roaring with
fury, were coming up the street after the men and he swiftly pointed out
a narrow alley that led down to the river. "Run down there!" he shouted
to the sailors. "You can get to your boats before they find you."

They were gone in an instant, and the next moment the crowd of
pursuers were storming about the door demanding whither the enemy had
disappeared.

"What is all this disturbance about?" demanded Kai Bok-su calmly, glad
of an opportunity to gain time for the fleeing sailors.

The aggrieved Chinese gathered about him, each telling the story as
loud as his voice would permit. Those barbarians of the sea had come
swaggering along the streets waving their big sticks. And they had
dared--yes actually DARED--to hit the pet pigs belonging to every house
as they passed. The poor pigs who lay sunning themselves at the door!

This was indeed a serious offense. Mackay could picture the rollicking
sailor-lads gaily whacking the lazy porkers with their canes as they
passed, happily unconscious of the trouble they were raising. But there
was no amusement in Kai Bok-su's grave face. He spoke kindly, and
soothingly, and promised that if the offenders misbehaved again he would
complain to the authorities. That made it all right. Heathen though they
were, they knew Kai Bok-su's promise would not be broken, and away they
went quite satisfied.

One day he learned, quite by accident, a new and very useful way of
helping his people. He and A Hoa and several other young men who had
become Christians, went on a missionary tour to Tek-chham, a large city
which he had visited once before.

On the day they left the place, Kai Boksu's preaching had drawn such
crowds that the authorities of the city became afraid of him. And
when the little party left, a dozen soldiers were sent to follow the
dangerous barbarian and his students and see that they did not bewitch
the people on the road.

The soldiers tramped along after the missionary party, and with his
usual ability to make use of any situation, Mackay stepped back and
chatted with his spies. He found one poor fellow in agony with the
toothache. This malady was very common in north Formosa, partly owing
to the habit of chewing the betel-nut. He examined the aching tooth and
found it badly decayed. "There is a worm in it," the soldier said,
for the Formosan doctors had taught the people this was the cause of
toothache.

Mackay had no forceps, but he knew how to pull a