A CHARGE AND A RACE FOR LIFE
There is but one gateway to the walled city of Cheng-Ting-Fu, and this
opens on the west. Consequently, it was on this side that most of the
Boxer rabble, who longed for an opportunity to loot the valuable mission
property within its walls, were gathered. Their object was to starve the
stubborn city into submission, and they watched always for the opening
of its gate in token of surrender. If our lads had been willing to leave
their ponies in the city, they could have been let down from the wall on
an opposite side and made good their escape on foot. This, however, they
would not do, for without horses the long journey still before them,
through a region swarming with footpads, was practically impossible. So
they issued from the wicket, which instantly was closed behind them,
sprang into their saddles, and turned northward, hoping to ride for some
distance unnoticed in the shadow of the lofty wall.
But this hope was doomed to a quick disappointment, for almost instantly
they were discovered, and a crowd of men were seen running so as to head
them off.
"We've got to ride through them," said Rob, "and shoot down any one who
tries to stop us. I will go first, and do you follow close. Don't fire
a shot until my pistol is empty; then I'll drop behind and reload while
you clear the way. It's our only show for life, Jo. Come on!"
With this Rob wheeled his pony and dashed at full speed straight at
the swarming encampment, with Jo close at his heels. It was a glorious
charge, that of two against a thousand, but it could not have lasted a
minute had the latter been anything save a wretched rabble, unprovided
with fire-arms and without leaders. As it was, they were scattered like
chaff by the madly racing ponies, the few who attempted interference
were shot down, and three minutes later our lads, still yelling with
excitement, drove through the last of their enemies and found themselves
safe on the open plain.
"After that experience I would undertake to ride through the whole
Chinese army with twenty American cow-boys," boasted Rob, as he reined
his panting steed down to a walk.
"Of course, it might be done," answered Jo, quietly, "only it would be
well to consider that an army is made up of soldiers provided with guns,
and that even a Chinese bullet sometimes finds its mark."
"I beg your pardon, old fellow! It was a mean thing to say," cried Rob,
contritely. "I ought to be ashamed of myself, especially when I remember
how splendidly one Chinese, by the name of Jo Lee, rode through that
howling mob only a few minutes ago. But Americans can't help bragging,
you know, and I surely am an American."
"If they do brag," replied Jo, "it is because they have so much to brag
of, while my poor country has so little."
"Your country has a history older than that of any other nation on
earth," said Rob, consolingly; "and you invented more than half the
things that go to making the civilization of the world, such as the
compass, and printing, and gunpowder, and ever so many more; for
I remember our history teacher telling us about them. He said the
civilization that started in China thousands of years ago had been
spreading westward from this country ever since: first over Asia, then
over Europe, and finally over America. 'At length,' he said, 'the great
wave of enlightenment has swept across the Pacific, and again is making
itself felt on the coasts of Asia. Japan already is uplifted by the
flood, and China, now at the lowest ebb of her fortunes, will soon feel
the life-giving influence of the rising tide.'
"I remember it particularly," continued Rob, "because, of course, I
always was interested in everything about China; but I never realized
just what he meant until I came back and saw what a splendid country
this has been and what a splendid country it could be again. Why, Mr.
Bishop said that China's wealth of coal and iron alone is sufficient to
make her one of the greatest nations of the world."
"I expect your teacher was right when he said that China was at the
lowest point of her fortunes," remarked Jo. "I don't see how she could
very well sink any lower, and she will stay down just so long as the
Empress Dowager lives and rules the country. She hates foreigners, and
is bitterly opposed to progress, reformers, and changes of any kind. It
is certain that she is encouraging and helping on this Boxer uprising,
for if she wanted to she could have it put down and stamped out within
a week. I told you of my orders not to interfere with them, no matter
what they did, and while we were charging through that encampment just
now I caught sight of a Boxer banner on which was written: 'By Official
Decree: Exterminate Foreigners.' They never would dare display such a
flag if they didn't really have official backing, and in China to-day
the only 'official' whose word is law is the Empress Dowager."
"I don't see how you found time to read what was on a flag," said Rob,
"or even to notice it. I didn't see a thing except the crowd, that
looked like so many wolves snarling at us, and especially those who
tried to stop us. If it hadn't been for our pistols they would have got
us sure. I only hope we didn't kill any of them."
"Why?" asked Jo. "They were trying to kill us, and if we don't look
out," he added, sharply, "they will do it yet."
Thus saying, he pointed over his shoulder to a rapidly advancing cloud
of dust, moving from the direction of the Boxer encampment they had so
recently charged. The dust-cloud hung above a road that ran parallel
to the direction they were taking. In fact, it was the road over which
they now would be riding had the bare fields that they had chosen
instead been covered with their usual crops. That they could not see the
horsemen raising the dust was because the highway along which the latter
were moving was a "low-way," worn by generations of travel, scoured by
floods in winter and swept by the strong winds of summer until it was
many feet below the level of the adjoining land.
