The Chinese Were
Quite Unprepared For This Move, And Being Taken Unawares They Offered
Scarcely Any Resistance.
The yamen was occupied and the treasury captured,
while Pihkwei was made prisoner in his own house.
The French at the same
time attacked and occupied the Tartar city - a vast stone-built suburb
which had been long allowed to fall into decay, and which, instead of
being occupied, as was believed, by 7,000 Manchu warriors, was the
residence of bats and nauseous creatures. But the great object of the
attack was unattained, for Yeh still remained at large, and no one seemed
to know where he ought to be sought, for all the official buildings had
been searched in vain. But Mr. Parkes, by indefatigable inquiry, at last
gained a clew from a poor scholar whom he found poring over an ancient
classic at the library, undisturbed in the midst of the turmoil. From him
he learned that Yeh would probably be found in a yamen situated in the
southwest quarter of the city. Mr. Parkes hastened thither with Captain
(afterward Admiral) Cooper Key and a party of sailors. They arrived just
in time, for all the preparations for flight had been made, and Captain
Key caught Yeh with his own hand as he was escaping over the wall. One of
his assistants came forward with praiseworthy devotion and declared
himself to be Yeh, in the hope of saving his superior; but the deception
was at once detected by Mr. Parkes, who assured Yeh that no harm would be
done him.
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Page 461 of 704
Words from 125360 to 125619
of 191255
