soldiers come
try to take our horses; say if _mafu_ no give them horses they untie loads.
Shall I tell _mafu_ break their heads?" We did not entirely understand the
situation but it seemed quite proper to give the _mafus_ permission to do
the head-breaking, and they went at it with a will. After a volley of
blows, there was a scamper of feet on the frozen ground and the soldiers
retired considerably the worse for wear.

When the battle was over, Wu explained matters more fully. It appeared
that a large detachment of soldiers had recently passed up this road to
A-tun-tzu and four or five had remained behind to attend to the transport
of certain supplies. Seeing an opportunity for "graft" the soldiers were
stopping every caravan which passed and threatening to commandeer it unless
the _mafus_ gave a sufficient bribe to buy their immunity. Our _mafus_,
with the protection which foreigners gave them, had paid off a few old
scores with interest. That they had neglected no part of the reckoning was
quite evident when next morning two of the soldiers came to apologize for
their "mistake." One of them had a black and swollen eye and the other was
nursing a deep cut on his forehead; they were exceedingly humble and did
not venture into camp until they had been assured that we would not again
loose our terrible _mafus_ upon them.

Such extortions are every day occurrences in many parts of China and it is
little wonder that the military is cordially hated and feared by the
peasants. The soldiers, taking advantage of their uniform, oppress the
villagers in numberless ways from which there is no redress. If a complaint
is made a dozen soldiers stand ready to swear that the offense was
justified or was never committed, and the poor farmer is lucky if he
escapes without a beating or some more severe punishment. It is a disgrace
to China that such conditions are allowed to exist, and it is to be hoped
that ere many years have passed the country will awake to a proper
recognition of the rights of the individual. Until she does there never can
be a national spirit of patriotism in China and without patriotism the
Republic can be one in name only.

CHAPTER XXIV

DOWN THE MEKONG VALLEY

On December 11, we had tiffin on the summit of a twelve thousand foot pass
in a beautiful snow-covered meadow, from which we could see the glistening
peaks of the vast mountain range which forms the Mekong-Salween divide. In
the afternoon we re