rom Tonkin, who were no better than disciplinary battalions and
who got everything because they had come with the first columns. This
they called cruelly unjust. Then from their pockets and tunics these
men began producing their little _articles de vertu_. They made me
laugh at first, for they had systematised so much that each man's
possession had a ticket attached, with the price in francs clearly
marked. That was good commercialism brought straight from France.

They were, however, only the usual things--watches, rings,
snuff-boxes, hair-ornaments, curios of minor value, and a few stones
of bad colour. But the men crowded round me and extolled their wares
like the hucksters of Europe, and beseeched me to buy in a most
anxious manner. They would sell cheap, very cheap, they confessed, at
the present moment, because they had just learned that an order had
been issued to search all their kits and to turn over the finds to a
common fund. Rumours had spread to Europe, they said--it was the first
I had heard of it--of the dark things which had been going on, and the
generals were becoming alarmed....

Fortunately I had with me some gold coin, and for a mere song I
purchased everything. I did not want to do so, but already experience
has taught us that it is best to buy when you are alone and no help
near by, otherwise your pockets may be turned out and everything taken
without an excuse. That happened to a man in the German Legation.

I climbed down from the famous Coal Hill, thinking very little of the
renowned view. I wondered merely when it was all going to end, and how
normal conditions were going to come. I wandered, thinking in this
manner, over the famous marble bridge, that delicate, delightful
tracing of stone which so charmingly crosses an artificial lake thick
with swaying lotus. I turned this way and that, not thinking very much
where I was going; and presently, on my way back, walked past the
Little Detached Palace, where, they say, the Emperor was imprisoned
after the 1898 _coup d'etat_. Here there was a curious sight, which
brought back my wandering attention. French and English soldiers
divided the honour of guarding this Palace entrance. Rival sentries
stood only ten or fifteen feet away from one another and jealously
watched to see that this prize was not secretly seized. The British
regiment had the actual gates; it seemed that the French had posted
themselves so close merely to watch. I passed these l