When Thompson saw the main body of the bannermen riding over the sand ridge he knew it was useless to resist, so he quietly awaited his fate. After surrounding him, one of their number grasped the sailor by the collar and attempted to lift him off the ground, upon which Jerry clambered up and seated himself behind his captor. Having secured the dead body of their companion, the party set spurs to their horses, and were soon out of the captain\'s sight. Puffeigh knew it would be useless to fire at them, as such a proceeding would only make matters worse for the prisoner. When they had proceeded about a mile they threw the dead body into a field, then dismounting and placing Thompson in the centre of the group, squatted round him, lighted their pipes, and held a council of war.
"This barbarian looks like a western devil to me," observed their leader. "I am uncertain whether to kill him now, or to take him to the military governor."
"If we slay him at once we shall be sure of his body," put in a squint-eyed bannerman. "These western devils are all necromancers,—here this moment, when—pouf—you look, and they have vanished. I vote we kill him by degrees. We need not return until sunset,—then dismember him, leave his body as an offering to the Kiang-shi, who walk at night, and take his head to the governor."
"That\'s like you, Kwo, always jumping at ideas. Why, do you think we are little fools to indulge in torturing this devil? What will our rulers say if they do not witness his death struggles?"
"Bah! you know everything, Ting. But listen! Here is a foreign devil, calm, unmoved, and as resigned to his fate as one of the most favoured nation. If we take him in, the people will say, \'Where is the tiger?\' and lo, you will show this lamb, when they will jeer at us, and insult our bravery. \'What,\' they will cry, \'thirty braves, and only this mouse captured!\' See! if we carry in his head, a large reward will be paid us, and we can lie as much as we like as to the manner of his capture. My plan is all benefit." Saying which Kwo rose, and, in order to show his contempt for Jerry, slapped the latter across the face, crying, "Ha, dog! ha, coward!" and was at once knocked over by the sailor, who remarked, "Come, stow that little game," and then resumed his squatting position.
As Kwo was by no means a favourite in his corps, they only laughed at his mishap, and did not attempt to punish their prisoner for his audacity.
These bannermen are not regular troops, but a sort of volunteer corps, who are ordered out for drill four times a year. They are drawn from the shopkeeper class of citizens, and this service entitles them to many privileges. When called upon during a war, they are employed in defending their native towns. Upon some occasions they have fought bravely, and in many parts of China monuments are erected to commemorate the prowess of gallant bannermen. However, as a rule they are very timorous soldiers, and not much depended upon by the military governors. Some of the northern bannermen are mounted upon Tartar ponies, while in the southern provinces they are foot soldiers. Their weapons consist of bows and arrows, spears, knives, and tridents. Firearms are of course known to them, but a wise and benevolent government has [Pg 108]prudently ordained that "only in exceptional cases shall they be armed with such dangerous engines."
The party who had captured Thompson had, upon the preceding day, been to a grand review of the bannermen of the Eleven districts, and as most of their number had friends in the city near which the review took place, it was determined that they should not return to their native town until daylight the next morning. They had bidden their hospitable entertainers farewell at sunrise, and being brave with wine when they sighted Puffeigh and his companions, and thinking they were a party of southern merchants who travel about those parts with Chinese trinkets, the bannermen laid their heads together, and determined to attack and rob them, it being a custom of the volunteers, when upon what they called active service, to behave like the regular troops of his Highness and Mightiness the Father and Mother of the Empire, who were never known to leave a sapeck in the pouch of any unfortunate wayfarer they chanced to fall in with during a march. Great was their astonishment upon finding they had fallen across some Western devils; and when they succeeded in capturing one of the party they felt as brave as lions, and quite as eager to see blood.
After much discussion, the leader of the party, a tailor by profession, named Choo-Too, the combined words forming also a nickname which might be translated "pig-stomached," commanded silence, and thus addressed his fellows,—"My honourable persons, will you with reverence hear the words of this little one? I, Choo, had this morning a dream, in which I saw Kwan-ti, the god of war, sitting on a cloud which smelt of gunpowder. Abject, I grovelled in the dust, as I (in my own mind) never before believed in Kwan-ti. Then crackers exploded and gingalls discharged all around him, after which he spake as follows:—\'Choo, arise, and get thee to the sea-shore, you and all your company, there ye will meet with fortune, and capture a devil, fear him not, he will be harmless, but watch well that he escape not, or woe be to ye all.\'"
At this moment his speech was interrupted by the prisoner requesting "one of the old ladies to hand him a chaw of baccy."
Choo frowned upon the undaunted one, and thus continued:—"This little one then swooned, and so remained until found by you, my honourable friends."
"Wonderful! wonderful!" exclaimed the other bannermen, but added aside to each other, "Why, we imagined Choo-Too was drunk."
"Now, my honourable friends, I think it better we secure this malignant western devil, and take him to our native town. None of the regular troops, with all their bravery, have ever been able to catch sight of one of these creatures, much less capture it alive, so we will gain honour and perhaps a reward, if we take him to the military governor, or even give him up to our own mayor, who will probably pay us for such a curiosity."
