Читать книгу The Battles of the World or, cyclopedia of battles, sieges, and important military events онлайн

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Mr. Parkes, on reaching Tung-chow, was rudely received by the Prince of Ee, and was told that until the questions to which objections had been made the day previous had been satisfactorily determined, peace could not exist. Thereupon Parkes, with Bowlby, De Norman, and all our people, left Tung-chow for the British camp. Mid-way they met Loch and Brabazon, who turned homewards with them, and all went on together, preceded by a flag of truce.

Before they came in sight of Colonel Walker and his few men, Tartar cavalry, blowing their matches, and making other hostile gestures, came galloping along the high bank on either side of our people, who were in a hollow way. Presently the party was summoned to halt; being surrounded, and ignorant of the ground, it was deemed advisable to comply, both to insist on the sanctity of the flag of truce, and to gain an opportunity of discovering the best way out of their uncomfortable position. The Tartar officer in command civilly told them, that as firing had commenced, he was unable to let them pass, without orders from his General, to whose presence he would conduct Mr. Parkes. Parkes, Loch, and one Sikh rode away with the officer. Suddenly turning the angle of a field of maize, they found themselves in the midst of a mob of infantry, whose uplifted weapons their guide with difficulty put aside. Further on stood San-ko-lin-tzin, the Tartar General, of whom Parkes demanded a free passage. He was answered with derision; and, after a brief parley, in which San-ko-lin-tzin upbraided Parkes as the cause of all the disasters which had befallen the empire, at a sign from the General our men were tossed off from their horses, their faces rubbed in the dust, and their hands tied behind them, and so, painfully bound, were placed upon carts, and taken to Pekin. Orders, were, at the same time, sent to capture the escort, which had been already surrounded by ever increasing numbers. Some of the troopers suggested the propriety of cutting their way through, but Anderson replied it would compromise the others, and refused to do what his gallant heart desired.