camped in some limestone caves. There I became
very sick and I hoped that I should die because the future didn't seem
to hold anything at all for me. I know I was delirious for a long time;
things seemed very hazy--a confused coming and going of the natives and
the jabbering of their singsong voices. Perhaps that sickness was what
saved my life, for when I came to the end of my delirium I was lying
there deserted in the limestone cave. I suppose Red Knife thought that
the 'foreign devil' was dying and that I was only an encumbrance in his
retreat. I don't know how long I had remained in the cave and I can't
tell you how I managed to make my way out of that wilderness of hills
and dry river beds, but Providence must have guided me, for I finally
stumbled down into the village of Tung-sha and found Hartley, the
surgeon, and three or four of the Europeans still there.

"I was delirious again for a time and didn't know what went on around
me. But Hartley pulled me through and I found myself asking what had
happened. They told me that the native troops of the Imperial Government
had come up and that the foreign colony had led an expedition back into
the hills. They hadn't been able, however, to overtake Red Knife and had
finally abandoned the expedition partly because of the doubtful loyalty
of the Chinese troops, who weren't over eager to chase Red Knife. That
whole region in those days needed only a spark to set it aflame against
all foreigners.

"There was one surprising bit of news, something that gave me a great
desire to live. Ho Sen, poor, faithful Ho Sen, had escaped from Red
Knife. He had come crawling to Hartley's bungalow at midnight several
days after the raid, carrying in his arms the boy, and had fallen
unconscious at the doorsteps. Hartley took them in and found the boy
little the worse for his experiences, but Ho Sen died that same night
and had been in his grave more than two weeks when Hartley told me the
story. Meanwhile they had given up hope of ever seeing me alive again,
and when the colony decided that it was unsafe for the women to stay at
Tung-sha any longer they sent the boy down to Shanghai with an American
missionary by the name of Singleton, who was going back to the United
States. She had become deaf during her service in China and was
returning to the States for treatment.

"Of course I started for Shanghai as soon as I was able to get about,
going down the Yangtse in a river boat. But again