AT LANCHOW 233 



mum amount of work for a minimum wage. The 

 muleteers who had brought us from Choni were 

 seized upon at once to convey arms to Tsin-chow. 

 Two days after reaching I^anchow we heard that 

 Mr. Henne had been killed at Sian-fu Avith his 

 wife and children. Happily at a later date tliis 

 rumour turned out to be false, for, though suifering 

 from eleven wounds, he recovered, whilst liis family 

 were uninjured. Apropos of this, I cannot refrain 

 from quoting the remark made by a Manchu 

 official on hearing that IMr. Henne had been 

 murdered. 



" Ah ! " he exclaimed, " that is the best news 

 we have heard yet ! Now the foreigners will 

 interfere and we shall be saved," Rather rough 

 on poor Henne ! 



In addition to Mr. Ross, who entertained us 

 both materially and mentally in a manner which 

 I shall always look back upon with feelings of the 

 greatest gratitude, Fathers V^an Dyke and Pinell 

 were most kind. It was a pleasure to visit their 

 mission, situated just outside the city walls, and 

 see their beautifully decorated chapel and artistic 

 home. The former of these two gentlemen was 

 no mean artist, and with the simplest materials had 

 really worked wonders. We had lunch here one 

 day, and enjoyed some excellent red wine made by 

 themselves. 



One afternoon we were taken to dinner with an 

 old Chinese ex-official. He was a remarkable, 

 active old gentleman and, roaring with laughter, 

 showed us a liiige steel crowbar, weighing about 

 20 lbs., with whicli he went through javelin 

 drill. When not so employed he used it for 



