At this juncture the local military authorities received from General Yang Sen a telegraphic order to give steam vessels desiring to ship wood-oil every possible protection, and authorizing them to shoot to kilim the event of further interference on the part of the junkmen. Two hundred soldiers were at once posted aboard the Meiren and deployed along the beach; not, however, until $1,000 had been paid to the commanding officer as an "escort, fee." Considerable shooting, designed chiefly to warn the junk operators against further attacks, followed, and continued throughout the day.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.