Evening star., 1927-02-06

prestige in Asia is one thing which
may without injustice be blamed-or
credited, depending on ones viewpoint
equally to the Chinese reaction to
Russian idealistic propaganda and to
Russian opportunistic interference in
Chinese affairs.
I disregarded the warnings from all
sides not to 60 down the utterly dis
rupted Peking -Hankow railway in
search of WI. and, receiving passes
from my old associates of the WI
clique in the ministry of communica-
tions-the last favor they were able
to do me before being driven from
Office by the hordes of the Manchurian
Chang Tso-lin, who took advantage or
Wus weakness to occupy the Peklng
area-I set out on such conveyances
as were available.
Usually these were box or coal cars,
loaded with retreating, and disorgan-
lied soldiery of every description,
pulled by dilapidated locomotives
which operated on the plan of going
as far as they could before utter
breakdown. The ability of Chinese
trainmen to keep these engines rum
ming by roadside repairs is one OF the
marvels of China.
was attended by a Shantungese
servant, son of my old Number One"
in Peking, who insisted that, since he
could not share the risks of my jour-
ney, his heir must represent him. To
complicate matters, | was saddled,
lust before leaving Peking, with the
somewhat onerous task of escorting
the teen-age daughter of an old friend
in the ministry of communications to
her relatives in Shanghai.
With the influx of the soldiers Of
Chang Tsung chang. Chang Tso.lin's
Shantung commander, into Peking,
her father was willing for her to run
any risk of travel rather than remain
in the capital. since it was commonly
believed in Peking that soldiers of the
Shantung Tupan seized any women
who caught their eyes on the street,
although the women of the outs"
were, of course, said to be the partic'
ular prey.
When I found that there was
nothing running but military trains.
l rather lost confidence in my ability
to escort the young lady safely, but
by that time her father had fled into
hiding and there was nowhere to
deliver her except to people in
Shanghai.
So the trio of us set out. We pro-
gressed about one hundred miles dur
ing each of the first two days. Con-
siderable brass" wit and eloquence,
combined, got us into the guards spe-
cial car, a sequestrated mail-van, in
which we all sat on the floor. We
considered ourselves exceedingly
lucky, as the rain began to come
down in torrents. soaking the padded
garments of soldiery and populace in
the open cars.
In the norman s-land" between
Paoting and Chengchow, where the
WI armies had completely lost or
ganiZation, 1t became increasingly
hard to protect the girl. The great
majority of the soldiers were, 1 must
say, gentlemen, and particularly de-
serving of credit considering their
deprivation and disorganiZation.
BY and large. / would rather trust
a woman to Chinese than to almost
any soldiery know. However, at
one small station rough group led
by a half-drunken sergeant sur
rounded my charge and tried to edge
her out of sight of my servant and
myself, and / spent a nervous 20
minutes jollying them into letting her
reboard the train.
This will never do"' I said in
alarm, you will have to get into
some sort of disguise" At the town
where the train lay overnight, the
servant took her to a Chinese pawn
shop and outfitted her in boys cap,
jacket and long coat, then to a hair
cutter, and the next morning she
went aboard as his son, although he