Nor did the sympathy of the American commodore cease here; for the boats
of the _Toeywan_ helped to pick up many of our wounded fellows who were
struggling in the water, while a lot of his men, coming alongside one of
the gunboats, which had redoubled their fire in order to cover the
landing of the assaulting party, climbed on board and "lent a hand" to
man the gun.
The stalwart "down easters," when called to order by their officer later
on, when leaving this vessel to regain their own ship, excusing
themselves for having taken so unneutral a part in the action, on the
plea that seeing we were short-handed and in a tight place, they had
done it "for fellowship sake!"
Most of our fellows were in the attacking column, though neither I nor
Larkyns, nor, indeed, any of the other youngsters, were permitted to
accompany them, but I can tell of my own knowledge with what wistful
eyes we watched their progress from the deck of the little spitfire of a
vessel that I was only on board of on sufferance, I having smuggled
myself in with Larkyns, who was on duty as midshipman of the launch; for
the gunboat had now returned to the barriers further up the river and
began hammering again at the batteries, in order to divert their
attention from our field column, after assisting to bring up a quota of
the force and waiting till they disembarked from the boats.
Gallantly the little band, a compact mass of six hundred men, pursued
their way through the treacherous mud, night closing in as they
struggled onward, and the darkness only lit by the flashes of our guns
firing over the head of the column at the fortifications in their front;
the Chinese only replying to our cannonade in a half-hearted fashion, as
if they had got weary of the job, leading us thus to believe that the
"forlorn hope" had an easy task before it!
But, Larkyns and myself were both deceived, this sudden quiet on the
part of the enemy being really a ruse; for, hardly had the column
reached firm ground than the hitherto silent batteries all at once burst
into a sheet of flame, pouring shot and shell, jinghal balls, rifle
bullets, in fact every variety of deadly missile known in war, on the
heads of our devoted men, at such close quarters, too, that not one in
three escaped the avalanche of destruction!
The Tartar garrison defending the place, we subsequently learnt, used
bows and arrows and matchlocks, in addition to the best modern weapons,
the better to discomfit their foes; "those vile red devils of
barbarians," as they called us, who had so rashly ventured to tackle
them at close quarters, thinking to "catch a weasel asleep."
"Oh, Vernon, look, look!" cried Larkyns, as the gloomy night with its
overhanging pall of smoke from the endless bombardment, which had been
going on ever since mid-day, was lit up by a crimson glow that enabled
us to see every detail of what took place and even recognise the
features of some of our officers. "See how they are mowed down--not a
man of them will come back alive!"
Saying which, grown lad that he was of seventeen, and courageous and
foolhardy to desperation, he burst into tears, the tension on his nerves
from the excitement we had all gone through since the early hours of
that ill-fated morning having completely unmanned him, making him for
the moment a perfect baby!
But I was just as bad; and, to relieve our feelings, we helped the
marine gunners, who were pounding away at the rascally Chinese, although
we had presently to stay our fire, for fear of hitting friends as well
as foes.
The end was not far off now, things shortly coming to a climax.
Half our men fell at the first discharge; but the remainder resolutely
rushed on to the broad ditch in front of the bastion, and about a third
of these got bravely through this obstruction, some fifty finally
reaching the base of the works.
There were no scaling ladders, however, wherewith to climb the steep
escarpments, no available reinforcements, for every man jack that could
be spared from the gunboats was there, to fill the voids in the ranks
which dwindled and dwindled each instant; and so at last, although the
handful of heroes who succeeded in getting up to the foremost fort,
advancing almost within sight, so to speak, of victory, might possibly
have held their own where they were until morning, if they had been
allowed to remain, being partly sheltered now by the salient angle of
the fortification, our senior officer, perceiving the hopelessness of
continuing any longer the unequal contest, ordered "the retreat" to be
sounded.
Then came the most harrowing scene of all.
If the Chinese fire had been hot before, its intensity was increased
tenfold as soon as the bugle-call echoed out shrilly between the reports
of the heavy guns and fusillade of the musketry, and the remnants of the
gallant little band began to fall back on their boats, retiring in
wonderful order despite the cruel pelting they received on all sides,
not a wounded man being left behind whose life could be saved.
A wonder it was, though, as Larkyns said, that a single soul escaped;
for the guns which were aimed at the poor, worn-out fellows as they
waded out through the mud to their boats, were now turned on the latter
as they got into these, scattering grape as they were massed together,
and when the gunboat advanced to their rescue.
