poor sort ; he was at least no longer in the hands, or at the mercy, of Chinese 
captors. 
Sympathy, of an official sort, was freely proffered ; ‘ It had been an acci- 
dent, no doubt, and most regrettable ; but one of their own countrymen had 
been killed as well, making one each side, so that we were now quits.’ It was 
in vain that Mr. Clark appealed for such redress as was possible and for 
punishment of the guilty parties ; the formula of reply was always the same: 
‘An accident no doubt, and most regrettable,’ and concluding invariably with 
the cold-blooded balancing of human lives. It was just one of those situations 
where he who cares least comes off best ; and the man, who had lost not only 
a faithful fellow- worker but a personal friend, was at great disadvantage in 
face of hide-bound officials, who could treat the fate of their own countryman 
with the bland unconcern of chess players discussing the sacrifice of a gambit- 
pawn. That they were not altogether so easy in mind as they would have 
had it believed, was evident, and they would have given much to be able to 
produce Hazrat Ali alive; for, after all, some very searching interrogatories 
were bound to come from Peking. That they were a little doubtful about the 
truth of its being an accident was indicated, perhaps, by a tendency to post- 
date the surveyor’s death till after the shooting of the Chinaman ; but this 
was not very clear, and discussion through interpreters may easily lead to 
misunderstanding. Eventually it became quite obvious that, if any sort of 
reparation was to be obtained, this would only be forthcoming at the Capital. 
However, before there had been time to decide on a course of action, the 
replies to Mr. Clark’s telegrams arrived from the Ministers. These, whilst 
promising full enquiry, strongly counselled—in fact, allowing for diplomatic 
forms, peremptorily demanded—the return of the expedition. There was, of 
course, no alternative but to comply. 
It should be mentioned that on obtaining trustworthy official confirmation 
of the surveyor’s death, Mr. Clark had at once withdrawn the search-party to 
Lan-chou, as no further good could be done, and the risk of bloodshed was 
ever present. In spite of the fact that the entire party were now concentrated 
in Lan-chou, it would have been inconvenient for the whole expedition to start 
at once on its long march, and the actual details of withdrawal required some 
little consideration. Mr. Clark’s presence in Peking was urgently necessary, 
and Captain Douglas, as a British officer, had to comply with the Ambassador’s 
instructions at the earliest possible moment ; but at the same time the recent 
tragedy had opened our eyes to the risks run by a small party travelling in 
Kansu. However, after due consideration, it was decided that, well-armed 
68 
