A disastrous journey on foot--Chased by Boxers--Hand-to-hand
fights--Dissension among the refugees--Separation--The last
night--Hiding in a marsh--The capture of a Chinese gun--Safe
at last--M. Ketels and his volunteers--Cossacks and their
pluck--Lieutenant Blonsky the most wounded officer of the Allies.
The next morning the small party of survivors tried to proceed on foot
to Tientsin. The boats, with provisions and clothes, had been abandoned
or sunk.
Marching incessantly day and night, followed by a swarm of Boxers, whom
they just managed to keep at bay, with no food except grass and the
water of marshes, they pushed on and on, exhausted, panting, footsore
and bleeding, chased by the angry mob of human vampires behind them.
When they became half dead with fatigue, or when they were waiting for
the women and children to rest awhile, the Boxers grew bold, and on six
occasions made fierce attacks on them. But these brave men were armed
with old Chinese Mauser rifles, and each attack was repulsed. Over
seventy Boxers were killed by them.
They found their way by following the line of telegraph poles. In some
instances the Boxers came to such close quarters that a hand-to-hand
fight arose, in which the women took part with the men.
Their sufferings were appalling, and their strength had almost
altogether vanished, yet, clinging to life to the last minute, they
dragged themselves nearer and nearer to the place where they would be
safe. Only two more days and nights of marching, and Tientsin would be
reached!
The party, already small and weak, broke up, for even in such straits,
when their one very faint chance seemed to lie in keeping together,
there were some who thought they might have a better opportunity of
safely escaping if alone.
Six left the rest to shift for themselves. Of these six, two, Baillau,
a Belgian, and Dillon, a Frenchman, were never heard of again. What
with the heat, fatigue, wounds and hunger, Dillon had completely gone
out of his mind. During the last few days he behaved like a madman, and
caused additional anxiety to the party.
The main body of the party, now thinned out, and at the stage when only
a few more hours’ journey divided them from the arms of their friends,
were slowly marching on, the last night before reaching Tientsin. The
Boxers, some 4000 in number, who, not unlike famished ravens waiting
for the last breath of their prey, had been hunting these poor wretches
all along, evidently made up their minds not to let them escape at the
last moment. In the middle of the night they surrounded the Europeans
on all sides and kept up a heavy fire on them. The poor wretches were
driven from the shelter they had found, and only escaped by plunging
into a marsh, where they spent the remainder of the night in muddy
water right up to their nostrils. They kept close together in a bunch
to keep warm. No pen is adequate to describe their sufferings. The
night never seemed to end.
In the morning they came out, and with the hot sun some of their
strength and a faint ray of hope came back to them. The Boxers, who had
withdrawn, returned to the attack, this time with two old-fashioned
cannon, which fired shot after shot, without, indeed, doing any
execution, but which barred the way and made it impossible for the
party to proceed.
[Sidenote: BRAVE MEN]
[Illustration: COSSACKS IN TIENTSIN]
Six men volunteered to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the
others. They rushed, rifles in hand, towards the Chinese gunners,
who, incredible as it may seem to people not acquainted with Chinese
cowardice, abandoned the guns and stampeded in every direction. This
victory gave the poor wretches renewed courage, and Tientsin city was
now in full sight.
They pushed on faster than they had previously done. The miles seemed
short as compared to those of preceding days. The wounded--and nearly
all were more or less seriously injured--supported one another as they
stumbled along. Nearly every man carried a rifle and a few rounds of
ammunition, probably an average of sixty or seventy cartridges each.
Everything else except these weapons of defence had been discarded. It
was only at very close quarters that they ever fired on the Boxers, and
these invariably showed contemptible cowardice. When a few of them fell
dead the others bolted away.
The journey from Pao-ting-fu occupied some six days of continuous
marching--slow, naturally, on account of the women, children, and
wounded. Half naked, these heroes were met, as we have seen, by the
relief party, who led them back into Tientsin.
M. Ketels, the Belgian Consul, showed much energy and consideration in
proceeding to their rescue the moment he heard of their predicament,
and it was by his doing that they received every necessary care and
medical treatment when in Tientsin.
He, on the other hand, who gave me these interesting details, expressed
his high admiration and gratitude to those British, French, German, and
all other volunteers, who, without a moment’s hesitation, accompanied
him on their charitable and plucky work of rescue.
When all the refugees arrived were mustered there were six still
missing, but no one could tell what had become of them, nor where they
had been lost.
There were at that moment, waiting in Tientsin for orders, twenty-five
Cossacks, who had been destined to make part of the Legation guard
in Pekin. M. Ketels obtained permission from the Russians, which was
readily and graciously granted, to send these mounted men in search
of the missing engineers. They were despatched at once, and were out
three whole days scouring the country all round. On the second day
they met with a large force of Boxers, and pluckily charged them; but,
unfortunately, in this encounter the Russian Lieutenant Blonsky, who
behaved with extraordinary bravery, received no less than fourteen
wounds from spears, swords, and bullets, his horse having died under
him. A Cossack had his nose cut clean off by a sword. The most
unfortunate part was that the doctor-surgeon of the expedition was
badly wounded in the arms, and was unable to render assistance to those
who needed it. Nearly all the Cossacks received some wound or other
in this engagement, and, fearing that a delay in attending to their
leader might cause his death, the expedition was compelled to return to
Tientsin.
[Sidenote: WITH TWENTY WOUNDS]
A strange coincidence: Lieutenant Blonsky, who was endowed with an
iron constitution, was cared for in the hospital, and gradually became
better. He was eventually allowed out, and when he had barely regained
sufficient strength was one day, during the siege of Tientsin, riding
a bicycle on the Victoria road, to convey an important message for his
superior officer. A shell burst above his head and inflicted on him six
more wounds. One piece of the shell tore off the greater part of his
left arm.
With twenty wounds, received within a space of a few weeks, Lieutenant
Blonsky was certainly entitled to be called the most wounded officer of
the Allies in the Chinese war.
Strange to say, although crippled, he recovered from these last wounds
as well as from the first, and regained good health.
The circumstance speaks volumes for the toughness of the Russian
soldiers in general, and their officers in particular.