The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1914-02-26

ter critical examination of the boats
he turned to the men: Boys" he
said, I've nothing to say, but good
bye and do your best" Then ad-
dressing Mr.. Dowd, by the way
the tide is running it should take
You about SIX hours to reach the
mission and about half that time re-
turning. If you are not back by
four bells tomorrow morning, shall
embark the whole battalion and
come after you. Man the boats and
shove off,"
Quickly and silently the men fled
down the gangway. The launch
showed off and with the cutter in
tow stood slowly up the river. No
lights were carried and every body
observed the strictest silence.
Progress was necessarily slow,
not over six knots an hour, as the
utmost care was required in naviga-
ting that tortuous sand barred river.
The shore slipped by, low fiat
spreads of rice paddles; which in
the light of day would have shown
up, brown and barren; with here
and there. dark, indistinct clusters
of huts.
Time seemed to fly. About two
O'Clock the word was passed quietly
along, We should be very near
there now; every body keep a bright
lookout"
A little later the cox'eu reported,
a landing of some kind, sir, broad
off the port bow" Training his
night glasses in that direction Mr..
Dowd ordered, Stand in a little
closer there, cox'en, and we'll see
what this looks like"
The Landina
Slowly the boats swung in toward
the shore. Nothing could be seen.
Everywhere that deep oppressive
silence. The men shifted restlessly,
tightening their ammunition belts ner-
vously graspiRg their rifles, in prep
aration for. they knew not what.
The gunners were softly Opening
and closing the breech blocks of
their guns and slipping in feed, belts.
Every thing was ready for quick
action.
There's bon. fire ol something
on top of that hill. SIR" said one of
the seamen. Il have been noticing"
replied the lieutenant, Haul that
cutter alongside" he continued,
and all ycu rifle men jump in.
Cox'en | am going to land; keep
your guns trained ON that hilltop
and If necessary to fire, do not do so
until we get below your elevation"
Swiftly the men rowed to the
landing, disembarked, and leaving
two men in charge of the boat
moved rapidly up the hill.
They had reached the mission, or
rather what was left of the mission.
Before them was scene of ruin and
devastation. The buildings had all
been burned to the ground, with the
exception of one arch which reared
itself, solitary and alone, topped by
that sacred emblem, the cross;
standing erect among the smoking
ruins as if still bidding defiance to
the devasting hordes of non-believ-
ers.
Too Late! Too Latel
Neither sight nor sound of any
living thing, nothing but this blot
on the landscape, family illumined
by the still glowing embers.
With bowed heads and disheart-
ened spirits the men gazed about.
Finally Mr.. Dowd looked up. TOO
late boys" he said, get back to the
boats"
The run back to the ship was al
most as uneventful as the up trip,
with the exception of scattering
rifle fire turned on the boats, a few
miles below the landing; doing no
damage except a couple holes
through the smoke stack and a bad
CASH in one mans arm from flying
splinter. This firing was soon 81
lenced when the Colt began to bark
it's message of death into the rice
paddles.
After hearing Lieutenant Dowd's
report the captain went shore to
inform the consul of the result.
Immediately on his return the
Ohio weighed anchor and headed
south for Hong Kong.
Sometime after this I happened
to look through three months old
Frisco paper and tucked away in the
corner of an inside sheet / saw an
associated press dispatch which /
quote almost word for word:
Hong Kong. Sent. 10 II in