put.
Also, strewn about the floor, in such profusion as to leave little room
for anything else, were larger implements, whose use Frobisher was
fortunately unable to guess at; while in the two corners of the room
there were piles of variously-shaped knives and swords which he guessed
the torturers were wont to employ in the discharge of their ghastly
business, among which he recognised the long, razor-edged weapon used
for administering the terrible "death of the thousand cuts", also a
sword with a saw, instead of smooth edge, and a big, broad-bladed, keen
knife or short, heavy sword, used upon those victims who were lucky
enough to be sentenced to a quick death by beheading. To Frobisher it
seemed that merely to immure a prisoner in such a ghastly museum was in
itself an act of torture which might easily drive a less well-balanced
man than himself mad within a very few hours.
One thing that rather astonished him was the fact of those swords being
left lying loose in the cell. Surely, rather than submit to the tender
mercies of a Korean torturer, any prisoner, however weak or timid, would
arm himself with one of them and die fighting, or even put an end to his
own existence, rather than have his life wrung from him inch by inch and
minute by minute in agony indescribable! At any rate it did not take
Frobisher a moment to determine that when the end should come he would
take the long weapon used for the "thousand cuts" and, standing in the
middle of the chamber where he could have a clear sweep for the sword,
fight his enemies to the death.
He strode over to the corner and drew the weapon he had selected out of
its scabbard. It had a long handle, permitting two hands to be
employed, and the blade was made of very highly-tempered steel, as stiff
and springless as an English razor, and as keen. It was about four feet
in length and quite two inches wide, and the steel at the back was fully
a quarter of an inch thick. There was a very slight curve in the blade,
and the point was sharply curved round, similar to the points found on
the old Japanese swords; and in the hands of a powerful man like himself
it would undoubtedly prove a very terrible weapon. Indeed, it was so
heavy that Frobisher wondered how it could be possible with so ponderous
a blade to carry out the particular form of execution for which it was
designed. But it would serve his purpose admirably, the sailor told
himself; and he sheathed the weapon and placed it at the far end of the
chamber, where it might be ready to his hand if necessity arose for him
to use it.
The next step in the examination of the cell was to get a glimpse, if
possible, out of the little window, high up in the wall, to learn
something concerning the whereabouts of his prison and how it was
situated. Then, in the somewhat improbable event of an opportunity
offering for escape, he would not be handicapped by ignorance with
regard to his surroundings.
To this end he hunted about for something wherewith to construct a
platform, and presently managed to collect together a pile of
instruments, pieces of ancient furniture, and odds and ends of lumber
which, piled together, enabled him, assisted by his great height, to
bring his eyes to the level of the bottom of the window; and having
climbed up, using great care not to upset the pile in so doing,
Frobisher seized the iron grating protecting the window and, thus
supporting himself in position, looked out.
Narrow as was the window on the inside, the view which the young
Englishman was able to obtain from it was quite extensive, for the
embrasure which formed the opening was splayed widely outward on both
sides, in a manner frequently seen in old English castles in the
construction of the "arrow slits" in the walls; and the first thing he
noticed was that he had been correct in his estimation of the thickness
of the walls. They were at least six feet thick, and there was
therefore no hope whatever of being able to break out through them.
The fort itself was situated on the right bank of the river; and,
judging from the open country in its neighbourhood, must be at some
little distance from the town of Asan itself. Indeed, as Frobisher
afterwards ascertained, the building was situated on a small peninsula
of land jutting out into Prince Jerome gulf, and was therefore nearly
four miles distant from the town. The window embraced a view of part of
the gulf, including the entrance, and a strip of jungle-clad country
running right down to the water's edge; while beyond these two points
the outlook was restricted by the outer edges of the splay in which the
window was built. From the same cause, also, Frobisher was unable to
see the ground close enough to the wall to judge whether the fort was
surrounded by a moat or a dry ditch of any description, although from
the general appearance of things he surmised that it was.