"But why not torture him a little now?" observed a weasel-faced dealer in bean-curd.
"No, no!" cried the majority. "Let us take him to Sse-tsein; he will then be properly tortured, and we shall be able to show our valour before our honourable parents."
Thompson tapped the last speaker upon the shoulder, and quietly observed, "Well done, old man; I don\'t know your lingo, but if you\'re going to skin me alive give us a chaw of baccy;" saying this he pointed to the tobacco-pouch suspended from the soldier\'s girdle, and which the Tartar handed him, whereupon the sailor took a pinch, and gravely placed it in his mouth, then closed the bag, and returned it to him, winking as he did so in such a sly manner, that the whole party roared with laughter.
"He eats tobacco! he eats tobacco!" they cried.
[Pg 109]
Before they re-mounted Choo made another speech, in which he instructed his men what to say concerning the capture of the sailor.
"My honourable friends must all speak thus, even if put to torture. We were returning from Hong-loo, when suddenly a body of at least five hundred western devils opposed us, and commenced an attack upon our party. We, with swelling breasts dilated with over-bravery, eyes flashing like the hands and feet of Luepo, with headlong prowess spurring our steeds to the death, in hopes to salute heaven in doing such bravery, we, a handful, rushed upon our foes, and killed them all but about a dozen, who fled in a small boat. Suy-peh (old Suy), whose hands have become palsied by age and breeches making, first seized the demon we have captured, but it took the whole of us to secure him. Mo-tim was killed—we left his body upon the field, after having carried it out of the reach of the retreating barbarians; and as he was killed in action, the owner of the land will be able to bury him at his own expense, without inquiry, which will be a saving, as otherwise a dead body would be a bad present for him."
"Stop!" cried Suy-peh, "your words are golden, yet vain ones. Do you think, my illustrious friends, that Chung-sung, our learned mayor, will believe such shallow lies? He will ask, \'Where is the blood upon your garments? where your wounds? where the dead bodies or even heads of those western devils you have slain?\' Tell the truth, and you will gain all credit, and be considered great warriors enough, without each of us endeavouring to get by memory the bombastic speech of Choo-Too. I think he might have invented something better, and, for my part, I don\'t believe a word about his vision. I\'m too old to be cheated in that manner."
"Suy-peh, you\'re a breeches-mending old fool!"
"Choo, you are well named Choo-Too. I spit at you."
Probably a fight would have ensued, but the friends of the parties separated them, and having taken Jerry up behind him, Choo scowled at Suy-peh (who made a face at him by way of retort), and then gave the order to march.
Thompson stuck to the tailor, who was not a good horseman; but the sailor hung on to the animal as well, and in this manner got along very nicely, until they arrived at the suburbs of the town, where the party dismounted and partook of hot rice spirit. This increased their valour to such a degree, that they treated their prisoner to sundry kicks and cuffs, to show their friends how they had tamed the foreign devil. Upon remounting they placed him on a miserable scarecrow of a horse, borrowed from the landlord of the inn, and proceeded towards the town gates, stopping every few yards to tell their story, and enable the women and children to pelt the prisoner with mud, filth, or stones, or spit upon him, as their playful fancy dictated.
Poor Jerry experienced some very rough treatment, but never for a moment lost his pluck. When a heavier stone than usual was thrown at him, he would turn round and cry, "Come, missis, stash it;" but otherwise he took the proceedings as part of the rites upon such occasions, and when a pretty girl abused him, would reply in a most admiring strain. As they neared the gates they fell in with a party of women headed by the wife of the bannerman who had been killed by the master. The woman was supported by her sons, who did not seem to be much concerned about their father\'s fate, as they laughed and chatted with the crowd; this was strange, as the Chinese always profess to venerate their parents in the highest degree.
After Choo had spoken his piece, to which the widow listened with the deepest attention, she advanced to the prisoner, and raising her voice to a shrill falsetto, thus addressed him, "Oh!!! you lwan lwan (mean-looking) fuh-hwy (reptile), wo yaou ne teih naow kae (I want your skull)." Then she proceeded with increased volubility to[Pg 110] abuse his father, who she declared was hangman to the devil, and his mother, who she swore was anything but a lady; his sisters and all his female and male relations were likewise abused, the excited widow winding up with the following, which she poured forth in the patois of her district, without once stopping to take breath. "Ha! white-livered bear-faced red-nosed blue-lipped silk-haired bull-eyed pig-skin\'d blood-drinking hairy-headed man-eating woman-featured foreign devil—Ha! Haw!! Hah!!!"
"Thankee, mum, ha! ha!—I ses too, I hopes you\'re well."
