Read Online Gods Men by Pearl S. Buck - Free Book Online Page A

knelt willingly. He was helpless. They were all helpless. Now if ever God must save them.
    â€œGod who hearest all,” his father prayed, “Thou knows what is going on in this city. I feel I ought to be about my business and Thine. Probably there are a good many suffering people out there we ought to be looking after. Fires bring suffering as Thou knows. Protect my dear ones while I am gone and especially give strength to my dear son.”
    His father paused and then in his usual firm voice he added, “Thy will be done, on earth as in heaven, for Thy Name’s sake. Amen!”
    They got up and his father shook Clem’s hand strongly and was gone.
    It was nearly dawn before Clem, sleepless upon the board of his bed, heard his father’s footsteps carefully upon the threshold. He sat up in bed and saw his father at the door drenched with sweat and black with smoke.
    â€œI must clean myself before your mother sees me,” he said. “Get me some water in the basin—some soap if we have any. I’ll wash here in the court. Has your mother waked?”
    â€œNo,” Clem said and got out of bed. He went to the old well in the little courtyard and let down the wooden bucket. A bit of soap was hidden where he had left it above a beam, his own bit of soap, still left from a yellow bar his mother had managed to give him at Christmas. He stood beside his father while he stripped and began to wash.
    â€œThe Boxers are in the city,” his father said in a low voice. “The Old Empress has given us up. We are in the hands of God. The persecution of the Christians has begun.”
    â€œWhat about the other foreigners?” Clem asked. For the first time he knew that his place must be among those who had rejected him. William Lane, that proud boy—
    â€œI went to Brother Lane’s house,” his father was saying. “Of all of them, Brother Lane is the kindest. He gave me the food I have brought back and a little money. A man of tender heart! He is alone in his compound. He has sent his family away to Shanghai. They went before the railroads were broken. He has been sheltering Chinese Christians but now they are leaving him. It is safer for them to be among their own people.”
    Now Clem was really afraid. If the railroads were broken Peking was cut off.
    His father looked at him tenderly. “Are you fearful, Clem? Don’t be so, my son. The Lord is the strength of our lives. Of whom shall we be afraid?”
    Clem did not answer. They were alone among enemies. He sent his own angry prayer toward the sky, where sunshine and smoke were in combat. “God, if you fail my father, I will never pray again.”
    Then he turned and went into the house and heard his sisters talking softly over their clay doll while their mother still slept.
    Mr. Fong knew upon each day what had happened in the palace. His old cousin stole out by night to report the doings of the Empress whom he now called the Old Demon.
    â€œA mighty struggle is going on,” he declared to Mr. Fong in the depths of the night. The two men sat in the shop in darkness. The cousin would not allow a candle to be lit, neither would he allow the presence of Mrs. Fong. His hatred of the Empress had become so violent that he trusted no woman. Yet his family feeling was such that he felt obliged to tell Mr. Fong of all possible dangers in order that the Fong clan might be kept safe.
    Mr. Fong dared not tell his cousin of their one real danger, which was Clem. Neighbors had seen the foreign boy coming day after day to the house.
    â€œProceed,” Mr. Fong said to his cousin.
    â€œPrince Ching has been dismissed. He was the only reasonable one. She has appointed that blockhead Prince Tuan and three others who understand nothing. This is to prepare for her open union with the foolish Boxers.”
    On the sixteenth day of this month the cousin reported that the Empress had called a meeting of her clansmen and