By estimating the angle at which his line of sight was cut off by the
outer edge of the sill, he calculated that he must be confined in a room
situated on the second story of the fort, and that there would
consequently be a considerable drop from the bottom of the window to the
ground, without taking into consideration the probable existence of a
ditch of fifteen or twenty feet deep running round the base of the
walls.
In any case, even if the iron bars could by some means be removed, it
did not appear as though it would be possible for him to squeeze his big
body through the opening, so the question of the depth of the drop
outside was hardly worth worrying about. His one and only means of
egress seemed to be the door by which he had entered, and to that he now
turned his attention, with the view of ascertaining whether any hope lay
in that direction.
As has been mentioned, the door was constructed of timber very much
resembling oak, and its inner surface was reinforced by stout iron
straps some three or four inches wide, at least half an inch thick, and
extending across the whole width of the door. The round heads of bolts
studded at intervals along the whole length of the straps indicated that
similar iron bands existed on the other side of the door, and that the
straps, inside and outside--of which there were no less than seven
pairs--were connected together, thus clearly indicating the immense
strength of the door. It was thus hopeless to think of cutting a way
out through it; the only manner in which it could be passed was by
opening it in the usual manner.
Frobisher therefore set to work to examine the lock, to discover whether
there existed any possibility of picking it. It was an old-fashioned
piece of mechanism, and, luckily, the iron case was on the inside of the
door, the great keyhole being placed near the centre. Now for a piece
of stout wire, the stouter the better! The young Englishman proceeded
at once to hunt about among the various machines and instruments in the
dim corners of the chamber in search of what he required. For some time
he was unsuccessful, and he had reluctantly arrived at the conclusion
that the search must end in failure, when his eyes happened to fall upon
the very thing he needed.
Standing at the far end of the apartment, in that part of it enclosed by
the circular portion of wall, was a sinister-looking machine, and to the
gearing of one of its handles was attached a short piece of iron rod
which he thought he might disengage without much difficulty. Forthwith
he applied himself to the task, with such success that, half an hour
later, he found himself in possession of what he required. True, it was
somewhat stouter than it should have been for his purpose, but this was
one of those occasions upon which he found his exceptional strength very
useful, and after a few experiments he succeeded in bending it to the
shape he wanted.
He was experimenting with the bent rod in the lock when, fortunately,
his quick ear caught the sound of footsteps hurrying down the
stone-flagged corridor toward his cell.
Snatching the wire out of the lock, he hastily dropped it into the
nearest available place of concealment, and sauntered toward the
opposite side of the chamber. There would be no time, he knew, to take
down and redistribute the pile of articles he had used to enable him to
look out of the window, so he was compelled to leave them as they were,
trusting that, in the dim light, the visitor, whoever he might be, would
not particularly notice the arrangement. A moment later there was a
sound of keys rattling outside, the lock clicked loudly, and the door
opened and closed behind a man carrying a lamp, which he set down on the
floor just inside the room, after carefully locking the door again.
The thought instantly flashed through Frobisher's mind that perhaps
after all there would be no need for him to go on with the manufacture
of his skeleton key; for was not the actual key of the door in the room
at that very moment? True, it was in the possession of another man; but
unless he happened to possess fire-arms, it would be queer indeed if a
desperate prisoner could not overpower him, tie him up somehow, and
secure the key to obtain his liberty. Frobisher's eyes glistened at the
thought, and his muscles braced themselves for a spring. But at the
critical moment the idea occurred to him that the other was in his power
anyhow, and that he could secure the key later on, just as well as now;
and that, meanwhile, before he acted hastily, it might be well to hear
whether the fellow had anything to say. Perhaps this was an official
come to set him at liberty, or perhaps--Well, he would wait a little, at
all events, and see what developments ensued.
