Evening star., 1925-11-29

gate, is the well known HISTORIAN
Tablet-not esteemed as cultural
relic, but recently put inside for safe
keeping since a Danish "antiqueer'
fell short by only a little in his at
tempt 10 remove the several-ton mass
out of the province.
At banquet rendered us by
Tuchun Chen at his officers club be-
tween courses we enjoyed the luxury
of steaming towels laid on hands and
face, and the pleasure of gourmand-
izing was further supplemented by
the entertainment on the stage above
us. where a troupe of 50 actors. in
cluding both men and women, present
ed play after play.
From 10 am. tn 10 pm. course
after course. hour after hour. Chen's s
banquet went on. After the regular
food came watermelon seeds. candied
ginger with nuts. tea.
Again on the march, we found that
the Sian plain gave way again to
loess defiles. this time dry and drifted
deep with dust. Rough country con
tanning rough people, degenerate from
opium Long after dusk we passed
sinister figures in the grain fields.
Road bandits" whispered our cart
| men in fear. They pretended to be
peasants hoeing their grain.
Looking back, we saw them stop A
| camel caravan which was following
us We pressed on until in the
morning. Hating two hours for food,
we set off by moonlight again.
At Binjo we made our way down
| the long street looking for an inn.
| One was fun of soldiers, another of
| brigands. and the third. we found.
! had been taken over by a troupe of
travelling sing song girls. Being
| forced to stop somewhere TO feed the
| horses, we chose the last. The brig
ands We're going in and heard much
| comment on the possible loot that
| might be got from us
| \ flock OF pigeons lit on the high
| curved roof of the main hall. I let off
| both barrels OF my shotgun and
brought down 10 or IS tiuttering
birds The ruffians and the ladies
| looked on in open-mouthed amaze
ment. They had never seen shot
gun.
What kind OF weapon Is that?"
| asked one.
"A bandit gun" I replied "espe-
| cially perfected in America for bring
ing down a whole bandit gang at one
| shot"
| We moved off amid the awed whis-
pering of the men and the quips of the
| ladies.
| IT was late in the day when we left
Pingliang. 1 had delayed the party
| to haggle with a griZzled half breed
| Russian-Tartar over some panther,
wolf, and fox skins. Finally I told
| the carriers TO go ahead with half the
escort. My congenital bent toward
| Iast-minute diversion has caused me
| and those about me much annoyance,
but in this instance there Is reason
| to believe that 1t saved our skins.
! Hanging on the wall of one Of the
| merchants of the fur market / spied
an immense handmade Russian rife
| with a belt of soft-nosed cartridges
| 1t was near sixty bore-a young can
non. We carried only sport guns
and a tiny six shooter, and these were
| in the cart. A whim urged us TO pur
| chase the thing, which we did secretly
| since private trade in firearms was
forbidden by drastic penalty. I car
| ried it out Of town wrapped in q
| wolfs skin.
| The remainder Of the escort waited
for us at the city gate. They were
very curious as to what l was carry
| ing. Some distance out l disclosed
| the gun. Immediately they held a
| whispered council, and one of them
| wheeled and without explanation dash
| ed back into the city.
The others kept hurrying us on
you must be at the crossroads before
| dark they said. We knew that we
were in for a night journey and die
not see that It mattered much whether
| dark overlook us on the near or
| far side of the Crossroads" About
| sundown we entered a long, lonely
| defile The soldiers who had beer
| riding with us, urging us on. now
| dropped back. We rode ahead with