Gardella 12

12  

  The Wall went off in both directions, over hills & valleys, for as far as I could see.  A minute after we'd sighted it we broke into a gallop.  We were out in the open where we could be spotted from a long way off, so we had no time to waste.  As we got closer I could begin to make out some details.  It was maybe three stories high & wide enough on top to be used as a road.  Every couple of hundred yards a watchtower rose one story above the Wall itself.  "It's fifteen hundred miles long, lad," Scotty told me, "& it begins at the sea."  I asked him, "Is there anyone in those towers?"  "Let's hope not, lad!"

  We pounded toward a spot about fifty yards from one of the towers where we reined in.  From there I could see that the construction was of earth & boulders which in one spot had simply crumbled apart.  Several of the Dragon Lady's men had managed to roll away some of the bigger stones from what I could now clearly see was a breach in the Wall.

  Dismounting & leading our horses carefully we picked our way through the opening.  As I led my mount through I looked up & around me with an eerie feeling.  I was looking up at a wall that ran fifteen hundred miles & was God knows how many hundreds of years old!  But there was little time to be marveling over how old it was.  As soon as we were all through we had mounted again & were on our way.  The Communists might not be in every tower but we had to suppose they'd be sending out patrols.

  As we left the Wall behind I had to turn back for one more look, wondering as I did so whether I'd ever see such a spectacle again.  After about five miles we halted & the Dragon Lady brought us several bundles that her men had been carrying.  She said, "This is the clothing for the six of us who go into Peking so that we will look the same as the population.  When we get to the outskirts of the city the others will take our horses.  They will circle around Peking to the south & then go east.  We shall meet them on the North China Plain."

  While I wondered exactly where on the North China Plain we would meet--though I was sure she'd arrange that--she told us that the plain, in contrast to where we'd come from, was heavily populated & would be the most dangerous part of our journey.  Besides Gunny & me--she referred to me as Khan--she would be taking the Mongol lieutenant & two of his men with her while the others, led by Charlie, made their circuit of Peking.  The Dragon Lady told Gunny & me as she handed us the clothes we were to wear, "The hats you will pull down so that your hair & your faces will not show.  You decidedly do not look Chinese," she added with a smile.  "But with our size--" I began.

  "There are all sizes of Chinese.  Some who live in the north are tall, as tall as you.  Not only the Mongols but people from all over China come to Peking.  It is a very big city.  It will be all right if you keep your hats low.  We shall enter in daylight."  "In daylight?"  It slipped out even though I'd resolved to keep my mouth shut.

  "Yes, in daylinght; but there is a holiday," she went on, "& Peking will be empty.  The people will go to the Great Wall to hear Mao Zedong make a speech.  But I am told that the man I seek will remain in Peking because he has much work to do; he works very hard; he is a very ambitious man."  

  The moment came to split up.  We shook hands & said our goodbyes.  I hugged Nancy & she said, "You be careful."  Then there were gone.

  There were now ten in our party including the four who would take our horses with them to wait at our rendezvous.  The clothes we put on were standard Communist dress; highnecked tunic jackets, wide baggy trousers & huge hats worn low as the Dragon Lady had instructed.  Light was appearing in the east as we rode over rolling hills toward the city.  Soon we came to a rise from which we could see it in the distance.  Then we dismounted & turned our horses over to the four & they rode off.

  On foot now we went in single file at a steady pace, each carrying a basket of gear.  I wish that I could describe the city of Peking as it looked to us but the truth is that I had my broad-brimmed hat so low that I saw nothing but a narrow circle of ground with no more than a glimpse of the buildings we were approaching.  I've read that the outskirts of the city have since filled up with schools & housing for workers.  But this was 1952 before the Communist government had done much building & the population was only two & a half million rather than the nearly eight million it is today.

  As we got closer more & more people came into my range of vision, all of them headed out of the city.  Many were carrying flags & banners, some were playing flutelike instruments, a few were on bicycles.  No one paid any attention to us.  The baskets we carried looked innocent enough from the outside though they actually held weapons & bandoliers under a layer of kaoliang & maize.  They were large enough in fact to hold the hunting bows & arrows the Mongols had brought with them.

  The numbers of people became first a wave & then a flood of humanity, all in high spirits because of the holiday.  In the midst of all this the Dragon Lady spotted a group of bicycles & one tricycle with a cargo platform which she somehow managed to commandeer.  In a moment we had fastened our baskets to the tricycle platform & were pedaling into Peking.  I still kept my hat so far down & my head so low that I saw little except the wheels in front of me.  Out of a corner of my eye as we moved from the outskirts toward the inner city I could see that the bases of the buildings were becoming grander & more elaborate.  Once again I was scared & at the same time oddly exhilarated by the notion that with all those thousands of Communists out looking for us we were cycling straight into their capital.

  I saw an imposing stone wall to my left & I sneaked a glimpse of a huge stone lion in front of a wall, confirming my impression that we were now in an older grander part of the city.  The wheels ahead of me finally came to a stop before an old stone building where we pulled the bikes off to one side & waited with them while the Dragon Lady & the lieutenant knocked at the front door.  An old woman opened it & the Dragon Lady motioned for us to enter--quickly as always.

