Next day was the most eventful I had spent on the yacht in spite of all
that had gone before, for a few moments were filled with a peril which
we escaped, as one might say, by a miracle, or more accurately by the
prompt and energetic action of a capable man whom I shall always regard
with deep affection. If Cape Cod has turned out many like him, it is a
notable section of a great country.
Somewhat early in the morning I paid my third visit to the Nagasaki
Hotel and brought John C. Cammerford with me to the yacht. He told
me he had placed the full amount to my credit in the Bank of Japan,
and said he did not need to do any cabling to America. Mr. Hemster
was closeted with him in his office until the luncheon gong rang,
and the amiable Cammerford was a guest at our table, referring to me
several times as his old friend, and recounting stories that were more
humourous than accurate about my adventures with him in the Adirondack
Mountains and the fishing districts of Canada. I gathered that all the
stories he had ever heard of Englishmen he now fastened on me, relating
them with great gusto as having come within his own cognizance.
Therefore I was delighted to be able to inform him that one of his
anecdotes had appeared in _Punch_ in the year 1854, which he promptly
denied, whereupon I proposed a modest little wager that was accepted by
him under the supposition that I could not prove my assertion. But we
happened to have in the library two volumes of _Punch_ for that year,
which I had frequently thumbed over, and I now confounded him by their
production. I don’t think he minded the money so much as the slight
cast on what he supposed to be a genuine American joke. About three
o’clock the good man left us in a high state of exultation, carried
away by the useful naphtha launch.
We were all on deck about four o’clock in the afternoon when the event
happened to which I have referred. Hilda and I were sitting in our
chairs by the wicker table, quite boldly in the face of all, for our
engagement was now public property. Gertrude Hemster and the little
Japanese noblewoman were walking up and down the other side of the
deck, and from the snatches of conversation wafted to us it really
seemed as if Miss Hemster were learning Japanese. She had passed the
ignoring phase so far as I was concerned, and had reached the stage
of the icily polite and scrupulously courteous high dame, so that I
quite looked forward to an intimate interview with her later on if this
change continued. The old gentleman occupied his customary armchair
with his feet on the rail, and it is a marvellous thing to record
that during all the excitement he never shifted his position. He said
afterward that it was the captain’s duty to deal with the crisis, and
he had absolute confidence in the captain. This confidence was not
misplaced.
The harbor of Nagasaki is usually crowded with shipping, and steamers
are continually arriving or departing, consequently they attract but
little attention, for they are generally capably managed. Of course a
yacht swinging at anchor with no steam up is absolutely helpless if
some vessel under way bears down upon her. We were lying broadside on
to Nagasaki. I was so absorbed in my conversation with Hilda that I did
not notice our danger until the captain put a megaphone to his lips and
vehemently hailed an oncoming steamer. Looking up, I saw a huge, black,
clumsy craft steaming right down upon us, and knew in a moment that if
she did not deflect her course she would cut us in two amidships. The
captain, who recognized the nationality of the vessel, although I did
not, roared down to me:
“What is the Chinese for ‘Sheer off?’”
I sprang to my feet. “Fling me the megaphone,” I cried. He instantly
heaved it down to me, and a moment later I was roaring through it a
warning to the approaching steamer. But to this not the slightest
attention was paid, nor indeed could I see anyone aboard. The black
brute came on as if she were an abandoned ship without captain or
crew. She appeared to grow up out of the waters; looming tremendous in
size above us, and it did seem as if nothing under Heaven could save
us. However, good luck and the resources of our captain did that very
thing. The good luck assumed the shape of a tug which came tearing
past our stern. The captain by this time was on deck with a coil of
rope with a bowline on its end. Not a word did he say to the flying
tug, but he swung the rope so unerringly that the loop came down like
a flying quoit right on the sternpost of the little vessel. In a flash
the captain had the end he held twisted twice around a huge iron cleat
at our side.
[Illustration: “I sprang forward and caught her.”
_Page 251_
]
“Lie down, you women, at once,” he roared, bracing his feet against the
cleat and hanging back upon the end of the rope.
Hilda obeyed instantly, but Miss Hemster, with the Countess clinging
to her, stood dazed, while I sprang forward and caught her, breaking
the fall as much as was possible, all three of us coming down in a
heap with myself underneath. The rope had tightened like a rod, and
had either to break, jerk the tug backward out of the water, or swing
us around, which latter it did, taking the yacht from under us with
a suddenness that instantly overcame all equilibrium, and in a jiffy
we were at right angles to our former position, while the black hulk
scraped harmlessly along our side. Even now no one appeared on the deck
of the Chinese steamer, but after running a hundred yards nearer the
city she slowly swerved around, heading outward again, and I thought
she was about to escape; but instead of that she came to a standstill
a quarter of a mile or so from our position and there coolly dropped
anchor.
