Part 16

A red glare lit up the farmyard. The flames had devoured the thatch, and were licking the joists. Jack glanced round the scene, his eyes smarting so keenly that he could scarcely see. The horses were shivering with terror; two or three of the men, braving the smoke, were endeavouring to calm them; the rest of the Chunchuses were still flat on the ground. But to the north-east the smoke was thinning. Jack rose to his feet and looked over the wall. The fields between the farm and the river were black, with here and there a smouldering stalk. On the other side the flames were still raging; there was nothing to check their fury. The passage from the gateway was now open; the ground indeed was very hot; but it would be folly to wait for it to cool. Jack called for Wang Shih.

"Now is the time," he said.

Wang Shih gave the word; the men sprang to their feet and vaulted into the saddle; the bar across the gate was let down; and then, tearing the bandages from their horses' eyes, the men dashed out at a furious gallop across the still scorching soil. Jack, mounted on a spare horse, led the way towards the river, making for the bridle path which must have been followed by the Cossack just before the match was struck. For the first half-mile it was a terrible race; sparks and smoke flew up as the horses stirred the smouldering embers; the poor beasts screamed with pain as their unshod hoofs felt the heat; the men breathed stertorously, half-choked by the acrid fumes. Then, in an instant as it seemed, they passed from an inferno into the elysian fields. They had reached the limit of the burnt grass, the keen cold wind struck their faces; men and animals took deep breaths; they were free, and in the pure air again. Floundering through the fresh-ploughed field where the Russians had left their cooking-pots, they came to the river. For one moment they halted to allow men and horses to slake their thirst; then they pushed on, up the northern slope, in the direction of the place where Jack hoped to find Hi Lo and the guide.

On the crest of the slope he reined up for a moment and looked to the left. The sheet of fire was still sweeping on towards a plantation on the south-west side. It seemed that the whole country in that direction must be devastated; nothing could stop the flames but the bare rocky ridge a mile or more away. Faint shouts came from the distance; then a fitful succession of shots scarcely audible through the crackle and roar. Who could be firing? Jack was puzzled to account for the sounds until he guessed that the Cossacks in their headlong flight had flung away their loaded carbines, and that, as the fire swept over them, these were exploded by the heat.

With a glow of content at the success of his scheme, Jack hastened on after the brigands, now walking their horses towards the uplands. There was no fear of pursuit; the Russians were far too much demoralized, and their horses were gone, none knew whither. When Jack overtook the band, Wang Shih suggested that they should follow up their advantage and destroy the enemy. But from this Jack dissuaded him; there were probably other detachments of Cossacks in the neighbourhood; it was best to let well alone, and rejoin his chief as soon as possible. Ah Lum might himself be hard pressed by the encircling movement which the Russians had apparently begun. The Chunchuses therefore rode on, still at a walking pace.

The moon was rising, throwing her silvery mantle over the quiet country. Skirting a black clump of trees the riders were startled to hear the distant clatter of a large body of horses galloping towards them. Moment by moment the sound grew louder. Had another troop of the enemy learnt of what had happened and started on their tracks? Wang Shih looked anxiously around; nothing could be seen, but the sound appeared to come from beyond a stretch of rolling country to the left of their line of march. Giving a brief word of command, Wang Shih wheeled his horse towards the copse; and his band following him at a quick trot, they were soon in the cover of the leafless trees, waiting in anxious silence for the appearance of the enemy.

Nearer and nearer came the thud of hundreds of hoofs. Wang Shih ordered his men to maintain absolute silence; he hoped that the enemy, unaware of his proximity, would pass by and give him the opportunity to slip away undetected. A few minutes passed; Jack was wondering why he could not hear the rattle of sword-cases on the horses' flanks, when on the crest of the low ridge opposite appeared the head of the column, and the earth seemed to shake as score after score of dark forms swept forward towards the path the Chunchuses had so lately left. The brigands had much ado to quiet their ponies, which were pricking their ears and snuffing with distended nostrils in restless excitement. Then, as the moonlight fell upon the advancing mass, every man in the copse heaved a sigh of relief--and something more. Their pursuers were not horsemen, but horses, every one of them riderless--clearly the stampeded horses of the enemy, rushing blindly into the night, the fire panic at their heels.

"We ought to catch them," said Jack to Wang Shih as they thundered past.

