nd his aide-de-camp, but unfortunately the inquirer did
not improve the situation by persisting in the foolish belief that the
foreigner was hard of hearing. He shouted his request into my ear in a
stentorian basso, he waved his hands, he pointed, he made signs. The
Chinese langage and manner, however, are difficult to an addle-pated
foreigner. I, poor foolish fellow, endeavoring to treat the Chinese in
a manner identical to that which he would have employed had conditions
been reversed, stared vacantly and woodenly into a seemingly bewildering
infinite, and timidly remarked, "O t'ing puh lai." Knowing then that my
"hearing had not come," he requisitioned my boy, for the aide-de-camp by
this time was glumly peering into my doorway; but to his disgust Lao
Chang also was equally unsuccessful in making me tumble to their
meaning. The best room, therefore, continued to be mine.

Soon after the official came, and my dog began by mauling his canine
guardian, tearing away half his ear; and in the middle of the night one
of my horses got loose and had a stand-up fight with a mule attached to
the official party, laming him seriously; and as the foreigner emerged
in his night attire to prevent further damage, he encountered the
mandarin himself, and pinned him dead against the wall in the dark,
after having stepped on his corn. My pony had pulled several morsels of
flesh from the mule's carcase. The yang gwan certainly came off best,
and the following morning, as the Chinese gwan with his retinue of six
chairs and about one hundred and fifty men departed, the yang gwan
smiled a happy farewell which was not effusively reciprocated.

As I came out of the inn I met a Buddhist priest, worn with general
dilapidation and old age, with a huge festering wound in the calf of his
leg, so that he could hardly hobble along with a stick--he was probably
on his way to the medical missionary at Tali-fu for treatment. This
spiritual guide was certainly on his last legs, and has probably by this
time handed over the priestly robes and official perquisites to more
vigorous young blood.

Hsiakwan's High Street reminded me of the main street of Totnes, with
its arch over the roadway, and the scenery might have deluded one into
the belief that he was in Switzerland in spring, as he gazed upon the
glorious spectacle of snow-covered mountains with the world-famed lake
at the foot. Tali-fu deserves its name of the Geneva of West China.

In the chapte