KINCHOW--ARRESTED BY CHINESE SOLDIERS--CAPTURE OF THE CITY
As I have said, my heart sank as the sergeant came up roughly and
prepared to strip me again. Such an indignity I was unable to resist,
and when the man indicated a spot apart where my costume could be
conveniently removed if needful, my anger rose, and I made some
remarks, which, as a fancy display of Chinese, may have given rise to
curiosity, but as a means of release were void of effect. As I
continued to address the "sergeant," he stood still, and gazed at me in
as much surprise as a Manchu soldier usually exhibits. Seeing this, my
anger and expostulations grew more fierce. I waved my arms,
gesticulated, performed _sleight-of-hand_ movements with my fingers,
and in fact exhibited such manifest tokens of ability to take a
"first-class" at Earlswood (England), that the man retreated to make
inquiry respecting me, and I breathed again.
What was my late companion doing all this time? He had apparently
deserted me, and this after all my lavish--in a Chinese
sense--expenditure of _cash_. Again my bad feelings predominated, and
I felt truly disgusted with my "luck." There was no loophole for
escape, and though the disappearance of the sergeant was a blessing, it
might really result in death.
The man had left me alone in the hut,--I cannot call it house,--and
when my ill temper had quickly evaporated I began to think of escape.
The door was open to the passage or side street, and when I peeped out
I perceived a soldier, armed, standing sentry at the end of the _cul de
sac_, as the alley was. Escape seemed impossible. I was again a
prisoner; whither could I go, what could I do were the thoughts which
surged through my excited brain. The Chinese (or Manchu) soldier had
me in his keeping, and perhaps had orders to kill me if I attempted to
escape, pending the return of the lieutenant of the guard. Meantime, I
was absolutely helpless. In any "civilised" country one might have
managed to intercede for oneself, but there in Manchuria the case was
different. I was lost!--strayed!
During the minutes already at my disposal I considered all the
available plans of evasion I had heard of. Captives in stories, and in
all the imaginative books which I had devoured, always had a friend
who, whether a Freemason or not, had means at hand to circumvent the
villain! But there was no villain in my case; nothing unusual, nothing
out of the way in my circumstances, and this dead-level of experience
appeared devoid of any person who could undertake the role of the "god
in the machine," and release me. Here was the sentry, there the lofty
gate, its platform surmounted by a two-storeyed tower, from which the
advance of the enemy was doubtless perceived, or would shortly be
perceived. Neither sentinel nor entrance seemed likely to afford me
passage. Ah! the sentry was approaching. I shrank back into the hut,
and peeped through the opening of the door. The sentry came on slowly
and somewhat limply.
He had a rifle and ammunition, and seemed well equipped. He passed the
place of my concealment, and I began to hope that he would pass on, and
permit of my escape to the main street, which, being full of people,
might afford opportunities for it; but to my disgust he turned, and
came directly towards me. As he came nearer I retreated into the gloom
of the hut, and not perceiving me, he came in. Still uncertain, he
advanced carelessly, I fancied, and at that moment something prompted
me to make a decided effort at release.
He was carrying his rifle on his arm above the elbow, not in any
European soldierly manner; a sword or bayonet was at his side.
Suddenly I made a spring like a tiger upon the man, and in a second had
him thrown. He struggled manfully, and attempted to strike me with a
knife, but I was half-maddened, youthful, and strong. I hit him
violently between the eyes, and dazed him; then wresting the rifle from
his relaxed grasp, I banged it upon his head in a manner which I
afterwards regretted, and darted from the hut. As I ran into the alley
I encountered my late guide, who was then coming in search of me.
His surprise was genuine, and he made some inquiries by the pantomime
method, assisting it by a few words, which I interpreted to indicate
surprise at my escape. I told him in the same tongue what had
happened, and he was aghast at my temerity! He dragged me back at once
hastily, and I was unable to resist him. When he saw the unconscious
soldier he became calmer, but still apparently greatly in the same
haste, motioning me to assist in taking off the man's outward dress.
Seeing some prospect of escape, I helped him, and then putting his own
clothes upon the soldier, who never stirred all the time, but lay
passive as the dead, my guide quickly dragged me out with him, a
prisoner, having first hidden the rifle and ammunition, keeping the
sword of the sentry.