The Chinaman smacked his lips with approval. Such a capture would be a turning of the tables indeed. But how was it to be done? One of his men, knowing in the ways of horses, proposed a plan. The principal thing was to prevent the fugitives from heading back towards the Cossacks. Let the brigands then extend on a wide front and follow; the runagates would keep together, and by and by, when their flight was past, come to a halt. Adopting the suggestion, Wang Shih led his men at a smart trot up the slope. For a long time the beat of the runaways' hoofs could be heard in the night air--the more clearly because they were to windward. Then the sound gradually died away. Wang Shih was anxious not to outrun them in the darkness; the country was uneven, with patches of timber here and there, and the animals if they stopped in the shelter of the hills might easily be passed. But with the number of men at his command it would not be difficult to find the most of them, at any rate, with the morning light. He pushed on, therefore, until he reached the spot where Hi Lo and the guide were eagerly awaiting Jack's arrival. There the band off-saddled, and, worn out with fatigue and excitement, the men flung themselves down on the leaf-strewn ground and sought their much-needed rest.

Jack did not fail to bestow warm praise upon the man and the boy who had so faithfully and cleverly carried out their part of the scheme. Hi Lo had been just on the point of striking his match when the Cossack messenger whom Jack had seen came riding behind him. The boy had barely time to slip into the tall kowliang, whence he had watched the unsuspecting horseman ride past.

"You did very well," said Jack. "Your father will be pleased when I tell him."

Hi Lo beamed with delight.

"My hab makee velly big fire; my look-see allo-piecee Lusski man belongey velly muchee 'flaid; my walkee long-side chow-chow pots; catchee plenty muchee bellyful, that-time lun wailo."

Jack laughed, and bade the boy make a pillow of his pony's saddle and go to sleep.

Next morning the stampeded horses were discovered peacefully cropping the grass in a narrow valley about a mile from the Chunchuses' bivouac. They allowed themselves to be caught easily; and with the booty of nearly two hundred Transbaikal ponies in excellent condition Wang Shih pursued his march.

*CHAPTER XVII*

*The War Game*

An Offer--Conditions--The Sweep of the Net--Military Instructor--The Spur of Competition--Birds of a Feather--Short Commons--A Trap--More Cossacks--Ah Lum in Danger--Initiative--A Race for Position--Sword and Pistol--Driven Off

For four days Wang Shih and his band marched through the hills without hearing anything of Ah Lum. Their progress was somewhat hampered by the additional horses, and Wang Shih chose devious and difficult paths in order to evade scouting parties of Cossacks; for he had little doubt that when the news of the recent incident reached the Russian general in charge of the lines of communication, he would issue orders to his lieutenants to hasten their movements against their daring and elusive enemy. On the fifth day it was reported by a peasant that Ah Lum, after a continuous march northward, was now turning south before formidable Russian forces that were threatening to enclose him. He had felt their strength in one or two slight engagements, and found that they greatly outnumbered him; but, owing to his superior mobility and his knowledge of the country, he had been able to escape without serious loss.

Next day, as the band was threading a defile leading to a well-watered valley, there was a sudden stoppage of the column. It turned out that the advanced patrol had been halted by Ah Lum's scouts, who, however, as soon as they learned the identity of the new-comers, allowed them to pass. The Chunchuse chief was found to have encamped by the river-side, in the valley, the three exits to it being carefully guarded. When he learnt that Wang Shih had returned, with a welcome supply of remounts, he rode forward to meet his lieutenant. Great was his amazement to find among the band the young Englishman who had served as unpaid tutor to his son. His surprise was greater still when Wang Shih recounted the part Jack had played; and the narrative did not minimize his achievement; Wang Shih declared plainly that but for Jack's timely arrival, quick wit, and fearlessness of character, the band must inevitably have been wiped out. Ah Lum made no effort to conceal his pleasure. He had the soldier's delight in a brilliant feat; the brigand's delight in a good haul; and the mere man's delight in the chance of again securing tutorial services for nothing. He warmly congratulated Jack, and insisted on knowing all the circumstances that had led up to the great event. When the story was fully told, his little black eyes gleamed through his goggles with undisguised satisfaction.

"Irresistible destiny has fulfilled her own decree," he said. "All events are separately fated before they happen. I repeat the offer I made to you on the eve of your departure. If there be no faith in our words, of what use are they? I will give you a command in my army; you will come next to my trusty lieutenant, Mr. Wang; he has muscle, you have mind: both inestimable qualities in a warrior. Did not the poet Wang Wei write in his _Essay on Military Matters_:

"'Know then the Proof: that Leader is most fit Who Thought to Valour joins, and Strength to Wit'?"

"Thank you!" said Jack gravely; "I accept your kind offer; but, to be frank, there are one or two points I think I ought to mention. As I said, our compradore has gone to Harbin to make enquiries for my father; if I hear from him, I may have to leave at any moment."

"That is understood. The son that forgetteth his father, shall he not die childless?"

