Evening star., 1924-12-21
Presenting Unusual Story of Service and Its Reward

with the difficult problem before him,
an extraordinary event occurred
! There was a clamor of voices out
side. A Chinese guard hurtled
| through the door. and fell on the
! floor before the viceroy. There was
sound of heavy footsteps. the clang
| of side arms, the echo of cultural
| voices, and dozen German officers
! entered the room.
They were young Prussian under
| officers frorm the portion of the
| German company behind the Ameri-
| can division. They stopped inside
the door, lost for a moment in won
| der at the very miracle of the thing
| they were seeking. Then they
noticed Major billiard, standing be-
side the viceroy's chair. They
brought their heels together and
made him a formal military salute; !;
| but 1t was clear they regarded him
as of no particular importance-as
merely soldier from the American
| Division to be accorded the usual
| amenities.
There followed a brief, verbal pas
| sage at arms. Major billiard ex-
| planned that the monastery was
| under the protection of the American
| Division; that it must not be dis
| turbed, and requested the German
| officers to withdraw. They replied
with a courtesy in which there was
high contempt, that as the Ameri-
| can Division had passed on, and the
| German company arrived on the
ground, the monastery was under the
protection of the German expedi-
| tionary force, and they must insist
| on their right of control.
They were all under the influence
| of liquor; one or two of them were
! plainly drunk. 1t was evident that
Maj. billiard could not control them,
| and 1t was clear that their conten-
tion of their right of control over the
Chinese territory. adjacent to their
division was in point of legal virtue
superior to that of the American Di-
vision that had passed on and from
which Maj. billiard had returned here.
They spoke with an exaggerated
courtesy to the American, but they
were clearly intending to seize the
monastery, to ignore any claim of
Americans over it, and they made that
intention insolently evident. The old
Chinese viceroy understood 1t at once.
Despair enveloped him. His chin drop
ped on his bosom, and he put out his
hands like one resigned to the inev-
liable. 1t was at this moment that
the dramatic sequel arrived"
Col. Swank paused; he made
slight gesture with the hand in which
the long, sharp blade of his knife
moved on the soft wood. II have
mentioned" he said, how in char
acter were the acts of Wilhelm III In
this international affair, and now one
of these theatrical gestures inter-
vened with a shattering denouement
Maj. billiard offered no further argu-
ment. He took out of his pocket the
message which he had received from
Won Waldersee as we were setting out
and read II. 1t was an order of the
high command putting a portion of
a German company under the COM
mand of that foreign general whose
division 1t followed, and thus this
order put the German advance guard,
of which these Prussians were Of
ficers, under the command of the
American general 1t was the en-
peror's gracious return for the grant
of the supreme command to Won Wal
dersee. Maj. billiard made no COM
ment. He gave a curt order as
though he were addressing a ser
geant's squad.
THE Prussians were to remain and
guard the monastery during the
whole of the allied occupation; moth
ing should be disturbed; they would
be held responsible for every life and
every article and for the rigid preser-
walton of order. 1t was a hard. clear
comprehensive direction. And they
were to report to him in Peking.
The amazement of the young Prus-
sian officers was beyond any word to
express. They recognized the black
eagle and the signature of the Ger
man high command. Won Waldersee's
was an ukase of the all highest They
formed in line before the American,
clicked their heels and saluted. And
he set them about the outside of the
monastery as a guard and went away
in his chair"
Mr.. Bow Bell threw himself for
ward with a great cackle of laughter
"Ho, no" he cried. "And they
couldn't touch a grille or a cash
piece. And what did you do, you fat
old crook?"
TOI. SWANK resumed his narrative
~ as though there had been no in
terruption. Il remained" he said,
though not entirely at my own in
ittative. The old viceroy had drawn
the conclusion from some remarks of
Maj. billiard that the white cross
which the monks had put up before
the gate of the monastery was a pro-
tecting symbol of the great Christian
religion, and that in some manner its
effect on Maj. Diilard had produced
the recult which followed. The vice
roy began to inquire of me why the
cross was a sacred symbol in our re-
ligion.
II explained it to him-that Jesus
of Nazareth, the Messiah of the Chris
tians. had been crucified on a tree,
and that this cross was symbolical of
that crucifixion, of that vicarious
atonement for the sins of the world