July - August, 1934
265
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
Junior KING’S BUSINESS B y M a r t h a S. H o o k e r
IN THE BANDITS’ HANDS B y I rene F orsythe *
tween eight and ten o’clock, to the clump of trees near Hsien Chuang. Carry a lan tern, and bring the ransom.” All of the possessions of Mrs. Wang, including home and land, could not nearly fileet the de mands o f this first meeting to discuss the ransom. Humanly speaking, there was no comfort to offer to Mrs. Wang. Back to the empty room and to the empty bed the poor mother went“, and bowed herself before God who alone could help her. In the meantime, Hsiu Shan had been hurried along so fast that he was exhausted when at last the bandits led him into a room. They tied his queue (yes, he still had one) to the rafters and bound him in a sitting position with ropes around his arms and legs. Fortunately, his ears were not, as is often done, stopped with tallow, but his eyes were blindfolded. Two men with a gun were left on guard. Hsiu Shan slept some from sheer exhaustion, but his agony o f body and spirit gave him little rest. Friday at noon, he had a tiny sweet po tato to eat, and that night a drink o f water. His body cramped and pained, yet he dared not speak. But from the: time of his cap ture, he had prayed continually and had committed himself to the Master’s care, for Hsiu Shan knew the Lord Jesus as his Saviour. Friday afternoon as he was praying, the guard overheard the words “God” and “Jesus.” “You need not cry,” the guards shouted. “ You are in our power. None of the gods can help you I Who is Jesus anyway? He cannot help you! Your mother is coming tomorrow night; and if she does not satisfy our de mands, we will make an end o f you!” “We have believed in Jesus for three gen erations, and He will surely hear my prayer,” replied Hsiu Shan. So the bandits were to meet his mother “tomorrow night” ! That was the first hint Hsiu Shan had of the time for the meeting. But what could his poor mother d o ! Some how, though, through it all, hope stirred in his heart. Saturday afternoon, he heard one o f the guards rouse the sleeping guard, give him the gun, and tell him to watch, as he was going out to buy bean curd. Hsiu Shan lifted his bandage. The guard had gone to sleep again. “ Brother,” he said. There was no answer. This w&s his chance. He saw that the ropes binding his hair had loosened a little. He could just reach them with his teeth. The ropes were the thickness o f a finger. Desperately he bit at the ropes, and with amazing speed he chewed through the two o f them. That loosened one of his arms. He untied the other arm and his legs, slipped out o f his coat, and gave one jump, clearing the body of the guard. With strength born o f des peration, he jumped over the high court yard wall and tore madly down the street. “ See the crazy man 1See the crazy man!” was shouted after him,
« A JTY brother has been taken by ban- , |V| dits,” wept young Mrs. Yang as B ffeffil» she entered the church courtyard. This; much-dreaded news in China is almost equal to announcing a death. Soon the church bell was rung to call a special prayer meeting, and the missionaries and the Chinese Christians began graying to God, for He and He alone could help this young Christian boy. Mrs. Yang’s brother,: Hsiu Shan, had been living with his widowed mother, Mrs. Wang, in a little village across the river. One Thursday night, just after dark, four bandits had picked the lock on the outer gate and, before any one knew what was happening, were in the Wang’s house. “Where is the one who has just come back from Tientsin?” they demanded. Hsiu Shan’s aunt had but Recently returned home, and rumors of the sums o f money she had brought had reached the ears o f these men. She had moved to another house four days before. “ Then take her nephew I” the bandits cried out. “ Out o f here!” came the gruff command. Several blows from the rifle barrel roused Hsiu Shan from his sleep. With no time to get even clothes or shoes, he was hustled away. Mrs. Wang hurriedly picked up a light coat and followed her son. Just out o f the village gate, she called most cour teously, fearing to anger the bandits by the delay, “ Gentlemen, please give him this, coat.”
He could well pass ¡for one, as, only partly .clothed, with his hair filled with straw, he ran wildly down the street. Near the end of the village he met an old man. “ Save me! Save mel” pleaded Hsiu Shan, and ran to him. ; The old man welcomed him ;very 5 cor dially, so cordially in fact, that Hsiu Shan was suspicious. He therefore left the old man and ran put o f the village and on to another yillage about a mile distant. He djd not know where he was nor where to ttirn for help, but God was guiding 1 Hsiu Shan turned into an open gate and knelt before the woman he met in the yard. “Adopted Mother 1 Save m e! Save me 1” She hastily closed the gate and took him into the house. She could understand his trouble all too well, for last year her son had been taken. When Hsiu Shan told of the old man who had so welcomed him, she said, “ That man has two sons who are ban dits. Had you fallen into their hands, you would have been worse off than before.” When Hsiu Shan heard o f this new dan ger, his heart went out to God in praise for His guidance. He begged to be sent off at Once, but the woman urged him to wait Until dark. If he should be seen going from their gate, the family might be harmed by the robbers. Hsiu Shan then ex plained that he had only his mother, and that she must go alone that very night to meet the bandits. He said he knew that she could not possibly take enough to please them, and that now since he had escaped, they would take revenge on her if he did not arrive in time to keep her from going. His new friends must help him get home! “ It is a great risk, but there is no other way,” they concluded at last. They gave Hsiu Shan a, jiair of- new trousers, a coat, a straw hat,i and a:basket to carry as a disguise. Thewoman tucked a bundle o f clothes under her arnu as if going to the pool outside the village to wash, and went out to see if it was safe for him to go. She looked in all directions; there was not a person on the street, so she went ahead, followed by her husband’s brother pushing a wheelbarrow. Hsiu Shan followed him. They looked as if they were going to work in the fields. Outside the village, the man gave Hsiu Shan careful directions to his home, telling him to avoid deep ditches and bushes where his captors might lie in wait for him. Hsiu Shan hast ily tried to speak his thanks, which were too deep for words, and hurried home ward. Oh, the joy of freedom! But there was still the, haunting fear o f not reaching home before his mother might leave. His:
One man returned, roughly took the gar ment, and twice flung Mrs. Wang to the ground. As she rose, she heard Hsiu Shan groan in pain, “My own mother I Oh, mother I” Mrs. Wang knew by the sounds that they were beating her son, and that at each step a blow from the gun barrel was urging his already running pace' to even, greater speed. An alarm might be given any min ute. Speed was their first thought. Mrs. Wang, with a heart full of grief, went quickly back through the quiet streets to tell the sad news. She must find some one to read for her the “Joyful Letter” left by the bandits—for. so the letters of in struction concerning the ransom were called. The letter gave directions for the meeting. “ Come on Saturday night, be- * Presbyterian Missionary at Tsingtao, Shantung>, "hina.
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