General Chang then strode across the room to the door opening into the court, where upwards of three hundred of his men were standing packed like sardines, listening to everything we had been saying, as Chinese custom is, and shouted out:
“Bring the two wounded men in here.”
Now all of the men had seen Governor Hu snubbed, had heard Colonel Chao revile him and his railroads, and had heard their general say the men would die if brought out in the cold; so, supposing they were to act in a similar way, they, upon receiving this order, held a confab, and a very noisy confab, too, among themselves for a few moments before replying.
As I watched Governor Hu’s face grow pale as the commotion increased, I felt that we were in real danger right in the midst of the officers, and that my previous view that I could insure my own safety by threatening Hu’s life would avail nothing, as they hated him as much if not more than myself. I could plainly see that I must change my man, and make the general my target if the necessity arose.
Then a voice shouted out from the soldiers almost the exact words of the general.
“They cannot be brought here; the exposure would kill them.”
Chang looked at Hu to see what effect this had upon him, but Hu was no coward, and calmly replied:
“They must be brought if it kills them; by Her Majesty’s commission, I demand it.”
The general was bluffing; he sullenly gave in.