Evening star., 1926-04-04

| mored companion as he unlaced his
/ sodden shoes and disappeared under
| the heavy Chinese comforter" which
| forms the bedding of the travt ling
| foreigner in inland China, "our beds
! are drenChed, our StomachS are
| empty. we are still out in the rain.
,ut were as II. ppy as If we were at
he Waldorf-AS oria. Good night.
= nd soon | knew that he was sleep
n@ heavily.
IN due course |, too, despite the
green wood fire, the slight diScon-
tinuity of the root Immediately above
my head, the rats that ran over and
around my curtained body, and much
else, slept soundly. Indeed, it must
have been at least two hours after
sunrise that, aWaken6 d by mine host,
the Chinese preacher.teaCher. | drag
ged my aching limbs with i'll grace
from my p'ukai TO face piping hot
meal of rice.
But though we had not eaten n de
cent meal for several days. my pal
Prescott diilydallied with his chop,
sticks. To my significant look Of in
quiry he gave no response. nor did
he betray what was wrong. His face
was placid. He had no appetite, he
told me-
Haven't slept at all we'll" he said
after time. And then as an after.
thought. II was awakened by an
awful dream"
Aha. why what's the dream. old
fellow" ! naturally inquire d, only TO
find Prescott at first evasive attrib-
uting to a mere dream what | consid,
cred a quite foolish Importance He
S.tlh tlx. 81 al h. h,'J
DIRE" med about me. and that if he
told me what II was should probably
get a fright.
| was hugely entertained. So ri
diculouS was this idea that I badgered
him until l prevailed upon him to
tell me. He sat on the edge of a
rickety form, with his rice bowl and
his chop-sticks in his hand. his un.
touched bowl of tea in front of him.
You're so jolly irquisitive. said
this worthy Briton that | will tell
YOU what I dreamed. though | must
admit that 1t has upset me SO much
that ! cannot eat my rice This in
English to me. and then with perfect
suavity in manner. he apologized in
Chinese to our host. and then settled
down to tell the tale.
In the early part of the night" he
went on. Il slept soundly. but later
on | was awakened by something.
was in a cold sweat. wondering
whether YOU were here. | dreamed
that the Nosu attacked us. and thar
they mistooK YOU for me. They drag
2ed YOU away TO the top of a small
knoll. and there ! could see them
| can see them as I tell you now
torturing you in most CHASTITY man.
ner.
And there | was compelled to stand
helpless. unable to offer you any as
sistance in any way But really, old
man, | can't tell YOU any more. 1t
was an awful nightmare. | suppose
shall feel better later on in the
day. but that's the sole reason why
| cannot tackle my chow this morn
ing.
He looked long at me. and sat
waiting for him to finish the yarn.
But that was all. he said Then | en-
ioyed the joke, like the Scot. Not az
all perturbed. I lighted my pipe and
settled down in front of the doorway
with the ola teacher. yarning away as
| watched the drenching rain wash
ing everything out of the earth.
+ 3 \
EOR FIVE weary days we were held
up in that hovel. with no sign of
abatement of the deluge. and the close
confinement in that evil-smellnS abode
amung the hills SO got on our nerves
that both Prescott and | realized that
We had made huge mistake in ven
turing out into that country during
the rains.
on the fifth night we went to bed
as usual. wrapping ourselves in our
raincoats and placing at our heads
10,cent umbrella to keep the rain from
soaking our heads. Then | had a
dream. dreamed that | saw Prescott
being brutally dragged away by the
Nosu, and | went through most
hdeouS time as ] stood chained to the
spot with cold shiYer going down
my Spipo hut bpino impOtent to pre.