The Captive of Pekin; or, A Swallow's Wing, etc

Front matter

THE CAPTIVE OF PEKIN NEW 6/= NOVELS. Crown Svo, Art Linen, GiU Top. THE INN BY THE SHORE. Py Florence Warden, Author of " The House ou the Marsh," etc. (Fourth Edition. ) THE POWER OF THE DOG. By Rowland Grey, Author of " By Virtue of His Office," etc. (Second Edition.) BLACK DIAMONDS. By Maurus Jokai, Author of-- ' Mills' the Wild Carpathians," " Pretty Michal," etc. ( Third Edition. ) fUDY A JILT. By Mrs. Conney, Author of " Pegsfs Perversity," " Gold for Dross," etc. (Second Edition. ) LAD YfEAN'S SON. By Sarah Tytler Author of "Lady Jean's Vagaries, etc. (Second Edition.) COLOUR SERGEANT No. i COMPANY. By Mrs. Leith Adams, Author of "Bonnie Kate," etc. (Fourth Edition.) THE GREEN BOOK. (Authorized Edition.) By Maurus Jokai. (Fifth Edition.) MY BONNIE LADY. By Leslie Keith, Author of "'Lisbeth," -'The Chilcotcs," " In Spite of Herself ," etc.

THE WINDS OF MARCH. By George KNIGHT, Author of "Dust in tin- Balance," " The Circle of the Earth" etc. FORBIDDEN BY LAW. By Major Arthur Griffiths, Author of " Secrets of the Prison House," etc. A STRONG NECESSITY. Py Isabel Don, Author of '-Only Clarcheii," " Zohrat," " The Story of Holland," etc. PRETTY MICHAL. By Maurus Jokai, Author of ii Black Diamonds," etc. fABEZ NUTYARD. By Mrs. Edmonds, Author of "" Fair Athens." " The Herb of Love," "Amygdala," etc. London : Jarroui .\: Son io and ii Warwick Lake E.C. ,y^^ii~~Mty^^. And os all Booksellers /^S«^?«^fX He marched stolidly forward.— _/>. The Captive of Pekin OR A SWALLOWS WING BY CHARLES HANNAN Author of "Chin-chin-wa," "The Wooing of Avis Grayle," etc., and of the Dramas, "A House of Lies," "Honour Among Thieves," "The Ohum Eater," etc., and part author with wllson barrett in "Our Pleasant Sins" SANS PEUR ET SANS REPROCHE ILLUSTRATED BY A. J. B. SALMON London: Jarrold & Sons IO AND II WARWICK LANE E.C. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 1S97 CONTENTS.

CHAI'TER PAGE I. A CRY FROM BEYOND THE SEAS - 1 3 II. THE MAN WHO SENT FORTH THE CRY 35 III. IN THE HANDS OF THE CHINESE - - 47 IV. THE MURDER OF THE PRIEST - - 68 V. THE TORTURE OF THE MOLTEN LEAD - 89 VI. RESCUE NEARING PEKIN - 104 VII. THE EXILE CHIN CHIN-WA - Il8 VIII. SEEKING A CLUE - - 1 CONTENTS. 8 CHAPTER r'AGE IX. A RACE FOR LIFE - - 143 X. WITHOUT THE PEKIN WALLS 158 XI. THE SEARCH FOR THE CARTER - - I7O XII. CHIN-CHIN-WA AND SHAN-MIN-YUEN MEET 187 XIII. COMMANDED TO LEAVE PEKIN - - 204 XIV. THE CAPTIVE FOUND - - - 2l6 XV. CHIN-CHIN-WA ENTERS THE TEMPLE - 232 XVI. PRIESTLY PLANS TO UNDERMINE A SOUL 244 XVII. THE STRUGGLE WITH THE SILENT PRIEST 257 XVIII. "TORTURE, EUT DO NOT KILL" 273 XIX. THE BASTINADO - - - - 289 XX. THE TORTURE OF THE WHITE BIRD - 307 XXI. THE RACE FOR THE TUNGCHOW GATE - 318 XXII.

Introduction

. To the Right Honourable the Earl of — My Lord, It is my custom to write freely, and you, for one, are not amongst those who would deprive me of the liberty of my pen. It is some months since you confided to me that portion of your diary which deals with your quest in the East, and I openly admit that I was at that time by no means enamoured of the gift. You will pardon my frankness in stating the truth. You, my lord, have never been subjected to the life of persecution whicli the fiction-writer must accept as his own. Diaries are thrust upon him from all sides ; plots thicken around him ; and anecdotes innumerable arc related in his presence, in the hope that he may haply include them in some tale. It was, therefore, more with the feeling of idle curiosity than with the idea of utilising your work that I cast my eyes over your lines ; more with the

INTRODUCTION.

