Even the bandits who had been incorporated into the army began to make unreasonable demands, and, if they were too obstreperous, the usual plan was to surround them unawares' and take away their arms. In some! cases even more drastic measures were employed, and I remember one instance when they were entrained for a certain destination, but at one of the intermediate station the engine slipped away, and the poor wretches inside of the trucks were mowed down with machine-guns.
The generals who were sent to the outlying districts were always desirous of increasing their power, and at every opportunity began to re-exult new soldiers so that they could claim from the central authorities an Increase in the money alloted to them for their troops, was then "that the intriguers [began to get to work, and the repre sentatives of the various generals would meet in some foreign concession such as in Tientsin or in Shanghat_and endeavour to' bring about dissension in tke ranks of the party: in power, and try to form a new combination with the help of those:
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.