A shot rang out of the dark not a hundred yards away, then series of reports came from within the city walls. The Passengers bolted into the darkness like fright tened hares. The train crew followed after a moment's hesitation and the Taoist priest and the Duke were left in sole possession of the train. asked the old ong.
"Have you anything to
"Nothing but my head,"' said the Duke with a grimace.
Let's see what all this is about seg said oe old man starting betokened tans up e track with a i 1 great feebleness of limbo hut no little nervous energy. The Duke paused a second, then smiled whimsically, clenched his fists and trotted to catch up with his com-dark and deserted. "iis sinew ey came to the railway stati
were all broken, the drawers of a desk and countless Papers were scattered about the platform and a dead man with a whistle about his neck and a green flag clutched in his hand lay sprawled in a passageway. They passed through the wicket and out into a broad square which was also deserted. Then they entered a highway leading to the city gate lined on either side with rows of dark shops that might either have housed dead men or peacefully slumbering merchants. The real state of affairs Was soon apparent. The shutters were broken and a litter of merchandise covered the streets from wall to wall. The front of one shop had been torn out and before the counter lay a soldier with ong knife through his throat, while the corpse of a headless man in a blue gown hung over the counter itself, They themselves—the eat fools!" muttered the old priest and they hurried on. The city gates stood open with none to guard them. Up the main street was the same litter of merchandise—bolts of cotton and bolts of silk, trampled in the mire and the oil from shattered jugs and broached wicker urns. Here and there was a corpse. Further up the street there were shots fired in the air, following by shouting and crash of splintered wood. Soldiers were breaking into a shop. They came to a flare of light and saw a dozen soldiers with fixed bayonets drawn up before the door of a building which proved to be the branch of a well known" native bank capitalized by Peking officials.
"Whose men are youl" asked the Duke in a"voice of authority which surprised himself. There was some surly' hesitancy among them, then a sergeant stepped forth and saluted.
"We are from the Magistrate's body your excellency," said "Lim said the Duke, they know how to take care of their own."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.