In the Yellow Sea Part 19

Then the punishment was really intended to fit the supposed crime. I was accused of being a spy. The j.a.panese would make me one in fact!

This was carrying the war into the enemy's country with a vengeance.

"Impossible!" I gasped. "I cannot. You surely will not compel me to play the spy?"

The lieutenant perceived my indignation, and said something to the junior officer.

"You must decide quickly," he said. "The troops will soon be landed."

This was a form of speech which I discounted. The vessels were miles away from sh.o.r.e.

"Who will be my companions? and shall I be treated well?"

"Certainly. One of your a.s.sociates can speak French, you can also speak a little Chinese. They will be told that you are an English correspondent of a newspaper. You sketch?"

"A little."

"Then your arrangements will be easily made. You will go as a traveller, as many of your compatriots have already done in Asia-Minor and farther East. Put aside the idea of 'spy,' sir; think of your safety only. You will be a traveller, and can move as you please."

"You do not expect me to return?"

"No, indeed! Pardon me, we want to get rid of you."

I smiled faintly. "Very well," I said. "How can I find the dress?"

"Very easily. You shall see. This is settled then?"

"Decidedly!"

"That is good. The captain will supply you with _cash_, and give you a pa.s.s to roam as you please; but the Chinese may interfere with you."

"You will give me a revolver?"

"Yes; and plenty of ammunition. A knife may be useful--or sword."

"Perhaps; but why a sword?"

"To kill yourself, if necessary, and save yourself torture," replied the young man calmly, as he retreated in the wake of his superior.

I shuddered, and stood staring after them as they ascended to the deck; then followed them, and looked around me once again on the Yellow Sea.

It had never warranted its name before in my eyes. It did then.

We were anch.o.r.ed off a village almost as primitive as some in Cornwall; and the sandy beach, the cliffs, and the more distant hills, somehow reminded me of England, though the junks destroyed the illusion, and the costume of the astonished natives dissipated any resemblance to the st.u.r.dy west-country fishers of my own land. I wondered how the troops would manage to embark; but I soon perceived a party of j.a.panese had landed in a small boat, and had planted a flag on one of the hills.

As we were all watching them, some soldiers quitted one of the transports, and then the s.h.i.+ps, in obedience to a signal, moved in closer, feeling their way, and steering "for the flag" on the hill.

The soldiers had included a party of engineers, and after a while they began a long pontoon-bridge in the shallow water, to land the artillery and horses. I was intensely interested in the calm and deliberate manner in which the j.a.panese set to work. They had apparently no fear of interruption by the enemy, for I saw some of the men-o'-war, scouting in the offing, capturing a few junks, and finally a small steamer, which proved a great a.s.sistance in towing and landing troops and supplies.

These arrangements were not made nor completed in a day, nor in ten. I think a fortnight elapsed before I was once more warned for service, and a complete suit of Chinese dress procured for me.

My young mentor brought it to me below.

"Here is your uniform," he said; "your travelling dress. Don't look so angrily at me," he continued; "indeed I cannot help it."

This pacified me somewhat, and after all the change was nothing more extraordinary than Burton's. I began to perceive that the j.a.panese captain was, perhaps unwittingly, doing me a good turn, for some Englishmen were certain to turn up with the army, and with them I could be a.s.sured of protection. Unfortunately, I could not "have it out"

with the captain, either to thank him, or to condemn.

The Chinese dress is so simple, that one wonders it is not adopted more generally. The night-suits and day-suits are almost identical, and the dress of ladies and gentlemen, in pattern and material, are almost alike. The trousers, tunic, or kirtle, need no decided measurement, for one measure is sufficient for each garment, as from hip to ankle, or from neck to the knees, as the case may be. In winter, wadding is quilted into the clothes, and several suits worn over the innermost, so that a man may be apparently stout until unrolled, or undressed. The suits wear for years, as the fas.h.i.+on of the Chinese pa.s.seth not away; and when the old suit is discarded, it is relegated to night-duty--goes on the "night-s.h.i.+ft," as the miner says.

There was no difficulty in arraying me over my body-clothing in Chinese costume, and in a few minutes I was transformed into the outer semblance of a Chinaman _with_ a crop of thick hair. The dresser then shaved my face, and made me up, and he began to shave my locks. This I resented, and was about to resist forcibly, until the young officer interfered and made peace.

At length I was attired, painted, and coiffe; my delicate skull was shaven; a long lock was retained, and to this a proper pigtail was by artifice attached. When this caudal appendage was fixed, and my whole appearance touched up, I caught sight of myself in a mirror, and, after a struggle with my pride, burst into a roar of laughter.

It was too ridiculous! The "coolie," butcher-blue suit, the queer shoes, the long sleeves, the wide trousers and loose tunic, made me feel as if dressed for a fancy ball, and my amus.e.m.e.nt was only checked by the presentation of the revolver and some cartridges. I was instructed to rely upon my chosen companion for all else, and for example. We were to travel in pairs, and I was to keep silent, as much as possible, for my own sake and his. My young friend, the middy, gave me several hints as to behaviour and manners, and my own experience dictated several more, which I could employ with advantage.

