My followers were only six in number—W—— and the five Cantonese. It was my only chance to seize the vessel. Yet success seemed doubtful; but I knew full well that the boldness of a sudden enterprise would prove more effective than numbers, and felt sure that a well-managed surprise would give us an easy victory. The people of the steamer being at Shanghae, in the very heart of the Manchoo power, surrounded and protected by their British and French allies, would, I imagined, be too much astounded at the sudden attack by Ti-ping partisans to offer much resistance.
Myself and comrade were soon ready for the attempt, our baggage being confined to a tooth-brush each, our revolvers, and a good-sized piece of soap; the Canton men took little besides their formidable short Chinese swords, and a supply of those huge double-barrelled pistols in which their countrymen delight.
Proceeding to one of the Shanghae wharves, I engaged a boat, embarked with my men, and in a moment we were proceeding as fast as possible towards the vessel of the enemy.
We started in broad daylight; in fact, but a short time after noon. About one o'clock we were close up to the steamer. Sculling against the ebb tide, our boat was slowly worked past the enemy, while, having observed all that could be seen from outside, I made arrangements to board. My plan was to drop alongside the steamer's bow, get on board with W——, and then engage the Europeans in conversation, until I decided upon the instant for our coup de main, which would be signalled to A-ling (who was to hold fast the boat and watch every movement) by a wave of my arm, who was then to rush on board with the other Cantonese. Myself, W——, and one man, were to seize and secure the two European officers; the other three, under A-ling's orders, were to overpower any resistance from the Chinese soldiers and crew, and then cut the vessel adrift; while their leader, who had been brought up as an engineer, and understood the duties of one, took charge of the engines and set them going ahead at full speed.
Three of our men now hid themselves behind the mat cover of the boat. When we got alongside, A-ling and another held fast to the steamer in such a position that they could observe the movements of myself and W—— in the after part of the vessel. Proceeding from bow to stern, and looking fore and aft the deck, we were able to notice that the crew on board consisted of twelve or fourteen soldiers, one Manilla-man, six or eight Chinese—employed as firemen, &c.—and two Europeans. With my comrade I walked right up to the officers of the ship, and engaged in conversation with regard to my taking a passage to Quin-san with them. Their positions were respectively those of gunner and chief mate. They informed me that their trip to Shanghae was for the purpose of obtaining stores, and to deliver over to the Manchoo Governor several unfortunate Ti-ping chiefs, captured by them on the Ta-hoo Lake. This statement, given with a would-be air of conviction as to the glory and heroism of their achievement, made me quite determined to attempt the capture of the steamer at every risk, rather than lose a chance to prevent future acts of such cold-blooded atrocity. The flotilla, with which she had acted on the Ta-hoo, was commanded by one Macartney, formerly surgeon of Her Majesty's 99th regiment, but who left his honourable profession to take service under Li, the Manchoo Governor of the province. This man, having made prisoners of the chiefs, set off in the steamer for Shanghae, where he quickly sought the presence of his Asiatic master, delivering up to him the miserable Ti-pings, who suffered merciless torture and a cruel death, while this noble-minded Englishman felt no compunction at becoming the recipient of Manchoo patronage. A more dastardly act than thus giving over vanquished enemies to certain death I never heard of, though it was the ordinary practice of the Europeans in Imperialist pay. The case in question decided the fate of the steamer, and made the Imps pay dear enough for the satisfaction of torturing to death one or two helpless patriots.
The narrators had just finished the history of their gallant exploit against unarmed boats, peaceable villages, and powerless captives, when I decided to make my attempt. I stood close to the mate, while W—— was ready at the side of the gunner; I had just waved my arm to A-ling, and turned to seize my man, when, fortunately casting a glance astern, I observed two boats making for the steamer, and scarcely fifty yards distant. Quickly giving A-ling the signal to retreat, I managed to avoid giving any alarm, or even to excite the least suspicion in the minds of our two interlocutors, who believed that I intended to proceed up country with them as correspondent for a certain paper. The nearest boat contained seven Manilla-men, including two quartermasters belonging to the vessel, and their friends; the other, the engineer, captain, and another European, who was engaged to take command upon reaching the lines before Soo-chow. It was, indeed, fortunate that I happened to notice the approaching boats before commencing operations; otherwise we would certainly have succumbed to numbers within a few minutes. When the captain arrived on board, I requested a passage to Quin-san. This was arranged, and I then took my departure.
Having ascertained that the steamer would not leave until late at night, I fully determined to make another effort to capture her for the Ti-pings. I found that it was imperative, however, before making the attempt, to have some addition to the number of my followers. Besides the complement of four European officers, three Manilla-men quartermasters, twenty soldiers, and eight or nine other Chinese, it was expected that General Doctor Macartney, with an aide-de-camp, and the intended future captain, would be present. Consequently, directly we reached the shore, W—— and myself proceeded to find a few Europeans whom we could engage for the service. Late in the evening we met at my house, and found that we could muster five recruits. The character of these men was far more than questionable; their social position was among the genus rowdy. However, we had not time to pick and choose; a reinforcement was essential to afford any prospect of a favourable issue to our enterprise; the rowdies were therefore engaged on the spot, simply to assist in the capture of an Imperialist vessel, for which service myself and lieutenant guaranteed to pay them well. We would not have had them in our young legion.
A VIEW ON THE JOURNEY TO SOO-CHOW, OF A PORTION OF
COUNTRY NEAR THE CITY OF WU-SEE, LATELY DESOLATED BY IMPERIALISTS.
See p. [638].