preceded and followed us--for when a Chinese wishes to register extreme
emotion, either of joy or sorrow, its expression always takes the form of
firecrackers.

There had been a good deal of persecution of the native Christians in the
district, and only recently a band of soldiers had strung up the native
pastor by the thumbs and beaten him senseless. He was our host that night
and seemed to be a bright, vivacious, little man but quite deaf as a result
of his cruel treatment. He never recovered and died a few weeks later. Mr.
Caldwell had come to investigate the affair, for the missionaries are
invested by the people themselves with a good deal of authority.

We spent that night in the parish house just behind the little church, a
bare schoolroom being turned over to us for our use, and it seemed very
luxurious after we had set up our cots, tables, chairs, and bath tub; but
the house was in the center of the town and the high walls shut out every
breath of pure air. The barred windows opened on a street hardly six feet
wide, and while we were preparing for bed there was a buzz of subdued
whispers outside. We switched on a powerful electric flashlight and there
stood at least forty men, women and children gazing at us with rapt
attention, but they melted away before the blinding glare like snow in a
June sun.

That night was not a pleasant one. The heat was intense, the mosquitoes
worse, and every dog and cat in the village seemed to choose our court yard
as a dueling ground in which to settle old scores. The climax was reached
at four o'clock in the morning, when directly under our windows there came
a series of ear-splitting squeals followed by a horrible gurgle. The
neighbors had chosen that particular spot and hour to kill the family pig,
and the entire process which followed of sousing it in hot water and