Having locked the door and pocketed the key, the visitor picked up the
lantern and advanced into the room, holding the light high and glancing
keenly round until his eyes fell upon Frobisher, whereupon he gave a
short grunt of satisfaction and hung the lantern on a convenient peg.
By the additional light thus afforded, the Englishman was able to
examine his visitor more closely, and to estimate his chances of success
if things came to a rough-and-tumble fight for possession of the key.
The stranger was tall, almost as tall as Frobisher himself, but not
nearly so heavily built, and appeared to be about fifty-five to sixty
years of age, so that the young Englishman did not anticipate any
serious difficulty in mastering him. He was very richly dressed in
garments of fine silk, elaborately decorated with embroidery, and wore
round his neck a heavy gold chain, the centre of which was studded with
a single enormous ruby. As a head-covering he wore a round Chinese cap,
which was ornamented by a single magnificent peacock's feather, fastened
to the cap by a brooch of solid gold set with another huge ruby.
The man's whole appearance was indeed imposing and magnificent in the
extreme, and Frobisher instantly guessed that he was in the presence of
a very important official indeed. This man, he told himself, could
surely not be a Korean. No Korean ever attained to such a commanding
stature, no Korean had ever been known to display so haughty a bearing,
so dominant a personality; and as his eyes slowly travelled from the
details of the man's costume to his face, the prisoner recognised that
his visitor was indeed not a Korean, but a Chinaman, and a Chinaman of
the highest grade, too--without doubt, a mandarin. There was no
mistaking the thin, ascetic, high-bred face, the prominent cheek-bones,
the almond-shaped eyes; and the long but scanty moustache scarcely
concealed a strong, resolute-looking mouth, the lips of which were,
however, rather too thin, lending an expression of cruelty and
relentlessness of purpose which was anything but reassuring to the
prisoner.
For a few moments the two men stood gazing at one another, each taking
the other's measure. Then the Chinaman spoke, using excellent English.
"I am the Governor of this fortress of Asan," he began coldly, "and have
just been informed of your presence here. You would have been brought
before me on your arrival, but it chanced to be the hour of my afternoon
rest. Who and what are you?"
"My name is Murray Frobisher," answered the Englishman, "and I was
formerly a lieutenant in the British Navy."
"Ha!" exclaimed the Governor. "You say `formerly'. I take it, then,
that you are no longer in your country's service, and that it is not
known to your Government that you have turned gun-runner in order to
supply arms to rebels against their lawful sovereign?"
"You are correct in both suppositions," answered Frobisher. "You tax me
with gun-running; and I plead guilty to the charge. I certainly was
bringing arms to the rebels, as you term them; but my conscience is
quite clear upon that point. It is well known that the Korean
Government has been treating its subjects in a most outrageous manner;
and if some of them with more pluck than the rest have made up their
minds to put an end to such tyranny, more power to them, say I, and may
somebody else be more fortunate than myself in providing them with
weapons wherewith to uphold their liberties and rid themselves of the
rulers who are oppressing them."
The Chinaman looked at Frobisher for a moment, and then gave vent to a
harsh, sneering laugh.
"Well spoken, my young friend!" he mocked. "You have told me something
that I wanted to know; and now perhaps you will answer a few more
questions. I would very strongly advise you to do so, since it may save
you a good deal of--inconvenience, shall I say?"
"You may ask what you please," retorted Frobisher, "but I do not promise
to answer."
"I shall ask the questions, nevertheless," said the Governor; "and if
you will not speak now, other means of obtaining replies can doubtless
be found. First of all, what ship brought those arms; who was her
captain; what quantity of arms and ammunition did the consignment
consist of--some have been lost in transit, I understand--and, finally,
how many more shiploads are being sent out here from your country?"
Frobisher laughed, but made no reply.
"Did you hear me?" demanded the Governor, and there was deadly menace in
his voice.
"Quite distinctly," answered Frobisher coolly. "But surely you cannot
have already forgotten that I gave you to understand clearly, scarcely a
minute ago, that I will tell you nothing whatever. And when I say a
thing, I mean it."
