ial letter from the commander of the Northern troops thanking us for
the part we had played in averting trouble and bringing the matter to a
peaceful end.

An interesting sidelight on the affair was received a few days later. A
young man, a Christian, who was born in the same town from which a number
of the brigands had come, went to his house on Monday night after the fight
and found seven of the robbers concealed in his bedroom. He was terrified
because if they were discovered he and all his family would be killed for
aiding the bandits. He told them they must leave at once, but they pleaded
with him to let them stay for they knew there were soldiers at every corner
and that it would be impossible to get away.

While he was imploring them to go, a knock sounded at the door. He pushed
the brigands into the courtyard, and opened to three soldiers. They said:
"We understand you have brigands in your house." He was trembling with
fear, but answered, "Come in and see for yourself, if you think so."

The soldiers were satisfied by his frank open manner and, as they knew him
to be a good man, did not search the house, but went away. The poor fellow
was frightened nearly to death, but as his place was being watched it was
impossible for the brigands to leave during the day.

At night they stripped themselves, shaved their heads, and dressed like
coolies, and were able to get to the ladder down the city wall just below
the mission compound where they could escape into the hills.

The day after this occurrence, about four o'clock in the afternoon, a
breathless Chinese appeared at the house with a note to Mr. Bankhardt
saying that his Chinese teacher and the mission school cook had been
arrested by the Northern soldiers and were to be beheaded in an hour. We
hurried to the police office where they were confined and found that not
only the two men but three others were in custody.

The mission cook owned a small restaurant under the management of one of
his relatives and, while Bankhardt's teacher and the other man were sitting
at a table, some Northern soldiers appeared, one of whom owed the
restaurant keeper a small amount of money. When asked to pay, the soldier
turned upon him and shouted: "You have been assisting the brigands. I saw
some of them carrying goods into your house." Thereupon the soldiers
arrested everyone in the shop.

The police officials were quite ready to release the teacher and the other
man upon our