Fortunately my friend K----, of the Russian Legation, rescued me at a

moment when I was prepared only to moralise on this infernal

situation, and to see nothing but evil in everything both around me

and in myself. I like to put it all down to the strange stupor and

lack of energy which have settled down on everything like a blight,

but I believe, also, that there must be a little bit of remorse at the

bottom of my feelings. K---- came in gaily enough, pretending that he

was looking for a breakfast and had learned of my retreat by mere

chance as he rode by. He had heard, I believe, as a matter of fact,

that there were a number of women on the premises, and that I was

living _en prince_. Perhaps, he had a number of reasons for coming.

From what he told me, however, it soon appeared that he had known

L----, the commander of the Russian columns, for many years, and had

just done business with him; and that, in consequence, the Russian

commander, who is a pleasant old fellow, risen from the ranks, had

said that he could have a private view of the Palace if he swore on

his honour that he would not divulge the excursion to any one. He

must, also, not take anything. He did not tell me all at first. It

came out bit by bit, after I had been sounded on a number of points.

Then he asked me if I would like to come, and if I, too, would swear.

Of course, I duly swore!

Eventually we started on our long ride; for it was necessary for us to

go right round the Imperial city, skirting the pink walls so as not to

become involved in other people's territory, or to be noticed too

much. That was one of the preliminary precautions, K---- said. All the

way round, that ride was a beautiful illustration of the way the

International Concert (written with capital letters) is now working.

At absolutely every entrance into the Imperial city there were troops

of one nationality or another: American, British, French, German,

Japanese, and others--all looking jealously at every passer-by, and

holding so tight to their precious gates, that it appeared as if all

the world was conspiring to wrest them from their grasp. They thought,

perhaps, that this Palace is the magic wand which touches all China

and can produce any results; that both in the immediate and dim future

the obtaining of a good foothold here will mean an immense amount to

their respective countries. What fatuous, immense foolishness! For a

moment, as I looked at these guards, I had the insane desire to charge

suddenly forward and call upon the French, in the name of their dear

Ally, Czar Nicholas, to hand me their gate, or else take the

consequences; to do the same to the others; to mix them up and confuse

them; to tell them that a new war had been declared; that they would

soon have to fight for their lives against formidable foes--to tell

them mad things and to add to the rumours which already fill the air.

These troops, which had been hurled on Peking in frantic haste, had

only come because it was a matter of jealousy--that was now clear to

me. They themselves did not know why they had come, or with whom they

were fighting, or why they were fighting. They knew nothing and cared

less. And yet it does not much matter. It is not really they who are

to blame, nor even their officers. I know full well how instructions

are issued and how little the pawns really count.... The despatches

from the Chancelleries of Europe, how grotesque they can be! Everybody

is always so afraid of everybody else.

Yet while I was thinking these things, K---- was not. He was secretly

worried, as he rode, whether L----'s promise would materialise, or

whether there would be another _impasse_. Somehow I felt certain that

there would be more difficulties, in spite of all assurances. _Ce

n'est pas pour rien qu'on connait les Russes_, as C----, our old

_doyen_, always says....

We passed at length into the Imperial city by the northern entrances,

far away from everybody else, and found ourselves in the midst of a

big Russian encampment, with rows upon rows of guns ranged in regular

formation and lots of tents and horses. All the soldiery here were

taking it very easy on this sunny day; had, indeed, stripped

themselves, and were now engaged in sluicing themselves over with

ice-cold water from a beautiful marble-enclosed canal. These hundreds

upon hundreds of clean white men, with their flaxen hair and their

blue eyes, seemed so strange and out of place in this semi-barbaric

Palace and so indifferent. How curious it was to think that only a few

days ago the Empress and all her _cortege_ had passed here!

We sought out the post commander and told him our purpose. The

difficulties began quickly enough then, as I had anticipated. The

officer explained to us that our request was out of order and

impossible; that no one was allowed inside the inner precincts or had

ever been there; and hinted, incidentally, that we must be mad.

K---- listened to all this in that insulting silence which is a sure

sign of gentility, and then, ransacking his pockets, brought out a

letter and handed it to our man. That produced a change which might

have been highly amusing at other times. There was the complete

_volte-face_ which amuses. The officer suddenly saluted, clicked his

heels, and said in a silky way, like a cat which has tasted milk, that

this order was explicit and made things different; that, indeed, we

might go at once if we liked, only we must be discreet--highly

discreet. He would accompany us himself. Such trivial details were

soon arranged.

We left our ponies and our outriders then and marched forward quickly

on foot. The soldiery around us stared and laughed among themselves as

soon as they saw where we were going. This made me understand that

this excursion had been taken before, probably under the same orders

and in exactly the same way. It was only a well-rehearsed comedy.

K----, who is really a bit of a coward, did not appear to relish the

comments made, and now became suddenly reluctant. He told me

afterwards that he had overheard the men saying that we might be

killed inside, as there were many people there. So in silence we all

marched on.

The first gate we reached was a beautiful example of the art of this

Northern country. There were splendid pillars of teak, marble tigers

and marble fretwork beneath, with much glittering colouring around. A

strong post of Russian infantry was on guard here, and sitting inside

the enclosure with the men off duty were a number of Palace eunuchs.

They all seemed quite intimate together and were chaffing one

another--soldiers and eunuchs laughing heartily at some coarse jest.

We wended our way through a marble courtyard, which wore a rather

deserted and forlorn look, and which had huge low-lying halls and

dwellings for the Palace servants ranged on either side. These

appeared to be all deserted now, but at regular intervals were Russian

sentries standing up on lookout platforms. They were peering over the

walls in every direction, and seemed to be keeping a very sharp

lookout. The officer said that many guards of other nationalities were

well within rifle-shot from here, and that men were continually trying

to steal their way right into the inner Palace by scaling the walls.

He called them robbers!

The next gate was much smaller, and showed from its very appearance

that we were nearing the actual Palaces--the hidden, mysterious abodes

of the Tartar rulers who had so ignominiously fled. Here the sentries

had the strictest orders, for, stopping us short with their lowered

bayonet points, they looked askance at us, and politely asked the

officer who we were and why we had ventured here. In the end, to set

their minds at ease, he had to tear a leaf from his pocket-book, write

an order, and make us sign our names. Upon this, the non-commissioned

officer in charge of this post detached himself and joined our little

party. We were not going to be allowed in alone, and imperceptibly the

affair assumed a graver and more consequential aspect. Then, quietly

advancing, we four were speedily lost in the huge maze of gardens and

buildings. The area covered by the Palaces was enormous.

Beyond this was a succession of high, picturesque-looking buildings of

a curious Persian-Tartar appearance, with little galleries running

round them, and drum-shaped gateways of stone pierced in unexpected

places. There were also flowering trees and beautiful groves. It was,

indeed, charming, and over everything there was a refined coolness

which to me was something very new. We came on a last sentry, who, at

a word from his sergeant, drew a heavy iron key from a wooden box

hanging on the wall and fitted it to a lock. The key turned with a

faint screeching, which seemed out of place; the little gate was

thrust open and closed behind us, and ... at last we were within the

sacro-sanct courtyards of the rulers of the most antique Empire in the

world....

Around us there was now a curious and unnatural quiet, as if the world

was very old here, and the noises of modern life remained abashed at

the thresholds. I knew well from a study of the curious old Chinese

maps, which the vendors of Peking _objets d'art_ always offer you,

where we were, and it was almost with a sense of familiarity that I

turned and made my way to the east. There I knew in ordinary times the

Empress Dowager herself lodged in a whole Palace to herself. Somewhere

not very far from us I caught the soft cooing of the doves, which

everyone in Peking, from Emperor to shopkeepers, delights to keep, in

order to send sailing aloft on balmy days with a low-singing whistle

attached to their wings--a whistle which makes music in the air and

calls the other birds. Who has not heard that pleasant sound? Even the

Empress Dowager must have loved it. Here, in her private realm, the

doves were cooing, cooing, cooing, just like the French word

_roucoulement_, spoken strongly with the accent of Marseilles. You

could hear these birds of the Marseilles accent saying continually

that French word: _Roucoulement, roucoulement, roucoulement_, with

never a break....

We ran up some flights of marble steps, following these gentle sounds,

and walked along a broad terrace adorned with fantastically curved

dwarf-trees, set in rich porcelain pots, and made stately with

enormous bronze braziers. The Russian officer, and even the Russian

sergeant, were agreeably stroked by the contact with all this quiet

and seclusion and this old-world air, and they murmured in sibilant

Russian. It pleased them immensely.

We hastened to the end of the terrace, going quickly, because we were

anxious to find more delights; and as we turned at the end, without

any warning there were a few light screams and a little scuffle of

feet which died away rapidly. Women....

We caught a disappearing vision of brilliantly coloured silks and

satins and rouged faces passing away through some doors, and then

before we had satisfied our eyes, several flabby-faced men suddenly

came out and called imperatively to us to stop and go away. We could

not go farther, they said.

The two men of the Russian army, with the instinct of discipline which

we lacked, halted as if orders were being disobeyed, and looked at

K---- for inspiration. K---- stroked his thin moustaches, and put his

head a little on one side, as if he were debating what to say. I--well

since I had nothing to lose, and it did not really matter, I went

forward without any delay, asking our interlocutors roughly what they

meant and what they were doing here, and telling them, too, that we

were going on. I knew that they were sexless eunuchs, who would

stammer as I had heard them stammer in the old days when I had seen

them trafficking things they had been donated by officials desirous of

cultivating their friendship, in the mysterious curio shops beyond the

great Ch'ien Men Gate. Nor was I wrong. Stammering, they replied by

asking how it was that orders had been broken. Stammering, they said

that all the great generals had promised that the inner Palaces were

to be kept immune; now men were for ever climbing in, and others were

coming openly as we were doing. What did we wish?

I am afraid I was rude, for questions in these times do not sit well

on such folk, and I told them more roughly than ever to go quickly

away, or else we would hurt them. Perhaps we would even hurt them

badly I insinuated, fingering my revolver, for we had a duty to do. We

were going to inspect the entire Palace and see that all was well. And

before these men had recovered from their surprise we had pushed right

into the Empress Dowager's own ante-chambers.

I saw, as I walked in, that a long avenue in the distance led directly

to a high yellow-walled enclosure. That must be the Imperial seraglio,

where the hundreds of young Manchu women provided by tradition for the

amusement of the Emperor were imprisoned for life. In the haste of the

Court's flight, the majority of them had been abandoned, and only the

most valuable taken off. Everybody had heard of that.

Gently discoursing to the disturbed eunuchs, we went through room

after room, which even on the hot autumn day seemed cool and peaceful.

The _objects de vertu_ which littered the small tables, and the

scrolls which hung from the walls, did little to relieve the sombre

effect of those high ceilings and carved wood frescoes. Yet there was

a little air of distinction and refinement which showed that an

immeasurable gulf separated the favoured dwellers of this Palace from

even the greatest outside. Even here Royalty does more than oblige; it

compels....

