Chapter I: Front Matter

A
UNITED STATES
MIDSHIPMAN
IN CHINA

_by_

Lt. Com. Yates Stirling Jr. U.S.N.

Author of
“A U.S. Midshipman Afloat”

Illustrated _by_ Ralph L. Boyer

THE PENN PUBLISHING
COMPANY PHILADELPHIA
MCMIX

COPYRIGHT
1909 BY
THE PENN
PUBLISHING
COMPANY

Introduction

Those who have read “A United States Midshipman Afloat” will recall that Philip Perry and his friend, Sydney Monroe, recent graduates of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, had been but a short time in the regular naval service when the battle-ship “Connecticut,” to which they had been assigned, was ordered to a South American port. Here they found a revolution in progress, and it became the duty of the young men to prevent the delivery of certain machine guns and other war material which had been shipped from America to the insurgents. In this they were successful after some stirring adventure on land and sea.

The present book shows the same young officers on a United States gunboat in the Yangtse River at a time when the lives of foreigners in China are in peril. A further account of their experiences in Eastern waters will be found in “A United States Midshipman in the Philippines.” In all of these books the endeavor has been to portray some of the bold enterprises which are all in the day’s work for a naval officer, and to show how our modern navy accomplishes big things in a quiet way.

Contents

I. AN INCIDENT OF THE RIVER 9

II. AN UNPLEASANT ENCOUNTER 21

III. THE PERIL AT THE MISSION GATE 32

IV. THE EMBASSY TO THE VICEROY 44

V. THE VICEROY’S TREACHERY 59

VI. DIPLOMACY FAILS 72

VII. DISSENSIONS 86

VIII. IGNACIO SHOWS HIS HAND 108

IX. HELD AS HOSTAGES 122

X. A CHINESE PRISON 139

XI. FRIENDS IN NEED 152

XII. A DARING PLAN 167

XIII. HOPES OF ESCAPE 181

XIV. THE ESCAPE 194

XV. AN ENEMY SILENCED 208

XVI. REËNFORCEMENTS 234

XVII. ABOARD THE “PHŒNIX” 245

XVIII. THE START FOR KU-LING 259

XIX. THE SECRET CHANNEL 274

XX. RUNNING THE BATTERIES 288

XXI. TO THE RESCUE OF THE MISSION 299

XXII. THE LAST CHARGE 314

XXIII. THE FORTS SURRENDER 332

XXIV. PHIL EXPLAINS 345

Illustrations

PAGE

IT WAS ROUGHLY SEIZED FROM HIS HAND _Frontispiece_

A PISTOL SHOT RANG OUT 71

“WE ARE YOUR FRIENDS” 150

HE MEASURED THE STRENGTH OF HIS ANTAGONIST 191

“THE MONITORS ARE ACTUALLY HERE!” 256

“THERE IS STILL A CHANCE” 283

THE AMERICANS WERE STRUCK DUMB 342

A United States Midshipman in China