King—Can only move one square at a time, and only straight or sideways as a castle, neither can he move outside his nine points, nor into a square exposed to the adverse king from the opposite side of the board, without any intervening piece.
Mandarins, or Shields—Can only move within the nine points, one at a time, diagonally, as a bishop; they take the same way.
Bishops—Can only move upon their own side of the ditch, always move two points at a time, and take the same way. Their move is diagonal.
Knights—Move and take the same as with us, go all over the board, but cannot move when the angle at the first point of the move is occupied by another piece. They cannot jump over a piece as with us, but must have the road clear.
Castles—Move and take, and have entirely the same value as with us.
Guns—They move only as a castle, but can only take by jumping over an intervening piece.
Pawns—Move one point at a time, straight forward, take the same way, and when they cross the ditch, can take and advance, forwards or sideways, like a castle; but still only one point at a time. They cannot, however, move backwards. It requires a move of the pawn, and half a move of the knight, to cross the ditch. Castles and guns can go as far beyond as willing in one move.
I passed close to the Nankin fortifications, but did not anchor, as I saw quite sufficient to guide me in joining the Chung-wang there without stopping; the place being evidently open and easy of access.
At Chin-kiang I heard terrible rumours of pirates, about the Lang-shan crossing and entrance of the river; and the more the deeds of the pirates were talked about, the greater embellishment they received from the imagination of the narrator, so that, at last, bad as they certainly were, the deeds attributed to them would never have been recognized by the perpetrators themselves.
With all the exaggeration, the danger was really too great to be despised, and I made arrangements to sail down to Shanghae in company with two European vessels also bound there, one a fore and-aft-French schooner, the other an American lorcha.
The first night after leaving Chin-kiang, being in advance of my consorts, I observed an English schooner right ahead, with her ensign flying union down. At the time I made her out she was scarcely half a mile distant, and the moon shining brightly upon her, with my glasses I easily distinguished her signal of distress. As we approached each other from opposite directions, in a few minutes we had closed to within speaking distance; so, rounding to, I hailed to know what was the matter. I could only faintly distinguish, in reply, "Come on board; I will anchor."
After passing me by a few hundred yards the strange vessel brought up, and lowering a boat, I proceeded to board her, leaving my Greek mate to bring the schooner a little closer, and then anchor. Before getting alongside I noticed two Europeans on the quarter deck of the schooner, waiting to receive me, and to my surprise saw they were both armed. As this looked suspicious, when under the shadow of the vessel's side I loosened my revolver in its sheath. When I reached the gangway, I observed many of the Chinese crew watching my approach, and all, apparently, in a state of excitement. This put me upon my guard still more, for it was evident something was wrong; and, coupling the appearance of things with the signal of distress, that something was most likely dangerous. I ascended the gangway ladder with caution, and well I did so, for my head had scarcely appeared above the rail when a Chinaman made a rush at me with both hands stretched out, evidently intending to push me overboard. Thanks to my watchfulness and sailor training, I was able to meet this attack successfully, in spite of my awkward situation. Clinging to the side ladder with my knees, I quick as thought ducked my head and shoulders inboard, seized my assailant round the waist before he could take hold of me, and, aided by his own impetus, threw him clean over my head into the river. He uttered one cry as, plunging into the fierce and turbid tide of the Yang-tze, he disappeared for ever. This passed within two seconds, and, drawing my revolver, I sprang on board before several other Chinese rushing to the gangway could reach me. The sudden display of the hollow barrel within a couple of feet, and pointing straight at the head of the foremost, checked them, and at that moment the whizzing of a bullet amongst them, accompanied by the sharp crack of a rifled pistol, and followed by the appearance of the two Europeans at my side, drove them back.
The whole crew, however, seemed springing from every direction, some from the hatchways, some from forward, and some from aft; and with the usual gesticulation of Chinese about to fight, commenced stripping themselves of their outer clothing, and uttering fierce crys and yells to encourage each other.
I had barely a moment to receive the explanation of the schooner's captain, who thrust a spare cutlass into my hand—that a mutiny had taken place, and having secured the ringleader he wished me to carry him down to Shanghae in irons—when the crew were upon us. Jumping and yelling like a legion of fiends let loose, they hurried towards us, brandishing the bamboo spears and the knives they had armed themselves with. For a moment we hesitated to fire upon them, but that moment's delay very nearly cost us our lives. Thinking they possessed no firearms, we believed we could awe them into submission with our revolvers. Suddenly one of them jumped forward and discharged two heavy horse pistols point blank at me and the captain of the schooner. The din of the report, the smoke, and our surprise, combined with an indefinite sort of feeling (upon my part at least) that we were half blown to pieces, caused a moment's inaction almost fatal to us. The whole of the crew, some eighteen or twenty, rushed forward. Fortunately the captain (who I imagined was the mate) of the vessel, being farthest away from the discharge of the pistols, was not in the least startled, but firing at the man who held them, brought him to the deck, and then discharging several shots amongst the crowd, gave me time to recover myself.
I did not feel wounded. My next perception was, that I was engaged with half a dozen men pushing fiercely at me with their spears. For some seconds I defended myself desperately with the cutlass, successfully warding all their thrusts, actually forgetful of the revolver I held in my left hand. I was soon reminded of its use by another man coming towards me, pointing a huge pistol like the first two that had so nearly finished me. This entirely recalled my presence of mind, and bringing my revolver into play, I had the satisfaction of seeing him fall in the smoke. At the same instant, however, the slight distraction had nearly proved successful to my spear assailants; one transfixed me, as I thought, though afterwards it appeared I was barely scratched, and the transfixing sensation was caused by the spear tightly pinning my clothes, while before I could parry it, another made a thrust full at my breast. With no time to sweep my cutlass round, I dropped it, and seized the spear-haft within an inch of my body, at the same time using my revolver and shooting the man. Before I could level at another enemy, the man whose spear was fast in my clothes abandoned it and closed with me. Over and over we rolled on the deck. I was unable to use my pistol, and he to use his knife. My left wrist was firmly grasped by his right hand, while my right hand was fully engaged restraining his left, armed with a large dagger.
While struggling on the deck I saw several Chinamen approaching with uplifted spear, to slaughter me in my helpless condition, but each time I had seen the schooner's mate jump over me, exclaiming, as he thrust with his sword, "Lā, lā," and each time I had seen an enemy fall. At last I received a severe blow on the head, and, half-stunned, felt my antagonist releasing his left hand. Just at this moment I was sensible of some one dragging himself along the deck close to me, and ere I could distinguish who or what it was, my revolver was taken from my hand, the Chinaman who had hitherto been holding it abandoned his grip, and knocked my right hand from his left. Instead of feeling his knife pierce me, a pistol was discharged, so close that the flash singed my hair, and the Chinaman fell motionless across me.
From the effect of the blow I had received, and the shock of the near report, I lay for a moment unable to move. I was then aroused by the mate of the schooner dragging the Chinaman off me and assisting me to rise, exclaiming, "Eh, monsieur capitaine, hope I, be gar! vous have no die—Zese sacré—all dead, all run down le fond de calle—de hole, be gar!"
When I recovered my feet, I saw the deck was deserted, except by ourselves and seven or eight Chinamen lying dead