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vants while I was away I had to come here. I've been in the country all day and I got back hungry.
Bring me something to eat, Proprietor, but first bring me some wine—bring a catty, these gentlemen will have some too" he added indicating the half-stripped greasy soldiers about his table whom he favoured with another smile.
While he was speaking nearly every one in the room had risen and they now crowded silently about him, their cups and bowls in their hands.
"What did he say?" asked one who had not heard distinctly.
He said,"' repeated one of the men at his table, with a smile, "that his house was looted, that he came back from the country hungry and that this was the only place he could find to eat,"
The foreign gentleman's house looted!" exclaimed one man with an air of concern, ''this is truly a misfortune. Some ignorant irresponsible fool who ought to be shot."
A murmur of approval greeted this speech.
Cook," shouted another, "hurry up with the foreign gentleman's wine and food. He's tired and hungry."
"T do not seem to be the only one who suffered," said the foreigner smiling again, which elicited a sheepish grin from the crowd.
"How did it all start?"
"We haven't been paid for seven months," growled a surly voice in the crowd. It's been a bad year and prices were getting higher and higher. We have to live. They expect us to be strong enough to carry a gun, but they deal us out a little grain like they do to the beggars whom the merchants feed in the matshed at the South Gate.
The magistrate asked the merchants for money to feed us, but they wouldn't give it. Our patience Tan out."
A Pertinent Question.
"Then I suppose you've cleaned out the yamen, and the Brigade Commander's headquarters, and the bank where the officials keep their money," suggested the foreigner, as he filled up a row of little cups from a flask.
"That's what I wanted them to do" said the surly one again, scowling towards the doorway, which was barred from his vision by the flare of a lamp, "'but they have not the courage."
""There's the very truth," said the Duke who had edged his way through the crowd and whose face was red with heat and excitement.
Who Ate You?
Who are you?'' asked the surly one in a defiant tone.
'""Who am 1?" shouted the Duke with a burst of satirical laughter. ""Why I'm a Manchu, a descendant of emperors, an impoverished Duke. My fathers fought their way to power with their swords, bye S s SSS they lived on what they took and grew fat and worthless. They consumed all they had and found themselves lean and worthless. I'm one of the leanest, but if I had a sabre and a few men as big in bone and muscle as you fellows, with about 10 times your courage and a 100 times your knowledge of right and wrong, I might still be good for something to China." The eating house hummed with talk. Every man was on his feet and no spectator could have foretold for a moment whether they were going to fall upon the Duke or follow the suggestions which his words conveyed. The surly one decided it. He went into a corner, took a rifle, carried it into the street, and fired six shots in the air, After a pause there was an answering series from another quarter, then men began running in from all directions and upon a sudden impulse the occupants of the eating house snatched up their weapons and surged into the streets, carrying the Duke before them on the tide.
"To the yamen!'' shouted the Duke and the cry was taken up in a frenzied yell from the crowd. The foreigner sat in something of a daze staring across the empty room, now deserted by even the cooks and servants. While he sat there the little old Taoist came out of a corner in which he had taken a and took the seat opposite The End of the Yamen. The time had come,'' he said as he took up a cup with trembling hands, ''the time had come." "T'm afraid," said the tall man scratching his head, ''that I really started something. What will they do? They might murder the magistrate, and I should be responsible."
"By no means," said the Taoist, "the time had come I tell you. They will murder the magistrate, of course they will. But the responsibility is his not yours." The foreigner rose with a troubled expression and went into the streets. He looked over to the east, where the yamen was, and heard the far-away roar of a gathering mob, Then shooting commenced, then a long tongue of fire shot up to the sky. The soldiers were their allies now; they were warring with a common enemy.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.