A furlong more and two Cossacks with a red flag were discovered sitting just off the crown of the rond. A story had been heard of 1,000 Ru: of the n igly might be a clue to the real story. Yot again there was a di appointment. The most sensational thing the Cossacks did was to but they did the red flag. Exhaustive in qui later on failed to establish the occupation of these two Cossacks—and they had disappeared when the return trip was made. Nearing Woosung three big motor lorries wore passed, all packed high with household effects and the owners thereof, and behind them two motor cars similarly burdened. So at Inst there was some real evidence of The village did not appear to be nearly so lively as is usual and conversation with a few residents soon showed ti for this.
The villagers really do believe there is to be fighting in their territory—though if it is to be no worse than the "siege" of the forts in 1913 there will be small cause for them to worry. Already they have fored the first shock, for conseription is being enforced by the commander of the forts, and it would be interesting to know by whose authority he has acted. Every day young men are marched off to the forts and only just before our correspondent arrived 100 had been taken in. The practice in other places appears to be t> put conscripts to forced labour as baggage curriers, but it was stated that at Woosung they are put into uniform and made into soldiers straight off, many of the regulars having left for upeountr; At the jetty a junk, which, rather curiously, was flying' the Customs flag from was unloading boxes of small-arms ammunition, under guard by a squad of half-a-dozen soldiers whose rifles were. piled just off the roadway and who themselves were lounging in a dry ditch quite 40 yards away. That. was all that was to be seen in the village,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.