Page 90 - GFA – A Different Drumbeat
P. 90
GFA – A Different Drumbeat 90
That man with his thousands of troops dared not proceed along the road we
four had come! I have given you just a statement of the actual facts. Interpret them
as you will.
We remained at Chingning for the Saturday and purposed remaining till
Monday morning. However, on Sunday it commenced to rain and, having regard to
the rising waters of the unbridged river just outside the city, we determined to leave
on Sunday afternoon in order to get through the waters before they became too
deep for the truck to ford. We proceeded without let or hindrance until dark and then,
without any preliminary warning, the engine got a seizure in a most desolate
deserted little ravine and do what we would we could not get it to start again.
Darkness came on apace and with it more rain. We were now right in the locality
where most of our earthquake reconstruction work had been done in 1921,
consequently I was still well-remembered. Throughout the long weary hours of that
wet night, Dr. Kao and I tramped those hill sides visiting the isolated farmsteads
trying to find animals which might have survived the famine years, in order that we
might get the truck hauled into the nearest village. We were unsuccessful in our
efforts and at daylight returned to the truck with all the men and boys we could
muster and with one or two oxen. Fortunately, in the early morning the rain ceased
and later the sun came out and so right there, in the middle of these wild
surroundings, we dismantled the engine and were fortunate enough to be able to
locate the trouble. Just as we were thus engaged, a burst of firing broke out at the
back of the hill in front of which we were working. However, nothing happened to us
and so after re-assembling the engine we proceeded thankfully upon our way.
The following morning we arrived at a little place called T’ai P’ing Tien which
has always had a more or less unsavoury reputation. We found this place had been
visited the previous day by a fairly large band of brigands who had robbed, looted,
burned, kidnapped and killed, and that had we not been delayed by our stalled
engine our arrival at that place would have synchronized with theirs!! Interpret this
train of circumstances as you will. Half my time is gone and I must not linger longer
upon this first half of my story, though I could say much more. We arrived at
Lanchow on April 12, ignominiously hauled in by mules, I am sorry to say, but that
shall be another story.
And now the second part of the story is to deal with the conditions we found in
Kansuh and a record of our doings. The external appearances had much improved
on those of last year. Why? Because in this particular section of Kansuh with which
our story mainly deals, death from starvation, pestilence and sword has claimed
during the past two years such large numbers of the population that the very
demand for food has been considerably lessened. Then again a partially successful
harvest, last autumn had augmented the food supply. But, in most districts the
supply was exhausted in the spring and the prospect of the main harvest was far off
in the autumn!! Our work then was perfectly apparent, namely, to support as large a
That man with his thousands of troops dared not proceed along the road we
four had come! I have given you just a statement of the actual facts. Interpret them
as you will.
We remained at Chingning for the Saturday and purposed remaining till
Monday morning. However, on Sunday it commenced to rain and, having regard to
the rising waters of the unbridged river just outside the city, we determined to leave
on Sunday afternoon in order to get through the waters before they became too
deep for the truck to ford. We proceeded without let or hindrance until dark and then,
without any preliminary warning, the engine got a seizure in a most desolate
deserted little ravine and do what we would we could not get it to start again.
Darkness came on apace and with it more rain. We were now right in the locality
where most of our earthquake reconstruction work had been done in 1921,
consequently I was still well-remembered. Throughout the long weary hours of that
wet night, Dr. Kao and I tramped those hill sides visiting the isolated farmsteads
trying to find animals which might have survived the famine years, in order that we
might get the truck hauled into the nearest village. We were unsuccessful in our
efforts and at daylight returned to the truck with all the men and boys we could
muster and with one or two oxen. Fortunately, in the early morning the rain ceased
and later the sun came out and so right there, in the middle of these wild
surroundings, we dismantled the engine and were fortunate enough to be able to
locate the trouble. Just as we were thus engaged, a burst of firing broke out at the
back of the hill in front of which we were working. However, nothing happened to us
and so after re-assembling the engine we proceeded thankfully upon our way.
The following morning we arrived at a little place called T’ai P’ing Tien which
has always had a more or less unsavoury reputation. We found this place had been
visited the previous day by a fairly large band of brigands who had robbed, looted,
burned, kidnapped and killed, and that had we not been delayed by our stalled
engine our arrival at that place would have synchronized with theirs!! Interpret this
train of circumstances as you will. Half my time is gone and I must not linger longer
upon this first half of my story, though I could say much more. We arrived at
Lanchow on April 12, ignominiously hauled in by mules, I am sorry to say, but that
shall be another story.
And now the second part of the story is to deal with the conditions we found in
Kansuh and a record of our doings. The external appearances had much improved
on those of last year. Why? Because in this particular section of Kansuh with which
our story mainly deals, death from starvation, pestilence and sword has claimed
during the past two years such large numbers of the population that the very
demand for food has been considerably lessened. Then again a partially successful
harvest, last autumn had augmented the food supply. But, in most districts the
supply was exhausted in the spring and the prospect of the main harvest was far off
in the autumn!! Our work then was perfectly apparent, namely, to support as large a