But I understood his plan. Armed he might assist me, and quit the town
in the dusk of the evening. Proceeding by side streets, and avoiding
the largest--all very small--thoroughfares, my rescuer reached a house
at which he was recognised as I supposed, but I was wrong. He had
merely brought me to an opium-house, where he intended to remain a
while till an opportunity arose for leaving the city.
This was a most dreadful experience, because, of course, the idea of
opium smoking to me was abhorrent. To lie there upon one of those hard
bed-planks, inhaling a pipeful of sticky stuff, which though
exceedingly minute, is always--at first at anyrate--most sickly. My
guide seemed to think it essential, I supposed, to my safety, and I
made shift to comply with his suggestions, but speedily became
unconscious, which, I presume, he desired.
My sensations were _at first_ unpleasant. As a smoker of tobacco I
have had my most deadly experiences when learning to smoke, but
certainly in my case the attempt I made was not so unpleasant in
Kinchow opium smoking. But the moral effect of the surroundings was
bad, and even though acknowledging the risk and my guide's anxiety, I
would not attempt opium again. The flavour is not unpleasant, and is
rather aromatic perhaps. The smoke is inhaled as usual, and expelled
by the nostrils. Before I became unconscious I felt quite happy, and
full of a pleasant sense of content, as if "I wouldn't call the Emperor
of China my uncle"! This happiness lasted into oblivion, into which I
was lulled that evening by the sound of cannon-fire.
Unfortunately I cannot tell how long I remained in the den, because the
Chinese have no clocks, and those which are imported from America and
elsewhere are not in favour with the people. The day had died, and I
felt rather "seedy" when I made an effort to get up. The cannonade and
firing continued at a distance during my sleep, and later, when I made
a serious attempt to rouse myself, I heard the roar of distant guns. I
suppose that when the effects of the opium had passed away I had slept,
and in my dreams heard the noise. Daylight was near then, and when I
could plainly discern things I discovered that I had been carried into
another room, and was alone.
This did not alarm me, because all was perfectly still in the house.
Possibly the Chinese were sleeping, and my Manchurian guide had placed
me in a place of safety. I began to understand his good nature, which,
whether the result of _cash_ or not, was quite praiseworthy and
opportune. So far as I could perceive I was free and unfettered. I
rose and looked about me. It was about five a.m.
There was nothing remarkable so far as I could discern. The day was
breaking rather sadly, and still the sound of firing continued from the
direction of the hills, across which I had already passed, on the
Fuchow Road, and I considered that the Japanese were already shelling
the forts. If they succumbed there would be no chance for the town
under assault, and under the circumstances I deemed it desirable to
prepare for my departure.
My simple toilet was quickly arranged, and I descended to the narrow
alley, hesitating, even when I reached the street, whither I should
bend my way. Perhaps I could manage to get out of the town by the
north gate, at which I had entered; and made my way thither amid the
press of civilians and soldiers, the latter of whom seemed to be
impressing men to convey ammunition to the upper portion of the gate
and the castle walls. These coolies were quickly at work, and were
directed to ascend the walls in places, or to bring the rifle
ammunition to the men lining the loopholes.
Amongst these labourers I soon discerned my guide, and had just made
myself known to him when he by signs suggested that I should assist
him. As an officer was approaching I deemed it politic to comply, and
thus escape detection. So I willingly seized a case of cartridges, and
assisted my friend in distributing them to the sharpshooters. While
occupied in this way I caught sight of a means of ascent to the
battlements above, and at once ran up to the upper platform, where, in
the still dim light, I remained in hiding, peeping from behind an angle
of the wall through an unoccupied loophole.
I was now above the firing line, and as the daylight increased I made
out the condition of affairs. All this time musketry, or rather rifle
fire, had been accentuated by big guns, and I could perceive the
Japanese struggling over the hill (Mount Potau), and advancing upon the
fort. The advance had been made in the dusk of the dawn, and now when
the day was clearing and a bright morning was promised I could make out
the Chinese retreating before the Japanese, in a panic. So far as I
saw, the Chinese did not make any decided attempt to withstand the
attack. They streamed from the fort, delivering a feeble fire, a
volley, and a dropping fire, then another volley; but all the time the
Japanese assailants kept charging into the confused mass of Dragon-led
men, who suddenly broke away, and "pelted" in the direction of the
castle.
