In no way did this document resemble any of the remarkable epistles found on the Japanese Hunghuze who were killed in Kobe and Tokio before the revolution of 1868, there being no patriotic allusions in it and no denunciation of foreigners. The writer never once seemed to rise above the level of the ordinary workaday highwayman, which was surprising, considering the manly way in which he had met his death.
I photographed him as he lay dead on the ground, which was ruddy with his blood. He was a strongly formed Chinese, somewhat above the middle height and between thirty and forty years of age. His dress was the blue dress of the ordinary native, the only thing distinctive about him being his new shoes, which resembled those worn by Chinese policemen. Either he had himself served in the police force, or else he had killed a policeman for his foot-gear. I am sure that the body was soon stripped by the local villagers for the sake of the clothes; but, if the dogs did not devour it, it must have lain there naked in a perfect state of preservation owing to the cold, for the next three months. We took the Hunghuze's pony and rifle. The latter was a Russian service rifle.
Darkness was now closing in, and the prospects in front of us were anything but cheerful. If we had come across that band of Hunghuze I am afraid that it would have fared but ill with us, had they all been as cool and as well armed as the gentleman we had just killed, for the two wounded men whom we had now on our hands greatly hampered our retreat. I coul^
never have believed, had I not seen it, that two men could so impede the march of two hundred. They were both carried on stretchers, one by his comrades and the other by villagers who had been impressed for the purpose, and who were frequently replaced by fresh men from other villages that we passed through, and, as these bearers went on foot, we were all reduced to a very slow walking pace, which was as irritating to our horses as it was to us. If, at this stage, a few hundred Hunghuze had begun sniping us — and, even by night, it would not have been difficult for them to hit somebody in such a large body of men — there would have been nothing for us to do but to run for it, leaving such of our wounded as could not ride, to the tender mercies of the Celestials. If we did not do so, we should have been all cut off.
Needless to say, we kept a sharp look-out, for we expected an attack every moment. At seven o'clock we noticed a fire that looked like a signal, at a great distance to the right, and at the same time a powerful, steady, blood-red glow appeared on the horizon to our left. The peculiar appearance of the latter puzzled us until we found that it was the rising moon!
It was now out of the question for us to put up at any village in this dangerous neighbourhood, and our only hope lay in gaining, by a circuitous night march, comparative safety and the banks of the Liao.
For hour after hour I saw nothing but the same distant, dim horizon fringed with trees. The frozen ground sparkled in the moonlight with diamond-like points of frost. Every strip of white snow that gleamed in the distance seemed to me to be the longed-for Liao-ho, but, after being disappointed a hundred times, I began to think that we should never reach that friendly stream. Becoming impatient at the slowness of our progress I once rode on until I had almost reached the two horsemen who formed our extreme van. Then I looked back and, for a fraction of a second, a spasm of fear seized me. I was alone on this blasted heath between God and the world, and slowly towards me, with resounding jingle as of chains, crawled a long, dark dragon, an articulated monster, on whose bristles of steel the starlight flashed.
My horse was dead tired after the great work that he had done for the previous week, so that I walked a good deal on foot. I was probably more tired than he was, but then he was absolutely necessary for my safety. It is extraordinary what a lot of interest one takes in his horse during war-time. It becomes a part of one's own body, and is looked after with corresponding care. You are more alarmed at your horse's appetite falling off than at your own. You take a far keener interest in its hoofs than you do in your own corns. You frequently examine its back to see that it is not getting saddle-sores. You arrange the blanket under the saddle, with the same care as you would arrange a shawl on the shoulders of a fair lady. I can now understand why statues to great warriors always represent them on horseback. Another reason why I walked on foot was because that, in spite of my heavy furs, I felt freezing cold on horseback.