"Soh!" remarked the Chinaman. "Well, you shall have to-night to think
matters over; but if you have not altered that stubborn mind of yours by
morning, you shall make the acquaintance of some of these little
playthings"--indicating the various machines and instruments with a
delicate, long-taloned finger. "There are some here which are probably
new to you, but we, in this place, understand their use well. I will
leave you this lantern, so that you may study them carefully during the
night, and decide what you prefer to do."
With an ironical bow, the Governor then turned toward the door, his
fingers seeking the pocket where he had placed the key.
This was the moment for which Frobisher had been waiting; and with a
spring he hurled himself at the retreating figure of the Governor. But
that individual was not to be caught so easily. He must have glimpsed
the prisoner's face out of the corner of his eye as he turned, for he
was round again in a moment, and, dodging the Englishman's furious leap,
thrust a hand inside his jacket, and before Frobisher could get to grips
with him, he found himself confronted with the muzzle of a heavy
revolver, pointing straight at him, the Governor's forefinger already
crooked round and pressing the trigger.
"Not this time, my friend," smiled the Governor sardonically. "One step
farther, and I shoot to wound--painfully. Do you want an immediate
taste of what is in store for you to-morrow, or--" And, leaving the
sentence unfinished, the Chinaman slowly backed to the door, leaving
Frobisher glowering helplessly in the middle of the room.
With his back against the door and the pistol still levelled, the
Governor felt behind him, inserted the key, and turned the lock. Then,
with one swift movement he was outside; the door slammed, the key
grated, and the prisoner was alone once more.
"Well," he murmured, half-amused, despite his anger and disappointment,
"the rascal was too smart for me that time. But,"--here he lifted the
executioner's sword from its place in the corner--"things will be a
little different to-morrow, if that man is foolish enough to trust
himself here again alone."
Frobisher waited until the sound of his visitor's footsteps had died
away along the corridor, and then, congratulating himself upon the fact
that that worthy had left the light behind him, re-possessed himself of
his piece of iron rod, and with the assistance of the lantern set to
work upon the lock again, in the hope that he might be able to complete
his skeleton key and let himself out before the Governor returned to
carry out his threat. But this was a more difficult matter than he had
anticipated; and after about two hours of ineffective tinkering he was
compelled to acknowledge himself defeated.
With a bitter objurgation he flung the useless and twisted rod into a
corner, and, not being able to find anything else that would serve his
purpose, made up his mind that he would have to await developments, and
rely upon his own strength of arm to get himself out whenever the
Governor or somebody else should visit the cell. Meanwhile, if he were
to be in good form for a possibly strenuous morrow, it was necessary
that he should sleep, seeing that nobody had thought it worth while to
provide him with any food; so, unsheathing the sword, with the help of
which he proposed to effect his deliverance, he flung himself down at
the far end of the chamber, laying the weapon beside him, and had
scarcely touched the floor before he was fast asleep. He had been more
worn out and weary than he had at all suspected.
It seemed as though he had just closed his eyes, when he was awakened by
a thundering crash of sound, apparently close at hand. The chamber in
which he was confined quivered perceptibly with the shock; while, right
upon the heels of the concussion, came the noise of a distant explosion.
"A heavy gun, by Jingo!" ejaculated Frobisher, springing to his feet;
"and whoever fired it is using this place as a target! That shot must
have struck close outside here. What is in the wind now, I wonder?
Anyway, if they are attacking this fort, they must, in a certain way, be
friends of mine, for they are certainly the enemies of my enemies within
the walls. Pound away, boys!" he exclaimed cheerfully, apostrophising
the unseen gunners; "pound away! If you don't kill me first, you may
perhaps make an exit for me through that wall."