I helped the ladies to their feet again, inquiring if they were hurt,
and Miss Hemster replied with a sweet smile that, thanks to me, she
was not. The Countess showed signs of hysterics with which I could not
deal, therefore I turned my attention to Hilda, who by this time had
scrambled up, looking rather pale and frightened. Mr. Hemster’s chair
had been swung with a crash against the bulwarks, and he had been
compelled to take his feet down from the rail, but beyond that he kept
his old position, chewing industriously at his unlit cigar. The captain
was in a ludicrously pitiable position because of a red-hot Cape Cod
rage and his inability to relieve his feelings by swearing on account
of the ladies being present. Hilda noticed this and cried with a little
quivering laugh:
“Don’t mind us, captain; say what you want to, and it is quite likely
we will agree with you.”
The captain shook his huge fist at the big steamer now rounding to her
anchorage.
“You can say what you please,” he shouted; “that was no accident; it
was intended. That damned,--I beg your pardon, ladies,--that chap tried
to run us down, and I’ll have the law of him, dod-blast-him,--excuse
me, ladies,--if there’s any law in this God-forsaken hole!”
Mr. Hemster very calmly shoved his chair back to its former
position, and put his feet once more on the rail, then he beckoned
to the captain, and when that angry hero reached his side he said
imperturbably, as if nothing had happened:
“Captain, there’s no use swearing. Besides, so capable a man as you
never needs to swear. In that half minute you earned ten thousand
dollars, and I’ll make it more if you don’t think it enough.”
“Nonsense,” protested the captain, “it’s all in the day’s work: a lucky
throw of the rope, that’s all.”
“Now I see that you want to swear at somebody,” Mr. Hemster went on,
“and suppressed profanity is bad for the system; so I suppose you’ll
prefer to swear at the person mostly to blame. Get into the launch
with Mr. Tremorne here, who will translate for you, because our oaths,
unlike our gold, are not current in every country. Go over to that
black monstrosity; get aboard of her; find out what their game is, and
swear at whoever is responsible. When we know their object we can take
action, either by law, or by hiring some pirate to run her down and see
how she likes it herself. I want to get at the bottom of this business.”
The upshot was that the captain and I got into the naphtha launch and
made directly for the Chinese steamer. We went around her twice, but
saw not a soul on board, neither was there any ladder alongside by
which we could ascend, or even a rope; so, after calling in vain for
them to throw us a line, the captain, with an agility I should not
have expected of his years and bulk, caught hold of the anchor-chain
and worked himself up over the bow. His head appearing over the rail
must have been a stupefying surprise to the crew, whom he found lying
flat on their faces on deck. I followed the captain up the anchor-chain
route, though in somewhat less effective fashion, until I was at the
captain’s heels. He had thrown one leg across the rail, when he whipped
out a revolver and fired two rapid shots, which were followed by howls
of terror. The crew had sprung to their feet and flashed out knives,
but his quick revolver-shots stopped the attack even before it was
rightly begun. We both leaped over the rail to the deck. The cowardly
crew were huddled in a heap; no one had been killed, but two were
crippled and crawled moaning on the deck; the rest had ceased their
outcry and crouched together with that hopeless air of resignation
to take stolidly whatever fate had in store for them, which is
characteristic of the lower-class Chinese. They expected instant death
and were prepared to meet it with nonchalance.
“Where is your captain?” I asked them in their own tongue.
Several of them made a motion of their head toward a low deck-house aft.
“Go and bring him,” I said to one who seemed rather more intelligent
than the rest. He got on his feet and went into the deck-house,
presently emerging with a trembling man who admitted he was the captain.
“What did you mean,” I asked him, “by trying to run us down?”
He spread out his hands with a gesture that seemed to indicate his
helplessness, and maintained that it was all an accident.
“That is not true,” I insisted, but nothing could budge him from his
statement that the steering-gear had gone wrong and he had lost control
of the ship.
“Why didn’t you stop the engines when you saw where you were going?” I
asked.
He had become panic-stricken, he said, and so had the crew. The
engineer had run up on deck, and there was no one to shut off steam. I
knew the man was lying, and told our captain so, whereupon he pressed
the muzzle of his revolver against the other’s forehead.
“Now question him,” he said.
I did so, but the captain simply relapsed into the condition of his
crew, and not another word could I get out of him.
“It’s no use,” I said to our captain, “these people don’t mind being
shot in the least. You might massacre the whole lot, and yet not get
a word of truth out of any one of them previous to their extinction.
Nevertheless, until you kill them they are in some wholesome fear of
firearms, so if you keep the drop on the captain and his men I’ll
penetrate this deck-house and see what it contains.”
“I wouldn’t do that,” said our captain, “they’re treacherous dogs, I
imagine, and, while afraid to meet us in broad daylight on deck here,
they might prove mighty handy with the knife in the darkness of that
shanty. No, send the captain in and order him to bring out all his
officers, if he’s got any.”