But the Manchus were not altogether defeated. They had been taken
napping, no doubt, but they made an effort, assured by the
reinforcements which came from the other forts. Across the road they
halted, and began a terrific fire upon the advancing troops, and from
the rocky redoubts the Chinese also began to make good practice.
This was getting "warm"; the smoke rose slowly from the guns and
rifles, as the white-banded caps descended the slope where they had
captured the forts first. There were other forts upon the rocks nearer
the town, and I could not think that these, perched three hundred feet
above the road, in rugged and difficult positions, would be taken, or
indeed reached. The Japanese tried, however, and the Celestials above
pelted them with shot in a fearful manner as they advanced; but when
the Japs reached the bases of the cliffs they simply climbed up like
schoolboys, ignoring the leaden hail, some of which passed over their
heads.
This seemed madness; but another force was at the same time climbing on
the left (my right) side of the picture, and was making a line so as to
ascend to the left rear of the redoubt. Still another regiment
ascended behind the first, and all the time these Japanese men were
being tumbled off the rocks by the bullets of the Chinese above. I
could see bodies falling and striking heavily on the rugged and pointed
edges of the rocks; but still the Japanese climbed, and when the
artillery found a chance they "chipped in," knocking corners off the
Chinese and their defences.
There was a pause for a little, and some arrangement appeared to be
made by the Japanese troops, who kept climbing, climbing. Then came a
sudden rush upwards and sideways, and I could see no result until the
cannon ceased firing gradually. Then I saw the defenders rushing away,
pursued by the Japanese, who shot and bayoneted them unmercifully. The
fugitives fell by dozens, and were killed. Dark spots lay thickly upon
the summit of the hill, and in the ravines near, while the Dragon
standards were displaced, and the Rising Sun uplifted in their place.
Such a stampede I never expect to see again, and the killing was done
systematically, because when two advancing bodies of Japanese troops
took the entrenchments by storm, a third company did not enter the
redoubt, but went on in chase of the flying enemy.
While I was thus sheltered, the soldiers in the town were all in
readiness to repel the expected attack. The dispersed Manchus, or
Chinese, were cut off from the gate; and it seemed to me that a strong
column, with guns, was approaching from Fuchow. The question was now
serious for me. I did not dare retire because the Chinese were
immediately below. I did not venture to go up higher because I must at
once have been seen and shot as a deserter; or perhaps cast down from
the walls. Meantime time was pressing. The exterior defences of the
town and citadel had been taken, and after all I had witnessed it
seemed to me that Kinchow was doomed. The assailants were converging
upon the town, in which uproar and dismay were already rife, while the
advancing troops were being shelled by the Krupp guns mounted upon the
Chinese fortifications. The situation was, at least, embarrassing.
It was, I suppose, about nine o'clock that morning, when I grasped the
fact that the artillery was getting into position. It was difficult
for me to make out these arrangements, situated as I was a full mile
from the advancing troops, though in an advantageous position for
witnessing the attack from the top side of the north gate, built like a
railway arch in the surrounding wall of the town, a wall twenty feet
high, and surrounded by the edifice already mentioned--a kind of pagoda
erection. But when I beheld puffs of steely smoke rising from the
hillside, and heard the shells--at first a few, and then incessantly, I
crouched behind the masonry, and did not dare to look out.
My head seemed to swim as these furious missiles came hurtling along
over the wall and gate, crashing, bursting, killing, and maiming all
out of shelter in the streets, and even in the hospital buildings
erected inside the gate, which yawned like a small tunnel in the wall.
The unfortunate donkeys, and more unfortunate men in attendance, were
blown into atoms at times, the streets were filled with dead and
wounded, and on them lay ruins of the town; while the defenders, though
firing steadily, could do little because the black smoke of the
bombarding guns shut out all except the ploughed-up earth, the
shrieking shells, the dead and wounded by the wall, and within the
"castled city." Outside, the ground was ridged by shot, and the noise
of the contest was simply indescribable. The bursting and cracking,
mingled with the fearful detonation of the guns, of which I should say
forty assailed us, at once gave me a sensation of splitting headache
and a giddiness which I had never experienced. Stones split and
fractured, wood disappeared in gigantic matches and splinters, the iron
gate resounded and shook, the noise of the arch below being
thunderous--yet it stood; and when the salvoes ceased a while, and the
smoke cleared a bit, I looked out and saw some soldiers advancing
closer amid the furrowed ground, and the dead Japs who lay outside.