"Boom!" came the round shot hopping over them; and "Bang!" and "Rattle!"
and "Rattle!" and "Bang!" they went on incessantly until all were out of
range, the boats in tow resembling a funeral procession which, with its
weird surroundings, seemed like Holbein's "Dance of Death."
It was such a ghastly picture, which those who saw it will never forget.
The lapping water had by this time overflowed the shelving banks of the
river, which spread out far beyond its regular bounds into the reedy
plains and marshes on either hand, the swollen stream bringing down, as
the tide ebbed again towards midnight, the wreckage of the gunboats that
had been sunk during the conflict.
Broken spars and the remnants of the destroyed booms floated along,
impeding the progress of the craft that had escaped, and blocking the
narrow channel where only sufficient depth could be obtained to admit of
their passage out to sea; while the corpses of the slain that had fallen
overboard floated by similarly on the turbid bosom of the Peiho.
All these baffled our poor fellows who were struggling for their lives
when the boats upset, and endeavouring to swim to the steamers, which,
on their part, were trying their hardest to get across the bar before it
would be too late!
All the time, too, the Manchurian marksmen were busy taking pot-shots at
some unhappy survivor wallowing in the mud under the forts, which were
firing furiously without a moment's cessation, lighting up the hideous
scene on which the dark heavens above, without a star to be seen, looked
down in horror.
Of the eleven vessels we had engaged from first to last, three were
sunk, four disabled, and three more so much damaged as to require
considerable repair subsequently before being again fit for service;
while out of a total of eleven hundred men who had started off so gaily
in the morning to play their part in this tragic play, our casualties
amounted to five hundred, so that not one half ever returned to swing in
their respective hammocks again.
"By Jove we have got a thrashing!" said Commander Nesbitt, ruefully,
next morning, when Dr Nettleby came to make his report as to the state
of the wounded we had and there was a general counting up of losses. "I
didn't think John Chinaman had it in him to make such a stand!"
"Neither did I," replied Captain Farmer, who was standing by on the
poop, looking over the taffrail at the spot made memorable by last
night's carnage, though the whilom muddy river appeared bright enough
now with the sun shining down on its rippling surface, and no trace of
the fight of yesterday visible save the masts of one and part of the
hull of another of the sunken gunboats in the distance, and the grim
forts staring down on them defiantly, apparently quite uninjured by the
pounding they had received. "They have certainly given us a licking,
but they'll have a very heavy reckoning to pay for their temporary
triumph by-and-by, Nesbitt, or I am very much mistaken! I suppose you
recollect the old proverb, _Hodie mihi, eras tibi_?"
"Can't say I do, sir," said the commander in answer, scratching his head
reflectively as he raised his cap for the purpose, with the object
apparently of quickening his memory by that means. "I'm afraid I've
forgotten all my Latin, sir, long since. What does it mean, eh?"
"`To-day it is my turn, to-morrow it may be yours,'" replied Captain
Farmer, looking as grim as the Taku Fort as he translated the sentence
for the other's benefit. "The Emperor of China had best bear this in
mind, for there'll be a pretty fine kick up, I tell you, when they come
to hear of this business in England!"
"You are right there, sir," agreed Commander Nesbitt. "There will be a
jolly row about it in the papers and in Parliament, I know! But it is
none of our fault; we have done nothing to be ashamed of, for we've done
our best!"
"Ay, though defeated we're not disgraced," said the captain, as he came
down the poop-ladder to go into his cabin. "It's a sad affair, though,
a sad affair. We've lost Bitpin and Stormcock and Morgan and that poor
lad Jackson amongst the officers killed, besides those wounded, and I
can't say yet how many men, but between thirty and forty, I fear!"
"Yes, sir, it is a bad job," replied the commander, bending his head and
looking grave for an instant, but the next moment a bright look came in
his face and he shook his fist at the distant forts; "but we'll pay you
out yet, pigtails and all, for this day's work!"
"Let us hope so," said the captain, as he crossed the quarter-deck and
disappeared from view beneath the break of the poop, going into his own
cabin to send in his report to our senior officer, Admiral Hope, who was
subsequently invalided home, being so dangerously wounded as to be
incapable of attending to any other business after forwarding his
dispatches home. "And, the sooner the better, Nesbitt--the sooner the
better!" Both officers judged the feeling of their countrymen well, but
quite twelve months elapsed before all our preparations were completed
for retaliating on the Chinese and proving to them, in that forcible
mode which seemingly only appealed to their reason, that "the worst
piece of work they ever did in their lives was to tread on the tail of
the British lion," as Doctor Nettleby observed to Mr Jellaby in my
hearing later on the same day.