Although they were deprived of their commander at this critical moment, the rd division and the other units' did not hesitate to choose the latter alternative, and, under Colonel Lo Yung-ho, of the 9th regiment, fought their way to! Peitaiho. I have already given' some idea of the fighting qualities of these men, They were Wu Pei-fu's pride, and their behaviour in the circumstances which beset them on this occasion justifies all the praise they earned in the firing line. Colonel Lo opened the Fengtien belt with some ten thousand men. From Peitaiho he marched on to Lanchow, ifter the Fengtien occupation, and is now between Machang, south of Tientsin, and Paotingfu, with the remnant of his force. Although the band suffered casualties totalling. five thousand, it still is intact as unit, and probably will be heard of in when Wu Pei-fu makes another bid for military power in north Chin Geneval Chang Fu-lai ted the retreat by sea to Tientsin. He reported to Wu Pei-fu, when the Com. mander-in-Chief still was at. the Central station, and offered his head in expiation of his cowardice and desertion. The scene, according to my informant, was quite affecting. General Chang knelt before Wu with' head bent, ready for the execution-e's sword, but the Marshal raised him to his feet, saying that that would not help matters. The two thereupon indulged in a weep together. lai has an excellent relighter, in view of which, asked my informant why he should have failed so. ignominiously at Chinwangtao. The explanation interesting. "In China we don't consider it extraordinary that a poor man should be brave. He has nothing to lose. Why should he} care about exposing himself to danger? That was the case with Chang. He used to be a very courageous man_when he had_nothing to lose. Since he was appoint: ed Tuchun of Honan, he has become ich man, and it is very rare in China that 'a rich man shows any bravery.'
"He seemed quite ready to sactifice his head," I remarked. "How do, you account for that?"
"He knew very, well that it would was the reply. hastened back to
and, seeing that he was a very impordt. personally, tant man, Wu dared not take such drastic step. If he had not turned up, and if Wu had been able to lay hands on him he might have been executed; but not otherwise."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.