Evening star., 1900-12-10

had possessed a fair share of wealth. The
Boxers, who are supposed to be both patriot
Of their wealth. Thk process OF relief was
simple. and is described by the word
loot When theO International column
day light. there were Rery few OF the orig
inaI Inhabitants left,cfsr
Never were soldiers tmore eager to make
the best Of their chahhes than the members
of General Gazelee' e's1ommand These Eng
lishmen are always sa,Eer though they do
not always get on ths, Fight scent. Four Of
them who had donR, sao prosperous business
in finding thingsslaa Pekin started out
through this little tDwnsby the Hun. They
were gone until after T4ark. Two or three
times they were enepdntered by other night
prowlers. who wouM AK:
Whats the >blootntnEIuckT'
"Slowv' would be The answer. Were
s'fhy 1t Was about about sp oelek when this quartet
came back to camp How they had sue
ceeded in lodging the sentries of the other
commands was a mystery, but at all events
they came back safe and sound. Earlier
in the day strict orders had been issued to
the English soldiers to refrain from every
thing except official loot. Trey manageu,
however, to get by all the senffies of other
nations, and came three front+ene. pc
hind-upon one of their own sentries. Him
they passed, after challenge and rev
curious looks The fourth man In the
rear of the trio had something on, the Off
side that he managed to conceal from view
And so the four Tomnfes came Into camp.
They reached the quarters shared by other
comrades. and their entrance Woke up soiie
of the sleeping ones.
II saw. what didjer get?" asked one OF
the reused sleepers.
s'Sh!" was the answer from one OF the
quartet. IT'S a bit OF blooming loot'
Its good, eh?''
"Oh. no." responded the Tommie. setting
his heavy box on the floor. It's rotten Oh
course" =
His tone was sufficient to arouse every y
man in the room. Not one in the lot mao
failed to make money through the LOOT at
TIen Tsin and Pekin.""bu here the omcers
had been so stern that most OF the Iom
mics had been blurred out OF tneir oene ssn
chance Several Of them had picked up
small matters In the way Of personal prop
erty One had even done so we'll as to PICK
up three jade bracelets, but the arrlVal ot
Tommy A. with handsome-looklng teah
wood box, inaid with pearl and with the
lid fastened down with ornate screws, was
enough to bring the whole company around
him within two minutes. Many were yaWn-
ing. but the instinct OF loot IS strohs with
soldiers.
By the time that the whole company was
looking on, or trying to look on, Tommy A
had borrowed a screwdriver from a COM
rade's kit and was turning vigorously. AT
length the lid was free, and was removed.
In the top of the box was a lot OF dusty
paper This was snatched out by at least
a half dozen pairs OF hands. The box had
been very heavy. and therefore must con-
tain some metal-probably gold. Ihe last
thickness Of paper had been removed and
a slab of wood lay on top.
Throw the beggariy lumber yard out,
suggested Tommy B., grasping at the siab
It was dropped to the floor. Out came an
other bit of wood-another and another
and each covered with Chinese characters
inscribed with ornate fiourishes of Chinese
chirography. Board after board came out
until the box was empty. Tommy. b., C.,
D.. E. and F. glared at Tommy A.. and
then the whole chorus calculated:
Nothing but blooming, rotten box OF
ancestral tablets!"
And that was all 1t was. Ancestral tab
lets are something very important to Chi
naman. They represent the family tree,
family history. family pride and religion. all
rolled into one. The owner of these tablets
had evidently spent some time in packing
them; plainly he had, determined to get
away with them, even at the possible cost
Of something more valuable; but he had
been overtaken by SOME Boxer pursuer and
had dropped the box only In order to escape
with his life. If it was a tragedy to the
Chinaman to, lose his farnilys ancestral
tablets 1t would have been far worse had
these soldiers found the box In his posses
sion. For just at daylight there was a
sound Of chopping. IEonnnyt A. was holding
g. hatchet over these tablets. In a. minute
or two they were all reduced to kindling,
At least, kindling was what the soldier had
intended to make of,the tablets, But the
wood was so worthless that it wouldn't
even burn! There wasn't potential heat
enough to warm a cup Of coffee out of the
whole box load, box incluued.
In a general way this incident gives a
very fair idea of the value of the loot
picked up on the way to Pao-ting-fu. The
Chinese themselves are the most artistic
looters in the world. 1t is worse than use-
less to look for treasure in a country
through which the Boxers have worked at
their pleasure.
Arrival at Lan-shan.
The next days march brought the inter-
national column to Lan-shan. This is a
city of considerable size. 1t has, moreover,
history right up to date. It must be un-
derstood that only a small portion of the
Chinese population was concerned in the
Boxer rebellion. The Inhabitants of Lam
shan didn't send many recruits to the Box
erS
Most of the men remained at home and
defended the city and its good name They
bought guns-Or got them somehow-and
raised the standard Of the emperor over the
defenses. OF course, that didn't suit the
Boxers. who sent emissaries in to talk
with the Lan-shan officials. Getting no
satisfaction, the Boxers decided to attack
Lan-shan. There were several stiff fights,
an incidents OF siege. BY the time that
the Boxers outside of Lan-shan were need
ed on the road between Pekin and Tien
Tsin the people of Lan-shan had discover
ed that they were made of very good stuff
and so Lan-shan has remained loyal even
to the present day. The Boxers had Sc
cured next to no loot here, nor did the al
lies Of the Pao-ting-fu expedition try to
beat them In the confscation Of private
property.
DesecratiOn of TOmbs.
When the column halted here a French
detachment was hurried over the road to
Si-lang. Here are situated the western
tombs Of the present Manchu dynasty
Former dynasties have been content with
one set of tombs but the present imperial
lot wanted pair, which are known as the
eastern and the western.
Tung-chi. the emperor before the present
One had the bad fortune to die Of smallpox.
or course, there are no board of health reg
ulations in China to interfere with the
burial of an imperial body, nor even to pre-
vent the keeping Of the remains above
ground as long may be wished. Yet, for
some reason, the court decided that spe-
cial set Of tombs must be had for Tung
When tomb is wanted in China, and
wanted for parsonage of Importance, the
geonancers must be consulted. Strange as
1t may seem, there is everything in insuring
luck to the departed spirit. There is some
thing called 'feng- -shi," very fat lot of
occult influences which control the selec-