ft the island at once and went to the
home of the sick man.

They had been gone but a short time when the thunder of the French
cannon broke over the harbor. The guns from the Chinese fort answered,
and had the missionary been on Palm Island he and his converts would
surely have been killed.

The Chinese were no match for the French gunners. The bombardment
destroyed the fort and killed every soldier who did not manage to get
away. A great shell crashed into the magazine of the fort, and the
explosion hurled masses of the concrete walls an incredible distance.
The city about the fort was completely deserted, for the people fled at
the first sound of the guns.

As soon as the firing was over, the rabble broke loose and a perfect
reign of terror prevailed. The mob carried black flags and swept over
town and country, plundering and murdering. The Christians were of
course the first object of attack, and to tear down a church was the
mob's fiercest joy. Seven of the most beautiful chapels were completely
destroyed and many others injured.

In the town of Toa-liong-pong was the home of Koa Kau, one of Kai
Bok-su's most devoted students. Here was a lovely chapel built at great
expense. The crowd tore it to pieces from roof to foundation. Then, out
of the bricks of the ruin they erected a huge pile, eight feet high;
they plastered it over with mud, and on the face of it, next the highway
where every one might see it, they wrote in large Chinese characters:

MACKAY, THE BLACK-BEARDED BARBARIAN,
LIES HERE. HIS WORK IS ENDED.

They knew that the first was not true, but they firmly believed the
latter statement, for they understood little of the power of the gospel.

At Sin-tiam the crowd of ruffians smashed the doors and windows of the
church. Then they took the communion roll and read aloud the names of
the Christians who had been baptized. As each name was announced, some
of the murderers would rush off toward the home of the one mentioned.
Here they would torture and often kill the members of the family. The
native preacher and his family barely escaped with their lives. One good
old Christian man with his wife, both over sixty, were dragged out into
the deep water of the Sin-tiam river. Here they were given a choice.
If they gave up Jesus Christ, their lives would be saved. If they still
remained Christians, they would be drowned right there and then. The
brave old couple refused to accept life at such a cos