When my costume had been completed by a cap, I was taken on sh.o.r.e by the young officer, Tomi, and put under the care of a j.a.panese interpreter, who seemed to be a good sort of fellow. Tomi urged him, with much native eloquence, to be vigilant, and to look after the Englishman, who was one of those "crazy creatures" who risk their lives in the search of information. The j.a.panese apparently understood the nature of the animal. A Chinese would have thought me a lunatic, for even a man who hunts, or "sports" in any way, is regarded by Celestials as stupid. "They should get men to do all this for them," they say of the British athlete.

The natives were perfectly quiet, and we (the scouts) were directed to proceed across the isthmus, first along the coast to Putsewo, or Pittozo-wo, and thence across towards Fuchow. The former place is about twenty-eight miles from where we had landed, and in the direction of Port Arthur. The other two scouts were directed to proceed further in the direction of Kinchow, which is at the opposite side of the peninsula, where it is narrowest, there being only about two miles distance between the sh.o.r.es of Talien Bay and the Nan-Kua Pa.s.s. The peninsula then expands. Port Arthur occupies the eastern side in the bay, at the extremity.

My companion, named Hoyo, or Hoko, took a rather nervous farewell of the officer. Tomi clasped my hands, and repeatedly a.s.sured me that my life had been frequently in danger, and had I remained I must have fallen a victim to the enmity of the j.a.ps. He again protested that he was for ever my debtor, and had even volunteered to accompany me in my expedition, but had been refused.

"Take this badge," he concluded, "it is a private token of a j.a.panese naval officer. If ever in the company of our fleet, or even with the army, and in trouble, produce it. It is the Emperor's gift, and will a.s.sure you of safety. Farewell!"

He wrung my hand, touched his cap, and turned away to the boat, while Hoko and I mounted the sandy sh.o.r.e which ascended beside the river Hua-yuan.

Thus I was again "dismissed" from naval service, and cast upon my own resources, and slender they were indeed!

CHAPTER XI

CHINESE LANGUAGE--"HELD UP"--BETRAYED!

We started in the gloaming, carrying small packs and some supplies, for we did not know whether the natives would suspect us, or a.s.sist us, even if they were not distrustful. Hoko "cheered me up" by relating slowly, for my benefit, the list of likely tortures which the Chinese practised upon the enemy. The list need not be recapitulated in full, but cutting-up (alive), beheading, and hanging, first by the heels, were amongst those most usually inflicted upon the prisoner, and perhaps the most "merciful."

My spirits were not thereby elated, and scarcely had we reached the road when a picket of j.a.panese soldiers accosted us. They were quickly satisfied by my companion, and laughed at us as we parted with them.

This interview was succeeded by others, and in each case we got away safely. At our last halt Hoko consulted his map, and gave it to me to ponder in the lantern-light of the picket guards. Again we resumed our journey, and this party proved to be the last post of the j.a.ps at that time. Thenceforward all was dark and unknown.

When we had proceeded a few miles, hunger a.s.sailed us, and after a short time we agreed, chiefly by signs, to rest in the glade into which we had wandered from the road. The Chinese tongue never seemed to me so wanting in expression as then. My command of language is not despicable in English, and on board s.h.i.+p; but in that glade in the society of the j.a.panese scout I felt kinder dumb! There was no need for silence. The Chinese language embraces about forty thousand strokes or letters (or signs rather) in writing; while only about three hundred and fifty are spoken. Hence the same _spoken_ word represents a number of different--vastly different--things in writing; and the few hundreds of words represent so many more thousands of characters or signs! Even a Chinese may communicate with a friend in another province by _writing_; but he very likely will not understand his _dialect_.

The Chinese language, I may state, depends really upon the _tones_ of voice, not upon the actual p.r.o.nunciation of the words, and these tones are even increased in the Mongolian dialect. In Manchuria, perhaps, the bulk of the population is of Mongolian descent, a superior, a braver, race than the ordinary (I don't say "pure and simple") Chinaman--for "John" is not that. But practice and tone of voice will teach much; and this tone will entirely alter the sense of the speaker if he misapply it. In some languages one may speak by "ear." Ear is of no account in China. There are certain "radical signs" and a number of "primitive" signs; characters are made by combining both, and are written downwards.

As may be antic.i.p.ated, I had not made much progress in the Chinese language, but I could chatter "pidgin" English, which is so useful in the Treaty ports, and so useless in China proper, which is arrived at by changing every "r" to "l" and adding the "e" doubled when it is single, as in "alle samee," "makee laugh," "alle samee Elopean man,"

"no wantchee." "Number one" means "proper," and "chop-chop" "quickly,"

in this language; while "play-pidgin" is merely "talk," and "top-side pidgin" is religion, or religious converse.

One soon becomes conversant with the business talk, for "pidgin" means "business" in the mind of the trader and the coolie (or labourer). But let me resume my narrative.

The night was very chilly, and the early morning misty, as my companion roused me up and told me that we must be going. Let it be remembered that our conversations were only carried on piecemeal, and when I mention them you must understand that signs a.s.sisted us greatly. But the man was honest, I believed, and had no thought of any treachery towards me. We conversed in southern dialect a little, and made signs.