"And is there security here?" inquired one of the dealers at last terminating this confidential discussion.
The peasants shook their heads.
"How is it possible to talk of security, when we fear at any moment the resumption of fighting? As it is, until the kaoliang is cut there will be no protection from the robber-bands who lurk in the tall grain far and wide, following close on the heels of the soldiers."
"Robber bands!" cried the wool-dealers despairingly, starting up with fear.
"Yes," chorussed the peasants. "Here the bands have made so much in ransoms that they can afford to rest a while from their labours—everything has been taken from us, all our poor savings. But the country to the southeast is not yet clear. We have just heard of a man at Ko-chuan who has been carried off and held for a big sum, the ransom even including firearms. Such is the audacity of these brigands that they force their victims to send their families into the towns to buy their weapons. We ourselves were watching your honourable selves approaching, fearing some wile or stratagem; for often does it happen that these men ply their trade in the guise of innocent travellers."
The oldest of the three wool-dealers, who had grey hair and a face mottled from over-indulgence in wine, gave voice to his fears openly and unashamedly. But Wang the Ninth smiled to himself, greatly relieved. Now he knew that these three would never dare to go to the southeast to reach the coast.
"This is indeed a country without administration! The people are oppressed by dangers from within and without and it is impossible to know where to flee for safety. And the Sword Society, have we them also to expect?" Although the old wool-dealer ended the phrase indignantly, he used a polite term for fear that there might be adherents listening.
"They are those also inside the walls—" rejoined one of the countrymen, pointing to the township. "But at the beginning of the trouble the soldiers fired on them for failing to make good their promise that they were invulnerable and could instantly defeat the foreign devils. They are not highly valued here."
"We are saved from one ceremony," rejoined the dealer irately. "Six times have I kowtowed in the dust since the Sword Society was established."
"The day is not early," interrupted Wang the Ninth, anxious to make retreat impossible. "We have learnt all there is to learn. Those who intend to proceed had better delay no longer since night will soon fall."