This seemed practical advice, so, asking our captain to remove his
revolver from the other’s forehead, I said to the latter:
“How many officers have you?”
He answered that there were five.
“Very well, go and bring them all out on deck here.”
He gave the order to one of the crew, who went into the deck-house
and presently came out with five discouraged-looking Chinese ship’s
officers. There was nothing to be made out of this lot; they simply
stood in a row and glowered at us without answering. Whenever I put a
question to them they glanced at the captain, then turned their bovine
gaze upon me, but never once did one of them open his mouth.
“Now, captain,” said I, “I propose that we herd this whole mob,
officers and men, into the forecastle. The windlass, anchor-tackle,
and all that will impede them, if they endeavour to take concerted
action. You stand here on the clear deck with your two revolvers and
keep an eye on them. The captain and officers will probably imagine
you understand Chinese, too, so they will give no orders. Then I shall
penetrate into the deck-house, for I am convinced that we have not
yet come upon the responsible man. I don’t believe this fellow is the
captain at all.”
To all this my comrade agreed, although he still demurred at my
entering the deck-house. I ordered the men forward and then lined
the alleged captain and his officers along the rail near them, and,
while my captain stood by with a revolver in each hand, I, similarly
equipped, went down three steps into the low cabin. It was a dangerous
move if there had been anyone of courage within, for there were no
windows, and what little light penetrated the place came in through the
open door, and that was now largely shut out by the bulk of my body.
Knowing that I was rather conspicuously silhouetted against the outside
glare and formed an easy mark for either pistol or knife, I stepped
down as quickly as possible and then stood aside. I thought at first
the place was empty, but as my eyes became accustomed to the gloom I
saw that a bench ran around three walls and in the further corner was
a huddled figure which I knew.
“Ah, Excellency Hun Woe!” I cried, covering him with the revolver, “it
is to you then we were to have been indebted for our death.”
The wretch flung himself on his face at my feet, moaning for mercy. A
Corean never has the nonchalance of a Chinaman when danger confronts
him.
“Get up from the floor and sit down where you were,” I said; “I want
to have some conversation with you.” Then I went to the door again and
cried to the captain:
“It’s all right. There is no one here but the Prime Minister of Corea,
and I think I begin to see daylight so far as this so-called accident
is concerned. I want to have a few minutes’ talk with him, so, unless
you hear a pistol-shot, everything is going well.”
“Good enough,” cried the genial captain, “you play a lone hand for all
it’s worth, and I’ll hold up these hoodlums while you pow-wow.”
“Now, Hun Woe,” I cried, turning to him, “what is the meaning of this
dastardly trick?”
“Oh, Excellency,” he moaned, “I am the most miserable of men.”
“Yes, you are. I admit that, and, furthermore, unless you tell the
truth you are in some danger of your life at this moment.”
“My life,” he went on,--and I knew he spoke truly enough,--“is already
forfeited. My family and my kinsmen are all in the hands of the
Emperor. Their heads will fall if I do not bring back the white woman
whom the Emperor has chosen for his mate.”
“But how in Heaven’s name would it have brought back the white woman
if you had run us down and drowned us all?”
“We have expert swimmers aboard,” he said, “divers brought for the
purpose, who would have saved the white woman, and indeed,” he added
hurriedly, “would have saved you all, but the white woman we would have
brought back with us.”
“What a hairbrained scheme!” I cried.
“Yes, Excellency, it is not mine. I but do what I am ordered to do. The
Emperor wished to sink the war-vessel of the American King so that he
might not invade our coasts.”
“Is it true that the Empress has been murdered?”
“Ah, not murdered, Excellency; she died of a fever.”
“She looked anything but feverish when I saw her the day before,” I
insisted.
“We are all in God’s hands,” said the Prime Minister with a shrug of
resignation, “and death sometimes comes suddenly.”
“It does indeed in Seoul,” I commented, whereupon the Prime Minister
groaned aloud, thinking probably of his own impending fate and that of
his wife, children, and kinsfolk.
“Excellency,” he went on with the courage of desperation, “it is all
your fault. If you had not brought that creature to Seoul, I would have
been a happy man to-day. I have always been your friend, and it is said
your country stands by its friends; but that, I fear, is not true. You
can help me now, but perhaps you will not do it.”
“I admit it is largely my fault, although, like yourself, I was merely
the Prime Minister on our side of the affair. Nevertheless, if there is
anything I can do to help you, Hun Woe, I shall be very glad to do it.”
He brightened up perceptibly at this, and said eagerly, as if to give
further spur to my inclination:
“If you do, I will make you a rich man, Excellency.”
Nothing showed the desperate nature of his case more conclusively than
this offer of money, which is always a Corean’s very last card.