  In a darkened room we were greeted by six other people, each one of whom the Dragon Lady embraced, smiling, & to whom she then introduced us.  Our baskets had been retrieved by the two Mongols & we now each took out our weapons & put them all into a single basket.  Meanwhile the Dragon Lady was speaking rapidly & quietly with two of the older people in the house while the Mongols posted themselves at the windows to watch the street.

  The Dragon Lady now told Gunny & me that her "friend" was in the city & that she knew where to find him.  "So we shall go," she said.  The Mongols secured the loaded basket to the tricycle, we got onto our bikes again & rode until we came to a wall.  here after we had parked the bikes we took our weapons from the basket & concealed them inside the baggy pants & tunics we wore.  This was not difficult since the Russian guns were so light & small--only about three feet long, or the same length as the Mongols' hunting bows.

  Cautiously we began walking along the wall.  After we'd gone about three hundred yards we came to an arched opening that might have been eight feet high.  First the Dragon Lady motioned the two Mongols to go through; she followed & then she beckoned to us.  We made our way past four buildings; then we came to a fifth & went in.  It was an immense structure that might have been a shrine or a museum with many statues & carvings of marble & jade.

  As we entered the Dragon Lady hurried to a window on the far side of the building.  She peered through it & then waved Gunny & me over to her.  She said, pointing to a building directly across the way, "My "friend" is there; we shall wait."

  We sat & watched, not talking, for what seemed like hours.  Then all at once the Dragon Lady's entire body came to an alert & in the same instant I saw two men emerge from the building we had under observation & head straight toward us.  The Dragon Lady signaled to one of the Mongols who haded her his bow & an arrow.  She fitted the arrow to the bow & moved toward the nearby door while the Mongol lieutenant, with bow & arrow likewise ready, stationed himself on the other side of the door.  The Dragon Lady motioned us into a small room off the main chamber while she & the lieutenant waited, partially hidden by the statues that guarded the entrance.

  The two men were talking as they strode into the building & past the statues where the Dragon Lady & the lieutenant had concealed themselves.  They passed into an adjoining room & the Dragon Lady & the Mongol lieutenant immediately stationed themselves on either side of the door leading into it.  Within a few moments the two men reappeared, still engrossed in conversation, & the Dragon Lady spat out a curse as they passed.  They looked up simultaneously; one froze in his tracks & the other wheeled intending to flee.  Instead he caught an arrow in the throat. 

  The two Mongols, Gunny & I now ran out to seize & gag the other man.  His face had a look of utter terror & hopelessness; shaking with fear he sagged as though about to collapse until a blow from the Dragon Lady's open hand straightened him again.  "Khan & Gunny do not have to watch what will happen," she said, never once taking her eyes off the man.  "This is something I must do."  Then when we didn't move she said, "I do not wish you to see me like this."

  Gunny clutched my arm.  "Come on, Khan, let's wait," he said, & I followed him into another room.  We could hear the stifled sound of the man's voice & then a scuffling noise.  Gunny nudged me & pointed to the window.  Looking out I saw four men headed our way & raced for the other room.  What I saw there stopped me short.  The body of the Dragon Lady's "friend" hung naked from the outstretched arms of a statue--all except for the head which had been placed neatly in the cupped hands of another statue.

  While I blurted, "There's someone coming!" I saw that the body had been castrated.  The marble floor was slippery with blood.  I turned away & saw the Dragon Lady & the Mongols making for the entrance.  They took up positions just inside it & Gunny & I joined them.  We could hear voices outside where the men had stopped to talk about what I could only suppose was the life-or-death decision of whether or not to go in.  One man hesitated & then withdrew while the other three entered.  The Mongols were at them instantly--a hand clapped over the face of each, one man & one knife at the throat of each.  The only noise any of them made was a sort of strangled gurgle.

  While the Mongols were dragging the three bodies acroos the bloody marble of the floor to a smaller room, two more men came in through the door.  Without batting an eyelash the Dragon Lady spoke to them & whatever she said was funny enough that one of them laughed.  As if on cue she & the lieutenant went to work with their knives; quickly & quietly the two had been finished off & more blood was spreading on the surface of the marble floor.

  At a shout from one of the Mongols the Dragon Lady held up her hand.  "Guards are coming," she said.  "In here, quickly."  She & the Mongols had already taken up their positions at the entrance with their knives out.  I took mine from my belt; I saw that Gunny had his ready too.  Outside we could hear the guards talking.  There were five of them & the same tactics served us as before.  Gunny said, "We better get the hell out of here," & with the Dragon Lady in the lead we headed for the exit.  I did a quick calculation.  We'd come to Peking for one killing & we'd ended up with twelve.  I asked, pointing to the corpses, "What do we do with those?"

  "We leave them," she said.  "We shall go & meet Charlie now."  & she led us to the spot where we'd left the bikes, which for some reason she now decided to abandon.  We stuffed our weapons back into the basket & set out on foot.  A couple of times I reached up to pull my hat down low, although there was no one else around to see me.