Jo was convinced that the dust-cloud was raised by horsemen, because
of its volume and its rapid advance. That they were enemies was almost
certain, since they came from the direction of the angry encampment; and
he believed them to be endeavoring to cut off Rob and himself, because
otherwise they, too, would be riding across the open fields instead of
ploughing through the smothering dust of the gully-like road.
Our lads had allowed their ponies to walk for the last mile or so, but
now they urged them forward at a brisk "lope," for they were determined
that no man nor body of men from that encampment should get in advance
of them if they could help it. Every few seconds one or the other of
them glanced over his shoulder at the dust-cloud, to see if they were
gaining on it, and finally Rob uttered a shout of: "Here they come,
helter-skelter, and enough of them to eat us alive if they catch us! Now
we've got to make time. Great Scott! They've got guns, too!"
The horsemen, having discovered that their object was suspected and that
their prey was likely to escape, had left the sunken road and now were
streaming across the fields in open and hot pursuit. Also, just as Rob
glanced back, one of them fired a shot, though where the bullet went to,
no one knows. Certainly, it did no harm to our friends, but the shot
itself filled them with dismay, as it showed their present pursuers to
be better armed than any of the vagrant bands they yet had encountered.
"I believe they are imperial cavalry!" exclaimed Jo. "Yes, I am sure
of it," he added, a moment later, as he detected a triangular, yellow
pennon fluttering from a lance borne by one of the pursuing horsemen.
"They must have been sent out from the city and must have some reason
for suspecting us. I wonder if it has become known that we communicated
with your mother? That would be a sufficient cause for beheading us both
if we are caught, so we must not be."
"I won't be!" declared Rob, clinching his teeth and urging his pony to
greater effort. "I'll die first!"
On they swept, mile after mile, over the parched land and under a
blazing sun. How they longed for rest and water and shade and coolness;
but none of those things were for them so long as that deadly pursuit
was kept up. It did not seem to gain on them, but neither did it lose
ground. To be sure, some of the cavalry-men straggled, so that they came
on in a long, irregular line, but a group of half a dozen leaders kept
well together.
A river came into view, and Rob wondered what would happen when they
reached it. He began to think he didn't much care so long as he could
get a drink of its water. All at once he almost jumped from his saddle,
for from beyond the river came a sound both startling and familiar,
such as he had not heard since leaving America. At Cheng-Ting-Fu he had
seen the torn-up track of the recently constructed railway, but he had
forgotten it, as he also had the fact that a portion of it, somewhere
to the northward, still was in working order. Thus, for a moment, he
could hardly believe to be real the sound that came echoing across the
Hsuho. It was the sharp whistle of a locomotive calling for brakes, and
as our lads plunged down the steep river-bank they saw a train of open
"gondolas" slowly backing towards the stream on the opposite side. They
also saw a crowd of people evidently awaiting its coming.
For half a mile they forced their nearly spent ponies across the sand
and gravel of the dry river-bottom. Then appeared a channel so shallow
as easily to be forded. Directly from this rose the steep farther bank,
and in an effort to climb it Rob's exhausted steed fell and rolled to
the bottom, while Jo's pony refused even to attempt the ascent.
Rob disentangled himself from the struggling beast, and gained his
feet, bruised but sound in limb. As he stood up a yell of triumph
came from across the narrow water, and a quick glance showed that the
pursuing Chinese cavalry-men were close at hand. At this same moment Jo
sprang from his exhausted pony.
"We must run," he cried, "and mix with the people on the bank. Perhaps
we can hide in one of the cars."
So the lads, one still in the yellow robes of a priest, and the other in
the dark-blue blouse with red facings, full trousers, and short boots of
imperial troops, dashed up the bank together and ran towards a throng
of soldiers now crowding aboard the cars, as though they, too, sought
passage on the train.
As they began to push their way into the crowd, one of the soldiers,
staring hard at Rob, uttered an ejaculation that caused Jo to turn and
look at his friend with sudden dismay. In the haste of leaving their
ponies and running for the train he had not noticed that Rob had lost
both his priestly head-covering and the great, shell-rimmed spectacles
that had proved so complete a disguise. Now, without them, though he
still was tinted yellow and robed as a priest, there was no mistaking
him for anything but a foreigner, and "fan kwei" (foreign devil) was
what the soldier had just called him.
Others, attracted by the man's exclamation, were turning to look, and
at the same moment came a loud shouting from the rear. Those who had
chased our lads so persistently all that morning were close at hand.
For an instant Jo's heart sank like lead and he believed they were lost.
Then like a flash came a thought of one thing that they still might do.