With the eunuchs protesting more and more vigorously, and seeking to

stay our advance by a curious mixture of suggestion and imploring and

resistance which is a quality of the East, we slowly passed through

apartment after apartment. Some now were furnished with luxurious long

divans which eloquently invited graceful repose. What scenes had not

this silent furniture witnessed, and how little could the makers have

supposed, as they cunningly carved and stained and coloured, that

barbarians from Europe would be one day insolently gazing on their

handiwork!...

I had lagged somewhat behind, when some curses and imprecations

dragged my wandering attention to the doors beyond. Two eunuchs had

fallen on their knees and were now kowtowing and begging with renewed

vigour, while a third was standing more resolutely than his fellows

with outstretched arms, imperatively forbidding any further advance.

The most interesting point had been reached; this must be the greatest

thing of all.

But these eunuchs were beginning to fatigue us with their airs of duly

authorised custodians who could do as they pleased, and going up, we

now told them that unless they went quickly away we would kill them

then and there. We all drew our revolvers, stood over them, and waited

a minute of two. Then, as if they had acted their parts right up to

the end, the men on their knees got up suddenly, shook themselves,

bowed to us politely without a trace of feeling, and left....

"_Enfin,"_ said K----.

At last we were in this dear Empress's bedroom, the abode which

shelters for such a considerable number of hours of every twenty-four

the most powerful woman in Asia. We looked eagerly. At one side of the

room was a large bed, beautifully adorned with embroidered hangings;

ranged round there was a profusion of handsome carved-wood furniture,

with European chairs upholstered in a style out of keeping with the

rest; on a high stand there were jewelled clocks noisily ticking; and

hidden modestly in one corner was nothing less than a magnificent

silver _pot de chambre_. She was here evidently very much at her ease,

the dear old lady. That little detail delighted me. The rest was

rather _banal_.

_Sans ceremonie_, I seated myself on the Imperial bed--it seemed to be

the most peaceful act of vandalism I could commit in repayment for

certain discomforts occasioned by this old lady's whims during eight

weeks of rifle-fire. And as my recollections went back to those

terrible days, I came down heavily as I could on this august couch. I

must confess that as a bed it was excellent; the old lady must have

slept well through it all, while she caused us our ceaseless vigil....

This solitude in the most secluded of spots in the whole Palace made

us more and more inquisitive, and soon K---- and myself were hard at

work, rummaging every likely hiding-place.

Our escort watched our antics and said nothing. It made an odd enough

little scene that, and I liked to think of its incongruity--we two

sets of men, who had not known of each other's existence an hour ago,

now absolutely alone in this retreat, from whence the siege had been

largely directed.

K---- continued rummaging, making an extraordinary amount of noise,

and exclaiming to himself now and again as he came across trifles

which interested him. Then I discovered a _compote_, or preserve made

of rose-leaves, which was so sweet and fragrant that we began promptly

eating. There were also Russian cigarettes, _au bonheur des dames_,

yet quite fit to smoke, and then just as we were becoming reasonably

content, K---- gave a tremendous oath and brought out something in his

hand. Then I knew that he was lost--that there would be speedy

complications; it was a Louis XV. painted watch--his greatest

weakness. Peking is full of these watches, some genuine enough and

many spurious. They were made the vogue centuries ago by the clever

Jesuit priests, when the first disciples of Loyola to come to China

were playing for kingly stakes in the capital of Cathay, and were not

ashamed to use any means which the ingenuity might discover to delight

the Manchu rulers of that day. Many of the most beautiful watches in

France, with amorous paintings of the most voluptuous kind decorating

the inside case, were brought to Peking and distributed among the high

and mighty. That set up a fashion for such pretty things; more and

more were brought, until Peking became a storehouse, stocked with this

specialty. Everyone even to-day has an example or two of this art, if

they can afford it.

I thought of these things as I saw K---- trifle with that watch and

scrutinise it more and more closely. He looked at it for a last time

longingly, and then, without a word, suddenly placed it in his pocket.

That was cool. But at once the Russian officer started forward

protesting; we were breaking our words; we had begun looting; he would

be forced to arrest us. As he spoke, the man became so red and

excited, that K----, who pretended at first merely to smile

indulgently, became more and more alarmed, and finally replaced the

watch without a word. But still he continued this curious search, and

coming across other things, I noticed vaguely that he seemed to be

placing them all together in little collections, so that he could

easily get at them again....

Then we wandered away to other great buildings, and we came on a

beautiful set of princely rooms, full of ticking clocks and rich

tapestries, and with such things as solid gold _bonbonnieres_, studded

with coarse, uncut stones, lying on the secretaires and small tables.

These, I believe, were the Emperor's apartments in normal times. There

were lots of beautiful things here--vases, enamels, jade, cloisonne,

and much wondrous porcelain; and although everyone had been saying

that Peking was not as rich as in 1860, when those strings of

beautiful black pearls had been brought home for the Empress Eugenie,

still it was clear that these Palaces contained a wealth undreamed of

outside. Indeed, there were magnificent things....

Round the corners, as we walked, we saw the eunuchs looking and

lurking, and finally disappearing whenever they thought that they were

seen. There were more of them now, too, and, seeing us quite alone,

they were beginning to pluck up courage and wished once more to

interfere. I thought for an instant as I looked at their evil faces of

tearing down some rich embroidery and fashioning from it a sack just

as I had seen those Indian troopers do so few days before; then of

setting to work and piling everything I fancied into it and making as

if I intended to go off.

Yet such a comedy would not be worth the candle; the officer and the

sergeant would have to go through the formality of arresting me, and

the eunuchs would not even be noticed....

Engrossed with such thoughts, and no longer amused by my surroundings,

I must have forgotten myself for a moment in a brown study; for when I

came to, I was surprised to find that we four had drifted some

distance apart, and that K---- was now whispering rapidly to the

Russian officer alone, and that the sergeant was standing far away,

with his back turned to them, slily fingering the things on the

tables. Then the sergeant allowed his hand to linger longer than was

necessary, and, throwing a sharp look round out of the corners of his

eyes, he suddenly thrust some object into his pocket. He, too, had

succumbed! I paid not the slightest attention to these curious

developments, but pretended to be gazing idly at nothing. Still, I

kept my eyes on the alert. K---- was manifestly plotting for those

watches; it was not my business--what did it matter to me if he took

everything there was?

The officer, whatever the arguments, was obviously not yet very

convinced, nor very happy. He shook his head vigorously again and

again, and protested in that thick Russian undertone, which always

seems to me to explain what Russians really are. Yet those thick tones

were becoming gradually monotonous and less emphatic, and presently

slower and slower, until they stopped altogether. Then K---- came

towards me, and said carelessly that he supposed I wanted to wander

around a little more on my own account to see what else there was. It

was an invitation to disappear. Very well! I moved off suddenly and

sent the eunuchs scurrying back. There was a wish to split up the

party for a few minutes so that no one would know what the others

were doing. I knew I should immensely annoy the eunuchs by going

towards the women's quarters. Well, I would not cavil....

I walked rapidly enough then down that back avenue I had observed

before, and looked neither behind me nor to the right or left. I would

go straight through to the end, _Dieu voulant_! It would be

interesting to have the unique experience of exploring the poor

Emperor's most private domains. But then I remembered that the women

had screamed and run away when they had caught sight of us in the

beginning. Now they would be securely locked in, and it was absurd and

dangerous to think of storming a gate by one's self. Farther and

farther I walked away until I became doubtful....

I suddenly became aware that I was in front of a small door; that the

door was ajar; and that an amused talking and moving was going on very

near with many ripples of laughter rising clearly in the still air. It

seemed that the fates were helping me for some inscrutable purpose. I

must discover that purpose. Without a quiver I boldly walked in.

I came on them without any sense of emotion, although nothing could

have been so novel--a number of groups of young Manchu women, some

clothed in beautiful robes, some in an undress which was hardly

maidenly. They were sitting and standing scattered round a large

courtyard, and hidden somewhere above them in the yellow tiled roofs

were more of those cooing doves with that strong accent of Marseilles:

"_Roucoulement, roucoulement, roucoulement_," they said very gently

this time, yet without ever ceasing. Their soft voices made beautiful

music.... For some reason none of the harem were surprised. Two or

three of the younger women ran back a step or two, and clasped the

hands of the others with broken ejaculations. Then they all sought my

eyes, and somehow we began smiling at one another. All women are the

same; these knew somehow that I would not hurt them. Yet in spite of

this fact I stood there embarrassed, knowing not what to say or do. I

had supposed myself inured by now to all the most impossible

situations--yet it seemed so absurd that I should be here, alone,

absolutely alone, among dozens of young women who were the Emperor's

most inviolate property--virgins selected from among the highest and

most comely in the land; forbidden fruit, which had not even been

tasted because of the Emperor's lack of masculinity.... I thought

rapidly of the various classes into which these women are divided

according to immemorial custom: of the concubines of the first rank,

of the second, of the third, and even of the fourth, who are merely

favoured hand-maidens of the Biblical type. Then I wondered whether it

was true that when the former Emperor Hsien Feng had suddenly died,

and the Empress Dowager had selected the child Kuang-shu to succeed

him, she had caused the child to be mutilated, so that the question of

the next heir should remain in her own hands.... The women would know.

And yet even Imperial concubines must have opportunities which no one

suspects, for I was suddenly relieved of the necessity of breaking the

ice by their breaking it for me. Without embarrassment they suddenly

began plying me with questions, and not waiting for replies, they

asked what was going on outside; what was going to happen; who was I;

why had I come; why was I not a soldier?... The questions came so

fast and thick that before I had realised it I had forgotten my

surroundings, forgotten the time, forgotten most things, I am afraid,

and was deep in the middle of an astonishing conversation, which never

flagged and which was continually broken with laughter. Then I was

brought to ominously. I heard a door shut with a thump; I saw the

women pinch and look at one another and cease talking. What did that

door mean?

On purpose I did not turn round; that would have been fatal. I did as

I always do now: I gained time to lessen the shock. Some day, when I

have much leisure, I shall, doubtless, prepare tables specially

adapted to every situation and to every temperament, which will show

exactly the number of seconds, minutes, and hours which are necessary

on an average to accustom one's self to anything. It is possible to do

so; it will be astonishing when it is done. For the time being, I

thought of this rather glumly--indeed, without a trace of

enthusiasm--and I wished a little that I had not been so foolish in

putting my head inside the lion's mouth. I remembered the story a

former Secretary of the British Legation used to tell us of two

Englishmen, who, in the unregenerate days in Cairo--or was it

Constantinople?--climbed into the harem, and were cruelly mutilated

for their audacity before they could be rescued. I became so glum as

this flashed through my mind, that my great system of preparation was

in imminent danger of breaking down. So I turned suddenly round on my

heel, and looked squarely ... it was as I had thought.

