Brown of Moukden: A Story of the Russo-Japanese War

by Herbert Strang

"Masta say-lo my hab plenty good look-see. My walkee long-side masta; plaps my can helpum masta."

"Very well. Now show me where you saw the smoke."

The boy pointed to a hollow nearly a mile away, where at first Jack could see nothing but fields of hay and over-ripe kowliang. The smoke of course had now disappeared; but, following Hi Lo's finger, Jack presently saw the dull mud-coloured walls of a farm enclosure, barely distinguishable from the brownish vegetation around. A moment later Hi Lo's keen glance lighted upon the low shelter-tents of the Russian encampment, some distance to the left of the farm, apparently situated in a field, recently cropped, near the bank of the river, of which a few yards could be seen. Not a man was in sight; but beyond the camp was a clump of brushwood, at the edge of which Jack fancied he saw the black forms of two or three horses. Probably the rest were tethered in the copse.

As Jack and his two companions, standing motionless on the hilltop, looked across the valley they suddenly saw a score of men rush out from the tall kowliang in which they had been concealed, and dash forward against the far corner of the wall surrounding the farm. At the same moment, from the fields around puffs of smoke were seen rising in the air, and a few moments later the sharp rattle of musketry, like the sudden shooting of pebbles from a cart, reached their ears. But the defenders had not been caught napping. A withering fire met the Russians as they charged up the slight slope leading to the farm; only a few gained the crest, and these fell to the Chunchuses, who all at once appeared as by magic in the courtyard. The survivors hesitated for a moment; then they turned and plunged into cover of the long grass and kowliang. In a few seconds every man had disappeared from view; peace reigned over the scene; there was nothing to show that the farm was the centre of a bitter struggle.

But for the scarcity of water Jack had little doubt from what he had seen that the Chunchuses would be able to hold their own indefinitely against the Cossacks, unless siege operations of a regular kind were adopted. He could see no trace of trenches, such as, with their numerical advantage, the besiegers could easily have constructed if they had been so minded and possessed the requisite knowledge. But they were a mounted force, unused, no doubt, to any tactics but the simple Cossack evolutions. The average Russian soldier has little adaptability. The construction of trenches is not a horseman's business; it would not enter the head of a Cossack captain to employ a device so far removed from his routine. Yet with the aid of a trench the besiegers could make short work of the Chunchuse defences, which consisted simply of the mud wall surrounding the farm, and the farm itself—a thatched cottage with byres and pig-sties adjacent, flimsy structures at the best.

Under cover of the tall shrubs that crowned the hill, Jack looked long and searchingly at the beleaguered farm. He tried to picture the defenders within the walls, hoping for relief, watching the inch-fall of their water supply, tantalized by the sight of the full stream flowing so near, and yet as distant as though it were in another continent. To Jack it appeared that there was no chance whatever of doing anything to assist the Chunchuses, among whom doubtless were men whom he had seen in Ah Lum's camp. He asked the guide whether he could suggest a way. The man replied that the only course was to hurry on and inform Ah Lum of the desperate position of his men. Inasmuch as a messenger had gone on the same errand two days before, the guide's suggestion was not very helpful. And Jack was possessed of the feeling that to act thus would be equivalent to leaving the trapped band in the lurch, a thing that went very much against the grain. Yet what else could he do? If he could give no help in the actual, pressing emergency, there was nothing to gain by remaining on the scene—not only nothing to gain but everything to lose, for he would run the risk of being snapped up by the Cossacks.

"There's no help for it, I suppose," he said half-aloud. Very unwillingly he turned his back on the farm, and retraced his steps down the hillside towards the copse where the ponies were tethered. Just before the farm was wholly shut from his sight by the crest of the hill, he turned again and swept the country with his eye, as though to take a last look at the scene of an approaching tragedy. It happened that in his movements upon the hill he had reached a point where a somewhat different view was obtainable, and he now noticed for the first time, half a mile away to his left, an open space in which a group of men, Russians no doubt, were busy around a number of tripods with big cauldrons suspended. Smoke was rising from one or two; the men were evidently lighting fires to prepare their evening meal.

"Strange," thought Jack, "that the cooking place should be so far from the shelter-tents and horses. It must be nearly half a mile from the farm. Do the troops march to the food, I wonder, or is the food carried to the troops? Probably the former. But why so far away?"

Even as the question occurred to him the answer flashed upon his mind—and not only the answer, but a possible means of doing what he so much longed to do. Was it possible? He felt his pulse quicken at the mere thought. The dusk was fast gathering over the scene; the farm and its surroundings must soon be shut altogether from his gaze; before that came about, he must take one more look. Bidding Hi Lo and the guide remain where they were, he went back to his former post of observation, moving very carefully so as not to be seen from the quarter where he had not previously suspected the presence of an enemy. Once more he scanned the landscape; then he returned to the two Chinese, who looked at him questioningly, wondering at the change of expression on his face.

"Back to the ponies!" he said briefly. As they went they saw the glow of the Russians' fires in the glooming sky. The sight brought a smile to Jack's lips, but he said nothing to his expectant companions. They found the ponies where they had left them; they took from the saddles the food brought from the village—a little rice, some bean sprouts, and a small heap of monkey-nuts, all that they had been able to get at short notice. As they munched their frugal meal Jack could not but wish for five minutes by the steaming cooking-pots on the other side of the hill. When their hunger was satisfied, and the dusk had deepened into night, Jack suddenly looked up from the brown study in which he had appeared to be absorbed and said: