CHAPTER V
WITH SEYMOURʼS COLUMN
That evening after dinner Rex told the envoy in full the story of his adventures. The chiefs of two or three other Legations were present, and all expressed great surprise that a mere lad should have carried out so desperate an undertaking.
The next morning the doctor called to see Rex.
“You are thinking of going down at once, are you not?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, I have come in to tell you that your cousins cannot possibly go with you. Their recent experiences have been a terrible strain on them, and as a result of the reaction, both are completely prostrated. The younger one is very feverish, and is, I expect, in for a sharp illness.”
“I am very sorry to hear that, sir, though I cannot say that I am surprised. They have held on very well, but they were weak when they started, and throughout the journey they have had no chance of picking up strength. I was afraid that they would break down before they got here. At any rate I shall run down to Tientsin to see my father and mother, who are no doubt suffering great anxiety, and shall then, I hope, be able to arrange to come back for them. I suppose I can see them before I start?”
“Certainly, but the shorter your visit the better. You may be quite sure that they will have every attention here. I donʼt think there is any reason for being uneasy about them. It is the natural reaction after the strain, and I hope that in another fortnight or so they will be able to travel. I will go across with you to their room now.”
Rex at once went over.
“I have come to say good–bye, Jenny,” he said, as he entered the shaded room in which his cousins were lying. “The doctor says that you wonʼt be fit to travel for another fortnight, and you know I must run down to see my father and mother, who will by this time be in a great state of alarm about you. I shall be back for you, and I hope if I come at the end of a fortnight I shall find you both in a fit state to go. If you are not, I shall wait till you are. Good–bye, dear!”
“Good–bye, Rex! Of course you ought to go to Tientsin, and we shall look forward to your return. Thank you a thousand times for all that you have done for us, and thank Ah Lo too!”
Mabel was lying with her eyes half–closed and her cheeks flushed with fever, and Rex, seeing that it was of no use trying to rouse her to say good–bye, kissed Jenny and went quietly out of the room.
“I shall keep your clothes until I come back again, Sandwich,” Rex said when he was taking leave of his friend.
“You are perfectly welcome to them if you donʼt bring them back,” the other laughed. “I have any number of suits, and if trouble comes on we shall not be particular about washing.”
“I expect I shall be back before long, for if there is a row here I should like to be in it.”
Rex and Ah Lo went to the railway–station in time for the train which started at ten oʼclock. Several merchants and others were going down also. The journey was a tedious one, for the train travelled slowly and stopped frequently. It was just breakfast–time next morning when they arrived. Rex walked in unannounced just as his father and mother were sitting down to breakfast. They leapt to their feet with cries of surprise and delight.
“I cannot blow you up now, Rex,” his father said after the first joy of the meeting had passed, “but it was the maddest thing that I ever heard of. I am too glad, however, at your safe return to scold you. We were beginning to lose all hope of your return. We thought you might get to Chafui, and of course it was a great satisfaction that you had Ah Lo with you; but when you found that everyone had been massacred, what prevented you from returning at once?”
“The fact, Father, that I found that they were not all massacred. My uncle and aunt had both fallen, but the girls were prisoners in the governorʼs yamen. It was a close affair, for they were to have been given to the Boxers to be massacred the very next day. We got them out, however, and took them safely to Pekin, and they are at present staying at the Legation.”
“You have saved the dear girls!” his mother exclaimed; “that is indeed good news. But where are they?”
“They are at Pekin, Mother. They bore up splendidly until they got there, and then they broke down, and the doctor said that they would need careful treatment and rest before they could be moved. So I ran down here to tell you of my safety, and am going back again in a few days to bring them home. I will give you full particulars when I have got into my own clothes and had some breakfast. We brought a good stock of provisions with us, but finished the last morsel yesterday afternoon. It has been a tremendously long journey, and, as you may imagine, I am pretty peckish. Before sitting down, however, I will run upstairs and change, for I must have a wash before eating. I shall be down again in ten minutes.”
He soon returned, and his father and mother asked no questions until he had finished breakfast, except that his mother asked how he had left the girls.
“I think they will both be better for a rest, Mother,” he said. “They both look fagged, which is not to be wondered at, considering all they have come through, but they are a good deal better than when I first saw them.”
As soon as breakfast was over, and before he questioned Rex further, Mr. Bateman sent for Ah Lo.
“Ah Lo,” he said, when the Chinaman came in, “you did wrong to aid my son to carry out this enterprise. However, as it succeeded so well I cannot blame you, and indeed must thank you heartily for having carried Rex safely through the matter.”
The Chinaman smiled. “I think it is the other way. Mr. Rex carried me through the affair. He always told me what to do; I did just so and it came out all right.”
“Well, I shall not forget the great service you have rendered us.” Ah Lo bowed and went off.
“Now then, Rex, give us an account of your doings, for at present I cannot imagine how you managed to get the girls out from the governorʼs yamen.”
It took Rex more than an hour to relate his adventures, for he was very frequently interrupted by exclamations and questions from his father and mother.
“It was a wonderful rescue,” his father said, when he had brought that part of the story to a close. “It seems simple enough as you tell it, but I really can hardly imagine how the plan occurred to you. There the girls were shut up in the strong house of a governor, with sentries over them and a guard but a few yards away. It was a problem that might have puzzled the sharpest brain, and it was carried out without the slightest hitch. It does you extreme credit, Rex, and I feel proud of you. Well, go on with your story.”
There was a fresh outburst of surprise when Rex related the fight with the twelve Boxers.
“Well, my boy,” Mr. Bateman said when Rex brought his story to an end, “after that you can be trusted to go anywhere, and I donʼt think your mother or I will in future feel anything like the same anxiety concerning you as we have experienced this time.”
“And now, Father, how do matters stand here at present?”
“Things are quiet. A good many sailors have come up, and although a large number of the rebels are still round the town, we have no fear whatever that they will be able to take the place.”
“I think the fighting will be pretty hard work, Father, if, as I think there is little doubt, the Boxers attack in earnest. But what are the regular Chinese troops going to do?”
“I think the envoys still hope that they will stand aloof; but as far as I have learned, the general opinion is just the other way. The Empress and her ministers profess that the Boxers are a peaceable people who only desire well for the empire. They have issued a few shilly–shallying edicts, which can be read both ways, but it is generally believed that the Boxers have been put in the foreground because the Empress thinks they are more than sufficiently strong to destroy the Legations and kill every white and native Christian in the country. She doesnʼt want the responsibility.