his stomach and his
cash bag. It is well-nigh impossible to make him realize that the
missionary has not come with an ulterior motive--if not to engage in trade,
perhaps as a spy for his government. Others believe that it is because
China is so vastly superior to the rest of the world that the missionaries
wish to live there. Eventually the suspicions of the natives become quieted
and they accept the missionary at some part of his true worth.

At the time of the rebellion in Yen-ping we saw Harry Caldwell, Mr.
Bankhardt and Dr. Trimble save the lives of hundreds of people and the city
from partial destruction because the Chinese officers of the opposing
forces would trust the missionaries when they would not trust each other.

An excellent piece of practical missionary work was done in Fukien
Province, not long after our visit there. As we have related in Chapter
III, several large bands of brigands were established in the hills about
Yuchi. Brigandage began there in the following way. During a famine when
the people were on the verge of starvation, a wealthy farmer, Su Ek by
name, decided to do his share in relieving conditions by offering for sale
a quantity of rice which he had accumulated. He approached another man of
similar wealth who agreed with him to sell his grain at a reasonable price.
Su Ek accordingly disposed of his rice to the suffering people and, when he
had remaining only enough to sustain his own family until the following
harvest, he sent the peasants to the second man who had also agreed to
dispose of his grain.

This farmer refused to sell at the stipulated price, and the people,
angered at his treachery, looted his sheds. He immediately went to Foochow
and reported to the governor that there was a band of brigands abroad in
Yuchi County under the leadership of Su Ek, and that they had robbed and
plundered his property.

Without warning a company of soldiers swooped down upon the community and
arrested a number of men whose names the informer had given. Su Ek made his
escape to the hills but he was pursued as a brigand chief, and was later
joined by other farmers who had been similarly persecuted. Unable to return
to their homes on pain of death they were forced to rob in order to live.

Su Ek and others were finally decoyed to Foochow upon the promise that
their lives would be spared if they would induce their band to surrender.
They met the conditions but the government officials broke faith