The door I had entered had been quietly locked, and now, inside, were

standing, with moving lips and menacing air, those evil-looking

eunuchs. This time there were four of them. Two were the two who had

knelt and prayed that we should not enter the Empress Dowager's

private apartments; one was the man who had stood up and been almost

threatening; the last one was so tall that his aspect of strength

almost gave the lie to the assumption that he had been mutilated for

Palace use. These last two would be difficult; the others I could

leave out of my calculations.

Faithful to my theory, and trusting to this strange ally, I merely

opened my revolver-pocket; then it was with a sense that I was

irretrievably lost that I saw that two of the opponents were armed in

the same way. My theories and preparations were all falling to the

ground. I would probably follow them in person in a very few minutes.

Nobody would be the wiser....

I stood there waiting while these men muttered at me, as if they now

hated me bitterly, and yet did not know how to commence, and with the

women behind me chattering affrighted. In vain I tried to work out how

many eunuchs there really were in this vast Palace; whether a great

number had gone away with the Court, or whether these four men would

summon four more, or perhaps fourteen, and possibly even forty or four

hundred. They always say the Palace contains three thousand....

It was all no good, however, for it was my turn to play, and without I

played we might remain standing there in this manner until it became

dark. Then I could be beaten to the ground and thrown down a well

without any one being the wiser. No search could be made for me, and

if one was made, nothing would be found. Men were continually missing

in Peking, and no one knew how they met their fate....

I advanced now with my hands empty and my mind fairly made up.

Everything depended on a new theory, which I was about to test, a mere

Chinese theory concerning eunuchs--that their mutilation makes them

bestial, but also downtrodden and quite spiritless and peculiarly

weak. That is why the old Empress could thrash them to death whenever

they displeased her, without their daring to raise their hands or make

one single struggle. Now, as I walked forward, I could see my old

Chinese teacher, who had taught me these strange theories concerning

eunuchs, sitting in front of me and slowly waving his fan, and showing

by an analysis of things I did not clearly understand, how Nature had

laws and decrees which cannot be violated without bringing heavy and

immediate punishment in their train. As I walked forward I could not

help seeing that old figure of a Chinese teacher in front of me, and

prayed that he was correct. If he was not ... then I stopped thinking

and acted.

I did it neatly, with some brutality, because I had been absolutely

surprised, and had not yet recovered, and, also, because I was more

than a little afraid. Six paces off I threw myself in two savage

bounds against the tall man; caught him with my right hand by the

outstretched right arm, hurled him round once by the force of my own

impetus and the strength of my grasp; and then, as he swiftly swung

with loosened legs, stopped him suddenly short with a mighty up-driven

blow of my right knee, which sang so deep and cruelly into his soft

flesh, that it grated harshly against his spinal column. Nobody can

resist that blow--according to the old man's theory, least of all a

eunuch--nobody, nobody. It should be certain as death, once you have

the right grip. With a gurgle my man had sunk to the ground a mere

shapeless mass, perhaps really dead; and with by breath coming hot

through my nostrils at this success I closed fiercely with the second,

seized him by the throat, wrenched at him like a madman, and carried

him staggering back. The other trick demands the six paces and the

impetus; I would have liked to have tried it again, but I had not

dared....

But it was finished with dramatic suddenness, for even as I ran the

second eunuch, gasping for breath, backwards, the other two rushed to

the door, opened it hurriedly, and then stepped aside with loud

implorings and supplications. I accepted. I let go my grasp and

quickly jumped out. I, too, had had enough. As I went through I caught

a last glimpse of that curious scene framed by the red gate-posts and

the roofs beyond--the senseless eunuch on the ground, the other

standing near by, coughing and reaching at his throat, the women of

the seraglio in their gaily flowered coats pressing curiously

round.... But I had enough. I did not tarry. Rapidly I walked away,

with a little prayer in my heart. I felt almost as I had felt once

when I was nearly drowning.

I found K----, five minutes later, sitting on the first marble

terrace, with his pockets bulging out and an expression of ox-like

satisfaction on his face. That was an antidote which speedily sobered

me. The officer was farther on, and had also looted by his looks. The

sergeant of the guard--well, I knew about him already. K---- smiled

when I appeared, and said that I had been very quick and that he did

not expect me so soon. I did not take the trouble to answer;

explanations are always apologies. If I had told him the truth, he

would never have believed me, and certainly never have understood.

And if I had lied there would have been the same result. So I merely

said I was ready, and that we had seen enough; and then, in silence,

each man thinking of what he had done, we covered the way back very

quickly and mounted our ponies. All the way home during that long ride

I was amused by watching the heavy posts of soldiery belonging to the

other columns, who were so jealously guarding their own entrances. How

angry they would have been if they had only known!... That was an

extraordinary day.

VII

THE FEW REMAINS

End of August, 1900.

* * * * *

Imperceptibly, I believe, things are settling down a little and

assuming broad outlines which can be more easily understood as the

days go by. Most people who went through the siege have now gone away.

A few remaining missionaries and their converts have flowed far away

and quartered themselves in some of the residences of the minor Manchu

princes, and are now selling off what they have found by auction. They

have the special permission of the Ministers and Generals to act in

this way. Loot-auctions, indeed, are going on everywhere, and the few

people who have managed to get through from other places in China with

loads of silver dollars are making fortunes. There are enormous masses

of silver _sycee_ in nearly everybody's hands, and I am certain now

that several of our _chefs de mission_ are in clover. My own chief,

who pretends to be virtuous because he is something of a _faineant_,

to put it mildly, eyed me very severely the other day and said that

everyone reported that I had developed into a species of latter-day

robber-chief, and had slain hundreds of people. He said all sorts of

other things, too. I let him exhaust his oratory before I replied.

Then I inquired regarding the definition of the term treasure-trove,

which has become the consecrated phrase for all our many hypocrites.

The generals and many of his colleagues had much treasure-trove, I

said; I had some, too. Of course, I admitted that if there were

investigations, and everyone had to render a strict account, I would

do the same; but for the time being I wanted to know that there was

going to be only one law for everyone. Those were good replies, for

some of the biggest people in the Legations are so mean and so bent on

covering up their tracks that they are using their wives to do their

dirty work.

I believe my chief thought for a moment that I knew something about an

affair in which he was involved, for he only said one word, "_Bien,"_

and looked at me in a strange way. I knew I had frightened him, and

that he must have thought that if I chose to speak later on there

would be trouble. I had no such intention, of course, only I hated

being annoyed by a man of little courage. Had he been courageous I

should never have answered at all, except perhaps to offer him a share

of my private treasure-trove!

Yet with all this settling down it seems to me that people must be

becoming suddenly more and more commercial, and that an inspection of

their accounts makes them wish for a little more on the profit side.

For one morning a young Englishman, who has been living in Peking

rather mysteriously for a number of years, marched in on me at a very

early hour, accompanied by several Chinese, whom I immediately knew

from their appearance to be small officials. The Englishman said that

he had a plan and a proposition, and these he unfolded so rapidly that

he made me laugh. It appeared that the men he had brought with him

were _ku-ping_, or Treasury Guards of the Board of Revenue under the

old _regime_; and, according to their accounts, they knew exactly

where the secret stores of treasure were hidden in the secret vaults

of the government. They explained that these stores belonged not only

to the government, but were also portions of what peculating officials

took from day to day and hid away until they could remove their

plunder in safety after an inspection had been made. They said, did

these informants, that there were millions in both gold and silver.

They became very enthusiastic and excited as they talked.

I waited patiently to see how they proposed to solve this problem--did

they wish a bold, open, frontal attack or an underground plot? Nothing

is very astonishing now, and we have all the resourcefulness of

_condottieri_, with a certain modern respectability added. But they

were sensible people, and did not dream of the impossible. They

supposed, they said, that I knew that the Russians had now full

control of the Board of Revenue. Perhaps, if their commander could be

approached in the proper way, the matter could be very rapidly

attended to. The treasure could be seized in the name of the Russian

Government and everyone could get a share. That is what they said.

At first I thought of refusing point-blank, for I was rather tired of

these adventures; but the men were so persistent, and I had been so

irritated by the pious insincerity of my own chief, that in the end I

told them that I would see what could be done, although the matter did

not interest me very much. I privately again thought of what our old

_doyen_ says, "_Ce n'est pas pour rien qu'on connait les Russes_," and

wondered how long negotiations would last.

Of course it was a wretchedly long business, and before long I

regretted bitterly that I had not been more hard-hearted. I managed to

communicate with L---- that same day through R----, and explained to

him as well as I could the whole affair. I found the Russian

Commander-in-Chief a sly old fox, for his first idea was to thank me

for the information and have the whole Treasury searched; if

necessary, to dig down to a depth of twenty feet or so with the help

of a regiment or two of infantry. That was his idea. In the end we

managed to convince him that this was foolish, and that there must be

places which his soldiers could not reach even by prodding down with

their bayonets and spades to great depths. Secret chambers cannot be

easily discovered even in this way, we said. That made L---- very

angry, for no reason apparently but that the affair seemed a huge

bother and trouble. He said in reply that the Japanese had taken

everything in any case, and that this was going to be a fool's quest

if he went on with it. Also, he would not listen to any arrangements

being made and put in writing regarding the proportions to be paid to

everyone if a find was actually made. Indeed, this last idea

irritated him so much that he angrily said that we were deliberately

plotting to take away the property of the Russian Government--property

which the Russian Government could not afford to lose, and did not

intend to lose, either. He even added that this was a city of robbers,

and that people would not keep to their own territory, but were always

trying to trespass. This made us laugh so much that he suddenly

changed his manner, and said that the whole question was a serious one

and would have to be referred home by telegraph. Otherwise he could

not authorise any payments. K----, who was present, replied

sarcastically that perhaps he would like to refer the question direct

to the Czar, and begged him to be cautious in such a very important

affair!

The last thing which could be got out of the Russian

Commander-in-Chief was that he would telegraph at once to Alexieff at

Port Arthur and ask his permission to arrange matters. If Alexieff

said yes, we would go to work at once; otherwise nothing could be

attempted. I knew that probably not a single word would be mentioned

to any one out of Peking, and that these were mere manoeuvres.

However....

I had almost forgotten the matter when, a few mornings after this

interview, I was suddenly awakened at daylight and told that there

were several Russian officers in my courtyard who wished to speak to

me at once. Their business was urgent. I went out and greeted the men,

and they said that L---- would be ready at two o'clock that day to go

with his staff to the Board of Revenue and effect the seizure; and

that a quarter share on all amounts seized would be given by the

Russian Government for the information supplied. These officers added

that they would have to go back at once; but in the end they remained

with me the whole morning, drinking as hard as they could, and

contenting themselves with despatching a Cossack to say that all was

arranged.

We started to go to the Russian headquarters at an early hour, but in

some mysterious way news must have been conveyed to other people of

this latest development, for half a dozen men arrived and appeared

immensely surprised to find these Russian officers there with me on

their horses. They asked me, each in turn, whether everything had been

arranged, and how much everyone was going to get, and where the

treasure was to be stored. There was, indeed, no end to their

questions, and they said that they estimated that the sum seized would

amount to about ten or twelve million francs. Later on, each man took

me aside, and explained what he had done to help the thing along,

hoping that he would be remembered in the end, as this was a very big

affair, and the more people in it the better. I confess I did not

clearly understand all this; it was like floating a mining company.

