CHAPTER XIV 
A WINTER JOURNEY AMONGST THE LUTZU 
On my arrival in A-tun-tsi I went straight down to the 
other end of the village to see M. Perronne and learn the 
news, but just outside I was hailed by Mr Edgar, who with 
his family was installed in the Tussu’s house below the 
village. Almost the first news I heard from him was that 
Captain Bailey had got safely through to India. Mr Edgar 
told me that the Batang posts were disorganised and the 
telegraph line cut; all the missionaries had consequently 
left the place and were going down to the coast. There 
were ugly rumours concerning the fate of some English 
missionaries who were isolated somewhere in the Tibetan 
Marches and a party of French priests were also reported 
missing ; but as a matter of fact all the Ssu-chuan mission- 
aries eventually reached the coast in safety. 
There were now no less than eleven Europeans in 
A-tun-tsi, comprising the English and American mission- 
aries from Batang with their wives and families, M. Perronne, 
and myself. In the evening we held a council of war, several 
Chinamen prominent in the village attending, but on the 
one subject on which we desired information, namely the 
condition of Yunnan, not a word was forthcoming. It was 
suggested that we should leave in a body, as a measure of 
precaution, but this was impossible, since the village could 
not supply sufficient transport for more than one party to 
start at a time, and on the following day the American 
contingent left. 
Meanwhile Kin and I were finishing up our work, for 
I wanted to leave on November 1 as originally planned. 
To put it off any longer might be fatal to our chances of 
recrossing the mountains to the Salween, for already the 
passes were reported under deep snow. 