At that moment he heard the sound of voices raised in alarm, the
shouting of orders, and all the indications of a suddenly-awakened and
thoroughly-alarmed garrison. Men were rushing about here and there, the
rattle of arms sounded distantly through the iron-bound door; and
presently, from the battlements, apparently directly over his head,
there boomed forth the crash of the Korean garrison's answering gun,
followed almost immediately afterwards by still another tremendous
shock, accompanied by the rumble and rattle of falling masonry as
another shot from the attacking force struck full upon the fortress
wall, this time seemingly just above him. The foemen gunners seemed to
have waited for the flash of the gun on the battlements, and aimed for
that, and they appeared to be making pretty good practice.
The young Englishman looked at his watch--which had somehow escaped the
fingers of his captors, and which he had kept wound regularly--and found
to his astonishment that it was close on half-past four o'clock in the
morning, and that therefore daylight could not be very far distant. It
would not be long before he could climb up to his perch at the window,
and see who the attackers were. Meanwhile the explosions had increased
from the exchange of single shots to a general cannonade on both sides;
and now the very atmosphere was vibrating with the deafening
concussions, as the guns on the battlements roared and the heavy conical
shot from the attacking party plunged against the thick masonry of the
walls, toppling down great masses of stone, mortar, and debris at every
hit.
The gunners were evidently directing their fire mostly on that portion
of the building wherein Frobisher was confined, and he told himself that
it would require but little more of their attention before the walls
became so shattered that the shot would come plunging right into the
cell. He began to speculate on what would then happen first--whether he
would be blown to pieces or smashed into shapelessness, or whether an
opening would be made by which he might be enabled to escape. If only a
shot would strike directly upon the iron bars of the window, perhaps it
would enlarge the aperture sufficiently to allow him to crawl through.
Looking up at the window, as the idea entered his mind, he saw that the
sky was already flushed pink, and knew that there would therefore be
light enough outside to enable him to see what was going on; and he at
once climbed up on the pile which he had collected, and, hauling himself
up to the opening, looked out.
At the edge of the jungle he observed half a dozen big field-pieces
drawn up in line, and he could see the gunners busily loading and
reloading from the piles of ammunition placed beside each gun; while
behind, on the slightly-rising ground, and partly concealed by the
jungle, it was possible to make out a large body of riflemen who, now
that the light was increasing, were preparing to take their part in the
attack. There was no doubt as to the identity of the attackers, for
Frobisher could now distinguish several flags similar to those flown on
the boats of the rebel squadron a few days previously, during the fight
on the river. That particular force had evidently been joined by
another contingent, and the two combined had decided to make another
attempt to recapture the all-important cargo which now reposed within
the walls of the fortress of Asan.
But suddenly, as the interested Englishman watched, he heard a loud,
shrieking, whirring sound, somewhat resembling the very rapid exhaust
from a locomotive, and a flash of flame leaped out close alongside one
of the guns, followed by a loud explosion and a great cloud of smoke and
dust. And when this cloud had cleared away, he saw that one of the
besiegers' guns had been temporarily put clean out of action, for the
right wheel was blown completely away, and the gun itself was lying on
its side, half-buried in the sand; while, as for the crew who had been
working it, so far as he could ascertain they had been blown completely
out of existence, for there was no visible sign of them.
That high explosive shell had obviously not come from the fort; where,
then, had it come from? And what new surprise had fate in store?
CHAPTER SEVEN.
SAVED BY A HAIRBREADTH.
The furious fusillade directed against the fort at once slackened, after
the explosion of that shell amongst the guns; while the fire from the
fort redoubled, the rounds of solid shot, grape, chain, and shrapnel,
with withering volleys of small-arm fire, sweeping through the rebel
ranks like hail, and playing awful havoc among the closely-packed masses
of men only partially concealed by the jungle. But the besiegers, as
Frobisher had already had an opportunity of observing, were not easily
to be discouraged, and after the first shock of surprise had subsided
they quickly pulled themselves together again.