But I knew that most of these dear friends had been sitting shivering

inside the Legations while the sack was going on, because they had no

wish to risk their lives; and now that they thought they could safely

earn an honest penny in a legitimate affair, they would stoop to

anything!

We were soon such a huge cavalcade that I became nervous about the

reception L---- would give us. The Russian officers, too, became more

and more drunk in the open air, and kept on saying that they hoped

there would be fighting, heavy fighting, for they felt just like it. A

charge was what they wanted, they said. No one could find out with

whom they proposed to fight, as the place we were going to was only a

stone's throw away, with not a Chinaman near and a couple of strong

companies of Russian infantry inside. The officers became intensely

angry when everyone laughed, and said that although they were drunk,

they were not like many people without stomachs about whom there had

been so much talk. That was a nasty home-blow for some of them.

We found L---- ready enough; indeed, we had kept him waiting. He had

most of his staff with him, and the usual escort of Cossacks standing

by their horses, making it seem very official. Of course, L----

became furious when he saw the big crowd of people, and asked whether

it was going to be a picnic. This word tickled one of the drunken

officers so much, that suddenly he let his loose legs relapse and

clapped his spurs into his animal, which reared horribly, and in the

end sent him on the ground. I thought I should die of laughter. Then

everybody became more and more fussy, because they were afraid of

L----, but, fortunately, the general started off ahead, muttering to

himself, and we rode after him like some procession. It seemed to me

very absurd, and at that point I lost all confidence in the success of

the expedition. Everyone had become too sanguine, and I fully believe

that you cannot have any luck in such affairs with a crowd of idiots.

Other people, who had no business to know of the affair, somehow

managed to join us on the way, and when we reached the Board of

Revenue we numbered dozens of men, not including the escorts.

There were about two companies of Russian infantry in occupation

there, as I have already said, and in the first halls we found armed

guards superintending hundreds of small Chinese boys at work stringing

together copper cash. There must have been millions and hundreds of

millions of these worthless coins either piled up in great mountains

or scattered on the floors, and it would take months to sort them out

and market them. It was the only thing the cunning Japanese had openly

left!

L---- now called the officers of the guard, and explained to them that

he was about to seize secret treasure which had been so well hidden by

the Chinese that the Japanese had not been able to find it. He told

them to give their assistance. The new officers, when they heard

this, looked so sharply at one another, that everyone began to

comment on it, and say that if there was nothing left they knew who

was guilty. It was becoming delightful.

We started off in a body with the _ku-ping_, or treasury guards, who

were giving the information, leading us. They took us past a good many

huge buildings that looked like grimy old warehouses, and then stopped

us short at one that appeared to be still barred and bolted. It took

some time to open these doors, although the officers of the guard said

that they had only been closed after they had taken over the place

from the Japanese; and when we got inside it was so dark and dank that

we could see nothing and could scarcely breathe. Candles had to be

lighted, and as they threw feeble flickers of light across the gloom,

hideous bats began flying madly about, and dashing to the ground in

their fright great shreds of dusty cobwebs that must have been

centuries old. Nobody minded that, however; it seemed just the sort of

place where millions could really be found in these prosaic days!

The thing was now interesting, if only from a psychological point of

view....

The _ku-ping_ advanced, without hesitation, and brought us to a high

wooden paling which shut off one half of this immense hall from the

other. Inside the paling, as far as we could see, there were just

mountains of empty sacks--hundreds of thousands of them, even

millions, I should think.

But the paling was impassable. A small gate leading through it was

still locked with a heavy Chinese padlock, and there was no key. One

of the officers gave a wave of his hand, and a couple of the soldiers

went out and reappeared with axes. In a few blows they had cleared a

broad opening; the _ku-ping_ sprang through, and, like bloodhounds

that scent a trail, ran swiftly up the steep slopes of the great

masses of empty bags, looking eagerly about them. Then, finally

calculating aloud, they marked down a spot. They had located the exact

place where they would have to begin to work. They stripped themselves

to the waist with great rapidity, and, feeling that their reputations

were at stake, without any warning they were heaving away among those

empty sacks like so many madmen. Faster and faster they worked,

throwing away the sacks. Choking clouds of dust, now rising as if by

magic, filled the whole vast hall and drove us back coughing and

gasping for air, until, fairly beaten, we had to stand outside. As if

through a thick vapour we could dimly see those men still working more

and more rapidly. I wondered how they could breathe....

In very few minutes, however, they also had had enough, but as they

sprang down, and quickly gasping, sought the open air, they brought

with them the end of a rope. They had evidently not only located the

exact spot they were seeking, but had found the first trace which was

necessary to make their search successful. Still, it was impossible to

continue work in this way. It would take hours, at such a slow rate,

to dig down beneath those mountains of old treasure-sacks. It would

take more hours to excavate or open up chambers beneath. So we held a

short consultation. There was but one thing to do. We must tear down

one side of the building, so as to have more light, and to be able to

put more men to work. No sooner decided on, than the thing was done,

for in this work the Russians are supreme. They called in fatigue

parties from the infantry companies in garrison, and telling them in

simple language to break down one side of the building, in a few

moments a wonderful scene began. I had seen some rapid work at short

intervals during the worst agony of the siege, but never have I seen

men who could handle the axe and the crowbar like these rude

infantrymen. Everything went down under their blows--brickwork,

woodwork, stonework, iron stanchions, everything; and with a rapidity

which seemed incredible, gaping spaces appeared. Soon, standing

outside, from a dozen different points, you could see the Chinese

informants inside at work again, in those clouds of choking dust,

thrashing up and down, like men possessed.

But energy is not sufficient for some things. Three men were

attempting the work of a hundred. We must have more hands.

This time the dozens of small boys stringing cash in the outer

courtyards were called in and told to fall to; and forming lines which

oddly resembled those made by firemen, they were soon bundling out the

empty sacks to the open at the rate of thousands a minute. Faster and

faster they worked, as if the same frenzy had spread to them; wider

and wider moved the rings of floating dust, until they hung high above

everything and made the day seem dull and threatening. Then suddenly

the _ku-ping_ inside gave a shout. They had got low enough for the

time being--they wanted to be able to see. The squads of sweating

soldiers and the dozens of grimy little boys desisted and stood

open-eyed to see what was to follow. They were beginning to appreciate

the significance of it all.

We waited patiently and watched the great clouds melt away and settle

on our clothes and silt into our eyes; and then finally, when it was

clearer, a man inside struck a match, lit a candle and handed it down

into a great hole which had been dug through the very centre of these

decade-old bullion coverings. How deep the hole was I could not see,

but the three men slipped in and were entirely lost to our view.

They seemed a long time down there without giving a single sign or

making any noise, and we all became a little nervous. Perhaps the

thing was really miscarrying. Soon I felt certain that it had

miscarried, and bitterly regretted taking the matter in hand. Then one

man came up gruntingly and began cursing and swearing as soon as he

saw us. He did that because he was afraid. I feared the worst. On his

shoulders there was one single great lump of silver and nothing else,

and as he clambered out to where we stood he tilted it with a dull

thud to the ground, and said sullenly that that was the only thing

left, and that others had been there before us. He repeated this

several times, so that there should be no mistake; there was only this

enormous piece of silver and nothing else. The smile's left

everybody's face. Never have I seen such a sudden change. However, to

me it was _kismet_....

In some trepidation we at length approached L---- and told him what had

been said, and then there was another storm. He said that it was

impossible--that there must be some mistake--that the men had said

that the bullion was there, and there it must be. As he spoke his

anger rose again, and coming up and kicking the massive silver ingot,

he asked again and again in a few words of French, which I believe he

had learned especially for the occasion, "_Mais ou est l'or? mais ou

est l'or?_" It was almost pitiful to hear him repeat these words again

and again like a child. He believed we were cheating him....

The position had now become suddenly ridiculous, and I did not know

what to do. Everyone soon took up L----'s attitude, and felt that

they had been cheated by some one. Indeed, they acted as if they had

lost valued possessions. They all clambered around me, and said that

it was disgraceful, and that something should be done to punish the

men who had brought the false information. They became so excited that

it was necessary to create a diversion by going down into that hole

ourselves to see exactly what it meant. That proved the last straw.

It was the dirtiest and most uncomfortable descent I have ever made.

Sliding down through those piles of sacks led one to a false floor,

some planks of which had been forced up by the Chinese informants.

Beneath this was a short ladder, and, stepping down, one found one's

self in an immense underground chamber. The air was so thick and dank

here that it was almost impossible to breathe, and in the flickering

light of the candles we could just see a confused mass of chests and

boxes ranged round. Everyone of these had been battered open. The

cunning Japanese must have been there first and taken everything.

Alone that big lump of silver had been left because of its weight.

But there was something I missed. These _ku-ping_ had been emphatic

about the valuable weights we would find hidden--the standard weights

of China in pure gold, which were centuries old, they said, and were

the same as had been used during the Ming dynasty hundreds of years

before. I asked for them--where were they kept? Perhaps we might at

least have these.

Alas! they led me to a smaller chamber, with a curious little door

formed of a single slab of stone, and pointed once again

disconsolately to more rifled boxes. These outer chests covered

smaller boxes, which were of the size of the weights themselves. I had

always heard that the biggest weight of all was a square block of gold

equal to the weight of a full-grown man. I would like to have seen

that, but everything was gone. It was useless wasting any more time.

We came up again carrying some of those silk-lined boxes as

explanations and souvenirs. But our friends were now all standing

round some soldiers, who had accidentally knocked aside some flags of

stone, and had found a deep hole underneath. They were now jerking

away violently at some last obstruction, and finally they swept aside

everything and bared some steep steps. As we stood wondering what had

been discovered, and our hopes were almost revived, far down below

appeared a grimy face, and a man at last ran up, rapidly exclaiming

from surprise, as he mounted to the surface. It was one of our Chinese

informants! Then suddenly we saw the point, and in spite of our

discomfiture began laughing. The soldiers of the fatigue parties,

slower than us to understand, at length followed our example; then the

hundreds of small Chinese boys; then everyone else, until we were all

laughing. For we had been fooled and well fooled by those clever

little Japanese. When they had seized the Treasury, they had not only

discovered the general stores of silver, but had managed to find this

hidden entrance or some other near by. Without any trouble they had

gone down and taken everything, swept the place clean, and left,

probably as a supreme sarcasm, that one enormous lump of blackened

silver.... We were indeed well sold. It was immense.

At that particular moment I do not think any one was very bitter at

this absurd anti-climax after those great expectations. That is,

excepting the old general. Somehow, he became convinced by our

preparations that there would be much gold found as a just reward. Now

once again he accused us all of making a fool of him, of knowing from

the beginning that it was a wild-goose chase. I thought sarcastically

about his telegram and the desire he had had in the first place to

haggle about the terms; and I let him mutter on. It is always the one

who laughs last who laughs best. I made a little plan.

