PHIL EXPLAINS
O’Neil, with his characteristic energy, wasted no time upon the cell,
which he had made up his mind long since would be found empty, but with
three or four sailors at his back had pressed forward to the end of the
narrow corridor.
He heard Phil’s cry of disappointment as he found himself on the edge
of a smaller courtyard, and was just in time to discover a fleeing band
of Chinamen disappearing through a narrow alley at the far end.
Calling loudly for the others to follow, the boatswain’s mate ran
hurriedly forward across the stone-paved court.
Reaching the entrance to the alley, the sharp discharges of rifles from
the other end caused him to stop abruptly, but before he could gain
a place of safety, a stinging pain in his shoulder made him cry out
sharply.
Then his anger overcame his training in discretion and with his men
beside him, while the heavy footfalls of the midshipmen advancing on a
run across the courtyard told him of the approach of reënforcements, he
boldly raced between the bordering walls of brick and mortar now swept
by the enemy’s bullets.
As he again emerged into the sunlight, he was barely in time to see the
persistent enemy scattering like a covey of partridges through numerous
passages at the far end of a third courtyard, while from that direction
a hot fire was directed upon him and his handful of men.
What should he do? He could advance no further in the face of that
rifle fire. Glancing anxiously behind him, he saw the midshipmen and
their men were nowhere in view, and yet they had been only a half
hundred paces behind when he had charged down the alley. The sailors
were returning the furious fire of the Chinese, but O’Neil saw that
the enemy was hidden and the spatter of their bullets against the wall
behind the Americans showed him only too plainly that even the poor
shots of the Chinese might accidentally make a hit. Reluctantly he
ordered a retreat back through the arched passageway.
As O’Neil and his men again reached the second courtyard, across which
he had chased the fleeing Chinamen, he saw the midshipmen and their
party surrounding several objects upon the ground, which had been
covered over with a large piece of canvas.
“They are safe,” Sydney’s voice hailed as he caught sight of the
returning sailors. “You ran right over them.”
The prisoners were quickly freed from their manacles, and, supported by
their comrades, the party hastened to rejoin Lieutenant Wilson.
The four sailors had had a narrow escape. Ta-Ling, determined upon
revenge, had been upon the point of beheading them when O’Neil and
his men had caused him to desist. Then covering them hurriedly with a
large piece of canvas, he hoped to conceal their presence until the
Americans had given up their search, when he would return and finish
his diabolical work. But the curiosity of an American had defeated his
plan; for raising the corner of the canvas the sailor had seen the
blue-clad legs of a bound and gagged shipmate.
Arriving in the main courtyard, Phil’s eye caught the bright color
of a Chinese mandarin’s clothes, their wearer standing at Lieutenant
Wilson’s side.
“Hang-Ki!” he exclaimed joyfully as he recognized the Tartar general’s
erect form.
The two midshipmen hastened to the Manchu’s side and shook hands with
him warmly.
Hang-Ki had been patiently waiting for Langdon’s return to interpret
his words to the American lieutenant. Another mandarin stood by
Hang-Ki’s side, his rugged frame indicating clearly that he also was of
Tartar blood, from which race the military leaders of China are taken.
The midshipmen waited impatiently to hear what Hang-Ki had to tell,
while Lieutenant Wilson congratulated all hands upon the success of the
rescue, and shook hands as all had done with the rescued men.
“His Excellency says the viceroy killed himself early this morning;
the captain of the yamen guards brought him the news, but it did not
arrive in time to hoist the white flag before the monitor had fired her
shell. He says many men were hurt during the night engagement and asks
how many Americans were killed.”
“Tell him we’ve lost only one man in all the fighting,” Lieutenant
Wilson replied.
Hang-Ki, after Langdon had given him Lieutenant Wilson’s words, shook
his head as though mystified.
The two generals expressed a wish to visit the American commander, and
make China’s peace for the hostile acts of the dead viceroy.
The sailors were assembled and marched directly to the landing.
As the river and the anchored ships came into view, Phil grasped
Sydney’s arm excitedly, pointing to a white yacht lying gracefully at
anchor between the monitors and the “Phœnix”; the latter having left
the allies at the upper anchorage and steamed down the river while they
were inside the Chinese city.
“The ‘Alacrity’!” he exclaimed, “and the admiral’s on board; there’s
his flag at the main,” pointing to a large blue flag, with two white
stars in the field. Then the joy died in his face. The letter of the
viceroy and the telegram, as yet undelivered, came to his mind.
“Where’s the ‘Albaque’?” Sydney asked suddenly, searching the river for
Ignacio’s ship.
“There she goes,” Langdon cried, pointing down stream, where a trail of
smoke from a fast disappearing steamer hung low over the muddy water of
the river.
Upon reaching the “Phœnix,” there was Commander Hughes on deck,
anxiously waiting to hear the results of the expedition. His face was
wreathed in smiles as he heard of their unlooked-for success. Then,
motioning Langdon to follow, he led the two Chinese officers to his
cabin.
Phil had not dared, with his guilt written plainly on his face, to look
his captain in the eye while that officer showered praises upon the two
midshipmen, and he was much relieved to be able to escape to his own
room, there to map out a course of action.
“Our best plan, Syd,” Phil declared, “is to take all these papers to
the captain and make a clean breast of it.”
Sydney agreed wholly with his friend’s plan and all that remained
was to muster up courage to go to the captain. Both midshipmen would
much rather have faced a hundred Chinese rifles than confess to their
captain that a telegram and directed to him from the navy department
had been purposely hidden.
