With a nod of approval, the mandarin beckoned that all should follow, and led the way across the drawbridge and into the ill-smelling city.
The emissaries and their guards passed at a rapid pace through the narrow and dirty streets; the curious inmates of the walled city kept at a respectful distance, their faces expressing wonder rather than hatred.
Phil, noticing the change in their demeanor from the day before, called it to Langdon’s attention.
“Yes,” the pilot assured him, “it’s a good sign; the will of the mandarins is always reflected in the faces of the lower classes. They hate us just as much as ever, but the brisk work at Lien-Chow has shown them that we are able to carry out our threats.”
Upon their arrival at the yamen, the viceroy received the foreigners at the second door, one door nearer the entrance than where he had received Commander Hughes. This did not fail to impress the visitors. After all, was Chang-Li-Hun prepared to make terms?
The viceroy was accompanied by the same mandarins whom Phil had seen the day before, and in contrast to their master’s sphinx-like face their features betrayed the apprehension which they doubtless felt.
Chang-Li-Hun seated himself at the head of the table, motioning Commander Ignacio to a chair on his left.
After all were seated, refreshments were brought, and silence was preserved until the viceroy signed that the table be cleared; then turning to Langdon he inquired courteously in Chinese the wishes of the flag of truce.
The pilot, after a motion of consent had been received from the leader, informed the mandarin of Commander Hughes’ terms. Phil watched his friend’s face closely, glancing occasionally at the dignified old Chinaman, whom nothing apparently could move.
“There is a hostile movement against the foreigners in your provinces,” Langdon commenced in the mandarin’s language, using all the flowery and diplomatic terms which these astute diplomats clung to so closely. “This movement can exist only through your tolerance. We do not claim that your Excellency is giving it active support, but you are taking no steps to smother it. That being the case, the allied powers have taken the law in their own hands. Having discovered that an army of rebels were concentrating at Lien-Chow, only seven miles from your Excellency’s city, with the avowed intention of attacking the American mission and massacring the inmates, the allies have but a few hours ago attacked them in their stronghold and dispersed them with many killed, while not a foreigner has been hurt. These rebels were permitted to collect despite the fact that you have seven thousand soldiers under your orders capable of suppressing these outlaws. Commander Hughes has directed us to say that if your Excellency will give his honorable word upon the spirit of his father that no further outrages will be permitted, and that he will protect with his soldiers the American mission, and also cause to be issued and posted throughout the provinces orders to desist from attacks on Christian converts and their teachers, then the foreign sailors will be at once withdrawn from China’s soil.”