Finally I met Colonel Hume, the British attache, with Kuroki's army; Colonel Crowder, the American attache; Major von Etzel, the German attache (whom I had formerly known very well in Tokio), and two other continental attaches. All these gentlemen were very kind to me, and so, I must say, were the Japanese, who pressed on me a limitless amount of hard biscuits. On learning that I was English, every private soldier seemed to consider it his duty to give me a box of cigarettes, until finally I had got a collection which it would require a small cart to remove. I appreciated this kindness all the more when I discovered how extremely little this Japanese column had brought with them in the shape of provisions or tobacco.
One of the Japanese officers spoke Chinese. Another spoke Russian, and was in great demand as an interpreter. The Russian officers made much use of him, addressing him in loud and genial tones, such as they would use toward an equal. The Russian soldiers were also quite at home, being ordered about by a Japanese private who had been in Vladivostock, I suppose, and who spoke Russian; but I could see from the first that, despite the courtesy of the Japanese officers, there was a fundamental difference between the Russian estimate of a prisoner's status and the Japanese. The Russian seemed to think that a prisoner who has done his best has nothing to be ashamed of and can hold his head as high as anybody; while on the inscrutable Japanese countenance I could detect a shade of contempt for men who had allowed themselves to be taken alive. In the Russian view a prisoner of war is a brave man, deserving not only to be treated but even to be spoken of and thought of as such; in the view of the Japanese soldiery in general a prisoner is a disgraced person whom the rules of war save from the indignity of discourteous treatment, but who cannot be spoken of or thought of save with contempt.
Holding this view, the Japanese could not sometimes conceal their astonishment at the free-and-easy way in which the Russians bore themselves, at the loud manner in which they talked and laughed. In their opinion a prisoner ought to hang his head, to speak in a low and broken voice, and, if he had any spunk left in him at all, to avail himself of the first favourable opportunity to commit suicide.
I took an early opportunity of hinting that, though awfully sorry to leave them so quickly, I did not mind if they sent me as soon as possible to Newchwang, the residence of the nearest consul; but they entreated me to consider that I needed a rest "after my fatigues in Manchuria," and said that, in any case, politeness required me to call on General Kuroki. A prisoner! Oh! no! of course not!
CHAPTER XV
For a long time we waited in that valley, and I took advantage of the delay to get the senior surviving Russian officer to write a short statement in my notebook describing my part in the affair, that is, saying that I had tried my best to join the retreating army and that I had acted with correctitude all the time I had been with the party. I had judged it well to do this, as the Russians are extraordinary people for inventing and believing stories about spies and traitors; but when the Japanese saw me thus closeted, so to speak, with the Russian leader they sent a messenger to tell me most politely that, not being a military man, I was not to sit with the Russian officers, but was to come up and favour the Japanese staff with the light of my countenance. I obeyed these instructions, and, having done so, promptly fell asleep, and slept for several hours.
Meanwhile the wounded were carried in and attended to. Then the Russian officers and men were led away. Some of the men were fast asleep and refused to get up. I saw a little Jap spend about half an hour gently trying to rouse one big giant who lay snoring on the ground, and who, even when aroused and set upright on his huge legs, became abusive and threatened to fight. The man seemed to have had liquor, but, in spite of his disorderly conduct, the Japanese, in accordance with their invariable custom, did not resort to force. They simply smiled, and seemed to regard the proceedings as funny. It was exactly as if the big grey-coated giant was a naughty child.