"There is truth in that," replied the Duke, wagging. his head thoughtfully. A little of the fury of his dream was still..upon him and his hand closed onthe handle of an imaginary sabre as he saw before him an imaginary magistrate bloated with good living looking with contempt upon the. lean enfeebled people of his blighted district:
"The pity of it is'' continued the old man, "that when the so)- diers go' mad, or when the people go mad, they devour one another like mad dogs. If they loot, they loot the little shopkeepers and not the yamens of the officials or the palaces of the wealthy. After the official has had all he can squeeze from the people it is cheaper for him to let his soldiers loot than te pay them, and if the people can fill their bellies by eating one another he is only too pleased that they should. Upon these matter: I have never thought much until ''Nor J," said the Duke. But all you say is true. One sees it in Peking on a much bigger scale than in the country towns, but it is much the same."
'"No doubt,'' continued the priest. 'I never considered it till the young men from the schools began to explain to the people in the streets. I listened to them and I read what they gave away for the people to read and I saw the pitiable condition of our country with open eyes for the first time and understood the cause of it. And there are thousands of others wherever I go who now have some understanding. I hear much talk everywhere. I am an old man and useless but there are tens of thou sands everywhere with youthful' strength and fire in their blood. who hear better and feel more keenly than an old man. Even among the soldiers this is true They read the newspapers. They never used to. And what they reac confirms what they hear in the streets. Some day they will under stand that the little shopkeeper with a few dollars in his drawer it not the enemy whom they should pillage when they are unclothe" and hungry. There are others more responsible who would yiel¢ a much richer loot to the man with an empty stomach and the courage to help himself."
"They're Burning the Town."
The old man's face lighted with something like fanaticism as he spoke and his voice rose to a high thin treble. His earnestness kind led a similar fire in the breast of the ruined aristocrat sitting cross-legged on his heap of straw and his hand closed many times on the imaginary sword hilt. The talk went on until night had fallen and the inside of the car was so dark that the two men could not see each others faces. The rattle and rumble of the train made conversation difficult and they both wearied of the effort and sat silently looking out into the dark.
Then, of a sudden a new ligh: fell upon them, flickering and fitful and as they looked out of the open doorway they could see the crenalated wall of a city outlined against smoke and filled with sparks and. suming fragments which the wind tarried.
''They're burning the town," cried the Duke.
"Only a few houses," said the other. "It's not a big fire."
As they spoke the brakes creaked and groaned, the train jerked convulsively and came to a stop. The train crew and the passengers clambered down and looked up the track, "No signal lights at all," said the conductor as he dropped from the rear platform and trotted up the line of cars. The station must have been looted."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.