Page 74 - GFA – A Different Drumbeat
P. 74
GFA – A Different Drumbeat 74
barricade of boxes, crouching behind these and the two sheds while the crew
struggled to get the raft clear. After twenty minutes they succeeded and got
out of range, but all through that night stray shots were fired in their direction
but we were mercifully preserved of the Lord so that not a person was hit.
Leaving the raft for a few hours, I was able to pay a visit to the young
“General” who is in charge of these thousands of Moslems.
(Bentley-Taylor adds the following more detailed account of this episode:
GFA began to feel he must try to contact the young General and ask for safe
conduct, so when they were stopped at dawn by a lone sentry on the bank he
boldly asked where the commander's HQ was. To his astonishment and
delight he learned that the General had arrived during the night at a
farmhouse already in sight. One of the escorting bandits agreed to go there
with him. However, there proved to be several canals and sentry posts on the
way. "We swam the first canal but were welcomed by a volley of shots as
we climbed out of it. Running at top speed we got across some level ground to
the next canal, flung ourselves in, crawled up the far bank and dashed on, the
General's men shouting and firing all around us. Dodging from side to side,
we escaped the bullets. Soaking wet, caked with mud, and exhausted, we
stumbled into the first shack we reached. A soldier wrapped in a wadded
quilt was lying on the crude brick shelf which serves as a bed in Mongolian
farmhouses. Staring gravely at me, he said, 'Hello, Headmaster Andrew'”.
It was a former pupil of his from the Boys School in Lanchow.)
GFA continues:
The General, aged 19, head of a ragged army of 40,000 men, was with him a
moment later. "We dined together and for four hours talked about a wide
variety of subjects. It was one of the most interesting experiences of my
whole life. He was courteous and kindly, grave, and careful of his personal
appearance to the point of effeminacy."
He was occupying, as his headquarters, a farmstead right out in the desert.
He is only nineteen years of age and I had a most interesting conversation
with him. I think we shall hear more of him in the future. Two guards were
deputed by the General to see us safely through to the railhead at Paotow.
When at last we reached Tientsin, I made for the Chartered Bank and asked
to be taken into the manager's office. There I removed my shirt and belt and
placed 63 ounces of gold on his desk. From thence, via Tientsin we came to
Chefoo, where we arrived on August 1st. very much richer in experience and
devoutly grateful to Almighty God for His abundant evidences of Protecting
Care.
barricade of boxes, crouching behind these and the two sheds while the crew
struggled to get the raft clear. After twenty minutes they succeeded and got
out of range, but all through that night stray shots were fired in their direction
but we were mercifully preserved of the Lord so that not a person was hit.
Leaving the raft for a few hours, I was able to pay a visit to the young
“General” who is in charge of these thousands of Moslems.
(Bentley-Taylor adds the following more detailed account of this episode:
GFA began to feel he must try to contact the young General and ask for safe
conduct, so when they were stopped at dawn by a lone sentry on the bank he
boldly asked where the commander's HQ was. To his astonishment and
delight he learned that the General had arrived during the night at a
farmhouse already in sight. One of the escorting bandits agreed to go there
with him. However, there proved to be several canals and sentry posts on the
way. "We swam the first canal but were welcomed by a volley of shots as
we climbed out of it. Running at top speed we got across some level ground to
the next canal, flung ourselves in, crawled up the far bank and dashed on, the
General's men shouting and firing all around us. Dodging from side to side,
we escaped the bullets. Soaking wet, caked with mud, and exhausted, we
stumbled into the first shack we reached. A soldier wrapped in a wadded
quilt was lying on the crude brick shelf which serves as a bed in Mongolian
farmhouses. Staring gravely at me, he said, 'Hello, Headmaster Andrew'”.
It was a former pupil of his from the Boys School in Lanchow.)
GFA continues:
The General, aged 19, head of a ragged army of 40,000 men, was with him a
moment later. "We dined together and for four hours talked about a wide
variety of subjects. It was one of the most interesting experiences of my
whole life. He was courteous and kindly, grave, and careful of his personal
appearance to the point of effeminacy."
He was occupying, as his headquarters, a farmstead right out in the desert.
He is only nineteen years of age and I had a most interesting conversation
with him. I think we shall hear more of him in the future. Two guards were
deputed by the General to see us safely through to the railhead at Paotow.
When at last we reached Tientsin, I made for the Chartered Bank and asked
to be taken into the manager's office. There I removed my shirt and belt and
placed 63 ounces of gold on his desk. From thence, via Tientsin we came to
Chefoo, where we arrived on August 1st. very much richer in experience and
devoutly grateful to Almighty God for His abundant evidences of Protecting
Care.