The Chinese in shelter fired still from the loopholes at the Japs, and
the Japanese came running up to the gate, while the guns again sent
messages of iron into the town. The Japanese soldiers managed to reach
a small cluster of houses--a deserted kind of village, if one may so
call it--facing the gate. One of these huts was standing in advance of
the rest, a peculiar position for a house, and so the Japanese thought,
because the officer in command must have sent a party to examine it,
right before me, and some of the venturesome ones never reached it.
The men ran up amid the rifle fire from the wall, and judging by the
time it took to gain entrance, the hut was barricaded. The men fell
fast, but at length the survivors gained admission, and apparently
found nothing.[1]
[1] It was ascertained afterwards that the wires of the "mines" were
cut there.--H.F.
My attention had been directed to this hut, but then the Japanese
troops advanced in masses, rushing at the walls. But they could do
nothing. Chinese of all sorts, soldiers and coolies, rained bullets
and missiles at them when they reached the walls and attempted to climb
up. It was impossible to scale these smooth surfaces, great masses of
brick eighty feet thick, from the summit of which the people were
hurling stones, and firing guns and rifles. In this I saw my
opportunity, and joined the defenders on the ramparts.
What immediately followed is a little confused in my mind. We could
see the soldiers retreating, leaving their dead and some wounded on the
field, while crashing shells came, again devastating the defenders'
ranks. But the Chinese stuck to it and replied in kind. We all seemed
wild, and even I became careless in showing myself in the excitement
and the roar of the battle. I actually saw men cut across their blue
clothing in an instant, steeped in blood, and yet they seemed to move
and writhe. Their associates took no notice of them. Life in China is
of no value apparently, and when the spectator in his turn falls in
silent anguish, the survivors thrust him aside, and seize the weapon
they themselves require. Many fell over the wall and died amid the
enemy, when they _slipped_ from the ensanguined battlements, or
platform.
At length the defeated stormers retired baffled. But while the
defenders were perchance congratulating themselves, another band rushed
up. The crowd of assailants had been defeated, the yelling multitude
at the base of the smooth walls were chagrined, but they sent another
force. Meanwhile we kept up the fire, and I saw a few Japanese lying
close to the west end of the wall, apparently dead, but occasionally
stirring as if in pain. I pointed them out to some soldiers, who
glanced and took no further notice, because the attack was about to be
renewed; but I wished I could have put the poor fellows in safety, or
tended them. A vain wish, and one later repented.
Again the Japanese advanced carrying boxes. Some of them then ran in
close to the great iron-lined gate, and, notwithstanding the furious
firing, remained under the shelter of the arch until they had
accomplished their design. It was evident. These were engineers, and
they intended to blow up the gate. It was a most terribly anxious
moment when the men hurried off, not unscathed, and some of us waited
for the result. The Chinese mines had failed, would the Japanese be
successful? I retired to the west side, where the bricks of the wall
at the corner project a little, as we see in isolated brick houses. To
my consternation, at that moment I perceived three Japanese _mounting
the "ladder" of bricks_ to gain the summit of the walls. I shouted,
but at that moment my voice was drowned in the uproar of the explosion
under us, and I, with others, was thrown down amid the ruins of the
masonry.
The tumult was fearful. The great gate was rent, the stones flew far
and wide, the wall bulged, and at the same moment the apparently dead
Japanese, who had been lying in wait, came rushing up, and cut down the
gunners before them. One soldier, the leader, pulled away the Dragon
flag, and shouted "_Banzai_!" I saw no more. Struck by a glancing
bullet I sank back, almost insensible, behind the western parapet; and
the last sounds in my ears were the vociferous cheers of the Japanese
as they poured through the dismantled gate, and took possession of the
"castle-town" of Kinchow.