What design the students had in this procedure, unless it was deliberately to sink the steamer, has not been publicly declared. Thd ship's crew, however, fvas in no} mood to be trapped by a handful of youngsters and at once declared war. The seized sailors were all Cantonese. It happened that the majority of the crew was Cantonese and the volunteer army, therefore, that ati once assembled, armed with rods, bars, staves, shovels and knive, was also Cantonese. Until the first detachment) of this force was ashore, the stu-Gents stood their ground, bandying, epithets and pleading with the sailors to stand by their country. At the sight of knives, however, the students scattered, In the flight and pursuit that followed, five of them were captured and taken aboard ship as_ hostages. Three were ultimately released and
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.