Sketches from Formosa.

VII
INCIDENTS IN KA-GI CITY
SEVERAL days after the events recorded in the preceding
chapter took place, I accompanied a small party of
native friends to Ka-gi, but only to witness the fickleness
of the Chinese, and that some interested parties thought
it would be too high a price to pay for British help in
settling the Chino-Japanese trouble by allowing us to
establish a foreign church in their famous old inland city.
It was about dark when we entered the South Gate that
evening, and there a number of mischief-loving boys did
us no good by commencing to bawl out that a red-haired
with the result that none of the
barbarian had arrived ;
inn-keepers in that quarter would give us accommodation
for the night. Nor were matters much improved when
a number of these ragamuffins accompanied us to the
northern suburb. It was at the furthest -off establishment
I made a final effort to obtain shelter. Here too, how-
ever, the landlord attempted to close his door, but could
not do so, for the simple reason that my walking-stick
had been quickly thrust in to keep it open. I said to him
I was sure a decent, sensible man like himself would be
considerate, that he would never leave us to sleep in the
street ; and that,
if the Yamen-rurmers called him to
account, I would exert myself and see that he was not
put to any inconvenience. He thereupon invited our
party to enter, and provided quarters for us in a back
court having only one dilapidated room in the corner,
away from all the other guests.
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