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Page 22
After waiting two or three minutes I told Chung to take the lantern so
that we might set out again. He did so, but as he was about to step
from the doorway he tripped over some object concealed by the darkness
and fell: it was a dead body. I examined it by the lantern-light.
There were several deep bayonet wounds and a terrific sabre-slash
across the face which had completely destroyed the left eye. The
abdomen was abominably mutilated. A knife was clenched in the right
hand of the victim, showing that he had not died without an effort to
defend himself. I swung the lantern about the recess, and perceived
further back three or four steps, ascending to a door slightly open.
These steps were covered with blood which seemed to flow from behind
the door. I pushed it open, and entered the place to which it gave
access. It seemed to be a kind of public office--a wide, low, bare
apartment, divided on one side by a massive wooden counter, surmounted
by a partition pierced at intervals with pigeon-holes, as if for
communication between persons on opposite sides of the division. It
may have been a bank or money-changer's office. It is not, however, on
account of the place itself, but of its contents, that I describe it.
The floor was covered with the corpses of men, women, and children,
mingled indiscriminately together, fugitives who had there taken
refuge and been relentlessly butchered. The bodies had been
decapitated, and the bloody heads stuck up on a long row of spikes
which surmounted the wooden partition over the counter. Both Chung and
the mandarin uttered a cry of terror as we caught sight of those
distorted countenances, grinning upon us with the livid stare of
violent death through the dim medium of the coloured lamplight. My
blood seemed to freeze as my eyes encountered that ghastly gaze of the
dead, to which the upright position of the heads gave a sort of
semblance or mockery of life. An infant a few months old was pinned to
the counter below by a sharp piece of iron run through its little
body. The floor was two or three inches deep in thickening blood and
the entrails of the mutilated bodies. The arms and legs as well as
heads had been hacked off some of them and flung about the place.
Altogether a more hideous and revolting spectacle than this chamber of
horrors can never have been presented to mortal gaze. Such a scene,
and the sickening smell of blood, drove us out again almost
immediately. At that moment another party of the Japanese passed our
hiding-place. An infantry soldier in advance carried a large uncovered
flambeau, which threw a broad, red, steady glare over all surrounding
objects. I at once saw that these were all officers, excepting two or
three; smart, well-got-up, gentlemanly-looking little men in the
extreme; returning, perhaps, from calling off the last of their bloody
war-dogs, or making sure that all resistance had ceased. They were
laughing and chatting gaily, as if the massacre were rather a pleasant
affair than otherwise. When they had gone by, we issued into the
street, but had proceeded only a few paces when we saw a man carrying
a lantern appear round the abrupt bend before mentioned. He looked
like another Japanese hurrying after his companions who had just
passed. We returned with all haste to the doorway; and as we judged
that he had probably seen us, we re-entered the inner slaughter-house
and closed the door. We were right in thinking we had been seen, and
in about a minute we heard steps outside the door, which was presently
thrust violently open and the soldier entered, a low, sinister figure,
holding a drawn sword in what seemed to me a curiously white hand. He
peered into the obscurity, perceived me, and doubtless taking me, in
the uncertain light, for a Japanese, from the clothes I wore, lowered
his weapon and addressed me in a harsh authoritative tone. The sound
of the language was singularly like that of Italian. He pointed to the
Chinamen, probably asking what they were. I took advantage of his
unguarded pause to plunge my bayonet in his body, with a thrust so
rapid that he had not time to make the least movement to avoid it. He
fell at once where he stood, but attempted to rise again, when I gave
him another prick which settled his business. He fell back heavily
against the counter with a groan. One of the heads above was shaken
off its spike by the concussion and struck him on the shoulder as he
lay. His eyes, opening and shutting convulsively, seemed to gaze upon
the ghastly object. He groaned again, and in a few moments was dead. I
bent over him with the lantern, and soon perceived from the richness
of his uniform and accoutrements, as well as from the look of caste
about the head and face, that I had killed an officer of high rank. He
wore white gloves, which accounted for the odd look of his hands when
he appeared on the threshold. I felt sorry when I realized that he was
a man of consequence and authority, for had I perceived it at first I
would certainly have endeavoured to obtain his protection for myself
and my companions; but Chung had slunk behind me with the lantern, the
officer's own was a very dim one, so that in the obscurity I could
only make out that he was a Japanese soldier, and expecting to be
attacked judged it prudent to get my blow in first. Having given him
what his countrymen called the "happy despatch," he could be of no
further use to us. Before again leaving the place, I took possession
of his sword, which was a very beautiful and valuable weapon, the hilt
ornamented by a quantity of massive and richly-chased gold, and a
great number of tiny diamonds and rubies,--infinitesimal gems, set in
pretty, quaint devices, with a larger stone here and there. This
trophy I brought away with me from Port Arthur, but when in Liverpool
at the beginning of the year of grace 1896, the pressure of financial
exigency compelled me to entrust it to the temporary care of the
universal uncle of mankind, who said it was worth �600 or �700. I
could by no means persuade him to believe my account of how it came
into my possession. He laughed and said I was making fun of him. His
obstinate incredulity was amusing. "You're a sailor, sir, I see," he
said, "and we know what sailors' yarns are in this town. I've heard a
few of them."
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