"And there is another point. As you know, Mr. Ah, it is not the English custom--nor indeed the custom of any western nation--to torture prisoners. I have heard that the ways of Chinese warriors are not like ours in that respect. You will pardon me if I say that it will be difficult for me to take service in a force to whom such excesses are permitted."

Somewhat to Jack's surprise the chief did not take offence.

"In that also," he said, "my mind is equally yoked with yours. As Confucius says, 'The intelligence of the superior man is deep'; the wise man is he that is ever learning. I have watched this war; I see that the Japanese have won their successes by adopting the red man's methods. I will make a decree that no prisoner shall suffer inordinate correction. But I must beg you to be patient. When water has once flowed over, it cannot easily be restored; when the passions have once been indulged, they cannot easily be restrained. Water must be kept in by dykes, the passions must be regulated by the laws of propriety. I will impress these laws on my men; they shall know what is right; and I will make them understand that knowing what is right without practising it denotes a want of proper resolution."

"Thank you, Mr. Ah! that is a relief. For myself, I can only say that I will do my best to be worthy of your confidence."

"Now, is it not written, 'He that gives willingly is himself worthy of gifts'? I beg of you a favour in return; it is that you will continue to give my son lessons in your honourable language. And, further, I shall be grateful if you will deign to teach me something of the barbarian's art of war, the learning of which has made the Japanese so victorious."

"I will go on with Ah Fu with pleasure," said Jack, adding with a smile: "but I'm afraid I can't do anything in the other line. I have made no study of warfare; my father has trained me to a commercial career."

"But you have seen the barbarian armies at their exercise?"

"I admit that."

"Well, I am sure you can be of great service to me if it is your august pleasure."

"I will do what I can, Mr. Ah,--if your men will carry out instructions. I'm a 'foreign devil', after all."

"'In the world there are many men, but few heroes', as the proverb says. I know your worth; do I not remember the boar, and the saving of my son's life? surely it would ill become me to forget; and this late employment of fire against our enemies? Modesty is attended with profit; whereas arrogance courts destruction. My men, those that I place under you, will obey you. I will see to that."

Jack thus found himself lieutenant in a regiment of some twelve hundred men, armed for the most part with Mausers, and well mounted. Except for a wholesome dread of their chief, however, they had very little discipline, and but scant military cohesion. Although there was no lack of arms and ammunition, Ah Lum was not too well provisioned. He had been driven by the encircling Russian movement into a somewhat poor district, the hills being more fruitful in forest trees than in grain. The valley of his encampment was fertile enough, but its products would soon be exhausted, and it was separated from the grain-bearing plains to the west by a chain of barren heights. The bandits were being driven farther and farther into the mountainous regions, where it would become increasingly difficult to feed so large a force. Messengers had recently come in, reporting that Russian troops operating on the northern frontier of Korea were pushing reconnoitring parties into the hills in their rear with the object of locating them. There were many smaller parties of Chunchuses scattered over the country, but Ah Lum's was the only considerable band left in the angle between the two railway lines connecting Harbin with Kirin and Vladivostok respectively. The lull after the battle of Liao-yang had enabled the Russians to devote more attention than heretofore to clearing their flanks of these troublesome irregulars. Ah Lum was well served by scouts, the country people being anxious to purchase immunity by giving such information as they could without risk; and from them the chief had learnt that the largest force opposed to him was at this time about two marches away. Some days would probably pass before they came on his trail. It had been throughout the war the Russians' experience that the Chinese were very reluctant to give them news of any kind, and this reluctance had been still more marked since the unbroken success of the Japanese had become common knowledge through the country.

Day after day passed, and the bandits were still left unmolested. Jack, settling down to his new position, had his hands fully occupied. He gave Ah Fu lessons in English daily, to his father's great delight. But he had wider scope for his tutorial faculty. He had felt a little natural amusement at the idea of being placed--he, a civilian, with just as much military experience as his school drill-ground and some practice at the butts afforded--in command of a troop of warriors--a motley horde, indeed, but all seasoned, determined, fearless fellows. But, as was inevitable in a force indiscriminately recruited and entirely lacking in regular training, the men had much to learn; and Jack had not made a whole-hearted study of the Boer war without feeling that, civilian though he was, he was better acquainted with the general principles of warfare than possibly any other member of the band. The Chunchuses were little accustomed to organized movements on any considerable scale; they were most adept in sniping at single travellers or small bodies whom they could attack unawares from the vantage of cover. Something more was required if they were to defeat the serious attempts now being made to crush them, and Jack was determined to show himself worthy of Ah Lum's confidence by his manner of handling his own division of two hundred and fifty men.

