“He has gone away. The Russians came here and they made it unpleasant for him.”
“Why?”
“I know not, excepting it might be that they wanted to establish their own church.”
“And have they done that?”
“Not yet. But they are coming sooner or later. They are now in the north of my land. They are pressing us hard.”
“But the Japanese may drive them out.”
“I trust they do. We do not want any Russians in the Land of the Morning Calm.” And there the talk came to an end.
CHAPTER XIII
OLD COMRADES IN ARMS
The town and harbor of Chemulpo are in reality the seaport for Seoul, the capital of Korea, which is inland about fifty miles. The harbor proper is a small affair and large vessels usually lie in the roadstead outside. Along the shore are clustered a number of wooden houses, painted white, and back of these are a small hill and a larger settlement, divided into Chinese, Japanese, and English, French, and German quarters. In the latter are hotels of fairly good size, a bank, schools, and churches. The trade is largely in the hands of the Japanese and Chinese, and almost all of the shipping is Japanese.
The sights in the town interested Gilbert very much, especially such as were to be seen in the Korean quarter proper. Here were long string of stalls, piled high with various things on sale, and the streets were alive with people, for the Koreans believe in keeping “on the go” constantly.