I was staggered. My heart beat loudly. Was this Japanese method? Then the punishment was really intended to fit the supposed crime. I was accused of being a spy. The Japanese would make me one in fact! This was carrying the war into the enemy's country with a vengeance.
"Impossible!" I gasped. "I cannot. You surely will not compel me to play the spy?"
The lieutenant perceived my indignation, and said something to the junior officer.
"You must decide quickly," he said. "The troops will soon be landed."
This was a form of speech which I discounted. The vessels were miles away from shore.
"Who will be my companions? and shall I be treated well?"
"Certainly. One of your associates can speak French, you can also speak a little Chinese. They will be told that you are an English correspondent of a newspaper. You sketch?"
"Then your arrangements will be easily made. You will go as a traveller, as many of your compatriots have already done in Asia-Minor and farther East. Put aside the idea of 'spy,' sir; think of your safety only. You will be a traveller, and can move as you please."
"No, indeed! Pardon me, we want to get rid of you."
I smiled faintly. "Very well," I said. "How can I find the dress?"
"Very easily. You shall see. This is settled then?"
"That is good. The captain will supply you with _cash_, and give you a pass to roam as you please; but the Chinese may interfere with you."
"Yes; and plenty of ammunition. A knife may be useful--or sword."
"To kill yourself, if necessary, and save yourself torture," replied the young man calmly, as he retreated in the wake of his superior.
I shuddered, and stood staring after them as they ascended to the deck; then followed them, and looked around me once again on the Yellow Sea. It had never warranted its name before in my eyes. It did then.
We were anchored off a village almost as primitive as some in Cornwall; and the sandy beach, the cliffs, and the more distant hills, somehow reminded me of England, though the junks destroyed the illusion, and the costume of the astonished natives dissipated any resemblance to the sturdy west-country fishers of my own land. I wondered how the troops would manage to embark; but I soon perceived a party of Japanese had landed in a small boat, and had planted a flag on one of the hills.