Evening star., 1924-07-06


the wounded were laid, or
~ arranged themselves. in
rows upon the fiat stretch of mud
between the struggling gray houses
of the village and the river. There
was a slight pause while We gazed at
each other with interest not unmix ed
with horror.
Then our interpreter gave one long
howl of terror and dived head first
into pile of rugs at the farthest
end of the craft. AT the same time
a procession of little gray figures
waded into the stream, carrying
MANNED forms. who were uncere-
moniously bundled on to our narrow
deck. Then began lot of polite
bowling and smiling and pointing to
our Red Cross" flag
The first sufferer displayed a gap
ing ffesh wound artisticaUy smeared
with some strong smelling black
stuff, and watched us stoicaly while
We daubed and bandaged, but the
second had a bullet lurking near a
bone. and strongly disliked having it
q sickening business.
There were terrible wounds that
left US helpless, there was gangrene
beyond hope of recovery, and there
were broken bones which we tried to
Set, using every available stick and
spar. One longed for morphia to
still the pain our clumsy efforts
caused. Worst of all, there were ter
rible skin diseases that we could not
cope with. However, We washed and
worked till the gentle dark came on
and our eyes ached and our hands
shook, and we wondered whether we
worked for our lives as well as theirs.
There was some grunbling on the
part of the most ignorant because
pain did not cease Immediately, but
for the most part they were CRATE
full, and chin -chinned patheticaIIy as
they were carried or hobbled away.
CUDDENLY we realized that our in
terpreter had disappeared. We
thought he had gone for good, and
wondered alphabetically at what pre-
MUM an enterprfsing insurance COM
pany would accept US, but he reap
peared at night almost cheerful, and
. with much mystery told us that he
had discovered a newly converted
Christian merchant who was most
anxious to leave the neighborhood
at once.
Apparently this man knew a route
which would eventually lead us by
unknown byways to Heng-sha His
plan was that we should leave the
river by night and creep round the
village, whose southern side was un-
protected. He could secure chairs
and bearers, without raising suspi-
cion, on the plea of taking his family
south. They would meet us at a
given place, and before the army
woke to the fact of our disappear
ance we should be ten miles away
and our direction unknown.
1t was arranged that we should
slip away between I and a.m-the
only hour Of the night at which the
Chinese really sleep. The interpreter
had produced rice, eggs (which we
hard boiled), and a sort of 1inty
sponge cake. AS only two chairs
were availa Bile, we decided to leave
all our belongings behind except
what we could easily carry ourselves
If necessary.
We started bravely forth, but with
out our merchant friend, who appar-
emily had lost his nerve at the last
moment. Luckily it was dark night
or we couldn't have escaped observa-
tion; but the houses were indistin-
guiShable, and we went too far back
up the river before we dared turn
inland and attempt to work round
the village, thus losing considerable
time. 1t was a nightmare walk
There was no path, and we continu-
ally fell off mud banks into wet rice
fields. We crawled through tangles
of briers. stumbled into unsavory
rubbish heaps and came up against
walls beyond which might be sleep
ing soldiery. A dozen times the in
terpreter lost the way.
Suddenly a rise in the land showed
US few houses just ahead. They
looked absolutely deserted. AS
broad stream cut off progress to the
right, and leftward lay the river and
destruction, we had to risk it. Goad-
ing on our literally shaking coolies
we bore down upon the village.
I drew out a French motor license
with a red seal, and an English pass
port, highly decorative, which I had
always reserved in the hope of i'm
pressing the illiterate Chinese, who
dearly love something official-looking
and colorful. 1t was a lucky thought,
for the instant we turned into the
main path we saw a crowd of priS-
oners, with hands bound behind them,
tied to posts Of tree-trunks, while a
guard lounged lazily at the open
doors Of a barn-like structure. / in
stantly decided that our only chance
was to pretend we had every right to
be travelling along that particular
road, so, violently prodding my
anguished bearers with my umbrella
to make them proceed. I assumed my
most naughty air.
So
NHTH the flags attached to our
w chairs nuttering in the breeze,
We bore rapidly down on the aston
ished guard. He recovered enough
fore his officer could emerge from the
depths Of the shed, where he was
drinking green tea. the little caval-
cade had passed on, waving with in
finite importance our inadequate doc
umeats.
Our coolies started to amble as
soon - We were out Of sight, but at