The Provost bowed and left the room with his prisoner, who began to howl for mercy.
“Now, Mr. Bateman,” Sir Claude said, turning to Rex, “I hardly know whether to praise or blame you. This is the third dangerous expedition you have made on your own account, and, like the others, it has been successful. Still, as I told you on the last occasion, while shut up here, you, although a civilian, are subject to military rule, and it is strictly forbidden for anyone to leave the circle of the defences without permission. For doing this I cannot but speak severely. On the other hand, the advantages which have been attained by your silencing those guns are quite inestimable. Their fire menaced our defences most seriously, and if it had continued many hours longer we should have been exposed to a desperate attack by that half–frenzied mob. That attack we might have repulsed or we might not, but assuredly it would have taxed our strength to the utmost, and even if the first had been unsuccessful, the second might not have been. I thank you, sir, in the name of the whole of the garrison, foreign as well as British, for the service you have rendered us. Already the defences have been so far repaired as to enable us to withstand any sudden attack; very soon they will be still stronger. If we succeed in winning our deliverance and holding out till the relieving column arrives it will be to no small extent due to your courage and pluck. It must add considerably to your pleasure to know that your cousins are among those who will benefit by your bravery.”
“I am greatly pleased and honoured by your approval, sir,” Rex said, “but I would very much rather that the affair had not been known at all. I carried it out assuredly without any wish of gaining credit, but simply for the good of the garrison, and I should very greatly have preferred escaping the talk and congratulation that I shall now have to submit to.”
Sir Claude smiled.
“My dear lad,” he said, “it is only right that the great deeds men do should be known, if only as an example to others. If we all shrank from danger there would be few great deeds. You know the old saying, ʻto the victor is the wreath,ʼ and it is only right that it should be so. It is one thing to glorify yourself and another to be glorified by others. Ah Lo, here are fifty guineas from me as a mark of my approbation of the manner in which you assisted your master in carrying out this undertaking.”
In a very short time the story was known throughout the Residencies, and Rex received so many congratulations and so much praise that he determined to leave Pekin as soon as possible and try to join the relieving column.
CHAPTER X
A MISSION