  After passing between two buildings we came to a road which led to a square enclosed by massive buildings.  Here again the place was empty of people.  But as we crossed it I heard a sound--& that sound led to one of the most bizarre events of the entire adventure in China.  What I heard was a kind of screech from the direction on the far side of the square.  As we walked I saw alongside the building what I soon made out as a row of about half a dozen cages.  Without thinking, without asking, I went closer until I could see that the cages were hardly more than three feet square & three feet high & made of strong wood.  & now I realized that the screeching sounds were made not by animals but by human beings--men down on all fours in a space too small to let them stand!

  Even though I didn't want to see any more I couldn't help going closer.  What I saw then were men in rags so filthy that you could hardly see the color of their skin.  Yet not only were they human beings; I now saw unmistakably that they were white!  White is hardly an accurate word since they were so dirty; gray would be more like it.  Still I was certain that their features were Caucasian.

  One of these men was reaching an emaciated gray arm through the bars & pawing the ground in front of him.  Then I realized that food had been dropped on the ground--just out of his reach.  He raised his head to stare at me--a creature close to starvation with a gaunt beared face.  But what struck me most was his blue eyes & his long matted hair which had once been blond.  Our two stares met & locked.  Finally he managed a word--drawn out & hesitant, as if he hadn't used it in a very long time.  But there was no question that the word was "American."

  American.  A chill ran all through my body & I began to shake.  Crouching down I reached out toward his arm.  His bony hand with almost no flesh on it plucked at my arm, desperately but with no strength watever.  "American?" I repeated, feeling stupid, but not knowing what to say.  "You're American?"  He opened his mouth, but whatever he was trying to say came out as a sort of croak.

  "I'm American too," I said pointing to myself with my free hand while he still held onto the other.  Then in the same drawn-out croak he said other words which I am certain were, "Loo...ten.. .ant...com. ..mand... er...U... nited...States. ..Na...vy. "

  At that I pretty nearly went crazy.  Leaping to my feet I started tearing at the bars with my hands.  The wood frame of the cage & the bars themselves, which seemed each to measure two by two inches, were hard as iron.  I pulled out my knife & started to hack at it, shaking the cage with one hand as I slashed with the other.  Then two figures came at me from the other side of the cages, shouting & waving what I guess must have been sticks or clubs.  They wore highnecked tunics & red armbands.  In my furious excitement I ignored them & went on slashing at the bars.  Before they quite got to me a couple of arrows whizzed in my direction.  Then the Dragon Lady was tugging at my arm & the prisoners in the other cages had begun screaming.  "We must go, Khan!" she kept saying.  "We must go!"--while I went on with my slashing.  I remember hearing her give a shout in a language I didn't understand.  Then came a blow on the back of my head that knocked me unconscious.

  I woke to find myself tied to the platofrm of the tricycle with the Mongol lieutenant pedaling, while the rest rode ahead on bicycles.  For some time my aching head kept me from thinking clearly of anything.  But then the men in the cages came back to me.  Were they all American?  I couldn't be sure but it seemed likely.  & I knew that one of them was.  "Loo...ten.. .ant...com. ..mand... er...U... nited...States. ..Na...vy. "  I couldn't get the sound of that out of my mind then & I still can't to this day.

  While all this came running back into my mind we had reached the outskirts of the city.  There we left the bikes & headed south on foot carrying the basket with the weapons.  Even then I was moving as though in a trance.  How did those men get there?  Were they prisoners of war taken in Korea?  But prisoners of war as any boot is taught are supposed to be treated according to the Geneva Convention.

  One thing I had learned:  the Chinese were brutal to their enemies.  The Dragon Lady had shown little mercy to her captives.  She had decapitated two men & castrated one of them.  Mercy appeared to be a luxury nobody in this place & at this time could afford.  I kept going over & over what I could have done to help that caged American.  The little capsule in its plastic case leaped to mind, a thought that startled me into realizing that I'd lost track of it somewhere & left it in one of the many changes of clothes while I was cold, sick or unconscious.  What had I done to help those men in the cages except maybe raise a little glimmer of hope--which was proably worse than nothing?

  Another thing I'd never be able to get out of my head was how many men I'd gunned down or knifed or blown up.  Sure I had reasons--but those reasons didn't change what I'd done or keep me from remembering.  As we moved along I wondered whether Gunny was thinking the same kind of thoughts, blaming himself in the way I was.  He had kept silent all this while & when I looked over to him he would not meet my eyes.

  As we left the city we began to encounter hordes of people returning from the holiday celebration.  More times than I could count I tugged my hat down over my eyes again.

I have no idea how far we had trudged when we reached the top of a small hill & caught sight of the four Mongols with the horses.  Soon we had mounted & were heading south toward the main group, going from a walk to a gallop.  We were all glad to put some distance between us & Peking, knowing what we'd left behind us.  No one was gladder than I was now that I had a picture of what had been done to a captured American.  When I gave the question a little more thought I reaqlized that no one would suffer more on being captured than the Dragon Lady.  I shuddered every time I thought of it.