A rap on the door caused Phil’s pulses to beat quicker and his heart
rise to his mouth.
“The captain would like to see Mr. Perry and Mr. Monroe,” the orderly
announced, peering in through the curtain at the startled lads.
“Come on, Phil,” Sydney urged; “we’d better get it over with.”
In silence they walked into the cabin. Phil’s head swam as his old
friend Admiral Taylor shook his hand and spoke solid words of praise
for his valuable services.
Hang-Ki had risen to go upon the entrance of the midshipmen, and after
bowing to the admiral and captain he stepped quickly to Phil’s side,
pressing into his hand the jade ring.
“He says,” Langdon interpreted, “that he has evidence enough without it
if he is lucky enough to capture Ta-Ling.”
“I am delighted, Hughes,” the admiral said as Commander Hughes returned
with the midshipmen, after having escorted the Chinese soldiers to the
gangway, “at the successful end gained by your clear-headed policy.
Washington, hearing nothing from you and at the same time receiving
news of your doings from a foreign government, was quite justified, in
view of your known impetuosity, in being anxious. It was current in
Shanghai that you had been relieved of your command, yet I received no
word up to the time of sailing, two days ago.”
Phil saw his opportunity had come to bare his secret, and drawing the
viceroy’s letter, the telegram and the correspondence of Ignacio all
from his pocket, he laid them in silence on the table between the two
officers.
The lads waited in a fever of dread while the officers glanced in
surprise at the papers before them. Phil saw that the admiral held the
cipher telegram, with the translation underneath the cipher words.
“What does this mean?” the admiral cried sternly, reading aloud the
translation of the cablegram.
Phil boldly told where and when he had found the telegram, and his
reasons for not delivering it until now.
The admiral regarded the lad severely.
“Knowing this was from the department in Washington, you concealed it,”
he exclaimed. “Explain yourself, sir.”
Phil swallowed hard and then pointed a trembling finger to the other
papers.
“After you have read those, sir,” he said huskily, “I shall be ready to
stand guilty or not guilty in your eyes.”
Both officers eagerly read the letters from Ignacio to the viceroy’s
secretary.
After the admiral had finished reading, he regarded Phil in silence,
his expression fathomless to the anxious midshipman. Commander Hughes’
eyes gave him no encouragement; they were directed to his brightly
polished shoes. It was a question between the senior midshipman and his
commander-in-chief. Technically a great breach of naval discipline had
been committed.
The minutes ticked away slowly by the cabin clock while the lad waited
for the wording of his doom.
“Mr. Perry,” the admiral at length began in his usual calm voice, “this
is the second time that you have placed me in a most embarrassing
position, but I want to say right here,” and his eyes snapped, “if I
had a son, and he had committed this breach of naval discipline in
order to save the situation, I would be mighty proud of him.” As he
finished he put out his hand to the surprised but happy midshipman, who
grasped it joyfully.
Phil was so surprised that he could not find voice to utter a single
word. He stared dumbly at the admiral, his tear-dimmed eyes eloquently
speaking the words he could not utter.
Commander Hughes jumped up and grasped the midshipman by the hand,
showing in his face the keen pleasure the admiral’s decision had given
him.
“This correspondence I shall keep in my safe,” the admiral said, a
twinkle in his eyes, “in case I have trouble in explaining our young
friend’s crime. It may also serve us in the future with this foreign
Judas Iscariot.
“And now, young man,” he added, his kind face beaming with good
nature, “I think after a few months I shall have to deprive your
captain of your services. I am going to put in commission a number of
small gunboats for duty against the Philippine insurgents, and I have
decided to give Mr. Perry command of one of them with Mr. Monroe as his
executive officer, and I suppose,” he suggested with a smile, “that you
will want O’Neil as the chief boatswain’s mate.”
Phil could hardly believe his ears. Instead of censure, here was the
admiral offering him a ship of his own.
As one in a dream he thanked the admiral and accompanied by Sydney,
withdrew from the cabin.
By order of Peking Hang-Ki was made viceroy and he at once took steps
to safeguard all foreigners throughout the provinces.
The allied gunboats within the hour anchored off Ku-Ling, and before
the day was over the foreign concession had taken up the thread of
business where it had been so rudely interrupted. Commander Hughes
detailed a force of mechanics from the American war-ships to repair
the damaged launches of the faithful Emmons, and before a week had
passed the launch trade was flourishing as of old.
The concession to build the railroad to Peking was made more secure
to the American company, and before the “Phœnix” sailed for Shanghai
the lads saw the material, which had long waited for permission to be
landed, safely stored in go-downs and the work on the road started.
Ta-Ling made good his escape, and it was believed that he had gone to
the mountains, there to remain in hiding until another opportunity
might present itself to avenge himself on the despised foreigner.
O’Neil’s wound was found by the doctors to be not dangerous and, with
his arm in a sling for several days, he was gazed at admiringly by his
less fortunate shipmates.
Langdon received the personal thanks of the admiral, and Commander
Hughes stoutly declares that he is as good a pilot ashore as he is on
the river.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Mexican dollars.
[2] There is a prescribed rule for hailing a boat at night. A ship,
seeing a boat approaching, hails, “Boat ahoy!” If enlisted men are
in the boat the proper answer is “Hello!” If midshipmen are in the
boat the answer is “No! No!” if commissioned officers, “Aye! Aye!” If
a captain is in the boat the answer is the name of his ship, and an
admiral’s proper answer is “Flag”--meaning that the boat carries an
admiral’s flag.
[3] Twelve rifles.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.
Archaic or alternate spelling has been retained from the original.