The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1904-10-16

lamp vi I4OE-tIHtl4- ! lI-G14I El " q 40
happened. and the priests servant tol
me that the Russians had zone.
The news gave me a shock Tor tHcre ar
a hundred and one reasons why ii IS dan
gerous 10 be between the advanced pest
OF two hostile armies and in TIE p-esen
instance l might easily be killed by tn
Chinese or shot by japanese CT Kussia
scouts.
Accordingly. I breakfasted very hastit
z taking IN affectiorate leave Of tn
sanity old Father Letort. who seemed I
think only OF my danger and never for
moment Of his own Galloped ont into tn
I street.
II was then about 80 and, in st.ikin:
| contrast to the activity which usual.
charaeterizes at that hour the streets o
a Chinese city OF 1900 inhabitants.
dead silence reigned everywhere. Th'
hoofs of my horse echoed witt painful
distinctnesS. seeming 10 frightcn the an
imal himself. FOR he Immediately bolte'
with me.
The first sound OF my horses hoofs hat
as If by magic. brought hundreds OF 81
lent. scared-lookinG Chinese into tn
street. They seemed to have been wait
ing all night with hands on the handles o.
their doors. ready to jump oat the mo
ment they heard me riding past. | fe'
like a magician who has by the nccidenta
employment OF some magic formula SUD
denly summoned up 4 host Of spirits
who's nature he does not know and whom
he cannot Danish
To a Lesser degree 1 felt like a Ereai
DBDUl1F ACTOR "lGl the u dll TlSTS SHL
displays a packed house every eye ii
which is intentiy fixed on hin
who. after looking at the red badge On my
the bystander: It's a japanese. He's a
look-see man" Now the badge in aues-
ton bears the letters "B. X for Benny
korrespondent." and in csin9se ehara ara
tiers the phrase. "Wo Fan Su Rem Qniii-
tary iook-see mani
here?1 asked. and this question con-
hrmed them in their original impression.
Yes. certainly. i was a apanese l GO
not know what they would have done TO
me II they had thought that I was a Rus,
sian. but. under the circumstances. l
judged it safest to depart as quickly az
breathed a long breath of relief when
I had passed through the gates OF the
town. for. IN spite of its apparent earn
ness Hai-Chens contains a lo5 Oh ot .Spm-
selves at the time OF the Boxer outbreak:
and who cannot have been all killed on
since.
On entering the open country a stranse
ton. the houses around IT n the ear
racks were. all wrapped In flames. oyer
an the great plain. which had the day pc
fore contained over 5000 men. there was
not a soul. not even a Chinaman- The
Chinese perhaps thought that some am
muuition stored in the burning buildings
would explode. so they kept miles out Oh
I think that the great bridge to the
south of the station had been d~estroyeu.
but ! could not make sure. Inc railWa!
places. but at the point where l crossed II
II was uuiliured-
CHINESE DISTRUST.
The first group OF Cinnamon I met tried
to hurry past. pretending to not notice
me. and on my asking them the way to
they pointed It out with an
which seemed TO indicate that
the road would disappear II did not az
pnoe ride along It at my topmost speed
and lot remain to question them. Per-
haps they had ~vaiuables in their posses
sion. perhaps they feared for their lives
/ did not trouble them. but rode
on as quickly a. I could.
1 must say that 1 felt rather uneasy
l approached the first outpost OF
Cossacks: TOT they wa5chea me
were two officers in the party. and when !
explained who / was and where / had
passed the night. they allowed me TO go
IN.
My troubles were not entirely over. how
ever. for a considerable distance still sep
arated me from the rear OF the retreating
lurking specimens Of humanity that II
not be healthy to meet with.
One Cossack rode up to me to inquire
where u and such a General was, and
FAAti lC la kBbdN l. "dS n W
he tried to keep me company. l
his manne however. and rode on
ahead Of him. after having first
lin By declining TO answer his questions.
o whom ] had given an account of my
elf. and that he had no right to ask for
more. |
WELL MARKED ROUTE.
I had no difficulty in keeping on the
Dad. once 1 found 1t; it is not difficult TO
ollow a route over which a great army |
las Just passed. The maze and grass
we're trampled down for a considerable
on each side of III road proper;
ne would say that a gigantic steam roller
Iad gone over Ii.
There was not much of the debris you
sually hear of as marking the route OF a
arge military force. I only saw two or
head horses. one damaged car
-hich were guarded by a soldier with
lie n bayonst
How long that soldier proposed to- stay
\ IN his aR eor NOW eo ne hnany i mean, TO sa ws
Of a single Russian cart or vehicle of
ny kind south of him. are questions
hich l cannot solve. He inquired nx-
usly Of me If 1 had seen anything or
ny japanese. / am afraid that the Jap
nese have got that corn now. or else
lne SolOef mas wisely gone north.
avfng the corn TO the large party OF
who were. at the time / passed.
eeniy watching him and his ~corn-espe-
ally the corn-from the opposite side of
lie road
After Will I passed some Trans-BaikaI
ossaczs cutting down the crops to serve
forage for their horses, n from them
the joyful intelligence that Gen.
al M~tshchenko was only half an hour
head
next surprise was even pleasanter.
feer waiting for some time beside a deep
ell. from which 4 small army Of soldiers
ere draTing water and falling TO obtain
drop. | had ridden on, parched with
Iirst n cursing myself for having left
v fine water flask, in my baggage when
Y Chinese "mahfoo" tgroomJ rode IN to
e with that Identical flask. filed to the
i'm with ice-cold water.
[ lmost tumbied from my horse with
and pleasure, for not only had
given up the water flask as a dead loss.
II l had also renowned all hope OF ever
eing my baggage mule. my baggage. my
and my .mahfoo's' pony again
had lost them all two days before on
e outskirts of Hai-Cheng. my "mahfoo'
remained ehind to get his pony
cd. and having failed to find me after
ards. and / had not the slightest hope OF
er seeing them again. for they could
fdters, who Rad passed during these few
controlled myself. however. tried 10 I.
ok as though I had only parted with my {
1ahfoo" al hour before. and drank all /
e water in the flask. A few more days /
lRscd before / found Mistchenko. but
any rate / had found the Russian ]
citing. but not altogether agreeable. ,