"Th sampan thereupon anchored and a few minutes later Lieutenants Polly and Brown picked me up, while No Ransom Asked "Curiously enough no ransom was @emanded. from the Europeans, but We believed that all the Chinese captives would be required to pay heavy ransoms.
"In spite of our precarious posi tion" the situation had its lighter the pirates. distributed their loot, Several of them appeared in dinner Jackets and fancy hats and Wierd and wonderful jewellery. Clu ing the share-out the gramophone belonging to the Hutcheon children was discovered, and amongst the records played were "Hands the Sen," "Hearts of Oak," and "Rule Britannia, "igeveral pirates stated that they belonged to France, indicating that they were in the Chinese Labour corps In France during the Great Considerable amusement "was trating with an 1890 vintage chat gun and. also. Verey lights. The irates were very much disappointed fs there were only six shots for the Verey pistol.
"On the second night we were taken on separate junks, the condition of which can best be described as lousy. Four captives were placed in one hatch while Brand and Mr. Yamamoto were in a neighbour! junk, During the night our guards amused themselves by threatening all Kinds of tortures and flashing, lights sisted of the coarse st gruel and corn cakes, On Wednesday our first square meal arrived, consisting of (we tins of pineapple, one of bully beef, and some boiled' tea, all of which' was distributed among the five British captives.
To Notity Authorities "At 830 that _day I was informed that, with My. Shen Tien-ling, T was fo be sent by funk to Showa and thence by motor car to Tsinanfu for the purpose of conveying a notice to the British consulate. As we were setting off we heard the sound of a plane. Tt appeared over us, passed is, and then suddenly encircled us, fying low. This resulted in very mixed feelings for, should the plane open fire, the pirates might murder The plane did not open fire, but the pirates showed the wildest excitement and fired on It with everything available. After 15 minutes we con-vineed the pirates that the plane was Where the Piracy took Place Lieutenant Russel picked up Mr. Shen. We then proceeded to the Eagle, reporting and presenting our letters to the captain.
"The remaining captives, Luce, Field, Brand, and Watson. experienced a harrowing time during the fire from the aircraft, for they were confined below deck' on the junks, the pirater scattering to land through the shallows and reeds.
A brisk exchange of shots between the pirates and the plane fol-Towed, many of the rounds falling unpleasantly close to captives who were ushed ashore by pirates left on guard on the junks, the remainder having scattered a couple of hundred yards towards reeds. During this Jencounter, the No. 1 pirate was observed going into action armed with tone. of the Shuntien's revolvers, while across his shoulder was slung 4 folding camera!
"The plane having departed it must-have been an hour later when it returned with three Osprey m: chines who lost no time in peppering the pirates, the majority by this time being on the shore. Several casualties occurred among the pirates who were by this time a thoroughly shaken force.
After pulling themselves together and burying their dead, the Pirates prepared to move down the stream, presumably for a quick xetaaway under cover of darkness Ultimatum Dropped "Early in the afternoon several planes returned and dropped messages in Chinese and English to the effect that unless the captives were eleasett, the pirates lair would be bombed. The planes then by way of demonstration dropped eight twenty-pound bombs close by and
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.