Upon this the widowed one ran towards him, seized him by the right leg and threw him off his horse, then turned and fled. Thompson was not long upon the ground, but in the confusion he got separated from the bannermen, who had to fight their way towards him, as the crowd wished to lynch the prisoner. At last, however, he was rescued from their clutches and carried in triumph through the outer gate into the guard-house, where the regular troops took charge of his case; and making prisoners of the whole party, carried them to the ya-mun of the military commander, a Tartar by the name of Keong. An immense crowd followed the procession; and when they arrived, the great gates were opened, as it would have been impossible to admit the party through the ordinary entrance. When they were all inside the court-yard the guards shut the gates, and refused admission to the curious. The prisoner was now secured by formidable-looking chains made of rod iron, each link being about a foot in length. They looked very strong, but Jerry coolly surveyed them and inquired of the executioner "if them were his best darbys." As the man of blood could not understand him, he contented himself by scowling at the western devil, who laughed at him and declared "he was the rummiest old keove he had met with since he landed."
The bannermen were seated upon the flag-stones, smoking their pipes and drinking hot spirit, which they purchased of the executioner. Thompson motioned them to give him a drink, upon which the official held out his hand for the sapecks. Jerry seized it, and gave him a good hearty grip, which made the grim one dance and swear, much to the amusement of the volunteers. However, the fellow thought it best to take it good-humouredly, and bringing him a cup of the spirit, bade him drink. After a time it was announced that the bannermen might go to their homes, as the mandarin did not intend investigating the matter that night, he being too far gone in opium. So having given in their names to the scribe, the valiant band departed. Thompson nodded to them, and observed "that he was very sorry to lose their cheerful society," and then followed the executioner, who, seizing his chains, pointed to a low doorway, and motioned him to go before.
They passed across immense court-yards and by large buildings, many of which were in the last stage of decay, and at length emerged into the open air. Jerry looked about him, and found they were in a beautiful garden, surrounded on all sides by high walls. After walking for some moments they came to a low building partly sunk in the ground, which Thompson correctly imagined to be a magazine. Having skirted this the executioner stopped, unlocked a door, and motioning the prisoner to enter, proceeded to fasten him by his chains to a staple driven in the wall. This done, he drew forth a cord, and placing the sailor\'s hands behind his back, lashed his wrist-irons together and left him. When the sound of his jailer\'s footsteps died away, Jerry quietly slipped off the iron rings, and lighting a match looked round his cell, which he found was the guard house of the magazine. Seeing a lamp near, he reached it, and having lighted it proceeded to rid himself of his other irons. He stopped several times to ascertain if any one were about, but finding all quiet, resumed his occupation, and in a short time freed himself of his encumbrances; then took the lamp, and made a careful examination of his prison. It was merely the outer court of the magazine, and[Pg 111] before him he found the door leading into the same, the only fastening of which was a bolt. It appeared to him that the keeper of the place usually occupied the outer chamber, as he found a leathern chest secured by a curious ark-shaped brass padlock, and a complete suit of Tartar\'s clothes.
Knowing how small his chances of escape were if he did not attempt to get away before he was tortured, he determined to fire the magazine, even if he had to go with it. The chest he coolly cut open, and found in it one silk holiday suit, one artificial queue, two common suits, one cotton helmet—an article much worn in the northern provinces—(it is like a cap with an all-round curtain attached), one holiday cap, and about 600 cash or sapecks—small brass coins pierced with a square hole, and strung upon twine for convenience of carrying. In a few moments he divested himself of his sailor\'s attire, and was dressed in one of the ordinary suits of clothes, his curly hair being concealed under the cotton helmet; then making the other garments into a bundle—retaining only the little bag containing the waist-ribbon given him by Mary Ann, his ring, the gift of Miss Moore, and a tin box of lucifer matches—he secured the money to his girdle, took up the lamp, and cautiously entered the magazine. Before him he saw several hundred packages of joss-stick, but no powder—the place was large, and partly empty. As he advanced, the rats would dart out of his way, and run squeaking into their burrows among the joss stick. He was about to give up his search, when he spied a door, and having drawn the bolt, found himself in a vast chamber, which had no doubt at some time contained an immense store of ammunition.
"Here\'s a place to perform Ally Barber! Here\'s jars enow for forty hundred thieves!" he cried, as, carefully setting down his lamp, he lifted the lid of one of the jars and found it was empty. Taking up his light he cautiously advanced until he saw before him a large heap of powder, which had evidently been emptied for some special reason, as it was carefully enclosed with boarding so that none of it touched the floor. Having placed his lamp in a safe position, he proceeded to pull down the end board, and to make a train towards the door. This was the work of a few seconds, and when he had run it across the joss stick compartment, he headed it by heaping up a small pile of powder in his cell. The door of his prison proving too strong, he tried the window, through which he found he could, with a little exertion, manage to squeeze himself. Upon this he threw out his bundle, placed two long pieces of well-lighted joss stick with their unburnt ends in the powder piled upon the floor of his cell; then worked himself through the window or air hole, and made the best of his way across the garden: calculating that the joss stick would burn about a quarter of an hour, and by that time he would be out of danger.
He walked along for some time until he stumbled over something, which proved to be a m............