Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-08-24

| small half chinese village. My voice.
| | found, had nearly left me, and |
| rested in d house here for d couple of
| hours. With great difficulty, owing
| to the suspicious of the villagers,
secured the services of a small boy
as a guide to Hsiakuan. I could not
obtain a mule or a donkey to ride.
| We set out for Pingehuan, over 100
Ii troughIy AZ miles) away. After
| weighing all the chances of the vari-
| Gus routes open to me. / had decided
| to strike middle course across the
| Lake Talifu and thence toward Hsia
| kuan. This road lay fairly level for
some three hours, and then a steep
hill confronted US. My guide. who
could speak Chinese, informed me
| that from the summit the roads
] branched to Pingchuan and Hsia
kuan. Although l just managed to
| drag myself along at the rate Of
about two miles an hour on the level,
could barely negotiate the hills
with the full aid of my stick.
y X
TOILING YEARLY up this last steep
hill. with frequent rests-my
guide had dawdled behind to pick
mushrooms-I was nearing the crest,
when suddenly / saw the figure of a
| man to the left of the track. who was
regarding me curiously. Though l
dared not look a second time at him,
1 had realized that he had rifle in
his hands.
What attracted me most was his
round, blue-lined straw hat; and as |
looked again, in a side-long way, it
was with a distinct sense of nausea
that ! recognized. felt sure. a GER
tain pock-marked brigand who had
guarded me almost constantly while
/ was a captive. He had always
| been a cheerful individual, but now d
| sardonic smile wreathed his lips as
much as to say: We'll you have
taken lot of trouble to rejoin u.s."
Besides intense chagrin, my chief
feeling was one of wonder that, after
all my remarkable exertions, the
brigands had found it possible to
reach this exact spot in time to head
me off from escape. / now observed
that the man made no threatening
| motion nor did he move his rife,
which was not pointing in my direc-
ton: and he appeared to be talking
over his shoulder with some one be-
| hind him whom 1 could not see.
Having gained the crest of the hill.
/ halted, as i was out of breath; and
there, just before me, was a little
tent with half a dozen or more armed
| men, obviously soldiers or brigands.
| Most of them wore uniforms. The
first man now Joined this group, ana
/ then perceived. with sudden but
| only partial relief, that he was not
my erstwhile cheerful and pock-
| marked guard in the brigands' camp
l took the bull by the horns and
| walked slowly toward them
AS I reached them, I asked if they
belonged to the Pingchuan garrison,
and ma in he
tive. After giving me some hot
water. which l drank down greedily
they led me down to a small village
| where the main patrol was billeted
| Here / was received in open arms
by a Chinese non-commissioned of
floor, who was in command of these
| troops. He readily acquiesced in my
| request to proceed at once, and even
volunteered to provide me with an
animal to ride. This was lucky, as
l could not have walked much fur
| Their
Instead of making direct for Hsia
kuan, as I had intended, they said
that L must accompany them to Ping
| chuan, which was their headquarters
l was not, even then-nor, in fact,
for most of that afternoon-absolute-
| ~ certain that they were not desert
ers turned bandits or soldiers in
IedSuc with the priSdnQS from whOm
1 had just escaped. But I was far too
weary mentally and physically TO Ia
Dor the point; and we set out on our
march Immediately.
Twice I had to halt and dismount
so that could rest in the shade of
tree. and ] only just managed to sit
on my sorry mount until we reached,
about o'clock that afternoon, the
village of Lokuanying. some three
hours march from Pingchuan. My
food for the past As hours had con-
sisted of few eggs and tabloids. but
here | managed to get some Chinese
cakes and quantities of weak Chinese
tea [ consumed the latter as rapidly
as it cooled while l lay on a bench in
tea house surrounded by the entire
population of the village.
* *
THE escort of soldiers were all for
pushing on. and obtained a new
horse for my use, but I protested that
1 was unable to move. Eventually
they procured a two-man litter and
in this 1 was carried into Pingchuan,
reaching the yamen in that town at
about o'clock that night. l was
most Hospitality received by the Chi