simple subjects.

As far as the station of Yangchuen all went well, but here fresh delay
and the unwelcome announcement from our escort that a battle was in
progress farther down the line, the metals were required for the
conveyance of soldiers, and he must beg of us to make ourselves as
comfortable as possible for the night in our compartment. Protest was
useless, and we had to submit to see the engine detached and ourselves
abandoned, a useless derelict, on a rusty siding. The Secretary of the
Foreign Office supplied us with hard-boiled eggs and biscuits, and made
his exit, leaving in charge of the gentlemen of the party a packet of
silver which he begged might be handed to his mother. By morning
stationmaster, guards, porters, and clerks had all vanished from the
scene, for the news had come of a reverse to the Revolutionary forces.

Four days and nights we stuck to our third-class carriage and our
siding; for part of the time, trains thundered past carrying men to the
front, and we were informed that the famous regiment called
"Dare-to-die" had gone to crush the Imperial troops. With a thrill we
saw these brave warriors pass, but a brief period sufficed to dispel
"the great illusion," and twelve hours later the same men were dashing
back to Taiyueanfu, carrying a terrible tale. "Had we stayed longer we
should have been dead men; the bullets were falling in our midst." The
officer, however, gave a different explanation of their return. "Poor
chaps, they are worn out, and I must take them back to get a night's
rest," he said. No one cared for our plight, as cold, hungry, and
deserted we watched the weary day pass to night, and the yet more weary
night give place to a dreary dawn. Such experiences are not to be
desired, for they who know China best, and the anti-foreign feeling
which may at any time manifest itself, are aware how quickly such a
position may become critical.

One thing only besides our miserable carriage had been left on the line,
and that was three trolleys. The hour dawned on the fourth day when our
exhausted patience refused further service, and we determined those
trolleys should be made to carry us and our goods to some inhabited
region, be it friendly or inimical. That day and the next we spent
racing down and crawling up the gradients of the line to Niangtzekwan.
The "Dare-to-dies" boasted of having mined the line, and this did not
conduce to ease of mind in being the first to travel over it, e