Marksmanship and cover: these he took to be the principal factors in modern warfare. So far as the use of cover was concerned, he found that his men had little to learn; several months of hard fighting against troops carrying arms of precision had enforced the value of cover in the most practical way. In each engagement the Russians had taken toll of those who failed to recognize its importance: their bodies lay among the hills from the Yalu to the Sungari. But in marksmanship the Chunchuses were not so efficient. A large proportion of them had never handled, perhaps never even seen, a rifle until they joined the band. Without definite instruction they were apt to blaze away at their own will and pleasure, absolutely reckless of the wastage of ammunition, which had hitherto, owing to one or two lucky raids, been plentiful. Jack suspected that the proportion of hits to misses was woefully small. He therefore set earnestly to work to effect an improvement in this respect. He rigged up butts, put every man in his command through a course, and, taking advantage of the Chinaman's love of competitive examination, started a shooting competition, with badges of different form and colour for the prizes. This especially pleased Ah Lum; it aroused a keen spirit among his men; the example of Jack's division was soon followed by the rest, and the general proficiency was very largely increased.

Among Jack's men were the greater part of the company he had rescued. One of them was Hu Hang, the ex-constable. This man showed extraordinary skill with the rifle. As Hi Lo said:

"Policeyman he can shootee allo plopa first-chop what-time no piecee man he shootee back."

This was a somewhat caustic remark; but Hi Lo had no love for the constable, who indeed was not popular among the band. His comrades would have been hardly human if they had not made the most of their opportunities of paying off against Hu Hang the scores that many of them owed to members of his hated class. He kept a good deal apart, finding a congenial soul only in C'hu Tan, the former second in command, who had been deposed for grave neglect of duty, and replaced by Wang Shih. The two malcontents were often together, condoling with each other on their wrongs; and their animus against Wang Shih extended to Jack, who struck them as an additional supplanter, the more hateful from being a foreigner. Jack knew nothing of this himself; but it did not escape the shrewd eyes of Hi Lo, who kept quiet and unobtrusive watch upon C'hu Tan, dogging him at every turn.

After a fortnight's steady practice Jack felt that the fighting value of his little force was well-nigh doubled. But at the end of that time Ah Lum suddenly ordered the rifle practice to be stopped. A scout had reported that the Russians had approached within striking distance, and the chief feared lest the sound of the firing should betray his whereabouts.

At last one morning, after hearing a messenger who came in faint and gasping after a long night's ride, Ah Lum felt that the coil was being drawn too tightly around him. He gave a sudden order to decamp; the band quitted the valley that had sheltered them so long, and set off into the hills. Lack of provisions was beginning to be felt. The ponies, hardy little animals, were able to pick up a subsistence on the hillsides, sparse though the grazing was at this time of year; and for them stalks of kowliang could always be obtained as a last resource. But the supply of rice and buckwheat, on which the men depended, was running short. Ah Lum somewhat dismally told Jack that it would now be necessary to reduce the rations. He confessed that he was in a tighter place than ever before. At no time previously had the Russians made such determined efforts to crush him. In addition to the Korean frontier force far to his rear, which for the present need not be reckoned with, there were, as he had learnt, three large forces of Cossacks, each stronger than his own band, converging upon him from north, east, and west. General Kuropatkin had hitherto been able to make little use of these characteristic cavalry of the Russian army, so that they were available for the less dignified but very necessary work of bandit-hunting. The three forces directed against Ah Lum were still a considerable distance apart from one another, but it was clear to him that in a few days he would have to try conclusions with one of them before they got into touch. He had only escaped this necessity so long because the Cossacks were unaccustomed to hill work. Matchless in rapid furious charges on the plain, they had shown little capacity for mountain fighting or even for scouting; and, as Jack learnt afterwards, they were desperately chagrined at their hard luck in having so few chances of the kind of work that suited them.

The Chunchuses marched for several days into the hills, their condition going from bad to worse. The rations were verging on exhaustion. The Cossacks were no doubt well supplied, and Ah Lum felt that the moment had come for an attack on one of their forces. The nearest was only a long march distant. Breaking up his camp early one morning, when the night's frost lay white on the ground, he led his men across the hills northward, and, proceeding with great caution, located the enemy late in the afternoon. Throwing out scouts in advance--men intimately acquainted with the country--he sighted the Cossacks before they sighted him, and at once fell back behind a forest-clad ridge so that his presence might not be discovered that day. During the night his scouts reported, apparently by a calculation from the enemy's watch-fires, that the Cossacks were at least a thousand strong, and thus about equal numerically to Ah Lum's effective force, with the advantage of better discipline and training. But the chief, in common with all his countrymen, had shrewdly studied the invaders; he had not been blind to the Cossacks' failure in the war, and he was hardly the kind of man to allow himself to be terrorized by the mere name of Cossack, the effect of which was due merely to the memory of past exploits when the conditions of warfare were different.