We travelled near a month after this, the ways being not so good as at first, though still in the dominions of the emperor of China; but lay, for the most part, in villages, some of which were fortified, because of the incursions of the Tartars. When we came to one of these towns, (it was about two days and a half’s journey before we were to come to the city of Naum) I wanted to buy a camel, of which there are plenty to be sold all the way upon that road, and of horses also, such as they are, because so many caravans coming that way, they are very often wanted. The person that I spoke to to get me a camel, would have gone and fetched it for me; but I, like a fool, must be officious, and go myself along with him. The place was about two miles out of the village, where, it seems, they kept the camels and horses feeding under a guard.
I walked it on foot, with my old pilot in company, and a Chinese, being desirous, forsooth, of a little variety. When we came to this place, it was a low marshy ground, walled round with a stone wall, piled up dry, without mortar or earth among it, like a park, with a little guard of Chinese soldiers at the doors. Having bought a camel, and agreed for the price, I came away; and the Chinese man, that went with me, led the camel, when on a sudden came up five Tartars on horseback: two of them seized the fellow, and took the camel from him, while the other three stepped up to me and my old pilot; seeing us, as it were, unarmed, for I had no weapon about me but my sword, which could but ill defend me against three horsemen. The first that came up stopped short upon my drawing my sword; (for they are arrant cowards) but a second coming upon my left, gave me a blow on the head, which I never felt till afterwards, and wondered, when I came to myself, what was the matter with me, and where I was, for he laid me flat on the ground; but my never-failing old pilot, the Portuguese (so Providence, unlooked for, directs deliverances from dangers, which to us are unforeseen,) had a pistol in his pocket, which I knew nothing of nor the Tartars neither; if they had, I suppose they would not have attacked us; but cowards are always boldest when there is no danger.
The old man, seeing me down, with a bold heart stepped up to the fellow that had struck me, and laying hold of his arm with one hand, and pulling him down by main force a little towards him with the other, he shot him into the head, and laid him dead on the spot; he then immediately stepped up to him who had stopped us, as I said, and before he could come forward again (for it was all done as it were in a moment) made a blow at him with a scimitar, which he always wore, but, missing the man, cut his horse into the side of his head, cut one of his ears off by the root, and a great slice down the side of his face. The poor beast, enraged with the wounds, was no more to be governed by his rider, though the fellow sat well enough too; but away he flew, and carried him quite out of the pilot’s reach; and, at some distance, rising upon his hind legs, threw down the Tartar, and fell upon him.
In this interval the poor Chinese came in, who had lost the camel, but he had no weapon; however, seeing the Tartar down, and his horse fallen upon him, he runs to him, and seizing upon an ugly ill-favoured weapon he had by his side, something like a pole-axe, but not a pole-axe either, he wrenched it from him, and made shift to knock his Tartarian brains out with it. But my old man had the third Tartar to deal with still; and, seeing he did not fly as he expected, nor come on to fight him, as he apprehended, but stood stock still, the old man stood still too, and falls to work with his tackle to charge his pistol again: but as soon as the Tartar saw the pistol, whether he supposed it to be the same or another, I know not; but away he scoured, and left my pilot, my champion I called him afterwards, a complete victory.
By this time I was a little awake; for I thought, when I first began to awake, that I had been in a sweet sleep; but as I said above, I wondered where I was, how I came upon the ground, and what was the matter: in a word, a few minutes after, as sense returned, I felt pain, though I did not know where; I clapped my hand to my head, and took it away bloody; then I felt my head ache, and then, in another moment, memory returned, and every thing was present to me again.
I jumped up upon my feet instantly, and got hold of my sword, but no enemies in view. I found a Tartar lie dead, and his horse standing very quietly by him; and looking farther, I saw my champion and deliverer, who had been to see what the Chinese had done, coming back with his hanger in his hand. The old man, seeing me on my feet, came running to me, and embraced me with a great deal of joy, being afraid before that I had been killed; and seeing me bloody, would see how I was hurt; but it was not much, only what we call a broken head; neither did I afterwards find any great inconvenience from the blow, other than the place which was hurt, and which was well again in two or three days.
We made no great gain, however, by this victory; for we lost a camel, and gained a horse: but that which was remarkable, when we came back to the village, the man demanded to be paid for the camel; I disputed it, and it was brought to a hearing before the Chinese judge of the place; that is to say, in English, we went before a justice of the peace. Give him his due, he acted with a great deal of prudence and impartiality; and having heard both sides, he gravely asked the Chinese man that went with me to buy the camel, whose servant he was? “I am no servant,” said he, “but went with the stranger.”—“At whose request?” said the justice. “At the stranger’s request,” said he. “Why then,” said the justice, “you were the stranger’s servant for the time; and the camel being delivered to his servant, it was delivered to him, and he must pay for it.”
I confess the thing was so clear, that I had not a word to say; but admiring to see such just reasoning upon the consequence, and so accurate stating the case, I paid willingly for the camel, and sent for another; but you may observe, I sent for it; I did not go to fetch it myself any more; I had had enough of that.
The city of Naum is a frontier of the Chinese empire: they call it fortified, and so it is, as fortifications go there; for this I will venture to affirm, that all the Tartars in Karakathy, which, I believe, are some millions, could not batter down the walls with their bows and arrows; but to call it strong, if it were attacked with cannon, would be to make those who understand it laugh at you.
We wanted, as I have said, about two days journey of this city, when messengers were sent express to every part of the road, to tell all travellers and caravans to halt, till they had a guard sent to them; for that an unusual body of Tartars, making ten thousand in all, had appeared in the way, about thirty miles beyond the city.