During this interval some members of the expedition went into a teashop opposite to the inn, which was kept by the village headman, when some misunderstanding arose, probably owing to ignorance of language on both sides, and the teashop proprietor at once set up a cry for Fengeance on the Annamese. The villagers quickly assembled, as one may suppose, quite too glad to run foul of the foreigners, and affairs took on a hostile line. His men went over to their inn and apprised M. Bonin of the situation who took measures for self-defence. The villagers were plucky in their attack and seized one of the Annamese rifles, which, however, they could not use owing to ignorance of its mechanism. After the usual row and
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.