We retired from the Chinese Treasury with rather indecent haste. L----

did not even look at the guard which turned out as we passed the

entrance. When we had entered they had hurrahed him, and hoped that

his health was good, in a chorus after their custom; and he had made a

little speech in return, trusting that his children were also well! It

was amusing if you happened to be able to appreciate that kind of wit.

Most of my companions, however, did not. And yet with the clouds of

dust which had settled on us and covered us from head to food with

dirt it was impossible to look even dignified with success. And all my

friends, who had been so cordial and admiring in the morning, how cold

and distant they had become! They had not made anything--was not that

a sufficient excuse for any behaviour?

Somehow news of this expedition must have leaked out everywhere

through the indiscretion of confident busybodies, until everybody knew

about it, for we kept on meeting men riding across our road as if by

chance, and asking what luck we had had. This made the companions I

had gathered more furious than ever, and at the last moment, as we

parted, I could not restrain myself. I rode up to one of the staff

officers who had been the most officious and the most offensive, and

begged him not to forget to remind the general that he had a duty to

perform. An account must be telegraphed at once to Alexieff! That was

the last word--the very last.

VIII

THE PALSY REMAINS

September, 1900.

* * * * *

I have now ridden to every point of the compass in the city, and even

beyond, and I have inspected everything with a critical eye. It is

wonderful how things shape themselves. There are now some portions of

the city that are reasonably peaceful even at night, and where even

women can come forth and walk openly about; others that are quiet on

the surface and yet throw up mad things at all hours; and lastly,

there are those where riot and disorder still reign supreme. Some

people estimate that half or even three quarters of the native

population have fled, and that this accounts for the curious silence

which now reigns, only to be broken by the noise of marauders or

marching troops. Yet I do not believe that so many of the population

have really fled; many people remain half hidden in quiet spots,

where, packed dozens and dozens in a single house, they tremulously

await the return to happier days. The Chinese, I sometimes think, of

all peoples of this earth must have their historic sense enormously

developed. Thousands of years of civil wars and countless endless

sieges have placed them in the dilemma of to-day more often than it is

possible to say. Only fifty years ago the Taipings made whole

provinces suffer the way Peking has now suffered.... Such things must

live in the blood of a people and never be quite forgotten....

You muse like this very often when you ride out and meet lumbering

military trains going back to Tientsin, laden with countless chests of

loot. What immense quantities of things have been taken! Every place

of importance, indeed, has been picked as clean as a bone. Now that

the road is well open, dozens of amateurs, too, from the ends of the

earth have been pouring in to buy up everything they can. The armies

have thus become mere bands of traders eternally selling or

exchanging, comparing or pricing, transporting or shipping. Every man

of them wishes to know whether there is a fortune in a collection of

old porcelain or merely a competence, and whether it is true that a

long robe of Amur River sables, when the furs are perfect and undyed,

fetch so many hundreds of pounds on the London market. There are

official military auctions going on everywhere, where huge quantities

of furs and silks and other things come under the hammer. Yet it is

noticed that the very best things always disappear before they can be

publicly sold. A phrase has been invented to meet the case. "_Cherchez

le general_," people say.

Even with these sales the stocks never seem to sink lower. There are

always fresh finds being made--seizures made officially by an officer

or two with a few files of men so that there may be some reasonable

excuse to offer to those who persist in remaining mulishly prudish.

These new finds are, of course, called treasures-trove. They are good

words. Looting has officially ceased; is, indeed, forbidden under the

most severe penalties. That is why it is being systematised and made

open and respectable. It is in the blood. You cannot escape it; it

still follows you everywhere, no matter how far away you go.

Listen to this. I rode some days ago into the Imperial city in order

to climb the famous Mei Shan, or Coal Hill, built, according to

ancient tradition, so that when some immense disaster overwhelmed the

ruling dynasty, it might be lighted and consume in its flames the

whole Imperial family. That is the tradition--that the hill is an

immense funeral pyre. (Nowadays, however, ruling dynasties are so

human that they merely run away.) All the way up that historic hill I

was followed by the whining voices of disappointed looters. A

battalion of the French troops, which came straight from Europe a week

or so too late for the relief, was in garrison at the base of this

eminence, and French soldiers escorted me to the top, probably under

orders to see that I did not try and chip off the gold-leaf which is

reputed to line the roofs of the pavilions. You can never be quite

certain for what reason you are watched by rival nationalities now.

It was a long climb to the top, up winding steps that never ceased and

through little pavilions which looked out on the scene below. A final

flight of stairs at last introduced you into a structure which crowned

the whole. From here the view was magnificent. Right below you

could see far into the Palace and inspect the marble bridges, the

lotus-covered sheets of water and all the other things of the Imperial

plaisaunce. Farther on, the city of Peking spread out in huge expanses

hemmed in only miles away by the grey tracing of the city walls and

the high-standing towers. Farther again were waving fields with uncut

crops rotting as they stood, because all the country people had fled

to escape the vengeance. On the very horizon line were dark hills. The

view was indeed immense and wonderful.

I stood lost a little in this contemplation, and forgot the

attendants who had so persistently followed me, until suddenly their

voices rose in a dispute which was purposely loud so that it should

engage my attention. At last, as the stratagem had failed, and I did

not turn, a soldier bolder than his comrades pushed up to me, and

saluting politely enough, said that they had a few things to sell,

although they had had hard luck and had found Peking almost empty.

Indeed, before showing me anything, they complained bitterly of the

men from Tonkin, who were no better than disciplinary battalions and

who got everything because they had come with the first columns. This

they called cruelly unjust. Then from their pockets and tunics these

men began producing their little _articles de vertu_. They made me

laugh at first, for they had systematised so much that each man's

possession had a ticket attached, with the price in francs clearly

marked. That was good commercialism brought straight from France.

They were, however, only the usual things--watches, rings,

snuff-boxes, hair-ornaments, curios of minor value, and a few stones

of bad colour. But the men crowded round me and extolled their wares

like the hucksters of Europe, and beseeched me to buy in a most

anxious manner. They would sell cheap, very cheap, they confessed, at

the present moment, because they had just learned that an order had

been issued to search all their kits and to turn over the finds to a

common fund. Rumours had spread to Europe, they said--it was the first

I had heard of it--of the dark things which had been going on, and the

generals were becoming alarmed....

Fortunately I had with me some gold coin, and for a mere song I

purchased everything. I did not want to do so, but already experience

has taught us that it is best to buy when you are alone and no help

near by, otherwise your pockets may be turned out and everything taken

without an excuse. That happened to a man in the German Legation.

I climbed down from the famous Coal Hill, thinking very little of the

renowned view. I wondered merely when it was all going to end, and how

normal conditions were going to come. I wandered, thinking in this

manner, over the famous marble bridge, that delicate, delightful

tracing of stone which so charmingly crosses an artificial lake thick

with swaying lotus. I turned this way and that, not thinking very much

where I was going; and presently, on my way back, walked past the

Little Detached Palace, where, they say, the Emperor was imprisoned

after the 1898 _coup d'etat_. Here there was a curious sight, which

brought back my wandering attention. French and English soldiers

divided the honour of guarding this Palace entrance. Rival sentries

stood only ten or fifteen feet away from one another and jealously

watched to see that this prize was not secretly seized. The British

regiment had the actual gates; it seemed that the French had posted

themselves so close merely to watch. I passed these lines of sentries

and wandered along, only to be accosted once more as soon as I was in

a quiet alley. I soon found that this man and his mates were more

cunning than those with whom I had had previously to deal and that

some time must elapse before a bargain could be struck. They wasted

time ascertaining who I was, and only hinted at good things--not the

usual watches and rings, they said, but really things worth their

weight in pure gold. Then one man tempted me deliberately with an

abrupt movement which reminded me of the way the sellers of obscene

playing-cards in Paris disclose to the unsuspecting stranger their

wares. He drew from his tunic a little wooden box, opened it quickly,

and laid bare a most exquisite Louis XV. gold belt-buckle, set in

diamonds and rubies, and beautifully painted. I, who knew a little of

Manchu history, understood that belt-buckle. It must have been one of

the countless presents made during the early days of the Jesuits in

Peking, when they almost controlled the destinies of the Empire. It

was a priceless relic.

Of course I succumbed. Such things have an international value, and

were not merely the sordid pickings from deserted private dwellings.

Who would not rob a fleeing Emperor of his possessions?

After this we went into the English camp unostentatiously, and by some

means men came forward from nowhere, and without greeting or

superfluous words showed me what they had. The English are good

traders; they never waste their words; and as I looked I thought of

the anguish which the patrons of the Hotel Drouot or Christie's would

have felt could they have seen this marvellous collection. For these

common men had made one of such taste and value that there could be no

doubt where the things had been obtained. Every piece was good and a

century or two old. There were enamels and miniatures which must have

lain undisturbed for countless years watching the Manchu Emperors come

and go. There were beautiful stones and snuff-boxes, and many other

things. There might be none of the black pearls of General Monttauban,

Comte de Palikao, that had delighted the Empress Eugenie half a

century ago, but there were _objets de vertu_ such as duchesses love.

In the end, I, too, became commercial and arranged that some men

should come and find me that same evening, bringing as much as they

could carry of the spoils they had amassed. They were to be paid in

gold coin or in gold bars just as I pleased, weight for weight, and a

quarter in my favour. That was soon settled. In the evening the men

duly came, not the few I had supposed, but so many that they filled my

courtyards, yet managing to remain curiously, silent. For them an

important turning-point had been reached; they would make small

fortunes if the thing went through successfully. With scales in front

of me and gold alongside, we weighed and calculated unendingly--weight

for weight, with that one quarter in my favour. It took two hours and

more, for these common men were very careful, and everything had to be

written down and recorded with strange marks and numbers, denoting the

private division of profits which would afterwards follow. In the end

everything was finished with and bought. Then the men stood up and

shook themselves as if they had been bathed in a perspiration of

anxiety, and the spokesman, a dark man with a quick tongue, which

showed that he had not always been a soldier, thanked me curtly. When

they had drunk, at my request, he explained to me how it was done.

There was something dramatic in the way he described. It was so

simple. I recorded what he said so as not to forget. "When it's dark"

he said, in a low voice, with no introduction, "there's only the

picquets. They have everything to themselves excepting that the

Frenchies are just alongside. The Frenchies watch us close, but we

watch them closer, and there's always a way. Rounds are not kept up

the whole night, for everything is slack now, and when they are

finished the fun begins. The reliefs, lying on the ground, strip off

everything so that they can crawl like snakes and that no one can get

hold of them. They crawl in through holes, over walls, with never a

match or a light to show them how. In the end they get inside." The

man laughed a little hoarsely, spat, and again went on.

"The palace they call the Little Detached Palace will soon be picked

clean--clean as any dog's bone, with the Frenchies only fifteen feet

off, and you'll get nothing more from there. Sometimes the Frenchies

suspect and want to march right in on us, but our corporals are

waiting, and are ready for them, and our bayonets stop them short.

