eir remains into
a pit which had been dug for their burial, they found that the
youngest victim was yet alive, and carried her, with her hair still
caked with lime, to the nuns.

In the midst of these ruins these good women, mostly of gentle birth,
were striving to recommence their labours, and nurse, and feed, and
teach the children that remained. But, conversing with them, one
perceived, underlying their heroic resignation, a strain of very human
despondency and disappointment. Their talk here was not of
compensation. It was merely of how they could get their ruined
mission-house fit for work again--the work for which they had left
father and mother and friends, and their homes in far-off France.

It was not quite the same elsewhere, however. There were some
missionaries who appeared to take a different view of the situation.
Already they were lodging claims with their respective Consuls, and in
order to guard themselves against the dilatoriness or uncertainty of
action of their various Governments they were taking measures to
secure immediate compensation.

One reverend gentleman, for instance, was to be seen day after day
holding a sale of loot in a house that he had taken possession of.
Another, an American, was carrying on a similar sale in a palatial
mansion which he had commandeered. The latter was to be seen
surrounded by jade and porcelain vases, costly embroideries from the
spoiled temples, sable cloaks and various other furs, and rows of
Buddhas arranged like wild-fowl in a poulterer's shop. As his stock
became depleted he was in a position to ask any unsatisfied customer
to call in again, as his converts were bringing in fresh supplies of
loot almost every day!

Indeed, not satisfied with the proceeds of his loot sale, this worthy
man was enterprising enough to levy compensation on the Chinese, and,
in addition to recovering the full value of the damage sustained by
his converts, inflicted fines that exceeded that amount--according to
his own admission--by one-third.

[Illustration: General French And Staff On Black Monday.]

There are others who took possession of Chinese houses wholesale, and
found a source of income in letting or leasing them. The fact of their
having a number of converts to support was given by them as a
justification of their actions. Unquestionably they had a large number
more or less dependent upon them, but some other means might surely
have been found. They were very busy i