. 12 desire of noting the impressions you had formed of Eastern lands, familiar to me from the travels of my youth, than to glean what is commonly known as " copy " from the hasty perusal. I have, however, your permission, my lord, to revise and publish your diary as I see fit ; but the world is so overwhelmed with works of travel, that I have decided rather to extract the interest from your work in my own way; and whilst adhering only in part to the wording of your diary, I shall endeavour to accompany you throughout your wanderings, and to be with you in heart amidst scenes which you and I have looked upon, under circumstances strangely differing, in the years gone by. And, lastly, as the tale with which you have entrusted me is known only to a few, I shall cover your identity with the cloak of fiction.

You shall figure as a commoner, in place of a lord ; for as it is the custom of the novel-writer to make a commoner a peer, so I, from perversity, find a malicious pleasure in reversing the order of things and taking my revenge upon you. I have the honour to be, my lord, Your lordship's most obedient servant, THE CAPTIVE OF PEKIN.

Chapter I

A CRY FROM BEYOND THE SEAS. BRUSSELS, April 22nd. — A curious thing occurred this evening. 1 was seated on the verandah, for the day had been more than usually warm for this season of the year, when my eye was attracted by a little bird that alighted first upon the parapet, and then, in a moment or two, almost at my feet. It was a swallow, and appeared to me to be in a sorry plight, worn out either by old age or lengthy travel, for its wing drooped upon the ground, and its eyes were half closed in weariness. I reached out my hand, and the swallow, making no movement, became my captive. I was endeavouring to ascertain if it was wounded or how otherwise the bird came to be in such a condition, when my glance fell upon what I IHE CAPTIVE OF PEKIN. 14 discovered to be a fragment of paper, closely and firmly bound with thread around its leg.

" Here," I said to myself, " is an adventure : this swallow does not conic to me by chance alone;" and thus thinking — for I confess I am of a somewhat romantic turn of mind, and that curiosity at once overcame me — I took my pen knife and cut the threads — an operation of no small difficulty, as the bird struggled till the remainder of its strength was exhausted, and the missive was so closely and tightly wound, that there was the greatest danger, of injuring the slender limb round which it had been secured. Having finally succeeded, I wrapped the bird in my handkerchief, that it might not escape; and, proceeding to examine the fragments which I had detached, I found that I held in my hand what was evidently a small and torn paper, ragged and destroyed, partly perhaps from the attempts of the swallow to tear it from its limb, partly perhaps by the wear and tear of time.

Unfolding the fragments with great care, and piecing them together, I was delighted to discover that my momentary expectation had not led me far astray, and that thc paper was actually covered with certain words written or rather scratched thereon, apparently in dark red ink. In all, the paper cannot have been more than an inch square which yet contained in a small and clear hand writing — that of an Englishman — sufficient to give I reached out my hand, and the swallow, making no movement, became my captive. — p. 13. me a clue to follow, were I ready to accept the mission now strangely brought before me : a message borne by a swallow's wing from far beyond the seas.* After prolonged scrutiny, and the attempt to fill in such words as were missing, I made out the following to be the writing : — Thus the centre part, which, from the folding, had come to be as it were a corner, and which evidently contained the full information necessary to explain the whole, was wanting.

But the meaning of the missive was in a sense clear, although there were some points upon which I was unable to form a judgment. I shall point out what I mean, by repeating the words with the simple filling up of such gaps as may be easily supplied, thus : — * This paper has been purposely reproduced by the artist on a somewhat larger scale. B In God's name rescue (me or us) Lose no time (I or we) (am or are) prisoner (or s) In the — — us in Pekin By the Chin (ese) Tenth swallow William Norris September (year and date missing) May God help (me or us). Thus the chief gap, which is the most important of the whole, lies in the third line. It is evident that some name is omitted. But what name? I have endeavoured to fill up by judging the length of the line, and by inserting the word " find " or " seek " before the final " us " thus : — In the seek us in Pekin ; but beyond this I cannot go.

My sensations, upon discovering the nature of the communication which had fallen into my hands by the strangest of coincidences, were beyond des cription. I was at once overpowered by wonder and a sense of the supernatural, and inflamed with an ardent desire to investigate and follow the matter to an end. Looking more calmly upon the coincidence, as I now do some hours later, I am strengthened in the determination to add my links to the chain of destiny — a chain of which the swallow, perhaps for many a year, perhaps only for months, has borne the weight. One of my fellows (perhaps more than one) has been, and it may be still is, confined by the Chinese, for some reason unknown, somewhere in or near Pekin. And of the messages which he has en trusted to many birds, as I gather from the words " tenth swallow," one at least has reached its destination — the hand of a brother-man.

