A serious situation arose while we were waiting for the first engineer to return with the coal The soldiers reasoning among them Ives were convinced that the gineer was the cause of the delay and the longer they talked the madder they got. They finally rushed down and grabbed the second engineer. They tried to get him to give a reason for our morning's failure by torturing him. They his hands behind his back favourite method) and hung him up the girders supporting the roof of the boat. They slapped him and pounded him unmercifully. ~The man under punishment told them they did not go faster because the captain had not rung up (he knew that there was not more than 100 Ib. of steam which helped to shift the lame on the captain). As matters were becoming serious not only for the man but would terminate in harm to the captain, I told the general, who. was sleeping in his cabin, wearing off the effects from his long debauch of the night before, that he should order the loosening of the engineer, and to stop all such foolish talk among the men, and to await our attempt to run the boat on the new coal. He loosened the man and I am glad to si he kept his promise.
No one among the foreigners, and I dare say very few among' the native crew slept that night. No one had anything to eat and very! little to drink for, 24 hours. For the time was spent in prayer the Goal looked any better than the previous lot, We were absolutely in the hands of the Lord of Heaven dearth. When the order was given to raise the anchors the writer corralled all generals on the bridge where it would be easy to explain to them by the steam gauge why we failed if we did fail. The steam gauge registered 225 Ib, when the anchers were pulled up and we left in high hopes that our prayers were to be answered. Everybody kept their eye on the gauge and prayed that the steam would not fail. We! steamed steadily the remainder of the day and at night anchored where we had been the night before. Everybody was happy and the officials and soldiers were convinced that we had not lied to them as to the cause of our failure the day before. All concerned are con-vineed that God Himself helped us out of the difficulty. Capt. Henkel looked years younger after his trying ordeal was over, for it was a sad experience for hig and might have deen fatal.
We reached Kueifu without further incident and the next day weighed anchor at Wanhsien about moon, where we were to have our next' experience. We no sooner dropped anchor than we saw a small boat with soldiers pull out from shore and we could pretty well guess what they were up ta, ie. to! commander the boat for another trip down river, with a repetition of our harrowing experiences. Our spirits sank below par at the thought of such a thing. The agent of the company and the captain, and the compradore, and the remaining few military men on board, all waited upon the writer] and asked him if he would not call upon the big man himself (Yang Sen) and plead our case before him, I went ashore and called upon Yang Sen in the house where he was living, ie. the American Fuh In Tang, doubtless belonging to. the Pittsburg Mission. I was admitted fat once and was greeted with smiles, assumed the attitude of an old friend, which of course he ws T came to the point without formality. I told him I. came as a friend on behalf of the steamship company. Pointing out that if they were forced to return loaded as they were and were wrecked, the company would lose their insurance fon the boat, the merchants theirs on the cargo, and what concerned me more than anything else Mrs. McCartney and I would not get to) Chungking. 2 'After talking some time he' said he would send a man own to! investigate and if possible he would free the steamer to go of her way. I returned to the ship assured in my own mind that we would be able to proceed as soon as the ship was! ccaled. I had hardly reached the! ship when his representative, the head of foreign affairs, Mr. aM. D. Yang, came on board.' Soon after he left an order came to the head of the. squad on board to free the boat at once. We crossed the river, coaled, and left next morning for Chungking, Yang has brought about wonderful improvements. in the line road building during the short time! he has been in Wanhsien. He hi proved to my satisfaction that he! is the one man in Szechuan who can bring about the needed reforms fu the province, and if the time should ever come when thew: lords would quit their fighting and unite in bringing about road in provement Yang Sen is the one man to head the great work, T have no doubt that he is living in the Mission compound by. permission, and the. owner can rest! assured that everything about is in first.class condition. From now on Tam a friend of Yang Sen what-lever may happen.
After passing Wanhsien we, naturally thought all our trouble had come to an end, but not so. As we neared the wharf of the Ys R. Ca. in Chungking we saw-it surrounded by soldiers, and no: sampan allowed to approach, and there wi firing of guns to intimidate the natives, so it was not conducive to auict the nerves of the foreigners returning to the old home tow We soon found out the cause of the trouble. Tt seems the crew of the two Japanese boats which had! left the previous day or two had! been caught smuggling ammunition! to the enemy and that they had decided to double their vigilance, Ihence our reception, We had no more than come to anchor when the blare of trumpets announced the coming of a prisoner! who was to be executed. He was ran up in front of our boat, made to kneel, and a soldier placed the muzzle of his revolver against the prisoner's back, over his heart, and fired. The man rolled over and his body' was still there when we left the ship the next day. We we told that all baggage must be! searched, which news was not con-docile to quieting the nerves since! Thad among my baggage a revolver and bird gun. We were told that, We must wait until the last for our! baggage to be searched.
"The soldiers found some guns and ammunition, some among the coal! and two firemen found it convenient, to absent themselves from duty.
The examiner of our goods was congenial middle aged man who seemed loath to take much trouble! and did not locate out guns, even! though they made us open nailed eases ae well as wardrobe trunks.
T was prepared to tell him I had them for shooting animals not men, which was true.
When through with the search it was too late to land so we had to settle down on the Iping for!
We finally' reached our home "Ebenezer" at 11 o'clock on July 1, and it was the greatest surprise
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.