Introduction
Those who have read “A United States Midshipman Afloat” will recall that Philip Perry and his friend, Sydney Monroe, recent graduates of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, had been but a short time in the regular naval service when the battle-ship “Connecticut,” to which they had been assigned, was ordered to a South American port. Here they found a revolution in progress, and it became the duty of the young men to prevent the delivery of certain machine guns and other war material which had been shipped from America to the insurgents. In this they were successful after some stirring adventure on land and sea.
The present book shows the same young officers on a United States gunboat in the Yangtse River at a time when the lives of foreigners in China are in peril. A further account of their experiences in Eastern waters will be found in “A United States Midshipman in the Philippines.” In all of these books the endeavor has been to portray some of the bold enterprises which are all in the day’s work for a naval officer, and to show how our modern navy accomplishes big things in a quiet way.
Contents
| I. | An Incident of the River | [ 9] |
| II. | An Unpleasant Encounter | [ 21] |
| III. | The Peril at the Mission Gate | [ 32] |
| IV. | The Embassy to the Viceroy | [ 44] |
| V. | The Viceroy’s Treachery | [ 59] |
| VI. | Diplomacy Fails | [ 72] |
| VII. | Dissensions | [ 86] |
| VIII. | Ignacio Shows His Hand | [ 108] |
| IX. | Held as Hostages | [ 122] |
| X. | A Chinese Prison | [ 139] |
| XI. | Friends in Need | [ 152] |
| XII. | A Daring Plan | [ 167] |
| XIII. | Hopes of Escape | [ 181] |
| XIV. | The Escape | [ 194] |
| XV. | An Enemy Silenced | [ 208] |
| XVI. | Reënforcements | [ 234] |
| XVII. | Aboard the “Phœnix” | [ 245] |
| XVIII. | The Start for Ku-Ling | [ 259] |
| XIX. | The Secret Channel | [ 274] |
| XX. | Running the Batteries | [ 288] |
| XXI. | To the Rescue of the Mission | [ 299] |
| XXII. | The Last Charge | [ 314] |
| XXIII. | The Forts Surrender | [ 332] |
| XXIV. | Phil Explains | [ 345] |
Illustrations
| PAGE | |
| It was Roughly Seized From His Hand | [ Frontispiece] |
| A Pistol Shot Rang Out | [ 71] |
| “We Are Your Friends” | [ 150] |
| He Measured the Strength of His Antagonist | [ 191] |
| “The Monitors are Actually Here!” | [ 256] |
| “There is Still a Chance” | [ 283] |
| The Americans were Struck Dumb | [ 342] |
A United States
Midshipman in China
CHAPTER I
AN INCIDENT OF THE RIVER
The United States gunboat “Phœnix” lay at anchor in the swift current of the Yangtse River opposite the Chinese city of Ku-Ling. The surface of the water seemed tranquil, but a closer look over the side of the ship showed to the observer the strength of the muddy flood that swept for thousands of miles through the length of the Chinese Empire, from the far-away snows of the mountains of Tibet onward to the waters of the Pacific Ocean.