“Can nothing be done, father?”
“What can be done?” Mr. Bateman said bitterly. “It will be as much as we are able to do to hold our own here. The whole country round is in their hands, and it is very doubtful whether Admiral Seymour can, with every man that possibly can be spared, fight his way to Pekin, which is two hundred miles away. Certainly no force can be spared to rescue people who fall into the hands of the Boxers so far away.”
Rex stood in silent consternation. He had not seen his uncle or any of the family since his return, but his aunt and the two girls had been staying some weeks at the house before he went away. “It is awful!” he said at last; “and Uncle must have been mad not to have sent them down when the troubles began.”
“I think so, too, Rex. As for his staying himself it is different. He has a large number of converts there, and no doubt he hoped that his presence there would be some protection. You see, one of the principal causes of the Chinese dislike for us is the missionary question. It is a religious question as much as a political one. The Chinese are in some things very superstitious. They worship to some extent the spirits of their ancestors, but for other religion they care but little. There is no ill–feeling between men of different religion here. No resistance was offered to the spread of Buddhism; the Taoists do not quarrel with those who are practically Confucians. But with Christianity it is different. The converts come under the protection of the missionaries, who have behind them the European powers, and consequently they are, to a great extent, independent of the local officials. The feeling has been greatly aggravated by France insisting that her bishops should have the rank of mandarins, and be judges over their native converts. All this has been a great mistake, for which we are paying now. I believe that our own missions have striven hard to avoid giving offence, and all missionaries in the up–country stations dress in native costume, for the Chinese regard dress as a serious matter.”
While this conversation had been going on, Mrs. Bateman had left the room.
“You had better sit down and eat your breakfast, Rex. You can give me a cup of tea; I could not eat anything now. Kate is very dear to me, and so are the girls. They were here twice while you were away, and stayed with us each time for some weeks.”
“I donʼt remember much about the girls, father. The elder was three years younger than I, and was quite a child, and Mabel was two years younger still.”
“They were growing up very nice girls,” Mr. Bateman said sadly. “Jenny is now nearly fifteen and Mabel thirteen. Of course they had not the freshness of girls brought up at home, and I spoke to their mother when she was up here, and wrote to your uncle, urging that they should go home for a couple of years, and offering to pay all their expenses. He said that in another year he would take the matter into consideration.”
Rex ate a few mouthfuls, and then went out into the courtyard. Ah Lo was sitting there. By his serious face Rex saw that he had heard the news.
“This is a terrible business,” Rex began.
“A very bad business, master.”
“Is there anything to be done, do you think?”
The Chinaman knit his eyebrows. “What could be done?” he asked.
“That I donʼt know; but it is horrible to sit here and do nothing when my aunt and cousins are, if they are alive, prisoners, and may be put to horrible tortures before they are killed.”
Ah Lo was silent.
“Do you think you and I could get there and try to rescue them?”
The Chinamanʼs eyes opened wide. “Do you really mean that, young master?”
“Yes; I do not see why we should not get there all right, though I donʼt say that we could rescue them. We could both dress up as villagers, or as Boxers if you like, and as I speak Chinese as well as you do, I donʼt see why we should not both make our way through. I could stain my skin just a little so as to get it just the right colour, and shave my head and put on a pigtail. Many Chinese wear spectacles, great things with thick rims.”
“Villagers do not often wear them, master, though the literati who wear their eyes out in staring at a book often do. You could not go as one of them, for you do not speak the same language.”
“Well, I should think that you might paint a little line in each corner of my eyes so as to make them look a little up and down like the Chinese eyes.”
“Ah Lo had better go alone,” the Chinaman said quietly.
“Not at all,” Rex said. “My aunt and cousins are a great deal to me, they are nothing to you, and I certainly wonʼt let you go alone.”
“The master would never let you go,” Ah Lo said positively.
“I donʼt suppose he would; but he would not know anything about it until I had gone. I should leave a letter behind telling him why I had gone, and that I was so disguised that I could pass for a Chinaman anywhere. I should say also that I know my chance of succeeding is not great, but that I consider the risk of being found out is still less. I should, of course, promise to take every precaution.”
“The master would never forgive me,” Ah Lo said.
“Oh, yes! he would. I should say further that I had made up my mind to go, and that I told you that if you did not go with me I should go alone, which I mean to do. I am some months past sixteen now, and I think I can take care of myself, though I should feel a great deal more comfortable having you with me.”
CHAPTER III
IN DISGUISE
“Well, what do you think of it, Ah Lo?”
“If you have quite made up your mind, young master, I will go with you,” Ah Lo said quietly; “if I return with you the master will not say much, and certainly if you do not return I shall not.”
“Thank you, Ah Lo! Now, let us settle at once how we shall go, for every hour is of importance. Which do you think would be best, to go as villagers or as Boxers?”
“I think as villagers, master. We can go from village to village with the tale that we have been coolies working here, and that now there is no trade and no employment we are going to visit our family, who live near Chafui. We can carry with us clothes such as the Boxers wear, either red or yellow, so that when we get to Chafui we can put them on if we like. Of course we shall take swords and long knives.”
“I have the two revolvers my uncle gave me when I came away,” Rex said; “we can each carry one of them. As we shall say that we come from Tientsin, the fact that we have revolvers would excite no suspicion. If we are questioned we could easily say that we took them secretly from our employerʼs house when we came away from here. I have got a good stock of cartridges. Of course many of the Boxers are armed with good rifles, but would a villager be carrying them?”
“No, but a coolie from here might do so. Numbers of the Boxers have been killed near Tientsin, and there would be nothing improbable in the statement that as we left the town we had picked up two rifles. A good many rifles are still lying in the suburbs where the fighting went on; if you go out there this morning you might find a couple, for the streets are quite deserted, and then you might put them in a doorway where we could find them as we went along. You would also have to find some packets of cartridges. When shall we start, master?”
“If we can be ready to start to–night all the better.”
“There can be no difficulty about that. I know many native shops where I can get the clothes, and there are plenty of dead Boxers from whom I could take red suits. You could not get your head shaved here, but I will carry a razor and soap with me, and in the morning, first thing, will shave your head. I can buy a pigtail in the town, as many people who have not much hair use false pigtails,