I am young, wealthy, and free, and I accept the trust that has been thus strangely given to me ; and if you are alive, William Norris, I shall come to you, ay, even at the risk of my own life. I have longed for adventure, and the opportunity has come — an opportunity which no one could have foreseen. Brussels, April 2\,rd. — The swallow died this morning. It appeared to be an old bird ; but whether it be that it was so when this man in China attached the paper to its limb, or whether it has grown so during years in which it has flitted over the earth as the prisoner's messenger, I cannot tell. Was this message written years or months ago ? I would give much to learn the date. Brave bird ! what fate carried you here to die ? What can have brought you to me from a land thousands of miles away, except the guiding power of the God above ?

I have hopes, William Norris, that your message has not come too late. This morning I telegraphed to my oldest friend — the very man to go with me on an adventure or excur sion of this kind. I have his reply before me now : " Wait a month ; impossible sooner. Will go to the end of the world with you then." I cannot wait a month. Every day is an eternity to William Norris. I shall go alone. My intention, therefore, is to go to Pekin, and to sind this man, wherever he may be, either by a prolonged search or by some miraculous intervention which shall enable me to fill in the missing words. Who would have thought, two days ago, that I, Herbert Vanscombe, should have made up my mind (one usually of the dilatory order) to set off, at a few hours' notice, for the far-distant East? In four days I shall be on board the Mcssageries steamer, at Marseilles, and, if all be well, I calculate on being in Pekin within two months and a half from now.

A considerable journey for a lazy traveller who has never done more than lounge about the Conti nental towns ! Well, it could not have occurred at a more fortunate time. It gives me an object in life, at a time when I am sick of frivolity and cannot bear the idea of a London season. I believe I should feel almost disappointed were any one to assure me now that William Norris has been dead for years ; or were Norris himself to arrive in person to inform me that he had escaped. How selfish is the nature of man ! Were not William Norris a prisoner of the Chinese and at their mercy, my journey would have lost its zest, and the spirit of adventure would be gone. It is difficult for a man to be honest to himself in thought. En route eastivards to Pekin. — Life becomes a dull monotony at sea. There is nothing all around but the glassy wave and the unchanging blue of a heaven, pale with gazing at the reflection of its own loveliness.

Occasionally a flying-fish or two will rise, and as swiftly disappear ; else there is little but the regular beat of the engines, and the motion of the screw, and the silence of repose beneath the awning that stretches o'er the deck. And thus it is, day after day, till one grows weary of the sameness of every hour. It is only in after years that the mind recalls these heavily delicious hours with a longing that they might be born anew. I will pass over the days which were doubly, nay, trebly long to me, in that my impatience urged me on ; and I will put aside the sense of aching pain which recurred to me when my mind recalled the quest upon which I was set, and when I realised that I was powerless and could do nothing for weeks to come. These weeks at sea somewhat changed me. At the first blush I took the swallow's message as it came, as a coinci dence—no more.

I did not then realise how a fellow-man's life may lie in my hands, that I may save him, or leave him to die like a dog. I did not then accept the swallow's message so truly and deeply as I have done now. After many, many days at sea — days longer to me, I suppose, than to any on board — I found myself at Shanghai — Shanghai, with its fine bund and its boulevard — the Paris of the East ! I spent several days there, for the chief reason that I was obliged to wait for a steamer to the North ; but I did not count the time as wasted, for I had inquiries to make as to the man in search of whom I had come, and of whom I had been able to learn nothing in Hong Kong. It was but a chance that I came across his name, even in Shanghai. My banker's introductions, which I had received by post at Suez, were useful in one sense, but practically of no use as regards the end in view.

Without giving anyone the clue as to the object of my journey, I made inquiries everywhere as to the man whose missive I had received so strangely. No one knew him, even by name. This I was at a loss to understand, because, to reach Pekin, it was almost a necessity that he should have passed through Shanghai. I pondered much upon the subject, and came to the conclusion that the few I took it in my hand and opened it casually. — p. words which I had carefully preserved must have been written many years ago, since no one could recollect having met or heard of the writer, or that he might have passed so rapidly through Shanghai as to leave no trace of his movements behind. It then occurred to me to examine the guests' book at the hotel. I took it in my hand and opened it casually, almost in despair of its proving of any avail.

