Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-09-28

huge fair. And what did they not offer us?
There was great kow-towing We came
upon every new lot. They were paid in
1.-The silver OF the foreign devil" and there
was great jubilation. A Chinaman would
approach almost on his knees, offering us
four shio-bun-fancy biscuits. The price of
these to a Chinaman would be four cash
four-fifths of a cent. The American sol
der cheerfuly paid dime, the English a
sixpence. Not Chinaman who had any
thing he could possibly sell slept wink
until assured that the last of the allied col
umn had passed by. There is more pros
perity along the Pei-ho than there has been
within the memory of man.
As we neared Chang-chia-wan word was
freely passed around that big fight was
coming. There were extensive mud-works
here, and 1t a fine place to get us
into a trap. 1t was the scene of the biggest
battle with the French and English allies
forty years ago. &c. of a sudden. as we
neared Chang -chia-wan the great army
spread out. fan-shape, broadening more and
more, until the troops of the nations were
advancing in thin skirmish line. Staff Off
GERS and orderlies gailoped here and there.
While correspondents unslung their cameras
and prepared to do great work. There were
Chinese banners In profusion along the.
walls, but reconnaissance developed only
few scattering shots. Evidently the i'm
perial officers had begun to believe them
selves the weird tales they told about us,
and there was no real resistance. The next
day we marched into Chang chia-wan.
Everybody professed to be glad to see us,
and incidentally sold us all of everything
that we would buy.
Tung- chow was the next stop. Here we
might reasonably hope for a fight If there
was any of that element left in the Chi
nese. Nor could any ground be better
adapted for defensive fighting. The allies
would have to go into "a maze of houses
which. loopholed and well-defended, would
prove an awful stumbling block. But there
was no fighting-nothing but few shots.
This is the great unloading place of the i'm
perial tributes of rice from the southern
provinces. Granary after granary stored to
the caves with rice would fall into our
hands. That was a joke on the allies
There isn't anything in Tung-chow that
looks like granary. Whenever the tribute
rice is brought in to Tung-chow swarms of
officials and coolies come out to the boats.
The rice is unloaded onto mats measured
sacked and started toward Pekin on the
backs of coolies as fast industrious men
can work. Saka, who had been confident
all along that the Japanese would capture
Tung-chows great granaries, made a sad
grimace when he learned the truth.
The Most Interesting Part.
From Tung-chow to Pekin twelve miles
the march was through the most interest
Ing part of China we have yet seen. The
road goes over the great stone causeway
along the line of the canal. This causeway
was built by Kublai Khan more than $50
I u.
All along the way were picturesque old
temples, beautiful scenic gardens, hundreds
of seductive tea houses The last few
miles, in fact presented the aspect Of a
fairyland. in wonderful contrast to the
pcverty-strtcken region through which we
had passed. Probably the outside world
wondered why we made the last few miles
so slowly. But there are five different
levels of the canal here. Locks are beyond
the capacities of Chinese ingenuity, so al
each new level the boats that carried our
supplies had to be unoaded and the sup
plies had to be unloaded, and the supplies
reloaded into other boats The delay gave
the troops chances for sightseeing in this
fairyland that they were not slow to i'm
prove.
The Legations Relieved.
On the night of August IA the allied army
camped five miles east of Pekin between
the causeway and the canal. AT . O'Clock
in the morning the camps were aroused by
a tumult Of firing in Pekin.
THE Chinese are making their last des-
perate rush on the legations! was the,
word that flew around. Then all doubts
were over as to the safety far of the
legationers. Soldiers turned out without
waiting for the bugles. All was tremendous
excitement. Well, it what had
come for, and the soldiers Of all rationale
ties were ready for an instant rush for
PeEin.
Some Of the correspondents here j know,
have wired to the United States that Rus
STA broke faith with the allies in entering
Pekin at once. That was an error. The
Russians, being nearest the city. and firmly
believing that the legations were now being
wiped out moved forward on the double
quick to the rescue sending back word to
the other commanders. Whatever else the
Russians did-and according TO reports cir
culating through the camp they have done
about everything which the Decalogue says
they oughtn't to do-they did not break
faith on the night Of August H.
We are In Pekin noW-yOu know all about
that at home. / saw such tons Of cable
matter being prepared on the subject OF the
capture of the Chinese capital that | am
not going to write about it now. My next
letter will tell what the allies are doing to
Pekin r. w. AYMAR.
Copyright 1900