At twelve o'clock that night Canton was as quiet as usual. True, the look-out men perched up in the sentry-boxes built all along the walls, kept up a furious din with their bamboo rattles, to show they were awake and to frighten foul spirits away; and the ordinary watchmen made night hideous with their shrill cries. However, their noises only occurred at intervals, and beyond that Canton was as silent as Pompeii, the streets being deserted, and not a soul abroad who was not on military duty.
Yeh slumbered until an hour before daybreak, when he arose and held a consultation with his officers. At that time the city was hidden in a light fog, and it was imagined the western barbarians would delay their attack until sunrise, but to the governor's astonishment, as he was speaking, a shell came crashing into his ya-mun, and burst in the court-yard near the room in which they were assembled. Hearing the explosion, he dismissed his officers, ordering them, as they valued their heads, to hold the walls till the last moment; and then that learned scholar, great warrior, and plucky Tartar went into an inner apartment, and, ostrich-like, hid himself under a pile of cotton bags.
The mortar-battery commenced the attack, and at the same moment a signal was hoisted on the crows'-nest of the fort. In a moment bang, bang went the guns of the various ships, and away tore hundreds of missiles into Canton. Yeh's ya-mun was the principal object of attack at first, and the whole line of ships directed their guns upon that spot. Not a shot was fired by the Chinese in return, and their enemies had it all their own way. For several hours they continued firing with great precision, and in many places the outer wall was badly battered, large masses of it falling into the streets underneath, and completely filling them with rubbish.
About noon, the city being fired in many places by the shower of shell-rockets thrown in by the allies, it was determined to land the forces, while those left in charge of the ships were directed to keep up a steady fire upon the principal edifices. At times the shot went flying against strong-looking buildings, which in a few minutes would, as it were, reel and topple over; while the rockets, after striking against some obstruction, would rebound, and dart at it again, until they forced their way through, in most cases firing the structures they entered.
After the naval brigade, composed of all the men who could be spared from the Stinger, departed from that ship, those left in charge of Mr. Beauman did their best to damage the city as much as possible by firing at pagodas and watch-boxes, their exertions in that line being every now and then rewarded by seeing one of the objects incline and fall to the ground. The river thieves reaped a fine harvest, and looted to their heart's content, undisturbed by the missiles which flew over their heads, and ere night set in not one of them was left, as they had all loaded their sampans and departed in search of a mart in which to dispose of their plunder. At dusk the city was wrapped in flames from one end to the other, and all along the line of range palaces and hovels fell a prey to the devouring element.
When the Stingers left the ship they were conveyed to a point below the city, where the allied forces were preparing for the assault. Here, much to their chagrin, they were ordered to take charge of the landing-place; and it was with anything but satisfaction that they witnessed the departure of the forces selected to assault the heights. The Stingers were not relieved of their irksome charge until some days after, when they were marched into the city and quartered in a ya-mun.
Thus how Canton was taken and Yeh captured was a mystery to them; all they knew about the matter being that the wounded were brought down for embarkation, and that Yeh himself, amid the groans of the spectators, took boat from their wharf, when he was conveyed on board ship, preparatory to his removal to Calcutta. They heard that the French, after having agreed to assault the heights at a certain time, had, contrary to agreement, advanced an hour before, so as to boast of entering the city before their allies, but did not know any particulars of the attack; they also saw the body of one of the most esteemed captains in the service brought down, to be conveyed on board his ship; but beyond this, and hearing the guns, they knew little about the affair.
When they arrived in the city the place seemed quiet enough, and instead of plundering they were themselves fleeced by the inhabitants, who at once started a sort of market, and charged famine prices for everything they sold.
It was, no doubt, a wise regulation which forbade the Stingers looting or plundering, after the manner of the French, who searched everywhere, and not only ill-treated women and children, but often killed the inhabitants, when they could not satisfy them by producing treasure. There was not much exchange of courtesy betwixt the allies, and, indeed, upon several occasions the sailors belonging to the two nations came to open rupture.
Although the Stingers were strictly forbidden to loot, they had contrived to get hold of some very pretty things in the way of curiosities, purchased of the Chinese thieves; and, doubtless, now and then articles upon which it would puzzle them to prove payment had been made; but in justice be it said, they seldom annoyed the women, although they were not quite guiltless upon that head.