“I do not want a single sek from you, Hun Woe; in fact I am willing to
give away many thousands of them if it will aid you. Tell me what I can
do for you. I will even go so far as to return with you to Seoul and
beg or bribe the Emperor’s clemency.”
“That would indeed be useless,” demurred the Prime Minister; “His
Majesty would promise you anything and take what money you liked to
give him; but my body would be dismembered as soon as you were gone,
and all my kinsfolk killed or sent to slavery.”
I knew this to be an accurate presentation of the case.
“What, then, can I do for you?” I asked.
He lowered his voice, his little eyes glittering.
“There is but one thing to do, and that is to get the white woman on
board this ship.”
“To kidnap her? That is impossible; you cannot do it here in Japan, and
you could not do it even if the ship were lying in Chemulpo roadstead.
It is a dream of foolishness, and if your Emperor had any sense he
would know it could not be done.”
“Then,” wailed Hun Woe, “my line is extinguished, and the deaths of
myself and of my relatives lie at your door, who brought the accursed
white woman to Seoul.”
His lamentations disturbed me deeply, because, for a wonder, he spoke
the truth.
“I’ll tell you what I will do, Hun Woe, which will be far more
effective than your ridiculous project of kidnapping the young lady.
Has not your Emperor the sense to see, or have you not the courage to
tell him, that if you succeeded in getting Miss Hemster to Seoul you
would bring down on yourselves the whole force of America, and probably
of England as well? Either country could blot Seoul, Palace and all,
off the face of the earth within half an hour of surrounding it, and
they would do it, too, if needs be. You know I speak the truth; why did
you not explain this to the Emperor?”
“His Majesty would not believe me; his Majesty cares for nothing but
the white woman; so any other plan but that of getting her is useless.”
“No, it isn’t. So far as you are concerned, Hun Woe, it would be
useless for me to appeal to either the English or the American
authorities. They will never interfere unless one of their own citizens
is in jeopardy, but I can trust the Japanese. I am sure Mr. Hemster
will lend me his yacht, and I will take a party of fearless Japanese
with me to the capital and to the Palace. There will be no trouble. I
shall return with your family and your kinsmen, escort them down to
Chemulpo, and I shall deliver them to you here in Nagasaki. So long as
you remain in Nagasaki you are safe.”
This brave offer brought no consolation to the Prime Minister of Corea:
he shook his head dolefully, and told me what I already knew, that
a man who fled from Corea to Nagasaki had been nearly murdered here
by Coreans, then, thinking himself more safe under the British flag,
he had escaped to Shanghai, where he was followed and killed in cold
blood, his mutilated remains being taken to Seoul, and there exhibited.
All his relatives and his family had already preceded him into the
unknown.
“Nothing will suffice,” groaned the Prime Minister, “but the white
woman,--may curses alight on her head!”
“Do not be so downhearted; my scheme is quite practicable, while yours
is not. Mr. Hemster is the most generous of men, and I am certain he
will see you and your family safe across the Pacific to the United
States, and there I will guarantee no Corean will ever follow you. You
have money enough if you can get your hands on it. Perhaps you have
some here with you now.”
“Yes,” he replied simply, “I have my whole fortune on board this ship.”
“There you are. I see you did not intend to return to Corea if you
could not get the white woman.”
“It was not that. I brought my fortune to give it away in bribes.”
“And that’s why you offered me a bribe?”
“Yes, Excellency,” he replied with childlike candour.
“Well, Hun Woe, take my advice. I think I shall be able to get you all
clear away. You are in command here, and these Chinese would rather
die than split on you, so perhaps, instead of taking Mr. Hemster’s
yacht, we had better stick to this vessel, and I will bring my band
of Japanese aboard. However, keep up your courage until I have seen
Mr. Hemster, and then I will let you know what I am prepared to do.
As this ship is now empty you had better spend your time and money in
Nagasaki filling her with coal. We will go to Corea, get your family
and relatives aboard, and then you can sail direct for San Francisco.
It is a wild project, but with a little courage I make no doubt it
can be carried out, and if you haven’t money enough I can help you.
Indeed, now that I have considered the matter, I shall not ask Mr.
Hemster for his yacht at all. This ship is the very thing. All you
need is plenty of coal and plenty of provisions, and these you can get
at Nagasaki without attracting the least attention. Mr. Hemster could
not accommodate you all on his yacht even if he consented to do so.
Yes, cheer up, my plan is quite feasible, while yours is impossible of
execution. You can no more get the girl than you can get the moon for
the Emperor of Corea.”
So, telling the Prime Minister that I would call upon him next day and
discuss particulars, I left him there, asked the captain to release the
patient crew and their officers, threw a rope ladder down the side,
and so descended to our waiting naphtha launch, the crew of which had
been rather anxious at the long silence following the two rapid shots;
but they had obeyed orders and stood by without attempting to board.