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to complete the final embarkation arrangements. He bade me good-bye and told me that the children had actually left Chefoo! A fine bouquet for bon voyage! I had to pinch myself to believe. Here we were, bound down river for the open sea, - the next port was to be Saigon. Freedom, Liberty! We anchored at Woosung for rising water. Each step of the way seemed slow. We discharged the pilot at the Fairway Buoy, Yangtze Entrance, in the early hours of the morning of the 5th. At daybreak I was up to watch the waters turn from Yangtze brown to green. I had slept beside one of the funnels all night. My berth was a bunk in the No. 1 'tween decks, hot and close. Our ship was the Nippon Yusan Kaisha's motor vessel "Tatsuta Maru" now known as "Tatuta Maru." In the new Romanization an S had been dropped from the name. She was a veteran Trans-Pacific passenger steamer and no stranger to me. It all seemed unbelievably unreal. The Tatuta settled down to a steady sea speed of 15 knots following a prescribed course and speed as agreed upon by both belligerent powers. On the stem was a huge white cross-illuminated by dozens of electric light bulbs at night. I wondered at the Japanese accepting the Cross as a symbol of MERCY and PROTECTION. What dangers were lurking in those waters at night? Yet, here we were. 932 individuals and a crew of about 300 staking everything on the Cross. There were so-called Christians amongst the repatriates who never fully appreciated the symbol on the stem. On the sides of the ship there were also illuminated crosses. At the masthead there were arranged three lights. Hour after hour at night I would lie stretched upon the boat deck and watch these lights sketch and trace a wavering pattern amongst the stars as our hull rose and fell on the ocean swell. All was quiet except for the steady motors churning off the miles. There was much to think about- a big chapter of one's life slammed shut, a new world to open, to what? Before we arrived in Saigon I met a missionary from Manchuria who had a boy in the C.I.M. Schools at Chefoo and who had expected his son to join him in Shanghai. He knew
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