The boy travellers in the Far East : adventures of two youths ... - Library

354
THE BOY TKAVELLERS.
" Tlicy were the scene of the repulse of the Britisli fleet in 1S59, when an
American connnander came to its relief, with the remark, whicli has become
historic, 'Blood is thicker than water!' In tlie following year the
English returned, and had better success ; they captured the forts and
entered the river in spite of all that the Chinese could do to stop them.
Do you see that low bank there, in front of a mud-wall to the left of the
fort?"
" Certainly," was the reply.
" Well, that is the place where the sailors landed from the small boats
for the purpose of storming the forts, while the gun-boats were shelling
them farther up the river."
" But it looks from here as if there were a long stretch of mud," Fred
remarked.
" You are right," the Doctor responded, " there is a long stretch of
mud, and it was that mud which partly led to the failure at the time of
the first attack. The stonning force was compelled to wade through it,
and many of the men perished. The fire of the Chinese was more severe
than had been exj^ected, and the shi^is of the fleet were badly injured.
But when the attack was made the following year, the muddy belt was
much narrower, and the sailors passed through it very quickly, and
were at the walls of the fort before the Chinese were ready for them.
"The navigation is difficult along the Pei-lio River, and the steamers
of the attacking fleet found the passage barred by cables stretched across
the stream. They had considerable trouble to break through these ob-
structions, but they final!)' succeeded, and the rest of the voyage to Tien-
tsin was accomplished far more easih' than the capture of the forts."
As the steamer moved on against the muddy curi'cnt, and turned in
tlie veiy crooked channel of the Peidio, Frank esjiied a double-storied
building with a wide veranda, and asked what it was.
He was interested to learn tliat it was known as the Temple of the
Sea-god, and had been at one time the residence of tiie Chinese command-
er of the Taku forts. It had a handsome front on the river, and a fleet of
junks was moored directly above it. Each junk appeared to bo staring
with all the power of the great e3'es painted on its bows, and some of the
junks more distinguished than the rest were equipped with two eyes on
each side, in order that they might see better than the ordinary craft. Flags
floated from the masts of all the junks, and in nearly every instance they
were attached to little rods, and swung fi'om the centre. A Chinese flag-
twists and turns in the breeze in a manner quite unknown to a banner
hung after the ways of Europe and America.