The General Died at Dawn Page #6

All right, I heard you,

I heard you.

All right.

There's more here in the bag.

Get out of my way.

So the drunk fool

found the bone.

Everybody please

come outside on deck.

What's happened?

General Yang wishes

to converse with you.

He's got our

telephone number.

Do so immediately!

He's stabbed.

If he isn't dead in 20 minutes,

it will be a miracle.

He's our only chance.

Yang?

This is something

I never expected to see.

Who chopped you?

Miss Perrie knows all the time

where money is.

We found it in

her father's bag.

He hide good.

Now, I must kill all of you.

But the General

promised

if he found the money,

we should go free.

Huh.

Am I free?

Slowly here, my life fall out,

fall out in my hand.

You make me so much trouble,

you die

one by one.

Yang, I asked you

who chopped you up,

and you didn't answer me.

Don't argue

with him, Wu,

because he's

sore at the world,

and who blames him?

It's easy to see

that his own guards

betrayed him,

knifed him.

Huh! What a laugh

that will be.

Boys and girls

will dance in the streets

when they hear how the great Yang

was killed by his own men.

Lie, lie. You hear me? Lie!

Drunk fool Brighton

make accident.

Tell it to Sweeney.

Even if it were true,

where was your guard

when it happened?

Where were your tootsie boys who were

supposed to give up their lives for you?

My men are faithful.

How do you know?

My men die for me, okay.

They're alive

and kicking,

while your singing days

are over.

When you die here,

they'll feed you to the sharks.

Then they'll go

where another General

will give them rice

and put silver in their pockets.

They will not return.

What's to stop them?

They will be dead.

Who will kill them?

They lose face.

They shoot each other.

At whose command?

My command.

You must think

we're out of a nuthouse

to believe

a story like that.

They have

sons and wives.

You see answer.

Mr. Wu, Mr. Wu,

he understand Chinese.

"Men, do not forget

this happening," he says.

"In the temples

of Peiping

"and in the sing-song houses

of Canton

they will laugh at Yang and his guards",

he says.

"Only if they are

not afraid

"to ascend

to the Dragon with him,

can they hope to wipe out this shame",

he says.

They are agreeing

to die with him.

My men faithful.

That's the most

marvelous thing

I ever saw in my life.

Excellency,

you are to be commended

upon the integrity

of your guard.

But, uh, might I make

a little suggestion?

What about giving

the order for my release?

White flesh dies.

Also Mr. Wu.

One by one.

Oh yes, yes, I know, I know.

And very just, too.

They deserve it.

But what about me?

You know, just me?

Thank you, Excellency.

Thank you.

I'm very sorry,

but you understand.

You know,

self-preservation.

Go.

But, Excellency,

you misconstrue me.

Go.

Excellency,

you misconstrue me.

Excellency!

Excellency.

Shut up.

General Yang,

I'm thinking of you.

Yes.

You're a brave, great man,

and so are your guards,

but who will know it

if they die with you?

Who's left

to tell the story?

Excellency,

let me go, let me go!

Yang, what will

your enemies say?

They'll say river pirates

assaulted you,

or Nanking

surprised you in the night.

Your enemies

will never know

the glorious death

that was yours and your men's.

What did he say, O'Hara?

What did he say?

Yang, listen to me.

Such great honor

should not live in a closet.

It needs the open air

and daylight.

Your enemies must not laugh

at the memory of General Yang.

Coolies must not laugh.

Peasants, old men, women

must not spit on your name.

You can't do this to me.

I won't die.

Someone must be left,

Yang.

Someone who has seen

this last, glorious page

in the history

of General Yang's life.

Yang, listen to me,

before you fall asleep.

Yang, before you fall asleep.

O'Hara, O'Hara!

They'll find out the truth.

How? If you stop all our mouths,

who will be left

to speak tenderly of Yang?

No one, I tell you,

no one!

O'Hara!

You'll tell the story, O'Hara?

Yes, I will tell it. Yes.

Of your greatness

and the obedience of your men.

Gentlemen in clubs

will hear it.

Crowds at the dog races

will talk of your guards.

Shanghai diplomats

will know it.

Gunboat captains

will tell it by radio.

O'Hara, O'Hara!

Every great paper

in the world must tell

how Yang's guard

went to death with him.

The London Times,

The New York Times.

You think we'll get

pictures in the papers?

Everywhere.

Because these are not things

that happen every day.

You want I let you go?

Let us go.

Us?

All of us, to see

no stain or blemish is left

on the memory of Yang.

Will it be worth it?

Don't lie?

I swear,

this is one true thing.

That's a fact?

Yes. Yang, before you fall asleep.

Yes, yes, help, help.

Oxford.

You will see.

I am a big man.

He was a talented man,

but very, very corrupt.

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