I started involuntarily as my eye fell upon the page. By chance the book had opened at a date nearly a year previous, and before me was this entry : — "William Norris, from Nagasaki, arrived 5th August ; left for Pekin and Great Wall, 6th August." So there was a fair chance that I might be still in time ! Further than this I could learn nothing. They remembered Norris at the hotel — a tall gentleman, dark, and wearing a slight moustache. Had he ever returned ? Perhaps ; he might have gone to a friend's house or to the Club : he had not returned to the hotel. I alone knew the truth, that Norris was a prisoner of the nation for whicli I had already conceived a hatred of the strongest kind — a nation which filled me with a sense of loathing, and from whom my inmost nature shrank. One thing was now made clear to me — that William Norris might still be saved.

I had never doubted of his existence. That had not struck me, strange as it may seem. I believed in his call for aid, and I was right. But — shall I confess it ? — I had begun to despair when, first in Hong Kong, and then in Shanghai, I had been unable to discover any trace of him of whom I was in search ; for I feared that the message might have been of such an ancient date that William Norris had succumbed already, perhaps, to a life of torture or to a lengthened imprisonment amongst his Chinese foes. Now that I knew it to be a question of but a year ago, my desire to save him grew the stronger, since I perceived there was a chance. And often I wondered for what reason he had been seized : was it because of hatred for the European race upon the part of the Chinese ; or had he desecrated some religious rites, or in what manner offended his cold-blooded foes ?

On the day which remained before my departure for the North I lessened my baggage as far as possible, by the packing of all that I absolutely required in a single portmanteau and the com mittal of the remainder to the charge of the hotel. I was well armed, for I knew not what casualty might occur; indeed, I may say that, in addition to my own revolver I had three others, thus allowing, in case of need, for one apiece for three men, and, though it was possible that some of these weapons might prove superfluous baggage, THE CA I'll YE OF PEKIN. I had deemed it well rather to be over-equipped than the reverse. Further than this, I had two strong knives, of the nature of daggers ; so that it will be seen that, in leaving Brussels, I had done so, not unprepared for the worst, if the worst should come.

There were two young fellows in Shanghai whom I had met, upon the first evening of my arrival, at the house of my banker, with whom I had dined. They were brothers ; their names Frederick and James Dicey ; and I took a liking to them from the first. I decided to put before these men the particulars of the expedition upon which I was engaged, and accordingly I invited them to dine with me upon my last evening ashore. I sent the "boy" from the room as soon as dinner was at an end, and then narrated to the two the incident of which you have already learned, as the cause of my presence in Shanghai. " You are both," I concluded, " men whom I know that I can trust. One has a strange feeling, which is not exactly fear, but still something very closely akin, upon launching out alone on a venture of this kind.

I may tell you plainly that I expect to be in Shanghai again within three months, accompanied by William Norris, for this reason, that the chain of fate, which brought the swallow with its message across the seas, will miss a link or two if I succumb to the death I may have to face. But, all the same, I am prepared to die, and ready to do so, unless I succeed in escaping from the Chinese in company with William Norris." Neither of the two answered me. I think, as men, they were touched with something of the same sorrow as had fallen upon me. I relit my cigar. " If you hear nothing of me in three months' time," I continued, endeavouring to lighten my tone, " will you make it public in Shanghai that two of your brother-Englishmen have disappeared in the North ? Will you make a movement, no matter whether he and I be dead or alive, to seek us out ?

Will you do something for us here in Shanghai?" — in spite of myself, my voice was thick. " We will," came the answer, as with one voice ; and then Frederick, the elder, inquired, after a pause : " Cannot we help you now ? What is it you wish to be done ? " " I wish nothing " I replied, " until you hear from me, or until three months have passed without word. Stay, there is one thing. I want a boy who will act as my guide, who knows pigeon-English well (I'll manage with him somehow), and who knows Pekin. Can either of you procure me this ? Do not think I run him into danger : if he is my guide, that is all ; his Chinese skin protects him for the rest. Can I find such a man to-night in Shanghai, or shall I find him at Tientsin ? " THE CAPTIVE OF PEKIN. "The remuneration must be large," said the elder.

"That is nothing: he may name his sum." He rose, and summoning the boy, gave him instructions to find me a guide. " Savey?" he said in conclusion. " My can savey," came the answer ; " chop-chop can do." "Then you wish us," he continued, reseating himself, "to keep silence in the meantime regarding your journey ? " " I do." "Is it necessary? Would it not be better to stir the colony now, if it is true, as I have little doubt, that this man is still kept a prisoner? There is many a man in Shanghai who would join you." " I have little doubt of it, and, indeed, I have considered," was my reply, " doing what you suggest ; and, were I to do so, trust me I should come to your brother and yourself in the first place, to ask for your assistance ; but it must be remembered that as yet there is nothing to go upon.