Twice it's happened that their officers march a guard right up to the

gates of the Little Detached, and want to stay there all night with

our fellows crawling about inside. They suspected. But we bluffed them

away every time, and now that all the good things are gone we are

carrying away the big ones--vases, small tables, carvings, jars,

bowls--everything. We wrap them up in a bundle of great-coats and

feed-bags in the morning, and carry them away; no one's ever the

wiser. All round the Palace they are doing the same. The Yankees, the

Russians, and all of them are in the same boat. All night they climb

the walls to get the swag. Give them another six months and there will

be nothing left."

Thus spoke the spokesman of the party. It was organised plundering,

and everybody winked at it. After they had gone I sat long and

reflected. This was the retribution and the vengeance. We were all

tarred with the same brush; we were returning to primitive methods.

Yet, what could be done--what steps could be taken? It was rather a

hopeless tangle, and once more I gave it up.

IX

DRIFTING

September, 1900.

* * * * *

There is not a single scrap of news worth recording, although

telegrams are now coming through more and more freely by the field

telegraphs from Europe. Still, no one knows what is going to happen.

As an appreciation of the astute action of the Court in fleeing at the

last second of the eleventh hour becomes more and more general, people

begin to see how absurd we have become with our avenging armies which

were going to do so much, and are now merely traders collecting and

valuing and slowly taking away the best loot of the capital. The

troops effected the relief, it is true; but there should have been

other steps. If these are now taken it is too late. Some, indeed, say

that punitive expeditions are going to be sent into the country as

soon as a transport service can be organised. Even now nests of Boxers

and disbanded soldiers are reported in great numbers only a few miles

beyond Peking. These men seem to understand that they are quite safe

even so close as this to the European corps, and that ample warning

will be conveyed to them directly there is any movement, so as to

allow them to escape. They, too, are now pillaging and setting fire

far and wide. Cossacks and other cavalry are supposed to be out many

miles beyond Peking, sweeping the country, and blowing up or setting

fire to temples and rich country-seats as a warning to others of the

fate which may overtake all for harbouring evil-doers. Yet even this

is done on no system. It is irresolute, foolish. A day or two ago,

from the top of the Tartar Wall, where I was idly sitting, I saw a

huge pillar of smoke roll up on the horizon ten or fifteen miles away,

and gradually spread farther and farther. The air was very still, for

the heat can still be baking in the midday of this autumn month, and

that smoke hung on the skies like some funeral pall. Into the hearts

of a whole country-side it must have struck a blind terror, for the

peasants still believe that they are all to die as soon as the troops

move out. The panic is thus only being added to; and a sort of blind

scourging of people who may not be in the least guilty can never be of

use. There is also still the same palsy on everyone and everything in

Peking. No one really knows what is going to happen. No one very much

cares. They say that this is being debated in Europe, and that there

are divided counsels which may bring about a split and really turn the

various corps now nominally allied to one another into active enemies,

as I dream when I see those jealous guards at the Palace entrances....

Yesterday some Chinese whom I had known in the old days came

stealthily to see me, and as soon as they were alone with me, without

excuse or warning, they fell on their knees and began bitterly

weeping. How sad, indeed, they were, these respectable people of the

Chinese _bourgeoisie_--so sad that for a long time I could not

persuade them to speak. Yet even as they wept they were dignified in a

curious way, and you felt that you were in the presence of men who had

only been cruelly wronged. At length they began speaking. They had

lost everything, absolutely everything, they said, what with the

Boxers and the sack, all this long, unending Reign of Terror. But that

they did not mind. They were bitter and beyond consolation because

they had lost the intangible--their honour. Each one had had women of

their households violated. One, with many hideous details, told me how

... soldiers came in and violated all his womankind, young and old.

That account, muttered to me with trembling lips, was no invention.

Their blanched and haggard faces showed that it was only the truth

they were speaking. About such elemental tragedies no one lies.

I tried to comfort these poor men as best I could. I told them old

sayings which had once been familiar to me; it was hard to know really

what to do. Yet they at length became more philosophic, and said they

understood that this was a visitation which the nation had deserved.

China had been utterly wrong; it had been madness. Then they remained

silent, and that silence was like a sermon straight from Heaven, both

for them and for me. I saw dimly for a few seconds many things, and

understood that it was useless saying more. But as they were

wretchedly poor, I gave them silver from the rich men's houses, which

seemed very Biblical--each man as much as he could carry--and told

them that they could always come for more. I asked them also to tell

all the people I had known to come, too; I would do as much as I could

for all of them. So all to-day they have been coming, and I have

showered largesse. A few households have thus some relief, but the

last man who came told me that a Hanlin scholar, who was his

neighbour--a learned man, who in the times of peace was courted by

all--is now selling wretched little cakes down the side alleys so as

to save himself and his few remaining relations from slow starvation.

Such things are the dregs. It is too much....

X

PICKING UP THREADS

September, 1900.

* * * * *

I suppose in some subtle way the conviction is being gradually forced

home that something must really be done to try and ameliorate the

general situation. It could obviously not go on forever in this way,

with the commanders of the rival columns almost fighting among

themselves, and with everybody quietly looting, and our Ministers, who

have lost so much, just twiddling their thumbs and delaying their

departure because they are afraid of worse things happening. So

somebody has been getting into communication with whoever represents

the last vestiges of Chinese authority in this ruined capital, and

diligent search has discovered that there are actually a few high

officials left and a great number of smaller ones. These have all

shown a trembling haste to oblige; and after some _pourparlers_, there

is now a faint possibility of a _modus vivendi_ being arranged during

the next few weeks.

For it soon transpired, after the confidence of these remaining

officials had been gained, that Prince Ching had been discreetly

dropped by the fleeing Court only about fifty miles to the southwest

of Peking--dropped just behind the first mountain barriers, so that he

was at once safe and yet within easy call. He had been in waiting

there for weeks, it appears. Sage old man! Those conciliatory

despatches, coming from the officers of the defunct Tsung-li Yamen,

have made of this old Manchu prince the natural person to bridge over

the ever-widening gulf the Court has dug by its insanity. People

remember now that this procedure of leaving behind a Prince to begin

the first _pourparlers_ is only the precedent of 1860. Then Prince

Kung played exactly the same _role_ when the Court had fled to Jehol.

Prince Ching fenced a long time before he would move forward, or even

disclose his safe hiding-place; but in the end he was prevailed upon

by some one. And yesterday he actually entered Peking through the same

Northern Gates which witnessed the mad flight of the Court a month

ago.

Many rode out to see this entry, half expecting something spectacular,

which would give them a change of thought. But they were grievously

disappointed. Prince Ching merely appeared in a sedan chair, looking

very old and very white, and with his _cortege_ closely surrounded by

Japanese cavalry, whose drawn swords gave the great man the appearance

of a prisoner rather than that of an Envoy. Every Chinese official,

large and small, in the city came out on this occasion for the first

time since the troops burst in; and sitting in what carts they could

find, and clothed in the remains of their official clothes, they paid

their Manchu dignitary their trembling respects. What terror these

wretched men exhibited until they actually met the Prince, and saw

that there was going to be no treachery of shooting down by ignorant

soldiery! For a whole month everyone of them had been living

disguised in the most humble clothes, escaping over back walls

directly news was brought that marauders were at their front doors;

offering their very women up so as to escape themselves; living in

all truth the most wretched lives. Hourly they had expected to be

denounced by enemies to the European commanders as ex-Boxer chiefs,

and then to be summarily shot. That is what had happened for miles

round Monseigneur F----'s cathedral, it is being whispered. The native

Catholics, having died in hundreds, and lost whole families of

relatives, had revenged themselves as cruelly as only men who have

been between life and death for many weeks do. They had led French

soldiers into every suspected household, and pointing out the man on

whom rumour had fixed some small blame, they had exacted vengeance.

Even on this day of Prince Ching's entry this search and revenge was

still going on; there were so many scores to pay....

It was plain to me that every official was thinking of these things,

for the little convoys that I watched all day wending their way to the

north of the city represented petrified fear in forms that I hope I

may never see again. I stopped one cart, all bedecked with

flags--German flags, English flags, Russian flags, French flags,

Japanese flags, every kind of flag, to help to protect from all

possible injury--merely to inquire at what hour precisely Prince Ching

would arrive and where he was going to live. What a result these

questions had! Instantly he heard my voice, the official inside the

cart crawled half out with a deathly green pallor on his face, and

with his whole body trembling so violently that I thought he would

collapse for good. As it was, he remained in a sort of stricken

attitude, like a man who has been stunned. He was quite speechless. I

called to him several times that all was well, that he would not be

hurt, to calm himself.... In vain. Every word I spoke only added to

his terror and remained unintelligible because of his panic. He was a

lost soul--for ever. The iron had entered too deeply. He was so

smitten that he never could be cured.

His outriders, who had swung themselves from their saddles, at last

bowed to me. They were a little pale, but quite collected.

"Excellency," they said, "forgive him; it is not his fault. He has

been frightened into semi-insanity." "_Hsia hu-tu-lo,"_ they said.

Yes, that is the phrase, frightened into semi-lunacy. They are

employing this for everyone. The tragedy has been so immense, the

strain has been endured for so many months, there has been so much of

it, that all minds excepting those of the common people have become a

little unhinged. Half the time you speak to men you are not

understood; they look at you with staring eyes, wondering whether the

rifle or the bayonet is to follow the question. It is past curing for

the time being.

Meanwhile Prince Ching has got in safely, and has been given a big

residence, which is closely guarded by the Japanese. Perhaps the

_modus vivendi_ will after all be arranged.

XI

THE IMPOSSIBLE

30th September, 1900.

* * * * *

Prince Ching has been here a number of days now--I have not even taken

the trouble to note how many--but still nothing has been done. They

say that half the Powers refuse to treat with him until things are

better arranged, and that the Russians have already raised insuperable

difficulties because they say the Japanese have the big Manchu in

their pocket. Others argue that expeditions must really be launched

against a number of cities in Northern China, where hideous atrocities

have been committed, and where missionaries and converts were

butchered in countless numbers during the Boxer reign. Until these

expeditions have marched and had their revenge, there can be no

treating. There must be more killing, more blood. That is what people

say.

The fleeing Court has reached Taiyuanfu, it is reliably reported. This

is three hundred miles away, but the Court does not yet feel safe; it

is going farther west, straight on to Hsianfu, the capital of Shensi

province, which is seven hundred miles away. That is a big gulf to

bridge; yet if there is any advance of European corps in that

direction, already Chinese say that the Empress will flee into the

terribly distant Kansu province--perhaps to Langchou, which is another

four hundred miles inland; perhaps even to Kanchau or Suchau, which

are five hundred miles nearer Central Asia. These cities, lying at

the very southwestern extremity of the Great Wall of China, look out

over the vast steppes of Mongolia, where there are nothing but Mongols

belonging to many hordes, who live in the saddle and drive their

flocks of sheep and their herds of ponies in front of them, forever

moving. It is nearly two thousand miles in all; no European armies

could ever follow, not in five years. They would slowly melt away on

that long, interminable road. With such a line of retreat open the

Court is absolutely safe, and knows it. It can act as it pleases.

