Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1914-04-09

was the last we saw of them that
night. We went on and on, and it
seemed that the road would never
end. The men kept pretty close to-
gether, for we were in bad tiger
country. It was quite an hour after
dark when we finally reached the
'sala.' We had been told that we
would have to find rest for the night
in some one of the little temporary
booths that had been put up, as the
old 'sala' had been torn down, and
they were going to erect new one
in honor Of some prince, who was
expected In Nan on tour Of inspec-
ton. But we found the new 'sala'
was almost complete, except for the
roof. We drove in and started to
dismount, when the caretaker called
out that no one was allowed there
until the prince had gone through.
l explained to him that we were two
foreign ladies, and begged that we
be allowed to sleep on the 'front.'
porch, which he allowed us to do.
We ate our supper sitting on the
boards out in the yard, and by that
time were ready for bed. AS luck
would have it, both meh behind were
those carrying my things, so all | had
for the night was my little mat and
a steamer rug, which / had put in
some one else's load to give it the
fright weight; so | took off my collar
and belt and slept in my clothes.
The next morning we were up and
ready for an early start, but our two
carriers failed to appear. / sent my
head man back to look up the other
two carriers, and then we sat around
and waited until eleven o'clock, when
became uneasy and hunted up two
men to go back with me and see
what had become of the men. / had
gone back only a couple of miles,
when met two of the men, and had
the fresh men take their loads. The
lame man hadn't stirred from where
we had left him and was going back
home. We were out in the woods,
the only men around being those
who were working on the 'sala' so
there was no way of getting an ex-
ira carrier, and we had to leave our
cots and chairs behind. We got
started off little before noon and
made good time the rest of the day,
getting to Nan Tan before shutdown.
The next day was passed without
incident, except that Mrs. B. foot
caught in the branches of a fallen
tree, and she was dragged from her
horse, but not hurt. That day and
the next we crossed the river some
hundred times and were kept pretty
wet, as the rivers were still some
what swollen from the recent rains.
| had brought along a lot of odd
stockings, that were beyond darn
ing, and every night would just
throw away the pair | had been
wearing, as they would not dry dur
ing the night, and put on fresh
pair the next morning. Late one af-
ternoon my feet were wringing wet,
and | began to take cold; so | took
off my shoes and gave them to one of
the girls and rode along summing my
feet, to get my stockings dry. We
rode into Lawng Quang, and as we
got to the 'sala', a strange man got
up off the floor, where he had been
lying and came out to meet us. |
drew my feet under my riding skirt
and endeavored to look graceful and
cordial, while he introduced himself
as the new French consul, on his way
to Nan. then introduced Mrs. B.
and myself, and he helped her off
her horse and then came towards
me. just had to pretend not to see
his hand, and turning around to the
girls said in Laos, Give me my hail"
The girls CAPPED at me and made no
movement, SO | said GIVE me my
bat, quickl" when one of them said
ooh, she wants her shoes. was
so clustered, | didn't know what |
was saying. So tugged away and
finally got my wet shoes on again.
Next day we got into Prae and
spent Saturday and Sunday at Cal.
anders, then down to Bangkok, two