It is true that I know of Norris's imprisonment, but I do not know where he is confined ; so that my journey resolves itself simply into a search (at any rate, at present) rather than a hostile affair with the Chinese as enemy. You will under stand, easily enough, that I do not feel justified so far in calling for assistance ; indeed, in a word, The two bent over it.—/. 31. I believe that one man is much more able to prosecute the search efficiently, and without exciting suspicion, than a band of half-a-dozen ! " I was right, and he knew it. " Might we see the paper ? Forgive my curiosity," said the younger. " I mean the paper brought you by the swallow." " Certainly," I answered. " I was about to put it before you, in order to see if you could assist me in any way to fill the gaps." I took it from the little box in which I kept it.

" There it is ! " The two bent over it. " I see you have gummed it to a piece of card board," said Frederick. " Is there nothing on the back ? " " Nothing," was my answer. " I did so to preserve it. Do either of you know Pekin ? " " No. I am afraid we shall be of little assistance to you. One moment : what is the meaning of the word ' us ' in the third line ? You have spoken as though there was one man only, this would indicate otherwise." I answered him at once. "You have formed the same opinion as I did upon first reading the few words. I have carefully studied the fragment since that time, and I shall tell you why I am of opinion that the first thought is in this case probably a wrong one. If we filled up this line by adding the word ' seek,' we decrease the space which might contain a Chinese name to very small dimensions.

Now, it is likely that the writer has, in these words that are missing, given very full directions as to his whereabouts, which he jcould not have done in the space we shall leave between the word 'the' and the word 'seek.' Again, look at the end of the second line ; you will see that if we make the paper square, as it seems to have been, there is exactly room for us to insert ' er,' making 'prisoner,' but scarcely margin for the addition of an ' s.' Then, and chiefly, we have ' William Norris,' followed by the date : no mention of other names. And finally, without giving you more lengthy and minor reasons, let me recall to you, if you wish further proof, that William Norris passed through Shanghai alone. My first reading was the simple one : ' In the , seek us in Pekin,' but later I put aside the word 'in,' and am inclined to treat this 'us' as a part of a word, of which the letters on either side are a-missing."

Even as I spoke, something told me that I had wandered into mere conjecture. I fell into a thoughtful fit ; to tell the truth, I had not greatly considered this point until now. I had known that Pekin was my destination, and I had looked upon it as impossible to conjecture a word which would exactly fill this space. But now for a moment I began to think differently. " Can either of you suggest a Chinese word ending, say, with 'usi,' or 'usa,' or — well, I might go through the whole alphabet, gentlemen?" I asked. But perhaps it is unnecessary to say that the riddle remained unsolved. "And what, then, do you imagine," asked Frederick Dicey, a little later, "to have been the history of this paper?" "Well, I think you see the whole; a man crying for rescue, in some place where he appears to have a certain liberty, in so far as he has been able to send this message.

It is written, I conjecture, in blood, scratched upon the fragment of paper with something small and sharp like a pin. He has written a number such as this. We read it there, where he says, 'tenth swallow.' This is only one of many. If it is in Court grounds that he is a prisoner, I despair of rescuing him ; but, at present, I shall say no more. Here comes the boy." A short colloquy ensued ; then James Dicey turned to me, " He has found you a guide, and a good man too." We sat late that evening — my last, as I have said in Shanghai ; and I must confess that my mind was not a little relieved by the conversation, and possibly chiefly so from the knowledge that I was not merely following in the footsteps of William Norris, to disappear as he had done ; or, C at least, that if I did so, there were those who would follow me to lay bare his fate and mine. Four days later my guide and I had reached Tientsin.

Chapter II. The Man Who Sent Forth The Cry

It is now necessary to leave for a while the narrative as contained in the diary of Herbert Vans combe, and to turn to events which took place nearly a year before that diary was commenced. In the summer of 18 — , exactly a year previous to the day on which Herbert Vanscombe landed in Shanghai, a man of grave appearance arrived in Yokohama by the San Francisco mail. It was his intention to proceed round the world at his leisure, and thus it was that, after several months in America, he landed in Japan. Whether it were from the fact that his disposition was a solitary one, or from the absence of introductions, that he toured alone amidst the glorious scenery ancl the idyllic peace of Japan, it is difficult to say. That such was the case is the material point. He was bent upon travel of a prolonged nature, for the reason, which drives many a man from the dear old home — an unfortunate love.