A Chicago Princess

by Robert Barr

I said he must surely have mistaken his instructions; the barbarous programme he had proposed would shock the civilized world. He answered, with a shrug of his shoulders, that the civilized world would never hear of it. I averred he was mistaken in this, telling him I had already communicated with my Consul, and his reply to this was to pull from his sleeve the hasty note I had written and bribed the man at the gate to deliver. This man, he said, had at once brought the communication to him, and he hoped I would acknowledge the fruitlessness of further opposition.

I quickly saw that we were in a predicament, and that it would need all my diplomacy to find a means of egress. However, I determined first to impress upon Hun Woe the dangers of the plan he had outlined. If the Emperor did what he proposed to do, that would bring upon Corea the irretrievable disaster of invasion by both the United States and England. It was not possible to keep assassinations secret. Mr. Hemster’s great steamship was at this moment awaiting him at Chemulpo. If no one returned, the captain of that boat had orders to communicate at once with both the British and the American authorities. I endeavored to flatter Hun Woe by telling him that an official of his great learning and intelligence must realize what the result would be. The good man sighed, but in the presence of his entourage apparently had not the courage to admit that Corea would come badly out of the encounter. In fact, he said that the Emperor could defend his country against the combined forces of the world; but whether he believed this or not, I should hesitate to say.

I now changed my tactics, and told the Prime Minister that I was merely Ambassador for Mr. Hemster, and that I would inform him of the offer the Emperor had made. It was more than likely, I asserted, that the proposal would be extremely gratifying to him; so we would postpone further consideration until he had time to think over the matter. I further suggested that we should have another interview with the Emperor at the same hour next day, and with this the Prime Minister joyously concurred. To assist the negotiations he told me that the Emperor had referred to my objection of an existing Empress, but means would be found to divorce that august lady, and this he wished me to place before Mr. Hemster and his daughter. He seemed to imagine that thus had been removed the last obstacle to the proposed union, and I said I would put all this in the most favourable light before Mr. Hemster. The conference which had begun so tempestuously therefore ended in a calm that was extremely gratifying to the Prime Minister, who quite evidently hoped that everybody would be reasonable, that the flow of gold should not cease, and that the contest might end happily. So, with many gestures and expressions of deep regard for myself and my companions, the distinguished party withdrew.

I was anxious to see Mr. Hemster alone, so that I might communicate to him the result of my interview with the Prime Minister, but this intention was frustrated. Gertrude Hemster had nothing whatever to occupy her mind, and the adage informs us that mischief is provided for all such persons. She was already aware that this gorgeous deputation had waited upon me, and it required all her father’s persuasion to keep her from breaking in upon us and learning what was going on. The curiosity of woman has before now wrecked many promising undertakings, and this threatened to be the fate of Mr. Hemster’s plan. The young lady was frank enough to say that she believed me to be playing a double game; not interpreting correctly the message of the Emperor or the sayings of the Prime Minister. She refused to incur the risk of a forced exit from the Palace, and was sure that if the Emperor was rightly spoken to we would all be allowed to march to the port with a royal escort and the honours of war. She insisted that if I were not a coward I would myself brave the dangers of the exit, go to the American Consulate, and there get an interpreter who would be official, and also bring the Consul himself. She was not going to be frightened out of Seoul by a mud-colored heathen like the Emperor, and if only we had treated him as she had done, there would have been no trouble.

I must admit that I agreed with the girl so far as calling in the aid of the American Consul was concerned, and I told her I was quite willing to force the gate and make a run for it to the little spot of the United States which existed in Seoul. But her father could be a determined man when he liked, and this time he put down his foot, declaring firmly that he would not have the news of this fiasco get abroad if he could help it. Curiously enough, Mr. Hemster seemed to have more fear of the yellow press of America than of the yellow man of Corea. His daughter, however, feared neither, and seemed in fact to relish the publicity which this episode might give to her. Whether it was bravery or recklessness on her part, I could not get her to see that we were in any serious danger; but this did not matter, for on appeal to her father to postpone the proposed exodus he proved adamant, and for once the young lady was forced to acquiesce.

I took the pair of extra pistols, and, with ample ammunition, sought out the two Japanese members of our party. I found that both of them had served in the Japanese army and were quite capable of handling firearms with effect. I then told them to say nothing to their Corean comrades, but, as soon as the gates were open in the morning, to bring ponies for the whole party to our door. The manner in which they carried out this order showed their alertness to the exigencies of the situation.

When we all emerged in the morning,—we four white people, our Chinese cook and Japanese serving-boy,—ten ponies were at our door, two of them being loaded down with heavy strings of cash which we had not found occasion to use, because our dealings had been entirely with higher classes and so we had had to employ silver and gold. But only one Japanese man was there. When I asked him where the other fellow was, he replied he was holding a revolver over the huddled heap of Coreans so that they would not give the alarm. As soon as we were mounted, he said he would call his comrade, who would instantly respond.

This proved a very wise precaution, and gave us some valuable minutes before the Palace was roused. We had arrived at the gates ere the sleepy guards realized what was upon them, and the first warning the Palace received of our attempt was the wild firing of the useless muskets which the guards possessed. We had determined not to shoot, hoping that the guards would give way when they found we were resolved to emerge; but their reckless firing, which luckily did no harm to any of our party, made any further attempt at silence unnecessary, and lucky it was for us that we were free to fire, because Mr. Hemster whipped out his revolver at once and shattered the hand of a man who attempted to close the gates. This wounded creature set up such a howl that the guards immediately threw down their arms and fled, leaving the way clear before us.

Now we were in the main street of Seoul, and if it had not been for Mr. Hemster’s prohibition I would strongly have advised making directly for the Consulate of either one nation or the other. However, his orders were to press on to the western gate before the alarm should extend through the city. This we did. Now that we were clear of the royal gates, the guards seemed to have resumed their firearms and were evidently determined to make the Emperor believe that they had been extremely valorous, for a regular fusillade greeted our departure down the main street of Seoul. Whatever commotion the firing may have aroused in the Palace, it certainly had an extraordinary effect upon the city itself, for it caused the population to pour in thousands from the narrow lanes with which this human warren is intersected. There seemed a danger that we might be stopped by the mere pressure of the crowd, so I gave the word to whip up our steeds, and we dashed along, regardless of whom we knocked over.

Just as we reached the gate on the Chemulpo road the great bell began to ring, the bell which every night at sunset orders the closing of the gates. The big doors were being slowly closed as we approached, and here my two Japanese again gave striking proof of their value. They dashed forward, and, in spite of the ringing of the bell, ordered the guards to fling wide the portal, but upon the guards showing some hesitation, the foremost Japanese at once shot one of them in his tracks, whereupon the rest fled. We squeezed through, and the Japanese proposed we should close the gates completely, so that the crowd might be kept in, but this proved impossible, because they could be fastened only on the inside, and we had no means of assuring ourselves that the gates would remain shut. There was therefore nothing for it but a race for Chemulpo, twenty-six miles away. Before we had gone a dozen yards the pressure of the crowd opened the gates wide, and the howling mob poured through like a resistless torrent.