Prince Ching is so miserably poor, they say, and has so little of the

things he most needs, that he has been forced to borrow looted _sycee_

from corps commanders and to give orders on the Southern Treaty ports

in payment. It is an extraordinary situation.

A number of little expeditions have already been pushed out forty,

fifty and even sixty miles into the country, feeling for any remnants

of the Chinese armies which may remain. I went with one of these

_faute-de mieux_, as Peking has become so gloomy, and there is so

little to do that it fills one with an immense nostalgia to remain and

continually to contemplate the ruins and devastation, from which there

can be no escape.

Never shall I regret that little expedition into the rude hills and

mountains, where climbs in wonderful manner the Great Wall of China.

It was divine. There was a sense of freedom and of openness which no

one who has not been a prisoner in a siege can ever experience. In the

morning sweet-throated cavalry trumpets sounded a reveille, which

floated over hill and dale so chastely and calmly that one wished they

might never stop. How those notes floated and trembled in the air, as

grey daylight was gently stealing up, and how good the brown earth

smelt! I almost forget the other kind of trumpet--that cruel Chinese

trumpet which only shrieks and roars.

Each day we rode farther and farther away, and higher and higher,

beating the ground and examining the villages, from which whole

populations had fled, to see that no enemy was secretly lurking.

Travelling in this wise, and presently climbing ever higher and

higher, we came at last to little mountain burgs, with great thick

outer walls and tall watch-towers, where in olden days the marauders

from the Mongolian plains were held in check until help could be

summoned from the country below. It was a wonderful experience to

travel along unaccustomed paths and to come on endless ruined bastions

and ivy-clad gates, which closed every ingress from Mongolia. Once

these defences must have been of enormous strength.

One night, after journeying for a long time, we camped in one of these

little mountain burgs, taking full possession, so that there should be

no treachery while it was dark. The night passed quietly, for even

fifty miles beyond Peking the terror lies heavy on the land, and in

the morning we wandered to the massive iron-clad gates and the tall

watch-towers which stood sentinel on either side to see if there was

anything to be had. How old these were, how very old! For, mounting

the staircase leading to the towers, we found that, although the rude

rooms beneath showed signs of having been recently occupied, the stone

steps which led to the roof-chambers were covered with enormous

cobwebs and great layers of dust, showing that nothing had been

disturbed for very many years. That was as it should be. At the very

top of one tower we discovered a locked door, and beating it in amid

showers of dust, we penetrated a room such as a witch of mediaeval

Europe would dearly have loved. Nothing but cobwebs, dust, flapping,

grey-yellow paper and decay. It was immensely old.

And yet we found something. For there were some chests hidden away,

and prizing these open, we discovered great books of yellow parchment,

so old and so sodden that they fell to pieces as soon as one touched

them. They were in some Mongol or Manchu script. They, too, were

centuries old. But there was something else--a great discovery.

Beneath the books we found helmets, inlaid with silver and gold and

embellished with black velvet trappings studded with little iron

knobs. There were also complete suits of chain armour. It seemed to us

in that early morning that we were suddenly discovering the Middle

Ages, perhaps even the Dark Ages. For these things were not even early

Manchu; they were Mongol; Mogul--the war-dress of conquerors whose

bodies had been rotting in the dust for five, six, seven, eight, or

even nine centuries. These relics had lain there undisturbed for all

this time because China has been merely tilling the fields and

neglecting everything else. In a curious mood we donned these suits

and went down below clad as the conquerors of old.

There were some Indian troopers waiting, and when they saw these

things they exclaimed and muttered excitedly to one another, casting

half-startled looks. These were the same trappings and war-dresses as

in the days of the Great Moguls at Delhi. The very same. The

conquerors who had swept across high Asia had worn such things, and

every man from Northern India must have understood their meaning and

message. As they looked the Indian troopers chattered and talked to

one another in a growing excitement. It seemed as if we had suddenly

dug up some links of the half-forgotten past which showed how the

chain of armed men had been tightly bound by Genghis Khan and Batu

Khan, and all the other great Khans, from the Great Wall of China all

round Northern and Central Asia, until it had reached down over the

Himalayas into India. It was very curious.

When we had finished this reconnaissance, which carried us in every

direction under the shadow of the Great Wall, we turned bridle and

made back towards Peking by another route. A day's march away from the

capital, word was brought us that there were still numbers of

disbanded soldiery and suspected Boxers hiding in the Nan-Hai-tsu--a

great Imperial Hunting Park, which had fallen into decay during the

present century. We would have to sweep this park, which was dozens of

miles broad and quite wild, and scatter any bands we might find. So

starting after midnight, we marched hard in the gloom for several

hours with native guides leading us, and daylight found us under the

encircling wall of the ancient hunting-ground. We halted there a bit

and refreshed ourselves quickly, and then galloped in through a

breach. There were miles upon miles of beautiful grass stretches, and

we and our mounts were fairly pumped before we saw or heard anything.

But towards midday we came on some tiny hills and a few low buildings,

which seemed suspicious, and no sooner had we approached than a whole

nest of men rushed out on us, firing and shouting as they ran. Some

had only huge lances made of bamboo, fifteen feet and more long, and

tipped with iron and with little red pennons fluttering; yet these

were the most effective of all. Waving these lances violently, and

holding them in such a manner that it was impossible to get near,

these men scattered our charge before it got home and unhorsed a

number of troopers. Then it became a general _melee_, which ended in

the killing or capture of a few of the enemy and the rapid escape of

the remainder.

Very late in the evening we rode into Peking with our helmets and our

coats of mail and our long lances as trophies. The capital seemed

terribly listless and oppressed after the country beyond, and I was

bitterly sorry that expedition had not lasted for weeks and months.

XII

SUSPENSE

October, 1900.

* * * * *

Another month has come and there has been practically no change. They

say now Prince Ching has no power to treat, and that he is a mere

Japanese prisoner. Li Hung Chang is in Tientsin, too, it appears. He

is to be the other plenipotentiary when negotiations really commence,

but for the time being he is the Russian captive. The Russians have

him surrounded with their troops, and no one but a favoured few may

even see him. Already there has been trouble with the British on this

score at Tientsin, and some people say that some pretext will be

seized to bring about an international crisis among the expeditionary

corps. They are fighting about the destroyed railway up to Peking

already. Various people are claiming the right to rebuild the line,

and refuse to give up the sections they have garrisoned. Everywhere

there are pretty complications in the air.

Meanwhile, in Peking itself things have become more and more quiet,

and as the policing is slowly improving, confidence is a little

restored. But still new troops are being marched in all the

time--notably German troops--and as soon as night closes down all

these men fall to looting and outraging in any way they can. They say

that the Kaiser, in his farewell speech to his first contingent,

before Peking had been heard of for weeks, told the men to act in

this way. They are strictly obeying orders. Even the officers of the

new troops take a hand in this looting in a modified way. They force

their way into the remains of the curio shops, take the few pieces

which are left, place a dollar or so on the counter and then walk out.

This makes a legitimate purchase.

In the Japanese district, which is now the best policed and the most

tranquil, shops are being reopened, but are now being panic-stricken

by this new procedure. It is the refinement of the game, and there is

no redress possible. Beyond this I know not of a thing worth the

mentioning.

XIII

STILL DRIFTING

October, 1900.

* * * * *

There is, after all, to be no immediate peace--that seems now quite

certain. We hear that the Russians have invaded all Manchuria and are

strengthening their hold there by bringing in more and more troops

from the Amur districts. They say, too, that the French have crossed

the Tonkin frontier. But really accurately we know nothing very much

of what is being done. With sixty or seventy thousand soldiery

suddenly flung down on the ruined stretch of country between Peking

and the sea, everything has been put in the most horrible confusion.

You can get nothing, nor hear anything. Telegrams are the only things

which are coming through with any regularity, and even these are cut

to pieces by the field telegraphs or continually getting lost. The

mails, it is true, have at last arrived, but they are all mixed in

such a way, and there is such old correspondence heaped on top of the

new, that general instructions and the proposals made read in this way

seem to be the ravings of madmen. There are hundreds of despatches of

April, May and June, showing the calibre of some Foreign Offices in an

unmistakable way. I sometimes wonder if only the fools are left in the

home offices.

Still, after a good many headaches, one can begin to appreciate the

general plan which was finally settled on by the various

_Chancelleries_, and to understand what delayed the relief so much.

Most of all it has been the South African war. Also, is seems to me,

they wanted Waldersee, the German Field Marshal, to have time to take

over the supreme command for the sake of peace in Asia, and so that

there should be an enormous massed advance on Peking, which would

capture all North China to Christendom and enslave the cunning old

Empress Dowager, and do everything as arranged in Europe. It was,

above all, necessary not to cause an imbroglio in Europe.

Of course, the very opposite has happened, and everybody is now as

discontented and jealous as before the siege. Waldersee is in Tientsin

and has been there for weeks for some new decision to be made. The

grand advance is finished and done with, but now some column

commanders wish to push down into the south of the province and

isolate the Court, if possible. Meetings are being held the whole

time, but as Waldersee is coming up, nothing is to be done until his

arrival. By one ingenious stroke--the sudden flight of the Court--the

Chinese have turned the tables on allied Europe and made us all

ridiculous. Any one might have anticipated something of this--there is

a precedent in the histories. Yet history is only made to be

immediately forgotten.

XIV

PUNITIVE EXPEDITIONS

October, 1900.

* * * * *

At length Waldersee has arrived. He made a sort of entry which seemed

to me farcical. I only noticed that he was very old, and that the hats

that have been served out to the special German expeditionary corps

are absurd. They are made of straw and are shaped after the manner of

the Colonial hats used in South Africa. They have also a cockade of

the German colours sewn to the turned-up edge. This must be some

Berlin tailor's idea of an appropriate head-dress for a summer and

autumn campaign in the East. The hat is quite useless, and had it been

a month earlier all the men would certainly have died of sunstroke.

Of course, now with Waldersee in Peking, something more has to be

done, and the rumour is to-day that the Court has begun fleeing yet

farther to the West. The rulers of China are being kept accurately

informed of every move by some one, and any indication of a pursuit

will see them penetrate farther and farther towards the vast regions

of Central Asia. It seems to me that it would be almost amusing (would

not the consequences be so tragic) to begin this pursuit and really to

attempt to push the Court so far away that it finally lost touch with

all the rest of China. Then something beneficial to everyone might

come. An ultimatum, to which attention would be paid, might be

served, and guarantees exacted which would do service for a number of

years. At present the flight has done no harm whatever to China. The

Court is not even ridiculous in the eyes of the populace. It is merely

terribly unfortunate--a really luckless Court, which deserves to be

commiserated with and wept over rather than upbraided. For it is plain

to everyone that the first and last reason for all this is the

foreigner and no one else. Everything the foreigner does is always a

source of trouble.

Even the machinery of government has not been disturbed by the fact

that vast Peking, the vaunted capital, is in the hands of ruthless

invaders. At first everyone thought that with the Palace empty, and

all the great Boards and offices made mere camping-places for

thousands of hostile soldiery, the government of the whole empire

would be paralysed--sterilised. Yet that has not happened. The

government goes on much the same as ever. We know that now. For as the

Court flees it issues edicts, receives reports and accounts, is met

with tribute from provincial governors and viceroys, is clothed and

banqueted, makes fresh appointments, does its day's work while it

runs. I cannot understand, therefore, how this is to end. It is beyond

the keenest intellects in Peking, and people are now simply waiting

for things to happen and to accept facts as they may be dealt out by

the Fates. It is an inevitable policy. For you must always accept

facts when you cannot mould them.

XV

THE CLIMAX

October, 1900.

* * * * *

I am becoming tired of it all once again--inexpressibly tired. It

seems to me at times now as if those of us who remain had been very

sick, and then, when we had become convalescent, had been ordered by

some cruel fate to remain sitting in our sick-rooms forever. A siege

is always a hospital--a hospital where mad thoughts abound and where

mad things are done; where, under the stimulus of an unnatural

excitement, new beings are evolved, beings who, while having the

outward shape of their former selves, and, indeed, most of the old

outward characteristics, are yet reborn in some subtle way and are no

longer the same.

For you can never be exactly the same; about that there is no doubt.

You have been made sick, as it were, by tasting a dangerous poison.

Great soldiers have often told their men after great battles have been

fought and great wars won that they have tasted the salt of life. The

salt of life! Is it true, or is it merely a mistake, such as

life-loving man most naturally makes? For it can be nothing but the

salt of death which has lain for a brief instant on the tongue of

every soldier--a revolting salt which the soldier refuses to swallow

and only is compelled to with strange cries and demon-like mutterings.

Sometimes, poor mortal, all his struggles and his oaths are in vain.

The dread salt is forced down his throat and he dies. The very

fortunate have only an acrid taste which defies analysis left them. Of

these more fortunate there are, however, many classes. Some, because

they are neurotic or have some hereditary taint, the existence of

which they have never suspected, in the end succumb; others do not

entirely succumb, but carry traces to their graves; yet others do not

appear to mind at all. It is a very subtle poison, which may lie

hidden in the blood for many months and many years. I believe it is a

terrible thing.

Nobody should have been allowed to stay behind after hearing for so

many weeks that ceaseless roar, sustaining that endless strain,

enduring so much. They should have been made to forget--by force.

And yet even this nobody understands or cares to speak of, although a

number of men are still half mad. The newcomers, soldiers and

civilians alike, who never cease streaming in now to gaze and gape and

inquire how it was all done, are quite indifferent. Some say that it

must have been an immense farce--that there was really nothing worth

speaking about. Others wish to know curious details which have no

general importance. The Englishmen are proud, and want to know whether

you were inside the British Legation, their Legation, and when they

have heard yes or no their interest ceases. They little know what the

Legation stood for. The Americans march up to the Tartar Wall, talk

about "Uncle Sam's boys," and exclaim that it requires no guessing to

tell who saved the Legations. The French are the same, so are the

Germans, so even the Italians. Only the Japanese and the Russians say

nothing.

At first I was at some pains to explain to each separate man what

really occurred. I pulled out my rough map, all thumb-marked and

dirtied with brick chips and the soil of the trenches, and showed

stage by stage how the drama unrolled. It was no good. Poor me! nobody

quite understood. Some thought possibly that I was a glib liar; others

did not even trouble to think anything. How much they understood! They

had not the background, the atmosphere, the long weeks which were

necessary to teach even us ourselves. They had not tasted the poison

and did not yet suspect its existence. So I gradually desisted. Now I

say nothing, never a word. I listen and understand how history is

made. It is best never to explain or argue if you thoroughly

understand. Rhetoric is only the amplification of something long

understood in one's heart of hearts.

I am, therefore, tired of it all, inexpressibly tired. I wish to

escape from my hospital, to go away to some clean land where they

understand so little of such things that their indifference will in

the end, perhaps, convince me and make me forget.

Yet can one ever forget?

XVI

THE END

November, 1900.

* * * * *

Another month, and I have made up my mind quite suddenly. I have

finished with it--at least, in outward form. After waiting a couple of

weeks and wondering what I should do, a last argument brought it

about--an argument with a German which ended by enraging me to an

impossible point and making me challenge him to anything he liked.

That showed me that my last safe moment had arrived.

He was a youngish officer sent from the Field-Marshal's staff to

discuss some diplomatic-military details with my chief. The business

part was soon over, for there was really little to decide, and then

the man fell to talking about what should be done. He said that were

there not so much rivalry and jealousy, and could Waldersee only act

as he wished, they would have proper punitive expeditions which would

shoot all the headmen of every village for hundreds of miles, and make

such an example of everybody that the memory would endure for

generations in every district where there had been Boxers. The officer

was eloquent because he had only just arrived, and understood

nothing--absolutely nothing. For some reason our stars crossed and I

hated him immediately. So I waited until he had finished so that I

could begin. Then I began.

I cannot even remember all I said, for I was greatly enraged by the

brutality of the man's ideas, but I treated him as he had never been

treated before. As I poured out my lava stream and he slowly

understood what I meant, he first became very red, and then very pale,

and finally he stood up. I took advantage of that action, and since we

all still are armed, I told him he could have satisfaction, at once if

he wished, and at any number of paces he chose to name.

My chief then suddenly intervened, and, trembling violently, said that

it could not go on--that it was a mistake. He took the blame on his

shoulders, he said, and would apologise himself later on. For many

minutes he harangued, and in the end the officer went away with his

eyes glittering, but not too reluctantly. He knew that I could have

killed him with my second chamber unless his first shot hit my

vitals....

After that there was a second scene--but one which was much more

brief. My chief attempted to deal with me, and to him I spoke my mind.

I am afraid I said many things which were so brusque that modern

society would have reproved me. I told him that it was well known that

he and every other man of position had been tremulously fearing death

at every turn for weeks, and had been unwilling to do anything when

they might have really saved the situation; merely because they were

so afraid; that everything had been misstated in the reports, and that

although the full truth might not be known for years, eventually it

would be known and people would understand. I said that this petty

life created by men without stomachs had ended by disgusting me, and

that I had finished with it for good and for ever. Then I went out in

silence, slamming the door behind me with all the strength of my

arms. It was a most enormous slam. It had to be so; it was my last

word. In my commandeered residence I found that the breath of

misfortune had also come. The rightful owners had managed to steal

into Peking in the train of some big official who had had an escort of

foreign soldiery provided him, and now smilingly and cringingly

greeted me, and thanked me for my guardianship during their

unavoidable absence. The Manchu women were grouped round in great

excitement. They did not relish the change--they did not want it. The

tall and stately one who had first touched my knee on that dark night

during the sack was not there.

The rightful owners irritated me intensely with their obsequiousness.

I was irritated because they lived: they should have ceased to exist

long ago. They were still very much afraid, although they had reached

Peking in safety, for they half thought that I would hand them over to

some provost-marshal as Boxer partisans in order to get rid of them.

They were very afraid. The Manchu women were all talking and praising

me, and telling wonderful stories of all I had done. But the most

important one of them was absent. I became vaguely conscious that this

also meant something, that perhaps there was to be another tragedy. I

found her later wishing to kill herself, to commit suicide, so that

she, too, need never return to her other life.... That was more

terrible than the other scenes. I could do nothing, yet my

responsibility had been great. In the end something was arranged. I

hardly remember what.

I was soon ready to go; on the same afternoon I had completed all my

preparations. I had so little to prepare. Then I rode out for the last

time with all my men behind me, and not a single other person. We

passed down the streets out from the Tartar City, through the ruins of

the great Ch'ien Men Gate, and then followed straight along the vast

main street, still covered with _debris_ and dirt, and skulls and

broken weapons, as if the weeks and months which had gone by since the

fighting had been quite unheeded. Near the outer gates of the city I

met my three cavalrymen of the Indian regiment waiting to bid

good-bye. They joined me with some attempt at gaiety, but that soon

fizzled out. I had so plainly collapsed.

We passed into the country with the tall crops still rotting as they

stood, because everyone had fled and no one dared to return. We went

on faster and faster as the roads broadened, and as we galloped we met

new troops marching in on Peking. They were Germans driving captives

of many kinds in front of them. "Damned Germans," said the smaller

officer, who was the senior, and who had been quite silent for some

time. "Damned Germans," repeated the two others mechanically, as if

this was a new creed, and I, approving, faintly smiled. That stirred

them to talk again, and they told me that the expeditions had been

settled on, and that they would have to go, too. Orders had come from

home that they must not fall out with Waldersee. It was highly

important to placate the Germans because of South Africa. But the

Americans would not go, neither would the Russians, nor yet the

Japanese. It was to be a new arrangement. They went on talking in this

wise for a long time, and I heard these scraps of conversation vaguely

as in a dream. Cynically I thought that, although I was leaving it all

behind me in company of men who were strangers to Peking, the last

words would still be concerned with our tortuous diplomacy. Yet my

gallant friends were only trying to console me--to make me forget.

Such things they understood far better than others. They were from

India, where men think a good deal, and sometimes act. They were

treating me as best they could. Then when we came to a sharp rise over

which the road curled and crawled, they halted suddenly, stretched out

their hands, and bade me good-bye. They meant it to be a sharp

wrench--to be over quickly. Just on the rim of the horizon stretched

the grey of the fading Tartar Walls with their high-pitched towers.

The sun sinking behind the western hills threw some last flames of

golden fire, but the air remained chill. It was becoming cold, and

even the dust no longer rose in clouds. Everything was pinned to the

soil--tired--finished....

I rode on abruptly. Then, for the last time, my cavalrymen turned

round and shouted faintly back to me. It was a word which carried

well. "Chubb, Chubb, Chubb," they were shouting, to give my thoughts a

turn. They knew what I must be thinking. They knew; they had been in

India. I quickened my horse into a gallop, rode faster and faster, and

before night had fallen I had gained the river-boats. It was over....

* * * * * *

BOOKS BY PUTNAM WEALE

Political

MANCHU AND MUSCOVITE

THE RE-SHAPING OF THE FAR EAST

(2 volumes)

THE TRUCE IN THE EAST AND ITS AFTER-MATH

THE COMING STRUGGLE IN EASTERN ASIA

THE CONFLICT OF COLOUR

THE TRUTH ABOUT CHINA AND JAPAN

THE PAGEANT OF PEKING

(In collaboration with Donald Mennie)

Romantic

INDISCREET LETTERS FROM PEKING

THE FORBIDDEN BOUNDARY

THE HUMAN COBWEB

THE UNKNOWN GOD

THE ROMANCE OF A FEW DAYS

THE REVOLT

THE ETERNAL PRIESTESS

THE ALTAR FIRE

WANG, THE NINTH